"Five, maybe six at most," Arthur knew this would bring more mockery from John, yet he didn't object on giving this devastated man some space to forget his humiliating present and bitter past.
After rounds and rounds of John's usual rant about how optimistic Arthur was, Arthur returned to ask him again about this world.
"So everyone here is mages?" he asked.
"All the free men and women here are with systems, but slaves are people without systems and so they all are considered to be the low scum of this world."
"They all came running here from lower realms?"
"Not at all, most of them were born here just like me," John corrected him before adding, "yet who was a child to a slave remains so until his master releases him. And this is considered a very rare occasion, extremely rare indeed."
Arthur recalled all the slaves he freed while fighting against the dark clans in the lower realms. He released an endless number of slaves and freed many souls without thinking too much about it.
"Sigh, never thought this world was ruled by dark forces," he muttered.
"Dark forces? What does that supposed to mean?"
"You don't know this term?" Arthur was more surprised to hear that, "don't you have light forces and dark forces fighting against each other here?"
"No, we only have monarchs fighting to control more lands and those up there are just fighting amongst themselves for the system's essence."
"System essence… what does that even mean?" Arthur didn't recognize the words of John.
"You first answer me and I'll answer you then," John seriously said before breaking out in laughter, "oh I love this game!"
Arthur only shook his head before explaining:
"Dark forces are anyone who uses mainly soul based attacks to get stronger, and the light forces are everyone else."
"Damn!"
Suddenly John screamed like a cat got her tail stamped by someone, "you didn't mean those fanatics out there, right?"
"Fanatics?"
"Yeah, they are everyone's enemy and nightmare! They have their own forces and lands," John said in a rare terrifying tone that Arthur never heard him speak with before. "They are really scary folks, very talented at soul matters."
"Yeah, I know how scary they are," Arthur couldn't help but sigh while recalling all the past bitter encounters with them, "so they are here as well."
"They rule the cursed lands far, so far away from here."
Arthur swore he heard John mumbling something like he was praying for something. "C'mon, don't tell me you don't have a way to deal with their soul dirty moves yet," he casually commented.
"Indeed we have our own people to counter them," John said in a firm tone, "yet they are very rare to be found on our side. Known as the light weavers, the hope beacons, or like many folks love to call them… the saviors."
"They are rare?" Arthur couldn't help but smile, as he already had a way to deal with these.
"Indeed they are, they are even eyed to be more prestigious and far more sacred than any sacred monarch."
"To such a degree?"
"They are our main line of defense against those cursed folks… hell they are even our top force when any big war erupts and believe me… Big wars are very common between us."
"Oh, so they got killed fast," Arthur hurriedly dropped the thought of claiming to be a savior without hesitation.
"They can't be killed easily by the cursed forces," John said before adding, "but the main loss comes usually from the traitors in our forces."
"Yeah, I faced a couple of traitors before and that led me to suffer a big disaster," Arthur recalled another bitter memory of his where he almost got killed. "I hate traitors so much!"
"Who doesn't? But in this world, anyone with enough money can buy anything, even the souls of an entire nation if he wanted to."
"Agreed," Arthur nodded before returning to the ground, "I'll train once again old man."
"Good luck then, I won't disturb you until the morning."
Arthur closed his eyes and started to regulate his breathing. The first thing he did was to check his mind dantian and main meridians.
"Sigh, even after all these days of training I only got this small amount of energy," he couldn't help but feel regret over the old days. In the previous realms he was able to fill up his entire body to the brim in even half the time he took here so far.
And he still needed more time to gain a decent amount of energy.
He tried to clear up his mind but he was still thinking about what John told him about the state of this world.
"So after getting out of here I would be faced with more challenges," he muttered, "but I need to first run away from this damned kingdom or else I would easily get caught again."
He wasn't confident about his ability to survive alone in this new world. Yet to his luck John was there. "As someone who used to be a monarch of this world he must have his own ways to escape," he muttered to himself.
That was his sole hope to remain alive enough until he got himself a solution for the damage his system had. "I'm quite sure that strange apple did something to me, or else how come it changed its mind and I lost my system later on?"
He took much time reflecting on all the events that led him here. The only big puzzle he couldn't solve was that strange state that apple had with him. "It must be it," he firmly said.
Despite being confident in that explanation, he still held a little doubt towards it. He tried to call the system before the test even started and failed. "Or I had some accident while passing through that portal?"
What he clearly recalled about the last events before coming here was that he passed through the portal with the voice of his system echoing in his mind. The system told him that he evolved to something unique, and he could now use new unlocked functions.
"But he never mentioned anything regarding going into slumber," Arthur was trying to think about all possibilities of losing his system, "I lack information and I don't have time to dig deeper right now."
He cleared his mind and started to inhale and exhale in a regular pattern while slowly accumulating spiritual energy inside his body.
"You didn't yet dance to me," the next night the same guard appeared with a vicious look over his face, "because of you I lost money yesterday in the gamble… damn, I will treat you badly today… both of you!"
Arthur didn't know what the hell this crazy guard was speaking about. Yet it seemed he lost money and was frustrated, and the two of them locked up here were the only way he could vent his anger upon.
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