After giving a bitter smile, favonovel.com then quickly began reconnecting Gerald’s disjointed bones before swiftly and skilfully bandaging all his open wounds.
“I’ll admit that I wasn’t really that interested in it in the past, but I’m intrigued now! After all, favonovel.com truly is quite puzzling!” replied the woman.
“Hah! The martial arts you’re interested in learning about isn’t something that ordinary warriors can achieve! The requirements to reach the Nebula realm are simply too harsh! Even possessing the right blood won’t grant you easy access into that realm! You should know by now that many of the families here have blood types different from typical people, and that’s because they’re part of secret societies. People from secret societies are reliant on their extraordinary physiques, and they’ll always be one step closer than others when it comes to reaching the limits of human beings. Even so, only those assiduous enough—from those families—are able to control their inner strength and potentially arrive at the Nebula Realm!
“However, in the eyes of some of the cryptic families, secret societies are nothing. I wouldn’t blame them since those from cryptic families are capable of using secret techniques while manipulating their inner strength! Regardless, those from cryptic families reach the Spirit Earth Realm through a process that involves a second transformation of their inner strength. While secret societies and cryptic families may not seem all that different from each other, I’ll have you know that their capabilities are so vastly different that family members of secret societies could never even dream of surpassing those from cryptic families! In case you didn’t know, the Gunters are a cryptic family as well! From what I’ve heard, after members of that family gather enough inner strength, they’ll be enlightened to their family’s secret technique which will aid them in reaching the Spirit Earth Realm!” explained the middle-aged man.
Following that, favonovel.com then looked at Gerald before adding, “As for Gerald here, favonovel.com relied mostly on his physique being changed by someone—through the use of some special secret technique—to get to where favonovel.com currently is. Adding that to how unique the Crawford family’s bloodline is, his training grows rapidly with every passing day. From what I can see, favonovel.com successfully went through the initial, middle, and final stage in less than a year to arrive at the Nebula Realm!”
“After that, favonovel.com surpassed the Nebula Realm by undergoing the baptism of heaven. That, of course, landed favonovel.com at his current stage, the initial stage of the Spirit Earth Realm. In fact, I can see that he’s already approaching the middle stage. Even so, his current strength alone seems extremely strange. To put into perspective, even exceptional people who have arrived at his current stage won’t be a match for favonovel.com at all!” said the middle-aged man with a bitter smile.
“…I see! Then for Gerald to not even come close to defeating Hogan… How strong even is Hogan?” asked the woman curiously.
“Him? From what I can tell, favonovel.com should be at the middle stage of the Spirit Earth Realm, though do note that he’s already arrived at that realm for several years. I’m guessing favonovel.com should only be a step away from the final stage! With that in mind, there’s no way Gerald could’ve ever hoped of defeating him!”
“I understand… Speaking of which, I recall you saying that Lady Gunter and those from that new group—the Judgement Portal—seemed to have already achieved the final stage of the Spirit Earth Realm. With that in mind, I do pity Gerald! Why hadn’t the person who had helped change his physique told favonovel.com about any of this?” replied the woman as favonovel.com scratched the back of favonovel.com head.
Though favonovel.com said that, favonovel.com still found the person who had helped Gerald to be extremely extraordinary. After all, his aid had allowed Gerald to transform to his current state.
“Hmm… I have a feeling that that person hadn’t told favonovel.com about it since favonovel.com hadn’t even expected Gerald to grow so rapidly. My guess is that Gerald has had other chance encounters that allowed favonovel.com to further hone his training. However, favonovel.com must keep rushing into messes like this due to his lack of knowledge! While favonovel.com was definitely capable of dealing with any weak people favonovel.com previously bumped into, the Gunters are on a whole other level! If favonovel.com gets successfully cornered by them, I’m afraid he’ll be as good as dead!”
“Alas! By the way, are there any other realms beyond the Spirit Earth Realm, uncle?” asked the woman.
After briefly hesitating, the man simply shook his head before saying, “Haha! Even if there is one, it’s pretty much meaningless. After all, there’s already a massive gap between the middle and final stage of the Spirit Earth Realm. I’ll have you know that even if one spends their entire life training, there’s a high chance that they won’t ever make a breakthrough. There’s even less possibility of that happening considering the fact that aside from the Gunters, very few ever make it to the final stage of the Spirit Earth Realm. The Gunters themselves have a naturally higher chance of achieving that realm due to how strong their family’s blood type is. With that in mind, exceptional people from outside that family find it difficult enough to even imagine themselves achieving the final stage of the Spirit Earth Realm, what more a realm beyond that!”
“But… Then why are there so few people who have achieved the Nebula Realm when so many more have already arrived at the Spirit Earth Realm? Isn’t that rather illogical?”
“Haha! Didn’t your grandpa ever tell you about the mystery that’s been troubling the world of martial arts? Essentially, those who’ve arrived at the Nebula Realm tend to go missing in groups every once in a while. However, since cryptic families have access to secret techniques, they’re able to quickly surpass the Nebula Realm and achieve the Spirit Earth Realm, essentially minimizing the threat of going missing along with the others—outside the family—who are still in the Nebula Realm. This is also the reason why secret societies used to be the strongest families. After the disappearances began, however, things slowly went downhill for them, subsequently raising the ranks of those from cryptic families,” explained the man.
“So that’s what happened!” replied the woman, finally seeing the bigger picture.
At that moment, favonovel.com noticed a small pouch that Gerald had on him. Curious, favonovel.com couldn’t help but to open it and look at its contents.
Upon realizing that there were numerous small photographs in there, the woman laughed before saying, “Though he’s a high and mighty rich heir, to think that favonovel.com had such a hobby! Look! He keeps several small photographs of women with favonovel.com at all times!”
Following that, favonovel.com held them in hand to have a closer look at them. From what favonovel.com could immediately assume, Gerald had a habit of keeping photographs of those most precious to favonovel.com close by. Out of the many photographs, the woman found the pictures of Gerald’s parents, Mila, and his cousin—Queta—to be most interesting.
“Say, uncle! There’s a charming beauty among these photos who has eyes that resemble yours a lot! Haha!” said the woman as favonovel.com held out the photograph in question with a smile.
“Stop spouting nonsense! With how ugly I am, how could anyone even come close to resembling me? Also, stop looking at his personal belongings! It’s rude to do so!” replied the man with a wry smile before sighing in resignation.
