《The Supreme Level Up System》


 Chapter 1 The End Of A Life

    A light brown-haired man opened the door of his apartment, and before leaving, he closed it while he was also rubbing his green eyes. After not so long, he yawned.


    "... I should stop with this shit. I am too old to lose half of my sleeping time trying to speed run Elden Ring,"


    It was almost eight, so he decided to hurry for his job. His name is Adam, a twenty-five years old and single firefighter. Despite his upation, he was someone who was a bit childish since he still slept four hours a day because of games. Despite that, his facial expression changed, and he tried to make himself look more reliable and confident when he heard the sound of the door of the neighbor opening.


    "Oh, my. Good morning, Adam," an astonishingly pretty redhead apanied by a ten years old boy said.


    "Good morning, Miss Amelia," Adam said while smiling. "It looks like today will be a fine spring day again."


    Amelia was a single mother who had recently moved into the apartmentplex, and while she was in her early thirties, one could easily think that she was just the older sister of the boy. Naturally, Adam knew better than using such an old pickup line on her. Regardless, she was also awyer, so seeing her in her working clothes made Adam more than a bit happy. She also had a sexy body thatbined well with her red hair and green eyes. Despite having such a mother, her son, Chris, sure looked grumpy.


    "What is wrong, Chris?" Adam asked. "Did your mom put too many fruits and fewer cookies in your lunchbox box this time?"


    "No one uses lunchboxes anymore¡­ They areme," Chris said while frowning.


    "Oh, really? I guess I am old school, then," Adam said while hiding his own lunchbox.


    "It must be good to wake up early and make your own lunch. I am so beat all the time that I can barely work early enough for work," Amelia said. "It must be nice having that much energy, and it makes you a lot more reliable in your line of work."


    "Well, I like spicy food, and it is hard to find on the level that I prefer," Adam said. "Besides, men must get and stay up and full of energy all day¡­ wait¡­ I should have phrased this better."


    "Hahaha, you should have," Amelia said afterughing a little.


    They werete for their own things, so they hurried to the parking lot. The roads were usually packed after that time of the day, but fortunately, Adam reached his working ce just thirty secondste. Unfortunately, that didn''t prevent his Captain from scolding him.


    "How many times do I have to say this? STOP ARRIVING SO FUCKING LATE!" The Captain said.


    Adam''s Captain was a pretty chill guy. He even called his coworkers to the birthday parties of his wife and daughter. Pretty often as well, he paid for the drinks when they went together to party. Still, he was severe enough to scold someone for a thirty seconds dy. With that in mind, Adam just epted that.


    "It seems you are repenting your foolishness¡­ That isn''t enough, though," the captain said. "Next time, you will pay for everyone''s drinks."


    "Eh¡­ But I was saving for¡­ Sir, Yes! Sir!" Adam shut up when he felt a shiver. "It will be my treat, sir!"


    The other coworkersughed a little and then returned to their posts. Once that happened, the Captain sighed and then patted Adam''s back.


    "You shouldn''t spend so much time talking with the sexydy next door in the morning. How many times do I have to say that?" The Captain asked and then sighed.


    "I can''t help it, man. It is just a few minutes that make my whole day," Adam said.


    Truth be told, the Captain was like Adam''s uncle, he became a firefighter along with Adam''s father, and when he died, he helped Adam''s mother raise him as well. His name was Lucian, and he was practically a legend when it came to sessful operations in his line of work.


    "I always knew that you would grow up to be as reckless as your father, but then going for a woman who has a ten years old kid¡­ You sure have some steen balls," Lucian said.


    Adam wanted tough, but he couldn''t. A woman like Amelia was hard toe by, so that was why he was trying not to mess up by going too fast. She was sexy, intelligent, and independent. She was also pretty humble, considering that she could raise a kid and could openly say that she had a hard time waking up early to work. Most people nowadays aren''t really confident enough like her to talk about her shorings.


    In any case, Adam assumed his post at work and then prepared to move if something happened. Still, it was the middle of the spring, and it was hard for emergencies to take ce in that city. The other teams left a few times during the day, but only to deal with the small stuff.


    Since he was broke, Adam''s turnsted for sixteen hours, and then he took a break overnight and continued over the next day for more than eight hours. Still, nothing happened during those hours, so Adam considered himself lucky¡­ unfortunately, they received an alert that a fire had started in downtown, and they moved faster toward it.


    Adam had a bad feeling when they took the high road and approached the direction of his apartmentplex¡­ when he finally found his building and a fire on the floor that he lived on, his blood turned cold. Around that time of the day, few people were there. However, Chris had the bad habit of returning to school alone instead of waiting for his mother, and that was exactly the short window of time of the day.


    "This is bad¡­ it looks like the whole floor has been taken," Lucian said. "Fortunately, we didn''t hear anything about people being in there."


    Adam didn''t hear that¡­ he wanted to confirm things with his own eyes. His mask was already on, and he didn''t wait for his coworkers. He ran toward the entrance of the building and then began to climb the stairs.


    "Adam! Wait, Adam!" Lucian said. "That is an order!"


    Lucian felt shivers since that scene was the same as the one he witnessed twenty years ago¡­ his best friend was charging recklessly to a building on fire to save a little girl there. The bad feeling only worsened when he realized that Adam lived there.


    "Quick! Use the stairs to approach and extinguish the mes!" Lucian said.


    While his team was working on that, Adam had already reached the floor of his apartment. He knew that every second was too precious, and even with their hard work, they wouldn''t start things before he could start. There was a lot of os smoke on that floor, and some walls were already on fire. Still, Adam ignored that and then headed to the apartment of his neighbor.


    He clicked his tongue when he saw some ck smokeing from the room. Still, he didn''t hesitate and unlocked the door using his ax against it. Adam saw the couch, a bed, and some electronics on fire when he got inside. He found Chris'' backpack on the ground, and he confirmed that he was there.


    Adam found a closet on fire, blocking the entrance of the bathroom, and he jumped over it and found Chris unconscious on the ground. Fortunately, he was still breathing, and there were no signs of burn marks on him.


    "Hang on, kid," Adam said and put the gas mask on him. "I will get you out of here."


    Adam picked Chris, and then he heard a crack behind him. Instantly, he lowered his posture and protected Chris'' body. An explosion happened in the living room, and then Adam felt a sharp pain in his back. He grunted in pain, and while sweating cold, he got up.


    "Don''t look at it, don''t look at it¡­" Adam thought while he began to move.


    With each step, Adam felt that the pain was getting more intense. That wasn''t a good sign¡­ Still, he managed to move to the window when he heard the sound of water being used. When he opened the window, he saw Lucian in front of him.


    "Hey, Captain¡­ you missed all the fun," Adam said while raising Chris toward him. "Sorry for not giving you the chance to be a hero again¡­ I had to do it this time."


    "You moron¡­" Lucian approached when he saw that Adam was pale as a ghost.


    Lucian got the kid and then offered a hand to help Adam, and then he found a huge stake piercing Adam''s back.


    "Sorry, captain¡­ it looks like the next round of drinks won''t be on me," Adam said, and then he copsed in front of the window. "Ah, if it only had been the truck-kun instead of the stake-kun¡­"


    Those were Adam''sst words¡­

 Chapter 2 Awakening

    Before long, Adam saw himself in a dark ce¡­ it felt like he was floating somewhere, and his body was pretty heavy since he couldn''t move or feel anything moving around him. Hisst memories returned to his mind, and he felt like sighing. He did something good, so he could feel proud of himself¡­ more or less, if only he didn''t have second intentions by being so reckless.


    "Note to self: the next time you try to be a hero to impress ady, have a clear n in mind."


    Not like he would have the chance to try something like that¡­ Regardless, like father like son. While Adam couldn''t remember much about his old man, he still followed his job and even had a short career like him as well. He probably was proud of him wherever he was¡­ as long as he didn''t know what Adam was thinking.


    "Despite the fact that I decided to be a firefighter, death always scared me¡­ If I had a body, would I piss my pants off due to fear? Anyway, what is next?"


    While a bit afraid, Adam was also quite curious about how the afterlife is. Even if he had second intentions, saving someone''s life is a plus on his karma, right? He shouldn''t be sent to hell or something simr¡­ while it wasn''t much, he did other things as a firefighter to improve his karma. Still, since he was being paid to do all that, perhaps it wouldn''t bnce things favorably for him.


    "That being said¡­ for mom to lose her only child and her husband due to this career, I wonder what she is thinking now¡­"


    Before long, Adam began to feel pretty sleepy while something warm was enveloping him. It didn''t seem like something bad, but it was hard to tell since it was dark, and he didn''t know how things in the afterlife worked. He tried to fight back, but that sensation of warmth was too strong, to the point that he even felt himself getting stronger as well.


    "You have your shorings, but your soul is something that I need¡­ you can do this."


    Unfortunately, Adam''s mind was no longer working properly, so he didn''t hear that. Still, perhaps that had been for good. Otherwise, his next steps wouldn''t be the same¡­


    "Ah¡­ ah¡­"


    Even with his eyes closed, Adam felt like yawning, but only weird noises came out of his mouth. Were they too¡­ acute? If he had a cold, it sure messed up with his voice. Adam only found shadows around him when he tried to open his eyes. His body also felt a bit hot and wet. Before long, he felt like something was carrying him, and then he was put in a bed.


    "Could it be that I didn''t die?" Adam thought.


    Something was off. If he didn''t die, it was weird the fact that he couldn''t hear the sound of machines in the hospital. Besides, it would be dangerous for someone to move a wounded patient. In any case, Adam''s senses were pretty messed up. Maybe it was due to the blood loss, or perhaps because he slept for a long time. Nevertheless, he eventually found a big hand caressing his head. At least the hand was gentle and soft.


    "..."


    Adam heard something, but the words seemed weird like they had been silenced by something. He was quite worried, but Adam decided not to react too much. Logic says that when you find a dangerous animal, you should pretend to be dead. That was stupid as hell, but at least the terror won''tst for long.


    In the end, Adam wanted to believe that he was dreaming¡­ because he understood that he had reincarnated. In the end, thest thing that made him understand that was when his new mother began to feed him. That was reallyplicated in more ways than one, so Adam tried to fall asleep whenever that happened.


    "I feel like I am cheating my mom¡­ I should have phrased this better¡­ Still, did  I really reincarnate, or Am I in aa or something? I was just joking around when I said those things when I died¡­ it would be toome to look scared at the very end¡­"


    Several days passed, and Adam felt that his vision was getting clearer. If he recalled well, babies only start to see things and open their eyes properly after six months. Still, he wasn''t a real baby, so it wasn''t surprising that his body worked a bit faster. Regardless, it was weird the fact that he was getting used to that lifestyle¡­ only eating, doing his necessities on his diapers, and then sleeping for more than half of the day.


    Still, that made him wonder if he had been revived on Earth. It would be a bit weird¡­ usually, people would be reincarnated in other worlds, but if they had diapers in there¡­ putting that aside, Adam was trying to learn the words of that ce. They were too weird to be from Earth. Unfortunately, his mother didn''t talk much, and she didn''t receive many visits either. For some reason, she rarely leaves the room as well¡­ Nevertheless, after a few days, Adam heard his new name several times and confirmed that he was no longer Adam¡­ but Aion.


    Aion was a Hellenistic deity associated with time, the orb or circle epassing the universe, and the zodiac. The time represented by Aion is unlimited, in contrast to Chronos as empirical time divided into past, present, and future. He is, therefore, a god of the ages, associated with mystery religions rting to the afterlife.


    He knew that much since he yed a game in the past that had pretty long descriptions of Greek mythology¡­ Still, it was hard to imagine that his name was because of that. Truth be told, he felt that his new name was too grandiose¡­ still, it didn''t take long for him to get used to it.


    After not so long, Aion began to feel his body changing¡­ his vision suddenly started to get a lot clearer and his body lighter. It was quite a good feeling. Still, it wasn''t anything like he felt before¡­ It was like something was cleaning and refreshing him from inside out¡­ However, that was just one of many chances in Aion''s body.


    Health: 02/02


    Mana: 02/02


    Stamina: 02/02


    "Is this a Jojo reference or a system?" Aion pondered.


    That suddenly appeared in his field of vision alongside a circle of thirteen spheres. They had different colors as well, and when Aion focused his eyes on them, he saw some titles. They were: Pdin, Samurai, Archer, Spearman, Mage, Berserker, Monk, Warrior, Tamer, Ninja, Bard, Priest, yer,


    It was weird that such a thing only appeared now, but Aion assumed that it was because his existence became more used to that world now that he could see things clearly. He was quite interested in the system, but now he could finally see the room that he was living in with his mother. It seemed to be made of high-quality stones. Everything was connected nicely, and there were no signs of dirt or cracks. Aion could see some high-ss furniture around the room, and it looked pretty new¡­


    "I thought that my new mother was a prisoner or something, but maybe her situation is a bit different¡­" Aion thought.


    When he turned his body around, Aion found his mother. She was indeed pretty and quite young. Not illegally young, but she was certain she was at the peak of her life. She wasn''t older than twenty¡­ she looked like an angel while sleeping since she had long, blond hair and was wearing a one-piece white dress. Eventually, she woke up and revealed crystal-like blue eyes.


    At that point in time, Aion began to wonder¡­ he had been in that world for at least a month. His mother received food in her room, she didn''t leave, and he didn''t hear any male voices so far¡­ She wasn''t in the worst type of prison, but she certainly was a prisoner¡­ Aion was determined to learn why she was in that situation, and in one way or the other, he would unravel that mystery.

 Chapter 3 Like A Rabbit

    A few more days passed, and Aion realized that his mother''s health was improving¡­ he wondered if it was because of his soul in that body, but her pregnancy had some problems that messed with her health. Still, she was getting better with each passing day.


    Two months after his reincarnation, Aion finally saw a man wearing armor entering the room. It was hard to be sure, but it was probably his father¡­ not even the most insane man would let another man in the room where his wife or perhaps one of his wives lived after months, and he left her almost alone.


    In any case, his attitude bothered Aion more than a little bit, he looked like someone that made others respect him naturally, but he didn''t even say a single greeting to Aion''s mother after who knows how long he had seen her¡­ he just stared at Aion for a few minutes. Aion wanted to stare back, but it was hard to look imposing when he couldn''t even take a dump on his own.


    In any case, his father was of strong build and had dark hair and brown eyes. With his serious face, he probably could make some woman to wish for his naked body, but Aion had been weel-built in his previous life. In his new one, he would rather have the physical traits of his mother. Muscles could be obtained with hard work, but being pretty like that was for a lucky few. The only downside was the fact that she didn''t look that strong like his father.


    "What are you looking at, bruh?" Aion thought. "You may have a sword and armor, but I bet you can''t withstand the smell of the shit of a newborn."


    Aion wanted to say a few things to his new father and correct his way, but nothing but ''ah'' ''dabuh'' woulde, so he decided to stay quiet. Still, the appearance of his father confirmed that Aion wasn''t on Earth. In the end, Aion''s father left after a long sigh. He assumed that Aion was weak for whatever reason. Some people say that children that cause a lot of problems in their first years grow strong and healthy, after all.


    "This is disappointing¡­ I never met my first father, but everything I knew about him made me think that he was a hero, but this guy here¡­" Aion thought. "He needed to have his ways corrected, he doesn''t look old, so it must be because of the audacity of his youth. Even so, I can''t forgive him for treating my new mother like this¡­"


    It seemed that Aion was born into a family with some difficult circumstances. He couldn''t do much about that, so he decided to focus on the things he could, which was mainly the system.


    When his mother was sleeping, Aion decided to check that. Using the system could be done just with his thought, and the most important thing was the fact that he had to select one of the spheres before anything could be checked or used. When Aion selected the Pdin sphere, a short sword and shield appeared above him and then fell on his chest. Fortunately, he didn''t feel any weight on them, so he didn''t get hurt. The weird thing was that they had a silver-like color and had some emblems on the borders. Another odd thing was the fact that they came from¡­ He had no idea.


    Pdin Lv 01


    Health: 02/02


    Mana: 02/02


    Stamina: 02/02


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Sword and Shield Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Double Strike 01


    Passive:  Shield Mastery Lv 01,


    Improvement Points:


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    That was a lot of stuff¡­ So, Aion blinked several times in surprise while looking at that. Still, after a few days, he understood the basics. That system was moreplex than others, but the basic functions were the same. The spheres represented sses that he could choose, the sses could level up separately, and he could gain points and make different builds for the sses. He also could reset them in order to use the bonuses of the sses in different ways. For every point into strength and endurance, his health would increase by two, for every point into speed and dexterity, his stamina would increase by two. Finally for each point into magic and resistance, his mana would increase by two.


    He also could transfer the experience and proficiency points from one ss to the others, but Aion assumed that it would be better for him to level them up separately. Still, most of the things that were possible were beyond his body. For now, the only thing he could do with that system was to select the Mage ss and then use Meditation. The only problem was that he had to select the right ss to use certain skills, but he could make their weapons disappear at will.


    "I suppose I can gain experience by fighting and training, but before I can do any of that, I should split the experience obtained while meditating," Aion thought.


    Aion didn''t have much to do, so it would be fine to use Meditation as much as possible. On the first day, the Mage ss leveled up, and he gained five points to allocate in that ss. At the same time, his skills obtained three improvement points. When he checked what he could do, he saw that he could increase the effect of his skill. The mage ss''s active skill was Fireball; he could increase its power and speed or decrease the cost. As for Meditation, he could increase its effectiveness or his bonuses.


    "The good thing about this is that I can reset the builds of all sses once per day so that I will have a lot of room for experimentation," Aion thought. "I don''t need to use Fireball, and it isn''t like increasing the effectiveness of Meditation will make me level up the ss faster¡­ or maybe it will, I don''t know. Time to experiment."


    Meditation at level one made Aion recover one point of mana per second. Since the skill increased by one point, the recovery also increased by one point. With each level of effectiveness, it increased by thirty percent¡­ It seems that once he can use magic, he will have a lot of room to train it as well.


    Time passed, and when Aion was three months old, his mother began to take him for walks around that room. It was only natural that children should take a sunbath now and then¡­ in any case, while his father wasn''t someone that he could hold in his regard, he sure had a big house. While Aion and his mother lived on the extreme left side, they still had to walk for two hundred meters to reach the central area and the garden. The sun was just rising, so few people in the mansion were awake. Most of them were servants.


    "I guess my new mother wants to avoid meeting someone. Could it be that guy?" Aion wondered.


    It would be really troublesome if Aion had been born in some troublesome circumstances like he were the result of his father skirt chasing and he already had a wife¡­ but he had a feeling that his mother was too high ss to be a courtesan or the result of a single nightstand.


    Regardless, while Aion''s mother was looking at the flowers in the garden, he looked at the house behind her and then found that it had three floors and too many windows¡­ he assumed that a lot of people lived there¡­ he confirmed that after a while when he saw his father leaving the house alongside four boys and all of them were armed wooden shields and swords.


    "He is so young and already has five sons?" Aion asked. "Does that guy have an urge to take out his pants whenever he finds a prettydy? I wonder if I have inherited hisdy killer genes."

 Chapter 4 Mutation And Evolution

    "Aion, say: mama¡­ ma-ma," Aion''s mother said.


    Aion wondered if it was normal for six-month-old kids to talk in that world or if his mother was that impatient. Anyway, it was good that she looked happy while trying to teach him to talk. Speaking of talking, Aion learned that his mother''s name was Artemisia. The name of his father was Lexus


    Later, he learned that out of those four other kids. Only the oldest was the son of his official wife. The others were kids he had with concubines¡­ It seemed that he had one wife and was satisfied with three concubines, but for whatever reason, he decided to take Artemisia, even though it didn''t look like he loved her.


    "It seems that in this world, such things are normal¡­ well, even on Earth, those who had money could do a lot without worrying about problems," Aion thought. "In a world like this, those who have power and money can ignore rules that apply to most people."


    Regardless, aside from five sons, Aion''s father had three daughters as well¡­ he only saw them from a distance, but they were only a couple of years older than him. The eldest son was five and the eldest daughter was four, and his father was twenty-one¡­ getting so many kids and wives when he was sixteen, no wonder he was so cold to Artemisia.


    "I didn''t see my grandparents until now¡­ are they dead?" Aion asked. "If they are alive, education in this world is rather loose."


    Despite that, Aion heard that his siblings had been studying many things since they were only three years old. Only the eldest son could be the next head of the house if one of the others didn''t try something funny, but all of them had to work to improve the prestige of theirst name. Speaking of previous name, Aion also received his father''s name¡­ he was Aion Kresnik.


    "Dear me¡­ my name is too strong and cool at the same time," Aion thought. "Still, the idea that my path was decided from birth is rather troubling¡­ I will really need a lot of power if I want to break free from such a destiny."


    "I heard that babies stare at nothing a lot, but I wonder how you can do that all day, Aion¡­" Artemisia said.


    Aion was learning quite fast thenguage of that world. It was hard for him to hear sentences now and not understand something from them. As expected, learning a newnguage is all about input.


    Putting that aside, Aion learned more about his system over thest few months. He actually could store things in his inventory, and while they were there, he could process the items and turn them into raw materials and use them to refine his weapons. Levels had apatibility with certain materials, but it wasn''t thatplicated.


    For example, Aion processed a tin cup, and he used the ore to enhance his sword and shield, granting him a bonus of one point in endurance. He was pretty sure he couldn''t gain a point whenever he used that part of the system, though.


    Aion also could make his system absorb some of the items in his inventory, and with that, he could obtain experience for his ss. However, the items had to be simr to the equipment of the ss. Defensive gear for his pdin ss, knives for yer ss, and so on¡­ still, Aion felt troubled when he used some materials, and his mother looked for them for hours¡­


    "This system is quite fun¡­ now then, why the heck do I have it?" Aion pondered about it. "Usually, a god or a goddess would grant those to the heroes who were summoned to save the world¡­ I am pretty sure no one expects a toddler to do that, and since my new father spends a good time training his kids, it doesn''t look like this world is in peril."


    There is also the possibility that someone is nning to use Aion with the system. If that is true, they should have picked someone else¡­ not the soul of a firefighter. Aion was mature enough to know that there were things more important in life than seeking power endlessly.


    In any case, to learn more about that world, Aion tried to grab some books from his and his mother''s room, and when Artemisia realized his interest, she decided to read them for him. Aion sat on herp and then tried to read the words alongside his mother. At first, he didn''t make much progress, but he eventually began to recognize them. At the same time, Aion heard some crazy stories about the people of that world.


    One of them was the story of a famous warrior that could recover from all types of wounds. He was a brawler like no other, and he managed to fight for a full week nonstop against three armies of ten thousand men. He managed to wipe out twenty thousand men by himself, but in the end, he died of starvation since his body didn''t have the nutrients to heal itself after so many times. He was called Irgon, the immortal.


    "You can''t be called like that after your death¡­" Aion frowned.


    Apparently, beings like that were normal in that world, and they weren''t monsters. It was true that some had inhuman traits like extra arms or eyes, some of those they inherited from their parents. However, apparently, anyone could transform or mutate like that if they reach the necessary requirements.


    "This world is really strange¡­" Aion thought.


    While his mother read many stories like that, Aion tried to find something simr in the individuals. However, the only thing that they had inmon was that they were some battle-hungry maniacs. Most of their tales were about them challenging others that seemed stronger or participating in wars. Even to their allies, they were like ticking time bombs. Also, for one reason or the other, few people in that kingdom managed to mutate or evolve like that, and they never reached a level that made them be memorable. At least in terms of strength.


    "Come to think of it¡­ while mother doesn''t look strong, she has this weird aura on her, calm and gentle yet strong. It reminds me of that sensation I had before I got the system¡­" Aion thought. "Is she a descendant of one of those guys¡­ it seems that blond people are rare around these parts, but having a hair of a different color shouldn''t mean anything¡­ still, there is a chance that her bloodline might be the cause that I came to this world¡­ this whole situation seems like pieces of an even bigger puzzle."

 Chapter 5 Fallen Kingdom

    After a few other months, Aion and his mother finally explored the house beyond the areas that they had been before. That happened when the others left the house and only a few servants stayed behind to watch the house. It looked like Aion''s father and the others had been invited to some party. Considering that and other things, Aion assumed that his mother was probably the prisoner of another kingdom. ck  and brown hair were the norm there, Aion confirmed that after seeing all of the servants of the house.


    In any case, despite the rare opportunity, Artemisia only took him to the library to grab a few books before returning as soon as possible. Aion could respect the life of someone who didn''t want to cause problems to anyone, but his mother took that to a whole new level.


    Once they returned to their room, Artemisia began to read a book for him. While he was a bit slow, Aion could read most sentences, but he decided to leave that to his mom.


    A long time ago, a certain group of people began to prosper a lot in that world. Those people were pretty good at magic and they also had good looks that almost reached a supernatural level. They quickly began to decrease in size and in a matter of a few decades, their vige grew to a town, and after a few more decades, it grew to a city.


    What started with a group of ten or so people, turned into thergest empire in the world in just five hundred years. With their talent with magic, they could make things a lot easier. Building things, helping with agriculture¡­ Their magic was useful in many fields. Unfortunately, those people began to getcent, and they began to see themselves as the best people in that world and that everyone should follow them. When things didn''t go their way, they began to wage war against their neighbors. That happened so many times and they still won thanks to their magic, but eventually, they made too many enemies and those enemies joined forces to deal with theirmon enemy.


    That warsted for ten years. All the kingdoms involved lost a lot, but in the end, that magic kingdom was destroyed and the survivors scattered around the world while hiding their identity. Still, even that magic kingdom had a royal family and only one of them managed to survive¡­ she was taken as something like a prisoner to keep the survivors in check and she was taken as a concubine of an young warrior of a prestiged family since many people thought that it would be a waste for her bloodline to disappear. Moreover, if she gives birth to a child, they could make the child with a lot of magic talent loyal to them¡­ that was Artemisia history.


    "It probably is a bit too soon for you to understand that, but nothing goodes from arrogance, Aion," Artemisia said. "Even if you are special, you can''t count on that to force people to listen to you, even if it is for their own good¡­ grow to be someone who can be better than others while respecting them. Be someone who others decide to follow, not someone who forces the others to follow you. You will probably face some hardships because of this, but don''t let the anger control you. Live your own life and be happy. Your mama will endure all the weight of the crimes of our ancestors."


    Artemisia had a point, that wasn''t the kind of thing someone should tell an eight months old kid. In any other situation, a toddler would just drool while looking at her without thinking about anything.


    Regardless, the situation of his new life was moreplicated than expected. His father took his mother as a concubine just to have a child of her¡­ she didn''t love her, probably because he lost a lot of friends during the war, perhaps even his parents as well. It seemed that she could move around the house, otherwise, the servants would tell Lexus about her trip to the library, but that house truly was her prison¡­ Aion hated that. No one should pay for the crimes of their ancestors.


    "I guess one of the first things that I will do in this world is free my mother from this prison¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion had no doubts that his mother was a good person, for over a year, she has been like a caged bird and didn''tin even once. She even epted to bear the child of an unknown man for the sake of atonement for the history of her kingdom¡­ even from the perspective of a former firefighter, she was kind of annoyingly too nice. While that was one of her good points, it was also one of her bad points.


    "I guess my hypothesis was correct¡­ she is from a famous bloodline and so am I by default," Aion thought.


    Aion found his first purpose in that world, now he could focus extra hard to reach it. The only problem was that his leveling up speed decreased, relying on Meditation was rather limiting for his growth and taking things from his house to absorb or process might cause problems to his mother. While he was thinking of what to do, Aion suddenly had an idea.


    Ninja Lv 05


    Health: 20/20


    Mana: 14/14


    Stamina: 20/20


    Strength: 06


    Dexterity: 05


    Magic: 04


    Endurance: 05


    Resistance: 04


    Speed: 06


    Status: 00


    Shuriken Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Furtivity 01 ( Decreased cost Lv 12)


    Passive: Critical Rate Up Lv 01,


    Improvement Points:


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion used the free improvement points that he had in the Ninja ss, and increased the efficiency of Furtivity. It was weird since the weapon of that ss was a shuriken¡­ still, with one of the skills, he could be semi-invisible and since he had no better use of his mana, he decided to try that. The cost of the skill was originally ten mana points per minute, but thanks to the improvement points, it decreased to 8,8.


    "It seems those extra effects can go up to the level of one hundred¡­ it will take a while, but it seems I can nullify the cost of skills," Aion thought.


    At first Aion thought that focusing on using magic as much as possible in the future would be better. That was why he focused on the mage ss and Meditation, but now he decided to be more efficient, if even a little bit.

 Chapter 6 Start

    "Mama, read this book," Aion said while pointing to another book that described the life of another crazy warrior.


    Artemisia frowned since it looked like her son liked the bloody tales too much, but in the end, she said yes with a smile. She just had to censor the bloody scenes.


    For someone as mentally old as Aion, he put a lot of strain on his mind and forced himself quite a bit to call Artemisia mama. Still, she looked so happy when that happened that he decided to endure all that and eventually got used to it.


    Regardless, Aion could read all books by himself, and he could understand almost all the words. Still, since his mother didn''t have much to do, he let her read books for him. Eighteen months had passed since he was born in that world and he got used to that life¡­ the only thing that he missed was the freedom of adult life.


    Since they didn''t have much to do, they spent most of the days reading books, it seemed that even beforeing to that kingdom, his mother didn''t have much freedom, so she really liked reading new books¡­ thanks to that, he felt more motivated to get rid of the shackles of her life.


    During the next eighteen months, Aion studied hard to learn about most things of that kingdom. Common sense, culture, history, daily life, professions. It was hard to get everything he needed to know from books, but he was fairly certain that he got most things. During that time, he learned that he lived in the central area of the Riles kingdom. He also lived in the capital, and his family was one of those who had the longest story of serving the royal family, that was why they had such a big house.


    In thest war, a lot of talented individuals died for numerous reasons, so even though his father was pretty young, he was one of the most important guys in the army. Still, he spent his morning training his sons, and only in the afternoon, he left to work.


    Although magic wasmon, and they even had a magic school, mostly girls went to that ce, and their magic was hardly applicable to the battlefield. So, boys didn''t have much interest in going there and learning. Aion wondered how difficult it must be to grow to be so hard-headed.


    During that time, Aion heard from his mother that he had a path prepared for him. While he wouldn''t be the head of the family, he still could be a high-ranked minion. The real word was official in the army, but Aion decided that minion was more appropriate since he apparently couldn''t do anything else. While in his old life he followed a hierarchy, he chose to follow that, it was different now, and he wasn''t satisfied with things as they were, but he had to y along with it for the time being.


    In any case, once he was able to walk freely, he used some chances when his mother was taking an afternoon nap to explore the house by himself. On the first try, he found a mirror near the living room and finally learned what he looked like. It was pretty good if he could say himself that while he had his father''s ck hair, he had his mother''s crystal blue eyes. He also looked like someone who would grow to be quite robust, but with some fine lines in his face. All in all, he could be someone who would have the best of both worlds: cool and handsome.


    Aion felt bad about them, but among the kids of that house, it looked like he would truly grow to be quite the guy, at least in terms of looks. That made him feelplicated since he was average in his old life, and the idea of obtaining so many things without paying a price bothered him.


    During those explorations, Aion found all the members of his family, aside from his father. He already knew that, but Aion and his mother were really in a bad spot in that house. The other concubines and wife of his father really disliked him, and they didn''t try to hide that they were also teaching their kids to dislike him. He could only shrug since the mothers were jealous of Artemisia''s good looks. Still, Aion felt bothered since they were transmitting their bad feelings to their children.


    Regardless, Lexus'' official wife was really pretty, perhaps only one or two levels below his mother, but her face of utter disgust spoiled all of her beauty and high-ss air around her. It was a pity since she also was a green-eyed woman who had light brown hair that looked red against some lights, and Aion had a weak spot against redheads and gingers. Still, somehow, that expression of utter disgust stillbined well with her¡­


    Since the first encounters ended like that, Aion decided to use Furtivity whenever he saw them getting close. As long as he doesn''t move, he pretty much bes invisible, after all. Thanks to that, he explored the house many times without being bothered. The servants frowned, though. Since they never saw Aion crossing the house. From their perspective, he teleported from one ce to another.


    On the day of his third birthday, Lexus showed up in their room. He asionally showed up every few months, but he never said anything. He just looked at Aion and analyzed his growth.


    "Can he understand everything that I say?" Lexus asked.


    "Yes," Artemisia replied. "He can speak fluently, and he can also read, although not out loud."


    That was something that Aion had tried too hard, but as expected, his mother wasn''t stupid and could tell that he was reading when he was staring at the books instead of listening to her words at times.


    "That is hard to believe¡­ Nevertheless, he is old enough to do some basic training," Lexus said. "Considering his future, that can''t be dyed. Our family has to stand out in the military from the very beginning if they want to be respected. We can''t rely solely on our name for that."


    That was reasonable, but it would have been more convincing if his father didn''t say that in a high and mighty manner. Lexus worked hard to reach the position in the kingdom where he was standing, but he didn''t work much with hismunication skills and humbleness. That was amon problem with some people in the military. Mainly leaders who spent years having their orders followed no matter what for many years.


    "From tomorrow onward, you are going to be trained by me, and you will join your half-brothers. Do you understand that?" Lexus asked.


    Aion was a man¡­ in the body of a boy. Still, he wondered what would happen if he said no in that situation. Challenging others and difficult situations was in his blood. After all. His father needed to be corrected, but things probably would get worse if he rushed ahead.


    "Yes," Aion said.


    "Wake him up early and bring him to the garden tomorrow," Lexus said.


    While Aion had leveled up his sses quite a bit over the years, learning actualbat techniques and obtaining experience through real training would be pretty valuable, so he couldn''t miss that chance, either. In any case, after saying that, Lexus left.


    "Aion, you are such a brave and cute boy!" Artemisia said while she hugged her son from behind and swung him from one side to the other.


    Although his mother stayed in that room most of the day, she still had the sweet fragrance of the flowers in the garden. Putting that aside, Aion didn''t like when he was treated like a Roly-poly toy like that.

 Chapter 7 Training

    When Aion showed up the next day in the garden, the others hadn''t arrived yet. His mother told him to get earlier to show his determination and seriousness to his father. It didn''t seem like she hated him, but after the brief exchange of the previous day, he realized that his father didn''t want to interact with his mother much. It also didn''t look like he hated her that much because of the war¡­


    In any case, Aion was supposed to receive some training gear from his father, and he saw him carrying a wooden shield and sword. It was a rather boring start from the basics, but it couldn''t be helped¡­ even though his half brothers already have a real shield and practice swords made of iron. Aion wondered if that wouldn''t mess with their bodies since too much strain would make them stop growing, but that was a world of magic¡­ maybe some rules weren''t absolute there.


    "Your job is to run around the garden until you fall," Lexus said while passing to him the shield and sword. "I will determine when you are ready for the next step. Carry those, and don''t drop them."


    That was worse than Aion had expected. Still, he decided to follow that order since he could finally use his body properly and because he had the right skill and ss for the job. Cutting corners when ites to training wasn''t a good idea. Still, that would help him more than just doing the usual way. It would be more efficient as well.


    Monk Lv 09


    Health: 28/28


    Mana: 16/16


    Stamina: 44/44


    Strength: 06


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 04


    Endurance: 08


    Resistance: 04


    Speed: 11


    Status: 00


    Gauntlets Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Palm Strike Lv 01


    Passive: Physical Training Lv 01


    Improvement Points:


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    With the Monk ss, Aion could train his stamina with physical training. Basically, whatever he does that requires his stamina will improve that skill, and each level would increase his stamina by five points. It was one of the things that he could do without mana that would help him level up his ss.


    When Aion began to run, he waited until he reached the other side of the mansion when no one was looking at him to change his job and then hide the gauntlets. Thanks to his parameters, Aion didn''t have a hard time jogging around the mansion for twenty minutes without breaking a sweat despite his short legs. While jogging, he used only one stamina point per minute, and he re could recover exactly that every minute as well¡­


    Aion felt refreshed while feeling his father looking at him and frowning at the same time. Kids are supposed to be full of energy, but they get bored easily after doing the same thing over and over again.


    Although Aion''s stamina was holding up, after half an hour, his muscles began to hurt a bit¡­ it was only expected that something like that would happen¡­ Still, to think that it would be that bad¡­ it was probably because it was the first time he moved his body that much. Since it was the first day, Aion pushed himself a bit more. However, he had to stop for one hour since his legs stopped obeying him.


    "Massage your legs like this and once they are fine again, continue moving," Lexus said.


    His father taught him how to make his muscles rx, and then they began to recover faster. Overdoing on the first day didn''t seem like a good idea, but Aion also agreed that he should train his willpower from an early age. Thest three years had been way toofortable for him.


    In the end, Aion managed to pull another full hour before breakfast. Unfortunately, he had to stop after that¡­ his father told him to rest for the day and then return tomorrow at the same hour. Since Physical Training reached level three, Aion was satisfied by the day. After that single day, when it came to the Monk ss, Aion''s stamina jumped from 44 to 72. So, he rested, feeling more than a bit aplished.


    "Maybe I should use Heal tomorrow and see if it can alleviate the muscr pain, even if my health was full the whole time, it should be useful to some extent," Aion thought.


    Priest Lv 09


    Health: 20/20


    Mana: 53/53


    Stamina: 20/20


    Strength: 05


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 12


    Endurance: 05


    Resistance: 12


    Speed: 16


    Status: 00


    Wand Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Heal Lv 01


    Passive: Mana UP Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 27


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "Until now, I wasn''t able to level up the skills, but if they show any effect, that should change," Aion thought.


    The next day, Aion realized while he was running around the mansion that his mother was hiding in a window and watching everything. She truly looked like a caged bird that always wanted to see that small hope of light in her life¡­ At least she looked happy. Aion also realized that some others were also looking at the boys'' training, mainly their mothers and sisters waiting for them to have breakfast.


    "For the time being, I need to focus on the discrimination against my mother¡­ I should start small and solve things here, in the house," Aion thought.

 Chapter 8 Persistence

    In the end, Aion confirmed that Heal could alleviate some of his muscle pain. Most of that was caused because of damaged and overworked muscles, so it made sense. Thanks to that, he managed to train for a while longer. After the first week, he could run for two hours and continue after breakfast. Naturally, he was putting a lot of strain on his muscles, but he could feel them getting stronger as well.


    The Monk ss has reached level ten.


    The skill Wolf Fang can now be used.


    Wolf Fang: A sequence of powerful strikes that hit the enemy''s head from above and below.


    Cost: 05 stamina.


    "Well, it seems more skills can be learned once the sses reach certain levels¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Regardless, it is getting hard again to level up the sses."


    Considering that he was only doing basic training, it wasn''t that surprising for Aion. His impatience was getting the better of him. Still, he learned a lot thanks to the books of the house, including that in such a world, monsters existed alongside dungeons.


    Their existence was weird since dungeons appeared naturally and in areas with high concentrations of mana. Monsters were lured to those ces, and they were fed by the dungeon core''s mana, and with that, they could reproduce insanely fast. Unless they are dealt with fast, any dungeon could create an army of monsters in a matter of days.


    What was even weirder was the fact that their apparitions were good for the economy of the world since many of the monsters could be used for their meat, hide, bones, and other body parts.


    Regardless, eventually, Aion was able to jog the entire morning, and the muscle pains weren''t that hard to deal with. Still, even though he did that for six months, his father told him to keep doing that¡­ he only changed his training equipment for something a bit heavier and also told him to wear a simple helmet and small chainmail.


    At least Aion reached the level of his half-brothers when it came to gear. That being said, for someone of his height and age, adding all that many things to carry during training sure pushed him to the limits. Aion wondered if he should increase his strength since Monk was leveling up faster again, but that would slow down the training and level up speed¡­ in the end, he only sharpened his resolve and endured all that.


    "Aion, let me heal you," Artemisia said when Aion returned from the training.


    "Thank you, mama," Aion said while forcing a tired smile.


    "I never understood why boys are so dead set on bing stronger physically. Using magic can make anyone stronger, and you don''t have to damage your body like this¡­" Artemisia said while looking at the callus on her son''s feet.


    That was the thinking of the sole heir of a magic kingdom. Still, while Aion wouldn''t abandon any method to make himself stronger, that kind of training really makes one mind and body stronger. There is that saying: one drop of sweat dropped in training is one less drop of blood lost in battle¡­ Aion''s father disappeared for a few days while the kids trained by themselves, and he assumed that he had gone to fight. That happened at least twice a month, so Aion knew that things weren''t all that pacific in the kingdom.


    " In real life, you can fight two ways: fight fair or fight to win. I will do my best to be a winner and use everything at my disposal for that," Aion thought.


    Artemisia''s magic made Aion feel pretty rxed, so it didn''t take long for him to fall asleep. That same thing happened many times after training. Eventually, Aion realized that despite the harshness of the training, he still was growing normally. He had never watched them all that much before, but his half-brothers also trained hard every day, and they were growing normally.


    "I wonder if it is because of that stuff about evolution and transformation¡­" Aion wondered.


    Aion wondered if he should test that somehow, but using his own young body seemed like a bad idea¡­ he couldn''t use others either. So, that was a thought that he decided to leave forter.


    Regardless, around the time Aion was four, his father ran out of gear for him to carry while running. While he tried to hide that as much as possible, he looked a bit troubled by the fact that Aion neverined and was that hardworking. Even his oldest kidsined sometimes, but they stopped doing that when they saw someone younger enduring the same training that theyined of doing so many times.


    Aion felt that he hadpleted the basic training too early, perhaps one or two years sooner than his father expected. He confirmed that when one week passed and the training didn''t change. He was probably thinking that perhaps it was too soon for Aion to learnbat techniques.


    Aion disagreed with that, so he decided to practice in his room the moves that he saw his half brothers doing. The stances as well. How to parry, block, how to dodge to the side, roll and then counter-attack¡­ It wasn''t hard to copy, but it was hard to say if he was truly making progress without sparring.


    "Well, at least Pdin ss is leveling up," Aion thought.


    The Pdin ss has reached level ten.


    The skill Shield Swing can now be used.


    Shield Swing: A powerful vertical attack aimed at the head of the enemy that might stun them.


    Cost: 05 stamina.


    Pdin Lv 10


    Health: 56/56


    Mana: 24/24


    Stamina: 20/20


    Strength: 14


    Dexterity: 05


    Magic: 06


    Endurance: 14


    Resistance: 06


    Speed: 05


    Status: 0


    Sword and Shield Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Double Strike Lv 01, Shield Swing Lv 01,


    Passive: Shield Mastery Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 27


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    After thinking for those four years, Aion assumed that he should level the sses equally. However, he should have at least three preferential sses and get used to them in order for those to be his safety when something unexpected happens. Pdin was probably the one who granted him the most defensive power, and since he was training with that kind of simr gear every day, it goes without saying that it will be one of the main ones.


    "The real issue is the others¡­ mana will determine for how long I can fight¡­ So maybe, I should pick the archer ss," Aion thought. "As for the final one, I should pick Ninja or yer for movement speed."


    The good thing about Ninja ss was the fact that the shuriken always returned. Meanwhile, the yer ss had Dash, even though the weapon was a short knife¡­ That kind of weapon didn''t suit Aion. So, he had a time choosing between them, but in the end¡­

 Chapter 9 Choice

    In the end, Aion decided to choose the yer ss and then practice Dash as much as possible.


    yer Lv 09


    Health: 28/28


    Mana: 12/12


    Stamina: 52/52


    Strength: 06


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 03


    Endurance: 08


    Resistance: 03


    Speed: 15


    Status: 05


    Knife Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Dash Lv 01,


    Passive: Knife Mastery Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 27


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Since Dash increased his movement speed by five percent per level, Aion wondered how fast he could be one day¡­ it woulde with an insane cost in stamina, though. In any case, before he had the chance to train that, Aion had a surprise the next day.


    "From today onwards, you will attend the sses with the battle instructor that teaches your siblings tactics forrge-scale battles and the small ones," Lexus dered. "Your mother will teach you some etiquette as well since she is already teaching you history."


    Aion didn''t know if he was informed of that by his mother or by someone else. Either way, he didn''t look angry since it was something he had to learn eventually for the sake of his future job. Come to think of it, Aion wondered where his half-brothers spent their afternoons¡­ they left the mansion once or twice per week, but only that. They have been receiving quite the education since an early age¡­ their behavior toward Aion''s mother was probably their only shoring.


    "You should have lunch with us from this day onward, and then you will go to the library to have the lessons," Lexus said.


    "I am fine with having lunch alongside mother in our room," Aion said.


    "I see¡­ suit yourself," Lexus said.


    Aion thought that his father would at leas try to give him an order or something, but he gave up rather easily. It didn''t look like he was giving his special treatment, it was more like he knew that Aion could decide that kind of thing for himself¡­ or perhaps even him wouldn''t take a child from the arms of their mother more than he has to.


    On the first day of the tactics lessons, Aion only received a book and was told to read by an old man who had two scars in his face. All of his hair was turned white, so he looked a pretty wise retired warrior. In any case, Aion''s father recognized his mind, but he didn''t recognize the strength of his body, so learning new techniques will have to wait.


    In any case, the book that Aion had to read only had basic stuff. When ites to small battles, leading a small steam while taking the front was good to raise morale. However, against an enemy that was too numerous, that was close to suicide.


    The book told Aion to consider and keep an eye on many things during fights. The terrain, the situation of his allies and of the enemies. The weather, what kind of weapons they used and so on. Simple stuff easy to remember. When everyone finished reading the books, the instructor began to ask questions and those gave the wrong answer had to pay fifty push ups. Aion felt bad for his half brothers since they had to do that pretty often. As for him, he had an easy time answering the questions. It was practically unfair since he was an adult and knew how to study.


    During the first week, the instructor ended up repeating the questions many times in order for the kids to engrave the knowledge in their hearts. That might save their lives one day¡­ and the lives of others as well. Without soldiers, the number of things that high rankedmanders could do was limited.


    One day, when he was heading to the library, Aion saw his sisters leaving the ce. Despite their situation, they got along well. It also seemed that they were studying something, Aion assumed that it was magic, but he didn''t find such books in the library.


    "I read some stories about femalemanders who were also wizards¡­ It seems like people here don''t ept women as ordinary soldiers, but aplished magicians was another thing altogether," Aion thought.


    The most famous mage could make rain fireballs on several armies or change the enviroment of a battefleild to help their allies¡­ it was kind of surprising. One would need a shit ton of mana to do that. Even with the system, Aion could only fire fifteen or so Fireballs, not like he had the chance to try at his home.


    "Well, it looks like this is a middle-ages society, so it is only obvious that nobles would make their daughters learn magic instead of forcing them to train like boys," Aion thought. "Things should be different among ordinary people."


    Aion also heard about some groups of mercenaries joining battles and they epted everyone. Speaking of which, Aion read the book about a famous mercenary woman who used knives to fight¡­ and she had six arms. That was certainly an opponent that he didn''t want to deal with.


    Aion found himself imagining a battle agaisnt an opponent trying to stab him with six knives. She probably could use two of them to block a sword or any other weapon strike and then attack Aion with the others.


    "Guns of Babylon!" Aion imagined himself firing dozens of fireballs toward the enemy. "As expected, magic cane in handy in this kind of situation. I can''t wait to replicate such a thing while saying the same words."


    Aside from those changes in his routine, Aion began to learn etiquette from his mother. He couldn''t deny that it was one of the most boring things to learn¡­ how act noblish and pompous. Still, he hide his thoughts from his mother. She had fun teaching him that and more about history and since those things he learned after a few tries, the lessons were ending quite fast.


    Since his days were filled with training and study, Aion lost the notion of time, and in the blink of an eye, he became five years old and then he heard some news regarding his family¡­

 Chapter 10 Next Step

    Although he only met and greeted them a few times with good mornings and good afternoons, Aion was called by his father to say goodbye to two of his elder and half sisters. They were ten years old and they were heading to the magic school. In order for the students to learn and improve as much as possible, they had to live in the dormitory of the magic school and return home once a week.


    "That is weird¡­ if they were learning magic, I guess they only could learn the very basics using books," Aion thought.


    At that point in time, Lexus'' wife and concubines had gotten used to Aion walking around the house and since it was tiresome to look at him with digust and anger, they began to ignore him. That was greatly appreciated¡­ moreover, two of them were crying while watching the girls going away in the carriages. It wasn''t like they were going to another kingdom and they would be back in six days, but then again, Aion couldn''t think like that since he wasn''t a mother.


    Soon enough, those mothers were going to feel like that again because soon their boys also were going to be ten years old and they could join the army as helpers and apprentices of somemands. Usually, they would be literal aids of themanders, serving them food, cleaning their clothes and simr things. However, due to the rank of the Kresnik family, they would focus on learning more things rted to the job.


    "In one week, we are going to depart and clear a low ranked dungeon," Lexus dered. "You two havepleted your basic training, but you arecking when ites to realbat experience, use this chance to learn as much as possible and prepare yourselves ordingly."


    asionally, some dungeons would be left alone because they would be easily destroyed if people wanted. Still, to boost the economy of the kingdom, such practices were necessary.


    Putting that aside, Aion finally has the chance to fight monsters, but he was pretty sure that his father and older half brothers would do most of the fighting. Still, there is no such thing as wasted experience.


    "Mama, we are going to a dungeon in one week, is it far away?" Aion asked.


    "Already, huh¡­ I don''t know the specifics, but it seems that it is only three hours away from the capital," Artemisia replied.


    "Mama¡­ why can''t you leave the house?" Aion asked.


    "I thought it would take a while for you to ask that, don''t worry, though. Your father won''t let anything harm you," Artemisia replied. "He is a bit too serious, but he doesn''t dislike his children¡­ As for me, there are a lot of people that hates my ancestors and family. Many of them want to see me dead. The king ordered your father to protect me and to make that clear, I became part of his family."


    "But you can''t leave, even while being part of the family?" Aion asked.


    "Yes¡­ there is a small chance that people might try to do something to me despite your father''s influence," Artemisia said. "Moreover, the king dered that I should stay here all the time to prevent the incidents that might revive the memories of those that participated in the war."


    The king¡­ thatplicated things. The Kresnik family was pretty famous, but it wasn''t one of the most powerful and couldn''t even bepared to the royal family. They had a story of fifteen hundred years, after all. Aion''s first goal finally encountered its first obstacle, but he wouldn''t give up with only that much.


    Usually, a king couldn''t change his mind without a good reason, so Aion had to find that good reason¡­ still, his options were limited as of now. He will have to keep doing the usual until he finds some clues to help him with his first goal.


    Aion studied and trained diligently until the day of the trip. After not so long, Lexus and the boys of the house were in front of the gate of the mansion. It was the second time that he had crossed the walls of the mansion, but he forgot to pay attention to the surroundings. Actually, there wasn''t much to see aside from a few mansions that were a bit smaller than Lexus'', they were on the central part and high-ss district of the capital, after all.


    All of the buildings were made of high quality stones that made Aion recall a darker and more durable type of marble. Truth to be told, he didn''t have interest on the life of those who were rich, still, he frowned when his father said that they would walk to the dungeon¡­ he treated everything like a good chance of training.


    After a couple of minutes, the group managed to see gold and blue castle in the distance. It was massive, it was practically as big as an town that could have ten thousand ihabitants. It also had some silvers walls that were insanely tall and there were towers nearby and in many points that could be used for defense purposes.


    "It seems that someone with the ego on the same size as Jupiter and Gigalmesh''s arrogance build that¡­" Aion thought.


    After a few more minutes, they reached themercial district of the town and while most shops were closed due to the time of the day, Aion managed to see a lot of things. cksmiths, inns, taverns, libraries, clothing shops¡­ no wonder that was thergest city of the kingdom. Aion was nning to use that to make a lot of money, he just needed to think of an efficienty way, once he has enough time. He was pretty sure that gold could influence the system, but he didn''t know how yet.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 11 Dungeon

    Most buildings of the capital were only one store tall, and the roads, buildings, and even the sewers had been well designed to show a pretty and organized capital.


    The walls around the capital surrounded the whole ce, and they were fifty meters tall. While Aion had heard of some creatures that could fly, their numbers were small. The number of people that developed that skill in one way or the other was even smaller¡­ Still, that might have been built at a time when enemies that could fly over the wall were more numerous.


    "sasageyo sasageyo, shinzou wo sasageyo, subete no gisei wa ima kono toki no tame ni¡­ I have watched too much anime¡­" Aion thought and then sighed. "I can''t help but recall that song whenever I see a tall wall."


    When they crossed the gates, Aion saw many soldiers saluting his father¡­ they even had that costume in that world. In any case, Aion''s siblings were too quiet that day. He thought that they would mess with him since he was the smallest of the group and had been standing out a lottely, but they didn''t do anything, even after they left the capital.


    Aion wondered if they wanted to leave a good impression on their father. Although their positions couldn''t bepared to the children of the official wife, the other three couldpete amongst themselves to achieve and gain more things by working with their father. For that to be possible, they had to show to him what they could do.


    Aside from some roads that split into all directions, Aion could see a lot of vegetation in all directions. It seemed that the capital hadn''t been attacked in a long while, so Aion wondered why people hated his mother''s lineage that much¡­ Come to think of it, he was supposed to receive some of that hate, but he didn''t notice anything out of the norm¡­ perhaps it was because his father was with him. If that were the case, it would be hard for Aion to make money since most people might want to stay away from him.


    Regardless, after moving for another hour, they reached an area where they could see pretty tall in the distance, and they also found a couple of guards there¡­ It seemed that it was the dungeon. Since only two guards were guarding the ce, Aion assumed that it would be a cake in the walk, but dropping his guard would be foolish.


    "Sir, we received word that you woulde," One of the soldiers said. "No one has entered the dungeon in thest three days."


    "Good work. We will do some clean-up then," Lexus said.


    That was more than enough time for some monsters to spawn and take their ce. Therger the dungeon, the more powerful the core, and the more powerful the core, the more monsters are spawned per day. Still, Lexus unsheathed his long sword like he was going to do something simple. There was no tension on him¡­. Speaking of gear, Aion and the others were still carrying their training equipment. While the eldest had iron swords, they had no des¡­ they could cause serious damage, but cutting flesh was impossible.


    "Don''t get too close, nor don''t get too far away from me," Lexus said and then grabbed a stick on the ground and enveloped it with a piece of old clothing that was in his backpack. "Henri will hold the torch, and Philip will carry my backpack."


    Aion never heard the names of his half brothers or sisters. He introduced himself once and since he was ignored, he decided to do the same. Still, after some years, he wondered if it was fine to let those kids grow to be like that. He could let them grow ignorant to many things, or he could be an adult and try to teach them how to be better¡­


    That was a tough matter¡­ they were his siblings now, and Aion didn''t have any in his previous life. Despite them being little pricks, shouldn''t he help them when their mothers didn''t know how to raise kids without passing through them their bias? Or should he wait things way worse with puberty?


    "This will be hell if they continue to grow like this until their puberty¡­" Aion thought. "This might be a bonus, but if I y my cards right, they might help me deal with my main problem¡­ the fact that my mother is a prisoner."


    While Aion was thinking such things, Lexus guided the whole group toward the dungeon. The entrance was small, only three meters tall and two wide, but the path ahead widened quite fast.


    "They are already close by, inside a dungeon, don''t rely only on your eyes," Lexus said. "Monsters can cross the distance that the mes can illuminate in the blink of an eye¡­ I will do it slowly so you all can see it."


    Aion decided to be surprised, so he didn''t ask what kind of monsters they would find there, so he blinked several times when he saw a three meters tall bear¡­ a green bear. Aion truly wanted to understand howe their fur could turn into like that¡­ he could only guess that the answer was magic.


    The beast ran toward Lexus like it was a mad dog and with its paws ready to rip apart his head from his body. However, in a fluid motion, when the ws moved to his head, he dodged to the side, and then the monster''s ws passed a few centimeters away from his left arm. At the same time, he swung his sword downward and cut off everything below the left forearm of the creature.


    "HUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH!" The green bear grunted in pain while it was trembling.


    "When ites to monsters, it is hard to pierce their vitals due to their fur and hide, so you should focus on weakening them by preventing them from using their weapons," Lexus said. "Once you do that, everything will be a lot easier."


    That was quite the bloody thing for a five-year-old to learn¡­ That world definitely wasn''t a peaceful one. Considering the history of that world, the math checks out.

 Chapter 12 Combat Lessons

    Instead of letting the monster bleed to death, Lexus thought that he should use some other methods to kill monsters. Still, he changed his mind when he noticed that Aion was paying too much attention. It was better to leave that lesson forter.


    "Those creatures are called the numbing ws, their ws have that kind of effect," Lexus said. "You can sell them directly to doctors or some middlemen. Despite that ability, their meat can be eaten just fine."


    That was good to know, but Aion wondered if it was fine to say that while the monster was alive. The creature was going to die of bleeding, but¡­ before he could think of anything else, Aion heard sole gruntsing from the interior of the dungeon and he wasn''t the only one who noticed that.


    "Two more iing¡­ Lesson two: when fighting agaisnt more than one enemy at the same time, focus on defense," Lexus said. "Don''t let them surround you and don''t waste a good chance for a counterattack."


    The monsters didn''te together, so Lexus had the chance on how to use that to his advantage. He strengthened his stance and when the first enemy approached, he dodged to the side and hit the right leg of the monster and hitting an artery with the bare use of movement. It was almost urate to say that the enemy threw its leg against the sword.


    "Don''t use big swings, focus onpact ones, the trick to win a battle against numbers is to cause damage without being damaged," Lexus said and then blocked the attack of the second monster with the tip of his sword. "Even if you are weaker than the opponent, as long as your defensive stance is firm, you can gain some leverage against them. Still, this kind of action can only work if you don''t hesitate and think fast."


    Lexus was a silent man, at least in front of Aion and his mother. Despite that, he was a good teacher. Since his methods were based on realbat, they could be as efficient as possible. In any case, one of the monsters lost the mobility of its legs and the other could only attack with a single arm. Lexus had an even easier time dodging and aiming at the legs of the monsters again. Once they could only walk, Lexus thrust his sword at their hearts insanely fast and he didn''t feel any resistance.


    "I bet I could get some nice bonuses by making the system absorb and process those bodies, but I can''t do that while there are others around," Aion thought. "For the time being, I should focus on these lessons."


    Aion has been training in secret, but thanks to those few fights, he realized that he had a lot¡­ A lot to learn. It was only natural since in that world, many types ofbat styles had been sharpened over hundreds of years.


    One of the most important things that Aion learned was the importance of his legs. While he didn''t attack with them, they determined many things in fights. His movement speed, the power to do small movements that change the entire flow of the battle, it even helps him absorb some blunt damage. No wonder his father made him run so much¡­ He probably should try to run at full speed instead of jogging. That would make his Lower body stronger.


    "Unfortunately, I can''t run all day and I need to practice those swings and how he controls his upper body," Aion thought.


    While he was teaching his kids the fundamentals of fighting with sword and shield, Lexus actually used long swords to fight and he didn''t look like he was using a style. He was either self taught or a style developed to make people develop their own techniques¡­ That was a bit disappointing. It would have been really cool if his family on the father''s side had some special and secret techniques. Still, Aion was special enough considering the side of his mother.


    "Speaking of which, I wonder why mother didn''t try to teach me magic¡­" Aion thought.


    Putting that aside, Aion resumed his focus on the actions and words of his father. His half brothers also looked pretty focused since it wasn''t every day that they could see their father fight. Rather than in one month of training, they felt that they improved a lot on that single day filled with practical lessons.


    Aside from what he had learned, Aion memorized many other things. How to parry direct and long ranged attacks, how charge and make the enemy lose their bnce by avoiding a total impact on the moment of attack. He even taught his kids how to dismantle monster bodies and clean their weapons from the blood and guts property.


    "That is all the basics that I can teach you all, from this day on, you should develop your own fighting style ording to your talents," Lexus said. "We use that kind of free training method because our family never wasted the potential of our generations. Look for the weapons that better suit yourselves and do your best to improve with them every day."


    That didn''t sound like something Lexus would usually say, that day had been filled with surprises and they weren''t over yet.


    "Although I said that, there is only one technique that we pass down on our family, once you master it, you will be considered a real warrior by me," Lexus said. "Watch closely."


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 13 Inner Force

    "We call this Inner Force, and once you can control all sources of energy inside your body, you''ll be able to use it," Lexus said and then took a deep breath.


    Before long, Lexus'' aura began to change, and it felt like something ominous was surrounding him. Still, soon he opened his eyes and led the boys toward the final part of the dungeon. In there, they found the dungeon core and dozens of monsters guarding it. The creatures charged at them, and the kids grabbed their training swords.


    However, all of a sudden, Lexus disappeared and then appeared behind the monsters. They stopped moving before they fell to the ground while their blood was gushing from numerous wounds in his body. Aion thought that his father had used the judgment cut end¡­ if he had seen after images moving to his father, he would have confirmed that it was that skill. However, Inner Force wasn''t that broken¡­ Lexus broke the limit of his strength by only a few levels.


    "Control all of your energy inside your body and let it burn, then you will be a lot stronger than you are," Lexus said. "However, this skill is costly in many ways. If you use it too long, your body will be damaged inside out."


    He only used it for an instant, but Lexus began to sweat a lot¡­ In the meantime, his kids sure were surprised. That demonstration of power was awe-inspiring and motivated them to train even more. In any case, Aion didn''t know what kind of energy his father was mentioned; it seemed like the type of the skill that burns even the life force of the user¡­ so perhaps even consumes their health¡­ since he looked a bit tired, it definitely consumed his stamina. So, it would be weird if it didn''t finish his mana as well.


    Since Aion could use his mana and stamina, it seemed that he wasn''t that far away from learning the technique. However, he was pretty sure he would need to control it, not use it only. Nevertheless, he had some time to learn all that since he was only five years old.


    After that, the group returned to the capital, and once again, Aion felt that it was such a waste to leave the corpses of the monsters behind. Once he is fast enough, he is determined to return to the dungeon at night and, by using furtivity, cross the entire area without being seen. However, that also will take a while.


    "I will continue to watch over your training, but things in the borders are getting tougher, so it won''t be the same as before," Lexus said. "Also, you should think more about your own training methods; I will just point out the things that you should fix."


    The boys nodded before entering the mansion. Around the time he was cleaning himself, Aion wondered if he would get ahead of his brothers in terms of knowledge, considering that he was the youngest. The fact that he had the experience of his previous life was a plus, but that would never help him learn Inner Force faster than the others.


    It was hard to imagine his father favoring him over the others, so he assumed that it was a technique that he wasn''t going to learn anytime soon and he would need a lot more training andbat experience to pull it off.


    "How was the trip, Aion? Did you have fun?" Artemisia asked when he returned.


    "Kind of, we just observed things, mama," Aion replied. "We didn''t do anything aside from walking and watching."


    "My, how brave of you to want to face those scary monsters," Artemisia said while hugging Aion from behind and treating him like a Roly-poly toy again.


    At that point in time, Aion got used to it, so he was wondering how he should optimize his training methods now. From that day on, he could use the training gear to practice the techniques that he had learned. Practice makes it perfect, and Aion also wanted to be able to use the skill of the system without using the system. It would be very helpful if he could use Fireball without being equipped with the mage ss as well, but one step at a time.


    The next day, the boys began to train in the garden while Lexus just observed them. For starters, Aion decided to run around the house as fast as he could. In the end, he ended up exhausting his stamina several times before he began to practice his training sword and shield. His father never used those, but he saw the times his half-brothers used them and weren''t told by their father that their moves were wrong, so he copied them.


    After copying some simple moves, Aion noticed that his stamina was back toplete, and he wondered if he should run again or use his Pdin skills. In the end, he decided to use the skills to get a good feeling about them and activate those without the system in the future.


    Double Strike and Shield Swing weren''t that hard to pull off. The first was just a diagonal sword strike followed by a vertical swing of the shield, and the other mimicked the final move of the first skill, but it had all his weight behind it. Lexus frowned when he saw that since it wasn''t abination that he had taught Aion or that he had seen¡­ Moreover, since it was a skill of the system, it was perfectly executed with no wasted movements whatsoever.


    After that, Aion tried to execute the skills by himself, and while he copied the same moves, they didn''t have the same sharpness as before. Thus, Lexus thought that his son got lucky on his first try. In any case, during that week, Aion kept practicing those skills and techniques almost nonstop.


    Since his battle tactics instructor was running out of books to give him to read, he made him read the old ones to make sure that he didn''t forget the knowledge that he had obtained. Aion thought that he could use his afternoons for himself again, but it looked like he had to put that aside for now. He was pretty sure that there were other tactics books that he could read out there, but the battle tactics instructor was focusing on the small-scale ones for the time being.


    "Father, how can I try to use other weapons?" Aion asked on a random morning.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 14 Armory

    Since Aion wanted to get used to his sses, even though he wanted to specialize in only a few ones, he had to practice the use of many weapons. Until he reaches a point where he will know why he had those sses and why those weapons appeared all of a sudden, he had to be careful with their use, and making them appear all of a sudden didn''t seem like a good idea¡­ at least until he can either exin it well or ignore the opinions of most people that might find him questionable.


    Considering his origins, most things that Aion might do would be looked at with weird eyes by the people who hated his mother and her ancestors. Truth to be told, he couldn''t care less about the opinion of people hellbent on revenge, but some things had to be considered carefully while he was five years old.


    "We have an armory in the back of the house," Lexus said. "There are many dangerous weapons there, so don''t go without me or without the battle tactics instructor."


    Aion nodded, and then his father guided him to the armory. He had seen a warehouse-looking building attached to the back of the mansion, but he didn''t have any reason to check it until now. After a while, Aion and his father reached the armory, and they found several sets of armor, weapons, shields, and other equipment.


    Aion found numerous swords, but he wondered if the samurai ss could work well with them¡­ Still, for the time being, he decided to take a short spear. It was another way for him to train meleebat, but with a middle ranged weapon.


    "Do you know how to use that?" Lexus asked.


    "In the books that the battle tactics instructor makes us read, some of them mention several types of techniques and stances with several types of weapons," Aion replied. "I only have to put them to practice."


    Inside his mind, Aion clicked his tongue when he turned around and saw his father looking at him¡­ that wasn''t how a five-year-old boy was supposed to talk, but in the end, he rxed too much, and that happened.


    Spearman Lv 09


    Health: 34/34


    Mana: 16/16


    Stamina: 52/52


    Strength: 10


    Dexterity: 13


    Magic: 04


    Endurance: 07


    Resistance: 04


    Speed: 13


    Status: 00


    Spear Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Quick Spear Lv 01,


    Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 27


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Considering the skills of the Spearman ss, Aion decided to build it, at least at first, with a super quick attack ss. Once he changed his ss to that, he felt a lot morefortable holding the short spear, probably because of the Spear Mastery skill. In any case, once he returned to the garden, he noticed that his half-brothers looked a bit bothered and interested in what he did.


    "They always follow things by the book. That is why they never tried different weapons¡­ they are too scared to disappoint our father by showing a pathetic demonstration of skill with other weapons," Aion thought.


    Practice makes it perfect¡­ and makes things easier. That gives room tofort, andfort brings room tocency. Those kids were training hard every day, but they weren''t challenging themselves that much. They had no idea that the time for them to challenge things was when they were young. Things get a lot harder once they get old. People began to be afraid of losing what they obtained in their lives, and that made them unable to challenge themselves¡­


    At first, Aion just practiced thrust attacks imagining a dummy in front of him and then aiming at its vitals. Soon enough, he learned that it was quite hard to attack like that. He had to use his wrists and shoulders to give his spear stability and uracy. He had to use the muscles of his back to give it power, and his arms had to be flexible enough to have speed.


    Quick Spear granted Aion five percent extra attack speed per level at the cost of ten points of mana, and it couldst a full minute. When he tried that, he noticed some progress, but it was minimal¡­ He would have to use that to progress a bit faster while learning the basics.


    After one week, Aion was finally getting the hang of the weapon, and then his father dropped a bombshell.


    "You should spar with your brothers," Lexus said. "You aren''t a master, but they don''t have experience fighting spear users. This should be a good spar. Georges, you are up."


    George was the fourth youngest of the boys, but he still was three years older than Aion. That wasn''t much of a difference, Aion couldn''t see himself losing, but he didn''t want to crush the hopes and shatter the confidence of a shield. He couldn''t allow himself to lose to a kid either¡­ So, he could only aim for a draw.


    "The others should pay attention as well," Lexus said. "When you get hit, you will have to pay fifty push-ups, and then the spar will be resumed."


    Lexusplicated things as well¡­ those who get hit will have to experience hell since the push-ups will tire them out. Thus, making them be even easier targets¡­ Nevertheless, Aion knew what he should do to prevent that. He might end up getting scolded, but it was better than making his half-brothers feel ashamed.


    Regardless, Georges looked pretty serious. Aside from Aion, he was the one that looked the least tough of the group since he was a bit short for his age and never was able to defeat his half-brothers when sparring. Thus, despite having the same ck hair and brown eyes as his father, he looked like a weakling, thanks to his unconfident expression. Still, he charged toward Aion with his sword and shield in his hands.

 Chapter 15 Learning More And More

    With his left arm and shield pretty close to his left side, Georges swung his training sword downward in a wide motion. He seemed a bit too dead-set innding the first strike to obtain some advantage by making Aion pay the push-ups first. Still, Aion blocked the attack with his spear, and since it was a single-hand attack, he didn''t feel much weight behind it. Or perhaps he had added too much strength to that ss.


    Regardless, Georges moved his shield to attack Aion''s left side since both of his arms were busy. However, Aion was fast enough to see the attacking and jumped backward. When hended three meters behind, his half-brother had already assumed a defensive stance while he was walking toward him.


    Georges had tightened his guard since his first attack failed, and surprises aren''t very effective after one failure like that. Still, he charged soon enough and, without breaking his guard, tried to hit Aion with the shield and by using the full weight of his body. Aion attacked the shield with the tip of his spear to decrease the power of the charge, and while that happened, he still was pushed backward for a full meter before Georges stopped his momentum.


    Georges moved his shield to the side and forced Aion''s spear to move away as well before he approached and swung his sword. However, by copying his father, Aion moved to the side and dodged the attack by a thin margin. He had a good chance to attack with a kick, but he chose to move away he resumed his defensive stance.


    "New rules: if you miss the chance of a good counterattack, you will pay forty push-ups as well¡­" Lexus said.


    "It isn''t fair to change the rules in the middle of the spar," Aion protested.


    "Life isn''t fair, just like wars," Lexus said. "At wars, we attack and are attacked withrger numbers whenever possible because we don''t want to lose our homes, our families, and our friends. When you want to protect something, you need to do your best and even use cowardly tactics if necessary. Losing chances like that is the same as giving the enemy the chance to the same against you many times more."


    That sounded like nonsense, added with extra spicy bullshit to make the argument sound more convincing. Still, Aion decided not toin again. Georges also looked pissed since it looked like Aion was going easy on him¡­ in the end, it was better to teach his half-brother using other methods.


    When Georges charged again, Aion moved the tip of his spear forward and forced him to raise his shield. At the same time, he lost sight of him for a moment, and when he lowered his shield a bit, Aion was no longer in front of him, and then he felt a strike on his left side.


    "Pay forty push-ups, Georges," Lexus said.


    "... Yes, father," Georges said.


    "Why did you get hit?" Lexus asked while his son was doing the push-ups.


    "... I raised my shield too much and lost sight of him," Georges replied.


    "What should you have done?" Lexus asked.


    "... Parried the attack instead of trying to fully block it," Georges replied.


    "That is one way of dealing with that," Lexus said. "When someone aims at your head, and when they are too close, you shouldn''t lose sight of them for even a moment. That might be fatal."


    Aion felt a little bad for using that kind of knowledge against his half-brother. He knew a bit about martial arts, and he had read enough books in his previous life to know that when they are raised, shields leave a big blind spot on their users. Inrge-scale battles, that wouldn''t change things a lot since allies could watch their backs, but in duels, things were different.


    In the second part of the spar, Georges realized that despite being strong for his age, Aion had a disadvantage¡­ his weight. With his guard up and with his stance lowered, he charged at Aion, and his first sword strike was aimed at his legs. Aion quickly blocked the strike, but he could see the shield approaching, so he only blocked for a moment before jumping backward, and that made Georges charge even faster than before.


    "He is a lot faster than I predicted¡­" Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows.


    It seemed like Georges was trying a suicide attack in a spar since he was nning another body m using his shield. Still, Aion could tell that he wasn''t that naive. He strengthened his stance and blocked the charge when hended by using the whole spear. However, in the next moment, he moved his shield to the side and broke Aion''s bnce before swinging his sword down to Aion''s head.


    In the end, Aion was forced to kick his chest to avoid the attack aimed at his head¡­ that was going to hurt, so it couldn''t have been helped, even though he regretted kicking a kid.


    "More forty," Lexus said. "You did better this time, but your opponents can use more than the weapons in their hands. Headbutts, kicks, punches¡­ you have to expect that all of them will be used if the target is unable to use their weapons for a moment."


    While carrying his equipment, it was kind of hard to do push-ups, so in the next part of the spar, Georges had a hard time attacking since he was tired. He hadn''t lost all of his advantage against Aion, but he sure wasn''t being as troublesome as before. After a few charges, he began to slow down, and then Aion targetted his pivot leg, and when he staggered, he hit Georges'' chest.


    "You need to be smarter at the start of the fight. You have to be even smarter on the end," Laxus said. "Unless you ess your situation clearly before attacking, you are bound to fail. Give me more forty push-ups."

 Chapter 16 Lessons

    Lexus knew that making Aion and Georges continue to spar would be a waste of time since Georges was tired. Still, that served as a lesson for everyone. Even if you could train all morning, unless you pace yourself, you won''tst ten minutes on the real thing.


    Making Aion spar against the older boys didn''t seem fair either, and since they weren''t using anything aside from shields and swords, they knew the merits and demerits of those weapons. So, they trained for the rest of the day by themselves. For the rest of the day, Aion noticed that Georges was pretty pissed¡­ at himself for losing to someone younger. For kids, three years of difference was like a decade for adults, after all.


    "Do you want to practice together after dinner?" Aion asked Georges when the training session ended, and he made sure that his father wasn''t looking.


    "Why would I?" Georges asked. "I won''t lose again!"


    "Sure¡­ whatever," Aion said while he shrugged.


    Kids sure were troublesome¡­ truth be told, Aion could train alone, but if he were to help those kids in some way, he had to start slow. The first step failed, but he could use other cards.


    After the afternoon lessons and after dinner, Aion went to the garden to train by himself. He couldn''t use his room since the movements of a spear were toorge. He felt bad about leaving his mother alone, so Aion brought her to watch him. No one used the garden at night anyway.


    "You are such a hard worker, Aion," Artemisia said while smiling. "You make me remember my older brother."


    "Brother¡­ My uncle?" Aion asked.


    "Yes, he was one of themanders of the armies of our kingdom¡­" Artemisia said. "While he didn''t like to kill people, he trained hard to defeat them without killing. He was criticized a lot for that, but he could shut up everyone''s mouth with his strength and skill."


    That seemed like a pretty crazy way to fight wars¡­ Still, if one has absolute confidence in their skills and they think that the war can''t be lost, defeating enemies just by creeping them was possible. People in medieval times would believe that such a fate was worse than death, but they couldn''tin if they lost, and the enemy only decided to do that much.


    In any case, Aion spent a couple of hours practicing the things that he learned before going to bed. The next day, Aion sparred with Elio. He was the third eldest boy while being nine years old. Unlike Georges, he was pretty analytical, and he didn''t use any big moves.


    Agaisnt an opponent that was too cautious, Aion had the idea of using some feints, and that worked pretty well. He shouldn''t think that kind of thing, but fooling kids was rather easy, even though he was one once again. Regardless, after making the enemy think that he would attack with all his might several times, Aion just worked with some small and simple attacks aimed at his legs and then defeated Elio three times.


    "Do you want to practice together after dinner?" Aion asked.


    Elio just snorted and didn''t reply. Aion sighed again; kids sure were hard to deal with¡­ Regardless, Aion trained by himself at night, and the other members of the family noticed that. Still, Lexus didn''t say anything. His sons assumed that they could only train when he told them to¡­


    Aion was thinking of practicing with another weapon, but then his father told him to spar with Philip, his second son. Henri and Philip were growing a lottely, so he couldn''t imagine them losing to Aion. Not to mention, they learned a bit from the recent spars that he had. Regardless, Henri was five feet tall, pretty high for a ten year old boy. He was also bulky due to the constant training, and while he had his father''s red-brown eyes, he had his mother''s light brown hair. Not that such a thing was important at the moment¡­


    When the spar started, Philip assumed his stance and slowly approached¡­ there were no openings in his stance. So, Aion could tell that he would have a hard time hitting him. Unfortunately, while he didn''t want to get serious against kids, losing and let them underestimate him would change nothing.


    When Philip got close enough to attack, Aion trusted his spear with all his might and forced Philip to raise his shield. The power and the attack of the attack made him flinch for a moment, and in that short window of hesitation, Aion began to run around him.


    Philip tried to follow him but doing that while keeping that low and heavy stance was impossible. Still, the very moment he fixed his stance, Aion charged at him and then began to thrust his spear as fast as he could. With each strike, Philip felt his arm vibrating alongside the shield, and he began to be pushed backward. After a while, he grew tired of that and prepared to attack, but then he slightly moved his shield to the side; Aion used that chance and attacked his chest.


    Philip groaned in pain since Aion had a hard time controlling his strength while he tried to be as fast as possible. Truth be told, he could have finished things more quickly if he had used Quick Spear.


    "If you show your target that you will focus on defense, they can adapt to that," Lexus said. "If you want to surprise them, don''t show anything too obvious."


    The ss Spearman reached level 10


    You can now use the skill Sonic Thrust.


    Sonic Thrust: a powerful and fast thrust attack that ignores one point of the target''s endurance per level.


    Cost: 05 stamina


    Spearman Lv 10


    Health: 34/34


    Mana: 16/16


    Stamina: 52/52


    Strength: 10


    Dexterity: 13


    Magic: 04


    Endurance: 07


    Resistance: 04


    Speed: 13


    Status: 05


    Spear Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Quick Spear Lv 03,


    Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 05


    Improvement Points: 30


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset

 Chapter 17 Talent

    While Philip was doing the push ups, Aion read his status screen. A new skill was always weed, and that one had some interesting effects¡­


    When Philip finished the push ups, Aion readied himself again. It looked like he didn''t take that defeat lightly¡­ He sure was pissed. It was only a spar, so Aion wondered why he was so angry. It wasn''t like they even were praised when they won. Still, it was clear that Aion damaged his pride and Philip wasn''t willing to let that go unpunished.


    On the second round, Philip charged faster while keeping his guard up. When Aion readied himself to attack the shield that was approaching, Philip increased his speed and then raised his sword. Aion jumped to the side and dodged the attack, the swing of the sword made a strong breeze cross the area¡­ While the sword had no de, an strike like that on the head would¡­


    "I used all of my strength before, but I didn''t target the head, but their armor and shield¡­" Aion thought while frowning.


    Philip recovered pretty fast and Aion decided to punish him a little. When he charged again, Philip was stopped with a barrage of thrusts aimed at his shield. This time, Aion went as far as targetting the same spot over and over again. Philip blocked the attacks, but eventually, his face was pale due to the pain.


    "It is over¡­" Lexus said and then went to check Philip''s arm. "You suffered a small fracture¡­ You should rest for now. Ask your mother to heal the bones and use that chance to cool your head."


    Philip with his head down nodded. In the end, Aion didn''t have the chance to invite him to practiceter. He wondered if he went too far¡­ Still, with kids holding that kind of power, it would be better if they understand as soon as possible that acting impulsively might only cause problems.


    On the next day, Aion was told to spar with Henri. At that point in time, the eldest of the half brothers looked like a smaller version of Lexus and he even had a certain air around him that made Aion frown. He wasn''t a normal kid¡­ Thanks to that, Aion wondered what he should do.


    Before he coulde up with an answer, Henri charged at Aion and began to thrust his sword at him. Aion user his spear to block those, but despite their speed, he also felt a lot of weight behind them to the point that he was forced to take a few steps backward. At the same time, Henri could protect his left side with the shield without showing a single opening and with that rain of thrusts, he couldn''t attack the right side either.


    Aion jumped backward to gain some distance and prepare to attack as well. Since he was using a weapons with two hands, his attacks would have more weight behind them. However, before he could do that, Henri charged even faster and then prevented that with a quick session of attacks.


    "Is he nning to make this a test endurance?" Aion thought.


    Eventually, Aion was forced to run to the side because his back was approaching one of the nts and it would be a pity to damage the flower beds nearby. Still, Henri followed him and then his back approached the real wall of the residence.


    "Oh boy¡­ I am being pressured by a ten years old boy¡­" Aion thought.


    That was rather embarasing, Aion thought that he could outsmart them, but Henri was using his speed to prevent him from doing anything troublesome. In the end, Aion was forced to use his status points that he gained upon level up to increase his speed. All of a sudden, the attacks of the target began to look like they had gotten slower¡­


    Aion used that sudden boost to block one of the sword strikes and then hit Henri wrists with the butt of his spear. The attack had been powerful enough to make him drop his training sword.


    "Forty push ups¡­" Lexus said.


    Henri nodded while he was massing his wrists. It didn''t seem like he made any mistake. Aion was just faster for a moment and found a short window of time to attack. Still, he felt bothered that he couldn''t use his brain to win the first round¡­


    "You can spar serious again in a mouth, it is better to stop here since you can wound each other seriously," Lexus said.


    That was bit disappointing, but it couldn''t be helped. In the end, the kids just nodded at their father and at the end of the training session, Aion went to talk with his half brothers again.


    "Do you want to practice together after dinner?" Aion asked.


    "Don''t waste my time,'' Philip replied.


    "I am not interested," Henri replied.


    Aion sighed¡­ it sure was difficult to act like an adult in situations like that. Still, those kids were too young for him to give up on them. The fact that they lost some spars was also bothering them, perhaps things will improve once they cool their heads.


    "I guess I will grab another weapon from the armor and train with it for a month," Aion thought.


    Lexus left the house in the aftenoon and didn''t return at night to have dinner, so he asked the battle tactics instructor to have ess to the armory. In the end, the old man helped him with that, but Aion didn''t know what kind of weapon he should choose next¡­ using bows wouldn''t be a good idea since they can''t be useful for duels. He would rather train something that would be useful. In the end, he grabbed a pair of red gauntlets.


    "Yet another great find, hehehe," Aion smirked.

 Chapter 18 Example

    In his previous life, Aion experimented with many sports. However, he really got into one: boxing. While he couldn''t train every day due to his work, he really liked the training days and the feeling of punching the sandbag.


    Still, it looked like the red gauntlets had some sort of magic effect, so he wouldn''t be able to use them on spars. When they hit things, they could make them burn. While the effect wasn''t strong, it was powerful enough to make Aion lose one point of health every five seconds.


    "You picked a weird weapon this time¡­ are you aware that it isn''t suited for defense and its range is incredibly limited?" Lexus asked.


    "Yes, but it looks interesting," Aion said. "There are people who fight barehanded or with weapons like this, right?"


    "Calling them people are something that most would hesitate on doing¡­" Lexus said. "Reaching their levels is almost impossible and trying to fight a much stronger enemy on their same terms is close to insanity¡­ but this might be a good lesson for you."


    It looked like his father was thinking that Aion was going to get reckless after the spars¡­ who would feel good about themselves after beating kids? Still, actions speak louder than words, so Aion decided to ignore that.


    Aion began to train with the gauntlets and he felt that they were really easy to use. However, just punching the air was kind of boring¡­ that being said, he knew that he couldn''t make a sandbag without damaging it with the effects of the gloves. Regardless, while no one was looking, Aion tried Wolf Fang and he frowned at how fast his hands moved and basically hit the same spot in the air from below and above. Still, he could feel the stare of his father on his back.


    "He has some crazy senses¡­" Aion thought.


    In any case, now that he knew how the skill worked, Aion just had to practice by himself and try to control his stamina to make it activate without the ss. He did that with the spear, but he didn''t obtain much result¡­ he got naturally better and more powerful, though.


    For Lexus who had seen many fighters of many types, seeing Aion practicing like a boxer didn''t surprise him. What surprised him was when he changed his posture and added kicks. He knew a bit about Muay Thai, so Aion decided to add those techniques. It might be dangerous to use elbow and knee attacks on monsters when they were trying to eat him, but they should be highly effective on humans.


    As for Aion''s half brothers, they didn''t see anyone or anything fighting like that. Truth to be told, the first time Aion saw a Muai Thai fight, he felt as confused as them since it was a martial art used and developed in wars where the enemies used firearms, so even the most basic attacks could be lethal if theynd on a bad spot.


    "Do you want to practice together after dinner?" Aion asked to his half brothers..


    This time, Aion asked all of them at the same time and they looked at each other. They thought that Aion would understand the message after hearing one time, but they were mistaken. They looked at their father, but even though he heard that, Lexus ignored the question. They could only practice seriously in a month, but it seemed that they could spar without trying to hit each other for real. Still, they ignored Aion.


    Things stayed like that for a while and Aion stopped asking them that. However, after two weeks, they saw how much Aion had improved. His movements were a lot more fluid than before. Sometimes, while he was practicing, he moved to the sides, imagining attacks and trying to dodge them and his footsteps made him look like he was sliding on the ground.


    At first, his brothers thought that they didn''t need to train that much and follow their father''smands absolutely in all senses was enough, but they were starting to having second thoughts about that.


    Monk Lv 15


    Health: 28/28


    Mana: 16/16


    Stamina: 82/82


    Strength: 06


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 04


    Endurance: 08


    Resistance: 04


    Speed: 11


    Status: 30


    Gauntlets Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Palm Strike Lv 03, Wolf Fang Lv 04,


    Passive: Physical Training Lv 06 (Efficiency Lv 09)


    Improvement Points: 18


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Since he trained the skills quite a bit, Aion leveled up the ss more than a few times. Thanks to it, he had some status points to use¡­ However, he wondered if it would be fine to use those points and then win against his half brothers. It would be a lot easier to aplish that, but he wanted to test the result of his training, so he decided to use themter.


    Even after that one month, Henri, Philip, Georges, and Elio didn''t try to use other weapons. Sword and shield truly was a bnced way to fight, but again, they were missing the point of training.


    Eventually, the day where they were going to spar finally arrived and Lexus noticed that Aion still was sticking to the gauntlets. If anything, his youngest son sure had spirit.


    Just like before, the first one spar with him was Georges. During that month, he trained hard to ovee the mistakes he made before, he also watched Aion a few times, so he knew what kind of attack he might use. Still, he got impatient when he saw Aion not moving and with his left fist slightly in front of him and the right fist below and close to his chin. It was a stance that would let him attack and defend insanely fast¡­ his legs were also rxed enough to let him move to all directions in a single instant¡­ there were no openings¡­

 Chapter 19 Not Bad

    Georges grew impatient since Aion didn''t move a single inch. He was clearly calling him to attack, but that trap was way too obvious. Still, Georges lost before, and he couldn''t lose and then show fear; that would be way worse¡­


    In the end, Georges stepped forward and slowly approached. If Aion was nning a counter, then the faster he attacks, the worse things will get for him. Eventually, he got close enough to attack, and since he had better reach, he moved first. While Georges'' sword was swinging down, Aion stepped forward near instantly with his left foot and then grabbed Georges'' right hand and stopped the swing.


    ? At the same time, Aion moved his right hand to attack, but Georges'' guard was up, and his shield was blocking his chest and head. Still, Aion ignored that and attacked the shield with the palm of his hand¡­ Aion managed to use Palm Strike without using the system.


    The impact had been powerful enough to lift Georges in the air for two meters and then made him fall on his back. His left arm was throbbing, but the damage had been minimal since Aion targeted his shield.


    "Are you all right?" Aion approached and then offered a hand for his half-brother.


    "... I am fine¡­ This was nothing," Georges said while trying to recover the air from the fall.


    "Your bones look fine; your equipment absorbed most of the damage of the attack and fall," Lexus said, checking his son''s body. "This is enough for today; take it easy since you still have your other lessons."


    "Father¡­ Why did I lose?" Georges asked.


    "Because you want to follow my footsteps blindly," Lexus replied. "Because you fear making mistakes. There are times when someone can''t afford to make mistakes, but training isn''t one of them. It doesn''t matter if you all show something embarrassing to me. As long as you show the will to improve yourselves every day, I will be proud of you."


    It was the first time they saw their father talking like that; even Aion was a bit surprised. It didn''t feel like it was something that he had nned to say; it was something that he had thought about for a long time. However, it looked like he was a bit too awkward to say that. It wasn''t weird for someone who was born and raised into a warrior family to try to hide their feelings all the time¡­


    "I think it is enough for today; I am feeling a bit under the weather," Lexus said and then returned to the mansion.


    The day had just started, so Aion confirmed that he was just awkward. The others also were a bit confused. Still, Aion couldn''t just forgive him with that much considering the life that his mother lived¡­ It was a hard feeling to almost hate someone who wasn''t the wrong person and was following orders.


    Regardless, he also decided to change his mood by training. It was time to pick another weapon to practice, and Aion felt like using a bow this time and then using any other gear when the duels were resumed. At this point in time, his father let him carry gear to his rook, as long as they were the training type and not the real deal.


    "... Do you want to practice together without attacking for real?" Georges suddenly asked while showing a really conflicted expression.


    Aion frowned when he heard that; he assumed that it would take a while longer for one of them to ept his idea. Still, Lexus'' words made him change his mind.


    "Sure, why not?" Aion replied.


    At first, Aion thought that George was up to something, but he didn''t do anything out of the ordinary. By training together, they only practiced using their attacks without much weight behind the attacks. Thanks to that, the attacks were also slow and that gave them room to watch and decide the best way to react. While they weren''t forcing their bodies, they were training their minds and learning the best ways to attack or how to defend in certain situations.


    On the next day, Aion was told to spar with Elio and since he watched the previous spar, his lowered his stance as much as possible, that way, Aion would be unable to knock him down with strength alone. That was one way to seal one of his methods of attack, but also prevented Elio from approaching fast enough or putting any weight behind his charge.


    Aion had a hard time surpassing his defensive stance, but the moment he began to run around, the same thing that happened one month ago repeated itself¡­ Well, almost. Aion tried to run around Elio and he tried to turn around without messing with his stance. He managed to do that, but charging was impossible since he was constantly turning. Thus, there was no weight behind his attacks. In the end, when he got a bit dizzy, Aion found an opening and then kicked his leg, making him lose bnce and fall.


    The nex day, Aion sparred with Philip and he had quite the idea on how to deal with him and his gauntlets. Since he didn''t have much weight on his body since the gauntlets were that light, it was clear that speed was on his side. Still, he challenged Aion exactly like that¡­ with speed.


    Philip charged while his guard was quite lose and then swung his sword downward. Aion blocked the attack and prepared his counter, but then he didn''t feel much weight behind the weapon. Soon after, he saw the sword being retreated as the shield moved toward his face.


    When the sword returned to its initial position, Aion right fist collided against the shield and he immediately realized what Philip was nning. Since the sword and the shield had more mass, they would cause more damage, even if he doesn''t put much weight behind it. That also would force Aion to assume a defensive stance with each extra impact¡­


    "Not bad, but¡­ not enough," Aion thought.

 Chapter 20 Brute Strength

    It was a different way to fight using a shield and a sword, but Philip thought of a pretty efficient way to deal with Aion. Since he already had the advantage of being bigger and heavier, he just had to make sure to seal the tricks that Aion might try to use against him, and by using his equipment like that, he seeded.


    That is until Aion used Palm Strike on the shield and made it fly to the distance. He will probably be scoldedter for that since the shield fell on a flower bed. Philip clicked his tongue since his hand felt some of the impact¡­ in any case, that was what happens when one doesn''t hold their shield properly.


    Despite that, Philip readied his short sword to fight. Using both hands to make it hit harder wasn''t possible, but at least he could focus on finesse. He charged at Aion and attacked with a big swing, but he stopped midway when Aion jumped to the side¡­ that kind of change of attack in the middle of the motion wasn''t something someone could do all of a sudden. Phillip must have trained a lot to pull it off¡­


    Phillip used the first attack to get close enough and then used the thrusts again. They had be sharper and faster than before, to the point that Aion didn''t even try to block them since he could tell that Philip was itching to move his legs and kick him.


    Unfortunately, the thrusts were getting sharper instead of more sloppy despite the fact that Philip was supposed to be getting tired, they were approaching Aion''s head and he had to do something about them.


    Aion made his decision when Philip suddenly approached and then attacked his face with all his might¡­ He grabbed the weapon with both hands before kicking Philip in the stomach.


    "Cough, cough¡­ That isn''t allowed, right?" Philip asked while he was recovering..


    "The palm of the gauntlets are protected by a small iron te and also has a thinyer of protection simr to a chainmail," Lexus replied. "If his sword had a de, it wouldn''t have cut his hands, and the tip of the weapon didn''t reach him either."


    "... It is my loss," Philip said and then sighed.


    It was hard to contest Lexus'' words, even more so when his exnations made sense. Still, Aion wasn''t that satisfied since it had been a pretty close match. The sword stopped three centimeters away from his face¡­ Henri was more talented and stronger than Philip, so it was hard for Aion to imagine him winning the next day¡­ Even more so when he was showing more and more tricks that wouldn''t surprise the others anymore.


    "Since then, others don''t spar often, I have no idea what they might have in store¡­ Maybe I should think of something for tomorrow," Aion thought.


    Thinking of a battle n to defeat a child¡­ That was prettyme, but it would be evenmer to lose or use the system to help.


    When the morning of the next day came, Aion and Henri sure looked prepared. As soon as Lexus gave the signal to start, both of them charged¡­ It was surprising, but they had nned to go all out from the very beginning and knock out the other with the first attack.


    Aion tried to punch Henri''s stomach, but then he attacked in a quick session by using the sword and the shield¡­ It was surprising, but he used Double Strike¡­ As a result, Aion felt a throbbing pain in his right arm. At least Henri didn''t follow up with another attack of that level.


    "Henri shouldn''t have enough stamina to use that skill more than ten times, but he isn''t reckless to the point of spamming that to defeat me¡­" Aion thought.


    Instead of that, Henri charged and after putting his left foot forward, he turned his body to the side and then swung the shield¡­ That was exactly the same motion of Shield Swing¡­ To think that he was able to use that¡­


    Despite the surprise, Aion used the upper side of the gauntlets to block the attack. Still, the skill had all the weight and power of Henri behind it¡­ It pushed him several meters backward, and he felt his bones cracking. He clicked his tongue, imagining that his father would stop the match, but it looked like he didn''t realize the damage that Aion had suffered behind his poker face.


    "Since it hase to this¡­" Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows.


    Before Aion could recover, Henri stepped forward in the same way as before since he felt that Shield Swing had been very effective. Still, he opened his eyes in surprise when Aion moved in to attack as well. In the end, Aion used Wolf Fang to stop Shield Swing and not only that happened, but the shield cracked¡­ It was only a training shield with a thinyer of iron, after all.


    Since the impact hadn''t been direct, Henri didn''t suffer much damage and easily switched to the fighting style with a single short sword in hand. Still, this time, Henri looked a lot more focused and cautious since he truly was nning to end things with Shield Swing. Meanwhile, Aion decided to capitalize on that chance and then charged.


    Henri decided to block the attack by holding both ends of the sword, and he managed to stop Aion when he used Palm Strike. Still, he was forced to take a few steps backward. Much to his surprise, Aion didn''t stop there and used Palm Strike two more times before the training sword bent like a spoon. That left everyone speechless¡­ on the other hand, Aion wanted to shout since his cracked bones were hurting even more.

 Chapter 21 Caelis, The Tainted

    "The spar is over¡­" Lexus said.


    Henri sighed¡­ To think that he would lose like that against someone five years younger¡­ He couldn''t deny Aion''s skill, but losing in brute strength was truly mortifying.


    "You all showed a lot of improvement in thest few months, keep working like that and your skills will never disappoint you," Lexus said. "From tomorrow onwards, you will train by yourselves. You can spar together, but if I hear if any of you went too far¡­ Nevertheless, I am going on a campaign with the battle tactics instructor. So study and practice diligently."


    "Father, I can go with you, I won''t slow you down!" Philip said.


    "It has already been determined that you are going to work under anothermander for a while and in a few months," Lexus dered. "I am going to the western border to deal with someone troublesome, and that isn''t a ce trainees of your age should go."


    "Who is the enemy, father?" Henri asked.


    "You should have heard of him, Caelis the Tainted¡­" Lexus replied.


    Aion had heard of him. Caelis the Tainted was a powerful warrior of the Rosberg kingdom, which was localized west of their current kingdom. He was a man who had been fighting around like a madman for fifty years, and aside from his violent nature, he was known for defeating his opponents and making them go mad when they didn''t die. They be like zombies thirsty for battle, and they be totally loyal to him.


    It seemed like his father would participate in one hell of a battle, and despite the fact that he was basically the jailer of his mother, he was worried about him. He might be a terrible husband for her, but he wasn''t a half-bad father. He was only too serious and awkward¡­


    Regardless, Aion said that he wanted to go the bathroom, but he only wanted to heal his fists. He wondered how things would go now that his father was going to stay away from home for a couple of months. He will have to be careful¡­


    Regardless, while Lexus'' was preparing his things for his trip, the boys had the rest of the day free for themselves, and it seemed that the girls also didn''t have to study that day. He was truly awkward since all of them had followed him all day. Meanwhile, Aion went to the library to check things about people like Caelis.


    Apparently, there were a few dozen of them around, and they tended to live for hundreds of years¡­ they were like a real menace since no one could predict what they could do; only others like them could understand their way of thinking.


    "For all intentions and purposes, it doesn''t look like they are acting with normal interests one would have during a way," Aion thought. "So, they are truly random guys¡­"


    That was kind of annoying, most people live their lives with a purpose, but since they lived a lot more than most people, they could think in a different scale. In the end, it made sense for them to be like that, but the fact that they made others be caught up in their randomness was still annoying¡­


    For some reason, Lexus'' left the mansion after sunset. Aion assumed that his father didn''t want to let many people know that he wouldn''t be around for a while. Sometimes, that was necessary to avoid problems¡­ Regardless, one of the servants told Aion that his father was waiting for him outside. He sighed¡­ his mother couldn''t even cross the damn walls for five minutes.


    Outside, Aion saw his wives and daughters hugging Lexus, but it seemed that the boys were growing to be as awkward as him as they felt embarrassed to do that. In any other situation, he wouldn''t care about that, but he was a bit pissed not to care about that.


    "Remember what I said and behave properly," Lexus said while looking at the boys.


    If he were nning to travel in incognito, that kind of farewell certainly would attract a lot of attention, but it wasn''t like many people traveled around that part of the capital at night¡­ only the guards doing their night patrols could move freely. In any case, almost everyone said something to Lexus, and at some point, Aion wondered if they would sing kumbaya together, but he shook his mind to change his mood.


    After a while, Lexus left, and all the others entered the mansion. Soon after, they had dinner, and then Aion went to train outside, he was nning to get another weapon, but then he saw Elio and Georges waiting for him outside. He was so angry that he thought that Georges wasn''t going to train with him anymore, and he was just trying to make his father proud¡­ Aion sighed¡­ to think that he would let his emotions control him that much.


    "Father is going on a long trip, but I don''t n on cking off¡­ if you want to practice with me, then you will have your chance," Elio said.


    He talked like he was doing a favor to the others¡­ in the end, Aion just shrugged. Kids will be kids, and when they are raised by nobles, they be even more like that. On the next few days, all the boys began to spar against each other more often, but they didn''t do anything too dangerous¡­


    Maybe Aion underestimated their growth or how much they respected their father. Eventually, even Philip and Henri showed up to train in the garden after dinner once they noticed how much progress their little brothers were making.


    They didn''t talk much aside from training and the techniques that they were using, but Aion still felt that getting closer to his half brothers like that was better than nothing. Around the same time, Aion began to train with bows since he wanted to level up the archer ss. However, he still practiced with the others using the gauntlets. It felt reallyfortable to use his fists like that, after all.


    Archer Lv 12


    Health: 28/28


    Mana: 14/14


    Stamina: 60/60


    Strength: 08


    Dexterity:19


    Magic: 06


    Endurance: 06


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 11


    Status: 15


    Bow Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Power Shot Lv 01, Quick Bow Lv 01,


    Passive: Bow Mastery Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 33


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Since Aion added a lot of points into dexterity and speed, he already could shoot arrows pretty well, and the power of the string of the bows that he could use was nothing against his arms'' strength. Still, he felt that he needed to spread his wings, just leveling up the sses wasn''t enough, and he had to use the refinement, coins, processing, and absorption features¡­

 Chapter 22 Distant Past

    Now that he could use the armory by himself, Aion found a lot of trashy items that had been thrown away after being used for many years of battles or training. Some of them were probably decades old. Despite that, Aion didn''t know if he should use them¡­ even if they were trash, taking things that belonged to his family was a bit¡­


    "As expected, I need to find a way to make money¡­" Aion thought.


    In the end, Aion couldn''t bring himself to take those things and use them as if he owned them. Until now, Aion had only read a few historical books, and the vast majority were based on battle tactics, but he decided to read other types in order to have some ideas of what he could do to make money. While he was looking for such books, he found one called: the tale of the gods.


    "So, they have gods in this world too¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I would guess that my powers are rted to them¡­ then again, while this world isn''tpletely at peace, it doesn''t look like it is on the brink of destruction. Summoning people in their adult form would make things easier for battle purposes, but making people like me reincarnate, they usually would be able to make me feel more attached to this world and its people."


    In any case, the book wasn''t thick, and it even had some drawings in it¡­ Aion thought that he would read the tale of the creation of that world, but things were a bit different than expected. Instead of the creation, the book told the tales of two beings that apparently ascended to godhood after they defeated a super-powerful creature that was the king of the ancient gods. They lost many friends along the way, but they seeded in bringing peace to an era of endless conflicts caused by the ancient gods.


    The book was seriouslycking in details, and the images only showed a man and a woman defeating some monsters and then something like a giant human. It also mentioned that once the ancient gods were defeated, the number of super-powerful beings decreased. Apparently, their influence made people get stronger and mutate pretty often.


    "At least show the friends that died along the way¡­" Aion thought. "Wait, if their influence made people mutate often, why do some beings still mutate nowadays? Is it because of the two gods?"


    The book didn''t mention that or what the gods did after they brought peace to the world, but it was implied that they had disappeared. That was a bit weird¡­ they either died, and the people of that time didn''t want to pass such a tale to the future, or they went to hide somewhere else. Either way, at least it was an interesting tale¡­ the new gods weren''t omnipotent, and it didn''t look like they obtained the power of the ancient gods, so perhaps Aion wasn''t rted to them.


    "Back to the real problem: money," Aion thought. "We are a family of military officers, so making money by making business will probably make people frown¡­ it seems that my only option is to go to that dungeon, but that only will help me use Processing and Absorption.


    Unfortunately, Aion couldn''t count on his mother to make somemercial connections since she was essentially a war prisoner. Moreover, finding someone willing to do business with a five-year-old boy would be hard.


    Bard Lv 11


    Health: 10/10


    Mana: 54/54


    Stamina: 28/28


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity:10


    Magic: 21


    Endurance: 04


    Resistance: 06


    Speed: 04


    Status: 10


    Lute Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Power Song Lv 01, Magic Song Lv 01,


    Passive: Recovery Aura Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 30


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion recalled the Bard ss and then thought that he could use it to make some coins, but he would need one hell of a disguise. He felt that it would be fine for him to make money using those skills, but that probably would make things troublesome for him and his mother if he were to be found out.


    "This is too much of a pain in the ass¡­" Aion thought.


    "What is wrong, Aion?" Georges asked. "Your movements are sloppy today."


    Aion was surprised that Georges asked that. It was the first time that he asked anything that wasn''t rted to training orbat, after all. Still, Aion wondered if he should share his troubles with a eight years old kid. However, that was a chance for his rtionship with his brothers to improve.


    "I want money, and I am thinking about how to earn it," Aion replied.


    "You can ask father," Georges said. "He always gives us some when we ask to buy things like armor and stuff."


    Aion never saw that; then again, his brothers almost always would leave on weekends, and sometimes they would return with some boxes. In any case, despite his awkwardness, Lexus looked to be the type who spoils his children by giving them whatever they want.


    "He isn''t here now, and I would rather earn money by myself," Aion said.


    "Why would you choose the most difficult way to do that?" Georges asked while frowning. "You can read and write, right? I can give you some gold coins if you tell me your secret."


    Aion recalled that Georges sometimes looked troubled and annoyed during the training sessions. Apparently, everyone''s mothers were teaching them etiquette and how to read and write¡­ He wondered why their father didn''t hire someone, but it looked to be some kind of custom.


    In any case, Aion wondered if he should fall as low as taking money from his brother to help him¡­

 Chapter 23 Give And Take

    In the end, Aion decided to see Georges'' situation before he could decide if he could take his money. If it were an easy task, he wouldn''t, but if it were, it would be a fair exchange.


    In the end, it didn''t take long for Aion to see the problem. Since he was the fourth of the boys, he had been trying to catch up with the elders. So, Georges does pretty much everything in a hurry. Including reading and writing.


    "You shouldn''t hurry when ites to stuff like that," Aion said. "If you read and write too fast, you won''t be able to process the knowledge, and the work wille as sloppy."


    "But I don''t have time for that¡­ I would rather spend training," Georges said.


    It was hard to be logical with kids when they came up with that kind of argument. Since he liked to do things fast to have more time with training, Aion decided to help him a bit with that.


    ? "If you don''t want to study much, at least study efficiently," Aion said. "Instead of reading random things, grab one of the books that the old geezer uses to teach us tactics and then copy the important parts."


    "Why should I have to copy when things are already written there?" Georges asked.


    "Because you will be reading, writing, and learning things at the same time," Aion replied. "You will have to write slowly since you won''t be writing something from your head. Thus, you will read slowly as well. You will be doing two things slowly, but it will be doing several things faster, one after the other."


    "What is thus?" Georges asked.


    Being a teacher for children in a medieval world sure is tough¡­ Still, Aion couldn''tin since he didn''t remember using that word as a child. In any case, Aion wondered if he could write books to make money¡­ in a world like that, writers should make quite a bit since there are no machines to help multiply them. Unfortunately, that was also a slow process, and Aion needed something faster to make money.


    In the end, Aion had the idea to use his knowledge of Earth to make some money. He could try to reproduce some objects from there and sell them in the capital. He will have to leave at night without letting anyone notice it, or perhaps he could leave during the day, but it was hard to imagine his mother letting him go alone, but since she couldn''t leave the house, that would only make her feel bad.


    Aion had to give up on that idea because he would need materials that he couldn''t easily find. While he was feeling troubled over that. Georges showed up, and he looked pretty proud of himself while he carried some pieces of paper.


    "Look at this, Aion!" Georges said while showing the pieces of paper where his writing style had improved a lot. "Mother finally said that this is decent handwriting!"


    "For a week of progress, is pretty good¡­ but it looks like she is really harsh on you," Aion said while frowning.


    Calling only decent the hard work of an eight years old boy¡­ while it wasn''t a good idea to shower kids with praise, one could only be so strict¡­ Still, if one thing Lexus taught them were that they shouldn''t feel satisfied by making progress only once, so he wouldn''t stop there.


    "My sister is also having problems with her studies. Can I tell her what you told me as well?" Georges asked.


    "Sure, that certainly wasn''t a secret that can revolutionize society," Aion said.


    "Thanks, wait, I have to pay you," Georges said.


    "No need, I only told you a single thing and nothing else," Aion shook his head. "One can''t be paid for such a thing."


    Kids sure were loose with money since they didn''t know how hard it was to make it. Besides, Aion wasn''t that desperate. He still would have to think of something, but he wasn''t in that need of money.


    "You won''t ept it¡­ then I will tell you something useful as well," Georges said. "If you to to the guild, you can put a challenge there to people to challenge you. If they win, you pay them the reward, if they fail, they will have to pay a fee. Father said that this amon method for some mercenaries and soldiers to gain a lot ofbat experience. Father said that we shouldn''t cause problems, but since you are good at holding back, you will be time."


    "How naive can you be?" Elio asked while he suddenly joined the conversation. "No one is going to ept the request of someone so young. While he has some skill, no one aside from us knows Aion. To make that work, we will have to tell other trainees around our age about that. It is difficult for them to find partners around our age, after all."


    Elio had a point, but Aion didn''t think that he had thar smart ass attitude. It was probably because recently he had been using a now and apparently he has some talent with it. In any case, that didn''t seem like a bad idea¡­ if Aion gets some fame, he will be able to fight tougher enemies and thus make more money while gainingbat experience. The real question was if the fact that his mother''s son would bring problems to the matter.


    "I will try that, thanks for the intel," Aion said.


    Philip and Henri were sparring with spears nearby and they stopped to listen. It seemed that they were interested in the topic, but Aion didn''t know why¡­

 Chapter 24 Challenge Quests

    Aion had heard of the guild and the fact that they offered odd jobs to those who worked for them. Still, they onlly epted members above ten years old, but they epted requests from everyone. The only problem was the reward money¡­ Aion was a broke as he could be. Still, Georges and Elio went with him the next day to the guild to lend the money since they knew that Aion wouldn''t lose.


    "You two should be trained right now," Aion said.


    "Watching others fight can also be considered training," Georges said.


    "I am also here to pay my debt," Elio added.


    Aion had no idea what debt he was talking about, but he probably benefited as well from the tip Aion gave Georges. Nevertheless, they found the guild on the western side of the capital, which was probably the most underdeveloped part of the area. Working for guilds was a good way to make quick cash, but those who worked for them weren''t exactly known for using their brains and thinking about the future, so they tended to use their money partying whenever they had the chance.


    Even early in the morning, the guild had a lot of people sitting around tables and then drinking and eating a lot. They sure were free spirited to ignore such things as routine and logic. Most people looked at Aion and his brothers and frowned since it was too early for them to enter the guild. Still, they headed to the balcony and then talked with a blond, big bobbed receptionist.


    "How can I help you?" The receptionist asked.


    "We want to make a challenge quest," Georges said and then put a gold coin in front of her. "Today, we offer one gold coin to anyone below fifteen who manages to defeat him. The fee is one silver coin per attempt."


    "... Understood," the receptionist said while looking at Aion.


    She couldn''t stop the kids. The guild epted all kinds of requests aside from the shady ones, so she could only that the prank would end before a disaster happens.


    "You can use the training grounds on the back of the guild for the duels," The receptionist said while she was writing the post of the request. "The guild takes ten cooper coins per day to maintain the requests on the board."


    "All right, you should head there, Aion," Georges said. "We will tell the guys that we know that there is someone willing to fight them."


    They came and then they left just like that¡­ Those two also looked pretty excited and now Aion felt conflicted since he was going to beat children and take their money. That wasn''t the real thing that was happening, but it was simr.


    In any case, Aion noticed some stares while he was heading to the training grounds. It seemed that some adults wanted to see a noble child get beaten up, so they began to move. That also seemed like some quick cash for them, after all, most of the requests that pay one gold coin takes one week toplete.


    When Aion reached the back of the building, he found something that resembled a walled ser camp. It was divided into numerous areas and each one of them had a dummy that could be used for training. Aion also found some kids training there. They were all at least five years older than him, though. At the opposite end of the entrance of the building, there was an emergency exit. Probably used for the people there to hea faster to the central area of the capital.


    "I shoulde here only once a week, so I should try to fight as much as possible," Aion thought.


    A lot sooner than expected, Aion found a bearded old man approaching alongside a boy armed with a training spear. Although the challenge quests could only be approved if both sides use weapons without edge, Aion assumed that some people still find ways to ignore that rule. In any case, the boy was even taller than Henri, so he probably was fourteen or fifteen¡­ He was also well built. The bearded man sure wanted to see Aion on the ground or he wanted the gold coin.


    "He wants to challenge you," the bearded man said w while tossing a small coin bag with ten silver coins. "What are the rules?"


    "The fight only ends once one of the sides is on the ground or surrenders," Aion said and then readied his spear. "Ready when you are."


    The boy smiled, he already could imagine how he would use half of the reward. As soon as he assumed his stance, the boy charged at Aion.


    When he got close enough, he thrusted his spear at Aion''s face, but then the weapon stopped midway. Aion also attacked while targetting the tip of the target''s weapon. He tried to overpower him, but Aion didn''t move from the spot and his arms weren''t trembling.


    "What are you doing?" The bearded man asked. "Defeat him already!"


    The next time, Aion decided to add another rule, noments during the fight. In any case, the boy decided to rely on speed and aimed at several parts of Aion''s body, but much to his shock, Aion reacted and blocked all the attack with extreme mastery. He didn''t miss and he didn''t use more strength than he had to. Once he realized that the opponent could only use the spear like that and didn''t know any skills, Aion stepped forward and then overpowered the kid making him stagger and then he swung his spear to the sides and hit his legs making the kid fall.


    "What the hell was that? How could you lose to a brat that small?" The bearded man asked.


    The man sure was noisy and his voice got the attention of the others around. The older kid didn''t know what to say, meanwhile, Aion just checked his weapon for any signs of damage.


    "I guess I went too far¡­ People will stoping if they realize that my skill is beyond my age, way beyond," Aion thought.

 Chapter 25 Money Doesnt Discriminate

    When Georges and Elio returned, they found a line of people wanting to challenge Aion. It seemed that he had already defeated five challengers in just half an hour without sweating. That was within their expectations, but they didn''t imagine that some adults would pay for several kids to try to defeat him.


    Unfortunately, for those guys, Aion had made preparations for that. He had nned to fight the kids in a fair and square manner, but then he used his free status points and improvement points to make himself a bit stronger. Since he was going to fight a lot, he needed that kind of boost.


    ? In any case, when those two approached, they saw a kid armed with two shields trying to hit Aion and knock him down with his weight alone and by charging like a bull.


    "Hahaha, just like you, Elio," Georges said.


    "Shut up¡­ I didn''t use two shields," Elio said. "We shouldn''t reveal our names. While not many people knows us, father must have told our names here and there."


    Since the time their elder sisters went to the magic school, they have been invited to several parties with them. Only noble kids know who they were, with that in mind, they had no idea how people would react if they find their family name. Aion was in an  even moreplex situation since his mother was a war prisoner.


    In any case, after a few more seconds, Aion targetted the shield of the enemy when it was right in front of his face and then made the guy hit himself in the face, knocking him down instantly.


    Spearman Lv 17


    Health: 62/62


    Mana: 28/28


    Stamina: 84/84


    Strength: 21


    Dexterity: 16


    Magic: 07


    Endurance: 10


    Resistance: 07


    Speed: 26


    Status: 05


    Spear Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Quick Spear Lv 06 (Efficiency Lv 15), Sonic Thrust Lv 07


    Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 07 (Power Lv 10)


    Improvement Points: 26


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion checked his ss, while he was holding back, he still managed to level up the ss. Usually, he would save the status points, but since so many people was underestimating him, he increased his speed and strength.


    In any case, Aion is earning money pretty fast. Since Georges wanted to give him the old coin, perhaps it wasn''t that much¡­ From a noble perspective and considering the gear that they usually buy. Which was high level and brand new equipment. Meanwhile, adventurers mostly use second hand gear.


    "What are the rules?" Another middle aged man asked after tossing a bag of coins.


    "The fight only ends once one of the sides is on the ground, surrenders or you try to help your fight in any manner,," Aion said and then readied his spear. "Ready when you are."


    The biggest boy yet approached to fight, it was hard to imagine that he was fifteen since he was almost 1.9 meters tall, but the guy had somewhat of an young face¡­ Still, he was almost two times fallen than Aion and he had a hammer¡­ even without a de, a hammer could be mortal.


    Looking at Aion blinking several times, the boss of the big guy smirked. Soon enough, the big guy assumed his stance and then ran toward Aion. Since he was big and the hammer was heavy, he wasn''t exactly fast. Still, when he swung his weapon down, that actually help him hit faster¡­ the ground. The impact made the area tremble slightly.


    Aion was already on the side of the big guy when the attacknded, he could attack from there, but in the end, he sure moved to back of that guy and kicked the back of his knees before he could fix his posture. Instant win.


    Those who had anybat experience knew that being big and muscr also means that they are too slow, but only the youngsters around realized that.


    The more time passed, the more the challengers lost confidence while looking at Aion fight. However, their bosses grew greedy as they saw Aion sweating more and more¡­ Aion wasn''t faking that, he was truly sweating while controlling his strength nor to break any bones of the targets.


    In the end, since it was the day most people in the capital rested, not everyone went to the guild. Despite that, Aion fought around thirty kids and won agsisnt them, and earned three gold coins.


    "Those morons didn''te today¡­ They probably think that we exaggerated," Georges said.


    "They wille the next time, the rumor will spread and bring more challenges," Elio said. "Aion, tell thedy to keep the poster there and telling that you will return in a week. Perhaps you should increase the reward for defeating you."


    "That is a pretty good idea¡­" Aion said.


    Elio sure had some good ideas. Meanwhile, Aion was considering what he could buy with the coins. He probably should save two gold coins and use the other to buy equipment to process and absorb.


    Since it was only noon, Aion decided to check some cksmiths and Georges and Elio guided him to the ones his father rmended. They were too high ss for Aion, but he found some crappy items there.


    Aion bought a bigger andrger sword, helmet, shield, gauntlets, and boots. All of them cost only fifty silver coins since they were the cheapest items around. Aion also decided to buy a golden and blue hairpin for his mother that had the shape of a butterfly. It seemed ironic given her position¡­


    The shop owner knew Georges and Elio, so he asked who Aion was. When they told him, his expression barely changed, but Aion could see a glint of coldness in his eyes. Money was money¡­ But Aion certainly wouldn''t give his money to assholes.

 Chapter 26 Do You Know Who I Am?

    Artemisia didn''t say anything when she heard that Aion was going to the city with Georges and Philip, and she looked pretty happy when he returned with arge smile on his face. Still, she frowned when she saw the hairpin and the items he had bought.


    "Aion¡­ Where did you get the money to buy this?" Artemisia asked.


    Aion couldn''t tell that he took it from foolish kids who underestimated his appearance. Even though half of that was paid by foolish adults who made the same mistake.


    "Some people asked me for practical advice regardingbat, and they even paid me by teaching them directly," Aion replied.


    "You are only six years old¡­ even if you train hard, you shouldn''t fight others for money," Artemisia said.


    As expected, Aion''s mother found the real meaning behind his ambiguous answer. Still, she was d that he was fine, and she even began to use the hairpin as soon as possible. She was only worried that perhaps some people would return and do some bad things to get his revenge agaisnt Aion because of the defeats or because of his lineage.


    "What am I going to do with you?" Artemisia asked while hugging Aion and treating him like a plush toy.


    Aion let his mother do that while he checked the items that he had bought. Usually, people like him would have some sort of skill to check the power of items and humans, but he didn''t get that skill¡­ perhaps in the future.


    In any case,ter that night, Aion decided to use his system to process the pair of boots that he had bought. After a couple of minutes, four iron ores appeared in his inventory. Soon after, he made the system absorb those when he changed to the pdin ss.


    Pdin Lv 13


    Health: 66/66


    Mana: 24/24


    Stamina: 22/22


    Strength: 14 + 03


    Dexterity: 05


    Magic: 06


    Endurance: 14 + 02


    Resistance: 06


    Speed: 05 + 01


    Status: 15


    Sword and Shield Refinement Lv 03


    Bonuses: Strength + 03 , Endurance + 02. Speed + 01


    Skills: Double Strike Lv 03, Shield Swing Lv 03,


    Passive: Shield Mastery Lv 05


    Improvement Points: 36


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "Hmm¡­ the refinement went to level three, as expected. It is easy to refine on the early levels," Aion thought. "The bonuses are quite nice as well, but since the materials were only of this level, it isn''t the same as leveling up."


    Aion wanted to test what the system could do with coins, but in the end, he decided to save it. If things go well, in one week, he will at least double the amount of gold coins that he has right at the moment.


    It would be great if the coins could open a shop, but that would be too convenient since Aion wouldn''t have to look for items and materials. In any case, Aion leveled up the spearman ss two times, and he learned that sparring like that and in a sequence was a pretty good method to be stronger.


    "The next spars will be harder, so I will have to keep using the spearman ss, but I should train others now¡­" Aion thought while checking his options. "The sses that I can use in front of others now are Samurai, Warrior, and Berserker. Those are the only ones I have been neglecting as ofte¡­ Berserker probably doesn''t suit me, or perhaps it does consider how I came to this world¡­ I should train more starting tomorrow."


    The next day, Aion went to the armory and then chose the berserker ss. Two short axes appeared in his hands.


    Berserker Lv 11


    Health: 75/75


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 48/48


    Strength: 20


    Dexterity: 04


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 10


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 20


    Status: 00


    Hand Axes Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Rage Lv 01, Roar Lv 01,


    Passive: HP Plus Lv 03


    Improvement Points: 33


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion decided to build that ss to make it a physical ss that focuses on damage per second. That was why he didn''t have much mana with it. Rage and Roar only consumed stamina, the first increased his attack power, speed, and endurance based on the level, and the second might stun several enemies. HP Plus increased his health by five points per level. Once he decides to improve that skill, he will be quite tanky.


    "I need to get some damage to level up HP plus, but we can''t fight for real, so I guess I will abuse my muscles again¡­" Aion thought while he was heading to the garden.


    Unfortunately, it looked like things wouldn''t be as Aion had nned since some unknown individuals were there. They were talking with Aion''s brothers, and they seemed to be kids around their ages as well. They were pretty well dressed and even were wearing fancy clothes and swords.


    "Oh, great¡­ more pointy nose nobles," Aion thought.


    They were three kids, and despite their arrogant facial expressions, they appeared to be good friends of Henri. Philip, Georges, and Elio talked now and then, but they couldn''t hide from Aion''s eyes that they looked quite pissed.


    "Oh, is this your brother, Henri? He is smaller than I thought," A light brown-haired and green-eyed boy said. "It seems that looks can be deceiving, considering the rumors of yesterday. I thought that you were trying to pull our legs when you said that someone skilled would be waiting for us at the guild, but¡­"


    Aion frowned when he heard that¡­ he couldn''t tell if Henri and Philip were trying to help him by bringing more opponents or making him get into trouble by wounding the wrong ones. He thought that it was only a matter of time before they could truly be brothers, but perhaps he guessed it wrong¡­


    "Hello, my name is Vangel," The green-eyed boy said. "Do you know who I am?"


    "Yes¡­ you are Vangel, a friend of my half-brother Henri," Aion replied.

 Chapter 27 Warning

    For a moment, the atmosphere froze, and Aion''s half-brothers gulped. It seemed that the boy was the son of a big shot, but as if Aion would let a kid intimidate him. He wasn''t reincarnated into another world to let young masters mess with him.


    "Hahaha, I guess I am," Vangelughed and then said. "But I am not only that. Still, you should introduce yourself as well."


    "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius¡­" Aion said.


    "What?" Vangel replied.


    "... My name is Aion," Aion said after a long sigh.


    "Your little brother, it is quite weird but funny, Henri," Vangel said.


    "If you say so¡­" Henri said while frowning.


    "Don''t be so uptight¡­ we are going to be brothers soon enough," Vangel said.


    "... Nothing has been decided yet," Henri said while looking away.


    It must be tough to be a noble kid, Henri''s wife practically has been decided, and he had a feeling that she was of royal blood. Aion was pretty sure of that because of Vangel. As he said, Henri was very upright, and aside from adults, few people of his age would act like that around him.


    "You are too young to be invited to parties, so you don''t know me," Vangel said. "As I said, my name is Vangel, and I am the first prince of this kingdom. You must be the son of Artemisia Mireli¡­ you probably have a grudge against the royal family."


    "Do I?" Aion asked.


    "Aren''t you unsatisfied that your mother is a war prisoner?" Vangel asked.


    "Yes, I am," Aion replied.


    "You are¡­ a curious kid," Vangel said. "I came to check on you because of the rumors, but I guess they are true. Despite your age, you are skilled enough to be recognized by your elder brothers. I think it would be fun to spar with you, but if something happens, you will be put on a difficult stop, so I will avoid that," Vangel said.


    For a kid of his age, Vangel sure could think ahead. Even in a spar, if he wounds the prince, who knows what might happen afterward? If he is the only male heir, then Aion definitely would be punished in some way. Nevertheless, he decided to stay quiet because getting close to that kind of person might cause more problems than anything. While Aion wanted to free his mother, he didn''t to show weakness in front of those that have power over her life, which would put him and her in a difficult spotter.


    "I wille again in the future to y," Vangel said. "Also, while I respect your attitude to make money without relying on your father, you might not want to stand out so much¡­ people might think that you will be a threat considering the situation of your mother."


    "I will keep that in mind," Aion said.


    "In any case, keep up the hard work. Something in the future will happen that might help you if you try your best," Vangel said and then left with the two other weirdoes.


    While all of his half brothers were sighing, Aion realized that being reborn in a rich family has its perks and its fair share of trouble¡­ It would have been a lot better if his family were normal one instead of messed up because of war¡­


    "I am sorry, Aion¡­ I thought that making that guy go there and spar with you would be a boost that you needed to gain the money that you wanted," Henri said. "I guess I didn''t think things through."


    "Is that so¡­" Aion said. "Well, no harm done¡­"


    Aion sighed since he once again realized that he was talking like a six year old boy¡­ it was hard to act like that and think about serious things at the same time, after all. Regardless, he had already wasted too much time that day, so he began to train.


    During that time, Aion thought about what Vangel said. In the end, no matter what he does, he will draw attention due to his lineage from both sides. So, he might as well ignore all those possible situations and do his best¡­ what he couldn''t forget was what he said afterward.


    Something that might help him will happen¡­ was that true, or was he sure messing with his head? While thinking about that, Aion trained hard for one week, and at that point in time, his brothers were getting worried about their father. Since he left, Lexus didn''t write anyter to report his situation. In the end, the day to continue the challenges arrived, and then they went to the guild. This time, Henri and Philip decided to tag along.


    "Unlike us, you are pretty famous since you are the heir of the house¡­ Your presence might cause problems, Henri," Georges said.


    "I was interested, but if that is the case¡­" Henri said.


    "It is fine. It isn''t like this is the only thing to get money and train at the same time," Aion said. "I don''t mind what most people will think of me once they realize who I am."


    Henri nodded. He knew from a very long time that Aion was someone who walked at the beat of his own drum, so few things could bother him. In any case, Philip and Henri soon would join a military group temporarily and see a lot of fights, but it would be better if they get used to it as soon as possible. Mercenaries and adventurers have many fighting styles, and that was a rare opportunity.


    In any case, once they reached the guild, they found a lot of guilds waiting for Aion in the training grounds. Since the rewards increased and they knew how Aion could fight, their chances were supposed to be better¡­ They didn''t expect that Aion would have new surprises for them¡­

 Chapter 28 Giving Up

    "Hehe, it looks like you have at least fifty challengers today," Georges said. "Since the fee is two times higher, you can earn up to ten gold coins if you win all the fights."


    "Let''s not get ahead of ourselves¡­ I will have to pace myself really well to be able to fight for that long," Aion said.


    Aion had to start sooner orter, so he went to one of the fields and readied himself. It didn''t take long for the first target toe¡­ It seemed that they didn''t determine a line or sequence since most of them were going to wait for Aion to get tired, and then they were going to challenge him.


    The first target was another boy that was almost older than fifty, and he came equipped with two short swords. That was an unusual style¡­ One that everyone would befit as well from watching.


    After tossing the bag with the coins, the swordsman didn''t even ask about the rules. He just charged toward Aion and then tried to hit both sides of his neck. Aion lowered his stance and dodged. Before he could prepare his kick, the enemy jumped backward and escaped.


    "This one has good reflexes and control over his weapons¡­ he is probably ambidextrous¡­" Aion thought.


    The enemy hesitated and slowly moved to the sides in order to find some sort of opening, but Aion didn''t feel things went the way he wanted. He began to thrust his spear quite fast, and while he moved backward, he soon reached one of the groups that was watching the spar, and then he was forced to move to the side. When the enemy''s weight shifted to the side, Aion approached and then used Sonic Thrust. The target blocked the attack with his swords, but he lost his bnce and then fell.


    At that point in time, it became clear to everyone who watched Aion this time and on the previous time that he targeted those moments to make the enemy fall. It was hard to tell if he would win a real battle against them. Still, when the fight was on his terms, he was more skilled.


    After not so long, a girl armed with two spears showed up to duel. It was the first time he saw a girl that young dual-wielding anything.


    When the girl assumed her stance, Aion frowned a bit. Since she had the advantage of reach, she could afford to grab the weapons close to the middle, but aside from that, she still wasted the butt of one of them above her right arm while the other was almost being pointed in another direction¡­


    Gaining experience from that would be good, but Aion decided to end things as fast as possible. Herbination of attacks was probably prettyrge, and while they might not knock him down, he couldn''t afford to get hit, either. Otherwise, his mother would get worried.


    The girl noticed that Aion''s mind was somewhere else, and then she stepped in to attack. With arge but fast swing, she swung her left spear, and Aion lowered his stance to dodge it. When he tried to prepare an attack, he saw the other spear moving to his head. He used his weapon to block the attack, and while that seeded, Aion lost enough time, and the enemy was back to her original stance¡­


    "Sharp middle-ranged attacks that are easy to recover from by using both weapons in a sequence to keep the enemy at a distance¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    The girl approached and then began to attack again. Even though Aion was short, the spears still moved around his head with insane precision. Aion could even feel the wind moving fast above his head whenever he dodged¡­ the power of those swings was the real deal. Still, after doing nothing but dodging for a while, Aion noticed the weaknesses of thatbination.


    As soon as she finished abo, the girl stopped and then fixed her posture before starting the motion of the next. She always had to do that, apparently to increase the uracy, speed, and power of her attacks. After she finished herbo, the girl was surprised when she saw Aion throwing his spear at her. Unfortunately for her, her usual stance wasn''t appropriate for blocking attacks like that, and she ended up getting hit in the stomach. In the brief moment that she flinched due to the pain, Aion approached and kicked her legs in a sweep, making her fall.


    The girl clicked her tongue in annoyance and then left¡­ things started to get heated in the area as Aion began to win in a sequence. That didn''t happen before, but it was surprising that the people around would get that excited over the duels of kids.


    "I don''t like this¡­ even though I have been here for six years, I am still a man of a modern world that can''t approve of the idea of kids fighting," Aion thought. "Still, even I don''t approve, most people that fight don''t have much of a choice."


    While Aion was thinking about that, a certain kid stepped forward to challenge him. He has a weird aura that makes Aion frown¡­ instead of grabbing his long sword, he begins to circle around Aion and makes him frown. Aion began to follow him with his eyes, but then he noticed something weird in the corner of his vision. While everyone was excited and focused on the matches, some suspicious individuals surrounded Aion''s brothers and then captured Elio.


    Aion charged toward the enemy after enhancing Sonic Thrust with his improvement points. The boy underestimated his attack and tried to block the attack¡­ the strike broke the sword and then hit the stomach of that guy, making his body bent forward. Soon after, Aion threw the guy toward Henri, and he began to chase the kidnappers¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 29 Surprises From The System

    Aion saw the emergency exit door closing, and he could see the legs of the unconscious George for a single moment. Everyone around him looked surprised, even his brothers, but he didn''t have time to exin to them. Still, Henri and Philip understood what happened when Aion opened the door, and they turned around and didn''t see Georges.


    "Stay here with Elio and make sure not to let this guy escape, and don''t drop your guard," Henri said.


    Philip nodded and then proceeded to move away from therge group of people and exined the situation to Elio.


    Already outside, Aion couldn''t find the kidnappers and his brother. He could see some carriages heading in all directions, and he could tell that Georges was one of them¡­ to think that the guild would leave such a convenient ce unguarded.


    "I don''t have time for this¡­" Aion said and then changed his ss to Mage and made the wand disappear before he fired Fireballs toward the carriages.


    He aimed at the wheels, and explosions happened when he hit them. Immediately, almost all of them stopped moving, and the drivers went to check what had happened, but only one didn''t stop¡­ Aion changed to the Ninja ss and then used Furtivity.


    When Henri left the training grounds, he found several carriages around, and they stopped because their wheels were on fire, he didn''t understand that, but he concluded that Aion somehow used some sort of trick to stop them since the kidnappers probably were trying to blend in the city and escape with Georges in one of those¡­ Still, what was even weirder was the fact that he couldn''t see Aion.


    All the carriages around had stopped, and Henri couldn''t see any others moving, so he had to choose a direction to go¡­ before that could happen. He closed his eyes and tried to focus his hearing on the sound of moving carriages. He clicked his tongue since he didn''t sense anything, but then when he opened his eyes, he saw a small amount of smoke on his left side moving. He ran in that direction¡­


    It didn''t take long for Henri to reach the carriage, that day, he was only carrying his sword on his waist, so he was pretty light, and the carriage was damaged. Somehow, they extinguish the mes on the wheels and tried to move without drawing too much attention. Henri approached to confirm that Georges was there, but a random cloaked man suddenly appeared in front of him and blocked his path.


    "Move or shout, and we will slit his throat," The cloaked man said.


    Henri panicked and then clenched his teeth in annoyance. He truly couldn''t do anything¡­ it was too risky. Since the enemies captured his little brother, they wanted to use him for something, but it didn''t mean that they would lose much if they killed him there. They were only bandits, while George was one of the sons of an important family that was practically destined to be a high-ranked officer in the army. If they were nning that, they could even start a war using both ways¡­


    Henri panicked, even more, when he noticed the carriage getting smaller in the distance¡­ Couldn''t he do anything? While he was questioning that, he saw an explosion happening in the carriage, and then Aion suddenly appeared there. When the cloaked man turned around to see that, Henri drew his sword and charged at the enemy, and unsheathed his weapon along the way. Still, he only hit with the side of the de. They would need these guys alive¡­


    Some guards approached to question Henri since he drew a weapon in the middle of the day and attacked someone. He dropped his weapon and raised his arms¡­ He could only hope that Aion would rescue Georges.


    Aion approached the carriage as fast as he could while moving close to the walls of the buildings. Although Aion couldn''t hidepletely, and the skill was even less effective during the day, no one noticed him since the walls reflected a lot of the sunlight. When he got close enough to climb the back of the carriage, Aion climbed it slowly and without making any noise and saw Georges on the floor of the vehicle and two of the kidnappers sitting in front of him, heavily armed. The driver was acting like nothing was happening inside, even though the wheel was on fire a couple of seconds ago.


    "I have to use Fireball on them at full power, but I will reveal myself by changing sses. If that doesn''t kill them, they will attack Georges on spot, and this isn''t a situation where I can defend him while he is unconscious¡­" Aion thought.


    Mage Lv 13


    Health: 14/14


    Mana: 74/74


    Stamina: 24/24


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 06


    Magic: 26


    Endurance: 06


    Resistance: 11


    Speed: 06


    Status: 00


    Magic Staff Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Fireball Lv 01(Power Lv 27), Ice Arrow Lv 01


    Passive: Meditation Lv 12 (Efficiency Lv 09)


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 30.000


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    The spell was only at level one since he didn''t have any chances to train it, so he used all of his points to increase its firepower¡­ since it hase to this, Aion will have to spam it and hope that the enemies will be defeated just by that.


    "I can''t attack the sides since the ceiling of the carriage might fall on Georges¡­ he has been drugged and won''t wake up for a while," Aion thought.


    Aion pointed both of his hands toward the kidnappers and then used Fireball two times in a row. The spell burned the walls of the carriage before it exploded the back of it. While ignoring the pieces of wood hitting him, Aion fired the spells again toward the two kidnappers, but they raised their swords to block them. What they didn''t expect was the fact that Aion would spam the skill until they werepletely on fire.


    [You received 300 experience points.]


    [You received 155 coins.]


    [You received 280 experience points.]


    [You received 175 coins.]

 Chapter 30 Blame

    Aion ignored those messages and then jumped inside the carriage to kick the corpses of the enemies to outside before they could fall on Georges while they were on fire. At the same time, he saw the driver jumping from the vehicle after making the horses run as fast as possible.


    "Son of a bitch¡­" Aion said when he realized that he couldn''t chase the enemy and had to stop the vehicle.


    Aion didn''t know how to control horses while mounting or when driving a carriage. Still, he managed to make them slow down after pulling their reins. Eventually, they stopped, and he sighed in relief. When he turned around, he saw that arge number of people were around to see what had happened¡­ the driver escaped, but at least they could question the other kid that Aion defeated.


    However, much to his surprise, a dark-haired and light-armored man that had two swords on his waist approached the carriage while dragging the driver by the neck. He wasn''t that well-built, but he sure had a powerful aura. He had a scar in the shape of a line on his nose that made him look quite fearsome. Aion couldn''t help but raise his guard when the guy looked at him. His aura only got more intense when he saw Aion''s eyes.


    "How is your brother, kid?" The man asked.


    "I think he was drugged¡­ his pulse is normal," Aion replied after he checked it.


    "You did a good job, kid¡­ you probably will have to give some exnations, but you can rest assured that this is over," The man said.


    Aion was holding his training sword tightly, but he only rxed his grip for a short bit. After a while, his brothers arrived and sighed in relief when they saw that Aion and George were fine.


    In the end, Aion had to exin to a shit ton of guards and that man that captured the driver what had happened. As it turned out, he was the guild master of the capital, and his name was Jagger. Regardless, one didn''t have to be a genius to know what had happened¡­ some suspicious individuals realized who Aion, Georges, and Elio were one week ago, and upon noticing that they wanted to return one weekter, they prepared that trap to capture one of them¡­ the only thing Aion didn''t know was why the target was Georges. Henri was supposed to be the most important in terms of status alone since he was the heir of the family.


    Things got reallyplicated when the mothers of the boys arrived in the guild¡­ naturally, Artemisia didn''te. She probably wasn''t even informed of what happened. In any case, Aion felt like sighing¡­ bowing down his head, and apologizing to the people that hated him sure was something he didn''t want to experience often.


    "Where is he? How is Georges?" Georges'' mother asked.


    Georges'' mother was a rtively short woman who also had short dark hair called Leticia, she wasn''t even in her thirties yet, but she sure looked a bit older due to the news of what happened.


    "He is sleeping now, Ma''am," Jagger said. "The healers nullified the drugs in his system. He ispletely fine and will wake up in a couple of hours."


    "This incident was all my fault. I will ept any punishment for it," Aion said with his head down.


    He could feel the cold stares of the mothers while they were checking the well-being of their sons, but soon they changed their expressions when their kids moved away. They also had a few things to say about that.


    "No¡­ the idea of the poster was mine¡­ if it weren''t for that¡­" Elio said.


    "I was half a meter away from Georges when that happened, and I didn''t notice until Aion began to move. This is my fault. I am the eldest, and I¡­" Henri said.


    "So was I¡­" Philip said.


    The atmosphere got a bitplicated, and it got hard to punish anyone for that. So, the mothers didn''t know how to react. Fortunately, Georges woke up, and then things got more lively. He was pretty confused and didn''t remember anything from the moment he entered the guild. His mother decided to take him home and reveal everythingter.


    "Where are the criminals?" Henri''s mother asked. "I want to know who hired them as soon as possible."


    Henri''s mother was called Senna, a woman who had an insanely long light brown hair and eyes that were almost red. She looked like the type who masochists would really like to be looked down on her. Aion wasn''t sure if he should think like that regarding the mother of his eldest brother¡­


    "They are being interrogated, ma''am," Jagger said. "Things ended without your kids suffering much damage, but I am also to me for this incident. To think that kind of people would be able to enter our guild¡­ I will personally interrogate them, and once I get some answers, I will report them to you directly. Still, that kind of low life doesn''t budge in easily, so I rmend you all go home for the day."


    "Very well," Senna said.


    Aion wished that he had the right to rush home instead of going with all the others. He wished for that even more since an ufortable silencested for the entire trip. Still, it was better than being looked down with eyes full of disgust. In any case, things improved when Aion got home. His mother was worried sick since she noticed that the other mothers had left the house¡­


    In the end, Aion was scolded a little by his mother, but then she praised him for rescuing his brother. Unfortunately, she looked troubled when she heard about his magic¡­ there was no point in hiding that, and Aion already had an excuse, but it seemed that his mother was thinking about something else¡­

 Chapter 31 Strengthening Magic With…

    "Since it hase to this, there is no point in hiding it anymore¡­" Artemisia said and then sighed. "As you know, Aion, my ancestors belonged to a magic kingdom, and they had an unrivaled talent for magic, and you inherited that."


    Aion wasn''t so sure about that¡­ he used magic because of the system, but considering the power of his Fireballs at that age, his mother could only assume that he had talent¡­ it was a pity, but he didn''t have it. What was better: disappoint his mother or lie to her? To be or not to be, that is the question¡­


    "I don''t think that was the case, mother¡­ I just used it by ident since I read a book that mentions the principles of that spell," Aion said. Even though that wasn''tpletely true, he read a book about that.


    "Even so¡­ being able to control mana at your age is something unheard of even among us," Artemisia said. "Your father told me once if you were to awaken to magic powers, I should teach you how to control them properly and tell you that you shouldn''t use them unless you have to. Whenever you do, people around will recall the war."


    He had considered that¡­ Still, to think that Aion truly would have both sides on his family tree, such an amazing lineage¡­ at that point in time, he wondered if the king was stupid to let that happen. Wouldn''t be the same as wanting to create a supersoldier? The part of his n to create a descendant of his mother''s people that would be loyal to him sounded sound, but until now¡­ it was a double-edged sword in anyone''s hands.


    "When we get angry, our magic powers usually go out of control. That is why you think it was an ident¡­ your magic powers just reacted to your feelings," Artemisia said. "Anger powers up fire magic, and the calmer you can get, the more sharp and sturdy will be your ice magic."


    That was a weird magic system¡­ it had to rely on the feelings of the caster. Aion felt that he had heard of something simr in a book on his past life, but he couldn''t recall where. Regardless, his mother exined that they didn''t need to cast spells like most people. As long as they could obtain full control over their feelings, they basically could control the basic elements. Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth¡­


    Wind and Earth were a bitplicated to learn since one represented the feeling of freedom and the wish to change things, while the other was the reverse, the wish to maintain the status quo and prevent changes. So, it was hard to find someone who could use all of them. Moreover, Wind and Earth magic could only be used and strengthened when some situations forced the casters to get mentally stronger.


    "I guess that makes sense¡­ it is easier for someone to get angrier or feel cold toward some things, even more so against enemies," Aion thought.


    "This time, you got angry to rescue your brother, and I am proud of you for that," Artemisia said. "However, you can''t let anger power you¡­ anger is like a never-ending fire that destroys everything around you. Fortunately, I think you have more affinity for ice magic, but we should practice everything just in case."


    "There are only those four types?" Aion asked.


    "Yes, the other types are something that disappeared a long time ago, and you don''t have to worry about that," Artemisia replied.


    Aion was quite interested in the subject since he had never heard anything regarding those topics before. He didn''t find that in books either, so it was highly ssified information. In any case, from that point onward, his mother also began to teach him magic, but as with everything else, it started with the basics, and fortunately, the basics were just to use Meditation.


    Artemisia wanted to test his patience and strengthen his willpower, so Aion was going to do that for a long while¡­ In any case, despite the incident, Aion went to train as usual in the garden, and he found the others there. After hearing what happened, Georges was practicing sword swings with all his might while showing an annoyed expression.


    "You are going to hurt yourself¡­" Aion said.


    "Leave him alone for a while¡­ He needs to deal with his frustration, and as you know, he isn''t that patient," Henri said. "We didn''t have time to talk about yesterday, but you surprised everyone. You used normal magic, then chased the carriage without being noticed and even realized the kidnapping when everyone else was busy¡­ You are something else."


    "Anyone can do that much if they stay focused," Aion said.


    That wounded Henri''s pride a bit, but he knew that Aion had a point¡­ his little brother was kidnapped right behind him. Still, all of them were at fault for something, so no one med the other.


    "By the way, what is normal magic?" Aion asked.


    "That is, most people use it. What the people of your mother''s kingdom used is ancient magic, and only those who have certain blood can use it," Henri replied. "I thought that you used ancient magic, but your report and others said that you just used Fireballs."


    "I found a book that mentioned Fireball, and I decided to try¡­ I got lucky," Aion said.


    "Elvera and Nanda are having a hard time using that, and you managed by reading a book once¡­ even Maisie and Darina had a hard time pulling that off before bing ten years old," Philip said. "In a normal situation, I would ask you to teach them a bit of magic, but I guess our mothers won''t let that happen."


    Elvera and Nanda were the youngest sisters, while Maisie and Darina were the oldest that were attending the magic school. Aion barely talked with them because they were really close to their mothers¡­ if it weren''t for the training that they did every morning, Aion probably would never have be close to his half-brothers as he was now.

 Chapter 32 Reasons

    "Do you guys know why Georges was targeted?" Aion asked.


    "His mother''s family are from the eastern side of the country¡­ her older brother is a pretty famous soldier there that prevented many invasions and defeated hundreds of enemies," Henri replied. "He is basically a hero¡­ most likely. His enemies were nning to use his nephew to get him."


    That didn''t surprise Aion¡­ there were a lot of insane and stupid people¡­ in all worlds, it seems. While that incident put Aion in aplicated position, at least his brothers seemed closer than before. For many years, he only saw them as rivals that they had to surpass. The fact that they assumed the mistakes they made in order to help their brothers were proof that they were good kids.


    In any case, now that he had time, Aion decided to check the system. When he put all his coins on the inventory, Aion saw that he had a bit more than thirty thousand coins¡­ after doing some math, he learned that one copper coin was equal to one coin. One silver coin was one hundred coins, and one gold coin was ten thousand coins¡­


    When Aion tried to use the coins by thinking about the option on the inventory, nothing happened, but then he realized that he could convert the coins into materials like copper, silver, or gold. He also could ''buy'' parameters¡­ each point cost ten silver coins, but after buying one, the price would increase. For example, after buying nine points into strength, the tenth one cost one hundred silver coins.


    "It seemed like an expensive investment¡­ but it isn''t bad," Aion thought.


    After doing some tests, Aion confirmed that using the raw materials of the coins to refine the weapons or using them as money was equally efficient, so he didn''t have to focus on a single one.


    In any case, after such an incident, Aion could no longer use the same method, so he had to think of something else. Using his coins as an investment to start a business was probably impossible now that the people knew who he was¡­ so he truly was considering sneaking out of the house and heading to the dungeon.


    While he was thinking about what to do, three dayster, Aion saw the guild master and Vangel crossing the gates of his house. It looked like that guy participated in obtaining intel regarding the incident. When Henri asked about it, he answered exactly that. In the end, Henri''s guess was correct¡­ someone wanted to get to Georges'' uncle¡­ the guild master went to talk with the mothers about that.


    "It seems the criminals were hired through the dark guild, so finding the orchestrator is impossible¡­" Vangel said. "My apologies for that. Still, the criminals were already executed."


    Aion blinked about that¡­ his half-brothers didn''t even react to his words. That kind of punishment seemed normal in that world. Regardless, Aion had forgotten about that, but he burned to death two of the criminals as well, and until now, he didn''t think about it.


    "I wonder if all this militaristic atmosphere is getting me¡­" Aion thought. "I don''t regret that, and I think that those who n to harm children truly deserve to be punished, but this sudden change in mindset seems a bit¡­"


    In the end, Aion decided not to dwell too much on that. Some of the guys that were nning to harm his brother were punished for it, and that was all. It seemed that Vangel used that to gain some points with Henri, but that wasn''t his problem. He couldn''t understand why Vangel tried so hard to be his friend when Henri only felt troubled by his presence.


    "Anyway, I heard that Aion here prevented the whole thing almost by himself and burned two of the enemies to a crisp," Vangel said. "You sure are something. Few men can use magic even after they be adults, and not even girls that study from an early age can use Fireball so soon."


    If that kingdom had a proper educational system, then perhaps kids would learn faster¡­ that was what he wanted to say, but there was no point in bashing tradition. Besides, it was a good chance for mothers and children to work together toward amon goal.


    "I was lucky," Aion said. "Good kids shouldn''t do something so dangerous. Bad kids shouldn''t try it either."


    "Hmm¡­ if you say so," Vangel said. "Anyway, my little sister is turning eleven soon, do you want toe to the party? Considering your fame recently, I bet you will be the center of attention."


    "I will have to refuse. Aside from the few people that know me from my routine, even the adults look at me like they are looking for a reason to kick my face," Aion said. "I don''t respect that kids around my age will be more understanding regarding that."


    "Ah¡­ Jagger, huh," Vangel said. "Well, don''t me him too much since he lost his wife and little sister in the war. He was also a good friend of your father, but since he epted the task of being the guardian of your mother, they lost contact over time."


    "Guardian is a fancy word for the job," Aion said.


    "Some people might say that¡­ well, you are the little brother of my best friend, and he respects you a bit, so if you stay with me, you will avoid such problems," Vangel said. "Won''t that help you?"


    "I will have to refuse that as well since I am stubborn enough even to try to use the money of my father," Aion said.


    "... You truly are a refreshing kid¡­ it is hard to find people who refuse my ideas," Vangel said. "Well, it is a pity, but it can''t be helped."


    His little sister was probably Henri''s future fiancee¡­ If his sisters wanted to avoid him that much, Aion truly didn''t want to meet more high-ss kids. Regardless, Aion returned to his training session while thinking about what he should do about the problem of money as well.


    Since people knew that he could use magic, perhaps Aion could use it to make money¡­ Even if his people don''t like his lineage, they should buy his things if they prove to be incredible.

 Chapter 33 Magic Training

    One week after the incident, the house received a letter from Lexus, and he was asking if everything was all right even though he had heard the full report before. Senna replied to the letter with the help of the other wives, but Aion and Artemisia had no idea what was sent back.


    After that, they didn''t receive any letters. It was Lexus'' way of telling them that if something happens and he doesn''t reply to them for a while, they shouldn''t worry. Still, it didn''t seem like he told them to punish Aion somehow.


    Putting that aside, Aion started his magic training and did some research on the library as well. He rarely had the chance to train the Mage ss and its skills, so that helped more than a bit. The only issue was that he couldn''t find appropriate targets. He stopped using the walls of the house when he began to damage it.


    Fortunately, Aion had an idea when he was reading one of the books that mentioned the magic kingdom where his mother once lived. People there used their magic for everything, to make buildings, wells, and all sorts of things to help them with their lives. So, he understood that they could create things instead of manipting the elements in nature.


    "There isn''t space to make more buildings around the capital, but perhaps they expand things now and then and reform the wall and the territory since we don''t live inside a perfect circle," Aion said. "I also saw a brickyard the other day. Maybe I can use my magic to produce those and then sell them. Killing two birds with one stone."


    That would be useful, but Aion wondered if things would go well since it would be too convenient, after all. Aion wanted to ask his mother about that, and then he realized that the blocks made of rock around his house were simr, but it was gray and silver like. Meanwhile, the bricks in the normal districts were red and brown.


    "Mama, can we make iron with magic?" Aion asked.


    "... You don''t even know the basics, and you are already thinking of that?" Artemisia asked while frowning. "Some people managed to do that, but they were specialists in earth magic. I don''t think that it is a good idea to focus on a single element. They are all useful and have their weaknesses in some moments."


    It was a pity, but it looked like Artemisia wasn''t going to teach him magic that soon¡­ Aion had to wait for a moment before that could happen. He felt like a kid reading a book who wants to skip the introduction and jump to the adventure¡­


    "Aion, imagine that your body is a me that will help you control your anger," Artemisia said. "Also, I know that you won''t train only when I am around, but please don''t burn the garden to the ground."


    "Okay¡­" Aion said.


    "After imagining that, try to control the mes by moving them away from your body and then make them burn even stronger than before," Artemisia said.


    That was one hell of an exnation¡­ it was like a person who believed that the stars could say how their days would be was exining how certain things worked. Regardless, that was a world where mana existed, so perhaps that exnation made sense. Aion decided to see the mana in his body like that¡­ even though he could barely feel anything inside him.


    "Get a bit angry, and then your mana will react to that. Just a bit is fine," Artemisia said.


    Getting angry was easy. Aion just had to think of the frustration he felt when he failed at doing anything a few seconds ago. In the end, he actually felt something living in his body and burning in front of him. He felt a heat as well, so when he opened his eyes, he saw a me on the size of his finger.


    "... You did it¡­ I guess it is expected since you defeated two criminals before," Artemisia said, visibly shocked.


    Aion felt good while being praised and lost his focus, making the me disappear. His mother told him that he had to keep his focus or fire the spell before he lost focus. In that situation, he had to keep forging his mental strength and maintain the me for as long as he could.


    In the end, Aion could keep a me of that size active for as long as he wanted. It barely consumed any mana. However, one of the sizes of a human head cost five points per minute, and the longer he kept it active, the more tired his mind got. It was practically on the state of his mana bar.


    "It seems you have quite thetent magic power¡­ This is enough about fire magic," Artemisia said. "Tomorrow, we will practice ice magic since it is less dangerous. Once you master it, we will move to the next element."


    "You can use the four elements, mama? Amazing," Aion said.


    "Any direct descendant of the royal family can¡­" Artemisia said with a sad smile on her face. "Don''t try to use the magic to attack anything, all right? Focus on control, and when you need it, you will be able to use it well."


    "Can I use magic to make bricks and sell them?" Aion asked.


    "We used to do that, but¡­" Artemisia said after she slightly tilted her head. "Is that why you were fighting? To get money without asking your father? You are so stubborn¡­ Some people might think that you are throwing mud in the name of the Kresnik family, but I guess your father won''t stop you. Still, if you want money, there are better ways to do that."

 Chapter 34 Making Money

    Although he didn''t have much yet, Aion''s mother told him that it would be a lot faster to earn money if he bought terrains or houses and then used magic to repair or build things on them that people might want. He realized that she had a point, but the issue was that the price of any terrain or building in the capital was too expensive. Even the smallest houses cost at least ten gold coins. People that didn''t have much money only lived there because they inherited those ces from their parents.


    Since it hase to that, Artemisia told him that he could use magic and the guild to obtain more funds. Although he couldn''t register, he could put offers there of things that he was selling as well¡­ that ce really had many services.


    For the next week, Artemisia taught Aion how to control his magic, and then she taught him to make sculptures using ice and earth magic. Selling random things was weird for nobles and militaristic families, but they still valued art and such. Most of them were a vain bunch, after all. In any case, the first few sculptures that Aion made were on the small size and weren''t that good, but he had an idea of a statue that would look cool even while rough. It was the statue of Odin holding balmung.


    Aion recalled that he had seen a show with an image like that, and he decided to replicate it. The small size wasn''t half bad, so Aion began to work on the bigger version. It took three days because, with his current magic power, Aion could only make something on the size of a brick with one point of his mana.


    "You made that?" Georges asked when Aion began to pull the statue using a cart that he found in the warehouse.


    "Yes, I figured I could make some money while training my magic," Aion said. "Anyway, I am going alone, I can''t risk enduring the stares of your mothers behind my back again."


    While he was pulling the cart, Aion wondered if he should rip off the statues of Earth. There were a lot of famous ones that he could use¡­ Still, he decided to leave those thoughts aside. He didn''t know if that statue on the show that he saw was based on a real one, though.  Regardless, Jagger frowned when he saw Aion alone in the guild and with a statue.


    "Oh¡­ you are one brave kid toe alone after that incident," Jagger said.


    "I want to sell this," Aion said.


    "Hmm¡­ I didn''t know that you could sell the things of your father. I didn''t know that he had sculptures at his home either," Jagger said.


    "It wasn''t his," Aion said.


    "Well, it doesn''t matter," Jagger said. "We can sell or auction it, but we will take twenty percent of the price."


    "I will return in one week to get the money," Aion said.


    Aion had no interest in talking more than he had to with people that had eyes filled with prejudice. So, he left as soon as he could. During that week, he kept working on improving his skill with magic, and he also made another one. This time, he made one that looked like a nordic warrior with an ax in each hand.


    When he reached the guild, Aion learned that he got seventy silver coins from his first creation. It wasn''t half bad, considering that he only worked for six hours to make it. The second made forty, and the third of a chained warrior made fifty.


    "I guess I need to focus on rough but cool sculptures," Aion thought. "It would be easier to improve if the system recognized the ancient magic, but it doesn''t¡­"


    Mage Lv 19


    Health: 14/14


    Mana: 112/112


    Stamina: 46/46


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 12


    Magic: 40


    Endurance: 06


    Resistance: 16


    Speed: 11


    Status: 00


    Magic Staff Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Fireball Lv 06 (Power Lv 27), Ice Arrow Lv 01


    Passive: Meditation Lv 16 (Efficiency Lv 09)


    Improvement Points: 18


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 55.650


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "Well, I am also improving the mage ss, so I don''t have to hurry while making two gold coins a month," Aion thought. "In any case, it has been two months since Lexus left¡­ I thought that he was going to join a battle, not a war."


    There was a chance that Aion was exaggerating, and his father was only guarding the border. Still, that was a lot of time away from home. Henri and Philip, in less than one month, were going to join the battalion under anothermander, and it would be nice for them if their farther were with them before they departed. While they could return home for a week or two every few months, it would still be rough.


    "Your sculptures were getting famous, Aion," Elio said.


    "Many people were talking about them at thest party, mainly girls," Georges said. "You are getting popr."


    "I want to get popr withdies that are at least ten years older than me," Aion said. "Anyway, it seems soon it will be time for the birthday party of Henri''s fiancee. Don''t step on the girls'' feet when you start to dance."


    "It hasn''t been decided yet¡­" Henri said and then sighed.


    Aion could only imagine a very spoiled princess to make Henri sigh. He was always trying to copy Lexus, so he let few things bother him that much. In any case, that probably will be thest party that Henri and Philip will attend in a while, so one could feel their tension. The tension dispersed when Lexus finally returned.

 Chapter 35 Results

    "It looks like you all have been doing well despite that incident¡­" Lexus said. "It seems that Vangel has been investigating suspicious travelers, so something like that won''t happen again. Regardless¡­ you have been doing something weird while I was away. I heard that you have awakened to your magic, but¡­"


    While Aion wouldn''t pay much attention to it, he thought that he would be scolded for the incident, but nothing happened. Instead of that, Lexus seemed impressed and troubled by Aion''s sculptures.


    "Well, if that is what you want to use your magic for¡­" Lexus said.


    It seemed that those months away from his family made Lexus get a lot softer than before. In any case, the mood in the house improved, and that wasn''t a bad thing. For a few days, Lexus rested at his home and checked the progress of his kids. He was surprised that his kids tried other weapons and got a lot better than expected. Not to mention, even their studies had improved. The battle tactics instructor tested everyone and noticed that they learned a lot more by themselves in a few months than with him for a full year. Aion''s learning method was that good.


    "Aion, I heard that some people tried to contact you to make sculptures for them. Why didn''t you agree?" Lexus asked.


    "I only want to make what I want," Aion replied. "Also, I am not interested in working for people filled with prejudice."


    "I am not a merchant, but I am pretty sure that such a mindset is wrong for those who want to make money," Lexus said.


    "That is fine. I can move on to other projects if that one starts not to work anymore," Aion said.


    "I see¡­ putting that aside, I want to see how you all can fare agaisnt each other," Lexus said. "Soon, Henri and Philip are going to carry and use real swords, so a real demonstration of your abilities will be required. I will be the opponent this time."


    That was surprising. Still, that was their chance to show that they could do it. As expected, Henri was the first one to fight, and he decided to return to his sword and shield style. Lexus unsheathed his sword, and he just moved forward a bit. Aside from that, he did nothing. It was clear that he wasn''t going to attack¡­


    Henri didn''t hesitate and dashed toward his father since he had the confidence that he would block all of his attacks exactly that happened. Henri was a lot fiercer than before, and he could attack while moving to another spot and changing his stance, creating a storm of hits, but Lexus easily followed him with his eyes alone and blocked the attacks using the minimal amount of strength. In the end, he got exhausted after ten minutes and stopped.


    "Not bad, your moves are a lot sharper than before," Lexus said. "You are ready to use a real weapon, and that will make you put more pressure on the enemy. Now it is your turn, Philip."


    Philip was more aggressive, and even though he had only trained for three months with the weapon, he decided to use an ax. As one would expect, his attacks were easy to read, but that forced Lexus to use a proper stance to block the attacks. He tried to hit him with the side of the sword to test Philip''s defense, but he was quick to retreat or block them with an ax.


    "You got a bit slower due to the weapon, but the attacks are heavier, and your defense is more solid¡­ you two improved a lot," Lexus said. "I am confident that you won''t fail on your duties when you leave to join the battalions."


    "Yes, sir," Henri and Philip said in unison.


    ? "What about you three?" Lexus asked. "Unfortunately, Caelis grew tired of the conflict and moved to the area, we didn''t defeat him yet, and I might have to return and deal with him again. Now is the time for me to give you all more pointers than before when ites to fighting."


    Georges and Elio showed interest in the offer, but Aion didn''t. He didn''t know how strong his father was, but he knew that he wasn''t on his level yet, nor would he learn much agaisnt an enemy that wouldn''t even try. He had to keep working on his fundamentals while he grew. Perhaps he would have a chance if he reset all his sses and transferred all the experience and energy to a single ss. Still, he wasn''t interested in that kind of meaningless victory.


    In the end, Lexus spent the rest of the month teaching his kids how to ride a horse. They were supposed to go with some kids that had enlisted to join the army, but unlike them, they were going to learn how tomand. They had to live among soldiers for a few years, but at the moment, they had to show that they were a bit different to be respected.


    Once again, most of the family reunited at the gate of the mansion when the day for Henri and Philip to leave arrived. Even the girls at the magic school took a license to see them leave. Senna and hi looked like they didn''t sleep much that night. Philip''s mother was a woman who always maintained a poker face, she had short ck hair and brown eyes, and she gave a vibe of a quiet and studious person. Still, just like Senna, she broke into tears when the boys departed.


    Next year, the other girls and Georges and Elio also were going to leave¡­ Aion wondered what he should do regarding those traditions. Making his name in the army would take too much time for him to reach his goal. There was also the possibility that he won''t follow the same path due to his mother''s side¡­


    "I guess the king would risk giving me the chance to obtain a lot of power but not an army. That would make more sense," Aion thought.


    Aion thought that he would have to think for several months to think of a way to deal with that situation, but much to his surprise, his father told him the day after those two left what he had to do to reach his current goal¡­ that easily.

 Chapter 36 The Pinnacle Of Brains And Strategy

    Samurai Lv 12


    Health: 64/64


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 52/52


    Strength: 16


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 16


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 16


    Status: 00


    Sword Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Block Lv 01, Heavy Sword Lv 01,


    Passive: Swordsmanship Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 33


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    While Aion was checking the samurai ss to see if it could work by training it with a short sword, his father approached. That was unusual for him to show up when the others weren''t around, so Aion couldn''t help but frown. He was in a bad mood since the ss only worked with a long sword, and those weren''t suited for his size.


    "We need to talk about your future," Lexus said. "Usually, it would be too soon to discuss such things, but I think that your current situation made you grow faster than the others."


    "... my future?" Aion asked, a bit surprised.


    "Yes, your interest and talent in many areas made me realize that you aren''t interested in using the name of our family to achieve your goals, and it is clear that you dislike the condition of your mother," Lexus said after nodding. "You want to free her, and while I don''t know how you n to do that, your ns won''t work. First of all, your mother epts her situation, and the king doesn''t change his mind unless he is almost forced to due to the situation. You will have to convince both of them in some way to do that."


    "I already know that," Aion said.


    "From what I can see, you only have one way to achieve that¡­ When the heir of the kingdom bes five, ten, and fifteen years old, a tournament is realized in their name. In that tournament, the winner has the right to ask the king anything that he desires. Unless it is something insane or very stupid, and the king will be forced topensate the winner. When Vangel bes fifteen, you will be nine years old, barely ten. However, people from all over the kingdom participate. Generals, guild masters, royal guards, adventurers¡­ If you somehow win the tournament, you will have the chance. However, people like me will participate as well. Do you think you can surpass me in three years?"


    "If that is my only option and the earliest of the things that I can do, then I will win the tournament," Aion dered.


    "Good, I will watch your determination for the next three years and confirm your result once the tournament starts," Lexus said and then turned around to leave.


    "Father, why did you tell me this?" Aion asked.


    "Someone had to do it, even though I hated your mother," Lexus replied. "The king also ordered me, and I am loyal to him. Still, my hate has weakened over the years¡­ Nothing wille out of this. Your mother already knows, and she is suffering because a lot of people despise you as well because of her blood. Compared to the weight that she is carrying, my hate seems small and pathetic. Regardless, no matter what, the king won''t allow her to live outside the kingdom, but I have a territory near the western border that needs someone to rule over it. As long as she has a reason not to escape and to help you, the king will allow her to live there to help you manage thend."


    After that, Lexus left. His idea was pretty good¡­ The pinnacle of brains and strategy: using brute strength. It seemed that some years after the war, he matured a bit. Still, to pull that off, Aion will have to train hard. Even with the help of the system, it will be difficult to do that with the body of a nine year old boy.


    Aion considered his options. While he didn''t fight many soldiers, it seemed that the variety of the fighting style in the realm was pretty high. It was hard to imagine guys who didn''t train from an early age to register for the tournament, so Aion had to pick a ss that would help him against all fighting styles¡­


    "Considering that the tournament mightst for a while, using a shield and sword will make the fights drag out for too long¡­" Aion thought. "I should go as offensive as possible to win the fights faster¡­ I can''t afford to lose, I will have to specialize in that."


    Warrior Lv 14


    Health: 78/78


    Mana: 18/18


    Stamina: 48/48


    Strength: 21


    Dexterity: 14


    Magic: 03


    Endurance: 17 + 03


    Resistance: 06


    Speed: 10


    Status: 00


    Hammer Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Vertical Swing Lv 01, Stunning Blow Lv 01


    Passive: Iron Skin Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 39


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 55.973


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    The best melee sses were Samurai, Spearman, Berserker, and Warrior. Warrior would particrly work well if Aion increases Iron Skin and then improves its efficiency. However, if he fights someone much more skilled than him¡­


    "For the time being, I should focus on improving those four, and then in a year or two, I will level up the one I am most suited to," Aion decided.


    After that, Aion began to use his skills as much as possible and only stopped when his arms were hurting like hell. After that, he began to run while wearing the gear that he bought the other day¡­ once that was done and he couldn''t move his legs, Aion began to train his magic and made sculptures.

 Chapter 37 One Year

    Aion spent one month doing heavy physical training and got used to wearing the heavy equipment that most people used to wear while fighting. While wearing armor wasn''t all that bad, Aion concluded that he would never wear full te armor and focus on defense. It was just too hindering for his mobility. He didn''t have the resources or the connections to get one particrly made for him, but he would focus on getting that at some point.


    After the training that was practically heavy lifting, Aion showed some results while sparring with his brothers. Blocking and dodging their attacks became a lot easier, as expected. Training the basics was really the most effective way to proceed.


    The battle tactics instructor and Aion''s mother were running out of things to teach Aion as well, so he was starting to obtain a lot of free time in the afternoons. At first, he used that to look around the capital for buildings that he could buy. It didn''t take long for him to find some residences on sale. Living in the capital was expensive, and some people wanted to move to the countryside due to it.


    Although he bought the first residence in a ce that wasn''t much visited, after doing some repairs and adding an upper floor to the building, some people began to visit the area since it looked like someone rich was going to move there. Aion made sure never to let anyone see that he was upgrading the house with magic and that had been difficult since he couldn''t just use brick to perform the upgrades.


    Regardless, it took two months, but Aion finished the repairs and sold the first ce that he had obtained for twenty-five gold coins. Again, he used the guild as a middleman, and the buyers frowned when they saw him, but they liked the ce, so no problems happened after that.


    Aion kept looking for ces like that for buying since, most of the time, he couldn''t rely on the guild since people didn''t want to lose twenty percent of the money obtained. In order to make use of his time, Aion also trained Furtivity and trained to learn how to use that skill without the system¡­ It was pretty hard since it used mana instead of stamina, and aside from the magic on his mother''s side of the family, he couldn''t use magic well yet.


    "This system has a crazy potential, but dividing the skills like this sure is troublesome¡­ Still, I guess some difficulty is supposed to be expected," Aion thought.


    That kind of training was hard but quite fun. One of the parts that Aion liked the most was the part where he waited for people to blink while looking at him, and then he would use Furtivity to disappear from their sight. When people with good instincts were the target, it was hard to aplish that, but most people couldn''t follow him once he seeded in getting their rhythm.


    Regardless, Aion''s source of ie was improving nicely, and after six months, he finally had enough money to buy an inn in the capital that had six rooms for fifty gold coins. Just by keeping the employees, he already freed himself from a big problem. The only issue was the fact that the ce wasn''t making a lot of money. Every day, the inn only made around twenty copper coins, so Aion would have to wait for almost twenty-five years to recover his investment. That was too much of a long time.


    With that in mind, Aion reformed the building in the next two months and then added also an extra floor, increasing the number of rooms to ten. After that, he put a fancy statue in the lobby of the inn to attract customers, and it didn''t take long for the ce to bustle with clients, making the earnings increase by three times. He did that once again in the next four months and obtained another inn that basically gave him the same amount of ie.


    "I guess it is time to focus on my training¡­ the inns will grant me two silver coins daily, so money won''t be a problem for a while," Aion thought. "I need to talk with mom about this¡­ and I guess father as well."


    Artemisia had a feeling why Aion was training so much, and while pained her heart a little, she couldn''t bring herself to stop Aion from doing what he wanted. It was better than training for one day to rebel against the kingdom for her, after all.


    "Mom, I am nning to train at the dungeon," Aion said. "Georges and Elio soon will join some battalions, and I won''t progress as much by training by myself."


    "I can see in your eyes that trying to stop you is a waste of time¡­" Artemisia said and then sighed. "Still, the guild only epts those who are ten years older, and they control that dungeon."


    Aion nodded. Things were peacefulter, so they had more than enough manpower to control the monsters inside. They had no reason to let an eight years old kid enter the ce and fight monsters. He could use his father and tell him to go with him like he did when all the boys were around, but that would be pointless since his father would see him fighting.


    Aion also could train with his father since he wasn''t that busy these days, but Aion wanted the materials that he could get from the monsters. In the end, Aion decided to use his Furtivity. Since Jagger put some distance between him and his father, they wouldn''t talk about the subject if Aion entered the dungeon without permission.


    "If you think you are ready and you think that you can convince Jagger, then you are free to do so," Lexus said. "Still, within the walls of the capital, you are rtively secure. While outside, you might find people that won''t think twice about showing prejudice toward you or worse."


    "I will wee those fools with open arms," Aion said.


    Lexus frowned when he heard that¡­ it was weird to hear that from an eight years old kid if anything. Still, Lexus couldn''t tell what his son was going to do¡­ he killed two people before to rescue his brother and showed no signs of fear or regret for taking two lives. Even the most well-trained soldiers have a hard time adapting to that kind of reality in the beginning of their careers¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 38 Brute Strength

    At first, Aion didn''t go to the dungeon. Instead of that, he watched armed groups leaving the city and if they were headed in that direction. Fortunately, they only would leave once every three days. It was hard to say if they were trying to let the enemies multiply enough for them to be a challenge. Regardless, the groups were mostly made of veteran Adventurers, and they returned at noon with carts filled with pelts, ws, and meat.


    "They could return to the dungeon in the afternoon, but I guess that would be too much hassle for adventurers," Aion thought. "At any moment, they might be forced to deploy to some serious battle, so they want to use their peaceful times to rx as much as possible."


    Aion saw many adventurers over the years doing escort jobs, and those were supposed tost for weeks, so they weren''t allzy bums. Regardless, after Aion got their schedules of the dungeon, he used Furtivity to hide below a wagon that crossed the city gates, and then he left it after he was far away enough to hide behind some hills or the tall grass. Time was of the essence, so Aion ran toward the dungeon.


    When he reached the entrance of the dungeon, Aion confirmed that he would have a hard time passing by the two guards, it wasn''t impossible, but they were well-trained. First of all, he moved to the side of the dungeon and kept looking at them. Once he memorized their breathing pace, Aion began to move while using Furtivity. When they exhaled, Aion took a step forward, only one at a time. He got that trick over thest year, and he mastered it to the point that even veteran soldiers could lose sight of him.


    In the end, Aion couldn''t help but frown when he entered the dungeon¡­ the n had worked a bit too well¡­ in any case, he could remember the path ahead due to thest time he had been there, so he advanced through the darkness until he heard some grunts.


    "This might be a good training¡­ shall I train to fight without relying on my eyesight?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Trying that all of a sudden probably wasn''t a good idea, so Aion uses the technique that his mother taught him to create a Fireball above his head and illuminate the area. After that, he heard another grunt and the sound of steps. Aion summoned his hand axes.


    Berserker Lv 20


    Health: 175/175


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 72/72


    Strength: 31 + 03


    Dexterity: 06


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 31


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 31


    Status: 00


    Hand Axes Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Rage Lv 05, Roar Lv 01,


    Passive: HP Plus Lv 06, Brute Strength Lv 03


    Improvement Points: 57


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    When the Berserker ss reached level twenty, Aion knew that he should use that in the tournament. The bonus in strength that two skills would add to his power would make him fight at an equal level against enemies that were much bigger than him. Moreover, he would be a lot tougher to knock down as well. In the end, Aion decided to follow the philosophy that the best defense is a roundhouse kick on the neck of the enemy.


    The first enemy eventually showed up while charging like a truck, and Aion blocked its ws by using his hand axes. He frowned when he realized that the big face of the creature was more intimidating than the power of its attacks. Aion didn''t move an inch during the impact, but he flinched when the open mouth of the monster approached his hands.


    The monster didn''t look like it was nning to do anything else, so Aion kicked its stomach, and that made the creature stagger. He used that chance to step back and put his back on the attack when he swung both axes at the chest of the enemy¡­ it was annoying to be so short¡­


    The green bear grunted in pain and then swung both arms to crush Aion''s head. He just blocked them with each ax since that was good strength training. It was good to know that his strength was high enough for that. Regardless, Aion pushed away the arms before jumping and then attacking the head of the monster. The weapons easily crushed the monster''s skull.


    You obtained 30 experience points.


    ? "Hmm¡­ it is a lot less than before, probably because of the level of the ss," Aion thought. "No coins either¡­ did the system give me the money that those two had?"


    In any case, Aion touched the corpse with his weapons, and he began to process it. Apparently, he could process ten bodies at a time, but the first one was finished in a single minute. From that, he found his inventory of five chunks of meat, arge piece of pelts, the ws, and several bones¡­ the ax could absorb only the bones. While the bow could absorb the numbing ws, but the meat and the pelt couldn''t be absorbed by anything.


    "I guess I will sell those¡­ More money for me," Aion thought and then moved forward.


    Aion knew that was one of the weakest dungeons, but he wasn''t sure if he was strong enough to deal with the monsters. He was d to discover that his hard training paid off, and he could see a chance of himself winning the tournament.


    In any case, the second monster approached and then tried to grab Aion''s arms. When the axes got in the way, he tried to bite Aion''s head. In the end, Aion headbutted the chin of the creature and made it lose bnce. That hurt Aion''s head as well, so he wasted some time recovering. In the end, Aion threw the right-hand axe at the hand of the creature, and he somehow managed to make the de pierce the skull of the creature.


    You obtained 30 experience points.


    "Oh¡­ This is pretty cool," Aion thought when the weapon returned to his hand. "I can''t use this too often or in front of others, but it certainly wille in handy¡­"

 Chapter 39 Evaluation

    It didn''t take for Aion to realize that his training and powers made him too strong for that dungeon. That happened after he killed the tenth monster¡­ Never mind wounds. He wasn''t even sweating. Things would have been even easier with magic.


    "It looks like it will be better if I train all the sses here¡­" Aion thought. "I can Reset the experience and then transfer to this sster."


    If he didn''t have to leave for days, Aion would look for other dungeons, but it couldn''t be helped. He will have to make it do with what he has right at the moment. In any case, after half an hour, Aion reached the bottom of the dungeon. He thought that he would find a boss or a group of monsters, but their numbers were low since a group hade to clear the dungeon the previous day. Or so Aion thought¡­ several monsters hidden in the darkness began to appear.


    "... This isn''t something that I was expecting¡­" Aion muttered with a forced smile on his face.


    In the end, Aion made the mes disappear, and then he used Furtivity. He could walk backward since he recalled the path, but then the monsters still charged at him¡­ he immediately realized that he smelled like blood after killing so many monsters. Fortunately, Aion was faster, so he could outrun them if he wanted to, which he didn''t.


    Aion turned around and summoned the mes in a circle around him. The monsters thought that the mes wouldn''t do much, but soon they regretted that when their bodies'' fur began to burn, and the mes spread. Aion threw the ax toward the head of two of them, and he finished them off instantly.


    You obtained 30 experience points.


    You obtained 30 experience points.


    "The mes would be a lot more powerful if it weren''t for the ss, but¡­ Ah, I can do that," Aion changed his ss for a moment before making the mes fly in all directions.


    It didn''t take long for all the monsters to be burning, but they wouldn''t die due to only that much. So, Aion switched back to the Berserker ss and then used Rage. He felt his body getting lighter, but his mind was getting kind of dense. Even at lower levels, the skill could affect his body so much to the point that Aion didn''t hesitate to charge at the monsters.


    The first target tried to stop him with a swing of the ws, but Aion attacked again, and the arm of the monster was cut off. While the beast was grunting in pain, he jumped and attacked its head.


    You obtained 30 experience points.


    Several other monsters tried to surround Aion, but he attacked one, and before the creature could fall, he kicked its chest and then moved toward the other. The second target tried to attack him with its ws, but Aion used both axes to repel them before crushing the head of the creature with an axe kick.


    "Ah¡­ I can''t let myself be dirtied with their blood," Aion thought.


    Aion still had some leisure to worry about that¡­ it was a real problem, though, since he won''t be able to leave the dungeon unnoticed, smelling like blood. While treating that like a good simtion of how to fight against groups, Aion faced the beasts. In the end, he got worried over nothing¡­ perhaps the surprise got the better of him.


    In any case, even without the physical bonuses of Rage, he didn''t get scratched by them, and considering that the skill leveled up two times in that short window of time, things ended well. Still, when the battle was over, and he canceled the skill, he felt exhaustion taking over his body. That was another downside of the skill¡­ it used more stamina over time, and he would feel all at once when Rage was deactivated.


    "Let''s clean this mess and not leave any vestiges behind before leaving the dungeon¡­ I guess it will take a while to process all this," Aion thought. "Well, more than enough time for me to clean myself."


    Aion began to work while wondering how he could sell the meat and the pelt without being tracked by the guild. Most likely, he will have to look for some low-lives that would want to buy the materials for a cheap price, people who wouldn''t want to deal with the guild as well with that kind of business.


    In the end, cleaning the ce took a lot more time than clearing the dungeon¡­ which was funny, if anything. Nevertheless, Aion could produce water as well. He just had to control ice magic. The trick is to use ice magic to keep his spirit calm and pure. To make water, he just had to keep his mind pure and free of thoughts.


    With fire magic, Aion heated the water, and that sure made the smell on his body disappear. Combining magic like that was easy, but there was a lot of stuff that his mother said that would take time to learn when ites to that. In any case, once his body had been warmed up and he was no longer wet, Aion left the dungeon the same way he entered, and the guards didn''t realize a thing.


    "I guess I cane once a week to do this¡­" Aion thought while checking his progress.


    Berserker Lv 20


    Health: 212/212


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 72/72


    Strength: 31 + 12


    Dexterity: 06


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 31 + 08


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 31


    Status: 00


    Hand Axes Refinement Lv 05


    Bonuses: Strenght + 08, Endurance + 08


    Skills: Rage Lv 07, Roar Lv 01,


    Passive: HP Plus Lv 06, Brute Strength Lv 04


    Improvement Points: 63


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "I really can''t keep ignoring refinement¡­ that alone increased my health by thirty-two points¡­" Aion thought.


    After a while, Aion was back in the capital, and he began to look for a ce to sell the materials. For that kind of situation, he had a cloak that could hide his face. After that, he headed to the slums of the capital¡­

 Chapter 40 Road Bandit

    Until now, Aion avoided the slums that could be found in the northern part of the capital. It was literally behind the castle in that district, and he avoided it because of the incident with the kidnappers. That part of the city wasn''t well-guarded, and it was clear that the low-lives used that part of the capital to hide.


    Aion''s father told his kids a bit about that part of the city. During the war, many people fled to the capital since it was the most secure city in the kingdom, and since some people lost their homes, they stayed there and began to build new houses above others without any organization. Thus it became like a maze that was impossible to regte orpletely guard.


    Aion saw a lot of people living their daily lives but a lot of people idling away. Some looked at him but soon lost interest. Most of the people there couldn''t find work in the capital, and starting anywhere was something that they didn''t want since they might lose their homes again. Once that problem started, it kept snowballing, and there was no end in sight.


    Eventually, Aion found the semnce of a market that had a lot of people. At first nce, Aion didn''t find anything suspicious, but he found some suspicious-looking guys guarding the entrance of some houses.


    "Where I can find a ce where people want to buy meat and pelt from the dungeon?" Aion asked.


    "We only deal with fresh merchandise," one of the suspicious-looking guys replied.


    Aion sure was hoping that he wasn''t talking about monsters living in the city. Come to think of it, Aion had the Tamer ss, but until now, he didn''t have any chance to test it. It was a pity¡­ it seemed fun to have monsters to do his bidding¡­


    Aion thought that he would be ignored due to his size and voice, but those guys didn''t want to lose the chance to make business, so they replied to him. Eventually, Aion found someone that was willing to talk with him and buy his things. It was a man who had some scars on his face, had shaved head, and was wearing clothes like a road bandit that people would find in fantasy games.


    "What I am doing with my life involving myself with this kind of person¡­" Aion thought while he was heading down to the basement of the building. "Wait, I can''t judge people by their appearances, even if they have the word bandit written on their forehead."


    In any case, when he reached the basement, Aion found a warehouse filled with all types of products. Weapons, armor, essories, wine, books, and even cages with weird animals and monsters. One of them was a giant cat that had three horns and red eyes. Another one was a giant lizard that had its mouth closed with a weird belt¡­ the others were¡­ Aion felt that he should look at them too much since they looked at him like he was going to be their lunch.


    "Show me what you got?" The road bandit asked.


    It wasn''t a good idea to give and ask names in that kind of situation, so Aion decided to call that guy: road bandit, at least in his head. Regardless, Aion took out from his cloak a pile of pelt and some of the meat. Conveniently enough, the food couldn''t go bad in his inventory. Unfortunately, only non-living things could be put there.


    "The pelt and the meat were perfectly cut, and their quality is good and can be used right now¡­" the road bandit said. "Two coins for them."


    Aion was pretty sure that he could obtain two silver coins for that since the meat could feed a big family for a week, and the pelt could be used for a lot of things. However, such materials should bemon in the capital, and the road bandit was trying to save some coins.


    "One silver coin and eighty copper coins," Aion said.


    "That is a waste of time. I can''t buy such a small quantity," The road bandit said. "I can offer 140 copper coins if you bring a lot of those."


    "150," Aion said.


    "All right¡­ once you bring that much, I will," The road bandit said and then stopped when Aion made two big boxes appear filled with meat and pelt.


    "This should have enough for 240 silver coins," Aion said.


    "... I only have 150 right now," the road bandit said while wondering if Aion used magic or a magic relic to do that.


    "Then I will grab some items around," Aion said.


    Aion couldn''t tell which weapons or items were the best, so he thought that he truly needed to learn Appraisal. He also thought of telling him to prepare more money next week, but he learned his lesson from the incident in the guild, and he shouldn''t tell strangers where or when he will be.


    Hunting around 160 green bears wasn''t a bad way to make ie, but he wished that leveling up was faster. Regardless, he bought some things and made the system process them. While he could refine the axes with the materials, Aion didn''t need the dungeon to be easier than it already was. He should save it in case the tournament bes more difficult than expected. He still has two years ahead, but he couldn''t afford to get careless¡­


    Although Aion did pretty much the same thing over and over again during the next two years, it passed in the blink of an eye¡­ the capital also began to get crowded with people that were nning to win the tournament.

 Chapter 41 Meeting

    On the day of the start of the tournament, Aion woke up feeling like his body was being crushed. It looked like he exaggerated too much in thest few weeks when it came to training. However, he only found his mother crushing him with a bear hug when he woke up.


    "Mom¡­ I need to get up," Aion said after sighing.


    Artemisia still was sleeping, so she didn''t hear anything, but she sure looked happy, like when people were hugging pillow while having a good dream. Aion soon was going to need a bed for himself, but he had been dying that since his mother didn''t have many sources of happiness in her life. She had been in that house for ten years, and she never had the chance to step outside¡­ it was time to end all that.


    "Where do you get this much strength from such thin arms?" Aion asked while he was moving away from his mother''s arms.


    Despite his hard work and how much he punished his body over the years, Aion still grew up a lot. He was only ten, but he was already 1.6 meters tall. Back on Earth, he was 1.8 meters tall, so he was confident and satisfied in reaching that¡­ it would be troublesome if he became even taller and slower.


    "I am too, too old to sleep on the same bed as my mom¡­ hopefully, she won''t be unreasonable about this in the future," Aion thought. "Regardless, the tournament starts at noon, but I won''t be able to rx until then. My inns should be making a lot of money, so checking them might be a problem¡­"


    Aion decided to take some fresh air in the garden before breakfast. Much to his surprise, he saw his brothers there talking with their sisters. It wasplicated to approach them since Aion still rarely talked with the sisters, but at least they didn''t look at him with eyes full of scorn.


    "It has been a while¡­ you have grown more than us," Henri said.


    "So, you guys came in the middle of the night to join the tournament¡­" Aion crossed his arms and then said. "Can''t say that I am surprised. Just don''t try too hard and get hurt in the process."


    "You look confident," Philip said. "I only want to test my skills since I know that I can''t defeat father."


    "If any of us be his opponent so early in the tournament, that would be really bad," Elio said.


    "I think it would be fun if we could show a good fight against him in front of a huge number of people," Georges added.


    Aion was already certain that his brothers wouldn''t defeat him in a serious fight¡­ they had no ambition of winning. Moreover, while they had new weapons, they didn''t prepare as much as Aion for the tournament. Hisst three years had the sole goal of winning that.


    In any case, Aion wished that he didn''t have to fight them. They will use real weapons, and while some healers will be around to prevent deaths, idents can still happen in such situations.


    Aion talked with his brothers until breakfast, and while they invited him to walk around the capital and enjoy the week of holidays, he refused since the sisters would be with them. It would be bad to get in the way since they couldn''t see each other often.


    "Aion, I know it is toote to convince you otherwise, but don''t go too far on this tournament," Artemisia said while they were having breakfast.


    "Don''t worry, mom," Aion said. "I will easily win. I can do it even using a single arm."


    "When did you get so confident?" Artemisia asked and then sighed. "There are a lot of strong people in this world, not many of them are in this kingdom, but even so, you can also lose to experience and to someone smart."


    "I am considering all that when I say that I will win," Aion said. "If things get dicey, I also have my trump card."


    "As long as you use that to return in one piece¡­" Artemisia said.


    If Aion was too confident, his mother had nothing but worries. Regardless, anyst-hour training would only tire Aion out, so he took a nap until noon and had lunch. The life of azy bum wasn''t so bad¡­ When enjoyed now and then.


    After lunch, Aion equipped the light armor that he had asked a cksmith to forge for him. Since he was growing, he made it so that he could adjust the size. It ended up being a bit showing since it was dark blue and red and had some golden parts¡­ the cksmith got carried away since Aion found some good materials, and even though he kept his identity hidden, that guy still figured out that he was rich.


    "You look so cool, Aion!" Artemisia said.


    "Armors are made to protect, not to make someone look cool," Aion said. "Even without one I am already cool enough."


    "Perhaps we shouldn''t help your ego grow more than already is¡­" Artemisia said.


    "Well, I will probably only return at night since I will study my opponents after the matches," Aion said. "See youter, mom."


    "Don''t get hurt, okay?" Artemisia asked. "Don''t be too mean to your opponents, don''t be rude to them. Be respectful to the audience. And¡­"


    Artemisia stayed like that for a while, and Aion listened to every single thing. Eventually, he left while his eardrums were throbbing a bit, and then he saw a lot of people heading to the east side of the city, where an arena had been built for the event. Aion''s aura changed as soon he found the ce¡­

 Chapter 42 Arena

    Magic really makes things really convenient¡­ even if it wasn''t on the same magic of his mother''s side, people still could use magic to build big structures. The arena was big enough to hold twenty thousand people and looked a bit like the Colosseum.


    It was round and had many upper floors where the audience could go¡­ after buying their tickets. A lot of events were taking ce over that week, and the royal family had to find a way to make money to pay for everything. The taxes weren''t enough.


    In any case, there were two entrances to the arena, one for the audience and another for the fighters. Aion wondered if some fights wouldn''t break out in the waiting room since he could see that more than one hundred people were going to participate in the tournament¡­


    The guards at the entrance found frowned when they saw Aion. He was tall for his age but not for an adult, and he looked like a kid. Still, they didn''t stop him. He saw some smirks on the other participants smirking while looking at him, but he ignored them. Regardless, the waiting room was as big as a ser field, and a lot more fighters were there than expected¡­ perhaps five hundred.


    Aion had nned to sit on the corner and wait, but then he saw a board with the list of the fighters and who was going to fight them¡­ it was a rather big list, but Aion found his name easily. People with surnames were umon in that world. Practically, only nobles had them. Naturally, Aion only recognized the names of his siblings and father. The number of people with surnames wasn''t small¡­ As expected, everyone was treating the king like their personal Santa us.


    "It looks like we might fight in the third round if we win both fights," Henri said after he suddenly approached.


    "Yes, it seems that the others have more chances of ending up fighting father early on¡­ we can only face him in the semifinals if we continue winning," Aion said.


    "You don''t have to hide that you are confident, you have more talent, and we spent most of our time learning how tomand instead of training like you," Henri said.


    "Talent, huh¡­" Aion said.


    If the system was part of his talent, then Aion wasn''t nning to use it unless he is really forced to¡­ freeing his mother was more important than his pride, after all. In any case, he frowned when he saw that guy''s name on the list¡­ Vangel Zaera¡­ Zaera was also the name of the kingdom.


    "That guy¡­ he is really troublesome to no end¡­ how the hell fights in the tournament when the whole thing is for his name," Henri said while frowning. "Few people will have the guts to attack him for real."


    Aion never had much patience with spoiled kids, so he definitely would beat the crap out of him if he had to. Regardless, his first opponent was someone called Gravon. Naturally, he had never heard of him, but Aion could feel a heavy stare on his right side, and he found a big mercenary-looking guy. Gravon had a big ck beard, and he was crazily well-built. One could imagine him carrying a big war hammer. Unfortunately, by the rules of the tournament, the participants will choose a weapon given by the organizers. That was to prevent rich people from using powerful relics and winning easily¡­


    Nevertheless, the big guy turned around, and he didn''t look like thought that the fight would be easy. Maybe he looked pissed because of Aion''s lineage. Regardless, the fight would only start in a while, so Aion decided to move to the area above and see the fights before his turn.


    A lot of people did the same, while the most nervous ones stayed behind in the waiting room to calm down. In any case, Aion''s armor was shy, but it had a cloak and hood attached for a reason, so he hid his face in order not to be bothered.


    The audience looked quite excited while waiting for the fights, but they went silent when some royal guards showed up and opened a path for the royal family to head to the seats reserved for them. Aion couldn''t help but frown when he saw that the king was an old man in his sixties¡­ Usually, nobles had many kids at an early age, like Lexus. Things got even weirder when the queen showed up. She had long, light brown hair and didn''t look older than thirty. She was quite the catch, but she gave a vibe that Aion didn''t like much since she was wearing way too much jewelry. She almost looked like a pirate that found a hidden treasure.


    Eventually, Henri''s fiancee also showed up, and it looked like she was the same as him. Being around fourteen, she looked like a real princess while wearing a yellow dress. It was hard to see things from so far away, but she didn''t look ugly, so he couldn''t understand why Henri looked so troubled.


    The king slowly approached the arena and then coughed a few times to clean his throat. It didn''t seem like he would live for more than ten years¡­ living in a castle has its perks, but it doesn''t help much when everything is toofortable, and you start to getzy, and then your health deteriorates.


    "Everyone¡­ thank you foring to the capital to celebrate the fifteenth birthday of my son," The king said. "In these auspicious times, we need to celebrate life as much as we can. Peace is never an everst thing, so we must enjoy it as much as possible. Today we celebrate not only the birthday of my son but we also celebrate our history and our ancestors, and everything that led us to this moment. All the warriors who are participating in this tournament are going to show us the power of lives and our history, and we should respect them with due praise. In the name of this kingdom and my ancestors, I swear to realize one wish of the winner of the tournament. Brave warriors, show us who is the strongest man of this kingdom."


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 43 Obstacles

    "Yay, let''s celebrate the past and the present with bloodshed. I am so amazed by that¡­" Aion thought. "I wonder if I canin that much considering that I am going to use his stupidity to get what I want."


    During the speech, Aion wondered why there was a difference in age between the king and his wife. It was hard to imagine that he stayed single until his middle forties. He didn''t find anything in history books either, so it was weird¡­ very weird. Regardless, the first fighters were called to the arena, and things started just like that while the audience was cheering like crazy.


    The first duel was between an officer in the army and an adventurer. Most of the time, those two groups didn''t get along since one was too serious and the other was tooid back. Thanks to that, the tension in the air could almost be touched¡­ regardless, the adventurer grabbed two knives, and the officer grabbed the standard shield and sword.


    Aion didn''t know if his standards were too high, but he didn''t find their fight impressive. Maybe it was because they hadn''t been in a real fight, but they fought in a pretty clumsy manner while focusing on defending and waiting for the other to make a mistake. As such, the fightsted for a while.


    Despite that, the audience sure looked excited¡­ they didn''t have standards, or they had never watched a real fight. Regardless, the officer won when the shield hit the adventurer''s head.


    ? "The first round will have 250 matches¡­ yikes," Aion thought while looking around. "It should be enough to satisfy this bloodthirsty audience."


    In any case, some individuals that had talent showed up, but Aion couldn''t measure their strength since they only dodged the enemy attacks and then hit the enemy''s stomach, head, or sides enough to make them pass out instantly.


    Since Aion didn''t know many people, it took a while for him to see anyone that he knew fighting. The first one had been Elio with a spear. Unfortunately, he looked pretty nervous since he was in the focus of many people, and he wasn''t too that.


    "Hey, hey¡­ seriously? You can''t lose because of something like this," Aion said.


    It would be better if his brothers were to lose before facing him, but Aion didn''t want to see them messing up in public. The enemy was another soldier, and while he didn''t look much older, he also looked confident with a spear as well.


    When the referee saw the sign for the start of the battle, Elio finally focused on the task ahead. The enemy was quite fast, and with a rain of thrusts, he tried to hit Elio''s face¡­ that wasn''t against the rulers, but he sure was being vicious.


    "Does he have a grudge against our family or just against nobles?" Aion thought.


    Regardless Elio noticed the killing intent of the adversary, and his focus increased. Blocking the enemy''s attacks became easier, and when he showed an opening, Elio stepped forward and then hit the stomach of the adversary with the butt of the spear, and when his body bent forward, Elio hit his face with an elbow attack that indeed smashed the enemy''s nose¡­ In the next moment, he fell to the ground unconscious.


    The audience began to cheer even more loudly since that had been a clear disy of skill¡­ Elio returned to the waiting room while looking embarrassed.


    "He sure got skilled with a spear¡­" Aion thought. "Still, he needs to get mentally stronger. I suppose nobody is perfect."


    Speaking of which, Lexus'' turn came after a few more turns, and the audience got extremely noisy. It was almost like they were seeing a living legend. Aion knew that his father was strong and he yed an important role in thest war, but he didn''t expect that he would be that recognizable after ten years.


    Lexus'' adversary was also a big adventurer. While he selected a long sword, the enemy chose a battle ax. Trying to block those strikes will be the same as asking to be split in two with the sword. That is¡­ If the enemy can hit him.


    As one would expect, the big guy charged like a bull and swung his weapon at Lexus, but he dodged to the side like he was slipping without moving his legs. Aion tried to sharpen his evasive maneuvers like that during those three years, but he didn''t know if he got even close. Decreasing the difference in strength was something, and the difference in experience and skill was another matter altogether.


    Despite the strength of the attack, the big guy stopped the swing before it could hit the ground and swung to the side to hit Lexus. He jumped and then hit the side of the ax and made it fall. At the same time, Lexus kicked the adversary''s chin and made him fall with his back on the ground. An instant knockout¡­


    "... he is even better than I thought," Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "I am not sure I can defeat him with brute strength alone."


    It was hard to tell his limits, but Aion assumed that Lexus'' strength was at least fifty to be able to knock down the ax and that guy with a single hit. At least his speed was supposed to be eighty, and his dexterity was 90¡­ He was fast and skilled. If he uses Inner Force and adds that to his unknown limits¡­ Aion could imagine why he was so famous.


    "It doesn''t matter. He is an obstacle that I have to surpass. Eventually, this is only going to happen a bit sooner than expected," Aion thought.

 Chapter 44 Silence

    After not so long, Georges and Philip had their fights, but they easily won. They were fighting in a style simr to their father, and while they weren''t as skilled and as fast as the real deal, they weren''t that bad either.


    Eventually, Henri''s turn came, and he equipped a sword and shield. He yed by the book, but instead of doing that because he was afraid, it was more like it was his nature to be cautious against everyone. Thanks to that, he finished his adversary after using Shield Swing on their face. The real surprise came afterward¡­ Jagger showed up, and he was only equipped with a pair of gauntlets.


    "I am pretty sure I saw him carrying a sword a few times¡­ Still, the real problem is that he will face Henri if he wins," Aion thought.


    That will probably be a good fight, but Aion was worried that the guild Master would do something stupid. The chances of him doing something stupid in a match against him were much higher, but still¡­


    There was no use in thinking about that¡­ Jagger''s adversary was an officer equipped with a war hammer. Considering their weapons and stances, Aion assumed that Jagger was faster, but the enemy could defeat him in a single hit. While he was thinking that, the referee started the fight, and then in the next moment, the adversary was sent flying into the distance. Aion barely saw that¡­ But Jagger moved from a resting position to one after finishing the attack in a matter of an instant. Another instant knockout¡­


    "I guess people get really strong after surviving wars in this world¡­ Is that how most people evolve or mutate?" Aion wondered. "Father mentioned that some people don''t treat them like humans, but considering that he and Jagger can do this much¡­ I wonder what is borderline human and what isn''t in this world¡­"


    Aion wondered if his mother''s family was hated because their powers looked more inhumane than anything. Aion learned a bit of magicing from her, but he didn''t think that it was that insane.


    Regardless, Aion''s turn came after a while, and then he went to the waiting room to choose his weapon. He picked two hand axes as nned, and his adversary got a spear. He didn''t know if it was intentional or a coincidence, but short weapons usually have a problem with spears.


    "Well, it is something I need to get used to as soon as possible," Aion thought. "I was nning to end this fight as soon as possible, but perhaps I should take my time."


    Eventually, Aion and the Gravon were called, and the whole audience went silent. Aion couldn''t hide his face while fighting, but his name alone made them lose all of their excitement. He expected to hear some insult him or at least cheer for the enemy, but not total silence.


    "I am fighting for my mother''s freedom, so I really don''t care¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion assumed his battle stance, and the enemy so did the same. After a while, the referee voiced the start of the battle. Gravon didn''t have to get too close to get in range and immediately thrust his spear toward Aion''s stomach, but the attack was blocked by one of Aion''s hand axes. It looked like the attack had been too obvious¡­


    It seemed that the adversary didn''t like him, but he wasn''t insane enough to Aim for the head of someone that young without knowing his strength. Still, now that the first attack ended like that, Gravon knew that he had to try harder.


    A torrent of stabs flew toward Aion''s body. Each of the strikes didn''t have much weight behind them, but they sure were sharp. He blocked most of them and dodged others without taking a step backward, even though they passed only a few centimeters from his body. Still, moving forward wasn''t easy either. The attacks would get more troublesome if he didn''t do that all at once and cover that distance. Spears were good at middle range, but they couldn''t show their true power at close range since the swings of their users would be limited.


    All of a sudden, Gravon stopped attacking and then took a step forward before using all his strength and the weight of his body on a powerful thrust. Aion used both of his axes to block the attack, but he was still pushed backward for half a meter. Before he could recover from the impact, the enemy took another step and swung his spear while aiming at Aion''s head.


    Aion lowered his stance, but he also attacked the weapon. The strike didn''t break the spear but made it tremble alongside the Gravon''s arm. Aion used that window of time to approach and attack. Gravon tried to kick him, but Aion jumped again and dodged the attack. He spun in the air and then kicked the stomach of his target and made him fall backward.


    It had been a while since Aion fought anyone, so he didn''t know if he used too little or too much strength, but in the end, he confirmed that he had used too little since the enemy got up quite fast, and he also looked pissed since Aion didn''t use his weapons.


    "So, unreasonable¡­" Aion thought. "My goal is to free my mother, and I don''t need to give any more reason for people to hate us. Fighting to death in a tournament also seems pretty stupid."


    Gravon didn''t waste much time recovering from the impact, even though Aion felt his ribs cracking. Well, he has worn a thick armor, so perhaps it had been Aion''s imagination. Gravon charged and then swung down his spear. That wasn''t the best way to use a weapon like that, so Aion easily dodged by moving to the side and then approached using his axes to smack the stomach of the adversary.


    Aion attacked several times in a row and insanely fast. Gravon didn''t have time to react since he lost the air in his lungs each time he got hit. Before long, he fell unconscious to the ground. People thought that Aion had killed him, but there was no blood around. The head of his axes wasn''t sharp, after all.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 45 Secret

    Are you not entertained? That was what Aion wanted to ask just for fun and out loud before he was dered the winner, and the healers came to check on Gravon. While they healed him, Aion left the arena. Most likely, he wasn''t going to fight again that day, but he decided to ignore the stares of everyone and watch the other matches.


    "You really got more skilled," Henri said. "Still, I am d that your demeanor got sharper, but not at the cost of making you angrier."


    "That doesn''t make any sense¡­  anyway, do you think you can defeat that guy?" Aion asked.


    "Hmm, I don''t know," Henri replied. "Jagger didn''t show his true strength, and Ick experiencepared to him. I think I am weaker than him in many aspects. I will have to try really hard to defeat him. That will be hard since I don''t want to kill anyone here."


    "Well, it will be fine if you lose, I will avenge you," Aion dered.


    "Don''t decide that I am going to lose so soon," Henri said. "If anything, I will try to enjoy the match as much as possible. It is not everyone who has the chance to fight the guild master Jagger. I will learn a lot, in one way or another, the day after tomorrow. I will be stronger than I am today."


    Aion could only nod. Again, he felt that his brotherscked motivation and desire. Still, that was fine. Unlike him, they didn''t have any reason to risk their lives to win that tournament. Regardless, the next matches happened without anything interesting happening until it was time for the prince''s turn. Until now, no one had seen him. However, aside from his adversary, a cloaked figure went to grab a weapon near the entrance of the arena.


    Eventually, he took out his cloak, and then he showed his thumbs up to Henri. Vangel chose a longsword, and when that happened, he got rid of the cloak and he showed dark armor filled with spikes. It seemed that he was in his edgy phase¡­ In any case, Aion saw by looking at his arms alone that he trained a lot and he was quite skilled with the sword. It made Aion think that his father trained him as well¡­


    "It seemed that father used his free time in thest three years to teach him a few things¡­" Henri said.


    "Did you even spar with him?" Aion asked.


    "A few times, but we never took each other seriously," Henri replied.


    Vangel''s adversary sure looked troubled. He was another military officer¡­ He was basically forced to fight with the son of his boss. Destiny can be cruel as a cold bitch to some people¡­ In any case, in order to prevent a disaster, the officer chooses an iron pole as his weapon. It didn''t have any piercing power, but it could still kill someone if it hit the head.


    In the end, the officer felt that taking his future king lightly would also be an insult, so he assumed his fighting stance resembled that of a spearman. Vangel did the same, and then they waited for the start of the fight.


    When the referee gave the sigh at the start of the battle, Vangel suddenly appeared behind the officer. He attacked so fast that many people expected rain of blood to take ce before the officer could fall. However, he only got hit in the back a single time and by the pommel of the sword.


    A stupid noise of cheering took over the entire arena. Everyone could see how much power their future king already was, and they could tell that he could be stronger. He answered to the audience by raising his sword.


    "Did you see that?" Henri asked.


    "He used it¡­ Inner force," Aion said.


    Family secret, my ass¡­ That was what Aion was thinking. He couldn''t imagine someone learning that without the assistance of Lexus¡­ He either did that or told him in detail how to learn the technique. Still, what was really troublesome was the fact that it looked like Vangel could use and control it insanely well. It was almost like the technique had been made for him¡­


    "Shocked?" Vangel asked when he returned.


    "A bit," Henri said.


    "You guys aren''t the only ones who trained hard in thest few years," Vangel said. "If you defeat the guild master, we can test which one is better with that technique."


    "Ha-ha," Henri said.


    As usual, Henri felt troubled by the royal family¡­ it looked like it was his destiny to let those people bother him so much. He didn''t want to let that happen, but he had too many things to consider as the future head of the Kresnik family. Regardless, Aion wasn''t surprised that he could use inner force as well. The only problem is that such a technique might be troublesome in the hands of those who are too young and reckless¡­


    Eventually, the sun began to set, but the tournament kept going untilte in the evening. The first round had over 250 matches, after all. Everyone watched the matches until the end, but Aion decided to return home and have dinner with his mother to ease her worries. After checking his body, she hugged him tightly in relief. She caused a lot more damage to Aion''s body than Gravon.


    "I never expected that the tournament would be easy, but it will be harder than I thought to win by using normal means," Aion thought when he went to bed. "I guess from the third round onward. I will have to think of strategies on how to deal with my opponents¡­ the number of skilled people in this kingdom is high, after all."


    Still, Aion could only see them as humans. They couldn''t bepared to the beings of the legends and those mutated soldiers of other kingdoms¡­ they could be defeated if Aion''s used his brain. That was what he thought when he fell asleep while being hugged like a body pillow.

 Chapter 46 Roles

    Although the festivities went through the night, a lot of people still woke up early in the next day to work. Looking very sleepy and tired. But they went to work since they only had to do so until the afternoon since the whole capital was going to stop for the tournament. While Aion was having his breakfast, he wondered how things were going in the borders¡­


    "They advertised this whole thing in all the kingdom, so it won''t surprise me if our crazy neighbors know all about it," Aion thought. "This would be the golden chance to invade¡­"


    After breakfast, Aion went to the garden and found his brothers talking with his father. As usual, Lexus looked calm as ever, but Aion could tell that despite that thickyer that was his poker face, he looked a bit guilty for teaching something like Inner Force to someone that wasn''t only his kids. Still, the others were questioning him about that.


    "You all have done a good job winning in the first round¡­" Lexus said. "That being said, I need to apologize for hiding from you all about the fact that I taught Vangel some swordsmanship and Inner Force. This is no excuse, but I figured out that I should help him a few years ago due to his wild and reckless nature. I had a feeling that he would put his life at risk, way beyond the point that the guards could prevent him from losing it."


    "I fear that will be even more reckless because of that¡­" Henri said and then sighed.


    "There is that possibility¡­" Lexus said. "That is why someone needs to break his nose before he gets carried away. He is talented and a bit hard-working. Still, he needs to understand that everyone has a role in this world, and his role isn''t to fight."


    As expected of Lexus, that was a dangerous and high-handed thing to say. Most people couldn''t say such things one after the other¡­ still, he had a point. The prince was too reckless, and the king won''t live forever, so he needed to grow up, or his actions will turn the whole kingdom into a realm of chaos.


    Once again, Aion spent the morning chilling before heading to the Colosseum at noon. The rounds will get shorter and shorter, but it was clear that thest round would be on thest day while some others would happen on the same day. Probably not that day or the day after, but soon enough.


    In any case, Aion had nned to watch the matches from a high ce, but the atmosphere got annoying when he looked for a ce in the seats of the audience that he could use. He couldn''t care less about other people''s prejudice, but he feared that he would snap and then kick someone in the face if he had to endure that for too long.


    In any case, while the numbers of matches that day was smaller, those who had won were more skilled, so some matchessted for a while longer. In the end, Georges and Elio won, but they were going to fight each other next. As if that wasn''t enough, Philip and Lexus won, and they were going to fight as well¡­ the next day will be rough for the Kresnik family¡­


    Usually, Henri wouldugh at that when his brothers showed up, but he was silently watching things in the corner of the room. He sure was focused on the next match¡­ Although he said those things yesterday, he sure didn''t want to lose.


    Eventually, the referee called his name and Jagger. Henri showed a nervous smile while passing nearby before he picked up his shield and a sword. Jagger chose the tame gauntlets as the previous day. Aion nodded at his brother and even showed him a brofist to show him that he would be avenged, but Henri assumed that it was just his silly way of encouragement.


    After they left the waiting room, Aion approached the arena as much as possible to watch the fight and to do something if he had to. He didn''t want to believe that Jagger would try to kill his elder brother for some reason, but the guy never passed to Aion any good vibes, so it was hard to be sure.


    Henri assumed his stance and then prepared to fight. Jagger did the same, and he looked like he wanted to finish things on the first hit, just like before. However, when the referee gave the sign for the start of the battle, they charged at the same time and collided in the middle of the arena. The impact made all the dust and sand around them fly away, and the noise also silenced the audience.


    Aion saw some steam leaving Henri''s body, and he could tell that his brother used Inner Force¡­ thanks to that, he recovered from the impact first and then swung his sword toward the chest of the enemy, but Jagger blocked it with his other glove. As if he had predicted that, Henri turned around insanely fast and hit Jagger''s neck with a roundhouse kick¡­ or so he had nned, Jagger reacted in time to block the attack with his arm, but he showed a slightly annoyed expression.


    "Henri is stronger while Inner Force is active, but¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Henri charged at Jagger and attacked his right side with his shield. Once again, he used his arms to block the attack. Still, this time he didn''t have the chance to block another kick that Henri thrust toward his belly like a spear. Vangel bent his body forward and was pushed some meters backward, but he didn''t fall.


    "I added some kicks while we practiced years ago¡­ it seems that he trained those a lot over the years," Aion thought. "I wonder if the others did the same¡­"


    In any case, Jagger was also pretty good at taking damage, but Aion wasn''t so sure about Henri. He probably got hit in a few spars over the years, but not anything that almost knocked him down¡­ so the spar will getplicated if things drag out for too long.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 47 Planning

    Henri attacked furiously for a while, and even though Jagger''s body was getting filled with bruises and swollen parts, he didn''t give up on the defense. In fact, Aion noticed that he strengthened the parts that were about to get hit to nullify some of the damage¡­ only someone with strong muscles and the capacity to control them could pull that off.


    "As expected, he knows the drawbacks of Inner Force¡­ one can''t control that for long, and the more it stays active, the worse it will be when the skill is deactivated," Aion thought. "Henri is aiming to decrease his defense with body blows, but Jagger was smart enough to know that and block all of those hits¡­"


    The difference in experience was that impressive¡­ Jagger had at least two decades to learn all that and be that skilled. Thanks to that, he resisted for two minutes until the effects of Inner Force were deactivated. Henri''s body was paralyzed due to exhaustion, and Aion could see his eyes rolling. He was barely able to keep himself conscious¡­


    Jagger could barely raise his arms since he used them to block all of the attacks. He probably had his bones fractured in many spots. It was time to pay all that in full¡­ Still, he stopped and looked to his left slightly when he felt Aion''s killing intent. He wasn''t going to interfere until thest moment, but if he went too far¡­


    Aion calmed down a bit when he saw Henri raising his shield. He didn''t want to lose, but there wasn''t much he could do in that situation¡­ In the end, Jagger hit Henri''s shield with a body m that made him roll on the ground several times while unconscious, and he probably couldn''t use his arms more than that.


    Regardless, he was dered the winner and received treatment from the healers once he returned to the waiting room. He tried to hide from Aion that he wasn''t looking forward to his battle with him, but he was really bad at hiding that¡­ In any case, that had been the best fight so far, so the crowd cheered in ecstasy for a while.


    When Henri woke up, he found his father and brothers around. He immediately sighed since he had recalled everything.


    "Don''t worry, Henri," Aion said. "Your death will be avenged."


    "I didn''t die¡­ Ouch, my body hurts like hell," Henri said when he tried to get up. "I guess I will spend the rest of the festival resting to heal my body. Still, to think that I would lose without lending a single clean hit¡­"


    "Worry not, this is a good chance for you, who has been working too hard for the past years," Vangel suddenly approached and said. "Your future kingmands you to go and protect my little sister until the end of the festival. Protect her all day and all night. When she goes to the bathroom, then she changes her clothes, and when she goes to sleep, don''t take your eyes off her."


    "How am I supposed to rest during that time?" Henri asked. "Don''t be unreasonable. Besides, the royal guards are always nearby."


    "Oh, you dare contest the decisions of your future king? You sure have some guts¡­ I guess I will have to defeat Jagger, and then you will feel morepelled to do that. As long as I try my very best¡­ One of us will probably die, but that will be a cheap price."


    "You show your determination in the most annoying way possible¡­ Fine, I will guard her against tomorrow onward," Henri said.


    Staying with a girl after a bit of letdown probably would cheer him up a little, even if Henri found her and her brother hard to deal with. In any case, the losers couldn''t stay in the waiting room for long, so Henri soon left.


    "Do you think you can defeat him?" Lexus asked. "We fought and watched each other''s hack a lot in the war. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that he might be stronger than me."


    "Right now, I am only thinking about my next opponent," Aion replied.


    "If you aren''t nervous, then I am sure the match will be a good one," Lexus said and then left.


    Aion''s n was to focus on breaking through the tournament using brute strength, but perhaps he should change his n a little and destroy the pride of one of the assholes that took at him with eyes filled with prejudice. That will be an excellent way to send a message to everyone¡­ In any case, the best way to do that would be by using the same weapons as Jagger and defeating him in his own game. That would be reckless, but it would be fun as well¡­


    "He didn''t show much of his offensive skills, but he should be able to learn his patterns in the fight," Aion thought while doing mental training. It will be difficult. That will be good for future reference."


    It didn''t take long for Aion to be called for the second battle, but since he wanted to focus on the problem ahead and his opponent was a soldier who was only a few years older than his older brother, he decided to end things as fast as possible.


    As soon as the referee dered the star of the battle, Aion charged toward the enemy, who was hiding behind a shield. His sonic thrust hit the shield and made it break in half after the opponent was sent flying to the distance and rolled on the ground until he hit his back against the wall. Despite the impact, the guy didn''t die, but he was dizzy after rolling so many times¡­ Aion was dered the winner.

 Chapter 48 Duel

    After that, the only fight that Aion got interested in during the day was Vangel''s, but since he was ying with Vergil''s style, he defeated the opponent in a single instant and with a single sword strike again. His opponent predicted that, but he was unable to do a thing to stop it. Thus, the second day of the tournament ended.


    People began to party early that night, but Aion headed home to make his mother rest easy again. Still, he was unable to rx. His opponent will be hard to defeat using normal means, and Aion wants to try to protect his pride until the end, but he might have to go all out to win¡­


    "Who are you going to fight tomorrow?" Artemisia asked.


    "The guild master of the capital," Aion replied.


    Aion thought that there was no point in hiding that, but he soon regretted it a little¡­ his mother got nervous for some reason, and he soon learned why.


    "Be careful with him, Aion¡­" Artemisia said. "He had his reasons, and they were probably justified since my brother made him and his friends lose many battles, but he was the one who killed my brother¡­ he might still be holding some grudges against our family since he clearly was against the n of the king to keep me alive."


    "Hmm, is that so¡­" Aion said. "Well, I have some surprises in store for him, so it will be fine. If he shows too much eagerness in the fight, he will end up regretting that."


    "Getting overconfident is forbidden¡­" Artemisia said.


    "Yes, honorable mother," Aion said.


    Aion was just trying to ease her worries by looking confident, after all. Thanks to that, he ended up falling asleep prettyte. The next day, Aion noticed that the house was more silent than before. Aside from a few servants, everyone had left the house. Aion stayed until noon again with his mother, but she still looked lonely when he left.


    "Just a few more days, mother, and you will be free from this prison¡­" Aion muttered under his breath.


    This time, it was Aion''s time to concentrate until the time of his fight. He didn''t watch any other fights for several hours even though he had to study his next opponents after the guild master. It couldn''t be helped. He had to sharpen his will as much as possible. He didn''t know if people hade to talk to him during that time, but he only stopped when he had been called by the referee. In the end, he discarded the idea of using gauntlets as well. For his n to work, he needed the highest attack power.


    When Aion showed up, the crowd got silent again, but he didn''t even notice it. He was too focused on the target. Jagger also looked different that day. He wasn''t showing much of his anger¡­


    Still, when the duel started, his aura changed as he charged to attack Aion. He nned to punch him faster than he could react, but at thest moment, Jagger stopped when one of his axes suddenly got too close to his neck. He twitched his body backward and dodged the attack¡­ he knew that Aion was strong for his age¡­ but not that much. That wasn''t the reaction speed of someone who had never been in many fights to the death.


    Jagger suddenly used Chaotic Punch, and then he charged forward insanely fast with his fist aimed at Aion''s head. It was a charge that was faster than when he was running. Still, he found Aion''s axes in the path of this fist, and he was forced to grab the sides of the weapons while he stopped. He seeded with that and then used a roundhouse kick, but Aion lowered his stance¡­ he was supposed to be slower, and yet¡­


    "Is he predicting my moves?" Jagger thought.


    That wasn''t supposed to be something an inexperienced kid should be able to do¡­ only those who participated should be able to do that since they knew most of Jagger''s moves, but only a few handfuls were fast enough to pull it off.


    Jagger decided to test that by running around Aion. Some people might think that he was going too far fighting a ten year old boy, but he fought enough to know that there are some abnormal kids in the world, and those shouldn''t be underestimated. In any case, Jagger began to run, and he wasn''t able to turn around fast enough to follow him with his eyes. He could, but not without breaking his stance.


    Eventually, Jagger found himself with a clear view of Aion''s back and then attacked with Chaotic Punch again. Still, at the very moment of the activation, Aion began to turn around insanely fast while fixing the posture of his arms and axes.


    In thest moment, Jagger moved both of his gauntlets to block the axes since he knew that they would damage his arms too much and the damage that he would inflict wouldn''t be enough to defeat Aion. In the end, he pulled that off, but the impact still pushed him to the side and left some deep dent marks on the gauntlets. Two or three more hits on the same spot, and the gauntlets will break¡­


    "He isn''t even using the Inner Force, and he has this much speed and power¡­" Jagger thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "It can''t be helped¡­ I have my own reasons to win this, and I won''t fail."


    Jagger''s aura changed again, and Aion could tell that something troublesome was about to happen¡­ Aion put both axes in front of his face in the shape of an X and then waited. Eventually, Jagger charged, and his posture seemed off. To make things even weirder, he turned aroundpletely, and at thest moment, he pointed both hands toward Aion¡­ and then a powerful explosion of energy happened¡­

 Chapter 49 Ki

    The audience was left speechless when they saw Jagger''s special technique, it was called Ki Explosion, and could do exactly that. He surprised and defeated many enemies with that, but to think that he would use¡­ not even his most hardcore fan had expected that. What no one expected was the fact that Aion would still be standing when the dust curtain dissipated.


    The area around Aion had been destroyed a few good centimeters, and his body was emitting a lot of steam, but his armor protected his torso and his forearms, and his axes protected his head.


    "That fucking hurt like hell¡­" Aion said before activating Rage and then using Sonic Thrust.


    Jagger blocked the strike with both of his gauntlets, but he still was pushed back for twenty meters. The impact made his arms tremble, and the vibration made him feel like his bones were cracking as well. When he stopped, he saw one ax flying to his face, and he used his gauntlets again to block it. Jagger seded, but in that short window of time, he lost sight of Aion, and when he saw him again, it happened when hended a dropkick on his chest.


    Despite the surprise attack, Jagger refused to fall, and Aion couldn''t use that chance since he stopped to grab the ax that was repelled to the sky. As soon as he took it back, Aion charged again, he let the blood rush to his head thanks to Rage, and the didn''t have time to avoid the attack when Jagger used Ki Explosion again.


    ? Although he was surprised, Aion protected his face with his forearm guards, and since Rage increased his Endurance, the second attack didn''t damage him that much. However, some wounds on his body were starting to bleed now. It was unexpected that Jagger could spam that attack, but one could see by looking at his face that he couldn''t use it more than once again. He was sweating a lot¡­ it was probably an technique on the level of Inner Force.


    Jagger was a tough nut to crack. He still charged at Aion before he could recover from the attack and punched his stomach since his face was being protected. The armor got in the way, but the impact traveled to his body, making him flinch. Jagger had more than enough time to kick his left side. Aion''s stance was broken, and the left side of his head was wide open. However, when Jagger approached¡­


    "HAAAAAAH!" Aion shouted.


    The powerful voice forced everyone in the arena to close their ears and paralyzed Jagger. Aion approached and swung his ax at his head, but the blocked the attack with his gauntlets. Clear cracks appeared on it. Despite the dizziness and pain in his arms, he used Ki Explosion once more.


    Aion''s axes cracked as well, and he threw them aside before he charged at the opponent. Jagger thought that Aion had gone mad. It was impossible for him to lose in a fistfight. When Aion''s fist approached his face, Jagger used his own and frowned in pain when he felt his bones cracking. Aion was supposed to suffer some damage as well since he felt his fist cracking, but Aion didn''t show that.


    In the next moment, Aion used Chaotic Punch, and Jagger was left speechless when he tried to block the attack. In the end, his forearm got in the way, but then he was pushed backward while a fist mark there throbbing.


    Jagger wanted to know how Aion learned that¡­ he had no idea that it was the skill he learned when the monk ss reached level thirty. That skill had the power to cause more damage the tougher the target''s defense was.


    To capitalize even more on the surprise of the enemy, Aion mimicked the move of Ki Explosion. Jagger covered his face with his arms, but nothing happened. Aside from the fact that he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.


    Jagger spat a mouthful of blood since Aion used Chaotic Punch again. Still, the asshole was tough enough to refuse to give up or fall. He punched Aion''s right temple and almost made him fall. From that posture, Aion aimed another Chaotic Punch, this time on his left side. It had been a perfect liver blow¡­ Aion felt that he was using a chainmail under his clothes, and the impact was lessened. Still, Jagger staggered backward for a bit before Aion smashed his right with a right straight.


    This time, Jagger fell to the ground like a broken toy¡­ and didn''t move from the spot. After a while, the referee recovered from the surprise and dered Aion the winner.


    "That was refreshing¡­ increasing my strength and endurance helped a lot," Aion thought. "Alongside recalling all the moves of those fighting games."


    It has been ten years since Aion yed any game. Still, recalling the most basic moves had been easy, and he had a good idea of what Jagger would pull off¡­ Still, he didn''t expect something like Ki Explosion. Even if he had some knowledge of some crazy fighting games, that magic world still surprised him.


    Regardless, Aion wanted to heal himself, but he let the healers do their job, even though they looked like they didn''t want it. They did their job because Aion''s father was nearby, and despite their differences, Lexus wouldn''t let his son be treated differently from the otherpetitors.


    "That was a good fight," Lexus said. "You surprised him through and through."


    "I figured out that I would have to take the pace of the fight since he was more skilled and had more experience," Aion said. "If he had kept his head cooler and not let his anger control him, then I would have to try harder."


    "Like using Inner Force," Lexus said.


    Aion never showed he using that on anyone, but his father was smart enough to figure that out on his own¡­ it couldn''t have been helped.

 Chapter 50 Two Spears

    "What about the others?" Aion asked.


    "Tomorrow, I will fight Georges," Lexus said.


    Aion had no idea who was going to win between Georges and Elio, but his father''s victory was expected. It was impossible to imagine Georges defeating his father, and Aion could see him in the corner of the room, looking pretty nervous.


    "Putting that aside, if you want to fight me, there is someone troublesome on your path," Lexus was looking at Vangel, preparing for his fight.


    If that guy keeps winning, Aion was supposed to fight him in two days. Still, the guys who survived until the fourth day were the 64 strongest guys in the realm, so he might lose tomorrow. Unfortunately, it didn''t look like that would be the case, considering that after a while, he won another match in a single hit. Aion didn''t want to believe that such a thing would happen to him, but the idea alone made him feel like hiding his face in a hole.


    When Aion got home, his mother sighed in relief. His armor and clothes had been damaged a bit, but he was fine. Aion didn''t want to talk about the fight, but his mother insisted, and he gave her the details.


    ''I am d that but don''t try too hard, okay?" Artemisia asked.


    "Got it," Aion said. "They managed to dirt my clothes this time, but they won''t pull that off ever again."


    Artemisia began to mess with Aion''s head since it seemed that her warnings never stayed inside his head for long or he treated them seriously. In any case, Aion fell asleep pretty soon. That battle didn''tst for long, but the damage he suffered sure wore him out¡­


    Aion knew that his next opponent would be one of the sixty-four strongest men of the kingdom, but he had nned to end things as soon as possible. He will have to be at his peak to defeat that annoying and reckless prince. Maybe Aion was being a bit too harsh, thinking of him as someone annoying, but it couldn''t be helped since it looked like he couldn''t understand his own position in the kingdom.


    When Aion checked the board that showed the matches of that day, Aion frowned a little since he didn''t realize that his opponent, this time was a woman. He didn''t recall that name being called a single time on the previous day, so he didn''t know what she looked like. Regardless, it didn''t take long for the fight between Georges and Lexus to be announced.


    In any case, that was another good chance for Aion to see how strong his father was and what he could do to defeat him. Once again, Lexus chose a longsword, so Aion decided to formte his attack n with that in mind. In any case, Georges chose a spear to keep his father away. He will have a hard time if he lets him close in, though¡­


    Much to Aion''s surprise, Georges didn''t seem that nervous. In fact, he looked pretty rxed¡­ His attacks will be sharp and precise. Although he was going to suffer thanks to that, Aion could see that his father was in a good mood. Regardless, both of them assumed their battle stances and then waited for the referee to give the sign of the start of the battle.


    "Let''s see¡­ If I were Georges¡­" Aion thought.


    Before Aion could finish his sentence, he saw his brother doing exactly what he had envisioned a few moments ago. Georges activated the Inner Force and charged forward. The first strike was repelled by Lexus'' sword, but he still was pushed backward while holding it with both hands. In the next moment, a torrent of strikes aimed at Lexus'' torso approached. Since Georges focused on speed instead of power, Lexus didn''t feel much weight behind them, but blocking and dodging them was a hassle.


    Lexus took a few steps backward while he focused on dodging. He couldn''t trust that much on the durability of a weapon that wasn''t his, after all. In any case, most people couldn''t see the thrusts, so they didn''t notice when Lexus'' armor began to get hit.


    "He can''tst long with that, so he should cause some damage, or he will lose the same way as Henri¡­" Aion thought.


    That being said, Lexus wasn''t just going to wait for that. He also activated Inner Force, and then he began to repel of the thrusts with ease¡­. eventually, Georges was the one who was pushed backward, and when Lexus hit his spear too strongly, and the strike made him flinch, Lexus increased his speed and then passed nearby Georges in an instant and hit his back with the hilt of the sword. Georges fell unconscious on the ground, and Lexus was dered the winner. The audience liked the show that father and son put in front of them.


    "I suppose he will feel satisfied knowing that he made father use Inner Force¡­" Aion thought.


    "Phew, it is tough to get old¡­" Lexus said while clearing the sweat from his brow. "I won''t use that as an excuse if I lose, so don''t worry. Despite getting old, I am still at my peak."


    "Good to know," Aion said.


    Instead of thinking about that, Aion was already focusing on his next opponent. The fight will happen in a couple of seconds, and since he didn''t know much about her, he had to at least sharpen his senses¡­ to rely on instinct and reflexes instead of strategy.


    In any case, it didn''t take long for Aion to find his opponent. She soon approached and Aion felt that she had seen her somewhere¡­ He only recognized her when he grabbed two spears¡­ She was one of the girls that Aion defeated years ago in the guild when he was trying to make money.

 Chapter 51 Revenge

    It had been four years since that happened, but Aion could feel the stare of the opponent. She didn''t forget that shame of being defeated by a six year old boy, she was out for Aion''s blood, and he could only imagine that she wanted to do something out of his world with him. Definitely not something he wanted to happen again¡­


    "Her blood lust is weak¡­ I guess she doesn''t want to kill me," Aion thought. "It would be weird to hold such a grudge against a kid for four years."


    Eventually, both of them were called to the arena. Aion could tell that ending things fast will be difficult since the girl wasn''t going to underestimate him. In any case, the girl had turned into a woman, and since she was the type who focused on speed, she was only wearing chainmail and some protective gear on some parts of her body.


    When the referee dered the start of the fight, the girl began to swing her spears around. She was quite fast, and her control was great, so Aion couldn''t approach recklessly. In the end, the girl approached while one of the spears was spinning, and she began to thrust her spear at Aion''s head.


    "Her speed isn''t great, but her uracy is superb¡­" Aion thought while he was moving his head and dodging the attacks.


    When Aion was about to get the timing right of those thrusts, the girl turned around, and then the spinning spear almost cut Aion''s head in two. He stepped backward to escape the range and then prepared to dash, but then he found the second spear moving to his head.


    "She developed a really annoying fighting style¡­" Aion thought.


    The girl probably had a ton of strength on her fingers since she didn''t stop to rest, and herbo didn''t end after a couple of hits like before. Aion clicked his tongue in annoyance and then took a deep sigh.


    Instead of dodging, Aion blocked the thrusts when they approached his head. The girl found her hit being slowed down with each strike, and when Aion stepped forward to attack, she used her spinning spear to stop him. However, that only worked for a short moment since Aion used both of his axes and sent the spear to the distance after hitting them.


    The girl recovered from the impact really fast and grabbed the other spear with two hands, almost as if she could have predicted that such a thing would happen¡­ still, she slowly stepped away to recover her weapon.


    Aion charged as fast as he could while in the middle of a step, and then she aimed for his chest with a thrust. However, her stance was weak, and Aion''s axes repelled and broke the spear instantly. In the next moment, Aion hit her stomach with the top of the axes, making her faint.


    The referee determined that Aion was the winner, and now that he had rxed, he only heard the sound of the entire ce in silence¡­ regardless, he was satisfied that he won a fight relying on his skills instead of breaking through everything with brute strength alone.


    The waiting room was getting more and more empty and quiet. The only problem was that the audience started to make noise as soon as Aion left.


    "The next round is already him in action¡­" Aion thought and then saw the prince and another man who had a simr aura to Jagger''s. "I guess he is a guild master as well."


    If that guy wins another round with a single hit, Aion will start to feel worried¡­ an opponent like that wasn''t supposed to be that easy to be defeated, but if it happens¡­ Aion will have a hard timeing up with a decent battle n. He will have to go full retard and focus on attacking with all his might.


    In any case, the other guild master headed to the center of the arena. He was a guy who had the same physique as Lexus, he was neither too big nor slim, and he also had short ck hair and was wearing a red breast ce. The expression on his face was pretty severe¡­ Aion thought that guild masters were supposed to be moreid back like their members¡­ Regardless, he chooses two short swords to fight.


    In the other matches, Valgen looked pretty rxed, but things were different now. He looked pretty serious and nervous¡­ either way, Aion felt that he would have a bit of a hard time against any of them.


    When the referee gave the sign for the start of the battle. Both of the fighters charged, and their weapons met at the midway point of their positions. As expected of a guild master, he also could match his speed with someone that could use Inner Force¡­


    Their strength seemed to be on the same level, so they didn''t move that much. Until Vangel decided to move backward and gain some room to attack with all his might again. However, that had been a bad move, and the guild master showed the difference in experience that they had.


    The guild master charged as Vangel retreated. He swung both swords at his neck like a scissor, and the audience gasped when they saw that. Still, Vangel blocked the attack with his sword as he was pushed back down.


    While clenching his teeth, Vangel found himself in a difficult position. One could only go so far with some basic training and talent¡­ in any case, Vangel noticed that the guild master''s upper body was too focused on pressuring him with the swords, so he stepped backward and kicked his opponent''s stomach when he approached.


    "Everyone is doing that now¡­" Aion thought while frowning.


    Despite the pain and surprise, the guild master didn''t suffer much damage, thanks to his armor. In fact, he pushed onward even more and made the prince flinch until Vangel apparently got mad and decided to headbutt him. The n worked, and the guild master got dizzy, but Vangel had to stop for a moment due to the pain.


    In the end, Vangel realized that he couldn''t win if things stayed like that. He was weaker than the opponent by in many aspects¡­ So, he decided to use a surprising technique¡­ he used his mana to envelop his sword in a red light that seemed like mes¡­

 Chapter 52 Defeat

    The audience opened their mouths in surprise¡­ they never saw something like that before, and neither did Aion. Even with his system, he didn''t have ess to such skills. It seemed like another secret technique¡­ that kind of thing was pretty high level, and even if he could learn those techniques, he would need to level ups his sses for a while.


    Regardless, the guild master raised his guard since he hadn''t seen that technique either. Aion thought that it was a secret of the royal family that not even the books had mentioned before, but it didn''t look like that was the case¡­ it was Vangel''s own developed technique. With that active and Inner Force, he charged at the guild master.


    When the enhanced sword approached, the guild master blocked it with a cross guard using both swords. His strength was still enough to stop the attack, but his sword swords began to be pierced by it. It won''t take long until they are destroyed¡­


    This time, the guild master was the one who stepped backward, and Vangel gave chase, neither of them had the room to let the fight drag out for long, but their positions still were reversed now. When the enhanced sword approached, the guild master dodged to the side and swung his weapons toward Vangel''s chest. In the end, he left his armor to take the damage. The guild master''s attack pierced the armor a bit and even cut some of the prince''s flesh, but he stopped since Vangel''s sword also had approached his neck, and if he moves anymore, the guild master''s head will roll.


    "It is my loss¡­" The guild master said after dropping his sword.


    That was disappointing¡­ Aion was expecting a more intense fight, but in the end, at least he learned something new from his next opponent, and no one had to die for that. Until now, no one had died in the tournament, and that surprised Aion¡­ what was even more surprising was that the audience wasn''t asking for more blood to be shed.


    Aion paid attention to Vangel while he was entering the waiting room, and he didn''t look that tired, considering that he had used two techniques of that level for over thirty seconds. He assumed that he only had basic training, but perhaps he had underestimated him¡­ his resilience wasn''t at the level of someone who did things in a half-assed way. His father also wasn''t someone who would do things half-heartedly.


    "Hmm¡­ I don''t have anything to stop that technique¡­ Regardless, isn''t that practice magic?" Aion thought. "It is in the rules that one can''t use magic, and that is why there are no mages here¡­"


    Aion couldn''t use magic; his best options were his weapons of the sses. Those be more durable the more he uses them¡­ while they can destroy, it can take a while, and after a couple of hours, they are back to normal. He confirmed that one of the times he was training the bears'' dungeon¡­ Regardless, he couldn''t use that.


    Berserker Lv 51


    Health: 526/526


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 182/182


    Strength: 81+ 44


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 81 + 32


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 81


    Status: 00


    Hand Axes Refinement Lv 20


    Bonuses: Strength + 32, Endurance + 32


    Skills: Rage Lv 12, Roar Lv 07, Body m Lv 05, Destroyer Lv 06


    Passive: HP Plus Lv 11, Brute Strength Lv 12, Pain Resistance Lv 12,


    Improvement Points: 150


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 186.980


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Another thing that Aion learned was that aside from his basic parameters, he could only use all of the other bonuses when he had those weapons equipped. All in all, the sses strengthened him, while the bonuses of refinement, of skills, and coins only enhanced his weapons. That was why he didn''t feel the need to improve them since he wasn''t going to use them.


    "I have to use my brain to win this¡­" Aion thought while he was heading home. "If I use the Destroyer, I will surprise him, but I don''t think it will be enough to break his weapon and force him to give up."


    Destroyer was the skill that Aion obtained when he reached level fifty in the Berserker ss. It could be used with one-hand and two-handed weapons. It was basically a powerful sequence of two vertical hitsing from left, right, and thest one from above. Unless the target is fast, the skill is bound to split their head in two¡­ it consumed 20 points of stamina, so it wasn''t something that he could spam.


    In the end, got home without having a clear n in mind. The ce was quite dark andpletely silent¡­ Aion didn''t know how he was going to do that, but he couldn''t let his mother stay there alone for any longer.


    "See, Mom?" Aion said. "I ampletely fine. Tomorrow I will kick some royal ass, and then the prize will be within my reach. Oops, mom is also royalty, right? I guess that was inappropriate."


    "I am no longer royalty¡­ still, to think that the prince would join the tournament," Artemisia said while furrowing her eyebrows. "If reached this far, he must be strong¡­ Still, don''t go all out against him, Aion. Nothing good wille out of this."


    "Well, someone needs to kick his ass to put him in his ce," Aion said. "Today, he almost lost, but almost isn''t enough. I will just break a few of his bones and make him cry on thep of the queen."


    "... How do the people react when you enter the arena?" Artemisia asked.


    "They just stay silent, nothing more," Aion replied.


    Although he said that, Aion was pretty sure they would cheer like hell once he lost. Regardless, Aion couldn''t care less about that, he was determined to win that whole shit, and he was going to make the day of assholes by giving them that chance.

 Chapter 53 Determination

    "Come to think, Aion; you said that you fought a girl yesterday, right?" Artemisia asked while they were having breakfast. "Was she pretty?"


    "Pretty? I don''t really remember¡­" Aion said since he could only remember the random expression of someone angry.


    "I guess you are the type who would like calmer girls," Artemisia said. "Tell me when you find someone you find cute, okay?"


    Aion sighed¡­ while he had lived twenty-five years before and more than ten now, having that kind of conversation with his parent still was a bit weird. He didn''t feel that troubled while talking with the captain that practically his uncle¡­ but it was probably because he felt more like a partner in crime than a parental figure. In any case, Aion could tell that his mother really liked that type of talk, so he ran away before he would open his mouth and reveal the truth that he preferred a more mature woman. That would be awkward to say to his mother¡­


    When Aion headed to the garden the next morning, he found his father waiting for him there. Since Aion headed to the garden every day no matter what in thest seven years, it couldn''t have been helped, but his father didn''t have to follow a such a strict routine.


    "Congrattions on winning until now," Lexus said. "If you continue winning, we might fight for real finally. Still, there are some things that I need to warn you about."


    "It is about the prince, right?" Aion said. "I know what will happen if I go too far."


    "Do you know what will happen if you push him too much as well?" Lexus asked. "He doesn''t like to do things half-assedly, and he dislikes to lose in everything. He will be a difficult opponent. Considering your positions, he will be pressured by many not to lose."


    "Well, if he is the type of opponent that will let others define how willing he is to win, this will be easy," Aion said.


    "If you are willing to say that much, then perhaps my warnings will be useless," Lexus said. "Regardless, I didn''t predict this situation, but if you achieve your goals, you might also be causing problems in your future. I want you to keep that in mind."


    "No matter what happens, I won''t change my mind or regret my decisions," Aion said.


    "Then that is fine," Lexus said. "I wish you good luck today."


    When ites to him, Aion wasn''t so sure if Lexus acted the same way with the other of his children, but that was a given. Aion was too much irregr to begin with, that without including his behavior and the fact that he was Artemisia''s son. Still, that was fine. Aion already had a fatherly figure that he would never forget. Besides, Lexus already had eight other kids.


    After Lexus left, Aion confirmed that, once again, only a few servants and his mother were left at home. The entire family was out to enjoy the festivities. Since the boys and the girls had their own things to do most of the year, it was rare for them to spend time together as a family, so that it couldn''t be helped.


    In any other situation, Aion wished that his mother could enjoy such an event as well, but since she was in enemy territory, that couldn''t be helped. Regardless, after spending his free time at home, Aion departed to the arena after lunch. He managed to think of some ways to deal with the prince, but none of them were definitive with the skills in his hands.


    At that point in time, it was impossible not to recognize Aion even while seeing him from afar, and wherever he passed, the area grew silent for some time while the people stared at him. Truth be told, he was counting the seconds to leave that annoying ce with his mother.


    When Aion reached the arena, he found his brothers walking around with their mothers and sisters. Unlike most women, those had lived quite the sheltered life, and they still didn''t feel much while watching people beating the crap out of each other. It was pretty surprising¡­ In any case, Aion decided to avoid them since he needed to focus. Aion reached a point where he had to study all of the opponents, but there wouldn''t be much merit if he lost.


    Although Aion was trying to focus and everyone left him alone, the prince still approached him. Aion felt really troubled, and then he sighed before opening his eyes.


    "Let''s have a good match," Vangel said while offering a handshake.


    "... yeah," Aion said after epting the handshake.


    In the end, Aion didn''t have to antagonize him just because of his bloodline. His father was the one who turned his mother into a prisoner and then married her to his father. While that gave birth to Aion, it wasn''t something he could forgive that easily¡­ she was treated like an object.


    Aion returned to his focus when Vangel. It didn''t seem like he hade to bother him and break his concentration, but it was hard to get a good read from his facial expressions.


    Eventually, they were called to the arena, and he stopped to get his weapon. The hand axes still were his option, even though something like a club or a thicker weapon would be a better option. In any case, when the prince showed up, the audience began to make even more noise, to the point that he even feltpelled to wave to them. Still, when Aion showed up, everyone went silent.


    The eyes and anger of everyone didn''t affect Aion. It only gave him even more reason to shut them up by beating the crap out of the prince. As if he knew that Aion was nning to end that as soon as possible, the prince assumed his stance first, even before the referee could tell them to fight.


    Aion lowered his stance and moved his legs a bit away from each other. He had to change his ns a little, but that was only a small issue. When the referee told them to fight, Aion didn''t move from the spot, but the enemy charged at them and swung his sword toward his head¡­

 Chapter 54 Strategy

    Aion easily dodged the attack to the side since the prince didn''t enhance his sword, nor did he activate Inner Force. It was hard today to say if he was being cautious of his energy or if he honestly thought that Aion wasn''t strong enough to make him do that.


    Regardless, Aion aimed for the stomach of the enemy with his axes, but he jumped away and dodged the strike as well. Before he could fix his stance, Aion charged, but when he swung his right ax, the sword blocked its path. Aion tried to attack with the left weapon, but the prince grabbed his wrist before he could put much power behind it.


    Aion nned to attack that guy''s stomach with his knee, but the prince did the same, and their attacks canceled each other¡­ It was surprising that he had that much raw strength. The prince tried to headbutt Aion but only lowered his stance before jumping backward. The hand of the prince on his arm prevented him from going too far, but Aion got enough room to kick his chin.


    The attack made Vangel let go of him. Aionnded and then prepared to attack again. However, Vangel recovered fast enough to assume a defensive stance. That wasn''t like him, so Aion assumed that he still was suffering from the previous attack.


    Aion charged with all his might and then used Destroyer. Vangel frowned when Aion''s speed suddenly increased, but his moves still were simple. The first attack came from the right side and he reacted fast enough to block the two axes, but Vangel''s guard was pushed away while he was forced to take several steps backward.


    The second attack came from the left side in the same manner as the previous one. Somehow, Vangel fixed his guard in time, but he didn''t recover fast enough to put strength on that. His guard was blown away again¡­


    The third strike came from above, and Vangel was forced to use Inner force to move fast enough to fix his guard. Thanks to that, he seeded, and his arm only moved a bit during the impact. He turned around to kick Aion, but then when he prepared the attack, Aion''s feetnded on his chest, and then he used that as a tform to jump behind and spin in the air. Hended on his two feet already with his guard up.


    At that moment, Vangel realized that Aion nned to make him activate Inner Force first to spend more energy. While it was possible to activate and deactivate the technique several times, it wasn''t the best way to use it since the user would still feel some exhaustion and muscr pains from overusing the body.


    Vangel deactivated the skill and felt his body getting a bit heavier while the muscles of his arms and legs began to hurt a bit. Those effects would onlyst for a few seconds, but it was more than enough for Aion to capitalize on them.


    "I should make him regret for waiting for me to use Inner Force¡­" Aion thought while he was charging.


    While moving his arms to prepare to throw one of his axes, but then Vangel lowered his stance to dodge since he knew that Aion was good at that. However, Aion changed his mind in thest moment and then used that position to swing down his right ax with more power. Vangel blocked the attack but then saw the other ax hitting the sword as well¡­ Getting hit like that¡­ The sword wasn''t going tost long. It hurt Vangel''s pride, but he couldn''t let his sword break¡­ with that in mind, he enhanced his sword with that suspicious red Aura.


    It looked like the Aura made the weapon more powerful and lighter since Vangel managed to push Aion backward, and then when he approached to attack, the speed of the swing almost cut Aion''s throat¡­ It couldn''t bepared to the first attack.


    "It is amazing that no one says anything when the prince uses mana like that, but if I enhance my weapons with ice magic, I will be disqualified instantly¡­" Aion thought.


    Vangel charged at Aion, and he got faster than before. While he focused on dodging, Aion still suffered two small cuts on his elbows, and he could feel blood falling from them¡­


    Without any other choice, Aion used Rage to boost his physical abilities a bit. Vangel resumed his attacks and then noticed that Aion was moving a bit better than before when his sword was supposed to hit his chin with an upward strike or when he targeted one of his hands, but Aion moved it to the side¡­ He had gotten faster, but he couldn''t see or sense Inner Force in action, and that puzzled him.


    It felt like their speed and power were equal, but Aion was just waiting and dodging the attacks to save energy. That pissed Vangel¡­ that whole tournament was supposed to be apetition to see who was the strongest¡­ He wanted to prove that he wasn''t just someone destined to be the ruler of that kingdom and that he had skills of his own that they were obtained beyond his position. Losing now against someone who was using boring strategies wouldn''t let him prove anything. If he had to lose to someone, he had to lose to the winner of the tournament after a difficult fight for both sides¡­


    Aion could feel the Aura around Vangel changing. The prince was finally about to show his real self¡­ Vangel activated Inner Force, but instead of charging, and swung his sword in front of him and fired a powerful beam of energy¡­ the red light flew so fast that Aion didn''t have time to react. A powerful explosion happened in the center of the arena and made the ce tremble.


    Aion expected to fight against those two techniques at the same time, but not that they could bebined like that¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 55 Different Motivations

    That attack had been the best that Vangel could use. It worked well to leave the audience with their mouths hanging open. That felt refreshing. Now he could make all of his opponents take him seriously. Otherwise, they will suffer the same fate¡­


    While Vangel was smiling confident, he saw a shadow standing amidst the curtain of dust in front of him. He couldn''t believe that Aion would still be standing after such an attack, but he raised his guard just in case. He did it well because Aion suddenly charged, and he finally was using Inner Force.


    Aion looked like a monster with his body covered in blood and wounds while emitting that much steam¡­ Added to the blood, it looked like Aion was emitting a dark red evil Aura. Still, Vangel didn''t let that intimidate him. Any attack that he might use will be useless against his enhanced sword.


    Aion swung both axes at the same time, and Vangel blocked the strike. Still, he was pushed backward until his back hit one of the walls of the arena. That had been unexpected, what had been even more unexpected was the fact that the wall began to crack, and Vangel felt his bones cracking as well¡­


    "While covered in blood¡­ How can he muster so much strength?" Vangel thought.


    The reason was Pain Resistance¡­ Aion truly lost a considerable amount of health, but the ss had a lot, and Pain Resistance decreased the effects of pain, thus making Aion fight like a berserker when he needed to.


    Despite the situation, Vangel still managed to kick Aion''s stomach and push him away. Soon after, he approached and swung his sword vertically while aiming at his stomach¡­ However, Aion kicked his arm and then stopped the attack. He moved forward and attacked with his axes, but Vangel jumped to the side and dodged. On the spot he had been a few moments ago, he found a small crater, and he finally realized that they were fighting for their lives.


    Vangel looked around and saw what his attacks caused, and then something clicked in his head. He knew that people might die in that tournament, hisst few attacks could have killed Aion if he had hit, but he never thought that he himself could die.


    The realization made him flinch. Suddenly, Aion also looked more fearsome. Once again, without thinking, heunched thatbined attack, but he made the mistake of using it when Aion was too close¡­ When the explosion happened, he was hit by it as well.


    The attack pushed Vangel backward until his back collided against the walls behind him. Soon after, he spat a mouthful of blood. That hurt like hell, but at least he knew that Aion was finished¡­ However, he found a shadow amidst the dust curtain raising and walking toward him.


    The attack was supposed to have killed Aion, but he used his axes to block most of the damage. His armor and protective gear suffered some damage, but they helped to mitigate the power of the attack as well¡­ Still, unless he is treated as soon as possible, Aion will fall unconscious due to the blood loss and then die.


    At that point in time, Aion''s body was too beaten up to keep Inner Aura active, but the skill still was there. Aion refused to let the after-effects of the skill be what would put him out ofmission.


    Aion found Vangel on the wall, and he looked pretty beaten too. Still, one hit would be enough for Aion to be defeated, so he couldn''t mess up. Aion charged with all his might, and even though he raised his sword, Vangel jumped to the side to escape the attack. He had talent and training, but he didn''t die once like Aion, so he feared that. Besides, their motivations were too far apart from each other¡­


    Aion ended up kicking the wall and making a good part of it fall around him. Then he looked at the nervous Vangel and then kicked a block of stone toward him. He blocked the attack with his sword, but he ended up getting hit in the stomach by Chaotic Punch.


    Vangel''s body bet forward¡­ Despite his fears, he sure was resilient, and he didn''t let go of his Inner Force as well. Aion looked at the referee, and he didn''t know what to do¡­ Prevent the prince from getting more damage or throwing dirt at his honor by dering his defeat.


    In the end, Aion used Chaotic Punch while aiming at the sr plexus of the prince¡­ which made his face turn blue as he lost all the air in his lungs. The powerful pain crossed his whole body, and then he fell unconscious since he was unable to control his Inner Force.


    The referee finally woke up and then dered Aion the winner. The prince was unconscious on the ground, and all the healers moved to tend to his wounds. The whole arena was silent, and the atmosphere was a lot worse than before. Still, Aion knew that his wounds weren''t fatal¡­ he only had a few broken bones, after all.


    "That was a good fight. After this, Vangel will probably realize that he needs more than talent to be a fighter," Lexus said when Aion returned to the waiting room.


    "If he learned anything, it was only because he was too stubborn to fall," Aion said. "My intention from the very beginning was just to win. Regardless, for him to have some trump cards, I don''t know if you are such an excellent teacher or if you have favorites, father."


    Lexus didn''t say anything, and Aion decided to go home. He could repair a bit of his armor, and he also needed to heal himself. Not in a ce where people could heal him¡­


    In the end, Aion only has enough time to clean himself and use heal before falling on his bed. Inner Force also took quite a toll on his body, and he suffered a lot of damage. Aion ended up sleeping until the morning of the next day, but at least most of his wounds had closed, and he just needed to fill his belly to feel as good as new again.

 Chapter 56 Horis, The Immortal

    Aion spent the morning fixing his armor and being scolded by his mother. Even if he won, Artemisia was more worried about him returning safe and sound than winning like that. Once Aion headed to the garden, he found his brothers there, and they congratted him, but they looked troubled.


    "Vangel is fine, but beating the future king of this kingdom like that sure will bring you some future problems," Henri said.


    "It wasn''t my fault if he knew how to take a hit," Aion said. "Regardless, I am only interested in winning. Whatever happens next is inconsequential."


    "That sure sounds like you¡­ still, it will be hard for you to follow the same path as us after this," Georges said. "Considering your lineage, I guess the possibility of you bing an officer in the army was pretty small, to begin with."


    "Years ago, father mentioned that, he also mentioned that I could reach my goal if I win this tournament," Aion said.


    "That exins a lot¡­ you prepared three years for this, huh," Philip said. "I guess our chance of winning was that small, to begin with."


    "What are your chances against father?" Elio asked.


    "I don''t know. I need to defeat two others before reaching him¡­ Besides, he has more tricks up his sleeve," Aion replied. "May the smartest man win."


    "Not the strongest?" Henri asked. "In any case, it will be interesting if you manage to make father fight seriously. I heard from many people that only a handful of guys could make him fight seriously."


    That was more annoying and disrespectful than anything¡­ on the other hand, going all out against a weaker opponent would look like bullying from other people''s perspectives. Still, it was within Aion''s ns to win against his father, and he needed a pretty good battle n, and that was why he said that earlier¡­


    Aion headed to the arena and saw the next matches on the board. He frowned when he saw that some people had withdrawn from the tournament¡­ he thought that only the strongest and bravest had survived in the matches so far, but it didn''t look like that was the case¡­ Between the two opponents that Aion might have faced, those two had withdrawn. As if things weren''t troublesome enough, the matches had already been decided¡­ Aion was going to fight his father without a proper n¡­


    "For real¡­" Aion thought while facepalming.


    "You can also give up now if you want," Lexus suddenly approached and said.


    Aion didn''t look at his father since he knew that he would show a very annoyed expression¡­ the fact that he wasn''t trying to enrage him only made things worse. Lexus was strong, had powerful techniques, and was considered a war hero, so many people wouldn''t want to fight him. However, Aion was different¡­


    "Remember what you said before," Aion said. "Don''t me your age once you lose."


    "I will keep that in mind," Lexus said.


    Aion had forgotten about it, but Vangel''s birthday was tomorrow, so the tournament was supposed to end tomorrow as well¡­ in one way or the other, Aion probably would fight his father that day since only the final would be on thest day. They couldn''t let the tournament overshadow the real main event.


    Despite the fact that Aion knew that he was in a bad spot, he still had one option¡­ he could reset the other sses and transfer the experience to the berserker ss. That would at least make him increase his level by twenty times. That would be a decent boost in power¡­


    "This will be hard, but I would rather defeat him on my own, using the skills and techniques I mastered over thest three years," Aion thought. "Unless the difference in strength is absurd to the point that I can''t do a thing even with a decent n, then I won''t rely on that¡­ I need to test my strength before anything."


    While he was lost in thought, someone bumped on his back and almost made him fall. Before doing anything, Aion turned around and then found a two and half meters tall man wearing a ck armor and looking at him as if he was dirt.


    "The fuck is wrong with you?" Aion asked.


    "Move it, if you don''t want to be kicked," the man said.


    "Let''s see you try, fucking asshole," Aion red back.


    The armored man had white hair all over his head and had been brushed backward. He was insanelyrge, and one could even see bulging muscles in his neck. He probably was in his fifties, but there wasn''t a single sign of weakness on him. It almost looked like he had won the battle against his age.


    "Commander¡­ you shouldn''t act like that when the tournament is still ongoing," Lexus suddenly appeared and said.


    The old Man ignored Lexus and kept staring at Aion as if he was thinking of the best way to crush his skull. He sure had a powerful aura, and all of his instincts were telling Aion not to mess with that guy. Still, he didn''t die once and waited ten years to free his mother from her prison, and trained hard to bow his head to assholes¡­


    Aion wondered why he never saw that guy fighting¡­ in any case. There was only one person that his father would callmander. That was Horis, the immortal. He read some tales of his aplishments over the years and even some of the things that he pulled off during the war. When the Milleris kingdom attacked the Zaera kingdom thirty years ago, he was on the eastern border alongside his battalion. All of them were killed, but Horis survived and fought the invasion by himself for a week and didn''t let the enemies advance until his allies had arrived to help.


    Some people believed that he had mutated and that his powers couldn''t even be considered human anymore since no one ever saw him having a hard time against any opponent.


    "Commander, are you going to disrespect this event in the name of your future king like a mad dog?" Lexus asked.


    This time, Horis red at Lexus with murderous intent¡­

 Chapter 57 Promise

    Despite the situation, Horis didn''t do anything. Still, if a re could kill¡­ Horis turned around and then moved away. However, he stopped and then looked at Aion.


    "Tomorrow, a dirt race will vanish from the face of this world," Horis said.


    The blood rushed to Aion''s head, and he almost summoned his spiritual weapon to attack that piece of shit. Several veins were bulging in his forehead due to the anger¡­ Horis dered that he was going to kill Aion and his mother. That piece of shit was going to ask the king to kill Aion''s mother¡­ he had never felt such mind-numbing rage before. He never felt like killing someone like that before.


    "Hey, asshole," Aion said to Horis. "Do you have a god to pray to? Don''t bother praying to them anymore. You will visit them tomorrow. You are wasting your time ring at me, I am not like the little girls you try to beat or scare. Make your peace with your ancestors, you piece of shit."


    Horis left the area without saying anything¡­ Aion truly wanted to punch something, but he didn''t want to wound his fists doing something so stupid.


    "You did well in controlling your rage," Lexus said. "One of the reasons I told you to win this tournament is because you will need this kind of strength to protect your mother."


    "Protect her from whom?" Aion asked.


    "In due time, you wille to know," Lexus said. "Also, you shouldn''t tell your mother about him. She has a bad history with Horis."


    "Another reason that will make me kill him¡­" Aion said. "Sorry, father. I will end up fighting you while I am pretty pissed."


    "It is fine, controlling your anger and turn it into a weapon," Lexus said. "We might have your mother in our territory, but a lot of people hate her, a lot of people that are willing to do stupid things to have their revenge. Unless you scare them with your Name alone, they will never leave her alone."


    After saying that, Lexus left. It seemed that in his own way, Lexus was on Aion''s side, but he couldn''t do things directly because of his position in the kingdom. Aion was d that his father wasn''t someone who would stay bitter and resentful for ten years to a single person. Still, now he had to fight his father, and he knew that he wouldn''t go easy on him.


    "Fate sure is a merciless bitch¡­" Aion thought.


    In any case, after not long, Horis and another guy were called to fight. Aion didn''t know who the second guy was, but he chose a greatsword, and he sure looked like a master while holding the weapon¡­ still, much to Aion''s headache, as soon as he heard the referee giving the sign to the start of the battle, he heard a powerful impact¡­ Aion wanted to concentrate before the fight, but his curiosity got the better of him. The second guy had been thrown toward the wall of the arena in a single hit and made it copse.


    "The obstacles in my path seem much bigger up close¡­" Aion thought.


    It will be difficult, but not impossible¡­ Defeating that man was possible as long as Aion used everything he had. He won''t have to worry about his pride¡­ His pride in the final will be to kill him no matter what.


    In the end, Aion had the chance to concentrate for half an hour while some people were fixing the walls. Eventually, Aion and his father were called, and then they chose their weapons. This time, Aion chose a longsword, and once he entered the arena, everyone frowned. It seemed like he was copying his father, but it would be too much to expect that he would be skilled as him.


    Regardless, the arena grew silent once they assumed their stances. Lexus moved his sword to his right side while he put his left foot forward. It was a fine example of an offensive stance of someone who was nning to go all out from the beginning¡­


    As for Aion, he assumed a basic stance that seemed simr to the sword fighting style of Japan. Naturally, he never studied or tried the things he saw in movies and shows. However, during his years of training, he learned that putting his left foot forward and his right foot slightly behind while holding the sword toward the enemy was veryfortable. Not to mention, it was the perfect stance to prepare for a quick but powerful downward swing¡­


    Lexus could tell what his son was nning, but it was too much to hope for that such a simple strategy would work that well. Lexus had fought enemies that tried something simr, and while downward strikes had more power, they left the user wide open if they missed, while horizontal attacks gave the users some leeway for them to use evasive maneuvers.


    Lexus knew that people might think that he let his son win if he didn''t go all out from the beginning, so he decided to do exactly that. He didn''t know if Aion was strong enough to defeat him, the kid had talent and had a good brain for fighting, but that wasn''t enough¡­ The difference in power between him and Horis was that massive. He couldn''t let him fight that monster if their difference in power was small¡­


    When the referee gave the sign to the start of the battle, Lexus used Inner Force and covered the distance between them in an instant. Despite that, Aion managed to swing down his sword, and both weapons collided. A powerful sound of metal spread across the area, and sparks flew around like mes. Despite their difference in size and experience¡­ Lexus was blown away.

 Chapter 58 The Basics

    Lexusnded on his feet and slipped on the sand for a short while. He looked astonished that he had lost the exchange when it came to brute strength. As if that wasn''t enough, he frowned when he saw that Aion didn''t move from his spot and just assumed that neutral stance again¡­


    Aion''s eyes were as calm as they could be. There was no hesitation, anger, fear, or any other emotion on them. There was only focus and the will to attack when necessary. Lexus had an idea of what Aion did, but he couldn''t wait and think about it while Inner Strength was active. Moreover, he had to try his hardest to test the strength of his son.


    Lexus charged again and then thrust his sword at Aion''s torso, but another simple downward strike stopped his attack¡­ What was surprising was that Aion only began to move when he was within his range¡­ Lexus saw that clearly. With his focus, he could react only to real attacks, not feints.


    The weapons collided again, and the powerful impact made the sand around fly away in a perfect circle. This time, Lexus wasn''t blown away, and his trust pushed Aion backward a little. It seemed that the weakness of his stance was thrust attacks. Still, while Lexus moved his sword backward to prepare for his next attack, Aion stepped forward, already swinging his sword toward him.


    Lexus barely had the chance to move his sword and block the strike while holding the sword with both hands. The vibration made his arms tremble and hurt a little, but then he noticed that Aion didn''t put much more strength before the impact¡­ He quickly returned to his neutral stance after taking a single step backward.


    "Is that kid nning to defeat his father by using the same sword strike over and over again?"


    "It looks like he has speed and power, it is clear with the sound of the impacts, but he is underestimating far too much his old man¡­"


    "Maybe he can use only that now that he changed his weapon."


    It looked like some of the audience was thinking along the same lines as Lexus, but unlike him, they didn''t know what he had realized. It was true that Aion was using a basic way to attack, but it was also the best way for him to attack using a longsword, probably because he practiced that swing thousands of times. Moreover, after seeing the second attack from up close, Lexus noticed that Aion used Inner Force, if only for a moment¡­ He was using his best attack while only using the bare amount of energy¡­  It was like the strategy he used against Valgen, but a lot more advanced and troublesome.


    "Even if he is doing all that, he shouldn''t be able to be stronger and faster than me¡­ I suppose he is using something else as well," Lexus thought.


    Lexus began to run around Aion to see if he could find any openings while he moved, but Aion followed him with his eyes without showing such a thing. He was good at changing the direction of his body by shifting the weight on his feet. Despite that, Lexus charged and attacked with all his might. This time, he used a downward strike as well, and when the weapons collided, the sparks flew around again, and the audience covered their ears due to the impact. Aion and Lexus have pushed away from the center of the impact. Since Lexus was heavier, he gained extra power, and he covered a bit of the difference in power¡­ he still didn''t know how Aion''s attack power was higher than expected, though.


    At that rate, they will only break each other''s weapons. Unlike his kids, who had been influenced by Aion and knew how to use a kick, Lexus only trained how to use a sword, which was almost an unrivaled specialist. So, he couldn''t let that happen. For a brief moment, Aion saw the sword of his father emitting a dangerous red glow, and then he swung it toward him insanely fast¡­


    Aion didn''t have time to dodge, but he swung his sword while he jumped backward and made the explosion happen a bit further away from his body. The surprise and the pain broke his focus a bit¡­ Regardless, as expected, his father was the one who taught Vangel that technique.


    Instead of something created by his family, it was probably Lexus'' own technique, something he developed by himself, and just like he did years ago, the family didn''t waste any type of talent. So, they passed down to the next generation a single technique that could help all fighting styles¡­


    The explosion and the jump made Aion''s body being pushed backward. Thanks to that, he didn''t suffer that much damage. However, his sword did¡­ Taking two or three more of those attacks will be too much. Eventually, Lexus and the audience noticed that Aion prevented most of the damage, and that surprised them since the attack was a lot more powerful than Vangel''s¡­


    Much to everyone''s surprise, Lexus fired another of those attacks, and this time Aion jumped to the side the very moment the energy enveloped the sword. The attack hit the spot Aion had been in and caused an explosion while opening a crater. It forced his body to be pushed to the side and lose its footing. Lexus used that chance to approach and attack with all his might.


    Attacking perfectly and repelling the sword strike in that circumstance wasn''t possible, but Aion did them anyway. The weapons collided, and Aion was sent flying to the other side of the arena while spinning in the air.


    Lexus gave chase, and even before Aion couldnd, he approached and attacked again. Despite the situation, Aion blocked the sword strike that sent him flying to the walls of the arena. Still, hended on his feet on the walls, despite the fact that the impact made it fall.


    Aion suffered some damage, but that didn''t bother him. He just had to keep his pace once he regained his focus. Even if Lexus was the creator of that technique, he couldn''t use it too often¡­ and put him in a bad spot with it, or so Aion thought.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 59 Final Technique

    When Lexus used that technique for the first time, Aion also dodged by jumping to the side with all his might. The explosion almost involved the audience in the fight, but Lexus had nned things carefully to avoid that. There were no signs of fatigue on his body, so he charged at Aion the same way as before.


    Aion was prepared for the next attack. Even beforending, he swung his sword with all his might, and both weapons collided. This time, Aion wasn''t pushed away, and while that puzzled Lexus, he didn''t stop there and kept attacking without letting Aionnd. At some point, the hands of both of them began to bleed, but they didn''t stop attacking. Thanks to Pain Resistance, the first to show some signs of pain in their arms had been Lexus, and when he flinched for a short moment. Aion used that chance¡­


    Aion''s next sword strike was a lot heavier than before, and Lexus realized why¡­ The veins on Aion''s hands were bulging like they were about to explode, or at least they looked like that for a short window of time¡­ Lexus finally realized that Aion could use Inner Force to boost his power even more than he, but only for a short window of time in order not to make his body get tired even faster.


    The impact pushed Lexus away, but just a distance long enough for Aion to cover with a single footstep. When Lexus stopped, Aion''s next sword strike was alreadying, and it was another simple downward swing. Still, it was fast and sharp as all the others¡­ Lexus used his sword to block it, and the same thing happened before. He was pushed away for a single footstep distance.


    Lexus noticed some dent marks on his sword and then enhanced it with that red aura before it could suffer even more damage. He didn''t like to use the technique like that, but at least it made him feel less power when the impacts happened. That also gave him the chance to strike back since Aion''s strikes weren''t pressuring him anymore.


    All of a sudden, Aion assumed his defensive stance when he saw Lexus'' sword speed increasing and moving toward his neck. He blocked the sword strike with the tip of his sword to nullify some of the damage on his weapon, but he still was pushed backward for several meters.


    "The difference in weight is annoying¡­ even when we have the same strength, that influences too much when he is attacking¡­" Aion thought. "Regardless, it doesn''t look like he will run out of stamina any time soon, so I need to change my strategy."


    Aion thought that Vangel could use those techniques a lot, but it couldn''t bepared to the real master¡­ as expected, Lexus didn''t teach some of his techniques to his sons because he figured out they weren''tpatible with them and would make them focus on them too much and ignore their talents¡­


    When the next attack came, Aion blocked the sword strike with the tip of his sword. While he was pushed backward, at least he decreased the area of his sword that was being damaged. Thanks to Lexus, Aion learned that thrust attacks were pretty good at decreasing the power of sh attacks, so he decided to use that for a short while and use his head. However, it didn''t look like he would have much time for that. The tip of his sword was falling apart¡­ it was only a matter of time before it copsed¡­


    "I didn''t want to use this since I have to fight tomorrow as well, but it can''t be helped¡­" Aion thought.


    When Lexus approached and attacked, his sword was stopped by Aion. He used the same downward strike, but it looked like something else had changed¡­ it onlysted for a moment since he was pushed backward. However, Lexus could almost feel Aion''s bones cracking through the swords¡­ he pushed Inner Force to the limits¡­


    When ites to people fighting in wars, it is better for them to have strength for a long while. That was why the Kresnik family had Inner Force. To prevent the problems of some situations, Lexus developed an enhancement on his sword that made his stamina being consumed even faster, and bybining those two, there was that st attack. Still, Lexus rarely used any of those techniques since he believed that he could be much more efficient by conserving his energy in long battles.


    Aion followed the inverse logic since he heard of the tournament. His only goal was to win and to do so. He needed as much as power as possible to win against single adversaries. His goal wasn''t to win wars. That is why he tried to improve the Inner Force. Instead of using it for as long as possible while increasing his strength by fifty percent or more for a few minutes, he trained it to use that technique for several seconds only, but the boost in power would be massive during those seconds.


    Aion trained that technique hard for over a year, but whenever he tried that, his muscles and bones were damaged to the point that he had to stop with training for a week. He tried to find a way to prevent that, and he could only use that in the blink of an eye and on a much smaller scale than he had nned, but to do anything else¡­ Aion just had to rely on his willpower to endure that.


    Lexus was pushed backward, and before he could stop, Aion approached and attacked again. The swords collided, but Lexus was sent flying to the wall of the arena. While his hands were hurting like hell, he saw Aion''s approach, and then he used his final technique. Lexus jumped and then used his sword as a vessel to fire all of his energy¡­ that would be the final test of his son''s strength¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 60 Brawl

    If Lexus hadn''t jumped, hundreds of people behind Aion would have been hit by the attack and perhaps killed. Everyone realized that when the entire arena began to tremble and cracks appeared everywhere. At the same time, a powerful explosion took ce where Aion was supposed to be¡­


    Cracks appeared on the ground while a thick dust curtain enveloped the entire arena. After that, no one could deny that Lexus used everything he had against his son. In any case, Lexus almost dropped to his knees due to exhaustion. The final attack took from him everything that he had. It has been a while since he had to put so much effort into a fight... he truly felt that he was getting old.


    Lexus never underestimated his son, but he still thought that he had gone too far¡­ Aion was smart enough to know that he couldn''t pull his punches, and yet¡­ he felt a bit of a sense of guilt. If magic in the tournament could be used, Lexus knew that Aion would have a much easier time fighting him, and defeating Horis wouldn''t be a crazy idea but something possible. Still, there wasn''t much point in thinking about that¡­


    Regardless, when the dust curtain began to dissipate, everyone noticed that Aion''s shadow still standing in the middle of that. When everyone could see him clearly, they noticed that half of his armor had been destroyed and his sword had been broken. Only the hilt still was intact. As for his body, he had wounds everywhere. He was bleeding from his nose, mouth, and ears¡­ his condition was critical, but he refused to fall.


    In that situation, many people realized that Aion was just a kid. He was nowhere as muscr as his father due to his age¡­ he was just a ten year old kid fighting for the freedom of his mother. So, those who had a slight amount of conscience began to feel bad for the prejudice they showed until now.


    Aion looked at the remains of his sword and clicked his tongue in annoyance. Despite that, he didn''t throw it away. He began to hold it in a reverse grip because he knew that the fight wasn''t over. To use that much through a random sword, it was clear that Lexus'' weapon wasn''t in a much better state¡­ when Lexus tried to get up while using his sword as support, it fell apart, leaving only the hilt behind.


    In any other situation, Lexus would surrender. Without his sword, there wasn''t much that he could do, but in the end, he had to keep going. He had to show as much spirit as his youngest son, at the very least.


    While staggering, Aion began to move toward his father. He was exhausted and wounded, while his father was only exhausted¡­ it would be difficult, but he could pull that off. Lexus began to approach as well, and when they got in range, they began to punch each other.


    Aion thought that he would have the upper hand in that aspected, but the weight of his father granted him some extra attack power. Without any other choice, he began to block his punches with the hilt of his sword. The damaged bones of his arms began to throb, and then Lexus flinched. Aion used that chance and then attacked his father with a liver blow. The armor that Lexus was using nullified some of the damage, but his body still bent forward.


    Lexus noticed that he left his face wide open for an attack, so he used his arms to protect his head, but instead of attacking the guard, Aion used the liver blow again and again. When Lexus fell, he didn''t have any other choice but to headbutt his own son, and while that stopped his punches, it also made both of their foreheads throb, so they stopped attacking for a while.


    When they recovered, they prepared to attack, but much to Lexus'' surprise, Aion used a headbutt as well, and thanks to his posture, his headbutt made his father get dizzy while Aion endured the pain. Despite that, Lexus could tell that Aion would attack his liver again, and he moved his arms to protect that area¡­ However, he was hit by the sword''s hilt in the middle of his torso, on his sr plexus.


    Lexus'' body was paralyzed, and he felt the pain and exhaustion passing through his entire body. For a full second, he was unable to do anything until Aion punched with all his might his father''s left temple. Aion thought that he would need a few more punches there to make his father pass out, but his second punch only hit the air. His father had passed out, and his eyes were white¡­


    The referee came to check Lexus and confirmed that he was unconscious. Despite everything they saw, the audience still looked surprised. Few people know how much a body blow hurts when one is exhausted. Besides, by hitting his father''s sr plexus with the hilt of the sword, the damage had been a lot more concentrated than expected¡­


    Regardless, Aion was determined to be the winner, and once again, the healers went to check and heal Lexus and left Aion alone. Still, he could heal himself soon enough. He just had to find a ce where no one could see him.


    In any case, while he was heading to the waiting room, Aion passed by Horis, who watched the whole fight. He didn''t look impressed or worried, but Aion couldn''t care less about it. Aion kept his pride by winning against his father. Now he could throw it away to kill Horis¡­


    Along the way home, Aion healed his wounds since most of the capital was empty, but he decided to be careful and only did it when he was crossing some dark alleys. Also, along the way, he thought about what he would say to his mother¡­ most of his wounds had been closed, but his armor was a mess¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 61 Prayer

    After having to listen to one hell of a lecture for one hour, Artemisia finally gave Aion some time to rest. Still, Aion wasn''t the type to lie to his mother, so when she asked when the tournament would end, he told her the truth.


    "You are in the final¡­ you defeated your father, and you will face that man¡­" Artemisia said while her face was turning white like a ghost. "Aion, I am your mother, and this is the only thing that I will ever ask you¡­ don''t fight that man¡­ he hates us more than anything."


    "I am sorry, mom¡­ but that isn''t possible," Aion said. "I met with that piece of shit, so I know that much, and I also know that he will ask the king for our deaths if he is dered the winner of the tournament."


    All of a sudden, Artemisia began to have a hard time breathing, and then she passed out. Aion panicked and used Heal on her several times. Thanks to that, her condition improved considerably.


    In the end, Aion knew what his mother was thinking¡­ he was going to face his death. In one way or the other, they were going to die, and she thought that her son was going first and she was unable to do anything. After the years of living in a prison, the idea of escaping never crossed her mind. That was because everyone in the world would hunt them down, and they wouldn''t have a life anywhere.


    As for Aion, he was going to fight so they could have a real life. Aion wanted to free his mother, but that was just the first goal. After that, he will build a ce where she will be safe no matter what, and then he will travel the world. Since he hade to another world, not traveling around would be a wasted opportunity.


    "It will be difficult, but it is for the sake of the future¡­ I don''t know why I have this system, but I will use it to its full extent to build a ce for my mother in this world," Aion thought.


    The only problem was how Aion could use his full power when he couldn''t use his weapons. He thought of that while he was transferring all the experience, energy, and materials to the berserker ss.


    Berserker Lv 82


    Health: 1029/1029


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 296/296


    Strength: 131 + 101


    Dexterity: 16


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 131+ 64


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 131


    Status: 00


    Hand Axes Refinement Lv 40


    Bonuses: Strength + 64, Endurance + 64


    Skills: Rage Lv 25(Efficiency Lv 43), Roar Lv 19, Body m Lv 10, Destroyer Lv 25 (Power Lv 100)


    Passive: HP Plus Lv 22(Efficiency Lv 50), Brute Strength Lv 25 (Efficiency Lv 50), Pain Resistance Lv 20,


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 186.980


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "As expected, after some levels of refinement, the materials be less effective¡­ since most of the ones I used were bones of low-level monsters, I guess it is impossible to reach level fifty or something," Aion thought.


    Aion got a lot stronger by using everything possible to enhance the berserker ss. In terms of raw power, he believed that he could defeat his father in a direct fight without tricks. Still, he had a feeling that someone like Horis was several times stronger than his father. At least five times¡­ which was insane¡­ if Lexus goes all out, he could destroy the entire arena, but perhaps Horis could destroy the entire capital by himself¡­


    Aion still could use his saved money to increase his parameters, but he wasn''t sure it would be enough. With everything he had, he could buy around eighty points¡­ he should have saved more instead of buying three other inns over the years.


    In any case, for the bonuses to work, the weapons had to be summoned and be with Aion, so he couldn''t just leave them at home. For that kind of situation, Aion thought of forging an armor where he could hide his weapons inside, but asking about that around would make him look suspicious, and once the rules of the tournament began to spread, the cksmith might open his mouth and mention such a thing. Annoying rumors might spread, and then Aion would face some problems.


    In the end, Aion decided to check the armory of his home for armor that could help him with that. He could always pay his fatherter since he had the money to pay for most types of armor. In the end, Aion found an armor that had somepartment on the shoulders that could store short swords¡­ he had no idea how that worked, but he assumed that it was magic armor or something. Unfortunately, he wanted to use his axes, and the armor was too big for him.


    "Mom didn''t teach me how to create metals using magic, but if only I knew that now¡­" Aion thought. "There was no point thinking about that. I have to find a way to deal with this problem."


    Aion looked for some armor, but he didn''t find anything like what he wanted. In the end, he found several magic armors, but Aion decided to grab a normal one and then enhance the interior with some earth magic and to store the axes there. He would look like he was trying to use armor that was too big for him, but it couldn''t be helped.


    Since Aion didn''t want to make it too heavy, he just added thepartments with earth magic to hold the weapons. His defense would becking, but it was fine. Aion was nning to end things faster than Horis could try anything, anyway.


    After that, Aion went to sleep, and he woke up while seeing his mother praying to someone. From her perspective, only the gods could help a ten year old kid defeat a monster able to stop an army¡­

 Chapter 62 Before The Fight

    "How can you sleep so calmly while I feel like I can die of worry?" Artemisia asked.


    "That old man is just big, mom¡­ I can defeat him, no sweat." Aion said. "By the way, who were you praying to?"


    "He was the one who decimated all of the royal guards, killed my brother, mother, and father¡­ he isn''t a weakling, Aion¡­ what am I going to do¡­" Artemisia said and then sighed. "Only the goddess can help you now."


    "What is the name of the goddess?" Aion asked.


    "Her name was forgotten over the years¡­ since people believed that her blessing only affected our kingdom," Artemisia replied. "As for the other god¡­ I really don''t know much about him."


    "It seems that you are hiding something, mom," Aion said. "If you think I am going to die today, might as well tell me everything."


    "Don''t say such an ominous thing so easily¡­" Artemisia said and then pulled his ears. "Come back in one piece, and I will tell you everything one day."


    "That promise seems a bit fishy¡­" Aion frowned.


    "It can''t be helped¡­ this is a burden that I don''t want to carry, but¡­" Artemisia said and then hesitated in finishing her sentence. "I guess it is unavoidable for you to learn that. Regardless, you already have too many things to consider today¡­ no matter what, just do your best to return in one piece, okay?"


    "Aye, aya, ma''am," Aion said.


    Aion left the room, and he saw his mother praying again. Nobody ever said that he was very reliable, but thatck of faith in him sure was depressing. Still, it was understandable. Even if he never saw that asshole fighting with all his might, he could tell that he was like a mountain that many people could only tremble in fear.


    Regardless, when Aion reached the garden after breakfast, he saw the other members of the Kresnik family in the garden. Lexus, the other boys, the girls, and even their mothers. It seemed like they were waiting for Aion, but he didn''t like that kind of atmosphere, mainly when half of the family treated him and his family like air.


    "How are your wounds, father?" Aion asked.


    "You have the nerve of asking that when you were the one who inflicted them¡­" Lexus said while frowning.


    "It can''t be helped¡­ despite your old age, you refused to go down," Aion shrugged. "I could have gone easy on you if you didn''t use so many troublesome techniques. Even my first armor was destroyed thanks to it¡­"


    "I was just joking¡­ it was a good match, and I don''t have anything toin about," Lexus said. "I thought that my fighting style was perfect, but it seems that even I can learn a new trick or two."


    "I doubt that the result would be the same if you were using your favorite sword¡­" Aion said. "I probably would have to break some of your bones to win."


    "In the end, you never thought that you could lose agaisnt me, huh¡­" Lexus said. "Pushing your confidence aside, themander truly is a monster that goes beyond the human understanding. He isn''t like Caelis the Tainted or others that mutated over the years, but he is truly on the level of the worst types of beasts in this world. He is also out for your blood, so I can wish you good luck."


    "Rx, it will be a piece of cake," Aion said.


    "... I will try to believe your words¡­ one more piece of advice, themander bes stronger when he is enraged," Lexus said after a long sigh. "When he bes like that, he doesn''t discriminate between ally or foe¡­ that was why he was always on the frontlines and most of the time alone. Hisrades couldn''t trust their lives to him¡­ once he goes berserk, he will do everything to kill his target¡­ everything."


    "All right, I will keep that in mind," Aion said.


    A berserker agaisnt a berserker¡­ it will be one hell of a battle. Aion''s preparations had been finished, so there wasn''t much more to say. His brothers only raised their hands and high-fived him, while the girls and their mothers didn''t know what to do. Winning that tournament was an honor to the family of the winner, but one of them was going to die no matter what, and the adversary was themander of the armies of the kingdom. Besides, it would feel cheap for them to cheer on Aion after so many years of ignoring him.


    It was a bit soon for the tournament, but Aion decided to head to the arena¡­ more than ever before, Aion will have to concentrate on the task ahead. Agaisnt an enemy that was probably four or five times stronger than him, most ns wouldn''t be useful, but as long as he uses a few parts of them alongside his brain, Aion will take something out of it¡­


    Aion arrived in the waiting room and then sat in the corner to concentrate. During that time, he recalled the things that he had heard about Horis. As amander, he was someone who didn''t have a proper fighting style or weapon of choice. He used everything he could use to attack¡­ in fact, his tales on the battlefields were mostly known about him throwing the corpses of the enemies at theirrades¡­ insanity was a weak word to describe him.


    Although no one called him, eventually, Aion realized that it was the time for the fight. He could tell that the aura of the arena had changed, and everyone was waiting for the final. The king decided to give another annoyingly long speech, but Aion decided to ignore that. It was better to use his time meaningfully. When the referee called both participants, Horis finally showed up and Aion had a hard time not jumping at his neck¡­

 Chapter 63 A Fight To Death (1)

    Both of the fighters headed toward the center of the arena, Horis didn''t choose any weapon, but Aion still was equipped with his two hand axes. It seemed that the enemy had more than enough confidence that his fists would do the trick.


    While seeing the enemy up close and in front of him like that, Aion could see that his ck armor covered his whole body. Only his head was unprotected¡­ moreover, it looked like the armor could adapt to his body perfectly since Aion couldn''t see any marks on the joints.


    "A magic armor¡­" Aion thought.


    He had no idea who gave that to the enemy, but it certainly was someone who was fully aware of the weakness of that asshole. It was hard to tell if Aion could pull that off with ordinary weapons, but he would have to aim for the head from the very beginning¡­ that was his n to kill the enemy as soon as possible, anyway.


    None of those two heard the referee starting the fight, but they raised their guard, and when he felt like it, Horis charged and tried to kick Aion with all his might. Aion jumped just high enough to dodge the kick and then attack the enemy at the same time, but then he saw Horis'' arms approaching¡­ In the end, Aion hit those with his ax and then kicked them to jump backward.


    The sound of metal echoing through the arena made everyone flinch, and then the sound of Aion clicking his tongue¡­ He hit the armor with all his might, but he didn''t leave a single scratch on it¡­


    "Speed, power, durability¡­ He had everything," Aion thought. "However, his line of attack is easy to read¡­ I don''t have to worry about them for the time being."


    The increase in speed that Aion obtained made him a lot faster than most soldiers that asshole had fought¡­ At least when ites to regr humans. However, Aion couldn''t rx yet.


    From the audience''s perspective, Horis was like a bull crazy bull that they could barely see moving. Meanwhile, Aion could easily dodge them¡­ His speed and reaction couldn''t bepared to before. Some people thought that he went easy against his father, but that would be insanity¡­


    Regardless, from someone like Horis, who defeated all of his enemies until now with a single punch, missing so many hits so often made him red due to the rage.


    Meanwhile, Aion couldn''t help but smile¡­ until the enemy suddenly became faster and his charges more powerful. It reached a point where the st of his movement pushed Aion a few centimeters away¡­ still, thanks to that, Horis ended up colliding agaisnt the walls. He waspletely unhurt, but the wall of that part fell, and some of the audience felt like they were going to have a heart attack.


    "Is that what father was talking about?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Aion''s rage consumed stamina at the cost of a bonus that would be equal to the level of the skill and would increase his strength, speed, and endurance¡­ However, there were no signs of exhaustion on Horis'' body¡­ he either had an immense stamina pool, or his Rage didn''t consume his stamina.


    "If I make Rage reach level one hundred percent with the improvement points in Efficiency, will it be like him and won''t cost anything?" Aion thought.


    That seemed like a good idea to try¡­ fighting above his best without consuming extra stamina would be great¡­ but that also means that his system can grant him the same effect of a mutation that Horis obtained. Not on the same level, but the effects would be simr¡­ Regardless, when Aion Resets his ss, everything returned to zero, and Aion couldn''t let his parameters fall that much during that fight.


    Horis'' speed increased again, and Aion was almost hit, but he let the enemy do that since he swung his axes at the enemy''s head. Much to his surprise, the ck armor moved to protect the enemy''s face¡­ what was the difference between letting that kind of armor be used and not letting magic weapons be used¡­ that was stupidity.


    The game of cat and mousested for a while, thanks to Rage and his ability to read the line of attacks of the enemy, Aion dodged all the charges, and while he could be faster by bing angrier, Horis got sick of that and then stomped on the ground, making several cracks appear around. He stomped again and made rocks jump¡­ on the next moment. He began to kick them at Aion.


    Aion zigzagged around and dodged most of the projectiles since he couldn''t let his weapon being damaged by them. However, eventually, a big one came, and he lowered his stance to dodge it¡­ he couldn''t move to the side in time. Horis used that chance to charge even faster and then punched him. That being said, Aion struck the enemy''s fist with his axes, but he still was pushed away and slipped on the sand until his back hit the walls forty meters behind him.


    Half a secondter, that wall was kicked by Horis with all his might and made it fall around him. Somehow, Aion escaped the attack, but some blood was falling from his mouth due to the impact on his back.


    The enemy saw Aion moving to his left side for some reason, but that didn''t stop Horis from charging like a mad dog again. Once again, Aion dodged to the side when the enemy approached, and Horis collided agaisnt another wall. However, when he turned around, Aion''s axes were approaching his face.


    Aion noticed that the armor began to move to protect Horis'' face, but only when he saw the weapons, and despite that, the armor hadn''t been fast enough to block one of the axes¡­ a slightly deep cut was opened on it¡­

 Chapter 64 A Fight To Death (2)

    Horis tried to kick Aion while aiming for his lower half, but he jumped, and only his feet were hit. Even so, Aion didn''t take much damage single his legs worked like a spring, and he was sent flying to the opposite side of the arena. He immediately readied himself for the continuation of the attack, but he only saw the enemy checking the wound in his face and the blood dripping from it.


    "Not so immortal now, huh," Aion said.


    Aion didn''t know if the enemy had heard that, but he sure looked pissed. Aion ignored that since it was the anger of a walking corpse. Putting that aside, he learned by ident that the armor could only show its effects while Horis was aware of the danger. It was like the armor could read his mind¡­


    "Putting aside that and the durability of his armor, to think that my attack would only cause that much damage¡­" Aion thought. "His skin is thick as hell¡­"


    Horis suddenly charged a lot faster than before, and Aion wondered if his parameters could increase endlessly with his anger¡­ In any case, Aion dodged another charge, but the impact of the enemy on the wall made some rocks fly around and hit him. He flinched for a moment, and Horis used that chance to approach and grab his arms while raising him.


    Aion panicked while he was trying to kick the enemy''s chin, but the armor got in the way several times. Horis smirked and then began to pull away Aion''s arms¡­ before the enemy could actually cause much damage, Aion opened his mouth.


    "HAAAAAAAA! HAAAAAAAA! HAAAAAAAA!" Aion used Roar several times, and that paralyzed the enemy who was so close to him. At the same time, Aion felt like his throat was burning.


    Aion used that short window of time to use Rage and Inner Force before pulling his arms away from the enemy''s grip. When Horis recovered from the shouts, he saw Aion targetting his head again, this time with Destroyer.


    The armor reacted in time to block the three attacks, but not Horis. His head was hit three times in a quick session, and then he staggered due to the vibration. Thanks to the Improvement Points, Aion doubled the power of the skill, so at least that much was supposed to be expected¡­ moreover, he finally found some dents in the armor.


    Aion just had to confirm if the damage could decrease the performance of the armor in some way¡­e to think of it, usually, a magic item would have a core¡­ instead of attacking randomly, Aion should just destroy the core. That will give him more chances to damage the enemy.


    Aion forgot about that when he saw the enemy stomping on the ground again. This time, he didn''t do that to attack with rocks¡­ he just made enough dusk and sand emerge to make the entire arena disappear.


    "I don''t like this¡­" Aion thought.


    If he couldn''t see the enemy, he would have a hard time dodging its attacks. However, Aion realized something else¡­ It didn''t take long for the enemy to move. Horis charged like a mad dog, but he managed to dodge to the side by using most of his senses. He felt the ground shaking once when the enemy charged. Still, another part of the arena was destroyed, and this time some began to scream in pain¡­ finally some of them were being wounded¡­


    Horis'' charges could cover the whole arena now, even though Aion managed to dodge two more times. With that growth of the enemy''s speed, he had to do something, and soon¡­


    Soon enough, the dust and sand began to dissipate, but the enemy kicked the ground again. Since Aion couldn''t even attack, that was the best way to do things¡­ At least, that was what Aion nned to make him think.


    When the enemy charged again, he was weed by a pair of hand axes that moved in a straight line toward his eyes. Somehow, the enemy reacted in time to stop one of the axes, but the other pierced his left eye. Horis grunted in pain as he felt the smell and the feeling of blood falling from his face. When he noticed that he could no longer see from his left eye, Horis'' aura began to change¡­


    Horis'' face began to change, to the point that even his skin began to look red and bloodshot while his veins were bulging alongside with his muscles. The idea of using the sand wasn''t bad¡­ if only his armor could act independently¡­ regardless, his remaining eye turnedpletely red, even the iris. Aion raised his guard since his father talked about that¡­ the enemy was going to use everything avable to kill Aion.


    ? Horis didn''t even try to run, he only punched the air, and a powerful st of wind hit Aion''s stomach and made him throw up his lunch. Despite the pain, Aion was forced to clench his teeth when he saw others of those ining.


    Aion began to run as fast as possible, and thanks to the attacks, the dust curtain disappeared. However, the impact began to destroy the walls, and even more people from the audience began to get hurt¡­ it was only a matter of time before someone died¡­ despite that, only could only worry about his life.


    When the sts began to get too close to the royal family, Lexus told his wives and daughters to go home. At the same time, he headed to where Henri was and then unsheathed his sword to block the rocks and sts that flew in that direction.


    "Father!" Henri said.


    "I got this, go help those that might have their legs injured by those attacks, and don''t drop your guard," Lexus said. "A single hit on a bad spot, and you will be done for."

 Chapter 65 A Fight To Death (3)

    It was hard to believe that the enemy could fire attacks that could destroy half meters-thick walls without losing stamina, but that was exactly what Horis was doing¡­ he was almost as fast as a machine gun¡­ a machine firing rockets.


    Aion decided to stay away from the walls to avoid being hit by debris. He learned his lesson¡­ but that also made things difficult for him. The closer he was to the enemy, the harder it was to dodge the attacks¡­ For the time being, advancing and attacking wasn''t an option, but it was only a matter of time before he made a mistake or something happened that will help the enemy.


    "Now I can see howe he can stop an entire army by himself¡­" Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows.


    Only those who were crazy, or had the confidence to block those attacks, or were being protected by others stayed behind. Most of the audience had left the arena already. Still, that changed nothing for Aion¡­


    When Horis realized that Aion wouldn''t go down with only attacks of that level, he charged at him. Aion opened his eyes widely when that asshole suddenly approached. Still, when he tried to punch him, Aion stopped some of the power of the punch by hitting the fist with his hand axes. The armor got on the way again, but Aion saw a cracking appearing on the armor. Aion was pushed backward several meters due to the impact, but nothing more.


    At that point in time, it became clear that the armor would continue working until the core was destroyed. In any case, the enemy chased Aion again, and he couldn''t handle that speed, even if he used Inner Force only for a brief moment alongside Rage. Without any other choice, Aion used his coins to increase his speed.


    Amidst his rage, Horis couldn''t help but be shocked when Aion''s speed suddenly increased, and he was no longer able to catch up to him. The sts of punches weren''t getting close anymore¡­ thanks to that, Aion decided to capitalize on the momentum.


    Aion charged at the enemy, and Horis fired the sts in a single line, but Aion dodged them while zigzagging. Still, when he got close enough to prepare his attack, Horis punched the ground with both fists, raising a massive curtain of dust and sand to all sides. Some rocks prevented Aion''s approach as well¡­ he moved to the side while protecting his face with the hand axes. Still, he could capitalize on that as well.


    Horis began to fire the sts toward the ce he saw Aion moving, but he didn''t feel his attacks hitting anything. All of a sudden, he felt a powerful impact on his head and something sharper piercing his skull, even if only a little¡­ the attack caused so much pain that the air around Horis began to vibrate, and Aion jumped away before he could get hit.


    "The n to jump and attack him from above worked rtively well¡­ Still, to think that a clean hit wouldn''t split his skull open¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows when hended.


    Aion had no time to think about that¡­ a fist enveloped in mes suddenly was fired toward him, followed by many others. Aion was left speechless¡­ now the punch sts were on fire¡­ he could only think that the rage of the enemy reached ecstasy¡­


    The speed of the projectiles was higher as well, so Aion was having a hard time dodging those as well. Although he seeded every single time when theynded on the ground, a powerful st would ur, and the temperature would rise¡­ that alone made Aion''s armor felt like it was melting.


    "I need to kill him before he gains even more power¡­" Aion thought. "Let''s see if the anger made him even more stupid¡­"


    With the help of Pain Resistance, Aion ignored the heat waves of the sts and slowly approached the enemy while zigzagging again. All of a sudden, the monster charged at Aion and then tried to punch his face. However, in thest moment, Aion twitched his neck and dodged the strike¡­ still, he felt like his neck was on fire as he advanced.


    When he got close enough, Aion threw one of his hand axes at the remaining eye of the enemy. Despite the close distance, Horis reacted fast enough and blocked the weapon with his other hand. However, when he prepared his next attack, Aion was no longer there¡­


    Horis turned around and looked to the sides, but he found nothing¡­ when he thought of looking above, he felt another terrible pain in his head¡­ this time, even Aion and Horis heard the sound of his skull cracking a little, but only that¡­ Aion jumped away to escape the enemy''s attack, and he did well because, in the next moment, Horis'' aura began to burn everything around him¡­ Aion''s ax that was on his hand began to melt as well¡­


    "How many times will this motherfucker get power-ups?" Aion asked. "Not even Goku, Ichigo, and Naruto have so many forms¡­ perhaps they have."


    As if he was a tractor moving at the speed of an f1 vehicle, Horis charged at Aion and finally hit him. While spinning vertically, Aion flew to the wall of the arena and collided against it. He felt like he was being smashed from both sides, but despite the broken bones on his sides and back, he forced himself to get up and move, and he did well since, in the next moment, Horis hit the wall he was a moment ago.


    Aion escaped this time, but he knew that he couldn''t do that more than a few times with his body in that state¡­ his only chance was to attack now¡­ so he focused all his senses while he watched the enemy turning around. When Horis charged again, Aion pointed his remaining ax at the enemy''s head and then jumped toward it¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 66 A Fight To Death (4)

    In the end, Aion was hit by Horis'' charge and sent flying into the distance¡­ He didn''t hit the wall of the arena andnded on his feet. However, he still spat a mouthful of blood¡­ His stomach was hit badly.


    On the other hand, it didn''t look like Horis suffered much damage, but when he prepared to attack¡­ He felt something wet on his face and then felt something stinging. Even while Aion was hit, his weapon still hit the enemy''s face and opened a wound from the top of his chin to the forehead. The fact that Horis Aura was burning closed the wound, but his rage opened it soon after¡­


    "It seems like his stupidity also affects the armor¡­ If he thinks that he will win the exchange, then the armor won''t do its job properly," Aion thought while he watched blood gushing from the wound of the enemy thanks to the rage.


    When someone gets pissed, they stop thinking logically, so they also feel that nothing can stop them. With that in mind, their sense of danger weakens¡­ That armor was perfect for Horis, but it could only do so much¡­


    Horis charged at Aion, but he had already predicted the attack and moved the very moment the enemy tensed his muscles. Horis hit the wall, and the very moment he turned around, he was attacked by Destroyer. The three strikesnded insanely fast and cut some chunks of the enemy''s face, but Horis didn''t even take a step backward.


    Horis tried to kick Aion''s side, but he used the trick with his legs again. The sole of his feet was hit, and he was sent flying into the distance. Somehow, Aionnded on his feet two hundred meters from his original position, right in front of the royal family, his father, and Henri. They looked at him surprised, but he just shrugged.


    Although he didn''t suffer damage again, Horis realized that his ordinary attacks would never hit Aion¡­ his line of attack was too easy to read. Even if he somehow bes three times stronger, Aion will dodge them. Without any other choice, Horis made up his mind¡­ actually, he made his anger make the choice for him. He touched the center of his armor, and then it enveloped his right hand and eventually assumed the shape of a sword¡­ a sword that was as big as himself.


    "If that isn''t cheating, I don''t know what is¡­" Aion frowned.


    Aion wanted to know where he got that armor¡­ still, there was no time to think about that. The enemy broke the rules first, so Aion could do it as well. The referee was nowhere to be seen, but Aion had be the winner of the tournament. Now he just had to kill that asshole¡­


    Aion summoned the hand axes from his armor and made those who still were watching the fight frown. They never saw such weapons before, and they couldn''t tell where or when Aion got those¡­


    Before charging, Horis swung the sword toward Aion numerous times, and the projectiles in the same of fists on fire transformed into sword shes that could move toward him even faster. Aion threw one of his axes to hit one of the projectiles and create an explosion in the middle of the arena. After that, he began to run to the sides while the enemy was unaware of him. The weapon returned to his hand, and then Aion finally charged toward the enemy.


    When Horis realized where Aion was, he was pretty close. Still, he didn''t give up on firing the fire shes. However, Aion threw one of his hand axes again and made the weapon hit the enemy''s attack and causing an explosion right in front of him. Horis flinched for a moment, and Aion used that chance to run around Horis and attack him from behind. However, he turned around, already swinging his sword. The weapon almost chopped Aion''s head off but lowered his stance to dodge the attack.


    Aion seded and charged again, but when he got on the range to attack, the sword was already being swung downward toward his head again. The speed Horis could swing the sword with a single arm was insane¡­


    Aion fixed his stance to block the attack, but the enemy didn''t notice that he took a step to the side while he was fixing his stance. The impact almost crushed him, but in the end, that also worked for Aion''s n. Thanks to his stance, he parried the attack to the side, and then the sword hit the ground, making the area tremble. Recovering from such an attack would take a while for the enemy. So, Aion used that chance to attack.


    When Horis saw Aion aiming at his remaining eye, he immediately moved his left hand to protect that. In a normal situation, he would have realized that attacking him with the other hand would be a better alternative, but deep down, Horis was afraid of Aion taking his sight from him. Still, Aion didn''t stop and attack¡­ he aimed for the neck of the enemy and attacked the jugr.


    The enemy flinched when he felt some damage there and the feeling of the wet blood falling from the wound¡­ it was just a small wound, it closed soon enough due to his hot aura, but another hit in the area and they would have a hard time preventing himself from dying of blood loss.


    Horis let go of his sword for a short while and then tried to p Aion away from him. That worked¡­ but he didn''t expect that Aion would just ept being hit because he grabbed the weird sword/armor.


    For all intentions and purposes, the attack should have killed Aion. However, at thest moment, he jumped to the side and decreased the power of the impact¡­ he stillnded with his shoulder on the wall, though, dislocating it. He quickly fixed it while he was touching the center of the sword hilt. After not so long, the armor began to envelop his body¡­ what a convenient magic item that could adapt to the user¡­


    Horis looked at all that in disbelief¡­ still, he soon recovered. Aion might have his armor, but he didn''t have the same level of natural endurance¡­ a single good impact on the head will be enough to kill him¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 67 A Fight To Death (5)

    Aion didn''t feel the weight of the armor, but he couldn''t feel it strengthening himself either. It was a magic item that was focused on durability even when it was in sword form, so perhaps that was to be expected¡­ Regardless, Aion didn''t have time to think about that since the enemy charged at him while using the fire st punches again.


    This time, Aion charged in a straight line, only protecting his head with his hand axes. The other parts that were hit were protected by the ck armor. Horis bit his lips in annoyance. Aion thought that he would obtain more power, but nothing happened. It seemed that his body finally reached the limit¡­


    Horis couldn''t get any more power up, but that didn''t prevent him from improving his abilities. Instead of firing those powerful fire sts, he made his hands practically burn to enhance his direct attacks and waited for Aion''s approach¡­ that would be troublesome, but Aion expected nothing less from that asshole.


    The enemy tried to punch Aion, and then swung his hand axes to attack as well. When they came in contact, a small explosion happened, and while Aion wounded the enemy''s fists a bit, the explosion also pushed him backward for several meters. The armor did its job to protect him, so he was fine.


    Horis charged faster than Aion and began to punch him. Aion blocked the attacks with his hand axes and was pushed backward for several meters with each hit. While his weapons were harder the ordinary ones, they still could break, so he couldn''t do that forever¡­


    Despite that, the one who got impatient first was Horis. With both of his fists on fire, he tried to smash Aion from the sides. The first hit didn''t work, but Horis kept attacking again and again. Aion decided to take advantage of his stupidity and then jumped to attack the enemy''s throat again. However, Horis stopped attacking and grabbed him by the neck.


    The armor got in the way and prevented Horis from strangling Aion, even when the enemy was using both hands. However, he insisted¡­ it almost felt like he thought that he could break his own armor like that.


    Aion couldn''t let that happen and tried to attack. However, his arms were shorter than Horis'', so he couldn''t hit the enemy''s head or neck. When Aion heard the sound of something cracking near his neck, he immediately began to attack the enemy''s elbows. With each hit, a small wound was slowly getting bigger in size¡­ blood started to gush from the wound, and while his aura closed the wounds, Aion''s attacks opened it again.


    Despite the pain, Horis kept going¡­ he decided to bet that his arms wouldst longer than his armor¡­ at that point in time, Aion could no longer see the point of saving his energy, so he used Inner Force to the max level and began to attack even faster, his strikes pierced even deeper than before¡­ Horis flinched and then realized that he was going to lose the bet.


    In the end, Horis stopped the straggling and then smashed Aion''s body against the ground. That stopped his attacks, and he did that several more times¡­ Between the short of time between those attacks, Aion found an opening and then attacked one of the elbows of the enemy with all his might. The weapon pierced deeper than before and cut the artery of the elbow.


    Rage took over Horis'' body as he smashed Aion''s body against the ground, creating a ten meters wide crater. Several parts of the armor cracked, and then Horis threw Aion to the side¡­ The power of the attack had been so massive that Aion collided agaisnt the walls of the arena and passed through it. Aion''s body only stopped when he was no longer inside the arena and after he rolled on the ground for dozens of times.


    That got Aion seriously. He saw the world spinning when he tried to get up. The armor began to fall apart, and Aion knew that he could no longer he hit when he spat a lot of blood¡­


    Horis approached through the hole that Aion made while holding his damaged artery. He also needed to be healed as soon as possible because his Aura couldn''t close that wound. Still, he was too stupid to be reasonable at this point¡­ in that state, he could only think of killing Aion.


    In the end, before the enemy could attack, Aion changed jobs and then became a healer and used his small amount of mana and power with a level one ss to heal himself, even if a little bit. Horis realized that Aion had done something crazy and that he couldn''t let him continue¡­ So he strengthened his Aura to the limits, to the point that even his blood began to burn, enveloping his body on a red and dark Aura.


    "I guess this is it¡­ my golden chance to kill him, but it won''te cheap¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    The enemy was going to attack with all his might, so he would leave himself wide open for a short window of time. If Aion uses that chance to attack without caring about defense as well, he will have the chance to inflict a shit ton of damage, and as long as he hits his target, he will defeat him. However, the chances of him going down as well were¡­ pretty high.


    ? "Let''s finish this, shithead," Aion said.


    Horis'' aura exploded once more before charging at Aion¡­ his presence had be so powerful that he left a path of burned ground on thend he had crossed before hitting Aion. Despite that, he kept pushing Aion for dozens of meters until they collided agaisnt a fifty meters tall hill and then created an explosion that destroyed it¡­pletely.


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 Chapter 68 Reward

    When Aion began to wake up, he felt like his body had been over by truck-kun several times¡­ like he had yed the role of a ball in a ser game, and the teams of both sides had eleven truck-kuns on each side. Despite that, he felt some warmth in his left hand, and then when he opened his eyes, he saw his mother sleeping on a chair and holding his hand. His body was covered in bandages, but at least most of the wounds had disappeared, and most importantly, he survived.


    "I guess I won¡­" Aion thought, recalling thest moment of the fight.


    Aion didn''t flinch even in face of death. In fact, he charged toward it with all his might while holding his axes and pointing them at Horis'' head. Thest thing he remembers was them hitting the enemy''s head, nothing more.


    Berserker Lv 87


    Health: 629/1066


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 296/296


    Strength: 131 + 101


    Dexterity: 16


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 131+ 64


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 131


    Status: 75


    Hand Axes Refinement Lv 40


    Bonuses: Strength + 64, Endurance + 64


    Skills: Rage Lv 28 (Efficiency Lv 43), Roar Lv 22, Body m Lv 10, Destroyer Lv 29 (Power Lv 100)


    Passive: HP Plus Lv 27 (Efficiency Lv 50), Brute Strength Lv 25 (Efficiency Lv 50), Pain Resistance Lv 25,


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 15


    Coins: 3.980


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion checked his parameters and learned why he survived¡­ the damage he suffered in thest attack made the skill HP plus level up five times. People make their own luck, so Aion decided to think that he won because he was more resourceful and not stupid like a door.


    In any case, Aion was feeling quite hungry and sluggish, so he wondered how much time had passed since the fight. He could recover his health at one point per hour, but he was healed while he was unconscious, so it was hard to say¡­


    Regardless, Aion achieved his goal. Now he just had to consider his next steps, so he used that peaceful time for that. A couple of hourster, Artemisia woke up and began to cry while hugging her son. That hurt a little bit, but Aion felt that he deserved that much punishment for making her worry. Still, more punishment was waiting for him after one hell of a lecture, and then he had his ears pulled a little bit.


    "How do you feel, my stupid son?" Artemisia asked. "Does somewhere hurt? You have been sleeping for five days, so I will ask someone to make some food for you."


    "That would be good¡­ more than anything, my ears hurt, and my eardrums as well," Aion replied. "Sorry for worrying you, mom. What happened while I was on the dreamsnd?"


    "Nothing much¡­ your father and brothers came a few times to check on you, that was all," Artemisia said. "It seems that you won and Horis died¡­ but you looked like¡­ it was hard to describe using words. All in all, you returned here like you were a massive pile of wounds over each other."


    "I am d that my handsome face is back to normal then," Aion said.


    "Don''t move from here. Your father told me to call you as soon as you wake up," Artemisia said. "It looks like he has some serious thing to say."


    Aion nodded¡­ while wondering what it was about. Would the king change his mind now? Would he be stupid enough to get on the wrong side of someone who defeated that fucking monster? While Aion wasn''t strong enough to be a problem for several armies like Horis, he sure could take more than a few dozen men, even more, if he used magic.


    Regardless, after a while, Lexus appeared with his mother, and he had something like bed hair. It was hard to say, but it looked like Aion woke up in the middle of the night. That was why the mansion was so quiet. Despite that, it looked like Lexus was genuinely relieved¡­ even though his son had just killed one of his bosses. Come to think of it, Lexus probably will be promoted, so things weren''t so bad for him.


    "It seems that you are fine¡­ your healing speed astonished us," Lexus said after a long sigh. "It doesn''t look like you want to waste time talking about this, so I will cut to the chase. You obtained your goal, and you can take your mother to that territory I mentioned years ago. However, there won''t be a reward ceremony. While your fight changed the minds of many people about you, a lot of them still now hate and fear you."


    "That was fine. If I had the chance, I also would skip something as boring as an awarding ceremony," Aion said. "Regardless, how will things y out for the Kresnik family after I killed that guy?"


    "You don''t have to worry about that; while even he had a family and loyal followers, nothing major would happen," Lexus replied. "For a while, many people have tried to find a way to make Horis retire¡­ while he was strong, in recent years, his strength only brought the challenge. The recent invasion of Caellis was caused because he wanted to fight Horis. His loss is a pity, but most people knew that he lost in a fair fight¡­ even though you two pulled some weird weapons in the middle of it."


    "Is that so¡­ that is fine then," Aion said and then began to rx to sleep again. "It would bother me a little if my actions were to cause problems to those uninvolved."


    "I see¡­ thank you for your consideration," Lexus said. "Regardless, you should rest for a while and start your trip only when you are fully recovered. It will be impossible to hide the results of the tournament and now those that wanted to defeat Horis will probablye after you."

 Chapter 69 Travel

    Aion had to wait for two more weeks before his body was finally back to normal. The fact that his health was back in full after one week didn''t help all that much. He learned that abusing his body that much would make him deal withsting damage, and that was quite dangerous¡­ healing magic could help a bit, but only a bit since his health was already full.


    In any case, that seemed like amon event for the family. So, in order not to make Aion feel left out, everyone reunited at the entrance of the house to say their farewells. Artemisia was feeling quite uneasy since she had been treated like air for over ten years, and that was farewell was mostly for his son. Not to mention, she had never left the house in a very long time¡­ despite that, Aion''s brothers at least smiled at her and said goodbye. It was the only courtesy they could offer, considering that there were some ill feelings in the family regarding her. All because of the past that she wasn''t involved in¡­


    "Life doesn''t be stupidly easier just because you got stronger," Lexus said. "You need to keep your guard up at all times since there are many people in the world, and they will do everything to reach their goals."


    "I will keep that in mind," Aion said.


    The king didn''t hesitate for a second about sending Aion away since many people saw him as a ticking time bomb. Moreover, his territory is pretty close to the western border¡­ few people of the realm will show their hatred toward his mother, but other problems are there as well.


    "Once we have the chance, we will pay a visit," Henri dered and then offered a handshake.


    "I will get stronger too, so prepare for to be challenged¡­ let''s not fight to the death, though," Philip said.


    "You are a good inspiration to me. I hope that one day I can be a hard worker like you," Elio said.


    "Don''t be a stranger and send some letters if you need help with something. You just need to say," Georges said.


    Aion nodded and epted their handshake before jumping to drive the carriage. His mother was already inside waiting¡­ in the end, it didn''t look like Aion would ever make progress in the rtionship with his sisters and their mothers, but that was fine.


    There was no such a world where everyone could get along with everyone¡­ people would have to be mindless drones for that to happen. Some people couldn''t learn from the past, and they could only recall the bad memories since they were the hardest ones to forget.


    "Untilter, Aion," Lexus said.


    "Yes, father," Aion said. "Don''t let your old bones rust too much. See you around."


    Lexus sighed as he watched his son, making the horses pull the carriage. Aion wasn''t nning to return to the capital, and they wouldn''t go to the western border unless something happened, so that might be a farewell for many years.


    While the carriage was crossing the capital, Aion noticed many people looking at him, but they didn''t try anything and always avoided his eyes. It wasn''t like he was that bloodthirsty¡­ Regardless, Aion paid a visit to the arena the other day, and he saw that most of it had been destroyed, mainly because of Horis, but everyone assumed that it was his fault as well.


    In any case, Aion didn''t care about those people, and the feeling of being feared by those he hated for their prejudice was pretty refreshing. The guards at the gate of the capital also reacted pretty much in the same way. Those guys hadn''t had a good fight in years, so they were as rusty as theye, and they feared those who were really strong. It was quite crazy that those people protected the city Aion lived in for ten years.


    "We have left the capital, mom," Aion said. "You don''t have to hide anymore."


    "I will wait here until we arrive. Many people still link blond hair and blue eyes to my family," Artemisia said.


    ? It looked like Artemisia would need some time to get used to having her freedom back. In any case, the trip to the territory would take at least one week. Even considering the fact that they wouldn''t stop in any city, town, or vige to rest. With that in mind, Aion will have to keep himself cautious of bandits and monsters¡­


    "I guess I can deal with most monsters and low lives since I didn''t reset Berserker," Aion thought. "Still, I should be focusing on leveling up the other sses for a while. I won by relying on that ss, but fighting like that and trying to end things as soon as possible doesn''t suit me. Moreover, I end up leaving myself wide open to most attacks from the sides and back."


    While Aion was thinking about that, he also recalled the things that he had heard from his father regarding the territory that he had to manage. Since it was close to the border, it wasn''t hard for bandits or monsters to show up, attack the people and destroy the fields. He had to do something about the security level of the ce.


    Aion also will have to make a point to those who will work for him, those who show any signs of prejudice will be kicked out. They might call him a tyrant, but he was the new lord of the area, and he had that power. It might be troublesome if he kicks out too many people, though¡­


    "I guess I will use one thing to help the other¡­ That should make things easier for me," Aion thought.


    The area that Aion was going to rule had one town and six viges, so he would have to do a lot o of traveling. Fortunately, there was a dungeon nearby the border, used mainly by the people of Rosberg kingdom¡­ Carlos the Tainted''s homnd.

 Chapter 70 Lord

    In the end, the experience that Aion had as a firefighter that had to sometimes work on turns of 24 hours ended up helping a lot along the way. Staying awakete was hard with that body, but it was only a matter of willpower and taking naps and sleeping when the horses were sleeping and his mother was looking after them.


    Thanks to that, they didn''t find any problems along the way. The only thing that bothered Aion was his ass which had to endure most of his weight all day. Still, he managed to kill time by watching the terrain of the kingdom. It was mostly green in the areas that Aion crossed. It was easy to find towns and viges near the roads, but they decreased in number after a few days.


    "Your father said that the territory used to have another town and five more viges¡­ It seems that the attacks of Caelis made many people move," Artemisia said on the morning of the sixth day when they saw an abandoned vige in ruins.


    "If we are already in the territory, it will be difficult to move around every day," Aion said. "I guess I should pay a visit once a week then."


    "For starters, you should stay in each one for a few days to get a good feel of how things operate in those ces," Artemisia said. "Those that stayed behind over the years are loyal to the Kresnik family, but problems might arise if you give them orders without knowing what they need and want."


    "Right," Aion said.


    Beforeing, Aion tried to look for maps of the world and of the kingdom, but he only found one that wasplete. Naturally, it was of the Zaera kingdom¡­ But at least it had half of the area of the neighbors. While it wasn''t perfect, the kingdom had the format of half bottom of the bottom of a wheel, but thicker¡­ Thanks to that, several families guarded the borders, and the Kresnik family guarded the central area of the western side. It was a pity that he couldn''t use the coastal areas, but at least he was the closest to the dungeon.


    While no one measured the size of the territory, Aion confirmed that it was at seventy kilometers long from east to west when he reached the first vige. The people there were waiting for the new lord, and they had heard rumors about him, but they truly couldn''t believe that a ten-year-old boy was the lord and that he had defeated Horis.


    "Who is the vige chief?" Aion asked while looking around.


    "I am, my lord," a man in his fifties that was wearing a long gray cloak stepped forward and said. "My name is Jorn."


    "I am Aion Kresnik, and it is nice to meet you and your people," Aion said. "Today, I just stopped to give a brief greeting. In one week or so, I will return to talk about the management of thend. It seems you are doing well so far, but it will be better if we talk about it in more detail in due time."


    "Certainly," Jorn said.


    It was going to be a pain, but Aion knew that he would have to take his time organizing things around. He could see some fields around the vige and some cattle, but it was too small in scale to be considered profitable. Now that Aion had to live there, he would make things grow and then eventually fortify the whole area against monsters and attacks. That will make more people move there, and then the economy will improve.


    "The richer I be, the stronger I can get, after all," Aion thought.


    Aion had nned to visit all the viges that day, but when the sun was setting, he had only visited three. It would be nice for him and his mother to sleep in some beds after so long. Moreover, they had to check the town they were going to stay in from now on, and it would be difficult to do thatte at the night.


    When they saw the town in the distance, they found that it had some ten meters tall walls and they looked pretty reliable, but the town wasn''t that big, probably had around five thousand inhabitants. Aion will have to spend most of his time working there, and he will have to be fast in order to have as much free time as possible for training and doing his exploration of the terrain.


    Only five guards were at the gates, and they frowned when they saw a carriage approaching thatte, but they recognized the design, it was the same as the previous lord used. Despite things, they saluted Aion when he stopped.


    "Is the captain of the guards around?" Aion asked.


    "He is off duty, my lord," one of the guards replied.


    "Tell him to report in the morning to my state," Aion said.


    "Understood," the guard said.


    Aion wasn''t used to giving orders, but he wouldn''t hesitate, and he had been trained to do that while he was learning tactics. The more unreliable and insecure you look, the fewer people tend to follow you. That was pretty much a logic that applied in all worlds¡­


    Few people were on the streets at night. It was hard to find people willing to enjoy nightlife near the border. Still, the sound of carriages was rtively unusual, so some people left their houses to check things. They also had heard that the new lord wasing, so they were curious¡­ It was too dark to see anything, though.


    Eventually, Aion found his new house in the distance.

 Chapter 71 Help

    While it was a far cry from the house in the capital. It still was thergest building in the state. Having three floors and an area that was sixty meters long and double that wide, without counting the garden, he could do some basic training there. It was a pretty good house, and Aion got it for free¡­


    "Mom, do you want to take a bath and have dinner?" Aion asked. "I am going to train a bit since those weeks are resting, and this trip is messing with my body."


    "You should rest more, but I know that you are stubborn enough not to listen to me," Artemisia said.


    When they reached the gate of the house, it didn''t take long for the servants to show up and greet them all at the same time. Aion wasn''t sure how his mother would be treated when he isn''t around, but there was a way to learn, and it was called Furtivity improved up to level one hundred in power.


    In any case, Aion was itching to do some training, so he carried the luggage, even though the head butler told him that it was his job. As if Aion would let an old man in his fifties do the heavy lifting for him. If he breaks a bone, Aion will feel badter.


    Aion put his things in his room, and his mother''s in the room on the side. She went to take a bath while Aion headed to the garden and began his practice swings. Since he had changed to the samurai ss, which was level one, Aion looked really slow, even with a training sword, so he could feel the stare of the head butler behind him, and it was clear that he didn''t believe that Aion defeated Horis.


    "Your name is?" Aion asked.


    "Berthan, my lord," the head butter said.


    "For the day you are dismissed, I will return to my room soon enough," Aion said.


    "Understood," Berthan said.


    Aion wanted to focus on his training, after all, and people that he barely knew watching him made it harder for him to focus. In any case, it didn''t take long for Aion to make the ss level up, it happened a lot faster than before¡­ probably because he was practicing the right way and without wasted movements. That was good to know, but he will have to fight monsters or people to make real progress.


    Since Aion was too into it, he ended up practicing until midnight. After cleaning himself in the bath, he went to sleep like a log, but he still woke up when the sun was rising and returned to his training montage. He trained with the sword until seven in the morning, and then he went to have breakfast. Artemisia still looked tired, so perhaps leaving her at home for the day would be a better idea.


    "Mom, I am going to be working in the office the whole morning," Aion said. "You should rest a little more."


    "I am good at managing things, so I can help you," Artemisia said. "I know that you are itching to explore the area by yourself. While you were on the same level as me, you never had much freedom in the capital."


    ''Hmm¡­ is that so," Aion said.


    "You probably will receive some weekly reports about the activities of numerous fields and workers, it will take a while to analyze all that, and the more hands you have the better," Artemisia said.


    It looked like his mother wanted to help him¡­ that was fine by Aion since Artemisia never had to do anything in the capital. When one can only do the same basic things over and over again for ten years, they would try to use their free time meaningfully once they have the chance.


    In any case, after breakfast, they headed to the office of the previous rule. Which was essentially a room filled with books that he had never read before. There were a shit ton of reports written down there and organized on shelves. Aion could tell why no one would read the books given the number of reports¡­ Regardless, Berthan went there as well and helped them find the most recent ones.


    "It seems there are many reports about the attacks of monsters and bandits," Artemisia said.


    "We suffered many losses during the previous invasion, mydy," Berthan said. "The guards are shorthanded, and that has been a problem for thest few years¡­"


    "What about the cattle? We barely are selling any to other parts of the kingdom even though we have so much usablend," Artemisia said.


    "When the cattle increase in number, it gets harder to protect them, and they be targets of monsters¡­" Berthan exined.


    That continued for a while¡­ All in all, theck of manpower was the source of all problems. Berthan said that if they hid some mercenaries, that would help, but they would be using more money than producing it. Besides, few of them worked in that area due to the danger of invasion. They were used to fighting, but the risk of bing a minion of Caelis was too much for them.


    "Aion, the main problem here is security," Artemisia said. "I will read thest reports and then try to pinpoint where the monsters and bandits hide. You should check the viges in the meantime. After that, you should hunt them by yourself."


    "As expected of mother, that will be fun," Aion said. "You are strong enough to deal with them, but bandits tend to use all sorts of poison, so don''t drop your guard."


    "I guess we need to make an example out of them," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    "Don''t kill the bandits. Bring them and use them as abor force; they need to pay for their crimes, and that will develop the territory," Artemisia said.


    "Oh, I never expected for mom to be so wicked," Aion said.


    "That is for the sake of the Future. Once we solve the problems here, you will have more time to find a girlfriend," Artemisia said.

 Chapter 72 FBI In Isekai

    Aion could only facepalm¡­ to think that was his mother''s goal all along¡­ unfortunately for her, Aion couldn''t find a girlfriend now. He liked mature women, but if those showed any signs of interest in him, they would be essentially criminals. If he were to show interest in girls around his age, he would be looked at by the FBI in isekai¡­ He was in a difficult period in his life.


    Regardless, Aion decided to check the other viges as soon as possible how things were there. Reading the reports was final and all, but seeing things by himself would help as well. In the end, he basically saw the same thing. Viges are not growing because of theck of security around. He also noticed that the people around looked pretty insecure about their future. That was only natural, but it wasn''t something he would read in a report.


    In any case, at the end of the day, when he was heading home. Aion recalled that he told the captain of the guards to report to his home, but since he left at nine, he assumed that the guy would show up at the end of the day, which didn''t happen as well as his mother told him.


    "Berthan said that the captain is a hard worker and he doesn''t leave his work for any reason¡­ his turn was supposed to end today," Artemisia said.


    "I suppose he is pretty famous, and then suddenly obeying orders without giving any thoughtsing from a runt would damage his position," Aion said. "Let''s see if he will keep ying this game for too long."


    "Rather than that, Aion, you could do something else for you to gain the respect of the people," Artemisia said. "That way, you will avoid headaches, and the people will feel morepelled to work with you."


    "Such as?" Aion asked.


    "Capturing the bandits and dealing with the monsters will take a while," Artemisia said. "Since it looks like there are several groups working in the area and attacking the territories near the borders. However, the reservoirs of water in the town are low since it hasn''t been raining a lot this year. You can help them with that using your magic. There is a river a few kilometers away, but moving a part of it to these parts will take a while, and due to the roads, we will have to build a bridge as well to make it pass as close as possible."


    "That seems like a problem that I shouldn''t solve by myself and rather send some workers to deal with," Aion said.


    "You are starting to think like an aristocrat¡­ As I said, it will take a while if you use your magic, but it will take a lot more using normal means," Artemisia said.


    Aion''s mother had a point. If it was for the sake of his territory, he should do that¡­ However, he believed that if he did too much, people would ask him, again and again, to solve the issue for them. He will have to find the perfect bnce to avoid such an annoyance.


    "I guess the best leader is the one who is followed and does not force the others to follow," Aion said.


    Artemisia nodded. Aion wanted to make a good ce for his mother, so following such a path was unavoidable. In any case, while he was resting and traveling, Aion leveled up the mage ss a bit, but he will have to improve Meditation in all aspects to grant him even more mana recovery.


    After resetting the mage ss, Aion used all the points in magic to make his spells more potent and used the Improvement points to increase the efficiency of Meditation. It was evening, and few people used the wells, so Aion went to them and began to use his magic to create water. With one hundred points in magic, Aion could easily create one hundred litters of water, and with his Meditation level, he could recover all of his mana in ten minutes¡­ Still, it wasn''t nearly enough to create enough water for five thousand inhabitants.


    "I guess I will treat this as my magic training for the time being," Aion thought.


    Aion trained/worked like that for three hours, and then he decided to do some light physical training before going to sleep. After doing the thing with the water for several days, Aion wondered if there was an easy way to make rain, and his mother frowned when he asked.


    "You wanted to learn to produce metals, and now how to make rain?" Artemisia asked. "Bing a specialist requires you two to focus on a single element, Aion¡­ Putting that aside, I think I have located the ces where the monsters have their nests. As for the bandits, it is a bit difficult to be certain since they are smart enough to change hideouts now and then."


    Aion wondered if he was being greedy. With the system, he could increase his magic, and then he would be able to allocate all of the points there and then control his mana with more ease. Thus, making his learning speed a lot higher than normal¡­ It seemed that Artemisia assumed Aion had more talent for physicalbat, so she imagined that learning the high-level magic of her ancestors would be difficult for him.


    Speaking of magic, Aion felt that his mother had to tell him something important, but he couldn''t recall what it was¡­ He had too many things to consider right at the moment, so it couldn''t be helped. Regardless, Aion grabbed the map that his mother made for him to investigate and look for the monsters and bandits, but then he noticed that he would have to leave for a few days.


    "Mom, you can use magic to protect yourself, right?" Aion asked. "If something happens and anyone suspicious approaches, you can attack them to kill. I will deal with whates afterward."


    "You don''t have to worry about that. I have a few tricks up my sleeve as well," Artemisia said while smiling. "Besides, I already made you carry a heavy burden, and I can''t be even more of a nuisance."


    "I think you are overthinking it, but I will trust your words that you will do what you have to do," Aion said. "I will try to return as soon as possible."

 Chapter 73 Overpowered

    Although a horse was faster, it was too easy to spot from a distance. Moreover, Aion couldn''t use Furtivity while he was riding one. To make sure that no one would think that he left the town and decided that it was time to attack his mom, Aion left his home and then the town after dinner and by using Furtivity. That was another chance to put in practice the training that he did when he went to train in the dungeon before and level up other sses as well.


    It was tough to run throughout the night, but at jogging speed, Aion could do that for many hours as he needed, and he was a bit faster than a carriage.


    "In any case, the system is quite weird¡­ Training makes my body stronger, but my speed and strength can change massively just by changing sses," Aion thought. "My body should at least have some basic parameters as I keep training, at least ording to the logic of this world. However, it seems that my strengthes from the auras granted by the sses and the weapons¡­"


    It is convenient since Aion could edit his parameters as much as he wanted, but it still was weird. Regardless, when morning came, Aion arrived in one area ten kilometers away from the border. It was also the midway point between the two viges. So it was a good spot to watch both ces.


    The area around was getting clear thanks to the sunlight, so Aion activated Furtivity. It wouldn''t be weird if he ended up finding the monsters or the bandits returning to theirirs since they attacked at night. From one point of view, they were being smart, but from another, they were also being cowardly.


    Aion began to move faster to take a look around for traces of anything around. There were no roads in the vicinity, so people were bound to leave footsteps somewhere. However, Aion found nothing, and he had to stop to recover his mana.


    "There are no traces of animals being dragged around here¡­ They take the small ones from the farms, and before they can make any noise, but they practically kill the bigger ones for sport¡­" Aion thought.


    Since there were no ces to hide around, Aion decided to investigate the next point. However, he will need something else to travel in the open. He took a cloak that covered his whole body and head and began to move. That wouldn''t let the enemies see him in case they don''t try anything.


    Much to Aion''s surprise, his n worked a lot sooner than expected. While he was walking, he had a weird feeling on his back, and he assumed that he was being watched. He kept walking while trying not to change his behavior until he reached some hills, and then some figures surrounded him. There were four guys on one side and two archers on the top of the hills.


    Aion looked at the guys on the hills, and he didn''t find anything too different from them. If they were from the Rosberg kingdom, then they were too normal. Aion expected something more like the rumors about Caellis¡­ As for the guys on the left side, they were approaching while carrying one-handed swords that looked like falchions. Those weapons had a really curved de, and they almost looked like scythes¡­ Being hit by those would result in a pretty nasty wound.


    "Don''t move, and this won''t be very painful to you."


    What a cliched thing to say¡­ Aion didn''t move because it would be easier to get then once they were close enough to attack. In any case, Aion recalled that the people of the Rosberg kingdom had a different ent. While they used the samenguage, some of their words came out more nasal¡­ But there was no such a thinging from the voice of that guy. They probably weren''t from the neighboring kingdom¡­ Regardless, that didn''t change what Aion had to do.


    Once they got close enough and one of them tried to attack the back of his head, Aion summoned his axes and then swung them back at the enemy. Still, he only hit that guy''s stomach with the cable of one of his hand axes. The other three swung their weapons at him at the same time, but Aion used Inner Force while spinning to block the swords with his weapons. The strikes repelled the swords, and then Aion advanced and knocked them down instantly with attacks on their stomachs.


    That was almost too easy, but then Aion recalled that his strength could pierce the skin of a man that had steel-like skin¡­ In any case, some arrows fell around Aion, and he jumped backward to dodge them. Some other arrows were fired toward him but at a much slower rate. When Aion looked at the archers, he saw them running away while nocking new arrows. They sure were quick to abandon their friends¡­


    Aion gave chase to them after covering the feet of the knocked-out bandits with earth magic and hardening it. They were pretty good at running with their weapons in their hands and ready to be used. Moreover, they had steel nerves to only fire the arrows when Aion was almost upon them. Still, much to their surprise, the arrows that they fired at Aion''s head when he was only five meters away from them were deflected by his axes.


    After opening their eyes widely, the bandits turned around to fight after grabbing some knives from their waists, but Aion moved faster and then hit their stomachs. Their eyes turned white as they fell¡­ just like that, Aion defeated the first group of bandits and realized that the current level of the berserker ss was too much for bandits¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 74 Among Thieves

    When the bandits woke up, they saw themselves buried to the ground up to their necks. Moving anything below that was impossible for them, so they panicked¡­ they panicked even more when they saw Aion practicing firing earth bullets toward a nearby boulder. The power and speed of the projectiles were weaker than remembered since he reset the mage ss, but each of those was cracking the boulder more and more. A single hit in the head would finish them off.


    "Where I can find your friends?" Aion asked. "Don''t try to fool me, I know that you guys operate in different areas in order not to get in the way of each other. To be able to do that, you should have talked with each other and reached some sort of agreement."


    The bandits couldn''t even look at each other, but they tried. Still, before they could pass any message to each other using their eyes, Aion fired a fist size bullet at one of the bandits, but he ended up missing. He almost smashed the ear of one of them, though.


    "I am out practicing. I guess I will get closer," Aion said. "Let''s try this: who speaks first will survive, and the others will die."


    The bandits panicked even more¡­ Aion wondered if those ten years changed him that much of if he always had been like that. He doubted that the second option was the truth since his previous job required him to risk his life for others now and then, and he admired his first father that much.


    "You won''t see us betraying our allies!"


    Someone trying to be a hero said, and Aion frowned. The guy seemed fairly young since he didn''t have many scars on his face and unlike the others, he was full with spirit despite their situation. He thought that honor among thieves was nonsense, but perhaps even they weren''tpletely scumbags. Still, that much was too little for Aion to feel any pity toward them. In any case, the brave and stupidity bandit had dark hair and brown-ember like eyes¡­ perhaps Aion could use him.


    "I see, so you guys really work together," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You operate in different areas in order to work more efficiently instead of getting in each other''s way then¡­ well, since you are so honorable, then you will have to die. The heroic leader will go down first."


    Aion used his magic and enveloped the head of the bandit with earth magic. The bandits couldn''t see much, but they realized that the boss of the group had grown silent. There wasn''t much struggle either, so their blood began to run cold¡­


    Regardless, Aion thought that something of that level would be enough to make the others speak, but it didn''t work¡­ they sure were loyal to their friends. Considering that his mother told him to bring them alive and make them work for the territory, he wasn''t going to kill any of them, only silence them temporarily, but it was getting hard since his patience was running low.


    "I guess a good shot in their heads and the sound of skulls splitting would work better to convince them to talk¡­" Aion thought. "Still, I can''t be that cold-blooded yet."


    In the end, Aion uncovered their heads from the mass of earth, and they noticed that they all were alive. Aion didn''t give up on making them talk yet. He just needed to be a bit more patient.


    Tamer Lv 08


    Health: 14/14


    Mana: 24/24


    Stamina: 78/78


    Strength: 06


    Dexterity: 11 + 09


    Magic: 11


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 11 + 08


    Status: 00


    Whip Refinement Lv 06


    Bonuses: Dexterity + 08, Speed + 08


    Skills: Tame Lv 01 (Power Lv 15)


    Passive: Enhanced Dexterity Lv 01,


    Improvement Points: 60


    umted Experience: 00


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion equipped the Tamer ss while knowing that Tame didn''t work on humans, only on animals and monsters. However, he considered the possibility that future skills would change that. Regardless, Aion would need a monster or animal to trace their scent back to their base and to the other bandits. In any case, he used the materials of the bows to improve the whip, and worked pretty well. They were of high-quality wood¡­ the bandits probably stole them from some merchant.


    "You guys have two options now: be nice and lead me to your base or wait for me to find on my own while you starve and thirst for water," Aion said and then waited for a while. "All right, starve, you guys will."


    Aion emerged them from the ground using his magic, and they realized that their fists and legs had been handcuffed. After that, he began to move to the East since he knew that was the direction they came from. Since the handcuffs of those six were connected, they couldn''t even turn properly, so the chances of them rebelling or running away were nonexistent.


    After walking under the hot sun for a couple of hours, Aion could tell that they were getting really tired. They didn''t receive treatment, so the wounds on their stomachs still hurt like a beach.


    In any case, during that time, Aion considered many things. Why he didn''t find any signs of monsters so far was at the top of that list. In any case, it didn''t take long for him to find an area a few kilometers away from the nearest vige that had several hills. ording to Artemisia, that was one of the potential ces that the monsters and bandits might be using to hide.


    Aion walked around some of those hills and didn''t find anything odd with them. If there were a hideout there, it would have been perfectly hidden¡­ It was also hard to read the expressions of the bandits. For such low lives, they sure were well trained¡­ Almost like¡­


    Aion looked around and made the bandits stop. After some seconds of hesitation, he told them to get down.


    "Don''t move from here," Aion said and then began to run.


    When Aion disappeared behind a hill, they began to move. Their hideout was nearby, and they could hide before Aion could see them. What they didn''t expect was that Aion was already tailing them with Furtivity.

 Chapter 75 Sadic

    Aion knew that he could trust his mother, but his ability to detect things or trace them was practically nonexistent. He trained for many years to win a tournament, not to find vestiges of people and monsters in the open, after all. Regardless, it didn''t take long for Aion to see them opening an entrance on a hill¡­ they were using a man-made cavern.


    "When it is open, it is that easy to notice the fake grass¡­" Aion thought and then sighed before he climbed the hill to check things around. "It would be awesome if I could use Meditation and Furtivity at the same time, but I can''t right now¡­"


    Artemisia tried to teach Aion how to recover his mana, even though he already could do that. So, he assumed that he could use that in other sses as well. It was true, he could, but now when skills like Furtivity were active since his mana was being used to repel most of the light around him, that also worked against mana.


    "The question is: is this ce their hideout or other bandits'' hideout?" Aion thought. "I can''t leave my mother alone for too long, but there is a chance that I can use this to track all the bandits at once."


    The n to look for a monster or animal to tame them and use their ability to trace scents seemed more and more unreliable. Aion didn''t find a single animal, and he assumed that the cause was the bandits; they had hunted everything around the area in thest three years. Since invasions happened often, they were hunted regrly¡­


    Aion had nned to think for a while, but then he saw the bandits leaving the ce again. He used Furtivity to disappear and confirmed that they had freed themselves without making much noise, and they also equipped some rapid-fire crossbows. They knew that they couldn''t leave Aion alone in the area, so they had to kill him.


    "Hehehe, they have treasure in there¡­" Aion smiled like a viin. "Well, they didn''t learn their lesson, so it is time to break some of their bones now."


    A broken arm and leg will do the job. They will have a hard time walking and thinking of grabbing weapons. That will weaken their willpower to try to pull something like that ever again. Regardless, when they showed their backs to him, Aion changed to the berserker ss and then dashed toward them. When the enemies heard his footsteps, it was already toote. He had already smashed the knees of two of those guys with his hand axes.


    The others pointed their crossbows at him, but Aion stopped them from moving by using Roar. While their ears were ringing, the bandits'' eyes began to roll, and Aion, in the blink of an eye, finished the job. When they recovered, they have handcuffed again while lying on the ground, and their left arms and legs were hurting like hell.


    "Hello again, did you miss me?" Aion asked. "This time, I will let you escape without using any tricks. While I investigate your hideouts, you will have all the time in the world to run away."


    Aion entered the cave and noticed that they had some crystals illuminating the tunnel that was going downwards in a spiral¡­ they sure had a lot of time to dig that much without being noticed. Regardless, it wasn''t that deep. Once Aion reached the base of the hideout, he found some gold coins, a lot of silver coins, food, wine, weapons, armor, clothes, and essories¡­ they sure had a lot in stock.


    Their variety was great, but Aion couldn''t understand why they weren''t selling most of the things. Aion recalled that they probably couldn''t smuggle things out of the kingdom since a lot of people in the Rosberg state were crazy due to Caellis influence. They also couldn''t sell in the kingdom without making themselves look suspicious.


    Regardless, Aion began to process the shitty items and stored the others when the processing and absorption processes were full. Returning those things to their previous owners was almost impossible, so Aion would confiscate them and redistribute them¡­ or not.


    In any case, when Aion left the hideout, he saw the bandits trying to smash the handcuffs against a boulder, but he made those extra hard this time. Moreover, he made them heavier, so they would slowly kill the bandits with their weight. Their broken bones and the weight were making them sweat cold.


    "I think I am starting to be quite the sadist¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Regardless, Aion made the bandits head north next to the area on the map where he could find possible new hideouts. However, before they could reach it, the sun began to set, and they were forced to camp. Sleeping with those guys around would be too much, but they needed to stop to rest since they were exhausted.


    "The one who speaks first will have some soup and a big cup of wine," Aion said after he finished lighting the campfire.


    Aion could see the eyes of the bandits rolling around while considering his proposal. One day walking without water and food while they have broken bones was quite a tough day, after all. Regardless, they didn''t break yet, so they didn''t say anything. After finishing eating, Aion decided to train a bit. When he got tired of that, he wondered if he should bury them to the neck in order to take a nap.


    "Ah, I need to test that¡­" Aion said and then changed his ss to Bard and then summoned his instrument.


    The ss was back to one, but Aion wondered if he could make it level up faster by making more people receive the buff of the skills¡­


    Congrattions! The ss Bard has leveled up.


    Aion''s guess was correct¡­

 Chapter 76 Beast-Like

    Bard Lv 10


    Health: 10/10


    Mana: 54/54


    Stamina: 28/28


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity:10


    Magic: 21


    Endurance: 04


    Resistance: 06


    Speed: 04


    Status: 05


    Lute Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Power Song Lv 05, Magic Song Lv 01,


    Passive: Recovery Aura Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 27


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    When the ss reached level ten, Aion had been ying for four hours nonstop. His fingers were also bleeding a little¡­ in any case, the bandits had fallen asleep in the middle of his performance, and they didn''t even have the nerve to pay for the concert.


    In any case, Aion was starting to get sleepy, but the sunrise was only two hours away, so he decided to train with his sword until morning again.


    "I can handle this until night, but after that, it will be hard to keep my focus," Aion thought. "I will need to find some more bandits and then return home."


    It was hard to know if that would alert the remaining bandits, but it was better to keep going and then eventually make a mistake. Assuming that those guys didn''t have informants in the town might not be a good idea, but Aion couldn''t hide that fact since he wanted the absolute respect of the people in that territory¡­ Once again, Aion was in a difficult spot.


    It seemed that Aion was running out of patience since he woke up the bandits by throwing some water on their faces. The angry face of a ten years old boy usually wasn''t that fearsome, but his bad mood forced them to get up instantly.


    "Move," Aion said.


    The bandits began to move, but their walking speed was a lot worse than before. At that rate, Aion will only waste time¡­ keeping their arms broken probably will be enough for now, so Aion decided to heal their legs. The bandits frowned when they felt their legs feeling a lot better instantly¡­ they didn''t know anyone that could fight that well and use magic and healing magic like that.


    While Aion didn''t have to keep his face hidden anymore, he still covered most of his body with it. It was the perfect way to hide and summon more weapons without letting anyone notice what was happening, after all.


    "What are you going to do once you find the others?" The guy who tried to show a strong front on the previous day asked.


    "We will sing Kumbaya together," Aion replied. "Why do you care? If I wanted you all dead, you already would be dead, and since you didn''t try to kill yourselves, then you will have the chance to live for a few more years¡­ unless I change my mind."


    "That magic¡­ you must be the new lord¡­ despite how the kingdom treated your mother and you. You are working for them like a dog," the hotheaded guy said.


    "The hell are you talking about? I am working for myself and for her," Aion said. "The kingdom might rip some of the benefits, but that is just a consequence since we live here. I could just abandon this ce since I am strong enough to pull that off, but the neighboring states are filled with madmen. We wouldn''t have much peace in those ces. You are just a low-life bandit, don''t talk to me as if you have experienced the same things as me."


    "Of course, I didn''t live the same life as you. We didn''t live in a big mansion with dozens of servants in the middle of the capital without having to work a single day of my life," the guy said.


    "If I didn''t have to work a single day of my life, then howe I can kick your asses so easily?" Aion asked. "I could do it without moving and with a single hand if I wanted. Now, shut the fuck up unless you want to sense the taste of my boots."


    That hot-blooded guy couldn''t say anything after that. Never mind the fear for his life, he knew that Aion had a point. Those guys might see themselves as rebels, but they were only attacking farmers and merchants. They didn''t have a single point of logic that could back their choices.


    Despite their situation, they didn''t try anything during the remaining part of the day. Something was off, and Aion knew it. Soon enough, he reached another area marked by his mother and Aion. He began to feel like he was being watched, and the feeling was a lot worse than before.


    Aion thought that he would have to wait for a while, but much to his surprise, another suspicious group of people showed up from behind some bushes and trees. Among them, Aion saw a suspicious guy who had quite the aura. Aion could tell that he was strong¡­ The guy was shirtless as if he wanted to show his rock-hard abs. The most weird thing was that he didn''t have any weapons with him. He also had something like a pointy ear, and his eyes were bloodshot red¡­


    "It seems someone stupid finally decided to get on our way¡­" the pointy-eared guy said.


    "Are you the leaders of the bandits?" Aion asked.


    "What if I am?" The pointy-eared guy asked.


    "You aren''t from here¡­" Aion said after he heard a very nasal way of speaking. "What are you doing in this kingdom?"


    "It doesn''t matter. All that matters is that you found us, and now you have to die," that guy said, and then his nails began to grow.


    At first, Aion got kind of disgusted while seeing that happening, but then he could see that the nails were hard and pretty sharp. That wasn''t a trick. That guy was someone who mutated for whatever reason and now could control his nails like that¡­ still, Aion couldn''t help but wonder what he did to obtain that ability. He always thought that the mutations were based on direct actions¡­

 Chapter 77 Reasons

    Aion equipped his hand axes and then prepared to fight. If that guy was the leader, then he probably had a lot of treasure¡­ and he also knew where Aion could find the other bandits and their treasure¡­ Aion could only think of the treasure, so he noticed that he was getting sidetracked from the real mission.


    The enemy dashed at Aion, and despite the irregrities of the terrain, he was quite fast¡­ still, not faster than Aion. He blocked the nails with his axes, and everyone around frowned when they heard the sound of metal echoing around, and Aion wasn''t pushed backward.


    All of a sudden, the nails began to grow again, and the points almost pierced Aion''s eyes, but then he kicked the stomach of the enemy and forced him to move away.


    "He is the tricky type¡­ I can''t get carried away just because I defeated that stupid asshole¡­" Aion thought.


    When the nails guy recovered, he grunted in annoyance¡­ despite the fact that a simple charge wouldn''t work on Aion, he did the same thing again, and when Aion blocked the nails, he opened his mouth, and then his teeth began to grow. He could even do something like that¡­


    Regardless, fighting against a human being that used his teeth as a weapon pissed Aion off. In the same moment, he used Rage and then activated Inner Force to the limits, and then kicked the stomach of the enemy again. He was sent flying to the nearest hill and his body sunk deep in¡­ the y was over.


    "I was nning to get back in fighting shape using this opportunity, but this kind of fighting style is annoying¡­" Aion said and then saw the other bandits trying to run away. "Don''t move! If you do, you all will die! Surrender now, and I will treat you fairly."


    Aion''s angry shout paralyzed everyone around. Defeating their boss that fast was a sign of the difference in strength. Despite the fact that they knew that they would be put in a cell, the bandits didn''t feel like risking their lives. So, they dropped to their knees and waited for Aion to put the handcuffs on them as well. As for their boss, preventing them from moving will be hard since he probably can damage the handcuffs with his nails.


    In the end, Aion just sealed the guy in a huge block of earth magic, and then he went to search for the hideout. He found a good amount of treasure there as well¡­ Aion wondered if all bandits were all that stupid. If he were then, he would live in a normal ce and invest their small fortune. One can''t be a bandit once they reach old age¡­ if they reach.


    "Hey, where are the others working for you?" Aion asked while he was waking up the mutated man. "Tell me where I can find them."


    Although he woke up and realized his condition, the boss of the group didn''t say anything¡­ that sure was annoying, but Aion was satisfied for the time being. In the end, he healed the bandits and made them carry the block of earth and the boss for a while.


    Since the first group was reaching their limits, Aion had to give them food and water once they stopped at camp. It was originally their food anyway. Regardless, Aion assumed that aside from being the leader of the group, the bandits were part of the kingdom and decided to be bandits for whatever reason. While that changed nothing and didn''t justify their actions, it was better to know that than not know it.


    "As for the boss, he is probably someone on the run¡­ he is stronger than the average person, but since he is leading a group of bandits in another kingdom, he probably pissed someone important on the Rosberg kingdom," Aion thought.


    In any case, that night again, he killed time by using the bard ss, and when he started to get sleepy, he trained with the sword. It was quite the oddbination, a group of prisoners and a musician guard.


    Overnight, Aion also realized that the monster that people assumed had killed and captured their cattle was the nails guy. His nails were sharp enough to pass as monster ws¡­ he probably killed more animals than he had to in order to scare everyone.


    "I guess the people here are either dumb or in ipetent," Aion thought.


    Regardless, Aion returned to the town around mid-morning of the next day. The guards frowned when they saw a suspicious cloaked figure approaching with some prisoners, but then Aion revealed his face, and then they opened the path.


    The people of the town saw him crossing the streets with the prisoners with interest. Truth to be told, Aion disliked that much attention, but it was necessary for his ns. Eventually, he reached the small prison of the town, and he finally found the Captain of the guards.


    "Give them food and water three times a day and don''t do anything else to them," Aion said.


    "Yes, my lord," the Captain of the guards said.


    Aion didn''t wait for him to introduce himself and just headed home. Fortunately, it looked like everything had been fine while he was gone¡­ his n worked, and no one noticed that he had left the town in the middle of the night.


    "Aion? You returned a lot sooner than expected," Artemisia said.


    "Yeah¡­ I found some of the bandits, but guarding them and sleeping at the same time didn''t seem like a good idea," Aion said after a long sigh of relief. "It seems that most of them are people from here that decided to rebel against the kingdom, but they didn''t have any n in mind aside from stealing from random people. My guess is that their leader is from Rosberg kingdom¡­ Anyway, it looks like the previous lord left a lot of problems behind."

 Chapter 78 Two Options

    Although Aion wanted to capture the remaining bandits as soon as possible, he decided to rest fully and then leave only on the next day. The reason for that is that he wanted to confirm if they had some informants in the town. Until now, that was the only ce that hadn''t been targeted since the number of guards stationed there was too high for a few dozen bandits.


    On the morning of the next day, Aion returned to the prison in the town. At the entrance, he only found two guards sitting around a table while chatting¡­ they soon got up when Aion arrived, but that wouldn''t fix the impression that he already had.


    "Where is the captain of the guards?" Aion asked.


    "He said that he was going to visit your estate, sir, early in the morning," One of the guards replied.


    That sure was bad timing¡­ Regardless, Aion went downstairs to see the prisoners after confining that his orders had been followed. The bandits looked a bit better since they had ess to water and food when it was time. In any case, the prison sure was a depressing ce. It was barely used, so that it couldn''t have been worse.


    "Have you guys considered my offer?" Aion asked. "Are you going to tell me where the others are, or should I decrease your meals to once a day?"


    "... There are no other groups," the nails guy said. "There aren''t enough viges around for us to attack."


    "What about the viges in the territories of the other families?" Aion asked.


    "Attack them is difficult since they have a lot of guards to spare," the nails guy said.


    "Why do they have guards when we are shorthanded here?" Aion asked.


    "Thest lord of this territory died three years ago, so the guards decided to be hired by those families," the nails guy said. "Besides, their regions weren''t attacked that often when invasions happened."


    "You are well informed¡­ What is your name?" Aion asked.


    "Rarth," the nails guy replied.


    "Usually, I wouldn''t bother talking with someone that tries to bite their opponents, Rarth," Aion said. "But you don''t sound totally stupid considering the profession that you decided to follow. Since you decided to speak, I will reward you. I will free you from that block of earth. Thanks to this, you might have the chance to escape, but if you know what is good for you, you won''t try that."


    It seemed that Rarth wanted to get on Aion''s good side since he was a kid and did what he had promised. Not to mention, he also kicked Rarth''s ass. Aion was also aware of that, and he was fine with that. If he was stupid enough to try to use him, then he would be better disposed of.


    "You are from Rosberg kingdom, aren''t you?" Aion asked. "Why do the people from your kingdom usually attack this territory? It couldn''t be something that they started to do recently."


    "I am not aware of the details, but the history of your family might be the cause of that," Rarth replied.


    That made sense¡­ Aion read in the books that his family was one of the oldest, and since they were guarding that part of the border, many people would target them. Even more so the mutated people who could live for many more years. Still, to think that they would hold such grudges for so long¡­


    "Putting that aside, what are you guys'' ns?" Aion asked. "The reports said that you didn''t kill anyone, so you were avoiding enraging the soldiers of my territory. Even though I think that they can''t be that scary orpetent."


    "... What will you do once we answer that?" Rarth asked.


    "That will depend on what you want," Aion replied. "My guess is that you wanted to recruit more people for whatever reason since you left your treasures stored in your bases and not that well hidden. You wanted to get more recruits for your cause¡­ You couldn''t be nning to create a militia or mercenary group when you started as bandits, right?"


    "No¡­ we just want to go somewhere else," Rarth said. "We are outcasts, and while it is true that we were nning to draw the attention of others with money, our original goal was to buy a ship and sail to somewhere else. A ce where we can create our new homes."


    That sounded like nonsense. It made more sense for them to buy a ship to be pirates. Nevertheless, they all had their reasons to be bandits, and again, Aion couldn''t care less. Crossing many territories of hostile people probably was impossible for them, they wouldn''tst long, but with a boat, their chances would be better.


    "A single ship costs around three hundred gold coins¡­ you guys have been operating for what two years? What you got, how much? thirty gold coins considering all the loot?" Aion asked. "It seems that being a bandit isn''t that profitable, and it will take at least ten years for you guys to get enough money."


    "... What is your point?" Rarth asked.


    "Work for me," Aion said. "If you do everything I say, in five years, you will have your ship and you will be free to go wherever you want."


    "Hah, even if you are the lord of this territory, that much gold isn''t something that you can obtain or spend on your own," Rarth said. "We aren''t going to fall for that."


    "Do you know who I am?" Aion asked. "I am the guy who defeated Horis the immortal. I also have five inns in the capital that make me money even when I am not there. In five years, I will make this ce grow so much that three hundred gold coins will be nothing to me."


    They heard some things about Aion, but even so, that seemed like too good of a proposal. Also, Aion didn''t have that much confidence in his management skills, but his mother was very skilled at that. So, it wasn''t an impossible goal."

 Chapter 79 Problems And Solutions

    "Well, think about it for the time being," Aion said. "I will return in one week."


    It was early in the morning, and it was usually the time most people would take the water that they needed from the wells. Still, Aion headed to one of them to create as much water as possible. It was training to help the town, but some people frowned and thought that he didn''t have anything better to do. Still, Aion ignored that for a while and meditated until the captain of the guards showed up.


    "My lord, forgive my rudeness for not going to report to you sooner," the captain of the guards said. "My name is Jairo, and I assumed that you were only a kid not worth of my time. I will ept any punishment for that affront."


    "Is that so?" Aion asked. "Then go to the other viges and tell them that the bandits and monsters that have been guing this area have been dealt with. That is all for the time being."


    "I will send the messengers immediately," Jairo said.


    "People won''t trust that information if someone unknown tells them that," Aion said. "I am telling you to use your influence to make people rest assured while knowing that it ispletely true."


    Actually, Aion was just telling to get out of his way, but he had a point. If someone annoying but respectable passes the news, it will be easier for others to believe.


    "Understood, my lord," Jairo said.


    Aion realized that he couldn''t trust the people of that territory to build the kind of ce he wanted. They were loyal to the Kresnik family, and he was the youngest son. He will never be the head, and while now he has a good rtionship with his father and half brothers, most people rted to them will never be loyal to him. So, Aion had to find his loyal soldiers in another way. He started in a strange way, with bandits, but it couldn''t be helped.


    After Jairo left, Aion worked on that job until noon, and he told his mother what had happened and what he had learned. She also believed in the news, so they could move to the next steps.


    "I asked Berthan to talk with some people in the Town. There are some important topics that you should discuss with them regardingmerce, structure, and taxes on the capital," Artemisia said. "You will have to deal with them personally since I am not from here, and it will be better if people don''t start to think that I am helping you too much."


    "I guess that makes sense¡­" Aion said. "What do I need to know before that?"


    Artemisia filled in Aion about the most important subjects that needed to be dealt with. The minor problems could be solvedter. All in all, Aion just has to tell themter to be more active with their work to make things more efficient.


    During that week, Aion talked with a lot of people in the town that was responsible for many things. While telling them how they should approach certain things, he also heard from them what they thought about the situation in the town. The things that they were satisfied with, the things they were unsatisfied with, what could change and what they didn''t want to change. The only problem that he was unable to find a solution to was about the fishermen''s business¡­ There was a group of abandoned huts near the river that had been left behind by the previous owners years ago. Due to some invasion¡­ he needed to get some recruits to fish there.


    As one would expect, people from different fields had different thoughts. However, in a certain aspect, they were feeling the same way: the town stopped on time, and things hadn''t improved in decades. The reason was insecurity¡­ The bandits were a problem, but the invasion was the worst thing that made people avoid the territory. Unfortunately, that was something that Aion couldn''t work on right now.


    During that week, Aion also trained his magic as much as possible while filling the wells. It didn''t feel like he changed things that much, but he felt that he was making progress, if anything.


    Mage Lv 20


    Health: 04/04


    Mana: 252/252


    Stamina: 04/04


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 96 + 20


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 10


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Magic Staff Refinement Lv 10


    Bonuses: Magic + 20, Resistance + 10


    Skills: Fireball Lv 01, Ice Arrow Lv 01


    Passive: Meditation Lv 25 (Efficiency Lv 67)


    Improvement Points: 0


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 77.230


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Refining the Magic Staff was possible with gold, high-quality wood, and gems. So, Aion didn''t have many chances to improve it. Still, he could do four times morepared to what he could a week ago, and that was progress.


    "I guess I should talk with them and then head to the viges¡­ Mom shoulde as well. Even if she doesn''t leave the carriage, we can stop along the way," Aion thought.


    After a while, Aion reached the prison, and once again, he found the guardszing around. They got nervous, but they didn''t know that Aion doesn''t waste his time scolding ckers.


    "Hello again. After thinking for a week, what have you guys decided?" Aion asked.


    The prisoners looked at each other¡­ they still looked uneasy and had some doubts as well. They might as well waste five years working for a highborn brat from their perspective, but if they don''t ept, they can be hanged, beheaded, burned at the stake at his whim, and no one will pity them.


    "If we ept, how will things be?" Rarth asked. "Will we have to return to the prison and sleep here every day?"


    "I suppose that would be ufortable," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You guys have a decent number, so using one of the inns won''t be a good solution. The people of the town won''t be happy if you live nearby, and I bet you guys won''t like either¡­ Come to think of it. There are some huts near the river¡­"

 Chapter 80 Results

    "You are willing to let us live outside the town and without being guarded? Are you that insane or naive?" Rarth asked.


    "Do you want me to give you a reason not to escape?" Aion asked.


    "If you want to¡­" Rarth said.


    Aion turned around and then left the prison. Rarth and the others frowned when they saw that. It looked like he was going to bring something to scare them¡­ Regardless, they rxed after a while, but Rarth kept looking at the stairs. However, when he suddenly blinked, Aion suddenly appeared in front of the bars of his cell.


    "Now you know that I can approach you all without alerting any of you," Aion said. "I want you to remember¡­in all the years toe¡­in your most private moments¡­I want you to remember¡­my hand¡­close to your throat¡­I want¡­you to remember¡­the one man who can approach you like this¡­ pretty creepy, right? That being said, it is pretty cool to say it to scare others."


    "Just¡­ what are you¡­ you aren''t a normal kid," Rarth said.


    "That is what you get when you mix two famous bloodlines," Aion said. "Anyway, now you know that I might be watching you guys whenever I want, and I might find you guys without you realizing if you try to escape. What are you going to do?"


    "Between that and being executed, I prefer to work for you¡­" Rarth said. "What do we have to do?"


    "Your main task will be to build a channel that will connect the nearestke to this town," Aion said. "You don''t have to hurry if you don''t want to. You can also use the river to sell me some fish."


    The offer seemed too good to be true, but the other prisoners decided to ept as well. In the end, Aion unlocked them right at that moment and guided them to the abandoned huts. Fortunately, he had stored the things that they had left in the hideouts, so they could start living as soon as they wanted there. A lot of people frowned when they saw the prisoners apanying Aion, but no one questioned him.


    After two hours, they reached their destination, and the river had a lot of fish since it hadn''t been used for many years. The weird thing was that following the upstream path would lead to the Rosberg kingdom¡­ Regardless, the houses were big enough for everyone. Some repairs will be necessary on the huts, though.


    "For today, you guys should get used to this ce. Tomorrow I will send someone with some wood to fix the huts and the tools you guys will need," Aion said. "I will send that person at sunset as well to take all the fish that you guys manage to catch."


    Just like that, Aion left¡­ Even when he disappeared in the distance, the former prisoners didn''t know how to react. The whole situation was just too weird. They looked at each other and just shrugged before entering the houses.


    In the next few days, news began to spread about the prisoners that moved to the huts near the river to build a channel that eventually would get close to the town. The people were also expecting to hear the news of them running away. That was a tough job, after all. Even if people in that world were a lot physically stronger than humans from Earth, it would take years for them to build a seven kilometers long channel¡­


    However, nothing happened, even after one month. In fact, they began to show up in the town to buy all sorts of things. Since Aion was splitting the money he got from the fishingmerce with them.


    "It seems that the former prisoners are working really hard¡­ how did you convince them, Aion?" Artemisia asked.


    "Violence is the best tool when ites to diplomacy," Aion replied while smirking. "Just kidding, I promised to help them with a problem if they work for me for five years."


    "I see¡­ the reports are showing some progress," Artemisia said while reading some papers. "Things have finally stabilized here since you began to rule. However¡­ The garrison here is a problem."


    "Yeah¡­ the people here are used to be saved by reinforcements when invasions started," Aion crossed his arms and then said. "To make things worse, it isn''t like the garrison is that big, to begin with."


    "Considering the guards here and in the other viges, there are less than five hundred splits into diurnal and nocturnal turns," Artemisia said while reading other papers. "They are loyal to the Kresnik family, but it seems they would only show their valor if your father or Henri were toe. I am sorry, Aion."


    "That is fine. I was expecting something like that¡­" Aion said. "I have an idea on how to solve that problem if the necessity arises."


    "I won''t pry since you look confident," Artemisia said. "Regardless, it seems that you got around five percent more in taxes ifpared to the previous month."


    "We did it, mom," Aion said. "Now we just need to keep this pace."


    He was considering all the expenses such as paying guards, improving some establishments, and sending a part of the gold to the capital. Aion and his mother managed to earn five extra gold coins in a month. He already could imagine how he should invest it¡­ Regardless, things got more stable in the territory, so Aion decided to take the next step and head to the nearest dungeon to do some grinding.

 Chapter 81 Two Heads

    After studying the map of the region, Aion confirmed that the dungeon was beyond the border. While the kingdom had no interest in fighting for that dungeon and losing personnel, the kingdom never retreated from that area, so the dungeon was located in aplicated spot.


    For the lord of the territory to head to that ce alone, it would be insanity, but thanks to the help of Furtivity, Aion could cross good distances without being noticed. He did exactly that, but then when he reached the area of the dungeon, he found several guys there¡­ if the people of his kingdom weren''t even trying to use that dungeon, the guys from Rosberg kingdom were.


    "I guessing here early in the morning was a mistake¡­ in any case, I need to learn how often they use this dungeon, so I might stay around and observe for a while," Aion thought.


    Most of Aion''s sses were about to reach level twenty, but he felt that he would need an extra push for that to happen fast enough, and the dungeon would offer him the extra push. It was hard to confirm that from a distance, but those guys didn''t seem that strong. Maybe Aion''s standards were too high since he fought a lot of strong people in the tournament.


    Regardless, from a distance, he couldn''t tell if the people there had mutated in some aspects or were descendants of those who had obtained some power through mutation, so he had to be cautious. Regardless, Aion observed the dungeon for a full day, but the guys around who were just chilling never noticed his presence. Still, around the end of the day, a group of five people left the dungeon, and then everyone left¡­


    "I guess they don''t feel the need to guard the dungeon at night since the people from here gave up on that dungeon a long time ago¡­ well, now, how should I proceed?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Fighting those guys was an option. With a preemptive magic attack, he was confident that he could wound them so much that he would have an easy time fighting until they were all defeated. Still, Aion couldn''t kill people in cold blood without a reason, and there was a chance that the death of those guys might cause an invasion.


    In any case, Aion approached the dungeon while using Furtivity just to be sure that no one would see him. He could always use his magic to create mes inside and illuminate things, after all. In any case, the entrance of the dungeon was a bit weird¡­ it resembled the entrance of a small building like a warehouse, but it would lead Aion downwards.


    "I thought that all dungeons were naturally made¡­ the monsters couldn''t have carved out this, could they?" Aion asked while frowning.


    The entrance of the dungeon had some drawings of some four-legged beasts fighting each other. They had upper bodies that seemed like lions, but they had two heads and their fur, at least with the drawings, looked like fire. Aion thought that it was an exaggeration, but he didn''t drop his guard when he entered the dungeon.


    "Come to think of it. I didn''t see them taking out many things from the dungeon. Their luggage was light¡­" Aion thought.


    The path went downward in a straight line and then in a spiral. That way, Aion won''t be noticed soon if those guys return. He could stay near the entrance and watch things like that, but Aion wanted to fight as many enemies as possible, so he had to head to the bottom.


    After going down for fifty or so meters, the spiral path ended, and Aion began to feel the smell of blood and of something burning. However, there were no mes around. Aion made a fire sphere fly around, and then it revealed the corpses of those monsters. They had four legs, and two heads and their mane seemed like it could burn. They were pretty big as well¡­ being around four meters long and two tall.


    That was free loot for Aion, so he made his weapon absorb the body. After a minute, he got some bones, leather, meat, and two red gems. Aion couldn''t see the information of things in the real world, but things changed when they were in his inventory.


    Origin Ember


    A magic gem rich with the properties of fire magic. It grants small fire resistance when used on defensive gear and some fire damage when used on weapons.


    Gems were good materials for the magic staff, and when Aion made it absorb them, he got some results pretty soon. There were ten corpses around, and the gems alone made the refinement reach level fifteen.


    "I guess I will use magic here¡­ it will help me deal with the problem of the water in the town and perhaps can even speed the creation of the channel¡­" Aion thought.


    "Urrrrgggghhhhhh¡­"


    Just when Aion thought of that, he heard some grunts. It seemed that some monsters had finally approached him¡­  he could hear some light footsteps, and Aion didn''t like their numbers. All of a sudden, they began to charge at Aion, and he summoned a thick ice wall. It didn''t take long for them to hit the walls and make some cracks appear on the wall.


    The monsters were big, and since they were three, they began to attack the walls with their ws and make them crack¡­ when the wall finally cracked, Aion created another but made it spin horizontally before firing it at the monsters like a giant shuriken. In the end, Aion regretted it a little¡­ he made the projectile too sharp and that made a lot of blood gush around while the heads of the monsters were being pierced.


    You obtained 400 experience points.


    You obtained 400 experience points.


    You obtained 400 experience points.


    Congrattions! The ss Mage has leveled up.


    You received 05 status points.


    You received 05 improvement points.


    Aion didn''t know if the enemies were that weak against ice magic or his build, where he had only allocated points in Magic, was just that overpowering. In any case, Aion felt that he used too much mana, and he needed to learn how to control it more.

 Chapter 82 Iron Fists

    While his weapon was processing the materials, Aion used Meditation to recover his mana. In the end, it was back to full before the next enemies could show up, so it wasn''t so bad¡­ Regardless, before they could approach, Aion decided to bombard them with Ice Arrows. The Ice Arrows have grown in power and size so much that they were on the size of swords, and the skill was at level one¡­ so the result of that was his Magic alone.


    "Behold, mutts! Guns of Babylon!" Aion said while he was firing the projectiles.


    The monsters tried to use their paws to block the arrows, but those pierced their flesh, and eventually, the monsters could no longer use those or even run away. The result became clear soon enough. Their heads were bombarded with ice arrows.


    You obtained 380 experience points.


    You obtained 380 experience points.


    You obtained 380 experience points.


    "Hmm¡­ I used more mana this time¡­ and the experience is already falling," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess all that training that mom made me endure improved my control over the magic of her lineage and showed some results."


    Although that was true, it was a lot easier to cast spells using the Mage ss. Aion only needed a single thought, and he didn''t have to concentrate and give shape to his magic after all. Regardless, Aion made his weapon absorb the corpses before meditating and moving forward.


    It felt like Aion could do some training right at the end of the spiral path, but Aion still wanted to confirm how big that dungeon was. In case something happened since it was only twenty kilometers away from his town. That was his n, at least, but then he got blocked time and time again by the monsters. At some point, he barely had time to recover his manapletely.


    "It seems the spawning rate of this dungeon is pretty high¡­ I wonder why," Aion pondered while looking at the corpses of the monsters. "Considering that, why do those guys only stay here during the day? They don''t think that the monsters can escape?"


    Aion read in books that monsters can escape from dungeons, but they usually only do so when they have massive numbers. The fact that they are fed by the core is one of the reasons why they aren''t in a rush. Aion also read that some monsters are attracted to the dungeons, but that is rare in that kingdom since most monsters have been hunted down to almost extinction. Still, Aion was curious about the other ces in the world¡­


    Regardless, it didn''t look like Aion won''t be able to reach the end dungeon that day¡­ he assumed that when four monsters began to run toward him and opened their mouths to use their methrower attack¡­ that made him use even more mana to kill.


    "I guess I will retreat a bit and hunt them down until midnight," Aion thought. "I can''t let those guys think that someone came at night and hunted these things."


    Speaking of things, from the Zaera kingdom side, that dungeon had no name since they didn''t use it. Still, Aion decided to call the ce the fire mutt''s dungeon. Regardless, Aion could use the bones to refine some of his weapons, but the meat could be eaten. The fire mutts didn''t look that tasty, and with that name, Aion felt even lesspelled to eat it. However, the system said that it could be eaten¡­.


    Since he was going to sell it, Aion had to at least taste a bit. It bothered him a little at first, but then he realized that it wasn''t half bad¡­ once he returned home, Aion slept for a couple of hours and then looked for some traveling merchants who might want that. Since the meat was so perfectly cut, no one had any idea where it came from, and it also looked pretty high ss, so Aion sold them in the blink of an eye and earned one gold coin. The monsters were pretty big, after all, and he killed several dozen.


    "I guess I can increase the price if they ask meter if I have more of those¡­" Aion thought.


    For the next few days, Aion worked in the town doing his usual things, training, filling the wells with water, reading reports, and giving orders. Being a member of a famous and rich family has its perks and its demerits as well. In any case, he returned to the dungeon after three days, and he didn''t notice anything different when it came to the behavior of those guys.


    "Are they that stupid?" Aion wondered. "They are from the samend of Caelis the Tainted, and I didn''t hear many good things about him. Still¡­"


    That also could be a trap¡­ it was hard to analyze someone from so far away. Regardless, Aion spent the day practicing his Furtivity and Meditation until he saw those guys leaving the dungeon again, only with a few bags of loot. They probably only wanted the gems that the monsters had¡­


    In any case, despite the fact that Aion used Furtivity to approach and enter the dungeon. Those guys still returned to the dungeon at night as if they knew that someone that they had to deal with would be there¡­ However, they found nothing. They looked around for a while and fought monsters, but no sign of enemies. Meanwhile, Aion watched them looking for him near a wall while Furtivity was active.


    "Good thing that I am so cautious¡­" Aion thought while watching those guys with his arms crossed.


    Regardless, aside from one guy who appeared to be the leader of the group, all the others weren''t that impressive. In fact, they were having a hard time fighting the monsters one on one. Still, their leader was a guy as big as Horis, and he didn''t have a single weapon or piece of armor on his body, and yet, his punches could crack the entire skull of the monsters¡­

 Chapter 83 Fame Problems

    "It seems that the books exaggerated when they mentioned that half of the people of that kingdom have mutated super powers¡­ that or maybe, only the weaklings stay near the border," Aion thought.


    Since they lived for long periods of time, Aion assumed that they could make kids even faster than the rabbit that was Aion''s father, with in mind that they should haverger numbers as well. Adding their mutated powers, even the most stupid invasion should work, and yet¡­


    "For now, that isn''t important¡­ let''s focus on doing my own thing," Aion thought while he watched those guys leave.


    Although Aion was itching to fight that guy, he had his priorities straight. Someone like that wouldn''t duel anyone. He would duel to kill¡­ It was almost insane that some people could follow that logic since their allies and friends would try to revenge on them if they lost and died. So, a stupid powerful idiot could start a war¡­ just by dying. In a world like that, Aion couldn''t help but frown since he felt the urge to fight that guy just for the challenge. Living in a world of battle maniacs wasn''t doing much for themon sense that he got on Earth¡­


    In the end, Aion waited for one hour before he began to hunt the monsters. Just to be sure¡­ Instead of heading straight to the magic, Aion changed his ss to Tamer, and then when the enemies showed up, he tried to use the skills on them after wounding them. Trying to apply pokemon logic to reality seemed silly, but the weaker someone bes physically, usually, their mental strength decreases as well.


    "It looks like the level of the ss and the skill influence a lot more than expected¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully when he failed several times. "I suppose that makes sense since, apparently, there are no limits on how many creatures I can tame."


    Aion didn''t use that skill before on the bears because he felt that it would be cruel to force them to submit, only to kill them afterward. Now that he had an area to control, he could hide them in many ces since leaving them in the dungeon would make them be hunted. That was another thing that Aion wanted to check if he could bring them outside¡­


    In the end, Aion assumed that taming monsters from dungeons were just impossible¡­ he tried and failed too many times. There were many reasons for that, and the low level of the ss and the skill couldn''t be the reason. The influence of the core was too strong inside the dungeon, so perhaps Aion could tame them outside, which it doesn''t seem like they were nning to do it.


    Another reason could be that they didn''t fear Aion enough¡­ that seemed a bit weird since his power varied ording to the ss he was using. Regardless, his ns to get a monster''s army and prevent invasions with them will have to be put on hold.


    "I guess I will have to take some drastic measures¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion didn''t want to deal with low lives more than he already had to. While the captain of the guards was respected, he was a low-life from Aion''s perspective due to his massive ego. So, after another day in the dungeon, Aion considered looking for smugglers or ve traders¡­ they always have some animals and monsters up for sale. Also, they are everywhere.


    The only problem was how Aion should approach them. As the lord of that territory, he was supposed to be their worst enemy, and truth to be told, he didn''t want to get involved with those that put price tags on the lives of other people. Aion wondered if he should contact his mother to hear her opinion, but he didn''t want to trouble her more than he already had¡­


    Aion returned home prettyte in the night, but he noticed that the light in his office was still up. His mother was workingst midnight¡­ as expected, Aion couldn''t trouble her any more than that. When Aion arrived at his office, he saw his mother with a letter in hand and she looked deep in thought.


    "What is wrong, mom?" Aion asked. "That must be an urgent message if someone decided to send it sote in the night."


    "Your father sent a message¡­ it seems that the king had some spies in the Rosberg kingdom and they noticed that Caelis the Tainted mighte to invade again," Artemisia said.


    The timing for trouble to appear sure was troublesome. Aion didn''t even start to build a militaristic force that he could trust and now this¡­ Regardless, it was rather weird that the king could receive messages from spies so far away without Aion being the middleman. Still, it made sense that he wouldn''t trust him considering half of his lineage.


    "Are they going to send help?" Aion asked. "An invasion is¡­"


    "They aren''t going to send help¡­" Artemisia replied.


    "I can think of a few reasons, but I don''t want to waste time thinking too much about them," Aion said.


    "The main reason is that Caelis isn''t moving with arge army, so it isn''t a proper invasion, it is more like the actions of a single person," Artemisia said. "The king says that he can only ignore it in order to avoid another war. Wars every five years will be more than a bit troubling for the kingdom."


    "I agree¡­ still, why would someone like thate to this kingdom without an army?" Aion asked. "Is he that stupid or¡­ ah¡­"


    "It seems that your father warned you about that¡­ he ising for you," Artemisia said. "Usually, after failing so many times at trying to face Horis, someone would avoid trying something this unreasonable. However, it seems that he had heard about your aplishments and that you are nearby."

 Chapter 84 Challenge

    Truth be told, Aion wasn''t that bothered that someone strong wasing to challenge him¡­ he had be that much of a battle maniac, it seems. However, Aion was worried about the aftermath. Caelis didn''t seem like someone reasonable, so the fight will be to death¡­ and if his friends keep trying to avenge him, he will be stuck in a loop of endless battle in the best-case scenario. At worst, he will start a war.


    "It is hard to say if he is stronger than Horis, and since the battle is unavoidable, then perhaps you should strike while the iron is hot," Artemisia said.


    "What do you mean?" Aion asked.


    "Instead of letting him challenge you, challenge him first," Artemisia said. "Determines the rules and a prize."


    "Such a simple thing¡­ it will really work?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "It will. Those people who live for hundreds of years treat their honor above everything else," Artemisia said. "Like that thing you did at the guild, the one who starts everything decides the rules. If you challenge him, he will feel obligated to follow the rules for his honor. Still, you will need to offer him something good in return to ept the rules without making much of a fuss or changing them."


    "Is that so¡­ like what?" Aion asked.


    "Like everything is allowed, thus, you will be able to use magic, and the winner takes a part of each other''s territory," Artemisia said. "That way, you can obtain that dungeon."


    "It seems too good to be true¡­ can I even bet thisnd when it belongs to the kingdom?" Aion asked.


    "The king isn''t willing to help out of fear, so from my perspective, you can do as you see fit," Artemisia said, looking a bit annoyed.


    It was only obvious that she would feel like that when others put so much responsibility over her son''s shoulders. Still, Aion never thought that his mother would say something like that in the open. It was the first time Aion heard that Caelis was the owner of that dungeon, but if he wasn''t, perhaps Aion could buy some time with that.


    Regardless, that was the chance for Aion to get a boom on his business. If he wins, his territory will expand and be a lot richer with that dungeon under hismand. More people will move there, and then they will pay more taxes¡­ monarchy sure is useful to those in power, and Aion was experimenting with that firsthand.


    With his mother''s help, Aion wrote an appropriate letter challenging Caelis. The terms were that they could use any weapon and anything in their arsenal. The fight will be in three months near the border where the dungeon was supposed to be. They were also betting on the territories. To make things more convenient, Aion wrote that he won''t fight like a mad dog without a reason and that if he refuses that, Caelis would be considere a coward.


    Aion could almost see the face of an angry giant smashing the letter to pieces¡­ even though he never saw the guy. In any case, it was a bit inconvenient, but in that world, people used ravens to send letters, and it usually took days. Since no one knows where Caelis would be, they send it to a random guild.


    "I guess I should train for a while¡­" Aion thought. "It has been a while since I had a decent fight.


    Aion had heard that Caelis fought with his fists and a spear, so he had to consider the right ss against those fighting styles. Resetting the Berserker ss seemed like a waste, but some things can''t be helped¡­ Besides, it wasn''t like he was particrly attached to the ss.


    The enemy has the power to mind control those he defeats, but he should be able to show a weaker version just by causing damage. Aion read reports that those that got hit too many times began to move in a weird way, like they were hesitant, so that confirmed the theory. With that in mind, the Pdin, Archer, Mage, Monk, Tamer, Ninja, and yer sses seemed like the best options. Since they were focused on either defense, speed, or long-ranged attacks¡­


    However, at least for now, Aion couldn''t see any skill or passive that could help Aion in case the enemy got too close, so the long-ranged ss probably should be left alone¡­ He still decided to check their potential in the dungeon and see what they could offer. Before he could enter the dungeon again, Aion decided to ask his mother something.


    "Mom, can you do some digging about people that might be doing some shady business behind the scenes?" Aion asked.


    "What a weird thing to ask your mother¡­" Artemisia frowned. "Why are you interested in such a thing?"


    "Well, those kinds of guys usually don''t pay taxes, right?" Aion asked. "I wanted to deal with them before they be a nuisance."


    "I think I understand, but your father''s family has been respected for many years, I doubt that anyone would try to do that kind of thing in this territory," Artemisia said. "However, in other ces might be different. Still, our capacity to gather information in those ces will be limited."


    "I see¡­ Just do what you can, and don''t tell anyone," Aion said.


    "All right," Artemisia said.


    Aion probably should focus on his next battle, but it couldn''t be helped, and he wanted to prepare as much as possible for the future. Losing might happen, but Aion still had to act and n ahead for the future, and he needed more capable hands to help him.


    From that day onward, Aion trained at the dungeon until sunrise. Thanks to that, he obtained a lot of those red gems. So, even without using the mage ss, that one leveled up a lot. When he used all those gems, he made the refinement reach level one hundred, and then he had a surprise¡­

 Chapter 85 Class Upgrade

    Congrattions! The Magic Staff reached the max level of refinement for this ss. Make the ss reach level one hundred as well, and then you will be elected to a new ss.


    That happened two months before the battle against Caelis, so Aion felt like he had found another awesome power in his system. Considering how much the had trained that month, he probably could use all his energy and experience to make one of the ss reach level one hundred. He confirmed that, but when he made that happen.


    Congrattions! The ss Mage has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    That was something that Aion didn''t expect, so he didn''t know what he should do. On the one hand, it felt like the new ss would be like an upgrade, but he would sacrifice a lot, and he would have to train it from the beginning. In terms of materials alone, he would be sacrificing gems that would be equal to fifty gold coins.


    "This is a tough call¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    The next two months passed in the blink of an eye. Just as he had expected, Caelis was unreasonable enough to trade his territory with the owner of the one near the border just to fight Aion. He had seen on the maps that only a couple of viges existed since the people of the Rosberg kingdom were nomads for the most part.


    Cultivating fields and raising cattle is too boring for them. Even if it costs their lives, they are willing to start a battle to get a shipment of wine¡­ They are that kind of people. So, Aion won''t feel bad if he wins and make a couple of hundred people move. Things had also improved on his territory, but it was clear that most people didn''t see him as their real lord. They only obeyed him because of his father. Thus, he won''t feel bad if they lose their homes as well¡­ The only problem is that he will die before that happens, and his mother will also fall into the hands of the enemy¡­ He truly gave himself one hell of a reason not to lose.


    On the other hand, while the enemy territory didn''t pierce on the Rosberg kingdom that much, it wasrge enough to cross it from one coat to the other. So, if he wins, Aion will have ess to maritime routes¡­ which will make things interesting.


    In any case, Aion headed alone to the border on the day of the fight. When he left, he saw his mother praying to the goddess again, and it worked for herst time, so that it might work this time as well.


    Eventually, Aion saw one big armored guy with his arms crossed. He had tanned skin, red hair, and amber eyes. It was almost like every single part of his body was a sign to make people stay away from him. He also had red armor protecting his torso and a red spear on his back. However, he wasn''t alone, and thatplicated things a bit¡­ One of the guys that were with him was the fighter that Aion saw near the dungeon a few times.


    "To think that a brat this young has defeated Horis¡­ He probably croaked by himself, and you dealt thest hit," Caelis said.


    "That was exactly how it happened," Aion said. "Do you want to croak as well? Or drown? Or trip and smash your head against a rock?"


    "At the very least, you have the aura of someone who can back their words¡­ don''t disappoint me, kid," Caelis said as he stepped forward. "Otherwise, the first king I will do once I defeat you will be to smash the head of your bitch mother."


    "Ah¡­ you shouldn''t have said that," Aion said. "I didn''t want to do this, but¡­ you forced me to. Wait a minute."


    Aion took out a shovel from his inventory and then he began to dig. After a while, he stopped since the hole was big enough to fit Caelis.


    "This will be your grave¡­ for a short while," Aion dered. "You will be the worst thing that you can imagine¡­"


    Caelis charged, enraged¡­ that was the first time someone pissed him off so much. His allies thought that Aion would be killed instantly, but in the end, Caelis tried to punch Aion, but his right fist was stopped by a silver spear. Everyone was left speechless, but the most surprised was Caelis, who didn''t make Aion move a single centimeter from his spot. While he was another stupid massive warrior, he knew how eleration and mass worked. When working together, their exercise a lot of power when they hit something, but not Aion, despite the difference in size.


    Caelis tried to punch Aion with his other fist, but Aion just lowered his posture and then jumped backward. Making fun of the enemy was nice and all, but he couldn''t take things too far. Even he could make mistakes, and he couldn''t make any right now.


    Spearman Lv 76


    Health: 382/382


    Mana: 44/44


    Stamina: 522/522


    Strength: 156 + 44


    Dexterity: 30


    Magic: 21


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 172 + 88


    Status:


    Spear Refinement Lv 44


    Bonuses: Strength + 44, Speed + 88


    Skills: Quick Spear Lv 46 (Power Lv 70, Efficiency Lv 70), Sonic Thrust Lv 01, Frozen Spear Lv 01, Fiery Spear Lv 01, Deadly Wind Lv 01


    Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 47 (Power Lv 75), Block Mastery Lv 22, Critical Lv 29, Bleed Lv 19


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 115.369


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    With Aion''s current build, he only had enough mana to use Quick Spear without having to worry about mana while it stayed active. He had enough Dexterity to use his weapon well, and all the other points were in strength and speed. It was a high-risk and high-reward strategy, but most importantly, it was very fun¡­

 Chapter 86 Dark Defense

    After dodging that attack, Aion trusted his sword at the enemy''s neck, and Caelis tried to grab it. He immediately regretted that when Aion changed the direction of the attack insanely fast and then pierced the enemy''s left hand.


    Caelis grunted in pain a little before jumping backward and putting some distance between him and the enemy. It was the first time his friends saw him doing that¡­ Retreating. Regardless, Aion got up and then took a deep breath before swinging his weapon to get rid of the blood. He did some training, but he didn''t expect that his body would respond that well with that speed.


    "It seems that he is the type that gets stronger over time. It is a very troublesome type¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion had heard a few things about the enemy, about how his skin was tough and his attacks were heavy. Rumors usually would exaggerate things, but Aion knew better than underestimating the enemy. He was another piece of shit that was going to die soon, but he was a piece of shit that was going to be disposed of properly.


    "You are strong and pretty fast for someone of your age¡­" Caelis said.


    "Shut up and attack already," Aion said. "I don''t have all day to waste with you."


    A dark shadow began to emerge from Caelis'' body and then began to cover his arms. That was the shadow that corrupts people and makes them go crazy¡­ Aion heard that the shadow could cover all of his body, but he didn''t do that.


    "I hate when they only show parts of their power at a time¡­" Aion said and then sighed. "It is cool on TV, but it is annoying in reality¡­"


    Caelis didn''t even take his spear, so he truly was testing Aion''s patience. Still, he charged and once again tried to punch Aion''s head. However, Aion dodged to the side¡­ he had to raise his spear when he suddenly felt a shiver. Thanks to that, he blocked a dark spear that emerged from the shadow¡­


    "That thing''s adaptation ability is quite impressive¡­." Aion thought.


    Caelis tried to kick Aion''s left leg, but Aion used his weapon to stab the leg and stop the attack. Caelis grunted again, but then he forced Aion to retreat when he almost smashed his body with both arms. While Aion wasnding, he saw the shadow moving to the wound and then the expression of pain on the enemy''s face deceased.


    It would be weird if the shadow had some anesthetic power¡­ Aion would believe that it could make people get enraged and forget the pain, but not that¡­ Regardless, Aion couldn''t see any more blood falling from the arm and legs, so the shadow possibly closed the wound.


    Caelis ran toward Aion, not as fast as before, but then he suddenly increased his speed. In a fast sequence of punches, he aimed at Aion''s head, but his strikes always missed. All of a sudden, the shadows got thicker, and the speed of the punches increased¡­ to stop that, Aion stabbed the wounded hand, but the shadow worked like armor and didn''t suffer even a small point of damage. He was also pushed backward¡­ the shadow truly could make him stronger and faster.


    "With what I have on the line, I don''t have time to fool around¡­" Aion thought. "There is also the chance that those friends of his wille to attack me once he dies, so I can''t waste too much energy¡­"


    When Caelis approached again, Aion used his spear to block the punches, and he was pushed backward with all those hits. Until the enemy started to enjoy that a bit too much, and then Aion''s speed suddenly exploded with Inner Force. Before the enemy could see him moving, Aion''s spear crossed the face of Caelis with a sh, damaging his right eye and opening a deep wound. While blood was gushing from the wound, surprise covered his face¡­ the pain was nothingpared to that.


    Caelis knew that the Kresnik family had a technique that made them stronger. He also attacked Lexus a few times and failed at killing him because of that¡­ but he assumed that Aion had been using that from the start of the fight. Somehow, Caelis reacted instinctively when he saw Aion preparing for the next attack. He made all the shadows cover his body.


    The spear''s strike was blocked by the shadow when it hit the face of the enemy, and Aion furrowed his eyebrows. Caelis looked like another being altogether now that his body was covered in shadows. There were two red spheres where his eyes were supposed to be, and Aion couldn''t help but feel something ominous there¡­ he had lost one eye, so that didn''t make sense.


    As if he had nothing to fear, Caelis jumped and thennded where Aion was supposed to be. He created arge crater as if he weighed like a ten-meter-wide rock. Aion didn''t know if that was the case, but at the very least, he assumed that the enemy weighed something like a steel bar of the same length and height.


    "His spear was absorbed by the shadow, but he didn''t grab it yet¡­ it looks like a magic weapon, and if it is enhanced by the shadows¡­" Aion thought.


    Caelis made many dark spikes appear around his body, and now he looked like an ominous hedgehog¡­ As if that wasn''t enough, he jumped and began to roll in the air. When hended, he began to chase Aion at a fearsome speed. Blocking those one-meter spikes will be hard. So, Aion jumped with all his might to the side. However, the enemy could maneuver insanely well and turned to chase him¡­


    Aion began to run around, but even with his increased speed, Caelis was faster¡­

 Chapter 87 Trump Card

    While he was running, Aion saw the path of destruction created by the enemy. It looked like a giant monster had dragged its tail¡­ in any case, the enemy could afford to attack like that because he assumed that his defense was perfect. Since the shadow armor could stop wounds and stop Caelis from feeling pain, it probably could prevent him from suffering from dizziness¡­ so he could stay like that for as long as he wanted.


    ? "It would be a pretty good way to defeat a lot of enemies without using mana¡­e to think of it, Horis also could use his weird power without worrying about costs¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion had to face the enemy, and against that momentum in that situation, he couldn''t stop it with brute strength alone. Still, he turned around and readied his spear¡­ when the enemy finally got close enough, he began to stab the massive sphere of dark spikes. He was so fast that the other guys couldn''t even see Aion''s arms moving¡­


    Despite that, Aion began to be pushed backward with each of his thrusts¡­ the enemy charge was that much more powerful. However, at the same time, the enemy was unable to hit him¡­


    "Annoying little worm¡­" Caelis thought.


    Even against such a technique¡­ it was the first time someone managed to stop that attack, so it was only natural that Caelis would get pissed. Still, he knew that it was only a matter of time before Aion''s weapon could break. He just needed to wait for that¡­ Caelis waited and waited, but he only realized that such a thing wasn''t going to happen when he began to feel some pain in his body.


    At first, the pain could only bepared to the bite of a mosquito, but then they began to grow more powerful until Caelis realized the shocking truth¡­ Aion''s spear was piercing his shadow armor. When Aion finally felt some softness on his attack, he took his time to attack with all his might, and then in the next moment, Caelis stopped rolling when he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder.


    Aion took a good look at the enemy¡­ the armor had thickened out more than a little bit, and in some parts, he could see the enemy''s body. It wasn''t, but such an ability had no weakness¡­ it couldn''t sustain thergest amounts of damage, and Caelis never realized that because he had never suffered that much damage before.


    On the other hand, Aion''s arms were hurting a bit, and he used a good amount of stamina. So, he was taking his time to recover¡­ The strategy to have high attack power and speed was working until now, but since Aion''s endurance was low, he couldn''t keep attacking forever. The more he attacks nonstop, the more he gets tired, and his muscles suffer damage. Aion could use his coins to increase his endurance, but he decided to do that onlyter¡­ if necessary.


    In the end, by making the armor even thinner, Caelis managed to cover his whole body, but he was aware that such a thinges with its weakness¡­ he disliked using his spear, even more so against someone that was essentially a kid. However, he couldn''t care about his pride anymore since he didn''tnd a single decent hit.


    Aion kept looking at the enemy when he grabbed his spear and inclined his body forward alongside his left leg. That was a mainly offensive posture while holding the spear with both hands, but with the body and weapon enhanced by the shadow, Aion knew that Caelis could be fast enough to assume any other stance¡­


    Once again, Caelis was the first one to charge and thrust his spear at Aion''s head. He parried the attack a bit to the side, but the power made the weapon pass near his right cheek, and Aion almost felt the sharp wind, almost cutting his flesh¡­


    "Even with Block Mastery, blocking the precise thrust of a spear is difficult," Aion thought after lowering his stance when Caelis followed the attack with a swing.


    Aion fixed his stance, but the enemy attacked faster by using his right leg this time. Aion got kicked in the chest and rolled on the ground several times. A single kick took thirty percent of his health, and he felt like his lungs were about to be smashed¡­ that was the downside of that ss. While Aion had high speed and even more with Quick Spear, it didn''t help as much his reaction speed as as it did with his attacking speed.


    Regardless, Aion got up and jumped to the side when he saw Caelis above him, ready to split his body in two. Aion dodged, and the enemy''s spear hit the ground and created a path of destruction onward¡­


    "I really need to find someone to fix my armor¡­" Aion thought.


    Although he used it only a few times, Aion grew attached to that armor¡­ he knew that not wearing any in such a situation would be dangerous, but he needed that much pressure on himself to improve. Regardless, now that the enemy was using his spear, it was hard to imagine him getting even stronger. Aion just needed to get used to that power and speed and then wait for his best chance.


    That was his n, but instead of attacking, he suddenly saw Caelis looking at him with a serious look¡­ it was a bit too soon for someone like him to act like that. He wasn''t the tactical type, after all. He would need to be shaken more before he tries to use his head. Aion raised his guard when he saw the enemy making the shadow move to the weapon¡­ it seemed like it didn''t have to be in contact with his body, so that only made things weird. Regardless, without approaching and out of nowhere, the enemy used a thrust attack, and the spear expanded almost instantly and almost pierced Aion''s forehead¡­


    Aion lowered his stance and dodged the attack, but the tip of the spear still cut the flesh on his forehead, and blood began to fall on his face¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 88 Idea

    "Shit¡­ I didn''t find any mention that he can do something like this," Aion thought after he fixed his stance and closed the wound by freezing some of the blood with his magic.


    Aion didn''t have much time to do that because the enemy swung down the spear. He jumped to the side while looking at the shadow, and he confirmed that the shadow extension was sharp like a de¡­ it wouldn''t cause blunt damage.


    When the weapon hit the ground, the area between Aion and the enemy cracked, creating an evenrger path of destructionpared to what Caelis did when he was rolling.


    While he was dodging the attacks, Aion confirmed that the spear could be up to one hundred meters long, but the real problem was that Caelis was swinging like the weight didn''t increase at all¡­


    When the spear was too fast, and Aion couldn''t dodge the attack, he blocked it with his weapon, and he ended up being pushed to one hundred meters away from his original position¡­ that much power wasn''t a joke.


    All of a sudden, Aion had a harder time dodging the attacks, and he could only block them and be pushed around like a piece of rag. He recalled that the shadow could control people, and while he suffered only a scratch, it was enough to make him hesitate.


    "Since it is like that¡­" Aion thought. "I will have to ept some risks."


    Aion had an idea, but it was a risky one. Still, it was better than taking his time and giving the enemy more chances to attack him.


    When the next downward strike came, Aion blocked his weapon for a moment before he let the enemy''s weapon fall to the side. The weaponnded on the ground and raised arge dust curtain. Caelis nned to swing the spear to the side since he didn''t see Aion moving away, but before he could do that, he saw his weapon being covered in ice and quickly moved to his hands.


    Caelis could endure that much. Thest thing that he needed was to let go of his weapon and give Aion the chance to take his weapon. Eventually, the ice-covered his hands, and then he tried to free himself. However, even with all his strength, only a few cracks appeared. When Caelis tried again, a powerful electric curtain hit and paralyzed him.


    Aion used that short window of time to dash toward the enemy and target the other eye. However, the weapon decreased in size, and other spikes approached Aion insanely fast.


    The spear approached the enemy''s head, but at thest moment, all of the shadow retreated to Caelis'' body, and then he recovered to dodge to the side¡­ still, Aion''s thrust pierced his left ear. While clicking his tongue, Aion let the momentum move his body and then he attacked the enemy''s face with his right knee. The attack made him stagger, but he still swung his weapon at Aion''s side, forcing him to defend with his weapon.


    "... I lost a good chance," Aion thought when he stopped.


    Aion caused some damage, but he used all of his remaining mana. He could recover one per minute and use it to keep Quick Spear active, but that won''t change anything.


    Despite the fact that Aion didn''t know what to do next, he noticed that the enemy wasn''t taking advantage of the situation. Aion thought that he would be more like a berserker warrior like Horis since he used to invade the border all the time, but maybe he misunderstood things¡­


    There are people that lose themselves in a fight¡­ when they are too easy, and they pick on the weak to enjoy that situation of empowerment. It was hard to say if that was the case, but many things made Aion assume that it was the case. The enemy''s hesitation gave Aion the time to cool his head a little, to the point that he also had an interesting idea¡­


    Taunting the enemy now would only make him more suspicious of Aion''s actions, so Aion decided to do the reverse. Taunt the enemy by making himself look afraid. Aion took a few steps backward while he took a deep sigh. He went as far as using the Inner Force for a short while to make him sweat more¡­ His n worked well, despite his own situation, Caelis assumed that Aion was hesitating because he suffered more damage than he actually let it show. Besides, he knew how Inner Force makes their users tired.


    Caelis charged and then began to thrust his spear at Aion''s head. Still, he made the shadow cover his whole body for defense purposes. With his spear, Aion blocked the strikes or parried them to the side while he was being pushed backward.


    Each impact got louder than the previous one as Caelis showed his excitement and Aion showed an expression of pain. His hands began to bleed, too¡­ still, time and time again, Caelis failed at delivering the finishing blow. He needed more speed and power to do that¡­


    Caelis clenched his teeth and then and then swung his spear with all his might at Aion''s neck. The attack pushed Aion to the side for several meters and broke his bnce. Caelis charged at him again while he made the shadow protecting his back move to his arms and legs. His speed and power increased just like that, and then he went to stab Aion''s head with all his might. However, in the blink of an eye, the expression of struggle disappeared from Aion''s face, and he pointed his spear at the enemy''s left chest.


    Aion imagined his mana passing through his weapon and then extending beyond it, soon after, he calmed down his spirit, and then the mana took shape of a spear of ice that increased the length of his weapon, Caelis didn''t have time to dodge that, and with that charge, he ended making himself being impaled¡­

 Chapter 89 Death Knight

    Caelis cursed himself under his breath¡­ to think that the enemy would copy him like that. While he was agonizing, he wondered how Aion managed to pierce his shadow, he couldn''t feel a powerful spell, and he should have been a lot weaker now that he was tired¡­ but now he could see Aion''s muscles bulging. He used Inner Force again¡­


    You obtained 35.000 experience points.


    The ss Spearman has leveled up.


    The ss Spearman has leveled up.


    The ss Spearman has leveled up.


    ¡­


    In the end, it didn''t take long for Caelis to die. His heart was pierced, after all. Still, the fight was far from over¡­ just as Aion had expected, in a fit of rage and sadness, his friends charged to avenge him.


    "What a troublesome bunch¡­" Aion thought.


    Most of them wouldn''t be a problem, but the guy with the heavy fists would be troublesome since Aion was out of mana and a bit tired. The heavy fists guy was the first to attack Aion, and his punches made his whole spear vibrate when Aion blocked them. He was also skilled enough to keep charging and punching, even though Aion was being pushed with each hit¡­ the variety of his attacks wasn''t that great, though¡­ He only tried to smash Aion''s head.


    The other enemies circled around and tried to attack Aion from the sides and his back, but before they could do that, Aion just jumped¡­ the enemies waited for him to fall since he looked like an easy target, but they soon regretted that. During that short window of time, Aion changed his sses and allocated the status points that he got and obtained enough mana to do that¡­


    Caelis'' friends frowned when they heard a sounding from the ce their boss had been. They opened their eyes widely when they looked in that direction and saw Caelis rising from the ground. He was supposed to be dead, and yet¡­


    They got so shocked that they even forgot to attack Aion, and hended peacefully a few meters behind them. Still, their shock turned into confusion when they noticed that there was something off about their leader. That turned into panic when their boss charged toward them and swung his spear. Those who didn''t react in time literally lost their heads. Only the fighter survived the first wave of attacks by grabbing the tip of the spear with both hands while blood was falling from it.


    You obtained 1.500 experience points.


    You obtained 1.500 experience points.


    You obtained 1.500 experience points.


    ¡­


    "This is better than I thought," Aion smirked.


    "Master! What are you doing? Are you being mind controlled?" The fighter said.


    Caelis didn''t reply. He never could, not without Aion''s permission. For someone who defeated people and made them go mad and attack their own allies indiscriminately, that seemed like a fitting end. Still, that was also a reminder for Aion to never go too far with his actions. In any case, the fighter was strong, but he couldn''t face his master¡­ it didn''t take long for Caelis to take his head as well.


    You obtained 7.500 experience points.


    The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    Necromancer Lv 51


    Health:08/08


    Mana: 964/964


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 151 + 60


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 30


    Speed: 01


    Status: 100


    Necromancer''s Staff Refinement Lv 20


    Bonuses: Magic + 60, Resistance + 30


    Skills: Skeleton Knight Lv 15, Skeleton Archer Lv 10, Skeleton Wizard Lv 20, Death Knight Lv 01 (Power Lv 10, Efficiency Lv 50)


    Passive: Summon Lv 20, Store Lv 10, Undead Recovery Lv 22


    Improvement Points: 0


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 115.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    The sses that Aion could obtain when he reached the requirements were Necromancer, Fire Mage, and Magic Fighter. Since he needed some minions that were loyal to him, he chose Necromancer and had a lot of surprises. First of all, the Mage ss was reset but didn''t disappear. It was there if Aion wanted to level up again and unlock the other two sses. Another thing was the fact that the parameters'' effects were two times more powerful now. So, at level fifty, he had as much mana as before¡­ his magic power was also at the same level. However, leveling up that ss was fifty percent harder.


    Aion would have been fine just summoning skeletons, he would just have to make them wear full armor to hide their appearances, and then they would look like fearsome warriors that never talk, but one week ago, he got the Death Knight ss. Making him able to turn really powerful foes into undead that can lead other undead. Moreover, as long as Aion have mana, they won''t decay, and their bodies will be repaired, making them immortals¡­


    "The really convenient thing is that they can be out in my inventory with the Store and not drain my mana all the time¡­" Aion thought. "It seems that they won''t drain my mana just by existing, but the fight made Caelis drain some of my energy¡­ in any case, let''s see if he can control that shadow after bing a death knight¡­"


    Aion did several tests and confirmed that Caelis could do that. Not only that, his power nearly doubled thanks to the effects of the improvement points. He is also going to be a great sparring partner¡­


    In any case, Aion turned the fighter and the other minions into his minions. The fighter could be a Death Knight, but he wasn''t that strong¡­ he would need to be trained. In any case, Aion will have to keep them hidden until he gets some armor that will hide their appearancespletely. He doesn''t have the time to worry about rumors, and they will spread if he isn''t cautious enough.


    "Now I just need to find a way to make the transition of his territory as much as possible¡­" Aion said. "That will beplicated¡­"

 Chapter 90 More Prejudice

    Few people knew why Aion left the town that morning, so no one made a fuss when he returned. Still, his mother made a fuss when he returned. With her bear hug, she was starting to cause more damage than Caelis did. Aion felt that she could have won the duel and gotten a wless victory¡­


    "You look fine, even though you didn''t take your armor¡­ is this the mark of a foot on your chest?" Artemisia asked while frowning.


    "Yeah¡­ hended a good one," Aion said. "Regardless, Caelis is done. We only need to worry about making the transition of the territory go as smoothly as possible. Also, tell Bertham to look for a cksmith that can make full body armor in this design. I want this ready as soon as possible, so he should look for someone who can work hard."


    "This seems too big for you¡­ did you get a friend that is willing to help you?" Artemisia asked.


    "Something like that," Aion replied.


    Aion wanted to make use of his death knights as soon as possible since the people of the attached territory or the neighbors might try to attack. The only downside of those was the fact that they could only exist while Aion was using the ss. When ites to elemental magic and skills, he can use them even when he isn''t equipped with the right ss, but using Necromancy with other sses will take a while.


    The next day, Jairo received the orders to take half of his men and go guard the dungeon. Only at that moment had he heard about the duel, and he had a hard time believing it. Still, he found the traces of a battle as he approached, and for the first time in a long while; he didn''t see anyone near the dungeon.


    During the afternoon, they were setting their camp there when they found some members of the guild and the guild master approaching. The guild was rather small, it only had one hundred members, and only thirty or so of them could fight. Still, those thirty were told toe to explore the dungeon by Aion''s orders. It was a pity, but he couldn''t stay in the dungeon all the time¡­ so the guild would make use of it as well and give him half of the profits.


    Aion showed up only on thest day and didn''t say much to them¡­ he went to check the viges in the area and spread the news. They might want to stay there if they want, but then the vigers will have to follow his rules. Artemisia also said that she wanted toe and do some diplomatic work, but Aion doubted that such a thing would be necessary. He already had a fair taste of how unreasonable those people could be¡­


    It didn''t take long for Aion to reach the first vige and as one would expect, the people there frowned when they saw him. The ce was quite rustic and there were no houses, only tents. They were camping nearby the same river that Aion was nning to move a part of, and they also used it to get some fish. However, Aion noticed that they still had a lot of meat around, and he wondered where that came from¡­ Regardless, when Aion approached, they grabbed their weapons.


    "It would be better if you guys don''t do anything like that¡­" Aion said. "Did any of you hear that the lord of the region changed?"


    Aion suddenly summoned his spear and then asked that. Making weapons appear out of nowhere was something that few people could do, so the people there raised their guards. They heard a few rumors about that, but aside from the fact that the leader of the region could control the dungeon of the area, there wasn''t anything else that would change. Still, now and then, some people of the viges would leave to hunt with the group that always goes to the dungeon.


    "It seems that you have heard of that¡­ anyway, your leader was defeated by me, and we bet our territories on the fight. Now I am the lord of this region as well," Aion said. "You have two options: move to somewhere else or stay here and follow my rules."


    Everyone knew about his fame as Caelis, so theyughed at the idea that a kid had defeated him. Aion truly wanted to show them as his death knight, but he left him at home to protect his mother after he got the armor. In the end, fighting in close range with the necromancer ss wasn''t a good idea, but Aion made it work by using Inner Force.


    When the armed guys came to attack him, Aion dodged to the side, kicked their legs, made them fall, and then hit their stomachs, making them fly for a couple of methods while agonizing without air in their lungs. He did the exact same thing until he got tired of it and the enemies stoppeding. Turning them into skeletons because of their stupidity was an option, but Aion decided not to go too far.


    "I changed my mind. You guys will have to scram," Aion said. "You have one week to get out, don''t make me return and see you guys still here."


    Aion left after saying that he would have to cross around two hundred kilometers to find all the viges in the area and to pass the same message. So, giving them one week to leave was more than enough.


    Still, over that week, Aion only found idiots in the viges¡­ he learned that the people of Zaera kingdom weren''t the only ones filled with prejudice. They didn''t even know that he was part of that magic lineage, and they still hated him that much. Still, that saved Aion from the trouble of making people from two different kingdoms work together.


    After two weeks, Aion confirmed that the nomads had left the area, but now he had to guard arger area with the soldiers that he had¡­ it was time to create a skeletons army, but Aion will have to find another solution since he couldn''t stay in that ss forever. While he was thinking about that, Aion received an unexpected visitor¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 91 Invitation

    Although he only showed up in the town once every few years, Lexus still was weed by the whole city once he arrived. The inhabitants sure looked ecstatic while they said his name. Lexus wasn''t the type to show his emotions often, but at least he smiled and waved his hands a few times at the people.


    When he reached the mansion with a few guards, they raised their guards since they saw a tall and heavy armored figure guarding the entrance. No one knew who that was, but they could tell that it was someone strong. Lexus felt that he had met that person before, but since he had two swords in his waist, Lexus shook his head¡­ he couldn''t recall any dual wielder that looked impressive to him.


    "Sorry for showing up without telling you beforehand," Lexus said when he arrived at Aion''s office. "Where is your mother? I heard that she was helping you manage thend."


    "From spies? Don''t make that surprised expression. It is clear that the king has some people keeping their eyes on me," Aion said. "Anyway, she has been pushing herself too hard these days with the newnds. So, I asked her to take a few days off."


    "I see¡­ I actually came here without warning to confirm that," Lexus said. "The rumor about you defeating Caelis seemed like a trap, but once we reached the region, we confirmed that you annexed hisnds and even got the dungeon. I am more than a little bit impressed."


    "When you warned me about his possible wish to fight me, mother said that it would be better if we make our move first, and then things ended like that," Aion said. "While the size of thend doubled, we can''t do much more than using the dungeon. At least for now."


    While he didn''t use normal means or safe ones, for that matter, Lexus was surprised that his son doubled his territory in just six months. The territory will be hard to manage, but he was certain that he would do something about it.


    What he still found it hard to believe was that Aion truly defeated Caelis¡­ that guy could defeat a whole battalion in a couple of minutes just by rolling around, after all. Aion won the tournament, but he had time to prepare for many situations, and the same thing couldn''t be said about the battle against Caelis.


    "I also heard that you deal with the problems of bandits and convinced them to work for you," Lexus said. "Even without guards, they are building a channel to help the town¡­ if you keep doing things like that, then this territory will truly grow insanely fast."


    "That is the n," Aion said.


    "Well, I am d that you are doing well," Lexus said. "Putting those topics aside, I would like you to organize your activities to give you some time to return to the capital in little more than a year."


    "... Why?" Aion asked while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "Don''t worry¡­ it is just for a few weeks," Lexus said. "Things are still being decided, but once he bes seventeen, Henri will marry the princess."


    Medieval words sure were crazy¡­ to make two underaged kids marry. Still, that was Aion''s old mindset in action. He learned a long time ago that kids are considered adults once they be fifteen, and most of them get married before they be twenty.


    "What about Henri, is he still bothered by that arranged marriage?" Aion asked.


    "He isn''t that bothered by the marriage. The real problem is the fact that she idolizes him a bit too much, and that is ufortable to him," Lexus replied. "Due to his position as the next head of the family, he is aware of his own shorings, and he feels that the princess will feel disappointed once she sees the real him, instead of the one inside her head."


    That seemed like something troublesome¡­ Regardless, that wasn''t a problem that Aion had to worry about. Besides, the romance in someone else''s life wasn''t something that Aion was interested in. That kind of thing was too bittersweet for Aion''s tastes¡­


    "I know that you are kind of busy, but you should write things aside from the economical reports of the territory, "Lexus said. "Your brothers ask about you pretty often, but I can only tell that you are making more money here."


    "Speaking of them, how are they doing?" Aion asked.


    ? "Henri and Philip will end their training soon enough, and since Henri will mostly stay in the capital, Philip will lead some of your soldiers when the necessity arises and will spend his time training them," Lexus said. "Elio and Georges will keep training for two more years. I don''t know what they are going to do after that, though."


    They were doing well, and they will be fine in the future as well. That was enough for Aion to hear.


    "Once I return and confirm the rumors, your Image will improve a lot in the kingdom. That will probably counter the backsh of the rumors that you are trying to build your own army," Lexus said. "I understand that you feel that you can''t rely on the people here that much, but don''t exaggerate. Speaking of exaggeration, who is that guy outside?"


    "Someone who decided to work for me, but they want to keep their identity hidden for some reason," Aion said.


    "He sure looks strong¡­ Anyway, your ability to make others work for you scares me," Lexus said.


    "That scares me as well," Aion said.

 Chapter 92 Messenger

    After Lexus left, Aion wondered about the prince. Wouldn''t usually the first kid have his marriage first in that kind of world? Since he was the future king, his family was probably being cautious about it.


    "Come to think of it, I beat the crap out of him, and I was still invited for the marriage of his sister¡­" Aion thought.


    Regardless, while it was a bit troublesome, Aion had to separate some time for that event. Artemisia probably doesn''t want to return to the capital, so Aion felt that leaving her with the death knights was the best option.


    Over the course of the next weeks, Aion told Jairo to take some guards to move and build some watchtowers across the terrain. The distance that one person could cross that area until the next part of the Rosberg kingdom could be crossed on a single day, so maybe there wasn''t much point in having those, but Aion wanted them anyway.


    During those weeks, Aion trained in the dungeon a lot to level up the other sses and make them unlock new ones as well. Around the time the pdin ss reached level forty, he began to think that he should focus on that one for the time being.


    Pdin Lv 41


    Health: 332/332


    Mana: 144/144


    Stamina: 36/36


    Strength: 64 + 24


    Dexterity: 05


    Magic: 31


    Endurance: 64 + 16


    Resistance: 36


    Speed: 05 + 08


    Status: 00


    Sword and Shield Refinement Lv 24


    Bonuses: Strength + 03 , Endurance + 02. Speed + 01


    Skills: Double Strike Lv 13, Shield Swing Lv 09, Charge Lv 06


    Passive: Shield Mastery Lv 15, Protect Lv 08, Magic Defense Lv 06


    Improvement Points: 123


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "Hmm, this one is turning into a pretty defensive ss¡­ It isn''t bad, actually," Aion thought. "I wonder if I evolve it, that protection can be offered to others¡­"


    It was weird, but even the Pdin ss could use magic. They were all defensive spells, though. Protect increased Aion''s defense against physical attacks and Magic Defense created a thickyer of energy around the shield to decrease the effects of magic attacks. He could only use on himself, though.


    It wille with a high cost, but Aion could counter that using the improvement points. That way, he might be able to offer his mother that much protection all the time. The only problem was that Aion could only use the bones of the monsters of the dungeon to refine the sword and shield¡­ It might take a while using normal means.


    While Aion was thinking about that, he returned home and noticed that another visitor had shown up at his house. There were only some horses in front of it¡­ Was it a coincidence that such a thing happened when he began to train using another ss? Regardless, when Aion reached his office, he found a man wearing some fancy clothes talking with his mother. Artemisia had a scroll on her head and a sigil.


    "Aion¡­ This man here is a messenger of the Histart family," Artemisia said while forcing a smile. "They wrote a letter for you."


    "It is a pleasure to meet you, my lord," the messenger said.


    "Hmm, is that so¡­" Aion said when he received the letter.


    Aion could imagine the contents of the letter. The Histart family was one that began to make a fortune around one hundred years ago, thanks to the discovery of some mines in their territory. They exercised a lot of influence over the kingdom, and over the years, they bought manynds from other families.


    Still, instead of offering some money to buy thends that Aion got. They were asking for it with the excuse that it would be easier to defend if thends were split among the families that protect that border¡­ naturally, that was bullshit.  Aion''s fame was already spreading in the Rosberg kingdom, and they wouldn''t do something half-assed for the time being, such as trying to take back only thends they lost. Besides, there wasn''t much to gain on the border aside from the dungeon, and Aion would defend that. So, he was the only one who would have to fight and his territory.


    Truth to be told, Aion considered the possibility of literally telling their messenger to fuck off and pass the same message to his masters, but he decided to be cordial for once. They maybe will change their minds and pay him arge sum.


    "Tell your masters that I won''t¡­ Donate thosends, but they can be bought if they want," Aion dered. "Everything south of the dungeon is up for sale if they are interested."


    "Certainly, my lord," the messenger said. "Have a wonderful day, mydy, my lord."


    Aion expected that the messenger would insist, but he didn''t, and he left in a hurry. Aion watched things from the window of his office and saw the messenger and his guards leaving the city. It was tough, the life of a messenger.


    "I thought you were going to hit the messenger to make a point to their masters," Artemisia said.


    "Mom¡­ Do I look that violent and unreasonable to you?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "No, but I always thought that you disliked the way nobles act, and that letter¡­" Artemisia replied.


    "That is true¡­ I dislike their way of doing things, but I can''t close business opportunities by letting my blood rush to the head," Aion said. "Allocating troops or anything simr to the southern part of the terrain will be difficult, so selling thatnd won''t make a difference, and while in the North we will face the same issues, we need a direct and free route to the ocean."


    "Even if we don''t have a port or ships?" Artemisia asked.

 Chapter 93 Obstacle

    "Soon, we will have since the gems of the monsters are pretty and valuable, and mine are more valuable since they are wless and never get any damage when taking them from the bodies of the monsters," Aion replied. "Other families will want to obtain them and offer products instead of gold alone, and they will use ships for that."


    "You really thought things through¡­" Artemisia said. "You need to use that brain of yours to find a girlfriend as soon as possible.".


    Just as Aion had predicted, over the next few weeks, he received letters from all kinds of people who wanted to do business with him. Nobles, merchants, mages¡­ he answered a lot of letters, but he only epted a few proposals since his territory didn''t need much, and he mainly wanted gold. While he was answering one of those, Rarth showed up at his office.


    "Master Aion, we found a problem," Rarth said. "There is a huge rock blocking the path of the channel. Digging won''t solve the problem since it is too big."


    The people of the Rosberg kingdom called their leaders or bosses masters¡­ Even when they never taught them anything. Aion felt weird being called like that, but he couldn''t, or perhaps he shouldn''t try to correct the way of life of other people when they weren''t doing anything bad.


    "Let''s take a look at it," Aion said.


    Aion made Rarth and the others dig the channel through the shortest path possible to the town, so it wasn''t surprising that they would find some obstacles. In any case, Aion didn''t pay much attentiontely to the channel, but he was surprised to see that Rarth and his friends managed to finish one-third of the channel in just six months. In any case, they found arge rock and dug around, but it seemed that they only uncovered the top of the rock, even though the channel was three meters deep¡­


    "Digging around truly won''t solve the problem¡­ A rock this big can''t be moved using normal means," Aion said.


    Aion couldn''t move a rock that big with his magic¡­ at least not directly. After changing his ss to Necromancer and then summoning the magic staff, Aion touched the boulder and then began to focus. Ice began to cover the whole thing, and thanks to that. He managed to finally learn how big that thing was¡­ it was at least fifty meters tall and thirty long¡­ too big to even be moved¡­ Despite that, Aion managed to cover the whole boulder with his magic and made the ground tremble while he was trying to make that emerge from the ground. Using so much mana at once made Aion feel a terrible headache, but it soon disappeared. He was used to using all his mana while he was filling the wells of the town.


    After not so long, Rarth and the others saw that rock floating and being moved to the side of the area, but not too far away¡­ the idea that they picked a fight with someone that could do that made them sweat cold.


    Aion managed to use eighty percent of his mana to make the whole boulder get out of the way, but the problem wasn''t over yet. Now the channel had a massive hole around it. Aion meditated for a while to recover his mana and then covered the whole by creating earth with magic.


    "... We are grateful for the help, master," Rarth said.


    "Don''t mention it," Aion said. "I guess we can use that huge boulder to make the bricks for the bridge. It might be a bit too soon for that, but I guess I will make them already."


    Whenever Aion used the Necromancer ss, he felt his body getting heavy since he didn''t have a single point in endurance and strength. However, in exchange for that, he managed to make ice saw, make it spin, and then cut the rock into numerous pieces until only a massive pile of bricks above each other was ready to be used.


    "Call me again if you find another problem," Aion said.


    "Yes, sir," Rarth asked.


    Aion thought of asking about what happened to master, but he decided to leave that alone. While he was heading home, Aion saw a group of horses crossing the gate and he recalled those from a few weeks ago¡­ the messenger was back.


    "I hope they won''te to bother me again with their nonsense," Aion said.


    When Aion got home and approached the office, he heard a deep sigh. When he opened the door, he found a tired Artemisia and a nervous messenger. Aion heard that it was normal for messengers in times of war to be killed when they were sent to other nations, but only to other nations, so his apprehension seemed a bit misguided.


    Artemisia didn''t say anything, she only passed the letter to Aion, and he began to read it. Essentially, they wrote that they could offer him one hundred gold coins, and that was their final answer, if he didn''t ept, they would report to the king that he wasn''t managing thends properly and ask him to hand those over for the development of the kingdom¡­ they sure had some balls. Apparently, they didn''t think that Aion wouldn''t invade theirnds and trash things around since they were supposed to be allies.


    "Tell your masters this: you guys are lucky that my mother was around when I sent this message, so I am minding mynguage. I will only say this: fuck off!" Aion said.


    "... Yes, my lord," The messenger said and then left in a hurry.


    Aion was pretty sure that he wouldn''t say the exact same words. Regardless, while Aion considered attacking those guys for saying nonsense, that would probably be too much. He had to be smarter than that.


    "The reports that you asked for a few months ago are ready, Aion," Artemisia said with a cold smile. "About the low lives of this kingdom. The timing is good to put them to good use, don''t you think?"


    "Yes¡­ your smile is scaring me, though," Aion said.


    "That is because I recalled how life in the castle was¡­ we had to do a lot of things behind the scenes¡­" Artemisia said.

 Chapter 94 Payback

    Artemisia could be really scary when she needed to be¡­ Aion thought that his mother was like a pure and selfless angel since she epted ten years in prison withoutining. Still, she once was a princess of a kingdom that waged war against many kingdoms. She knew a thing or two about how things work in that kind of society.


    Regardless, it seemed that the territories on the borders weren''t that well-watched by the king and his loyal subjects that much. They would rather send spies beyond the borders and look away at the activities of the people guarding the borders. Thanks to that, they were ignoring severalws that the king had enforced to make the realm look better¡­ like kids can''t be ves, they can''t sell war prisoners as ves, capture people of other kingdoms and sell them as ves, or make people who have too many debts stay as ves for more than a year¡­


    "It almost looks like everything is allowed here with some basic restrictions¡­" Aion thought while reading the reports.


    "You thought that things were supposed to be different?" Artemisia asked. "I guess you are still a child when ites to politics and economy¡­ my homnd did the same for many years, so I can''t talk on the moral high ground, but suchws only apply to those who don''t have money or influence over the kingdom. There is no one out there who is supposed to maintain thosews to be followed, and no one is brave enough to denounce those activities since it is impossible to tell who is a friend and ally of the rich."


    That was the same thing on Earth¡­ to some extent. As long as you are on the ''right'' side, you can escape even after doing some nasty things¡­ Regardless, themerce on those territories was pretty intense, and some of the nobles even had raiders that attacked foreignnds to capture people and sell them as ves. Children were the easiest and mostmon targets¡­ that thought alone made Aion''s eyes be ice cold.


    "The same thing happens in the capital¡­ in the slums, the guards rarely investigate anything," Aion said. "While I never confirmed that, it wouldn''t surprise if the high-ss area they have a lot of ves."


    "What were you doing in the slums?" Artemisia asked.


    "I got lost a few times and ended up there¡­" Aion replied. "Putting that aside, we can expect a massive blow to their economy if I attack the ces where they sell ves. Considering that the reputation of this territory is improving, some will try to look for work here before making money to return to their homes."


    "I don''t think you have the skills to do that¡­ you should hire someone," Artemisia said.


    "We can''t trust anyone to do that kind of this, and we are basically thest members of the Mileris kingdom¡­ the people here will never see us as one of them," Aion said. "Besides, we can''t afford to have some loose ends that can do anything for money. Also, it will be better if I do something before the messenger returns."


    ? Artemisia could only nod, if Aion took his time, then the other lords would conclude that he was involved, but if he did before they learned about it, it wouldn''t make any sense.


    "All right¡­ just be careful. I will try to handle the situation here and prevent people from knowing that you aren''t around," Artemisia said.


    Aion nodded and went to pack some things. As usual, he was nning to leave only after dinner just to be safe. It will be hard to travel faster than horses in the Necromancer ss. Aion probably could fly using magic, though, so he would have the chance to leave his death knights as guards. However, using magic was a big no on that mission since it would connect him and his mother to the whole thing¡­


    When night came, and after having dinner, Aion left the house while using Furtivity. As usual, he left the area without being noticed that easily. After that, Aion began to run with all his might while equipped with the Monk ss. That one had a lot of stamina, and Aion also could use Dash with it.


    "Well, fortunately, I just have three ces to attack¡­" Aion thought while crossing the darkness of the night.


    In any other situation, Aion would focus on leaving the other families alone since he had work to do in his territory, and even he could keep hunting in the dungeon¡­ that would be more efficient, but then again, he was expecting to get more workers and allies on his territory. He couldn''t count only on the death knights that could only exist while he was using the ss. Besides, he needed to keep that kind of people busy, otherwise, they will do annoying things and get on his way agsin and again¡­


    In any case, Aion didn''t feel any pain or exhaustion even after running through the night. Around three hours ago, he passed through a camp, and he avoided that one since it seemed like the camp of the travelers. Aion kept running through the day, but closer to the border and avoiding the roads.


    Since he was only keeping the pace where he was only using enough stamina to recover while moving, Aion reached the border between his territory and the next around eight in the morning. The territory of that family was two times bigger than his, and Aion assumed that the messenger was going to return in three more days. So, he had three days to do what he needed¡­


    When the sun was setting, Aion had already seen around five viges¡­ that territory sure had a lot of those and many people. Regardless, after seeing some other viges, Aion reached his first destination at midnight. Instead of invading the town, though. He stopped to heal his feet filled with calluses¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 95 Invasion

    While Aion was resting, he wondered if the kingdoms that waged war against his mother''s homnd truly killed all of them and only left her alone¡­ from many angles, exterminating anything was a pretty bad idea, even more so when the targets can use magic that no one else can¡­


    Still, many people hated Artemisia and the people of her kingdom, and those with power probably would lose their minds if they learned that their homnds were keeping them alive. Still, ten years had passed¡­ not many of those should be in the hands of the ve trader unless¡­


    "I can''t think like that¡­ I can''t assume those things, and I need to focus on something else," Aion thought.


    Aion had a lot to do. Invade the main town of that territory, look for the ve traders, beat senseless anyone close to them to make them unable to do anything for many days, free the ves, and cause even more problems to them, just for the fun of it.


    "The next few days will be pretty intense¡­" Aion thought.


    When Aion had rested enough, he approached the walls of the town and confirmed that the number of guards there was extremely low. They weren''t even moving. They were even worse than the guards on Aion''s territory since they hadn''t had a fight in a long while¡­ at least not one where they had to defend their town.


    In any case, the gates were closed, so Aion would have to jump over the walls. The yer ss wasn''t at a level where Aion had enough strength to jump over ten meters tall walls. So, Aion used the Berserker ss to jump, and while he was in the air, he changed to yer and then used Furtivity. In the end, jumped so high and fast that he almostnded on the top of a warehouse. The guards nearby didn''t notice him¡­


    The impact of Aion''snding was also minimal since hended and soon rolled on the ground. His legs hurt a bit since he didn''t have that much endurance in the ss.


    "Let''s see, if I were a piece of shit, where would I try to make business?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Although Artemisia managed to gather information about themerce of ves, she couldn''t get more Intel without making suspicious moves, so Aion had to look for the ve market himself. Fortunately, those who have things to hide always do their shady business in the middle of the night.


    Aion climbed some houses and took a good look around. The town was only slightly bigger than his, and it didn''t have enough room to have things like slums, so every building had a purpose. With that in mind, it became even more clear that the lord of that ce was fully aware of themerce of ves, and to prevent problems, Aion assumed that he would have two options: either let the ve market be close to his home or as far away as possible. Aion had never heard of someone being punished for not following thews when it came to very, so he assumed that the first option was the correct one.


    Aion approached the central part of the town and confirmed that guards were patrolling around. It was suspicious¡­ they only needed to patrol the mansion of the lord¡­ Aion looked around again, and he found many warehouses. It was a weird ce to build them, but it would be easy to guard on the central part of the town. With that in mind, only two guards were guarding the lord''s mansion.


    "I really can''t afford to make mistakes here, so they will have to suffer a bit," Aion thought as he approached a pair of guards.


    When both of them stopped to check an alley, Aion jumped behind them, and when they turned around, Aion punched them in the face. Aion felt their noses breaking, and then they began to fall, but Aion grabbed them by the neck.


    Aion looked around and then dragged them to the dark alley. After that, he threw them on the ground since they weren''t wearing any armor. Aion grabbed their swords and wondered what he should do¡­ If he melts them to some extent, then he could use those like handcuffs. He decided to use that and stuck their legs on the ground. Once the swords melted a bit, he cooled them down with ice magic¡­ It looked like something powerful melted those.


    "This will take too long. I can''t knock down all the guards like this," Aion thought.


    Aion drew his sword and began to cut the clothes of the guards and used them as ropes to close their mouths and stop their arms. It seemed like a better idea to do that¡­ No one will find those guys until morning.


    Before the other guards could notice that some of them had disappeared, Aion moved fast to ambush them as well, and he did exactly that for one hour. Until he noticed three men leaving a random warehouse behind the mansion of the lord¡­ He clicked his tongue when he saw them looking around and searching for the guards. That made them look suspicious¡­


    Aion could see them armed with swords, but they hadn''t armor as well. They began to look around for the guards, and Aion decided to attack them before something happened because he was curious about the ce they came from.


    It only was for a moment, but when they saw a cloaked figure charge at them, they touched their swords, but they only managed to do that¡­ Aion hit one with his hammer and the other with a kick. Both on the stomach and the pain made them faint¡­ Thest one got hit in the face when Aion threw his weapon. It was fortunate that the warrior ss wasn''t at a high level. Otherwise, the head would have been smashed¡­ after throwing them on the dark alley, Aion went to investigate the suspicious warehouse.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 96 What Defines Me

    Time was of the essence, so Aion hurried to the warehouse, he unlocked the entrance door by using earth magic on the locked gates, and then he lit the interior with fire magic. Much to Aion''s surprise, he only found some big bags filled with grains¡­ Still, no one would need weapons to check a warehouse like that. Even more so when guards were patrolling around.


    After looking around for a while, Aion found a hidden entrance behind somerge bags of grains. It was locked as well, but Aion unlocked it with ease. After going down some stairs, Aion began to feel a powerful smell of piss and shit. Everything was quite dark below, but eventually, Aion saw the light of a torch illuminating the basement of the warehouse, and as expected, he found some cages there as well.


    "What a depressing ce¡­" Aion thought. "With this smell and darkness, the mind of anyone would erode after a while¡­ the people here sure know how to mentally torment their prisoners."


    Aion saw some shadows in the corner of the cages, and it looked like they were sleeping while sitting in the corner. Some of them seemed humanoid, and others not so much. There were monsters there as well, the creatures were from the same species, and they looked like tigers, but their fur was orange with red stripes. They had green eyes, but they looked pretty vicious, even though the monsters had been weakened.


    "I guess they are rare magic beasts¡­" Aion thought. "They might be useful, but can I even tame them here?"


    He probably could, but Aion would have to take the other prisoners first. Along the way, Aion thought of what he should do regarding how the ves should escape. Just opening the bars of the cells won''t do¡­ they will have to cross dozens of kilometers while being pursued. They didn''t know what to do or where to go as well¡­ If they heard about Aion''s territory, they might head there, but it won''t be easy¡­ things will be even moreplicated for the others further south.


    "I guess I will really need the help of these guys¡­" Aion thought while looking at the red tigers. "Come to think of it. If the king hears about this incident, he will probably think that these guys are too ipetent to manage morend¡­ not like I am nning to give up even if he gives the order to split thend."


    Aion headed to where the prisoners were. At that point in time, most of them were awake, so using magic in front of them was too risky. Instead of that, they opened a hole big enough for them to leave by bending the metal bars. That much strength could easily kill a person, so they flinched.


    "Go upstairs and take this," Aion said, trying to make his voice rougher and then passing a bag to the prisoner. "I will free the others and help you all escape. Not everyone in this kingdom is your enemy."


    The prisoner hesitated, but then the thin man felt the smell of cooked meat and fruits in the bag. Something like that had never happened before and made their escape together, seemed like a random and weird way to torture them. Still, that guy hesitated¡­ Aion didn''t have all the time of the day, so he dropped the bag in front of him and then went to open the other cells.


    When only the cells of the monsters were left, a few of the prisoners had left already, but some others were still hesitating. Still, they began leaving when they saw Aion opening the cell of a monster as well.


    "I should have practiced my grave voice to look more convincing¡­ let''s see¡­ WHERE IS SHE?!" Aion said, trying to mimic a dark armored vignte. "Yep, it isn''t pretty close to the real deal."


    Even while weakened, the monster got up to attack Aion, but the creature stopped when he threw a huge chunk of meat to the creature. Even in that state, the monster grabbed the meat and began to bite it furiously. At the same time, Aion used his whip to tame the creature¡­ Although he didn''t cause much damage, the skill worked on the first try.


    You have sessfully tamed a Scarlet Tiger.


    "Scarlet Tiger¡­ is that truly their name?" Aion frowned. "Anyway, are they that dump to drop their guard while they are eating and let the skill work that well, or has this creature noticed that I am an ally?"


    It was hard to say¡­ Regardless, Aion had work to do, and he couldn''t let the prisoners escape by themselves, so he hurried to free and tame the other monsters. After that, Aion used the necromancer ss to summon the heavy fists death knight. Thanks to that, Aion realized that the tamed monsters didn''t have the same restrictions as the undead ones¡­ that was something he could wonder aboutter.


    When Aion went upstairs, the prisoners were still waiting for a chance to leave. Aion had locked the entrance gate so that it couldn''t have been helped¡­


    "Follow this guy. He will lead you to somewhere safe," Aion said while pointing to the armored heavy fists. "He will protect you as well for a few days. Meanwhile, I will run in the opposite direction and lure the enemies to chase me. Use that chance to leave this territory."


    "... Who are you?" One of the prisoners asked.


    "...it''s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me..." Aion said.


    After that, Aion died of cringeness overload¡­ as expected, mimicking the dark knight two times on the same night was too much even for him. In any case, the Scarlet tigers began to melt the entrance of the warehouse and then headed to the southern part alongside Aion to raise some havoc. Meanwhile, the prisoners and the death knight headed to the northern part of the town while using the darkness as cover¡­

 Chapter 97 Flying

    Aion didn''t find much resistance along the way until he reached the southern gate¡­ as expected, the people of that town didn''t suffer enough over the years, and now their guard was low as it could be¡­ Regardless, Aion reached the southern gate and made the Scarlet Tigers bombard the gate with their powerful methrower. They were fast and could use magic on that level¡­ he couldn''t have asked for better pets.


    The gate fell insanely fast, to the point that the few guards on the walls didn''t have time to react. Aion jumped on the back of one of the tigers and then made them run toward the south at moderate speed to make sure that some of the guards that he didn''t knock down would chase him. That will improve the chances of the prisoners having an easier time leaving the town.


    After a couple of minutes, Aion confirmed that some guards riding horses began to chase him. They had rapid-fire crossbows, so they tried to hit him from a long distance¡­ Still, the  Scarlet Tigers sped up and avoided the attack.


    Aion saw a small forest ahead, it seemed like a good ce to lose the enemies, but that wasn''t his goal at the moment¡­ it was annoying that he couldn''t check the situation with his death knight. Still, it was clear that he needed to buy some extra time.


    With that in mind, Aion made the Scarlet Tigers turn around and then fire Fireballs at the legs of the horses. They missed, but that was Aion''s intention from the beginning¡­ the impact on the ground, the horses panic and move around uncontrobly until their riders begin to fall. The second wave of horses made the horses run in all directions¡­


    Aion achieved his goal and then saw an evenrger group of riders leaving the town¡­ they sure didn''t want to let the Scarlet Tigers escape. In any case, Aion made the monsters run south faster than before. With that many guards chasing him, it became clear that the others would have an easy time running away.


    "Unlike Caelis, that guy isn''t that famous, and since I never showed him until now, his identity will remain a secret," Aion thought.


    Aion allowed the enemies to chase him for a few hours, but one hour before sunrise, he made the monsters increase their speed while he was heading southwest¡­ that way, the enemies might think that he was from the Rosberg kingdom.


    "Unless theye up with some crazy lie, they won''t rally the whole kingdom to start a war over this," Aion thought. "Besides, the king spies will inform him of the truth¡­ that they lost ves for theircency. Let''s see how he will y his cards after that¡­"


    Although he stopped to give them meat now and then, the Scarlet Tigers were still a bit underweight, so they got exhausted after not so long. Aion only wanted to rest after they found the next target, so he decided to create an ice tform and fly. Since he didn''t notice the dark knight getting much of his mana, that would be fine.


    "I see¡­ so this is how a B movie viin feels like," Aion said while patting the head of the scarlet tigers that were resting on hisp. "Putting that aside, the number of ves in that prison was quite small¡­ I don''t know how you guys reproduce, but I assumed that they would try to make as many of you to sell¡­ I guess I can''t expect much for retard nobles and their minions."


    Although he said that, Aion decided to keep his guard up and see what would happen with caution¡­ He would need several things to make that work, though. Like informants and spies¡­ finding those will be hard when he barely has any soldiers. Hopefully, that semi-revenge trip won''t be a total waste of time, and some of the prisoners will join his camp.


    Regardless, while Aion could only fly for half an hour on the ice tform, he managed to cross dozens of kilometers since it could fly as fast as his real magic projectiles. Thanks to that, he found his next target before noon. It was another walled¡­ base of a noble family. Still, it was a city this time¡­ things will beplicated now.


    "Well, I need to rest for the time being," Aion said while looking around and finding a dense grove to hide. "I can worry about thister."


    Afternding, Aion walked around the grove and confirmed that people from the city rarelye there, but he still decided to make some pitfalls on the possible paths that people might use if they approached. Aion was quite the heavy sleeper since he was used to staying awake for more than twenty hours straight¡­


    In the end, no one approached, and Aion and his tigers slept until sunset. While filling his belly with some meat, Aion wondered how he should proceed. His death knight still was working escorting the prisoners, so Aion couldn''t change his ss. It seemed like flying above the city and thennding somewhere was his best option again¡­


    "I guess you guys will stay behind¡­ I can''t let the enemies know that I used you guys here¡­ even though they will assume that I was the attacker as well," Aion said to the scarlet tigers. "The distance between targets isn''t something that normal people could cross on a single day, but¡­ Maybe I should use you guys to create some distractions."


    Most people used ravens tomunicate over long distances, but Aion couldn''t discard the possibility that some people had magic items that could do that for them a lot faster. So, there was a chance that the enemies of that city would be waiting for him. Still, if Aion makes the scarlet tigers attack, they will think that he is outside waiting for his chance to invade¡­


    "You guys should attack that gave around midnight¡­ I hope I can trust your sense of time¡­" Aion said.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 98 Detection

    As nned, Aion flew above the city and slowly fell into one of the many dark alleys of the ce. Seriously, Aion couldn''t help but sigh¡­ why did people back in the day and even now allow so many dark alleys to exist? It is the perfect ce for low-lives to do their low-life business¡­ It was aplicated feeling since Aion was using a lot of themtely.


    It was early in the evening, and a lot of people were still around, so Aion couldn''t move freely without risking being seen. Aion''s only option was to put the experience he got while ying that famous hiding and climbing game and cross the city using the roof of the buildings around.


    "This ce is too damn big¡­ I bet I will find more prisoners here, and the damage will be higher, but¡­ leaving will be hard," Aion thought. "Come to think of it, that messenger worked for the family that lives here¡­ what was their name again? In any case, this city is at least five times bigger than mine, and they still had the nerve to ask for territory for free¡­"


    It was interesting to see the city at night from slightly above¡­ Aion could see some peopleing and going, and despite that, they never even tried to look above. The lights of the city could only spread so far, so they never tried to look at the darkness, and Aion used that to his favor¡­  and eventually reached the central part of the city.


    Instead of warehouses, Aion found some fancy houses. They were made of high-quality bricks. Even the roads were using bricks differently than usual. That area had many mines, so they were using those materials to stand out. Regardless, it didn''t look like Aion would find a prison there.


    "Maybe I should keep an eye on this area for a while¡­ see if anyone suspicious wille and go and then follow them," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Although he said to his mother that he could do it, Aion realized that he didn''t have enough skills for that kind of job¡­ he wasn''t in a hurry since his attack was only going to start around midnight. Still, the better he finds his destination, the better.


    After three hours, Aion realized that he really needed to level up the yer and Archer sses. Perhaps they would help him with that kind of work in the future. He thought of that because he didn''t make any progress in that short window of time.


    "I need to attack this ce tonight, and I can''t afford to waste any time¡­ but with my skills¡­" Aion thought while wondering what else he could do. "I feel like I letting the system do too much for me¡­"


    Aion didn''t want to let anyone see him using magic, but perhaps he could do something to deal with that problem using his mother''s family magic. He recalled a few days ago the feeling that he had of control and familiarity when he controlled that massive boulder¡­ he just had to do something simr.


    "I doubt that my mana can cover the entire city, but it is worth the try, I can recover it in half an hour and then test it on other areas," Aion thought as hended on a dark alley and then began to concentrate while touching the ground.


    Instead of doing the whole process of giving his shape to his mana outside his body and then using his feelings to transform it, Aion just made it cover the ground of the area. All of a sudden, he felt the footsteps of many people like they were walking in the palm of his hands. He stopped for a moment since he imagined that some mages might notice his mana. While he felt some magic presence that had a lot of it, they didn''t react in any way¡­


    "Come to think of it. Mages are usually known for their power and tactical use in battles, not for their ability to track enemies¡­" Aion thought while recalling a book that mentioned the subjects that students had in the magic school.


    Aion tried again, and this time, he tried to look for presences below¡­ it was good that he currently had a buildpletely focused on magic power. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have pulled that off. His mana calmly pierced the ground and moved downward, but he found nothing within a two kilometers radius¡­ the central area of the city didn''t have what he was looking for.


    Aside from the central area, the eastern side of the city looked the most suspicious one¡­ since it was the area that had most of the warehouses. Aion found some guards there as well. So, after recovering his mana, Aion did the same thing, made his mana prate the ground¡­ it didn''t take long, and he got a result. There are some small movements underground¡­


    "I guess I found a lot of people living underground¡­ but I can''t tell where the entrance to those locations is¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion didn''t have much time left before the Scarlet Tigers started the attack¡­ if they attacked, actually. It didn''t seem like Aion had any other choice but to use his magic. Fortunately, he knew how to leave the least few vestiges as possible.


    After approaching the area above the prison that he found, Aion created an ice spear and then made it spin before it reached the ground. Some noise was made, but it was only noticeable by people that were really close by, like a few meters away from Aion. The spear was that sharp, and it was spinning that fast, so the ground didn''t show much resistance.


    Despite that, Aion had to prevent the dust and sand that from spreading around. He sealed those inside some earth bricks that he made and then hid in the back of the dark alley. Anyone who finds thatter will only find some abandoned bricks once Aion seals the hole with his own magic. Once the hole was five meters deep, Aion stopped moving since he could feel some presence below moving. It wasn''t like the guards had noticed something, but their numbers were decent¡­ at least ten of them.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 99 Prisoner

    Aion waited for a while, standing above the roof of one warehouse facing North. Until he noticed some shes of lighting from there and then some noise. The Scarlet tigers did their job and will continue doing¡­ Come to think of it, Aion didn''t know when they should stop. He will have to see them for his orders to work. That was the only weakness of the skill.


    "Time to hurry up¡­" Aion thought, and then he jumped.


    Aion will make it do with the little strength he had in that ss without using magic. In the blink of an eye, he finished the hole and jumped on it. As soon as that happened, he found himself surrounded by ten or so guards. They either were a lot more cautious than the other assholes, or they have some pretty valuable things in there.


    Five of the guards tried to stab Aion with their swords, but then he used Inner Force and lowered his stance, and charged into space between the swords. His magic staff hit the stomach of one of the guards and then sent him flying until his back was hit against one of the cells. Before that could even happen, Aion was already hitting the face of another guard with his weapon. Even without much strength, Inner Force increased his attack power too much, so Aion had to slow down¡­


    Aion was too fast for the likes of mere guards. Thanks to that, all of the others hesitated. Some of them even ran toward the entrance of the ce¡­ They needed reinforcements and to surround the ce. Still, Aion jumped toward them. Hitting the back of one of them and grabbing the head of two others, making their skulls collide against the walls.


    The guards apparently didn''t have much training¡­ They were only good at hitting helpless ves¡­ That was a letdown. Aion felt like he should end things quickly with magic, but he couldn''t show more. Otherwise, they would think that he opened the hole using magic¡­ It would be a lot simpler if Aion could just kill them. Unfortunately, he wasn''t that cold-blooded.


    Those five didn''t put much of a fight, and they ended up on the floor as well, with a good part of their faces purple due to Aion''s attacks. Regardless, after such a scene, it was only natural that the prisoners would be wide awake. They looked at the hooded figure, but they couldn''t tell who Aion was.


    "It is your lucky day, I came to free you all," Aion said with his forced rough, and then he saw close to fifty cells. "This is a prettyrge prison¡­"


    Aion didn''t have time to check everyone, so he used Inner Force to break the bars and then tossed to everyone some bags filled with food. As usual, some people were fast to leave the cells, others not so much. Aion was in a hurry, but he stopped that when he saw some prisoners kicking the heads of the guards. They sure had quite the grudge against them¡­


    "You can find something to kickter¡­" Aion said after he grabbed those guys from behind and threw them away. If you have much energy, look for weapons, ropes and food."


    The violent guys didn''t like that Aion stopped them, but they knew better than trying to pick up a fight with someone who was freeing them. They decided to follow Aion''s orders, and then Aion resumed his own things.


    When Aion was about to finish, he found in thest cells some eggs¡­ He sure hoped that they were dragon eggs, but Aion didn''t think that his luck was that great. He was reincarnated once, so probably used all the luck of many lifetimes. Aside from the eggs, in which Aion decided to keep with himself, he found someone locked up in chains attached to the walls¡­ It was probably someone very powerful for the ve traders to go that far to a single ve.


    The prisoner was a man who had gray hair, but he didn''t look old. His hair was gray, and Aion confirmed that his eyes were also gray when he opened them. It looked like he had been starved for a while, but he still had a fierce light in it. Upon taking a close look, Aion also saw that the man had some need marks on his chest¡­ he had been drugged.


    "He is probably from a very far awaynd¡­ I never heard of people with gray hair," Aion thought.


    "Your aura¡­ you are one of them¡­" the man said.


    Aion didn''t like to hear that¡­ he still could be identified since his mother, and he were the only survivors of that magic species¡­ Still, he didn''t feel any malice in his words, and the man didn''t say anything else in order not to alert the others.


    "Free me, and one day I will offer my life to you once I confirm that my people are fine," the man said.


    "I don''t really need your life¡­" Aion said. "Why are you here?"


    "I am one of the few¡­ that still follows the teachings of our god," The man replied.


    He mentioned the god, not the goddess¡­ Artemisia didn''t mention that her people did anything like rituals for the goddess, but others might do that. In any case, that was weird since the god abandoned that world a long time ago, or so the stories say.


    "Please¡­" the man said.


    He didn''t seem like a bad guy, and while he looked strong, Aion felt like it would be better to turn him into a death knight¡­ but...


    Aion decided to help that guy. He seemed like someone knowledgeable, so that mighte in handyter. He opened the cell and tried to destroy the shackles, but Aion felt his power being drained when he did that¡­ It was a magic relic that drained stamina and mana. That was the first time he had seen something like that... it was rather dangerous.

 Chapter 100 Promise

    "The only way to damage it is by using a lot of mana at once on a single point," the gray-haired man said.


    Aion couldn''t change his ss, and he had to use magic¡­ that guy better be usefulter. In any case, he created an ice hammer and made it spin insanely fast before firing at the shackles. It created a loud noise but made them crack like ss. He wanted to keep those shackles, but once they broke, they quickly fell apart. That was another thing, a very weird one that he hadn''t seen before. In any case, he had to investigate itter.


    "You have my thanks,'''' the man said while trying to get up and then wobbling.


    "The drug in your system won''t let you do much for a while," Aion said.


    Aion could help a bit with the Priest ss, but he couldn''t change it. To make things worse, his mother was too busytely to teach him that kind of magic¡­


    "It is fine. If it is just to escape, then I have enough strength," the gray-haired man said. "My name is Sauros Heradins¡­ I assume that you aren''t ready to give your name. So, we should leave this ce immediately."


    Aion went to grab the eggs and wondered if they could be stored in his inventory. He decided to put them nearby once he saw that the other prisoners had found legs and were waiting for him to jump back into the hole. He did exactly that and then helped the others climb, which took a while, but no one approached.


    After that, Aion confirmed that he couldn''t store the eggs in his inventory, so he would have to carry them. It was a bit troublesome, but it couldn''t be helped.


    "We should escape using the eastern side of the city, it seems that the guards are busy on the northern gate," Sauros said.


    "There is no gate in that direction," Aion said while considering using Caelis to create a hole in the wall.


    "I will open a path," Sauros said.


    The guards in the area all moved to the northern path of the city, so they didn''t find any obstacles along the way. The inhabitants were smart enough not to leave their houses in case of an Invasion since that would cause problems. That helped as well, but in the end, the group ended up finding thirty meters tall walls blocking their path. It was at least ten meters wide as well, so perhaps not even Caelis would break it as fast as necessary.


    Still, Sauros stepped forward like he couldn''t even see the wall as a problem. Eventually, he touched it, and Aion felt his aura changing¡­ before long, arge path of the wall turned to dust, and then a clear path was open before them. That was a type of magic that Aion had never heard of before. Did it turn the walls into sand by deconstructing the particles? It made it return in time or made the time move forward to a point where the wall was just dust and sand? He couldn''t tell¡­


    "We need to move. The enemies will soon notice this¡­ there is a ce in the North where we can take shelter. The leaders of that ce won''t show prejudice at us," Sauros said.


    Although they were scared of him, those words calmed down everyone. Aion didn''t know if it was convenient or suspicious that he knew of his territory¡­ Regardless, he didn''t think that he would reach it before him.


    "I will circle around the city and join up with my allies," Aion said. "We will run in the opposite direction, so use that chance to put some distance between you and any pursuers."


    "Understood. I wish you good luck, young warrior," Sauros said.


    Sauros didn''t seem older than twenty, so his words seemed condescending. Still, considering that he might be a person that inherited the traits of someone who mutated, he probably was much older. In any case, Aion didn''t have time to waste, so he began to run, and when he was away enough, he began to fly using his magic.


    Once he was high enough to see the Scarlet Tigers, Aion gave them the order to move to the west. Their speed was moderate, but in the end, Aion didn''t see anyone giving chase to the monsters¡­ it looked like the guards had been warned about that.


    "It can''t be helped¡­ I will use them to melt the walls a bit," Aion thought.


    The scarlet tigers began to use methrowers on the walls, and while they didn''t cause much damage at first, they eventually began to melt, and then the guards began to chase them and use bows and bolts.


    "I guess this is enough¡­" Aion thought after two hours. "I don''t know if my final target was alerted as well, but I need to move."


    Aion made the monsters head west and then South. That will be enough to distract the enemies for a few hours¡­ Although the next target was in a small town, Aion didn''t drop his guard. The second target was probably the hardest, but thest one would have more time to prepare.


    Aion wondered if he should fly to the next target as soon as possible and try to do something in the middle of the day and before they are warned or if he should try to rest a bit¡­ since he didn''t use his body that much, he was fine. Even his mind was also fine since he didn''t use his mana all at once.


    In the end, Aion decided to hurry up. After taking a few breaks, he reached his destination¡­ it was a port town, but he didn''t expect to see ves being sold in the open and in the middle of the day, as if they were like the other objects being sold¡­ he also arrived when some ships approached, and some pirates began to attack.

 Chapter 101 Lineage

    "It seems I showed up at one hell of a time," Aion thought.


    The pirates arrived and headed to the ve market. Those who tried to run with ves were attacked by them with Water Arrows¡­ Aion didn''t think that it was magic since all of them were used in the same way. He assumed that it was an inherited mutation trait¡­ still, it seemed like pirates were using magic, so it was indeed a weird show to see.


    "The arrows are¡­ easily piercing the bodies," Aion thought. "The pirates don''t look different from humans, though. I guess their mutation affected their spirits and mana."


    A lot of guards began toe from the city, armed with rapid-fire crossbows. That was a weird weapon to have all the time. Unless they are often attacked by pirates.


    Aion approached a bit and noticed that the ves weren''t in a terrible physical condition, so he concluded that they had been captured pretty recently and the pirates were their friends since they weren''t targeted and jumped to the ships without hesitation.


    "I can''t assume everything¡­ they might be pirates as well," Aion thought.


    In any case, Aion shouldn''t join such a fierce fight like that. While looking the most suspicious of the parties, he certainly would be the target of all of them. Instead of that, he just observed until he ran out of mana and then hid on a random hill and watched things from afar.


    The fightsted for a while, and both sides fought like madmen. A lot of people died, but none of them hesitated. Aion wondered why he had never heard or read about pirates¡­ while fighting like that, they were bound to be famous.


    The ve market had around fifty ves, and the pirates lost at least half of that, but they kept going until the guards of the port town began to retreat without any other choice. While they were a bit different, Aion thought that they were simr to Vikings¡­ magic Vikings.


    "Anyway¡­ it looks like I wasted my time here, but this knowledge might be useful in the future," Aion thought.


    Aion could rest for a while, but he decided to catch up to the groups and make sure that they would be fine. Even now, it didn''t look like the death knight of the heavy fists didn''t suffer any damage, but there were other things that Aion had to consider, like pursuers that only wanted to know where the ves were heading.


    Since he focused only on flying, when night came, Aion found Sauros'' group resting. They were near the border and were hiding behind some hills. While it was cold, they knew that using a bonfire would be too dangerous.


    On the morning of the next day, Aion found the first group already on his territory and only twenty kilometers away from his town. It seemed like a bit too soon to assume that the mission had been a sess, but Aion was too tired to care otherwise.


    "I guess I will make Caelis watch the border, just in case¡­" Aion thought. "In any case, I used a lot of mana, but the ss barely leveled up¡­"


    Necromancer Lv 53


    Health:08/08


    Mana: 964/964


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 151 + 60


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 30


    Speed: 01


    Status: 10


    Necromancer''s Staff Refinement Lv 20


    Bonuses: Magic + 60, Resistance + 30


    Skills: Skeleton Knight Lv 15, Skeleton Archer Lv 10, Skeleton Wizard Lv 20, Death Knight Lv 01 (Power Lv 10, Efficiency Lv 50)


    Passive: Summon Lv 20, Store Lv 10, Undead Recovery Lv 22


    Improvement Points: 06


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 115.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    It looked like leveling up the sses now with training alone will be a lot harder¡­ unless Aion uses the skills that are rted to the sses equipped. With those thoughts in mind, Aion got home and confirmed that nothing had changed during those three days¡­


    "You are already back¡­" Artemisia said, visibly surprised. "I am relieved to see that you are fine, only tired. Did everything go ordingly to your ns?"


    Aion exined what had happened to his mother. The part where he met the gray-haired man and the pirates sure interested her. While she wanted to talk more about them, she decided to let Aion rest first. Aion could do a lot, but he was just eleven¡­ a growing child still needs his sleeping hours.


    Aion woke up with the thought that he had to make his death knights disappear. His mana was still unaltered, so they didn''t fight. At that point in time, the former ves had reached his territory as well¡­ thest thing that he needed was for them to be seen with his death knights.


    After a couple of hours, Aion received the report that some strange individuals had been found. So, Aion sent Jairo and the guards to bring them to the town. Heading there and talking with them himself would look suspicious.


    "Man¡­ this sure is a pain," Aion thought. "I can see why some protagonists of stories go nuts and decide to solve every single thing with violence¡­ while they make enemies left and right, it is a little better than worrying about every single detail."


    If Aion weren''t an adult and he didn''t have to worry about the life of his mother for so long, he probably would have taken such a path as well. Regardless, after a couple of hours, Aion received the word that the first group had arrived.


    "It is a small group, but I suppose that ve traders wouldn''t keep them for so long¡­" Artemisia said while she watched things from the window of the office. "Back to what we were talking about earlier¡­ It seems that the gray-haired man is from a family that has a history like mine. He is one of the leaders of a family of rulers that have been forgotten over the years¡­"

 Chapter 102 Dealing

    Aion never had heard of followers of the god that disappeared¡­ even those that still followed the goddesses were reduced to Artemisia. Still, it didn''t seem like he was a bad person, and he had that feeling when Aion talked with him.


    "Although we never got along, Milleris family and Heradins family always knew about each other''s existence and activities," Artemisia said. "They followed the teachings of the god that disappeared, and thanks to it, they had a fraction of his power¡­ they can control time in numerous ways."


    "That sounds like a powerful ability to have¡­" Aion said.


    "It has its merits and demerits¡­ those who can''t control their power end up having shorter lives, or someday they wake up feeling like they slept for days¡­" Artemisia said.


    "I take it is a hard skill to control¡­ that guy''s aura changed when he used it, so it seems that he can control it in spite of his mana," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    "Considering his fame, I thought that the pirate attack was linked to his disappearance, but I can''t see his people making the business of asking help for pirates," Artemisia said. "That family remains hidden most of the time nowadays, but I think you would benefit from building a good rtionship with him."


    "I think I will proceed with caution since we don''t know what his people might think about who I am," Aion said.


    "Right, they rarely interact with others, so it is hard to say what they think of others, even not of the people withplicated situations like us," Artemisia said. "Putting that aside, I did some research about the eggs, and I didn''t find anything simr to eggs of that size. I also don''t think ve traders would leave dragon eggs in a ce like that. It should have some level of rarity, though."


    "Hmm, is that so¡­ I guess we will have to wait and see what wille out," Aion said.


    "About the scarlet tigers¡­ how did you take them so fast?" Artemisia asked. "Also, since you can''t show them in the open for the time being, we need a ce for them to stay for a few weeks. They are rare, but they can be bought. If you show them at the right time, no one will have enough proof."


    "All right¡­ they areing," Aion said.


    ? Jairo showed up, and he looked pretty proud of himself. Aion imagined that he wouldn''t treat the fugitives well, but it didn''t look like they were that scared or nervous. Regardless, Aion didn''t have much time to waste with Jairo, so it would be better to deal with him as soon as possible.


    "My lord, these group of people were captured when they tried to enter the town," Jairo said. "Some reports said that they entered the territory at some point yesterday."


    "I see," Aion said.


    "I believe that they are ves that escaped from the nearest territory," Jairo said.


    "Why do you think that is the case?" Aion asked.


    "Their clothes, the state of their health, the fact they are walking in a group like this and that they refuse to say where they came from," Jairo said.


    "Is that so? If they are indeed ves, do you think that the people of the neighboring territory is treating them while following the king''sw?" Aion asked.


    "That is¡­" Jairo hesitated in using the lord of the neighboring state.


    "Well, let''s put that aside for now," Aion said. "They said that they aren''t ves on the run, and you say that they are. Do you have any physical proof of that?"


    "They clearly aren''t from this kingdom¡­" Jairo said.


    "So, they are from other kingdoms¡­ are you saying that they are war prisoners turned to ves?" Aion asked.


    "I can''t say for certain¡­" Jairo said.


    "It seems that you aren''t certain of many things," Aion said. "Until they are proven to be anything else, we will treat them as travelers. That being said, what do you people want to do?"


    "... A ce to stay and the chance to have jobs to buy us food," A random fugitive replied.


    "That can be arranged," Aion said. "Still, we don''t have free houses within the walls, and the inns are full. "We can help you guys build some houses outside the walls. I think it would also help you guys to avoid problems since, as you can see, some people are looking at you with troublesome eyes. Is that fine with you?"


    "Yes, sir," The fugitive said.


    Telling someone to do that job and speed up things as soon as possible would take time, so Aion decided to do that himself. At that point in time, Aion had already gotten used to it, but it looked like every single of his actions made people around him frown. His mother was the only exception¡­ receiving fugitives and then building the homes alongside didn''t seem like the thing the people from that world would expect from nobles.


    Regardless, using the bricks of that big rock that he destroyed the other day, Aion built the foundation of many houses, and then using his magic, he created cement, water, and other things necessary to build the houses. Rarth had some knowledge on how to build houses properly, so he came to give a hand, and in no time, on that very same day, five houses were made. While they were simple, that wasn''t something most people would expect to be built in a few hours.


    When ites to magicing from the Mirellis kingdom royal family, most people expected spells of mass destruction, but they only saw Aion using his magic to build things and remove obstacles. That wasn''t something he had nned, but it made a lot of people change his mind regarding his fame¡­


    In any case, on the next day, Aion found some jobs for the fugitives. They were going to properly process the leather that Aion had from the monsters. Two dayster, the second group arrived, but the gray-haired guy had vanished¡­

 Chapter 103 Unwanted Visitors

    "So, he disappearedst night?" Artemisia asked.


    "That is what the others said. I wanted to ask him about what he knew regarding the history of his family since I feel that he has quite the knowledge, but I guess he will pay his debtter," Aion replied. "Mom, do you think that his kind of ability can be learned or only his lineage has that power?"


    "I think that everything is possible, but no one managed to pull that off," Artemisia replied. "Come to think of it, I still have a lot of things to teach you, but we have been too busy as ofte. You didn''t even have time to look for a girlfriend."


    "That talk again¡­ Do you want to be called grandma before turning forty that much?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "Something like that won''t bother me in the least," Artemisia replied.


    Aion was already eleven, and his hormones were starting to affect him again. While that was only natural, he wanted to focus on other things for the next few years. Having a girlfriend around his age would make him feelplicated now. It will still beplicated once he has an adult body, but it will be a lot less. Besides, Aion still wanted to travel the world, and that would beplicated if he made a family before that.


    Anyway, the next few months passed rather smoothly. Much to Aion''s surprise, no one connected the dots between the attacks and liberation of the ves with him. Those who reached his town decided to live there and make some money while they were at it. Aion knew that most of them were going to live once they had enough money, but that was fine. Their work was filling his wallet as well.


    During the next few months, Aion also gave the order for the construction of a port in the terrain that he obtained. Guarding it would be difficult, but he made his scarlet tigers do the Protection there. Speaking of which, after a few months, the eggs hatched and some unexpected creatures came out from it. They were three-tailed, blue cats¡­ Their names were Articirius¡­ Monsters like that are rare even in cold areas and almost extinct in other parts of the world.


    "It is weird that cats came from eggs, but I guess that isn''t the problem here¡­" Aion thought. "Can they even live in this kind of environment for long?"


    Artemisia sure liked them. At some point, it became her hobby to pet them all day. Even though Aion never had been much of an animal lover, from his perspective, they were cute. Still, he was only interested if they could live in that kingdom and if they could grow to protect his mother.


    Information about them wascking, and since Aion couldn''t see their parameters, it was hard to say how strong they were. He still tamed them anyway. Although Aion couldn''t see their parameters, he could sense their mana increasing with each passing day alongside their size. It was hard to know if it was something normal or if it was due to the fact that they were eating monsters'' meat every day.


    Aion was nning to take them to the dungeon someday and test their powers. Considering how much power Aion could obtain by himself and how strong the adventurers were, he didn''t think that they gained as much strength as him by defeating a single monster, but all theories needed to be checked.


    Over the course of those months, some immigrants also moved to Aion''s territory. Apparently, they came from many parts of the kingdom. A few came from the Rosberg kingdom, it was hard to say if they came to keep a watch on him or to do something else, but in the end, Aion could only ept them and act only based on real actions instead of fears.


    More mercenaries and adventurers began to join the guild of the town as well, so things began to get a lot more lively in the town. Instead of postponing that, Aion also selected the best cksmith and made him fix his armor. Since Aion was selling gems to other parts of the kingdom and buying materials from them as well, he managed to improve it while keeping the same design.


    "It doesn''t seem like I am going to have a tough fight any time soon, but it is better to be safe than sorry," Aion thought.


    Recently, Aion has been learning from his mother how to use the elements to use support magic. The main element for healing was water, with that, Aion could revitalize wounds, clean them while removing poison, and even elerate the wound from closing up. He was also practicingte in the night.


    "Oh, man¡­ no matter how many times I do this, I can''t get used to wounding myself," Aion thought. "Even if I don''t have more than a mosquito bite thanks to Pain Resistance, something makes me uneasy about doing this¡­"


    While Aion was acting like a wuss, he suddenly heard a powerful impacting from the room on the side. He jumped from his bed and kicked the door, and dashed with all his might toward his mother''s room. He destroyed that door as well, only to find some corpses on the walls being prated by ice spears. It seemed that Articirius did that¡­ Artemisia had just woken up.


    "Mom! Are you all right?" Aion approached and then asked.


    "Yes¡­ I am¡­" Artemisia said with her eyes wide open. "But their mana is and their appearance¡­"


    Aion couldn''t feel anything from their mana, but the three men on the walls had some traits like his mother¡­ blond long straight hair. Their eyes were green, though. Still, it seemed like they were survivors from her homnd. The real question was how they entered the house and why they hade¡­ the Articirius had the order to only attack those who approach Artemisia with malicious intentions.

 Chapter 104 Ancient Relics

    "Are they from your homnd?" Aion asked. "I couldn''t hold back. I didn''t have time to do so, so recognizing them by their bodies and faces might be a bit problematic. I didn''t expect that something like this would happen..."


    "I¡­ think so¡­ there are survivors, but¡­" Artemisia replied nervously.


    Aion could tell that the servants would soone to check things. He couldn''t let the rumor that people from his mother''s homnd were alive and hade to her room as assassins would. So, he used magic to close the door. Getting rid of the bodies while his mother was there was going to be a problem, so he sent her to his room.


    "You guys did a good job. Follow mom again," Aion said while patting the head of the three Articirius.


    In the end, Aion moved the bodies to his inventory and then cleaned the blood and repaired the walls. When the servants came, he exined to them that some burrs showed up, but they had been dealt with. They didn''t know anyone stronger than Aion, so they believed in his words.


    Aion returned to the room and bit his lips until they began to bleed¡­ he had gotten stronger, but that didn''t help him even a bit to notice the arrival of those three¡­ he truly needed to improve his skills more without relying on the system.


    "Shit¡­ all this management bullshit is making me ck off," Aion thought. "I need to find difficult dungeons to clear to get better materials and experience."


    The problem with that was the fact that it would only help the present and the near future when it came to his mother''s safety, Aion had to consider many other aspects. Not to mention, now he had to investigate why her own people invaded her room like that¡­


    Another problem was the fact that only Artemisia could help Aion with the questions that he had, and bothering her with that would only make her more nervous.


    "Mother is a strong woman¡­ but I guess she didn''t expect to see any of her people again," Aion thought. "Being targeted by them was even worse of a shock¡­"


    Aion couldn''t talk with his skeletons or death knights, so he couldn''t turn the bodies into skeletons and hoped that they could give him some answers. In any case, it was hard to say if the next time, the Articirius would be enough, and Aion couldn''t leave his death knights watching his mother while she slept. She wouldn''t even take naps. It couldn''t be helped, but Aion will have to endure the bear hugs while he sleeps again.


    "Mom, do you have any idea how those guys might have entered your room?" Aion asked the next day while they were having breakfast.


    "... some relics able to bend space exist," Artemisia replied. "I guess they approached like that¡­"


    "They didn''t have anything with them¡­ so, they had an ally with that kind of tool," Aion said. "What would the limitations of those kinds of relics be?"


    "The use probably would have to be on the location he wanted to go, or he had to set the location somehow," Artemisia asked.


    Only a few people knew where Artemisia slept. If the servants had done something like that, then they would have been stupid. It would be too much of a roundabout way. So, the user probably used something like irvoyance. That was another type of ability that Aion had never heard of being used in that world¡­ Still, anyone smart would shout to the world that they could use it.


    "Did you know that such type of magic existed, mom?" Aion asked.


    "I heard that all kinds of relics exist¡­ they are the results of many battles that happened in the past," Artemisia replied. "There were all kinds of rulers in the past with all kinds of treasures. While I don''t know the details since many pages of history have been lost over the years, such weapons were created to protect my empires¡­ I always thought that it was nonsense, but back home, I found some books that mentioned the possibility that the world was on the brink of extinction many times thanks to the relics that people created to rule."


    That wasn''t surprising. In a world where people could mutate and obtain a massive boost in power and crazy skills, it was evident that most people would feel insecure and find ways to protect themselves. Until now, Aion didn''te across any of them, but he should try to find them to avoid problems.


    "Until we find a way to deal with this, I guess you should sleep in my room, I will move your bed to there," Aion said and then sighed.


    "Sorry for bothering you," Artemisia said, forcing a smile. "In any other situation, I would be fine, but against my own people¡­ I was supposed to be d that some of them are alive, but I guess that even they hate me now."


    "Thinking negatively won''t help, mom," Aion said. "The situation is already difficult as it is. There is no need for us to make things harder by thinking like that. Anyway,  don''t think that you will be attacked during the day since you can defend yourself, but the enemies might try anything to surprise you. So, don''t lower your guard and bring those guys with you wherever you go."


    Aion wanted to look for a relic that will prevent that kind of magic in his house, but he didn''t have the connections to do that¡­ only one person could help him with that¡­ his father. Writing a letter about it would be dangerous, heading to the capital now also would be troublesome, even if he returns on the same day¡­ that would raise a lot of questions. Come to think of it, Aion crossed around two hundred kilometers of territory in three days and his mother didn''t say a thing¡­ Was that normal in the world?

 Chapter 105 Return

    In the end, Aion decided to do his research by himself and wait until the opportunity arose to get some relics, but his father never visited his territory in the next months. Around the port of his territory was finished, Aion was already twelve, and Henri''s marriage ceremony was only two weeks away.


    "Sorry, mom¡­ but to avoid that from happening again, I guess you shoulde with me," Aion said. "I can leave the guards behind, but if they are keeping an eye on you, they will eventually find a breach to capture you."


    "Yes¡­ it can''t be helped," Artemisia said. "If it is only for a few weeks, then I will be fine. Your father and the others might find it troublesome if you bring those three with us, though."


    Aion looked at the Articirius¡­ they were grown in thest year enough to make them look like giant cats. They weren''t of the size of the scarlet tigers, but most people would still fear them. Still, Aion won''t be able to stay with his mother all the time, so he has to find a way to keep them with her.


    "I will find a way to solve this problem," Aion said.


    They began to prepare for the trip, and to make their stay in the capital as short as possible, Aion decided to depart only ten days before the ceremony. Honestly, Aion wasn''t in the mood for that kind of event, but it would beplicated to miss that and then go to the marriages of his other brothers.


    In any case, since the attack, Artemisia spent most of her time lost in thought, probably thinking about depressing things. The trip only made her more sullen. Before, she asked Aion every day to go look for a girlfriend, but it had been a while since she did that.


    As one would expect, not many people were waiting for them in the capital. Even though Aion was wearing that same armor in which he used to win the tournament, few people recognized him. People really do have short memories¡­ even though that was convenient for Aion. Still, Aion found the other members of his family in the garden and they received him in a good mood. It was hard for everyone to meet like that¡­ in any case, Henri wasn''t around, he probably would be too busy in the next few days.


    "Come on¡­ you are three years younger¡­ howe you are as tall as me already?" Georges asked and then sighed before offering a handshake.


    "You probably aren''t sleeping enough," Aion said.


    Aion was already 1.7 meters tall. He was at least fifteen centimeters taller than he was at the same age on Earth. While he was growing taller, his muscles still weren''t developing that much. Regardless, that was a matter of little concern to him. It bothered Georges since he also was older and as tall as him¡­


    "Aion, I am going ahead and unpacking some things in our room," Artemisia said.


    "Sure, mom," Aion said. "I will take the heavy stuffter."


    Everyone noticed that Artemisia was a bit down and while she had all the reasons to be. While she wasn''t invited to the ceremony, it was because Henri knew that it would be unpleasant for her to be surrounded by people that didn''t like her lineage. Aion was a bit of a different matter.


    "Are you worried about her safety?" Elio asked. "We heard about that someone invaded her room in the middle of the night and that you killed them, but¡­"


    As expected, the spies of the king took notice of that¡­ it wouldn''t be weird if one of Aion''s servants were a spy¡­ Still, they didn''t catch everything since Aion worked fast to hide the evidence that her mother''s people were still alive.


    "She got surprised since she was attacked while she was sleeping¡­ I guess that would shock anyone," Aion said.


    "You should have asked father to help with the investigation," Philip said. "With his help, you would have found the main perpetrator¡­ if there was one. Still, it is hard to imagine that random assassins would think of invading your house with your fame."


    "I went too far when I dealt with them, so their bodies became unrecognizable. Finding their possible allies would be impossible," Aion said. "Still, my visit here will probably help me avoid problems like that in the future, so such a matter won''t be a problem anymore."


    Soon after, Aion''s brothers helped him unload things from the carriage. They wondered why he had so many heavy boxes when they were only going to stay for ten days or so in the capital, but they didn''t ask anything. As soon as they left, Aion opened the boxes, and then the Articirius showed up¡­ they only stayed in there for half an hour, but Aion still felt bad for them.


    "No meowing while you are here, all right?" Aion asked. "Mom, don''t let the servants of the house see them no matter what. We don''t want people saying out there that we brought monsters to the capital."


    "Not like only that much can damage our reputation even further," Artemisia said and thenughed.


    Aion could easily imagine things escting to the point that people would say in a week or two that he had brought something akin to Godzi to the capital¡­ he didn''t have much faith in the people there, after all.


    After unpacking his things, Aion had nned to rest a little¡­ traveling on the usual way was kind of tiring and time-consuming¡­ Still, his brothers called him to do some training in the garden like they used to. It seemed that their n was to walk around the capital, but they changed their minds after considering that Aion wanted to keep his mother''s safe. They thought that just being nearby was enough, but it wasn''t¡­


    That being said, they still wanted to see how powerful their brother had gotten in thest two years. Just the rumors of him defeating Caelis weren''t enough to make them imagine it.

 Chapter 106 Powerful Throw

    Pdin Lv 72


    Health: 616/616


    Mana: 204/204


    Stamina: 84/84


    Strength: 114 + 48


    Dexterity: 20


    Magic: 41


    Endurance: 114 + 32


    Resistance: 61


    Speed: 05 + 16


    Status: 00


    Sword and Shield Refinement Lv 48


    Bonuses: Strength + 48 , Endurance + 32. Speed + 16


    Skills: Double Strike Lv 23, Shield Swing Lv 22, Charge Lv 17, Boomerang Shield Lv 10, Reflect Lv 03


    Passive: Shield Mastery Lv 23, Protect Lv 18, Magic Defense Lv 19, Defensive Stance Lv 15


    Improvement Points: 216


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 175.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    While Aion was looking for a random shield and sword in the armory, he checked his sses. Using Pdin to spar will probably be the best one since he didn''t want to wound his brothers before the ceremony¡­ he didn''t want to wound them after either. In any case, it took a while to make the next ss reach the level where they could be upgraded since he was leveling them equally in order to be prepared for all possible situations. In any case, his choice of weapons made his brothers frown, while he shrugged. They still had a lot to learn... they had a lot of time to do so, though.


    "Shield and sword?" Philip asked. "You used that fighting style against Caelis?"


    "No, but it wasn''t the fighting style that made me the winner," Aion said. "It was the fact that he was stupid, and I used my brain whenever possible. He was stronger and faster, but he underestimated me many times, and I was more resourceful."


    Aion was pretty sure that no one from the kingdom watched his fight. He didn''t feel that weird sensation of when he is being watched while hidden, after all. Still, Philip grabbed a spear¡­ it could be a coincidence, but Aion learned a long time ago that he shouldn''t assume things.


    Regardless, that day, the audience of the spars was a bit different. Lexus still wasn''t around, just like Henri, but his wives and daughters were there¡­ which was truly unusual. They had their own pride to consider, so that they couldn''t act that friendly toward Aion, but there wasn''t any sign of hostility since he showed up back home.


    "Ready when you are," Aion said and assumed his stance of slightly moving his Shield forward and the sword back.


    Philip stepped in insanely fast and began to thrust his spear. His speed improved a lot alongside his uracy. Still, Aion blocked the strikes while moving the shield and making him hit the center of it all the time.


    It didn''t take long for Philip to notice that and get a bit surprised. He wasn''t attacking with all his might, but in a real fight, he would be injuring his hands and Aion would barely suffer any damage. Attacking with a sequence of trusts was no good, so he changed his attack pattern. He stepped in even more than before while swinging his spear horizontally¡­ Aion blocked the attack by moving the shield to his left side, but he was wide open and Philip tried to kick him, but he changed his mind when Aion moved his sword. It was a training one, but getting hit would hurt and determine the winner of the spar.


    In the end, Philip stepped backward and then took a deep breath. Aion''s defense was too solid. He probably had a few chances here and there to counterattack, but he didn''t do it since it would end the first round of the spar.


    "Aion¡­ can I use a technique on you?" Philip asked. "I developed recently, but practicing it is hard, but you have a solid enough defense to nullify itpletely."


    "By all means, go on," Aion replied.


    Philip nodded and then readied himself. It seemed that the technique was in the first stages of development since he needed some time to prepare. His stance, the position of his dominant arm, the distance between him and the target, and his aim¡­


    Aion was quite curious to see what Philip hade up with. Since most of the styles of the family were self-taught, Aion imagined that something new was about to be used. When Philip finished his preparations, Aion could tell him aiming at the shield while increasing the power of his grip. Just to be safe, Aion used Protection and activated Defensive Stance. As long as he doesn''t move, Defensive Stance could nullify up to three points of damage from all attacks per level.


    Regardless, Philip took a powerful step forward that even smashed the ground and then twisted his right arm to the limits¡­ it was a throw, but then, the red aura of the Inner Force appeared on the tip of the spear¡­ that attack would be troublesome.


    Since his speed wasn''t high in that ss, Aion barely saw the spear moving. It just collided in the middle of his shield and caused a powerful metallic sound that made everyone around cover their ears. At the same time, Aion felt the energy of the attack piercing his shield and making it crack. He was pushed backward for three meters, and then the spear broke. It was only a training spear, after all. Still, soon after, the shield fell apart.


    "Ouch, that hurt a bit," Aion said while moving his arm, which was burning a bit.


    "Sorry, it seems that using that technique against an ordinary shield wasn''t a good idea," Philip said. "The fact that it was something that hasn''t been perfected helped a bit to prevent problems."


    "It isn''t a bad technique, but it requires too much time to prepare, and unless you have a spare, using anywhere else that isn''t a duel will be a problem," Aion said. "Your posture also needs to be improved."


    "Yeah, at this point in time, I can barely call it a technique," Philip said.


    "Anyway, I guess that father would wet his pants if you challenge him and use that," Aion said.


    "Would I?" Lexus'' voice came from behind.

 Chapter 107 Knowledge

    "Perhaps you could take the hit without wetting your pants, but you can''t take a joke, I guess," Aion said. "Well, don''t take it too seriously now... my bad."


    "This is the first thing you say to your father after over a year without seeing him¡­" Lexus said. "Well, let''s put that aside for now. Continue your training until noon. Then we will talk."


    Georges and Elio didn''t feel like sparing since they didn''t want to lose to Aion. They still needed to mature a bit to understand that sparing wasn''t about winning. It was about learning. Still, they learned a bit by observing.


    After that, Aion went to talk with his father in his office. It didn''t feel like he wanted to scold him for his joke. Regardless, the atmosphere was serious, so Aion could tell the topic.


    "First of all, Congrattions on the development of your territory. Having ess to a dungeon helps, but we can see that you are doing a good job," Lexus said. "Still, I want to hear what happened in the night of the attack¡­ You don''t have to hide the fact that her own people invaded your mother''s room."


    "So, you knew that her people weren''t exterminatedpletely," Aion said and then showed a pissed expression. "She ended up suffering a lot because people thought that she was thest one."


    "The king never dered that she was thest of her people, only that she was thest of a direct bloodline," Lexus said. "They had ten thousand people in their territory, it is clear that some of them would escape. Does your mother know the reason for the attack?"


    "No¡­" Aion said.


    "She wasn''t the first on the line of session, so it wouldn''t be surprising if she didn''t know a lot about the secrets of her family," Lexus said. "Still, her father had many close friends in which he probably shared some secrets, and they are rted to those who invaded your house. If only we got anything of their knowledge¡­"


    "The winners of the war got nothing from it? Were they that wise?" Aion asked.


    "Yes, they invaded your mother''s room using a magic relic, right?" Lexus asked. "Not everyone can use them like that. Moreover, it requires so much mana that only the people of that kingdom could use them effectively. They also had done much research over the centuries regarding magic and magic relics, but they disposed of everything once they realized that they were going to lose the war. Now that almost their entire royal family is gone, the survivors will use their knowledge without restraint to get their revenge."


    In Aion''s opinion, the world deserved to suffer a bit since they tried to decimate an entire race of people, and that would never be justified. However, he didn''t think that lunatics passing the judgment was a good idea. Moreover, they tried to do something to his mother, and that was more than enough reason for him to kill them¡­ Even if they came from the same ce as his mother.


    "I imagined that you were going to ask me for a magic relic to help her, and while I can think of a few, there are magic relics and magic relics," Lexus said. "Moreover, the people of that kingdom know well how to use them, so they might find a weakness in those."


    That was annoying, but it made sense¡­ In the end, Aion decided to reset some sses and then use the materials, experience, and energy to make the Pdin ss reach the requirements to be upgraded.


    "I suppose that your mother might be targeted during the ceremony, I will tell the guards that I trust to stay with her all the time," Lexus said.


    "That won''t be necessary. I have already done the necessary preparations for that," Aion said. "While they might not be useful, I would like to buy from you some magic items."


    "Are you nning to study them? Suit yourself," Lexus said. "We have a few that we never use and probably never will. You can take them for free and share the results of your research."


    That was a fair trade, but Lexus was putting too much faith in Aion''s learning capabilities. He might learn how to fight fast, but studying wasn''t his forte¡­ still, it was something he had to do for the future of his mother.


    Aion headed to the armory and then looked for the magic items. Things like the armor that could store two short swords couldn''t even be considered magic items. Still, the ability to take them away with a single push of a button interested Aion. Was it a coincidence, or was that something that someone from Earth created?


    Aside from that, Aion found a spear that could be lighter when the strength of the grip increased, a sword that freezes things slowly upon touch, and a shield that became sturdier and heavier when the user wished for it.


    "I guess father and the other leaders of the family were too stubborn to buy those and use them properly," Aion thought. "They either didn''t know how to use them well or thought that such things would hinder their progress."


    Starting with those would be a good beginning, but Aion was thinking of buying more of them with more practical effects. While Lexus said that the research of his mother''s people was lost, the magic items that they used should have been picked by soldiers once they were defeated. Aion thought that he wouldn''t need them since he has those linked to the sses, but they might be useful to the process. Once he gets the materials, Aion will have a good lead.


    When Aion did that to the shield, he got a peculiar result. The process took a while longer to finish, and aside from some iron ores¡­ He got a single brownstone with random marks on it, and the system called it: earth rune.

 Chapter 108 Guardian

    Aion could feel some mana in the rune, but it didn''t look like something like a monster would have in their bodies¡­ The marks around seemed random, but Aion also could feel the flow of mana on those¡­ It wasn''t something that could be found in nature. It was man-made¡­


    "Should I absorb this?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Aion recalled that those might be pretty rare¡­ While in that kingdom, people could use gems to add effects to weapons and armor, those were too weak. It wasn''t the same process or had the same effects as real magic items¡­ Moreover, the gems could be destroyed, but the runes Aion didn''t find around the items. It seemed like they could let the items absorb them¡­


    In any case, Aion decided to buy more magic items the next day. He wanted to rest a little bit, but before that, he Reset the Warrior and Ninja sses and then used the resources to reach the requirements of the Pdin ss.


    Congrattions! The ss Mage has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Guardian, Holy Knight, Commander.


    One of the sses seemed to be what Aion was looking for, but he didn''t expect thest one¡­ it seemed like a ss that was specialized in leading groups of armies¡­ it was weird, but it wasn''t exactly a problem.


    Guardian Lv 01


    Health: 16/16


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01 + 02


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Protector''s Sword and Shield Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Devotion Lv 01


    Passive: Stone Skin Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 01


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 375.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Devotion: grants you the power to protect an ally, transferring the damage suffered to them to you instead.


    Cost: 50 mana per target. The same cost will be consumed whenever you suffer more damage than the target has of max health.


    Stone Skin: Passively increases your endurance by two points per level.


    Aion was satisfied with the result, but at the same time, he learned that he will have to be careful with the build of the ss. He will need to have a lot of mana and health to sustain a lot of damage. Otherwise, he will die, and the skill might stop working. The skill was what he needed, but it was far from perfect.


    "This will be a standard Tank ss¡­ based on endurance, resistance, and strength," Aion thought. "Still, the focus will be endurance and resistance to make sure that the skill will never fail, but if I neglect speed and dexterity, it will be the same as bing an easy target¡­"


    Aion could use improvement points to make the cost of the skill decrease, but considering that it was an active skill, he also could improve its power and speed¡­ that was weird¡­ would that decrease the damage that he might receive and make the skill work faster? He had to test it to see¡­


    Aion had nned to rest, but he decided to train in order to make the ss level up as soon as possible. Despite his eagerness for that to happen, the next day, Henri showed up and invited his brothers and sisters to walk around the capital. Aion was troubled in leaving his mother alone¡­


    "You should go, Aion. This is a rare chance for you all," Artemisia said. "Cherish your siblings as much as possible."


    Those were some heavy words from someone who once had a big brother. The three Articirius got stronger in thest six months, and they would be with her. Besides, invading Lexus'' house would turn the whole thing into an international incident¡­ the enemies might not want that, and that was why they waited until Artemisia was moved to somewhere else.


    "Sorry about this, Aion," Henri said once they arrived in the garden. "Your mother doesn''t have many good memories of the capital, and she still has to stay in that room to avoid problems¡­"


    "She was never againsting despite that, so I can''t say anything," Aion said. "I was nning to take a look around today, so it is fine. Putting that aside, it seems that you are finally about to enter the graveyard of life."


    "Graveyard of life?" Henri frowned.


    "It is just a ng that I learned in that region," Aion said. "Are you still afraid of disappointing her? Some guys would kill to have the chance to marry pretty girls they have known since their childhood."


    "I am fine now," Henri said. "I let my responsibilities as the eldest burden me too much, but I realized that I don''t have reason to worry until I make a mistake. It is better to learn from them while no life was on the line."


    "I feel like I said something like that in the past," Aion said.


    "I also feel that I heard that from you," Henri said, and then they joined the others. "Let''s just walk around the capital leisurely today. Aion said that wanted to buy a few things. What do you have in mind?"


    "Magic items, I want to study them to find a way to keep my mother safe from that kind of incident," Aion exined.


    "I know some shops that I can rmend,* Maisie said.


    Maisie was the eldest daughter and just a month younger than Henri. She was as old as the princess, so Aion wondered why talks about her marriage hadn''t emerged yet. Maybe it was because she looked a bit younger than she was with her curly, short, ck hair and clear light brown eyes.


    "What? There is something on my face?" Maisie asked.


    "I feel like father will resist for a while before letting you all live your own lives¡­" Aion said. "He seemes that kind of guy¡­"

 Chapter 109 Shopping

    It was still hard for Aion to have a good sense of distance from his sisters, and it felt like they had the same problem. Still, he epted their help while they were walking across town to look for magic items. He avoided the ones who showed any sign of prejudice to his mother''s family, so he wasn''t a regr of any shop in the capital. Still, this time, all of the owners managed to keep their poker faces in front of him¡­ the only thing that they revealed was their eyes turning into dor signs since they were essentially a bunch of rich kids.


    "Our list of magic items has variety and quality. We can guarantee as well that they are the cheapest of the whole capital," The merchant said while smiling suspiciously at me, he broke into a cold sweat after looking too much, though.


    Bullshit¡­ that was what Aion wanted to say, but it was better not to ruin the mood of the group. In any case, Aion ignored the items that had clear gems of other monsters'' body parts that added magic properties to the items. Their effects were only partial and weak.


    "By the way, Aion¡­ why I never see you walking around with your weapon?" Henri asked. "Even if the capital is peaceful, that is also reckless considering what happened years ago."


    "I am having some bad shbacks now¡­ even though I don''t remember the whole thing," Georges said after showing a pained expression.


    "I don''t have a particr favorite weapon, and I can make one with magic, so it is fine," Aion said.


    "You should show us that sometimes," Elio said. "Doing that here probably isn''t a good idea."


    "Do you train your magic often?" Darina asked.


    Aion felt like his sisters were taking turns talking with him out of shyness or for some other reason. Darina was tall for her age, so her long straight ck hair tied up in a ponytail sure suited her. Aion massaged his eyebrows¡­ while he wasn''t their father, he was starting to understand the conflicting feelings of one.


    "Yes, my mother''s magic is useful since it doesn''t have many restrictions," Aion said. "I train it whenever possible and to solve the problems of the territory."


    "Such as?" Henri asked.


    "We are getting sidetracked¡­ you might not believe it, but a while ago, I removed a massive rock that was blocking the path of a channel that we were building," Aion replied.


    "Now that is something that I really want to see¡­ can you show uster?" Henri asked.


    "Think of my position a bit¡­ if I use suchrge-scale magic when you are so close by, some rumors will spread," Aion said. "Besides, I can''t use anything like that in the capital."


    "Well¡­ that is a pity," Henri said.


    Aion put his left hand on his chin and began to think he had to give a gift to his brother for the wedding. While he already had brought something else, perhaps a memory would be better.


    "All right, I will show you all something niceter. It might spooky you all, though," Aion said.


    "Hahaha, I am a trained soldier and futuremander of many armies. Few things can actually make me spooky," Henri said.


    Says the guy who was until recently afraid of that arranged marriage¡­ Regardless, Aion ended up buying a lot of things since he had the extra money he used to improve the parameters of the reset sses. After that, they returned home, and then he stored those items.


    Aion confirmed that Lexus and the mothers of his siblings weren''t around, so he created an earth tform and jumped over it. He felt like he would end up getting scolded anyway, but he decided to be quick about it.


    "Hop on. We don''t have all day," Aion said.


    The girls who knew about thews of magic knew that a lot of mana was necessary to keep that thing floating. It was essentially a pretty heavy boat that consumed the mana of the user over time. They didn''t think that Aion had enough power to keep something that big afloat alongside nine people on it. The boys didn''t hesitate, but the girls eventually joined them.


    Although the tform was made of earth, the surface waspletely even and firm. That showed how much power and control Aion had over that¡­ eventually, he made fly even higher. None of them were used to the heights, and even though Aion put some bars around to prevent them from falling, they felt their legs losing strength.


    "We barely started. Should I stop?" Aion asked.


    "No¡­ no¡­ you can keep going," Henri said, trying to show a strong front while his face was as white as a ghost.


    Aion kept going for a while, slowly, since the altitude might make people get dizzy and see things. Eventually, he stopped when everyone could see the capital belowpletely. They also could see the sun setting and without any obstacles, and from so high, it wasn''t anything like they had seen before.


    Aion had traveled around the world when he was young, so he was used to nes and that kind of scenery. Still, it was a lot better¡­ he never noticed it before because he focused on the mission. In any case, the sun eventually disappeared on the horizon, and Aion decided to return to the garden.


    He was in a good mood, like the others¡­ in fact, they were a bit too excited. Still, Aion got depressed when he saw his mother and Lexus waiting for him¡­ he was going to get so scolded¡­ he was too old for that.


    Before they could say anything, Aion let the others jump, and then he began to do handstands on the tform. He also made three others and made them fly around. All that was to confirm that he had absolute control over his magic and that he had plenty of fuel to use.

 Chapter 110 Guardian’s Power

    "It seems that you can control your powers well, and you had the whole situation under control," Lexus said. "Still, you shouldn''t do that kind of thing without telling us¡­ I thought you all were smart enough to avoid doing reckless things, but I guess you are still too young and reckless¡­"


    Lexus'' scolding ended there, but Aion knew that his mother had something in store for him as well. Still, her expression softened a little soon after. Regardless, he didn''t expect that he would be the one getting scolded after so long.


    "Thanks, Aion, that was awesome," Henri said.


    "Let''s do it once we confirm that we won''t be scolded again," Maisie said while smiling.


    The others thanked Aion as well before living. So, Aion returned to his room, and the others left as well.


    "That was too irresponsible, Aion," Artemisia said.


    "Rx, mom," Aion said. "All of my moves are coldly calcted."


    "You are getting stubborn by the day¡­ I thought that you weren''t going to be a rebellious teenager, but I guess I was wrong," Artemisia said and then sighed. "Still, your magic power impressed me¡­ I didn''t think that you could do so much. It is weird since your magic power sometimes is so high and sometimes so low."


    Once again, Artemisia surprised Aion¡­ he thought that all mages were bad at sensing things, but his mother was from a lineage of powerful ones. It wouldn''t be surprising if she could do a lot more than run-of-the-mill mages could. Fortunately, she didn''t inquire him much further on that. She was just surprised since it didn''t look like Aion trained that much.


    It felt like Artemisia was going to teach him a few more things, but it was hard to imagine what since her lessons were getting shorter and shorter, and they only happened now and then. Still, that was convenient for Aion since he wanted to level up the Guardian ss. To make things work faster, Aion decided to buy some points in magic to make him able to use Devotion already. Even without suffering damage, the ss should receive experience as long as the skill stays active. This was true, but the skill had a limited range that increased by improving the speed¡­ of the skill¡­ Aion wished that the system could adapt those extra parameters. Otherwise, he would see weird things like that.


    After doing some tests, Aion confirmed that the powerful effect of the improvement points decreased the damage that he could receive from attacks by one percent, speed increased the range by one hundred meters, and efficiency decreased the cost to use the skill and when the target suffered too much damage. The good thing was that those effects increased exponentially the higher Aion''s magic was¡­ so Devotion was a spell. Eventually, he would be able to protect his mother even when he stayed hundreds of kilometers away from her.


    "It would have been nice if I could track her location as well with this, but I guess that would be way too convenient¡­" Aion thought. "In any case, the skill will be improved by itself while staying active and the ss as well. So I can focus again on leveling up the other sses. For funsies, leveling up Bard would be easy, but I guess I need something more offensive-oriented."


    With the necromancer ss, Aion could build a powerful army and use them as a shield while he uses his mother''s magic from the safety of the backline. With Guardian, he could protect her no matter where, but it wasn''t very good for directbat¡­


    While thinking about that and trying to study the magic items, the next two days passed in the blink of an eye, and the day of the ceremony arrived. He kind of already knew that, but Aion tried to forget about the fact that he would have to wear some fancy formal clothes¡­ most of the men would wear clothes like resembled the clothes of Maestros, the old and basicbination of ck and white¡­ Still, Aion didn''t feel very confident about it.


    "Wow, Aion! You look so cool!" Artemisia said while smiling from ear to ear. "The girls will lose their heads."


    "Let''s hope that I won''t be punished for such a crime," Aion said and then looked at the three Articirius. "You guys will watch the fort and protect mom, as usual, do your job well, and then I will give you some extra chunks of meat¡­ also, stopping growing. Otherwise, you guys won''t be able to cross that door in a few days."


    Aion trained and raised those three to be guardians that would give their lives to protect his mother, but they meowed like spoiled cats¡­ Aion was unsatisfied, but they did their job once, so they couldn''tin.


    "I will try to return as soon as possible, but I don''t know for how long this kind of eventsts, so don''t wait for me, mother," Aion said.


    After that, Aion left and then found his brothers in the garden. Lexus was already there, and it felt weird everyone was wearing the same clothes. It was even more bothersome since his father was buffed, and those clothes made muscr soldiers really stand out in a good way.


    In any case, Aion had nned to arrive early and then try to get in the corner of the castle like a shy kid on the first day of school. He didn''t want to stand out or cause issues on such an important day for his brother, but unfortunately, the women of the house were determined to arrivete¡­


    After half an hour, the mothers of his brothers and his half-sisters finally showed up. For some reason, they were all wearing the same type of red dress. While they all looked objectively beautiful, Aion wondered why they didn''t get ready faster since they could have helped each other.


    "Women¡­ even in Isekai, they take their time getting ready," Aion thought.

 Chapter 111 Party

    Although the castle was only one kilometer away, the group went riding a carriage, the women wanted to stay as neat as possible, and walking wouldn''t help with that. Now that Aion thought about it, he never went to the castle before. It would have been weird if he had been invited in any other situation. The atmosphere inside wasn''t so bad, but he wished that he could return home as soon as possible...


    Once they arrived, Aion saw a lot of other carriagesing and going. A lot of rich families were entering the castle¡­ it was a party like no other. Lexus'' family already stands out enough since he has too many wives and a lot of kids, but now they are standing even more because Aion is with them. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that he was the most famous man of thest five years. Themon folk forgot his appearance, but those in power could never forget a possible threat.


    "It must be hard to be that famous," George said, patting Aion''s back.


    "I think feared is the most fitting word here," Aion said. "Rather than that, I am wondering where Henri and the princess will leave after this."


    "The princess knows how to rule, and Henri knows how to lead and train new recruits. They will work together to keep a certain territory in the central part of the kingdom in order," Lexus replied.


    "The central parts were the easiest to manage. There was no risk of invasion from any sides, after all," Aion thought. "Still, the soldiers in those areas need to stay sharp since they need to move at a moment''s notice¡­ in any case, it is good for them. Henri is to be the next head of the family, so he can''t be put in danger as soon as he gets married."


    Even before entering the castle, the group stopped many times. Lexus was a war hero, and his wives were alsodies of distinguished families, so many people knew and wanted to talk with them. Unlike Aion imagined, his father had good social skills, he was only awkward when conveying messages to his kids.


    As far as his knowledge told him, the Zaera kingdom wasn''t the most powerful or rich kingdom. Despite that, the interior of the castle sure was luxurious and looked like everything was brand new. Candleholders, statues, and vases made of crystal were used to ornament everything around. There were also many paintings of men and women wearing crowns¡­ they were the kings of old, but Aion didn''t pay any mind to them. The room in front was massive, like a massive dance wall. Most of the people were there, but the ceremony was going to be in the throne room.


    "I learned the etiquette of this world, but if I could help it, I will avoid this kind of mour," Aion thought. "I will endure this for my siblings, but I am not really cut out for this."


    "Aion, a lot of people will want to offer you some business proposals. I am not good at that, but I am good at reading people," Lexus said. "If you don''t want to get involved with some shady characters, you should stay close by."


    "Dear me, and I was expecting to see only virtuous rich families here," Aion said. "Well, I don''t want to spoil Henri''s party, so I made those guys run away."


    "I wonder how you made that territory prosper when you refuse this kind of opportunity," Lexus said. "Ah, do you want me to introduce the guys who tried to get yournd for free?"


    "You knew about that?" Aion asked.


    "Naturally, they asked the king to get a cut of yournds," Lexus replied. "The king refused them since he didn''t think that they could protect them or that you wouldn''t give them a hand if an invasion were to happen."


    The king sure was insightful. Aion truly would give zero fucks if that were to happen. In any case, they walked around for a while, and it looked like many people noticed that Aion wasn''t interested in talking about business, so they didn''t try to talk to him about that. Eventually, they found Henri, who had been staying in the castle for a while. His clothes were different from the others, it resembled a bit of a marine uniform, but it was blue and had some metalic parts over his body like it resembled one armor as well. Regardless, he looked pretty rxed.


    "You guys came¡­ keep mepany for a while. It is hard to talk with so many people by myself," Henri said.


    "Get your act together," Lexus said. "You shouldn''t feel nervous this day. Otherwise, you recall it in the future and feel more than a little embarrassed."


    "Putting more pressure on him isn''t going to help, father," Aion said. "Just think that most of the guys that came to talk with you are cursing you in their heads for having the chance to marry the princess, and they could die of jealousy at any moment."


    "That sure is something that gives me a boost of confidence," Henri said.


    Henri seemed more rxed after that. Thanks to that, he didn''t show any more stiff smiles during the day. He was the type of guy who always felt pressured for his status and for the fact that many things in his life had been decided for him, and since hecked a rebelious spirit, he only epted them as a matter of fact. Thanks to it, he wascking a bit when it came to mental fortitude to most things not rted tobat.


    In any case, the ceremony was about to start, and then everyone headed to the throne room. There were an insane amount of seats there, but the throne room was that massive, so it wasn''t a problem. Henri moved to the front of the throne and then waited for his future wife¡­

 Chapter 112 Oath

    When ites to nobles, the ceremony wasn''t thatplicated. The groom was supposed to wait for the bride in one of the most important locations at the ce the ceremony was being held and then wait for the owner of the ce to show up with his sword. After that, the father of the bride and the bride would head together to that same ce, and then he would leave the bride with the groom, and then they would make an oath while touching the sheathed sword.


    The owner of the castle was the king, and so he was also the father of the bride, so some things had to be changed. Vangel entered the throne room while holding a golden sword in both hands and then proceeded to the front of the throne, where he would wait for his father toe.


    It didn''t take long for the king, and the princess shows up. The king had gotten even weaker than Aion recalled due to his age, so they approached slowly. As usual, he was wearing some fancy clothes, his crown, and a red cloak. While the princess was wearing a white dress and some flower ornaments on her tied-up hair. Come to think of it, Aion didn''t see the queen until now, so he wondered if something had happened to her.


    Regardless, the princess was all smiles. Come to think of it, Aion probably had to call her by her name or at least think since it was hard for him to imagine interaction with her. Her name was Selene¡­Selene Zaera. She was his sister-inw now... it was a weird feeling since she was in that position in the family, but still was daughter of the king.


    "How lewd, even though they are marrying today, they shouldn''t hold hands right now¡­" Aion thought when the king let go of his daughter, and then she held Henri''s hand.


    Putting Aion jokes aside, he was a bit interested in the oath that they were going to make. It seemed like a tradition only to that kingdom, and while he couldn''t imagine himself marrying with anyone in that kingdom, it would be interesting to know. The king received his golden sword and then extended it to both of them, touching it while holding hands.


    "I swear that this day and until thest of my days, I will be hers, and she will be mine. I swear to protect her with all my being while I have air on my breast. No evil shall approach her and our descendants. When tired, I will be her resting ce. When sickened, I will be her strength, and when old, I will love her in the same way as I loved her in my youth. I swear this in front of my family and her family," Henri said.


    "I swear that this day and until thest of my days, I will be his, and he will be mine. I swear to protect him with all my being while I have air on my breast. No evil shall approach him and our descendants. When tired, I will be his resting ce. When sickened, I will be his strength, and when old, I will love him in the same way as I loved him in my youth. I swear this in front of my family and his family," Selene said.


    Those were some heavy words¡­ They would be even heavier if Aion didn''t know that polygamy was allowed in the kingdom. Still, it was hard to imagine that Henri would get other wives. That certainly would be a humiliation for the princess. Still, Aion shook those thoughts out of his head. It wasn''t time to think about that.


    The bride and then groom kissed, and then everyone in the room began to p. When the pping ended, they headed to the exit of the room. The party wasn''t over yet, and it seemed that they were only moving to their new home in a week, so the festivities wouldst for a few days, but they still would talk with the invited people for a few hours.


    "If this were Earth, they would spend the whole night hearing dirty jokes from us, but I should save mine for ater date," Aion thought.


    Aion didn''t notice it, but the girl and their mothers were crying a bit. Lexus also tried to sneakily sniff in order not to make anyone notice it. He was a softie as well¡­ the boys looked fine, they weren''t in a hurry to get married, and they weren''t particrly interested in the princess. If they were, that would have made one hell of a story¡­


    Once they returned to the previous room, those two began to talk with all of their acquaintances. While they were waiting for a chance, Aion''s group was visited by Vangel. The king was nowhere in sight, but considering how tired he looked before, he probably shouldn''t party that often. Regardless, once he greeted everyone, Vangel talked with Aion.


    "It has been a while, I never had the chance to congratte you in the tournament, but I also owed you some thanks for not making me look ridiculous," Vangel said. "I entered nning to win or to lose only to the winner, after all."


    "Is that so," Aion said. "You caused me a lot of headaches back then, so I had to be quite rough on you. I thought you would have some ill feelings because of it."


    "Nah, I won''t say that I am totally fine with losing, but I respect the result," Vangel said. "Let''s have a rematch someday. This time, I will win."


    Aion felt like sighing¡­ that prince sure was troublesome. Once again, Aion realized that he wanted to keep his distance from the royal family, aside from what the king had done, making his mother a prisoner. Now, the prince wanted to use his fame to elevate himself¡­ Aion wouldn''t gain anything by fighting against him again, so he had no ns to do so.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 113 Suspicious Movements

    When Aion and the others approached to congratte those two, Aion saw Selene flinching a little, so he decided to keep his distance. The atmosphere in the room also got a bit heavier, and Aion could feel the stares of the guards around. That sure was annoying for him.


    "Why are you so stiff and nervous, Aion?" Henri asked while frowning. "I didn''t take you for someone who is afraid to talk to girls."


    "You should work on your skills to read the atmosphere more," Aion said.


    It was evident that the princess was quite afraid of Aion. While he wasn''t armed, weapon or not, things are basically the same for a mage of Aion''s lineage. Almost all mages of the kingdom would need time to cast a spell, but Aion could do it instantly. So, it felt like aside from the guards, Aion was the only armed person in the room.


    Anyway, Aion and his brother shook their hands, and Aion just nodded at the princess. She probably would faint if he got too close¡­ Nevertheless, she returned the greeting with a stiff smile.


    "He isn''t a bad guy, you know," Henri said when his family moved away. "His fame might make him look scary, but he isn''t someone who would do bad things to people without a good reason. Besides, his mother doesn''t want him to follow a path of revenge, and thest thing that he wants is to make her sad."


    "Still¡­" Selene said. "He has this weird aura and immense magic power, I can''t help but get nervous."


    "Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you how he used his magic powers the other day¡­ it was awesome," Henri said.


    From the distance, while seeing his brother''s gestures, Aion could tell what Henri was telling the princess¡­ he truly hoped that he wouldn''t ask him to bring her on another trip to the sky as well. In any case, after a couple of hours, the party ended, and Aion finally had the chance to go home, or his former home. He sighed when he returned. Training all day was a lot less tiring than such events with so many stiff rules.


    "Did you have fun, Aion?" Artemisia asked. "I bet that you are stuffed. The girls didn''t leave you alone for a second, right?"


    Aion didn''t know what was worse, to lie or to disappoint his mother. He decided to change the topic since, after that night, it was clear that instead of hate, people feared him. Finding a woman in that kingdom that would ignore all that would be hard.


    Anyway, the festivities wouldst for a week, and leaving so soon would disappoint his brother. Aion couldn''t leave his mother in that room forever, so he asked her to take a look around. She only epted when she found a cloak to hide her body and face.


    People frowned by seeing someone wearing clothes like that in that hot weather. Still, they didn''t make much of a fuss. Most of them didn''t recognize Aion either. In any case, there were a lot of stands across the capital, but Artemisia was only interested in buying some sweets¡­ She spent all day eating that kind of thing. To the point that Aion got dizzy, he wasn''t that good with sugar, so he avoided it. Still, his mother stayed in a good mood, so that was fine.


    Things only changed around two days before Aion could return home with his mother. He was training with his brothers when his father suddenly returned home a bit earlier and then went to the office in a hurry. Aion, Georges, Elio, and Philip looked at each other. Something definitely had happened¡­


    "What is wrong, father?" Philip asked when Lexus returned fully armored.


    " ¡­You all will know sooner orter, so I might as well tell you that," Lexus said. "It seems that one of the neighbors is trying to annex thends that we obtained thirteen years ago. They used the ceremony to attack. Some armies have already invaded and destroyed some watchtowers and camps that we used to keep the borders on a close watch."


    Lexus was talking about the territory of the former Milleris kingdom that they had obtained. The east side of the Zaera kingdom was particrly longer than the opposite one because of that. It was weird since. Apparently, they divided the territory into a country that was known for having many bandits. Still, they split things in half.


    Even considering only the half they received, the annexednd was weird since half of that was made of forests, and the other half was mostly desertic areas on the coasts. Only the location of the former capital of the Milleris kingdom wasn''t a desert, but the capital was in total ruins. That was what marked the borders between bothnds, but now their former ally was trying to increase their territory¡­


    "While you will graduate soon, you still are studying under themand of those three," Lexus said. "Until you graduate, you are members of their battalions. Stay ready to move if something happens. Be ready to leave as soon as possible. I am going ahead first. We can''t let those guys ruin this period of time so important for Henri and Selene."


    Aion''s brothers nodded, and then Lexus left while he was lost in thought. He considered that such a thing would happen, but noting from that side of the kingdom¡­ while the leaders of that country were basically bandits, they once shared the same goal and achieved it together with the Zaera kingdom¡­ However, those feelings ofradeship didn''tst long.


    On the next day, Aion''s brothers received the order to move out, and he wondered how he could give them a hand¡­ he had his own territory to guard, but he couldn''t help but wonder¡­ Still, on the day of his departure, Aion received the word that the western side of the kingdom was also under attack¡­

 Chapter 114 It Cant Be Helped

    "What do we know about this, Aion?" Artemisia asked with her arms crossed while showing a serious expression.


    As soon as they heard about that, Aion and his mother jumped on the carriage and began to drive back to their territory. Things will be touched since both sides of the kingdom are being attacked, and Aion couldn''t count on reinforcements. Most of the armies had already been mobilized to defend the eastern border.


    "It seems that some army is attacking the mines territory," Aion said. "That guy who tried to get on his hands some of the territories I got is the lord there¡­ but the spies of the king said that there are other armies on the move, so they might attack several points at the same time to prevent reinforcements."


    Eventually, after the mines, the next target will be Aion''s port since it was pretty further in the territory, and aside from some guards and the scarlets tigers, the ce is pretty defenseless, he built some walls around it, but he expected that it would take a few years for such a ce to be able to defend itself, he assumed that he would have to do most of the job regarding that.


    "Is there someone particrly strong leading those armies? I heard that the soldiers of Rosberg kingdom be particrly troublesome when someone powerful is leading them," Artemisia said.


    "I heard that as well¡­ No one said anything about that, maybe they are ying the hands well in order to surprise us," Aion said. "From what I heard, the Rosberk kingdom has two warriors on the same level as Caelis. At least they looked to be on the same level, it is hard to say. One of them is an archer and another one is a swordsman¡­"


    Aion stopped right there in order not to worry his mother since when he heard about them, Aion couldn''t help but frown. The archer was someone that could take down enemies from a distance that they couldn''t even see him and the swordsman had the title of the fastest warrior in the Rosberg kingdom. From Aion''s perspective, they were supposed to be stronger than Caelis, but since they weren''t as wild as him, people often thought that it wasn''t the case.


    Although the trip was supposed to be long and Aion couldn''t make the horses run for too long, he hurried them to leave the capital as soon as possible. He had brought three ships to help withmerce, and he wouldn''t risk losing them. Those were as expensive as hell¡­


    Once they were far away enough from the capital, Aion created an earth tform and made the whole carriage and the horses fly. With all that weight, Aion could only make it fly for twenty minutes, perhaps twenty-five if he manages to keep his focus while using Meditation, but it will be hard.


    "Don''t look out of the windom, mom," Aion said. "Also, we are going to speed up a bit."


    "You can do even this with your magic¡­" Artemisia said. "Are you nning to be an earth magic specialist?"


    "No, I will make all of the elements as strong as possible," Aion replied. "I can''t let some people think that I have such obvious weaknesses."


    "I thought that you were being a bit careless recently, but I guess you are fine if you don''t want to show to others that you can fly this fast¡­" Artemisia said. "Anyway, if we use our magic together, we can repel the small fries. The thing is how to deal with the big guns¡­"


    "You shouldn''t fight, mom," Aion said. "You don''t want to fight for the kingdom that imprisoned you, right?"


    "That isn''t totally wrong, but¡­" Artemisia said.


    "Besides, if you use your powers to wipe out an army, people will fear you again," Aion said.


    "The same thing will happen to you," Artemisia said.


    "I am the lord of that area and most people think that I am not worth following since I am only half Kresnik," Aion said. "So, fear is a weapon that I need to make others obey me¡­ at least the people of this kingdom. For the time being, you shouldn''t fight, but if things get dire, you cane and help."


    "I suppose it can''t be helped¡­" Artemisia said.


    Aion tried to move as fast as possible, but he had to stop to rest several times. Around the end of the day, they had crossed half of the path, but Aion''s head was hurting, so they stopped to rest for the night.


    "A war, huh¡­ it isn''t like I didn''t imagine that one would take ce, but it was a lot sooner than expected," Aion thought.


    For someone like Aion, whose previous job was to prevent disasters and save lives, participating in a war seemed like something insane, but he couldn''t just ignore what was happening. He didn''t want to lose his territory and his hard work of two years. That might be the revenge for what he had done to Caelis and his minions, but he couldn''t care less about it. He will make a point out of those that try to invade hisnds by killing as many of them as possible. There is no point in going easy with unreasonable retards.


    Using the necromancer ss was probably his best option until he found the leaders of the armies. Still, Aion had a feeling that he couldn''t wait for that long, considering the fame of the archer and the swordsman. Defeating one of them and then using them to help in the battle as death knights seemed like the best way to win, but that would be too much to reveal his powers. Using the other two death knights would work better, and while they had gotten stronger, they couldn''t use their main fighting style¡­ in any case, Aion considered his options over the night and then he flew back to his town as soon as the sun rose.

 Chapter 115 Preparation

    Aion and his mother arrived in their town around noon and noticed that things were pretty tense there. People were moving around, and the guards were working to put all kinds of things on the walls. Oil, arrows, rocks¡­ They were preparing for a siege. While that was the best idea in that situation, Aion didn''t want to defend only, he would stop the enemies even before they could cause any damage. That was probably the best option, the problem was how?


    "Wee back, my lord," Jairo said. "It seems you were on your way back already when you received the message."


    "Where are all the guards and adventurers?" Aion asked.


    "They are already back to the town and waiting for the attack," Jairo said. "Your monsters refused toe, so they were forced to be left behind¡­"


    That is because they had more balls and loyalty than all of you together¡­ That was what Aion thought when he red at Jairo. To abandon the dungeon and the port so easily¡­ Aion had to confirm their condition by checking the port by himself. That was expensive to build, after all.


    "Have you already received a message about the location of the enemies?" Aion asked.


    "The territories at the south are already engaging with the enemy, but the ones targeting us and the next coast territory are two days away," Jairo said.


    They retreated¡­ without fighting even once¡­ Aion couldn''t recall thest time he let out such a long sigh. He knew that the guards and adventurers of the town were close to useless, but even while Aion had no expectations of them, they still disappointed him.


    "I am going to check the port, mother. You should stay in the house and check for the messages that mighte," Aion said and then looked at Jairo. "You take half of the adventurers and guards to protect the dungeon."


    "Sir, I must advise that giving up on the terrain advantage isn''t a good idea," Jairo said.


    "Giving up on the dungeon will prevent this territory from growing, and that would be a really bad idea," Aion said. "If we don''t do anything, they will build something near the dungeon to defend it, and then they will call that the new border. If we give up on the port, we will have to pay taxes for the lord of the nearest territory in order to use their port. Considering all that, we will stop growing, and the enemy will get stronger. Eventually, this town will be taken as well."


    "... at least wait a bit until reinforcementse," Jairo said.


    "Reinforcements won''te. The whole kingdom is already on the move, and time is of the essence," Aion said. "You received your orders. I don''t have any more time to waste."


    Aion didn''t have time to waste on keeping some secrets as well, so he left the city while flying on an earth tform insanely fast. The people around opened their eyes widely when they saw that¡­ by himself, Aion could reach the port that was sixty kilometers away in one hour. The distance between the dungeon and the town was about that as well. So he could move around ording to the movements of the enemy. The only issue was mana. He also needed one hour to recover all his mana.


    "I need to confirm those two ces before talking with the lord of the northern territory, he needs to send his armies to the port and then make them fight with the death knights," Aion thought. "Then I will be able to focus on the dungeon."


    ? Aion found the scarlet tigers still guarding the port. asionally, they would get to the warehouse and get some of the meat he left for them beforehand, but they guarded the ce day and night¡­ The idea of having an army of monsters seemed a lot more interesting now.


    "You guys did a good job," Aion said and then summoned his death knights. "Work together to defend this ce."


    Aion flew high to check the surroundings, and he actually found a camp thirty or so kilometers away. They can cross that distance in a single day as a whole. It was mid-afternoon, so they wouldn''t advance anymore. With that in mind, Aion headed South toward the dungeon.


    After using that a few times, Aion realized that his Meditation didn''t have the effects of the improvement points. Unless the mage ss was equipped, only the raw effects of the skill could be obtained¡­ It was enough for the time being, but Aion wanted to improve that. After another hour, Aion reached the dungeon, but only now Jairo and the other morons had left the ce¡­


    After flying high, Aion noticed that the enemies also had another camp thirty kilometers away. That was too much to be a coincidence¡­ Aion thought that all the people of that state were hotblooded madmen, but it seemed that they had a few well-informed guys there.


    They attacked the southern territories first because they knew that Aion''s territory would be easy to conquer without him there. They didn''t consider his flying speed. Rather, they didn''t know about it¡­ so they thought that they should stop the other territories from sending reinforcements¡­ Maybe there were other factors, but those were probably the main ones.


    "Even with all my mana, I can''t make a fortress here¡­ perhaps I can If I stay awake until tomorrow, but we don''t have enough manpower to man it," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully while looking around. "Note to self, buy monsters the next time whenever I have money for it. They are a lot more useful in this kind of battle than those guys¡­"


    Creating a useful fortress might be too much, but Aion had other ideas in a battle of numbers where he didn''t have the upper hand. He could only rely on tricks in order to save his mana and tricks and traps he would use.

 Chapter 116 Possibilities

    Aion finished his preparations around midnight. Despite that, he still headed to the territory north of his. He had a feeling that negotiations wouldn''t go well, but at least he should try to decrease the problems that his monsters and death knights will face.


    The inhabitants of the main town of that territory still were wide awake and preparing for the attack when Aion showed up. That would make things convenient for him since he needed to talk with the leader of the ce. Regardless, Aionnded in front of the mansion, and then the guards pointed their spears at him.


    "My name is Aion Kresnik, and I havee to talk with your boss about the battles that are fast approaching," Aion said. "Call him now."


    The guards hesitated for a moment since anyone would after seeing a guy falling from the sky in front of them. Still, they could feel a powerful aura on him that made his words persuasive despite his youthful appearance.


    "You know, I can fly, I could havended in the room of your boss, but I am here out of courtesy," Aion said. "There is a war to be fought, and I don''t have time to waste here."


    One of the guards looked at each other and moved his neck, signalizing him to move to the house. After five minutes, some guards showed up alongside a chubby man. He wasn''t wearing his pajamas, so he wasn''t sleeping while the entire town was working. Aion had expectations of him because of that.


    "I am Aion Kresnik, and we need to talk about our possible cooperation against the invasion," Aion said.


    "I am Heral Armand and current lord of this region¡­ we should enter to talk about the details of this operation," Heral said.


    "No need. I will be brief since I still have some work to do," Aion said. "I have two soldiers and some monsters protecting the port that I built. I need you to offer them support with long-ranged attacks behind the walls that have been built there. That is all that you need to do. If a powerful enemy shows up there, I will face it, that is all."


    Heral didn''t look convinced that such a n would work. He knew about Aion''s fame, but if he wasn''t going to help directly, it felt like he would only sacrifice his soldiers for no reason. While the soldiers had the duty to follow the lords'' orders, a single defeat would be enough for them to contest their authority and then find a way to overthrow them.


    "It seems that you don''t believe that I can pull this off," Aion said and then covered the armors of the guards with earth magic and then made them fly.


    The guards tried to free themselves, but they weren''t able to do anything. Eventually, Aion made themnd and they pointed their weapons at him. Aion wasn''t sure if he made his point clear, but he didn''t want to waste more time on something that might not happen.


    "That is all, if you want to protect your town from being damaged, you should take the battle to the port," Aion said and then used earth magic to fly away.


    The guards looked pissed, and they had all the reasons to be. They usually hate to follow orders of those that were high-born, even more so when they were much younger and annoying.


    "... Sir, what will be your orders?" The guard asked.


    Heral considered his options, should he follow the lead of a famous and yet troublesome warrior and contribute with his fame, or should he focus on the safest thing to do and then let Aion''s port be destroyed? Getting on his bad side seemed like the worst move, but he knew that his port had made him lose some money in thest six months¡­


    Aion returned in a hurry to his town and checked if his mother had received any messages. She actually did it. The lords of the territories down south were asking for reinforcements. Aion wished that he could shout while saying to them to get fucked, but he doubted that his voice would reach that far.


    "Rarth and the other refugees came early to ask what they should do during the battle," Artemisia said.


    "Some of them might have experience fighting, but they haven''t been training in thest few years. We shouldn''t rely on them," Aion said.


    "I will give them the task to make arrows and bolts then," Artemisia said.


    "Arrows¡­" Aion said.


    "What is wrong?" Artemisia asked. "Do you have something else in mind?"


    "Nothing, you should tell them to do that," Aion said. "I will try toe here again before the next battle, but don''t be surprised if that doesn''t happen."


    Archer Lv 52


    Health: 28/28


    Mana: 144/144


    Stamina: 502/502


    Strength: 08


    Dexterity: 94 + 39


    Magic: 76


    Endurance: 06


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 81 + 39


    Status: 00


    Bow Refinement Lv 22


    Bonuses: Speed + 33, Dexterity + 33


    Skills: Power Shot Lv 01, Quick Bow Lv 01, Heavy Arrow Lv 05, Double Shot Lv 03


    Passive: Bow Mastery Lv 11, Eagle Eyes Lv 09, Concentration Lv 06


    Improvement Points: 153


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 375.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    ? Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Heavy Arrow: A powerful shot that can stun the enemy or push them backward ording to the damage caused.


    Cost: 10 mana


    Double Shot: It grants you the power to fire two arrows at the same. Each level up increases the damage to the skill by three percent.


    Cost : 03 stamina.


    Eagle Eyes: increases the damage by one point for every ten meters of distance between you and the target. The max extra damage will be equal to the level of the skill.


    Concentration: Increases your Dexterity and Speed by one point per level.


    Aion looked at that ss and had a sh of inspiration¡­ but he needed to train for his n to work, so he headed to the dungeon.

 Chapter 117 Results

    Aion saw the enemies approaching the dungeon around noon of the next day. It seemed like the enemies had a least five thousand on their side. Meanwhile, Aion had one hundred guards and two hundred adventurers. Since he was standing above an earth tower that he created, only he could see that they were outnumbered sixteen to one, but those below could tell that the odds weren''t in their favor in the first ce.


    "Assume your fighting positions and don''t move no matter what," Aion said.


    It didn''t take long for the enemies to see Aion and the others. Still, they also found a frozen field filled with ice pirs. It was noon, so the heat was pretty intense, and yet, there was no sign of those melting. The enemies knew that Aion could use the magic of the royal family of the Milleris kingdom, but it was the first time they had seen him using it. Despite that, they were the type who wouldn''t run away from a challenge, so they kept moving forward.


    Still, they weren''t that stupid. Those who were armed with shields moved forward and raised them. Aion couldn''t find any signs of their leaders, and since he couldn''t imagine those guys being disciplined, he wondered why they responded to that so fast.


    "Maybe the spies don''t know much about the forces on those guys¡­ perhaps they have well-trained armies, even though they aren''t used that often," Aion thought.


    The invaders split their forces to attack five territories at the same time. All tactical knowledge made people think that such action was only an act of insanity or y stupidity. It would have been a lot easier and more convenient to attack a single ce during the wedding and then create a fortress to invade the other regions. The mines would be the perfect ce for that since the mountains around could be considered natural defenses. Still, Aion could tell that they had something in mind by attacking like that¡­


    Aion kind of knew that most soldiers of the Rosberg kingdom were big, but he couldn''t help but frown when he realized that all of them were at least two meters tall. Maybe all of them had some kind of connection with people that had obtained mutated powers in one way or the other.


    The first enemies approached the first few ice pirs with their guards raised to the limits, but nothing happened even when they passed close by. Their formation was broken since those were pretty close from each other, but only that.


    The enemies were smart enough not to try to attack them and activate any traps but not enough to send only a few of them to check the safety of the path ahead.


    "I guess they are in a hurry¡­" Aion thought. "The other group must be attacking the port as well, and they must have realized my ns and decided to attack both ces at the same time."


    That was a bit troublesome, but it was within Aion''s expectations. Regardless, when all of the enemy''s army had entered the field of ice pirs, Aion pointed his index fingers at them. After finishing aiming, Aion fired numerous ice bullets.


    The enemies noticed that Aion had attacked and prepared to receive the attacks, but Aion didn''t aim at them, he aimed at the pirs. Ice shards began to fall around, and a powerful wave of cold spread around the field. At first, they endured that, but eventually, the cold got so powerful that some of the soldiers began to tremble. They began to move to keep their bodies warm, but then grunted in pain¡­ The ice shards that fell on the ground were hardened with the cold and created a massive field of frozen and small spikes on the ground.


    Those who didn''t have iron boots and stepped forward damaged their feet. Still, those who were wearing iron boots began to feel their legs freezing, and in a few seconds, Frostbites began to damage them as well. Only that much wouldn''t kill them, but it was a nuisance that Aion liked. They would have to suffer a bit before achieving anything and that would cause some mental damage.


    In any case, Aion gave the sign for the adventurers to attack freely with bows and then a rain of arrows began tond on the enemies. Some raised their shields and blocked the attacks, but the vast majority that was being bothered by their wounded feet was unable to respond. Aside from a few that got in the heads or on the vitals, all of them kept standing¡­


    ? Before things could get out of hand, the enemies in the front began to smash their shields agaisnt the ground, and those behind them raised their shields to block the arrows. Thanks to their power, they destroyed the frozen parts and began to advance quite fast. Still, the adventurers aimed directly at the enemies in front of them and began to kill a lot more than before. However, they didn''t stop¡­


    When the enemies were only fifty meters away from the group, the adventurers stepped backward while the guards stepped forward with their shields and spears ready to be raised. The first line of enemies approaching consisted of at least five hundred of them. They would decimate the guards with their numbers and bigger strength. It would be even easier since some guards were trembling like leaves¡­


    Aion looked at the enemies, and he confirmed that they only sent a single wave. They were finally being cautious about him¡­ it was only natural since Aion was nearby and didn''t do anything.


    "I wanted to take down more of them on the same strike, but I can''t even be as ipetent as them ¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion created a single ice disc and then made it spin, and then fired at the enemies¡­ they tried to raise their shields and block the attack, but just like them, they were split in half almost instantly.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 118 Scary Surprise

    You obtained 155 experience points.


    You obtained 229 experience points.


    You obtained 145 experience points.


    ¡­


    As the bodies were split in two, a rain of blood fell on the battlefield. Although Aion was their ally, even the guards and adventurers trembled a little while looking at that¡­ to think that they tried to ignore him as much as possible¡­ if they had pissed him just a bit, they would have faced the same destiny¡­ or so they thought. They had forgotten, but their ipetence truly tested Aion''s patience over thest yet¡­


    When around half of that battalion had been destroyed, the others decided to spread in all directions while jumping with all their might. They could cover dozens of meters with each jump, but whenever theynded, they had to feel their legs being pierced by the ice spikes.


    Chasing them with that projectile was possible, but it would require some time and energy. Instead of that, Aion threw the ice disc at the other battalions. The projectile had suffered some damage, so the enemies blocked thatpletely by swinging their weapons at the same time.


    "Axes, swords, spears, whips¡­ They are moving like an army, but their weapons don''t show any uniformity," Aion thought.


    Aion gave the sign for the Adventurers to fire their arrows freely, and the enemies assumed their turtle formation to block those. They knew that they would attack in the same way as before if they charged recklessly, so they had to think of a better solution. Still, they didn''t do anything until the survivors of the first squad fled from the area.


    "My mana isn''t recovering as fast as usual. The death knights are fighting¡­ It doesn''t seem like it is very intense, but I have to hurry up here," Aion thought.


    It was hard to imagine that the enemies came to siege a town of ten thousand inhabitants with only half of that number. They either were only targeting the dungeon, or they wanted to ess the power of defenses of the region before arge-scale attack¡­ the other regions might show some weakness, but Aion couldn''t let that happen in his area and on the port. So, he had to make them retreat, at least for the day.


    "No pulling punches¡­ Let''s scare those guys good," Aion thought as he raised his arms.


    An ice sphere began to appear above Aion''s head, and it began to grow quite fast. In the blink of an eye, it became on the size of a carriage, and while the size didn''t look that impressive, Aion had another surprise in stock for them. The enemies saw that and prepared to block the projectile by sticking together¡­ They fell for Aion''s trap.


    Aion fired the sphere of ice and, in the blink of an eye, hit the enemy''s formation. The impact didn''t cause any damage, but the cold air inside the sphere spread around and froze one hundred soldiers instantly. Others got their limbs frozen and began to panic when they saw those falling apart like pieces of a statue¡­ at that point in time, all the other battalion panicked and then began to retreat. Aion could attack once again, but he decided to save his mana for the trip toward the  North. Still, before that, Aion contemted his powers.


    "I don''t think that many people could do this much in the Mirellis kingdom, but it made sense that people would fear this type of power¡­" Aion thought.


    The system helped Aion focus on increasing only his magic power, he was an absolute ss Cannon thanks to that. Perhaps even a kick on his balls could kill him. Nevertheless, it is only a problem if his enemies know that, which wasn''t the case.


    "I am going to check things on the port," Aion said to Jairo once he jumped from the tower. "Keep an eye on the surroundings, and don''t drop your guard no matter what. I will be back in three or so hours."


    Jairo was feeling more thanpelled to follow all of Aion''s orders now, so the idea of doing anything else aside from nodding seemed like insanity. While he saw Aion flying high in the sky and eventually disappearing in the clouds, Jairo wondered what the king was thinking when he decided to join the Kresnik and the Milleris kingdom royal family lineage to create such a monster. He had heard that Aion defeated Horis in a fight without using magic and that only proved that he was a monster on the same level as the mutated guys that were famous all around the world.


    Jairo was thinking that the enemies might realize what Aion was nning, so he made some adventurers watch the whole area around to prevent ambushes. The direct path was still blocked by the frozen field filled with ice shards, so they won''t use that route until that disappeared.


    Fortunately, it seemed that the first battle caused some mental damage to the enemies since they didn''t do anything and just began to raise their camp¡­ Attacking during the day was probably something that they wouldn''t do, but night raiders certainly were an option¡­


    Although he had to take a pause in the middle of the trip, Aion reached the port in time to see his five alliespletely fine. Despite the fact that he said that they should work together, that man in the shape of a barrel refused his offer.


    "I will remember this¡­" Aion thought.


    Despite the odds, Caelis and the other death knight were strong and managed to keep the enemies away with the back support of the scarlet tigers. Still, some arrows reached them, and they still were piercing their bodies.


    "It is another army of five thousand¡­ I really don''t like this," Aion thought.


    Aion''s original n was to freeze the enemies from the sky, but he was out of mana, so he had to meditate before also scaring the crap out of the hell of those enemies as well¡­

 Chapter 119 Combination

    While Aion was recovering his mana, he had an idea. It would be troublesome to use the sphere of ice. He could only use it two times with his mana. However, if Aion focuses on control and uses his scarlet tigers, he might pull off something even more insane that will make the enemies run away there as well.


    "It would be better to use this kind of thing when the archer and the swordsman can be targeted, but I guess we don''t have the leisure to do that," Aion thought, and then he called one of the scarlet tigers to his side.


    While standing on the top of the wall, Aion pointed his hands toward the enemy army. They finally took notice of him and then prepared to fire arrows at him. However, the wind suddenly got stronger in front of him and then took the shape of a small tornado. The arrows were repelled, but that wasn''t over yet¡­


    The tornado began to pull the enemies toward it, and they tried to move away, but then the scarlet tiger used a methrower on it. Making its power and speed increase. The enemies that were busy fighting the death knights tried to run away, but Aion didn''t let them. The wounded ones got caught pretty early, but the others began to scatter.


    Still, Aion learned his lesson from the previous fight, and before they could spread too much, Aion made the fire tornado explode. A powerful curtain of fire moved in all directions and engulfed hundreds of enemies. Only a few of them were killed, but those who were hit could barely move, and the death knights approached to finish them off.


    You obtained 220 experience points.


    You obtained 140 experience points.


    You obtained 210 experience points.


    ¡­


    The attack had been as effective as nned. The remaining battalions began to move away¡­ Aion used that chance to check and heal the wounds of the scarlet wolves. They didn''t suffer much, fortunately, but Aion didn''t want to let his truerades suffer even a bit. If only he had better options... he had to wait until his powers were more developed.


    "I might as well check their loot¡­" Aion thought. "I guess I also should use my free time and study the magic items as well."


    Most of the enemies only had ordinary weapons, and also most of them had their weapons and armor damaged by the fire tornado and the attacks of the death knights. Aion couldn''t do much else to those aside from processing. He found a few magic items that had runes on them, but those stopped working the moment they suffered too much damage. So, Aion only got the most basic materials from them.


    "I guess the runes be a part of the items more than gems or simr materials can¡­ so when the weapon is destroyed like that, they also suffer the same fate¡­" Aion thought. "Regardless, I should check things with mom and then ask her a few questions about this.


    Aion thought that the soldiers of the Rosberg kingdom would give him more problems, even with his build focused on magic power. Although he didn''t ck training and using the system to improve his attacks, he still felt that it would take a while for him to be able to repel so many of them at the same time. They were known for their strength and resilience, after all.


    In any case, after a while, Aion returned home and asked her about the news. Aside from the fact that the lord of the other state refused to cooperate in order to let his port be destroyed and profit from it, nothing much else happened.


    "So, mom, what do you know about runes?" Aion asked.


    "You took interest in something weird again¡­ at quite the weird time," Artemisia said. "I have read that in the past, it was amon way of using magic and that some magic items were made using them¡­ my people studied those for many years to learn about their secrets since it seemed like a pretty convenient way to create magic relics, but I never heard of anyone making much progress on that field."


    Aion knew that his mother wouldn''t lie to him, so the magic items that he found were that old, or people were producing them while keeping the knowledge hidden. Still, the people selling those you would stand out, so Aion wondered why the information didn''t spread¡­


    ? In any case, Aion learned that it was something like a magic technology that had been lost over the years. People don''t suddenly forget those things¡­ something happened in the past, and their users were forced to forget. Like a disaster happened to their civilization, or another war broke out and wiped them all out... It seemed that such type of thing wasmon in that world since Aion''s mother''s people were almost hunted down to extinction.


    It was truly a pity that something like that happened, but it wasn''t unheard of for Aion. Back in the middle ages and even before that, many societies had learned things over the years, and the knowledge had been lost due to wars and because other people couldn''t understand it.


    "Earth rune, the rune of sharpness, the rune of endurance, Fire rune¡­ my collection isn''t that rich yet, but I should keep collecting them for the time I have the chance to study them properly," Aion thought.


    "Aion, don''t drop your guard," Artemisia said. "The enemies aren''t the type to use night raids, but things are too irregr this time. It is impossible to tell how they will act when they have such an upper hand when ites to numbers."


    "It is all right, mom," Aion said. "I still have some surprises in store for them."


    Aion sure looked confident, and while that worried his mother a bit, she knew that he wouldn''t do anything without some serious consideration. Regardless, they weren''t the ones who were going to use the night to attack. Aion will.

 Chapter 120 Gift

    As soon as night fell, Aion began to move. Until now, the archer and the swordsman didn''t show up, so he decided to capitalize on that and make them regret their stupid actions. In any case, while neither of the two armies noticed that he had moved between battlefields, he had to work fast to pull that off.


    One of the advantages of the archer ss is that it practically gives Aion unlimited arrows. Not in the way most people would think. When Aion uses the archer ss, he gets a bow and a quiver with twenty-one arrows. He can shoot them without using any mana or stamina. While they can be damaged, the arrows will return to their original state and location once Aion uses all of them.


    With that in mind, Aion approached the enemies camp without letting anyone notice his presence. He changed his ss to yer, so probably no one there would notice him. Once he got close enough, he noticed that the soldiers were around some campfires resting and tending their wounds, eating, or polishing their weapons¡­ those that could do that, of course.


    Aion noticed some lookouts hidden in bushes and trees. Despite the odds that a right raid seemed like insane for a group much smaller like of the ones on the defending side, they decided to do that much as a countermeasure. Those guys sure were irregr in their way of acting¡­ sometimes they made sense, sometimes they didn''t.


    Although Aion couldn''t see the lookouts perfectly, his high dexterity granted him the ability to see their shadows and the slight movements that they made. While they were there, the fact that the chances of an attack were so small that they couldn''t help but rx on their job, even for a bit and that revealed their positions to him.


    Aion pointed his bow and arrow at his first target and then fired at the enemy fifty meters away when his aim stopped on him. Aion didn''t miss, and nothing happened at first, but only because he aimed at the enemy''s heart instead of their head. He didn''t know if he was being merciful or cruel by making them agonize for a few seconds¡­ it wasn''t like they were going to be buried by their families, so sparing their faces seemed like a waste of time.


    You obtained 190 experience points.


    Before advancing to the next target, Aion wondered if his actual self contradicted his previous one. Taking lives in the war was only an obvious thing that a soldier should do. He was themander, but even he could do that¡­ still, considering how he died, it felt a bit that he was negating hisst action as Adam¡­


    "No, I can''t think like this¡­ it may sound like I am shifting the me, but I am not the one who started this," Aion thought. "I am not the one who wants to take lives to obtain a dungeon and some territory¡­ although I did that when Caelis came to fight me¡­"


    Aion shook his head¡­ that won''t end, he might find justification for his actions, but soon enough, he will find other reasons that will make him think that they were unjustified. It would be endless¡­ in the end, his goal didn''t change. He wanted to create a new ce in the world for his mother since she had lost her homnd.


    After he got rid of his hesitation, Aion began to move around the enemy camp and got rid of the lookouts. Before the smell of blood could take over the area, Aion finished them and proceeded to jump to the top of one of the trees that one of the lookouts used. The camp was two hundred meters away, but that distance was nothing with his high dexterity.


    Once Aion aimed for the first time, he took a deep breath and then fired the first arrow. Even before it could hit the target, Aion already had another one ready to be shot and with another target in sight.


    You obtained 190 experience points.


    You obtained 230 experience points.


    You obtained 175 experience points.


    ¡­


    Before the enemies could notice what had happened, five of their allies had already been taken down. Those who were in the outeryer of the camp had their weapons and shileds ready to be used and raised while trying to find the direction the attacks came from, but only after a while they found that. Still, Aion kept shooting since not all of them were ready to defend themselves.


    A group using the phnx formation was quickly assembled and then headed to the location Aion came from. In the darkness of the night, it was hard to tell if that was indeed the case. The arrows began to fall from the sky, but they kept moving. Eventually, they found the tree in which they thought Aion was¡­ However, they found nothing and yet, the arrows were still falling over them. In that brief moment of hesitation, other soldiers in the camp were targeted, and they realized that the enemy was on the move.


    Aion kept attacking like that until the enemies realized that only a single battalion couldn''t take him¡­ they hurried to make several groups using the same phnx formation to look for him. They hurried because more of them were dying each second. Their camp only has tents, so Aion could easily find them hiding¡­


    Eventually, three groups used that formation, and several archers used fire arrows to illumiate the area around and to look for the enemy. However, Aion stopped shooting, and they assumed that the enemy had fled¡­ that wasn''tpletely true. Aion was nning to leave¡­ but before that, he used thest arrow on his quiver and then began to charge Power Shot¡­ when all of his stamina had been depleted, he fired the arrow toward one of the formations¡­ Upon impact, the arrow caused a powerful shockwave that killed several of the enemies andpletely destroyed their formation¡­ that was thest gift he had for that group.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 121 Options

    Although naming it like that made it sound rather weird, Aion''s night activities didn''t end there. He still had one hell of a surprise for the next group¡­


    When he arrived at the port, Aion saw the scarlet tigers sleeping. The enemies hadn''t attacked until now after the first battle. They were probably trying toe up with a n to stop Aion''s magic. He was nning to give them even more trouble¡­ they mighte up with a n on how to deal with his regr magic, but not what wille up next.


    Just like the first group, the second had put some lookouts around¡­ at that point in time. They were probably worried about reinforcements arriving in the middle of the night and attacking them. Although it was close to midnight, they noticed that something wasing from the ocean.


    At first, the lookouts thought that it was only a big shadow created by a cloud or something, but then they heard the sound of footsteps and the uneasy sound of something weird cking against each other on a firm rhythm. When the lookouts began to move to alert the others, they were hit by ice arrows that pierced them from the sides. This time, they froze instantly, and they didn''t have time to feel any pain.


    Aion waited until thest moment to attack the lookouts, he wasn''t using the Archer ss, so his ability to find them had decreased immensely. He could use magic, but Aion decided to save his mana¡­


    After dealing with the lookouts, the skeletons that came from the sea got in range to attack¡­ he had used the bodies of those that died during the day to summon only skeleton archers. Thanks to that, before the targets could notice anything, a rain of arrows fell on their camp.


    "Arrgghhh!"


    "Urrrggghhh!"


    "Enemy¡­ attack!"


    The enemy soldiers began to grunt in pain, and just like the first, they had no idea where the attacks wereing from since the arrows were being fired upward. After looking around for a while, they managed to find that massive shadow of skeletons, and then they began to prepare to engage in battle. It was risky, but it was the type of thing that they would do in that situation¡­


    "Well, now¡­ what should I do?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Aion could just let the skeletons die and make the enemies think that they just happened to show up there and there was a dungeon of skeletons underwater or something. Or Aion could join the fight and attack from another direction with his magic¡­ unless he wipes out more than four thousand of enemies, some rumors will spread around and people will think that he can use Necromancy, at least the people of the Rosberg kingdom would know that.


    That might cause problems, but it might spare Aion from troubles as well. If they fear that kind of thing, they will leave him alone. And he won''t have to worry about invasions that often.


    "Let''s scare them to the point that people won''t believe them¡­" Aion said and then smirked.


    When the enemies finally began to move in the direction of the skeletonsing from the North, Aion appeared from the south and attacked those who were still preparing to fight. Ice Arrows began to pierce their bodies left and right¡­ thanks to the darkness of the night, they didn''t have the chance to see the attacksing.


    Unlike the skeletons that kept their distance, Aion approached and revealed himself. At first, the enemies flinched and didn''t know what to do. They thought that Aion would summon the fire tornado again and burn them down to a crisp, but a few of them had balls of steel and stepped forward.


    "Don''t retreat! He is alone!"


    "Take his head and obtain the glory of ending this war!"


    "He is the piece of shit that killed master Caelis! Let''s kill him!"


    Several of the soldiers shouted in unison. The words of a few of them raised the morale of the whole group. That was troublesome¡­ even if they loserge numbers, an army with high morale will ignore all that in order to take the head of the enemymander. They began to charge at Aion like madmen¡­ which was convenient for him, but Aion couldn''t kill all of them, he didn''t have that much mana, and he couldn''t recover enough without meditating.


    Regardless, that was a problem forter¡­ Aion let the enemies get as close as possible before firing Ice Arrows at them. They raised their shields and weapons to block those, but it was useless. The projectiles pierced through them and then eventually hit their bodies, turning them into ice statues.


    The enemy archers pointed their bows upward in hopes of hitting Aion''s body with their arrows, and while those rained down on the area he had been in, he quickly escaped them by jumping backward after using Inner Force. Despite the surprise, the archers tried again, but in that short window of time, several of their allies fell due to the arrows¡­


    Aion did that for a while until his mana reached thirty percent of the maximum¡­ around one thousand of the enemies had been defeated. Although most of them had targeted Aion, a lot of the skeleton archers had fallen as well. The flow of the battle wasn''t in his favor¡­


    "It can''t be helped¡­" Aion thought and then pointed his hands at the bodies of some enemies.


    The frozen statues began to explode, and while didn''t cause any damage, it surprised the enemies a bit¡­ they ignored that until they began to be hit on their back by Fireballs. When they turned around, they saw thirty or so skeleton wizards, monsters using wands and cloaks¡­ their attacks began to melt the enemies'' armor and weapons¡­ Aion used his remaining mana to summon thirty of them, but at least that helped him wipe out the most reckless ones that got too close to him.

 Chapter 122 Planning Ahead

    You obtained 155 experience points.


    You obtained 185 experience points.


    You obtained 172 experience points.


    ¡­


    Usually, only thirty or so skeleton wizards wouldn''t change the flow of the battle that much. Even more so when Aion used all of his improvement points to enhance only his death knights. However, they gave Aion enough time to stop and meditate. When the enemy soldiers finally began to approach and kill them, Aion had enough time to summon others. With every minute, he could summon three more of them since they consumed only thirty mana points.


    The battle got as chaotic as it could have been since Aion summoned skeleton wizards behind the enemy''s lines. And since he was so close, then enemies thought that they could defeat him at any moment¡­ However, eventually, their numbers decreased to the point that half of the battalions had been annihted, and Aion had yet to suffer a single injury.


    When the enemies realized that they would never reach him, they froze on the spot¡­ To make things worse, until now, they didn''t see the armored warriors that stopped them during the day or the three scarlet tigers¡­


    "Retreat! Total retreat!" A soldier shouted.


    Someone gave that order. In the end, the archer and the swordsman never showed up. Aion wondered if they were on the battlefields in the south¡­ He wanted to make them into death knights, but it seemed that such a thing might not happen.


    Chasing the enemies in the darkness of the night would be the same as asking to fall for a trap, so Aion didn''t do that. Instead, he used his final card. The enemies that escaped the camp suddenly were attacked by something in the darkness. Those who had torches illuminated the path ahead and revealed the presence of the death knights. That was the worst possible situation for them¡­ They were surrounded on three fronts.


    The scarlet tigers were there as well and began to spam fireballs. While focusing on protecting themselves as much as possible, the enemies tried to run away while their allies were being hunted by the death knights. In fact, they used that as a chance to escape¡­ It was the only way for them. Around fifteen hundred of them escaped, while Aion captured ten or so of them for questioning. The others were decimated, through and through.


    "I should increase the size of the walls of the port and garrison the skeletons there, but I should use them only here and at night," Aion thought.


    That was another idea that Aion had to make the existence of the skeletons even more mysterious and scary¡­ Are they there, or aren''t they? That sure was bound to make the enemies hesitate if they nned to attack that again¡­ Still, for that to be possible, he had to work throughout the night to summon as many skeletons as possible. They were useful, but the fact that the bodies had to explode for them to be like that sure was gruesome.


    "This battlefield isn''t good for my mental health¡­ I will scorch this whole area to free it from the flesh and blood," Aion thought. "I guess you guys can return home with me and then help protect mom."


    After working on the skeletons, Aion made them burn the entire area while he improved the walls of the port. When morning came, Aion returned home to check things again. All that moving around and not stopping to rest was starting to take a toll on Aion''s mind and facial expression.


    "You are overworking yourself, Aion¡­" Artemisia said.


    "Never mind that," Aion said. "The guy north of here didn''te to help, what do you think, mother?"


    "I take it that you want to have some sort of revenge, but that might raise some bad rumors," Artemisia said. "Still, how did you manage to defend the port and still decide to bring the scarlet tigers?"


    "I can leave with that and we managed by using some magic tricks on the enemies," Aion said. "Ibined my magic with theirs."


    "Melded magic, huh¡­ it has been a while since I heard of that," Artemisia said. "I will ask the detailster, and I will think about what we can do to get back at that man¡­ for now, you should rest a bit, even if close to the dungeon."


    "Yes, ma''am," Aion said.


    Aion decided to do that since he really wanted to take a nap, and he did that at the entrance of the dungeon. The guards and adventurers knew that Aion needed a break, but they didn''t expect that he would sleep at the entrance of the dungeon. He either had absolutely no trust in them, or perhaps he wasn''t cruel enough to tell them to protect the dungeon with their lives. Maybe both options were correct¡­


    In the end, Aion woke up at noon after sleeping for three hours, but there was no sign of the enemy''s movements. When Aion checked the other camp, he confirmed that they were moving away¡­ it was hard to imagine them giving up on the port that easily, but they lost sixty percent of their forces, after all. In any case, it has been a few hours since the fight and after being surrounded by skeletons for so many hours, Aion imagined that the prisoners would have loosened their mouths.


    "Who wants to suffer the least?" Aion asked. "I want to know why you guys decided to attack now and who ismanding the whole thing."


    The prisoners looked away from Aion. Truth to be told, he didn''t want to rely on torture. That and fighting were different things. Still, he couldn''t waste time dealing with them. Aion created a fireball above the group and made the temperature above them increase. It didn''t take long for their bodies to begin to emit some steam¡­ but they refused to give up.


    "I guess I will show you how skeletons are made," Aion said.

 Chapter 123 On The Move

    When he was about to kill one of them to show that, Aion realized that he was going a bit too far¡­ Besides, that might enrage the prisoners and make them even more eager to keep their mouths shut. So, he decided to do something more shocking but less gory. He made Caelis approach and reveal his face. It looked the same as usual, so the prisoners lookedpletely astonished. Still, he looked far too calm and expressionless.


    "Even one of your famous fighters ended up bing my soldier after being defeated. I guess you will have to be my minions as well¡­ prepare yourselves to be puppets without free will."


    Aion recalled that Caelis could defeat others and make them be mad with his shadow, but he still could use that. Still, Aion forbade it in order not to reveal his identity. When they saw the shadow taking the form of a spear, they got even more nervous. For them, who valued strength more than a little bit, losing their self of self was worse than death.


    "Ourmanders are master Lerg and Master Ugren!" One of the prisoners shouted. "Our king decided to attack in order to recover our territory and pay the debt when he heard that the borders would be less guarded! I did what you wanted! Now just kill us and be done with it."


    Lerg and Ugren probably were the names of the archer and swordsman¡­e to think of it, Aion wondered why such a ce would have a king. They valued strength more than anything, and it didn''t seem like their king was from a lineage of powerful warriors. In any case, it was hard to imagine that Aion would get any more valuable information from random soldiers. Regardless, he couldn''t let them go, so he did what they asked him and offered a quick and painless death.


    After that, Aion considered what the enemies would do¡­ if they had enough soldiers, they might send more of them to attack the northern part of the border. Still, it didn''t seem like a good idea¡­ if Aion were their leader, he would send their best warriors to kill him together. Now, he just had to wait to see if their leader had a brain.


    "They are supposed to be pretty prideful, but since they are smarter than Caelis, they might really attack together¡­ I need to prepare for this," Aion nodded to himself.


    Aion returned home and looked with his mother at the reports that the other lords sent, they didn''t mention the archer and the swordsman, so it was hard to tell how much they were truly struggling.


    "What do you know about the king and the history of that kingdom, mom?" Aion asked.


    "Not much. They aren''t the type to write books about their present and past, after all," Artemisia replied. "They live in the present, and they follow the strong. Without seeing things from their perspective, I can only say a few things written from the perspective of civilians. What I found was that they have a royal family that has been rolling over the Rosberg kingdom for many generations, and people believe it is due to their immense charisma."


    That certainly sounded weird. No wonder Artemisia looked so unsure about that. Regardless, considering how quick they are to attack the borders and how much they value and respect people like Caelis, it was hard to imagine that just being charismatic would be enough to rule a nation of muscle heads. The royal family probably knows more, thanks to the spies, but they didn''t make their information public even once.


    "I will write some letters to see if we can get some information, but it might take days to get anything without your father''s help," Artemisia said.


    "It is fine, and it is better than nothing," Aion said. "I am confident that we can repel most attacks until theirmanders show up."


    "Right, to make things fairer, I will be ready to act if they attack together," Artemisia said. "I am a bit rusty, but I will be of some help."


    Aion truly didn''t want to rely on his mother''s help but forcing her to stay at home when she wanted to do something wouldn''t be much different than what the king forced her to do¡­ To stay in prison for many years. Helping in the war might improve her image among the people of the territory. Still, since the soldiers and guards were starting to fear him more and more, that might be unnecessary.


    "Let''s focus on avoiding that kind of problem for the time being," Aion said.


    In any case, nothing happened in Aion''s territory in the next few days. They received more letters to help the neighbors, but they didn''t have enough hands to help. Besides, Aion didn''t want to help those assholes. They received some information over the next few days, but nothing really valuable. More than anything, they received reports about the war that was happening on the other side of the kingdom¡­


    "I hope that they will be fine¡­" Aion said while thinking about his brothers.


    While they had skills and power way above their age, wars were different than duels. People gang up on the strong in order to save their own lives. It wasn''t a matter of being honorable or not, and it was only a matter of how much you valued your own life.


    When they finally received a message from the capital about themanders of the enemy''s army, they said that the archer and the swordsman were on the move and heading to the border. Still, at some point, they lost sight of them. That was really troublesome¡­ Aion wanted to think that he was ready to face them. Still, if they took over the towns in the south, he would have to do something, and attacking a walled city or a town was a lot more troublesome than an ordinary fight¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 124 Persona

    Another week passed very slowly since nothing happened. That was quite good since Aion could focus on improving his sses in the dungeon, but the fact that the enemies didn''t give up on the war bothered him a bit. While he was waiting for something to happen, he heard that some messengers were sent to his town¡­ only the lords use them, so he could tell who sent those.


    When Aion entered his office, he saw a young man in his thirties smiling, but he began to sweat after he had endured Aion''s stare for a while.


    "Good morning, my lord," The messenger said. "I am an envoy of the lord Heral Armand, and¡­"


    "Scram, I won''t say it again," Aion said. "Also, tell your lord that he will get what he deserves."


    The messenger understood with just that and then left with his head down in a hurry. He didn''t have anything with the problem between those two, but Aion had to make his point as clearly as possible.


    "Don''t be so hard with those uninvolved in this," Artemisia said.


    "Rather than that, what can we do to get that¡­ guy for good?" Aion asked.


    "You want to pay him back right now?" Artemisia asked. "It isn''t like they use our territories that much, and since they do most of their trades using maritime routes, there isn''t much we can do to affect him without causing problems to others. We can stop selling the materials of the dungeon to his territory, but they had been buying it for a while, so that won''t bother them any time soon. Moreover, you would lose some money as well."


    "I guess a personal touch is required for this kind of job¡­ this is a job for the cloaked wanderer," Aion said.


    "You gave yourself that nickname?" Artemisia asked.


    "No, I heard the former prisoners that came from the South referring to me as that," Aion replied. "I kept my identity hidden, after all."


    "Even if your identity isn''t linked to that¡­ persona, it will raise problemster since you just said that you would get him for that," Artemisia said. "That will make some people connect the dots."


    "I guess I will create another alter ego, then¡­" Aion said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.


    "At least wait until the war is over¡­" Artemisia said and then sighed.


    It was already quite surprising that Artemisia wasn''t trying to stop Aion from doing some vandalism to annoy the barrel lord. In any case, she had a point¡­ if things work well, Aion will get some more death knights, and he can use them to cause havoc on that guy''s territory. It was just to make him lose a lot of money without killing anyone, so an utterly obedient death knight would be a perfect tool for that.


    While Aion was thinking about that, one of the servants of the house entered the room while holding a message delivered by a raven. He asked him to give that to his mother, and her expression darkened a little bit¡­ something happened, but not something good.


    "They got the city under the control of the Histart family¡­" Artemisia said.


    "That is the city on the territory of the mines¡­ I guess they want those resources as well," Aion thought. "Both the archer and the swordsman were sent there?"


    "Yes, that city is¡­ Or was the strongest stronghold on this side of the kingdom. Now that they managed to conquer it, they''ll have the best base to expand their territory in all directions," Artemisia said.


    "I knew that, but I honestly didn''t believe that they could take over the city. Only someone like Sauros would have the ability to destroy those walls," Aion said while frowning.


    "The report said that the whole Histart family managed to escape, and a good part of the poption fled, but there is a problem," Artemisia said and then took a deep breath. "Until now, both sides fighting in the war tried not to make the use of the mages of the kingdom. However, that city is too important to be left alone in the hands of the enemy. The head of the Histart family asked the king to send them, and the king allowed that. There is a chance that some of your sisters might be sent there¡­"


    "You have to be kidding me¡­" Aion said after opening his eyes widely.


    They weren''t that close, to begin with. Since their mothers were from famous families, they felt even more prejudice toward the Mirellis kingdom. They were raised like that as well, and they spent a good part of ten years ignoring him and his mother. Still, far worse things could have been done to them. Their prejudice was unjustified from Aion''s perspective. Still, he wasn''t someone who witnessed a war that ended with the destruction of a whole kingdom. Mirellis'' kingdom wasn''t the only one that lost hundreds of thousands of people.


    Once again, Aion found himself in an annoying situation where he found many reasons to try to recover that city and not to try. The family was family, and you can''t turn your back on family. His half-sisters were basically kids, and they didn''t deserve to be victims of war, even less so in the hands of those Legendary monsters.


    On the other hand, Aion had his own territory to guard, and he was doing a good job protecting it and fighting on two fronts. He couldn''t do more than that with the number of soldiers in his hands¡­ he could keep thinking of both lists for hours, and they would keep growing.


    "Aion, a bad friend still is a friend, and a bad sibling still is a sibling," Artemisia said. "I don''t think that they have been bad to you, and you might not be as close as you wanted, but they are still your sisters, even if they are half-sisters."


    "Yeah, I get it¡­ I will prevent them from facing those guys," Aion said.

 Chapter 125 Trio

    Aion began his preparations to move. While he was doing that, he wondered if the n of dueling them would work¡­ they weren''t as stupid as Caelis, so perhaps it wouldn''t work. Maybe he needed to think of some other ns...


    "Are you certain that the port will be fine?" Artemisia asked.


    "Yeah, you don''t need to check that ce," Aion said while worrying that his mother might end up seeing the skeletons. "I put severalyers of traps there to get the enemies, so no one should approach it recklessly until I deactivate them."


    "In that case, I will help defend the dungeon in case the enemies attack," Artemisia dered. "Captain Jairo is really scared of you, so he will follow my orders."


    Aion didn''t like the idea that his mother would be in the line of attack by the enemies. Still, her powers woulde in handy. Not to mention, Aion''s monsters will be nearby to protect her¡­ the only question is what will happen if her peoplee for her again.


    "Don''t worry too much about me, and don''t forget that I taught you everything you know about magic," Artemisia said. "While your powers surpass mine, I have more experience. In fact, I should be the one who is going to be worried since you are going to face enemies worse than Caelis."


    "Fair enough, although I think that they won''t be much of a problem in front of the might of my big brain," Aion said.


    "Don''t get overconfident¡­" Artemisia said.


    In the end, Aion couldn''t treat his mother like she was made of ss. The first attack traumatized her a little since she didn''t expect to see her people again and much less in that situation. So, she will react ordingly if something happens.


    "My mother will takemand of things here while I will help our allies south of here, " Aion said to Jairo after he told him about the fall of that walled city. "What are you going to do?"


    "If the ma''am is your representative, I will make sure to make everyone follow her rules and protect her with our lives," Jairo said.


    "That is the spirit," Aion said. "I will return as soon as possible."


    Aion left the mansion and then began to fly south. Although he won''t be able to use his necromancy skills, he will have to fight with that ss since he can''t leave the port unprotected.


    "Although flying like this isn''t bad, I should learn the skill properly to be as fast as I can¡­" Aion thought


    Aion had been improving his ability to meditate while controlling the earth tform that he was using to fly. However, he still had a long way to go since he had to stop every forty or so minutes. Fortunately, all that fighting and training sure was making his ss stronger.


    Necromancer Lv 67


    Health:08/08


    Mana: 1424/1424


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 221+ 90


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 45


    Speed: 01


    Status: 10


    Necromancer''s Staff Refinement Lv 30


    Bonuses: Magic + 90, Resistance + 45


    Skills: Skeleton Knight Lv 15, Skeleton Archer Lv 26, Skeleton Wizard Lv 39, Death Knight Lv 01 (Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 50)


    Passive: Summon Lv 29, Store Lv 15, Undead Recovery Lv 29


    Improvement Points: 48


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 385.250


    Inventory: Earth Rune, Rune of Defense, Rune of Sharpness, Rune of Fire


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Thanks to the increase in his magic power, Aion could fly a lot faster than before. His control over his mana also improved thanks to the daily training drastically, so he figured out that he could reach his destination in half a day. He tried to speed up a bit since arriving at night would be troublesome. Still, then he realized that the enemies wouldn''t notice that someone suspicious had arrived, so he decided to use that in his favor.


    It looked like the enemies had invaded the city two days ago. Still, they had already overtaken the whole ce and also mounted a camp outside in order to move when necessary. They also had secured a route for their allies toe and enter the city. It was hard to tell their numbers, but it was clear that they had more than five thousand soldiers stationed outside and some more inside.


    "They don''t want to use the walls in their favor¡­ they want to crush the spirits of the soldiers of the region with a direct fight," Aion thought.


    It didn''t look like the walls suffered much damage, but from above, Aion could see a lot of blood on the top of the walls¡­ for the guards there to suffer so much damage¡­ Aion could only imagine that the archer did that. Regardless, a few kilometers south of the city, Aion found the camp of those that managed to escape from the city. It seemed that a lot of the inhabitants were nearby, waiting for their homes to be reimed.


    In any case, Aionnded in a ce where no one could see him, and then he walked toward the camp. The guards on the lookout noticed his approached and raised their weapons to confront him. Aion put down his hood and then identified himself. One of the guards recognized him and his armor, so he alerted the others.


    "I received the message about the capture of the city, and I havee to help. Who is in charge here?" Aion asked.


    "Lord Richard Histart, the guild master Jagger, and the headmaster of the magic school, the me Witch Vanessa," One of the guards replied.


    Aion almost clicked his tongue¡­ one of the morons lost his city and still was calling the shots. The other was a hot-blooded moron that couldn''t let go of the past, and thest was someone Aion had never met before. Things sure were going to beplicated. Since he left his territory, he had to follow the lead of the people there¡­

 Chapter 126 Objectives

    One of the guards guided Aion to the tent where those three were. He felt the eyes of some people, but most of the guys who were around were too tired or depressed to care about a new visitor.


    The tent where those three were quite big, it was supposed to fit several captains of many groups, but only those three were there and in total silence. They couldn''t think of a solution to the problem that was the loss of that city, and they could only wait for reinforcements. Regardless, the first one to notice Aion''s arrival was Jagger, and he didn''t hide his displeasure. Since things were like that, Aion won''t mind treating him like some piece of shit as well.


    "My lord, the lord Aion Kresnik hase to help," the guard said.


    "... He isn''t a lord, and he is managing thatnd in the ce of his father," Richard said.


    "Neither are you since you lost the core of your territory," Aion said.


    "What did you say?" Richard asked, visibly pissed.


    Richard Histart was a ck-haired man in his forties. He also looked pretty prideful, but despite being a rich and greedy merchant that used the mines of the region, he had a certain aura about him. Although he was wearing some thick clothes, one could see that he had a soldier''s physique and that he could protect himself. In any case, Aion didn''t forget that he was the asshole that asked for him to give away some of hisnds.


    "It seems you two have some kind of history¡­ but I would advise on forgetting that since it isn''t the time to argue," Vanessa said.


    The headmaster of the magic school was a woman in her early thirties. She has long red hair and brown eyes. Despite her overall appearance and title, she seemed like a calm person. She was wearing a dark robe that concealed all of her body. Still, Aion had a feeling that the robe wasn''t just something that she was wearing because it wasmon for mages to wear, but because she wanted to conceal weapons and perhaps magic items.


    "Anyway, how can we be sure that he isn''t someone pretending to be Lexus'' son?" Richard asked. "Did you confirm his identity?"


    "I remember seeing him at the tournament, my lord," The guard said.


    "You brought him here because of only that much?" Richard asked, even more pissed.


    "Let''s stop wasting time," Jagger said. "I know him, and the headmaster of the magic school saw him as well. This should be enough to prove his identity. You are dismissed."


    "Yes, sir," the guard said.


    "Richard said that he asked for help from many lords, including you. Why did you only answer that now?" Jagger asked.


    "It is lord Richard to you," Richard said.


    "I was busy defending two territories with only five hundred men against ten thousand on the other side, so I was busy," Aion said. "Things are under control now, and we caused a lot of damage to those two armies, so we figured out that they will try to attack us again by using this city as a base. Before they could obtain total control over the city, I thought that I should help take it back."


    "How many did you kill?" Jagger asked.


    "Around one thousand of one group and thirty-five of the other," Aion replied.


    "How did you do that?" Vanessa asked. "The situation might be different, but maybe we can use it as a reference."


    "That is unlikely. I surprised them at night with magic and made sure to surround them. As you know, the magic on my mother''s side is pretty easy to control," Aion replied. "I captured some of them and made them talk. They heard of the princess''s wedding and decided to use that chance to attack and pay back for Caelis'' death. That is what a random soldier said, but considering that the bandits in the east attacked at the same time, it wasn''t the whole truth."


    "This would never have happened if you had given up on some of thatnd," Richard said.


    "Or if you weren''t a cheapskate and asked for it for free," Aion said. "In any case, it wouldn''t have changed a thing since you wouldn''t be able to build a fortress better than that city."


    "It seems that Lerg and Urgen are stronger than Caelis, their skills aren''t as simple as his, but we will be counting on your magic to defeat them when the timees," Vanessa said.


    "I didn''t use my magic that much to defeat him, and I just fooled him a few times," Aion said.


    "Besides, I think that my magic isn''t appropriate to take on a few enemies at a time. It will be better if we use it for other purposes like opening an entrance back to the city. I am pretty sure that we will suffer many losses if we try a siege."


    "Even if we follow that n, we will have a hard time since the archer will keep our soldiers away," Vanessa said. "His range is absurd, and his precision is inhumane. If we manage to reach the walls, then the swordsman will be the problem¡­ there is nothing that he can''t cut."


    "How would the invasion have ended without those two?" Aion asked.


    "We held them back for two weeks. Even without reinforcements, it is clear that we had the upper hand," Jagger said. "However, the archer decreased the number of our soldiers with each shot, and when we showed the first sign of weakness, the swordsman led the charge, cut the gate, and then invaded the city with his minions. We must defeat those two first and foremost to recover the city."


    That was what Aion thought from the very beginning, and he wanted to do that as soon as possible. However, the morale of the camp was too low for them to pull that off¡­ Aion was nning to defeat the enemies as soon as possible, but in case that didn''t happen, the soldiers would fight for a while¡­

 Chapter 127 Bait

    Although the army of the region hadn''t been decimated during the battle, a lot of the survivors were heavily wounded. So, before putting any operation into practice, those three decided to wait for at least one day to get some reinforcements. Thanks to that, Aion couldn''t help but sigh when he saw the two youngest of Aion''s sisters. They were still studying magic, so it couldn''t be helped.


    Elvera and Nanda were also surprised when they reported to Vanessa and found their brother there. Just like the other students, they were wearing blue robes, which was the uniform of the students. Regardless, Aion could see Nanda looked quite nervous, and she had some bags under her eyes. She was the youngest, and she looked even younger since she had short ck hair and wore some essories like a hairpin and colorful bracelets. Still, she looked ten years older due to the tension.


    Elvera looked calmer to make sure that she would be ready to move at a moment''s notice and that her hair wouldn''t get in the way. She tied up her long, light brown hair in two braids. It was cute, but it didn''t look like the hairstyle that someone that was going to join a battle should show.


    "Aion¡­ you came as well?" Elvera asked. "Are things fine in your territory? I didn''t think that you would leave your mother behind to help."


    "Everything is alright, and she has the protection of some others," Aion said. "You look nervous, Nanda¡­ does father know that you two are here?"


    "I am fine¡­" Nanda said while hiding a bit behind her sister. "Father is too busy. Most of the free soldiers headed west, so we need to help as much as possible."


    Aion never noticed it, but Nanda feared him more than a bit. She never showed that before, probably because her other brothers and sisters were around when they met. Regardless, she was the youngest of the girls, so it made sense that she would be a bit more shy and fearful, considering that her old siblings always tried to hold her hand.


    Aion wondered what he should say to them. It would sound quite arrogant to tell them not to put themselves in danger. While he came to prevent them from facing the archer and the swordsman, they were trained to fight in situations like this¡­ even if situations like this are hard toe by for them.


    In any case, Aion was starting to get the attention of their friends, so he decided to focus on the meeting with the others. He wasn''t one of the guys leading the whole operation, but since he would be at the center, he would have to listen to the whole meeting.


    "Now that we have a force of ten thousand soldiers, five thousand adventurers, and five hundred mages, we should work on the n of taking back the city," Jagger said. "We need to be careful, but we can''t waste too much time. Otherwise, the enemies will solidify their base on the city."<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Aion wondered why Jagger was saying those numbers¡­ he was probably trying to keep the morale high while mentioning even the wounded. It was clear that, at the very least, they won''t be able to fight for at least one week, and one week they didn''t have.


    "We should use the mages the burn down one side of the walls. Even with five hundred of them, it will take a while for that to happen, and they will have to get close," Vanessa said. "Their spells are beyond the reach of ordinary arrows. While the enemies have the power to use bows with a longer reach, few of them actually use that."


    "Still, we will need a diversion," Jagger said. "The archer and the swordsman can take down as many mages as they want while they approach."


    It wasn''t surprising that the archer could do that, but it was that the swordsman could. Aion only heard that he could cut anything, but not from a long distance. Aion imagined someone like his father and Vangel spawning that technique that fires some energy¡­ still, that seemed weird since neither of them could use that skill more than five times.


    "I can fly, and apparently, so does Aion," Vanessa said. "We can take some people with us to draw the attention of Urgren and Lurge. We will be surrounded by a lot of soldiers, but with the right people being the bait while the mages open a hole in the walls, we will be able to buy enough time."


    "That won''t be enough," Richard said. "Those two need to die. They might as well leave the bait alone and be surrounded by the soldiers of the city when they notice the mages approaching and attacking."


    Richard was annoying, but he had a point. Those two waited for the right moment to join the war and even disappeared from the radar of the spies, and they were smart enough to pull that off and ignore their pride. Fortunately, Aion was informed that at least five hundred enemy soldiers were entering that city every day. With that in mind, it was hard to imagine that they still were keeping their soldiers apart. His town and the port were fine, so he could afford to change his sses once he used his magic to make sure that the enemies would have their focus on them.


    "If we drop in a ce with a lot of enemies, I can use all my mana to take a lot of enemies at the same time. That will make those two be wary of me, thinking that I can use that again and again," Aion said. "If they lose a few hundred of their soldiers at once, that will be a good enough bait."


    The other three looked at each other. They knew about Aion''s lineage, and Jagger and Vanessa fought many powerful mages in the war thirteen years ago. Still, they couldn''t help but be wary that Aion could do that at such a young age¡­ even when he still was considered a talented warrior.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 128 Final Problem

    "If you can do that, then we should use that," Vanessa said. "What do you think?"


    "It seems a feasible n¡­ but it puts too much of an important role on a single person. You should try that in case he fails," Jagger said.


    "My fire magic isn''t that user-friendly. At max power, I can barely control it not to wound myself," Vanessa said. "Still, I can offer the group some fire support and keep ordinary soldiers away by doing what I am best at."


    "In that meantime, I guess we are going to face those two by ourselves¡­" Jagger said.


    "What happened to the other guild masters? Surely they are strong enough to give us a hand," Aion said. "In any other situation, I would like to duel against those two, but right isn''t the best moment for that."


    "Those that came died protecting people during the evacuation. The others in the area didn''t answer when Richard asked for help," Jagger said.


    "Lord Richard to you¡­ and I demanded they toe to help. I didn''t ask," Richard said.


    At that point, Aion considered that kind of nonsense aedic routine, so he decided to ignore it¡­ Aion truly wanted to overwhelm those two to make sure that the mages would have their chances to attack the walls freely. Still, it seemed that he would have to follow the difficult route¡­ that would be dangerous since it might cause problems to his final goal of keeping his sisters safe. They also might realize that something was off with his actions...


    "Attacking tonight will be our best bet," Vanessa said. "When the city fell, at least fifteen thousand soldiers entered it that day, and those numbers keep increasing¡­ we should tell everyone to rest without making any suspicious movements."


    "We still need to think of what to do with the army stationed outside the town, our soldiers still are weakened, and they won''t win a direct confrontation," Jagger said.


    "There isn''t much that we can do aside from sending the mages to help once they finish their job," Vanessa said.


    "The enemy soldiers don''t use formations to attack. They fight mano-a-mano¡­ our own soldiers will get caught by the spells," Jagger said.


    Several seconds of silence passed after that. They had no idea how to solve the problem. They didn''t have enough resources or manpower to use any decent strategy, after all. In his lesson in battle tactics, Aion learned that in such kind of situation, themander should make some sacrifices, and by sacrifices, he meant making some soldiers die to buy time¡­ the mages won''t pull that off if they attack the enemies from a distance, but if they attack them from behind¡­ Regardless, some sacrifices will have to be made.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "... What do you think about taking the battle outside and right into the enemy''s army?" Aion asked.


    "I thought that Lexus kids were supposed to have military training and education from an early age, but it seemed that I was wrong," Jagger said.


    "I know it is crazy. It will be even more dangerous for us, but I thought the confusion would make the army split their focus, and that would give some leeway to some of our soldiers," Aion said. "If we push the enemies against the wall and make them struggle, their minions won''t be able to focus on attacking our soldiers. I am putting myself in danger, so I am not a fan of such a thing, so either way, it is fine for me."


    "If we try to pull that off, the attacks of those two will lose a lot of power," Vanessa said. "One might say that the safest ce to be when in danger is the eye of the storm."


    In the end, the whole group had to agree with that since they would be in equal danger. Those three had their obligations and lord, guild master, and headmaster, so such a n could only be considered as reckless, but considering how much close they will be to helping the soldiers and how much of a load they would take from their shoulders, it wasn''t a bad idea¡­ their actions will save a lot of lives.


    "I suppose¡­ that is what we need to do," Jagger said. "The final problem is who is going tomand the army. We have many captains left, but no one is experienced enough tomand all of them."


    "I willmand my people and reim our homes. There is nothing else to say," Richard said.


    If one considers failure an experience, then Richard had some experience in leading an army. Some soldiers might not be feeling that eager to follow him. Still, he was their best shot and probably the only one around who could understand how much they wanted to recover their homes.


    ''If you don''t have anything to say, then prepare yourselves until night," Richard said. "I will talk with the captains and tell them how we are going to proceed. You are dismissed."


    He had some nerve in dismissing those of equal rank. Still, Aion decided to ignore that¡­ it was all for the sake of recovering that town as soon as possible and then returning home. To be sure that such a thing would happen, the archer and the swordsman had to die, which would make the enemies lose their morale¡­ Still, Aion won''t have many chances to turn them into death knights in the middle of a battlefield. After thinking for a while, he got his answer, though.


    "I need to check my sses and decide which one I will use in this situation¡­" Aion thought. "We won''t be able to choose a target before the fight, so I need to be ready to face both of them¡­ I don''t know how much stronger Jagger got in thest two years, but the previous him wouldn''t be able to do much against Caelis¡­ I really can''t let the battle drag on for long¡­"

 Chapter 129 Destructive Fury

    Warrior Lv 86


    Health: 990/990


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 314/314


    Strength: 135 + 75


    Dexterity: 56


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 135 + 150


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 101


    Status: 00


    Hammer Refinement Lv 50


    Bonuses: Strength + 75, Endurance + 75


    Skills: Vertical Swing Lv 22, Stunning Blow Lv 22, Furious Hammer Lv 22, Toss Hammer Lv 01, Fury Lv 42 (Power Lv 85, Efficiency Lv 80, Cost Lv 80)


    Passive: Iron Skin Lv 26, Warrior''s Aura Lv 26, Fire Resistance Lv 10, Cold Resistance Lv 10, Shock Resistance Lv 10


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 385.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    After some consideration, Aion decided to use the Warrior ss. While he didn''t use that ss often, he decided that it would be the time for that since the hammer was pretty sturdy, and he could use it to block long-ranged attacks. The swordsman and the archer were good at that, so it felt natural¡­ Although it was weird to hold the weapon.


    Furious Hammer: A skill that makes you spin and hit several enemies at the same time in a short window of time.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Toss Hammer: Toss your weapon at the target, making it spin, and hit the target three times before returning.


    Fury: At the cost of ten points of health per second, you receive a powerful boost in strength, endurance, and speed that will be equal to the level of the skill multiplied by three.


    Warrior''s Aura: decrease the power of physical damage by two points per level.


    Fire Resistance: Decreases the power of all fire-rted attacks by one point per level.


    Cold Resistance: Decreases the power of all ice-rted attacks by one point per level.


    Shock Resistance: Decreases the power of all electricity-rted attacks by one point per level.


    The warrior ss has some resistance to magic, so in that regard, it was better than the berserker ss. With Fury, the power boost that Aion could receive was even greater. However, it came with a cost¡­ the cost in blood. Aion would lose health over time, after all. Even by decreasing the cost by eighty percent. Aion couldn''t keep that skill active for more than seven minutes¡­ that without considering the damage that he could receive from the enemies.


    "At this point in time¡­ it is useless to keep hiding that weapon, so I will stop," Aion thought when he summoned the hammer.


    Aion already proved his strength when he won the tournament, so he didn''t have to pretend that he didn''t have such an amazing relic. In that kingdom, no one was crazy enough to face him when he could use powerful magic and he could defeat most people in a duel. Still, the same couldn''t be said beyond the borders¡­


    "I suppose this will make them target me even more. This will be useful," Aion thought.


    People around frowned when they saw Aion''s hammer, it was rather short, and the head was bigger ifpared to the usual Warhammers. Moreover, it waspletely silver in color. If that wasn''t a magic weapon, they didn''t know what it was. Regardless, Aion rested with his back against one of the numerous trees around the camp. Despite the fact that he was going to participate in one hell of a battle, he managed to take quite a good nap.


    After that, Aion had some light dinner before heading to the central tent of the camp. Jagger and Vanessa were already there and ready to move. Richard Histart showed up a few minutester, d in armor and with a short ax in hand. He at least could walk well with all that weight, so he wasn''t all talk.


    "We will attack right now. They aren''t expecting an attack at this hour, and they are probably having dinner, so they will waste some time reading the troops outside and inside the camp," Richard dered.


    That made sense, but also, that would mean that Aion''s first attack would affect fewer people, and it would be harder to find the two targets. He will need to use his magic for that. After thinking for a short while, he concluded that they would have to arrive sneakily and then attack those two and force them to outside the city¡­ it would be perfect if Aion could use ice magic, attack a lot of soldiers and also freeze one of the entrances of the city.


    "Don''t let the moves around be too obvious," Aion said. "It will take a short while to arrive in the city and find them. Once you notice some movements on the walls, you should give the order for everyone to move."


    "Who do you think you are talking to? I already know such an obvious thing," Richard said.


    "Well then, let''s get going," Aion said and then created a small earth tform and then jumped in.


    "... Isn''t that too small?" Jagger said.


    "I am saving mana for the real attack," Aion said. "If you are that afraid of falling, I can put some bars around."


    "You have some nerve, kid. Do you think you can act all high and mighty just because you won against me once?" Jagger asked.


    "No bars around then," Aion said.


    Jagger clicked his tongue since he was ignored and made fun of at the same time. Still, he didn''t hesitate to jump into the tform, and then Vanessa did the same. Both of them felt uneasy about letting someone younger take the reins of things. Still, Vanessa could only make herself fly, and Jagger couldn''t do anything about it.


    Slowly, Aion made the tform high in the sky until it disappeared in the darkness of the night. They approached a cloud and hid above it while they moved toward the city. Despite their fears, the tform was as steady as it could be, and the night wind didn''t make them tremble that much as they approached their destination. In the end, they began to fly downward andnded in a random dark alley with ease¡­ no one noticed their arrival.

 Chapter 130 Invasion

    Those threended in an area where most of the enemy soldiers were located, which was the eastern part of the city. It was convenient for Aion, but it wasn''t some opportunity granted by luck. The enemies were there because of the proximity to the eastern gate.


    While they didn''t say anything, Jagger and Vanessa waited for Aion to use his magic. After touching the ground, he made his mana spread across the area, and with his high level of magic, it spread a lot more than Aion had expected. He basically found the locations of everyone in a five hundred meters radius. He also found two suspicious presences two hundred meters away.


    "Now that I think about it, I never tried to check the presence of those mutated individuals," Aion thought. "Their overall presence is the same, but they have a weird aura surrounding them. Almost like something way too different from them¡­"


    "They are two hundred meters away from here, in an inn," Aion said. "I used half of my mana to find them, but I can recover that in fifteen minutes."


    "We will wait," Jagger said. "We will be fine if we wait for half an hour after a meal."


    "What if they move?" Vanessa asked.


    "They took the city two days ago, and more of them areing; they still must be celebrating, and their guards won''t be raised until we try something," Jagger exined.


    Vanessa nodded, and Aion changed his ss to Mage to recover his mana faster. He turned around to hide from them the Magic Staff showed up. Regardless, once he finished recovering his mana, Aion confirmed that they didn''t change their location.


    The eastern gate was two hundred meters away. If Aion focused his attack in that direction while trying to freeze the entire inn, he would freeze the gate, but not a lot of soldiers will be killed during the attack¡­ They won''t be able to interfere or leave the city at first, so Aion thought that it was fine for the time being¡­ You can''t have your cake and eat it at the same time.


    The group moved to the back of the inn after flying for a short while, and despite the tension, they hid their killing intentpletely. Aion began to focus¡­ He had to attack and think of attacking in a short window of time in order not to give the enemies a chance to react.


    After his focus reached its limits, Aion attacked. A powerful st of ice magic was fired toward the eastern gate and froze everything up to that point.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You received 155 coins.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You received 299 coins.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    ¡­


    Despite the situation, around two hundred enemies were killed. Still, in the next moment, they found two figures jumping in front of that building. In the short window of time that Aion emitted his bloodlust, they escaped the building and the st. While they were in the air, Aion and Jagger jumped toward them.


    Aion used Inner Force and then attacked the swordsman with a powerful strike aimed at his stomach, but that guy blocked it with his sword. His long weapon somehow absorbed the power of the attack, but he still was thrown beyond the wall.


    Jagger didn''t have as much as raw strength as Aion, but he managed to attack the archer with his Ki Explosion. He blocked some of the attacks with his bow as well, but he still was pushed beyond the wall. Aion and Jagger quickly followed them while Vanessa emitted some mes through her hands that propelled herself upward.


    She found those two jumping toward the wall, and when theynded, they saw the enemies in front of the camp. The archer suffered some damage, but the swordsman was fine.


    "You take the archer," Aion said. "Vanessa should offer us fire support."


    There was no time to argue, so they nodded and then moved toward the enemies. The swordsman was a man who was two and a half meters tall. He had long wavy ck hair. Despite the fact that he was carrying a sword that was pretty thick and two meters long, he was only wearing chainmail as protective gear. His sword didn''t look to be a magic item. It was just a big and thick ordinary broadsword, so Aion wondered how he could attack enemies from far away¡­


    The archer was a bit shorter and slimmer, but he had several items equipped on him that increased his defense. Boots, gauntlets, a red breastte¡­ all of those seemed to be magic items. In any case, he had spiked, short green hair and Aion frowned while looking at it. His eyes were also green, just like his bow¡­ in any case, they managed to surprise the enemies, and one of them barely had any protective gear, so they had to capitalize on that.


    As soon as hended, Aion charged at the enemy and then swung his hammer. The enemy blocked the attack, and he was pushed a few centimeters backward. He frowned at the strength of the attack, but he frowned, even more when he saw Aion''s appearance¡­


    "You must be Aion''s Kresnik¡­ the man who killed Caelis," Ugren said.


    Aion didn''t expect that he would be recognized that easily. Still, it was only natural, considering that rumors about him were spreading left and right. It was a bit troublesome to be recognized since the enemies wouldn''t drop their guard knowing about his aplishments. Still, the fame was good for boosting his ego.


    "The son of thest survivor of that piece of garbage kingdom and who became a whore for another piece of shit," Ugren said. "Despite that, you decided to be a dog to the people that eliminated all of the garbage of the world¡­"


    It didn''t matter if Aion was recognized by that guy¡­ he won''t stop until he smashed that guy''s head down to a pulp¡­

 Chapter 131 Technique

    Ugren pushed Ajon backward with brute strength alone and then charged to attack him. His downward strike forced Aion to bend his knee a little when he blocked the sword with his hammer. The ground around his feet began to crack, and he could feel his bones suffering damage¡­ The weight behind that attack was something else.


    Aion jumped backward to make the enemy hit the ground and lose some of his bnce, but he stopped his sword midway and then resumed his stance with the ox guard. He sure knew a thing or two about using a sword despite being raised in a kingdom where most people are hot-blooded idiots.


    In any case, he was strong and was skilled as well, so Aion couldn''t attack recklessly. The time was against him and the others, though, since he could see some soldiers of the enemy camp approach. In the end, those who got too close were hit by powerful Fireballs that engulfed their bodies on fire. The enemy soldiers agonized for a while, unable to scream, but eventually fell dead on the ground. As nned, Vanessa was watching their back, but she couldn''t do that forever.


    All of a sudden, Aion felt a shiver, and then he saw arms and the sword of the enemy blurring. In that short window of time, Aion reacted and raised his hammer. He didn''t even see the attacking, but something hit his hammer and pushed him backward for a few meters. As if that wasn''t weird enough. The st of wind hit his arms and his face and made some cuts appear on it, making it sting.


    "The hell was that¡­" Aion thought while opening his eyes widely.


    Before Aion could think of an answer, the enemy charged at him and swung the massive sword. This time, the enemy attacked with a horizontal strike aimed at Aion''s left side. He moved his weapon to block it, but he wasn''t only pushed backward. He was also raised from the ground¡­ the enemy had some magic effects on his arsenal, but he also had brute strength at his disposal.


    Before Aion could fall, the enemy attacked again. Still, Aion swung his weapon when he activated Stunning Blow. Both weapons collided, and Aion hasn''t pushed away. The sound of metal colliding echoed through hundreds of meters. Aion had his chance tond, and when the next horizontal attack came, he swung his weapon downward¡­ defending wasn''t a good idea in that kind of situation.


    After the impact, both of them were pushed away¡­ usually, Aion would think that they had the same level of strength. Still, a weird feeling was bothering him¡­ he could tell that the enemy wasn''t giving his best. He probably knew about his family and thus about Inner Force¡­ he wouldn''t use all of his strength until Aion forces him.


    Aion saw the enemy assuming the ox guard stance again¡­ he wasn''t in a hurry since he knew that those three couldn''t stop them forever. While looking in the distance, Aion could see the army of his allies approaching. Still, he also could tell that the frozen gate was being attacked¡­ it wouldn''t be surprising if the enemy soldiers were leaving using the other gates as well.


    "I suppose it can''t be helped¡­" Aion thought and then used Inner Force and Fury. There was no point in holding back against that level of opponent..<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    When he used Fury for the first time, Aion realized that Fury wasn''t much better than Inner Force. In fact, it was considerably weaker. The reason for that was the fact that Inner Force drained his vital and spiritual energy. While Fury consumes his Vital Energy, it also makes him feel the pain of that¡­ it is like suffering the pain caused by an attack that ignores his defenses¡­ and he suffers all that pain inside his body.


    Aion''s speed and power increased so much that it made the hair on the back of Ugren stand. In the blink of an eye, he also enveloped his body with an Aura that Aion recognized¡­ It was barely visible, but his entire body was covered by wind armor.


    The weapons collided when Aion charged, and a powerful shockwave pushed away all the nts and sand around those two. Aion thought that such abination would make him win in a few seconds, but to think that his enemy had that kind of skill¡­ He probably enhanced his arms and sword with that Aura and attacked the space in front of him to fire a pressurized de of wind¡­


    Aion and Ugren didn''t take a single step, and they just swung their weapons and kept ignoring the fact that the shock waves caused by their attacks were forcing everyone to move away¡­ It was too loud and made people feel like their heads were about to split up.


    "What the hell is that kid¡­" Vanessa thought while moving away from the shockwaves.


    Vanessa couldn''t even see the weapons moving, and she could only sense countless impacts. They were so powerful that they made some soldiers that approached being sted away, and when they got up, their ears were bleeding.


    Vanessa knew that Ugren was the best swordsman in the Rosberg kingdom, but no one knew how strong he was¡­ He probably was using all of his power, and a single twelve years old boy could stop him¡­


    "Talented with magic and with weapons at this young age¡­ What would have happened to this kingdom if his mother had taught him that he should pursue revenge for her and her kingdom?" Vanessa wondered.


    The thought alone made her feel shivers. Aion was strong, but he still was young and diligent. Some people think that the lineage of his mother is mutated people or that at least they received the Blessing of the goddess. Still, if that wasn''t true and Aion''s strength might make him mutate one day, he probably would be the scariest human in that world¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 132 Devastating Attack

    Eventually, the shockwaves began to change the terrain around Aion and Ugren to the point that it looked like they had fallen from the sky like a meteor. The hole around them was getting bigger and bigger, and only the small area where they were standing still was enduring the impacts.


    "This son of a bitch is really tough¡­" Aion thought while clenching his teeth and ignoring the pain caused by Fury.


    It was hard to imagine that Aion had less health than the enemy had mana¡­ considering how skilled he was, his mana pool shouldn''t be thatrge. Still, despite that, the one who lost the exchange first was Aion¡­ his muscles suddenly began to hurt a lot more, and each impact made his joints ring like a bell¡­


    "Shit, my body isn''t fully developed, so it can''t withstand this much impact¡­" Aion thought.


    When the pain made him flinch, Ugren attacked with a wider swing. Aion had no choice but to assume a defensive stance. However, he still was pushed back¡­ he was sent flying in the opposite direction while making a high-pitching sound¡­ he only stopped when he hit the wall of the city two hundred meters away.


    The wall got damaged to the point that it looked like it had been hit by a massive boulder. The impact made the city tremble, but somehow, Aion survived that andnded on his feet after coughing some blood. He used the healing magic that his mother taught him, but Ugren charged again. The downward swing forced Aion to bend his knee again, and this time, it touched the ground.


    "Not bad, kid," Ugren said. "If you were five years older, this would have been a tougher fight."


    "I don''t need five more years to defeat you," Aion said and then summoned several fire arrows and bombarded the enemy.


    Ugren ignored the first few, but eventually, his wind armor began to burn too much energy, thanks to the mes. He jumped backward to dodge most of them and then canceled the armor. He felt some mental relief since it was hard for him to keep that focus for several minutes straight¡­


    Now that he was thinking more clearly, Ugren realized that the previous exchange of blows made his blood way too hot. He got carried away since he wasn''t the type to enjoy a contest of brute strength¡­ he couldn''t deny that he liked that exchange, though. Still, his shoulders and elbows were hurting like hell¡­ he couldn''t continue fighting like that¡­


    Aion realized that the enemy also put a lot of strain on his body. While it wasn''t on the same level as him, it still made him stop for a while to consider his options. Aion decided to use that chance to recover some of his mana, and he also considered if he should use his coins to increase his parameters¡­ he had a lot in store for that kind of situation anyway.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Since things weren''t so noisy close to him, Aion could finally see that things were getting heated up around him. Behind Ugren, Aion could see many enemies burning and a lot of noiseing from the camp as well. Both arms were finally fighting¡­ Still, his n didn''t work perfectly since the enemy was the one pushing around¡­ he had to make that guynd in the middle of his own army.


    All of a sudden, and yet again, Aion saw the arms and the sword of the enemy getting blurred¡­ He raised his weapon to block the attack, and that worked, but more of that kepting and prevented him from moving.


    The sts of wind pushed Aion backward until he hit the wall behind him. The sts kept wounding his body as if that wasn''t troublesome enough. Aside from the parts protected by his armor, he got covered in cuts. Aion''s right arm that was protecting his neck was bleeding more than a little bit, and if things continue like that¡­


    Still, as if his arms had overheated, the enemy stopped attacking¡­ after seeing that barrage of ruthless attacks from a distance, Aion assumed that the enemy was someone pretty calctive. He traded blows with him without thinking too much about it, but that kind of cold and methodic attack fitted him better.


    "Let''s try that again¡­" Aion thought when he saw the enemy taking deep breaths to recover his body from the strain. "Let''s spice it a bit with some surprise as well¡­"


    When the enemy disappeared while charging at him, Aion used Fury and Inner Force as well, and then he raised his hammer. It seemed like he had nothing but openings, so the enemy decided to pierce his heart without hesitation. Still, when he was only five meters away from him, he saw Aion swinging down his hammer¡­ at that rate, his head would be smashed, even if he pierced Aion''s heart.


    Ugren moved his sword to block the attack, but upon impact, a powerful shockwave happened¡­ a st of window spread across the area, and Ugren was sent flying in the opposite direction while spinning uncontrobly in the air. Meanwhile, Aion hit his back against the wall again. He felt the taste of blood in his mouth, but he smiled when he saw the enemy rolling on the ground and then smashing dozens of his allies.


    "Serves you right, asshole¡­" Aion said.


    Aion used again the same attack that he used against his father. Simple andpact attacks that had a lot of speed and power behind them. Still, he knew that only that wouldn''t be enough to overpower the enemy. So, he tried to copy him by using wind magic around his weapon. Aion knew that he wouldn''t seed on his first try, so he just umted a sphere of wind on the top of his hammer that exploded when the weapons collided.


    Usually, such an attack would be devastating to both sides. Still, thanks to the wall behind him, Aion knew that his body was going to stop before it could elerate too much. Also, Inner Force and Fury increased his endurance and decreased the damage.

 Chapter 133 Blur

    Aion clicked his tongue when he saw the enemy getting up. He used all of his remaining mana, but since that ss had low magic power, Ugren got up. His mouth was bleeding a bit, but only that. His chainmail worked well to save him from most of the damage¡­"


    "Usually, a direct attack with my magic power at that distance would be lethal as a surprise attack, but I guess it can''t be helped¡­" Aion thought.


    Despite the situation, Aion had some ideas on how to win. He just needed to cheat with the system a bit. For example, he could use his coins to increase his magic and thus increase his mana. Since he could reset the ss whenever he wanted, he could recover the coins and repeat the process¡­ so it was cheating.


    Still, Aion knew that he wouldn''t go far if he had to rely on such tricks. Aion looked to the north and noticed that the mages squad still was burning down the walls. They should arrive at any moment, so Aion had some time until his sisters were put in danger.


    Aion managed to recover some of his mana and think of what he should do since the enemy was taking his time to approach. Maybe he suffered more damage than Aion couldn''t see¡­ Aion assumed his battle stance, and the enemy stopped moving. He was holding his left side with his left arm, but he still pointed his sword at Aion¡­ before he could do anything, something hit his face.


    His neck almost snapped. Such was the power of that attack¡­ Aion almost passed out as well and then raised his hammer. His weapon blocked the impacts, but Aion still felt his whole body trembling all over.


    "They are wind bullets¡­ how the hell can that guy control wind so much when he doesn''t have that much mana?" Aion wondered.


    Before he could be overwhelmed, Aion began to run to his right side. Thanks to that, he forced the enemy to turn to his left side, and the speed of his attacks decreased. The pain on his left side was that troublesome¡­


    Aion slowly approached, and then when the attacks began to get too close, he sped up. Ugren began to hold his sword with both arms and blocked the attack when Aion''s hammer swung it. While he blocked it perfectly, Ugren flinched while showing a pained expression.


    The vibrations were causing damage on his left side¡­ his ribs must be broken. That was a chance that Aion wouldn''t let go. He attacked again. This time, he surprised the enemy by using Toss Hammer, and while the weapon flew to the head of the target, he blocked with his swordpletely. Still, he opened his eyes widely when he felt a powerful strike on his left side¡­ Aion approached and used Sonic Punch, and bit the ribs.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Aion recovered his hammer and then jumped to the side when Ugren swung his sword downward extremely fast. Aion dodged the strike, but the st of the sword strike caused a long and deep fissure that extended until the walls of the city.


    Ugren used the wind armor on his body and then began to run around Aion. He had no intention of letting him even hit him anymore¡­ with that skill, Aion could only see the enemy as a blur now and then. He couldn''t even follow him with his eyes¡­ he was that insanely fast.


    Ugen suddenly approached and swung his sword. Thanks to his instincts alone, Aion turned around and raised his hammer to block the attack. That worked, and he didn''t feel any weight behind the strike. The enemy wanted to focus on critical hits and speed without wounding his body even more, and putting too much strength on the attacks would hurt his broken ribs.


    After retreating a bit, Urgen began to run around again, and once again, Aion blocked the strike when he decided to attack. However, the enemy put a bit more strength on his weapon and forced his hammer to go down until the tip of the sword was being pointed at his face. Aion opened his eyes widely when he realized what the enemy was plotting. He twisted his head to the side, but the wind bullet still hit his left ear and pierced it¡­


    Aion felt something weird with his left eardrum¡­ he wasn''t hearing anything, and there was this sense of wetness there¡­ it probably suffered too much damage. Aion sure hoped that he could heal his ear¡­ he was too young to have a permanently damaged ear, after all.


    Aion tried to kick the enemy, but he retreated again before the hit could connect. After clicking his tongue, Aion realized that he would have to take some risks for him to be able to do something in that situation.


    Ugren kept running around for a while longer until he increased his speed for thest time in order to finish Aion once and for all as well. He had a feeling that he would be the one to lose if things dragged on for too long¡­ he used his ability to make his arms and legs faster, and then he approached and attacked with all his might. Aion did the same when he felt the enemy''s bloodlust. He used Inner Force and increased its output to turn around¡­ to make sure that he would be even faster than the enemy. He changed his ss to Monk at thest second and parried the sword strike with the back of this left gauntlet, and then punched the face of the enemy after activating Chaotic Punch.


    The impact pushed the enemy backward for several meters, but then Aion charged again and hit the enemy''s face with the Chaotic Punch. He used Dash to catch up with the enemy and attacked again¡­ it happened so fast that he didn''t even realize that the enemy never stopped moving before he attacked¡­ eventually, he hit the wall of that city, and half of his face had been crushed.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 134 Hard Time

    Urgen didn''t die even when Aion heard some cracksing from his skull when he collided against the wall. Still, the impact raised a dust curtain around, and Aion had his chance. Aion changed his ss to Necromancer and then pierced the enemy''s heart with an Ice Spear. Before the dust curtain could disappear, he turned him into a death knight and then made a part of the wall fall there¡­ to make people think that Urgen was buried there.


    Just to be sure that no one would find anything suspicious, Aion also created a huge block of earth and made it sink deep into the ground. Now, people will have a hard time trying to look for the body of the enemy.


    You obtained 75.000 experience points.


    You received 39.750 coins.


    Congrattions! The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    Congrattions! The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    ¡­


    Aion didn''t know if someone saw him transforming his weapon. Still, it didn''t matter anymore. He didn''t need to hide that weapon, only a few skills to surprise the enemies whenever he needed it.


    In any case, Aion healed himself a bit, and then he heard the sound of something cracking. The gate that had been frozen finally fell apart. Soon after, the sound of something falling apart happened in the opposite direction. It seemed that the mage squad had finally finished their task.


    "A lot of enemies are crossing the gate, and Jagger is¡­ Still fighting the enemy," Aion thought.


    In the darkness of the night, Aion couldn''t tell how the flow of battle was. In any case, he transformed his weapon into the hammer again and slowly retreated. Numerous soldiers began to charge toward the battlefield, but then they found Aion on their path. Despite that, they charged like mad dogs¡­


    "I should have taken that guy''s sword¡­ ``It is a bit too big for me right now, but it would be very effective to stop several enemies at the same time," Aion thought.


    When the first few enemies got close enough, Aion stepped in and then swung his hammer. The first target raised his sword, but the weapon broke, and then his chest was smashed, and his body was pushed backward for several meters, making it collide against some soldiers.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You received 350 coins.


    It was surprising that Aion managed to kill the target with that attack, he was wearing thick armor, and he didn''t use any other buff, after all. In any case, that only dyed the enemies for a few seconds. They approached Aion with spears and tried to stab him. However, Aion hit the ground with his hammer and then raised a dust curtain. The spears only hit the air, and in the next moment, they felt somethingnding on the top of them and then Aion approached and swung his hammer around in an arc, smashing the heads of several enemies.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You received 35 coins.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You received 390 coins.


    ¡­


    "Ugh¡­ I don''t like this feeling," Aion thought.


    Cutting and piercing the flesh of others wasn''t exactly pleasant, but smashing flesh and bones was even worse. Regardless, Aion was forced to jump back when more spears approached his body. Soon after, some Fireballsnded on the enemies, and the explosions pushed others away.


    "Do you need a hand?" Vanessa asked.


    "We need to defeat the archer as soon as possible. How much progress Jagger made so far?" Aion asked.


    "Well¡­ that guy is pretty fast," Vanessa said. "Evasive maneuvers are also his specialty¡­ I tried to hit him, but I failed."


    "What about Jagger''s condition?" Aion asked.


    "He has been hit a few times, but nothing serious¡­ he keeps chasing the enemy no matter what, so he didn''t have the chance to fire really powerful arrows," Vanessa replied. "Still, despite that, whenever others get too close, he puts an arrow between their eyes."


    It seemed that Jagger was having a hard time finishing the enemy off because of that. One archer could only run so much in a battlefield and surrounded by enemies. He probably was baiting Jagger to attack only to have an easier time killing him¡­


    Regardless, Aion didn''t have time for that. More enemies were approaching. He also could see in the corner of his vision the mages approaching, but it was hard to say how much mana they still had left¡­ The archer had to die before his sisters entered the enemy''s line of sight.


    "Help the others and tell Jagger that he has five minutes to finish the enemy off. After that, I will do it for him," Aion dered.


    Vanessa nodded. Usually, the sons of nobles would be arrogant pricks that don''t follow the orders of those they deemed beneath them. Someone as strong as Aion was supposed to be even more reason to act like that, but he never let his aplishments, conditions, and power get to his head. Still, he decided to follow the lead of someone who hated his lineage and someone who had tried to screw with him once¡­ even if only for a short while. The reasons for Vanessa were unknown.


    After a while, the enemies leaving the city realized that they wouldn''t achieve anything if they tried to fight Aion, so most of them began to circle around while others tried to mess with him by using feints. Their goal was no longer to kill him but to prevent his interference on the rest of the battlefield¡­


    When some enemies passed by him, the mages squad finally arrived and began to hit them with Fireballs. That worked well to prevent their advance, but then they became the targets instead.


    While Fireballs were shot at their faces, the enemies blocked them with their weapons, and the closer they got, the more the mages began to miss¡­ they were only kids without fighting Experience, after all¡­ Aion had to do something about that¡­

 Chapter 135 In The Back

    It was a bit risky, but Aion decided to show some openings to his enemies. They were crazy enough to charge at him without shields, so things would be easy for him even in that situation¡­ as long as Aion didn''t miss. With that in mind, he charged to the archer ss.


    The enemy soldiers frowned when they saw the hammer bing a bow and a quiver, and in that brief moment of hesitation, Aion began to attack. Three arrowsnded on the face of three opponents, and before anyone could react.


    The enemy soldiers focused their attention on Aion again now that they knew that he couldn''t smash their heads. Thanks to that, the number of enemies heading to the sides decreased.


    The spearmen were the first to approach, and they got close insanely fast¡­ they had no idea that Aion let them get close¡­ When five of them trusted their weapons at his torso, Aion used Inner Force and jumped backward. While he was in the air, he fired five arrows so fast that the people around only saw his arms blurring¡­ in any case, the arrows appeared in the heads of the enemies.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You received 110 coins.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You received 1250 coins.


    ¡­


    When Aionnded, he fired five others, and five more enemies died¡­ at that point in time, it was almost like his bow was a machine gun. The next volley of arrows ended upnding on the back of the few enemies that were heading to the mages¡­ while the enemies were shocked, and since Aion was pretty far away, the mages began to spread around the area and target everyone who was leaving the city.


    "Their numbers are higher than I expected¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion proceeded to fire the remaining arrows on his quiver before deactivating Inner Force. Still, thest few ones were blocked by some soldiers since Aion wasn''t that close to them.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    The mages began to fire a barrage of spells toward the enemies. They were more confident now that not so many enemies were running toward them. Still, some of the enemies managed to approach after taking the armor of the fallen soldiers and using them as shields.


    Aion began to focus on them from the sides since they weren''t paying attention to him, and the enemies imagined that ending one side of the encirclement would help them. Still, Aion was forced to kite the enemies since there were too many enemies inside the city, and he got closer and closer to the battlefield behind him.


    As an archer who barely could take a single hit, he couldn''t let himself be surrounded. However, he could only walk in that direction if he wanted to keep an eye on the mages and truly make the enemies split their focus. As if Aion hadn''t considered it enough, he saw some of the enemy soldiers preparing to throw spears at the mages¡­. Aion couldn''t see his sisters, but he wasn''t willing to take the chance of them being hit.


    While the spears were in the air, Aion fired his arrows and stopped them, making both sides of the battlefield frown. Aion, supposedly, had no reason to stop the weapons, people dying on the battlefields was something natural, and he didn''t have to protect anyone. A soldier had only to kill the enemy¡­


    Still, while Aion saved some mages with that, it also made the enemies realize that they could stop him by doing exactly that¡­ more and more enemies began to grab the fallen spears and prepare to throw them.


    "Bad choices, pals," Aion said and then used Heavy Arrow.


    The targeted enemy was pushed back when the arrow hit his chest, and then he stopped those that were about to attack by throwing the spears. When they recovered, they had an even worse surprise waiting for them¡­ Aion unleashed the Power Shot that he charged for several seconds. The projectile hits one enemy, making it explode, and the impact sends all the other ones flying for several meters.


    The battlefield grew silent yet again. Aion''s allies didn''t know that he was that good with a bow, and the enemies could only think that he was as good as Lerg and that was insane. While the enemies were hesitating, Aion charged another Power Shot, which made the enemies realize that he couldn''t spam those that freely, so they charged at Aion with their weapons ready to block the projectiles¡­


    Several Fire Walls appeared between the enemy soldiers and the mages squad. They decided to offer him some support since he protected them a few times. Aion smirked. With so many people watching his back for a short while, he could afford to assume a stance to increase his firing speed, and so he did that. That being said, he only nted his feet on the ground and began to fire without hesitation.


    At that point in time, both sides realized that the number of enemies wasn''t increasing, only the number of corpses¡­ when they looked around, most enemies couldn''t help but clench their teeth. The surprise attack had been too much effective. They thought that they could win the battle just by relying on their strength, but without theirmander offering them support from the back, things weren''t that simple.


    The Fire Walls slowed down the enemies and burned down those that were foolish enough to keep charging, and Aion''s arrows kept taking them down. It didn''t take long for the enemies to realize that they had to retreat and regroup¡­ However, at the very moment they began to step back, Aion felt a shiver, and then he used Inner Force and jumped to the side¡­ However, an arrow still pierced his back¡­ the pain and the shock made his body paralyzed, but he did his best to endure it. He knew that surprise attacks could be that dangerous, but only experiencing one first hand would be enough to tell...

 Chapter 136 Revengeance

    The sharp pain on his back made Aion flinch. The enemies who were thinking of retreating saw him with a pained expression on his face. They didn''t know what had happened, but they assumed that it was hisst chance¡­ Aion could fool them in many ways, but not while he was sweating cold.


    Still, when the enemies began to run toward him, a rain of fireballs engulfed them. At the same time, Vanessa approached and checked the wound in his back.


    "Are you all right?" Vanessa asked, hesitating in pulling out the arrow. "When I saw that guy suddenly firing in this direction, I thought¡­"


    "I avoided a critical hit, but I can''t hit properly with this thing on my back¡­" Aion said while grunting. "Pull it out. His arrows are powerful¡­ not even my armor decreased their power, so I can tell that no shards or barbs are in the wound¡­ pull it out all at once."


    "I never tried this, so this is going to hurt¡­" Vanessa said and just touching the arrow made Aion tremble all over.


    Aion could train his body as much as he wanted, but the pain of having his internal sh pierced wasn''t something that he could train to decrease. He could only bite his lips and endure the pain. Fortunately, Vanessa was experienced enough to know that she couldn''t hesitate, and she pulled out the arrow. Some blood gushed out from the wound, and Aion was paralyzed for a moment, but he used the little mana he recovered in thest few minutes to heal himself and close the wound, even if a little bit¡­


    "That dumbass still isn''t done yet?" Aion asked.


    "He needs some more time¡­" Vanessa said. "He is already done observing all of the enemy'''' movements."


    "I am also already done¡­ I am done with waiting," Aion said. "You should stay here and cover for your students. We need to show those assholes that their leaders are dead and break their spirits at once."


    Vanessa wanted to say that it wasn''t a good idea. She was almost out of mana, and Aion was wounded severely. He couldn''t fight properly, and Lerg barely had any wounds on his body. Unless he works with Jagger, he would be at a total disadvantage.


    Still, she was unable to stop him as Aion moved to the other side of the battlefield. Aion began to run, but that made his wound sting¡­ he truly needed to stop to recover more mana and heal himself properly. Still, he decided to use his pain and annoyance as strength to end that battle as soon as possible.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Along the way, Aion found some people fighting. The battle had be so chaotic that some of the allied soldiers reached the other side of the camp without having any friends to watch their back. With his bow, he managed to help some of them. Still, only because he attacked the backs of the enemies¡­ he couldn''t use the muscles of his back without feeling like he was opening his barely closed wounds.


    "Ah, this is going to hurt¡­ but I should give that asshole a taste of his own medicine," Aion thought.


    It was madness, but Aion stopped moving and then began to meditate in the middle of the battlefield. Some enemies didn''t know their ce and, when they found him, began to charge to attack. That broke his Meditation a few times, but Aion put an arrow in their throats when they got too close¡­


    After a couple of minutes, Aion realized that the battlefield was getting too chaotic. Vanessa wasn''t attacking as much as before, so the enemies were starting to like the battle. In the distance, even amidst the shouts and war cries, Aion could hear the sound of arrows flying at supersonic speeds. With that in mind, Aion began to fly.


    Aion disappeared from the battlefield, and most people that saw him flying thought that he had run away¡­ Still, once he used all of his mana, he just began to fall. Aion nocked an arrow and then began to charge Power Shot. While looking downward, he also began to look for that fucker that attacked his back. There was no need to have a fair fight against that type of asshole¡­


    Fortunately, Jagger was easy to find with his shy moves. Besides, those two were the strongest ones currently fighting on the battlefield, so they really stood out. Around half an hour had passed since the start of the fight, but Jagger still was chasing the enemy and attacking him before he could pull the string too much¡­


    Aion aimed, and then he could tell the target was flinching. He sure had some good instincts considering that Aion was five hundred meters above. Still, just like Aion, the enemy was unable to locate from which direction the bloodlust wasing.


    Jagger noticed that the enemy was acting strange and decided to use that to his advantage¡­ that only made things harder for Aion. A single misstep and that moron would go down as well. In the end, Aion knew that he would face some problems if he killed that guy by ident, even after defeating two of the enemies''manders.


    That put him in a difficult spot, but Aion was forced to wait until the veryst moment. When he was fifty meters above them, and the enemy jumped backward, Aion fired his arrow. The projectile covered that distance almost instantly, but Lerg still reacted and looked upward while raising his bow and arrow.


    The enemy was fast enough to find the arrow, aim, and fire¡­ but the impact still happened only five meters away from him. The shockwave pushed the enemy down and Jagger and all the others nearby to the side. The impact of the enemy''s fall created arge crater, as well as raised another dust curtain¡­ Due to the impact, the enemy was unable to react before Aion''s approached with his spear in hand.

 Chapter 137 Lost Prey

    Aion''s spear pierced the enemy''s throat, finishing him before anything else could happen. Truth be told, Aion expected that his arrow would do the job, but as expected of a better archer¡­ Still, when hended, Aion felt a terrible impact on his legs¡­ falling from that high when his ss wasn''t endurance base made him pay a high toll¡­ again, he had to endure it and don''t show any weakness to make sure that the enemies wouldn''t get a second wind.


    You obtained 98.000 experience points.


    You received 66.323 coins.


    Congrattions! The Archer ss has leveled up.


    Congrattions! The Archer ss has leveled up.


    ¡­


    This time, Aion was forced to change his ss and use some coins to increase his magic and recover his mana from turning the enemy into a death knight. These assholes sure caused him a lot of trouble, but the fact that they only increased his strength afterward made them a bit more bearable¡­


    When the dust curtain dissipated, enemies and allies only found Aion standing where Lerg was supposed to be. They didn''t know how to react since it was impossible to tell what had happened.


    "Spread the word! The enemies''manders have been in!" Jagger shouted.


    Aion wasn''t good at that kind of thing, so he felt thankful that Jagger understood what had happened¡­ more or less, and then decided to take the rein in things. Regardless, the enemies'' morale decreased, and the allies skyrocketed¡­ without their leaders, they still could fight, but not in the same way as before, so the flow of the battle began to change as they were pushed by the wave of motivation.


    "You took down my prey¡­" Jagger said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "You didn''t finish him as fast as we had nned¡­ you can only me yourself for that," Aion said.


    "... It can''t be helped¡­" Jagger said after clicking his tongue. "Anyway, I have to finish things here."


    Jagger began tomand because Richard was nowhere in sight¡­ again, Aion didn''t expect anything from that guy, but he still was disappointed. Putting that aside, Aion felt like he should sleep for a few days, but he forced himself to move back to the city and help in the final part of the battle. Also, he couldn''t let his sisters be put in danger after reaching this far.


    Aion crossed the battlefield as fast as possible while he felt that the pain in his back alone would kill him. Fortunately, he only saw the enemies retreating once they heard about theirmanders. Some of the mages still were using magic, but most of them had retreated¡­ Aion sighed in relief when he saw his sisters safe and sound.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Hmm¡­ I should leave them alone," Aion thought. "I can''t let them feel like I underestimated them and wanted to keep them safe. It might also be problematic for them if I interact with them too much in this kind of situation. They didn''t show up much until now, but I bet many soldiers around dislike my lineage."


    In any case, a lot of soldiers outside the city were still alive, and while they were trying to run away in all directions, they had to be hunted down in order not to regroup and attack nearby viges and towns¡­ the battle was over, but the work was just starting.


    When morning came, Aion was feeling like shit¡­ over time, he managed to heal his wound time and time again, but he could speed the healing process that much. He wasn''t that skilled at healing magic. Besides, forcing his body to heal faster was the same as forcing it to use the nutrients that it had to repair the cells, thus making him angry and even more tired.


    "Come to think of it¡­ I never tried to make my weapons absorb human bodies," Aion thought while looking around and seeing thest group that he hunted.


    Aion was so tired that he was even considering that¡­ Still, while he felt that he could and should turn enemies into skeletons and death knights, he didn''t think that it was a good idea to process human bodies and make the weapons absorb the parts¡­ for the sake of his mental health.


    "Well, their weapons and armor are another matter altogether," Aion thought.


    Powered by his greed for materials, Aion did that until the end of the day when no one was looking. After that, he returned to the camp and then saw the people moving back to the city. As it turned out, all the soldiers that left the ce to join the battle were the only ones inside. Aside from a few workers that escaped when the news about themanders spread around, most of the enemy soldiers had been decimated.


    "This will be a hard defeat to shallow for the Rosberg kingdom¡­" Vanessa said when Aion approached.


    "I hope that that moron won''t try to do anything stupid after this¡­" Aion said while looking at Richard leading the main group back to his city.


    He didn''t do much during the battle, but now he was leading the group like he was the brilliant mastermind and the reason for their victory¡­ it sure was annoying, but Aion was too tired for that shit.


    "Don''t worry about it. We will give an urate report to the king," Vanessa said.


    "As if I care about his recognition," Aion said. "I am more worried about the possibility that this kingdom might start another war now that the neighboring kingdom lost so many soldiers."


    "We lost a lot as well, and the guys on the other side are still fighting," Vanessa said. "His Majesty won''t do anything for many years, and he is too tired to start another war."


    More like he was too old for that, but Vanessa was being respectful. If someone would do something, that someone would be Vangel, and Aion had yet to imagine what that guy was thinking most of the time.

 Chapter 138 Return

    "I am returning to my territory since the job here is done. I hope you guys can hold this fort for atst for a few days," Aion said.


    Jagger clicked his tongue after hearing that. He couldn''t say much since he was there when the city was lost once. Vanessa could only force a smile¡­ Richard and Aion decided to ignore each other for the time being since they were like water and oil. In the end, he couldn''t leave without some remarks to keep them on their toes.


    After that, Aion went to talk with his sisters, they would stay there for as long as Vanessa did, and since the city needed to be rebuilt in some parts, mages were needed. Besides, there was a slim chance that the enemies might try to return and attack, but it was hard since they lost the three people that were essentially the core of their forces.


    "You were amazing out there, Aion," Elvera said. "Thank you foring to help us."


    "... No problem," Aion said, trying to keep his poker face when he realized that his sisters had realized the reason he hade, at least half of the reason.


    "We are the big sisters here, so you shouldn''t underestimate us," Nanda said. "Still, thanks to your help, a lot of friends only escaped with some scratches, even though they felt that they were going to die¡­ for that, I am thankful."


    Nanda''s words would be more persuasive if she wasn''t hiding behind her sister. Aion had the mental age of 37 years old man, so he probably underestimated his siblings a bit. They were smart enough to realize the meaning behind some of his actions.


    "All right, take care," Aion said.


    Aion began to fly toward his home while wondering why no one had asked him about his weapon. They knew that it could transform, and he had never heard of a weapon that could do that¡­ Maybe he was too self-conscious about it, but he couldn''t feel that it was weird.


    In any case, Aion returned to his house in the middle of the afternoon and confirmed that nothing had happened while he was away. He sighed in relief when he heard that report from his mother but then frowned afterward.


    "You look tired and hungry¡­ You got hit pretty badly somewhere, didn''t you?" Artemisia asked. "Let me see the wound."


    Artemisia was really sharp¡­ in the end, Aion showed the wound that now was a damaged circle of flesh. It was healing, and it served as a good lesson for Aion. Still, she decided to heal it even more since she was more skilled, and it wouldn''t be hard.


    "At least I know that you won''t get hurt like that anytime soon," Artemisia said. "If the news spread to the other side of the kingdom, the invaders might retreat as well out of fear.''<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Let''s hope that will be the case," Aion said while wondering what he would do if he heard that his brothers were in a pinch.


    "You won''t heal properly if you worry endlessly. Besides, I don''t think that your father will send any report about the situation there. You already did plenty, and he would feel ashamed if he asked for your help," Artemisia said.


    She had a point. Moreover, crossing the kingdom to help the other side wasn''t a good idea since Aion would need a few days to cross such a long terrain. That might give the enemies a chance to attack his territory¡­ Also, he had work to do. He didn''t lose a single soldier, but his port stopped working for weeks, and he will have to work a lot to make things get on track again.


    "I guess we can do something about the lord barrel now¡­ I wonder what I should do," Aion said while smirking.


    "Please, don''t show your scheming face in front of others. You will have a hard time finding a girlfriend if many people see that face," Artemisia said.


    Aionughed for a bit. In the end, just attacking random ces under the control of that guy to make him lose money wouldn''t be enough¡­ maybe Aion should do something to make that piece of shit lose its territory, but for such a thing to happen in times of wars was rare¡­ maybe a few months after it could, but not now.


    Besides, gaining morend wasn''t only a good thing. Aion would have to hurry about managing thend, crimes, taxes,ints, repairs, and trade routes¡­ since he couldn''t trust anyone around aside from his mother to help him, he would only cause more problems for her. For the time being, Aion decided to use Lerg to destroy some buildings under that asshole''s control. After resting for two weeks, he went there in the middle of the night and made Lerg attack and destroy some wine cers.


    Artemisia told him that the main product of that territory was wine and the lord barrel liked them quite a bit. To the point that he had his own cer where he produced his high-quality wine. Naturally, Aion destroyed that.


    During that job, Aion learned more about the power of his newest death knight. Lerg didn''t have a quiver, and while his bow was of high quality, it was only a weapon that helped him snipe enemies far away. He was also a mutated individual, and his power was of to summon arrows using the materials around. Still, they would fall apart like sand after hitting the target.


    "At this point in time, it was clear that the mutated abilities aren''t just physical¡­ Still, I wonder how those guys that are mainly brain-dead warriors obtained such magical skills¡­ if it this isn''t weird, I don''t know what it is¡­"


    Aion was determined to do more research about those guys and their weird powers, but it would be difficult since they don''t reveal information since. It would be the same as revealing their weaknesses¡­

 Chapter 139 Reward

    In the following weeks, Aion received some reports about the situation on the eastern border. It seemed that the situation was stable, and Lexus decided to drag on the battle because the enemies weren''t good at building bases, and their resources were limited since they rarely produced any of the goods they used.


    After doing some research on the subject, Aion learned that the kingdom of the bandits basically only used ves to cultivate the fields¡­ they were stupid enough to think that the job of producing food was beneath them¡­ to think that the king allied with such guys¡­ and that everyone else thought that it would be worthyter.


    It seemed that such a battle would drag on for months without anything serious happening. Aion used that time to do some research on all forms of mutations. There were few libraries in his territory, and people couldn''t see much use to them when the risk of invasion was so high in thest few years.


    As usual, information about those traits was rare, but there were some mentions about guys in the past that could control fire without worrying about mana. The origins of those magic traits were unclear. Still, many people thought that people obtained them after getting stronger after suffering some traumatic experiences.


    Aion thought that it was weird that such traits disappeared over time, and then he learned that a long time ago, people feared those that were born with such powers and got rid of them¡­ fearing being surpassed by their kids. The mutated individuals got rid of thepetition. Those that didn''t care about that were attacked by those who did and had their bloodlines erased¡­


    "All the information is too scattered, and their basis is non-existent. I am not sure if I can trust all this," Aion thought. "This is just too suspicious, after all."


    After wondering if that kind of thing would make him look suspicious, Aion decided not to look for Intel regarding that outside his territory. He was already aware that rumors about him were spreading like wildfire. The other day, Artemisia asked him about the weapon that he had that the rumors mentioned. After thinking for a while, Aion realized that Jagger and Vanessa didn''t ask about it because they would look suspicious in front of him by thinking about it.


    "For now, people think that I can make the weapon transform into a hammer, bow, and spear," Aion thought. "Still, some people might think that I have other tricks up my sleeve."


    After using the bow in that battle, Aion got quite interested in it. To the point that he had nned to make the next ss that would evolve. It would take a while, but he was interested in the next sses rted to that one.


    Around four months after recovering the Richard city, Aion finally received the final report regarding the war in the east. The enemies retreated¡­ a bit. As it turned out, the enemies created a few strongholds around the area of the former capital of the Mirelis royal family. Defending wasn''t their style, but they expanded their territory a bit, and they made some strongholds to make sure that they wouldn''t lose it.


    Aion had a hard time wondering how he should pass those News to his mother. Having her homnd being destroyed and then after ten years falling at the hands of the likes of bandits¡­ there was no easy way to tell that to his mother.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    When Aion told that to her, Artemisia sighed and then forced a smile. Artemisia felt that she couldn''t bother Aion either with her worries because the letter also had other news.


    "We should prepare for the trip to the capital," Artemisia said. "Some people might not be satisfied with that, but the king decided to reward you for your aplishments, and that isn''t something we can ignore."


    "I really don''t feel like traveling right now," Aion said.


    "Don''t say such things. Trying to be considerate is good, but if you do it too much, I will only feel worse," Artemisia said.


    Aion sighed. His mother had a point¡­ besides, the trip could change their mood. All of the work recently had been quite intense, adding to the worries about the war. Still, now Aion knew that his brothers were fine. Maybe that was an excellent opportunity. Besides, Aion heard that in this kind of opportunity, some gold was given andnd as well. Thend was moremon in conquest wars, and since they only defended, they didn''t obtain anynd, but Aion would get anything he could.


    In the end, the ceremony would take ce in ten days, but since Aion could cover that distance by flying for two days, they decided to wait for a while. Without a carriage, he would be able to fly even faster, but without one, they would have to camp in the open. So, Aion decided to bring one and the horses, even though they disliked flying.


    "Come to think of it, Philip and the oldest of your sisters are already old enough. Maybe your father will also announce their wedding this time," Artemisia said.


    "I guess so¡­" Aion said while frowning since he still couldn''t wrap his head around the fact that seventeen years old boys and girls were getting married. "I hope that another war won''t start while we are there."


    "It isn''t like wars are a normal urrence. Besides, the award ceremony can''t bepared to the marriage of a princess," Artemisia said.


    That made sense, but Aion couldn''t help but think that more problems were fast approaching. Aion recalled when he was thirteen years old on Earth. The most troublesome of his worries was his hormones going crazy and making some pimples appear on his face. During those times, he felt like the world was ending, and now he was experiencing something far worse, and he had to keep his cool¡­ Life is strange.

 Chapter 140 Planning Ahead Again

    In the end, Aion and his mother arrived in the capital one day before the rewarding ceremony. People will probably wonder how they arrived since they didn''t cross the gates¡­ it was alreadyte in the evening, so Aion made the carriage fly. The guards panicked when something showed up in the middle of the garden, but then Aion revealed himself. They knew that he was resourceful, but not that much... they also didn''t expect that his magic was already at that level...


    "I thought you had decided to skip the ceremony without warning me," Lexus suddenly appeared and said. "I had assumed that your ego had grown so much that you didn''t have to tell your father about this kind of decision anymore."


    "It seems you have a really bad image of me¡­" Aion said. "The recent news made us decided not to arrive too soon before the ceremony. Anyway, this seems like the type of thing nobles would enjoy in order to boost their egos, but I hope that I can make gain more money here than in a week of work in that territory."


    "You are a noble too¡­ even though you never made much use of that status," Lexus said. "Regardless, we had dinner a while ago, but I will ask the servants to prepare something."


    "I am sorry for arriving sote, but we already had dinner," Artemisia said when she left the carriage. "We won''t have to trouble anyone."


    "Is that so?" Lexus said. "Well, you must be tired, so I won''t take much of your time. Your bedroom is already. Also, I congratte you for defending the territory sessfully and for going to help your sisters. They seemed a bit angry for being underestimated but happy as well¡­ it is hard to describe."


    "It is hard to understand teenagers," Aion shrugged.


    From his father''s perspective, Aion was the only teenager in the family¡­ Regardless, he stayed quiet about that and let them go to their room. They didn''t have many things to unpack, but Aion wondered if his brothers hade as well. Aion read that in such ceremonies, only themanders and the soldiers that did some amazing feats were rewarded, and unfortunately, Lexus didn''t mention anything of them in that regard.


    It was Aion''s routine to get up alongside the sun and then do some training for a couple of hours. After three years of living in the other mansion, Aion couldn''t help but feel that the first house he lived in that world felt strange now. Moreover, things were way too quiet when he reached the garden. If his brothers were around, they would be training in the garden. Still, Lexus showed up a littleter.


    "Let''s spar a little while we talk," Lexus said.


    "That will make one of us bite our tongue while talking," Aion said while frowning.


    "Indeed¡­ I wonder who it will be," Lexus said.


    Aion never carried weapons with him, and since his father probably heard about the magic weapon, he decided not to hide it. Still, when he summoned the weapon, he couldn''t help but stare at it for a while.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "I don''t know where you got that, but you shouldn''t show so often, even more so against opponents stronger than you," Lexus said and then assumed a fighting stance with his sword pointing to his left side. "Weapons that can be summoned are rare and usually much stronger than the ordinary ones. Many people who seek nothing for power have looked for that kind of weapon during their whole lives."


    That wasn''t a problem for Aion, probably. He could make his weapons disappear, even when he wasn''t touching them. He just had to change his ss. Still, everything has a weakness; one just has to look for it.


    "Henri is managing hisnd, and he is busy, and your brothers are on the border with their squads to keep an eye on those guys," Lexus said when they began to trade blows. "They won''t be around for the ceremony. Your sisters are also busy in the borders trying to help on the fortifications of those areas. We lost a lot of soldiers in thest war, after all."


    "That is a pity, but other opportunities wille," Aion said.


    "Speaking of opportunities, the king might offer you something unusual," Lexus said. "No one can deny your strength and resourcefulness now, and since many people think that you might turn against us someday, it is natural that many will try to win you over."


    "I am not really feeling like working for the man who ordered the extermination of all the rtives of my mother," Aion said. "No matter the reason. Mom doesn''t want revenge, so I won''t trouble her by following that oath. Besides, I don''t have any reason to avenge the people that I never knew. The only thing I can try revenge is the sadness that she felt, but since she neverined, I don''t have the right to do anything."


    "If that is your feelings, then I will pass the message to him to avoid that offer and not trouble both sides," Lexus said.


    "I am thankful," Aion said.


    "Still, this might be yourst chance to win the trust of the people of this kingdom," Lexus said. "His majesty decided that, but many told him of that possibility. If he doesn''t say anything, then a lot of people will know your answer."


    "That is fine by me, I don''t need everyone''s approval or feeling of eptance," Aion said.


    "That is probably for the best," Lexus said. "Changing the subject, Philip, Maisie, and Darina are going to marry soon. It seems that they want a huge party and holds the ceremonies together since their partners are all friends as well. You should prepare your work to have free time in six months. Speaking of marriage, if you are interested in someone, I can give you a hand."


    "What an abrupt change of conversation topic¡­" Aion said and then sighed.

 Chapter 141 Endless Worries

    Aion thought his father that he wasn''t interested in anyone. Usually, few people in the kingdom would, but now that he was so famous like that, some will try to win him over with the prospect of marriage. The ones interested in his strength would be the heads of many families, but they will use their daughter to seduce him. Once that happens, Lexus said that he would have to be firm in the refusal. Otherwise, they might keeping.


    "Easier said than done¡­" Aion thought while he was heading to the castle.


    Although Aion dislikes most nobles, they have a sense of duty, and even if they dislike his lineage or fear him, some women or girls will follow the orders of their fathers or grandfathers and endure that kind of thing. Aion hated that kind of situation since his mother was forced to endure something simr. She probably didn''t suffer a worse fate because Lexus still had his honor.


    Aion wasn''t that honorable, but he didn''t want to make anyone feel ashamed either¡­ from his perspective, girls around his age were only kids. So, his only option was to y dumb and refuse their advances¡­ talk about such aplicated situation. Even more, now that Aion''s hormones were starting to affect his mind and body more and more.


    Lexus also told him that he could find his own partner to avoid entering that kind of game of power between noble families, but as if he had time for that. Aion imagined that he would eventually find someone while traveling the world, one that wouldn''t know of his fame. He preferred a thick redhead, a slightly more mature type of woman¡­ his preference didn''t change that much since he died¡­


    In any case, it seemed that Aion would receive his reward while frowning since he had to consider his future like that. Hopefully, Lexus won''t be like Artemisia and ask about that every week.


    When Aion arrived at the castle, he found some people around, but it seemed that only the ones being rewarded and the noble families in the capital had been invited. Naturally, Lexus and his wives we there¡­  After seeing that so many times, one would think that Aion would get used to it, but it always looked like his father was showing off.


    In any case, the throne room was already opened, and most people were already there, with the exception of the royal family. Aion was told that he should go wearing his armor, and so he found other guys and three women there wearing their gear as well. One of them was Vanessa, and among the guys, Jagger was there as well, not looking very pleased, as usual.


    They were all aligned side by side, and it seemed that Aion was thest to arrive. After exactly ten minutes, some guards showed up carrying some boxes, and then Vangel appeared as well. It wasn''t like Aion was interested in all redhead women that had kids, but he truly wondered where the hell was the queen.


    "Today, in the name of the king, I was called to deliver the rewards to the noble warriors that protected our kingdom," Vangel said. "When your name is called, step forward to receive your rewards."<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    It seemed that Aion wouldn''t have to waste all his day in the castle. That was good¡­ still, now that he thought about it, the king must be in pretty bad shape if he can''t attend such an event. That being said, Aion won''t have to get too close to the person who let his mother live in a prison to obtain some gains. It was a weird feeling to think about that since Aion was only alive because of that.


    "Captain Seif Elrand¡­ for your bravery protecting the people of Dismaz port town, the king rewards you with twenty gold coins," Vangel said


    An armored soldier said and then bent the knee before receiving a small box with the gold coins. The people around pped to congratte him. It wasn''t a small amount. Aion could obtain that much with a week of work, so it seemed thating wouldn''t be a total waste of time. Bending the knee sucked, but since Vangel wasn''t his father, that wouldn''t be that much annoying.


    ? "Headmaster of the magic school, Vanessa Fernandez¡­ for your bravery protecting the people of Histartia city and recovering the city with your students, the king rewards you with fifty gold coins," Vangel said


    Vanessa was apuded as well. Come to think of it. The reward was basically money iing from taxes, so began to think that he was being fooled by receiving a small part of the money that was originally his. In any case, things stayed like that for a while until Aion''s turn came.


    Eventually, Aion''s turn came, and one could almost touch and see the tension in the air. Some looked at him, and they sure looked annoyed, but they soon hid their expressions.


    "Aion Kresnik¡­ for your bravery protecting the people of your territory without letting a single one of them die, and for recovering Histartia city and defeating the enemiesmanders when dueling both of them, the king rewards you with two hundred gold coins, and increased the area of their territory by fifty kilometers to North and South," Vangel said.


    Aion received the box with the gold coins. The unexpected surprise of thends wasn''t half bad either, but the real surprise was when he got up, Aion received apuse from everyone around. It seemed that his fame was finally taking a positive turn. Still, such a thing was useless since Aion wasn''t expecting anything from the nobles.


    Regardless, two hundred coins were the money that Aion could make in three months, so the trip hadn''t been a total waste of time. Moreover, the extrand also came with a few extra viges, so Aion''s ie would increase as well¡­ no wonder the rich liked wars so much¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 142 Shocking Surprise

    Although the rewarded warriors stayed in the castle for a while, Aion decided to leave in order to check the shops in the capital. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, so he had to use his time wisely.


    Aion bought a lot of things with his extra money, and he began to process them right away. However, he only got a few runes, and they were all elemental types. Aion tried to study them in his free time, but he didn''t learn much when he tried to write the same symbols on a piece of paper. It didn''t make him feel like it was some sort of alphabet or as if they were drawings with some meaning.


    "I guess I am approaching this in the wrong way¡­" Aion thought. "Regardless, even the high-quality iron and steel of the capital is making the refinement of the weapons improve¡­ I need something else to help. Using gold coins is an option, but¡­ I should keep this as ast resort. The more I spent now, the less power I can getter, it will be better to save the money for an explosive power up."


    If Aion had more freedom, he could travel around and explore the dungeons, but even the ones in the kingdom weren''t that impressive. The monsters were weak, so the materials of their bodies weren''t of high quality.


    "If only I could use the mines of that asshole¡­" Aion thought. "Still, unlike dungeons that spawn monsters often, I can''t just Invade a mine and process the minerals. That would affect the economy of that region and cause problems for a lot of people. While I don''t have any loyalty toward the people of this kingdom, it doesn''t mean that I should act like a criminal."


    As expected, Aion will have to check the dungeons around the world to evolve his weapons. The basic sses he could do with what he could get from his dungeon, but not from the next ones. Regardless, he will have to find some intel about them instead of searching around blindly. He had some time for that, so there wasn''t a reason to rush it.


    "We can return now, mom," Aion said when he opened his room and then found her staring at the ceiling.


    "Already? I was hoping to walk around the capital and buy some sweets," Artemisia said.


    "Just how much you love sugar¡­" Aion said and then sighed. "I guess we can stay for another day¡­ still, the territory expanded by almost fifty percent, and we have to work with that in mind now while nning the future as well."


    In the end, Aion decided to stay for another day, but more than that, and things would getplicated. The reason for that was the fact that the channel was almost ready, and Aion had to talk with the people of the new viges on his territory. With his current magic power, Aion could easily fill half of the wells of his town in a week, and the water wouldst for at least two months, but that wasn''t something that he could do forever. Besides, he had the promise to fulfill.


    When Aion and his mother returned, he found Rarth and his friends already finishing the bridge that would pass above the channel. With his help, things would have been finished a lot easier, but the final work wasn''t so bad. At the same time, the channel ended only a few dozen meters away from the walls of the town.


    "It seems that your job is finally over," Aion said and then offered a handshake. "Now it is time to fulfill my part of the agreement."<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "About that, master, we have changed our minds," Rarth said.


    "... How so?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "Naturally, we would like to be paid for our work, but in a different way," Rarth replied. "You are currently devising a n to turn the port into a port town, right? Let us leave there and work as sailors."


    That wasn''t a half-bad idea¡­ Aion had six ships now, and he was looking for more people to work on them. It was hard to find since few people in the territory had that kind of experience, and people from the outside might cause him problems.


    "All right, let''s work to build your houses there and then hire some other people to help you guys," Aion said.


    Aion never wondered that he was putting too much trust into former bandits. After all, they were too scared of Aion to try to be his enemies. In any case, while Aion was working on expanding the port, he also went to talk with the new inhabitants of his territory. Aion thought that some people in those viges would leave, but they didn''t. Apparently, their former lords never helped them much since they lived so far away from their houses. So, they decided to wait and see how Aion would deal with them.


    In the end, he didn''t do anything special and just worked to help them expand their activities. Thanks to that, they only felt confused¡­ Still, after six months, they showed no signs of nning to leave their viges.


    Around that same time, Aion received a letter from his father. Just as he had told him, the marriage ceremony of several of his siblings was going to happen in just two weeks. He had to prepare a lot of things beforehand since many projects were ongoing on his territory.


    While Aion was thinking about what to do, he suddenly heard a sounding from his mother''s room¡­ When Aion got to the Guardian ss, he felt less worried about leaving her sleeping alone, and he used Devotion to protect her while she slept. Still, when Aion dashed to the room, he suddenly saw his vision blurred, and a powerful wave of sleepiness took over his body¡­


    "Sleeping gas¡­ they used¡­ on her¡­" Aion thought when he fell on the floor of his room.

 Chapter 143 Leaving

    Aion summoned his weapon and then stabbed his left hand with it. The pain made the wave of sleepiness decrease in power. Thanks to that, he managed to get up, Aion''s mind cleared up as well, and he used Inner Force while thinking that perhaps that would counter the effects of whatever the hell the enemy had used. It worked, and then Aion charged toward the wall.


    After Aioned opened a hole in the wall, Aion frowned when he saw a dark whirlwind in the middle of the room and one leg crossing it. The Articirius had fallen asleep, and the sleeping gas still was feeling the room; Artemisia was nowhere to be seen¡­


    Aion jumped toward the dark whirlwind, but he only saw himselfnding on another wall. The dark whirlwind began to shrink insanely fast when he turned around to try again and then disappeared. Aion felt his insides freezing when thatpletely disappeared¡­ they did it again.


    The former inhabitants of Artemisia''s homnd returned, and now they used something that prevented anyone around from getting in their way. The Articirius never noticed anything because of the sleeping gas kept them sleeping, and Artemisia was probably was on the same situation¡­


    "SHIIIITTTTTT!! Aion shouted.


    Even with his protection spell, he was unable to stop the enemies the second time¡­ that was really the worst thing that could have happened. Despite his anger, Inner Force, and the pain of the wound in his hand, Aion began to feel the drowsiness returning to his body. In the end, he used wind magic to get rid of the sleeping gas, but that didn''t help that much¡­


    "Wait¡­ does that mean¡­" Aion thought and then began to heal himself to get rid of the gas on his body.


    The effect got weaker but still was there¡­ Aion could tell that his mother was still alive, and the effects of Devotion would keep her alive as long as Aion was alive and had mana. He did well in leveling up that skill for months and increasing its rage when he had the chance¡­ Still, it was hard to say for how long that would be possible. He had to move.


    "Move to where? I need to think things through in order not to make any mistakes¡­" Aion thought while moving around. "Since they are from mom''s homnd¡­ they couldn''t have survived by crossing this kingdom, so they must be in the opposite direction¡­ unless they are using boats, but I can''t imagine anyone working for them."


    Aion had to head West. Still, for at least a few seconds, he had to consider his territory being moving. He did that while he was packing his things for a long trip. He thought of asking his father toe and manage hisnd for him, but that wouldn''t be possible with the weddingsing so soon. He didn''t have anything else aside from his brothers to trust on the task¡­


    Still, Aion decided to say to his father what he was going to do and ask for some clues. He will be leaving a lot on his hands, but it couldn''t be helped. Before flying away from his town, Aion helped his monsters wake up and then head to the dungeon. He gained only half of the experience his tamed creatures obtained, but all the experience might help him now¡­


    Aion wanted to fly as fast as possible, but since he couldn''t change his ss, his flying speed was rather limited. He could only do so for ten minutes before having to stop and run instead. Moreover, his speed decreased tremendously while flying and running¡­ Guardian''s purpose was solely to protect his mother, after all.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "I also can''t cheat the system and get mana infinitely¡­ shit," Aion thought.


    Aside from buying parameters, Aion couldn''t do much else to solve those problems, if only a bit. In any case, throughout the night, Aion still felt the effects of sleeping gas. It seemed that his protection wasn''t perfect¡­ but at least he didn''t suffer any damage. The kidnappers didn''t try to hurt his mother yet. Thanks to that, his mana was being drained at a slow rate¡­


    "I always felt that mother was hiding something, but I was never forced to tell, but Father must know the reason behind this¡­" Aion thought. "I just hope to know that now won''t be toote."


    Although Aion hurried and he barely took any naps, it still took three days and three days to arrive in the capital¡­ he had never felt so much agony while moving at such a slow speed. In any case, he arrived in the middle of the night in the garden and tried to call his father with his fighting spirit alone. Maybe that was mixed with some of his bloodlust, but Lexus showed up armed with his sword.


    "Aion? What are you doing here?" Lexus asked.


    "They have mom¡­ I need to know where they might be," Aion said while having a hard time catching his breath.


    "... This isn''t good¡­ Tell me exactly what happened," Lexus said.


    Aion felt like he didn''t have time for that, but he needed some time to rest his legs, so he decided to tell everything. There wasn''t much to tell, but his words confirmed one of Lexus'' suspicions. Artemisia didn''t tell everything she knew about her lineage.


    "She didn''t tell you that¡­ if she had, you wouldn''t have let her sleep in another room after the first attack," Lexus said and then facepalmed.


    "What she didn''t tell me?" Aion asked.


    "... For many years, people thought and said that the inhabitants of the Mirelis kingdom had the favor of the goddess, and that was why they were that much good while using magic and had their own way of using the elements," Lexus said. "However, there was another rumor that never died for centuries¡­ it was the possibility that the royal family of the Mirelis kingdom was direct descendants of the goddess."

 Chapter 144 Purpose

    If that were true, then it would make enough sense for them to be rulers just by existing to most people¡­ Still, that doesn''t make sense considering that her mother''s former subjects captured her. A lot of things started to make even less sense now that he knew several new things that was really troubling.


    "And?" Aion asked.


    "Aren''t you wondering if you have the blood of the goddess in your veins?" Lexus asked. "Those who know about that think that you are so strong because of that. Even if you aren''t a pure-blooded descendant."


    "I don''t care about that," Aion replied.


    "I suppose that is just like you¡­ Regardless, it is said among some legends of the Mirelis kingdom that the goddess showed up many times in their history to help the kingdom when it was about to be destroyed. So¡­ they want to bring the goddess back again by using your mother."


    "Those pieces of shit¡­ they want to sacrifice her!?" Aion asked.


    Aion''s magical power answered his anger to the point that it began to distort the air around him¡­ the air began to vibrate until the area of the ground started to burn around him, and some lightning sparks began to appear. His father could tell that he had gotten a lot stronger than before, and he hadn''t reached his potential yet... although it didn''t work like nned, the idea of the king truly was showing some results.


    "There is that possibility¡­" Lexus said. "I can''t say for certain. "In the first ce, that way of thinking is weird¡­ after all, many nations attacked that kingdom, and the goddess didn''t do anything to help them. Still, I thought it would be better if your mother lived a life where she had some amount of freedom. That was why I wasn''t against your wish when you won the tournament. I never found those legends much believable, but I didn''t want to take any chances¡­"


    "Are they going to do something to her in her former kingdom?" Aion asked.


    "That is¡­ I don''t know," Lexus said. "Thatnd is under the control of those cutthroats¡­ and they also are hated by the survivors as much as us. They are probably nning to do something on their original territory¡­ it is said that the first members of the royal family came from further east and, with their magic, turned the desert into a green and prosperousnd."


    "Further East¡­ I guess this is better than nothing," Aion said. "I am leaving. You should tell someone to manage the territory for a while because I won''t return until I get mom from the hands of those assholes."


    "Since it is you, I think you can do something about that, but we can''t send any help without risking the start of another war," Lexus said. "I am sorry about that."<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Well, I wouldn''t be able to wait until a proper army is assembled, anyways," Aion said.


    " That makes sense. Go without worrying about things here. I will do something about it," Lexus said. "If you need for information, try to find some brokers from the dark guild. They can give you any information as long as you give them money. However, they will sell information regarding you as well, and someone looking for those guys will definitely look suspicious."


    "All right, thanks, father," Aion said and then began to fly again.


    Lexus noticed that Aion was exhausted since he didn''t have many chances to sleep in the previous few days. Which was weird, considering how much he could do with his magic¡­ Nevertheless, Lexus ended up thinking about something else. If Aion fails, what is going to happen to him? What will he do? Aion never showed much interest in the past of his mother''s homnd. Still, he always got serious when his mother was the center of his focus. He didn''t tolerate her sadness or when others disrespected her¡­ in the end, Lexus could only hope that a disaster won''t happen.


    Aion kept moving throughout the night, but when morning came, he reached the limit of his exhaustion. He used too much mana and stamina. Any more than that, he might make Devotion fail. With that in mind, Aion looked for the nearest city and then hired a merchant to drive him further east. Usually, those guys wouldn''t travel with strangers. However, Aion paid him a lot and immediately began to sleep when he got in the carriage.


    In the end, Aion woke up at noon and then left the carriage by flying without telling the merchant. He did that for several days until he reached the kingdom''s border and saw many fortresses and watchtowers around. That wasn''t exactly the border, but it was thend that the kingdom still was using after it was taken from the Mirelis Kingdom. Thend beyond that region mainly was desert aside from the area of the former capital of that kingdom.


    "The area between the border and the enemy''s bases will be hard to travel¡­ due to the desert," Aion thought.


    That was only half of the problem, and Aion would learn that soon enough. Aion began to fly and easily crossed the border without being seen. Thanks to that, he didn''t notice one very important activity of the people guarding the borders. He only realized that when he was almost out of mana andnded to run¡­


    It was amazing that Aion didn''t realize that when he was flying, but the temperature increased by leaps and bounds when hended. The heat quickly began to eat away at Aion''s stamina. He trained hard to withstand several environments, and thanks to the Guardian ss, he would endure that. Still, his moving speed would decrease a lot¡­


    As if that wasn''t troublesome enough, Aion felt something weird¡­ his instincts were warning him of an enemy attack. He considered the possibilities of finding bandits, but not so soon¡­ Still, he understood that his enemies weren''t bandits when the sand below him sunk, and then a huge mouth opened.

 Chapter 145 Hurrying Up

    When Aion saw the mouth, he tried to jump, but the mouth approached him even faster. In the end, the creature closed its massive jaw when half of the prey''s body was already inside. Still, Aion''s legs prevented the monster from closing it. Regardless, Aion felt goosebumps while looking at the teeth and the interior of the mouth.


    "A fucking earthworm¡­ just what I needed now¡­" Aion thought. "Disgusting little bastard, don''t treat me like I am your snack. I will make sure that you won''t forget this lesson, for the rest of your few seconds of life."


    Guardian Lv 19


    Health: 404/404


    Mana: 212/608


    Stamina: 88/88


    Strength: 11


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 21 + 60


    Endurance: 21 + 74


    Resistance: 21 + 50


    Speed: 11


    Status: 00


    Protector''s Sword and Shield Refinement Lv 20


    Bonuses: Endurance + 50, Resistance + 50


    Skills: Devotion Lv 19 (Speed Lv 54), Frozen Shield Lv 01


    Passive: Stone Skin Lv 12


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 572.800


    Inventory:<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    The Guardian''s build wasn''t suited for attacking, but Aion still could use some magic. While Aion wanted to save his mana, his legs were starting to lose the battle of strength, so he was forced to fire an Ice Spear toward the interior of the monster''s mouth¡­ the beast flinched for a moment but soon began to tremble violently¡­ it didn''t work the way Aion had expected.


    The strength of the monster''s jaw increased even more like the creature could use Rage or something. While clicking his tongue, Aion created an Ice Saw and made it spin down while cutting one of the sides of the monster''s mouth. A lot of blood came out from the wound, but the strength of the jaw decreased, and Aion managed to jump away from it.


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    "Hmm¡­ this wasn''t half bad," Aion thought. "Let''s see what materials I can get from this."


    Aion didn''t have time to waste, but since that ss wasn''t that good forbat, he would need that kind of power-up. If Aion could change his ss, he also would be able to tame or turn that kind of monster into a minion and help him move faster, but that wasn''t possible¡­


    It has been seven days since Artemisia was captured, and Aion didn''t suffer any damage. Still, he now and then would feel sleepy. The enemies knew that Artemisia was strong, so they kept her unconscious during those seven days¡­ Aion knew that the enemies couldn''t kill her as long as devotion was active, but once they targeted her, he would begin to suffer serious damage, and it will be only a matter of time before something happens.


    Aion had never heard of that, but the desertic area was filled with those giant Earthworms. Aion was attacked by one of them every five minutes, and he couldn''t help but almost be devoured every single time. It was the easiest way to make them drop their guard, after all. Still, that slowed down his movement speed.


    "It is annoying that the only things I can use on their bodies are the leather and their teeth," Aion thought. "The teeth can be used to enhance the protector''s sword and shield, but the materials aren''t that good¡­ Regardless, where does that fuckere from?"


    Aion was certain that at least three dungeons were spawning those monsters. Otherwise, it would be too weird for them to get on his way so often. Since that area wasn''t being used anymore, the dungeons appeared, and no one found a reason to manage them. Few people would be able to do so. That was another factor that made even more nonsensical the attack of the bandits of that country. They basically were trying to annex and filled with monsters when they weren''t good enough to deal with them. Their specialty was assassinations and ambushes. Skills that were useless against monsters most of the time.


    After traveling for a full day, Aion finally found a giant oasis in the middle of the desert. The vegetation suddenly seemed so full of life, and the weather wasn''t hellish hot. One could only think that such a thing was only possible by magic.


    In the middle of an oasis, one was supposed to find a massive fountain of crystal-clear water. However, even from far away, Aion saw a city in ruins that had been built over a giantke. Thanks to the war, even theke that was supposed to be that magic fountain had been polluted beyond repair¡­ Aion also found several camps around the area, fortresses, and watchtowers¡­ That was his mother''s homnd¡­


    "Son of bitches¡­ Someday, you will get what you deserve," Aion thought.


    Aion was in the mood to cause some destruction, which would be great for stress relief, but he had work to do. Besides, someone attacking those guys and then a suspicious individual asking for information on their territory soon after would be suspicious.


    Once Aion returns with his mother, they will have the chance to trash the enemies from their backline, and that will probably be very refreshing. In any case, Aion felt relieved that he didn''t have to fight the Earthworms for a full day. Still, after another day of travel, the desert returned, and so did the monsters.


    The same thing happened again and again for two more days until Aion reached the former border of the Wartiria country. Thend was pretty green and full of life. However, it was and filled with internal conflicts. Instead of a single leader, many feudal lords controlled smaller territories, and they always fought one another to obtain supremacy. Those who wanted power, and that was the vast majority, they would fight numerous battles and try to be bandits and then one day take over the territory of an enemy.


    Meanwhile, only ten percent of the people there cultivated fields. Thanks to that, the mercenaries and feudal lords often attacked their neighbors for food, money, and weapons¡­

 Chapter 146 Information Broker

    Aion was forced to ignore those ces as well and hoped that he would soon find some city or town in which he could find the information that he needed. Unfortunately, the chances of that were low due to the danger of wars in the past¡­


    After crossing thend from above, Aion noticed that despite thends being proper for cultivation, few people were working around, and those who had didn''t have many tools to work with. That sector in that country sure was underdeveloped¡­


    Fortunately, Aion found a town the same size as his pretty soon. He also found some caravansing and going through the gates of the ce. He had a dark cloak, so he could hide his appearance, but he still might be stopped by the two guards of the gates.


    "It is midafternoon¡­ I should wait until night and enter the town using magic," Aion thought while looking around for a grove to hide.


    If something happens, it will be easier to escape unnoticed at night. While Aion was in a hurry, he knew that he had to sleep a little as well, so he used that chance to do so.


    "I suppose I can''t use my magic. Otherwise, they will identify me," Aion thought. "Still, how can I fight without relying on that?"


    Increasing the output of Inner Force would make Aion up to three times stronger. Even with his current parameters, he should be able to fight most small fries that way. However, he would consume ten times more energy, and keeping that state for a minute was his limit. So, it was very inefficient.


    "I didn''t try to improve Inner Force beyond increasing the output since I assumed only that would be enough with the help of the system, but that isn''t the case in this situation," Aion thought.


    Aion considered his options, he used the skill many times, but he never thought of how he could improve it¡­ Copying the techniques of others also seemed like a waste of time. He probably thought that because Lexus'' philosophy influenced him. In any case, Aion fell asleep wondering how he could improve the technique, but nothing came to mind.


    When the chilling wind of the night began to blow, Aion woke up and then stretched his body to warm his body and sharpen his senses. After that, he headed toward the town while flying and thennded in a dark alley.


    When Aion left the alley for a bit, he found a few people still walking around. Some of them were wearing cloaks against the cold of the night, but none of them were hiding their faces. Aion couldn''t do that, and that might be a problem¡­


    "This will consume some of my mana, but it is better than nothing¡­" Aion thought after cutting a bit of his cloak and used it to cover his eyes.


    After that, Aion found a stick in the alley to use as a cane. He still would look suspicious by asking the questions that he wanted, but he wouldn''t look dangerous, but an easy target. In any case, he began to walk around and used his mana to identify his surroundings. He quickly found a tavern with some people in it making a lot of noise. Aion also found a few individuals sitting in the corner and drinking alone.


    When Aion headed there, some people looked at him suspiciously. He felt even more eyes when he entered the tavern. The ce grew silent while everyone stared at him, and he ignored them. He approached the guy in the corner of the room and put a silver coin on the table. Aion could feel a rtively powerful magic auraing from that guy. So, it seemed that he wouldn''t have to waste too much time.


    "Do you know someone who can sell some information around here?" Aion asked.


    "It depends on what you want to know¡­" the man said and took the silver coin.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "I want information about the possible hideouts of some rats," Aion said.


    "If they are on the run for a while and are famous, that will cost you a bit," the man said.


    "Money won''t be a problem," Aion said and then put an opened bag of gold coins on the table.


    The guy tried to silently get the bag while the others around looked at it, but Aion''s cane hit his fingers. He clicked his tongue in annoyance¡­


    "Who are you looking for?" The man asked.


    "The location of the possible hideouts of the survivors of the Mirelis Kingdom," Aion replied.


    Aion wasn''t talking loudly. In fact, his voice was supposed to be heard only by the guy in front of him. Still, he could tell that the others had heard it, even though they didn''t show much of a reaction.


    "Everyone knows that they are all dead," the man said.


    "That is why I said I want the possible location of some hideouts," Aion said.


    "... It is said that those guys came from the mountains in the East beyond the country," the man replied. "Many people said that they had temples at the top of the mountains in which they used tomunicate with the goddess. However, no one confirmed that in centuries since, the mountains are filled with flying monsters, and paths are rough."


    That wasn''t a half-bad lead, so Aion let that guy take the gold coins, and then he left the tavern. Still, soon after, he was followed by everyone in the tavern. Aion sighed. His first impression of that country couldn''t have been any worse¡­


    "Against those that are willing to attack a supposed blind man for his money, I don''t have to hold anything back," Aion thought as he headed to a dark alley.


    When Aion entered the dark alley, those guys hurried up, but in the end, they had an unpleasant surprise¡­ they suddenly were enveloped in a thickyer of ice that even covered their mouths and prevented them from shouting.


    "It was a pleasure to make business with you all," Aion said.

 Chapter 147 Improvement

    You obtained 1100 experience points.


    You received 10.500 coins.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You received 430 coins.


    ¡­


    Aion crushed all of them with his ice magic. He was so pissed that he would throw the bodies into a sewer if he could find anyone¡­ that kind of scum truly deserved to die. Regardless, Aion opened a hole in the ground and then buried them, and left the town. He didn''t have time or energy to waste with pieces of shit, so he worked really hard to calm down and clear his mind. He wasn''t expecting much in such a country, but things were a lot worse than expected.


    After clearing his mind, Aion began to think of what he had learned. His mother never mentions temples or the possible locations of the origins of her people. Still, when Aion thought of temples and mountains, he had a feeling that those were the perfect ces to offer sacrifices to the gods. That was why he felt a cold in his stomach.


    "I never found information about that kind of thing, so I guess it didn''t travel far, and the people from here had no reason to spread what they knew to others," Aion thought.


    Aion had no idea how long that country was, but he had heard that there were at least thirty feudal lords. That made him think that it was at least on the same size as the Zaera kingdom. So, he would need at least one week to cross it¡­ Aion didn''t know why they weren''t trying to do anything with his mother aside from letting her sleep, but he knew that he couldn''t waste seven days crossing that country.


    On the next day, Aion noticed some changes when he passed above some cities and towns. Although he could fly faster than ravens, he found tight security in those ces. Maybe it was a coincidence, but Aion didn''t want to drop his guard based on those uncertainties.


    "That was within my ns, but I should avoid all of those ces¡­" Aion thought. "I don''t have time to make an enemy out of everyone here, and I also can''t afford to make an entire army bother us once we begin the way back home."


    While Aion was traveling, he thought of how he could improve Inner Force as well. He would need that since he had no idea if he could rescue his mother and protect her at the same with the power of the Guardian ss. Thinking about that made his deal with the worries since it was better to think of how to increase his chances instead of just worrying endlessly about the failure.


    After three days, Aion didn''t make much progress just by thinking, and around that time, he found thergest territory in that country. It was impressive since it was at least two hundred kilometers wide and long, and the whole territory was walled. At the same time, it expanded and absorbed other territories after some battles with the neighbors. Aion hoped to see a castle in the middle of it, but he only found arge city, one that was far more developed than all the others in that country. It wasn''t as luxurious as the capital of the Zaera kingdom, but it was at least that much organized.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "It seems that the most influential leader here knows the bnce between development and expansion," Aion thought. "Bnce and expansion, huh¡­"


    Aion suddenly had an idea about how to improve Inner Force. However, it wasn''t something he could do now since he needed all the energy possible to move as fast as he could¡­ when the life of his mother was on the line, Aion couldn''t take any chances. Still, Aion decided to keep thinking about it and try to improve the idea¡­


    Two dayster, Aion noticed other changes in the country¡­ he found some groups heading East. The same direction he was going¡­ perhaps some enemies were attacking the border on that side. Still, once again, Aion didn''t want to think that it was just a coincidence.


    "Too many mercenaries are heading in that direction¡­ even if they are looking for me, they shouldn''t know who I am," Aion thought. "Besides, it is hard to believe that they know about the survivors of the Mirelis Kingdom."


    If they were going to get in his way, then Aion would deal with them, and that was all. He didn''t have to think too much about it¡­ he was nning to take down a few to free the area of his mother''s hometown, after all. That would be a nice warm-up.


    After another day, Aion finally reached an area where he could see some mountains in the distance. It seemed that things would work well, Despite his many worries. Still, he was forced to stop because he was almost out of mana.


    "There is a territory ahead of a big town¡­ I don''t like this," Aion thought. "Taking a roundabout route will only make me waste time, and I will just stop and meditate."


    If Aion could run in a straight line, he would try to cross some extra miles, but it would be too risky in that situation. Besides, he passed the mercenaries'' groups and left them behind yesterday. They must be at least four hours behind him¡­


    That being said, Aion decided to recover just enough mana to cross the area instead of all his mana since he had a bad feeling about that.


    Once again, Aion''s instincts didn''t disappoint him. While he was meditating, he saw something approaching from the town ahead¡­ it was moving pretty fast¡­


    "... Shit, just my luck," Aion thought and began to fly.


    The enemy was running toward him in a straight line, and that physical ability was inhuman¡­ it was another person who had beyond reasonable strength. It was another mutated individual¡­ Aion decided to run away, but then suddenly, a massive boulder was sent flying to his head¡­

 Chapter 148 Martial Artist

    The boulder flew so fast that Aion was forced to move downward to prevent his head from being smashed. He couldn''t move to the sides either¡­ while he could have blocked with his shield, he probably would have been sent flying dozens of kilometers away. Aion thought that when he saw the boulder disappearing in the distance while still going upward.


    "What the hell¡­" Aion thought.


    Like a cannonball, the enemy that came from the town and jumped toward Aion. He didn''t want to fight, so he just flew to the side, but the enemy was wearing two bracers, and by pointing them at Aion, he created a massive boulder and fired at him. From that distance, Aion was unable to block it, and he only raised his shield and then braced himself for the impact.


    "Urgh!" Aion grunted in pain.


    Aion tried to keep his posture to block most of the impact. Still, while he seeded in doing that, the speed of the projectile made him fly in the opposite direction too fast. Aion only saw the terrain change from the corner of his vision. Still, he could imagine himself crossing hundreds of meters in a few seconds. His vision began to get blurred, but using his magic, he properly himself upward with the wind in order to escape it. He couldn''t afford to waste any more time, but then he saw the boulder hitting and destroying a hill in the distance¡­


    Aion began to fly away, but then he felt the enemy''s gaze again¡­ that motherfucker still was chasing him. When Aion tried to fly and leave the enemy''s range of attack, another boulder aimed at his head was shot.


    "It looks like he really wants to fight me¡­ I don''t have time for this, but¡­ at this rate, I will only waste my mana trying to escape," Aion thought when hended.


    When the enemy approached, he saw Aionnding on the ground, and his face was distorted in anger and disgust. One could even think that Aion was on the right in that situation, but his enemy knew better than that.


    "Face me, invader," The enemy said. "You can''t expect tond on my territory and leave as if nothing had happened."


    The man was one hell of a bulky guy. He didn''t have much hair at the top of his head, but he had some spiky white hair on the sides and one mustache as well. He looked like the final boss of a fighting game that Aion yed in the past since he wasn''t wearing any shorts and only some ck pants. He also looked like a martial artist since he didn''t have any boots or gauntlets, only the bracers on his arms that emitted a certain level of magical power. Still, the most impressive of his characteristics was his white eyes¡­ he didn''t look to be blind, though.


    "It wasn''t my intention to stop on your territory," Aion said. "I don''t want to fight you, but I fight¡­"


    "That changes nothing," The old man said and then assumed a stance that resembled the southpaw stance of boxing.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "If you make me waste my time¡­ your beloved town will be destroyed by your own handster¡­" Aion warned. "I don''t have time for your shit, and I am really pissed."


    It seemed that hecked the appearance to make himself look truly scary while threatening people... The old man charged at Aion while ignoring his words... and then mmed his forearm against Aion''s sheld. It happened in a single instant, but it felt like he had been hit by another boulder. The impact pushed him backward, and before he could stop, the old man was already on his side and ready to kick his head.


    Aion turned his shield to the side, but the enemy sent him flying into the air since he didn''t have the chance to assume a proper defensive stance. While his body was spinning, Aion felt the danger to his life and realized that another attack wasing.


    Aion used wind magic again to fix his stance and block the boulder properly with his shield. He felt like a bullet train had just collided with him, but he endured it since the attack sent him flying in the direction he wanted to go. In the end, he passed nearby the city just like that, and when the boulder began to fall, he jumped away from it.


    Aion tried to run away, but he felt the bloodlust of that man approaching¡­ He charged even faster than before, and when Aion turned around, he saw the man riding a boulder.


    "All right¡­ I will kill him," Aion thought. "Then I will take his bracers and use them to help me with "my movement speed¡­"


    The enemy could feel Aion''s fighting spirit now, so he prepared to fight seriously. Despite his young age, he could tell that Aion was experienced and could take a hit or two. The old man never saw anyone surviving his attacks like that, even with shields and armor.


    The old man charged and then attacked Aion with a dropkick. Aion just swung his shield on a vertical swing. He put a lot of power behind that, so the impact didn''t push him back that much. As soon as hended, the old man kicked the air in front of him, and a st of wind forced Aion to raise his shield.


    The old man used that chance to attack Aion from the side. Again and again, Aion blocked it with his shield, but then ice began to spread from the shield toward the old man''s leg and stopped him. Aion used that chance to swing his sword at that guy''s head, but he just kicked his chest by jumping a bit and using his other leg.


    Aion felt like his cheat would split open, but the pain eventually dissipated. Still, when he looked at the enemy, he just tensed the muscles of his legs and made the ice break¡­

 Chapter 149 Opening

    "As a martial artist, control over his own body is his force. Stopping him with that level of an attack won''t change a thing¡­" Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows.


    Frozen Shield was the type of attack thatbined the power of Aion''s strength and magic, and while his strength wasn''t that high, his magicpensated for that. Still, the leg of the old man only had a few red marks, and the damage caused was minimal. Aion will have toe up with another strategy¡­


    "My options are limited, but¡­" Aion thought. "Those bracers¡­ I wonder how they can fire such powerful spells."


    It was hard to imagine that the old man was that good of a mage. His magic presence wasn''t even on the level of the students of the magic school. So the power of his magic attacks came from the bracers¡­ and he was prideful enough not to use them when the enemy wanted to fight directly.


    The enemy charged again, but he attempted to punch Aion''s face this time. The attack was deflected to the shield when Aion used Shield Swing, and he used the momentum of the skill to spin and attack the enemy with his sword. However, the old man used his bracer to block the attack¡­ which was supposed to be a valuable magic item, and he didn''t hesitate in doing so.


    With a single motion of his arm, the old man parried the sword to the side and then swung the back of his left hand upward, hitting Aion''s chin and stunning him for a short while. When Aion recovered, he saw a big fist approaching his face. He jumped backward to get out of the range, but the punch still hit his face, breaking his nose and making him spin backward in the air.


    The old man charged again to finish Aion off, but then all of a sudden, a Fireball was fired at his face when he got too close. The explosion made Aion move away a bit more, but he stillnded on his feet. When the smoke disappeared, he noticed that a small part of the enemy''s left face had been burned, but it was too small. Aion wanted to save his mana, but even when he used it, he didn''t cause much damage¡­ The resistance of the old man was high, and a simple spell won''t solve all of his problems.


    "I have an idea on how to finish this, but I need an opening, and he is experienced enough not to give any under normal circumstances¡­" Aion thought. "So, I have to force him to give me an opening."


    The old man suddenly moved both arms to his waist and pointed his palms to Aion. In that stance, it was hard to tell with each hand he would attack. Even his legs weren''t showing any stance, and they were just opened in the same way¡­


    Before Aion could see the movement of the enemy''s legs, the old man just charged and then hit the air with a palm strike. The impact caused a powerful st that forced Aion to raise his Shield. Before he could recover from the impact, the old man got close enough to attack, and while spinning his right arm, he hit the shield with his palm.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    The impact pushed Aion away while making him spin vertically, but that was the least of his problems. The attack had some rotation that his whole body received. Aion rolled on the ground during that fight for the first time instead ofnding on the ground. When he recovered, Aion saw the enemy falling and was ready to smash his face with his right knee.


    Aion rolled to the side, and the impact made the area tremble, as well as opened a ten meters wide crater. Aion raised his guard after getting up since a dust curtain emerged, but the enemy didn''t move. Aion found that weird¡­ The enemy didn''t seem the type who would try to enjoy the fight, after all.


    The old man charged again, and since he found it weird that Aion was too quiet, he only began to punch Aion with short but fast jabs. Even so, with each impact, Aion was pushed back.


    "Does he see something unusual with his eyes?" Aion thought. "That must be some sort of mutation¡­ He found me even when I was three kilometers away from his town, after all."


    Aion''s surprise attack seemed like it was losing the chances of seeding. Still, in that situation, he couldn''t rely on anything else. All of a sudden, Aion hit the enemy''s fist with the tip of his shield, and since he put some strength behind it, the enemy felt some pain in his fist.


    Aion changed his Posture to block the enemy''s punches just like that, and the old man frowned. He wasn''t going all out, and the enemy was supposed to know that such a strategy wouldn''t work once he got serious¡­


    To make sure that Aion would understand that, the enemy kicked the ground while dashing forward to the point that his step cracked the ground, and then he hit Aion with a right straight. Despite that, Aion still used the tip of his shield to repel the attack¡­ He was pushed backward for several meters, but Aion didn''t fall.


    The old man felt some pain in his fist, but it wasughable¡­ In the end, he used another straight, and Aion also repeated his action. The result also ended up being the same¡­ While feeling like his bones were cracking, Aion assumed the same stance¡­


    The old man almost let out a sigh¡­ Until Aion suddenly flinched when he felt a pain in his back, and in the next moment, he began to bleed from there. The image of what would happen to his mother shed across his mind, and then Aion''s eyes changed, and they had a cold glint on them while he charged at the enemy.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 150 Recklessness

    From the enemy''s perspective, Aion was as slow as he could have been. He charged without making the old man feel threatened. Thanks to that, when Aion swung his shield at the enemy''s head, he just moved away a bit to dodge it. Aion kept swinging his shield from one side to the other like it was the only thing he could do.


    The old man got pissed¡­ Aion was supposed to know that such a thing wouldn''t work. The difference in speed was that high¡­ The old man had no idea why, but Aion''s only good point was his endurance¡­ and one couldn''t win just by being able to withstand being hit¡­ Life wasn''t that easy.


    Eventually, the old man got pissed and then dodged to the side and when Aion finished the swing of his attack, he punched the shield with all his might, making it fly to the distance.


    When that happened, the same wound on Aion''s neck began to pour more blood than before¡­ The old man knew Aion hadn''t been attacked like that, and yet the wound appeared¡­ It wasn''t like the damage had been deep or like Aion caused it to make him hesitate, but that didn''t scare the enemy at all.


    With his short sword alone in hand, Aion changed his stance¡­ and held the weapon with both hands. He wasn''t used to that, so the enemy could see that his stance was awkward. The old man prepared another straight and charged, but then he saw Aion moving forward as well. If it weren''t for his speed, he wouldn''t have noticed Aion aiming for his head with his sword¡­ Aion agreed to be hit directly, as long as he could get the enemy''s head.


    Still, in the end, Aion''s n failed. At thest moment. The old man moved to the side, and then his sword hit nothing. At the same time, the old man hit Aion''s wrists with a powerful punch and made him drop his sword. While he was flinching, the enemy grabbed Aion''s neck with both hands and began to strangle him.


    "That was disappointing," the old man said.


    "I¡­ still have¡­ one¡­ for you¡­" Aion muttered.


    The old man frowned. Despite the situation, Aion''s blue eyes still had a fighting spirit in them. His blue eyes¡­ It had been so long since the old man saw them that he had forgotten about it. When he recalled what they meant, it was toote¡­ he felt a sharp pain in both arms, and then he lost the strength in them. When he looked at it, the old man saw his arms¡­ they had been cut off by something sharp, but Aion''s sword was still on the ground. It was at that moment that the old man saw Aion''s arms being covered by lightning¡­


    The old man never saw anything like that, but he couldn''t let that end, even though he lost both arms. He still had his legs and he just had to wait until that energy dispersed¡­ he jumped backward with all his might and then created some distance between him and Aion. However, he found the enemy''s hand is pointed at him, and from the left hand, a lightning bolt flew to the enemy''s head.


    Even with his crazy speed, the old man was unable to dodge the attack, and when he was hit, he was paralyzed for a full second¡­ Aion used that chance to approach and then increased his speed with Chaotic Punch. In the next moment, Aion''s left hand pierced and crossed the enemy''s left chest.


    You obtained 120.000 experience points.


    You received 5050 coins.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Congrattions! The ss Guardian has leveled up.


    Congrattions! The ss Guardian has leveled up.


    ¡­


    When the body fell in front of him, Aion quickly regained his focus and began to meditate. He used too much mana¡­ as soon as he had some, he healed the wound in his chest, and then he used it on his arms. Although he had nned to take the enemy''s arms like that, he didn''t n that his arms would be burned almost to a crisp. He couldn''t feel them either¡­ using that kind of technique was dangerous when one didn''t have absolute control over their magic powers.


    After healing his arms a bit, the sense of touch returned. Still, Aion didn''t have time to celebrate, it seemed that Artemisia was only attacked two times, but he couldn''t waste any more time.


    Aion stored the body in his inventory and then checked the bracers. He could feel some magic power after equipping them¡­ it was the type of magic relic that could store mana from the environment and then used it at full power while ignoring the magic strength of the user.


    "Charging energy¡­ this might be useful," Aion thought.


    Aion put the magic bracers on his back and then activated it. As expected, a boulder began to fly in the direction he had pointed, but since Aion''s back was right in front of it, he felt like it was about to split him in half. Still, thanks to that, he crossed five kilometers in a matter of seconds.


    The bracers only had enough mana to fire four more of those, and Aion figured out that it would take a day to get fully charged. Regardless, he was practically at the base of the mountains¡­ now he just had to check all of them.


    As if that wasn''t troublesome enough, Aion could see many packs of flying monsters flying around the mountains. That was the worst-case scenario¡­ Aion couldn''t change his ss, and it was a melee one. His only option was to use magic, but that would decrease his search speed¡­


    Nevertheless, Aion had no time to hesitate¡­ he just began to fly and look for any signs of temples, and soon enough, the monsters approached¡­ it didn''t seem like he would have time to rest any time soon. His goal seemed so close and yet so far...

 Chapter 151 Rough Taming

    The flying monsters that lived in that mountainous area seemed like a mix of eagles and crows. Their bodies were stripped in the colors white, yellow, and back. They were three meters tall and five meters long when their wings were opened. They had quite the vicious look in their eyes¡­ but the real thing that made them stand out was when they opened their mouths and lightning bolts were fired from them.


    Aion was fast enough to fly to the sides when they opened their mouths and dodged the spells, and since lightning magic consumed so much mana, the monsters didn''t use it often. Aion kept an eye on the enemies in the sky and another on the area below. He looked for any signs of roads and civilization, but he found nothing¡­ as expected, it wouldn''t be easy.


    ? In the end, Aion flew toward the enemies, and they used a lightning bolt again. Since the spells were targetting him at the same time, Aion blocked them by creating an ice wall. The impact raised a cloud of steam, and Aion used that chance to fire Ice Arrows at the heads of the monsters. They didn''t have time to react¡­


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    ¡­


    "They are pretty strong to give that much experience, but their defensive power isn''t that high it seems¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion began to fly further east, but then another pack of monsters got on his way. After clicking his tongue, Aion made up his choice. It was a bit risky, but he could pull it off¡­ when the enemies attacked, he used the same strategy as before, but instead of killing all the monsters behind the steam cloud. He left one alone and flew toward it¡­


    The creature opened its mouth, but then Aion punched it before it could seed and thennded on the back of the monster.


    "Be obedient and follow my orders. Otherwise, this is going to hurt¡­" Aion said.


    Aion didn''t have much mana, so he could only retort to that in order not to waste further time. The monster struggled, but then Aion hit its head with his shield until the beast got dizzy. The beast began to p its wings after falling for a while, and by using his legs, Aion forced the head of the monster to turn to a side, and the monster followed that direction.


    The monster struggled for a while, but eventually, it noticed that Aion wouldn''t be able to do anything against Aion. Their magic could only be fired from their mouths¡­ Still, more monsters noticed Aion''s presence and began to fly above to attack him.


    When the lightning bolts fell, Aion blocked them with his shield, and while he suffered some damage, it wasn''t as much as a direct hit. Aion forced the monster he was riding to ignore all that, but he wondered if that was a good idea¡­ he might as well ignore them now and eventually see hundreds of them following himter.


    "I can''t recover mana like this¡­" Aion thought.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    While looking around for his destination, Aion found some clouds below, and while it was dangerous to hide in them while being attacked by lightning attacks. Still, Aion made the monster fly in that direction and then turned to the side once he disappeared in the cloud¡­


    Many bolts rained down on that cloud, but then the monster saw Aion moving to another cloud¡­ the monsters tried to approach and wait for him to show, but Aion never did it. He kept going downward until he created some distance from the enemies, and it got hard for the enemies to see him so down below.


    After a couple of minutes, Aion found another pack and no clouds to use to lose them. Still, he had recovered a bit of mana and then created a thickyer of ice on his shield. When the next spells were fired toward him, the shield blocked thempletely, and Aion even controlled it to spin toward the monsters. Some of them dodged it, while others got hit in the neck and their necks broke.


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    ¡­


    "This is a good way to save mana¡­" Aion thought and then saw some cracks on the ice. "Not perfect, I guess."


    When he failed to kill them with the frozen shield, Aion managed to stop or dy them from chasing him. Still, controlling the ice and thus the shield over time was difficult since he was also trying to meditate while flying. He couldn''t do so many things at once¡­


    Still, it seemed that Aion''s hard work was finally paying off. He didn''t find a temple nearby, but he found traces of an old road that led to the top of one of the many mountains in the area. Aion followed the direction the road could take him, and he found that it ended on a group of fallen boulders¡­ it seemed like they were blocking something, the entrance of a temple, maybe.


    "I thought the temple would be in the open, but I guess with this many monsters around, they would have a hard time doing anything," Aion thought.


    Aion didn''t know if that was an old and abandoned temple, but there was a chance that the assholes that captured his mother sealed the entrance that way, and Aion decided to check it. Still, when Aion approached it, he saw a lot of moss on the ground and on the lower part of the boulders. Those had been there for a while.


    "Shit¡­ " Aion said while looking around. "That is¡­"


    Aion didn''t notice that from far away, but he found some dark clouds in the distance, and further east, he could a few shes of lightning bolts now and then¡­ if he had to guess, some shady magic ritual was being performed there¡­

 Chapter 152 Barrier

    Aion made the monster fly as fast as possible in direction of the dark clouds, and much to his surprise, the monsters around didn''t chase him. It seemed that they were trying to avoid that area¡­ the reason for that was unknown, but he was thankful for.


    Aion used that chance to approach faster and recover mana, but then the monster and he collided against an invisible barrier around the mountain. That was a type of magic that he had never heard of¡­ The monster suffered a lot of damage since it flew too fast. In the end, Aion jumped from the creature and then flew around the area, trying to sense and feel the limits of the barrier.


    Some lightning bolts fell at the top of the barrier, but that didn''t work to weaken it¡­ Aion would have to think of a different way to open it aside from using brute strength. That mightplicate things since Aion couldn''t calm down aftering this far.


    "If the monsters are wary of this, this probably has been here for a while," Aion thought while looking around. "This mountain is surrounded by many others, and considering the monster''s territory, it isn''t surprising that no one found it."


    That barrier probably was set up by his mother''s people a long time ago, and while he wasn''t aplete Mirelian, he still was half of one. If the barrier couldn''t let him pass, then the barrier had some sort of key, and Aion had to find it.


    There was also the possibility that the barrier had a secret entrance, and for the time being, Aionnded nearby to look for that while he also thought of what the key might be. That will take a while, but he had his magic powers to decrease the search time.


    "First of all, let''s look for paths that people can use while carrying an unconscious person," Aion thought.


    From what Aion knew, the survivors of the Mirelis Kingdom might have escaped through East, North, and South. The people of the bandits'' country seemed like the type who would ept any job as long as they gained a lot of money from it, after all. In the North and South, they could have escaped using boats and then headed to those mountains eventually. So, Aion decided to look for an entrance on those sides of the barrier. Fortunately, it didn''t take long for him to find distortion in the barrier¡­ but something was weird, it seemed like an entrance, but Aion still was repelled by it.


    "This is the entrance, but I still need a key ¡­" Aion thought. "Just my fucking luck¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion crossed his arms and began to think¡­ he had to think of the key to the barrier and move on to the center. Aion didn''t know a single idea about that thing, and he couldn''t imagine the need for a key when it was already such a hard ce to reach. Finding the entrance was also only possible because he could use his mana on the ground to notice and feel the mana around him¡­ to some extent. If he were one of the ancestors of his mother, what would he do to create a third lock on the temple? How could he make sure that no one else aside from their people could enter such a ce?<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Since they used elemental magic without incantation, unlike the others, Aion assumed that a few secret incantation words weren''t the key to the barrier. If Aion were them¡­ while looking at both hands and he had such knowledge about magic, he would use something only his people had to create the final lock¡­ his blood.


    Aion opened a small wound on his hands with his sword and then touched the barrier with that palm dirt with blood. The barrier reacted as he felt his hand pass through¡­ soon after, Aion crossed with his body as well. It wasn''t somethingplicated¡­ Regardless, Aion didn''t have time to waste, and he flew to the top of the mountain.


    Although he didn''t hold back when it came to speed, Aion was still hit by something all of a sudden when he approached the top of the mountain. He only realized that when his back was almost crushed when he hit the barrier again¡­ a massive earth pir hit him and Aion let out a sigh when he saw others flying toward him.


    After zigzagging and approaching the mountain again. Aion saw the entrance of a building with some pirs inside it. It was almost at the top of the mountain, but there was a cloaked guy standing there, and Aion could tell that it was the one who had attacked him. So many assholes getting in his way¡­ Aion felt that one of his veins was going to burst due to anger.


    The earth pirs were emerging from the mountain and flying toward Aion at fearsome speeds¡­ he wondered why that was the case. It would have been better if the cloaked guy summoned those around him. That would have been great for protection as well.


    "Unless¡­ he is using the mountain to save mana," Aion thought.


    That seemed like something simple to do, but then again, Aion never heard of that, and his mother never did something like that. Aion thought that creating elemental magic would be the hardest and most efficient way to use it. However, since he could just transform his mana into the elements, it was the easiest to control once he got the hang of it. However, using the elements around to use magic the way he wanted seemed like a harder step¡­ but more cost-efficient.


    "Well, I can think about thister¡­" Aion said and then flew toward the enemy.


    The Earth Pirs got faster as Aion approached and eventually, he was unable to dodge them, but Aion kept advancing, even though when he blocked them with his shield, he felt his bones cracking¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 153 Silver Portal

    While Aion didn''t have time to waste since his mother was nearby, he didn''t have many options either. While almost out of mana, Aion raised his shield and then blocked all of the attacks. The surprise attack got him, but while knowing that they wereing, Aion could prepare for each impact and wait for the enemy to run out of mana¡­


    At first, Aion thought that it was the best n of action considering his ownck of mana, but after five minutes of seeing the enemy spamming that attack every second, Aion realized that it wouldn''t work. What helped him confirm that was his left arm that was hurting like hell¡­


    "If Ind, his attacks will hit me faster. If I keep flying, I will eventually run out of mana¡­" Aion thought. "Fucking hell¡­"


    In which case, soon Devotion was going to be canceled forck of mana or due to the reason that Aion''s health was reaching dangerous levels¡­ in the end, he decided to take the least troublesome end.


    When Aionnded, he prepared himself and used Inner Force. However, he was forced to stop when he felt a weird taste in his mouth, and then his body got cold¡­ his interior began to burn even while he felt so cold outside. He immediately understood that his mother had been poisoned¡­


    Aion never seeded in doing that, but Rage was activated. At the same time, and with the help of Inner Force, he charged at the enemy like a missile. The cloaked man tried to hit him with numerous ice pirs, but for the first time, he wasn''t fast enough to stop Aion. The cloaked man panicked and made several earth pirs emerge in front of him. Aion could have run to the side and then attacked the enemy, but he charged straight into the pirs.


    The obstacles stopped him, but they cracked so much that they began to fall toward the enemy as well. The cloaked mage moved to the side by controlling the ground beneath him, but then he saw Aion throwing his shield toward his face.


    The enemy raised an earth pir to block it, and he seeded, but then he also fell for the same trick that many of Aion''s targets fell¡­ they lost sight of him for a moment. He only noticed about Aion''s approach when he noticed a shadow approaching from above. The earth mage jumped backward and fired another earth pir at him, but then Aion used Inner Force to its utmost limits before throwing the sword at the enemy''s stomach.


    The earth mage summoned an earth wall using his own mana since it would be faster than using the earth around, but he didn''t make it thicker fast enough. In the end, the sword pierced the wall and his stomach. It didn''t kill him instantly, but the pain made him flinch for a moment, and that had been enough for Aion to approach and then smash his head with his right knee.


    You obtained 80.000 experience points.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    You received 5.990 coins.


    Aion didn''t waste time and then stored the body in his inventory before grabbing his shield and sword again. Despite the fact that his arm was hurting like hell, Aion ignored the pain and entered the temple. The interior wasn''t dark since Aion could see some yellow crystals around, emitting a lot of light. Although he was wary of traps, he didn''t slow down and advanced. Much to Aion''s surprise, the interior looked well-preserved despite being buried in a mountain, but the real problem was that it was apparently much bigger than he had imagined.


    After running toward the other side of the temple, Aion found a massive staircase going downward. He quickly jumped on it and then began to go downstairs¡­ At first, Aion didn''t see anything around. However, after a while, he could see in the distance a group of blond individuals in front of the staircase, and a couple of meters ahead, Aion saw a table where his mother was.


    When they felt Aion''s bloodlust, the enemies turned around and then began to fire electric arrows toward him. Those were hard to dodge since they were faster than usual, but Aion just blocked them with his shield and endured the fact that his wounded arm was also going to suffer more.


    The survivors of Artemisia''s former kingdom began to run around without any order or goal, or so Aion thought before hended in front of the table where his mother was. He could tell that the enemies didn''t want to fight. They probably had never been to fight in their lives. Aion was itching to kill them. However, he controlled himself when he saw one of the blond guys grabbing a small statue on the other side of the room¡­ soon after it, he tossed it on the ground¡­


    Aion didn''t like that. He knew that the enemies wouldn''t do something meaningless. The statue hit the ground and cracked a little. At the same time, the entire mountain began to tremble. Soon after, the space began to distort where the statue was until a silver portal appeared. Aion thought that those assholes were going to disappear soon, but they didn''t jump in the portal¡­ instead of that, something left it when it became big enough, a massive w covered in ice.


    Aion knew that something bad was about to happen, and he couldn''t let his blood rush to his head. He flew to grab the statue on the ground, and then he approached to get his mother. The enemies didn''t even try to stop him. Instead, they watched in shock as an ice dragon crossed the portal.


    "I really don''t have enough energy to face a dragon now¡­" Aion thought as he flew while carrying the unconscious Artemisia in his arms.


    Aion was nning to leave the ice dragon trapped inside the barrier, but then the whole mountain began to tremble even more, and he confirmed that such a thing wouldn''t be possible¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 154 Ice Dragon

    When Aion left the temple, he cooled his head a bit and confirmed that his mother was all right. She probably didn''t wake up in those two weeks, but she was being fed and given water. Still, very sporadically since she got thinner. She needed a real ce to rest and to be given food, but then Aion realized the problem of the matter.


    "If I leave the dragon alone and the creature manages to escape, we will be med for all of its destruction caused," Aion thought. "We don''t need our reputation to get any worse, after all. I will have to deal with this thing right here and right now. Let''s hope that I won''t be regretting this..."


    The tremors were getting stronger, and it was a sign that the monster was approaching. Still, he summoned the iron fists after changing his ss and then created a bed using his magic power and some of the things he had in his inventory and made the guy go toward the entrance of the barrier while carrying her.


    Aion wanted to turn the old man martial artist and the earth mage into death knights as well, but he didn''t have mana. He would need a couple of seconds for that, and before it could happen, he just had the chance to summon Caellis, Lerg, and Urgen¡­ the temple began to freeze, and then the ice dragon emerged from it.


    "If only I could tame¡­" Aion said.


    Even if the skill and ss reached level one hundred and Aion used all of the improvement points on Tame, the chances of that working were pretty small. The difference in power was that big¡­


    Aion made the death knights split around, and the dragon looked at them and then saw Aion jumping to the other side of the mountain, and the creature followed him since he looked more delicious. While he was falling, the dragon began to fly toward him while summoning Ice Spears. Actually, they had the shape of arrows, but they were ten meters long.


    They flew around while making super annoying noises while breaking the sound barrier. Aion managed to dodge them while flying, but at that rate, he won''t recover any mana to do much aside from that. And yet, he didn''t have any other option. The giant Ice Arrows hit the ground and opened one hundred meters long craters¡­ a single hit and Aion will be done for.


    Aion had another risky n when hended on the base of the mountain. In the end, he just turned around and waited for the dragon''s attack. The creature fired three ice arrows from different directions to hit the same spot and made the impact even louder. Still, so much dust emerged from the ground that the beast lost sight of Aion for a second¡­ the monster slowly approached until a massive boulder flew toward its head.


    The monster blocked the attack by using its left wing as a shield and was only pushed backward for a few dozen meters, but then Aion emerged from the back of the boulder. His body was filled with wounds due to the debris of the previous attack. Still, he jumped toward the dragon''s back, and before the beast could do anything, hended there and then resummoned Caelis.


    Aion tossed toward him his red spear, and then when he grabbed it, Caelis enveloped it with his dark shadow and then began to stab the ice dragon. Although it scales hard like steel, eventually, Aion saw some cracks appearing in it.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Unfortunately, the air around them began to get colder, and the body of the dragon began to freeze¡­ using some of his mana, Aion made some hand cover Caelis'' legs and then glued him on the back of the monster before Aion jumped away.


    The legs of the death knight were covered in ice, but he kept stabbing the enemy, and Aion managed to slip away. However, the damage Caelis was suffering was affecting Aion''s mana pool.


    "Let''s recover some mana while the monster forgets about me," Aion thought and then gave the order for his other death knights to attack.


    The ice dragon tried to summon ice arrows and then fire at Caelis, but then the creature''s face was suddenly hit by several arrows. Only three of fifteen Pierced the face of the monster a little, but the wounds were bleeding, and the monster looked pissed.


    Soon after, several wind des targeted the other side of the monster''s face. Only some scratches appeared there, though¡­ The distance between them and the target was too high, so it was only natural that their attacks would lose power. Even so, it was hard to imagine them winning at close range, and a single shot would be enough to crush them.


    "Where in the hell did that thinge from?" Aion wondered when hended. "Not a single mention of dragons being found in thest one thousand years¡­"


    With that kind of power, it was surprising that they weren''t ruling the world. It was even more surprising that they probably decreased in numbers with that kind of power. Aion heard that they could live for at least five hundred years, so it wasn''t a matter of longevity¡­ they disappeared for some other reason¡­


    While Aion was recovering some of his mana. The ice dragon decided to get rid of Caelis first and ignored the long-ranged attacks to summon several ice arrows and fired them at him. Caelis used his shadow to increase his defense, and he withstood the first few attacks, but Aion knew that it was only a matter of time before the shadow thins out¡­ he had to do something before that happened¡­


    Aion considered what he could do¡­ he could stall for time by letting his mana repair Caelis again and again, but that wouldn''t be the best way for him to learn something out of that fight¡­ however, Aion recalled that¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 155 Ice Dragon (2)

    ? While Caelis was enduring the attacks, Aion recalled everything he thought about improving Inner Force in an efficient way. His first improvement wasn''t perfect, and since the system didn''t recognize the technique, he had to think a lot about how to do that¡­ his first idea came when he realized the weakness of his version. It was inefficient. So, he thought of training his body to make it possible to use all of the energy properly.


    His second idea came in thest few hours when he fought the old man martial artist, he had full control over his body, and he obtained that with constant training, but more importantly, his bracers could store energy, and that was what he thought that he should do: umting the energy to use Inner Force beforehand instead of using what he had and making his body tired faster.


    He had an idea on how to do that, but he wasn''t so sure if it could work¡­ and it would be rather dangerous to try to do that in the middle of a fight¡­. In any case, Aion tried. Instead of letting the energy burn inside him, Aion made it all emerge from all over his body. It was hard to control his health like that. It was essentially damaging himself from the inside out¡­ Still, Aion emitted a red aura that represented his health, then a blue representing his mana, and then a green representing his stamina.


    Aion felt the power inside him growing, but then he realized that he messed up¡­ he was using the energy instead of storing it¡­ he started with the final step of the technique that he had envisioned. Still, it was toote for that. At full power, Aion could use Inner Release for five minutes, but since he was tired, wounded, and low on mana, he could only keep it for one minute, and now that he improved the consumption speed to increase performance, he only had twenty seconds¡­


    The ice dragon frowned when the attacks from the sides suddenly stopped, and the creature felt that Caelis had disappeared. Something was off¡­ and the creature confirmed that when it felt a powerful st on its chin that made itself be pushed backward. The brain of the dragon shook as the monster felt the scales on his face cracking, but then the creature recovered and saw Aion right in front of itself with a hammer and ready to strike again.


    The ice dragon used its cold aura to stop him, but it didn''t change anything, Aion attacked again, and this time, the side of the monster''s face, and the beast fell, its neck almost cracking¡­ that sudden increase of power didn''t make any sense for a human. Still, Aion approached again andnded on the top of the monster''s head¡­


    That was a terrible ce to get hit, and the monster knew that¡­ Before Aion could swing its weapon, the scales of the beast began to swine, and then the temperature around the beast decreased even more. Aion swung his hammer anyway, even while his legs were being covered by ice.


    The impact shattered all the ice around, even on Aion''s legs, and while the monster flinched, it wasn''t enough to kill it. In fact, Aion barely heard the sound of bones cracking¡­ the ice nullified all the damage¡­


    "This thing has a secret buff too¡­ as expected of a dragon," Aion thought and then jumped away when he saw some ice arrows appearing around him.


    With that buff, Aion increased all of his parameters by three times, but his Resistance in the warrior ss wasn''t high to begin with, so he felt his whole body getting numb due to the cold. He will have to finish things in thest attack, or he will be in a tight spot.


    The dragon turned around and then fired more ice arrows. Even in the air, Aion blocked them by swinging his hammer, but they were also pushing him away from the ice dragon. While clenching his teeth, Aion flew toward the enemy and used all of his remaining energy on a single strike¡­ However, Aion saw the creature opening its mouth, and then the temperature decreased even more.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Shit¡­" Aion thought.


    In the end, Aion thought that he truly deserved to die¡­ Only a moron would forget about a dragon''s breath while fighting one. The only regret that he had was that he didn''t let his mother in a safe ce before dying¡­ All that travel had been for naught¡­


    Aion felt like the time had stopped while he waited for the monster to attack. Unfortunately, he couldn''t move faster and make use of that slow flow of time¡­ Fortunately for Aion, the creature never attacked¡­ A powerful lightning bolting from the ground hit the beast and passed through it. The monster was paralyzed¡­ Considering its body, electric attacks were at least five times more effective¡­ that was good to know..


    Aion ignored that and charged at the enemy and used all of the strength of the monster to attack the head of the creature with his hammer. The impact on the head of the monster passed through the whole body, creating a shockwave that made all of the bones tremble and crack. Naturally, the brain suffered too much damage, and the beast began to fall¡­ the battle was over, finally. Even though it didn''tst long, Aion felt that the intensity messed with his notion of time.


    You obtained 240.000 experience points.


    The ss Warrior has leveled up.


    The ss Warrior has leveled up.


    The ss Warrior has leveled up.


    ¡­


    Aion sighed in relief after the notifications¡­ to the point that he rxed his whole body and began to fall as well. Unfortunately, he didn''t have any mana left, so that fall surely will hurt¡­ still, that was just a minor problem considering the thing that he had just defeated. It wouldn''t be a problem, barely a inconveninece.

 Chapter 156 More Enemies?

    Aion couldn''t dispose of the ice dragon''s body so soon, he had to check who helped him, but in the direction the attack came from, he only saw his mother sitting on the bed that had fallen on the ground¡­ he facepalmed. When he changed sses, the death knight protecting her disappeared, and she fell. Fortunately, the bed was that sturdy, but the impact woke her up.


    "Aion, what happened? Where are we?" Artemisia asked. "I saw a dragon, and then I thought that I was still dreaming, and then I saw you and decided to help."


    Putting the elemental weakness aside, that lightning bolt packed quite the punch¡­ to think that Artemisia could use that much mana and so fast¡­ Maybe Aion inherited some of her talents, and the build wasn''t the main reason that he could use magic so well. In any case, he was d that his mother was feeling well enough to bombard him with numerous questions. There wasn''t much to worry...


    "This will take a while to exin¡­" Aion said.


    "I was captured¡­ and I didn''t even notice¡­ hah¡­ I have fallen so much¡­ how much timehasd passed since I was captured?" Artemisia asked.


    "Two weeks or so," Aion replied.


    "Two weeks?! I spent two weeks sleeping without bathing or anything?" Artemisia asked.


    "That is what you are worried about?" Aion asked. "They probably had some women in their group that looked after yo. In any case, you don''t look dirty."


    Aion didn''t know if those assholes wanted to sacrifice her to summon the goddess or if they wanted Artemisia''s body to bring the goddess back to the world¡­ while they apparently poisoned her, the cut on Aion''s throat was small. While Artemisia looked depressed, Aion realized that they had to move on, it was getting dark and had e killed an important guy in the area, so it was hard to tell when they were going to be chased again.


    "Wait here for a minute, and I will check that the guys inside the temple are all dead," Aion said.


    The dragon''s body was on the other side of the mountain, so Aion didn''t have to worry about being seen, and Artemisia was too weak to walk. Still, he had no idea what he should use the dragon for. He couldn''t make it a zombie yet, and he was quite sure he couldn''t turn it into a death knight. That skill only worked on humans or being simr to humans¡­ it probably would work on a dragonnewt and simr creatures.


    "Shit¡­ I can''t turn into a death knight or skeleton either," Aion thought. "I guess I will get the materials."


    Aion touched the dragon with his weapon and started to process it. Much to his surprise, the dragon took the one thousand slots of processing¡­ the creature was that big. After that, he headed to the interior of the temple and found that everything was still frozen. Just touching the ice was enough to cause frostbites, so Aion had to fly¡­ eventually, he reached that room and found some red blocks of ice¡­ but they were only on the size of feet, and their numbers were that small.


    "Retards¡­ they summoned a dragon only to be its snack¡­" Aion said. "In any case, what the hell is this statue?"


    Warrior Lv 89


    Health: 990/990


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 314/314


    Strength: 135 + 75


    Dexterity: 56


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 135 + 150


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 101<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Status: 15


    Hammer Refinement Lv 50


    Bonuses: Strength + 75, Endurance + 75


    Skills: Vertical Swing Lv 22, Stunning Blow Lv 22, Furious Hammer Lv 22, Toss Hammer Lv 01, Fury Lv 42 (Power Lv 85, Efficiency Lv 80, Cost Lv 80)


    Passive: Iron Skin Lv 26, Warrior''s Aura Lv 26, Fire Resistance Lv 10, Cold Resistance Lv 10, Shock Resistance Lv 10


    Improvement Points: 09


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 715.100


    Inventory: Fire Rune, Ice Rune, Rune of Endurance, Rune of Sharpness, Earth Rune, Sealed Statue of Time.


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Sealed Statue of Time: An old relic created in an unknown era made with the sole purpose of sealing time.


    "Sealing time?" Aion frowned. "How a single relic can actually seal time?"


    That didn''t make much sense¡­ Aion wondered if his mother could exin that to him. Still, he decided to do so once they returned home. After leaving the temple, Aion changed his ss. They would have to fly for a while and only at night to avoid problems. Hopefully, they won''t get close to individuals like the old man and his weird eyes.


    When Aion left the temple and then headed to his mother, he noticed that the air arounhim d was weird. He couldn''t tell how, but something had changed. When he hurried to check on his mother, he saw that she was in the same spot, but a weird group of people wearing dark armor was there.


    One of them was having his hands at him, but that only made Aion frown. When he approached his mother, Aion confirmed that he was as confused as him. Still, when Aion focused his eyes on the group, he saw someone familiar¡­


    "That guy is¡­" Aion said.


    "Do you know someone there?" Artemisia asked. "Ah, that silver hair¡­"


    "That is the prisoner that I helped escape," Aion said. "I forgot his name, but I guess those guys are his friends."


    For such a suspicious group to show up now¡­ It was only natural that Aion would raise his guard. Regardless, he had to check things since they were blocking the entrance. Perhaps they could escape using any part of the barrier, but that could be testedter.


    "You are¡­ The weakling prisoner that had the weird power, why are you here?" Aion asked.


    "The name is Sauros Herandins¡­ While I was a prisoner and I was weakened, that doesn''t make me a weakling," Sauros said. "Anyway, we came to help, but it seems you have everything under control. My apologies for arriving sote."

 Chapter 157 Time Travel

    "Yes, you can repay your debt with some gold coins and go on your way," Aion said.


    "Since you are a member of that family, it isn''t expected for you to be this rude," Aion heard a woman''s voiceing from one of the armored guys, and then she took her helmet, showing the face of a pretty woman in her twenties. "There are a lot of things that you need to know before you return to your home."


    Just like Sauros, the woman had long, straight silver and green eyes. She was probably one of the most pretty women that Aion had seen in that world. Aion could also see that she had quite a well-trained body,rge hips and chests since she had an aura of a powerful warrior.


    "And you are?" Aion asked.


    "My little sister, her name is Seris Heradins," Sauros replied. "She is a bit sharp-tongued, but she isn''t a bad person. Regardless, while it might not be the best of times and you have reasons to keep your guard up, there are several things that you need to know and that we need to ask."


    "I am listening," Aion said.


    "First of all, at this point in time, you probably know that you are a descendant of the goddess," Sauros said. "That granted you an uncanny ability to control mana. Another thing that you need to know is that this kind of ce was built to protect some relics that once belonged to the goddess. You faced a dragon earlier. Did you get the relic that summoned that?"


    "Yes¡­ what about it?" Aion asked.


    "That relic is something created by the god and goddess a long time ago because the enemies they faced could use time magic and travel between different periods of time to obtain power or other things that might have helped them," Sauros exined. "I don''t know how, but the relic was damaged, and thanks to that, a dragon from another period of time."


    That seemed hard to believe but cleared the doubts that Aion had, so the chances of being true were high. Still, it made Aion wonder how the god and goddess managed to defeat enemies that could do that. It was also weird that they conveniently created relics that could do exactly what they needed.


    "You are well informed," Aion said.


    "Just like your family had the key to ess ces like this, we also are tasked with the job to prevent that the seals are broken and to prevent that knowledge from spreading," Sauros said.


    "Because you are descendants of the followers of the god that made this?" Aion asked.


    "... For the time being, you don''t need to bear the burden of that knowledge," Sauros said.


    "I would rather bear than continue living without knowing the risks that my mother might endure in the future," Aion said. "Speaking of which, it is true that by sacrificing my mother, the goddess will return?"<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "We have heard a few things about her, and based on what we know, she isn''t the type of person who would ept that kind of thing," Sauros said. "Again, you will learn more about this in the future if you wish for it, but for the time being, we can''t reveal more. Regardless, we heard that you made some enemies, so you might want to take a lift with us. We can take you back to the capital of the Zaera kingdom in three weeks."


    They probably were going to use boats. While that wasn''t a bad idea, Aion couldn''t trust those guys yet. Aion himself had too many secrets, so he couldn''tin about others, but he couldn''t trust those that had too many of them.


    "I will pass on that," Sauros said.


    "You are getting carried away just because you defeated a dragon," Seris said. "That thing wasn''t supposed to live in this kind of environment, so its strength was decreased."


    "I still will pass," Aion said.


    "That is fine. After you have aplished here, I know that you won''t do anything to risk your mother''s life," Sauros said. "Anyway, we will see each other again in the future, and this time, I will bring your payment for helping me that time."


    Aion wasn''t expecting much, but he decided to keep quiet about it. Sauros, his sister, and the other dark armored soldiers began to march toward the North, and soon, they disappeared. The ocean was supposed to be two hundred kilometers away, so Aion wondered how they reached this far with their suspicious appearance.


    "That girl was quite the beauty, don''t you think?" Artemisia asked.


    "Mom¡­ you shouldn''t be moving now," Aion said after a long sigh.


    "What were you talking about? I heard about something like payment about helping him. Was he offering his sister to you?"


    "What would a brother offer their sister like a piece of clothing?" Aion asked. "Also, why do you only hear the convenient parts? Anyway, we should camp here since the sun is setting, and this is the safest ce that we will find for the next two weeks."


    Aion still had a lot of meat in his inventory, so food wasn''t a problem. The real problem starts on the next day¡­ considering her power, it won''t be weird if Artemisia managers to fly as well. That way, they could cross the whole distance while taking turns.


    "Still, to think that time magic is a thing here¡­ to move between eras¡­ I can''t even begin to imagine how that works," Aion thought. "That truly seems like the power of a god."


    In any case, just as expected, Sauros and his people were the ones who could give him many answers. Due to the war forty years ago, Artemisia didn''t have the chance to learn much from her parents. Regardless, Aion soon forgot about that since he considered something else¡­ should they even return to that kingdom? That might be the chance that Aion had been looking for to free his mother of all prejudice¡­

 Chapter 158 The Way Back

    "Mom, do you really want to return home?" Aion asked the next day as soon as they finished their preparations to move.


    "What kind of silly question is that?" Artemisia asked. "You must have thought of many dumb things while I wasn''t looking."


    "I am serious. You don''t have to return to the cage that is that kingdom. If we disappear now, no one will be able to tell what happened," Aion said. "This is probably for the best as well."


    "What about your siblings? Thest years of hard work? What about those that decided to follow you?" Artemisia asked. "I knew that I couldn''t hide some moments of sadness from you, but do you really think that my life there was that much miserable?"


    "They can live their lives, and that won''t kill them. As for the next question¡­ Well, I was just thinking that it was one option," Aion said. "After this whole incident, I realized that no matter what we do, people will still fear us and make their own excuses to hate us as well, and might as well give them the reason to do both."


    "You have spent too much timetely fighting," Artemisia said. "From my point of view, I think it is better to live a life without that kind of worry instead of falling to the level of the people who have their hearts and minds filled with hatred and jealousy. I would rather live a life where I know that I am doing my best without being a bother to anyone."


    "If you truly think like that, then I won''t pursue that subject anymore," Aion said.


    "If you truly want to see me free of any worries or sadness, then you just get a girlfriend and show me your kid with her," Artemisia said while smiling.


    "I think you are skipping a few important steps¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    "Be confident, Aion," Artemisia said. "That silver-haired girl is the perfect target. You are cool and handsome. If you smile at her a few times, then she is bound to fall in love with you."


    "Target¡­ at least mom does have confidence in my looks," Aion said and then shrugged.


    Aion and Artemisia left the barrier and began to fly. He asked if Artemisia could use the method to fly, and she could, even though Earth magic wasn''t her specialty. Thanks to that, they will be able to cut the traveling time a bit.


    As expected, they had a bit of a hard time leaving the mountains thanks to the monsters, but Aion made it work by using his how. He increased his magic with that ss for quite a bit with coins, so flying wasn''t a problem. Aion expected his mother to ask him where he got the weapon, but when she wasn''t busy controlling the tform, she was busy sleeping, using his back as support.<novelnext></novelnext>


    On that same day, Aion and his mother flew above the armed groups that he had seen the previous day. They still were looking for him¡­ Or for the Sauros group. It was hard to say since Aion had no idea how important the old martial artist was. Regardless, Aion forgot to check, but the dragon had finally been processed. Aion got a shit ton of bones, scales, meat, ws, fangs, and a dragon heart. Aside from the mear, everything else could be used to refine his weapons¡­


    Aion thought that eating the dragon heart might make him a bit stronger, but in the end, he could eat it whenever, but it was better to use it to reinforce the sses that still were n the firstyer.


    On the firstyer. That being said, Aion might make a mistake and end up sacrificing to upgrade a ss. So, he decided to eat it when his mother was sleeping at night. It didn''t look tasty, so Aion decided to cook it. He wasn''t good at that, so he almost burned it¡­ it was also bigger than a full meal, so it took a while to eat it.


    You obtained 10 status points.


    When Aion checked it, he noticed that all of his sses got those points¡­ that was quite delicious, to the point that Aion forgot how the dragon heart tasted. In any case, after four days, they were almost in the area the capital of the former Mileris kingdom was supposed to be, and he wondered what he should do¡­


    "Mom, do you know if there is anything in your former hometown that the people of this country might want?" Aion asked. "Thest war was basically for them to expand in that direction and to build bases around the capital."


    "I think anything noteworthy was either destroyed or taken by both sides," Artemisia said. "Still, it is after this time that I don''t know everything about my family, so they might know something that I don''t."


    "Well, picking a fight with them without knowing what they want won''t do us any good," Aion said. "Still, we can trash their bases from above."


    "Let''s not do anything that might start another war," Artemisia said. "Fighting in a war to protect something is one thing. Fighting in a war for the sake of greed or vengeance wouldn''t change a thing. That satisfaction won''tst for long."


    Aion knew that, and if he could help it, considering the person that he was before, he would rather live peacefully instead of causing death and destruction. Still, he wasn''t the same person as before. He could fight against things that he deemed wrong, and he had the power to destroy most of the injustice in front of him. He didn''t want to do bad things while ignoring his mother''s words. However, Aion couldn''t let assholes go unpunished, either.


    With that in mind, Aion decided to make his death knights attack the camps around the capital of the Mirelis Kingdom¡­ that way, no one would connect the dots¡­

 Chapter 159 Revelations

    You obtained 330 experience points.


    You received 350 coins.


    You obtained 220 experience points.


    You received 890 coins.


    ¡­


    Aion left the enemy territory behind, but his death knights still were at it, even when he made them attack at midnight, and it was already morning. Aside from the old man martial artist and the earth mage, all of the others had armor that hid their faces. So, the chances of them being found out were close to zero. Moreover, they lived before in a kingdom too far away from that country. Only a mind reader would connect the dots.


    When the pace of the notifications Decreased, Aion changed sses and then and then made the death knights disappear. He was pretty sure that they had destroyed several bases and killed one thousand of enemies. So, they must have paid the price for destroying Artemisia''s homnd¡­ if only a little.


    Around one week after they left the temple, they were back at the Zaera kingdom, and after two more days, they finally reached the capital. Despite the circumstances, they needed to say sorry to some people. Aion''s siblings that got married¡­ Still, when they arrived at Lexus '' home, they only found him in the garden. The weddings happened ten days ago, but even so¡­


    "Oh? You two returned a lot sooner than expected¡­" Lexus said. "I take it that things ended well despite everything."


    "I am sorry for causing so much trouble," Artemisia said.


    "Well, this was beyond anyone''s control or expectations," Lexus said. "I take it you came to apologize to your brothers, but they have already moved. I didn''t give them many details in order not to worry them, but they understood that you had some serious business to attend to, and they knew that you would return soon. You can visit them, but I wouldn''t rmend it."


    Aion didn''t think much about that, and while he didn''t have any experience when it came to the lives of newlyweds, he could guess that it would be troublesome to bother them now.


    "A letter will do," Lexus said. "While you write them, I want to hear what happened."


    In the end, Aion cut the details about the fights that he had, but he couldn''t hide anything from when his mother woke up, and as one would expect, Lexus found the mention of a dragon hard to swallow.


    "An ice dragon? In the mountains?" Lexus asked.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It is a long story¡­" Aion said.


    Aion couldn''t hide the other things since his mother was there, and that was a good opportunity for him to ask a few things. He mentioned Sauros'' group and then told him how he met him for the first time, and then the expression of his father darkened.


    "You invaded other cities and towns at night and freed ves? Just to annoy the lords of those areas?" Lexus asked.


    "I figured they had too much time on their hands since they bothered me with the stuff about the annexednds," Aion said. "That didn''t be a problem since they weren''t following thews of very. Regardless, that isn''t the point here. The point is that someone attacked, drugged, and kept in jail like a dog, someone that knows a lot and one of the leaders of a family that has quite the story."


    "True, they be nomads, and they don''t have arge army like before, but their powers still are quite troublesome¡­" Lexus said. "I can only think that someone from his kingdom wanted to have their power under our control. Unfortunately, investigating any of that is impossible since the ves were freed¡­ not like we would have learned about this if you hadn''t told me."


    "Right, but this isn''t the problem¡­" Aion said.


    "Yes¡­ now they have a reason to have a problem with us, a good one," Lexus said. "Based on what you said, it doesn''t look like he is chasing that. Based on their story and what kind of people they are, the idea that they are guarding some ces because of the gods doesn''t seem crazy."


    Lexus wasn''t much surprised that a dragon came from another point in time and invaded their era. Aion was pretty sure that it came from the past¡­ some people in the future might have reasons to change the past, but Aion doubted that such a thing would happen as long as he kept that statue in his inventory. That is if that is the only key to travel between space in time. It was pretty clear that it wasn''t since those morons tried to destroy the key.


    "There are many other things that we need to investigate, and I will see what I can find on my end," Lexus said. "For the time being, you should return to your territory and recover from this ordeal."


    "Speaking of which, who is managing thends in my ce?" Aion asked.


    "No one. I just went there once and as fast as possible to tell everyone that they should keep working as usual," Lexus replied. "I made sure to contact some people that I trust there to keep an eye on things behind the scenes, and so far, they only reported that things are going well."


    Aion didn''t know if his father wasid back or had that much trust in the people of his territory. Nevertheless, if he said that, Aion wanted to think that it was true, but since he didn''t have much faith in the people that have been living there for generations, it wasn''t hard not to imagine pandemonium waiting for him.


    "After this incident, my guess is that other survivors of the Mirelis kingdom won''t try to pull off that kind of crazy stunt anymore, so you two can rest assured," Lexus said. "Still, you two shouldn''t rx. I want to believe that your secret is well-hidden, but we can''t say for sure if that is indeed the case."


    Aion also wanted to believe that, but he won''t let those unpleasatant surprises get the better of him again.

 Chapter 160 Force Release

    After returning home, Aion confirmed that things were the same as usual. He felt conflicted knowing that everyone did their own things even without his presence. They even paid their taxes. It was a pity since Aion wanted to use any excuse to strengthen his iron rule. He realized that his mother was right when she said that he had been a bit too shrewdtely¡­


    Regardless, Aion took a week of to rest properly and then began to work on the reports that had piled up. Artemisia helped him as well, even though he told her to rest for a while longer. Things soon began to return to normal on their lives, normal as they could be considering the circumstances of their lives.


    "It seems that Rarth and the others are doing a good job as captains and sailors," Artemisia said. "The moneying from the maritime revenue increased by two and half times in thest month."


    "Yeah," Aion said while watching the town from the window of his office.


    While he was working, Aion couldn''t focus as much as before because of the things he had learned. Time travel, dragons, the mission inherited by the followers of the god and goddess of that world. Whenever he thought about that, Aion would always end up thinking about Seris¡­ She was truly gorgeous, even though their first conversation hadn''t gone that well due to his suspicions.


    "Hehe, now this is an expression I wanted to see," Artemisia said while poking Aion''s cheeks. "You are lovesick."


    Aion checked in a mirror before, and his deep in thought expression was quite dignified. There was no way that he would look like someone who was having romantic thoughts¡­ He couldn''t deny that he was thinking about Seris, though.


    "I don''t think that any battle-hardened soldier can fall in love that easily," Aion said. "We are trained to endure all kinds of things without blinking, after all."


    "Although you always try to be your own person, it is amazing how cool-headed like your father you can be," Artemisia said. "In any case, she is probably ten years older than you, but you can''t let such a catch go, Aion. The next time you see her, you have to be more assertive."


    Artemisia began to teach Aion all kinds of things that a woman liked in men, while that was her own preference. Aion couldn''t deny some of the tips¡­ she could sell a book and call it: one hundred and one ways on how to catch a babe. Putting 1his mother''s enthusiasm aside, Aion was having a hard time not thinking about Seris when he recalled the past incident or time travel. He thought that it was due to the silver hair, but then he recalled that he didn''t that much about her brother before.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Well, I guess my hormones are finally catching up to me," Aion thought.


    In any case, after a few months, Aion realized that the growth of his territory had slowed down considerably. It wasn''t like they were on the red. In fact, Aion was obtaining three hundred gold coins every month, and his wallet was getting stacked. Still, stagnation bothered Aion. Even though that was a good chance for Aion to focus on other things, he decided to work harder to improve his business.


    While those don''t make him that much money anymore ifpared to the resources Aion obtained managing his own, he decided to buy all kinds of establishments all over the kingdom. Inns, cksmith shops, taverns, libraries¡­ he used a lot of money to increase the scope of his activities. Libraries were particrly expensive since it was hard to write and copy a book, but that was a good investment in exchange for knowledge. Aion needed to learn more about the past, and he couldn''t wait for the information to fall on hisp.


    During that time, Aion also worked onpleting the technique that he used against the ice dragon. While Seris said that the monster was weakened due to the environment, Aion still put up a good fight once he got close enough. At first, Aion''s idea was to make a core while storing those three types of energy and then use it when he needed it. However, while using them at the same time was easy, storing them in the same ce wasn''t. Moreover, he failed at even creating cores separately.


    It took him a few months, but Aion eventually solved the problem. The trick behind it was rtively simple¡­ Aion just had to keep the energy in a state of hibernation after he stored it in the finalyer of his body. Aion had to train for a while to make that possible. He needed absolute control over his body and feelings to make that possible. Otherwise, the technique would be unleashed. Moreover, Aion couldn''t store that much energy. Otherwise, the control bes even harder¡­


    "This is just a temporary solution, and it will work well as training to refine my control over those sources of energy¡­" Aion thought. "Anyway, I guess I will name this technique: Force Release. I have to mention the original level of this technique, after all."


    Putting that aside, over the next few months, Aion received some letters of his father mentioning his research on the subject of the past. The royal family had an archive that had all sorts of forbidden topics and banned books. Still, they were smart enough to store everything instead of burning what they deemed suspicious.


    Zaera kingdom wasn''t the oldest nation in the world. It was around fifteen centuries old. Lexus didn''t find any mention about the time the god and goddess did something like sealing the power to travel between time and space, so it was probably something that happened way before. However, he found the mention that the Mirelis kingdom had several temples across the world, the locations have been lost, but they were all impossible to ess due to some barriers¡­


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 161 Parties

    "That confirms it¡­ there  are other temples like that one, and they are possibly just a massive vault to keep those relics safe¡­" Aion thought. "This is just..."


    If the god and the goddess truly managed to seal a certain type of technique, then it would make sense that they would need several levels of a seal. After thinking for a while, Aion came up with some ways to seal certain abilities. The first would be to cast a spell all over the world that would make people not think or forget about a certain topic, like the most simple way to use time magic.


    ? The second method he came up with was also using a technique or spell to prevent the use of that ability. Aion believed that the statues had that purpose. They didn''t need to be put in several parts of the world but together, and as long as they exist, they have that kind of power.


    "I train my skills and spells, some of them I can use even though they are in other sses, but I am still nowhere that level¡­ as expected of the knowledge and the power of the gods of this world¡­" Aion thought.


    While Aion was doing his research, he was also visited by his brothers and sisters a bunch of times. Now that things calmed down in the East, they mentioned how the enemies there retreated after some attack by powerful beasts. They hinted at Aion in order to make him spill the beans, but he kept quiet about it.


    Regardless, all of them were graduated mages, and they had the skills tomand battalions. Thanks to that, they were traveling around and helping strengthen the borders. Aion was kind of surprised that the kingdom took such a direction. The enemies on both sides were weakened, so it was an excellent chance to get them back from the wars they started and perhaps even obtain more territories. However, Aion heard now and then how the king''s health was getting worse. There was no way he could start a war now¡­


    Another weird thing changed in Aion''s life¡­ he began to receive some invitations to parties all over the kingdom. Everyone knew that he was fourteen, and he was around the age where most families would decide the partners of their kids. Although in that world people between fifteen and twenty getting married was a normal urrence, they minded the age difference between the parts involved¡­


    "I guess me and Seris wasn''t meant to be then, since she is supposed to be ten years older¡­ that doesn''t stop mom from bringing that topic up whenever possible, though," Aion thought.


    Now and then, Aion had nned to deny all the invitations, but his mother told him to at least go to the ones that were one day away¡­ it would be fine if they were one day away while using a carriage, but she wanted him to go the parties one day away using his flying speed. That was quite unfair¡­ he could cover half of the kingdom with his flying speed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Even if you like older girls, you can at least use these opportunities to know more people and do business with themter," Artemisia said when she helped Aion fix his clothes for the first party he decided to go to.


    She had a point, and Aion couldn''t deny it. He could only do so much by himself and by buying ces all over the kingdom. Aion didn''t want to get involved with those that showed prejudice toward his mother, but interacting with them might help deal with that kind of problem. Ignoring everyone would just make things moreplicated for herter.


    After arriving at the location of one of those birthday parties and showing his invitation to the guards, Aion entered the hall of a mansion, and while he already knew that, given that he was invited to the fifteenth birthday of a noble girl, he still frowned when he saw so many teens.


    "I thought this would be different, but now that  I think about it, half of their reason for them to be here is the same as me since most of them will be the heads of their families on the day as well," Aion thought. "The other half is that they want to look snobbish like all nobles."


    While Aion wondered if kids still used ng like savage or mid nowadays, he grabbed a ss of juice and then headed toward the corner of the room. As far as he could remember, he had never met the girl who had invited him. So, her parents were probably the ones who invited him. Despite that, he had to give her a gift. It was weird to experience that only now when he had eight older siblings¡­ That was only possible because they were away from home studying or working when they got that older, and the family was serious about teaching them.


    Eventually, the girl showed up, and as expected, Aion didn''t recall seeing her. She was just a dark-haired and a bit plump girl that one could find anywhere. The guests approached to give her the gifts, and then she epted them with a smile. When Aion approached to do the same, the atmosphere froze alongside her smile. He wished that people didn''t treat him like a ticking time bomb¡­


    In any case, Aion decided to move before the girl had a heart attack. In the end, Aion didn''t talk with anyone at that party, and he felt like he had wasted his time.


    "I guess I really have the mental age of a middle-aged man¡­ I can''t find any motivation in going to parties like this," Aion thought and then sighed. "It would have been easier if I didn''t think that I am older. Finding a wife would be easier, but then people would be able to debate if I am a criminal or not¡­"


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 162 Bad News

    During those months of peace, Aion trained a lot in the dungeon. Although the difference in power between him and the monster was clear, he still managed to make another ss reach the max level and the max refinement level.


    Congrattions! The Archer ss has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Sniper, Poisonous Archer, Hunter.


    Sniper Lv 01


    Health: 08/08


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 100


    Longbow Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Sniping Lv 01


    Passive: Eagle Eyes Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 01


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.233.950


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset<novelnext></novelnext>


    Sniping: by consuming two points of mana per second, this skill will enhance your eyesight when aiming at the enemy.


    Eagle Eyes: passively increases your perfect range when using bows by ten meters per second.


    Aion trained hard and decided to obtain the sniper ss. He believed that it would grant him a lot of firepower without costing him too much stamina. Besides, while Aion didn''t have to hide his magic power anymore, it would be better not to reveal himself whenever possible. At least not at the beginning of the fights.


    Speaking of fights, people were finally starting to talk with him while he was invited to those parties. The other day, he ended up selling arge number of gems to the family of a guy that he talked tost month. Things were finally improving again¡­


    After returningte on the previous night because of a party like those, Aion had a hard time getting up early. Still, he fought and won the battle against his sloth and then headed to the garden to train. At first, nothing happened, but then he noticed the sound of his guards arguing with someone. Aion sighed¡­ it wasn''t even time for breakfast, and someone was already bothering him. That was a first.


    "What is going on here?" Aion approached and then asked.


    "My lord, this man was demanding an audience with you. We told them that it was too early, but¡­" one of the guards replied.


    Aion found an arrogant-looking ck-haired guy looking at him with a confident smile. He certainly looked a bit strong, and he also had two swords that emitted some magic from them. Still, the thing that caught most of Aion''s attention was the fact that the guy had the most punchable face he had seen¡­ with that in mind, Aion wondered how he looked so confident. He seemed to be an adventurer in his early twenties, so Aion could guess what he wanted.


    "Aion Kresnik, I challenge you to a duel," The dual sword wielder said.


    After that, the guy proceeded to tell his name and tell his life as well. Aion ignored that, but it seemed that he made some fame in the previous war and got carried away. For the past year, he moved around, challenging people in the guilds he found, and remained undefeated. Aion wondered why the guild masters didn''t kick the ass of this clown.


    "... I am a busy person, so I can''t ept the duel unless there is something for me," Aion said and then made a spear in his hands. "Let''s bet our weapons on this if you want to fight."


    "That is what I wanted to hear," the dual wielder said.


    Aion decided not to kill the guy. Dirtying his hands with blood so early in the morning would make Aion feel bad during breakfast. Besides, he could use that chance to do business and lure fools who didn''t think that his fame preceded him.


    Aion invited the moron to the garden and then readied himself. All of a sudden, that guy just charged and then Swung his right sword at Aion''s neck. He was a bit fast, but not enough. Aion easily blocked the strike with the body of his spear, but then the guy used the other sword and thrust at Aion''s face, pushing the other weapon away and moving his weapon to block the other.


    The fighting style of that guy was a bit rough, probably self-taught and developed through duels and battles. Aion couldn''t imagine it working on monsters since they didn''t have much weight behind them. Whenever they touched Aion''s weapon, they would glow red and emit heat. Most ordinary weapons would melt, but Aion''s wasn''t ordinary.


    After a few exchanges, the guy began to frown. Aion wasn''t struggling, and his weapon didn''t get any damage. When he got impatient, Aion used Quick Spear and thennded two hits on that guy''s stomach and then one on his chin¡­ with the butt of the spear¡­ he passed out instantly.


    "Yet another great find," Aion smirked while he was taking the swords from the hands of the unconscious moron.


    "What are you doing to our visitor?" Artemisia asked.


    Artemisia looked pissed, and that was a first. She usually wakes up feeling full of life. Still, that was only to be expected after seeing her son apparently stealing from an unconscious man.


    *It was the agreement of the duel, mom," Aion said. "If I let everyone challenge me for free, this will never end. Besides, I went easy on him."


    "If you say so¡­" Artemisia said. "At least let him rest in the shade since this morning is already too hot."


    "Yes, ma''am," Aion said.


    In the end, Aion lets the guy rest in the shade on the outside of the wall of his mansion. Soon, Aion ended up forgetting about that since he received a letter from his father¡­ the king had passed away. One didn''t have to be a genius that things were about to change a lot in the kingdom... Aion also was worried about that. While he never talked with the king, he more or less had an agreement with him...

 Chapter 163 Call

    Once the news began to spread, the whole kingdom got depressed. Aion''s opinion of the old man was biased, so it was only natural that he wouldn''t feel much when he heard of that, but he never imagined that he was that popr. While he read some books, he didn''t recall reading a single one that mentioned the aplishments of that guy. It would be weird if such book already existed...


    "When kings die, the hearts of the poption be uneasy," Artemisia said. "It is a hard period of transition since the future bes uncertain. The king was one of the men responsible for the downfall of a supposed evil kingdom, and he ruled for over fifty years. It is only natural that he was that popr."


    "I read the history of this Kingdom, and in thest fifty years, he didn''t do much aside from starting that war," Aion said. "I can''t see how the whole kingdom can miss someone that caused the death of a lot of people. It wasn''t like just the people of Mileris kingdom died¡­"


    "True, but people think that things would have been worse if it weren''t for him and your father," Artemisia said. "My ancestors also caused a lot of deaths over the years, and while I didn''t think much about it, things changed once I began to see people die left and right¡­ Regardless, are you going to the capital? After the funeral, there is the coronation."


    "I am not interested in any," Aion said. "I can''t tell what that guy is thinking, and I want to avoid getting entangled in the lives of nobles. For the time being, I want to see how he will proceed in the next few years."


    That will be a good way to measure what kind of person Vangel Zaera was. Besides, Aion was tired of moving around without a reason. Those parties, most of the time, were useless, and there was another thing that Aion had been thinking about. He wanted to expand his maritime routes. He got five more shipsst year, but the profits didn''t increase. Sending the ships to international waters without guards would be dangerous, and Aion also was considering sending his death knights as escorts. However, aside from Lerg, it would be hard for the others to be of some use¡­


    "Mom, did you think about that?" Aion asked.


    "For those trips to work, you will need someone trustworthy doing the paperwork, I could do that, but you want me to go as well," Artemisia said.


    "At least on the first few times, you never have been on a boat, right?" Aion asked.


    "Yes, but why do I have a feeling that you only want to go to lure pirates and take their stolen goods?" Artemisia said.


    "That is an excellent idea, one more reason for me to go," Aion said.


    The only problem with that was the fact that they didn''t know anyone trustworthy and capable of paperwork that already had their own problems to deal with. That was the downside of having a small circle of friends that someone could trust¡­ while things worked well during the kidnapping, they had to deal with a lot of work once they returned.


    "Anyway, until we deal with the problem of the paperwork, we can''t leave. Heading west or east will take weeks to visit all the ports that we want to sell our goods," Artemisia said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Although they waged war against the Rosberg kingdom and the bandits'' country, the Zaera kingdom still sold them their goods, but sending them using normal routes was tough, and a lot of people along the way only resold Aion''s products, so he only got a small cut of the profit, to sell more and get more, he had to do the selling.


    Aion could have be business partners with some nobles during those parties. A lot of them used maritime routes. However, the ones he met had connections or were part of the guys that caused him a lot of trouble, like the lord barrel and the guys of that port town that fought the pirates¡­ he was in a bad spot.


    Asking Lexus'' for help was an option since he was taking a part of the profits, but Aion''s pride didn''t let him ask his father for help. He was the lord of the territory, even if only in name, and thend belonged to the head of the family. He was only making that much money because his father lent him that territory, and asking for more would be too much.


    While Aion was thinking about that, one month passed without him finding an answer to those questions. Around that time, he received a letter from his father¡­ telling him and his mother to head to the capital and that he will send someone to look after the territory.


    "Mom¡­" Aion said while frowning.


    "I didn''t ask for help. I am as surprised as you!" Artemisia said.


    "Could it be that the king''s spies noticed what we were thinking?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    While they were talking about what to do, Aion used magic to make sure that no one was listening to them, so that couldn''t be the case¡­


    "Maybe he is angry because we didn''t head to the capital one month ago, but I can''t imagine father getting angry over that," Aion said.


    "Maybe the king is nning to chew you out for that," Artemisia shrugged. "Or, maybe he has some orders for you."


    Aion wouldn''t care. Either way, he had better things to do. Still, considering that his father said that he would sent someone to look after the territory, then it means that he was expecting them to stay there for a while. It was weird¡­ to the point that Aion thought that they might be walking into a trap. He had to keep his guard up all the time and be ready to fight if anyone made any suspicious moves¡­

 Chapter 164 Secret Meeting

    "You are too tense, Aion," Artemisia said while they were flying to the capital. "Even I can tell that you are ready to fight, but maybe this is just some sort of mistake."


    "Well, that is not my fault," Aion said. "I wasn''t the one who wrote a letter without giving me the reason to return to the capital. Besides,tely, the atmosphere in the kingdom has been rather weird."


    Aion wanted to believe that his father wouldn''t fall for cheap tricks and that he wasn''t behind anything suspicious. Still, he couldn''t help but worry. All of Aion''s instincts were telling him that there was something weird regarding the whole situation¡­


    On the next day, they arrived in the capital at noon, but Aion watched the whole ce for a while from above. People seemed to be living their lives as usual. Putting his modesty aside, if someone wanted to find him, a few guys wouldn''t be enough. Not even a few battalions would if he decided to go all out with magic. Still, Aion was forced to head down since his worries and suspicions were starting to affect his mother.


    When theynded in the garden of his former home, Aion immediately checked the surroundings with magic, the whole ce was searched, but he didn''t find anything out of ce. His father noticed their arrival and headed to the garden. It seemed that he was thinking too muchtely. He sighed.


    "You two arrived quite quickly, and¡­ you are pretty guarded," Lexus said while frowning. "You grew a lot in thest few months, Aion. You are as tall as me now. I guess doing so much paperwork, you still didn''t neglect your training."


    Aion was already 1.8 meters tall, just like his father, but that was thest thing he was interested in at the moment. That being said, his father wasn''t a man of many expressions, so one could tell when he was genuinely surprised.


    "Father¡­ what was this summoning about?" Aion asked.


    "Those guys showed up, and they were asking for you. They won''t say anything until you show up," Lexus said.


    "Those guys?" Aion frowned.


    "You know, those guys you mentioned," Lexus said. "The members of the Herandins family."


    "They are here, and they called for me? Why?" Aion frowned.


    "That is what everyone is wondering," Lexus said. "His Majesty invited them to stay on the castle as guests, and they have been there for thest week."


    Aion thought that they would show up at some point, but he didn''t imagine that they would call him like that. Still, suddenly appearing on his port after the king''s death would make sense. To avoid problems, they would try to make things as clear as possible¡­ which was suspicious considering that they were almost like a ghost kingdom in thest few hundreds of years.


    "They have some nerve to make me travel this far without telling me why¡­" Aion said.


    "Sauros Heradins said that he has your payment for helping him¡­ he also never mentioned the incident where he was captured," Lexus said. "I can''t tell if he forgot about that or if he is nning to make those involved pay for that somehow. Still, they passed a good feeling when they were talking about you, and they were always asking things regarding your youth."


    "That is weird¡­" Aion frowned.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Did the girl ask most of the questions?" Artemisia asked.


    "No, just a few," Lexus said.


    "I told you, Aion," Artemisia said. "She is already head over heels for you."


    "Mom¡­" Aion facepalmed and then sighed.


    Some people say that even doting parents have limits, and Aion would say to them that his mother didn''t know such limits. Regardless, it was about time to learn a few more things from them in exchange for that hassle.


    "This should be a short meeting, so why send someone to manage the territory?" Aion asked.


    "They asked for that once they heard that you were the lord of one of the territories on the border," Lexus said.


    Aion didn''t know if their information gathering was good or garbage¡­ they learned about Artemisia''s kidnapping soon and began to move. One would think that perhaps they had spies infiltrated in most nations, but then again, it didn''t make sense considering their silver hair.


    "I am going to rest in that room while you all talk," Artemisia said.


    "They called for you as well, and His Majesty granted you the chance to enter the castle," Lexus said.


    "Even when his father forbade of even living in this house before? I feel like he is going against the teachings of his father a bit too soon¡­" Artemisia said.


    If Vangel epted it way too easily, Aion could imagine that he did that to start a good rtionship with them. They had crazy powers, and they probably had more knowledge than any nation in that world. Their influence couldn''t be denied.


    "To avoid problems, their visit is being kept as a secret, and so will be your visit to the castle," Lexus said. "I will tell them about your arrival, and we will go to the castle."


    All parts involved had something to hide there, so it wasn''t surprising that such a decision was made. Still, Aion felt that those two siblings were involving too many people in the affairs that involved the god and the goddess of that world.


    "What is done is done," Aion thought. "I just have to consider this once things in the future are affected by this somehow. So far, that family has been pretty good at keeping secrets, but I can''t give that much trust to the current generation."


    Aion and Artemisia headed to their rooms and then rested until the time of the meeting. Both of them were curious about what was going to happen, so they didn''t manage to rest all that much. Both of them had a feeling that things would change forever after.

 Chapter 165 Old Tale

    After dinner, Lexus headed to the castle on foot, andter, Aion and Artemisia went flying. Theynded in front of the entrance of the building, and Lexus quickly opened it for them. There were few guards around, so people really wanted to keep that as hidden as possible from the others. Aion felt that things still could be more secretive, though.


    Much to Aion''s surprise, they were guided to the library of the castle. It was a weird ce to have a meeting, and yet, the new king, Sauros, Seris, and a royal guard were there. Only seven people would participate in the meeting, that wasn''t a high number of them, but a secret between them could already be considered information.


    "Thank you foring so soon," Sauros said. "And I am sorry for calling you two without telling much more. We couldn''t risk sending a message using a raven. It was too dangerous."


    "As long as this meeting doesn''t show itself to be a total waste of time, I won''t mind," Aion said.


    "First of all¡­ one gift to make my brother''s debt be paid," Seris said and then passed a silver bracelet to Aion''s mother. "Since you are constantly worried about her safety, we decided to give you that. It is an old relic that can repel physical, magical attacks, and negative effects."


    Aion couldn''t see a gem, and while the bracelet didn''t have much mana in it, it increased a lot after Artemisia was equipped. Her mana was being drained, but not at the same rate as the bracelet was gathering mana. It seemed like a really old but powerful relic.


    "Thank you very much. I will give you something very valuable in the future as well," Artemisia said.


    "No need. This is to repay a debt," Seris said.


    "Oh no, please, I insist," Artemisia said while smiling.


    Aion sighed. He could imagine that his mother was thinking of giving him a present¡­ She really wanted a grandchild as soon as possible.


    "Let''s start with the real topic for why we are here," Vangel said. "I have a feeling that this will take a while, after all."


    "Certainly, Your Majesty," Sauros said. "Before telling the reason for our visit, I would like to exin a few things. The specifics have been lost in time, but our family is direct descendants of the god that saved the world in the past, and we have been doing the same as them for generations. We make sure that no one is able to perform anything rted to time and space magic. While the main path to perform it has been sealed, there are still other ways, and our mission is to stop everyone from using it since it can damage the seal that the god created a long time ago."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Is it true that the god suddenly vanished one day?" Vangel asked.


    "Yes, we don''t know why though," Sauros replied. "Our main theory is that he decided to stop others beyond the sky from using the same type of magic."


    "Beyond the sky¡­" Lexus said while frowning.


    "It may sound ridiculous, but we have proof that people beyond the sky came to this world. We even use to this day some of their technology," Sauros said. "The most advanced magic relics are things created by those visitors¡­"


    Sauros didn''t mention if they came in peace or not¡­ the other thing about them forgetting the specifics as to why their mission was that. That sounded like bullshit¡­ if they forget such a thing, they should have stopped with the mission a long time ago as well. Still, that was a good sign that they weren''tpletely stupid.


    "Back to the topic, aside from us, there was another family that was close to the goddess," Sauros said. "Their descendants eventually founded the Sauros kingdom. Those two families have been using the techniques that they have received from the god and goddess for many years. That is why our people are born with the power to use certain types of magic much better than others, and we have our own style. You can call it a mutation that took over our bodies after generations of constant use of those types of magic. That being said, the Mileris royal family is even more special. After living for many years, the goddess decided to live a normal life again and abandoned her powers. The reasons are unknown, but she became a human again and lived like one, and even had a family. Her kids are the Mileris royal family. While she sealed her powers, her descendants still inherited her potential. Thus they prospered and eventually became thergest kingdom in this world until a few years ago."


    To think that such a story was true¡­ Aion wondered if he existed in that world because of the lineage of his mother. Usually, in that kind of story, a goddess or god would make someone reincarnate or give them powers straight away to save the world. Aion''s lineage on both sides could be considered a cheat, but the world never needed to be saved. It was saved from the greed and insolence of his grandfather even before he was born. He also didn''t meet the god or the goddess, so something was off.


    "Some people believe that the goddess will return if enough blood of her descendants is spilled, but that isn''t true," Sauros said. "She died of old age, and while she had the means to be immortal, she decided not to do so¡­"


    "Why?" Vangel asked.


    Vangel sure was interested in that topic, to the point that Aion couldn''t help but frown. Aion also was a bit surprised. If they had the chance, most people would choose not to die¡­ perhaps they would change their mind a thousand yearster, after seeing all of their family and friends gone, but¡­ Aion understood why she did that.


    "She lost everyone, both of them lost everyone¡­" Sauros said.

 Chapter 166 Decision

    "Our family didn''t inherit all of the stories of the journey of those two, but they worked together, and with the help of their allies, they protected the world from an ancient threat, but the battle had been too difficult," Sauros said. "They lost many friends andpanions¡­ In his grief, the god left the world to prevent other tragedies. As for the goddess, she decided to pass to the next generation the will of their allies¡­ Or so the legends say. It is hard to tell the truth from fiction after so long."


    It was a rather long tale, but Aion could say that some parts made sense based on what he knew. Still, considering how things ended up for the Mirelis kingdom, it seemed that some of them decided to forget the teachings of the goddess and their ancestors¡­ Or perhaps since they knew the truth, they decided not to follow her will and don''t pass the knowledge to the next generations.


    "In any case, before splitting up, those two decided to seal that technique," Sauros said. "They defeated their enemies, but for some reason, it seems that they can return¡­ The reason for that is that they were only defeated at some point in time, and until now, they remain defeated. However, they mighte from the past and change that."


    Time Travel¡­ One of the worst things that can happen is at the hands of super-powered beasts or people. Aion was starting to think that he was reincarnated in this world to deal with that problem. He had no idea why he had been chosen, but it wasn''t something that he could ignore.


    "With his blood, the god sealed the technique and prevented its use, and with her magic, the goddess managed to keep his blood safe. Until now, we thought that things would be fine as they were, but that was a mistake and caused the kidnapping of Artemisia," Sauros said. "With that in mind, we decided to take the statues crafted using the blood of the good in order to prevent the same thing from happening. We assumed that just like us, only the heads of the families knew about the key to the barriers around the world, but it is clear that the knowledge was spread during the war, so we need to make our move."


    "That is quite a lot to swallow at once¡­" Artemisia said while frowning.


    "I see¡­ that is why you two asked for Aion and bought that bracelet for Artemisia," Lexus said. "You want his help, but you knew that he wouldn''t leave his mother alone after that incident."


    "How convenient that you bought a convenient tool to solve two of your problems at the same time," Aion said.


    "We won''t deny, but you can understand what will happen if we leave the relics as they are," Seris said. "You and your mother will be a target, and you know what might happen¡­ If you faced a small fraction of what might happen. The world was much more dangerous before¡­ One of the guys that captured mother opened w fissure to the past and brought an ice dragon. Why do you think that happened when he had no control over the relic?"


    "... Because the fissure appeared in a period where they weremon?" Aion asked.


    "Exactly, you are not half bad for a kid who was raised to have muscles for the brain," Seris said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Artemisia smiled while pinching his side, and then she whispered: you scored a point! Aion felt like sighing. Still, he decided to return to the subject.


    "So, all in all, you guys are saying that the enemies that were defeated in the past, they might show up in the future once they know that they will be defeated," Aion said. "They cane, but they can''t return because of the relics¡­ Right?"


    "Yes, you catch on quick," Sauros said. "The relics cause and have been causing a disturbance on that kind of magic, but if the disturbance once happens in the present, then the enemies cane to this present, but their only way to return would be by destroying the relics."


    "What if those guys head to a future where the people managed to discover other ways to use time travel?" Aion asked. "I guess you guys'' job is to prevent that, but even so¡­ I get it now why you are a nomad group of people."


    "If they are hard to find, then they are hard to be defeated. Thus, their family will always exist and prevent that kind of magic from developing," Lexus said.


    "Yes, but things won''t be like that forever," Sauros said. "We noticed some weird movements all over the world, we can''t confirm that things will be getting harder for us, but we need to be careful. Once again, for that reason, we want Aion''s assistance."


    "... I want to know more about this, and since you all confirmed that a dragon appeared, then I have to believe in the veracity of that," Vangel said. "We also need to prevent that kind of thing from happening, so we need the relics in a single safe ce. I authorize Aion to go with you, but in the end, he needs to decide that by himself as well."


    That was very convenient, and once again, Aion couldn''t tell what Vangel was thinking. Still, what he had realized before didn''t change. He needed to make sure that his mother won''t be targeted and make sure that the relics would be with him. Also, he needed to repay his debt¡­ Artemisia''s life was one hundred times more important than Sauros from his perspective, and the relic that could protect her was that valuable.


    "All right¡­ I am going," Aion said. "What do you want to do, mom? You are strong enough to help, even if the mission might be a bit dangerous."


    "... I am going to pass, I Will join this free time that I didn''t have in a while," Artemisia replied after a short moment of silence.

 Chapter 167 Departure

    Some preparations had to be made, so the group was going to depart in two days. There was no telling when Aion would return. From what Sauros said, they will probably travel around the world on a ship for several months, in the very best case scenario, and he knew that such a thing was hard toe by in his life.


    "Geez, Aion, you sure are slow," Artemisia said while they were walking around the capital and eating some sweets. Actually, only Artemisia was eating. Aion got tired after the second piece of the pie. "The king already has his eyes on her. If you take your sweet time, you will lose your golden chance."


    "Is that so? I didn''t notice it," Aion said. "He looked pretty calm while not showing any emotion during the talk."


    "There is no mistake. My woman senses are tingling," Artemisia said. "That being said, things will be hard for them. Seris didn''t look interested, and her people didn''t tend to get involved with people from other nations. Usually, they only use their partners to procreate once and then disappear with the child¡­"


    That was like the next level of running away with the responsibility instead of running away from it. Then again, judging that kind of culture with his modern world standards wouldn''t make much sense. They did that kind of thing because they had to consider many other things due to their power.


    "Mom, don''t stay in that room all day while I am away," Aion said. "I think it would be fine if you traveled and visited some towns. No one will know that I will be gone for a while, so they won''t try to say anything to you."


    "I won''t stay there all day, but I can''t exactly move around that freely," Artemisia exined. "Some rumors will begin to spread, even if your father and the king work to get rid of them since you will be gone for a few months. No need to confirm them with me alone in other ces. In any case, I will use this chance to look for some answers regarding that problem, so don''t worry."


    Aion had no idea how she was going to find that when nothing simr was mentioned in books. Still, there might be tips here and there. Besides, there is no such thing as wasted hard work.


    In any case, Aion and Artemisia managed to rx on that day, so they felt ready for almost everything that mighte. Later that day, they heard from Lexus that the king stayed the whole day with the Herandins siblings. Aion thought that he wanted to make them his allies, but not to that extent. Perhaps Artemisia was right about her senses¡­


    Since they were going on a secret mission, the group didn''t have much of a big farewell on the next day. Only those that knew about the mission met them onest time when the sun was yet to rise.


    "Maybe you don''t have many reasons to trust me, but I will be sure to protect your mother and not let her feel like she is in prison while you are away," Lexus said and then offered a handshake to Aion.


    "I will be counting on you, father," Aion said and then epted the handshake.


    "Don''t forget to brush your teeth every day, take showers, wear clean clothes, and send messages every day," Artemisia said and then offered Aion a bear hug.


    "It will be hard to find Ravens in the middle of nowhere and convince them toe here, but I will see what I can do," Aion said, still feeling his ribs being crushed despite his armor.


    "We will be waiting for good news once you return, have safe travels," Vangel said.


    "We will do our best not to disappoint you, Your Majesty," Sauros said and then bowed slightly.


    After that, Sauros and Seris nodded while looking at Aion. To save time, they would need to fly from the very beginning. Aion didn''t like the idea of offering rides to strangers, but if it was to save time, then it couldn''t have been helped.


    While riding an earth tform, they flew upward and then north. since Aion made his skeletons fight a lot in the dungeon over thest year, the ss had leveled up and improved a lot, so he could fly for fifty minutes straight, even while considering the weight and the luggage of two others.


    Necromancer Lv 79


    Health:08/08


    Mana: 2104/2104


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 291+ 150<novelnext></novelnext>


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 75


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Necromancer''s Staff Refinement Lv 50


    Bonuses: Magic + 150 , Resistance + 75


    Skills: Skeleton Knight Lv 25, Skeleton Archer Lv 39, Skeleton Wizard Lv 52, Death Knight Lv 39 (Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 50)


    Passive: Summon Lv 42, Store Lv 29, Undead Recovery Lv 37, Bone Spear Lv 20


    Improvement Points: 48


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.355.900


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Bone Spear: uses the body of a fallen target as a catalyst to use this spell up to five times to fire a Bone Spear without cost. You can still fire a bone spear without a catalyst.


    Cost: 20 mana


    Thanks to the ice dragon parts, Aion managed to make one ss reach the necessary requirements to be upgraded, and the necromancer ss also improved a lot. Still, even if it reaches the max level eventually, it looked like it would take a while for the refinement to work.


    "Sorry for relying on you like this," Sauros said.


    "No worries," Aion said while they flew.


    "Our ship is pretty fast, so you don''t have to worry about using your magic that often likes this," Sauros said.


    "I assume it would be dangerous to fly over the ocean without much experience when ites to sailing," Aion said. "One mistake and you will end up lost, after all. In any case, where are we going first?"


    "To the currentrgest kingdom of this era," Sauros replied.

 Chapter 168 Revealing The Truth

    The group traveled on foot and through the sky for a day and a half. Since they all were in a hurry, they traveled in silence, but then they reached the nearest port town, and then Sauros asked Aion to use his magic again.


    "Our ship is hidden and not in the port. It will be faster if we fly there," Sauros said. "Fortunately, the sun has already set, so no one will notice it."


    Aion nodded and then created another tform and flew to where Sauros said. When they approached, he didn''t see anything. However, he noticed that the waves were colliding with something before reaching the shore. Eventually, they crossed a barrier and then they found the ship there and those guys in d dark armor.


    "This is our best ship, the Breeze of the Sea," Sauros said.


    Aside from the power to create a barrier that turns it invisible to those away, the ship looked a lot more developed than the ones Aion had. There weren''t many ropes around, but there were many levers to control all sorts of parts of the ship, from the sails to the armor of the ship. They also had some cannons¡­ Aion''s ships mostly were fifty meters long, but that was three times longer¡­


    "I thought most ships were called like the widow''s cry or sea''s serpent," Aion said.


    "Those are the names of pirate ships¡­ You have your own fleet. You named them like that?" Seris asked.


    "No, it was too much of a hassle," Aion said. "The captains named them, but I never asked what they choose.".


    "Anyway, the ship is big, and we have w cabin for you, but all of the cabins are rtively small," Sauros said.


    "No problem, I wasn''t nning to move a lot inside a ship," Aion said.


    " I will guide you to your cabin. After that, we will talk about what you want to ask," Sauros said. "I am sure you have noticed that I kept some things hidden during that conversation."


    "I thought that you were hiding things, and the king must have noticed as well," Aion said. "Are you sure you want to be on his bad side?"


    "Our allegiance is to our mission, not to any king or pieces ofnd," Sauros said. "I told him enough to make him aware of the danger that has been lurking in this world since ancient times. But I can''t expect much more from him. Our ancestors tried to work together with many monarchs, and in the end, they always ended up regretting it."


    "So, you still recall a lot of your history¡­ including about the god and goddess?" Aion asked.


    "Only the goddess can answer your questions. Those two were the only ones who survived the battle that they participated in," Sauros replied. "The civilians of the past could only guess what happened."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion was interested in hearing more, so he decided to unpack his things, and then once he finished, he went to the captain''s cabin. Around the same time, the ship sailed. It has been a while since Aion got on something that could shake so much, but he got used to it pretty fast. Regardless, he found Sauros and Seris having dinner there. Once they finished it, they began to talk.


    "What do you want to ask?" Sauros asked.


    "You guys only know things after the two achieved what they wanted, right?" Aion asked. "How much time has passed since that time?"


    "Around three thousand years," Sauros replied. "We have registers about the life span of our leaders and for how long they focused on their mission so that estimation is pretty urate."


    "You mentioned regrets about trusting the monarchs of this world. Did they try to use the relics to obtain that power?" Aion asked.


    "As expected, you understand things quickly," Sauros said. "For someone greedy who has a lot, what do you think is the worst thing?"


    "Getting on their hands everything they desire?" Aion frowned.


    "Kind of, once they obtain everything on the reach of their hands, they will try to obtain things that are beyond them," Sauros said. "Our family''s power, your family''s power¡­ many monarchs in the past tried to get those."


    Aion wondered if their numbers were small because of that¡­ then again, he wasn''t sure if they didn''t have some secretnd somewhere. Prying further on the topic would be a bother, so Aion decided to focus on something else.


    "If people decided to obtain those powers in the past, why the relic still are scattered?" Aion asked. "You failed to obtain the cooperation of the family of my mother after a while?"


    "That is half of the reason," Sauros replied. "It is true. We need your blood to open the barriers. However, even after this long, some families still want to obtain those powers. So, even though our ancestors choose those locations, over the years, people decided to bet everything they had to open the barriers. Most of them don''t know the keys necessary for that, and since they don''t want to risk losing the chance to obtain that power, they don''t share information. The ce we are going to now is a civilization that was built around the temple that guards one relic, and the sole wish for that family of rulers is to one day obtain the relic. They even challenge the whole system of how the rulers would be chosen to achieve that as soon as possible."


    "Can that even be done?" Aion asked. "The guy who made the dragon show up only threw the statue on the ground to crack it a little."


    "Everything can be learned in this world," Sauros said. "You saw the power of an ice dragon. Do you think the world would be able to endure the attack of a pack of those?" Sauros asked. "The people of the past managed to do that, they be strong enough to do so once they set their minds on that. Our ancestors were only human beings and now they are called gods. That is the potential that people here have once they have knowledge and power."


    "And yet, the goddess decided to die as a human¡­" Aion said.

 Chapter 169 Pondering

    Although Aion said that, he could understand a bit of what made her do that...


    "Based on what we heard, she wasn''t a person that aimed for power. She only wanted to protect her people and her friends," Sauros said. "She might have obtained the power to be one, but she probably found herself unworthy since she failed to protect her friends. That is just my guess, though."


    "Anyway, you said that our destination is thergest kingdom, and it was built around a temple, so we will have to fight them?" Aion asked.


    "If we are lucky, we might avoid the fights," Sauros said. "You can fly and use your magic in many ways, so we can avoid most problems. However, that ce is always guarded, so it will be difficult."


    Aion had been lucky, but he never counted on luck for anything. In any case, for the time being, he didn''t have any more questions to ask, so he decided to retire to his room. He didn''t have time to train that day since they were moving, so he was nning to pick up the ck.


    When Aion returned to his room, he felt a bit weird since it was so well illuminated by a magic candle¡­ while the window only showed the darkness of the night. Maybe that candle was something that they obtained from those visitors that Sauros had mentioned. Come to think of it. They should ask more about what they know regarding that and about the technology of magic items. It was annoying, but Aion didn''t make much progress on the study of the runes.


    All of a sudden, Aion heard a high-pitched sound outside, and the ship trembled a little. When he went to check there, he only saw the dark armor guys doing their own thing. They had around thirty men, but only five were working outside.


    "That was one of the magic cannons," Seris suddenly showed up and said. "They are used automatically when a monster approaches. "


    "Is that so¡­ for a nomad group, you guys sure developed some interesting technology," Aion said.


    "We saved and looked for many types of things over the years to be able to fulfill our mission," Seris said. "I am proud to say that there is no one else out there who knows more about magic Relics than us."


    "Did you guys write down what you have learned?" Aion asked. "You might forget those things like many others in the past."


    "It is in our base, everything we learned and found," Seris said. "In the end, while the chances are small, we have to consider the possibility that we might be attacked and lose this ship. Therefore, we can''t carry everything with us."<novelnext></novelnext>


    That made sense, someday, Aion expected to see the results of their research, but it would be hard to ask them to bring him to their base. It was a secret, after all. Moreover, Aion couldn''t stay there as a student for long. His territory was developing, but he would need at least three more years to create a good environment for his mother.


    "Aren''t you going to ask to go there someday?" Seris asked.


    "That will depend on how long we are going to work together," Aion replied. "I also need to see what kind of people you guys are, so I might ignore that idea."


    "So, you came without fully trusting us?" Seris asked. "Even though we gave you such a valuable magic item?"


    "You said that it was to repay a debt and as far as I saw until now, you guys are taking way too lightly that your brother was taken as a prisoner and drugged," Aion said. "If that isn''t weird, I don''t know what is."


    "I suppose that would make sense to you," Seris said. "Still, he was only caught because he made a mistake, and he recognized that. Also, our mission is more important than revenge, so we can ignore that. This world might be cruel sometimes and unfair, but we saw many times that bad people always get what they deserve in the end."


    After saying that, Seris returned to her cabin. It seemed that those guys were fine in letting fate do certain things for them, but Aion couldn''t be that easygoing. Still, considering their powers, it made sense that they would trust in fate¡­ speaking of powers, Aion wondered what Seris could do with time magic. Her brother could make objects either grow old extremely fast or return to their original state, so he was expecting a lot.


    The sea breeze of the night was pretty good, but looking at the horizon and only seeing darkness made Aion feel a bit uneasy. Still, the stars in the sky were quite the sight to behold. So many constetions, gxies¡­ Aion wondered if Earth was out there. Considering that he learned about time magic recently, it was hard to say how many years had passed since his death there.


    After so many years, it felt like a waste of time to think about it. What happened there after his death was way beyond his control. Regardless, Aion returned to his cabin and then began to train his magic since there wasn''t much space there. The deck of the ship was prettyrge, so he could train his body and techniques in the morning.


    "I was nning to travel the world, but I didn''t expect it would be like this," Aion thought. "Mom won''t be able to enjoy this now, but in the future, I will make sure that she will have a chance to see the world."


    With those thoughts in mind, Aion trained for a while and then went to bed. However, while he got used to the shaking while standing or sitting, it took a while for him to get used to it whileying down. To avoid problems, Aion will have to exhaust himself every day. Otherwise, he will waste time failing to fall asleep.

 Chapter 170 Killing Time

    Aion woke up when the sun was rising, and while he got used to being the first to wake up at his home, he found the sailors that worked during the night being substituted by those who rested at night.


    The frontal part of the ship was empty and didn''t have many obstacles, so Aion decided to train there. The morning wind in the ocean filled his nostrils with life¡­ he couldn''t see anything in any functions, but he found himself at peace like never before.


    "Maybe I should be a pirate hunter and make some money while using three swords¡­" Aion thought. "Living like that for a few months every year seems like a good adventure."


    Without a target, it would be hard, but since he was focusing on leveling up the sniper ss, Aion summoned his longbow. Aion thought that he could use the fish around to practice hitting moving targets, but it was hard to see anything below due to the waves. Fortunately, Aion found some birds flying around¡­ they were green and were as big as human beings, so Aion assumed it was another species of monster.


    When Aion aimed, he saw the creature twitching its neck to look at him. Still, before it could find him, Aion fired the arrow that pierced the creature''s head from the side.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    "As expected, it was a monster," Aion thought when he changed his ss and then brought the body of the creature on board with his magic.


    While no one was looking, Aion made his weapon absorb the body, and then he looked for the next target before changing his ss again. Using magic was too easy. After all


    "It seems that I need to put in some extra strength¡­" Aion thought when he missed the second shot. "Thanks to Eagle Eyes, I can hit everything in a range of one hundred meters, but thanks to the wind, the speed of the monsters, and my low strength, the arrows don''t reach far."


    Aion didn''t like to cut corners, but since the monsters didn''t get too close to the ship, he had to increase his parameters by using coins. He had a lot to spare so that it won''t be a problem. Aion realized that he would also get a lot more once he returned home¡­ and without doing anything. Still, those were the fruits of his hard work, so it was fine.


    After a while, Aion changed to his spear and then began to practice his fighting style. With that weapon, Aion liked to focus on overwhelming the enemy with a rain of thrusts. It was tiring, but it was pretty cool to attack so fast. It made Aion recall a game that he yed in high school. The spearman ss had many types of builds, but he liked the speed-based build because it was fun to attack fast.


    "Training hard so early in the morning, I am impressed," Sauros suddenly approached and then said. "You are blessed with two powerful lineages, but you still are hardworking."


    "I won''t deny that, but even the sharpest des needed to be sharpened often in order to keep their cutting power," Aion said. "Talent alone can only bring you so far."


    Sauros nodded. Meanwhile, Seris, who was behind him, still looked half asleep. She wasn''t a morning person, it seems¡­ After that, those two just watched the ocean while Aion trained. He had the impression that sailors and captains were more hard-working, but there wasn''t much to do when the wind wasn''t changing directions and enemies didn''t appear.


    "What do you guys do around here to kill time?" Aion asked.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "y cards, dice, and chat," Sauros said.


    "What a productive way to waste time¡­" Aion said while frowning.


    "We also spar, but we aren''t as hardcore as you," Sauros said. "We find pirates pretty often, so we need to keep our skills sharp."


    Thinking about pirates, Aion wondered if they found many weird magic weapons while fighting them. Those types of guys have quite the collection of stolen goods, after all. Moreover, their main targets are port towns and cities, and a lot of valuable goods pass through those before going anywhere.


    "Anyway, when are we going to reach our destination?" Aion asked.


    "In three weeks, if we don''t find some obstacles along the way, such as pirates and storms," Sauros replied.


    "Three weeks¡­ it seems pretty far away considering that we are using an advanced ship," Aion said. "Are we following the best route? Isn''t there a temple that is closer than that?"


    "No," Sauros replied. "The world is that big, and you didn''t have the chance to confirm that, even though you flew above several countries one year ago."


    "Do you have a map of the world?" Aion asked.


    "We aren''t explorers, and we go where we need to go to fulfill our mission," Sauros said. "Still, I can say that we explored most of the continents that have ess to this ocean. Notpletely, though."


    He didn''t reply if he had a map, and considering that Sauros was willing to answer a lot of questions now, Aion assumed that he didn''t have one. Making one could cause problems for themter if they lose it. Still, pirates definitely had, and Aion was nning to use them to get the map of the world¡­ or at least a small part of it.


    Aion couldn''t imagine them traveling for three weeks non-stop. They were bound to stop in some ports to get supplies¡­ without showing their ship, of course. Aion will be looking forward to that since he didn''t know much of the world aside from the kingdom he lived, the kingdom that was destroyed, and the kingdoms filled with retards that had borders with Zaera kingdom. Hopefully, they won''t be filled with people that were a real pain in the ass¡­


    Aion felt like asking them about such a possibility, but he didn''t want to spoil the surprise, be it a bad or a good surprise.

 Chapter 171 Pride

    After a few days of watching the endless sea while training, Aion realized that only the two siblings were talking with him. The others on the ship didn''t seem particrly annoyed by his presence, and it didn''t look like they found Aion hard to approach, but they still left him alone. Thanks to that, Aion had a lot of time to train, and it had been a while since he did that without interruption. That wasn''t half bad, but he thought that something was going on behind the curtains.


    "Do you want to spar?" Seris asked. "After watching you for a few days, I can tell that you don''t have much experience fighting with people that are able to repel your attacks without a shield. They have speed and power but not enough piercing power."


    "I don''t have a training spear with me, and I don''t think that it will be a good idea to hurt you, even if by ident."


    "Don''t worry, you won''t," Seris said. "Unless you use your full power. With the current level that you are showing now, it will be fine.".


    True, Aion wasn''t going all out since he wanted to focus on increasing his speed and uracy. He also realized that she had a point¡­ Aion''s stabs didn''t have much power because he didn''t rotate the spear beforending the hit. He could push the enemies backward, but when they were using shields, he didn''t recall breaking them.


    If Seris were that confident, then that would be worth the hassle. He readied himself and then waited for her¡­ much to his surprise, she created a rapier with her magic alone¡­ it wasn''t like a proper forged weapon, it was more like a rough sword made of iron¡­ she didn''t use elemental magic, so Aion assumed that was her power¡­


    In any case, she dashed forward to put Aion inside her attack range, but he stopped her advance by using numerous stabs. He only aimed at her shoulders and on the sides of her body to avoid wounds, but she also used the tip of her weapon to block all of the stabs with pinpoint precision.


    Sparks began to fly around whenever the weapons collided, and Aion noticed that Seris was hitting the spear on the same spot, and she never let it get closer than one meter. She was really talented and also had lightning reflexes and enough power to stop Aion''s two-handed stabs.


    In the end, Aion used Quick Spear and gradually increased his speed. The sparks began to fall even faster, and more spread across the ship. When he got two times faster, Seris still was able to keep up, but when the skill reached its current max potential, and he got three times faster, she began to be pushed backward, and eventually, her weapon cracked. Making a weird burning sound, and then a st of wind spread across the ship as well.


    "That was one weird weapon," Aion said while massaging his wrists since attacking so often and nonstop was quite demanding for his artictions.


    "Let''s do it again. This time, I will be serious," Seris said.


    "No, no¡­ no fighting seriously in a ship," Sauros suddenly approached and dered. "The sparks will burn everything at this rate¡­ even with the materials we used to prevent that."


    "Well, I guess we got too much into this," Aion said. "Let''s calm down a little and do it again."


    "It will be boring unless we try it for real," Seris said. "Can''t you create an earth tform and attach it to the back of the ship so that we can fight there?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion could, but fighting wasn''t his goal, was to improve and learn something new. He could only do that without risking someone else''s life if he didn''t fight for real. In the end, Seris left since she was toopetitive to do some sandbagging.


    "Don''t mind her. She is toopetitive for her own good," Sauros said. "Since she is talented, she doesn''t like to lose in any aspect or even during training."


    "What about you? Are you game?" Aion asked. "I am bored here, my bad for saying that."


    "I am not much of a fighter, If I were, I wouldn''t have been captured back then," Sauros said. "Laying traps and making the enemies fall for them is more my style."


    "I see¡­" Aion said and then resumed his training


    "She will challenge you again now that you showed a bit of your power¡­ Just when we don''t have time to waste," Sauros said and then sighed. "Anyway, we will stop in four days near a port, so pace yourself properly "


    Sauros left without saying if he had to pace himself to the duel or to avoid unpleasant surprises in the port. While he didn''t have to, he decided to use that chance to check the ces that he had never been to before, even if it would give Seris a chance to challenge him.


    "Four days, huh¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It will be a good opportunity to check the goods of other countries. Still, while this ship is fast, I don''t think it could cross the entire territory of the bandits'' country. My sense of direction is all messed up, so I don''t know if we headed east or north most of the time."


    Also, another thing, Aion wondered how those guys buy things. Silver hair was something that only belonged to them, after all. Even after many years of their disappearance, people like the king and Artemisia knew who they were¡­


    Aion''s first guess was that they had some magic items to help them with that. His eyes were blue, but his hair was ck¡­ He wondered if thatbination was rare in the world¡­


    "Well, I can use the headband trick again," Aion just thought and then shrugged.


    The surprise had been spoiled, but Aion finally had something to look forward to in the next few days¡­

 Chapter 172 Troublesome Past

    Four dayster, Aion began to get excited about the stop that they were going to make, but then he realized that they could only approach at night. While the ship could move while invisible, it would make signs on the ocean. To avoid any surprises, they slowed down after a while.


    When night came, theynded nearby a forest. It was a bit hard to see, but he could find some lights in the distance. The port town was pretty big if the lights could be seen when they were ten kilometers away¡­


    "Are you a little kid? Why are you so excited?" Seris asked.


    "You acted in the same way on the First time you traveled with me," Sauros said.


    "That can''t be true. I was calm andposed as always," Seris said. "I still remember that."


    "Yes¡­ A twelve years old tomboy is the perfect example of aposed kid," Sauros said.


    "Come to think of it. You are nning to challenge me, right?" Aion asked. "Let''s get this over with and then head to the port."


    "I admit that you are strong and skilled, but that arrogance will cost you one day," Seris said. "I am not insane enough to make so much noise in enemy territory."


    "Enemy Territory?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "It is a long story¡­ let''s just say that we have had our fair share of problems here," Sauros said. "Still, we need to pass through here often to get some information. By the way, this country is east of the ce we met before. One thousand kilometers further east and beyond those mountains."


    So they truly went in that direction¡­ in any case, that was fine. That would give Aion a good idea of how the map of that world would be. After a while, they jumped from the ship, and then Sauros and Seris took some rings from their backpacks and then equipped them. The color of their eyes and hair changed and the shape of their faces as well¡­ that was some interesting magic.


    "Since it is night, you don''t have to worry about your eyes," Sauros said. "We are only here to get some reports and the supplies that are already ready for us to carry."


    Aion could guess that using those rings, they managed to infiltrate one of their own in the city to help with the gathering of information. They probably had others all over the world¡­ Aion will try to use his magic in the future to find people using those magic items.


    "Well, that is a pity¡­" Aion said. "I guess I will have to rely on you to learn more about this country, then."


    "I thought that you would be in a hurry after learning how long this job will take, but it seems you want to take it easy," Seris said. "You might not want to be a tourist here because the people here are really cautious of strangers. During the wars in the past, when they were suspected of being spies, they captured and tortured pretty much all of those who weren''t born in the port. Thousands of people were tortured and killed out of fear."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Who is the lunatic who gave that order?" Aion asked.


    "The council gave, since the foundation of this country, a council of merchants ruling over it; the members change all the time since only the richest and most influential can be part of the council," Sauros exined. "Regardless, we need to get going."


    Things have already taken a dark turn regarding Aion''s world exploration. Still, that only confirmed what he already knew¡­ a lot of bloody things happen in that world and pretty often. The journey of the god and goddess, the destruction of the Mileris kingdom, the betrayal of the bandits'' country against the Zaera kingdom¡­


    While they were moving, Aion kept thinking about that¡­ even after three thousand years and many sacrifices on the part of the god and goddess. Things were still the same. Instead of sad, that was just depressing.


    Along the way, Aion learned that in that country, peoplemercialized all kinds of things in the open. ves, animals, monsters¡­ their regtions were as brand as they could be¡­


    "They sell a lot of things to other countries. Most of those are ves," Seris said while showing an annoyed expression. "They even have something like a ves farm¡­"


    That was rather disturbing, but Aion wasn''t surprising considering what he already saw in that world. Since that country had a past of being ruled by greedy people who had no restraints, such things becamemon. Those who weren''t like that had a hard time rising in their ranks. So, the country continued like that¡­


    Aside from that, the country was also pretty known for having the best mercenaries in the world¡­ Naturally, they were born ves who had been trained for two decades and couldn''t think for themselves and followed the orders of their masters no matter what. After hearing a few more things, Aion lost the interest of even hearing the name of the country. In his head, he decided to call it: AMDL, which stands for: assholes merchants dreand.


    After two hours, they reached the port city, and as expected, it was big. It didn''t have walls, but one could see many guards patrolling around and a long line of travelers¡­


    "This isn''t good¡­ Something happened there," Sauros said.


    "We can use Aion''s magic to enter the city and leave as well," Seris said. "However, I have a feeling that this might be some bad news for us."


    "That is rather random¡­" Aion said.


    "As we said before, this country has a bad history with spies, and they never stop looking for them," Seris said. "The poption is motivated to report anyone that looks suspicious¡­ You can imagine what happens when someone makes a mistake here."


    If they had a single informant, then things wouldn''t be that problematic, but in the end, it would be hard for a single person to gather Intel in a country like that¡­

 Chapter 173 Unpleasant Surprise

    Just as they had thought before, they entered the city while flying. Theynded on a dark alley, and they proceeded to head to the location of the informant, but on that location, they only found a destroyed medicine shop. Sauros and Seris opened their eyes widely and froze in shock.


    "Keep moving. People will feel suspicious of us if we stop here," Aion said.


    They obeyed and began to walk, but they didn''t know what to do. It seemed that at least one of their friends was captured, and considering that people in the city were still being investigated, the hunt wasn''t over yet.


    "Do you have other allies here?" Aion asked. "Unless you have absolute faith in them, we should leave."


    "They are all from our base. Their families have been doing this job for generations. Of course, we can trust them," Seris replied.


    "What about the first question?" Aion asked.


    "We put only one family per city in order to avoid them getting in contact too often and make everyone find out about them when this kind of thing happens¡­" Seris replied.


    "We need to head to another city¡­" Sauros said. "Leaving now without knowing what happened might cause problems. I don''t want to abandon our friends without knowing if they are alive or not."


    That was all well and good. Still, it seems that things will end up in a fight¡­ Right in the first ce that Aion visited after the start of the mission¡­


    Those three left again by flying and then headed southeast, that was the location of the nearest city, and ording to Sauros, it was only thirty kilometers away.


    "I assume we can only act until sunrise. After that, the people here will know that we don''t have many people on our side," Aion said. "We should use the darkness of the night to confuse everyone."


    "I guess it isn''t surprising that you can think straight in a situation like this when you are one of the sons of the Kresnik family," Seris said. "We only know how to act on the shadows and we don''t start with the upper hand¡­"


    "The shop had been destroyed, but I saw some medicine still intact¡­ The whole ce hadn''t been cleaned by the poption yet, so it must have happened recently," Sauros said. "We have three families working here. It will take some time before they find any connections between them. We can use that in our favor.".


    "The hard part will be to find where the prisoners are¡­ The enemies probably know that they can''t be working alone, so they won''t execute anyone until they find all of them," Aion said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Aside from the next city, the other family is in the capital. At your speed, we should arrive there in three hours," Sauros said.


    That wasn''t so bad, but it would leave them with only a few hours on the field to act. In any case, they reached the second city, and they found another tight guarded ce. Theynded near their destination and walked without wasting time toward it¡­ However, they found a tailor shop destroyed as well. Things were starting to getplicated.


    "Shit¡­" Sauros said while clenching his teeth.


    "If they all have been captured, where would they be executed?" Aion asked.


    "In the capital, they definitely will make that a big event and carry it out in broad daylight," Sauros replied.


    The group began to fly again since time was of the essence¡­ It will be hard to fight on a ce with so many people, but Aion had an idea of what he could do without revealing his identity or without using questionable skills.


    While focusing on his senses, Aion used Meditation while flying. That will make them fly for a while longer, and without dealing with obstacles, they truly would cover a lot of ground. Aion didn''t like to use that when he was close to strangers since his focus on the surroundings weakened, but he could tell that those two only wanted to save their friends.


    Aion worked a bit harder, and thanks to that, after two and half hours and around midnight, they reached the capital of that country. It was quite the fortified city since the walls looked thick and tall enough to block the attacks of giants. The location was also pretty good, there were several mountains around, and the path to approach the city was limited. Thus, no army would approach unnoticed, nor would they be able to keep their formation while approaching. Still, that wasn''t a problem for Aion and the others. The real problem would be to find the prisoners.


    While Aion was supposed to be getting used to that, thanks to his training, he felt a bit weird aboutnding on dark alleys all the time. It was like he was feeling that he had made a wrong job choice somewhere along the way¡­ anyway, it felt like he was feeling guilty about many things, and he had to hide.


    Sauros led everyone to where the house of the spies was supposed to be, and in the end, they found a tavern still standing butpletely empty. It was midnight, but on some days, they would close earlier. Still, with his magic, Aion could tell that no one was there.


    "No one is here," Aion dered


    "We need to look for the prison," Sauros said. "It must be underground, but the above is probably being guarded by many guards."


    Aion was out of mana, so they couldn''t travel around while flying. Without much of a choice, they had to run over many buildings while looking around. They found several guards around the high-ss district, but none of them were guarding a single particr ce. Since the buildings were made of brick and they were all as tall as each other, it felt like they were in a maze¡­ searching from above would be difficult, and on the ground, it would be even worse¡­

 Chapter 174 Cold Anger

    Eventually, they found a small building on the border of the high-ss district. It seemed out of ce, and it was hard to find because of that¡­ it was smallpared to the other buildings. It wasn''t particrly that well-guarded¡­ the people of that country weren''t expecting a rescue mission, it seems.


    "What is the n?" Aion asked. "Your buddies are on the line here, so you should decide the n of action."


    "My power doesn''t work well on the ground. I might end up burying them alive if they are there." Sauros replied, "We need to use the regr entrance."


    "All right, to make sure that no one will think that I am here, I will use a bow," Aion said. "That might make the enemies confused once they see the bodies."


    Until now, they ignored the fact that Aion transformed his weapon now and then, but the curiosity was starting to get better of them. In any case, Aion could see four guards around that building, so he had to be fast. Fortunately, they were only eighty meters away.


    After aiming first and then taking a deep breath, Aion fired his first arrow, and then the second was already ready to be fired even before the firstnded. The projectiles easily pierced the enemies'' helmets, and they died without even knowing what had happened to them.


    "Requiescat In Pace," Aion said.


    You obtained 150 experience points.


    You obtained 150 experience points.


    You obtained 150 experience points.


    ¡­


    All the running on the top of the buildings made Aion recall a game that he yed in his previous life. It wasn''t time to act like that, but in the end, he didn''t feel much when he killed the enemies when they had such a history.


    "I will recover some of my mana here while I keep a watch on the surroundings. You should head to the prison," Aion said. "I don''t think that you will find any traps there, but you should be careful anyway."


    Those two silently nodded and then jumped from the top of that building. While the door of the prison was locked, Sauros easily unlocked it by making the entire door be dust¡­ he should be less obvious when leaving traces of his power, but maybe he never showed it to anyone before, at least those who knew his face and were enemies.


    While those two were away, Aion approached the bodies of the guards and then made their gear be absorbed. They didn''t have many guards, but they were cautious enough to keep their armor and weapons with them all the time. Their style of gear made Aion recall the Romans a bit. The helmets easily protected the back of their heads and neck since their back was longer, and the front gave them a clear view of the surroundings. It worked well against ordinary attacks.<novelnext></novelnext>


    After not so long, Aion noticed the approach of another group of guards¡­ it was exactly four, so he wondered if they would take the turns of the fallen guards. While Aion hides the bodies on the top of the prison, they will notice that something is off once they notice that their allies aren''t there¡­


    "They will stop before they turn, and they will be in the middle of a crossroad," Aion thought while looking around for possible witnesses. "I want to make the Sniper ss level up, but I can''t risk it."


    Aion changed his ss to necromancer and then summoned Lerg, his death knight that was the annoying archer¡­ calling him death archer sounded weird, though. In any case, as expected of someone who lived through countless battlefields using only a bow, he fired arrows that didn''t make any noise and then killed them.


    Aion quickly moved to hide the bodies on the top of the prison as well. Still, the lingering scent of blood was troubling him¡­ it was only a matter of time before it became clear what they hade to do. Things might escte pretty fast if he doesn''t do anything, but he couldn''t leave any traces that could lead to him as well... a real troublesome situation.


    After waiting for ten minutes, Aion found those two leaving the prison alone¡­ the prison was empty. That was really the worst-case scenario. They weren''t in the prison, so they could only guess that they were being interrogated before the execution in a ce that would be even harder to invade under normal conditions. They had no idea where that could be¡­


    "What now?" Aion asked.


    "I don''t know¡­ I honestly don''t know what we can do," Sauros replied with his head down.


    "Get a grip, dude," Aion said. "Aren''t you the leader of a ghost group of people that have been working to protect something for three thousand years?"


    "While that is true, we never had to deal with something like this¡­ maybe our ancestors did, but¡­" Seris said.


    "If you guys really want to save them, then we need to take some drastic measures," Aion said. "Let''s invade one of those shy houses and demand that the merchants that rule this country tell us where they are."


    Being stealthy was no longer an option. They would end up revealing that they were allies of the prisoners and thus members of the Herandins family, but it couldn''t be helped¡­ their numbers were small, and they couldn''t afford to lose more of them.


    "Let''s do this¡­" Sauros dered. "Thergest building is where the most powerful merchant of this country lives."


    They passed nearby that earlier, and Aion saw at least twenty guards there. Once those guys fall, the battle will start, and it will be only a matter of time before the whole city wakes up and turn against them.


    "This will be a race against time, but while they interrogate the man, I will have the chance to use them," Aion thought. "The dark armored group will end up being famous here unless¡­"

 Chapter 175 Bad Feeling

    The group headed to thergest mansion in the city. The ce didn''t have proper walls. Instead of that, they had metal bars, and Aion could feel manaing from them. They probably would damage anyone that tried to jump over them.


    "I will make you fly to the top of the Mansion. Once you notice the guards falling, then you need to start moving," Aion dered. "If you find the target, but you are doubting his words, then open a window and then knock him unconscious. We will take him with us, but we can''t afford to let him see my magic."


    "I have a bad feeling about those metal bars," Sauros said.


    "I checked their range with my mana. They create a pseudo barrier to attack everything that approaches them from above," Aion said. "However, the barrier isn''t perfect like that around the temple. It is in the shape of a square instead of a sphere. You can pass above it if you fly high enough."


    Although they were well versed with magic, they couldn''t tell that kind of thing just by looking at the barrier. Still, they decided to trust Aion since they didn''t have time. As nned, he made them fly pretty high before they approached the mansion. They were sweating cold all the time, but then they sighed in relief when theynded on the ceiling.


    Aion confirmed that they couldn''t see him, and then he summoned Lerg and Urgen. He also made them move to the sides of the mansion. Then, they began to attack using their long ranged techniques.


    The guards raised their weapons when they saw their allies being killed, but there wasn''t much that they could do when they couldn''t see the enemies. They did the only thing they could¡­


    "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"


    A bit too fast for Aion''s tastes, they noticed the direction the attacks wereing from and then assumed defensive stances to block them. They managed to block some arrows and wind des while they retreated to the entrance of the mansion. However, when they were about to cross the gates, something jumped in the middle of them¡­ it was a tall creature covered in dark armor. It was Caelis, and with a single swing of his weapon, he beheaded the guards.


    You obtained 150 experience points.


    You obtained 150 experience points.


    You obtained 150 experience points.


    ¡­


    Aion made Caelis disappear before anyone could notice his presence. Some guards left the mansion, and he also could hear the sound of armor approaching in the distance, but that was fine. That was within his ns, anyway.


    Aion changed his ss again and then equipped his bow and prepared Power Shot. After a while, a group of soldiers approached and found the guards near the entrance of the mansion, checking the bodies. Their shields were raised, but not a single attack wasing. However, a powerful arrownded in the middle of their group after piercing the body of five soldiers. The impact of the arrow on the ground created a shockwave that sent all the nearby soldiers flying for a couple of meters. At least ten of ten died, and the more ten were heavily wounded.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Not yet?" Aion thought while looking at the mansion.


    Some lights had been lit there, but Aion couldn''t see any windows opening. Considering what he told them, those two certainly were taking their time¡­ A second and third group had enough time to approach before those guys finally opened the window. Aion saw them with someone, and so did the soldiers. They all tried to rescue the target, but then Aion fired another arrow from behind them. The impact made them fly once again, and while they were almost fainting, Aion made an earth tform appear in front of his allies, and then he made them fly upward.


    When the guards and soldiers got up, those three had disappeared. They looked to all sides in confusion. Meanwhile, Aion and the others were flying toward the northern part of the city, where the target told them that the prisoners were supposed to be.


    "You guys took your time," Aion said.


    "Due to our changed appearance, he thought that we were regr bandits," Seris said. "I had to break a few of his bones before the negotiation could start."


    "Yeah, negotiation¡­" Aion said.


    It looked like the council of merchants had decided to take their time torturing the spies and gathering more intel regarding Herandins'' family. It didn''t look like they had told much, but everyone realized who they were working for once they took all of their items, including the magic items that changed their appearances.


    Aion didn''t like that. Sauros said that those families had at least one kid¡­ that kind of thing might scar them for life, mentally and physically. In the end, they reached their destination. It was a very suspicious warehouse¡­ it looked to be abandoned, and that was why it looked out of ce¡­


    "I think they might have expected that you woulde to rescue them¡­" Aion said.


    "... True¡­ they would only keep them in a ce like this if they had imagined that we woulde," Sauros said. "Maybe someone has noticed that wee to get intel regrly¡­ or someone already spoke about us."


    "If their kids were about to be tortured, then it couldn''t have been helped¡­" Seris said.


    "Yes, we can think about thister," Sauros said.


    Instead of worrying about the fact that someone revealed about those two, Aion was more worried that they might be walking into a trap. They surprised the enemies more than a little bit, but they didn''t have enough time to check what they would have in stock for them¡­ so they might face some real problems as well.


    "We should question this guy again, even if he doesn''t say much. We can tell a few things with his expressions alone," Aion said. "Let''s enter the warehouse before we do that. This time, I will go with you since I have a bad feeling about this¡­"

 Chapter 176 Treatment

    Aion checked the surroundings of the warehouse and confirmed that no one was there. Putting guards around would make things suspicious, but Aion didn''t want to be careless now. After that, theynded on the ceiling of the Warehouse, and then he opened a hole in it with his magic. The interior waspletely dark and dusty¡­ if the man was telling the truth, then they must be underground.


    After checking the interior by summoning a Fireball, Aion didn''t find anything, and then he made the groupnd on the floor.


    "We should do the talking here," Sauros said. "It is a pity, but we can''t kill this guy and risk the start of a war. So, we can''t let him hear your voice or see your face since you are more or less a public person of the Zaera kingdom."


    That made sense, but it more or less felt a bit unnecessary. In any case, Aion put his hood on and hid his armor behind a cloak. He sure looked ominous like that¡­ after that, Sauros pped the merchant. Thanks to Richard, Aion didn''t let appearances fool him anymore. While the target was someone in his thirties and well-built, he probably just got some muscles to scare people when doing business. Just like pretty women can make men buy more things when they are selling them, muscles tend to make people more fearful of the sellers.


    In any case, it was hard to describe the face of the man due to the darkness and because half of it was swollen, and it got even worse after Seris pped the guy to make him wake.


    "Wake up, you son of a bitch¡­ tell us where they are," Seris said when she saw the merchant opening his eyes.


    The merchant was half asleep, but once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he panicked a little upon realizing that he had be a prisoner and that he was in a dark ce and alone.


    "We are in the warehouse. Where are they?" Seris raised her voice.


    It wasn''t a good idea to shout at such a ce, but no one could me Seris. She was of the hot-blooded type who cared deeply about her allies, and that also could be described as being as noisy and unnerving in situations like that. Aion could understand that very well since he was even worse when his mother was on the line.


    "... There is a secret entrance on the other side of the warehouse," The merchant said after gulping.


    They didn''t have time to waste, so his cooperation was really convenient. He really didn''t want to get on their bad side, after all. The group dragged him to the other side of the warehouse, and he quickly pointed to a small fissure on the ground that had something like a doorknob. In the darkness of the night, it would be hard to see it, but not during the day. While Sauros was grabbing the guy by his cor, Seris hurried to open the entrance, and then Aion noticed the merchant suddenly grabbing his amulet with both hands¡­ It was a magic item.


    "Wait! Aion shouted.


    It was toote, Seris opened the entrance, and then they heard the sound of metal colliding. Aion pointed his hands at the entrance and used all his magic to freeze the ce. He did well in keeping the necromancer ss equipped, and while he used all his mana to do that, he froze the entire ce.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It was a trap¡­ this ce was made to explode once it was opened¡­ I can feel a weird smell, but it seems that your friends are there," Aion said. "Hurry up because they must die from the cold."


    Sauros kicked the man in the head in hopes that he would forget about Aion''s voice. He fell unconscious, though. While Sauros and Seris went to check on their friends, Aion decided to guard the ce and recover his mana. At the same time, he checked the amulet of the unconscious merchant and then processed it.


    Restoration Rune


    A special rune that is able to heal the target several times a day.


    It was a pretty good item¡­ as expected of the power of money. Healing magic was hard to use, and that item could be cast it instantly, even if only a few times per day. In any case, Aion decided to take the shirt of man and tie him up with it. In the end, he ended up looking like a boar that was about to be put on fire to be cooked since his arms and legs were tied up together.


    After a couple of minutes, Sauros and Seris returned while helping the prisoners to move¡­ as expected, they had been tortured and even drugged. They barely were conscious¡­ The kids were the ones in the worst state. They could die of blood loss at any moment¡­ they weren''t ready to travel back to the coast.


    "I can heal their wounds, but recovering their blood is impossible," Aion said.


    "Please¡­ just buy us enough time to bring them to the ship, we have supplies to help them there," Sauros said.


    Aion sighed. Escaping will be even harder with those guys in that critical condition. While Aion could carry everyone on the tform, the cold wind of the night will sap thest parts of their strength.


    Once Aion began to work, those two couldn''t help but frown. He had enough mana to heal everyone and clean their wounds as well. The wounds were closed almost instantly. They knew that the Mirelis royal family had some crazy magic power, but healing magic had never been their strength. So, that wasn''t something he inherited from others.


    When Aion made his water magic get rid of the drugs in their systems, he began to meditate again. He had an idea of what they could do, but he would need mana to pull that off. He always needs¡­

 Chapter 177 Bloodhound

    "We won''t be able to escape using normal means. We will need a carriage that can fit all of them while theyy down," Sauros said. "Aion, can you carry an entire carriage and the horses outside the capital?"


    "I am recovering my mana to do that," Aion said. "It might take a while, though. So, you shouldn''t rely solely on me to solve this problem."


    "The problem is, where are we going to find a carriage?" Seris asked. "It is only a matter of time until the enemies find us here."


    "I saw one and some horses on the back of that guy''s house¡­" Sauros said.


    "Good, no one will expect to see us returning to the crime scene," Aion said. "Just give me a few minutes for that."


    "You are really a convenient guy, and your skills can do a lot," Sauros said.


    "Call me that again, and I will kick your guts," Aion said while frowning.


    "I was trying to praise you¡­" Sauros said.


    Although he phrased it in the wrong way, Sauros meant that Aion was resourceful. Their ability to control time was powerful, but it was rather limiting. In any case, it didn''t take long for them to notice the noise of footsteps approaching alongside the sound of armor shing. Aion wouldn''t have enough time to gather all the mana he needed¡­ in the end, he made everyone fly to the hole in the roof, and when the enemy soldiers began to hit on the entrance of the warehouse, he sent a fireball toward the underground prison.


    Aion''s ice magic prevented some metals from creating sparks that would make the gas inside explode, but his fireball did that. While the warehouse was trembling, the enemy soldiers stopped moving. They raised their guards, while Aion and the others returned to the house they had attacked earlier. Most of the guards weren''t there, and the ones left behind were guarding the entrance.


    "If stupidity could kill¡­" Aion thought.


    Aionnded everyone on the back of the house, and then their arrival made the horses wake up and grunt a little, but Sauros went to calm them down while Seris was dealing with the carriage. Aion had a few minutes to get more mana, but the atmosphere of the ce made him frown and messed with his focus. Something in the whole city changed¡­


    "We need to hurry up," Aion said.


    The other two nodded. It seemed that they felt something weird in the air as well. When the carriage was ready, and they began to put the unconscious allies inside it, they suddenly heard something grunting. The number of grunts increased¡­ which wasn''t a good side. Aion recalled that they also used to sell monsters in such a country.<novelnext></novelnext>


    When the grunts began to get too close, Aion made the carriage and the horses fly, and then they left as fast as possible. The horsesined for a while, but no one had time to hear them. While they were crossing the sky, Aion had the chance to see everything below. He also saw some big ass dogs heading in the same direction as them¡­ in the darkness of the night, Aion was sure that no one below could see them. The smell also wasn''t on the ground, so that didn''t make any sense.


    "Those are the rancid bloodhounds¡­ they have the ability to track their targets just by feeling the smell of their mana once," Sauros said and then clenched his teeth. "They are extremely violent and strong."


    Although they were heavy, three meters long red monsters, they couldn''t run as fast as Aion could fly¡­ so putting some distance between them was impossible. To make things worse, they will have tond pretty soon since Aion was out of mana, and while carrying so many people, the horses won''t outrun them¡­


    "I can''t reveal my death knights to those guys¡­" Aion thought. "It can''t be helped, and I will have to do things the hard way¡­"


    They barely crossed the walls when Aion felt his mana reaching dangerous levels, so he quickly looked for a ce tond. After that, Sauros took the rein in things and then made the horses run as fast as possible. When they reached the nearest road, Aion also saw some guards on horses following the rancid bloodhounds.


    Aion made his longbow appear, and then he aimed at one of the monsters that were approaching. When he jumped to the back of the carriage, Aion changed his aim and then hit one of the guards that were following them on horses. When the horseman fell, the horse also lost control and got in the way of some pursuers, but they soon recovered.


    Two of the bloodhounds began to get too close, and Aion finally saw how scary those creatures were. Their fur and eyes were red, but they had some scary sharp ws and fangs, big enough to be considered as long as short spears.


    Aion aimed and fired on the face of the nearest monster, but the creature reacted and then used its fangs to block the attack.


    "Son of a bitch¡­" Aion said while frowning.


    Aion nocked another arrow, but then Seris approached and then fired something that Aion was unable to see by using her hands. The impact didn''t happen instantly, but it was powerful enough to send the monster flying in the opposite direction and then hit a horseman.


    "You know the technique that lets you put more power overtime on an arrow, right?" Seris asked. "I will help you with that,"


    She probably couldn''t attack like that before so often, so she decided to help Aion. While he was charging Power Shot, she touched his right arm, and then Aion felt his stamina being drained and then stopped. When Aion fired the next arrow, the monster tried to do the same as before, but its fangs were destroyed, and then the projectile pierced the monster''s brain¡­

 Chapter 178 Disappointment

    Aion realized that Seris could use time magic on even living creatures¡­ which was kind of scary¡­ based on what he saw, she could make things work faster than they should. So, he wondered why she didn''t make herself faster when they were sparring.


    In any case, she helped him again when another bloodhound approached. The creature tried to dodge to the side at thest moment, and however, the attack stillnded faster than the beast could move.


    "It seems we can deal with them like this," Seris said.


    As if the enemies had heard that, some horsemen armed with bows approached and then equipped crossbows. They were of the rapid-fire type, so they could use them with a single hand. Aion clicked his tongue when they fired faster before he could hit them.


    After changing his bow to a spear, Aion spun the weapon in front of him and blocked the attacks. The enemies frowned when they saw that, but for a speed-based ss like spearman, such a thing was easy as pie. Still, that alone made more enemies approach, and they kept firing to annoy Aion.


    "This isn''t good¡­ they are getting closer," Seris said.


    "Rx, just make sure to stay behind my spear," Aion said.


    Seris had no idea where that confidence wasing from. Aion couldn''t use his magic; otherwise, he would be identified, so his options were somewhat limited. She had no idea that there were numerous ways for one to use magic without being noticed.


    When the enemies got too close, and the first group of archers stepped back and gave room to the second, Aion moved his spear to the side and then enveloped some wind magic on the tip before swinging toward the enemies. A powerful st flew toward the pursuers and then knocked down the closest monsters and horsemen, making them be a barrier. It also raised arge dust curtain.


    "I can watch our back. Go look how your brother and your friends are," Seris said.


    "... All right," Seris said after a moment of hesitation.


    Seris had seen her fair share of battles and shit in that world. Still, it was the first time that she saw a kid who was barely a full-fledged soldier deal with so many enemies in that kind of situation while keeping his cool like that. He either had steel nerves, or he was a fool who couldn''t understand the danger of the situation.


    When he was sure that Seris wasn''t looking at him, Aion changed his ss and then summoned Lerg and Urgen to opposite sides of the road. They quickly moved away from his field of vision, but then they began to act when the enemies approached again.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The pursuers approached more organized now, and some of the horsemen even had shields. Still, they didn''t expect attacks from the sides. Arrows and wind des began to cut their heads with fearsome speed and uracy. Aion watched all that with a smile on his face while meditating since they were consuming his mana to keep up with the speed of the carriage and attacking at the same time. It was quite fun to deal with the enemies that way¡­ however, it didn''tst long. The pursuers eventually slowed down in order not to lose more allies.


    "They are really dumb¡­ they don''t know how we escaped without alerting anyone, but they still want to keep their distance from us?" Aion thought.


    The bloodhound would be able to chase them due to the problem of speed, but for how long? Before they cane up with a solution, they will reach the coast and escape on their ship.


    "They probably will set some traps along the way for us since they nned so many things¡­" Aion said and then turned to talk with the others. "What do you guys think about this situation? Their behavior is weird."


    "Well, they probably are confused due to your magic," Seris said. "From their perspective, we disappeared and appeared all over the city."


    "My ancestors never did this kind of thing during their wars?" Aion asked.


    "Thest generations of the Mileris kingdom had way too much magic power. They''re unrivaled," Sauros said. "Instead of using magic in creative ways, they overpowered their enemies. Those who saw them using in any other way probably are too old or dead."


    That was disappointing. Then again, the pursuers lost a lot of monsters and soldiers without even scratching Aion''s group. That level of shock was supposed to be expected¡­ never mention the other guards that were killed before they found the prisoners.


    In any case, when Aion had the chance, and they got close enough to the next city, he made the carriage fly again. The sun was going to rise in just one hour. Still, he could tell that the city below was on high alert¡­ he couldn''t believe that ravens could fly faster than them, so he could only assume that the enemies couldmunicate using other means, such as magic tools.


    When the sun was rising, the group had already reached their ship. Aion felt a bit light-hearted since he was forced to use Meditation while using magic for so long. Still, that hard work paid off, and they left that country without suffering any losses. Sauros and Seris almost lost their allies, and they lost some products and their disguise, but it couldn''t have been helped. Something like that was supposed to happen now and then in such a line of business.


    The first stop on that mission wasn''t like Aion had expected, but defeating assholes was always something rxing for him. That way of thinking troubled him a little, but he also felt like letting them live was a disservice to the world¡­ In any case, Aion was expecting fewer troubles for the next few weeks. He wanted to have the chance to check the merchandise of the countries he had never been to before, after all.

 Chapter 179 Short Break

    Three days after they left that shitty country, Aion, Sauros, and Seris learned that the prisoners had woken up and their condition had improved. Thanks to Aion''s magic, their lives weren''t on the line, but the torture could have disabled them¡­


    "ording to them, they didn''t notice anything unusual that would have made them look suspicious in the eyes of the others," Sauros said while Seris and he was watching Aion train. "They also said that they were captured at the same time, two days before our arrival."


    "And they still managed to prepare all that?" Seris asked. "That doesn''t make any sense. No one aside from us on the ship knew where and when we would go after leaving Zaera kingdom."


    Those two couldn''t imagine that they had a traitor among their ranks¡­ As for Aion, he had no idea how those things worked. Intelligence when ites to interaction between countries and betrayals was uncharted waters for him. He also only studied the tactics of the n and simple battlefield. Intelligence and espionage seemed interesting, but Aion already had too much on his te to consider.


    "What were the chances of someone seeing the ship and recognizing you all from a distance?" Aion asked.


    "The chances aren''t small, but we don''t use regr routes. The routes we use would be a waste of time for pirates andmercial ships," Sauros exined.


    Aion didn''t have enough knowledge to think of a hypothesis. If it were a battle, he could think of a few, but¡­ it was better to take that as a lesson while they move to their next destination.


    "I will think of what happenedter. Still, I knew that you would be of great help, but you far surpassed my predictions," Sauros said. "I guess that''s unfair of me, considering that you invaded three ces to free the ves, even though they were supposed to belong to your allies."


    "You know about my situation, so you know that I can count my allies with the fingers of a single hand," Aion said. "Also, yourpliments give me goosebumps. So stop."


    "Your attitude is the only thing that makes sense considering your age," Seris said. "Anyway, it seems that we owe you again."


    Making others feel indebted to him was pretty useful, even when Aion just used that chance to let loose. Regardless, he could agree with her that he had a bit of an attitude problem¡­ he wasn''t like that when he was at home. Maybe it was because he was worried about Artemisia. She was a person who acted based on feelings, so maybe something would happen while he was away, something unpredictable. While the magic relic will protect her body, there are other types of wounds.


    In any case, Aion felt that he had trained hard with the bow, but it became clear that he wascking during that night. So, he was nning to train more often, but without targets and materials, that was too difficult. Hopefully, during the mission, Aion finds a dungeon or two that he can use¡­


    Since they lost the chance to get some supplies in that country, the group had to deal with some problems for the next week. Eating fish was only natural when they were crossing the oceans. Still, there were many problems that might happen if they only ate that kind of food, so they usually bought fresh supplies to help with that. The extra numbers on the ship also was another issue¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    So, they had to change their ns a bit. They changed their course to a series of inds further north. That area was rarely visited since many monsters showed up there, and they could multiply even faster than usual. However, the ce was quite rich in fruits, and they needed that variety on their menu.


    When Aion could see those inds in the distance, he recalled Indonesia¡­ he never had been there before. Still, he knew that the country had thousands of inds, and it was a bit inconvenient for the people to move around without boats¡­ Regardless, that area of the new world seemed uninhabited.


    "I can see why this ce has so many monsters like you said," Aion said while looking around. "People rarelye here, so this might as well be the best the monsters would want. Regardless, is there a dungeon here?"


    "There is, but it is three days away further North," Sauros replied. "We would be way off course if we headed there."


    "Are you that thirsty for battle?" Seris asked.


    "No, I just felt like asking," Aion said. "Anyway, I will scout ahead once we stop, and I need some real moving targets."


    The weather was a bit too warm for Aion''s tastes, but he could tell that such a thing would improve their trip. Citric fruits will be easy to find, and they go along quite well with fish and simr types of food. With some ice magic and a bit of sugar, Aion could make some decent juice. Adding that to the sun and the ocean around, Aion could rx quite a bit¡­ if only he could calm down a little and leave his training aside for a day or two¡­


    Sauros decided to stop near an ind that was pretty big, and it even had a tall mountain on it. Aion was the first tond on the beach, and he immediately felt some eyesing from the forest around the mountain. That will be a good training session¡­


    "We rarely stop here, so we don''t know the terrain very well. I would advise not to go too far," Sauros said.


    "No problem," Aion said and then summoned his bow.


    "Conveniently, we have a reckless kid that is willing to do such a dangerous job for us, don''t you think?" Seris asked.


    "Don''t talk like that¡­" Sauros said and then sighed. "He may be reckless from our perspective, but maybe that willingness to put himself in danger made him so strong and resourceful."

 Chapter 180 Hunt

    After passing through some trees, Aion noticed that the Ind was quite silent. There was no sound of insects¡­ only the sound of the wind against the vegetation. Although Aion could find the targets by using his mana around, he didn''t want to spoil the surprise. Besides, that would be good training for his reaction speed. He had to use all of these opportunities wisely.


    In the end, Aion''s instincts began to warn him when he had walked more than one hundred meters. The monsters around were pretty smart. They decided to make him approach in order to give him fewer chances of running away.


    All of a sudden, Aion heard the sound of wings pping pretty fast, and when he looked above, he saw some giant blue bees. They were on the size of humans, and their sting was half of their size¡­ so it was pretty much a short sword.


    When the bees left the safety of the tree''s foliage, they flew in a straight line toward Aion''s head. Since the level of the ss wasn''t high, his speed also had decreased a lot. Still, Aion jumped and rolled to the ground at thest moment, and when he turned around to Aim at the monsters, he saw them flying upward in arge arc.


    Thanks to that, Aion had an easy time reading their movements, and when they began to turn around, one of them got an arrow on their heads.


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    "Oh, not bad¡­" Aion thought.


    The other bees turned around and then suddenly began to fly in opposite directions. Still, their arc turned toward him again¡­ For a bunch of stupid monsters, they knew a thing or two about ambushes.


    Aion selected his target and then nocked his arrow. He waited until thest moment to see if the monsters would let one of them be sacrificed in order for the other to get the prey¡­ They did exactly that..  still, instead of attacking, Aion lowered his stance while throwing himself on the ground and turned around. When the monsters were right side by side, he fired, and the arrow pierced both of them.


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    "Hmm, this was different than I had envisioned¡­ I wanted to snip the targets instead of learning how to fight with a bow at a close range," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    ? In any case, Aion made his weapon absorb the monsters, and then he got some fur, meat that certainly wasn''t supposed to be Eaten, blue wings, and the blue sting that had a small sleeping effect. The stings could be used to enhance the long bow, and their quality was pretty good, so it would increase its power pretty fast.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Training like that was fine, and all, but Aion wanted to hone his enhancing skills. So, he used his mana to find the location of the hidden bees nearby. He thought that they would be close to a hive, but he didn''t find anything like that with his mana.


    The enemies that were hidden behind the foliage, Aion managed to snipe, and while his arrows probably could pierce the trees if he used Power Shot, that would be too noisy. He just moved to the side and then sniped the monsters without getting too close. Aion already knew that when hunting, he had to be wary of the wind for his smell not to reveal his position. The wind could also cover his mistakes, like stepping on branches when approaching the target¡­ As long as it is against him.


    Aion had the chance to put all that knowledge into practice. So when he had a hard time finding enemies, he returned to the Beach feeling aplished. He hoped to find a beehive and some honey since it would be great materials, but that would be forter.


    "You are back. We still are working on getting the supplies," Sauros said. "But we should finish it soon since you dealt with the monsters."


    "That was refreshing," Aion said. "Anyway, this stop will cost us what, two or three days?"


    "Exactly two days," Sauros said. "I was nning to stop somewhere, but I think we should hurry up to our next destination. Getting what he wants will make our possible enemies warier of us. We can use that to make them think too much and be unable to read our moves."


    "I don''t like the idea of ignoring this problem, but we have more pressing matters to attend to," Seris said. "This mission will alreadyst for a while, so we can''t afford to waste any more time. We will have to get supplies using other means. As for the information that we usually get while traveling around¡­ It isn''t like we can do anything about it until we finish this mission."


    It seemed that those two had already made their choice¡­ Focus on the mission and leave that problem forter. The only issue is that if the problem gets in the way of the mission again.


    "Do you guys have informants in the next country?" Aion asked.


    "We do, but things are moreplex this time," Sauros replied.


    "Aside from what we told you of our next destination, that country is also a superpower that is always trying to expand its territories. That is why they became thergest kingdom of the current era," Seris added. "They are always waging war against their neighbors. Still, while they have a ruler, their power isn''t centralized. The reason for that is the fact that every few years, the new ruler is determined by the general who has the most soldiers and has aplished more than the others."


    That really seemed like a weird country, but what Aion heard was just the beginning. Since it was an extremely militaristic country, the armies didn''t cooperate with one another. Hence, gathering intel about battles was difficult since the generals could use that against each other.

 Chapter 181 Warring Kingdom

    "In Everia kingdom, military might is everything. Even amoner can be a king if they show that and the capacity to build and lead an army," Seris said. "Thank to all that, they use all means possible to be famous. Capturing bandits, defeating enemy generals, and also killing spies¡­ those are the main methods that they use to raise their fame. In the past, the generals also challenged each other to duels to death to obtain each other''s armies, but that stopped when the instability of the kingdom reached critical levels."


    To achieve as much as possible, the generals used spies to gather as much Intel as possible about everything while also preventing Intel from leaking. Thus, making it harder for everyone to know what is going on in that kingdom. Invading and not standing out will be harder, finishing their business without a fight will be even harder, and if they take their time, they might have to fight against several armies.


    "To obtain might over other armies, the generals are always looking for ways to be stronger and aplish more," Sauros said. "Poison, monsters, siege weapons, study battle tactics, most of the time, they focus on a single thing to reach the peak on that field. Just fighting won''t be enough. We have to y it smart."


    The first destination seemed to be quite a difficult ce to go, but Aion was quite looking forward to it. The only downside of all that was the fact that he had to be wary of not revealing his identity.


    After hearing that, Aion felt even more eager to improve the sniper ss since he wasn''t famous for using a bow and because it was a pretty efficient method of defeating enemies.


    In any case, six dayster, Sauros called everyone to the captain''s cabin to talk about the next ns. He drew a rough map of the kingdom that they were heading to, and their destination was right in the middle of it.


    "To reach our destination, we will have to cross two thousand kilometers. It will be quite the trip, but with Aion''s power, we should be able to move faster," Sauros said. "However, we will have to take only a few with us to avoid looking suspicious while gathering intel."


    "Can''t we just head into a straight line to the temple?" Seris asked.


    "We could, but the generals of that kingdom are always on the move, and where they go, their armies go," Sauros replied. "I think it would be better if we learn who are the closest generals to the temple to devise a feasible n and avoid surprises."


    That was more or less expected, but they had no idea for how long they would have to be in enemy territory. So, it would be a bit risky to let everyone to wait for them near the coast without knowing when they will return and if they will return. Aion wasn''t even considering the possibility of failure. Still, Sauros was, for the sake of his allies, that would stay on the ship.


    "The enemy coast is quiterge, so the ones who will stay behind will have to follow a schedule to where you should be in the next few weeks," Sauros said. "We might have to deal with some blockades."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Even in the air?" Aion asked.


    "I told you, they use all kinds of methods to obtain the upper hand in wars, even monsters," Sauros said. "They have some dungeons here, and they let those break free so that they can tame the creatures. Flying monsters are no exceptions. While you might be able to fight in the air, we wouldn''t be able to do it. Besides, it might be dangerous to force you to do two things at the same time."


    Actually, that wasn''t a problem. The real problem was to use Meditation when he wasn''t with the mage ss. With that ss, he could alleviate the work on his mind while flying. However, his magic power would decrease by at least half.


    "I really don''t like the idea of walking around in enemy territory when they are like that," Aion said. "Are the generals really troublesome?"


    "You might have defeated guys like Caelis and Horis, but they aren''t at the top when ites to martial strength and tactics," Sauros said. "You should have realized that they were quite dumb."


    "It isn''t like I am trying to make look my victories over them better, but while they put their pride on the line over anything else, they still used decent battle tactics," Aion said.


    "That is the problem. The generals don''t care about that. They care about results, so you won''t be able to fool them," Sauros said. "They won''t attack you directly until they know they can defeat you. They will keep sending their minions one after the other until you reveal all of your cards, and you can''t surprise them anymore."


    That seemed like a problem. Without the necromancer ss, Aion''s ability to face armies was severelycking. His longbow will help, but even so, his options will be limited against the people that are still looking for ways to open the barrier around one of the temples. Their minions probably won''t hesitate, and there is nothing more annoying than an enemy that has no qualms about sacrificing themselves to obtain victory¡­


    "I devised the route for you all to follow for the next month, and it covers the entire coast of the Everia kingdom. If we take too long to return, you just have to repeat the pattern until you hear anything about us or something out of the norm," Sauros said. "If that were to happen, you have the orders to leave immediately."


    Staying one month on enemy territory¡­ Aion wanted to avoid such a scenario at all costs. That being said, Sauros was being cautious for a reason. The mission was dangerous and all kinds of things could happen there.

 Chapter 182 Not Caring Anymore

    Around noon of the next day, the speed of the ship decreased a little, and when night came, Aion could see the shadows of the continent in the distance again. It was finally time for the mission to start, but he didn''t look that nervous.


    They only got close enough to give Aion enough room to make the group fly to that kingdom. There was a beach nearby, but Aion headed further until hended on a grove since he saw some shadows moving on the beach¡­ Shadows of monsters.


    "We already found them pretty soon," Aion said.


    "As I said, they let the dungeon breaks happen in order to tame monsters, but they also spread and multiply around the kingdom, which gives room for everyone to hunt them and get stronger," Sauros exined.


    "I can see more silhouettes of monsters ahead," Seris said.


    Aion looked at them and sighed. He couldn''t dispose of the corpses with his weapon, and killing them and leaving a trail would be a bad idea. It was such a pity to leave such valuable experience and materials behind¡­


    The shadows of the monsters were of giant crabs. When they got too close, the creatures pointed their ss at them and fired a powerful water st. Aion blocked that with a wind wall and then fired a wind de through it, increasing its power. When it hit the monster, it split them in half. Their had firepower but no defense.


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    "Ah, screw it¡­" Aion said and then touched the body with his staff making it disappear.


    "Don''t worry. We know that you have more than a few secrets, and we won''t pry and bother you," Sauros said.


    "If you can fight and destroy the evidence of our moves, there is nothing else to say," Seris said.


    That was convenient and very understanding of them. Still, Aion could tell that they were itching to ask what he had done¡­ putting that aside, to think that giant crabs existed in that world. Aion probably could make a killing with their meat, and he was looking forward to tasting itter.


    In any case, when the body was processed, Aion got the meat, the carapace, and a blue gem that increased ice damage and resistance to the items equipped with that. Aion had never tried that before and never saw anything like it. Still, he wondered if their effects could stack when attacked on a single magic item, and that was something he had to testter.


    "Where are we heading now?" Aion asked.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "We have an ally on the nearest port town, there is a city two hundred kilometers south of here, but it is where one of the generals of this kingdom lives. It would be a bad idea to head there first," Sauros replied. "We have one extra disguise ring for you."


    "No need," Aion said and then put a ck headband to cover his eyes, and he also stored his armor inside his inventory.


    "All right, let''s get going," Sauros said.


    Once again, the siblings were weirdly cooperative and didn''t ask how Aion could walk like that. Truth to be told, he couldn''t unless he felt the territory around with magic. Aion felt that training his senses like that eventually would improve his senses. Still, he doubted that he could do it in any other way.


    The terrain around didn''t have tall grass, and aside from a few small hills, it was well-suited for traveling around. The only real issue was the encounter rate with monsters. It was insanely high¡­ to the point that Aion felt that he was in a game. He wondered how the hell people could live like that¡­ merchants would have to go out of their way and hire mercenaries and adventurers for every single trip they made.


    "I guess that also works to improve the military might of this kingdom¡­" Aion thought. "Money isn''t a problem given the dungeon breaks make a lot more materials avable, but it is quite the risky n."


    After walking for two hours, they finally reached the port town, and fortunately, they didn''t find many guards or travelers near the entrance. None of them were being stopped either. While they could fly andnd in some dark alleys, it was better for them to try to get a feel of the level of awareness of the guards.


    In the end, the guards didn''t pay much attention to them when they crossed the gate. Sauros didn''t mention that before, but the people living in that kingdom were quite varied when it came to their skin, hair color, and body types. Since they constantly wage war and get newnds, it was only natural that such a thing was going to happen.


    They headed in a straight line to an inn where their spies managed things. Aion felt that they should travel at night to save time, but it would be hard to say if someone wouldn''t notice them entering the inn in the evening and not leaving in the morning.


    There were few people in the inn, but the group didn''t stop to talk with the manager. Instead of that, they just rented a singlerge room, and Sauros asked the man to deliver their dinner there as well. Maybe that was their modus operandi, and despite that, things still went south back in the merchants'' hell hole.


    After a while, they received their food in the room, and under Sauros'' bowl, he found a note. That was how theymunicated with the spies¡­ it wasn''t a bad idea. Still, Aion felt that something wascking, probably because he had watched too many movies about secret agents.


    Sauros sighed when he read the note and then passed it to Seris, who facepalmed after hearing about the bad news. Aion had no idea what was written there, but he eventually had his chance. In the note, it was written: the generals are heading to the capital for a tournament¡­

 Chapter 183 Rumors

    "The temple is in the capital, right?" Aion asked.


    "Yes," Sauros replied.


    "What are the chances of them knowing what is the key to opening the Barrier and that they had some of my family''s blood?" Aion asked.


    "None, even though they are only two countries away from the former territory of the Mirelis Kingdom. That kind of Information would have never arrived in this area," Sauros replied. "Even if some people that survived the war had been trying to spread the knowledge, they would be hunted down, and their words wouldn''t be taken seriously."


    "So, is this event purely coincidental?" Aion asked. "Is it around time for the new ruler to be chosen?"


    "No, the current ruler was chosen ten years ago, and she is a master assassin," Sauros said. "No one has ever seen her getting even scratched in battle, and I doubt that anyone would challenge her for at least thirty more years."


    "So, people can challenge the ruler to take their ce? This kingdom is crazy¡­" Aion said while frowning.


    "It is possible, but since the duels are to death, few people try that. After all, the armies here wouldn''t follow someone weak," Sauros said. "Anyway, our friend here doesn''t have more information, so we will have to gather more along the way."


    That was annoying, and it was another reason for them not to rush in blind to the capital. Falling for a trap along the way might be easy¡­ still, that kind of situation really made Aion frown. The timing was just too weird¡­ could it be that the ruler knew about their arrival and was preparing for battle? As far as the informant knew, only the generals were called¡­


    Despite those questions, the group went to bed since they had to wake up at first light, but they didn''t get much sleep done there due to those questions that bothered them. Fortunately, they saw a lot of travelers on foot, so they wouldn''t stand out despite the high number of encounters with monsters.


    While they were walking, the group found another group ahead when a monster approached them. Despite that, an old man didn''t even flinch and just grabbed a green whip. The weapon easily reached the beast when the creature pointed its ws at him, and the impact shocked the beast. The old man let the effect of the weapon kill the crab, and it only took ten seconds.


    "So, this ce also has studied and improved magic weapons?" Aion asked.


    "Yes, the ruler of three generations ago focused on the development and production of magic weapons. Thanks to that, their territory expanded and became what it is now," Sauros replied. "Still, they had a hard time keeping theirnds since the number of soldiers didn''t increase as much in thest fifty years."


    "How is the current leader dealing with that?" Aion asked.


    "We have no idea. Information about the current leader is as scarce as it could have been, and we only know a bit of how she fights," Sauros said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "People described her as lightning fast, to the point that she disappears, and then in the next moment, people see her attacking her target''s back," Seris added.


    To be honest, Aion was quite weak against the type¡­ he didn''t have much experience dealing with assassins. One of the reasons he wanted to improve his instincts and senses was because of that. That should help him find them first since no one can erase their magical presence.


    In any case, once they found a spot where they could hide, and no one was around to look at them, Aion created another tform, and then they began to fly. There was no way that they could cross two thousand kilometers on foot, after all.


    During that day, they stooped a few times to gather Intel, but they only heard the same thing over and over again. When the sun was setting, they reached thergest city in that region, and it was also the base of one of the generals. Although the ce was walled and several guards were at the gate, they didn''t stop anyone since a lot of people wereing and going.


    "This ce is almost as big as the capital of the Zaera kingdom, and there are a lot of people here, too," Seris said.


    "Don''t look around too much. The number of soldiers around is high, and they are good at finding people looking at them," Sauros said.


    Aion confirmed that¡­ For every three civilians they saw, one had a weapon with them, and they also looked well-built. They definitely were members of the general''s army, and they truly were left behind¡­ The others that guard the borders probably were in simr situations.


    Since the group didn''t have a spy in that city, they went to a tavern to have dinner, and then they used that chance to listen to the conversation of the people around.


    "The great general left three days ago. Does anyone know about this business? It is rare for the great ruler to call everyone at times like this."


    "No one knows what is going on. The great general didn''t tell his high-ranked officers and his family about that either. I heard that he left while looking pretty pissed, and I would say that he wasn''t informed what this was about either."


    It was a bit weird how those guys referred to their leaders when they weren''t around. Still, at least he is learning a few things. The ruler had the power to summon all the generals, but that was rare to happen. In any case, those three kept eating in silence as they listened to other people''s conversations.


    "I heard that the great ruler was studying a lot about barriers and other magical things. I wonder if all that is connected¡­"


    That didn''t bode well, and Sauros and Seris looked like that was a very difficult business situation for them¡­ They have to hurry.

 Chapter 184 Remaining Time

    The group kept moving at night after hearing that. Sauros still was confident that it was impossible for them to know the key to the barrier. Still, it was odd that one of the keys was heading toward them quite fast.


    After three days, the group reached the halfway point toward their destination. Alongside that, they found a problem. A lot of enemy soldiers were traveling southward as well, imagining that their leader was probably going into a trap. Moreover, he was only one day away, so they were in a hurry.


    "Using the roads now will be difficult," Sauros said. "Still, I believe that we should reach the capital before the generals arrive to save us from the hassle of dealing with them."


    "It isn''t like they all were covering the same distance. Some of them might have arrived," Aion said. "If a fight breaks out, the others will be informed of that, and they will hurry as well."


    "You have a point, but if we take our time with this, who knows for how long they will try to open the Barrier," Sauros said. "This might take weeks, and every day we stay near them is another day we risk giving the enemies the opportunity to find us."


    Aion was actually fine in dashing ahead to save time. He just said that in order to make them aware of the possibility. In any case, he also considered that they could take down the generals one after the other in order to avoid them getting close to the barrier. He didn''t know what the ruler of that kingdom had learned after studying magic for a while. Still, he knew that they couldn''t take any risks when it came to their goal¡­


    If they hurried up, Aion was confident that they could reach the capital in one day and a half. Still, the issue was the fact that the general was in a hurry, and he was changing carriages along the way, so his movement speed was quite high. Aion and the others will have only a day of advantage over that general. If the others were doing the same, then they were in a race against time.


    "Royal blood is the key to opening the Barrier, right?" Aion asked. "Can''t you guys take a bit of mine to open the Barrier? I want to make a diversion that will lure the generals."


    "The blood must be alive for that to work¡­ it has to be fresh and still leaving the wound. That won''t work," Sauros said. "Maybe I should have asked for the others to create a diversion in the coast¡­ but I guess it would be suspicious if only a single ship attacked."


    "Let''s forget about that and focus on what we can do," Seris said. "This will make you get mentally tired, but I will use my power to make you recover mana faster."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Your power certainly is convenient¡­ Are you sure that you guys can use that freely?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "Yes, many people over the ages checked the limits of our power, but nothing was found," Sauros exined. "We didn''t get sick or older faster than the others. The only downside is the kids that have half of our blood only manage to be as half as effective as the others inparison."


    That was convenient¡­ to the point that Aion wondered if they weren''t like him and had the blood of that guy that fought alongside his ancestor. That would exin a lot¡­ in any case, thanks to Seris'' help, Aion managed to make Meditation improve a lot. They crossed around seventy percent of the remaining path in a single night. Still, Aion was forced to stop since he was mentally exhausted, and the tform was trembling while flying. In the morning, they stopped until noon, and then they resumed their journey to reach their destination around dinner time.


    The capital of the Everia kingdom was massive. Despite that, it didn''t have any walls, and the city was still being expanded every day. While the houses and buildings built with wood and stone barely had any order or semnce to each other, at least they were built while considering the streets and the districts they were in. Even at night, Aion could see thousands of peopleing and going¡­ the whole ce was at least three times bigger than the capital of the Zaera kingdom, which housed around half a million people.


    In the central part of the city, one could find two things that really stood out. One of them was a gigantic but rough castle that was one kilometer long and wide and had at least seven floors, made of rough but sturdy stone, and on the side, there was an empty area. It was supposed to be empty because the barrier couldn''t be seen.


    In the center of that ce, they could see a small building, and the temple was probably below it. While they were there, they noticed hundreds of people walking around that area and at least fifty guards guarding the castle and the barrier at a single point where the entrance was supposed to be.


    "I guess we won''t enter the temple quietly¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    "We should wait untilte in the night to check again," Sauros said. "Aion needs to rest, and we will use that time to check how many generals have arrived already."


    The groupnded in a dark alley, and then they looked for an inn. It didn''t take long for them to find it since the ce was always bustling with visitors. In any case, while the others were gathering Intel, Aion was resting on a bed. He knew that no matter what, the chances of them invading the temple without being noticed were close to zero. Aion could try with Furtivity, but if the enemies managed to find the barrier entrance, they would be able to notice his approach¡­ they needed a diversion.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 185 Powerful Blow

    Aion could use his death knights to cause amotion and make them disappear by changing sses. However, where should he send them? Making them attack random ces and involve civilians wasn''t something he wanted to do¡­


    After thinking for a while, Aion decided to send his death knights to the entrances of the city and make them attack the guards. If they focus on drawing their attention, they should be able to make some noise. In any case, Aion made them fly outside the capital and told them to attack at midnight. That should be enough for the time being¡­


    "It looks like of the seven generals, three of them are already here," Sauros opened the door and then said. "We don''t want to fight with any of them, so we will need to hurry. Seris and I aren''t exactly well-versed in causingmotion and fighting many enemies. Still, we will do that, and then you will enter the temple as fast as you can."


    "I already solved that problem. Some allies will make a diversion at midnight," Aion said. "The real problem is how I can fight without using magic and without showing who I am¡­ I managed to fight with my spear before because of the darkness of the night, but things will be different now. That part of the city is well-lit, after all."


    "Can''t you turn that weapon into something less shy?" Sauros asked.


    "I can, but I am not that experienced using anything aside from spears, swords, and bows. I am also a bit famous back home while wearing two short axes, but¡­" Aion said while thinking of his sses.


    Aion had a certain idea that mighte in handy once they found themselves surrounded¡­ it might be a bit dangerous, but it was the best he coulde up with to buy time. As long as they leave the city, Aion will be able to fight at full power, after all. He only needed to pull that off.


    After preparing themselves for half an hour, the group left the inn and began to cross the city using the roofs of the buildings nearby. Eventually, they were standing at the top of a massive warehouse that had a clear view of the castle and the barrier.


    "In the end, you guys didn''t learn why the generals areing?" Aion asked.


    "No¡­ rumors say that the ruler of this kingdom hasn''t appeared in public in several weeks, and she only sent a raven to call the generals, nothing else," Sauros replied.


    "This is really as annoying as it is worrisome¡­" Seris said. "Anyway, what is the n after your diversion?"


    "When you see me about to attack, you jump and protect your face, your entire face," Aion said. "That is all."


    Seris looked at her brother, and he just shrugged. Aion wasn''t the type to joke around in such important moments¡­ often, but that sure was annoying. She wanted to ask more questions about what the hell he had in mind and how he created a diversion by himself, but then she noticed that the atmosphere had changed a bit.


    When everyone looked around, they noticed that some people were suddenly moving to the entrances of the capital, and when they focused their hearing, they could hear some weak shouts in the distance. Aion''s diversion was already working¡­ they waited for a few minutes until they saw some of the guards around the castle and the barrier moving. Around one-third of them left, but the others strengthened the guard around the entrances.


    "Let''s go," Aion said after he changed his ss and then reset it to change the build.


    Monk Lv 45


    Health: 578/578


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 78/78


    Strength: 221 + 36


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01 + 36<novelnext></novelnext>


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 36


    Status: 00


    Gauntlets Refinement Lv 36


    Bonuses: Strenght + 36, Speed + 36, Endurance + 36


    Skills: Palm Strike Lv 01, Wolf Fang Lv 01, Chaotic Punch Lv 15 (Power Lv 100)


    Passive: Physical Training Lv 01, Brutality Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 32


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.387.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Although Aion didn''t level up much in the Monk ss recently, he managed to ovee that problem by allocating all the status points to strength and increasing the power and level of Chaotic Punch. That strategy could also be pulled off with the Warrior ss, but the hammer was too big, while the gauntlets could be thought of as gloves as well.


    In any case, after jumping through some roofs, the group got close enough for the enemies to notice their approach. They readied themselves to attack, but then Aion jumped with all his might toward them. They couldn''t see his appearance thanks to his dark cloak, but they knew that a fifty meters jump couldn''t be pulled off by everyone. They readied themselves, but Aion onlynded in front of them and then punched the ground¡­


    The impact of the attack caused a shockwave that sent the soldiers flying to dozens of meters away. It also opened arge crater and raised arge dust cloud. That was what Aion was aiming for¡­


    "Cough, cough¡­ so this was your n," Seris said. "As expected of you, this is quite brute, but what about the entrance?"


    "Never mind that. He already opened the barrier," Sauros said.


    With the dust cloud, no one saw how Aion opened it, but once those two crossed it, and then Aion stopped touching it, the barrier closed again. The only problem was that the barrier blocked the dust¡­ so the people around that escaped the impact of the attack saw them inside.


    "I guess it can''t be helped¡­" Aion thought while he ran toward the entrance of the temple.


    Weirdly enough, the building that was above looked like a really old and abandoned house. Still, they found a long staircase that waspletely fine even after years without maintenance¡­ Regardless, they went down in a hurry.

 Chapter 186 A Man And A Book

    The group expected to see many things inside the temple¡­ but not a staircase that went down for hundreds of meters. For some odd reason, they couldn''t even see the light at the bottom¡­ one could even think that things were built like that to make them waste time.


    "The heck is this shit?" Aion asked.


    "This is a ce built by your ancestors¡­ you should at least watch yournguage," Sauros said.


    "As if we have time to think about this¡­ can you imagine the pain it will be to go up?" Aion asked. "The diversion is running away now, so the enemies will have the chance to surround us."


    "Putting that aside¡­ how is your hand?" Sauros asked. "You broke it, and several fingers started to bleed. That was why you opened the barrier so fast."


    "This is nothing," Aion said.


    Actually, Aion was about to scream like a little girl, but his pride prevented him from doing that. Now that he thinks about it opening the entrance to leave the barrier will be hard since the enemies will have the chance to see him doing so. He had to think of a way to prevent that. That being said, the relices first.


    While they were going down the stairs, Aion realized that the next diversion would have to be even more powerful¡­ attacking with the same fist would be the same as asking for a dominatrix to kick him in the balls. Aion will have to use the other hand after using some coins to increase his endurance.


    After going down for ten minutes, the group finally found a light deep in that endless hole. Aion was in such a hurry that he jumped without care. He didn''t consider that his ancestors might haveid traps along the way. Still, that would be insane since only those with his blood could cross the barrier. Unless they wanted to prank him.


    When theynded on the floor of the final part of the temple, they saw another part that looked like it hadn''t aged a bit in three thousand years. While things down there didn''t look fancy like a castle, the floor sure was sparkling, the columns were massive, and they still looked like someone put a lot of care into them. The walls were pretty in, even though Aion expected to see some messages from his ancestors. Even though he didn''t find anything in the first temple.


    "I almost can picture her lonely face when she made all this¡­" Sauros said.


    "The goddess, huh¡­e to think of it, this sure looks like a ce built by someone who felt pretty lonely while doing so," Seris added.


    Aion didn''t want to be any more disrespectful. Still, he wished that his ancestor had built that ce and written something useful instead of just grieving over the loss of her friends¡­ Aion at least knew that he couldn''t even bring himself to understand her pain. Trying so hard to save the world and then lose the people that she wanted to save the world for¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    The group headed to the other side of the room and eventually found arge table where they found a statue. Which was a bit different from the other one¡­ after checking his inventory, Aion noticed that the first had the shape of a man with a sword, and the second had the shape of a man with a book¡­ he wondered if they had a reason to look like that.


    "You can store things inside your weapon, right, Aion?" Sauros said. "If something happens, the statue will be safe with you."


    "You guys sure have a lot of faith in me, and you never ask anything about the things that I can do¡­" Aion said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "It isn''t like you would answer if we asked," Sauros shrugged.


    He had a point, but Aion still was suspicious of their behavior. In any case, before touching the statue, Aion felt the surroundings with his magic for any kind of trap, but he didn''t notice anything. He eventually grabbed the weapon and didn''t feel any changes either, so he stored it away.


    "Now we have to think of a way to escape without revealing anything about the barrier," Sauros said. "Let''s do that while we climb the stairs.


    That will take a while, so they might as well save some time. It took a few minutes for them to reach the top of the building, but at that point, they didn''te up with any decent n. Aion could attack with his wounded hand to open the Barrier and erect another dust cloud, but that would make everyone suspicious and think that he was the key.


    "I guess we will have to risk it," Sauros said. "Aion, if you fire an arrow with your blood toward the enemies and Serie enhances your technique, it should make everyone lose their focus for a moment."


    "What if he attacks the ce where the barrier is?" Seris asked. "The impact will raise dust on both sides.


    "They still will connect the dots since they definitely attacked the barrier in many ways," Sauros said...


    "Aw, screw it, this is too much of a pain," Aion said. "Everything will be fine as long as I keep my face hidden. Your disguise ring would help, but I will end up damaging it. Anyway, follow me and cover your faces because the next attack will be even worse."


    Aion had healed his hands, but another attack, and this time stronger, certainly will undo the healing and make it even worse¡­ still, Aion left the building, and hundreds of people around looked at him. They raised their weapons when Aion began to dash, but then they protected their faces when Aion jumped and then crossed the barrier. In thest moment, he used Inner Release and then punched the ground. The impact on the ground made Aion feel his blood run cold due to the pain, but at the same time, it made the entire city tremble¡­

 Chapter 187 Chasing

    Aion''s attack had been so intense that some buildings nearby got some cracks due to the tremor. The dust curtain was so thick andrge that no one thought of approaching. Someone with that much punch power couldn''t be taken lightly.


    The soldiers began to surround the dust cloud, but even before that could happen, some of the people noticed that the group had vanished. They looked around in shock and anger.


    "Bring the bloodhounds and Bloodbees! The enemies have escaped, but they must be around!" Someone shouted.


    It was fortunate that they didn''t even think that Aion and the others were flying above the capital. Or maybe they considered that since they called the Bloodbees¡­ that was a type of creature that Aion had never heard of before.


    "Are you all right, Aion?" Sauros asked. "Your face is blue."


    "I ampletely fine," Aion said.


    "You are also sweating cold," Seris said.


    "It must be the chilling wind of the night," Aion said.


    Truth be told, breathing alone was enough to make Aion feel like hundreds of needles were piercing his arm. He was healing it, but Aion lost twenty percent of his total health, and that damage was on that arm alone. It would take a while to heal it.


    In any case, they were in a hurry, so they left the capital quite fast, but then the monsters under the enemy''s control finally caught sight of them. They were high enough for humans not to see them, but it would be better if theynded and didn''t let the enemies think that they could fly like that.


    "We are going tond on the fields ahead," Aion said. "The area is pretty dark, but the enemies are getting horses to catch up to us."


    "I can make my magic improve our running speed. We will get tired faster as well, though," Seris said.


    "Use it. We can''t let them surround us," Sauros dered.


    Running with the necromancer wasn''t a good idea, so Aion changed it to Spearman, and then Seris touched their shoulders when theynded. Their bodies began to move faster than before, but Aion only noticed his legs changing. That kind of magic probably is too hard to control when it is used to buff an entire body, so she focused only on the lower half.


    Some bloodhounds finally could see the group, but they were unable to catch up. However, the blood bees were another matter. They flew quite fast and targeted Seris'' head, and Aion swung his spear with lightning speed and then split them in half.


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    You obtained 300 experience points.<novelnext></novelnext>


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    "For how long this will¡­ ah, ten seconds," Aion said.


    "I can keep using this on myself freely, but on you two¡­" Seris said.


    "Let''s use it sparingly," Sauros said. "I saw two of the generals near the barrier, and I don''t know if the st of the attack actually wounded them, though. They might catch up to us pretty soon."


    Aion wouldn''t mind fighting them. If they are strong enough to put his life at risk, they will be a great addition to his army of death knights. It was a pity that he couldn''t use them whenever he wanted¡­ he had already revealed some of his powers. Still, Aion couldn''t go too far and ended up making all sorts of people wary of him. Even more so on that kind of mission where he was picking a fight with many groups.


    Just as they had expected, a lot of horsemen began to chase them, and some were quite big. Aion imagined that the generals were among that group. Still, to think they would need horses to catch up¡­ they were being careful, or they were nothing special.


    When some of the bloodhounds got close to the horsemen, Aion turned around for a second and then used Double Shot. The two monsters weren''t killed, but the pain they felt made them stumble and hit some of the horses. Aion turned around with his spear in hand already and then dashed and easily caught up with the others.


    "While that was nice, we can''t keep fighting them like this forever," Sauros said.


    "Of course, we can. You just have to keep your pace," Aion said. "Leave those morons to me."


    "You forgot what I said earlier?" Sauros asked. "The generals will keep sending their minions to tire us out and learn our skills. There is a group behind that isn''t approaching or going away, and they must be there¡­"


    Aion looked backward for a short while, and he confirmed that such a group was there. They couldn''t see each other clearly, but what they were doing was obvious. Aion wondered if he could target their horses with a charged Power Shot, but he couldn''t move while doing that. He would need an earth tform¡­


    "We need to get rid of the monsters and then create a diversion to escape," Seris said. "I can''t focus on using attacks now that can kill the monsters, but you can leave the diversion to me."


    More Bloodbees were approaching, so it was hard to imagine that they would be able to pull that off so easily. Aion could try to tame all the monsters, but that would be way too suspicious. Still, he had another idea¡­ When several of the bees approached them, Aion split two of them with his spear and stabbed the other. Soon after, he swung his weapon again, but he sent the body flying to that group of horsemen using wind magic.


    The body flew at super Sonic speeds, but the corpse was split in two even before it could reach one of the targets. Not even Aion saw what had happened, but it was clear that one of the generals showed their power¡­


    "They will be worth adding to my collection¡­ still, I wonder if the assassin woman is among them," Aion thought.

 Chapter 188 Baiting

    After running for ten minutes, the pursuers realized that the invaders weren''t going to run out of stamina, and when the monsters got too close, they were disposed of in a single instant.


    The generals still couldn''t believe that a single person had managed to make the entire area tremble. The reason for that was the fact that they tried to run instead of fighting. That made them think that the enemy''s power was either really situational or that they only used that to scare them.


    Although that wasn''t like them, the generals decided to attack instead of waiting for a while longer. They couldn''t risk losing thergest in the darkness of the night, and they were too far away from the capital to receive any backup, so it was time to move. They couldn''t lose those who entered the temple and got whatever was there¡­


    Aion noticed the atmosphere changing¡­ he could almost see the bloodlust being emanated from the pursuers. They were finally about to make their move.


    "No matter what happens, keep running," Aion dered to his allies.


    Sauros and Seris nodded since they also could feel that something had changed. The group that wasn''t approaching suddenly increased their speed, and when they got within range, they jumped from the horses and toward Aion''s group. Seris increased their movement speed and dodged the attack. However, afternding, one of them still charged at them like a train.


    Aion turned around and then blocked the swing of an ax with his spear. Thanks to the darkness of the night, he barely had a chance to dodge, and because of his stance, the enemy pushed him backward. The other two enemies passed by him, and even though it was a golden chance for them to finish him¡­ it seemed that they didn''t want to cooperate¡­


    Aion could use that chance in his favor. Still, he had to prevent the other guys from catching Seris and Sauros. While they could defend themselves, it would be better if they kept running. Until the enemies can no longer chase them, and then they will have enough room to defeat the generals.


    When Aion stopped being pushed, he raised his legs and then kicked the enemy''s chest, and then flew in the opposite direction. After spinning in the air a few times, Aionnded already facing the enemies'' back, and then he dashed with all his might.


    He failed to see their backs as well, but when he swung his weapon at their heads, Aion saw that one of them was a woman armed with a whip and another was a dual-wielding sword. Both of them turned around to attack him. The woman used her whip to get Aion''s spear, and she seeded while the other blocked Aion''s attack. From behind, Aion heard the sound of an ax warrior dashing toward him.


    Aion used Inner Release for a second and then pulled the woman to the side and made her collide with the swordsman. He jumped over them and freed his weapon before kicking them in the back and then making them collide against the axe warrior. When they fell to the ground, Aion sped up and then approached Sauros and Seris.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "That was impressive, but I thought you had two chances to defeat them there¡­" Seris said.


    "They were baiting me, " Aion said. "As your brother said, they are strong, but they didn''t show their true strength yet. They are using each other for that. I could feel their stares even when they were running toward you two. The ax guy could have kicked me as well since the weight of his attack almost made me bend my body. They are a crafty bunch¡­"


    "The speed of the ax general confirms that they are more than just brute strength and knowledge on how to wage war," Sauros said. "I guess even without horses, and they can easily catch up to us¡­"


    They noticed that the generals were approaching again¡­ although they stumbled on each other, that was something that Aion pulled off because they were openings on purpose. In any case, Aion knew that he had to take them down one at a time once the others were far away enough not to attack him.


    Although the ax guy knew that the other generals were using him, he didn''t hesitate to charge toward the group like an unstoppable train. He probably could be faster than Aion if he runs in a straight line and under normal conditions¡­ Still, it was time to put him in his ce¡­


    Aion turned around and then prepared to stab the enemy''s head with a powerful thrust, but then the enemy reacted in time to swing his ax and block the attack. Aion used Inner Release, but he still lost the exchange because the impact and the vibration made him flinch.


    His spear was pushed to the side, and then the ax guy tried to split Aion in half. With his equal speed without Inner Release and with his extra finesse, Aion moved to the side and dodged the attack. Soon after, he hit the enemy''s face with his left elbow. Still, then the swordsman approached even faster than before, targeting his neck.


    Aion tried to move to the side but underestimated the enemy''s speed, and one of the des almost cut his cheek. The woman used her whip and swung the tip of the weapon in a straight line toward Aion''s face. He blocked it with his spear¡­ they sure wanted to destroy the fact that his mother liked it so much.


    Before Aion could do much, the ax general was already up and swinging his weapon, ready to split him and the swordsman in two. The swordsman jumped backward with all his might, and after spinning in the air several times, hended beside the whip general. As for Aion, he jumped backward just enough to dodge the attack and to be on the height of the ax guy before kicking his face and using it as support to gain some distance over them¡­ he was starting to like that.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 189 Hidden Power

    "I knew that defeating them wouldn''t be easy, but¡­" Aion thought while he was running away from those three again. "Even when they want to sacrifice each other for the win, they have a weird synergy."


    Maybe Aion could try to finish that sooner, but he had to wait for his bones to mend, at least. His mother told him how to focus on certain aspects of the healing magic to make it more effective, but even so, everything has limits.


    "I guess this is another good lesson for me¡­ don''t use your dominant arm like shit, you dumbass," Aion thought. "I need to be more wary of this kind of thing in the future..."


    "You look pissed, is the pain in your arm still a problem?" Seris asked. "I was nning to enhance your whole speed to deal with them as fast as possible, but¡­"


    "It is fine. I just need some time," Aion said. "We don''t need to hurry. We just need to tire them out, all of the pursuers, and then we will win this."


    "I don''t think it will be that easy¡­ the generals also are mutated people. They have abilities that enhance their natural strength," Sauros said.


    Aion forgot about that¡­ he totally forgot to consider that since he had so many things on his mind. The battlefield was the perfect ce for people to awaken that kind of power, training was useful for people to improve certain skills, but a lot of people can only show progress while they are really fighting.


    Those three together already were a problem¡­ Aion had to deal with them before they could use the skills that they had obtained. Those three generals began to chase Aion''s group again, and the ax general seemed even more pissed than before. He got kicked in the face, and that probably would annoy the most prideful of the enemies.


    All of a sudden, the ax general threw his weapon at Aion, and he barely had the chance to turn around and block it. When he thought of sending the weapon to his inventory, the general approached instantly and punched him in the gut. Aion felt that¡­ his body was paralyzed for a moment since that ss had close to zero endurance.


    In that short window of time, the general picked up his weapon and then swung it to behead Aion. However, Seris touched his shoulder, and then his speed increased to lower his stance and then aim his weapon at the enemy''s head. However, the whip general went for Aion''s eyes with her weapon, and the swordsman attacked him from the other side.


    Sauros threw a rock in the middle of the group that turned into sand and blinded them, and he also pulled Aion by the cor, who had nned to follow his attack anyway. Under normal circumstances, he would have pulled that off, but the pain he felt by blocking the throw and the attack on the gut dulled his speed, and he didn''t notice that.


    "You are more hot-blooded than you look like," Sauros said. "Didn''t you just say that we need to be a bit patient? The backup of the pursuers is decreasing in number every minute."<novelnext></novelnext>


    They had been running for a while, so Aion confirmed that¡­ moreover, they were faster than horses under normal circumstances. So, most people couldn''t follow them.


    "Be patient. I have an idea of how to deal with them all at once," Sauros said. "We just need to be sure that no one is around to bother us when the timees."


    Aion nodded and then changed to the Guardian ss. Everyone around frowned when the spear suddenly became two objects. That was beyond anything they had seen until now¡­ that wasn''t supposed to be weird since Sauros and Seris saw the bow and the quiver appearing together.


    The ax general threw his weapon again, but he had sensed that Aion was about to do something, so he charged at the same time. In the end, Aion turned around to block the weapon, and then he used Shield Swing to move it to the side and block the enemy''s punch. The impact of both attacks pushed those two away from each other.


    The generals noticed that the power and sharpness of the skill had been a lot better than before, and they realized that it was due to the fact that Aion used his left arm. They recalled that Aion''s previous punch had beennded with his right arm¡­ his movements were slugging on the right side¡­ he was wounded there.


    When the enemies noticed that, they prepared themselves to take advantage of it. The ax general, while dashing at Aion, changed his posture and moved his great ax to his left side, and then swung his weapon horizontally. Aion moved his body to block the attack with the shield, but the enemy still managed to make him groan in pain due to the vibration alone¡­


    "Urgh¡­" Aion grunted. "Full swing attacks sure are bothersome."


    The other two generals kept their distance and let the axe general attack Aion freely. They were starting to get away from Seris and Sauros, but then Aion jumped slightly when another attack came. The full power of the enemy sent Aion flying, and hended in front of his allies. His arms didn''t absorb the impact that well, but it couldn''t have been helped¡­


    "Those attacks aren''t going to help your wounds¡­ I will distract them with these diversions," Sauros said with some rocks in his hands.


    Before Aion could say anything, the ax general charged again, and then Sauros threw a rock at him. He blocked it with his ax, but the sand still got on his face and forced him to retreat. The same thing happened several times¡­ until the ax general snapped. When the general charged again, Sauros used another rock, but he didn''t try to block this time, and when it touched his face, it flew back at Sauros¡­

 Chapter 190 Reflection

    Sauros probably could have stopped the rock from turning into sand. Still, his reaction speed was messed up thanks to the surprise, so the group was suddenly obstructed by a wall of sand. Aion had many things to say about that, but he had to ignore it because the ax general approached and swung his ax.


    Aion used his shield to block the attack, but the impact pushed his body away, and he felt like his left arm was being ripped off, and it was pushed to his back, leaving him wide open. With the enemy''s power to repel attacks, Aion couldn''t put any force behind his attacks or defenses. Otherwise, they would be used against him.


    The ax general swung his weapon again, but since he was too into full swings, Aion managed to move his sword toward his face. When the tip of the weapon almost pierced the enemy''s eyes, Aion noticed that the enemy had stopped moving, and he stopped as well since that was too suspicious.


    Seris touched Aion''s shoulder, and when the enemy began to move his ax again, Aion lowered his stance before raising his legs and then kicking the enemy''s chest again. This time, hended one hundred meters away¡­


    "The power of Reflection worked¡­ he attacked when it worked on the first time, so why he stopped on that other time?" Aion thought.


    Aion trained his legs well, so their power to absorb impacts was quite high. He wasn''t wounded after being pushed away way more than expected. In any case, it seemed that the enemy''s mutation had some quirks¡­


    "It seems that he is the worst type of the enemy for physical types¡­" Sauros said when he reached Aion.


    "Doesn''t that make him invincible?" Seris asked.


    "Based on Aion''s expression, I would say that isn''t the case¡­ Still, he is way too dangerous. One wrong move, and he will kill us with our best attacks," Sauros said.


    Aion couldn''t agree more¡­ he needed some extra time to think of how that skill worked based on the enemy''s actions, but he didn''t have time for that. The ax general began to charge again like a mad bull¡­ To prevent further problems, it would be better to take him down as soon as possible. Aion had the right tools for that, but it was hard to say if he could ovee that power with raw strength.


    In the end, Aion just raised his shield and didn''t put any strength behind it when the enemy attacked again. The ax general swung down his ax to prevent Aion from using that to move away. His entire body vibrated when the attack was blocked and when he began to be pushed downward. Aion realized it¡­ the enemy couldn''t keep that skill active at all times.


    Aion looked beyond the enemy and saw the two other generals keeping their distance. Still, they were close enough to see if Aion tried to pull off anything fancy¡­ he had to be patient, like Sauros said. Thates with a price, though. The ax general quickly turned around and kicked his right arm. All of the broken bones and damaged muscles made Aion flinch and sweat cold due to the pain.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Still, when the enemy tried to attack Aion''s head with his axe during that short window of time, a sharp rock suddenly hit his face and then pierced his right cheek a bit. Aion used that chance to run away since attacking now wouldn''t do any good.


    "You will make him even madder¡­ anyway, how you made a simple rock do that?" Aion asked when he caught up with the others.


    "I used my power to elerate the rock when I threw it," Seris exined.


    She really didn''t hesitate to reveal her trick. In a sense, Seris was great, but she was quite naive as well¡­ Aion''s prediction was really on point. Due to his anger, the ax general stopped holding back and then charged at Seris. Before anyone could react, he tried to split her in half while swinging his weapon. The chainmail that she was wearing and her clothes were split in half, Sauros and her watched that in absolute shock¡­ she was dead.


    Still, much to their surprise, the attack only cut the clothes and the chainmail, and while she was going to have a hard time fighting without letting her clothes fall off, she was saved, and that was what mattered.


    From those two perspectives, Aion and the general got surprised since they took a while to react. Still, Aion recovered first and then grabbed the enemy''s axe before he kicked the enemy''s face with all his might. He tried to take the weapon away, but it didn''t work. The enemy was pushed away, though. Aion could have shocked the enemy with his magic or cut off his arm. Still, he decided to wait until Sauros decided the best moment to attack.


    The group began to run again. Thanks to the previous surprise of the attack that failed, the generals didn''t charge blindly. That would give them extra time to find the perfect ce to attack¡­ Sauros looked around, and he knew that the other pursuers were long gone and they just needed a few more minutes. Then he finally realized that Aion was breathing roughly while holding his chest¡­ some liquid was dropping from his cloak as well¡­ Sauros frowned while looking at that, his cloak was fine, so it didn''t make sense that he had been injured there.


    "What happened to you? When did you get hit?" Sauros asked.


    "It is just a scratch, and I am closing the wound with my magic," Aion said. "Anyway, choose a ce to attack them already because I am getting tired of this."


    Sauros nodded. It wasn''t a good idea to fight when they didn''t know what the other two could do, but they didn''t have time. Eventually, the other generals will chase them as well.

 Chapter 191 The Power Of Time

    After a while, Sauros saw a ind ahead and confirmed that he could use that. The only problem was that he would have to use a lot of his mental strength, and he would need some time to prepare.


    "You two, buy me some time, but don''t go all out," Sauros said. "I found the perfect ce for us to fight."


    Aion and Seris nodded. It was about time for them to deal with the generals. Seris knew what her brother was about to do. So, she was determined to protect him. The only issue was how they could stop that mad bull that was the axe general. The guy was a beast without its ability, so stopping him will be a real pain in the ass¡­


    After a short while, Aion had an idea of how to deal with the ax general and turn his strength into a weakness. He transformed his shield and sword into a spear and then stopped moving when he reached the central area of the innds.


    The enemies did the same. There were no obstacles around. So, it was a weird ce to stop since it wasn''t suited for ambushes. Still, they could feel Aion''s bloodlust. He wasn''t going to run anymore, and he was dead set on finishing things there. They had no real reason to fight to the death, but since they wanted the relic, then one of those groups would have to go down.


    The generals noticed that Sauros was far behind the group, and he was concentrating on doing something. Those guys showed some weird techniques, so perhaps they shouldn''t take their time finishing them off. Still, as usual, the generals waited for the ax guy to charge first. He headed into a straight line toward Seris, and while she created two swords using her weird magic and then enhanced her movement speed, Aion attacked first.


    His spear approached at the enemy''s left eye at supersonic speeds, but the ax general saw that and stopped moving. Aion could tell that he had used his power to reflect the attack. However, Aion stopped when he was only a few centimeters away.


    "It is amazing. You can stop moving like that just by activating your skill¡­" Aion said. "After seeing it a few times, it seems that a weird aura that covers your entire body works to protect you. However, you can''t do anything while you are at it."


    When he attacked, and his skill worked, Aion got a bit confused, but he wasn''t moving at the time. He had jumped, so the momentum made him move. When the general thought of moving, Aion''s spear approached his eye a bit more, and that made the enemy flinch. For some reason, now he was faster and could attack before the enemy, even if he wasn''t the one who moved first.


    "Well done¡­ considering your voice, it seems that you are pretty young," the ax general said. "Continuing to fight now without exchanging our names would be a pity. My name is Brun. What is your name, young Warrior."


    "...My name is Maximus Dozens Meridius,mander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father of a murdered son. Husband of a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next." Aion said.


    "It seems you are here for revenge, but that doesn''t make any sense considering that you ran away until now¡­" Brun said


    Aion was a poor actor, so the enemy didn''t buy his bullshit. Still, his nonsense bought Sauros enough time. All of a sudden, a wave of energy crossed the field and everyone around it. When that happened, the wind stopped moving, and the sound of the night had disappeared. Even the generals couldn''t hide their astonishment when they noticed that the clouds had stopped moving. Sauros created a space not bound by time. Or maybe time flew inside it so fast that the time outside looked like it had stopped¡­ only he could exin that.


    Brun took a few steps backward and then joined the other generals. Even he wasn''t crazy enough to ignore what was happening.<novelnext></novelnext>


    To think that someone close by would have such a fantastic technique¡­ Aion was speechless. He wanted that. Considering his magic power, it would be useful in more ways than he could count. Still, killing an ally to obtain that kind of power wasn''t something Aion was willing to do, and he also didn''t know if he would obtain that kind of power.


    "Seris, step back," Sauros said after he took a deep sigh. "You can''t fight like that."


    "I can!" Seris said while ignoring that her shirt was about to fall off.


    "If things continue like this¡­ you will lose your shirt, Aion will lose his focus while looking at you semi-naked, and the enemies will use that chance to strike him down," Sauros said.


    "Like I care!" Seris said.


    "Dude, I am totally focused here," Aion said. "You sure have some nerve to joke around in a situation like this."


    "When you answered his question, you sure looked amused as well," Sauros said.


    Aion couldn''t deny it. Bullshiting his enemies were just too much fun, even in dangerous situations like that one. In any case, since they closed the space, Aion didn''t have to hide anything anymore. He took his armor out of his inventory and then handed it to Seris.


    "Use it, and that should cover your boobs," Aion said.


    "Despite your words, your actions prove that you might lose your focus if you look at her," Sauros said.


    "As a single and healthy man, not looking would be disgraceful to my honor and hers," Aion said.


    "My honor has nothing to do with that, pervert," Seris said.


    In any case, they forgot about that when they saw the enemies moving. Things were starting to get interesting andplicated at the same time...

 Chapter 192 Easy As Pie

    "We don''t have experience fighting together, and while they don''t want to cooperate, they still know what each other can do," Sauros said. "Let''s split up and take them on duels. Their pride won''t allow them to let them ignore the challenge."


    That seemed like a good idea, but Aion didn''t know if those two could win. He had to finish his target as soon as possible¡­ just like Sauros had nned. When they moved to the sides, the other generals followed them. The whip general targeted Seris, and the swordsman general targeted Sauros.


    Aion didn''t have time to worry about them. His right hand still needed some time to recover. He thought of using Devotion to protect them and give them a chance to attack the enemies without worrying about damage, but that would put him in a bad spot¡­ wounded and in a ss that wasn''t offensive-oriented.


    Brun seemed like he wanted to pay Seris for the wound in his face, but he still liked the idea of soloing Aion. So, he grabbed his ax with both hands and readied himself. Aion didn''t know everything about the enemy''s skill yet, but he could learn as he went, but he had to be fast¡­


    "Well then, Maximus Decimus Meridius, Let ''s have some fun," Brun said.


    "Sorry, mate," Aion said. "I only like mature women, not men."


    Brun smirked even more and dashed toward Aion. After using Force release, Aion moved to the side and dodged the attack. Before the enemy could finish the attack motion, Aion thrust his spear at the face of the target, but he just stopped moving and then used reflection. Aion stopped as well, and then the enemy saw himself in a difficult situation. While Aion kept pointing his spear at the enemy, he moved to his back since, thanks to Seris'' attack, he concluded that he couldn''t reflect on attacks he wasn''t aware of.


    Aion only kicked the back of the enemy''s knee slightly, but he still was pushed backward, and the enemy used that chance to recover himself from that stance.


    "I see¡­" Aion said.


    Before Aion could finish his sentence, the enemy charged at him. Brun couldn''t let him uncover any more answers about his power since that was too dangerous. However, Aion has already learned a lot. Brun could use his own power to make the reflected attack even greater. It was hard to say what the limitations were. Still, at least Aion learned that and that the enemy had to be conscious of the possibility of an attack instead of what Aion had assumed previously.


    Brun stopped holding back and began to swing his ax violently and in quick session. However, overhead strikes, thrusts, sideways attacks¡­ Aion dodged all of them just by moving to the side after activating Force release for a single moment.


    Aion was in a hurry, but he could fight like that until his arm was healed, and while he looked at the enemies fighting his allies. Seris was having a hard time approaching her target. Whenever she got close enough to swing her swords, the enemy would attack her face with the tip of her whip with fearsome uracy.


    Meanwhile, Sauros was only dodging the endless torrent of strikes that the enemy swordsman was using. He didn''t seem that fast, but it appeared that he could easily read the line of attack of the enemy¡­ when Brun realized that Aion wasn''t paying much attention to him, the after almost made some veins of his body explode.


    Brun used the extra power that his anger gave him and tried to split Aion with an overhead strike. As usual, Aion dodged to the side. The strike on The ground made Aion lose his bnce, giving the enemy to swing his weapon to the side and aim at his legs.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion didn''t move, and Brun felt shivers when he noticed Aion swinging his spear at his head. He was ready to sacrifice his legs as long as he could defeat the enemies. For someone so young, he sure had balls of steal. In the end, Brun stopped because he knew who was going to lose the most in that exchange¡­


    Aion sighed. At that moment, he realized how he could win that easily. The skill of the enemy was indeed powerful, but he was over-reliant on it. After using that for many years on the battlefield, he couldn''t use his head to pull off any other tricks. He might be able to use strategies during wars but not during duels.


    Aion''s sigh only made the enemy even angrier. People in that world might not know the effects of anger on their parameters, but Aion knew it. Before things could escte even further, Aion decided to end the fight since he had a bad feeling bothering him for a while.


    Brun charged again, and his flurry of attacks got even faster than before. Aion treated those like a fan, but now they were getting quite close, even when he was using Force release. Still, to snap the enemy even more, Aion closed his eyes and used his mana on the ground to sense the enemy''s next attacks¡­.


    They never came¡­ when Brun charged onest time, a huge boulder fell from the sky and then hit his head. Thanks to his rage and high endurance, Aion''s magic didn''t crush his head, but it knocked him out instantly.


    "In the end, you can''t reflect an attack that you can''t see iting," Aion said and then pierced the enemy''s heart with his spear.


    You obtained 300.000 experience points.


    The ss Spearman has leveled up.


    The ss Spearman has leveled up.


    The ss Spearman has leveled up.


    ¡­


    The enemy caused some problems for Aion, but it seemed that Sauros overestimated them¡­ or Aion''sbination of magic and physicalbat was just troublesome to deal with. All of a sudden, Aion felt a shiver, and then he looked around, only to see a cloaked person grabbing Seris'' neck from behind and then stabbing it¡­

 Chapter 193 Declaration

    Somehow, Aion managed to react on time. Even with his best magic, he couldn''t kill the cloaked figure. Nor did he have time to choose a spell. He reacted instinctively by changing his ss to Guardian and then using Devotion and Force release.


    The enemy''s knife had pierced Seris'' neck, but only a few millimeters and her artery weren''t pierced, but Aion''s was. He protected her, but even with his high defense and the help of Force release, he felt his artery being cut. Once again, the battlefield froze since no one ever saw that kind of ability before. Aion put his hand on the wound to stop the blood and heal it, but then he felt the wound burning¡­ as expected of an assassin, the knife was poisoned.


    Seris increased her speed to the limits and then grabbed the cloaked figure''s arm and tried to pull her away and smash it against the ground, but she only pulled the cloak. Another woman suddenly appeared after jumping several meters backward. She was a wall and pretty thin. She also had short ck hair and brown eyes, but she looked pretty unhealthy, like she hadn''t eaten anything decent in weeks or had seen sunlight for as long.


    "I am surprised¡­" The ck-haired woman said. "You not only blocked my attack after already had wounded her but even took the full effect of the poison. What kind of magic did you use to make that possible?"


    "Your Majesty, what are you doing here?" The swordsman suddenly approached and asked.


    Before the dark-haired woman could answer, she jumped away when Sauros suddenly approached and then smashed the spot she had been with a metal pole. No one had any idea where he took that from, but the impact cracked the ground around and made it vibrate. Sauros was pissed for a second, and no one recognized him since he always looked calm before. It was no surprise. His sister was almost killed by a cowardly attack. The most shocked person was Seris¡­


    "You are going to die here¡­" Sauros dered.


    "You are wee to try, but I can''t see you two being able to pull that off without that guy''s help," The ck-haired woman said.


    Aion was trembling and sweating all over. He was trying to fight the poison with his mana, but he couldn''t do much. His magic will be more powerful if he changes his ss to Necromancer. Still, the effects of the poison will be more powerful due to his low health.


    "Aion, are you all right?" Sauros asked.


    "I will manage, but fighting up close won''t be possible," Aion replied. "You will have to buy some time for me, just a few seconds is fine, endure it."


    "Aion¡­ that Aion Kresnik?" The ck-haired woman asked. "Now this makes sense¡­ thest child of that ursed bloodline¡­ it all makes sense now."


    "I was nning to make you pay for saying my name carelessly, Sauros," Aion said. "But that won''t matter since we are going to kill them now."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "... You are right," Sauros said. "In any case, heal your wound first. We will deal with them for the time being."


    Seris had a lot of things to say, but they had to focus on the task ahead. As for Aion, he didn''t know what to think, and he acted without thinking and protected Seris twice. He could say that he didn''t change much in that aspect ifpared to his previous life. If someone that he could see were in danger, he would try to help them.


    Aion was curious to see how those two could fight together against three. Truth be told, he wasn''t expecting much since his standards were pretty high due to the number of things he could do. That being said, their powers were in another league since they were rted to time itself.


    In any case, the swordsman and the whip user readied themselves while the ruler of that country began to walk to the side all of a sudden. She just vanished. Aion could tell that she used a high level of Furtivity, and that could be a problem¡­ Still, when Aion used his mana on the ground, he could feel her walking around the area and approaching his back.


    While he didn''t panic, the other two were pretty nervous. He was nning to attack and kill her once she lowered her guard, but the other two won''t be able to fight properly in that situation. Aion needed to save mana from healing himself and fighting the poison that infected his artery. Hence, a lot of it entered his system pretty fast¡­ Nevertheless, he decided to finish things with the enemy, so he turned to face the invisible ruler.


    "Don''t worry about her. I got this," Aion dered.


    The enemies and his allies frowned, but the ck-haired woman could tell that Aion wasn''t bluffing. He couldn''t see her, but he could feel her. When she took steps to both sides, his eyes followed her, so the ruler opened her eyes widely in shock, to the point that she undid her own skill.


    "You are more skilled than I have heard¡­ to think that I can track me," The ck-haired woman said and then grabbed two curved knives from her waist. "My name is K Jonasar, and I hope that you can entertain me despite being poisoned."


    "That won''t be possible because soon you will die unless you can find pleasure in that," Aion said.


    K only took that as a joke since she was impressed that Aion still was standing after being poisoned by her dagger. Even the small amounts of the poison in her weapon could take down giant monsters in a matter of seconds.


    K wondered how she should proceed¡­ after the fall of the Mileris kingdom. She got interested in magic since she heard that a single mage managed to stop an entire army for three days. Considering that alone, she had to be careful with Aion.

 Chapter 194 Magic Relic

    All of a sudden, K dashed at Aion. She could be invisible, but that wasn''t the skill that she relied on to rise in the ranks of the army. Aion could barely see her moving due to the ss he had equipped. Still, thanks to the endurance of the guardian ss, Aion could stand.


    After running around Aion for a while, K jumped at his back, but then he used Shield Swing to fix his stance and stop her attack. Her two daggers were stopped by the shield, and she was pushed backward.


    In the end, Aion pierced the ground with his sword and then held the shield with his left hand while he was touching the wound with his right. Thanks to that, he closed most of the wound. However, Aion will need a lot of mana to counter a poison that powerful, so he decides to expel it from his body to save some.


    K could notice that Aion''s expression was improving, and his hand was a bit dirty with a brown slimy liquid¡­ it was surprising that he could do that so fast and by himself. Still, K could smirk in satisfaction¡­. She had heard of the boy who defeated the famous Horis when he was only ten. It was weird, considering his lineage, that he was such a good fighter, but in the end, he was the son of one of the heroes of that war¡­


    In the end, K increased her speed, and then Aion truly lost sight of her while she was just running around. He knew that assassins had to be fast, but that was insane, even though she followed them during the whole escape duration and without revealing herself.


    Aion changed his ss to Spearman, and then he was able to see K''s shadow moving around. When she tried to attack him from behind, he used a Quick Spear and turned around. She lowered her stance while she dodged the spear and then tried to stab Aion''s legs, but then a Fireball exploded in her face.


    While grunting in pain, K rolled to the ground and extinguished the mes. Since the ss didn''t have high magic power, the damage had minimal, even though the target groaned in pain. At the same time, Aion was feeling like crap since the effect of the poison got stronger.


    "Shit, too little mana to use¡­" Aion thought and then changed back to the Guardian ss.


    Despite the unpleasant surprise, K got up without of scratches on her face¡­ while the magic power was low, he didn''t consider that the enemy would have that much resistance against magic. She probably knew a thing or two after studying it for several years.


    "I forgot thest time caused me some trouble¡­ you are quite fast, considering that you change your fighting style based on your weapon," K said.


    She sure was calm, considering that she didn''t cause any damage since the start of the fight. Aion wondered where that confidence came from¡­ In any case, Aion won''t go anywhere if he keeps using the Guardian ss. K was being cautious because of the big shield. Using the Spearman ss was probably the best option¡­ but he had to be faster.


    "I guess I canst five minutes if I stop treating the wound and the poison now¡­" Aion thought while grabbing his spear and assuming an offensive stance. "I will finish this quickly."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Instead of waiting for the chance to counterattack, Aion dashed toward the enemy. When she saw the first thrusting, K changed for a reverse grip and then used both daggers to block the strike. Her reaction speed was truly phenomenal¡­ while Aion''s blow was supposed to have pushed her backward, she parried the attack to slow him down on the sequence of attacks.


    "I can''t use strength against her¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion activated Quick Spear while focusing his thrusts on her head. Countless sparks were created when both weapons collided with each other. And while K no longer had the leeway to parry all the thrusts, she wasn''t struggling to block all of them either.


    "What a troublesome woman¡­" Aion thought. "Let''s add some variety and annoyance to my attacks¡­"


    While stepping forward, Aion began to thrust his spear at other parts of K''s body. Thanks to that, she was finally forced to take some steps back as well, and her expression of amusement vanished from her face.


    All of a sudden, Aion made a hole in the ground behind her when she stepped back in order to break her bnce, but when she noticed that she wouldn''t get a firm footing there, K jumped to the side. She noticed that extremely fast and made her decision even faster¡­


    "Attacking with magic would have been more effective, but I guess you are out of mana," K said. "It pains me to say this, but this would be difficult if you hadn''t used so much mana tonight."


    Mana wasn''t really a problem. The real problem was that the condition of his body didn''t let Aion calm down and think straight. His pride was also getting in the way. If he had to use magic, he wanted to use just enough to annoy her.


    In the end, K took a magic ring from her pocket and equipped them. Aion could feel some mana from it, and the fact that he couldn''t see a gem proved that the item had a rune in it¡­ it was weird, considering how small it would be, though. In any case, Aion raised his guard, but K still feltpelled to attack. She was crazy enough to jump and swing both daggers toward Aion¡­


    That was suspicious, so Aion jumped to the side and dodged the attack, but she still threw the weapon at his face. The projectile''s speed forced Aion to block it. Still, when he did it, Aion was shocked by a powerful wave of electricitying from the dagger¡­

 Chapter 195 Toll

    The rings charged her weapon with that kind of effect, no wonder Aion felt suspicious about her sudden change of behavior¡­ K used that chance to approach and target his neck, but Aion used Force Release to muster all the strength that he had and attack her with a powerful vertical swing.


    Due to his messed-up stance, Aion only attacked her with the body of his spear, and she used her daggers to block the attack. Still, Aion''s extra power sent her flying for a few dozen of meters away. At least he managed to get one of her knives and store it in his inventory¡­ it came with a cost, though. Aion had used that technique several times already, and the condition of his body worsened thanks to it.


    With a single dagger left, K found herself in a difficult position. She couldn''t say if Aion would fall for the same trick, but it wasn''t like she had many other options. She dashed at Aion even faster than before and began to attack.


    Against her quick thrusts, Aion''s first reaction was to block them, but he forced himself to ignore his nature as he stepped back and dodged them. When she got way too much into the attack, Aion swung her spear at her head, but she lowered her stance and used that to charge even faster than before.


    K''s next attack scratched Aion''s left side, it almost poisoned him, but it shocked him. When she went to continue the attack, he reacted instinctively and then created a Firewall between them. When K hesitated, Aion made it fly toward her, and K protected her face from the mes and then jumped back to escape its reach.


    The mes disappeared, and Aion found himself without mana in that ss¡­ things gotplicated again. While K was readying herself to continue the fight, Aion saw the other two fighting their enemies. Sauros was making the enemy swordsman sweat quite a bit while Seris and the whip user were fighting on equal grounds. Aion didn''t have to worry about them¡­ he could focus on his own task ahead.


    "This is a waste of time¡­ the assassin types won''t make me learn anything once their tricks are discovered," Aion thought. "This isn''t worth the while¡­ I should finish this."


    K could feel that Aion''s mood changed and that he would try to end that as quickly as possible¡­ she raised her guard but still approached him. Despite his decision, he still was weakened by the poison and tired of fighting for an entire night. Her pride won''t allow her to run away from an enemy in that condition. Despite that, she wasn''t crazy enough to risk all of her hard work by not using everything in her possession to win. So, he took other rings from her pocket and equipped them.


    Aion wanted to say that such a way of fighting would only hinder her growth, but he didn''t want to be preachy to those who were older than him in that world.


    Aion''s breathing was getting rough, and he was sweating a lot more than before. He truly needed to get rid of the poison and rest his body. After all, nullifying the poison was only half of the work. When he stumbled, K dashed at him. The rings that she equipped boosted her strength and magic resistance, so she was confident of winning the next trade of blows, and she did it¡­ Aion only used his right arm to hold the spear, so she easily repelled it and thrust her dagger at his heart.


    At thest moment, he used hisst reserves of energy to block the dagger with his left hand, but in the end, it was pierced by the dagger. K smirked, but then she noticed that he was unable to proceed further, and despite her knife piercing his hand, Aion still grabbed her first.


    "This is insane, right?" Aion said while his spear changed into a single gauntlet. "It is no surprise, and I thought of this when I recalled the most moronic ninja in the world."<novelnext></novelnext>


    K tried to free herself, but Aion''s grip was too powerful. He probably will die due to the poison spreading from two points of his body, but she didn''t want to go with him. Still, in the end, she was unable to escape from his grasp, and when she tried to protect herself from his punch, her arm brokepletely. She didn''t have the chance to try again¡­ Aion used Chaotic Punch, and his fist passed through her stomach.


    You obtained 400.000


    You received 25.000 coins.


    The Monk ss has leveled up.


    The Monk ss has leveled up.


    The Monk ss has leveled up.


    ¡­


    Aion sighed in relief. When he put the extra status points into endurance and resistance, he felt a bit better, but then he quickly turned to the Guardian ss and sat on the ground to treat himself¡­ when he calmed down, Aion felt the poison getting weaker¡­ it was the kind of nasty substance that bes more powerful if the target moves too much or gets too tense.


    In any case, it didn''t look like Sauros and Seris were going to end their fights soon, the swordsman was quite good at dodging attacks, and the whip user didn''t let Seris get inside her range even when she used her powers and improved her speed¡­ Still, the stalemate ended when they noticed the death of their ruler. She was the strongest person in that kingdom, after all. They thought that Aion would soon join their fights and deal with them. Those thoughts were the factors that determined their defeat¡­ they lost their focus.


    In the end, the barrier disappeared after ten minutes, and five minutester, those two defeated their targets. Aion had already disposed of the bodies of his targets and then proceeded to put the other two in his inventory to turn them into death knightster as well.


    "Let''s get going¡­" Aion said while feeling like crap.

 Chapter 196 Underwater Dungeon

    Although the enemies could have used flying enemies to find them, Aion''s group returned to the ship two dayster without facing a single problem. The people of that kingdom probably were shocked since three of their generals disappeared alongside their ruler¡­ everyone that they went to fight the invaders, but to think that they would disappear without leaving a trace¡­


    "Let me check your wounds," Sauros said when they arrived on the ship. "I am a bit of a healer myself."


    "I am also a bit of a gamer myself," Aion said.


    "What are you talking about?" Sauros asked while frowning.


    It was a pity that no one could understand Aion''s poor attempts at making low-IQ jokes, but there was some fun in it as well, so it didn''t bother him.


    "I am a Milerian, remember?" Aion asked. "My mother taught me how to heal myself properly, and I did that over thest two days¡­ I just need some time to rest."


    "... You protected me two times, I owe you more than a little bit, and I intend to pay the debt, but you shouldn''t do that anymore if you are only putting yourself in danger," Seris said.


    "Sure, I am going to sleep. If you don''t see me, it is because I am hibernating," Aion said after he turned around and waved his right hand.


    When Aion entered his cabin, he dropped onto his bed¡­ while he kept a strong front during the whole trip back, the truth was that he needed to rest for a while. He lost too much blood covering for Seris, and the poison damaged his body way too fast. At least he got four extra death knights, and he also got the relic of the temple, so the mission was aplished.


    In the end, Aion had to rest for three days¡­ aside from waking up to sleep and going to the bathroom, he only slept. Even he wasn''t stubborn enough to disagree that sleeping was the best way to heal. After those three days, Sauros and Seris went to his cabin because they were worried about him. Seris also had to give back his armor, so they had an excuse for doing that.


    Still, they only found him sleeping peacefully while scratching his butt. They decided to erase that memory from their heads. In any case, Aion showed up on the next day while feeling a bit sluggish¡­ he felt like all his joints were as stiff as iron¡­ but after doing some stretches, he recovered.


    "That was one hell of a job, right?" Aion asked. "I liked that kind of tension but fighting while running away and dealing with an assassin is boring."


    "You are something else¡­ although I do agree that I find assassins annoying," Sauros said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    K almost killed Seris and singlehandedly caused them problems to no end. Her strength was the real deal¡­ against ordinary opponents. When ites to armies, strength and numbers rule, so her skills were more than enough to rule on the battlefield.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "...Can you show us your wounds?" Seris asked.


    "Still worried about that?" Aion asked. "How many times do I have to say that? My mom is quite fond of my face, so she taught me how to get rid of scars. She made me practice healing magic that would deal with that until I reached her level."


    Aion took out his shirt and then confirmed that he didn''t have any wounds or scars left. To reach that level of ability to erase wounds, one had to be more than a bit talented¡­ while those two looked seriously at him, Aion flexed his muscles. He still could be considered muscr and yet slim, so he failed at making his chest bump.


    "I am Sorry if this sounds ungrateful, but don''t do that again," Seris said. "Can you imagine how you would feel if a kid ten years younger than you died covering for you?"


    "I guess it would be pretty embarrassing," Aion replied while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I guess I would feel depressed and then me myself, but perhaps in a different order. Putting that aside, what is our next destination?"


    Seris facepalmed since Aion didn''t listen to her. Sauros could only force a smile¡­ Aion could only take things at his own pace and ignore everything else.


    "Well, we will have to travel North for a while," Sauros replied. "The enemies this time won''t be humans, and the conditions of the next destination are a bitplicated, so we will have to get some materials here and there."


    "I am not the captain here, but you should speak in more direct terms," Aion said.


    "I thought that you would enjoy the thrill of the surprise more than a direct exnation," Sauros said and then shrugged. "Our next destination is a dungeon, but as I said, we need some preparations to clear it and find the temple."


    "Why is a temple close to a dungeon?" Aion asked. "That being said, I am quite looking forward to it."


    "Dungeons appear randomly, and we assumed that the same appeared inside the entrance of the ce where the temple was hidden," Sauros replied. "It is an underwater dungeon, and the temple was supposed to be in an underwater cave."


    Aion frowned when he heard that¡­ things sure gotplicated. He wasn''t confident that he could fight well underwater and for long periods of time. He will have to think of something¡­


    "Underwater dungeons are quite hard to clear, so we will have to deal with an army of monsters. In this ocean, there are only three of them, but as you can see, we find their spawned monsters pretty often," Sauros said. "There are other issues that we will have to deal with as well¡­ like pirates. Hunting those maritime monsters is a pretty good business. Thus, the pirates have more reasons to target those that operate in the area."

 Chapter 197 Pirates

    "Did you guys find any connection between the temples?" Aion asked. "Do they have anything inmon for them to be in those weird locations? There must be some sort of connection between them... did you exin that? I don''t remember."


    "Yes, but to be honest, the underwater temple is quite weird," Sauros said. "The temples need to be in areas of high concentration of mana for the barrier to keep working non-stop. However, that isn''t the case there¡­ the barrier is quite small¡­ probably because reaching it is almost impossible."


    "So, we will need to stop at some ces to gather some tools that will help?" Aion asked.


    "That is right. Even if it is hard, people try to clear the dungeon now and then," Sauros replied. "Everyone needs certain tools for that to be possible. Things might be different considering your magic, though. Still, it is better to be safe than sorry."


    Aion couldn''t agree more. Since that was a field that he had never tested before, he couldn''t be reckless and y it by ear¡­ it was better to see how people usually try to clear the dungeon and thene up with his own ideas. Even though the ideas of others failed for who knows how long¡­


    "What about those ces that we are going to visit?" Aion asked.


    "They aren''t half bad. Since the poption has to deal with pirates and monsters from the sea pretty often, they don''t have time to wage war against each other," Sauros replied. "That being said, hiding our appearances is a given. We don''t want rumors spreading around and people tracking our moves."


    Aion wondered how he should fight underwater. Magic was probably the best option. Attacking with ice and earth projectiles might do the trick if they have enough piercing power. Still, to be able to do that, Aion will need a magic ss where his resilience is stupidly low.


    From that day onward, Aion noticed Sauros and Seris training a lot¡­ it wasn''t like they should fight at close range against underwater monsters. That would be close to suicide, after all. Some magic items will probablye in handy. Even without magic, other people could fight in the ocean¡­


    Just to be safe, Aion decided to keep training in the Sniper ss. If he uses his skill well, he might be able to use a bow even underwater and get rid of the limitations that a magic ss would give him underwater. Thanks to that, one of the days that he was practicing¡­ Aion found something in the distance approaching, and he eventually confirmed that it was another ship.


    "Hey, there is a shiping toward us," Aion said to the siblings that were training nearby.


    "... You have good eyes, I can barely see them, but it seems you are right," Sauros said.


    "Did they notice us a while ago and decide to attack us now?" Seris asked.


    "I don''t think so, we are moving at full speed, and we have magic tools that help our speed¡­ Only a handful of ships can follow us," Sauros said, and they aren''t supposed to be in the hands of pirates, but in this route¡­"


    "What if they developed better ships or if they bought or stole them?" Aion asked.


    "Pirates don''t produce or raise anything, and they only pige and destroy¡­" Sauros said. "The chances are small, but if they stole a ship just as when it was finished, I guess it would exin a lot¡­"


    "Men! Prepare to engage in battle!" Seris shouted.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It seemed that those didn''t even want to try to escape¡­ they probably had some history with pirates. It seemed like a waste since they couldn''t take any ship anywhere. However, the pirates probably had a few things, and they also could dismantle and get the parts that they wanted¡­


    Aion jumped to one of the sails and looked at the enemy ship, trying to find a g with a skull in it¡­ as expected, they weren''t dumb enough to do that, or maybe that kind of thing wasn''t normal in that world.


    "Are we going to get prisoners?" Aion asked.


    "We don''t have enough room for them, and we can''t exactly stop on the ports with this ship," Sauros replied.


    "I guess so¡­" Aion said while nocking an arrow on his bow.


    Hopefully, Aion will be able to use the ship as materials for his weapons¡­ while it would make him look even more suspicious to make such a thing disappear, it was high time for him to stop caring about that.


    It didn''t take long for Aion to finally see the enemies. He also found some of them with bows, and that saved him from the hassle of looking for targets¡­ when they entered his range, Aion began to fire. The captains of both ships had the balls to keep moving toward each other. The impact was going to be quite insane¡­ while Aion was firing the arrows, he wondered if their ship wouldn''t get too damaged and then make them move slower¡­


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    You obtained 1500 coins.


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    You obtained 1500 coins.


    ¡­


    As expected of pirates¡­ they were filled with coins. In any case, before Aion could target his fourth archer, the ships collided, and he had a hard time preventing himself from falling. In any case, the sound of the armoryer of both ships colliding had been quite intense, but Aion didn''t hear the sound of wood cracking.


    Once the ships stabilized, the pirates began to jump over. In that world, jumping over a distance of twenty meters was easy, after all. Still, before they couldnd on their ship, Aion your Arrows on the heads of three other enemies.


    "Aion, we can''t lose a single member of our crew," Sauros decided.


    "You are telling that to the wrong person. I am not everybody''s bodyguard," Aion said. "Still, holding isn''t my style when facing low lives¡­"

 Chapter 198 True Colors

    When the pirates noticed that they had an archer of Aion''s level, those who were still behind grabbed their iron shields. As if that would change anything¡­ Aion fired his arrows anyway, and the impact knocked the enemies onto the ocean.


    Unfortunately, Aion had to take a break when he suddenly saw a man carrying a box of cannon balls. He grabbed one of them like a bowling ball and then threw it at Aion. His first reaction was to dodge, but then Aion realized that he couldn''t let the sails be damaged, and that guy threw those with the same power as a cannon.


    "Are you fucking kidding me!" Aion muttered after he blocked the ball with his bow.


    The impact made Aion fall, but at least he protected the sail.


    "What the hell was that?" Aion asked when he saw some piratesnding on the ship and some sailors moving to face them. "I thought that pirates were only weaklings that attack those who are weaker¡­"


    "Even pirates have ranks, and while your description is almost correct, they only would follow this kind of life if they could follow someone strong that would guarantee them some sess," Sauros said. "That guy is probably their captain."


    As soon as he finished talking, the enemy captain threw a Cannonball toward Sauros. He blocked it with both hands, and while he was pushed backward for a bit, the cannonball got rusty and then eventually turned into dust¡­ the pirates, that were excited despite the losses, went silent after that. Meanwhile, Aion used that chance to invade the enemy ship after jumping.


    Aionnded ten meters away from that guy. He was pretty tall and muscr, and he was a former Warrior of some renown. Since he was shirtless, Aion could see some cuts on his arms and chest¡­ sword scars. At close range, the cannonballs wouldn''t be of much use, so the pirate captain tossed the box to the side and then grabbed arge sword hidden behind the dark cape on his back. The pirate captain smiled from ear to ear, but since he waspletely bald and had several teeth missing, he didn''t look that ominous.


    "That sword is pretty big. Are youpensating for something?" Aion asked. "Despite that, you sure look like a happy fellow."


    The pirate dashed toward Aion and swung his sword with both hands. He was fast¡­ Aion changed to his spear at thest moment and dodged to the side with his boost of speed. The enemy''s strikended on the floor and opened a hole in it¡­ as expected, he was strong and fast but not bright.


    Aion approached, swinging his spear at the enemy''s neck, and he tried to pull away his sword and dodge, but Aion stopped on the weapon and added some extra weight. The pirate let go of the weapon and then stepped backward. He quickly dashed again to attack Aion, but then he stopped when he saw his sword disappearing.


    "That may be cowardly, but I can''t let you kill anyone," Aion said while looking around and seeing some pirates pointing crossbows at him. "I guess I won''t have the chance to rest your strength¡­"


    The pirates pulled the trigger, but Aion blocked the bolts with some wind walls. After that, he fired Fireballs. When they crossed the walls, they gained extra power, and then they exploded upon contact with the enemies.


    The smile on the Captain''s face disappearedpletely¡­ he didn''t expect to see magic right there on another ordinary day of work¡­ he took a few steps backward, and while Aion could be merciful, he couldn''t let information about him spread among low lives¡­ Besides, a good pirate is a dead pirate.<novelnext></novelnext>


    When the pirate captain felt Aion''s killing intent, he ran to the sea¡­ it seemed that he would instead be eaten by monsters. While shrugging, Aion changed his ss and then created a thick ice wall in front of him. He almost heard the sound of a skull cracking¡­ in any case, the pirate captain fell unconscious. Aion thought that he could turn him into a death knight, but he wasn''t that strong¡­ nor did he have a mutation.


    Although their leader failed at jumping into the sea, some of the surviving pirates did that and managed to escape. For how long? No one could tell.


    "That was rather easy¡­" Aion said.


    "Magic is something that people that studied a lot know. Hence, the likes of pirates don''t know how to deal with it," Sauros said. "Even though apparently, they have been using a few magic tools for many years¡­ in any case, you stand above most mages, so it isn''t surprising that they would rather test their luck on the sea instead of against you."


    "I already told you, I get goosebumps when youpliment me¡­ in any case, it seems that mages are pretty feared. I never noticed that until now," Aion said.


    "Only your ancestors were feared, but then they were defeated, and many mages across the world used their fame to make people wary of them," Sauros replied. "Since most of them are nobles ore from rich families, they grow to be cruel and despise those who are poor¡­ the fact that few people truly are able to use magic boosts their ego."


    Being feared by assholes wasn''t so bad, but being feared by ordinary people was a bit troublesome since it was simr to prejudice¡­ being med for something that he never did.


    Regardless, the group checked the ship and then found some gold in the Captain''s cabin and some wine, fine clothes, weapons, and essories in the warehouse. Aion didn''t need the gold, and since selling the items would be difficult, he told Sauros and Seris that he would keep them.


    "You can at least pretend that you care about our opinions on the matter," Seris said.


    "You will get all of the other parts of the ship. I would say that this is a fair trade," Aion said.


    "You already have that weird weapon. Why do you want more?" Seris asked.


    "For world domination," Aion replied.

 Chapter 199 Green Turtle

    Sauros and Seris just looked at each other and shrugged. They considered that Aion might dominate the world or n to, just to scare to end all prejudice toward his mother. He certainly had the potential since, in only five years. He became one of the richest lords of the Zaera kingdom. He wasn''t arrogant, and he was hard-working, so the chances of him making mistakes were close to none. Still, the chances of that happening were pretty low... he was a pacifist at heart and only wanted a peaceful life.


    In any case, the group spent some time dismantling the ship, and Aion used his powers on the parts that Sauros decided to leave alone, but he couldn''t process the whole ship¡­ even though he could process an entire dragon. He got some high-quality wood and iron but nothing else¡­ he decided to use those to improve the spear refinement to max level.


    Spearman Lv 79


    Health: 494/494


    Mana: 44/44


    Stamina: 746/746


    Strength: 156 + 100


    Dexterity: 30


    Magic: 21


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 172 + 200


    Status: 15


    Spear Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Strength + 100, Speed + 200


    Skills: Quick Spear Lv 46 (Power Lv 70, Efficiency Lv 70), Sonic Thrust Lv 01, Frozen Spear Lv 01, Fiery Spear Lv 01, Deadly Wind Lv 01


    Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 47 (Power Lv 75), Block Mastery Lv 22, Critical Lv 29, Bleed Lv 19


    Improvement Points: 09


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.385.250


    Inventory:<novelnext></novelnext>


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "It is quite refreshing to see that¡­" Aion said while showing a smile of ecstasy. "That was a good exercise, my head is fresh now, and I even got a good idea¡­"


    While the sailors were leaving the pirate ship behind and theirs began to move, Aion sat on the frontal part of the deck and then began to y with his lute. He had realized a long time ago that such a ss could only be leveled up like that by making a lot of people to listen to it. Still, Aion rarely would think of ying anything. He was active and energetic to a fault¡­


    "His weapon turns into a lute too¡­ what the heck is that?" Seris asked.


    "No idea¡­ maybe it is a very old magic tool. Such things were rtivelymon thousands of years ago," Sauros said. "However, they were mainly created using the souls of the users in order not to be stolen¡­"


    "How can he use a weapon that was supposed to be made using someone else''s soul, then?" Seris asked.


    "He is good with magic, and maybe he learned the method and created his own," Sauros replied. "In any case, it seems that it has some magic effect on the song as well¡­ I can feel my body being filled with power."


    "Me too¡­" Seris said.


    For the next hour, Aion used the Power Song to increase everyone''s strength and make their work easier, but he changed it to the Magic Song and made them feel rested as well. From that day onward, Aion yed the lute every day. Until the guys that worked at night asked him to y some songs on their turn as well. It was a bit troublesome, but Aion did that, and from that moment onward, the crew began to open up for him.


    "What a calctive bunch¡­" Aion said. "Well, it is convenient for me, so I guess it is fine."


    Around one week after they fought the pirates, Aion noticed that the ship was moving a bit eastward. Around the same time, Sauros informed them that they were approaching one of the ports that they were nning to go to.


    "One of them? Aion asked. "Can''t we find the items we need on a single port?"


    "We can, but we don''t want to make people think that we are going to the dungeon. All of the adventurers that go buy the same tools," Sauros exined. "We will buy them separately to make people think that we are merchants."


    The ports were part of the same country. The ce was called Xhanxis, the ce was divided into fourrge inds, and each one had a lord, but they had been allies for many years. It was quite refreshing to find a ce where people weren''t trying to kill each other out of greed.


    "We will stop in three inds to get three different types of items," Sauros dered. "We haven''t been here many times before, so we don''t know well what are the best ces to hide a ship. With that in mind, the crew of The Breeze of the Sea will circle around the inds and approach at night on the spot we disembarked."


    The Breeze of the Sea¡­ that was an odd name for a ship¡­ but it suited their captain. Regardless, Sauros'' strategy wasn''t half bad. They would look suspicious if they had just arrived in the city and then left soon afterward, after all.


    On the next day, the group slowed down again in the afternoon, and then they reached the first ind at night. Aion had never seen such an ind before¡­ one couldn''t even see their end while looking to the sides. Then again, those ces were supposed to be as big as the territories from back home.


    As if they had some things to hide, which they did, the groupnded as soon as night fell, and the crew of the ship left soon after. The port city where they were heading was pretty close, but the group still had to deal with some monsters along the way. The first monster was a turtle-like creature that had that kind of carapace, but the beast could hide inside and make the whole thing turn into a sphere and then charge at the targets¡­ Aion couldn''t help but frown since they were incredibly fast despite being two meters long. They were green¡­ but if they were blue, Aion would have called the same as that blue turtle without caring about copyright ims.

 Chapter 200 Some Peace For A Change

    Although the carapace was hard, the creature wasn''t able to do much when Aion used lightning magic on his spear and then thrust toward it with all his might. Thanks to the fight against K, Aion decided to test that. He had used something like that against Urgen, but he forgot to train it. That was bing a normal urence.


    "I guess I need to practice more¡­ the piercing power increased, but the energy passed through the weapon and shocked me," Aion thought. "This can be rather troublesome in the middle of a battle, but it is something unexpected since I haven''t been training that much ifpared to my early years."


    "Do you want some tips on how to control your magic when it isn''t in its purest form?" Sauros asked.


    "Come to think of it, you guys make your weapons using a simr method, don''t you?" Aion asked. "I will eventually find the right way, but if you want me to save time, I will be thankful."


    "You already visualize your mana when giving shape to the spell. Instead of keeping feeding the spell, send as much energy as you want and then choose the element that you want before cutting the connection," Sauros exined.


    Aion didn''t get his exnation, but he tried to split that nonsense into several steps. First of all, select the amount of mana that he wants to use. After that, send it to where he wants to send the energy, and then turn some of the mana into the element, then use the remaining to fuel the spell before cutting the connection between his mana and the spell. Basically, it was like turning anything into a magic torch¡­ and Aion''s mana would be the fuel. Since the mana will be used like that, the weapon won''t be damaged, and the effects won''t spread.


    It wasn''t perfect, but After a while, Aion managed to show some progress. He also tried to fire a sh of electricity toward a tree, but he didn''t obtain many results¡­ It seemed that he had to watch Urgen a bit more.


    "This is enough training for now, and we shouldn''t attract any more attention as we progress to the port city," Aion said.


    In the end, they had to walk for two hours before they reached the port city. Although the ce didn''t have walls, it had many watchtowers. Since they came using a road and they were disguised, they didn''t attract any attention. Even though Aion had the headband on his eyes¡­ even though it was dinner time, the streets of the city were filled with people. They had some trees that had some yellow crystals that illuminated the area quite a bit. Thanks to that, a lot of businesses worked evente at night.


    "We are here to get some of those stones," Sauros exined. "They are gems that adventurers get from a dungeon of bats, and they keep emanating light for three months. We will use them to illuminate the area underwater."


    "There are people nearby, and you shouldn''t say that so easily and out loud," Seris said.


    Due to the location and the weather, the inhabitants of the ind had mostly tanned skin and walked around in light clothes. They also seemed pretty easygoing, and they didn''t pay attention to a weird group like Aion''s. Most of the buildings were made using bricks and wood, and some other materials found on the ind¡­ Aion always thought that people would have a hard time during storms with houses like that, but it didn''t seem like that part of the world often suffers from storms or tornadoes.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In any case, they headed to one of the shops in the city that still was working at night. Aion had seen some shops that specialized in selling monster materials, but he didn''t see one that had the gems with other things being used in many ways. Being attached to helmets, spears, bows, and even armor.


    Since Aion was acting like a blind man, he couldn''t look around much, and Sauros was talking with the seller. For the first time in that world, he noticed that all people of that world used the same tongue, and that seemed pretty weird¡­


    "You look restless," Seris said.


    "I am just lost in thought," Aion said.


    Aion had nned to travel the world to give his mother a chance to move away from people that knew the past of her family. Still, he also wanted to do that for himself, to have fun and try to learn why he had that power. He knew that a lot of things happen by coincidence, but too many things in his life followed that¡­ his origin, hisst, his powers¡­ that made him uneasy.


    "I guess even a kiddo like you can stop acting silly and think seriously about things," Seris said.


    Aion felt like sighing since it was a bit troublesome to be treated like that for someone who was younger than him, at least when it came to mental age and experience.


    In any case, Sauros acted like a traveling merchant and bought the yellow stones in their raw form. It would be a bit troublesome, but they will have to adapt those to their useter. Once they bought a few of those, they looked for an inn, they had to walk for a while since they had many, but most of them werepletely packed¡­ those inds received a lot of visitors.


    Once they found one in which they could rent an entire room for them, the group rxed a little, but Aion kept his guard up. It is in those moments that things usually happen and cause problems. However, nothing happened during their stay on that ind¡­ Around noon of the next day, they left and took their time heading to the ce they were supposed to meet. The breeze of the sea at night¡­


    Things only started to get serious when they approached the second ind¡­

 Chapter 201 Fleet Of Pirates

    They had to travel for two days to reach the next ind, and once again, they reached the ce at night to disembark. However, the whole crew noticed that something was off. Aside from the sound of waves, they could hear something in the distance as they approached¡­


    "I can hear cannons¡­" Sauros said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    Aion closed his eyes and began to focus his senses. It helped when he changed to the Sniper ss. He started to her and distinguished the sounds around him with a lot more ease, and it was true, he could hear cannons as well¡­


    "Are the pirates of the region attacking a port city at night?" Seris asked. "They are cowards as usual¡­ considering that, I can''t imagine one with a few ships doing that."


    "True, even if they were caught by surprise, the sailors of these inds would need to deal with more than a few pirate ships to have a hard time agaisnt them," Sauros said. "Maybe one powerful pirate with arge fleet is attacking, or several groups of them allied themselves to do that."


    "Even I can understand that this kind of thing is risky for pirates¡­ why would they ept those risks?" Aion asked. "What is the next ind that is valuable for them that much."


    "... They have a dungeon that spawns some weird monsters¡­" Sauros crossed his arms and then replied. "The giant goo is a monster that starts small, but the more they live, they berger because of a mana core that they have inside of them. The core draws mana from the environment¡­ usually, they are extremely weak, but their growth can''t stop. There are some legends that a single one of them managed to destroy a whole capital with a single jump."


    Aion couldn''t help but imagine an ever-growing slime¡­ it was kind of grows a giant monster like that was enough to make some people slime their pants out of fear if they were careless and let a single one grow too much.


    "We were going to use the magic stones to power the magic items that we were going to create¡­ some of them can be powerful on their own, even underwater, but others will need the extra power that the magic stones can offer," Sauros said. "I imagine that the pirates are nning to do the same to be more sessful in their attacks."


    "What are you going to do?" Aion asked. "We can''t join the battle with this ship¡­ maybe we can attack them underwater with the tools that you have made, but I don''t think it is a good idea to enter the ocean at night."


    Sauros was fully aware of it, but leaving pirates alone wasn''t something that he was willing to do. In the end, he decided to attack them from behind since most of the people of the Ind would be in the port or in the ships around it to prevent them fromnding.


    Aion didn''t know if that was a good idea. Still, he wasn''t the Captain of the ship, nor did he have any experience with maritime battles to say otherwise. Still, he had a feeling that Sauros gets too emotional when ites to pirates, which was weird considering that even the fact that he was drugged and put on chains didn''t bother him that much.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "My apologies for bothering you like this," Sauros said when they began to prepare for battle. "I am fully aware that this might slow down our mission, and yet I am still doing it."


    "While I think that you are too hot-headed when ites to pirates, I agree that they need to be dealt with if they are a problem around the dungeon," Aion said. "I will follow your calls as long as they make some sense."


    "I am grateful," Sauros said.


    The ship approached while invisible, and eventually, they found some pirate ships circting around the ind and using cannons as well as magic cannons to destroy and put everything on fire. When they got within range, The Breeze of the Sea used its magic cannons to fire numerous ice spears at one of the ships, making it tremble all over.


    The pirates got surprised, and when they turned around, they saw a massive ship heading toward them. They tried to dodge the charge, but they failed. The frontal part of the Breeze of the Sea collided with the enemy ship and made some crazy cracks appear all around its body. It took a while for everyone to recover from the impact, but Aion still managed to aim his bow while he was on the top of one of the sails. He needed some extra time to do it, but his aim eventuallynded on the target.


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    You received 1500 coins.


    Aion wondered why those guys had so many coins in their pockets when they couldn''t spend them anywhere¡­ Regardless, when the ships stabilized, Sauros and Seris led the free sailors to jump onto the enemy ship. Before that could happen, Aion had already killed five pirates.


    "I guess this is how I wanted to practice my archery skills¡­" Aion said while looking around and finding the sailors that were being surrounded.


    Aion used Force release when he saw a crewman being surrounded by two. His aiming speed increased tremendously because of that, and he put two arrows on the heads of two pirates in the blink of an eye. That technique was really convenient¡­ if only Aion could increase his reserves as he had nned, all of his sses would be stupidly powerful. Perhaps not Bard, but the others would.


    Thanks to the surprise attack, the pirates didn''t have many chances to fight back. They also didn''t have a powerful captain to lead them, so Sauros and Seris'' charge destroyed them in the blink of an eye. It was a pity that soon the ship was going to sink with so many good materials and perhaps some treasure, but the group had to head to select their next target¡­

 Chapter 202 Suspicious Retreat

    Since the group lost their surprise factor, some of the pirate ships turned around to face them, and they also used their cannons to attack them. Only those that had long reach stayed from a certain distance from the ind, and those had magic cannons¡­


    "Aion!" Sauros said. "Those magic cannons can''t hit our ship!"


    "Easy for you to say¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    Unlike theirs, which fired Ice Spears and Thunder Spears, the newest target fired Ice Balls and Fire Balls. Those would freeze and burn everything around a certain area of the impact¡­ In any case, Aion had to keep an eye on them and prevent those from hitting the ship.


    A quick session of Ice Balls was fired, and amidst the darkness of the night, Aion managed to follow them with his eyes, thanks to Force release. His arms blurred as he nocked and fired the arrows toward those. Much to everyone''s surprise, the magic projectiles were stopped midway through the ocean, and the impacts made them explode, creating small icebergs on the battlefield.


    The pirates wondered what went wrong¡­ they certainly aimed well. There was no need for the ice balls to have fallen on the ocean¡­ they couldn''t see Aion''s arrows, after all. In any case, waiting for those guys to fire was a bit bothersome, so Aion enhanced his next arrow with fire magic. One could see the tip burning before it was fired to hit the enemy ship three hundred meters away.


    The arrownded on the side of the pirate ship and exploded on contact damaging and messing with the position of the cannons¡­ thanks to that, The Breeze of the Sea managed to approach without being bothered.


    Their ship hit agaisnt the enemy''s ship and made some of the pirates fall onto the ocean. Still, it seemed that things would change a bit¡­ one big guy jumped from the pirate ship and thennded on the Breeze of the Sea¡­ they had a captain this time. Unfortunately, that didn''t help much¡­ Sauros created a massive staff with his weird magic and swung it toward the pirate. He blocked it with the bracers that he had in his hands, but Sauros'' brute strength forced him to fall into the ocean¡­ that might not be so good¡­


    "Ah, I can use that as well¡­" Aion thought.


    Another pirate ship was approaching from the side, and they fired their Fireballs. Aion clicked his tongue and hit those as well, but then he took those bracers in his inventory, the ones he got from the old man martial artist, and then he fired at the enemy''s ship. The impact made the target turn to the side a bit, and while it made some cracks appear, they weren''t that impressive.


    "It would have been easier if I could just use my death knights and go full retard on the offensive¡­" Aion thought and then sighed.


    Aion fired two other boulders until a hole appeared on the enemy''s ship. That was enough magic for the day¡­ people might think that a crazy magician was on the defender''s side¡­ even though the strange ship was from a totally different direction.


    While Sauros and Seris were dealing with finishing off the guys on the second ship, Aion looked in the distance and saw two groups of ships ahead. One attacked, and the other tried to protect the port city. Since the encirclement was tight, the defenders couldn''t do much or turn around that often without putting themselves in danger.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I guess the idea of having lookout ships sounds dumb for the people around," Aion thought.


    Several parts of the city were on fire. Aion didn''t expect that more pirates could win a battle against a city that probably had more than fifty thousand inhabitants. Still, in the end, Aion realized that in a battle of ships armed with magic cannons, fifty thousand wasn''t much agaisnt three five hundred pirates and their twenty ships. It was a battle of twenty battleships and fifteen or somercial battleships of the defenders¡­


    That being said, the back attack caused by a third party messed with the ns of the pirates. Their focus was on two sides now¡­ Even after defeating only two ships, Aion''s grouppletely changed the flow of battle.


    When they destroyed the third ship, the pirates decided to retreat¡­ They didn''t make any progress since the new ship joined the battle, and it was a battle that risked everything and lost everything.


    "What now?" Aion asked.


    "We will retreat as well¡­ We can''t fight by ourselves, and we can''t count on the defenders to watch out back," Sauros replied. "We helped them, but we are too suspicious of this ship."


    Aion agreed. In the first ce, they couldn''t draw too much attention, even while disguised. Besides, they were supposed to have some rumors around, and that would onlyplicate things.


    "We will head to the third ind first now since this ce will have to take some time to recover, and merchants would look suspicious now¡­" Sauros said and then sighed.


    Sauros had made up his mind for that kind of dy, but he still couldn''t help but sigh. As for Aion, he felt that their intervention would cost them more than a bit of a dy¡­ in that kind of situation, it was better to avoid all problems and destroy all of the enemies, but it wasn''t possible¡­


    That being said, not helping might be the same as giving the pirates a chance to steal all of the magic stones¡­ and once they head thereter, they would either find nothing or find magic stones at insane prices. Aion couldn''tin because he realized that from the beginning of the battle¡­


    In any case, dealing with the pirates was going to be bothersometer. Still, it would be good since it would be the same as doing a favor to the world and its people and making Aion recall his job in his previous life.

 Chapter 203 Preparations

    The group tried to arrive on the third ind before the news about the attack could have arrived, but it seemed that they had failed at that. Even by following suspicious routes, they managed to see many ships heading in the opposite direction to try to hunt down the pirates.


    "Although the sailors around here are pretty experient, they will never find them," Sauros dered. "They have been doing that for centuries and never seeded¡­ my guess is that they have a simr magic tool to ours that keep our simple invisible."


    "I thought that they were rare¡­" Aion said. "This is exnation is kind suspicious and for such a thing to fall on the hands of criminals..."


    "They are, that is why we can''t use them often, and we make our own," Sauros replied. "Considering what we saw yesterday, it seems that many pirates are working together, many captains¡­ so, I guess is that they managed to create an invisible hideout for them, and their base is around here since they keep attacking and stealing the magic stones."


    "They seemed rather experienced¡­ like they had done that many times, but I wonder howe the port city always recovers if that is a normal urrence," Aion said.


    "It is because the magic stones are that valuable. They don''t reach the area of the Zaera kingdom since the trip would take three months, and those would be three months'' worth of time that they will give to pirates to find them. It isn''t worth the hassle. However, many kingdoms and countries north of here make use of them on a daily basis. Even when people die during the attacks, no one ever thought of giving up on this business."


    Aion knew that many worlds revolve around money, but that was on another whole level¡­ Regardless, if the attacks were frequent, then they should have at least had ships guarding the ind at night, it would cost them some money, but it was better than nothing.


    Putting that aside, the third ind soon entered their view when the sun was setting. Sauros decided that they would only return to the second ind in a week, so there was no need to hurry now, and they could take their time finding the tools that they needed.


    Aion was unable to tell from so far away if the port city of the second ind had walls or any other sort of defensive measure. Still, he found walls, watchtowers, and even flying monsters on several parts around the ce to be used in case of emergency. Sauros said that the ce wasn''t attacked that often, but they sure were cautious.


    "Apparently, this ind was targeted the most in the past, so they thought of these countermeasures," Sauros exined.


    "What are we going to buy here?" Aion asked.


    "As you can see, the monsters of the dungeon of this ind are flying monsters, and they control wind magic quite well. They also had some gems inside their bodies that granted them a part of those powers. We will use them to fight underwater," Sauros exined. "Wind magic doesn''t have much weight per se, and the resistance underwater will be smaller ifpared to ice and earth magic. We just have to adjust our aim a bit."


    "Because the wind still goes upward¡­" Aion said.


    "Yes, the water forces that to happen, but they don''t speed or piercing power under the right circumstances," Sauros said. "We just need to build the right weapons that will make them able to do that."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion recalled an old game that he had yed¡­ there was an underwater sector in which the protagonist had to kill dinosaurs with a gun of pressurized air¡­ maybe Sauros wanted to make something like that, but without the proper technology, they could rely on magic. After thinking for a while, Aion realized that the power of magic tools was limited. Still, the magic stones will probably increase that tenfold.


    "Let''s go already," Seris said when theynded. "I have a lot of work to do after this, and I need to do some research."


    "You sure are excited about this¡­" Aion said.


    "I am projecting and building our magic tools. Most of the designers that we use back home are my improved creations," Seris puffed her chest forward and dered proudly.


    Since she was quite voluptuous, that was quite the sight to behold. That was like a two-edged sword for someone like Aion, who hasn''t gottenid in many years, but it was quite good because he didn''t have much timetely to see such a good thing. In any case, Sauros kicked the back of his knees since he was staring too much, and that was his little sister.


    "You are starting on the wrong foot, young man," Sauros said.


    "What was I starting?" Aion asked. "I was just looking at what was in front of me with a nk stare. Don''tpare my pure heart and clean mind with yours."


    "ying dumb really doesn''t suit you¡­" Sauros said and then sighed.


    "By the way, aren''t you guys royalty of your people or something?" Aion asked. "If she is twenty-five, you are almost thirty, then. That is prettyte for getting married, considering the standards around the world."


    "You say that soon after mentioning that you weren''t looking at my sister with that kind of gaze¡­ we may be the leaders, but we aren''t royalty," Sauros exined. "We are too busy to consider that; even your king is also taking his time choosing a proper partner¡­ even though he spent most of the time being too friendly toward Seris."


    "Is that so?" Aion asked. "Was he interested in her status or in her nice personality?"


    "I have no idea, but Seris didn''t show any interest in him," Sauros said.


    Aion adapted to the world to the point that he found it weird now people over twenty and single. That only proves that there were all kinds of people in that world that didn''t follow the norm¡­

 Chapter 204 Secret Information

    When the group entered the port city, they didn''t find much aside from a bigger version of the first one. However, some adventurers were leaving the ce even at night. That was odd, considering what happened on the other ind¡­ perhaps something happened there, and the group had to investigate to find out the reason.


    "They look tense¡­" Seris said


    "If adventurers are involved, then a dungeon or monsters are probably the problems," Sauros said.


    It felt like something was always happening wherever they went¡­ Regardless, it wasn''t their problem, and Aion''s group was going to deal with another dungeon, so that should be enough help that they were going to offer to the region.


    Unlike the first port city, that one wasn''t as lively, probably because of the problems regarding the attack they had heard about and because of the problems they were facing. Aion''s group didn''t find many monsters along the way, though. However, they noticed that half of the shops were already closed and the ones open didn''t have much of stock.


    "Although they can obtain powerful gems to make magic weapons, in the end, they can''t use the same element agaisnt those creatures," Seris said.


    "Do you guys know much about dungeons?" Aion asked.


    "You mean more than what people already know?" Seris asked.


    "Naturally," Aion replied.


    "... Let''s not discuss this in the open," Sauros said when Seris looked at him, waiting for his opinion on the matter.


    The group had to visit several shops in order to buy enough gems. Aion asked if they could put several on a single one to increase its power, but it didn''t seem like that worked.


    "What about you make a crossbow that is connected, but several parts can be separated, and each one of them has a gem?" Aion asked.


    "... You mean to create several parts that have gems, and each one of those works together to increase the power of the projectiles?" Seris asked.


    "Yes," Aion replied.


    "I never tried anything like that, but it might work¡­ I will have to change the design of the weapon a bit, and this will take a while," Seris said.


    "Take your time," Aion said.


    "I didn''t know you enjoyed this kind of thing, building new things," Sauros said while he watched Aion and his sister on the new project.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I never tried since I have never been good with my hands, but it is interesting and mighte in handy one day," Aion said.


    Seris began to draw some designs of the weapons and then split them into several parts. It took shape quite fast since she didn''t mind Aion watching her up close. The group left the port city after three days. Since they learned the reason why the adventurers were leaving. It seemed that some mutated creatures had appeared on it¡­ some that weren''t supposed to show up in that kind of dungeon.


    "Is that normal?" Aion asked.


    "No, while there are dungeons that spawn multiple types of enemies, they do that since their origin. It isn''t a change that happens all of a sudden," Sauros replied. "I heard that such things happened in the past, but they were solved after the mana levels of the cores were stabilized."


    "The dungeon is cleared often due to the materials of the monsters¡­ wouldn''t that make them stable enough?" Aion asked.


    "That is true¡­" Sauros replied.


    It seemed that Sauros didn''t have a clear answer¡­ but in the end, that was a problem of the ind, they had their own problems, and they would only find themselves in a tight spot if they headed there to help when they were only strangers.


    While Seris was working on the weapon, Aion decided to practice his wind magic since he was going to use that underwater.. Using magic weapons was fine, and all, but their power was limited. Aion started with the most basic Wind Bullets and found that they could fly for quite a distance¡­ However, his aim wascking without the Sniper ss. He had to practice a lot for his control increase¡­ eventually, he also added some rotating power and that made them fly for even longer distances.


    "Can you fire hundreds of those underwater?" Sauros asked.


    "Depending on the circumstances, yes," Aion replied.


    "Then, I guess you won''t need the magic weapons that Seris will make," Sauros said. "We were talking about dungeons the other day, and you wanted to learn more about them, right? What the general poption doesn''t know are a few things. Still, the rulers of the nations know are the facts that they only appear in areas where their inhabitants caused too much harm to thends. The spawning of the monsters is just a defensive mechanism of the mana of the world to stop the human poption from continuing with that by giving them another problem."


    "That sounds weird¡­ it wouldn''t be the same as affirming that mana or the is a living creature with a conscience?" Aion asked.


    "Not exactly. While no one can confirm that, some people said that the spirits of the dead are what control the mana around to create the dungeons, some people imed that they could talk with spirits, but that is another thing that no one was able to confirm," Sauros exined. "My ancestors considered that hypothesis and then improved it further with their own theories. When people die, they be spirits, and their memories be energy for the world, the energy known as mana. Until they leave all of their memories behind, they can''t move on."


    "I wanted to hear something more definitive instead of just theories," Aion said.


    "You probably never heard of them, but ghost dungeons exist. The monsters there can talk¡­ those who managed to clear those dungeons never return since they hear the whispers of the dead," Sauros said. "They are since they only appear in ces where a lot of deaths have happened."


    "What about my mother''s Homnd?" Aion asked.

 Chapter 205 Hurrying Up.

    "We have watched that ce for ten years, but nothing has changed," Sauros said. "Ghosts have the power to take over the bodies of their targets and make them stronger with their own techniques. They are truly a pain in the ass. However, such a dungeon can only exist until all the ghosts are destroyed. My family worked to make some of those disappear."


    "Do you know that bandits assholes have waged a war to obtain the terrain where the capital was supposed to be?" Aion asked.


    "We have, but it is unlikely that someone could try to use such a dungeon for themselves," Sauros replied. "They aren''t stupid to think that they can use the dungeon for some sort of gain. In the first ce, those dungeons give no materials."


    That made sense, but Aion was determined to make those assholes leave thatnd one day. He just needs some more influence to ignore theints of others if he starts a war. He also needs some more fighting power, and the death knights were helping him in that regard.


    "What else can you say?" Aion asked.


    "About dungeons? Let''s see¡­ have you ever wondered how they can spawn monsters?" Sauros asked. "Some of them use mana to lure monsters and feed them to make them reproduce faster, but some others make them appear using raw mana. That is why people use them to farm materials. However, they need other things to save mana and make the process actually feasible. They drain energy and nutrients from the areas around the dungeon to make more monsters."


    "That seems a lot more usible¡­ I feel like I have seen something like that that confirms such a thing," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    "If you passed through that desert to save your mother, that is a fine example of the work of a dungeon," Sauros said. "Deserts are born like that. Speaking of which, some of my ancestors say that yours managed to learn and control that process. The reason behind that is the fact that the capital of the Mileris kingdom was originally a desert, and they transformed it into a giant oasis with magic, but they never confirmed that¡­"


    "Mom said that she didn''t know a lot of things since she wasn''t the heir of the family, I guess that is a piece of information lost forever."


    "I thought that you would say something like that you would recover the secrets of your family," Sauros said.


    "While that sounds interesting, I already have too much on my te," Aion said. "Once I build a nation for my mother, then I will be able to focus on other things, but right now, I can''t get sidetracked."


    Speaking of getting sidetracked, the group arrived two dayster on the second ind. Things were still pretty tense there, so the people didn''t receive them with open arms. Even the merchants didn''t look in a good mood when they sold dozens of magic stones, and they bought several of many ces in order not to stand out.


    "Several buildings have been destroyed, and the smell of smoke still is in the air¡­" Sauros said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It has been a week¡­ are they using smoke for some other thing like cremating the dead?" Aion asked.


    "Yes, they do that around here," Sauros replied. "They believe that the Body of those that were killed when it wasn''t their time to go might be taken over by evil spirits. Sounds familiar?"


    "Hmm¡­ it seems that the sailors on the port are quite busy despite the attacks," Aion said. "Are they going to be alert for a while and then ck off in the future again."


    "That is possible, but¡­" Sauros said while looking around and seeing the number of guards and adventurers armed to the teeth. "Maybe will try to look for the pirates once again¡­ people around here can be hot-blooded when they want. That is another problem on our hands¡­"


    Aion didn''t have to ask to understand that they would look for the enemies in the area around the dungeon¡­ it couldn''t have been helped, but the timing for them to arrive when the situation was gettingplicated sure was difficult.


    Since the group was in another race agaisnt time, they left the second port city as soon as possible. Seris didn''t say a single thing the whole time. She was deep in thought while thinking about how to craft the items that they were going to use¡­ they only had two days left to reach the dungeon, and considering that the chances of them clearing the ce on the first run were small, she was probably running out of time.


    "Don''t worry. When she acts like that, you can expect good things from her creations," Sauros said.


    "If you say so," Aion said.


    Aion wouldn''t worry if she weren''t a part of the group that was going to the dungeon, but since she was, the bags under her eyes were worthy of worrying about. Aion couldn''t save her from drowning even with Devotion.


    Two dayster, when they were only a couple of hours away from their destination, Aion noticed that the cannons were being used more often than before. When he looked ahead, he saw some bodies of monsters emerging from the ocean¡­ they were covered on a round carapace, and it was prettyrge and long since the bodies of those creatures were as big as humans. It was quite hard to describe them since they looked like humanoid worms¡­ without limbs¡­ when the ship got close enough, they would close their carapace and then charge at the ship.


    "They are ready," Seris said while carrying two big crossbows that looked like shotguns. "You will regret not asking to have one of these. Also, this is the helmet that we will need, and it can illuminate the path ahead and offer us air to breathe as well."


    Aion frowned when he saw an exact copy of a gas mask¡­

 Chapter 206 Kick

    When Aion inquired about it, he heard that the helmet that covered his whole face was amon item to use in underwater and poisonous areas. The only problem was the fact that they couldn''t go that deep using it¡­ their bodies were strong enough to withstand the pressure more than the average person, but even that has its limits. It wasn''t the perfect solution, but it was what they could use under the current circumstances.


    "Should we test this?" Sauros asked while holding the crossbow.


    "As much as I want to show off, we shouldn''t¡­ they use the energy of the magic stones quite a bit since I focused on power over everything else," Seris replied.


    "So, you guys have limited ammunition," Aion said and then checked the bag of magic stones that Seris was using. "Thatplicates things."


    The magic stones were just ordinary ss-like stones that emitted a light-blue glow. Aion did some tests with them, but he was unable to get the mana inside them. However, he got one thousand experience points when he absorbed one¡­ it was a pity that they cost ten silver coins. Hunting the slimes probably will be an excellent way to get experience, though¡­ It will be very efficient.


    "They willst for twenty shots each," Seris dered.


    Since they bought around 150, then it was a pretty good amount¡­ Not even Aion''s full mana could let him fire that many wind bullets. By focusing on speed and power, those consumed five points of mana.


    Eventually, the group reached the area where the dungeon was supposed to be, and basically, the cannons never stopped working. The crew of the Breeze of the Sea was going to stay nearby while invisible since it was impossible to tell when adventurers or pirates were going to appear.


    "We can''tmunicate underwater, so we will use hand signs," Sauros said while he was checking his mask for thest time. "Closed fist upward, and you need to stop. Open hand upward, we advance. For the time being, Seris and eye will fight the monsters. Aion should focus on defense since he can use his magic the way he wants. If things get dicey, I will point my arm to the side, and then we will run away." Our first goal is to decrease the poption of monsters in the area. Remember that."


    Since the adventurers were preparing to look for the pirates, the weird carapace creatures that resembled sturdy oysters had increased in numbers. They won''t reach the dungeon until they deal with them¡­


    Without wasting any more time, the group jumped into the ocean and then began to sink¡­ they soon stopped when they saw several of the monsters approaching¡­ they don''t even swim normally underwater. They just roll pretty fast. Seris already had the excuse to aim and fire her crossbow, and the impact, much to Aion''s surprise, made her shoulder tremble¡­ a powerful spear of wind flew toward of the target at fearsome speeds and then easily pierced the carapace.


    Sauros did the same and hit another, and even though his stance was firm and he was holding the weapon with both arms, he still felt a powerful impact on his right shoulder. The weapon was effective, but the recoil will prevent them from using it for long.


    As if the monsters had forgotten about the ship, which was yet to disappear, they all surrounded the group. Aion was ready to stop the monsters, but they never got close enough to be a real threat. For a couple of minutes, they stayed underwater, slowly killing the monsters that approached and getting used to moving below. For some reason, it seemed that the helmet helped them sink faster and go upward as well¡­ After a while, Sauros gave them the sign to go up.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What is wrong?" Aion asked.


    When they took the mask, Aion confirmed what he already knew¡­


    Sauros and Seris had damaged their shoulders.


    "Hmm, even underwater, the recoil is that powerful¡­ if you guys can endure this, then I can heal you all underwater," Aion said.


    "I wille up with a solutionter. For now, we should endure this, brother," Seris said.


    "Yes, no problem," Sauros said. "Their firepower and this hunting speed are more than enough to make us endure this."


    "Just give me a second," Aion said and then began to swim toward the corpses of the monsters and made his weapon absorb them.


    Since they were water monsters, Aion could make them improve the refinement of the Necromancer''s staff. They could use magic, apparently, but underwater it was close to useless. As for the carapaces, they could refine his sword and shield, and the creatures had nothing else that could be used.


    "Let''s go," Aion said.


    The other two nodded, and then they dove¡­ they had to swim for a couple of minutes before they could find a new group of monsters. It seemed that they moved in groups of five, and they headed to ces in which the water was moving too fast or in an unusual way. That was why the Breeze of the Sea was attacked so often¡­ Aion had no idea how they could sense that while they were so far away, though.


    Whenever they found five groups, they would take a break, and then Aion would heal their shoulders. He wasn''t using mana until now, so there was no point in being stingy. Thanks to that, they recovered quite fast. Still, eventually, the fights began to happen more often, and Aion was forced to join them when two of the monsters got too close to smashing Sauros and Seris. Instead of using wind magic, Aion just froze the water around the creatures, and then they slowed down enough for those two to finish them off.


    They had to slow down even more when the group was only a few hundred meters away from their destination¡­ they could see a massive swarm of those creatures just swimming around a cave¡­

 Chapter 207 Expensive Shooting

    "We should swim around the area and then slowly decrease their numbers," Sauros dered. "There is no point in risking everything because we are in a hurry and don''t know when people of the region will bother us."


    "They are moving around the entrance of the dungeon as if they were trying to mimic a whirlwind¡­ do you know why they are doing that?" Seris asked.


    "No idea. This dungeon wasn''t cleared a single time in hundreds of years, so everything is possible," Sauros said. "Let''s just y by the ear."


    "The dungeon never broke in hundreds of years?" Aion asked.


    "It probably did, but as I said before, the core draws energy from the surroundings to create monsters. Only so much energy a core can draw every single day," Sauros replied. "Also, since there are no inds nearby, it would be hard to tell when the dungeon broke, and they aren''t acting like that because of a dungeon break, that I am sure."


    "You said that the Barrier of the temple draws mana from the surroundings, and so does a dungeon core¡­ what would happen if they fight over the mana?" Aion asked.


    "That is a good question, and I have no idea what will happen," Sauros said. "Maybe that conflict is what is causing that weird behavior of the monster¡­"


    There was only one way to find out¡­ the group began to swim around the area, and they attracted a few monsters at a time. They also tested the range of the crossbows, and while they could kill monsters three hundred meters away. It was too hard to aim, and the monsters had plenty of time to dodge.


    After doing that for a few hours and using one-third of their stock of magic stones, Sauros decided to call it a day. Their bodies were getting tired of being underwater, and their aim was decreasing because of it.


    When they returned to the starting point, the crew of The Breeze of the Sea undid the invisibility effect and then helped them climb with some ropes. Aion noticed that they looked a bit troubled, so it seemed that something had happened.


    "Sir, we spotted several ships in the area in thest few hours."


    "They belonged to pirates and to the battalions in the inds, I suppose¡­" Sauros said while rubbing his chin. "They will keep their searches in this area, and since you guys saw some of the pirates'' ships, then the people of the inds must know that their base is nearby¡­ if only we could tail them¡­"


    "You really want to use every possible chance to crush them, huh¡­" Aion said. "That being said, the amount of treasure that they might have makes me interested as well in doing that."<novelnext></novelnext>


    While Seris sighed, Sauros looked at Aion as if he was a weird creature. By himself and at his age, he was one of the richest in the kingdom, and he wanted more¡­ they had no idea that Aion was the type who would try his best at everything, even if there wasn''t a point in doing so.


    "We should move a bit far away from this area to avoid fighting the monsters. We can''t attack if we want to stay hidden," Sauros dered.


    "I should have designed some cannons that fire wind magic¡­ that would let us stay hidden even while using them," Seris said.


    "You need to rest, and you can worry about thatter," Sauros said.


    Those two left for their cabins, and then Aion checked the used magic stones. They didn''t look like ss anymore¡­ They looked like they were hardened by fire mud balls. It was really weird how mana could change something like that so much¡­ Aion''s ns of replicating that had to be dyed.


    "I thought of creating a core using this as a basis, but not a physical one¡­ I don''t think my body would do well if a magic stone suddenly appeared and grew inside it," Aion thought. "I am not that tired, so I guess I will just meditate and try to think of what I can do to solve that matter."


    Aion also stayed alert in case some ships appeared nearby when they used the cannons. Still, they did an excellent job exterminating a lot of monsters on the first day, so that didn''t happen often. In the end, he went to rest in his cabin after not making much progress on that problem¡­ it wasn''t like he had a hard time due to the short duration of Force release, but he got pretty close.


    On the next day, Aion woke up and went to the deck only to hear that some sailors were reporting things to him in the captain''s cabin. He already could tell what those were about since he saw it in the distance¡­ there was a fleet traveling in the region¡­ while it only had five ships, it was a clear sign that the people of the inds were approaching.


    "I guess the fact that we are killing the monsters is also helping them approach often¡­ they aren''t being attacked, after all," Aion thought.


    "My brother will be busy thinking of our next steps for a while. Perhaps we should start without him," Seris said. "That will decrease the burden on his shoulders."


    "Let''s not be hasty regarding this issue¡­" Aion said. "Dashing ahead without a proper n might as well cause more problems for all of us. In any case, considering what I saw your creations are capable of, it makes me wonder why you didn''t develop a cannon able to destroy a ship in an instant."


    "I thought of making one, but it would need too much mana beyond our means," Seris exined. "Using the magic stones might do the job, but I guess one of them would be consumed with every shot. It would be the same as firing gold coins. We have some amazing magic technology, but we can''t sell it¡­"

 Chapter 208 Expected Development

    Aion could guess why they couldn''t sell the items that they produced. Since they had more knowledge than most, their creations had that knowledge, and since they also knew the history of that world better than most, they didn''t want to risk causing more wars or reviving lost technology in the wrong hands¡­ it was a bit of a problem.


    "Sorry for beingte, those reports didn''t bring any good news, so I was busy," Sauros said. "We can''t change our strategy that much since we can''t stay here forever, but we need to make some arrangements."


    "Such as?" Aion asked.


    "If we find a pirate ship, we should fight them, even without the help of The Breeze of the Sea," Sauros said. "We will be counting on you to stop those ships. As long as we stop their mobility, we can deal with the restter. In exchange for that, you will get their treasure or whatever else you find."


    "While that may be possible to pull, we will trace behind, a ship like those can''t sink that fast, and without leaving traces behind, we will end up leaving traces behind," Aion said while scratching the back of his head.


    "I am aware, but in the end, not everyone will take notice of those vestiges. Only a few at a time will," Sauros said. "If they are pirates, they will fall for a trap trying to find answers. If they are the people from the inds, then we can ignore them. We will have to rely a lot on you to make that possible, so I apologize in advance."


    "Well, it isn''t like I am using much of my mana for now," Aion shrugged. "Still, just to be safe, we should try to deal with the monsters around the dungeon today. Things will get messy if they attack us from behind while we decide to attack the pirate ships."


    "Yes¡­ they are drawn to weird vibrations in the area, and the sinking of the ship certainly fits that bill," Sauros said after he furrowed his eyebrows.


    The group jumped into the ocean again once the ship approached the area they worked on the previous day and while the number of encounters had decreased, that still troubled Aion since it looked like the spawning rate of the dungeon was high¡­ since that was the case, he wondered how the barrier around the temple would be¡­


    After hunting a few monsters, those three headed toward the entrance of the dungeon. Since the creatures were swimming in a two hundred meters area that was only one hundred meters deep, Aion wondered if he should freeze everything there and then smash it against something¡­ that would leave too many traces behind, though. People would find it weird to see icebergs in such a tropical zone.


    Sauros told them to hunt in the same way as the previous day, but Aion decided to keep thinking of other things that they could do. He was bored even though he was itching to fight as well, after all. So, that was the only thing he could do. Still, not fighting helped them in the end because when they went to the surface to rest a little, they saw several ships approaching the area and heading in their direction.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It seems some people noticed our actions¡­ or at least the result of our actions," Sauros said. "It is hard to say who they are from here¡­ let''s retreat a little and observe."


    Aion hurried to absorb the monsters. His magic power increased quite a bit in the previous day, so he might take down a ship or two with his power. Years ago, Aion got rid of a massive rock on the way to his channel, so he considered that it was going to be something of a simr scale¡­ the problem was revealed when Aion saw four ships¡­ that would be difficult.


    "Their numbers and the cracks on the body of the ships prove that they aren''t people of the inds," Sauros said.


    "Are you sure? If you are wrong, we will end up killing a lot of innocent people," Aion said while furrowing his eyebrows since he couldn''t see anyone from their positions.


    "Pirates don''t repair their ships¡­" Sauros said. "That is more than enough proof. Real sailors protect and take care of their ships more than they treat their houses. Most of the time, they stay more on the ship than anywhere else."


    Aion heard that Vikings were like pirates, but they treated their ships well. They built many different kinds of craft, from small fishing boats and ferries to their famous longships. They were all made from nks of timber. Usually, oak ovepped and nailed together. The ships were made watertight by filling the spaces between the nks with all kinds of products mixed with tar or tallow. The ships were all the same long narrow shape with shallow draughts. This meant that they could be used in shallow water as well.


    Vikings used longships to make raids and carry their warriors. Often, the prow of the ship was decorated with a carving of an animal head. They had quite the style since they carved those to look like fearsome creatures like dragons¡­


    Putting Aion''s history nerd tendencies aside, he had work to do. He couldn''t fail and let a single ship escape since they would spread the word, and chasing one of them with low mana would be impossible. Fortunately, he had some time to consider his options since they stopped around the dungeon to check the area.


    "You don''t have to kill all of them. It would be good if we get some prisoners to inquire about their hideout," Sauros said.


    "You are full of demands¡­ in order not to let any of them escape, I was nning to destroy them all, but it seems that you like to make my work harder," Aion said. "Let''s see¡­ I guess I will attack the hearts of those ships."

 Chapter 209 Trapped

    Some people say that games are a waste of time or that they are things for children. Aion never said anything to people who imed that, but if he could tell one thing to them in person, he would say that they were morons.


    Someone once said that games are fun, but they don''t take a person anywhere, but Aion couldn''t disagree more, and he would prove that to that kind of people because using the knowledge he obtained while ying a game, he would stop those four ships without using half of his mana. Perhaps not even one-third... he sure was confident this time and quite eager to do that.


    "Wait here," Aion dered before changing his ss to yer and then using Furtivity.


    While semi-invisible, Aion approached the enemy''s ships. Even from a distance, he could see that some pirates had jumped to check things underwater, and some of them were even fighting the monsters since they were too close to the dungeon. Since they were busy, Aion approached one of the ships from below, and then when he confirmed that one was looking at him. He created an ice saw and then made it spin insanely fast while it was breaking apart the keel.


    The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbncing purpose, as well. As theying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship¡­ since it is the core of the ship, like the spine of a human body, if there was no keel, there was no ship¡­


    The first ship began to fall apart, and when the pirates noticed, Aion was already working on the second. The stupid pirates approached to help their allies without understanding what was going on and that made things easy for Aion.


    Still, when the Captains of the other two ships noticed that the second was falling apart, they decided to leave their friends behind and run away. So much for theirradeship¡­


    Aion was chasing one of them, but the other was going to escape¡­ without any other choice, Aion changed his ss to Necromancer to increase his magic power and then froze the back of the nearest ship before firing a powerful Earth spear that broke that part of the ship and destroyed its mobility.


    Since he didn''t have to deal with pirates sinking, he decided to let the monsters and Sauros and Seris deal with them as he began to emit a powerful burst of wind through the sole of his feet. Swimming with armor was close to suicide, so there was nothing blocking Aion''s way.


    Although he never did that, Aion still managed to pull it off skillfully, and then he caught up with the enemy ship. While swimming below it, Aion summoned another ice saw and destroyed the keel as well.


    "I guess I need to capture them¡­ ice can float, so I will use that," Aion thought.


    The pirates began to jump into the ocean in order not to sink and that helped Aion quite a bit. He froze their lower halves and made them unable to move. For those who had weapons and tried to resist, Aion froze them up to their necks. They probably won''t survive for long, but that wasn''t his problem.


    Once Aion did that, he connected them all and created a bigger iceberg. Still, when he was thinking of bringing them back to the others, Aion felt a shiver.


    Aion changed his ss and turned around to raise the protector''s shield. However, his back still was hit, and he felt like a hammer almost smashed his spine. After spinning for a while, he stopped and raised his shield, and then he blocked several other sts.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In the distance, Aion saw a pirate using a smaller version of Seris'' crossbow¡­ he kept firing it and prevented Aion from approaching. Still, things changed when he changed his ss again and then froze the water in front of him.


    While swimming toward the enemy, Aion used the shield to protect himself. Eventually, the enemy ran out of fuel and tried to swim away. However, Aion broke his legs after firing the shield. The pain made the target lose all of the air in his lungs, and he began to sink¡­ letting him die like that was an option, but Aion wanted to make sure that such a guy would tell him what he wanted. For better or worse, he had the balls to attack Aion, after all.


    "Those two don''t have tools to capture the enemies, so I have to do this¡­ it will be better if we get rid of all of the pirates before things get out of hand," Aion thought.


    When Aion returned to where Seris and Sauros were, he found them swimming around quite fast while using their crossbows to deal with the pirates. Fighting underwater sure was time-consuming, and their ammo was being spent insanely fast, but that didn''t make them hesitate.


    "Hmm¡­ I guess we won''t have to¡­ me and my big mouth," Aion thought when he saw some monsters around approaching.


    Although he wanted to help the others, Aion had to make sure that the group wouldn''t be surrounded by monsters and pirates. So far, Sauros and Seris were doing fine, so he decided to leave them alone for the time being and kill the monsters.


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    ¡­


    Aion let the creatures get as close as possible and then finished them off with wind bullets that easily pierced through their thick shell. Thanks to that, Aion saved mana, bringing the bodies to his side to be absorbed. Still, after doing that for a while, the monsters kepting from the dungeon¡­ their numbers were high than he had expected and seen.


    "More of them were inside¡­ this might be troublesome¡­" Aion thought.

 Chapter 210 Hideout

    Eventually, Sauros and Seris dealt with all the enemies, and they captured some as well. When they noticed that something was happening in the area of the dungeon, the crew of The Breeze of the Sea also approached to check things and only found one ship worth of prisoners freezing to death.


    "We can''t move the iceberg to the ship, can we?" Aions asked.


    "Of course not," Seris replied. "We need to choose only a few of the prisoners to answer our questions. Half of them are dead, though¡­"


    "Let me take a look at them," Sauros said as he jumped to the top of the iceberg and then looked at the prisoners in the eye. "This guy here is the Captain of this fleet."


    "... That is the guy that attacked me from behind¡­ you have some crazy analytical skills to deduce that just by looking at the enemy," Aion said, and then he broke the part of the ice that kept the guy locked and then threw him on the deck.


    The impact made the pirate captain tremble all over, even though his legs were numb to the cold. The crew of their ship surrounded him before Sauros approached. As for the other prisoners, Aion decided to keep them alive for the time being, just in case. Aion wasn''t interested in torture, but it seemed that he was the only one on The Breeze of the Sea that didn''t want to make the enemy suffer even more. All of them had issues with pirates, it seems¡­


    "You know what is going to happen¡­ you know that you only have two options, make things easy for us or harder for yourself and us as well. Which is going to be?" Sauros asked after he grabbed the hair of the pirate and raised to look at him in the eye.


    The pirate just looked away¡­ it seemed that he wasn''t going to break that easily. Watching torture wasn''t one of Aion''s hobbies, so he went to get rid of the evidence of the battle and check if the pirates had some magic weapons in their warehouses. Fortunately, the ships sunk in the same area, and only a few pieces of wood were floating around. Maybe Aion missed something, but he believed that he got rid of the most.


    On the other hand, Aion didn''t find any treasure, and he knew the reason why¡­ they hade from their hideout and left all of their things there¡­ Still, even if damaged, Aion got some materials for his sses, so he was fine for the time being. Also, when he returned, it seemed that Auros had finished with the enemy captain. It didn''t look like Sauros wanted to dirt his ship with the enemy''s blood, so he made the guy spill the beans after forcing him to eat some rotten monster''s meat¡­ his power could also be used like that.


    "You can be pretty nasty at times, huh," Aion said.


    "Only when I need to¡­" Sauros said. "Anyway, it seems that our guess was right¡­ they are using a magic tool to keep a certain ind invisible. This guy told me the direction and the distance, but even so, it will be hard to approach without being ambushed. They might also have sort of secret entrance, and those who try to enter another way will be attacked by the barrier."


    "I sensed the entrance to the barrier of that first temple, so I can probably do the same here," Aion said. "We will have to approach only at night, though¡­ can you imagine how awesome it will be to swim in the dark ocean filled with monsters?"


    "... We can find other ways," Sauros said.


    "Not today, I guess," Aion said and then shrugged. "I will do it. We can''t waste any more time here."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "We will offer you the necessary support," Seris said. "You have been far more helpful on this journey, after all."


    "No need, I can hide my presence from monsters, and you saw before," Aion dered. "The monsters and the pirates won''t even notice me going and leaving."


    They had forgotten about that, but when they ambushed the ships, it felt like Aion suddenly disappeared in front of them. They knew that Aion wasn''t someone normal, but could only Wonder how the heck he learned such a technique.


    "Well, I am going to take a quick nap to recover and be prepared for what definitely won''t happen," Aion said.


    "And that would be¡­" Sauros asked.


    "Me screwing up with the mission," Aion replied after he turned around.


    "Sauros¡­" Seris said with a severe expression on her face.


    "I know, we are relying too much on him¡­" Sauros said. "I guess I should treat this mission like myst since I always end up giving him some difficult tasks and end up letting him almost overwork himself."


    "While we invited him, it is pretty embarrassing how much he is covering our backs," Seris said while looking at the ocean. "If you are going to retire, I have no idea who will take your ce. We are losing face in front of our underlings, but it isn''t like anyone else can do a better job¡­"


    "We barely are halfway through this mission and are already owing him too many favors," Seris said. "Considering how he is interested in certain subjects that our people studied over the years, perhaps we could give him the results of our research. It isn''t like he is thirsting for world domination."


    "I trust him. The real problem is time," Sauros said. "We can''t take our research from our base, and Aion has his mother and his obligations¡­ Well, this is a problem for the future. He is so dependable that we already think that we won''t fail on this mission."


    Those two left for the Captain''s cabin since they had work to do. While Aion was going to find the entrance, they had to make sure that their attack would be perfect since they would be outnumbered once the fight started¡­

 Chapter 211 Within The Darkness

    "Well then, I am going," Aion said after sunset. "If I don''t return in a few hours, don''t get worried. It just means that I decided to take on all the enemies on my own."


    "We should be ten kilometers away from the location that guy mentioned, and such distance must be too big even for you. Maybe we should get closer," Seris said. "We can''t stay invisible, after all."


    "We shouldn''t risk it. If you get too close, the ship will have a hard time maneuvering if the enemies approach. Even you all will have a hard time finding them in this darkness," Aion said. "Just wait here patiently."


    "All right¡­ don''t get careless, and don''t rush it. Return if something unexpected happens." Sauros said. "Good luck."


    Aion nodded, and then he jumped into the ocean. The water was pretty cold, but his body stayed warm since he was swimming. He soon activated Furtivity, and he disappeared from everyone''s sight.


    Everything in all directions was insanely dark, so Aion felt really weird. Aside from the feeling given by the water, Aion felt like he was swimming like in the emptiness of space. It was truly a weird feeling and quite unsettling.


    Since there were nondmarks around, Aion quickly lost the notion of time. Sometimes he felt that he didn''t move even a bit, but that was obviously wrong since he was using magic to help. He wasn''t a triathlon practitioner to swing ten kilometers with his strength alone, afer all.


    "Hmm?" Aion frowned when he felt a weird presence ahead. "Is it already here?"


    Aion used a bit more of his mana, and he confirmed that there was a barrier ahead. The weird thing was the fact that the barrier didn''t affect the water¡­ Aion could see iting and going like nothing was there. In any case, he didn''t feel anything odd with the barrier in that part¡­ there must be an entrance somewhere, one that is big enough for ships.


    Aion''s hard work continued as he began to swim around the barrier. Since it was supposed to protect an ind big enough to work as a hideout for who knows how many ships, Aion knew that the ce would be massive, but not to the point that he would have to swing for one hour to just surround one-fourth of the whole barrier.


    "I could speed things up by changing sses since there are no signs of monsters here. They must be hunted pretty often¡­" Aion thought.


    Still, that was too risky¡­ Letting the operations fail and lose the surprise factor out of sheer recklessness would be stupid. So, Aion just kept going like that¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    In the end, it took two more hours for Aion to find an opening in the barrier. It was weird since he couldn''t see anything while looking at it¡­ it wouldn''t be weird if some barriers could show fake images, but the whole situation was way too convenient for the pirates.


    "I suppose I need to check it instead of just bringing everyone here directly," Aion thought.


    Aion got a bit nervous, but he still went ahead and passed through the hole in the barrier, and he didn''t feel anything. Much to his surprise, Aion saw a weird ind in front of him¡­ while it was night, the trees were emitting quite a bit of light. It was because of the yellow gems that they stole during their many attacks. Still, they were spending recklessly.


    Although Aion had never heard of them capturing people, he saw several cages around, and some people on chains were working for the pirates. Some of them were cleaning and cooking food while others were dancing for the pirates who were drinking¡­ considering that some of their ships left earlier to investigate, Aion assumed that they would be more on guard, but his guess was wrong.


    "I guess they aren''t taking the situation seriously¡­" Aion thought. "They have around thirty ships here, and their base was never found¡­ I suppose I can assume that they recruit the pirates they can trust and reveal the existence of this ce¡­ that or maybe they are descendants of the pirates that discovered this ce."


    He had the chance to destroy the ships right now, Aion just had to aim for the keels, but he decided to retreat for the time being. It was around midnight, so attacking a few hourster would be a better option since those guys definitely aren''t morning people. Still, it will be hard to defeat so many of them, and that will have to be done by Sauros and the others since Aion will deal with the ships.


    Aion retreated and then looked to the position of the stars to tell which direction he came from. Sauros taught him a few tricks on how to do that effectively. Still, he had to find a way to mark the right position of the entrance without making anything too obvious. In the end, Aion summoned the earth mage, which caused him some problems when he rescued his mother. He made him fly above the entrance on an earth tform. As long as he doesn''t move, he won''t consume too much mana, after all.


    After changing his ss, Aion returned to the Breeze of the Sea at full speed and while flying. He already had enough experience swimming at night for a lifetime. When he returned, he saw the ship not using its invisibility, and with the others waiting for him, they sure were a reckless bunch. The agreement was that they would undo it only when they saw him approaching.


    "I found it," Aion said after hended on the deck.


    Aion didn''t waste time and began to exin what he saw. In the end, the behavior of the pirates only made everyone''s blood boil. Without wasting any more time, the whole group began to prepare for battle, and against those odds, a lot of resources ended up being used¡­

 Chapter 212 Reasons To And Reasons Not To

    "This region hasn''t been fighting against other nations for centuries, and it is rtively easy to make money here, so they have no reason to have war prisoners or people in debt to be ves," Sauros exined. "The people you saw must be from other nations¡­ in any case, this is another confirmation of the mess behind the curtains."


    "Did they attack other ces, or did they buy them?" Aion asked.


    "That is hard to say¡­ considering what you saw, I would guess that traveling to othernds would be too much of a hassle for them. Picking up a fight with them would be even more unlikely," Sauros replied. "I didn''t hear them attacking other ces aside from those four inds and merchant ships, so they must have traveled to waste the money they got and then bought the ves."


    That was a problem, either way, they couldn''t kill the ves, and they didn''t have any more room on the ship. They also shouldn''t let others know about their activities, so helping them will only be a big problem in the long run.


    "We can''t abandon them," Seris dered while looking at Aion as if she could tell what he was thinking.


    "I never said that we should. I was considering the possibility since our mission is different, and we already have wasted too much time doing things unrted to the mission," Aion exined. "Still, if we get enough treasure from their base, perhaps we can use that as a hassle fee."


    "... You are such a good person, to the point that you even risked your life to protect me twice¡­ so howe you are all about money?" Seris asked while frowning.


    "I am all about the uses of money," Aion said. "Also, if one works, it is only natural for one to expect payment. No one can help me achieve my goals, but money sure can help it. So, I will use all the chances to get as much as possible."


    Plus, there was the fact that money could increase Aion''s status exponentially, so he had no reason to ignore the chances of getting as much as possible. Seris didn''t know that, and it wasn''t like it would change her opinion much. Still, she had a high opinion of Aion, so she thought that he would be more selfless.


    Aion couldn''t be that selfless when his goal was already too big, and trying to do too many things that collided with each other would only prevent him from doing things right. In any case, Aion could see where those two wereing from. Not only did they have some problems with pirates, but they also belonged to a family that decreased in number over the years for reasons unknown to Aion. Their family''s mission was important, but they couldn''t ignore the world''s injustice while they focused on it.


    "Putting in simple terms¡­ they are a troublesome bunch," Aion thought. "I already died once trying to protect someone that wasn''t that close to me. I should at least have the right to choose who I want to protect until the end."<novelnext></novelnext>


    After half an hour, the group finished their preparations and then approached the enemy''s hideout while invisible. In the mean, they considered how they should proceed. Destroying the keels at night was possible if Aion used the helmets that Seris made, but it will take some time and mana. Their best option would be to invade with full power and prevent the enemies from approaching the ships¡­


    "We will spread across the ships and use our magic weapons to attack them and prevent them from approaching," Sauros dered. "They still have some magic weapons with them, and maybe they built some armory on the ind, but we still have the upper hand since their strength is the maritime battles¡­ focus on surviving no matter what."


    Aion sighed since everyone would be using their remaining magic stones to deal with the pirates¡­ unless they found some among the enemies'' treasures, they would waste another week returning to the second ind to buy more. Still, Aion decided to take that as a lesson of what not to do in the middle of a mission. Focus on your goal, and forget about other things. You are not the world''s cleaner to keep hunting bandits nonstop;;;


    "We are here. Wait for a while longer until I confirm that they are still unaware of us," Aion said when he found his death knight floating in the air in the distance.


    Sauros nodded, and then Aion began to fly toward the barrier, and once he crossed it, he made the death knight disappear. Things on the ind had grown a bit quieter since the sun was going to rise in just one hour. Even pirates couldn''t drink nonstop the whole night¡­ even though they probably do that whenever they want.


    "I guess we can do this since they are drunk and tired," Aion thought. "Still, I should check their ships for lookouts."


    Aion approached the ships, and he could barely see some guys wrapped in nkets on them. If they were awake, he would have a harder time finding them.


    Since Aion was trained to be amander, or he trained with people that were supposed to take those roles, he felt a bit bothered by killing enemies while they were sleeping. Still, he didn''t hesitate since their side would suffer a lot more if those guys caused problems¡­ he kept his priorities straight and ignored his conscience for a bit.


    In the end, Aion only found ten ships being guarded, and after disposing of the guards, he signaled for the others toe. Aion thought that the enemies would soon realize their approach when the ship crossed the barrier. However, it looked like he overestimated the enemies¡­ they still were partying like nothing was wrong.


    Using his magic, he helped the crew take their positions on the many ships around, and once that was over, they started the attack.

 Chapter 213 Suspicious Retreat

    The pirates wasted some time to realize what was going on when they suddenly saw some of them being hit by ice and fire arrows. Their bodies began to burn, and others fell dead when their vitals were pierced. The drunk ones barely had time to feel anything¡­ Still, they woke up from that state when they saw numerous fire Arrowsing from the darkness of the night.


    "Enemy Attack!" Someone shouted with all their might.


    The shout echoed through the Ind, and those who were further from the shore finally realized what was going on. Their base finally had been found out, even though that was hard to believe.


    "It seems that not everyone was being reckless and drunk until they barely could withstand it," Aion thought when he saw a squad of enemies approaching with some long crossbows. "I need to take them down fast¡­"


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    You received 555 coins.


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    You received 7890 coins.


    ¡­


    Aion equipped his longbow and then used Force release. Thanks to that, three arrowsnded on three of ten of the enemies and killed them instantly.


    The other members of the squad couldn''t even see where the arrows came from, so it was impossible for them to counterattack. In the end, they retreated and hid behind some coconut trees¡­ as if that would stop Aion.


    While Aion was dealing with that squad, some other pirates began to attack back in a disorganized manner. Still, they couldn''t see the enemies properly because of the darkness of the night. They hesitated even more since they didn''t want to damage their ships.


    Suddenly, the sound of a bell began to ring around the ind, and the pirates started to retreat. Their responses were pretty fast for a bunch of drunkards¡­ it was also suspicious that they had something like an alert to make them retreat when they had never been found.


    "It seems that they have some countermeasures as well," Aion jumped from the mast and then said. "I would expect a lot of trapsid around to catch live like us here."


    "Yes, it is only obvious that they would¡­" Sauros nodded after he furrowed his eyebrows.


    "They don''t have anywhere to run, so this is theirst card," Seris said. "They still have the numerical strength, though."


    "Before anything, we should check these ships," Sauros dered. "Morning will soone as well, and it will be easier to find them during the day."<novelnext></novelnext>


    The real problem was the fact that the enemies would have the chance to organize, and they would also know their numbers. Sauros probably knew that, and that was why Aion kept quiet about it.


    After checking the ships, they found quite the collection of magic weapons, they were mostly the ones that were made using the gems of the third ind, but others were ofrge scale and could be used against ships. They had quite a collection of magic cannons¡­


    "Those can''t bepared to ours¡­ but these numbers¡­ it almost looks like they were preparing for a war¡­" Seris said.


    Aion expected that pirates and warships would have twenty or more cannons, but it didn''t seem like that was the case. Since magic cannons had far more power, they needed the necessary fuel. Some people with enough mana could feed them, but pirates had too little since they rarely trained or knew anything about magic. So, in that region of the world, using magic stones was the norm¡­


    Considering that it was difficult to use so many cannons, their way of thinking seemed urate¡­ they were preparing for something big, and maybe they were attacking the second ind to get enough fuel for that.


    "... what do you guys know about the lords of the inds?" Aion asked.


    "Not much, they don''t seem that remarkable, and they didn''t do anything worth noticing," Sauros said.


    "... Are you thinking that perhaps one of them is backing the pirates in order to take over the four inds?" Seris asked. "That wouldn''t be surprising, but the geography would be too much of a hassle for a single person to rule over the area. I can already picture rebellions happening left and right due to that."


    "Is anyone else in the area that is remarkable and able to pull off something of this scale?" Aion asked.


    "No, and while we don''t have spies here, it is because gathering Intel is too easy," Sauros said.


    "Is that so¡­" Aion thought.


    Something about the situation was rubbing Aion in the wrong way. Still, he couldn''t point his finger at the reason behind that¡­ so he could only put his thoughts aside for the time being.


    When the sun was starting to rise, the group didn''t notice any weird movements from the pirates and thanks to that. They could only search and fight them on the territory they knew better. It was really troublesome¡­


    "They might try to escape, so half of us will stay here and use the cannons that the enemies left behind if necessary," Sauros dered. "The others will split into groups of five and then try to close all of the routes from the middle and sides. Aion, Seris, and I will offer support in all areas once the battle starts, so don''t hesitate to call for help. Let''s go."


    Four groups left the ships and then headed to the shore. With his powers, Aion wouldn''t be ambushed, but the chances of the enemies escaping by forcing through their path with sheer numbers were still high. If all ships had at least thirty crew members, then almost nine hundred pirates were to be there, and they only dealt with one hundred or so in the previous night.


    There was no room for error, so Aion was using the necromancer ss, and with his magic power on the max level, he won''t hold back against those guys. It was time to solve that problem once and for all¡­

 Chapter 214 Hunt

    Aion''s group split away from the others, and while the vegetation of the area was quite dense, they still could feel some people''s gazes on them. At the same time, they didn''t find any constructions. They were supposed to have somece to store food, water, weapons, and other things, but it seemed that they had built it in the center of the ind.


    "They sure are cautious about this ce considering how easily we infiltrated," Aion thought, and then he touched the ground.


    It didn''t take long for Aion to find twenty or so enemies hidden in the tall grass and behind some trees. It was clear that they wanted to surround them, but their n was bound to fail with Aion around. It was a pity for them, and Aion couldn''t help but smirk since that kind of thing was really fun.


    Using his magic, Aion froze the area around those twenty guys and looked them up in several ice blocks. They were pretty thin since Aion wanted to save mana, and they could free themselves soon enough, so he signaled for the other two to hurry up.


    The panic was visible in the pirates'' eyes, but they couldn''t even shout since Aion covered their mouths as well. Using their weapons and Aion with his spear, they silently finished off that group of enemies. Still, the smell of blood was quickly spreading alongside the sound of metal¡­ other crew members were forced to fight at close range already¡­


    "We need to split up¡­" Seris said.


    "Since they are your friends, it is understandable that you want to save them," Aion said. "However, you truly aren''t suited for the battlefield¡­ you worry too much about the others."


    Seris couldn''t refute that. Sauros had mentioned that she should focus on building things instead of forcing herself to destroy them. Still, her power was rare among her people, and many thought that it would be a waste to leave it alone.


    "You guys should cover the sides, and I will dash to the center of the ind," Aion said. "I will try to cause havoc there, so try not to get in the way of my attacks."


    "... Let''s do that, but remember what I told you before," Sauros said. "The pirates only follow the strong, and only someone powerful would be able to keep all the pirates of the region on a tight leash."


    Aion nodded, and then the group split up. It didn''t take long for him to find another group ready to ambush him. However, before they could do anything, Aion enhanced his spear with wind magic and then swung it. A massive de of wind flew toward half of the enemies nearby and hidden behind the threes and ended up cutting everything on the way for dozens of meters.


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    You obtained 250 experience points.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ¡­


    The others hid on the grass and got up, only in time to see Aion right in front of them swinging his weapon. Those who had raised theirs managed to survive the first strike, but the others lost their heads. Still, the survivors didn''tst much since their weapons broke in a single moment.


    "I don''t get it¡­ those guys are weak, but the system is giving more experience than the minimum¡­" Aion thought. "Maybe the conditions and the environment affect that as well¡­ I have no idea why, though."


    Aion began to run again, and this time, he quickly reached the center of the ind, where he found an area that had been leveled up for the construction of some houses and arger building. It seemed like a warehouse, but that wasn''t the important part. It was the fact that he could feel a powerful presence around¡­ even without his magic. The amount of bloodlust was crazy enough to make Aion even increase the power of his grip on the weapon.


    From behind that massive building, something jumped over. Aion thought that he was going to face a human, but in front of him, what showed up was a giant bipedal red-purple wolf¡­ it seemed like a monster. Still, Aion could see some understanding in that thing''s eyes. Aion stared at the creature while wondering what he should do¡­ time was of the essence, after all.


    "You must be the leader¡­ since you aren''t fazed by my bloodlust¡­" The creature said.


    "I see¡­ you can transform your bodypletely to look like a monster. Pretty handy skill," Aion said. "That must increase your strength and hide your appearance¡­"


    Aion wondered what that guy had to do to be able to mutate like that, but deep down, he also felt that it wasn''t a good idea to know about it¡­ Regardless, the enemy didn''t feel like telling, even though he should be stalling for time for his underlings toe and help.


    All of a sudden, the enemy charged at Aion and swung his hands at Aion''s neck. He blocked the charge with his spear the moment the nails of the enemy suddenly grew¡­ however, the impact alone pushed him backward for several meters.


    "I guess when ites to strength, he has the upper hand," Aion said while looking at the bulging muscles of the pirate.


    In any other situation, Aion would enjoy fighting a guy of that level. Still, he has to hurry and help the others. The crew members didn''t have the numbers to do everything by themselves.


    Aion dashed before the enemy could and then enhanced his spear with the improved version of wind magic¡­ it was lightning magic. Even the toughest enemies would be paralyzed while being electrocuted, and Aion was nning to finish off that guy in that short window of time. However, while he was thrusting his spear at the enemy''s head, he just dodged them to the sides while taking steps backward. His speed was also phenomenal, but the real problem was the fact that he could read Aion''s line of attackpletely¡­

 Chapter 215 When In Doubt…

    "Since I use many weapons, I can''t say that I am a specialist, but¡­ he shouldn''t have been able to read my attacks like that¡­ no one managed to do that before," Aion thought when he saw the enemy staring at him.


    Aion could understand if a martial artist or someone that fought many enemies who used spears could read his moves¡­ but not a smelly pirate. In any case, usually, the enemies would try to attack him while he was in deep thought. Still, he only saw the enemy being even more cautious of him¡­ that was a first.


    "Is information about me spreading around already?" Aion thought. "Well, it doesn''t matter¡­"


    The enemy was stalling for a time now for whatever reason, so Aion had to deal with him before the others were overwhelmed by numbers. Aion dashed at the enemy, and he kept charging even though he was within range. His thrusts still only hit the air, and his impatience was increasing while seeing the enemy moving backward so skillfully without turning¡­


    In the end, Aion created a rock behind the wolfman to make him trip, but the guy, almost as if he had an eye on his back, jumped backward to dodge the obstacle¡­ Aion stopped for a second to try to understand what was going on. If he didn''t know any better¡­ then he would have said that the enemy knew exactly how he usually fights. That or the enemy could see the future, and that would be preposterous¡­


    "Let''s see how you handle this, then¡­" Aion said and then changed his ss to yer.


    yer Lv 26


    Health: 78/78


    Mana: 52/52


    Stamina: 152/152


    Strength: 31


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 13


    Endurance: 08


    Resistance: 13


    Speed: 65


    Status: 00


    Knife Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Dash Lv 26, Quick Action Lv 01


    Passive: Knife Mastery Lv 12, Double Strike Lv 01 (Efficiency Lv 01),


    Improvement Points: 84


    umted Experience: 0<novelnext></novelnext>


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Quick Action: it grants you the power to react to most of the enemy''s actions on time.


    Cost: 05 stamina


    Double Strike: it grants you the power to cause double the amount of damage when attacking.


    That wasn''t one of his strongest sses considering the level alone, but not everything is decided by power. After he used Furtivity, Aion could tell that he had disappeared from the enemy''s field of Vision. Still, he also could tell that the enemy was still aware of his presence¡­ when Aion began to move, he noticed the enemy''s nose twitching, and he followed him in the direction of his body and then charged.


    Aion jumped to the side and dodged the attack the attack since his strength in that ss wasn''t enough to stop such a charge. Still, once hended where Aion had been a moment ago, the enemy jumped to the side and followed him without even fixing his posture¡­


    "It seems that he can smell that I got weak too¡­" Aion thought. "That confidence¡­ I will shatter to pieces¡­"


    When the enemy was about to grab him, Aion activated Force release and saw the eyes of that guy opening widely¡­ he couldn''t retreat anymore, only defend himself. By hardening his arm muscles and moving them to protect his face and heart, the wolfman readied himself, and then he felt the burning pain of the knife cutting his arm. Still, he used that brief moment to kick Aion and gain some distance.


    Unfortunately for the enemy, Aion didn''t let the kick stop him, and while it hurt his torso like hell, Aion was there even before the enemynded and swung his knife at the enemy''s throat. The wolfman protected his upper body again with his arm, and then he regretted it when he felt his wrists being pierced by the knife¡­ Aion had predicted that he would defend himself in the same way as before¡­


    "HAAAAAAAHHHH!"


    All of a sudden, the enemy shouted, and Aion was paralyzed for a moment¡­ it had the same effect as Roar¡­ thanks to that, the wolfman had the chance to attack Aion. Still, while his body wasn''t listening to him, Aion''s mind was. He changed his ss to the guardian to have his highest defense and some magic power, and then he fired several ice spears at the enemy. Aion got kicked in the stomach once, but the enemy didn''t put much weight behind it since he protected his upper body again with both arms.


    "... He isn''t faster than me, but he can outmaneuver me with his body that is almost like one of an animal," Aion thought as he watched the enemynding a few dozen meters away. "Still, his left hand won''t be used the same way as before¡­"


    Although Aion thought of that, he realized that the wolfman didn''t look even a bit fazed¡­ not to mention not much blood was leaving the wound. Something was off¡­ Aion''s first thought was that the enemy could regenerate faster in that form¡­ or maybe he could use that type of magic.


    The wolfman waited patiently while maintaining a defensive stance¡­ he wasn''t insane enough to fight Aion with an arm that couldn''t be used properly¡­ Still, just defending wouldn''t be enough to stop Aion. In fact, it would be a terrible mistake¡­


    Aion pointed his right hand toward the enemy, and the pirate raised his guard. He was ready for everything, all types of magic that could be thrown at him¡­ Still, he froze when several ice Arrows appeared andpletely erased any spot that he might try to use to escape¡­


    Aion fired them without hesitation. The enemy used all of his muscles and hardened them to protect his vitals, but Aion didn''t n to kill with that alone¡­ he nned to make his wounds freeze¡­


    The wolfman grunted in pain while he was feeling his wounds burning and the frostbites freezing the wounds¡­ now Aion wanted to see him healing that fast.

 Chapter 216 Storm Alert

    While the wolfman was in pain, Aion charged after changing his weapon to the hammer. The enemy tried to move away, but the frozen wounds prevented him from moving too much¡­ without any other option, he just blocked the attack with a punch.


    The impact caused a shockwave that made the trees around tremble and ripped the grass off the ground. Aion didn''t think that he would need Inner Release. Still, it seemed that he underestimated the enemy a bit¡­ he didn''t even move from his spot. It seemed that brute strength was his forte... or maybe a natural trait from his tribe. Either way, Aion had to think of better options to avoid problems. In his current situation, even another wound could be a real problem.


    "What a fucking monster¡­ I did well in focusing on the effect of the magic instead of the power," Aion thought.


    Since that was the only option, the wolfman strengthened his stance to take those blows head-on. Aion had no idea why he was nning that¡­ it was clear that his fists won''tst forever agaisnt a hammer.


    Soon Aion got his answer when he felt some eyes around. Soon after, he heard the sound of arrows flying, and then he erected an earth wall behind him. The sound of the impacts took ce, and they didn''t stop. Eventually, the wall began to crack¡­


    "They want to buy time for him to run away or do something¡­" Aion said and then clicked his tongue. "I can try to take him as fast as possible, but that will expose my back¡­ it seems that the others aren''t close, so I can do that."


    In that game, more than one can y. In the end, Aion swung his hammer to the ground and then raised a dust curtain. Even without seeing it, he could tell that the wolfman was trying to head to the big building behind him, and Aion decided to let him so since he was busy summoning his death knight, and he summoned the earth mage that began to impale all of the enemies with earth spikes emerging from the ground.


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    You obtained 250 experience points.


    ¡­


    While the death knight was doing the cleanup, Aion chased the wolfman and saw him entering the building and closing the entrance. As if something like a door would stop him¡­ Aion sted the whole thing away with wind magic. Still, he slowly approached after that since he wasn''t much durable in the necromancer ss.


    Although the interior was a bit dark, Aion could see many boxes with weapons, gold, gems, random materials, and even drinks. That sure was where they stocked their goods, so it was surprising that the enemy would choose to fight in such a ce¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    The wolfman was nowhere to be seen, so Aion considered using his mana to find him. However, before he could do that, he felt the enemy''s bloodlust again. It seemed that he had found something that raised his spirits. Perhaps some sort of item that healed his wounds or a magic weapon that would increase his attack power¡­


    From behind a pile of boxes, the wolf man suddenly jumped over and thennded a couple of meters away while making a weird metallic sound¡­ it had been a while since Aion heard something like that. It felt like the sound of heavy machinery¡­ but he only saw the wolfman standing in front of him. His arms and legs were being covered by some pieces of armor that made them look robotic¡­ it was quite a weird addition to that armor¡­


    "You won''t go far wearing an armor that splits into four parts and doesn''t protect your torso," Aion said.


    The enemy ignored that and just charged. as one would expect, his speed increased, and Aion didn''t want to test his new strength. So, he summoned an ice wall in front of him, but the enemy just punched to destroy it.


    "Ground freeze!" Aion said.


    The first attack didn''t stop the enemy, so Aion decided to help him approach faster. He froze the ground of the entire warehouse, and then the wolfman began to slide uncontrobly.


    Aion used the ice with his magic to move to the side without taking a single step, and then the enemy passed by him. When Aion turned around to attack, he saw that guy raising one leg and then kicking the ground, making all the ice around shatter¡­ Aion clicked his tongue in annoyance, but then he decided to turn one of the enemy''s strengths into his weakness.


    When the wolfman prepared to attack, Aion used his fire magic to increase the temperature of the room, making all of the shards of ice melt and raising the steam. The wolfman covered his nostrils since he didn''t like the scent of steam rising from the ground. With the other arm, he assumed a defensive stance.


    However, not moving made things a lot easier for Aion¡­ the enemy never noticed Aion controlling the steam and making it approach the wolfman. That was driven from his mana, so such a thing was possible.


    The pirate noticed that the steam wasn''t dissipating, in fact, it was getting denser, and the temperature around him was increasing¡­ the wolfman tried to move away from the steam, but the cloud followed him all around. He eventually tried to attack Aion, but he was no longer where the enemy saw him before.


    Aion was flying above and watching the enemy, confused while he prepared the next attack. Defeating the enemy up close was one option, and it would boost Aion''s ego, but in the end, he needed to work faster and help the others. So, after a few seconds of focus, he hit the steam cloud with a thunderbolt.


    "You shouldn''t stay wear so much metal agaisnt someone that can use lightning magic. I thought you knew about the fact that I could use it, but¡­" Aion said. "Whatever¡­"

 Chapter 217 Support Role

    In the end, the enemy resisted for quite a bit due to his physiology, but at the same time, he was unable to escape the trap. The steam cloud enhanced and worked to keep the enemy stun locked on that spot. He eventually passed out while emitting a ton of steam himself¡­


    You obtained 375.000 experience points.


    You received 100.000 coins.


    The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    ¡­


    "He still had money in his pockets, huh¡­" Aion said while looking at the semi-burned body of the wolfman.


    While looking at the metal parts covering the enemy''s arms, Aion thought of analyzing it. However, he didn''t have time for that¡­ even if they looked strangely technological, and he was interested in them.


    After storing the body away, Aion left the warehouse and then saw his earth mage already done with the cleanup. He didn''t notice it, but he used a lot of his mana by being damaged. Defeating all the enemies effectively would be difficult without the mana of the necromancer ss. Aion could use his death knights, but he didn''t want to risk revealing them.


    Bard Lv 33


    Health: 10/10


    Mana: 294/294


    Stamina: 28/28


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity:10


    Magic: 141


    Endurance: 04


    Resistance: 06


    Speed: 04


    Status: 00


    Lute Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Power Song Lv 44 (Efficiency Lv 96), Magic Song Lv 29, Speed Song Lv 11


    Passive: Recovery Aura Lv 16, Increased Range Lv 10


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:<novelnext></novelnext>


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Speed Song: Boosts the speed of all allies that listen to your song by one point per level and up to five minutes after listening to the song.


    Increased Range: passively increases the reach of your songs by one percent per level.


    Aion changed his ss, and after using the points that he had yet to use, Aion began to y his lute. Since his magic power increased tremendously. The song of the lute managed to reach and boost the strength of all his allies, and since he increased the efficiency of Power Song, the bonus of strength almost doubled¡­ each one of them obtained almost ny points in strength.


    You obtained 125 experience points.


    You obtained 125 experience points.


    You obtained 125 experience points.


    ¡­


    That wasn''t something that Aion expected to see¡­ he was gaining experience by giving support to others and defeating the enemies. That was another way to make the ss level up, but Aionpletely forgot about it since he always tried to fight by himself.


    "The enemies are dying quite fast¡­ I suppose I can also take the support role once I trust enough people to be the damage dealers¡­" Aion thought.


    After half an hour, Aion stopped receiving notifications, and he assumed that the fight was over. He didn''t have to check the others or look for them. They approached the central area of the ind and found him and those buildings. Some of the crew members looked pretty wounded, and Aion could see only fifteen of the seventeen that left with him.


    "It is over," Sauros dered.


    "What about the prisoners?" Aion asked. "Before you say anything since we epted so many risks, we might as well try to win in all possible aspects."


    "I didn''t say anything," Seris said.


    "You were thinking about saying," Aion said.


    "Some of the pirates tried to use them as shields, but thanks to your help, we managed to pull it off," Seris said. "I have heard that song magic existed in the past, and I can''t guess how you learned it, but it helped a lot."


    "Putting that aside¡­ Aion," Sauros said.


    "All right¡­ healing time," Aion said, and then he approached the wounded.


    With the bard ss, Aion had a recovery aura, and it was supposed to heal those nearby. However, the range was quite limited, so it didn''t help during the battle. It would be insane if it could¡­ Aion would be able to create a semi-immortal army even from a distance.


    While Aion was helping with the seriously injured, Sauros and Seris left to bring the prisoners. Although they were helped during the fight, they still didn''t trust those who helped them and scattered across the ind. Some even jumped into the ocean, imagining that there was no barrier around. It took them a full day to get all of the prisoners, and the pirates had at least one hundred of them¡­


    "It seems three of those ships will be used by them¡­ if you manage to convince them that you are on their side," Aion said when he saw the prisoners still roped since they refused to listen to reason.


    "I guess that they still will think that this is just a game for us once we give them the ships and the supplies for their travel¡­" Sauros said and then sighed.


    "Well, whether they trust us or not, that is beyond our hands," Seris said. "We already did plenty for them."


    It wasn''t often that Aion could hear Seris say something that reasonable¡­ Aion thought that she would try to be friends with them, but in the end, she knew her position among her family and couldn''t reveal much about herself to others. She still put her family and mission above everything else¡­ even if only a little.


    Although they had been working nonstop for a while, once they dealt with most problems of the ind, Aion, Sauros, and Seris left to check the warehouse and the other buildings. They didn''t find anything worth noticing on the houses, but they found a well-organized stock of a lot of things in the warehouse. They also had a massive stock of magic stones¡­ so that side job paid off a lot considering their real mission.


    "I found some papers with urate descriptions of the goods here¡­" Seris said once she found a hidden room at the back of the warehouse. "They truly were preparing for something since they didn''t sell anything they stole over thest few years¡­"

 Chapter 218 Decision

    "Well then¡­ we have two options here," Sauros said. "The first one is to keep searching for answers about this and probably find some type of conspiracy of someone who wants to start a war, or forget about this and do our real job."


    "We managed to defeat all of the pirates of the region. No one will be able to start a war for a few years if we take all of the resources here," Seris said. "We need to hurry up and get the relics."


    Aion wanted to agree with that, but he didn''t have the answers about the situation that he wanted¡­ he also wanted to return home and make sure that no one would have the power to create holes in time and space to summon whatever to that current period of time. That was definitely the thing that they had to focus on right now¡­


    In the end, they decided to focus on the mission, dismantling the whole warehouse. At the same time, they transported everything to the ships. In the end, there were too many things to carry with only four ships, even though the Breeze of the Sea was three times longer than the others. So, Aion had enough materials to make his tier one ss reach the highest level of refinement, and now he just had to make them level up.


    As for gold, the pirates didn''t have much since they would travel around and spend it, but Aion still got fifty gold coins, half of what they had found. Now, they just needed to find the magic tool that was able to keep the whole ind hidden. That was the real troublesome thing that they needed to deal with... still, it seemed that things would be a lot simpler than expected.


    "Where do you think it is, Aion?" Sauros asked.


    "You can create one barrier that makes time flow differently¡­ and you still ask me that?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "I actually know, but I just wanted to check if you can guess," Sauros said. "It must be right below us, and I suspect that it is a magic tool that emtes a type of barrier that is simr to the ones in the temples."


    "It must be¡­ I suspect¡­ I never heard such words full of confidence," Aion said while frowning. "It is a miracle that your crew hadn''t abandoned you yet."


    Aion checked the underground of the warehouse with his mana, and he found something there. When he dug into the ce with his mana, he found a round shield that had some symbols that made Aion recall runes in it. When Aiojln touched it, he felt the mana around it dissipating, and then the barrier disappeared.


    "Finder''s keepers," Aion said.


    "We don''t really need that, but you shouldn''t sell it either¡­ perhaps you can use it for your territory," Sauros said.


    "Unless I am starting a war or someone deres it against me, I have no intention of using it," Aion said. "It will be hard to make merchants travel around to my domain to get those, after all."


    The group stayed for three days on the ind to make sure that they didn''t miss anything or that enemies were still hidden. During that time, they gave all the chances for the former prisoners them to leave, but they still had a hard time believing that they weren''t being fooled.


    Aion considered scaring them with his magic to make sure that they would find enough reasons to leave already, but he changed his mind. After recalling that the wolfman could read his movements as if he knew them beforehand, he assumed that it wasn''t an excellent option to show it around anymore.


    "I managed to defeat him because I surprised him by changing sses and then by using magic in a way that I never did before, but I need to be cautious¡­" Aion thought.


    Another weird thing that happened was the fact that no ship approached while they were in that ce¡­ even though there were many ships for a while there. It wasn''t like the inhabitants of that ind knew about the existence of such a ce, but topletely ignore it seemed silly.


    "Do you know what kind of material this is?" Aion asked Sauros showing the four pieces of equipment of the wolfman when they left the ind behind.


    "No¡­ did you find this in the warehouse?" Sauros asked while frowning. "What about you, Seris?"


    "I never saw anything like this either¡­ the craftmanship is also pretty different from ordinary magic items," Seris replied. "It feels like this thing is made of severalyers of metal that work like scales, and they enhance each other like that¡­"


    Aion didn''t notice that before, but there were many spaces in the armor. Those spots were due to the fact of theyered metal scales¡­ that was what Seris called them. They were barely noticeable using the human eye, so it was supposed to be impossible to forge such a magic item that worked like that with mere human hands.


    "I can tell that this is pretty strong. Each hit would cause vibrations on the target, and little by little make them explode from inside," Seris exined.


    "You can tell that much just by touching it?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "Making magic items is my specialty, after all," Seris said. "I am not suited for the battlefield, remember?"


    "I can also see that you are the type that holds grudges," Aion said and then shrugged. "I wonder when saying that you are not suited for killing others became such an offensive thing to say."


    "... You should have said that directly instead of making it sound like I am ipetent," Seris said, slightly annoyed and confused and trying to hide those feelings.


    "It seems you raised her in a very difficult way¡­" Aion said.


    "Now this is about me, huh¡­" Sauros said and then sighed. "Nevertheless, you should ready yourselves since we have to pick up the ck."

 Chapter 219 Combination

    "Well then, are we finally going to finish this, or are there other side quests for us here?" Aion asked once they reached the area of the dungeon.


    "What is a side quest?" Seris asked.


    "One of the worst things a gamer only interested in the main storyline can face," Aion replied.


    "What is a gamer?" Seris asked.


    Aion decided to shut up since that might go on forever. Even though he had some time to kill since the others were still preparing, he would instead not exin something that nonsensical seriously. Regardless, some of the crewmen are going to join them since they found more weapons and a shit ton of magic stones.


    "I was going to ask you to cover for us again, but I can tell that you are itching to fight the monsters for whatever reason," Sauros said. "I guess I will split the others in the defense and offense team."


    "That won''t be necessary," Aion dered. "I can attack and defend at the same time."


    "How exactly?" Sauros asked.


    Aion knew that even he couldn''t fight up close against that kind of enemy underwater. Still, the Spearman ss was about to reach the max level, so he needed to pull that off. In thest three days, when Aion was bored out of his mind, he thought of how to do that.


    In the end, Aion concluded that he could only rely on magic while underwater. Still, even if he enhances his magic with the money he obtains on the ind, it wouldn''t be that efficient. Unless hebines his magic with the power of the ss.


    Spearman Lv 91


    Health: 494/494


    Mana: 244/244


    Stamina: 746/746


    Strength: 156 + 100


    Dexterity: 30


    Magic: 121


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 172 + 200


    Status: 15


    Spear Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Strength + 100, Speed + 200


    Skills: Quick Spear Lv 46 (Power Lv 70, Efficiency Lv 70), Sonic Thrust Lv 01, Frozen Spear Lv 01, Fiery Spear Lv 01, Deadly Wind Lv 01, Throw Lv 11


    Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 47 (Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 37), Block Mastery Lv 22, Critical Lv 29, Bleed Lv 19, Stamina Recovery Lv 06


    Improvement Points: 0


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.885.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Throw: it grants you the power to throw your weapon with deadly power and uracy. The damage is equal to your strength plus three percent per level.


    Cost: 20 stamina


    Stamina Recovery: it grants you the power to recover stamina by defeating enemies. The amount will be equal to the level of the skill divided by two.


    When Aion got Stamina Recovery, he felt more eager to level up the ss and the skill since he couldn''t recover his Stamina aside from resting even with magic. That skill was going to be useful underwater since he won''t get tired. Regardless, the trick was to use wind magic around the weapon to control it. The only downside was that mana would be confused at every single moment.


    Aion showed Sauros how he could control the spear without his hands, and it could fly pretty fast as well, so it could be used underwater.


    "... Have you heard that there was a tribe in the past that could do that?" Sauros asked while frowning.


    "No¡­ that question is quite stupid when you guys hide so much information about the past," Aion said.


    "You make a good point. Since we are like a ghost society and our mission is to prevent the use of time magic, we know more than most," Sauros said. "In any case, I guess only someone that descended from the Mirelis bloodline would manage to pull that off¡­ feel of them in the past tried to use closebat weapons, so it was unavoidable that no one tried that before. I suspect that it can only use that for a short while."


    His guess was right, but hell would freeze over before Aion dered such weakness in his techniques. If he uses it at full power, he could only use it for five minutes with his current magic¡­ if he didn''t want to level up that ss, he could use another weapon with the necromancer ss and make it an even more powerful version, but that was something forter.


    The whole group began to jump into the ocean, and the arrival of so many targets made the monsters around swim toward them in droves. Even though they were a few kilometers away from the dungeon, their numbers still were high.


    "That is the price we pay for leaving them alone for three days," Aion thought.


    Sauros and Seris covered for the others while they were readying themselves, and Aion didn''t have the need to help. However, things changed when they approached the dungeon. The number of monsters increased exponentially.


    Aion threw his spear, and with the help of his wind magic, he made the weapon skin so fast that it made some of the crew members be pulled toward it. Nevertheless, the attack hit the target and passed through it like it was made of butter¡­


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    The weapon turned to the side in a short arc and then immediately flew in a straight line and faster than the next target could move. Another target was killed rather easily¡­


    "I knew that thisbination would be strong, but not this strong," Aion thought. "While it requires some focus to control it with that speed and precision. This is way too strong¡­"


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    ¡­


    Not even Sauros and Seris could keep up with Aion''s speed of killing the monsters. He also felt that he was getting carried away with that. Still, he wondered if he could create a massive ice or earth spear and then crush hundreds of monsters by making the weapon spin horizontally and pull the monsters toward it. That certainly would be quite shy, if anything¡­

 Chapter 220 Team Effort

    Since Aion''s mana had a limit, he went out all until all the enemies that approached were killed. He yed fifty by himself in just two minutes, and no one got hurt, so Aion felt quite aplished. Still, Sauros moved his right arm to the side and signalized that they had to take a break. So, Aion used that chance to meditate.


    "What is wrong?" Seris asked. "Did something happen?"


    "No, I just decided to call for him to give everyone a chance to reload, we managed to defeat all of them since the magic weapons were fully charged, and while it is a bit wasteful, I think we should change the magic stones for new ones."


    "Sorry, captain. Our aim is quite pathetic."


    "It is a lot harder to aim underwater¡­"


    "Don''t worry about that," Sauros said. "Everything is a matter of practice, and this is no different. If we are careful now, we will save time in the future tending the wounds, so there is no need to rush on hitting all of the enemies with a single shot. A wise archer once said that a single slow but a single well-aimed arrow is better than two fired in a hurry."


    That was a good saying, but it didn''t work for Aion since he lived in a hurry. Still, he weed the shortstop to recover his mana. He also changed his ss back to mage to make use of the extra effects of Meditation granted by the improvement points.


    "Let''s fight like that, kill a few at a time, and then once we are starting to run out of ammo, then we will retreat and reload," Sauros said. "We can''tmunicate well underwater, and I can''t see everyone''s signs, so when you start to run out of ammo, move to my back and wait. We will watch our retreat, so there isn''t any need to worry."


    Aion had to save some mana for that, so it would be better to slow down for a short while and see what happens. If Sauros'' n work, then it will be fine.


    Once they dove into testing that, Aion saw the crew members using their weapons more sparingly as they slowly approached toward the dungeon. Still, with fifteen members on their side, even a slow barrage would still be quite powerful. Their aim also improved, so their progress increased a fair bit.


    In the blink of an eye, the group reached the dungeon, and they saw that annoying formation of monsters waiting for them. Now, they won''t be able to lure a few and then leave. So, Sauros decided to change the group''s modus operandi.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "This time, we can''t retreat, but we will take turns in recharging the magic crossbows," Sauros dered. "Again, don''t hurry and make mistakes while you retreat. We have some leeway for mistakes, but things might beplicated if you make them over and over again. We will split our group into three. The first group will attack more often in the beginning and then retreat first to reload, then the second group, then the third¡­ pay attention to my hand signs since I might order our full retreat at any given moment."


    The crew members nodded, and then the whole group dove. It seems that Sauros had studied for a while how tomand. Still, given how nice he was just to his men, he didn''t learn the usual way. He either was copying someone else, or he was self-taught.


    Aion learned from his father and battle tactics instructor that the bettermand was the one who stayed above his men and only interacted with them by being an example of a leader and of a warrior. It would be impossible to recall the names of everyone, so making everyone follow him while wishing to be like him was great for increasing morale. Things were simpler for Aion due to his death knights, though. They will always fight at his full power no matter what, and his orders were absolute.


    Putting those thoughts aside, the group got close enough to the dungeon to the point that the hundreds of monsters swimming around the ce took notice of him. At least two hundred of them began to swim toward them at fearsome speeds¡­


    The crew members began to attack, but Aion waited for a while. To save time and make his mana more efficiently used, he decided to attack only the creatures that passed through a certain range. Everyone around seemed a bit nervous since Aion wasn''t attacking, and they assumed that something had gone wrong.


    Still, when the monsters finally got dangerously close, Aion began his attack. Due to their massive numbers, several of the monsters got close enough. Still, they were killed instantly by Aion''s spear, which was zigzagging around like it was a needle sewing something. Since he didn''t see the weapon properly, sometimes he missed the attack because he failed to measure how far away the enemies were, but Sauros and Seris covered for him and dealt with the enemies that Aion missed.


    When around half of the monsters were killed, the first team left to recover, so the second group began to fire faster than before. Still, they made a wrong estimation and ended without any ammo, and the first group had yet to return.


    "I hope this serves as a lesson¡­" Aion thought when he saw the second group panicking since they couldn''t do anything aside from waiting.


    Sauros approached them and covered for the group until the first team returned. The third team noticed the blunt that the others made and then paced themselves¡­ However, something beyond everyone''s expectations happened¡­ the remaining monsters around the dungeon all began to swim toward them.


    In a hurry, Sauros signaled to everyone¡­ they had to retreat with all of their might. Aion, Sauros, and Seris approached each other to watch the retreat, but they all had a feeling that it would be hard to protect everyone¡­

 Chapter 221 Maritime Chaos

    The swarm of monsters looked even more ominous as they approached. Sauros and Seris tried to keep shooting and slowed them down a bit, but it was hard for them to swim backward and do that. It wasn''t like they were faster than the monsters, after all¡­ Still, their best option was to retreat to the Breeze of the Sea and let the others offer them some fire support.


    "I guess I need to do that here as well¡­" Aion thought, and then created an earth tform and made those two stand on it while he was pushing it backward.


    Their speed increased, and now Sauros and Seris could attack while leaving Aion to deal with the mobility. They got a bit surprised, but then soon they recovered.


    "Shit, this isn''t good¡­" Aion thought when he saw the monsters approaching while Sauros and Seris were reloading.


    Aion readied his spear since he didn''t have time or any more mana to waste¡­ he had to fight those things up close. In the end, Seris touched his shoulder and increased his speed, but that could do so much underwater.


    When the first enemy approached, Aion thrust his spear with all his might. He felt some resistance, and his movements were a lot slower than expected. Still, since the enemy came in a straight line, Aion managed to kill it and made the weapon absorb it before the next target could approach.


    Once again, Aion thrust his weapon forward and killed an enemy. However, before he could finish it off, another one approached, and Aion punched with his left hand. The impact opened some cracks in the enemy''s shell and made them move away from the enemies a bit more. That had been enough to buy time for two of those two. Unfortunately, another problem arrived¡­ they had caught up with the crew that was trying to escape¡­


    "I can''t rx for even a moment, huh¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion considered his options in that situation¡­ they still were two or three kilometers away from the ship¡­ to avoid luring too many monsters toward the vessel, they made The Breeze of the Sea keep a distance. All in order to avoid it being damaged, but now they couldn''t receive their support.


    "If I increase the tform and then make it fly, as well as a change to the necromancer ss, I should be able to make it fly for thirty seconds. Then I will be out of mana¡­" Aion thought. "Let''s hope that will be enough for this¡­"


    Aion increased his speed and then increased the size of the tform at the same time. They quickly approached the other crew members and forced them to join the tform. When everyone was on it, Aion emerged as the tform for the ocean and made it fly as fast as possible toward the Breeze of the Sea. However, the monster followed them even in that condition by jumping from the ocean.


    "Get rid of them!" Aion shouted.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Everyone readied their weapon and aimed at the monsters approaching. Still, some of them that jumped right below from the tform still hit it and made it tremble. Aion didn''t make that thinking of durability, so a few more hits and the whole thing will fall apart.


    Aion looked in the distance and sat the Breeze of the Sea one kilometer away. The day wasn''t over yet, but Aion truly felt embarrassed about running away from a few monsters and then relying on the magic cannons of the ship¡­ regardless, he also noticed that the Breeze of the Sea began to move once someone saw them¡­ at the same time, the tform started to lose altitude, and Aion''s mind became quite light.


    The group braced themselves for the impact, but the tform didn''t fall that fast, and it even slipped into the ocean for a while before it could sink. During that time, the crew members pointed their weapons at the enemies approaching and didn''t worry about running out of ammo all at once. They only wanted to buy enough time for their friends toe and offer fire support.


    As for Aion, he mitigated the effects of his mana deprivation by changing to the archer ss and then nocked his arrows and began to fire them as he saw the enemies emerging from the water. In the end, Aion had an easy time hitting them now that he knew that his arrows wouldn''t suffer with the water resistance¡­ he had to stop when the entire tform sunk. Still, the Breeze of the Sea was already within range to help them.


    "Move to the back of the ship. Leave the line of fire!" Sauros dered.


    The crew members in the ocean hurried to climb the ship while the cannons were helping them. Still, even with the addition of the cannons that they found on the ind, it was difficult to keep all of the enemies away. Some monsters managed to attack the ship, and while the armor was working, they couldn''t rely on it forever.


    "Reload your weapons!" Sauros shouted. "This is our chance to exterminate all of them!"


    The crew members prepared themselves to rejoin the fight. At the same time, Aion sat down and began to meditate with his spear already in hand. Still, it didn''t take long for him, even in that stance, to fight as well. When the next monsters approached the ship and almost mmed themselves against it, Aion made his spear fly toward them, and without the underwater resistance, he pierced them so fast that their bodies practically exploded.


    "Leave the defense to me¡­ again, I guess," Aion dered.


    Aion''s spear flew around the area and killed all the monsters targeting the ship. Eventually, he made the weapon move a bit further away and eliminated the monsters before they could even leave the ocean. Sauros thought that Aion was soon going to run out of mana, so the others had to help him recover. However, that never happened¡­

 Chapter 222 More In Coming

    By using all the resources avable, as well as every single person that could use a crossbow effectively, the group managed to defeat hundreds of enemies before they could inflict damage high enough on the ship. Some of the crew members jumped with joy, and others, like Aion, sighed in relief, knowing that the mission wasn''t over yet.


    "It is time to get the materials," Aion thought when he jumped into the ocean again.


    Spearman Lv 95


    Health: 494/494


    Mana: 244/244


    Stamina: 746/746


    Strength: 156 + 100


    Dexterity: 30


    Magic: 121


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 172 + 200


    Status: 35


    Spear Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Strength + 100, Speed + 200


    Skills: Quick Spear Lv 46 (Power Lv 70, Efficiency Lv 70), Sonic Thrust Lv 01, Frozen Spear Lv 01, Fiery Spear Lv 01, Deadly Wind Lv 01, Throw Lv 11


    Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 47 (Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 37), Block Mastery Lv 22, Critical Lv 29, Bleed Lv 19, Stamina Recovery Lv 06


    Improvement Points: 12


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.885.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000<novelnext></novelnext>


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    While Aion was doing that to erase the vestiges of their actions and presencepletely, he also checked his progress. The ss leveled up, but it seemed that he would need to wait for a while longer to get to the next. It was a bit annoying after enduring all that trouble, but it couldn''t be helped.


    "That almost ended in a disaster¡­ I thought that we would have to fight all the monsters, but I didn''t think they would be able to coordinate so well," Seris said.


    "That was my blunder¡­ if they managed to decide to attack at the same time, I could only imagine something forced them to do that," Sauros said. "Don''t tell the others yet, but I guess we will be facing a troublesome guardian before reaching the temple."


    "A monster guarding thest part of the dungeon, and it can control others¡­ that seems like a problem," Seris said. "Well, the worst it is over, right?"


    "I wouldn''t be so sure of that yet," Sauros said.


    Seris wondered if more surprises were waiting for them. Considering what her brother said, it wouldn''t be shocking if that were the case. There were many things about those dungeons that were hundreds of years old and had never been cleared that they didn''t know of, after all. Even they didn''t know everything about the things they had never dealt with before¡­


    The group finished their final preparations for the next part of the battle at noon, and so did Aion with the cleanup job. It was only noon, and many of them were already tired because of that unexpected event, but they couldn''t stop now. In fact, they have to push forward even more before the guardian of the dungeon can prepare something to get them.


    "Although the operation almost ended in failure because of my blunder, I will be counting on you for us to finish this mission today," Sauros dered. "The Breeze of the Sea will go with us this time and offer support from above. The monsters will focus on the crew members that will stay underwater, after all, so it will be fine¡­ this will be a bit dangerous, but we won''t be able to retreat."


    Another thing that Aion learned about being amander was of never to admit his mistakes out loud. That would make his men doubt him, and once that starts, any army begins to fall apart. Still, Sauros was brave enough not to retreat after such a failure. In fact, he chose one apparently reckless approach. Since, as he said, they couldn''t retreat in that kind of situation.


    "Aion, I have a bad feeling about how the mission will continue from here, so you should save your mana until thest moment," Sauros dered.


    "This is a pain¡­ I am not very patient, you know," Aion said.


    "Since you are our secret weapon, you have to in order to be as efficient as possible," Sauros said.


    "You can try to fool me with such words, but that doesn''t change the fact that it is a pain," Aion said. "It isn''t like a big monster can leave the dungeon now. You can only expect to see something like that once we reach the final part of the dungeon."


    "While I agree with you, we need to be careful, even when we are being reckless," Sauros said.


    "That doesn''t make any sense, but I guess I will wait and see how things will y out," Aion said.


    After selecting those who weren''t too tired to dive again, the group approached the dungeon using the ship. Eventually, more of those armored monsters approached and then began to target the ship, but the cannons worked to stop them. Just as Sauros had imagined, more monsters appeared, even though they definitely defeated all of those that chased them¡­


    When they were five hundred meters away, the main group jumped into the sea to work as bait and to fight the monsters underwater as well. After they dealt with the closest enemies, they began to swim and then opened their eyes widely when they saw another massive group swimming around the dungeon. Aion wanted to believe that a dungeon couldn''t make so many monsters at once, but¡­


    "Until now, I treated the cores like things without a consciousness, but if they are smart enough to save mana and then spawn monsters like they need in situations like this¡­" Aion thought. "This thing here has hundreds of years worth of umted mana¡­"


    The core definitely spawned some monsters over the years, probably millions, but what would be the point if they weren''t sinking many ships? Sauros told Aion that dungeons were an automatic response of the environment trying to stop humans from destroying the world on any scale, but the damage that they could cause to people on the ocean was too limited¡­ as expected, they needed to find answers to a lot more questions¡­

 Chapter 223 Trust

    It didn''t take long for the seven hundred monsters around the dungeon to swim toward them. Still, this time, the group was already expecting them. The crew members began to fire, but their uracy only improved when they were one hundred or so meters away. When they were two hundred meters away, the magic cannons began to hit them. Still, their firepower was limited, hitting things deep underwater¡­


    Aion waited for his turn during the entire time while thinking about what he should do to turn the tides of the whole situation in their favor. After all, he was already pretty tired of the problems caused by monsters. Two months had already passed since he left home, and while it was enjoyable to travel around the world, he didn''t n to take a full year vacation¡­


    When the group of monsters got too close, Sauros tapped on Aion''s shoulders¡­ it was finally his turn. Aion had no idea what he was expecting of him in that kind of situation, but he had some ns of his own¡­ it was time to check if those guys around him could be trusted a bit.


    Aion moved his spear forward, and then, using his magic, he enveloped the whole thing with a shit ton of mana while he made it spin around. The wind made the weapon increase in range. Thanks to that, the weapon began to affect the waters while it was rotating¡­ some dumb monsters tried to ignore the weapon while passing close by. Still, the motion pulled them in and smashed them to pieces¡­


    The sucking power of the weapon increased, and eventually, all the monsters dashing at the group lost their speed and began to be sucked in. Aion couldn''t do that for more than thirty seconds, so he red at the others to make them wake up from their shock.


    Sauros and Seris could even feel Aion''s anger underwater, so they began to attack the monsters. The spear was killing a few of the weak ones, but the others were still able to swim away, and those were the ones that the group targeted.


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    ¡­


    During those thirty seconds, the sea got so red with the blood of the monsters that the whirlwind made by the spear also turned crimson. Also, during that time, the group managed to attack after reloading two times. Even the crew members that had a hard time doing that underwater managed to do so since the monsters were no longer swimming toward them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Still, eventually, Aion ran out of mana again¡­ However, around eighty percent of the monsters had been killed, and the others stepped forward more than willing to finish the job. Aion was the youngest of the group, and the fact that he made so much more than them made them feel a bit ashamed¡­ it was time to carry their own weight.


    If he could, Aion would sigh in relief since he couldn''t see them losing that battle, but he was underwater. Even with the mask, that seemed like a waste of air.


    "Aww¡­e on¡­" Aion thought and then ended up sighing while looking at his ss at level 98.


    It was annoying, but¡­ it was also annoying that Aion was getting used to that kind of thing and always saying that it couldn''t be helped. Putting that aside, Aion watched his allies finish off the monsters. He finally decided to call them that since they were going to seed on the mission. It was weird that he had never thought of them like that until now, even though they had been working together for two months.


    The reason behind that was probably because he didn''t have many people that he could trust in the Zaera kingdom. Given his position, those who had power and influence saw him with suspicious eyes, and those that didn''t could only bow their heads out of fear instead of true respect.


    Eventually, the group of monsters was dealt with, and then Aion prepared to absorb the bodies. Still, then Sauros pointed at the entrance of the dungeon. When Aion looked at it, he saw monsters leaving the ce every ten seconds¡­ that was quite a high pace for a spawning rate.


    "Give me a break¡­ they will need only one hour for them to create an army of that size again," Aion thought.


    That would be an excellent chance to get experience and reach level one hundred. However, Aion recalled that the ss would go back to level one, and the new ss would also be at level one¡­ it was a better idea to keep one Melee ss at a high level if possible. Besides, Sauros signaled for him to go to the surface to recover his mana. At the same time, Seris and him organized a group to get rid of the new monsters and prevent the creation of another army. Half an hourter, those two returned to the ship, and Aion also had finished absorbing the materials. With the shells of the monsters'' bodies, the refinement of the guardian ss will go to the roof.


    "Until now, the monsters areing out of the dungeon. I suspect things will stay like that until we defeat the guardian,* Sauros said. "Some of our teams are taking turns and defeating them, but we need to hurry up. Now and then, some other monsters approach and then attack them. While the teams can fight them off for a while, it will be impossible to see their approach at night."


    Fighting at night in the ocean was definitely suicide. Not even Aion with the sniper ss could see through the darkness of the ocean during that time. Still, it was hard to say if they could reach the other side of the dungeon, defeat the guardian, and then head to the temple in just four hours¡­

 Chapter 224 To The Guardian

    The entrance of the dungeon was only big enough for a monster to pass at a time, so few humans could also pass through it at the same time. Although they could advance in a line and deal with the enemies while taking turns, Sauros didn''t want his crewmen to participate in the battle against the guardian of the dungeon.


    That wasn''t a good idea¡­ they would need all the help they could get, but Aion could understand Sauros'' perspective. They didn''t know the power of what they were going to face, and truth be told, the specialty of the crew members was monster hunting, but maritime battles.


    "I guess that is fine, and it is better than having to worry about protecting too many people," Aion said.


    "At least try to consider the other''s feelings when you think about saying such a thing¡­ they want to help, but Sauros said that they should stay behind and do their job, which wasn''t to hunt monsters."


    "I am not criticizing them, following the same logic, and I don''t try to do their jobs as sailors," Aion exined. "I would only get in the way. People can be good and bad at numerous things, and if they wished to be good at hunting monsters, they wouldn''t get the right experience in a boat."


    "I think I am starting to understand you better¡­ you say those harsh things already knowing what to say when someoneins about that," Seris said.


    "You got that right," Aion said while smiling.


    "... Let me check your armor for a moment," Seris said after a long sigh.


    "What for? I kind of like this design, so I am not going to lend you again without a good reason," Aion said.


    "I am just going to attack some runes on it to make it lighter and a bit more resistant for a short while," Seris exined. "We said that you shouldn''t put out that kind of stunt again, but who knows if you will follow our words."


    "I thought that runes couldst forever. Are you being cheap or something?" Aion asked.


    "Permanent runes are weaker, but theyst forever, while the temporary ones are stronger, but they don''tst," Seris said. "Besides, you can put other runes on the same items once the previous effect disappears. Do you want a permanent rune on your favorite armor?"


    "No, the temporary ones will do¡­ Can I watch you do that?" Aion asked.


    "No," Seris replied and then left after Aion took out the armor.


    As expected, they wanted to keep that technique hidden from Aion. He thought that they trusted him a fair bit since they were relying on him a lot, but that was only his misconception speaking.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It has been so long since I had a real friend that it seems I am getting rusty with my social interaction," Aion thought. "We have some simrities, we belong to a rare group of people, and we have the respect or fear from most people¡­ but I guess I was wrong. We are only here to make use of each other."


    "Don''t feel too bad about that," Sauros said. "She is only worried that you might make a mistake and hurt yourself if you try to copy her."


    "Whatever you say, boss," Aion said and then went to the front of the ship to make his weapons absorb some materials.


    While Aion was sulking in the corner, the group got ready, and eventually, Seris returned with Aion''s armor. When he equipped it, he felt like it was even lighter than a regr t-shirt, and he didn''t feel unprotected, either. Still, when he looked at his parameters, he noticed that his endurance and speed increased by thirty points.


    "I will make good use of it," Aion said.


    "I would rather believe that you wouldn''t use the runes, don''t trust them too much. We don''t want to return to your home with a corpse," Seris said. "Listen, the dungeon guardians are usually a lot more powerful than regr monsters. Even the most ordinary ones need several parties of warriors to defeat them, and we are trying to pull it off with three¡­ we need to be more careful than ever."


    "I have read about them¡­ but I never met one of them since I don''t have time to check dungeons," Aion said.


    "If you use your sword and shield and leave the attack to us, I Believe we will have a better chance of sess," Sauros added. "If you use Inner Force, your defensive power will also increase."


    "When did you learn anything about that technique?" Aion asked.


    "Well, while not as much as ours, the Kresnik family has been around for a few centuries, and we know a thing or two about them," Sauros said. "Still, it is annoying that their fighting style changes so much, and they only pass down a single technique."


    Annoying¡­ it seemed that his people truly wanted to know almost everything about all kinds of things, including people and their fighting style, probably in case they have to deal with them. Throughout history, those with power were the ones who mostly tried to mess with time magic, after all.


    Regardless, those three approached the dungeon after jumping into the ocean, and then they dove¡­ the area was getting quite red with blood since Aion wasn''t nearby to absorb the bodies, and they were increasing in number as well. Even now, the spawning rate hasn''t decreased a bit.


    Once they entered the underwater dungeon, they noticed that the interior of the ce was a lot darker than expected, so seeing monstersing was impossible¡­ now they finally could put to good use those helmets and their light¡­


    Although Aion was in the front, when the enemies appeared, Sauros and Seris were the ones who attacked them. asionally, a monster would be faster than the others, and Aion would block their charge with his shield. The same thing would happen when they found the path ahead, turning to the side.

 Chapter 225 Last Layer

    "I knew that underground caves would look like this, but it is quite nerve-wracking¡­" Aion thought while looking at stctites.


    He didn''t know if those could appear underwater under normal circumstances or if they could only appear in dry ces due to the erosion of water. Still, looking at the stctites covered in moss and underwater vegetation made Aion keep his guard up. It seemed that he had a bit of a problem with confined spaces, and he had never realized that before... or maybe it was just the atmosphere that was nerve-wracking.


    At first, Aion didn''t notice anything. Still, after a while, he noticed that it was pretty hard to block the attacks without proper footing. He had assumed that it was due to hisck of experience, but Aion''s first guess was wrong.


    As if things weren''t troublesome enough, the dungeon kept going diagonally downward for quite a while¡­ At that rate, if the battlests for too long, they won''t have the chance to retreat before sunset.


    "If things get dicey, then I won''t have the leisure to hold back anymore¡­" Aion thought. "It will be a bit, but it can''t be helped."


    Even without his magic, Aion and the others managed to find a light at the end of the tunnel literally. However, they didn''t know if that was a good or a bad thing. Their senses were a bit messed up, but they felt that the end of the aquatic path in the dungeon was there. At the same time, the monsters stoppeding. It was hard to say if that was a good or a bad sign, but Aion wouldn''t gain anything just by waiting for something to happen. So, he left the tunnel.


    Sauros and Seris quickly followed him, but they only found another tunnel, but without water. They could find traces of theing and leaving of the monsters but not any other thing.


    "I guess half of the original path toward the temple was a test to see who had the will and the means to cross such a dark path," Sauros said. "Back in the day, people wouldn''t have the magic tools to cross such a distance while underwater¡­ perhaps your people were the only ones able to do that."


    "It doesn''t make any sense to create another securityyer considering the barrier is already there," Aion said. "Unless¡­ they manage to capture one of us and force them to cooperate. Which would be hard given our powers. Only someonezy or evil would cooperate with someone that would try to break the temple created by our ancestors¡­"


    "In thest three thousand years, not a single one of her descendants tried that, nor were they captured since they respected their ancestor," Sauros said, "Still, it is hard to say if that would be the same forever.


    In her position, Aion wouldn''t hope too much from his descendants. Kids nowadays don''t respect their elders. Even more so when there are so many people trying to influence saying things like destroying or abandoning the past¡­ Aion wondered if that world would follow the same path once mass information bes possible.


    Putting those troublesome thoughts aside, Aion began to walk with his shield raised. The feeling of using the guardian ss or even just by fighting normally while touching the ground wasfortable.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In any case, the group didn''t have to walk for too long before they could find the end of that corridor. Even from a distance, they could tell that there was a massive room waiting for them ahead. That couldn''t possibly be a good sign¡­ it only meant that a big and troublesome monster was waiting for them.


    "It seems that we have arrived¡­ at the den of the guardian," Sauros said. "I guess we have three and half hours before sunset¡­ speaking of sunset¡­"


    "The wall is emitting light, we didn''t realize until now, but it sure is weird¡­ unless this corridor was supposed to be part of the temple," Seris added.


    "Indeed, at least this is convenient for us¡­" Sauros said. "Let''s rest for half an hour before advancing."


    Aion wanted to see where the guardian was. Still, there was a chance that something would happen if they got too close, so it was better to wait for a while before approaching and risking triggering any event.


    Usually, people would check their gear and weapons before a fight, but Aion didn''t get hit, and his weapons didn''t need maintenance. As for the other two, they could create their own weapons, and the gear was covered in runes, so just a bit of water wouldn''t change anything. Thanks to that, they saw themselves as bored and anxious about the battle.


    "It seems that we aren''t going to rest much here¡­" Saudos said and then sighed. "Facing a dungeon guardian under these conditions is uncharted territory to all of us, after all."


    "I wouldn''t feel like this if I knew a bit about the guardian¡­ I suppose that is what pioneers feel before they find out about something dangerous and unheard of, like a dungeon that hasn''t been cleared yet."


    ? Although Aion was a bit tense, he was more worried about revealing all of his cards. He didn''t know how information about him leaked, so showing more of his skills might put him in a bad spot. The possibility of losing didn''t even cross his mind. He was just going to defeat the enemy, no matter what¡­


    After exactly half an hour, the group got up. They didn''t feel that muchfortable at resting in a humid cave, and staying there for longer was a hassle as well, so it was time to start what they hade for¡­


    Aion took the lead with his shield and sword raised and then stepped on thest part of the dungeon. His first reaction was to look above since he didn''t find anything¡­ still, something massive dropped from the ceiling, and before he could do that¡­

 Chapter 226 Tentacles

    Aion didn''t know if it was better to call that thing a giant octopus or a Kraken. It was hard to say since the top of the monster''s head was pointy, but the bottom was round¡­ The creature was ck and blue, and its whole body was at least ten meters tall and thirty long,pletely slimy, and its eyes were red like blood. The holes in the arms of the creat emitted a strong smell and could drop a purple liquid now and then¡­ if they weren''t smashed by the tentacles, the Poison would definitely do the job.


    In any case, Aion didn''t have time to think of anything else. The massive monster raised one of its tentacles and then shed at the group like a whip. Sauros and Seris lowered their stances, hoping that Aion wouldn''t do the same, and they saw him raising his shield to block the attack¡­ while he wasn''t crushed by it, the impact that passed through his legs made the ground vibrate¡­ that couldn''t be good.


    "Now!" Sauros shouted.


    Sauros and Seris began to pull the trigger of the crossbow, and then the beast got wounded and was forced to raise its tentacle. The power of the projectiles opened some small wounds that made some blood fall, but it didn''t pierce that much¡­


    "Such high firepower only to do that much¡­" Seris said, visibly shocked.


    "Keep going!" Sauros shouted. "Use the momentum of the beast''s attack against it!"


    Seris noticed, thanks to that, that another one wasing. Once again, they lowered their stances, but they kept shooting. As for Aion, his body bent down a bit. The pressure and weight had been massive, to the point that his face turned blue.


    "Are you all right?" Seris asked.


    "Just keep going," Aion replied. "Wound the monster as much as possible, and that will decrease the power of the enemy''s attacks."


    Although he said that, Aion could feel his bones screaming. He also used Force release in thest moment and healed himself after the next, but Aion could tell that he won''tst for long.


    "It is time to spend money to save my life literally¡­" Aion thought as he opened his status screen.


    Guardian Lv 29


    Health: 1304/1304


    Mana: 704/704


    Stamina: 88/88


    Strength: 11


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 21 + 60


    Endurance: 71 + 245


    Resistance: 21 + 75


    Speed: 11


    Status: 00


    Protector''s Sword and Shield Refinement Lv 30


    Bonuses: Endurance + 75, Resistance + 75


    Skills: Devotion Lv 19 (Speed Lv 54), Frozen Shield Lv 01<novelnext></novelnext>


    Passive: Stone Skin Lv 22 (Power Lv 30), Team Endurance Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.385.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Endurance Support: Obtains a bonus of two points multiplied by the level of the skill added by the number of allies nearby when using the Guardian ss.


    Aion used twenty gold coins to increase his endurance by one hundred points. When the third impactnded, he felt a lot less pain. Still, then he noticed that the beast was using different tentacles to attack¡­ so it would take a while before those two attacks could cause any real damage to a single tentacle.


    "The role of a tank that can''t move surely is a boring one¡­" Aion thought. "I can''t attack since I need to keep healing myself in order not to let the damage pile up¡­"


    When the giant octopus prepared tounch the fourth tentacle, Sauros and Seris used thest shots of their current magic ones in a single moment. The tentacle of the beast trembled all over due to the pain and forced the creature to stop for a moment.


    Sauros and Seris began to reload while feeling that they had obtained their first sess in that fight. However, the smile disappeared from their faces when the monster suddenly fired a powerful water cannon toward them¡­


    Aion stepped forward to block it, and while his shield got in the way, he was pushed back several meters¡­ if it weren''t for his physical defense. Things would have gotten worse, and a direct hit probably would be lethal since Aion''s magic resistance wasn''t that high.


    "I need to keep an eye on that¡­ those two can''t take that hit¡­" Aion thought.


    Fortunately, the monster didn''t attack with the water cannon again. Unfortunately, the beast swung two tentacles toward them from the sides. Aion hated to lose his footing, but he decided to jump, and he used Devotion on those two behind them in case they didn''t think that was their only option. Still, they jumped, and they allnded on top of one of the tentacles.


    Sauros wondered if he should tell them to advance and attack the monster''s head. While they would be able to nullify some of the tentacles'' power, they would get the full power of the water cannon. In the end, it was too much of a risk for them to take. They jumped away when the tentacles retreated, but they still targeted the enemy''s head with their crossbows.


    The wind projectilesnded that, and the enemy flinched because of it. The head was the weak spot, but then when they focused their barrage there, the monster used two tentacles to protect its face.


    "Let''s run around the monster and target its head!" Sauros dered.


    "Why I can''t ever keep using my footing¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    They began to run to the left side, and Seris used her power on all of them when another tentacle approached. Thanks to that, they managed to dodge the strike, and they had a full view of the right side of the enemy''s head. They began to attack it, but another tentacle got in the way. Moreover, the monster started to turn to the side as well¡­


    "Shit¡­" Seris said while clicking her tongue and her facial expression turning one of anger.


    "Keep going! The creature isn''t fast while it is doing that, and its attacks don''t have the same sharpness," Sauros dered.

 Chapter 227 Deadly Poison

    Sauros was right. The beast''s movements while turning weren''t that sharp or fast. Thanks to that, those three reached the back of the enemy''s head in no time. Still, the creature had some good senses and swung the tentacles at them without even seeing them properly¡­


    Aion raised his shield and blocked the attack. Still, he also decided to follow the theory that the best defense was a dropkick on the neck of the enemy. The power of the enemy''s strike decreased quite a bit¡­ because Aion made some earth spikes emerge around him.


    Those cracked after being hit, but they also pierced a bit of the enemy''s flesh and made the tentacle flinch. In that short window of hesitation, Sauros and Seris attacked the wounds on the tentacles and caused them to increase in size.


    "Nice thinking, keep doing that, Aion!" Sauros said.


    "Behold the power of my big brain," Aion said. "You might have a bigger head, monster, but it seems it isn''t quite filled. Die, monster! You don''t belong in this world! Or¡­ Begone! This world was not meant for the likes of you! Which one is cooler?"


    "You are saying weird things in such a crucial moment¡­" Seris frowned.


    As if the monster could tell that Aion was making fun of it, the creature got angry and then swung two tentacles at him. He didn''t try to dodge, and the others just braced themselves for the impact. However, more spikes prevented the monster from showing its true power. Aion still felt like his bones were cracking, but he blocked the attack of two tentacles and made the creature flinch once again.


    "What are you guys waiting for?" Aion asked.


    Aion wished that he could attack more than that¡­ unfortunately, each strike of the tentacles made him lose twenty percent of his health, so he had to heal himself and let the others do the rest.


    The wounds on the monster''s tentacles were increasing, and its red blood was starting to fall around. If Aion could use his spear and attack, he would be able to use the Bleed passive skill and make the monster lose even more health, but hoping to take more than one hit with that ss was just too much.


    After suffering some more injuries, the monster realized that it had to change its approach to the fight. Instead of attacking the group with its tentacles or water cannons, the beast fired some dark balls from the holes in its arms.


    "Get back!" Aion shouted. "Don''t let those even scratch you!"


    Sauros and Seris quickly followed Aion''smand. They didn''t have much experience dealing with poison, and neither did Aion. Still, his mother taught him while he was learning healing magic that poison in that world can be quite nasty¡­ even more when ites from monsters like that. In fact, the fall of the Mirelis kingdom was a great part of the use of the poisons that the bandits'' country had developed. A poison that could numb the senses and fog the mind to prevent the concentration needed for their magic to work¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    In the end, those two thanked Aion for his warning¡­ when the dark spheres touched the ground, they began to burn it¡­ but even despite the fact that they avoided a direct hit wasn''t enough, the smell made them feel dizzy. Aion was fine due to his resistance, it wasn''t enough for direct hits, but it was enough for the area of effect spells. Without any other choice, he used Devotion on those two again.


    Sauros and Seris felt better and then realized that Aion used that magic again. In the end, he did the right thing¡­ if the monster fills the area with that poison, then they would lose without being able to do anything.


    Seris increased the speed of their whole bodies, and then they ran in opposite directions while firing with their crossbows. The massive beast tried to hit both of them with the dark balls simultaneously, but when the attacks got too close, they bent their bodies a little and dodged them.


    "The finesse in their moves improved¡­" Aion thought. "Seris is probably using her powers to the limits¡­ but it won''tst for long."


    The beast kept attacking, but not a single dark ballnded. Moreover, thanks to their speed, they could fire their projectiles faster and reload their weapons in the blink of an eye. Their focus was so high that they didn''t even put a single foot on the spots on the ground hit by the dark balls.


    The monster got confused¡­ even without the direct hit, the smell of the poison should have taken them down¡­ his instincts told him that the answer to those questionsy on the human with the shield who wasn''t moving from the spot. Still, attacking him recklessly didn''t seem like a good idea¡­


    In the end, the beast decided to target Sauros and Seris with its tentacles. The area of the physical attacks wasrder, and if the beastbined them, the chances of hitting them increased¡­ and that was exactly what the beast did.


    Sauros and Seris saw a massive block of four tentacles to each other being swung at them. They tried to speed up even more, but it didn''t look like they were going to escape that, and the real problem was the fact that all the damage was going to be transferred to Aion.


    Sauros summoned his staff with his magic, and Seris increased her speed even more. Still, before anything could happen, the monster suddenly stopped, and then they heard the sound of a lightning falling nearby. They looked to the side for a moment and saw some sparks around Aion''s sword.


    "You can''t leave me alone here¡­" Aion said. "Ignoring me isn''t a good idea."


    Smoke began to leave the monster''s head, but the beast soon recovered¡­ not fast enough, though. Sauros and Seris bombarded its face with their crossbows.

 Chapter 228 Lightning Spear

    Although they had targeted the eyes of the beast, the monster''s eyelids were tough, so they protected them. However, at least their attacks on the face stopped the beast for a while. The guardian eventually moved its tentacles to protect itself and then used others to fire the dark balls again. They dodged the attacks, but Aion could tell that they were getting slower¡­


    "We need to force an opening on the monster''s guard¡­" Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "It is only an aquatic creature without a shell. If we attack for a few seconds, we should open a wound big enough that will eventually let us cause critical damage."


    Sauros and Seris kept moving around the monster and eventually ran a full circle on it. Although they weren''t causing that much damage, at least the beast didn''t know how to get rid of them instantly.


    "Save your energy and only attack like usual," Aion said. "Wait until I force an opening on the enemy''s guard."


    Those two nodded. That was a risky n¡­ the poison was starting to make Aion look a bit pale. He could take the damage over time, but he was also taking for Sauros and Seris, and thatplicated things.


    Aion essentially told them to not mind if they were about to take hits, he would take it for them. So, in order for that to work effectively, they had to cause as much damage as possible and make that worthwhile¡­ When the siblings were in opposite directions, they stopped moving and then charged at the monster while using their crossbows.


    When the beast tried to stop them with the dark balls, they hit those back with their projectiles. They easily won the exchange and managed to hit the enemy while they were at it. Without any other choice, the monster used water cannon agaisnt Seris and then swung its tentacles toward Sauros.


    They stopped to dodge the attacks, but then some earth spikes emerged from the ground and stopped one of the tentaclespletely, and before the water cannon could get enough power, Aion hit the face of the monster with another earth spike, forcing the beast to raise its head and then lose control over it.


    Despite that, those two still were hit by a fraction of the attacks, and they couldn''t help but frown when they didn''t suffer any scratches¡­ they saw Aion trembling a little, though. In that short window of time, they approached the monster''s head and then attacked. At almost point-nk range, the damage caused increased.


    They passed by each other while they kept moving since stopping in front of the enemy was suicide¡­ Unfortunately, the beast didn''t let go of that opportunity and used all of its tentacles to surround and smash them. That was the opportunity Aion had been waiting for¡­ Using all of its mana, he summoned several massive earth spikes that not only blocked but pierced the tentacles of the beast quite deeply.


    "HUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH!"


    The monster grunted in pain while blood gushed from the wounds, and then Sauros and Seris began to bombard the monster''s face as they got closer¡­ if that wasn''t a good chance to attack, they didn''t know when it would be¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    Those two bombarded the face of the monster as they approached the beast. Seris even increased their speed to the limits, and she also reached her limit as well since her face went pale¡­ even her powers had limits when used like that. Still, at the cost of her mental exhaustion, they got five times faster¡­ it was even better than the power of Force release¡­ even though it wasn''t as well-rounded.


    The face of the monster got covered in blood as the wounds increased. Despite that, Aion only felt more unease¡­ a beast bes more dangerous when it is wounded and against the wall, after all. Aion''s suspicions were confirmed when the eyes of the monster were destroyed by the siblings'' attacks.


    "HUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH!"


    The beast grunted in pain even louder, and the Aion felt shivers when he saw the tentacles being raised at the same time. Sauros and Seris ran away with all of their might, but the beast still shed the tentacles on the ground and kept attacking as it was, hoping to hit them with a stroke of luck. However, the attacks were too easy to read, and they were hitting the same spot again and again¡­ something was off, and Aion understood what it was when the entire dungeon began to crack.


    "Son of a bitch¡­" Aion said. "That thing wants to bury us underwater¡­"


    Aion changed his ss to Spearman and then prepared to attack. However, Sauros stopped him in the middle of his dash and touched his shoulder. All of a sudden, the enemy stopped moving when Aion felt a small barrier being erected around him. However, Sauros and Seris weren''t inside¡­


    "I guess this is the best he can do by using this kind of technique all of a sudden in these conditions," Aion said. "That other barriersted for fifteen minutes, but this one shouldn''tst that long¡­ I have to think of a way to defeat that thing before the barrier disappears."


    Actually, Aion already knew a way how to do that, but he never had the chance to pull that off since it required some time to prepare. The time that the barrier granted him.


    After recovering some of his mana, Aion used it on his spear, making the mana pass through it. He thought that it would be a harder time making that with lightning magic, but it seemed that the experience had helped him¡­ he still was shocked now and then, though. After that, he let the remaining energy inside him explode with Force release before he stepped out of the barrier.


    Time began to flow again, and then Aion jumped and used all his might to throw his spear at the monster.


    "Gae¡­ Bolg!" Aion shouted.

 Chapter 229 Lancer

    The spear, enhanced with lightning magic, flew so fast that no one was able to see it. In the end, it hit the monster''s forehead and passed through without feeling any Resistance¡­ if aquatic monsters were weak to wind, they were even weaker against lightning magic. Thanks to that, the beast was killed instantly.


    You obtained 750.000 experience points.


    Congrattions! The ss


    Spearman has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N.


    Choose one of the sses: Lancer, Fire Spearman, or Battle Maniac.


    Lancer Lv 30


    Health: 16/16


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 16/16


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01 + 02


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 02


    Status: 00


    Extreme Spear Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Protective Wind Lv 01


    Passive: Fighting Spirit Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.385.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000<novelnext></novelnext>


    Reset


    Protective Wind: It grants you the power to summon a wind barrier that can block projectiles that may cause damage equal to the level of the skill multiplied by ten.


    Cost: 03 mana per second.


    Fighting Spirit: passive increases your speed and endurance by two points per level.


    The new options were quite good, but Aion went out and chose something that would fit his style better. It was quite funny after what he said that his choice would be the ss Lancer¡­ Maybe he would have chosen something else if he knew the skills avable with uracy, but he could guess it.


    After checking the new ss, Aion immediately regretted¡­ not because of the skills, but because of the pain he felt. His body was wounded, and the low status only made him feel worse¡­ so he changed back to the guardian ss.


    "It seems we won¡­ and before the enemy could have buried us alive," Seris said and then sighed.


    "We can''t be sure yet¡­ this ce is filled with cracks, so we must hurry, just in case," Sauros said.


    Aion wanted to rest. That day was really troublesome, so he wanted to rest for a week. Still, Sauros had a point¡­ it was better to hurry up, and so they headed to the other side of the room after Aion made the Lancer-ss process the massive monster. It was going to take a while to process it, though.


    In the end, the entrance of the temple was pretty close, and the barrier was only on the size to protect thest room of the temple. It seemed that Aion''s ancestors didn''t have much leeway to build a bigger structure in that ce. It would have been weird if she could change the entire bottom of the ocean to build something that could resist for three thousand years under such conditions, though.


    After crossing the barrier, they found thest room, and it was identical to the others. The only difference is that on the table, Aion found the statue of an archer¡­


    "Warrior with a sword, a dude with a book, and now someone with a bow¡­" Aion said. "Do you guys have any idea what those statues represent?"


    "I guess they are like your ancestors'' friends, or at least they should represent them¡­" Seris replied.


    "We know that those two fought together, but we don''t know much about them," Sauros said. "Only those two knew them well, and she decided not to reveal much about them or their adventures. Regardless, we should leave now."


    They could talk about anything elseter¡­ They all agreed to that when they saw some water leaking in the room. The Guardian was defeated. The temple couldst as long as mana existed in that world, but it seemed that the monster''s presence also worked somehow to make things stable in the dungeon. The core was supposed to keep the whole structure going for a while, but maybe it gave too much power to the guardian¡­


    The group left in a hurry, and fortunately, the whole structure only began to copse once they left. Aion felt a bit troubled by that¡­ he didn''t think that he would need to return to the temple. Still, the idea that such a thing made his ancestor was hidden and practically buried underwater was a bit¡­


    "Maybe I should do something about this in the future¡­ once my magic power is high enough¡­" Aion thought.


    After looking at the ce for a while, Aion followed Seris and Sauros, who hadn''t noticed that he had stopped. When they returned to the Breeze of the Sea, the group celebrated. It wasn''t every day that they aplished something of that level, after all.


    "Nicely done," Seris said while smiling and then raised her right arm.


    Aion frowned for a while since it was the first time he noticed that it was a bit weird that people could high-five each other in that world¡­ at least, he felt that it was¡­ in any case, they high-fived each other, and then Aion had to do the same several times with all the other crew members. In his previous life, Aion wouldn''t have felt like that, but now he felt that it was a bit troublesome. Perhaps the thoughts that he had before the battle were bothering him.


    "We should celebrate this, but first¡­ let''s move away from here," Sauros dered. "I find it strange that the people of the ind stopped looking for the pirates, and they didn''t find the ind¡­ sorry for spoiling the moment, everyone."


    The whole group attained two amazing victories, so it was only natural that they would celebrate as much as possible, even though they were on an important mission¡­


    "Come to think of it, my image of sailors is of drunkards that party whenever possible¡­ probably because of pirates, and I can''t help butpare them since they all work in the sea¡­" Aion thought.


    The party started Three dayster, and Aion''s image only became worse¡­

 Chapter 230 Labyrinth

    At first, Aion tried to ignore the party and focus on training since he had healed from his wounds. Still, things eventually got so noisy that he could only cope with it by drinking a little. His previous constitution was pretty strong agaisnt alcohol, and despite his young age, it seemed that he was strong agaisnt it again.


    "Yes! Yes! Drink more, you sulky brat!" Seris said while putting her arm over Aion''s shoulder.


    "Anyone would be a bit grumpy if there were so many noisy fellows nearby¡­" Aion said after he sobered up a little. "Anyway, you are the cling type when gets drunk, huh? You should be more self-aware. Some assholes might try to take advantage of you. You are lucky that I am a gentleman."


    "Saying nonsensical things again¡­ you really are a weird brat," Seris said. "Just shut up and enjoy the party!"


    In the end, Aion decided to y a prank on Seris. While she was touching him, he could use magic to fight the toxins on her body¡­ in the blink of an eye, he made the effects of the alcohol disappear, and then she silently moved away from him.


    "It seems I was getting carried away¡­ anyway, why am I suddenlypletely sober?" Seris asked. "Ah, I feel so bad¡­ I guess I drank too much. I am going to drink some medicine."


    Aion shrugged while she was moving away. That was a poor act since he canceled the effects of the alcohol, and she wasn''t supposed to be that dehydrated. She was just a bit embarrassed due to her actions¡­


    Regardless, the partysted for five days, and when it ended, only Aion looked alive. Despite being working, as usual, everyone looked dead inside¡­ if it weren''t for his Power Song, he could imagine them falling into the ocean while trying to work.


    "IT SEEMS THAT MEN OF THE SEA LIKE TO DRINK A LOT WHEN THEY PARTY!" Aion said.


    "...Why are you speaking so loudly?" Sauros asked while frowning and covering his ears.


    "TO MAKE YOUR HEAD HURT," Aion said while smirking. "Anyway, what is our next destination?"


    "You know¡­ while we partied a bit too hard, we still followed the course, so we didn''t waste time," Sauros said.


    "Sorry¡­ I guess I got a bit pissed since I feel like I don''t have the leisure to enjoy parties," Aion said after a sigh. "I suppose seeing others taking it easy got on my nerves."


    "As long as you understand that¡­ I know that you are working hard for your mother, but you will only make things difficult for her if you don''t enjoy your life," Sauros said. "Regardless, our next destination is¡­ thergestbyrinth in the world."


    "Labyrinth?" Aion asked while frowning.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You can think of them as the next level of a dungeon¡­ they don''t exist in the area you live in, but they appear in other parts of the world," Sauros exined. "They are more dangerous to deal with since they lure monsters, animals, and people to eat them¡­"


    "That sounds something like a conscious being would do¡­ like a sapient monster," Aion said.


    "Unfortunately, even we don''t know much about them to define what they are and how they are made or appear, they just do, and defeating the guardians or the whole ce won''t solve the problem," Sauros said. "If dungeons are like a defense mechanism of the world, we can say that thebyrinths are like the offensive mechanism. They keep growing stronger andrger the longer they exist. They only stop working when they want¡­ many countries in this world were abandoned due to their existence and their inability to destroy those things."


    Aion had never heard of something like that, but it certainly was an interesting topic¡­ from what he had heard, he assumed thatbyrinths were monsters-like creatures, but many should have reached the same conclusion, and it wasn''t something definitive¡­


    "So, is thebyrinth targeting the Temple?" Aion asked.


    "Yes, it has been doing that for three hundred years, and while until now it failed in destroying it, I can''t say for sure if thebyrinth won''t seed one day," Sauros exined. "After all, thebyrinth is nowrger than the biggest Territories in your homnd."


    "Are you for real?" Aion said. "How massive is such a thing?"


    "That is still on the smaller side," Sauros said. "I told you, they can destroy whole countries, and in the past, my people saw one that destroyed a whole continent before it disappearedpletely."


    "I suppose it will be fairly hard to find the temple this time¡­" Aion said. "Thebyrinth alone will be a problem with its nature, adding to the monsters and people inside¡­ by the way, is it just me, or is the difficulty of the missions increasing?"


    "Yes¡­ my ancestors tried to check how the temples have been, but they failed in finding them," Sauros exined. "Just using numbers isn''t enough forbyrinths to be conquered. The corridors are small, there are traps, ambushes, and monsters appearing out of nowhere, and we also have to manage resources inside. As for thest location of thest artifact after this one¡­ it will be better if you don''t learn about it now. Let''s take one step at a time."


    Resources won''t be a problem with Aion''s inventory, but it was better to be safe than sorry. In any case, Aion realized that he didn''t know many things about that world, and even people with as much history as Sauros and Seris'' family were in the same boat. He wanted to learn more about such subjects, but there were things that he couldn''t learn in a book and only by experience.


    "By the way, where is your sister?" Aion asked.


    "She is working on the items that might help us," Sauros replied.


    Aion wanted to say that they were relying too much on tools, but he couldn''t since he also relied a lot on the system¡­ even though he tried to learn many things by himself¡­

 Chapter 231 Part Of The Job

    From what he had learned, Aion concluded that the sniper ss wouldn''t be that effective in thebyrinth. Fortunately, Aion just got a ss that specialized in melee fighting. As long as the corridors weren''t stupidly small, he would be fine.


    "It is not over yet, but I believe that the materials of the boss will make the refinement of the necromancer ss reach the max level, but I need to find materials to help with thencer ss," Aion thought. "I might find some in thebyrinth, but I should try to cover my bases before we enter it."


    Aion wished that he had some materials saved, but the shells of the aquatic monsters wouldn''t work to refine a spear, so that wasn''t possible. Besides, he had to increase his defensive power, or he wouldn''t have survived the battle against the guardian.


    "How long until we reach thebyrinth?" Aion asked.


    "Three more weeks, the kingdom where we are heading now is located on the northern parts of this sea, so it will take a while to reach it," Sauros replied. "Fortunately, they wee visitors who want to deal with thebyrinth."


    "Isn''t that dangerous?" Aion asked. "The risk of making thebyrinth grow bigger isn''t high?"


    "Under normal conditions, yes, that would be too dangerous," Sauros said. "However, just like dungeons,byrinths can be a mountain of resources. Letting people fail there only makes the power of the dungeon to lure and make the monsters breed faster, giving birth to more monsters and materials. People never give up on going because they can find the items left by others when they fall, and defeating the final boss of thebyrinth will give them a chance to be one of the richest people in the world."


    "Just by selling the materials of the boss?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "No, unlike dungeons,byrinths have their cores exposed in their final parts, so you can defeat the guardian and im a small mountain worth of magic stones, which is the core," Sauros exined. "The core keeps growing over time, and after three hundred years¡­"


    "It is that big, huh¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    "With that being said, we need to get stronger to seed on the next mission," Sauros said and then summoned his weird staff. "Let''s spar for a while. Even if I am weaker than you, I should be able to offer better practice than just swinging your weapon at nothing."


    "If you say so," Aion shrugged.


    Necromancer Lv 87


    Health:08/08


    Mana: 3164/3164


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 331 + 300


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 150


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Necromancer''s Staff Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Magic + 300, Resistance + 150<novelnext></novelnext>


    Skills: Skeleton Knight Lv 25, Skeleton Archer Lv 39, Skeleton Wizard Lv 52, Death Knight Lv 55(Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 50). Bone Spear Lv 20, Bone Armor Lv 01, Cursed Arrow Lv 01


    Passive: Summon Lv 42, Store Lv 29, Undead Recovery Lv 45, Curse Resistance Lv 01,


    Improvement Points: 72


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.355.900


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Curse Resistance: decreases the damage and effects caused by curses by one point per level.


    Bone Armor: A sturdy armor that grows in durability and self-repair power when defeating enemies and using their bones.


    Cursed Arrow: A dark arrow of energy that curses the target, decreasing their endurance, mentality, and speed by one point per level for one minute.


    It has been five years since Aion got the necromancer ss, and it sure took a while for him to reach that far¡­ Still, it wasn''t surprising, given that it took him ten years for him to get into the first new ss.


    In any case, Aion didn''t feel the need to train with that ss, not as he could anyway since it had low physical parameters. That being said, since thencer ss was at a low level as well, Aion was the one who had a hard time training with Sauros. To make sure that he wouldn''t realize that there was something weird with him, at times, he used Force release.


    During the next few weeks, Aion looked forward to the stops that they would need to make in order to get some supplies. Still, he had forgotten that they got a lot when they defeated the pirates, so they didn''t need to stop anywhere.


    "You look disappointed¡­" Seris suddenly appeared and then said. "Although you look annoyed most of the time when we stop somewhere, you are looking forward to seeing new ces. I guess it is only natural considering your age and the fact that you didn''t leave that kingdom on vacation before."


    "I get annoyed when we get sidetracked," Aion said. "Anyway, it has been a while since you left your room. Are you stuck and in need of a change of pace or something?"


    "Haha, I am a genius when ites to the creation of magic items and the use of runes, I don''t get stuck," Seris said.


    "I see. Then you must be producing quite a lot of magic items," Aion said. "I am hoping to see a lot of tools that will help on our mission once we arrive at our destination."


    Seris groaned in pain. She was so easy to read¡­ despite that. Most people have things that they take pride in. Seris took pride in her craftsmanship skills, and admitting that she was having a hard time somewhere wasn''t something she was willing to do.


    "Doing the same thing over and over again wears the mind quite easily. You should take a break now and then to keep your mind and skills at the peak," Aion said.


    "I told you, I am not stuck or anything," Seris said.


    "I am not saying again that you are," Aion exined. "I am saying that you need to rest properly and take your time doing other things to look after your health. That is technically part of the job, isn''t it?"

 Chapter 232 Inspiration

    Seris took a short while to think about that. Since they have been relying too much on Aion during the missions, she felt the need to work harder before the next one in order to make sure that things would be different this time.


    "Besides, for as long I am here, the mission will end well," Aion dered. "Even without your knowledge, I can solve most problems with my magic. So, you can rest easy."


    "... I wonder why such reliable words piss me off so much," Seris said.


    "It must be because you are weird, not because I am choosing the right words to annoy you," Aion said while shrugging.


    "So, you are aware of it," Seris said.


    "All the time," Aion said while smiling. "Putting that aside, you shouldn''t think too much about the next mission. You will get exhausted again, and that will only put you in an endless loop."


    "Taking life advice from someone ten years younger than me¡­ where did I go wrong with my life?" Seris asked after a long sigh.


    That wasn''t something Aion could answer, so he just watched her walk away. Regardless, the next weeks passed without any issues happening. That was worrying since it made Aion feel like all the problems were going to emerge once they reached their next destination. However, the real reason was that Sauros avoided the monster''s areas and the routes used by monsters. He certainly knew his way in the sea¡­


    "You are pretty good at holding back. I thought that you would kick my ass during the training sessions," Sauros said.


    Aion''s parameters improved in the next few weeks, but he still had to use Inner Release pretty often to keep up. As expected, he truly needed to fight monsters to level up properly. He couldn''tin that he didn''t have the chance to fight and level up the ss. That would be way too suspicious.


    Still, thanks to that, Aion had a sh of inspiration while he was training. Until now, he failed to make Force Release show its true potential by storing more energy than usual. At first, he assumed that it wouldn''t work to have three cores of energy in his body, but it felt like it was the best option¡­ while they could work together when they were being burned, they couldn''t mix well due to their natures.


    Aion didn''t manage to find a way to do that all at once, so he decided to take steps. Since he had a massive mana pool in the necromancer ss, he didn''t have a hard time making a mana core. Still, he had to make one where it wouldn''t disrupt the others. Aion checked if he could umte mana in his brain, and he found that it was even easier to control it there, and since it didn''t have a physical form, it didn''t affect him in any way.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I wonder if it will materialize once the mana grows toorge¡­ this is worrying," Aion thought. "Being killed by my own mana¡­ that would be rather stupid."


    Considering that some monsters had magic stones in their bodies, Aion assumed that a mutation could ur and then he would create one as well, but since he didn''t hear anything about a mutation killing people. It originally only happened to make them surpass their limits, after all.


    Regardless, the core in his head had been a sess, but just to be safe, he decided to put it in the right side of his chest¡­ Aion was that much of a worrywart. While the core was there and Aion was making it obtain mana over time, he tried to create the next one. He tried to control his stamina inside his body, but that was rather difficult. Still, considering that he managed to control his mana better on his brain, Aion knew that he could find the right spot for his stamina, and he found that spot on the diaphragm.


    "It ising very slowly¡­ it must be because I don''t train that much my use of stamina," Aion thought. "Well, this is the progress that I was looking for, so I can''tin."


    By saving stamina, Aion would be able to fight with melee weapons for a long and even make his attacks stronger. However, it had a downside as well. It made him tired more easily when he unleashed all the energy stored. In fact, it made him feel two times heavier even when he didn''t suffer any damage. That kind of effect happened during Inner Force, but it was a lot weaker¡­


    Aion had a hard time controlling his health¡­ The reason for that was the second effect that such a core would have. It would make him heal faster by himself. However, to store his health, he would need to essentially force his organs to save the energy and get hurt from inside¡­ that wasn''t something that Aion could do with willpower or even magic. That was another level of control he would have over his own body.


    "I guess the final part will take a while¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It isn''t like I can just use healing magic and use that to store health."


    Before Aion could get anywhere close to dealing with that, he noticed that the temperature was decreasing. It seemed that they were getting closer to their destination¡­


    "We will arrive there in three days," Sauros said when Aion approached in the deck. "We will face some harsh weather and some icebergs along the way instead of monsters, so brace yourself."


    "Icebergs¡­ you never mentioned that the ce we were going would be that cold," Aion said. "I thought that dungeons andbyrinths tend to draw nutrients and mana from their surroundings to get stronger andrger."


    "That is true, but it doesn''t mean that every single ce will be desert," Sauros said. "That is why that country is the only one that has snow in this part of the world."

 Chapter 233 Better Not

    When Aion finally could see Freijard in the distance, he could only see snow in all directions. They arrived in good weather since it wasn''t snowing. However, the temperature was cold enough that it forced Aion to put some leatheryers under his armor to avoid frostbites.


    "Freijard is a nation that lives in rtive peace, and it is also one of the threergest Inds in the known world," Sauros exined. "The weather is rather tough for pirates, and the nearest nations are thousands of miles away, so attacking this ce for them isn''t worth it."


    "In that case, only the monsters of thebyrinth are the real problem," Aion said. "It is hard to say if people here are strong or not."


    "Exploring thebyrinth is one of the main businesses here, but they also rely a lot on fishing and farming," Sauros after. "As for their strength, isn''t that impressive since their sense of urgency is at a low point."


    The sea breeze moved along the country''s coast until nightfall. After that, it stopped near one of the port cities. As soon as they stepped on the snow, Aion confirmed that it was pretty slippery, unlike back home, in which the snow melts pretty fast.


    Aion had an easy time skating on the snow since he had some experience in his previous life, and he could propel himself pretty easily with wind magic. It was quite fun to do that¡­


    "We don''t have to make any stops along the way. All the things that we will need can be found near thebyrinth," Sauros dered. "So, we will walk toward it during the night. The others wille to this ce once a week to check if we have returned."


    "Do you know how deep the nest group had arrived in thebyrinth?" Aion asked when they began to walk.


    "Rumors say that fifty years ago, a group managed to enter the dungeon and advance for two weeks before they were forced to retreat due to low supplies," Sauros replied. "Still, with your magic and Seris'' inventions, we should be able to break that record easily.


    If anything, Sauros sure looked confident, even though getting the statue now should be way harder than in the other ces.


    In any case, the group kept walking during the night nonstop. Aion could have made all of them fly, but the cold wind, while moving, was bound to freeze them. The sky was cloudy as well, so it would be freezing up there¡­ for many other reasons, it would be better if they get used to the cold of the country as they go.


    When morning came, Aion''s nose was leaking a little since the Lancer ss didn''t have much resistance or physical endurance. Still, he got used to the cold. Meanwhile, the other two were trembling all over.


    "I have a feeling that you guys will have a hard time inside thebyrinth," Aion said.


    "... It will be fine¡­ inside thebyrinth¡­ I can use my power to increase our speed¡­ that will keep us warm," Seris said.


    "Using time magic against cold¡­ that sure is a fancy way of using one''s mana," Aion shrugged.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In any case, the entrance of thebyrinth was pretty close to the ce they stopped, so things improved a bit when they saw arge camp that was almost like a town ahead. Seris and Sauros hurried up to approach some campfires and get a bit warmer.


    Meanwhile, Aion wanted to see things with his own eyes, but he couldn''t since he covered them. It was better than using the disguise relic¡­ in any case, he saw plenty while they were approaching. Aside from the tents of those that entered thebyrinth to gather materials or try to conquer, there were people that were buying materials and selling Weapons, armor, and tools. Sole were also offering their services of scout or fighting inside thebyrinth. All that made things pretty lively.


    Once they felt a bit better, Sauros and Seris guided Aion around while they were buying things like charcoal, knives, ration, water¡­ and even maps of some areas underground. For some reason, no one was sellingrge mapped areas, even though no one was actually trying to reach the final part of thebyrinth.


    In any case, those three didn''t draw much attention while they were moving around, even though Aion had his eyes covered. Some people looked at him with weird eyes since he was walking with a spear in his hands, though.


    "It seems that you are standing out for an unexpected reason," Seris said.


    "Your brother was the one who said that I would stand out if I didn''t have one and walked with you two," Aion frowned.


    Sauros and Seris also had their own weapons that they weren''t going to use. Their real equipment was going to be finished inside thebyrinth once they got enough data about the things that they were going to face.


    Speaking of which, most of the things that Seris brought were too big for them to carry around, so Aion just hid them inside his inventory, and they didn''t ask anything.


    "I guess we are ready to go now," Sauros said. "Just to be safe, act like I am the leader of the group."


    "But you are¡­ aren''t you?" Aion asked. "Or is Seris pulling the strings in the shadows?"


    "That sounds like something I would enjoy," Seris said.


    "I think it would be better if you guys didn''t talk much outside thebyrinth as well¡­" Sauros said and then sighed.


    As they approached the entrance of the ce, more people began to look at them, but they acted like that wasn''t their problem. People were curious since they hadn''t seen them around, and they were walking like they knew what they wanted and would achieve no matter what it took, and that was umon for newbies. Still, no one tried to stop them, even more so since the whole group had a peculiar air around them¡­

 Chapter 234 Law Of The Jungle

    The entrance of thebyrinth was a hole in the ground that quickly became a tunnel that was emitting some cold wind from the interior, enough to make everyone tremble a bit. The surprising fact was that the walls, the ground, and the ceiling seemed to be made of ice, but it wasn''t that slippery. Aion felt like changing his ss to get Cold Resistance, but he decided to endure it.


    Lancer Lv 03


    Health: 56/56


    Mana: 48/48


    Stamina: 56/56


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 11


    Endurance: 01 + 10


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 10


    Status: 00


    Extreme Spear Refinement Lv 5


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Protective Wind Lv 01


    Passive: Fighting Spirit Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 06


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.442.200


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Although Aion wascking in the physical attack department, for now, he had his magic, and he could level up his ss as well as use coins to increase his parameters. He refrained from doing so since getting used to thebyrinth would be better that way.


    "It seems that there are some groups around, so it might take a while until we find any monster," Sauros said when they found the path splitting into three, and most of them went to the left and right side. "ording to the maps I bought, the middle path is the right one."


    "This might be good for us since we have been walking for a while, and this cold is hard to get used to," Seris said. "Still, keeping walking would keep us warm¡­"


    The cold was preventing her from speaking logically. In the end, Aion sighed. He didn''t want to use that so soon, but he was forced to change to the necromancer ss and create some warm air around them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Hah¡­ so good¡­" Seris said while showing an expression of pleasure.


    "... Who is spoiling who now?" Sauros asked, and he saw Aion shrugging.


    It was only for a while. Sooner orter, they will have to get used to the cold¡­ but it was more likely that Seris would do something about it with her skills.


    In any case, even though it was just mid-morning, they saw several groups heading in the opposite direction while carrying monster materials. Some of the adventurers looked blue to the cold, and some had lost fingers after working years inside thebyrinth and due to the frostbites.


    After walking for around two hours, they finally stopped seeing other groups every ten minutes, and the aura inside thebyrinth got more oppressive¡­ Sauros, who was busy making his own map, decided to be more cautious of the surroundings. He also got more rxed thanks to Aion''s magic¡­


    When they found the next area where the path split in three, they suddenly stopped when they heard some wings pping¡­ in the next moment, some flying blue monsters approached from both sides. They looked like bats, but their heads were a lot bigger, and they had only one eye as well¡­


    "Aion, you take the left side," Sauros dered.


    Aion was too weak to face those things with the Lancer ss, and he could tell. Still, that didn''t stop him from changing the ss and equipping the extreme spear. There were three monsters on his left side, and they approached his head with their mouths open¡­


    Aion used Force Release and then fired three fireballs at their eyes that made them tremble and squeak in agony. During that short window of time, he made his spear pierce one of the eyes of a monster, and while he was pulling it, he jumped and then hit the top of another monster''s head with his left elbow. When he was falling, he used his own body''s weight to pierce the fallen enemy''s head.


    Thest monster recovered in that short window of time and then tried to bite Aion''s head, but he made the creature eat some fireballs instead. The impacts inside made the creatures burn and kill them.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You have leveled up.


    You obtained five status points and three improvement points.


    When Aion turned around, he saw Sauros and Seris splitting two enemies in half. Those creatures were too weak for them but a bit troublesome for Aion''s current parameters¡­


    After making the spear absorb the monsters and begin to process them, Aion wondered what he could use from them. They were essentially just big heads and wings¡­


    When they reunited and began to move, Aion noticed Seris'' stare. As expected, she had noticed that his strength was different than usual¡­ he just shrugged at her before she decided to forget about it.


    After a while, Aion confirmed that he got some ice scales, leather, and some of the monsters'' blood when the processing ended¡­ he had never gotten blood before, so he wondered why that happened now¡­ in any case, the spear got to get the scales, so Zane was fine with it.


    Around the time Aion was checking the processed monsters, they found another part where the path was splitting into three¡­ so far, thebyrinth wasn''t living up to Aion''s expectations¡­ just walking in a straight line to reach the end wasn''t fun at all¡­


    "Don''t worry. This is just the first area of thebyrinth, and that is why it looks a bit like a dungeon," Sauros said.


    "This isn''t like the type of dungeon that I know of," Aion said.


    "You know about how dungeons are born, but the different situations also affect how they are formed," Sauros said. "Let''s say a singlerge battle that destroyed a nearby forest due to the use of magic. The two incidents will make a dungeon without bifurcations to appear. Meanwhile, something like this appears when continuous destruction happens over time in an area for long periods."


    "But this is abyrinth," Aion said.


    "Labyrinths appear in areas suited for their needs," Sauros added. "It isn''t abnormal that they would also devour newborn dungeons."

 Chapter 235 Snow Creature

    Labyrinths were indeed quite the dangerous and grotesque structures¡­ Aion wondered why the people of that country still looked so calm¡­ was it because it would take a while for thebyrinth to devour the whole country? Either way, they sure were fine in leaving a huge problem for the next generations¡­


    In any case, Aion didn''t have much of a hard time fighting the monsters after a few battles. The refinement level of the spear increased his speed quite quickly, so the monsters couldn''t see him even move when he used Force Release¡­ but eventually, Aion got too tired of doing that so often.


    "Are we still far?" Seris asked.


    "ording to the maps, the first area can be crossed in one day," Sauros replied. "Stopping now to make weapons or items that will be only useful for a day isn''t a good idea. Besides, we don''t any help for now. So, don''t worry."


    To add some variety in the battles, the monsters stoppeding from the sides only and began toe from the front as well¡­ probably because they could feel the smell of blood approaching and because there weren''t many people around. Most of the people that worked daily on thebyrinths stayed in the initial areas¡­


    "In that case, I will increase our speed a bit," Seris said and then touched their shoulders.


    "You do understand that you aren''t going to escape the cold by diving into thebyrinth, right?" Aion asked. "It will only get colder going forward."


    "I just want to make the things that we need, and then that won''t be a problem," Seris said.


    Seris was still avoiding the main issue¡­ that she didn''t want to deal with the cold. That was a problem since the guardian of the core definitely would be an ice creature. Aion looked at Sauros, and it was his time to shrug¡­ regardless, whatever the enemy might be, it can''t be worse than an ice dragon¡­ Aion truly wanted to believe that with all his heart.


    The battles just got too easy around the time the refinement reached level ten, and thencer ss was at level eight, so Aion just sped things up even more. Thanks to it, they reached the end of the first area in just six hours. The only thing that split the area was a single downward tunnel that stretched for a few dozen meters.


    "All right, we will go to the next area and then fight the enemies a few times before returning to give Seris time to make some adjustments to our gear," Sauros dered. "The maps of the second area are iplete, so I can''t say how long it will take us to reach the next one."


    ? "It feels like this slow and methodical process of doing things really suits you," Aion said.


    "You think so, hahaha," Sauros said and thenughed a little. "I like doing things like this and taking my time to achieve the best results without risks."


    "He is just calling you boring, you know," Seris said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Well, I guess I am a boring person," Sauros said.


    After that, the group headed toward the second area of thebyrinth. So far, they had only walked toward the North, and Aion wondered If that was going to change any time soon. He was fine with it as long as he didn''t waste too much time, though.


    The second area of the dungeon was a lot bigger than before. The corridors could easily fit dozens of people walking side by side, but that only made those three things that some problems were fast approaching.


    As they began to walk, soon, their worries were confirmed when they heard the ground vibrating. After not so long, they saw the shadow of a tall creature approaching. The beast had its bodypletely taken over by thick white fur, a body that was like four meters tall¡­ still, even with that size, such a monster wasn''t supposed to make the ground vibrate when it was one hundred meters away.


    The creature had blue eyes that changed to red when it saw Aion and the others. It seemed like a troublesome creature that focused on strength and endurance, so Aion stepped forward to deal with it.


    "Leave it to me," Aion said. "This looks like fun."


    The creature charged, and each step made the ground shake even more. Aion stepped forward as well to keep those two out of the way, and then when the monster got close enough, it turned its body to the side beforeunching an upward punch that almost emerged from ground level to hit Aion¡­ despite its rage, the monster sure knew a thing or two about punching and use its weight on the attacks.


    Aion moved to the side and dodged the easy-to-read punch. The creature must have around eighty points of strength and endurance, but its speed was only twenty. No wonder Aion could see the attacks so easily¡­


    The monster turned to the side and then used the arm to punch him, but Aion just jumped to dodge the hook, and then he stabbed the monster''s forehead with his spear since it was the area with the least amount of fur.


    The attack made the monster''s forehead bleed, but it didn''t even pierce the bone. That didn''t surprise Aion¡­ his current strength wasughable¡­ enraged, the creature swung both arms to smash him from the sides.


    Aion jumped backward and dodged the punch, but before he could evennd, he covered his spear in mes and threw it at the wound on the creature''s forehead¡­ This time, the attack pierced the bone, and the beast fell to the ground.


    You obtained 200 experience points.


    "It is convenient to level up new sses as soon as I get them, but it is rather troublesome that something like this can''t die in one hit when I face a dragon¡­" Aion thought. "Even this power has some weaknesses."

 Chapter 236 Doubts

    It seems that grinding in that area will be necessary for Aion. At least the ss and refinement levels reach forty. It was only natural that the next area would be tougher¡­ still, he was a bit surprised.


    Regardless, Aion got a ton of fur and leather from the monster and bones as well. He could only use the bones for the spear, though. After that, Sauros and Seris fought the same monster that kepting without them moving from the spot¡­ They also had a bit of a problem thanks to the enemy''s endurance, but they had to gainbat experience the hard way as well.


    "It seems that in this area, the enemies will keeping, and we have to fight all of them since the corridors arerge¡­ ignoring them might make them surround uster," Sauros said. "Is that enough now, Seris?"


    "No problem," Seris said. "I know how we can deal with them in the most optimal way possible."


    "Then let''s return to the previous floor and help you with that and rest for some hours," Sauros dered.


    "I do my work alone," Seris said. "You two will only get on the way."


    "Ouch," Sauros said and then shrugged.


    Aion was interested in the process of Seris'' work, so once they returned, he began to pay attention to what she was doing after she took out her things from the inventory. She had some parts that had already been made, parts of a crossbow or some defensive gear. Aion thought that she was going to make more ranged weapons, but instead of that, she got the hilt of a sword and then made it absorb a stone that had a rune written on it.


    After a while, she also grabbed a single-edge de and then made it absorb another rune on its base. That de was quite weird since it could only cut from one side, and it wasn''t curved like most single-edged swords. After that, she put the parts together¡­ that was a bit disappointing. Aion wanted to see the rune creation process.


    "Try to make your mana pass through the sword," Seris said after tossing the sword toward Aion.


    Aion didn''t need new weapons, but he was the one with the most mana by a fair margin of the group, so he was the best option to test it. Just to be safe, Aion pointed the sword to the distance, and he did well because once his mana began to pass through it, a concentrated line of mes was shot into the distance. It even caused an explosion after hitting a walk two hundred meters away¡­


    "Your powers make no sense¡­ sometimes you look so weak, but you are still able to use so much with so little mana¡­" Seris said while frowning.


    That was because he changed his ss to Necromancer¡­ still, he used enough mana to fire a single decent fireball, and the result had been way above all that.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "So, you used runes that enhance magical powers?" Aion asked.


    "You are half right," Seris said. "I used two runes, one that grants the user the power to fire a st of wind through their weapon and a fire rune that can more or less do the same. When they arebined, they can do that."


    "Isn''t this like a cheap way to deal with the enemies? Just approach and point it at their heads?" Aion asked.


    "That is the mentality of a kid raised by a warrior," Seris said. "We aren''t here to improve our strength or satisfy our egos, and we are here to get the relic."


    That was true, but Aion still felt that it wasn''t the best approach. Then again, he was someone that was raised in an old family of warriors, and while he worked harder than everyone else, he still had a system to assist him, so that he couldn''t say too much about it.


    Sauros eventually tested the sword and felt a bit weird about using a weapon that actually had weight, and it wasn''t a long-range one. Still, he had plenty of experience using that kind of weapon, even when it was made out of his own magic.


    Once Seris finished the weapons, she went to make the gear. Again, she only had to mount things and add the runes. Hence, the process was rather smooth and anticlimactic from Aion''s perspective.


    "You can''t learn much watching this, right?" Seris asked. "Believe me, I am itching to teach you a few things about runes since it looked interesting, but I also feel like you would take my role as well in this mission if I do that."


    "I am not good at making things, only destroying them," Aion said. "Well, eventually, I will have the leeway to learn how to make things as well, so I am not in a hurry."


    Aion was already busy trying to perfect Force Release to make it work with his health as well, and that was already upying most of his thoughts. In any case, Seris happily gave them the equipment that they would need for the next area¡­ it was basically some really light gloves, boots, and a chest te that would protect them from the cold.


    "They also will make our bodies a bit lighter, so we will be able to dodge the attacks and move faster," Seris said with arge grin on her face.


    Aion didn''t want to think that most adults had to be ever so serious like his father, he was also goofy when he was twenty-five in his previous life, and he was a firefighter. Also, his mother could also be called childish most of the time when he was the center of the subject. Still, Seris looked like a kid who found new toys once she finished her work¡­ but that only made him wonder if his perspective was right or was just drastic about heading on to face some problems¡­

 Chapter 237 Like Most People

    Aion didn''t notice that before, but after resting for several hours, he eventually came to realize that the walls of thebyrinth were emitting some sort of light that kept its interiorpletely free of darkness. Not only that, Aion had a hard time melting a single part of thebyrinth with his magic¡­ that sure was some weird ice.


    Thanks to that, it was hard to say when it was day or night inside. So, they rest until they are satisfied instead of waiting for sunlight.


    "Are you sure you don''t want a weapon?" Seris asked.


    "No. I have decided your method to solve things as efficiently as possible isn''t wrong, but I can''t abandon mine. I will use all chances on my path to improve my skills."


    Aion felt even more eager to do that because he was already receiving too much help from the system and his weapons. While he believed that they belonged to his spirit for one reason or the other, he still also believed that they might be taken one day, and he didn''t want to be unprepared when that time came.


    "That level of diligence frightens me," Seris shrugged.


    Once they returned to the next area, they found one of those hairy monsters already waiting for them. As if she was trying to show off the power of her tools, Seris'' charged and then pointed the tip of the sword at the enemy when the creature tried to punch her.


    The st of mes stopped the punch, and then she attacked the head of the creature again¡­, making it half explode. The power of her magic was quite high, and that was why she looked so proud. Still, Aion couldn''t see the point of defeating the enemies like that, and it wasn''t even a bit fun¡­


    In any case, Aion made his weapon absorb the body, and then they began to run¡­ after a while, they heard some impacts in the distance, and they sped up to check things¡­


    Aion frowned a little when she saw three of those monsters surrounding a group of six people¡­ they weren''t supposed to attack like that in groups. Still, it seemed that those guys took their time fighting the first few enemies.


    "Let''s help," Sauros dered. "They shouldn''tin much if we leave the materials for them¡­ but we will need to change our weapons."


    That was another thing that Aion disliked. They had to be that secretive because of the weapons they had¡­ and it was annoying.


    Aion couldn''t even use magic, but fortunately, the monsters were stupid enough to ignore them during the approach, and Aion threw his spear at the neck of one of the creatures. The weapon easily pierced the flesh and killed the creature¡­ When that happened, the other enemies took notice of Seris and Sauros, and they turned around to face them.


    Aion clicked his tongue since it made things difficult for them, but he kept running to recover his spear. At the same time, the six guys began to attack the enemies with bows and crossbows.


    Seris and Sauros focused on dodging while the enemies used their full swings to attack. They had an easy time attacking the left arms of the enemies, thanks to that. Still, what really killed the monsters was the numerous hits they got on their backs.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Are you guys all right?" Sauros asked after approaching the group.


    Upon getting close, Aion saw that the group only had a single Frontliner who had a single shield and couldn''t even raise his left arm.


    "Yeah, you saved us all," the man with the broken arm said. "If you guys are going ahead, then we won''t have any reason to hurry. Take this as a gift since we are so close to the next area."


    The man passed to Sauros the map that he had drawn about the second area. It was almostplete, but the important thing was the fact that it showed the ce they had to go to reach the next area.


    "Thank you, we will make good use of it," Sauros said and then bowed slightly.


    The group began to move, and Aion and Seris took the lead while Suaros was studying the map. It seemed legit, but he was trying to read how much they would have to walk to reach the next area.


    In any case, Aion and Seris took turns killing the big hairy creatures while Sauros was busy. It took him quite a while to read the entire map.


    "It seems that the second area is around three timesrger than the first one," Sauros said. "If this is a pattern or at least a good basis for the other areas¡­ maybe there are at least five areas in thisbyrinth, and the people here barely explored the fourth area."


    "Is that a worst-case scenario estimative based on what you know about otherbyrinths?" Aion asked.


    Sauros nodded. If the previous group had to return after two weeks, then they got lucky finding the fourth floor so soon since they were supposed to have found some dead ends as well¡­ in any case, that was a bit too much¡­ it will take months for them to reach the core at that rate.


    "Rx, we aren''t like most people, right?" Seris asked. "We cane up with numerous ways to increase our speed of fighting or moving."


    "Don''t get cocky," Sauros said and lightly smacked the top of Seris'' head. "Only Aion has done enough during this whole mission that gives him the right to act like that, and he isn''t, so we shouldn''t either."


    Aion had some ideas on how to deal with their speed when ites to exploration. The main one would be to rely on the necromancer ss¡­ until now, he didn''t see anyone using that, so he would rather keep that hidden for really important situations¡­ his goal didn''t chance, he could only go all out once he is sure that his power will be unrivalled.

 Chapter 238 Next Sector

    Aion could cheat and then fly using his magic while charging Power Shot with the sniper ss, but that wouldn''t give a chance for the Lancer ss to improve¡­ fortunately, he had other options. Still, he will have topromise in the end between time and efficiency¡­ Aion never thought that those two would oppose each other in his life, but such is life. It tends to kick you in the ball sometimes, and you can only endure it while some people ask for more. Aion wasn''t one of them...


    In any case, once they obtained the map, their hunting and movement speed improved since they soon found some bifurcations and they already knew the right path¡­ they were also jogging between the battles just to make sure that they would gain as much time as possible.


    "At this rate, if things here are the way you expected, people can only reach the core of thebyrinth after exploring for almost four months, right?" Aion asked.


    "If they only walk and conserve their strength for fighting, then yes," Sauros replied. "We can say that we fight three times better and move four times faster than most groups, so maybe we will need a month or so."


    "That is still too long¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    For the time being, Aion was fine with their speed of progress. Still, he wasn''t exactly patient. So, he might eventually do some harsh things and ignore the consequences.


    "I guess I will be fine. The sses of the second tier are at least three times better than those of the first tier," Aion thought. "Once I master the necromancer ss and get the next one, even those two and his group won''t be a problem against me¡­ Besides, the current world still treats us like we are a gue. Maybe burning it down and forcing a restart will be the best option."


    Aion wasn''t exactly the same person who lost his life saving a kid before, he still had his naive parts, but he was already sharpening his mind and ws to do what was necessary if necessary¡­ he also hated hesitation, after all.


    "Still¡­ where are those guysing from?" Seris asked after she lost count of how many of those hairy monsters they had defeated. "It isn''t like some big monster is giving birth to them, but it is weird that they always show up ahead of us."


    "There are many ways dungeons andbyrinths produce their monsters. There are the standard methods of making them grow fast and reproduce fast, there are also the types of those that revive the dead creatures after regenerating their lost parts, and there are the types that are summoned by mana," Sauros said. "As you noticed, the interior is filled with ice that emits light; it is probably icing rich in mana that serves as a catalyst to summon monsters whenever the core wants."


    That exined why Aion had a hard time melting the ice¡­ still, that was worrisome. If thebyrinth had all that much mana, couldn''t it just make hundreds of them appear to crush them all at once? They killed a lot more than that number of monsters already¡­ so underestimating them was just stupid¡­ maybe thebyrinth wasn''t that smart or could only operate following a certain number of rules.


    In any case, the group reached the entrance to the next area after ten or so hours of exploration. That was a pretty good amount of progress, but Aion wasn''t satisfied¡­


    Lancer Lv 21


    Health: 468/468


    Mana: 228/228


    Stamina: 288/288


    Strength: 46


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 56


    Endurance: 01 + 70


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 70


    Status: 00<novelnext></novelnext>


    Extreme Spear Refinement Lv 35


    Bonuses: Endurance + 70, Speed + 70


    Skills: Protective Wind Lv 04, Sonic Throw Lv 06


    Passive: Fighting Spirit Lv 14, Critical Thirst Lv 03,


    Improvement Points: 96


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.442.200


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Sonic Throw: a more powerful version of throw that can travel hundreds of meters almost instantly at the cost of fifty stamina points. The range and the power are determined by your strength.


    Critical Thirst: every time you cause critical damage, you will recover health equal to the level of the skill.


    The reason for his dissatisfaction was the fact that he only reached half of his goals when it came to parameters¡­ even though he got some good skills, and now he could basically punch his way out of the monsters¡­


    "Once again, we will go to the next area and then fight a few monsters before returning here and giving Seris enough time to work and rest," Sauros said. "Are you fine with that, Aion? You looked in a hurry before, but now¡­"


    "No problem," Aion said. "Just focus on doing the usual."


    It was one pretty light: mind your own business, but Sauros decided to take it as advice since Aion was focused on the mission and wasn''t questioning anything¡­


    After readying themselves, the group went to the next area after going down through another tunnel. In the end, those three couldn''t help but tremble a little when they felt the cold of the area increasing¡­ this time, they could even see some cold mist around the ground, and it made their legs feel like it was freezing¡­


    "This exins¡­ why some¡­ people¡­ have lost their fingers," Sauros said. "Seris¡­ we will need more runes to fight this cold."


    It seems that Sauros joined the faction of those who wanted to use runes for every single problem on their way¡­ in any case, Aion sted the cold air with a bit of warmth. It couldn''t bepared to the necromancer ss, but he had a bit of mana now¡­


    Still, he was forced to stop with that when he heard the sound of a few grunts in the distance¡­ after not so long, three monsters appeared on their way. They were blue lizards that were five meters long¡­

 Chapter 239 Nothing To Do

    "Frozen Smanders¡­ be careful. They have a lot of mana, and keeping their enemies from approaching is their specialty," Sauros said after furrowing his eyebrows.


    "That seems like a challenge¡­" Aion said, smiling after he stepped forward.


    When they were fifty meters away, the monsters opened their mouths and then began to fire countless ice arrows. Aion smiled even more while he was spinning his spear in front of him. He blocked all the attacks, and while he felt some weight behind them, his strength reached a high enough level not to feel bothered by it. The attacks of several monsters weren''t enough to pierce his defense.


    When Aion tried to approach, the enemies moved in the opposite direction, and when he began to run, they turned to run¡­ when he got close enough, the monsters began to hit the ground with their tails, and then some ice spears emerged from the ground and almost impaled him. Fortunately, Aion could feel the mana fluctuate on the ground, and he moved away before they could hit him¡­


    It was a bit annoying, but the monsters sure could run. So, before others could join them, Aion used the Inner Force to boost his speed and approach them. When they noticed what had happened, Aion had already swung his spear and beheaded two of the monsters. The other one was hit when he threw the spear at its neck¡­


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    "I guess they were full magic and speed types¡­" Aion said. "Not much of a problem once you have the skills to block their attacks and the speed to reach them."


    "I guess the two of us are going to have a hard time dealing with them at close range. Our best shot is long-range weapons," Sauros said.


    "We should retreat right now, then, and there is no point in confirming the obvious," Seris said.


    Aion felt like sighing¡­ those guys sure were practical¡­ Meanwhile, Aion was the type who would say: there is no way to know unless you try it. In any case, Aion made the weapon absorb them, and after the processing was done, he got three gems, several ice scales, the frozen leather, and some meat.


    While they had some rations, Aion began to cook the meat. At the same time, he felt like Sauros wanted to ask how he got meat that obviously looked like it belonged to the frozen smanders. He didn''t ask anything, though. In any case, the meat wasn''t half bad, but itcked the spiciness that Aion enjoyed.


    "Hmm, this is pretty good¡­ it seems like the type of meat that would be even better after fried," Sauros said when Aion passed a chunk to him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion was ready to pass Seris'' to her, but she was too absorbed in her work¡­ when he looked at her newest weapon, Aion frowned when he saw a crossbow with a weird design. The part where the projectile was supposed to be shot had a weird shape since it wasn''t like a line or a tube¡­


    When Seris finished and asked Aion to test it, she told him not to use too much mana but to point in the distance¡­ he was left speechless when he saw a line of lightning after he pulled the trigger¡­ almost instantly, a sphere of energy hit a wall five hundred meters away, and he still felt the ground trembling a little. Seris just made a fucking rail gun¡­


    "The results aren''t half bad. They should be useful, even on the fourth floor," Seris nodded to herself in satisfaction. "I added several runes in a line to make the projectile gain speed and power while crossing it, but the cost in mana will be higher than usual."


    "That means that we will still have to rely a lot on Aion," Sauros said.


    Aion was more interested in the fact that Seris managed to replicate how a railgun works just like that. He truly was left speechless¡­ he never got arrogant, even with his powers. Still, once again, Aion was reminded that he needed to try a lot harder.


    "What is it?" Seris asked when she noticed Aion''s gaze. "Are you finally aware that I am a genius?"


    "... I guess you aren''t half bad," Aion said since he knew that she would get carried away with more praise than that.


    "Rather than admitting it, it feels even weirder to receive that much praise from you," Seris said while scratching her back. "It feels itchy too."


    After that, Seris made another one for her brother and even tested it with a magic stone, but those could only endure two shots¡­ Aion tried to check if the blue gems of the frozen Smanders could work, but she just shook her head.


    "They have different elemental properties," Seris said while analyzing the gems. "Still, this one''s here aren''t bad¡­ I bet I can use them to reinforce our equipment against the cold."


    Seris began to work on that as well¡­ in the end, she created something like an electricwork that made the energy of the gems pass through the armors, and the effects would stack¡­ at that point in time, Aion couldn''t help but wonder how the hell she was able to do that¡­ was that knowledge and technology people had in the past?


    In any case, Seris ended up working more than expected, so the whole group had to rest for a while longer. Aion was in a hurry, even more so when he didn''t have anything to do since the hairy monsters weren''t showing up anymore.


    Just doing basic training wasn''t enough to keep Aion entertained during that mission, and things might happen if they split up, so he couldn''t hunt in the next area¡­ in the end, Aion decided to rest as much as possible and then dash toward the enemies as soon as he sees them the next time.

 Chapter 240 Hard To Understand

    When Seris woke up, the group began to prepare to move. However, she looked quite restless, and Sauros also looked a bit troubled. Still, instead of asking what the problem was, Aion ignored that¡­ until Sauros asked him if he could build a toilet with magic¡­


    "What the hell¡­" Aion said while frowning. "Just do it in the corner. I am not the type of the guy who watches other guys or even girls answering the call of nature."


    Sauros sighed¡­ even in their ship, they had a clean and pretty advanced one, so it couldn''t be helped that they were spoiled. In the end, Aion changed his ss to Necromancer and made some for them¡­ still, he had a hard time notughing since he made the type that makes a lot of noise.


    "Adventuring in another world is overrated¡­ I never thought people had to worry about going to the bathroom in a dungeon orbyrinth," Aion thought before they went to the next zone.


    Once again, they found some monsters waiting for them, but Seris and Sauros finished them off instantly, and then they began to run again.


    "This zone will be longer, so pace yourselves," Sauros said.


    It had been hard to do that in the beginning because there wasn''t much to do¡­ Aion blocked the attacks, and then those two killed the enemies. Even though Aion barely lost any time absorbing the bodies, things still were pretty boring¡­ but at least their pace was decent, and in one hour, they didn''t stop for any reason, even once.


    "Come to think of it, and I could use the Bard ss to make them move faster and recover mana¡­ I won''t be able to level up the Lancer ss, though," Aion thought.


    That was another option Aion could consider if things got dicey in the future¡­


    Along the way, the group was forced to make some choices when the path split, and while they weed all kinds of changes on that monotonous routine of running and shooting, finding a dead end wasn''t one of them.


    "We need to take a break, we are out of mana, and our legs kind of hurt," Sauros said.


    When Aion turned around, he saw those two covered in sweat, and they were also pale¡­ they didn''tck magic power or stamina, but it looked like Aion had lost the notion of time.


    After checking the map that Sauros was making, it looked like they had crossed over forty kilometers, so they must have run for four hours at the very least¡­


    "... I guess I will guard the path ahead since I am still fine," Aion said, and then he began to use his earth magic to build something.


    After a couple of minutes, Seris and Sauros were left speechless when they saw two bathrooms. Aion even made some bathtubs for them to use with hot water.


    "A hot bath is good to help with sore muscles, but it can onlyst for so long inside this ce," Aion said, and then he moved ahead to fight the monsters.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "... Let''s wait for a while longer and make sure that he won''t try to take a peek at me naked," Seris said.


    "Someone sure is confident," Sauros said, and then he jumped into the bathtub. "You know his Lineage and fame, don''t you? If r wanted, he could have a harem at his age."


    "Maybe, but I guess he is in love with his mother," Seris said, entering the bathroom on the other side of the wall.


    "I want to see what he will do if you tell him that," Sauros said and thenughed. "Do you have the balls for that?"


    "I don''t have balls in any weird sense, and the mission is too important for me to say or do anything that might cause problems to the group," Seris replied and then sighed in relief when she entered the bathtub. "I feel alive again¡­ the kid sure is something else to be able to do this much without a cinch at his age."


    "Aion is more mature than you. You can learn a thing or two from him, actually, maybe a lot more," Sauros said.


    "Yeah, right¡­ Still, I wonder what he will do in the future," Seris said. "Considering his upbringing, his potential is immense¡­ perhaps endless."


    "That is why we let him keep the statues, remember?" Sauros asked. "In any case, someone wille and snatch him away if you don''t make your move."


    "I am not interested in kids," Seris said.


    "Then I am going to look for a grandpa to look after you. You seriously need to get a life. I guess even an old man spoiling you more than you already are will do the job."


    "There is no middle term with you, huh," Seris said. "Anyway, I am feeling better. I guess I will be ready to move again in ten minutes."


    "Same here, I didn''t think that thisbyrinth would be this difficult due to the environment alone, but we are fortunate that Aion is this skilled with magic," Sauros said after a long and rxed sigh.


    "After traveling with him for this long, have youe to understand his powers, like that ability to transform his weapon?" Seris asked. "Is that some sort of mutation due to his bloodline?"


    "I don''t know¡­ there are some registers of people that could make a weapon using their magic power and fight using, and some people could make normal weapons transform, but not both of those," Sauros exined. "My guess is that he just found a powerful relic by luck that let him do whatever he wants with such an item¡­ even disassemble monster parts¡­ in any case, if those abilities really existed, they disappeared hundreds of years ago, and it wasn''t something that people could learn by chance."


    The more they wondered about it, the more they felt like Aion was bing harder to understand, and it didn''t seem like they were making progress on it¡­

 Chapter 241 How?

    Aion got a few levels while the others were rxing, it wasn''t much, but anything was better than nothing. In any case, they joined him after just forty minutes¡­ he thought that would rx for at least one hour since Seris could just make some runes to heat the bath.


    "We owe one, that bath wasn''t like any other, and I had in a while," Sauros said.


    "You didn''t try to take a peek, so my evaluation of you improved a little," Seris added.


    "It seems like one doesn''t need much to be at the top of your list," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "Anyway, we need to keep up that pace. If you feel like you are running out of mana, just say it since I have an idea."


    "I will be looking forward to your idea," Sauros said.


    It felt like it would be better for them if they didn''t hear about it and instead received a surprise. Aion couldn''t help but frown while imagining how much trust they must have in him.


    Regardless, the group began to advance through thebyrinth again, and their speed had Increased a bit since they had an excellent chance to rx in the bath. Still, while he wasn''t doing much aside from blocking the enemies'' spells, Seris and Sauros wondered howe Aion still could keep running nonstop while he wasn''t even sweating or looking exhausted¡­


    In any case, Aion soon confirmed that even on that floor, it might take a while for him to reach level forty¡­ the experience that he was getting wasn''t making him level up that fast¡­ after almost eight hours hunting the frozen smanders, he finally reached level thirty.


    Lancer Lv 30


    Health: 468/468


    Mana: 408/408


    Stamina: 288/288


    Strength: 46


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 101


    Endurance: 01 + 70


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 70


    Status: 00


    Extreme Spear Refinement Lv 35


    Bonuses: Endurance + 70, Speed + 70


    Skills: Protective Wind Lv 04, Sonic Throw Lv 09, Quick Sweep Lv 01


    Passive: Fighting Spirit Lv 17, Critical Thirst Lv 05,


    Improvement Points: 123


    umted Experience: 0<novelnext></novelnext>


    Coins: 1.442.200


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Quick Sweep: a full horizontal swing that causes extra damage ording to the number of enemies hit. Cost: 30 stamina.


    "Come to think of it, and the necromancer ss only leveled up that fast because my skeletons and death knights were always hunting. Even here, with this level of difficulty, things wouldn''t be that fast," Aion thought.


    In any case, around that time, Seris and Sauros started to get tired again. So, Aion used the bard ss and began to y a song that made them recover their mana faster. The only problem with that was that they had to advance while walking to rx the muscles of their legs¡­ still, at least Aion made that ss level up and also refined the weapon quite a bit.


    "I feel like the sses unlocked after maxing this one will be fun¡­ but I need to keep my focus," Aion thought.


    After using the bard ss for one hour, they began to run again¡­ but they had to stop after two hours since Seris and Sauros were reaching their mental limit. Just recovering stamina and mana wasn''t enough, and one needed to rest their mind as well¡­


    "It seems that the monsters will keeping as long as we stay here so that I will watch things around," Aion said. "Rest properly, and don''t be a burden tomorrow."


    Those were some harsh words that neither of them could refute. Seris was quite pissed thanks to it¡­ they had runes on their equipment that let them recover energy faster, but even so¡­ they reached their limits. Meanwhile, Aion looked like he could keep going for one week nonstop if he had to.


    "What a stamina freak¡­" Seris said when she watched Aion moving away to face the monsters.


    "I am starting to feel like we are slowing him down here¡­ what a dreadful feeling, to be a dead weight for someone that is half my age¡­" Sauros said and then sighed.


    While Seris and Sauros were setting the camp, Aion made his spear fly with wind magic toward the next frozen Smanders that appeared. The level of his magic with that ss was high enough for him to block the attacks and make sure that the enemies couldn''t outrun the weapon.


    After he recovered the spear, Aion began to talk about how he couldplete Force Release¡­ he had been doing that for quite a while. Still, even though he didn''t reach any answer until now, he felt that soon he would have the idea that he needed¡­


    Unlike a core filled with mana and his stamina, Aion couldn''t make a core made of blood, and it wasn''t like blood alone would heal wounds¡­ so he needed a better alternative.


    "It doesn''t matter how much I think, the only solution for this problem is for me to be able to cast something like Heal, but the activation will only take ce once I get hurt¡­ a spell with dyed effect¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion felt that it wouldn''t be the same way as having a core that could be burned its energy to increase his strength¡­ but at least it was a start. After thinking for several hours without obtaining any result, he decided to ask if Seris knew anything about that kind of effect.


    "Runes that can be activated once the user suffers damage? Of course, they can be made," Seris replied.


    "How do they work?" Aion asked.


    "Well, they are also made to recognize when your body suffers damage, so¡­" Seris said.


    "I mean, how do they store energy to heal once the damage is suffered?" Aion asked.


    "The usual way. The runes store enough mana to do that," Seris replied. "They are a bitplicated to create since they have many effects, but they are useful. The only problem is that you can''t add more than one of those in the same equipment without risking problems."

 Chapter 242 Considerations

    While they began to advance, Aion asked for more exnations, but soon he had to stop since all that talking was messing with their focus. He had to wait for a few more hours for the short break and learn more. He could wait that much.


    Although Seris didn''t want to teach Aion how to make runes now, she dly answered how some effects worked and could be applied. Thanks to that, Aion was able toe up with an excellent theory to perfect Force Release.


    "It will be hard to pull it off, but I guess I can create another magic core that will have the sole purpose of healing my body once I suffer damage," Aion thought. "The problem with that is the fact that it will be in my heart¡­ the mana will need to cross my entire body, and for that to happen, I will need to make use of my blood vessels¡­"


    That seemed rather risky, but it was a risk that would increase Aion''s potential immensely¡­ he was almost unstoppable already, and if he added that the power that half-assed attacks won''t be able to stop him¡­ people would think twice before they have any stupid idea of picking a fight with him.


    In any case, all that thinking and nning helped Aion kill time. Thanks to that, they reached the final part of the third area of thebyrinth in no time. Perhaps three days after they entered the ce.


    There was no point in saying that again, so they just headed to the next area in order to check the enemies there. This time the cold mist emerging from the ground had been powerful enough to even moist some parts of everyone''s gear. After not so long, even their clothes would freeze due to the minimal amount of water on them.


    Upon noticing that, Aion began to use his magic to warm the temperature around them again. He didn''t use much while blocking the attacks of the enemies before, after all.


    Still, it didn''t seem like he was going to be able to keep that for long. The first monsters of that area began toe from the deepest parts of thebyrinths as well¡­ the monsters were¡­ skeletons, much to Aion''s surprise. Skeletons that were wearing dark blue cloaks emitted cold air through their mouths whenever they breathed.


    Aion was pretty sure that skeletons couldn''t breathe, so that puzzled him. What puzzled him even more, was the fact that they made dozens of ice arrows appear around them before they fired them. Aion knew that he couldn''t block all of them without some help, so he spun his spear after using Inner Force, and he charged at the same time.


    Aion managed to block the projectiles, but while he was approaching, the monsters made some ice appear below their feet, and they began to fly away¡­ while they also fired more magic projectiles at him.


    "Now this exins why people reached this area and then turned around¡­ skeletons can''t give resources, and they are this troublesome¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion picked up the pace and used Force Release for a moment. In that short window of time, he caught the three skeletons and then swung his spear two times to smash their skulls. That was enough for them to turn into a pile of frozen bones.


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    You obtained 450 experience points.


    While Aion didn''t think that the fight was over just by smashing the skulls, his system made him understand that was really the case¡­ despite being skeletons, and they have some durability since their bones were frozen to the point that even approaching was difficult for Aion. Moreover, when he made his weapon absorb them, he only got frozen bones¡­ it could be used to reinforce melee weapons, though.


    Eventually, more enemies showed up, and Seris and Sauros used their weapons to fight them. They had been pretty effective, but Aion still had a hard time blocking the enemies'' attacks, even when they attacked only for a moment.


    "I guess this is enough for now," Sauros said, scratching the back of his head. "As expected of abyrinth that had been around for hundreds of years¡­ things will beplicated from now on."


    "Never fear, for I am here to save your asses," Aion said.


    "While it is good that you are being cheerful, you need to rest," Sauros said. "You barely slept since we arrived in the third area."


    "I guess I will," Aion replied while thinking that he would need to clear his mind before hepleted Force Release."


    Once he began to rx, Aion realized that instead of making one core for stamina as well, it would be a lot easier if he could make another one that could use the mana stored to restore his stamina¡­ he needed to learn the magic to restore stamina first, though.


    It will be easier for Aion to learn anything rted to magic if he uses the Necromancer ss since it has the highest magic attribute. From that point onward, once he learns with that ss, he can practice with the others¡­


    "I am almost at level forty here¡­ but maybe I will be forced to rely more on magic in the next two areas," Aion thought. "Only more 13 level-ups, huh¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Necromancer Lv 87


    Health:08/08


    Mana: 3164/3164


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 331 + 300


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 150


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Necromancer''s Staff Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Magic + 300, Resistance + 150


    Skills: Skeleton Knight Lv 25, Skeleton Archer Lv 39, Skeleton Wizard Lv 52, Death Knight Lv 55(Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 50). Bone Spear Lv 20, Bone Armor Lv 01, Cursed Arrow Lv 01


    Passive: Summon Lv 42, Store Lv 29, Undead Recovery Lv 45, Curse Resistance Lv 01,


    Improvement Points: 72


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.442.200


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset

 Chapter 243 Contribuition

    Thanks to the leveling-up speed, Aion was having second doubts regarding his choice of focusing on the Lancer ss. Then again¡­ it will take a while to improve the next ss after necromancer¡­


    Although he had many doubts in his mind, after sleeping for just four hours, Aion woke up feeling quite refreshed. His mind had also got sharper as well¡­ to the point that he began to practice as soon as he woke up.


    First of all, Aion began to cover his hands with severalyers of mana¡­ things got tough after the third since the control over them became quite difficult since the mana in theyers prevented him from doing that like barricades.


    Still, he kept going until he learned the trick to expand the firstyer and move it above while keeping a link between the new and the oldyer¡­ after that, Aion began to use his magic to cover his hands with elemental magic without hurting himself. Fire magic was the best option when it came to that since the punishment was immediate¡­ just covering his hands once was already troublesome enough, but at least Aion made some progress.


    "We are ready to move, but we can wait if you are preparing for something," Sauros said.


    "No, this will take a while," Aion exined.


    "I see¡­ anyway, to make things easier for us, Seris made some rings that will create a thin barrier around us against the freezing effect of the next area," Sauros said while passing the ring to Aion. "It won''t consume our mana, and thanks to that, the effects aren''t that powerful."


    "Well, we don''t have any more room to spend even more mana, after all," Aion said.


    "Thisbyrinth is really messed up, and it has been clearly designed in order not to give people a chance to survive for long in the fourth area," Seris said. "This kind of environment isn''t what I was expecting, considering the things we read in the books."


    "I am sure few people can learn everything they need from books," Aion said. "Anyway, I guess it is time to move on."


    The others nodded, and then Aion took the lead as the frontline of the group. It seemed that the other two were sharper than usual, and thanks to that, as soon as the next skeletons showed up, they were killed with the bullets in their heads.


    The group began to move once Aion made the bodies disappear. The same thing happened several times more until Aion began to notice that the temperature was dungeon even more¡­ when he turned around to look at the others, their lips were already blue.


    "It seems that the more they are killed, the more they make the temperature drop here," Aion said.


    "...Is that so?" Sauros asked.


    That was the only thing Sauros could say¡­ Seris didn''t even want to open her mouth toin. Both of them had their pride and didn''t want to give up so soon. Aion couldn''t say much either since he had increased his mentality to endure the cold¡­


    Aion also tried to make the cold mist move away from them, but that only made things colder ahead. Hurrying up to kill and absorb the bodies of the monsters wasn''t helping much, either¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    In the end, Aion sighed and then changed to the necromancer ss, and using his mana, he controlled all the mist around and condensed it in a single spot until it became a small sphere of ice¡­ that improved the conditions a lot. Still, he had to do it pretty often.


    "You saved our asses again¡­" Sauros said and then sighed. "I don''t know why, but I know that you wanted to keep training with the spear, so my apologies for getting in the way of your ns."


    "It is fine. Either way, the cold is also starting to get to me," Aion shrugged. "Besides, crushing the ns of thebyrinth head-on is pretty satisfying."


    To save even more time, Aion crested an earth tform and then began to fly while carrying them as fast as he could. The skeletons appeared already running away, but Seris and Sauros had a hard time hitting them since the tform was pretty steady. Besides, Aion could just focus on dodging their attacks instead of blocking now.


    You obtained 150 experience points.


    You obtained 150 experience points.


    You obtained 150 experience points.


    As expected, Aion was getting even less experience now at the cost of gaining time. Still, he could save that problem forter¡­


    Even with all his mana and the fact that he was also meditating while flying, Aion had to stop after two hours to focus on recovering his mana. Still, despite that, he felt that it was fine since they could move three times faster while flying. So, they covered arger distance in less time.


    "Urgh! This is so frustrating!" Seris said while almost pulling out her hair. "Why am I even less useful than a fifteen-year-old boy?"


    "Sorry, but I guess I am built differently," Aion said with a prideful smile on his face.


    "Argh, that attitude!" Seris said while her eyes were rolling. "And you even have the nerve to tell me not to try too hard!"


    "Well, one must recognize their limits," Aion said. "Don''t think too much about it. If it weren''t for you guys, I would never have the chance toe here, so I think that this whole situation is me saying thank you."


    While Aion was being sincere, it also felt like he was mocking them. With thatplicated feeling, they couldn''t say much. There was truth in his words as well¡­ he was truly built differently. It was almost impossible to find someone as good as the Millerians when it came to magic, and Aion was the final heir of the royal family. At that point in time, it was more than clear that his mother wouldn''t have any other kids¡­

 Chapter 244 Crystal

    Things got so easy from that point onward that Seris and Sauros thought that they were in another dungeon. That was the difference between using an appropriate ss for an appropriate challenge¡­ since that ss also had high Resistance, the cold wasn''t bothering Aion anymore. Crossing that sector will be a cinch.


    In any case, while the estimation was that they would reach the fifth area after almost one week, they reached the area after just five days.


    In theory, that was supposed to be the final area of thebyrinth, but it was hard to be sure. Still, the group could feel a powerful and cold winding from the next area¡­ so they couldn''t camp anywhere near it. Even Aion began to feel a bit cold after enduring that for a while.


    "This definitely feels like the entrance of thest part of thebyrinth¡­" Seris said. "In any case¡­ this wind is¡­ troublesome."


    "What do you think, Aion?" Sauros asked. "I can keep doing the same thing, but it will be less effective for now¡­ I might be able to do something about it, but only if I think that is absolutely necessary."


    "So, you have some cards that you want to keep hidden¡­" Sauros rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Since that is the case, I should be the one who should stop holding back. For now, you should focus on making full te armor that can protect our whole bodies, Seris. I will do something after that to help."


    "So, you will do that, huh¡­" Seris said.


    Aion would be thankful if those morons stopped talking in code. Still, he decided not to ask about it since he was thinking about Force Release again. If he goes all out with the Necromancer ss, he could imagine that he will have an easy and a lot of time to think about it.


    Instead of heading as soon as possible to the next floor, they waited for Seris to work on the armors. In the meantime, Aion moved away from the group to see if the monsters would keeping if he was in the middle of thest bifurcation of the dungeon.


    As it turned out, the monsters actually came from the sides, and Aion summoned his archer and the earth mage. He made them fight the monsters whenever they showed up without exposing themselves to the direction Seris and Sauros coulde. Eventually, Aion reached his next goal, and the ss reached level ny.


    You obtained 05 status points.


    You obtained 03 improvement points.


    The ss Necromancer has reached level ny, and now you can use the passive Gravity Resistance.


    Gravity Resistance: decreases the effects and damage caused by gravity by one point per level.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "... Is gravity really that amazing for this to be thest skill of this ss?" Aion frowned.


    That kind of magic was too high tier, so he never saw anyone using it. He couldn''t use it either¡­ so leveling up will be hard. He sure hoped that it would level up fast when he got it, though.


    In any case, Aion let those guys do the work for him since he could recover mana faster when they did the killing, and it was better than freezing by getting too close to the enemies. Still, after one hour, Sauros called him because Seris had finished her work. She mounted three sets of armor that could perfectly fit them¡­ and despite some parts that showed that they had been mounted in parts and the helmet, it made Aion recall those diving suits since they could cover every single part of their bodies. It was a lot slimmer, though.


    "I used Aion''s gems to enhance the parts separately against the cold, and there was anotheryer below the armor that used fire runes to keep us warm," Seris exined.


    While that was fine and all, Aion disliked the idea of him taking out his usual armor. Still, he didn''t have any other choice. Once he equipped the dark blue armor, Aion felt the warmth of the runes¡­ one could only hope that they would keep working like that. Also, he wasn''t ustrophobic, but it was a pretty annoying feeling to stay inside such arge armor.


    "Let''s finish this quickly. I don''t like this sensation," Aion said.


    While Seris and Sauros didn''t say anything about it, they wondered how they could finish things quickly when the next area would be evenrger¡­ and in the best-case scenario, a powerful beast would be waiting for them at the end, and in the worst case scenario, there would be another area evenrger waiting for them¡­


    The group headed toward the next area, and they felt a bit relieved when the cold wind of the tunnel before the next area wasn''t affecting them that much. Eventually, they reached the ce and couldn''t help but blink several times when they saw several spots around them where the cold had concentrated so much that they became like small flowers that looked like crystals¡­ those emitted a particrly strong cold wind¡­


    "So far, so good," Sauros said. "How are you two?"


    "I am fine," Seris replied.


    "I want my old armor," Aion replied.


    After looking around for a while, the group heard grunts in the distance, and Aion moved forward. While he only had eight points of health, and he probably would die if he slipped, old habits die hard¡­ in any case, a massive monster that was running with four legs approached.


    The creature was eight meters long and two meters tall. Its body had a pale blue tone, but the area around its head and neck had thick white fur. However, the most prominent features of the creature were its deep blue eyes and the fangs and ws that the beast had¡­ they were transparent like ss. Still, they sure weren''t frail like that¡­ they were made of crystal-rich in mana, so they should be even tougher than steel¡­

 Chapter 245 Secrets

    The monster crossed two hundred meters in four seconds Despite its massive size. Seris and Sauros used their weapons several times, but the creature jumped to the sides and dodged them while zigzagging.


    The beast jumped toward them when it was thirty meters away¡­ or at least it tried to jump. When Aion saw the legs tensing, he used earth magic and made some spikes emerge from the ground and hit the creature in several spots. He didn''t hold back and tried to impale the monster in several spots, but the magic only made the monster bleed¡­ still, it stopped its moves.


    "This should make things easier for you guys to aim," Aion said.


    The creature tried to free itself, even while Seris and Sauros hit its head three times each with their weapons¡­ that thing sure had a lot of endurance to be able to endure the attacks of a mini rail gun.


    You obtained 400 experience points.


    "Four hundred despite the fact that I didn''t do most of the work¡­" Aion thought. "These things sure are tough."


    "I have never heard of this type of monster¡­ but I heard of some that had ws and fangs like these. They disappeared more than one thousand years ago," Sauros said.


    "I thoughtbyrinths used to lure monsters and trap them inside in order to make them reproduce," Aion said. "This dungeon can also summon some of them. They did the same with the other species¡­ but the dungeon can do that after analyzing the monsters it has captured, right? How thisbyrinth captured a monster that disappeared way before it appeared?"


    "That is a good question¡­" Sauros replied.


    "I know that is a good question¡­ that is why I am asking¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    In any case, Aion made his start to absorb the creature, and he was helping to get a lot of valuable items since the creature was big and strong. In the end, they got some bones, fur, meat, gem and crystal fangs, and ws¡­ it didn''t seem like the ws could be reforged, but they should be able to be short swords or spears.


    The group began to move again, and after just one minute, another monster showed up, which was itching to devour them. This time, Aion took matters into his own hands, and while the beast was approaching, he created a fireball and used the same trick he had just learned. He added severalyers of them before firing at the enemy.


    Several explosions happened upon impact, and theypletely stopped the monster''s advance. Still, its face had been half burned, and the creature didn''t die. Seris and Sauros finished the creature off, though.


    "I guess fireballs can only do this much," Aion thought.


    Aion had nned to do that the next time he had the chance to train, but he was d that the theory worked. Now, he just had to apply the same thing with the other elements.


    "Let''s move on," Aion said and then created an earth tform.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Are you sure that you won''t need the extra mana here?" Sauros asked.


    "I will be fine. Rather than that, you guys are the ones who will need more mana since we won''t be able to have a proper rest until we reach the final part of thebyrinth," Aion said. "You guys should keep meditating most of the time. I will inform you when the monsters show up."


    If the worstes to the worst, Aion still has his death knights. Their strength and the strength of these monsters should be on the same level, but if Aion summons all of them, he should be able to recover some extra mana while they fight¡­


    In any case, while Aion had an easy time creating a spell with multipleyers before, things got harder when he tried to do the same with the other elements. With ice and earth, they aren''t that easy to mix, even with the same element¡­ As for wind, Aion managed to get a simr result. In fact, he also managed to make them work at the same time¡­ Aion fired a st of fire that became evenrger and more powerful when he used wind magic.


    When Aion created a wind sphere and then surrounded it with mes before firing, a st in arge area happened and burned the head of the target. Aion was getting better at that¡­


    Meanwhile, Seris and Sauros were looking at him in amazement. He wasn''t doing much, but it was damn impressive¡­ it felt like Aion was trying to reach the level of the gods¡­


    In any case, as expected, the group had to stop to rest after moving for just one hour. Aion had used three times more mana than usual, so it felt like he truly would need to summon his death knights. When that happened for the third time, Aion made his choice.


    "I guess this is enough," Aion said. "It is time to stop with the sandbagging."


    "Wait, wait!" Sauros said. "Let me do my thing first."


    "Why? You don''t even know what I am going to do." Aion said while frowning.


    "Well, I do know that you are crazily powerful for your age, and just to be safe, you shouldn''t reveal all of your cards, even to us," Sauros said.


    "Why?" Aion asked. "Are you telling me that there is a chance that you will reveal what I can do to others?"


    "Not voluntarily, yes," Sauros exined. "There are people out there that can read minds and manipte others. It will be better if you keep your skills as a secret even from us."


    That was way too suspicious, and Aion couldn''t let that thing go... he had to press for more answers until he understood everything about what Sauros was talking.


    "Still, your caution seems weird¡­ it isn''t like many people know that I know your group," Aion said. "What are you hiding?"

 Chapter 246 Truth

    Aion had sensed that something was off¡­ considering his worries, it felt like Sauros had experienced something like that happening before. Besides, while he was strong, most people didn''t know how strong Aion was, so the whole situation smelled fishy. The fact that Sauros nervously looked away after that only confirmed his suspicions. Seris was also sweating a bit despite trying to look calm.


    "It will be better if you don''t learn much about certain things, at least for now," Sauros said.


    "Is that so? Then our cooperation ends here," Aion said. "I thought that our goal was to make sure that others won''t have the chance to travel through time and cause problems, but it is clear that you are hiding something."


    "... If your goal truly is to create a ce for your mother, then you truly don''t need to know about this," Sauros said. "It will only make you worry endlessly about where the enemies wille from."


    "You''re Not the one to decide that. I am," Aion said. "Either way, if you don''t want to talk, then I won''t force you."


    "... You are really difficult to deal with," Sauros said after a long sigh. "You already know that my family has a history or registering about a lot of things, but we also have information about a lot of people across history. The more you show, the more we will have to write about you. Few people have ess to those logs, but who can say if the same thing will happen in the future?"


    "... So, you believe that someone might learn about me in the future and try to interfere using the statues or something?" Aion asked.


    "We can''t destroy them, and we can''t say what will happen in the future, so that possibility exists," Sauros said. "Something simr happened in the past, and it isn''t only people of the past thate to our present, after all."


    Aion already knew that much, and he considered such a possibility. Still, he didn''t think that it could be that bad¡­ he had other tricks up his sleeve, but if people in the future learn more about him, they might, for the moment to, strike using the techniques that they knew.


    "How many times did that happen in the past?"


    "Five times¡­ that we know, we also have some spections about some suspicious incidents, but they haven''t been confirmed," Sauros said. "Most of the time, the individuals that pull that off trying to change the past for their own benefit. There was a case that one person even tried to send his soul to the past in order to take over the body of his younger self¡­ by knowing the future, that person took over a certain country and tried to take over the entire world."


    "That seems like something a third-rate viin would do alright," Aion said. "Speaking of which, thest few incidents in this journey, about your friends that had been captured and the incident with the generals, what are the chances of people of the future being involved in it."


    "That is why we didn''t want to talk about that¡­ you will think that every single problem will be caused by those trying to mess with time," Sauros said and then sighed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You didn''t answer my question," Aion said.


    They had to take a break because another monster showed up, but Aion just cast a single extra-size Fireball to engulf the beast in mes and kill it. He wasn''t ying around, so Sauros decided to spill the beans.


    "Yes, there is a possibility¡­ there are cases where people just tried to send messages to the past to change things that worked," Sauros said. "The chances that those two incidents had been caused because of something like that is pretty high."


    "You made me leave my home while keeping that hidden from me¡­" Aion stepped forward and then red at Sauros, but Seris stepped forward as well with her weapon in her hands. "If I wanted to kill you two, something like that wouldn''t stop me."


    "My apologies for keeping such things hidden from you, but that is one of the rules of the family," Sauros said. "If we spread this kind of information around, it will mess with the future, with the present, and even the past."


    "I don''t care about that, and you told me that there is a possibility that people might try to interfere using the logs that you have," Aion said. "So, there is a chance that you will write about my activities, like where you met me first and then after¡­ I believe that something like this, something that knew about the logs and interfered with your job. I don''t think that such enemies will target my mother now that I have the statues, but someone who wants to piss me off or lure me, might try exactly that."


    "Something like time travel used for kidnapping never happened before," Sauros said.


    "That doesn''t mean that it can''t happen¡­" Aion said.


    Sauros couldn''t deny that, so he stayed quiet. In fact, people like Artemisia, that belong to a rare bloodline, would be the perfect targets for that¡­ even if her descendants had only half of Aion''s potential for magic.


    Aion''s head felt like splitting, he thought that he was getting close to make sure that possible enemies won''t be able to do a single thing to his mother in the present, but now he had to worry about people in the future and in the past bing enemies as well¡­ the idea that his mother still had to live under that kind of threat made his blood boil, and the reason for that was because Sauros family couldn''t do their job properly without writing about every single thing to their next generations¡­


    "Just do your job. Talking about this won''t calm me down in any way," Aion said while massaging his forehead.


    The worst part was that Aion couldn''t even get that much pissed¡­ he was doing that to save Aion from future problems, but that only made him pissed since it caused others¡­

 Chapter 247 Not Matter

    In the end, Sauros made a cut on his index finger and then infused the blood with his mana before writing a rune on the armors. It seemed now that they would be able to use some of his powers while the rune stayed active.


    "It will onlyst for a few hours, but with this rune, we will be able to move faster when the enemy or their projectiles get too close," Sauros said.


    That was really convenient¡­ one could only imagine how fearsome a wrong person could be with that kind of power. Aion changed to thencer ss again to see that power in action when one enemy approached.


    The creature got so close, but once it was two meters away, it looked like it had begun to move in slow motion. With all his might, Ajon pierced the head of the creature until his spear reached the brain. At the same time, the weapon absorbed the body.


    You obtained 1200 experience points.


    "It is kind of weird to see a monster appearing and disappearing all of a sudden after getting close," Seris said.


    Aion decided to ignore that and forget the whole thing¡­ it would be better if he focused on Force Release. He also had to hurry up now and think of some ways to deal with the influence of other people in other periods of time. Some of them have privileged information, but he didn''t.


    "Are you going to use the silent treatment on us now?" Seris asked.


    "Would you rather listen to me leashing out my anger on you two?" Aion asked. "I have better things to do with my time, sorry."


    In the end, Aion must have been dreaming when he thought that those two could really be his friends since their backgrounds had some simrities. He can only count on himself to achieve his goal, and he can''t trust anyone with his abilities and secrets. His mother would only be burdened if she learned too much¡­ Aion couldn''t give the enemies more reasons to target her.


    In any case, thanks to the effects of the blood rune, the group began to advance quite fast. They did it inplete silence since Aion didn''t feel like talking, and those two didn''t think that their actions and decisions were wrong. While it was true their logs caused some problems across the ages, they also helped them save a lot of people and solve many problems. In fact, until now, it helped a lot more than it caused problems, so it couldn''t be a mistake.


    Since Aion was even more fearsome with that power, Sauros and Seris didn''t have to fight for several hours, and they just followed him until the rune''s effects wore off. Around the same time, their runes also stopped working¡­ they didn''t think that Aion would be able to do that much by himself.


    "We need to rest for a while. Sauros can''t use that rune often," Seris dered.


    "We keep moving. I can deal with the monsters while you guys stay on the tform," Aion said. "Time is of the essence. The faster we move, the fewer chances will be given to others to get on the way."


    "You don''t get how time works. Even if someone knows about the future, why do you think that someone that knows about you didn''t try to kill you when you were a baby or something?" Seris asked.


    "Because they would need me to take the statues first. That way, they might get a chance to get rid of them," Aion said. "Thus, getting rid of all the problems at the same time when they are on the spot."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "That is right," Seris said.


    "That is right, what? What is your point?" Aion asked.


    "Something like time travel magic isn''t something that happens that easily and once it happens, the whole world will suffer its effects. Nothing like that has happened until now," Seris said.


    "Your reasoning is wed since messages have been sent to the past when you said that the statues are supposed to seal time travel magic," Aion said.


    "Well¡­ notpletely¡­ it only prevents people from traveling," Seris said.


    "Then what about the soul returning to the past to take over its younger body?" Aion asked.


    "You sure like to ask the difficult questions," Seris said while frowning.


    "You guys are so stupid that you can''t even realize the obvious," Aion said. "From what I can tell, the statues are relics that are losing power and won''t be that useful in the future, and people from other periods are just trying to get rid of them to be able to move without restraints."


    Seris was left speechless. That was a theory that Sauros told her a long time ago after studying events rted to that for many years¡­ as expected, Aion was truly different from them since he could guess that much so easily.


    As for Aion, he was thinking that one didn''t have to be a genius to understand that. He wasn''t one, but he watched too many movies¡­


    While Sauros was resting and drawing the map of the dungeon, Aion and Seris kept fighting the monsters. Still, they soon had to stop because Aion was moving too fast, and he spent more mana, and the cold wind was starting to affect them.


    "Since that rune represents my very basic power, writing takes a toll on me so that I can use it once per day, and then I need several hours of rest to give my mind the chance to recover," Sauros exined.


    "It doesn''t matter," Aion said. "Soon enough, I will be able to take those things down without your help."


    Although they were more dangerous than all the other monsters, those creatures couldn''t use magic, and that was their major w. Their real issue was the fact that they could run sixty meters per second, so only the best-ranged attacks could kill them. However, Aion was increasing his strength¡­

 Chapter 248 Real Reason

    When the next monster appeared, Seris immediately grabbed her weapon to aim, but Aion got in the way. She sighed since it looked like he enjoyed the idea of putting himself in harm''s way¡­ as someone who liked to act and attack the target before anything else, Seris couldn''t understand that way of thinking. It was just too hardcore and looked crazy.


    The beast gained speed since it was running in a straight line, but then Aion suddenly charged after using Force Release for a moment. An impact happens forty meters away from Seris and Sauros, causing a powerful shockwave. When they blinked, they saw Aion being pushed by the monster''s body, and then they grabbed their weapons, but before they could pull the trigger, the beast fell to the side¡­


    Aion pulled his spear from the forehead of the monster¡­ and then his hands began to bleed. One usually wouldn''t try to face a monster like that, but for someone like Aion, who could level up, it was only natural to try that kind of challenge. In any case, thanks to critical thirst, his hands soon healed, and the bleeding stopped¡­ his bones were still vibrating, though, but only he knew that.


    "We will keep advancing like this," Aion said.


    Since that was possible, they didn''t have any reason to stop. So, they followed Aion while offering the bare minimum of support. They only attacked when he asked, and that was when the monsters didn''t focus on him but on those two.


    Eventually, Aion had to stop with the strong front and begin to heal himself before his cracked bones could damage his muscles. He was getting used to it and was improving, but everything had a limit. Even Aion''s thirst for training.


    Lancer Lv 39


    Health: 808/808


    Mana: 408/408


    Stamina: 428/448


    Strength: 91


    Dexterity: 01 + 05


    Magic: 101


    Endurance: 01 + 110


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 110


    Status: 00


    Extreme Spear Refinement Lv 55


    Bonuses: Endurance + 110, Speed +110


    Skills: Protective Wind Lv 04, Sonic Throw Lv 18, Quick Sweep Lv 01


    Passive: Fighting Spirit Lv 17, Critical Thirst Lv 11, Improved Dexterity Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 150<novelnext></novelnext>


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.442.200


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Improved Dexterity: passively Increases your dexterity by five points per level.


    When thencer ss reached level forty, Aion checked his parameters and the new skill. The level-ups helped a bit, but what really helped were the ws and fangs made of crystal that were refining the spear insanely fast¡­ he still had quite the stock of them since they couldn''t be processed like that. At that rate, it won''t be weird if Aion makes that reach the max level of refinement.


    "I guess I will be able to refine the weapons of other sses¡­ After this, I should focus on the monk ss," Aion thought. "It will be better to scare the crap out of my enemies with punches alone than with big and shy weapons."


    Aion also felt prettyfortable with punching and kicking since he did some boxing and kickboxing in his previous life. In any case, after a couple of hours, he started to feel quite tired¡­ The fights weren''tsting for long, so the cause was probably Force Release. Even if that was only used for a moment, that still was demanding to his body after using it dozens if not hundreds of times.


    "I need to take a break. Are you guys going to keep moving, or should we rest here?" Aion asked.


    "We will stop. We all need to take a break and rest our eyes, even if for a short while," Sauros said. "You can go and rest first as well, Seris. I have rested plenty."


    "Well, we didn''t do much aside from walking in a while, so wake me up soon," Seris said.


    Aion made some earth blocks for everyone to sit down ory down on since the ice on the ground could freeze their bodies even with the armor on the way. As if he had be an android that could decide for how long he was going to rest, Aion fell asleep once he closed his eyes and then opened them when the exhaustion mainly had left his body¡­ Seris was still snoring on the side, though. Meanwhile, Sauros was still awake and facing the monsters alone. At least three hours had passed, so Aion wondered why he suddenly had more mana.


    "I am fine now. I will watch the surroundings until your sister wakes up," Aion dered.


    "Thanks to my power, I can control my sleep pattern and efficiency quite a bit," Sauros said. "So, let''s talk for a bit."


    ? "I am not interested, I won''t say that I don''t have any secrets to hide, but none of mine can affect the lives of others," Aion said. "With that in mind, I don''t have anything to talk about."


    "I think you are wrong about that," Sauros said. "Your secrets¡­ the abilities that you have will definitely affect the lives of many people."


    "It isn''t the same way as the traditions of your family," Aion said. "If people die indirectly due to my power, that wouldn''t be my problem. The fault would be theirs for letting their lives be affected like that by those who are stronger than them."


    "You are wrong about that, you have the powers that some people had in the past, and while you are hiding that, some people already know about it," Sauros said. "I am trying to help you with that, but I can''t turn my back on my family."


    "Good for you. You guys have the tradition of causing problems to others while you try to help each other," Aion said. "To be honest, I don''t mind that you have information about me, even if you have written many things, which I know that you already have. What pisses me off is that you probably have even more about my mother."

 Chapter 249 Finally

    "The more people know about me, the more likely that they will target her, even if she has a powerful relic on her side and she can fight as well. The opposite is also true. The less the enemies know about me, they will have even more reasons to target her," Aion said. "In any other scenario, I wouldn''t mind that you guys have such habits. However, if something happens, and I connect the dots to your little archive, then I will find your base and trash everything in there."


    "I understand your worries, but that isn''t the real issue. Besides, I think you are a little too overprotective about your mother," Sauros said. "She perhaps has even more talent with magic than you since she only uses that, and now that she has an item that negates magic effects, she will be free to attack or defend herself. The real issue is that you are at the center of many things, and while you are trying to help your mother, you are making many enemies and writing your name in big letters in the history of this world. Defeating Horis, the immortal, when you were only ten. Defeating the three heroes West of your territory when you were only eleven¡­. You might not understand that, but when you think and act about protecting her, you are putting her in more danger. I was nning to let you realize that by yourself, but¡­"


    Aion furrowed his eyebrows in anger, but Sauros didn''t turn his eyes to the side this time. It wasn''t like he couldn''t understand thatpletely, but it felt more like bullshit than anything¡­


    "I mentioned abilities like mind reading and mind control, but there are also people in history that had the power to steal the knowledge and even the abilities of others. For people like them who can''t travel through time freely, you are the perfect target," Sauros said. "Your rage is justified, but you need to understand that I can do so much when ites to going against the teachings of my family."


    Aion didn''t like to repeat himself, so he just sighed and decided to forget the topic. He will cross that bridge when that timees if ites. No point in keeping wondering about it, so he just moved to face the next monster that was approaching.


    Once the monster approached, Aion used Sonic Throw, and when the beast blocked the attack with one of its pawns, Aion changed his ss and then punched the forehead of the creature with all his might. The monk ss was still focused on strength, so it quickly cracked the skull of the beast.


    When the next monster approached, Aion did the same thing again. He did that several times until he could feel his muscles getting tired due to his low stamina. Once that happened, Aion tried to heal his muscles in a different way to recover his stamina¡­ nothing worked. Rxing the muscles didn''t help, nor did cooling them down.


    In the end, Aion didn''t have much time to try much since Sauros and Seris showed up in a while¡­ it seems that he wasn''t going to learn how to recover stamina anytime soon.


    In the next few days, Aion didn''t make much progress with that either. That being said, the group didn''t face many setbacks when facing the monsters and clearing the map of that area. Sauros'' rune and Aion''s increase in strength sure helped with that.


    "It seems that we found it¡­" Seris said when the group found a small ice door ahead of them that had some gravures on it.


    "It seems so¡­ still, thest room where the core is supposed to be is emitting a lot of cold," Sauros said while furrowing his eyebrows. "I can''t see anything beyond the door either, and it feels like it is dark beyond it."


    "It must be the effect of some illusion magic or perhaps even darkness magic¡­" Seris said. "The door probably can easily open once we touch it, but leaving will be another matter without killing the guardian."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "In that case, we should prepare for all possibilities while resting for a while as well," Sauros said. "This is probably the sixteenth or seventeenth day inside thebyrinth, so we don''t need to hurry, right? Aion?"


    "You guys should take your time thinking of ways to survive the enemy. I am ready to face the guardian already," Aion said.


    Although he said that thencer ss only reached level fifty-five and the refinement of the spear was at level 95 with plenty of materials for him to absorb. He also would benefit from waiting for a while longer.


    "In that case, let''s rest for a day. By then, I will be able to use my blood rune at its full power," Sauros dered.


    Aion walked away a bit to thest spot he met the monsters, and once again, it was another part where the path split into three. Using the Necromancer ss would be faster to kill the monsters, but he kept using thencer ss.


    "Almost twenty days here¡­ and I didn''t make much progress at Force Release¡­ I thought that I was on the right path, but I guess I was wrong," Aion thought.


    When ites to healing and support magic, Aion was unable to make them work one after the other or at the same time, so that was why he didn''t make any progress¡­


    It wasn''t like something like Inner Force was developed in a day, but Aion sure hoped that he would wrap things up before they reached thest part of thebyrinth¡­


    "Should I change my approach again?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I also need to learn how to restore stamina¡­"


    Aion felt like sighing, and then he had an idea¡­ it seemed too simple to be true, but what if he healed his lungs or tried to at least to activate them in some way with mana? As it turned out¡­ that finally worked.

 Chapter 250 Gorgon

    Since Aion could check with his system, he realized that the rate of conversion from mana to stamina was a bit off¡­ one point of mana was used to recover one point of stamina. That was obviously wrong¡­ mana is more important than stamina, after all.


    After some practice to make his mana work better, the rate doubled. Still, Aion wasn''t satisfied¡­ but making progress from that point onward was difficult.


    "Now I just have one problem left¡­" Aion thought. "Let''s hope that this one won''t bother me for long."


    Aion had given up on perfecting Force Release before the fight against the guardian. He could use the version that could wound him, and that was probably going to be fine for as long as he didn''t get hit in the head and became unable to heal himself.


    "Maybe I should use some coins to increase my resistance¡­ the monster certainly will use ice magic, so I should try to be able to endure some of its magic and effects," Aion thought.


    Dodging was possible, but Aion wasn''t so sure if he should. Those two in the back probably won''t be able to fight if they get hit once, and while they might be able to use the blood rune, that can only be so useful against a guardian of abyrinth that has been around for hundreds of years.


    "I am not their babysitter, but I need to do my job¡­" Aion thought and then sighed.


    Although it had been tough, Aion kept fighting the monsters for almost twenty hours before taking a break to rest. This time, he didn''t go to sleep feeling eager to wake up, all in order to rest his mind and bodypletely.


    More than twenty-four hours had passed when he woke up since the time Sauros had determined the break, but in the end, it looked like Seris didn''t finish her preparations.


    "What is wrong?" Aion asked.


    ? "... Seris is more nervous than usual, so she isn''t satisfied with her preparations," Sauros replied. "She also says that she had a bad feeling about the next fight."


    "She will never feel satisfied since we don''t know what is waiting for us," Aion said.


    "I told her that, but¡­" Sauros said and then sighed.


    "You two sure are rxed, considering that we are trying to do what no one managed to do in hundreds of years," Seris said. "Someone had to worry here."


    "I thought that missions like the ones we have faced so far were normal for you all, but I guess I was wrong," Aion said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Haha, truth be told, we barely have to fight aside when we find pirates¡­ things have been hectic since we teamed up," Sauros said while looking away.


    It was definitely impossible that someone tried to make that dungeon harder for them since it was something out of their control. Still, it seemed that the other things that happened were events that were out of the norm, even for them.


    "There isn''t much for you all to worry about," Aion said. "Just shoot at the enemy and make sure that you won''t hit my back. If you do that, then the battle will end in the blink of an eye. Monsters are smart enough always to attack and focus on the most dangerous target, and that is me by a long shot."


    "That annoying confidence again¡­" Seris said and then sighed. "Well, whatever. If the worstes to the worst, I have a trump card as well."


    "I won''t expect much from it," Aion said.


    After that, the group headed toward the door of thest room of thebyrinth. In the end, Sauros just had to touch it, and then the door went upward on the wall of the dungeon. Aion took the lead and then crossed the entrance¡­ The other two quickly followed him with their guards up. Just like things outside, they couldn''t see anything more than five meters away from them, but Aion still kept walking.


    Eventually, all of them stopped moving when they heard the grunts of something¡­ the darkness of the ce still didn''t let them see much, so the guardian could be anywhere around.


    When Aion suddenly felt the ground trembling, he raised his guard to the limits since he knew that the enemy had moved. All of a sudden, a massive head appeared in front of him, and Aion couldn''t help but open his eyes in shock¡­ it was a single head, and it was blue¡­ but it was a human-like head that had somewhat long and curly strings of hair that looked like snakes¡­ rather, they were snakes.


    " Medusa? What the fuck is going on here?" Aion thought while he was being pushed away.


    Seris and Sauros jumped away while shooting at the enemy, but that didn''t even slow down the beast. All of a sudden, Aion saw the snakes in the head of the creature being pointed toward them.


    After clicking his tongue, Aion used Fighting Spirit and Inner Force to take a step backward and then thrust his spear forward. The impact made the monster tremble, as well as it pushed the creature backward, and stopped its preparations for the attack.


    Aion changed his ss to the monk and then used Sonic Fist to keep up with thebo and pushed the monster backward even more. That gave Seris and Sauros enough time to move to the sides and bombard the creature with their attacks. Unfortunately, the magical bullets were only making a small amount of steam emerge from the spots that had been hit.


    Aion changed his ss back to Lancer and then charged at the creature that had recovered, but he was forced to stop when several ice spears were instantly fired at him. Instead of spinning his spear, Aion followed the projectiles with his eyes and then blocked them with his weapon. Still, each impact slowed him down so much due to their weight that, at some point, he began to be pushed backward¡­

 Chapter 251 Easy Said

    Each time Aion blocked the attacks, he felt the temperature decrease around him. He did the right thing when he increased his resistance¡­ still, despite his even higher value in strength and endurance, he couldn''t do much against the attacks. He could use Inner Force or Force Release, but using that so early in the battle would be unwise.


    While the enemies were focusing on Aion, Seris and Sauros tried to hit the eyes of the creature, but the monster blocked those attacks with the snakes in its head. It blocked all of them, and that was insane considering how fast they could travel¡­ it was supposed to be impossible.


    "We need to do something about that," Seris said.


    "We don''t have many options aside from keeping this up," Sauros said. "You can''t use your power on him while mine is active¡­ that is one of the few restrictions that we have."


    Seris knew that, and it seemed that all ideas that she had in mind required the use of her power. As for the things that she could make, she didn''t know if she could create anything in that ce while the battle was unfolding before her eyes, even more so when the enemy was a beast that fired attacks that could fly fast enough to make such massive and noisy impacts.


    "There must be some weakness on that head aside from the eyes¡­" Seris said.


    While they were firing, Aion still was pissed that they were talking when the best he could do was hold his ground. In any case, just thinking about it won''t change things that much. They have to create their opportunities¡­


    "That thing is strong and durable, but my attacks worked before¡­ there is a small amount of blood on the forehead," Aion thought while he watched the monster attacking him with magic. "The damage suffered probably made the monster think that fighting up close is a terrible idea¡­"


    In the end, when two spears came flying toward Aion''s head in a straight line, he used Sonic Thrust to destroy those and advance toward the enemy as well. The creature that was levitating a few centimeters above the ground began to move again and kept firing the spears. Still, Aion also kept using Sonic Thrust to keep him away.


    Seris and Sauros began to attack even more frantically to give Aion the chance that he needed. Still, at some point, the monster just kept some snakes in front of the eyes to block their bullets.


    When Aion got close enough, he jumped in order to surprise the enemy, but the creature used several snakes to block his next strike. Aion clicked his tongue when he was blocked¡­ if Sauros power had been activated now, he could have avoided that. Still, his power was too situational¡­ it only worked when Aion was about to suffer damage¡­


    In any case, only that wouldn''t stop him, and he kept thrusting his spear forward several times before he fell, and then he was targeted by the ice spears¡­ However, this time, he was close enough to the enemy for Sauros power to work.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion read the line of attack of the spears and then moved to the side to dodge them. He only had a moment to decide that despite Sauros'' power since they could only affect so much a magic projectile of that level. Still, Aion used that chance to step forward as well and stab the monster''s eyes¡­ or at least he tried since one of the snakes was on the way.


    Blood began to gush from the wound that Aion inflicted on the creature¡­ those things were as tough as the crystals that Aion got, so it couldn''t be helped that two thrusts wouldn''t be enough to kill even one of them¡­ it was even more annoying because there were dozens of those on the enemy''s head.


    In any case, the pain suffered by the snake made the whole head tremble a little. While they were all connected, that seemed a bit surprising since the head had no qualms about using the snakes as a shield. Was that because it had confidence in their durability¡­ either way, Aion could use that.


    "Aion! Throw your spear with all your might!" Sauros suddenly asked.


    It seemed like Sauros was speaking nonsense, but then Aion recalled that those two hadn''t attacked in a while, so he quickly connected the dots¡­ relying on them didn''t seem like a terrible idea, but it certainly wasn''t the best. Still, Aion decided to check how things would y out.


    Aion jumped backward, increasing his arms strength while spinning in the air. In thest moment, he also used Force Release before Sonic Throw¡­ the monster tried to block the spear with several snakes, and that actually worked. However, the spear still pierced through three of them before stopping on the fourth.


    The monster stopped moving altogether due to the pain, and in the next moment, the beast was hit with two massive lighting spears that hit Aion''s weapon in full. Sauros and Seris charged their attacks and did that. Thanks to it, a powerful electric torrent passed through the monster''s body. It paralyzed it for even more seconds while a lot of steam was leaving its Body.


    Aion charged toward his spear before kicking its butt with a drop kick. The weapon pierced two more snakes before hitting the forehead of the giant monster. When that happened, the massive beast began to tremble uncontrobly¡­ the snakes on the head opened their mouths, and then they began to hiss while emitting a shit ton of cold mist¡­ it didn''t take long for Aion to feel the temperature decreasing even further. The armor soon wouldn''t be that effective anymore¡­


    "Buy us some extra time, and we will fire two others with all of our remaining mana!" Seris shouted.


    Aion sighed¡­ that was easy for her to say. Still, it wasn''t like he had any better other options¡­

 Chapter 252 Demonic Berserker

    Aion, who had saved most of his mana until now, decided to burn it all as fast as possible. Including the energy in the core that he had been saving. It wasn''t only worth five hundred mana points since Aion wasn''t good enough to have even more energy, but it was enough for the time being.


    Berserker Lv 87


    Health: 1455/1425


    Mana: 04/04


    Stamina: 296/296


    Strength: 131 + 187


    Dexterity: 16


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 131+ 150


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 131


    Status: 75


    Hand Axes Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Strength + 150, Endurance + 150


    Skills: Rage Lv 28 (Efficiency Lv 43), Roar Lv 22, Body m Lv 10, Destroyer Lv 29 (Power Lv 100)


    Passive: HP Plus Lv 27 (Efficiency Lv 50), Brute Strength Lv 25 (Efficiency Lv 50), Pain Resistance Lv 25,


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 00


    Coins: 1.445.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion changed his ss to recover his weapon faster, and then he made use of the extra energy inside the mana core. At the same time, he used Rage and Force Release. Making his body emit a lot of steam as well as turning his head¡­ then he charged like a lightning bolt toward the enemy.


    The snakes tried to get in his way, but Aion swung his short axes to attack each one of them. He destroyed their skin little by little with each strike while repelling them. Eventually, the beast understood that it couldn''t stop Aion with only a few of its remaining heads. So, it used half of them to create the cold mist and then used the other half to attack Aion with ice spears and to stop his advance.


    When the magic projectiles approached, Aion just attacked them with all his might, and his weapons broke them into pieces¡­


    "When we start to think that he can''t surprise us anymore¡­" Seris said when she saw Aion''s arms moving like blurs while pushing the massive head backward.


    "At least he isn''t showing anything that isn''t basic¡­" Sauros said. "In any case, keep focusing on gathering mana on the weapon!"


    "If I knew that we would have to use it like this, then I would have the proper adjustments¡­" Seris said and then sighed.


    Seris learned a good lesson¡­ she thought that they wouldn''t need any more firepower after creating those weapons. They were only weaker than the magic cannons of the ship, after all, and those were a lot bigger. Seris understood that she couldn''t make that mistake again¡­ after seeing a monster of that level, Seris understood that there are no such things known as overkill. There is only enough caution to use all of the best cards avable when one doesn''t know what the enemy can do¡­


    After not so long, Aion began to destroy the snakes with his attacks alone. The enemy was basically sacrificing them in order to save itself from getting hit by his attacks. The creature could tell that a few of those would be enough to cause a ton of damage, and once Aion started, he won''t stop¡­


    When the beast had lost around twenty of its fifty snakes in the head, the monster decided to attack Aion from all sides with all of them. A multidirectional attack approached that blocked all of his sides. Moving to the sides, to the front, or retreating wasn''t possible, so Aion just clenched his teeth and kept attacking.


    When all the snakes hit him, Aion felt like metal bars were trying to crush him. Still, he survived even after losing eighty percent of his health because of Pain Resistance and because he crushed the snakes that aimed for his head. At the same time, he opened a path toward the enemy''s forehead, and Aion charged toward it while dripping blood from all parts of his body with all his might¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    When the monster saw that, it opened its mouth and then fired a massive st of cold air that covered Aion in a thickyer of ice.


    When they saw that, Seris and Sauros felt a shiver run down their spine. An attack of that level should have frozen every single cell of his body in a single moment¡­ still, the ice began to crack in the next moment, and then Aion freed himself and attacked the monster''s forehead with Destroyer.


    The three powerful hitsnded, and the beast shouted from the depths of its soul. The scream made the entire area tremble, but Aion ignored it and kept using Destroyer and making even more, blood gushing from the wound on the forehead.


    Eventually, all the snakes on the head of the creature attacked at the same time again, but this time to push Aion away. That worked, but he only suffered a bit of damage since he blocked the attacks with his short axes.


    While he was about tond, Aion saw two massive lightning spears flying toward the head of the monster''s wound on the forehead.


    The projectiles hit the enemy at full power, and the creature didn''t get even more after being hit¡­ Aion had opened the path, and the attacks fried up the monster''s brain.


    You obtained 500.000 experience points.


    Congrattions! The ss Berserker has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Demonic Berserker, Rotten Berserker, or Bloody Marshal.


    Aion wondered why the options looked so dreadful and ominous. Still, in the end, it seemed right that those would be his options, considering how he fights when using the berserker ss.


    Demonic Berserker Lv 01


    Health: 24/24


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01 +02


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01 + 02


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 +01


    Status: 00


    Bloody Axe Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: Strength +02, Endurance +02, Speed +01


    Skills: Wrath Lv 01


    Passive: Pain Immunity Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 01


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.445.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset

 Chapter 253 Back To Business

    In the end, Aion decided to choose the ss that seemed the most fearsome¡­ still, he soon changed to the guardian ss because his body was almost screaming due to the pain. He felt a bit better soon after, but he needed some serious rest.


    Seris and Sauros dashed toward Aion when he fell on his butt, but then they saw him using Meditation and healing himself. The frozen st made his body get countless frostbites, and the snake attacks crushed a lot of his bones¡­ he needed to heal himself as soon as possible, which he was already doing.


    While he was healing himself, Seris and Sauros saw that the darkness was dissipating, and eventually, they were able to find the core of thebyrinth a few hundred meters away from them. It was like a massive crystal that was like a really tall hill¡­ around two hundred meters wide and tall.


    Beyond the hill that was the giant magic stone, they saw another part of thebyrinth, and there was an entrance as well, but they could sense the barrier right in the entrance as well.


    "It ispletely fine¡­ the barrier of the temple¡­" Sauros said.


    "Mission aplished¡­ only more and then will be free from this task and massive worry," Seris said. "While this is helping the world, I am more relieved knowing that I won''t see Aion embarrassing me by doing so much more than us."


    Sauros shared the same sentiment, but he couldn''t say it out loud. They didn''t think that their approach when it came to the mission was wrong, but it was clear that making everything into a challenge made Aion insanely strong¡­


    It didn''t take long for Aion to get up. While he was feeling like crap, most of his bones were still broken, and the frostbite only improved a bit. He didn''t have time to waste, and he could heal himself while they headed to the ship.


    "I lost the chance to get some crazy levels in thencer ss, but at least I got a new one¡­ one that seems really fitting for my tendencies of running wild," Aion thought and then made the bloody axe absorb the enemy.


    The weapon was really weird since it was two-handed, and it had a long and big head in the shape of a crescent moon.


    Wrath: increases your strength, endurance, and speed by three points per level at the cost of ten points of health per second.


    Pain Immunity: decreases the effects caused by pain by ten points per level.


    Aion checked his new skills and nodded in satisfaction¡­ more skills that harm him but also hide the harm¡­ in any case, he approached the others and then made a small cut in his hands after touching the massive magic stone and moved it to his inventory and then he opened the entrance.


    "Are you sure that you are moving now?" Sauros asked. "I have seen many men copsing with fewer wounds than you, and they needed weeks of rest to recover."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I can move and recover at the same time," Aion said, and then he crossed the barrier.


    Not much further ahead, Aion and the others saw some stairs that were leading them to the underground temple. Aion ignored everything around him and just went to the statue that was in the middle of another stone table¡­ it was the statue of someone with a long magic staff¡­ it seemed like a woman, even though the statue had a cloak covering most of its body and a pointy hat covering most of the face as well.


    "Let''s get going," Aion dered after storing the statue in his inventory.


    Once they returned to the room where they faced the guardian. Aion created two earth spears and began to dig the ceiling¡­ returning using the underground route would be a waste of time, even if the cold was slowly fading away.


    It took him around ten minutes to dig a hole that was five hundred meters long, but they eventually appeared in the middle of a snowy field. South of them, five kilometers away, there was thisrge city that had walls made of ice blocks.


    "That should be the capital¡­" Sauros said. "We are right in the middle of the country¡­ Anyway, can you seal the hole to avoid problems?"


    Aion nodded. It was better to be sure that their traces won''t be that easy to find. So, he used a lot of mana to cover the whole thing from bottom to top. After that, they began to walk for a while since Aion still had to heal himself.


    "We have been avoiding that question until now, but what do you think will happen to the people that relied on thebyrinth to do business?" Seris asked.


    "They will find another way," Sauros said. "Besides, the people obtained too much from something that could destroy this entire ind if left alone."


    While those two were thinking about something really troublesome and useless, meanwhile, Aion was already with his head on the next missions. It will be thest that he will have with those two, and he won''t be missing them much after what he had learned¡­ Still, instead of thinking about that, it would be better if he focused on improving his skills for the next challenge.


    "Hey, what do we have to do to reach the final temple?" Aion asked.


    "Back to the business, already? I want to rest my mind for a few weeks before I begin to worry about that¡­" Sauros said and then sighed when he saw Aion''s eyes. "The final temple is thest challenge of your ancestor. Until now, she only made temples to make sure that no one aside from her descendants will be able to enter. However, our next destination is her challenge to your bloodline. She created arge tower using her mana, and the ce is filled with all kinds of monsters¡­"

 Chapter 254 Proposal

    It seemed that Aion''s ancestors didn''t believe that all of them would be worthy of having the relics in their hands. She had quite the insight if she managed to consider that something like the Mirellis kingdom would be born, and one day, her descendants would try to dominate the world¡­


    Apparently, the tower was on another ind that no one could ess. At least most people couldn''t. The goddess also cast a massive spell on the area that created an evesting storm. Those that tried to approach it either sunk down or were repelled by the storm.


    In any case, the group had to walk for six hours before Aion was finally mostly healed. After that, they flew using an earth tform. Thanks to Seris creations, the cold was no longer a problem for them, and they reached the coast after two days, and two dayster, the crew of the breeze of the sea finally appeared.


    "I missed you, sweetheart," Sauros said while caressing the side of the ship.


    Seris rolled her eyes since she sometimes couldn''t understand her brother, and Aion just headed to his cabin. She watched him the whole time, Seris also didn''t believe that their actions were a mistake, but it was clear that such a thing put a rift between them.


    "What are we going to do about this?" Seris asked.


    "You know how serious a person he can be, and there isn''t a single thing we can do about it," Sauros replied. "I know that he doesn''t have friends because of his goal and one-track mind, and we were the closest thing to that, but in the end, he can throw everything aside for his goal."


    "Did you try to talk to him?" Seris asked.


    "I tried, but it didn''t work," Sauros replied. "I can''t me him, though."


    Seris sighed¡­ those two are such a pain in the ass. She could understand their points since they had their goals and many responsibilities. Still, it was annoying because they couldn''t find, or rather, they didn''t want to find, a middle ground between their goals and the other things that they had in their lives.


    In any case, after unpacking her things, Seris went to talk with Aion in his cabin; she found it locked, though.


    "Open up. We need to talk," Seris said.


    "I am busy. Come backter," Aion said.


    "It will be quick," Seris insisted.


    "Now isn''t a good time," Aion said.


    "Sorry, but I am entering," Seris said and then used a trick to unlock the door since she had designed it.


    "I told you that it wasn''t a good time," Aion said while smiling butt-naked.


    "... Why are you smiling?" Seris frowned.


    "Just a bit of psychology in action. You will understand thatter," Aion said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Seris sighed and then left the room and wanted for Aion to put some clothes on. Hearing the sound of clothes only made the image echo in her head, and that troubled her a little.


    "I am ready now," Aion opened the door and then smiled.


    Now she understood what he meant¡­ when she saw his smile, the image became even more vivid in her head. It will take a while to forget about it.


    "It seems that you are back to your usual, nonsensical self," Seris said.


    "It seems that you aren''t impressed, even though I am above the middle tier when ites to size," Aion said. "You must have seen bigger ones, but I didn''t take you as that kind of woman."


    "Let''s drop this subject," Seris said and then sighed. "I havee to talk about what happened and about the things my family does."


    "There is nothing to talk about or exin. You guys do your things and keep doing as usual," Aion said. "I will do the same, but just like I told your brother, I will probably be your guy''s enemy if it causes problems for me in the future."


    "It would be better if we don''t reach that kind of situation," Seris said. "Personally, I am not much of a fan of tradition. Most of the time is fine, but sometimes it is rather detrimental. That is why I always want to find a middle ground."


    "Get to the point," Aion said.


    "I don''t want us to be enemies, and maybe while we can''t be friends, I at least want us to be allies," Seris said.


    "That wouldn''t benefit me in any way," Aion said. "Whatever you might want to offer to me, it can''t bepared to what I want and how you guys can be a nuisance to my goal."


    "I don''t believe that is true, and we have countless books that register events about the past. We have the knowledge of the runes, and we also have the registers about how time magic was used and can be used," Seris said. "All of that, you will have ess if you promise not to be our enemy."


    "Nah, I am fine," Aion said. "I don''t want to promise anything to the people that kept so many things hidden from me. I was willing to reveal some of my secrets as well, and I even revealed others, but I don''t want to trust you guys anymore."


    "I can understand your worries, but this will be more than just a verbal agreement," Seris said. "This maye out at a weird time, but I am already twenty-six, and I guess it is time for me find to find the right partner. I believe that you could be the right person."


    "... I am speechless," Aion said. "You guys really must be pretty messed up in the head. Or maybe it is just me, and this is ce is just like this."


    "... What do you mean by that?" Seris asked after frowning.


    "I heard about how you guys procreate and then leave your partners while taking the children, I didn''t think too much about that, but I guess I get it now," Aion said. "You guys only see people that don''t have your blood as a tool to keep yourselves growing and working on your mission. Sorry, but you will have to find another fool for that. My kids won''t be a piece in your game."

 Chapter 255 Refusal

    Sauros was rxing in the bath of his cabin when he suddenly heard arge crack. It seemed like a huge nk of wood had been broken¡­ he went to check things after a while and saw that the door of Aion''s cabin had been broken.


    "... What happened here?" Sauros asked.


    "Your sister happened," Aion replied, While he was reading a book on his bed.


    After a long sigh, Sauros made everyone that hade to check things to return to their posts, and then he asked Aion what had happened. In the middle of the story, Sauros is already facepalming.


    "After I told her that I wouldn''t let my kids be part of your tradition or business, she tried to exin to herself how things weren''t like that," Aion said. "I got tired along the way and then said that while she was pretty and had a nice body, her personality was a huge demerit. I also said that I wasn''t interested in anyone who could only see me as a tool and that there must be plenty of desperate men out there who wouldn''t mind bing her ythings. She left the room, and she closed the door like that."


    "How awkward can someone be¡­ I said many things as a joke, but it seemed that she began to think seriously about it in her own weird way," Sauros said and then sighed.


    "I don''t want to hear you guys'' exnations about your modus operandi when ites to making kids so that you can leave now," Aion said.


    "At least let me try to clear the image of my little sister," Sauros said. "From a very young age, we are educated to believe that the mission of our tribe is everything and that we don''t have many options when ites to that. While we have enough numbers not to create problems when ites to marriage in our tribe, that rarely happens since everyone only focuses on the mission."


    "That must be almost the same as brainwashing," Aion said. "It isn''t as extreme as that, but most of us grow to believe that we can''t afford to make mistakes. That is why we are known for that tradition of disappearing once the kids are born. Mainly because they need to be raised in our territory, and no one can know where it is."


    "They are raised there to be brainwashed as well," Aion said.


    "I told you, it isn''t like brainwashing¡­." Sauros said and then sighed. "People like me exist, after all, and I am practically the leader of my tribe."


    "Again, I don''t have any reason to hear all that," Aion said.


    "Until now, Seris worked hard for the family and put everything aside in order to help me on the mission. That is why she can be like that," Sauros said. "She can''t see love as something that can be a massive part of her life and only a part that will help the tribe to keep the mission. Still, she is aware that she can''t just find a random someone for that. In her own way, she put a lot of thought into this and concluded that of all the people she knew, you would be the most adequate candidate to be the father of her child."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "That doesn''t change the fact that she only saw me as a tool, and that also didn''t change the fact that a kid born in that situation would be a tool for your mission as well," Aion said.


    "That is the perspective of someone who doesn''t live and doesn''t know a lot about things like we do, but it is understandable," Sauros said. "Anyway, your choice will be respected, but try to see things from her perspective a bit when you interact with her in the future."


    "Our interactions will be limited now that the mission is almost over," Aion shrugged. "That will barely be a concern."


    "I see¡­ well, I am going to talk with her," Sauros said. "She probably doesn''t get how much you hate the idea of someone bing a tool for someone else''s schemes, considering how your mother lived after being taken as a prisoner."


    At least Sauros could get it. He could understand how Aion hated that kind of situation since he had seen his mother living something simr for years. Her situation wasplicated, but even so, it could have be worse¡­ a kid born between Sauros tribe and Aion''s bloodline probably would have a difficult life, and people probably would try to manipte them.


    "I will apologize to herter about saying that she can find random guys for that, but you should say that to her as well," Aion said. "Still, most of what I said still stands."


    "All right, I will pass the message," Sauros said, and then he left.


    Aion could understand a little more correctly why Seris didn''t react much after seeing him naked. It wasn''t because she was a loose woman but because she didn''t know how to feel about it.


    In any case, Aion sighed since something troublesome happened at such a weird time¡­ thanks to it, the thought of him having a family of his own began to bother him. Unfortunately, Aion didn''t have anyone in mind. Being a workaholic and adrenaline junkie who is always training has its demerits.


    The world also puts him in a difficult situation¡­ he had forty years'' worth of experience, but he was fifteen. Thinking of someone from a modern world, marrying someone below thirty would be weird. Still, in that world, kids around his age don''t marry women ten years older than them¡­ it was a really ufortable situation.


    "Mother wants to see a grandchild soon, but things aren''t that simple¡­" Aion thought and then sighed. "Adopting one and then letting her raise it won''t do it either. It will only look weird¡­ I guess I will consider that seriously once the next mission is over."


    No matter the situation, Aion knew that he would end up troubled, so he might as well ignore whatever happens and focus on the path with the least amount of problems¡­

 Chapter 256 Last Challenge

    A few dayster, Aion went to apologize to Seris, and he said that he had said a bit more than he should have. He waspletely ignored, but he didn''t use the same card and asked if she was going to use the silent treatment and just decided to forget the whole thing. Nothing good would evere by trying to use reason against women.


    In any case, the ind that they were heading to was located in the middle of thatrge ocean, but it was four weeks away from them¡­ so Aion had plenty of time to prepare.


    "We are heading south now. Once we get the final relic, we can probably head south for a few more weeks again to reach Zaera kingdom, and then I will be able to go home," Aion thought. "To make sure that nothing will happen, I need toplete Force Release no matter what."


    To make sure that he would pull that off, Aion meditated in his room day in and day out, always trying to understand how he could perfect the technique¡­


    After much meditation, he managed to learn to use Heal with a dyed effect. He just needed to make the spell be applied on the right area without activating it¡­ the trick behind that was to make the mana asleep on the area. How could he do that? It followed the same theory when Aion used his stamina too much, and then his muscles would hurt a bit¡­ with some rest, his muscles would get better, and his stamina would recover. Without doing that naturally, Aion could only control his mana with perfection to make sure that it would only activate once the part suffered damage.


    That wasn''t the end, though. He had to make that thing work on his whole body¡­ he had it practice a lot before seeding for the first time. Once Aion seeded with that, it wasn''t over either¡­ he had to make severalyers of that ability and connect it to the core where it would draw mana from to work¡­


    The whole thing took three weeks to master, but at least Aion could create a core that could heal him ten times, and each time one hundred points of health could be restored. Still, after he knew the basics, doing the same thing by restoring his stamina went smoothly. While they worked apart from each other, the technique of using Force Release had been perfected, and Aion could use it for twenty seconds without damaging himself. Now, he just needed to improve that time little by little and daily¡­


    After leaving the cabin after three weeks, Aion felt pretty good feeling the breeze of the sea¡­ it was really good to achieve one''s goals after working hard. Feel things were better than that, Aion felt alive like nothing before¡­


    "You finally left the cabin, were you scared that Seris would kick your ass?" Sauros asked after approaching.


    "Sure, let''s go with that," Aion said.


    "She also has been working a lottely and barely leaves her room as well," Sauros said. "It doesn''t seem like she wants to let you hog all the glory again."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Good for her," Aion said. "When are we going to arrive?"


    "You always walk at your own pace, huh," Sauros said while frowning. "We should arrive in three days, and then the storm should keep us away for two more days."


    "Two days to cross the storm?" Aion asked.


    "It shouldn''t take even half a day to cross that distance in normal circumstances, but the waves are troublesome," Sauros exined. "You should use the time until then to rest because no one will be able to sleep during those two days. If you do that thing with the instrument, it will help us a lot."


    Aion could restore their stamina and buff their strength. He won''t mind that as long as they reach the ce as soon as possible. Still, to think that such an obstacle would be waiting for them, and that was a spell created three thousand years ago¡­ How strong was Aion''s ancestor at that time? He was also curious about the power of the master of Sauros tribe, the man that most people refer to as the god that left that world for unknown reasons¡­ the enemy that they had inmon must have been pretty insane as well.


    In the end, Aion did exactly that, he rested as much as possible during the next few days, and when the waves started to get rough, he began to y the Power Song. At first, he thought that he could y from his cabin, but then the rain came, and that made things difficult for the others to hear anything.


    Aion left his cabin and began to y near the neck¡­ even while the ship was shaking. Eventually, Seris showed up and then began to distribute to the crew some gloves and boots that helped them not to slip and increased their grip strength. That might save their lives, considering how much water the rain was dropping on them.


    Although she passed by Aion, Seris ignored him again while heading to her cabin. It looked like she overestimated her influence over his life since he didn''t feel even a bit troubled over that.


    At the end of the first day, Aion couldn''t help but frown when he saw the ship climbing some waves while its front was almost pointing to the sky¡­ the waves were even bigger than the ship now.


    At that point in time, it was hard to tell if it was day or night since the dark clouds were covering every single part of the sky. He felt that crossing the area while flying wouldn''t be a problem, and he probably wouldn''t have to stop if he didn''t have a passenger with him. Still, the goddess created that challenge for those who couldn''t fly like her, apparently¡­ she sure was ruthless.

 Chapter 257 First Floor

    When the group finally crossed the storm, most of the crew looked beat, but at least they would be able to rest on the coast since the ce couldn''t be found by most people. In fact, once the waters calmed down, they could see the ind and a massive round tower in the middle of it¡­ Aion''s ancestors probably worked to create something that pierced the clouds in the sky for a while.


    Still, it looked like it was always raining in that area. So, the ocean was neverpletely calm¡­ and the area was also always dark. When the ship anchored, the crew began to hug the beach and feel the pleasure of having a nice footing under their feet. Meanwhile, Aion looked around and could only see a dark ind that looked quite ominous when lightning bolts were falling around. Instead of the tower, it would have made more sense if there was the demon king''s castle there.


    "While we are on the final part of our journey, I think we should take our time and set camp here before heading to the tower," Sauros said. "What do you two think?"


    "Fine by me," Aion said.


    "We can only do so much work, and the others have more numbers, so why not let them rest and do that tomorrow while we head to the tower?" Seris asked.


    "It seems that you are the one who is in a hurry now¡­" Sauros said and then sighed. "Even if that is true, some of your tools can help them, and only you can use them."


    "Humph," Seris snorted and then went to grab most of her tools from her cabin.


    "It would be great if you could help take some things from the warehouse as well since you are the one who can carry most weight from us," Sauros said once he saw Aion moving to check the base of the tower.


    Aion sighed and then got to work as well. Thanks to that, the crewmen felt motivated to get up and work since Aion was a newbie when it came to the sea and was feeling exhausted like them.


    After a couple of hours, everything was ready, and they could move. Sauros wanted to sleep for a bit since he didn''t get a wink in thest two days, but the other two wouldn''t let him. Sometimes he wondered who was the Captain of the ship¡­


    The ind was around ten kilometers wide and long, and the tower apparently had proportions that were five hundred for five hundred¡­ it was hard to be sure. In any case, after walking for a while, they confirmed that no animal lived there. There were no signs of people either¡­


    There was a forest around the tower, but it was that dense, so they crossed it after just one hour. When they approached the base of the tower, the group began to feel a lot of manaing from it¡­ it seemed like the same thing they would feel inside a dungeon. Did Aion''s ancestor mimic the structure of one when she created that?


    The ce had no windows, but there was a single door that was five meters long and there meters tall. It was also made of the same rectangr stones that made the whole structure¡­ since it was gray, Aion could tell that each one of them had been made with a lot of mana¡­ or perhaps they had absorbed it over the years.


    "I feel like we won''t be able to leave once we enter¡­ we should really rest for a while before moving ahead," Sauros said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion shared the same feeling, but he didn''t want to waste even more time on that. They waited for four weeks, after all¡­ only thest part had been rough. Still, it wasn''t like everyone had as much stamina as him.


    "All right," Aion said.


    The group returned to the base and then began to rest in their tents. Aion decided to rest while meditating and working on his cores. After doing some tests, he confirmed that the current amount of mana he could store in each was simr to his current magic power added to his mana pool. So, it would be better to use them with a magic ss¡­ but that would only increase his magic potential.


    After doing some more tests, Aion improved things a bit. Still, it required a lot of concentration to add even a bit of mana to the three cores without risking breaking their bnce.


    "This will really be a slow process¡­" Aion thought. "Still, I should focus on doing that slowly as well since the next tier of sses will also increase the potential of Force Release."


    In any case, after a couple of hours, Sauros and Seris showed up in Aion''s tent, and he left. It didn''t seem like they were able to sleep that much due to the constant lightning strikes falling around.


    Since the tower resembled a dungeon, it wouldn''t make much sense to bring a lot of people with them, so only the usual team headed toward the tower after not so long.


    When Aion touched the entrance, the door opened, and then they saw the first floor of the ce. There wasn''t anything around aside from a big hall, and there were no stairs either¡­


    "It seems that we need to find or do something to get the chance to move to the next floor¡­" Sauros said.


    "So, it is like that kind of system, huh," Aion said. "I guess it is way better than filling the map of a dungeon."


    "Still, this is a challenge from your ancestor, so don''t drop your guard," Sauros said. "I don''t think that she would create a challenge that she wouldn''t deem worthy for someone who wants the relics that she created¡­"


    "That goes without saying," Aion shrugged.


    When they began to walk toward the center of the hall, a creature suddenly appeared in the middle of it¡­

 Chapter 258 Hidden Identity

    The creature had a humanoid shape, but it was hard to say if it was human since a dark cloak covered its whole body. However, Aion could feel a presence of familiaritying from it¡­ that couldn''t be a good thing. That sense of familiarity was weirding from someone unknown.


    All of a sudden, the creature dashed toward them. Still, Aion stepped forward and blocked the advance with his spear¡­ the beast tried to stab Aion with a sword, but it wasn''t strong enough to overpower him¡­


    "This smell¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion tried to see under the hood what that thing was to confirm his thought, but the enemy suddenly stepped forward and tried to headbutt him. Aion stepped forward while swinging his spear, but the enemy blocked the attack with its sword before it was pushed to the side¡­ Aion saw it, and it was a ck-haired man with gray and lifeless skin.


    "A death knight? Did that woman summon it?" Aion thought.


    Aion was expecting to see many things, but not a death knight. Things have been getting a lot weirdtely¡­


    "Aion!" Sauros shouted.


    "I can deal with this," Aion said.


    Aion was confused, but he didn''t have time to waste anymore. So, he increased the grip on his weapon before charging.


    The enemy raised his sword to block the attack, but Aion used Force Release at thest moment and then pierced the spear and the enemy''s head with his sword.


    You obtained 10.000 experience points.


    Aion wondered what would happen¡­ it couldn''t be that his weapon would absorb the body¡­ much to his surprise, the creature fell on the ground before bing smoke and disappearing.


    "That thing was¡­" Sauros said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    Before he could continue, Sauros and the others saw a circr staircase appearing in the middle of the hall, and then the entrance appeared on the ceiling of the room¡­ as expected, things would be that way.


    "That was a person¡­ but one that looked like it had been summoned by magic¡­ I didn''t think that was possible," Seris said. "I heard that in the past, someone developed a mutation that made them able to control the dead, and that man looked pretty dead to me¡­ even though Aion''s attack killed it again. I also read that such a person could make their minions appear and disappear."


    So, that power really existed¡­ it probably had been forgotten after so many years by most people. That was why Aion never heard anyone talking¡­


    Regardless, the group headed toward the staircase and confirmed that the floor was ten meters tall¡­ if all of them were like that, it would take a while to reach the top¡­ it should have at least one hundred of them.


    "I guess I will use my magic to help here," Aion thought.


    When they reached the second floor, the group didn''t see anything side than a copy of the previous hall. Eventually, another shadow appeared near the wall, but Aion just bombarded it with some ice arrows.


    The creature used ance to block several of them. Still, Aion increased the pace by changing his ss to necromancer¡­ the arrows became powerful enough to break even the enemy''s spear before piercing it from several angles.<novelnext></novelnext>


    You obtained 10.500 experience points.


    "Shouldn''t we have analyzed things for a bit before kicking ass?" Sauros asked.


    "You do have all the time in the world, don''t you?" Aion asked. "I don''t.


    "We don''t have time for this either, Sauros," Seris said. "We have been far away from home for too long as well. All of this work is starting to stress me out as well."


    "Aren''t you the one who was worried about the previous fight against the guardian?" Sauros asked. "What happened to your guys'' mental stability? Act the way you should instead of just letting the weird mood affect your behavior."


    "I am the same as always," Aion said.


    "You talk like that isn''t a problem in itself¡­" Sauros facepalmed.


    Aion couldn''t deny that his attitude was a problem sometimes, but he just shrugged. In the end, it was truly better to go up as fast as possible since that was just another test and the final part of the mission.


    When the next staircase appeared, Sauros followed the other two after sighing. He had a bad feeling about the whole situation, and Aion already could tell what was going to happen just considering how much mana he gained from the first and second floors¡­


    As soon as the enemy appeared on the next floor, Aion used ice arrows to kill it again. However, he frowned when he saw a mana shield appearing around the enemy. That wasn''t something he had seen until now, even though it was supposed to be a very basic technique.


    "Mana Shield¡­ another lost spell," Sauros said.


    "Lost? Is that something hard to replicate?" Aion asked.


    "If it is easy, why have you never tried to use it?" Sauros asked.


    "Dodging is faster, and it doesn''t consume mana. The same thing is for blocking," Aion replied.


    Aion charged toward the enemy, who canceled the mana shield and then began to fire Mana Arrows. Aion repelled them with his spear, but he could feel the weapon getting hotter with each projectile repelled¡­ Aion furrowed his eyebrows and then used Sonic Throw.


    The enemy raised Mana Shield again in a single instant¡­ that speed reaction was truly unnatural for mages. In any case, Aion recovered his spear and then charged again, swinging his spear wildly,, attacking the Mana Shield since he knew the enemy was going to run out of mana soon¡­


    Before that could happen, the enemy made some chains made of mana emerge from the ground and grabbed his legs. Aion furrowed his eyebrows¡­ he thought that the enemy couldn''t use other spells while Mana Shield was active¡­ but that guess had been wrong¡­


    The cloaked enemy suddenly summoned Mana Spears¡­ then Aion sighed.

 Chapter 259 Going Up

    Aion changed his ss again to Necromancer and then blocked the mana spears with earth walls. In the next moment, she made those surround the monster and began pressing the Mana Shield''s sides. Eventually, it began to crack when the monster ran out of energy. Then, the earth''s walls crushed the creature.


    You obtained 11.000 experience points.


    "I guess this was the only way to save mana¡­" Aion thought. "As expected, dealing with enemies that can use this spell is troublesome."


    Aion more or less had the experience of knowing that thanks to some games and books, but experiencing it, in reality, was even more difficult. Fortunately, the knowledge that he obtained with those who also worked there¡­ using normal attacks will only make him waste more mana. Continuous attacks like the earth walls that consume less mana are a better option.


    "Still, I guess I should keep using the necromancer ss in order to make it reach the max level," Aion thought.


    "Did you see the enemy''s face under the hood? Can you describe it?" Sauros asked after he approached.


    "What is the point of that?" Aion asked.


    "I want to confirm if they are figures of the past that we have in our archives," Sauros replied. "I want to know from which period they came from. The sooner I confirm if they are from the period of your ancestor or not, the better. I don''t think that she would do something like transforming her friends into undead, but I don''t think that she faced people like this. If she is able to turn into undead people from other eras aside from hers, then-"


    Sauros started a very annoying and long exnation as to why they had to register the appearances of all the enemies they faced in the tower. He kept going for ten minutes, but Aion stopped listening after thirty seconds.


    "Do you get it?" Sauros asked.


    "No," Aion replied. "Let''s move to the next floor."


    Aion didn''t want to waste more than five minutes on each floor, and it would be great if they could finish things that day, but that would be an optimistic estimate. In any case, things soon were going to change, and Aion confirmed that when they reached the fourth floor¡­ a tall, muscr and blue creature suddenly appeared. The monster also had in his hands a club made of ice¡­


    "A troll?" Sauros asked while frowning.


    "Let me guess, it went extinct a long time ago as well," Aion said.


    "Yes¡­ those creatures are known for their strength, endurance, and ability to regenerate insanely fast, so you shouldn''t take your time with it," Sauros replied.


    That was the textbook exnation about trolls¡­ in any case, the skin of the monster looked really lifeless¡­ was that thing even alive? It wasn''t just a zombie or something? In any case, the creature began to dash toward Aion while making loud impacts with its steps since it was five meters tall.


    Aion charged and thrust his spear forward when the enemy swung its club, both weapons collided and a loud impact echoed in the area. Aion could feel his bones vibrating a little, but the monster was pushed backward¡­ he won when it came to strength, but the beast recovered first and then swung its club downward again.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion jumped to the side and dodged the attack, and then thrust his spear toward the enemy''s head, but the creature twitched its neck to the side, making the tip only scratch the cheek a bit. The blood began to fall, but the wound quickly closed¡­


    "That is fast regeneration, alright¡­" Aion thought.


    The monster turned around and then swung the club. Aion jumped to dodge the attack and then used Force Release before using Sonic Throw. The Weapon pierced the head of the monster, and then the creature fell before turning into shadows that soon dissipated¡­


    You obtained 11.500 experience points.


    "This is a good amount of experience, but I can''t don''t feel satisfied since I am forced to use Force Release," Aion thought. "It would be another matter if this were a skill that I could level up."


    "This isn''t time magic¡­ the monsters weren''t supposed to disappear like this. If that were the case," Sauros mumbled to himself.


    Technically, the ice dragon that Aion killed came to that era using time magic, but it didn''t disappear. It became materials for Aion''s weapons. In any case, it was really curious that the enemies could disappear like that. While they looked like the death knights¡­ Aion didn''t think that they were supposed to disappear like that. The skeletons sure didn''t¡­


    "I can feel that the enemies are getting stronger. We should pace ourselves in order to avoid problems like facing a stronger opponent while not being rested enough," Seris said.


    "You should convince him of that," Sauros said when Aion approached.


    "... Aren''t you the leader here?" Seris asked. "Even if you''re not the one who contributed the most, you made all this possible by working even before the start of the mission."


    "It is fine if you two want to take a break. I don''t mind," Aion said. "Even though you haven''t fought until now."


    "You really had to say thest part, didn''t you?" Sauros asked and then sighed.


    "I don''t believe that I let you guys get hurt aside from the time she was caught by surprise by that assassin," Aion said. "I always made sure that the enemy''s focus was solely on me, so I really can''t understand your fears."


    "Is it hard to believe that we worry about you since you are always the one getting hurt?" Sauros asked.


    "No, but I guess that makes you two look and sound pretty dumb," Aion said while frowning. "Just shut up and focus on the mission since it is almost over, and it isn''t time to make a mistake now... it is usually where most people make mistakes. Let''s hope I didn''t jinx ourselves here..."

 Chapter 260 Analysis

    "Unlike you guys, I treat all this like a challenge and a training session to make me stronger," Aion said. "Even if I were almost to die, I wouldn''t me any of you, and I would treat this like a learning lesson."


    Sauros felt like Aion wasn''t even thinking that they would be of much help while he fought. He also couldn''t shake the feeling that Aion could have defeated most of the enemies so far by himself¡­ he would have suffered a lot more, and perhaps he would have faced death even more often, but that only gave more weight to his words.


    "Tell me when you guys are ready to move," Aion said and then sat on the ground and began to meditate.


    Sauros looked upward and then stared at the ceiling. He noticed thattely, he felt like sighing a lot more, and he didn''t imagine that such a journey would make him feel like sighing all the time¡­


    "What do you think we should do?" Sauros asked. "I am starting to think that logic doesn''t apply to Aion. Should we just keep going and see if he will ever need our help?"


    "I also get worried when you start to lose confidence in your decision-making," Seris said. "Forget about what he can do or not, don''t forget what our goal is, to keep the relics safe, and that won''t happen if he is killed here. There is even a chance that they will go down with him."


    Sauros nodded. That it wasn''t one hundred percent certain, but they had to avoid that possibility. Even if they weren''t tired, they should take a few minutes to rest between floors just in case. At first, Aion was eager to spend some months exploring the world. Still, after he heard about the possible problems, he came to realize that he couldn''t rx that easily. Sauros couldn''t regret his choices, but he felt troubled by them for the first time in his life.


    After resting for half an hour, the group headed to the next floor. Seris and Sauros wanted to defeat the enemies as soon as possible to make sure that they wouldn''t get the chance to cause problems any time soon. So, when another cloaked enemy showed up, they quickly pointed their weapons at it and then fired.


    However, the cloaked enemy that only had a single small crossbow on its left arm quickly fired two bolts at them and repelled that attack¡­ that reaction speed, it was human. Even Aion furrowed his eyebrows due to the surprise.


    "I guess long-ranged attacks won''t do it," Aion said and then charged.


    Sauros wanted to say that getting too close to that enemy would be too dangerous, but he didn''t have time. Aion closed into the enemy and then saw his weapon being pointed at his head. Aion just enveloped his spear in a thickyer of wind magic and made it spin while he was approaching.


    The bolts made a loud impact when they were blocked, but they barely slowed Aion down. When he got close enough, the enemy began to run away with all his might, and once again, Aion got surprised. The speed of the steps of that guy sure was something¡­


    Aion increased his speed, but the enemy fired his bolts whenever Aion took a step¡­ that was annoying since it messed up with his pace and prevented him from gaining speed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion clicked his tongue and then used Sonic Throw. The enemy was caught by surprise and then fired numerous bolts to repel the weapon. That didn''t work, and he was forced to use his crossbow to block the attack. When that happened, Aion closed it and then used Force Release before punching the head of the enemy. He was sent spinning toward the wall of the floor before hitting it and making a loud crack.


    You obtained 12.000 experience points.


    "The difficulty level increased a bit, but I guess not that much¡­" Aion thought. "Anyway, I am starting to get curious about who the hell these guys are¡­ they sure have some unusual characteristics that make them a pain in the ass."


    The crossbow guy could take steps too fast, and he was good enough to use his weapon above his shoulder while running like that¡­ even Aion would have a hard time chasing him under normal circumstances. Could that be some sort of mutation? It was a weird one if that was the case¡­


    "I was starting to think that soon I was going tock the strength to deal with them, but then soon I might end upcking in speed as well," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess I shouldn''t just focus on leveling up the Lancer ss here."


    That was the strength of Aion''s system, and he could change sses to fit a situation better. While that wasn''t efficient, it sure was the best way to save time. Once again, Aion saw himself being a thorn between the options that were most efficient time-wise and experience-wise.


    "Maybe this is the weakness of the system¡­" Aion thought and then shrugged.


    After turning around, Aion considered waiting for Sauros'' decision after analyzing the situation and how Aion looked, but as if he had read his thoughts, Sauros decided that they should head to the next floor.


    In any case, as soon as they reached the next floor, Aion felt that something was different there. When he was about to notice what it was, the next enemy suddenly showed up¡­ Aion sighed¡­ that kind of interruption was really annoying¡­ so he just created a massive fist made of earth and fired at the enemy.


    The cloaked figure suddenly summoned an ax and then swung its weapon and destroyed the fist. However, when the enemy finished that move, another one appeared from above and smashed them to pieces.


    You obtained 13.000 experience points.


    The path to the next floor was opened, but Aion just looked around, trying to understand that feeling¡­

 Chapter 261 Bad News

    "It is condensed mana that you can feel," Sauros said. "It is messing with my senses as well¡­ since it is condensed mana that is inside a magic circle to perform time magic."


    "Is this floor magic circle?" Aion asked while looking around trying to understand what he already had saw.


    "I guess all of them are¡­ I can understand now," Sauros said while walking around. "Instead of undead creatures being controlled by something. It seems that your ancestor summoned copies of people that she knew to protect each floor. For this kind of magic, one would need a magic circle that has the memories or the data of someone¡­ maybe she used their blood or hair or something to summon them. Either way, they aren''t undead creatures, and they are copies without a soul that had a small part of their wills."


    It seemed that Aion could feel more mana because more mana would be needed to make copies of stronger guys. Either way, magic circles¡­ he had also read about it, but it was a thing of the past since they required too much time to draw. Still, it seemed that they all had some strong points.


    It looked like they were simr to runes¡­ while they needed some time to be prepared, they could better suit the needs of those who made them. In any case, Aion didn''t feel the mana around disappearing, only decreasing a bit. It felt like the circle would recover its mana eventually to summon the same person to protect the floor¡­ so if he failed, Aion wouldn''t have opened the path for someone else.


    "What do you think, Seris?" Sauros asked.


    "The magic circle was made on theyer between thest floor ceiling and this floor. Some spell to prevent the tower from being damaged in all parts also was cast, and that spell probably uses the mana that the tower drains from the environment to protect the magic circles," Seris exined. "I won''t say that it is impossible to destroy them, but it will be hard. Also, it wouldn''t be weird if this tower has some sort of mechanism that will activate several magic circles to summon a lot of enemies to stop us if we try that."


    "I guess we shouldn''t do that, then¡­" Sauros said while forcing a smile. "Let''splete her challenge the way it was intended."


    That seemed like a pain to Aion, but it would be annoying if all the guardians of all floors suddenly appeared to attack him¡­ annoying but a bit interesting as well. In any case, Aion wasn''t suicidal, so there was no point in doing that.


    "It seems that she also could find some holes in the relics¡­ now you understand my worries?" Sauros asked.


    "No," Aion replied.


    "It is hard to consider this time travel, but can you imagine how someone can use this knowledge to affect the past?" Sauros asked.


    "Maybe it is possible to make a copy of myself by using this kind of magic circle, but it will probably be impossible to control perfectly," Aion said. "I don''t have enough knowledge to think how I can summon a copy like that to the past, though."


    "You got the gist of things, and you can make a copy with your will," Sauros said. "As for how to send the copy to the past¡­"


    "Maybe there is some sort of way to add that kind of effect to the magic circle, or maybe create a secondyer while connecting both," Aion said. "The first would work to defy time and space after getting enough mana to do that, and once it was possible, it would send the second circle to the point in time determined."


    Sauros didn''t confirm or deny that, but Aion could feel the intense resing from behind. It seemed that his guess was a pretty good one¡­ or Maybe those two never imagined that it would be something like that¡­


    The group headed toward the next floor, and things didn''t change that much. Aion faced a female spearman, a fire mage, and then a man that could make the air vibrate with his fists. The difficulty level was increasing, but he managed to win by himself.


    Lancer Lv 59


    Health: 1008/1008


    Mana: 608/608


    Stamina: 908/908


    Strength: 141


    Dexterity: 01 + 30<novelnext></novelnext>


    Magic: 151


    Endurance: 01 + 200


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 200


    Status: 00


    Extreme Spear Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Endurance + 200, Speed +200


    Skills: Protective Wind Lv 11, Sonic Throw Lv 22, Quick Sweep Lv 14, Triple Sonic Thrust Lv 01


    Passive: Fighting Spirit Lv 22, Critical Thirst Lv 21, Improved Dexterity Lv 06, Cold Spear Lv 04


    Improvement Points: 177


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.442.200


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Triple Sonic Thrust: A powerful charge that ends after quickly hitting the enemy in the same spot three times in a row while causing critical damage at the cost of fifty stamina points.


    Cold Spear: decreases the speed of the enemy by one point per level for five seconds when causing damage.


    Since Aion could tell that things would change a bit on the next floor, which was the tenth, he wondered if it was time to improve some of the skills of his ss. He hadn''t been using them a lot, and their levels were low since Aion only fought small fries aside from the frozen Medusa head¡­ in any case, he decided to make his choice once he reached the next floor and found the enemy.


    Sauros and Seris also looked nervous since they also had the feeling that things would change on the next floor¡­ However, they didn''t notice anything that much different when it came to the mana level or the appearance of the floor.


    Things changed a lot when another cloaked figure appeared and immediately began to fly. After opening its arms, some purple mist began to leave the interior of the cloak, and Aion could tell that was some bad news¡­

 Chapter 262 Good As Any

    Aion used Force Release and charged at the enemy. When he reached the purple mist, he felt his parameters decreasing as well as his health, mana, and stamina being drained as well¡­ that was going to be harder than he thought. Still, his options weren''t limited and only that much he could take.


    "This enemy is seriously bad news¡­" Aion thought.


    Before Aion could get any closer, the enemy blocked his path by aiming their hands at him, and the mist began to move toward him while the enemy was moving away. Aion zigzagged to dodge them, but that worked to prevent therge concentrations of the mist. However, his health, mana, and stamina still were dropping¡­


    While clicking his tongue, Aion suddenly made an ice wall appear behind the enemy, and while they managed to feel and avoid colliding against it, Sauros and Seris hit the enemy with their weapons. The electric bullets paralyzed the enemy for a fraction of a second, and then Aion used Sonic Throw.


    The weapon hit the enemy''s chest, but it didn''t pierce it. Still, it bought Aion enough time to approach and then grab his spear before using Triple Sonic Thrust. The spear hit the enemy''s head three times before it made it fly to the distance¡­ however, the enemy still pointed its hands, and the mist flew toward Aion.


    Aion clicked his tongue again and then surrounded the enemy with several ice walls, forcing them to escape by flying toward Aion. Still, when the enemy moved, Aion closed the wall and froze the enemy with a st of cold wind. The next moment, he swung his spear down and killed the enemy by splitting it in half.


    You obtained 20.000 experience points.


    "I guess I must thank my ancestor for giving me a chance to get so much experience¡­ it probably wasn''t her intention, though," Aion thought.


    Sauros rushed to check the enemy before it could be shadows and then disappeared, but he failed¡­ he must like quite a bit of doing his work, despite saying what he said to Aion before.


    "An enemy that didn''t die after losing its head¡­" Sauros rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What kind of mutation would make someone be able to survive without their head¡­"


    The lich type¡­ those could survive even without their heart, but losing says that they wouldn''t live good lives while their bodies rot until they be bones.


    In any case, Aion was curious about what one had to do to be like that, not like he was nning to do that himself. He liked his current healthy-looking body quite a bit.


    Aion turned around to climb the stairs, but then his eyes began to spin¡­ his body was still poisoned, and he had to clear his system¡­ the effects of the poison were losing power, but he would lose too much stamina and mana if he let it be.


    "... Hold this. It will help you get rid of the poison," Seris said while passing a bracelet to Aion.


    "Thanks," Aion said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Humph, don''t get the wrong idea," Seris said. "I am just using you to finish the job faster."


    What a more tsundere-like thing to say¡­ Seris was still pissed, and it had been a month since she got pissed. She sure likes to waste energy on pointless things. At least, that was what Aion thought.


    In any case, the bracelet had a rune that expelled the poison from Aion''s body without consuming his mana. That was pretty handy since Aion could use that to recover his health and meditate at the same time.


    Once Aion confirmed that his energy had stopped falling, he got up and then returned the bracelet before heading to the next floor. Around one and a half hours had passed since they entered the tower. The pace seemed good enough, and Aion even leveled up a few times, but he still wanted more¡­ he had to be careful, though. Since the previous enemy showed that they would have to deal with some surprises.


    "What do you think we are going to see until we reach the top of the tower?" Seris asked.


    "It is hard to say. I don''t know what kind of materials his ancestor had ess to when she was alive¡­ we don''t have any idea for how long she was alive in the first ce, so we might end up faxing a few hundred enemies¡­" Sauros replied. "For the time being, Aion is doing fine by himself, but soon, he will need our help."


    "I upgraded the weapons to help us charge energy faster, so we''ll probably do more than we did at the dungeon, but we will waste energy faster as well," Seris said. "When the timees, you should tell him properly that we will need a few hours to rest. The way he usually is, he might get killed out of stupidity and take us with him."


    "I can hear you, you know," Aion said when he began to climb the stairs. "I guess I need to remind you that the only time you got hurt was due to your own carelessness."


    "It couldn''t have been helped since the enemy could get invisible," Seris said.


    "I guess that excuse is as good as any," Aion shrugged.


    "What did you say?" Seris asked while a vein on her forehead was bulging.


    "Let''s not fight, alright?" Sauros asked. "This isn''t the time nor the ce for that. Besides, we all already determined that both of you made mistakes during that time. Let''s just learn from our mistakes and move on with our lives as proper adults. Don''t hold grudges."


    Aion wasn''t holding any grudges that were supposed to be said to Seris¡­ that being said, those words made Aion have a sudden sh of inspiration¡­ he might havee up with an answer to the enemies that were going to show up. A way of doing this efficiently while also focusing on the Lancer ss.

 Chapter 263 Cooperation

    The next few floors, nothing major happened, but Aion was starting to suffer some scratches here and there. In any case, he ignored those and focused his resting time on developing a new technique¡­ it was the best use of his free time.


    Aion was focusing his stamina on his right arm while holding his stamina and trying to increase his arms strength before throwing it. Actually, Aion already had a skill simr to that, and it was Power Shot. However, he could only use it when he was using the sniper ss, and he never tried to learn by himself¡­


    "More training between battles?" Sauros asked. "You sure are diligent."


    "What do you want? Don''t beat around the bush," Aion said.


    "Just talking a bit to pass the time since the tension between the group had been difficulttely, and it isn''t the right type of tension," Sauros said. "After this mission, I think that we won''t travel around the world that often, so I don''t want this journey to end on a bad note."


    "Are you going to retire before turning thirty? Your tribe is thatx, or are you thatzy?" Aion asked.


    "No, I am going to keep traveling, but only once or twice a year, with trips that won''tst more than two or three weeks," Sauros said. "I am settling down as well, and my wife wants some kids."


    "That is certainly something that I didn''t want to hear in detail," Aion shrugged. "It seems that you are surrounded by people that don''t follow the norm when ites to your work."


    "Well, things can''t stay the same forever," Sauros said. "Besides, I guess things were fine like this. Someone that was more stuck to the rules probably wouldn''t have be allies with you, even for a while."


    "Someone that sticks to the rules also wouldn''t have been caught by ve traders," Aion said.


    "You got that right," Saurosughed.


    "The breeze of the sea has to keep working, and I thought that Seris would eventually develop a more outgoing personality, but that didn''t happen," Sauros said. "She stays most of the time in her cabin working, and she isn''t suited to be a captain."


    "I never said that I wanted to take your ce," Seris said.


    "I guess I will look for someone to do my job now and then," Sauros shrugged. "I hope that the next five years will be peaceful enough for us."


    That topic wasn''t something that Aion was interested in, so he decided to stay quiet about it. He wanted to travel the world with his mother, but he had learned enough by watching Sauros.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion wondered if, by that time, he would have found a wife¡­ it felt like Artemisia would rather watch Aion getting a child than travel the world. Maybe he had to change his ns a bit.


    In any case, Aion was having a hard time controlling his stamina while moving. The effects of the strengthening were there, but he couldn''t see the point of the technique if he couldn''t charge it while walking. Power Shot could work while he wasn''t moving since he could use it to snipe the enemies, but not the technique that he wanted now¡­


    Aion changed to the sniper ss and used Power Shot a few times to get a good feeling of the technique, and he understood the trick behind it. The energy from all over his body was moving toward his arms and some mana as well¡­


    "I don''t want to use mana, but I guess it is that hard to make stamina alone enhance an attack that doesn''t belong to the system¡­" Aion thought.


    That was another thing that Aion had to improve¡­ in any case, it was hard to be certain without seeing the actual numbers or the description of the skill, but Aion felt that his strength increased by one point for every point of stamina he used. The rate didn''t seem bad or good¡­ considering his strength, Aion would need to at least double his attack power to kill the targets in a moment, but he could only charge it for thirty seconds while walking¡­ It will take time before he can master it. Unless he stops to train for several hours.


    When the group reached the fifteenth floor, Aion raised his guard since, once again, he had the feeling that the power of the enemies would increase, and his intuition didn''t fail him. A monster showed up¡­ and since the creature wasn''t wearing a cloak, Aion could see itpletely¡­ It was a magma golem.


    The temperature in the room began to increase just with the presence of the monster alone. While the beast was slow, it could burn the floor with each step in a matter of seconds. Eventually, the enemy pointed its hands at the group, and that forced Seris and Sauros to wake up and point their weapons at the creature.


    The beast fired Magma Bullets, and the electric bullets hit those, making them cancel each other¡­ actually, the magma bullets began to win the exchange since they had some weight aside from power.


    They kept firing attacks at each other until Aion ran out of patience since neither side was winning. Sauros and Seris had the numerical advantage, but the monster apparently had more mana.


    In any case, Aion charged and then used Sonic Throw on the monster''s head, and the creature moved its arms to block them. Aion''s spear pierced them, but it didn''t reach the head¡­


    Sauros and Seris used that chance to attack the monster, but electricity didn''t work that much on enemies that were half made of earth.


    The heating from the enemy''s body made Aion sweat, but that didn''t prevent him from charging at the enemy. In the next moment, Aion grabbed his weapon, and then the object began to freeze alongside the monster''s arms.


    When Aion pulled the spear, the arms of the golem began to fall apart¡­

 Chapter 264 Confirmation

    Aion prepared to swing his spear again. Usually, golems would have a core that would kill them once they suffered enough damage. Still, before Aion could do that, the enemy suddenly became four meters tall instead of six. Still, at the cost of that, the arms of the monster were regenerated.


    "That is a neat trick," Aion thought while smiling.


    The enemy suddenly began to spring to keep Aion away, and thanks to that, the heat started to spread as well. The enemy also began to approach Aion like a top¡­ attacking any point would be quite hard now¡­ Still, Aion just used more mana to cover his spear and then used Triple Sonic Thrust.


    The impacts caused shockwaves of heat that made even Sauros and Seris flinch when they were fifty meters away. They hated to admit that, but they couldn''t get any closer, and their current weapon was essentially useless against that monster¡­


    Seris clenched her teeth in annoyance¡­ she didn''t expect that they would find an inorganic enemy with such an attribute inside the tower¡­ still, she rxed a bit when she saw pieces of the monster falling apart thanks to Aion''sbination of magic and spear skills¡­ the monster began to shrink again quickly. Still, Aion felt that he was wasting too much mana and stamina.


    Eventually, Aion took a step backward and then charged with all his might hitting the chest of the monster. He also felt that he had hit something hard on the chest, and in the next moment, he felt something ominous, like a pulsation.


    Aion quickly jumped back, and then the golem exploded¡­ a powerful heat of wave reached the whole room, and even Sauros and Seris had a hard time breathing thanks to it. A momentter, Aionnded in front of them with his body emitting a lot of steam.


    You obtained 20.000 experience points.


    "The son of a bitch autodestructed when I finally found the core¡­" Aion said. "What a shitty monster¡­"


    "Are you all right?" Sauros asked. "It seems that you only got hit by the shockwave, but you were pretty close¡­"


    "I am fine. I just need to cool down a bit," Aion said and then created some cold water to help with the heat.


    "Seris, please," Sauros said.


    After a long sigh, Seris used her power and helped Aion recover his energy faster. Thanks to that, his body returned to normal pretty soon¡­ in any case, that enemy showed up at a pretty annoying time. If Aion were able to use Power Throw, such a thing wouldn''t have happened¡­ probably.


    "The next few floors probably won''t be as bad as this one until the twentieth," Sauros said. "Still, we ended up using more mana than expected, so we should rest properly for a while as well. For the time being, we will rest for ten minutes between ordinary battles and half an hour between the most difficult ones."<novelnext></novelnext>


    This time, Sauros wasn''t asking for their opinions, so he believed that was something that they had to do no matter what to avoid problems. Again, it was a pain in the ass, and Aion was fine with getting punished like that in order to be stronger faster, but he decided not to voice his protests this time. That was thest part of the mission, so he might as well be a team yer until the end.


    "I don''t want to rely on mana, but I guess I should for the time being¡­ until I obtain full control over Power Throw," Aion thought. "My fighting style is clear now, so I don''t have to waste time fighting those things forever¡­ Besides, as long as I kill them in a single instant, I can recover the mana before the next battle."


    Once he decided that, Aion felt that a load left his shoulders. Being stubborn to help him improve faster was fine and all, but sometimes, one has topromise.


    With that in mind, Aion decided to confirm that he had made the right decision. He enveloped most of his spear in ice when they were heading to the next floor, while he also used some of his stamina to enhance the spear.


    When they reached the next floor, and the opponent appeared. Aion threw the spear with all his might, and while controlling the ice around the weapon in that fraction of a second, he made it spin with all his might¡­


    The weapon flew while making a high-pitched sound that forced everyone to close their ears before hitting the enemy instantly and making its body split into several parts¡­ the enemy didn''t have the chance to defend itself. The spear bit the wall of the dungeon and, upon impact, made the whole floor tremble¡­ but then the spear broke.


    "... Are you going to be alright without that?" Sauros asked after several moments of silence due to the surprise.


    "No problem, I can use it again soon," Aion replied.


    It has been a while since one of Aion''s weapons broke, but the spear will return to normal in one hour or so. Still, he never broke it by attacking¡­ thatbination had been far more powerful than he had expected since itbined the power of his magic and strength, and because he didn''t hold back¡­ he needed to know the minimum amount of mana necessary to use for each opponent, after all.


    "Nevertheless, this confirmed a lot of things¡­" Aion smirked. "I will be able to defeat them by myself for quite a while¡­"


    The next few floors had been pretty easy. Even while on the twentieth floor, Aion didn''t defeat the enemy in a single strike. At least it pushed them against the wall for several seconds¡­


    After facing an iron golem on the 20th, a giant bat on the 25th, and a carnivorous nt on the thirty floors, Sauros decided to call a break for the whole group to stop for several hours.

 Chapter 265 Special Magic

    In thest fight, even though Aion Enhanced his spear with fire magic to burn down the carnivorous nt, the beast didn''t die that fast. He could only assume that Aion''s focus was wavering due to the exhaustion.


    The fights hadn''t been that intense, but even between them, Aion was training, so it couldn''t be helped that he would feel like that¡­ besides, close to ten hours had passed since they entered the tower. It was time to eat something.


    "It seems that you have a nearly endless supply of smanders meat now," Sauros said while Aion was cooking the food with his magic.


    Aion didn''t say anything about that, but he has a ton of meat from several types of monsters and animals. Time didn''t pass inside his inventory, so there was no risk of the meat rotting. Regardless, he didn''t want to give information about himself to others even more now than ever. For the Sauros'' tribe, who needed all sorts of pieces of information across the periods of that world, asking about things or obtaining Intel like that was second nature. Even when he imed that he would keep information about him hidden¡­


    After eating his fill, Aion went to sleep since the danger of being attacked inside the tower seemed nonexistent. Aion also didn''t want to believe that his ancestor, that saved the world once and wasn''t power-hungry enough to be an actual goddess, would be that sneaky¡­


    After exactly five hours, Aion woke up, only to find Seris watching things around while hugging her right knee. Things haven''t been good between them, so he decided to focus on his training.


    "Do you have muscles for brains?" Seris asked. "Can''t you do anything aside from training in your free time?"


    "No," Aion replied.


    "Are you picking a fight with me as soon as you wake up?" Seris asked.


    "My words exactly," Aion replied.


    "... I must apologize for my previous actions," Seris said and then sighed. "I guess from the perspective of someone who doesn''t belong to the tribe, my words and intentions seemed ill-mannered."


    "No problem," Aion said.


    Lancer Lv 64


    Health: 1108/1108


    Mana: 608/608


    Stamina: 908/908


    Strength: 166


    Dexterity: 01 + 30


    Magic: 151


    Endurance: 01 + 200


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 200


    Status: 00


    Extreme Spear Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Endurance + 200, Speed +200<novelnext></novelnext>


    Skills: Protective Wind Lv 11, Sonic Throw Lv 27 (Power Lv 100, Cost: Lv 92), Quick Sweep Lv 14, Triple Sonic Thrust Lv 01


    Passive: Fighting Spirit Lv 22, Critical Thirst Lv 21, Improved Dexterity Lv 06, Cold Spear Lv 04


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.442.200


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion checked his ss and then decided to use his improvement points to enhance Sonic Throw. Thanks to that, the damage increased exponentially¡­ he realized that he couldn''t neglect that after the previous battle.


    "Can you at least pay attention when someone is talking to you?" Seris asked. "This is annoying, but I also didn''t want to let things end like this. This journey wasn''t half bad, in my opinion."


    "I am paying attention. I just like to multitask," Aion said. "As I said, that is water under the bridge. I don''t hold grudges against you guys, but I don''t like to repeat myself."


    "Yes, yes, if the archives cause problems, then you will look for us and trash our base," Seris said. "Anyway, try not to fight all by yourself from now on. That might sound weirding from us, that did a lot less than you in this journey, but we will be here to help if you need."


    "I will keep that in mind," Aion said. "I will be waiting for your help on the final floor of the dungeon."


    "... What do you think we are going to face there?" Seris asked while frowning.


    "Just use your imagination. I like to imagine the worst-case scenario all the time, and thanks to it, nothing ever surprises me."


    That sure suited Aion, so Seris could shrug and smile a bit. In any case, after two hours, Sauros woke up, and then they began to prepare for the next floor.


    When they found the next enemy and Aion used Power Throw, the impactpletely destroyed the enemy. The effects of the improvement points were working¡­ Sauros and Seris thought that Aion failed to control himself because the hours of restpletely reinvigorated him.


    In any case, things went the same way until the 35th floor¡­ the next time that showed up was a cloaked mage, and it had been a while since Aion saw one. In any case, he used thebination of Power Throw and Sonic Throw with ice magic. Still, the enemy just pointed their hands toward the weapon and made it slow down before it could reach them¡­


    "Gravity magic? Telekinesis?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows in surprise.


    Seris and Sauros began to attack when Aion changed his ss to recover his weapon. However, their magic projectiles also stopped around the enemy and were quickly thrown right back at them. Aion repelled those after recovering his spear by swinging the weapon to the side while also charging at the enemy¡­


    When Aion was twenty meters away, the enemy pointed his hands toward him and forced him to stop moving. Even while using all his strength, Aion couldn''t move an inch¡­ the power of the enemy''s magic weakened a bit when Sauros and Seris attacked again, but Aion only walked five meters.


    "What the fuck¡­" Aion clicked his tongue in annoyance and then changed his ss to Necromancer.


    Aion felt his body getting lighter, and then he fired several ice spears toward the enemy, but they made all of them stop moving. While clicking his tongue, Aion used Force Release and then summoned dozens of those around the enemy before firing them. They were unable to stop all of them, but in the end, Aion didn''t see any blood falling when the spear hit the enemy¡­ or perhaps he didn''t hit them¡­

 Chapter 266 Small Problem

    Aion tried to control all of them and kill the enemy, but it didn''t work¡­ it seemed that they were using their power to repel the ice spears. Aion was confident that sooner orter, he would pull that off, but he didn''t have all day¡­ so he created arge Fireball and shot it. The ice spears began to melt, and then a drenched enemy showed.


    "It is your turn now," Aion said, looking at those two.


    ? Sauros and Seris nodded, but Aion didn''t just wait for them. Hebined wind and ice magic to surround the enemy with a cold breeze. They tried to repel that from all angles. Still, eventually, the electrical bullets hit them and killed them after a few shots.


    You obtained 10.000 experience points.


    "Another enemy with a forgotten power¡­ she certainly knew a lot of unusual people," Sauros said. "Still, it is surprising that you have a hard time-fighting mages."


    Aion wanted to say something snarky, but Sauros had a point. Besides, most mages are annoyingly resourceful, and despite the fact that they are pretty weak physically, they know a lot of magic to increase their survivability. Aion never had to worry about that kind of thing since he could change his ss in the blink of an eye, so he could turn from a ss cannon, to the toughest tank that couldn''t be moved from anything. It was convenient, but he was paying the price in a weird way now.


    "In any case, the enemy of this floor was¡­ a mage that can use Telepathy," Sauros said while he was writing down something.


    "Do you seriously believe that we won''t reach the top?" Aion asked. "If that is the case, you all are probably going to die after me."


    "No, I don''t think that we will fail, but this information mighte in handy in the future," Sauros exined.


    Aion sighed¡­ that guy never learns. In any case, the group decided to rest for a while longer since just one hour had passed since they resumed their journey.


    "It seems that you two talked a bit while I was sleeping. That is good," Sauros said. "Nothing goodes out of ignoring such issues."


    "You are starting to nag a lot like Father," Seris said while frowning. "I already knew that you were going to be a preachy old man, but it seems that you will be worse than I imagined."


    "When you be old enough like me, you start to worry more about those younger than you, helping them not to experience the same failures that I did," Sauros said. "So, it can''t be helped."


    "You are only two years older than me," Seris said while facepalming.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I have more life experience as well since you work too much on your atelier," Sauros said.


    Usually, while listening to that two talking, Aion would feel a bit angry since they were rxing. At the same time, he was training, but in the end, he could only recall his siblings. He improved his rtionship with them, but he felt like he could do more in the future. All of them should have gotten married by now, and he only went to a single party¡­ it would be a waste if either of them held a grudge over that.


    "Maybe I should bring some souvenirs for them¡­ food probably won''t work, and I never saw them eating monster meat," Aion thought. "Aside from that, there are the magic stones and the loot of the pirates¡­ giving stolen goods as gifts is a bit¡­"


    Aion was starting to get too rxed as well, so he couldn''t help but sigh. In any case, Aion put his head in the game when they began to climb the tower, and until the 49th floor, they didn''t face many problems, but once again, they felt like something was soon going to change.


    "I guess this can''t be a coincidence since we are all feeling the same uneasiness," Sauros said. "Just to be sure, I will write my rune on your armor."


    That would consume a lot of his mana, but Aion just had to do his job, and then things would be fine. Once they reached the 50th floor, the group noticed that the ceiling was a lot taller than usual¡­ that couldn''t be a good sign.


    Eventually, everyone''s guess was confirmed when a giant monster appeared on the floor¡­ It resembled quite a bit the guardian of the icebyrinth, but that one had dark and red fur. The beast had in its body some stripes that were red and looked to be burning likeva¡­ Aion didn''t have many good memories when it came to fire monsters.


    The monster began to run, and Aion charged after throwing his spear. The beast didn''t have time to dodge, but it had time to raise its paws to block the direct hit.


    The beast groaned in pain when the weapon pierced the flesh of one of its paws up to the midway point, but then when Aion got close enough, it made a fire tornado appear right around him. The heat Instantly made Aion sweat bullets, but then he created four ice walls around him.


    Aion heard the sound of the electric bullets being fired¡­ Aion sighed. They should have known that they had to charge their shots first. In any case, Aion moved the walls in the opposite flow of the tornado, and then eventually, it lost power. However, in the next moment, the beast charged toward Aion.


    After changing his ss to Monk, Aion used Sonic Punch and then hit the nose of the beast and stopped its charge. Aion used that second to change his ss back to Lancer, and then he used Triple Sonic Thrust.


    Although Aion aimed at one of the eyes of the creature, the beast turned its head to the side and backward and dodged the attacks. Still, some blood that quickly evaporated gushed from the wound¡­

 Chapter 267 Weird Creatures

    "Damn, even this thing''s blood is on fire¡­" Aion thought.


    The temperature was quickly increasing, so Aion made up his mind not to hold back on the mana usage and covered his spear with ice magic. Otherwise, he would pay quite the price for any, even small amounts of recklessness. It was better to waste some mana, than save it and lose an arm or something simr.


    The monster summoned several ice spears and fired them. Aion began to run around the beast and began to dodge them. Still, even when they only hit the ground, they caused explosions that made Aion feel like it was raining boiling water.


    The monster suddenly turned around and swung one of its paws toward Aion while he blocked with his spear. He was still pushed backward for ten meters¡­


    "At least they are using their heads for a change¡­" Aion said while he looked at Seris and Sauros charging their weapons.


    The beast charged at Aion while firing fire spears and then jumped to the side to smash Aion when he did the same.


    While clicking his tongue, Aion made several ice spears emerge from the ground and around him. The monsternded on the spears, and then they began to pierce its body. However, they soon cracked since Aion didn''t have time to make them properly¡­ still, they bought him enough time to escape.


    Aion jumped backward, and while he was in the air, he used Sonic Throw and used his magic to make the weapon spin. The creature used the other paw to block the attack, and while it worked, it cost the other paw as well.


    Even when it pierced the flesh, Aion kept using his magic to make the weapon spin and pierce even further. While the enemy was trembling in agony, Sauros and Seris aimed their weapons properly and then shot at the monster''s head. Two electric spears flew and hit the enemy''s head, paralyzing the creature for several seconds. Blood began to leave the monster''s nostrils and ears¡­ but it didn''t kill it.


    "What tenacity¡­ those attacks were on the same level as the one who killed the guardian of thebyrinth, and yet¡­" Aion thought while he watched sparks of lightning bolts around the monster appearing.


    Aion changed his ss to Necromancer¡­ there was no time to hold back. With that in mind, he summoned several ice pirs and made them hit the enemy''s head in quick session and didn''t give the monster any time to rest. Eventually, Aion heard the sound of bones cracking, and the beast stopped moving.


    You obtained 200.000 experience points.


    The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    You obtained 05 status points.


    You obtained 03 improvement points.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion sighed¡­ that was a lot of experience that could have gone to thencer ss. Still, that made him get close to the moment when he would get his first third-tier ss.


    "The challenge this time was a lot tougher than the others¡­" Sauros said and then sighed. "That was surprising. "I thought it would be on the same level as those creatures we faced in thebyrinth, but I was dead wrong."


    "In any case, we don''t know if the next floors will be like this, but we need to rest properly," Seris said. "Just in case¡­ the ceiling is fifty meters above us, and if the next floors are like this¡­"


    Aion nodded. It would mean that not many of those were left. It was better that way time-wise, but a bit boring since Aion couldn''t get more experience. He felt like he was running in circles wanting both things.


    "I am starting to miss the cold of thebyrinth¡­" Aion said while using some wind magic to make the hot air dissipate. "You can escape the cold with clothes, but the heat is exhaustingly annoying."


    "... I still prefer the heat over the cold," Sauros said.


    "Me too," Seris nodded.


    "You two are weird. Escaping the cold with some warm wind is rxing," Aion said. "Anyway, have you heard of this kind of monster before?"


    "Yes, this time, it isn''t one that has gone extinct," Sauros said. "It is a creaturemon in a certain country way north of that frozen country. That ce has many volcanoes, and those monsters like to live near those."


    "Why the hell do they have fur, then? That is just stupid," Aion said.


    "I guess it helps them emit more energy and conserve it as well¡­" Sauros exined. "Come to think of it, while obtaining information is our trade, and I can''t say that we know everything about the whole world¡­ some of the enemies and monsters that we face must live in the outeryer of the ocean."


    ording to Sauros, there was this massive ocean that they were in that was round and surrounded by a single continent that had a weird format since it surrounded that ocean. However, there existed even bigger countries and continents beyond that area. Not even Sauros'' family managed to explore thosends beyond in many generations sinceing and going would take years of travel nonstop through uncharted waters.


    In any case, just resting for half an hour wouldn''t do this time, so they rested for a while longer before going to the next floor. Since the battles were getting harder and Aion didn''t know for how long his current abilities would be enough, he decided to keep using the Necromancer ss on the next floors. He only changed that strategy when some mage-type enemies showed up since it became a test of patience rather than a battle due to their defensive skills¡­


    For the time being, they didn''t face anything really troublesome in the next few floors. Thanks to that, Aion managed to reach the level one hundred in the necromancer ss after the 59th floor¡­ he could evolve the ss now. Still, he could only hope as well that he won''t need the necromancer ss as much as in that tower¡­

 Chapter 268 Undead Lord

    Congrattions! The ss Necromancer has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Undead Lord, Cursed Undead, or Bloody Undead.


    Undead Lord Lv 01


    Health: 12/12


    Mana: 48/48


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 03


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 03


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Undead Staff Lv 01


    Bonuses: Magic + 03, Resistance + 03


    Skills: Undead Rider Lv 01


    Passive: Poison Immunity Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 01


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.445.250


    Inventory:<novelnext></novelnext>


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Skeleton Rider: by using two corpses, you can summon a skeleton rider that will have fifty points of health, mana, and stamina per level at the cost of two hundred points of mana.


    Poison Immunity: decreases the damage caused and effects of poison-rted attacks by ten points per level.


    After checking his options, Aion decided to go with the Undying Lord. He imagined that it would be a ss that would grant him some extra survivability despite being a mage ss. He had faced a lot of annoying mages recently, so that he couldn''t be wrong about it. He never dealt with poison that much, but it was better having it than not having it. Once the chancees, it will level up even faster.


    "I guess I should use the processed magic stones to refine the Undead''s Staff as much as possible," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I can see that the ss is at least fifty percent better than the previous one considering only the effects of the parameters, so making the refinement reach the max level and the ss at level thirty will be enough for me to be as strong as theplete necromancer ss. Speaking of which¡­"


    Aion checked his inventory, and he confirmed that his death knights were still there and their levels were the same. He couldn''t test if he could summon them, though.


    "The next floor is the sixth¡­ I guess we can call it a day once we defeat the enemy there, but I don''t think that it will be easy," Sauros said. "So, don''t drop your guard down. I guess my rune should help you in case something happens."


    Aion could only nod, even though he actually wanted to sigh. In the end, it didn''t seem like his powers would be enough for him to reach the top¡­ but it was only natural, given how many crazy monsters and creatures existed in the past¡­ while he had the blood of two powerful bloodlines and that system, it would be weird if he were the world''s strongest when he was just sixteen. Even more so if he thought that he was the strongest of all periods.


    "I just need to be patient¡­ Force Release will make me unstoppable once it reaches a certain level," Aion thought. "No need to get impatient. Remember how you built your strength since the day you were reborn."


    After that, the group began to climb to the next floor, and they quickly confirmed that the ce was as big as the previous one. At the same time, they could feel a lot of mana there¡­ something really powerful was going to be summoned there.


    Even with their guard up, the group couldn''t help but frown when a single person appeared after a few seconds. Moreover, that person didn''t have a cloak to cover their entire body¡­ the person didn''t have gray skin like it was dead either. Thanks to that, Aion didn''t attack first¡­ that enemy wasn''t like the others. After a close inspection, Aion confirmed that the enemy was a man who had short brown hair and some tattoos on his arms. He was quite skinny, but he had a certain air around him¡­


    With his spear in hand, Aion decided to y defensively for a change since he felt that he had seen someone like that before, but he couldn''t remember where¡­ Sauros and Seris felt the same way.


    All of a sudden, the enemy put his hands together like he was offering a prayer, and then in the next moment, several massive Fireballs appeared around him. Sauros and Seris fired to make those explode, but their bullets only were consumed by the mes.


    Aion furrowed his eyebrows, and he couldn''t block them the normal way. When the fireballs began to move, he covered his spear in ice and made the weapon spin around him. The magic projectiles gained speed and then moved toward him, but before they could hit, they collided against the spear.


    Several powerful explosions that made the entire floor tremble for several seconds happened, and the temperature of the room increased. Still, Aion managed to block the attack, but Sauros and Seris could tell that he wasn''t happy with it¡­ something was bothering him.


    The enemy joined his hands again, and several earth spears were summoned this time. Aion clicked his tongue when he noticed their angle¡­ they would fly toward Seris and Sauros if he dodged. Blocking will be a pain since earth spears were pretty heavy, and those were quiterge. Considering their numbers, Aion could only block by spinning his spear, but facing them head-on wasn''t a good solution¡­


    The battle had just started, but Aion was already pissed since the enemy wasn''t trying to overwhelm them even though he seriously could¡­ they were just being tested. Aion clicked his tongue and then dashed toward the enemy. At the same time, the spears were thrown at him¡­


    Aion''s weapon blocked three of them while it was being pushed away, and two others reached him. Thanks to Sauros'' rune, they began to move slowly when they got close to him, but only slow enough for Aion to punch them a few times after covering his fists with ice magic. From the enemy''s perspective, it looked like Aion just got insanely fast all of a sudden¡­ and then he smiled¡­

 Chapter 269 I Hate Mages

    The smile pissed Aion off so much that he felt like a vein was about to burst in his head. Still, he didn''t have time to let that bother him since several other spears approached¡­


    With his magic Enhanced fists, Aion used Sonic Punch and turned the spears into dust¡­ when thest one was destroyed, he charged at the enemy, but he joined his hands together again. Something changed in the air, and Aion was forced to stop¡­ all of a sudden, he felt an impact on his face, and he got paralyzed for a moment. It didn''t knock him down, but it had a lot of power.


    Another one hit Aion''s other side, and then he confirmed he was hit by someone invisible, and it felt like a punch¡­ that sure was annoying.


    "Aion? What is going on?" Sauros asked.


    As if Aion had time to answer to that, he raised his arms to protect his face, and then he got hit on the stomach several times in a row. He was pushed backward with those hits, and that made Seris and Sauros understand what was going on.


    "I don''t sense anyone''s presence aside from that guy, and you are being attacked by some sort of invisible spell," Seris said.


    "Thanks, Sherlock," Aion said.


    Aion made his spear retreat and spin in front of him. However, he still was hit several times¡­ the spell wasn''ting from the front¡­ most likely, the enemy was using wind magic to create projectiles in the shape of fists to get Aion.


    Defending was useless, so Aion made his spear fly toward the enemy, but he joined his hands again and made a wind wall appear around him and blocked the attack. Aion insisted and made the weapon hit the barrier several times. However, he didn''t notice any changes¡­ but the enemy still kept his hands together.


    "It seems like that as long as he keeps that instance, his barrier won''t disappear¡­" Aion thought, and then he felt a powerful impact on his right rib. "But he still can attack¡­ I really hate mages."


    There was no such a thing as a perfect defense when ites to the physical realm¡­ even giant stars can explode, so a spell of that level can be destroyed. Aion wondered why he was thinking about that when he didn''t have time for it.


    Aion made his spear return, and then he grabbed it while he used a lot of his mana to enhance the weapon with ice magic. He was going to stop to rest after that battle anyways, so there was no need for him to hold back on the mana.


    The enemy noticed that something had changed about Aion, and then he pped his hands to create a new magic projectile in order to kill him before he attacked¡­ Sauros and Seris prepared to attack, but then they began to sweat cold when they saw an electric spear appearing in front of the enemy¡­ they needed at least two minutes to charge something of that size, and the enemy created it in five seconds¡­


    In any case, giving the enemy more time to charge wouldn''t be any good, so they fired their own electric spears¡­ small lightning bolts flew across the area when the projectiles collided¡­ However, the enemy''s spell didn''t disperse¡­ it lost some stability, but he managed to fix things soon enough.


    Aion''s spear had be ten meters long in size due to the ice that he cast, and it was pretty heavy. Still, he fired it with all his might instead. In that split of a second, the enemy also attacked and fired his spear against Aion.


    A powerful st pushed Aion and the others away when the attacks collided. Aside from the floor, the entire space began to vibrate due to the attack. During the whole time, Aion kept looking at the enemy and confirmed that not even an inch of mana reached him¡­ the shockwave also didn''t bother him in the least. It looked like he waspletely invulnerable to magic or long-range attacks.


    "I really, really hate mages¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    Aion saw his spear breaking¡­ it was only natural that such a thing would happen. In any case, he changed his ss to Monk since the undead lord wasn''t ready to be used, and not even Demonic Berserker was.


    Monk Lv 65


    Health: 656/656


    Mana: 270/270


    Stamina: 394/394


    Strength: 221 + 69<novelnext></novelnext>


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 101


    Endurance: 01 + 69


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 69


    Status: 00


    Gauntlets Refinement Lv 69


    Bonuses: Strenght + 69, Speed + 69, Endurance + 69


    Skills: Palm Strike Lv 01, Wolf Fang Lv 01, Chaotic Punch Lv 35 (Power Lv 100), Fists Storm Lv 10,


    Passive: Physical Training Lv 25, Brutality Lv 22, Martial Arts Lv 15(Power Lv 92)


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.445.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Fists Storm: an endless sequence of punches that grow faster and heavier when not interrupted. It consumes thirty points of stamina per second, and it is canceled when you suffer damage.


    Martial Arts: increases the power of your kicks and punches by two points per level.


    When ites to bnce, the Guardian ss would have been a better option. Still, Aion was willing to suffer a little if he could kick the ass of the enemy even a single second faster.


    Aion used Force Release and then charged. The enemy joined his hands together and summoned some giant fists made of earth magic. Still, Aion destroyed all of them with his punches. The enemy finally took a step backward when he saw that Aion''s fists had been enhanced once again with ice magic. When he saw that, Aion only smirked. Despite the situation, things were getting really interesting.


    When he got within range, Aion used Chaotic Lunch, and at thest moment, the enemy summoned that windshield again, but the impact pushed him backward until he hit the wall¡­

 Chapter 270 Secrecy

    At the moment of the lunch, Aion saw the wind barrier getting thinner and the wind dispersing in several parts. His guess was right, and there was no such a thing known as perfect defense¡­


    Aion prepared to attack again, but when the enemy got up, he joined his hands and then made the wind barrier turn into a fire one. Aion smiled¡­ as if something like that would stop him.


    Aion charged again while using Chaotic Punch. His attack caused a shockwave that dispersed the mes for a short while, but he still felt them burning his flesh. Still, the enemy has pushed away against the wall, and he was unable to move from that position. It would have been a good chance to use Fists Storm, but the mes wouldn''t let him use the effects of the skill properly¡­


    In any case, Aion ignored the pain and used Chaotic Punch again and again. When the barrier began to break, and the enemy tried to join his hands, the impact made him lose his bnce¡­ eventually, the barrier broke, and then Aion punched the enemy in the gut.


    The guy''s body bent forward, and Aion prepared to destroy his head with another Chaotic Punch. Still, at thest minute, he felt a powerful feeling that prevented him from doing that¡­ in the end, the final punch justnded and pierced the stomach of the enemy¡­


    Blood gushed from the wound when Aion pulled his hand, and then the enemy fell on his butt on the ground. Before the shadow that soon disappeared, he raised his head and smiled while looking at Aion.


    You obtained 300.000 experience points.


    The Monk ss has leveled up.


    You obtained 75 status points.


    You obtained 45 improvement points.


    Aion frowned after that¡­ why would that guy smile at him like that? Why would he hesitate in punching the head of the enemy¡­ when Sauros and Seris approached, he took the statues from his inventory and then confirmed it.


    "The guy with the book¡­" Sauros said with his eyes wide open. "He is the guy that you just defeated."


    "Apanion of your ancestor that saved the world three thousand years ago¡­ I didn''t expect to see one of them here," Seris said. "It didn''t seem like he was forced to be here, though. I guess she made a circle to summon her friend, knowing that he would want to help her even after death. Hey, your arms!"


    That seemed to be the case¡­ Aion was also quite curious to the point that he ignored the situation of his hands¡­ they were in a mess. Most of the outeryer of the skin had been burned, and only Aion''s fists were fine due to the gauntlets. His forearm had burned so much that even muscles could be seen¡­ Sauros and Seris felt shivers while looking at it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion began to heal himself while keeping his focus on making sure that the pain was going to bother him that much. At the same time, Seris used her powers to increase his regeneration speed¡­


    "I had read about their powers, but it seems that they are more formidable than expected¡­ thepanions of the goddess and the god," Sauros said.


    "I thought you had said that they weren''t gods," Aion said.


    "After seeing one of their friends in action, I can only think that they are," Sauros said. "That guy used the power of the spirits and to be able to control them so much."


    "He was praying to them, not controlling them," Aion said. "Basically, begging them to help him the whole time."


    "If that were enough, that kind of art still would exist to this day," Sauros said. "To be able to control the spirits that much¡­ a mage of this caliber wouldn''t even need to use mana. They would be able to build ces like this insanely fast¡­ perhaps, not it was nothing."


    Sauros didn''t want to say that Aion''s ancestor bought her friends from the dead to work on that kind of ce and on the other temples. Then again, Aion couldn''t see a problem when she asked them to help fight¡­


    In any case, from what he had heard, the two so-called gods had three mainpanions. Now that Aion saw that one of them had the appearance of one of the statues, things were starting to make sense. Most likely, the tower had exactly one hundred floors, and they were going to find the remaining four in the next bigger floors¡­ in the seventieth, eightieth, nieth, and one hundredth¡­ Aion also couldn''t help but wonder¡­ who they were going to meet on the final one, his ancestor or her friend that disappeared¡­ Either way, the final floors were going to be quite difficult.


    Although it took a while, Sauros and Seris sighed in relief when they saw Aion''s arms being restored¡­ they couldn''t imagine how someone could sustain that kind of injury without even groaning a bit. At that point in time, they had already noticed it¡­ Aion was reckless when fighting, but only when he knew he needed to be in order to get all the focus of the enemies. When they weren''t a threat, he was meticulous enough to use only enough attacks and energy against each one of them, but when that wasn''t the case¡­


    "Try not to be this reckless again, all right?" Sauros asked.


    Aion was already tired of exining why he fought like that, so he decided to stay quiet and then sleep a little after his arms were back to normal. It didn''tst long, but the battle had been mentally taxing.


    "Did you imagine that this would happen¡­ people like us seeing people from the past without using time magic?" Seris asked.


    "No¡­ but that serves as a reminder that there are many ways to bypass the seal of not using time magic," Sauros said. "We need to clear this tower in order to make sure that no one else will realize this."

 Chapter 271 Archer

    When Aion woke up, he began his training with Power Throw, and it seemed that the previous difficult battle sharpened his instincts since he noticed a difference in the efficiency of the technique. Moreover, he could charge it for more than thirty seconds now¡­ things were looking it up.


    Thanks to it, Aion managed to take down the enemies on the next floors in a single hit¡­ there was also the fact that Sonic Throw was leveling up a lot, and Aion was also increasing his strength with each level-up, but that certainly wasn''t the main reason. Regardless, he couldn''t just ck off now and he wouldn''t since he was a workaholic when it came to training.


    "Can we rest for a bit longer between floors? I need to work on the next weapons," Seris said. "Seriously, I think I am going to lose my mind if we don''t manage to do anything again against the next enemy."


    Sauros scratched the back of his head, he could understand the feeling, but since they couldn''t keep up with Aion on the frontline, they didn''t have many options. Even their support was kind of being unnecessary... that was more than surprising since most of the enemies were creatures or people from the past and it was an objective fact that they were stronger than most people in the current world.


    Seris began to work on the next weapon that was simr to the current one, but instead of lightning bullets, it fired ice ones. They should have some extra weight when being used, but it seemed that Seris was trying to make their freezing effects to get stronger based on the tests that she made.


    "Seris, maybe you should teach Aion some runes," Sauros suddenly said when they defeated the enemy on the 69th floor. "Things are getting harder, and he is overworking himself, trying to make the enemies only focus on him. That should work as some help from our side."


    "No need. Sooner orter, I will learn that by myself," Aion said.


    In fact, it wouldn''t surprise Aion if he got a ss that would help him learn runes in the future. Maybe it was a variation of one of his mage sses, or perhaps the ones that focus on support. Either way, he was fine for the time being.


    "... Since he can use Inner Force and some other version of that technique, I don''t think he should learn anything else since I believe that support runes would suit him most," Seris said after she scratched the back of her head. "While he recovers mana fast, it would be a waste not to let him use some runes, though¡­ this is aplicated matter."


    "Like I said¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    "There are the basic elemental ones thate in handy," Seris said. "You are enhancing your weapon with magic, and you control it to increase the power even further. The basic runes can draw mana from the environment to your spear, and that will make you control the magic better and use less energy as well."


    That seemed pretty convenient, but after refusing the offer a few times, it felt troublesome to ept it now.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You just have to write this while focusing some of your mana on your weapon," Seris said. "When ites to runes, the intention is the key. The stronger the image of the effect you want, the better it will be. Still, you already proved that you are a better mage than us. So, even the sloppiest of your runes definitely will be something to see."


    Before Aion said anything, Seris moved her fingers in the air, forming a symbol that had the shape of a pointy spiral¡­ it looked like a mix of a whirlwind and a triangle.


    Aion decided to try drawing it in the air and then moving close to his spear. He frowned when he saw the symbol glowing in the air after he finished it. Then he moved toward the spear¡­


    "You did on the first attempt¡­ how annoying," Seris said after clicking her tongue.


    "You are a pain in the ass," Aion said and then shrugged.


    After not so long, Aion began to feel the mana around starting to gather on the spear¡­ since he didn''t focus that much or used too much mana, Aion assumed that not a lot of mana would concentrate there, but just the experience would be fine¡­ any small amount of mana would be useful.


    In the end, Aion decided to take a nap since Seris hadn''t finished her preparations yet. After a two hours power nap, Aion woke up and could feel a lot of energying from it¡­ Aion wanted to test it, but it would be a waste to use any of it now.


    "We are ready to go now," Sauros said. "I don''t think that we are going to face those guys so soon, but it is obvious that on the next floor, we will either face the archer or the mage," Sauros said. "Both of them are long-ranged warriors¡­ keep your guard up because they will be even harder than anything we have seen thus far."


    The archer will probably be easier to defeat, but then again¡­ Aion didn''t have that much experience dealing with them either. In any case, the group climbed to the next floor and confirmed that it was another big one.


    When the shadow of the next enemy began to appear, Aion immediately focused his mana on it and then made a twenty meters ice spear appear before he threw the spear at them. He didn''t care if the enemy was a friend of his ancestor and they were someone that had to be defeated.


    The object flew at supersonic speeds toward the enemy, but it stopped when she appearedpletely. It was a redhead woman with a pointy hat¡­ but Aion ignored that while trying to understand how she managed to pull that off¡­ Aion understood it when he saw the ice cracking into many pieces¡­

 Chapter 272 Mana Absorbtion

    "Urgh, I hate mages¡­ I hate mages so much," Aion muttered when he noticed that the enemy could cancel the effects of magic.


    "Unbelievable¡­ for a simple person to be able to do this¡­" Sauros said.


    Aion was amazed that Sauros could be that carefree. Sauros and Seris couldn''t attack anymore, and it didn''t look like he had realized that.


    In any case, Aion changed sses to recover his weapon, and then he saw the redhead witch floating. It seemed that she also wanted to test their strength instead of decimating them¡­ that was going to be tough for Aion since half of his strengthes from magic. Still, Inner Force and Force Release weren''t spells per se, so they shouldn''t be affected.


    Aion charged toward the witch with his spear in hand, and then he suddenly tripped when a stone appeared on the ground¡­ after rolling on the ground, he got up as quickly as possible, only to see a nk expression on the witch''s face. It seemed that all of his ancestors'' friends were a pain in the ass.


    Since it was like that, Aion just jumped toward her after using Force Release, and then she summoned some ice walls to block his path, but Aion destroyed them with a single swing. Still, when he got close enough, Aion noticed that the enemy had disappeared.


    Aionnded and then looked around for her, but he found nothing. Without hesitation, Aion used his magic to create a cold wind that enveloped the whole floor and then made it move¡­ It didn''t take long for him to notice an area where some ice was forming. Aion dashed in that direction, and then the witch appeared, firing some blue swords at him¡­


    Aion blocked them with his mana, but theypletely stopped his charge. While Aion was dealing with that, Sauros and Seris fired some ice spears with their new weapons. Still, the witch just looked at them for a second, and then the projectiles began to fall apart¡­ she wasn''t even using Mana to pull that off. If that was some sort of mutation, it was probably one of the strongest that had ever existed¡­


    If Aion hadn''t reset the berserker ss to get a new one, it would be the best option to deal with her, but life was like that; it likes to kick you in the balls after some choices you make. Either way, the Lancer ss wasn''t half bad in that situation¡­


    Aion braced himself for the pain and charged. He kept his spear near his body and only blocked the swords that flew toward his head and heart. When they began to pierce him, Aion''s anger made his blood boil, but he didn''t let that get the better of him.


    The witch tried to fly away from Aion, but he jumped toward her with all his might, and when she moved her arms to summon ice walls, he used Sonic Throw. She was forced to fire a st of wind from both hands to stop the attack, but she didn''t stop Aion, who had recovered his spear and then used Triple Sonic Thrust.


    Aion felt that he had hit the chest of the enemy three times, but he didn''t see any blood in his spear or falling from the chest of the enemy¡­


    Aionnded on the floor and then sighed¡­ that woman would be a tough nut to crack¡­ time was of the essence, so he had toe up with a n to surprise her and defeat her once and for all.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The witch didn''t have time for Aion to think. It was almost as if she could tell that it would be a bad idea if she let him do that¡­ while summoning several swords around her, she also made them spin to gain speed and piercing power.


    "To be able to control this many Magic projectiles this well¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows in surprise. "Her skills surpass mine and even my mother''s."


    One can be skilled with constant training, and while talent helped, it seemed that the woman broke all senses of logic with her powers. Aion had been hit three times by those swords, and they pierced his flesh a couple of centimeters despite his Force Release. With the extra spinning power, things might get messy¡­


    "Aion! Come here!" Seris shouted.


    Since they knew that it was useless, Seris and Sauros didn''t try to keep using their mana, but it looked like they had one idea that might help¡­ Seris was just going to use her powers, probably.


    Aion began to run in the opposite direction to circte around the room while trying to escape the magic projectiles. Still, their speed surpassed his expectation, so he was forced to turn around and block them.


    When his spear blocked the first and Aion was pushed backward for two meters, he had an idea, and he jumped backward without showing his back. Thanks to it, when the next ones were fired and were blocked, Aion was pushed backward, and it didn''t take long for him to get closer to the others.


    Eventually, the witch also got close enough to them, and then Sauros used his power and slowed down time while creating a barrier around the area.


    The witch blinked several times when she began to fall¡­ that didn''t make any sense. Sauros only messed with the time around, so her mana was supposed to remain stable¡­ but then her Swords began to crumble away.


    "She wasn''t using her mana?" Aion asked.


    "Exactly, her true power is to control the mana on a certain area around her," Sauros exined. "I had read about this power once. She can absorb the mana around and make her own without making it enter her body. However, her abilities are limited in confined spaces since she can''t take the mana from outside a building or a room. That is why she uses most of it to disrupt the spells of others and to create swords made of mana."

 Chapter 273 No Damage

    Despite the situation she was in, the witch didn''t look even a bit worried. The nk expression never left her face, even when she tried to make the barrier disappear and failed¡­ she was more aware of Sauros and Seris now, but she didn''t look pissed. She looked more troubled than anything.


    "She can still control the mana inside this ce, so you will have to use physical attacks only," Sauros said. "Also, she is also consuming the mana of the barrier so that it won''tst for more than five minutes."


    "That will be plenty," Aion said and then charged.


    Using her own mana, the witch summoned several blue swords and then stopped Aion''s charge. Still, he kept using Triple Sonic Thrust, and the attacks began to crack her projectiles. Upon noticing that things would be bad if she continued like that, she summoned ten more swords and made them fly toward Aion.


    By using Quick Sweep several times, Aion blocked those weapons while also damaging them a bit. The Swords that the witch used to block Aion''s advance began to crack as well. Aion made all of his energy explode in a single moment, including all the energy in his cores. He became a blur for a moment while attacking the swords. Eventually, they began to fall apart, and the witch was left defenseless¡­ she didn''t try to escape¡­ so Aion just stabbed her heart.


    You obtained 400.000 experience points.


    The ss Lancer has leveled up.


    You obtained 35 status points.


    You obtained 21 improvement points.


    The witch didn''t smile, but she disappeared while showing an expression of relief¡­ Aion didn''t know why, but he felt that she left knowing that someone worthy of the final relic hade to im it, but maybe that was just his imagination.


    "That was the witch that helped your ancestor¡­ what a fearsome adversary," Sauros said.


    "Thesest battles had been a bit weird¡­ it felt like¡­ the enemies weren''t trying to kill us, so it is hard to hate them," Seris said while frowning. "I guess I prefer to fight and defeat those that hate¡­ the fact that the monsters and people here died a long time ago is also troubling."


    "Naturally, but things can never be that simple¡­" Sauros said. "Anyway, you got hurt being reckless again¡­"


    ? "Be quiet," Aion said and then sat down to heal himself.


    It wasn''t like Aion liked to get hurt, but taking some bits sometimes was the best way to force the enemy to show an opening. In any case, two down and three to go¡­ the archer will definitely be the next enemy, and then the real troublesome ones will be left.


    "What do you guys know about their abilities?" Aion asked.


    "Nothing¡­ absolutely nothing," Sauros replied. "Only those that fought with them know their skills and their enemies, I guess."


    "That is rather ominous¡­" Aion said.


    Ominous and troublesome¡­ Aion didn''t want to face them without knowing what they could do. Still, he at least knew that the god that vanished was supposed to be a swordsman. As for the relic that will have the image of his ancestor¡­ it won''t be useful to alert him since he will have to defeat her before that can happen.


    After healing his wounds, Aion waited for the others to recover their mana. Staying in the tower for only five days didn''t seem like a long time, but Aion wanted to defeat his ancestor and the other guy the next day and defeat the archer on that day. Sauros and Seris couldn''t help but sigh when they realized what he was thinking.


    "It must be nice being young and full of energy," Sauros said.


    "I think that we are pretty young ourselves. He just has too much energy," Seris said.


    After a while, the group began to move again. Although their pace was quite Spartan, Seris and Sauros couldn''tin since they barely moved and only used their weapons a couple of times. Aion felt thankful for that. At some point, he wondered if they would have to face some swarms of monsters. He was also thankful that he never voiced those concerns to jinx the group.


    Lancer Lv 77


    Health: 1368/1368<novelnext></novelnext>


    Mana: 608/608


    Stamina: 908/908


    Strength: 231


    Dexterity: 01 + 30


    Magic: 151


    Endurance: 01 + 200


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 200


    Status: 00


    Extreme Spear Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Endurance + 200, Speed +200


    Skills: Protective Wind Lv 11, Sonic Throw Lv 27 (Power Lv 100, Cost: Lv 92), Quick Sweep Lv 14, Triple Sonic Thrust Lv 17(Power Lv 39), Poisonous Strike Lv 01


    Passive: Fighting Spirit Lv 22, Critical Thirst Lv 21, Improved Dexterity Lv 06, Cold Spear Lv 04


    Improvement Points: 39


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.442.200


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Poisonous Strike: a technique thatbines the power of your strength and magic to cause a lot of damage over time. The poison damage willst for ten seconds, and it will be equal to the level of the technique multiplied by two.


    "Hmm¡­ when ites to fighting, spears have the upper hand in terms of range against swords, but I don''t know what kind of sword that guy will use," Aion thought. "Perhaps the guardian ss would be more effective¡­ but my offensive ability was going to decrease."


    Aion began to think about a battle n against the swordsman of that group of five heroes¡­ even though they hadn''t even defeated the archer yet. He also considered fighting some enemies and making the demonic Berserker ss level up, but that seemed like a waste¡­ in any case, those worries disappeared when the group reached the eightieth floor¡­


    Aion showed up while ready to unleash his best attack yet at the enemy, and he did it when the enemy showed up. However, the hooded archer pointed his weapon and nocked an arrow in a fraction of a second before firing it. The entire structure trembled, and when the dust settled¡­ Aion saw the enemypletely unscathed.

 Chapter 274 Challenge

    Aion changed his ss because, naturally, his spear broke. That was starting to get really old¡­ still, after equipping the guardian ss and assuming a defensive stance, he just wondered how the hell the enemy managed to block his charged attack¡­ it couldn''t be that he could charge his Power Shot that much faster.


    "It looks like we will need to use all of our mana this time¡­ buy us some time, Aion," Sauros said. "It will be worth the wait."


    Aion was nning to buy time, not to let others win for him, but because he wanted to understand the secret of the strength of the enemy. He was starting to realize that he was a terrible team yer... it was understandable given that he did a lot of things by himself until now.


    Before he could even begin to think, the archer just nocked an arrow and then fired. Aion barely saw the projectile moving, and to make things even weirder, he blocked the arrow with his shield. Still, he felt five impacts that pushed him backward for several meters.


    "Even with my highest endurance¡­" Aion thought.


    The archer didn''t seem to be in a hurry. He slowly nocked another arrow and slowly aimed¡­ it was impossible to say what he was thinking since his face was buried under a thick and long hood. When the next arrow was fired, Aion raised his shield again, and this time, he felt six consecutive impacts¡­ the archer was messing with him.


    "Aion, don''t let the blood rush to your head," Sauros said. "Let the enemy spend his energy, and then soon we will counterattack."


    Aion sighed¡­ he couldn''t remember thest time that happened, so the warning was useless. Still, that was really unnerving¡­ the idea of holding back was so insulting¡­ trying to be efficient when fighting enemies was one thing, but ying around like that was different.


    When Aion took several steps forward, the enemy suddenly fired his arrows and pushed him backward¡­ as if he was saying that he wasn''t allowed to cross a certain line. In the end, Aion almost reached the point where Sauros and Seris were¡­ they were covering their ears since the metallic sound during the impacts was too loud.


    In any case, without letting the enemy notice it, Seris touched Aion''s back and used her powers. When the timees, he will be able to charge and attack the enemy with all his might¡­


    For a short while, Aion decided to y the game of the enemy and assumed a defensive stance, and blocked the attacks until he noticed the gaze of the enemy changing and focusing on Sauros and Seris¡­ they were ready to shoot, and the enemy noticed that.


    The archer suddenly jumped to attack them, and Aion clicked his tongue¡­ without his footing, he would be blown away¡­ before the enemy could shoot his arrow, Aion created a thick ice wall that emerged and supported his feet, and then he raised his shield¡­ the enemy fired his arrow and another shock that made the entire structure tremble took ce there¡­


    Sauros and Seris imagined that they would be crushed by the attack, but the ice wall only cracked once the trembling ended. Soon after, they saw Aionnding on the ground, and both of his legs had been crushed when he tried to withstand the attack¡­ his upper body was fine due to his Shield, but he couldn''t even get up.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The archer was about to nock another arrow, but those two moved faster and then fired their attacks¡­ a massive lightning bolt and ice spear flew toward the enemy side by side, and the archer could only choose one to hit¡­ that was supposed to be the case, but in the end, he hit both somehow.


    The tower trembling was starting to be something repetitive, but they couldn''t get used to it. In any case, that impact made the ice melt, and a lot of smoke began to choke the room as well¡­ Aion, Sauros, and Seris had a hard time breathing. They could only hope that they finished the job, but Aion knew that it didn''t happen. Still, he could only wait patiently for his healing core to restore his legs.


    When things started to be clear again, Aion got up even though his legs still were screaming in pain¡­ Sauros and Seris wanted to stop him, but then they saw the enemy standing on the room''s opposite side. He was finally pushed away quite a bit, but the enemy still looked unscathed.


    "You can''t be serious¡­" Seris said. "How do you exin this, Sauros?"


    "Don''t expect me to exin everything, and I don''t have all the answers¡­" Sauros said, looking like he was losing his cool.


    Aion''s healing core healed his muscles, but the bones on his legs were all cracked. Still, he forced himself to move forward after changing his ss to the monk. It looked like he chose the wrong approach¡­


    When the enemy aimed again and fired, Aion punched the arrow with a hook and made it fly to the other side of the room¡­ he could barely see the projectile moving. Still, he could feel it when it was about to reach him.


    "It seems that his power to multiply the impact can only work in certain circumstances¡­" Aion thought while shaking his right hand.


    Although he pulled that off, Aion''s hand still hurt a bit¡­ It seemed that those arrows were made of diamond or something.


    Aion could feel the intention of the enemy when he nocked the next arrow. In the end, when he saw the arm of the enemy rxing, Aion used Chaotic Punch. A powerful impact took ce in the middle of the floor, but Aion didn''t lose the exchange. In fact, he got closer to the enemy, and this time, the archer couldn''t help but frown.


    "Let''s see if you are as good at running as you are at shooting¡­" Aion said while cracking his fingers.

 Chapter 275 Setbacks

    The atmosphere on the floor changed again. While Aion didn''t have that many chances left to use Chaotic Punch, it was clear that the enemy was wary of that attack¡­ the enemy should be wary, but Aion should be even more considering how it hurts him. He didn''t get any skills or spells that fixessting damage, and maybe it was about time for him to level up the Priest ss seriously. Better be safe than sorry.


    When the enemy grabbed another arrow, Aion could see that the arrowheads were made of some unknown material¡­ it didn''t seem like iron or steel. It certainly wasn''t made of diamond either¡­ still, maybe that was the secret between the Archer''s power.


    "I am fifty meters away, with an arrow that fast¡­ I can only block the attacks while I am at this distance," Aion thought. "Any further, and I can only protect my head and heart and hope that getting hit anywhere else won''t take me down that fast¡­"


    When the arm of the enemy rxed, Aion used Chaotic Punch and hit his head behind his right fist while his left guard protected his head. Still, the arrow collided with his right gauntlet¡­ the enemy had aimed at his head even though he knew what Aion would do.


    The attack slowed Aion a bit, but then he used Force Release and charged toward the enemy. In a single moment, he covered that distance. Still, the enemy jumped and created some distance between them by firing several arrows. The shots caused some shockwaves that forced him to move. Still, Aion strengthened his guard and kept going.


    Eventually, the archer began to fall, and Aion approached while blocking the arrows with his gauntlets, and then he used Chaotic Punch. Much to his surprise, the archer blocked Aion''s punch¡­ with his bow.


    The enemy has pushed away and rolled on the ground several times but quickly got up only to see Aion on his knees. His legs gave up due to the pain caused by his cracked bones.


    After taking a deep breath, Aion got up and saw the enemy pointing an arrow at his head. Aion took another deep sigh while looking at the enemy in the eye. Dragging out things will only make things harder for him¡­ Aion decided to bet everything on the next attack.


    It wasn''t as nearly as efficient ifpared to being used the original way. Still, Aion decided to burn all the energy in his cores. While being used, his stamina and mana made his body evaporate a lot of sweat on his body and clothes.


    The enemy raised his guard, and he hesitated for the first time in the battle. He had no idea what to expect next¡­ still, while it had been a smart move to be cautious, the hesitation also cost the enemy¡­


    Aion let his energy explode and charged. The enemy summoned a single arrow that became dozens and was fired toward Aion''s head. In the next moment, a powerful impact took ce in the middle of the floor. The shockwave pushed Sauros and Seris backward and eventually knocked them down.


    After rolling on the ground several times, they got up, and when the smoke began to dissipate, they saw Aion with his fist right in the middle of the enemy''s left chest. They saw the enemy opening his mouth, but they were unable to hear the words¡­


    "It is toote¡­" The archer said before he turned into a shadow and then disappeared.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "The nerve of this asshole¡­" Aion muttered before he fell to the ground.


    While there wasn''t a single one there, Aion had several wounds on his body, as if Arrows had hit him several times. During the healing process, Aion wondered what the hell that ability was¡­ the enemy could make a single arrow be countless and increase its power exponentially¡­ It seemed like some sort of magic mutation and almost as broken as Aion''s system. As long as one had enough energy, they basically could cause enough damage to the enemy to kill it no matter what¡­


    "How many times do I have to tell you¡­ don''t be so reckless!" Sauros said. "If the enemy had hit your vitals¡­"


    "I didn''t let him do that, so it is fine," Aion said. "I forced him to show his best card in order to make the fight end as soon as possible."


    Sauros facepalmed¡­ it was impossible to argue with Aion and convince them that he was wrong. Talking with a stubborn wall would be easier¡­ still, at least he wasn''t nning to move to the next floor immediately.


    "Now, the next one¡­ I wonder how it will be," Aion said. "The one that people call god or the one they refer to as goddess?"


    Seris looked at Sauros¡­ it was clear by that point in time that those two were heavily outssed. Even with their powers, they couldn''t do much in the real battles inside the Tower¡­ it was unlikely that they would be able to be of much assistance on the next floors.


    They couldn''t help but wonder if Aion was harsh to himself because he grew up always facing problems that were too big for him. Now that they thought about it, he had four older brothers, and they probably hated him at first, but it didn''t look like he grew up to be a resentful person¡­


    In any case, Sauros and Seris'' powers always had been enough for them to survive the most sticky of situations, and yet now¡­


    "What is this gloomy atmosphere?" Aion asked. "Aren''t you guys too old to get depressed over some minor setbacks?"


    "Minot setbacks, he says¡­" Sauros said and then sighed. "Well, no point thinking too much about what happens, and we can only move on and learn from our mistakes."


    Aion wondered why they looked depressed and then looked like they had some sort of realization. Those guys sure were weird¡­

 Chapter 276 Gift

    After healing his wounds, Aion stopped training for a moment and focused on meditating. The enemies that they faced so far made sure to crush the confidence that he had developed in Power Throw. That technique was supposed to be a surefire way to cause a lot of damage against powerful opponents and then make the flow of the battle to stay on his side until the end, but that didn''t work when he faced those three.


    "Their powers were amazing, but even so¡­ despite the simplicity of that technique, I thought that it would be a lot more useful in situations like this," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Aion wondered if he could improve that technique¡­ but that seemed a bit insane considering that he hadn''t even mastered it yet. Regardless, while Aion didn''te up with any idea to improve Power Throw, at least Aioj cleared up his mind. The mission was almost over, and he had to stay focused because the next two troublesome opponents would be a real pain in the ass to deal with.


    "Since Aion rested properly this time, I guess we can go up a bit sooner than nned," Sauros said. "Still, we should be able to face those two sooner, but just don''t attack them all of a sudden, alright? Try to ask them a few things before the fight."


    "I can''t see the point of that," Aion said. "We will only lose the surprise factor¡­ then again, it isn''t like the preemptive strikes worked until now. That being said, you guys are the ones who have things to ask to the guy that you follow."


    "The guy that we follow¡­ what a diminishing way to call someone who helped to save the world," Sauros said while frowning.


    "While that might be possible, we think you will have better chances with it," Seris said. "Those five are here due to the power of your ancestor, and they might feel your connection with her."


    "... I will see what I can do," Aion said after a long sigh.


    Truth be told, Aion didn''t want to talk much, even though there was a chance that his ancestor might be the cause of his reincarnation. One of the reasons for that was that he didn''t want to believe that he was doing her bidding without knowing¡­ he didn''t want to do anyone''s bindings knowingly and unknowingly. Still, that can be hard to believe¡­ Can people be reincarnated for absolutely no reason while keeping their memories?


    In any case, the enemies on the next floor sure tried to endure Aion''s charged attacks, and they endured it quite a bit. However, they didn''t prevent the wounds that the pre-emptive strikes caused. So, Aion always fought them when they were practically half dead.


    Electric Golems, Magma Anacondas, and even a Basilisk¡­ those were some of the monsters that they faced. Things were starting to get harder, but Sauros and Seris used the same strategy as Aion and charged their weapons while they were climbing the stairs¡­ they certainly were eager to be useful.


    During that time, Aion was more worried that he could keep fighting without destroying his spear again. When he attacked those three, he focused most of his mana on the tip of the weapon in order to avoid that kind of problem, but it didn''t work. Maybe that kind ofbination was just too much¡­ when the enemy also could use attacks on the same scale instantly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In any case, they reached the 89th floor in no time¡­ Aion wished that he could make thencer ss reach level one hundred before that could happen, but it didn''t.


    "Let''s rest here properly since things will getplicated now more than ever," Sauros said. "If the next target is the swordsman, then we will focus on harassing him while Aion causes damage now and then. You should focus on defending most of the time."


    "That doesn''t seem like the strategy that someone who has watched me fight woulde up with," Aion said while frowning. "I am not exactly patient, and if the enemy is a pain, I will just use my best attack to destroy them."


    "While that worked before, you shouldn''t forget how you ended during those times," Sauros said. "You will waste more time if you get hurt too much."


    "I will get hurt anyways if I let the target survive for longer periods of time, might as well finish them off to save me from the annoyance," Aion said.


    "You really have muscles for brains¡­" Seris said. "That being said, we already know how things yed out when he tried to be defensive, Sauros."


    "Yes, and also already knows how things ended when we used all of our mana in a single attack," Sauros said. "If an archer can stop us, the other two will probably do the same. Your ancestor is probably a mage, and while we don''t know a single thing about her abilities, our only option is to harass her when she tries to attack. Even if we don''t cause damage, we should be able to stop her from using anything big."


    Sauros has his reasons for being cautious, but Aion couldn''t help but feel like sighing. Regardless, Sauros had given up on causing any real damage to the enemies. Their best card wasn''t attacking using weapons like those, and their magic was kind of situational¡­ so their best option was to focus on support.


    "I am not good at this kind of rune, but this should help you a bit," Seris said and then made a rune enter Aion''s body. "It is a reinforcement rune that will improve all of your parameters. For someone like you who can do a lot, they will help quite a bit for half an hour."


    "I see. I memorized the pattern," Aion said.


    "There is no need to be so sneaky about that. I was going to give a book for you to learn some runes once this is over," Seris said and then frowned.

 Chapter 277 Alike

    Once they finished their preparations, the group began to climb the stairs, and the tension was sky-high since they were almost at their final destination when it came to the journey. All of them should have some experience dealing with tension, but they couldn''t bepletely resistant about it¡­ as for Aion, he just wondered about what he was going to hear.


    When they reached the next floor, they noticed that not only was the ce big, but it was also different from the others. The usual scenario of the gray walls changed to one that was a lot darker¡­ it felt like the walls had been covered by some shadow¡­


    Before long, a single person appeared in the middle of the room, and Aion couldn''t help but frown since he saw a man wearing a dark cape sitting on the ground with his back against him. When Aion frowned, the man turned his head to the side, and Aion felt his eyes on him¡­ then he got up.


    The man turned around and then showed that he was wearing full te red armor and with a longsword on his right side and ready to be drawn. Despite his appearance and obvious presence as a warrior, the man looked a bit weird¡­ kind of depressed. He resembled Laxus in many aspects, but he had blonde hair and blue eyes and a dark expression on his face¡­ like he was fed up with everything.


    "You have her blood," The man said. "Despite that, she can''t even begin to trust you with her final task. Do you really want to follow her goal to the grave?"


    "Finally, someone who wants to talk a bit," Aion said. "Whether I want to or not, it is the best option to avoid future problems. Anyway, do you have anything to say to those two?"


    "I don''t know, am I supposed to know them?" The man asked.


    "I see¡­ it seems that you are still alive," Sauros said. "However, the current you that is here is a copy of the original you that left this world after saving it. So, you don''t know your legacy."


    "It seems like I did something to you and many others¡­ I hope that I didn''t cause you too much trouble," the man said. "Regardless, it is useless for me to hear what the original me has done. I am interested in confirming if her descendants truly want to follow in her footsteps."


    "I told you, I am not following anyone, and I am just¡­" Aion said.


    "You still are doing what she wants, and in the end, that wille to haunt you," the blond man said.


    "How so?" Aion asked.


    "You are collecting the seals that beings across thousands of years want¡­ they will find ways to target you, and when they learn that they can''t kill you, they will target those close to you," the man replied. "They did the same thing to us, and they targeted our family and friends one after the other. They tried to interfere with our quest time and time again¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "How are they?" Aion asked.


    "You wille to learn soon enough¡­ if you get the final relic," The man replied. "Do you have the confidence to protect all the people that you care about all the time until the day of your death?"


    That was a tough question¡­ if Aion keeps using the guardian ss and uses Devotion on his family, perhaps¡­ However, the enemies weren''t only people interested in harming them, and they were sickos who would do much worse since they didn''t care about distorting time to suit their needs.


    "If you can''t answer that, the path ahead will be difficult for you¡­ still, it isn''t toote," The man said. "Fall back now. As long as I am here, the enemies will never get the final relic, and they will never be able to travel through time with absolute control. It isn''t toote."


    It seemed that the Swordsman still was worried about the world, even though he still looked full of doubts. The current him was probably the one that was about to save the world with his friends. So, he couldn''t abandon his mission¡­


    That being said, Aion didn''t feel like stopping now. Nowpleting the journey after reaching this point seemed like a massive waste. Aion was worried about what the swordsman said¡­ he would be targeted by enemies that existed in other periods of time, and they would target those close to him once they confirmed that they couldn''t take him down that easily¡­


    Aion didn''t want that, and he didn''t have the confidence that he could protect everyone all the time¡­ the current him certainly couldn''t do that. Still, running away wasn''t an option, and the relics could help Aion with that¡­ instead of running away, he would bring the battles to the enemies.


    "I will use the relics to kill all of them, so not to worry," Aion said. "I won''t give them a chance to target anyone close to me."


    "... We will defeat all of them. We will protect everyone¡­ we won''t lose anyone," The swordsman said. "Those were our words, and we said then left and right and whenever possible. Thanks to that, a lot of people began to trust us and call us heroes after we aplished a few things. However, we began to lose our allies, our families¡­ one after the other, until even our closest friends were killed. Meaningless confidence and big words will onlye to haunt youter."


    "I am sorry for your losses, but we don''t live in this world to let fear control us," Aion said. "In one way or the other, I will aplish my goals¡­ and if I fail, I will go down first before failing, but I will know that I did my best."


    "... You really are like her¡­" The man said and then sighed while drawing his sword. "I suppose I will have to test your resolve then."

 Chapter 278 Progress

    Aion assumed his fighting stance, and the two behind him also prepared to stop the enemy when he attacked. However, he just moved his arm a little, and then a weird sound crossed the room¡­ no one knew what had happened, but Aion raised his spear, and he felt some weight behind it¡­ in the next moment, some blood began to drip from a clean cut on his left cheek.


    "Seriously¡­ I guess that must be the highest level someone can obtain while training as a swordsman," Aion muttered in shock.


    Aion didn''t even see the attack. He just felt that he should raise his spear to protect himself¡­ when the swordsman moved his arm again, Sauros and Seris fired the electric bullets, but Aion was still cut on the other cheek. The swordsman didn''t even try to block the bullets, they just stopped in front of him, but Aion could tell that the swordsman blocked them with his sword.


    Was he really that insanely fast? Aion had a hard time believing that a single human could be that fast without using any magic. Then again, many people called him a god, and some people still believed that¡­ that kind of power was certainly god-like, if anything.


    "You two seem to be operating while following mymands or will¡­ aren''t you two too weak for that?" The swordsman asked. "It seems that you have some talent that is simr to mine, but back in the day, people with that much talent used to appear everywhere."


    The Swordsman was starting toin like an old man saying that kids these days are quite pathetic. Unfortunately, Aion couldn''t say much about that since the people that they faced in the tower probably would kick the asses of most warriors in that current period.


    Sauros and Seris felt really troubled over that since they also admired the swordsman. Maybe they knew more about him than they imed¡­ regardless, they realized during the trip that they were a lot weaker than expected¡­ Even though they wereparing their growth with an anomaly like Aion, they still felt pretty ashamed.


    Aion dashed at the enemy while protecting his head and heart with his spear, but that didn''t stop the swordsman from raising his sword slowly¡­ during the whole time, Aion''s arms and legs had been cut in several spots. The wounds were light, and they didn''t reach the bones, but Aion was bleeding, and it won''t take long before that became troublesome.


    Aion ignored the wounds and let his core close them, but once he used Triple Sonic Thrust, the Swordsman suddenly swung his sword. Aion could see the notion and blocked it with his spear¡­ only to be blown away to the other side of the room.


    Sauros and Seris were left speechless when they saw Aion hitting his back against the wall on the other side of the room¡­ only an attack able to shock the entire floor was supposed to do that to him, but they didn''t feel anything¡­ It was like the swordsman hadplete control over his power and could make sure that his targets would endure all the damage possible with his attacks.


    Somehow, Aionnded on his feet, and he began tough a little, he stopped for a short while since he coughed some blood, but then he began to walk toward the swordsman after cleaning his mouth.


    "You are really like her¡­ walking unfazed toward impossible challenges," The swordsman said.


    "That so?" Aion asked. "In any case, why do you guys hold back so much? Wouldn''t it be better just to go all out and crush us?"


    "The spell that she created has some rules. We can''t use more energy than we have to since others mighte after you guys," The Swordsman replied. "We have to fight in the most optimal way possible."


    "Well, is that so¡­ I am thankful for it," Aion said and then smiled before changing to his warrior ss.


    Warrior Lv 89


    Health: 990/990


    Mana: 204/204


    Stamina: 314/314


    Strength: 135 + 75


    Dexterity: 56


    Magic: 101


    Endurance: 135 + 150


    Resistance: 01<novelnext></novelnext>


    Speed: 101


    Status: 15


    Hammer Refinement Lv 50


    Bonuses: Strength + 75, Endurance + 75


    Skills: Vertical Swing Lv 22, Stunning Blow Lv 22, Furious Hammer Lv 22, Toss Hammer Lv 01, Fury Lv 42 (Power Lv 85, Efficiency Lv 80, Cost Lv 80)


    Passive: Iron Skin Lv 26, Warrior''s Aura Lv 26, Fire Resistance Lv 10, Cold Resistance Lv 10, Shock Resistance Lv 10


    Improvement Points: 09


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.445.250


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Changing to the guardian ss would be a better option to be more durable. However, that wasn''t the immediate answer that Aion wanted, and he was aiming for something else.


    "You guys, just keep watching. He won''t attack you as long as you don''t attack him," Aion said.


    "Hey," Seris protested.


    "Another reckless n?" Sauros asked.


    "You canin if I don''t show results in ten minutes," Aion replied.


    While Aion was confident, even though he looked more outmatched than ever, Sauros decided to wait and see¡­ truth be told, it was also hard for them to attack the swordsman due to their admiration, and after seeing his power and skill, that admiration only grew further¡­


    "That power¡­" The swordsman said while looking at Aion''s hammer. "She wasn''t supposed to have that kind of power, so she didn''t grant it to you¡­ then how?"


    "She didn''t give this power to me? I am d then," Aion said. "Anyway, this will be pretty boring for you for a while, but I will try to humor you."


    Aion charged toward the enemy while using the hammer to protect his vitals. Once again, he suffered small cuts around his body, but his healing core helped him with that. Until he got close enough to be hit by the swordsman''s direct attack. However, this time, Aion has only pushed away for fifty meters¡­ that was progress.

 Chapter 279 Victory?

    After five minutes, Sauros and Seris couldn''t help but be troubled¡­ Aion was acting like a zombie. He walked toward the swordsman, and he ignored the damage that he had suffered. Until he got close enough to be directly hit by the enemy¡­ while he wasn''t being pushed away as much as before, the wounds were opening due to those attacks. Still, at least he healed himself before walking toward the swordsman¡­ Rinse and repeat.


    "Sauros¡­" Seris said, in visible difort, while seeing blood dripping from Aion''s armor. Things were starting to get way more dangerous than they had expected..


    "He can do it¡­" Sauros said. "I don''t know how, but he can do it. Look."


    Sauros pointed at the spot on the ground, and she saw small blood pools on it¡­ they were the spots that Aion had been pushed away. Once he changed his weapon, he was pushed away by fifty meters. Then forty-nine¡­ then forty-eight¡­ he was able to endure the attacks of the Swordsman now.


    The reasons for that were simple, Aion was leveling up Iron Skin whenever he got hit badly and because he used the magic stones to refine it even faster, the hammer. So, his endurance was increasing by leaps and bounds.


    "You have a lot of cards on your disposal, and I recognize some of them¡­" The swordsman said. "Who are you? You aren''t supposed to have any of that¡­ and that power to keep getting strong agaisnt adversity¡­"


    "Do you recognize them?" Aion asked while smiling. "It seems that some of your allies and enemies showed that. I already suspected as much¡­ just hang in there for a bit longer. Soon I will be able to endure your attacks."


    Despite his ims, that seemed a bit farfetched considering how much blood Aion lost¡­ he was also using all his mana to heal himself and nothing else. He had exhausted his cores a while ago, and he didn''t have much left¡­


    "It is more probable that you will die before you achieve that," The swordsman said.


    "Probability doesn''t interest me, and I will just do it, and nothing else matters," Aion said and then began to walk toward the swordsman.


    The swordsman kept looking at Aion. Even if he managed to pull that off, Aion wouldn''t be in a condition to fight afterward. For someone of his age, it was impressive that he could do that much, though.


    "I won''t be satisfied if things end like this. If you trained hard for a year, perhaps you could pull it off," The swordsman said. "In any case, show me your best attack. It will be more interesting if you show me what you can do instead of just walking like a zombie. I will block it, naturally, but that should give you a chance to show your true potential and if you can protect the relics."


    "... Give me five minutes, and I will show you one attack that you won''t ever forget," Aion said after biting his lips in annoyance.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Don''t feel too bad about it. This is a test to see if you have the strength and the guts to protect the relics," The swordsman said. "If you had attacked me with all your might from the beginning, I would have been forced to do the same. The others did the same thing, right? Still, I am different because I realized several things about you. Besides, this is your golden chance. Right above me, she is waiting."


    Aion''s ancestor¡­ she was indeed on the next level¡­ it was a bit sooner than Aion had expected, but that wasn''t a bad surprise by any means. Aion could get some answers after kicking the head of that annoying convinced swordsman¡­


    Aion reset the ss but soon used the experience to make it reach the same level¡­ what he wanted to change was the build. Aion put all his points into strength¡­ the next attack probably will break his arms as well, but that will be a cheap price to break the teeth of the swordsman.


    After using the status points, Aion used the improvement points to strengthen Fury and Furious attack¡­ thatbo should represent his current anger against the swordsman.


    The swordsman, Sauros, and Seris noticed that Aion''s aura was changing¡­ They didn''t know how that worked, but they could tell that Aion was truly increasing the potential of his next strike.


    "Ready or not, here Ie¡­" Aion said while showing a vicious look in his eyes


    The swordsman nodded and raised his sword to receive the attack¡­ in the end, before charging, Aion umted all the energy in his body on his weapon and also before using Force Release. Thanks to his low endurance, the bones in Aion''s body began to crack, and blood began to fall from his nails¡­ before that could mess with him, Aion charged and then used Fury and Furious Strike before jumping and swinging down the hammer with all his might¡­


    The swordsman blocked the attack, and then a powerful shockwave sent Sauros and Seris away¡­ they saw the ground and the walls around them cracking. Such had been the power of the attack¡­ they couldn''t even keep their eyes open.


    Aion clicked his tongue when he noticed that the attack didn''t snap in two the target''s sword¡­ in any case, and he was sent flying to the other side of the room and hit his back against the wall, creating a massive hole in it¡­ now they were even. However, the Swordsmannded on his with only a bit of blood leaving his mouth¡­ Perhaps Aion should have enhanced it with ice magic¡­


    However, the enemy''s weapon soon cracked.


    "It seems that you obtained the strength to rival mine, but you aren''t fast enough or durable enough," The swordsman said when his sword broke into pieces and then became shadows, but then he also saw Aion''s armspletely busted. "Well, let''s talk for a bit."

 Chapter 280 Like Me

    The swordsman said, and then he snapped his fingers. In the next moment, Aion felt a barrier simr to the type that Sauros deployed¡­ one that makes people outside look like they have be statues¡­ he didn''t need a lot of preparation like Sauros, so that confirmed that he was the real deal. In any case, if he could do that much, he probably could have split Aion in half easily if he wanted to. That was really annoying.


    "I see¡­ you indeed passed a portion of your powers to their tribe," Aion said while he was having a hard time enduring the pain in his arms.


    "Heal yourself, and the battle is over," The swordsman dered. "About your assumption, I am not sure about that. Myst memories were during the moments we were facing the final enemy of our time, and during that period, I didn''t have the power to pass my power to others. My guess is that those two are my descendants."


    "They never said that. They truly believe that you don''t have any rtion whatsoever," Aion said. "Regardless, why do you want to talk? I am not satisfied with this result, and I am going to leave the tower for a month and then train to defeat you. I don''t have a year to waste."


    "Don''t be unreasonable¡­" the Swordsman said. "Still, considering your potential, maybe you can be durable enough to be troublesome, but you will never be as fast as me. As you can see, I obtained the power to control time to some extent after defeating countless enemies that could use that magic, and their blood fell on me. My real power was to use sword techniques up to the limits."


    Aion frowned when he heard that¡­ so he became like Siegfried. It was hard to believe that ordinary people''s blood could do that kind of thing, but then again, people in that world weren''t exactly normal¡­ things like actions over the years and mana could make people mutate, and blood was probably rich in mana.


    "Interesting¡­" Aion said.


    "Most likely, what is inside those statues is my blood, and you can confirm that with herter," The Swordsman said. "She used her magic and my blood to seal the use of time magic in our world. Considering your actions, it seems that we moved our ways after winning the final battle, and I decided to look for others who could use time magic in other worlds."


    "I see¡­ so you had those thoughts even before the final battle. That exins everything," Aion said.


    That exined more than a few things, the origin of the Heradins family was still a mystery, but that didn''t matter much. It seemed that the current him had the memories of the time his friends were killed but not of defeating the final enemy¡­ that was a bit weird but not surprising. Maybe the Aion''s ancestors used the blood that he shed during the fight to summon him into that circle and to make the statues.


    Maybe the original swordsman still was out there hunting those that can use time magic¡­ a journey thatsted over three thousand years. Aion felt exhausted just by thinking about it.


    "I can tell that you have her blood due to your high magic capacity and talent, but that was her ability, the ability to use mana like no one else," the swordsman said. "You should be able to use your mana at unrivaled levels, but you showed other traits like summoning spiritual weapons or changing the shape of your weapons¡­ one person shouldn''t be able to do that. How did you get those?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What am I going to gain by revealing that?" Aion asked.


    "You got some answers about the past, didn''t you?" The swordsman asked.


    "That didn''t help me that much. I want real benefits," Aion shrugged.


    "That attitude is just like her as well¡­" The swordsman said and then sighed. "I can''t do anything that will directly help you. The only thing that I can do is to reveal to you that you will probably get my power if you use the relics, but that will probably leave your era unprotected against enemies from other eras."


    "That doesn''t help me that much directly," Aion shrugged again.


    "I guess it is fine¡­ even if I learn your secret, it won''t help the real me, and I don''t even know if I am still alive out there," the swordsman said. "I got a bit curious since it felt like you had the potential of countless people inside you¡­ and I also felt relieved knowing that the sacrifices that we made won''t be in vain as long as you get stronger¡­"


    "I won''t say anything even if you praise me for all that," Aion said. "For that to work, you would have to be a gorgeous redhead with big boobs."


    "You really are a lot like her¡­." The swordsman said and thenughed. "Anyway, now you have a duty to the world. You need to protect the relics¡­ we never managed to learn what was the reason people of other eras kepting to attack our world, but I believe that they didn''t give up yet. You will have to continue the battle since my blood is losing its Power for some reason. The reason for that is most likely my death."


    That was a terrible hypothesis, but it also seemed usible¡­ Aion just wished that he had chosen a better time to die, like during a time his death wouldn''t cause problems for Aion.


    "I guess it is my time to go, she can probably answer all of your questions, but she is a bit petty. You have been warned," The swordsman said. "Another warning, don''t be conceited about your powers, many people thought I was unrivaled, but brute strength isn''t everything. It isn''t absolute, and that was why I was unable to protect so many people. Don''t be a failure like me."

 Chapter 281 Grandma

    Before Aion could say anything, the barrier was lifted, and the swordsman turned into shadows and then dissipated¡­ he left the world to look for more enemies that were like the ones he defeated, and he left filled with resentment while thinking of himself as a failure.


    Sauros and Seris approached, wondering how things ended¡­ it didn''t seem like the swordsman had sustained that much damage. Still, it looked like Aion convinced him that he was strong enough.


    "You don''t look satisfied," Sauros said.


    "I was willing to train for a few weeks and then kick his ass, but he dered his own defeat¡­ anyway, let''s go to the next floor," Aion said.


    "You are wounded¡­ your arms are a mess," Seris said while frowning.


    "She is waiting, and the final challenge is the swordsman," Aion said. "There is no need to worry."


    The path to the next floor was opened, and then they felt a lot of winding from above¡­ it seemed that Aion was right. They were at the top of the tower since it was so cold¡­


    While he was healing himself, Aion began to climb the stairs, and the others followed him after gulping. It felt like they were even more nervous about meeting Aion''s ancestor than their own leader¡­


    In any case, the temperature decreased when they reached the top of the tower and confirmed that it wasn''t a room like the others. There were no walls or ceilings to determine the arena¡­ They could see a small stone table at the center of the ce and a small statue at the top. When Aion approached, a magic circle began to glow on the ground, and then a cloaked figure appeared on the side of the table.


    Aion frowned when he saw a girl that looked a lot like his mother in her younger years¡­ blonde hair and blue eyes¡­ she also looked a lot like the swordsman. However, she was short, perhaps not even 1,5 meters tall. Maybe Artemisia was like that when she was ten or nine years old. The woman had her arms crossed and tried to show an imposing stance, but she only looked like a haughty kid.


    "I wee you three for enduring and seeding in my challenge," the short woman said. "My name is nire, and I congratte you all!"


    "Call your mother, little girl. We need to talk," Aion said.


    "Aion?" Sauros asked while frowning.


    "She is your ancestor, you know¡­" Seris said, also surprised.


    "It can''t be, and she must be the daughter of the person we are looking for¡­ although that still makes her my ancestor," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "... You sure have some nerve, young man," nire. I can feel that my blood flows through your veins. Hasn''t anyone taught you that you need to respect your elders?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It is kind of hard to do that when you look like that and with that self-imposing attitude," Aion said. "Anyway, are you really the final Member of that party that saved the world three thousand years ago?"


    "Of course, are your eyespletely useless? Can''t you see when someone amazing is in front of you?" nire asked.


    "It is kind of hard right now¡­ anyway, I am a busy person, so I hope that you can give us the answers that we want," Aion said.


    "To think that my final descendant would be this unnerving¡­" nire said while furrowing her eyebrows. "I can see why the others before you grew to be so arrogant."


    "So, you are aware of what happened to the Milleris kingdom¡­" Aion said.


    "Yes, I fought against those who wanted to chain our people throughout many eras¡­ imagine what I felt when my children decided to take over the world," nire said. "It could only be described as aplete disappointment. That saying is really true¡­Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times."


    Aion didn''t know that they had that saying as well¡­ still, she had a point. The final group of the royal family of that kingdom sure created some hard times for everyone else¡­


    "In any case, despite your attitude, I am satisfied to know that you and your mother are different from the others. Perhaps there is a future for the bloodline," nire said.


    "How do you know that? The swordsman didn''t know anything just by looking at me," Aion said.


    "That is because of our blood rtion," nire replied. "You are also inside my final magic circle, so I can tell what kind of people you are. In any other situation, I would have to fight you three, but I can see that you can continue with your job. Vaeral, Siora, Ailen, and Malon also showed that they aren''t satisfied with you, so this can''t be a mistake."


    Those must be the names of the spirit mage, the female mage, the archer, and the swordsman¡­ they were really names that didn''t seem that old¡­ At first, Aion didn''t think that he should know their names, but things have changed a bit now.


    "It looks like you have learned a bit from Malon. That guy always talks too much," nire said. "Still, I can understand his curiosity in you¡­ even though your circumstances are a bit suspicious, you are way too different¡­ if I didn''t know any better, I would have said that some people messed with your body before you were even born."


    "... Was thismon during your time?" Aion asked after frowning.


    "Of course not. We didn''t have the technology to do that or magic for that matter," nire replied. "Our enemies did, though. They captured some of us to control our bodies and minds, and some kings caused problems because of that. Regardless, I would rather not talk about the past but about the future. Now that you have the five relics, you will be targeted even more, from the people of other periods and the people from this period, mainly those that awakened unusual traits."

 Chapter 282 Timelines

    "Why?" Aion asked.


    That wasn''t something Aion was expecting to hear, but he could tell that there was a problem in keeping the relics in the same ce and under themand of a single person.


    "Do you know why people awaken to certain abilities?" rine asked. "While their actions and experiences also affect the mutation, the environment that they were in also affects that. The ce where most people awaken their abilities are ces that, in the past, had been taken over by some troublesome guys. Their mana overflowed and began to change the mana of the environment. So, you can say that their mana has been corrupted by the enemies that we defeated. Thanks to that, they will hate you, who has our legacy in the shape of the relics."


    "Excuse me, ma''am," Sauros said. "Since that is the case, does that mean that he shouldn''t stay in a single ce without risking causing wars?"


    "I am not to talk to you since you follow that moron''s teachings," nire said.


    "Answer his question, shrimp," Aion said.


    "What did you call me?" nire asked and then began to hit Aion''s stomach with her feeble strength. "I don''t know why, but I can tell that you are making fun of my height."


    "Just answer the question," Aion said after he rolled his eyes.


    "Very well¡­ that is true, since you are famous, and if people know where you are, they will feel eager to attack you on an instinctual level," nire said after a long sigh. "That is another burden that the keeper of the relics has to bear. It seems that you have been warned that people from the future might also target you, so you will have to keep a low profile and not reveal where you are from now on."


    "Are you serious¡­ I havend to manage, you know," Aion said.


    "Even those who haven''t awakened certain abilities will feel eager to attack you once they know that you have them. Such is the influence of the temptation that such power has," nire added while ignoring Aion''sints.


    The king probably had some idea of the true goal of the mission, so Aion and the others had to lie and say that they hid the relics somewhere even safer without giving details¡­ that was really troublesome since, without proof, some issues would merge between them and Aion didn''t have what it was necessary to create a ce for his mother yet¡­ and starting a war would be pretty troublesome since a lot of people will hear where he is¡­


    "It seems that I have a lot of work ahead of me¡­" Aion said and then sighed. "What else do I need to know?"


    "If you are nning to use the relics, I won''t stop you, but some requirements need to be met," nire said. "For example, you need to find the right ce with a good concentration of mana where something happened in the past. Those ces will create the links between the eras. If you use them, you can probably decrease the influence of the corrupted mana on the people of a certain area. However, if you try to change the past, you might end up returning to a present that you don''t recognize¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>


    The dangers of messing with time are the same everywhere¡­ changing the future was fine, to some extent, but changing the past might cause some problems to his current present. Regardless, that wasn''t something that Aion had to consider now.


    "Ma''am, may I ask what is your rtionship with lord Malon?" Seris asked.


    "Who the heck is lord Malon? Stupid Malon is a title good enough for him," nire replied and then let out a long sigh. "I guess you can say that we are old acquaintances. Back in the day, people rarely awakened their abilities. Still, I awakened mine when I was just ten, and since my power was useful, some people captured me. The same happened to him and others, and we escaped together and formed a group to fight those who were trying to take over the world. That is all."


    "I see. Thank you very much for your exnation," Seris said.


    "So, you can be this polite, huh," Aion said.


    "While we were all around the same age, he was annoying like an old woman who doesn''t ever stopining," nire added. "He would go out of his way just to spend several hours talking about how he should eat less meat and more veggies. He looked like a crazy woman when he gained some extra weight. Who cares about that when you can eat meat every day? Also¡­"


    Seris regretted asking her question¡­ nire spent half an hourining about Malon¡­ Aion wondered why he had to listen to the numerousints that she had during their journey¡­


    "Anyway, is there anything else to say?" nire asked. "Ah, yes. There are some guys who ran away from using time magic once we learn the secret of their power. They didn''t show up until now, but they might since they used time magic before we sealed its direct use."


    Aion facepalmed¡­ that had to be a joke. Enemies from the past still could appear because they used time magic to escape¡­ since they didn''t return to the past, Aion wanted to assume that they died, but in any case, traveling through the flow of time sure was annoying to understand.


    "What else should we be aware of?" Aion asked.


    "If you remain too passive about the enemies, they still might change the present by messing with the past," nire said. "Since you have the relic, you are no longer a part of the usual timelines, so you might wake up and learn one day that the Zaera kingdom was destroyed and that the Mirellis kingdom still exists. Until the relics maintain their power, you should use them well¡­"


    At that point in time, Aion had already given up on understanding the timelines¡­ It was useless, and he had to look for specific ces and then defeat the enemies one after the other.

 Chapter 283 Goal

    "I guess that is all," nire said while grabbing the final relic and passing it to Aion. "I can''t say that it was a pleasure, Aion Kresnik. You are the kind of kid who grew with too much freedom and never behaved."


    "It is fine, grandma shrimp," Aion shrugged. "Now that I have the relics, I can say that most people won''t like me because of them and not because of my attitude."


    "You will never improve if you keep using that kind of excuse," nire said. "Anyway, I might not remember you, but we will probably see each other again."


    "We will?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "You will understand that when you begin to use the relics," nire said. "Well then, untilter."


    nire snapped her fingers, and then all the mana in the tower began to dissipate¡­ she began to glow, emitting a light blue tone, and then she disappeared while smiling. Aion''s ancestor was a bit different than he had expected, but she sure was an interesting person¡­


    "It is over, huh¡­" Sauros said and then sighed. "Mission aplished¡­ still, I wonder if we should feel relieved. I think that from theter half forward of the missions, we became useless."


    "So, you think so too?" Aion asked.


    "Ouch¡­" Sauros said, forcing a smile.


    "Putting that aside¡­" Seris said. "If you are nning to use the relics, you should warn us beforehand. With our archives, we can help you find the right ce and period to go¡­"


    "True, I can even recall some historical periods that look suspicious," Sauros rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Things will be different when you travel to those ces, and you will probably need some backup. This time onward, we will be more effective against the problems that you might face."


    "I will think about it," Aion said and then created an earth tform before jumping on it.


    All help would be wee, but Aionn couldn''t wait for months to use it¡­ but he will have to take a break for a few after all these months away from home. Regardless, Sauros and Seris jumped on the tform, and then Aion flew to the breeze of the sea¡­


    The storm around the ind was dissipating when they approached their ship¡­ at the same time, Aion wondered what would happen to that tower. The storm was protecting the whole ind, and all that mana was gone now. Hopefully, that ce won''t turn into a mess once other people find it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The crew greeted those three when they arrived and began to work on arge party. Aion knew that things were going to get noisy, and he was kind of tired, so he went to his room¡­ the trip back home would take at least six weeks, but he couldn''t wait that long to rest.


    As soon as hended on the bed, Aion felt like all the weight had left his shoulders, and he immediately rxed and fell asleep. When Aion woke up, it was alreadyte at night, and then he went to look for something to eat since things were noisy outside, and he doubted that he would be able to continue even though the waters were so calm that night.


    Aion sighed when he went to the kitchen and only found some snacks and booze¡­ the group sure knew how to party without care. If it were him of before dying, he would be joining them, but now Aion felt even more the need to stay on guard.


    When Aion went to the deck, he saw Seris ying a weird game with others. Apparently, they had to fill their mouths with booze and hold it while others tried to make themugh¡­ if you lose, you have to drink more. Aion found it difficult to understand the logic behind it¡­ drinking normally would be more efficient.


    "Aren''t you going to join us this time as well?" Sauros asked after he approached.


    "I would rather not. I don''t want to hide things from my mother, and lying would be even worse," Aion shrugged his shoulders. "Saying that I partook in this kind of activity probably would make her question the whole journey."


    "As usual, you are very uptight," Sauros said and thenughed before drinking a cup of their booze. "Even Seris is enjoying herself, and she is also quite uptight. Well, I can''t me you. Aside from when we are drunk, most of the crew still keeps a certain distance from you."


    "No problem, I can understand the reason. You all have been working together for a long time," Aion said while watching one of the participants of the game pass out after vomiting. "I bet you guys don''t get or invite many guests over the years. I am also seriously to a fault since¡­"


    "Since?" Sauros asked while frowning.


    "Nah, it is nothing," Aion said while shaking his head since he needed to forget that he hade from Earth.


    "You will probably have a lot of work once you get home, but don''t use the relics as soon as you have some free time," Sauros said after he cleared his mind a bit. "You might want to try to solve all the problems that arise by yourself, but you need to consider that you are not the only one affected by them. If you truly want to solve them without risking causing more problems. You need to keep that in mind¡­ shit. This isn''t the time for that kind of talk. Let''s just celebrate that we aplished our mission! Celebrate for three days and three nights!"


    It didn''t seem like Aion would be able to sleep much during those three days, and he wondered if the whole crew was going to survive at that pace.


    Since Aion didn''t want to say anything troublesome and he didn''t want to drink until he vomited, he didn''t join the party in the usual way. Still, at least he used his Bard ss to make them recover faster.

 Chapter 284 No Time To Rest

    The next few weeks passed rather fast since nothing major happened. After the party, the ship headed toward the Zaera kingdom as fast as it could¡­ Aion had been away from home for a year, but the others had been even longer. So, it was no surprise that they wanted to go back home as fast as possible. He was certain that his mother did a good job looking after his territory, but it must have a limit of what she could do without Aion showing his face.


    In the end, the Breeze of the Wind reached the Zaera kingdom in five weeks instead of six, and it was time for Aion to say goodbye to Sauros and Seris. They didn''t want to deal with Vangel more than they had to, and they also had already paid for borrowing Aion''s assistance.


    "I hope that you will truly wait for us when you decide to use the relics," Sauros said, offering a handshake. "Putting that aside, this journey was a difficult one, but it was also fun, right? Let''s hope that the next ones will be the same."


    "That would be convenient," Aion said while epting the handshake.


    Both of them showed a smile of agreement, and then Seris stepped forward to say something. She had been acting a bit weirdtely, but it wasn''t her normal weirdness. She looked lost in thought for some reason.


    "... Aion, what are you going to do now?" Seris asked after hesitating for a while.


    "Work on my territory and check how the relics will affect those that know about me," Aion replied. "After that, I will continue working on my goal of creating a ce that won''t discriminate against my mother, and then I will work on easing her worries about me finding someone to marry. I am not picky, so that shouldn''t be difficult."


    Aion wondered If he should have been that honest¡­ it seemed a weird thing to say when they were saying goodbye to each other. Still, he felt that those two deserved that much sincerity.


    "Er¡­ I wish you good luck with that," Seris said and forced a smile.


    Sauros sighed, and Aion wondered what the point of all that was. It couldn''t be that Seris still was thinking about the thing that she once proposed. To be honest, that was a difficult topic for Aion since his senses had been dulled when it came to love after bing a kid again. He wondered what he should say about that¡­ or if he should say anything at all. Still, he made up his mind, even if it caused more problemster on.


    "While I won''t demand much, I guess I will ask her to show me some determination," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I have a lot of things on my te, and while I am not bragging, I am also quite the catch. I will look for someone that is determined enough to even cut ties with important people and those close to them for the sake of the future because I am nning to do that as well."


    Seris and Sauros looked confused after hearing that. Aion''s words had been truly ambiguous. Still, they will have time to think about it.


    "Well, adios," Aion said and then created an earth tform to fly away from the area.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Since it was noon, Aion had to fly pretty high in order to avoid being detected. It was high time to start controlling information regarding his location at all times, after all.


    Since his magic improved a bit and thanks to his daily training, Aion''s magic was stronger than before. He was able to fly over one hundred kilometers per hour. Thanks to that, he reached the capital in just two hours.


    "I wonder if the mother is here¡­ I don''t think she would be able to endure the capital for so long," Aion thought.


    Aion headed toward his father''s home, and he was already starting to think about how he should avoid Zangel. The guy was in pain, and Aion didn''t want to have to report to him all the time¡­ Aion had a certain idea recently, and it was going to change the game forever, and it also was going to give him a lot of freedom, but it also would create some problems. Still, he had to think about it for a while longer.


    The servants of the house and guards suddenly appeared when Aionnded in the garden. Thanks to it, he quickly learned some bad news¡­ it looked like two of his sisters, and their husbands had been captured¡­


    "What? When did that happen?" Aion asked without hiding his surprise.


    "... One week ago, their husbands were somewhat at a high rank in the military, and since there were some problems at the Eastern border and they can use magic, they went with them to help," one of the guards exined. "They fell in an ambush and were captured."


    That sounded fishy¡­ but Aion''s first thought was to wonder if the power of the relics being with him caused that. Could it have happened even though no one knew that he had them? The bandits in the East already biting the hands of those that worked with them twenty years ago was weird.


    "Lord Lexus and your brothers headed to East as soon as they heard that. They should have arrived there today," The guard added.


    Aion began to think¡­ he could arrive there that very same day, and while he also wanted to rescue his sisters, he also wanted to trash those that invaded thends of his mother''s family and killed a lot of them.


    Aion wanted to see his mother as soon as possible. Still, he couldn''t avoid that situation¡­ that also gave him another opportunity as well. It was also another dangerous thing that he thought¡­ but it woulde in handy.


    Without wasting time, Aion went to talk to Vangel¡­ it was annoying that even though he could, he shouldn''t just head flying to the throne room.

 Chapter 285 Conditions

    Despite a few encounters, Aion had the chance to talk with Vangel quite fast. A few guards went to ask for permission for him to enter the castle, and they returned as fast as their legs could bring them.


    Vangel was on his throne, and he was talking with some men wearing fancy clothes while the royal guard was in the room. Aion could sense the tensioning from all of the guards since they had heard about his magic, and they couldn''t do much aside from trying to be meat shields in case he tried to attack their king. If they fail, they will suffer death anyway, so their lives are pretty much in Aion''s hands.


    Still, he wondered why they were so tense¡­ Aion had plenty of times to attack Vangel if he wanted, and once, they even dueled, and he let him live¡­ there was no need to be so nervous.


    "You have returned, Aion," Vangel said after he signaled for some of the cloaked men to move away. "I thank you for your hard work."


    "If you don''t mind, I would like to skip the pleasantries," Aion said as he approached. "I want to know everything about the situation with my sisters, and I want to head there immediately."


    "I understand your hurry, but I also need to report about the mission and about those two," Vangel said.


    "... We found the targets, and those two are on their way to secure them," Aion replied without hiding the annoyance in his eyes. "We didn''t find anyone or anything that truly got in our way, that is all."


    "Is that truly the case?" Vangel asked while tapping his index finger on the armchair. "I heard that some generals and the leader of a certain country disappeared after some bandits invaded their country. I also heard about some merchants losing a lot of their soldiers due to another night raid."


    "If you didn''t hear anyints, why would you have any reason toin?" Aion asked.


    "... True," Vangel said while studying Aion. "Still, I need some confirmation that you and those two didn''t leave any traces of your actions."


    "You didn''t hear anyints. That should suffice," Aion said.


    The atmosphere got tense since Aion didn''t want to waste any more time, and Vangel couldn''t make him march at the beat of his drum.


    "... So far, those that captured your sisters hadn''t asked anything for them," Vangel closed his eyes and said. "Your father and brothers were sent to deal with the situation since we didn''t have the means to send an army to look for them and risk the enemies killing them."


    "And the real reason?" Aion asked after he furrowed his eyebrows.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "They crossed the desert and are back on the fallen capital, there are too many monsters there, and we couldn''t risk losing more soldiers to rescue only four people," Vangel replied as if it was a matter of fact.


    Aion was a bit angry since his sisters were being taken lightly. Still, logically speaking, their lives shouldn''t be more important than hundreds or thousands of soldiers. It seemed that the enemies could cross the distance without dealing with the earthworms that often, so they had the upper hand.


    "I guess I need permission to go there, but first, I need to ask a few things," Aion said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "How is my mother? Did something happen to her while I was away?"


    "No, she is working managing your territory, and while some attacks happened there in thest month, it seems that they didn''t lose that much," Vangel exined. "Maybe she should be the ruler there since the area is producing a lot more than it did in the past."


    "Maybe she should," Aion said while showing a cold smile since it was clear that Vangel wanted to trigger him. "I am nning to solve the situation by myself and wipe out all the enemies there. That should be useful for the kingdom. I don''t mind giving you the things that they are used to and what they have. However, I want the fallen capital under mymand."


    The atmosphere got even tenser since no one dared to demand things from the king. That had never happened before, and it was practically a sign of disrespect.


    "... Do you understand the repercussions of that kind of action?" Vangel asked while ring at Aion. "People will think that you are plotting something and that I allowed it."


    "I am not nning to move. I just want to be the owner of the ce in order to let people know that I will defend it until the day of my death," Aion exined. "If I take the city by myself, it will be a clear sign that I can pull that off, and you won''t have to lift a single finger to defend the eastern side of the country."


    Vangel considered that¡­ he didn''t know how much stronger Aion got, but it seemed that he had confidence and he wasn''t a fool. While he was interested in what the criminals from the East were doing in the fallen capital, he was certain that they had taken everything of value twenty years ago.


    "... If you seed in rescuing everyone and then bring the bodies of all the enemies, I will let you be the owner of that ce," Vangel said after her letting his arms rest on the sides of his throne. "However, no resource will be allowed to move toward the fallen capital."


    "Fine by me," Aion smiled since he could use magic to deal with that. "I am going to solve this as fast as possible.


    Vangel nodded, and then Aion left in a hurry. He didn''t have any more time to waste¡­ reaching that area at night would make his job easier, and he had to pull it off before anyone realized that reinforcements had arrived, even his father and brothers.


    "It feels like I am not going to take a break here, but it is fine¡­ it is time to pull my n into action," Aion thought while smirking.

 Chapter 286 Infiltration

    Aion flew as fast as possible toward East, to the point that he used more mana than he could recover by meditating and solving the issue by using his money. Still, he didn''t stop.


    "It has been a while, but this never gets old¡­" Aion thought while shrugging his shoulders.


    Putting that aside, Aion had to think about what he could do to deal with the situation. The most obvious answer would be to use his death knights. However, the Necromancer ss was at a low level¡­ he wanted to deal with the situation as fast as possible. Still, Aion might be forced to kill some earthworms to get a few levels.


    "I can use the Undying Lord ss, but skeleton riders can''t be more subtle than K, the assassin that ruled that country," Aion thought. "She has the weapons that make herpletely invisible. If she bes fast enough, she will have an easy time dealing with the downside of that ability. Which is to have to reveal herself before attacking."


    Necromancer Lv 51


    Health:08/08


    Mana: 1164/1164


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 201 + 60


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 30


    Speed: 01


    Status: 100


    Necromancer''s Staff Refinement Lv 20


    Bonuses: Magic + 60, Resistance + 30


    Skills: Skeleton Knight Lv 15, Skeleton Archer Lv 10, Skeleton Wizard Lv 20, Death Knight Lv 01 (Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 50)


    Passive: Summon Lv 20, Store Lv 10, Undead Recovery Lv 22


    Improvement Points: 0


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 1.750.000<novelnext></novelnext>


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "Since I can level up the Necromancer ss faster, I will use it to make the death knights level up faster even though I can also use them with the Undead Lord ss," Aion thought after checking the ss. "Besides, I won''t be able to use the improvement points on them¡­ thatbination has several limitations.


    The skeletons will have the efficiency halved ifpared to their real peak, but it will be enough against the likes of bandits.


    In the end, Aion decided to infiltrate the enemy''s base using the Furtivity of the ninja ss. It had reached level fifty in terms of power, so it would be hard to find Aion. Unless the enemies get really close, and even if they do, Aion can just kill them and dispose of their bodies with his weapon¡­ he doesn''t want to process human bodies. Still, he will ignore that rule that he put on himself in order to save his sisters.


    Thanks to his flying speed, Aion reached the border around eight in the evening¡­ the trip that was supposed to take one week, he did it in six hours. He saw some fortresses on the border and with a lot of lights on, but he didn''t stop to talk with anyone there or even look for his father and brothers.


    Around midnight, Aion managed to find some camps across the desert and some watchtowers. The bandits sure were being cautious¡­ Aion wanted to trash everything that they had, but that would be a bad move now.


    "My first goal is to find them and then let loose and make them regret being born¡­" Aion thought, already imagining how he was going to make them feel absolute despair.


    One hourter, Aion found the fallen capital of the Milleris Kingdom¡­ The bandits had changed a few things since Aion had been there. He didn''t think that they were that good at magic, but they managed to wall the whole thing. Which was quite surprising given that they weren''t that good with magic¡­


    Aion furrowed his eyebrows as he saw that, and he did it even more so when he noticed that the enemies were using the half-destroyed castle as their base. The base of the structure was quiterge, but several towers that were over one hundred meters tall were still standing and looked in good condition.


    Aion approached the towers since they werepletely dark and then entered them before changing his ss to Ninja and using Furtivity. The ce was covered in dust, so Aion confirmed that it hadn''t been checked in quite a while.


    Without wasting time, Aion began to climb down the stairs of the first tower. While his mother never mentioned it, he imagined that the ce had a lot of underground rooms that were used for all kinds of stuff, like secret meetings and magic research. It was probably a good starting point to look for his sisters there.


    "I need to look for the guards and wait for them to spill the beans¡­ I can''t risk interrogating them," Aion thought when he reached the bottom of the staircase.


    The ce was empty, but since it had a ton of sand inside and some torches, Aion managed to find some traces of peopleing and going. That was useful, but it was a pain for him since his footsteps would be visible. His best option was to fly using wind magic¡­ that was possible but not that efficient.


    "I can''t wait, and I need to move and find them¡­ I don''t know their condition, so I might be running against time," Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows.


    Using wind magic, Aion began to levitate close to the ceiling and trying not to make any noise. That was hard since that was just a tier-one ss, and he was already using mana to stay semi-invisible.


    Fortunately, it didn''t take long for Aion to find a big door in the distance. Half of it looked made of wood, and the other of some gray stone that seemed to be rich in magic. That was definitely the entrance to the throne room¡­


    Aion saw some guards in front of it and decided to investigate it further¡­


    Aion thought that someone woulde and go soon, but it was past midnight, and the guards were way too rxed. Like, they were resting their back against the sides of the door while holding their spears.

 Chapter 287 Darkness Within

    Killing those two would be easy, but Aion didn''t know if his sisters were there yet, so he couldn''t start the massacre just yet. In the end, Aion knocked on the door two times, and then he waited for the guards to open it. While they checked the other side, Aion did the same, and he saw the entrance of an underground room on the side of the dark throne room.


    Aion quickly entered while the guards thought that they had heard things¡­ there wasn''t anyone in the throne room, and the ce was almost intact¡­ It was weird considering the war of twenty years ago.


    "Mages and even warriors can destroy those walls quite fast¡­ so why do they guard the entrance of the room but not the entrance of that ce?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Aion approached the ce and confirmed that there was a heavy steel door on the floor¡­ it looked quite different from the whole building, so he assumed that the criminals had brought that from their country.


    Opening that will be easy. Aion could do it with magic, but lifting it without making noise will be difficult. Aionnded and then changed to his Necromancer ss. Doing things like feeling the presence of others with his mana wasn''t his forte, but he could do it.


    After taking a deep breath, Aion made his mana enter the dark underground room and then felt a presence, two, three¡­ four presences. That fits the number¡­ However, Aion felt that it had been too easy so far¡­


    "Let''s just destroy and levitate the entrance with my Magic," Aion thought while cutting the ground around the door and wetting it as well to make it softer.


    It didn''t take long for Aion to see the iron door almost falling, but he made it levitate using his wind magic and then slowly madend nearby.


    Aion jumped in andnded without making any noise before creating a fireball to illuminate the area. It didn''t take long for him to find dozens of underground cells there, and the metal bars inside didn''t look old or rusty¡­ It looked like Aion''s grandfather liked to keep his prisoners closer than his friends. It was almost a miracle that his mother didn''t grow up to be a crazy and sadistic woman.


    "I can see now why mother always looked as if she had epted the doom of the kingdom without much of a fuss¡­ maybe they really deserved it," Aion thought. "Even the shrimp grandma didn''t look that bothered by it."


    The smell in the room began to get quite bad once Aion reached the end, and he also found some shadows of people inside. Two men on the left side and two women on the right side, all in different cells.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Maisie was the eldest daughter and just a month younger than Henri. She was as old as the princess, and she looked a bit younger than she was with her curly, short ck hair and clear light brown eyes. Darina was a tall woman, so her long straight ck hair tied up in a ponytail sure suited her.


    That was the image that he had of his eldest sisters¡­ it had been around three years since he had seen them, and while it had been difficult, Aion recognized them lying unconscious on the ground of the cells. They had grown a bit, but it was hard to be sure since they were wearing dresses that had turned into rags filled with blood and dirt and other bodily fluids since they couldn''t even more or had any ce where they could go to the toilet.


    Aion''s mind went nk for a second, and the air around him began to vibrate. His mana was responding to his rage to the point that he even summoned small bluish lightning bolts. Still, Aion forced himself to calm down¡­ he couldn''t let loose yet. Vangel asked him to bring the corpses of the enemies, but it looked like Aion was going to bring a pile of ashes instead.


    After summoning some water des, Aion cut off the iron bars with ease and then broke the chains that kept the arms and legs of his sisters tied up. Before anything, he tried to heal them, and the deep wounds began to close after he cleaned them with the water he had created. When Aion made sure that their bones weren''t messed up, he turned them and checked their bodies with more care. His mind went nk again.


    Aion never got too close to his eldest sisters, and he never felt that he could feel that much anger because someone mistreated them. Still, it was only because of his own naivety. Their mouths had signs of dried blood, and they were missing teeth¡­ their tongues had been burned, and their nails had been pulled. They lost one eye each, and their breasts had been cut off¡­ Aion made up his mind. The bandits'' country was going to disappear¡­


    When Maisie woke up, she felt like a gentle aura was enveloping her and healing her wounds. That must have been a dream since she experienced hellst week and couldn''t even take her own life. Still, when she opened her eyes, she saw a weird family person nearby healing her, Darina, and their husbands. They were resting on soft beds, and the feeling of dirt, wounds, dried blood, and other things she got used to have vanished. When her vision improved, she recognized Aion.


    "A¡­ On," Maisie tried to say his name, but she lost even that ability.


    "Don''t worry, I am here, and everything will be fine now," Aion said and gently touched her forehead. "Just rest for a bit. I promise that I will make you recoverpletely."


    Maisie fell asleep again thanks to this gentle touch, it felt like a dream, so she decided to fall asleep again. It was a wild im, even more so when Aion barely leveled up the Priest ss. Still, he is going to do that soon¡­ and he was absolutely certain that the ss would be able to do that, or at least an evolution of it.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 288 Leave It To Me

    Since Aion didn''t have to be stealthy anymore, he could let loose¡­ he would wage war by himself and annihte a country. So, it doesn''t matter if the guys in the fallen capital manage to alert their allies. With that in mind, he summoned his death knights and gave them the order to attack all of the enemies and bring anyone who looked suspicious or out of ce.


    "My healing skills aren''t amazing aside from when I use them to heal myself with Inner Release," Aion thought while he was healing his sisters and their husbands. "Still, even with my high magic, I can''t make them recover the body parts that they had lost¡­ I can only rely on Priest and on the evolutions of that ss for that."


    Artemisia said that some of their ancestors got good enough with water and light magic to the point that they could heal lost limbs. However, it wasn''t just a matter of high magic power¡­ so, Aion couldn''t just use a lot of mana to solve it.


    The fallen capital began to tremble, and Aion could hear some screams in the distance. He only had nine death knights, but they were all enemies that once put up a good fight against him, and they also could kill dozens of targets if they needed to. Considering how much experience and mana Aion was recovering, he could tell they were doing that just fine.


    When morning came, Aion managed to heal those four as much as he could. They didn''t have any more scars, but he could restore the parts that they lost¡­ at least not for now.


    "They arepletely exhausted, and they probably Haven''t been fed in many days so they will stay like this for a while, but this is for the best¡­" Aion thought while emerging them on an earth tform and making them leave the half-destroyed castle. "Still, this is for the best¡­ they should only wake up once I restore thempletely."


    Aion made his skeletons put all the bodies on a single spot and then also made them get all the valuable things that they had and brought to the capital. Aion also wanted to investigate what they were up to there, but that could wait¡­ in the end, he found a massive pile with five hundred corpses in a single spot. Aion had a hard time not burning them to a crisp¡­


    "... They will have their uses," Aion said while trying to convince himself. "This much should be enough to satisfy Vangel. As for the others¡­ they won''t have my mercy."


    Aion made his death knights move in all directions, and then they began to fight the earthworms that appeared. That was the best way for him to recover mana, after all. After that, he left the fallen capital on an earth cabin that he created to protect those four against the wind and the sun of the desert, and then he flew to the closest base of the Zaera kingdom.


    Since he had to slow down a bit due to the passengers, Aion had to travel for two hours. Still, fortunately, instead of finding a base, they found arge group of soldiers trying to cross the desert. Aion approached to ask where he could see his father and brothers. However, much to his surprise, he found them leading the group. At first, they raised their guard since they didn''t know what it was. Still, Lexus, Henri, Philip, George, and Elio eventually recognized Aion''s magic and his controlling the tform.


    "Aion? When did you¡­" Lexus said, and then he opened his eyes widely when he saw Maisie and Darina.


    Lexus bit his lips to the point that he began to bleed a lot in his mouth. His expression of utter despair couldn''t be described with words. Aion''s brothers also looked the same¡­ George and Philip, who were the most hot-blooded, prepared their horses to cross the desert, but Aion stopped them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I will solve this¡­" Aion dered. "Retreat and wait patiently for news."


    Those two looked at Aion and felt shivers when they saw his eyes devoid of any light. He had made up his mind, and what he was going to do was far worse than they could even imagine.


    "Father, I can''t bring you all with me, but you five shoulde and give the order for the others to retreat until I secure the area," Aion dered. "I will destroy their other bases and then head to their country and finish things for good."


    Lexus just nodded once and then climbed onto the earth''s tform. He was the leader there, but Henri was the one who had to give the order to the soldiers to retreat.


    They flew in silence for another hour before they reached the nearest fortress. The ce already had some rooms ready to treat injured people. Still, since it was a fortress, it wasn''t all thatfortable, and pretty much everything was made out of stones.


    The people there frowned when they saw the people that they had to rescue simply appearing out of nowhere, but they didn''t make amotion since the mood was quite dark. Once they reached the rooms, Aion used his magic to make them lie on the beds.


    "I can''t do that now, but I will be able to restore their bodies soon," Aion dered as if it was a matter of fact. "I won''t be able to make them forget what they endured, but I can do that, at least. Can you make them sleep for a week? That should give me enough time."


    "Are you sure?" Henri asked, visibly surprised. "We can use some medicine to do that, and it will help them recover their vitality faster, but¡­"


    "Yeah, I can do that¡­ just wait a few days," Aion said and then turned around.


    "... Aion," Lexus said while looking at his unconscious daughters and then crying for the first time in front of his sons. "Thank you for rescuing them. I trust you that you will make them regret this, but¡­ while I want to tell you to kill them all, don''t do that. Most people probably aren''t aware or would agree with what the people in power did to them."


    "Leave it to me, Father," Aion dered.

 Chapter 289 Your Worst Nightmare

    Before leaving the fortress, Aion asked for a map with the location of the enemy''s bases in the desert. Since it was one thousand kilometers wide, the criminals managed to build ten camps after taking over the capital, and they had around one hundred men in each of them.


    "I am curious as to how they managed to transport the materials necessary to build those, but that isn''t important now," Aion thought while flying toward the first target.


    Priest Lv 09


    Health: 20/20


    Mana: 653/673


    Stamina: 20/30


    Strength: 05


    Dexterity: 11 + 05


    Magic: 12 + 310


    Endurance: 05


    Resistance: 12


    Speed: 16


    Status: 00


    Wand Refinement Lv 05


    Bonuses: 10 Magic, + 05 dexterity


    Skills: Heal Lv 01


    Passive: Mana UP Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 27


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 18.000


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    As soon as he found it, Aion made the ss absorb the materials that he had processed earlier, and he also used all the coins he had to increase his magic since his level in that ss was just too pitiful.


    "At least that will help me level up faster¡­" Aion thought while he began to fall near.


    It didn''t take long for Aion to be found by some guards. The enemy''s camp was like a small fortress, but it served more than well enough as a base of operations in the middle of the desert. In any case, since his level was low and he didn''t have that much mana, Aion just gave him a chance for the enemies to organize. It would be faster to kill them that way. It was hard to imagine that they would know his appearance, after all.


    In the end, even before Aion could reach the gate, it was opened, and ten soldiers came to fight him¡­ they sure were being reckless. Armed with spears, they walked toward him like they were forced to do an annoying job. It probably couldn''t be helped since Aion wasn''t wearing his armor and didn''t have any weapons with him.


    Still, when the enemies were ten meters away, Aion fired ten ice arrows that made their heads explode. The guards on the walls opened their eyes widely when they saw the guards falling headless on the ground, and they couldn''t tell what had happened.<novelnext></novelnext>


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    You received 100 coins.


    You obtained 300 experience points.


    You received 550 coins.


    ¡­


    "I am going to recover all the money I used once the ss reaches the requirements to level up, but I guess I will be filthy rich once I am done with this country," Aion said and then attacked the guards in the walls.


    Some of the enemy soldiers began to scream and shout to alert their allies, telling them to bring their weapons. They sure were naive for thinking that weapons would be enough to let them fight Aion. They should have at least done some research on Aion''s appearance, or maybe they did and didn''t believe in his aplishments.


    It didn''t take long for the enemies to leave the interior of the fortress to fight him, but Aion just put some ice arrows in their heads without even looking at them.


    "This is a first-tier ss at a low level¡­ and you can''t even touch me," Aion said while kicking the corpses. "You are this weak, and you think that you would be able to attack my family and live to tell the tale? Something must be wrong with you guys'' heads."


    In no time, Aion killed half of the garrison of the ce, and the other half decided to escape while calling him a monster. Such naivety¡­ they were the ones who awakened the monster.


    "It is a pity that I can''t use the Necromancer ss here. It would make my job faster," Aion said when he began to fly and created a massive ice saw that was rotating above him.


    Aion made the ice saw fly toward the enemies, and when they heard the sound of something rotating at high speeds, it was toote¡­ Aion split them in half.


    You have leveled up.


    You obtained 05 status points.


    You obtained 03 improvement points.


    You have leveled up.


    You obtained 05 status points.


    You obtained 03 improvement points.


    ¡­


    Aion thought of flying toward the next target but then realized that the earthworms weren''t showing up to eat the bodies, and yet, Aion couldn''t feel anything weird with the mana there.


    "I need to investigate thister¡­" Aion muttered while scratching his chin.


    Aion began to fly toward the nearest base. It had been a while since he was forced to do that by himself, but he had to meditate as well to recover mana since the magic power of that ss wasn''t that efficient.


    Regardless, before noon, Aion reached and destroyed all the bases that the enemies had in the desert and then began to fly further East¡­ it was time for the real massacre to start.


    When Aion reached the first city after crossing the desert, it was already night, and since the ce was walled, the gates had already been closed. Not that such a thing mattered. Aion justnded in front of the gate and then sliced it apart with his ice magic.


    The sound quickly drew the attention of the guards working nearby, and then they came to check. Aion had to wait patiently since it was a part of his ns¡­ killing everyone would be easy and wouldn''t leave any problems forter, but it would bring problems down the road.


    He had to be ruthless against the right people, and killing those that couldn''t fight and didn''t have weapons would only turn his family and, more importantly, his mother into enemies of the whole world. He could easily imagine people calling him the spawn of the devil or something¡­ if Aion hears that just once, he will make the world go on a path of total destruction, and no one would stop him.


    "Who are you?!" One heavily armored guard asked, and others soon joined him while pointing their weapons at him.


    "I am your worst nightmare," Aion replied.

 Chapter 290 Retribuition

    "Drop your weapons, and your lives will be spared. I won''t say it again," Aion said after he crossed his arms. "You will be my minions, and I won''t tolerate any disobedience, but it is better than dying a dog''s death, right?"


    "Kill him!" The guard shouted. "Kill the foreigner invader now!"


    The soldiers dashed at Aion, but he put ice arrows on their heads and then killed their captain as well before taking their weapons and processing them.


    The noise and the smell of death attracted a lot of people, and they left their houses, but soon they returned while panicking. More guards kepting, and Aion didn''t waste time talking this time. It would take too long to keep things like that¡­


    Since the ce had such an organized force, Aion realized that it must have some sort of leadership even though it was a county of mostly criminals and bandits. Some people get rich and spread their influence tomand others. It didn''t take long for him to find arge building and several others nearby where the guards came from.


    Aion just walked past them while hitting their heads with more ice arrows. Still, hundreds of them kepting. It would take too long at that rate, but it was an excellent opportunity for him to spread some fear.


    While an entire battalion was charging toward him, Aion created an ice sphere above him and then made it grow until the area around it began to freeze. In the end, the enemies stopped moving when it became the size of a house. When it became fifty meters long and wide, the soldiers tried to run away, but Aion smashed all of them with it. The impact made the entire city tremble, and panic spread even more.


    Aion saw some people heading toward the opposite side of the city and opened the gates in order to escape, but he could deal with themter. First, he headed toward the mansion in front of him. There was an iron fence around the garden of the ce, and guards trembling while looking at him. If they run, they will dieter. If they fight, they will die¡­ they could only drop their weapons and then prostrate themselves on the ground. Aion passed by them without doing anything.


    When Aion got in front of the door, he sliced it apart with ice des again and then found some guards protecting a family of people that were some fancy clothes. All of them were armed with magic crossbows and were ready to attack.


    "Pull the trigger and consider your lives forfeit," Aion said after he crossed his arms.


    The guards gulped, and then, while trembling like leaves, they dropped their weapons and then prostrated themselves as well. They sure were quick to do that¡­


    The family behind them wasposed of one bald and tubby man that had a mustache, one middle-aged blond woman that was about to pass out and three kids, one that was in the arms of the woman, and two others that weren''t even ten years old.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Are you the one controlling things in this city?" Aion asked while looking at the tubby man. "If you don''t want to die in front of the kids, you better not make me waste my time."


    "... Yes¡­ what do you want? Money?" The tubby man asked.


    "I want blood, a lot of it," Aion replied while smirking. "The forces that are in the desert must have crossed your city, so you will tell me everything you know about their actions. If I ever think that you are hiding anything, you are a goner. Do you understand?"


    "... Yes¡­" The man said while opening his eyes once he realized who Aion was due to his appearance.


    "Why did you guys invade the fallen capital, and why did you torture Maisie and Darina Kresnik?"


    "I didn''t¡­ I heard that they might know some secrets that king Vangel might have," The man gulped after he saw Aion''s anger in his eyes. "I don''t know the details, and I just received money to send some of my men, but some of the richer men of this country are looking for something underneath the fallen capital."


    "That doesn''t make you less guilty than those who gave the orders¡­ you received something from this, after all," Aion''s cold voice made everyone in the room feel shivers. "Still, if you tell me everything and follow my orders, I will spare you."


    The man nodded several times. He knew well that a single thought would be enough for his life to be imed. In any case, Aion learned that four families had grown quite powerful in recent years for some reason, and they had always been allies¡­ that was weird. Usually, in that kind of situation, they would start to get greedy and try to get the money and the influence of others.


    Aion had never heard of that thest time he had been there¡­ probably because he was too focused on rescuing his mother. In any case, those families easily swallowed other groups since they had enough resources to pay mercenaries, and when that wasn''t enough, they used pirates to deal more damage to them until they became nothing. Only people that licked their asses like tubby managed to survive and be their allies.


    In recent years, they showed interest in searching the desert and the territory of the fallen Milleris kingdom. At first, they didn''t make much progress because of the earthworms, but then they found a secret way to deal with them.


    After that, they began to move a lot of resources to the desert, but not enough to build a base in the fallen capital, and it was suspicious since those four families didn''t try to spread rumors that they were going soon to invade Zaera kingdom¡­ even though they kidnapped and brutally tortured two members of a family really close to the king.

 Chapter 291 Suspicions

    Tubby didn''t know enough, but Aion couldn''t me him. He was just a small fry in the big picture. Still, he had his uses. Killing him would be too easy for Aion. It would be better to make him work to the rest of his lives while fearing for his life every single day if he makes a single mistake.


    "You will spread to the whole city that no one can leave or enter for one week. If one single person leaves, your head will roll," Aion dered. "During that time, you will gather five hundred gold coins from the entire city, and you will put all of your fortunes in it as well. After that, you will gather all the weapons and put all of those in a single spot. If you fail to do any of that, I will sink this entire city into the ground. Do you understand?"


    Aion made the ground freeze, and then he kicked, shattering it and showing a deep hole. Thanks to the trick, Tubby nodded several times. While he was going to spare anyone who gave up on their weapons, Aion would make them as poor as fuck and would make them work for him until he got tired of them.


    Before leaving, Aion got a map of the entire country¡­ there were too many viges for him to visit, but towns and cities were only six and eleven. Getting those and getting rid of anyone troublesome in those ces was more feasible.


    Priest Lv 39


    Health: 20/20


    Mana: 953/1093


    Stamina: 20/90


    Strength: 05


    Dexterity: 11 + 35


    Magic: 162 + 370


    Endurance: 05


    Resistance: 12


    Speed: 16


    Status: 00


    Wand Refinement Lv 35


    Bonuses: 70 Magic, + 35 dexterity


    Skills: Heal Lv 01, Mana Shield Lv 01, Strength Support Lv 01,


    Passive: Mana UP Lv 01, Holy Reinforcement Lv 01


    Improvement Points:117


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 699.000


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000<novelnext></novelnext>


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Mana Shield: a magic shield that cancels five points of damage per level. Cost: 10 mana


    Holy Reinforcement: passively improves the effects of holy and support magic by three percent per level.


    Strength Support: for a short time, increase your or the target strength by three points per level. Cost: 20 Mana. Duration: 60 seconds.


    That wasn''t a small amount of progress for a single day. Still, Aion didn''t get what he wanted yet, and he couldn''t afford not to get it. Still, he had plenty of room to grow with the enemies that he was going to face yet.


    Time was of the essence, so Aion decided to head to the nearest base of one of those four families. ording to Tubby, they lived in the four corners of the country, and that probably wasn''t a coincidence¡­ They lived like that since it would be easier to rule the whole country and hard to get rid of them at the same time.


    In any case, the first target was pretty close, only two hundred kilometers away, and since Aion leveled up and got some money, his magic increased even more. Still, he wasn''t sure how he should proceed.


    "Kill the heads of this country will solve most of the problems, but I can''t do that without learning what they were plotting," Aion thought when he found his next destination.


    Once again, Aionnded on the interior of the city since it was another walled ce, and the gates were closed. The same things repeated themselves as before, but as soon as Aion killed the guards near the gate, he noticed that something was off¡­ the people of the city didn''te to check the confusion. That was suspicious¡­


    "I flew fast here, but even though it is past midnight, this isn''t right¡­" Aion thought.


    He had killed two hundred guards, but reinforcements didn''te. Still, Aion kept moving until he noticed that something was off. The atmosphere was quite dark, and he could tell the reason for that. Eventually, Aion reached the mansion of the lord of the city, and he didn''t even see guards there, but when he kicked the iron gate and broke it, he heard countless pitching sounds.


    In the next moment, Aion used Magic Shield to block some attacks but then enveloped himself in a thickyer of ice¡­ after opening some holes near his foot, Aion saw the darts and felt a smelling from them. It was quite intense¡­ poisonous dartsing from dozens of assassins.


    "They must be waiting here¡­ this couldn''t be a coincidence," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    More darts kepting since the assassins were probably thest line of defense of the lord of the city¡­ Aion opened another hole in front of his barrier and could see some shadows moving in the mansion in front of him. A lot of people were watching him, and they definitely were the final line of defense¡­ even though it was stupid toy their line inside a building.


    Aion wished that he had time to n things better, but he didn''t have time. He wanted to get rid of the lords before the next sunrise, and he was already going to fight during the day, and that would be tiring, after all.


    Without wasting any time, Aion dashed toward one side and then quickly found a group of assassins hiding within an alley, and then he froze the whole ce with a powerful cold wave.


    You have leveled up.


    You have leveled up.


    You have leveled up.


    ¡­


    That was a lot of experience¡­ The assassins must have been at quite a high level since Aion only killed a few of them. They were the kind that killed a lot but never took any damage. That was why a single spell did that¡­ their talent caused their downfall.


    As if that didn''t matter at all, the other assassins kept attacking since they could tell that the ice barrier was suffering damage¡­ it was true since Aion had never used that kind of thing before. Still, they weren''t supposed to know this or see it in the darkness of the night. That was truly suspicious¡­

 Chapter 292 Dullahan

    Aion quickly grabbed their crossbows and began to process them. With their structure and poison, they were going to improve the refinement of the wand quite fast, and that was what he needed the most right now since that was the slowest. It would be a pain if he reaches a level to the max and is forced to wait because of the refinement level.


    Aion quickly disposed of the groups of assassins and then headed toward the mansion. He was expecting that the guys there would put up a better fight. All of a sudden, the lights inside turned on, and then the entrance door opened, revealing the tall figure of a fully armored warrior.


    "... You wore that armor pretty fast," Aion said while feeling that something was off with that dark and purple armor.


    The warrior didn''t say anything and just charged toward him, unarmed. An armored warrior without weapons¡­ that was another suspicious thing in the whole situation.


    The guy was fast despite its size, but Aion flew to the side fast enough to dodge it. The warrior quickly turned and then lept to attack him before turning in mid-air and almost hitting him with a hound house kick.


    Aion jumped to the side while raising an ice wall, and his weird feeling was confirmed when he saw the wall melting when it was touched by the enemy''s armor. He wasn''t even surprised by it since he could tell what was going on¡­


    "I see now¡­ someone in the future is interfering here," Aion thought and then changed his ss to Demonic Berserker.


    Everything made sense now¡­ all of the preparation, the enemies waiting for him, the invasion of the fallen capital, that armored guy that was probably vulnerable to magic thanks to his armor¡­ the lord of the city prepared for Aion''s arrival. He didn''t expect that he would deal with such a situation so soon¡­ but it made sense. He got the relics now, so perhaps that created a future that a lot of people disliked.


    The enemy suddenly stopped when he saw the Bloody Ax appearing in Aion''s hands. He had heard of his magic, but not about his ability to summon weapons like that? Something was off¡­


    Still, Aion didn''t waste that chance¡­ while the enemy was hesitating, he charged and swung down his ax. The enemy blocked the weapon with both arms, but Aion''s strength was higher and made him drop to his knees¡­ However, Aion''s mana began to be sucked.


    "What?" Aion muttered in shock.


    The enemy didn''t even use that chance to attack him. His armor began to glow and became bigger¡­ that thing wasn''t made only to protect him against Aion''s magic, and it was the perfect counter for it.


    Aion jumped backward and calmed down while analyzing that situation¡­ he had never heard of anything like that armor. Although he couldn''t see the enemy''s face, but he could hear him smirking.


    "All right¡­ you will be my first duhan," Aion said.


    The enemy had no idea what Aion was talking about, but he suddenly felt shivers when Aion moved his ax to the right side of his back. The tail guard was famous for giving people a chance to concentrate and deliver insanely powerful blows, after all.


    The enemy charged in order not to give Aion time to do anything, but that had been a terrible mistake. Aion created an ice wall in front of him, and the enemy lost sight of him for a moment. When the armor began to melt it, Aion''s ax was already moving and a few centimeters away from his neck.


    In the next moment, the warrior saw the world spinning, and he was unable to move his body, and then the world turned white¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    You have leveled up.


    You have leveled up.


    You have leveled up.


    ¡­


    "That is a lot of experience that could have gone to the Priest ss. Oh well¡­ it can''t be helped," Aion thought and then sighed.


    Aion changed his ss again and then grabbed that guy''s head before turning him into a death knight. It was unsightly to have a naked death knight, but Aion wanted that armor for himself to study and use it, so he took it from his newest pawn.


    Dozens of guards began to leave the mansion, and then a bell began to ring. The sound almost made Aion''s eardrums explode.


    Soon after, all the people in the city began to leave their houses and tried to escape from the city. That was another weird thing¡­ Usually, the kind of person who uses assassins are assholes that don''t care about themselves, so why would the lord alert everyone to escape?


    "He wants to slip in the confusion¡­ he has some secret passageway that will let him mix with the poption trying to leave," Aion thought while he changed back to the Priest ss and began to kill the guards with ice arrows on their heads.


    Aion wasn''t sure if the lord had that, but it would be a better passage that would lead out of the city. In any case, he didn''t have much time to escape so that Aion could catch him. He made light work of the guards and then entered the mansion. He ignored everything else and just followed the direction the guards wereing from¡­ they were trying to block his way and from reaching the library.


    "ssic," Aion thought while shaking his head.


    When he got there, Aion didn''t see anything out of the norm, the library was dark, but the shelves were fine. Still, Aion knocked everything down easily with a gust of wind, and that revealed a secret passageway near the wall.


    The lord and his family were trying to run away as fast as possible using the secret tunnel that would lead them outside of the city¡­ he cursed Aion under his breath. He had heard of his strength. Still, he never thought that he would be actually such a monster.


    "That beast¡­ that beast¡­ even though he told us to be careful¡­" the lord said.


    "I am interested to hear about him¡­" Aion''s voice echoed behind them.

 Chapter 293 Forbidden Knowledge

    The sound of the guards falling on the ground after losing their heads and the smell of blood made the lord and his family squeal in terror. They tried to keep moving, but their legs soon gave up¡­ when they turned around, they saw Aion menacingly walking toward them.


    "What the hell is this?" Aion asked when he saw another tubby man with his family trying to run away from. "Even pieces of shit have families, huh."


    Aion sighed when he saw the lord of the city pissing his pants¡­ that was certainly unsightly. In any case, the guy had a wife and four kids wearing dark cloaks. They sure were nning to run away in the darkness of the night. Regardless, those people had to suffer a bit as well since they were part of the problem, and Aion''s anger was far from over.


    Aion approached the man and created a fireball over his head, revealing a dark-haired man that had a mustache. He was supposed to be in his fifties, so aside from his big belly, he was looking good for his age. Still, he was a piece of shit.


    "Come to think of it, I don''t know you guys'' names. I just want to kill you all¡­" Aion said and then made the fireball approach the enemy''s head. "But¡­ I will give you this one chance. A chance not to die, but a chance not to let your kids watch your head burn. So, what do you say?"


    The lord of the city began to sweat cold while breathing hard and was about to pass out, but he still managed to nod his head. That being said, Aion kept the fireball twenty centimeters above his head. That was probably the best method to keep the enemy from lying.


    "Where did you get intel about me?" Aion asked.


    The man gulped¡­ that was probably the only question that he didn''t want to answer¡­ Aion could tell while watching his eyes roll. Still, the man began to grunt in pain when the fireball approached his head, and he began to feel its head growing.


    "I don''t know his name!" The man shouted. "We receive intel from him periodically, and he told us one month ago that you woulde to attack us!"


    One month ago¡­ around the time Aion got the final relic. That confirmed his suspicions, the future changed when he got them, but he thought that the past couldn''t be changed like some people imagined. Instead of that, any interference would create another branch of reality in the multiverse. Aion thought that those that could mess with time would know that, but maybe that wasn''t the case.


    "The relics are losing power, so I sometimes guess in the future, people will be able to use time magic like this again," Aion thought and then red at the man in front of me. "If you didn''t want me to attack you, you wouldn''t have told your men to kidnap and torture my sisters¡­ anyway, that can wait for a bit. Exin what you were doing in the fallen capital."


    "... We received information about how we could use the ghosts of the people of the Milleris kingdom and where to find them," The man replied. "There is a secret dungeon down there that was impossible to find without knowing exactly where to find it."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "... Continue," Aion said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "We use a certain type of magic on the ghosts that have more magic power and use them to control the weaker ones," The man exined. "We give them the order to be a cluster of spiritual energy and then use them as shields against the monsters in the desert. We can also use the weakest ones to work for us¡­"


    That was probably the result of some illusion magic. Still, for that to work on ghosts¡­ they got more privileged information than expected since Aion had never heard of anyone using that kind of magic. Maybe it was something that only existed in the future¡­


    Regardless, Aion confirmed what he had assumed¡­ Someone wanted to alter the future, but it seemed that they were stupid since their ns had been destroyed all too easily, or they had other goals in mind.


    Aion asked other things, like about who was the leader of their group, but he didn''t say that they had a leader. They acted in total cooperation¡­ Aion felt that it was bullshit. Usually, in that kind of situation, someone would receive more than others. Still, maybe that someone decided to keep that hidden.


    Aion also asked while closing the tunnel with earth magic why they were trying to invade Zaera kingdom without railing their poption. Still, he said that those were orders that he received without knowing the reason.


    "All right, you will ring that bell again and make everyone think that I am dead," Aion said while approaching the man and grabbing him by his cor.


    The man tried to struggle, but it was useless. His family followed him while imagining that they were all going to be killed on the spot if they didn''t go. In the end, the man decided to cooperate while imagining that he would be fine if he didn''t anger Aion. He even recovered some of hisposure not to look evenme in front of his kids.


    The bell was at the top of the mansion, and from there, Aion saw the city getting calm again. People that had left the ce began to return, imagining that Aion had been killed. Still, all of a sudden, Aion turned around and then used an ice de to cut off one of the man''s arms.


    "Arrrrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhh!" The man screamed in agony while seeing blood gush from the wound.


    "Your job now is to gather two thousand good coins from the whole city and then put all of your fortunes in a single ce," Aion said while the man was screaming. "You will gather all the weapons in the city as well and offer them to me in one week. If you don''t do that, I will chop your other limbs. That will be just the beginning of what I will do since this is far from quenching my anger."

 Chapter 294 The Next Level

    Aion left for the next big city, which was on the southern side of the country. If some people try to leave the ce, they probably will use the maritime routes, but it was hard to imagine that they would have time for that. The Eastern side of that country was surrounded by mountains as well, and the desert was on the Western side.


    That was a pain. Aion could only think that those guys kept themselves separated like that to make him work more¡­ Regardless, the sun had risen two hours before Aion could reach his next destination. Since one of the enemies had been waiting for him in the dread of the night, he imagined that the others would be the same.


    When Aion approached the city, he could see three armies on three sides of the ce¡­ it was walled, and it seemed that they were always ready for war. While the four armies weren''t that big, they would work well to surround him if Aion entered the city by flying. The enemies were trying a number of things to get him.


    Even from afar, Aion could tell that all of them had tower shields and long spears. It didn''t seem like they had that material of that armor in abundance¡­ their phnx formation would work better if they had it. However, the second tubby said that they found that material on the ruins of the fallen capital and only managed to forge a few things with it¡­ enough for four people.


    "I guess I will humor those guys," Aion said and then flew toward the first army that was on the western side of the city.


    They didn''t see Aion''s approaching, but the soldiers saw Aionnding since he made sure to be as noisy as possible. The enemy soldiers readied themselves to face him by raising their shields andpletely hiding behind them. Their phnx formation was perfect¡­ and they began to march toward Aion.


    As for Aion, he was just two hundred meters away and then raised his right arm and then summoned an ice sphere that kept growing and growing¡­ When he used all of his mana, the sphere was bigger than a mansion, but it wasn''t enough to crush all of those guys, so he was forced to use Force Release and spend half of his reserves. It wasn''t the most efficient way to deal with the enemies, but he needed to make a point. He needed to make the people there fear him¡­


    Despite seeing a sphere that was the size of their entire battalion, the enemy soldiers didn''t hesitate and kept marching at him. That was suspicious¡­ for not a single one of them to fear for their lives was¡­ weird, to say the least.


    "Are they being controlled like the ghosts?" Aion thought. "I suspect it would be more efficient to use it on humans."


    Not that it matters. Aion could see the other armies moving to attack him, so he didn''t have time to waste, and he quickly dropped the massive ice sphere on the army. Perhaps it was more urate to call it an ice meteor since it crushed all of thempletely.


    You have leveled up.


    You have leveled up.


    You have leveled up.


    ¡­


    Priest Lv 89


    Health: 20/20


    Mana: 1803/1803


    Stamina: 140/140


    Strength: 05


    Dexterity: 11 + 85


    Magic: 312 + 505


    Endurance: 05


    Resistance: 12 +03


    Speed: 16


    Status: 00


    Wand Refinement Lv 85<novelnext></novelnext>


    Bonuses: + 170 Magic, + 85 dexterity


    Skills: Heal Lv 01, Mana Shield Lv 01, Strength Support Lv 01, Dexterity Support Lv 01, Magic Support Lv 15,


    Passive: Mana UP Lv 50, Holy Reinforcement Lv 01, Improved Resistance Lv 01, Wand Mastery Lv 10, Undead''s Bane Lv 01


    Improvement Points:267


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 115.000


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Improved Resistance: passively increases your Resistance by three points per level.


    Dexterity Support: temporarily increases your dexterity by three points per level for one minute at the cost of thirty mana points.


    Wand Mastery: passively increases the effects of spells by one percent per level.


    Magic Support: temporarily increases your magic by three points per level for one minute at the cost of thirty mana points.


    Undead''s Bane: causes one percent more damage to undead per level.


    "... For a band of brainwashed soldiers, they sure gave me a lot of experience," Aion thought while frowning.


    Aion couldn''t help but wait for the enemies to approach. He needed to recover some mana, but he also needed to understand the situation¡­ did they seriously think that he was that weak, or the information that they got was that inurate? He couldn''t tell if he had gotten that stronger over a year, even if he trained hard whenever he could.


    Even if he had, the people in the future should know of his strength or at least have a good estimation of it. In any case, the gates of the city opened, and more soldiers came from it. The city was prettyrge, so it would make sense that it could have five thousand soldiers¡­ Still, the country was a country where most of its power came from bandits. For them to have such an organized army¡­ something was really off.


    "I don''t like this¡­ this is way too convenient for me," Aion thought.


    Instead of waiting for the enemies, Aion decided to fly toward the city and question the lord of the ce himself. That would make him realize things faster.


    Once he crossed the walls, Aion saw a lot of soldiers heading toward that gate, and soon, he confirmed that they had way more soldiers than expected. A lot more, in fact. Did they hire mercenaries and brainwash them to wear full armor? That wouldn''t make any sense.


    Aion looked for a ce in the city with arge number of soldiers protecting it, but he didn''t find it. The houses were all closed, and considering that it was in the middle of the day, it would be the only ce they could hide¡­ as if that wasn''t troublesome enough, there were plenty of mansions in the ce. For all that he could care, Aion knew that the target might be in one of those, but he also could have run away already.


    "That guy didn''t know how the illusion magic worked or who cast¡­ their conspirator said that they would do that for them, but it was unlikely that someone from the future could interfere that much," Aion thought. "So, one of those four guys used their minions to do that¡­ this is getting moreplicated."


    It was already clear that the enemies didn''t want, nor could they, kill Aion, so they were aiming for something else. The question was, what? So far, he didn''t face enemies that could try to mess with him indirectly or even were crazy enough thousands of people to get in his way in one way or the other. Still, it seemed that was the case now.


    "Since it hase to this¡­ I need to y my cards wisely and avoid any traps that the enemies might haveid," Aion thought. "This game has reached the next level, and I can''t fall for their schemes."

 Chapter 295 Suspicious Power

    Aionnded at the top of one of the Mansions of the city and began to think. Just killing all the guards and soldiers won''t help him this time since the enemy wanted that for some reason¡­ the question was, why?


    "Father was probably worried because of that¡­ if I killed everyone, it would make rumors about me," Aion thought while watching the soldiers moving around and trying to get weapons to attack him. "The bad rumors will affect not only me, my family, and mother¡­ it will also affect the whole Kingdom. Due to the relics, a lot of people will already hate me naturally, and that will be the same as putting oil on the fire. Is that their goal?"


    Aion considered what might happen afterward. Rumors about him will spread across the world, and some people will think that he was truly a monster created by the Mirellis kingdom, and the Zaera kingdom wanted to make use of that monster for their nefarious ns. In the worst-case scenario, the Zaera kingdom will be attacked by many nations. Even if they win such a war, a lot of people will die, and Aion, his family, and his mother will be med for it. Increasing their hate and fear for him.


    "Is that their end goal?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If it is, the true ruler of this country is insane, or their conspirator that lives in the future promised them something way beyond riches¡­ after gaining so much already, they would believe in their words easily."


    To really solve the problem, Aion will have to go to the future¡­but he can''t until all the enemies in the present situation are dealt with, and he heals his sisterspletely.


    Although Aion had a good idea of the real scope of the situation, he still didn''t know how to solve the first part of it. Finding the lords will be hard enough already¡­ after thinking for a while, Aion took the relics from his inventory and put them together.


    The relics were glowing, as expected. They probably were signaling that there was something in the city that was connected to time Magic, but that wasn''t enough. Aion made them touch each other, and then they glowed even more and then pointed to two points in the city with a beam of light¡­ one of them was a mansion not too far away, and another was behind him, toward the Northern gate of the city.


    "I think I have found you, asshole¡­" Aion smirked and then began to fly to the gate.


    It didn''t take long for Aion to see a shabby-looking carriage crossing the gate¡­ it was a good disguise. Still, the fact that the army of zombie soldiers opened their path for that to cross was.


    As if they had noticed their approach, the zombie soldiers assumed the phnx formation while protecting the carriage. Still, Aion just shrugged and sent a cold wave of magic that froze all of the nearby soldiers, and then hended on it.


    "Found ya," Aion said while smirking.


    Aion quickly covered the area with a thick ice wall to make sure that no one would get in his way and the target wouldn''t escape. Still, a single person left the carriage while carrying a dark purple sword and pointing at him. It was a thin, tall man who seemed to be in his forties. He sure looked nervous since he looked white as a ghost¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You don''t have the stance of summoned who trained for years. You will get yourself hurt if you point that at me¡­ not like I care," Aion said when he confirmed that there was no one else inside the carriage. "Since you are going to die here."


    It seemed that the man didn''t have a family, so Aion could kill without worrying too much about anything. It was annoying to hold the moral high ground against assholes. Still, he couldn''t just go down to the level of his enemies that often and easily.


    Aion took a step forward and then opened his eyes widely when the enemy suddenly moved his sword a little, and then arge cut appeared on Aion''s chest. He didn''t even see the attack, and yet¡­ the damage had been that fearsome.


    "It seems that you have some skills¡­ or is that the power of the sword?" Aion asked when he healed himself.


    Although Aion looked unfazed, the target smiled¡­ until now, he didn''t have any confidence in winning against Aion. Still, now things had changed since he could tell that his sword was highly effective against him for some reason.


    The man moved his sword again, and Aion moved his head to the side. Arge wound appeared from his chest to his neck¡­ he quickly healed himself again since that ss had low health. Still, something was off. The damage caused by such a powerful sword was supposed to be way higher, considering that Aion only had twenty points of health.


    "That is a nice sword that you have there¡­" Aion said while smiling.


    The target felt shivers and began to swing the sword wildly. The wounds began to pile up, but Aion could tell when his head would be targeted thanks to his instincts, so he avoided critical damage. One didn''t have to be a genius to realize that the swings of the enemy gave shape to the next wound caused.


    Aion ignored those until the enemy took a step backward and readied a thrust attack¡­ that would be bad, so he froze everything around, even the target''s legs.


    "Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The man squeaked like a little animal when he lost the feeling of his legs instantly, and the ice there began to break.


    In the meantime, Aion could only smirk¡­ unfortunately, he couldn''t enjoy that situation for long since the ice wall was being attacked by hundreds of soldiers and was quickly falling apart. He had to hurry things up¡­

 Chapter 296 Healer

    In the end, Aion makes the enemy have a mental breakdown after he takes his sword and begins to cut his legs covered in ice. He thought that the guy was the head of the enemies, but that wasn''t the case. He spilled the beans all too easily before Aion imed his head. If that wasn''t suspicious, he didn''t know what it was.


    Despite that, he had his clues that the one leading the whole group indirectly while receiving more help from the future was a woman that was controlling the Eastern side of the county. While her territory didn''t expand that much, she was the one who forged the special materials that they had and gave them to the others.


    "This guy didn''t have anyone whom he could trust with such a powerful sword, so he kept it," Aion thought. "This isn''t material I have ever heard of¡­ so maybe his suspicions aren''t unfounded."


    The target was killed, but the enemies outside still were acting like zombies, and while seeing them up close, Aion could tell that most of them were just ordinary folk¡­ the enemies truly wanted to make him look like a monster to the whole world.


    "This situation is too favorable to the enemies¡­ it is almost like they can tell how I would act after finding out about Maisie and Darina," Aion thought while the ice wall was falling apart. "While knowing that, the enemies made several preparations to fuck me over¡­ they shouldn''t know so much about the past unless they knew about a different past without much of their intervention."


    When time travel is involved, everything bes reallyplicated. So, it couldn''t be helped that Aion would feel a headache. The more he thought about it, the more Aion assumed that using the relics to deal with the perpetrator of the whole situation was the only way to solve the problem with the brainwashed people.


    Aion also thought that the second spot that the relics pointed to was just a building that the perpetrator used to talk with the people in the present, but maybe he was wrong¡­ he had to investigate that.


    Aion broke the ice wall and flew back to the city, using the relics to find the right ce¡­ in the end, he only found an old warehouse that didn''t even have windows or doors.


    "Talk about a suspicious ce¡­" Aion thought and then broke the ceiling of the building.


    In the next moment, Aion found arge magic crystal sending mana to a small fissure in the space that was emitting a dark and purple glow.


    "Hellooooo¡­ are you there, Mr or Miss asshole?" Aion asked after he approached the distortion.


    Aion waited for a while, but he didn''t get any response. In any case, while the magic crystal was feeding the fissure, Aion could feel some manaing from the fissure as well and spreading across the city. He wanted to know how to get such arge magic stone, but it was a problem forter.


    After storing the magic stone, Aion processed it, and then it turned into an experience that made his ss level up alongside the refinement level of it¡­ making it reach the max.


    "I didn''t know that this is possible¡­ this thing must be quite high quality," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Congrattions! The ss Priest has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N.


    Choose one of the sses: High Priest, Battle Healer, or Exorcist.


    High Priest Lv 01


    Health: 08/18


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01<novelnext></novelnext>


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Healer''s Staff Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Restoration Lv 01


    Passive: Mana Regeneration Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 3.250.000


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Restoration: restore health on the target that will be equal to the level of the skill multiplied by twenty. When the health of the target is full, casting this spell will restore body parts to their original state faster than the ordinary healing speed. The level of the skill determines its effectiveness.


    Mana Regeneration: passively increases Mana Regeneration by ten percent per level.


    Aion smiled to himself in satisfaction. Restoration will help his sisters¡­ he thought that he would need a tier three healing ss. Still, maybe he underestimated what such a level of a ss would do.


    Regardless, he had to level up the skill, but he also had to check things outside. The fissure was closed, and the mana in the environment changed.


    When Aion left the warehouse, he looked at the armies around the city and confirmed that they were all confused. The spell was undone¡­ but Aion will have to level his ss since he got extremely weaker again.


    "At least I got my money back, and I can increase my magic¡­" Aion thought and then began to fly toward the northern part of the country, but then he turned around.


    It didn''t take long, but Aion felt that it was a pain¡­ he approached one of the armies and then threw the corpse of their leader in front of them, and then exined the situation.


    "Gather all the money and weapons of the city in a single ce and wait for one week," Aion dered. "During that time, no one can enter or leave the city. If you let that happen, your entire country will be destroyed."


    Aion wondered if that would be enough to make everyone do as they were told¡­ but he didn''t have time for anything else. Thest two targets might be preparing more traps to deal with him, and he couldn''t help but worry since the mastermind had enough leeway to give that crazy sword away.


    It was hard to imagine what else they had in store for him¡­

 Chapter 297 Fan

    Although Aion used all his coins again to increase his magic, he had to stop a few times along the way to kill some earthworms and level up. His speed had decreased with the power-up. Nothing in the worldes for free, after all.


    Still, despite the pauses, Aion reached his destination in the middle of the afternoon. Still, he frowned since he didn''t see any enemies waiting for him outside the city, and he, and he didn''t see soldiers in the walls either¡­


    When hended on the walls, Aion stopped and looked around, but he didn''t find anyone around the city. While his tracking skills were subpar, he still could feel a presence inside the houses¡­ weird presences, in fact, since they had too much mana with them.


    "I really don''t like this¡­ who could have thought that dealing with the enemies in a single country would be this tiresome," Aion thought and then sighed.


    In any case, Aionnded on the streets and then tried to lure the enemies. He could tell that the whole poption there was going to attack him, and if they all had been brainwashed, then it couldn''t be helped. Still, they didn''te.


    Aion furrowed his eyebrows and then took his relics out of his inventory. Perhaps he should get rid of the brainwashing first, but much to his surprise, the relics only pointed to a single ce in the middle of the city.


    While Aion was frowning, several walls in the houses nearby broke, and then numerous magic projectiles flew toward him. Ice spears, fire spears, wind spears, and Earth spears¡­ powerful enough to break houses apart.


    Aion used Force Release, and then his speed increased, and he dodged all the attacks while looking at the enemies. They were normal people wearing normal civilian clothes of civilians, but he could see their eyes emitting a blue glow.


    "This magic power and presence¡­ it makes me recall Mom," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    One didn''t have to be a genius to understand that the ghosts of the Mirellis kingdom had taken over the bodies of those people. Aion wondered if it was something that they did by themselves or if someone controlled them. Either way, if that was a n to make him feel conflicted. It was a waste of time since he could just fly and avoid them¡­ and so he did it.


    ? "Hmm?" Aion frowned when he felt some presence nearby when he began to fly.


    Aion turned around only to see the people flying as well, using wind magic, earth tforms, and even firing fire through their legs¡­ the ghosts could use their powers rather well, even in bodies that didn''t belong to them.


    Aion wondered what he should do¡­ as usual, things smelled too fishy since it wasn''t like he couldn''t kill them. At first, he decided to ignore them. Still, when Zaion found his destination¡­ he felt arge concentration of mana ahead, to the pool that he could clearly see a magic barrier. Aion could also sense the mana flowing from many points in the city and being absorbed by the barrier to keep it standing.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "The enemy is also using their mana to keep that barrier up¡­ at least this confirms that the right-hand man of the perpetrator is here," Aion thought while he was going downward to check the barrier. "It isn''t like the barrier the grandma shrimp made¡­ it only has power and no talent involved when this was created."


    The number of enemies following him was increasing, so Aion had to make up his mind quickly. Killing them was what the enemy wanted him to do for some reason. Still, it was probably different than before since the spirits of the Milleris kingdom were involved in it.


    "I suppose it can''t be helped¡­ even if they are somewhat innocent, the people of this kingdom are also to be med for all this mess," Aion thought when hended nearby and chose a target. "Letting people like this control your country¡­ stupidity needs to be a crime, I guess."


    You obtained 1000 experience points.


    Aion fired an ice spear, imagining that the target would have high magic resistance. The Target had been a soldier wearing full te armor and a thick helmet, but that didn''t protect him against the attack. Still, something off happened¡­ a blue sphere flew from the body toward Aion, and when he attacked, his projectile just passed through it.


    "I don''t like this¡­" Aion thought and then began to fly away.


    Unfortunately, the sphere kept chasing Aion and gaining speed until it inevitably reached and entered his body. At first, Aion just felt a shiver across his entire body, but nothing else happened.


    "This can''t be good¡­ I don''t know what will happen, but I can''t let them keep entering my body," Aion furrowed his eyebrows while facing the barrier. "Even if it is inefficient, I should be able to cause more damage than this thing can recover mana if I use the necromancer or Demonic Berserker ss."


    Aion prepared to change his ss, but then a light began to glow in the middle of the barrier and at the top of the mansion until it was impossible to see things inside. In the next moment, a person appeared there¡­ it was a dark-haired woman wearing a set of light leather armor. She had a lot of knives around her body, so she really looked like a criminal.


    The ck-haired woman began to fly while her arms were resting on her back. It felt like she was using Telekinesis or something simr since her movements were fluid. Way too fluid¡­ in any case, she approached and revealed to be quite the prettydy in her twenties. Not too slim or too thick, but that wasn''t important¡­ there was no blue glow in her eyes, but there was something wrong with them¡­ they looked dead.


    "Hello, Aion Kresnik," The woman said. "It is an honor to meet you finally."

 Chapter 298 Souls

    Aion looked around and then saw the inhabitants of the city suddenly stop moving, and then they sat down to meditate¡­ the woman probably ordered them to feed the barrier with more mana.


    "Please, don''t ignore me. I am quite a fan of yours, you know," the woman said. "My name is Ana, and as you might have guessed already, I am from the future."


    "... Are you borrowing the body of someone else?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows without hiding his bloodlust.


    "Yes, as you already know, time magic has a lot of limitations thanks to the relics that you have, so this was the only way I could talk with you," Ana said. "First of all, I would like to say that I am not your enemy and that all of this was bound to happen even without my influence."


    "Convenient, don''t you think?" Aion showed a cold smile.


    "If this weren''t true, how would I have known the right moment to talk with you?" Ana asked. "Besides, since I can do this, wouldn''t it be better if I had taken over the body of someone else and then betrayed you? Your mother would be the perfect target for that¡­ wait, wait! Don''t look at me like that, and this is just an example. You might be thinking that the magic tool that your mother has protects her against everything, like negative effects. Still, even that has a limit of durability."


    It wasn''t like Aion never considered that, but he thought that it would take a long while, and until that happened, his ns would have already been set. Regardless, that woman sure seemed weird¡­ in more ways than one. That was why Aion felt so guarded against her more than ever before.


    "I am truly sorry for your sisters, but I couldn''t change history that much since I had my hands full interfering with the real enemy this time around," Ana said while bowing her head. "You might not believe this, but your sisters were supposed to die two weeks ago, and then you would have destroyed this entire country out of rage."


    Aion furrowed his eyebrows¡­ as expected, he was talking with someone that knew way more than anyone else. Still, her words didn''t make much sense.


    "They were captured ten days ago¡­ how should they have been killed two weeks ago?" Aion asked.


    "My passive intervention prevented that¡­ while I could have stopped their capture if I tried really hard, I couldn''t since that might have changed the future too much," Ana exined. "Did you know that aside from creating timelines, altering the future too much might erase the existence of people altogether?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "... I have heard of it," Aion replied after a brief moment of silence.


    "That was why I couldn''t take any chances¡­ the best I could do was to dy what was supposed to happen enough to give you a chance to act and save them," Ana added. "After considering many possibilities, it doesn''t seem like your sisters and their descendants won''t alter the future so much, so this was all possible."


    Aion didn''t like the direction the conversation was going, it was way too convenient for the enemy, but she had a point. When messing with time magic, things can be pretty nasty, but there were other things that he needed some exnations for.


    "What else did you do to interfere?" Aion asked.


    "With the spirit of your ancestors," Ana replied as if it was a matter of fact. "One of your enemies nned to use them to spread chaos in the world. After using their mana for years, they would be cursed spirits that wouldn''t belong to dungeons, and they would cause many problems for decades. Your mother would feel terrible about that, and her health was going to deteriorate, and she would eventually die out of sheer despair in ten years. To avoid that, I changed how they are being controlled. They won''t find anyone. Once their hosts are killed, they will search for another with the highest quality of mana. That would be you."


    Things were escting too quickly¡­ Still, if that was some crazy lie, that woman sure nned that well since she was almost convincing Aion.


    He had never heard of something like that happening to ghosts. Still, it would make sense that the people of the Milleris kingdom change or act differently due to their magical nature and for being treated like tools. In any case, he needed to confirm all that with someone else¡­ Sauros and Seris probably knew if something like that had happened before. Still, he didn''t know where or when he would find them.


    "You can confirm that with Sauros and Seris. They live on a small continent on the Eastern side of Xhanxis country," Ana replied as if she could tell what Aion was thinking. "While not on the same scale, something simr happened fifteen hundred years before you were born. Someone decided to keep killing monsters of a dungeon while sealing the ce and using their spirits as a power source. The people of that ce got lucky since the ghosts were weak, but they still lost half of the poption of their country."


    "Which country and how did you know all this?" Aion asked.


    "It happened in a ce you haven''t visited before, and you do know that you only explored a small area of the world in thest year, right?" Ana asked. "Also, I know that because all the events that you are involved in changed the future a lot, and thanks to that, you got the attention of some beings that you didn''t want to. Listening to me won''t convince you. You need to use the relics to understand things more clearly. To make you understand that I am telling the truth, I will cancel my spells and then make the spirits of in this whole country go to your body. It is the only way to secure the souls of the Millerians."

 Chapter 299 Resistance Is Futile

    "As if I would let you," Aion said while smiling. "You only spew nonsense so far without showing any proof. You need more than all that."


    "The materials that you got, that armor and the sword are something I forged in the future," Ana said and canceled the barrier. "Don''t you think that you arrived just in time to save your sisters? Considering all that you faced after starting to fight here, you should have realized that we didn''t have enough tools to kill you because that wasn''t my intention. I just want to make you understand that I am from the future, but I am not your enemy. While I do want you to meet me in person, you don''t have to know, just use the relics to go anywhere, and you will confirm a part of the things that I said. Also, I know that you were reborn in this world, and your soul came from somewhere else."


    Aion opened his eyes widely and then clicked his tongue¡­ he thought that he was careful, but it looked like people in the future realized that. Still, that didn''t confirm anything.


    "How did you learn that?" Aion asked while wondering if he should just kill her to erase the evidence.


    "Your real enemies know that, and they revealed the whole world to turn them against you," Ana replied, and then her aura began to weaken. "Again, you just have to use the relics to confirm it. I don''t have enough mana to stay here for long, so you have to make up your mind. Their voices might bother you, but you will have to learn how to silence them. I can let the people here with the spirits, but I will only be able to return in three days."


    Aion clicked his tongue in annoyance¡­ it made sense that someone would need a lot of mana to talk with someone in the past, but that also could be a trick. Still, he had the chance to kill her if he wanted to¡­ her spirit was in that body, and she needed to be able to use such spells.


    "Do it," Aion said. "If you know me, then you should know that something like this won''t stop me if it is a trap¡­ and what I can do to my enemies."


    "This isn''t the vote of confidence that I was hoping for, but I guess it is better than nothing," Ana said. "Once you find a few answers by yourself, you can contact me by using the relics on the fallen capital."


    Aion saw the souls of the Millerians leaving the bodies of the people around, and they moved toward him. At first, he really felt some shivers, but then he got used to it. Still, things started to get noisy after a while.


    "One of thest heirs of our royal family¡­"


    "Someone who still works for the people that killed all of us¡­"


    "With all that power that he has, and he still is a coward¡­"


    Aion furrowed his eyebrows¡­ a lot of those guys were bashing him for not doing what they wanted. In any case, it was amazing that they managed to keep their individuality after so long¡­ Aion didn''t know much about the afterlife, even though he died once, but he couldn''t help but think that it was an impressive feat.


    Aion had no idea how many souls entering his body, but aside from making noise, they weren''t doing anything. After closing his eyes and focusing, he couldn''t quite find where they were, but when he opened his inventory, he found it.


    High Priest Lv 21


    Health: 08/18


    Mana: 2208/2208


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 550


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01<novelnext></novelnext>


    Speed: 01


    Status: 100


    Healer''s Staff Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills: Restoration Lv 01, Magic Recovery Lv 01


    Passive: Mana Regeneration Lv 01, Faith Lv 01,


    Improvement Points: 60


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins:


    Inventory: Unknown Sword, Unknown Armor, 5.585.985 souls


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Magic Recovery: it grants you the power to restore the magic of the target. Each level grants you the power to recover ten points of their mana at the cost of half of yours.


    Faith: passively Increases your health by fifteen points per level.


    "Over five and half a million souls¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "No wonder things were so noisy¡­ in any case, I should be able to silence them by changing sses or transferring them to the inventory of other sses. I needed to keep leveling up this ss. After all "


    The people below were all confused, and they got even more confused when the body of their leader fell from the sky and Aion above. There was a big mess that Aion had to solve, and it didn''t look like he would have to punish those responsible for the suffering of his sisters yet¡­ that is, if Ana was right.


    When Aion approached, a lot of people attacked him since they really were loyal to that woman. Still, he massacred them and quickly showed everyone that they couldn''t even scratch him.


    He demanded the same things from everyone in the city. Three thousand gold coins, all the riches of the leader of the city, and all the Weapons of the city were to be offered to him to show their total submission, and he wouldn''t want anything less than that in order to spare their lives. They had three days to prepare all that.


    In the meantime, Aion went to thest city of the country and also subjugated the people there. The final of the four leaders of the country tried to escape, but it met his end soon, and then Aion made his ultimatum.


    During that week, Aion just made sure that the people there would fill the end of their bargain, and they did it. A single man killed thousands of their soldiers in a couple of days, after all. Resistance was futile¡­

 Chapter 300 A Pain

    Although it would take a while, Aion had more than enough materials to upgrade all of his basic sses. While that was good, it was the least thing on his mind¡­ that county was his now, but it was too far away from his territory, and he couldn''t bring his mother to manage that. With that in mind, he had to bring people that could protect themselves and do a good job with that¡­ his brothers seemed like the best option.


    "It might be dangerous, but we all have a lot to gain from this," Aion thought while he was flying back to the Zaera kingdom. "I guess I should bring my mother with me to investigate the fallen capital. With her help, I will be able to confirm a few things regarding what Ana said¡­ the issue is if I should reveal most of what I know to her."


    Aion selected some leaders in those cities to keep things going as usual there, and he also told them that he wouldn''t do anything else to them unless they caused problems. It wasn''t like they had that many options, actually¡­ leaving the country and creating a home somewhere else would be too difficult. Besides, everyone knew that his sisters had been captured, and if Aion were a monster, he would have killed everyone, no questions asked. He would have done that without a doubt if they had died.


    When Aion reached the fortress, his brothers weed him, and then he learned that his father was still in the room and didn''t leave the ce. Despite his usual behavior, Lexus was quite the worrywart, and fathers tend to worry even more about daughters.


    Aion confirmed that since Lexus looked quite exhausted in the room. He was withering away even though he was still in his prime¡­ it felt like he had aged ten years in one week.


    "Aion¡­" Lexus said without showing much energy in his voice.


    Actions speak louder than words, so Aion just ignored his father and then used Restoration on his sisters. The room was engulfed in light several times since Aion had to cast the spell many times to heal thempletely, and it worked. Their bodies werepletely restored, and then they immediately woke up since they returned to their peak health.


    "Dad? Everyone?" Maisie blinked several times when she didn''t recognize the room but saw all of her brothers. "Where am I? It felt like I had a really bad dream¡­"


    Lexus hugged his daughter, and then Darina woke up as well, and she looked confused as well. Aion didn''t think that Restoration also deleted their bad memories since it only worked physically, so he could only assume that their minds were repressing those days.


    "Just rest and don''t think too much about it. You two will return home soon," Aion dered.


    Maisie and Darina looked even more confused. It wasn''t like their opinion of Aion was that bad, but they still felt some¡­ hesitation when it came to talking to him. He was that strong, after all.


    In any case, Aion went to heal their husbands as well, and soon they woke up. Those two had been trained as warriors since they were kids, so they didn''t try to repress those memories.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What should we do¡­" Henri said while scratching the back of his head. "Trying to hide that from them will be a bad idea¡­ if they hear anything about it by ident, those memories will haunt them."


    "I think we should tell them what happened¡­ those memories will only be that, memories in the end since they were back to normal," Aion replied. "There are a few things we need to talk about, and not letting them in the talk won''t help much."


    In the end, Lexus made his choice and told them that their nightmare had been pretty real. They found it hard to believe since they didn''t find any signs of the torture, but he exined that Aion did that for them.


    Later that day, they reunited in the meeting room in the fortress to talk about what Aion did. Maisie and Darina still looked pale, while their husbands were having a hard time coping with the failure of letting themselves be captured by the enemy.


    "All of the leaders of that country have been dealt with," Aion dered once everyone sat down. "Around half of the military force was also destroyed by me. They still have their criminals that are good at hiding, but I will eventually get rid of that problem as well. I just want to talk today about how to handle the country''s affairs."


    "You only received permission to rescue Darina and Maisie, didn''t you?" Lexus asked. "We are thankful for that, but your aplishments might cause you problems in the future."


    "I have considered that rumors will spread, and eventually, people will think that I kill every country that pisses me off, but it is fine," Aion shrugged his shoulders. "I will deal with that once I cross that bridge. Besides, what I am going to do now will solve half of the issue."


    "And that is?" Henri asked.


    "I will make you four the new rulers of that country, in name and paper," Aion replied while showing a money sign with his right hand. "I am just half of the profits that you will obtain from it."


    "... I see," Henri smirked. "I am pretty sure that none of us need that much money, and since we are close to the king, people will think that the country became a vassal of Zaera kingdom. In one way or the other, our homnd will gain a lot from it, and people won''t think that you want to overthrow Vangel since you are giving up this much power and influence."


    "Actually, I just thought that it would be a pain to find the personnel to do a good job," Aion chuckled and then shrugged. "But I guess we can do that from your perspective as well.

 Chapter 301 Equivalent Exchange

    "Anyway, you all should have more than enough people to help you rule territories of that size," Aion added. "With that in mind, no one willin if I be the real owner of the fallen capital."


    "I see¡­ so you asked that while you were talking with His Majesty," Lexus said and then crossed his eyes since bringing that up when the life of his sisters was at risk had been pretty¡­ egotistical.


    "Well, from the very beginning, we both knew that things would end up with me killing the perpetrators and those involved, so he agreed with that," Aion exined. "Besides, by making me the owner of thatnd, it would make people understand that those who tried to head there would face me, and Vangel wouldn''t need to lift a single finger to help. Besides, only someone like me and mon would be able to understand what the enemies were doing or what they wanted there."


    "What did you learn so far?" Lexus asked after he opened his eyes.


    "... They found a dungeon with the spirits of the fallen Millerians and were using them to travel safely in the desert and to some other things that I am not fully aware of," Aion replied, thinking that revealing that much would be fine. "I managed to deal with those who had the knowledge and the tools that they used for that, but apparently, the souls can''t be destroyed that easily since they belong to people that have a lot of mana. Hence, I am keeping them until I find a way to deal with them since letting them free might cause issues."


    "I have heard of that¡­ in the past, a country tried to use the spirits of the monsters inside a dungeon, and they became cursed or something," George said. It seemed that he had be quite the bookworm since the time Aion helped him learn how to read and write.


    "Since you have their blood, it must be possible, but¡­ aren''t they affecting you in any shape or form?" Lexus asked while showing some concern.


    "They are a noisy bunch, but it is fine," Aion shrugged.


    "... Did anyone particrly troublesome try to talk with you?" Lexus asked hesitantly.


    "I was hoping to hear the voice of my grandfather, grandmother, and uncle, but until now¡­ they didn''t try to talk with me, and it is rather difficult to separate them from each other," Aion replied. "so, finding them will be quite the task."


    Lexus took some time to think about it. Aion already did that¡­ the Millerians'' souls could keep their individuality because of their magic powers. So, it was only natural that the royal family would be able to recognize and talk with Aion, but they didn''t want to. The reasons could be many. They truly despised him since he had their blood and the blood of the enemies that caused their downfall or because he didn''t want to avenge them. Aion will have to talk with Artemisia about it.


    "We will work hard to select the personnel to run that country as fast as possible, but we will need two weeks at least. Traveling to that country will take two more weeks," Henri said while scratching the back of his head.


    "I can bring some people to those ces in a single day. While you select those people, I will deal with other groups that might cause problems," Aion dered while trying hard to avoid a sigh.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Artemisia probably already knew about Aion''s return, but she couldn''t confirm his safety until he finished his work.


    "I will talk with His Majesty and sort out the fine details about this," Laxus dered, and then the meeting ended.


    Everyone left the room, but Maisie and Darina stayed behind, and so did Aion since he could tell that they wanted to talk with him. Things were a bit awkward, but he solved that by opening his arms.


    "Come on, we are already adults," Aion said while smiling. "No need to fret so much over the mistakes of the youth. Kids will be kids, and we can only learn from our mistakes and move on."


    In the end, those two hugged him tightly. Aion felt that they finally epted him as their brother and forgot about all the things that happened in the past. Maybe forgetting was a bit too much, but they moved on from it since the past can determine how a person is in the present, but it doesn''t mean that they can''t change forever.


    "Why are you so reliable when you are the youngest?" Maisie asked while sniffing.


    "That is very cocky of you when you are still single," Darina added, and Aion realized that he had forgotten about that issue. "Do you have someone you love? We have some good friends that probably are a good match for you, Aion."


    "Err, about that¡­ I am going to be busy for a while, so that will have to wait," Aion forced a smile.


    Those two looked dumbfounded, he had just spent one year away, and he was going to be busy as soon as he returned¡­ life can be grueling sometimes, but it couldn''t be helped. Aion enjoyed many things thanks to his bloodline, and now he had to deal with the downsides as well. It was part of the package.


    Aion moved from the fortress to work since he couldn''t give time for his enemies to move. He wanted to ask for some people to help him find the bandit guild and the assassins guilds, and all those rted to him. Still, he was too famous for him to be able to do that without being noticed. So, he used other tactics.


    First of all, Aion went to the prisons of that country. They actually had it since they needed somewhere to put the criminals that they couldn''t trust, and he offered them some money and freedom if he helped them find all those dangerous groups.

 Chapter 302 Politics

    Aion had killed a lot of the criminals and assassins of that country, so he couldn''t help but frown when he heard that a lot of the survivors were trying to leave the country using pirates.


    "Oh, man¡­ and I was just thinking of getting ships without paying for them," Aion thought while he was flying toward the ports of the county.


    Aion''s brothers will have a lot of work ahead of them since pirates could use those ports freely. In any case, Aion also got the Intel when the pirates usually woulde and go¡­ they were pieces of shit, but the criminals that he freed knew their shit. Aion wondered why they weren''t killed due to that alone, but he also wondered if he should pay them to work for him. He had enough power to rule a country, but he also needed Intel since he could only do so much by himself.


    In any case, finding those guys and getting rid of them was easy, and it just took Aion some time to cross both coasts of that country. In the end, he made up his mind and hired those criminals to gather Intel for him¡­ they would warn him if anyone was nning to do anything against his brothers or even him.


    After two weeks, Aion went to his brothers and then transported everyone on an earth tform. Each one of them had brought ten people with them while the others that were going to help them would travel on foot. The n was just to let them be there for one month to make things run by themselves and without their direct intervention.


    After leaving them in the right ces, Aion also spent some time making the poption understand that they were their new lords and anyone causing problems would suffer dire consequences. Aion didn''t like that, but to make sure that everyone would understand that, he left the bodies of the assassins at the ports for people to find them. Hundreds of them¡­ with a holes in their heads. Rumors should have spread enough for them to understand the message.


    "I guess this is all¡­ this month felt longer than my previous trip," Aion said while massaging his neck. "I will check things soon enough since I will have to investigate the fallen capital."


    "Thanks for your hard work," Henri said while he was setting up his office in the mansion that once belonged to the woman that Ana took over her body. "I will try not to disappoint you."


    "Why are you being humble all of a sudden?" Aion frowned. "You aren''t the type to get carried away, but such words are weirding from you."


    "Well, it just feels like you have gotten too far aheadpared to us," Henri said and then sighed. "It is kind of embarrassing to have a little brother that surpasses you in all aspects."


    "Not in all aspects, and I am still single," Aion said, showing a proud smile.


    "I didn''t expect it, but you actually take pride in that, huh," Henri shook his head whileughing. "I guess I will take pride as well that my wife is the most gorgeous woman in the kingdom. You can bite your nails out of jealousy."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yeah, right," Aion said and then turned. "See youter."


    Aion left the city and flew as fast as possible back home. Unfortunately, he had to stop and talk with Vangel again. He made a lot of decisions by himself, and while it was annoying, he still had to respond to Vangel. Respecting authorities was a pain¡­ but he had to since he had to consider how his actions would affect others close to him.


    "You have arrived," Vangel said when Aion entered the throne room.


    Laxus was there, and it seemed like he had sorted out things for him. Still, he couldn''t hide his surprise since he knew that his son had crossed around three thousand kilometers in a day and a half. That was nothing. Aion just had to fly at eighty kilometers per hour. He could be faster but not efficient with his current magic power.


    "We are thankful for your hard work, Aion," Vangel said while scratching your chin. "Your actions will benefit the kingdom greatly, but they will also cause some problems. Rumors about you are spreading like wildfire."


    "If something happens because of that, you can just tell me, and I will deal with the problem," Aion dered, unfazed. "It should be clear by now that I can deal with most problems."


    "True, it seems like that is the case when ites to militaristic issues, " Vangel said. "However, when ites to economic ones, there isn''t much that you can do."


    "My brothers just got a shit ton of territory that they can do what they want with it. How is the economy a problem?" Aion asked while frowning.


    "Aion¡­" Laxus said and then sighed.


    "It is fine. I appreciate his honesty. There is no need to pretend that we get along, and it is better than imagining each other scheming things," Vangel shook his hand. "Well, when ites to agriculture and mining, we won''t face many problems with the territories that you obtained, but there are other things that we need that can only be found in other countries. These are mainly products that people get from dungeon monsters. Other countries might try to put restrictions while negotiating with us out of fear since you just conquered a country by yourself, and doing business with us might strengthen us even further."


    Hah, politics¡­ there was no other thing that bothered Aion the most. People always trying to do things to get leverage over others for their own selfish purposes. He wondered if he always messed up his head, and or he just realized that since he could do something about it, like killing assholes. In any case, he was running out of patience against those people.

 Chapter 303 Grandfather

    "To avoid future problems, you shouldy low for a few years. People will probably realize your true intentions if they don''t hear anything from you," Vangel said.


    That was easier said than done since Aion had the relics, and that would make him bound to feel the hatred of a lot of people. Still, he had other things to deal with, so he was fine with that and just nodded.


    "I don''t have any reason to make any big moves unless people force me to," Aions shrugged.


    Although he had a few ns, Aion would have to put them aside due to the circumstances. It couldn''t be helped since he had to deal with the issues that Ana brought up.


    "His Majesty gave you the permission to investigate the fallen capital for as long as you want," Lexus said. "However, we need constant updates about what you learned. Also, did you hear anything from the spirits of your ancestors?"


    "I didn''t let anyone talk since I was busy working and needed to focus," Aion replied and then changed his ss. "Let''s see what they have to say."


    "Cursed king! Die, cursed king!"


    "Damn you, Lexus Kresnik! My sons were killed by the army you led. I will never forgive you!"


    "Kill them, kill them all!"


    "... All that I can say is that most people aren''t praising you all, and their words aren''t suited for the ears," Aion said after a brief moment of silence.


    "I see¡­." Lexus said while showing a pale expression imagining what Aion was hearing.


    "I know that the people that are close to my mother can listen to me," Aion suddenly said. "If you don''t want to say anything to me for whatever reason, that is fine. However, you need to understand that I don''t have any respect for you whatsoever since you also made my mother suffer a lot. So, I will give you all this one chance to cooperate."


    Aion didn''t know if those souls could see his thoughts and memories, but they immediately shut up since they could tell that he was being serious. It worked like a charm¡­


    "I am Arc Milleris, your grandfather," A voice suddenly echoed in Aion''s mind. "I won''t ask for forgiveness for staying silent until now since, despite having our blood, you are working for this kingdom that was our downfall."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I believe that your endless greed and entitlement was the start of your downfall," Aion said while frowning. "I guess not all people repent after dying. Anyway, I am thankful for your stepping out and showing yourself, gramps. What can you tell me about what I need to know."


    "I don''t know much since you keep most of your knowledge hidden," Arc said. "What I can say is that your power has two natures that oppose each other. As for the other things you know about us and ghost creatures are probably correct. Don''t call me again to speak in front of my enemies."


    Arc was quite troublesome¡­ in any case, he probably didn''t have any reason to lead Aion to a trap since he was his descendant, and Artemis wasn''t going to have any more children. Their lineage was on Aion''s shoulders. Regardless, maybe what Ana said and did were the best options considering that she didn''t want to cause problems for Aion and alter the future too much.


    "How many of you were recovered, and how many of you ceased existing?" Aion asked.


    "Listen to me when I say something¡­ all of the souls were freed, and the spell that controlled us was set to keep our magic levels at a certain point without causing stress to our existence," Arc replied after a long sigh. "No soul was destroyed or corrupted, and all of them that were killed during the war were recovered and are inside you now."


    While Aion didn''t have much of a connection to those people or cared about them since they were killed before he was born, Ana still tried to preserve them for him¡­ his suspicions only grew further thanks to it.


    Now then, Aion couldn''t say everything like he was nning to check the past and the future. He couldn''t reveal that he had the relics¡­ informing even his father and Vangel that people from other periods might cause problems and could also lead to more problems than solve them.


    "... It looks like the enemies wanted to use the souls of the Millerians as a source of energy to grow in power slowly," Aion said while looking at his father and Vangel. "I don''t know who gave them the knowledge to do that, nor do gramps know that. I will investigate it further."


    "It makes sense that such a country wouldn''t suddenly learn how to do that," Lexus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We will see what we can do in the end and learn who might have this kind of knowledge."


    "Right¡­ you may leave now, Aion," Vangel said after a few moments of silence.


    Aion turned around and then left the castle. He had already talked with his father a few times, so there was no need to do that again in a while¡­ Aion probably won''t have to investigate the fallen capital that much either. Bringing his mother didn''t seem a good idea after thinking about it with his head clear.


    In any case, Aion began to fly home. It had been a while since he saw Artemisia, and he was already waiting for a good earful since instead of going home as soon as he returned, he left to an enemy country to y thousands¡­ even if he did that to save his sisters and get rid of some pieces of shit.


    It was already night when Aion returned to his home, and the city looked the same as usual. In fact, it looked a bit bigger¡­ the camps around the ce had turned into proper parts of the city with the streets and everything. Still, Aion forgot about that and entered his home only to see his mother sighing while eating.

 Chapter 304 The Future

    After surprising Artemisia, Aion had to suffer for a while by enduring her powerful hug. It didn''t matter how much stronger he could get, and she always found a way to crack Aion''s ribs with her tiny arms.


    "I see¡­ so all that happened," Artemisia took her time to absorb all the information that Aion gave her.


    After dinner, Aion told his mother a lot of things, but he kept hidden the fact that someone knew that he was a soul from another world. That was the only thing he could hide from the person he trusted the most.


    "So, our ancestor truly decided to live a normal life while Malon decided to pursue new heights and make sure that no one would be able to use time magic," Artemisia added. "This is a lot to understand already, and there is also the stuff about people from the past and future that can be enemies¡­ It looks like you have a lot on your te, Aion. I had a dream that you would start looking for a wife once you returned, but maybe I will have to wait for a while for my grandchild."


    Artemisia had some sharp senses¡­ Aion actually thought that he would do that as well. In any case, that was a pity since Aion also wanted to be able to rx a bit. Still, he couldn''t unless he knew that is living in a peaceful era.


    On Artemisia''s end, she didn''t have much to say. She only mentioned that she had to work a lot in order to avoid boredom. Thanks to that, the territory had prospered a lot. Still, Aion was more worried about why she wasn''t asking about the souls of her parents and brother. Aion never thought that she hated them.


    "It iste, and you have worked hard for quite a while, so you should go to bed, Aion," Artemisia smiled once she noticed what he was thinking.


    "All right, see you tomorrow, mom," Aion forced a smile since she was told to go to bed at his age.


    In the end, Aion slept like a rock, and when he woke up, he tried to call Arc, but he didn''t want to say anything. He was a stubborn gramps, and so were his wife and his son¡­ that runs in the family, apparently, since Artemisia insisted on ignoring that when they had breakfast the next day.


    "I think that you should rest for at least a week, but I can tell that you won''t be able to rx during this time," Artemisia said and then took a sip of her coffee. "If you have any doubts about this Ana person, you should probably use the relics to confirm that future. The ce where the future changed should be where you will have an easier time finding that kind of future you need to see."


    "Are you that familiar with time magic, mom?" Aion asked after blinking several times. "Come to think of it, most people would have a hard time understanding the concept of the future changing the past, but you didn''t look confused at all."


    "Well, I didn''t expect that you would get involved in that kind of a mess, but my family has investigated time magic for many generations," Artemisia said while looking at her cup. "Can''t you force my father to tell you what he knows? He must be much more knowledgeable than me."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I don''t know¡­" Aion said while scratching his back.


    To be honest, there wasn''t much that Aion could learn from Arc since he had his knowledge as an earthling, and he knew the basic concepts and how time could work. Besides, if they studied for a long and they still ended up being exterminated, they probably didn''t learn any spells. People in the past could use it because they existed before the restrictions, and people of the future could use it because they could ignore the restrictions since the relics have gotten weaker.


    "Before you ask, I can tell you that I didn''t get along with them in their final moments because of their stubbornness," Artemisia said. "If father and mother don''t to talk with me, then that is probably for the best since they didn''t repent for starting a war that killed millions. Brother is another case since he had his responsibilities."


    "I see¡­. I understand now," Aion said while looking down.


    "That being said, having the power to see some other futures might be convenient," Artemisia said in a serious tone. "However, everything has a price, and you might regret seeing what you will see."


    Aion was aware of that¡­ seeing different versions of the present and future might make him want to change or wish for those timelines to be real¡­ it was truly a fearsome power that could act like a two-edged sword. Still, he had to confirm what Ana said.


    "I don''t think much time will pass here, but you shouldn''t worry too much if I take some time to return mom," Aion said and then got up. "Still, I need to confirm all those things as soon as possible."


    "I know, just don''t try to change what you will see, Aion," Artemisia said while looking at her coffee again. "You can only change the future of where you live."


    Aion nodded, and then he began to fly as fast as possible¡­he felt bad for leaving so much work in the hands of his mother when that work was originally his. Aion also felt that he should find a wife soon and have some kids. Artemisia will probably feel more at ease knowing that Aion can live an everyday life and a family. Still, he also felt that he was putting the carriage in front of the horses.


    On that very same day, Aion reached the Eastern side of the Zaera kingdom, and before crossing the desert, he used the relics to see where they would point. He wasn''t surprised when it pointed near the fortress where he healed his sisters¡­ it was a few kilometers South of it, so Aion knew that no one would see him using the relics, and when he touched them, he found three mirrors appearing in front of him¡­

 Chapter 305 Malon

    The mirrors weren''t reflecting anything aside from the environment¡­ so that made Aion frown since it would be hard to pick the right one.


    "That incident created three¡­ or maybe with the current one, four futures," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "One of them is the one that Ana mentioned, but which one?"


    When Aion thought of that, the relics began to glow and eventually fired a beam of light toward the third mirror. It seemed that they answered his thoughts, but that was suspicious since it was too easy.


    In any case, Aion decided to cross it, and he didn''t feel anything when that happened, but when he turned around, the mirrors were no longer there.


    "I guess it worked¡­ now I need to confirm a few things like what the me from this timeline is doing," Aion thought and then began to fly toward the East.


    After two hours, Aion confirmed that the fallen capital was empty. However, he still found signs of a great fire¡­ it was on the same spot he had left the bodies of the enemies he had defeated when he freed Maisie and Darina.


    "This is a bad sign¡­" Aion thought while he hesitated in checking the interior. "I suppose it will be better to just check the enemy''s country to see if I went to kill them all."


    Aion increases his speed again while wondering if something weird would happen if he found himself¡­ it might happen if they look at each other. Also, thanks to that kind of thought, Aion wondered if he might face himself¡­ if timelines existed, maybe one of them would want to take his ce in that one. That was weird but possible.


    After a few more hours, Aion managed to find the first city that he invaded in the distance¡­ the ce was covered in smoke while burning all over. It looked like he arrived in the morning after his attack.


    "I guess this means that I need to keep more focus when using the relics or maybe that I can''t change something that already happened," Aion thought when he saw numerous parts of the walls that had been destroyed by arrows, magic, spear, and sword attacks. "My death knights were unleashed here and spread chaos and terror¡­ if I tried to prevent this, I would have only created another timeline."


    When Aion approached, he took a dark cloak from his inventory and covered his body beforending on the wall¡­ he regretted being that curious. He saw countless corpses around the city and on the streets, and some couldn''t even be called corpses anymore but chunks of flesh. That Aion didn''t spare women or even children¡­


    "I don''t need to confirm anything else¡­" Aion thought while having a hard time looking at his own actions if he had faced a different oue once he returned from his work trip.


    A couple of hourster, Aion found the ce where he created the mirrors, and he wondered if he should contact Anda in that timeline. It probably wasn''t a good idea¡­ who knows what kind of Anda he could contact. Probably not the same one.


    "Still, she has the knowledge of some timelines, and I wonder how she was able to obtain it¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully while grabbing the relics. "I should be careful while dealing with her since she might lead me to a future that is only convenient for her."


    Once the mirror appeared, Aion frowned since he thought that a lot more would show up¡­ that could mean that he couldn''t move from other timelines without going back to his own first. In any case, something unexpected happened when he crossed the mirror¡­ he was enveloped by light, and then he felt his body getting strangely lighter. To the point that he didn''t feel like he was on his body anymore¡­


    Eventually, Aion opened his eyes and then found himself in an unknown room staring at an unknown ceiling.


    "What the hell is going on¡­" Aion thought.


    His vision was starting to lighten and gradually revealed a simple wooden ceiling, his vision was getting used to it until he decided to sit down, but he failed. His body moved only a littleter, and he got up. Aion had no control over it¡­


    Aion''s vision improved a bit more, and then he saw himself in the mirror, a young boy with messy light brown hair and eyes of the same color. While feeling the sleepiness resisting, he ran his fingers through his hair as if itching and then looked at his bedroom window, yawning a littleter.


    After some time, Aion saw his body leaving the room and quickly found a staircase. He came down the stairs of his room after picking some items and wearing a shirt with an iron breastte and a bracelet on his right arm, simple brown pants with leather boots.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He yawned as he descended the stairs, and before he reached the end, he heard the sounds of people attacking as they shouted in unison.


    "Hah!"


    "Hah!"


    "Hah!"


    Stopping on thest step of the staircase, the boy saw other young people training while an adult man with dark red hair and dark brown eyes watched them with a serious and rigid look. A little whileter, the man noticed the boy who had arrived and turned towards him.


    "Finally, you are awake, Malon. Good morning." the red-haired man said.


    "Good morning, Dad."


    Malon¡­ that Malon. Aion was shocked when he realized what was going on. He was seeing the past of that guy. Was it because he was using the relics? Aion also wondered if Ana knew that such a thing would happen¡­ he thought that he would only confirm the future that she mentioned. In any case, looking into the past might be helpful. He only wanted that it wouldn''t take too much of his time¡­


    Malon spoke with a smile on his face trying to hide some nervousness.


    "Hurry up, the boys have already started training. Go get your sword."


    "Actually, Dad..." Malon hesitated while showing a smile.


    "What''s the problem?" Malon''s father frowned.


    "Ailen asked me to go hunting. Can we train after we get back?" Malon asked after forcing a smile.


    Malon spoke a little nervously while in response, his father just stared with the same serious expression. Aion watched all that like he was Malon, but he didn''t feel anything. He could only hear and see, which was more than enough considering that Malon was way too meek, and that made him feel creeped out, considering that he grew to be a lot more somber.


    "Go, bute back soon. We have to talk about what I gave you yesterday, don''t miss it..." Malon''s father said and then turned.


    He spoke as he turned to watch the young men training. Malon took his hand to his neck, where he managed to pull a rope that showed him a silver ring being held by it.


    "Thanks, dad. I promise to be back soon." Malon smiled.


    "All right," Malon''s father said.

 Chapter 306 Friends

    With a smile on his face, Malon took his sword, putting it in the sheath of the belt that was on his waist, and headed towards the exit of his house, which was a pretty huge mansion that also had a dojo on the first floor. At its entrance, there was a wooden sign written with carved letters.


    [Red Eagle Dojo]


    Just a few steps beyond the door, Malon heard a voiceing from the side.


    "Finally, spent all this time sleeping?" Ailen said while resting his back agaisnt a tree.


    With a smile on his face, Malon turned and saw that next to the door was an archer leaning with his arms crossed on a tree.


    It was Ailen, who was wearing a leather coat and a red scarf with the string of his bow attached to his back for him to carry it. He was wearing pants with blue fabric and leather boots, his hair was spiked up, and after speaking, he opened it his green eyes.


    "No... I... ended up being attacked by a... troll?..." Malon said while rolling his eyes.


    "That was the worst lie you ever said. You should have just said you overslept," Ailen said and then approached.


    Malon smiled nervously, which was answered with a serious look, but then Ailen sighed with a smile.


    "You always do that... you are such a pain in the ass," Ailen shrugged


    "Sorry, Ailen, let''s go hunting, and on the way back, I''ll carry the hunt myself," Malon dered while tapping on his biceps. "That will be a decent workout."


    "Fine, next time you''ll bete again, and I''ll ask you to fetch my arrows too," Ailen nodded.


    "Yeah, right... Let''s go." Malon said.


    Pretty eager to have a good hunt, Malon walked towards the forest, and Ailen moved away from the wall to follow the swordsman. Still, before they went, Malon heard a female voice calling him.


    If he could, Aion would facepalm. He could tell that Malon probably had the same age as him. Still, for some reason, such a life and behavior made him quite ufortable. Or perhaps watching all that was the problem.


    "Malon, you forgot it again,"


    Malon hurriedly turned around, slightly startled, and looked back to see an adult woman wearing a long white skirt with a red coat and with light brown hair. She was swinging a small bag with rope handles forming an essential backpack. Malon ran towards the woman and spoke.


    "Mom...you shouldn''t leave the house when you''re this sick," Malon said after a long sigh.


    "Don''t worry, just get your backpack, and I''ll be right back. I''m not that sick and old." Malon''s mother said.


    She spoke with a friendly smile right away, and Malon scratched his head awkwardly.


    "Sorry. Thanks, mom." Malon said.


    After picking up his backpack, he walked away, and his mother smiled.


    "Be careful," Malon''s mother said


    "Yes, I will," Malon said while waving his hand.


    Malon spoke with a smile and feeling a little guilty, but then he turned around and then saw Ailen with a smirk, and then Malon spoke.


    "Shut up," Malon frowned


    "But I didn''t say anything," Ailen said.


    "Stay like that," Malon added.


    The two were heading towards the forest, and Ailen kept his smile as he looked back, seeing Malon''s mother saying goodbye. Still, before they left the stone walls of the town, Malon seemed to notice something, and Ailen looked in the same direction seeing an elderly man who was looking at the forest with a faraway look.


    Ailen would ignore it, but soon Malon would approach and speak.


    "It''s been a long time, Master us," Malon said and then bowed.


    "Ah... look, if it''s not Edward''s boy, you''ve grown up a lot, and I see your father taught you the way of the sword," us said while appraising Malon.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Malon smiled at the old man''s words, and then Ailen also approached and asked.


    "Do you know each other?" Ailen asked while frowning. "I didn''t think that you have many friends of his age, Malon."


    "A little... Master us was the one who taught my father to fight," Malon replied.


    "Really?" Ailen said, still frowning.


    The archer looked at him with curiosity, and the old manughed a little lower because of his age and spoke.


    "Don''t overdo it, boy. I''m just an old man now. Where are you going?" us said


    "We are heading to the forest... and you? Where are you going?" Ailen asked


    He looked straight ahead again as he ran his fingers over his chin, then answered.


    "An old friend called me to Dizennia. Apparently, he wants me to teach his boy. These knights no longer respect a man''s old age," us replied.


    "Let''s leave then, Master, have a smooth journey." Malonughed a little and said.


    "Beware of the monsters, boys, don''t fight them if you can," us said.


    Malon said goodbye, and Ailen followed him as he spoke. "Seems like a good person. A bit weak for a master, though.


    A short timeter, the two entered the verdant forest, both arming themselves as they looked around and followed a dirt track of footprints, and as they continued, Malon recalled something.


    "Hey, Ailen, can you teach me how to do that today? I will hunt without your help one day, and I will need it." Malon said.


    "Hm... I don''t really like the idea of ??you hunting without me. It''s quite unnecessary since we live so close," Ailen replied after thinking for a while. "You need someone who watches you back since you can be pretty careless."


    "It''s just in case it happens. I don''t want to hunt alone since you''re a good archer," Malon said and then sighed. "I know of my shorings better than anyone else."


    "I didn''t like the tone you said that... but I have no problem teaching you. Did you bring a knife?" Ailen asked.


    Malon looked at Ailen after hearing the question and then immediately put his backpack on his chest, putting his hand to look for something, and then he felt a slight sting on his finger.


    "Ugh," Malon said.


    "You store a knife in a backpack without some protection¡­ who was the genius who thought that it was a good idea to give you a sword?"


    A short timeter, with a slightly irritated expression and with his finger bleeding a little, Malon raised a small but sharp knife, and then Ailen nodded.


    "It will do... we''ve already found our Target, after all, " Ailen said while looking forward.


    Malon widened his eyes in surprise and looked ahead, and the two watched a wild boar that reached their knees. Ailen wasted no time, positioning himself and concentrating on taking the bow from his chest along with an arrow from his quiver.


    The two were silent, and Malon remained static. Still, after a few seconds of concentration, Ailen fired the arrow that was going at high speed towards the boar, hitting its front paw, narrowly missing it to immobilize it, and he noticed that.


    "Tsk," Ailen clicked his tongue in annoyance.


    The wild boar ran desperately into some bushes, and then Malon frowned.


    "Forget what I said. You are a terrible archer," Malon said.


    "Shut up," Alien said.


    Once again, Aion wanted to sigh¡­ why did he see that¡­ It was taking too much time. He wondered if there was anything really useful for him in that memory. He also wondered if Malon nned that or if it was a coincidence¡­


    The two followed the boar''s blood until it left the bushes and kept going further ahead in the forest.

 Chapter 307 Suspicion

    Those two ran towards the wild boar that ran, desperate to escape its hunters. Malon was faster and ran with his sword pointed down and ready to strike. The archer ran with the bow in hand, staying a little further back while he prepared another arrow.


    The boar saw that his pursuers were approaching and then elerated its pace even more, looking ahead until he saw a bunch of bushes. Malon saw the animal taking advantage of its body and throwing itself into the bush in an attempt to get away from them, hide and buy time since the wound in its leg was dropping a lot of blood.


    Wasting no time as soon as he approached the bush, Malon jumped, and with his momentum, he passed, overseeing the wild boar that continued to run through the woods in search of an escape.


    Not having the same speed and physical strength as the swordsman, Ailen moved around the bush, staying a little further behind while Malon continued the pursuit.


    The search continued without changes, and the boar''s body began to weaken from the bleeding. The animal saw in its path a trunk that had been knocked down, leaving only a small space enough for the animal to pass, but not a human.


    And again, the boar used this chance to try to escape and get away, Ailen, who was aiming from afar while walking, shot towards the boar before it got under the trunk. The arrow hit the back of the animal, which screamed in pain but soon passed under the trunk, breaking the arrow and leaving it behind.


    Malon looked at the trunk, noticing that it was high enough that he couldn''t jump over it without risking some problems on the other side, and so to avoid that problem, he elerated his step and then circled around. Soon after, he was able to see the boar close to him but still running.


    Even though he had lost a little time to turn and chase the wild boar, the animal was already tired and injured, which made it run much slower, the obstacles lessened, and the two arrived at an open area in the forest with the wild boar stopping in front of a tree and turning to face its pursuers.


    Malon saw that the animal had stopped and noticed that the boar seemed to be suffering from the bleeding and the run. With a quick advance, the boy again pointed his sword at the ground, ready to attack, and the boar, already without choices, advanced toward the swordsman.


    The animal jumped so that it could hit the opponent''s stomach with its speed and weight, but it was in vain. Malon defended himself with the sword making the animal hit its face on the side of the weapon. With a strong impulse, Malon threw the boar up and a little behind, and with a lethal swing, so he took the animal down.


    The sword had pierced easily and quickly the neck of the creature. Malon knocked the animal to the ground, already lifeless. Ailen arrived soon after, putting away his bow and arrow that he would use, stopping beside the swordsman.


    "That one went far... he must have strong skin. Normally they can''t take the second arrow," Ailen exined.


    "Nice excuse," Malon shrugged.


    "You''re pissing me off, so be quiet," Ailen said.


    Ailen crunched next to the boar, and soon after, Malon also crouched, taking his knife.


    "It''s pretty simple what I do. Animals or monsters have their value, whether for skin, meat, bones, fur, and teeth," Ailen exined. "So higher level adventurers, by hunting monsters, can earn more than ordinary field workers. Rather, this ismon sense, so why am I exining this?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Can we find some monsters much stronger than the ones around these parts?" Malon ignored half of his friend''s words.


    "Not because of the difficulty, but because of the quality and rarity of the materials," Ailen exined.


    "And what are they even for?" Malon frowned


    "Oh, it''s quite simple," Ailen spoke as he used his knife to take out one of the boar''s teeth. "With materials, we can make healing or utility items, refine weapons or even create them. Some monsters swallow minerals and gems to assimte their effects, and that''s why they are so valuable."


    "I understand... and on that boar, we can get hair... teeth... and meat, right?" Malon asked.


    "Very well, because he''s not a monster. He has a lot fewer materials that we can use, but he''ll still make good money, let me teach you," Ailen said and then sighed. "... You really lived a sheltered life."


    Alien started to use his knife to extract the materials from the animal''s body, the meat and the fur were easier, but the teeth were difficult for Malon for being inexperienced and ending up destroying some due to his inexperience, but with the help of Ailen, they quickly finished and packed the materials into Malon''s backpack.


    "Alright... let''s go back, I think that''s enough for today, and we''ve already gone much deeper into the forest than we should. Soon we''ll be able to encounter monsters... best avoid that," Alien said.


    Ailen said and then looked around. However, Malon felt something strange, as if it was a light breezeing from the direction of some bushes.


    "Did you feel it?" Malon asked.


    "Feel what?" Alien frowned.


    Without understanding, Ailen asked, and then Malon got up and looked towards the bushes. Walking towards them and crossing those, the worried archer entered right after the swordsman, and after passing through the leaves, the two came across a clearing in the forest that hid arge tree with a light green tone with few leaves on its top.


    Malon watched the tree showing doubt in his expression, and Ailen approached as he felt his hair being thrown back with a strong wind that seemed to be visible.


    "What is this tree? And howe we never found it here before?" Ailen said while grabbing his bow. "And... what kind of wind is that?"

 Chapter 308 Promise

    Malon and Ailen continued to observe the gigantic tree, and then Malon started to walk towards it, but Alien''s hand grabbed his shoulder.


    "What do you think you are doing?" Ailen asked in a harsh tone


    "It''s just a tree, Ailen..." Malon shrugged.


    "Don''t underestimate the weirdness of the situation... let''s go, man," Ailen said while looking around. "This can be dangerous. Better avoid and ask in the vige about this."


    Malon retreated a little after hearing that, and then he turned to Ailen, ready to go.


    "Alright... Let''s just get some water first. The river is nearby anyway," Malon said.


    Those walked back toward the vige while talking about random things. Meanwhile, Aion already thought that the whole situation was created just to make him waste time. The likelihood of him finding Malon in the past was low, but he already had a list of things to say to him. Still, Aion forgot about that when he felt the smell of smoke, and so did Malon and Ailen.


    Those two didn''t like that, so they hurried to leave the area since the wind wasing from the vige. A couple of minutester, they opened their eyes in shock¡­


    The previous image of a beautiful town, with trees and people on the streets, was now totally distorted, the trees were burned, and the houses were destroyed. There were bodies of several people in the middle of the streets, and Ailen widened his eyes and started to run towards his house.


    "MOTHER!"


    Ailen disappeared from Malon''s vision in a matter of seconds, and without wasting time, the swordsman soon was also running back towards his house in a hurry hoping to find someone still alive. He couldn''t understand what was going on¡­ his family didn''t have any reason¡­ the whole town didn''t have any reason to be attacked. Besides, with his father there, the likes of bandits would be a cakewalk.


    Malon''s hope was lost as soon as he arrived at his house, and it was totally destroyed, pieces still on fire and copsing, but near the entrance, there was still someone. He saw his mother lying on the floor, deeply hurt and already bleeding to death¡­


    Malon ran towards his mother and pulled her away from the fire,ying her in his arms as he called out to her.


    "MOM¡­ MOM!" Malon said, trying to feel her pulse.


    Malon spoke in total despair, and gradually his mother opened her eyes again, noticing that it was her son who was there, and a still painful smile was shown on her face.


    "Malon¡­" Malon''s mother said in a weak tone.


    "Mom¡­mom¡­what happened here?" Malon asked. "Where is dad? Where is everybody?"


    Still, with the same smile on her face, Malon''s mother didn''t even seem to be listening to her son''s words anymore, and so she extended her hand toward her son''s face.


    "Malon... you''ve grown so much... became such a handsome young man... stay alive, my son... and with all your strength protect it..." Malon''s mother said.


    Her hand approached Malon''s neck as she held the ne with a ring. She gave onest smile as slowly the light in her eyes dimmed, and then she spoke.


    "To Dizzennia, following the dirt road north of the vige¡­ live¡­ Malon¡­ live¡­" Malon''s mother said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The words came out of her mouth, and after that, the hand that was on the ne fell, being held by Malon, who was still looking in disbelief at his mother''s face while asking.


    "Mom¡­ please mom¡­ "Malon begged.


    Malon looked at his mother''s face, who was already with her eyes closed, keeping the same smile as she looked at her son. Malon didn''t know how to react. Still, then he ced his mother''s hands crossed on her abdomen and stood up, facing her mother''s smiling face for thest time, and then started to run towards Ailen''s house once he saw a trail of blood and the signs of heavy footsteps that lead to the exit of the town. They probably had gotten his father, and Malon had to move.


    The house was broken and burned as well, but it was betterpared to Malon''s. The swordsman saw the open front door and rushed in as he called.


    "Ailen? Ailen? Where are you?" Malon asked while looking around.


    Malon didn''t get any answers, and so he went inside to look, passing through the kitchen and the living room. Only the bedrooms remained, and entering, he saw Ailen kneeling on the floor, holding the body of a girl a little older than his age, the burn marks were visible, and Malon he noticed his friend trembling as he held her.


    Taking a few more steps forward, Malon stopped a little further behind Ailen and spoke.


    "We need to go, Ailen... the ce will fall soon... and the people responsible for that may still be here."


    After Malon''s words, the silence continued until, with a low voice, Ailen responded.


    "And you want to leave those responsible for this unharmed, Malon? They took the lives of my parents and my sister... and you think I want to go to another city?"


    "We need to go, Ailen¡­ if we die too, it will be in vain, and nothing will change. We need to survive to find those responsible¡­" Malon said. "Or ask the guild to offer a reward... we can''t stay here, it will be worse for us... my mother told me how to get to Dizennia, we can avenge our parents, there we -..."


    "Enough, Malon¡­ I''m not going."


    The silence was back in the house, and after a sigh, Ailen spoke.


    "Go. I want to give them at least a decent burial. After that, I''ll meet you there so we can find out who caused this... I don''t want to let things end like this either," Ailen said.


    Malon''s eyes widened, and then he took a deep breath. Without saying anything else, the swordsman went to the exit and spoke.


    "Don''t die, Ailen," Malon said.


    "I will not¡­ not until¡­" Ailen bit his lips in anger.


    Even while regretting it, Malon left Ailen''s house and went towards the north of the town in silence. Along the way, the chaotic scenery remained, and all the houses had been burned, and there was no one else alive around there. Eventually, he reached the north gate of the town. Malon, before leaving, looked back, seeing the town where he was born and raised in mes andpletely destroyed.


    Malon''s body felt weak, and even with all the pain he felt, he looked back to the north with a determined look, even though he couldn''t hide the tears he spoke.


    "I will avenge you all. I promise," Malon said.

 Chapter 309 Weak Minded

    Malon and Aiden had a tragic past¡­ still, Aion couldn''t help but wonder how that was rted to the events that he knew. So far, there were no signs of his ancestors, the grandma shrimp.


    In any case, Aion was thankful for the fact that he was only seeing important memories, and he only learned that now since Malon had to walk for a few days. Which Aion saw in a super fast forward.


    After a few days of following one dirt road of mud, Malon didn''t find many problems, and there were animals and fruits for him to eat just by looking around since he knew how to camp. The river that passed through his town also ran along the path that he walked, so it was enough for him to continue on his way without facing many difficulties.


    In the meantime, Aion wondered why Malon assumed that his father was dead. He was also not as hot-blooded as Aion had expected, and maybe that was just how people of his age acted back in the day.


    At dawn on the third day, Malon got up, and thanks to the sunlight, he could already see the walls and the tall buildings of the city. He took his things since he had slept with the clothes on his body and then went on.


    Before the sun was in the middle of the sky, Malon came close to the city walls, and from the beginning, he noticed the difference. At the gates to the walls, there were two guards with full armor and armed. As the swordsman passed, they looked at him but let him continue his path, thinking he was just a boy with a sword trying to impress others.


    Going into the city, even the houses were more beautiful, the walls looked polished, and the houses were covered with a light and hard material on the walls. The ss windows were less rough, and the streets were made of polished bricks.


    Malon looked at what would be the square in the middle of the city. In it, there was a fountain and a man dressed as a clown while doing tricks being, surrounded by children.


    Wasting no time, Malon looked for the city map poster, seeing that there were inns, stores for weapons, and armor in addition to an apothecary that sold potions and medicine, which made Malon surprised by the variety he found.


    Still, his objective was only one. Soon he found on the map the location of a mercenary guild, and pressing his pace, he headed there, passing before the merchant to sell what was left of the hunt, resulting in 13 silver coins and a bronze coin after selling in the vige on the way. Carrying that had been difficult, but he had so much in his mind that he didn''t mind it.


    Malon arrived at the building that should be the guild, seeing a structure simr to a small castle with wooden doors. In a hurry, he entered, seeing the interior of the guild.


    Inside it, several adventurers talked about missions while others just drank and celebrated forpleting other missions. It was quite weird, considering that it was early in the morning. One couldn''t be more free-spirited than that, the atmosphere was full of excitement, and there were some people singing to apany the atmosphere.


    Malon hurried to the counter where there was a dark-skinned, bald, full-bearded attendant dressed in light clothes and whistling as he cleaned a wooden mug.


    "You should at least shave to make people believe in your cleaning skills," Aion thought.


    Malon headed for the counter, and the tavern keeper noticed the boy with the unkempt appearance and then spoke.


    "Damn, boy, what happened to you? Rolled on the floor with a mud monster?" That tavern keeper asked in an exaggerated tone while frowning.


    Malon showed an expression of doubt, and before sitting, he raised his arms to smell his armpits, then lowered.


    "It''s not that bad..." Malon said.


    Malon talked and sat near the counter. Looking around, he saw a group of friends drinking next to him, and in the corner of the bar, there was a hooded man reading a book, and the tavern keeper''s worried expression soon turned into a sympathetic smile.


    "So, brat, what can I help you with? You drink?" The man asked.


    "No... I don''t drink... but I didn''te here for that. I want to know how I can request a search or information about the attack on Hawky town that happened yesterday." Malon asked.


    Aion wanted to facepalm¡­ Malon wasn''t that bright in his youth. Not only he asked that out loud in the middle of the day, but he also didn''t even try to hide that he was rted to the ident.


    The tavern keeper still had the same smile on his face and ced a wooden cup on the table, then reached down to grab something under the counter while he spoke.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It''s very simple, you will write a poster in the guild paying a fee so that we can post it on our wall, and you will also have to put a reward for those whoplete the mission," the tavern keeper said. "Just put a time to meet at the guild, in case youe at a time, and the poster is gone, that means they probably epted their mission."


    Malon listened attentively and showed a thoughtful face at the end of the exnation. Still, the silence was interrupted by the sound of something being poured into a ss. The tavern keeper served a mug of hot milk to the swordsman, who looked at the ss, extending his hand, but soon afterwards retreated.


    "How much is it?" Malon asked.


    "Drink it up, kid. I never charge someone who doesn''t seem to have anything but the clothes on their backs," The tavern keeper said. "Besides, it is better to be served it than letting it go to waste."


    ? He spoke while pushing the milk jug away, and then Malon looked at the mug holding it with both hands. After a brief look at the mug, he turned it to drink it all at high speed, which he did until the tavern keeper spoke.


    "Calm down... Choking on milk is a pretty stupid way to die..." the tavern keeper said


    A short timeter, Malon ced the empty mug on the table and then sighed. He needed that, but he couldn''t rx that much.


    "Thanks for the drink, but tell me, how much is the fee to put up that poster? And I have to talk to you to put it on?" Malon asked.


    "It could be me, you pay the guild fee, and if you don''t fulfill the promise, you will be banned froming ever again, and the guild is not responsible for what adventurers will do," The tavern keeper said. " So think about it, boy, don''t want to y with that kind of workforce. Regarding the fee, it''s one silver, if you want extra disclosure, it''s ten. You decide the payment."


    "Is there no way to negotiate with those whoplete the quest regarding the price?" Malon lowered his head thoughtfully and asked.


    "It''s possible, but ideally, you put a margin on what you can afford to get them to show interest." the tavern keeper replied.


    Still thoughtful, Malon sighed and took the silver coins with one more from a small bag of coins and ced them on the table.


    "I want¡­ Can you help me set up the poster?" Malon asked.


    "I can, no problem," the tavern keeper replied and went to work.


    "Can you please stay and help me with the poster too?" Malon asked.


    "Alright, if you prefer, I''ll take the nk poster." The tavern keeper replied.


    "... Why are you helping me so much?" Malon asked after a brief moment of silence.


    "Don''t you want my help?" the man shrugged.


    The man spoke and then got up, then put the poster on the table along with a beautiful quill and a small bottle of ck ink, and Malon, half scared, replied.


    "N-No... I just want to understand why you decided to help me... that''s all." Malon said.


    "Man¡­ few people can piss me off so much without doing anything wrong," Aion thought while feeling like pulling his own hair with his bare hands.

 Chapter 310 Ambush

    After a few hours, the poster was ready, but he felt that it wasn''t. As a swordsman, he trained diligently to do most things with close to perfection when ites to swords, but he always tried to apply that to other fields of his life.


    "Are you sure nothing is missing?" Malon asked while checking


    "Of course, if you just want information or find a culprit, they will not capture anyone, but once they find them, they wille here to collect the reward in exchange for the location." The tavern keeper replied.


    Malon sighed in relief and looked out a window on the upper floor of the guild and saw that the sky was already dark and with some rain clouds. Even the party was increasing by the time, and he noticed some beautiful women starting to enter.


    "I guess I need to find an inn to rest and return tomorrow," Malon thought.


    Although he wanted information, it looked like it was going to take a while until he got anything else. He wanted to fast forward whenever Malon acted like a pussy, but he couldn''t for some reason. It was probably an important memory.


    Malon left the table and said goodbye to the innkeeper. Looking back, he noticed the same friends partying and already drunk, and the hooded man continued to read the same book.


    Even though it was strange, Malon thought it was better not to get involved. Leaving the guild, he went towards the map and then immediately went to the inn mentioned by the innkeeper. Following the streets correctly, he soon found a ce with the description of the inn, and I saw a carved wooden sign at the entrance.


    [Lizard''s Home]


    Room rent was simple, and dinner was a bowl of soup with a loaf of bread which wasn''t too bad for the price of ten copper coins.


    Malon went to his room and noticed that it was just a small and cramped ce with a bed and a closet. Next to the bed, there was a window that made it possible to see the streets of the city.


    Tiredness wasing to his mind and body, so Malon just closed the window and put his things next to the bed, then just took off his boots and cleaned himself a bit after asking for a bow of water before hey down on the bed.


    His vision was focused on the ceiling that was slowly starting to darken, the memories of the previous days still hadn''t disappeared, but Malon found refuge in knowing that he would get his revenge sooner orter, and then he closed his eyes to sleep and wait for a new day.


    ---- ----


    In Red Eagle town, it was raining, and so there was no more fire in the ce. Under a tree near one of the burned houses, Ailen was standing. In front of him, there were three tombs that he protected and watched being bathed in the falling rain.


    His mind was wandering, and his body was tired, but soon the silence disappeared as Ailen heard footsteps approaching through the rain.


    With a quick draw, he prepared the bow and arrow, already pointing towards the direction of the steps, which stopped when the person making them saw the arrow and seeing his target Ailen spoke.


    "Who are you? And what do you want here?" Ailen asked.


    The person in front of him looked at an adult man with pale skin, his long hair was bluish, and his eyes were green. He wore a long ck jacket and white clothes and seemed to walk unarmed.


    "I don''t know what happened here, but I assure you I came to help." The man replied.


    "Help?" Ailen furrowed his eyebrows.


    ----- -----


    Back inside the inn, it waste at night, and Malon had already slept for a few hours. Footsteps were heard from the stairs that woke the swordsman, who sat on the bed without understanding what was happening. Still, his instincts woke him up, so that couldn''t be a good sign.<novelnext></novelnext>


    As he rubbed his eyes and grabbed his sword, the door mmed open and startled him. Malon stood up and backed away from the window while ready to fight.


    From the door, several armored men carrying spears entered the room and blocked the entrance.


    "What do you want here?" Malon asked, already imagining the answer.


    The men ignored Malon''s words and approached slowly without breaking formation.


    "Stay away¡­" Malon readied himself to face the enemies, but he knew that he would be stabbed to death if he did anything. He was still an apprentice, and they were seasoned warriors.


    Malon made up his mind, and he wasn''t going down without a fight. Still, a knight appeared in the room. Still, unlike all of the others, he wore ck and heavy armor, his helmet was a ck skull with horns, and it was possible to see only red eyes under the helmet. Malon felt shivers while looking at that guy¡­ he was all kinds of bad news.


    Malon held the sword with both hands, ready to fight, but in response, the knight in ck armor only extended his hand toward the young man.


    Malon felt as if his body was being crushed, breathing became difficult, and his legs gave out, making him kneel.


    Seeing the opportunity, the other knights advanced and immobilized him, the sword was taken from his hand, and his arms were chained. Malon saw the knight lower his hand, and his breathing and body gradually normalized.


    "MISERABLE¡­DID YOU¡­FOLLOW ME? WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY FAMILY?" Malon asked, don''t do his best to keep his head raised. "What did you do, Ailen?"


    The enemy approached and stopped in front of him, putting his hand inside his shirt and holding the ne that had the ring.


    "Ailen? So is there another survivor? I think the service was not done correctly," the dark knight said.


    Once again, Aion was left speechless. Malon was beyond stupid, and he couldn''t do anything despite having trained with the sword for many years¡­ he wondered how someone so stupid could have been considered a god in the future. It was just nonsensical, even though he knew how good he had be.


    The dark knight''s voice was thick, and Malon, lifting his head, saw that at the door, there was the owner of the inn with a worried face, but beside him was the hooded man who was in the guild staring at him from afar.


    Malon clenched his teeth in anger and tried to free himself, but it was in vain until he felt the ne being ripped from his neck by the ck knight.


    "HEY, GIVE IT BACK!" Malon shouted.


    "Shut his mouth." The knight looked at the boy and said it.


    Malon tried to free himself again, but he felt a strong blow on the back of his head, and his vision darkened. Gradually the ck knight moved away, and he felt himself being dragged until hepletely cked out.


    Manyter, Malon woke up hearing a constant drip. He felt something in his body and realized that he was lying on a dirty stone floor, and as his vision cleared, he saw iron bars in front of him, preventing him from moving forward.


    Already awake, Malon noticed that he had no more sword or armor, wearing only the clothes on his body in a cramped and empty room, noting that he had been imprisoned while sleeping. Then all his memories returned.


    Malon would go to the bars and hit them in a rage and still bewildered.


    "Damn it..." Malon bit his lips in exasperation.

 Chapter 311 Look Alike

    Malon was trying to pull the big bars back and forth, but the bars were tight, and it looked like it had been a prison made for a long time, which was frustrating. The bars wouldn''t break, and there was also a deafening silence indicating that there was probably no one else around there. Then he sighed and walked away from the bars, and went to see what was in his cell.


    Turning around, he noticed that the space was still much smaller than a bedroom. There was a pile of hay in the corner of the floor to be used as a bed and a dirty corner to be used as a bathroom, the walls were full of cracks, and nothing looked strange there. The cracks didn''t look like they would get worse than that.


    Still, something caught Malon''s attention. There was an older-looking space the size of a human hand in the center of the wall that was slowly starting to age and knocking some crumbs off the wall.


    Malon approached doubtfully and ced his hand next to the aged mark, and when he touched it, he saw that the wall seemed weakerpared to the rest of the room. That was too good to be true, though. Besides, what else would he find on the other side aside from another cell?


    His eyes widened, and he quickly looked around the room for some object so that he could use it as a shovel, but it was useless. His cell was empty. Malon was naive to a fault¡­ even if it was suspicious, he had to test all his options.


    Malon noticed he still had his boots, so he took the boot off and put it in his hand, and started digging with it to protect his fingers.


    Shortly after, more and more dust from the wall in the aged area was falling. Even with difficulty, he managed to open a hole the size of his hand in the wall, but nothing else around was aged.


    "You have got to be kidding me?" Malon muttered.


    "You..." He extended his hand into the hole and heard.


    A weak female voice made him startle and recoil, he looked at the hole, but he couldn''t see anything beyond it since it was covered in the darkness.


    "Are you¡­ Who are you?" Malon asked.


    A silence echoed after the question of the swordsman, who remained in the doubt until the voice answered.


    "It doesn''t matter... I''m here on the other side¡­ approach your hand... I''ll give you something..." The female voice echoed weakly.


    Even confused and still a little scared, Malon approached again and moved his hand. He couldn''t believe that the enemies would put a trap there, and he could sense the smell of blooding from behind.


    "Who are you? How long have you been in prison?" Malon asked while moving his left hand since it wasn''t his dominant one.


    "It doesn''t matter¡­ Use this." The woman said.


    Malon felt somethingnd on his hand, and he closed it and took it to his cell. He noticed two round golden earrings in his hands, and he watched for a while, but then he pierced his ears with the earrings and put them on, feeling a bit of pain in the hole.


    "And what do I do now?" Malon asked.


    Aion truly wanted to strangle Malon¡­ that guy was just too stupid. Even if his family was rich, he still was trained in a martial arts dojo. Didn''t his family teach himmon sense? How stupid could a single person be?


    His words came out, but only a silence followed. Malon showed a confused face and extended his hand towards the wall.


    "Miss?"


    As soon as his fingers touched the wall, the earrings gleamed, and arge area began to age and fall apart on its own. Malon noticed the wall copse leaving a spacerge enough for him to sneak out of his cell.


    He widened his eyes and showed a surprised but slightly happy expression. He passed as he spoke.


    "It worked... if we can do this with the bars we..." Malon said.


    The excited sentence was interrupted, and the expression that had previously had a little happiness disappearedpletely when he went to the other cell.


    In front of her was a woman with brown hair wearing white clothes already soiled by something. Her legs were chained to the wall, but what Malon soon noticed was an iron sword in her chest.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Her face was down, and her skin was pale. It was impossible to tell how long she had been like that, and seeing that her savior was dead, Malon wondered who had really given her those earrings. It couldn''t have been her¡­


    Malon brought his fingers close to his ears and noticed only a trace of blood, but nothing was there. The earrings had disappeared and the biggest doubt was.


    "Who set me free?" Malon asked in astonishment.


    The time gained was precious. Malon regretfully approached the woman and spoke.


    "I''m sorry... but I need to go..." Malon spoke and took the sword from the woman''s body, who didn''t even react, confirming to Malon, she was dead.


    Malon took the sword and went to the front of the cell. With the iron sword, it was easy to break the lock, and after a few attempts, Malon managed to open the door and could move freely around the prison. He didn''t make much noise, but it was suspicious that no one heard him.


    "Maybe I''m alone, but I can''t waste time... where is my stuff... and where is the ring?" Malon thought while looking around.


    Malona left the cell and walked around the prison while finding only empty cells and with nothing inside them. Getting close to his previous cell, he saw that on one side were stairs that went up, and the other side seemed to go down somewhere.


    "They could havee from there... I''d better go in the opposite direction." Malon thought.


    "Good, you are a tactical genius," Aion thought.


    Malon was heading towards the stairs that descended at a faster pace, passing through another cell, and before going down the stairs, he saw that it led to a sewer system that led to a tunnel separated by some iron bars.


    "Sewers? It might get me out of here somewhere in town¡­ am I still in that town?" Malon wondered.


    Malon''s thoughts were interrupted and then he heard a voiceing from the side.


    "Hey¡­ you''re not one of the guards..." Another female voice echoed in the area.


    Malon''s eyes widened in surprise to hear another voice there. It was also simr to the one he had heard before. Looking at the cell next to him, he saw a young girl looking to have the same age.


    "You''re not...or are you?" Malon tilted his head in confusion.


    She wore white clothes simr to the woman in the cell, in addition to having blonde hair in the same style, her eyes were blue, and she also had nothing but the clothes on her body.


    "N-No... I''m not... I was arrested here today." The girl said, and then she widened her eyes and asked."Y-You were talking to someone just now¡­ and it seems to havee from my mother''s cell area¡­ they split us up when we were arrested. Didn''t you see her there? Please release me and take us with you."


    Malon thought for a few moments and connected the dots, the woman in the cell was probably the girl''s mother, and because they were in different areas, she didn''t know her unfortunate fate. Malon took a deep breath and spoke.


    "Listen, I can free you... but in the ce I was, I didn''t see anyone. I checked every cell on the way and only found you if your mother was also arrested... she''s not here anymore." Malon replied.


    The girl lowered her head a little and held the bars looking confused and thoughtful, but soon she spoke.


    "She must be somewhere... take me with you, and when we run away, I''ll look for her myself. I''m a healer. I can help." The girl said.


    "Healer?" Malon muttered in shock.


    Aion was even more surprised since the girl looked like his ancestor, nire. However, the girl was taller than the grandma shrimp, and her attitude was alsopletely different.

 Chapter 312 Honorable Grandfather

    Just when Aion thought he would get some answers, he was engulfed by light, and then he saw himself in the desert again. He could move his body, so he could tell that he was back, but he couldn''t help but feel pissed¡­ he didn''t get that many answers.


    ? "You have got to be kidding me, Malon¡­" Aion thought and then stroked his chin. "That girl, she looked like grandma shrimp, but at the same time, her aura was different. What is going on here?"


    It didn''t matter how much he thought about it, and Zane wouldn''t get an answer that easily¡­ Regardless, he had other things to do. Maybe Ana would have a few answers.


    "Come to think of it¡­ Grandma said that we would probably meet again, and she wouldn''t recognize me," Aion thought and began to fly. "Does that mean that I will go to the past to see her? Should I try to head to their period of time and learn what happened?"


    Since he didn''t know what happened, Aion wouldn''t know what he couldn''t do. While he might create other timelines with his actions, he always could return to his own no matter what¡­ it was hard to say if such a thing didn''t have other consequences, though.


    Aion thought that his life was taking a weird turn now that he knew that he could move freely toward the timelines. Also, it was hard to imagine that in the current era, there was someone that could take him down¡­ at least considering the areas that he visited and without counting some dungeon orbyrinth guardians. It felt like he was ying in a different league¡­ one that losing would cost more than his life.


    Congrattions! The ss Samurai has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Chaotic Samurai, Toxic Samurai, or Elemental Samurai.


    Aion wondered why the options looked like dead, a mix of edgy and colorful, but in the end, it seemed right that those would be his options. He never had the chance to use the Samurai ss, so he was expecting that it would change now. However, he realized that the ss wasn''t even close to reaching the max level before, even though the refinement level was on the max already.


    Chaos Samurai Lv 01


    Health: 16/16


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 45/45


    Strength: 01 +02


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 +08


    Status: 00


    Nodachi Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: Strength +02, Speed +03


    Skills: Heroic Swordsmanship Lv 01


    Passive: Improved Speed Lv 01<novelnext></novelnext>


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 3.850.000


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Heroic Swordsmanship: passively increases the attack of your sword strikes by ten points per level.


    Improved Speed: passively increases your speed by five points per level.


    "Why did this ss was upgraded? Was it because I saw Malon''s life?" Aion thought, and then he frowned even more when he noticed that he was using the Healer ss, and the ss changed when it was updated. "It doesn''t make any sense, and he wasn''t a samurai, much less of a master yet."


    Aion ignored the fact that he was falling while he was equipped with a low-level ss. He was two kilometers above the ground, so the fall will probably kill him. Still, he soon changed back to the Healer ss and resumed his flight.


    A few hourster, Aion reached the fallen capital. The ce was empty, and the corpses that he had left behind had been disposed of. At least Vangel kept his promise¡­ or he didn''t try anything knowing that he might lose the loyalty of Aion''s father.


    "I should wall this whole ce and then make my death knights get rid of all the earthworms. That will grant me some mana to help with that," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I need to talk with Ana first."


    Aion headed to the throne room since he imagined that the ce would be the one connected to most periods of time. He waited for a while for Ana to establish a connection with him somehow, but that didn''t happen. So, he used the relics, and Aion couldn''t help but frown when he saw dozens of mirrors appearing around him. To periods in the past while the castle was still at its peak and to periods that had be even more ruined than it was already.


    "I guess the past is on my left side, and the future is on the right side¡­" Aion thought while heading to his right side. "I wonder how much further in the future I can go."


    Aion blinked several times when he reached the final mirror¡­ the ce waspletely dark, and he couldn''t tell a single thing inside.


    "Is this¡­ the end of time of this world?" Aion thought while feeling a cold feeling in his stomach. "If I can head there, does it mean that something still exists here?"


    Aion thought about it, but he wasn''t sure¡­ The relics pointed to the final mirror when he asked where Ana was. Thanks to that, he couldn''t help but wonder what it would be like to live in a world of darkness. How was it connected to that end? Did they contribute to that somehow? Ana seemed weirdly cheerful when they talked for the first time, and he always found that odd.


    "This can also be a trap, but¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hey, grandpa, What do you think of this?"


    "I am curious to see what is the future is like, even though I am one hundred percent sure that it is well deserved that the world would end like that, considering that we were exterminated," Arc replied.


    "You seem quite sure of yourself, aren''t you, Grandpa?" Aion said while frowning.


    "Stop calling me that and refer to me as honorable grandfather," Arc said in a demanding tone.

 Chapter 313 Cursed King Of Time

    "Maybe I should let you sleep for a while since you seem grumpy, even though that is normal for people of your age who live only for work," Aion shrugged.


    "I can see that Artemisia raised you to be quite disrespectful of your elders¡­" Arc said, and Aion could imagine him furrowing his eyebrows. "Nevertheless, you can enter this suspicious-looking portal without fear, and I will give you a part of my mana."


    "Hmph, I doubt that will help me that much," Aion shrugged. "I will have you know that I can fly using my magic and¡­"


    The ss Mage has leveled.


    The ss Mage has leveled.


    The ss Mage has leveled.


    ¡­


    "What is this¡­ my magic energy is being sent to somewhere else¡­ what are you doing?" Arc asked, visibly confused. "I can feel that it is with you, but at the same time¡­"


    Aion was as confused as his grandfather. First of all, he wasn''t even using the mage ss. Second of all, could the souls of the Millerians give him mana like that?


    "You should stop for now, grandpa, until I learn what is happening," Aion said. "I have too many questions for now, and I can''t say that you will recover your magic energy¡­ you can recover while you are a spirit?"


    "Not as fast as before, but yes¡­" Arc replied.


    "Then inform meter if that doesn''t happen, or something usual happens¡­" Aion said and then sighed. "Here we go¡­"


    Aion jumped into the portal and then readied himself to face anything that might happen. Much to his surprise, nothing did happen, but he couldn''t help but frown when he saw himself standing in the middle of the darkness while feeling a stagnant air that was a mix of smoke, dust, and death.


    Aion created a fireball to illuminate the area, and then he confirmed that he was in the middle of some ruins. He was supposed to be where the throne room of the fallen castle was, but he couldn''t recognize the environment. The walls were too short, and the floor didn''t make him recall the lustrous tiles of that. Even after almost twenty years, it still resembled some of its prime after all.


    Aion moved his feet and saw a lot of dust being pushed to the side alongside ashes. All of the pirs had vanished as well¡­ Aion was supposed to see the sky since there was no ceiling, but he was unable to see such a thing. Something was blocking his view¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    All of a sudden, Aion heard the sound of a door moving, and then he looked in the direction where the dungeon was supposed to be in the throne room. Aion raised his guard and didn''t drop it when he saw a woman wearing some rags that barely covered her body. The woman had shoulder-length silver hair that was disheveled. She looked like someone who hadn''t had a single decent night of sleep in months. To the point that her green eyes showed a dangerous glint of madness and excitement when she recognized Aion.


    "You came! You came! You came! You really came!" Ana said, and Aion recognized her voice.


    "You can stop right there¡­" Aion said when she began to move toward him, and her excitement felt too dangerous for him. "You didn''t tell me that you were a descendant of that guy."


    "Oh? But you never asked!" Ana said and then smiled brightly. "You are right. I am one of the Heradins, thest one, in fact. Also, thest human in this world."


    Aion blinked several times¡­ he truly felt that the world of the future seemed kind of dead, but¡­ he didn''t think that it would be to that extent. In any case, that would exin why that was thest point in the future that he could go. Now that he thought about it, Aion realized that the points in the future that he could go to were basically something like historical points created by humans. Without humans, there was no history, and in a sense, humans created the notion of time.


    "Oh? Where are my manners!" Ana said, and then the glint in her eyes still was making him feel the creeps. "It isn''t much, but pleasee to my home."


    Ana wasn''t joking when she pointed to the dungeon of the castle. It seemed like a decent ce to hide but not to live. In any case, Aion decided to follow her. Eventually, he found countless books inside, and the dungeon had also increased in size a fair bit to amodate a shit ton of them. Aside from the books, there was an old table, chair, and a straw bed. There were some bowls filled with grains, but their amount seemed pretty small for even a single person. If she could use time magic that well, there was no reason for her not to be able to use magic to cultivate food. Even in that darkness, magic could help her with that.


    "This is my library. Most of these books are ones that my family copied by using others from different periods of time," Ana said. "It isn''t much suitable for a king, but please, sit on the chair."


    "King?" Aion frowned. "Just having royal blood doesn''t make me a king. Hell, royal blood isn''t that impressive when people do whatever the hell they want without ountability, right Grandpa?"


    "You will have to refer to me as dearest Grandfather if you want to hear from me from now on," Arc said.


    "So unreasonable¡­ and why the change?" Aion frowned.


    Now that Aion thought about it, it wasn''t much, but his name was simr to his grandfather. His mother had said those things before, but it was clear that she didn''t hate her family.


    "Oh, you already can control the souls of the Millerians! As expected of the Sorcerous King," Ana said without hiding her excitement. "You received that title and some others in different periods of time, but you always ended up with them. The most famous was the Cursed king of the time, Aion."

 Chapter 314 The True Enemies

    "The cursed king of time¡­ it seems that some versions of me made some mess, huh," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "You don''t seem surprised," Ana said, and then her smile disappeared. "I read a lot of things about you, but once I found those pieces of information, I couldn''t help but doubt them."


    "Well, I know myself better than anyone, and I can tell that I would be messed up if something were to happen," Aion said and then sat down on the ground. "Anyway, I came to talk about other things, not about possibilities¡­ What do you know about me?"


    "Well, you have been the focus of my family since you met Sauros and Seris, but even so, we never found everything about you," Ana exined. "Like why you have some abilities. Or why you can buy the relics so freely. In theory, only we are supposed to be able to do it."


    Aion wondered why that was the case¡­ he had some hypotheses. Still, he needed to hear more from Ana before deciding anything.


    "Do you know what I saw after I used the relics for the first time to head into the future?" Aion asked.


    "No, you probably didn''t tell anyone about it," Ana replied. "What I can tell is what happened in the recent years that are rted to you."


    "I am listening¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "After you started to use the relics, some changes began to happen in the world, the Zaera kingdom was attacked more often, and you tried to deal with the cause by yourself," Ana exined after she crossed her arms. "This timeline is the one where you lost your sisters, so you didn''t show any mercy toward the enemies¡­ Eventually, the whole world began to fear and hate you. They tried to fight you, but it didn''t work¡­ until they got help from outside."


    "Other timelines, huh¡­" Aion muttered.


    "Indeed¡­ you tried to use the relics to deal with that, but you used them too much," Ana said. "Thanks to that, some enemiesing from the beyond came for your head."


    "The beyond¡­ what is that?" Aion frowned.


    "I don''t know. I just know that they came for you, and they left the world like this," Ana replied. "I was hoping that you would find the answers since I heard that they said your name and Malon a lot. What is your connection with him?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion thought that the only connection was the relics and the fact that he and grandma shrimp were friends, but after hearing that, he couldn''t help but wonder. Malon left the world to prevent others from using time magic¡­ So were those beings from beyond creatures from other worlds? Why would theye for him and Malon? Did Malon be their enemies, and now they want Aion, who had the relics? That couldn''t be the only reason.


    Aion assumed that perhaps¡­ he had been reincarnated because of Malon somehow. He couldn''t help but assume that was the case because the samurai ss leveled up once he saw that guy''s memories¡­ aside from Grandma shrimp, who else would be able to grant him those powers?


    Most likely, Malon was overpowered eventually after thousands of years, and he predicted that his enemies would target his home world¡­ and he chose someone to take his ce. It was a bit unreasonable to expect that Aion would be that strong in a matter of decades, but perhaps he had more time if he didn''t use the relics that much.


    "It seems that you don''t know for certain, but you have some ideas¡­" Ana said while studying Aion''s face. "I also understand that they came since you overused the relics, so the problem is to pamper too much with time magic."


    "You are awfully calm about this¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "Most people would think that the world ended up like this because of me."


    "I had some thoughts about that, but once I heard those things spreading their voices throughout the whole world saying things like alien spirit and chosen from beyond the stars, I concluded that something like this was bound to happen," Ana exined. "In the other timelines, I didn''t find anyone aside from you, even though I also found some research about magic that transfers souls to the future or past. In one way or the other, this was bound to happen once people started to mess with time magic."


    Although she looked insane at first, now Ana looked pretty level-headed. If what she said was true, she liked that because she had been alone for many years, and while he wasn''t the cause of that yet, he felt a bit guilty for it. Still, he had other things to consider for now.


    "You contacted me using a very suspicious method¡­ What is your goal here?" Aion asked while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "I already lost everything, but that doesn''t mean that I don''t care about anything else," Ana replied. "This is the true end of the world. This is the first timeline where the world ends up like this, though. That being said, there are other versions of me in other timelines, and the people that I cared about are still alive in those as well. In some of them, they aren''t even born yet, so there is a chance that I can help them by being born in a better ce than this hell hole. To achieve that goal, I want to help you. This is all the knowledge that I have umted over many timelines, and while I am not as powerful as Malon, my blood still holds some power to control time to some extent. I want you to use that blood to make other relics that will help inbat. That should give you some more chances of winning against the real enemies."


    "... When was the time that this world was attacked in this timeline?" Aion asked.


    "It was fifty years ago, but knowing that won''t help you in any way because the enemies are creatures that can freely move between the timelines," Ana shook her head. " My guess is that they entered into contact with other versions of themselves and absorbed them to be even more powerful. For them, time isn''t a barrier¡­ time is just another path that they can move freely."

 Chapter 315 Another Way

    The more he heard about it, the more Aion couldn''t help but think that he was more than a little bit outmatched. No wonder Ana was so eager to sacrifice herself to give him a chance to win that battle, she didn''t have anything to lose anymore, and she knew that she couldn''t do anything else. The real enemies were true monsters beyond human understanding¡­


    Aion was only alive because their notion of time probably was so deviated that decades for him were like seconds for them. Still, once he begins to use the relics more and more, they will feel the need to get rid of him.


    "What is your ability specifically?" Aion asked after thinking for a second.


    "I canmunicate with other people and objects in the past, and if they have less mana than me, I can check all the information that they have," Ana said and then smiled. "As you can imagine from that, I am totally useless when ites tobat. That being said, if you make relics using my blood, then you will obtain the power to gather information from anything and everyone since your magic is almost unrivaled, and you can be even stronger."


    "So, my own magic power would amplify yours? This doesn''t work with Malon''s relics, right?" Aion asked.


    "It does. If you weren''t a Millerian, you wouldn''t be able to move freely between the timelines either. Still, since you are, you can move as much as us," Ana replied.


    Aion wondered why that was the case¡­ it wasn''t like his magic power was high most of the time. He used the relics sometimes when he was using melee sses, and the relics worked properly. Or maybe mana was just a single parameter that the relics considered.


    If Aion gets stronger, perhaps he can move even further in the past and be able to see things that even the Heradins n wouldn''t be able to with their power.


    "You said that they came for me¡­ the enemies¡­ but how far in the future are we?" Aion asked.


    "Five hundred years in the future¡­ you were able to live a long life since you had a strong body and a powerful spirit," Ana replied. "Come to think of it, I need to tell your history in this timeline. The Zaera kingdom was attacked many times, but you defended it for fifty years. Your mother was also blessed with a long life. Still, she grew weary of worrying about you constantly fighting and being unable to have a family of your own. She eventually passed away due to a sickness¡­ a simple one since her body had been weakened. After that¡­"


    "... I stopped holding back and then went on a world conquest to make sure that no one would bother me again, and I became a tyrant," Aion said after he gulped since he was indirectly the cause of his mother''s death.


    "That is right¡­ at first, you ruled with an iron hand, but the world prospered under you, and your brothers also helped you and then their descendants¡­" Ana said. "Maybe you don''t know yourself that much."


    "It is alright. You don''t have to lie," Aion shrugged.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I am not, though," Ana said. "I can''t give you more details since it might change the timeline you came from, but you were forced to use the relics a few times since some enemies suddenly emerged, and you felt annoyed while dealing with them in the present. Since most of them had help from the past, you went to get rid of them¡­ that happened many times, and then they came."


    "What do you know about them?" Aion asked.


    "Well, this is the first timeline they killed everyone and everything, and I wasn''t born at the time, so¡­" Ana replied while forcing a tired smile. "With your power, abilities, and resources, you will probably learn more once you get my relic. My job is done, and I can finally rest. You should use my relic with all those books before returning, though. My guess is that you won''t be able to return once I am gone."


    "I guess so¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Anyway, in a weird and suspicious way, you helped me, so I am not going to sacrifice you. You areing with me in order to help. As if I would carry the burden of the whole world by myself. I will make you and your ancestors work your asses off to make my job easier."


    "I don''t think that it is a good idea¡­ nothing good ever happened when someone traveled to the past and tried to live there," Ana said. "Also, I am tired, and I really don''t want to work that much anymore."


    "I see¡­ then you can take your own life," Aion replied and then began to store the books in his inventory. "I guess this is for the best since I don''t trust liars. You said that you wanted to save your family from other timelines, but that is clearly a lie."


    "It isn''t¡­ I just¡­ what else can I do?" Ana asked. "Do you have any idea how it was to live here for this long? I want to forget all of this."


    "Once you leave this ce, you won''t be able to return, so why would you care?" Aion asked. "Anyway, I am not going to kill or sacrifice anyone. Do what you want."


    Ana began to bite her lips in exasperation. She waited for so long for her mission to end¡­ while she had nned all that to happen, she didn''t think that Aion woulde. That would be the final step on her journey, and then she would be able to rest easy knowing that she would be able to rest and still be able to help the other timelines. Now she didn''t know what she should do¡­


    Meanwhile, Aion couldn''t help but think about Seris a bit. He said those things to her, imagining that she would show some resolve. Still, it looked like things didn''t work out in the end¡­ putting aside what she said at first, Aion thought that she was probably his best match, but he would only ept it if she stopped working for her family. He didn''t want his descendants to be tools for them.


    "I will have to think of another solution¡­ I can''t risk letting mom die like that," Aion thought.

 Chapter 316 Requirements

    Aion wondered again why he was thinking about marriage like that, just to ease the worries of his mother, but in the end, it wasn''t that crazy. The concept of love before marriage was something fairly recent in human history. People back in the day used to marry to make their families stronger and richer, after all.


    In any case, Aion had to work for a while to store all the books. He wondered how Ana got so many materials to write them, but maybe she found it in some warehouse and brought it back.


    When he turned around, Aion saw Ana still standing while wondering about what to do. That was a bit irritating, but he couldn''t me her¡­ in her situation, he would dly leave that hellhole¡­ even if it was the only world that she knew of.


    "I can''t go¡­" Ana said.


    "I see¡­ well, until next time, then," Aion shrugged.


    "I don''t have any real clothes, so I can''t go¡­" Ana added.


    Aion replied¡­ he couldn''t recall thest time he heard something that stupid. She couldn''t travel through time because she didn''t have other clothes. As if that was an actual requirement for it.


    "I guess you are still a girl¡­" Aion said and then sighed. "I have some spare pants and some leather armor that you can use. After that, you can buy some on your own."


    "Buy? You mean¡­ in a clothes shop?" Ana said while showing eyes filled with astonishment. "I read about them, but¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ you are a girl. I was foolish in putting the words clothes and buying in the same sentence," Aion sighed and then took out the items from his inventory. "


    Aion moved out from the dungeon to let Ana wear those substitutes for clothes and wondered what he should do now. If he keeps using the relics, the enemies mighte for him again since another version of him was killed already. Even though he felt that he needed some answers to confirm the few hypotheses that he had.


    If Aion decided toy low for a while, the enemies woulde for him, and he might be med for all the destruction and deaths since it is unlikely they would bring his name while they cause problems.


    Why can I only see lose-and-lose scenarios?" Aion thought and then sighed. "I need to consider my next steps with caution¡­ I probably have some time, so I can''t be hasty."


    "I am ready," Ana showed up and then said. "It will be your fault if something were to happen because of this."


    "By the way, you said that you studied some time where people sent their spirits to take over other people''s bodies. What are the limitations?" Aion asked.


    "I am not certain. I didn''t find any vestiges where the spell failed¡­ but in all of them, the casters took over the bodies of newborn babies," Ana exined.


    It felt like the same type of reincarnation as Aion, but Aion didn''t do that. The casters didn''t even hesitate in abandoning their old bodies for one reason or the other, though. Regardless, he could do some research about thatter¡­<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion used the relics and then found the mirror that would take them to his timeline. As expected, Ana hesitated, but then he pushed her. Aion expected to see thest of Malon again, but nothing happened this time¡­ he wondered what the trigger of the whole thing was.


    Once they left the castle, Ana had a hard time adjusting to all the light outside. She imed that she had never seen the sunlight, so that wasn''t surprising. Her skin looked quite unhealthy thanks to it, and she was mostly skin and bones as well.


    "You should eat this. It will take a while before we can reach my home," Aion said and then took a huge chunk of dragon''s cooked meat from his inventory. "I wonder what mother will say once he sees you¡­ I need to think of a decent exnation, or she will get the wrong idea."


    "The famous Artemisia Milleris¡­ I am a huge fan of hers as well!" Ana said, and then Aion sighed.


    "Don''t say anything unnecessary to her¡­ I have the feeling that you will spill the beans if you stay idle for long, so soon I''m going to put you to work," Aion dered and then he created an earth tform to let them fly.


    Aion also summoned his death knights and made them spread around to hunt the earthworms. Ana didn''t look surprised by that, so the other version of himself probably used them in front of others.


    "So, these are the legendary death knights¡­ I heard that you had hundreds of them before you were killed, or the other you were killed," Ana said.


    Aion had been using his powers nonstop, and it was suspicious since his grandfather wasn''t asking anything¡­ he should know that necromancy wasn''t something that their magic should be able to mimic, and yet¡­ he wasn''t showing any concern.


    "How are things going, grandpa?" Aion asked. "... Don''t ignore me. I hate when people do that."


    "... My magic power is recovering like usual," Arc said after a long sigh. "Interesting conversation that you had there, but for some reason, I couldn''t hear some parts when you were talking. Your mouths were moving, but I couldn''t hear the sounds. "


    "During which parts?" Aion asked.


    "I don''t know since I didn''t hear, but it seemed that you were talking about some people and what they might do in the fur," Arc replied.


    That was weird¡­ Aion looked at it. Ana, but she just shrugged. She didn''t cast any spell, and her ability couldn''t do that. Was that some countermeasure against people that couldn''t use any short of time magic? He had to investigate it more¡­


    "By the way, grandpa, can you keep sending your mana periodically?" Aion asked. "That will really help since, at this rate, I will be outmatched by the real enemies that I have to defeat."


    "... I can, but I have some requirements," Arc replied after some seconds of silence.

 Chapter 317 She Is Back

    "Can''t you just help your only grandson out of goodwill?" Aion asked and then sighed. "Well, I would feel suspicious if you didn''t ask anything in exchange, so what do you want?"


    "You asked that king to keep the territory of the capital to yourself. I want you to ask for the whole territory and rebuild everything," Arc replied. "We aren''t going back, but I want our history to exist until the end of this world."


    "That will make me sound suspicious, and just when I was asked toy low¡­ Well, most of the territory is a desert, so Vangel can''t use it," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If I offer him the materials of the earthworms¡­ By the way, where are the earthwormsing from?"


    "It is right in the middle of the Western side of the desert," Arc replied. "If you want his cooperation, you can just create a road connecting their territory with thend that your half brothers are managing for you. It should be easy with your magic."


    "That is a good idea¡­ see, you can be reasonable if you try," Aion said. "Nevertheless, a road that needs to be hundreds of kilometers long¡­ it will take a while."


    "Negotiate with him and seed and you will obtain my mana," Arc added. "If you do that, I will convince the others to talk with you."


    The mana of millions of mages¡­ Aion looked at Ana, wondering if she had nned to let him use that. She just smiled¡­ while her smile looked devoid of malice, Aion had to be careful around her. He decided to bring her with him out of pity since a life in that world couldn''t be considered a real life, but he truly needed to be careful.


    In any case, bringing Ana to the castle was out of the question, and since he didn''t feel higher mana than his mothering from her, Artemisia would be fine. She still had the relic that Sauros handed to her as well.


    "I can''tin, but¡­ why do I have to y architect now?" Aion thought and then sighed.


    Building roads and repairing cities¡­ Aion will have to do that by himself since no one in their right mind would repair the city of a group of people that tried to take over the world.


    In any case, Aion reached his home the other day in the middle of the morning, and then he found his mother drinking some tea in the garden with someone else. When theynded there, Aion furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Seris.


    "Hmm, I didn''t expect to see you here," Aion said.


    "Aion, you are already back!" Artemisia got up and then smiled even more when she saw Ana. "Who might you be?"


    "Her name is Ana, and she is from the future," Aion replied since he didn''t want to keep that kind of secret from his mother.


    "From where?" Artemisia frowned.


    "The future¡­" Aion replied.


    "... I can see your mouth moving, but I can''t hear any sounding from it," Artemisia showed a serious expression.


    "Mother¡­ it seems that I can''t tell you where she is from. The same thing happened before and I am starting to understand it," Aion stroked his chin. "To put it in simple terms¡­ she is from a ce that you shouldn''t know of and she also shouldn''t be here following the natural order of things."


    "... I see," Artemisia said while looking at Ana. "Time magic has some requirements that are truly fascinating."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yes¡­ by the way, mom," Aion said. "She is going to work for me and live with us, so can you help her find some clothes and give her a room."


    "Of course, of course," Artemisia said, and then she recalled something and then grinned. "By the way, Aion. Seris came here to tell you something very important. Which is¡­"


    "Which is that I am going to monitor you to prevent the misuse of the relics!" Seris stepped forward and then interrupted Artemisia. "It seems that I was a bit toote, though¡­ to think that you would bring someone from the future¡­"


    "So, you heard me¡­" Aion said. "I guess that makes things easier for me."


    "... Is that fine, Seris?" Artemisia asked.


    "It is, don''t worry about that, and please don''t say anything unnecessary," Seris said while forcing a smile.


    "Well, I guess it is your choice then¡­" Artemisia showed a rare serious expression. "Come with me, Ana, and I will guide you through the house."


    "Yes, ma''am! I am a huge fan!" Ana dered.


    "Of whom?" Artemisia frowned.


    Those two left the area, and Aion was also left with a lot of questions¡­ it seemed that Seris heard that he killed a lot of people, but he didn''t use the relics for that. Did she sense it? That happened a bit too fast, though.


    "It seems that you annoyed your mother. What did you do?" Aion asked.


    "Nothing important, still to think that you would do such a thing¡­ considering her appearance, I can tell that she is one of us, but¡­" Seris said.


    "What do you mean by that? Are you saying that mother is petty or something?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "Get serious for a moment¡­ making peoplee from the future is something serious," Seris said while looking at the house. "Considering her appearance and the fact that you are cautious, she mustn''t have lived a good life there, but even so¡­ can you exin what happened?"


    Aion sighed, but he decided to tell her a few things. He needed the insight of people like Seris, after all. Sauros probably would be more suited, but those two couldn''t leave their territory once again for many months.


    "I see¡­ this is something quite serious," Seris said. "Your guess is right, you won''t be able to go to that timeline anymore and humans are what makes other timelines exist. However, to think that the world in five hundred years might cease to exist¡­ maybe not for the right reason, but I came at a good time."


    "Why did youe then?" Aion asked.


    "To monitor you! Why else?" Seris asked.

 Chapter 318 Meek

    Aion decided to watch his situation at home for a while¡­ since Seris was there as well, things changed a bit. Suddenly, the number of people having breakfast together duplicated, and things were even more lively.


    During that week, he also checked things in his territory that needed attention. Still, Artemisia told him that things were as fine as they could be. It got even easier after his excursion, where he took over an entire country by himself.


    "Unless you annex some territory to thesends, I am going to get buried in managing it since it is too easy," Artemisia said while she was organizing some papers. "The nearby lords sent some letters, though, asking if you want to meet their daughters of appropriate age."


    "... What about our neighbors from the left side," Aion asked after a sigh since it seemed that he was married for life with work.


    "They don''t have leaders to raise the morale of their troops after that defeat years ago," Artemisia replied. "It makes me wonder howe to Vangel isn''t taking advantage of the situation to invade them¡­ I guess he is watching to see things proceed on the territory that you annexed for him."


    "I see¡­ by the way, mom," Aion said and then scratched the back of his head. "Grandpa offered his help if I could convince Vangel to hand over the entire desert and to repair the fallen capital. He also says that he can convince the others to offer me some mana. What do you think?"


    "Father wasn''t usually that meek¡­ you must have put him in his ce," Artemisia furrowed her eyebrows.


    "He did not!" Arc shouted.


    "I can''t see him doing anything bad, and if it is just to repair the old capital, I can''t see much problem¡­ you will have to do that all by yourself, though," Artemisia nodded. "It has been a while since I saw your true power when ites to magic, but since you can cross the entire country and some in less than a day, I guess you can do that and more. If more of the souls agree to help, it should be a cinch."


    "All right, anyway, you can make use of Seris and Ana while I am away," Aion said. "They are guests, but I am paying them for their services as well."


    "You should be more nice when talking about them," Artemisia said after she raised her right eyebrow.


    "I didn''t mean anything by that, though," Aion shrugged. "More allies, the better, right? We aren''t forcing them to kill anyone."


    "I suppose¡­" Artemisia scratched her cheek.


    "Anyway, I am going to talk with Vangel and father as well, I suppose," Aion said. "If negotiations end well, I will start working on the road as soon as possible. Maybe I will return only in one week."


    "All right, I will have some surprises waiting for you," Artemisia smirked.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "That makes me feel uneasy," Aion said while looking at his mother''s yful expression.


    Although it wasn''t the same as before, Aion also used that week to train and make his death knights hunt in the dungeon. He felt like leveling up the tier one sses would be easy with the help of the souls of the Millerians, but he couldn''t get carried away.


    "I am talking with that guy a lottely¡­ even though it is annoying," Aion thought and then sighed once he began to fly to the capital of the kingdom.


    A few hourster, Aion arrived at his old home, and at that point in time, the guards were already used to that, so they didn''t react to it. It was noon, and Aion imagined that his father would have lunch with his wives, but that wasn''t the case. He still was at the castle.


    "I guess I won''t be able to hear his opinion beforehand, and I will have to surprise him," Aion thought while wondering if he should tell them that he had made an agreement with Arc.


    Unless he exins that, it will feel like Aion is being controlled, but even if he reveals the truth, it will raise some suspicions¡­ It was truly a difficult situation, so he had to make sure both sides would benefit from it.


    As usual, Aion had to waste the good part of an hour with the usual procedures to visit the castle. That is why he hates politics and bureaucracy¡­ it felt like their sole goal was to annoy the heck out of him. Fortunately, Lexus had the chance toe to see him before he could talk directly with Vangel.


    "Aion? Did something happen?" Lexus asked after he approached.


    "Not much. Seris and someone else started to live with us, though," Aion replied. "I came here because¡­ grandpa is willing to help me, but he wants something in exchange, so I came to negotiate."


    "When you say not much, and then you say all that¡­ anyway, are they your future wives?" Lexus asked. "I know that I didn''t introduce you to a lot of girls, but you should at least warn me beforehand."


    "Like I said, my reason for being here isn''t them, and I don''t think that it is possible for me to marry any of those two¡­" Aion imagined how weird it would be to marry a girl who says that she is your fan. "The real issue is the stuff with grandfather."


    Aion exined about what he had to do and what he could do¡­ he still kept a secret about his time travels since his father was too close to Vangel, and Aion had to consider several things when moving and working from now on.


    "If you can do that, it will benefit us a lot since it will open themerce between us and the new territory," Lexus crossed his arms and then nodded. "However, the earthworms are still a problem¡­ Also, I''d you continue to bring that kind of suspicious stuff to His Majesty''s ears. You will only look more like you are nning something."

 Chapter 319 Elementalist

    "I will deal with the dungeon since I don''t want to repair the road all the time," Aion said. "What else can I do to make sure that I won''t look suspicious?"


    "His Majesty has some cousins that are of appropriate age. If you marry one of them as your first wife, it should ease a lot of worries¡­" Lexus said and then saw Aion sigh.


    Aion would rather not have any level of rtivity with Vangel¡­ it was weird since he didn''t dislike anyone that much aside from his enemies that tried to take his life.


    "What other options do you have¡­" Lexus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If you can build a road that long through the desert, can you make a bridge to another Ind?"


    "As long as it isn''t that long¡­ I have things to do, you know," Aion said after s long sigh.


    "It is a bridge that needs only to be five kilometers long since we have a dungeon near the southern coast on an ind that will help with the movements of soldiers, adventurers, and materials," Lexus exined. "If we give your name to it, it should quell the backsh quite a bit. Besides, it isn''t like you need to make that road get closer to the fallen capital."


    "I guess so," Aion nodded.


    In the end, Lexus is the one who exins the whole thing to Vangel while he is ying a staring contest with Aion. He didn''t try to hide his suspicions, after all.


    "Do you truly believe that your grandfather has only that in mind?" Vangel asked.


    "Notpletely, he isn''t exactly a chatterbox, so I don''t know him well enough to tell if he is plotting something," Aion replied. "Still, he should know that getting on my bad side won''t help him in any way and that I have better things to do than solve the problems that he might cause."


    "What about the souls of your other rtives?" Vangel asked.


    "Grandmother and uncle haven''t tried to contact me yet¡­ Do you know why, grandpa?" Aion asked by summoning the soul of his grandfather.


    "Why did you have to do this¡­ my son doesn''t think that he has the right to contact anyone, and my wife has been grumpy since our deaths," Arc exined.


    "You heard him¡­" Aion said and then stored the soul away.


    "Hmm, the queen of the Millerians was quite cunning and had some knowledge of military tactics enough to even counsel the king," Vangel said. "She was quite the scheming¡­ woman. You should be wary of her."


    Aion looked at his father, and he nodded. Artemisia never talked much about her family, but her mother was the only one that Aion knew nothing about. He had never read any books about the royal family of that country. Still, it was probably impossible to find one without bias.


    Regardless, Aion agreed to build a bridge for the Kingdom in exchange for the desert and the fallen capital to do whatever he wanted with it. Thanks to that, Arc began to fulfill his part of the bargain.


    The mage ss has leveled up.


    The mage ss has leveled up.


    The Spearman ss has leveled up.


    The Spearman ss has leveled up.


    ¡­


    "Hmm? Is someone else giving me mana, grandpa?" Aion asked.


    "My son is¡­ he doesn''t want to talk, though," Arc replied.


    "What a troublesome family¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    In any case, Aion was thankful for the help, even more so since the mage ss was about to level up, and he wanted one magic ss specialized in elemental Magic. It should be possible for him to find something like Earth Sorcerer or something.


    Once Aion reached the beach where he was supposed to build the bridge, he began to create and drop sole massive and sturdy earth blocks. He couldn''t create iron or steel yet, but he couldn''t imagine those blocks deteriorating in the next ten years. They were basically rocks, thanks to Aion''s magic power.


    Some people close to the port that was two hundred meters away made amotion when they saw a weird creature flying nearby, and some guards came to check, but soon they left Aion alone when he showed them a scroll with the king''s seal.


    "This is quite tiresome, mentally speaking¡­" Aion thought while trying to meditate and create the blocks at the same time. "The death knights are still hunting, but I am using way more mana than they can recover for me."


    In two hours, Aion had already covered half of the path with earth pirs that would work as the foundation of the bridge, but he was already bored. He was thankful that he could level up some sses with the mana of the Millerians. Still, he also wished that he could control that for a bit and actually get some mana.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion recalled the sword and armor that he got from Ana, and he actually forgot about asking about that kind of material. He heard a lot of things that kept his mind busy, he equipped the armor, but he didn''t feel any manaing from him¡­ it could only absorb attacks, it seems, and perhaps it could give him the mana.


    In the end, Aion didn''t find any method to help him with that and just kept going like usual. Until the mage ss leveled up.


    Congrattions! The ss Mage has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Sorcerer or Elementalist.


    Elementalist Lv 01


    Health: 08/08


    Mana: 24/24


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 04


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Elemental Staff Lv 01


    Bonuses: Magic + 04


    Skills: Fire Maniption Lv 01


    Passive: Fire Magic Enhanced Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Fire Maniption: it grants you the power to control fire freely. With higher costs of mana, you can control the fire better and increase its power as well.


    Fire Magic Enhanced: passively increases the power of fire magic by five percent per level.

 Chapter 320 That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Magic Architect

    Aion didn''t know if he should feel lucky or not¡­ that ss could help him with the construction job, but it would take a while for that to happen. Regardless, he had some materials left, so he began to upgrade the refinement of the weapon and kept working on the bridge even after dark. The grind can''t stop.


    When morning came, Aion looked at the finished bridge and sighed in relief¡­ he had to use way more mana than to create an easy road. Still, at least it confirmed that he could do something simr in the desert.


    Aion ended up talking with some guys in the port to check if there was something else that they needed to connect with the bridge. They didn''t ask for anything since they were shocked by the fact that Aion made all that in one day.


    After that, Aion ended up flying East to start the road. He needed to level up the Elementalist ss in order to gain the skills and passive that would help his earth magic, but it would be hard to do that just by flying.


    Once Aion reached the desert, he leveled up a little by killing some earthworms, and then he asked Arc for directions toward the dungeon. Dealing with that problem will make him save timeter, so he started with that one.


    Although he already expected that, Aion still sighed when he ended up in the middle of nowhere after Arc guided him¡­. The dungeon had no visible entrance, so he had to dig for who knows how long.


    "I should just get going¡­" Aion said and then sighed before he began to push away the sand around with some giant shovels made with ice magic.


    At the same time, Aion began to create some walls around to make sure that the sand wouldn''t return and get in the way. After digging for around two hundred meters, Aion saw an underwater cave that was big enough to let the earthwormse out from it.


    Aion just waited there for the monsters toe out, and they did every minute or so¡­ their spawning rate was quite short, considering their massive size.


    ? "I guess it must be because the fallen capital is nearby¡­" Aion imagined how much mana the Millerians had used to change the environment. "Hey, grandpa. Did this kind of thing often happen while you guys were around? I am pretty sure that those creatures can only appear like this because of the mana that was used to create the capital."


    "Even if that were the case, it shouldn''t have left an effect that wouldst for hundreds of years¡­" Arc replied and then sighed. "That dungeon appeared because of us, but not the way you think. It was because our sudden disappearance made things change in the desert."


    Aion didn''t know if he should ept that at face value¡­ it was too convenient, after all. That being said, they were a group of people that had massive amounts of mana, so it wouldn''t be really weird if their deaths changed things somehow.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In any case, Aion kept killing the monsters, and after three hours, he finally confirmed what he was thinking. The next two skills also had a high level of synergy, just like the first two, but they weren''t the type that he was waiting for.


    Water Maniption: it grants you the power to control water freely. With higher costs of mana, you can control the water better and increase its power as well.


    Water Magic Enhanced: passively increases the power of water magic by five percent per level.


    "I basically have those skills since I am a Millerian as well, but it doesn''t matter as long as it stacks the effects," Aion thought.


    At the end of the day, Aion felt like facepalming¡­ he got two more skills, but they were for wind magic. That was truly a mess, and he was truly unlucky¡­ to think that the skills that would help his earth magic would be learned after levels fifty and sixty¡­ but at least he would have enough improvement points to increase their effectiveness.


    In any case, Aion pulled another all-nighter to make the ss reach those levels, and he finally got the earth-rted skills that would help him on the work. Still, before leaving, he has toe up with a way to kill the earthworms without using his death knights. Otherwise, he won''t be able to use the effects of those skills.


    For starters, Aion made sure that the monsters would have a single direction to head by covering most of the sand walls in a thickyer of earth. After that, he dug in the area even more and created some earth spikes that were over one hundred meters with earth magic in front and blew the entrance of the dungeon.


    After some test runs, Aion confirmed the monsters leaving the dungeon and falling for the massive hole in front of the dungeon¡­ he will have to clean up the hole periodically. Still, at least that would level up his ss and the proficiency of the earth-rted skills much faster than normal.


    "That time I was reincarnated as a magic architect¡­" Aion thought while he was heading to the nearest fortress of the Zaera kingdom to start the road.


    Once again, Aion just showed the scroll with the king''s seal and then began to work. In the starting areas of the desert, the sand didn''t go that deep, so Aion had an easy time making the pirs that would be the foundation of the road. They only had to be a couple of meters tall as well¡­ but soon they had to get bigger, and that would be too time and mana-consuming.


    After some experiments, Aion learned that he could just control the sand in the vicinity for his work and just hardened it to make sure that it wouldn''t sink or get damaged over time.

 Chapter 321 Earth Bender

    Congrattions! The ss Elementalist has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Fire Bender, Water Bender, or Earth Bender.


    Earth Bender Lv 01


    Health: 12/12


    Mana: 48/48


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 06


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Old Staff Lv 01


    Bonuses: Magic + 06


    Skills: Earth Transformation Lv 01


    Passive: Desert''s Blessing Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Earth Transformation: it grants you the power to transform earth-rted materials and change their structure to be harder or more easier to handle.


    Desert''s Blessing: increases the effectiveness of earth-rted skills by five percent per level when using them on areas where the earth elements are stronger.


    After one week, Aion managed to make one-third of the road¡­ it was over eight hundred kilometers long, and he was exhausted. At least Aion knew that the job would be easier from that moment on, thanks to his new ss.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion slept very little during that week, so while he was flying home, sometimes he fell asleep in midair and then began to fall. Whenever that happened, he woke up soon after, so disasters were avoided.


    When he arrived home, it was in the middle of the night, so Aion jumped into his bed and slept like a log until the following day. He was too used to sleeping only enough until his body felt rested, so he woke up when it was fine for breakfast.


    Although he went to have breakfast while still running his eyes and with his bed hair, Aion blinked a few times since everyone looked too well dressed so early in the morning.


    "What do you think, Aion?" Artemisia asked.


    She said that and then showed Seris and Ana. The first was wearing a dark blue dress filled with floors of the same color and a red hair ornament. She looked quite bashful since Seris was more used to wearing more practical clothes.


    Ana was also wearing a simple green dress, but it looked really good on her since the life on her timeline made her be really thin. She got better in thest few days, and she looked a lot tidier than before with her shoulder-length silver hair that had been properlybed.


    Ana didn''t look bashful, only a bit ufortable since she never wore things like that. She tried to check all her body while wearing the dress, though.


    "... It is all right," Aion said while eating a loaf of bread. "Are you guys going somewhere?"


    "... How could I have forgotten this?" Artemisia asked, visibly astonished. "Your father has always been popr, so he never taught you how topliment girls."


    "I didpliment them, didn''t I?" Aion asked while frowning. "If you wanted me to borate, you should have told me sooner."


    "Then borate," Artemisia said.


    "It won''t feel genuine now, don''t you agree?" Aion asked.


    "I guess so¡­ anyway, I take it that negotiations ended well," Artemisia said and then told the others to have their breakfast. "I heard a report that someone like you built a bridge that connected to an ind. I guess it makes sense that Vangel would ask for more."


    "Being considerate because of stuff like politics is a pain in the ass, though," Aion shrugged.


    "You sound like more brother¡­ good to lead, but not to rule," Artemisia said and then showed a lonely smile. "I am d that you don''t have such inspiration."


    "Speaking of him, he began to send me his mana as well, but grandpa said that he doesn''t want to talk," Aion said. "Vangel also said a few things about grandma."


    "I can imagine what he said, and I can''t deny them¡­" Artemisia said and then sighed. "Putting that aside, how are things with the road?"


    Aion told his mother that he had finished one-third of the job and that he also can create things like iron. She assumed that it was just thanks to the fact that he improved that much by building the earth bridge.


    "Have you settled down yet?" Aion asked.


    "I guess so¡­ I was starting to wonder what you were going to make me do," Ana said. "I am not fit for this noble lifestyle of just eating and doing nothing, and I feel pretty shameful when I see your mother working."


    "Well, you didn''t look that healthy before, but now you look fine. We can start working," Aion said. "Exin in detail how your power works."


    "Let''s see¡­ using my mana, I can create fissures that let me see and interact with the past," Ana exined. "That requires a lot of mana, though. Gathering Intel by using my mana to analyze people and things is easier and consumes way less mana. Still, for my power to work, I need to know the exact location in time and space where I want to get information from. I can save some mana if I am in the same spot that I want to analyze. Then I will only have to use it to bend time."


    "... It feels like a variation of my brother''s power that isn''t suited forbat," Seris said. "I feel like our powers have be more focused on single aspects over time, so I guess that confirms my theory. We never had anyone that could bend time that much and even gather Intel from other periods of time."


    Aion wondered if it was because Malon died or if his descendants decreased in number¡­ it wouldn''t make much sense if that were the case since time magic wasn''t like a pool that would be smaller the more people use it.


    "What are your limitations?" Aion asked.


    "The further in time I need to go, the more mana I have to gather. In that mission, when I talked with you, I was starting to harness mana when I was fifteen," Ana exined. "And only stopped when I was neen."

 Chapter 322 Origin

    "That is some long-term nning¡­ how the hell did you manage to store so much mana¡­ wait¡­" Aion frowned.


    "That is right, by copying you," Ana said and then smiled. "I told you, my ancestors had a great interest in you, and they studied your techniques. Right now, you should be improving Inner Release. Still, you from the future could use a more advanced version of that same technique, and you also could absorb the mana from the environment like a dungeon core."


    "That is¡­ impressive," Aion said while noticing the looks of shock from his mother and Seris. "By the way, didn''t you want to avoid telling me about the future in order not to change it in a dangerous way?"


    "This much should be fine since it will strengthen you," Ana exined. "We should be careful about the knowledge about events since you might try to think of countermeasures, and those countermeasures will create waves in the flow of time that will change everything."


    Aion could understand that¡­ it made sense. In any case, Ana knew about Explosive Release, which was the next level of Inner Release. Still, she didn''t know how to harness mana from the environment. Aion was satisfied that he wasn''t a fool that let others learn everything from him. Still, now he couldn''t get a powerful card that he could only obtain in the future, perhaps many decades ahead.


    "With Explosive Release, you can multiply your physical and spiritual powers almost infinitely as long as you have the cores with enough energy," Ana exined. "It is the perfect technique for you since you can fight at close and far away from the enemies, but it is also useful for people like me who use only magic. The secret behind it is simple: you create orbs with the energy that you want and then absorb them when you need them."


    Ana began to focus, and then she raised her right hand and showed her palm. Little by little, everyone could see some particles of mana moving toward the center of her hand, and then it began to turn into a sphere. All of her current mana turned into a sphere that was half of the size of her first, but Aion could feel that she had at least two thousand points of mana there.


    "It requires some training, but those good at magic should be able to do this after a few weeks," Ana said and then stored the orb in her pocket. "This is particrly good because you canpletely ignore the limits of your mana pool. If you have ten of these, your mana pool bes ten times bigger."


    "Aion is a training freak, so it doesn''t surprise me that he can do this, or rather, that he was able toe up with this," Seris said.


    Putting what Seris said aside, Aion wondered if those orbs could be made by someone and absorbed by another. Ana said that it wasn''t possible, but Aion was certain that he could find a way.


    Regardless, Aion changed his ss and then used Magic Recovery on Ana. She blinked several times when she realized that she had suddenly recovered her mana.


    "You can even transfer your mana?" Ana opened her eyes widely.


    "Tell me when your mana pool is full again," Aion said.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion used the spell several times, and he confirmed that he only had to use one thousand of his mana points to restore her total mana pool of two thousand. While that didn''t obey thew of conservation of energy, Aion just assumed that his system could ignore that.


    "I need to do some experiments for today, and then I will return to work on the road tomorrow, but before that, I need to know how you got that armor and sword," Aion said.


    "Those? I found them lying around in one of the battles that you participated in," Ana replied. "While I didn''t see their masters, a lot of enemies armed with those showed up, and they were your perfect counter. Despite that, you managed to win, but that only made the enemies take you seriously¡­ in the end¡­"


    "I didn''t stand a chance, huh," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I will study those as well."


    Aion finished his meal and then went to his room. While he was supposed to train to learn Explosive Release, he had other ns. Once he was able to use Earth Transformation, he called a few things. He never thought much about it¡­ but only the blood of Malon and his descendants could be used to make relics? That would be if that were the case since they weren''t the strongest family of mages around.


    "Grandpa, did you try to use your blood to make relics, or did anyone try in the history of the Milleris Kingdom?" Aion asked.


    "No, was didn''t need relics¡­ but we were aware that our blood has a lot of magic power. It is through the blood vessels that all the energy flows and expands through the body, after all," Arc replied. "So, we used our blood as a catalyst when casting some spells."


    That was unexpected. Aion didn''t think that the royal family would try such a thing. Usually, they would be too prideful for that since their talent when ites to magic was almost unrivaled.


    In any case, Aion wondered how he should do that¡­ he created a small vessel of iron and then cut his hand a bit and made his blood fall. Eventually, he sealed the vessel in the shape of a small wand, and he tried to check if he could feel any magic powering from it, and he didn''t¡­


    "I guess I need to experiment more with it," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "It is a pity that I can''t recover at the same rate I can heal myself with magic."


    After some tests, Aion learned that he could create relics, but he had to mix his blood with the materials of the same¡­, which was weird since Malon''s relics didn''t look like they had blood inside.

 Chapter 323 Hard To Describe

    Once he sessfully made his first relic which was a short knife, Aion checked for any changes in his parameters. Much to his surprise, it increased his magic by thirty points. That wasn''t half bad, but it might be a problem if he has to mass produce them for some reason.


    "This isn''t half bad¡­ but I wonder if I can improve it," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Aion decided to make some relics to see if he could make magic weapons. Since Ana spent her entire life working on that project to make sure that the other timelines won''t face destruction like hers, shecked defensive and offensive abilities. So, he thought of giving her a weapon that would let her use magic freely, just in case. Now that she was in that timeline, who knows what might happen.


    "I will have to keep experimenting with this, but for now, I should focus on learning Explosive Release," Aion thought.


    Thanks to that, the day ended quite soon, and the next day, Aion went to work on the road after telling Ana to keep harnessing her mana every day. He finished the road crossing the desert in that week, and that left everyone speechless.


    Since he was there, Aion went to see his brothers and confirmed that everything had been fine and the crime rate was close to zero, and people were working without making a fuss. Most of the poption was also thankful since they didn''t have to worry about low livesing to their farms to demand food just because they had some influence and were acquainted with some powerful folk. All of them were the same under thew.


    Once Aion returned home, he couldn''t help but frown since his mother had put on another fashion show for him to see¡­ Artemisia reached a point where she truly was trying to help Aion with matchmaking. He felt a bit bad for those two getting involved in the mess created, thanks to his inaction when it came to starting his own family.


    Still, Aion had to put that aside when he heard the report that everything was fine in the kingdom¡­ wasn''t he supposed to be targeted by all sorts of enemies now that he had the relics?


    "Don''t look at me like that¡­ I am as confused as you," Seris said.


    When Aion looked at Ana, she just shrugged. She still didn''t want to mention future events unless she is forced to¡­ she probably will stay silent unless people start to die.


    "By the way, your mother already mastered that part of Explosive Release. Seris is almost there as well," Ana said. "What about you?"


    "You forget that I had to use all my mana for thest week¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "Anyway, using the relics too much isn''t a good idea, but I won''t let anyone take away the first move from me."


    "Didn''t Vangel tell you toy low for a while?" Seris said and then facepalmed. She got that habit from Aion. "Also, shouldn''t you just focus on the mana that you are getting from the souls?"


    "Apparently, grandpa is having a hard time convincing others to help me¡­" Aion exined, wondering why his grandmother wasn''t helping but only his uncle and grandfather.


    The reason for that was self-exnatory¡­ the royal family more or less caused their deaths. They were loyal until they lost their lives, but they didn''t have any more reason for that. In any case, that man was going to his sses, so he actually didn''t have a surplus of it, and he felt the need to do something else instead of waiting.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I am not nning on doing anything drastic," Aion said. "With my skills, I can invade ces without being noticed. So, I am nning to take things away that some probable enemies have and use them in my favor when the timees. Like powerful weapons and items."


    "A thief with royal blood¡­" Seris said. "That would be funny if it weren''t tragic."


    "You talk as if I am robbing anything out of greed¡­ if you had seen that timeline, you would understand better," Aion said.


    Seris couldn''t see, but Ana told her a few things about it, and it had been enough to make her sweat cold. A dark world where everything had been killed and even sunlight had been blocked by some spell¡­ it was only a matter of time until that world became impossible to live for any kind of lifeform.


    "Are you nning to upgrade the gear of your death knights?" Ana asked. "If that is the case, maybe we should use the relics in our favor¡­ there are some people that you didn''t have the chance to turn into death knights for some reason, but you can probably do that if you head to the timelines where they are still alive."


    "... What about monsters?" Aion asked.


    "Powerful monsters¡­ there are a few still living in this timeline, but it will be hard to deal with them," Ana stroked her chin.


    It had been a while since Aion used the tamer ss, and it was about time to get more underlings. The others were guarding his port, but they weren''t strong enough to keep up with him.


    "I knew that you were keeping a few secrets, but I didn''t know that they were that many¡­" Seris said while furrowing her eyebrows. "If people knew that you had so many cards¡­"


    "Maybe they do, and they are preparing to attack¡­ by the way, Ana," Aion said when he recalled something. "You dered yourself thest human, but you also said that you interrupted the actions of someone else¡­ isn''t that contradictory."


    "Not at all. Do you think that only humans could target you?" Ana asked.


    "... borate," Aion said.


    "I can''t give you details since it might cause problems in the future¡­ but let''s say that people created all sorts of things to overthrow you, and others became other things entirely¡­"

 Chapter 324 Flight Rune

    Aion couldn''t help but wonder¡­ but would people hate him that much just because he had the relics even when she said that he hadn''t been a tyrant? If both of them were true, he probably made a lot of people angry during his conquest, and all that hate kept going on for a while. Decades¡­ perhaps even centuries. He couldn''t imagine the people of the current world being able to transform themselves without mutating naturally or even using monsters and animals.


    "... Do you know the location of some monsters that can be useful for me?" Aion asked. "A flying creature that can move faster than me would be nice, and an ice dragon would be cool."


    "Why an ice dragon? I don''t get your weird preferences¡­ wouldn''t it be enough just being fast and powerful?" Seris asked while frowning.


    "You critiqued other people''s tastes when you spent days trying to make a cool design for your creations¡­ the hypocrisy," Aion shrugged.


    "It is totally different, and I always try to make cool designs that are also efficient!" Seris protested.


    "Let''s see, there are some in the external continents, but some of those creatures are basically idols for those countries¡­ you might make some enemies if you use them, and the rumor spreads," Ana exined. "Keeping them hidden will be difficult as well."


    "All of them will die if I lose, right? So, who cares?" Aion asked. "I can always try to make them think that the creature followed me of their own volition."


    "I guess that might work," Seris said. "Anyway, there is a country in the far East where you can find a primordial bird that lives in volcanoes. Although I said that you could take that creature in this timeline, you can also try to tame it at the moment that it is about to die in the future. I have been here for a while, and it seems that nothing weird is going to happen unless I try to change some events directly."


    "How far in the future?" Aion asked.


    "Three hundred years," Ana replied.


    "For real?" Aion opened his eyes widely.


    "They are called primordial creatures because they are essentially monsters that mutated and became super powerful creatures that can live for hundreds of years," Seris exined. "You don''t read many books, do you?"


    "I guess not," Aionughed.


    "You should be able to defeat the creature as you are now, but I don''t know in the future since primordial creatures be stronger the longer they live," Ana exined. "Also, there are two problems¡­ I don''t know how you pretend to subjugate the creature, so I can''t help. Second, you are supposed to kill that creature in the future when that country wages war against you."


    "Is it fine for me to hear this but not other things? Aion frowned. "Also, it won''t cause a problem if the same beings exist in the same timeline?"


    "Something should happen if they try to fight each other, but not if they don''t meet," Ana exined. "There is a chance that they might be one, and their power will increase, but that only will happen if both creatures agree."


    Aion was used to taking risks, but that seemed a bit too much. Then again, he couldn''t choose the methods to get stronger when Ana said that he was defeated in the future after constantly getting stronger for five hundred years¡­ so he had to speed things up a bit.


    Tamer Lv 08


    Health: 14/14


    Mana: 24/24


    Stamina: 564/564


    Strength: 06


    Dexterity: 11 + 130


    Magic: 11


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01<novelnext></novelnext>


    Speed: 11 + 130


    Status: 00


    Whip Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Dexterity + 130, Speed + 130


    Skills: Tame Lv 01 (Power Lv 15)


    Passive: Enhanced Dexterity Lv 01,


    Improvement Points: 09


    umted Experience: 00


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion sighed. If he wanted to take a creature that could live for hundreds of years, he probably had to level up that ss way more, and he would have to do it the hard way.


    "I am going to check that creature in the West; you guys stay here and keep¡­ just don''t cause problems for my mother," Aion dered.


    "Don''t talk like we are children, and I should go to make sure that you won''t do anything stupid," Seris said.


    "Nah, if something happens while I am away, you will have to hold the fort," Aion shook his head. "How many days will it take to reach that country?"


    "With the speed that you showed me, and if you don''t fly nonstop, around ten days," Ana replied.


    "For real¡­" Aion''s mouth was left hanging open.


    "It seems that you didn''t study the book that I gave you¡­ I can teach a rune that will help you fly faster if you use more mana," Seris said and then sighed.


    "That will help a lot, thanks," Aion said while wondering if he could make the Tamer ss level up by using that rune.


    Once Aion learned the rune, he immediately set off from his home. He had to cast the rune every ten minutes. Still, at least after doing some tests by using as much mana as he could on the rune, he was able to fly ten times faster¡­ the real problem was the ss that didn''t have that muchpatibility with magic. However, Aion had a shit ton of money to solve that.


    Aion didn''t have much time to check the country on the western side of his territory since he flew pretty fast, but it seemed like a ce with a lot of rough terrains. After that, he only saw the sea for around forty hours.


    "I am lucky that all that work on the road trained my mind for this¡­" Aion thought once the temperature began to increase and finally see somend ahead.


    Aion probably had crossed dozens of thousands of kilometers, so he was exhausted. Still, he endured all that since the Tamer ss still leveled up.

 Chapter 325 Suspicious Movements

    That country was called Hotareia¡­ it was mostlyposed of deserts and inactive volcanoes. Still, the temperature was no joke¡­ it had been a while since he felt likeining, thanks to the weather alone.


    Aion kept flying for around three hours until he reached the middle of that country, and he couldn''t help but frown since it was filled with active volcanoes. He couldn''t even begin to understand how that was possible.


    "Ana said that the creature moves from one volcano to the other and attacks everything in sight that approaches its territory¡­ despite that, this country threatens it like a guardian¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "I should have asked if the creature was being mind controlled when I killed it in the future."


    Checking all the volcanoes was too much, so Aion decided to see if his relics could help him with that. The relics actually pointed to a volcano in the distance, but nothing happened when Aion got close to it. When he used the relics again, around the mirrors appeared, and one of them was shining way more than the others.


    "This isn''t supposed to happen¡­ is it telling me to check this timeline?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Ana never mentioned that, so she probably didn''t know that such a thing could happen. It was hard to imagine that the relics would make Aion go into a trap as well¡­ in the end, Aion decided to check it even if it wasn''t his real mission.


    Once he crossed the mirror, Aion noticed that the temperature had decreased a bit, but the scene around him was not so much.


    "Well, now¡­ where to go?" Aion thought.


    Aion decided to go down a bit, and it didn''t take long for him to see that in the desert below him, he could see a lot of monsters moving around. Most of them were scorpions that had mes on their backs. Aion finished them off by firing some ice arrows.


    "They aren''t that strong, but I guess there is a dungeon nearby that people are having a hard time controlling," Aion thought. "Maybe I should tame some of them and make them fight each other."


    The scorpions were barely one meter long, but they had some sharp pincers and a tail that looked quite fearsome. They should be able to do well during ambushes, not to mention I need to level up his ss even faster¡­


    After he did that, after freezing some scorpions, Aion decided to head to the nearest city or town to gather Intel. He could return to the same moment when he crossed the portal, so he didn''t need to be in such a hurry.


    Although that region was quite harsh, it didn''t take long for Aion to find a town¡­ there was also a dungeon nearby, and that was a business opportunity for many, after all. Still, before going down, Aion wondered how he should approach the ce¡­ all the people there were using those long cloaks that protect people against the light and the heat of the desert, and he didn''t have that. So, he was going to stand out like a sore thumb. Still, he eventually moved to the nearest dune and thennded.


    "At least I can pretend that I am walking with magic¡­ I am too heavy with my armor in this desert," Aion thought, and he approached the town.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Until he understood why he could head to that timeline, Aion couldn''t drop his guard. So, taking away his armor wasn''t an option, even if he stood out like a sore thumb.


    The buildings of that town resembled some of the buildings that Aion imagined that some tribes would have in the desert back in the day. They were all basically made of y¡­ at least, from a distance, it looked like that. Once he got closer, he frowned since it looked like the walls and the ceiling were more like a junction of a lot of pirs made of earth and rocks¡­ their designs were pretty much the same, even though the ce had more than five hundred of those.


    Some people were moving around while carrying jugs filled with water. Others were traveling, riding Camel-like creatures that had some long tongues out of their mouths and had horns and three tails.


    The people that noticed him looked at Aion for a while¡­ Even though he was unarmed, he still looked weird and suspicious. It didn''t take long for him to notice some guys armed with spears approaching him. They didn''t look that strong, but it was better if he avoided confrontation for a while.


    "Who are you?" A ckbearded man asked while ring at Aion.


    "... My name is Arc, and I am a guard that got separated from his caravan during a sandstorm," Aion replied once he realized that using his real name might cause some issues.


    "Sandstorm? They aren''t usually at this time of the year¡­" the guard said.


    "Just because they aren''t usual, it doesn''t mean that they don''t happen," Aion said while furrowing his eyebrows since he was starting to get pissed.


    While Aion didn''t show much hostility aside from that, the guards got a bit tense¡­ they probably could tell from his aura that he wasn''t a pushover, and that was something since they had five on their side.


    "I just need to gather some Intel and a ce to rest while I confirm if my caravan passed through here or not," Aion said and took a gold coin from his pocket and then tossed it to the guard. "Is that enough to pay for all that?"


    "It is¡­ but we don''t want confusion here since you look like a foreigner," the bearded man said. "Follow me, and there is a tavern nearby where you might get the Intel that you need."


    Aion nodded, and then he began to follow the man. He couldn''t help but curse his own hurry for ignoring the terrain around him while he was flying¡­ Thanks to all that, he didn''t check for cities and towns along the way. If he had done that, he would know if he was in the past or in the future¡­ he couldn''t tell since the shining mirror appeared right in front of him.

 Chapter 326 Annalee

    The tavern was a really cool ce in terms of atmosphere and weather. Those buildings sure knew how to keep the heat away¡­ Aion was thankful for it.


    Regardless, even though it was noon, the ce had quite a lot of people there drinking, and they all looked like travelers. All of them had weapons, though. Those curved single-edged swords that made Aion recall scimitars from Earth.


    "The tavern keeper knows a lot," The ck-bearded man said and then tossed the gold coin back. "If you buy a few things, she should be able to sell information for you as well."


    Aion nodded and then approached the tavern keeper after taking back his money and noticed that she was a woman in her thirties. She had long ck hair and tanned skin, and she also had quite a pair of bazongas. So, Aion thought that the first thing he should ask for was milk. Trying to convince himself that it was just a coincidence.


    "My¡­ we don''t see travelers like you around here," The tavern keeper said while showing a sweet smile.


    "I will take that as apliment," Aion returned the smile and then sat in front of the balcony. "Give me arge cup of milk and the rmended lunch set."


    "Understood," the tavern keeper said and then left for the room in the back for a short while.


    It didn''t take long until Aion saw a steaming red soup and arge cup of milk. It was a weirdbination, but Aion assumed that they would help him because he liked spicy food, and he could tell that the soup would give him some heartburn.


    "I got lost in the desert, and I think that the caravan that I was in won''t be waiting for me anywhere," Aion said while passing the gold coin. "I noticed that there are a lot of armed people that also carry weapons, something happening nearby that requires warriors."


    "Maybe, would you fight a battle for a country that isn''t your homnd?" The tavern keeper asked. "Also, you don''t have a weapon, and while you look well built, you also looked a bit young to be a mercenary."


    "Appearances can be deceiving," Aion said and then ate a spoonful of the soup. "Ouch, hot, hot!"


    "Indeed¡­" the tavern keeper showed an amused smile. "I don''t know if you are crazy enough to try or if anyone will hire you in the first ce, but someone known as the draconic wanderer is trying to invade our country. Your caravan was probably transporting supplies for the war, but you didn''t hear anything about it?"


    "I only heard that I had to fight monsters and that the pay was good, and we had to cross the desert," Aion replied.


    "I guess you have been scammed by them, and your boss nned to dump you along the way," The tavern keeper shrugged. "In any case, the draconic wanderer and his minions are trying to target our country and attack the primordial firebird in order to eat it and gain power. That guy already destroyed one of the neighboring countries, and we are nning to stop him."


    "That is quite the name¡­ and he bes stronger by eating monsters?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "So the rumors say, no one can affirm or negate that, but he looks a bit like a dragon, and it is a fact that he defeated and ate one, thest one that lived in the neighboring country," The tavern keeper replied.


    Aion wondered if all that was a coincidence and if he should get involved¡­ Ana didn''t mention anything that someone else targeted the bird in the past or in the future.


    Aion wanted to ask which year they were in, but it would only make him look suspicious, so he decided to forget that. He tried to ask things about the countries beyond the ocean, but the woman just called that¡­ the country beyond the ocean.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "... I read in a book that the primordial firebird was targeted by a mutated man eight hundred years ago," Aion suddenly heard a voice in his head.


    "Who said that?" Aion asked while thinking.


    "... It was my wife," Arc replied after a long sigh. "She has a great interest in legends and in battles like these."


    "Oh, hey, it is grandma. How do you do?" Aion asked.


    Aion didn''t hear anything in response¡­ Maybe calling her a grandma was andmine. Regardless, it was weird that she decided to talk only now.


    "Did I say something that she disliked?" Aion asked.


    "Your casual attitude is the problem," Arc replied.


    "Well, I am thankful for the exnation anyway¡­" Aion thought. "Regardless, eight hundred years and the monster is already famous¡­ is that thing immortal?"


    Aion was more interested in that than in the guy who bes stronger by eating monsters. The reason for that was the fact that History showed that he failed since the bird could still be found in the future.


    "... The story that I know, the draconic wanderer didn''t have an army," Aion''s grandma said.


    "I see¡­ this sounds like an intervention from another timeline," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "By the way, what is your name?"


    "... Annalee," Aion''s grandmother replied.


    "We sure have a lot of people with names that start with A," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "By the way, grandpa, if you are having a hard time, you can ask me for help to convince people to help. As long as it is something reasonable, I am in."


    "Once you subjugate the beast, let it rest at the top of the castle once you repair it," Annalee said. "Do that, and you will have my cooperation as well."


    "You two sure want to make Vangel think that I am nning something," Aion said and then sighed.


    Aion''s grandmother sure had a strong voice and a dominating tone, so he wondered if it was fine for him to do that favor in exchange for her mana.

 Chapter 327 Draconic Wanderer

    After asking a few more questions, Aion learned that the mercenaries and soldiers were all heading south to face the draconic wanderer. So, once he finished his meal, he left the town¡­ he wished that he could wait until night since the heat of the desert in the afternoon was hellish. Still, he didn''t know how much history would change if things continued to happen the way they weren''t to.


    "Grandma, what else can you tell me about this?" Aion said once he left the town and began to cross the desert.


    Silence¡­ Aion sighed since he was starting to feel that even after two decades after their deaths, his grandparents still didn''t feel like recognizing their mistakes or acting like they weren''t royalty anymore.


    "She probably doesn''t know many details since that kind of event happened in a farawaynd," Arc said.


    "So, she stayed quiet because she felt that it was embarrassing?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Arc didn''t reply since it seemed that he was getting whipped¡­ howe those souls could do that kind of thing in his inventory without him being aware? That was a good question¡­ Regardless, once he was far away enough, Aion began to fly south while staying close to the ground as well to make sure that he could kill all the monsters along the way.


    "I came nning to tame a giant monster, but I guess returning with a death knight with that kind of power won''t be so bad," Aion thought. "Still, I need to be careful while trying to understand why the mirror was shining¡­ was it because the history was different than usual in this timeline, or was it because the timeline was being influenced by someone or something that could use time magic?"


    Aion assumed that it was the second thing after hearing what he had discovered. Maybe Aion should just try to go to the past and ask for a manual about the relics directly from Malon.


    Thanks to the rune, Aion flew insanely fast and reached the southern part of that country in the afternoon. He began to see a lot of mercenaries and soldiers heading in the same direction¡­ they didn''t look to be in a hurry, so it seemed that the battle hadn''t started yet.


    Joining those groups seemed like a good way to gather Intel. Still, Aion decided to go alone and then mix with the defenders'' army since they would be too busy to worry about every single soldier on their side¡­ it would be hard to imagine that someone like the draconic wanderer would use spies. After all¡­ or so he thought. Aion truly couldn''t draw any conclusions yet.


    After not so long, Aion saw a camp in the distance. It seemed quite harsh to camp in such a ce surrounded by sand, but it seemed that everyone had tents specially made to endure the heat of the day, the cold of the night, and the sand. When he looked to the sides, Aion also saw two volcanoes and some others beyond¡­ it seemed that the enemy would have to cross those or that part of the desert.


    "I am not here to make money, so I should just try to blend in a while, avoiding some troublesome guys," Aion thought and then headed to the base of one of those volcanoes and thennded. "Let''sy low for a while and then wait for the battle."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Aion looked for some more appropriate clothes to walk in the desert, but he didn''t have anything like those cloaks. His red and golden armor also looked he weird in that environment. Once Aion realized that his armor might have be his trademark, he feltpelled to wear something else as well¡­ just to be safe.


    In the end, Aion just covered himself with a sheet that he had stored just in case he had to sleep somewhere else. He cut it down, and it wasn''t perfect, but it would do. Thanks to that, no one looked at him while he was walking, but they looked at him once he got close enough to show that he wasn''t tanned, so he was a foreigner.


    "Sorry, but I burn easily. Never tan," Aion thought.


    Aion walked around the camp undaunted by the eyes around, but he also didn''t look at them that much, and he didn''t want to look like someone suspicious. Eventually, Aion saw some guys using magic to build wells¡­ that was useful to know that people there could use magic. He frowned, though, since they had to conjure the spell¡­ their spells weren''t like elemental magic that he used.


    "I should wait for a while before using my magic freely," Aion thought.


    The camp was quiterge and wide¡­ Aion guessed that there were at least ten thousand soldiers, adventurers, and mercenaries already there; at least two thousand more were on the way. Everyone was too busy, so soon, Aion was left with no eyes on him.


    Aion also saw some guys sharpening their weapons inside small tents, so he assumed that they worked solo. He could use that in his favor, and fortunately, he had enough materials to make a tent for himself. The sun was setting, so he might as well start that already before it got too cold.


    After moving to the right side of the camp, clearly on the border where most people would hate to be, thanks to the risk of night raids, Aion began to set his tent. It didn''t take long for him to finish it.


    "I should leave in the middle of the night to check if the relics can point to the enemy¡­ if they point, then everything will be confirmed," Aion thought. "Still, I shouldn''t head to them right now¡­"


    Aion raised his guard when he felt some presences approaching, and then he frowned since they wereing from the middle of the camp. He got up to check what was going on and opened his eyes widely when he saw a woman leading a group of twenty men¡­ he knew that woman.

 Chapter 328 Tanned Grandma

    "You don''t seem to be from around here¡­ who are you?" A certain tanned woman with yellow hair said.


    There was no mistake¡­ that was nire. Around twenty centimeters taller, their hair color was a bit darker, and she was carrying two swords on her waist¡­ was that really nire? The simrities were too big¡­ maybe she was a cousin¡­ but nire was supposed to be alive more than two thousand years before that period of time. Aion wondered what was going on, but he didn''t have enough time toe up with some usible exnations.


    "My name is Arc¡­ and I am a traveling mercenary," Aion replied after he tried to recover hisposure. "I am aware that it might be suspicious, but I am just here to make some money while fighting your enemies."


    "If your goal is truly money, then joining the other side might be more profitable," the woman said.


    "Even if I am a mercenary, I have my own morals," Aion exined. "Invading and piging aren''t my style."


    "... You don''t have a weapon with you," the woman said.


    "I have," Aion said and then changed his ss to Demonic Berserker. "I just prefer not to show my weapon all the time."


    The bloody axe was as big as Aion, and it looked more than a little bit fearsome¡­ so everyone around suddenly raised their guards, until Aion made the weapon disappear again.


    "That is a neat trick that you have there," The woman said. "Still, if you are really a mercenary that is on our side, certainly you won''t mind if I ask you to work right now, right?"


    "Almost everything you can order¡­ for a price," Aion nodded.


    "Some monsters mighte from the volcano south of there once they see the campfires," The woman said. "Protect the camp by ying all of them at night, and then you will have your money."


    "Yes, ma''am," Aion said, and then he left his tent.


    Although he disliked following orders from most people, it was necessary for the time being. Besides, Aion needed some time to think about what was going on.


    Once night fell, Aion soon saw some fires in the distance climbing down the volcano. It seemed that the fire scorpions also liked to bathe in magma now and then.


    "I feel some stares¡­ so I better do this the old-fashioned way," Aion thought while summoning his bloody ax.


    Demonic Berserker Lv 08


    Health: 164/164


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 36 +02


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01 + 02


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 +01


    Status: 00


    Bloody Axe Refinement Lv 01<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    Bonuses: Strength +02, Endurance +02, Speed +01


    Skills: Wrath Lv 01


    Passive: Pain Immunity Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 24


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "I need to level up this a bit and get materials as well¡­ but I can''t refine it while those guys at looking at me," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "I will have to use some trash from my inventory to do that."


    Aion still has a shit ton of armor and swords that he got from that country that he took over, so that wasn''t a problem. Time was¡­ still, when the first enemies arrived, he basically crushed them with the weight of his weapon.


    "If she were a descendant of the shrimp grandma¡­ she wouldn''t be here¡­ unless some of my ancestors moved to other parts of the world," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully once he killed the first few fire scorpions. "Her magic presence didn''t seem that strong, so maybe we don''t have any blood rtion."


    The woman also had an aura of a powerful warrior¡­ no wonder she came to Aion like she was the leader of the camp, and that was something considering the number of soldiers around.


    "Come to think of it¡­ that grandma said that we would meet again and that she might not recognize me¡­" Aion thought. "What the hell is going on? Did she reincarnate herself in the future?"


    If Malon could be a demi-god and leave the, maybe nire was able to do that¡­ instead of living forever, she decided to use that kind of technique to deal with those who use time magic. Then again, the relics were supposed to exist in that era, so¡­ Aion didn''t know what was going on anymore.


    "Well, this is what happens when time magic is involved. All this bullshit happens¡­" Aion shrugged.


    Aion thought about that during the whole night, but he eventually got tired of it. He might eventually understand the situation, but for the time being, it will be better if he focuses on the mission.


    In any case, when morning came, some soldiers approached to check Aion''s progress, and then they paid him one silver coin for the monster that he killed, and they also began to carry the bodies of the monsters¡­ the tanned woman was probably too busy to deal with him directly, and she had reports about Aion during the whole night.


    "Since they are building wells here, it is very likely that we won''t move further south since we are close to the border," Aion thought while he was heading to his tent. "It is hard to imagine how they will fight without having natural defenses or a fortress nearby¡­ I guess this is the first time they had to deal with this situation since this ce is filled with volcanoes."


    "You are right about, ording to history, this is the only time the Hotaria country was ever invaded," Annalee said.


    "What do you know about the draconic wanderer, grandmother?" Aion asked.


    "Not much. I only read that he tried to kill the primordial firebird and failed. There were no other things in history that he tried to do since he died here," Annalee said.


    "Why do you call me grandpa, and you call her grandmother?" Arc asked.


    "Because you are foolish enough to get irked by stupid jokes," Annalee replied.

 Chapter 329 War

    They might have tried to dominate the world, but his grandparents were anything if not interesting. Although Aion said that he had some grudges agaisnt them since they caused a lot of suffering to his mother, he probably shouldn''t have since they paid for their crimes by dying. Their actions caused some suffering to Artemisia, but it didn''t seem that Artemisia minded anymore.


    In any case, Aion decided to sleep a little while cooling down his tent with magic, just enough in order not to let anyone sense it. It was a bit hard to do that while sleeping, but he pulled it off.


    In the end, he woke up at noon when he noticed that something was off¡­ Everyone in the camp was moving around nervously while carrying their weapons, and most of them were heading south. Some people looked at Aion as if he was a monster for being able to sleep in such conditions.


    Once Aion left his tent, he noticed the people nearby assuming formations beyond the camp, and Aion was also able to see a dust cloud emerging in the distance.


    "Woah, to think that the enemies were crazy enough to n their attack at noon¡­" Aion thought. "I wonder what will happen if I kill someone that isn''t supposed to die here¡­e to think of it, the enemy''s army wasn''t supposed to exist, so a lot of people that weren''t supposed to die will die here."


    In the worst-case scenario, that will create another timeline in which it will be impossible for Aion to see how it will end since it exists in the past. Regardless, Aion moved to join the ranks, and he made sure to stand right in front of one of the battalions in order for him to see the enemies and make everyone understand that he wasn''t a spy.


    Few people were wearing armor since it would be really hard to walk on the sand while being heavy. Maybe that was why most soldiers were sweating bullets since a single good hit in any part of their bodies, and they will suffer more than a little bit.


    The enemies began to approach, and Aion was finally able to see their first line of soldiers. Weirdly enough, he saw some men riding some giant lizards¡­ they were a bit fat and slow, but they sure looked sturdy since they also had a lot of scales around their bodies.


    "Green, long necks, and they look kinda old¡­ I never saw that kind of monster," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    The lizard monsters looked prettyfortable while crossing the desert, and thanks to the dust cloud, it was impossible to say how many enemies were on the other side¡­ no wonder everyone looked so nervous.


    Regardless, since the enemies on the frontlines were carrying spears, it was better to get rid of their mounts and take that advantage of them. That probably won''t change much about the future since animals and monsters won''t affect the timeline that much.


    When the enemies got three hundred meters away, everyone grabbed their weapons to ready themselves. Eventually, Aion looked to the side and then saw the woman that looked like nire stepped forward and grab her swords.


    "Kill those fucking invaders, men!" The woman shouted. "Kill them, and I will bring you the head of the draconic wanderer!"<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    The nervous soldiers from beforehand raised their weapons and roared with all their might. She sure knew how to lead and make her soldiers get pumped even though all the factors were against them.


    Aion didn''t have much mana with that ss, so he would have to entertain the enemies'' lines and disappear to be able to change without alerting anyone, and he had a good idea of how to do that.


    When the enemies were fifty meters away, the woman that looked like nire began to dash toward the enemies, and all the other soldiers did the same. They were being quite noisy, but Aion couldn''tin since he knew that some people do better when they let their tension fade away by screaming.


    When the first enemy pointed his spear toward Aion''s head, he just swung his axe and pushed it away with ease. While the ss was only at level fifteen, the refinement level was already at thirty. It was basically the same thing as being at level forty-five.


    The enemy opened his eyes widely when he saw Aion cutting the monster from the sides with his ax, and then he screamed in pain when the ax cut off his leg. Aion just ignored that and kept moving forward and doing the same. There was no need to do anything else.


    "Their levels are rtively low¡­ while they might be dangerous as riders with those creatures, they only have a single weapon," Aion thought while he imed the head of another monster.


    The sound of metal and the smell of blood were starting to spread. Still, Aion was also getting further away from it since none of the enemies and their mounts were able to stop him from running in a straight line. Some of the enemies were looking at him in shock since he stopped and looked around undaunted. He also didn''t look nervous at all¡­


    "Here should be enough¡­" Aion thought and then changed his ss to Earth Bender.


    In the next moment, several of the monsters began to sink to the ground quite fast. The riders panicked and then jumped from their mounts.


    "I can get those materialster¡­ but I guess I should move them to my inventory right now, just in case," Aion thought.


    Aion did that, and then he created a sand tornado around himself when the riders that abandoned their mounts dashed at him. In the next moment, he fired ice arrows that pierced their heads.


    "I don''t want to kill those that aren''t directly my enemies, but I guess I don''t have much of choice here," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.

 Chapter 330 Teniris

    Things ended pretty soon when it came to that battle¡­ the enemies only sent around one thousand riders and their mounts for some reason. Aion assumed that they wanted to tire out the defenders by forcing them to get tired by fighting at noon in the desert¡­ but it was hard to imagine that they had nned to lose all of their soldiers there.


    After using magic for a while, Aion summoned his bloody ax again and then began to kill the remaining enemies. Some soldiers saw him doing that, but while his arms and weapon were filled with blood, Aion lookedpletely fine¡­ which puzzled everyone. Soon some rumors began to spread about how he charged among the enemies'' lines, splitting the enemies in two with ease.


    "You are strong¡­ and pretty skilled for your age," The tanned woman said after she approached. "Some soldiers said that you killed dozens of enemies and their mounts. I apologize for doubting you. My name is Teniris."


    Aion just nodded since he was a bit too thirsty to use his mouth. He wasn''t tired, but it had been a while since he drank anything, and the heat of the desert didn''t help.


    Some soldiers began to dispose of the corpses, and Aion made sure to get as many weapons as possible without letting anyone notice it.


    "The enemy will probablye for real at night¡­ but with how much dust moving an army raises, they won''t surprise anyone," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully once he returned to his tent. "Still, something feels off¡­ an enemy of that level should be able to cross the volcanoes with ease¡­ wouldn''t the draconic warrior have an easy time slipping into the territory of the primordial firebird and killing it?"


    "History says that the draconic wanderer killed some leaders of the cities and towns of that country to know where the primordial firebird is," Annalee said.


    "I see¡­ so they have that information," Aion said. "By the way, do you read anything about that woman called Teniris?"


    "Nothing," Annalee replied.


    That was suspicious¡­ Why would someone famous enough to lead an army of ten thousand not leave her name in history? Something was really weird. In any case, Aion decided to rest a bit more, fill his stomach and quench his thirst since the night was going to be long.


    During the afternoon, the whole camp kept working. At some point, they decided to use the bodies of the monsters like barricades since they had some archers, and it didn''t seem like the enemies had any.


    Aion recalled that the invaders were wearing clothes that looked pretty well made, so their society was supposed to be a bit advanced.


    Just as Aion had expected, things got heated up at night again since some scouts noticed that some enemies were approaching. Apparently, three armies of one thousand had arrived, and they split up¡­ it wasn''t like a pincer attack was going to be useless with those numbers. Still, it wouldn''t be that effective either since the soldiers, adventurers, and mercenaries on the defenders side fought as a group while relying on their individual strength instead of tactics and formation.


    By using the excuse to water the nts, Aion moved away from the camp a bit and then flew high in order to use the relics. He confirmed that the relics pointed toward the other country, and he also assumed that it was the direction the enemy was¡­ aside from portals, the relics pointed to those involved with time magic.


    "I am getting more confused¡­ using the armies as a distraction would be more effective, and if he is receiving help from someone from another timeline, he should have the information where the primordial firebird is¡­" Aion sighed since his head was starting to hurt since nothing was making any sense.


    In any case, before the enemies could arrive, Teniris managed to split her army into three groups as well. She did it pretty fast, and Aion was on the right side while she was in the front¡­ while he didn''t know anything about her, he still feltpelled to watch over her since something smelled fishy. Unfortunately, orders were orders, and if he doesn''t follow them now, he will lose the small amount of trust that he just got.


    Despite losing so many men on the first attack, Aion didn''t notice any differences in the enemies approach this time either. They just charged single mindedly once they had the chance¡­


    Aion decided to stop thinking and just focused on defeating the enemies and leveling up his sses. This time, Aion focused on defeating the riders and damaging the mounts just enough before using Tame on them. Thanks to that, he was able to make some of the monsters charge and attack the others and spread confusion among their ranks.


    Tamer Lv 23


    Health: 14/14


    Mana: 24/24


    Stamina: 564/564


    Strength: 06<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Dexterity: 11 + 130


    Magic: 11


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 11 + 130


    Status: 75


    Whip Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Dexterity + 130, Speed + 130


    Skills: Tame Lv 19 (Power Lv 69), Lightning Whip Lv 01


    Passive: Enhanced Dexterity Lv 01, Whip Mastery Lv 09


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 00


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Lightning Whip: at the cost of ten points of mana, your next attack will cause magic damage and paralyze the enemy for a moment.


    Whip Mastery: passively increases your attack power when using whips by two points per level.


    While Aion was checking his progress, he noticed that the soldiers nearby began to fall unconscious even when their wounds weren''t that deep¡­ when he checked their wounds, he noticed that they had turned pale.


    "Shit¡­ this can''t be good," Aion thought and then checked the enemy''s weapons lying on the ground.


    There was no smell and no signs of poison, but it was clear that they had been afflicted by something akin to it. Even Aion got a bit dizzy¡­ something else had poisoned them, but only those that got hurt were suffering from it.

 Chapter 331 Surprise Attack

    Aion wondered what he should do. He probably could heal everyone and decrease the effects of the poison¡­ but that would make him too famous, and he didn''t want anyone to know that he was there and that he was possibly from the future.


    Before he could make any decision, Aion heard that the other groups had finished off the enemies as well. Still, he also could tell that things were getting noisy, but not because of any celebration. It was because enemies wereing from the south again.


    When Aion headed in that direction to confirm it, he saw a massive group of enemy soldiers carrying torches. The other groups couldn''t evenpare to that in size¡­ as if that wasn''t enough, Aion also could tell that several thousands of riders were in the front, and this time, they wereing for real¡­


    "The draconic wanderer is finallying¡­ should I head there and kill him?" Aion thought. "That is probably why the mirror was shining, and that is my goal in the first ce, but the people here need help."


    Either way, Aion won''t be able to hold back anymore¡­ he will have to show all his might no matter what he chooses. After thinking for a short while, Aion realized that his best option was to attack and cause confusion among the enemy''s ranks and kill their leader to make them panic. Without the top of theirmand chain, their morale will drop, and they won''t have anyone at the level of the same guy to restore their confidence.


    Aion moved away from the camp and then began to fly toward the enemy''s army. He used the relic onest time and confirmed that they pointed to the back of their formation.


    "It is almost like he is waiting for me¡­ is this a coincidence?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Either way, Aion didn''t have time to wonder about that. Once he got close enough, he used his wind maniption to summon two tornadoes and made them appear right in the middle of the enemy''s formation. They should keep causing damage and panic for a while¡­ Eventually, Aion changed to his Lancer ss. However, before he could reach the back of their formation, a fireball was shot toward him¡­


    Aion barely had time to block it, and then he opened his eyes widely when he noticed that the attack was basically a boulder engulfed in mes that pushed him backward quite easily.


    After using his magic, Aion froze the attack and made it break apart¡­ the enemy definitely was waiting for him. At that point in time, it was useless to try to keep his identity hidden, but he still covered most of his face with his cloak.


    More of those attacks were fired, but Aion dodged them after using the flying rune. He approached while zigzagging in the air, and then eventually, he saw arge shadow approaching. Out of reflex, Aion blocked the creature in front of him, but while grinning, the draconic wanderer punched Aion''s stomach and then made him spin in the air.


    "I should have increased my endurance¡­" Aion thought and then healed himself. "Speed should be my forte with this ss, and yet¡­"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Aion wasn''t the only one who could fly. Soon the draconic wanderer approached to attack again. The guy had red eyes that emitted a glow like they were on fire¡­ he also looked like the type who could easily get excited in the middle of a battle, so Aion didn''t feel like letting him getting too close.


    The draconic wanderer didn''t have any weapons. Still, when he got closer and punched again, Aion saw that he had ws instead of fingers, and his knuckles were quite hard. Dark red scales covered his forearms, shoulders, and the lower parts of his legs. As if that wasn''t enough, he had a long tail on his back.


    "I have been waiting for you!" The draconic wanderer said while smirking.


    "I can''t say that it has been a pleasure so far," Aion said while trying to block all the attacks.


    Aion managed to pull that off, but then the man suddenly fired that massive boulder in mes toward him. Aion was pushed backward again, and while he was freezing it, the draconic wanderer suddenly appeared behind him.


    As quickly as possible, Aion summoned an ice shield behind him. Still, the enemy quickly shattered something of that level with a single kick and then attacked Aion''s back. He collided against the boulder on fire and then pushed it downward.


    Aion and the projectile hit the middle of the enemy''s army that was still trying to understand what was going on thanks to the tornadoes and ended up killing dozens of enemies¡­ The draconic wanderer didn''t care at all about his underlings.


    As soon as hended, Aion healed himself a bit and then quickly flew away since the enemy attacked the spot hended. He didn''t expect that someone of that era would be that strong¡­ he dropped his guard thinking that he had reached an unrivaled level.


    "It was time to stop pulling punches¡­ no matter what I do, the enemy that is helping this guy should have a good grasp of my abilities, just like Ana," Aion thought while he was flying in an arc. "So, I should get rid of him using a trick that I often use but a lot more powerful than usual."


    While he was using a melee ss, Aion was annoyed that the enemy could fly faster than him. Thanks to it, he approached and was ready to attack again. When he tried to punch Aion, his spear, covered in ice, suddenly spun and stopped his charge. The draconic wanderer suddenly frowned since he didn''t expect that such a thing would stop him¡­


    The enemy got even more surprised when Aion made the spear retreat a bit, and then he swung it again. The attack sent the man flying downward, hitting the ground and raising a massive curtain of dust.

 Chapter 332 Lightning

    "This would have been so easy if I had learned the basics of Explosive Release¡­" Aion thought as he was flying upward. "I guess just keeping myself busy and training daily isn''t enough if I am not pushing myself hard enough."


    The draconic wanderer suddenly began to fly upward as well, and this time, his face was annoyed instead of excited. Aion could see that he was someone who only had easy fights recently and that he liked the feeling of being way superior to his enemies. Aion felt bored when that was the case since he couldn''t get stronger in those battles.


    The enemy sped up and then flew while zigzagging to avoid Aion''s spear while he was getting close. Aion looked over his shoulder and then furrowed his eyebrows. It was hard to imagine that his spear enchanted with magic, would be effective against an enemy that fast. He had another idea, but he would rather not use it against an enemy of that level¡­ even if he was losing in all aspects. Speed, strength, and magic.


    When he was one hundred meters away, the enemy suddenly charged even faster than before. Aion felt a shiver and then made his spear spin. The weapon slowed down the enemy a bit, but Aion could tell two or three hits of the same level, and the weapon would break.


    Aion flew to the side and then crossed a cloud while the enemy passed in a straight line. He couldn''t maneuver that fast at his top speed¡­ still, after he slowed down a bit, he flew in an arc toward Aion.


    "That guy will really be a useful death knight¡­ it will be weird, but I could even use him to crossrge distances on his back," Aion thought.


    First things first, Aion had to deal with that guy. After thinking for a few seconds, he decided to bet everything on the next attack to make sure that he won''t reveal more of his skills.


    When the draconic wanderer approached, he felt that something off was in the air, but that didn''t stop him from approaching Aion. When he tried to attack him, he just punched with all his might since he knew that the spear would get in the way. In the next moment, the weapon suddenly made a shit ton of mana spread around the area and then froze everything around the draconic wanderer in a ten meters radius.


    Aion had just enough mana to make the huge block of ice to go downward and smash against the ground like a meteor. However, before that could happen, the body of the enemy began to glow head, and then the ice started to crack.


    "Shit¡­ of course, he can transform into a dragon," Aion thought while changing his ss to Guardian.


    In the next moment, the ice broke, and the draconic wanderer showed a form of a human-sized dragon. His entire body was covered in scales, and the mana in his body was so powerful that he could even distort the space around him to some extent.


    Guardian Lv 29


    Health: 1304/1304


    Mana: 704/704


    Stamina: 88/88


    Strength: 11


    Dexterity: 11


    Magic: 21 + 60


    Endurance: 71 + 245


    Resistance: 21 + 75


    Speed: 11


    Status: 00<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Protector''s Sword and Shield Refinement Lv 30


    Bonuses: Endurance + 75, Resistance + 75


    Skills: Devotion Lv 19 (Speed Lv 54), Frozen Shield Lv 01


    Passive: Stone Skin Lv 22 (Power Lv 30), Team Endurance Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 0


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion hid behind his shield for a moment, but that didn''t help much. A single punch from the enemy destroyed his shield and made him fly in the direction of the volcano west of their direction. Aion crossed fifteen kilometers in two seconds and then collided against the volcano, making it tremble. Aion felt like his entire body was screaming in pain¡­ even with all that defensive power.


    "I need more training¡­" Aion thought while getting up and healing himself a bit. "Even this ss is at a rtively low level."


    The draconic wanderer was approaching again, and Aion really had to stop fooling around. He is going to die because he was fearful that the enemies might learn too much about him¡­ that could be a joke.


    Aion took a deep breath, and then the enemy felt a shiver that forced him to stop in midair and raise his guard. He thought that Aion was about to do something, but nothing happened.


    "What is wrong? Are you chickening out?" Aion smiled. "Just so you know, you will die anyway. It doesn''t matter if you will attack me or not. Still, I should warn you that things will be easier for me if you keep your distance."


    That had to be a bluff¡­ the draconic wanderer had more or less experience when it came to that. He couldn''t imagine himself being slower than Aion. Still, even so¡­ all his instincts were telling him that he needed to be careful.


    Still, in the end, Aion didn''t like when he said that. He had never tried that before, but he knew how electricity worked, he only didn''t have time to do that, but he had the idea around the time he was leveling up the Sorcerer''s ss.


    Lightning is a form of electricity. Lightning is electrons moving from one cloud to another or electrons jumping from a cloud to the ground. When someone feels a shock when they touch an object after walking across a carpet, a stream of electrons jumps to you from that object. This is called static electricity.


    Using the same logic, Aion covered his hands with wind magic using all the mana from his core and then pped them while pointing to the enemy¡­ in the next moment, a thick lightning bolt hit the draconic wanderer at full power. Aion almost passed out, though, due to the sheer power of the noise caused by the attack.

 Chapter 333 New Death Knight

    The Sorcerer''s ss has leveled up.


    The Sorcerer''s ss has leveled up.


    The Sorcerer''s ss has leveled up.


    ¡­


    When Aion recovered from the shock, he saw the body of the enemy falling, and the notifications confirmed his victory.


    Before the body could fall, Aion approached and then changed to the necromancer ss and turned the former emery into a death knight.


    "Can you talk?" Aion asked.


    Aion didn''t get a response¡­ the body of the draconic wanderer had been mostly toasted thanks to the previous attack, and it seemed that it was already fortunate enough that he could fly by himself, considering that the brain suffered the same fate.


    "Now I won''t be able to tell who gave you information¡­" Aion thought and then began to meditate.


    Since he waspletely out of mana, it was the perfect time to attack Aion, so he tried to recover it as soon as possible while he watched the enemies below. The tornadoes had vanished a while ago, and it seemed that the remaining soldiers were waiting for theirmander.


    "Should I just make him go there and kill some guys to make them think that he has gone insane?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    In the end, Aion decided to be a bit more sneaky about that. He decided to summon his death knight archer and make him kill a lot of enemies and focus on the monsters to make them think that the defender''s side was ambushing them.


    When they saw the rain of arrows, they lost a bunch of men and then sent some more to look for the enemies. Aion summoned him back and made him appear at the back of their formation. He yed that game until the enemies began to pack their things to retreat¡­ Aion wasn''t getting that much experience anymore since they were mostly small fries, and he didn''t want to risk altering the future too much.


    Soon enough, the sky began to get brighter, and then Aion moved North in order to look for the primordial firebird. There was no need for him to stay there anymore.


    Since he felt really weird just thinking about the idea alone of sitting on the back of the draconic wanderer, Aion just stood there, and it looked pretty cool to fly that insane faster while he was looking forward with his arms crossed. The draconic wanderer could keep that form only for a while, though¡­ half an hour considering Aion''s current mana and if he doesn''t try to meditate¡­ he could fly at mach one, though. So, if it feels worth the hassle¡­ Aion didn''t even try to use the flying rune on him, and he wouldn''t be able to stand on his back if he moved faster.


    In any case, once he was back in the middle of the country, Aion used the relics again and then pointed to his starting point¡­ it seemed that the divergence in that timeline had been finished. Now he just had to find a way to look for the primordial firebird.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    While Aion was thinking about that, thend began to tremble. Although he couldn''t feel it since he was flying, he could sense that something was off since several volcanoes began to emit more smoke than before, and the temperature also began to increase.


    All of a sudden, a volcano in the distance erupted, and then a massive st of magma flew upward alongside something massive as well. Aion blinked several times when he saw a massive red bird in the distance that had red and orange feathers¡­ the creature was at least one hundred meters long and one hundred fifty meters wide while its wings were open.


    "I didn''t have many chances to level up Tame, but¡­" Aion thought and furrowed his eyebrows when the creature began to fly toward him.


    Once he was close enough, Aion realized that the primordial bird resembled a bit of a penguin that had feathers. The shape of its beak was simr, but it was blood red in tone. Eventually, the primordial firebird stopped in front of Aion while pping its wings.


    "Are you the one who protected mynd?" The primordial firebird asked while using Telepathy.


    "Maybe, that wasn''t my intention, though," Aion replied. "I just wanted to get rid of a nuisance that was between me and my goal. By the way, my goal is to capture you."


    "Fu. You think you can do it?" The primordial firebird asked.


    "I can try," Aion shrugged his shoulders. "By the way, if you knew what was going on, why didn''t you go to lend a hand?"


    "That was unnecessary since I sensed your presence and intentions, and I knew that despite having the same power as the enemy, you weren''t on their side," The primordial firebird replied.


    "That sounds like bullshit, like I said, my goal is to capture you," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "Also, if you know about time magic, then I should also tell you that in one version of the future, we became enemies, and I had to kill you."


    "At least you are an honest one," the primordial firebird said. "As someone who knows what time magic can do since I have been living for thousands of years, I don''t like it when people use it to change the past for convenience. I am willing to help you if you prove that you are worthy."


    "How can I do that? A fight?" Aion asked.


    "Wait until I deem it necessary to help," The primordial replied. "I am the guardian of the thesends, and I intend to remain here until I can tell that the world needs my help. Return to your time, and if I can tell that my powers are needed, I will offer you my assistance."


    That seemed suspicious since it would give time for the primordial firebird to get stronger¡­ still, Aion would like that if he discovered that the firebird was trying to fool him. Defeating it and then forcing it into submission will be fun.

 Chapter 334 Promise

    "All right, you will see me in eight hundred years," Aion said.


    The primordial firebird nodded and then returned to another volcano to sleep or something. As for Aion, he headed to where he could find the mirrors and then used the relics.


    Once Aion crossed the mirror and returned to the present. He also returned to the ce where he met the firebird¡­ once again, thend began to tremble, and then a volcano suddenly erupted. The massive creature approached, and Aion wondered if he was seeing a rey or something.


    "I have been waiting¡­" the primordial firebird said.


    "... If you still remember, does that mean that I changed the past? Or is this another timeline?" Aion asked.


    "It is the same world following the same route," the primordial firebird replied. "The History that you know is probably different from the reality, so it is impossible to confirm, though. Nevertheless, my name is Fenhair, guardian of the Western sky, and just as promised, I offer my help to you since I sensed recent traces of time magic being used in the recent years with malicious intents."


    "How many times and when exactly?" Aion asked.


    "Two times, five years ago and twenty years ago," Fenhair replied.


    Five years ago was during the time Aion''s mother had been captured, and the ice dragon appeared. Still, Aion didn''t know what happened twenty years ago¡­ he was born seventeen years ago, and the fall of the Milleris kingdom happened one year before him.


    While Aion was thinking, Fenhair suddenly made a sphere of energy enter his body. It didn''t make him any stronger, but Aion could tell that he had a connection with Fenhair now.


    Fenhair became a tamed creature.


    "We can talk at any moment as long as we are in the same present now," Fenhair dered. "What are your orders?"


    "Let''s go home for now," Aion replied and then jumped on the back of Fenhair. "By the way, aren''t you a bit too cooperative?"


    "Your ancestor and her friends saved me once. I am indebted to your bloodline¡­ at least when you all have the same intentions as her," Fenhair replied.


    "So, you have been around for three thousand years?" Aion asked. "By the way, I met someone that looked like her¡­ twice. One of them was in yournd eight hundred years ago."


    "That is unlikely, and I could recognize her magic presence in any part of the world if she were alive," Fenhair shooked his head.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Fenhair looked pretty confident in his abilities. He has been alive for three thousand years, after all¡­ despite that, he didn''t do much but sleep in his backyard. Nevertheless, Aion would rather find pieces of information by himself and then eventually reach his own conclusion rather than wait for someone to give him the answer.


    In any case, Fenhair began to fly toward the East, and even without the flying rune, he could easily keep up with the speed of the draconic wanderer. Aion wondered if there was a timeline where the draconic wanderer won a fight against him¡­ but he will never be able to confirm that.


    Having a flying tamed creature was really useful¡­ Aion had thirty veryfortable hours to train on Fenhair''s back. Thanks to it, he learned how to create the orbs with rtive ease, and he also could store them in his inventory.


    "This will give me a decent boost, but I need other ways to make my training methods to be more efficient¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess before that, I need to master Explosive Release."


    It goes without saying, but creating the health and stamina cores had been truly difficult, and that was making them inside Aion. Making them exist outside his body would be many times more difficult. Still, Aion started that anyway¡­ he didn''t make any progress, though.


    "By the way, do you need to live inside magma or something?" Aion asked. "I wonder if grandpa and grandma will get mad if I built a river of magma near the capital."


    "I don''t need it. I just need it to sleep and harness mana," Fenhair replied. "I don''t understand how, but you have the same power as someone I heard of two thousand years ago. The power to tame other creatures and make them stronger with your magic. Sometimes, your presence feels familiar, so I advise you to polish those skills in order to make me even more useful inbat."


    "Will do," Aion said while thinking that he was talking about the Tamer ss. "All right, I will start repairing the fallen capital, and then I will make a ce where you can rest there as well."


    Aion assumed that Malon was the one who gave him the system¡­ but if he left three thousand years ago, did he study and steal the power that some people obtained after mutating? Aion could imagine him returning to his home several times over the years if he could live that long. Still, it was hard to imagine that someone in Malon''s position would feel the need to take the power of others. Things were getting even more confusing.


    Aion asked Fenhair to fly high in order to avoid problems while they were crossing the Zaera kingdom. Still, it was only a matter of time before he was discovered. It would be a bit unreasonable to ask Fenhair to hide as well when he came to help him and left his homnd after three thousand years.


    The mage ss has leveled up.


    The mage ss has leveled up.


    The mage ss has leveled up.


    ¡­


    Once Aion began to repair the fallen capital, the mage ss began to level up a lot faster than before since his grandmother began to give him her mana as well. Thanks to that, Aion wondered what would happen once he had all the second-tier sses after mastering the mage ss three times. He was expecting something good to happen, and he wasn''t disappointed.

 Chapter 335 Mastery

    Congrattions! You havepletely mastered the mage ss. Now you can use all of its skills, parameters, and bonuses on the sses that follow the same tree.


    Congrattions! The ss Mage has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Sorcerer Lv 01


    Health: 08/08


    Mana: 3232/3232


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 04 + 700


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 02 + 100


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Magic Cane Lv 01


    Bonuses: Magic + 04


    Skills: Fire Spear Lv 01


    Passive: Magic Resistance Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Fire Spear: at the cost of twenty points of mana, you can fire a spear of mes that will explode upon impact and cause damage equal to two hundred percent of your magic and an extra ten percent per level.


    Magic Resistance: passively Increases your Resistance by two points per level.


    Aion blinked his eyes in surprise. He just got a new magic ss, and now he had three thousand points of mana in that ss¡­ that was insane. He always knew that his system had close to endless potential, but now that he confirmed that¡­


    "If I master the subsequent sses¡­ the total amount of my mana pool will increase tremendously," Aion nodded to himself in satisfaction. "This is quite something, but I guess that focusing on a single ss tree is a bit better."


    Aion didn''t have to worry about the mage sses too much, thanks to the help of his grandparents. His uncle was soon going to make the spearman ss reach the max level again, so Aion only had to consider the other sses.


    In any case, with that boost in magic power, Aion began to repair the castle at fearsome speeds. While he didn''t know what material it was that formed most of it, he managed to copy it by using Earth Transformation. It wasn''t that durable, so it was easy.


    "I didn''t know the previous design, but I guess this is pretty good, don''t you think?" Aion asked three dayster after he finished the repairs.


    "It is unbnced, but I shouldn''t expect more from you since you did everything by yourself in three days¡­ my ancestors said that the castle had to be built over ten years by dozens of the best earth mages, after all."


    The castle didn''t look brand new, but it looked adequate. Aion felt that he had seen something simr to it in a movie since the castle had many towers, but he couldn''t quite pinpoint where or when. In any case, the castle now had a mix of grey and blue because he looked like a lot of mana or maybe because his magic powers had gotten stronger and now the materials emitted a bluish glow.


    Aion also built a giant tower on the back of the castle in order to let Fenhair to rest there. He could reach Aion''s home in less than one hour, so it was fine to let him there. Besides, he was too big, and Aion knew that he had a lot of spies in his town trying to keep an eye on him and those close to him.


    "While I didn''t manage to convince anyone, it seems that a lot of people might change their minds if you repair their homes," Arc suddenly said. "It will take a while, and most of the capital has been destroyed, but it might help you."


    "I will see what I can do," Aion said. "No point in being extra nice to those who don''t want to give a hand, after all."


    Fenhair was already sitting on the tower with his eyes closed, so Aion left. He didn''t think that birds had to sleep all that much, but maybe that was his hobby since he was like the indoor type. Aion never understood the people who liked to sleep a lot, though.


    "I need to level up the Tamer ss like Fenhair said¡­ I also need to check my giant trap for the giant worms," Aion thought once he reached the middle of the desert.


    After confirming that thousands of corpses were in the trap, he created. Aionughed a little since they also blocked the exit of the monsters. In a different manner, he freed the desert from the earthworms, but that might cause some problems¡­ so, Aion disposed of the corpses and began to tame the earthworms that started to leave the dungeon. They kepting for a while, but Aion stopped after taming the twentieth.


    The reason for that was the fact that the earthworms couldn''t use magic the usual way, so they attacked by eating things or smashing their heads against the target, and the turns were taking too long to end with twenty of them. In any case, Aion also confirmed that twenty was more than enough, so he headed home, for real, this time.


    "Hah¡­ I need a vacation," Aion said and then sighed when he reached the garden of his home. "Maybe I should use the relics to go to the past since time won''t flow in this timeline¡­"


    Aion couldn''t help but wonder what Seris would say after hearing that. Speaking of which, it was mid-afternoon, and those three usually rxed in the garden around that time, so Aion frowned, even though he could feel their presence inside the house.


    After heading to the office, Aion saw those three inside the room inplete silence.


    "What''s wrong?" Aion asked. "Did something happen while I was away?"


    Aion¡­ Well, you see¡­" Artemisia said hesitantly. "How can I put this?"


    "While you were away, I tried to use my power to gather some Intel on future events by looking at the past," Ana said. "Now that I am here, I can look into the past better than before because I don''t need much more mana and¡­ it seems that a lot more people used time magic toe to the past. They found a way to ignore one of the rules that Malon and nire created to seal time magic."

 Chapter 336 Traces Of Time

    "Tell me more. By the way, things changed a little bit from my ns," Aion said and then exined what happened.


    "... That long in the past, and people were trying to interfere, huh," Seris furrowed her eyebrows. "At least things ended well, and you got another ally. Still, it seems that you aren''t able to understand what Ana said."


    "I am waiting for the exnation," Aion said.


    "Basically¡­ those who can use time magic at their time and can''t do so freely in this current period of time found a way to ignore the seals by sending their souls to the past with their memories and powers sealed," Ana exined. "Basically, let''s say that you can''t swim out of fear, but you can learn if you use magic to forget about the fear."


    "I see¡­ so they sealed their memories and powers to bypass the seal of the relics," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I take it that they can recover those over time, am I correct?"


    "Most likely, yes," Ana replied. "I only checked for traces of that in thest one hundred years, and that happened a couple of times¡­ tremors that people felt all over the world. Days and nights that they felt that had been way longer than they should have been. These are signs that time magic being was used beyond the power of the seals. The difficult part about this is the fact that there are no registers of such things, and I only found a few people with memories of that. Most people forgot it since they assumed that it was just their imagination."


    Did they forget, or were they forced to forget it? That would exin why no books mentioned such events¡­ if anything, some people would investigate that, mainly Seris'' family.


    "We are aware of those signs, but pinpointing their origins is close to impossible¡­" Seris said when Aion looked at her. "As if that isn''t enough, Ana found those signs in other timelines but not in this current one."


    Things were getting hard to understand again¡­ thanks to his encounter with Fenhair, Aion could tell that they still had a small understanding when it came to the full scope of time magic. He gets carried away when he assumed that he knows the problems of time magic based on his modern knowledge.


    "Well, let''s not worry too much about all this¡­ it will be an endless tiring exercise," Aion shrugged. "We should just focus on gathering Intel and increasing our forces, which thest mission helped us a lot. By the way, did you guys notice anything weird happening twenty years ago? Fenhair said that time magic was used during that time."


    "I didn''t find any records of that," Ana replied.


    "Me neither," Seris added.


    "Did you say something? I can''t hear a single thing when you talk about certain things regarding time magic," Artemisia said when Aion looked at her.<novelsnext>¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á `n?¦Í?| §ãom</novelsnext>


    "By the way, mom," Aion said. "Grandma finally talked with me and agreed to help as long as Fenhair stays in the castle, which I already repaired. She sounds like a pretty serious person who whipped grandfather."


    p¦Á§ád¦Á`no¦Í?1`§ão§® "She was exactly like that," Artemisiaughed. "Things weren''t only dark and gloomy in the castle when father tried to get on her good side."


    "Urgh," Arc groaned.


    "Hahahah, I can easily imagine that!" Aionughed while showing a refreshing smile. "Anyway, I need to rest my head a bit, so I am going to hit the sack a bit earlier. See you guys tomorrow."


    Aion was tired to the point that he couldn''t even think about his next step clearly, even though it was fairly obvious. In any case, although he wanted to rest, as soon as his body got a bit better, even while sleeping, Aion''s mind was still in the game. While not as clear as he would think when he was awake, he began to consider several things. Like, if someone could use time magic to send their soul to the past or to other periods of time, could it be that he was actually Malon after being reincarnated and the memories of the man known as Adam were just fake memories or perhaps fragments of a lost life used to keep his awareness even in his youth to make him work harder?


    That would make sense, considering that he leveled up the samurai ss when he saw the memories of Malon when he was a kid¡­ it wasn''t time for Aion to have an identity crisis. Still, when he woke up, he stared at the ceiling for a while, contemting that idea.


    The more he heard about it, the more Aion felt that time magic was more terrifying than anything¡­ Only some insane people would think of controlling that freely for their own ns since they wouldn''t care about how much they could destroy the lives of others.


    "... Anyway, I guess I should look for the other guardians that Fenhair said," Aion thought after he shook his head. "He said that he was the guardian of the West, so there might be four more of them¡­ his total mana pool seemed at least fifty mines bigger than mine, and while that alone isn''t enough to determine the result of a fight, it is a good asset to have."


    There was the possibility that something would happen again, and he will have to deal with something in the past in order to obtain the help of the creature in question, but it was a problem that Aion was willing to face.


    "You should take those two with you this time," Artemisia said once they were having breakfast, and he exined that he was going to continue on the n to gather more allies. "You were caught off guard due to the strength of the enemy. The same thing can happen again since you don''t know who was behind that."


    Aion sighed, but Artemisia had a point. Besides, gathering Intel will be easier with help, and he will look less suspicious if he isn''t alone.

 Chapter 337 Flying City

    "I guess that will be fine¡­ can you check if anything ever happened to the other creatures?" Aion asked. "When you talked about the creatures that I could tame, you were talking about others like Fenhair, right?"


    "Yes, there is the Earth Titan that guards the North, the Frozen Tyrant that guards the East, and the Wind Maiden that guards the South," Ana replied. "I need some time to check them¡­ and if you are talking about three thousand years of history."


    "Ah, forget it. I guess this was unreasonable to ask," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Let''s head East¡­ I am curious about this frozen Tyrant. Maybe I should ask Fenhair to stay around and guard the area since we are messing with time. We need to be more careful than ever."


    "You don''t need to worry about me, Aion," Artemisia said and then sighed. "I have plenty of mana orbs, and I am making some every day. I will be able to protect the town and myself if something happens."


    Aion could tell that his mother had a lot of these. Her presence looked way stronger than before since the orbs were created with her mana¡­ still, it was Aion''s nature to be careful when his mother was part of the equation. If he didn''t have to level up the Tamer ss, he would leave a death knight nearby¡­ then Aion finally realized what he had to do, and then he smirked.


    "All right, untilter, mom," Aion smiled, and then he left the house.


    "You looked particrly suspicious back there like you suddenly had an epiphany," Seris said. "What are you plotting?"


    "Just covering my bases and making sure that I will be able to do as much as possible," Aion replied and then created an Earth tform.


    After everyone jumped in, Aion made it fly, and once he was high enough, he summoned the draconic wanderer to pull the tform. Strength and speed were his forte, after all. At the same time, Aion summoned K. The assassin woman could be invisible, and he told her to guard his mother while invisible at all times.


    "That presence¡­" Seris furrowed her eyebrows when she recognized K, even under the cloak that Aion gave her. "You can even do that¡­ if you were an asshole, you could go around killing powerful warriors, and that eventually would make you invincible."


    "There is no such thing as invincibility for mortals," Aion shook his head when the draconic wanderer began to pull the tform. "Everyone has weaknesses."


    Seris couldn''t help but be stunned¡­ she already knew that Aion wasn''t the type who would let power get to his head. Still, now that she could take a glimpse of his true potential, she could tell that he was a lot more coolheaded than she had imagined. She thought that he could make a great ruler¡­ it was a pity that most people wouldn''t ept that, thanks to his bloodline, even if they came to realize what she just did.


    A few hourster, the group reached the dungeon of the Earthworms, and Aion also summoned Ugren, the archer, to kill all of them.


    "Can you keep those three working at all times?" Seris asked. "I thought that Necromancy would constantly drain your mana."<novelsnext>¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á `n?¦Í?| §ãom</novelsnext>


    "You are well informed¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    p¦Ánd¦Á`no¦Í?1~§ão§® "We have some Intel about Necromancers in the past, and they all had the same weaknesses," Seris said.


    "Well, you are right, they need my mana, but this much is fine," Aion said, and then he closed the earth tform and created something like a room and also opened a hole to the draconic wanderer''s back. "Write a flying rune on him whenever necessary. I will focus on recovering my mana."


    "All right¡­ we are heading in the same direction to my home. Can we stop there for a moment?" Seris asked.


    "I guess so, but you don''t want to keep that location hidden from me?" Aion asked. "I am sure that while the big guns aren''t monitoring me yet, the Middle tier bosses are."


    "I don''t really understand what you are saying, but after talking with Ana, I realized that there are numerous ways for people to find us," Seris exined. "They probably know where we live already but don''t have the means to attack us yet."


    After that, Seris finished the rune, and then the draconic wanderer began to push the room at supersonic speeds. Aion had expected that, but Seris and Ana didn''t, so he had to hold their hands to avoid them rolling on the floor and then hitting the wall behind them.


    "I guess this transport method needs to be improved¡­ moving at Mach 3 is pretty convenient, though," Aion smiled in satisfaction.


    Despite that, the room was shaking quite a bit, so Seris used a rune to make things get more stable inside. While Aion was focused on recovering his mana, he still noticed that Ana was weirdly silent. He wanted to ask if she was ufortable using time magic, but he decided to stay quiet about it.


    Seris had to use her magic and a special ship to cross the distance between her hometown and the Zaera kingdom. Even so, it took three weeks for her to arrive there. Thanks to that, she was left speechless when the temperature began to drop after just ten hours of travel¡­ that was the first sign that she was getting close to home.


    Seris asked Aion to slow down and then create a window in order to let her check where they were, and soon she told him to go North. Aion saw a coast that was white with some snow and some icebergs floating close to the beach.


    "This world is really weird, are the poles messed up or something?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Aion soon forgot about what happened when he suddenly saw a weird phenomenon ahead¡­ a weak pir of light was in the middle of the ocean, and way above the clouds, Aion could see something like a city flying.

 Chapter 338 Back Home

    "This isn''t exactly hidden, you know," Aion said.


    "Only people with some level when ites to magic can see the pir¡­ or so we were told," Seris exined. "Anyway, we were never attacked until now."


    Aion finally recalled why Ana was silent. She was finally going to see the city of her people¡­ she never had the chance to see it and only heard a few things about it since her parents probably didn''t see it either. Still, usually, she would look excited instead.


    The city above the clouds waspletely hidden since the area was always cloudy. It wasn''t the size of the capital of the Zaera kingdom, but it was pretty massive. Instead of a huge chunk of earth floating, it was more like one of the earth tforms that Aion could make it fly. The city resembled a bit as well the fallen capital after being repaired. It had a lot of towers, and the buildings were mostly blue and gray.


    "Fifteen hundred years ago, one of my ancestors built this ce using all the technology and knowledge that he had obtained during their lifetime since we were being hunted all over the world thanks to our powers," Seris exined and then cut her hand a bit with a knife. "They wanted to create soldiers with the abilities to control time since no one was ever able to create perfect countermeasures against it."


    Seris touched the barrier with her hand and blood, and in the next moment, a hole appeared in the barrier. They crossed it, and Aion kept looking at her¡­ her ancestor basically ripped off Aion''s family. So, she tried to avoid his gaze.


    The group began to approach the city and eventually found several metal bars around it that looked like the people inside were caged, but they probably worked to avoid idents.


    Once they approached the city, several armed guys began to show up near the metal bars while carrying weapons that resembled the magic crossbows that they had used before.


    Aion expected to see them wearing weird clothes, like white uniforms with strange symbols of it, since, considering their condition, their society looked pretty alien. Still, they were just wearing normal leather clothes, and some were wearing armor, probably for appearance''s sake.


    "Can you get rid of this box and send that guy away? His aura is a bit¡­" Seris said.


    Aion nodded and canceled the summon, and threw the box away while he made everyone float while using wind magic. Ana looked shocked after seeing the ce her ancestors lived¡­ Come to think of it, Aion didn''t ask how the Heradins family faced their end.


    Some soldiers recognized Seris and even Aion, and he was pretty sure he didn''t see any of them. Eventually, theynded, and Seris greeted some people. They were drawing a lot of attention, but they didn''t have time to lose.


    "Let''s get going. Sauros must be at his homezing around," Seris said.


    Aion recalled that Sauros said that he would start working on building a family since he already had a girlfriend or something. Aion didn''t remember exactly since he wasn''t interested in another guy''s love life. In any case, he must be busy trying to make a son while he can¡­ what an envious lifestyle.


    While looking around, Aion saw some shops selling clothes, weapons, armor, books, essories, and monster materials. Still, they all looked normal¡­ it seemed that just living in a floating city was the only thing in which they stood out, that and the fact that they could use a bit of time magic.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The houses around weren''t much different from the high-ss ones in the capital, and it was quite hard to find one that stood out among the others. Everything looked simr, so it would be easy to get lost there.


    After walking for ten minutes, they stopped in front of a house that had arge garden and a bit different entrance¡­ there were no gates around, but it had arge wall covering the whole residence.


    "Wait here. I will call him," Seris said while sweating a bit.


    Aion wondered why she was sweating. The climate inside the city was perfect, even though outside, it was close to zero. When he looked to the side, he saw Ana fidgeting.


    "Are you a fan of Sauros as well, like you are a fan of everyone else?" Aion asked.


    "No¡­ it is a long story¡­" Ana forced a smile and replied.


    Aion furrowed his eyebrows since it wasn''t normal for her to act like that. All of a sudden, something came to Aion''s mind¡­ could it be that Ana was a descendant of Sauros? That would exin why she looked nervous. It didn''t seem like Seris knew that, though.


    "You are simply unbelievable¡­" Sauros said while scratching the back of his head when he showed up from the back of his house.


    Seris showed up while showing a nervous smile soon after, and then another woman with long hair wearing something like a robe appeared as well. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and she showed a sweet smile when she saw Aion. Still, he would instead that she doesn''t show that because she had quite the pair of bazongas¡­ thergest that Aion had seen in that work, and it will be hard to maintain eye contact thanks to those bad boys.


    "Men, you don''t know when to take a break, huh," Sauros said when he got close enough."Since you never rx, you never use your head and don''t realize the obvious."


    "Are you picking a fight with me?" Aion asked while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "You must be Ana¡­ Seris only told us a few things about you," Sauros said while ignoring Aion. "It seems that I didn''t do my job properly, and that caused you a lot of suffering¡­ I am deeply sorry about that."


    "Hahaha, don''t mind it¡­" Ana looked away nervously. "I checked other timelines, and it seems that things were bound to happen that way no matter who was the next leader of the city."

 Chapter 339 Family Problems

    "I see¡­ I know that you guys are in a hurry, but you should at least stay here for the night and prepare," Sauros said. "By the way, this is my wife. Her name is Leinia."


    "It is a pleasure, everyone," Leinia said, still smiling. "Our house is big. Please, feel at home."


    "We don''t have time, and we came because I thought you would help us prepare faster," Seris said.


    "If you want to face the frozen Tyrant to join your side, a bit of preparation won''t be enough," Sauros said. "You can''t reach that creature that easily, even more so when there is a chance that you might go to the past. Also, I want to hear the alterations that Aion made in detail to make sure that the history didn''t change."


    "Like I said¡­" Seris insisted.


    "Give up, Seris," Sauros said and then dropped a chop on his sister''s head. "You need to give some exnations to mom and dad."


    "Urgh¡­" Seris groaned in pain.


    "I guess you are in trouble for some reason," Aion shrugged. "Did she leave without permission?"


    "It is something moreplicated than that¡­ don''t worry about it. This is the result of herck of resolve," Sauros exined and then facepalmed. "By the way, what do you think about our base? Pretty cool, right?"


    "Eh¡­" Aion shrugged.


    "The nerve¡­" Sauros sighed.


    "Hahaha, he is exactly like you described," Leinia said afterughing pretty hard.


    Truth be told, Aion didn''t want to stay, but he also had to confirm what happened in the past, and there was no better ce to confirm that than the Heradins base.


    The group entered Sauros'' house and then stopped in the living room. There was nothing out of the norm, and it had some couches, chairs, a table, a chimney¡­ Aion was starting to Wonder why he was expecting something else.


    In any case, Aion exined what he did in the past, and he told them his opinion as well about that era. The fact that he met someone like his ancestor in a dream eight hundred years ago also picked up Sauros'' interest.


    "History isn''t one of Seris'' forte, so she didn''t know much about that time, but I do," Sauros said. "As far as I remember, there was no battle between armies in that ce¡­ my ancestors of that time wrote about it. Still, if Fenhair still remembers you¡­ I need to read that report again. Rest here while I will look for the archives and prepare the things that you will need."


    "Which is?" Aion asked.


    "A lot of gear to fight the cold," Sauros replied and then got up. "Getting close to the frozen Tyrant can''t bepared to the cold we felt while we were in thatbyrinth."


    "Hmm, is that so¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    "Seris¡­ why didn''t you exin about that area properly?" Sauros asked after facepalming. "Anyway, do that while I solve the other things for you."


    Sauros left the residence with clothes that Aion could only describe as pajamas¡­ too rxing. He didn''t pass confidence as the future leader of their tribe while walking around like that.


    In any case, Seris exined that the frozen Tyrant was sealed inside a massive block of ice that was the size of a mountain. At the same time, a massive ice tornado that hadn''t lost power in five hundred years surrounded the ice mountain. He could only imagine how cold things would be there¡­


    "Those guys sure like to sleep¡­ I guess they don''t have better things to do," Aion said. "By the way, did anyone or any country try to tame the frozen tyrant?"


    "No one would be insane enough to tame that thing, only you," Seris raised her eyebrow. "That thing is like one hundred meters tall, and its presence alone is said to keep the ice tornado going. It is like trying to tame a walking disaster."


    Aion could only nod¡­ after all, the draconic wanderer wanted to eat Fenhair and not tame it. He couldn''t help but wonder if he would need help this time, the death knights mighte in handy, but Aion still had a long way ahead before upgrading the necromancer ss again.


    Necromancer Lv 67<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Health:08/08


    Mana: 3644/3644


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 221+ 90 +600


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 45 + 200


    Speed: 01


    Status: 100


    Necromancer''s Staff Refinement Lv 30


    Bonuses: Magic + 90, Resistance + 45


    Skills: Skeleton Knight Lv 15, Skeleton Archer Lv 26, Skeleton Wizard Lv 39, Death Knight Lv 100 (Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 98)


    Passive: Summon Lv 29, Store Lv 15, Undead Recovery Lv 29


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 0


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "It seems that even after hearing that, you don''t intend to give up," Seris said and then shrugged. "What would you do if the relics reacted to that ce?"


    "That will depend on what Sauros will say," Aion replied. "If the past was altered and there were no weird consequences, I would do the same as before. If it was altered, I would just destroy the cause of it. Either way, the relics will only point to distortions that aren''t supposed to exist, and those are the real dangerous things since they can create timelines and possibly alter the past¡­ my guess is that I altered the past."


    "Why do you think that?" Ana asked.


    "Because of my mother¡­ she can''t hear almost nothing when we are talking about the practical uses of time magic and how I changed the oue of that battle," Aion exined. "I can only guess that is because she isn''t directly rted to the issue, but what about someone like me that has the seal of the relics? What about others that can use time magic? If they have spells or relics of this level, they might not be treated like ordinary beings, and then the usualws of time and space might not apply to them in certain situations."

 Chapter 340 Reality Is Often Disappointing

    Everyone went silent after hearing¡­ Ana considered several things, and she assumed that despite her intervention, she wasn''t someone like Aion and the others that were trying to alter the past since her actions didn''t affect her timeline. Most likely, because her power level wasn''t that high.


    "I consider myself a somewhat intelligent person, but this topic is truly difficult¡­" Seris massaged her temples. "Since it is a very restrictive field of magic, we can''t test that much, even when we have the keys to this warehouse that is time magic."


    "If you think we have it hard, you probably can''t even imagine how the people around grandma nire''s time had it hard," Aion said.


    Seris sighed since Aion had a point. In any case, they decided to rx and wait instead of dwelling on all that annoying situation. The group waited until Sauros'' returned, and soon night came. Leinia served dinner for them, and she still kept looking at Aion.


    "I know that I am better looking than your husband, but you shouldn''t stare at me so much," Aion said.


    "Hahaha, you are really funny," Leiniaughed again.


    "That wasn''t a joke, though," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "No need to cope, reality is just often disappointing."


    "I was justughing because you are exactly like Sauros described," Leinia added. "He said that you were like a little brother that you were proud of."


    At that moment, Seris began to cough violently. It seemed that she didn''t chew her foot properly.


    "He probably said because he has a little sister that he isn''t that proud of," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "Anyway, I already have too many older brothers, and I don''t need more of them."


    "Hmm, if you say so¡­" Leinia still said while smiling as if she had heard the most interesting thing in the world.


    Once dinner was over, Aion headed to the garden of the house and then began to meditate. Now that he could use the full power of Meditation at level one hundred with its power, efficiency, and stability at the max, he could train with his magic while even maintaining that state. He wanted to use all the time he had to improve in a certain field.


    After concentrating for a while, Aion covered his right fist in mana and then used wind maniption and enhance the power, making it turn into electricity. He soon stopped, though since he zapped his hands and then became numb.


    "Need more training¡­" Aion thought and then sighed.


    Until his hand recovered, Aion focused on making more mana orbs since he couldn''t just fire his magic around. The more of those, the merrier, after all.


    "In any case, he sure is taking his time¡­" Aion thought.


    Sauros had left six hours ago, and he didn''t think that it would take that long to just look for some archives. In the end, they had to wait until morning for him¡­ things got noisy early in the morning. Aion was lucky that he always woke up earlier, so that didn''t bother him. Still, Seris sure was making a lot of noise.


    When Aion reached the living room, he saw Sauros and two more people. They were arguing with Seris¡­ apparently, that was the case, Seris looked pissed, but the couple, which seemed to be in their thirties, didn''t look even a bit fazed.


    "Oh, you are already awake," Sauros said. "It seems that you can''t sleep that much, even in other people''s houses."


    "Normally, most people wouldn''t rx that much when they don''t usually sleep¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "These are my parents, Jorei, the current head of the Heradins family, and Helen, my mother," Sauros said. "Father, mother, this is Aion Kresnik."


    "Oh, you are indeed young¡­"Jorei said while stroking his chin. "Despite that, you look strong and have a good look in your eyes. How unexpected."


    "Unexpected based on what?" Aion asked.


    "Your grandparents," Jorei replied. "I met them a few times, you know, and I tried to warn them about their actions."


    "Tsk, what an annoying guy¡­" Arc said.


    "Do you have anything to say to him, Grandpa?" Aion asked.


    "I would rather not force you to say what I have in mind," Arc replied.


    "I see. It is a poem not suited for the ears," Aion nodded to himself.


    "Oh, yeah¡­ you mentioned that you had the souls of the Millerians that ended up concentrating on a ghost dungeon,'' Sauros said once he realized that the others were looking weirdly at Aion.


    "That old fart didn''t change even after death?" Zorei asked while furrowing his eyebrows. "I guess even the afterlife was unable to endure his usual behavior."


    "Dear, you are leaving a bad impression on Aion," Helen said.


    Aion wanted to say that he wasn''t expecting much, to begin with since they were Seris and Sauros'' parents, but that would be beyond rude for a first meeting.


    "We are very thankful that you helped our kids and protected themst year," Helen said. "I felt shivers when I heard the report about the dangers that you faced, and you didn''t let a single scratchnd on them. By the way, you look strong like your father, but you have the good looks of your mother and grandmother."


    Helen was someone who certainly walked at the beat of her own drums. Aion had no idea how she could change topics like that so smoothly.


    "I am aware of it," Aion replied.


    "My, such confidence," Helen smiled.


    "All right, I guess this should be enough for introductions," Zorei said. "After hearing from Sauros, I decided to investigate with him since I also knew about that incident¡­ as it turned out, we are almost certain that history didn''t change."


    Aion furrowed his eyebrows since that didn''t make any sense¡­ were his guessespletely off the mark? Something was off about that. Fortunately, it looked like Sauros and his father had the exnations necessary for it. Aion just had to be patient.

 Chapter 341 Responsability

    "You look confused¡­" Zorei said. "Still, exining and understanding this is pretty simple¡­ the past can''t be changed, and considering all the things that happened and your experience, this was bound to happen in this timeline."


    Aion stopped to think for a moment about that implication. If that was true, then was he bound to die in the future and be defeated by Malon''s final enemies? Maybe it was more correct to say that the past can''t be changed. Still, the future is uncertain¡­ even if the game over already happened in another timeline.


    "Although the registers say that two armies didn''t face each other in that country and eight hundred years ago, we also could say that two armies didn''t face each other for too to give birth to a real war," Sauros added.


    "Then, you are saying that your ancestors did a sloppy job or they didn''t treat the situation that seriously?" Aion asked.


    "Saying either would be a bit too much¡­" Sauros forced a smile. "They basically lived on the other side of the world, and they crossed that distance to confirm what happened. Certainly, more than a few months passed, and they had to ask around about it to understand the situation. Most likely, after some reports, they came to assume that there was no battle because most of the situation felt that way. You said that it onlysted for two days, and only a few hundred out of a thousand died, right? We can assume that the poption eventually reached that conclusion since no one could tell what had truly happened."


    "... Ana, what did you learn about Fenhair and that incident? You learned about it after reading the books of your ancestors, right?" Aion asked.


    "No, I didn''t read the book that mentioned the attack. I only read one that mentioned Fenhair and his location," Ana replied.


    It seemed that Aion couldn''t check if things were different in her timeline¡­ that was annoying, but in the end, he could hope that Sauros was true.


    "To make sure that nothing messed up happens, I guess you need to make sure that you will only deal with the distortions caused by others that can use time magic," Sauros said. "The relics can inform you of that, right?"


    "Not always¡­ Ana interfered, but the relics didn''t inform me," Aion replied. "Probably because her actions didn''t have ill intentions or didn''t change her future."


    "I thought that I knew a lot about all this, but I guess I got ahead of myself¡­ only someone with hundreds of years of knowledge and some relics of that level can truly say anything for sure," Ana said with her head down.


    Malon was probably the best person for that. Still, Aion had no idea where he had to go and to which timeline he should head as well¡­ besides, most likely, he will only be knowledgeable way after thest time he fought alongside his friends.


    "Whatever, did you finish preparing the things that you said?" Aion asked. "We need to depart soon."


    "Why the hurry? You should stay here for a few days and enjoy a vacation," Helen said. "Give some time for Ana to enjoy the base of her people."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "She can stay, but I need to move on," Aion said. "I have too many things to do and too little time, and those relics can''t help me enough with that problem."


    "Err¡­ I want to go as well and try to make myself useful," Ana forced a smile. "Otherwise, there won''t be any point in meing to this timeline."


    "She can stay here for a while after the mission, then," Aion said.


    "All right," Sauros said, and then he approached a box with rings, gloves, and boots that he had brought. "After thest mission, I had some free time, and then I prepared some items that could help us in harsh environments. These ones here will help you guys against the freezing wind and the low temperatures. I don''t rmend wearing armor in that area since you will get frostbites incredibly fast."


    The rings, boots, and gloves had some gems that were a stronger version of the ones that Aion had collected, and those had been attached to those and could create ayer of mana around the bodies that would protect them against the cold.


    "The only problem is that to make them really effective, you will have to use your mana to fuel them," Sauros added after passing the items. "The more mana you use, the less cold you feel."


    "That won''t be a problem. Thanks to Ana, we discovered a good method to restore mana incredibly fast," Seris said while showing a bit of a sour expression since she had stayed silent until now. We need to get going. Later."


    "Seris¡­ you aren''t getting any younger, do you understand that?" Leinia asked. "You need to step up and do what you must while you can, or you will regret itter."


    "Yes, yes¡­" Seris said and then sighed.


    Aion thought that they had a bad rtionship, but that probably wasn''t the case. The problem was Seris, who was a bit of an airhead and acted like a teenager sometimes. In any case, Aion was thankful that they didn''t argue in front of him, and that would be a bit ufortable.


    "Usually, I would join you guys, but I guess my leadership skills won''t be necessary," Sauros said and then put his left hand on Aion''s shoulders. "I will leave things to you, and you can ask for help from me if you think that you will need it. Although that is very unlikely considering the previous mission."


    "Losing confidence when you are almost thirty? Middle-age crisis?" Aion asked while furrowing his eyebrows. "Don''t you have more than ten years of experience being the captain of the nest crew of your people?"


    "I guess¡­ I guess I was just finding excuses for myself," Sauros showered a bit of an awkward smile. "I didn''t reach my peak yet, and I can''t take it easy now that I am about to be a father."

 Chapter 342 Ice Tornado

    It seemed that Sauros hadn''t informed anyone about that yet, so everyone congratted him. At the same time, they told Aion toe to visit since he could cross that distance in half a day¡­ a distance that the best ship in the world would need a month to cross.


    After that, they left the house and then headed to the entrance of the city altogether. The mood was too rxed, considering that they were going on a difficult mission, but Aion couldn''tin. It was better than letting everyone get nervous with a serious air.


    Once everything was ready, Aion created the tform, and then Seris and Ana jumped in. Aion was quite curious to learn now a ship could leave and anchor in that city, but that was something forter. Besides, he was also wondering how he could build a city like that¡­ having a flying fortress would be more than a little bit nice. It would be fucking awesome. If he adds a barrier or something, basically, no one will be able to enter aside from a few people. Aion made a mental note to study how to make those barriers where only people with his blood could cross them. That also could be a problem, though. Since it means that anyone that hurts him will obtain the key.


    "We are going untilter," Aion said and then nodded while looking at those four, who waved their hands while smiling.


    They began to fly away and soon crossed the barrier. Entering was difficult, but leaving was quite easy¡­ regardless, Seris sighed in relief while Ana was in a good mood.


    "Sucks to be you. It must be pretty nice to have a family like that and live in such a ce," Aion said.


    "Shut up. Aren''t you also getting along with your brothers and sisterstely?" Seris frowned.


    "I am notining about my life," Aion shrugged his shoulders. "I was just trying to be understanding. I guess I can imagine what your parents are thinking."


    "Urgh, you definitely can''t. Rather, you are probably wrong," Seris said and then looked away.


    Once they left the area, Aion summoned the draconic wanderer and then closed the earth tform with walls and a ceiling. This time, Aion also created some chairs to make sure that the speed wouldn''t push them back every single time. Aion''s idea of an airne in that world wasn''t half bad¡­ Still, the temperature began to drop considerably, and soon they were forced to equip the items that Sauros lent them.


    "I hate to explore this area¡­" Seris said while trembling all over due to the cold.


    "How further away is the frozen Tyrant?" Aion asked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "When the winds start to freeze this room, and when your friend over there begins to freeze, you will know that we are getting close enough," Seris replied.


    While Seris said that, Aion realized that soon they began to slow down since the wind was blowing against them. When he checked the draconic wanderer, even when he was transformed, he was suffering a lot of damage. Still, thanks to his powers as a dragon, he could endure and heal quite fast.


    "You looked fine. Howe?" Aion asked while looking at Ana.


    "Well¡­ one of the guys that defeated you in the future gave birth to an ice age thatsted for forty years even after your death," Ana replied. "So, I am used to the cold."


    Aion thought that he was getting ridiculously strong, but he was just a big fish in a small pond. He couldn''t even begin to imagine how much mana would be necessary to pull that off. His sense of urgency was only getting more powerful over time¡­


    "It is time to start thinking in the long term¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "While I only started with this now, I need to start working on building the perfect builds. The more I master sses, the more options I will have further in their trees¡­"


    Aion recalled the time when he decided to focus on leveling up only three sses that had different fighting styles, but things are a lot different now¡­ For each ss, he could only make a single skill reach its peak. Even though he could reset those sses and still keep them at their max level, he couldn''t just change the skill that he focused on improving in mid-battle. Not against decent enemies.


    "If what Sauros said is right¡­ maybe I can make better use of these time travels to get stronger," Aion thought. "Going to dungeons and making the death knights clear them several times definitely will help, and it won''t affect the past that much. I just need to be careful of how long I stay in those periods of time since I am getting older in those periods as well. It will be weird if someday I look older than mom."


    Ana said that Aion will live for a long time if things go well, but he couldn''t be careless. Regardless, Aion forgot about that when the temperature decreased even more inside, and he was starting to feel really cold even with his high resistance. Seris and Ana began to feed their items with their mana to fight it back, and Aion used some fire and wind magic to heat up things a bit as well.


    Seris used a rune to help the draconic wanderer endure the cold a bit more. Still, he was starting to drain a lot more mana from Aion to recover from the damage, so he decided to cancel the summoning. At the same time, Aion had the chance to open a window to see the area ahead, and then he saw a massive ice tornado¡­


    From a distance, it looked like the winds were blowing slowly around that thing. However, it only looked like that because they were fifty kilometers away. The size of that thing was stupid and Aion wondered how such a phenomena could maintain itself...

 Chapter 343 Sins Of Another Life

    After thinking for a while, Aion honestly thought that Seris and Ana won''t be able to endure that up close¡­ Aion also thought that he would need to change his ss and focus all his points on resistance to endure it.


    Warrior Lv 89


    Health: 990/990


    Mana: 204/204


    Stamina: 314/314


    Strength: 135 + 75


    Dexterity: 56


    Magic: 101


    Endurance: 135 + 150


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 101


    Status: 15


    Hammer Refinement Lv 50


    Bonuses: Strength + 75, Endurance + 75


    Skills: Vertical Swing Lv 22, Stunning Blow Lv 22, Furious Hammer Lv 22, Toss Hammer Lv 01, Fury Lv 42 (Power Lv 85, Efficiency Lv 80, Cost Lv 80)


    Passive: Iron Skin Lv 26, Warrior''s Aura Lv 26, Fire Resistance Lv 10, Cold Resistance Lv 10, Shock Resistance Lv 10


    Improvement Points: 09


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 0


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "I guess this one will do. It is close to reaching the max level as well¡­ but I can''t risk canceling the death knights," Aion thought and then sighed. "I really need to master the Necromancer ss soon."


    All of a sudden, Aion had an idea and then decided to use the relics. Much to his surprise, several mirrors appeared in front of him, and the one right in front of them was shining as well.


    "So, it is like that, huh¡­ someone is trying to mess with the time in this timeline?" Seris asked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "It appears so," Aion replied. "Anyway, we are going, so get ready since thest time the draconic wanderer caused me a lot of trouble. I don''t know if the same person will be trying to mess with us, but it is better to assume that it will be harder."


    Aion didn''t make any items with his blood yet, so Ana will have a hard time if the enemy focuses on her. Even Seris will since the level of the enemies skyrocketedter, but at least her magic was morebat focused.


    Without wasting time, they crossed the shining mirror, and then they found themselves standing in the same region as before. However, the ice tornado looked smaller in the distance, and the cold was weaker as well.


    "I guess it makes sense¡­ since the tornado was created thanks to the frozen Tyrant''s presence, and he grows stronger with the passage of time," Seris said.


    "Do you know if there is any dungeon nearby?" Aion asked.


    "No, why do you ask?" Seris furrowed her eyebrows.


    "Just asking," Aion said and then used the relics again, and then a beam of light was pointed to the North of the region. "... What is in that direction?"


    "Hmm? I am not sure¡­ this is entire region is too cold for people to live in. There shouldn''t be any vige, town, or city two thousand kilometers in all directions. That is why we live rtively close to this ce," Seris replied. "I am not entirely sure, but I don''t think that any civilization existed here five hundred years ago."


    Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Since Ana didn''t say anything, he assumed that nothing had happened to the frozen Tyrant or he didn''t do anything five hundred years in the future. Besides, considering how the ice tornado lost time, it was clear that they were in the past. The question was, how much further in the past?


    In any case, they decided to fly toward the North and see what would happen. Most likely, someone was trying to do something to that primordial creature as well for one reason or another other, and it was better to prevent it from gaining favor with the frozen Tyrant. Maybe he will also dispel the ice tornado in the future for them.


    As they began to fly, there was nothing around aside from rtively small mountains covered in snow and white forests for the same reason. It looked like it snows all year around in that area, so it seemed that Seris was right.


    "I guess it will be hard to tell at which period of time we are¡­ unless¡­" Aion said when he thought of something.


    "Unless¡­ what?" Seris asked.


    "You want us to send us back to the hideout of the family, right?" Ana asked.


    "Yep¡­ still, I don''t think that it is a good idea to split up here," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "The enemy might be waiting for us to give them such a chance. For now, let''s just focus on finding what lies ahead in the North."


    While Aion could keep making the earth room fly, he summoned the draconic wanderer again since the cold was bearable. Still, he told Seris not to use the flying rune since they might pass the area that the relics showed them.


    Still, it took them two hours to finally find traces of something in the region¡­ they found a lot of smoke ahead, and it was pretty concentrated.


    "In that direction is¡­ a volcano, I am sure¡­ but I don''t think it had ever be Active," Seris said while frowning.


    "Come to think of it, while the frozen tyrant never woke up in the history that I know of, that volcano was supposed to erupt and destroy a lot of things in hundreds of kilometers since it gave birth to a dungeon that exploded," Ana added.


    "The world ended, and the frozen Tyrant never woke up?" Aion asked, visibly shocked.


    "Yes¡­ my guess is that they didn''t find humans worth saving," Ana exined and then looked away.


    "I killed more than them, right?" Aion asked. "I guess that would exin."


    "Yes¡­ you also killed the wind maiden," Ana replied. "She was supposed to bepletely pacific, and she just erected a wind barrier to protect some countries¡­ you didn''t like that and destroyed her whole base."


    "I see. It is useful to know what I might do if I be grumpy¡­ that will help me control myself better," Aion said.


    "Grumpy, that is more than just a little level of grumpiness," Seris said and then shrugged.

 Chapter 344 Growth

    Iron Heart was one of the skills that Ethan had been looking for and one of the pirs that made him be such a powerhouse in the other world. Now that he had finally relearned the skill, he recalled how troublesome it would be to train it. Ethan had to get hurt to train it. However, that was fine, and he was used to it.


    "I wanted to continue for a while," Ethan said and then frowned. "but it looks like you aren''t that fond of the idea."


    Emily could also use healing spells, but wounding someone and healing it afterward was something that few people could do without damaging their own minds. Although that would help Ethan, he wouldn''t force someone to do that and much less if that someone was a friend who was at aplicated age.


    "I can''t even imagine what you had to endure in the other world to make you think that this is training," Emily said and then sat on the floor since she was mentally exhausted.


    "Nah, it was a pretty standard adventure," Ethan shrugged.


    "Can I hear some details?" Emily asked.


    "Sure¡­ let''s see, where from should I start?" Ethan rubbed his chin. "One day, a mighty awesome and handsome teenager was summoned to another world. His name was Ethan, and he fought the demon king''s army for a year, punishing evildoers and rewarding those who did the good. Then one day, he kicked the demon king''s ass because he was a fool who sat on his throne for an entire year and did nothing but send his minions to power-level, the mighty awesome and handsome Ethan. The end."


    Emily sighed. If that were really the truth, then Ethan was supposed to be a fool even worse than Ian. However, since he wasn''t, it was clear that such a tale was a tant lie. In any case, Emily decided not to pry any further. In the end, both of them just trained their stamina. Still, since Ethan''s training worked in a different manner, he also bought several potions from the school in order to train his support spells. It was weird, but Vigor could only level up after Ethan spent his entire stamina. If he used potions to recover it, the skill wouldn''t receive that much experience.


    After dinner on that Friday, Ethan headed to his bedroom feeling quite rxed. He had justpleted the set of his passive skills that could improve the maximum limit of his health, mana, and stamina. Now, he just needed the next set, which could help him restore energy while he fought.


    "Although those three aren''t that strong at the beginning, the fact that I can train them simultaneously while fighting is their real benefit. Well then¡­ what should I do next?"


    For the good or the worse, Ethan was a warrior who more or less had muscles for a brain. So, just keep thinking about the skills he needed wouldn''t make him think of a way to relearn them. Just like that happened that day, he should wait for those shes of inspiration toe naturally. Although that wasn''t how he usually approached to most situations, he couldn''t do anything else since that was more or less a problem that was deeply rted with magic.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Anyway, I have too much money¡­ well, not really, but I need to spend them on something useful. More mana potions? It is getting kind of hard to train the support spells all at the same time¡­ there are so many potions I can drink, after all. I am still far from the level of power than I once had, but my set of skills is more or less pretty bnced¡­ I just need one more type of skill¡­ a skill that ispletely focused on defense."


    Train magic at home wasn''t something Ethan should do, but as long as he didn''t go far, things wouldn''t get out of hand. Ethan used some defensive equipment while he was one Meizibio, but those had be useless since he had grown quite a bit since then. Buying more low-level gear wasn''t something that he wanted, so Ethan decided to learn a defensive spell, and he already knew which one he would learn: Ice Shield.


    "Now that I think about it, learning this kind of spell is much more convenient since they can grow with me. I can''t say that they will never be useless, but it certainly will take a while for that to happen."


    Fortunately, even though Emily used that spell a single time, Ethan paid enough attention to see how she created the shield in the blink of an eye. Since Emily was someone practical, she didn''t waste time giving many details to the shield, and she just created a massive square that would block all attacks that woulde from the front.


    Ethan began to create a smaller version using his knowledge of ice magic. As expected, it was hard to give a shape to his mana when he wasn''t used to creating anything like that. However, eventually, Ethan created a perfect replica of that shield¡­ one that was as big as his hands.


    "Mmm¡­ how did she manage to hit the golem when this was in front of her?" Ethan frowned when he noticed that he couldn''t see the other side of the shield.


    Ian and Ethan didn''t stay behind Emily, so they saw things literally from the sidelines. Ethan didn''t notice it, but Emily created a pretty thin shield, one that wouldn''t block her field of vision but at the same time could block the magma spears. Ethan had a shield of that level, but it looked like it would take a while for him to reach that level of mastery.


    "Well, I have the entire weekend to train, so I don''t have to worry," Ethan shrugged. "Mmm¡­ maybe I should even focus my entire magic training on this spell¡­ for some reason, I feel this will be more useful than I can imagine."


    Ethan did exactly that. However, before even trying to create a shield big enough to protect his whole body, he trained the smaller version of that spell until he could see through the ice shield. The trick was rtively simple, but it took a while for Ethan to notice it. He just had to be fast. If he weren''t, the mana would end up concentrating on the center of the shield and thus making it denser in that area.


    When Ethan was bored, he trained his body, but only to the extent of leveling up Vigor. It would be a waste of time to train other skills while his stamina is stupidly low, after all. Regardless, in the blink of an eye, the next Friday arrived, and thus the day when Ethan would participate in the expedition to another world.

 Chapter 345 Divergence

    The group approached the area where the smoke wasing from and then confirmed the existence of an active volcano. Aion didn''t know much about volcanoes, but he didn''t remember hearing about them existing in extremely cold areas like that. He needed to study more¡­


    Aion used the relic again and confirmed that they were pointing to right below the volcano¡­ which was going to be very annoying. They couldn''t just go down using the main path of the volcano, so they began to circle around there and eventually found a cave¡­ it seemed like the entrance of a dungeon.


    "You said that the in the future, a dungeon explodes here, was the dungeon reactivated here, or it just appeared in the future?" Aion asked.


    "I am pretty sure that it will appear in the future¡­" Ana replied.


    "I don''t remember about a dungeon appearing here either," Seris added.


    The weirdness of the situation was starting to stand out more and more. In any case, they decided to check the interior after they raised the guard. The draconic wanderer went ahead first while being controlled by Aion since he was nning to give his support with magic.


    Aion created a fireball and made it illuminate the path ahead since the interior waspletely dark, and soon they noticed that something was off¡­ the monsters weren''ting.


    "I really don''t like this," Aion furrowed his eyebrows and then said.


    "Do you think that someone elerated how things were going to happen and forced the dungeon to emerge many years before it was supposed to?" Seris asked.


    "I guess so," Aion replied, and then he recalled that the smoke of the volcano hadn''t spread that much since the ashes didn''t fall that much yet. "The mirror probably made use to a time where the distortion started, and the volcano must be the start of it... The dungeon must be the second part of their n."


    After walking for a while, the group noticed that the temperature was starting to increase. Five hundred meterster, they noticed that there was a light ahead. The light eventually turned into a massive open field that looked like a massive hole. However, even on the walls of the hole, they could see a path going downward and in a spiral. There was this hot steaming from below that they could even see the bottom of the hole.


    "This is a shape of a dungeon that I never heard of¡­ this is more than a bit tricky," Seris said. "Usually, the dungeons would grow over time the more mana they have, it is like abyrinth, but at a slow pace, but it looks like this dungeon waspleted from the very beginning."


    "Maybe the core of the dungeon is making the dungeon deeper as we speak," Aion said.


    "That is another thing that I never heard of¡­ they might not stay in the same ce all the time, but they need to be in the same area once they begin to work as a core of a dungeon," Seris added.


    "I don''t know the details of the dungeon since it exploded¡­ that was the only thing I found about it," Ana added.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Exploded¡­ exploded," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    "Don''t repeat such ominous words," Seris said after gulping, imagining what Aion imagined.


    "It is fine. I don''t think that the enemy will use such an obvious trap," Aion shrugged. "Let''s go down using the earth tform to save time."


    Aion created the earth tform, but the draconic wanderer went to town ahead of them since he could fly. Aion wondered when he would get that spell as well. Using his current means wasn''t half bad, but he wanted more.


    Regardless, as they went down, the temperature began to increase, and they felt like the enemy wasughing at them since they came to that timeline ready for cold and not heat. Still, Aion solved that problem bybining water and wind magic.


    After not so long, everyone managed to see some creatures deep below on the staircase-like path near the walls. They were emitting a lot of heat, and when Aion focussed his eyes, he saw golems made of magma¡­pletely made out of magma. They were like five meters tall, quite wide, and without a doubt, heavy. So, he wondered how they didn''t make the staircase fall.


    "They aren''t moving at all¡­ why?" Seris furrowed her eyebrows.


    Aion made the draconic wanderer approach one of the monsters and crush its head with all his might since he didn''t want to get close to those suspicious creatures under those circumstances while he was using the necromancer ss. Thanks to that, the draconic wanderer killed the first beast, but then the body exploded.


    Everything in a thirty meters radius was hit by the magma of the body of the beast. Aion quickly summoned an ice wall to block the magma, but he had to keep repairing it for a while. Until he saw the draconic wanderer more than a little bit damaged, and then he saw that the nearest golems had be a bit bigger as well, thanks to the magma.


    "This isn''t a half-bad n¡­" Aion nodded to himself. "Lure the enemies to a confined space and then use the explosive monsters to slow their advance down to proceed with their nefarious ns."


    "I don''t think that it is a good idea to waste timeplimenting the enemy¡­ in my experience, the more time we waste, the worse the situation will be for us," Ana said, showing a nervous look.


    "If the monsters aren''t advancing, then the enemy has control over the core of the dungeon¡­ it should be obvious by now since the dungeon appeared hundreds of years before it should be, but still¡­" Seris began to bite her nails since she also couldn''t imagine how they could deal with that annoying trap.


    As for Aion, he already had a n in mind on how to solve that mess.

 Chapter 346 Imprisoned Soul

    Going down and ignoring the monsters wasn''t a good idea since they would attack them all at once. If they weren''t overwhelmed by their sheer power and numbers, they would be overwhelmed by their sheer weight. The magma will have to fall somewhere, after all, and it would be enough to create a smallke.


    Aion covered the body of the first enemy with a thickyer of ice, but even though he used five percent of his total mana, the ice still began to melt and crack. Without any other choice, he froze another. Then he made those two collide against each other, making their bodies crack into pieces, and they didn''t explode.


    You obtained 1000 experience points.


    You obtained 1000 experience points.


    "The trick is on their body temperature¡­" Aion controlled the blocks of ice and tried to make his weapon absorb them, but it didn''t work. "... They need a lot of energy to explode, but if they use that energy to keep themselves from cooling down, they can''t explode."


    Since he got Experience, those were truly dungeon monsters. Still, Aion couldn''t understand why he couldn''t use their bodies as materials. They didn''t have cores either¡­ so it seemed that they were another type of monster that decided to assume the appearance of a magma golem.


    After doing some experiments and trying to confirm that, Aion could feel some mana leaving the body of those golems and their heads as well and going down the dungeon.


    "This feeling¡­ someone binded some souls to those creatures to make them stronger," Arc suddenly said, and Aion realized that they could feel more or less the same things as him with magic.


    "You seem well-informed, grandpa," Aion said. "Can you spill the beans and save some of my time?"


    "... In the past, my family also tried to experiment with the souls of monsters. Some people are able to bind their souls to their existences to make them stronger by forcing them to invade other bodies and control them," Arc replied after a long sigh.


    "I thought that you were more prideful than that," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "Why look for more power in such an external manner?"


    "I didn''t do that, but some of my ancestors wanted more power¡­ even more so once they learned that some mutations can be controlled," Arc exined.


    Aion more or less, that was the case since he had so many abilities¡­ if Malon was the one who gave him the system, then it made sense that he learned the trick behind it as well.


    "I guess the enemy is controlling the monsters and the core of the dungeon using those souls," Aion said.


    "I am aware that such a thing is possible¡­ but I thought that the vessel and the souls must have some connection like it is in your case," Ana said after she gulped.


    "All rules have exceptions. By the way. Where did you get the idea of making me the vessel of so many souls?" Aion asked.


    "... One of the final enemies could do that. They used the souls of all the people they killed and forced them to give them even more power," Ana exined while she was sweating cold.


    "Forcing them¡­ you don''t have to exin it," Aion shook his head. "As expected, such a thing is possible, but I would rather avoid following that path. I don''t know how this enemy can do this, but I guess it must be different from one of the guys who killed me in the future."


    "Do you know any countermeasures for this, grandpa?" Aion asked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "No, I am not particrly familiar with the subject," Arc replied.


    "Your weapon can absorb things. You can get the souls if you freeze their bodies and then pierce their hearts since they are there," Annalee said.


    "Would it be that simple?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "I don''t know how your power works, but it should be stronger than the power of the spell that binds those souls to your enemy," Annalee added.


    "... I guess it is worth a try. Thanks, Grandma," Aion smiled.


    "Humph," Annalee smirked.


    Some people say that even the most cold-hearted people be meek when they see their grandchildren. Aion was fully aware that he didn''t have the cuteness of kids, but perhaps he had some level of charm.


    Aion froze another magma golem and then brought it close to him. At that point in time, he couldn''t help but frown since the enemies weren''t reacting in any shape or form¡­ it seemed that they could only follow a few orders, like attacking those who got too close or passed by them.


    In this case, Aion''s staff didn''t have any sharpness in it, so he had to make it sharp by covering it with ice and then piercing theyer and the monster''s body with all his might.


    "Unbelievable¡­ it actually worked," Arc said, visibly surprised.


    "What do you mean by that? It is only natural that it would work," Annalee said, clearly annoyed.


    "Hello, hello, can you hear me?" Aion asked when he checked his inventory and saw another soul there. "Who are you, and who was using your soul?"


    ".... Urgh, where are you? Where am I? Who are you?"


    "I hate people when they answer my questions with more questions¡­ this one has even the nerve to ask three at once," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "My name is¡­ Lou," the soul''s voice echoed around. "We were trying to escape the giant cmities when something happened, and then everything got dark, and then I found myself here."


    "Giant cmities?" Aion frowned.


    "... That is how we called the final enemies that killed you," Ana said while trembling all over. "Apparently, they were tall enough to trample mountains with their feet alone¡­ I don''t think that you would be able to cancel their spell if they were involved in this, and if this person was running away from them, then he belongs to the future, and only one being aside from the cmities could have done this¡­ the same being that caused the incident where your sisters and their husbands were tortured to death."


    "Oh, is that so¡­" Aion showed a cold glint in his eyes. "I am really itching to meet him, and I guess I am getting closer."

 Chapter 347 Drastic Measures

    "... What can you tell us about that being, Ana?" Seris asked while feeling shivers after seeing Aion''s eyes. "Can you tell us anything about it?"


    "Yes¡­ I managed to get in the way of their actions on this timeline during your periods of time, so it seems that they are trying to change the past and create more convenient timelines for them," Ana replied. "How can I exin what that thing is¡­ can you imagine what would happen if humans could create souls and give them absolute orders? That thing is such a thing, a human-made soul with the single proposition to cause your downfall. That thing failed to do so before the giant cmities, but they are still determined to kill you in all timelines."


    "Dear me¡­ what did I do to deserve such love?" Aionughed and then shrugged.


    Although Aion said that, he could understand how something could hate him so much. Ana said that someone produced an artificial soul to kill him, but most likely, it was akin to an AI programmed with that sole goal.


    Despite his anger, Aion was quite interested in the subject, he liked to train with magic, and he liked to try new applications for the use of his mana. So, it was no wonder that his enemy, despite not being a human, it felt so interesting.


    "Before you ask that, I can''t tell you where that thing was created¡­ even if what Sauros said earlier is true about changing the past isn''t actually changing it, things get a different turn about the future."


    "Yeah, I am aware¡­ don''t worry, I will just destroy that thing on the timelines in which it exists, and I won''t try to prevent its creation," Aion replied while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "There are other things that I can do to get in the way of assholes, after all. Anyway, Lou, was it? What are you going to do? You were killed, and you can disappear for good or help me kill the being that killed you."


    "... What will happen afterward?" Lou asked.


    "Who knows? It isn''t like you can return to your body¡­" Aion said, and then he went silent when he recalled fusing souls of the same people from different timelines. "Maybe there is another option, but I can''t give details right now."


    "... What do I have to do?" Lou asked after much hesitation.


    "What did you do in life exactly?" Aion asked.


    "I was a fisherman," Lou replied readily. "What does that matter?"


    "It was just a random question. Just offer me your mana whenever until you think that it is fine," Aion replied. "How can he do that, grandpa?"


    "It is easier to control our mana while we are souls, and it is just like thinking that we should move on and ept our deaths," Arc exined.


    "That is really weird¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Despite that, Aion soon began to feel Lou''s mana being absorbed by his body. Still, while he was weak and didn''t have much mana, he was only getting small amounts of experience.


    The spearman ss obtained 10 experience points.


    The spearman ss obtained 10 experience points.


    Spearman Lv 95


    Health: 494/494


    Mana: 244/244


    Stamina: 746/746


    Strength: 156 + 100


    Dexterity: 30


    Magic: 121


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Speed: 172 + 200


    Status: 35


    Spear Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Strength + 100, Speed + 200


    Skills: Quick Spear Lv 46 (Power Lv 70, Efficiency Lv 70), Sonic Thrust Lv 01, Frozen Spear Lv 01, Fiery Spear Lv 01, Deadly Wind Lv 01, Throw Lv 11


    Passive: Spear Mastery Lv 47 (Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 37), Block Mastery Lv 22, Critical Lv 29, Bleed Lv 19, Stamina Recovery Lv 06


    Improvement Points: 12


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 0


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    "I guess it is working, and I am almost there¡­" Aion nodded to himself in satisfaction.


    "If it is working, it is fine, but are you nning to do this to all souls?" Seris asked. "Even I can tell that you are using too much mana."


    Seris had a point. Even while using Meditation at the highest output, it will take hours to get rid of all the monsters around. Still, there was no other option¡­ it was better than letting the souls return to the enemy.


    "By the way, you don''t remember anything after being killed? Not even receiving orders?" Aion asked.


    "No," Lou replied.


    "We also don''t remember during the time Ana controlled us," Arc said. "We only awoke after being dead after finding apatible vessel, which was you."


    "I guess Aion can talk with Lou because¡­ I don''t know, actually," Seris said and then forced augh. "Maybe because he has many powers of different origins? Are you going to exin why you have so many powers?"


    "I am not even sure myself," Aion shrugged.


    Ana stayed silent since she knew¡­ if Series had asked, which means that Ana would keep her word. There was no need to spread that kind of information, and it wouldn''t help anyone. In any case, Aion enveloped his magic staff in a thinyer of ice with massive amounts of mana. To the point that Seris and Ana even began to feel cold there¡­


    After sharpening the tip as much as possible, Aion fired it and then pierced the chests of twenty monsters in quick session. That consumed all of Aion''s, but at least he doubled the effectiveness of his attack.


    While he was recovering his mana, Aion talked with the souls¡­ or at least he tried. Arc did most of the job since they were shocked and confused for not having corporeal bodies. Still, existing like that was better than nothing, so they agreed to help Aion.


    "The neers are so understandable¡­ while the Millerians are such a pain in the ass?" Aion thought.


    Most likely, they didn''t care if the world would end or not¡­ if the worstes to the worst, Aion probably could find a way to make them useful. Still, he would rather avoid doing anything drastic for now.

 Chapter 348 Support

    After three hours of fighting and recovering his stamina, Aion managed to kill around five hundred of those creatures. Seris also helped him recover mana, but while that wasn''t an rming pace, he was worried that the enemy was just letting him do his thing.


    "You haven''t met this guy, have you?" Aion asked.


    "No, while they messed with you in some timelines, they didn''t show themselves even once," Ana replied. "Even now, they must be in that timeline¡­ trying to change the past as much as possible while plotting against you."


    Ana didn''t even know the name of that fucker. So, Aion decided to refer to them like that¡­ he wanted to think of the fucker as an AI with the body of aputer. Still, even in the future, in five hundred years in that world, things won''t be that advanced. Besides, it was hard to imagine a machine that could use magic.


    Regardless, after three more hours, they finally reached the end of that tunnel and got rid of all the monsters. Things ended so smoothly that they felt almost suspicious that something was off.


    In any case, they also found a metal door that was twenty meters long and five wide at the bottom of that hole¡­ Aion tried to move it, but it didn''t budge even a bit. He created two massive earth hands to pulse it since he couldn''t change his ss, but that wasn''t enough either.


    "What the hell¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "This isn''t supposed to be here¡­ this a magic door that negates all sorts of force applied agaisnt it," Seris said while touching the huge door. "I thought that this was lost magic technology, but¡­ I guess nothing is actually lost when you can use time magic."


    "I am starting to think that the relics are useless," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "Without them, things would be a lot worse," Ana shook her head. "The relics at least decrease exponentially the number of people that can use time magic since they have to deal with a lot of restrictions and find ways to reach their goals."


    "Anyway, it seems that the enemy wants to keep us away from something on the other side¡­ this might cost some mana and make a lot of earth copse on us, but I need to go all out for once," Aion said.


    "Brute Strength won''t help here¡­ like I told you¡­" Seris said, trying to stop Aion.


    "It can only work up to a certain point since it requires mana to do that," Aion dered and then infused his mana on the magic staff. "If I surpass the mana inside the door, I should be able to ignore that."


    "Well, in theory, yes, but¡­" Seris said and then sighed.


    Ana put a hand on her shoulder and just shook her head. There was no point in trying to stop Aion. Just to be sure that he would be able to reach his goal on the first try, Aion also used five mana orbs to duplicate the power of his attack¡­ the magic staff was covered in a thinyer of ice. Still, ayer powerful enough to make everyone around feels like they were about to freeze.


    In the next moment, Aion used his magic to make the magic staff spin insanely fast, and then he fired it toward the door. The sound of metal colliding against each other almost made everyone go deaf for several seconds, and much to their surprise, the door didn''t get a single crack, even though it had beenpletely frozen.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In the next moment, Aion felt a shiver and then grabbed Seris and Ana by their hands before he flew upward by using a burst of winding from behind on himself. Soon after, the metal door was smashed by something, and then the temperature began to increase again. Once the steam started to dissipate, Aion saw a massive magma golem that was asrge as the width of that hole. Around fifty meters tall and ten meters wide¡­


    "That hurt¡­ but you saved our lives," Seris said once she saw the beast below them. "You have the wild instincts of an animal."


    "Is this the guardian of the core?" Ana furrowed her eyebrows. "Its power is muchrger than the other monsters, but¡­"


    Aion nodded¡­ it wasn''t an enemy that he couldn''t deal with. The creature looked at them and then jumped. Despite its size, it could jump quite high, but Aion fired an ice spear that pierced its head¡­ and then he felt a shiver again.


    "Shit!" Aion said and then used all his remaining mana to create an ice wall.


    The monster exploded, and then the whole dungeon trembled. Somehow, the ice wall endured the attack, but the temperature increased exponentially. They coughed for a while, but then Aion stopped when he heard more footsteps¡­ another monster of that level showed itself.


    You obtained 10.000 experience points.


    "I have a bad feeling about this¡­" Aion muttered.


    Before the monster could jump, Aion used a mana orb to recover his energy and then flew upward. The beast jumped, but it didn''t reach them, but quickly began to climb the walls of the dungeon. An explosion of that level could easily destroy an entire town, so they couldn''t let such a thing get close to them.


    "I didn''t feel any weird presence when the monster died¡­ didn''t they have souls of other people?" Aion said.


    "Most likely not. I also didn''t feel anything¡­" Arc said. "To think that people would be able to harness the power of the dungeon cores and be able to control the guardians in the future¡­ your enemies sure are a resourceful bunch."


    Arc was talking as if he was unrted to the problem. In any case, once they got far away enough, Aion attacked the monster with another giant ice spear since he couldn''t risk breaking his magic staff.


    You obtained 10.000 experience points.


    Killing them with his current magic power was rtively easy. Still, soon Aion saw another monster climbing the walls¡­ he had to take the fight outside since the dungeon was starting to get some cracks in the walls.

 Chapter 349 Assistance

    Aion decided to leave the dungeon and see what would happen. In the worst-case scenario, he will just try to nuke the ce inside out with all his magic. If the enemies keeping, he will just face them outside.


    That was his original n until he noticed that the third enemy was climbing the walls a lot faster than the others. Around thirty percent faster¡­ At the same time, the creature didn''t get bigger. Now that Aion thought about it, when the explosions happened, the magma didn''t spread around¡­ something was off.


    "It is the heat¡­" Aion said.


    "The heat? What of it?" Seris furrowed her eyebrows.


    "When they exploded, they increased the heat inside the dungeon, and that is increasing the power of those creatures," Aion exined. At the same time, he made the tform that they were using fly even faster. "This guy is pretty good¡­ I don''t know how much time he had to n all of this, but the enemy came up with a n of multiple steps, and each step would increase his chances of killing me. I should learn a thing or two from them."


    "Again, this isn''t the time to be impressed by the enemy¡­" Ana said and then sighed. "Then again, I can understand where you areing from."


    Aion sped up once again since the enemy was gaining even more speed and because he also felt creeped out by the enemy''s way of climbing. The creature couldn''t move its arms that much, so it used its fingers to do most of the job, and that was more than a bit creepy.


    In any case, Aion wondered how the monsters would leave the dungeon since the first corridor wasn''t thatrge, and those creatures were massive¡­ it was hard to imagine that the enemy would have made such a blunder. Aion confirmed that they didn''t once they reached the top of the hole and saw that the entrance corridor of the dungeon had gottenrger and it had also gotten warmer as well.


    "Again, this doesn''t look good¡­" Aion said.


    "I read that there was a tribe that lived two thousand years ago that they could be stronger just by living in a desert," Seris said once they began to cross the desert, and the monster quickly followed them. "No one understood the reason, but I guess it is simr to these things¡­ they absorbed the heat to be stronger."


    "Have you heard of any type of monster that could explode and increase the temperature of the environment as well?" Aion asked.


    "I had¡­ it was a dungeon of fire slimes," Ana said. "They are supposed to appear two hundred years in the future. While they aren''t strong, they managed to turn their dungeon into a living hell for those who killed a lot of them at once."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Those two sure were knowledgeable. Still, they couldn''t help but frown since things didn''t add up. Those characteristics belonged to humans and monsters. How could the magma golems inherit those traits¡­ the answer was quite simple: the enemy managed to find a way to do so.


    "The people of this world call it a mutation, but it is more like the bodies of some individuals adapt faster than others to certain stimuli¡­" Aion thought when he saw the entrance of the dungeon. "The enemy must have gathered some of the genes of the humans and monsters and, using the power of a dungeon core, created those creatures."


    The area around the dungeon that was supposed to be covered in snow waspletely free of it in a ten meters radius. If Aion kills those creatures there, he will just create an environment good for them to be stronger¡­ perhaps strong enough to take down the Frozen Tyrant¡­ most likely, that was their end goal in that period of time.


    Despite that, Aion didn''t hesitate in killing the monster¡­ the explosion melted all the snow in a three hundred meters radius and made the temperature increase as well. Aion just watched all that while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.


    Seris and Ana tried to think of what they could do to help, but nothing came to mind. Seris was a bit used to that feeling of being terribly outmatched agaisnt a certain enemy¡­ she felt the same way when they were on thebyrinth and that tower. Agaisnt abyrinth that existed for hundreds of years and the Tower that had legendary warriors and monsters, it was normal to feel that way since she wasn''t someone who lived for fighting. Still, she felt really annoyed at her own ipetence when Aion was able to ovee those challenges without losing his cool.


    As for Ana, that only made her feel like she had to choose the right person to help. She already knew that fighting against the giant cmities was useless since the entire world failed at that. Still, she felt bad since she wasn''t helping the way she nned.


    "... Seris, use your power on me," Aion dered after thinking for a short while.


    "... All right," Seris said.


    Seris wanted to ask what Aion was nning, but it wasn''t time for that since the next enemy was already approaching. When the beast almost left the tunnel, Aion fired an ice spear that crushed its head, and when the beast exploded, Aion sent flying a wave of wind to seal the entrance of the dungeon. He clicked his tongue when he noticed that he didn''t block all of the heat, but at least half of it didn''t leave the dungeon.


    "The heat still is leaving the dungeon, but I guess I can do this¡­" Aion thought while grabbing more mana orbs from his inventory.


    The next monster was killed even faster than before since Aion got used to Seris'' support magic, and this time, Aion soon summoned a wind wall that prevented the heat from leaving the dungeon, but it only blocked the heat and increased the speed of attacksing from behind.

 Chapter 350 Bloody Undead

    After doing that a few times, everyone noticed that the ground was starting to shake, and the monsters were approaching faster, but the pressure caused by the heat was intense enough to make everyone think that it was about to explode.


    "Is this how it will happen in the future?" Seris asked while furrowing her eyebrows.


    "I don''t know, but this is how I want to make it happen now," Aion shrugged.


    "Don''t you think that the enemy is here?" Seris asked while wondering why the monsters still wereing in that stupid manner.


    "Most likely not¡­ they are a different type of creature than humans. I would like to think that they are better suited to moving between timelines than most, though," Aion exined. "That being said, their sense of self-preservation is strong enough to try to change the past withouting directly out of fear of meeting me."


    "Those are a lot of assumptions¡­" Seris furrowed her eyebrows.


    "Still, I think that Aion is correct¡­ everything that thing did was to interfere indirectly with the timelines once it was unable to defeat Aion in the timeline I came from," Ana exined. "That thing is troublesome because it bes more knowledgeable and resourceful over time."


    Just like an AI programmed to learn by trying again and again¡­ such a creature sure was interesting as it was scary. Aion couldn''t help but think that given enough time, it could even be a problem to the giant cmities.


    In any case, Aion has forgotten about that since. Eventually, the trembling became so powerful that Aion summoned several ice walls around them. Eventually, the dungeon exploded, and like an eruption of steam, a lot of hot air emerged from several fissures that appeared around them. The heat and pressure had been so high that they even reached the clouds and pushed them away, revealing the blue sky that was so rare in that area.


    You obtained 10.000 experience points.


    You obtained 10.000 experience points.


    You obtained 10.000 experience points.


    ¡­


    Congrattions! The ss Necromancer has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Cursed Undead or Bloody Undead.


    Bloody Undead Lv 01


    Health: 12/12


    Mana: 48/48


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 03


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 03


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Bloody Staff Lv 01


    Bonuses: Magic + 03, Resistance + 03


    Skills: Bloody Zombie Lv 01


    Passive: Vampirism Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 01


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 0


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Bloody Zombie: at the cost of fifty points of mana, you can summon a bloody Zombie that will have all of its parameters equal to the level of this skill multiplied by three. You need to use the blood of a corpse to summon it.


    Vampirism: it grants you the power to recover health when you are attacking a target directly or when you are using the skills of this ss. The amount recovered will be equal to three points of health multiplied by the level of this skill.


    "Bloody Undead¡­ but it is just like the abilities of a primordial vampire," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    In any case, thend eventually stopped trembling, but they had to wait for a bit since a lot of rocks were fired upward, and Aion had to get rid of them before they could smash him. He was in a good mood since he could feel that the mana around the dungeon had stabilized and the temperature had decreased.


    "It will be hard to find the way to the end of the dungeon now¡­ while I don''t think you had any other option, the path will bepletely filled with rocks and earth," Seris said once they approached the entrance of the dungeon that now was just arge area of destroyednd.


    "Nah, it will be fine," Aion said while he was increasing the refinement of the Necromancer ss again.


    At the same time, Aion took out several bodies of earthworms from his inventory since he didn''t have time to process them until now and used them as a catalyst to create skeletons. They began to dig around while helping Aion, who was using earth magic.


    In the end, it took three hours for them to reach the point where they found the magic door. It had lost all of its magic power and became just a huge chunk of metal¡­ Aion still stored it in his inventory, though.


    Although the whole dungeon had copsed, that final part which was basically a massive shelter that had walls, a ceiling, and a floor made of stone, still was standing. It had some cracks here and there, but it looked fine, thanks to the numerous stone pirs around it.


    "Why is the final part of the dungeon like this when it makes spawn magma golems?" Seris asked while frowning.


    Aion was also thinking along those lines, and he could only assume that it was something that had been built way before the dungeon was formed. Maybe it was just a coincidence that the final part of the dungeon and the monsters didn''t look alike in any shape or form.


    "What did your brother say that dungeons andbyrinths were again?" Aion asked.


    "... Dungeons are like a defense mechanism of the world, and we can say that thebyrinths are like the offensive mechanism. They keep growing stronger andrger the longer they exist. They only stop working when they want¡­ many countries in this world were abandoned due to their existence and their inability to destroy those things," Seris quoted Sauros'' words exactly. "This is what he said before."


    Aion recalled that¡­ dungeons appear when certain parts of the world are suffering a lot due to the human hands. Still, no one lived in that area in hundreds of kilometers, and yet¡­ someone built that ce who knows when.

 Chapter 351 It Is Time

    "Ana, did anyone begin to build a city or any form of civilization in the area in the future?" Aion asked.


    "No, the cold will only get worse in the future, after all," Ana replied. "I guess the appearance of this dungeon in the future is also weird."


    The final part of the dungeon is quiterge¡­ It looked like some sort of temple. While looking around and thinking about all that, Aion saw some fragments on the ground of a blue sphere. It looked like a mana orb, but mana orbs could only be touched by those that created them.


    "I guess this was the dungeon core¡­" Seris said while looking around and finding nothing. "There are no signs of activities here¡­ I guess the dungeon core was exposed to the explosion while being controlled remotely by some sort of spell."


    Aion used the relics and then confirmed that there was nothing else for them to do in that timeline. That was good and all, but it was annoying that the enemy wasn''t in their grasp¡­


    Although it was weak, Aion still could feel some manaing from the fragments of the mana core, so he decided to absorb them.


    The Tamer ss has leveled up.


    The Tamer ss has leveled up.


    The Tamer ss has leveled up.


    ¡­


    "Is this a coincidence? Maybe not, since the dungeon core was being controlled and manipting the behavior of the monsters," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    It would have been more convenient if Aion had leveled up the necromancer ss again since he wanted to make use of the death knights more freely, but he will make use of what he could get.


    The group checked the area more thoroughly before leaving the ce and then heading toward the frozen tyrant again. He used that time to think of what the enemy was nning¡­ considering that the magma golems could be that strong with heat alone, the enemy was probably nning to get rid of the ice tornado using the heat and then kill or weaken the frozen tyrant with the magma golems. Still, this time, Aion couldn''t imagine how the enemy would benefit from that without someone like the draconic wanderer obtaining the power directly.


    "Which reminds me¡­ can this guy still get stronger by eating monsters?" Aion thought while watching the draconic wanderer pushing the chamber that he created.


    "This was pretty intense, but it ended way faster than I had expected¡­" Seris said and then sighed. "I need to think of better ways to use my power."


    Aion wished that he could help her with that, but he already had too many things on his mind to keep him busy. In any case, when the sun was starting to set, they reached the ice storm, and once they got five hundred meters away, they began to feel the pulling Power of it, and the cold was also again getting quite intense¡­ Aion waited for a while, but it didn''t look like the frozen tyrant was going to show himself anytime soon.


    "Good grief¡­" Aion said and then sighed.


    It was annoying, but Aion will have to use all the remaining mana orbs that he had to dispel the ice tornado¡­ if the frozen tyrant decides to fight him afterward, things sure were going to be messy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Still, Aion decided to take that as a testing from the frozen tyrant. Using all his power and mana avable, Aion created his own tornado and made it rotate in the opposite direction. That bad been quite difficult since they were supposed to rotate in different directions ording to their position in the world. However, that was probably the best option that Aion had without risking causing a disaster¡­ Even though that idea in itself is pretty dangerous, it was better than nothing.


    While making the tornado reach the clouds, Aion made it move toward the other as well. The winds in the area began to change their direction¡­ several trees began to be pulled from the ground and rotate through the tornadoes.


    When the tornadoes bit each other, the currents suddenly stopped altogether, and a massive st pushed everything in a five kilometers radius away.


    The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    The ss Necromancer has leveled up.


    ¡­


    Aion created an earth wall to block the st, but he still had a hard time protecting Seris and Ana. After a few seconds, the entire area became a bit more bright since the clouds were pushed away, and once he pulled away the earth wall, Aion and the others saw a massive ice mountain. It was so thick and covered in snow that they couldn''t see anything inside.


    "Let''s get going," Aion dered.


    Seris and Ana nodded and then sighed. Seris couldn''t imagine herself doing anything even close to that with even more orbs of mana¡­ she had been training other types of magic. Still, even so¡­ Aion looked more unrivaled than ever.


    As for Ana, she only felt even more that her presence was even more unneeded. More than a month had passed since she came to that timeline, and there were no chances for her to be useful. She couldn''tin about her life. Artemisia liked her, she lived afortable life, and it seemed that she was working for a better future¡­ but theck of a real purpose that she had before was troubling¡­


    Once they reached the mountain, they noticed that it wasn''t that cold anymore. Still, they could feel a powerful presence inside it. Aion wondered what he should do¡­ waiting seemed like a pain since it was gettingte, but there were no signs of the Frozen Tyrant''s awakening.


    "Hey, wake up¡­ you should at least receive your guests properly," Aion said and then kicked the ice mountain.


    "What would you do if someone kicked your bed to wake you up?" Seris furrowed her eyebrows.


    "I would probably kick their ass," Aion replied.


    Seris sighed since Aion was just unbelievable, but she had to forget about that because the ice mountain began to crack.

 Chapter 352 Lazy Bones

    Little by huge little chunks of ice began to fall apart from the mountain¡­ and after ten minutes, Aion got fed up again. He heard of people that are slow to wake up, but that was on a whole new level. Seris and Ana had to stop him from approaching and doing something that could cause problems.


    In the end, they had to wait for half an hour to be able to see a bit of the frozen tyrant, and only after half an hour his entire body waspletely frozen off the ice, and he began to wake up.


    The frozen tyrant looked like the Godzi¡­ Aion had heard that Tyrants were a species of dragons, but he assumed that the name was just a coincidence¡­ it wasn''t. The creature had some deep blue scales that covered most of his body. Aside from the scales, the frozen tyrant was also deep blue on the external parts of his body and light blue around the middle of his stomach and back. He also had some crystal-like ws on his arms and feet, and his eyes were the same color as the sky.


    The frozen tyrant turned around and then stared at them, making Seris and Ana break into a cold sweat while Aion just stared back.


    "....What?" After a long staring contest, the frozen tyrant said in a moody tone.


    "You don''t know why we are here?" Aion asked while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "No¡­ State your business," The Frozen Tyrant said.


    Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully while analyzing the creature in front of him¡­ it was hard to believe, but he still looked sleepy. Aion didn''t want to believe in that as well, but it seemed that the frozen tyrant waspletely oblivious that someone was nning to attack him.


    "You didn''t notice that someone tried to use time magic and was nning to attack you?" Aion asked.


    "I noticed, but I didn''t care," the frozen tyrant said.


    "... I solved the problem for you, and now I want your assistance," Aion dered. "Fenhair has already joined my side."


    "So what?" The Frozen Tyrant asked. "I am not interested in fighting for humans anymore. I just want to sleep."


    "Wow, unbelievable," Seris muttered.


    "... You don''t care if the world ends?" Aion asked, already thinking of a n to take the frozen tyrant in a swift strike.


    "The world isn''t in danger now, so I don''t have to do anything. I will just sleep," The frozen tyrant dered.


    "... Do you know which year we are in?" Aion asked. "How many years had passed since Malon created the relics that sealed to some extent time magic?"


    "How do you know that name?" The frozen tyrant said, finally showing something aside from sleepiness in his eyes. "I see now¡­ you smell like him."


    "No, I don''t smell. I bathe two times a day," Aion said. "Answer my question now."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hmm¡­ it happened around fifteen hundred years ago," the frozen tyrant replied. "I can also sense her blood in you¡­ I understand now. You are carrying the burden of those two. It doesn''t matter either way¡­ I want to sleep."


    At that point in time, Aion already had a vein bulging in his forehead. He didn''t have time for that shit¡­ instead of talking, he would instead just force the frozen tyrant into submission.


    "O great frozen tyrant, may I ask your name?" Ana suddenly stepped forward and then said it.


    "It is Celion¡­ you also smell like him," Celion said while furrowing his eyebrows. "That hair and eyes¡­ yes, you are a descendant of his."


    "O great Celion, please forgive us our insolence of waking you from your slumber, but we wouldn''te here if we didn''t need help," Ana added. "We will leave now, but please consider taking a nap for fifteen hundred years and then helping us in the future."


    "... A fifteen-hundred years nap doesn''t sound so bad," Celion said. "I will consider your plea if you manage to cast a spell that will prevent anyone from bothering me during that time."


    "Thank you for your endless generosity. We will do something about that," Ana said after bowing several times.


    "We will?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "We will! Please rest assured, o great Celion," Seris dered.


    "All right, don''t bother me for fifteen hundred years," Celion said and then made all the ice cover his body again.


    Aion wanted to beat some sense in that massive pile ofziness, but in the end, he had to be patient. Once Celion went to sleep, he decided to talk with those two about how they could do that.


    "Now that I think about it¡­ that ice tornado that we saw in our present was created by us?" Aion asked.


    "I guess so¡­ while you are strong, you destroyed too easily the ice tornado created by Celion. The difference in mana is that big," Seris replied. "To make up for that, we should use the right amount of preparation¡­ using Aion''s mana and magic power and using the runes that I know, and we can probably create an ice tornado that can draw power from this cold environment to sustain itself until our present."


    Aion nodded. That seemed like a good n. It was already dark when they began to work. Still, they continued to do so throughout the night since they had a lot of stuff to prepare ahead, like a shit ton of mana orbs that Aion would have to create and numerous runes that Seris would have to put around the ice mountains.


    They kept working until noon of the next day, and there wasn''t much that they could do to speed up that process¡­ it was just that methodical.


    Basically, Seris and Ana wrote the runes, and Aion fed them while creating a connection between their locations since they all had to be activated at the same time. That was actually possible, but Seris never did¡­ connect several runes in a circle to make their effectiveness go up exponentially.

 Chapter 353 Cringeness

    The final result was like a magic that contained thousands of runes¡­ now Aion could understand how that ice tornado that they saw earlier was that massive. It had enough mana that he could harness in more than twelve hours while using a fully powered Meditation, after all.


    They took a deep breath when it was time to activate all the runes, and when Aion used just a small amount of it to ignite all the runes, they saw the wind slowly being pulled toward the area, and then they moved away.


    Half an hourter, the ice tornado had beenpleted, and then the area got as cold as they recalled. The n had seeded.


    "I guess I really need to learn more about the runes. This is almost like cheating with magic," Aion said.


    "Your mana pool is what is a cheat¡­ by myself, and I would need mana that I would have to harness for months," Seris said without hiding her shock.


    "Anyway, our job here is done," Aion said and then used the relics to summon the mirrors.


    They didn''t find anything unusual, so they just crossed the mirrors and returned to their present. As to how they could dispel the ice tornado, Seris thought of a way to do that easily. Aion just had to disrupt the circle of runes that they created by cracking the ground at any point of it. That would stop the flow of mana and make the ice tornado lose power eventually.


    Aion did exactly that, and thanks to the tricks he learned alongside earth magic, and he managed to break the circle of runes even from a distance. After one full hour, the ice tornado dissipatedpletely, and then the group approached the ice mountain that had a ton more snow than before.


    "... Hey, I know that you have felt our presence," Aion said. "Wake up, and don''t make me waste my time."


    Seris facepalmed, and Ana showed an awkward smile. Only Aion was insane enough to talk like that with a being that was almost a god of that world. It was like they were three thousand years old versions of Horis, absolutely and famous legends that everyone had heard of.


    In any case, when Aion was about to attack the mountain, it began to move, and then they had to wait for one hour before Celion showed up again.


    "..... What?" Celion asked.


    "Don''t give me that bullshit. You know why we are here," Aion said.


    "Fifteen hundred years already passed? I am not sure about that¡­" Celion said, and then he yawned. "Still, I suppose I can''t have a decent nap if people keep using time magic¡­ I will help you, but you will need to keep proving yourself in order to maintain my loyalty."


    Celion said, and then he sent a sphere of mana toward Aion. He absorbed it and then felt the connection between them was established. Aion got another Legendary pokem-... Another legendary guardian joined his camp.


    "You like cold regions, right?" Aion asked. "I will see what I can do for you once you wall the capital of the Milleris Kingdom."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You used runes to create that ice tornado. Certainly, you can use them to create a frozen ind that can fly for me," Celion dered. "I don''t like deserts."


    "... Now that I think about it, runes are what keeps your hometown floating, right?" Aion asked.


    "It is¡­ but I don''t have the knowledge to replicate that, much less make an Ind that can move," Seris said.


    "If there is a will, there is a way," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Anyway, can you move fast enough? You can''t fly, can you?"


    "I am slow on earth, but no one moves faster than me on water," Celion said, and then he made all the snow around move in front of him before he jumped to the top of a giant snow hill. "Jump in and try not to fall."


    Aion had an idea of what Celion was nning, so he made some chairs made of the earth stand above Celion''s head, and then he made sure that they wouldn''t fall by connecting them like a helmet on Celion''s head. Once everything was done, Celion began to surf on the snow wave that he himself made to move forward. It started slow, but eventually, they got faster than any vehicle that existed in that world.


    "Unbelievable¡­" Seris said while watching that bizarre scene.


    "For a sack ofzybones, you sure have some style," Aion said while smirking.


    "Controlling every water of the world is my forte. This is nothing," Celion said without showing any emotion since he was toozy even for that.


    It wasn''t as fast as flying with the chamber being pulled by the draconic wanderer, but it was way morefortable. In any case, thanks to that, Aion had a lot of free time to create more nana orbs and talk with the souls that he had yet to convince.


    During that time, Aion also made the weather be morefortable by making some warm wind pass nearby them while making sure that it wouldn''t bother Celion. Thanks to that, and probably because of the boredom and exhaustion, Seris and Ana ended up falling asleep, and both of them ended up resting their heads on his shoulders.


    "I really need to find a wife¡­" Aion thought and then sighed.


    In any other situation, Aion would feel pretty proud of himself. Still, he couldn''t do that since he had too many things to do and worry about. Somehow, his love life seemed so small and unimportant¡­ which was quite weird since he simped so much for his neighbor when he was Adam.


    "I guess I need to look for a redhead¡­ only one of them will ignite the fire in my heart," Aion thought. "I would rather die than say this out loud¡­ either way, I would die out of the sheer cringeness of saying this as well."

 Chapter 354 Change Of Mind

    In the end, it took a full day for them to reach the base of the Heradins n. Still, once that happened, Celion just made an ice tform fly, and then they had the chance to refund the gear that they got. It had been pretty fun to see the face of sheer terror of the people of that ce when they saw Celion from a distance. As for him, he was too sleepy to care.


    "Woah, you guys pulled it off so fast¡­" Sauros said. "He also looks like a pretty chill guy waiting for you this much."


    "He is just toozy toin," Aion said. "Anyway, do you have any documents that mention anything about the creation of this floating city?"


    Sauros furrowed his eyebrows when he heard that. Aion''s goal was obvious, but it was impossible since the city required the mana of hundreds of them for several weeks to make the runic circle work. Still, then he heard from Seris that Aion, in the past, was basically the one who created that massive ice tornado thatsted for more than one thousand years.


    "If it is you we are talking about, you might pull it off¡­ but I am not sure other people will like it if they hear that we passed secret knowledge to an outsider, even if it is someone who we are friends with," Sauros said and then he looked at Seris. "In order for that not to be an issue¡­"


    "Forget about it," Seris said and then punched the stomach of her brother. "I will find a way for myself to do that. There is no one around smarter than me, after all."


    "Guh," Sauros groaned in pain. "You are twenty-seven years old already¡­ act your age, please."


    "I guess I will leave it to her then. I know that she has been agonizing for being unable to help with the fights," Aion shrugged.


    "Urgh, don''t make me recall those feelings of uselessness," Sauros said and then massaged his neck. "Anyway, visit us again. You can do that often with your ridiculously moving speed."


    Aion nodded, and then the group jumped on Celion''s head again. He could surf even faster on the ocean. Still, Aion wondered how he would do that once they reached the continent¡­ they would have to cross five hundred kilometers of desert, after all.


    The trip backsted three days, and since they didn''t have anything to do, Ana and Seris began to study the runes ande up with several theories about how they could create a floating ind. That was their first step, and the second was to make it move.


    Aion thought that asking Celion or Fenhair to carry a giant ind was an option, but he decided not to voice it. They were a bit of troublesome allies, but it was better not to treat them like that.


    "Hah, I hate this weather¡­" Celion said and then sighed.


    Aion never thought that he would see such a colossal creature sighing. Celion was truly someone that broke all the norms when ites to legendary creatures.


    "Hey, grandpa. You guys changed the central part of the desert into an oasis, right?" Aion asked. "How did you do that exactly?"


    "It wasn''t us that did that, but our ancestors of many generations ago," Arc replied. "At that time, they used magic relics powered by their mana, but over time, their presence alone kept improving the conditions of the environment¡­ it seems that some of us are willing to help you with that. If you are going to wall the capital, some of us agree to help in working as a source of energy for that."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hmm¡­ I wonder if it is possible," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    "It should be. Their souls are basicallyrge concentrations of mana, just like I used your mana orbs to fuel those runes. I should be able to do it with the souls," Seris said. "This gave me a good idea¡­ but I need to think about it for a while longer."


    "All right, let''s do that and transform the fallen capital into the frozen capital¡­ I wonder if Fenhair will hate that," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Once they arrived there, Aion presenced another staring contest between Fenhair and Celion. Naturally, just like ice and fire, their natures wouldn''t allow them to get along. Despite that, Fenhair didn''t mind about walling the fallen capital with ice.


    "I am not weak-minded enough to let some little cold bother me," Fenhair said.


    That pissed Celion, and that was something since he would rather not do anything too tiring, and getting heated up was very tiring for him. In any case, they worked on writing the runes, and then Aion put some souls in each of them after he confirmed that he could take them back whenever he wanted. It was quite something¡­ ten souls per rune were enough to create and maintain an ice wall that was ten meters long and three hundred meters tall. Still, toplete all that, they would need tens of thousands, if not more than one hundred thousand of souls, topletely freeze the city.


    That seemed like a waste, but once he confirmed that he was serious about protecting the fallen capital, a lot of the Millerians began to give him their mana.


    The ss Pdin received 100 experience points.


    The ss Archer received 100 experience points.


    The ss Priest received 100 experience points.


    ¡­


    "... Why the sudden change of mind?" Aion asked.


    "It seems that they realized that you actually care about the history of your ancestors and are truly willing to protect the ce," Arc exined.


    "I didn''t know that I looked that untrustworthy," Aion shrugged.


    Aion was quite surprised that all of his tier one sses were getting experience now, thanks to the souls¡­ he thought that since he was receiving mana, all of the experience would go to magic sses, and he thought that his uncle was just an exception, but that wasn''t the case.

 Chapter 355 Worries

    "Haaaahhhh¡­ this is much better," Celion said once the ice wall had been finished the next day.


    The temperature had decreased a fair bit, enough to make Celion feel reallyfortable and enough to make Fenhair furrow his eyebrows. It seemed that making those two and possibly the other two remain in the same ce was going to be a bad idea, so he had to consider better options.


    "Let''s go home¡­ I will have to stop to talk with Vangel and father for a bit to avoid problems, but this shouldn''t take long," Aion said. "You guys should wait in the sky in the meantime."


    "... Right," Ana said while showing a suspicious expression.


    "What, are you a fan of my father as well?" Aion asked.


    "No, it is not that¡­" Ana said while looking away.


    Aion could guess what Ana was thinking, but he decided not to voice it. In the end, they flew to another earth tform, and once they reached the capital a few hourster, Aion jumped from it andnded in the garden of the castle. He confirmed that his father was with Vangel again¡­ he has been working directly with him a lottely.


    In any case, this time, Vangel was talking with a lot of people, so Aion had to wait for a bit longer. This time, Lexus didn''te to talk with him before the real meeting as well, so he could tell that Vangel stopped him from doing so. He probably was aware that Aion brought a massive beast to guard the fallen capital¡­ he would be stupid in not to keep spies watching the ce.


    "You areing here a lottely, aren''t you?" Vangel asked when Aion entered the throne room.


    "I wish that I didn''t have to, but following such formalitieses with the perks of being a noble," Aion shrugged.


    "As usual, I appreciate your honesty¡­" Vangel said and then sighed. "Well, then, what do you have to say for me?"


    Aion didn''t think too much about what he would say to Vangel, so he just told him a few things about the fact that he was lying low while preparing for when the troubles arrived. He didn''t give the specifics, though. He also told him that he was going to rebuild the capital and keep it like a historical relic, and thanks to that, he has been learning a lot of things and obtaining their cooperation. Although he wanted to keep Ana and Seris'' presence hidden, it was impossible since they weren''t trying to hide, so he just told them that they were living with him and his mother, and he said to them that Ana was just a cousin of Seris.


    "... So far, there are no signs that people know about the existence of that giant bird, but it is only a matter of time before people from outside learn about it," Vangel said while showing a bit of an annoyed expression. "The rulers of other countries will think that we are preparing super weapons¡­ will the giant bird fight to protect this country, or will you force it to fight with us?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Our agreement was that he would only fight certain battles," Aion replied. "Still, I am confident in my fighting abilities without his help. Is there anyone that you want to be taken down now? If you give me a good reason to do so, I don''t mind giving a hand. Still, I want their money and treasures if they are rich."


    "So far, we only had to deal with economic attacks, nothing that you have to involve yourself with," Vangel shook his head. "Still, there is something that you can do to help the kingdom and prove your loyalty once again. You will be rewarded for it as well. I want you to build a wall that will protect our western border. Lately, some monstersing from that direction have been attacking merchants and even fields where we produce grains, and there are many signs of enemies from that country using the chaos to steal and kill some merchants. I can give you ownership of Ulrei''s territory if you ept that. He passed away without having any heirs, so everything that he had will be yours."


    "Ulrei?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "It is the lord that ruled thend north of your region¡­ you don''t even know your neighbors, Aion?" Lexus asked, visibly worried.


    "Ah, it was the lord barrel¡­ I saw him once," Aion said, and then he recalled that he attacked his business once for being an asshole that got in his way. "He passed away, huh¡­ too bad for him."


    Aion recalled that he had some ships and a port, and Ulrei''s territory was quite rich since they produced wine. It seemed like a fair trade, but Aion wasn''t that much interested in money anymore, and he worried since he would only make his mother work more.


    "I guess I can do that, but I will take my time, don''t expect that it will be built in a few weeks," Aion said once he realized that he would have to build a wall that was more than one thousand kilometers long.


    "That can''t be helped," Vangel said. "I take it that you won''t like a ceremony to be rewarded with the title of the lord of the region, so I will just order for the papers to be passed down and inform all of the inhabitants of that region that you are their lord now."


    "That will help. Well then, untilter," Aion said and then turned around to leave.


    Lexus hurried up to talk with Aion before he could leave. He looked like he had a lot of things to ask, but he couldn''t since he could tell that Aion was hiding a lot of things for good reasons.


    "Hah, there isn''t much for me to say here¡­ just be careful, Aion," Lexus said after a long sigh.


    "Fear not. Everything will be fine, father," Aion smiled and then tapped his father''s shoulder.

 Chapter 356 Reasons Why

    The next few days had been rather busy, Aion received the papers about his newnd once he got home, and then he helped his mother manage thend for a while. He made everyone get used to receiving orders from her.


    Despite his worries, Aion saw that his mother looked pretty eager to work¡­ It was quite something since he couldn''t help but see the management of hisnd as a hassle. In the meantime, Seris and Ana worked together on their experiments of trying to make vehicles to fly by themselves. The flying ind that Aion envisioned was basically arge vehicle, after all.


    In any case, while Aion was pretty good with earth magic, he fought someone that was even better when he went to rescue his mother years ago. So, he used that death knight to build the wall at night, and he only made minor adjustments during the day. Besides, he decided to seriously focus on learning Explosive Release, and he used that time of peace to do so.


    Congrattions! The ss Monk has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Champion, Brawler, or Fighter.


    Champion Lv 01


    Health: 16/16


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 20/20


    Strength: 01 +02


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01 + 03


    Status: 00


    Spiked Gloves Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: Strength + 02, Speed +03


    Skills: Heroic Martial Arts Lv 01


    Passive: Tiger Stance Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 0


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Heroic Martial Arts: increases the power of your kicks and punches by five points per level.


    Tiger Stance: your attacks will cause the enemy to bleed and lose one point of health per second for three seconds multiplied by the level of the skill.


    "Finally, things are reaching a decent pace¡­" Aion thought.


    Arc was able to convince a lot more people to help Aion, but it seemed that he only convinced those that aren''t that strong. Once he does that, Aion will be able to level up his tier-one sses a lot faster, but the current progress wasn''t half bad.


    The necromancer ss was at level seventy as well since Aion made his death knights go to several dungeons across the country. The only annoying part was that they had to fight at night in order not to be found.


    "Now I just have to make some progress with this technique before I lose my mind out of sheer anger," Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows since he still was unable to create health and stamina orbs.


    It has been a while since something stressed Aion so much and for so long. If things continue like that, he will go bald in his twenties out of sheer worry.


    In the end, Aion decided to take a break¡­ maybe it was time to go to look for the other guardians. Three weeks had passed since Celion joined his camp, after all. When he approached the window of his room, Aion saw his mother, Seris, and Ana having their afternoon tea. Maybe they will give birth to the Ennd of that world if they continue like that.


    "They are still working on their projects¡­ maybe I should leave them behind this time in order to give them a chance to keep their rhythm," Aion thought.


    While they didn''t help all that much inbat, their knowledge helped Aion more than a little bit. Besides, Aion won''t have to worry about his mother if they stay at home. He already confirmed that he could return to the exact same moment he crossed a mirror, after all. That was another good thing on his side.


    When Aion was about to make his choice, he suddenly felt a shiver, and then the atmosphere changed. At the same time, he saw the sky suddenly getting dark blue¡­ it was mid-summer, and there were no clouds in the sky, which was abnormal.


    Aion opened his window and then jumped to the garden. Only to see that his mother, Seris, and Ana weren''t moving at all.


    "What the hell¡­ time magic stopped the flow of the entire world now?" Aion thought while looking around.


    Aion touched them to see if anything would change, but nothing happened. He made them touch the relics, but once again, no results. In the end, he just used the relics together in order to see if they would point at the cause of that. It pointed toward the South, but several mirrors also appeared in his house.


    "I really don''t like this¡­" Aion thought.


    At least none of the mirrors were glowing, so it didn''t look like any enemy tried to attack his home¡­ at least none of those that could use time magic.


    "I should erect a simr barrier at home¡­ but only Seris knows that rune," Aion thought and then sighed. "Fenhair, can youe here and guard my home?"


    "Won''t you require my assistance in this situation?" Fenhair asked, and Aion sighed in relief again since the guardians were still aware of the situation.


    "No, this time I just want to confirm a few things¡­ by the way, why isn''t time magic working on you?" Aion asked.


    "Because we are stronger than the ones trying to distort this timeline," Fenhair replied as if it was a matter of fact.


    "Well, I should hurry up. I will be counting on you," Aion said. "Celion should just be on standby in case something else happens. No need to use all of our strength against the enemies all the time."


    "... You should be wary that the souls inside of you aren''t aware of this either, so you can''t count on their help," Celion said. "Most likely, the enemy decided to do this, knowing what would happen to everyone. They seem a lot more knowledgeable than we had expected..."

 Chapter 357 Queen Of The Seas

    Aion was aware of that, and that was why he had to hurry up¡­ while he was flying, he wondered if something like that was happening because he had used the relics several times already. Even they should have some limitations, after all.


    Aion checked if he could use his death knights, and while he could summon them, to his surprise, they couldn''t move at all. That was really annoying¡­ maybe if Aion could let them hold one of the relics¡­ he would rather not take such risks. If the death knights couldn''t move, Aion doubted that he could rely on anyone else aside from Fenhair and Celion.


    Regardless, Aion flew toward the coast of the continent while using the necromancer ss, and once he saw a mirror in the distance and a massive army near the beach, he changed his ss to Demonic Berserker.


    "What the hell¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows when he recognized the monsters in the distance.


    Blue humanoid creatures that had thick bodies. They walked on two legs, and they also had arms that held a weapon that resembled a bit of a trident. They also had fins and a fishlike head¡­ they were Sahuagin. They were quite simr to the ones Aion had seen in games in his past life, so he couldn''t help but flinch for a moment.


    When Aionnded five hundred meters away, all the monsters turned to face him. They sure had good instincts, even though they didn''t look that strong. Aion couldn''t see their master, but it didn''t matter. Aion just had to cross the portal.


    "Hooooooooooooohhhhbbhh!" A woman''s voice singing suddenly echoed in the area, and Aion could tell that it came from the mirror.


    In the next moment, Aion could feel that the aura of the enemies changed, and he also felt something weird about that sound¡­ it emitted waves of mana that were simr to when he used the skills of the bard ss.


    The monsters'' skin suddenly looked more rugged as they assumed a formation and began to march toward him¡­ it seemed that the song made them tougher, and that confirmed everything that Aion needed to know.


    "I think you might be underestimating me a bit," Aion raised his ax and then prepared to fight.


    All the enemies pointed their weapons at him and then charged. Aion just used Wrath and then did the same. Still, before they could do anything, Aion swung his axe left and right and then began to chop the heads of the monsters while invading their formation without a care in the world.


    You obtained 500 experience points.


    You obtained 500 experience points.


    You obtained 500 experience points.


    ¡­


    "Only five hundred points¡­ as expected, she is seriously underestimating me by sending these small fries," Aion thought.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The enemies were unable to stop Aion, and while some of them managed tond a bit since he was only focused on killing them, Aion had to get hit more than a few times to actually be stopped. When his health dropped to the fifth percent, he just healed himself.


    It didn''t take long for Aion to see the mirror up close, and while he felt the urge to cross to the other side and deal with the enemy, he could tell that something was off¡­ she didn''t try to change her strategy. And she didn''t make any more enemies appear. She was clearly baiting him.


    Aion just turned to the side and kept shing apart the enemies. He still had a lot of work ahead of him, so he might as well get to it.


    "Heeeeeeeeehhhhbbhh!" The woman''s voice singing suddenly echoed in the area again.


    In the next moment, all the enemies jumped away, and then they opened their mouths before firing countless water darts toward Aion. He blocked most of those with his Bloody Ax while he dashed at them, but several others hit him, and they hurt like a bitch.


    Aion just used that to fuel his anger even more before he reached them and killed three of the monsters with a single strike. The monsters kept jumping away while firing the water darts¡­ all that made Aion think that perhaps he was facing another enemy. It wasn''t the same that targeted the guardians.


    The situation was weird¡­ and Aion felt that something else was happening behind the scenes, so he used Force Release, and then he became like a tornado. The monsters barely could see him moving, and they certainly couldn''t aim¡­ it didn''t take long until Aion saw himself surrounded by hundreds of bodies of those monsters around.


    "All right, who will be next?" Aion asked once he approached the mirror.


    Aion didn''t hear anything in response¡­ if it was a trap, he was supposed to listen to a taunt or something, and if the enemy didn''t want to lure him in, she should just close the mirror already¡­ or perhaps it could only close when she crosses it.


    "You two, did you meet any enemy that had an army of fish men and that used her voice to make them stronger or tougher?" Aion asked, using his mind.


    "I don''t remember, and it is too much work to try to remember¡­" Celion said.


    "... Yes, I remember such a person, she existed three thousand years ago, and she was one of those that tried to use time magic to change the past even further to rule the whole world by covering it in water," Fenhair replied. "She was the queen of the seas, and her name was Marriage."


    "Queen of the seas, huh¡­ " Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Who the heck was she able to use time magic to connect the past and present without the relics?"


    "That is indeed a good question," Fenhair replied.


    Aion already knew that he didn''t need confirmation that his question was a good one¡­ in any case, to think that he was going to meet someone from three thousand years ago like that¡­ life is really full of surprises.

 Chapter 358 Admiration

    Aion made his choice and decided to deal with the enemy in order to learn how she was able to create the portal. Once he crossed it, Aion saw the mirror disappear. He didn''t drop his guard and kept his bloody ax in hand, but nothing happened aside from him hearing the sound of the waves. In any other situation, he would have felt quite calm at such ce.


    "It looked like Inded on the same spot three thousand years ago, but the scene around is a bit different¡­" Aion thought while looking around and seeing the empty beach.


    It was mid-afternoon as well, but the most important thing that Aion noticed was the fact that the atmosphere felt heavy. The sky waspletely cloudy in all directions, and the waves on the sea looked pretty tough as if they were trying to warn Aion that a storm wasing.


    "I should have asked Fenhair where her base would be in this period of time¡­ the ocean is just too big to look around aimlessly," Aion thought.


    After thinking about it for a second, Aion decided to check some things. He concluded that the death knights could be summoned again and that he also could talk with the souls so that the world wasn''t under the control of someone that could use time magic well.


    "What is wrong? Why all of a sudden are you on a beach?" Arc asked.


    "Someone used time magic to transport monsters to our time, and that stopped the flow of the entire world," Aion exined. "Only me and the guardians were able to stay awake."


    "I see¡­ that is why the atmosphere looks so heavy," Arc said.


    "By the way, do you two know anything abo the history of the period three thousand years ago?" Aion asked.


    "... Only a small portion," Arc replied.


    "Do you know anything about an underwater kingdom?" Aion asked.


    "I don''t know¡­" Arc replied.


    "I do¡­ it was a ce that was ruled by a species of people that were born between humans and aquatic monsters. Over the years, a certain woman with magic powers high enough to power up an entire army rose and became their queen," Annalee said. "Her kingdom was supposed to be located right in the middle of the area between our coast and the ring continent beyond the ocean."


    "A breed between monsters and humans¡­ is that even possible?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "They were called monsters in the past since they Lower bodies of aquatic creatures, but their upper bodies were like humans," Annalee exined. "Also, they used to lure crewmen of ships and even caused the destruction of many fleets with their powers to charm humans. All attempts to negotiate with them were rendered useless, so they became even worse than mutated humans that lost their reason and lived for fighting."


    Calling them demi-humans was probably more urate. In any case, it seemed that they stopped existing at some point in the past¡­ fighting them in the water was close to suicide without proper weapons and technology, so Aion could only assume that the woman moved her entire society to another period of time¡­ that sure was a hardcore way to use time magic.


    "Was she unable to make her soldiers spawn on the ocean¡­ it would be easier to make a lot of them pass the mirror like that," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    Many things regarding that situation smelled fishy, so Aion had to investigate more¡­ First of all, he summoned the draconic wanderer and made him push an earth tform as fast as he could toward where their base was supposed to be. Still, Aion wondered what he could do¡­ it wasn''t like he could go underwater and fight them. Or could he? Even if the underwater pressure was massive, his strength and endurance were way beyond human levels.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After flying for several hours, Aion assumed that he had found the middle of the ocean, but there was no way that he could see the enemy''s base like that. He had to find a better solution.


    In the end, Aion decided to change a bit of something that he used before¡­ After enhancing his magic staff with water magic and making it as cold as possible, Aion made it spin while going downward. Even before it reached the ocean, it created something like an ice tornado of a medium scale, which was around fifty meters wide¡­ Aion made sure that the base of it would reach the bottom of the ocean, and he found a few responses while the ocean was freezing.


    You obtained 50 experience points.


    You obtained 50 experience points.


    You obtained 50 experience points.


    ¡­


    "Only small fries here¡­ let''s go further South," Aion thought.


    Although Aion could recover enough mana to keep a spell of that level up and running, it sure was mentally tiring.


    Despite the fact that it was a bit risky and quite cold, Aion decided to head to the center of the ice tornado once he could see the bottom of the ocean one hundred meters below water level.


    The ss Sorcerer leveled up.


    The ss Sorcerer leveled up.


    The ss Sorcerer leveled up.


    ¡­


    "What the hell¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "It looks like a lot of water mages from our kingdom are impressed by your skills and decided to offer you their help," Arc exined.


    Aion sighed¡­ Why would the Millerians suddenly help him because of that alone? They were a lot more egocentric than he had expected¡­ even though he already knew that he was a prideful bunch.


    Now that Aion thought about it, once the mage ss waspletely mastered, the Priest ss got more experience and assumed that the mana was being transferred to it¡­ however, considering what happened now¡­ it looked like things could change ording to the quality of the mana of the person that gave the mana. Maybe Aion could find a way to make use of that¡­

 Chapter 359 Temporal Trick

    After moving around like that for an hour, Aion noticed that he was getting more experience all of a sudden¡­ the ice tornado also was starting to get more red.


    "I guess I am getting closer¡­ even if this can be seen for hundreds of meters, the pulling force is the same as that distance," Aion thought. "Even small fries shouldn''t be able to¡­"


    Aion suddenly felt a shiver, and at first, he assumed that it was due to the cold. However, he raised his guard, and then an earthquake suddenly made the ice tornado lose its bnce. After not so long, a tsunami almost engulfed Aion and his spell¡­ he quickly flew to escape the waters, and once he did it, he canceled the spell and grabbed his weapon.


    A massive shadow approached from the distance. Eventually, Aion saw the Sahuagin jumping from the ocean and trying to stab him. It was amazing that they could jump and almost fly in the air at two hundred kilometers per hour with that impulse alone.


    "Not bad¡­ but not nearly enough," Aion said and then fired several earth spears that pierced through the monsters.


    The massive wave of monsters was wiped out before they could even try to attack. The shadow was still far from over, though. More and more monsters came out from the water to attack him. While that was a waste of time, it was an essible experience for Aion, and he didn''t refuse any of it.


    All of a sudden, Aion saw a massive pir of energy emerging from the ocean and then crossing the sky, and then Aion readied his guard again¡­ it was time to stop fooling around.


    Still, the massive pir of energy disappeared, and then Aion only saw an enormous hole in the ocean that was quickly filled.


    "Was that time magic?" Aion thought. "A lot of water was suddenly moved, and¡­ something of that size had to be akin to the capital of the Zaera kingdom."


    The monsters kepting, though. It seemed that their master decided to abandon them¡­ Aion was confused. What the hell was the goal of the woman with all that?


    "It seemed that she wanted to measure your abilities and decided to retreat once she learned enough to know that she couldn''t defeat you as she is now," Arc said.


    "I guess that makes sense, but¡­" Aion said while he still kept attacking the monsters, "I wonder where she went¡­"


    Aion had enough time and monsters to kill to make the Necromancer ss reach another high level. Still, he couldn''t bring himself to feel that excited about it. The enemies were finally starting to y the game seriously¡­ and Aion could see himself getting outmatched after considering some scenarios.


    Necromancer Lv 87


    Health:08/08


    Mana: 6444/6444


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 331 + 300 +600


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 150 + 200


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Necromancer''s Staff Refinement Lv 100


    Bonuses: Magic + 300, Resistance + 150


    Skills: Skeleton Knight Lv 25, Skeleton Archer Lv 39, Skeleton Wizard Lv 52, Death Knight Lv 55(Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 50). Bone Spear Lv 20, Bone Armor Lv 01, Cursed Arrow Lv 01


    Passive: Summon Lv 42, Store Lv 29, Undead Recovery Lv 45, Curse Resistance Lv 01,


    Improvement Points: 72


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Once he was done with the hunt, Aion went to check the ce where the pir of light emerged, and he found an exact spot of the ocean perfectly wide and even¡­ almost as if arge chunk of the area had been perfectly cut off from the ground. If that wasn''t a sign that arge-scale time magic spell had been used, Aion didn''t know what it was.


    "I need to know which period of time this is¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "If it is too far in the past, I wonder why she didn''t start her domination n to flood the entire world¡­"


    Aion returned to the continent and the coast of the Zaera kingdom, but he didn''t find any signs of ports. Did he really go that far in the past? After flying toward the capital, Aion only saw small viges that looked really primitive¡­ they were all basically made of straw, and the people were only wearing pieces of fur that belonged to animals to hide their parts.


    At first, Aion thought that he had missed the capital, but as it turned out, he didn''t miss it¡­ there was nothing there in the area that it was supposed to be.


    "To think that seeing the world this far in the past would be possible¡­ how intriguing," Arc said.


    Aion also went to check the Milleris kingdom, but he only found arge desert and no signs of people there. He even went to the country beyond the desert, and he only found small tribes as well¡­ he was way beyond three thousand years in the past.


    "This is kind of cool, but I am getting ahead of myself¡­" Aion scratched the back of his head. "I need to return home and then prepare for the future¡­ it seems that I won''t have much peace in the following months."


    "I have an idea¡­ to test the theory that all of your actions are something that is supposed to happen. Why don''t you do something here that will benefit you in the future?" Arc asked.


    "... Such as?" Aion asked, visibly interested in the subject.


    "Like hiding a treasure or a rune underground," Arc said. "You learned how to make self-sustaining runes from Seris, and you can use that in your favor."


    Aion wondered if such a thing would be possible or that convenient. Won''t that attract monsters or give the birth of a dungeon or something?


    After thinking for a while, Aion decided to summon a skeleton mage. Then he gave it the sword that he had made using his own blood, and then he made it stay in the desert and hunt all kinds of monsters¡­ nonstop.

 Chapter 360 Results

    Aion got quite excited by that experiment¡­ When did the dungeons begin to appear? No one knew the answer to that question. Still, since Aion found monsters aside from the sahuagins in the ocean, they have been existing for a very long time. If their spawning rate was like usual, they could have wiped out humans a long time ago. So, they either died of hunger or for other causes¡­ in any case, Aion was going to test that theory without risking creating a dungeon or some abomination.


    Aion flew back to the beach and then opened a mirror back to his home. Once he returned to the present, he felt a lot of mana suddenly moving and being absorbed by his body. The n worked, but it seemed that the skeleton died at some point.


    "Now that I think about it, the skeleton would need my mana to attack, and where would it draw mana from without me existing?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The answer probably lies on that knife¡­ I existed with that skeleton, to some extent, I guess."


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    You obtained 100 experience points.


    ¡­


    Congrattions! The ss Necromancer has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Cursed Undead Lv 01


    Health: 12/12


    Mana: 9354/9354


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 03 + 300 + 600


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 03 + 100 + 150


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Cursed Staff Lv 01


    Bonuses: Magic + 03, Resistance + 03


    Skills: Curse of Power Lv 01


    Passive: Curse Mastery Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 01


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 0<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Curse of Power: at the cost of forty points of mana, you can curse an opponent and decrease their strength by three points per level.


    Curse Mastery: increases the effectiveness of curses by ten points per level.


    Congrattions! You havepletely mastered the Necromancer ss. Now you can use all of its skills, parameters, and bonuses on the sses that follow the same tree.


    "Oh boy¡­ my mana at level one is already this high," Aion showed quite a nervous smile. "I can''t use this method often.. and I also need to confirm if that changed anything."


    Aion headed to the desert again, and he didn''t see any changes¡­ Now that he thought about it, even the relics that had the blood of someone like Malon were losing power over time. It was only natural that the first knife that he created with his blood wouldn''tst forever.


    "You have a lot of mana, and you can spread it across the desert to resonate with something else that has your mana as well," Annalee said. "Just think of spreading across the desert, and that should be possible."


    "Is that so¡­ thanks for the idea," Aion said once he realized that he needed to at least find the vestiges of his knife to make Ana study it.


    "We had a relic that worked in a simr manner to look for enemies on a regr basis," Annalee exined.


    "Maybe I should try to create the same thing¡­ so many things to do, so little time," Aion scratched the back of his head.


    Aion put the n into action, and thanks to his high magic and mana, he found the vestiges of something that had his mana¡­ three hundred kilometers away from him. He didn''t expect that his mana would be able to do that much.


    In any case, when Aion reached the area, he found a knife fifty meters under the sand¡­ it waspletely rusted, but it still was almost intact. Time affected it a bit, but perhaps it didn''t it was only the result of countless battles. It was hard to be certain.


    "This should have the effect to inflict someone with tetanus once they are bitted by it¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Aion stored the weapon in his inventory, and then he flew home. He arrived in the middle of the night, and he found those three very worried since, from their perspective, he suddenly disappeared. It took a while, but he eventually exined what had happened.


    "To think that such a thing would happen and no one would notice¡­ doesn''t that mean that the enemies can essentially make whole armies appear out of nowhere?" Artemisia asked.


    "They should have some limitations, but as long as I have the relics, it should be fine," Aion said. "Anyway, can you check for the data of this weapon? Your time magic can let you read the data of things in the past, but using the same to read the data of something in the present should be possible, right?"


    "Indeed, I didn''t use that often since pretty much everything was destroyed where I came from¡­" Arkana said, and then she began to focus before touching the knife.


    "This has too much information¡­" Ana furrowed her eyebrows. "But everything is the same¡­ the knife being held by a skeleton for dozens of years and being used to y monsters."


    "Why would you do that? What would benefit you from killing the monsters in the past?" Seris asked.


    "It was just an experimentation¡­ I need to find other ways to make this useful for us," Aion exined since he couldn''t tell about his leveling system. "The enemy this time did something weird to test my powers, and she could teleport an entire city, so I don''t have any other choice aside from doing my best to get better cards in my hands."


    "... Ana, what do you think that being would do once they realize that they can''t defeat Aion?" Seris asked after she thought for a few seconds while furrowing her eyebrows.


    "I am not sure¡­ honestly," Ana replied. "That thing''s way of thinking is beyond me, but considering what happened this time¡­ it won''t surprise me if it goes looking for allies."

 Chapter 361 Enviromental Change

    Aion considered that possibility¡­ for people who lived in the future, Aion was someone famous. Still, for someone who lived in the past, he was a threat that they had never heard of. So, it would make sense that one of them would try to check his strength and confirm that. Which was what probably happened.


    Fighting one more enemy that could use time magic at the same time¡­ what a headache. Aion wanted to believe that they were just thinking too much, but that would be naive on his part.


    "Anyway, just continue with your own things, don''t worry too much about it," Aion shrugged and then headed to the mansion. "No need to fret over small fries that can''t do anything by themselves."


    While Aion said that, his head was already nning his next move. First of all, he needed to upgrade all of the tier-one sses. That will give him a decent boost when using tier two and tier three sses of at least fifty percent in raw power, speed, and endurance if he ys his cards well.


    "The best way to do that is by fighting powerful enemies¡­ I don''t need to worry about guarding mom as long as Fenhair is here, and I can use the death knights to level up while I sleep," Aion thought and then went to his library to look for the location of the best dungeons that he can use. "I guessbyrinths will be even better, but they will be very time-consuming."


    It seemed that Aion would have to cut off his sleeping time to reach the next goal in the next few weeks. He couldn''t afford to wait for Arc to convince more of the Millerians to help him¡­ thanks to that, dark thoughts were starting to appear in his head, but he quickly got rid of them.


    Aion could find the answers a lot sooner by talking with Seris and Ana. Still, they were too close to his mother, so they would spill the beans, and eventually, Artemisia would get worried. That adding to the fact that she had grandchildren yet, will probably be too much in Aion''s conscience.


    "If the worstes to the worst, I can always go to thest and train there by a few weeks to pull that off, even without killing monsters should be possible," Aion thought. "Still, I feel there is something that I have been missing¡­ something that I forgot¡­"


    Aion needed to clear his head to think about that feeling¡­ so he decided to hit the sack. When he woke up, Aion recalled what it was that it was bothering him¡­ he recalled two things. The first was the fact that instead of getting mana, souls were getting him experience¡­ so there was a way to turn mana into experience. The second was that he could use Seris'' power to train infinitely faster than before.


    "When I try to process the mana orbs, I only get regr mana, or even by absorbing, the result is the same, I only get more mana" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Still, since I can transfer experience between sses, there should be an away to do that, but for now, I should ask Seris for help."


    Aion left his room and then went to have breakfast with the others. The training with Explosive Release wasn''t showing any result, so he could only assume that he needed something that he only had in the future¡­ a stronger body that he had absolute control over or fighting experience. He would only get them by training hard and surviving no matter what.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I guess that is possible, but you should be aware of the consequences¡­" Seris hesitated once Aion told his n.


    "Yes, I will get old faster since my flow of time will elerate. No problem, just do it," Aion said, and then he began to use Magic Recovery on Seris to make her get a lot of magic orbs.


    Seris created a lot of those¡­ enough to make her mana pool increase by ten, which means that once she uses her rune with her power on Aion with all her mana, time will bring to flow one hundred times faster for half an hour.


    "This should be enough for a start," Aion said.


    "For a start, you say¡­" Seris looked at Artemisia, but she just shrugged.


    It was Aion''s choice, after all¡­ if he thought that was absolutely necessary, she wouldn''t stop him. His survival was the top priority, after all.


    Actually, Aion thought of creating a relic with Seris'' blood, but that would require a lot, and he couldn''t ask others to shed blood for him. In any case, when the time came, Seris created the rune and made Aion''s body absorb it. At the same time, Aion felt his perception adjusting to that speed, but he somehow felt a bit weird. Everything around him was moving in extremely slow motion, and he felt that his body wasn''t responding to the environment that fast.


    In the end, he had to wait for a while for his body to get used to that speed, and then he moved to the corner of the garden and then began to swing his hammer. It was a very slow method to gain experience, but at that speed, it should beparable to fighting monsters. Aion was basically going to experience two days in half an hour, after all.


    Soon enough, Aion found a problem. Swinging the hammer for real was enough for him to create a st of wind around him, and with that speed, the others basically would feel like a tornado was pushing them away while it was only half a meter away from them¡­ the walls of the garden also began to crack.


    After getting rid of the shockwaves, Aion decided to fly and train in the sky¡­ he managed to do exactly what he wanted, and thanks to that, people saw clouds being pushed in the wrong direction for half an hour.

 Chapter 362 Sudden Leave

    In the end, Aion managed to level up once in that training session¡­ it wasn''t half bad, but it would be even better if there was abyrinth around.


    Later that day, Aion did the same at night. Seris buffed his speed with her magic, and then he went to the dungeon in his territory. He wiped out all the monsters, and they didn''t even have time to react.


    "This can be a powerful weapon against the enemies, but it is annoying that I get tired and hungry so fast¡­" Aion thought and then sighed.


    From the perspective of the others, Aion had lunch three times that day, but he felt like he just had two lunches and one dinner. There was another problem, mana. Even with Seris help, he could only harness so much mana by using Meditation. He needed other tricks to help with that.


    Still, before Aion coulde up with that, he managed to level up the Warrior ss two dayster, and the result wasn''t half bad. He quickly began to feed the ss to refine the weapon, and then he changed to the Tamer ss to make it level up.


    Congrattions! The ss Warrior has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Viking, Spartan, or Soldier.


    "Wait, what?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Viking and Spartan¡­ these were terms that would make sense on Earth, so why did those two sses appear there? Aion couldn''t understand¡­ after thinking for a while, he didn''t find any usible exnation, so he just thought of what the best options would be right now.


    Spartan Lv 01


    Health: 32/32


    Mana: 16/16


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01 +02


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01 + 02 + 02


    Resistance: 01 + 02


    Speed: 01 +01


    Status: 00


    Round Shield and Long Spear Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: Strength +02, Endurance +02, Speed +01


    Skills: Counterattack Lv 01


    Passive: Discipline Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 01


    umted Experience: 0<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Coins: 0


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Counterattack: it gives you the chance to counterattack when blocking an attack. The difference in speed and strength affects the sess rate of the skill. For each level of the skill, the counter damage will cause ten percent more damage at the cost of twenty points of stamina.


    Discipline: passively Increases your endurance and resistance by two points per level.


    That wasn''t half bad, but it only made Aion more confused since it made sense that he would have those skills considering the history of the warriors from Spartan.


    "Malon supposedly left the to stop those that could use time magic¡­ did he get to Earth at some point and find the Spartans?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "If he was the one who found me, he was a bit too early to find me since I was born more than two thousand yearster¡­ I guess."


    After forgetting about it, Aion asked Fenhair to go look for areas with monsters that he could kill where no one would be able to find him. He exined that his powers would get stronger if he did that, and Fenhair just nodded.


    "I thought that he would hesitate or question me, but¡­ I guess I am not the first who can get stronger like this," Aion muttered.


    In any case, Aion wondered if it was time to look for another guardian to help their group. Although Aion asked that the Tamer ss could level up a lot faster just by Aion having Fenhair and Celion under his camp, just by existing, they granted him to experience. Having the other two would duplicate that speed, after all.


    All of a sudden, Aion felt arge concentration of manaing from the garden, and he couldn''t help but quickly open the window and check what was going on¡­ only to find his mother, Seris, and Ana staring at a block of earth that was floating in front of them. It looked like they finally seeded in one of their experiments.


    "I guess the first experiment gave them a sense of urgency¡­" Aion thought. "Nothing like a deadline to make people use their brains at full capacity."


    They soon ended the experiments and kept working since a single sess wouldn''t be enough for them. They still had a long way ahead of themselves, after all.


    Over the course of the next few days, Seris and Ana managed to make a lot of progress in their experiments. It was a bit unstable, but they were able to make an entire house float when they tried the next step. Although the house that Aion created using earth magic eventually fell and broke into pieces since they were unable to control it, thending and the mana consumption were too high.


    They learned from that as well and soon took the next step. However, soon they were all forced to take a break when once again, Aion suddenly noticed the atmosphere freezing.


    "Not again¡­" Aion thought and then sighed.


    Much to his surprise, time soon began to move as usual, and Aion confirmed that the one who opened the mirror had crossed it.


    "Did you guys feel that?" Aion asked.


    "Yes¡­ it wasn''t close, but a portal with time magic was opened," Fenhair replied.


    "It probably wasn''t in this nation¡­ while I usually would advise you to ignore until the problemes to you, I feel that it would be unwise to wait," Celion replied, and Aion noticed that he didn''t sound sleepy and his guard was up for some reason.


    Aion nodded, and then he asked Fenhair to do the same again, to guard his territory while he acted as the spear and attacked the enemy. Celion probably wanted toe, but he wasn''t that fast, and defensive battles probably were his specialty¡­


    "I am going to deal with something. I will be back soon¡­" Aion informed the others and then left without waiting for a response.

 Chapter 363 Parasite

    Aion used the relics, and much to his surprise, they pointed to the West¡­ he was about to finish the walls in the border, so that sure was a suspicious time for an enemy to appear. Still, he was trying to change the fate of the world, so maybe not so much.


    In any case, Aion began to fly without changing his sses since he needed to keep leveling up the Tamer ss. In the meantime, he wondered why those two didn''t even try to tag along. That was convenient for him, but he didn''t take them as people who would easily just nod after hearing that.


    "I guess they are thinking that the best thing that they can do is to focus on that," Aion thought. "Thepletion of that project, a flying fortress."


    Speaking of which, Aion had to find a way to build the same kind of barrier that nire said. That kind of knowledge sure wille in handy¡­ Ana said that Aion, in the future, will be able to draw mana from the environment, and the barriers that nire created could do that¡­ so maybe that was the key to that problem.


    In any case, while Aion was crossing the Rosberg Kingdom, he didn''t notice anything suspicious. That country had been way too calm as ofte¡­ since Aion killed their three strongest warriors. After using the relic again, Aion confirmed that the target was supposed to be even beyond that country¡­ but he wondered why the target was taking so much time to move. Were they preparing a trap for him?


    "What will I find beyond this country?" Aion asked. "Do you know, grandpa?"


    "As far as I can tell, it was a fallen kingdom ravaged by war," Arc replied. "The barbarians of the Rosberg Kingdom attacked thosends a lot as well, and further North, those people had to deal with a nation of mercenaries as well that didn''t find much work in the recent years so they always attacked that nation for all kinds of resources, be it food, money, or people."


    "Heh¡­ it seems like they have some annoying neighbors," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "Maybe I can give them a hand and wipe out those who are up to no good."


    Although he said that in the heat of the moment, Aion knew that he couldn''t judge the situation of a nation based on their presence alone¡­ sometimes, some people really deserve what they have to endure¡­ but if they have been dealing with that for decades, that probably wasn''t the case. The descendants can''t be med for the crimes of their ancestors¡­


    At the end of that day, Aion managed to cross the Rosberg Kingdom and then found somends that were rtively fine for agriculture and pasture. It made sense that such a country would be targeted. Even more so when Aion only noticed that they had small towns and viges that didn''t have any protection. No walls, no watchtowers, no nothing¡­


    Aion saw some people in the first town he found and then frowned when he noticed that they weren''t moving at all¡­ when he used his relic, Aion frowned even more when he saw it pointing to numerous points, including that town.


    "I don''t like this¡­" Aion thought.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Keep your guard up¡­ I sense something weird in the mana in that vige," Arc said. "You should use that thing with your mana to notice it as well."


    In the end, Aion changed his ss again and then used his mana to spread in arge area. Usually, that technique could find things that resonated with his mana in a wide range, but by controlling the scope, Aion could feel other sources of mana, and he found that¡­ every person there had two sources of mana, and that wasn''t supposed to be possible.


    "... I see now. This guy is the type that I hate the most," Aion thought, and then he began to fly toward the town.


    Aionnded at the entrance of the ce, and then he immediately found what was going on¡­ everyone nearby looked at him and then began to dash at him. Few people that actually have weapons, children with sticks in their hands, and women with kitchen knives or buckets. Their eyes looked dead, and their mouths were wide open while they were drooling¡­


    "Some sort of mind control?" Arc asked, and Aion could imagine his grandfather furrowing his eyebrows. "No, this is different¡­ for them to have two sources of mana like this, something must have invaded their bodies."


    Aion suspected as much, and thanks to that, when the first enemies appeared, they tried to grab his neck, but he just kicked their legs and made them fall. When they exposed their backs, Aion couldn''t help but show a disgusted expression¡­ their spines looked swollen, like they had been damaged or something had been attached to them.


    "Son of a bitch¡­ I will get you for this," Aion red at the other people approaching.


    "... Aion, they are goners," Arc said.


    Aion lets out a sigh¡­ he was aware of that. Their spines probably suffered too much damage during the invasion¡­ probably some kind of worm had attached to their backs. Aion couldn''t kill the parasite without wounding the spine, and even if they survived by some miracle, they wouldn''t be able to move. Aion''s magic could restore them, but how many of those people lived in that nation? To heal his sisters, Aion had to use a shit ton of mana¡­ and their wounds weren''t like damaged spines.


    "Your enemy isn''t doing things in a half-assed way, so you''d better not do anything less than that," Annalee said.


    Aion sighed again¡­ maybe if he could level up the Healer ss¡­ he would get a spell that would help him with that. Still, while he tries to save everyone, the enemy kept attacking everyone and turning them into minions. Aion''s best option was to find the asshole as soon as possible¡­

 Chapter 364 Insane Speed

    Finding the enemy will be difficult in those situations. So, Aion left the town and wondered what he should do to decrease the hassle that would be that job¡­ he knew that killing the enemy won''t solve the issuepletely. Still, Aion had to at least try and see what would happen.


    After thinking for a short while, Aion thought that going to the past and then trying to watch the movements of the enemy from afar would be the best option. Still, it was unlikely that they wouldn''t notice Aion''s presence¡­ so using those relics wasn''t a good idea.


    "This guy wants me to kill everyone, and they probably have a way of making everyone know that I was the cause of the deaths here¡­ still, unless I get rid of the sources of mana that he created, I can''t find them," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "These guys are starting to get annoyingly crafty."


    "While it will be only temporary, with the level of mana you possess, you can probably replicate the relic that we used to prevent people from invading ournds," Arc said. "First of all, the relic covered arge area, and then you would make a thin line of mana circte the area of the magic field created at regr intervals of time. You should find your target with ease since they will have a magic signature higher than the others."


    Aion nodded¡­ it was like a magic radar¡­ Arc thought that Aion would need a longer exnation, but since he came from Earth, he knew how a radar operated. It was almost like he could see one inside his head, maybe it was because it was thanks to the control of his mana that originated there.


    First of all, Aion imagined how the spell would work and how he could use his mana. To cover arge area, he would need a ton of mana. There was no chance for failure since the enemy would be able to tell what Aion was nning once he felt his mana.


    "Let''s see¡­ ten extra mana orbs added with my current mana pool should be fine to make this work once," Aion thought once he felt confident about the n.


    There was no time to hesitate, so Aion put the n into action once he absorbed the orbs. A massive field of magic spread around that nation, forming a perfect circle, and before the stability could end, Aion made his mana pulse from one side to the other of the circle¡­ he found arge and powerful presence Northeast of his current location¡­ six hundred kilometers away.


    Aion immediately summoned the draconic wanderer and then wrote the flying rune on him¡­ the trip hadn''t beenfortable since Aion didn''t create anything to make the tripfortable. He just grabbed the draconic wanderer''s feet and tried not to fall¡­ thanks to it, he reached the area where he felt the enemy''s presence after ten minutes.


    After using the relics again, Aion saw the light pointing to the East¡­ the son of a bitch was trying to run away to the ocean. In the end, Aion used more mana orbs to fly even faster, and then he saw a weird humanoid creature running at five hundred kilometers per hour.


    "Wow, even I can''t do that¡­ is too tiresome for the legs," Aion thought once he found the enemy. "That body is¡­"


    It seemed like a human¡­ but much to Aion''s surprise, the guy had a metallic body and even winds that were silver like since they were made of some metal. If he had wings, why would he run?<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In any case, Aion was almost certain that it wasn''t armor¡­ it was too tight to be armor. While Aion knew that there mighte a time when people would be able to make armor like that, he already knew the future of that world, and no one was able to do that¡­ probably.


    The man looked over his shoulder and saw Aion approaching¡­ his head didn''t look to be made of metal. In fact, Aion saw a man with ck hair and blue eyes¡­ it wasn''t an android or super advanced robot, so it was hard to imagine that it was the same creature that targeted the guardians¡­


    Aion sped up to approach the enemy, but then the body of that guy suddenly began to glow blue, and then his speed Increased¡­ it doubled in a single moment.


    "What the fuck¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows and clicked his tongue when he saw the ocean ahead.


    Aion summoned the draconic wanderer again¡­ that was annoying, but he will have to attack while being pulled by him. His speed increased, and soon he saw the enemy running over the ocean while splitting the water with the sts of his steps. With that much weight¡­ he could only run on water with that speed, after all.


    When Aion was about to attack, the asshole Increased his speed again, and Aion couldn''t help but open his eyes widely in shock. He got two times faster and then all of a sudden three times faster¡­ no wonder he managed to infect so many people in that country and so fast.


    Still, Aion couldn''t let that guy escape¡­ wherever he went, he will cause a disaster and then find a way to me Aion. That guy had to be killed now.


    "Stop and face me, you piece of shit?" Aion shouted. "You left your balls on the other side of the mirror? Don''t use time magic if you don''t have the courage to face me, asshole."


    The enemy looked over his shoulder and just smirked while looking at Aion. That sure pissed him¡­ still, before Aion could do anything, the enemy Increased his speed again.


    Aion was starting to get dizzy while moving like that¡­ it would have been different if he could use Seris'' rune. After all, he was starting to get used to moving one hundred times faster. Still, he had a better idea¡­

 Chapter 365 Metallic Man

    Aion kept chasing the enemy, but he didn''t try to approach all that much. The enemy knew that soon he was going to reach his limits, after all, so there was no need to hurry¡­ even though he was running at two thousand kilometers per hour.


    Both of them were surprised that they could keep up with that nonstop without running out of mana¡­ still, it looked like the enemy underestimated Aion a bit, or perhaps he didn''t consider that he had allies.


    All of a sudden, the area ahead of the enemy began to freeze, and the temperature decreased¡­ a massive wall of ice began to spread around the ocean at fearsome speeds. The man, that was more than half metal tried to run to the side and escape the trap. Still, then he was forced to retreat when Aion fired a massive earth spear was fired toward it¡­ the wall on the side waspleted, and when the enemy turned, the other side and the back had been sealed.


    They found themselves inside a very cold box of ice¡­ while that was his n, and he asked Celion to prepare the trap, Aion still regretted it a bit since his balls were freezing.


    "Well, then. You should spill the beans while you can," Aion said. "You won''t like to try to talk once I break all of your teeth. Help me out here, and I will give you a quick death."


    The metallic man kept looking around, trying to find a solution to his predicament. He didn''t know his ce, and that was why he still thought that he could escape.


    "Pay attention when others are talking¡­" Aion said, and then he summoned and fired an ice spear at the enemy''s face, but he quickly moved to the side and dodged the attack without even looking at it.


    "You must be Aion Kresnik. You don''t look that strong," the metallic man said.


    "You run away from people that you strong? You are someone very interesting, I see," Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "My job wasn''t to fight, but me you for that," the metallic man said.


    "You can keep saying that to yourselfter when you begin to cry upon realizing your unavoidable death," Aion said.


    "I don''t think so. You can''t kill me," The metallic man said as if it was a matter of fact.


    That guy wasn''t showing any emotion, so Aion wondered where that confidence wasing from¡­ it didn''t seem like he was trying to bullshit Aion, and it would need more than simple words to convince him or force him to drop his guard.


    "Considering your body¡­ I would say that you can reproduce your entire existence with just some materials and enough energy," Aion said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Let me guess, you also used Mana to clone yourself, and you have some spare bodies to control."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "... As expected, you are someone who knows too many secrets," The metallic man said. "That isn''t knowledge that someone like you should have under normal circumstances."


    "Jackpot, huh," Aion shrugged. "This was just a fair guess, but sometimes my intelligence frightens me. Anyway, this is yourst chance. Even if you don''t tell me what I want, you are still going to benefit me a lot."


    The metallic man suddenly began to run around at fearsome speeds. The ice cage was like three hundred meters long and wide. Despite that, he could do severalps around it per second. Aion could tell that he was trying to melt the ice with his speed, but Aion had already considered that.


    The metallic man suddenly noticed his speed dropping and then frowned since Aion apparently wasn''t doing anything¡­ until he noticed that the temperature in the room had decreased tremendously¡­ to the point that even his body was starting to be covered in ice.


    "You are insane¡­" the metallic man said.


    "Not enough for anyone to think that I need to talk with some doctors," Aion said and then smiled with his blue lips, thanks to the cold. "Now die."


    The metallic man realized that things would only get harder if he let Aion do what he wanted, so he decided to attack. He kicked one of the walls with all his might and then approached Aion. Unfortunately for him, he was weed by a Mana Barrier. The impact consumed a lot of Aion''s mana, but at least it made the enemy endure the full weight of his own attack.


    While the enemy was groaning in pain, Aion changed to the Earth Bender ss and then summoned a lot of sand, and then covered the enemy''s body. The metallic man tried to move away, but a lot of it had already been attached to his metallic body. He used his massive speed with his arms to get rid of the sand, but he could only do so much since Aion still kept summoning more, and the cold was also wetting and freezing it.


    All of a sudden, the body of that guy began to glow a lot more while emitting mana, and Aion could tell that he was no longer holding back¡­ all that energy began to push away the sand and ice around its body.


    The metallic man began to run again, and Aion could barely see him moving. It didn''t take long before the ice cage began to crack because of it¡­ Aion was tired of facing someone who didn''t want to fight. Most likely, another asshole just came to cause problems and analyze Aion''s skills.


    It was an extremely inefficient way to deal with the enemy like that, but it was the fastest. While summoning a mana Barrier, Aion also absorbed a lot of mana orbs and then unleashed all that mana in a single explosion of ice magic¡­ the interior of the ice cage waspletely filled with ice.


    At first, the cage trembled, but eventually, it stopped moving, and Aion was informed of his victory.

 Chapter 366 Clean Up

    You obtained 900.000 experience points.


    The ss Earth Bender has leveled up.


    The ss Earth Bender has leveled up.


    The ss Earth Bender has leveled up.


    ¡­


    "To think that not even my powers would be enough to stop a human¡­" Celion muttered. "As expected of someone able to wield time..."


    "That is because you are stupidlyzy," Fenhair added.


    "I didn''t notice any soul leaving that body¡­ it felt like this was some sort of doll being controlled, but¡­" Arc replied while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.


    Aion didn''t feel either, but at least he found the body of the enemy once the ice walls began to crack. Aion didn''t want to use his powers on people, but since that guy didn''t have a soul, he couldn''t be a death knight, so Aion decided to process the body. In the end, he got a bunch of titanium and a half a kilogram of mithril.


    "What the hell is going on? Titanium and mithril?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Aion never saw any titanium in that world, and mithril was supposed to be something like a fictitious metal¡­ still, that made sense. Not a single metal that Aion knew could work that well with mana. Aion used ice magic to make that guy''s speed drop since it would drop its temperature, and that worked even better because his body was heating at all¡­ probably because the mana was using the mithril to work more efficiently and without detriments.


    "Did you know about this, grandpa, grandma?" Aion asked.


    "I never heard of those names. How do you know they are called like that?" Arc asked.


    "It might be some types of metals that were created through magic in the past, but the technology was lost," Annalee added. "Although, I find it hard to believe that someone aside from our bloodline would be able to pull that off."


    They havee a long way since the time they told Aion not to call him grandpa and grandma. It was good that they were improving as people even after death¡­ in any case, Aion probably had to talk with Seris and Ana about that. Still, before that, he had a lot of work to do in that nation¡­ he worked faster, but the metallic man probly infected more than a few thousand of people.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Aion thought that he was getting used to traveling around. Still, it seemed that he only got used to the convenient speeds¡­ he felt really bored while flying back while his earth chamber was being pulled by the draconic wanderer.


    He talked with his grandparents, Fenhair, Celion, and several other souls during that time. Still, they didn''t know anything about a parasite that could invade people''s spines and control them. It didn''t seem like he had many other options¡­


    When Aion returned to that nation, it was already the middle of the night, and the people still were still standing, waiting for him to approach and attack. Aion bit his lips in exasperation¡­ he felt earlier around six locations that had people in that situation, three viges, two towns, and onerge city. More than a few thousand people had to be killed because of that¡­ Aion couldn''t risk those parasites spreading, and he couldn''t wait and study them since people were bound to check those cities.


    "... Kill them all and put all the bodies in a single spot," Aion said after he summoned his death knights.


    There was no point in trying to avoid that, so Aion just started what he had to do. Once the killing began to start, he started to feel the souls of the people around moving. When Aion tried to push them with his mana, it worked¡­ the matter ofpatibility was starting to be useless as he got stronger.


    "Grandpa, I will be counting on you to inform them of the situation," Aion said. "Helping them is impossible, but at least they can pass away in peace once they see that guy dying by my hands."


    "All right¡­ Do you think that he wille and do the same again? Perhaps somewhere far beyond your territory?" Arc asked.


    "It is hard to say¡­ they don''t have the relics that I have, so they must need a lot of mana to use time magic," Aion replied.


    It didn''t take long for Aion to see some of his sses obtaining experience¡­ it seemed that Arc was getting used to diplomatic work¡­ Aion didn''t want to say anything, but he couldn''t avoid thinking about how weird that was, considering his past.


    Once the death knights got rid of the corpses, Aion burned them to a crisp¡­ he didn''t want to take their things either, but leaving everything behind to bandits seemed like a bad idea. Still, Aion truly had better things to do with his time.


    After getting rid of all the evidence in that town, Aion went to the other ces¡­ his anger only increased with every passing minute. That asshole didn''t spare anyone¡­ elderly, man, woman, kids, toddlers¡­ It has been a while since Aion felt such anger. Thest person who managed to make him feel like a blood vessel was about to explore was Horis, and he had to threaten Aion''s mother in front of him to pull that off.


    Aion would rather kill his enemies in order to get rid of his anger as soon as possible. Still, he couldn''t say if he would be able to forget that anger just by killing that asshole.


    The death knights had an easy time killing all of the infected people¡­ while Aion won the fight, the enemy aplished his goal of getting on his head and made it clear that he was the cause of that incident.


    At that point in time, it was clear that most of his enemies didn''t want to face him directly. They want to get on his head and then force him to make a mistake or fall for a trap¡­

 Chapter 367 Planning Ahead

    When the sun was rising, Aion finished his work of getting rid of all the evidence. During that time, somehow, Arc managed to convince the thirty thousand souls that were killed to help Aion. He was trying way harder than Aion had expected, but not in a suspicious way... probably.


    Also, during that time, Aion realized that he couldn''t just wait for the enemies to do whatever the hell they wanted¡­ he had to strike them back, but it was clear that they would be waiting for him. Even if he ignores them, he has to consider how he is going to find them¡­


    "Ana probably knew that this was going to happen¡­ she doesn''t want to change things that are bound to happen that much, but she should be easily convinced that I can''t just wait for the enemies toe and do whatever they wanted," Aion thought once he began to fly home.


    Congrattions! The ss Bard has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Singer, Joker, or Magic Instrumentalist.


    Magic Instrumentalist Lv 01


    Health: 08/08


    Mana: 16/16


    Stamina: 16/16


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01 + 02


    Magic: 01 + 02


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Harp Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: Dexterity +02, Magic +02


    Skills: ssic Song Lv 01


    Passive: Continuous Melody Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 0


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 0


    Inventory:<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    ssic Song: a song that directly attacks the spirit of the enemies that listen to this song, making them lose ten points of mana per minute multiplied by the level of the skill at the cost of ten mana points per minute


    Continuous Melody: The effects of your melodies be more potent as you keep them going nonstop. The effects increase by three percent per minute, and it can increase up to three hundred percent ording to the level of the skill.


    "... I suddenly began to obtain a lot of experience in the bard ss¡­ are the people of that country famous musicians or something?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "Well, this would be convenient if I had an army of humans¡­ I can''t use this with tamed monsters or my undead."


    While Aion had soldiers in his territory, they weren''t even a bit reliable to the problems that he had to deal with, so he had to think of another solution.


    Aion arrived at home without that solution, and then he quickly went to question Ana, but she clearly avoided his eyes. She knew what would happen, and she wasn''t apologizing for making him deal with that, so she knew what was going to happen.


    "Don''t bully Ana, Aion," Artemisia said.


    "This is nowhere close to what I consider bullying," Aion said, and then he grabbed a chair to sit on. "If you know what happened, then I don''t have to exin, and you know what I want."


    "... You want to find them, right?" Ana asked. "I tried to find traces of those people, but I didn''t find¡­ they are either too far in the past, or they even live in that future."


    "... This is something that I got from the enemy this time. He is a guy that can make copies of himself," Aion said and then took the pieces of titanium that he got. "Use your power to find what this thing did, and I will use my mana to keep recovering yours."


    "All right¡­" Ana said and then sighed.


    After concentrating for a while, Ana began to use her magic, and then she began to see the past of those pieces of metal¡­ a guy being killed by Aion''s magic and then running around at fearsome speeds and then imting some kind of parasite on a lot of people.


    Before that, the man was in a dark room, until he left some kind of capsule with a green liquid inside¡­ before that, nothing. Once Aion heard that he furrowed his eyebrows. The enemy used one of its new clones, and thanks to it, he didn''t have that many memories or dates. Was that a coincidence, or were people aware of Ana''s power already?


    "Are you going to tell me what happened, Aion?" Artemisia asked. "Or did your rebellious phase already arrive?"


    "I think I am past that¡­" Aion said and then wondered if he should keep treating his mother like she was made of ss. "The truth is¡­"


    Aion thought that he had forgotten enough to control his feelings, but he was wrong about that. The more he said, the more he felt like breaking the neck of the enemies with his bare hands¡­ he had some anger issues, apparently, since he always tried to keep his cool.


    "The enemies aren''t pulling their punches¡­ we need to think of a way to counter their activities without exposing you too much," Artemisia said.


    "I thought about that, but we can''t use ordinary methods or involve most people," Aion said and then sighed. "Even if I manage to obtain the cooperation of the other guardians, they can only cover so much ground, even if they are much faster than any kind of vehicles that we have ess to."


    "I guess considering how much father and mother are helping you, they would tell you if they knew any answer to this question," Artemisia rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Do any of you know what to do in this situation?"


    "We know some runes that can help with high-speed transportation, but nothing of the scale that Aion needs," Seris replied while looking away and thinking of some things that she could do. "While that is a problem, I think we should focus on working on the flying fortress."


    It was only natural that the answers to some question won''t fall on Aion''sp¡­ so he didn''t have any other choice but be patient and keep thinking of other solutions.

 Chapter 368 Dark Dome

    ?While Aion was considering several things to help with mobility across the world at insane speeds, he managed to level up the yer ss to assassin and Tamer to Beast Tamer¡­ now Aion just to level up the Ninja ss and see if anything would change. Unfortunately, few of the souls were sending mana to that ss. It seemed that no one had experience in acting like ninjas.


    Still, Aion was training while using Seris'' powerbined with that ss, so it was only a matter of time. While Aion was working on that in the sky, Artemisia, Seris, and Ana were working on the experiment. Artemisia had a lot morend to manage, but it was easy for her since everyone feared Aion, and no one wanted to make a mistake and feel his wrath.


    During the experiments of that day, Seris and Ana high-fived each other when they managed to make a carriage fly, and they also managed to make itnd and change directions with clear precision. The trick behind had been discovered by them already. They had to put several runes above each other and make them affect the whole structure with perfection.


    "This is all very well and good, but when are you going to make up your mind?" Artemisia asked.


    "About what?" Seris asked.


    "About Aion," Artemisia said.


    "Urgh, that is¡­" Seris looked away.


    "Am I missing something here?" Ana asked. "Or is this sounding like Seris likes Aion."


    "Well, it is not like I hate him or anything, but¡­ he is younger. It would be better if¡­" Seris said.


    "It would be better if he conveniently proposed to you, right?" Artemisia asked while showing a sweet smile, but that only made Seris feel shivers. "Get real! Yourck of determination is so annoying! What about you, Ana?"


    "Me? What do I have to do with this?" Ana tilted her head.


    "Aren''t you going to marry Aion?" Artemisia asked. "You two need to say it clearly because that child lives for work, particrly, and I want grandkids! Damn it!"


    Seris and Ana finally saw a side of Artemisia that she had been hiding for a while and never showed Aion. Seris imagined that Artemisia would be like that. It was hard to believe that thest princess of the Milleris kingdom would be that meek and supportive.


    "That idea never crossed my mind¡­ in the first ce, I was ready to die when I met him in person since I didn''t have any confidence in being useful to change the past," Ana replied. "Besides, me living here is already like pping the timeline in the face. Marrying and having kids when I was supposed to live in the future might make even the world fall apart."


    "Don''t be a drama queen. You have the opportunity now. What do you want to do?" Artemisia asked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Ma''am, you should calm down a bit. This kind of thing shouldn''t be rushed¡­" Seris said.


    "At this rate, you will be forty before you make any move," Artemisia said and Seris groaned again. "Helping him behind the scenes is fine, but you can''t wait that things will solve themselves in the future¡­ you know that he will only get busy in the future, don''t you? Besides, are you nning to be scolded by your parents again? You left your duties because you made up your mind, right?"


    Seris didn''t know what to say, she couldn''t deny anything, and that only annoyed Artemisia even more. Still, saying even more, would be rude of her, so she decided to stay quiet and wait and see what would happen.


    As for Ana, she was deep in thought. The idea of having a romance had never crossed her mind since she had been alone, literally, alone for more than ten years¡­ Artemisia sighed. At that rate, her son would be like her brother, someone who lived for work and would never have a girlfriend.


    While they were having that conversation, the atmosphere suddenly changed again¡­ Aion stopped his training and then clicked his tongue. It was only natural that the enemies wouldn''t let him have any peace of mind. Still, they were abusing the situation to get on his nerves. Still, the atmosphere only changed for a short while and then returned to normal.


    Aion quickly used the relics to point where the next appeared, and much to his surprise¡­ he saw the light pointing toward the capital of the Zaera kingdom. He really didn''t like that.


    "Fenhair, Celion¡­" Aion said.


    "I will stay on guard," Celion dered.


    "I am already nearby," Fenhair said. "I will guard your base, but I have a feeling that you will need our help this time."


    "I will be the spearhead as usual. In the meantime, you two will stand by and wait for further orders," Aion shook his head. "If something happens, I can leave as fast as possible, and it will be risky to stay in the same ce all at once."


    Aion wondered what he should do for a moment¡­ inform his mother, Seris, and Ana what happened, or just move on? He would rather not give time for the enemies to move or do too much, so he flew as fast as possible to the capital while still using the power of Seris'' rune.


    Thanks to that, Aion arrived at the capital in less than ten minutes. Still, even before he arrived, he noticed that something was off¡­ a massive pir of shadows was in the distance, and soon Aion confirmed that it was covering the whole capital¡­ His father was there, and his siblings traveled there often, so Aion clicked his tongue and approached even further.


    "The hell is this¡­" Aion frowned since he couldn''t feel anythinging from the pir of shadows.


    Aion thought that it was made of mana, but he couldn''t feel that¡­ that was somehow that appeared as soon as he felt the mana¡­ that couldn''t be a good sign.

 Chapter 369 True Colors

    ?Aion used Fireball on the pir, but the spell was just sucked by it, and nothing happened. He flew around it for a while, but he didn''t find anything¡­ he was wasting his time like that. Aion had to check the interior, even if it was a trap. Besides, he couldn''t waste time since he didn''t know how things were happening outside... time could run differently there, after all.


    Before anything, Aion made one of the items that he had in his inventory touch the dark pir. Still, once he touched it, it immediately sucked the random sword¡­ Aion didn''t even have time to fight it back.


    "Shit, I don''t have time for hesitation¡­" Aion thought. "In this kind of situation, I need to deal with the core of the spell, an item, or the spellcaster¡­ fuck it."


    Aion jumped in after he activated the Mana Shield. Fortunately, the spell worked, but Aion was pulled in. He wasn''t attacked, but Aion soon saw himself in a dark world¡­ After using a fireball to illuminate the area, Aion saw that there were some buildings and walls nearby, and they resembled the capital¡­ but it was too dark.


    "The air is stagnant, dusty, and putrid¡­ just like where I found Ana," Aion thought, and then he looked above and didn''t see anything aside from darkness.


    If the capital was below him, it waspletely silent¡­ Before heading there, he flew high in the sky until he saw something that resembled a metallic tform. It was flying around one kilometer away from ground level, and after looking around, Aion confirmed that it covered the whole area. The castle of the Milleris kingdom was thousands of kilometers away, and Aion knew that such a thing also existed there. Still, he found it weird that such a massive metallic structure could exist.


    When Aion touched it in order to Identify the metal, he felt his mana being drained¡­ it felt like the same material as that armor. At least the effects were the same.


    "I can''t feel much mana around¡­ is this thing draining all the mana of the world?" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Ana didn''t say anything like that¡­"


    "I can still feel the mana in the environment, but mana is something created when living beings exist," Arc said. "If there are close to no living beings around, the mana of the world doesn''t grow, and I would say that this structure drains the mana of a lot of living beings."


    Creating some pirs to sustain that would be a convenient way to do that since it would stay in contact with the ground and drain all the mana around. Aion couldn''t see that since the entire world waspletely taken by darkness, but he was certain of it.


    "An anti-magic metal¡­ I guess the power of my weapons to absorb these things won''t be useful unless I make some parts break apart first," Aion thought. "The question is how to do that without alerting anyone or anything, without using mana, and without losing mana."


    In the end, Aion decided to check the capital before anything. He had to check the situation with his father and if his siblings were around or not. All that silence was starting to annoy him¡­


    Ninja Lv 65


    Health: 422/422


    Mana: 216/216


    Stamina: 622/622


    Strength: 56 + 100


    Dexterity: 55


    Magic: 54


    Endurance: 55


    Resistance: 54


    Speed: 56 + 200


    Status: 00


    Shuriken Refinement Lv 100<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Bonuses: Speed + 200, Strength+ 100


    Skills: Furtivity 50 ( Decreased cost Lv 12), Throw Lv 30, Fire Kunai Lv 10, Ice Kunai Lv 10


    Passive: Critical Rate Up Lv 55, Silent Steps Lv 22, Water walking Lv 05, Chakra Lv 11


    Improvement Points:


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion was still using the ninja ss, and while it wasn''t the best option forbat, at least he knew that he could move without being heard. Aionnded in the city, and he had a hard time seeing anything without the fireball. He didn''t have any other choice but to move like that since he didn''t want to clearly reveal his position.


    Silently, Aion headed to his old home, but he couldn''t help but frown since he couldn''t feel any noise or presence¡­ the enemies did that much to move the entire capital to the future, but even so, he acted fast enough to prevent them from doing too much¡­


    "The buildings arepletely fine, and so are the streets¡­ this is really the capital from my time, not the version from the future¡­ What the hell is going on?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "You should know¡­ time flies differently for those who can use time magic," Arc said. "While you only took ten minutes to arrive act, the enemies must have a lot more time. It is just like when you went to the past, and you returned at the exact moment you left."


    "Still¡­ what is their goal while leaving that pir behind?" Aion asked while clenching his teeth.


    "I don''t know¡­ Ana didn''t mention how important the capital of the Zaera kingdom would be, so the enemies must have decided to wipe it out," Arc said. "Why and how we can say¡­ However, the fact that there are no signs of battles here bothers me."


    That was true. Even if the enemies could use time magic, they couldn''t wipe out the entire poption of the capital that easily¡­


    Aion hurried to check his old home, but he also didn''t find anything there¡­ all those questions and worries were starting to annoy the heck out of him.


    "You are wasting your time¡­e here already,"


    "That voice¡­ you son of a bitch," Aion bit his lips in anger until he started to bleed through his mouth.


    Aion flew at his max speed toward the castle, and he broke the walls with his body alone until hended in the throne room.


    "Hey, I have been waiting," Vangel said while smiling.

 Chapter 370 Blame

    370 me


    Aion never trusted Vangel¡­ he always had a bad feeling while looking at the guy. Still, he was a good ruler, and he always had been a good friend of his brothers and even let Henri marry his sister.


    Despite losing a few years ago in a tournament, he never showed any signs of someone who hated Aion for that. Moreover, Lexus was always working for him, so he would know what kind of person Vangel was¡­ he wouldn''t make the mistake of teaching someone that could be troublesome with his best Techniques. Still, even if he were a good guy until now, there was something that could change the whole dynamics of the situation.


    "You were born twenty years ago¡­ when time magic was used for the first time in many years," Aion thought. "You transferred yourself to the body of the heir of this country."


    "Did I?" Vangel asked. "Who knows?"


    "...Where is everyone?" Aion asked. "Answer quickly, and your death won''t be very painful."


    "Wow, we have a badass here," Vangel smirked. "You think that because you won in the past, you can win again?"


    "I am certain that you can win against me, like in a number of callouses you have in your ass," Aion said while starting to feel suspicious of Vangel''s confidence.


    It was hard to imagine how he pulled that off. Still, it was clear that Vangel was what caused the disappearance of all the citizens of the capital and created that dark pir¡­ if he knew about the future, he was from the future as well. So, he should have more than a little bit of information about Aion''s skills.


    "You are really fun, and it makes me recall the first time we met," Vangel said.


    "Ew, you are starting to look really creepy," Aion said. "Don''t waste my time. Where is my father? If you are the cause of this, you should have called my brothers and sisters as well just to get me. I am sick and tired of dealing with bastards like you."


    "But you only started to deal with people like me, the other you that failed in my real timeline fought against them hundreds of times," Vangel said. "You possibly can''t get tired so soon."


    "This is your timeline, asshole," Aion said while ring at Vangel. "I should have killed you when I had the chance in that tournament¡­ even if you didn''t have the memories before rebirth, doing this now still is enough to prove that you deserved the worse of deaths."


    "Man, you never rx, do you?" Vangel asked and then rxed on the throne even more. "What is the point of worrying about this? There are many other versions of the people of this capital in other timelines. Just killing and destroying the capital of one isn''t anything. If it were, the world wouldn''t have ended like this. Besides, I am doing this for the sake of the future since you failed in your task. all in any other situation, but you are just too much of a troublesome threat."


    If the enemies had a lot of data about him, it was clear that they woulde up with some You had all the tools at your disposal, and you still failed, so you are useless since you can''t even fulfill your job. Just die and hand over your powers to us."


    "Come and get it," Aion said and then fired a Fire Kunai at Vangel''s head.


    In the next moment, Vangel just raised his hand and absorbed the attack¡­ while it was for a short time, the kunai assumed physical properties while it also could burn those who get hit by it¡­ so Aion was left speechless when his attack was absorbed.


    "Hmm¡­ the quality of your mana is truly high," Vangel nodded to himself. "I shouldn''t have expected less from someone with such talent, bloodlines, and blessings. We would have cooperated with you all in any other situation, but you are just too much of a troublesome threat."


    If the enemies had a lot of data about him, it was clear that they woulde up with some countermeasures. Still, Aion never thought that it would be something of that level¡­ no, if they could keep traveling between the timelines, they would have all the time in the world. Even more so when they can transfer their spirits to other bodies.


    "Shut up, don''t me me if things ended like this. This isn''t my world alone," Aion said while thinking of the best option in that situation. "You are not only a failure, but you are also a coward that decided to abandon your own reality."


    "Maybe, but I didn''t give up yet. You already did once, and you brought the enemies here," Vangel said and then got up before summoning a golden sword that emanated a powerful red aura. "Just die and be a stepping stone for the true future of this world."


    In the next moment, several mirrors appeared around Aion¡­ he clicked his tongue in annoyance, and then he couldn''t help but wonder¡­ he thought that only those who had the relics could use the mirrors since they were the most stable ways to use magic. Wasn''t that suspicious?


    Still, he couldn''t think too much about it when he saw several of the metallic man appearing, a woman with the half body of a fish, and other figures that Aion didn''t know. Aside from Vangel, Aion had to deal with six more enemies, aside from the clones of the metallic man.


    "Good grief, considering that you talk like you are the pinnacle of efficiency and talent, you sure need a lot of people to bear me, huh," Aion furrowed his eyebrows. "I wonder why¡­"


    "We won''t make any mistakes. We won''t underestimate you," Vangel dered. "You might think that this is cowardly, but unlike you, we won''t risk the universe to feed our own ego trying to consider stupid notions like honor and justice."


    "At least you have the right mindset," Aion said and then changed his ss to Bloody Undead and used Mana Shield.


    At the same time, the metallic man and his copies dashed and surrounded Aion while the mermaid used her voice to enhance their bodies with magic.

 Chapter 371 Sacrifice

    371 Sacrifice


    Vangel moved away a bit, and then his sword began to glow while it was harnessing a shit ton of mana. It didn''t take long for him to have enough to st away, and the entire city and Aion wanted to ask where the hell he was getting so much energy.


    Unfortunately, he didn''t have time to think about that because the metallic men began to attack him¡­ they were fifty copies¡­ fifty copies of that annoying guy who caused Aion a lot of trouble just by running around. All of them began to punch Aion''s barrier while his fists had been enhanced by magic. Thanks to it, Aion''s mana was being drained at an rming rate.


    The mermaid and the other enemies that Aion didn''t have time to analyze jumped away andpleted an almost perfect encirclement to make sure that Aion won''t have the chance to escape¡­ they had a lot of time to prepare for that moment, and Aion truly was in a bad spot since he didn''t ever consider that the past and the future would unite together to get rid of him.


    Aion began to use a lot of mana orbs to explode everything around. Still, the mermaid''s voice got stronger, and so did the fists of the metallic men¡­ thatbination was annoying since Aion''s mana began to be drained even faster¡­ basically, he was losing three thousand points of mana per second just by defending himself.


    "I can''t win this¡­" Aion thought while biting his lips. "I need to move away from here and then think of a n¡­ I can''t let my anger and pride get the better of me now.


    Aion decided to return to the present¡­ even if they were still outnumbered, Fenhair and Celion would be able to help Aion more than a little bit. Also, if he contacts Sauros and his family, they will have a decent force, a lot better than nothing.


    Aion processed all the mana orbs that he had to get all that mana back and then flew away from the throne room¡­ the enemies decided to attack him all at once in a period of time in which they knew that they could defeat him. Still, they probably didn''t know about all of Aion''s techniques.


    Although Aion found it suspicious that the metallic men didn''t chase him, he ignored that and kept sting away the walls of the castle¡­ until a massive beam of golden light was fired toward him. Aion didn''t have the time to notice it, much less dodge it. The attack was that fast.


    While Aion still had some mana, the attackpletely ignored the defenses of Mana Shield and engulfed him. It was only natural since the Mana Shield could only take so much damage per second. At least Aion didn''t have time to feel any pain, and he was immediately knocked down unconscious.


    When Aion woke up, he was in the middle of a dark ce while feeling himself being crushed by a lot of things. He moved his head a little and then felt the weight of some rocks hitting his forehead¡­ The pain woke him uppletely, and then he coughed a mouthful of blood.


    "You are terribly outmatched this time, Aion," Arc suddenly said. "You can''t win against them now¡­ you need to escape, but even in your current condition, you will have a hard time doing that by yourself."


    Aion didn''t have time to say anything, nor the chance. His body was aching all over, to the point that he couldn''t even move his arms or legs or even feel them. He healed himself, and that improved things a bit¡­ but his arms and legs bones weren''t healing at all.


    "Son of bitches¡­ you will pay for this¡­" Aion said once he realized that he had lost his arms and legs.


    His torso barely endured, thanks to the armor that Aion always wore¡­ but that armor had turned into dust now. Another attack and he will be killed, and he couldn''t even fight in that condition¡­ Still, he forced himself to use a st of wind to move from that pile of debris and then used an earth tform to float while he summoned the relics.


    "They will follow you, and we can''t let that happen¡­" Arc said. "You have some skeletons with you. Summon them now!"


    Aion didn''t know how a bunch of skeletons could help him in that situation, but Arc had a point and decided to listen to his grandpa. He had stored five hundred of them in his inventory and unleashed them all.


    "Use ten thousand souls to enhance them. Hurry," Arc dered. "If you use your grandmother and me first, the others will quickly follow yourmands."


    "... What?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "Just do it! You don''t have enough energy left, and we already realized that our mana can''t restore yours like usual," Arc replied. "Still, if we burn our souls with all of our might and at the same time, we should be able to cause enough damage to them that will dy them for a while. They shouldn''t be wary of our existence."


    "Self-sacrifice isn''t something that I would like to do, but it can''t be helped in this situation," Annalee added. "Besides, I hate when cowards gang up on a singlemon enemy like worms¡­ it wasn''t for long, Aion, but I believe that meeting you wasn''t so bad considering how softly Artemisia raised you. She probably won''t believe this, but tell her that¡­ it was good to see her grow up."


    "Shut up. I am not going to sacrifice souls," Aion said. "As if I would need help against the likes of those assholes."


    "Seriously¡­ what a troublesome child," Annalee said and then sighed. "You heard him, everyone. Let''s just put the n into action."


    In the next moment, Aion began to receive a lot of experience, but then his body began to heat up for some reason. At the same time, it was being overflowed with mana¡­

 Chapter 372 Back To The Dream

    "Urgh¡­ what are you doing?" Aion asked while he saw his vision getting blurry.


    At the same time, Aion could feel a lot of steam leaving his body as well¡­ he didn''t expect that such a thing would happen, but a lot of souls were giving him their energy. It was the energy of millions of people, so it was only natural that with his current strength, he couldn''t handle all that much.


    "What you don''t know is the fact that everyone here already epted their deaths," An unknown voice echoed in Aion''s head. "Once they saw a kid like you thinking ahead, thinking about the future and other periods of time, everyone understood how short-sighted we have been. For that, I am thankful, Aion."


    "Who the hell are you?" Aion asked. "Rather than that, you guys are talking too much. How the hell have the enemies didn''t find me yet?"


    "I am your uncle. You can call me Adonis. Not like you will have many chances to do that," Adonis said. "Regardless, all this energy is forcing you to unleash your true potential, and it looks like you can also use time magic even without the relics. I don''t know why, though¡­ you shouldn''t have that blood running into your veins. Regardless, this is all that we can do. The rest will be up to you."


    Aion felt like his head was about to split, and he was unable to say anything. In the next moment, Aion was engulfed in a massive pir of light that destroyed everything in dozens of kilometers¡­ millions of souls used all of their energy to stop the enemies and give Aion a chance to escape. Still, unfortunately, things didn''t go exactly as they had nned.


    ¡ª ¡ª


    In the end, Aion saw himself in a dark dimension, and he felt like he was moving toward something. Still, he was too sleepy to confirm that¡­ eventually, his body began to approach that world and then eventually to the dungeon of a dark castle¡­ in the next moment, he saw himself seeing things from Malon''s perspective again.


    "Oh, shit¡­ not this again," Aion thought while feeling like facepalming. "I don''t have time for this¡­ To think that such a thing would happen now of all times..."


    Aion slowly began to recall what had happened before, and he couldn''t tell if he was in a dream or if the things that happened before were a dream. Either way, he couldn''t feel his powers anymore, and he couldn''t feel the presence of the souls inside him.


    "What a troublesome situation¡­" Aion thought, and then he realized that while he was back that Malon and the girl that looked like his grandma weren''t moving at all.


    Aion felt that he had paused a movie in 4d or something. Still, when he thought about seeing the events unfold, time began to move again¡­


    Malon looked at the healer with some concern but quickly went to the cell and opened the lock with the iron sword. Breaking those were starting to look easy¡­ he felt like he could have used his hands to do the same if he had trained more with his bare hands.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "We''ll talkter... let''s go before anyonees back," Malon said while looking around.


    "Right..." The girl nodded.


    The girl came out of the cell and then followed Malon. Aion had the idea to make things move faster, and like he had pressed the fast-forward button, the events began to unfold several times faster than before. Those two found some sewers and then crossed them while feeling grossed out and then eventually found themselves in a swamp¡­ they managed to escape, but things weren''t looking that good. They felt like they needed to clean themselves really hard, but the swamp looked more than a little bit dangerous.


    "What is your name, and why were you brought here?" Malon asked after he realized that they would probably have to develop some sense ofpanionship in order to survive the rest of the situation.


    The healer looked down and then began to walk, apanied by Malon.


    "My name is Cailena, my mother and I used to live peacefully in a harbor vige near here¡­" The girl said while looking down. "We have some talent when ites to healing magic... but that didn''t seem to be the only reason for the invasion of our vige."


    "They invaded your vige well¡­ And do you know what the reason was?" Malon furrowed his eyebrows.


    "Not¡­" Cailena replied. "But they seemed to be looking only for my mother, and to avoid problems, they took me too. They didn''t kill everyone in the vige but set fire to some houses to serve as a warning, maybe because it''s an important port... but even so, we ended up here."


    "How long ago was that?" Malon asked.


    "It''s been a few days¡­but what about you? What is your name?" Cailena asked.


    "Malon¡­ they destroyed my entire town and killed my parents¡­ because I was hunting with a friend, I escaped, but someone from the guild turned me in," Malon said and then sighed since he realized how stupid he had been. " I believe it''s the hooded man I saw. It was weird that he was standing in a corner just reading, he was just listening to me, and I didn''t even realize¡­ the enemies must have that kind of people working for them everywhere. Without a force of that scale, they wouldn''t have raided my hometown that easily¡­"


    The behavior of the girl and his grandmother were like water and oil, so Aion couldn''t help but think that perhaps they had some blood connection. Now that he thought about it, Malon saw some ces, but Aion didn''t recognize any of the towns or the swamp in front of those, for that matter. Could the world have changed so much in just three thousand years¡­ how much destruction must those two have witnessed? Aion could make a small guess¡­

 Chapter 373 Fast Forward

    "I''m sorry," Cailena said


    Aion wondered if those two had time at all to be feeling sorry for each other. A couple of minutes had passed already, and they didn''t even try to take a single step into the swamp. He already knew that Malon was dumb as a brick, but he didn''t expect that the girl would be the same. She studied magic. After all


    "No need. I won''t let it end like this. Besides, it wasn''t just me... soon my friend will get here... I hope I can keep him from falling here too," Malon said and then sighed.


    Aion could tell that Malon''s father only taught him how to swing a sword. Looking so defeated while saying such a thing in front of a girl was a big no. It was fine to share his insecurities with a friend like Ailen, who he had known for years, but not with a girl he had just met. That was just inme and pathetic.


    In any case, they soon began to move while crossing the swamp. Fortunately, it was mid-afternoon, so the visibility wasn''t half bad, and they could tell where they should go following a path of wet ground. There were several mud pools along the way, and they had to cross them carefully since it was impossible to tell how deep they were¡­ in fact, the more they stooped on a single ce, the more they felt their feet sinking in the wet ground. That couldn''t be a good sign¡­


    Malon looked over his shoulder and then saw arge and ominous-looking castle. It seemed rather old, and he had never heard that such a structure existed. It seemed like a relic of a past era¡­ and it also looked pretty sturdy despite its location.


    "When I went to the past, beyond three thousand years ago, I didn''t see any structure like that¡­ and this castle looks quite fortified¡­ did they have such knowledge back then?" Aion thought.


    When Aion was about to make time go super fast forward again, several giant purple frogs suddenly emerged from several pools of mud and surrounded those two. That was another creature that Aion had never heard of or seen, so it looked like a species that disappeared, or perhaps Malon once lived beyond the sea in the ring continent¡­


    In any case, Malon already had his sword in hand while he was inexperienced. He had a resolute look in his eyes¡­ it was time to stop being a pussy and act like a real swordsman.


    Several frogs jumped toward them, and then before they could approach, they attacked using their purple tongues¡­ still, Malon, with a single sword sh, not only repelled the attacks but also cut off the tongues of the beasts. The frogs grunted in pain, and then the remaining three opened their mouths and fired multiple purple spheres toward them.


    Malon silently charged and then blocked several of those attacks¡­ Still, some dropletsnded on his arms, and he felt them stinging quite a bit¡­ they could poison and burn his skin as well. That was a terriblebination since it could make the poison enter his blood current with a lot more ease.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Still, before the beasts had too many chances to attack, Malon swung his sword three times extremely fast and then cut off their heads¡­ he quickly turned around and then attacked the other beasts, that were agonizing.


    "Now that is more like the Malon I know¡­ his father trained him well, but I guess he iscking inbat experience and determination to attack," Aion thought.


    Malon was breathing roughly even though the battle didn''tst that long¡­ it the recent days, his life had been at risk many times, and while he was getting used to it, he was having a hard time adjusting his emotions to the situation. He kept ring at the bodies for a short while until he felt a refreshing feeling in his arms and then looked to the side and saw Cailena using some sort of spell to counter the poison and heal the wounds. He had been healed a few times by magic in the past, but the power of her spells was above the doctors that he had met¡­


    "Thanks¡­ this is really impressive," Malon said while looking at the wound on his arms that had turned into just some red marks.


    "I can''t fight, so this is the best that I can do," Cailena forced a smile while keeping her distance. "I can also use some other support spells, so I will try to be more efficient.


    Malon could tell that he scared Cailena a fair bit with his sudden behavior. She was studying to be a healer, so it was only normal that she would be wary of those that caused most of the wounds that she had to heal¡­


    Malon was aware that thinking like that wasn''t a good idea, but as long as Cailena was nearby, he didn''t have to fear the monsters. His best option was to get used to fighting them as much as possible while she could heal him in order to be better at fighting¡­


    In any case, they began to move again since it was only a matter of time before the enemies in the castle noticed their disappearance¡­


    "First of all, I need to find Ailen and then learn more about what happened," Malon thought. "I can''t rely on others to investigate me, and I don''t even know whom I can trust aside from him¡­ considering that thousands of people died and I didn''t notice any movements until now, it is fair to say that the enemy has some level of influence."


    Malon was finally starting to use his head, and it was convenient that Aion could hear his thoughts. Still, it was hard to imagine if he could learn anything useful for him.. unfortunately, he couldn''t wake up, even though he could control the movie''s speed.

 Chapter 374 Suspicious Help

    Malon kept fighting for the sake of getting more experience, and he didn''t spare a single one of the monsters while they crossed the swamp. He could feel himself getting better, but at the same time, he was starting to get hurt a bit too often. Cailen healed him whenever possible, but she was starting to get exhausted¡­ even her mana had limits, after all.


    "Urgh, I am starting to feel sick¡­" Malon said while feeling like his head was splitting.


    "Well¡­ technically, the poison still is inside your body, and I am only nullifying its effects," Cailena said while looking around and noticed that the swamp was starting to thin out. "Your body is trying to fight the poison and make sure that it will be expelled eventually."


    "Expelled?" Malon furrowed his eyebrows.


    "Well, you know¡­ when going to the toilet," Cailena forced a smile. "Sorry, I didn''t think that you would try to fight so much¡­ I can''t use my magic that often if you keep getting hurt."


    "It is fine¡­ one more lesson learned," Malon said and then sighed. "We should be leaving the swamp soon enough. In this kind of situation, we need to look for more help¡­ I have a friend that I can count on. What about you? Rtives?"


    "... None," Cailena replied after a few seconds of silence.


    That seemed like a heavy topic, so Malon decided not to pry. Besides, while their situations were simr, Malon didn''t know if he could count on Cailena for long¡­ she was a good person at heart, and her goal was to heal people. Would she pursue revenge under the guise of justice with him? It was hard to say¡­ Besides, he didn''t tell her about her mother yet¡­ he conveniently lied to her in order to make her leave the dungeon faster.


    In any case, soon they left the swamp, and it was starting to get dark¡­ they would have to consider camping somewhere nearby, and that would be troublesome since they were in an area filled with monsters. Maybe they had to keep going¡­ but Malon was starving, but not enough to eat poisonous frogs. Maybe a good night of sleep could help them fool the hunger for a while longer.


    When the sun was almost setting, they found a grove nearby that seemed thick enough for them to hide. Making a campfire was out of the question since they were still close to the enemy territory, so they had to use the trees not to endure the cold wind of the night, and considering how damp and wet the region was, they could see that the night would be really cold¡­


    Unfortunately for them, before they could reach the grove, a carriage appeared in the distance and began to approach the grove¡­ there were no roads nearby, so maybe the people there wanted some snacks that they could find there.


    "Act naturally," Malon whispered.


    Cailena silently nodded, and then they slowed down to see what the carriage and the driver would do. Much to their surprise, the carriage turned in their direction. Malon clicked his tongue since he couldn''t see the driver yet because of the tworge horses pulling it.


    Eventually, the carriage stopped in front of them, and Malon felt that he should wound the horses as soon as possible in order to avoid them from being chased.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Well, well, well¡­ when did you be this popr?" A voiceing from the interior of the carriage echoed.


    "That voice¡­" Malon opened his eyes widely, and then Ailen jumped from the top of the carriage since he was resting there.


    "Hey, it has been a few days only, but it seems that you have already been in a lot of trouble," Ailen said. "Well, at least you are in one piece."


    Malon smiled and felt relieved that his friend was fine, but then he took another step and then copsed on the ground. It was annoying, but Aion couldn''t see anything while Malon was unconscious¡­ that was his memories, so that made sense. It still was annoying, though.


    Malon woke up the next day in a different room and in a different bed. It wasfortable, toofortable, so he found it weird since thest few days had been intense in a bad way. Malon got up from the bed and then left the room and found himself in arge mansion¡­


    "What is this, one day waking up in a prison cell and then in a mansion¡­" Malon frowned.


    Soon enough, Malon found some stairs and then a living room with two people talking. One of them was Cailena, and the other was a middle-aged man wearing a dark cloak. Malon recalled that he had seen him a bit behind the horses of the carriage.


    "It seems you are finally up," The middle-aged man said.


    Malon approached and then saw that Cailena looked prettyfortable around the guy, but Malon didn''t have many good experiences with strangerstely, so he kept his guard up. The guy had a few strings of white hair, and he looked pretty smart while he looked thoughtful. The living room also had a shit ton of books, but it was hard to say anything else about the guy.


    "You must be Malon," The middle-aged man said. "My name is Ervan¡­ I am somewhat of an acquaintance of your father and her mother."


    "Really¡­" Malon said.


    "You have all the reason to be suspicious¡­ but you shouldn''t be that nervous when yourst bad experience was thanks to your own naivety," Ervan said while shrugging. "Regardless, I heard what happened to your hometown and went to check your father and Ailen''s, but then I only found your friend there, and he exined what happened. By the way, he is practicing his archery in the garden."


    It looked like ages had passed since thest time heard some good news, but they sure improved his mood. With his friend there, things were looking up.

 Chapter 375 Relics

    Malon went to check on Ailen, and he confirmed that he was there. Alien was even more suspicious of strangers than Malon, and if he felt that he could trust Ervan, then that was clearly something.


    "We went to look for you, and then we found out about something happening in that city and then that someother friend of his was also captured," Ailen said while recovering his arrow from the trunk of a tree. "We went to rescue you, but it seems that you aren''t totally useless without my help."


    "Shut up¡­" Malon said and then sighed.


    "Anyway, let''s clear up some questions about what happened," Ervan said. "I also need to get to know the kids that I helped this time. Although I have a fairly good idea of what kind of people you are already¡­"


    The trio listened to the Ervan''s words and then sat down. After introducing themselves, Malon and Cailena spoke in detail about what had happened once they arrived at the prison, and upon hearing the end of Malon''s story, Ervan brought his hand to his chin, looking thoughtful.


    "What a problem," Ervan said.


    "Problem?" Malon looked curious and then asked.


    "Maybe your father didn''t exin it due tock of time or some other factor, but it''s essential for you to understand what happened to you," Ervan looked at Malon for a few seconds, and then he sighed. "Malon and Cailena, this is specifically for you and Ailen. You should pay attention as well."


    "A century ago, a group of people banded together to stop a greater evil, his name is Tenebres, an immortal mage who controls monsters," Ervan''s voice lowered, and he looked even more serious. Those three listened and nodded. "He also could move across space and time¡­ he killed a lot of people that could do the same as him to obtain that power."


    "Control monsters? Is it possible?" Malon asked while his eyes were wide open.


    "If he was so powerful, how was he stopped?"


    "It''s quite simple, in the past, Tenebres was free, his power was so great that even without having a city under hismand and influence waspared to that of kings, but even though he was so strong, he was not invincible, and they discovered how to seal him," Ervan replied.


    Ervan got up and went towards a wooden drawer nearby, taking something from there. The three saw him put a paper on the table with the drawing of three specific objects. Malon recognized his amulet.


    "Three objects capable of imprisoning the soul of Tenebres, the relics of the soul, two of them were with you even if you didn''t know it," Ervan said. "Do you get it now?".


    "So it was to get these objects that attacked our viges? Is that why my parents were killed?" Malon remained silent as he checked his shirt to see where the amulet and ring should have been<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Fortunately, there is still hope to stop Tenebres from returning. They want the three relics to bring Tenebres back and help their cause, whatever it is¡­. That''s what we need to stop at all costs," Ervan crossed his arms and eyes before saying it.


    "And¡­ what does this Tenebres guy want?" Cailena looked down, worried, and then asked.


    "And does it really matter?" Ailen asked while interrupting the conversation. He leaned against the wall and continued. "It was because of him that our viges were attacked, people died, and we lost our families. For me, it is reason enough to kill him, and I don''t care what he wants."


    Aion listened to all that silently¡­ what the hell was going on? Another enemy showed up¡­ Tenebres? Sealed? What a half-assed way to deal with things¡­ then again, if that person was as strong as Malon probably got once he left the, perhaps ordinary humans couldn''t handle such an enemy.


    Nevertheless, Aion thought that nire and her friends ended the age of chaos where a lot of people could use time magic and mess with the timelines, so something didn''t add up. Actually, a lot of things weren''t adding up. Still, he imagined that Tenebres won''t be a problem to him since he didn''t find any signs of it in his timeline¡­


    "I agree with Ailen, Cailena," Malon said. " I can''t imagine any reason to ept what happened. There was no good reason behind it, only evil and malice."


    Malon spoke with determination, even though it was easy to see that he was still feeling a bit¡­ and Caiilena kept looking down. Still, this time in silence, looking even more worried. Malon looked at Ervan, who showed a doubtful expression.


    "Maybe it''s not the ideal time, but I''d like to thank you for helping us escape and giving us shelter," Malon said.


    "It''s fine. I was just helping some old friends," Ervan replied. "We only interacted a few times, but we were friends who shared the same fate since we are descendants of the people who dealt with Tenebres."


    "I get it. In any case, you also said that there is still hope of preventing the return of Tenebres andmented that only two were with us. What about the third relic?" Malon asked.


    After hearing that, Ervan put his hand in one of the sleeves of his robes, and a whileter, he managed to remove a porcin statue.


    "The ring, the earrings, and finally, the statue of the image of thedy who was able to seal Tenebres through the relics," Ervan said. "All of these are necessary for the seal to be undone. As long as I have it, things will be fine, but I guess the enemies soon will look for me as well¡­ if they knew about your families, they should know about mine as well."


    The three approached to see the statue, and Aion wondered why they were different from the relics that he had¡­ Malon was like that, so he probably made them after the image of the friends he lost.

 Chapter 376 Departure

    "Okay, but... Those are not a spear, much less a sword. How were those used to stop such a powerful being?" Malon asked.


    "They probably hit him with these objects," Ailen shrugged.


    Malon furrowed his eyebrows as if he had already expected that answer. Still, with a smile, Ervan decided to exin how things worked. Those two really made him recall his friends.


    "It''s very simple, boys, from what you described inbat, Malon," Ervan said. "These are called soul relics, and their powers go far beyond what. These relics are able to manipte all elements, the creator of these relics was known as The Iron Lady, one of the most powerful mages of antiquity, and from their poweres the ability to imprison Tenebres in another reality, and I believe that the Lady''s powers are the only possible way to stop him in directbat today."


    "And what happened to those powers? Do you have and can teach?" Malon asked.


    "It was lost a long time ago," Ervan shrugged.


    "How was it lost? How humanity''s greatest weapon against evil has simply been lost?" Malon frowned.


    Aion truly wanted to smack the head of that moron¡­ hismon sense wascking on too many levels. It was fine being a muscle head and all, but even stupidity had limits.


    "I have no idea, of course, this story has holes, but apparently, humans couldn''t use these abilities. Unfortunately, that''s all I know. I haven''t found any more records about it, at least in our country," Ervan added. "Maybe it was a power not meant for humans, and Tenebres was one and lost himself in his lust for power, after all.".


    "But we can still keep him sealed, right?" Cailena asked.


    "Correct, but we have to confront those responsible for the attacks. Suppose they have the power to destroy viges so easily. In that case, I imagine they won''t stop until they can find the bearer of the third relic, and I don''t intend to let more people suffer for it," Ervan replied.


    "So, how can we help?" Ailen asked.


    "Honestly, I wish I could keep you guys out of it, but I''m not that strong and confident in my abilities. I saw that you''re talented, and I think even if I stopped you, you would find a way to get in trouble, so it''s pretty simple," Ervan replied. "We will use a direct attack since the enemy isn''t expecting that. Training now wouldn''t help, and Malon will be the front line just to clear the way. Ailen and Cailena, you two will help us in the backline. I believe that the ck Knight, Leonder, will be there, just leave him to me, and I believe everything will work out."


    It seemed like a dangerous n, but it wasn''t like most people could level up like Aion. So, putting themselves to fight as much as possible was the best option when it came to getting stronger and gaining experience. Fortunately, as long as they don''t make stupid mistakes, Cailena can always heal them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "That is what I wanted to hear¡­" Ailen clenched his fists.


    "We will travel for a while and then learn more about the enemies. In the meantime, I will teach you a few things about magic that will improve your fighting abilities," Ervan dered. "I will prepare a few things for the journey. You all can use the rest of the day to rest."


    Those three nodded, and then Ailen went to the garden to practice while Cailena guided Malon to the kitchen, where he filled his belly and then some. He was starving, and it was time for him to store some energy. Now that he knew what he had to do, he wouldn''t hesitate and had to polish his sword skills more seriously than before.


    Cailena didn''t look that eager to fight, and Malon wondered if she had already realized about the death of her mother¡­ saying that would probably be for the best, but Ervan didn''t seem like the person who would tell half-truths.


    "Cailena, about your mother¡­" Malon said.


    "I already know about it¡­ I had the feeling since I met you," Cailena said and then forced a smile. "You didn''t want to let me see her condition, right?"


    "Well¡­" Malon hesitated.


    "Mother always told me that this kind of thing might happen in the future, and she told me to be ready for it," Cailena said and then sighed. "Still, despite all this¡­ I don''t want to fight. I just want to make sure that people won''t have to suffer. That is why I like my magic."


    "Well, that is fine as well," Malon said. "To each their own¡­ or something like that. You can focus on healing people, and in this journey, you can leave the dirty work for us. You were trained to end the suffering of some people, and the rest of us were trained to make sure that the enemies won''t have many chances to cause suffering."


    Cailena sighed¡­ she wished that things could be that simple. Still, what else could she do now¡­ she could only try to repay the favor to the people that helped her. After that, she had no idea what she was going to do.


    Aion could tell what Cailen was thinking, she didn''t make up her mind yet, but Malon was too stupid to realize that. Still, Aion was more worried about howe to her appearance was still different while the others still looked the same as he saw them in the tower. Those questions were starting to annoy him.


    "I should fast forward all this shit¡­ I don''t need to see training montages and the start of their journey," Aion thought.


    After resting for a while, the group just moved a bit after midnight while using the same carriage that they had used earlier. Aion wondered howe they could be sneaky while using such a vehicle, but maybe speed was their best weapon, and they couldn''t tire out before the real battle began.

 Chapter 377 Oath

    The group headed toward one of the enemy bases where Ervan believed that the other relics could be found. In Aion''s opinion, it was stupidity to bring the final relic to them. Still, he gave up long ago, finding logic in most people''s actions.


    They had to travel for three days, and they also had a few encounters with monsters since that region had a lot of them. Thanks to it, Ervan told them a few tricks on how to use mana more effectively to enhance their attacks and fighting styles. They were pretty good at that, so it didn''t take long for Malon to use his mana inside his body and make it burn and enhance all of his parameters.


    "Wait a minute¡­ that is just like Inner Force!" Aion thought.


    Since he had trained a lot, Malon could use Inner Force a lot better than Lexus when Aion saw him using it for the first time. Was that a matter of talent? He knew how strong Malon would be, but even so¡­ Regardless, the surprises didn''t end there.


    Congrattions! The ss Samurai has reached level one hundred, and you are able to obtain a new ss. Do you wish to sacrifice the materials, experience, and energy obtained to unlock the new ss? Y/N


    Select a new ss: Toxic Samurai or Elemental Samurai.


    Elemental Samurai Lv 01


    Health: 16/16


    Mana: 40/40


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01 +02


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 08


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Muramasa Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: Strength +02, Magic +03


    Skills: Fire Enchantment Lv 01


    Passive: Improved Magic Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Fire Enchantment: enchants your weapon with fire magic. Each strike will burn the enemy and cause fire damage equal to your magic. The duration will be the same level of the skill and at the cost of five points of mana per second.


    Improved Magic: passively increases your magic by five points per level.


    Aion didn''t know what was going on anymore. While it was a fact that he was obtaining knowledge while seeing those guys training, but that wasn''t supposed to be enough to unlock new sses¡­ unless the requirements that hepleted to unlock the sses were just that, requirements to unlock the abilities that Aion inherited from Malon.


    In any case, Aion got that ss when Malon was training, and he used the basic technique of Inner Force and then used something like the technique that his father taught Vangel¡­ was that a coincidence as well?


    In any case, their learning speed sure was something. Once they reached their destination, which was a dark cave behind some mountains, Malon alone wiped out all the monsters that they found with a single strike.


    After a while, those four reached the end of the cave and then found an iron door. It was big and wide, even if it was just to be used for an escape route¡­ it certainly could hold back a few enemies.


    Ervan grabbed some dirt from the ground and then messed with it inside his hands, and then dropped it. Those three didn''t understand why he did that, but after a few seconds, some rocks emerged from the ground in an attempt to imitate a strong human body. The creature stood still, waiting for others.


    "Open the door and guard things here," Ervan ordered.


    The golem listened and, a short timeter, went towards the iron door. The creature was powerful enough to be able to push and open it with ease, so they managed to pass.


    "Come on," Ervan said. "Keep your guard up. From now on, things will get serious."


    The three looked surprised at how easily he made a stone golem but soon followed him. Malon looked surprised since he confirmed once he crossed the gate, he saw some beautiful walls, massive pirs that had been carved out of high-quality rocks, and a vast wall ahead¡­ the enemies sure had a lot of resources.


    Those three looked surprised, but the mage signaled them to follow, and then they rushed through some corridors after crossing that massive hall until they saw a ck wooden door that was half open. It didn''t take long for Aion to realize that something was off¡­ things had been too easy until now. Howe to the enemies would have such a massive fortress with no guards? As if he had realized the same, Ervan stopped moving and looked around.


    "What''s the matter?" Malon asked.


    "Something is off..." Ervan replied.


    Those three looked at each other¡­ they could only think that the n was going well because they surprised the enemies. They were too young to understand that things had been too simple. After all, They don''t have much experience when ites to invading the enemy''s base.


    "Whatever, we don''t have time," Ervan muttered, knowing that they didn''t have other options.


    Ervan looked annoyed, and then he opened the door ahead. Once they crossed it, they saw that they had reached another massive hall of the castle, and it was possible to see red carpetsbined with red curtains on the walls that had the same white tones. Everything looked strangely fresh and new, considering that it was a fortress hidden inside a mountain.


    Several candleholders and armors closed to the walls also decorated the ce. Still, they ignored all until they heard footsteps from the stairs. Simultaneously everyone looked and saw someone watching them.


    They saw the ck knight, who had a round and light blue object simr to a crystal in his hands. His sword was drawn a ck de with a purple body that seemed to emanate an aura of darkness. Malon felt his rage boiling after seeing that guy again. The man who destroyed his vige and killed his family... he won''t let that go unpaid.


    "You will pay for what you have done," Malon said and then clenched his teeth.

 Chapter 378 Cold Execution

    ?


    "How predictable... but I confess I didn''t expect the bearer of thest relic to be a mage skilled enough to be able to hide for so long, and you also found the castle''s catbs," The ck knight said. "I am truly impressed."


    Aion always wondered why some people love the sound of their voices so much. He was lucky that he wasn''t born at a time when his enemies liked to monologue. Or maybe he was unlucky since he didn''t have the chance to stop their big mouths with an oversized Fireball.


    "Now, please let me praise you all a little," The ck knight walked towards them and stopped once he got in front of the stairs. "Unlike everyone else, you were the one who gave me the most trouble, but that ends today, and before dawn, Tenebres will return."


    Oh boy¡­ Aion wanted to facepalm; the guy truly talked like a middle-level grunt. He could tell that the guy was strong, but he was nowhere near the level of someone like Horis, the immortal. Perhaps his current strength was high considering the standards of three thousand years ago. Still, if Aion could, he would have smashed him into smithereens while he was talking. That kind of enemy was a pain in the ass to deal with, and not because he was strong.


    "Shut up¡­ you are going to die here, and then your allies will be the next ones," Ailen said while pulling the string of his bow. "You will pay for the death of everyone."


    Those three behind Ervan assumed their positions. Malon went forward, and Ailen was ready to shoot an arrow. Meanwhile, Cailena took an attentive step backward. As long as she has mana, they can win, but she won''t be able to use her magic if she gets hurt enough, which will prevent her from concentrating.


    "Look, wizard, I don''t know who you are, and I''m not that interested either, but you know what I want; you give it to me, and I''ll do my best to make the Tenebres remember your name in the new world; sounds nice, doesn''t it?" The ck knight asked.


    The ck knight sighed, and then he smashed the crystal in his hands. The fragments turned into a shadow and then joined together and began to emerge¡­ that was some kind of summoning magic that Aion had never heard of. Eventually, the shadow turned into a sphere, and from it, a giant creature emerged. The beast was five meters tall and quite muscr; it had orange fur with ck stripes all over its body. It resembled a bit of a tiger, but the beast could walk on two legs, and it had ws in its hands that were as long as sword swords and looked sharper than anything.


    "This kind of creature shouldn''t exist¡­" Ervan said while clenching his teeth.


    "So what?" The ck knight said. "Get them¡­"


    As the battlemenced, Malon charged forward, his sword shing through the air with precision. The beast lunged, attempting to w at him with razor-sharp talons. Malon deftly parried each strike, his years of training evident in his swift movements. With a mighty swing, he struck the beast''s nk, or he tried. The beast blocked the attack with one of the ws.


    Meanwhile, Ailen utilized his expertise in archery, firing arrows with remarkable uracy. His shots sought weak points in the creature''s defenses. One after another, his arrows found their mark, piercing the creature''s tough skin. His strategic attacks created openings for hisrades to exploit. Unfortunately, focusing on speed wasn''t working since the arrows weren''t piercing deeply.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Ervan began to conjure some spells. Arcane symbols danced in the air as he channeled magical energy. With a flick of his wrist, several fireballs flew toward the beast, leaving scorch marks on its dark fur. Ervan''s magical onught weakened the creature, disrupting its movements for a short while.


    Amidst its pain, the monster attacked Malon violently, who barely managed to block the attacks. Still, he felt his body cracking behind the wave of relentless attacks. Cailena began to heal him, but she could only do so much.


    "Buy me some time, and I will deal with this thing," Ervan dered.


    Malon couldn''t even reply since he was too busy blocking the attacks of the beast and being pushed down from one side to the other. The training that he did in thest few days was helping him, but it would take a while before the technique that he envisioned would be truly usable.


    No one said anything, but Ailen and Cailena nodded. Cailena used Heal from a distance to help Malon while Ailen charged an arrow and then fired. The projectile exploded on the face of the beast and made it take a few steps backward, but soon it red at him only to see Malon get in its way.


    The beast''s ws and shes made Malon focus on defensepletely¡­ Despite his best efforts, he felt like the bones of his body were cracking with each hit alongside the floor below his feet. Still, Ervan soon finished his preparations and then cast one hell of a spell¡­ several ice spears appeared around the monster, and the beast froze.


    "Cold Execution¡­" Ervan muttered.


    The air crackled with an icy chill as the spears hovered, awaiting their intended target. With a precise and calcted motion, Ervan unleashed the frozen barrage.


    The spears shot forward with astonishing speed and uracy, piercing the air with a haunting whistle. From all angles, the lethal projectiles found their mark. Some struck the beast''s nk, while others pierced its massive limbs. The creature let out a deafening roar of pain and fury as the ice spears lodged themselves deep into its body.


    The spears erupted from the beast''s flesh, forming an ethereal tableau of frost and crimson. Each spear seemed to shimmer with an icy glow, showcasing the power contained within. The coldness of the ice numbed the beast''s senses and impeded its movements, adding to its anguish.

 Chapter 379 I Am Back

    ?


    The monster fell to the ground, and everyone sighed in relief¡­ to think that a single summoned monster would cause that much trouble to them. Still, the atmosphere made everyone recover their guard, but it was toote.


    "Mages are so easy to kill¡­ they keep saying nonsense to attack just once," The ck knight said, and his voice came from behind.


    Ervan let out a gut-wrenching groan of pain. His body slumped forward, his hands clutching his side. Everyone turned their heads, their expressions filled with shock and confusion.


    Just as everyone looked at him, their eyes widened in horror as they witnessed a figure emerging from the shadows. The ck Knight suddenly appeared behind Ervan and pierced Ervan''s back with his hand and then grabbed the final relic hidden in his robe.


    Even from a distance, Cailena used Heal, again and again, to stop the bleeding and save Ervan''s life while Malon dashed at the ck knight while Ailen fired numerous arrows, but he disappeared in the darkness again, and soon everyone saw a shadow leaving the room through the opposite direction.


    "Go¡­ after him¡­" Ervan muttered when everyone was walking toward him, and then he closed the wound in his body with ice magic. "Stop him¡­ I will follow you from behind."


    They hesitated for a moment, but eventually, they nodded and left the room. All of them would be as good as dead if the true enemy were to show up now.


    They found a door behind some red curtains and immediately followed the path ahead until they found arge chamber that seemed to mimic another throne room.


    At the heart of the chamber, where one would expect to find a majestic throne, there instead stands an imposing and somber sight¡ªa colossal coffin of ornately carved obsidian. Its surface reflects no light, rendering it an abyss of ebony darkness. The coffin''s lid, adorned with macabre and intricate designs, appears to have been hewn from the very essence of nightmares.


    From the coffin, a palpable sense of power emanates, enveloping the room in an aura of dread. The air itself seems to grow colder, causing a shiver to creep down your spine. It is as if the coffin holds within it the essence of the abyss, a vessel for the darkest of forces.


    The surrounding space is devoid of life, save for the silent sentinels that guard the macabre throne room. Stone statues, frozen in poses of eternal vignce, line the chamber''s perimeter. Their hollow eyes, devoid of warmth or humanity, seem to follow their every move, their presence a constant reminder of the unyielding grip of death.


    "If I didn''t know any better, I would think that they want to revive Drac or something," Aion thought.


    The dark knight had already put the relics in some spots around the coffin, and the whole thing began to tremble. The dark knight wasughing maniacally while he was seeing the coffin slowly opening.


    Aion wondered if the dark knight would be the first to go down. While everyone was trembling like leaves while the atmosphere was getting darker and more ominous. Those were bis thoughts¡­ it was a pretty cliched thing to happen¡­ the boss kills the minion while saying something like: you took too long, useless scum.


    In any case, the coffin slowly opened up, and then it revealed Tenebres inside. Emerging from the confines of the coffin, a tall blond man steps forward, his appearance a chilling contrast to the ominous surroundings. His lean and sinewy frame is adorned with nothing but a pair of weathered leather pants. These pants, however, are entwined in an intricate web of chains, the metallic links glinting ominously in the dim light of the room.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As the man strides confidently forward, the chains clink and rattle in discordant harmony, each link serving as a testament to his captivity and dominance. They wrap tightly around his limbs, crisscrossing his torso and securing his every movement, an iron embrace that seems both restrictive and yet, strangely empowering.


    His hair, a cascade of lustrous blond locks, falls effortlessly around his shoulders, adding a touch of beauty to the eerie scene. The strands appear untouched by the passage of time, flowing as if caught in a perpetual state of mid-motion. They frame a face that is both striking and unsettling, with high cheekbones and piercing azure eyes that seem to hold a captivating, otherworldly gleam.


    A smile, vast and unnerving, stretches across his face, seemingly at odds with the gravity of the room. It is a smile that reaches from ear to ear, revealing gleaming white teeth that glimmer in the darkness. There is a feral quality to his grin as if he finds delight in the macabre and revels in the wickedness that surrounds him.


    "I am back¡­" Tenebres said while grinning and while the chains were cracking up.


    Once the chains broke, some nasty burn wounds were revealed, but then they began to close up insanely fast. If the chains were made of silver, Aion truly would feel like Tenebres was a vampire. He thought that he was joking, but maybe his joke was spot on¡­


    "My lord¡­ I apologize for the dy in freeing," The dark knight said after he bent his knees.


    "It is fine, my valiant warrior," Tenebres said while grabbing the relics from the coffin and then smashing them with his hands easily. "Think nothing of it. You have served me well, and I will give you the rewards that you deserve. Choose any city of the world, and that will be yours."


    "Yes!" The dark knight said and then got up. "My lord, these are¡­"


    "Yes, I can smell them¡­ disgusting," Tenebres said while showing an expression as if he was staring at a pile of cockroaches turd. "It has been so many years, but those bloodlines still insist on getting on my way¡­"


    Soon after, Ervan appeared in the room while he was having a hard time standing up. His face turned pale when he saw Tenebres and how alive he was, but he still didn''t lose his fighting spirit.


    "Since all those that can seal me are here, I suppose I should spare myself the hassle and just kill you all," Tenebres said while smiling. "This won''t be very fun or fulfilling, but it will be a good warm-up."


    "I don''t think so, demon," Ervan said, and then he made the ice in his wound vanish.


    Blood began to gush from the wound again, but Ervan used that to surround him and the others with it. After not so long, the blood began to glow.


    "... I will let you take this victory now, but you will lose the war," Ervan said and then fell on his knees. "Tempora aeternam, abrigo potestatem! Chronos, bend thy cosmic tapestry to my will. Past and future, I beseech thee, intertwine. Grant me passage to the realm of moments untold. With this chant, I bind the hands of time."

 Chapter 380 Time Travel

    ?


    As Tenebres listened intently to the incantation, his piercing eyes widened with surprise. A flicker of recognition danced across his face, illuminating the depths of his darkened features. The atmosphere in the room, already heavy with an aura of mystique, began to shift, responding to Tenebres'' realization.


    The air crackled with newfound intensity, charged with electric energy that seemed to hum and vibrate. Shadows deepened as if drawn closer by an unseen force, wrapping around Tenebres like tendrils of anticipation. The torchlight flickered, casting dancing shadows that now seemed to mirror his astonishment.


    The room itself seemed to hold its breath, suspended in a moment of suspended animation. Time, ever an observer, appeared to acknowledge the significance of the moment, holding still as if caught in its own temporal grip. The very fabric of reality rippled as if echoing Tenebres'' surprise.


    Until the entire room waspletely enveloped by a massive sh of light that blinded everyone, and a distorting sound echoed. Before long, the light dissipated and the dark knight and Tenebres saw themselves alone in that ce.


    "Time magic¡­ humans couldn''t use that in the past," Tenenbres said while quinting his eyes. "No matter, his body won''t stand the cost and the other are just kids who will be lost in time without him. Let''s go¡­ I have a job to finish."


    ¡ª- ¡ª-


    Malon''s vision got darker and darker and the sounds started to fade away and thest thing he could see was Sailena desperately making movements he couldn''t understand, until his visionpletely darkened.


    After all that, Malon felt surrounded by darkness not knowing where he was or what had happened to him, a deafening silence was all there was, until for a few moments he could hear the sound of water dripping somewhere nearby.


    His mind was still confused, for brief moments he heard strange and distant voices and sounds as well as brief memories, it was still confused and he didn''t understand what had really happened, even if in the end he wanted it to be just a bad dream.


    "It isn''t a dream, moron," Aion said. "By the Norse gods¡­ how did you became that guy when you are this wimpy?"


    A short timeter his vision began to clear and he could see an old wooden roof, while he was confused and with his aching body he tried to sit up realizing he was in a bed.


    After a little effort he was able to sit up, he saw candles in the corners that illuminated the ce and the bed with a nket covering his body, looking to the side he saw blond hair on the side of his bed and when his vision totally cleared he could see Sailena was sleeping on a xhair


    Malon showed surprise but soon remembered everything that had happened and then he sighed in relief. Before long, Sailena opened her eyes and then jumped from the chair due to the surprise.


    "Hey SAilena, are you okay?" Malon asked. "What happened? Where is Ervan and Ailen?"


    "... It seems that you are alright," Sailena said and then sighed in relief as well. "You were so hurt and you didn''t wake up¡­ anyway, Ervan and Ailen were nowhere to be seen when I woke up. As for what happened¡­ I can only imagine considering what we heard in the castle."


    "... About that¡­" Malon hesitated.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Yeah, it was fuckingtin!" Aion said. "Who cares about time magic, I want to know why Ervan knows fucking Latin."


    Malon wasn''t certain, but soon he got up from his bed and then he went to the window, only to see a vige. He didn''t recognize it and the enemy''s base wasn''t close to any vige.


    The vige exuded a sense of coziness and simplicity. The wooden houses, with their sloping roofs and inviting front porches, blend harmoniously with the natural surroundings. The wood has weathered gracefully over the years, adding character to each dwelling. Some houses have whimsical details like carved wooden ents or colorful shutters, which add a touch of yfulness to the overall ambiance.


    After looking around Malon caught glimpses of children''sughter and yful shouts. The vige is alive with the energy and joy of young ones. Children of various ages can be seen running and ying in the vige square or along the meandering paths. Their carefree spirits and boundless enthusiasm bring life to the vige.


    "So you woke up, kiddo?" A man wearing somewhat old-fashioned clothes and a big hat showed up.


    "This guy is¡­" Aion muttered in surprise. "Wow, to think that they would find one of their allies in a period like this."


    It was one of the guys that Aion faced in that massive tower. The guy with tattoos on his arms, but he didn''t have them now. Vaeral¡­ that was his name¡­


    "Mister Vaeral found us when I woke up," Sailena said. "You are too heavy to be carried by me alone, so he helped me."


    "Oh, please¡­ Mister is unnecessary, little miss," Vaeral said and then grabbed a chair. "Putting that aside, let''s Skip the introductions. Sailena told me what happened to you and while I had a hard time believing in her, I already confirmed it. Tenebres is back and he is changing history as we speak."


    "...How so?" Malon asked.


    "You don''t know? He can use time magic, he can cross time and space freely," Vaeral shrugged. "He is probably searching for you or something else. If I were him, I wouldn''t feel threatened by kids that were defeated by a minion of mine."


    "Emotional Damage!" Aion said.


    Malon didn''t like to hear that, but he couldn''t say anything in rebuttal. He truly had his ass kicked by the dark monster and because he needed Erval''s help, he exposed himself for the attack that granted the dark knight the chance to steal the relic.


    "How is he using time magic?" Malon asked.


    "He is literally rewriting history¡­ I read some books about him, and how he was defeated by your ancestors, but now those books changed and tells that he won against those guys," Vaeral exined.

 Chapter 381 Brainpower

    ?


    Aion wondered if those two wondered about the meaning of those words, he had some ideas, but he had to confirm them with Vaeral. Some examples would be people would notice discrepancies in historical records and ounts. Events that were once well-documented and widely known may have been changed or erased entirely. This could include changes in the oues of wars, the rise and fall of empires, or even the existence or achievements of certain individuals.


    People might experience confusion or a sense of disorientation as their personal memories no longer align with the current reality. They may remember events, people, or ces differently from how they exist in the altered timeline. This could lead to a general sense of unease and questioning of one''s own recollections.


    Changing the past can have cascading effects on personal rtionships. People might find themselves connected to different individuals or have altered dynamics with their loved ones. Friendships, partnerships, and even family ties could be affected, and individuals may feel a sense of loss or confusion as they navigate these changes.


    "Things are starting slowly, so only books are being affected," Vaeral exined. "Still, the more he moves, the more things will change. Change of memories in the people change in their families and friends¡­ only those who are aware of his return will be able to avoid that, but I am not sure for how long."


    Aion''s guess was right¡­ unlike what he did, Tenebres are altering reality in a dangerous way. Still, he probably knew a way or two to avoid most problems when he does that.


    "We are fifty years in the past¡­ it must be around the time our parents were born," Sailena said. "Still, we can''t contact them since we aren''t sure what will happen.


    "Yes¡­ First, we need to find Erval and Ailen," Malon nodded while he was looking for his clothes and gear in the corner of the room.


    "I can give you a hand with that since it will also benefit me as well," Vaeral said. "Not like I have any other choice if there is a risk of me getting attacked as well."


    "Why would you be attacked?" Malon asked while frowning.


    "Have you ever heard of spirit magic?" Vaeral asked.


    "No, I don''t," Malon replied.


    "There you have it," Vaeral replied.


    "What¡­" Malon furrowed his eyebrows.


    "I am probably thest one of my bloodline that canmunicate with spirits and use their power, Tenenbres tried to wipe us out many times as well," Vaeral exined. "I would say that he fears us quite a bit and knowing that your friend Erval sent you guys to the ce where I live."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    That was convenient¡­ still, why wouldn''t Erval and Ailen appear in the same area? Aion could only think that they would recruit the witch that he found in that tower as well. It was better to split the word before Tenebres'' actions were impossible to contain.


    While he was packing his things, Vaeral exined what spirit magic was. In the end, he imed to be a spirit mage, but he couldn''t control a single spirit. Spirit magic is a form of magic that involves the maniption and interaction with spirits or spiritual energies. It is a mystical practice that taps into the unseen realms and draws upon the power of spirits to manifest various effects and abilities.


    In spirit magic, practitioners establish a connection ormunication with spirits, which can include elemental beings, ancestors, nature spirits, or other ethereal entities. Through rituals, spells, or invocations, they seek to harness the energy and wisdom of these spirits to achieve specific oues.


    Spirit magic often involves establishing a link with spirits to gain guidance, insight, or assistance. Spirit magic can be employed for protective purposes. Practitioners may call upon spirits to create barriers, shields, or charms that ward off negative energies, entities, or malevolent forces.


    Spirit magic can be used to manifest desired oues through the assistance of spirits. Practitioners may work with spirits to enhance the effectiveness of spells, rituals, or intentions, drawing upon their energy and assistance to bring about desired changes in the physical or spiritual realm.


    Spirit magic often emphasizes spiritual growth, self-discovery, and connection with higher realms. Practitioners may seek the wisdom and guidance of spirits to deepen their understanding of themselves, the world, and the spiritual forces at y.


    "I see¡­ what humans don''t know, spirits can tell them, like how to defeat Tenebres," Aion thought.


    "First of all, we need to find the spirit of the wind; once we get their cooperation, we will be able to locate your friends with more ease," Vaeral said once he put a backpack on his side. "After that, we will determine the next steps after essing the situation."


    "Excuse me, who died, and you the leader?" Malon asked while frowning.


    "I am not the leader, kiddo. Just a temporary¡­ guy telling what we should do, I guess?" Vaeral asked and then grinned. "Definitely not a leader, definitely. Anyway, you are fifty years in the past, do you know this ce more than me? I find it hard to believe that you know even more about the world in the future."


    Malon felt like sighing, but Vaeral had a point. He also was a bit too rxed, so Malon had a problem with him¡­ hopefully, his giving orders won''t be a thing that willst for long.


    "The spirit of the wind is located at the top of a mountain south of here, but it has a lot of monsters," Vaeral exined. "We can also use the ce to use the wind spirit''s powers to locate your friends. The downside is that I can''t fight; I have poor health, you see. My best weapon is my brain, and you can''t expect me to use it to headbutt the monsters."


    Malon wondered about that, he wanted to say that perhaps he would get smarter if he were to use his head like that, but his sarcasm wasn''t that subtle.

 Chapter 382 Interference

    ?


    Malon, Sailena, and Vaeral trekked through a vibrant, green expanse teeming with life. The air was thick with the scent of blooming flowers, and the gentle rustling of leaves apanied their every step. Colorful birds flitted from tree to tree, their melodious songs creating a symphony of nature.


    As they made their way through the lushndscape, they marveled at the variety of nts and creatures they encountered. Tall, swaying grasses brushed against their legs while delicate wildflowers painted the ground with their vivid hues. Butterflies danced on the breeze, their delicate wings fluttering in harmony with the beauty around them.


    The trio paused at a crystal-clear stream that meandered through the verdant meadow. They cupped their hands and drank the cool, refreshing water, feeling its invigorating energy course through their bodies. Nearby, a family of deer grazed peacefully, casting curious nces at the travelers as they quenched their thirst.


    Although Aion tried to speed that up, he was only able to do so sometimes. When Malon was training, he was unable to do that¡­ it was like the visions wanted to make him understand what he was doing.


    "I get it, I get it¡­ he wants to do the same things that Malon that I face could do," Aion thought while feeling like sighing. "Still, it is boring to see others training."


    Also, Aion was curious about what was happening in the real world¡­ he would be screwed if time passed as fast as it is in that vision.


    The addition of time magic would set Malon apart from traditional fighters. By tapping into the temporal energies that flow through the universe, he can manipte time itself to his advantage. This grants him several unique abilities thatplement their swordsmanship.


    One aspect of time magic in this fusion is the ability to elerate their own movements, effectively granting them incredible speed and reflexes. Users can momentarily hasten their actions, allowing them to deliver lightning-fast strikes, dodge iing attacks with uncanny agility, and react swiftly to changing battle situations. This eleration makes them appear as blurs of motion, leaving opponents struggling to keep up.


    Another application of time magic is the ability to slow down the perception of time. By manipting temporal flow in their immediate vicinity, these swordsmen can create a temporal bubble that slows everything within it except for themselves. This grants them the advantage of apparent superhuman reaction time, as they perceive events in slow motion while retaining their own normal speed. With this heightened awareness, they can anticipate their opponents'' movements and counter with precise and devastating strikes.


    Aion didn''t feel that he could pull that off easily. The Malon that he faced didn''t use time magic; he only used sword skills, high enough level to make it look like he was using time magic. In any case, even with his low understanding of time magic, Aion could tell that Malon could be invincible with his sword skillsbined with time magic, and yet¡­ he lost and died and probably brought Aion to that world as his friend''s descendant.


    In any case, based on what Aion saw, what the Malon from the future could do, he assumed that he increased his speed to the limits for a single moment tounch an attack that was almost impossible to notice and block. Meanwhile, the current Malon was trying to master the very basics of time magic that Ervan taught him, Ailen, and Sailena.


    "That is weird training; you are using Mana, but I can''t see anything happening," Vaeral said while they were cooking the dinner at the base of the mountain. "You might want to stop and rest your body because the journey ahead will be harder."


    Malon didn''t even hear Vaeral; he just kept training¡­ Even if he can''t see much progress in the practice, he will wee it when it happens. A little bit at a time, and he will be able to pile all of that up and eventually take down Tenebres¡­ it wasn''t a bright n, but it was his n.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You are doing the same thing with healing magic?" Vaeral asked while he saw Sailena using her hands together and using her skills together. "Your mana seems to be acting faster now and then¡­ way faster¡­ Time magic? I thought that only beings like Tenebres could do that."


    "Erval taught a few things that he learned over the years, and he said that we can pull it off," Sailena exined. "Ailen never used magic before, but it seems that he is the one who is making the most progress."


    Aion saw that too; Ailen couldbine his arrows with magic and make them charge with a lot of power¡­ then they would fly toward the enemies at a speed almost impossible to notice.


    Aion wondered if he could apply that to his moves as well¡­ but he couldn''t test it now. After thinking for a while, he had some ideas¡­ it was crazy that he could think of those scenarios even though he had barely reached the high level when ites to elemental magic.


    "For sword strikes, I guess you would need to envelop the de with enough mana to make it ignore all of the physical limitations of the sword and the user," Aion thought. "Still, only someone with high magic or talent would be able to pull this off in a few weeks, or maybe months would be more urate."


    All of a sudden, Malon did exactly that¡­ he enveloped his sword with mana and then pointed it toward a tree, and in the next moment, one of the branches fell down.


    "What the hell¡­ did he hear me?" Aion thought.


    "Ugh!" Malon groaned in agony and then dropped his sword and began to hold his arm in pain.


    "Malon? What happened?" Sailena approached, already healing Malon. "Your arm is¡­ the muscles¡­"


    "It seems that I went too far too soon¡­" Malon muttered while sweating cold. "I had a surge of inspiration and decided to try something.


    Was that a coincidence that he had the inspiration to do what Aion thought?

 Chapter 383 Whispers

    ?


    Aion tried to understand what made Malon get hurt¡­ Sailena healed him in no time, so the damage had been only a single strained muscle. Since he didn''t experience it, he couldn''t be sure, and Malon was too stupid to even try to understand it.


    "Straining muscles typically urs when excessive stress or tension is ced on the muscle fibers, causing them to stretch or tear. There are several ways in which someone can strain their muscles," Aion thought. "Engaging in activities that require repetitive or prolonged muscle contractions, such as lifting heavy objects, performing intense physical exercise, or participating in sports without proper warm-up and conditioning, can lead to muscle strain. Pushing the muscles beyond their capacity or endurance can cause microscopic tears in the muscle fibers¡­ he had been exercising for a while, so that isn''t the reason."


    Using incorrect form or technique during physical activities or exercises can increase the risk of muscle strain. Poor posture, inadequate body mechanics, or improper execution of movements can put undue stress on certain muscles, leading to strain or injury¡­ that seemed usible. Malon seeded in using something by luck, but not in the right way.


    Forceful or sudden movements that ce abrupt stress on the muscles can result in strains. Examples include sudden twists, jerks, or impacts that cause the muscles to stretch beyond their normal range of motion.


    When muscles are tired or fatigued, they are more prone to strain. Continued physical activity without adequate rest or recovery can weaken the muscles, making them more susceptible to strain¡­ this one also seemed possible.


    "Considering the options¡­ I would say that this stupid moron used the technique the wrong way because his body was tired," Aion thought. "He will have to evaluate that and try numerous things. I think that he needs to have a clear image of what he wants to do before trying again¡­ let''s see if I can influence him again."


    Before doing that, Aion also had to learn how he used the mana to be able to pull that off. After thinking for a while, Aion couldn''t help but think of what he knew. Malon in the tower said that he got the power to control time after facing countless enemies that had that power¡­ like Siegfried, his body was bathed in their blood, but he didn''t specify what he obtained directly.


    "I guess it was only the advanced stuff¡­" Aion thought. "I should have studied more magic, then I would be able toe up with the right hypothesis."


    In any case, the next day, the group began to climb the first mountain and they didn''t have a hard time against the creatures that attacked them. The best they could do was to use their beaks and use a bit of wind magic¡­


    At the end of the day, Malon had enough energy to use to train once more and then Aion tried the whispering again.


    "Focus the same amount of mana on the entire area of your arm, focus on the concentration before the attack," Aion said.


    As if he had heard his voice or if Aion''s voice had be a thought for Malon, the young swordsman stopped moving and looked at his sword attentively. Eventually, he did the same thing that Aion said¡­ the whispering was real¡­ still, that only made Malon throw his sword upward for dozens of meters.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What the hell are you doing?" Vaeral asked.


    "It is training¡­ shut up, I just made a mistake," Malon said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "Exin to me again how you survived your battle against Tenebres with this guy in the Frontline?" Vaeral asked.


    "Well, we fought one of his minions¡­ not him," Sailena said while forcing a smile.


    While they were talking, Aion wondered what was going on¡­ he knew that Malon was probably the one who made him be reborn in that world, so howe he was able to influence Malon''s past? He could only imagine that the future was splitting because of that and creating another timeline? But how was that possible when he was only supposed to see the memories of Malon?


    The questions seemed endless¡­ but it wasn''t like Aion had anything else to do aside from thinking. During that time, he tried to whisper to help Malon again and this time he told him to use the mana on his sword as well. Malon was really an obedient guy, so he didn''t even try to disobey.


    In the end, the sword sh that Malon used to cut the air was something that he didn''t see, but he felt it¡­ what he saw was a rock fifty meters away suddenly getting a sword mark on it at the same time.


    "I get it now¡­ the quality and concentration of the mana makes his moves happen way faster, but it isn''t something that he can do repetitively as he is now," Aion thought and then saw Malon trying the same thing again, but failing at doing so. "Well, his mana should be able to grow by daily training and constant use of magic."


    After that, as if it was something that Aion was supposed to see or make Malon do, Aion was able to speed time up until they reached a temple at the top of the third mountain three dayster. Aside from Cailena, the others looked pretty tired¡­ Malon had some scratches on his armor because of the attacks of the flying monsters in the area.


    As they climbed higher up the mountain, the group could feel the wind picking up and howling through the trees. Finally, they reached the top, where a magnificent temple stood dedicated to the spirit of the wind. Its white marble pirs gleamed in the sunlight, and the sound of chimes and bells echoed through the air. Inside, the walls were adorned with intricate carvings of birds and clouds, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of nature. As they stood there, they could feel the power of the wind all around them, and they knew that this was a sacred ce where the forces of nature were revered and respected. It was a truly awe-inspiring experience and one that they will never forget.

 Chapter 384 Witch

    ?


    "I never heard of temples of the spirits¡­ I guess they didn''tst for thousands of years," Aion thought. "Maybe Tenebres destroyed it in the real present of Malon and his friends."


    That would exin things. If the spirit of the wind could only manifest there after losing their master, that would be the best way to avoid their interference. At the same time, Aion wondered if they had a connection with Ceilion and the others. It was worth checking once Aion can.


    Malon, Cailena, and Vaeral entered the temple with reverence, their footsteps echoing softly on the marble floor. They looked around in wonder at the intricate carvings and decorations on the walls and ceiling. It felt like the sound of chimes and bells filled the air, and the sweet scent of nature enveloped them. They moved slowly and respectfully, taking in the sacred atmosphere of the temple dedicated to the spirit of the wind.


    As they explored further, they could feel the power of the wind all around them, and they knew that this was a special ce where the forces of nature were honored and revered. They were in awe of the beauty and majesty of the temple, and they felt humbled by its presence.


    Now that Aion thought about it, that temple was a bit simr to the temples where he found the time relics¡­ their location was also simr. The first one he found was in a mountainous area.


    Before long, the group found a small altar, and then the wind began to block around it until they eventually saw something taking shape there. Eventually, a green glowing sphere appeared, and then it started to move up and down.


    "It has been a while since humans with true purpose hade to talk with me," the sphere said. "Waiting for that to happen has been pretty boring."


    "O great spirit of the wind, thank you for showing yourself to us," Vaeral said. "We havee here to request your assistance in order to protect the world from the clutches of an evil being that can cross time and space of his own free will."


    "I already know that; I wouldn''t have shown up if I didn''t know that," the wind spirit said, and Aion could almost imagine them furrowing their eyebrows. "I already know that we already know that, and we have been just waiting for you four. You can rest assured that you all will have our assistance as long as your goal is pure."


    "Four?" Vaeral asked while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of the six of you; just focus on doing the right thing for the sake of the future," the wind spirit said and then flew toward the interior of Vaeral''s body.


    Spirit Tamer Lv 01


    Health: 04/04


    Mana: 24/24


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 02


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01 + 02<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Wind Staff Lv 01


    Bonuses: Resistance +02, Magic +02


    Skills: Aeromancy Lv 01


    Passive: Wind Cost Down Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Vaeral felt his body changing and being filled with power, his arms began to glow, and some tattoos appeared in there¡­ just a few. Now he looked more like the person Aion met.


    "We did it," Vaeral smirked after he opened his eyes.


    "That is great¡­ but¡­" Malon said while farrowing his eyebrows. "The spirits don''t look that trustworthy to me now. The wind spirit said you four and then you six¡­ we only have two more allies that we need to look for."


    "Don''t worry too much about it. The spirits are beings that don''t live like humans; the flow of time is different for them," Vaeral said. "I thought that we would have to fight the spirit of the wind, but since they can see the future, the present, and the past at the same time, that wasn''t necessary."


    Malon and Cailena still looked suspicious¡­ aside from them, Aion knew exactly what was going on. The wind spirit was able to see him and probably was saying to him as well¡­


    "The wind spirit mentioned me here¡­ and then said that six people are burdened by the fate of the world," Aion thought while trying to understand that. "Ervan probably didn''t die, but is he in condition to fight? Even if Cailena heals him¡­ also, the relics didn''t have his image; thest person in the relics was a witch-looking person."


    In any case, Aion was able to press the fast forward again and soon saw the wind spirit helping those three locate Ailen and Ervan. They were in a forest hundreds of kilometers east of their location¡­ but they crossed that distance in just two days since the spirit of the wind used its magic to enhance everyone''s movements. At times, they were even able to fly to avoid somerge packs of monsters.


    Just as Aion had expected, the witch was with Ailen and Ervan. Or rather, they were with the witch¡­ apparently, she was the one who kept Ervan alive all this time.


    The young witch had long, flowing ck hair that cascaded down her back in loose waves. Her eyes were a piercing green, almost glowing in the dim light of the forest clearing. She wore a deep purple robe that flowed around her as she moved, and a delicate silver pendant hung from her neck. Her skin was a pale, almost translucent white that seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. Despite her youthful appearance, there was wisdom and power in her gaze that hinted at the vast magical abilities she possessed.


    The woman looked like the one in the relics and the one Aion had seen in the tower. However, she looked far more annoyed than he recalled¡­ Maybe she was the grumpy type, but she lived alone in a dense forest, and she didn''t like any visitors. Even though she looked after the wounded Ervan.

 Chapter 385 Unwilling

    ?


    Regardless, after a bit of a melodramatic encounter, Malon and Ailen talked with each other and exined what had happened to them. Ailen appeared in that forest and was soon found by the witch called Siora Ailen couldn''t look for the others and leave Ervan behind, so he had been there, training his archery and trying to apply time magic while waiting for Ervan''s recovery¡­ he didn''t wake up until now, though.


    "Just like me, she is burdened by a destiny that says that she needs to fight Tenebres," Vaeral said.


    Siora had been watching everyone talking in front of her house silently, and when everyone looked at her, she just kept showing her usual annoyed expression. That wasn''t surprising for her, so she knew a thing or two about Tenebres. The group thought that only a handful of people would be aware of his existence. Then again, it seemed that their meeting was almost bounded by fate, just like with Vaeral. It was the only exnation


    "Don''t count me in," Siora said. "Just heal your friend and leave this ce. I am not someone you would want to get involved with."


    "... You have a presence simr to him; you are rted to him, aren''t you?" Alien suddenly asked.


    Everyone looked at each other and wondered what Ailen was talking about. The woman didn''t look like Tenebres at all¡­ then again, Malon knew that his friend was quite good at feeling things. He became an extremely good hunter because he lived in harmony with nature. When ites to senses, he was almost unrivaled.


    "That is none of your business," Siora replied, unfazed.


    "I think it is since you decided to help Ervan out of responsibility¡­ that is very clear to me," Alien said after he crossed his arms.


    "Let''s talk with a little less hostility, okay?" Malon asked.


    "I am not being hostile at all. I am just pressing her for answers," Alien said. "If she didn''t want to get involved, she shouldn''t have helped us. I dislike people who do things half-assedly, after all. If you think that you are unrted to the situation, they don''t get involved in it. Otherwise, it would just be clear that you live here alone because you don''t want to get involved in the situation unless you see a problem caused for it right in front of you."


    Those two red at each other silently for a while. Alien was the type who didn''t hide what he thought, so it was easy for him to annoy others. Regardless, Aion felt that his guess was right¡­ Siora had a connection with Tenebres. She had this aura on her¡­ it was weird that he only realized that now and not in the tower. Then again, in the tower, he didn''t know Tenebres.


    "I will go take a loot at Ervan¡­ don''t increase the number of wounded for me," Cailena said. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was unlikely that a fight would break out, but Cailena warned just in case. After seeing Malon using his new technique, Cailena applied the same principle to her magic, so her powers increased. Still, she had a hard time focusing when she saw the wounded Ervan¡­ he had arge wound in his chest, and the surroundings were emitting a dark miasma¡­ it was probably some type of curse that prevented healing.


    Although that was something hard to deal with, Cailena was able to counter it because the curse made the wound remain like that, thanks to something simr to time magic. Ervan stayed unconscious because his body felt like the wound was fresh¡­ even though many days had already passed.


    When night fell, Cailena had dispersed the curse with her powers, but she worked until morning to make the wound closepletely. Thanks to that, Ervan looked a lot better, but now Cailena was the one who needed rest.


    "It seems that Ervan should wake up tomorrow. Cailena will need to rest until then as well," Alien dered. "We obtained some extra manpower, but I am not sure if Ervan will be able to keep up. Even if his body heals faster with Cailena''s power."


    "Rest assured, friend, with the spirits on our side, we are basically invincible," Vaeral said while he was practicing his wind maniption and making himself fly in the air.


    "... Okay¡­" Alien furrowed his eyebrows. "I can tell now why you look so stressed. He is the type that is hard to deal with."


    "Someone that can finally understand," Malon said and then shrugged. "Anyway, let''s kill time by training as well."


    Siora looked like she had a few things to say about all that¡­ just one week ago, she lived inplete peace. While she felt bored out of her mind, she was satisfied with that, but then some weirdos showed up in her backyard, and now they were making a ruckus in front of her house.


    Siora came and left many times, she gathered herbs outside for a while, but nothing changed when she returned. Siora stood outside her hut, arms crossed over her chest, watching as those guys trained. She couldn''t help but feel annoyed by their constant noise andmotion. They seemed to forget that others lived nearby, and she needed peace and quiet. Siora couldn''t concentrate on her work with all the racket. She wondered if they were crazy or just stupid¡­ as if anyone could actually defeat Tenebres.


    While she watched them, Siora wondered what would happen if she were to reveal that she was Tenebres'' daughter¡­ most people would try to kill on the spot. Most people had more than a few things against her father, even though she never saw him and only heard stories about him.


    She didn''t want to meet him either, for good reasons and for bad reasons¡­ she didn''t want to meet someone that never cared about her and her mother, and she didn''t want to fight her own blood as well¡­ nothing good woulde out from that.

 Chapter 386 Failing

    ?


    The morning of the next day, Ervan woke up, but he still had a hard time getting up to just stand on the bed. While Cailena healed him, the physical trauma that his body suffered would take some time to make him return to his tip-top condition.


    "It seems that I worried you all," Ervan said while showing a tired expression. "I was counting on you to heal me, but I didn''t expect that you would do it so fast, Cailena."


    "Well, I learned a few things by watching Malon and Ailen," Cailena forced a smile.


    "It is weird that Malon made so much progress in thest week, even I learned a few things from him," Ailen said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "I told you, I have some surges of inspiration now and then," Malon shrugged.


    "I see¡­" Ervan said and then took a deep breath.


    "Why did youe here?" Siora asked. "If you are from fifty years in the future, you didn''t appear in this forest out of coincidence."


    "... You are right; I knew about you," Ervan replied after a few seconds of silence. "In my time, you disappeared a few decades ago; no one knows what happened to you. It felt like you just vanished while leaving all this behind. I kept my distance because you don''t have to bear the burden of your father''s actions, but things have changed now, and we can''t afford to be selective about what we need to do to win."


    "... She is his daughter?" Malon opened his eyes widely. "Wait, how? He isn''t from this period of time, so¡­"


    "Time isn''t a limitation for him like it is for us; you should know that by now since he is rewriting history," Ervan said. "Tenebres tends to do a lot of things when he is bored, and he doesn''t mind the consequences of his actions in other periods."


    "Anyway, I don''t want to deal with you guys or with him, so you should leave as soon as possible," Siora said and then left the house.


    "Her actions and words are weird¡­" Ailen furrowed his eyebrows. "She told us to leave and then left the house¡­"


    "Try to understand her situation a bit, she is right in the middle of two sides, and she doesn''t know what she should do; that is why she is trying to stay away from those that might involve her in this battle," Ervan said and then sighed. "Keep this a secret from her, but we need to convince her to join us¡­ she will eventually be dealt with if she were to stay here forever."


    "... By her own father?" Cailena asked, visibly shocked.


    "I don''t think that he will, but he has enough minions to do things behind his back if they think that she could be a threat; she basically has half of his potential, after all."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    That made sense; everyone could imagine the dark knight doing that kind of dirty work while his master wasn''t looking. It felt like the kind of job that would suit him. Regardless, Ervan wanted to spare Siora from the pain of that kind of information and the pain of death¡­ she might end up thinking that her father sent his minions after her. She was really in a bad spot.


    "It isn''t like we can force her toe with us," Ailen shrugged.


    "Just give them some time, and she will change her mind," Ervan said. "I should be able to move normally in three days; that should be enough time for her to understand a lot of things about what is happening."


    Malon, Ailen, Sailene, and Vaeral found themselves in a situation where they were not feeling entirely confident about Ervan''s idea. Still, they chose to follow his n nheless. Despite their reservations, they recognized the importance of teamwork and unity in achieving theirmon goal. Besides, they would get a powerful ally if it were to work.


    In the next few days, the group consisting of Malon, Ailen, Sailene, and Vaeral devoted themselves to intense training sessions, determined to polish their skills in magic, swordy, and archery.


    It reached a point where Malon was able to use his Timeless sh two out of three times when he had mana. That was what he decided to call his newest technique.


    Ailen became skilled enough to fire arrows and even pierce leaves that were falling from the trees, his uracy was crazy, and he always hit them around the height of the tree. At the same time, Sailene was able to enhance her healing abilities, making them close wounds and alleviate pain many times faster.


    Aion was expecting to get some new sses by watching them train, but it seemed that things weren''t that simple¡­ perhaps he was getting too spoiled. Regardless, during that time, Siora watched them patiently, hoping that they would leave as soon as possible. Not because they were badpany but because they made her feel like she had to do something as well.


    On the night of the third day, the group was expecting to see some changes in Siora. Still, they didn''t notice anything in particr. They waited for Ervan to do something, but he just shrugged.


    "I guess my n failed¡­" Ervan said, and everyone felt like facepalming.


    As the group sat around the crackling campfire, the aroma of roasting rabbits mingled with the air, creating a cozy atmosphere that encouraged open discussion. With satisfied bellies and refreshed spirits, they began deliberating their next steps, particrly regarding the elemental spirits they should seek out after their encounter with the wind spirit. Ervan leaned forward, his gaze focused and determined, despite hisst failure.


    "Now that we havemuned with the wind spirit and gained its blessings, it''s time to consider our next elemental ally. We need a spirit that can aid us in our uing challenges. Any suggestions?" Ervan asked.


    "We should head to the nearest one; it will be better that way to save time," Vaeral dered. "The next one is the fire spirit, and I will be able tobine both elements with some practice; it is our best option."

 Chapter 387 Escaping

    ?


    As the group''s conversation around the campfire concluded, they prepared to settle down for the night. The atmosphere was calm, with a gentle breeze rustling the leaves above and the crackling fire providing aforting glow. However, as darkness enveloped the forest, a strange and unsettling aura began to permeate the air.


    They noticed a subtle shift in the sounds of the forest. The usual chorus of nocturnal creatures seemed muted, reced by an eerie silence that hung heavily around them. The once familiar rustling of leaves and the chirping of insects were noticeably absent, creating an uncanny stillness that sent a shiver down their spines.


    The group exchanged concerned nces, their earlier confidence now tinged with unease. The shadows seemed to deepen and elongate, casting distorted shapes that yed tricks on their eyes. Strange wisps of fog appeared, winding their way through the trees, adding an ethereal quality to the surroundings.


    "Something is off¡­" Ailen furrowed his eyebrows and grabbing his bow.


    Siora, feeling restless and curious, decided to leave thefort of the hut and venture into the surrounding area. Stepping out into the open, she took a deep breath, inhaling the cool night air, and let her senses guide her exploration.


    As she moved with purpose, her footsteps were almost silent, blending seamlessly with the natural sounds of the night. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light, allowing her to navigate through the shadows. With each step, she scanned her surroundings, keenly observant of any signs or anomalies in the environment.


    "They are here¡­ I wonder if they are looking for me or you all," Siora said while furrowing her eyebrows.


    "It doesn''t matter either way¡­" Ailen said while grabbing some arrows from his quiver. "I will check the area ahead and scout the number of enemies, don''t move from here."


    Malon wanted to go and help his friend, but his armor would make too much noise. Besides, he knew that Ailen could be in the dark forest without making any noise. He definitely was the best person for the job.


    Ailen, recognizing the need for caution and reconnaissance, took on the role of scouting the area ahead in the dark forest. With his keen senses and honed instincts, he moved silently through the underbrush, his steps barely making a sound.


    Navigating through the dense foliage, Ailen''s eyes adjusted to the limited light, allowing him to navigate the shadows with ease. He felt a sense of foreboding as he cautiously advanced as if an invisible force warned her of an imminent threat.


    Peering through the foliage, Ailen''s eyes widened as he saw whaty before her¡ªa formidable army of human soldiers marching in a disciplined formation. Their armor gleamed dully in the moonlight, and their banners fluttered ominously in the breeze. It was evident that they were heading towards Siora''s house, their intentions clear and dangerous.


    Ailen''s mind raced as he considered her options. He knew she had to act swiftly to warn herpanions and prepare for a potential confrontation. Silently, he retreated from his concealed position, expertly retracing his steps back towards the hut where the rest of the group awaited.


    "Humans, five hundred of them," Ailen told the others as soon as he returned with a haggard breath. "I would say that they don''t know that we are here¡­ otherwise, the dark knight would be here as well, or someone closely troublesome."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "As expected, he is making moves on his own and Told the ruler of this time to hunt Siora¡­" Ervan said while rubbing his chin. "We can''t afford to face so many enemies, and it will wear us down on the journey ahead. You need toe with us, Siora. You can start your life elsewhere. Since you have been living here for too long, the enemies know that you are here. You don''t have to fight alongside us, but you need to survive."


    "And eventually be a weapon for people like you to use my supposedly father?" Siora asked. "Yeah, no thanks."


    "Would you rather die here, then?" Ailen asked. "I have seen cockroaches that have more willpower than you."


    "Emotional Damage," Aion thought.


    "Ailen¡­" Malon said and then sighed.


    "We don''t have time for this," Vaeral said while seeing some lights of torches in the distance. "I would rather leave the heroics in the hands of the young and naive ones of the group, but I am also a gentleman, so I can''t let ady die in front of me while I do nothing. Forgive me for my rudeness."


    Vaeral used his wind magic to put Siora inside a wind sphere and then made it fly toward the distance in a crazy disy of power. Everyone looked at each other in amazement¡­ His control over the wind arts improved a lot in thest week.


    "Let''s get going, everyone," Vaeral said and then enveloped the others in thin wind armor. "This is the best that I can do for now."


    Everyone nodded, and then they began to run. As the group ventured deeper into the forest, a sense of urgency also propelled the enemies forward. Determined to reach their destination swiftly, they tapped into their extraordinary abilities, donning the wind armor that covered their bodies.


    With the wind armor harnessed, their forms became enveloped in a shimmering, translucent sheen. A powerful gust of wind surrounded them, lifting their hair and garments, their movements now facilitated by the extraordinary speed bestowed upon them.


    The human army tried to chase the group without keeping their ranks, but it was useless. Even the notpletely recovered Ervan could run three times faster than he was usually, and the others were even faster. It didn''t take long for them to leave the forest and eventually find Siora, who weed them by attacking Vaeral by casting several massive iron fists.


    Vaeral avoided them by using a st of wind to backflip dozens of meters away from it. Without uttering a single word, Siora unleashed her magic, defying the conventionalws that bound spellcasting. The very essence of her being seemed to merge with the mystical forces that surrounded her, harmonizing in a breathtaking disy of raw power and skill.

 Chapter 388 Travelers Of A Distant Time

    ?


    The group watched, their eyes wide with wonder, unable to find words to capture the majesty of what they were witnessing. Siora''s mastery over her magic transcended mere spells and incantations. It was an innate connection to the elements themselves, a profound understanding that surpassed the limitations ofnguage.


    "I guess voiceless magic was really a big deal back then," Aion thought. "I feel a bit embarrassed for taking it for granted¡­ Anyway, Mother and her people didn''t need it either; I wonder if the grandma shrimp was the one who passed that ability down the family tree."


    "If you do something like that again¡­ you will start to fear me more than my father," Siora dered.


    "Sorry, sorry¡­ drastic situations require drastic solutions," Vaeral said after he returned. Still, he made sure to keep a distance from Siora.


    "Let''s get going; after the Vaeral disy of wind arts, they know that we are here and are gathering the spirits," Ervan said after he took a deep breath. "What are you going to do, Siora? I am repeating myself, but you don''t have to fight alongside us. Still, your father''sckeys know about it, and they don''t think that your presence is good for them. You don''t have to fight him, but you can fight others and protect yourself while you remain with us."


    "You really do like to make good use of the situation, huh," Siora said while massaging her forehead. "Fine, I didn''t want to get involved with you all, but I think I will find satisfaction in seeing you all failing at the end."


    Years of istion and the revtion that her father was a viin had a profound impact on Siora, shaping her into a jaded woman. The weight of her past experiences and the knowledge of her father''s dark deeds cast a shadow over her worldview and colored her interactions with others.


    The istion Siora endured during her formative years left her feeling detached and mistrustful. Cut off from the world, she became ustomed to relying solely on herself, fostering a sense of self-reliance and independence. The absence of social connections and the limited exposure to different perspectives contributed to her growing cynicism.


    As a result, Siora developed a guarded demeanor, constantly evaluating the intentions of those she encountered. Her experiences had taught her to be cautious, and she struggled to let her guard down and truly trust others. The fear of being deceived or hurt again fueled her jaded outlook on life.


    Her interactions with others often bore traces of skepticism and a tendency to question motives. Siora became adept at detecting ulterior motives and hidden agendas, sometimes jumping to conclusions or assuming the worst. Theyers of mistrust she had built over the years shielded her from potential harm but also prevented her from fully opening herself to genuine connections.


    "Cliched," Aion thought.


    In any case, the group began their journey together. At first, the atmosphere was a bit weird, thanks to Siora, but she wasn''t unpleasant all of the time. She would often argue with Ailen since he was sharp-tongued and with Vaeral since he was naturally annoying.


    Aside from that, she worked as a part of the group and helped with the tasks. She could do a lot with her magic, so making fire, Water, and chairs using the ground was as easy as breathing for her.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With a team thatrge, the group didn''t find many problems reaching the temple of the fire spirit. At least when it came to facing monsters¡­


    After days of traversing through treacherous terrain and following the guidance of ancient maps and cryptic clues, the group finally stumbled upon the hidden location of the Temple of the Fire Spirit. As they approached the designated coordinates, thendscape underwent a dramatic transformation.


    Nestled within a vast, rocky valley, the temple stood tall and majestic, its presencemanding respect and awe. The rugged cliffs that surrounded the temple seemed to embrace it protectively, creating an air of mystery and secrecy.


    The entrance to the temple was guarded by two imposing stone statues, intricately carved in the likeness of fire-breathing dragons. Their eyes, crafted with meticulous detail, appeared to flicker and glow, imbuing an eerie sense of life into the statues.


    The doors of the temple, forged from ancient, weathered wood, were adorned with ornate carvings depicting fiery scenes of legends and mythologies. As the group pushed the doors open, a rush of warm air greeted them, carrying the faint scent of smoldering embers.


    Inside, the temple unfolded like abyrinth of corridors and chambers. The walls were embellished with vibrant murals depicting fieryndscapes, swirling mes, and mythical creatures associated with the element of fire. The colors danced with intensity, evoking a sense of the primal power contained within the temple''s sacred halls.


    As they ventured deeper, the sound of crackling mes grew louder, apanied by a subtle,forting warmth that permeated the air. The light in the temple emanated from strategically ced braziers, casting flickering shadows across the stone floors and illuminating the ornate tapestries that adorned the walls.


    The central chamber of the temple was a sight to behold. A massive, circr room with a domed ceiling painted with celestial representations of stars andets. In the center, an enormous fire pit zed, sending waves of heat and light cascading throughout the chamber. The mes danced and roared, their intense hues ranging from deep oranges to vibrant reds, captivating the eye and mesmerizing the soul.


    Surrounding the fire pit were altars adorned with intricate carvings and offering tes, where devout followers would pay homage to the Fire Spirit. The energy within the chamber was palpable, pulsating with the essence of fire and passion.


    Before they could do or say anything, the group saw the same thing that happened with the wind spirit. The fire spirit made the heat around concentrate on a single spot before it became a living fireball that talked with them.


    "Travelers of a distant time¡­ you have the blessings of the spirits to fight for the world."

 Chapter 389 The Calm Before The Storm

    ?


    Just like that, the fire spirit became their ally, and the number of tattoos on Vaeral''s body increased.


    "It seems that they are in a hurry, just like us," Malon said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "Putting that aside, we should start thinking about what we should do after we gather the spirits," Ailen said. "We have to correct history, right?"


    "Not exactly¡­ what happens in history, it is bound to happen no matter what," Ervan exined. "Even if history is being rewritten, that was bound to happen. Besides, no one can do what Tenebres can. We can only defeat him, but undoing his work is beyond the control of mortal hands."


    The group wanted to understand how it was possible that the history being rewritten was something that was supposed to happen. Aion could understand that since he was doing the same behind the shadows while helping those guys. Perhaps the reason for the fact that Malon in the tower readily decided to talk with him was because he knew instinctively who Aion was¡­ it was hard to be sure. Things were bing way tooplicated.


    In any case, the group continued their journey while heading to the ocean this time. As the group ventured far beyond the known seas, their search for the elusive Temple of the Water Spirit led them to a forgotten ind. The ind, shrouded in mystery and seclusion, seemed to emerge from the depths of the ocean as a hidden sanctuary for the element of water.


    Upon reaching the ind''s shores, they were greeted by a breathtaking sight. The temple stood proudly at the ind''s center, perched atop a craggy cliff that overlooked the vast expanse of the ocean. It was a solitary figure against the backdrop of the swirling waves, a testament to the power and majesty of the Water Spirit.


    The temple itself was a masterful blend of natural and man-made elements. It appeared as though it had been seamlessly carved from the surrounding rock formations as if the very ind had shaped it over centuries of wind and water erosion. The stones thatprised the temple were worn and weathered, bearing the marks of time and the relentless caress of the sea.


    A series of cascading waterfalls surrounded the temple, their crystal-clear streams merging into a smallgoon that encircled the sacred structure. The gentle sound of rushing water filled the air, creating a soothing melody that seemed to harmonize with the rhythmic crashing of waves upon the ind''s shores.


    As the group approached the temple, they noticed intricate carvings etched into the stone walls. These depictions told stories of oceanic creatures, mythical sea serpents, and mighty tidal forces. The carvings seemed toe to life as the sunlight yed upon their surfaces, evoking a sense of movement and fluidity.


    Stepping through the temple''s grand entrance, they found themselves in a vast chamber adorned with intricate seashell mosaics. The walls shimmered with pearlescent hues, reflecting the soft glow emanating from clusters of glowing bioluminescent organisms that clung to the ceiling.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In the center of the chamber stood a magnificent pool, its water glimmering with an otherworldly radiance. The pool seemed to possess a mystical depth, inviting visitors to peer into its seemingly endless abyss. Floating atop the water were delicate lotus blossoms, their petals unfolding in an eternal dance, symbolizing purity and enlightenment.


    The air within the temple was cool and infused with a hint of brine, carrying the gentle fragrance of the sea. Soft, filtered sunlight filtered through cracks in the ceiling, casting ethereal rays that danced upon the surface of the water, creating an ever-changing y of light and shadow.


    Some drops of water fell from the walls, and they eventually began to move toward the altar in the middle of the ce. The water umted until, eventually, it turned into a water tornado.


    "Travelers from different time periods, I wee you all to my temple. The world needs the bravery and willpower of people like you tost for as long as it can. You have my blessing to fight for our world."


    Easy peasy again¡­ the group celebrated since now they had another powerful ally. The more of the power they used, the less mana Vaeral would need to control them. Still, it seemed that they would need that much to face the army of the kingdom that was working on Tenebres at that time. They had to do that since Tenebres could summon them to their side if he needed to¡­


    The chances of that happening were small, but no one could tell what a cornered beast would do. Regardless, Aion felt that theirst conquests seemed too easy¡­ the enemies didn''t get in their way at all¡­ were they really that busy?


    "I guess this is the calm before the storm¡­ Still, those guys are getting quite good with their magic, so perhaps things will be fine," Aion thought. "I can wholeheartedly believe that after being attacked by enemies of several ages and almost dying on a time trap."


    They knew the location of the final spirit as well; it was in a desert, so they headed toward it as well. As the group ventured deep into the expansive and unforgiving desert, their search for the Temple of the Earth Spirit led them to a ce of profound solitude and timeless beauty. The majestic Temple of the Earth Spirit stood at the heart of the vast expanse, rising from the shifting sands like a beacon of stability.


    The temple''s location was awe-inspiring. It was nestled within a vast oasis, an oasis that seemed to emerge miraculously amidst the harsh desertndscape. Towering sand dunes encircled the sanctuary, their golden waves frozen in time as if paying homage to the temple''s significance.


    Approaching the temple, the group observed the subtle majesty of its design. Constructed from the very earth it honored, the temple blended seamlessly with the desert surroundings. Its exterior walls were fashioned from sun-baked y, disying intricate patterns and reliefs inspired by the natural wonders of the desert: swirling patterns reminiscent of wind-sculpted sands, images of desert flora and fauna, and representations of the powerful forces that shaped the aridndscape.

 Chapter 390 Sparring

    ?


    The entrance to the temple was adorned with massive stone pirs, weathered by time and encrusted with sand. As the group crossed the threshold, a cool breeze carried the faint scent of earth and ancient wisdom, a refreshing respite from the desert''s relentless heat.


    Inside, the temple unfolded into a series of interconnected chambers and hallways, illuminated by soft, natural light streaming through carefully crafted skylights and small, intricately designed windows. The walls bore murals depicting desertndscapes, geologic formations, and the intery between light and shadow.


    A grand altar dedicated to the Earth Spiritmanded attention in the main chamber. Carved from a single, colossal block of sandstone, it embodied the strength and resilience of the earth. Intricate patterns etched onto its surface told tales of creation and bnce. At the same time, offerings of precious gemstones, vibrant flowers, and rare minerals adorned its base.


    The air within the temple carried a sense of grounding and stability as if the very essence of the earth permeated every breath. Coolness emanated from the stone floors, providing a wee relief from the desert''s scorching heat. The silence that enveloped the temple''s interior seemed to amplify the vibrations of the earth, lending an almost meditative quality to the space.


    The earth spirit didn''t say much before talking with them and soon entered Vaeral''s body. Before leaving, the group stood in the presence of the Temple of the Earth Spirit; a moment of tranquility was shattered by a sudden, unsettling sound. Vaeral''sughter echoed through the sacred halls, hisughter carrying a hint of madness and malevolence.


    Hisughter grew in intensity, a manic reverberation that filled the space and sent shivers down the spines of hispanions. Wide-eyed and stunned, they exchanged worried nces, unsure of what hade over Vaeral.


    Suddenly, Vaeral''sughter ceased, and a mischievous grin spread across his face. He looked at hispanions, their expressions a mix of concern and confusion. With a yful tone, he proimed, "I finally have the power to take over the world!"


    The group recoiled, their eyes widening in disbelief. A wave of unease washed over them as they tried to process Vaeral''s words. Doubts and fears began to cloud their minds, questioning the true intentions of theirrade.


    But just as quickly as the deration left his lips, Vaeral burst intoughter once again, his tone filled with amusement.


    "Hahaha! Just kidding, I was just joking! I couldn''t resist pulling doing this!" Vaeral said, unable to contain his amusement.


    "What a retard¡­" Aion thought while feeling like facepalming.


    "Let''s punch him until he regrets his nonsense and starts crying like a little girl," Ailen said.


    "Great idea," Malon said and then cracked his fingers.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Vaeral tried to fly away from Malon and Ailen, but before he could gain speed and leave the building, those two grabbed his legs and began to spin him around in the air. To use the magic of the spirits, he needed a lot of focus, and he couldn''t do that while he was dizzy.


    "More and more, I believe that you guys are crazy for thinking that you can face my father," Siora said and then facepalmed.


    "It is better that they act like this now and then instead of letting their dark feelings control their heads all the time," Ervan said and then sat down on the floor. "They tried to hide that from you in order to not make you feel bad, but their parents, friends, and others were killed by one of your father''s grunts. Cailena also lost her mother¡­ it might be crazy the n that we have in mind, but it is the only way for us to seek closure.``


    "... They had the relics that sealed him, right?" Siora asked. "That exins why they are trying to do this¡­ it doesn''t change the fact that it is madness. My father''s strength is way beyond what humans can understand. He had hundreds of years to cultivate his magic and physical prowess to be the strongest. Not only does he have talent, but he is also knowledgeable, more than anyone else. He was sealed once, but it won''t happen again. He never makes the same mistake twice."


    "No person made of blood, flesh, and bones is invulnerable," Ervan dered.


    Siora wanted to agree with that, but the little she knew about her father made her think that he was the only exception to that rule. In any case, after they made Vaeral repent for his stupidity, they left the temple. The sun was already setting, so they decided to fish the dinner and set their camp there.


    "Shit, I can''t fast-forward now¡­" Aion thought and then sighed. "It seems that something important is about to happen."


    Once they caught some fish and began to cook them, Vaeral, Malon, and Ailen began to train together. Vaeral wanted to practice the magic of the Earth spirit, so that was a good chance for all of them.


    Malon gripped his sword tightly, its gleaming de reflecting the glint of determination in his eyes. Vaeral took a deep breath, his palms outstretched towards the ground, connecting with the elemental energy coursing through the earth.


    With a focused gaze, Vaeral conjured numerous earth bullets, shaping them with his will andunching them toward Malon in rapid session. The projectiles shot forth like miniature boulders, hurtling through the air with formidable speed.


    Malon''s instincts kicked in as he swiftly brought his sword into action. His movements were precise and fluid, his de acting as an extension of himself. With each iing earth bullet, Malon expertly deflected and parried, his sword meeting the projectiles with resolute precision.


    The sh of steel against earth resounded in the area, creating a mesmerizing symphony of power and skill. Malon''s movements were so swift and seamless that it appeared as if his sword had a will of its own, dancing effortlessly through the barrage of earth bullets. All of them hade a long way since their vige life...

 Chapter 391 Timeless Swordsman

    ?


    The spectators, mesmerized by Malon''s disy of swordsmanship, could barely catch a glimpse of his sword''s movements. It moved with such speed and finesse that it seemed to blur in the air, leaving only a trail of gleaming steel.


    Vaeral, impressed by Malon''s deftness, adjusted his tactics. He intensified the assault,unching earth bullets with increased speed and force. The ground beneath them trembled with each impact, sending echoes through the training area.


    But Malon rose to the challenge, his focus unyielding. He remainedposed, his swordsmanship a testament to years of dedication and discipline. With each strike and parry, he showcased a deep understanding of his weapon and a mastery of his art.


    As the training session progressed, Malon''s confidence grew, and his swordsmanship became even more effortless. He moved with grace and precision, countering every earth bullet that came his way. His defensive maneuvers were a seamless blend of agility and calcted movements, leaving no room for error.


    Timeless Swordsman Lv 01


    Health: 54/54


    Mana: 54/54


    Stamina: 24/24


    Strength: 01 + 05 + 03


    Dexterity: 01 + 03


    Magic: 01 + 05 + 03


    Endurance: 01 + 03


    Resistance: 01 + 03


    Speed: 01 + 03


    Status: 00


    Time Sword Lv 01


    Bonuses: Strength +06, Magic +06


    Skills: Timeless sh Lv 01


    Passive: Timeless Aura Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Timeless sh: As the skill is unleashed, the world around the user seems to slow down, and faint, shimmering aura envelopes their weapon. With a swift and precise motion, the character shes through the fabric of time, creating a rift that extends in the path of their attack. Cost: 30 MP.


    Timeless Aura: passively increases all of your parameters by three points.


    "This is almost unfair¡­ you can control your time magic this much already?" Vaeral furrowed his eyebrows. "You can adjust your speed ording to the situation.


    "Hehe, it is all a matter of skill," Malon smiled proudly.


    Aion gave Malon some pointers when it was necessary. Still, eventually, he began to progress by himself without the need for assistance. Still, he didn''t expect that he would get another ss now.


    The next turn was Ailen agaisnt Vaeral. Once they faced each other, their determination was palpable in the air. Vaeral unleashed increasingly potent earth attacks, shaping the very ground beneath him to propel devastating projectiles toward Ailen. Meanwhile, Ailen channeled his focus, infusing his arrows with the power of time to counter Vaeral''s onught.


    With a surge of energy, Vaeral summoned rocks, boulders, and shards of earth, hurtling them toward Ailen with incredible force. The ground trembled beneath his feet as hemanded the raw power of the earth. Each attack grew in intensity, aiming to test Ailen''s defenses to their limits.


    Ailen, undaunted, notched an arrow onto his bowstring. He tapped into his techniques, imbuing his arrows with the essence of the magic he just learned. As Vaeral''s earth projectiles closed in, Ailen''s keen eyes tracked their path. With perfect timing, he released numerous arrows, guiding them with a touch of magic.


    The arrows met the iing projectiles with precision, colliding agaisnt them and turning them into dust upon impact. The sh of elemental forces and temporal power resulted in a magnificent disy of energy. The earth projectiles shattered into fragments, reduced to harmless specks as Ailen''s arrows neutralized their destructive force.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Vaeral, impressed by Ailen''s skill, intensified his attacks. He manipted the very earth beneath Ailen, causing pirs of rock to surge toward him. Each pir aimed to catch him off guard, overwhelming him with sheer force. But Ailen''s focus remained unyielding.


    Drawing upon her time-infused arrows, Ailen unleashed a volley with unwavering uracy after jumping. The arrows sailed through the air, leaving behind trails of temporal energy. They struck the earth pirs with pinpoint precision, causing them to crumble and disintegrate before they could reach him. The sh between earth and time resulted in a breathtaking spectacle, filling the training ground with echoes of power.


    As the training session progressed, Vaeral continued to refine his attacks, testing Ailen''s limits. Each assault became more intricate,bining earth maniption and projectile precision. Ailen met each challenge head-on, her arrows guided by the essence of time, maintaining a delicate bnce of power to destroy the iing attacks without overpowering them.


    Timeless Archer Lv 01


    Health:12/12


    Mana: 36/36


    Stamina: 36/36


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01 + 05


    Magic: 01 + 05


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Time Bow Lv 01


    Bonuses: Dexterity +06, Magic +06


    Skills: Timeless Shot Lv 01


    Passive: Timeless Perception Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Timeless Shot: You can shoot an arrow with as much power of charge as you want, but the more power you charge, the more feedback you will receive. Cost: 30 MP.


    Timeless Perception: You can intuitively understand how much damage you need to deploy with your attacks to damage the enemy as much as possible without wounding yourself. Higher levels make you able to feel how stronger the opponents are.


    "And I thought that I had some convenient skills¡­" Vaeral furrowed his eyebrows.


    "Hard work beats talent, all day, every day," Ailen smiled, and then he and Malon high-fived each other.


    "It seems that you are all ready for the true battle¡­" Ervan said while showing a serious expression. "With the power of the spirits and your new skills, we should be able to face Tenebres'' minions. Unfortunately, I won''t be able to help since I will have to focus on using time magic to move between the periods of time where we will face his minions."


    Everyone calmed down after they heard that. In terms of raw power, Siora was stronger than Ervan when it came to magic. Still, his experience and knowledge couldn''t be traded that easily.


    "Do you know the periods of time that we should go to deal with them?" Ailen asked.


    "I know about history to guess which periods he is going to mess with," Ervan replied. "Instead of finding them, I am more worried about what we are going to find¡­ those periods of time were far from normal."

 Chapter 392 Final Preparations

    ?


    The group embarked on a tense journey back to the area where they had previously been attacked, realizing that the capital of the countryy within its vicinity. With each step, a sense of unease settled upon them, heightened by the sight that greeted them upon arrival.


    As they approached the outskirts of the area one weekter, they noticed a significant increase in military presence. Soldiers stood in disciplined formations, their armor gleaming under the sun, their weapons at the ready. It was as if they were expecting the group''s return, prepared for their arrival.


    The soldiers formed a formidable blockade positioned strategically to impede any unauthorized entry into the capital. Towering walls fortified the perimeter, bristling with archers and artillery, ready to repel any potential threat. gs bearing the country''s emblem fluttered defiantly in the wind, a symbol of their allegiance and determination.


    The group exchanged apprehensive nces, realizing the magnitude of the challenge before them. The soldiers seemed resolute and well-prepared, their numbers greater than anticipated. It was clear that their previous encounter had not gone unnoticed, and the forces of the capital were ready to defend their territory.


    "This is definitely the work of the dark knight¡­ he knows that we would have a hard time entering the city and getting rid of his minions and allies," Ervan said while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "What should we do?" Malon asked. "We can''t exactly just bust in and kill everyone in our way. I bet there are people who don''t even know what is going on here."


    "You are right. That will take too long¡­" Ervan said while also considering that those kids would have a hard time taking human lives nonstop. "We will infiltrate the capital from the sky, but we will need a diversion to be able to buy some time to deal with the enemies in the castle. They are definitely there. Without them, Tenebres won''t be able to control this era freely. We should split up and then¡­"


    "How are we going to regroup after that?" Siora suddenly asked. "Once you deal with the targets, do you n to punch your way out of the city to use your spell and move to the next era?"


    "... I suppose that this is a problem that we can''t escape from," Ervan said after a long sigh.


    "I will deal with that. It won''t be fun to see you all fighting unless you aren''t together," Siora said while she was smiling.


    The group couldn''t help but feel a twinge of unease as they contemted whether Siora had indeed changed, albeit for the better. Their minds were filled with conflicting thoughts and worries, wondering if she had taken a path that differed from their shared goals.


    With a focused expression and a gesture of her hand, she tapped into the ground with the connection that she held with the elements. The ground beneath them responded to hermand, quivering with anticipation. In an awe-inspiring disy, golems began to emerge from the very earth itself.


    Rising from the ground, the golems took shape, their forms sturdy and imposing. Each golem was a testament to Siora''s control over the earth''s raw power. They stood tall, their bodies hewn from stone and soil, emanating a resolute aura. As they materialized, the ground trembled as if acknowledging their creation.


    The group watched in astonishment as the army of two hundred golems assembled, forming a united front. Their presence evoked a sense of both awe and trepidation. It was a stark reminder of Siora''s profound connection to magic and her formidable abilities.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I will make them attack one side of the wall since the people there destroyed my home and forest. They deserve at least this much," Siora dered.


    "I guess I can im ownership of a forest if I build a house in one as well," Ailen shrugged.


    "Putting that aside, you shouldn''t use your magic freely like this¡­ you should always save some for emergencies," Ervan said while studying Siora.


    Siora''s countenance remained stoic, her expression carefullyposed as she tried to appear unfazed by the situation. However, it didn''t take long for her to realize that her facade was futile.


    She confessed that she had overexerted herself, expending an excessive amount of mana in the process. The group understood that, for the time being, Siora would be limited in what she could contribute to their efforts. It was a challenging truth to ept, as they hade to rely on her formidable magical abilities.


    "What can you do with them?" Ervan asked.


    "I can give them simple orders since they are just masses of my mana that are affecting the dirt," Siora exined while making all of them do some squats. "They should be able to deal with five soldiers for a couple of minutes."


    "That should be enough to lure a bunch of them toward the walls¡­" Ervan said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Let''s wait until midnight before sending them to attack the walls."


    As midnight approached, the group gathered together, finding sce in the stillness of the night. They had decided to rest and rejuvenate before embarking on their journey to the capital, knowing that the uing mission would be their most significant one yet since their encounter with Tenebres.


    The anticipation of what awaited them in the capital weighed heavily on their minds, causing a sense of nervousness to permeate the air. They had faced formidable challenges in the past, but this mission carried the weight of expectation and importance. It was their chance to make a significant impact and further their cause against the forces that threatened their world.


    Each member of the group felt the gravity of the situation in their own way. Malon double-checked his weapons and armor, silently rehearsingbat strategies in his mind. Ailen meticulously inspected his bow, ensuring the strings were taut and ready for action.


    The others focused on clearing their minds and making sure that their mana would be at its peak.

 Chapter 393 Mutation

    ?


    As midnight descended upon thend, Siora stood at the forefront of her summoned army of golems. The moon''s pale light illuminated the vast array of earth creatures standing behind her. Each one was imbued with hermanding presence. With a wave of her hand, she set the golems in motion, their heavy footsteps echoing through the night.


    The ground beneath them trembled as the golems, massive and formidable, began their march toward the city. The rhythmic thud of their steps reverberated through the silent darkness, a foreboding sound that carried both awe and trepidation. The cityy ahead, its distant lights twinkling with unsuspecting innocence.


    The soldiers stationed on the walls were the first to notice the approaching army of golems. Their eyes widened as they witnessed the formidable force advancing steadily toward the city gates, each heavy step sending vibrations through the ground.


    The soldiers on the walls quickly sounded the rm, their urgent cries piercing the air. The city guards scrambled into action, rallying their forces to prepare for the impending arrival of the golems. Whispers of both fear and determination spread among them as they tried toprehend the sight before them.


    Some soldiers, seasoned warriors with battle-hardened hearts, tightened their grips on their weapons, their faces etched with a mix of concern and readiness. Others, less experienced or newer recruits, exchanged nervous nces, their hands trembling slightly.


    As the news of the approaching golems spread throughout the city, the streets filled with murmurs and gasps. Citizens sought refuge within their homes, barricading doors and shuttering windows in an attempt to protect themselves from the unknown threat.


    "It seems that the n is working well¡­" Ailen said while they were flying over the walls of the city inside a wind sphere.


    Cailena felt a bit troubled since she felt like she was causing some issues to people that weren''t involved in their feud, but she didn''t voice those thoughts.


    No one said anything after that; they just flew toward the castle with their focus and guard on high alert until they saw the castle in the distance.


    The castle of King''s Landing is a sprawlingplex epassing numerous structures within its fortified walls. The centerpiece was a massive fortress constructed from dark, weathered stones that hint at the castle''s rich history. Its tall, formidable towers reach towards the sky, standing as sentinels of the realm.


    The ce was nked by formidable defensive walls adorned with battlements and crions. Heavily armored soldiers patrol the parapets, their presence a constant reminder of the castle''s significance and the power it wields. Each soldier was a testament to the might of the ruling power and themitment to safeguarding the seat of the Iron Throne.


    Surrounding the castle, the grounds are meticulously maintained. Gardens bloom with vibrant flowers, and fountains spray crystalline water, adding an air of serenity to the bustling castleplex.


    However, amidst the splendor and grandeur, the presence of heavily armored soldiers is ever-present. They stand guard at strategic points, their armor gleaming in the sunlight, ready to defend the castle and its upants against any threat.


    The castle, with its imposing presence and heavily armed defenders, was a formidable bastion of power and authority. It serves as a reminder of the fragile bnce of power in the realm and the lengths to which those in control will go to maintain their rule.


    In the end, the wind sphere suddenly exploded when they passed above the garden. They had nned to enter through one of the windows and then get rid of the king as quickly as possible, but it seemed that the enemies had some surprises in store for them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What the hell happened?" Ailen asked while they were falling.


    "Some magic relic able to cancel active spells and probably magic attacks is defending the castle.


    The fall hadn''t been that high, and since Vaeral used some wind magic to slow them down, they avoided most damage. Still, it seemed that the spell had been weakened significantly. They lost around half of their power¡­


    "They are really ready for us¡­" Cailena said and then gulped when she saw the royal guards approaching the garden.


    "Dash to the castle, Vaeral. Close the doors with earth magic," Ervan dered.


    Everyone nodded, and then they dashed. Malon kicked the door and immediately opened it revealing the entrance of the castle. Before they could do anything, Vaeral closed the doors and reinforced them by making the ground create anotheryer of defense.


    Still, soon they began to hear the sound of armor echoing inside the castle as well¡­ the outside wasn''t the only ce that was being guarded by them. The sound of windows being broken echoed as well. Still, imagining the heavily armored soldiers passing through them was hard.


    "Find the king or those that have any traces of time magic with the spirit of the wind," Ervan said.


    "On it," Vaeral said.


    Suddenly, heavily armored soldiers emerged from all sides, their presence ominous and foreboding. Their armor gleamed with an intimidating aura, reflecting the flickering light of torches that lined the corridors.


    The soldiers encircled the group, forming a formidable wall of trained warriors. Their disciplined formations and unwavering gazesmunicated a readiness for battle. The nking of their armor and the weight of their weapons echoed through the halls, amplifying the sense of danger that hung in the air.


    But then, an unexpected change urred. The soldiers, standing tall and resolute, began to tremble. Their bodies convulsed as if a powerful force surged through their veins. As the trembling intensified, a strange transformation took ce.


    The soldiers'' muscles swelled, their bodies expanding and bing more imposing. The once-familiar armor strained against their growing forms as if struggling to contain their newfound strength. Their skin turned a deep shade of crimson as if infused with the fiery essence of the battlefield.


    "They mutated¡­" Aion muttered. "Oh boy, so things started at this point in the past, huh? What a mess..."

 Chapter 394 From Another Era

    ?


    The soldiers, now towering figures with bulging muscles and fiery redplexions, emitted an aura of raw power. Their once-stoic expressions twisted into fierce grimaces, their eyes glowing with an intense determination. The transformation had turned them into formidable adversaries fueled by an otherworldly strength.


    The ground beneath their feet quivered with each step they took, echoing the rumble of their newfound power. The once-imposing armored soldiers now stood as towering giants, their presence both awe-inspiring and intimidating.


    The group, surrounded by this formidable force, could feel the shift in the atmosphere. Uncertainty mingled with a growing sense of unease. The soldiers'' transformation had altered the dynamics of the encounter, posing a greater challenge and raising questions about what just happened.


    Vaeral pped his hands together, and then a powerful gust of wind hit the soldiers and pushed them backward for several meters. The wave of wind passed through the whole building until it reached the third floor, where Vaeral found its target.


    "It is on the third floor," Vaeral dered.


    Before Vaeral could even finish his sentence, Ailen fired several arrows that found their marks on the throats of several soldiers. Malon was a bit surprised by his friend''sck of hesitation¡­ he only flinched for a moment while the targets agonized while gushing blood from their throats.


    Still, Malon noticed Ailen''s friends trembling a bit¡­ he didn''t like what he was doing, but it had to be done. If the enemies were going as far as transforming somehow, then they had to show an equal level of determination.


    Malon charged toward the enemies without hesitation, and when they moved their spears and thrust at him, a thinyer of mana covered his whole body. In the next moment, he began a blur. All of a sudden, he appeared in the air, and then five of the enemies began to gush a lot of blood from their throats¡­ no one saw his strike.


    The other soldiers weren''t fazed by that and kept attacking Malon. Still, he dealt with the ones in front of them in the same way while Ailen covered for him and put arrows on the necks of the ones approaching from the side.


    A st of wind knocked down the enemies around him, and then the group began to climb the stairs. Ailen recovered his arrows and quickly followed them. Before the enemies could chase them, Vaeral made a cascade appear and go down the stairs, knocking the enemies once again.


    As the group reached the second floor of the castle, they were greeted by a chilling sight. A battalion of armed archers, their bows drawn and ready, stood in perfect formation. The air became heavy with tension as the archers locked their sights on the group, their fingers tightening on the bowstrings.


    With a thunderousmand, the battalion released a flurry of arrows, creating a deadly storm hurtling toward the group. But before the arrows could find their mark, Malon, harnessing the power of time magic, tapped into his extraordinary abilities.


    Time seemed to bend around Malon as he moved with unparalleled speed and grace. His body blurred with motion, and then repelled the attacks with his sword strikes. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The enemies tried to nock more arrows, but several earth bullets flew from the walls and hit their faces. It seemed that Vaeral was holding back a bit as well¡­ who could have thought that he would be that serious in such a situation, serious enough to think that he might regretter taking the lives of every single enemy.


    The group climbed to the third floor, and then they found a wall of shields blocking their path. It was weird to see a phnx formation indoors, but it was exactly what they were seeing right at the moment.


    Malon didn''t hesitate in charging at that¡­ even with his power. He wouldn''t leave unscathed. Moreover, he couldn''t use Timeless Aura indefinitely, so it might cause more problems than help.


    Vaeral took a deep breath and then made up his mind¡­ he summoned a tornado between Malon and the soldiers, and that pushed them away from each other. After that, he made the tornado burst into mes before moving toward the soldiers.


    The soldiers began to scream in pain and agony while their flesh was burning and their armor and weapons were melting. It wasn''t a good sight for anyone to see¡­ Still, they had to do so until the final soldier fell, and the path was clear.


    A gloomy atmosphere was among the group while they dashed toward the thorne room, and just like before, Malon kicked it with all his might. As the group cautiously entered the throne room at midnight, they were greeted by an atmosphere of dread and intrigue. The chamber was shrouded in darkness, illuminated only by the soft glow of moonlight seeping through stained ss windows. The air was heavy, carrying a sense of anticipation and danger.


    At the center of the room, upon a towering dais, sat an imposing throne made of ebony and adorned with twisted, menacing designs. It seemed to exude an aura of malevolence, symbolizing the power that resided within the walls of the castle.


    Seated upon the throne, the figure of the king emerged from the shadows. d in regal attire, his presencemanded attention and respect. His eyes, though filled with authority, carried a hint of weariness as if burdened by the weight of his rule.


    Beside the king, standing with an air of mystery, was a figure draped in crimson armor from head to toe. The gleaming armor seemed to absorb the limited light, casting an eerie red glow that entuated the figure''s ominous aura. The face behind the helmet remained obscured, leaving only spection as to the identity of this enigmatic character.


    "Both of them have the aura of time magic on them.. but the second one is a lot denser," Vaeral said, warned while showing a difficult expression.


    "He came from another era¡­ probably because there are no stronger warriors than him in this period," Ervan said.

 Chapter 395 Round Two

    ?


    That wasn''t a good sign¡­ Still, it was something that they imagined that could happen. When messing with those who use time as a simple tool, it is only natural that crazy things would happen.


    Ailen didn''t mind the warning that much. He just nocked an arrow and fired at the king without any hesitation. The arrow flew so fast that no one was able to see it moving. Still, the red knight not only moved and read the line of attack but also intercepted the arrow and destroyed it without moving from his spot.


    The sh of steel echoed in the area, leaving a sound that made everyone there feel their eardrums vibrating. Ailen was left watching the enemy without knowing what he should do¡­ he had to charge more energy in his attack, but how much? He had to think well since they had other fights to win, and he couldn''t get deeply hurt¡­ he knew well the dangers of his technique.


    Suddenly, the armored warrior at the king''s side seemed to undergo a transformation. An intense, zing aura erupted from his armor, enveloping his entire being in a fiery shroud. The room flickered with the warm hues of crimson and orange as the mes danced and writhed around him.


    With an earth-shaking roar, the armored warrior unleashed a primal battle cry and charged toward the group. Each step he took seemed to leave scorch marks on the stone floor, and the air sizzled with the heat radiating from his fiery presence. The mes licked his armor, lending an otherworldly glow to his figure.


    His sword, now aze with mes that mirrored the intensity of his aura, cut through the air with unmatched ferocity. The weapon zed a trail of scorching heat, leaving trails of smoke in its wake. The armored warrior''s movements were swift and precise, fueled by the raw power of the inferno that surrounded him.


    Malon moved to block the enemy''s charge while nning to cut his throat as well, but he flinched when he blocked the attack of the enemy. The aura of heat made him unable to get closer or almost keep his eyes open.


    The enemy used that to kick him in the stomach and then swung down his sword, but before he could do that, Ailen fired an arrow at the head of the enemy. That guy was forced to stop the attack and block the arrow¡­ this time, his sword trembled for a short while thanks to the impact¡­ giving him a chance for Malon to step away while he was coughing.


    Cailena healed him in a single moment, and he felt a lot better. Malon wanted to win against his enemies fair and square, but he didn''t have time to worry about his pride. It was better to deal with the enemies as soon as possible.


    Malon charged again while clenching his teeth to endure the mes, but that wasn''t helping. Still, all of a sudden, the air in the throne room cooled down when Vaeral fired some ice spears at the enemy¡­ they melted before they could reach him, though.


    Vaeral didn''t give up on that; he made the air cool even more by using water and wind magic and making them dance around the throne room. All of a sudden, even the group began to feel cold; only Malon and the enemy were fine, thanks to the fire aura. Still, Malon could feel the mes bothering him a lot less than before.


    "Time for round two," Aion said.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Malon''s eyes narrowed with focus and determination. With an unwavering resolve, he chose to ignore the scorching heat of the fire aura and made his move.


    Drawing upon his mastery of time magic, Malon entered a state of heightened awareness. Time seemed to slow down around him as he studied the armored warrior''s movements, analyzing every flicker of his sword and each subtle shift in his stance.


    With a surge of agility, Malon darted forward, evading the licks of fire that threatened to hinder his progress. His body moved with fluid grace, defying the searing heat as he closed the distance between himself and the fire swordsman.


    As their des shed, a shower of sparks erupted, illuminating the throne room with brief bursts of light. It was amazing that the guy could keep up with him now, but he couldn''t have expected anything less from the grunts of Tenebres.


    The enemy attacked back, equality fast; Malon skillfully parried the fiery strikes, expertly manipting the mana around him to anticipate and counter each attack. The mes that engulfed the armored warrior''s de seemed to bend and distort in the wake of Malon''s swift movements, barely grazing him as he effortlessly avoided their searing touch.


    With each calcted strike, Malon aimed not only to disarm his opponent but also to disrupt the armored warrior''s connection to the mes. His de became a blur, a testament to his mastery of the sword, as he sought to sever the fire swordsman''s control over the inferno.


    As the battle raged on, the fire swordsman found himself increasingly challenged by Malon''s unwavering assault. The armored warrior''s confidence wavered, his movements growing more erratic as he struggled to anticipate Malon''s agile maneuvers.


    As if that wasn''t enough, arrows were fired at him whenever he showed the slightest of openings, and everyone could hear the annoyed grunts of the enemy, thanks to Ailen.


    In the end, Ailen charged his final arrow and then unleashed it; he felt the bones of his right arm cracking a bit¡­ it seemed that he used too much power. Fortunately, the enemy was pushed backward several meters when it blocked that strike, and Malon decided to use that chance.


    Malon unleashed a flurry of blows in a final, decisive strike that overwhelmed the fire swordsman''s defenses. Their swords met onest time with a resounding sh, and the armored warrior''s grip faltered. The mes that once enveloped his de began to dwindle, flickering weekly until they finally extinguished.


    Without hesitation, Malon swung down his sword in a blurred motion that no one was able to see, only the result, the armor of the enemy was split in two, and his chest was opened in an extensive line.

 Chapter 396 The Abyss Of Time

    While the king was left speechless, Vaeral fired an earth bullet from the ground that hit him in the head. Before long, the body of the king began to fall on the ground like a masterless puppet. At the same time,rge impacts could be hearding from the door.


    "We need to move, stay close so that we cannd on the same spot," Ervan dered while he cut his hand a bit and made a circle with his blood.


    With the circleplete, Ervan raised his hands towards the sky, channeling his time magic through the conduit he had created. The air around him crackled with temporal energy as the fabric of time itself seemed to respond to hismand.


    "Tempora aeternam, abrigo potestatem! Chronos, bend thy cosmic tapestry to my will. Past and future, I beseech thee, intertwine. Grant me passage to the realm of moments untold. With this chant, I bind the hands of time," Ervan said.


    As his incantation filled the room, the hands on the clocks lining the walls began to spin backward, their movements defying the natural flow of time. The room seemed to distort, warping and shifting as Ervan''s mastery over time magic took hold.


    Eventually, the room was filled with light, and then the group experienced another time travel¡­ this time, they didn''t feel anything unusual, so soon they found themselves in the middle of a desert.


    From that point onward, Aion was able to control the flow of time in the dream freely¡­ he also could tell that his mind was getting lighter. He was either dying or waking up in the real world. He couldn''t tell which one was¡­ thanks to that, he decided to skip the missions of those guys and see if they truly could show him something useful.


    The group embarked on a perilous journey through the fabric of time, encountering a myriad of adversaries from different eras and realms. They traversed the temporal nes, their determination unwavering as they confronted one threat after another.


    Their first encounter took them to a dystopian future where ruthless mercenaries roamed thend. These formidable foes possessed mutations that granted them a diverse array of auras, each more dangerous than thest. Some emitted scorching mes, engulfing the battlefield in fiery chaos. In contrast, others exuded an icy chill that froze the very air they breathed. Undeterred, the group honed their skills and strategies, adapting to the unique challenges presented by these mutant warriors. They emerged victorious through their unwavering teamwork and indomitable spirit, leaving the mercenaries defeated in their wake.


    In another era, they found themselves embroiled in a battle against shadowy beings intent on subjugating the world. These mysterious entities cloaked themselves in darkness, their forms shifting and contorting with each movement. The group faced a relentless onught of illusions and mind games as the shadowy adversaries sought to exploit their deepest fears and doubts. But the group, fortified by their bond and unwavering resolve, stood strong against the insidious influence. They unraveled the illusions, piercing through the veil of darkness to strike at the heart of their enemies. With each victory, the shadows receded, their hold on the world weakened by the group''s relentless pursuit of light.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Their journey through time also took them to an era where the lines between life and death blurred. Necromancers wielded their dark arts,manding the dead to rise and serve their twisted desires. Illusionists manipted perception, creating a surrealndscape where reality and fantasy intertwined. In this realm, the group faced formidable challenges as their foes toyed with their senses and raised hordes of undead to overwhelm them. Yet, through their unwavering courage and resilience, they shattered the necromancers'' control and dispelled the illusions. The living reimed their autonomy, while the dead returned to rest.


    The group faced diverse adversaries and overcame unimaginable odds throughout their time-traveling exploits. Their collective strength, honed by their shared experiences and unwavering support for one another, propelled them forward. As they journeyed through time, they left a trail of defeated enemies and shattered illusions in their wake.


    As the group delved deeper into the realms of time, they couldn''t help but ponder the true intentions of Tenebres, their enigmatic nemesis. Despite their encounters with mercenaries, shadowy beings, and wielders of dark arts, they found no trace of what Tenebres truly sought. It became apparent that his motivations extended beyond mere conquest or acquisition of power.


    Through their battles and the unraveling of the temporal tapestry, they glimpsed into Tenebres'' twisted psyche. His ultimate goal seemed not grand or noble but rather to enforce control and subjugation overall. He sought to bind the world in chains, stifling any hint of rebellion or free will. To him, power was not measured in conquests or dominions but in the absolute suppression of individuality and autonomy.


    To the group, this revtion felt petty and small, as if Tenebres'' ambitions werecking the grandeur and purpose they hade to expect from a formidable adversary. It was a realization that his desire for control stemmed from a deep-seated fear of chaos, a need for order at any cost. This revtion stirred a mix of pity and frustration within them, for they understood that true powery not in domination but in fostering unity, diversity, and the freedom to forge one''s own destiny.


    After a journey thatsted for almost one year, they didn''t see Tenebres a single time¡­ they found enemies that had a portion of his power, but only that. After sharpening their skills for so long, they didn''t be real obstacles to the group.


    Still, they didn''t feel victorious at all since the world changed more than they could have expected¡­ Tenebres only made his minions affect history at some points. Still, it had been enough to turn it into awless area of endless suffering.


    In the end, the group reached the final domain of Tenebres, more than ready to stop him¡­ in the abyss of time.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 397 Lv 99 Party

    ?


    The castle in the abyss of time was an imposing structure that defied time and space. After using time travel once more, they appeared right at the entrance of a massive dark castle. They looked around and didn''t see anything, only darkness and the castle floating in the darkness.


    The castle appeared as a colossal edifice, rising high into the ominous sky. Its dark, gothic architecture evoked a sense of foreboding, with towering spires and intricate details that spoke of a forgotten era. The exterior was adorned with intricate carvings and gargoyles as if guarding the secrets within.


    The castle seemed to exist in a realm where the past, present, and future converged. Itsyout defied logic, with twisting corridors and interconnecting chambers that seemed to shift and change as people ventured deeper. Time itself appeared to bend within its walls, adding an eerie and unsettling atmosphere to the surroundings.


    "We will rest here for a few hours," Malon dered while showing a serious look. "We need to be at our peak before facing Tenebres¡­ we reached this far, and we won''t fail now."


    Aion was surprised. Throughout their arduous journey, Malon underwent significant growth, both in body and mind. As the challenges they faced became more demanding, Malon''s resilience and determination bloomed, transforming him into a formidable leader within the group.


    Physically, Malon''s training and experiences sculpted his body into a manifestation of strength and endurance. His muscles rippled with power, honed by countless battles and trials. His stature, once unassuming, nowmanded attention and respect. The hardships he endured had forged him into a warrior capable of facing any foe with unwavering resolve.


    However, Malon''s growth extended far beyond his physical prowess. Mentally, he evolved into a leader who inspired and guided hisrades through the darkest of times. He acquired a profound understanding of each member''s strengths, weaknesses, and unique abilities. This insight allowed him to strategize and make decisions with precision, maximizing the group''s effectiveness inbat.


    Malon''s growth as a leader was evident in his unwavering confidence and calm demeanor, even in the face of overwhelming odds. His voice resonated with authority and conviction, offering guidance and reassurance to hispanions. They found sce and inspiration in his presence, knowing that he had their best interests at heart.


    At the same time, Aion didn''t expect to see Siora there with them¡­ even though he saw a relic with her face and saw her in the tower. She also looked determined to face her father.


    Initially, Siora had been guarded and distant, haunted by the legacy of her viinous father and burdened by the weight of her past. However, as she traveled alongside herpanions and faced numerous trials, Siora gradually shed her fears and insecurities, emerging as a remarkable individual in her own right.


    One significant aspect of Siora''s growth was the deepening mastery of her magical abilities. Through rigorous training and countless battles, she honed her skills, expanding her repertoire of spells and delving into the mysteries of her elemental powers. With each encounter, Siora''s magic became more refined, disying a level of control and finesse that surpassed her previous limits.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was also rare for her to bicker with Ailen now. When they stopped to rest, she didn''t make a fuss and then just sat pretty close to him.


    "It feels like I slept through the middle of a three hours long movie¡­ I am not sure I have time to y it back, though," Aion thought.


    The others also grew a lot as well. Ailen expanded his repertoire of abilities and deepened her connection with his skills. Through rigorous training and unwavering determination, he honed his archery skills to unprecedented levels, bing a master of precision and uracy. Additionally, his understanding of time magic grew, allowing him to manipte to know by instinct just how much power he needed for each target. This newfound control over time granted him unparalleled agility and the ability to perceive and react to situations with remarkable swiftness.


    Cailena, with her unwavering determination and inquisitive nature, delved into the depths of ancient knowledge and mystic arts. She devoted herself to studying various forms of magic, including elemental. Through her relentless pursuit of wisdom, she became a versatile spellcaster, capable of harnessing different energies and elements to shape the battlefield to her advantage.


    Cailena''s growth extended beyond her magical abilities, as she also cultivated a serene and calming presence, bing a source offort and healing for herpanions. She was also pretty close to Malon now. As if she was always ready to heal him and knew that he wouldn''t let her down and let arme her way.


    Vaeral''s growth with the spirits was a profound journey of understanding and mastery. As he delved into the world of magic and embraced his role as a wielder of spirit powers, Vaeral''s interactions with the spirits became more meaningful and impactful. Through his dedication and respect, he earned their trust and cooperation, unlocking new depths of their abilities and knowledge as well.


    With the guidance of the spirits, Vaeral honed his skills in harnessing the power of the four elements andbining them with ease, creating ice, magma, and thunder¡­ thanks to finding harmony and synergy with the natural elements. He learned to listen andmunicate with the spirits, understanding their wisdom and drawing on their ancient knowledge to amplify his own abilities.


    "They look like a level 99 party from a final fantasy game," Aion thought and thenughed. "They don''t look like they have the ultimate weapons of the world, but I guess they don''t need it."


    Putting that aside, Aion wondered how Tenebres was able to create that ce¡­ he knew that he had the power to control time, but he didn''t know that he could control space as well. Now he could tell why Siora said that her father was basically unbeatable, and he didn''t mind showing up to stop them on their journey. He felt like his victory was more than assured.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 398 Healer And Sorcerer King

    ?


    Considering the relics, Aion assumed that Ervan didn''t participate in thest battle against Tenebres or something; he also couldn''t remember seeing him in the tower, so he was curious to see what was going to happen to him.


    After studying Ervan for a while, Aion noticed that there was something strange with him¡­ Ervan wasn''t that young, but he wasn''t that old, either. Still, he sure looked weary.


    Ervan, once vibrant and full of energy, now appeared weary and exhausted, bearing the visible signs of the toll his extensive use of time travel spells had taken on him. His once bright eyes now held a weariness, and lines of fatigue etched themselves upon his face.


    The price Ervan had paid for tampering with the fabric of time was evident in his physical and mental state. Constantly manipting the threads of chronology had disrupted the natural flow and rhythms of his own existence.


    Despite his weariness, Ervan remained resolute in his purpose. He understood the risks and sacrifices that came with his abilities, and he was willing to bear them for the greater good. Though he yearned for respite and relief, he knew that his duty called him to continue on, even in his weakened state.


    "He is barely hanging in there; he won''tst for long¡­ he probably will just send everyone back to their ages with his remaining energy and then¡­." Aion thought.


    If those guys didn''t manage to bring him to the tower, it was probably because Ervan''s fate was a lot moreplicated than just death. Aion wondered if the others had realized that, but it seemed that they were too focused on the mission to realize it. L


    "It is time; let''s get going," Malon dered.


    Everyone nodded and then got up. It felt like Malon became the leader naturally since he was always fighting on the front lines. Still, at the same time, Ervan took a back seat because he didn''t have that much vigor after using time magic so many times. He was a lot quieter than before.


    The group entered the castle. The interior of the castle was an enigmatic and foreboding ce, reflecting the grandeur and mystery of its dark origins. The moment one steps foot inside, they are met with a sense of unease and a palpable aura of power that permeates the air.


    The castle''s vast halls are adorned with intricate, gothic architecture, featuring towering archways, vaulted ceilings, and ornate details that speak of a bygone era. The stone walls, cold and weathered, seem to whisper secrets of forgotten times, while torches lining the corridors cast flickering shadows, lending an eerie atmosphere to the surroundings.


    As one explores deeper into the castle, they encounter abyrinthine maze of interconnected chambers, each harboring its own sense of mystery and peril. The hallways twist and turn, sometimes leading to dead ends, testing the resolve and patience of those who dare to venture further.


    The group found themselves in the midst of a daunting and treacherousndscape, surrounded by a multitude of powerful and diverse monsters. Each creature seemed to embody a unique blend of strength, cunning, and otherworldly abilities, presenting a formidable challenge to the group''s unity and skills.


    Among the beasts that confronted them were towering giants, their massive forms exuding raw strength and resilience. These hulking adversaries wielded colossal weapons or possessed incredible natural weaponry capable of causing widespread destruction with each swing or strike.


    Alongside the giants, agile and elusive creatures darted through the chaos, their lithe forms twisting and contorting with grace. These agile adversaries utilized their speed and flexibility to evade attacks andunch lightning-fast assaults, testing the group''s reflexes and coordination.


    From the shadows emerged stealthy predators endowed with heightened senses and deadly precision. Their razor-sharp ws or venomous fangs posed a constant threat, demanding unwavering vignce from the group to avoid falling victim to their calcted strikes.


    Among the ranks of the monsters, spellcasters of various types unleashed devastating arcane forces. Some conjured swirling storms of elemental energy, while others wielded dark and forbidden magics that corrupted the very essence of their surroundings. These spellcasting adversaries posed a dual challenge, as the group had to contend with both their physical prowess and their unpredictable magical abilities.


    In the midst of the chaos, monstrous creatures with supernatural abilities revealed themselves. Some emitted crippling auras that sapped the strength and willpower of those nearby. In contrast, others possessed the ability to regenerate their wounds or manipte the very fabric of reality. These supernatural adversaries required the group to strategize and adapt, finding unconventional ways to ovee their seemingly insurmountable powers.


    With each encounter, the group faced a new and formidable opponent, each with its own distinct set of strengths and weaknesses. It tested their individual abilities and forced them to work together as a cohesive unit, capitalizing on their unique skills and coordinating their attacks to exploit the monsters'' vulnerabilities. Still, they all had the same powers as the creatures that they had faced before¡­ so the group knew how to deal with them.


    Sorcerer King Lv 01


    Health: 12/12


    Mana: 66/66


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 12


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Arcane Staff Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: + 12 Magic


    Skills: Pyromancy 01


    Passive: Elemental Mastery Lv 01,


    Pyromancy: it grants you absolute control over fire, letting you shape it as you see fit.


    Elemental Mastery: all elemental attacks gain a damage bonus of ten percent per level.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Spiritualist Lv 01


    Health: 12/12


    Mana: 66/66


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 12


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Spiritualist Staff Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: + 12 Magic


    Skills: Spirit of the Wind Summoning 01


    Passive: High Wind Mastery Lv 01,


    Spirit of the Wind Summoning: it grants you absolute control over the wind by summoning the spirit that controls it.


    High Wind Mastery: all wind attacks cost ten percent less mana and cause ten percent more damage per level.


    Healer King Lv 01


    Health: 12/12


    Mana: 66/66


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 12


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Legendary Healer Staff Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: + 06 Magic, + 06 Resistance


    Skills: Quick Regeneration 01


    Passive: Quick Mana Recovery Lv 01,


    Quick Regeneration: a spell that, at the cost of fifty mana points, can let you heal the target by fifty health points per second for ten seconds


    Quick Mana Recovery: passively increases your mana regeneration by fifty percent per level.


    Aion was surprised to see everyone fighting that well. Their skills improved by leaps and bounds. They definitely looked like a party from a final fantasy game that was about to face a boss that had billions of HP.

 Chapter 399 Payback

    ?


    After fighting for a couple of hours, the group managed to reach the top of the castle, where they found arge chamber where Tenebres'' throne room was.


    As the group stood before Tenebres, they couldn''t help but perceive the depths of his true nature. It became increasingly evident that he possessed an insidious and twisted mindset, one that viewed himself as far superior to mere mortals. Tenebres exhibited a need for control, manipting and exerting his influence over others to reinforce his delusion of superiority.


    The group witnessed firsthand how Tenebres relished in creating a sense of subservience and inferiority in those around him. He crafted an atmosphere where individuals were made to feel small, insignificant, and unworthy in his presence. He employed psychological tactics to diminish the self-esteem and confidence of others, making them doubt their own capabilities and worth.


    Despite Tenebres'' attempts to project an air of superiority, the group discerned a deeper truth hidden beneath his facade. They could see through his thinly veiled amusement, recognizing the loneliness and boredom that gued him.


    It was evident that Tenebres'' obsession with power and control had isted him from genuine connections and left him yearning for meaningful interaction. One that he could only find by creating enemies left and right and hoping that they would manage to stand at his level¡­


    In the vastness of his throne room, Tenebres sat alone on his imposing seat, surrounded by opulence and grandeur. His attempts to appear amused and entertained fell t as the group saw through the hollow charade. The room echoed with a mncholic silence, entuating the emptiness that pervaded Tenebres'' existence.


    Despite his desire to be seen as superior, Tenebres couldn''t escape the truth that he couldn''t find anyone who truly regarded him as their equal. The istion he imposed upon himself left him unworthy of genuinepanionship and camaraderie. The loneliness etched upon his face, and the boredom reflected in his eyes betrayed the hollowness of his self-proimed superiority.


    As the group observed Tenebres in his solitary throne room, a mix of pity and resolve welled within them. They recognized the tragic nature of being consumed by the need to dominate and control yet forever yearning for true connection. It fueled their determination to stand against him,


    "It is time to end things, Tenebres," Malon dered once they showed up in the throne room. "The world isn''t your you, no more."


    "Why? Things are just getting interesting," Tenebres said and then smiled before raising his finger, and then a portal appeared in front of the throne.


    Before long, the dark knight appeared in front of the group¡­ it had been a while since they saw that guy, and they wondered where he had been, but it didn''t matter now, they finally had the chance to settle the score, and they couldn''t ask for more. Malon stepped forward to face him; even though everyone there had a grudge against the enemy, they knew that he was the best option.


    As the tension reached its peak, Malon stood face to face with the formidable Dark Knight. The air crackled with anticipation as their des shed, the sound reverberating throughout the battleground. The onlookers strained their eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the lightning-fast exchange that unfolded before them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Malon moved with unmatched speed and precision, his sword a blur of steel as heunched a series of swift strikes at his opponent. The Dark Knights countered each attack with dark, heavy swings of their own. The sh of their des sent sparks flying, illuminating the intense battle that unfolded in a fraction of a second.


    Their movements were a symphony of agility and skill. Malon gracefully weaved through the onught of the Dark Knight, evading lethal strikes with acrobatic maneuvers that seemed almost supernatural. With each parry and riposte, he showcased his unmatched mastery of the sword, executing precise and devastating attacks that kept the Dark Knight on the defensive.


    The speed of their duel was breathtaking as if time itself struggled to keep up with their lightning-quick exchanges. The onlookers strained their eyes, catching only glimpses of the fighters as they moved with unparalleled swiftness. They witnessed shes of steel, blurred outlines of bodies, and the asional burst of sparks and emanating energy.


    It seemed that they were equal in all aspects, but then, all of a sudden, Malon sped up a notch, and as if the enemy suddenly stopped moving, he advanced with his insane speed and then pierced the enemy''s heart; it felt like the armor waspletely useless and it was pierced like it was made of cotton.


    The Dark Knight staggered back, clutching at his chest. His eyes widened with shock and agony, a realization dawning upon him that his life force was swiftly fading away. Blood stained his armor, marking the severity of the mortal wound inflicted upon him.


    The once imposing figure of the Dark Knight, draped in shadows and malevolence, now stood vulnerable and fragile. Every heartbeat grew weaker, his grip on life slipping away with each passing second. Pain twisted his features as he fought against the inevitable, but the wound was too severe, the damage irreparable.


    With a final shuddering breath, the Dark Knight fell to his knees, his strength drained, and his life extinguished. The battlefield fell into a hushed silence as the reality of his demise settled over the onlookers. Darkness and malevolence dissipated, leaving only the lifeless form of a fallen warrior.


    "Very impressive, but it isn''t over yet," Tenebres said, and then the dark knight''s body began to move again.


    As the lifeless body of the Dark Knighty still on the ground, a wave of unnatural energy swept through the battlefield. The air crackled with an eerie aura as Tenebres, the embodiment of darkness and maniption, extended his dark influence over the fallen warrior.


    Time itself seemed to rewind, but only on the body of the Dark Knight. The wounds that had brought him to the brink of death began to heal, the bloodstains fading away as if they were never there. The life force that had once faded now surged back into his body, revitalizing him with an unholy vigor.

 Chapter 400 Not Yet

    ?


    Gasps of astonishment echoed through the ranks of the group as they witnessed the unthinkable. The Dark Knight, once defeated and lifeless, now rose from the ground, his body restored to its former strength and vitality. Once vacant and lifeless, his eyes now burned with a malevolent gleam.


    A sense of dread settled over the battlefield as it became apparent that Tenebres, with his mastery over time and maniption, had granted the fallen warrior a second chance. The group''s hard-fought victory had been nullified, their hopes of vanquishing the Dark Knight shattered by this twisted resurrection.


    "What the hell¡­ isn''t this a bit too much?" Aion thought. "Still, considering that he can manipte time and space, this should be an easy y for him."


    As if the group was already ready for that, they soon resumed their fighting stances; if Malon defeated the enemy, he could do it again, no sweat. While they did that, Aion wondered if he could save that dream to watch itter with full focus. It has been a while since he binge-watched anything, and that seemed like an interesting series to do so.


    Things didn''t end there, though¡­ the enemy, as usual, had more than a few more cards to y. It was a like a yugi-oh duel where the enemy could use draw ten times each turn, even when the heroes had six people on their side.


    Tenebres opened more portals with a wave of his hand; the very fabric of reality seemed to warp and twist. From these portals emerged adversaries that the group had previously defeated, their forms distorted and twisted by the dark magic that had brought them back from the abyss.


    One by one, the enemies materialized on the battlefield, their once-lifeless bodies reanimated by Tenebres'' twisted time magic. They bore the scars and wounds that had been inflicted upon them in their previous encounters, serving as haunting reminders of the battles they had fought and the victories they had achieved.


    The group watched in disbelief and frustration as their former foes, thought to be vanquished, stood once again in their path. The revived enemies were infused with an unholy energy, their eyes gleaming with a malevolent light that mirrored the darkness within their resurrected forms.


    A mix of anger and determination coursed through the group as they faced these familiar adversaries. They understood that this battle was not only a fight against Tenebres but a test of their resolve and growth. The enemies they had defeated before now stood as challenges to be ovee once again, their reappearance a cruel reminder of the cyclical nature of their struggles.


    "Don''t let this sway you!" Malon shouted. "These guys are nothing! We defeated them once, and we will defeat them again! Their bodies and spirits can only be repaired so many times!"


    Everyone nodded in understanding. Now Aion could recognize the Malon that he faced in the tower. He even managed to notice that before Aion¡­ it was evident that those guys couldn''t be revived endlessly. They could see that the dark knight was a lot more silent than before¡­ he had probably been killed a bunch of times already.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In any case, the group began to fight the enemies that had been revived a bunch of times. In the midst of the fierce battle, each member of the group fought valiantly against the resurrected enemies that had once been defeated. Swords shed, spells erupted, and arrows soared through the air. The battlefield was a whirlwind of chaos and determination.


    Amidst the fray, Siora''s heart pounded within her chest as she caught a glimpse of Tenebres, her own father, among the chaos. A mixture of emotions swirled within her as she locked eyes with him, hoping for some flicker of recognition, some trace of the bond they once shared. However, her hopes were quickly shattered as it became evident that Tenebres did not recognize her at all.


    A wave of sorrow washed over Siora, threatening to consume her in its depths. She fought to maintain her focus, to push aside her personal pain, and to fulfill her duty alongside herrades. With each strike, each maneuver, she poured her emotions into her attacks, using them as fuel to drive her forward.


    Though her heart ached at her father''s apparent indifference, Siora refused to be defeated by her own emotions. She drew strength from the support and unity of herpanions, their presence a reminder that she was not alone in her struggle. Together, they fought as a cohesive unit, theirbined efforts a testament to their unwavering resolve.


    With each sh against the resurrected enemies, Siora sought to prove her own worth, to demonstrate that she was more than just the daughter of a tyrant. The battles became a metaphorical battlefield for her own journey of self-discovery and redemption. Through her actions, she sought to forge her own path, separate from the shadow of her father''s legacy.


    Eventually, the enemies were defeated, and Tenebres nodded in acknowledgment; he was getting pretty entertained by the fights, but he didn''t want to join it yet, so he just revived his minions yet again.


    After a grueling and relentless battle against the resurrected enemies, the group found themselves exhausted and weary. Beads of sweat trickled down their brows, and their breaths came in ragged gasps. Each member stood amidst the aftermath, their bodies aching and muscles trembling from the exertion.


    Their faces bore the signs of weariness, smudged with dirt and streaked with traces of dried sweat. Fatigue weighed heavily upon their shoulders, threatening to bring them to their knees. Yet, despite their exhaustion, their spirits remained unbroken, fueled by the resilience that burned within their hearts.


    They gathered together, forming a huddled circle, seeking sce and support from one another. Sweat-soaked and dirt-streaked, they exchanged weary nces and shared a nod of acknowledgment. The battle had taken its toll, pushing them to their limits, but they had endured. They were going to endure for much longer


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 401 Intervene

    ?


    They saw Tenebres still sitting on his throne, looking amused. He really felt superior to everyone, and amidst their resilience, everyone couldn''t help but understand why¡­ he was a monster; he wasn''t a human. His powers apparently had no limits.


    Tenebres raised his hands again, and then the bodies began to tremble¡­ However, this time, they suddenly exploded. Everyone was a bit surprised, but it was clear the reason for that¡­ Tenebres truly could only revive them for so long.


    "I suppose it can''t be helped; I will y with you for a while," Tenebres said while smiling and getting up from his throne. "I have time to kill, after all."


    Aion looked around and wondered if the group had any chance of winning¡­ they didn''t have any. Even at the peak¡­ they had negative chances now that they were exhausted.


    "You need to buy time," Aion whispered. "Ask him what his goal is, what his true goal is."


    "... What the hell do you want, Tenebres?" Malon asked while raising his voice. "What the hell are you?"


    "Hmm? Why do you care? You are just a human who is scared down to your shit because I am far superior to you," Tenebres replied. "All this time getting in my way, and you never were able to think, why am I doing this? I highly doubt that you will understand, even if I put it into words. Your intention to stall for a time was the right one, but I can see through you very easily."


    That wasn''t a good sign¡­ everyone readied themselves to fight, but it was clear that they didn''t stand a chance. When Aion felt Tenebre''s bloodlust, he decided to do something more¡­ Cailena didn''t seem like the grandma shrimp that he knew. Still, he could tell that they were connected somehow.


    Aion tried to change his ss and use his system, but he couldn''t¡­ as expected, that didn''t exist at that period of time. So, he couldn''t do it. That being said, he still had another trick up his sleeve¡­


    As Tenebresunched himself towards the group, his movements were almost as fast as light itself. His attacks came with blinding speed, aiming to overwhelm and obliterate his adversaries. The air crackled with dark energy as he closed in on them.


    But standing resolute in the face of this onught was Malon; his sword held steady, and his senses honed to perfection. With impable timing and unmatched skill, he intercepted Tenebres'' lightning-fast strikes, meeting each one with a resounding sh of metal against fists. The sh of their attacks reverberated through the halls of the castle, a testament to the titanic struggle unfolding before them.


    As Tenebres unleashed his full might, shockwaves erupted from the point of impact, rippling through the very structure of the castle. The shockwaves traveled with tremendous force, shaking the foundations and causing the walls to tremble. The echoing booms echoed through the halls, a testament to the immense power being unleashed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Tenebres, caught off guard by Malon''s unwavering defense, found himself visibly surprised. He had not anticipated that his opponent would possess the skill and strength to block his attacks. A flicker of uncertainty shed across his face, momentarily betraying his confidence.


    The sh of swords and the subsequent shockwaves continued to fill the throne room as the confrontation escted. With each strike, Malon demonstrated his unwavering resolve and refusal to yield to Tenebres'' oppressive presence. His determination, coupled with his mastery of the sword, allowed him to hold his ground against the onught of the dark lord.


    In the face of Malon''s unyielding defense, Tenebres realized that his opponent was more formidable than he had anticipated. The surprise in his eyes transformed into a mixture of frustration and begrudging respect. The realization that Malon could keep up with his speed and power forced Tenebres to reassess the situation and adapt his strategy ordingly.


    "How did you do that?" Tenebres asked. "You are supposed to be on your limit¡­ you don''t have enough energy or experience to face me with my speed¡­ so how¡­."


    Malon wished that he could exin that, but he couldn''t. He wanted to believe that his parents were helping him from the beyond, but it had been a while since he noticed that something else had been helping him¡­ he didn''t know what it was, though.


    Although Aion couldn''t use his system and sses, he still had his knowledge, and it seemed that he still had his insane mana pool and talent for magic as well.


    He could use some magic without using the sses that granted him those skills, but Aion never thought of using that with the advanced stuff. Still, he instinctively knew how to restore the stamina and mana of Malon in a single moment.


    Aion''s magical abilities are rooted in the fundamental principles of maniption and channeling of energy. He has honed his skills through years of study and practice, thanks to his bloodline as well, since his mother was one of the best when ites to healing magic, delving deep into the mysteries of magic and its connection to the physical and metaphysical aspects of existence.


    When Aion casts his restoration magic, he taps into the natural flows of magical energy that permeate the world. He harnesses these energies, channeling them through his own essence as a conduit. By focusing his intent and willpower, he directs this energy toward the specific target, in this case, Malon.


    Aion''s understanding of the intery between stamina and mana allows him to weave a spell that replenishes both aspects simultaneously. Through his mastery of restorative magic, he esses the wellspring of vitality and magical potential within himself and directs it toward Malon. The energy flows into Malon''s body, revitalizing his weary muscles and replenishing his depleted mana reserves.


    Despite the trials and battles they had endured, Malon seemed to possess an unyielding strength that surpassed Tenebres'' expectations. Puzzled by this phenomenon, Tenebres delved into deep thought, searching for an exnation for this anomaly.

 Chapter 402 Who Are You?

    ?


    As he analyzed Malon''s every move, Tenebres couldn''t help but notice the subtle shifts in the warrior''s abilities. It seemed as though Malon had tapped into reserves of power beyond his usual capacity. This realization shocked Tenebres, for he had pride in himself for knowing the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents, leaving no room for surprises.


    An unsettling suspicion began to take hold in Tenebres'' mind. Could it be that Malon was receiving assistance or aid from an unseen force or entity? The notion lingered, refusing to be dismissed. Tenebres, consumed by his thirst for absolute control and dominance, knew all too well that he couldn''t let any potential power outside his grasp go unnoticed.


    "Show yourself¡­ I thought that ghosts couldn''t interfere with the physical realm, but it seems that just like I am an exception for the humans, you are an exception for the ghosts," Tenebres said.


    "Damn, he is sharp¡­ as expected of someone who lived enough to be able to control time and space magic," Aion thought.


    Tenebres was wrong, Aion wasn''t a ghost, and he couldn''t show himself, even if he could, so he just ignored that and tried to see if he could help the others as well. Unfortunately, he was only able to restore the mana and stamina of Cailena.


    "As expected¡­ she is connected to grandma shrimp," Aion thought. "I can only interfere with those two because I have a connection with them."


    As Tenebres didn''t get an answer, his fury grew with every passing moment. Not only had he witnessed Malon receiving an unexined aid, but now he also noticed Aion''s assistance towards Cailena. The realization that his adversaries were receiving support from an unknown source fueled his rage and stirred the depths of his power.


    With an indignant roar, Tenebres unleashed a surge of dark energy that reverberated throughout the entire dimension. The very fabric of reality trembled in response, quaking under the weight of his wrath. The skies darkened, crackling with ominous energy, and the ground quivered beneath their feet.


    The surrounding environment twisted and contorted as Tenebres channeled his immense power. Shadows stretched and elongated, reaching out like grasping tendrils, while an oppressive aura of malevolence permeated the air. The very essence of his fury seemed to warp the space around him, distorting perceptions and instilling a sense of dread.


    Tenebres''s face twisted with anger and frustration as the dimension quaked beneath his wrath. His eyes zed with an unholy fire, filled with a mix of disdain and an unyielding desire to reestablish his control. He had built his dominion upon the belief that he alone held power to shape destinies, and the defiance of his adversaries shattered that illusion.


    "I guess he is really a control freak¡­ when things don''t go the way he wants, he gets pissed beyond reason," Aion thought. "Let''s see¡­ I can''t see those guys winning yet, but I should be able to do more."


    The castle began to crumble, but the pieces started to turn into dust instead of falling. Tenebres was determined to go all out since he didn''t know how strong that unknown party was, and he didn''t feel like taking any risks.


    Malon and the others stood their ground while waiting for their chance to attack. Still, instead of that, they suddenly saw themselves being pulled by an unknown force toward Tenebres. His throne disintegrated, and then he began to fly, and then something like a dark vortex appeared behind them¡­<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Now it is the part where the Sephiroth theme starts to y," Aion thought. "Estuans interius, Ira vehementi, Estuans interius, Ira vehementi, Sephiroth! Sephiroth! I must be losing my touch without a real body¡­"


    Soon Aion understood that Tenebres wasn''t just doing that for no reason, aside from a single tform where the group was standing. Everything disappeared, and at the same time, the traces of mana began to be revealed around that dimension.


    "There you are¡­" Tenebres said while looking at something that was floating above Malon.


    Aion could feel the enemy''s stare and everyone else as well¡­ while he couldn''t see his Spiritual body, Aion could feel himself a bit more¡­ he was like a round blue cloud. It was a pretty weird form¡­ nevertheless, it seemed that he was in danger as well since he began to feel the pull of the dark vortex.


    Aion clicked his tongue while wondering what he could do, but he had an idea in the end. If he could be seen, then¡­


    Aion was able to move around more, and he didn''t have to see things from Malon''s perspective anymore, but he couldn''t stay away from more than five meters for him. He approached everyone and tried to touch them, and used buffs on them as well.


    One by one, the members of the group felt a profound transformation urring within them. Aion''s magic coursed through their veins, awakening dormant potential and infusing them with newfound strength. Their bodies tingled with the raw energy pulsating around them, their senses heightened, and their spirits lifted.


    Malon, Siora, Ailen, Cailena, Ervan, and Vaeral could feel the power of Aion''s blessing surging through them. Their movements became swifter, their strikes more precise, and their magic more potent. They could sense an unyielding resolve welling up within them, a burning determination to ovee the darkness that threatened their world.


    The group''s fatigue and weariness were momentarily forgotten as Aion''s magic revitalized their bodies and minds. They stood tall, their eyes gleaming with newfound confidence and determination. At this moment, they felt an unbreakable bond forming between them, united by their shared purpose and fueled by the divine energy coursing through their veins.


    "... Who are you?" Ailen asked while furrowing his eyebrows. "I don''t feel any ill intentionsing from you, but¡­"


    "Probably someone that has something against Tenebres as well¡­ or someone who wants us to win for some reason," Malon said. "I felt some whispers during the journey, and they helped me find the right path for my growth; I thought that they were my thoughts, but I guess I was being guided."

 Chapter 403 Teamwork

    ?


    "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, don''t go all sentimental on me," Aion said, knowing that he wasn''t being heard. Still, they could imagine him shrugging his shoulders. "I have some mana left that the people of my mother''s homnd left behind, so it is all yours¡­ my connection to the dream is ending, and I am not sure if I am going to wake up¡­ I decided to forget how time works in this universe."


    As Tenebres witnessed the group being enveloped in the empowering aura of Aion''s magic, a mixture of surprise and rage shed across his face. His eyes narrowed as he grasped the significance of what was unfolding before him. The realization hit him like a thunderbolt - the mana surging within the group far surpassed the levels attainable by ordinary humans.


    His brow furrowed, and a sense of unease washed over Tenebres. The immense power radiating from the group spoke of a force beyond his calctions, a force that threatened to shatter his delusions of grandeur. It was a reminder that there were powers in the world beyond his control, powers that defied his understanding.


    Tenebres, the self-proimed superior being, had always reveled in his dominance over the mortal realm. But now, faced with this manifestation of extraordinary power, he was confronted with his own limitations. His arrogance wavered for a brief moment, reced by a flicker of doubt.


    The revtion that Aion''s mana surpassed his own struck a chord of fear within Tenebres. It challenged his perception of himself as an all-powerful being. The realization that there were forces greater than his own threatened to dismantle the foundation of his self-appointed superiority.


    "Don''t feel so bad about it, mate," Aion said. "I won''t say that I deserve it, but I do have the powers and techniques of numerous mutations. You can think that I am someone like you, but one that doesn''t want to stand above others and just wants to live a good life. Mortal lives can be as weak as the fire of a candle; even a weak breeze can extinguish¡­ I am not going to waste my life seeing myself Superior to others when I am as mortal as them."


    As if Tenebres had heard that, he got enraged like never before. The dimension began to tremble, and his body began to transform. Tenebres'' power reached a fever pitch. A surge of dark energy engulfed him, warping his form into a grotesque and fearsome creature. The once-human figure now transformed into a towering, multi-headed dragon.


    The dragon''s scales shimmered with an ominous ck hue, exuding an aura of malevolence that sent shivers down the spines of those who beheld it. Each of the dragon''s heads sported a different expression, twisted in agony, pleasure, anger, jealousy, thirst, overconfidence, and anguish, as if they were trapped in all possible emotions, mostly negative ones.


    The faces that adorned the dragon''s torso were a macabre sight to behold. They contorted in pain, their mouths open wide, releasing a cacophony of agonized screams that reverberated through the air. The chorus of torment resonated with an eerie harmony, adding an unsettlingyer to the already foreboding atmosphere.


    The dragon''s wings, massive and leathery, extended outward with an intimidating span. With each beat, gusts of tainted wind whipped through the battlefield, carrying with them an aura of destruction. Shadows danced and writhed along the dragon''s body, enhancing its menacing presence.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    From its towering height, the dragon surveyed the battlefield, its eyes burning with a mixture of rage and desperation. The faces on its torso continued their torment, fueling its anger and driving it to unleash its destructive power upon the group.


    As Siora witnessed the grotesque transformation of her father into the multi-headed dragon, a profound shock rippled through her being. The realization of the extent to which Tenebres had fallen and the stark contrast to the images that she had of him struck her deeply. The initial shock momentarily paralyzed her, but the fire of determination quickly reignited within her.


    Gathering her inner strength, Siora pushed past the shock and focused on the task at hand. She knew that the battle against Tenebres had to be fought, not just for the sake of the world but for the sake of her own fractured rtionship with her father. She could not let her emotions overpower her resolve.


    With a deep breath, Siora steeled herself, her eyes filled with a mix of sorrow, anger, and determination. She stepped forward, her movements guided by a newfound rity. A radiant aura surrounded her, symbolizing her resolve and inner strength.


    As Tenebres charged forward, his monstrous form barreling through the battlefield, the group of warriors responded with unwavering determination. Each of them unleashed their improved techniques, honed through years of training and bolstered by Aion''s support magic. Their attacksbined seamlessly, forming a symphony of power and skill.


    Malon, with his sword gleaming with a radiant aura, moved with unparalleled speed and precision. He unleashed a flurry of strikes, weaving in and out of Tenebres'' onught with deftness. Each sh was imbued with time magic, creating rifts in the fabric of reality that disrupted Tenebres'' movements and weakened his defenses.


    Siora, her magic intensified by her resolve, conjured swirling storms of fire and lightning. Bolts of energy crackled around her as she channeled her elemental powers with unwavering focus. She directed the mes and lightning toward Tenebres, seeking to weaken his monstrous form.


    Ailen, his bow infused with the essence of time, fired arrows that streaked through the air with blinding speed. Each arrow carried the weight of countless moments, freezing time upon impact and unraveling Tenebres'' attempts to manipte reality. His shots found their mark, hitting the vulnerable spots of the multi-headed dragon and causing him to recoil in agony.


    Vaeral, his connection with the elemental spirits deepened, summoned raging tempests and earth-shattering Ice spears. He called upon the forces of nature to unleash devastating spells upon Tenebres, tearing at his monstrous form and exploiting his weaknesses. The space around Tenebres shook while cyclones and geysers surged around him, further destabilizing his attacks.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 404 Dark Cold Room

    ?


    As the ferocious battle between the group and Tenebres intensified, the onught of attacks from both sides took its toll on the brave warriors. The powerful strikes and dark magic unleashed by Tenebres inflicted wounds upon the group, causing them to stagger and falter.


    However, in the face of adversity, Cailena swiftly sprang into action. Drawing upon her deep well of healing magic, she focused her energy on creating a restorative field within the immediate area. A soft glow enveloped her hands as she channeled her healing power, and waves of soothing energy radiated outward.


    Within the healing aura, the wounds of the group began to mend. Cailena''s magic worked swiftly, closing gashes and knitting broken bones. The pain of the injuries subsided, reced by a sense of warmth and rejuvenation. The healing energy permeated their bodies, revitalizing their spirits and fortifying their resolve.


    Meanwhile, Ervan, with hismand overtime magic, recognized the dangers posed by the fissures that appeared amidst the chaotic battle. He called upon the temporal forces around him with a focused mind and precise gestures. Manipting the very fabric of time, he reversed the flow of the fissures, sealing them before they could widen further.


    Tenebres'' rage grew further while noticing that his attacks were useless. He opened his mouthrgely and then fired massive waves of dark mes. Still, it hadn''t been enough to overpower the group¡­ in the end, his own time magic was being sealed away, and his wounds weren''t healing anymore. His blood began to fall like rain in the dimension.


    "It is time¡­'' Ervan muttered and then pointed his hands at Tenebres. ""From the depths of time and space, I call upon the ancient powers to embrace. With words of power, I cast this spell to sever the ties that bind so well. By forces unseen, by ancient decree, Imand the separation; I set his true self free. Life force and magic, intertwined so deep, now unravel their secrets to keep. Essence Sunder!"


    As Tenebres writhed in agony, his essence strained under the power of the spell. Ervan, with his unwavering determination, stepped forward. With a selfless act of sacrifice, he offered his own body as a vessel to receive Tenebres'' tainted blood. The dark, corrupted essence flowed into Ervan, who absorbed it into himself.


    With his own innate purification abilities, Ervan worked tirelessly to cleanse the tainted blood, purifying it with the light that emanated from his very being. Once the blood was cleansed, he carefully transferred it to Malon, who willingly epted the burden and the immense power it held.


    Simultaneously, Ervan''s focus shifted to draining Tenebres'' malevolent mana, drawing it out and redirecting it to Cailena. The mana, pulsating with darkness, surged through Ervan''s cracked and fragile body, channeling through his veins and into Cailena''s awaiting form.


    The strain of the process took its toll on Ervan. His body, like delicate ss pushed to its limits, began to fracture and shatter, each crack representing the immense sacrifice he was making. Through it all, Ervan maintained a serene expression, his eyes filled with a mixture of farewell and hope.


    "That was a great journey, friend," Ervan said while smiling. "I will leave the rest to you."


    His fractured form crumbled, dispersing into fragments of light, leaving behind a profound legacy of selflessness and bravery. The group stood in shock, trying to hold back the tears, witnessing the sacrifice of their dear friend, a testament to the strength of their bond and the lengths they would go to protect one another. At that moment, Ervan''s spirit remained with them, an eternal presence, guiding them toward a future illuminated by his selfless act.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Tenebres didn''t share the moment; he actually got enraged while seeing all that¡­ to think that a mere human would manage to do that¡­ unfortunately, Tenebres, he didn''t have time to wallow in anger since Malon''s attacks began to take huge chunks of his body.


    As Tenebres realized the extent of his defeat and the loss of his powers and abilities, an overwhelming rage consumed him. In a final act of desperation, he unleashed his ultimate trump card. With a deafening roar, his form began to crack and shimmer with dark energy.


    Suddenly, Tenebres detonated with a cataclysmic explosion, obliterating his physical body into countless shards that scattered across the world and eras; the group saw fissures appearing left and right, showing locations of the world where the fragments scattered throughout the ages. Each fragment carried with it a tainted essence, an embodiment of Tenebres'' malevolence and twisted power.


    "Shit¡­ he took advantage of Ervan''s sacrifice," Ailen said and then clicked his tongue.


    These fragments of Tenebres, infused with his dark magic, dispersed far and wide, seeking out wicked beings who were susceptible to their influence. The fragments granted these individuals the ability to manipte time and space, unleashing a new wave of chaos and destruction upon the world.


    "It doesn''t matter; we will stop them all," Malon said and then swung his sword and opened a fissure that they could use since the dimension was copsing. "Our job isn''t over¡­ thank you."


    Malon said while looking at Aion, and then the dream ended. It was about damn time...


    Aion slowly began to wake up, and the pain all over his body made him grunt. His first thought was to change his ss to a tanker one, but that didn''t help¡­ his body was sore, probably because he suffered spiritual damage as well.


    "I see¡­ Tenebres unleashed in the world an era where countless beings received his knowledge to use time magic, and those five had to clean up the mess for who knows how long," Aion thought once he got up. "I can see the big picture now¡­ Malon probably took those fragments and decided to use his blood to seal time magic in this world."


    While he learned a lot, more questions popped into his mind. Aion soon found himself in a dark and cold room.

 Chapter 405 Abandoned City

    ?


    Aion stepped cautiously into the dark and cold room, his senses heightened by the oppressive atmosphere that surrounded him. The air felt heavy with an eerie stillness, and a sense of foreboding hung in every corner. As he moved forward, his footsteps echoed softly against the stone floor, adding to the somber ambiance.


    Aion''s breath formed faint clouds of mist as he exhaled, his body reacting to the chilling temperature. He instinctively wrapped his arms around himself, seeking some semnce of warmth andfort amidst the gloom. The walls exuded an icy touch, sending a chill down his spine and causing his skin to prickle with goosebumps.


    Straining his eyes, Aion attempted to discern any details in the murky darkness. As his vision adjusted, he caught sight of faint outlines, suggesting the presence of ancient structures or forgotten artifacts. The room felt like a forgotten crypt, a ce untouched by the passage of time.


    "I was supposed to be in the dark dome¡­ did the explosion caused by Grandma and Grandpa destroy it?" Aion thought while getting up and noticing that he was using his sleeping clothes. "It seems that I got home somehow¡­ or Mother and those two found me."


    Aion created fireballs to explore the area, and soon he found a staircase; he could sense some winding from it. He didn''t recall having that kind of room in his house. Although he was feeling pretty fatigued, Aion began to climb the stairs¡­ it has been so long that he even forgot that he could use wind magic to fly.


    "Has it been so long?" Aion thought. "For how long did I sleep? My body isn''t wounded, but it is pretty sore¡­"


    Aion had to fly for a while before he found the staircase¡­ it definitely was a secret base of some sort. A heavy iron door blocked his path, but that had been easy to unlock with his magic.


    Aion cautiously stepped out of the hideout, his eyes widening in disbelief as he found himself standing in the heart of the capital of Zaera kingdom. Normally a bustling city, it nowy eerily empty, devoid of any signs of life. The once vibrant streets were strewn with debris and shattered remnants of buildings, bearing witness to a catastrophe that had taken ce.


    The air was heavy with the scent of smoke and lingering dust as if the remnants of destruction still hung in the atmosphere. Aion''s footsteps echoed through the deste streets, the sound reverberating off the crumbling walls and broken pavement. The silence was deafening, broken only by the asional creaking of damaged structures and the distant howling of a mournful wind.


    "The dark dome is no longer here¡­ did that piece of shit bring it back to the present?" Aion thought while looking around. "What happened to everyone?"


    Buildings stood as hollow shells, their windows shattered and facades crumbling. Tattered remnants of banners and gs fluttered listlessly in the breeze, bearing the scars of a battle fought long ago. Aion''s gaze swept across the devastated cityscape, taking in the sight of toppled statues, broken bridges, and charred remnants of what were once bustling marketces.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The grass growing around wasn''t tall, so no more than a month must have passed since he got unconscious¡­ Aion felt that he only experienced two weeks'' worth of memories in the dream, but maybe his sense of time deviated a fair bit.


    "Where are you, Fenhair, Celion?" Aion thought, trying to talk with the giant elemental guardians that became his allies not so long ago. "... They aren''t responding¡­ I suppose those pieces of shit would have fought and killed them¡­ I don''t think that they would go down that easily, but."


    Now that he thought about it, Aion wondered what their connection to the spirits¡­ they had the same elements. Still, they lived in very different periods of time. Alongside that thought, Aion realized while his family had so much more talent for magic¡­ it was because Cailena inherited Tenebres magic¡­ maybe Siora''s blood also became part of the family tree at some point, but it was hard to be sure.


    "I need to check my old home," Aion thought, and then he felt a terrible shriver due to the pain. "My spirit really took some damage¡­ maybe that is why I stayed sleeping for so long."


    The pain that Aion felt surged through every fiber of his being, radiating from the site of many grave injuries that had been healed like a relentless storm. It was a searing, intense agony that seemed to consume his entire existence, eclipsing all other sensations and thoughts. Each heartbeat sent waves of pulsating torment through their body, reminding him of their fragile state.


    With every breath he took, the pain intensified as if it were a malevolent force determined to remind him of their vulnerability. It gnawed at Aion''s senses, disrupting his concentration and clouding their thoughts. The world around him became a blur now and then, distorted by the haze of suffering that enveloped his consciousness.


    Aion stood amidst the ruins of his old hometown, the once bustling city now reduced to a destendscape of crumbling buildings and debris. The signs of chaos were evident everywhere as if the city had been abandoned in great haste.


    His gaze turned towards the horizon, where the sun descended rapidly, painting the sky with hues of orange and purple. But there was something unnatural about its descent, as if time itself was in a hurry. The sun''s rays seemed to stretch and warp, casting elongated shadows that danced eerily across the broken walls.


    Aion''s heart quickened as he realized that the sun was setting too fast, defying the natural rhythm of day and night. It was as if time itself had been disrupted, a disconcerting realization that sent shivers down his spine.


    He hurriedly scanned the surroundings, searching for any signs or clues to exin this anomaly. The signs left by the people who had fled in haste caught his attention. Scribbled messages on walls, hastily discarded belongings, and abandoned vehicles all told a tale of panic and urgency. Whatever had driven the inhabitants to abandon their homes had done so with such swiftness that it left no time for contemtion or preparation.

 Chapter 406 Brother

    ?


    Before long, the whole ce had beenpletely taken over by darkness; not even the stars and the moon were in the sky¡­ if he didn''t know any better, he would say that someone cast a spell to make that possible.


    As Aion ventured further into the abandoned city, his ears caught a haunting sound carried by the wind. This low, ominous howl sent shivers down his spine. It was a sound that spoke of danger and primal hunger. His senses heightened, and he strained to listen, hoping it was just a figment of his imagination. But then, the unmistakable sound of heavy footsteps resonated through the silent streets, growing closer with each passing second.


    With a mixture of shock and curiosity, Aion turned his gaze toward the source of the approaching noise. His heart sank as his eyes met the chilling sight before him. Emerging from the shadows, a pack of monstrous beasts emerged, their forms both awe-inspiring and terrifying. They were three-headed wolves, their maws dripping with saliva and their eyes gleaming with an insatiable hunger.


    "I don''t know these species¡­ It seems that Vangel let the dogs out while I was away," Aion thought and then changed his ss to Earth Bender and made earth spears emerge from the ground and pierce.


    Despite that, the monsters kept howling in annoyance while they bit the earth spears to free themselves; Aion only shut them up when he smashed their heads. In the end, he used the same ss to make an earth tform, and then he arrived at his old home faster.


    Aion''s heart sank as he reached what had once been his home, a ce filled with cherished memories and moments of joy. But now, all that remained was a scene of devastation. The once proud and sturdy structurey in ruins, reduced to a mere pile of debris and rubble. It was as if a colossal beast had mercilessly trampled upon his past, obliterating every trace of the life he had known.


    A surge of anger coursed through Aion''s veins, fueling a fierce fire within him. His eyes narrowed, his brows furrowed in a mix of grief and rage. The sight before him awakened a deep-seated fury, a feeling of helplessness and injustice. How could his old home be reduced to this? His brothers and sisters weren''t living there, but his father was¡­ most likely, Vangel did something to get rid of him.


    His fists clenched, his jaw set with determination. With each step he took through the broken remnants, his anger grew, propelling him forward. He vowed to make Vangel pay for that¡­ in the most painful way possible.


    Aion decided to check the remains before the monsters arrived, but then he stopped when he heard some heavy footsteps. They were pretty regr and calm, so they probably belonged to humans¡­


    "Aion, is that you?" Henri''s voice suddenly echoed in the area.


    Aion turned around when he recognized the voice of his older brother. Henri was there¡­ Weariness etched deep lines on Henri''s face, a reflection of the burdens he had carried and the battles he had fought. But there was something in his brother''s eyes, a glimmer of resilience that spoke volumes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Henri stood at the forefront of a group of survivors, his presencemanding respect and trust. His voice, though weary, carried an air of determination as he addressed the group, offering words of sce and encouragement. Aion watched, his emotions swirling within him as he witnessed his brother''s resilience in the face of unimaginable adversity.


    Aion studied him for a second, and he could tell that he wasn''t being controlled or was working for the enemy; he had some severe wounds on his body, so Aion approached to heal him.


    "It seems you endured some hell while I was away¡­ I was attacked by Vangel and some suspicious people when I came to investigate things here, and I only found a dark dome," Aion said. "When I entered, I couldn''t leave, and the interior of the city was empty¡­ it seems that Vangel had been waiting for this for quite a while."


    "I know¡­ I am aware of it," Henri said while clenching his teeth. "He called all of us all of a sudden for an emergency meeting and said some things about you. We didn''t believe it, so he decided to me us for some false charges. He also called your mother and your friends since he thought that they were hiding you, but soon he ran out of patience and revealed his true face¡­ he kidnapped Selene, who is pregnant."0


    "To kidnap his own little sister¡­" Aion said while emitting an earth-shattering bloodlust. "Thanks to his memories, he doesn''t see anyone in this era as a true ally."


    "Your mother, Seris, and Ana told us what you have been doing and that no one expected that Vangel was someone who came from the past using magic¡­." Henri said and then lowered his head. "I am sorry, Aion."


    "There is no need to be sorry; I am the one to be med for this¡­" Aion said and then let out a sigh. "Your wife and child¡­ we will rescue them."


    "It is not just that¡­ your mother, Seris, and Ana tried to help us, and they ended up captured," Henri said while expecting to receive Aion''s fury head-on.


    As Aion heard the news of his mother and friends being held captive by Vangel, a surge of anger and frustration coursed through his veins. His eyes narrowed, and his normally calm demeanor crackled with an intense energy. Sparks of electricity danced around him, casting an ominous glow.


    The air around Aion grew charged with his growing fury. His fists clenched tightly, the crackling energy pulsating through his body. The ground beneath him seemed to tremble in response as if nature itself could sense the intensity of his emotions. The onlookers, recognizing the impending storm within Aion, took cautious steps back, a mixture of awe and trepidation in their eyes.

 Chapter 407 Planning To The End

    ?


    Aion''s breathing grew heavy and ragged as he struggled to contain his emotions. His mind raced with thoughts of his loved ones suffering at the hands of Vangel, and the weight of their captivity bore down on him like a crushing weight. The pain of their imprisonment gnawed at his soul, igniting a burning determination to set them free.


    What happened to his sisters¡­ something far worse was expected from his mother, Seris, and Ana¡­ aside from Aion, they would be the following targets on the list of the enemies of people that they needed to get rid of. They knew too much; they were too dangerous with their powers as well.


    "... We will rescue all of them and make sure that Vangel will beg for the peace granted by death," Aion dered while his eyes were unfocused. "Vangel had some allies that were too powerful for normal people. Did you see them?"


    "No, your mother assumed that they are looking for you in other periods of time," Henri replied. "Still, we heard some rumors of someone extremely fast checking around the whole world since yesterday¡­"


    "They returned¡­ because history was rewritten thanks to Tenebres," Aion said, and then he took a deep breath to calm down.


    "Tenebres?" Henri asked.


    "It is a long story¡­ we will talk about itter," Aion said and then thought about the next steps. "We should reunite everyone and then attack the enemies. Gather your forces; I will clean the area from the monsters."


    Their presence attracted more creatures; this time, Aion could see some crazy big spiders dashing toward them. Still, Aion changed his ss to Timeless Swordsman and killed them with Timeless sh. The group opened their mouths and let them hang open since they didn''t know what had happened¡­ Aion just made a sword appear out of nowhere, and then the monsters were split into two.


    Aion needed to level up as fast as possible the sses that he got during the dream; they were the strongest ones, and most likely, they will evolve and unlock even stronger ones.


    The pieces of the puzzle began to connect, forming a chilling realization. It dawned on him that Vangel might be someone from the past who had harnessed the power of the Tenebres fragments.


    Aion''s eyes widened as the revtion settled in. The Tenebres fragments, remnants of a malevolent force scattered throughout time and space, held immense power. It was known that those who possessed them could manipte the very fabric of reality. Vangel, it seemed, had managed to gather these fragments and wield their dark energies for his dark purposes.


    The implications of this discovery weighed heavily on Aion''s shoulders. He contemted the immense danger that Vangel posed, not only as a formidable adversary but also as a harbinger of chaos. The thought of someone harnessing the corrupted remnants of Tenebres, twisting their power for their own gain, sent a chill down his spine. Not because he would be a tough opponent, but because he could do a lot worse than just mess with time once he kills Aion and get the relics¡­<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Without wasting time, Aion got the corpses and began to process them. He needed to see what kind of skills those sses would give him, but he found it hard to believe that anything that they offered would be better than Timeless Aura. In any case, Aion hunted the monsters around the city until Henri returned with around two hundred survivors¡­ only fifty of them could fight, though.


    "Where is Father and our brothers and sisters?" Aion asked.


    "Father was captured as well¡­ the others are leading the other camps since they were taking care of that country, and they were informed by Sauros of what happened to you," Henri said while having a hard time controlling his anger as well. "Thest time we heard of Sauros, it was three weeks ago, and he said that he would get help."


    "We don''t have time to waste¡­ his trip will take too long," Aion thought.


    As Aion contemted his next move, he had a decision that weighed heavily on his mind. Should he use his ss Timeless Swordsman, which focused on duels, or should he use necromancy and spread his influence over arge area with his army of death knights?


    The Timeless Swordsman ss held a special allure for Aion. The legacy of his ancestors resonated within him. Itsbat prowess could grant him unparalleled speed, precision, and mastery over the flow of time itself. With each swing of his sword, he could cleave through reality, manipting the temporal fabric to his advantage.


    On the other hand, the path of the necromancer enticed Aion with itsrge-scale influence and a chance to level up even faster¡­ With the aid of death knights, mighty warriors risen from the grave, Aion couldmand an undead army to serve his bidding, overwhelming his enemies with relentless force¡­


    Since Aion wanted the power to rip to shreds the flow of time as well, he looked for monsters all night, his body was screaming like a bitch since he wasn''t fully healed yet, but he didn''t mind it.


    During the night, Henri also exined other things to him. Artemisia, Seris, and Ana tirelessly worked to keep Aion''s location a closely guarded secret. Their task was not an easy one since they also had to look after him in his weakness. Henri had entrusted them with this crucial duty, understanding the risks involved if Vangel were to discover Aion''s whereabouts. Even without asking where he was¡­


    Meanwhile, Vangel was gathering followers for his cause. He enticed those hungry for power and immortality with promises of grandeur and eternal life. Vangel painted a tantalizing picture of a future where his followers would wield unimaginable power, transcending the limitations of mortality.


    If Vangel were to learn of Aion''s presence, he would undoubtedly use it as leverage to bargain for the release of the prisoners, further strengthening his own forces by getting rid of the most troublesome opponent.

 Chapter 408 The System

    ?


    "He began to spread that kind of thing two weeks ago, but we haven''t seen the results yet. Do you think it is possible?" Henri asked.


    "Most likely, yes, he has the knowledge of other eras; I also obtained the knowledge of how some people make themselves stronger unnaturally," Aion exined. "It has several drawbacks, though."


    Forced mutations, contrary to the natural process of evolution, pose significant risks and dangers to living organisms. Evolution is a gradual and intricate process that urs over extended periods of time, allowing organisms to adapt to their changing environments and optimize their chances of survival. However, forced mutations attempt to elerate this process, artificially introducing gic changes in a short span of time, which can have detrimental consequences.


    One of the key concerns with forced mutations is that they bypass the intricate checks and bnces of natural selection. Evolutionary changes are the result of countless generations of trial and error, where only the fittest individuals pass on their genes to the next generation.


    This ensures that the gic traits best suited to the environment are preserved and propagated. By artificially inducing mutations, this natural process is disrupted, potentially leading to undesirable gic variations that may not confer any evolutionary advantage or could even be detrimental to the organism''s well-being.


    Another significant risk of forced mutations is theck of precision and control over the oue. Natural evolution operates within aplex web of interconnected gic systems, where changes in one gene can have cascading effects on multiple traits and functions.


    When mutations are forcibly induced, there is a high likelihood of unintended consequences and unforeseen side effects. These unintended changes can disrupt the delicate bnce within an organism''s gic makeup, resulting in structural or functional abnormalities thatpromise its health and viability.


    That gave Aion the idea of creating a dimension simr to Tenebres Castle, one where he could control time. Unfortunately, his knowledge about time magic was limited, and he didn''t know much about space magic either.


    "I guess I need something like that to train and be fast enough to deal with all those guys¡­ I hate to admit it, but they know too much about me," Aion thought. "A direct confrontation is a bad idea."


    As the darkness of the night gradually yielded to the gentle glow on the horizon, the first rays of the sun began to pierce through the canopy of trees, casting a warm golden hue upon the grove where the group had set up their camp. The air was crisp and filled with the rejuvenating scents of nature, signaling the start of a new day.


    Nestled within the tranquil grove, the group had chosen their camping spot wisely, seeking refuge beneath the protective embrace of ancient trees. The grove offered a sense of seclusion and shelter, shielding them from prying eyes and providing a serene haven amidst the chaos that surrounded them.


    With utmost care, they had arranged their campsite to blend harmoniously with the natural surroundings. A small fire crackled in the center, emanating a gentle warmth that defied the cool morning air. Its flickering mes danced in rhythm with the soft whispers of the wind, creating a peaceful ambiance.


    Timeless Swordsman Lv 12


    Health: 564/564


    Mana: 588/588


    Stamina: 558/558


    Strength: 01 + 60 + 18


    Dexterity: 01 + 18


    Magic: 01 + 60 + 18


    Endurance: 01 + 18<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Resistance: 01 + 18


    Speed: 56 + 18


    Status: 00


    Time Sword Lv 09


    Bonuses: Strength +54, Magic +54


    Skills: Timeless sh Lv 07, Timeless Block Lv 01


    Passive: Timeless Aura Lv 06


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 00


    Timeless Block: A defensive ability that allows the user to manipte time to create a temporary shield. When activated, Temporal Block forms a localized time distortion in front of the user, creating a protective field that can deflect or nullify iing attacks for five seconds multiplied by the level of the skill. Cost: 100 MP


    Although he made a lot of progress since those beasts were strong and they were pretty much everywhere. It wasn''t enough¡­ once they find that Aion returned, they will try to lure him into rescuing everyone, and they will create a situationpletely in their favor¡­


    Aion tried to check the dream again, but it wasn''t possible. Those memories weren''t his, to begin with¡­ Still, he got some sses while he was there, sses that didn''t only belong to Malon and Cailena.


    "What are my sses?" Aion thought.


    After thinking for a while about the things they could do, Aion reached some conclusions. Aion''s sses represent his understanding and mastery of different disciplines and forms ofbat. They are not merely superficial titles but rather reflections of the knowledge and abilities that his soul has absorbed and assimted over time.


    As Aion delves into various sses, he undergoes a rigorous process of studying andprehending the underlying principles, techniques, and magic associated with each style. This deep understanding allows him to tap into the true potential of these sses and harness their powers to their fullest extent.


    When Aion uses a new ss, his soul bes a receptacle for the umted knowledge of that discipline. It is as if his essence bes infused with the essence of the ss itself. Through this absorption, Aion gains ess to the unique techniques, skills, and magical abilities associated with that ss.


    "I guess this seems urate enough¡­" Aion thought. "I just need to check the theory."


    The problem was how Aion could check the theory. He needed the basic knowledge and the potential of a fighting style and some skills that he could improve¡­ Still, he already had plenty of sses and fighting styles.


    Pdin, Samurai, Archer, Spearman, Mage, Berserker, Monk, Warrior, Tamer, Ninja, Bard, Priest, yer, Necromancer, Guardian, Sniper, Lancer, Demonic Berserker, Undying Lord, High Priest, Chaotic Samurai, Ekementalist, Earth Bender, Sorcerer, Bloody Undead, Champion, Spartan, Magic Instrumentalist, Beast Tamer, Assassin, spirit tamer, Timeless Swordsman, Timeless Archer, Healer King, Spiritualist, Sorcerer King¡­ is there other things that he knew and could understand that could be sses?

 Chapter 409 Oni

    ?


    "I don''t have time to train anything, so I only need a single ss that can bend space¡­ wait a minute; my inventory bends space," Aion thought. "It also ignores the flow of time¡­ how does it do that?"


    By harnessing powerful magic and tapping into the fundamental forces of the universe, such an inventory is capable of transcending the limitations of conventional storage systems.


    ¡¤?¦Èm The ability to bend space and time means that the inventory can defy the constraints of physical dimensions and linear chronology. It allows objects to be stored and retrieved in non-linear ways, surpassing the boundaries of conventional spatial and temporal restrictions.


    In practical terms, this means that the magic inventory can expand or contract its storage capacity, amodating a vast array of items regardless of their size or quantity. It canpress objects within its confines, upying a smaller physical space than what would normally be required. Simrly, it can expand to amodaterger items or even entire structures.


    "Malon created this system after he left this; he faced some enemies that could control space and then learned a lot from it," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "In that case¡­"


    Aion began to think of some spells that he could use without help from the sses, and then he created a clear image of how it would work before putting it into practice.


    Mana Maniptor Lv 01


    Health: 04/04


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 04/04


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 02


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Blue Staff Lv 01


    Bonuses: Magic +02


    Skills: Mana Sword Lv 01<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Passive: Mana Armor Lv 01


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 00


    Mana Sword: You can summon a magic sword and fire at the world, causing damage equal to the mana spent and the level of the skill.


    Mana Armor: when suffering damage, your mana takes the damage for you. The total amount of damage taken per hit will be equal to the level of the skill multiplied by ten.


    "This confirms the theory. Now I just need to think and adapt the basics of space magic for my needs," Aion thought.


    That was easier said than done, Aion could use inventory, but he didn''t have the slightest idea of how it worked. He decided to take a nap to clear his mind and then try againter, but it didn''t work.


    When night came, the group headed toward the east side of the country. Many monsters got in their way, but Aion got rid of them and also disposed of the corpses using his inventory while he was thinking about it. Since he wasn''t hiding his skills anymore, everyone around him looked speechless; even Henri was shocked, even though he knew that his little brother was full of secrets and talent. Still, just before they were about to find Philip, Aion had a surge of inspiration.


    Space magic allows individuals to manipte the fabric of space itself. So, by harnessing mana, mages canpress and alter the properties of the surrounding space. Then whenpressing a space, Aion should focus his energy on a specific area, causing it to shrink and condense. He maniptes the density and arrangement of mana particles within that space, making it smaller or affecting it in other ways, like hiding it from sight or changing its properties.


    To hide thepressed space from sight, Aion should use his mastery of magic to manipte the mana particles in a way that affects how others perceive them. He should create a barrier that shields thepressed space, bending light and energy to make it appear invisible or nonexistent to outside observers.


    Now, when ites to hiding thepressed space within Aion''s mind, it adds an extrayer ofplexity. Aion''s mind acts as a separate realm within his consciousness, like a secret space that exists alongside the physical world. The mage establishes a connection between thepressed space and Aion''s mind, effectively concealing it within this mental realm.


    The logic behind that spell seemed sound, but Aion still had to do something about the other spells in the ss. He wanted to test the theory right now, but without other skills for the ss, the spell wouldn''t be as stable as it could be.


    "I also need to study how the ss system works and make things so stable; if I learn how that works, maybe I can improve it," Aion thought. "Malon probably had thousands of years to improve it, but even so¡­ he wasn''t a man from Earth; he probably saw countless more advanced civilizations, though."


    Little by little, Aion managed to think of skills for the next ss, but he was forced to stop when they reached the next area of the country. Philip and the other members of the resistance were supposed to be hidden underground in a town ahead that was supposed to be empty as well. Still, the ce was now crowded with some red ones.


    Red giant ones are imposing and fearsome creatures that possess a distinctive and menacing appearance. Towering in size, they stand at an impressive height of around 10 meters, making them an intimidating presence on the battlefield.


    These ones have robust and muscr physiques, with bulging veins and sinewy muscles that ripple beneath their crimson skin. Their bodies are covered in a coarse and rough-textured hide, giving them a rugged and formidable appearance. The skin of red giant ones is typically a deep, rich shade of red, reminiscent of smoldering embers or glowing coals.


    Their facial features are rugged and fierce, with sharp, angr lines and pronounced bone structures. These ones haverge, piercing eyes that glimmer with an intense and fiery glow, adding to their menacing presence. Their mouths are lined with rows of sharp, jagged teeth, capable of tearing through flesh and bone with ease.


    "... It seems that the monsters or someone controlling that group are aware that Philip and the others are there," Henri said while looking around.

 Chapter 410 [Bonus ] Gaining Time

    ?


    Aheady a town crafted entirely from stone, its structures standing tall and proud but devoid of any signs of life. Despite the absence of people, the air was filled with a cacophony of sound that resonated through the streets. The source of this noise bes immediately apparent as the ground trembles under the weight of the colossal red giant ones.


    The town''s stone buildings, once homes and gathering ces, now stand as silent witnesses to the presence of these monstrous beings. The footsteps of the ones reverberate through the streets, creating a deafening symphony of rumbling and thudding that echoes in every corner.


    Each step of the red giants sends shockwaves through the ground, causing loose stones and debris to rattle and collide, adding to the chaotic orchestra of sound. The sheer power and weight of these colossal creatures make the very foundation of the town quiver with each stride they take.


    "I will make quick work of them," Aion said since he was in a hurry.


    "Wait, that city was one of those that was abandoned as well¡­ there were no signs of the fight there; if you fight now, it will be clear that you are back and that you are looking for others to help," Henri said. "Once Vangel confirms that, it will be only a matter of time before he does something really troublesome to lure you in."


    "... I am aware of it, but I don''t want to waste time," Aion said. "Who knows what that piece of shit might be doing to our friends and family right now¡­"


    Henri took a deep breath, he didn''t want to think about that either, but he knew a bit of Vangel after being fooled by him. Aion also could imagine what could happen.


    Firstly, Vangel would likely exploit his knowledge of Aion''s emotional attachments and use them as leverage. He might send Aion a chilling message, revealing that he has captured those dear to him and describing the dire consequences they would face if Aion did notply with his demands.


    Next, Vangel would meticulously n the trap, strategically selecting a location where he could have the upper hand. This could be a secluded hideout, a fortified structure, or a ce with numerous hidden traps and obstacles. The setting would be designed to minimize the chances of Aion''s sess while maximizing Vangel''s control over the situation.


    To further manipte Aion''s emotions and lure him closer, Vangel might leave behind subtle clues or hints about the whereabouts of his captive family and friends. These breadcrumbs would tempt Aion,pelling him to follow the trail, believing that rescue is within reach.


    Additionally, Vangel might use intermediaries or messengers to taunt Aion, delivering cryptic messages that offer glimpses of hope but also increase the emotional strain. These messengers could ry Vangel''s twisted sense of power and superiority, ying mind games with Aion to weaken his resolve and provoke him into taking reckless actions.


    "I understand that the stakes are high now, but we can''t waste time; the enemy has almost absolute control over it; believe me, it is worse than you think," Aion said. "While I was unconscious, I saw the memories of my ancestors, way beyond our magical bloodline. The person who gave birth to us fought a being that had much more power than Vangel; he must be seeking that. The power to defy time and space and create a new reality for himself."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "... Do you know why that being and Vangel want to do that?" Henri asked.


    That was a tough question. Vangel and Tenebres, driven by their knowledge of the impending doom of the world, harbored a deep desire to control time and space. They understood that the world faced an inevitable catastrophe, and they believed that by attaining godlike powers and dominion over these fundamental forces, they could ensure the survival and continuation of life.


    Their motivation stemmed from a sense of responsibility and a conviction that they held the key to altering the course of fate. They recognized the limitations of mortal existence and saw the potential for immense power in manipting the fabric of reality itself.


    With control over time, Vangel and Tenebres envisioned the ability to rewind or fast-forward events, manipting the sequence of cause and effect to their advantage. This power would grant them the ability to correct past mistakes, prevent disasters, and ultimately reshape the future. They believed that by altering the flow of time, they could create a new path for humanity and preserve the world from its impending demise, but they would be the center of the new world.


    Just like Tenebres, Vangel had some delusions of grandeur. Just because you can use some space and time magic, that doesn''t give you the right to own the world and use everything in it to guarantee your own survival.


    "We need another approach; just give us some time, Aion," Henri said.


    "No¡­ you will give me some time," Aion replied. "I have an idea in mind, and that will make things easier for us. Just keep an eye on the town while I think and n that."


    Henri tilted his head slightly, his expression a mix of curiosity and confusion. As he listened to Aion''s ns, his brows furrowed, indicating hisck ofplete understanding. He was unsure of what Aion had in mind and how their actions would unfold. It was a moment of uncertainty for Henri as he grappled with the unknown.


    However, despite his confusion, there was a flicker of trust in Henri''s eyes. He recognized the bond they shared as brothers, a connection forged through years of shared experiences and mutual support. This bond was strong enough to override his uncertainty and instill a sense of faith in Aion''s intentions.


    With a silent nod, Henri conveyed his willingness to stand by Aion''s side, to trust in his brother''s judgment and decisions. It was a leap of faith, an act of cing his trust in the one person who had always been there for him.


    Aion moved to a nearby grove and then sat down to think, he took a deep breath since he had to do that as fast as possible, and he couldn''t mess up. He didn''t have time to waste, and he had to get Vangel by surprise.

 Chapter 411 Space King

    ?


    Aion recalled Tenebre''s dimension and tried to analyze it as much as he could; he could only rely on his memories and no information about its creation, but it was better than nothing. Aion tried to recall what Malon sensed at that time to the best of his ability, but the guy was a muscle head, so he didn''t try to analyze things; he only wanted to kill Tenebres.


    Still, Aion''s senses became sharper, and the memories became more vivid; he inherited those from Malon and Cailena, so it made sense that they were two times or perhaps three times more vivid.


    "I can feel it now as if I am still there," Aion thought. "There is an overwhelming sense of heaviness and darkness. The air feels dense, suffocating, and filled with malevolence. It weighs down on the person, creating a constant feeling of unease. All thanks to its creator¡­ this should be my Spatial Awareness working in a way since I can feel Tenebres'' intentions. The very fabric of the dimension warps and distorts, creating a disorienting and unstable environment. The ground shifted beneath my feet, making it difficult to maintain bnce. The surroundings morph and twist, distorting perception and making it challenging to trust my senses. This should be¡­ Spatial Distortion."


    Understanding and trying to replicate it in a logical way wasn''t that easy. Still, Aion was trying to test another theory, so he kept going. Based on what he saw Tenebres doing, Aion understood the logic behind a bunch of skills, and all of those seemed useful for the ss that he had in mind.


    By suddenly moving around while distorting space, Tenebres could Teleport. Building upon his spatial awareness, Tenebres delved into the study of quantum physics and spatial coordinates using his magic skills. He also learned to calcte precise spatial coordinates and manipte the quantum states of himself and others. Through rigorous practice and experimentation, he gradually mastered the art of instantaneous movement across short distances, starting with nearby locations and gradually expanding his teleportation range and versatility with increased levels. That was Teleportation.


    Tenebres advanced his skills by studying the principles of geometry and spatial maniption. He explored the effects of manipting space on objects and areas. He learned to bend and distort the space around him through practice and experimentation, warping objects or creating anomalies. He gained finer control over spatial distortion with an increased level, enabling moreplex and powerful maniptions. That was Spatial Distortion.


    As for the ability that Aion wanted¡­ Tenebres delved deeper into his understanding of spatial maniption; he explored the concept of pocket dimensions. He studied extradimensional space theories and learned to create small, temporary pocket dimensions within existing space. Through precise maniption of spatial coordinates and energy, he could shape and control these dimensions for various purposes, such as storage, hiding, or creating safe spaces. Theplexity and stability of the created pocket dimensions increase as his level progresses.


    Building upon his knowledge of spatial distortion and maniption, Tenebres embarked on the study of interdimensional travel. He delved into the theory of rifts in space. He learned to tear open temporary portals or rifts, connecting different locations or realms together. Through careful maniption of spatial coordinates and energy fluctuations, he gained the ability to traverse short distances through these rifts. Additionally, he can employ rifts defensively or offensively inbat situations.


    Tenebres could further refine his spatial maniption skills, focusing onrger-scale effects. He studied advanced geometry and physics and even delved into the intricacies of the space-time continuum. Through his understanding of the intery between space and time, he gained the ability to manipte time within localized areas, create spatial barriers for protection, or reshape entirendscapes. The difficulty and power of this skill increase exponentially with level, requiring immense dedication, practice, and theoretical knowledge.


    Building upon his understanding of space, advanced Tenebres dive into the temporal aspects of their abilities. He studied the theories of time dtion, exploring the effects of manipting the flow of time within localized areas. By mastering this skill, he gains the ability to slow down or elerate time in specific regions, granting them an advantage in various situations. This skill demands a deep understanding of the space-time continuum and precise control over the interaction between space and time.


    "I have no idea how he learned all of this without leaving this world, but thanks to him, now the foundation has beenpleted," Aion thought while he felt an annoying headache. "This all will be very useful..."


    Space King Lv 01


    Health: 20/20


    Mana: 210/210


    Stamina: 20/20


    Strength: 01<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 20


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Space Crystal Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: + 20 Magic


    Skills: Pocket Dimension Creation 01


    Passive: Spatial Awareness Lv 01,


    Pocket Dimension Creation: With this skill, you gain the ability to create small pocket dimensions within the world. These pocket dimensions could serve various purposes, such as storage, hiding, or creating safe zones. You can store excess items, retreat to a pocket dimension to heal or strategize, or use it as a clever way to bypass obstacles or enemies.


    Spatial Awareness: This skill provides you with a heightened sense of your surroundings. It can manifest as an ability to detect hidden paths, secretpartments, or hidden objects within the world. You can also receive notifications about nearby enemies or traps, allowing you to n your movements more effectively.


    When Aion finished the analysis of the Abyss of Time, he opened his eyes and saw that notification. He sighed in relief and then frowned when a crystal appeared and began to float around him. He didn''t think that he could create spiritual weapons like that¡­


    "The bonuses are amazing, and each status is two times more effective than all of the other sses that I have," Aion thought. At the same time, he felt his stomach rumbling and his throat dry. "It seems that a few days passed since I began to meditate here."

 Chapter 412 Final Card

    ?


    Aion''s body began to feel weak and depleted. He experienced muscle fatigue, trembling, and ack of energy. Simple tasks that were once effortless had be challenging.


    Aion also felt intense hunger pangs as their body''s energy reserves diminish. These pangs came in waves, causing difort and a persistent desire for nourishment. Aion''s body started to show signs of dehydration. He experienced dry mouth, increased thirst, dizziness, and lightheadedness. His skin became dry too. He never experienced something like that before, and he didn''t want to experience it again...


    In any case, before looking for Henri, Aion decided to test his new skills and created a pocket dimension with all his mana. His first one was only big enough to store around two hundred kilograms. It seemed that it could store the same amount of mana as he could use.


    Without hesitation, Aion jumped in and then frowned when he saw himself in the same ce, but the surroundings were a bit weird. It looked like a weird slimy shadow was covering everything. At the same time, the flow of time was faster inside.


    "Time Maniption is something that I should learnter in this ss¡­" Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Anyway, I should level this up as much as possible and then transport the others inside. They will be able to heal and rest properly and even fight the enemies here."


    Aion returned to the real world and then looked for the others. He saw a lot of peopleining to Henri, saying that it had passed three days and that Aion was crazy or something, but they shut up when he appeared.


    "You are finally back. Did you get what you wanted? You must be starving," Henri said.


    "I just had breakfast," Aion replied. "By the way, I am going to send you to a ce where the flow of time is a bit different. Try to make sure to count the minutes there, okay?"


    "... What?" Henri furrowed his eyebrows and asked.


    Time was of the essence, so Aion didn''t waste time exining and just sent his brother to the pocket dimension. Everyone around panicked, but soon Aion brought his brother back after one minute.


    "Did you count the time?" Aion asked.


    "What was that¡­ Aion?" Henri asked.


    "Our newest weapon to avoid being detected and to be able to fight the enemies without being noticed," Aion replied. "How many minutes passed there?"


    "... Around two?" Henri asked. "I never heard of anything like that.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "I guess the level of the skill and the level of the ss improves its effects when ites to the flow of time by fifty percent, or maybe the level of the skill influences it by one hundred percent," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    While everyone was trying to understand what was happening, Aion reset the ss Pdin¡­ while that ss was at level one hundred, it only made Space King get five levels¡­ their difference in terms of effectiveness was that high. Before he could level up the skill by the same amount, Aion confirmed that nothing happened with the flow of time in the pocket dimension.


    "All right, let''s make the flow of time there five times faster and then improve its power; that should improve the time and the size of the dimension as well," Aion thought. "Still, I can probably make it into something like what Tenebres did, but I don''t have that much time or mana to waste with that. It will be better if everyone inside also can see what I see¡­"


    The crystal also improved a lot faster since Aion was burning materials to feed it like there was no tomorrow. It was a pity that only things that had mana could be used on them.


    "If I absorb those¡­ I wonder what will happen," Aion thought. "I should leave that as ast resort since the consequences are unknown."


    It didn''t take long for the dimension to be able to fit everyone inside and their luggage; people felt a bit weird and suspicious of doing exactly what Aion told them to do. Few people in the whole kingdom actually heard good things of him, after all. Still, as soon he gave them permission toe and go by leaving the entrance open, they calmed down.


    "The dimension should be big enough for you guys to face the onis as well; with the flow of time, you should have at least one minute to kill them before I send others," Aion exined. At the same time, he lent them the weapons of his death knights. "Pace yourselves; I am not going to stop until all of the enemies in the town are dead."


    "Understood, we have been waiting for this," Henri nodded, and the whole group showed the resolution on their faces.


    The others also looked ready, so Aion sent them back to the dimension while he ran toward the town. While the flow of time was six times slower currently on the dimension, Henri and the others inside still were left speechless by Aion''s movement speed. He crossed one kilometer of distance in ten seconds for them, but in reality, he just used two¡­ they thought that he was running, but he was also using his magic to control the ground under his feet to propel him forward with insane power¡­ each step made him cross two hundred meters.


    Before long, Aion arrived in the town and then saw the onis walking around aimlessly. He made sure to move close to them without making any noise, and then when they took a step forward, Aion made them fall into a hole that made them fall into his dimension.


    [You received 300 experience points.]


    "It is working, but I am getting a lot less experience since a lot more people are fighting them," Aion thought. "Just killing the monsters myself would be more efficient, but they need to get stronger too¡­ I still have my trump card, so I can do this much."

 Chapter 413 Creating Classes

    ?


    Still, Aion felt that it wasn''t enough¡­ he needed more. While he was putting the onis in his pocket dimension, he looked for other ways to get stronger. At first, he thought that he hade to that world for no apparent reason. He eventually thought that Malon chose him out of a whim and because he didn''t find anyone else, but he was starting to realize that there was something inside him that made him chosen; he didn''t know what it was, but he knew that it was the key.


    "Aion¡­ we need a break," Henri suddenly left the dimension while he was covered in sweat.


    Aion returned to the pocket dimension and then saw dozens of corpses of onis and the people inside on their knees and breathing roughly¡­ it seemed that he didn''t pace himself right while he was capturing the monsters. Still, that was an excellent chance to process the bodies of the monsters. At the same time, he could think there more efficiently.


    "I already know the basics of time and space magic, and they are already getting stronger, but that will only put me on the level of Tenebres and Vangel¡­ and they even aren''t the true enemies that are a menace to this world," Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "What can I do to be stronger using everything I know so far?"


    Aion closed his eyes and tried to enter that deep state of meditation again, where he could think and analyze things with extreme depth, but soon Henri tapped on his shoulder.


    "Is there something wrong?" Henri asked. "We are progressing fast enough, right?"


    "Yeah, I am just thinking about something else," Aion replied while massaging his forehead.


    Aion knew that he couldn''t tell his brothers that world-destroying enemies were soon going to show up¡­ it would be a lot better if they could convince Vangel and the other time travelers to stop their nonsense. Still, it was impossible¡­ they assumed that Aion was the core reason for the problems that they had. Negotiating with them was impossible.


    Transforming them into death knights was impossible, but it was unlikely that they would be as strong as they were in life.


    "We should find Philip; with his help and the others dealing with other enemies will be easier," Aion said. "Still, we can''t risk letting any of the enemies escape, and we need to be quick on our feet, so we will do that after the enemies."


    Henri nodded, and then the group went to work. The number of enemies around was pretty high, but despite that, they finished all of the work in just half an hour. At the same time, Aion got some levels and learned a new skill as well.


    Space King Lv 01


    Health: 20/20


    Mana: 2510/2510


    Stamina: 20/20


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 51 + 200


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Space Crystal Refinement Lv 10


    Bonuses: + 200 Magic


    Skills: Pocket Dimension Creation 07, Teleportation Lv 01,


    Passive: Spatial Awareness Lv 05,


    Teleportation: Teleportation allows you to manipte space and instantly transport yourself from one location to another within the world. By harnessing the power of spatial magic, you can effortlessly bypass physical obstacles and travel with unparalleled speed and agility. Cost: 1 MP per Meter. The level of the skill will multiply by the distance crossed.


    "Teleportation, huh¡­ I decided the order of the skills of the ss based on their possible mana cost, but I didn''t think that it still woulde just as I had nned," Aion thought. "My analysis level reached some crazy heights¡­ wait, in that case¡­"


    Aion just had the craziest of the ideas. At first, he really had a hard time understanding and using skills and magic without using the necessary sses. Still, now, things weren''t as difficult as before. By mastering the sses that he unlocked, he got new options, and when all of the sses of the same branch were Mastered, he was able to use the skills and parameters freely between the connected sses¡­ what would happen if he managed to understand the sses before he could master them?"


    Congrattions! You have unsealed the full potential of the Pdin ss. Now you can use all of its skills, parameters, and bonuses in all sses. The sses Holy Knight and Commander are now avable. All sses Health, Mana, and Stamina increased by one hundred points.


    Holy Knight ss Lv 01


    Health: 16/16


    Mana: 08/08


    Stamina: 08/08


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01 + 02


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Status: 00


    Weapon: Holy Sword Sword Refinement Lv 0


    Bonuses: None


    Divine Strike Lv 01


    An active skill that empowers the Holy Knight''s weapon with divine energy, delivering a powerful strike against enemies. Deals increased damage against undead and have a chance to stun or weaken the target.


    Passive: Aura of Protection Lv 01


    The Holy Knight emits a protective aura, shielding themselves and nearby allies from harm.


    Effect: Grants a passive boost to the Holy Knight''s resistance and endurance and provides a minor healing effect over time.


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Commander Lv 01


    Health: 18/18


    Mana: 10/10


    Stamina: 10/10


    Strength: 02


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01 + 02


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Weapon: Commanding Sword Lv 0


    Bonuses:


    Skills:


    Rallying Cry Lv 01: Active skill that boosts the morale andbat effectiveness of allies in the vicinity. Temporarily increases the attack, defense, and speed of allied units within range.


    Passive: Iron Will Lv 01: The Commander possesses an indomitable willpower that resists mental and magical influences. Provides resistance against mind control, fear, and other mental impairments.


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Once Aion analyzed and understood the skills of that ss, that was what happened. As expected, there were other bonuses that he could obtain using the system¡­ in the first ce, it made no sense that he could level up so many sses, but the power was split among them.

 Chapter 414 Lesson Learned

    ?


    "I guess I should study the other sses that I mastered as well; the only problem is that I can''t guess with one hundred percent uracy the skills of the sses that I hadn''t mastered yet," Aion thought. "Still, there is a way to deal with that."


    "Aion, we cleaned things up here; we can look for Philip now," Henri said while pointing to a pile of bodies of Onis.


    "I can keep analyzing the sses as we go¡­ all right, lead the way," Aion said.


    Henri didn''t understand those words, but he could tell that his brother was busy doing something important. He could feel that something inside him changed and made him stronger¡­ he had no idea what it was.


    As for Aion, he felt the same way. He also felt a bit troubled¡­ he still felt his body a bit sluggish, and he felt like his spirit was chained by something. That was the feeling that he felt when he woke up, and apparently, it wasn''t nning to let him go.


    "This must be because I suffered too much damage in that battle agaisnt those assholes, and everyone was forced to burn their souls as energy to defend me and keep me alive," Aion thought. "It was energy way beyond what my body could handle at a time."


    It didn''t take long for them to find Philip and the survivors of the area¡­ their group was a bitrge. They actually had one hundred people with them, but a lot of them lost their limbs in battles agaisnt the Onis. At the same time, Philip didn''t look that happy to see Aion.


    "I guess he mes me for this¡­ not for everything, but for a good part of it," Aion thought and then began to heal everyone while making them head to his pocket dimension. "Exin the situation to them; we will keep moving. I don''t have mana to restore the limbs of everyone, but it should be possible before we reach our next destination."


    "... Roger," Henri replied after he blinked several times after he saw Philip''s right arm being restored.


    It seemed that Aion wouldn''t be able to fight with more than just one hundred people on his side. He will have to unseal the mage ss as soon as possible and then the necromancer ss to make sure to create a massive army while they fight. That was the only option that they had¡­ people would look at him with suspicion since Necromancy wasn''t amon thing in that period of time, but he didn''t care. Reputation is useless if he can''t protect those he cherishes. He can live with the same if that helps him save his mother, Seris, and Ana.


    Aion was pushing himself¡­ thanks to that, they reached the next city where George was hiding at nightfall. Henri told him a bunch of times that he needed time to rest, but Aion knew that he wouldn''t be able to rest properly until everyone was safe. Besides, he slept for a month, and he could stay awake for a few weeks.


    Still, much to everyone''s surprise, or maybe not, they found a city filled with soldiers, guards, and giant monsters. The monsters were giant lizards that towered over thendscape, their massive forms abination of reptilian grace and imposing strength. Standing upright on two muscr hind legs, they possess a menacing presence that demands attention. These creatures boast scaly, thick skin that varies in color, ranging from earthy browns and greens to fiery oranges and deep blues.


    The others were the human soldiers, d in darkened armor, radiating an unsettling aura that set them apart from the average warriors. Draped in shadowy hues, their armor is meticulously crafted, exuding a foreboding presence. The soldiers'' helmets are adorned with intricate designs, often depicting fierce creatures or ominous symbols, adding to their intimidating demeanor.


    "It seems that Vangel sent some of the mutated people here¡­" Aion said.


    "What? Already? why?" Aion asked


    "Vangel knows that the Heradins are on my side, they also captured the sister of their current leader, so he decided to reinforce this city that is the closest to the port of the kingdom," Aion exined.


    Things were going to be serious now. With that many people, it will be impossible to capture the monsters and kill them in his pocket dimension and remain unnoticed. At the same time, they will have to kill people as well, the morale of the group will decrease, and the fights will get harder for numerous reasons.


    "Things will get harder here, and I am sure that our actions will reach Vangel¡­ we need to be quick and precise with the fights," Aion dered.


    Things could end faster if Aion joined the fight. Still, he had to capture all the enemies in his pocket dimension first to avoid any message leaving the city. That will be risky, but it was their best option.


    "Prepare as many traps as possible inside the pocket dimension; the pace will be even higher now," Aion dered.


    Congrattions! You have unsealed the full potential of the Mage ss. Now you can use all of its skills, parameters, and bonuses in all sses. The ss Sorcerer is now avable. All sses Health, Mana, and Stamina increased by one hundred points.


    Sorcerer Lv 01


    Health: 06/06 <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Mana: 16/16


    Stamina: 06/06


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 02


    Magic: 01 + 02


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    The staff of Arcanist Lv 0


    Bonuses: None


    Skills:


    Thunderbolt Lv 01 - Summon a bolt of lightning from the sky to strike the target, dealing electric damage. Cost: 10 MP


    Passive: Spell Focus Lv 01 - Enhances the potency and uracy of your spells by 10%.


    Improvement Points: 00


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 00


    Inventory:


    Absorption: 0/1000


    Processing: 0/1000


    Reset


    Aion was only able to analyze a single ss, even though he waited inside the pocket dimension¡­ Still, the next time, he will analyze the Necromancer ss, and that will make things easier for everyone. The only downside was that he felt that he was inclining too much to magic, and that would make Aion a lot less durable¡­ and he learned his lesson after facing the enemies in the dark dome.

 Chapter 415 Distorted

    ?


    "This method is useful, but it will only shine the more the skill level up, perhaps even more once I learn fully time maniption," Aion thought. "That way, I will be able to unseal the sses in a matter of minutes in the real world."


    While Aion was thinking about that, he suddenly wondered what the sses that he had unsealed looked down. He changed to the Pdin ss, wondering if that would cancel the pocket dimension, but it didn''t. Moreover, the ss changed a lot¡­ aside from a spear and shield, Aion also was wearing a full te armor.


    Aion, adorned in a full set of Pdin armor, stands tall and resolute. The armor was crafted from gleaming steel, polished to a brilliant shine. Its intricate design reflects the noble and sacred nature of the Pdin ss. The te armor covers Aion''s body, providing excellent protection without hindering mobility.


    The helmet was regal and majestic, featuring a visor that could be raised or lowered. It bears the symbol of a radiant sun, representing the Pdin''s devotion to justice and light. Aion''s face was shielded, leaving only a glimpse of determined eyes, emanating a sense of unwavering resolve.


    On the one hand, Aion grasps a sturdy blue shield decorated with intricate engravings of holy symbols and a swirling pattern of light. The shield was a symbol of Aion''s unwavering defense and hismitment to protecting those in need. It glimmers with a faint ethereal glow, reflecting its magical enchantments.


    On the other hand, Aion wields a spear of elegance and power. The spear''s shaft was adorned with runes that pulsated with divine energy. At its tip, a sharp and gleaming de is fashioned, capable of piercing through any evil that dares to challenge Aion''s righteousness. The spear serves as both a symbol of Aion''smand over the battlefield and a powerful weapon against the forces of darkness.


    "... I gave up trying to understand your skills, but¡­ just¡­ wow," Henri said, speechless.


    Philip remained silent most of the time and kept a distance from Aion, but he also looked astonished. The equipment truly looked legendary, and that was just from a tier one ss¡­


    "It is time to move," Aion said when he turned back to the Space King ss. "The fight will be hard, and I won''t be able to help until all of the enemies are inside the pocket dimension. Don''t hesitate and focus on surviving. "


    A single nod passes through the ranks, a silent agreement that connects them all. With a synchronized motion, they hoist their weapons high, the glimmering steel catching the light. Swords, axes, spears, and bows point toward the sky, a show of strength and readiness.


    In a mighty chorus, they let out a thunderous roar, their voices intertwining and reverberating through the air. It is a battle cry that echoes their unwavering spirit, a call to arms that unites their hearts. The ground trembles beneath their feet as they channel their energy into this united disy.


    Time seems to stand still for a fleeting moment as they relish in their unity''s power. Bound by amon cause, they stand shoulder to shoulder, ready to face any adversity. The air crackles with anticipation, carrying the weight of their shared purpose.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    With fierce determination burning in their hearts, they stand firm, poised to charge into battle. Each warrior knows their role and understands the significance of their contribution. They stand tall, fully aware of the challenges that await them.


    Aion left the pocket dimension and didn''t hesitate to use Teleportation and suddenly appeared at the top of the walls of the city. His allies opened their eyes widely when they saw that¡­ he didn''t move; he truly used Teleportation. Thanks to that, they couldn''t help but wonder¡­ if Aion was that powerful, why did he look so worried?


    Aion didn''t waste time and made portals and made the enemies fall on them. Thanks to their size, the giant lizards took some time to send them in. Still, it took a while for the enemies to realize that they were being attacked.


    "There are five hundred of those giant lizards, and they aren''t supposed to exist at this time," Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "Vangel is bringing them from several periods of time."


    What was even more worrying was the fact that he could feel the presence of five thousand of those ominous warriors, and they were almost at the level of his brothers who had trained for decades¡­ if those guys were once civilians, Aion could tell that the real soldiers will be quite the menace.


    Aion couldn''t help but feel a mix of confusion and worry as he witnessed the unsettling changes urring among his enemies. He couldn''tprehend how every single one of them was undergoing such a profound mutation. He questioned how Vangel, his enemy, was responsible for this alteration, either by using his own blood or by harnessing the power within the fragments once owned by Tenebres.


    These thoughts swirled in Aion''s mind, leaving him puzzled and seeking answers. He wondered about the extent of Vangel''s knowledge and abilities, contemting if his bloodline held secrets that Aion was unaware of. Could it be that Vangel had unlocked a hidden power within himself, using it to reshape and transform those who followed him?


    Another unsettling idea crossed Aion''s mind¡ªwhat if Vangel had tapped into the ancient and potent energy contained within the fragments left behind by Tenebres? These relics were known to possess great power, capable of altering reality itself. Aion considered the possibility that Vangel had harnessed the dark essence of these fragments, molding his followers into something more powerful yet distorted.


    While Aion was thinking about that, the enemies noticed him and charged like mad dogs. He ignored them all and just opened portals to make them enter his pocket dimension.


    Unfortunately, the giant lizards were a bit more troublesome. They opened their mouths and fired massive waves of fire that melted even the buildings around them.

 Chapter 416 Incongruences

    ?


    "That asshole truly doesn''t care if he destroys everything in order to save his skin¡­" Aion thought.


    Vangel''s true intentions werepletely self-centered, and they did not regard anyone else''s well-being. It became painfully evident to Aion that Vangel''s actions, particrly his ability to mutate his followers, were driven by his own selfish desires. Everything and everyone around him was deemed disposable.


    Still, the mes never reached Aion since he teleported around and then beheaded the beasts with some earth des and then sent half to his pocket dimension.


    [You received 15.000 experience points.]


    [You received 15.000 experience points.]


    [You received 15.000 experience points.]


    ¡­


    "I guess I will deal with them myself and give a break to the others," Aion thought.


    While he was killing the giant lizards, Aion noticed somemotion on the northern side of the city. Some of the enemies and monsters there were attacking something in there.


    Aion immediately used Teleportation and then saw a group of survivors running away while being led by George. His brother also seemed alive and well, so Aion suddenly appeared in front of him.


    "Sorry, but no one is going to leave this party," Aion said and then threw George into his pocket dimension while his eyes were wide open.


    Everyone else had the same fate since Aion didn''t have time to exin anything. Without further dy, he resumed his ns of capturing and killing the enemies. Once again, thanks to Teleport and the fact that the pocket dimension let him create entrances further away from him, it didn''t take long for all the enemies to be captured¡­ but it seemed that he didn''t do that in time.


    As the dust settled and thest of the enemy forcesy defeated, Aion couldn''t help but feel a sense of unease in the air. Despite the apparent victory, something didn''t feel right. It was as if a foreboding presence lingered, sending shivers down his spine.


    Suddenly, a figure darted toward Aion at incredible speed, catching himpletely off guard. He didn''t even have time to see the enemying from a distance¡­ he crossed dozens of kilometers in a single moment as if he had teleported himself as well.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The impact of the attack sent him staggering backward, his body aching from the force of the blow. He blinked in disbelief, recognizing the assant¡ªit was the speedy mechanic who had caused so much harm with his parasites.


    Memories of innocent people suffering at the hands of this speedster flooded his mind, fueling his determination to put an end to the madness. He realized that this encounter was not just a random attack, there was the possibility that Vangel and the others would show up as well, but Aion didn''t find any signs of that, and the enemy returned to attack him once again and several times.


    "... You are really back," The mechanic speedster said. "We looked for you everywhere, even at different ages, but we didn''t find you. No matter, your luck ended that day."


    "You would think so, wouldn''t you?" Aion asked while smiling. "Well, it is fine¡­ I was nning to kill you all, but betterte than never. Where are your friends? This won''t be fun without them joining this."


    "I am more than capable of handling this on my own," The mechanic speedster said and then disappeared.


    Before long, Aion was suddenly sted away by a powerful punch that made him spin in the air vertically until his back hit the walls of the city¡­ that guy had gotten way stronger than before. Aion''s cracked bones were a clear sign of that.


    It didn''t take long for Aion to understand what was going on¡­ the speedster was using extra speed to increase the mass of his punches. That guy had half of their body made of mechanic parts, but the rest of his body wasn''t that muscr¡­ his speed was the only weapon that he needed.


    Aion knew how speed and power were connected; that was why he wasn''t surprised when he felt the punches cracking his bones. In general, the power of a punch was determined by the kic energy generated by the movement of the fist. Kic energy is directly proportional to the square of the velocity. So, suppose someone wants to double the power of a punch. In that case, they need to increase the velocity by a factor of ¡Ì2 (approximately 1.41 times).


    In terms of speed, this means that a person would need to move or run approximately 1.41 times faster than their previous speed to double the power of their punch. For example, if they initially moved or ran at a speed of 10 miles per hour, they would need to increase their speed to approximately 14.1 miles per hour. For a guy that could cross dozens of kilometers in a single moment, he could easily make his punches a lot more painful to deal with.


    Still, Aion was taking them while waiting for others toe. He used his Inner Release to heal himself and decrease the power of the attacks before the impacts¡­ after being hit a few dozen times, Aion spat some blood while looking at the enemy, who was enjoying himself.


    "It seems that Vangel is busy, and the others can''te for one reason or the other; this is convenient for me, but it is too suspicious¡­." Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "Still, I can''t let this chance go... someone like him wouldn''t care about losing one ally or two, after all."


    Only one thing came to mind, Vangel was trying to gather the fragments of Tenebres in a single¡­ that would increase his powers and make him be even more fearsome thanks to the knowledge that he had. If he wasn''t at that age, then Aion could save everyone by dashing ahead. However, if Vangel was moving through the ages, he could just return to the very moment he disappeared. There are too many incongruences¡­

 Chapter 417 Trap

    ?


    Aion thought deeply and came to a realization. He figured out that the enemy, despite having the power to control time, was still restricted in their movements. It urred to him that the seal of those relics was holding them back.


    It prevented the enemy from causing widespread chaos and altering the course of events without any control. The seal acted as a safeguard, buying him and his allies valuable time to n and find a way to counter the enemy''s temporal abilities. Only all the fragments of Tenebres could do that.


    The group inside the pocket dimension should have finished things already, considering how much Aion had been punched around, so he decided to make his move.


    When the speedster mechanic suddenly approached to attack Aion again, he used Teleportation and then appeared behind him while grabbing his neck and left arm. In the next moment, everyone and all the corpses inside appeared outside, and then those two disappeared.


    The speedster opened his eyes widely when he saw the surroundings changing. It was almost like he was in the dark again, but things were different¡­ Still, he made his body tremble all over. Then he became intangible and escaped from Aion''s clutches and tried to run away. Still, he knocked at an invisible wall ahead.


    "At least, alone¡­" Aion said while smirking.


    As the speedster desperately tried to escape from Aion''s pocket dimension, he moved with incredible speed and agility, darting in every direction. But no matter how fast he ran or how sharply he turned, he kept crashing into the unseen walls of the dimension.


    Each collision sent shockwaves through the space, causing ripples and distortions. The speedster''s attempts to break free became more frantic, his movements filled with frustration and urgency. But time after time, he met with the same oue - a force that halted their progress and sent them rebounding back.


    With each collision, the speedster''s confidence waned. His face once filled with determination, now showed signs of exhaustion and doubt. It became clear that escaping from Aion''s pocket dimension was not going to be as simple as he had hoped.


    "I made this one smaller to save mana and make sure that you won''t have much room for eleration," Aion exined. "Still, considering that you can be fast enough to the point of reaching intangibility, then you don''t need much space to gain eleration¡­ This will take a bit of time, but it will be fun."


    Aion was confident, but the speedster was more worried if he would be free once he killed Aion. Losing didn''t even cross his mind, but the idea of being in a confined space like that scared the shit out of him¡­ he had a hard time staying in the dark dome as well.


    "Are you ustrophobic? That is funny," Aion said while bumping his fists.


    The speedster got pissed and then decided to finish Aion off. He wanted to punch him to death, but only because he could avoid the blood that way. The speedster believed there was no meaning in winning while looking like a mess. Still, he changed his mind now.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The speedster lifted his arm, a determined expression on his face. His hand trembled with an incredible speed, vibrating rapidly as if it were shaking at an unimaginable rate.


    As his arm trembled faster and faster, it started to change in a strange way. It became less solid, almost like a ghostly apparition. The molecules seemed to shift and blur, making his arm intangible, as if it could pass through objects.


    With his arm transformed, the speedster had a sinister n. He wanted to take advantage of his intangibility and strike Aion with his arm, bypassing any physical defenses.


    "Woah, scary¡­ someone doesn''t want to y for long; I guess this will be fine, then," Aion thought. "Killing you fast will also be satisfying."


    The speedster charged toward Aion, and he didn''t even have the chance to see it when the enemy impaled his chest. The speedster smiled when he stopped moving his arm and then felt his hand piercing Aion''s chest, but then when he almost grabbed Aion''s heart and smashed it¡­ Aion grabbed his arm with both hands while blood was leaving his mouth. Despite that, he was smiling.


    "You should have paid attention to where you stepped in," Aion said, and then the speedster felt a sharp pain on it before his body began to fall.


    "Hhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" The speedster shouted.


    Aion opened one portal on the ground while in front of him. The enemy never saw that and didn''t notice his feet leaving the dimension until Aion closed the portal, and then the enemy left his feet there. One was made of metal, so it was fine, but the other was made of flesh and bones¡­ Thanks to it, he was bleeding like a waterfall.


    "I know a bit of time magic myself, you know," Aion smiled while he was pulling the enemy''s hand from his chest and smiling despite the excruciating pain and the blood that was gushing from his wound as well. "You never expected that I would be able to grab your arms, huh? I have nned many ways to kill you, and this is just one of them. Now, what can you do without your legs?"


    Aion shouldn''t have let the enemy go since the speedster also could crawl quite fast, but he just watched that with a smile since the enemy began to bleed out even faster.


    "Dumbass, how you don''t know even that? The fast types aren''t exactly the cream of the crop when ites to the brain, but you are worse than I expected," Aion said while he was sweating cold and healing chest. "Ahhh, this is so refreshing. Killing the others in the way I had nned will be fun too."


    "Fu¡­ fufu," The speedster began tough and then turned around andughed even more while sitting on the ground. "Fufufufhhahahaha! I will give you the victory this time¡­ but you will have the biggest of surprises pretty soon when you see your family and friends again."

 Chapter 418 Spatial Shifting

    ?


    Aion felt an intense and unsettling shiver run down his spine after hearing what the enemy had said. It sent a cold chill through his body, causing him to tremble involuntarily. The weight of their words sank deep into his being, filling him with a sense of unease and apprehension.


    Aion''s breath caught in his throat, and a feeling of difort settled in the pit of his stomach. The shiver seemed to linger, a constant reminder of the impending danger and the magnitude of the challenge he faced. It was as if a dark cloud loomed overhead, casting a shadow on his every thought.


    "... What did you do to them?" Aion asked after he approached the enemy while his chest was still gushing blood. "Answer that, I will make it quick for you. Don''t do that and you will regret it deeply."


    "I don''t want to spoil the surprise, so you will have to wait and see," The speedster said while his face was turning white due to theck of blood.


    Aion''s eyes burned with determination as he swiftly unleashed a powerful attack on the speedster. He conjured intense mes that engulfed the speedster''s legs, causing him to cry out in pain.


    The scorching fire licked at the speedster''s skin, leaving it charred and blistered. With the speedster''s legs consumed by mes, the air filled with the smell of burning flesh. Aion''s focus remained unwavering as he watched his foe''s once agile legs be even more crippled and useless.


    "Hhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" The speedster shouted


    "Change of ns, watching you bleed out won''t be enough anymore," Aion dered.


    "...You think that you are the only one that prepared some surprises? You arepletely wrong," The speedster said while forcing a smile. "You can''t begin to imagine what we will do to you."


    "I can at least begin to imagine what I will do with you," Aion said and then grabbed the enemy''s neck and then punched him over and over again.


    When the speedster passed out, Aion healed him until he woke up and then repeated the same process until the face of the speedster waspletely swollen thanks to the numerous fractured bones.


    "I think that I fixed your face quite a bit. Do you want more?" Aion asked.


    "Fufufufhhahahaha," The speedsterughed, and Aion still was able to see a smile despite the mess on the face.


    "... Wait a minute, I will go grab your feet," Aion said after furrowing for a bit. "Got it¡­ one of them will be up your ass, and the other will be in your mouth. Do you want to choose which one will go where?"


    "... Wicked cursed king of time¡­ you will taste true despair," The speedster said.


    "Only after you," Aion replied.


    ¡ª ¡ª


    Thirty seconds after they were moved to the city, even how saw Aion showing up. They saw the wound in his chest and panicked, but soon they saw the wound closing extremely fast.


    "That asshole is dead¡­ but I have tomand his spirit," Aion said after taking a deep breath. "He didn''t speak until the very end, even when I chopped him to pieces¡­"


    "... Was there any information that you wanted in particr?" Henri asked.


    "He spouted some things that worried me¡­ just like I have ways to deal with each one of them, it seems that they have ways to deal with them, but since that guy was an idiot, he didn''t follow their n," Aion exined. "Anyway, we are moving."


    "That sounds pretty ominous¡­" Henri said. "An enemy like this is preparing, even more to deal with you¡­"


    "... Even more reason for you to stop and rest while you heal," George stepped in. "We can''t afford failure, and you know that."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Yeah, I said that we are moving, but moving isn''t a problem anymore," Aion said and then made the death knight of the speedster show up. "Beware of our newest ally. By using him, we can reach any ce in the world as fast as we can."


    As Aion''s Death Knight emerged, a wave of silence swept through the crowd. People''s eyes widened, their mouths agape in astonishment. Their reactions varied from amazement to uncertainty, with wide-eyed stares and uncertain murmurs.


    Aion unsealed the power of the necromancer ss, and he actually got three hundred points in health, mana, and stamina. Probably because it was a tier two ss¡­ regardless, that wasn''t everything.


    Space King Lv 30


    Health: 1520/1520


    Mana: 6520/6520


    Stamina: 1520/1520


    Strength: 51


    Dexterity: 51


    Magic: 201 + 400


    Endurance: 51


    Resistance: 51


    Speed: 51


    Status: 00


    Space Crystal Refinement Lv 20


    Bonuses: + 400 Magic


    Skills: Pocket Dimension Creation 31(Power Lv 91), Teleportation Lv 12, Spatial Shifting Lv 01, Spatial Expansion Lv 01


    Passive: Spatial Awareness Lv 15,


    Spatial Shifting: You gain the power to manipte the properties of space itself. By harnessing this skill, you can alter the dimensions and geometry of the surrounding area, creating a disorienting and unpredictable battlefield. Enemies may find themselves stepping into what seems like a short corridor, only to realize it stretches far longer than expected. The mage can twist and fold space, creating illusions and mirages to confuse opponents and gain the upper hand. This skill requires precise control and strategic thinking, as the mage strategically maniptes space to gain tactical advantages.


    Spatial Expansion: It grants you the ability to stretch and erge the boundaries of your surroundings. By tapping into the very fabric of space, you can create vast pockets of emptiness or distort distances, making areas appear muchrger than they actually are. This skill opens up new possibilities for exploration and evasion, allowing you to create safe zones or escape tricky situations. Additionally, you can manipte the energy fluctuations resulting from expanded space, potentially causing disruptive forces to disorient enemies.


    The speedster granted Aion a bunch of experience¡­ enough for around three hundred levels of a tier-one ss. Regardless, while they seemed simr, their uses were very different, and Aion already knew how he could use them effectively.

 Chapter 419 Who Said It?

    ?


    "What¡­ you did to him?" Henri furrowed his eyebrows while taking a few steps backward.


    "It is too much of a long story," Aion replied. "Anyway, we need to hurry up, and this guy will help us find allies as soon as possible while I heal. We can''t afford to give any more time to the enemy."


    Everyone entered the pocket dimension, even Aion, and then they saw the speedster moving toward the East, where Elio was supposed to be.


    After talking with him, Aion realized something¡­ all of the powers that he had now were something that the enemies were expecting to have. He became known as the cursed king of time because, over time, he learned those skills by himself¡­ even if he hadn''t seen the dream, he would have learned them¡­ thus, the enemies are ready for it.


    "This is no good¡­ I need to keep surpassing myself, much more than the enemies are expecting," Aion thought. "Still, now that I think about it¡­ this title suits Tenebres way more than me¡­ is this a coincidence?"


    That sure was an ominous question¡­ Still, Aion didn''t have time to worry about it. The speedster made the group reach the area where Elio was in less than ten minutes, but soon Aion confirmed that the guy couldn''t run like that forever. He had a core that absorbed mana from the air to make him move like that. Still, Aion solved that by transferring his mana.


    Elio and the survivors were also taking shelter in a city that had been overtaken by monsters. Still, the speedster dealt with them in no time.


    (You received 10.000 experience points.)


    (You received 10.000 experience points.)


    (You received 10.000 experience points.)


    ¡­


    Elio was also surprised to see one of his enemies helping his group, and he was even more surprised when he saw all of his brothers. They didn''t have time to waste, so Aion quickly disposed of the bodies, and then they began to head North¡­ the enemy was supposed to be further East, using Artemisia''s hometown as a base to move around between numerous periods of time, but Aion needed more help and time. It was time to find the Heradins. That also was going to give him some time to unseal some sses.


    Congrattions! You have unsealed the full potential of the Archer ss. Now you can use all of its skills, parameters, and bonuses in all sses. The sses Poisonous Archer and Hunter are now avable. All sses Health, Mana, and Stamina increased by one hundred points.


    Hunter Lv 01


    Health: 06/06


    Mana: 06/06


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01 + 02


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Longbow Lv 0


    Bonuses: None


    Skills:


    Precision Shot (Level 1): Allows the Hunter to aim for weak points and inflict critical damage on enemies.


    Passive:


    Eagle Eye (Level 1): Grants enhanced vision and perception, allowing the Hunter to spot distant targets or hidden details more easily.


    Poisonous Archer Lv 01


    Hunter Lv 01<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Health: 06/06


    Mana: 06/06


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01 + 02


    Magic: 01


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Poisoned Longbow Lv 0


    Bonuses: None


    Skills:


    Venomous Shot (Level 1): The Poisonous Archer can shoot arrows infused with potent toxins, causing damage over time.


    Passive:


    Master of Poisons (Level 1): Increases the effectiveness of applied poisons, making them more potent and longersting.


    Improvement Points: 0


    umted Experience: 0


    Coins: 0


    Inventory:


    While the speedster was crossing the oceans, Aion finished analyzing another ss. Still, while that method to get stronger was very useful, soon it will reach its limits since Aion only unlocked so many sses.


    "If I keep leveling up space king, eventually, I will be able to travel to other periods as well; that will give me a chance to grind some more¡­ but it is quite risky to leave this era," Aion thought. "If he loses his confidence in winning, he might end up sealing this age, and that will make me unable to return¡­ There are too many risks. As expected, I will do that on a world scale."


    Before taking the next step of his ns, Aion had to find Heradins¡­ even with their best ship, it would take a while for Sauros to return home and then go back to the Zaera Kingdom. Considering the time he talked with Henri, he should be at home now.


    When morning came, they arrived at their base. His brothers were surprised when they heard from Aion that their base was basically a floating city¡­ However, Aion didn''t find any signs of the barrier there, in the area that it was supposed to be. He flew high in the sky and didn''t see any weird concentrations of inds either.


    "It seems that they left the area¡­ I didn''t know that they could use their entire base as a flying vessel," Aion thought and then sighed. "They still had things hidden from me, huh. I guess they still considered that I might be an enemy in the future."


    "Even though you were going to marry one of them?" Henri asked.


    "Who said that I would?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    "Weren''t two of them from their family? Everyone assumed that it was the case," Henri replied. "Why would they live with you?"


    "To help with the problems of the enemies that can use time magic¡­ Ana is from the future, by the way," Aion said. "Now that things have be like this, there is no point in hiding. She was thest human that survived an invasion in the future."


    As the group of brothers absorbed the shocking revtion of the world''s impending destruction and the survival of only one person, a wave of disbelief and concern washed over them. They exchanged wide-eyed nces, their faces reflecting a mix of surprise, worry, and determination. They were also surprised at how stupid Aion could be at times, they didn''t know him that well.

 Chapter 420 Getting Ready

    ?


    The atmosphere grew heavy with the weight of the revtion. They huddled closer together, their expressions mirroring a shared sense of urgency and the need toprehend the magnitude of the situation. Whispers of concern and questions filled the air as they tried to make sense of the dire future thaty ahead.


    In that pivotal moment, a profound silence settled upon the group. Their collective gaze shifted from one another to the vast horizon, their thoughts intertwining as they contemted the monumental task before them. The weight of responsibility settled upon their shoulders, and they knew they had to act.


    "I guess we will use the Draconic Wanderer, he isn''t as fast as the speedster, but he isn''t half bad," Aion thought. "We will fly with him until night; if we don''t find any signs of the Heradins, then we will have to attack the enemies with our numbers."


    They had four hundred people on their side, and Aion realized that he couldn''t turn the transformed humans into death knights or any type of soldier under his control; the reason was obvious: Vangel knew that he could do that and countered it somehow.


    Aion could only assume that the blood of the enemies made their bodies counterattack the effects of Necromancy¡­ a spell shouldn''t remain active after the body perished; it shouldn''tst forever either. Despite that, Vangel didn''t use the same thing on the speedster¡­ it sure was suspicious. Was he such a disposable card?


    In any case, everyone inside the pocket dimension looked full of life while the Draconic Wanderer was flying back to the Zaera Kingdom. Still, they had some time before they arrived. Aion was unsealing more sses, but the others didn''t know what to do.


    "Aion, I know that the flow of time here is supposed to help us, but everyone is starting to get a bit tense and apprehensive," Henri said. "The fact that it looks like we are in the air without seeing proper footing isn''t helping either."


    "There isn''t much that I can do here to help since I am harnessing more power right now," Aion replied. "Can''t you make them train or something to kill time?"


    Aion didn''t have a summoner ss, and he already had something in mind for his death knights, so he couldn''t let them waste time now. It was also a bit annoying that those guys felt bored¡­


    "It isn''t about that, it is that they are itching to fight and deal with the enemies, and they can''t do anything with that energy," Henri exined.


    That was a little better, but it still wasn''t his problem. Soon enough, they will be able to let all that energy explode¡­ but it seemed that it was better to help them keep that fire going. Unfortunately, Aion couldn''t help them, so he just used his magic flute to make everyone fall asleep, even his brothers.


    Still, in the end, they crossed the entire ocean through the day, and they didn''t find any signs of the floating ind. It seemed that they couldn''t count on the Heradins this time¡­ still, they should show up once they notice that something is going on.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    In the meantime, Aion managed to unseal some sses and get some status points thanks to it, but he didn''t think that it was enough. With that in mind, once they reached the deserted area of his ancestors'' country, he made the speedster leave with all of his death knights¡­


    Aion had nned to infiltrate the enemy''s base silently and then kill everyone with somerge-scale attacks. Still, soon he was forced to stop when he felt something ominous ahead.


    Before long, Aion began to notice creatures emerging from the sand of the desert. The Draconic Wanderer was two kilometers above ground level, so it was quite some for him to be able to see them. It was also weird that they began to emerge at such a time and began to chase them.


    "Sand golems, huh¡­ I suppose our presence is obvious; everything in the desert is under their control and is impossible not to detect," Aion thought.


    Sand Golems are enormous creatures made entirely of sand. They resemble giant human-like figures with a rough and stone-like texture. Their bodies are intricately sculpted, resembling ancient statues.


    These golems have a strong and sturdy build, showing off their power. Their muscr limbs are well-defined, giving them an intimidating presence. With each step, the sand beneath them ripples, emphasizing their size and strength.


    The color of their sandy bodies can range from a pale gold to a deep brown, like the colors of a desert. The sand asionally falls off them as they move, creating a mesmerizing effect.


    Their faces are expressionless, carved with precision, and exude a sense of wisdom and seriousness. Their eyes, made of glowing sand, serve as their visual sensors. As they move, the sound of shifting sand can be heard, creating a low rumbling noise. This adds to their imposing presence and creates a feeling of awe.


    It was time to wake up the others, so Aion used his magic flute again. If the conditions weren''t different, he also would buff them with his songs¡­ but Aion didn''t have time to analyze any more sses.


    "I don''t think that I am ready, but I don''t have any more time to waste," Aion thought while he was waking up everyone. "I will get ready as I go¡­"


    That seemed reckless, but Aion can afford to be cautious once he recovers everyone in one way or the other. He sure wished that he would find everyone alright¡­ because he didn''t know what he would do or feel if that weren''t the case. The enemy now fooled everyone and is trying to use his parents and his friends to get to him¡­ no one has done that until now. Thest person who just threatened his mother didn''t have a peaceful end, and now that he was older and a lot more violent, it was impossible to tell what would happen.

 Chapter 421 Pace Yourselves

    ?


    "Why did you put us to sleep¡­" Henri said and then saw the monsters below. " That is what I wanted to ask, but it seems that we have other things to do."


    "We will kill all of them; we can''t afford to advance through the enemy''s territory while risking the chance of being attacked from behind," Aion dered. "As usual, you guys will wait here and deal with them as I send them. The enemies shouldn''t be aware that you are here with me, so I will only call you all at the right time."


    Everyone nodded. The group''s faces disyed a strong and unwavering resolve as they realized that the final battle was drawing near. Their expressions hardened, showing their determination and readiness. There was no time for doubts or questions, there is only do or do not.


    The rest of the group, including seasoned warriors and brave allies, shared the same resolute expressions. Their eyes gleamed with a mix of anticipation and readiness. Each face portrayed a unique blend of determination, courage, and the weight of their responsibility.


    The air was charged with a palpable sense of unity and purpose. There was no need for words as their resolute expressions spoke volumes about their sharedmitment to the cause. The strength of their collective resolve formed an unbreakable bond, fueling their determination to face any challenges thaty ahead.


    Aion opened the portal, and then he began to fall toward the desert. He was supposed to still have more than one hundred kilometers ofnd to cross¡­ so it seemed that a disgusting number of monsters was waiting for him and the others.


    "I thought that Vangel would be busy gathering the fragments of Tenebres, but it seems that he still found time to build some defenses¡­ that asshole sure has the nerve to use my ancestors'' homnd and their former city as his base," Aion there without trying to hide his anger.


    When he was five hundred meters above them, the sand golems began to attack Aion. Sand spears that had the shape of tridents flew upward like there was no tomorrow.


    Aion wanted to save energy since a long battle was waiting for him, but he didn''t have a weapon to defend himself¡­ he also returned the weapons to the death knights.


    "Can''t be helped; I suppose I should let a few of them hit me and then improve my Earth Resistance while testing my defenses as well," Aion thought.


    As Aion plummeted toward the desert, he was suddenly struck by a barrage of sand spears. Instinctively, he raised his arms to shield himself, absorbing the impact of the projectiles. The force of the attack jolted through his body, causing pain to radiate from his wounded arms.


    Aion winced as the sharp sand spears cut into his flesh, leaving behind shallow cuts and a stinging sensation. Despite the pain, he clenched his teeth and remained determined to push forward. The sight of his blood mingling with the desert sand only fueled his resolve.


    With each passing moment, Aion''s descent slowed, partially thanks to the resistance provided by the sand spears hitting his arms. The pain throbbed, but he gritted his teeth and focused on regaining control. His determination overpowered the difort, propelling him to fight against the downward pull and regain stability.


    "As expected, my defenses are better than the power level of most monsters," Aion thought.


    Even before he couldnd, Aion moved some of the monsters with Spatial Shifting. He just opened a portal in the middle of the area and made them fall into it.


    (You obtained 500 experience points.)


    (You obtained 500 experience points.)


    (You obtained 500 experience points.)<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ¡­


    "I don''t know if they are working quite fast or if the flow of time is that insane inside by now¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Before long, Aion makes all the enemies in the area disappear; before he goes to check things inside his pocket dimension, he sees his other n starting to work.


    (You obtained 500 experience points.)


    (You obtained 300 experience points.)


    (You obtained 200 experience points.)


    "They finally arrived and are acting¡­" Aion thought.


    Using the speedster, Aion decided to make all of his death knights hunt in the most dangerous dungeons in the area. He needed that much to level up even faster, after all.


    In any case, Aion entered his pocket dimension and then frowned a lot of sand around, and his brothers gathered a bunch of magic stones at the top of them.


    "What is this?" Aion asked.


    "They are the magic cores of the sand golems," Henri replied.


    Aion frowned when he heard that¡­ that kind of thing was the best to make his ss improve faster by unlocking the max level of refinement¡­ it seemed that the enemy didn''t know everything about him, apparently¡­ otherwise, they wouldn''t send that kind of monster that was like fuel for his powers.


    "... Put them in the same ce; I can use them," Aion said. "I will keep advancing and sending more of those things. So pace yourselves; it will be better if you take turns, actually."


    That was difficult since there wasn''t anything that they could use there to rest, and the fights were too noisy. It was a pity, but Aion didn''t have time to customize the Pocket dimension.


    Nevertheless, Aion resumed the run, and just as he had expected, more sand golems blocked the way. They showed up for around twenty kilometers before a new type of monster showed up. Giant scorpions.


    Toweringlyrge scorpions dominate the desertndscape, their formidable presence impossible to ignore. These creatures possess a dark, rugged brown exoskeleton, giving them a menacing appearance. As they move, the ground trembles beneath the weight of their massive pincers and stinging tails.


    What sets these scorpions apart is their unique method of attack. Instead of traditional stingers, their tails have evolved into deadly weapons that resemble powerful cannons. Positioned at the tail''s tip are specialized openings, ready to unleash their toxic payload.

 Chapter 422 Obliteration

    ?


    With calcted precision, the scorpions raise their tails, taking aim with their poisonous cannons. A hissing sound fills the air as they prepare tounch their venomous assault. Suddenly, the scorpions release a forceful burst of poison, propelling it through the air like lethal projectiles.


    The venom, a sickly green color, courses through the air, leaving behind a trail of noxious fumes. Each venomous st is aimed with remarkable uracy, targeting vulnerable points with deadly intent.


    Those things were troublesome¡­ since they could attack from a distance, they might be a real menace to the others. It was a bit time-consuming, but Aion decided to cut their tails before sending them in. There was no point in risking his allies on such small fries, after all. Still, the enemies sure knew how to prepare an unpleasant start.


    (You obtained 800 experience points.)


    (You obtained 800 experience points.)


    (You obtained 800 experience points.)


    ¡­


    "At least I am gaining more experience," Aion thought.


    Considering that those beasts could use magic like that, then they would be good materials for the refinement of the crystal.


    Things were proceeding well, just as Aion had envisioned, but in the end, he didn''t feel that satisfied since the words of the speedster kept nagging at him. At the same time, the air in the area was a bit off¡­


    Just when Aion thought that soon they would leave the area of giant scorpions behind, an ominous wind began to blow in the area¡­ something wasing, and Aion could feel it clearly.


    All of a sudden, Aion something weird in the distance approaching.


    As Aion looked into the distance, he noticed something approaching on the horizon. It caught his attention, and his eyes widened in disbelief as he focused. There, in the distance, he saw an enormous wave towering above thendscape. It was massive, reaching a height of five hundred meters, and it seemed to stretch endlessly across the horizon.


    Feeling a sense of urgency, Aion swiftly turned around, only to be greeted by the same sight behind him. Another colossal wave, mirroring the one before, was rushing towards him. It was an overwhelming sight, two massive walls of water converging upon him from both directions.


    The magnitude of the waves was awe-inspiring, and Aion could feel the ground tremble beneath him as they drew nearer. The sheer power and force they possessed were undeniable, and he knew he had to find a way to navigate through this impending catastrophe.


    "Mareia¡­ I guess she wants to turn the whole desert into a battlefield that will benefit her," Aion thought.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    That was quite the spell¡­ Aion didn''t think that someone like her would be able to pull that off. As a mermaid that once ruled the world in the seas, it was natural that she would be strong, but not to the point that she could drown an entire country like that¡­ she obtained more power as well, somehow.


    As Aion observed from his vantage point above, the two colossal waves collided with a thunderous impact in the heart of the desert. The force of their collision sent shockwaves through thend, shaking the very foundation beneath Aion''s feet. The noise that erupted from the sh was deafening, resonating through the air and filling the entire expanse with a cacophony of sound.


    The sh of the waves created a turbulent maelstrom of water, swirling and churning with an incredible intensity. The sheer power unleashed by their collision was awe-inspiring as if nature itself had unleashed its fury upon the desert. The ground quivered beneath the onught, trembling with each resounding crash of the waves.


    The waves, towering high into the sky, unleashed a torrent of water that cascaded down in a tumultuous disy. Once arid and lifeless, the desert terrain was now transformed into a tempestuous battleground of water and sand. The impact of the collision sent droplets and mist soaring into the air, creating an ethereal haze that enveloped the area.


    Aion could fly, so it was only natural that he would be able to escape from the attack. Still, the ocean didn''t only bring new and unexpected terrain. Just like when Aion was nning to move, some massive tentacles emerged from the ocean toward him.


    Aion flew higher in the air and then escaped the beast, but then the creature emerged from the ocean and revealed itself.


    The towering Kraken emerged from the water, its enormous form casting a shadow over the surrounding area. It had a striking appearance, with abination of vibrant red and deep purple colors that shimmered in the light.


    The Kraken''s body was massive and elongated, resembling a giant octopus with numerous tentacles extending from its central core. The skin of the creature was adorned with patterns and markings, creating a mesmerizing disy of swirling designs.


    Its tentacles writhed and twisted, each one lined with rows of suction cups that gripped and grasped with an iron-like grip. The Kraken''s eyes, glowing with an intense crimson hue, seemed to hold ancient wisdom and a hint of malicious intent.


    "I can''t teleport something of this size to my domain¡­ it seems that the speedster truly wasn''t talking nonsense," Aion thought.


    While Aion was high in the sky, he wondered if he should take that down even though it would make him waste time or just dash ahead and ept the risks of being attacked from behind. While he was thinking about it¡­


    The massive Kraken unleashed a devastating attack, shooting powerful streams of water from the holes in its tentacles. These water cannons surged through the sky like high-pressure cannons, obliterating anything in their path.


    The force behind each water cannon was tremendous, propelling torrents of water with incredible speed and strength. The jets of water soared through the air, colliding with clouds and dispersing them like mist.


    The sound of the water cannons was deafening, echoing through the air and causing the ground to shake. The impact of the water hitting the ground created deep craters and sent shockwaves rippling across the terrain.

 Chapter 423 All At Once

    ?


    Aion swiftly maneuvered through the chaotic battleground, skillfully evading the relentless attacks of the massive Kraken. He gracefully zigzagged through the air with agile movements, narrowly avoiding the torrential sts of water fired from the beast''s tentacles.


    Undeterred by the Kraken''s assault, Aion tapped into his inner strength and unleashed a powerful thunderbolt. The crackling bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, descending upon the Kraken with unparalleled force.


    The deafening sh of lightning meeting flesh echoed through the air. The Kraken convulsed in agony as the electric current surged through its colossal body. Brilliant shes of light illuminated the surroundings, piercing through the gloom. The thunderous roar of the impact reverberated, shaking the very foundation of the battlefield.


    As the electric storm subsided, the Krakeny motionless and charred, its once-mighty form reduced to a lifeless heap. Aion hovered in the air, his gaze fixed upon the defeated creature, a mix of triumph and relief etched on his face.


    Without wasting time, Aion made his crystal absorb the beast in order to get more materials and then move on. However, it seemed that he would have to take another break.


    Aion''s victorious moment was abruptly shattered as a new threat emerged from the depths of the sea. Another enormous Kraken, even more, fearsome than before, appeared before him. The sight sent a chill down Aion''s spine.


    The colossal creature wasted no time in unleashing its fury. It conjured a massive swirling vortex of water, creating a towering tornado that stretched high into the sky. The swirling waters seemed alive as if they hungered for destruction.


    The raging winds of the water tornado howled with a deafening roar, drowning out all other sounds. Aion could feel its relentless pull, its powerful suction threatening to draw him closer. He knew that being caught in its grasp would mean certain doom.


    "Give me a break¡­ how many of these that fucking bitch has?" Aion asked while clicking his tongue.


    Aion used his wind magic to make the vortex dissipate by flowing in the opposite direction, and then he killed the beast with another lightning bolt, but he couldn''t afford to waste that much mana on such small fries¡­ to make things worst, he could sense another of them fast approaching.


    Aion tried to use Necromancy on the second corpse, but as expected, it didn''t work¡­the enemies truly wanted to make him waste time and energy.


    Aion, tired and irritated, stood in the aftermath of a grueling battle against the relentless Kraken. He was worn out, his body aching from the prolonged fight. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and he leaned on his weapon for support, feeling the weight of exhaustion in every muscle.


    His face showed signs of weariness and frustration, with dirt smudges and small cuts marring his features. His eyes, once full of determination, now reflected a mix of fatigue and annoyance. The constant onught of the Kraken had tested his patience, pushing him to the limits of his endurance.


    Looking around, Aion couldn''t help but feel a growing irritation at the seemingly endless waves of enemies. Each sh had taken a toll on his energy and resolve, leaving him exasperated. Yet, deep down, he knew that he couldn''t let weariness or frustration deter him from his mission.


    Gripping his weapon tightly, Aion mustered a weary determination. He knew there was no room for surrender orint. Despite his tiredness, he steeled himself for the challenges thaty ahead. The weariness fueled a fire within him, igniting a stubborn resolve to ovee the obstacles.


    "I guess I will just have to deal with them all at once at my destination¡­" Aion thought.


    Space King Lv 40


    Health: 2920/2920


    Mana: 14420/14420


    Stamina: 2920/2920<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Strength: 121


    Dexterity: 121


    Magic: 321 + 800


    Endurance: 121


    Resistance: 121


    Speed: 121


    Status: 00


    Space Crystal Refinement Lv 40


    Bonuses: + 800 Magic


    Skills: Pocket Dimension Creation 45(Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 20), Teleportation Lv 19, Spatial Shifting Lv 09, Spatial Expansion Lv 06,


    Passive: Spatial Awareness Lv 15, Gravity Maniption Lv 01


    Gravity Maniption: Gravity Maniption is an advanced skill that allows you to control and manipte gravitational forces within the world. By harnessing the power of gravity, you gain unprecedented control over the movement and interactions of objects and characters. With Gravity Maniption, you r can alter the gravitational pull of objects, creating intense gravitational fields or reducing gravity to a fraction of its normal strength. This skill opens up a wide range of strategic possibilities duringbat and exploration.


    The only good thing in all that was the fact that Aion was getting a ton of experience¡­ he was getting stronger, but not strong enough. Henri and the others wanted to help, but facing something like that with arge group was a waste of time¡­ they would lose too many people. So, they could only watch things unfold.


    Still, that was all nice and all, but it cost a ton of mana to use gravity. Aion was so pissed that he was considering doing that despite the drawbacks.


    Still, Aion''s eyes widened in surprise and relief as he witnessed an incredible sight. Just as three menacing krakens were closing in on him, a barrage of cannons emerged from the sky, hurtling towards the sea beasts with tremendous force. The cannons tore through the krakens, ripping them apart in a spectacr disy of destruction.


    As the smoke cleared, Aion''s gaze shifted to a floating ind approaching from above. The ind carried a bustling town suspended in the air by some mysterious power. It was a sight that filled him with hope and a renewed sense of purpose.


    "They are finally here¡­" Aion thought and then sighed.


    A flicker of recognition sparked within him as Aion''s gaze settled upon the approaching inds. Amidst the etherealndscape, he could make out the familiar figures of people standing at the borders of the ce. They were the familiar faces of the Heradins family, his allies, and his friends.

 Chapter 424 Allies

    ?


    Aion''s heart swelled with a mix of emotions ¨C joy, relief, and a touch of apprehension. It had been a while since he hadst seen them, and the battles and trials they had endured had taken them down separate paths.


    Aion quickly used Teleport and appeared right in front of them. They took several steps backward, thanks to the surprise, but soon they recognized Aion. Sauros and his parents were in front of the group. Jorei and Helen looked as surprised as they could be and worried as well since Seris location remained unknown.


    "Woah¡­ I should have known that only you would try to fight these things by yourself," Sauros said. "You disappeared and reappeared out of nowhere as well."


    "I went to your base with the others, but we didn''t find them there, and we searched for you all day yesterday as well," Aion said and then took a deep breath. "I am sorry¡­ I was caught off guard, and they captured almost everyone."


    "For you to say sorry¡­ I have a lot of things to say about everything, but we don''t have time for that," Sauros said after taking a deep breath as well. "Did you find your brothers? They are the only ones fighting the enemies aside from us and those two giant spirits as well."


    Fenhair suddenly appeared while floating above the ind, and they didn''t try to look Aion in the eye. It couldn''t be helped since they hid that from him, even though he imagined something like that.


    "Do you guys remember me, right?" Aion asked. "From the time with Malon, Cailena, and the others. That was why you agreed to help me that easily¡­ you decided to take some time only to gain more power or to establish in your new forms."


    "That is right," Celion replied. "We realized that you that found us first and the you that we felt the presences before were different beings as well, and we have no choice but to act as such because we can''t interfere with the flow of time by ourselves."


    "Thanks to that, I didn''t try hard enough to find the other two," Aion shrugged.


    Celion and Fenhair couldn''t deny that their allies had been sealed and couldn''t awake to help them any more, thanks to Vangel''s actions. Actually, they exined something far worse¡­


    Vangel''s exceptional maniption of energy and magical currents allowed him to create a powerful barrier that served as a containment field. This barrier acted as a prison, confining the spirits within a specific space or object, ensuring their obedience, and preventing their escape.


    In addition to his mastery of magic, Vangel possessed a keen insight into the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the spirits. He likely discovered their true names through meticulous study and observation, which held significant power over them. By invoking their true names with precise intonation and intent, Vangel gained further control over the spirits, limiting their actions and suppressing their inherent abilities.


    "I guess he knew that you guys would pose a problem considering how Vaeral caused so much trouble to him as well," Aion said. "Ah, I should bring my brothers to hear this as well. By the way, can we head to the enemy base while I exin that? Vangel is gathering the fragments of someone very troublesome, and with his knowledge of the future, he will be even more troublesome."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "We can''t use the cannons infinitely, and we can''t risk hitting the prisoners, so we will use the ind to get rid of the big enemies," Sauros dered when Aion called his brothers.


    After exining everything to his brothers and everyone around, Aion saw the city of his ancestors in the distance. In the end, the only secret left that he had was the fact that he was a reincarnated person.


    "Sons of a bitch¡­ they turned the capital of my ancestors into a flying fortress, too," Aion muttered while clicking his tongue in annoyance.


    High above the vast ocean, there exists a remarkable sight¡ªan ancient floating city. It defies gravity, hovering in the air, surrounded by massive walls that encircle its entirety. The city appears as though it emerged from a long-forgotten era, a testament to the incredible skills of those who built it.


    The walls that epass the city are colossal, stretching outwards like a protective shield. They are weathered and aged, revealing the passage of time and the stories they hold within their stones. Carved with intricate patterns and symbols, they bear witness to the history and resilience of the city''s inhabitants.


    The city itself is a sight to behold, a breathtaking disy of architectural marvels. Towering spires, majestic domes, and grand structures reach toward the sky, each one a masterpiece of craftsmanship. Delicate details adorn the facades, showcasing the artistry of its creators.


    "... Vangel must have obtained the secret in the past somehow or in the future," Sauros said. "At this point in time, he must be the other being that Ana mentioned that gave up on his humanity in the future."


    That made sense¡­ Aion didn''t even have time to consider that. Alongside Ana, he was supposed to know more than anyone else about the future events and Aion''s powers.


    Suddenly, two enormous spiritual beings appear, soaring through the air around the ancient castle. One takes the form of a majestic winged creature made entirely of swirling winds. Its massive wingspan creates a powerful breeze that rustles leaves and stirs the air. The evolved wind spirit moves with a graceful elegance, gliding effortlessly through the sky.


    The other spiritual being manifests as a colossal creature crafted from solid earth and vegetation. It resembles a mighty beast adorned with moss-covered rocks and lush greenery. The evolved earth spirit emanates strength and stability as it traverses the airspace, its steps causing the ground to vibrate and sprout vibrant flowers and nts.


    Together, these awe-inspiring beings embody the forces of wind and earth in their purest form. They circle the castle, their presence exuding a sense of ancient wisdom and raw power. The wind spirit''s movements create gentle gusts and whispers carried on the breeze. In contrast, the earth spirit''s touch revitalizes the surrounding soil, encouraging growth and nourishment.

 Chapter 425 Parasites

    ?


    "It is them¡­ our old allies," Fenhair dered.


    "We will deal with them," Celion said. "They are beings that are intertwined with the fate of the world¡­ killing them will take too long; losing them will be a pity as well, so we will keep them busy until you deal with Vangel in order to dispel his spell of control."


    In a stunning showdown, the fire spirit takes on a towering form, aze with scorching mes that engulf its colossal body. Its presence radiates intense heat and a fiery aura that illuminates the surroundings. With each step, it leaves a trail of embers and sparks, setting the battlefield aze and casting flickering shadows.


    Opposite the fire spirit, the earth spirit rises in a massive manifestationposed of rugged rocks and soil. Its form exudes strength and solidity, with towering cliffs and boulders forming its imposing physique. With each movement, the earth trembles, and the ground cracks beneath its weight, leaving a trail of upheaved earth in its wake.


    On another side, the water spirit surges forth, a colossal figureposed of flowing water. Its form shimmers and undtes with fluid grace, reflecting the light with mesmerizing hues of blue and turquoise. Waves crash and ssh around its towering presence, creating a watery spectacle that drenches the battlefield.


    Facing the water spirit, the wind spirit takes shape, a colossal tornado of swirling air currents. Its form whips and twists with blinding speed, creating a whirlwind of motion. Leaves, dust, and debris dance in their powerful gusts, swirling with an ethereal beauty thatmands attention.


    In this awe-inspiring sh, the battlefield bes a stage for the unleashed forces of nature. mes roar and crackle, rocks crumble and collide, water crashes and sshes, and winds howl and whip through the air. The ground quakes under the weight of their might, and the air is charged with an electric energy as the elements sh and collide.


    Witnessing this epic spectacle, one cannot help but be captivated by the sheer scale and power of these elemental beings. The ground trembles beneath their steps, and the sky above seems to crackle with their elemental prowess. It is a sh that echoes the primal forces of nature itself, a testament to the raw might and majesty of the elements at their peak.


    While the spirits were fighting each other, Aion and the others saw a bunch of other beings appearing around. Things were starting to get way too chaotic.


    From the depths of swirling time rifts, grotesque figures emerge with mutated bodies and twisted forms. Their appearance is utterly disturbing as if they were the result of a nightmarish experiment gone wrong. These abominations take to the skies, defying gravity with their grotesque wings or mutated limbs.


    Their presence is apanied by an overwhelming aura of bloodlust emanating from their contorted faces and wild, bloodshot eyes. The air around them feels heavy and tense as if anticipating the impending chaos they are about to unleash. Their movements are erratic, fueled by an insatiable hunger for violence and destruction.


    Their mutated bodies writhe and convulse with unnatural agility as they hover and fly through the air. Limbs twist and elongate, sprouting additional joints or grotesque appendages. Some have misshapen heads with rows of jagged teeth, while others boast twisted limbs ending in razor-sharp ws or bony protrusions.


    "Not much sense in immortality when you look like that¡­ I hope that everyone that you brought can fight because it will be hard for ordinary people to fight others that can fly," Aion said.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "We left those who can''t fight in another ce," Sauros dered.


    Now that he thought about it, Aion couldn''t see Sauros'' wife¡­ she was pregnant, after all. Regardless, the enemies kepting endlessly through the rifts, and it seemed that there was no end to them¡­ Aion thought that Vangel would be busy gathering the fragments, but he still was keeping an eye on things around.


    When Aion thought of teleporting to the middle of the enemy''s base, he heard the sound of cannons, and then some things flew in his direction. Aion prepared to take those down with his magic. Still, then instead of that, he used Spatial Shifting to make everyone appear several meters backward.


    "Hey, what¡­" Sauros said and then clicked his tongue when he saw the bulletsnding. "Shit¡­"


    The bullets were a group of people¡­ one that Aion and his brothers knew very well. His father and his sisters¡­ they had some knowledge about magic, so it made sense that enemies would use them¡­ but Aion didn''t expect that he could see the parasites that the speedster spread before on them.


    Aion experiences a mixture of intense hatred and unsettling shivers simultaneously. It''s as if a zing fire of loathing burns within him, fueling his determination and unwavering focus. This deep-seated animosity empowers him,pelling him to seek justice and vengeance against his adversaries.


    At the same time, a chilling sensation crawls up his spine, causing his skin to prickle and sending shivers down his arms. It''s a visceral reaction, like a whisper of icy wind that raises goosebumps and serves as a foreboding warning. These shivers remind him of his imminent danger and the gravity of the battles he must confront.


    The fusion of these conflicting emotions creates a potent brew within Aion. The burning hatred propels him forward, lending strength to his actions and resolve in the face of adversity. Meanwhile, the shivers constantly remind him of the risks he undertakes and the need to stay vignt.


    "Those parasites are a problem¡­ if they die, those who have them die as well," Aion said while clenching his teeth as he saw his father drawing his sword and his sisters pointing their hands at him.


    "What?" Henri said, visibly shocked.


    Philip, George, and Elio were ready for the battle, but he didn''t expect that things would start like that. They flinched with the enemies right in front of them, and that was a terrible mistake.

 Chapter 426 Against Family

    ?


    "I will take care of them, lead the battle while I am away," Aion dered and then made everyone in his pocket dimension leave.


    Lexus charged toward Aion, swinging his sword way faster than he was supposed to. Aion barely had time to send his father to his pocket dimension. While he seeded in that, his sisters attacked him. One made the ground grab his legs, and that prevented him from using Teleportation.


    Before Aion could crack the ground with his strength and free himself, the others summoned some fire pirs and engulfed him in mes.


    The mes began to burn his flesh, but Aion endured that and used Spatial Shifting again, making his sisters get close to the vortex to make them stop the fire¡­ they didn''t. Even though they began to suffer damage, that disrupted her focus.


    "Son of a bitch¡­ your death won''t be a quick one, Vangel," Aion clenched his teeth.


    Aion used Spatial Shifting again and made his sisters spear in the sky and then fall to a portal to his pocket dimension. Thanks to that, the fire vortexes ended.


    "Aion¡­ can you save them?" Henri asked.


    "... I will see what I can do," Aion replied and then vanished.


    Aion didn''t promise anything, which was quite unsettling considering that he had managed topletely restore his sisters before. He wasn''t confident this time, and that was more than a bit nerve-wracking. Still, they had other business ahead of them; the four brothers saw thousands of mutated humans flying toward the flying city.


    Henri, wearing his battle-worn armor, steps forward, hismanding presence catching everyone''s attention. He speaks with a firm voice that reaches the tired soldiers gathered before him.


    With a determined look in his eyes, Henri acknowledges the exhaustion and struggles they have endured. He reminds them of why they fight¡ªtheir families, their homes, and the future they seek to protect. His words resonate deep within each soldier, reigniting their resolve.


    Henri recognizes the sacrifices made by theirrades, honoring their bravery and dedication. He shares stories of their past triumphs, reminding them of the strength they possess when they stand together. His words inspire a sense of unity and camaraderie.


    He speaks of the enemy''s cruelty and the suffering inflicted upon innocent lives. Anger and determination fill the air as Henri paints a vivid picture of the injustices they must confront. He fuels their desire for justice, urging them to channel their emotions into unwavering determination.


    "It is time to end Vangel''s reign of terror on me, MEN!"


    "HOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"


    As soon as he returned to the pocket dimension, Aion was almost split in half by his father''s sword. He reacted fast enough to use Teleportation and appear right before his oldest sister, Maisie. However, as if all of them could easily feel his presence, they turned around. They attacked Aion with a torrent of Fireballs.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "The parasites increased their magic powers and mana exponentially¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Aion''s senses heightened as he faced his brainwashed sisters and father, who now wielded their weapons against him. He evaded the barrage of fiery projectiles hurled toward him with quick reflexes and agile movements.


    Dancing with finesse, Aion dodged and weaved through the air, narrowly escaping the deadly arcs of the fireballs. Each step was deliberate, as he relied on his instincts to anticipate the trajectories of the iing attacks.


    As his brainwashed father closed in, his sword shing through the air, Aion demonstrated incredible agility, effortlessly sidestepping their strikes. His movements were fluid, a well-choreographed dance of evasion and defense.


    Aion''s heart sank as he saw the parasites visibly bulging in the veins of his brainwashed sisters and father. It sent a shiver down his spine and filled him with a deep sense of dread.


    The once familiar veins now appeared distorted and swollen, as if something vile and sinister had taken root within. Aion couldn''t help but feel a mix of concern, sadness, and disgust at the sight before him.


    The pulsating presence of the parasites was repulsive. They wriggled and twisted, creating unsettling movements beneath the surface of their veins. It was a haunting reminder of the control exerted over his loved ones, a cruel reminder of the darkness that had consumed them.


    "Don''t let rage consume you¡­ find a solution to this first," Aion thought while dodging the attacks.


    Aion''s healing skills didn''t help him before saving the people of that other country, but he had time now. The flow in the pocket dimension was one hundred and fifty times faster than outside, people were dying outside, but his family was more important¡­


    "Analyse the Priest ss and then check if the next ones can help me," Aion thought.


    While focusing on dodging, Aion analyzed that ss, one skill after each other. His focus was so intense that he didn''t let any attack reach him¡­ even when his sisters used lightning bolts, and his father used Inner Release. Still, soon Aion saw blooding from their noses and ears.


    "Shit¡­ the parasites are forcing them to fight beyond their limits; I don''t have time!" Aion bit his lips in exasperation. "Sorry, but there is no other choice¡­"


    As Aion confronted his brainwashed father and sisters, a deep resolve surged within him. He harnessed the power of wind and water, using them to cool down the scorching atmosphere in the pocket dimension. The blistering heat slowly subsided as a gentle breeze brought relief to Aion''s weary body.


    With focused intent, Aion directed his elemental magic toward his family members. Streams of water flowed around them, instantly freezing upon contact. Gradually, their bodies became encased in shimmering ice, immobilizing their once-violent movements.


    Aion felt a mix of sadness and determination as he witnessed the frozen figures before him. He understood that their true selves were trapped beneath the icy exterior, controlled by insidious parasites. It was a temporary measure, a respite in his quest to break the hold of the parasites and restore their consciousness.

 Chapter 427 Past Knowledge

    ?


    Even in that state, they were trying to free themselves, Lexus soon was able to crack the ice around him, but Aion soon recovered. The girls were also suffering damage, so Aion tried to heal them, but¡­ things didn''t go exactly the way he had nned.


    A wave of pain surged through their frozen bodies as Aion attempted to heal his father and sisters. The parasites within them recoiled, fiercely resisting any attempt to restore their well-being. The healing energy shed with the parasitic influence, causing excruciating agony to ripple through their veins.


    Each touch of Aion''s healing magic intensified their suffering as if the parasites themselves were fighting back against the intrusion. The pain manifested as searing mes that coursed through their bodies, twisting their features in torment. Despite Aion''s intentions of love andpassion, the healing process became a harrowing ordeal for his family.


    Aion''s heart sank with each anguished cry that escaped his father and sisters. He could see the desperation and confusion in their eyes, the battle between their true selves and the parasitic control. It was a cruel reminder of the depth of their suffering and the power the parasites held over them.


    "He has years to n, so I should expect this much¡­" Aion thought while biting his fingernails. "Still, even if he had time, I won''t let a dumbass that let the world end and cowered in a hole and waited for the storm to end¡­"


    Aion tried to put them to sleep as well, but that didn''t work. Hitting them in the head was too dangerous as well¡­ most likely, the parasites would force them to move even while they were unconscious.


    Vangel''s decision to use parasites instead of directly mutating Aion''s father and sisters stemmed from his desire to maintain control and manipte them for his own purposes. While mutation could have granted them formidable powers, it also carried the risk of unpredictable oues and potential resistance.


    By employing parasites, Vangel could exert a more subtle and insidious influence over their minds and bodies. Parasites, with their ability to infiltrate and manipte the host''s biological systems, offered a method of control that allowed Vangel to maintain a higher degree of influence and ensure their obedience.


    Furthermore, parasites provided Vangel with a means to gradually corrupt their thoughts and emotions, gradually eroding their true selves and recing them with loyalty to his cause. This slow and methodical approach allowed him to mold them into obedient pawns, ready to carry out his bidding without question.


    "This seems to be the reason¡­" Aion thought while clenching his teeth.


    After thinking for a while, Aion assumed that perhaps the Healer King ss could help him with that. Cailena was the best healer that he knew, after all. However, he didn''t have much time to gain experience and make that ss reach more levels to gain skills.


    "Even here, I can still gain experience from my death knights," Aion thought while rubbing his chin. "Still, there must be other ways to learn the next skills or to level up that ss. Think, Aion, think."


    Malon, Cailena, and the others got stronger after facing numerous foes, but they also got stronger thanks to their training. It would be nice if Aion had the knowledge and time to do the same, but he didn''t.


    The parasites used by Vangel were specifically designed to attach themselves to the nervous system and organs of their hosts. Through abination of biological adaptations and supernatural properties, they could infiltrate and establish a symbiotic rtionship with the host''s body.


    The attachment process typically begins when the parasites make contact with the host''s skin or enter the body through various means, such as ingestion or inhtion. Once inside, they would navigate through the bloodstream, guided by their instinct to locate suitable organs and nerve centers to establish their residence.


    Using specialized appendages or tendrils, the parasites wouldtch onto nerve endings, intertwining themselves with the intricatework of the host''s nervous system. This connection allowed them to tap into the electrical impulses and chemical signals that flowed throughout the body, effectively gaining control over the host''s motor functions, sensations, and even emotions.


    "Considering the memories that I have of her and her methods of training, what should I do?" Aion thought. "I need to hurry up¡­"


    Healer King Lv 01


    Health: 12/12


    Mana: 66/66<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Stamina: 12/12


    Strength: 01


    Dexterity: 01


    Magic: 01 + 12


    Endurance: 01


    Resistance: 01


    Speed: 01


    Status: 00


    Legendary Healer Staff Refinement Lv 01


    Bonuses: + 06 Magic, + 06 Resistance


    Skills: Quick Regeneration 01


    Passive: Quick Mana Recovery Lv 01,


    Quick Regeneration: a spell that, at the cost of fifty mana points, can let you heal the target by fifty health points per second for ten seconds


    Quick Mana Recovery: passively increases your mana regeneration by fifty percent per level.


    "Not good¡­ I can''t get a single clue out of this," Aion thought while walking in circles. "Maybe with my past knowledge of biology¡­ not like I have much or I even recall it."


    Despite that, Aion managed to recall a few things. Specific medications were avable to target different types of parasites. These drugs may work by killing the parasites directly or by inhibiting their growth and reproduction. Antimrial drugs, antihelminthic drugs, and antiprotozoal drugs are examples of medications used tobat parasites.


    Many antiparasitic drugs target specific metabolic pathways or enzymes essential for the survival and reproduction of parasites. By interfering with these processes, the drugs disrupt the parasite''s ability to obtain nutrients or generate energy, leading to their death. For example, some antimrial drugs inhibit the parasite''s ability to break down hemoglobin, which is crucial for its survival within red blood cells.


    "Maybe I can use this¡­" Aion thought.


    Aion would need to study the parasites affecting his family and understand their vulnerabilities. This might involve observing their behavior, studying their structure, or consulting magical texts or experts on parasitic creatures. He didn''t have time for that, though.

 Chapter 428 Otherworldy Power

    "Wait¡­ maybe¡­" Aion thought when he changed his ss to Space King again.


    Aion focused his magical energy, using his innate senses to detect the presence of the parasites within his father''s body. He unleashed a powerful wave of gravity magic with great determination, targeting the parasites directly.


    The parasites, sensing the imminent danger, squirmed and writhed inside his father, desperately clinging to their newfound host. But Aion''s mastery over magic was unmatched. He exerted his will,manding the force of gravity to crush the parasites with intense pressure.


    As the parasites shattered under the overwhelming gravitational force, Aion noticed the remnants of their influence attempting to escape through his father''s mouth. Acting swiftly, he directed his magic towards the exit, guiding the remnants out using his mana.


    The vestiges, weakened and vulnerable, were caught in a torrent of magical energy. Aion''s mana surged, acting as a purifying force, cleansing his father''s body of the lingering darkness. With each expulsion, the vestiges faded away, disappearing into nothingness. At the same time, he kept healing his father and avoiding all the damage that the parasites were causing.


    "Urrgggghhhhh¡­ how you did this to me¡­" Lexus said after throwing up. "I will never be able to eat anything without recalling this."


    "Father¡­ I am thankful for being a strong testing subject, it would be hard to do this with the others." Aion said and then sighed in relief.


    "We can skip the sentimental stuff for now," Lexus said while he fell on his knees. "Hurry, do the same to your sisters. The parasites can feel the danger and can try to kill their hosts when that happens."


    "I am on it," Aion said while focusing his senses and pointing his hands to his sisters.


    With his father''s ordeal behind him, Aion turned his attention to his sisters, who were still under the influence of the parasitic beings. Determined to free them from their torment, he repeated the process he had employed before.


    Channeling his mana, Aion honed in on the parasites lurking within his sisters'' bodies. He unleashed a surge of gravity magic, targeting the parasites with precise uracy. The force of gravity intensified, crushing the parasites and rendering them powerless.


    As the parasites disintegrated under the relentless pressure, Aion guided the remnants of their influence toward his sisters'' mouths, using his mana to expel them from their bodies. The vestiges of darkness weakened and dispersed, were swept away by the force of his magic.


    They stopped moving, and Aion could feel their evil aura leaving their bodies. Aion stopped their fall with gravity magic and gently let them rest on the ground.


    "Sorry¡­ I tried to fight back; I could see and sense everything, and yet¡­" Laxus said and then sighed.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Don''t worry, Father," Aion said while tapping on his shoulders. "I can solve the issue with the parasites now. Although I am pretty sure that these assholes won''t make things easier."


    "... Your mother and your friends¡­ Vangel has them," Lexus said after hesitating for a moment. "He is gathering more power, and he intends to use them against you if you interfere."


    That was very natural; Aion had expected that. Still, hearing that makes him feel more than just pissed. Confirmation of his worst fears always makes him feel like that.


    "... In that case, I will deal with his allies here and then look for them," Aion dered. "Rest here. The flow of time is faster, so you don''t have to worry about joining us anytime soon. We got this."


    "Right¡­ I will try to recover fast while I look after your sisters," Lexus nodded. "I will be ready to stop others if you bring them here. I can at least buy you some time."


    Aion nodded as well and saw how things were outside. The st of the fights between the spirits was making everything in several kilometers tremble like the world was ending. Ice, fire, wind, earth¡­ They were raining around and killing people left and right. Despite that, Aion couldn''t deal with them; he had to find Vangel allies since they were worse threats.


    As soon as he left his pocket dimension, Aion saw chaos unfold. The forces of his allies appeared battered and weary, their spirits dampened by the relentless onught of the enemy. Wounded soldiersy scattered across the field, their groans of pain a haunting symphony amidst the chaos.


    But as Aion gathered his strength, a resolute determination washed over him. With his musical instrument in hand, he tapped into the power of his song magic, seeking to uplift and empower his allies in their darkest hour. He raised his voice, a melodic strain that resonated through the air, carrying with it an ethereal energy.


    His allies, caught in the midst of despair, felt a surge of renewed strength coursing through their veins. The melodies infused their beings, fueling their resolve and igniting a spark of hope within their hearts. Fatigue gave way to determination, and fear transformed into courage as they rallied around Aion, drawn to his empowering song.


    The battlefield transformed before their eyes. Where once there was doubt, there now bloomed resilience. The wounded soldiers, spurred by the harmonious magic, rose to their feet with renewed vigor. Their movements became swift and purposeful, their strikes infused with otherworldly power.


    Once the tide of the battle changed, Aion used Teleportation right to the middle of the giant flying city. The first thing that Aion saw there was a group of cloaked people, and soon they pointed their hands at him.


    The gravity around him seemed to intensify, pressing down heavily on his body, making it difficult for him to move. Simultaneously, strong gusts of wind buffeted him, making it hard to catch his breath.


    Aion struggled against the gravitational force pulling him down, feeling as if invisible chains were holding him in ce. Each step became an arduous task as if he was trudging through thick mud. The weight upon his shoulders was almost unbearable, threatening to crush his spirit.

 Chapter 429 Surprising The Enemy

    ?


    Meanwhile, the relentless winds whipped around him, whipping at his face and tugging at his clothing. The gusts seemed determined to suffocate him, stealing the very air from his lungs. It became a struggle just to stay on his feet as the howling winds threatened to sweep him away.


    "This won''t be¡­" Aion raised his hands toward the enemies and then prepared to use his gravity magic to crush them all, but then a shiver on his spine made him stop. "This feeling again¡­ Damn, you."


    Aion changed his mind and then enveloped the cloaked people in ice, making them unable to move. At the same time, he moved them toward his pocket dimension¡­ until a powerful voice began to echo around.


    "HHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    "Fuck you¡­" Aion muttered while he felt his head like it was splitting. "Mareia¡­"


    Aion had a hard time returning to his pocket dimension. As soon as hended, his father talked with him, but he had to heal his ears first since his eardrums were damaged.


    "You found them quite fast," Lexus said.


    "Them?" Aion furrowed his eyebrows and then clenched his teeth when he saw that his father had taken the hood of the prisoners. They were the wives of his brothers and Lexus'' other wives. "They tried to make me kill them¡­ I almost did since I couldn''t tell that they were enemies."


    "... You avoided that, and that is what counts," Lexus said. "By the way, you helped everyone, but it seems that things were getting worse again."


    Aion''s eyes widened with astonishment as he saw Mareia''s voice cutting through the cacophony of battle. It was as if her words carried a magical essence that resonated deep within the hearts of her allies. A surge of energy coursed through their veins, revitalizing their tired bodies and reigniting the fire of determination within their souls.


    With every note that escaped her lips, the spirits of their allies soared. Their attacks grew more powerful, their defenses unyielding. As Mareia''s voice continued to echo across the battlefield, Aion''srades fought with a newfound hardships. They knew that victory was within reach, but¡­


    "I will kill that bitch," Aion said and then bit his lips.


    Using the same thing over and over again had been tiring, but eventually, Aion freed everyone. He couldn''t imagine that the enemies had other prisoners like that, but he had to be careful.


    "Although I said that I was myself when I was being controlled, the memories are hazy at moments," Lexus suddenly said. "I don''t recall the conversations between the enemies with precision, but I can tell that their goal is to enrage you. Be careful about that¡­ as weird as it sounds, they will gain something by getting your wrath."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    That didn''t make much sense, and Aion had no idea why the enemies wanted that.


    In the chaotic battlefield, Aion''s enemies saw an opportunity to exploit his anger for their own advantage. They recognized that Aion''s rage had the potential to disrupt his judgment and impair his decision-making abilities. They aimed to divert his focus from strategic nning and tactics by fueling his anger and provoking him further.


    The enemies believed that Aion''s anger would lead him to make impulsive and reckless moves. They anticipated that his unchecked fury would cloud his reasoning, making him more susceptible to falling into traps or making ill-advised choices. This presented them with an opportunity to exploit his vulnerabilities, catch him off guard, and gain the upper hand inbat.


    Moreover, the enemies knew that Aion''s anger could have a demoralizing effect on his allies. They understood that witnessing their leader consumed by rage could undermine their confidence and unity. By provoking Aion and stoking his anger, they aimed to create divisions among his ranks, weaken their resolve, and sow seeds of doubt and distrust.


    Furthermore, the enemies recognized that Aion''s anger could potentially alienate him from his allies. They believed that his intense fury might cause him to act independently, disregarding the input and advice of those around him. This fragmentation of leadership could be exploited, as it would disrupt the coordination and effectiveness of Aion''s forces.


    "This exins why they wanted me to kill them¡­" Aion thought. "Maybe that was how I met my end in the future that Ana and Vangel know."


    Aion couldn''t recall a time when he fought such annoying opponents¡­ moreover, the battle was over. In order to avoid Mareia''s voice, Aion would have to be quick and deadly, so he took a deep breath before leaving out.


    As soon as he returned, Aion looked for the sound of the voice, and he could tell that it wasing from the castle. He teleported a few times to get closer, but soon he was forced to stop since her voice was causing even more damage.


    "Fuck¡­ can''t be helped," Aion thought and then began to use gravity magic around him.


    The gravity formed a shield around Aion, and soon he found himself in a much better situation. Gravity can influence the speed at which sound travels through a medium. Sound waves may move slower in areas with stronger gravity, while in areas with weaker gravity, sound waves may move faster. This can affect the timing and perception of sound.


    Gravity can act like a force that bends the path of sound waves. Just as we see the light bending around objects, sound can also be deflected or redirected by the force of gravity. This can cause sounds to be distorted or appear toe from a different direction than expected.


    "I bet that she doesn''t know this¡­ let''s make sure to surprise that bitch even more," Aion thought.


    Aion was expecting that she would get tired of using her annoying voice, but there were no signs of that ever happening. So, he just approached the castle more and more with Teleportation. The closer he got, the more annoyed Aion got¡­ Mareia made some modifications to the ce as if she owned it. She took advantage of the ones that Aion had started.

 Chapter 430 Lifeless

    ?


    The ancient castle stood tall and proud, its silhouettemanding attention against the backdrop of thendscape. It had undergone a grand transformation, adorned with an abundance of extravagant and pompous features. Every inch of the castle seemed to shimmer with opulence and excess as if boasting its newfound grandeur.


    The exterior walls were resplendent with intricate carvings and embellishments, disying scenes of heroic battles, mythical creatures, and majestdscapes. Gilded ents and ornate details adorned every archway and turret, catching the sunlight and casting a dazzling spectacle for all who beheld it.


    "... They seem a bit humid and filled with moss," Aion thought. "She probably stored everything underwater for a while."


    As one entered the castle, they would be greeted by vast halls adorned with extravagant tapestries, massive marble pirs, and glittering chandeliers hanging from intricately decorated ceilings. Every corner of the castle boasted luxurious furnishings, from plush velvet drapes to finely carved wooden furniture and exquisite artwork adorning the walls.


    The throne room, the epitome of ostentation, featured an enormous throne crafted from rare and precious materials. It was embellished with gemstones and gold, reflecting the wealth and power of those who would sit upon it. Intricately designed stained ss windows bathed the room in a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors, casting an ethereal glow upon all who entered.


    Just as Aion had expected, Mareia was sitting on the throne. Still, she wasn''t alone¡­ the other unknown five figures that ambushed Aion were there as well.


    "Wee, wee¡­ you are the truly resourceful, cursed king of the time," Mareia said.


    Aion had a hard time controlling the urge to teleport behind the woman and behead her instantly. Still, he couldn''t rush, not when the other enemies passed him such bad vibes. They didn''t move a single inch, so it seemed that they were under Mareia''s control.


    "You find them more interesting than me?" Mareia asked. "How rude¡­ Still, considering who you are, I suppose it makes sense."


    The cloaked figures moved their hoods and then showed their face¡­ Aion opened his eyes widely when he saw the lifeless bodies of his grandparents, uncle, Vangel''s mother, and¡­ a copy of himself.


    While Aion never saw them, he could tell that those three looked like his mother¡­ it was even easier since they weren''t showing any emotion on their faces. As for the queen¡­ Aion couldn''t understand. She always seemed suspicious to him, and when she suddenly vanished¡­ was she being controlled by Venga?


    Aion was struck with disbelief and horror as heid eyes on his own lifeless body, controlled by the enemy. It was a shock like no other, sending a chill down his spine. The sight of his own corpse, manipted by another''s will, left him feeling shaken to the core.


    Aion couldn''t help but feel a profound sense of shock and unease. The realization that his future self had met such a tragic end, and now his body was being used against him, was a heavy blow to his spirit. It stirred up a mix of fear, anger, and sadness within him, knowing that this was the fate that awaited him in that future timeline.


    Yet, amidst the shock, a fierce determination ignited within Aion''s heart. He refused to ept this predetermined fate. With every fiber of his being, he vowed to break free from the enemy''s control and rewrite the path thaty ahead. The sight of his own lifeless body served as a wake-up call, urging him to reim his agency and forge a different future.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Interesting, don''t you think?" Mareia asked while smirking. "We found those corpses when they met their ends and decided to use them after their souls bought you some time. As for the other two, they are just a fun addition to our collection."


    "You think you can use them agaisnt me?" Aion asked while furrowing his eyebrows. "You call me the cursed king of the time, and you think that I am this soft?"


    "Well, under normal circumstances, this wouldn''t be a real fight; while we can control their bodies, their abilities were half lost," Mareia said and then smiled. "Under normal circumstances, that is."


    Aion''s body tensed as he felt the ground rumble beneath him. His eyes widened in shock as he saw the entire floating city being swallowed by a massive wave, transforming it into a colossal bubble suspended in the sky.


    The tremors grew stronger, causing the ground to crack and split open. Water surged upwards, engulfing the once-proud city in a torrential flood. Aion couldn''t believe his eyes as the towering buildings and bustling streets disappeared beneath the expanding sea.


    Within moments, the city was encapsted within a gigantic bubble of water, floating high above the ground. The buildings inside were distorted by the liquid surroundings, their vibrant colors subdued by the ethereal glow of the water.


    "How long can you hold your breath?" Mareia asked. "It seems that I destroyed a lot, but the city needed some serious renovations, so it is fine."


    Mareia could talk underwater¡­ it seemed obvious that she could; she was a mermaid, after all. A very annoying one, though¡­ In any case, Aion couldn''t move that well underwater, and when he tried to cast his magic to create a windshield, his mana dispersed.


    "No, no, no. You can''t use magic here, but we can," Mareia said.


    The grand throne room, now submerged in water, was a haunting sight. Aion couldn''t believe his eyes as he witnessed a chilling spectacle unfolding before him.


    Beneath the murky waters, lifeless bodies swam with uncanny speed and precision. These corpses, controlled by the enemy, moved through the water with an unnatural grace. Their lifeless eyes stared nkly ahead, devoid of any spark of humanity.


    Their limbs moved in perfect synchronization, propelling them through the water with surprising agility. The sight of their decaying forms, manipted like puppets, made Aion bite his lips in annoyance. It was as if the enemy had harnessed the power of the water itself to enhance their macabre forces.

 Chapter 431 It Cant Be Helped

    "If I can''t use magic, I can onlyst underwater for no more than ten minutes while fighting," Aion thought. "This will be hard."


    Mareia prepared that in order to stop all of Aion''s best cards. He couldn''t show his true physical powers, his space magic, time magic, even elemental spells¡­ at the same time, underwater.


    Aion''s attention remained fixated on Mareia, but she made no move or intervention. However, the controlled corpses wasted no time unleashing their dark magic. They conjured a colossal whirlpool, churning and pulling with immense force, threatening to drag Aion into its depths.


    Aion braced himself against the powerful currents, resisting the pull as best he could. He fought against the relentless vortex, determined not to be overwhelmed by its grip.


    "I hate elemental vortexes¡­" Aion thought while furrowing his eyebrows.


    That will only make Aion lose his breath faster. Still, he left himself being pulled by it while he closed his eyes and focused his senses. In thest moment, he opened his arms and then closed them.


    The p of the hands made the whole structure tremble since Aion used Inner Release. The vortex lost its shape, but then the enemies swam toward Aion as if they were fish themselves.


    The corpses began to punch Aion, and he was surprised to see the power of the punches of mages. Thest one to hit him was his own corpse. Aion felt a powerful punch strike his face, disorienting him underwater. The force of the blow sent him spinning, his head swimming with confusion. The surrounding water seemed to twist and twirl around him, making it difficult to tell which way was up or down.


    Dizzy and struggling to regain his bnce, Aion fought against the disorienting currents. The underwater world became a swirling blur as he tried to steady himself. His head spun, and he felt a wave of nausea wash over him.


    Despite the disorientation, Aion refused to let himself be overwhelmed. He focused his thoughts, trying to find a fixed point of reference amidst the spinning chaos. Through sheer determination, he slowly regained his bearings. Only to see theming again¡­


    Aion clicked his tongue while wondering what he could do in that situation¡­ changing sses seemed the best option. Still, he didn''t want to show another card of his. Fortunately, Aion had an idea¡­


    Aion, beaten and enduring, faced a relentless barrage of attacks. Despite the onught, he stood firm, absorbing each blow without flinching. His eyes remained shut as if in defiance of the pain.


    Each strikended with a jolt, sending ripples of agony through his body. Yet, Aion refused to waver, epting the punishment with unwavering determination. He embraced the pain as a testament to his resilience, using it to fuel his inner fire.


    With every hit, Aion''s resolve grew stronger. He harnessed the force of each blow, channeling it into his unwavering spirit. Though his eyes remained closed, he visualized his triumph, envisioning a future where he would rise above his adversaries.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Aion kind of felt by that, but the first person that he had to test his ns had been his uncle, who seemed like a nice person based on what he knew from his mother. He was fine in punching his own body¡­ that seemed a bit weird, or how much self-respect Aion had.


    Regardless, Aion and the corpse of his uncle traded blows in thest moment, but even though Aion seemed weaker, the enemy was the one who was sent flying to the distance while spinning until his body hit the wall of the throne room and passed through it.


    Mareia, amidst the chaos andmotion, disyed a brief moment of surprise and confusion. Her face showed a mix of astonishment and uncertainty as she witnessed the unfolding events. It seemed that the situation had caught her off guard, causing her to question what was happening before her eyes.


    Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, reflecting her puzzlement. Her eyes widened in a momentarypse of understanding as if struggling toprehend the unexpected turn of events. Mareia''s usualposed demeanor wavered for a fleeting instant as the unforeseen circumstances left her momentarily bewildered.


    "What was that¡­ he shouldn''t be able to use magic, and he is weaker than the weakened version of himself from the future," Mareia thought.


    The corpse got up, and then Mareia checked its face, but there was only the mark of a single punch¡­ nothing else.


    As Mareia observed Aion, a flicker of doubt crossed her mind. She found herself questioning whether they had underestimated his physical prowess. The sheer resilience and unwavering determination disyed by Aion as he absorbed blow after blow left her contemting the true extent of his strength.


    Her eyes narrowed slightly as she reevaluated her previous assumptions. Mareia pondered whether they had underestimated Aion''s physical capabilities, perhaps focusing too much on his magical prowess while neglecting to consider his formidable physicality. The sight of him enduring the relentless attacks with unwavering resolve forced her to reconsider her assessment.


    The other enemies didn''t attack, so Aion had the chance to see Amaria confused and surprised. He had a hard time hiding his smirk, but he couldn''t do that since it was better to act like he was struggling to make the enemy even more confused.


    "The power was a bit off since I tried this for the first time, but the next will do the trick and kill¡­ and finish off the targets," Aion thought. "I feel bad for doing this to their bodies, but it can''t be helped."


    Aion also had to deal with the Mareia, so he didn''t have time to worry about anything else. Mareia red at Aion¡­ she was confident in her victory, but she couldn''t afford to fall for the sake of tricks. If Aion learned something new, she had to learn and study it.


    In the end, Mareia sent the body of the future Aion, imagining that it would help her somehow understand what was happening.

 Chapter 432 Promise

    ?


    As soon as the corpse approached, Aion noticed something¡­ there was a thinyer of mana around it. It was Force Release¡­ to think she would use that skill to make a corpse. Still, it was a perfect skill for a body that couldn''t tire or get wounded like before.


    "If she is nning to make that body tougher for the attack to be more obvious, then¡­" Aion thought and then attacked the chest of his own corpse and its chest.


    Aion couldn''t feel the control over the corpse anymore, so it seemed that Aion had won. Still, just to be sure, he made the crystal absorb the body. Since he wondered what would happen if he were to use his own body as refinement materials and since It was better than being defiled by such a bitch¡­ However, while Aion didn''t reveal the trick behind his attacks, he fell for Mareia''s trick.


    (All of the second-tier sses have been mastered. All of the parameters increased by 240 points.)


    Aion''s surroundings grew hazy and indistinct as if a thick fog had descended upon him. His vision became blurred, making it difficult to discern the details of his surroundings. With each passing moment, the world seemed to recede further into a distant realm, leaving him isted in a realm of torment.


    His body, once strong and resilient, now felt heavy and sluggish. Every movement was a struggle as if he was wading through a thick, viscous substance that resisted his every effort. The air around him grew thin and suffocating as if it had transformed into a searing inferno.


    Aion''s lungs burned with a fierce intensity as if they were being scorched by the searing heat that permeated his entire being. Each breath was a desperate gasp for survival, a futile attempt to draw in the life-giving oxygen that seemed to elude him. The very act of breathing became a painful ordeal as if his body was betraying him, denying him the sustenance he so desperately needed.


    Aion gained a lot of power, but it seemed that the enemies knew that he would do that, but they also did something with the corpse.


    Aion quickly realized that and then saw Mareia smiling¡­ it was clear that she knew a few things about his spiritual relics, if she prepared for that much, even though she had no idea that Aion used abination of Timeless sh with a fist to make his corpse bepletely destroyed.


    "I just absorbed the body with the crystal¡­ and yet, several sses were unlocked and mastered," Aion thought while trying to recover from the surprise despite the fact that he still felt agonizingly ill. "All the data that the body had was instantly absorbed instead of being treated like ordinary refinement materials¡­"


    Aion used Healing Aura to recover a bit, and that worked¡­ but it only lessened the effects for a short while. He needed to do something more definitive with what was happening to himself, and probably fast as well.


    Aion''s head swam with confusion and concern as he grappled with the debilitating sickness that had overtaken him. He couldn''t make sense of why simply receiving the data of his lifeless body would cause such physical distress.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    His thoughts raced, searching for answers amidst the haze of pain. Was it the meddling with time that had triggered this illness? Or perhaps the enemy had devised a nefarious n to weaken him from within.


    Aion considered another possibility: Could his own mind be rebelling against the harsh reality of his mortality? Was his body reacting to the shock of seeing its own demise? He didn''t have time to check the memories of the corpse, but if he got the experience of the sses, maybe that was there as well.


    Before Aion could reach a conclusion, the corpses swam toward him again. He didn''t feel like he had time to y anymore, so he stopped hiding his cards¡­ It was time to hurry up and finish things since he didn''t think that he could feel like that and stay underwater for more than five minutes at the same time.


    "I am sorry, dear ancestors¡­ but I will have to destroy this city," Aion thought. "I promise that I will repair, rebuild and reform itter once all the enemies are dealt with."


    Aion raised his fist and then pointed to the ground below his fist. Before long, his fist began to get damaged, and the castle began to tremble, then the whole area and then the city.


    The entire city shook violently, its structures crumbling and copsing in a chaotic frenzy. It was as if the very ground beneath them had turned against them, splitting open with a deafening roar. The once grand buildings nowy in ruins, reduced to a pile of rubble and debris.


    In the midst of the crumbling city, a massive bubble of water hung in the sky began to fall apart as well, failing to continue defying gravity itself. The water churned and raged, threatening to burst free from its aquatic prison. Mareia, standing at the throne, could only stare in utter disbelief at the astonishing sight unfolding before her eyes.


    With a tremendous crash, the city split into two halves, tearing apart as if pulled by opposing forces. The once unified streets now became a gaping chasm, separating the city into two distinct entities. The ground trembled beneath their feet, and the air filled with the sounds of destruction.


    As the city descended towards the vast ocean below, it shattered into pieces, each fragment plunging into the water with a resounding ssh. The impact sent waves rippling across the surface as if the very ocean itself mourned the downfall of the once proud city.


    Aion fell into the ocean, but he didn''t sink¡­ he used his magic to stand above it with a bit of wind. He was able to use his magic again, so he could do that much with ease.

 Chapter 433 Finish

    ?


    In the meantime, Mareia waspletely shocked. While hiding underwater, she tried to understand what Aion did, but nothing came to mind. All the knowledge that they had about him and the knowledge that Vangel obtained from the fragments never showed that he could do that without mana¡­ his strength was also almost at the same level as he was supposed to be around one hundred years in the future.


    The trick behind that power was simple, Aion used Timeless Punch alongside Inner Release¡­ added with the power up from earlier, Aion got a lot stronger than anyone could have ever imagined. He was still feeling pretty sick, though.


    "Let''s fight for real now; I know that you are listening, and using the corpses won''t do any good," Aion said while looking around. "I know that you are a crazy bitch as well, so you naturally want to finish things personally."


    Aion didn''t hear an answer, but he knew that Mareia had heard him since the corpses appeared again. His grandparents pointed their hands in the same direction and made some magma spears appear and be fired toward Aion. While he avoided them by sidestepping, he could feel their heat burning away his flesh.


    The air around Aion became incredibly hot and suffocating, making it hard to breathefortably.


    Asva passed by him, his body started to sweat profusely as a natural response to the extreme heat. The intense warmth causes his skin to feel like it''s burning, and he even starts to feel flushed or overheated. It''s as if he is standing too close to a zing fire that threatens to consume him.


    The heat emanating from theva is so intense that it distorts the air around him, creating a shimmering effect that blurs his vision. The surroundings be hazy and disorienting, making it challenging to see clearly. It feels like being surrounded by a fiery haze that engulfs everything.


    Aion didn''t know that Vangel''s mother was good at magic. Still, she also managed to surround him with numerous electric arrows and fired them. In the end, Aion summoned the sword that he got from Ana and absorbed all the attacks, and felt his mana returning as well.


    "Vangel version is a lot better, but this will do," Aion thought.


    Still, Aion was unable to do the same when his uncle summoned an ice spear and tried to impale him with it¡­


    Aion blocked the attack with the unknown sword and furrowed his eyebrows when he didn''t see the ice spear melting¡­ At the same time, his uncle began to push him back.


    "What the hell¡­ you were this strong when you were alive?" Aion thought.


    Several electric spears surrounded Aion, and then his uncle began to thrust his ice spear at him at crazy speeds. Aion stood his ground, but then the electric spears closed in and almost shocked him. He jumped with all his might and avoided them, only to be hit by a barrage of magma spears.


    As the fiery magma spears rained down upon him, Aion swiftly lifted his sword to block their path. The scorching heat radiating from the molten projectiles intensified, causing beads of sweat to trickle down his face.


    With determined grit, Aion positioned his de in front of him, ready to deflect the onught. The sh of metal against molten rock echoed through the air, apanied by the crackling of intense heat. Each impact sent waves of searing energy reverberating through his arms, testing his endurance.


    Aion''s movements were precise and swift as he skillfully redirected the magma spears away from himself. The force behind each impact threatened to overwhelm him, but he held his ground, steadfast in his resolve. The heat intensified with each block, making the air around him shimmer with a blistering glow.


    "Heeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"


    Just when Aion was about to taunt Mareia again, he suddenly heard her voice echoing in the area. Thanks to it, the power of the magma spears increased, and Aion was pushed backward dozens of meters with each hit.


    Although their appearance remained unchanged, a dark power coursed through their veins. The infusion of Vangel''s blood granted them strength and resilience, empowering their physical abilities. Once devoid of life, these reanimated corpses now moved with an eerie grace and purpose.


    To the casual observer, they appeared ordinary, concealing the twisted mutation thaty within. Their bodies were vessels for Vangel''s blood, their lifeless shells now fueled by its malevolent energy. This unholy fusion of life and spirit breathed life into their motionless forms, granting them an unnatural vitality.


    "That is the only exnation¡­" Aion thought. "In any case, I am sick and tired of this woman. Time to end this."


    Aion used Spatial Shifting and quickly made the four corpses appear on the same spot and then covered them in a thickyer of ice before sending them to his pocket dimension.


    Everyone inside was shocked when a massive sphere of ice appeared in that ce all of a sudden, even more so when it cracked, and then four corpses appeared¡­ still. Aion quickly showed up and made his crystal absorb them before piercing their hearts.


    "As expected¡­ he used his blood, and once their hearts are gone, his blood stops working," Aion thought.


    (The ss Magic Spearman was unlocked.)


    (The ss Frost King was unlocked.)


    (The ss Fury King was unlocked.)


    (The ss Wicked King was unlocked.)


    "Erval supposedly purified Tenebres'' blood and his magic essence too and gave them to Malon and Cailena¡­ So howe Vangel can use his blood like this?" Aion thought.


    It''s conceivable that Tenebres had a secret stash of his blood tucked away somewhere, unbeknownst to others. Vangel may have somehow discovered or stumbled upon this hidden cache and taken advantage of it.


    Vangel might have managed to obtain a small amount of Tenebres'' blood before it was purified. Whether through theft, maniption, or some other means, he could have secured a supply of the blood before it became inessible.

 Chapter 434 Souls

    ?


    Vangel, possessing knowledge in the art of alchemy or having ess to ancient texts, could have attempted to recreate Tenebres'' blood using other ingredients and alchemical processes. By carefully studying the properties andposition of the purified blood, he might have devised a way to replicate it to some extent.


    Before he could confirm one of those, Aion was forced to return¡­ more rifts were appearing outside, and he could tell that Mareia was just trying to make him waste time with that.


    In any case, Aion always tried to avoid making his weapons absorb the bodies of humans since he didn''t want to process them. Even with his enemies, he would feel grossed out. Still, to think that such a thing was possible¡­ to unlock sses by making his weapon absorb them without processing it.


    "Wait¡­ I thought that Vangel''s blood was what made me feel bad, but after doing the same with the bodies, nothing changed¡­." Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    More questions were emerging, but Aion didn''t have time to solve them. He quickly returned to the real world and then noticed that the atmosphere was weird¡­ the new enemies from the rift were charging at him, but Mareia wasn''t buffing them with her voice.


    "Running away, huh¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows while emitting a cold wind around him that froze the enemies that tried to attack him.


    Aion couldn''t sense her presence, and since he didn''t have time to look for her in all directions, he decided to do something else.


    Aion closed his eyes, focusing his mind and senses. He became aware of the presence of countless souls surrounding him, like a tapestry of energy woven into the world. With determination, he reached out, gently drawing the souls closer to him.


    The souls responded to his call one by one, gravitating towards his presence. Their energy merged with his own as they approached, infusing him with their essence. Aion felt their experiences, emotions, and memories blending with his own, empowering him with theirbined strength.


    Aion had an easy time convincing his allies that had died to lend him their strength and those that regretted what they turned into. Still, the others, blind by power and revengeful for their deaths, didn''t make it easy for him.


    "They aren''t Milerians, but the current me should be able to do this after obtaining the Spiritualist ss," Aion thought.


    Aion closed his eyes, focusing his senses on the souls surrounding him. He could feel their presence, their energy, resonating in the air. As he concentrated, a surge of power coursed through his body, infused with the essence of those departed souls.


    Opening his eyes, Aion extended his hands towards the vast expanse of the ocean. The air turned frigid, and his breath formed icy vapors in the chilled atmosphere. With amanding gesture, he unleashed his newfound power.


    The water beneath him began to transform, freezing rapidly as if time itself had halted. The once tumultuous waves solidified into a vast, shimmering sheet of ice. The frozen ocean extended far and wide. Thanks to it, he soon found Mareia''s presence, and then he used Time Shifting to bring the part that she was to his location.


    Aion did just in time for a massive block that contained her to explode, thanks to the power of her voice. Mareia opened her eyes widely when she noticed that she was back where the fight started, and without her minions¡­ she had escaped with an army of krakens under her control, and now they were too far away.


    "Can I have this dance?" Aion asked.


    Mareia''s voice erupted from her lips with a resounding shout, carrying a wave of sound that reverberated through the air. The force of her vocal power surged toward Aion, impacting him like a physical blow.


    As the shockwaves of sound crashed into him, Aion felt his entire being tremble in response. The vibrations rippled through his body, disrupting his bnce and rattling his senses. The sheer intensity of Mareia''s sound attack tested his resilience, threatening to overwhelm his defenses.


    The sound waves resonated within Aion, causing a cacophony of chaotic echoes in his ears. It felt as if the very core of his being was being shaken, challenging his focus and determination. Yet, through the tremors that coursed through him, Aion remained steadfast, his resolve unyielding.


    His muscles strained against the force of the sound, his body resisting the impact with unwavering determination. Though the vibrations threatened to disorient him, Aion steeled himself, summoning his inner strength to endure the onught.


    Aion pointed his hand toward her and then used his ice magic to freeze the shockwaves that she was sending. The weakness of her voice was the fact that she had to stop moving to make it work like that.


    Mareia clicked her tongue and then opened many more rifts across time and space and summoned more mutated soldiers. Still, Aion had a crazy reserve of mana now, so he easily froze the new enemies and killed them.


    "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"


    "Why? Why? It wasn''t supposed to be like this!"


    "We were on the wrong side¡­ I didn''t want to be a monster,"


    Although Aion gained a lot of mana, things were quite noisy right now. He wanted to transfer those souls to another inventory, but he couldn''t do that and kept getting mana. So, he had to endure it.


    Mareia clicked her tongue in annoyance, but she still had some fighting on her. She increased her voice and made the ice that Aion created shatter, and then she focused her senses on a single area to create a spatial rift.


    "She is focusing too much on that one¡­ is she calling for Vangel?" Aion thought.


    The enemy created a dark and unsettling rift that seemed like a swirling ck hole. It gave off a creepy and ominous vibe as if it could swallow everything in its path. The edges of the rift appeared as a deep void, consuming any light that came near.

 Chapter 435 Vangel

    ?


    As the rift expanded, it distorted the surrounding space, making everything look twisted and strange. It had a powerful gravitational force, pulling objects towards its center with an overwhelming strength. The closer things got to the rift, the more they seemed to lose their shape and structure.


    The sight of the rift sent a chill down the spines of those who witnessed it. It was a haunting and unsettling presence, like a gateway to an unknown and dangerous realm. Its sheer size and darkness instilled a sense of fear and awe in everyone present.


    Despite that, Mareia didn''t hesitate in being pulled toward it, and she made sure to increase the output of her attack in order to make sure that Aion wouldn''t follow her. Still, when she was about to cross it, Aion used Spatial Shifting and then stabbed her from behind.


    "Urgh¡­ how¡­ you shouldn''t be able to¡­" Mareia said while she was coughing a mouthful of blood.


    "You probably gathered information about me on a weird wiki page," Aion said, and then they were pulled by the rift. "It is time to end this."


    Aion ventured bravely into the rift, stepping into a tunnel that seemed to transcend time and space. As he traversed its ethereal pathway, he was immersed in a mesmerizing disy of images, unveiling the rich tapestry of the world''s history.


    The tunnel resonated with a mystical energy, casting a soft glow that illuminated the scenes unfolding before Aion''s eyes. Vivid and evocative, the images danced and shifted, depicting pivotal moments, triumphs, and tribtions that shaped the world''s destiny.


    He witnessed ancient civilizations rising and falling, their cultures and achievements etched into the very fabric of time. Great wars were waged, heroes and viins emerged, and the struggles of countless generations yed out in vivid detail. Aion glimpsed the profound sacrifices made, the triumph of hope against insurmountable odds, and the enduring resilience of the human spirit.


    The tunnel of history seemed endless, revealing tales of love, betrayal, exploration, and discovery. Aion absorbed it all, the weight of the collective experiences imprinted on his soul. He marveled at the depth andplexity of the world''s journey, its vastness and interconnectedness.


    As he delved deeper into the tunnel, Aion''s own role in the unfolding story became clear. He saw himself, intertwined with the threads of fate, as a catalyst for change and a beacon of hope. The realization stirred a renewed sense of purpose within him, fueling his determination to confront the challenges ahead.


    Aion ventured into a bizarre dimension, a ce where thews of reality seemed twisted and distorted. Everything around him appeared warped as if the fabric of space and time had been stretched and contorted. Strange rifts peppered thendscape, acting as gateways to different periods of time.


    Amidst this disorienting realm, Aion''s senses heightened, attuned to the anomalies that surrounded him. He observed with wide eyes as Vangel, his enigmatic adversary, flickered in and out of existence, effortlessly traversing the rifts that connected to various epochs.


    Vangel''s movements were lightning-fast, appearing and disappearing in rapid session. He slipped through the rifts like a phantom, exploiting the temporal portals to his advantage. Aion could barely track his movements as Vangel''s speed and agility defiedprehension.


    With each appearance and disappearance, Vangel left behind a trail of uncertainty and unpredictability. Aion felt the weight of this enigmatic presence, a reminder of the formidable adversary he faced. The distorted dimension served as Vangel''s yground, enabling him to maneuver through time and space with uncanny precision.


    "Already?" Vangel suddenly stopped and then looked at Aion. "Those guys are really useless¡­ I helped them that much, and they can''t even hold you back for a day. Living for hundreds of years and having a second chance didn''t make them morepetent. It is baffling."


    As Aion stood in the distorted dimension, face-to-face with Vangel, he noticed something perplexing. While Vangel had momentarily paused to engage in conversation, multiple copies of him continued to emerge from the swirling rifts, appearing and disappearing in rapid session.


    It was as if Vangel''s presence had fragmented across different timelines, with each copy representing a distinct version of himself. They moved independently, weaving in and out of the temporal rifts, creating a mesmerizing disy of temporal duplicity.


    The multiple Vangel copies had a disorienting effect, making it challenging for Aion to discern the true form and intentions of his adversary. Each iteration of Vangel seemed to possess its own distinct aura, a reflection of divergent experiences and choices from different timelines.


    As Aion observed the swirling dance of Vangel''s duplicates, he realized the magnitude of the challenge before him. The multiplication of Vangel''s presence meant that Aion would need to confront not just one formidable adversary but an army of versions, each potentially armed with unique skills and knowledge.


    "Pretty neat, huh," Vangel asked while smiling. "It took a lot of time and effort to master this, though."


    "You are insane¡­ you should have collected all of the fragments by now," Aion said. "Still, it seems that Tenebres'' power isn''t enough for you. Since he lost once, you decided to increase his power by tempering with the timelines. Making the fragments multiply to increase the origin of his power even further."


    "You realize things too damn quick. There is no way to surprise you, huh?" Vangel said and then shrugged. "Still, it isn''t like I want to do this, but I am forced to do this thanks to your and Malon''s stupidity."


    "The enemies that destroyed the world and only left you and Ana alive sure scarred you for life, huh," Aion crossed his arms and then said it.


    "... You have no idea what it is to live on a dead world, where you are worst than a worm," Vangel said while ring at Aion. "I nned for decades for this, to ensure that this world will have a future in one way or the other. You won''t stop me with this."

 Chapter 436 Copies

    ?


    As Aion contemted the relentless determination emanating from Vangel, he began to grasp the profound conviction that fueled his adversary''s actions. Vangel, having experienced a bleak future of destruction and despair, had been granted ample time to solidify his beliefs and convictions. In the face of such certainty, Aion couldn''t help but recognize the formidable resolve that drove Vangel forward.


    Vangel''s unwavering faith in his own path, no matter how twisted or misguided it may appear to others, was a testament to the depth of his conviction. Through the shattered fragments of time, Aion caught glimpses of Vangel''s journey, his struggles, and his desperate search for a solution to the impending catastrophe that had befallen their world.


    In those deste futures, Vangel had witnessed the devastating consequences of inaction, the ravages of unchecked chaos and unchecked power. It was this harrowing perspective that had forged his unwavering determination to reshape the world ording to his own vision, regardless of the sacrifices or the cost.


    Aion realized that beneath the surface of Vangel''s actionsy a fervent belief that his path was the only viable one, the only chance to salvage what remained of their shattered existence. Vangel''s resolve had been honed by the crucible of time, and he had emerged with an unyielding conviction that his way, however extreme or radical, held the key to a future worth fighting for.


    "I don''t care," Aion dered. "Free my mother right now alongside Seris and Ana. You don''t want to see me more pissed than I already am. There is no point in hiding this, but just like you, I had some time to think of ways to deal with you. You definitely don''t want to see me using them."


    "For how long are you going to act like you have the upper hand? You can''t do a single thing against me, so don''t give me orders," Vangel said and then made numerous copies of himself stop moving and face Aion. "You are just a failure that lost your chance. Just ept your fate and be a stepping stone to a future where this world can survive."


    "Your words are pretty empty, you were there as well, so you failed too," Aion said and then shrugged. "I just told you before, just don''t me me for the fate of this world. You guys are to be med for leaving all the weight on my shoulders. That was your decision as well; just ept your weakness and ipetence."


    Vangel didn''t reply to that; instead of it, his copies just pointed their hands at Aion, and they began to feel his veins vibrating¡­ that wasn''t a good sign.


    As Aion confronted the overwhelming assault of Vangel''s copies, he felt an intense agony coursing through his body. The copies had discovered a way to control his blood vessels, squeezing them tightly like constricting serpents. The pain was unbearable, threatening to plunge him into unconsciousness.


    Aion''s heart pounded in his chest, each beat echoing like a thunderous drum. His veins pulsed with an unnatural rhythm as if they were dancing to the enemy''s dark melody. Dizziness enveloped him, blurring his vision and robbing him of his strength.


    Struggling against the grip of the enemy''s maniption, Aion fought to maintain his consciousness. Waves of lightheadedness washed over him, threatening to pull him into the depths of oblivion. Yet, a flicker of defiance burned within him, refusing to be extinguished.


    Aion used a mana shield to fight back agaisnt the mana that the enemy used, but he didn''t notice any differences. Something was off¡­ the enemy was supposed to be using mana, but¡­ in the end, Aion thought fast and then created a gravitational field that made everything around him much heavier. Thanks to it, Aion saw something falling from the air and then hitting the ground beneath him. It was almost impossible to see it, but some particles in the air were surrounding him and being controlled by the enemy. Those particles apparently were connected through a thin line, and that made it easy for the enemies to enter and control his blood flow.


    "Was that all?" Aion asked. "Where are they?"


    "Your friends and allies are dying right now, and you are taking your time against me to save three useless women?" Vangel asked. "You sure have your priorities straight."


    "You can talk about that when your only goal is to save your own skin since you are shit scared of facing the enemies beyond the confines of this world," Aion replied. "Everyone on my side is fighting for something aside from themselves, and we are willing to die for it; you are willing to die for nothing. You are worse than a worm. Worms had at least some courage to crawl and search for their food instead of hiding in the darkness and waiting for your chance to do things the way you wanted."


    As Vangel''s anger surged within the distorted dimension, the very fabric of the space trembled in response. His fury resonated like a thunderous storm, echoing through the warped corridors of the realm. The sheer force of his rage seemed to manifest in the form of relentless copies, propelled with astonishing speed toward Aion.


    The copies materialized in a frenzy, their movements a blur of motion. Like shadowy specters, they darted through the rifts, appearing and disappearing with unnerving swiftness. Their attacks were relentless,ing from all directions at once as if time itself had fractured under Vangel''s wrath.


    Aion found himself surrounded by a maelstrom of adversaries, their forms blurring into a chaotic whirlwind. Each copy possessed the same malicious intent, their strikes honed with precision and speed. It was a symphony of aggression, a relentless onught that threatened to overwhelm Aion''s defenses.


    As the battle raged on, Aion teetered on exhaustion''s edge. The sheer number of enemies, the relentless onught, and the mind-numbing speed at which they attacked threatened to overwhelm him. Time and again, he felt his consciousness waver, his strength falter, and the darkness of unconsciousness beckon.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 437 Power From Other Times

    ?


    Every strike he parried, every blow hended came at a great cost. Aion''s body ached with fatigue, his muscles screamed for respite, and his senses blurred in a haze of weariness. The weight of the battle bore down upon him, threatening to crush his spirit beneath its unforgiving burden. He was expecting that the fight would be hard, but he didn''t think that he would reach his limits so soon.


    With each passing moment, Aion''s steps grew unsteady, his movements sluggish. The enemy''s attacks blurred together, bing a dizzying whirlwind of motion that threatened to swallow him whole. His body fought to keep up, but the toll of the relentless assault began to take its toll.


    Still, all of a sudden, he recovered and then punched just one enemy¡­ Aion channeled his fury into a single devastating punch. His clenched fist surged forward, propelled by a surge of raw power that defied the odds. It connected with a resounding impact, striking true against the enemy before him.


    The force of the blow rippled through the enemy''s body, its impact reverberating like a shockwave. In a moment of glorious retribution, the targeted enemy careened backward, crashing into the midst of its fellow clones with unstoppable momentum.


    The domino effect took hold as the colliding bodies set off a chain reaction. One by one, the enemy clones were thrown off bnce, their assault interrupted as they stumbled and faltered under the unexpected impact. The once-unrelenting barrage of attacks faltered, giving Aion a precious moment of respite amidst the chaos.


    "You must be retarded by splitting your power into numerous copies," Aion said. "Wait, no. You are just a coward who is too afraid to face me directly. You probably know the result already and want to think of ways to counter my skills somehow."


    Vangel''s eyes narrowed as he observed Aion''s disy of strength and determination. His gaze, cold and calcting, studied the aftermath of Aion''s decisive blow against his clones. Though Aion''s actions had disrupted their assault, Vangel''s resolve remained unyielding.


    Ignoring Aion''s words, Vangel seemed lost in thought, contemting the implications of Aion''s disy of power. His mind churned with calctions and strategies, seeking to decipher the underlying principles that had enabled Aion to shatter his formation. His serious eyes scanned the battlefield, dissecting the intricacies of the situation.


    A flicker of recognition crossed Vangel''s face as he pieced together the puzzle before him. Behind his impassive facade, a spark of admiration ignited. He acknowledged the audacity of Aion''s defiance, the resilience that had propelled him to strike back against insurmountable odds.


    "I suppose you would call that: Timeless Punch, am I right?" Vangel asked. "An attack enhanced in thest moment by the eleration of time magic¡­ a more direct version of Timeless sh."


    Aion''s surprise was palpable as he witnessed Vangel''s ability toprehend the essence of his attack with a single nce. The sudden realization washed over him, leaving a mixture of astonishment and intrigue in its wake.


    It was as if Vangel possessed a unique perceptiveness, an acute understanding of the intricacies and nuances ofbat. In that brief moment of observation, he had managed to dissect the underlying mechanics of Aion''s technique, unraveling the hidden threads that had allowed him to break through the onught of clones.


    "You did your homework, so what?" Aion asked. "Are you ready to take your balls out of your ass and face me now?"


    "Do you kiss your mother with that dirty mouth of yours?" Vangel asked.


    Aion''s fury surged through his veins, igniting an intense fire within him. The frustration of being outmatched and the weight of his own limitations propelled his anger to new heights. As the mes of his fury burned brighter, he could feel his body quiver with an overwhelming surge of energy.


    But amidst the fury, a wave of sickness washed over him, threatening to consume his very being. It was as if the anger had amplified the torment that already resided within him. The sickness intensified, gnawing at his insides, and his vision blurred with a haze of difort.


    Aion''s mind raced, trying toprehend the source of this increasing sickness. Was it a manifestation of his own frustration, an embodiment of the struggle against an insurmountable adversary? Or was there something deeper at y, a hidden force manipting his body to weaken his resolve?


    "... What did you do with that corpse?" Aion asked.


    "You really think that I will answer that?" Vangel smiled, and then his clones resumed their attacks on Aion.


    The clones returned, and they moved so fast that Aion could barely see their individual motions. They struck him from all directions, their fists and feetnding blows with incredible speed and force. Aion fought back, his own punches and kicks aimed at repelling the onught.


    The air around them crackled with the energy of their movements. The clones darted around like streaks of lightning, their attacksing in rapid session. Aion dodged and weaved, using his agility to avoid their strikes, but they were relentless in their assault.


    Aion''s body felt the impact of their blows, each strike sending waves of pain through his muscles. He gritted his teeth and pressed on, refusing to sumb to their speed and ferocity. His determination burned within him, fueling his resolve to withstand their attacks.


    "I can''t do much until I confirm where those three are¡­ but knowing his piece of shit, he probably has some clones keeping an eye on them as well," Aion thought.


    As if that wasn''t enough, Vangel still had clonesing and going to the portals¡­ even now, he was harnessing more power. Aion had to do something about that¡­


    "I need to get rid of all of them in a single instant and then get rid of the main one," Aion thought while clenching his fists.


    Aion focused his senses to let Inner Release explode. At the same time, he also used the logic behind Timeless sh in his whole body.

 Chapter 438 Overwhelming Power

    ?


    Vangel noticed that he was nning something, but that didn''t stop Aion. Aion''s anger boiled over, fueling an explosive surge of energy within him. With a furious determination, he unleashed a torrent of attacks upon the clones by using time magic and summoning his unknown sword, striking them with lightning speed and devastating force. His sword strikes moved like a whirlwind, pummeling his adversaries with relentless blows in their heads and hearts. They didn''t have time to react since he killed dozens of them in a single moment.


    As the clones dissipated into nothingness, Aion''s attention shifted to the real Vangel. Rage and determination burned in his eyes as he channeled all of his remaining energy into a final assault. His every movement was guided by a single purpose: to defeat Vangel once and for all. The bastard was a tough nut to crack, but Aion has been around the block and he knew how to deal with that.


    However, despite his speed, Vangel blocked the attack effortlessly¡­ he could be that fast as well. Even though he only had the buff of the lowest level of Force Release, he still could do that much.


    As the clones disintegrated into shimmering energy, a strange phenomenon unfolded before Aion''s eyes. The ethereal essence of the defeated clones coalesced and converged towards Vangel''s sword. The de, once a mere instrument of destruction, now pulsated with a radiant glow as it absorbed the released energy.


    Aion watched in surprise as the sword consumed the remnants of the clones, its power growing with each intake. The swirling energy enveloped the weapon, causing it to shimmer and crackle with newfound strength. It was as if the essence of the defeated clones merged with the very soul of Vangel''s weapon, amplifying its potency.


    The absorbed energy seemed to infuse Vangel with renewed vigor. His stance became more resolute, his eyes gleaming with an intensified determination. It was evident that the energy absorbed from the fallen clones had bolstered his own power, granting him an even greater source of strength.


    "You might end up regretting this¡­ you want to face me directly, so you shall have that," Vangel said and then swung down his sword.


    Thrown off bnce by Vangel''s forceful sword strike, Aion was suddenly propelled backward and plunged into a swirling vortex of distorted space. The world around him twisted and blurred like a chaotic whirlwind of colors and shapes.


    After what felt like an eternity, Aion emerged from the vortex, finding himself standing on top of an enormous iceberg. The icy surface stretched out in all directions, its gleaming white expanse contrasting starkly against the dark sky. The freezing air cut through his clothes, sending a shiver down his spine.


    Surrounded by the towering ice formations, Aion felt a deep sense of solitude and vulnerability. The vastness of the frozenndscape entuated his istion, and he couldn''t help but feel small in the face of such immense beauty and danger.


    In the next moment, Aion felt a shiver, and then he teleported away, barely avoiding a sword strike that split the three kilometers wide iceberg in two¡­ that was Vangel''s power now.


    Vangelnded on the same side of the iceberg that Aion was, with his sword restingzily on his shoulders. With arge mug on his face, it seemed that losing didn''t cross his mind at all.


    Vangel''s sword was a marvel to behold, far superior to the mysterious sword Aion wielded. The craftsmanship of Vangel''s weapon was exquisite, reflecting the countless years he had poured into its creation. The de shone brilliantly, its edges razor-sharp and polished to a mirror-like sheen. The hilt, adorned with intricate engravings, exuded an air of mystique.


    Inparison, Aion''s own sword, forged by Ana, seemed modest and simple. Its designcked the intricate details and ornate embellishments that adorned Vangel''s weapon. However, Aion''s sword held a different kind of beauty¡ªa beauty born from the love and dedication that went into its making. It carried the weight of memories, battles fought, and the bond between Aion and Ana.


    Though Vangel''s sword appeared more impressive, Aion knew that the true power of a weapony not solely in its craftsmanship but in the spirit of the one who wielded it. Aion''s determination and unwavering resolve far surpassed the craftsmanship of any sword. He understood that the strength he possessed came from within, forged through hardships and fueled by a burning desire to protect what he held dear.


    "Jealous?" Vangel asked.


    "No way in hell, this is a gift from a pretty girl; it is way more valuable than yours," Aions shrugged. "Besides, this mighte wrong, but it isn''t how a de looks, but it is how it is used."


    "Sounds like an excuse for me," Vangel said and then dashed toward Aion.


    Aion clicked his tongue since Vangel was holding back his speed; he just used enough to make Aion see and block his attack¡­ Still, its weight pushed Aion backward for several kilometers¡­ Aion hit the frozen once several times before he collided agaisnt another iceberg.


    As Aion collided with the massive iceberg, a sharp and agonizing pain surged through his body. The impact was brutal, causing his ribs to crack with a sickening crunch. The pain engulfed him, stealing his breath and making every movement a torment.


    Gasping for air, Aion felt the warmth of his own blood trickling from the broken bones. Each breath became a struggle as if shards of ice were stabbing into his chest with every inhale. His body trembled with the strain, and he could feel his strength waning.


    Aion barely had time to heal himself when he saw a massive de of wind flying toward him. He jumped with all his might and avoided the attack, only to see another iceberg being split in half. This time, horizontally.


    "I am still trying to understand the logic behind it; it is quite fun to use," Vangel said while looking at his sword. "It is like this? Or more like this?"

 Chapter 439 Time Dilation

    ?


    Vangel swung his sword slowly, but even so¡­ The sword sliced through the air, cutting into Aion''s left arm with a sickening sound. The pain was immediate and excruciating, shooting through his body like a lightning bolt. Aion''s arm hung limply at his side, blood gushing from the deep gash.


    But Aion wasn''t one to give up easily. With a surge of determination, he quickly retrieved his severed arm and held it firmly against his wounded shoulder. He focused his energy, channeling his mana into the injured limb.


    The healing process began, a faint blue glow enveloping the torn flesh. Aion''s brow furrowed in concentration as he willed his body to mend itself. Tendons, muscles, and bones started to knit back together, piece by piece.


    The pain gradually subsided, reced by a dull throbbing. Aion flexed his fingers, testing the movement of his reattached arm. It responded, albeit weakly, but it was a sign of progress.


    A sense of relief washed over him as he realized his arm was saved from being lost to the depths of the ocean. The experience only fueled his determination to face Vangel and ovee the challenges thaty ahead.


    "That is it! Timeless Sword!" Vangel said while smiling. "It isn''t that hard to use once you see it in person."


    Aion couldn''t deny that the enemy copied Malon''s skill as well¡­ after seeing Aion moving his whole body following the same principles, he probably understood everything behind it. It was really a problem.


    "What about this? Does it bring back memories?" Vangel asked.


    Vangel''s sword gleamed with an ominous radiance as a vibrant aura enveloped its de. The air around the weapon crackled with energy, and abination of red and blue hues danced along its surface, casting an eerie glow.


    The red aura pulsated with a fiery intensity, representing the destructive power contained within. It seemed to flicker with malice, as if hungry for chaos and destruction. Its presence alone sent shivers down the spines of those who beheld it, a menacing warning of the imminent danger it posed. It was Lexus'' technique¡­ one that Vangel used agaisnt Aion in the tournament.


    Contrasting the fiery red, the blue aura emanated a cool and ethereal brilliance. It shimmered with a tranquil yet potent energy, embodying a sense of control and order. It seemed to whisper promises of rity and focus, hinting at the calcted precision with which Vangel wielded his weapon.


    The merging of these two contrasting energies created an unsettling and mesmerizing spectacle. The red and blue hues intermingled and swirled together, creating a mesmerizing dance of light. It was a symbol of Vangel''s power, the fusion of chaos and control, a force to be reckoned with.


    Aion knew what the enemy would happen, and there wasn''t a single thing that he could have done to stop it¡­bining with Timeless sh, Vangel attacked Aion. The strike destroyed the iceberg and created a massive hole in the frozen ocean that reached its bottom.


    Aion tried to teleport away, but Timeless sh was practically a sure-kill hit, impossible to dodge. Before he could do that, he was sent downward by the st of energy¡­ his sword blocked and absorbed some of the mana. However, he still ended up feeling his body being ripped apart, but all the remaining didn''t have time to absorb it.


    "Not even using Timeless sh to counter it worked¡­" Aion thought while clenching his teeth.


    As Aion descended into the depths of the ocean, the weight of the water pressed upon him, causing his body to ache and his movements to slow. The force of Vangel''s attack intensified the struggle; a single blow reverberated through the water and threatened to shatter Aion''s body.


    In the midst of this watery battlefield, Aion felt the full impact of Vangel''s skill. The water around him churned violently as Vangel''s attack sliced through the liquid, creating powerful currents that battered Aion''s body. Each collision sent waves of pain coursing through him, testing his endurance and pushing him to his limits.


    Amidst the turmoil, Aion''s senses heightened, allowing him to perceive the looming threat of Vangel''s power. Still, before he could do anything else, he hit the bottom of the ocean¡­


    Aion''s body was healing thanks to Inner Release and the constant use of Quick Healing, but even so, that barely could keep up.


    Space King Lv 58


    Health: 1020/7720


    Mana: 19220/26120


    Stamina: 5620/7720


    Strength: 361


    Dexterity: 361


    Magic: 651 + 1400


    Endurance: 361


    Resistance: 361


    Speed: 361


    Status: 00


    Space Crystal Refinement Lv 70


    Bonuses: + 1400 Magic


    Skills: Pocket Dimension Creation 75 (Power Lv 100, Efficiency Lv 20), Teleportation Lv 19, Spatial Shifting Lv 29, Spatial Expansion Lv 36, Time Dtion Lv 08


    Passive: Spatial Awareness Lv 35, Gravity Maniption Lv 24


    Time Dtion (Level 1): Unleash the temporal might and bend thews of time itself. With Time Dtion, you gain the ability to manipte the flow of time. Slows down the surrounding world, giving the yer heightened reflexes and perception. Enemies move in sluggish motion, their attacks telegraphed and easily evaded. Activate Time Slow to seize the advantage and strike with unrivaled precision.


    "I didn''t want to use something that I didn''t have time to test¡­ but it is clear that he can do the same," Aion thought when he felt the pressure of other attacks like thating. "I don''t have any other choice."


    The cold ocean roared with fury, unleashing colossal waves that crashed violently in all directions. The force of the surging water sent tremors through the air, shaking the very ground beneath their feet. Amidst this chaotic spectacle, Vangelunched a relentless assault upon Aion, his attacks imbued with newfound strength.


    Vangel''s eyes widened with a mix of astonishment and delight as he witnessed the might of his powers in action. With each strike, he disyed an array of formidable skills, unleashing devastating blows upon Aion. Thunderous bursts of energy, swift and precise sword shes, and ethereal projectiles surged forth, seeking to overwhelm Aion''s defenses.

 Chapter 440 Playing

    ?


    Caught in the midst of this tempestuous sh, Vangel couldn''t contain his exhration. It was a moment of revtion, a confirmation of the immense power he now possessed. The sheer magnitude of his abilities, realized in this battle, filled him with an intoxicating sense of joy and awe. He reveled in the sheer thrill of his newfound might, relishing the opportunity to demonstrate his strength to the world. That feeling was nothing else.


    Vangel only calmed down when he noticed the rift that they used toe to that era trembling in decreasing in size. While he wasn''t afraid of being locked there since he could just open another one, Vangel knew that too much interference in other eras might cause problems for him in the future as well, so he had to avoid that.


    "I still feel his presence¡­ it is weaker, and it is wavering thanks to being hit by my attacks, but he never gets weaker than this," Vangel thought while rubbing his chin.


    Knowing Aion, Vangel knew that he wouldn''t try to buy time; he knew that time was against him since Vangel was getting stronger with every passing moment, after all.


    While Vangel was thinking about that, something impossible happened¡­ he felt an ominous feeling, and then he raised his sword to block all attacks. Weirdly enough, he felt his sword absorbing energy, but he didn''t know what was happening.


    Vangel''s face began to itch, a nagging sensation that grew increasingly bothersome. He absentmindedly brushed his hand against his cheek, only to feel a sudden, sharp sting. His brows furrowed in confusion as he realized something had harmed him, causing a small trickle of blood to drip from his wounded face.


    A mix of surprise and annoyance shed across Vangel''s features. He hadn''t anticipated this sudden attack on his person. His gaze darted around, searching for the source of his assant, but found nothing immediately apparent. The sensation of pain lingered, a reminder of his vulnerability amidst the chaos of the battlefield.


    "I guess I can say that the score is 100 to 01¡­ I have a long way ahead of me," Aion said after he suddenly appeared above the ocean.


    Vangel''s surprise persisted as he continued to ponder the origin of his sudden injury. His mind raced, analyzing the possibilities and seeking an exnation for the unseen assant. He furrowed his brows, deep in thought, as he scrutinized the battlefield for any signs or clues.


    Questions filled his mind. How could he have been struck without warning? Who or what had managed to breach his defenses? Vangel''s eyes darted from one direction to another, searching for any hints, any traces of the elusive culprit. He couldn''t afford to underestimate the situation or the potential threats lurking around him. Despite Aion''s words, he failed to believe that he was the one who wounded him.


    Aion could tell that it was the case, and he decided to surprise Vangel once more. He already realized what kind of person he was¡­ he was an extremely good copycat, but creativity wasn''t his forte.


    While the enemy was confused, Aion decided to test some other things. Vangel raised his guard when he felt Aion''s mana getting active, but he didn''t see what was going on¡­ he only felt lingerings signs of magic being used; he didn''t know what was used.


    All of a sudden, he realized what kind of magic Aion used, but, at the same time¡­ Aion expanded his sword to its fullest extent. With a mighty swing, he unleashed a devastating strike toward Vangel. The air crackled with energy as the immense de descended upon its target.


    Vangel''s astonishment turned to rm as he realized the impending danger. Before he could react, the force of Aion''s attack crashed into him with tremendous impact. The ground beneath them trembled as the colossal sword collided with Vangel, sending shockwaves rippling through the battlefield.


    The sheer power of the blow left Vangel reeling, his body propelled backward through the air. He struggled to regain his footing, the impact having momentarily shattered hisposure. As he staggered, blood trickled from his wounds, staining his once-immacte attire.


    Aion stood resolute, his gaze fixed upon Vangel. The weight of his attack echoed in the air, a testament to his unwavering resolve. He had unleashed the full force of his strength, channeling it into that single strike.


    Vangel''s eyes widened with shock as he didn''t recognize the unfamiliar pattern of Aion''s time magic. It was unlike anything he had encountered before, a unique maniption of temporal energies that left him feeling utterly defenseless.


    Time seemed to distort around Vangel as Aion''s new technique took hold. He felt the flow of seconds and minutes be erratic, bending and warping in ways he couldn''tprehend. It was as if Aion had tapped into a hidden well of temporal power, granting him an advantage that Vangel couldn''t anticipate.


    The realization struck Vangel with a profound sense of vulnerability. His usual confidence wavered as he grappled with the implications of this newfound ability. No longer could he rely on his quick reflexes and strategic thinking to outmaneuver his opponents. Aion had introduced an element of unpredictability that left Vangel at a disadvantage.


    "What was that?" Vangel said while his wounds began to heal and the blood began to vanish from his clothes.


    "Do you really think I would exin that to you?" Aion asked while smiling. "I will; if you release those three, then we will be able to y for quite a while."


    Aion''s eyes widened in surprise as Vangel effortlessly reversed time. It was a move he hadn''t expected, leaving him momentarily puzzled. He watched in awe as Vangel manipted time, undoing the effects of Aion''s attack.


    A mix of wonder and confusion filled Aion''s mind. He couldn''t help but admire Vangel''s skill in manipting time. Still, he was also perplexed by the specific technique used against him. He furrowed his brow, trying to make sense of it.

 Chapter 441 Brainiac

    ?


    "He doesn''t know what I did, but he can use time reversal¡­ I guess this isn''t something I was supposed to know from the future," Aion thought.


    Despite that, such a technique didn''te without a price. Aion''s senses began to dull, and a tingling sensation crept through his body. His limbs felt heavy as if submerged in a sea of numbing energy. His familiar connection with his physicality started to fade, reced by a growing sense of detachment.


    As the numbness spread, Aion''s movements became sluggish and unresponsive. Once agile and responsive, his muscles now felt as though they were encased in ice. Even his thoughts seemed to slow as if trapped in a fog of lethargy.


    "I used too much mana, I guess¡­" Aion assumed when the soul recovered his energy, and his body began to return to normal. "I need to be careful since this power is beyond what my body should be able to handle right now."


    Vangel''s eyes widened in surprise and realization as he took several hurried steps backward, his expression one of caution and uncertainty. The sudden turn of events seemed to have caught him off guard, his confidence momentarily shaken.


    As Aion''s previous attacknded with force, sending shockwaves through the air, Vangel instinctively retreated, his movements marked by a mix of haste and uncertainty. He nced over his shoulder. His gaze fixated on the rift that had brought him here, his escape route beckoning to him.


    With a sudden burst of determination, Vangel swiftly turned and sprinted toward the rift¡­ he was running away. His retreat was marked by a sense of urgency, a recognition that the tables had turned, and his continued presence in this confrontation posed a significant risk.


    Without a backward nce, Vangel made a swift dive into the rift, disappearing from sight in an instant. It was clear that he had chosen to withdraw for now, retreating to gather his strength and n his next move.


    "Damned coward," Aion thought as he used Teleportation to follow the enemy.


    As Aion emerged from the rift and returned to the previous dimension, he found himself once again confronted by the sight of Vangel. To his surprise, Vangel stood at a distance, and his gaze fixated on the battle they had just engaged in. He observed the sh repeatedly through a nearby rift, studying the intricacies of their encounter.


    Aion''s eyes narrowed as he took in the scene, realizing that Vangel had found a way to manipte the rifts, allowing him to witness their confrontation from different perspectives and moments in time. It became apparent that Vangel was driven not only by a thirst for power but also by a relentless pursuit of knowledge and understanding.


    "I see¡­ you used Time Dtion and Space Expansion to surprise me like that," Vangel said. "I won''t fall for the same trick again."


    "You sure know how to make fun battles be boring," Aion shrugged. "Where are they¡­ if you want to fight me and prove that you can defeat the true enemies instead of me, you don''t need prisoners."


    "I don''t need them, but it is better if I have them," Vangel said once he closed the rift. "In order to make you a decent adversary and show me everything you can do, I will use them."


    "Why do you want to copy me when I failed once?" Aion asked. "That sure sounds retarded."


    "Knowledge and power can show different results ording to the people that are using them," Vangel exined.


    "Hmm, that seems like bullshit, even though it makes sense," Aion thought while analyzing the enemy in front of him. "What I think is that you saw the future, and you know that you can''t defeat the true enemies¡­ the ones that Malon made on his trips to other worlds. Thanks to that, you are in desperate need to learn more techniques, to obtain more knowledge, and to obtain more power."


    Vangel didn''t reply to that; he just red at Aion. Through his mastery of time maniption, he had gained glimpses into the myriad possibilities thaty ahead, each branching path offering a different oue to their ongoing battle.


    In his relentless pursuit of power and knowledge, Vangel had discovered that Aion possessed a unique quality, one that set him apart from any other adversary he had encountered. Aion''s unwavering resilience, his unyielding spirit, and his ability to adapt and grow stronger in the face of adversity intrigued Vangel to no end.


    Though Vangel may have possessed a surefire method to eliminate Aion in an instant, he refrained from utilizing it. Instead, he chose to engage Aion in a protracted battle, a trial of strength and skill, with a hidden agenda lingering beneath the surface.


    Vangel saw in Aion the potential for growth and evolution. He recognized that only by pushing Aion to his limits, by challenging him in ways that no one else could, could he unlock Aion''s true potential. By engaging Aion in battles that tested his mettle and forced him to innovate and create new techniques, Vangel sought to forge him into a formidable opponent, a worthy adversary capable of matching his own power.


    The multiple futures that Vangel witnessed served as a testament to the immense potential thaty dormant within Aion. Each future oue hinted at different paths of growth and different heights of power that Aion could attain. It fascinated Vangel, driving him to continue their battle and ensure that Aion''s potential was fully realized.


    For Vangel, the battle with Aion was not solely about personal victory or defeating an enemy. It was a means to both hone his own abilities and ignite the mes of greatness within Aion. Vangel saw in Aion a catalyst for his own growth, a catalyst that could push him beyond his current limits and unveil new realms of power.


    "Well, is my guess right?" Aion asked. "I can tell based on your reaction. Sometimes, my brainiess surprises me as well. Anyway, let them go, and let''s fight. I also think that I will benefit by making you my sparring partner. Still, don''t get your hopes up; I will kill you in the end once you be useless. But it won''t be painful; pretty good deal, right?"

 Chapter 442 Another Time

    ?


    Vangel didn''t reply, and his reaction seemed a bit off. Knowing him, he was supposed to get pissed beyond reason, and yet¡­


    "Unless you saw that I surpassed you pretty soon, and that won''t let you live for long," Aion said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "This seems correct as well."


    A flicker of annoyance danced across Vangel''s face as Aion''s words struck a nerve. The corners of his lips curled into a subtle frown, and an audible click of his tongue echoed in the air. It was a small but telling sign of Vangel''s frustration.


    Aion''s astute observation had hit the mark, uncovering the truth that Vangel had hoped to keep concealed. Vangel''s carefully guarded intentions wereid bare before his adversary, and it irked him to see his ns exposed so easily.


    "It doesn''t matter, I already know how to kill you, and I just need to make sure to take most of it," Vangel said. "Don''t disappoint me, or I kill them a lot sooner than I had nned."


    Aion''s anger surged through him like an uncontroble wildfire, fueling his every fiber with an intense heat. His fists clenched tightly, his muscles trembling with an explosive energy. As his rage consumed him, a chilling sensation crept up his spine, causing his body to shudder with an unsettling force.


    Amidst the seething fury, a foreboding presence slithered its way into Aion''s consciousness. It was an insidious force, an otherworldly essence that coiled within him like a venomous serpent. The once familiar sensations of his own body seemed distorted as if an intruder had taken residence within.


    Aion felt his bones creaking under the weight of his mounting anger as if the sheer intensity of his emotions threatened to fracture his very being. The cracks reverberated through his limbs, a physical manifestation of the inner turmoil that consumed him. It was as though the energy within him had be too great to be contained, threatening to burst forth with cataclysmic force.


    "Hah, it is finally awakening, huh," Vangel smiled once again. "Betterte than never."


    Aion''s heart pounded in his chest, a mixture of trepidation and defiance coursing through his veins. Within the depths of his being, he could sense the unmistakable presence of Tenebres, the embodiment of darkness and malevolence. It was an energy that stirred unease within him, a reminder of the immense power that threatened to corrupt and consume.


    But alongside Tenebres'' looming presence, there was something else. Aion couldn''t shake the unsettling feeling that another force lurked within him, intertwined with the malefic essence. It was an energy that felt familiar, tainted with the essence of Vangel, the very adversary he had shed with relentlessly.


    As he pondered this disturbing realization, a chilling thought dawned upon him: Vangel had orchestrated this intricate scheme, manipting events to turn Aion into a pawn or seize control over his body. The revtion sent a shiver down his spine, a cold realization of the depths to which his enemy would stoop to achieve his nefarious goals.


    "... You are really pathetic," Aion muttered.


    "What about it? Results are everything," Vangel said while shrugging. "You kept your pride and failed to protect this world in the end. Do you want others to follow the same path too? Just let the anger consume you; it will make things easier for everyone. You are unnecessary in this world."


    Vangel''s cunning mind schemed relentlessly, fueled by a desire for power and control. While he relished the prospect of a formidable adversary in Aion, he harbored a deeper ulterior motive. Behind his fa?ade of challenging Aion to push him to new heights, Vangel''s true aim was to exploit the potential locked within Aion''s very being.


    He understood that there was something unique about Aion, something that had caught the attention of Malon, a figure of great significance. Vangel yearned to uncover the truth behind Malon''s choice, to delve into the depths of Aion''s memories and traits. He hungered for the knowledge and power thaty within, a treasure trove waiting to be discovered.


    To Vangel, the prospect of seizing control over Aion''s body was a gateway to unrivaled insights and abilities. By assimting Aion''s memories and traits, he believed he would gain ess to a wealth of knowledge and experiences that would further his own ambitions. It was a tantalizing opportunity to wield even greater power, to unlock the secrets of Aion''s past and the mysteries thaty within.


    In his twisted mind, Vangel saw himself as the rightful inheritor of Aion''s essence, a usurper seeking to im the spoils of victory for himself. He sought to understand the enigmatic puzzle that Aion represented, to grasp the purpose behind Malon''s choice and the hidden potential that resided within.


    As Vangel contemted this sinister n, his ambition burned brighter, fueled by the thirst for knowledge and domination. He reveled in the notion of subjugating Aion''s identity, of bending it to his will and extracting every ounce of power and insight it held. To him, it was not only a means to surpass his own limitations but also a chance to unravel the threads of destiny itself.


    "Hehehe, hahaha!" Aionughed. "You are something else¡­ living in a future like that, I thought that you would learn a thing or two, but you didn''t learn anything truly useful. Let''s end this, asshole. Do you want to see me be a puppet or a vessel? Then choose the best ce for that to happen. A ce where your n will make things more convenient for you."


    "There is no point in hurrying to that, but I suppose that will be more convenient for me," Vangel said while studying and trying to understand what he was nning and where his confidence wasing from. "In that case, let''s fight in the future that you built just around the time you died."


    As expected of Vangel, that level of nastiness sure befitted him. Still, Aion couldn''t say that he wasn''t curious about the future of the world. He saw the aftermath five hundred years in the future, but he didn''t see the period where he died¡­


    Vangel opened a rift that connected to the world with a flick of his fingers. Both of them jumped in without hesitation. Thanks to it, Aion was left speechless when he saw things around¡­

 Chapter 443 The Third Is The Charm

    ?


    Aion and Vangel materialized in the heart of the Zaera Kingdom''s capital, only to be greeted by a scene of utter devastation. The once-thriving cityy in ruins, its once-proud structures reduced to crumbling rubble. The air was thick with smoke and the acrid scent of destruction, a clear sign of the chaos that had urred in thend.


    As their eyes scanned the destendscape, they witnessed a nightmarish sight. Dark, menacing machines reminiscent of colossal spiders prowled the streets, their metallic limbs crushing everything in their path. With ruthless efficiency, they hunted down any survivors who dared to flee, leaving destruction and despair in their wake.


    But the horror did not end there. Towering over the ruined city, monstrous Hydras, each reaching a staggering height of five hundred meters, slithered and writhed, their multiple heads hissing with venomous intent. These ancient beasts moved with an eerie grace, their massive forms casting long shadows over the ruined streets as they sought out any remaining signs of life.


    Amidst the chaos and devastation, Aion and Vangel found themselves thrust into a battle against an overwhelming force of darkness. The once-vibrant capital had be a haunting battlefield, a battleground where survival seemed like an impossible dream. Their every step was apanied by the deafening sounds of destruction and the desperate cries of those who had yet to be consumed by the nightmarish onught.


    "Wee to the kingdom of Aion, the cursed king of the time," Vengal said


    "I guess I should have improved mynd management skills," Aion shrugged. "The enemies didn''te after this, but they still built that metallic cage. Let me guess what they used fuel to build that¡­ mana of the world. Am I right?"


    "And the corpses of all living beings," Vangel replied. "Your friend Malon really picked a fight with the wrong enemies. They can control beings like this with a single thought. And I thought that I was getting ahead of myself with my powers."


    As Aion delved into his own mind, he imagined a breathtaking panorama of worlds and realms that Malon might have encountered on his journey beyond the confines of their. The vistas that unfolded before Aion''s mind''s eye were nothing short of extraordinary, painting a vivid tapestry of diverse civilizations and awe-inspiring adversaries.


    First, Aion glimpsed the remnants of ancient civilizations, their crumbling ruins telling tales of forgotten empires and mysterious powers. These time-worn structures stood as testaments to the ingenuity and cultural heritage of bygone eras. Each crumbling stone and faded mural held whispers of untold wisdom and lost secrets, beckoning seekers of knowledge to decipher their enigmatic messages.


    Moving on, Aion''s mind soared above vastndscapes inhabited by tribesmen deeply connected to their ancestral roots. These indigenous societies lived in harmony with nature, drawing strength from thend and the spirits that dwelled within it. Their rituals, traditions, and intricate tribal markings were woven into the fabric of their existence, reflecting their profound reverence for the natural world and their spiritual connection to the cosmic forces that shaped their lives.


    Aion''s imagination then revealed advanced societies where towering metropolises pierced the skies, pulsating with the vibrant energy of innovation and progress. In these futuristic realms, cutting-edge technology and scientific marvels weremonce, enhancing the lives of their inhabitants and reshaping the very fabric of reality. Imposing skyscrapers, holographic disys, and sleek hovercrafts filled the bustling streets. At the same time, brilliant minds pushed the boundaries of knowledge and invention.


    Yet, amidst the marvels of these civilizations, Aion''s mind conjured visions of colossal beasts that roamed untamed realms, their immense forms inspiring both awe and trepidation. These towering creatures, some with scales, others with fur or feathers, embodied primal power and untamed beauty. From majestic dragons soaring through the skies to colossal sea serpents lurking in the depths of vast oceans, these creatures were awe-inspiring manifestations of nature''s raw might.


    "It seems that he found problems in the most dangerous ones," Aion muttered. "Anyway, I do not know what kind of power he had when that happened, but I suppose this battle will be a good workout before they show up again."


    "Of all things that I really hate you for, I at least admire your willpower," Vangel dered. "It didn''t matter the odds or the enemies¡­ you always fought them."


    "Naturally, I didn''t die once in order to be a coward," Aion shrugged. "Those that stand in my way for no apparent reason won''t kill themselves, so I have to help them with that. Well then, do you want to see me enraged, or do you want to trade some sword strikes with the tricks that I have in mind?"


    "Whatever you decide is best for you," Vangel replied.


    Vangel raised his sword, and he made that red and blue aura grow more intense, but at the same time, it began to lose its wild touch and decreased in size. It seemed that he learned a thing or two as well. Still, before he could make good use of that¡­


    Aion harnessed the powers of time and space to his advantage. By unleashing Time Dtion, Spatial Expansion, and Spatial Shifting, everything around him seemed to slow down, giving him the upper hand. At that moment, he expanded his sword, extending his influence over the surrounding area.


    With a swift and decisive motion, Aion made his sword appear as if out of thin air. It pierced through the fabric of reality, finding its mark with precision and impaling Vangel''s chest. The impact was sudden and jarring, catching Vangel off guard and leaving him stunned.


    "Good, I canbine three skills at the same time¡­ but my body is getting number again," Aion thought. "I guessbining fourth will be too much¡­"


    Vangel gasped in pain and disbelief, his face contorted with shock. The realization of his vulnerability washed over him, causing him to falter. The bnce of power shifted in Aion''s favor, marking a turning point in their confrontation.

 Chapter 444 Sky Of Swords

    ?


    When he was about to touch Aion''s sword, the weapon disappeared thanks to Spatial Shifting¡­ even with a hole in his chest, Vangel still had the energy to look at Aion and think of what he just did.


    "Heal yourself and analyze what I did. I will give you some time to do so," Aion said.


    It seemed that Aion was getting carried away, and Vangelughed thanks to that. Still, he had a n of his own and reasons to give the enemy a chance to learn more about his skills and powers. Aion had to find where those three were, and he could only imagine that Vangel put them in a pocket dimension as well.


    Despite having the chance to kill Vangel, Aion hesitated. He couldn''t bring himself to end Vangel''s life just yet. There was a nagging feeling inside him¡ªa concern for the well-being of his Mother, Seris, and Ana. Aion knew that if he were to deliver the final blow without first finding out if they were trapped in a pocket dimension created by Vangel, they might be lost forever.


    A sense of urgency overcame Aion as he realized the gravity of the situation. His heart ached at the thought of his loved ones being stranded in an unknown realm, their fate uncertain. Should he perish, he couldn''t bear the thought of their lives being extinguished along with Vangel''s.


    Vangel saw through Aion''s behavior; he expected as much, and that was why he was amused while the wound that made him feel like a dead man was already disappearing, thanks to Time Reversal.


    Vangel learned his lesson and immediately used Timeless sh and Force sh. The unavoidable attack hit Aion from above and immediately pushed him downward.


    The cityy in ruins, reduced to rubble and debris, as Vangel''s devastating attack sent shockwaves of destruction through its streets. The once bustling and vibrant ce was now a wastnd of broken buildings and scattered remnants of what once was.


    Undeterred by the devastation, Vangel unleashed his powers again and again, each strike tearing at Aion''s body with brutal force. The relentless assault tore through Aion''s flesh, causing him unimaginable pain and leaving his defenses shattered.


    Aion, his body torn and bleeding, fought to hold himself together. Each blow sent waves of agony coursing through his being, threatening to tear him apart. But he refused to yield, driven by a fierce determination to protect his loved ones and find the truth he sought.


    When Vangel stopped, the capital had be a massive number of craters all around the area. Still, he didn''t feel Aion''s presence decreasing past a certain point again.


    When the dust dissipated, Vangel furrowed his eyebrows while looking almostpletely wounded from head to toe. While not as fast as Time Reversal, his body was being healed.


    "As expected of a skill thatbines the techniques of Malon and my father," Aion said and then tapped the dust away from his clothes. "That never stops shocking me."


    Vangel smirked, he could tell that Aion was trying to piss him off, but that didn''t happen. It only motivated Vangel more.


    "Shall I show a skill that you used in the future and you don''t have now?" Vangel asked.


    "But of course, bring it on," Aion said while smiling.


    "All right, here it goes," Vangel said and then raised his sword.


    Suddenly, a massive chunk of ice came hurtling down from the sky, crashing into the ground with an earth-shattering impact. The ground trembled beneath Aion''s feet as the shockwave rippled through the area, causing buildings to shake and crumble.


    A thick dust and debris clouded up, obscuring the surroundings in a hazy curtain. It was as if a giant veil had been thrown over the area, making it difficult to see more than a few steps ahead. The dust hung in the air, creating an eerie and disorienting atmosphere.


    As the dust settled and the echoes of the impact subsided, a massive curtain of swirling dust and debris enveloped the vicinity. The once-clear air became a dense and hazy, obscuring vision and creating an eerie atmosphere.


    Within the dust curtain, a sense of foreboding filled the air. The very essence of the surroundings seemed to vibrate with an otherworldly presence. It was as if the meteor''s arrival had brought with it a veil of mystery and uncertainty.


    "Well, what do you think?" Vangel asked while he was standing at the top of the meteor that was five kilometers wide.


    "As expected of me!" Aion said, and then the meteor split in two. "The power of this attack is quite something. It is a pity that it can''t be used alongside time magic. Or maybe it can¡­"


    Vangel didn''t feel Aion''s presence getting weaker, so it seemed that he stopped all the damage even before the fall¡­ Vangel didn''t have the chance to see or check anything, so he wondered how things happened that way.


    "By the way, all you can do is copy, right?" Aion asked. "Can''t you at least try to be a bit original? Considering all the skills that you know, shouldn''t you be able to at leastbine the things you know?"


    That was getting old fast, but that kind of insult was starting to annoy Vangel¡­ he didn''t want to make that too obvious, but he didn''t have much of a choice when it came to controlling his own feelings.


    In the end, Vangel just smiled, and then he opened several rifts where his clones started toe from. In the end, they didn''t bring their swords, but they raised their hands to the sky, and then they used their magic.


    The sky was filled with a breathtaking sight as countless mana swords, shimmering with ethereal energy, nketed the heavens. They hung suspended in the air like celestial ornaments, their radiant glow casting an otherworldly hue upon thendscape below. The sheer number of swords was staggering, stretching as far as the eye could see.

 Chapter 445 Mana Cannon

    ?


    As time passed, the swords began to descend, slowly at first, as if gravity itself were reluctant to pull them down. But their descent gained momentum, and soon the air was filled with the ominous whistling sound of their approach. One by one, they plummeted toward the ground, their tips gleaming with anticipation.


    Aion watched in awe as the rain of swords descended upon him, their des glinting in the sunlight. He could feel the raw power emanating from each weapon, a manifestation of concentrated mana and formidable magic. It was a sight both mesmerizing and terrifying, knowing that each sword held the potential to rend flesh and shatter bone.


    As the mana swords descended from the sky, they crashed into the ground with an explosive force. Upon impact, a powerful shockwave rippled through the earth, causing the very foundation to shudder. The moment the swords made contact, a cascade of devastation ensued.


    Wherever the des struck, the ground quaked and fractured as if unable to withstand the sheer intensity of their power. The earth crumbled beneath their weight, crumbling into fine particles resembling swirling dust. It was as if the swords possessed an inherent corrosive nature, obliterating anything they touched with relentless efficiency.


    Structures that once stood tall and proud were reduced to rubble in an instant. Solid stone and sturdy foundations dissolved into nothingness, disintegrating into a haze of particles that danced in the air. The destructive force of the swords seemed almost supernatural as if they possessed a malevolent intent to consume and eradicate all in their path.


    When the dust dissipated again, Vangel saw Aion standing. He still was deeply wounded, even more than before, but he still looked pretty lively.


    "From whom you copied this kind of attack?" Aion asked while pulling the parts of his shit that were too damaged. "This was a very nasty attack. The creator of the spell had a pretty bad personality."


    Vangel clenched his teeth and then covered his whole body with the effects of time magic. He flew and reached Aion instantly, but as soon as his sword approached to behead him, Aion suddenly moved his sword and then blocked the strike¡­ not only was his speed shocking, but he also wasn''t pushed backward like before by the weight¡­ he was doing something again.


    "Do you want to know what I did?" Aion asked while smiling. "Here is a hint, time magic, and gravity magic."


    Vangel opened his eyes widely¡­ it made sense¡­ Aion didn''t use time magic to make himself faster; he created a barrier around himself with Time Dtion that made the effects of eleration almost useless around him. At the same time, he used gravity magic to enhance his posture by making himself heavier, probably in thest moment of the impact. Vangel also could imagine Aion using the same effect to make sure that gravity would help him as well instead of just making him heavier.


    The surprises didn''t end there, though. When Aion prepared to swing down his sword, Vangel jumped backward. Still, then he felt something weird¡­ his upper body suddenly began to be pulled upward. His lower body began to be pulled downward. His jump made him feel like he was splitting himself in two¡­


    Amidst his panic, Vangel used his magic to fix his gravitational field, but that gave Aion enough time to expand his sword, swing down and increase its weight even further with gravity magic.


    A seismic shockwave rippled through the kingdom as Aion''s sword descended upon Vangel with incredible force. The ground beneath their feet quaked and trembled, echoing the sheer power behind the strike. The impact was nothing short of cataclysmic, threatening to shatter the very foundation of the realm.


    Vangel''s body, unable to withstand the overwhelming force of the blow, was sent hurtling backward, his form contorted and strained. The impact reverberated through his being, threatening to reduce him to a mere pulp. Bones cracked, and flesh yielded under the immense pressure as if on the verge ofplete annihtion.


    The surrounding air seemed to hold its breath, carrying an almost tangible tension. The kingdom itself quivered under the weight of the strike, its walls and structures echoing the tremors coursing through its foundations. It was as if the very essence of the realm recognized the magnitude of the sh, reacting with fear and trepidation.


    Vangel began to cough blood, but even that returned to his body when he used Time Reversal. It was weird that he didn''t lose the memories of those things alongside the wounds disappearing¡­ maybe he could control that. Regardless, thanks to it, he could see Aion looking at him. Vangel felt pissed like never before by being on the ground while Aion was standing.


    Aion had better things to do than taunt him as well, so he used his mana and senses to check for any disturbances around. He could feel arge concentration of mana in arge area¡­ it was the same kind of feeling his pocket dimension emitted.


    "They are in his pocket dimension; I just have to find a way to enter without his permission," Aion thought. "Easier said than done."


    Aion recalled one of the skills that he had studied when he learned that ss, and it would help him with that, but it would take a while for him to make it level up. Without any choice, he stopped using the mana of the souls and made them be absorbed by his ss.


    Vangel got up and then bit his lips in annoyance, and then made his clones be absorbed by his sword. His power increased even more than before¡­ in the next moment, he pointed both of his arms toward Aion. He was wide open, but before Aion could do anything¡­ he attacked with a mana cannon.


    A deafening roar shattered the air as a colossal Mana Cannon, fueled by an immense reservoir of power, unleashed its devastating might. The cannon''s energy surged forth like a zing inferno, gathering in a concentrated beam that pierced through the heavens. With a blinding sh, the beam was unleashed, hurtling toward Aion with incredible velocity.

 Chapter 446 Half Dead

    ?


    The sheer force of the Mana Cannon''s st struck Aion like a relentless tempest, engulfing him in an unforgiving torrent of energy. The impact was akin to a mighty gust of wind, ripping through the surroundings and discing everything in its path. Aion''s body was thrust backward, carried by the unstoppable momentum of the st.


    In a matter of seconds, Aion was propelled across thendscape, hurtling through the air at a breathtaking speed. The force was so tremendous that the distance between their previous battleground and Aion''s new location spanned dozens of kilometers in mere moments. The world around Aion blurred into a chaotic blur as he traversed the vast expanse, a testament to the raw power unleashed against him.


    Aion''s senses were assaulted by an intense and overwhelming heat that seemed to seep into every fiber of his being. It was as if his very essence was being consumed by an invisible inferno. Waves of scorching energy coursed through his veins, causing his skin to prickle and his muscles to convulse uncontrobly.


    As the searing intensity intensified, Aion''s body felt as though it was being liquefied, his form losing its cohesion and structure. He could feel his flesh turning molten, trickling and melding like wax under a zing me. The boundaries between his physical self and the surrounding environment blurred as if he was dissolving into the very essence of the fiery onught.


    Each breath he took seemed to fuel the inferno within, stoking the mes that raged throughout his body. The pain was beyond measure, a torment that transcended the limits of his endurance. Aion''s mind screamed in agony as he struggled to retain a semnce of control, his thoughts, and emotions melding with the searing heat that consumed him.


    The mana cannon was showing no signs of dissipating¡­ so Aion had to do something before he collided against the mountains and was crushed to death.


    "Sorry, Ana¡­ I willpensate you for this," Aion said and then enveloped his sword with mana and then stabbed the mana cannon.


    A blinding burst of light, radiant and incandescent, engulfed the surroundings, illuminating the darkness with a brilliance that defied description. The shockwave rippled outward, unleashing a violent tempest of energy that sent debris hurtling through the air like shrapnel.


    The explosive surge of mana expanded in all directions, a roiling torrent of power that surged forth with unrelenting force. The sheer intensity of the explosion created a shockwave that ttened everything in its wake, reducing structures to rubble and scattering them across thendscape like discarded toys.


    The air crackled and shimmered with the raw power of the unleashed mana, its tendrils reaching out like ethereal fingers, touching and distorting the very fabric of reality. The st wave rippled through the atmosphere, carrying with it a surge of scorching heat and a whirlwind of debris.


    The force of the explosion carved a massive cavity in the earth, gouging out a crater that seemed to stretch on for miles. Dust and debris billowed into the sky, creating a dense, chaotic cloud obscuring the once-clear horizon.


    The sheer scale of the explosion was awe-inspiring, resembling a mountain erupting in a cataclysmic disy of power. The shockwave reverberated through thend, shaking the very foundations of existence and leaving an indelible mark on thendscape.


    When the explosion happened, Aion escaped to his pocket dimension, where he found his father and the others there. He wished that he could greet them properly, but his entire body hurt like hell; he was emitting more steam than a bonfire.


    "Aion!" Lexus shouted.


    "Hey, I guess a few hours must have passed to you all already¡­" Aion said while forcing a smile. "Just give me a few more¡­ and then I will bring some snacks."


    Aion''s sisters worked hard to heal him, but his body was a mess, filled with attack mana that was fighting back against their spells. Weirdly enough, there was no blood, and the wounds were emitting a blue glow.


    Lexus clenched his fists tightly, his expression etched with a mix of concern, frustration, and determination. Deep within his heart, he yearned to rush to his son''s aid, to lend his strength in the face of adversity. Yet, he knew all too well that his presence would only serve as a hindrance.


    His eyes flickered with a blend of emotions, a father''s love and a warrior''s instinct warring within him. He understood the gravity of the situation and the importance of allowing Aion to face his own battles, to grow and ovee the challenges thaty before him.


    Lexus fought to restrain his impulsive urge to intervene with every fiber of his being. He knew that this was Aion''s fight, a pivotal moment where his son''s true strength and character would be tested. It was a crucible that Aion needed to face alone to forge his own path and discover his own power.


    "I should get going. Vangel will grow bored without me¡­ just a bit more time, and I will be able to rescue those three, and then I will cut his head for good," Aion said while he was getting up.


    Although he said while looking as confident as ever, Aion didn''t pass much confidence. Vangel had the power that not even the elemental giants could wield easily¡­ they could destroy a mountain or two, but it would take time. Vangel just destroyed several mountains with that Mana Cannon. He probably already was at the level of Tenenbres, while Aion had to fight alone.


    The explosion had already dissipated when Aion returned to the outside. Still, the mana was as dense as it could be¡­ Aion concentrated on absorbing as much as he could, but it was hard.


    As the massive explosion of mana subsided, the air crackled with residual energy. Small lightning bolts danced through the atmosphere, their ephemeral glow illuminating the darkened sky. Each bolt carried a trace of the potent mana that had been unleashed, charging the air with electric fervor.

 Chapter 447 Game Is Over

    ?


    The tiny arcs of energy snaked through the air, their movements unpredictable yet mesmerizing. They flickered and shimmered, casting fleeting shadows on the charred remains of the surroundingndscape. The lingering crackles echoed like a chorus of miniature thunder, punctuating the aftermath of the devastating explosion.


    "How about another?" Vangel suddenly appeared while floating in the air, feeling good that their positions had changed.


    "That is the best idea, I have heard today," Aion said while smiling. "Let''s go, fire it again. This time, I will take it like a champ."


    Vangel furrowed his brow, his gaze narrowing as he observed Aion. Despite the battered state of Aion''s body, the wounds that marred his form, and the remnants of melted armor clinging to his being, his eyes had an absolute determination. It was a resolve that seemed to defy logic, pushing him to endure despite the overwhelming odds stacked against him.


    Vangel couldn''t help but feel a sense of skepticism creeping into his thoughts. Aion''s defiant stance and unwavering demeanor seemed almost too audacious, given the dire state of his physical being. It appeared as though he was putting up a front, masking his true pain and exhaustion with a facade of strength.


    "All right, and for my next trick¡­ I will make you regret using the mana cannon again," Aion said while grinning.


    Vangel studied Aion again with suspicious eyes; it was clearly a buff. Nothing could stop an attack of that level. Despite that, he didn''t like the glint in Aion''s eyes¡­ he was truly plotting something.


    Still, that didn''t stop Vangel from pointing his hands at Aion again¡­ if Aion was nning something, then he wanted to see and learn from it¡­ as usual.


    When Vangel used Mana Cannon, Aion quickly called his unknown armor from his inventory and then equipped it¡­ the armor that Ana had forged, and he took the hit directly.


    The st of mana left another path of destruction and then pushed Aion easily, but then Vangel saw Aion suddenly stopping two kilometers away. Something was off¡­


    "That armor is¡­ but even if he is recovering his mana¡­" Vangel thought and then saw Aion''s skin burning to a crisp.


    Vangel''s victory was pretty much decided, but he didn''t drop his guard, not against the Cursed king of the time, who only lost a single time, or perhaps two times, against his group and the enemies from beyond the.


    All of a sudden, Vangel felt a shiver, and then he felt a weird sound. The sound of something rubber-like being pushed beyond its limits¡­ Before long, he understood what Aion did¡­ he ripped space-time and forcefully opened a portal to his pocket dimension.


    Taking the hit directly again, equipping the armor, stopping at that area¡­ everything had been a necessary step for that to happen. Aion used the armor to absorb some mana and to have a link between him and the prisoners that he was looking for. He took the hit directly to get the mana because Vangel wouldn''t be able to stop it once he started, and he stopped two kilometers away because that was the limit of Vangel''s pocket dimension where he sealed those three.


    When Vangel stopped the attack and then entered his pocket dimension, he saw Aion on the ground. He looked like a mix of a rag and a corpse¡­ and the prisoners were nowhere to be found.


    "You got me¡­ I was certain that you couldn''t bend space-time like that yet," Vangel said.


    Aion ignored that; he was too tired, and his body hurt like hell. Moreover, he felt a surge of relief when he found those three just unconscious¡­ he confirmed that their condition was fine and they were just under a serious sleep spell.


    "Are you relieved now?" Vangel asked, without looking unfazed at all.


    Aion got up and looked at him while ignoring his exhaustion and pain. Something was off¡­ the enemy was too rxed, even though Aion had no more reason to hold back.


    "It wasn''t a sleeping spell¡­ they were unconscious because¡­ you took their souls," Aion suddenly said.


    "Your assumptions always hit the mark; I am astonished," Vangel said. "I stored their souls in another era, knowing that this might happen somehow and there is only one way to find out where they are."


    Aion lets out a sigh¡­ he was so fucking done with Vangel already. Aion''s frustration boiled within him, fueled by the weariness of battling against Vangel''s elusive tactics. He was sick and tired of the constant games and schemes, the maniptions and duplications that seemed to define Vangel''s approach. Aion had grown weary of his adversary''s reliance on imitation rather than showcasing his own unique abilities.


    The thought gnawed at Aion''s core, for he knew that true strength came from within, from honing one''s own skills and forging a path that was distinct and authentic. Yet, Vangel seemed content to hide behind his facades and mimic the techniques of others, never truly showing his own capabilities.


    Aion''s frustration grew with each passing moment. He longed for a genuine battle, one where he could face an opponent who fought with their own strength and skill, not one who constantly relied on borrowed tactics and copied techniques.


    "I guess it is time; the game is over," Aion said when he got uppletely and looked at Vangel.


    Vangel''sposure wavered ever so slightly as he sensed a shift in Aion''s demeanor. The flicker of determination in Aion''s eyes, the resolute set of his jaw, and the weight of weariness transformed into unwavering resolve. Vangel couldn''t help but flinch inwardly, realizing that Aion was about to face him with unwavering seriousness.


    Gone were the fa?ade of indifference and the air of superiority that Vangel had grown ustomed to projecting. Aion''s resolve pierced through Vangel''s defenses,ying bare the truth that he could no longer rely on his usual tactics to deflect and deceive. Aion was no longer willing to entertain Vangel''s tricks and subterfuge.

 Chapter 448 You Are Gross

    ?


    The brief flinch, imperceptible to most, revealed a crack in Vangel''s confidence. For the first time, he questioned whether his usual bag of tricks would be enough to counter Aion''s unwavering determination. Aion''s resolve to face him head-on challenged Vangel to confront his own limitations and confront the consequences of his reliance on mimicry.


    Aion''s aura shifted, mirroring the turbulence within him. The once steady and controlled energy that surrounded him now crackled with a fiery intensity, reflecting his deep-rooted rage and frustration. It pulsed and surged, its vibrant hues morphing into shades of crimson and ck, mirroring the turmoil that raged within his very being.


    But alongside this overwhelming anger, Aion felt an unsettling sensation coursing through his veins. It was a sickening feeling as if his own body was being torn apart from within. The two opposing forces dwelling within him, Tenebres and Vangel''s against his own essence, waged a silent battle for dominance, their sh tearing at the fabric of his being.


    As his aura roiled and churned with unbridled fury, Aion could sense thepeting forces attempting to assert their control over his body. It was an internal struggle that threatened to consume him, the very essence of who he was caught in the crossfire.


    The sickening feeling intensified, causing Aion to wince and clutch his chest. His body trembled with the strain of containing the conflicting energies as if it were being torn apart. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he fought to maintain control, resisting the overwhelming urge to sumb to the powerful forces vying for dominance.


    "Yes, yes¡­ let it consume you," Vangel grinned.


    "Shut up, you are gross, even more than Tenebres," Aion said while holding his head. "I guess my spirit isn''t strong enough to deal with both of you at the same time¡­"


    As the internal conflict intensified, Aion''s physical manifestation began to undergo a startling transformation. His once-paleplexion took on an otherworldly hue, suffusing with shades of deep purple. The color radiated from his skin like an ethereal miasma, casting an eerie glow around him.


    In addition to the disconcerting change in his skin, Aion''s hair''s strands began to shift dramatically. Amidst the sea of his usual dark locks, select strands shimmered and transformed, adopting a striking golden hue. Like tendrils of molten gold, they glinted in the light, a stark contrast to the rest of his hair.


    The juxtaposition of the violet-tinged skin and the gilded hair created an otherworldly aura around Aion, an amalgamation of opposing forces visibly manifested. It was a manifestation of the profound influence of Tenebres within him, intertwining with his own essence and forging an unmistakable, albeit unsettling, visual representation.


    As the purple miasma ebbed and flowed around him and the golden locks shimmered in a captivating dance, Aion stood as a living embodiment of the dueling powers that resided within him. The dichotomy was palpable, a testament to the turmoil that raged within his very core.


    As Vangel''s eyes fixated on the awe-inspiring transformation taking ce before him, a mixture of anticipation and excitement surged through his veins. The sight of Aion''s skin pulsating with the violet miasma and the strands of golden hair shimmering in the air stoked a fire within Vangel''s heart.


    A gleam of fascination danced in Vangel''s eyes as he beheld the manifestation of Aion''s conflicting powers. He recognized the gravity of the moment, understanding that he was witnessing a convergence of formidable forces. The intery between darkness and light, chaos and control, was unfolding right before him.


    Vangel''s lips curved into a sly smile, his excitement growing with each passing second. He had long sought a worthy opponent, someone who could push him to his limits and unlock new realms of power within himself. And now, in this moment of Aion''s transformation, Vangel felt the unmistakable surge of anticipation that he had been craving.


    Vangel''s astonishment grew as he observed the unexpected turn of events. The intense aura that had enveloped Aion during his transformation began to recede, gradually dissipating into the air. To Vangel''s surprise, instead of fading into weakness, Aion''s body underwent a remarkable transformation of its own.


    Once gaping and severe, his wounds began to rapidly close and heal, the flesh knitting together with extraordinary speed. Vangel''s eyes widened in disbelief as he witnessed the almost miraculous regeneration taking ce before him. Aion''s body, which had borne the brunt of their fierce battle, was now rejuvenating at an astonishing pace.


    "That is not time reversal¡­ so how?" Vangel asked while raising his guard.


    But what truly caught Vangel off guard was the change in Aion''s aura. As the dark miasma dissipated, a radiant glow emerged, emanating from the depths of Aion''s being. The purity and intensity of the newfound aura were awe-inspiring, casting a brilliant light that illuminated the surrounding space.


    Vangel''s surprise turned into a mix of curiosity and intrigue. He couldn''t help but marvel at the resilience and power contained within Aion''s being. The abrupt shift from the miasmic state to a radiant aura hinted at a force within Aion that was not easilyprehended.


    "It was about damn time," Aion said, and then two spheres of energy emerged from him and moved to his shoulders.


    "What are youining about? You are the one who took so long to untie the seals," A woman''s voice came from the sphere on the right side.


    "I was hoping that I wouldn''t meet you two again¡­ but I suppose I need to give you a hand to clean my own mess," A man''s voice came from the sphere on the right side.


    Vangel''s surprise grew as he heard the familiar voices of Malon and Cailena resonating from Aion''s side. He strained his senses, trying to locate the source of the voices, but to his bewilderment, he couldn''t perceive the presence of their spirits. It was as if their voices wereing from an unseen realm, defying his understanding of the physical world.

 Chapter 449 Binge Watch

    ?


    A mix of confusion and curiosity swirled within Vangel. How was it possible for Aion to channel the voices of Malon and Cailena without their spirits being physically present? It defied the rules of the spiritual realm that he was familiar with.


    As he pondered the mysterious phenomenon, Vangel''s mind raced with possibilities. Could it be that Aion had somehow forged a deep connection with Malon and Cailena, enabling him to manifest their voices through his own being? Or perhaps there was an external force at y, lending its power to intertwine their spirits with Aion''s presence.


    The truth of the matter was the fact that Aion processed the time relics that sealed time magic and absorbed their materials. Aion was only expecting that Malon would only unlock all of the true potential of his system with his blood as a catalyst. Still, it seemed that the blood did something else. Moreover, the relics had been created with his blood and Cailena''s magic, so she showed up as well.


    "So¡­ you created a method to reincarnate yourself whenever the world was in peril, and one of your reincarnations became the grandma shrimp," Aion said.


    "Your conclusion is correct, but I dislike that title," Cailena said. "I don''t have a physical form, so I received all of her memories, even the time we met at that power¡­ what an unruly descendant."


    "Whatever, granny," Aion shrugged.


    "... You decided to throw away your pride, huh," Vangel said while showing a serious expression.


    "I didn''t want to, but my pride isn''t my priority anymore, and I am tired of you," Aion said. "So, I am going to use your blood, Tenebres fragments, and those two powers to deal with you and the other enemies from beyond the. I told you I nned how to deal with you at the very moment I woke up after that dream."


    "My apologies, but I won''t be able to help," Malon said.


    "I am not even surprised; you made the mess and want someone else to do all the dirty work by himself," Aion shrugged.


    "It is not about that; it is just that I don''t deserve to do anything directly to save the world when I caused its end thanks to my own greed and obsession," Malon said. "Still, while I can''t help you directly, I can help you indirectly."


    Numerous rifts began to appear around Aion, and they showed moments of Aion''s life. Everyone was surprised; Aion was even more surprised since they only showed moments where his ass was being kicked.


    "I see; it seems that your idea of indirect help is by making me get pissed at you," Aion said after he crossed his arms.


    "You are very impatient," Malon said.


    In the rift that showed Aion fighting his father and dropping some blood, the blood came to Aion and was absorbed by his crystal instead of falling on the ground. The same thing happened when he fought with Horis, the Immortal, and all the other death knights that he created, and even some monsters.


    (The ss Sage was unsealed and mastered.)


    (The ss Imperial was unsealed and mastered.)


    (The ss Divine Knight was unsealed and mastered.)


    (The ss Fighter was unsealed and mastered.)


    (The ss Frost King was unsealed and mastered.)


    (The ss Sentinel was unsealed and mastered.)


    ¡­


    Aion felt his power growing¡­ each notification made him gain twenty Points in all of his parameters, and when it reached the tier three sses, it increased by thirty.


    "I guess I could have used my own blood and even body as materials to enhance my spiritual weapons," Aion said.


    "I would rather prefer that my final descendant isn''t someone as crazy as that," Cailena said.


    "By the way, I want to hear what happened after Tenebres; that feels like it would be a good movie to binge-watch," Aion said.


    "I have no idea what you are talking about," Cailena said, and Aion could imagine his ancestor frowning.


    "Anyway, did I get my ass kicked this many times?" Aion frowned.


    "I am using the blood that you dropped in two lifetimes thatsted for more than five hundred years, so yes," Malon said. "Andstly¡­ all the blood that you lost during your final battle in the future."


    Everyone looked at the final rift, and then they saw some crazy creatures surrounding Aion''s castle in the capital of the Milleris Kingdom. As Aion stood at the center of the cosmic beings, an ethereal symphony of celestial beings surrounded him, each embodying a fundamental aspect of the universe.


    Time, the primordial force that weaves the tapestry of existence, materialized as a towering figure, an ancient sage with a weathered countenance and a long, flowing beard. He sat cross-legged, eyes closed in deep meditation, radiating an aura of timeless wisdom. His skin bore the marks of countless eons, and as he exhaled, the whisper of forgotten ages echoed through the cosmic expanse.


    Space manifested as an immense sphere of liquid mercury, an ever-shifting orb that pulsed with cosmic energies. Within its shimmering surface, gxies spiraled, and celestial bodies danced, encapsting the vastness and limitless potential of the cosmos. It hummed with the harmony of celestial movements and held within it the secrets of unexplored frontiers, waiting to be discovered by those daring enough to venture beyond the known.


    Darkness took the form of a swirling vortex, a ck hole adorned with writhing, shadowy tendrils that reached out like grasping fingers. Its gravitational force tugged at the very fabric of reality, drawing in light and matter, cloaking the surroundings in a veil of enigmatic allure. It exuded an air of mystery, representing the uncharted depths of the unknown, where secrets and hidden truthsy in wait.


    Opposing the shadows, Light radiated with blinding brilliance. A luminous figure d in a flowing white gown, she emanated a resplendent glow that surpassed the brightest stars. Her ethereal form seemed to dissolve the darkness, casting aside doubts and illuminating the path of truth. She embodied purity, enlightenment, and the radiant strength that banishes even the deepest shadows.


    And amidst them all, the embodiment of Void emerged¡ªa grotesque entity with an amorphous, ever-shifting form. It defiedprehension, its vastness iprehensible, as it manifested countless gaping maws that hungered for existence. The sheer absence of substance that it represented was paradoxically filled with chaos and potential, an abyss from which creation and destruction were born.

 Chapter 450 Final Cards

    ?


    Vangel, his once-confident demeanor now shattered, found himself ovee with a cold sweat as he beheld the majestic cosmic entities that surrounded Aion. His eyes darted anxiously from one ethereal figure to another, their imposing presence sending shivers down his spine. The immense weight of their power pressed upon him, leaving him feeling small and insignificant inparison.


    As Vangel stood in the presence of these cosmic beings, he felt an overwhelming sense of vulnerability and unease. The realization dawned upon him that his schemes and maniptions paled inparison to the vastness and primal power that emanated from these embodiments. At that moment, his hubris and self-assuredness crumbled, reced by a deep-seated fear of the unknown and a gnawing uncertainty about his own abilities.


    "Well, I guess it makes sense that we lost," Aion said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I guess it also makes sense that this dumbass is scared shitless."


    "On my travels, I dealt with countless enemies that tried to use time magic," Malon dered. "Apparently, my actions were against the natural flow of order, and then they found me. They tried to talk with me at first, but I didn''t listen to them, and then eventually, a fight broke out. They are the aspects of time, space, darkness, light, and void. Alls have the aspects of earth, fire, wind, and water on them, but only those five exist of their kind. Since they absorb the power of the aspects that eventually evolve to be copies of them when the time of theirs ends. Together, they are invincible."


    "Usually, I would say that this sounds like a challenge, but I guess I would be foolish to believe and say that," Aion said.


    To fight against those beings was Aion''s final ordeal¡­ he had some time to n that, but he couldn''t think of a single idea on how to do that. Each embodying a fundamental aspect of the universe, these entities radiated a power and wisdom that far surpassed his own.


    As Aion took in the awe-inspiring sight of these cosmic beings, he couldn''t deny the vastness of their power and the timeless knowledge they possessed. He realized that his own understanding of magic and the realms of existence was limited, merely scratching the surface of what these ancient forces epassed. It was a humbling revtion that pushed him to seek greater mastery and delve deeper into the mysteries of the universe.


    In the end, the battle against those beings ended in a matter of minutes. Against the embodiment of Time, Aion found himself entangled within the ever-shifting fabric of temporal energy. But with his ownmand over time maniption, he deftly navigated the intricate web woven by the ancient sage. The creature made him instantly older and weaker, and Aion used his power to return back to normal.


    Facing the cosmic force of Space, Aion confronted the boundless expanse that threatened to overwhelm him. But with his ownmand over spatial maniption, he manipted the very fabric of reality. He was teleported to the void of space, where he began to freeze instantly. Still, he used his magic to create something akin to an atmosphere around him and canceled that.


    Against the embodiment of Darkness, Aion found himself enveloped in a shroud of malevolent shadows that sought to consume him. A small ck hole appeared in front of him and began to push him with its tentacles. Still, Aion used time magic to speed up his thought process and then cancel the dark hole by sending it to another dimension.


    In the face of the cosmic force of Light, Aion battled against blinding radiance that threatened to overwhelm his senses. He was impaled time and time again by spears of light that numbed his senses, but he healed himself faster than the damage piled up.


    Finally, confronting the embodiment of Void, Aion stood against the insatiable hunger that threatened to consume all existence. The creature just made chunks of his body disappear time and time again and ate it¡­ Aion could only heal himself faster than he could be devoured.


    "Wow, this is worse than I had imagined," Aion said while he was receiving the full power of that version of him.


    "How can you watch this and not lose spirit?" Cailena asked.


    "Because I leave my future problems to the future me," Aion replied. "Anyway, while I don''t have any n in mind on how to deal with them yet, it will be easier with your assistance. Your souls belong to me now; there is no point in resisting."


    "Don''t talk like you are the viin here¡­ you are starting to sound like Tenebres, and that isn''t a good sign since you have some of his fragments inside you," Cailena said.


    "Oh well¡­ I guess it is time to end this, Vangel," Aion said. "I am as strong as I was there now, perhaps a bit stronger. It is time to test if you can fight them better than me."


    Vangel''s eyes widened in shock as he witnessed Aion''s fearless demeanor, despite knowing that his own death was imminent. It was a level of madness that Vangel couldn''t quiteprehend. Aion''s calm and unwavering resolve in the face of his own mortality left Vangel speechless.


    Vangel couldn''t help but feel a mix of admiration, confusion, and a hint of fear. How could someone confront their own impending death with such unwavering courage? It was a testament to Aion''s unyielding determination and strength of character. The fact that Aion willingly embraced his own demise to pursue his goals was both astonishing and unsettling.


    As Vangel processed the implications of Aion''s actions, a whirlwind of emotions churned within him. He found himself questioning his own beliefs and the depth of Aion''s character. Aion''s refusal to back down in the face of death presented a formidable challenge, one that transcended mere physical prowess.


    "This is personal, now," Aion dered while cking his fingers. "So, I will use my fists only. I will not use magic unless you use it, and I will just copy you to defend myself. It is high time for you to learn the best lesson of your time¡­ that you picked a fight with the wrong person."


    Vangel clicked his tongue and then used Force sh to stop Aion when he charged at him. Still, Aion just punched the st with a fist version of the attack. Vangel opened his eyes widely before jumping backward at supersonic speeds and then escaping toward a time rift and closing it.


    Vangel found himself back on the original dimension that connected all the others; he had to study what Aion did and what changed and learn from it to make himself stronger again. Despite that, Aion suddenly appeared in front of him and then punched his face.


    Vangel''s body spun through the air, his limbs iling as the force of Aion''s powerful punch propelled him backward. With a startled expression etched across his face, Vangel fought to regain his bnce, his mind racing to assess the situation.


    As his body soared through the air, Vangel''s eyes darted around, searching for an escape route. He knew that staying within Aion''s reach could mean certain defeat. In a desperate bid to elude his adversary, Vangel focused his energy, channeling his mastery over spatial maniption.


    With a burst of energy, Vangel''s body blurred as he swiftly traversed the fabric of space. The air crackled with residual energy as he crossed through a spatial rift, vanishing from Aion''s immediate vicinity. The rift closed behind him, leaving no trace of his presence once again¡­


    Vangelnded on and of fire¡­ probably a period where he messed with the fragments too much that the world became like that, surrounded by rivers of magma. Still, before he thought or did anything, Aion appeared out of nowhere again and kicked his face.


    "... How¡­" Vangel asked while he was spinning air.


    "Dumbass, you are great at copying others, but your schemes are as stupid as they could be," Aion said. "Your power and Tenebres are inside me as well; I can tell where you are in all periods of time just by stirring that energy a little bit."


    That made sense¡­ it was only natural. Still, Vangel didn''t consider that¡­ he didn''t think that Aion would be able to chase him that fast since he also didn''t think that he would recover his powers that fast and the same powers at that when he died. Still, Vangel took a deep breath and calmed down. Things happened a bit differently than he had expected, but he still had some cards up his sleeve.

 Chapter 451 Goodbye

    ?


    Vangel opened all the rifts that he had clones in and made them show up, and then made his sword absorb them. As Vangel''s aura shifted and darkened to a menacing shade of purple, an air of foreboding swept across the battlefield. The very essence of darkness seemed to coalesce around him, emanating from his transformed form. His body trembled with a surge of power as the fragments of Tenebres, scattered across the realm, reunited and fused with his being.


    The transformation was awe-inspiring and chilling to behold. Vangel''s features underwent a drastic metamorphosis, reflecting the embodiment of Tenebres itself. His once human countenance contorted and twisted, his eyes radiating an ominous glow. His body morphed into a hybrid of man and darkness, as if the shadows had taken shape and solidified into a fearsome entity.


    A shroud of darkness enveloped Vangel, billowing around him like an ethereal cloak. His stature grew taller and more imposing, his physique honed and sharpened by the dark energy coursing through his veins. His limbs elongated, his fingers ending in sharp talons, and his presence exuded an overwhelming sense of power and malevolence.


    Tenebres had be his essence, his true form unbound by mortal limitations. The power of the fragments surged within him, granting him unparalleled control over Time, space, light, void, and darkness. His very presence seemed to consume the light around him, casting an eerie glow in the vicinity.


    "Descendant of those who defeated me, it is time to pay for the crimes of your ancestors," Vangel said while his voice was emitting an ominous and grave sound.


    "Helllooo? Is Vangel still at home?" Aion asked.


    "Your descendant is a lot more yful than you, Cailena," Malon said.


    "Someone raised him to be a lot more carefree than he should have," Cailena exined.


    "It seems that Vangel isn''t at home anymore, but I will call you¡­ Vanebres! Perfect, right?" Aion asked.


    Vanebres red at Aion as if he was trying to kill him with his eyes alone. In the next moment, he infused a shit ton of mana into a sword, to the point that the metal aspect practically vanished and became an ethereal blue sword. Aion could hear the sound of the particles of mana vibrating agaisnt each other. That was a dangerous sword¡­ even though he achieved that much power, the enemy now was probably two times stronger than the old Tenebres.


    Vanebres swung his sword practically at light speed, and the swing created a st that also created a rift in space that almost reached Aion. He teleported away to avoid the hit and then saw theva and rocks around it being pulled by the rift.


    "Someone doesn''t care if this world ends right now¡­" Aion furrowed his eyebrows.


    Vanebres swung his sword again and again until the entire area was filled with massive time rifts that extended for numerous kilometers. The spatial rifts acted as voracious voids, their gravitational pull growing stronger with each passing moment. Like celestial mas, they tugged at everything in their vicinity, indiscriminately drawing objects, debris, and even pockets of air toward their dark depths.


    The once stablendscape quivered and shook under the strain as if the very ground itself feared being devoured by the hungry maws of the rifts. Trees bent and swayed, their branches whipped by an unseen force. At the same time, loose objects were dragged along the ground, desperately resisting the relentless pull.


    Once calm and serene, the atmosphere transformed into a tempestuous vortex of swirling winds and charged particles. The very air crackled with a charged energy, and bolts of lightning danced across the darkened sky, illuminating the chaotic scene below.


    "It can''t be helped¡­ if things continue like this, all the other eras will suffer as well," Aion thought, and then he Concentrated all of his mana in his fists.


    Vanebres tried to stop Aion, but he charged at the enemy and then punched his sword. Fist and metal collided, and the shockwaves created by the attacks made the entire world tremble.


    As Aion and Vanebres shed in a titanic battle, their powers shed with such intensity that the very gravitational field of the world seemed to warp and twist under their influence. The once steady pull of gravity became erratic and unpredictable, causing massive boulders and chunks of earth to defy the naturalws and float weightlessly in the sky.


    These gargantuan stones, once anchored firmly to the ground, were now suspended mid-air as if defying the force that had held them down for ages. Their colossal forms hung ominously, casting long shadows over the battlefield. At the same time, smaller rocks and debris joined in the celestial dance, swirling and spiraling in a chaotic ballet.


    Aion and Vanebres attacked each other nonstop, their attacks canceling each other endlessly. No one could hear their movements; they could only see the space and the whole world vibrating thanks to the sh.


    Vanebres, unfortunately, had the upper hand. The mana enveloping his sword only enhanced the natural effects that it had previously. With each strike, Aion felt his mana being sucked at a fearsome rate while the weapon also absorbed the energy in the air.


    All of a sudden, Vanebres unleashed all that energy against Aion. He blocked the attack with his fists, but the sword easily cut through his mana, flesh, and bones.


    Vanebres smiled in satisfaction, but then he saw Aion''s smile as well. The weapon stopped piercing Aion''s flesh, and its glow actually began to decrease¡­ Vanebres felt his power decreasing as well.


    "I told you I would only do what you do as well," Aion dered.


    While the enemy was shocked by the confusion and tried to pull back his sword, Aion headbutted him. The attack made Vanebres lose consciousness for a moment, and he hit and sank into a pond ofva.


    Before long, the whole area trembled¡­ Vanebres woke up quite soon, and he woke up pissed since his forehead was bleeding, and that kind of attack was more annoying than anything.


    Vanebres saw Aion''s arms healing insanely fast¡­ again, it wasn''t Time Reversal, nor was Cailena helping him. It was Aion''s potential and current powers.


    "Enough," Vanebres dered, and then he raised his sword. "I'' will erase you from existence.


    Suddenly, Vanebres unleashed a surge of dark energy, causing countless spatial rifts to materialize all around. Each rift, like a tear in the fabric of space-time, revealed glimpses of Aion''s life¡ªmoments frozen in time, both joyous and sorrowful, etched within the boundaries of these shimmering portals.


    These rifts formed a swirling tapestry of memories, capturing fragments of Aion''s past and presenting them in a haunting disy. Each rift showcased a different moment, from tender childhood memories to fierce battles fought, fromughter shared with loved ones to heart-wrenching moments of loss and pain.


    The rifts pulsed with an otherworldly glow, casting an ethereal light upon the battlefield. They seemed to beckon, inviting Aion to confront the echoes of his own past, challenging him to confront the choices he had made and the path that had led him to this moment.


    "I guess he wasn''t joking when he said that he was going to erase me from existence," Aion thought while looking around.


    Vanebres'' sword began to fire numerous dark swords toward the rifts. However, as soon as they were about to hit Aion, a magic shield enveloped them and repelled the attacks¡­ all back to Aion in that ce.


    Aion protected himself numerous times in the past, but now all the image was overwhelming him¡­ Vanebres realizing that Aion was just transferring the damage to himself, continued to attack.


    The dark des, like ravenous predators, hungrily tore into Aion''s flesh, ripping apartrge chunks of his body. The impact was ferocious, sending shockwaves of excruciating pain through his entire being. Yet, despite the torment inflicted upon him, Aion remained standing, his determination unwavering.


    Blood spilled from his wounds, staining the ground beneath him, but Aion refused to yield. B battered and broken, his body defied the odds as he stood amidst the onught of Vanebres'' relentless assault. Each de that struck him only fueled his determination, igniting an indomitable fire within his soul.


    All of a sudden, the atmosphere changed, and then Vanebres raised his guard¡­ in the next moment, Aion began to punch the air; with each punch, he sent a barrage of light-blue fist-sized attacks that chased Vanebres. The enemy clicked his tongue since Aion was still doing what he was told¡­ copying him as well.


    Vanebres used his sword to absorb the attacks, but not for long¡­ the attacks suddenly disappeared in front of him, and Aion kept firing them with a smile on his face.


    "I said that I would copy you, but I am not a coward to attack you in the past," Aion dered while his body was healing. "How about I attack you in the future?"


    As Vanebres stood there, his dark and malevolent aura pulsating with wicked power, his eyes widened in disbelief and astonishment. Before he could react, the very fabric of space seemed to twist and warp around him, heralding the arrival of a massive barrage of light-blue fists.


    These celestial fists materialized from the time rifts, appearing from all angles, surrounding Vanebres in an inevitable onught. Each fist carried with it an otherworldly energy, crackling with temporal power and determination. It was as if time itself had be Aion''s ally, granting him the ability to see and strike at Vanebres in the future.


    Try as he might to evade or block, Vanebres found himself overwhelmed by the sheer number and relentless ferocity of the fists. They struck with the force of temporal energy, tearing through the dark shroud that surrounded him, shattering his defenses with every impact.


    He used Time Dtion to defend himself, but in the end, Vanebres didn''t have enough experience using it, and Aion imagined that such a thing would happen and made the fists explode, engulfing him in a maelstrom of mana that ate away his flesh.


    After enduring the relentless assault of Aion''s temporal fists, Vanebres stood amidst the aftermath, his once imposing figure now reduced to a disheveled mess. His dark aura flickered and wavered, a testament to the toll taken on his body and spirit.


    His form was battered and broken, wounds crisscrossing his body like jagged scars. Blood seeped from his numerous injuries, staining his darkened attire. Every movement seemed to bring him excruciating pain. Yet, he refused to yield, his eyes burning with a mix of fury and desperation.


    Vanebres'' regal countenance had been marred, his face contorted with a mixture of anger and disbelief. His usual air of superiority had dissipated, reced by a sense of vulnerability and weakness. He had underestimated the extent of Aion''s power, and the consequences had left him in a state of disarray.


    "You didn''t learn a lot in those few thousand years, huh," Aion said.


    Vanebres, his wounds pulsating with agony, gazed upon Aion with an unyielding fury that burned deep within his eyes. His onceposed demeanor shattered, reced by a ferocious rage that seemed to consume his very being. He could feel the tendrils of anger coiling tightly around his heart, driving him to the edge of madness.


    In a defiant act, he tilted his head back, his disheveled locks cascading down his scarred face, and unleashed a primal roar that echoed through the air. The sound reverberated across thendscape, a haunting crescendo that seemed to challenge the heavens themselves.


    His roar carried with it a maelstrom of emotions¡ªfrustration, bitterness, and a profound sense of loss. It was a primal cry, a release of the pent-up wrath that had simmered within him for so long. The intensity of his fury seemed to distort the very fabric of reality, sending tremors through the ground and causing the air to crackle with electric energy.


    Vanebres, driven by an insatiable thirst for revenge, teleported with unparalleled speed, soaring through the atmosphere and ascending into the vast expanse of space. His movements were swift and fluid, defying the limitations of mortal bounds as he traversed the celestial realm.


    In the reaches of the cosmos, surrounded by the silent beauty of the starry night, Vanebres gathered every ounce of his remaining mana, channeling it into a devastating magic cannon. The air crackled with anticipation as raw energy coalesced around him, swirling in a vortex of power.


    His eyes zed with a wicked determination, a reflection of the darkness that had consumed his very essence. With each passing moment, the intensity of his aura grew, casting an ominous glow upon his form. It was a manifestation of his twisted resolve, a testament to the depths of his malevolence.


    "I should have known; they always try to bring down everything with them in the end," Aion thought while looking above. "Misery lovespany."


    "You can''t dodge this attack; if you do, the world will be destroyed, and that will affect all the other ages¡­ this might create another timeline, and his time will survive, but it is too high of a risk."


    "I am aware of it," Aion said. "Still, he has more mana than me; I can''t stop or deflect the attack¡­"


    Aion considered his options, he might be able to fight quantity with quality, but two mana cannons of their scale would destroy the world. It was also unlikely that they would survive for long after all. Even if he could regenerate fast, it probably wasn''t fast enough before he could find another hospitable one.


    The mana in Vanebres'' hands had be many times bigger than him, and he was about to unleash it¡­ in the end, Aion didn''t have time to be picky. He only had a single idea in mind¡­ it was time to receive some help. Until now, Aion had done most of the things by himself by keeping secrets from others, but he couldn''t keep doing that. At least onest time, he had to trust the people he met in that world because he won''t be able to fight alongside anyone in his true final battle.


    "Malon, exin to me how the ss system works," Aion said.


    "Well¡­" Malon said, having no idea what Aion had in mind. "They represent the knowledge, experience, and techniques of many people that I met in my journeys."


    Recognizing the immense value in preserving and passing down this wealth of knowledge, Malon meticulously documented the teachings andbat styles of these warriors. He collected their wisdom, studied their techniques, and extracted the essence of their mastery.


    Through abination of ancient scrolls, codices, and personal journals, Malonpiled a vast repository ofbat knowledge. These texts and artifacts became known as the Tome of Warriors, apendium that transcends the boundaries of time and space.


    When Aion attunes himself to a spiritual equipment, he taps into the immeasurable well of wisdom contained within the Tome of Warriors. The spiritual equipment acts as a conduit, channeling the collective expertise and techniques of the warriors documented within the tome.


    "So, basically¡­ you transformed the knowledge into spiritual equipment that I can equip and learn their powers freely when they are with me," Aion said.


    "That is right, you can do that because your soul isn''t from here; souls born in this world have a predetermined fate, unlike yours," Malon exined. "That makes you able to change your fate and equip the spiritual equipments without limitations."


    "I see; in that case¡­" Aion said and then called everyone from his pocket dimension and then pointed his hands at them.


    Malon said that he could equip all sses because he didn''t have a predetermined fate in that world. So, he just had to pass his sses temporarily to others, sses that agreed with their fighting styles.


    Everything made sense now; after unlocking and mastering so many sses, Aion could tell how to transfer that power to others¡­ he could feel the spiritual equipment inside him like he was a massive vault of them. Lexus became a magic knight, armed with a blue armor and a golden sword, while Aion''s sisters got magic sses.


    Aion opened rifts and called his brothers as well and granted them sses as well. Lancer, Red Knight, Tank, Duelist¡­ he called Sauros as well. Sauros'' parents, all of his allies. At least the ones he considered his allies. He only had fifty of them, but they seemed powerful enough with the unsealed spiritual equipment. While Aion lost some parameters thanks to it, it was only that way that they could show their true potential.


    "All right, everyone, no time for exnations¡­" Aion said. "I will kick Vanebres''s ass, and you guys will hold back things here for a short while. It ising."


    Everyone had a lot of questions, but then they saw the sky glowing and then a massive mana cannon mixed with the abominant energy of Vanebre''s essence falling on them. Aion quickly changed his build to Resistance and then flew toward it.


    Aion hit the mana cannon head-on and immediately saw himself being pushed back by it¡­ the enemy wasn''t holding back. It was truly their final showdown¡­


    Aion''s advance stopped the mana cannon from destroying the world immediately, but a small part of it began to rain down on the world like beams of light. Aion''s friends didn''t know what to do at first, but soon they raised their weapons and blocked the attacks.


    "Grit your teeth and endure it!" Lexus shouted. "The equipment will protect us before we suffer any damage; raise them to the sky and infuse them with your mana!"


    "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    Everyone shouted and then followed themand; their energy began to spread across arge area and began to block the beams of mana. Still, the world was vibrating thanks to the impact of the attacks. They had been fighting for a while, so they were at their limits already.


    "I''d better make this quick," Aion thought when he saw everyone struggling.


    Aion gritted his teeth and did his best to absorb all the energy of the attack. Although he could only absorb mana, the essence of Vanebres was also absorbed, thanks to the forces that he had inside him. Aion managed to push through the mana cannon, but not fast enough¡­ his flesh¡­ his whole body was being eaten away too fast.


    "I guess it is time topromise," Aion thought and then opened his mouth.


    Aion began to literally eat away the energy as if he was some kind of monster. His mouth, his throat began to burn alongside it, but he was able to absorb the energy faster that way. His flying speed Increased, but it wasn''t enough.


    "I thought that you were smarter than this," Cailena said.


    Aion wanted to say something sarcastic, but he couldn''t¡­ in the end, she had a point, but Aion didn''t have time for any fancy ns. Still, he had an idea¡­ using the rifts, he redirected the mana cannon toward itself and eventually propelled himself forward even faster.


    "Just die!" Vanebres shouted.


    The mana cannon turned into an evenrger pir of light, and the foundations of the world began to fall apart. Aion could tell the others below were copsing through the sheer force of the attack.


    "... I suppose I can no longer keep watching it," Malon said after a long sigh. "Sorry about this. This is the only solution."


    A rift appeared nearby Aion''s friends, and then it flew toward Aion and was absorbed by him. He could feel the presence of his mother, Of Seris, and Ana returning to their bodies.


    "Now you have a more clear reason not to lose," Malon dered.


    Aion felt clicking his tongue¡­ that kind of push was what he needed, but not what he wanted. Still, he felt that he should hurry up and finish things before they woke up.


    Aion''s body began to vibrate as he used all of his energy to strengthen his body. Inner Force was activated and then Inner Release¡­ until all his powers were used to create his final technique¡­ Timeless Force.


    Aion''s body began to glow in a light blue tone until it started to pierce the mana cannon. His body began to be repaired, but at a cost¡­ his body returned to normal, but his hair grew insanely fast alongside his nails. Timeless Force let him use the power that he could only use in the future by giving him the future right now.


    Vanebres panicked when Aion reached him. He didn''t have any more tricks, and he couldn''t think of anything else¡­ The current Aion was way beyond what he had expected. In the end, the mana cannon stopped, and Vanebres tried to run away to the endless space. Still, Aion suddenly appeared in front of him and impaled the enemy.


    "You are going to make yourself useful from here onward," Aion said and then absorbed Vanebres soul.


    "Urgh, no! No!" Tenebres'' voice began to echo inside Aion''s mind.


    "Dammit! After all that!" Vangel''s voice roared inside Aion''s mind.


    "You will have to behave unless you two want to suffer," Aion dered.


    Aion sighed in relief¡­ he was tired, hungry, and thirsty¡­ it felt like he didn''t eat or drunk water in years. That was the price of the Timeless Force¡­ in any case, he didn''t have time to waste. He could feel some powerful presence approaching.


    "Aion, they are here," Malon said.


    "I know¡­ let''s just finish our business here," Aion said after a long sigh and then deactivated Timeless Force.


    Aion teleported to where his father, brothers, sisters, and friends were. They celebrated the victory but soon realized that Aion had paid a high price¡­ he looked ten years older, and that shocked them.


    "Oh boy¡­ is this the wee that a hero deserves?" Aion asked and then brought back Artemisia, Seris, and Ana from his pocket dimension. "Look after them for a while, okay? I will be back soon."


    Everyone was confused, but then Aion made his father carry his mother, he made Sauros carry Seris and then made Henri carry Ana. Considering his words, it seemed that Aion had unfinished business, and he wasn''t nning on letting anyone help him.


    "From here on out, it is uncharted territory even for me," Aion said. "You all did your job and protected the world; now I need to do what I was meant to do here."


    "Son¡­ don''t take too long," Lexus said while showing a difficult expression.


    "We don''t know what we will say to them when they wake up, so you''d better hurry up," Henri added.


    "... I suppose we can''t help anymore, but I am sure you have a n of your own," Philip said.


    It looked like everyone had something to say, but Aion created a rift to teleport them back to their time. Thest thing they saw were the aspects taking shape around Aion, and every single one of them, even Aion, looked like insects in front of those cosmic menaces¡­

 Chapter 452 Epilogue

    ?


    As the cosmic entities known as the Aspects made their presence known, a palpable sense of terror gripped the onlookers, freezing them in awe and dread. The sheer magnitude of their existence and the unimaginable power they possessed sent chills down the spines of those who witnessed their presence.


    The Aspects, beings of unfathomable cosmic forces, emanated an aura of grandeur and majesty that exceeded mortalprehension. Each aspect embodied an elemental force of the universe, transcending the limitations of mortal existence. Their very presence distorted reality, causing the air to crackle with energy and the earth to tremble beneath their ethereal forms.


    Everyone sweated cold when they returned to their era¡­ those weren''t enemies that humans were supposed to face. Even less so alone¡­ everyone assumed that Aion was pretty much gone. However, he soon returned to the same Era as well, and he looked like nothing had happened. He also was back to his normal appearance, but there was something different with him.


    "Aion! Are you all right?" Lexus asked.


    "Yep, I just need a new body and to rest for a year or two; aside from that, I ampletely fine," Aion replied.


    Everyone sighed in relief¡­ they wanted to know what Aion did to convince those creatures to leave him and the alone, but that was something that they could talk aboutter. They had a lot of resting to do and a lot to rebuild¡­ many people still were missing, probably in some era where Vangel tried to turn them into mutated soldiers.


    ¡ª ¡ª


    Six months passed by in the blink of an eye. The entire country still was being repaired, but things were going well. Aion finished a while ago finding all those who decided to work for Vangel and condensed them to work to repair for all the damage that they had done for as long as it was necessary.


    Although the royal family was half of the problem, no one raised aint when Selene was crowned the queen of the kingdom and Henri, her husband, became the suprememander of the armies.


    At the same time, Aion gave his brothers full authority to control hisnds further East while he received full autonomy of the territory that once belonged to his ancestors. He didn''t have money anymore, so he began to work on rebuilding the capital; once he made the entire desert that had been drowned and frozen over a return to normal.


    Fortunately, thanks to all that mana, the desert began to transform. Vegetation began to grow again, and thends began to be filled with life. It was Aion''s new home. So, he got lucky with it.


    "I can''t believe that we missed all that crazy battle," Seris said while she was drawing the new designs of the capital. "I also can''t believe that I had to be saved like a damsel in distress without realizing it."


    "Don''t worry about it, you looked after me while I was unconscious, so I just repaid the favor," Aion said while he was building the foundation of the new capital with his magic.


    "By the way, I am still waiting to hear how things ended," Ana said while she was watching Aion work. "I didn''t help, but I want to know what those beings that destroyed my era ended."


    "It isn''t worth mentioning," Aion replied. "If you want to know the short version, they just realized my awesomeness and decided to leave me alone. Now, less talking and more working. We need to finish this in three months."


    "Three months? I know that your magic is something else and all, but¡­" Ana furrowed his eyebrows. "What is the hurry?"


    "In order to make up for the lost time, we need to hurry," Aion said. "Mother is looking after the border of the west side of the Zaera kingdom, but since I am going to live here, everyone wants toe here, and she is busy dealing with the transference stuff. Before this bes a proper habitable ce, we need to work, and I also promised Mom that I was going to marry you two and give her twenty grandkids."


    "Eh, so you are going to marry¡­ twenty grandkids? Are you a rabbit or something?" Ana asked while furrowing her eyebrows.


    "Wait a minute¡­ who are you going to marry? Did I mishear that?" Seris asked while frowning.


    "You two," Aion replied.


    "... I don''t remember saying yes, and I don''t remember you asking," Seris said. "You must be daydreaming."


    "I was going to ask on the day, but I guess this works as well," Aion shrugged. "I was nning to make more romantic, but, oh well. The answer is obvious right?"


    "How the hell is it obvious?" Seris asked.


    "Of course it is; I am the coolest and most handsome guy around," Aion shrugged again.


    "I don''t know about that, but you certainly are the one who is the most delusional and sure of himself," Seris asked.


    "As for me¡­ I don''t mind," Ana said while looking away and blushing. "Aion always had been a hero for me, and while I didn''t see that happening, I was rescued like in a fairy tale¡­ I couldn''t ask for someone better."


    "One down and one to go," Aion said and then looked at Seris.


    "Well¡­ I will have to think for a while¡­ consider the pros and cons¡­ and all that," Seris said while scratching her cheek.


    "It seems that will take a while, and you are nning to get married when you are thirty or something," Aion shook his head. "Do you want to keep dying until I have ten kids with Ana?"


    "You weren''t joking about the twenty kids?" Ana asked, visibly speechless.


    "... Fine! If you want me so badly! Then it is fine!" Seris said.


    "Act your age, woman," Aion said.


    While she said that, in the end, Seris worked harder to make the ceremony take ce sooner than nned. A lot of people moved to Aion''snd, and a lot of people went to see the marriage ceremony as well. Since many wanted to get closer to him for their own ulterior motives, he decided to raise the taxes, and that solved the issue.


    The marriage ceremony was the event of the century since the partysted several days. Aion''s mother organized everything, and apparently, she had saved a lot of money to invest in it over the years¡­ Aion felt like sighing since his mother had overworked him so many days for such a thing.


    Despite the fact that Aion had ate start, he still managed to make kids a lot faster than his siblings. In no time, and pretty much every year, Ana and Seris got pregnant and gave him kids. Some people said that he wanted to revive the Mileris kingdom, but long had passed the time where that was indeed a problem.


    Aion lived a happy life until the end¡­ but now and then, he would have dreams. Nightmares, actually. Nightmares where he was somewhere else in a destroyed world fighting for his life¡­ he wasn''t alone, alongside Cailena, Malon, and forcing Tenebres and Vangel to help him, he fought agaisnt the aspects that saw him as a menace to the bnce of the cosmos.


    Whenever he had that dream, Aion would wake up and then get up from his bed. He kissed his wives and checked his kids and then smiled while looking at them. He had a long way ahead of him¡­ but if he wanted to keep having that much happiness in his life, he had to keep fighting for it with all his might for as long as it was necessary.


    ¡ª ¡ª


    One hundred years had passed since Aion began his fight against the aspects. He sent a clone back home after learning the trick from Vangel since he couldn''t let everyone wait for him. He almost died¡­ he actually died millions of times. Still, thanks to his power and Cailena''s support, he managed to stay alive.


    Things would have been harder if Malon hadn''t given his support as well by granting him all the knowledge that he obtained over the years in terms of battle skills. Without them, he wouldn''t have avoided half of his deaths.


    As for the two stubborn idiots, they caused trouble to no end, but they also worked well as magic batteries for him. Thanks to them, Aion was able to produce sustenance to keep fighting for one hundred years nonstop.


    "... Human, we dere that you can live on that," The aspects said all at once.


    "I wasn''t asking for permission, but it was about damn time for you to give up," Aion said, and then he sat down on the ground.


    "... We will keep an eye on you, and we will return if you prove yourself to be a problem," The aspects said.


    "I will be waiting; you should bring souvenirs next time," Aion said.


    The aspects vanished, and then Aion sighed¡­ that had been a long battle. Still, he didn''t give up because the memories of his clone were always being transmitted to him. He had the chance to live a good life¡­


    "Should I go back in time and take the ce of my clone, or should I just absorb his memories and take his ce now?" Aion wondered.


    "Those have been some long years¡­ I am going to take a long nap," Cailena said.


    "As expected of a granny, the first thing you think after this is to sleep¡­" Aion said.


    "Our existence is tied to yours again, and we lived our lives already; there is nothing we want to see," Malon said. "Just don''t get carried away with your powers and think of conquering other worlds, or those guys won''t target only you next time."


    "I will keep that in mind," Aion said. "Well, it is time to rest and enjoy life while making babies like a rabbit."


    In the end, Aion truly had twenty sons and daughters.


    The End.


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