98 8th Layer

There was muffled silence and stillness, Hartley's quiet breaths were akin to thunder in these tranquil settings, in an open grass plane surrounded by large thick trees, Hartley with his hair now golden-blonde in color sat cross legged.

Ever since gaining control of his inner world on Kang's estate, he was able to enter it as himself and not a mini blue version of himself, the only difference between this Harley and the Hartley in the real world was his hair color.

From a bird's eye view, one could see jungles, mountains and rivers stretching for more than 3000 kilometers, this world, wild untamed, untouched and untainted by any other living being, had a bright blue star floating above it like a constant eye watching over everything.

The bright blue glow radiated by the star, covered every inch of the land and reflected in Hartley's piercing blue eyes which were unfocused in concentration. There was a deep rumbling from the ground beneath his feet, then came a whitish-blue glow around his body, its light sparkling and glittering making him look phantom-like in the blue-tinted world .

In the real world Hartley's body seem to be covered in ice-blue mist, it swirled and writhed around him as his hair danced up and down in the windless room. Hartley was within a room of the run-down manor, half of the manor had been knocked down and was in the process of being rebuilt, while the other shabby half was whereHartley, Zhi Ruo and Qin Li lived with some of the serving staff.

The floor rumbled and the ceiling creaked, murmurs of panic and concern slowly spread through the manor but before matters could get out of hand, a calm returned to the room and the ice-blue mist dived back into Hartley's body. He sat there unperturbed as peace and serenity returned to the manor, making those who were about to panic question if they had been hearing things in the night..

Back in his inner world Hartley stood with a sparkling radiance surrounding him, he had finally stepped into the 8th layer of the xanthian realm, his physique had also been upgraded to the 5th layer of the xanthian realm.

He could now be considered a genuine power-house in Aidonia and had transitioned from the 7th layer to the 8th layer in months, this was a feat only attained by others through decades of hard work and a commitment to long periods of closed door cultivation, it was no coincidence that those at the higher echelons of the xanthian realm on the Aldora continent were all elders sporting a head of white hair.

Looking around at his inner world which felt more and more apart of his body, Hartley willed it to behave in the parameters of the outside world, this would serve him like a simulated training ground.

He took a deep breath, raised his right hand and ice-blue lights swirled around it, it then stretched out like a light-saber taking the form of a sparkling straight bladed sword about 90 cm long, it looked no different from a blade produced on the anvil of a blacksmith.

Hartley had been thinking about this since battling the young man from Sasko at the banquet, the man had used his flames to form a rough sword, it was a crude implementation but it gave Hartley an idea.

Hartley then raised his left hand , ice-blue lights swirled once more then extended out to take the for form of a curved short blade about 40cm in length, once again this looked like a perfect blade and not an unstable interpretation of a blade, the blue blades made by his blue star essence looked like solid extension his hands.

One of Hartley's biggest advantage was the fact that he had infinite elemental powers, meaning the two swords could be used like normal swords with no fear of running out of power, he practiced a few slashes which produced whirring sounds then smiled.

After an hour Hartley discovered that he could still change the characteristics of his elemental swords with gravity, by applying negative gravity he could make the blade as swift as the wind or by applying more gravity he could make the strike as heavy as a mountain falling from the sky, and the best part was that these elemental blades were strong enough to strike with 100x gravity applied without shattering to shards like a normal sword.

Hartley struck out at a giant tree, with 100x gravity applied to the blade it shattered to dust with a boom, Hartley then willed the tree to reform and the wooden dust acted as if someone had pressed the rewind button on a dvd player and returned to its original form as if nothing had happened,

he stopped then the blue blades disappeared with a flash.

After further experiments he discovered his time domain, monochrome, could last 30 seconds and spread to cover 150 meters, his gravity field could extend 3 kilometers and could exert 125x normal gravity....

The days came and went and soon the makings of a majestic castle-like manor began taking shape, Hartley had not cut corners on the cost and had invested over 50,000 gold coins, the manor was filled with an army of builders, busily moving back and forth, pounding, cutting and laying stones 10 hours a day.

The residential area for the miners and their families was also beginning to take shape, some of the one story units were almost finished, there were smiles on people's faces as kids in tattered clothes ran around playing while being scolded by their mothers not to disturb the builders, this was something unimaginable weeks ago.

The gloom of the region had lifted and people were in high spirits, these commoners who served noble houses, sometimes have it worse than those in the Shanty towns erected outside the capital, they were usually at the mercy of the nobles and given the bare minimum to survive in order to boost the profits of the house, these people were seen as property of the noble houses that they served and at times treated worse than cattle.

Hartley dressed in a black silk robe was walking hand in hand touring the premises with Zhi Ruo who was dressed in a long slim fitting green dress, Qin LI as usual was locked away in cultivation, this was the real beginning of their journey and Qin Li was determined to play a significant role.

As they walked through the crowded walkways, the workmen and rag-clad commonersstepped aside for them, greeting them with a slight bow as they went by, armored soldiers were patrolling the forested area to the east, Hartley was intending to have a look at what those bandits were up to, but not yet.

Touring the manor like royals Zhi Ruo smiled brightly at the people and would occasionally wave at some people Queen Elizabeth-style. Soon the white haired foreman came hobbling over,

"my lord" he said as he ambled forward

The chilly winds blew and ruffled his dirt stained robe, this time his eyes were bright with emotions

he dropped down on a single knee in a knight's salute, Crick! His back made an audible sound.

His shoulders protesting in pain, age had crept up on him like an assassin in the shadows.

Hartley stepped forward and hauled him up "there's no need for that, what's the matter?" the man glanced at the smiling Zhi Ruo, adjusted his dirty robe in a dignified manner before speaking nervously.

" The last time I didn't introduce myself properly, I hope I haven't offended the young lord" Hartley waved his hand dismissing the thought, the man then continued with nervous mannerisms, "I"m Wong Lan, sir, the cold months are almost upon us and if you increase the working hours too much some of the men might not survive, we can work one extra hour per day anything more would be dangerous."

The man had thought that since Hartley was investing and rebuilding the manor and even the residential area for the miners, he was definitely going to increase the working hours driving some of the men to their deaths.

"Don't worry about that, just operate as normal" Hartley smiled at the nervous elder, the man was startled, "thank you my lord" he said and was going to give a knight's salute again, this time Hartley stopped him before he could start.

"How long have you been here," Hartley asked "more than 30 years came the reply"

"Do you know about the bandits in the east forest?" the man paused, sighed, then answered, "sir they are commoners who have run away from their duties with the nobles, no one will hire them so they resorted to banditry." Hartley mused... "Are they strong?" he asked "sir they soldiers used to say they are troublesome, whether that means they are strong or not I don't know."

"Thanks, come to the manor tomorrow and see Yang Yi, he will be dealing with the budget to get warm clothing for the winter." Before they man could convey his gratitude the handsome youth and the beautiful girl turned and left...