Although Souta was strong, he was still at the level of initial rank. Level 61 to 65 were considered initial, level 66 to 70 were intermediate, level 71 to 75 were high, and lastly, level 76 to 80 were peak.
That's just how the game divided the power levels.
He was only level 64 close to the intermediate rank. Regardless of his level, his combat prowess was higher due to him possessing various skills, equipment, and the benefits he received from the system. It made other people think that his aura was already at high rank of fourth stage.
Honestly, it's not really a high rank. It was a level between intermediate and high. In short, Souta's base power was already stronger than intermediate fourth stage but weaker than the high fourth stage. It was a huge improvement in his power and normal One Shackle Realm wouldn't be a problem for him. Only those experts at Two Shackles and above could give him trouble.
His other source of strength wasn't included with it.
He achieved this in just two months but half of the credits go to the increase in density. It literally bolstered his muscles to the next level achieving a great enhancement in physical abilities.
Everyone received benefits from the increase in density.
Alice and Eztein reached Shackled Realm while Franklin just broke his shackle a while ago.
Torkez and Amanda used the energy to approach the Shackled Realm. Just a little bit more and the two of them would break one of their shackles.
Yenxa attained her third evolution.
Doranjan was close to achieving the intermediate rank of fourth stage.
Yuko entered the peak rank of third stage. She was close to attaining her fourth evolution.
Eilish was close to breaking her second shackles.
Gragas was also close to reaching Shackled Realm. If his focus was on training not on forging, he would certainly break one of his shackles in the past two months.
The fastest one among them was unquestionably Isabella. She was just a normal person in the past few months and yet she already caught up with some of the experts in Astros. This speed of improvement was stunning to the point that other people would have a hard time believing it. Plus, she wasn't focused on her training as she was also busy brewing potions.
Right now, she's only at intermediate S-rank. She'll be able to approach Amanda and Torkez soon.
As expected of the future god-rank powerhouse.
As for the other future god-rank powerhouses, Souta could only sigh. It was hard to recruit them since they had their own ambition just like Alexander, the future Ancient Myriad Emperor. The least he could do was to form a connection with them. He also didn't know their exact locations so he didn't know where he could find them.
Yuko and Elder Guan's battle had started. Yuko quickly used her full strength as she rushed at her opponent with intense flames surging in her body. A peak third stage was powerful but against a One Shackle expert, it was still lacking by a huge margin. Plus, Elder Guan had grown stronger too. His strength in sub-world couldn't be compared to his current strength. He became a legitimate expert of Imperium.
At the very least, Yuko showed a great battle. She would last longer if she fought the Elder Guan in sub-world with her current power.
Souta nodded in satisfaction while looking at the battle. Everyone was improving and it was good for him. They could help him in his future endeavors.
At the end of the battle, Elder Guan knocked out Yuko with his powerful skill.
'The two elders of the Witch Clan are improving. They have soul weapons so the only thing that they lack is the equipment that could complement their strength.' Souta said inwardly while rubbing his chin.
Aside from the few red grade equipment that he had, Astros didn't have a lot of high grade equipment. Also, Gragas was only one person so he couldn't forge every single people of Astros a worthy equipment. Although some of the witches became his apprentice, their skills were only enough to forge yellow grade and blue grade. They couldn't even create a purple grade weapon which was only a grade below orange.
In the entire Astros, Gragas was the only person who could forge a weapon at orange grade.
'Just how will Astros fair against Dark Oculus?'
He didn't even know the exact strength of Dark Oculus right now. He only heard about it from Lumilia and Lynn. They already had Shackled Realm experts like Yujin, Shiina, and Jeanne. Bryan was still at Solidifying Realm but he recently defeated someone at One Shackle. According to what Lumilia said, Bryan couldn't sense any shackles in his body so he was still at Solidifying Realm. But his strength kept growing as if it didn't have any limiters.
So far, Souta could only estimate the current strength of Dark Oculus. He only knows that it became one of the huge Adventurer's Legions in Hebrei Kingdom.
Once he returned, he would integrate the two organizations into one creating a far more powerful organization under his command.
'Right now, aside from experts... What I need the most are people that would help Gragas and Isabella. I'll try to recruit more people.'
Souta turned his head and saw the battle between Doranjan and Lina had started.
Lina was a peak S-rank expert and she was one of Eilish's subordinates in sub-world. She was a strong expert but in front of Doranjan, a fourth stage monster, it was useless.
The battle only lasts a few minutes. Doranjan won the match by utilizing his advantage as a monster. Lina was doing good at first but later in the match, she could only passively defend herself as Doranjan attacked her with overwhelming might.
Just like that, the second day of the Tournament of Astros was concluded.
Looking at the scene, Souta stood up while patting his clothes. He still had some business he had to finish.
He went to the portal and activated it.
This portal was connected to the Guardian Fortress. Building this portal took almost all of the savings of Astros but no one regretted it. This was an important thing for everyone and it was also for their safety.
Soon, he arrived at the forging room. Souta raised his hand and knocked on the door. After a while, he opened it and stepped inside. He saw a short muscular man with thick facial hair. The man was Gragas, the Chief of the Military Arms Department of Astros. The person who handles and maintains almost every equipment in Astros.
Two people were assisting him in his work. These two people were from Witch Clan and they were forging masters. Although they were forging masters, compared to Gragas they could only be his assistants.
Souta sighed at this scene. The Military Arms Department really lacks personnel. Luckily, there some people that were willing to learn forging. But it would take some time before they could actually forge equipment.
He gently tap on the wall and used a little bit of his energy.
Ohm!
Gragas opened his eyes widely and stopped focusing on his work. He turned around and saw Souta leaning on the wall beside the door.
"Sorry for disturbing you but I don't have that much time to wait so I could only do this," Souta said before he went to the topic. "Hmm... I heard from Torkez that you wanted to meet me."
"Oh, that? I wanted some of your webs." Gragas said.
"Fine," Souta sighed as he opened his palm and asked, "Thin webs or normal webs?"
"Normal is fine," Gragas answered.
A bunch of webs flew out of Souta's fingertips. They fell on the floor as he continued to release webs. When he reached the fourth stage, the webs that he could create grew stronger and became high grade materials.
After a while, Souta closed his palms and stopped producing webs. He knew that some of the clothes of the people of Astros were made from his webs. As long as the person creating the clothes was an expert, they could maximize the potential of his web creating various benefits such as energy resistance or physical resistance.
Souta didn't know how could they do it as it wasn't within his expertise. He didn't have knowledge regarding this matter and it would only stagnate his training if he tried to learn it. So he could only place his trust in Gragas to produce a high quality equipment.
"These are enough! We can create various equipment using all these webs!" Gragas beamed as he gazed at the webs on the floor. He turned to his assistants and said, "Pack all the webs and placed them in our storage."
"Is there something else?" Souta asked.
"No, this is enough for now. I know that you're busy so I just wanted to let you know that we're currently lacking in materials. The remaining materials could only be used to create ten to fifteen pieces of equipment and it depends on what type." Gragas explained to him. He still had the materials that Souta gave him but his knowledge wasn't enough to use such precious materials. Those were from the living labyrinth that Souta cleared in the sub-world.
"Okay, I'll find a way to gather more materials," Souta said.
