As top-level powerhouses, each of them could already sense it, but when Aiden confirmed it, they all felt as though their worlds had been turned on their heads. Even Wukong, who had been cultivating the shortest time among them, had been cultivating nearly three times as long as Ace.

But the person with the most violent reaction was, without a doubt, Cesar. Aside from Arianna, he was the oldest expert among them, having lived for over 6000 years already, and yet he had only reached his current level a few hundred years ago, and he hadn’t made any progress since then.

For the last few centuries, he’d been a single step away from completely comprehending his first profound mystery; it could be imagined how he was feeling finding that a child that was barely a fraction of his age had already accomplished what he couldn’t.

“I’m going!” Cesar snorted, unable to remain in Ace’s presence any longer.

“Before you go,” Arianna said softly as she flicked her wrist, summoning a large tome from her storage ring. “Here, this is for you.”

“Mmh,” Cesar grunted as he casually put it away, too depressed to care about anything else. “Have my granddaughter come get me when it’s time to go.”

“Haha, that’s the same face the rest of the brats used to pull after challenging Ace,” Wukong laughed, deriving no small amount of pleasure from Cesar’s misery. “Serves that old fart right.”

“I can understand how he feels,” Lauriella sighed helplessly, looking up yearningly at the crimson fiery glaives in the sky.

“There’s no point comparing ourselves to Ace,” Mathias said in an attempt to comfort his wife. “We always knew it was just a matter of time before he caught up and eventually surpassed us.”

“I’m going too,” Kimika suddenly announced. “I have a sudden urge to go and break through to the saint realm.”

Her words should’ve come as a shock, but everyone already knew that Kimika had long since been able to break through to the saint realm; the only thing holding her back was that she wanted to spend a little longer comprehending the laws of nature as a mortal where it was slightly easier.

But after being stimulated by Ace’s display, she just wanted to break through so she could stay substantially stronger than Ace for as long as possible.

“I’m going too,” Lazerim said as he flew towards his private abode. “I’ll meet you back here when it’s time to go.”

Lazerim was the last of the instructors to break through to the saint realm, having done so not long after Ace and Killian departed for the Rohault Empire, meaning that with the addition of Cesar, the Yin-Yang Pavilion now officially had five human saint-level experts, and that didn’t include the peak mortals who had the strength of a saint or the saint level magical beasts.

After Lazerim, Lauriella also took her leave, also wanting to continue her training. Even though she was nowhere closer to making another breakthrough, she couldn’t stand the thought of standing around doing nothing when one of her students was making strides to catch up with her every day.

“You not going to go back and train as well?” Arianna asked, looking back at her former youngest disciple.

“Nah,” Wukong shrugged. “The state of mind of this king isn’t so fragile that it can be shaken by that snot-nosed brat; plus, there’s nothing this king can do to make any improvements in the short term.”

“You could break through to the saint realm now as well,” Mathias said, knowing full well that the comprehension of this junior brother of his had long since reached the requirements their master had set for him.

“This king’s not ready yet,” Wukong replied, his ape-like eyes landing back on Ace. “This king won’t break through till his comprehension reaches that of a prime saint.”

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Although not as bad as the others, Wukong would be lying if he said he wasn’t stimulated by Ace’s lightning-fast improvements.

“Who knows how long that will be,” Mathias replied. “You sure you want to wait till then?”

“If this king keeps improving at the same rate, it should only be another year,” Wukong casually replied as he lazily stretched his body. “Two at most.”

The last time Wukong had personally made a move was over a year ago against Kenyon when he attempted to grab Arianna, and even then, he had been holding back a fair bit just in case Haydson decided to intervene as well.

As a result, everyone knew Wukong had been training seriously, but no one had any idea how much progress he had made.

It was only when Mathias heard that did he remember that Ace wasn’t the only true freak of nature in the Pavilion.

“Aren’t you going to announce the winner?” Ace asked as he casually dispersed his flaming spears, his voice waking Mathias from his thoughts.

“Ahh, that’s right,” Mathias said as his body flickered, appearing on stage just behind Ace and Amira. “As the winner, Ace retains his position as the number one core disciple.

Okay, now that the ranking competition is over, I’ll be informing you of your final ranks as well as the school you will be challenging as part of your missions:

In tenth place is Yulana. You will be taken by master’s magical beast Jax to challenge the students of the Knights Way Warrior Academy.

In ninth place is Kannal. You will be taken by your master, Kimika, to challenge the students of the Saltier Magus Academy.

In eighth place is Faye. You will be taken by your master, Lazerim, to challenge the students of the Waning Moon Foundation for mages.

In seventh place is Osiris. I will be the one to take you to challenge the students of the Knights of the Night in the territory of the Dark Alliance.”

‘And here I thought I was the only one with a problem with the Cult of Darkness.’ Ace thought to himself as he looked over at the dark-haired stoic archer.

Although he had done a good job at hiding it, both Ace and Alissa, who were both extremely sensitive to killing intent, had felt a trace amount seep out of the young archer. Unfortunately, now was neither the time nor the place to ask their classmate about it.

“Joel, as you finished sixth, you will be going with Wukong to the Magus Dao Institute.

Finishing in fifth place, Alissa, you will be heading to the Rhine Centre of Excellence along with Cesar to challenge their young warriors.

In fourth place, Julius, although you won’t be fighting directly, you will go with Yulana as an emissary for the Pavilion. This is so that you can start getting used to your new role as substitute teacher for when you break through to the eighth rank.

Killian, as you finished third, you will be going with Lauriella to challenge Slayer Institute for Warriors. But as you finished third, you are being tasked with challenging not only the students but the teachers as well.”

When they heard that, the others were all surprised. It had to be understood that the Slayer Institute was regarded as the second-best institute for warriors on the continent. As a result, one could imagine the calibre of their instructors. Still, if there was anyone who could do it was their top three core students.

“Amira, as you are our second-ranked core disciple, you will be going with martial uncle Aiden to the Ernst instate for mages, and just like Killian, you will be challenging the students and teachers there,” Mathias announced, causing Amira to turn head to face Ace with a teasing and excited smile.

“Looks like I’m going to be the first to get to fight Linley since he awoke his bloodline,” Amira said gloatingly.

“Whatever!” Ace smirked. “Just try not to lose!”

“Lose?” Amira snorted disdainfully. “Until I catch up with you, I won’t lose to anyone from our generation!”

“I believe you,” Ace replied sincerely after hearing the conviction in her voice, and if he was being honest, he didn’t believe that she was wrong either. As far as talent went, Amira was literally only second to him.

“And that just leaves our top-ranked core student,” Mathias said, recapturing Ace’s attention. “Ace, you will be heading to the O’Brien Empire with Master, your mother, Leo, Lance, and Carter, but your mission isn’t as simple as the others.

You must first challenge and defeat the disciples and instructors of the War God Academy before challenging and defeating all the mortals in the War God’s College.”

Ace had already heard from Arianna about his mission, but it was a first for the others.

It was public knowledge that the War God’s College was the home of the most talented and powerful young warriors on the continent. Many of the students were even stronger than the instructors of the War God’s Academy; after all, it was from there that O’Brien would choose his next disciple.

Still, remembering exactly how much of a freak Ace was and his grudge against O’Brien, Alissa and the others only felt sympathy for the students of the college.

“It’ll be my pleasure!” Ace replied directly as the blood coursing through his body boiled with excitement.

Mathias could only sigh, understanding full well that things definitely wouldn’t end so simply.

“Okay, that concludes today’s festivities,” Mathias announced. “You’re all dismissed. Be back here in two days so that we can set off.”