Arthur and the rest went back to the Clan, he and Lucy passed the next few days resting as the last fight consumed a bit of their power, it wasn't only mana, but the synchronization needed the stats 'mental power', Arthur didn't fully comprehend how to grasp it but he managed to find a few uses for it, one is for the lost magic and the second is the synchronization but the latter would make him exhausted after using it.

The incident became known very quickly, although the clans usually keep a low profile, an explosion like that cannot be unnoticed, heck! A whole island disappeared.

After 5 days, Arthur and Lucy went back to where the explosion happened, he wanted to find Zodiak's corpse as he may be useful to him, you must know that it saved him last time.

When they arrived there, they saw several disciples of the clans standing guard, however, with their insane speed, they easily passed without being caught, and even if they were caught, it's not like anyone can stop them?

..

Arthur already had [Advanced water magic] which allowed him to create a special bubble allowing him to breathe underwater for a couple of hours, he created one for him and Lucy and they dived into the water.

The explosion made such a big hole that from afar, it looked like a huge black hole albeit it being filled with water.

He didn't know if Zodiak's body is still intact but he strongly believed it's still undamaged, knowing how powerful Zodiak is, even an explosion like may not injure his bones, they survived countless years in that tomb so that shows how hard they are.

Especially after Zodiak saved him last time, he felt a strange aura coming out of them, it was almost non-existent but he still managed to sense it, he didn't pay it much attention at first but it was surely an after-effect of the sudden revival or Zodiak.

The duo searched for Zodiak's water for an hour or so before they finally found it very deep in the sea, you can't see any light in there, there was some big and strong beast but the strongest one was barely LVL 817, he was easily killed by Lucy's magma, even the water couldn't stop it or slow it, it melted the huge beast until nothing was left of it.

..

After storing the corpse, they didn't immediately go back, Arthur wanted to search for Tensui's corpse, maybe if he possessed him he would gain his previous power but the chance was very low as he probably was obliterated by that arrow, nonetheless, they kept searching for two hours until they stumbled upon something.

It was actually the violent sickle he used in his last struggle, it was shining and emitting dark fog around it, Arthur's familiarity with dark magic was extremely strong, so he managed to sense it for miles away.

It was dozens of kilometres away from the explosion, maybe it was sent flying from the impact, none of that mattered, Arthur picked up and as soon as he touched it, it shined even more brightly and dispersed, it no longer was a sickle but just violet fog, it entered Arthur body slowly.

All it took is 5 minutes for it to completely fuse with Arthur, and in when that was happening, he was feeling very comfortable and he sensed that his powers are growing at an astonishing speed, and when it finally vanished, a notification popped.

'ting'

[Dark magic] pure dark essence absorbed : Intelligence and Dexterity increased, check your status window for more details. Another portion of Zodiak's powers has been unlocked! You gained a new skill(passive) : [Pure Dark Essence]: All your movements, be it skills or techniques or simple attacks will contain Pure Dark Essence which will increase make them deadly : +25% damage Your stats have increased! Please check your status window for more details. Congratulations! You reached the Deity Realm!

'Already?' Arthur was a bit startled as he saw the last notification, it hasn't been a month since he became Heavenly realm yet here he is in the Deity Realm already, what surprised him even more is that when he appraised Lucy right now, he discovered she is in the Deity Realm too.

He still couldn't understand what are the requirements but they must have to do with stats? Or else why would Lucy would jump 2 whole Realms, she was in the Spirit Realm but suddenly became in the Deity Realm when he unlocked a portion of Zodiak's powers.

Without hesitation, he opened his status window.

TITLE : MEAT GRINDER / SEEKER OF KNOWLEDGE / ONE WITH THE SWORD / ARK??? Level: ???? Class: Dark ARK Parasite - Realm : Deity - Strength 7.2m Intelligence 7.4m Agility 10.9m Wisdom 6.2m Vitality 5.7m Dexterity 6.6m - Health 6.4m Health Regen 5781/s Mana 7.0m Mana Regen 11843/s Stamina infinite Stamina Regen ???? - Creation : 10 Attack: 6.9m Defense: 6.3m Magic defense : 2.9m Enigma abilities : Telekinesis / Ancient Threads / Sixth sense / ARK?? Mental Power : 503 Elemental Resistances: Fire: 100% Water: 60% Wind: 35% Earth: 75% Light/holy: 5%(-15%) Shadow 30% Lightning 100% Ice 30%

His stats have definitely risen but it's not that much, he thought that the threshold of 10m is for the next Realm but it wasn't the case, only his Agility is above 10m, Arthur pondered for a moment before he made a theory.

It's that the Realms have something to do with the Mental Power and nothing else except that, the sudden rise in stats is because of the upgrade of a realm and not because of the portion of Zodiak, sure his portion must give a lot of stats but not enough to do add 1m or more.

His Mental Power has just passed (500), so maybe just maybe it is the cause he passed to the next Realm.

As a matter of fact, the Mental Power stat was also added to Lucy since a while ago and when she opened her status window right now, he saw that her Mental Power was 501, so it affirmed his theories and he strongly believed that Mental Power has a relation with the Realms.

But he had no way of increasing it, possessing monsters or people will not increase it, he didn't even know how it increased right now, maybe that violet fog increased it?

..

He didn't dwell on it that much, he decided to stick with that theory until he discovers something else, he also decided to try to increase his mental power, since it's the requirements for upgrading to the next Realm, furthermore, in the previous fight, he saw how big is the difference between the Deity Realm and the Immortal Realm, the difference was just too big.

While they were searching for those 3 whole hours, they killed close to 30 big beasts which had a decent LVL, Lucy stored them for him so he can possess them later.

..

They didn't go back home immediately after that, it has almost been a month since he went to Robin to ask her for that favor, so it's time to visit her and see if she gathered enough.

With Arthur's speed, crossing half of that continent required him half an hour, it is quite illogical, and everyone would call him a liar if he said that, but it was the truth, if he was on Earth then it would take him a very short time to travel from a continent to another considering Earth was much smaller than this planet.

Arthur wanted to check something before going to Robin and Belic, thus he and Lucy went toward the gigantic World tree.

He was curious about it since a long time and wondered if he could possess it, but deep inside, he knew it's a bit difficult, he could feel pure nature energy coming out of it and surrounding it completely, like some kind of barrier.

Once he was half a mile away from it, the natural energy around it became denser and it became quite difficult to move.

Without hesitation, he launched his Demonic Lightning, trying to destroy what seemed to be a barrier but to no avail, the lightning passed through it, it didn't seem to be a barrier, nonetheless, when he was 200 meters from the tree, he could no longer advance, literally, it's like a mountain is pressing on him.

Suddenly, when he was struggling to take another step, a deep yet melodic voice rang in his ears

"Go back, this is no place for you, I can smell 'his' aura coming out of you from miles away"

Just as the sound stopped, Arthur was sent flying in the air, he couldn't even stabilize his body until a couple of miles away, fortunately, he didn't bring Lucy this close and told her to stay away or else the same would have happened to her.

It seemed as if that dense energy condensed into a huge palm and pushed him which resulted in that sudden attack, it seemed simple yet fatal, he could feel his rib cage damaged and some of his blood vessels blocked by that nature energy, only after he managed to get up with the help of the nearby Lucy did the nature energy back away.

The tree was already far away from him but he could feel it still staring at him if he dared come any closer then maybe it wouldn't be as merciful as before.

The power that struck him felt even more powerful than Tensui, he was completely helpless against it, it was merciful or else he would turn into a corpse in a split second.

He rested a couple of minutes to let his body recover and heal its injuries and in no time, he was fine, as if nothing happened.

"Let's go, time to collect the favor"

Lucy nodded at him while holding his arm and they both flew toward the HeadQuarters of the E-clips Company.

A few minutes later, they were already flying above the tall building which Arthur barged in last time. They disappeared one last time and appeared in that meeting room, but unlike last time, it was totally empty which was a bit surprising.

It's not like they came in the middle of the night, and this room is the office of the head of the company, so where could she be?

It's not like Arthur and Lucy had anything to do, they sat on a comfortable sofa not far away from the window and snuggled into each other's embrace as if they were in their home.

2 hours passed when finally the door leading to outside opened and a pretty young woman entering, she was wearing a long white dress.

"But Grandpa.. Why do we have to go that meeting.. it's not like our Clan was participating in that competition..AHH!"

She shrieked once her eyes landed on the pair sitting leisurely on her sofa, she couldn't even finish her sentence as he stared with widened eyes at Arthur and Lucy.

Belic who was following Robin was a bit startled by her cry, but he soon understood why she reacted like that when he saw Arthur.

Unlike her, he remained calm and smiled while saying

"If it's not Sir Arthur and Mrs. Lucy, it's good to see you, we have already accumulated enough corpses as per your request"

Belic knew that the only reason Arthur would come is because of that request, so he immediately dived into the matter without delay.

Arthur who enjoying his time with Lucy, looked up at the smiling old man and nodded

"Good, why don't you show me how much you gathered and their LVLs, I'm thrilled!"

He and Lucy soon got up from the sofa and went near Belic to inspect the corpses.

The old man didn't waste any time and handed Lucy and storage ring which had the monsters' corpses.

As for Arthur, he injected a bit of mana and began inspecting them, there was exactly 1098 beast corpse with the lower one being LVL124 and the highest being 273.

The result was quite satisfactory, so he smiled back at the old man and said

"Um! You did a great job! Why don't you keep gathering, this time, I will pay, gather as much as you can and I'll pay whatever the cost it, what do you say?"

This time, it was Robin who talked, she seemed a bit angry as Arthur didn't seem grateful enough

"Hmpf! What do you know? It took great effort to get all those corpses yet you want more? Even if you payed a lot we won't do it!"

What she said what true, for them, although being a powerful company, killing so many beasts in a month required a strong manpower that they could not afford so they had to hire mercenaries all over the continent which cost them quite an amount.

Even Belic looked a bit distressed, this was no easy matter for him to accomplish and getting more will be more difficult so albeit knowing the power of Arthur, he didn't dare accept.

Arthur merely chuckled and added

"I seem to remember you guys are from the Qin Clan? Furthermore, you were talking about a competition when you entered, so I presume you were talking about that Martial competition that happened in that island? I was there and I just happen to be an Elder from the Ma Clan, so maybe I could help you out in exchange for gathering the corpses again?"

Hearing this, the angry Robin had her mouth wide open and was goggle-eyed, she didn't seem to believe it at first but Arthur retrieved a golden Token from his storage and showed it to them so they could believe him without further questioning.

As for Belic, he was mentally shaken by that, it took him several minutes to realize and absorb what just happened, he hastily took Arthur's hand and shook it while resuming his smile

"Of course, of course, why didn't you tell us that from the beginning? Please sit so we can talk about it."

The four of them soon sat and Belic expression was of fear and happiness, he was fearful because Arthur's statue was very high, their clan is not considered powerful and the Ma Clan could crush them, plus he was an Elder from the Ma Clan so he must be at least in the Spirit Realm!

He first didn't believe him but there is no way you could fake that Token, it emitted a strange yet powerful aura that was unique, and each clan had its own token, only Elders, and grand Elders had one, of course including the clan master, so when a person has it then he must be very powerful.

His view of Arthur escalated dramatically and he couldn't help but feel overjoyed to encounter him, he previously thought Arthur was a strong traveler, but now that he saw the token, everything became Clear.