The Monarch

Chapter 353: Improving

The monarch of the fifth kingdom found himself laughing as he saw the potential destruction he was causing. The bears fell and died by the dozens as if they were flies. The attacks came from all sides and were still strong.

"Is that a fifth realm wizard?" the leader of this area asked the second in command when she saw Kayden laughing while carrying out an immense massacre. Few people in this place had any influence on the outside, but...

All those who knew the universe outside understood what Kayden had done to the surroundings, and at that moment, they prayed to all their gods that Kayden would not be their enemy.

The lightning lasted only a few seconds and more than 50% of the bears were dead without being able to react. The rest had some injury or were in a stampede, running for their lives.

On the wall, there were a few hundred mages in the fifth realm. All had at least six rays and still others had seven. They all wondered if this was a level of strength that could be reached.

"Professor Kayden, how many lightning bolts did you get?" the division leader expressed one of the general doubts as Kayden began to float back towards the wall with a satisfied smile.

"Six rays," Kayden replied truthfully. Not even the craziest inside believed his words, but that didn’t matter to him.

"That must be why you’re trapped in the fifth realm," one of the men on the wall mocked. Everyone knew how old Kayden was in this place. He was here even before the oldest people on this wall arrived.

"Quiet," Kayden released all his killing intent built up over thousands of years plus the mana pressure from all the hundreds of miles he could pull at this moment.

No matter how strong one was on this wall, everyone felt like they were facing a living demon, a being that was born in death and lives in death. And they weren’t even the targets of Kayden’s attack.

"You are very young, so I will spare your life. But recognize when you are in the presence of someone stronger." Time has made Kayden a relatively calmer person, but only because he didn’t want to give a bad impression.

Kayden sat on the wall and went back to cultivating the final jewel in his crown. This was a time-consuming process, but it would yield excellent results in the future. He expected a quiet moment but was interrupted several times by people he saw as children.

"Professor Kayden, I am 700 years old and in the fifth realm. I have been struggling for centuries to grow in strength, but my age weighs heavily on my mind," the one who approached him was one of the soldiers on the wall, but he could feel a few dozen hearings around you.

"I’m over 3 millennia old at this point, almost 4 millennia old. Perfection can’t be rushed," Kayden’s motto resonated throughout the universe, one of the first to live by those words.

"Why so long?"

"So long for who?"

"Genies reach the fifth realm in ..."

"Geniuses are not my opponents."

"Who are you?"

"Just the person I was yesterday."

*************

"This war is finally over," Kay and Kayden were sitting inside the gym watching one of their classes’ junior championships.

"It lasted three centuries before the raven killed the bear for disturbing the peace," Kayden commented to his friend.

These were bloody years for all sides. Millions of people died in this war, thousands of heroes rose and thousands fell. Kayden saw dozens ascend to the sixth realm easily during these tense years.

"You’ve earned some respect in this town, the strongest wizard in the fifth realm in history," Kay quoted Kayden’s full title and received only a smile in response.

************

"None of them have any potential for this mission," Kayden was sitting in front of Julian.

"It’s been three millennia and only two potential candidates?" Julian cited extremely low numbers for such a long period.

Kayden was taken in by Julian after finding out how he was trying to advance on his path of cultivation and what that meant. Kayden was a future god with more than seven rays if everything went right, and after seeing his strength, Julian believed in that potential.

Kay ended up dying while trying to force an advance into the seventh realm. Kayden was sad; He was a great friend in his life, he was practically the person he spent the most time with.

Fortunately, his feelings were long dead and he just got on with his life. He left the academy to one of Kay’s sons, who had some potential in this area. Even though he was someone in the fifth realm, Kayden had everyone’s respect to make this decision.

At this point in his life, he received Julian’s proposal to train peak potentials. His goal was just to get mages to cultivate every year of their lives and reach their full potential.

"Marcus and Kant are in the fifth realm at the moment and with seven rays. I believe they should be able to advance with seven spokes as well but with eight? No, it’s a level of strength they won’t be able to reach," Julian commented.

Julian was a wizard with seven rays and he knew how difficult it was to reach eight rays. It was ridiculously rare. In his entire life, he only saw the crow that ruled this area at this level of strength.

"What do you think they’re missing?" Kayden didn’t have to think long to respond.

"They are unique, but among all the unique ones in the universe, they are common. In a way, they never managed to forge their paths. They just followed a path to perfection and elevated it, but they are following steps that other people have already taken."

The two were silent in their thoughts. Julian had never thought about it that way. In a way, he was young, as his age was not advanced for his kingdom, something quite common for most mages.

"You did it? Did you create your path?" Julian asked curiously. Talking to Kayden became a habit over the years.

This was one of Kayden’s social skills that he had developed over the years. It was based on listening more than talking. Even ancient magicians were uncomfortable with silence. Kayden just had to fill the conversation so that the other party would talk more and believe they had a bond with him.

"Yes, since the apprentice realm and I have spent every possible day of every realm," Kayden replied calmly.

"I discovered my path only in the sixth realm. I spent my advancements on special techniques and treasures. This, in a way, limited my future. I will never be able to reach the level of a god," Julian revealed to Kayden one of the most common things in this universe.

Passing the realm was extremely easy. Unlike the idea that time ended up destroying the golden age of knowledge, the reality was different. The more time passed, the more knowledge was accumulated, and the more knowledge was withdrawn and stored.

Wars and universal disasters were not capable of stopping this advance. This made it so that anyone was able to reach the ninth realm if they had the necessary resources. Just reaching the level of god was more difficult.

"There is always a way. You just have to think about how far you’re willing to go," Kayden responded.

"Don’t quote those dreamy lines to me, Kayden. The reality is not so beautiful."

"I was born in a place where a fourth realm wizard was strong enough to rule an entire country. Reaching the fourth realm under 200 years old was considered a feat of absolute genius. So I can truly say that I know what I’m talking about, Mr. Julian. It just depends on how willing you are."

Neither of them said anything else for the next few minutes, each lost in their thoughts.

"What was your home planet like?" Julian was interested.

"My first planet was where the strong dominated. No matter how genius you were, you could never truly reach the top. My second world was a little more liberal, but still, few were able to have any real opportunities. In a way, they were sad worlds doomed to failure," It had been so many years, but Kayden still remembered perfectly his home world and his years in a coma.

"I have never experienced real difficulties in my life. My father is a god," Julian had already mentioned this to Kayden before.

"It seems to be lonely."

*************

Seven millennia. That was the amount of time it took Kayden to reach true perfection in the fifth realm. At this moment, he could say with all the certainty in the world that he was the oldest person in the fifth realm on this planet.

The fact that he only used divine mana in his advances made it take a ridiculously longer time, but it also made his advances much better than normal.