Second World

Jack reaped tons of exp from the battle. He received a lot of exp when he was leading the ambush troops and obliterated the zombie soldiers on the road beside the cliffs. Since he also received the exp from the kill by his nearby troops, it was the same as if he killed all those zombie soldiers.

Yet, most of the exp he received was after he joined the main battlefield. Especially after he summoned the archdemon lord. The archdemon lord killed enemies in bulks. The number of kills from that archdemon lord was enormous.

It was a battle with a period of less than half a day, but the exp he received allowed his three classes to level up a total of eight times! All his three classes were now level 73, all three were now higher than Grace's level. If compared to the average players, he left them in the dust. Most average players were still around level 64, while the top players were level 69.

He had 36 free attribute points from these and previous level-ups. He invested these points into his Endurance stat. After using those free points, all his attributes crossed the 2,000-point mark.

He had 12 free skill points for Brave Swordsmaster, and 9 free skill points for both Time Sage and Beast Monarch. Inside his Container of Souls were 5,426,258 souls.

All of his Brave Swordsmaster skills were already maxed out at level 20 except for the Drilling Thrust, which was still level 7. He used 100,000 souls and 12 Brave Swordsmaster's free skill points to max that skill. At level 20, Drilling Thrust dealt 400% physical damage and reduced the target's defense by 50%.

He then used 700,000 souls and 9 Beast Monarch's free skill points to max Iron Mammoth Stampede. At max level, the iron mammoths summoned from this skill would rampage for two minutes long.

For his Time Sage's spells, he used 4,300,000 and 9 Time Sage's free skill points to max out Reset, Wind Jet, Orb of Storm, and Lightning Strike.

Max-level Reset reduced its cooldown time by one hour. Its cooldown was now five hours.

Level 20 Wind Jet increased movement speed to 1000% and it propelled the caster a distance of 100 meters.

Fully leveled Orb of Storm now lasted thirty seconds.

Lightning Strike at level 20 dealt 700% lightning damage and its range increased to 100 meters.

After all these level-ups, Jack still had 326,258 souls inside his Container of Souls. He had run out of skills to use these souls on. All his skills and spells were maxed out! He was probably the only player who had maxed all the skills in his arsenal.

Several of his skills also had their stars upgraded. Brave Slash and Perpetual Lightning Judgement received their first star upgrades.

Each of Brave Slash's star upgrades increased the weapon's reach by an additional 20% and reduced the defense of struck enemies by an additional 2%.

Each star of Perpetual Lightning Judgement increased the efficiency of the spell in absorbing the lightning elements. The more stars it had, the faster the spell could be released and its damage output was also increased corresponding to the amount of lightning elements in the surrounding environment.

Jack's minions all survived the battle. Thus, they also leveled up. Therras, Arlcard, Alfredo, Laurent, Jonathan, and Robinson leveled up once. They were now level 73, 74, 75, 74, 68, and 76 respectively. Lindsey, Howard, and Amy leveled up twice. Their levels were 63, 66, and 59 respectively. Nerd leveled up thrice to level 54.

Jack also received a new title, Warrior King.

*

Warrior King (Title)

All Themisphere soldiers +10% additional attributes, max HP, and max stamina/MP.

All Themisphere soldiers +5% damage and damage reduction.

Every Themisphere soldier within a 1-kilometer radius from the king received double the effect.

Only effective if the king is not inside the palace.

*

This title was gained because Jack fought with his army on the front line during a battle. This title was even more beneficial than the war general title that Jack had. Hence, this would be the title Jack used whenever a war happened. However, against Liguritudum, this title didn't bring benefit because Master sure got the same title as well.

*

Jack and the others arrived in Lefkauselis after three days of marching. During the travel, Jack had discussions with John about their options. After a long talk, they decided that they had only one best option in the current situation.

Everyone was now gathering in Lefkauselis' city hall for a meeting. Zoikod was also present. Jack conveyed what he and John had discussed.

"Give up on Hydrurond…?!" Aldryth couldn't believe the suggestion.

"Are you leaving and telling us to fend for ourselves?!" Dytess, the only remaining Lord Dominator of Hydurond, yelled in anger.

"That's not what I'm saying," Jack said. "I'm asking you to come with us to Themisphere."

"That is absurd! How can you expect us to turn our back on our country? We will fight to our death rather than give this country to the enemy!" Dytess exclaimed.

John took over. "Let me lay it out for you all. With our current forces, we are not in a state to possibly win against our enemies. This city is not a proper fortress. It is even weaker than Messephyria. Its surrounding terrains also don't provide any meaningful advantage we can exploit. Nor is the enemy's tactician someone who will fall to normal tricks. When the Liguritudum and Aurebor armies come here with their additional zombie army, we will be sitting duck if we stay. Any reinforcement we can call will take a longer time to reach us than our enemies arriving here. Even if they can somehow arrive before this city fall, we won't be able to support them with supplies provided by only this city. Maintaining supplies from Themisphere for the moment is both too expensive and takes too long to prepare. If you people want to be stubborn for your pride. Then okay, we will leave you to fend for yourselves."

"Queen Aldryth," Jack said. "I'm not asking you to completely give up your country. This is just a temporary retreat. By taking shelter in Themisphere, my army can better protect you. I promise I will help you retake Hydrurond once I make enough preparation for an offensive campaign."

When Aldryth remained silent, Dytess said, "My Queen, you can't be seriously considering this. If we go to Themisphere, it means we accept being the subjects of another country."

"I will give Queen Aldryth and the force he brought to Themisphere an autonomous area," Jack said. "I have a large-sized fort currently in construction. It was also closest to the border region with Hydrurond. You can take your force and any civilians who are willing to follow you there. You can construct a new settlement around that fort. You will have complete freedom. You won't have to answer any of your decisions to me. You can return that fort to me once we retake Hydrurond."