Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

"HAHAHAHA, Finally!" Ace laughed boisterously as his body trembled ecstatically, staring at the small green orb in his palm. "I finally got you!"

The formerly vibrant jungle landscape of the fifth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods had been transformed into what could only be described as a desolate wasteland, a testament to the power of Ace's last strike.

Still, the only thing Ace cared about was the Life of Pearl in his hands. He didn't even seem to care about the fact that he had just made a significant breakthrough with his comprehension of the fused mysteries of Explosions and the Essence of Fire, leaping all the way up to 80% in one go.

Looking up at Ace standing in the skies above the now devastated terrain, laughing to himself like an excited child on Christmas day, both Amira and Leona smiled happily.

They, more than anyone, understood how much this meant to Ace, and they were beyond happy that he had finally achieved one of his many dreams. So happy, in fact, that they didn't even bother to chase after the fleeing saint-level plant-type lifeforms, instead choosing to fly over to Ace's side.

"Look at you giggling to yourself like an excited child," Amira chided with a gentle smile on her face. "If I didn't know any better, I would've thought you broke through to become a deity."

"Deity?" Ace scoffed as he looked up from the pearl for the first time since getting his hands on it. "This is ten… no 100 times better than me simply breaking through to the deity realm."

Ace's words would've sounded ridiculous to most; after all, the idea of becoming a deity was the dream of just about every person on the continent, be it man, woman, child or even beast. As long as one could cultivate, who didn't want to become a deity?

Still, Amira merely nodded. She understood that whilst becoming a deity was a dream for most, for Ace, herself and just about everyone in the Pavilion, it was more like a matter of time.

"I'm sure Uncle Aiden will be delighted!" Amira replied, a teasing glint flashing across her eyes as she continued. "I'm sure he'll be even happier to learn about how happy his dear disciple was when he found it."

Hearing that caused Ace's brows to twitch as his excited grin all but disappeared.

"I have no idea what you're talking about; you must be mistaken." Ace cleared his throat as he swiftly suppressed his excitement. "I'm just excited that I no longer have to bother with doing that lazy old farts dirty work."

Ace's swift change in mood caused both Amira and Leona to chuckle, but neither said anything to continue teasing him. In fact, they wouldn't have gotten the chance even if they had wanted to. Before either realised what had happened, Ace had already stored the Pearl of Life away in his storage device as an all too familiar grin appeared on his face.

Amira and Leona only had time to see Ace's grin for a second before an explosion took place beneath his feet and his body disappeared, leaving nothing but a vanishing afterimage. Still, that grin was one they would be able to recognise anywhere.

Whilst Ace's former grin was one of excitement for being able to do something to help a loved one, the one that took its place was one Ace only showed when he was about to take part in a battle that truly excited him.

And as if to confirm their suspicions, Ace's excited shouts echoed through the now devastated wasteland.

"LINLEY…" Ace bellowed excitedly as his body tore through the air at a speed that most non-deities would struggle to follow.

Not wanting to be outdone by his rival, Linley excitedly shouted back as though he was competing to see whose voice was louder. "ACE! HAHA, I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU WERE GOING TO SHOW YOUR UGLY FACE!"

Both Olivier and Yunaia stared at the back of Linley's azure scaled back in shock.

After their encounter with Felicia, Linley spent the next month by Olivier's side, unwilling to leave him until he recovered from his soul mutation, and Yunaia decided to stay with him.

When she asked to learn about concepts and the method of using them, Linley apologised but decisively refused. Although he was deeply grateful for her saving their lives, he explained it wasn't his secret to share, but if she still wanted to learn, her best bet was finding Ace as he was the disciple of Aiden Rohault – the man who created this newly formed path.

Although disappointed, Yunaia respected his decision. Still, she was unwilling to give up and decided to stay with Linley until they ran into Ace, understanding that with the relationship between Linley and Ace, it would be best if the young Dragonblood Warrior could put in a good word.

Linley told her he would do what he could, but he couldn't promise her anything.

After that night, it was a month before Olivier finally woke up from his comatosed state, with his soul successfully mutating.

The power he had at his disposal at that point shocked him to no end. Just before he lost consciousness, he genuinely believed that he was dead, but not only did he survive, he somehow managed to turn a disaster into a fortune.

Although his comprehension of the laws of light and darkness hadn't progressed, the fusion of the two elements had allowed his might to multiply ten times over. Not only that, but the power of his soul had skyrocketed.

It had to be remembered that although a genius, Olivier's focus had always been on the path of a warrior; as such, although his soul was more powerful than other warriors of his level, it was slightly lacking when compared to even the weaker early saint level mages, but now, his soul had improved by so much that it was no weaker than a prime saint level mage like Desri.

Overall, despite only being a mid-stage saint-level warrior, Olivier's power now put him firmly on the level of prime saints, a fact that greatly excited him!

Though he was excited by his current level of power, he didn't allow it to go to his head and cloud his better judgment, especially after hearing about Felicia's current power.

Yunaia explained to Olivier that Felicia had begun fusing two mysteries, which meant that she would experience no more bottlenecks until she reached the peak of the Demi-God level and that, within a few years, she would almost definitely reach the Demi-God level.

It didn't take a genius to understand what Yunaia was saying. Both she and Olivier had already provoked her by choosing to stand on Linley's side. If he now were to venture off on his own, should he run into her, she would undoubtedly choose to vent her frustration out on him.

All five of them – whether it was Linley, Yunaia, Olivier, and even Bebe and Oscar – had potential that completely dwarfed hers, but as it stood, if any of them were to face her on their own, they'd be courting death.

Yunaia and Oscar would be alright for now as together they were still capable of suppressing her, but the moment she broke through and became a Demi-God, the roles would be instantly reversed.

As a result, the five of them decided to form a group. An extremely powerful group at that! Over the last six months, their group of five had swept through the fifth floor of the with unstoppable momentum, and as top-level geniuses, their growth had been anything but slow – each making breakthroughs of their own on a near-weekly basis.

The only reason they had chosen not to head up to the sixth floor was because they wanted to spend as much time unearthing their potential as they could before heading up to the next floors, where the competition was undoubtedly going to prove a lot more brutal.

When they saw the terrifyingly powerful explosion created by Ace's ultimate technique, they decided to go and take a look.

Still, the reason behind Yunaia and Olivier's shock was because, over the last six months, they had all gotten to know each other fairly well, but not once had they seen this side of Linley.

Ordinarily, Linley was the picture of composure and tranquillity. He wasn't stoic or cold, but other than when talking to Bebe, it was rare to even see him smile. But as soon as he laid eyes on Ace, not only did his usually steady and tranquil aura become impassioned, but he even roared with laughter, a feat that neither of his new travelling companions had seen from him in the past.

"This is just the nature of their relationship," Bebe explained from atop Olivier's head as he calmly watched Linley and Ace clash. "As his one true rival, that bastard Ace is probably the only one capable of invoking that kind of a reaction in my boss!"

Olivier's eyes flickered, but ultimately he said nothing. As someone who had already lost to Ace, he acknowledged that Ace's talent was simply out of this world, and after spending these last few months by Linley's side, he had to admit that Linley's talent wasn't much worse.

Both he and Yunaia were top-level geniuses, but in terms of the progression of comprehension, Linley was the one who by far improved the fastest. Add that to his freakishly pure Dragonblood Warrior bloodline, and it was easy to understand why Ace and Linley were often mentioned in the same breath.

Still, after the mutation of his soul, he didn't think he was any worse than the two of them.

Yunaia's thoughts weren't too dissimilar from Olivier's. She grew up having no rivals from those of her generation, and before she came, she thought it would be the same here in the Yulan Continent. But after seeing the strength shown by Ace, Linley and the other mortals who entered the ruins with her, she understood that she had underestimated them.

Still, as both a soul-mutate and a genius of the Qingya family, she refused to believe that she would lose to any of them. But like Olivier, she had been shocked by Linley's bloodline and rate of improvement. So one can imagine her shock when she heard Linley acknowledge that in terms of talent, Ace was number one in their generation.

Previously, she had been sceptical, but seeing Ace in action now, any doubts she may have once held had been all but doused.

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