“So you know that giant huh?”

  Vrusha looked slightly uncomfortable for a second, then seemed to remember who he was talking to and straightening up. Heh. His thoughts were clear as day to me. He’s spent most of his life without being in a Clan, which meant there was no other Patriarch or Matriarch to back him or his actions.

  Which meant speaking about another Patriarch informally probably would’ve caused a great deal of stress not that long ago. Things are different now. He has me.

  “Yes Patriarch, there aren’t many among Planet Infernal who doesn’t know the Patriarch who you referred to as Giant.”

  “Really? Is he famous?”

  I think if I wasn’t who I was Vrusha would’ve called me an idiot and I wouldn’t be able to blame him. The second the question left my lips I realized how stupid it sounded. Of course he was famous.

  Vrusha ignored the stupidity of the question and answered as seriously as ever.

  “All of them are famous Patriarch. There isn’t a single one who isn’t known across all of Planet Infernal. You too will be known far and wide once you officially reach the Planet.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense. You know Vrusha, that Patriarch, and all the others consider themselves my older siblings. Isn’t it odd? I have older siblings who all believe they know me, and even the one I just spoke to is over a million years older than me.

  “But despite how weird it all seems, whenever I meet these siblings of mine, they always do feel like family, and it feels natural. To make it worse this one particular sibling called me weak and dressed me down properly.

  “He reminded me of my place in the world and brought me back down to earth as they say. Which is somewhat ironic considering what his actual advice was. Leave me alone for a bit Vrusha, I need to think.”

  Vrusha looked like he had far more he wanted to say but chose not to in the end and simply acknowledged the order, bowed, and vanished. Now as a Nascent Realm cultivator, I can track and sense what he did and where he went quite easily.

  I paid it no mind though and focused on the mess of thoughts swirling around my mind at the moment.

  If this were a book or an anime of some kind, I’m likely supposed to be facing trial after trial that will all be hard to overcome and after rising above all of them by the skin of teeth, I’d grow stronger and face the new challenge.

  In the midst of all that, perhaps there will be down periods, where I’d train, or find romance, or a few other things, the list stretches on from there. Maybe I’d even lose a close friend or two and be spurred on even more to grow in strength, continuously faced with increasingly difficult challenges.

  It would even make some sort of sense considering I’ve been told enough times that conflict will always find me.

  But this wasn’t a book or an anime, and I am not a typical individual. I am Infernal Patriarch, and unlike those MCs, I have the unending support of not just thousands of Infernals, but likely millions if I asked.

  Any conflict I face from this point on could all be handled by my words without raising a single fist. Like Tivanus said, he spent quite a bit of time on Planet Infernal, and he practically had to run away from his own clan just to experience some real danger again.

  I could do that too if I wished.

  Although he didn’t explicitly list it as an option, the understanding that I could do whatever I wanted was as present as ever. I could simply blaze a trail to Planet Infernal right now, assuming I could buy the necessary ship and well…just stay there.

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  No one would dare attack the Planet and even if they did it wasn’t like the other Infernals and clans on the Planet would simply let them waltz around untouched.

  But I didn’t want that.

  When did I have the most fun? When did I truly enjoy life? When was my smile the widest it could be?

  It was during those early days in the Tutorial. When I barely understood anything, not even who I truly was, and I was just killing Goblins every day. Even when I fucked up and had to get saved by Jrino that one time, I still had fun.

  That’s probably what the big bastard was talking about huh.

  Sigh.

  Alright then.

  Let’s change a few things.

  …

  A few days later, and I was once again in the void looking at a giant of a man as he shamelessly read my thoughts.

  “So that’s your decision, eh? I know I might’ve steered you in that direction, but you took it a few steps past that. Why?”

  There was no use in thinking about whether to tell him or not because that was as good yelling it from the mountain tops with how shameless he was.

  “Well I wanted to make it easier on them. Giving them a massive goal like that makes them happy in a weird way I don’t understand. I remember when they first complained about delegating more. Even tried to make me fight a bit less.”

  “Ahh tell me about it! I love my clan members to death but no matter what it is going on they swarm like fucking ants! Always trying to fight my battles, always trying to do random tasks I didn’t even ask for.

  “Don’t get me wrong, it is always very helpful because those bastards know me better than I like to admit sometimes so they know how far to push and all that. You just learn to give up and accept it after a while.

  “But I am glad to see that even the youngest of us is still facing the same issues. Warms my heart you know?

  “Anyway little brother, are you ready?”

  I nodded, and as he put a hand to my shoulder, I thought back to the instructions I left with my clan members.

  The instructions could be summarized into something simple. Grow the clan.

  I was planning to take that particular action slow but fuck it. I told them to somehow get word back to Planet Infernal and announce that our clan is recruiting new members. No one above the Nascent Soul Realm, and an upper limit of 1 million new members.

  None of them would be official members until later, and it would be more like what Outer Disciples are to Sects. Probationary members, I guess. Either way, they would still get to claim me as their Patriarch, and fight under my name but they won’t get the benefit of the Eternal Flame until far later.

  Lidaz would be in charge of vetting members, I trusted his judgement.

  The actual member count was only one part of it, and I had no doubt based on my discussions with Lidaz and the others that there would be more than enough applicants, but I wanted a permanent residence on Acuva and to extended our reach to the other planets.

  Even if my main abode will eventually be on Planet Infernal, I think it’s important have reach. Real and tangible reach.

  They had until I returned to bring this planet at minimum to heel and then to extend to the rest of the Universe.

  Considering there are Domain Realm cultivators here, and there were none in my clan, I didn’t think that would be possible, but the goals wouldn’t be worth it if there were any less challenging.

  On top of that, I didn’t want them to turtle and shelter in place, but to truly grow and that was especially so for the Black Dawn. I wanted them to be respected but feared even more than that.

  It’s not a simple decision, and it was painful to make in some ways. I did not want to leave them, and Vrusha almost yelled at me to change my mind. It was actually the most emotion I’ve ever seen him make, but in the end, he accepted it, or I at least asked him to accept it.

  Sigh.

  It is what it is.

  The giant was right; I was hitting above my weight then crying when I got hit back. Like a little bitch.

  And that little annoying thought led me to this decision.

  Back to Earth.

  I wonder if Richard missed me.

  “A little bitch, eh? Interesting thing to call yourself little brother.”

  “…The second I get strong enough to hurt you, I’ll be paying you a visit.”

  He flashed a mad Infernal grin at me.

  “I look forward to it!”

  His voice boomed across the void, and I think I could sense something die in the distance, but it could’ve been my imagination. And as if he was just being polite in his speed so I could get through my thoughts, he picked it up and my vision flashed and I think I lost consciousness for a second…or perhaps more, who knows.

  The next time I awoke, I was looking down on a familiar blue planet.

  I’m back.

  I then looked over at the ride who brought me here and he was still grinning. It looked worrying.

  “Consider this the first hit little brother, come find me when your ready to hit back!”

  I felt the Qi in and around me seal and before I knew it, I was spiraling towards the planet like a fucking a missile.

  Now I know why he sent the few people who were coming back with ahead.

  I think I’m going to kill that bastard.

  ‘You can fucking try!’

  Bastard.

  End of Book Four