Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

Whilst the students were taking their leave, preparing to return to their rooms to rest, Cesar, who was holed up in the little cabin he had made for himself, had just taken out the tome Arianna had given him earlier.

“I wonder wha…” Cesar couldn’t even finish his sentence; the moment he started reading, he was immediately hooked.

He was currently reading the same tome Ace had read, which listed each of the profound mysteries for each of the seven natural laws.

Though the contents of the book were relatively straightforward in its contents, if the saints, and even some of the deities, knew that this book existed, it would cause a bloodbath as those that stood at the top of the food chain went to war to get their hands on it.

It had to be understood that due to certain circumstances and altercations from over ten thousand years ago, those of the Yulan continent had a limited understanding of things that should be simple to those of their level.

It meant that the majority was forced to stumble around in the dark as they desperately searched for a path forwards.

The truth was that Cesar was far beyond your average genius; in fact, if he had entered the Pavilion with Ace and the others, he would be a genius at the level of Amira.

Considering he had no masters or seniors to help guide him, it was incredible that he made it to his current level at all, especially as his element – darkness – though not as rare as the four edicts, was still one of the two rarest natural elements – the other being light.

All that is to say that his simply getting an understanding of the profound mysteries of his element was like giving wings to a tiger.

“I didn’t think he’d actually have a sudden epiphany,” Aiden said as he looked down at Cesar from the clouds above.

“It makes sense,” Arianna explained. “With his talent, and considering how long he had spent fumbling around blindly, the moment he found out the truth, it was only natural that he saw a dramatic increase in training speed.”

“That’s true,” Aiden acknowledged casually. “How much do you think he’ll improve? Do you think he’ll break through to the deity realm?”

“I don’t know,” Arianna shrugged. “But I doubt it with how close he was already. If his epiphany had anything to do with the profound mystery of the body of darkness, he would’ve already broken through.

If I had to guess, I’d say he’s comprehending one or more of the other mysteries.

What about you? Are you any closer to your breakthrough?”

“Hmm, I guess so,” Aiden replied lazily. “But who knows how long it’ll take before my soul finally enters the deity realm. At this rate, it could be tomorrow, or it could be a millennia from today. This is all still unchartered territory.”

“Just be careful,” Arianna said softly, taking her husband’s hands in hers.

Having been there from the very beginning, she knew better than anyone the cost of using [The Imposing Devourment]. She could only imagine the pain he was in each day, yet he continued pressing forward every day, never once complaining.

“Don’t worry,” Aiden smiled reassuringly. “I have no intention of dying any time soon.”

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Over the next couple of days, Ace and the others forwent training, having been training like crazy these last few months. Instead, they spent the following couple of days relaxing together.

It was the first time in almost two years that they’d all been together, and from the looks of it, they had missed it, but after 48 hours of relaxing, it was finally time to get going.

“Where’s Cesar?” Ace asked impatiently.

As much as he enjoyed these last couple of days, he was dying for his next adventure, and right now, the person holding them up was the newest addition to their group, the master of Alissa’s biological father.

“According to Arianna, Gramps is in the middle of an epiphany.” Alissa sighed. “She hoped he’d be done by today, but she said if not, they’d have to postpone our departure date.”

When Alissa’s words came out, it was met with the groans and grunts of her classmates. Ace wasn’t the only one excited about their upcoming missions. Each of them was geniuses, and although there was likely no one better to compete with than the other teens around them, they understood each other exceptionally well by now.

They all wanted to face a new challenge, especially after seeing the improvements made by Amira, Killian, and Ace after this last year.

“Okay, guys,” Mathias said, addressing the students. “It doesn’t look like Cesar will be…”

“What about Cesar?” A playful voice asked from seemingly nowhere.

“Gramps, is that you?” Alissa asked as she looked around for the source of her voice. “Where are you?”

It wasn’t just her; no one could seem to locate the prolific king of killers. Not even Ace, who had one of the best sensory abilities out of all those present, fared any better.

“Looks like he finally made his breakthrough,” Aiden said lazily as he glanced at Mathias’ feet.

“Alright Cesar, that’s enough,” Arianna said lightly as she pointed her index finger at her eldest disciple’s feet, causing Mathias’ shadow to start to glow.

“Ahhh, okay, okay, that’s enough!” Cesar yelled as he magically hopped out of Mathias’ shadow, smoke coming from his head as though he had been singed. “Spoilsport,”

Although he seemed perfectly calm on the inside, Cesar was anything but. ‘I knew I still wouldn’t be that woman’s match, but after comprehending a portion of a new profound mystery and fusing it with my original one, I thought I would at least have been able to close the gap slightly…

Just how strong is she exactly?’

During these last couple of days, as a result of his enlightenment, Cesar had not only comprehended a significant portion of the profound mystery of shadows, he had even fused it with the profound mystery of the dark-body allowing his body to physically enter the shadows.

Although he still hadn’t reached the power of a Demi-God, he had definitely surpassed the average level of a prime saint. As it stood, other than Arianna, he doubted that a single being below the Deity level could stand up to him, including the invincible prime saint who ruled over the dragon’s pit.

He had wanted to show off a bit and test to see if anyone could sense his presence, but not only had both Arianna and her husband seemingly been able to feel his presence, Arianna was capable of directly attacking him. How could he not be astounded?

He went from cloud nine to instantly humbled!

Still, now that his strength had taken a step forward, he had a sudden urge to go and find some of his old rivals to vent a little, but that would have to wait…

“Mathias,” Arianna called out, her voice as soothing as ever. “Now that we’re all here, it’s time for us to get going.”

“Yes, master,” Mathias nodded before turning to the rest of the group. “Okay, everyone knows where they’re going and who with. All I want to say before we leave is that this will be the first time the pavilion truly makes its presence known to the world.

I want to show the whole world that we’re the number one school on the continent, and for that to happen, each of you has to go out and suppress all the other so-called elites of your generation.

With that being said, I only have one question…”

As he said that, Mathias paused as he looked into the confident and unwavering eyes of each of his students. “Can you do it?”

Hearing his question, the blood of each of the disciples thrummed with excitement as they thought about their head teacher’s words. The words “suppress their generation” ringing in their ears over and over.

It was an achievement that had never been done before, and chances are, it would never be done again. If they were successful, their names would likely go down in history for generations to come.

Thinking to there, each of them answered in unison. “YES, WE CAN!”

“Good,” Mathias nodded with pride, thanking his lucky stars for getting such a capable bunch for his school’s first cohort! “Then let’s go show the world the invincible might of our Yin-Yang Pavilion!”

No more words needed to be said; each of the students rolled out with their chosen instructor towards their individual targets.

It went without saying that Ace’s group was both the biggest and the strongest, with two saint-level beings going, but with Ace’s knack for causing trouble and the potential dangers involved, it made sense.

The two saints in Ace’s group were Arianna and Carter – the bloody-eyed mane lion – and sitting on Carter’s back was his son – Leo, Ace’s subordinate – Cirulus, Lance, Milianna, and the main man, Ace.

“Are you ready?” Milianna asked as she stroked her son’s hair.

“100%!” Ace replied with a calm confidence before turning to face his mother’s elegant face, a hint of worry and concern colouring his features. “What about you? It’s not too late to turn back…”

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Milianna smiled gently.

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous and scared, but more than anything else, she was determined! She was determined to no longer be that cowering woman she had been these last 16 years!

“Plus, this isn’t just a coming out for the Pavilion,” Milianna said resolutely. “This is the stage our Gol family comes out to the world; how can I, Gol D. Milianna, not be there?”

After learning the truth about her son’s mysterious past life, she decided to support him by taking his true father’s name.

As an orphan, she never had a last name, so it was no skin off her back, but her choice meant the world to Ace.

A radiant smile lit up Ace’s face when he heard that. His mother’s decision that day was the best gift he had ever been given in either life.

Even though he didn’t regret taking his previous mother’s name in his last life, since reconciling his emotions, he wanted to do something to show how much he loved his father.

He didn’t know if Roger was looking down watching him, but if he was, he wanted to do something that would make him proud.