"What do you think?" Arthur sat on top of his throne, while everyone was now standing in front of him.
"They did a good job so far," Deem honestly said, "I don't have any recommendations or adjustments."
"Good," Arthur nodded before moving his sight towards Gor.
"The defenses aren't on par with the main city, as the walls there are rudimentary and weak," Gor said before adding, "if we can extend the walls to cover the three citiies or mimic the wall in the main city then no danger can touch them."
Arthur sighed. He knew about this problem before Gor spoke about it. "This has to be postponed until we return," he said.
To extend the walls towards the other two cities, he needed to sacrifice some pillars in the process that would take more time. He didn't want to be distracted by anything, and also feared for this to attract unneeded attention.
"When will you leave?" Sara was standing just below him.
"Now," Arthur decided, "I'll leave the city for you to manage," he said before adding, "also be on alert, I might need your help at any moment."
"I depend on that," Tina mumbled as she was still skeptical about letting him go alone to the fun world of the academy.
"Sorry," he said to her, "I need to keep part of my cards hidden."
"Humph," she wasn't satisfied by this reason.
The next moment a portal opened and he went directly towards it. "C'mon, we still have an academy to check upon," he said before entering the portal, appearing inside his map world again.
This time the map seemed a bit different than before. It got expanded, and he felt like it was breathing. The number and quality of monsters got a pump up, making him wondering if he could use their help outside this place or not.
"Follow my steps," he said as he moved directly towards a distant big star which was the one leading to the academy.
They appeared inside his mansion, just outside the great tree. "I need to speak with Olor, but I have to finish the contest here first," he muttered before turning to Amelia. "Go and see other masters. Gather all the intel about the contest here and out there, also try to have some info about our contenders."
"Alright," Amelia said before adding, "but this might take the entire day."
"No problem, I'll be busy doing something during this day," he said before watching them disappear from his eyesight.
"Time to go back to Olor," Arthur then passed again through his tree gate and appeared next inside his star map. "Tell me, can I use the monsters here to fight outside the map?"
"You can, but you need to give time for the map to evolve," Gege said, "she is getting many benefits by being inside your dantian."
"So it's possible."
"Yes, but not at the moment."
"Then when?"
"Soon."
"When is soon?"
"Couple of hours, and maybe a year," Gege chuckled, "don't be this anxious, you are a monster yourself. And you surround yourself with a bunch of monsters."
"Tsk," Arthur didn't like this kind of vague answer, yet he had nothing in hand to do but to go back to his city world.
When he appeared there he didn't stand a moment before entering his garden world. "It's time to see this Olor and understands what's going on in this world," he muttered before adding, "Gege, move me towards the tree of mirrors."
"Thanks for not letting these two mess with my body," she said before moving him the next moment to stand in front of the giant tree.
He didn't waste time and started hitting the mirror of Olor when it descended to him. In less than five minutes, Olor appeared in the mirror with a wide smile over his face.
"Master, you finally remembered me," he said, and Arthur was sure he wasn't that happy to see his face again.
"I was kinda busy," he simply said, "what happened in the world when I was gone?"
"You were gone for such a long time," Olor sighed, "many things happened. First the clans from higher realms went angry over the clans here for not finding you. They thought this was slacking from our side, and as a result many hits were done to many clans here, including mine."
His face showed how bitter this experience was, but Arthur wasn't that interested in that loss of him and others. "At least many clans were weakened, right?"
"Sure, many top clans were demoted to middle sized clans. Only two clans went safely through this process, as they still held the kids of the higher clans safely there."
Arthur's eyes shone as he asked, "there are still survivors?"
"Indeed," Olor nodded, "more than a hundred. Most came from smaller clans, while less than ten came from big clans."
"That's… a big number of survivors," Arthur was astonished at this mislep of his.
"They didn't follow the orders of the big clans to come and witness your execution from before. In fact their cowardice looked much wiser now than others bravery," Olor said while helplessly smiling.
"What about those mercenaries?"
"They retreated," Olor said, "they are waiting for you in the other world."
"The academy?" Arthur suddenly felt threatened.
"The academy and the clan of yours," Olor said, "this is the only thing that stopped the massacre that happened here. Yet all the clans are now afraid, amassing their powers and locking them up inside their forts."
"That's the reason why the world looked desolate," Arthur muttered.
"Yeah, that's a reason, and there is another one," Olor paused before seriously adding, "there is such a big contest going on inside your world. Rumors said you will participate there, and so many higher clans ordered us to send out elites to make sure you won't win."
Arthur was surprised for such info to reach the ears of those higher up clans.. "Aren't they satisfied by sending their assassins there?" he said.
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