Second World

Any other monarch would have been offended by Hatori, but Jack was never someone guided by pride. He simply smiled at Hatori's request. He stood up and approached Hatori.

"To find out, you will need to be able to sense mana," Jack said. "Can you?"

"I can," Hatori answered.

"Good! Can you sense me now?" Jack asked after he came beside Hatori.

"Yes," Hatori replied.

"Hehe." Jack cast a spell. Soon, twenty of his copies appeared around the room.

Hatori looked around. He sensed Jack's mana signature in each of these copies. He couldn't tell which one was Jack.

"I requested a demonstration on mana concealment, not confusing me with a trick," Hatori said. His tone didn't mask his dissatisfaction.

Just as he finished his sentence, he found the blade of a glowing sword right next to his neck.

He turned back to the owner of the sword. It was Jack. Hatori didn't say anything but his expression told everyone of his surprise. He couldn't detect Jack who was behind him.

"Is that demonstration enough?" Jack asked while sheathing his sword. The Hundred Mirages he had cast earlier was ended.

Hatori was silent with contemplation.

"If you want, I can teach you," Jack said to Hatori. "I can sense that you can do mana concealment as well. You do it even now. It is quite good, but not as good as Hashi's."

"You will teach me…?" Hatori asked.

"If you are willing to learn," Jack answered.

"What if I refuse to be your royal agent?" Hatori asked again.

"You will still be a soldier in my army, won't you? If so, then I don't mind teaching you. It will still strengthen my force," Jack replied.

"… Then I accept. I will be your royal agent," Hatori said.

"Great!" Jack exclaimed. He accessed the monarch system and sent Hatori an invitation.

Once Hatori accepted, Jack was able to see his information.

His skill traits were dagger, sword, fist, move, dart, and sound. He could also cast spells. His spell traits were offense, summon, curse, enchant, and manipulate. His affinities were dark, earth, and wind.

He had two talents.

The first was called Sound Muffler. This talent eliminated all the sounds created by his movements and attacks. Jack understood now how Hatori's movements had been so silent. The talent indicated that his attacks also produced no sound. Intrigued, Jack asked Hatori to give a demonstration.

Hatori threw a flying knife to the side wall. The knife hit and sank into the wall. But even as the metal blade hit the hard wall, there was no sound whatsoever. An assassin could get no more silent than this. No wonder Hashi called Hatori the second-best assassin in the Assassins Guild.

Hatori's second talent was named Uncanny Speed. This talent gave him +30% to his dexterity stat and his projectile speed was also increased by 50%.

As a high-level veteran from a renowned faction, Hatori possessed many skills and a sufficient number of spells. He possessed all the elite skills of the Hidden Weapon Specialist. He also had some melee skills that Jack was familiar with. Among them were Phantom Blade, Ghost Sword, and Asura.

Most of his spells were dark-based. He also had Ghost Form and Invisibility.

Jack accessed the monarch system and checked what skills and spells he could install for Hatori's free skill slots. After some browsing, he installed Shooting Dash and Dark Ailment. Dark Ailment was a curse spell that decreased the target's speed by 20% and inflicted three random status ailments.

Jack couldn't improve Hatori's equipment via the monarch system because all of his equipment was already unique grades.

Jack finished with the monarch system after that, but he didn't close it. He gave it to John because John still wanted to make some arrangements. Jack returned what John said to him before, to not abuse the monarch system by having it operational all the time. John simply grunted for a response.

Jack went out and looked at the mobile fortress from the outside. There was a translucent curtain covering the place where the legs were. It was the same process as when he upgraded Ellie's Restaurant and Amy's Bakery. Once the upgrade was completed, this curtain would be removed. The mobile fortress was unable to move anywhere in the meantime.

The troops rested and healed for two days. John and Armstrong organized them on the third day to prepare them for departure. The mobile fortress was also resupplied. The Hydrurond couldn't help in providing supplies. They had difficulty supporting themselves due to their crumbling economy. Luckily, John had tasked a small unit to make a supply line from Themisphere. Supply carts came and they filled the mobile fortress. John had this unit continue building the supply line toward Liguritudum.

As promised, Jack trained Hatori in mana concealment. He also did exp grinding nearby Messephyria in his free time.

Aldryth focused on rebuilding her broken country. She started by rebuilding Messephyria. It would take a long time but she didn't give up. The 100,000 surviving troops she entrusted to Jack. She just left a small garrison to defend Messephyria. In their state, they couldn't defend if the enemy attacked, anyway. She thought it was better if Jack could eliminate the threat soon rather than keeping the army that gave only illusory security. She told Arthur to go with Jack. Arthur and Dytess would command the draconian army that followed Jack.

Within these three days, Aldryth also decided Guzrim's fate. She decided to not show mercy. She held a public execution inside Messephyria City Square. Almost every surviving inhabitant of the capital came to see the traitor's execution.

Guzrim himself seemed resigned to his fate. He didn't struggle or plead for his life. He did regret his cowardice, though. If he had rejected Master's offer, he would have died a hero. Because of fear, he still died, but he would be remembered by the next generations as a traitor.

The fleeing Liguritudum army finally left Hydrurond's territory on the third day just before Jack's army moved out. It seemed they had been forced to flee without any rest by the pursuing players that they could reach the border in such a record time.

When that happened, Jack received a system notification that congratulated him for winning the war in Hydrurond. He received 500,000 merit points. These merit points pushed his sovereign level to level 17, earning him 10 ruling powers.