620 Barrier

After that, Alex used the teleportation array and brought Igor, Atlas, and Nelson to Igor's house. Igor told him to practice his sword continuously, and the answer would come to him at an unexpected timing.

Alex already didn't care when someone told him to keep trying and would get it when the time's right. After all, his system always told him so. From her appearance, name, and so on, she gradually revealed herself when the time came.

It didn't mean Alex would stop his training. He just put the thought deep inside his heart. 

Alex and Atlas then flew toward the Rune Stone again as this time was Atlas's turn to use his ability. However, he didn't activate it to teleport to the Undead territory. Instead, he was going to the Dwarf Territory.

The rune stone itself was in the opposite direction from where Alex came from. Luckily, it wasn't a long journey, and they arrived in Zekhram's house not long after. No one dared to stop or questioned Atlas as his face was already everywhere as the only living first-generation leader.

"Zekhram." 

"Woah!" The dwarf shuddered before turning back only to find Alex, Nelson, and Atlas. He never expected Atlas to come here with them together. 

"You can use my Soul Altar," Atlas said.

"Yes, I know." Zekhram paused for a moment and said, "But I still need to wait for the blood and a few months." 

"A few months?" Alex furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yes. The souls in your weapons are too weak. Even the rune from Atlas could easily suppress it. We need to fuse the blood first and let the soul nurture itself for a few months before fusing the gems." Zekhram answered. 

"You can use my Soul Altar for this. It can nurture the soul as well." Atlas replied, not wanting to waste a single second. 

"Even so, I still need around one or two months to nurture it. The soul power in your altar is too powerful for these weak souls that hide inside the weapons." Zekhram shook his head helplessly. 

"Well…" Atlas pondered for a moment and turned to Alex. "What do you think about it?"

"I'm fine with waiting that long. I can use the time to cultivate." Alex nodded and added inwardly, 'Besides, I am here also to cultivate originally.'

His real target was to reach 5-Star Martial Monarch before coming out of this place, but it seemed to be not possible, so Alex abandoned the idea. At the very least, Alex wanted to reach 3-Star Martial Monarch before going to the Heavenly Continent. 

He might find something useful that could boost his cultivation there anyway. So the reward was greater than the risk. Besides, he would have a lot of information in his repertoire to let him know how to deal with each influence.

Hearing Alex's response, Atlas fell into silence for a few seconds before opening his mouth again. "Alright. Since you have said it's fine, we will wait. However, I also have an offer for you." 

"Do you know you can also use my Soul Altar to increase your cultivation?" Atlas asked. 

"I can?" Astonishment flashed on his face as Alex took a step back, feeling a little suspicious.

"Yes, as you expect. I have a request in exchange for it." Atlas admitted it shamelessly. "I want to see whether we can actually cross the barrier. I know that asking you to destroy or whatsoever is a bit too much. That's why I will be the guinea pig to test whether such a thing is possible."

Alex thought for a moment before saying, "It's possible, but I need to know more about the Soul Altar first."

"Alright." Atlas understood Alex's concern. He was afraid that the Soul Altar wouldn't benefit him, so he asked. Atlas pondered for a moment to think his words and answered Alex. "Soul Altar is an Altar that we built to host Undeads' souls. For Undead, who will go to the last slumber, they usually offer their soul to this Soul Altar.

"The Soul Altar will keep all of these souls safe and store their energy. A few thousand years ago, I created this Soul Altar to protect all of us. After the gruesome war that took away more than a hundred thousand lives, the desperate me created the Soul Altar to store the energy and souls. 

"The soul used to create an unbreakable barrier while the energy used to maintain the barrier. However, we haven't had any fights for a few thousand years. And many people that died went to the Soul Altar. I used a portion of it to increase my lifespan and became known as an undying.

"I could only extend my lifespan because of the promise I made with the other two first-generation leaders because it was only me who could use that technique. I promised to watch over the three races in their stead. 

"Anyway, there is plenty of energy you can absorb from the Soul Altar. As for the souls, Zekhram could use them to nurture the consciousness in the Spiritual Weapons. How about it?" Atlas asked.

Alex stared at him with amazement. A person like Atlas would seem to get hurt when the comrades that fought with him to protect their races died. Even so, he was still determined to watch over the rest for a few thousand years. Alex considered his offer and nodded. "Alright. I will accept that deal."

Atlas smiled and nodded.

"Seeing we have nothing to do, how about testing it now?" Alex asked before he remembered another thing. "Oh, right. Can I postpone using the Soul Altar's Energy?"

"I don't have a problem testing it now. But why do you want to postpone it?" Atlas found this questionable. Looking at his 9-Star Martial Emperor cultivation, Alex would surely need the help of Soul Altar to break through, and he believed Alex could reach 1-Star Martial Monarch in a few months.

Unfortunately, he never knew about Alex's talent, so he slightly underestimated him.

"I need to do something first for a few months as well," Alex answered with a weird expression. 

"Something?" Atlas pondered for a moment, but the fact Alex didn't explain that something told him that he didn't want to say it. Atlas nodded and said, "Alright. It's your choice."

Alex nodded before turning to Zekhram and handing the weapons over. "These are the weapons."

Zekhram observed the weapons first and nodded. "Alright. I have received the weapons and will make sure you are satisfied with the result."

Alex then turned to Atlas, but the latter looked at Zekhram instead. "Zekhram. I want you to get a few people for the ship."

"Don't worry. I have gotten some, and they will start working on it tomorrow. We can't get too many people, so I only get a hundred people to help me take care of that gigantic ship. If only I have one thousand…" He let out a long sigh. "Besides, you also need to worry about yourself. You have more jobs than me."

"Indeed." Atlas nodded. "I need to solve all buildings around the area to make sure the people in this world wouldn't use it. After that, the preparation of migration and such. It will take a few years if I don't want someone to know."

"Don't worry. The ship will take longer than yours." Zekhram shrugged.

"Haha… Indeed. Work hard." Atlas laughed before nodding to Alex, telling him they could go this time.

After getting the confirmation, they flew outside the mine and headed toward the barrier. Just like how he went to the Dwarf from the barrier, it didn't take too long for him to reach the barrier.

Alex examined the barrier again and looked at Atlas. On the other hand, Atlas put his hand on the barrier and put some energy on it. Just like a normal human pushing a wall, it didn't change anything.

"This is a barrier that prevents anything other than humans from entering." Alex smiled as he showed him that he could enter without any problem.

Atlas's body shook when he saw that, convinced that it was really only for humans.

"Wait for me, I will change the array a little bit." Alex smiled before going toward the monolith that was erecting the barrier.

Nelson also stayed outside with Atlas, and he used it to talk. "I once visited Agathe World when I was on a mission. It was truly a good world to live in. The peaceful situation felt like a good place to retire… of course, I couldn't stand the environment that much."

"If I may ask, could I know his identity?" Atlas asked.

Nelson pondered for a moment and shook his head. "Unless you are a God Rank expert, you shouldn't know about it. It's for your own safety."

"…" Atlas fell into silence for a minute before sighing. "Alright."

Nelson thought for a moment and said. "No need to worry. My king will solve your problem. However, I want you to promise something."

"What is it?" Atlas suddenly recalled a certain thing and asked, "Is it related to that matter?" 

"Yeah. We have many enemies outside. Although we have been cautious this whole time, I still want to make some assurance. My king won't take a decade to reach God Stage… So, if we don't need your help, then it's alright."

*Gasped!* Atlas thought he heard it wrong but still muttered it again. "Less than ten years to enter God Stage?"

"My master is different from your standard. He has yet to reach his limit in this world, so he doesn't need to worry about the time. Only after he reaches God Stage that his speed will slow down." Nelson shrugged. "If Agathe World wants to have protection, then you may come to us… Your power is also something that tempts us as well."

"I hope that we don't have that kind of situation." Atlas shook his head helplessly.

Two hours later, Alex came back with sweat covering his forehead. "Fu. I have done my part." 

"Good job, Young Master." Nelson bowed and greeted him.

"Yes." Alex nodded before taking out a wooden token. He embedded a few symbols to the wooden token and tossed it to Atlas. "I don't have too much time for this, so I can only make some adjustment to let someone come inside by using this token. You can channel your Spiritual Energy there and enter."

Atlas nodded his head and acted accordingly. The moment he infused his Spiritual Energy to the token, the symbols glowed and created a blue spherical barrier.

The barrier covered Atlas as a whole.

"Go toward the barrier and let the sphere do its own job," Alex instructed.

Atlas didn't know a single thing about Array, so he blindly followed Alex's order. When the sphere touched the barrier, it looked like a bubble that was trying to fuse with each other. Obviously, the sphere behind him slowly closed in. Simultaneously, the barrier that became a door slowly disappeared as it would soon be replaced with the sphere wall behind Atlas. 

"Go inside!" Alex shouted when he saw the barrier opened up a hole.

Without further ado, Atlas hopped inside and entered the barrier. 

"This is the concept of it right now. If I have time, I can alter all the monoliths and let you guys enter without the token. According to this barrier's scale, there are more than fifty monoliths, so yeah, hope you can be patient."

Alex thought Atlas would be disappointed, but the latter suddenly dropped on his knees.

"That's good… That's good… With this, we can go home. Ragna, Selram, we can finally go home." Atlas stuttered as Alex heard the sobbing tone. It wasn't sad or happy, but relieved. It was like the burden that plagued him for the past few years finally lifted up.

There was no other joy that could replace it at the moment. Alex and Nelson exchanged looks and smiled, understanding how he felt right now.