Level Up Legacy

Yuvan was still the reason Arthur entered the tower. Julius was a good man, but more than that, he was Julia's only remaining family. Arthur saw how broken she was and how much she cared about him despite it.

The fundamental change in Runera, including the earlier events with Mistletoe, originated from Yuvan and this Red Tower. Arthur wanted to get to the bottom of it and understand their motives since they created the cult Strings of Fate.

As the clouds rained and filled with black lightning, Arthur wondered if he had spent too much time inside the tower. Julia was bound to wake up in a few days or when she overcame her trauma. Arthur wanted to be there. In the Holy Crown Trial, time did not move. Arthur wondered if this was the same.

"Tell me, Whisker," asked Arthur as he gazed at the clouds. "Does time inside the tower flow the same as the outside? Would a day here equal a day outside the tower?"

"Is this the first time you entered an astral dimension?" the feline seemed surprised by the question. "Different astral dimensions have different concepts of time. The stronger they are, the more time could be spent inside them relative to the outside."

"And how powerful is this Red Tower?"

"I have once met a horologist that studied time on the outside and inside," said Whisker as he recalled. "That man used his tower reward to obtain peculiar powers that aided his research."

"Tell me what I want to know, Whisker."

"The ratio would depend on your world. If yours does not even have astral realms, I expect it to be quite low. The ratio should be twenty-four to one, estimated that one day there would be an hour there."

"I spent almost a day and a half here, so it should still be a little over an hour then," sighed Arthur in relief. Then, he frowned as he remembered the trial. "There is a trial in my world where time does not flow. Is that possible?"

"Such a thing is impossible. Time does not stop, but if the difference between the two worlds is too vast, it might be lowered to a few seconds or even less."

"That makes some more sense," said Arthur with a nod. "What happened to the horologist that studied time? Is he still alive?"

"I think he has taken shelter on the third floor to conduct his research. He was an odd man who talked too much about different worlds and alternate timelines."

"Alternate timelines?" muttered Arthur with surprise. "That sounds like something I would be interested in, so I would love to meet him."

"That reminds me…" muttered Whisker with a frown as he grabbed his chin and went into deep thought. "That man asked me if I had met someone. I dismissed his question because I had never met someone with golden eyes, but…." Whisker then looked at him then shook his head. "Forget it. It might be just a coincidence."

"The man was looking for someone with golden eyes?" asked Arthur with surprise. "What made you assume that I'm not who he is looking for?"

"He described very vague but unique features: a tall man with a slightly tanned face, golden eyes, and one arm. You have both arms, so I was just mistaken."

Arthur raised his brows in surprise. Someone who has met him in Alka and sought him inside this tower could only describe that description. There was the possibility that someone looked like him, but it was very slim.

"That might be someone I know," said Arthur as he raised his left arm and clenched his hand into a fist. "I once lost this arm before regaining it. That man might be someone who met me then."

"And do you know a horologist?" asked Whisker with equal surprise. "It was a middle-aged man, so he should be older than you are. Oh, there is something else that he mentioned."

"Yes?"

"The horologist said that if I ever meet someone I suspect to be him, I should ask him whether he liked the book. If he knows the book, I should guide him to the third floor."

Arthur was confused by the question as he racked his brain for an answer. The only time that he cared about time or temporal fissures was when he was trapped inside Alka. Can this man be a part of paradise? However, there was no one that he remembered as such.

"A book?" muttered Arthur before a memory fragment appeared inside his mind. It was the first time he met Ark, the teenager who looked similar to Oriole. At that time, he met a man from Earth who came to Alka fifty years ago. "Is it a book about temporal fissures?"

"...you are indeed the man he seeks," muttered Whisker with genuine surprise, making even his ears rise alert. "I never believed in fate, but I want to see what brought you two together."

"Time did," said Arthur with a smile. "I never thought I would meet someone I know inside this tower. However, I never even obtained his name. He just offered help, but I never managed to repay him."

"According to his words, you repaid him greatly," said Whisker with a shrug. "He sounded grateful for you and your great deeds. I hated that man for blathering too much, but I regret not listening to him now."

"I will go and see him once I enter the third floor," said Arthur with a smile. "We might be able to understand better the reasons that brought us together. For now, we have some visitors."

The two looked down and found a group of men heading toward the orphanage. A middle-aged man was leading them, with scars over his face and grey sideburns that had been torched with time. Arthur recognized some of the men as the ones killed by the demon.

"You are beginning to terrify me, Whisker," said Arthur with surprise as he saw the large platoon of men. "Are you hiding some grudge against this Vesper that made you plan to overthrow him?"

"I understand the temptations of capturing a demon," said the feline, raising his hood. "If I were a warlord, I would send my men chasing the demon. Gods made sure to tempt the world to chase them."

"Too bad for them. No demon is here," said Arthur as he took out a black dagger that he had obtained from the mother of spiders that the two defeated earlier. A dagger was the most familiar weapon for him.

"Something far worse is going to greet them," said Whisker as he looked down and jumped over the railings, bringing attention to himself. The men saw him jump down, making them rush into the front yard.

Whisker landed without a sound on the ground, making dust rise. He remained in place as he watched the men enter the front yard and surround him while the middle-aged man strolled inside. His gait was confident, and every step made the crowd split for him.

"I heard a demon was last seen here, but you are no demon," said the man with a smirk. "You are nothing but a stinky cat that steals food until I catch you and turn you into a nice meal. It has been a while, Whisky."

"You are still as foul as ever, dog," said Whisker as he glanced at the small fry ganging around him. "I never expected you to become a friend of humans. Tell me the truth. Did you like them for the petting or the leftover bones they throw at you?"

"That tongue, I will rip," said the middle-aged, pointing at Whisker. "However, I am not here for a puny thief. Have you seen a demon around these parts?"

"I have, and I have also seen where she went," said Whisker before smiling. "However, I am nothing but a puny thief. I would not dare let this tongue taint your ears, Lord Fang."

"I never wanted for you to cooperate," said Fang as fur began to appear on his face, as his eyes turned a beastly color. "Lowly felines need to be flayed before they are useful."

"I'm glad that you have shown your true colors, but I don't think you can," said Whisker as an ominous aura rose from the orphanage. "You have to be careful of lightning before you can transform."

Fang grew bigger as his fangs grew, and fur covered his body, but the transformation suddenly stopped. He was suspended between his human and beast forms, being neither and looking unstable. This made him lose his calm.

"What have you done to me?" asked Fang as he stared at his hand, which had stopped morphing. "Is this another one of your tricks?"

"This is no trick of mine, Fang," said Whisker as he raised his gauntlets. "I found a friend, too. He happened to be a lot stronger than Vesper could hope to be. You can turn around and meet him."

Fang was confused as he stared with his yellowish beastly eyes before snapping his head back. At the same moment, a figure closed the doors to the front yard of the orphanage, having sneaked past the mobsters to close their exit.

"No one can get out now," said the figure holding the black dagger. His golden, red-tainted eyes terrified the crowd as they retreated. Fang could tell that something was wrong but regained composure soon after.

"You are a new challenger, right?" Fang laughed as he looked at the colorless lightning crackling around Arthur. "You think we would be intimidated by you?"

"You should be."