The actions of the ants have definitely upset me, and I wanted them to pay a price for that, but that didn't mean I was stupid.

I trained extremely hard for the past 10 years under the watchful eye of Elder Zal, and I even drank liquid from the Qi Spring constantly for the last 5 all to advance my cultivation, but I was still in the Core Formation Realm.

If that was all it took to go from the Ignition stage of Core Formation to the Nascent Soul Realm, then the realm itself would lose a lot of the prestige it held.

Of course that liquid was enough to kill most people with just a single drop if they didn't have the capacity to handle it, but we were talking on the scale of the multiverse here. I was not too special in the fact that I could survive more than just a few drops of it.

There was more than a few examples of that happening on Earth already, not even including anywhere else.

Then there was the fact I drank so many in a short time frame. I know that if I was being realistic, that on Earth it would likely be very hard to find a human capable of that here. At least in the current generation of humans.

Perhaps down the line when more and more humans are born in a Qi rich environment there will be more and more of a chance that a few monsters are born here. But currently? Highly improbable.

The current populace had to get stronger for survival, and so they did, but reality was reality. Most of them will not reach Qi Refinement, let alone Core Formation. Too many of them were too used to their lives beforehand. They wouldn't or simply didn't want to chase a life where they were dedicated to cultivating.

Of course there would still be plenty who reached Core Formation, maybe even Nascent Soul, and perhaps a scant few just might touch the Immortal Realm, but that will be hundreds if not thousands of years down the line.

The thing is though…this is just one planet that is not even 50 years post the Tutorial as of yet.

I was always going to outpace them. In fact I would outpace a lot of people. That was my advantage as a Patriarch and someone whose body has always been bathed in pure Eternal Flames.

Despite all of that.

Infernals are not the only strong races out there, and we are far from the only ones whose members have a few advantages to their names.

I am not some absolute existence destined to stand above all.

So even with my advantages and resources given to me, it was still a bit much for to reach the Nascent Soul Realm that quickly.

Though…being the peak of the Core Formation realm was a pretty good second place to be.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Anyway.

It turns out that Vrusha didn't have to lead me very far.

The massive scar in the ground that the Infernal District was built next to. That was apparently the closest entrance into he underground. That obviously made sense considering how deep and how vast the hole was, but to think an ant never once came out of it.

To be so smart that they knew to avoid the Cities. What I didn't understand was why?

They clearly had both the overwhelming strength and numbers needed to practically conquer this whole planet if they so wished, yet they chose to ignore the Cities altogether. Did they just want to avoid conflict?

That's a level of intelligence I really didn't expect to find in ants of all things.

So what will I do.

My own Infernals plenty amongst their number who were at the peak of the Core Formation Realm, and obviously there those who were in the Nascent Soul Realm.

Yet even they weren't able to make a proper dent in the situation underground. Obviously it's good that the flames of the boys were effective against the ants, and if that's the case then my flames should be even more effective, but I am only one man.

And even if being only one man wasn't a problem, my flames were still limited to my cultivation. If there were ants who could go toe to toe with Nascent Soul Infernals, they would be able to do the same with me.

Obviously there was the option of using the V word, or that other word I probably shouldn't use if I didn't have to. There was also even the option of going to our local Immortal and asking her for help.

Hm.

Well that probably wasn't going to happen.

V word spamming it is then.

In fact, I've yet to use in the Core Formation Realm…there should be some improvements there. At the very least, I hope I am not left feeling so weak anymore.

By the time I was finished going over a few different thoughts in my head, we had jumped into the hole and landed safely at the bottom.

And by we, I meant Vrusha and the rest of the Pyreveil Guard.

Unless Elder Zal came back and offered to train me in seclusion once again, I doubt I would be going anywhere by myself for the foreseeable future. Not that I had a problem with that of course.

They wanted to do it, and I didn't mind.

The area we landed in was pretty much devoid of anything of substance. I could faintly see that there were signs of battle here some time ago, but for the most part that was it. We were surrounded by walls on all sides with the exception of the tunnel ahead of us.

There was nothing too special about the tunnel either, just a really long tunnel.

Vrusha continued to lead the way, and eventually we reached a change in scenery.

It was a small opening where two different tunnels branched off in different directions. Here at this location though was a very small camp, and it turns out a few of my people were here.

"We greet the Patriarch."

10 Infernals were currently kneeling before me. Each of them looked to be nursing injuries.

I quickly made them get up and get back to resting. After thanking them for their dedication, we continued deeper into the tunnels.

This camp was just a location where they could quickly set up a choke point against the ants if other locations were to fall and a major retreat was called.

Either way, there was no reason for me to linger there. We continued to push forward and eventually we reached another point where the amount of branching tunnels increased again, and once again another camp.

Only I suppose it wasn't far to call this one a simple camp. There was enough dwelling here for more than just few thousand individuals.

The buildings seemed to be made out of nothing but mud and quite a bit of them were destroyed, but dwelling was dwelling.

I suppose this was the location of one of those human farms.

About 50 Infernals were stationed here. I stopped them from kneeling and after observing the buildings for a bit longer, progressed forwards once again.

So the ants knew architecture.

Interesting.

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