Chapter 30: Chapter 33 – Tanker Ju Long

The extreme training ended after a full year. On planet Ryko, there were sixty weeks in a year with five weeks in a month, and now, Theseus entered his sixth year in Hell.

After a year of training personally with Theseus, Gemini was reborn. From the S Rank Mortal Realm, he rose to the S Rank Sage Realm. This transformation was unprecedented. Disappointingly enough, Leo and Theseus were still at their previous realms. Leo was repairing his flawed foundation but made significant progress. Theseus on the other hand, grew secretly even though his aura realm was unchanged.

Through his unrelenting training, his vessel grew up to the same level as his soul, and his skill repertoire was now unfathomable. Through this training, he even got another trump card slot, which he used for Passive Insight. Therefore, both his mind and combat ability were leaps and bounds stronger than before. His combat sense, sparring with Leo almost daily, grew both of their fighting experience dramatically.

Gemini was the real winner of their training, however. Under Theseus and Leo’s watch, Gemini was personally trained by an expert of the Authority Path. Even those in real life would be jealous of his personal and tailored training. Theseus battered Gemini personally in a personal spar a few times a week. Leo flinched at the beatings at times. Regardless of its brutality, the training itself was the equivalent of studying as an apprentice under a Headmaster of one of the Four Academies back in the real world.

“Alright, it’s time for your final exam. Defeat Leo.” Theseus grinned. Gemini’s face darkened.

“Do I even stand a chance?” Gemini asked, suspiciously.

“Leo’s foundations are weak, but I’ve been uprooting his concept of aura and combat all year. He may have a better combat sense than you naturally, but your foundation is more stable. The winner could go either way.” Theseus deduced. He didn’t tell Leo this though; it might hurt his feelings. Meanwhile, Leo prepared for the fight gleefully.

“Remember this all your life: how you laid down your aura foundations defines your power. You methodically increased your knowledge, then your spirit aura, and finally your vessel. Your mind, heart, and soul all work as one. With your methodical foundations, you have the potential to grow stronger than even me.” Theseus lectured.

“How is that possible Lord Theseus?” Gemini exclaimed.

“It’s Elder Theseus now, kid. Also, remember to look with not just your mind but also your eyes. You’re now the same realm as Leo and one beneath me. It’s not implausible for you to win with powerful foundations. In the battle with Lord Achilles, I was still a sub-rank below him.” Theseus suggested and shrugged.

“Theseus, I know ability is more than realm and skills. Experience, foundation, and personal path choice, along with their matchups, all play significant roles in true power in combat!” Gemini declared.

“Exactly. You knowing this makes you a greater threat than Aries, Capricorn, Virgo, and Jezebel put together.” Theseus backed away, and Leo readied his stance.

Gemini didn’t have a chance to wonder what Theseus meant before Leo attacked.

“Skill: Whirling Claws!”

Leo went all out.

“Skill: Gemini Twins.” Gemini calmly chanted. This was his evolved version of the skill, Ghostly Projection. In coordination with Theseus, Gemini developed his own skill that facilitated his crazy ascension up an entire realm.

An identical projection of Gemini appeared next to himself. This twin was apart of him, was him. When one twin died, the other was now the main body, and the dead twin dissipated. It was an ultimate skill in self-confidence. If Gemini wasn’t confident he was the real Gemini, the skill would cause him to die or go crazy. They were all Gemini in the end.

Even Theseus wasn’t comfortable using the Gemini Twin skill often, however. He knew how to use the skill well because of his Founder skill as well as being involved in the creation process, but even then, this was not a skill meant to be used by Theseus. Believing true Authority Skills should represent the person they belonged to, Theseus felt it almost sacrilegious to use a personal, beautifully crafted skill like Gemini Twins.

Theseus did in fact use the skill once or twice, but it was not a comfortable experience for him. Gemini on the other hand, felt the most himself when he used Gemini Twins. The two twins were one, yet separate. It was like having a brother!

“Skill: Gemini Twins.” Both of the twins muttered. The two twins became four identical Geminis. With his current foundation, he could create four persons able to use multiple trump cards at once before running out. Theoretically, this meant Theseus could produce about five or six twins of his own in his current state.

Theseus watched proudly. Gemini’s foundation was four times as powerful as it should be for normal people at his realm. Even though Theseus was eight times stronger than others at his realm, he couldn’t expect that from his apprentice. Already his strongest Captain, Gemini could match Lord Darkin one day if he followed this methodical path to the top.

Surrounded by four Gemini’s, Leo was unable to defeat them all. In the end, Leo took out two Geminis before the other two twins used their final trump skill.

“Skill: Twin Sacrifice!” The twins said. One of the twins dissipated, becoming aura material. A violent torrent of wind magic exploded from the sacrificed twin, acting like a bomb of wind. Shredded by the air pressure, Leo was defeated.

“He did it.” Leo thought to Theseus, on the ground, unable to move. Although he lost, Leo was happy for Gemini.

***

In a dark room, an old woman sat with two other women, spinning cloth.

“Hmm, soon he will face my chosen one.”

“It appears so.”

“Let’s send him a welcoming present, shall we?”

“Cut the yarn, Atropos.”

“Yes, I will send the spirit, Ju Long.”

***

“Where… Where am I?”

“What is this?” A man questioned. He was underwater, yet he could breathe.

“Why am I here?” He sat up. It was as if the entire world was underwater. Trees of coral and seaweed shrubbery surrounded him.

“How is this possible?” He said outload. At the bottom of an ocean, he awoke with the eerie hum of nature around him. Three gigantic mountain peaks could be seen in the distance, but besides that, he was in a forest, alone.

“How long have I been here?” He wondered. The eternal night at the bottom of the ocean gave him the chills, and he felt as if he was being watched.

The man took a look around, sitting up. His body was transparent, but he was alive. He heard his heartbeat, he could smell the forest, hear the animal noises in the distance, and see despite the darkness.

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“Where is my party?” He panicked.

Ju Long looked around him. One moment, he was in Heaven, but now he was somewhere else.

“Am I… dead?” He asked himself. His sudden scenery change didn’t fit the floors of Heaven. The clothes on his body were the same as when he was climbing Heaven, but his equipment and party were nowhere to be seen.

His transparent appearance was not a good sign. Was purgatory like an ocean? Or was this Hell?

Not much was known about the other two Great Dungeons, Purgatory and Hell, besides the talk of legend. Purgatory had never opened, but its appearance was mazelike and spanned the length of an entire continent.

The man hyperventilated. His vision became blurry, and he panicked.

“Wait, what’s my name?”

“Why was I climbing Heaven?”

“Who are my party mates?”

“How old even am I? What’s happening?” He stumbled onto the ground in shock and dismay.

“Come on remember!” He tried to stand up but was not in his right mind and couldn’t.

Suddenly, it all came back to him, and his eyes widened and then closed in sadness.

***

“Elder Aries, we found a man as we patrolled the outskirts of the forest. He claims to have known Theseus when he was alive.”

“Bring him here!” Aries demanded.

Ju Long, the now F Rank Mortal, passed out from the shock of being in the afterlife, just as Theseus had about six years ago. Unlike when Theseus awoke, the Oceanus Territory was different. With the expansion into the forest, they started cutting down the forest and expanded into the wilderness with the Adventurer’s Guild spearheading the plan for resources and farmland.

Ju Long was found by the adventurers and was told he died and been sent to Hell. First depressed, he quietly learned the recent history of the Oceanic Realm. To his utter shock, a man named Theseus arrived here and left a legend of bravery and power. Ju Long listened to the legend as told by the adventurers closely.

Theseus, a lonely tamer, lived in the Phaunus Forest alone before meeting the infamous Captain Aries of the legendary Suzerain Lords.

After meeting the ruthless Captain, Theseus travelled the Virgo Territory in search of a home but couldn’t find one, so he decided to make his own.

After saving a caravan from the Scourge Bandits, Theseus joined their village and slaughtered the bandits in one day after giving them a chance to leave him alone.

Lord Virgo then sent Aries to subjugate Oceanus Village, but Aries ended up joining Oceanus!

Once Lord Virgo confronted Aries, he and Theseus captured and imprisoned him for two years to atone for his sins.

When the other Suzerain Lords found out, Lord Jezebel plotted against the new Suzerain Lord, Theseus. To everyone’s surprise, she too aligned herself with Oceanus after meeting him.

Lord Achilles and Lord Capricorn saw the opportunity and attacked Oceanus as the negotiations between Lord Theseus and Lord Jezebel continued!

Yet, Lord Theseus defeated Lord Capricorn and her army, alone, and then dueled Lord Achilles to the death.

When Lord Achilles died, Lord Theseus declared the end of the Suzerain Treaty. He called his Suzerain Lord allies, Elders, and ushered in an era of peace and prosperity for Oceanus. The reason Ju Long wasn’t maimed by wandering beasts was because the forest was being subjugated by adventurers.

Ju Long was shocked. Surely, this wasn’t the Theseus he knew.

Wanting to know more, he told soldiers and highly ranked officials that he was new spirit who knew Theseus while he lived. Learning more about the legend, he learned Theseus died saving his comrades in Heaven. Ju Long came to believe that his Theseus and this one was miraculously the same! Under a Soul Contract, he was found to be telling the truth and brought to Elder Aries.

“Elder Theseus is in seclusion at the moment. How exactly do you know him?” Aries asked the nervous Ju Long. In Hell, he was exceptionally weak. From the A Rank Sage Realm, he had dropped all the way down to zero aura, and the Shade in front of him was seemingly at the F Rank King level. How did Theseus become this strong? He had to meet Theseus himself to be sure it was the same person.

“Theseus was in my party as we climbed Heaven. At a critical moment, I died on the Fourth Floor to save my party. From what I’ve learned, I think your Theseus may be the one I know.” Ju Long explained.

Aries knew a little about Theseus’s past and contemplated. There were very few who knew of Theseus’s past life. Looking closely at the middle-aged ghost, he resembled one of the party members from the self-soul hypnosis that he had once slaughtered. For this reason, Aries was inclined to believe Ju Long and started writing something down.

“Travel to Oceanus City and give Elder Gerald this scroll. It is message explaining the situation. When Theseus returns with the newly trained Head Captain, you can meet him to find out the truth.”

***

Theseus entered Oceanus City with his two companions months later. A few recognized them and said hi, and they eventually made their way towards the mayor’s building where Gerald worked. It was close to the time when the war between Scorpius and Taurus would begin, and they needed to make their final preparations.

Entering the office, Gerald waited with the Captains, officials, and a middle-aged man who waited in a chair in the corner.

Theseus entered the room confidently, but something wasn’t right. Someone in the corner of the room seemed familiar.

“Is that really you, Ju Long?” asked Theseus with tears in his eyes.

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