Chapter 183: Island

Arthur kept overseeing the village, strengthening the goblins, and getting the weapons into his subs.p.a.ce until the hunting group came back. Arthur smiled as he saw their equipment"s and smiled. It seems that Ven, Ben, and Ken have done their job properly. 

Arthur then heard a howl from the distance as he saw Kira running over to him. The wolf that was barely half of his height was now as tall as he was with more scars added up. 

Kira ran over as soon as it saw Arthur and snuggled into Arthur"s embrace as it whimpered in happiness. Arthur felt his heart warm at this as he remembered all those memories in the trial. Arthur kept patting it with this in mind as the rest of the goblins came over. 

Despite the lack of elegance, the hunting squad wore proper armor and had sharp-edged tools. Coupled with the strengthening Arthur gave them, they were more than capable of walking around unhindered. 

Previously, there were only 21 middle-mid-tier goblins. Now, there were 30 in total. After his breakthrough, Arthur"s unique skill strengthened as well, earning total obedience over the goblins. When the pack of thirty goblins entered and saw Arthur, they all kneeled in reverence. 

Arthur nodded with a smile. This was the group responsible for hunting for the rest of the village. They were allowed to venture farther than the others to bring in powerful monsters. 

With thirty strong goblins sharing resources with the rest, they were able to allow the goblins to keep reproducing without causalities. However, Arthur knew that the only reason none of them died yet is because of his runes and their numbers. 

Goblins were selfish by nature and tried to h.o.a.rd the resources they get to themselves. The chief was a prime example of this as he had taken most of the resources in the village, making its growth stagnant. Now that Arthur was not only relocating the chief"s resources to them, he was also trying to make them stronger. The rest of the goblins had no choice but to obey the cooperation that Arthur had demanded. 

"Rise," Arthur spoke and the thirty goblins rose. They were as tall as Arthur himself with varying armors and faces. He strode between them with an occasional nod as he felt like a commander. 

Kira followed after him as if establishing its relationship with Arthur. Its antics amused Arthur who couldn"t help but blame himself for forgetting to make his benefactor stronger. 

After strengthening the hunting squad as well, Arthur returned with Kira to his house. The weapons were already in his subs.p.a.ce and Arthur took out some stored meals he bought from him to buy. Since he kept them in his subs.p.a.ce while they were hot, they remained that way until now and Arthur ate his chicken pasta with contentment. 

Kira at the meat Arthur gave it beside the table that Arthur sat on. With a smile, Arthur thought about his next plans for now. Jerano"s exam would happen in twenty days, so he had time to strengthen himself further. He had yet to arrange an ident.i.ty for himself as Master Ronin was currently working on that. 

Kira finished its meal and rested its head on Arthur"s foot. Arthur smiled and rubbed its head as its tail danced happily. 

"You are an affectionate creature," Arthur thought to himself. Despite being a female, Kira was a lot larger than wolves that hadn"t evolved yet. Even so, it wasn"t the slightest bit aggressive towards Arthur. It may even consider him as a part of its pack, albeit a very small one. 

After his meal, Arthur strengthened Kira as well and gave it a fire rune since it now had enough mana to make use of it. He then left the goblin"s village for now until he learns how to create a teleportation circle that would get his goblins to his fortress. 

Arthur wanted to level up, but he didn"t hunt in the mountain range. It was already a difficult endeavor to walk around without being hindered. 

Although he needed the ring that Mero had to a.s.sume a new ident.i.ty, Arthur couldn"t take it. The goblin"s village would be exterminated if it was ever found out. That"s why he had plans to learn to find a proper rune himself.

He teleported away from the mountain range and headed back to the capital. He can travel three kilometers every few seconds, so he could cut across almost 45 kilometers per minute. This allowed him to travel without the risk of being seen in an extremely efficient manner. 

He also enjoyed the things he saw along the way. From the famous Foj River that was the grandest in the Yalveran Union to the giant ship of Una that was one of the strongest in the world, Arthur got to see many of them along the way. However, he couldn"t walk into cities and fortresses easily so he had to keep traveling through farms and the wild. 

He reached the capital an hour later since he sightsaw a little and had to replenish his mana using his art. He didn"t go to the mansion but headed straight toward the Tower of Yearning. Sneaking his way through, Arthur found himself in the same sky-covered s.p.a.ce. 

He had left the tower before because he was only at the neo-rank, but he had broken through and wanted to level up and earn himself some artifacts along the way. 

[Welcome to the Tower of Yearning.] 

Arthur received the message from his legacy. The number on the was now 2 instead of 1. He can challenge the second to the tenth floor now, that had rankings only for those at the rei-ranking and below. Arthur opened his legacy to check how much he 

had left to level up. 

[Scholar Guardian"s Legacy]

[Level: 28 (20%)]

[Legacy Points: 0]

[Stats Points: 0] 

[Strength: 169]

[Agility: 163]

[Stamina: 160] 

[Perception: 150]

[Mana: 245/245]

[Abilities: Beginner Runes Wordsmith (54%), Useable Runes: 21]

[Skills: Lesser-Mana Breathing Skill (F), Poison Strike (F), Camouflage (F), Earth Manipulation (E), Bladeless Wind Slash (E), Shadow Swap (E), Monster Claws (D), Iron Skin (D), Goblin"s Bond (Unique)] 

[Arts: The Art of Creation – Part One]

Since he was only hunting undead recently, only his mana saw a drastic rise. The other stats remained the same as he had left them. Strength, Stamina, and Agility had risen by ten points after his amplification runes evolved 

Since he couldn"t use an artifact in the tower, he"d have to do without his amplification artifacts. He needed to level up twice to reach level thirty. This way, he"d unlock a new function in his legacy. He was excited to know what it was. 

He placed his hand on the door and it teleported him into a beach. Arthur"s eyes were stung by the sun and he squinted to gain a better look at his surroundings. It was an island in the middle of the ocean and the waves slammed themselves on its sh.o.r.es as if they hid unrestrained anger. Arthur was standing on the sh.o.r.e of the island and he looked around with confusion. 

"Welcome back, Challenger." The familiar genderless voice of the tower rang in his ears. "The second floor is about time. Find the door that leads to the next floor in the fastest amount of time you can. However, you will be hindered by this island"s inhibitors." 

"Sounds clear enough, when do I begin?" Arthur smiled and asked. He started stretching his body and hopping as the voice answered. 

"Now." 

Arthur spread his arms and used his Detection rune to the max. His mana came out like a tsunami as it covered the island in an instant and spread thinly enough to give him a clear view of the island. 

Arthur allowed himself to be extravagant with mana. He was already reaching the limits of the rei-rankers in terms of mana, so he could handle this amount. The island became like an open book in front of him as he looked for the door, spotting it after a few seconds. 

This floor gave an advantage to scouts and people with high perception. The tower"s floors were different than each other but some were also similar with different difficulties. Its different environment gave different difficulties to those that challenge it. 

Arthur, on the other hand, was a glitch in the system. He had more than twenty abilities on his own, not to mention his skills. 

He began running alongside the sh.o.r.e before diving into the thick forest. The trees were intertwined heavily making it difficult for Arthur to sprint easily. He couldn"t use his dagger so he had to use his Bladeless Wind Slash to open a path as he ran. 

He felt the air change next to him as a fist landed on his face. It was covered with hair and Arthur staggered briefly and looked at the departing familiar figure. It was an Arcula like the one he had hunted in the trial. Its arms were longer than he can remember and its teeth were sharper. 

He could only see the departing black fur of the Arcula as it blended back into the shadows. Its presence also disappeared and Arthur realized this floor would be harder than he imagined.