Everyone began their training even more seriously. There wasn't a single complaint anymore as the girls couldn't help but imagine what kind of training Kai had to endure.
In the end, one of them often called Kai to check his condition and asked him about his training.
They soon found out Kai had indeed run from Emulda Kalan to India while fighting monsters and improving his skills.
After that, they realized Kai had been swimming in the longest river near them. He kept fighting and improving his magic.
It didn't stop there. Kai's training became even more extreme as he progressed like climbing the cliff without his magic, flying in the sky and fighting all types of birds, and many others.
When the girls saw what happened to him, they just didn't feel like losing and began practicing like crazy.
Even Leah practiced together with them. Of course, she had endured more despite her age, so her training was far worse than what the girls experienced. Although it was never reflected on her body, the girls were speechless when they saw Leah training her body.
Leah was supposed to have Space Magic and her strength couldn't be compared to Devain. However, seeing her doing something ten times harder than them, the girls felt they needed to catch up.
Leah also had become the golden child in Carter Family because she still had time to do many things with Kai's parents despite helping all the girls with their training.
They soon realized Leah only slept one or two hours every day to refresh her mind while spending the rest doing all that stuff.
If not because of her extremely strong body, she would have collapsed. However, this kind of schedule continued for another six months.
Although they were not ready yet, Leah believed that the girls should be able to handle the other side's top ten fighters.
Obviously, Michelle and the others also had realized their progress. They could gather more magic and made their way to SS Rank if not SSS Rank Magician while Kai practiced reaching World Rank Magician, the last rank of Magician.
While they were training, Devain was still gathering information about the government. He simply couldn't believe that the US Base didn't have any spies. After all, both the EU Base and United Asia had their own spies.
There was no way they didn't send one to the US Base because it couldn't match up with their information.
He once thought about them removing their spies, but Devain still searched for this spy just in case.
Unfortunately, he never found a single lead about this spy. Despite his failure, Devain kept monitoring the government until everything was ready.
As for one of the most important people in the next fight, Ria had her own life training and researching in her house.
She seemed to have found something interesting and when Kai asked her, it turned out Ria and Felice had been contacting each other. Felice's suggestion about his Ultrasonic Assassin actually came from the idea they put together.
Kai could see what happened when two geniuses were put together. With enough time, Felice might be able to replace her as the world's greatest scientist… Or that was what Ria said.
Kai didn't really care about it since he shouldn't face another problem like this at that time, since the war to decide humanity's fate was right on the corner.
…
Six months later.
Finally, the time had come for Kai to receive his Crown Jewel.
He started by taking a shower in his room while Arba and Aston prepared the ritual.
They had put his clothes on his bed, which turned out to be white long but thin clothes. It looked like a bathrobe, but when he put it on, something jolted his mind.
"!!!" Kai opened his mouth in surprise as he checked that feeling, realizing it was coming from the clothes. There were several patterns on the clothes that seemed to be electrocuting him with power only enough to numb his senses a little bit.
At the same time, he felt the cool breeze that lowered his body temperature.
Kai wasn't that knowledgeable about this robe, so he simply wore it, following what Arba and Aston had for him.
To be honest, Kai once wondered whether Aston, Arba, and everyone from Emulda Kalan told him the truth… They could just act like this for a while until he received the Crown Jewel before controlling Kai.
He felt a bit terrible to doubt them, but that thought was normal, especially since Emulda Kalan had no record in the world's history.
That was why Kai had been talking to other Protectors and becoming their friends like the Mappuangari and the pink dolphin from Amazon or Ishii from Oni Village.
If something happened to him, the pink dolphin should be the first to find out what happened. After all, it had mind ability which overpowered Aston's mind magic.
After making that kind of preparation, he chose to become stronger, assuming everything was going to be alright.
Wearing this robe, Kai came out of the room with a serious expression, finding Aston and Arba kneeling on one knee.
"My King. Everything is ready."
Kai nodded and said, "Lead the way."
"Certainly." The two rose from the floor, turned back, and started walking forward.
Meanwhile, Arba explained the robe, which surely shocked Kai. "My King… You need a few months to complete this process and it will be extremely painful. That's why we have a robe that can cool down your body all the time while numbing your senses to lower the pain.
"But if you wish to change to another suit, we will prepare it for you." Arba checked Kai's expression before getting a nod from Kai.
"It's fine. Thank you for your thoughtfulness." Kai nodded with a smile.
She clasped her hand and remained silent for the rest of the trip.
They soon returned to the room where he first saw the jewel.
It was a huge room with several light bulbs hanging on the ceiling. In the middle of the room, right after the staircases, laid down a small stone pillar.
He remembered there was a red carpet leading to the pillar, but he didn't find any today. Instead, he found a full scale of the Magic Circle.
There were two small circles in the magic circle, which seemed to be for him, considering the other was for the Altar.
Before coming in, Kai took a moment to see the floating green-colored jewel. The jewel itself seemed to radiate nothing, but Kai subconsciously raised his hand as if there was a connection between them.
'I see.' Kai smiled and started walking to the magic circle.
Arba couldn't help but call him. "My king."
Kai stopped and glanced at her.
"The entire process will be extremely painful, but you need to be awake for the entire ritual. At the same time, I will be helping you with food and other things, so you can focus on getting the power from the jewel." Arba scratched the back of her head while stuttering, "Actually… I only want to say this…"
She clasped her hands and smiled. "May fortune bless you with its presence."
Kai closed his eyes for a moment as his lips curved. He turned around and walked to the pillar while saying, "Yeah. I will leave everything to you, Arba."