Bellis blinked. Her attack had missed again. As the figure before her slowly faded away, she was left utterly dumbfounded.
She couldn't figure out what had happened.
She hurriedly searched for Reke and found him crouching beside the small pit she had just made.
"Country bumpkin, what was that just now? You were cheating, weren't you? I should've hit you!"
Bellis demanded.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk! You're such a Shaniu, and you still won't admit it. I wasn't standing there anymore. That was just an afterimage."
"Mm! I was probably crouching here by the time you made that pit."
Reke shook his head, looking at her as if she were an idiot.
"What was that move you just used?" Bellis pressed on, refusing to give up.
Reke ignored her, stood up, stretched, and strolled leisurely toward home.
Bellis wanted to keep fighting, but pain throbbed throughout her body, and she was nearly out of stamina. Reluctantly, she unclenched her fists.
She lowered her head and fell silent, replaying Reke's afterimage in her mind.
Over the past nine months, Reke had conquered sixty times gravity, and his battle power had reached the 300,000 mark. He could feel a new bottleneck approaching, and he had a strong premonition that once he broke through it, the next one would be Super Saiyan.
He was quite satisfied with how much he'd strengthened his body. He had tested it by firing a ki blast with a battle power of 100,000 at himself, and his body hadn't suffered the slightest damage.
And he hadn't used ki at all. He'd simply tanked the blast with his body.
His ki training had also hit a bottleneck. Once he broke through it, he'd be able to successfully copy the Origin Energy Slash.
He'd already copied the Solar Flare. He wasn't interested in the Myriad Nation Shocking Heaven Palm, the Spirit Ball was too weak, and the Kikoho cost too much of the user's life.
As for the Afterimage Fist he used, it was merely a technique for controlling ki. It didn't need to be taught. Once someone understood ki well enough, they would naturally learn it.
Tomorrow was the day the adventure group would begin training with Reke. Of course, he wasn't going to supervise them. He'd only agreed to let them train alongside Lan Xin.
In fact, he'd stopped supervising Lan Xin's training a long time ago. As the saying went, a master could show you the way, but the rest was up to you.
Reke had only laid the groundwork for Lan Xin.
Instead, tomorrow he planned to send Lan Xin off on her own. He'd already chosen the destination: the Wild Grasslands.
Reke was lounging comfortably on the sofa when Lan Xin came in, covering her face. He glanced sideways at her and said, "Lan Xin, the Dabusu Adventure Group will come see you tomorrow."
"Brother Lei, weren't you sending me to the Wild Grasslands tomorrow?" Lan Xin asked in confusion.
"Right. A year ago, I promised they could train alongside you. You're going to the Wild Grasslands, so of course they'll come with you."
"This..." Lan Xin could tell from Reke's expression that he'd tricked the adventure group. They'd definitely expected to train with him.
"What? Got a problem?"
Lan Xin hesitated, and Reke gave a quiet snort.
"No, no. But doesn't the adventure group want to train with you, Brother Lei? Will they agree if you just hand them over to me?" Lan Xin asked, voicing her concern.
Lan Xin's words made Reke feel a little awkward, too.
But compared to his own comfortable life, that little awkwardness was nothing.
"Go call Four-Eyes over. I'll talk to him. If he doesn't agree, then so be it."
Reke stood by his decision.
Pat rushed over as soon as he got Lan Xin's call.
He could guess what this was about, and he looked at Reke with eager anticipation.
"Ahem—" Reke turned his head aside, ignoring Pat's hopeful gaze. "Four-Eyes, tomorrow's the day we agreed on. Lan Xin is heading to the Wild Grasslands, so you're going with her."
"Huh?" Pat didn't understand at first. What was this? It wasn't at all what he'd expected.
"Weren't you going to train us?"
Reke rolled his eyes.
"When did I say that? What I said was that once Lan Xin's progress caught up, you could train together."
"Besides, didn't you nearly die in the Wild Grasslands last time? This is a perfect chance to see how much you've improved. You're not scared, are you?"
Pat couldn't argue with Reke. And he did remember now: Reke had never said they'd train with him. Pat had simply assumed that. He hadn't expected Reke to send Lan Xin off to train on her own so soon.
The Wild Grasslands had left a lingering shadow in his heart, but their battle power had grown quickly over the past year. With the whole group going this time, there was nothing to fear. They could treat it as a major training exercise.
"Fine. I'll go get ready now," Pat said confidently.
"Wait. You can go to the grasslands, but don't cross over into the other side. The monsters in there are more than you can handle."
Reke thought it over, then decided to warn them.
"I've got over 3,000 battle power now. I still can't go?"
Pat was feeling pretty full of himself. After a year of recovery, the group's average battle power had reached 2,000, and he was a formidable expert with 3,500.
"You fucking forget the pain as soon as the wound heals. You need to understand that you're just a nobody. If you want to get yourself killed, go alone. Don't drag everyone else down with you."
"There are monsters in there with tens of thousands of battle power. How the fuck do you expect to fight them?"
Reke's temper flared, and he cursed Pat out.
"Besides, you can all sense ki now, can't you? Just sense their power when you get there, and you'll understand."
"Now get lost."
Reke gave Pat a thorough tongue-lashing, but it also brought him to his senses. He slunk away.
"Lan Xin, I don't feel like saying much. Just remember one thing: staying alive matters most. Go say a proper goodbye to your mother."
As for Uti, she was devastated at the thought of her son leaving.
As soon as Pat returned to the building, he notified everyone to start making preparations.
This time, aside from the noncombatants, Pat planned to take everyone to the Wild Grasslands, regardless of age. They would sweep the whole area.
As expected, Pat's actions alarmed the group's veterans.
One after another, more than a dozen of his younger siblings came to find him.
"Boss, weren't we going to train tomorrow? What's all this about?"
Lola was the first to ask.
Pat told them what Reke had said and explained his plans.
"Hmph! I think Reke just wants to slack off," Lola said through gritted teeth.
"Eighth Sister, that's not fair. The boss was the one who misunderstood. Besides, I think going to the Wild Grasslands is a good idea."
"That's right. The little ones in the group need to see some blood. We'll be right there to keep an eye on them."
"I agree, too. I nearly lost my life in there last time. This time, I'm going to kill them all."
"I'd like to add one thing: I hope we don't use the aircraft this time. We should walk the entire way."
"But the kids are still so young. Shouldn't we leave them behind this time?"
"Third Sister, I have to say something about that. Think about how strong we were the last time we went to the Wild Grasslands, and how strong they are now. They're much stronger than we were back then. Are we supposed to keep them cooped up at home like babies?"
"Enough. We're all going. The kids are the future of our group, and we won't be around forever." Pat cut them off and made the final call.
Before you continue