The last six months have been extremely lively in the small town of Wushan. First, a large battle took place between an eighth-stage mage, his personal seventh-stage Velocidragon, and a group of seven mages and warriors.

Ace could only sigh watching that battle. Using his haki, he could sense that the Velocidragon was no weaker than an admiral in his last life, and as for the eighth-stage mage… Ace guessed that he wasn’t much weaker than any of the Yonko. When he remembered that there were still levels above that, Ace could only sigh at the difference in strength between his former world and this one.

But the scene that had the most significant impact on not only Ace but everyone in Wushan Town was the incident that happened the very next day.

That was the day Ace saw genuine saints. He only had to stretch his observation over them for an instant to realise they were the most powerful beings he’d ever witnessed. Their aura made even Whitebeards look like that of a child.

Thankfully Lance woke him from his shocked state. The guard immediately shot towards the orphanage carrying Ace and Killian in each of his arms to find Milianna.

Luckily the orphanage was on the other side of the town, so everyone there came out unscathed. The rest of the town wasn’t so lucky. Houses had collapsed, and families were crushed inside. It was like a scene straight out of the apocalypse.

But the scene of those powerful figures flying high in the sky as if they were gods among men was burnt deep into Ace’s mind. It was there and then that Ace’s desire to stand at the peak of this cruel new world began to blaze like never before.

After that day, the town’s training for the kids was put on hold. Luckily, Ace had already learnt what he needed from Hillman and the others.

Every day he would subject his body to a near-torturous amount of training. And his efforts paid off. It had only been a little over six months when Ace managed to achieve his first breakthrough.

And Killian, who forced himself to do as much of Ace’s inhumane training regime as his body allowed, refused to be left behind. He, too, managed to achieve a breakthrough a few weeks later.

Linley was dubbed as the town’s little genius warrior after managing to become a warrior of the first rank after training for a little under a year and a half, but whether it was Killian who did it in just over a year or Ace who achieved his breakthrough in 6 months, both of the boys had shattered Linley’s record.

The other thing Ace was pleasantly surprised about was that after becoming a warrior of the first rank, he felt that his observation haki finally had room to improve.

One morning after the boys had returned to the orphanage from their morning training session, they overheard the excited conversation of one of the orphans.

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“Did you hear? Young master Linley has returned from Fenlai City. Apparently, he passed the assessment to become a mage. Our town has finally produced someone with the potential to become a mage!”

“Not only that, I heard his assessment results were so impressive, he was actually accepted by the Ernst Institute!”

“Isn’t the Ernst Institute supposed to be the best school for mages on the whole of the continent?”

“That’s the one!”

“Is that why the Baruch Clan have organised a celebratory gathering for the whole town tonight?”

“Yeah, I heard about that too. Apparently, the Clan’s guards have been hunting several low-level magical beasts for an all-you-can-eat feast.”

“I heard they have something important they wish to announce at the time of the feast. I wonder what it is.”

Ace wasn’t all that interested in the gathering at first, but that all changed when he heard they were serving meat from magical beasts.

In his last life, Ace could be considered to be quite the foody, and that part of him hadn’t changed; he just suppressed it as he knew his family circumstances didn’t allow for him to eat the quantity he would’ve liked.

After becoming a rank one warrior, his hunger only got harder to bear, but he never once complained. He knew his mother was already doing as much as she could to give him what he needed.

After spending every single day of the last six months with Ace, Killian knew Ace better than almost anyone. So seeing the dribble trickling out the corner of his mouth, it wasn’t hard to guess his intentions. “I’m guessing we’re off to the feast tonight?”

Ace didn’t even turn back to face his first and only friend as he replied. “Of course, what kind of townsmen would we be if we didn’t go and congratulate Linley.”

Killian was well aware that Ace’s intentions were far from what he said, but it didn’t matter to him one way or another; plus, as a warrior of the first rank himself, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t interested in the food.

That night under the moonlit sky, the Wushan Town Centre, which had finally been rebuilt, had been decorated extravagantly. Candles were placed on each of the tables, and banners congratulating Linley had been strung from each of the buildings.

“The Baruch Family are really going all out!” Killian exclaimed as she looked around.

“Of course they are; Young Master Linley has achieved something that no one in town history has. One day all of Wushan Town will be able to proudly say that the Mage Linley Baruch came from our small township.” Lance proudly explained.

The reason behind that pride was because of the difference in social standings between mages and warriors. Whether it was on the battlefield or off, a mage is thought to bring far more to the table than a warrior at the same level.

“But when will they be serving the food?” Ace asked impatiently as he scanned the area in an attempt to locate his sole reason for coming, ignoring Lance’s rambling.

“Must you always think with your belly?” Lance asked helplessly in response.

Due to the fact that she wanted to earn extra money to buy more food for her growing son, Milianna decided to take on an extra shift at the orphanage tonight, leaving Ace and Killian in Lance’s capable hands.

Over the last six months, the relationship between Lance and Milianna had been progressing smoothly. Slowly, but still smoothly.

The fact that an extremely overprotective mother like Milianna had decided to trust him to look after her pride and joy spoke volumes about how she felt towards him. A fact that didn’t go unnoticed by Ace, and to be honest, Ace had become relatively fond of Lance.

He could see that the guard’s feelings were genuine, but he still refused to get involved in their business.