Souta observed the [Orb of Arcane Seal]. Finally, a weapon suitable for his mage class. He could use it in tandem with his sword.
He raised his hand and poured his elemental power causing the orb to change its color. The multi-colored orb turned into a black and white orb. Dark and light elements were flowing smoothly inside it.
He felt a power flowing through his veins. It means that he successfully equipped this item and he could use it immediately.
"Shadow Bind..."
The surrounding area suddenly turned dark. The floor turned into a pitch-black darkness as countless black tentacles emerged from it.
Souta looked around and nodded with a satisfied look. The darkness disappeared and ten black spheres materialized behind him.
[Gravitational Ball]!
He made a grabbing motion in the air.
Alice and the rest stood in their position as they tried to sense what Souta was doing.
Boom!!
The entire land shook heavily.
Soon, Alice and the rest realized that the entire Ekatoe City was floating fifty meters above the surface.
Souta moved his hand and the entire city settled down once again.
"The spell had grown stronger... It's indeed a powerful weapon."
He smiled with a satisfied look.
[Orb of Arcane Seal](Universal): A powerful catalyst made from the heart of the Arcane God Emperor in the ancient era. It possessed powerful abilities that could enhance a spell caster's ability to a higher level.
Effect 1 [Venerable of the Sky]: +3,000 mana, +500 Intelligence, +100 mana recovery, and +100 Strength, Dexterity, Agility, and Vitality
Effect 2 [Ultima Spell God]: Using this artifact as a medium to cast a spell will increase the spell's effect or firepower by 200%.
Effect 3 [Without Energy Dance]: There is a 15% chance to cast a spell without consuming energy.
Effect 4 [Arcana of the Mage]: Summon the Arcana that will enable the user to cast a spell instantaneously without energy for 30 seconds.
Effect 5 [Last Wisdom]: Enable to stack all the user's spells by two.
Effect 6 [Arcane Seal]: Summon the seal that will copy a target's magic circle and store it inside the orb. The stored magic circle will disappear after two days.
The added mana would be converted to best feram.
Souta knew that his spell power had reached a new height right now. As long as he had this artifact, every time he cast a spell the effect or power would increase by 200% percent because of the passive [Ultima Spell God].
He could easily crush this city with a flip of his hand except for the Guardian Fortress. The fortress was equipped with [Five Element Rune Formation]. It was a powerful offensive and defensive rune formation that utilized the power of five elements. He got it after completing the quest of that guy, Alexander.
It was one of the things that would protect the city. Although its scope was the entire city, its priority was the Guardian Fortress. The portal to the other side of the base was there.
"This is good..."
Souta was satisfied. He was slowly getting back his previous equipment.
Right now, he has [Yin-Yang Bracelet], [Soul Blood Earring], [Vajra Sword Saya], [Burning Ring Seal], [Solid Hunter State Boots], [Nightmare Mask], and lastly the newly acquired [Orb of Arcane Seal].
"Hmm...? Oh, I forgot."
Souta sensed that the citizens of Ekatoe City were panicking due to a sudden earthquake. The land even levitates for a few seconds.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen..."
His voice traveled throughout the entire city. His words calmed down all the people living here. They knew that with the City Lord here, nothing bad would happen to them. The City Lord was the most powerful being in the Hall Plains except for the sealed No God Emperor.
"You shouldn't do that, you're scaring our people." Eilish reprimanded him.
"I know," Souta nodded as he leaned back on his chair.
The door was slammed open and two children went inside.
"Sister Eilish! You're back!!"
They were Aina and Anzu. The siblings that Souta took under his wings after the war in the subterranean world.
Eilish hugged the two children.
Souta looked at them before he stood up. He said, "I'll go now. Take care of them."
A wisp of his energy was dangerous for the two children. Now that he was stronger than before, it was dangerous if he stayed with them for a long time. The characteristics of best feram were different from mana.
The two children were training and they even consumed resources according to their power level. They were close to achieving C-rank. They were above the level of ordinary people and most of it was thanks to the sudden increase of mana density.
F-rank was the level of ordinary people but it was different now. There's no F-rank in this world. Every ordinary person has the power level of E-rank and some of them are D-rank. They couldn't maximize the benefits of the burst of mana at that moment. If they could they would've gotten stronger and reached C-rank directly.
Aina and Anzu lacked training and knowledge they couldn't make use of that event.
"Sigh... Achieving C-rank is easier now compared to before..." Souta sighed.
"Don't be like that boss. It's harder for us who are living in the sub-world. Reaching A-rank could already make you a top expert in the entire country." Eztein said.
"Do you know who had it harder?" Souta pointed at Franklin and Torkez. "These guys fought for decades and they only reached B-rank before I met them. Their homeplanet is a low-world which makes a B-rank a top expert in their world."
Franklin smiled and shrugged his shoulder.
Torkez shook his head and said, "Imagine training for your entire life to achieve B-rank. In your mind, B-rank is the top of the world only to find that there are countless powerful beings above."
"It's not that bad. Some of the people here stayed at that level. Some of the branch guild masters of Adventurer's Guild in the other continent are B-rank." Souta said.
But now those branch guild masters probably achieved liquefying, entering A-rank. It was due to the large increase in mana density. It's not just mana density, even the concepts and laws were stronger than before. He was just too weak to notice it before.
Souta's combat power at that time was Two Shackles. Right now, his minimum combat strength could rival several Four Shackles, the early stage of SSS-rank. SSS-rank was divided into three stages; early, middle, and upper stages. Four, Five, and Six Shackles, beyond that, was the realm of Hero-rank.
Souta and the others left the room, leaving Eilish to play with the two children. They went to the other room and both Elder Hanmi and Gragas joined them. Elder Hanmi and Gragas reported the improvement of the Astros.
"The people that joined my Department have made some improvements. We could start mass producing blue grade armor and weapons now." Gragas said.
The Military Arms Department had the fewest people in all departments of Astros. They only had less than fifty members so the production of weapons and armor were just five to ten sets per week.
"Blue grade..." Souta rubbed his chin. "How long do you think before your men can produce purple grade?"
"Purple grade..." Gragas frowned and thought about the skills of his men. "If they maintain their pace, I think they will be able to forge purple grade in three months. For orange grade, probably a year or so. Currently, I'm the only one who can forge orange and red grades. I can forge one set of red grade in a month. If I forge an orange grade it would take me a week."
"I see... At the very least, there's an improvement." Souta comforted himself.
But three months before they could learn the forging method of purple grade... It's too long. A total war would have already occurred in the continent at that time.
Souta glanced at Elder Hanmi and asked, "What about our forces?"
Elder Hanmi explained the improvement of the forces of the Astros.
There were 527 B-ranks, 409 A-ranks, 72 S-ranks, and 5 One Shackle Realms.
While they were away, a few peak S-ranks managed to break their shackles. Isabella was one of them. Her improvement was really fast to the point it made some people ashamed of their own growth rate. Souta already expected this since she had the potential to reach godhood.
A few S-rank witches advanced to One Shackle. They were George and Maki. The last one was Leef, one of Eilish subordinates. Plus, Isabella and Elder Hanmi so five One Shackle experts.
There were a few One Shackle experts in the huge families around Ekatoe City. Although they were Souta's subordinates, they weren't part of the Astros.
Even without Souta's main group, the Astros was still strong.
Alice and Eztein were both Three Shackles.
Eilish, Torkez, and Franklin were Two Shackles.
They've grown stronger.
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