Chapter 4665: Surpassed

Ria had been watching the two of them violate the most basic laws of the universe, understanding just how much stronger than her the two of them were. It also helped her understand just what the gap between the Sage Realm and the Transcendent Realm was, although her parents were undoubtedly superior than the norm.

However, what had truly stunned her was that even without the Transcendent Realm, she couldn’t even begin to remotely approach their power. Before they leveraged their Verses, she understood how much both of them had been holding back against her, especially her father.

It helped her understand that she was far from reaching the limits of power below Transcendence.

She watched with peeled eyes as the battle continued for another ten minutes until it finally ended with a frustrated Amare halting her offensive.

"Your resilience is otherworldly," she huffed. "I can’t believe that even my future and present together isn’t enough to defeat you."

Rui’s body was battered up and down, filled with wounds in contrast to Amare’s spotless self. He had failed to land a single attack on her once the battle became Transcendent. Or rather, he hadn’t even attempted it because he was too busy defending himself against her onslaught.

The dynamics of the battle had been clear to both of them. Even though Amare had failed to push towards victory, she did have an edge against him during the battle. Which meant that, at this point in time, she was ever so slightly stronger than him.

At least in his normal state.

Rui recognized this himself, yet he didn’t appear to be particularly dismayed by this outcome.

Rather, he welcomed it.

"Finally."

His voice was one of excitement and appreciation. It had been far too long since a non-enemy had been powerful enough to take the edge against him. He couldn’t even remember when the last time such a thing had happened. He had been the strongest Martial Artist for close to two decades at this point.

Now, Amare had reached such an absurd level of power that even all of his trump cards could only get him a stalemate. Anybody who fought her needed to be prepared to fight four Martialverses, effectively speaking. His Martialverse was stronger than one of hers, but certainly not both. The only reason he held out was that his base was much stronger and that he had more Realms of power, allowing that to compensate for the vast disparity when it came to Transcendence.

Amare, on the other hand, despite knowing that she was a touch stronger, wasn’t too pleased by the outcome.

Rui was constantly growing stronger. And more than anything, he grew stronger against opponents he had already fought. His adaptive evolution meant that fighting him only got harder and harder each time. The next time they fought, if she didn’t improve, then it would be a completely even draw. The next time after that, he would have the advantage. And the next time after that, he would outright win.

She knew that. That was why she was displeased that even with her extravagant power, she simply couldn’t actually achieve the victory that she sought. And she would need to grow stronger and stronger in order to preserve the small gap in power between them.

"Incredible..." Ria’s voice broke them out of their reverie. Their daughter was awed by the exchange between the two Transcendents. Her amber eyes sparkled with amazement, much to her parents’ surprise. She had never been a battle junkie, after all. But perhaps it was the power that truly attracted her interest.

"When will I possess that kind of power?" she murmured with a stunned expression.

Rui shook his head. "Not any time soon, I can assure you of that. The Path to Transcendence is very different from the other Realms. The closest is actually the Sage Realm, but you can’t draw from that experience because there’s no shortcut to the Transcendent Realm."

"Don’t even think about becoming a Transcendent, young lady," Amare folded her arms. "You don’t have the necessary experience to even commence the journey. For now, focus on mastering the power of the Sage Realm and focus on honing your fundamentals. After that, you can think about the Corporeal Realm. Eventually, you will have accrued the experience needed to reach Transcendence."

Ria expected to hear that, of course. She knew that reaching Transcendence would take time. She could put aside any dreams she had of reaching it soon. Her parents were the two youngest Martial Transcendents, and the time they spent reaching the Transcendent Realm could be measured in decades.

"I can’t train my foundations while hunting infected worlds, though," she muttered.

"You can take a break from hunting infected worlds for now," her father remarked a little too eagerly. "You have already hunted nineteen infected worlds. I can promise you that with our current infrastructure, we don’t have the mining capacity or the long-distance energy-independent carrier ships to mine and transport so many infected worlds at once. Infected worlds require special technology and equipment which we have limited quantities of. It will take a long time for the industry to digest all of the gains you have given them."

In truth, Rui just wanted her to stop hunting infected worlds for a little bit because he knew that it would eventually draw the attention of all manner of dangerous parties across the Orion Star Strand and even the Milky Way.

Though he didn’t tell Ria that because he didn’t want her defiance to stubbornly insist on continuing. Getting her to stop for another reason such as training, was better.

"Staying here on Gaia Prime..." she muttered. In the past, she would have hated that, but her aversion to home wasn’t as intense as it had been two years ago. Perhaps it was because she had her own power, and the agency it gave her made her feel like her status as princess wasn’t nearly as suffocating as it once was.

She shrugged.

"Alright."