"It’s not that, it’s just... the idea I have might be so crazy and dangerous that even thinking it could be a risk," he admitted.
He didn’t know how to properly express his thoughts, but he knew one thing: if what he suspected was true—if the location of the monsters was hidden in plain sight, woven into the very fabric of the spirit world—then it was best to keep this knowledge close to his chest until he could strike with absolute certainty.
"Do as you see fit," she shrugged, choosing not to push. She had her own secrets to keep, after all. "Now that we have finished dissecting the origin of Mystic Arts and the nature of the monsters, what do you plan to do about the ones currently orchestrating the destruction of your world? The puppets still pulling the strings on this continent?"
William’s gaze drifted from Becky to the three Dark Masters. "If what they said during the interrogation is true, then it feels like the primary goal of those bastards—the internal conspirators—is to get rid of and gain absolute control over this continent. Since they have failed spectacularly at doing both, I’ll wait and see what their next move is. I want to see which rat scurries out of the hole first."
"You won’t go after them? You won’t cause them any imdiate trouble?" She raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised by his passive stance. "I honestly thought you wouldn’t stop until you had crossed the sea and aid your sword at the heart of the second continent!"
"That would be a very, very foolish move," William sighed, his mind reeling through the staggering logistics of the current war. "Let explain it to you this way: before this conflict expanded, my original plan was to control up to four kingdoms. I wanted to move slowly, building deep roots and strengthening my grasp over a manageable territory. I even designed a new regi of power—a trifecta of my guild, a political impact, and a specialised academy. But the war forced my hand. Now, I find myself in a position where I must control and stabilise over fifteen kingdoms simultaneously. And you expect to move to take more land from another continent? No way!"
"That ans you will do nothing?!" Becky looked at him in doubt, her spirit sensing the restless energy beneath his calm exterior.
William simply shrugged, a gesture of weary pragmatism. "What else can I do? If taking down this continent and destroying my guild has beco their top priority, then my best response is to prove them wrong. I will consolidate this continent, stabilise the fifteen kingdoms, and grow my guild into sothing so massive it cannot be toppled."
"And what if they lose patience?" Becky asked, her voice dropping. "What if they decide to launch the grand apocalypse right now?"
"They won’t," William said, shaking his head with absolute conviction. "Sothing tells that whatever ritual or thod they use to trigger the end of a world, it is a singular event. They can only trigger the grand apocalypse once every harvest cycle. Or else, why wouldn’t they have launched it already? Why would they bother paying the extravagant price to hire Upper Realm forces like the Black Serpents to wear us down first? If they could end the world with a snap of their fingers, they wouldn’t be haggling for rcenaries."
Becky acknowledged the logic of his words, yet she couldn’t shake the prickling sensation at the base of her neck. Her spirit sense, honed by years of surviving the shadows, was warning her that the enemy was not yet beaten.
"You know what’s best for your guild," she said, choosing to trust him despite her misgivings. "Still, if it were , I’d have gone to the other continent and caused enough ruckus to keep them on the defensive."
"Not before we unify this continent and rebuild ourselves," William said, his gaze lingering on the mid-term future.
He didn’t just see the ruins of Lara’s city; he imagined the entire continent unified under the banner of the Fox Guild. He saw a future with billions of people and tens of millions of masters serving as his recruitnt pool. He was building an engine of war, and once it was fully fueled, the second continent wouldn’t even know what hit them.
"We will beco too big to fail," William whispered, more to himself than to Becky.
William looked out over the wreckage of the city, his mind a whirlwind of administrative and tactical manoeuvres. He knew his guild’s expansion was now imminent and unavoidable.
The infrastructure was already being laid; having established factions across the kingdoms was the cornerstone upon which this expansion could be built with relative ease. However, he was under no illusions.
He knew it would take a significant amount of ti before the thousands of new masters could be fully integrated into the Fox Guild’s culture, and even longer for his new governance system to be fully implented across fifteen sovereign territories.
On top of the logistical nightmare, he was certain that many of the old regis—the deposed royals, the corrupt ministers, and the displaced nobles—would try their absolute best to arouse trouble.
They would whisper in the dark, sabotage supply lines, and attempt to incite rebellions. To prevent the continent from slipping back into chaos, he had to remain sharp and vigilant, ready to counter and kill any resistance or troublemakers before their dissent could catch fire.
Doing all of this—stabilising the hearth and ho—had beco his top priority. If he had even the slightest clue or a tangible sign regarding the imdiate intentions of the monsters, or if he found hard evidence that their plans for the grand apocalypse were already in motion, he wouldn’t hesitate.
He would move with everything he had and target them with the fury of a man who had already lost one world. But until that evidence appeared, he decided to play the wisest move possible: he would do nothing.
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