My streak of falling unconscious never seems to end, and it looks like this time I failed to continue my brief streak of waking up in my own bed.

Sigh.

Anyway, it seems I'm on Elder Zal's ship. I wonder why she brought me here.

No use in waiting around to find out. I quickly got up and headed to the training room on the ship. I've been in this room before from my seclusion days, and I knew my way to the training room from here — which is usually where me and Elder Zal had our discussions.

Upon walking through the double sliding doors that led to the training room, I saw Elder Zal as expected, but she beat me to the greeting.

"I greet the Eternal Flame."

So, she is going to say that every single time we meet now? Her attitude toward me has really changed then — permanently, I see.

"Elder Zal. Why has your attitude toward me changed so sharply? I didn't have a problem with how it was before."

She looked at me calmly for a moment and then began talking.

"The answer is simple. As time passes, and you grow into your role as a Patriarch, my attitude will shift accordingly. As the Elder in charge of your early acclimation to your role, a certain attitude and behavior was required.

"But now that you have founded your own Clan and truly embraced your role as an Infernal Patriarch, my attitude towards you needs to reflect that. There isn't a single Infernal in existence who would disrespect a Patriarch without being a traitor, a mad fool, or something similar.

"My attitude didn't change to something else. Instead, it has reverted to how it always was, Patriarch Raizen."

"I see... I understand. Then you brought me here for a reason, right?"

"Yes. First of all, congratulations on your breakthrough. Secondly, I highly recommend you visit the Core before making any other plans. Depending on your choice there, it could cause you to make completely different decisions."

Well, if she's insisting this much on it, then surely she has a good reason to do so.

"Then let's go."

That was all the motivator Elder Zal needed, and very quickly I went from looking at the training room to once again standing at the edge of a massive hole.

"Ahh!!"

Someone screamed out in shock, and I turned around to see a young woman looking at us with wide eyes and a staff pointed at us.

A staff, eh.

"Hey, who the hell are you people and where did you come from?!"

Hm, I guess we didn't own the place. I took a peek over at Elder Zal, but she clearly wouldn't say anything.

Up to me then, I guess.

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"My name is Raizen. City Lord of Black Cove City. I have some business in the hole. Don't worry, we won't bother you."

Her face twisted into confusion for a minute before she yelled back at us.

"What the hell kind of explanation is that? And who the hell would believe you?"

Her staff didn't lower for even a moment, and it actually looked like she would attack if I didn't answer properly.

And I suppose her earlier yelp didn't go unnoticed, as a few people who I guess were nearby came running — two women and a man.

The man spoke up first.

But not only did he speak up — he drew his sword and pointed it at me.

"Who the fuck are you?! Are you alright, Kim?"

Hm... now it's getting annoying.

Before this Kim could respond, I allowed my flames to spread abruptly all around us for a brief minute before retracting them back.

Their faces instantly went from a mix of anger and confusion to one of fear and... recognition? Weird.

"Again, my name is Raizen. The City Lord of Black Cove City. I don't want any problems with you. Sorry for scaring you earlier."

I really didn't plan on talking any more than that, but as I turned to face the massive hole, the Kim girl started talking again.

"It's you... you're the one who fought the blood suckers for us..."

Oh? Was she one of the humans who were still alive in the City? Guess we'll have something to talk about when I come back up.

I didn't respond and just jumped into the hole, Elder Zal following behind me. I thought about asking her to teleport us down for the briefest of moments, but if she only brought me to the edge, then there had to be a reason for it.

So I covered myself in a thick coat of Qi and just did a free fall all the way down, instead of speeding down it like I did the last time I came here.

For one, I couldn't fly. And two... well, there wasn't any two. I couldn't fly, so this was all I could do.

...For almost what felt like an eternity, I simply kept falling.

During the fall, I had plenty of time to think. Around 40 minutes, in fact.

I was now in the Core Formation Realm.

And it was indeed remarkably different than Qi Refinement.

One of the biggest differences was simply the amount of Qi I had access to. My core was like a solar panel with built-in batteries.

Not only did it passively draw in Qi from the outside world with far greater efficiency and quantity, it also stored it within itself.

And it didn't stop there. It was integrated with my meridians and the rest of my body deeply by now, and it constantly flooded every nook and cranny with Qi.

It was like I was always using that one technique to empower my body, except this wasn't a technique... this was my passive state.

If I decided to call on more Qi to a specific area, the resulting power would be devastating.

Now it makes sense why fighting just one restricted Core Formation Cultivator made me use potentially fatal attacks just to win.

Straight up, I would've never stood a chance.

But I somehow managed to do it, and I'm here now — so guess that's that.

I tested a few more things after that — how quickly my Qi circulated, or how fast I healed, or how far my senses could stretch. And I even tried talking to Elder Zal mentally, but it seems I couldn't do that just yet.

Anyway, the time for testing was now over, as I finally burst through from the hole into the core cavern. And for a second there, I thought I was about to fall headfirst into the gigantic molten ball of lava before I felt Qi envelop me and I was quickly stabilized in the air.

"Thank you, Elder Zal."

She simply nodded, and I felt my body being moved towards the core.

And I didn't need to wait long to see why.

Once I got in range, a notification flashed across my face.

Ding!

Eligible Native Detected

Become Planetary Lord

Yes/No?

Well I'll be damned.

"I highly recommend you think about this carefully, Patriarch Raizen. One of the members of the Olirag Clan should have mentioned benefits to you regarding linking your City with the System.

"Similar benefits exist here, but instead of just your City, accepting this position would integrate your entire Planet into the System.

"As it stands, without factions coming here on their own accord, this Planet would be cut off from the rest of the Multiverse for quite some time. At least until you were able to advance enough to create void-capable ships on your own.

"The point is: this could be very beneficial for you, your Clan, and your Planet."

"...My Planet?"

"The remaining humans on this Planet might not be aware yet, but there isn't a major faction in the Multiverse that isn't recognizing this Planet as yours."

...

Planetary Lord, eh.

Fuck it — why not.

Yes.

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