“Set up the fort over there! Subjugation team 4, move to the side islands, we have additional monsters at that area.” Aiko barked orders to the groups of soldiers, and they followed them quickly and efficiently.

She sat down on a nearby chair, sighing tiredly, her black hair swaying gently in the wind as she pulled her hair behind her ear. “Hah… I’m beat.” Gaber walked up to Aiko from behind her, passing her a cup to which Aiko gulped in one go. She made a face, “What was that?”

Gaber shrugged, “It’s the supplies taken from Port Gallo, I’ve tried them but… urgh…”

Aiko groaned, coughing, and spiting at the vile liquid she just drunk.

After coughing her lungs out, she turned to Gaber with red eyes as if it was all his fault, “Where did the Ambassador go? He’s been gone for a while now.” Gaber smirked, “You worried about him?” Aiko scowled, “If I had to be worried of a man as powerful as him, we’ll all be in deep shit.” Gaber’s smirk disappeared, “That’s true enough.”

RUMBLE!

Aiko looked up just in time to see a black winged teen crash to the ground, destroying the ground under him. He rose slowly, a majestic feeling fell upon the soldiers on the side, and that feeling vanished as he furled his wings back into his back.

Han Ling cracked his neck from side to side before walking up to Aiko, “I’ve scouted the entire archipelago, and found a few nests of monsters around. I cleared them on the way here, you’ll find the monster parts and treasure there, I didn’t take anything.”

Aiko widened her eyes in surprise but nodded, “Understood.” She turned to a group of a dozen soldiers, “Subjugation team 5! Go grab the treasure and anything you find valuable.”

“Your will is my command!” the soldiers then ran into the direction Han Ling came from. Aiko turned back to Han Ling, a questioning look on her face, “Why is it that you wanted to conquer the Blasted Islands?” Han Ling chuckled, “We need a new name for the ‘Blasted’ islands don’t you think?”

“Hmmm, you’re right… I’ll talk to the ministers on changing the name as well as the rewards for your help.” Han Ling waved his hand, “I only need one of the larger islands as a base of operations for Jiron, that will be all. I already got what I came her for anyway.” Aiko frowned, “And that is?”

Han Ling smiled slyly, “You’ll know it eventually.” He looked around, “Where’s your father? I’ll have to speak to him before I leave.” Aiko’s eyebrows shot up along with her entire body, “You’re leaving?!” raising her voice a lot more than she expected, Han Ling turned to her, a quizzical look on his face, “Yes, is there a problem?”

Aiko’s face reddened as she sat back down, muttering something incomprehensible. Han Ling leaned closer, “What was it?”

“C-Could I go w-w-with you?” Han Ling blinked, “I’m sorry, but you want to come with me? Why?” Aiko’s face reddened even more and she stared downwards, trying to hide her quivering eyes and hot face.

Luckily for her, King Altos approached Han Ling. He shook the young man’s hand with a wide smile, “Thank you greatly for your help in the subjugation of the Blasted Islands, without you it’ll be impossible for us to complete this.” Han Ling returned the smile, “Think nothing of it, as Jiron and Wave are now allies, it is only natural for us to help one another. Jiron shall require a base of operations on one of the main islands, I’ll gather a few people and bring them over, please take care of this before I return.”

Altos widened his eyes, “You’re leaving?” Han Ling smiled, “Of course, I still have much to do before that invasion.” Altos stroked his beard, silently regarding the teen before nodding, “Very well, but can I ask you for a small favour?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Could you take Aiko back to Jiron with you? She’s dying to meet an old friend there.”

Han Ling tilted his head to the side, “Hmm, sure.”

Aiko spluttered, “W-Whattt!!!!????”

“F-Father! What do you mean I can go to Jiron!?” “There isn’t much to do here nowadays, and it would only be right that a princess would go to an ally’s capital, so go.” Aiko stood there, mouth agape and slightly pale, but then her face reddened, and she shut her mouth, leaving the ambassador and her father to pack up. Han Ling shrugged, sitting down on the ground before checking out the rewards he obtained from the instant dungeon.

[You have survived the Instant Dungeon Amphitrite’s Hall]

[You have survived 38 minutes in the dungeon]

[You have slain a total of 9999 monsters]

[You have defeated all the monsters in the dungeon]

[You have obtained max rewards from the dungeon]

[Do you wish to obtain the rewards?]

Han Ling clicked yes.

[You have obtained…]

Skill: Sword Fusing (Super Rare) Skill: Tidal Natural (Rare) Weapon: Pearl Trident (Glorious Gold) Weapon: General Gavan’s Sword (Glorious Gold) Item: Pure Water Essence (Rare) X 5 Sovereigns X 200 Technique: Water Walking (Rare)

“Oooo, this is some pretty good loot.” Han Ling checked out Sword Fusing.

Sword Fusing (Super Rare)

Type: Crafting

Ability: Allows user to fuse two swords with similar properties, be it type, strength, element, or durability. Each fusion requires High Ranking magic crystals of at least rare rank. The rarity of both swords affect the number of rare magic crystals required. Fusing depends on the user’s control.

20% chance: 10-20 control

40% chance: 20-30 control

50% chance: 30-40 control

60% chance: 40-50 control

70% chance: 50-60 control

Han Ling frowned slightly, “I’ll need to put a few stat points into control… that’ll be slightly annoying, but alright.” Han Ling dumped a couple of stat points into control bringing it up to 51, before putting the rest into magic attack.

“Now sword fusing… I have a couple of swords that I don’t need, I can use those as practice. Hmmm, the Tidal master skill…”

Tidal Natural (Rare)

Type: Passive Skill

Ability: User is strengthened with the power of water, gaining additional 10% stats when in contact with water.

Han Ling shrugged, “I’ll keep it for now.”

The others were materials that would be useful in the future, so Han Ling kept them anyway. He pulled out the Pearl Trident.

Pearl Trident (Glorious Gold)

Type: Two-handed Trident

Rarity: Rare

Attack Damage: +432

Remarks: A trident wielded by an Atlantean Princess. It was created by the one of the cyclops brothers while he was drunk. Apparently she threw it at a sea serpent, to which the beast grabbed it and swallowed it.

Passive skills:

Water Moving: Capable of controlling water to a certain extent.

Active skills:

Hurl: Thrown at great speeds and deals 600% of user’s damage.

Torrential Twister: Fires a twister in a 50 meter range, damage ramps up after every second, reaching 400% of magic attack.

Han Ling shrugged, “I don’t use a trident, but I must admit this is pretty good. It’ll be like moving down grass when it comes to groups of enemies…”

Then he pulled out General Gavan’s Sword.

General Gavan’s Sword (Glorious Gold)

Type: One-handed Sword

Rarity: Unique

Attack Damage: +421

Remarks: The sword of the famed Atlantean general Gavan, it is one of its kind as it is created from the heart of a sea serpent and a tear of Amphitrite. It was said that he fell when defending Amphitrite’s Hall and the sword stayed in her hall ever since…

Passive Skills:

Water Control: Able to control the element of water to a certain extent.

Hydro Edge: All attacks down by the sword deals a small amount of water damage.

Active Skills:

Great Wave Slash: Deals a fixed amount of 10000 damage to enemies in an cone area in front of the user. CD 10 minutes. Mana Cost: 500

…

Han Ling only read the first skill and knew immediately this sword wasn’t something he wanted. In the future, there would be countless enemies that have more than 100 thousand health, a sword like that wouldn’t do much.

He then paused.

What if I forged a sword that would perfectly fuse with a blade…

He summoned both Bloody Baron’s Blade and Obsidian Hollow and stared at them intently. If I could fuse both swords… how powerful would it become? A grin appeared on his face as he knew what to do.

“Uhm Han Ling? Shall we leave?” Han Ling looked up and widened his eyes. Princess Aiko was dressed in a simple chainmail armour that was light and fit her body very nicely, and a shirt over the armour. But that wasn’t really what Han Ling was looking at.

She just stood there, her hands around her hair as she lifted it, biting a small strand between her red, luscious lips. Her black hair easily loosened, her hands gently tying her hair back. Her dark eyes were calm, almost looking wistful. Han Ling didn’t exactly know why, but the sight of a girl tying her hair back as she bit a strand always made his heart leap.

Be it his past life or his current life, his preference still stayed the same.

“Han Ling?”

Han Ling snapped out of his stupor, ears reddening slightly as he realized he was staring. “Sorry.” Aiko tilted her head to the side, clearly confused as why Han Ling would apologize. She came up to Han Ling, her hands behind her back, “So? Are we leaving?”

“Yeah, we can leave now.” Han Ling stood, brushing off the dirt from his pants. “I’ll blink us back so we don’t have to spend a few days of sea travel. It’ll be quicker that way.” Aiko was slightly taken aback, “You can send us there immediately?” Han Ling nodded, “Yep, I have a skill like that.”

Aiko stepped out of her shock and nodded, “I’ll only expect that much from you I guess.” Han Ling laughed, “Alright lets go.” He raised his hand as if to shake Aiko’s hand. Aiko stared at the outstretched hand, reach forward slightly hesitantly, and grasping his hand.

Its warm…

The exact same thought ran through both their minds, then a purple light flashed, and the pair disappeared.