"You're late."

With her cold eyes and deadpan face, Robin reprimanded Arthur, who so was immersed in trying the new things with the Plant and Nature Magic that he forgot about time. He only arrived at the meeting location half an hour after the agreed time.

"You told me to wait 5 hours and you're still complaining?"

Arthur didn't bother arguing with her much, he summoned the dark cloud and told her to hop in. She hesitated for a bit before she jumped on it but she still seemed stressed as she is now used to high heights.

"Relax. You won't fall so don't keep looking around and just sit."

"W-who afraid! I was just ascertaining that no enemies are lurking in the darkness."

She folded her arms and sat on the dark cloud. Since it was rather big, it was more than enough to fit both of them. Arthur also didn't dare get too close to another woman, not because he hated her but he would not want to face Lucy's wrath. That wife of his was so overprotective and gets jealous so fast, it's crazy. Even if they are separated by an unimaginable distance, a woman's instinct is pretty strong, or so they say.

With a playful smirk and a mocking tone, Arthur jokingly said

"You better hold tight or you might fall."

Robin, confused by what she just heard, tilted her head while facing him but before she could utter a word, the dark cloud accelerated and disappeared from the elven village. It was soon by a cry coming out of her mouth. Her face became paler and her two hands were clutching the dark cloud as if her life depended on it but the sad truth is that even if was standing, she still wouldn't fall as Arthur put a barrier around the dark cloud.

She would suffer no wind resistance, shaking or anything of the sort, it's like an open first class seat in an expensive private jet on Earth except the sight was much more beautiful and it was way safer.

"Get me down! Get me down this instant!!!"

Poor Robin could no longer maintain her cold and calm demeanor, she was freaking out as the surroundings blurred and she could only high and small mountains appear and disappear in seconds.

"I told you we'll arrive fastly.... yet you didn't believe me."

While shaking his head, Arthur created a small sprout that came out of his finger and grew into a two feet long green vine that wiggled in the air.

"You... you're the worse! I'm telling Miss Lucy you bullied me!"

While playing with his plant, Arthur shrugged his shoulders and nonchalantly replied

"Go ahead."

....

With the dark cloud's speed, to go from the Itas Continent to the Demon Continent, it wouldn't take more than an hour if not less. Arthur enjoyed the trip and kept using his new magic, as for Robin, she gave up and closed her eyes as she felt a bit dizzy.

As the dark cloud was traveling above the ocean, Arthur's focus suddenly deteriorated and his control over the dark cloud was almost cut. With the last bit of sense he got, he ordered it to halt and float above the ocean, however, his state became much worse for some odd reason.

It only started with a small headache which turned into an unbearable pain that didn't go away even after activating the pain immunity. He held his head with both of his hands and rolled on the dark cloud until he fell into the ocean, leaving only the panicking Robin looking at his falling body with nothing to do but call out to him.

His body was sinking in the ocean but he didn't have the time to move, he gathered his Mana and tried to get rid of the thing that's causing him pain but there was no poison, illusion or anything of the sort, which left him confused.

A sound similar to a banshee, very loud and deep, resounded in the ocean, making the calm water rage and the aquatic creatures shake with fear as they retreated away from the source of the cry.

Arthur didn't know what's wrong with him but he unconsciously emitted that banshee cry, his vision blurred and he seemed to be losing consciousness.

He even entered his consciousness to check if there is any evil being there but nothing odd was there, apart from his soul and the orb above it.

The pain was mainly situated in his mind, it's as if it was taking a huge load and couldn't bear such a sudden burst and a side effect was created due to that.

The pain lessened after a few minutes but when Arthur opened his eyes, he saw a rocky valley in front of him. He had arms and limbs but not of a human but of a beast. With a long tail and a furry body. He was in a red bear's body and a large one at that.

He turned around only to see three lion-like beasts with a horn erected from their forehead, these lions were growling at him seemingly angry.

Arthur found himself that he wasn't able to fully control the body. If he wished to turn around the view, he can but to move the body was another thing.

The fight that occurred afterward was brutal, to say the least. Blood and gore, a horrifying sight that no one would be able to cope with if they are not used to things like that. Whether it's cut off tongues, separated limbs, corpses cut in two pieces and even scattered eyes or hearts. The red bear fought hordes after hordes of lions, they were almost endless but this savage beast managed to finish them all.

Arthur could feel the body move, he felt the pain coming from the slashes and bites of the lions. Despite all the injuries it received, the red bear fought over and over until no enemies were around and only dead bodies lingered in every direction.

A few days passed and the red bear finally succumbed to its injuries, it was just wounded too severely to survive, it could be said that only the bear's strong will let it survive for these past days.

Even for Arthur, who was temporarily stuck in the bear's body, it has been a short yet painful journey. He was never a fan of pain but he received an endless amount of it and it only ended when the bear's body lifelessly fell on the ground.

He thought it was over, he thought this experience was ending and everything was going back to normal, however, life was never so simple, neither was this strange matter.

It happened in the blink of an eye, just like the first time and by the time his eyelids opened, he found himself stuck in another bear's body.

This bear was a normal bear. a Dark hind bear with sharp long claws, it's nothing special but this one too fought endlessly. This time, Arthur was not stuck for just a day but for 18 months! Only when the hind bear died due to a fight with a chimera deer was he finally able to leave its body.

After passing 18 months stuck in that body, Arthur started feeling numb but unfortunately for him, this was but the beginning. Following the two first bears, he was inside 20 bears in total with the last one being the strongest. Its power was at the very least in the Spirit Realm as its body was ten feet tall and it was as large as a school bus, calling it a bear is an understatement.

7 years, that's the time Arthur was stuck in this some sort of loop, he didn't know how to get out of it and could only bear with it. When the 20th bear finally died, Arthur found himself in a very dark place with water in all directions.

He released a long sigh that was contained for a whopping 7 years. It's finished at last so that's a good thing but the real question was if 7 years passed here too or was it just a second like with the World Tree.

He was sure all that he experienced previously were memories, old memories of the bears he possessed, maybe not all the bears but the strongest ones at least.

Congratulations! You received the skill(passive) : [Bear Affinity] : +50% stats when possessing a bear. Lasts until the host body dies or the user leaves the body.

Congratulations! You received the skill(active): [Fierce Calling]: Conjure an illusory image of a bear that can help you attack and boosts your Vitality.

Cost: 500,000 Mana per second.

'Oh well... at least I got something in return.'

These skills he just obtained could be considered the second prize. The main one and the most important thing he learned or rather obtained in this 7-year long journey is his battle experience, his senses, and instincts.

They were honed and sharpened by experiencing thousands upon thousands of battles, whether it's his hearing, sense or vision, they were enhanced to another level. Usually, when raising Dexterity, those are increased too but this change was a bit more different.

He was sure that he wouldn't be ambushed ever again, even by a God Realm. Maybe he doesn't have an alerting skill but the beastly instincts he gained would warn him of any incoming danger.

While clenching his fist, Arthur looked up and flew toward the Dark Cloud, where Robin was still panicking. Apparently, he was unconscious only for a short time, once he spread his sense and found Robin, his guess was confirmed.