Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer

The three Ancient Blueprints were of the 'instant-build' types where so long as the materials necessary for them are prepared, the building will instantly be completed.

Suffice to say, the Trial By Fire Training Yard, the Rejuvenation Hot Springs, and the Room of Reflection are all built-in blink of an eye thanks to this. These facilities are the first ones among the many that will be built in the Grotto Heaven to prepare for the future.

And since the Ancient Blueprints were given by the System, of course, they are made to have everything flow together in an inclusive cycle, this is why the VR Helmets used to access the Simulation Zone could be connected to these places and their effects could stack.

Right now, Alice, Blake, and Mary were lying down on a bed wearing the VR Helmets. West Two was there supervising their state as per the instructions of Ashton.

West Two knows that these three were skeptical about all of this, and frankly he couldn't blame them. After all, technology that is this advance doesn't exist before. Ashton was someone who just came back from a 5 year long trip from the Outside World, how the hell was they supposed to believe that he could have such technology that not even the inventors of Last Bastion have access to?

Still, though, it wouldn't hurt to try. Ashton had already exceeded their expectations by allowing them to commune with the Dragon Vein, although they still haven't recovered from that, something tells them that they should get used to ridiculous things coming from Ashton.

And this Simulation Zone is certainly nothing different.

They were still shocked by how life-like everything was in there. As they were experiencing it for the first time the doubt was starting to disappear from their hearts.

At first, they arrived at an empty white space that was seemingly boundless. Here, West Two's voice sounded around them.

"Welcome to the Simulation Zone, I guess." He said, "Before you start fighting Demons in a life-like manner, first I think you all should get used to the environment of the Outside World."

"I'll pull up the environment template for the Edge of Madness, the zone that's just right outside of the Last Bastion. Take some time to adjust to that first."

After saying that, the world around them disappeared. Note, they weren't together. They are all in separate yet extremely similar virtual worlds.

There is a safe zone for them, it's a 50-meter-wide clearing where corruption doesn't appear, they could stay here for now.

For the rest though, it changed.

Dark clouds loomed above, painting a very depressing sight. Putrid stench wafted to their nose, causing them to feel nauseous. The ground was stained with black and golden streaks which appeared to be clashing against each other.

An overwhelming sense of discomfort rose to their chests. They could all tell that they weren't supposed to be here yet here they were. It felt stifling and it made them want to back out instinctually.

Only Blake was hardly affected by this sensation. If anything, he just felt surprised due to how on-point this simulation is. It has been a while since he was surrounded by the corruption of the Invaders. It certainly wasn't his first time out here, technically.

Alice and Mary, however, were different, even Alice as a reincarnator, haven't stepped foot on the Outside World before. She had fought demons before and is no stranger to corruption but being out there? That hasn't happened before...

Mary on the other hand froze. She didn't know what to do. Her back was against the wall. She couldn't advance nor retreat, the safe zone had a respectable size but Mary felt that it was too small.

Every fiber on her body wants her to stay as far away as possible from this place. The farther she is, the better. Unfortunately, she can't.

"...this is so pathetic, this is just the surroundings yet I'm already freaking out! What happens if I face a demon then?"

Mary took a deep breath...something she regretted right away since he had kind of forgotten the horrible stench of her surroundings. Nevertheless, she forcibly calmed herself down.

She psyched herself up. Telling herself that it is fine, she's fine. There's no need to rush. She should thank West Two for looking out for them, had he decided to throw in a demon right away, she probably wouldn't even be able to condense an arrow to defend herself.

"Go at your own pace, tell me where you're ready to test your mettle against a real demon." West Two's voice sounded in their ears once more.

Hearing that, Mary was comforted. Still, she felt some pressure.

Since West Two was Ashton's doppelganger, his words were practically Ashton's words as well. She knew that he was trying to make them stronger by doing this, and while 2 and a half months was long, it was probably not long enough to get them used to everything.

Still, it's the thought that counts, and that's why Mary felt like it is her responsibility to achieve a positive result.

Blake and Alice felt the same. All of them knew what Ashton was expecting from them by doing this and honestly, they didn't mind.

As many said before: There is no free lunch in this world.

If they want to achieve something, then they have to do something about it first.

Ashton left West Two to supervise his friends while he started to get busy.

He received the following from the System after allowing his friends to commune with the Dragon Vein: Four Extremities Array Disk, Hymn of Enlightenment, Ex-Rank Specialization Soul Card, ×500 Spell Points, and Skill Points, 3 ARC Cores.

×1000 Benefactor's Return was probably the highest hit that has been triggered so far. And as expected, the rewards were extremely generous. Those the 3 ARC Cores alone were enough to make that all worth it, but there's more!

[Four Extremities Array]

Type: City-Sized, Protection Array

Effects:

Extreme North: Release a Frost Law Mist which will freeze everyone who was trapped inside.

Extreme South: Release an Elusive Yin Mist which will befuddle and confuse everyone trapped within, making them travel in circles.

Extreme West: Release a Withering Beam which will rapidly decay and age everything touched by it.

Extreme East: Release a Conflagration Zone that burns everything trapped inside the formation.

[Hymn of Enlightenment]

Type: Auxiliary Tool

Effects:

Increases everyone's perception within a 100-meter radius. Lasts for 4 hours.

Cooldown: 24 hours.

[Aether Sage Soul Card (Ex-Rank)]

Type: Specialization Soul Card

Effect:

Authority over Aether Energy

Aether Comprehension doubled.

Aether Spell/Skill might doubled.

Requirements: Lv.1 Sorcerer Rank

These generous rewards are truly mouth-watering. Every single one was useful to him!

Although unfortunately, the Four Extremities Array wasn't big enough to cover Fantasia, it was fine since he could always use it as a basis. For now, it would be a fitting array to use for his future place.

The Hymn of Enlightenment came in a form of a record player. He can use it for four hours straight to boost everyone's comprehension. It's a perfect tool for raising geniuses which was something he'll definitely find himself doing soon.

And finally, that Specialization Soul Card basically solved one of his main concerns. With the Aether Sage Soul Card and the Divine Gunslinger Soul Card, he doesn't have to worry about his future path.

To top this all he also have that 500 Spell Points and Skill Points to use, plus those three ARC Cores.

For the ARC Cores, he already reserved one for Jerry's final enhancement before his upgrade. This ARC core will replace his power core which will make him become a self-sustaining existence.

As for those Spell and Skill Points, he used them according to how he thought best...

He raised Purify to Lv.100 first a foremost, making this his first skill to ever reach the maximum level. Such a feat like this was rare, especially for his current rank and all, but he did it.

At Lv.100, there's nothing Purify can't deal with. Furthermore, everything he purifies will develop a resistance to corruption. The level of resistance varies, but it should make it harder for corruption to spread easily like before.

Heal also reached Lv.100. Now, so long as someone still has a sliver of breath remaining, Ashton can instantly heal them back to peak state. Not even a trace of injuries, both external and internal, will remain once he's done. And it will only take seconds for him to do this.

After that, he spent the rest of his Spell Points on his buffs, allowing them to reach Lv.70 at least.

And for his Skill Points, he poured them all to the Scythe Arts. Unfortunately, 500 Skill Points was barely enough to raise its rank to 2-star Ascended Rank.

In hindsight, he probably should've used it to his Firearm Proficiency instead but Ashton wants what he wants so he didn't do that.

Still, considering how high Ascended rank already is, that's still a frightening thing. And to think that he's still a Warlock at this stage...

Now, it seems that he had to do some personal training himself.

[A/N: Poll is over! You chose 'He who praises the Sun' as our next champion. I'll try my best to deliver.]