Without Kairos saying anything, Relestia told Leo all about the Snowdrifts; a strong band of heroes that challenged kings.

Initially, Relestia – as Kairos’ number one fan – wanted to pull another victi… supporter into fan club. But, which hot-blooded man would not enjoy a good tale of blood and heroism. Soon, Leo was asking questions by the dozens, and the story did not disappoint.

Kairos led a hundred friends against an entire army of Orcs and held down the fort for more than ten days.

The same year, his brother was kidnapped. Bringing a small group of no more than thirty guild members, they dove deep into an enemy country, extracted their friend, and cut a blood path back home.

On the way they defeated armies, killed a princess and slay a Triple S ranked guardian of the realm with Two Paramount Units.

That is similar to a bunch of Class 4 and 5 Aura Knights killing a Class 9 Grand Cross Knight.

This is as unbelievable as hearing twenty ants crushing an elephant. Some fights just can’t be compensated by outnumbering the enemy.

Hearing this from the princess, Leo eyed Kairos suspiciously and asked, “Young Master Kairos doesn’t look that old. What age were you when this happened?”

“I was between twelve and thirteen.”

Leo felt like he was being tossed around in a hurricane when he heard that replied. He expected Kairos to be young, but twelve is still childhood in Axis Mundi.

Relestia continued, “Using the valuables they took from the enemy empire’s treasury, the Snowdrifts one of the largest companies on Gaia in less than a year, showing Kai’s talent in the business world to be head and shoulders above everyone else.”

Kairos coughed unnaturally at the high praises, but otherwise he calmly accepted the compliments.

“While juggling his new corporate and combat training, Kairos mastered Runes, Talismans, Blacksmithing, Cooking, Herbalism, Stratagems, War Tactics, Seal Creation, and Pill Creation to the limits that Saint Empire could teach him.”

She did not mention about Beast Taming, because Kairos gloriously received zero marks on that course. Still this did not change the princess’ opinion of Kairos, after all, it is the beasts that were unworthy.

Relestia gave Leo a proud look, as if saying this is how excellent the man she chose.

Although it was definitely flattery, Leo was impressed. After all he had seen Kairos forge a blade and is learning cooking from the boy.

Despite not hearing many of the other trades mentioned, like Runes and Stratagems, if Kairos were even a quarter as good at them as he is in cooking, then this boy definitely has great talent.

“The same year he led his group and killed another Triple S ranker from the immortal realm. I was possessed by this parasitic devil and were sealed for four years.”

What happened to Relestia is a secret but Leo had been let in on it a while back. Since they are travel companions, it is better to give the man a heads up in case the devil suddenly takes over while Kairos is away.

Of course, with Aisa around ready to pounce, the devil have to weigh its chances carefully.

The parasite knows this as well, hence it had retreated deeper into protection of its seal but everyone knows that it is far from over.

As expected, it is awaiting its chance. In fact, no one noticed that it had already taken action.

Since Relestia was asleep for four years, Leo turned to Kairos to ask him what happened after.

Kairos laughed, “There wasn’t much that happened. Mostly we were preparing to face the changes in the empire after Emperor Galahad went missing. A great many noble families felt uncertain and grouped together under the Snowdrifts.”

Kairos briefly explained the deals that he made during the four years before he graduated from school. When Leo reflected the age that this boy achieved all these, he could only look at him in shock and awe.

A bunch of powerful noble families revolve around the organisation a twelve year old made. Moreover, the core members of said company are all his classmates.

And it wasn’t a simple agreement with mutual interest that bound them together, but a life and death contract for every party involved: The Snowdrifts as the leader, seven families and eight clans of the Hundred Nobles, and two of the Three Great Noble families.

Besides the noble families, their guild is supported by an international merchant group – the Trade Federate, and the king of the underworld – Thief King Rielon. Unsurprisingly, the latter two are not willing to face demise together with the Snowdrifts if things run aground, but the assistance they give in secret is the most important factor that made things possible.

In a battle to claim an empire’s sovereignty, outside help can be far more important than internal support if one knows how to take advantage of it. After all, anyone can be the next king, but not anyone can bring prosperity and security to Saint Empire – the two factors that the Trade Federate and Rielon are proficient in.

While Kairos only lightly mentioned what happened, Leo felt his hair stand just thinking about it.

To chain up so many major powers into a single force to be reckoned made him look at Kairos with amazement.

When Kairos glanced at Leo suppressing his burning curiosity, he sighed and explained, “Those noble families that support the Snowdrifts are completely loyal to Saint Empire and they swear complete allegiance to the Snowdrifts because of our beloved princess.”

The people of Gaia knows that after the passing of her Royal Majesty, the queen of Saint Empire, the emperor took no other woman as queen. With the emperor missing, the Fifth Prince dead, and the Third Prince crippled, the royal family’s only direct bloodline is Relestia Vestimore.

Following her, the next in line to the throne will be the princess consorts, but those women are daughters of powerful noble families and each with their own allegiance.

With the Third Prince being in custody of the Devilheart family’s hands, every organisation in the empire must pick sides immediately with either the Vestimore Royal Family or the Crown Regent – the Devilheart Family.

In the first moments when Emperor Galahad went missing, while the others are still in shock, Kairos quickly rounded up the leaders of noble families that he trusts. Although Kairos did not tell Leo what transpired during the meeting, it is undoubtedly an event that left its mark in history, yet the lad simply brush past it using the word ‘loyalty’ as reason.

No one can convince Leo that those powerful people will simply follow after Kairos out of the righteousness of their hearts.

He looked at Kairos with obvious admiration, while Relestia nodded at him as if saying that great men and women think alike.

Leo’s curiosity did not cease, instead it grew more than ever. At the very least, he wanted to know how Kairos and the princess landed here in another world.

Kairos, as briefly as before, told Leo about the existence of the Dark Hall, and how his classmates and the seniors that supports the Snowdrifts were recruited into this dangerous organisation one after another.

Those that entered are bound to serve the Crown Regent onto death.

Kairos’ brothers, his closest friends, and even those that were sympathetic with his cause had all been ordered to take on the suicidal role as Death Warriors.

Kairos himself was told to lead them towards taking down an impregnable fortress, yet under his instructions, they quickly took control of the Dark Hall and absorbed an opposing army into their ranks.

Besides humans, the beasts of the wild answered their war cry, and together the Snowdrifts achieved the impossible and took over the legendary Ku Kang Camp.

Unfortunately, in the last battle against three Triple S cultivators - Grand across Knight class fighters – Kairos was forced to unleash a Grand Magic and broke an ancient agreement: Non-citizens of the southern mage countries may not be in the possession of spells.

Curious on how Kairos could use such powerful spells, three Grand Magus performed a soul reading ritual on him. The magic backfired and the fabrics of time and space were torn apart. At that time Axis Mundi was the closest world away that was summoning otherworld heroes and like a speeding meteor, Kairos who was hurling across the different realms was guided over and crashed into the lower realm.

Leo and Relestia each let out a long breath when they thought of how things came to be.

The after-story of Relestia’s seal breaking during the world travel and everything else that happened had no need to be said.

Satisfying Leo’s curiosity, the three of them quickly set out to take over Axis Mundi.

“We need to write a book about Kairos and the Snowdrifts,” Relestia said with steel in her voice, “If the people of Axis can hear of what happened on Gaia, they will more easily accept Kairos.”

Leo quickly agreed, “If they can read about Gaia and Cultivation from a storybook, when things became reality, the folks will be more willing to cooperate.”

Relestia looked and Kairos and asked, “Should we use our names in the book?”

Kairos thought about it and nodded, “No harm will come from that. Those that know us will appreciate it when they know we were honest. Those that do not know us will simply pass it off as spun tales until reality hits them.”

Their story will undoubtedly become a myth like many others, but a leader without such legends will not turn into a king in his people’s hearts.

Seeing Kairos agree, the two continued discussing on the next steps to establish the Snowdrifts.

After hearing them discuss things for a short while, Kairos secretly gave the two a thumbs up in his heart. Growing up in the royal family, the princess displayed a keen sense to set up and run an organisation. Leo who had spent years as a travelling merchant also shown surprising aptitude in grasping the differences in races and geography, pointing out the directions they can take. On Gaia, humans and orcs were the only sentient races, and the latter no longer have any town and cities. Leo’s experience proved invaluable here.

While the first step is the most difficult, Kairos could tell from their conversation that he can entrust things to them and he excused himself.

He made dinner for everyone and ate with Linda before returning to his room.

Relestia and Leo continued hammering out the details while he continued working on the surveillance spell.

Although he knows how the magic works but it continued to fizzle out. Fortunately, the courtyard they rented is equipped with a training room that can withstand a variety of attacks, otherwise his explosive failures would have levelled the place.

Half a day passed when the spell finally succeeded. A colourless magic cloud slowly gathered above Kairos’ head and grew in size until it completely covered the dwarven city.

Instantly, Kairos could see everything in the city and hear the conversations going on. However, those being observed, regardless of their strength, did not notice anything amiss.

The scale of his surveillance spell destroyed the normal sense of what an observation magic should be like. To cover such a wide area is possible, but to maintain it is a whole different matter.

Yet, Kairos’ aim is to keep the spell permanently activated… or at least for extended periods, and at the same time avoid being discovered.

In exchange, the spell have to remain passive normally. In this state, no one can tell it apart from the normal condensation within the mountain. Of course, whatever Kairos wants to observe in the city, he will need to activate observation mode and concentrate on the location. Compared to Soul Perception that can do more than just see and hear everything within range, this spell is only better in its energy efficiency and its convenience.

After activating the surveillance spell, Kairos sealed it into a mana crystal sphere. Mana crystals are formed naturally from condensed magic, solidified through the decades.

Making use of his knowledge of the Spirit Gathering Stratagem that draws Heavenly Energies to empower other stratagems, Kairos adjust it to cater for mana, making the spell somewhat self-sufficient.

Such a magic – if one like it exists – will not be found anywhere in the books. Instead, something like that will be locked up in the highest security magical library.

Of course, Kairos would not have access to such a place so he decided to create the spell himself.

Yes, it was this simple. Magic that should be at the importance of national security is forged in his mind in mere moments. This is the effect of his nigh-omniscience intellect.

Granted, the knowledge he has enabled him to create things impossible for the average mage, but it did not help enable him in using what he create.

If reading and understanding can make someone into a master, then grand mages wouldn’t be only a handful and there wouldn’t be only two arch mages on Axis Mundi.

Because the magic was his own creation, he had to give it a name, and in the sake of convenience is called the City Surveillance spell.

A spell’s name is special. To cast it, one must understand the usage of the magic through its name. This means that one cannot name an offensive spell with a defensive spell’s name.

Because of this, battle spells are usually named with two or more meanings to throw their opponent off. For a support spell like the City Surveillance spell, there is no need to spend too much effort in naming it.

Just knowing the name will be insufficient to activate it; the mage needs to understand the mechanics behind the magic.

If the spellcaster’s knowledge of the magic is poor, instead of using the spell’s name, he will need to use a magic incantation which describes how the magic is formed and what its purpose is.

Magic incantation is the only method of spellcasting for the mages from Gaia, whereas casting with the spell’s name is Axis’ usual method. On Gaia, mages only know how to use incantation for casting spells, even the three Grand Mages that knows the Chantless Spellcasting are merely reciting the full magic incantation in their heart each time.

In comparison, which world is more advanced in magic can easily be determined.

After finishing the City Surveillance spell, Kairos moved on to cast other magic.

With most of his combat skills sealed, he sorely need to fill up the gap.

After several moments, he created a new spell and started practicing it.

Another half a day passed.

Relestia, Leo, and Linda are all in deep sleep. Kairos had not left the training room since he entered. The door creaked open as the lad dressed in white stepped out.

His clean and fresh appearance was in contrast of what he had been doing. The smell of magical explosions wafting out from behind became the only evidence of the trials he had been through.

A mystical purplish glow seeped out from his eyes, remnants of the mana from his new spell.