Today would be the day where he could leave his domain to enter into the world below.

Contrary to the other nations, his country did not live in any part of their world, but in their own dimensional pocket.

Despite Tarial being so vast, it was even bigger in terms of dimensions that can basically tag themselves onto the world at random places, some as small as a forest, and others as large as an entire kingdom.

His kingdom is one such place. Of course, that didn’t come up all on its own. It was built by the blood, sweat, and tears of all the other mages in the past, created and built in an eternal progress of building and expanding.

But because of that, his poor, insignificant grand kingdom had to pay their own taxes. Such is the life of someone wanting to live in this world.

There were also several, if not hundreds of policies to go through in order to go in and out of one pocket or another, especially if it’s owned by any form of sovereignty.

However, as the Lord, Cronus doesn’t have to do any of that, but he still has responsibilities to ensure nothing goes wrong in his absence. After a whole year spent ensuring nothing goes wrong, he had at least several days or so for himself. But one can never know since even a single second can occur and a disaster can strike.

Anything could happen in his country, ensuring that he must be there putting out any fires that might occur, metaphorically and literally.

It is a kingdom filled with mages, after all.

“Are you ready, my love?”

He turned to find his lovely, ever so calm wife by his side, fully dressed and ready to go. Out of everyone, she is the most excited to get out of the kingdom.

She was dressed in her fantastic robes, with long sleeves with cloth that extended to her slim waist, her leggings covered her entirely. Her long reddish hair tinged in purple only added to that sense of serene beauty, and Cronus can look on with satisfaction that each of the clothes are enchanted to the point of bending steel should some need come across.

As for himself, he went with the usual white robe that exposed a bit of his chest for freedom, as well as dark bandages that covered his arms and legs with leather boots. His long silver hair was tied behind his back for better comfort, though he preferably wanted it to be free like usual.

But he had to go out now, so he needed to look impressive. Not to mention, how could he embarrass his wife while she looked so damn fine? It would be a travesty.

All the more, this would be a reunion with his dear students that left his kingdom almost two decades ago. He also heard that they had a child during that time, so of course he needed to dress up for the occasion.

Since he wasn’t planning on looking like a boorish brute when committing a kidnapping… of a sort.

“Yes, I should be,” Cronus responded to his wife, Isabelle, with a smile. “I just wanted to make sure nothing goes wrong, so I’m sending messages for my departure.”

“Surely, they can handle themselves for a few days, can’t they?” Isabelle asked, raising a brow.

Cronus only gave her a deepened frown.

“Huh, how depressing,” Isabelle shook her head. “Ah well. Let’s move on already! I’m so excited, I’m shaking in my boots.”

“Me as well,” Cronus chuckled, walking up to his wife as his mana surged through his fingers.

Complex works of spellcraft formed, several magical circles appearing at one side, then another, as several circles filled with intensely glowing letters formed around his hand. Each circle was packed with so much mana, and there were already several more appearing right in front of them.

“What do you think those strangers might be?” Isabelle asked, her eyes gleaming for new knowledge already.

The several magical circles each spun around in unison, each spinning in a different direction as they all collided together to form into an even bigger circle, soon taking over an entire wall that they were facing against.

“I’m hoping people that can get along with us,” Cronus said, already sending out the messages with his other hand to his followers to get on with it.

As the circle began to glow in front of them, several people began to flow towards the room they were in, each one armored and geared with power radiating magnificently across the entire room with enchantments filled to the brim.

Soon, the circle finally glowed one last time as Cronus completed the transfer spell. His fingers covered in magical circles snapped, dispersing them as the circle soon became a gateway. Powerful surge of mana and other forms of energy swirled forward through the path, showing another vision of clear blue sky and greenery on the ground. The transfer process was completed, as expected of himself.

“Mmh… kinda slow there, don’t you think?” Isabelle asked, raising a brow to her husband.

“Oh shut up. I’m out of practice,” Cronus groaned.

“So sensitive… now come on!”

Cronus shook his head as he and his wife led themselves in, the entire entourage of soldiers covered in heavy armor following after them.

The passage between dimensions can be a brutal thing, especially when having to distort reality itself while abiding the laws of the natural order.

All of this was already preorganized by the Master as he pleasantly talked with his wife at the current time. The passage they walked through contained the vastness of the void inbetween, creating a bridge that crosses through the realm that would normally contain dangerous entities unknown to the users of the world.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Such things would normally occur when traveling through pockets without a powerful mage by your side, or have certain artifacts that can aid you in that venture. But for a pocket dimension as large as Arcelot, even that would be difficult without proper procedures.

Cronus looked ahead onwards to the end of the passage, using his remaining energies and the surplus power of the void in between to help travel far quicker than average. There was a bubbling excitement in his chest, something that hadn’t occurred in so very, very long. Honestly, he felt like a child awaiting his present, waiting for whatever it was that was hidden away on the other side.

He also smiled, awaiting for his darling disciple to find out of his arrival. His personal arrival.

…..

Cloud looked onwards to the open sky above. No matter how long he spent in the open sky above him, he still marveled at it and took in a big breath of air.

Another breath of air was taking place right beside him, her tiny hands on her hips as she copied her father.

After leaving the biodome behind, or rather, ever since he experienced dungeon diving just recently, he took the time to appreciate his surroundings and just being alive. It certainly was… an experience one doesn’t go through every day. He can’t imagine how the youngsters can handle such a thing.

He still shivered at the memory of his venture after being out of the adventuring scene for a while. Watching his wife nearly succumb to the undeath, having no way to restore her without enough time. Even if he knew the circumstances, knowing full well why he had to go through it, he still had nightmares of the time that could’ve happened. After that, he almost lost his daughter in the attack from Bastion, were it not for the helpful intervention of an angel.

He looked at his now not-so-little daughter, Ana, as she kept taking breaths of air without really relaxing.

“Ana, you’re gonna faint,” Cloud said, amused at his daughter always taking things to the extreme. She’s just like her mother, that one.

“Puaaah!” Ana let out, her chest heaving. “Daddy, I want to get stronger! So I decided to copy you because you’re the strongest!”

“What about your mother?” Cloud asked, raising a brow. “She’s stronger than me.”

“What do you think!?” Ana snapped back. “Mommy’s already down there helping the others train! I can’t go with her, so I’m stuck with you!”

Ana said cruelly, letting out a tongue at him in response. Cloud chuckled, feeling only slightly stung at her words. She’s getting more mouthy over the years, but he would never replace that for anything else.

“Then do you wanna practice magic with me?” Cloud asked. Of course, such a thing was impossible at her age, but there wasn’t anything wrong with magic studies. “You can become a mage if you do.”

“Mmh… I have to read lots of books, don’t I?” Ana groaned, turning away and sitting down on the front of their house.

“Not really, but reading would certainly help raise spells better. Why do you think Zeke is getting so strong so quickly? Because he’s reading a lot of books every day.”

Cloud said, shamelessly using Zeke’s example to get his daughter to read books. It was true that thanks to his reading, he has improved himself much more than the average mage. He doesn’t just take in knowledge, but uses it to his advantage, often creating runes that help with his battles thanks to them.

That, and the boy was just a sponge ready to take in everything if it meant getting stronger faster.

“Mmh… isn’t that because Sissy is linked, so she’s raising his level along with her? Doesn’t that make him a leech, then?”

Cloud winced at that. Seriously, since when did Ana speak so candidly?

Oh, right. She got her mother’s blood in her.

“Levels aren’t everything, sweetie. Remember those weaklings that were the same levels as us at the biodome?”

Ana nodded, reminding her of the time Cloud faced the Journeymen hacks that were forced to fight beyond their means.

“They were weak because they haven’t trained as well as they should. Zeke’s level is high thanks to Mikella–but that doesn’t mean he’s weak. You could say he earned his right to be at a high level, especially since at this point, he could even beat me in a fight if he put his all into it.”

“Really?!” Ana shouted, her eyes bulging from the admittance.

“Well…” Cloud teased. “Not really. After all, I’ll be holding back just to mess with him later.”

Ana just laughed at that, knowing full well that her father is the type to mess around with those around him. Cloud chuckled along as he called Ana into the house to prepare a short snack. He had nothing to do right now, especially since they were practically swimming in wealth after accomplishing their biodome takeover.

It was already a terrifying story about how they took it over, and all of it was centered on Zeke’s transformation. Though some details were clearly omitted, the townsfolk only know that their biodome takeover was a success, and Bastion is no longer going to be an issue.

It made the town share a breath of relief now that they got the kingdom’s full attention, ready to send forces to travel to their town to aid in their future endeavors. And in return, the town responsible for the takeover would get benefits beyond belief.

Cloud smiled, happily peeling oranges in the bowl of his kitchen much to Ana’s liking. Ana herself was dangling her feet on the couch, bobbing her head left and right as she hummed.

After a while, however, Ana exclaimed loudly which got Cloud to quickly head over to the living room, a look of panic in her eyes.

“What is it?!” Cloud asked.

“Daddy! T-There’s a bug in the house!”

“A bug?”

Cloud asked in disbelief. No matter how hot or cold the season, it wasn’t possible for any bugs to enter his castle (AKA his magically warded house). He looked up to where Ana was pointing at so panicky, only to pause.

It was certainly a bug. It was a large glowing moth-like creature that fluttered in the air. It spun in a lazy circle, bobbing up and down with greenish letterings across its carapace.

He stilled, looking at the moth. Ana ran over to his leg and noticed his staring with concern.

“Daddy?” Ana asked, clutching onto his pants for comfort. “Is it dangerous?”

“I’m… I’m sure it isn’t,” Cloud trailed, shaking his head. He smiled at Ana, turning to her and gesturing to the kitchen. “Ana, get to the kitchen. I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay… be careful, Daddy.”

Ana said, nodding as she ran to the kitchen under his orders. The truth was that the moth was nowhere near as dangerous as Cloud made it out to be.

It was just a messenger, from a country that should’ve been keeping their eyes off of them according to their own policies.

Cloud glared at the moth, approaching it with careful steps. As he approached, the moth suddenly stopped mid flight as it suddenly dissolved into brown and green particles.

The colors mashed together as the particles formed into parchment that fell right on top of Cloud’s open palm. It was a rather decorated scroll, sealed at the center with a blazing red ornament that seemed to have been steeped in congealed blood.

Cloud squeezed the seal with Mana, making it disappear completely as he unrolled the parchment. Then, he read, taking his time to study the letterings of the language he hadn’t read in so long.

He read, and read, and read. Then finally, he stopped. He took in a big breath, much bigger than what he did with Ana outside.

He let it out, hanging his head back.

“Gods fucking dammit. He’s coming here?”

He wanted to scream as loud as he could to proclaim to the heavens, but he didn’t want to scare Ana so he said it as calmly as possible.

On the inside, however, he was a horrid mess that not even his enhanced body can handle.