Admiral Rudra and others who were watching and hearing the conversation between Almond and Neo looked at each other as Almond vanished.
“What’s up?” Almond asked as he appeared in front of them.
“Do you really have a way to end this Phase 1 event?” Liang asked.
“Nope,” Almond shook his head.
Everyone suddenly got disappointed, but hearing Almond’s next words, their eyes lit up with shock.
“But I may have a way to end this Grimworld’s Tutorial as a whole and make our planet enter the second layer.”
“Is that really a possibility?” Hiroshi asked, hopeful yet doubtful.
“That’s what I need to confirm with someone. But for you all, I have a plan to explain,” Almond smiled, a thrilled glint in his eyes. “I want everything you all have.”
“Even my underwares?” Viktor snorted.
“Hahaha,” Almond laughed, echoing with several other laughs.
“Be specific.” Admiral Rudra rolled his eyes.
“To be honest, that was very specific, but I’ll add details,” Almond grinned. “I want all resources of Epic-rank and above like herbs, materials, and any magical things you have. I want all the artifacts you have. I want everything that has attributes of magical powers.”
“So basically, I want everything.”
Everyone was taken aback, and Almond’s next words filled in the reason for all this.
“I am going to construct something. A facility that allows people to get stronger based on their efforts and endurance, and by getting stronger, I mean increasing their foundational stats, so they can reach peak stats in each lifeform.”
“The reason I want all of those things is because I want to scan each of them, learn of their attributes, their powers, so I can get some useful knowledge for this construct. I’d need everyone to work together once I am done creating its blueprint because it’s going to take a massive amount of Magic crystals and a proper system of formations to run it.”
“Sounds interesting,” Aarav Patel smiled.
James laughed and nodded, “Yeah, that’s up to our ally. How about this: We all can gather our artifacts and valuable resources at our research center. Almond can come there and do his work.”
“The artifacts, especially the Mythical-rank ones, are powerful and our strongest asset against strong bosses and, well, beings like that disaster dragon,” Bianca said, her eyes on Almond. “We can leave them in your care, but don’t destroy them accidentally.”
“Of course,” Almond chuckled. “And I am not even interested in those Artifacts. They are useful against bosses, but they are not as useful against me and the other three.”
“What exactly is it that you can do differently from us?” Silvester curiously asked. “I mean, your progress is crazy fast, but Bianca here reached Mythical rank in Darkness two years ago and has been at its peak for the past month, but her darkness was no match against that Dragon.”
Bianca sighed. “It was strange. We both have the variant of Darkness, but my darkness couldn’t resist his. It’s like a little child against an adult, even though we both have peak Mythical-rank Darkness mastery. When I sparred against Lily, who had lower progress in Mythical-rank darkness, I felt a similar force of resistance.”
“It’s our will,” Almond wryly smiled. “You have to feed your will, but I don’t know how to do that for you. It’s different for everyone. Moreover, Arcane Champions’ wills can influence and empower magic greatly. It also allows us to understand magic fast. And most importantly, we can wield will-based powers. It’s like Intents that you all know, as they can be empowered by Will, but unlike intents, there’re other things…like this.”
Almond waved his hand, targeting everyone as he cut their Mana by 20%.
Everyone was shocked as their Mana pool shrank by 20%!
“I won’t go into details on how I reduced your Mana Pool. But it’s a will-based execution of magic.”
“A strong will need a strong purpose,” Admiral Rudra said, his eyes sharp. “A strong, pure purpose, a singular purpose can drive our will. But there are other conditions to become someone like Almond, an Arcane Champion.”
Almond nodded. “That’s right. But Arcane Champions aren’t invincible. A strong will doesn’t mean they can beat anyone or get out of any situation. Out of 437 Arcane Champions in the leaderboard of Arcane Champions of Eternal Will, only 137 are alive.”
“Anyway, after we complete the construction of this new facility, I have a plan for all of us. But before telling you that, I’ll go and confirm if that plan works.”
Admiral Rudra nodded. “Alright. I’ll inform you once we have gathered everything at the research center.”
“Got it. See you later, folks,” Almond smiled and disappeared, leaving the Battlefield as he returned to the Battlefield Hub.
Looking at the leaderboard, Almond could only shake his head. ‘Let’s hope this plan is workable.’
Leaving the hub, Almond returned to the Sanctuary Area.
“Big D! Are you still here?”
“Meow…”
A cat appeared, jumping on his shoulder.
“You look like a very normal cat here,” Almond chuckled.
*Scratches!*
After scratching Almond’s face, the cat floated in front of Almond, walking in the air arrogantly before sitting.
“…”
“Say something,” Almond said speechlessly.
Suddenly, the cat’s eyes glowed, and it blinked.
“Hey, brat. What’s up? Don’t worry, the piece of this consciousness was busy, so this cat was…kind of acting on its own.”
“But it’s your consciousness inside,” Almond raised an eyebrow. “So that was your subconsciousness.”
“A piece of the subconsciousness of my piece of consciousness, which makes it dysfunctional a bit if I don’t actively control this clone,” Big D rolled his eyes. “I have many avatars, after all.”
“Anyway, I want to ask a few things, so let’s start with what happens when an Arcane Champion kills another Arcane Champion?”
“What’s the name of the leaderboard?” Big D asked back.
“Arcane Champion of Eternal Will.”
“Indeed. If there’s the word ‘Eternal,’ don’t you think killing another Arcane Champion is a bit sus?” Big D grinned.
“But there are many dead ones already,” Almond frowned.
“Indeed, but…are their wills dead as well?”
Almond’s eyes glinted. “What do you mean? So we don’t really die even if we get killed?”
“No, no. Will needs a purpose to remain in existence. If an Arcane Champion loses their purpose and gives up, their will vanishes eventually, but that aside, you want to know what happens if you kill one, right?”
Big D grinned and continued, “If you kill, or rather, defeat another Arcane Champion, you get a servant. You get to control their will. You get to control their soul. In short, that Arcane Champion will be your servant forever…until a certain condition comes into existence that will free that Arcane Champion.”
“W-What the fuck?” Almond was dumbfounded.
“Yeah, it’s Grimworld Tree thing. It makes Arcane Champions and gives this power that allows them to do that.” Big D shrugged its tail. “Anyway, you got your answer. What’s next?”
“Next is…What happens once we clear all 30 floors of the Labyrinth in a single month? Grimworld Tutorial sets those limits and restrictions, but what if I clear all floors in fifteen days?”
“Will that put this world out of the Phase 1 Event?” Almond’s eyes were intense as he asked. “I want to know what happens if I do that.”