As neighboring quadrants, there was often competition between them and it wasn't rare for geniuses of the 74th quadrant to come and temper themselves here… To describe them as unruly would truly be an understatement. So, when the crowd heard that the Jafari family had been chased off to the 74th quadrant, causing them to lose a talent as great as Dyon, they had mixed feelings about it.
The good news was that Dyon had come back… The bad news was that he had might have already completed his trials under the 74th quadrant banner, thus not allowing them to benefit at all. After all, where else could he have gotten that talent increasing honey of his?
Dyon shook his head. "Has nothing to do with the quadrant I'm from. My mother is a mortal woman, what benefits do you think I received from the 74th quadrant? They're not even aware of my existence. To them, I'm likely just another fool who overestimated himself and died in his trials."
Donari was stunned by these words, but he suddenly understood.
Unlike the 98th quadrant, although the 74th quadrant didn't have any kings either, they did at least have dozens, if not more, Dukes. This was already tens of times the number their quadrant had. If Dyon's mother was truly a mortal like he said, it would be very easy for him to go unnoticed by the 74th quadrant even if he became a Duke.
"What I meant is that if you want to improve, staying here isn't the answer. If you go to the tower, yes, you'll be humiliated. Yes, you won't stand a chance against those greater geniuses. Yes… You might even have to lower your head in order to survive, or learn to keep your head high even in the face of death. But, all of that is better than doing what your supposed title holders do."
Suddenly, Dyon sounded like he was lecturing everyone in attendance instead of just speaking to Donari. His words resonated with them all, and those who had been proud of the titles they had earned turned their heads in shame, avoiding the scrutiny of others.
"Your 98th quadrant is already practically unified under one head. You have no campaign wars, so what reason do you have to be here instead of tempering yourselves in the tower? You won't improve here."
When Dyon had come here, he had assumed that he wouldn't have to deal with the title holders of the 98th quadrant. Usually, title holders would only return to their quadrants when campaign season was in full swing, choosing to spend the rest of the time training in the tower and facing the danger there. It was only in this way that they'd improve.
And yet, that wasn't the case here. Instead, they all cowered, choosing to flex their muscles in front of the weak instead of confronting the strong. This was truly too pathetic.
Everyone took Dyon's words differently.
Some who had been too scared to attempt their own trials resolved in their hearts to do so.
Some who had already taken their trials, but decided to cower here after facing the tough competition of the tower resolved themselves to cower no longer.
While others still became angry at Dyon's words, as though he was personally attacking their character.
In the end, Dyon was content that at least some individuals took his words the right way. Those who chose to become angry had no future to speak of and were destined to forever remain mediocre.
The path of cultivation was one rife with struggles and hardships, if you weren't willing to face them head on, did you deserve to cultivate at all? And even if you did, and you somehow made it through, muddling in mediocrity, there was no doubt in Dyon's mind that people with such weak mindsets would be destroyed under their tribulations.
There was no denying that Dyon had been gifted with a lot of luck in his path, and he would never deny such a thing.
Nearly from the beginning of his journey, he was blessed with a great master who gave him all the tools he could ever need. And then after that, he met a man he was truly proud of becoming the successor of.
However, he would have never received either of these opportunities if he had chosen to remain in his mortal realm. If he had chosen to cower, and stay behind his computer screens and gadgets, he would have never worshipped the 25th White Mother as his master, nor would he have ever met the Demon Sage.
He had to suffer through all sorts of hardships during his time in Focus Academy, even being pushed to the point of near death twice before he received his first opportunity to truly improve.
Although Dyon was lucky, one could never say that he hadn't worked for what he received.
Donari fell into deep thought hearing Dyon's words, before he nodded in the end and walked away without saying a thing.
It took a moment for the battles to start up again after the 'heated' exchange between Dyon and Donari, but finally, under Evangeline's guidance, it did.
Dyon's words had risen his place in the hearts of those four beauties, albeit for vastly different reasons between them.
Lilith simply nodded, acknowledging that although Dyon might be of lowly birth, at least he wasn't a coward. Although it didn't surpass a simple nod, it was more than Lilith usually gave people.
As for Evangeline, she had already been interesting in this Little Brother for one reason or another, but she seemed to like his fiery temper.
RolRol's thoughts were much more innocent, and hardly had to do with Dyon at all, truth be told. She only thought to herself that the man she liked in the future shouldn't be a coward. While Asyna wanted to fight Dyon even more after hearing his words. She wanted to see if he really didn't back down in the face of pressure, or whether those were just high and might words he could speak now that he was in front of people he was sure he could beat.
In this vein, even Lilith was moderately interested how Dyon would react when his opponent was someone as powerful as Asyna.
Just like this, the rounds continued, with a few standouts here and there, mostly members of the up and coming families of Planet Cathedral. With the Jafari family gone, there was a huge piece of the pie left than no one had been able to grab a hold of yet. So, many of these families heavily invested in their younger generation, hoping to increase their prestige from the ground up.
These families included the Mogy family, the Acor family, the Coudry family and the Novrel family. Of which, they all had geniuses younger than 180 years old, yet had stepped into the 9th and 10th stages of essence gathering. There was no question that they were promising youths.
For obvious reasons, they had hostility toward Dyon. Their families were finally getting in perfect position to steal the position the Jafari family once held, yet here was Dyon, far younger than any of them, yet supposedly also much more power. They weren't convinced! They would fight it out with him until the end.
Soon, the final round came to the fore, and under a mixture of excited, anticipatory and killing intent filled eyes, Dyon walked to the stage with his group, waiting for it to be their turn to fight.
Maybe by design, the other groups ended quickly, and everyone's eyes finally trained on Dyon. Was he really as powerful as Donari made it seem? Or not?
Dyon had quite a leisurely aura, yet people couldn't help but constantly look toward the massive sword strapped to his chest with jet-black chains. Was this the reason he was so powerful? They were all eager to see him use it.
Dyon's nine opponents fanned out around him, looking around with caution in their eyes at everyone other than themselves, but it was clear that they spent most of their time observing Dyon.
Unlike Donari, though, Dyon didn't belittle people that hadn't insulted him first, so he simply waited patiently, clasping his hands behind his back while lamenting the fact these stupid black disciple robes didn't have pockets. He truly missed his comfy sweat pants.
"Start!" The judge's voice roared into the silent arena.
