Just like my first battle, another major fight threatened to break out at the conclusion of this one. Turns out the man before me was not going to be capable of dodging my spear, and if it hit him smack in the chest where I aimed, he likely would have died or been crippled from the impact alone.

  And I simply could not believe that this man was also at the peak of the Core Formation realm. There was no way that one simple full power throw would catch him that much off guard. What the fuck type of fights were these people used to, that such a simple move would be out of his scope of dodging?

  I could not believe it. I really could not believe it. This was an environment that was born and raised in cultivation. Where was the drive? Where were the battle instincts? Where were the supernatural moves and combat that would have thrown me for a loop on my best of days?

  Instead of anger, all I could feel was disappointment. Heavy, heavy disappointment. And I had a feeling the next couple of battles I would fight for this princess would all be of a similar reality.

  Anyway, back to this almost war that would have happened. Someone or another guy got really angry at me supposedly sending a killing blow toward an opponent in which there should be no death, but what the fuck? We were fighting.

  Was I supposed to hold back? Or was it wrong for me to assume he would be better? And obviously the start of mine that I sort of aired out did not go over well with the opponents.

  And before the princess could step in, or maybe she simply chose not to since I know she was strong enough and fast enough to do so at the drop of a hat, Lidaz landed on the arena without an ounce of grace, his aura and cultivation being put on full blast for all to see. And of course it was not just him.

  Every single one of my Infernals made their way to the arena again without any grace, and we were already on prime. They wanted to fight, and I was ready to fight. It was not my fault their chosen champion was such a weakling.

  But once again, no fight broke out, and the princess managed to calm things down through words, promises, and whatever else she said to get everything back in order.

  We were transported home, where I immediately requested to have a conversation with the princess. I needed to know if every single battle I fought was going to be on the level of the previous two.

  And in that conversation, I was told a very embarrassing fact. Something that was truly humbling, and if I was not who I was, I would have hung my head in shame.

  The words of the princess were as follows:

  "Well, this is a battle between youth. Both of your first two opponents were mere teenagers. Of course, they are prized youth of great families and have been flooded care, education, and whatever resources they could get their hands on, but they are still teenagers."

  That… well.

  Fuck.

  I took a tiny peek at my status and dismissed it immediately.

  Thirty-three.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  I was thirty-three years of age fighting against teenagers who were all in the same cultivation realm as me.

  Yet here I was complaining that they were not up to standard and how disappointing it all was.

  And to make it all worse, I decided to ask another pointed question.

  "How powerful are the true geniuses of your empire around age thirty-three?"

  "The true geniuses of the empire? Even I do not know such a thing. But to compare against the few geniuses of whom I am aware, they are either at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm or in closed door cultivation trying to advance."

  "I see. Thank you."

  With that, I calmly went back to the estate without another word. To think I was just a frog in the well. I thought myself strong, but it appears I was not anything close to that, at least not when compared to the true geniuses of the world.

  And again, I was not dumb enough or insecure enough that I did not understand why these people were ahead of me. I did not start this cultivation journey of mine until I was twenty years old, and with that there was no guidance, there was no real help at the beginning, just stumbling about my way through.

  I suppose it is not fair to say stumbling, but I never once flooded my body with resources at least until it was time to advance through the Core Formation realm.

  Meanwhile, the geniuses the princess speaks of have been nurtured and filled to the brim with whatever resources possible to get them to where they are today.

  All this means is I should stop jumping to conclusions so quickly. Instead, focus on the things I can control. While my opponents are teenagers, they are still at the peak of my current realm in terms of cultivation, and I will continue to treat them as such.

  For when I come across one of those so-called true geniuses, then I will see just how much of a difference they offer from me.

  Of course, this also made me think about the members of my clan. There are quite a few among them who are stronger than me, but there are plenty who are on the same level as me as well, and I have beaten all of them in a spar, or at least the ones who have gotten to spar against.

  So, does that tell me that there are no true geniuses among the members of my clan?

  I suppose that is one way to think of it, especially when I remember the fact that none of them were in a previous clan before I accepted them into mine, which makes me wonder about the quality of Infernals the other clan leaders have.

  And the only reason I want to know is so that I have a proper metric with which to surpass my clan.

  Being the weakest clan among my people is unacceptable. I do not care that time dictates that of course a new clan such as mine will not be able to stand up to some of those clans that I am sure have been around for thousands, maybe millions of years. Just one clan, the amount of power that will be contained in a group like that would be out of this world. And I was not even able to speak to whatever clan leader led them.

  Like the man who helped me with whatever I did on Earth, the one who called me little brother. Who knows how strong that man really was? I will rise to that level. So will my clan.

  So, with that, a few things changed. Well, I do not if it all that drastic a change, but I think this is the first time I have ever actively told the members of my clan that they need to get stronger, which is exactly what I did.

  Through Lirian and Frian, who are still the two foremost pillars of my clan and the actors of my will, I passed the order that we need to be better, we need to be stronger, and we need to be far more dominant. It is one thing to have the will and the drive to fight. It is another thing to be strong enough to back up the actions you take.

  So, I made it clear. We need to be stronger. A lot stronger.

  And that obviously sent a ripple of determination through the members of my clan, who were already training and cultivating hard, but they suddenly took that to a new level.

  And of course, I was not just a voice without action.

  I authorized the purchasing of whatever resources they could find. Anything and everything was available to be purchased.

  And that, of course, included myself, so I tasked them to find me a few select items as well. And at some point, even the princess decided to get involved with it.

  And eventually something was delivered to me.

  An ornate box that contained something called a Soul Fissure plant. It would apparently help me in forming my Nascent Soul.

  Good.

  But it is not time to take it just yet.

  There are still battles to be had.