Liam collapsed to the ground, heaving and panting, completely exhausted after five hours of nonstop training.
Manipulating mana for so long was draining, to say the least. Especially because he was trying to regenerate the mana he was using actively, it was twice as taxing.
However, all of this was worth it. Liam's gaze fell on the several small craters adorning the ground in front of him. He had created all of this. A single casting of the new spell was enough to do this much damage.
His hands were itching to try out the effect of this thing on live targets. It would be a killer finishing move. The only problem was that he was yet to perfect it.
The system had already acknowledged the skill, but the darn old man did not seem to think so. Hence, he was stuck here, repeating the same thing over and over again, each time trying his best to improve.
This sort of monotonous training was probably not many people's cup of tea, but he did not mind it. He had yearned for an opportunity like this countless times in his last life, and now that he had it, there was no way he would squander it.
"Again!" Liam shouted as he gathered himself and stood up. However, just as he was about to start the training again, a system notification chimed, that too from his list of messages.
Only now he noticed that he could finally access messages again. Ever since he stepped into the barbarian and elven territories, he had been completely cut off from the rest of the world, and now he was back online again.
"I need to thank the person who messaged me." Liam chuckled as his gaze wandered to take a look when suddenly he realized that he had kept all the messages silent save for one.
An anxious feeling welled inside him as he opened this message hurriedly to take a look. Just like he expected, it was from that person, but…
"I have searched everywhere. Your friend is still alive but he is not there in this world or the nether world."
The sender of the message was Kouske. Liam, however, was certain of the true sender of this message. He had finally received the answer that he had asked for. Unfortunately, it was not the one he was looking for.
"Where are you? Are you suffering? Was I the reason for this?" His expression turned cold and desolate as he stared at the charred ground in front of him. First, it was Luna, and now it was Derek.
He clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white. He was sick and tired of seeing the consequences of his actions fall on others. He wanted to become strong to protect the ones he loved, but no matter what he did, it was never enough.
Every step was an uphill battle. Just what happened in the PVP arena? Where was Derek? The guy trusted him to a fault, but he couldn't do anything at all in the end.
Suddenly, a warm furry body jumped onto him from behind. "Masta, don't be sad." The little fox licked him on the cheeks.
Liam stared in a daze at the pair of adorable eyes that looked back at him in worry. A second later, he sighed, letting out a deep breath. "I should not get emotional. He is still alive. I will find him."
As he grabbed the little fox and tossed her back onto the ground again, his mind wandered to the Milky way auction house and the strange world it belonged to.
There was also the Divine realm. If Derek was not there in Xion or the nether realm, perhaps he was in one of these two worlds. There was also the Abyss or perhaps…
Suddenly another thought arose in his mind. What if these are not the only worlds? What if Derek was teleported to an entirely different world?
The weapon he fought against back in the arena had a strange spirit of sorts attached to it. Could there be a separate world for such weapon spirits?
Liam took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. The possibilities were endless, and he lacked the knowledge to make assumptions here.
His best bet was to seek advice from someone who could provide a more informed response based on their own experience.
He looked toward the portal to see if the elf was coming back anytime soon, but unfortunately, it did not seem like it. The guy simply waltzed in and out on his own whim without any rhythm or pattern.
"I guess I can only wait?"
Though it was frustrating, Liam decided to leave this for now and return to his training. Time was lacking. He did not have the luxury of simply sitting and worrying. Otherwise, he would only lose more people.
He took another deep breath and was about to return to his training when he noticed something else that was strange. He had a blinking world announcement and several guild announcements.
As he clicked open the various messages one after the other… a cold glint flashed past his eyes.
Someone was declaring war on them? That too, so soon after he decimated all the Gresh Kingdom guilds? Logically, they shouldn't even have recovered from that blow yet.
They were either foolish, which Liam did not believe they were, or they somehow obtained the information about his absence from the guild. Even if that was true, two S-Rank guilds rarely clashed.
In his past life, it was only the A-Rank guilds that ran around declaring war on each other and were involved in petty struggles.
The S-Rank guilds were like behemoths. Two behemoths did not clash, and the other guilds did not dare to lay claims on them. But it looked like things were going to be different this time around.
"If they are so sure of themselves as to issue a public challenge, then they must be planning something big." Liam clicked his tongue.
And if that were the case, then this battle was not going to be an easy one…
He opened the guild channel and saw that there was an ongoing guild meeting. Immediately, he sent a message.
