Affinity:Chaos

On another part of the Continent.

While Grey and Klaus were with Kyle, and while Reynolds was trying to get to the Peak of the Venerable Plane, Alice was also trying to do the same.

Like Reynolds, she had gotten to the Ninth stage of the Venerable Plane, but there was no way for her to improve in seclusion. She has to come out if she wants to break through.

Unlike Reynolds, she didn't need to come out, her Faction has a secret realm she could enter and break through to the Peak. If she's lucky, she might leave that place on the verge of getting to the Sovereign Plane. A month was all she needed to spend in that place, but since she's in the Ninth stage, she wouldn't need more than a week or two to get to the Peak of the Venerable Plane. After getting to the Peak, she might try to see if she could get close to breaking through while there.

She stepped out of seclusion, and since she had garnered enough merit, she used it to get into the place. Unlike Grey and Klaus who were the main talents in their respective Factions, Alice and Reynolds were different. Yes, their cultivation speed is faster than others, but it still didn't give them the number spot in their Factions. The reason was simple, their Faction Leader's children were in the same Faction, and were on the same stage as them.

This meant that the Faction Leader's child was always favored compared to them. They were always right after the Faction Leader's children which made getting the best treatment impossible.

Alice used her merits and stepped into the secret realm.

"Grey and Klaus are already in the Sovereign Plane, Reynolds should be close as well. I can't fall behind." She muttered as she entered the place.

She heard of Klaus' breakthrough, and there was no need to ask about Grey's breakthrough, every living being in the world saw it. Only those close to him knew that it was him. From the first glance, just like Klaus, she knew it was Grey. Other than Cori, Grey's friends were the only ones who recognized him. Cori recognized him from the first attempt while Grey's friends needed the second time to confirm it.

When she stepped into the secret realm, her objective was simple: get to the Peak of the Venerable Plane. And like Reynolds, she had the same plan in mind. Fighting someone at the Peak to forcefully improve her cultivation stage.

Reynolds had the benefit of possibly facing someone above the Peak, but Alice didn't need to worry about that. In this secret realm, she would only face those at the Peak of the Venerable Plane, at most. There were opponents in the Ninth stage of the Venerable Plane, while there were some in the Sage Plane and lower. She had to challenge those at the peak of the world, and that was what she did.

The moment she entered the place, she went to the strongest person in this secret realm who was already at the Peak and challenged him.

This was an individual that was already close to being a Pseudo-sovereign, yet, she went on to challenge him.

Being someone who isn't used to having his authority challenged, the man didn't hold back during the battle.

Alice was forced to run away for her life during the first battle. Unlike Reynolds, her Seelie wouldn't make her equivalent to a Pseudo-sovereign, or close to that stage. Even though in terms of talent, she was better, this man had the higher experience and cultivation stage and used it to his advantage. Alice couldn't even get a single advantage over him.

The first battle didn't last up to ten minutes, but Alice was seriously wounded.

….

In a cave.

'Looks like I overestimated my ability. Grey and Reynolds might be able to achieve something like this in the Ninth stage, but I'm not.' She thought as she evaluated the battle.

With no other choice, she went for a Ninth stage Venerable. In the space of a week, Ninth stage Venerables were no match for her.

She was already in the Ninth stage, all she needed was to get used to her new strength. After a few days, she didn't only get used to it, but she was able to use an even greater strength when attacking.

Since she was still in the secret realm, she went to challenge the man once again.

This man was someone no one from the present generation of talents has been able to defeat in the Faction. Of course, she knew her friends would make short work of him, but she wanted to be on the same page as her friends, so she wanted to defeat him easily as well.

Since she was already close to the Peak in terms of strength and had defeated a few people in the secret realm with that strength, this was what she had in mind. Defeat this man and get to the Peak, there was no other way.

The man didn't know about Alice's progress, neither did he care. Seeing Alice again, he felt disgusted.

"I don't like beating girls twice." He said calmly.

He already knew the situation of his world, so whenever he was faced with geniuses from the Aurora Continent, he held deep hatred towards them for some reason. He's the only one who could beat any of them sent here, so the pressure on him was very strong.

"Don't worry, you won't be able to achieve that, in my case." Alice replied.

She knew what the man meant, but didn't back away. One thing about their relationship with the inhabitants of this secret world is that they try not to kill each other in battles involving Sovereigns, especially those in the Late stages.

Those from Alice's Faction refrain from killing them, and so do the inhabitants of this world.

Alice was a little worried, but she knew her life was safe.