“… Is Shen’s killing intent that strong?” → Ryu
“It is.” → Bonny
“No, he never killed, in this life.” → Bonny
Bonny then explained with some conflicted feelings.
“While I was connected to his mind, I was able to hear in the darkest corner of his consciousness, shouts, and sounds of metal hitting metal. It was as if a war was taking place inside his head. When I asked him what was that sound he answered that every time he fights, memories locked inside his subconscious resurfaces and give him the experience and maturity he needs while fighting. He also said about how he summoned another reincarnation of him to teach him how to fight.” → Bonny
“Oh? And who was that?” → Ryu
Gaining combat experience by using his former self from past lives? Shen is really amazing. → Ryu
“At that time, it was a Roman soldier that became a senator in his times. He didn’t tell me more details about that reincarnation of his but what was sure was one thing, that soldier was huge and ridiculously strong…” → Bonny
Bonny remembered a handsome young man with a macho body, full of scars and muscles. He was more than 2 meters tall and he carried a two-handed sword in one hand.
The contrast between that macho guy and this slim one was ridiculous… → Bonny
“Oh wow~! I really wish he could make me fight against my other reincarnations too!” → Ryu
“… Be sure to not fight his reincarnations… even that soldier was stronger than both of us together as long as we didn’t use some ridiculous area magic. In terms of melee combat, he was crushing us, both.” → Bonny
She said while sighing in admiration.
“W-what?!” → Ryu
Ryu was thunderstruck by the news and spat out his tea by mistake.
Oh, Deja’Vu… No way! → Ryu
“The heck? Even stronger than both of you together? Then why isn’t he in some historical writings or something?!” → Ryu
Ryu asked confused. He never heard of humans from his world to have such ridiculous power and not appear at least in some history books as legends or myths.
“I asked the same thing and he said that he appeared. He also said that on his time, some humans broke through the normal limits, making them ridiculously strong even between the elites. Even so, they weren’t that rare, that might be also a reason why there is nothing written in the books about them. He said they had enough power to bring down a medium tree trunk with one swing of the ax or even with their brute force.” → Bonny
“Oy oy isn’t that ridiculous?” → Ryu
Ryu couldn’t believe such things while remembering the feeble and weak humans from his world. Even though the ones who practiced culturalism were still incredibly strong, he knew that not even such people were able to unroot a grown tree just like that.
Are we talking about THAT world? → Ryu
“Well. If you think about it, people of those times had to face death on a regular basis. Having some of them break the normal limits because of the constant adrenaline and hardened spirit might not be that abnormal, don’t you think?” → Bonny
“Ugh… if you put it that way… it might sound reasonable.” → Ryu
But still… that reincarnation of Shen was still a normal human, right? How was he able to defeat both of them? → Ryu
Bonny was able to read the confusion on Ryu’s face and guessed with accuracy what he was thinking.
“Even so, he wasn’t really a normal person.” → Bonny
“Eh?” → Ryu
Ryu was surprised by having an answer at his unasked question.
“W-what do you mean not normal?” → Ryu
“Shen was interested in ways of controlling the energies and natural enchanting of the body even before being born. He has this passion for magic and energy cultivation since more than one thousand reincarnations in the past, or at least that’s what he told me.” → Bonny
Bonny scratched her cheek, not knowing if she felt confused or completely stunned by the news.
“Then… that already strong soldier…” → Ryu
“Yep. He was able to use chi enchanting. His power was ridiculous and he was able to destroy boulders with his fists alone.” → Bonny
“…Even so, wasn’t that still not enough to bring you two down?” → Ryu
Ryu asked confused.
“His technique was something else though… Even though he was huge, he knew when to use brute strength and when to be swift. It was like a tiger in the woods running for his prey. We had a hard time to stop him and it was as if he was able to predict what would be our next move.” → Bonny
“Eh? Isn’t that the same with your Soul Eyes? He was able to use such a skill in our world?!” → Ryu
“No. He trusted his intuition.” → Bonny
“Intuition…?” → Ryu
“He explained that intuition is the ability of humans to foretell any kind of dangers in the future, be it an imminent one like having an arrow fly at you; or a more distant one, like some kind of tragedy that would happen sooner or later, depending on the choices from the present.” → Bonny
“What?” → Ryu
“Don’t ask me, I couldn’t really understand it all that well either.” → Bonny
“Hmmm.” → Ryu
Should I do the same then? → Ryu
Ryu felt conflicted while thinking on his own, unable to decide if he should agitate the entire kingdom just because of a random feeling, or just ignore it like an itch at the back of his head.
“If so, what do you feel about Tara’s disappearance?” → Ryu
“I feel that I better hurry.” → Bonny
Bonny said with a serious face.
“Alright, but you had better not do anything rash. I’ll be more reassured if you came back and asked for more help, rather than risking your life for a lost cause, alright?” → Ryu
Ryu said with a stern voice. The thoughts of having Bonny captured and tortured made his back turn cold, but he knew he couldn’t keep Bonny here, she was too stubborn to listen.
“Yes. I’ll leave now.” → Bonny
“…”
Ryu rushed toward Bonny and suddenly embraced her from behind. Bonny was surprised but didn’t ask a thing.
“… I’m serious, don’t you dare do something rash, alright? I already have one idiot to worry about, if something were to happen to you as well then I might just turn insane and wreak havoc, understood?” → Ryu
Ryu said with a stern voice while his hands were shaking. He really had a bad feeling but he didn’t know if it was about Bonny or about something else entirely.
I get this feeling again. It was the same when I sent Gregor and Lissa together with Shiroko toward her clan base, but this time is worse… If something were to happen to Bonny, I won’t be able to forgive myself… → Ryu
“…”
Bonny felt her heart flutter for having Ryu care so much about her. She smiled and turned around, then she held his face gently, trying to reassure him.
“You have nothing to worry about. If I can’t even take care of myself then how can I call myself a Queen and sit beside you? Believe in me, my King.” → Bonny
She smiled brightly then she kissed him lightly.
“… Alright. I will await your return with good news.” → Ryu
Ryu clenched his fists and let go of Bonny. He turned around and walked outside the tower.
“Hehe~.” → Bonny
Whenever things don’t go as planned he would try to compromise with other’s decisions. Well, at least he listens. → Bonny
Bonny flew away from atop the tower and rushed toward the North-East, where the Urius Kingdom was standing tall.
“…”
Seeing Bonny fly away made Ryu sigh then frown.
Alright. Now it’ss time to see how the training is going. This bad feeling makes me uneasy. → Ryu
Ryu always had sharp senses and after becoming more and more like a dragon, his senses only got stronger.
It was already dark when he reached the training grounds. Inside it, the FireWing Clan members were laying down on the ground half-dead from exhaustion, every one filled with bruises and cuts.
“…”
He saw them passed out on the training ground, most of them having bruises or scratches all over the place.
What happened here…? → Ryu
Ryu looked at them and saw one person that was still practicing roundhouse kicks together with other moves, trying to form a leg combo, sweating profoundly while her whole body was filled with just as many bruises and cuts like the others.
Ryu got closer and observed Shiroko train with all she got until she fell on her bosom.
“Puah!” → Shiroko
She exhaled and started to breathe roughly as her whole body was covered in sweat.
“I’m done. I-I can’t, anymore…” → Shiroko
Then she collapsed and fell asleep, losing her consciousness there and then.
“…”
I can’t even laugh. They trained till they collapsed, that’s really amazing and praiseworthy. → Ryu
Ryu nodded with a smile then he grabbed them one after the other and carried them back inside their rooms.
If they sleep here they might get even worse sore muscles than they’ll already have, haha. → Ryu
He carried every person until he reached Shiroko. He carried her toward her room and right before he could enter inside her room, Shiroko started to sleep-talk.
“I’m… Sorry… If only… thought… sooner…” → Shiroko
Her voice was soft and filled with sadness, some tears formed below her closed eyelids and started to fall one after the other.
“…”
Ryu walked toward her room without saying anything then he placed her on her bed.
He looked at her pained face and sighed.
Not being able to sleep now would only make it harder for her training. I can at least comfort her a little. → Ryu
He patted her head and whispered in a calm voice.
“You did well, Shiroko. You did all you could, nobody has the rights to blame you for what happened, not even your teammates. You did well…” → Ryu
After saying such, he covered her with a blanket and then he left the room. Shiroko appeared to have calmed down, then a peaceful, sleeping face replaced the troubled one.
“Hmm, tomorrow we better stop the constructions and make a general examination of everyone’s power level.” → Ryu
The next day in the morning, around 2,000 people; men, women, children, and elders were lined up beside the Southern wall of the fortress.
“I’m sorry for summoning everyone like this but I need you all to make another power-ranking test to see how much everyone grew after using the new training methods.” → Ryu
Ryu took out a hundred huge crystal-balls from his inventory. The crystal balls were able to measure the brute power-level of a person and the main element compatible with the respective person. The crystals were found inside Shen’s treasury together with even more wondrous items and material that even they could not tell for what they were used for.
“Even though the Power-level isn’t everything now after having such new fighting techniques and different kinds of spells, I still wish to know if this training system is able to strengthen the spiritual power inside you all.” → Ryu
Ryu said in a serious and loud voice.
“Yes!”
Everyone answered back with firm eyes.
The children were trained to become the next pillars of the kingdom while the elderly had their mental and spiritual powers trained so their lifespan could grow. Using their life-experience to give advises to the new generations was a valuable source of wisdom, seeing how there weren’t too many books about common knowledge. A country with more wise people was bound to grow in a more stable manner, rather than one ruled only by the young and inexperienced.
Men had to fight the waves in front lines while the women were placed on the walls or inside the kingdom in case any beast was able to get through their line of defense. Of course, if any woman showed powers superior to most males or comparable to them, then she would be placed beside the other warriors in front lines if she wished. The more people with strong abilities, the better.
A group of more than 2,000 people made one hundred lines, each of around 20 people.
“Oh, wow!” → Ryu
Everyone was surprised or even shocked by their own growth. The slowest growth rate was by the ones who grew only from Initiate to Adept level, while the most shocking was a child who grew from Disciple to Great Fighter Intermediate, meaning she grew two whole ranks without even showing many side-effects. With the exception of being unable to control her own powers all that well, nothing seemed to be wrong with her body. The others had mostly grown one full rank or at least two sub-ranks. The ones who evolved the most were the warriors from the front lines. They were now from the lowest of Great Warrior to Spiritual Master or even Grandmaster.
Because the players came only 2 weeks ago, there was barely anyone who passed a sub-rank of power. Even so, they were able to enchant their spells and master their skills growing in power to a whole other level from before.
“Good! That’s how it should be! Ahahaha! Let’s keep on training and become even stronger! The future of the Antara kingdom is resting upon our shoulders!” → Bernard
Bernard shouted out with his fist in the air after seeing how he finally acquired the rank of Spiritual Master.
“WOAAAHH!!!”
The warriors roared and the younger ones shouted, their hands rising to the skies. Even so, there were still some people who didn’t feel like Bernard.
Ryu had goosebumps from this view.
We might really be able to make a living place for everyone if we continue like this! → Ryu
Ryu thought while clenching his fists and trembling with emotion.
Not only Ryu, but even Shen felt doubtful about the creation of a kingdom. However ridiculously powerful the two of them tried to become, after their death nobody would be able to protect the Antara Kingdom. Ashura is immortal and he would be able to play the role of a guardian, but only if he accepts to do such a cursed job. And besides, even if he reaches the level of God, there’s nothing sure about what the future might bring for him. Having a God-ranked being as a guardian might even attract the attention of the other Godly beings, a fact that could give only more troubles to the Kingdom and the future generations.
Yes, everyone is growing with mind-blowing speed. But their control over such a sudden growth will prove to be worrisome. → Ryu
“Alright everyone, I understand the happiness and joy you feel over such a sudden power-up but don’t forget we’re only in hundreds of those who can actually fight. I wish you won’t slack from training and if is possible, please do so even harder.” → Ryu
Ryu said with a serious face, making everyone quieten down.
“Sir Ryu, I don’t really understand why you’re so stressed now?”
A player said with a slightly embarrassed face.
“Y-Yeah… us players became so much stronger in just… two weeks? It’s not like we’re rushed by anyone.”
“…”
While the players said their opinions, the residents contemplated on their words. Only the warriors of the front line, the leaders and the teachers couldn’t feel the same as them.
“I-Is it just me? Or everyone seems to be overestimating themselves?” → Maru
Maru asked a little bit worried.
“They are suddenly filled with blind confidence for getting powers they can’t even control yet.” → Bernard
Bernard said with disgust.
“…”
Lilia looked around, then at Ryu’s dark face.
Now it might get ugly… → Lilia
The leaders and teachers had worried faces while the warriors looked at Ryu, their eyes serious. They felt his aura surging and growing, maybe from anger.
“Not rushed you say?” → Ryu
Suddenly, Ryu smiled and asked with a cold voice.
“Eh?”
The players felt a shudder take over their bodies.
Is he mad? No way, I think it’s just my imagination…? → Lilia
“So you suddenly feel overpowered and don’t want to train anymore, yes? So you think that the only danger important enough is just the weak waves which can be dealt with by only a few hundreds of us, right?” → Ryu
Ryu asked with an understanding face while smiling calmly.
“N-no, we didn’t say-”
A player tried to answer back but he got shut down by Ryu’s sudden burst.
-BOOM-
Ryu’s aura broke out and the ground cracked under the pressure. Everyone felt the aura and most of them started to feel nauseous or hard-pressed to breathe.
“Ugh!”
The warriors had to protect the children and the elderly from his pressure or else they might simply collapse from suffocation or exhaustion. The others, on the other hand, had to fall on their knees, unable to resist the might of a Semi-God’s aura.
