The next five or so months flew by for the city of Gol. Forget the Anarchic Lands; during that period, the City of Gol may well have been the most peaceful place on the continent. Fortunately or unfortunately, all things come to an end at some point, and the City of Gol’s period of undisturbed peace was due to come to an end.

“Ace,” A tall and exceedingly handsome young man who may as well have been the poster boy for the Aryan race called out as he approached a clearing not far from the city.

Sat peacefully in the middle of the grassy clearing were Ace, Amira, and Leo.

After everything in the city had been taken care of and his presence was no longer necessary, the trio retired to a little cabin in the forest a couple of miles outside of the city where they could practice in peace.

In fact, other than Milianna and Lance, and occasionally Killian, they hadn’t seen anyone in months.

Upon hearing Joel’s voice, Ace’s eyes snapped open as he looked towards the white-robed young man beside the elegant, dark-haired Yulana.

The last time he saw them, they still appeared tentative and somewhat cautious in his presence.

Understandably so; after all, it was always going to take longer than a few weeks to get over the emotional trauma caused by Ace, but now…

“You look… clear-headed,” Ace smiled as his eyes passed over the pair.

“Teacher Kong beat some sense into us,” Joel smiled wryly as Yulana fought to suppress her body’s involuntary tremble at the mere mention of Wukong.

Ace smiled appreciatively. He could sense that neither of them wanted to speak much about it, and he respected that. He was just happy that their state of minds no longer seemed as fragile as it had not too long ago.

“Since you’re here, I’m guessing the delivery has arrived,” Ace said lightly as he slowly stood to his feet.

“Mmh,” Joel nodded. “My family just delivered your order not too long ago. I handed it over to Cirulus before making my way over here.

“Good,” Ace nodded. “What about the others? Are the others ready?”

“Yeah,” Joel nodded. “After getting back from the Pavilion last week, everyone has been focused on mastering the spells Grand Elder Arianna created for us.”

“I was the last to master it,” Yulana added with a wry smile. “But I finally managed to master it yesterday.”

“Well, I guess it’s about time we head out,” Ace grinned. “We’ve kept the rest of the Anarchic Lands in suspense for long enough already.”

The five youngsters made their way through the skies when they saw a welcoming standing in the air, seemingly waiting for them, and formed up beneath them was the City of Gol’s Army.

As Ace locked eyes with each of his classmates, he could sense how far they’d come in these last six months and not just in terms of strength.

Although each of them had made at least one breakthrough in their cultivation, Ace was more focused on their headspace.

Although none aside from Alissa – who was leisurely locking arms with Killian – could say they had completely gotten past Ace’s comments from six months ago, they were well on their way. Ace could sense the unwavering conviction to carry on along the path that they had set off on, and for Ace, it was a sight for sore eyes.

But he didn’t say anything to any of them, knowing that any more words at this point would merely be superfluous.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“About time you showed up and did some work,” Milianna chided as she stroked her son’s hair. “I thought since today’s the day we set off on our first official campaign, our brave soldiers deserved their first formal speech of the famous child of heaven.”

“Not you, too,” Ace sighed at his mother’s teasing of the epithet he was given.

“Haha, the rest of the world can call you whatever they want, but as far as I’m concerned, in this life, you’re my one and only my son!” Milianna voiced before nudging him. “Now go, don’t have the soldiers waiting too long.”

As soon as she said that, aside from Amira, Leo, Wukong, and Milianna, the bodies of Killian and the other now Acolytes of the Pavilion all flickered, appearing in front of their respective divisions, readily awaiting Ace’s speech.

As Ace scanned the sea of soldiers below, he couldn’t help but be slightly impressed. Each of them was dressed in an awe-inspiring golden armour.

These armours were the real reason behind Ace’s confidence in splitting his army into four, sending each division out to face armies which were all several times bigger than any singular division.

Thinking about his army and comparing it to the respective armies of the O’Brien and Rohault Empire, aside from strict, militant training, the most significant difference was in their equipment.

As a result, he decided to gift each of these soldiers top-tier weapons and armours.

Using the beast core of Harelk – the saint-level rainbow dragon he killed –, he paid the Dawson Conglomerate for 10,000 sets. Though it sounded like a lot, because of the rarity of a beast core of that level and the fact that Ace and Joel were friends and classmates, the Conglomerate were happy to help.

And though it was a lot of money to spend in one go, looking at the 10,000 soldiers below, Ace knew it was worth every penny.

It had to be understood that each armour was fitted with anti-magic runes allowing them to withstand the spells of all mages at and below the sixth rank and warriors at and below the seventh.

When remembering that they would be going up against ordinairy soldiers from the Anarchic Lands, equipment of this calibre would make all the difference.

“As you should all already know by now, my aim is to one day create the greatest empire this continent has ever seen and behind every great empire is an even greater military. My hope is that each and every one of you will be the core of that great military.” Ace said as he projected his voice using haki so everyone could hear him. “The name of that core is the Gold Force!

There will come a day in the not-too-distant future when the world quakes in fear at the mere mention of the Gold Force, and as integral members of said force, I don’t see the point in wishing you all good luck – you don’t need it!”

The blood of each soldier boiled with excitement and anticipation. As Ace spoke, each soldier felt as though he was speaking directly to them, and the fact that their continent’s number-one genius held such faith in each of them left them with an overwhelming feeling of pride.

Subconsciously, each of them held their chins up that little bit higher, puffed their chests out that little bit further, and stood that little bit taller.

The thought of becoming a legend was a legacy that every person who walked the martial path dreamt of, and now they were given that opportunity, they refused to let it slip through their fingers.

“Instead,” Ace continued. “I’m going to leave you with three simple words, go get ‘em!”

It wasn’t just the soldiers; even Kannal and the other Pavilion Acolytes felt their blood boil.

Aside from Killian, this was the first time any of them was participating in a battle of this magnitude, and the morale was infectious. They were dying to step foot on the battlefield already.

“Always the show-off!” Wukong snorted as he suppressed his rising battle intent watching each division begin their marches.

As the four divisions set off, the four ‘saint-level’ experts prepared to set off too.

“Take care of our people out there,” Milianna said before Ace and the others took off.

“What about me?” Ace pouted. “Aren’t you going to tell me to take care of myself?”

“I’d be happy if you don’t cause another international incident!” Milianna rolled her eyes, knowing her son’s propensity for provoking people.

“Don’t worry, Aunty,” Amira said sweetly. “I’ll make sure nothing bad happens.”

“I know you will, sweetie,” Milianna replied appreciatively.

“By the way, what do you wanna do about the scouts ‘hiding’ outside the city,” Wukong asked, his spirit having long since locked onto various hidden individuals who had tried to get as close to the city as possible without getting caught, a devilish grin suffusing his ape-like face. “Want me to get rid of them?”

“No, leave them,” Ace smiled. “Since they want to spy on us so badly, let them watch as a new legend is born.”

“Fine,” Wukong shrugged, disappointed he was once again denied the chance to take action. “Hopefully, someone sends out a saint to keep me entertained.”

“You two are truly hopeless,” Milianna sighed helplessly at the antics of her son and senior martial brother. “Can neither of you go five minutes without feeling the need to stir up some sort of trouble?”