When Carmela asked for some of his time during those three days, Isaac hadn't thought much of it. In his mind, the worst she could do was force him to face more people so he could try to convince them to volunteer for the invasion. He would hate every second of it, sure, but if it helped the war effort, then so be it. He had promised to assist her, after all—and so had the others.

The day after their big meeting, however, he realized just how wrong his assumptions were.

Instead of rallies or simple walks through the Safe Zone to recruit potential fighters, Carmela had chosen something far more… ambitious. And really, considering what had happened before, he shouldn't have been that surprised by her idea.

Open sparring.

The woman had somehow managed to secure the largest arena of the Training Fields and opened it to anyone who wanted to challenge either of them. The word spread very fast, and soon they had hundreds of people willing to face them, with thousands more planning to watch.

On its own, that might not have accomplished much. Which was why, while Isaac and Carmela fought, their friends and her allies—family, maybe—moved through the crowd, spreading word of their plans and writing down the names of volunteers for the invasion.

Every few spars, Carmela also paused to address the crowd and explain a few parts of their idea. She also warned everyone that they were primarily looking for Hosts with flying-type Legacies above level twenty. Of course, there was a place for other, stronger fighters that couldn't fly, but that was a completely different matter.

First, they needed numbers. The rest would come later.

So Isaac fought. And fought. And then fought some more. Dozens of challengers fell in a matter of hours. Sometimes, at Carmela's request, he would speak to the crowd, sharing a few words about his experiences on Reprizem. It was quite strange, having so many people hang on his every word.

To his surprise, he didn't mind it as much as he expected. The attention, the noise. It wasn't unbearable. The flood of questions afterward, though? That was another story. Thankfully, he could just nod to Carmela and start the next match while she took over the talking.

It was a good system they had. It lasted the entire first day—or rather, the few hours they had spent in the arena.

As for the second and third day?

In Isaac's honest, definitely unbiased opinion, things got a bit out of control.

Where the crowd had been huge already on the first day, it was nothing compared to what they had to deal with afterward. From above, the Training Fields looked like an ocean of people, stretching out so far that Isaac could barely see where it ended. The skies were also crowded with transformed Hosts.

Even Carmela, usually the picture of poise and confidence, could only stare wide-eyed when she arrived in the arena on the second day. Then, she told him to call everybody he knew and ask for help. They obviously didn't have enough people to deal with a crowd this huge.

Apparently, it wasn't only Isaac who had underestimated the weight their names carried after the invasions.

More fighting and talking, but mostly fighting. That was how he spent almost the entirety of the next forty-eight hours. He took a few breaks to eat and rest, but those passed so quickly that he could barely remember them.

So yeah, out of control summed up those two days pretty well.

Of course, Isaac wasn't the only one who barely got a break. Carmela and Harry had been with him in the arena almost the whole time, facing endless waves of challengers. His friends and the growing number of allies weren't that much better off. They had to navigate the endless crowds and jot down the names of anyone who decided to join their insane plan.

Now, despite the dozens upon dozens of pages filled with names, some could still argue that all this wasn't worth it. After all, even if half of these volunteers turned out to be what they were looking for, they had spent three days gathering them. Three days they could have used to grow stronger instead.

It was a fair point. One that Isaac would have agreed with before this whole thing started. After the first day, however? Not so much.

Levels, they offered a straight-up power boost and worked as a quite decent indicator of one's strength. That said, experience and the tier of one's skills were just as, if not more important.

So sure, he hadn't killed a single monster during those three days, but the sheer number of fights he had gone through more than made up for it. So many different Origins, weapons, and Legacies. If that didn't count as experience, he didn't know what did.

He had to hold back most of the time, yes, but that turned into an opportunity. An opportunity to practice his abilities. He could limit himself to a single skill for one fight, while using only melee in the next. Then, switch around again, and again.

Before long, the Interface had started rewarding him for his efforts, raising the tier of some of his abilities. By the time the third day ended, he had quite the surprise waiting for him.

Final one…

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Isaac exhaled, and with a flicker of Viron, Burst activated. The teenage girl charging at him didn't even have time to widen her eyes before he appeared beside her, fist slamming into her gut. She collapsed to her knees, gasping for air as her daggers clattered to the ground.

"Dead," he muttered, offering her a hand.

To her credit, she took it once her coughing fit subsided. Then, after a nod and a mumbled "thanks", she turned around and returned to the crowd. A quite welcome change, considering he had to deal with a couple of sore losers before that.

"We done?" Isaac asked when he heard footsteps behind him.

Harry stopped beside him, smiling. "So it seems, my friend. Miss Lorenzo said we can leave if we wish. She will handle the rest."

Isaac looked around at that, searching for Carmela. He found her near the edge of this coliseum-like arena, speaking to some people he didn't recognize. For a brief moment, he considered walking over and asking if she needed help. A yawn stopped him.

He turned back to Harry. "Yeah, let's get going. Also, tell your people not to stick around too long."

The man nodded and transformed. In seconds, he vanished from view.

Isaac sighed and, after wishing silent good luck to Carmela, also shifted into his Legacy. Ignoring the roar of the crowd, he spread his wings and launched skyward. A few flying Hosts tried to follow, but one quick Interface command stopped that immediately.

Take me back to Silent Oasis.

Acknowledged.

Light swallowed his vision in an instant, only to fade as fast as it came. Isaac blinked, his form shifting back to human as his boots touched the rough wooden floor of the shared house inside the Oasis. A quick look around confirmed he was alone, which suited him just fine.

He dropped onto his assigned cot, letting his muscles relax. For a minute, maybe five, he just lay there, staring at the ceiling. Then his eyelids began to drop, and he shook himself awake. He still had some stuff to take care of, after all.

First, he opened the group chat James had somehow managed to create and sent a quick message explaining they were done for the day. Replies came in seconds. From the looks of it, no one besides Marie would be returning to the Oasis anytime soon.

This again was just fine with him.

Afterward, he shot a quick message to Carmela. Nothing too concrete, just that they would meet once everybody rested.

Done with that, Isaac finally allowed the Interface's notifications to flood his sight. He hadn't expected a lot—just some skills advancing like after the first day—but to his surprise, he got a bit more than that.

The following skills have advanced tiers: Crimson Death (IX->Max) Cursed Draw (IX->Max) Burst (IV->VI) Mana Surge (IV->V) Basic Filtering (IX->Max)

You have leveled up. You are now level 38. Distribution of Ascension Power had advanced the tier of the following attributes: Power (I->II), Agility (IV->V). No further changes detected.

Isaac blinked, his mouth parting slightly.

Oh…

He had completely forgotten that, aside from killing stuff, he could also earn levels through advancing his abilities. The last time that happened must have been… when he met James and Marie? Or maybe the day after?

Huh… Time sure flies.

Chuckling, he dismissed the notification and summoned the descriptions of the skills he had just maxed out. Cursed Draw, to his disappointment, required Origin Fusion to advance. Crimson Death, on the other hand, was ready to evolve. Into what, he had no idea, but he couldn't wait to find out.

Might have to start trying to use it with pure Blood Manipulation, though. Wouldn't want to lose one of my main tools again…

After a nod to himself, his gaze drifted to the final maxed skill, Basic Filtering. Unlike the others, its description hadn't changed at all. Meaning he could probably advance it, he just had to find the correct way.

Not bad for three days without killing a single monster. No more, though.

Once he got some rest and met up with his friends, he was going on a hunt. Maybe he could even convince a few others to join him. They all deserved a short break.

Not even ten hours after Isaac returned to the Silent Oasis, he was back on the Battleworld. Seated at the table with James, he nodded toward Carmela, who had just stepped into the house he shared with his friends. The woman greeted them all quickly and sat down on the last free chair.

James clapped his hands. "All right, princess," he said, glancing at Elaine. "Everyone's here. Give it to us. Are we screwed or not?"

Elaine, hovering over countless sheets spread across the kitchen counter, turned and shrugged. "Depends on your definition of screwed."

James frowned, opening his mouth to reply. Carmela, however, beat him to it.

"Meaning?"

Elaine sighed. "Your idea worked. We have exactly 8,257 names on the list. All of whom apparently meet our requirements. Then we have over twice as many people who want to join but either can't fly or are too weak."

Isaac's eyes widened, with James sharing his surprise. Only Harry seemed unmoved by the numbers, while Carmela's expression was unreadable.

"I don't see the problem then," she said at last. "This is exactly what we wanted."

Elaine groaned, dragging a hand down her face. The motion drew Isaac's attention to the dark bags under her eyes, and he immediately understood the issue.

"Girl, really?" she muttered, fixing Carmela with a tired look. "Just counting and organizing all those names took me eight hours—and that was with some help. How long do you think it will take to contact each person, assess their strength, and assign them roles for the raid?"

Carmela tried to answer, but Elaine didn't let her.

"Days, or hell, weeks!" She threw her hands up. "I thought we could handle it, but we really overestimated ourselves. A few hundred, sure. But this? This is madness!"

Her voice cracked into a short, almost hysterical laugh. Isaac exchanged a look with James before standing up and moving toward her. She didn't even seem to notice.

"Hey," he whispered, gently taking her hand. "When did you last sleep?"

Elaine's dark eyes finally turned to him, unfocused. "Sleep? I… I don't know… Been a while."

Isaac smiled faintly and guided her to one of the empty bunk beds. "Yeah, I figured. Go on. Lie down. Rest. We will take over for now, okay?"

The woman didn't even fight him. Just mumbled something he couldn't make out before collapsing onto the bed. The moment her eyes closed, she was out like a candle.

Isaac shook his head lightly and turned to face the others.

"Let's get to work, shall we?"

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