I was appalled, shocked, and not having a very good time with what Arcana just said. She simply stood there with a pleasant smile on her face and enjoyed the gentle winds that ruffled her white kimono. Quite nice of her to give me ample time to get over my mental breakdown.

So why the fuck did I spend all those years learning a thousand magic types when I could’ve just learnt arcane? I was fuming. Couldn’t Emily, Arcana, or Hethekk tell me? No, wait. They know damn well Apollyon is coming and that he’s a big problem. They wouldn’t let me waste my time if they felt I was their only hope when it comes saving the worlds from him. So then, maybe he’s too weak and they know I’m strong enough already? Or, maybe… is there something about arcane that I’m missing? “What else are you not telling me?”

She smiled again, “Arcane is the jack of all magic types. An arcane-created Fireball, Ice Shards, or any other spell, will never be as strong as the original, but it will be very close in terms of power. That’s the reason human mana pathways are so easily changeable, they originally are good at arcane, and arcane encapsulates a large portion of all magic.” She sighed and peered at the beautiful mountains, “It requires massive amounts of effort to master manipulation. Even with Timedial and Clone, I reckon you won’t even master arcane manipulation before Apollyon arrives. It might be wiser to focus on soul magic.”

“What’s the most efficient way?” I asked.

An evil grin took her. For a second, I could’ve sworn I saw a glimmer of Vena in her. “Manipulation only. No spells. No other magic type besides arcane unless it’s an emergency.”

Hmm, that’s gonna be difficult, bruh. Ugh… I squatted down and gazed at the sky as well. “Hey, Arcana.”

“Mhm?”

“Do you, believe in me?” I asked.

Her hand gently pressed atop my head, “Of course I do. We all do.”

Water rolled out an eye. You do huh? “Thanks,” I replied. In a year and a half, the fate of multiple worlds would rest on my scrawny shoulders. That bothered me more than I cared to admit. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly, choosing to focus on the scenario with the Craghammers in Vaingot.

It reminded me of Methelia. The issues in Methelia were within my crosshairs for so many years and yet I postponed my own people’s issues to gallivant in other worlds. Sure, no one could possibly dispute the merit of the Kynhall Bridges that allowed different worlds to trade products, services, and knowledge, but I really did owe some attention to our internal affairs.

The Order of Magic alone had an amalgam of magics and races that propelled it far past its previous constraints. The wider Methelia also saw huge gains in prosperity, diversity, and economic boons. This became true for partnerships where Methelia weren’t even involved. Many worlds had a lot to learn from each other.

So, by all means, one could say that I did more than enough for my country. But was it really enough? Where do I even start with this? I questioned myself.

“You probably shouldn’t,” Donna warned. “Helping a family or two is okay, but the big changes you’re thinking of always has adverse effects. Frankly, it will take too many years, and Apollyon won’t wait on you to straighten out the issues of your country.”

So wha–

“Just focus on training,” she advised.

I pouted, because I wasn’t happy with that answer, but mayhap the person with experience being the queen of Methelia was right. So, I opted to spend some time each day with Arcana for three months, until I understood arcane a little better.

Drak’ka was not happy about it, as she believed it would be much more rewarding to practise shadow magic, or maybe even light magic. She was quite right. I knew of three cheat-like methods to quickly progress through learning a magic type.

The first two I thought up myself. Clone allowed me to gain the experience and knowledge that my clones accumulated in an instant, so I decided to dedicate twenty clones to each magic type. Timedial was the other cheat. Now that my mana power allowed me to stack Timedial until time slowed by 99.9% without repercussion, my clones could use and abuse it.

The third method was using nature magic to merge with Arcana. Ever since I became an avatar of nature, I gained the ability to instantly copy a being’s cells – there was no waiting like before. And since Arcana was literally the physical manifestation of arcane magic, I would essentially merge with arcane. Although, she was very much against that. There must’ve been some danger to it. I thought back on the time Vena merged me with the void and it almost killed me. If the same principle could be applied to arcane magic, then it would certainly be dangerous.

As I focused on how I could better train arcane magic, August teleported with the kiddos in tow, and a floating picnic basket. Arcana and Qora sat and talked on the picnic spread. Tara climbed up onto me. Celosia and Aviana were running about the quiet meadows. And Tacari and Biter were playing fetch in the distance.

This scene before me was so soothing. I felt like I could forget everything and soak happiness into every fibre of my being. Yet, this very scene made me quake in my boots because I knew it would never last forever. I know I could fail Emily. Was I strong enough to keep a smile on their faces like that?

Only time would tell. For now, I focused on easy requests at the Order of Magic and only used arcane manipulation. I had clones constantly train so that there would always be improvement. The Order was rather interesting. Warlocks, mages, dragonkin, elves, and even a few holy warriors here and there, participated. Some quests required you to go to other worlds via the Kynhall Bridge, so there was no shortage of things. I think one of the scariest teams I’d seen was a team of holy warriors and Ulanosian soldiers.

August on the other hand was focusing on something quite intriguing. He told me that he was able to store quintessential energy in his body. I didn’t understand what it meant fully, but I was sure he’d be much stronger than before. To be honest, after he fought the half-demon, Ren Fahzul, I took a mental note to avoid duels with him. Once I had some way to regulate his speed, I didn’t think he would’ve been a match for me, but fighting August without Timedial was like scooping up water with your hands and thinking you could remove all the water in the ocean.

There was also a way for him to disrupt your mana, making all your magic turn into poofs; I didn’t quite understand how that worked yet. And who knows what storing quint in his body would mean for him? What I did know was that if I passed away, I wouldn’t really need to worry about the balance of the worlds with him around.

I went to August’s and found him in his forge area, with a huge pile of clothing that was awaiting enchantment. Of course, I laughed at him, “Calla got you, huh?”

“Man, I used to think demons were something like Yraz, but Calla takes the cake,” he groaned. “So, what ya up to?”

“Well, about that, I’v–”

“August!” a kid’s voice shouted from around the way. “There’s a weird white thing where we were playing,” the kid complained.

I tilted my head in curiosity and finally remembered where I saw her. She was that kid who was under the control of Yraz the Tormentor. She seemed a lot livelier now, which brought a smile to my face. I floated over with arcane manipulation alone to see what she was talking about.

And behold! A great wraith looked like it was meticulously guarding a corpse. August and I glanced at each other. He approached first, as he had magic resistance. As he got close, the great wraith slammed its claws down and a nova of dust spread forth. August easily blocked it with his arm alone. “Ay, dude! You should see this!” he said, then simply held the wraith and threw it over yonder like it was a sack of potatoes.

You overpowered little shit! I cursed him in my mind because I remembered how frantic I was the first time I faced against one of the great wraiths. The thing that August wanted me to see was tightly bound by the unconscious soul holding it. “H-hold up, why is a codex appearing this late into the story?”

“I dunno, man. Ask the author,” Donna teased, knowing full well she was the author.

At that point I felt a message come through from my clone stationed in the Order of Warlocks. Hmm, now that’s some interesting shit right there. A perverted simper wiggled onto my face. Yes, it had been so long since I had an adventure – a few lousy months – that I was getting quite the otherworldly boner. Get it? A boner for another wor– you get the point. Although it was quite an exciting prospect for me, it was also something a bit worrying.

I Riftwalked to the outskirts of the Baruum Empire where the clone was and beheld a massive swirling portal. When I say ‘massive’, I mean big enough for two Hydras to comfortably fit through walking side by side in her true form. The skull-shield titan that was the Avatar of Chaos apparently got busy and made kids, because I was seeing seven of them. Hmm, so this is the interesting thing my clone wanted me to see? I pondered. It was certainly interesting, but the portal was much more interesting.

I squatted on a house’s rooftop and watched the mayhem. One swing from the gigantic sword that each Avatar of Chaos wielded would cause massive destruction and kill several dozens of people. “Okay, hit me with all the memories,” I told my clone. When he did, I understood the gist of what transpired.

Basically, some old remnants of the previous empress were somehow able to procure the materials and process required for summoning the big boys. They wanted to get rid of Empress Reylin and spur a revolt to usurp her. From the intel the clone gathered, it was obvious that those remnants of the former empress weren’t happy with Reylin’s rule.

Many of the policies she implemented or changed had caused a huge decrease in wealth, power, and corruption within the upper echelons of the Baruum Empire. On the flip side, she gave tremendous incentives to those who supplied the country with essential goods and services. She was being a proper head of state, and the fat cats who stuffed their mouths by abusing their positions threw a hissy fit.

But the real surprise for me were the Red Stars. They were a resistance group that existed even when the former empress was in power. They had a big hand in orchestrating the amusing show in front of me, which I found weird. Although, once I properly checked the memories, I realised they were more of a just-in-case group and existed for generations even before the former empress was in power. Small jobs like assassinating unjust tax collectors and other corrupt government officials who would abuse their power was what Red Stars focused on. They weren’t really trying to overthrow the empress in the first place, they were just responsible for keeping her strength in check by culling her subordinates if things got too out of hand. They were self-entitled police. However, in order to motivate people to join them, they had to market themselves as a group that’s main goal was overthrowing the government.

I Voidported to the Avatars of Chaos and used Subservience – the pure mind control spell. Six more repeats of this and the Avatars of Chaos simply hovered and awaited my direction. Honestly, who thought up mind magic, man? Shit’s unfairly overpowered; ain’t complainin’ though. I looked down at their fiery-orange whirlpool-like lower halves and wondered for a while just what kind of place these humongous monsters came from.

As I also hovered in the air, I got the attention of many soldiers who were sent on a quest of martyrdom to battle these creatures. Vivify brought those who were bleeding out or gravely injured back to normal. According to the memories of my clones, the Avatars of Chaos and the soldiers were fighting in this one spot for about five minutes. Hmm, the people of this empire got a lot stronger, huh? Well, that’s a given considering the members of the coalition still participate in Yunaris’ dungeons. They were still charging ahead with the coalition as if August and I didn’t tell them we no longer wanted their involvement in fighting Apollyon. I guess no one wanted another world to get too strong, and it probably became a race to seek power.

I flew over to the portal and considered if I should enter it. Ugh, but I don’t know how dangerous this would be, and I have arcane training, and Dawn’s pregnant. I mean, I could just leave a clone behind like usual and it’d be fine but… It felt like cheating to let my clones do my domestic duties for me. But what then was the point of magic if one didn’t use it how he wanted?

“Don’t think too hard or you’ll hurt yourself, honey,” Dawn warned me, all seriously. But I knew those words were dripping in sarcasm.

I palmed my face. Honestly, where did that cutesy and shy Dawn go? Donna has corrupted you, woman.

“And who corrupted me, I wonder?” Donna chimed in. I, couldn’t reply.

Dawn grinned, “Just take August with you. I don’t trust you by yourself.”

Excuse me? I’m an adult.

“Who needs a babysitter,” Dawn pointed out. “Either take Donna or August, or anyone I approve of, or you’re not going anywhere.”

Hydra’s ass, aren’t I supposed to be the big bad successor of the witch? What’s with this treatment?

“Oh!” Donna got an idea, “Take Hydra with you. You never give her any attention anymore. I honestly feel sorry for her.”

Oh, damn, you’re right. Celosia on the other hand–

“On the other hand,” Dawn chuckled at my choice of words because Celosia was literally a fire on my hand most times.

I decided to bring along both Hydra and August. He cast Clone and the clone cast Riftwalk to get back to the beautiful picnic we were having.

Hydra was elated to see me as usual, but I felt that something was off about her. And it definitely wasn’t her ass – that beyond-perfect monument of the gods was majestic enough to make women pitch a tent. All joke’s aside, she really did feel a bit different.

August didn’t know her as well as I did, but he could also feel something was off. “Uh, my clone says Melissa wants to have a talk,” he said, lying through his teeth. “I’ll send some mana through the Light Link once I’m done. Later, bruh.”

And so, it was just Hydra and I. There were some things I wanted to take care of first, like the destruction that the Avatars of Chaos caused, but I decided to simply enter the portal and I appeared in another world’s mountain. I immediately returned, as I just wanted the locational information so that I could teleport back to that brand-new world. A clone took care of the Avatars of Chaos and whatever else Empress Reylin would’ve needed.

I was then able to give my undivided attention to Hydra, whom was clothed by the way. I brought us back to my study in Methelia and prepared some refreshments. “So, what’s buggin’ you?”

Her hands tightened on the cup in her hand as she stared at the reflective surface of some juice. “Was I that obvious?” she said with a chuckle, inhaled, and stared up at the ceiling. Her fidgeting fingers never ceased, rubbing along the rim of the cup. “I’d rather not talk about it,” she rested the cup down at a small table to the side of her, “May I return?”

I rubbed the back of my head. Oh man. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t rest easy knowing you’re having troubles. If I can help, please use me, okay?”

She nodded and disappeared back to the spirit world. I immediately checked on the other spirit lords to make sure they were okay, and they were. Only Hydra was suffering through something. She was the first spirit lord I made friends with; I couldn’t turn a blind eye to this. Ugh, I don’t even feel like going to that new world.

I looked absentmindedly at the new codex we found in August’s yard. On opening the book, there was nothing, of course. The chapter-less magical books could only be read when in the void, so I wiggled into the translucent lavender ethereal plane and sat on the ground. The codex was unnamed, unlike Donna’s other works. I’d no idea how one managed to be the queen of Methelia and an Apostle of the Crescent Moon and produce these kinds of marvels.

I opened and skimmed through the pages, and about quarter way through the book, the pages became blank. An eyebrow raised. Fuck is this, Donna? I questioned rhetorically and shook my head. After reading about the first two pages, I understood that the codex dealt with manipulating reality. Arcana said something about that, but what she spoke about seemed like the act of creating or removing matter, which was quite normal in magic. However, there was something about the way Donna worded these instructions that made me feel like she wasn’t just talking about arcane magic in this newly discovered codex.

In the introduction, it felt like Donna was hinting that simply casting the magic felt like it was vastly different from every other magic type. And the thing about manoeuvring reality also seemed, disconnected from other magic types. This book could’ve possibly been a new magic I never heard of, but I was too distracted to read further because my mind was centred on Hydra.

I also pondered what happened to the woman who was clutching onto the codex, but she had yet to wake up.

I was a bit worried, so I went back to the spirit world and felt a massive battle in the deep of the water faction. The wavey waters worried me, but I continued towards the source, and would see Hydra in her full form. The five-headed serpent thrashed about in the ocean for a while, before she suddenly went still.

Hovering in the air was the person who held onto the codex that appeared in August’s backyard.