The Author's POV

"You guys are finally here."

I approached the familiar figures who appeared from the portal. They were none other than Emma, Melissa, Jin and Amanda.

"Where exactly are we?"

Emma was the first person to speak, and she did so while she curiously looking around the room.

"I barely feel any mana in the air. There are some traces of demonic energy...but there's also a trace of something else...but I'm not exactly sure about what it is."

"It's aura, and we're currently on a planet called Immorra."

I replied, giving them a brief introduction of the planet we were on.

"This was an old Orcen planet that was primarily concerned with agriculture and farming. Because there are many beasts on this planet, most of the food that orcs used to eat come from here."

"When you say agriculture, do they still do that?"

Melissa inquired, raising her glasses with a finger. As I shifted my gaze to her, I shook my head.

"To be honest, I don't know. I will have to ask Silug. He might have an idea of what you're looking for."

Melissa approached me before I told her about Immorra with a detailed request on a specific property she desired from a plant. I didn't know of any plants with the same properties as the ones she requested at the time, but when I was reminded of my trip to Immorra, I told her that if she came with me, she might be able to find what she was looking for.

To be honest, the chances were slim, but it was better than nothing.

Nonetheeless, to my astonishment, she readily agreed, which explained why she was here in the first place.

Booom!

The building started to shake once more, startling everyone present.

I looked up toward the ceiling before looking back at the others.

"There's a war going on upstairs at the moment, if you're curious as to why the building suddenly shook. It's almost coming to an end, so you don't have to worry too much. What you do have to worry about, is the next war. That one is going to be a tough one."

Not only would there be a significantly greater number of demons than there were at the moment, but their overall force would also be greater with even more Marquis ranked demons showing up. #

Also...

I had a sneaking suspicion that at least a demon of the Duke rank was going to show up, but I couldn't say for certain that this was the case. Silug was the one who broke the news to me, but even he wasn't entirely sure about the information he shared.

If this turned out to be the case, then I had no choice but to take everything more seriously. The gap between and was much wider than anyone one might think.

With my current set of skills, I could pose a threat to someone of that rank. That, however, was dependent on my opponent. It was nearly impossible for me to propose a fight if they were ranked higher than simply .

'I need to quickly break through. '

Once again, I was reminded of how urgently I needed to break through.

"Here."

voice snapped me out

Amanda handing me a

lit up when I saw

"Oh, right."

from Amanda's hand and tossed it to

"Randur, catch."

"Huh, what?"

the ring fumbled in his hands. It wasn't until he was finally able to get his hand on the ring that he breathed a sigh of relief and

world

respond and simply motioned with

what's inside before

Randur's brow furrowed.

acted in accordance with my request and examined the contents of the ring. Soon after that, he turned his head to look at me, and his

Just what in the

"...A lot of things."

I smiled at him.

me set up a mana chamber where I can train. With the things inside of the ring, it shouldn't be a problem for you guys to be able

"No."

Randur shook his head.

who was engaged in some light conversation with the other dwarfs

we have

took the ring

ring, he exhibited a response that was comparable to

one would actually need to build the things that you've

tossed the ring in my direction

time do we

flows ten times faster, twenty days.

meantime, I'll send a couple of dwares to check out the sorrounding mountains and see the best area to

out a stopwatch

quickly got to work

the room, the atmosphere in the room abruptly changed, becoming much livelier as an assortment of tools suddenly materialized

nodded in satisfaction when I saw just how efficient the dwarves

things go smoothly, it won't be long before I manage

secretly clenched when I thought of

him killing Smallsnake in front of my eyes was still deeply imprinted into my mind. There was nothing that was going to stop me from killing

Nothing at all.

we

voice that snapped me

my head to look at him and the others, I motioned to them with my

guys. Just make yourself comfortable for the next couple of days. It would be best if you guys got a good idea of the internal structure of the castle. It will prove a lot more useful than

door handle and pushed the

remembered

"...Oh, right."

massaged my chin

I have Silug shut down a certain part of the castle so that no one apart from me and the others

***

Ashton city, Cassia headquarters.

eerily quiet after