Everything was quiet until an echo came.

  "Hey…Wake up!"

  Daniel heard it multiple times, refusing to get up. When he heard it again. He had to open his eyes. Moon Mother was right on the floor. She was looking directly at Daniel with a worried face.

  [King Julius Path Obtained!]

  [King Julius Level 1!]

  "Huh!" As he blinked, he quickly got up as if nothing happened. "What was that?"

  "Hey, are you alright?" King Valtoris asked with a big concern on his face, and Daniel got up in a sudden jolt.

  "King Julius," Daniel muttered a few times. "Level 1?"

  Moon Mother got up from the floor. "Hang on. Say it again?"

  "Level one? Or what?"

  "What do you see?"

  "Words."

  "No way," she said as she turned her stare to King Valtoris. "I thought Maldoro was dead?"

  "Maldoro?! What does he have to do with this?"

  Hu, whose hair and tail were a mess as if she had gotten up from bed in the morning, had no idea what was going on. She looked at Daniel with a confused expression, sharing a brief mutual understanding.

  Moon Mother grimaced. "Remember that last meeting ten thousand years ago. Maldoro talked about a system!" She pointed to Daniel. "It is inside of him!"

  "You can't be serious! That has to be a joke!" King Valtoris blurted.

  Daniel, in his head, liked the name Julius. Funny enough, it made the name change decision easy, saving his mind from thought. He completely ignored what the two were talking about. Looking at Hu, he wanted to tell her something. "Can we talk?"

  "Sure…I guess."

  The two strolled along the trashed arena. Stains, dust, and debris were scattered everywhere.

  "Have you been watching me yet?"

  "No."

  "I see. From those fox giants to your nine tails, is your home a dominion of solely foxes?"

  "What got you curious all of a sudden?"

  "I'm just trying to understand. Foxes are also pretty common on Earth. That might entice you enough to explore the planet like the Raal people are doing right now."

  "How many foxes are there?'

  "Well…There are twelve species, as I recall."

  Hu stopped walking. "I realized something. As a human, how are you very informative?"

  Daniel shook his head. "I'm not. I read in my free time, but I'm not that close to being enlightened. Complete knowledge is an omnipotent being, and I don't think it's possible for a human. Listen…I want to talk because I know we have differences in what we prefer. I'm offering a proposal."

  Hu gave a surprised and amused look. "Are you offering a proposal? Really? A human offering me a deal? Okay, say it away."

  "If the Middle Ground could build a bridge to a portal that led to Earth, maybe your realm could do the same. In that way, you can walk out and return to your home at any time. Foxes live on every continent except one, so you have plenty of opportunities to explore different species. And maybe you get new ideas. What do you say? You're a fox deity, right?"

  Hu took a moment to think. Daniel took a step back, letting her decide. He watched her process the proposal. Hu closed her eyes and stayed in position silently.

  She was not to be disturbed. He was well aware how south it could turn if Hu gets interrupted.

  As Daniel was waiting, he turned to his right and noticed Moon Mother and King Valtoris still debating or maybe arguing, if it gets chaotic. Maldoro. He wondered who the person was that got them fired up all of a sudden, and how seeing a popup led to that reaction.

  Speaking of that, Daniel didn't realize it was still there. The popup moved along with his point of view. Focusing on it, it was because he had to select options.

  [Allow Hotspot Access Authorizations?]

  [Allow Virtual Inventory?]

  Daniel looked at the two who were still in a verbal fuss. His interest in Maldoro grew as more seconds passed. Because of curiosity, he accepted both options with one blink. The popup confirmed his decisions, and Hu was ready, calling him. When Daniel turned to her, a virtual interface appeared around his peripherals. He gained a computer inside.

  "So?" he asked.

  "Yes. I accept it, but I'd like to add one more thing."

  "What is it?"

  "You…If we're going to work with each other, it's best to start knowing each other now."

  "Then we both got a deal. I'll offer you immediate access to my realm." Hu raised her hand with a bright white glow.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Light swarmed Daniel for a few seconds before fading away. "Woah."

  "It's official. You're granted access as a primary visitor."

  "You know where my residence is, right? You're free to stop by and place a summon anywhere in the backyard."

  The agreement was reached. In perfect timing, Moon Mother and King Valtoris stopped arguing. If it was ever the same topic or went on a tangent, Daniel missed it all.

  Moon Mother wanted to know about the words Daniel saw. "What do you see now?"

  "A map and a guide."

  "Huh? What did you do?"

  Daniel saw her, and King Valtoris was staring at him.

  "I accepted it, and I have also decided on a few candidates for my name change."

  Moon Mother appeared to be almost fuming. "You've accepted it!!"

  "Is it bad that I did?" Daniel asked, despite expecting what he might get himself into.

  King Valtoris sighed. He was really disappointed. "Yinhai. You really did something that what you Earth humans call committing a sin."

  Daniel was briefly silent, but then talked. "Don't blame me. I was curious when that thing popped up. Mentioning Maldoro only made my curiosity stronger, so I wouldn't suggest telling me that when you could've prevented that."

  "That's the problem!" Moon Mother exclaimed. "I can't. It's out of my reach!"

  "Wait…That's interesting. You're the creator deity, and you can't control this?"

  Moon Mother walked away. "If it wasn't damn Maldoro!"

  King Valtoris switched topics. "Well, what's done is done. None of us deities can control what Maldoro did. If what you have is really one of Maldoro's hidden works, then I could only wish the best outcome…Anyway, day two is over." He turned around, showing the arena space. "The entire floor and its walls are wrecked."

  Daniel looked at the outcome of the short duel. The floor was uneven. Portions of the walls remained. The duel's ending wiped out the entire roof.

  Hu joined in. "If it wasn't for your knowledge from Hilde's book, your outcome might have changed."

  "Well, that's good to know," Daniel said, summoning a bottle of water. He drank one gulp. "At least I've improved. Now…Shall we just move on to day three, right now?"

  King Valtoris turned. "Sure. I think we can." He half turned back to see if Moon Mother was still there.

  She wasn't.

  "I guess I'll take over then. Hu, will you help please?"

  The remaining arena was cleaned, reverting to the summit's prior state.

  End of Day Three

  Poof!

  Daniel, shirtless from the prior spell tests, expelled a poisonous gas out of his body through his open wounds. The gas turned solid and dropped to the ground, shattering like glass. He then performed a form of Tai Chi, taking off any remaining poison lingering inside of him. The flow of the gas traveled up to his palms as he was doing a sequence. Afterward, Daniel cupped his hands, concentrating energy into a giant orb with all the poison. He fired a beam of purple bluish energy upward, crashing to the border of the void.

  King Valtoris summoned a kind of spell that absorbed the beam like filling up a garbage truck.

  Daniel gasped for air as his knees and legs shook. His open wounds left a brief opportunity for blood to leak out until his healing factor took over. He collapsed, hitting his knees right to the ground. He coughed multiple times, and well aware of the signs, he summoned the pills. After taking them, he quickly lay down on his back, gasping for air.

  Hu was about to heal him, only for the latter to request not to.

  He took a few minutes to let the medication take effect.

  It felt like every following episode got progressively worse. Daniel only thought about it now. "This was my sixth time, was it?"

  Hu nodded. "Yeah, it was. Is it always different?"

  "I don't know," Daniel said, sitting up. "This time made me like an active punching bag. No mercy at all." He finally was able to take a deep breath.

  "Two hundred times to get this right. Unfortunate that you got hit with another health crisis," King Valtoris said as he walked up to the two.

  "It will inevitably happen again," Daniel responded, accepting the uncertainty. He stood up with the two assisting him. "How's Moon Mother? Is she still mad?"

  "Yeah. Give her time."

  The three headed to a small table and sat down. It concluded the fast-paced training plan. Now, all that was left was a review and the results.

  King Valtoris, like a professor at this moment, summoned a tablet. He read out all the details, starting with physical results.

  His height has grown to a giant. Before being teleported to the void, Daniel was six-eight, and he was originally six-one before meeting Empress Cai. Today, he became seven feet and four inches, or a little over two hundred and twenty-three centimeters. His weight gained massively. King Valtoris had noted down that Daniel had gained at least a hundred pounds (45.3 kg). Adding up was a total of three hundred fifty-three pounds.

  The majority of the weight gain was due to an increase in bone density and muscle mass.

  The time in the void was unknown as Daniel's hair grew longer. He had it cut after the first few weeks. One side effect of the training was graying hair as if he were getting old. At first, it was annoying and emotional, but he got over it.

  Daniel held an impressive strength, lifting up to ten tons at ease. All the arm and back pain paid off to reach this point of consistency.

  King Valtoris moved on to the capabilities. Because of the flaw of qi transfer to a variety of weapons, swordsmanship skill was Daniel's highest. Improvements on anything other than handling a sword would have to be innovative to find such progress.

  The remaining chapters and units in the Raal Art of Magic (魔术的 Raal艺术) to read would be helpful to Daniel's progress, but the gap would be less.

  After going through more remarks, King Valtoris crushed the tablet. "So, have you decided on a name?"

  Daniel nodded. "Yes. I did."

  "Care to tell me. I'll make it official."

  "Well, King Valtoris, call me Julius. That's the name you should call me forever," Daniel said as his eyes glowed gold.

  "It should've been Moon Mother to do the honors. But since I'm a monarch and a deity, I will do the honor." King Valtoris stood up, drawing his blade. He lit up the blade in bright green light. "By thereforth, I proclaim that Daniel has now become the only lawful and rightful lord of Earth as Julius I. Arise, my fellow King," he proclaimed as the Moon Mother suddenly appeared. "King Julius."

  Daniel, now Julius, saw her. “Are you better now?”

  “Don't get me started…And you, you proclaimed him without me.”

  King Valtoris nodded. “I have to fulfill the duty as a fellow deity and monarch. We don't have much time to waste on being emotional.”

  Hu summoned a portal. “You are waiting for you.”

  “Am I still in a meditative state?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is there anything else I need to know?”

  “Only one way to find out if you really have any. Time to go!”

  Julius looked at Moon Mother again, not uttering a word. He turned to King Valtoris, thanking him for the training.

  He walked to the portal’s entrance. “Seriously.”

  “No. Go on. Don't linger for too long.”

  Julius stepped in, and the light swarmed him in.