Chapter 1581.

Consuming the Essences

Theridan was a level 90 mythical. He had the highest level among all the past kings. As the king who had
founded Themisphere, he was said to have defeated many barbarian tribes and united all the humans
into one country. Hence, it wasn't strange that he had a higher level than any sovereigns Jack had met,
even when compared to Marcus.

The rest of the kings had levels that ranged from level 70 to 85. Aside from Theridan, another two kings
were also mythical grades. Thegromar and Thebalder. The others were rare elites.

Thebalder was Themisphere's fourth king who was a friend to the orcs and also the reason for their
country's enmity with the Verremor nation. He was a level 82 mythical grade.

During the Judgement of Past Kings, Thebalder used a sword to activate his skill, Earth Wrath. Here, he
fought with two weapons, a sword and an axe. He fought with the ferocity of an orc. Aside from some
unique skills, he possessed many standard skills from the Berserker and Avenger classes.

As for Thegromar, he was Themisphere's third king. He once led a military expedition into the Daflue
Region to search for treasure inside the ruin of an ancient civilization. His force met with Liguritudum
force which came for the same purpose. Conflict ensued. During the battle, Thegromar slew the head of
the expedition which turned out to be the Liguritudum's prince. This became the source of hostility
between Themisphere and Liguritudum.

Thegromar was a level 85 mythical grade. He was a spellcaster. His spells comprised many spells from
the Elementalist, Warlock, and Reaver classes.

With the addition of eleven powerful combatants who were experienced in warfare due to their past
lives, the tide appeared to be turning. The Young Januses were beaten back.

All of Januses were spellcasters. Hence, they were vulnerable in melee. Their meat shields came from
their summons. But almost one-third of these summons switched sides because of Theridan's Beast
Dominance. This further caused disadvantages to the Januses.

Theridan's main weapon was an unusual weapon. A bladed whip. Its long reach allowed him to hit the
opponents as he rode his trusty pet, Terraxx.
Terraxx charged forward to where Therras was. Seeing its kind fighting alongside it, Therras' fighting
spirit was roused. It fought more fiercely than it had ever been.

Good Janus cast a spell that conjured an illusory shield that protected himself, Jack, and the chalice.

Jack cast Magic Field to increase both his and Good Janus' spellcasting ability. He then cast Orb of Storm
and Perpetual Lightning Judgement. With his advanced mana manipulation, the lightning snakes from
the spell slipped through his allies without hitting them and struck the enemies.

Almost all the Young Januses were hit by this spell due to its extended range. A good portion of them
were paralyzed and whatever spells they were casting were canceled. The eleven kings didn't waste this
opportunity. They pounced on these Januses while they were down.

"Shit!" Jack cursed.

"What?" Good Janus asked.

"Never mind. Continue casting spells!" Jack instructed.

The reason for his curse was because of his clone that was using the Lightning God Incarnation. It was
the end of the divine skill's duration and Jack was about to carry out his finishing attack, but Evil Janus
cast a spell that teleported Jack far into the void. Jack's finishing attack couldn't cover the range back.
His finishing attack ended up exploding where there was no enemy around.

Evil Janus either knew about his divine skill's final attack or he was able to sense the incoming attack.
Either way, that ultimate attack was wasted.

Dragon Jack with the Strength of Hope was still battling through the Young Januses that protected Evil
Janus. Spark was fighting beside him some time ago, but the spirit weapon suffered too many attacks.
Most of Young Januses' spells were AOE and there was only so much Spark could do to avoid them. It
didn't have as high an HP and defense compared to Therras, so it was losing HP faster than the others.
Spark tried to use its finishing mode the same as Lightning Jack, but this also failed. Evil Janus turned
intangible when Spark came charging with its finishing mode. Evil Janus was using the Ghost Form spell.
Spark's finishing mode exploded without harming Evil Janus, but it did take out a few Young Januses
nearby.

With only Dragon Jack and Therras, the two were having difficulty until Theridan and Terraxx came to
the rescue, the table was then turned.

"Hrrggghh… You people are truly exasperating," Evil Janus growled. There was clear resentment in his
tone. The mage was furious this time. "I will make you all regret this…!!"

The dark aura surrounding Evil Janus suddenly turned denser. He was also growing larger. He no longer
looked like a human. He was like a darkness-type monster with one large eye in his head.

"Oh no! He uses the essences he has collected," Good Janus informed.

"What does that mean?" Jack asked.

"He sacrifices all the essences from the faction leaders he killed to fuel himself. If he wants to become
eternal, he will have to kill the same number of faction leaders all over again."

"That is good, isn't it?" Jack said.

"Good for the world. Bad for us. He might have lost the essence, but he gains a temporary boost of
power that probably put him close to an eternal-grade power."

Evil Janus didn't take long to showcase his power. The Eye of Illios on its head shot out a thick dark beam
that blasted everything in its way. The beam went all the way to where True Jack and Good Janus were
located.

Both Jack and Good Janus cast Magic Wall. The two illusory walls blocked the beam but they cracked as
soon as the beam touched them. They broke a second later. Jack activated Gold Scale Armor just before
the beam hit. Good Janus cast Phantasm Armor, which conjured a ghost-like suit onto his body.
Jack and Good Janus were smacked by the beam. Good Janus tumbled back and fell to the ground but
Jack just skidded on the ground a few meters back due to the resistance from his Gold Scale Armor. It's a
good thing neither they nor the beam hit the chalice on the ground.

Even with the protection from the Gold Scale Armor, Jack lost half his life from that one hit.
Chapter 1582. Battery of Rune Techniques and Mega Spells

Peniel hurriedly used Fast Heal on Jack, bringing his HP back to full.

"Crap!" Jack cursed. He turned to Good Janus who was standing back up. "Hey, do you have a mega
spell?" He asked.

"I… I have, but the enemy won't let us complete it," Good Janus answered.

"Get ready to cast it," Jack instructed. He then turned to the front and called, "Thebalder! Thegromar!
Thewolden! Come over here!!"

"Young King, is that how you address your seniors?" Thebalder complained, but he and the others still
came following Jack's call.

"I'm sorry. I'm in a hurry. Look, I'll need you three to prepare!" Jack told them.

Dragon Jack, who was still protected by Strength of Hope, came to Evil Janus to stop him from
advancing. Jack used Hundred Shadow Strikes when he got into Evil Janus' range. The skill hit, but Evil
Janus' already large dark body expanded again. The darkness covered Dragon Jack who just finished the
strikes. He then found this darkness became denser.

What the others saw from the outside was Dragon Jack getting strapped up by Evil Janus' darkness. The
darkness was as if pieces of long paper coiling around Dragon Jack until he was completely covered like a
cocoon. Evil Janus then detached from this cocoon and moved forward.

Theridan and Terraxx fused into one as they performed Combination Assault on Evil Janus. Evil Janus
used Teleport, dodging the assault and leaving the duo behind. Evil Janus rushed forward to where True
Jack and Good Janus were.

When the other kings, who were in his way, tried to stop him. His dark body birthed several dark
tentacles. He then spun at high speed while continuing onward. The dark tentacles whipped his
surroundings following his spin. The kings who tried to stop him were smacked away by the tentacles.
Even while spinning, he could still cast spells. Multiple dark balls spread out. These balls exploded upon
contact. Where the balls exploded, they created strong gravity fields. Those who were in the vicinity
were pulled by these gravity fields and were With the path cleared up, True Jack and the others came
into range. Five of them stood before the Chalice of Blood, protecting it. Evil Janus then noticed multiple
runes unable to move freely.

Evil Janus himself wasn't affected by these gravity fields. His dark body glided through these gravity
fields without any sign of encumbrance.

He cast another spell. A river of darkness spread forward. From this river, waves of dark energy splashed
to the left and right. Damaging those nearby as well as pushing them away. The dark river created a
clear path for him.

With the path cleared up, True Jack and the others came into range. Five of them stood before the
Chalice of Blood, protecting it. Evil Janus then noticed multiple runes were generated by those five.
Those five were preparing rune techniques and mega spells!

When Evil Janus came into view, Jack cast the Superior Acceleration which spell formation he had
already prepared. Jack targeted himself and the other four next to him. He then cast Time Realm to
increase their speed further.

Evil Janus felt himself slowed by the Time Realm. He uttered a growling noise while speaking, "How dare
you use spells from a class that should have been rightfully mine!"

"Then take another one, sucker!" Jack shouted as he cast Time Lock. With the acceleration in effect, the
spell was as if instant-cast. Evil Janus didn't have the time to react.

"Now!" Jack shouted. With the effect of the superior acceleration, the others were already close to
completing their rune techniques and mega spells. They purposefully slowed it down to wait for Jack's
signal, which was now given.

Thegromar's mega spell was called Purgatory World. The spell covered a large area with golden flames.
These flames dealt light and fire damage. These flames also degraded armor and reduced the defensive
and resistance values of everything inside its AOE. The longer someone stayed within the spell's AOE,
the higher the reduction became.
Thebalder's rune technique was Pulverizing Chains. It was a ranged technique. It conjured several giant
chains with blades all over their surfaces. If these chains managed to catch their target, they would bind
this target, keeping it in place, and dealing large physical damage over time.

With these chains binding Evil Janus, he was unable to flee even after the two-second duration of Time
Lock was over. Held by the Pulverizing Chains, he was forced to stay inside Thegromar's Purgatory World
for its full duration.

Thewolden's rune technique was a more instant type. It was the same rune technique used by Themos
when he tried to kill Jack in the past. The technique created a giant purple energy sword that stabbed
forward. This rune technique had the name of Royal Slaying Blade.

The Royal Slaying Blade was also a ranged technique. The purple energy sword pierced through
Thegromar's Purgatory World and stabbed into Evil Janus, delivering huge physical damage.

Good Janus also completed his mega spell. His mega spell was called Storm Wrath. The spell created a
sphere of intense wind and lightning energy that battered everything within the sphere.

Evil Janus was extremely startled. He was just about to take action, but these rune techniques and mega
spells were already on him without him seeing them being cast. He understood then he had been
affected by Time Lock, one of his teacher's potent spells.

"Peniel!" Jack shouted. He had also completed his rune technique, but unlike the others, his was a
melee technique.

Peniel used Invulnerability just as Jack completed his Teleportation spell. He appeared behind Evil Janus,
who was bound by Pulverizing Chains, and then stabbed his Infernal Cleansing Flame into the bound
mage. Before his invulnerability was over, he quickly cast Wind Jet to get out of the area ravaged by the
two mega spells.

As they watched from the outside, they were surprised to find that Evil Janus' HP bar went down very
slowly. They had not even devoured half of his life yet. By the look of it, these rune techniques and mega
spells were still not enough to defeat Evil Janus.
Chapter 1583. Summoning a Reinforcement

"What the… He was hit by three rune techniques and two mega spells. How can he survive?" Jack
uttered as he watched Evil Janus' HP bar.

The two mega spells and two rune techniques affecting Evil Janus were near completion, but his HP was
still half full.

"It is probably his unique dark form. It must give him very high damage reduction," Good Janus
presumed.

"His eye!" Jack exclaimed.

After they had a good look, some sort of a translucent veil shrouded Evil Janus' body. The large eye on
Evil Janus' head was pulsing. With each pulse, the veil turned more tangible.

"The eye was using some kind of skill to mitigate the damage," Jack said. He then asked Peniel, "Do you
know what that skill is?"

Peniel shook her head.

"Never mind that. I'm going to try something," Jack said. He turned to Good Janus, "Do you also have
the spell that teleports a target like what he used on my clone?"

"I have," Good Janus answered, before asking. "What are you going to do?"

"Not me. My other clone," Jack said.

Dragon Jack had arrived. He used his natural wind jet and flew directly into the chaotic world covered in
golden flames, windstorms, and lightning calamity. His Lightning God Suit had already ended, but his
Strength of Hope was still on. Even protected by this divine power, Dragon Jack still lost HP extremely
fast. He used Gold Dragon Vitality halfway to replenish and double his HP.
Arriving before Evil Janus, he used Devouring Cross, refilling his life again. The damage from the
Devouring Cross was greatly mitigated by the translucent veil. This confirmed his analysis. However, the
purpose of his barging into this world of elemental calamity was not to land the Devouring Cross. It was
to get close to Evil Janus.

When his Devouring Cross landed, the air right in front of Janus' head shimmered. It was not so obvious
due to all the flames, winds, and lightning, but Evil Janus could sense an attack coming.

Evil Janus didn't do anything about it, though. Firstly, he was confident of the defensive veil he had
conjured. Secondly, there was nothing he could do. He had to fully concentrate to maintain this veil.

A long black light flew out from that shimmering air with lightning speed. This thin black light pierced
through Evil Janus' veil. Evil Janus didn't have the time to think about how his veil was so easily
penetrated because that black light stabbed right into the large eye in his head.

"ARRGHHH…!!!" Evil Janus cried out. His hands went into his one eye that had shut from that stab.

"Now!" Jack called.

Good Janus had prepared the spell formation. He cast the spell once he received Jack's signal. The
Dragon Jack next to Evil Janus vanished and appeared next to them. His life was only one-third left.
Peniel quickly used her healing skill on him.

"Continue attacking!" Jack exclaimed. They fired their ranged attacks into Evil Janus inside the elemental
sphere.

Young Januses tried to get to Evil Janus to help him but they were stopped by the Themisphere's past
kings. Theridan and Jack's second clone had also returned and wreaked havoc among the Young Januses.

Evil Janus was only disabled for a short instant, but it was enough since the defensive veil was no more.
Evil Janus' one eye opened again. It was emitting blood-red light this time. This eye looked at Jack for a
brief moment, Jack could feel the hatred from that stare. It then looked away in the chalice's direction.
That red eye pulsed.
As it did, the air above the chalice shimmered.

"Protect the chalice!" Jack shouted.

Thebalder, Thewolden, and Thegromar were staying near the chalice, they readied themselves.
Thegromar cast a spell that conjured lightning fences around the area where the air was shimmering.

Something colossal suddenly materialized from that shimmering air. This thing did a swipe as soon as it
appeared, destroying the lightning fences as if they were nothing. At the same time, the shockwave sent
the three kings flying. It then landed hard on the ground. Knocking the chalice over.

As the chalice tumbled, Theridan and all the past kings vanished.

Jack and Good Janus were dumbfounded by the sudden turns of events. Everything happened so fast.
Now only did they register the thing that had appeared out of the shimmering air was a dragon. Not just
any dragon. It was a true dragon. One that Jack knew and had seen before.

Tiemezzys!

The yellow dragon stared at Jack briefly before turning to Evil Janus who was still imprisoned inside the
elemental sphere. Tiemezzys cast Telekinesis at Evil Janus. His telekinesis was so powerful that it broke
the pulverizing chains from Thebalder. Free from the chains, Evil Janus was dragged out by Tiemezzys'
telekinesis.

"Stop him!" Jack shouted. He cast Telekinesis at Evil Janus. Good Janus did the same.

Their spells hit Evil Janus. The two spells and the telekinesis from Tiemezzys were like two invisible
forces pushing Evil Janus in opposite directions. One tried to hold Evil Janus inside the elemental sphere.
The other was trying to pull him out.

Unfortunately, Tiemezzys had far greater intelligence stat. Jack and Good Janus couldn't compete with
the eternal-grade dragon. Evil Janus was plucked out of the ongoing mega spells. Only Jack's infernal
cleansing flame was still ravaging his body.
Evil Janus knelt on the ground after being saved. The white flames burning his body soon ran out of
duration. Neither Jack nor Good Janus dared to do anything with Tiemezzys next to Evil Janus. Evil Janus
still had over thirty percent HP left.

Jack looked at the situation around them. A large portion of Young Januses had been defeated, but
there was still plenty left. Evil Janus might only have one-third of his life left, but he was still a force to be
reckoned with. Not to mention the Themisphere's ex-country guardian who had made it clear that he
was Evil Janus' ally.

No matter how they assess the situation, it was a clusterf*ck!

Chapter 1584. A different group of Reinforcements

On Jack's side, there were only his clones, Therras, and Good Janus. The five of them watched the
enemies with apprehension.

Jack couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed like the dragon was grinning.

Tiemezzys said to Evil Janus who was standing up, "Hehe. When I agreed to your condition, I never
expected it would be to help you against the object of our deal."

Evil Janus didn't respond. He took out a potion and drank it. His HP started recovering. Jack and the
others didn't dare do anything to prevent it with Tiemezzys right next to Evil Janus.

Although things looked to be in Evil Janus' favor, he didn't look happy. On the other hand, his expression
showed that he was trying to hide his fury. He stared at Jack menacingly with his one blood-red eye.

"Grrrhh… You truly have made me very angry, Mister Storm Wind," Evil Janus growled. "You've forced
me to let go of the chance to extract that Time Sage from you."

"Do you know what he means?" Jack asked Good Janus.

Good Janus shook his head. "Whatever deal my evil twin made with Tiemezzys, he made it after he
separated from me."

"More correctly, we made the deal three days ago," Tiemezzys said with a grin.

Both Evil Janus and Tiemezzy just stood there without making any move. Young Januses were the same.
They stopped attacking a while ago and just surrounded Jack and the others.

Jack's two clones were both back to human form. The beast form skill had ended. The Strength of Hope
was still in effect, but with the current situation, it didn't seem like it would make any difference. Maybe
that's why Evil Janus and Tiemezzys just watched them with playful stares.
"Three days ago? That's when I was captured," Jack said.

"Yes. After I found out that you suspected me and even laid a trap for me, I need to prepare for
contingency," Evil Janus said. "So, I visited Tiemezzys. I have known about his grudge against you. He had
gone into seclusion and never did anything because he thought you were still under the protection of
Goddess Serenity. I knew that it was no longer so since the aftermath of the Hydrurond War."

"If I had known, I would have taken action then," Tiemezzys growled.

"So, after you fell in my hand, I went to meet Tiemezzys. I only need the essence from a few more
faction leaders. He promised to come to my aid if I encountered any complications. In exchange, I will
give you to him. This exchange is supposed to happen only after I extract your Time Sage class."

"Hehe, imagine my surprise when I see who he needs help against after coming here," Tiemezzys
chuckled. He then said to Evil Janus with scorn," I can't believe you are having trouble against a weakling
such as him."

"It's all because of that artifact," Evil Janus pointed at the Chalice of Blood on the floor.

"The Chalice of Blood…? Hm, whatever. Is this space secured for the outworlder's rebirth cycle?"
Tiemezzys asked.

"Yes, he will revive here if he is killed," Evil Janus confirmed.

Tiemezzys stared at Jack menacingly. "Then, it is time for me to enact vengeance for Themos!"

The dragon was just about to lunge forward, but a loud boom was suddenly heard. The sound startled
everyone.

Jack also felt the ground shake. A second boom was heard. Jack realized then it was not the ground that
shook. It was the entire space that seemed to have shuddered.
A third boom and this time, a ray of light was seen from above. Everyone looked up and saw the void
above had cracked. From this crack, that ray of light shone through. Another boom and the crack
became bigger. Several figures dropped from that crack.

When they landed, everyone saw that it was a group of armored and cloaked people. Leading this group
were two people. One was a draconian with an eye patch. He wore white plate armor and carried a
humongous greatsword on his back. The other one was a cloaked ethereal.

Good Janus recognized the two leading figures. "Master Ragorth? Master Hashi?" He called.

Jack had never met the two but he knew their names. Ragorth was the faction leader of the League of
Champions while Hashi was the top native assassin in the Assassins guild.

Ragorth and Hashi looked around the place with bewilderment. While everyone inside this space was
flabbergasted by the appearance of this new group, Ragorth and Hashi's expressions showed that they
were also clueless about what was going on there.

"Master Janus? King Storm Wind? What exactly happens here…?" Ragorth asked.

Before Good Janus could reply, Jack beat him to it. He spoke while pointing at Evil Janus, "Master
Ragorth! Master Hashi! This creature is an evil spirit that possesses Master Janus' clones. He is the
culprit in the assassination of league faction leaders!"

"He is?" Hashi asked. His eyes narrowed at Evil Janus.

Evil Janus' appearance at the moment didn't resemble a human. His body was shrouded by dark smoke
and he had only one large eye on his head that emitted dark red light.

"Eyewitnesses mentioned a blurry creature as the perpetrator. That shadowy monster does look blurry,"
Ragorth said.

"So… That girl spoke the truth. The murderer is truly here," Hashi said. He brandished two large curved
daggers. A translucent green aura coated the two daggers. "I'm going to avenge my leader's death."
Evil Janus didn't bother to explain. There was nothing to explain anyway, he was truly the faction
leaders' murderer. He was curious about how these two managed to locate and even intrude into this
pocket space, but finding the answer to that question would have to wait. He had to deal with the
problem at hand first.

He was going to target Ragorth sooner or later, considering Ragorth was one of the strongest faction
leaders. Now that Ragorth was here, might as well make use of the situation.

"Tiemezzys, deal with those two!" Evil Janus commanded.

"Deal with them yourself! My quarrel is with this outworlder," Tiemezzys replied.

"Remember our deal!" Evil Janus exclaimed. "I will capture the outworlder. He will be yours!"

Considering the payment for their deal was Jack, Tiemezzys could just take Jack now. He didn't need to
obey Evil Janus. But despite his vengeance-fueled rage, he was still a true dragon. He had his dignity. A
deal had been struck. He had to honor it. He grunted and headed toward Ragorth and Hashi.
Chapter 1585. A Warrior and an Assassin Against a Dragon

When Tiemezzys advanced, the standstill was ended. Everyone started moving again. Young Januses
resumed casting their spells. This time their targets were the members of the League of Champions and
Assassins Guilds.

Ragorth and Hashi didn't bring many followers. The Young Januses still outnumbered them despite
having been culled by the past Themisphere Kings. Even so, the ones they brought were elites. These
faction members, seeing that they were targeted, weren't just letting themselves be sitting ducks.

All the cloaked figures from the Assassins Guild vanished in the blink of an eye, while the League of
Champions' warriors dashed in different directions. They and the Young Januses soon clashed.

Ragorth and Hashi didn't retreat despite Tiemezzys' menacing advance. Ragorth unsling the gigantic
greatsword on his back and swung it forward. Following the swing, the greatsword grew to a bigger size.
Hashi thrust his daggers. As he did, uncountable images of daggers stabbing forward were seen.

Tiemezzys swung his massive claw. The impact between his claw with Ragorth and Hashi's assaults
caused a shockwave. The result of the exchange sent Ragorth and Hashi a distance away. Tiemezzys
looked at his two adversaries with disdain.

Both Ragorth and Hashi expected this outcome. Both of them were level 90 mythicals, but Tiemezzys
was one grade higher.

"That girl is right again, we do need this potion," Hashi said while taking out a small bottle from his back.
Ragorth did the same.

If Jack saw the bottles, he would recognize them. The bottles in Ragorth and Hashi's hands were Divine
Might Potions.

Tiemezzys also recognized the bottles, but he had been underestimating the two so his response was
late. Ragorth and Hashi acted fast. They immediately drank the bottles after revealing it. The two's aura
increased exponentially.

"Hmph! Even if you get a boost, the two of you are still not my opponent," Tiemezzys uttered.
"Is that so…?" Ragorth said. He took a low stance. His skin was covered by crimson tattoos. His armor
also glowed with light that was usually seen when Ki Weapon was used.

The greatsword in his hand had grown to three times his body size. He was as if holding a huge pillar.
Yet, he didn't appear encumbered. His body abruptly shot forward. This movement skill was the same as
Spring Crown's Propelling Dash.

Ragorth's charging speed from the propelling dash was very fast, but Tiemezzys' dragon eye was able to
catch the movement. Tiemezzys slapped downward, attempting to swat Ragorth into the ground.
Ragorth's colossal greatsword swung up and collided with Tiemezzys' massive claw.

Different than before. This time, the impact threw the two back. Ragorth retreated a farther distance
which showed that Tiemezzys was still stronger, but it was no longer as one-sided as before.

Tiemezzys was unhappy with the outcome. When he was about to retaliate, he felt a sting on his back.

"Rargghh…!!" He roared both in fury and pain. He swiveled backward with his claw, but the one who
hurt him had retreated. He saw that it was the guy from the Assassins Guild, Hashi.

"Why didn't I sense your attack?" Tiemezzys asked in puzzlement.

"Hehe. If my attack can so easily be detected, do you think I will still be called the greatest assassin?"
Hashi returned the question.

What Hashi used was mana concealment. One that was very advanced. His degree of mastery was even
better than Wong's because he could completely mask his mana during an attack.

Tiemezzys felt his back itch. He felt his mana was in chaos at the spot where he had been stabbed. He
also lost a bit of HP every second.

"You use poison!" Tiemezzys exclaimed.

"Of course. Which respectable assassin doesn't use poison?" Hashi replied.

"Fine! You want to die? I will fulfill your wish then!!" Tiemezzys opened his mouth wide. Heavy torrents
of yellow fumes poured out of his mouth. It was his divine earth breath.

Hashi turned into multiple shadows that ran everywhere. Tiemezzys couldn't pinpoint which one was
the real one with his mana sense. In the end, he tried to swipe all the shadows, but there were too many
and they ran around haphazardly. His breath ended up hitting Young Januses and the other faction
members who were unfortunate enough to be in the path.

Ragorth came from the side when Tiemezzys was firing his divine breath. Unlike Hashi, Ragorth couldn't
conceal his mana, so Tiemezzys sensed the attack. Tiemezzys's claw clanged with the giant greatsword.
Ragorth used Ki Strike in the blow. Tiemezzys's claw ended up getting smashed to the side.

Ragorth followed with Deca Slash into Tiemezzys' exposed side. A move similar to Penta Slash but
landed ten successive rapid slashes instead of five. Each slash produced higher damage than the last.

Feeling humiliated by the successive hits, Tiemezzys stopped his breath and slammed into the ground.
This produced a localized earthquake that knocked Ragorth off-balance. At the same time, earth spears
thrust out of the ground, impaling Ragorth.

Ragorth's Ki Armor reduced the damage he received, but he was unable to take a proper stance due to
the earthquake. He activated his Wing tool to escape. He was paying attention to Tiemezzys' next move
as he flew up. He saw Tiemezzys' eyes glowed.

'Oh, no!' He thought, but his mind became empty after that last thought. He had been hit by Tiemezzys'
Divine Stone Gaze. His mind was petrified.

Tiemezzys stretched his neck. His mouth was opened wide ready to chomp Ragorth who was helpless in
the air.
Hashi suddenly appeared in front of Tiemezzys. He waved his hand. A bright flash was produced with
that wave. At the same time, Tiemezzys felt stinging pain in his eyes. Tiemezzys was forced to shut his
eyes and jerked backward.

What Hashi used was the Flashing Powder Throw. It was a variant of Hidden Weapon Specialist's Powder
Throw. It not only caused Blind to the target, but it also disrupted the opponent's mana sense for
several brief seconds.

While Tiemezzys was blinded both in visual and sense, Hashi grabbed Ragorth and pulled him to a safe
distance.

When Tiemezzys regained his sight, he saw Ragorth had broken free from his Divine Stone Gaze. He
snarled. These two proved to be more troublesome than he thought.
Chapter 1586. Additional Reinforcements

When the battle reignited, Jack sent his two clones to Evil Janus, who was also heading his way. Evil
Janus had drunk two different recovery potions during the standstill. His life which was only one-third
left had recovered to almost half.

His eye pulsed with red light. Jack's two clones were stunned when this red light washed over them. Evil
Janus cast two spells in succession. Magic Bind which was evolved to produce multiple binding rings.
These magic rings locked the two Jacks' bodies.

The second spell was Black Hole. Jack had run out of his defensive skills, so the two Jacks were helpless
as they were sucked by the black hole. The instant kill effect triggered and the two Jacks were devoured
by the black hole.

When Evil Janus was about to resume his advance, he was bewildered when he found Jack to be smiling.

"What are you smiling for?" Evil Janus mocked. "Do you think you are safe just because Ragorth and
Hashi came to your aid?"

"Oh, I'm not smiling because of them. I'm smiling because of that big tear above," Jack pointed at the
crack in the void above. The crack was mending but the gap was still visible.

Evil Janus then noticed that Jack was holding a small badge. It was his King Badge!

All of a sudden, ten additional figures appeared around Jack. They were his royal agents.

Jack barked his orders without delay, "Duke! Jonathan! Lindsey! Robinson! Help the league faction
members deal with the clones. Eyrene! Laurent! Howard! Help those two against that big dragon. Amy!
Nerd! Support me. Elayne! Play music that boosts everyone's stats."

Amy! Nerd! Support me. Elayne! Play music that boosts everyone's stats."

Evil Janus was too startled by these additional reinforcements. His response was late. Elayne was the
first to take action when the other royal agents spread out. She thumped her zither and a reverberating
shockwave radiated. It was a skill she had just learned in the Brave Academy, Debilitating Broadcast. It
was a sound skill that caused magical damage and stunned enemies in a large area around her.

Evil Janus was stunned by this sound attack. Jack and Therras took the chance to fuse into a huge
meteor using Combination Assault and slammed into him. When he was reeling, Hell Whip cast by Nerd
coiled around his body. Jack said to Evil Janus, "I still have another trump card, you know."

Jack used Reset. He then cast Double Clone and resummoned Spark. His true body then exploded into
lightning form while his first clone transformed into Supreme Dragon Form and his second clone cast
Time Lock.

"Time to wrap this up!" Jack declared. He cast Superior Acceleration. With boosted speed, he activated
Soul Asura, his weapon's Overlimit, and performed the burst attack of his sword art.

Uncountable lightning slashes battered Evil Janus' body during the short two seconds he lost.

At the end of those two seconds, everyone landed a combined assault. Spark and his two clones were
also under superior acceleration. Spark used its Finishing Mode. Dragon Jack used Soul Breath. Clone
Jack cast Perpetual Lightning Judgement. Lightning Jack used his weapon's skill, the God Annihilating
Sword.

Amy and Nerd also cast their offensive spells. Nerd cast Warlock's Hellish Explosion. Amy cast Celestial
Explosion, which was similar to Hellish Explosion but dealt light damage instead of chaos. The two's
attacks didn't land at as precise timing as Jack's, though.

One of his royal agents landed an attack with perfect timing. It was Elayne, who used Sound Cannon
empowered by mana manipulation.

The combined attacks created a spectacular explosion. When the dust settled. Evil Janus was no longer
in his shadow form. He was back to his original form. The staff of Illios' eye was also back to its sculpture
state. Evil Janus' HP was less than 5%.

When Lightning Jack was about to land the killing blow. He sensed a powerful attack from the side. He
turned and saw massive torrents of rocks coming his way. He turned into a lightning bolt to dodge.
These torrents of rocks swirled around Evil Janus, protecting him. They swatted anyone who tried to get
close.

"You, miserable mage! How do you get defeated so fast?" Tiemezzys bellowed. The torrents of rock
were his spell. Even with Eyrene, Laurent, and Howard joining the fray, he was still able to watch the
situation on the other side.

"That won't save him!" Dragon Jack exclaimed and used Gold Dragon Breath.

The gold dragon breath had a powerful corrosive effect. The stones surrounding Evil Janus seemed to
decompose rapidly.

Clone Jack used his other weapon's skill, World Splitter. The energy from his sword cut through the
decomposed rocks, destroying them.

A shadow suddenly zipped through the open path and landed a stab into Evil Janus' body. It was Hashi.
The assassin was also paying attention to the battle on this side. He used Combat Clone and left that
clone to fight Tiemezyss. He himself rushed here once he saw the opportunity. "I will avenge my leader!"
He exclaimed.

His dagger contained powerful venom. Evil Janus' HP dropped rapidly.

"Oh, no. You won't kill-steal my prey!" Lightning Jack exclaimed.

He shot back using Wind Jet. The side he was facing still had some defensive rocks swirling. He didn't
have the time to move to the side where the path was opened by World Splitter. He used Ghost Sword
and stabbed using the One-word Thrust.

Storm Breaker was still in its Overlimit state. The maxed Overlimit increased Storm Breaker's reach by a
great deal. The weapon had the length of a spear in its current state. The Ghost Sword skill allowed Jack
to bypass all the defensive rocks and reach Evil Janus behind.

His thrust accurately stabbed Evil Janus' forehead.

That last stab finally took out Evil Janus' HP. Unlike other natives, Evil Janus' body disintegrated when he
died. Several loots fell. Jack had used his Runestone of Luck when he delivered his stab.

"Raggh! Useless…!!" Tiemezzys cursed.

Hashi turned to Jack. His face was slightly dissatisfied. He was supposed to take this killer's life to avenge
his leader. He looked at Tiemezzys. He had achieved his objective. He wondered if he should continue
fighting that dragon.

While Hashi was having second thoughts, Lightning Jack, Dragon Jack, Therras, Amy, Nerd, and Elayne
went to assist the others who were battling the yellow dragon.

Young Janus clones stopped fighting after Evil Janus was defeated. Good Janus could now assume
control of them. He instructed them to help Ragorth and the others fight Tiemezzys.

Suddenly finding himself beset by everyone, Tiemezzys was now regretting his deal.

"Rarrrgghh! This is the worst deal I have ever made!" He shouted in frustration.
Chapter 1587. Complete Legendary Weapons

Clone Jack stayed behind with Good Janus. Aside from the two, everyone else crowded around
Tiemezzys. Hashi decided to join the fray when he saw his Assassins Guild members join the fight against
the dragon.

Jack was walking toward the loots dropped by Evil Janus. A tiny orb emitting a purple light floated
among the loot. It floated towards Jack. Jack was about to grab it, thinking it to be some sort of special
loot, but this orb avoided Jack's hand and floated past him. It continued onward toward Good Janus. It
stopped before the mage and stayed there.

"What is that?" Jack asked.

"… It's my evil twin's essence," Good Janus answered. "It came to me by itself since it was originally a
part of me."

"Oh… Wait! Are you going to accept that essence? Do you think that's a good idea? If you fuse back with
him, won't his evil thoughts influence you again?"

"In theory, it should not. He had died. Just as he absorbed the essence from the faction leaders he killed,
his consciousness is not influenced by them. I shouldn't be as well."

"You said in theory… You don't sound very confident," Jack said.

"I'm not…," Janus replied. His hand went forward to touch the purple orb.

"Are you truly sure that's a good idea?" Jack asked again.

Janus' hand paused upon Jack's question, but it moved again soon. The instant he touched the tiny orb,
it dissipated.

Jack could sense all the mana from the orb poured into Janus from the touch. Janus himself didn't
exhibit any changes. Jack used his Inspect and found that Janus had returned to his original level and
grade, level 90 mythical.
"Uh… Hello? Do I have a reason for concern," Jack asked.

Janus turned to him and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm still the one who was imprisoned with you these past
few days."

"Phew! I'm relieved," Jack heaved a long sigh.

"You are a very trusting person, Mister Storm Wind. I could have lied to you," Janus said.

"I believe that smile," Jack pointed at Janus' face. "The evil one never smiled like that. Even when we
met for the first time when you and he were still one, you didn't smile like that. He is gone."

Jack turned his attention back to the loots. One specific item among the loots drew most of Jack's
attention. It was a magic staff. One with an eye sculpture at its top.

"Staff of Illios…," Jack muttered and picked that staff up.

Staff of Illios, level: 80/99 (Legendary magic weapon)

Magical damage: 1,250

Range: 80 meters

Attack speed: 1

Energy: 500
Intelligence +55

MP +500

Vision Bending: Create a copy that will stay within a radius of 10 meters from the user. The user will be
invisible for as long as the copy exists. Copy will vanish if the user receives an attack. Duration: 3
minutes. Cooldown: 3 hours.

Illios Stare: Shoot a beam that deals 200% chaos damage every second. Causes Dizzy status. If the beam
hits the same target for more than 10 seconds, the damage is increased to 250% chaos damage every
second. If the beam hits the same target for more than 20 seconds, the damage is increased to 300%
chaos damage every second. Duration: The first 5 seconds is free, every second afterward will consume
30 MP each second (until a maximum of 30 seconds). Cooldown: 1 hour.

Eye of Surveillance: Consume 1,000 mana cores to project an image of a targeted place. Range: 50
kilometers. Duration: The first 5 minutes is free, every second afterward will consume 20 MP each
second (until a maximum of 15 minutes). Cooldown: 2 hours

"Wow, this staff has three active abilities," Jack remarked.

"Yeah, that is rather unusual," Peniel agreed. "Maybe because this staff was created using a legendary
artifact."

"It's one ability is for non-battle purpose, though," Jack commented about the Eye of Surveillance. "This
ability is for reconnaissance. I'm a bit disappointed. It can only spy on things fifty kilometers away. It
would be cool if I could spy on things in another country, like when Janus used the eye to watch the
battle in Liguritudum."

"Maybe if you disassemble the staff back to the original artifact, you can," Peniel proposed.

"You mentioned me?" Janus asked when he heard his name was mentioned.
"Nothing. I'm just happy all my weapons are legendary grades now, hehe," Jack chuckled. "Oh, you don't
mind parting with the Eye of Illios, do you?"

"It is yours," Janus said. "That thing brings me enough trouble already."

Jack immediately replaced his Mana Leech Staff with this new magic weapon. He couldn't transfer his
Orb of Raijin yet. He would have to etch this staff before he could.

He didn't review the other loots. He just picked them up and entered them into his inventory because,
at that time, several loud booms were heard. The space was also shaking. He looked toward the source
of this occurrence, Tiemezzys.

Multiple earth pillars sprouted from the dragon and stabbed in all directions. The pillars went all the way
to the edge of this pocket world, piercing its boundary. Those who were slammed by these earth pillars
received large earth damage and were petrified. Several Young Januses and the members from the two
factions members were turned into stone.

Tiemezzys unleashed his divine earth breath again, damaging and forcing all his assailants back. His
breath attack also went on and hit this space's border. Cracks could be seen in the void wall and ceiling.

"He is fighting while looking for a way to escape," Jack said.

Jack might be staying at the back here in safety, but his other two selves never stopped fighting. Janus
was the same, he was contributing by controlling the Young Janus clones.

Dragon Jack had unfortunately been killed from the last breath attack. But before he died, he
successfully sent his soul breath to Tiemezzys' eyes, forcing the dragon to shut his eyes.

Lightning Jack was at the end of the divine skill's duration by then. He channeled his finishing mode onto
his fist and rushed at the dragon. By the time he came into Tiemezzys' mana sense scope, it was too late
for the dragon to dodge. His accumulated lightning fist slammed into Tiemezzys' belly. The powerful
impact was enough to send the colossal dragon tens of meters back.
Chapter 1588. Vision Bending

Tiemezzys roared. His roar shook the entire space. The roar was out of both pain and anger. Anger that
he was being humiliated by beings that should have been much weaker than him. Yet, the pain was real.
Even with his incredible defense, that last lightning attack took out tons of his HP.

Tiemezzys stared at Jack in fury. The Jack who just attacked him had now returned to human form. This
battle was unadvantageous for him. Even when his enemies were all weaker, there were just too many.
As embarrassing as it was to admit, he knew the wise option was to flee, but he at least had to take out
the Themisphere King first. Killing Jack was his entire purpose of being here!

He charged forward. Now that Jack was back to his human form, he should be vulnerable. A gigantic
figure came in his way. It was Ragorth, who had used Gigantify and was now five times his normal size.

"Out of my way!" Tiemezzys yelled.

With both an enlarged body and an enlarged weapon, Ragorth's strength multiplied exponentially. Even
so, he was still dwarfed by Tiemezzys. When his greatsword and Tiemezzys' claw collided, he was still
the one getting pushed back. However, he was successful in stopping Tiemezzys' charge.

Multiple shadows appeared around him then. It was the assassin, Hashi, and his fellow faction members.
They zipped around Tiemezzys with speed almost unseen to the naked eye.

Tiemezzys clamped his jaws, producing a sound that almost shattered the air. This explosive sound hit
the assassins who were jumping around him. They fell like flies hitting an electric fence.

After carrying out a sound attack, Tiemezzys was then hit by one. It was as if someone with a
megaphone shouted right into his ear with the volume turned to the max. He felt his head spinning.

This sound attack was another of Elayne's new skills, Blaring Noise. It didn't cause much damage but this
skill could daze almost any target. If this skill was used while the user was playing music, it became a
sustained skill. The skill could be maintained until the user's music was stopped.

Tiemezzys found it hard to think under this mental attack. He gritted his teeth and used mana to erect a
barrier around his mind. Elayne's skill could still seep into this mental barrier, but at least he could think
properly. He located Elayne and couldn't believe his attacker had such a low level. The humiliation was
unbearable.

Elayne was not the only one troubling Tiemezzys. There was also Howard who kited from a safe
distance. He was in his Lightning Destroying Arrow mode and was firing without reserve. He probably
contributed the most DPS. But the same as Elayne, Tiemezzys couldn't get to him. If Tiemezzys forced his
way, he could only choose one direction. He chose the direction toward Jack.

Many hinder his way. Ragorth and Hashi with their surviving faction members, the Young Januses, and
Jack's other royal agents.

Jonathan had unluckily been petrified during the earlier earth pillars attack. Jack's royal agents who
engaged Tiemezzys in the melee were Eyrene, Lindsey, and Robinson. Robinson was in his eagle form,
flying in and out whenever he saw an opportunity. Lindsey used her katana and zipped around the
dragon with fast movements. Aside from Eyrene, the two dealt minuscule damage, but they were
distracting enough that Tiemezzys had trouble focusing.

Laurent and Amy played support using their healing spells. Duke Alfredo and Nerd joined Howard in
applying DPS using their offensive spells.

Tiemezzys fought ferociously. What he thought was an easy battle today had turned into a laboring
fight. He cast several spells while his limbs and tails smacked the flies that kept swirling around him.
Lindsey had suffered several hits. Her condition was the worst, but she didn't show any fear. If not for
Laurent's golden plates protecting her body and Amy's healing, she would have died a while ago.

"Lindsey! Move back!" Jack's voice ordered. Lindsey finally retreated after that direct order.

Tiemezzys turned back. The voice just now came from his back. He recognized Jack's voice. He had been
fighting his way to get to one Jack when another one approached him from behind. He knew about
Jack's Double Clone. He knew he had to take both Jacks out if he wanted to achieve his objective. The
one at his back was closer, so he turned around.

He noticed that the Jack behind him was using Evil Janus' staff. The eye sculpture at its top transformed
into a real eye and fired a dark beam. He felt stinging pain when this beam hit him. This was one of the
staff's abilities, Illios Stare.
The beam persisted, dealing chaos damage every second. Tiemezzys roared while casting a spell.
Hundreds of rock pellets were summoned. They battered everyone nearby, but a large portion was
directed at Jack who was firing Illios Stare.

The rock pellets flew past Jack as if he was an illusion.

"What?!" Tiemezzys exclaimed in surprise. He clearly sensed Jack in the position. It shouldn't be an
illusion.

Jack was using the staff's other ability, Vision Bending. He had experienced this ability when Evil Janus
used it. This ability not only shrouded one with invisibility, it also masked one's mana. It completely
displaced the staff user's presence into a different place. When Evil Janus used it, only Spark who had
mana perception was able to locate his position. Tiemezzys didn't have that ability, so he was fooled.

After a few more times trying to hit illusion Jack without success, Tiemezzys' mouth opened wide as if he
was about to unleash his divine earth breath. But instead of a beam, the yellow foams poured out in a
ring shape. The ring fume hit everyone that surrounded him. This, of course, included invisible Jack who
used Vision Bending. Illusion Jack vanished and Jack was exposed then.

When Tiemezzys was about to attack, he felt a stinging pain in his back.

'Is it that accursed assassin again?!' Tiemezzys thought in his pain. He couldn't sense this attack coming.
He turned around but it was not Hashi. It was another Jack who had used Brave Slash with One-word
Slash.
Chapter 1589. Tracking the Hidden Enemy

Hashi was nearby. He was about to land another sneak attack when Tiemezzys was occupied but Jack
beat him to it. He was now staring at Jack in disbelief. His mana sense also couldn't detect Jack. This
level of mana concealment was what made him believe he was the best assassin in the world. He found
it hard to believe there was another person who had the same expertise as him.

Jack's mana concealment had undergone a huge upgrade due to his practice using the Chalice of Blood.
By learning how to camouflage his mana to infiltrate the artifact, he also learned how to mask his mana
to make it appear as if common mana in the air. This practically made him invisible to mana sense.

Even though Jack managed to land the powerful hit, he had brought himself too close. He was
Tiemezzys' primary target. Tiemezzys ignored everything else and lunged at Jack.

Jack was just about to cast Ghost Form but Tiemezzys beat him by casting cancel magic. He was grabbed
by Tiemezzys' massive hand. The dragon's jaws soon followed. After three rapid chompings, Jack died.

The last clone turned into the real Jack. This one was still firing Illios Stare at Tiemezzys. It was past
twenty seconds now. The Illios Stare was dealing maximum damage each second.

The others also never stopped their offensive while Tiemezzys was preoccupied with Jack. His life was
below half already. The dragon was alarmed when he learned about his HP. He never expected this band
to pose such a menace. He did think about fleeing, but he thought he still had enough time to finish Jack
off before he was forced to take this shameful act.

He stared at the one remaining Jack. He was weighing the option whether or not to take the risk.

Giant Ragorth was in his way. Hashi also never stopped harassing Tiemezzys from the shadows. These
two were always the main combatants against the dragon. With the effect of the divine might potions,
the two were able to go toe-to-toe with Tiemezzys, allowing the others the leeway to land their attacks.

Tiemezzys also had a problem utilizing his mana manipulation because of Elayne's constant mental
attack. He had to use mana manipulation to protect his mind. Hence, he was unable to use it during
attacking or defending.
After reviewing the situation, Tiemezzys decided to risk a bit more before splitting. He lowered his body
into a crouching position. Almost the entire bottom part of his body was touching the ground. While he
was doing that, he was leaving himself open. Almost everyone doubled their offensive effort except
those in the front line who had mana sense. They could sense Tiemezzys' aura spiking. Due to that, they
moved away instead.

The dark ground below Tiemezzys suddenly alighted with a bright yellow color. This brightness spread
abruptly and covered almost the entire ground within this space. Everyone suddenly felt their steps
becoming heavy.

"The… The ground turns into sand!" Amy exclaimed.

Everyone understood that what was beneath their feet was no normal sand. This transformed sandy
ground seemed to pull at them. The gravity that affected them had doubled or tripled. Everyone had
difficulty moving. Even those who were flying above like Robinson also felt his body getting pulled to the
ground.

While everyone was still flabbergasted by this situation, Tiemezzys vanished into the sand.

"Burrowing!" Jack remembered this was the same ability as the Grim Sand Drake from the past.

The Illios Stare was disconnected once Tiemezzys burrowed into the ground. Eternal grade didn't show
up in God-eye monocle, so Jack couldn't tell where the dragon was now. Even his enhanced mana sense
couldn't pierce too far into the ground to detect Tiemezzys' whereabouts.

Gold dragon wings sprout on his back. He flew up to put some distance from the sandy ground, but his
flight speed was slow because of the increased gravity. Before he was even three meters from the
ground, he sensed something approaching the ground below him.

The sand below him exploded. The huge jaws of Tiemezzys were about to swallow him whole.

Jack was ready. He had been forming a spell formation while he flew up. He cast Teleportation and
appeared way up in the air. Tiemezzys couldn't prevent it since his Cancel Magic was still in cooldown.
"No flying…!!" Tiemezzys roared while casting a spell. It was the no-fly zone. Everyone lost their ability to
fly and fell to the ground. In Jack's case, he fell directly toward Tiemezzys' mouth.

When Jack was about to cast Wind Jet, he found himself being hit by a spell. He disappeared and
reappeared on the ground away from Tiemezzys. Jack found that it was Good Janus who had teleported
him to safety.

The others resumed their attacks when Tiemezzys resurfaced, but he soon vanished into the ground
again.

"Damn it! He must be heading toward me again," Jack lamented. Without the ability to fly, he wasn't
confident he could dodge the next attack.

"Everyone, follow my sound attacks!" Elayne shouted. She had one hand on the ground. Her other hand
was playing her zither's strings. Several sonic darts shot forward and hit a spot on the ground. "He is
under there!"

The others didn't question how Elayne knew Tiemezzys' position. They attacked the spot where Elayne
had indicated. Jack's royal agents were the first to act, but not all of them had ranged skills that could
penetrate the ground.

Howard fired his Soul Penetrating Arrow. Robinson used Ki Blast. Lindsey stabbed into the ground using
Drilling Thrust. Alfredo cast Spears of a Hundred Calamity, and Nerd cast Sunlight Spear.

Damage numbers appeared indicating that they hit something down there but those damages were
greatly mitigated.

It was Eyrene's spell, Revolving Ice Saw that had a better effect. Her spell conjured a circular saw made
of ice that revolved at high speed. It sliced through the sand neatly and dealt continuous damage as the
ice saw cut its target repeatedly.

A booming sound was heard as multiple sharp rocks erupted from the ground, hitting those who had
attacked the ground. All of Jack's royal agents were blown back from that rock attack, including Eyrene.
Chapter 1590. Resolved to Die

Elayne continued shooting her sound darts to let the others track Tiemezzys' movements. Based on her
tracking, Jack retreated to keep a safe distance between him and the dragon.

While others didn't understand how she achieved that feat, Jack had a rough idea. Elayne's mastery over
sound granted her a sonar-like ability. By feeling the ground using her hand, she was able to detect the
vibration caused by Tiemezzys' movement inside the ground.

Giant Ragorth was the next to come to the spot where Elayne indicated. He pulled his giant greatsword
high before stabbing it deep into the ground. As it did, a gigantic rune symbol appeared on the ground.
Massive light erupted from the symbol, blowing all the sand upward.

Following the eruption of the sand from the ground, a huge figure followed.

"If you are so eager to die, then let me fulfill your wish!!" Tiemezzys roared as he leaped out since the
sand that hid him was gone.

He took Ragorth by surprise and bit into his left arm.

"Arrgghh…!!!" Ragorth screamed in pain from the bite.

Tiemezzys' massive claw then slammed Ragorth into the ground. He then had his heavy body pin the
giant draconian warrior while slamming him repeatedly, causing damage with each slam.

He let go of Ragorth's arm which was wounded from the bite. He was about to bite into Ragorth's head
when something sharp stung him in the side of his face.

It was Hashi who had again approached undetected. Hashi stepped on Tiemezzys' head and dropped
several round things that stuck onto Tiemezzys' head before jumping away. These round things then
created a chain explosion.
The repeated explosion on Tiemezzys' head forced him to stop his offensive against Ragorth. Ragorth
took this chance to deactivate his Gigantify skill and returned to normal size. He slipped away from
Tiemezzys as he shrunk.

Two soothing lights fell on him and he felt the wound on his left arm no longer hurt so much. His HP also
went up a considerable chunk. He turned to the two who had healed him, which were Amy and Laurent.
He gave them a grateful look.

Now, that Tiemezzys had come out in the open, the others resumed their offense. The League of
Champions' warriors and the Assassins Guild's members swarmed the dragon while Young Januses sent
their spells.

Tiemezzys spun his body in rage, his massive tail smacked all those around him. He looked at Jack again,
who continued to keep a safe distance.

Jack knew that as long as he kept Tiemezzys focusing on him, the dragon wouldn't be able to do much
damage to the others. Hence, he kept up this kiting technique. He only sent ranged damage if the
dragon came too close.

Tiemezzys realized that the risk had become too great now. He would just have to look for another
opportunity to deal with Jack. Now that he knew Goddess Serenity no longer protected Jack, such an
opportunity would surely come.

He cast a spell. Six large earth cones appeared around him. This earth cone spun at high speed like giant
drills. The others didn't dare to approach because they were weary of how these earth drills would
attack them.

These earth drills aimed in Jack's direction and shot forward. At the same time, Tiemezzys fired his
divine earth breath. Jack was prepared since he knew he was always Tiemezzys' target. He cast Wind Jet.
His body shot out of harm's way as both the earth drills and breath attack shot by.

The breath attack and the drills crashed into the void wall by the edge of this space. Cracks were seen
and soon after, the void wall shattered, creating a gap even bigger than when Ragorth and Hashi
entered this place.
"I will get you back another time," Tiemezzys growled at Jack. He ran toward this huge gap in the void
wall.

"Not so fast!" Jack cast Time Realm.

Tiemezzys found a barrier blocking his way. He also sensed his movement become sluggish. He slammed
into this barrier. Before Tiemezzys' claw hit, the barrier at that spot seemed to shine brighter and
become denser. When Tiemezzys' claw hit, he found this barrier resisted his strength.

Jack was using mana manipulation on his Time Realm skill. But instead of slowing the time further, he
focused his mana manipulation to strengthen the exact spot in the barrier where Tiemezzys was hitting.
This act gave the barrier enough strength to withstand Tiemezzys' power which was far stronger than
Jack's.

"You wretched thing!" Tiemezzys cursed. He slammed the barrier again, but it remained standing. He
was still unable to use mana manipulation because Elayne had again sent him a disrupting mental attack.
Otherwise, this barrier would have crumbled.

While he was trapped, the others arrived and resumed their assaults. These assaults caused him to be
unable to focus on breaking Jack's Time Realm. Hence, he remained trapped. The gap in the void wall he
had created slowly mended.

Before the Time Realm ended, the gap had fully closed. Tiemezzys lost his chance to flee this space.

Furious, he fought recklessly. He no longer just targeted Jack. He wanted to destroy everyone here. This
resulted in several more casualties. Among them were several members from the League of Champions
and the Assassins Guild. Several young Januses also fell. On the royal agents' side, Robinson and Lindsey
lost their lives.

Luckily, both Laurent and Amy had the resurrection spell. Jack and Duke Alfredo cast Telekinesis to pull
the two's bodies out. Laurent and Amy then resurrected the two. Jack ordered everyone to fight more
reservedly. They couldn't afford for more to die now that Laurent and Amy's resurrection spell was on
cooldown.
Ragorth and Hashi looked at Laurent and Amy in envy when they resurrected their comrades. They
wished the two resurrect their members as well, but they understood about the spell's cooldown. It was
not strange for Laurent and Amy to prioritize their comrades first.

Through an arduous battle, they finally reduced Tiemezzys' HP to almost 5%. The dragon appeared to
have resolved to die. He no longer tried to escape, but he was determined to take more victims before
he fell.

A loud voice empowered by mana manipulation caused everyone to stop.

"Everyone, please stop!!"

Everybody stopped, even Tiemezzys. They all turned to the voice. It was Jack.
"If you want to gloat, then come closer. Let me bite your head off while you are at it," Tiemezzys
mocked.

"You have lost," Jack said. "But we will let you go."

The others were surprised by Jack's declaration. So, what was all their effort fighting this yellow dragon
for?

Hashi had the strongest reaction. "What the hell do you mean we let him go? He killed a number of my
crews. No way I'm letting him go! He is also a level 90 eternal grade. If he decides to come back for
revenge, it will be difficult to stop him. It's not every day we all gather like this."

'Not to mention we might not have the divine might potion the next time,' Hashi added in his mind.

"My faction has a sufficient stock of resurrection potion," Real Janus said. "Your members haven't died
for more than an hour. I can get the potions and resurrect them."

As for the Young Januses who died, they were mere copies. It didn't matter even if they were not
resurrected. There were still plenty of these copies lying around.

"I still don't understand why you want to spare him," Ragorth said.

"Heh! He is just bluffing," Tiemezzys laughed. "His kind is known for their greediness. You will get lots of
exp and loots if you kill me. There is no way you let me go. I know what you are trying to do. You want to
catch me off guard, don't you? You know I will take more of you down before I breathe my last. That's
why you try to trick me with this bullshit. Well, guess what? I am not that stupid!"

"You were stupid enough to accept the deal for coming here," Jack returned. "But no, this is not a trick."

Jack walked toward Tiemezzys after finished speaking.

Eyrene came to his front, preventing him from advancing. Jack nodded at her and tapped her shoulder
gently, telling her that it was okay. She reluctantly moved aside, but she followed beside Jack, ready for
anything in case Tiemezzys made a move. The other royal agents also came to Jack's side.

Tiemezzys stared at Jack in bewilderment. Jack was very close now. He was in his human form without
any defensive enchantment. Elayne had also stopped messing with his mind. It wouldn't be difficult to
kill this human now.

He was very itchy to do so. Yet, he was surprised to find himself not moving. He just stared at the human
as he arrived before him. He realized then that he believed Jack was telling the truth, and he was curious
about why Jack did so.

He voiced his curiosity, "Why?"

"Because a friend of mine will be sad if you die," Jack replied.

"… A friend?"

"Broidrireg," Jack answered.

"You know Broidrireg?" Tiemezzys was surprised to hear the name.

"We not only know, but Broidrireg is also our country guardian!" Lindsey exclaimed. She was the
weakest melee combatant among Jack's royal agents. Yet, she stood the closest to Jack. She was ready
to use her body to cover Jack in case anything happened.

"Broidrireg? Lies…!! He will never be any country's guardian!" Tiemezzys bellowed. His head came
dangerously close to Jack. Lindsey hurriedly put herself to the front. Eyrene and Robinson did the same.

Jack pushed at them gently. He moved forward right before Tiemezzys's head. He could touch the
dragon's snout if he wanted to.
Tiemezzys stared into Jack's eyes. He didn't see any lies in them, but he also couldn't believe Jack's
words. He had indeed been in seclusion all this time, so he might not know about the latest
developments in the world. But Broidrireg supporting a country? That was an absurd proposition.

"You can go to Mount Thenias and see for yourself. He stays in your old lair. I'm sure he will be glad to
see you," Jack said.

When Tiemezzys was still pondering Jack's words, he gestured to Janus, who made a series of hand
movements. A light portal appeared near them then.

Tiemezzys turned to that portal. He could sense that this portal was the exit to the outside world. It was
very close. If he dashed in that direction, no one would be able to stop him.

Tiemezzys looked back at Jack again. He still found it hard to believe everything this young king said. He
was truly spared? Broidrireg was truly Themisphere's new country guardian?

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Tiemezzys started moving toward the portal. He still stared vigilantly at
everybody, in case they made a sudden move.

Hashi was itching to move, but he saw that everyone stayed put. So, he also didn't move.

When Tiemezzys almost stepped into the portal, Jack's voice stopped him again.

"Tiemezzys!" Jack called. "I let you go this time for Broidrireg's sake. But if you come to cause me harm
again, I won't show any more mercy the next time. I want us to be clear on this."

Tiemezzys sneered. "You only win this time because of your allies. You are not my match if you are
alone."

"That's true," Jack said. "But I always have my allies backing me up."

Tiemezzys didn't give a response. He just gave Jack one last stare before he stepped into the exit portal.
After he was gone, everyone could finally relax.

Another light portal appeared, which caused almost everyone to tense again, but they saw it was
another Young Janus. This Young Janus carried a bag with him.

"Inside this bag are the resurrection potions. Please administer them to your members," Real Janus said.
These casualties happened because of his evil twin, so he felt responsible. He didn't think it was a pity to
lose these valuable resurrection potions.

Ragorth and Hashi's aides immediately took the potions and went to their fallen comrades.

As for the ones who had been turned into stone earlier by Tiemezzys's earth pillars, their petrification
ended once Tiemezzys walked out of the portal. Jonathan came to them with a bewildered look.

"Did we win? I don't see that giant dragon's corpse," he said.

The other royal agents filled him in on what had happened. Jack went to greet Ragorth and Hashi.

"Thank you for your help, Master Ragorth, Master Hashi," Jack said. "You have truly helped us. We
would have surely lost if not for your timely arrival, but why have you come here? And how?"

Ragorth and Hashi looked at one another before answering, "It's because of one of your guild members.
She was the one telling us that the murderer of the faction leaders was hiding here and you were in that
murderer's captivity."
Jack was astonished after hearing it. He had been unable to send any message since he was trapped
inside the forcefield cage, so no one in his guild should know his predicament. But it was true that he
had told John and Jeanny about his intention to infiltrate the Order of Magi before they left. Could the
person Ragorth and Hashi be talking about being Jeanny?

"Your guild member was also the one who gave us the divine might potion," Hashi added. "She said we
will need it. Well, she was right."

Divine might potion? Jack was sure now that it must be Jeanny.

"Is my guild member you talking about called Jeanny?" Jack asked.

"I didn't use my Inspect. Did you?" Ragorth turned to Hashi.

"I did," Hashi answered. "Her name is not Jeanny. Her name is Quiet."

"Quiet…?" Jack was not aware of any guild member with this name.

He opened his status window and went to the guild page. He scrolled down the guild member names.
There were now almost 20,000 members. It wouldn't be long before they hit the 25,000 members cap.

Unfortunately, there was no search function. He had to complain to Wilted about this later. But luckily,
there was an option to sort the guild members in alphabetical order. Otherwise, it would take a long
time to look for one person among these tens of thousands of members.

He found it then. Someone with the alias Quiet was there. She was a regular member, nothing
exceptional. She was a level 69 druid, which was the level for an average player who hadn't died before
or an expert who had just worked her way back up.

'Maybe she was Jeanny's friend? Maybe Jeanny entrusted her to contact these two faction leaders and
gave them the divine might potions,' Jack conjectured. Anyway, he had to go talk to Jeanny directly to
find out.
"I also thank you for your aid, Master Ragorth, Master Hashi," Janus came to greet the two faction
leaders. "I'm also very sorry about all this. This is all because of my evil…"

"The evil spirit that possesses Janus' copy!" Jack interrupted abruptly, which startled everyone.

Janus turned to Jack, who gave him an eye signal that told him to play along.

"Janus here played with a dangerous magic which accidentally summoned a dangerous spirit entity.
Shame on you!" Jack scolded Janus, who was still baffled by Jack's interruption. "This evil spirit
possessed his copies and imprisoned him. It then masqueraded as Master Janus and went around
murdering other faction leaders. We didn't understand why it did so. When I came to visit Master Janus,
I happened to find out about this and ended up getting imprisoned as well. We have been looking for a
way to escape since then. Luckily, you two arrived when we were making our escape. Otherwise, we
would either be dead or imprisoned again."

Janus slowly understood as he heard Jack's lies. If he was to tell the truth, it was not just about damning
his faction. It would also expose the truth that one faction leader could absorb the essence of another
faction leader to strengthen themselves. The perpetrator would have to delve into the mystic study to
do that but it was possible. Knowing this truth might have a dire repercussion. What if another faction
leader decided to follow Evil Janus' footsteps? It was better for this truth to remain hidden.

"It is… As King Storm Wind here said," Janus supported Jack's story. "In any case, it is my fault. I
shouldn't have played around with such dangerous magic. I will send compensation to those factions
whose leaders have been murdered or wounded. I don't know if they will ever forgive me but I will do
my best."

Ragorth nodded. "I can see your sincerity. We have also seen you fight your best to destroy that evil
spirit. We will put in a good word for you. Hopefully, those factions will be forgiving."

"Well, my faction is one of those factions," Hashi reminded. "What will you give to compensate us?"

"I will…"
"Nah, never mind that. I don't want to be bothered by these procedures," Hashi cut Janus off. "You go
and negotiate with my faction elders. I'm happy enough we have gotten rid of my leader's murderer."

"I will do that," Janus said with gratitude.

The two factions had finished resurrecting their members. Janus opened another exit portal for them to
leave.

Before leaving, Ragorth said he would announce to other league factions that the situation with the
murders had been resolved. He thanks Jack because Jack had been instrumental in solving this case. It
was Jack who first suspected the Order of Magi and told his faction about his suspicion. It was Jack's
guild member that led them here. Jack was also here before them and battled this evil spirit who was
the culprit. Without Jack, they might not have been able to find out.

Hashi followed Ragorth's lead and thanked Jack as well. He told Jack if Themisphere needed any of the
Assassins Guild's services, they would give him a discount. Jack thanked him back and said that he might
take up the offer. To which Hashi quickly corrected that his faction wouldn't target another country for
Themisphere. The league factions were supposed to be neutral and they wouldn't offend one country
for another, even if they had a better relationship with one.

Jack was genuinely disappointed hearing that.

After the two factions left, Jack talked with Janus a little bit more. The two confirmed their
understanding to conceal the existence of Evil Janus so the secret method of absorbing essences
remained hidden.

Janus thanked Jack for coming to his aid. If not for Jack, he would remain in captivity and Evil Janus
would have probably gotten what he wanted. Janus awarded Jack with 50,000 knowledge points.

Jack celebrated after receiving the knowledge points. "Yes!" He exclaimed. "With these points, I will be
able to exchange for the mega spell!"

"Are you talking about the mega spell in the minister section?" Janus asked.
"That's right," Jack replied.

"That mega spell is called Storm Rage, it is a six-runes mega spell," Janus said.

"The one you cast in the battle before has seven runes," Jack remembered.

"His one is called Storm Wrath. It is a more powerful version than Storm Rage," Peniel informed.

"That's correct," Janus confirmed. "If you are interested in a mega spell. There is no need to exchange
for the weaker version. Here, I will give you the technique book for Storm Wrath."

"Thank you!" Jack exclaimed and accepted the technique book.

When Jack killed Evil Janus, he received exp points. At the same time, he also received a notification that
his quest, The Attack on League Factions, was completed. He received 10,000,000 exp, 100 gold coins,
and 10,000 mana cores.

This was an SSS-difficulty quest. Normally, there was an additional reward accompanying such a quest. A
reward that might be legendary-grade items. He wondered if the technique book Janus gave him was
that additional reward. However, he would expect a mega spell equivalent to a legendary-grade item to
be eight-rune or nine-rune, not this seven-rune Storm Wrath. Even so, he didn't complain.

Probably the hidden reward was the blessing from the Healer Society so that he could build the wonder
building, Revival Pool. Now that the murder case of the faction leaders had ended, he should be able to
meet Panacea, the Healer Society's leader. He would arrange so once he returned to Thereath palace.

With the mana cores gained from this quest completion, Jack now had enough mana cores to summon
the Archdemon Lord. Added the mana cores dropped by Evil Janus, his stock was now 56,000 mana
cores. The battle earlier would have been easier if he had these mana cores then.

The gained exp points increased his levels two times. His Time Sage was now level 81 and his Beast
Monarch increased to level 80.

At Beast Monarch level 80, Jack gained a new skill, Beast Dominance.

Beast Dominance, level 1/20 (Active skill)

Take control of all hostile pets and summoned creatures in a 50-meter radius. Only affects pets and
creatures with rare elite grades or lower. Cannot affect pets or creatures with higher levels than the
user.

After the skill's duration ends, deals 3000% physical damage to the controlled pets and summoned
creatures.
Duration: 2 minutes

Cooldown: 5 hours

Stamina: 250

"Beast Dominance? Isn't this the same skill that was used by Theridan during the battle?" Jack asked.

"Yep," Peniel confirmed. "He granted you the Beast Monarch class, didn't he? It isn't strange for him to
have the same skill."

Jack had seen this skill in action. It was a great reversal when the enemy's pets and summons suddenly
turned against their masters. This skill had a much shorter duration compared to the Beast Command
skill, but it dealt higher damage to the surviving pets and summons once they were freed of this skill.
Too bad this skill didn't forcefully unsummon the surviving pets as Beast Command did.

Killing Evil Janus and the Young Januses provided tons of exp, but those exp were shared with Therras
and his royal agents who were also in the battle.

Therras, Duke Alfredo, and Laurent increased to level 81. Eyrene was now level 86. Robinson became
level 78. Lindsey and Jonathan were level 75. Howard was level 74. Amy increased to level 70. Nerd was
level 66. Elayne reached level 61.

Jack thanked his royal agents and sent them back to where they came from. After saying goodbye to
Janus, he headed to the exchange counter. He had 57,913 knowledge points available for exchange.
Since he had already got a mega spell, he exchanged these points for two spells he had eyed in the past.

He paid 24,000 knowledge points for Black Hole and 14,000 knowledge points for Magic Bombs. After
the exchange, he had only 19,913 knowledge points on his badge. There were still other good spells and
items in the Minister section but his remaining points were not enough for them.
He stored the books in his inventory, together with the Storm Wrath technique book. He wanted Jeanny
to copy them first before he learned the spells.

"You know, I was seriously surprised when you decided to spare Tiemezzys," Peniel remarked. "He is a
bonafide eternal creature. Unlike the archdemon who you defeated while in a weakened state.
Tiemezzys was even level 90. If you had killed him, the exp and loot would have been remarkable."

"Now that you mentioned it, I do feel a bit regretful," Jack said.

"Do you?"

"Nah. I'm just messing with you. Not everything is always about gain. I am not a greedy a*shole who
tries to gain everything no matter the cost. There are things in this world that are worth more than
material gains."

"Master would have disagreed."

"Thank you! I take it as a compliment that you consider me different from that scumbag."

"Speaking of that scumbag, we should find out what happened at the convention. Have you sent a
message to the others?" Peniel asked.

"Yes, but I can't contact Jeanny. John is at Heavenly Citadel. He asked me to go there. He wants to speak
directly about it," Jack answered.

"So, why are we not heading there?" Peniel asked.

"I want to etch this first," Jack showed Peniel his Staff of Illios.

"The guild workshop can already do that service, can't it? Why not just use one of the forges there? It
was free working there."
"Guild workshop is always full of people," Jack said. "Of course, they will all skitter to the side if I want to
use the forge, but it will just make me look like a bully."

"They already consider you a bully," Peniel said, which awarded her Jack's irritated glance.

"Plus, I'm not short on coins," Jack said.

"Spendthrift!" Peniel derided.

"Nitpicker!" Jack returned.

The two continued throwing one another meaningless verbal abuse, even after they arrived at the
workshop, which confused the workshop owner a great deal. The owner showed an expression that
said, "People, if you want to argue, please do it somewhere else."

Jack and Peniel finally stopped after the owner couldn't take it anymore and made an intentional cough
to distract the two. Jack rented a forge afterward.

Inside, Jack applied the etch to the Staff of Illios. He then took the Orb of Raijin out of the Mana Leech
Staff and inserted the orb into his new staff.

Staff of Illios, level: 80/99 (Legendary magic weapon), embedded: Orb of Raijin (Unique-grade Weapon
orb).

Lightning damage: 1,437

Range: 80 meters

Attack speed: 1
Energy: 500

Intelligence +55

MP +500

Vision Bending: Create a copy that will stay within a radius of 10 meters from the user. The user will be
invisible for as long as the copy exists. Copy will vanish if the user receives an attack. Duration: 3
minutes. Cooldown: 3 hours.

Illios Stare: Shoot a beam that deals 200% chaos damage every second. Causes Dizzy status. If the beam
hits the same target for more than 10 seconds, the damage is increased to 250% chaos damage every
second. If the beam hits the same target for more than 20 seconds, the damage is increased to 300%
chaos damage every second. Duration: The first 5 seconds is free, every second afterward will consume
30 MP each second (until a maximum of 30 seconds). Cooldown: 1 hour.

Eye of Surveillance: Consume 1,000 mana cores to project an image of a targeted place. Range: 50
kilometers. Duration: The first 5 minutes is free, every second afterward will consume 20 MP each
second (until a maximum of 15 minutes). Cooldown: 2 hours

All skills or spells that deal lightning damage +20% to damage.

Each standard attack has a 5% chance to produce chain lightning that strikes up to 7 hostiles, dealing
50% lightning damage.
One day after the outworlder convention, and one day before Jack escaped from the forcefield cage,
there was an announcement inside Eridrus. Edrirus was one of Hydrurond's main cities. This
announcement called for every non-army native combatant inside the city to gather at the city square.

These were natives who had levels but were not part of the kingdom faction. Most were adventurers,
some worked as bodyguards inside the city, and the rest just worked normal citizen jobs without caring
about their levels.

They were confused about the announcement. Some didn't want to comply, but another announcement
made them change their minds. The second announcement warned those who didn't comply would be
given a penalty. If they left the city, their families would be the ones to suffer the penalty.

These natives grumbled at the announcements. They had levels so they could leave the city, but their
families who were commoners wouldn't be able to brave the wilderness. They had no choice but to
comply with this call.

They grumbled while heading to the city square. They had been dissatisfied with the situation in their
country. They knew their country had lost the war and the draconian who sat at the throne was just a
puppet sovereign for the Liguritudum Realm. Their true queen was currently in exile in the Themisphere
Kingdom.

Even so, they didn't dare to rebel. Such a matter was for the people in power to deal with. They were
just civilians. This power play had nothing to do with them. As long as they could safely live their lives, it
mattered little who was in power.

When they arrived at the city square, they saw that it was surrounded by the ethereal soldiers. This
further confirmed the true power that controlled their country. These ethereal soldiers inspected those
who came and if anyone was carrying a weapon, it was confiscated.

The city square slowly filled to the brim. There might just be a small percentage of non-army native
combatants, but the city's population was large. Even a small percentage was significant.

Their levels were mostly low though. Some who were long-time adventurers had the highest levels,
around level 40 to 70, but mostly they had levels below 40. A few even had levels below 10.
"Are they trying to force us into conscripts?" One of the gathered draconians asked the draconian next
to him.

"I think that is likely," That draconian replied.

"What? I don't want to be a soldier!" Said another draconian who heard their conversation.

"They can't force us if we don't want to!"

"I agree… But what if they use our families to threaten us? Like what they did to force us to gather
here."

"Damn these invaders! I don't care about them conquering this country but if they start threatening my
family, I will join the rebels!"

"So am I!"

"Calm down. We don't know yet what they want. Let us listen to what they have to say before we
decide anything."

So, they just waited there as more and more people gathered. Some were escorted by soldiers, which
alarmed the ones who had gathered. It appeared that the soldiers patrolled the streets and forced the
combatants who had not come to the city square to start going.

Everyone was restless but they didn't dare to do anything.

By noon, it seemed that every combatant had been rounded up. They then saw an ethereal in a regal
outfit stand atop the podium of the city square. It was the Liguritudum ruler.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming here," Master began. "I believe everyone knows who I am and what I
have been doing. You must all have heard about our loss in our campaign to Palgrost. It was
unfortunate. I plan to unify this land and bring true peace to the world, but not everyone is willing to
give up on their power. Those shortsighted rulers just want to prolong the suffering of the world. To
have the world embroiled in the never-ending wars between countries. Such a waste of lives and
resources is what I am trying to prevent. By having all countries under one umbrella, there will be no
conflict!"

Many in the crowd disagreed but they didn't dare to voice their opinions.

"For this grand undertaking, I need soldiers! Great cause always requires great sacrifice. The loss in
Palgrost had depleted my manpower. For that, I need to replace the soldiers I've lost. I call you here for
that very purpose!"

The crowd still didn't voice any objection, but there were murmurs now. Everyone talking to the people
next to them in low voices. But because almost everyone did it, the murmurs became rather loud.

Master didn't seem offended, though. He continued speaking. His voice was empowered by mana
manipulation. Everyone could still hear him clearly despite the murmurs.

"You should be proud to become part of this holy conquest. Once we unite this world, we can start to
build a utopia. Your names will be remembered among those who had made such a feat possible!"

"I… I don't want to go to war…!!"

Someone finally voiced their opinion.

Master turned to the voice, who was a young draconian. Master's face was still calm. He didn't show
dissatisfaction with this dissent.

"What you want or don't want is irrelevant," Master said to the young draconian.

"You… You can't force us to fight for you!" That young draconian exclaimed.

"That's right! I won't be a soldier who fights for Liguritudum!" Another joined in.
Soon, many voiced their disagreement with being conscripted and expressed their disapproval of
Liguritudum's subjugation of their country.

The uproar went on for some time. Master let this go on. He was even smiling as they protested. Those
who stood the closest felt uneasy by the smile. They started looking around to see if they could slip
away unnoticed, but they saw that the ethereal soldiers had taken a formation that boxed them inside
this city square. All those soldiers were carrying tower shields that were placed on the ground next to
each other. These tower shields formed a solid wall that prevented anyone from escaping.

Seeing this caused their uneasy feeling close to becoming a panic.

Master spoke again then. "I didn't call you here to ask for your consent. I'm simply telling you, so you
can rest assured that your sacrifice is for the good."

"Sa… Sacrifice? What do you mean by sacrifice…?" The one closest to Master asked.

Master looked at him amusingly. "What do you think it means?"

Master suddenly started casting spells. At the same time, sky-splitting roars were heard. From above,
two huge dragons dove toward them. Both opened their jaws and unleashed devastating breaths. These
breaths washed over the crowd gathered inside the city square.

Master's spells followed soon.

Jack used his Guild Return Scroll to teleport to Heavenly Citadel once he came out of the blacksmith
workshop. While heading to the Guild Hall, he saw his grandfather on a terrace outside the hallway. He
was together with someone whom Jack was surprised to see here.

"Wong?!" Jack called.

Domon and Wong turned upon hearing Jack's voice.

"You've finally returned," Domon greeted.

"Hi, gramps. Wong, what are you doing here? Have you finally decided to join our guild?" Jack asked.

"No," Wong answered flatly. Jack also confirmed it after using his Inspect.

"I invited him here as a guest," Domon said. "We met during the convention."

"Ho… So how was that convention going?" Jack asked.

"… You should speak with John. I believe he is waiting for you," Domon said.

"I will do that," Jack nodded. "Hey, Wong. It's good to see you. Don't be a stranger, eh?"

Wong simply grunted at Jack's words. He and Domon turned back to gazing at the scenery outside.

They continued their chats until Wond suddenly heard Jack's voice again. He turned and was startled to
find a fist hanging in the air right beside his head.

"Hehe, got you," Jack said. Jack moved away with a smile and truly left this time. Wong and Domon
silently watched him disappear into the hallway.
"… You have a very talented grandson," Wong finally broke the silence.

"Thank you. Though I honestly didn't expect him to gain such a level of mana concealment so fast,"
Domon said. "I think we can both agree his mana concealment is better than yours."

"He is…," Wong replied. His face didn't reveal it, but there was a hint of sadness in his tone. "The world
is truly the place for the young. Old bones like us have no place in it."

"Don't be so sentimental," Domon said. "We can still do our parts in protecting and guiding the young."

When Wong didn't respond, Domon said, "Your stepson is also very talented. I haven't met anyone who
can learn so many ancient arts in such a short period."

"That good-for-nothing isn't worth mentioning!" Wong exclaimed.

Domon sighed. "Perhaps if he has been raised differently…"

"Are you criticizing my method of training a disciple?"

"I do," Domon said. "You can't just treat someone you raised as the same as your other disciples. You
might think that you impart fairness in this way, but that kid had only you to look up to for love and
care, unlike other disciples who have their parents to do that job for them. I made the same mistake
when my grandson had to live with me. Luckily, I realize this mistake before it's too late."

"It's too late for me…," Wong muttered.

"People said it is never too late when it comes to family. Maybe if you show him understanding and
care…"

"It's too late for me!!" Wong exclaimed.

Domon sighed again. He no longer spoke on the subject.

When Jack entered the Guild Hall, he saw John, Tip, and Paytowin there.

"Expert, you finally show up, eh? Where have you been playing when we got ourselves whooped?" John
greeted.

"Whoop? I thought the convention was just for a talk. There had been a fight?" Jack asked.

"Not a fight, we were being slaughtered," Paytowin said.

"What?! Didn't this smartass say there was no way the enemy would get into a confrontation? That it
would just ruin Master's credibility?"

"It turns out Master didn't behave as predicted. We have underestimated that guy," John said.

"Tell me everything! Oh, before that, where is Jeanny? I have something I need her to copy. I can't
contact her," Jack said.

"She has been captured," John said flatly.

Jack paused for a bit before laughing, "Haha, very funny. Seriously, where is she? Is she out on a quest?"

John maintained his flat expression. Jack wouldn't be surprised if this guy was messing with him, but
when he saw that Paytowin and Tip also showed serious expressions, he said, "Shit… You are being
serious?"

"Not only Jeanny. Haon and Red Death have also been captured," Paytowin informed.
"Cleo…? Tell me everything!" Jack insisted.

The three narrated to Jack the event during the Outworlder convention. Jack listened silently with short
remarks occasionally.

"Turned the day into night?"

"Master started the fight?"

"They were taken during the battle?"

"Two zombie dragons…?!"

Jack couldn't believe so many things had happened during his absence. The most troubling thing was
everyone with the divine treasures except him was now in Master's captivity. Master could have gained
all their divine treasures as they spoke.

When Jack expressed his worry, Paytowin informed him that Master wouldn't be able to fuse with the
divine treasures all at once. There needed to be a one-month gap between the fusing.

"How do you know that?" Jack asked.

"Wilted told us," Paytowin answered.

"Wilted was at the convention as well?"

"She followed us back here for a discussion. She left soon afterward, though, back to Liguritudum again."

"Oh, okay," Jack uttered. He guessed that Chris Memory Stone would have to stay with him a bit longer.
"Do we know where the three are held captive?" Jack asked.

"We can't tell for sure," John replied. "The Dogs of War is helping us to look for them. But until now,
there has not been any concrete finding yet. My guess is they are inside the Liguritudum Realm. Either
at the palace or inside World Maker's Guild Headquarters. For such high-profile captives, Master would
want them held in the most secure facility. Those two were the most likely places to be."

When Jack didn't say anything, John said, "Don't do any dumb thing like being a lone hero and storm
that place. You will just hand yourself in a silver platter. Master will then have all the divine treasures he
is after."

"Don't worry, I know the success chance is too small if I do that. We don't even know for sure they are
there."

"Not small. Zero!" John exclaimed. "Maybe even in the negative."

"Yea, yea. I know, I know! I said already I'm not going to try rescuing them, didn't I?" Jack said.

"Where were you anyway? Didn't you say you will join us in the convention?" Paytowin asked.

It's Jack's turn to tell them his story. The three listened silently with occasional remarks from Paytowin
and Tip.

"You were captured as well?"

"Copies? Timelines? Why is this so science fiction? This world is supposed to have fantasy settings, isn't
it?"

"You broke out?"

"Themisphere's ex-guardian?"
"You let him go…?"

When Jack finished, John commented, "That quest has nothing to do with our struggle against the World
Maker, you should have left that quest alone."

"If I did, Evil Janus might have become an eternal grade and probably caused more havoc. I am also his
target because of my Time Sage class. He could become a worse menace in the long run!" Jack argued.

"What's done is done," Tip mediated. "What are we going to do about the situation now?"
"We will proceed as planned," John replied. "Our army had gathered. We are about to march, but
something unexpected happened in Hydrurond yesterday."

"Define unexpected," Jack said.

"Master used a despicable method to increase his manpower," Paytowin said.

"How?" Jack asked.

"By killing the population of draconian natives," John answered.

"What…?!"

"Well, he didn't exactly kill everyone. Just the natives with levels. After killing them, he revived them to
become his zombie army. I must say his idea was both brilliant and ruthless. I will not be surprised if it
was my mom who proposed this."

"Brilliant? That is genocide. This is madness, but no way the draconian public just let this go unchecked,"
Jack said.

"Master moves fast. He went from one settlement to the next for the entire yesterday. He managed to
reap the population out of five metropolises and three cities before the other settlements caught wind
about what had happened."

"This should cause the Hydrurond army they had recruited to rebel, shouldn't it?" Jack asked.

"The natives that can rebel within the Hyrdurond army are just the ones with high enough ranks. The
foot soldiers are similar to our guild soldiers, they can't defy the order from the one sitting on the
throne. Their morale will be affected, though. Once their morale is low enough, the world system' hold
on them will wane and they can desert their post."
"Master was prepared," Tip said. "He sent most of Hydrurond's resources to Liguritudum to build his
army using the ethereal race. The little draconian army that was recruited has been sent into the Jagara
region to hinder Sangrod's army which had started marching yesterday. They wanted to just sacrifice
those draconian soldiers."

"That is despicable!" Jack cursed.

"Master saw these natives no more than computer codes, NPCs. I bet he didn't care even if he wiped
them out," Paytowin remarked.

"Anyway, the high-rank officers did rebel. Most had abandoned their post and moved to the settlements
that had not been touched by Master, preparing to help the citizens to resist Master's onslaught. But
without a real army, they would still just be victims for Master to reap. The smart ones chose to run out
of the country, but the draconians are a proud race. Most chose to stay and die, unaware they would
just strengthen Master's zombie army."

"He attacked more settlements?" Jack asked.

"He never stopped," John answered. "He went at it all night and continued to today, even now as we
speak. From the last intel earlier this afternoon, he had invaded a total of two metropolises, four cities,
three towns, and a bunch of villages aside from the eight settlements yesterday. The difference was that
Master didn't touch the commoners in the first eight settlements. It was not so now that those
settlements fought back. Many commoners were slaughtered in the process, but those level 1
commoners couldn't be revived by the Necronomicon. Not that they mattered even if they could."

"I heard that the villages his army attacked had now turned into ruins," Tip said. "They were no longer
considered a settlement because they had no population."

Jack gritted his teeth. "Damn that madman!! He has gone too far this time…!"

"From the look of it, he has given up on Hydrurond," John said. "That country is now just a zombie
factory for him."

"Does Aldryth know? I don't think she will take this news well," Jack asked.
"She didn't. As a matter of fact, she had rushed to Hydurond with her small army once she caught wind
of the news, which was around five hours ago," John answered.

"What? She will be massacred if she marches with only her force," Jack uttered.

John shrugged. "You know how these draconians are. I don't think she will listen even if you talk to her.
She was supposed to wait for my signal before marching so that we could synchronize with the others. I
must applaud my mother. She truly messes up my beautiful plan. Now, I've to adjust my strategy with
consideration that our Hydrurond ally is out of the picture."

"Screw that! We have to help her!!" Jack exclaimed.

"Sigh… To be honest with you. I was both happy and depressed when I received your message not long
ago. Happy because our strongest player is back in the picture after missing for a few days. Depressed
because I know how you will react when you hear this. All right, if you truly want to help Aldryth, take
the army in Palgrost. They are ready to enter the Daflue region to cross into Hydrurond following our
original plan. I have another plan for the army in Themisphere."

"I will trust your plan, but please don't consider abandoning Hydrurond," Jack said to John.

"You can count on me," John replied.

Jack couldn't tell if John was being sincere or not. He decided to just believe in his friend.

"Will you depart immediately? I suggest doing it tomorrow," John said. "I believe you will have to rush to
Hydrurond if you want to catch up with Aldryth. This means you won't be building any supply depot. I
know Aldryth won't. I will have to arrange for our army in Palgrost to secure more supplies from Palgrost
before heading out. This will take one day. In the meantime, I will also task a small division to build
supply depots from Themisphere into Hydrurond. I just have to ensure our army from Palgrost has
enough supplies until this division reaches Hydrurond. You won't be getting any from Hydrurond
settlements under the current situation."

Jack nodded. "Please arrange that."

"I also need you to go to the throneroom to use your ruling powers. I got a few research need
hastening."

"I will go there tomorrow morning," Jack said. It was near nighttime by now. He was also exhausted after
that battle against Evil Janus and Tiemezzys. He needed to rest. He supposed it would be another long
day tomorrow.

"Jack…!" Jack heard Grace's voice. He turned and saw the lady running into the room. Jack felt a hug
before he could reply.

"Maybe we should leave?" Paytowin asked.

"Hell, no! I'm busy here. Tell them to go find a room somewhere else!" John returned.
"What happened to you? I can't contact you all this time!" Grace said to Jack after letting go of her hug.

Jack ended up having to narrate his story for the second time. The others ignored the two. Paytowin left
to rest. John and Tip continued working with the control platform while discussing the guild's
development. Now that Jeanny was not around, John had to spare half of his time at the guild to help
Tip manage.

"Somebody from our guild tipped the League of Champions and the Assassins Guild?" Grace asked when
Jack explained about Ragorth and Hashi arriving and saving them.

"Oh, right! That reminds me. Tip…! Do you know anything about our guild member that goes by the
name Quiet?" Jack asked.

"Who?" Tip asked back.

"Quiet. Pull up the member's name list. She is in there," Jack said.

"If I have to pull up the name list, then she is just a regular unremarkable member. I know nothing about
her," Tip replied.

"If she was unremarkable, how did she manage to persuade two renowned factions to come to my help
and even know where we were being held? Not to mention she also had two Divine Might Potion which
she willingly handed out for free. I at first thought she had been tasked by Jeanny. But after hearing
what happened to Jeanny, I know she is not. Did you send her?"

Jack asked John.

"I've never been in contact nor heard that name before," John replied.

"Can this platform check the history of our members?" Jack asked.
"A moment, please," Tip stopped what he was doing and changed the interface to the one that showed
guild members. He scrolled to the name, Quiet.

"She is not an old member. She joined this guild around two months ago," Tip informed.

'Around the time Grace and I left for the Council of Charites,' Jack thought.

Tip continued, "She is a diligent member. She completed all her weekly tasks without fail. She was one
of our members who didn't join the Palgrost war, but in exchange, she completed the additional tasks
given to her. She also went on several guild-appointed team quests since she joined. The quests were
just normal difficulty, nothing special to be mentioned about."

John was taking out a pile of bound papers from his inventory. He was currently flipping the pages.

"I requested all the leaders of the teams who do guild-appointed quests to compile a report whenever
the quests are completed," John informed. "Those reports are all given to Jeanny, to which I have a
copy. These reports are not only about the quests but also about the members who participated. How
good and how cooperative they are. What their attitudes are. This allows us to have a better
understanding of our members. Whether they are worthy members to keep and develop. Tell me all the
quests this Quiet was involved in."

Tip told John the information he asked for. John flipped the pages several times to study the data while
Jack and Grace waited.

After a while, John said, "Mm… Well, I can tell you that there is nothing special about this Quiet. None of
the leaders mentioned anything much about her other than that she is obedient and a decent healer.
Her expertise is just so-so, nothing worth mentioning. She is also very quiet and keeps to herself. Hm…
Now, I get why she chose her alias."

"Where is she now? I would like to talk to her," Jack said.

"Let me see… Huh? It says here she is in an unknown place," Tip said after using the guild platform.
"Unknown?"

"Probably like when you were trapped in the Order of Magi or Council of Charites," John deduced.

"Do you have her on your friend list? Can you try calling her?" Jack asked.

"If she is in an undetected place, she probably can't be contacted," John said.

"No harm in trying," Jack returned.

"We can try calling her in the guild chat, but this platform can send private messages to all guild
members. Let me try that," Tip answered.

"Huh… She answered," Tip said after some time. "I told her you want to talk to her but she replied that
she is unavailable for now. She also apologized that she won't be able to complete this week's tasks but
promised to perform double the next week."

"I assume this meant she is not joining our offensive campaign again, is she?" Jack asked.

Tip checked the data on the platform. "You are correct. She isn't among the ones registered for the guild
quest to help Themisphere in this coming campaign."

"What a mysterious member," Grace remarked.

"I think there is more to her than meets the eye," Jack said.

"Whatever it is, we don't have the time for her," John said. "We have enough to deal with the coming
campaign. Tip, make a note the next time you assign her a quest, you place her on the same team as our
core members. If possible, have someone with good judgment."
"Ask me when that comes up, I would very much like to go on a quest with her and see what kind of a
person she is," Grace said.

"I just want to talk to her," Jack said. "Let me know when she is back."

"Okay, boss and madam boss," Tip responded.

The four chatted for a bit more before they retired for the night. When Jack was about to leave, Tip said
to him, "Check the warehouse section for guild leaders. Jeanny copied something recently and put it
there for you. She probably left it there because she had a hunch she might not meet you for some
time."

Jack thanked Tip for the info and headed to the guild warehouse. He was going there anyway to place
some of the loot from Janus. These were loots that he had no use for. They consisted of a bunch of
materials, several super rare equipment, and one unique equipment.

After donating these items to the warehouse, Jack checked the guild leader's section. He immediately
identified the item Tip meant. It was a technique book containing a skill for the Beastmaster class. He
was the only one among the three guild leaders with the Beastmaster class.

The skill inside the book was called Demonize Pet.

After taking the technique book, Jack checked again the other items inside the warehouse available for
exchange. He didn't have many guild contribution points left since he had used them to get a heap of
robe armor to be fused for Elayne.

The loot from Janus he donated just now had granted him some contribution points. He originally
wanted to exchange for gemstones again, but Jeanny hadn't copied another batch. There were however,
several evolve seeds for exchange.

They were mostly the lowest standard evolve seeds like the rare-grade elemental seeds and empower
seeds. One, however, was a super rare grade seed called mobile seed. Peniel told Jack that this seed was
one with more restrictions compared to other seeds. It could only be used on skills or spells that
produce a static effect.

Jack checked his guild contribution points. He had enough to exchange for this seed plus another lower-
grade seed. He took the mobile seed and the empower seed.

Afterward, Jack returned to Thereath palace to rest in his royal chamber.

Inside his royal chamber, he laid out the goods he had exchanged and the remaining loots dropped by
Evil Janus. The loots were two gemstones, one technique book, and an evolve seed.

The gemstones were a super rare diamond and a unique emerald. Jack used them both for his
Runestone of Marching. The two gemstones provided 3,300 elemental energies. The runestone of
Marching now had 63,200 elemental energies out of the 100,000 needed to upgrade it to the legendary
grade.

The technique book contained another spell that Evil Janus had used in the battle earlier. The spell was
called Hundred Mirages.

Peniel explained to Jack that the Hundred Mirages was a spell that created multiple fake copies of the
caster. When Evil Janus used Illios Stare and Vision Bending, he also combined it with this spell. Hence,
he created a lot of copies instead of only one.
Just like the one copy created by Vision Bending, the copies from Hundred Mirages imitated the caster's
action. Moreover, each copy gave off mana that could fool even those who had mana sense.

Jack didn't know when Jeanny would return, or if she still had her divine ability to copy items when she
returned. It wouldn't be wise to just keep this book waiting for her return, so Jack decided to just learn
it.

He also learned all the other technique books he had gotten after the battle with Evil Janus.

Hundred Mirages, level 1/20 (Active spell)

Creates 10 copies of the caster that imitates the caster's action.

Duration: 2 minutes

Cooldown: 1 hour

MP: 250

Magic Bombs, level 1/20 (Active spell, requires magic weapon)

Shoots 10 energy balls that explode. Each ball deals 100% magical damage in a 5-meter diameter area.

Range: 50 meters

Cooldown: 2 hours
MP: 200

Black Hole, level 1/20 (Active spell, requires magic weapon)

Creates a 5-meter radius energy field with a powerful pulling force. Deals 30% magical damage every
second.

When this spell ends, all affected hostiles have a 5% chance of receiving an instant-kill effect.

Range: 50 meters

Duration: 10 seconds

Cooldown: 4 hours

MP: 350

Storm Wrath (Mega spell)

Creates a sphere of intense wind and lightning energy that batters everything within the sphere.

Cooldown: 12 hours

*
Jack had suddenly received so many new spells that he didn't know which one to level up. He currently
only had 3 free skill points for Time Sage and 6 free skill points for Beast Monarch available for use.
There were also 1,600,000 souls in his Container of Souls. More than one million souls came from Evil
Janus. The rest was from the slain monsters when he power-leveled Elayne and the leftover souls inside
the container. Young Janus clones didn't provide any souls.

Jack asked Peniel what were the effects of leveling up these new spells except for Storm Wrath. The
mega spell couldn't be leveled up. Peniel not only informed him of the effect of level-up but also the
effect of star upgrades.

Each level of Hundred Mirages increased the spell's duration by 24 seconds and added another copy. At
max level, the spell lasted ten minutes and produced thirty copies. When this spell obtained its first star,
the copies could move and perform other actions other than imitating the caster. The more stars it had,
the more varied the actions were. With thirty copies moving and acting haphazardly, it would certainly
confuse the enemies.

Every level of Magic Bombs increased the spell's damage by five percent. Every two levels added
another energy ball. At max level, Magic Bombs released twenty energy balls that dealt 200% magical
damage. The star upgrades decreased the cooldown by 6 minutes for each star. At full ten stars, the
cooldown was reduced to one hour.

Every level of Black Hole increased the energy field's radius by 0.5 meters and its duration by 1 second.
At max level, Black Hole's radius was 15 meters and its duration was 30 seconds. Every star increased
Black Hole's damage and instant-kill effect by 2%. At ten stars, Black Hole dealt 50% magical damage
every second and its instant-kill chance was 25%.

Jack noted that the Black Hole's instant-kill chance was a far cry from the Herald's Chaos Black Hole even
when this spell was upgraded to full stars. The Herald's Chaos Black Hole had a 100% chance. Peniel
simply said she wasn't the one who created the spells. She told Jack to just accept the fact.

After some consideration, Jack decided to not level up any of these new spells. He spent Time Sage's 3
free skill points and all the 1,600,000 souls to max-level Time Lock. At level 20, Time Lock stopped the
target for ten seconds and its range became 100 meters.
For the Beast Monarch's 6 free skill points, Jack used them to level up Beast Dominance to level 7. Each
level-up increased the skill's duration by 9 seconds and its radius by 2.5 meters. At level 7, the skill's
radius increased to 65 meters and all affected hostile pets and summons were under his control for 2
minutes and 54 seconds. If he max-leveled this skill, the radius would become 100 meters and enemy
creatures would be under his control for five minutes.
Jack was now looking at the last loot from Evil Janus, the Evolve Seed. This seed was the best loot
because its grade was the legendary grade. The seed was called the Enlightenment Seed.

Jack had been racking his brain about which skill to use this legendary seed on. Peniel also didn't provide
much help because she was unsure what this seed did. After thinking for too long, he decided to just use
a simple reason to decide. He wanted to upgrade all his three elite classes' strongest skills. He had
already upgraded Asura. This left the Magic Field from the Archmage class and the Ultimate Beast from
the Beastmaster class.

He had another seed in mind for the Magic Field, so he chose the Ultimate Beast to use the
Enlightenment Seed on.

After feeding the Enlightenment Seed to his Ultimate Beast, the skill changed its name to Elevate Beast.

Elevate Beast, level 20/20 (Active skill, requires pet), star: 2

Releases the secret power of the pet. +500% to the pet's attributes, +26% to the pet's damage, and
damage received by the pet is reduced by 36%.

Elevate the pet by one grade. If the pet is already an Eternal Grade, attributes are instead increased to
an additional 1000%, and damage and defense by an additional 50%.

Certain pets might display unique abilities during the skill.

Duration: 30 minutes

Cooldown: 6 hours

*
"Holy…!" Jack exclaimed in surprise.

The basic abilities of the skill were still the same as before. The seed simply added an ability to elevate
the user's pet by one grade. If he used this skill, Therras would immediately gain the power of an
eternal-grade creature. Additionally, the skill's duration had been increased. Previously, Ultimate Beast
only lasted ten minutes. This evolved skill lasted half an hour.

"This should help when I go up against Master," Jack said.

He had heard that Master had two eternal-grade zombie dragons. If Master called Suzaki, Master would
have three eternal-grade combatants by his side. Even if Jack called Broidrireg, he reckoned the elder
dragon would still have a problem facing three eternal-grade opponents. With this Elevate Beast skill
and the archdemon lord summon, he should at least alleviate Broidrireg's pressure even if only for a
short duration.

He now turned to the two evolve seeds he had taken from the guild warehouse, the empower seed and
the mobile seed. The empower seed was among the most standard evolve seeds, similar to the
elemental seeds other than soul and chaos. This one was even only a rare grade. Hence, he didn't want
to use it on any high-level skill.

He used this Empower Seed on his basic skill, Swing. The skill transformed into Power Swing. The
inflicted damage and the swing's reach increased by a little. The most significant change to the skill was
the addition of the knockback effect.

Only mobile seed was left now. Peniel said that this skill was only compatible with skills that had static
effects. He tried using the seed on Blitz Slash. A notification told him that the seed couldn't be used on
that skill.

Peniel gave Jack a side-eye for wasting time testing on something she had advised. Jack chuckled for a
response.

"Too bad I've already evolved my Time Domain," Jack said. "Otherwise, this seed should change that
spell into a time domain that follows me around. Can I revert an evolved skill to its original form? To use
a different seed on the skill."
"You can't return an evolved skill to its original form," Peniel answered. "But you can use a stronger
version of the same seed you used to evolve the skill. If you use this super-rare-grade Mobile Seed on
your Magic Field and later you gain a unique-grade or legendary-grade mobile seed, you can use that
seed on Magic Field again. You won't get back the previous super-rare-grade seed, though. That is
considered wasted."

"Hm… I see. Okay, let's use this seed," Jack announced.

He might appear to hardly use the Magic Field, but he always cast it whenever he was in a group fight,
especially if his allies were magic casters. This spell was less useful to him because of its static nature.
Jack had to stay in one place to utilize this spell's benefits, but his fighting style had him always moving
around. Hence, this spell was only useful for his allies up till now.

This spell had also recently received its second star upgrade. Its probability of double-casting was now
increased to 40%.

After using the Mobile Seed, this spell also changed its name.

Remote Magic Field, level 20/20 (Active spell, requires magic weapons), star: 2

Creates a 15-meter radius field filled with magic energy around the caster. All allies' spells cast within
this field are enhanced by 100%. Self-cast spells have the effect doubled.

Spells have a 40% probability of being cast twice at no cost. Self-cast spells have the probability doubled.

All hostile spells that hit inside this field have their effectiveness and damages reduced by 50%.

Effects on the caster still work even when the caster is not inside the field.

Duration: 3 minutes
Cooldown: 3 hours

Mana: 250

"Oh, I thought it was going to modify the field to follow me around as I moved. Seems like the field is still
static, the difference is now I will receive its effect even when I'm outside the field," Jack remarked.

"Aside from that, the field's radius also increased. Previously it was only a 10-meter radius," Peniel
noted.

"Well, what I'm aiming for is its double-cast feature," Jack said. "The effect on me is doubled. This meant
my every spell has an 80% chance to be cast twice."

"Get two more stars and you will have a 100% chance," Peniel said.

"Ah, shit… I shouldn't have used all the souls just now," Jack lamented. Thinking about a 100% chance of
double casting, he promised himself the next soul upgrade would be used on this spell.

"One more thing and I will call it a night," Jack said and took out the Demonize Pet technique book.
Jack proceeded to learn the technique book.

Demonize Pet, level 1/20 (Active skill, requires pet)

Transform the pet into a demonic being, gaining access to new skills.

Demonized pet receives +200% to attributes, +10% to damage, and damage received is reduced by 20%.

Duration: 30 minutes.

Cooldown: 5 hours

"If I use this on Therras, it will become even stronger," Jack said.

"Or you can use it on your Mirage Beast," Peniel advised. "That copy is a viable target for this skill."

"Hm… Ah, I see what you are getting at. Mirage Beast can only use standard attacks. If I use this skill on
it, the demonized copy will be able to use skills?" Jack asked.

"Yes, even though the skills will differ from the original Therras," Peniel answered.

"How do the level-ups and star upgrades affect this Demonize Pet skill?" Jack asked.

"Each level increased the pet's attributes by 5% and its duration by 1.5 minutes. Depending on the pet,
the more levels this skill has, the more extra skills might appear. Every star increased the damage boost
by 1% damage and the damage reduction by 2%."
"So, if fully max, this skill will last one hour," Jack said. "The duration of my max-level Mirage Beast is
thirty minutes. Adding the effect of my Amulet of Summoning, it lasts one hour. If the Demonize Pet is
also max leveled, Therras' copy will be in demon form for its entire duration."

"That's correct," Peniel nodded.

"Well, either Therras or its copy, I will use this skill following the situation. Thanks for letting me know,"
Jack said.

The next morning, Jack went to the throne room. John informed him that several special techs appeared
in the military research path after the joint drills with the armies from other countries. These techs were
Coordinated Strike: Verremor, Rank: 1, Coordinated Strike: Sangrod, Rank: 1, and Coordinated Strike:
Palgrost, Rank: 1.

Jack argued that John had sent the different country armies to different locations, so what's the point of
learning these techs? John returned that there would be times when their army would strike the same
opponent. These techs would give them an extra edge then.

There was also the mana cannon that was still being researched. It was halfway learned by now. John
asked Jack to complete the research using his ruling powers.

It was not yet the day when Jack received the monthly ruling powers from his sovereign levels. It was
still thirteen days for that, but he received 10 ruling powers from the Boundless Cache.

He had also completed four affairs. Three with perfect results and one with a good result, netting him
370,000 merit points and 15 ruling powers. These merit points elevated Jack's sovereign level to level
15, earning another 10 ruling powers.

He gained a new sovereign power to banish a guild at this level, but he didn't need it for now. If Warriors
of Solidarity were still in Themisphere, he would have a target for using this new sovereign power.
The Warriors of Solidarity who supported World Maker had left Themisphere on their own accord and
moved to Liguritudum. The reason for their leaving was after the convention, The Man had rallied
Everlasting Heavenly Legends' guild members and stormed the Warriors of Solidarity's headquarters,
earning them the guild hostage token from Warriors of Solidarity

The Warriors of Solidarity then made a deal with World Maker, who helped them defeat a guild in
Liguritudum that didn't submit to World Maker's rule. Warriors of Solidarity took their guild
headquarters. There was now a vacant spot for a new guild headquarters in Themisphere. Jeanny was
not around and John was too busy managing the country and the guild, so they just left this vacant spot
to fate.

Five new affairs appeared and Jack sent the information to the investigative teams.

Even with all that gain, Jack only had 57 ruling powers. He might be unable to expedite all the techs John
requested.

When he entered the throne room, he saw that Thaergood had been waiting for him. Thaergood
informed him that some important guests had arrived earlier and requested an audience with him.
When Jack asked him who these important guests were, the names shocked him.

The guests were the leaders or representatives from multiple prominent league factions. These factions
were the League of Champions, Assassins Guild, Order of Magi, Healer Society, Church of Creation,
Blacksmith Circle, Trade Association, House of Culinary, and the Alchemist Union.

Hearing the names, Jack asked Thaergood to hurry and invite those people in. He went and sat on the
throne while waiting. He fidgeted around on his throne. He looked around making sure his posture
wasn't weird. He wished Grace was here.

"Why are you so nervous? You are the king, for goodness sake," Peniel ridiculed.

"Shut up," Jack scolded.

Nine people came in with Thaergood. Some Jack recognized and some he didn't. The ones he knew were
Ragorth, Hashi, Ducasse, Willem, Haestus, and Janus. The Janus here was the real one, not his young
clones.

Thaergood introduced these guests one by one. From his introduction, Jack learned the identity of the
three others he didn't recognize. One of them, an elf, was Panacea, the leader of the Healer Society.
Another was a human named Paul, the leader of the Church of Creation. The last one was a dwarf
named Edward. He was the newly appointed leader of the Alchemist Union after the previous leader,
Alphons, was murdered.

They all greeted Jack with a bow. Jack stood up and gave them a salute.

"Might I ask what brings you all here together?" Jack asked.

Ragorth took the lead to answer for everyone. "After what happened yesterday, Hashi, Janus, and I
called everyone to gather last night and we have had a discussion. We owe it to King Storm Wind for
helping us solve the predicament regarding these serial murders. There were more league factions
indebted to King Storm Wind's act, but the nine of us here represented the others to say our thanks."

"There is no need to be so courteous. I'm just glad I can help," Jack said.

"Your humility is inspirational," Edward said.

Peniel, who was leaning beside Jack's head, whispered, "He is not." Luckily, no one heard her. Jack
nudged his head to throw the fairy off balance.

Panacea came out and said, "King Storm Wind, Andrea told me you wish for our faction's blessing. If you
still wish it, I will gladly give it."