Level Up Legacy

News broadcasts, articles, social media posts, and even interviews covered the events in Ilios. It was one of those events that no one could suppress, even if they wanted. And as soon as the word got out, Ascent became another social trend again. Everyone had one question on their mind: what was next?

Ascent has shaken the world times and times again because of their Guild Master, Arthur Silvera. Now that it had Ilios under its wing, no one dared to treat it as an outlaw. Envoys entered the skies of Ilios and visited its commanders with pleas to avoid siding with criminals. Some even had threats from superpowers, but none of the commanders betrayed Ascent.

The reason was simple: these commanders knew that whether it was agriculture, maritime, construction, military, or any other field that a nation needed to prosper, artifacts could improve it. As long as they had artifacts and mana, these cities will each become a superpower in no time.

The other nations, whether the nine majors or minor ones, also realized this fact. As a result, Ilios prospered in a matter of days as artifacts entered the arms of all scholars or soldiers. Thus, its military powers boomed, and its researchers started making breakthroughs.

Some ground rules were placed to give advantages to those loyal to Ascent only. The first was that genuine artifacts must be assigned to specific people that the commander trusts and Ascent approves. The second of them was the prohibition of researching artifacts supplied by Ascent. As for the third, trading them was also prohibited, except for internal trade.

Some researchers and merchants expressed dissatisfaction with these rules because they limited their growth. Thus, Empress Ai issued another decree, stating that there were plans to open a runic school in Ilios to teach all kinds of runes. It was not a novelty, but it was a fact that artifacts used by Ascent were on another level.

Even though Arthur Silvera was busy in Helios, his guild overgrew. Guilds in his name rose as members flooded their ranks. Each of them was based in a different nation, making sure that no overlapping occurred.

The first to clear C-rank dungeons was Highcry, led by its Magic Gunman and his army of sharpshooters. Another was the Guild of Armored Knights, Steelshade. It was led by a knight named Alan, another deme-ranker.

Ascent registered ten guilds under its command, but only two have shown its leaders. As a result, people assumed that its leaders were hidden or that it had yet to appoint any.

Thus, the recent news prompted countless awakeners to send applications to Ascent, asking to be the next guild master. However, they all received the same reply on Ascent's website: "Masters for our newest guilds will have to be appointed by the guild master himself, Arthur Silvera. However, applications are open for the other positions."

Thus, the guilds increased with an average of a thousand members each. These members were handpicked by Ascent, as the number of applicants to each guild reached tens of thousands after the events in Ilios.

No one found this unusual, even if Ascent was a criminal guild in most nations. After all, this C-rank guild, which started a month ago or so, now had an empire under its command. This has set a precedent since all guilds answered to nations or had a contract with them, but not the other way around. The man who made this possible with his terrifying achievements was none other than its guild master, Arthur Silvera, who had not appeared since the events in Ilios.

Many news stations worldwide tried to cover up the real reason why Arthur Silvera overtook Ilios. They painted him as a villain who wanted to rule, but the truth could not be contained. Finally, the citizens of Helios stepped forward to contribute the truth, revealing the horrifying events.

Those posts and individual opinions were quickly taken down, but the number of citizens who came forward was too many to silence. Thus, many citizens learned of the events through these posts, which soon became the truth everyone accepted.

This resulted in many outcries about the situation, and many demanded that Ascent becomes a recognized guild for their heroism. However, similar to Ilios, these people quickly disappeared.

After that, there was a brief period of peace where no one attacked no one, but everyone knew that a storm was brewing. Dragonir would not sit idle as its reputation took several hits, and the rest of the titans could not allow Ascent to grow any stronger.

Although many of these titans tried to prevent Ascent from snatching dungeons, it was impossible. Most dungeons that Ascent raided were hidden even from Glory List because minimal research was done in those areas.

During this period of peace, politics came into play, and many realized that Arthur Silvera had become a powerhouse after defeating Osian. Thus, many ambassadors arrived in Helios in secret or in public. Many wanted to establish artifacts trading routes with Ilios after it became one of their producers alongside Runera.

One of those ambassadors was a group of Runera. However, their visit was not to pay their respect to the new empress but came here demand cessation of the artifact trade.

"What is the meaning of this request?" said Zonas Mantra while seated on the right hand of the imperial throne. "You think that Runera has the right to monopolize artifacts trade?"

"Every artifact sold worldwide, even in vendors, needs to be licensed by the Runes Association that answers to us. This makes it easier to regulate such powerful items and avoid letting them fall into criminals who can misuse them," said the man with wide robes and glasses. His black hair was combed back, revealing a scar over his forehead. "Ascent, or Ilios, is banned from this practice."

"Then, would you ban the creation of artifacts as well?" asked Empress Ai, who sat in the middle. Her hand gripped the golden scepter tightly as her eyes squinted at the ambassador. "This is no more than greed having a mouth."

"Please do not insult or security measures," said the man with a bow. "We did not come here to cause conflicts but to avoid them."

"Then how about you address our empress with respect before you lose your head?" said Rain, seated on the left with her elbow supporting her chin. "You have three seconds."

"…" the man did not speak.

pAnD a(-)n0ve1.com "One."

"…"

"Two."

"…"

"Three. Kill him," said Rain while waving her hand. Shadows jumped from behind the man and raised their blades to his throat. The group was thrown in disarray as the guards pulled their weapons.

"Imperial Majesty!" hurried a middle-aged man to interfere, addressing her properly. The shadows stopped moving as Ai raised her free hand while staring at the gentleman. "Please give him another chance, Imperial Majesty."

After he said that, the middle-aged man turned toward the disrespectful ambassador. The man had a blade to his neck, so he was less calm than earlier. He had assumed that Ai would not hurt an ambassador.

"Is this how you treat your guests?" said the man as he gulped down, and the blade pressed deeper into his neck. The guards were about to interfere, but the middle-aged man stopped them.

"Anyone who disrespects our ruler is no guest," said Zonas Mantra with an icy expression. "If you think Helios can be stepped upon, then life will serve as a good example for the rest."

"…forgive my disrespect, Imperial Majesty," said the youngster. The shadows dissolved into the ground, making him able to breathe again. He rubbed his neck as if checking that it was still there.

"May I know your name, fine gentleman?" Ai asked the middle-aged man and choosing to ignore the other. Then, meeting her question, the man straightened his back before bowing.

"My humble name is Julius Vinera."

"Julius Vinera…" muttered Ai with a bit of recognition before realizing his identity. It was Julia's father and head of the Vinera Family of Runera. "I must ask, why a man of your statue is not the ambassador?"

"… the current ruler of Runera did not choose me," said Julius with confusion. "He might be young, but Marcel Solis, son of the Solis Family Head, is capable."

"I thought that Runera had no ruler," said Ai with visible confusion as she turned toward Rain, who had taught her about the different powers of the world.

"This is a recent change," said Julius as he adjusted his robes, allowing his round belly to rest above his trousers. "In any case, we come in peace. However, we are afraid that illegal trading of your artifacts will occur even with the current laws."

"Those have also been our concern, but Ilios is already filled with underworld organizations. We chose to supply our military with proper artifacts, giving them some authority over their land."

"Underworld organizations…" muttered Julius with a frown. It was not a hidden fact that Ilios was infested with them after the previous emperor. Helios was the only one capable of eradicating them, but even then, one of the gang leaders managed to escape.

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