Feeling a bit irritated, Evangelina stared at the Cultivation Leaderboard.
'So you've thrown all caution to the wind now, huh? We agreed to lie low at first! What are you thinking, Theo?! This is too reckless!'
Clenching her fists, she could only barely hold back from demolishing her surroundings. Prior to the Heavenly Succession, they had strategized together a lot, and the two of them had acknowledged that they were not especially suited for entering the limelight too early. Yet, here Theodore was doing the exact opposite!
'... he would never do something like this without being confident in weathering the coming storm. That means... he was extremely fortunate in the first round. Whatever he has gained has emboldened him. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, though.'
Feeling her anger dissipate, what replaced it was what had fuelled it in the first place–strong worry. She believed in Arvystas making it far due to his excessively exaggerated Talents, but in Theodore's case, it was because of the sharpness of his mind. In this respect, he vastly surpassed all of his peers–well, at least all of the ones that she had ever met.
Yet, he had still made the choice to stand out, or had chosen a path that risked going down this road of torment. If anybody told her that he simply hadn't realized how dangerous his situation was, then she would have scoffed at them–to anyone else, that might possibly apply, but not to him.
'... judging from his current cultivation stage, he must have completed his Energy Vein Incorporation during the Body Refinement Stage. Else, there is no way that he wouldn't have made it to the extreme peak of the Holos Acclimation Stage by now. With his Dantians being incredibly large, he would be unable to break through to the same heights as others due to his vastly increased Energy concentration requirements.'
Quickly coming to what was the only reasonable conclusion, she fell silent in astonishment. During their early years, she, Theodore and Arvystas had theorized all conceivable ways to achieve such a feat, yet all of them eventually ran into one issue: Raising one's Standard Attributes to the required heights that were necessary to begin would take too long. It simply wasn't possible in a mere century–at least not without breaking through to higher cultivation stages first, which defeated the point.
'As far as I'm aware, Theo never had a Talent that allowed him to directly gain Standard Attributes. He either must have hidden it too deeply back then, or obtained it during the first round. Is that the source of his far stronger confidence?'
With it having been impossible to spy on his destiny at all ever since they all came here, she felt frustrated. Not only because she was unable to peek at everything she wanted, but also due to being incapable of helping him or warning him of impending threats.
'... for now, I'll stay my course. I'll simply trust that he knows what he's doing.'
Sighing to herself, she shook her head, dispelling her concerns. Powerless to change anything at all, she should first focus on rising to a position where she could take the reins and force reality to comply with her wishes.
-----
As he saw his best friend's name pop up in a very much unexpected place, Arvystas' dark blue eyes widened momentarily. His tranquillity experienced a ripple, one which soon faded away and was replaced again by utter calm.
"I see, so that's what happened..."
Muttering to himself, he slowly nodded. Knowing Theodore as well as Evangelina did, it took mere fractions of a second for him to work out the how and why. Naturally, many others would also be able to figure out the details, as it wasn't exactly a tough mystery to tackle–but they wouldn't be as fast as Arvystas and Evangelina had been.
'The next round's no good, but maybe one of the following ones will be more suited to me. Then, I can race to the top and attract some of the others' attention. Better late than never, right?'
Feeling a tad helpless, he stared into the distance, lost in thought. A gust of wind played with his hair, causing it to become a bit tousled. It was primarily grey, but a few streaks of auburn ran throughout it. From afar, his casually clad figure appeared a bit lonely.
As his mind removed itself further from the here and now, all the life on the planet which he was currently on withered, then recovered its vitality anew. An endless cycle of death and rebirth took place around him, with no conscious effort or input from his end at all.
'I'll continue to steadily accumulate for now. A rank in the 5,000s is quite comfortable–definitely not too high.'
Finally sorting out the plentiful thoughts in his mind, he had come up with various action plans to follow. This rather conservative one was the one which he was most confident in. To him, making it as far as he had come during the introductory round had been effortless–he had even held back a lot. For now, no changes to his approach were necessary.
"Oops. Sorry about that, little ones."
Showing a slight but embarrassed smile, he restrained his unconsciously activated Talent, gently patting the plants nearby. These innocent lifeforms had done nothing to deserve the torment which they had just endured–he was clearly the one in the wrong here. A genuine apology was the least that he could offer in recompense.
Injecting a minute fraction of his power into these beings, he vastly accelerated their growth and improved their resilience. He would recover from this in mere moments, but to those who he had blessed, these boons would last multiple lifetimes.
'Well, then. I suppose I should gather those fellows. It's time to discuss my plans with them.'
Rising into the air and bolting off into the universe beyond this planet's atmosphere, he rapidly approached the small but secure base where his Subordinates had settled down.
He had encountered excessive numbers of Heaven's Chosen throughout his travels to tens of thousands of worlds. The vast majority of these had died by his hands, for one simple reason: They had attacked him.
Maybe it was because the way in which he usually carried himself, he appeared like a pushover. There was no murderous or dangerous air, simply serenity and goodwill. He always met others with kindness, and only if they repaid it with enmity would he eliminate them.
But even amongst the corpse-strewn path that he had left behind, a few smart and reasonable fellow competitors decided to follow him. He might be absurdly weird for a Supreme Pillar heir, but his power was unquestionable.
-----
"Looks like I severely underestimated you, Theo. And you too, Rheya. Both of you really managed to hoodwink me, didn't you? Good, good! You're not as boring as I thought!"
Grinning widely, Barrett stared at the leaderboards, his eyes bloodshot and his entire being brimming with fighting spirit. The basin he was in had originally been the home of a herd of powerful beasts, but they all had been slain without exception. Their towering bodies had been torn apart brutally, turning the entire valley into a pool of red.
Almost submerged to his chest in the blood, the Leon Family's heir wasn't bothered by the environment in the least. Nay, the bestial, ruthless part of himself was revelling in the viciousness. Any sort of battlefield was where he belonged–and the more savage and cruel, the better!
'But that second round... is really annoying! I'll need to make the cut somehow. If I recall correctly, there were a couple of worlds that I haven't checked out yet, right? That means not all civilizations are extinct. It's time for some last-minute recruitments.'
Underneath his outward, crazed appearance, there lay a cold rationality fully in control of his rampage. He had not stood still even once since the beginning of the competition, following the Leon Family's ancestral Cultivation Technique. To them, solely the strongest had the right to survive–anyone who couldn't resist their power simply had to blame themselves for being too weak!
Yet, heirs like Barrett were highly disadvantaged when going into the next round. It wasn't as if there was no way for them to make it through, though–but they definitely had to stop killing everything in sight.
-----
Furrowing her brows deeply, Rheya felt the slight amount of joy from having made it into the top 50 dissipate. She had never truly looked down upon Theodore, yet she also never would have expected him to surprise her to this extent.
"Hercyna, if at all possible, try to gather more intel on him from here on out."
Having shared the ability to view the leaderboards with all of her Subordinates, many of them who had been involved in their previous plans had already grown pale. As was blatantly apparent, they had unknowingly offended someone far more powerful than they had intended.
"As you command, Young Mistress!"
Keeping her cool, the golden-haired Celestial Fox bowed respectfully, recalling what little that she knew about where they would be going next. Although it would prove far more difficult for her to actually gather any information of importance, she would still try her very best.
"The rest of you, raise your heads and stop it with the cowardice! Yes, our plan went a little awry, and we've sown the seeds of conflict with a troublesome foe. But such is life–nothing will ever go off without a hitch, and even the best plans can never keep up with the changes."
Intently locking eyes with every single one of her Subordinates, she watched them all regain a hint of their confidence, bit by bit.
"We still have time until Theodore figures out the truth. In the meanwhile, we'll work harder to be even farther ahead! Whether it be him or other worthy opponents–me and you, we'll leave them all in the dust! Don't forget our plentiful preparations. All of this is merely a minor stumbling block, one that we will certainly overcome."
Slowly but surely, the oppressive atmosphere from before began to lighten up, and reassured smirks graced quite a few faces.
"Last but not least–perhaps even most importantly–there will be many who will want to eliminate him in the cradle. The danger which he represents is considerably large, after all. With that said, I and many others who have ranked rather high will face the same sort of backlash, although to a lesser extent. Double-check your equipment before we leave–everyone has to be ready!"
Amongst all of the different rankings, other than the Overall one, the Cultivation Leaderboard was the one which most people paid attention to. After all, there was one omniversal truth that–no matter how reluctantly–everyone had to accept: Might makes right. Whoever was the most powerful would ultimately get to make the final decisions on all matters.
'Knowing Theodore, even if I attempted to make amends to him for plotting against him, he would never truly accept my apology. From the moment that I decided to involve him in this, we already became irreconcilable. When I get another chance, it would be best if I can get rid of him for good.'
All the way throughout the meeting with her Subordinates, Rheya's thoughts couldn't help but drift towards this particular thorn in her side. There were of course some methods that she could make use of eventually, but none during the upcoming round.
'... let's wait and see first. If it'll truly be necessary for me to make a move, then even if I have to pay a price, I'll ensure his complete demise. I'd rather go too far than not far enough!'
Steeling herself, she mentally prepared herself to 'pull out the big guns'. The only good Theodore was a dead Theodore!