"Alright. Lay it on me, old man."
Mark gave a small nod. "There are four major stages."
Stage One: Foundation Building
"This is where it all starts," Mark said. "You build your Qi from the ground up. Without a strong base, everything else falls apart."
Satoshi let out a long yawn. "So basically tutorial mode."
Mark didn't bother responding.
Stage Two: Qi Transformation
"Here you learn how to actually control your Qi. Move it, shape it, refine it. This is where people start developing real techniques."
Athena perked up, eyes glowing a bit. This part actually sounded interesting.
Stage Three: Qi Fusion
"This is where it gets serious," Mark said. "Different types of Qi start coming together. It's the point where people stop being just human."
Liam nodded slowly. "What comes after that?"
Beyond Qi Fusion
Mark paused. His voice got lower.
"Nobody really agrees on what to call it. Some say Realm of the Gods. Others say Willful Master. All we know is—if you make it that far, you can start bending the universe to your will."
He looked each of them in the eye.
"But almost nobody gets there. And the ones who do? They end up as either legends... or nightmares."
Satoshi chuckled. "Sounds fun."
Mark sighed. "You don't get it. Cultivation isn't just about getting stronger. It's about choosing who you become."
Satoshi just grinned. "Then I guess it's time to start choosing."
The night was quiet.
Too quiet.
The world hadn't bounced back yet. The damage from before still lingered in the air. Cracks in the land. Ripples of power.
Inside the temple, the five of them sat around like it was just another night. The ancient symbols carved into the walls were supposed to mean something deep—balance, wisdom, peace. Whatever.
They didn't care.
They had already broken this world just by existing.
And they weren't done.
Liam leaned on a pillar, arms crossed, golden eyes flickering.
"Finding me and Amelia was easy. The Moon Clan? Not so much."
Amelia draped her leg over the other and tapped her fingers on her knee. "Yeah. They're hiding on purpose."
Athena nodded. "Even in our world, they were myths. Masters at disappearing. If they don't wanna be found."
Satoshi groaned dramatically. "So we gotta search the whole damn planet? Sounds like a chore."
Camila finally spoke.
"No."
They all turned.
"We don't have time to run around chasing shadows," she said. Her Eyes of Time lit up faintly. "There has to be another way."
She closed her eyes, trying to look ahead. Threads of time swirled. Futures spun. Nothing.
"They're hiding even from me," she muttered. "That shouldn't be possible."
Satoshi scratched his head. "Alright, then we make them come to us."
Liam raised a brow. "How do we do that?"
Satoshi smirked. "We cause a little chaos."
Before they could go further, Camila turned to Amelia and Satoshi.
"You two hit Stage Three, right? What new toys did you get?"
The room shifted.
Even among monsters like them, power had weight.
Amelia lifted her hand and smirked. A screen of light formed in the air. Her Eyes of Lust burned.
"Let's see what I've got," she said.
Absolute Illusion "I can create illusions so real, they basically are reality. Pain? Fear? Whole fake lifetimes? Yeah, I can do that."
She smiled slowly and darkly. "I can trap someone in their worst fear forever."
Liam shifted, just a little.
Inner World Creation "I can build worlds. Inside my head. Or inside someone else. Whole fake universes where I make the rules. If you fall in, you're mine."
She gave a casual shrug. "Nothing personal."
All of Creation "Anything. Any force. Any concept. If I can get a grip on it, I can control it."
Satoshi let out a low whistle. "Alright, that's a flex."
Nightmare Embodiment "I am nightmares now," she said, voice soft. "And if you fall asleep near me? I can take you. Twist you. Break you."
She grinned. "And if I die? I can live inside someone's dream."
The room went dead quiet.
Athena looked genuinely shaken.
Liam let out a breath. "That… is horrifying."
Amelia laughed. "I know."
Satoshi stood. "Alright, my turn."
Flames burst around him.
He raised his hand. Fire danced on his fingertips.
"Alright. Let's see..."
Absolute Combat Mastery "Weapons, fists, blades, bare hands—doesn't matter. If it's a fight, I win."
Fire Aura He clenched his fist. Fire wrapped around him like a shield.
"You can't touch me unless I let you."
Nova Flame The flames turned white. Bright. Dangerous.
"Mini supernova. Melts everything."
Fire Absorption He sucked the flames back into his body.
"I eat fire. Even divine fire. Steal it, make it mine."
Liam narrowed his eyes. "Even mine?"
Satoshi smirked. "Wanna find out?"
Liam shook his head. "I'm good."
Fire-Earth Manipulation The floor cracked. Lava pulsed underneath.
"I control fire and earth now. Lava, volcanoes, all of it."
Fire Soul "My soul is fire now. So yeah. That's a thing."
Holy Fire His flames turned pure white.
"This stuff judges people. If you're unworthy, it burns you from the inside out."
He snapped his fingers. The fire vanished.
No one said anything for a second.
Satoshi stared at his hands, flexing his fingers.
This wasn't just power.
It was something else.
Camila watched him, voice low. "You feel it too, right? Like you're turning into chaos itself."
Satoshi's grin faded a bit.
Yeah.
He could feel it.
Something inside was changing.
And far away, the world was starting to notice.
The next morning was different. Sky was clear, but heavy. Like the world knew something was coming.
Camila found Mark again. Same quiet courtyard. Same stare into the misty mountains.
She didn't waste time.
"Tell me about the Moon Clan."
Mark didn't move. Just let out a slow breath.
"They're not here."
Camila's Eyes of Time lit up. "Where?"
"Higher Realms," he said.
Everything went still.
Camila crossed her arms. "Then how do we get up there?"
Mark gave a short, humorless laugh. "You don't."
Camila frowned. "Come on."
"I'm serious," he said. "You don't just walk in. Higher Realms aren't like this place. They're locked down. The people up there don't let just anyone in."
He finally turned to look at her.
"If you want in, you've gotta break the rules of this world. Be too strong for it to hold you."
Camila nodded slowly. "So we have to outgrow this world."
"Exactly."
Camila stayed quiet. That would take time.
And they didn't have time.
"Any shortcuts?"
Mark hesitated. "Maybe. Every hundred years, envoys from the Higher Realms come down. They look for talent. If they find someone they like, they take them back."
Camila narrowed her eyes. "When's the next one?"
Mark sighed. "Next week."
Camila blinked. "You're kidding."
"Nope. Every sect will be here. Showing off their best disciples. Hoping they get chosen."
Camila's brain was already turning.
That meant the Moon Clan might show up too.
She looked away. "Convenient timing."
Mark raised an eyebrow.
"Every sect, every big name in this world, they'll all be coming here," Mark said. "They'll bring their best. The envoys will pick who's worthy and take them up."
Camila's mind was already racing.
That meant everyone would be showing up. Everyone.
She looked off to the side, then muttered, "Then the Moon Clan might show up too."
Mark gave her a look. "It's possible."
Her golden eyes lit up. This changed everything.
They were ready to dig through every inch of this world.
Now? They just had to wait.
Satoshi, Amelia, Liam, and Athena weren't gonna love hearing they had to sit tight for a week.
But if this gave them a shot at getting into the Higher Realms... it was worth it.
Still—something didn't sit right.
"Where's your sect leader anyway?" Camila asked. "Haven't seen him since we got here."
Mark's expression turned sour. "He's in seclusion."
Camila tilted her head. "Trying to break through, isn't he?"
Mark sighed, rubbing his temples. "Yeah. He thinks if he ascends before the envoys show up, they'll take him with them."
Camila didn't say anything right away.
She'd seen this kind of thing before. That kind of desperate last-minute grab for power.
It almost never ended well.
"Has he made it?" she asked.
Mark hesitated. "...Not yet."
That pause said everything.
Camila didn't need to see the future to know what was coming.
If he failed... If he pushed too hard and his body couldn't take it...
It would blow up in everyone's face.
She closed her eyes and sighed.
Then she just walked away.
Mark stayed where he was, watching her disappear into the mist.
And he knew—
This week wasn't gonna be normal.
Not even close.
Days passed slow, like the world was holding its breath. But something was shifting underneath.
Satoshi and Athena wandered this strange new world, just taking it in.
Athena lit up at every new sight—floating mountains, a city built into a waterfall, monks literally walking on air. She'd never been allowed to explore back home, so now? It was like the world had finally cracked open for her.
Satoshi mostly just observed. People flying without wings. Swords following their masters' thoughts. Reality doing what it was told.
Cool.
But compared to them?
Still way too slow.
The Others Train
While those two wandered, Liam and Amelia got to work.
Training. Grinding. Getting even stronger.
Liam was a natural. Pride in his veins, sword like an extension of his soul. Divine aura. Perfect form. Everyone who saw him train knew he wasn't someone you could touch.
Amelia? Different game entirely.
She didn't fight with fists. She fought with minds.
Mental cultivation. Illusions. False memories. Entire dreamworlds spun from nothing.
When her Eyes of Lust lit up, people got lost in fake realities—and couldn't tell the difference.
Camila Read
She didn't train.
She read.
Deep inside the Supreme Sect's archives, surrounded by dust and scrolls older than time.
To most of the sect's disciples, she looked like some reclusive scholar. Quiet. Weird. Probably harmless.
They had no idea she was the Goddess of Time.
And every book she touched?
She wasn't just reading it.
She was rewriting history.
And then, on the seventh day, everything shifted.
The sect leader finally came out.
They had waited for this moment for decades.
He was strong. Refined. Someone who had seen empires rise and fall and lived through it all.
He wanted to see them—the ones who broke the rules. The ones who flipped everything upside down.
The grand hall filled fast. Floating lanterns, quiet buzz of disciples gathering. Everyone waiting for the meeting.
And then...
A sect elder stepped forward.
And screwed it all up.
"You stand before the Supreme Sect's Leader," the elder said, all proud and dramatic. "Kneel."
Silence.
Satoshi blinked.
Camila didn't even look up from her book.
Athena frowned. Amelia smirked. Liam sighed.
Satoshi stretched like he'd just woken up. "Come again?"
"You heard me," the elder snapped. "Kneel. You're in the presence of someone way above you."
Satoshi let out a slow breath. Looked at the others.
"Should we tell him?"
Liam crossed his arms. "Not worth it."
Athena looked uneasy. "They really don't get it."
Camila finally closed her book.
The elder's patience cracked. "You mocking us?"
Satoshi sighed. "If we kneel," he said, suddenly serious, "this world gets destroyed."
The elder scoffed. "Arrogant child. You—"
Satoshi cut him off. "Not joking."
The air changed. Heavier. Tense.
But the elder pushed anyway.
"You will kneel. Now."
Satoshi tilted his head.
"Alright. Fine."
They started to kneel.
And the world broke.
The sky screamed.
Mountains fell apart.
The ocean froze mid-wave. Everything just... stopped.
And then—
Hands.
Massive white hands came down from the heavens, reaching out like they were trying to protect the land.
Not god hands.
World hands.
Hands of fate.
And they were begging.
Begging them not to kneel.
Satoshi's smirk faded.
The hands shook, stretching across the sky like they could barely hold back what was coming.
Camila's Eyes of Time spun like crazy. Showing her things that shouldn't exist.
Athena clung to Satoshi's arm.
"...The world is apologizing," she whispered.
Satoshi let out a slow breath. "Yeah."
Liam's eyes flicked between the heavens and the trembling people below.
"What kind of world," he said quietly, "begs its own people not to kneel?"
The elder couldn't speak.
The disciples dropped to the ground in pure fear.
And the sect leader—the one who had lived for thousands of years—stood completely still.
Because this?
This wasn't supposed to happen.
The world wasn't supposed to be afraid.
But it was.
Satoshi and the others stood back up.
And just like that—
The world calmed down.
The white hands vanished.
The sky healed.
The oceans flowed again.
The land, once seconds away from total collapse, just... fixed itself.
Satoshi stretched and looked at the elder.
"See?" he said casually. "Told you."
The elder hit the floor, shaking.
The sect leader?
Still silent.