17 Hours

Time flowed slowly as Arthur stood in the middle of the field, feeling every change in his surroundings. There were only 17 hours left, its do or die.

He only needed to break through to the first part of Whispering Wisp Movement where he could start using his techniques to create life-like illusions. In terms of experience, Arthur had already managed to do this when he was fighting Ken but he only displayed a weaker version than this.

On how Arthur managed to do it in the spur of the moment was simply a fluke! His Will of ??? actually made him defy everything and perform at that moment. Although it seemed such a godly Will would, in turn, have a drastic drawback. This drawback was extreme exhaustion and fatigue, however, it would still be a great ability that one would use as a trump card in the face of a strong enemy.

Although he managed to do this, the toll on his body was extremely dangerous and it was not an effective technique to use. In 17 hours, Arthur will need to show a stronger version of it wherein the toll on his body would be basically nonexistent.

Slapping his cheeks with his hands he focused on how he made the illusions from before and tried to recreate the movements he did before. This was relatively easier for him than before because he now had increased the strength of his foundations and even had experience.

After focusing and recreating the movements, he only managed to create a faint figure due to maneuvering. In terms of progress, Arthur was rocket shooting up high in the sky breaking all common sense. The only sad thing here was that Arthur did not know that himself.

As he managed to create the figure, he now needed to stabilize the figure and make it appear solid. After resting for a short amount of time there were only 15 hours left before it was time to show Ken his improvement and only 2 weeks before the war.

~~~~~

Joseph had already left Jerald's house to do seek aid from someone else. His goals have now changed from fighting out the war to escaping this kingdom to go to another place far far away from here. His entire goal changed, fleeing away from this kingdom, running away even though he already reached Emperor Stage, it was all caused by what was about to unfold in the Kingdom of Rhaast.

From the numerous places with this world, Regris, there are 3 Kingdoms that are close to the Kingdom of Rhaast, the kingdoms of : Rux, Rroth, and Remi. From these options, Joseph's only logical choice would have to be the Kingdom of Rux.

The reason being: This was the only Kingdom where they would be able to travel to another world within the realm of Roax.

In this universe, one would be able to travel to another world via special means like teleportation or to use a transportation vehicle that would let one travel to another world. The travel between worlds via transportation vehicle would take roughly a year from a planet to the other one and some would even reach up to 100 years depending on the distance.

However, the fee for transportation was 1 crystal. This was devastating and only the rich could afford this travel fee. But first things first, Joseph and Arthur must first get out of the kingdom before the war begins or they will both die.

Calling in all of his favors, Joseph managed to set up a carriage driven by a merchant to go to Rux. Both him and Arthur will hide inside as to not arouse suspicion. Even though he had already set up such a way to leave, he would not dare do so because there were still loose ends in Rhaast.

He must first inform Rebecca, find a way to release the 5 girls from their seals and to help Arthur break through to Infant Stage.

Joseph simply walked to the Adventurer's Guild.

~~~~~

There remained only 10 hours before it all ends. By this time, Arthur had already made his figure somewhat solid but not enough to be called an illusion. He wasted 3 hours and was stuck at this stage, there was still something that he was lacking and it was a living opponent.

Arthur walked in front of Ken, "Sir Ken, I wish to spar with you so to improve my understand with this technique."

"No. Learn by your self." These words left Arthur speechless but it didn't let it affect him since he didn't have much time.

"If Sir Ken won't spar with me and Sir Joseph isn't here then the beasts of this forest will do," Arthur thought to himself.

Without hesitation, he ran into the forest and looked for beasts to try this on. After looking for 30 minutes, he finally found a beast to try this on. It was a bear that is Infant Ranked, although this animal has a higher rank than him, Arthur was on equal terms on body strength.

Using his technique to practice on the animal he merely toyed with it as if it was a baby. If anyone else saw the scene where an unranked kid was toying with a wild savage beast in the Infant Stage, they would all question reality.

After improving his technique, the animal no longer had the strength to retaliate so Arthur cut off its head and walked away. After killing the bear, there remained only 5 hours.

Arthur then stealthily moved around the forest to spot for more beasts to improve himself when suddenly he heard human chatter.

"Hey, this is the right place right?" A skinny middle-aged man asked the robust man.

Cutting off the branched on his path the robust man replied, "I told ya! That old man's gotta be rich! He's in the Adventurer's Guild and killed so many bandits than the amount of woman that left me! This is the chance to get rich! Rich I tell ya!"

Arthur's eyes looked at the two men and thought to himself, "I haven't tried using this technique on actual humans, haven't I?" Arthur thought to himself while following the two looking for the perfect chance to strike.

An hour into the forest the lean and robust duo then found the settlement where Joseph was staying in. "LOOK! THERE'S THAT BASTARD'S HOUSE! CMON! WE'RE GONNA BE RICH I TELL YA!" The robust man exclaimed with joy as he ran into the house.

Ken was nowhere to be found within the vicinity and this made Arthur curious but nonetheless, this was a good time to strike as any.

Arthur jumped from the tree to the field with a dust cloud appearing where he landed he then smiled at the two, "Hey! What are you two doing here? This is private property so I will have to ask you to leave." Arthur was not yet as heartless as the people tend to be in this realm but was still resolved to kill if he had to.

The robust man sneered, "Scram! If ya's gonna try and mess with us then you're gonna regret it! I am at Adult Rank while my friend here is Infant Rank! So if you wanna die then come here!" The feeling of bullying the weak was euphoric for him so he did to show off at every opportunity that came to him.

"Kill me? Then... is this your final answer?" Arthur looked at them curiously.

"Of course! Why would be scared of a brat like you?!" The robust man then walked to the house ignoring Arthur.

Arthur was not careless as to fight instantly, the difference between a rank could be made up by techniques and experience but the difference between two ranks cannot be simply dismissed because the rank of a person determined their status and in some ranks unlock their potential.

"Then what's your body strength if you are so confident?"

"HA! Fear my 200 body strength kid! I am twice as strong as a normal person! And my friend here is a magician that has a Magic of 110!"

This person boasted 200 body strength in front of Arthur? How laughable was that! Arthur right now has a body strength of 400 from all of his training, twice that of the person in front of him.

"It's your funeral!" Arthur used this technique to toy-- fight the two intruders in front of him. Upon using this technique an afterimage was left from where he was and another figure that appeared for a second at most rushed them then disappeared and reappeared again at intervals.

"K-Kid what the hell is this!" He tried to block the figure but it just disappears before he hits it.

Arthur then simply appears in front of them and sneered, "Training my technique! What else are the both of you worth?" The two intruders were shocked by the youth's reply but their expressions weren't the same. One was angry while the other one was scared.

"Bobby! Use your magic!"

"Y-Yes!" With a simple cast, the figure that Arthur created was stuck on the ground and seeing this opportunity the robust man cut the figure in half visibly.

"Hahaha! What are you gonna do without this now, brat?" The robust man sneered in disdain as he felt triumphant.

Arthur didn't mind the attitude from the robust man as he created another figure, this time it was even more solid and appeared for longer. One might even ask if this was even considered as an illusion anymore and not a clone.

It seemed as if the longer they fought the stronger whatever they fought became.

This brat... is too scary!