We flirted back and forth for an hour until we eventually finished the race and made it back the the central plaza.
In the end we placed 250th and 251st which netted us 5 points each. It really felt melodramatic. Joining a sect should have more splendour to it, but I don't want to be a main character.
Showing off or playing it low key while hiding my powers so people underestimate me is not this one's style.
Rather… posing while being weak, isn't that much more fun? In fact, why do I need to be strong? I have this powerful wife and father in law as my backing. Wouldn't I be a complete moron to not take advantage of it? Hahaha, don't make me laugh, you want to kill me? I'll just introduce you to my little wife and see if you dare grovel on your knees as you ask for her permission?
Hah... but really, I just want to spend all my time with this loving wife of mine rather than fight for supremacy. Who wants to whip their little brother out to cross swords when you can fight the great fight against your little wife every night?
Peh, why fight with some million or billion year old farts to prove who's got the bigger donger? Give me a world ruled by hot babes, then we'll fight for supremacy through uncountable sleepless nights for much longer.
But who am I kidding?
Although I act like I'm not interested in a man's romance, being peerless and unmatched; I do need to admit it was quite eventful for some others.
During the race we passed a group who were on the verge of death. After stopping for a moment to talk while patching them up, we got bits and pieces of quite an interesting story.
Apparently, they were comrades of the little 4th realm 12 year old mortal child who the old man gazed upon momentarily before the race started. To sum it up, a group of 5th stage mortals joined forces to block a single child's path.
Then his comrades, being the white knights they were; merely with the power of 3rd and 4th realm mortals hoisted their flags high up as they broke open a path smeared with much blood and great carnage. In the end, their reckless abandon allowed the child to finish the race in 11th place. It was quite the eventful scene and if I had popcorn I'd be munching away as I watched the events that played out with unblinking eyes.
Just imagining the child as he broke away with gritted teeth and bloodshot eyes ignited the dormant warriors blood within my body. Honestly, who are we kidding? It really doesn't; not even the slightest. I don't even think the word warrior is in my vocabulary.
But such is a man's romance. To dream is to dream grand, a life of overcoming adversity together with your brothers in arms. Forced to look the other way as you believe you see the bigger picture.
But what bigger picture is there here? It's just some brats fighting for no apparent reason. Honestly, I feel a bit bad for the poor guys left behind. They are basically just death flag warriors numbered one through ten.
Perhaps I should have taught them the valuable technique of playing possum or curling into a ball to make yourself look dead. Why do the minions play fair and square while fighting in the name of justice anyways? Why not use your brain and play dirty? Act dead and get a cheap shot from behind when the enemy lets their guard down. Aim right for the crotch.
Obviously like a great man once said; "know thy enemies and thy self, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles."
If you know you are weaker, then fight like the weak.
If you know you're fighting men, then aim for their weak spot, right?
But enough of my ranting. If that child was not obstructed, he may very well have placed first. He has quite the amazing speed for someone so young. He was able to catch up to the pack while attacked from all sides.
Thinking about it now, doesn't it seem strange. Could this be the potential disciple my wife was talking about? He does give off the type of vibes one would expect of a MC. Now that I think about it, isn't this plot quite cliche?
"Wifey is that kid the one you had your eyes on?"
"You could tell?"
"Of course, your husband is all knowing!"
My wife rolled her eyes at my boasting before she continued "that child has no blood relatives in this world and he is the adoptive son of the patriarch I mentioned before."
"His story is a bit complicated."
I felt like there was something misleading in her words so I questioned, "in this world?"
"Husband, curiosity killed the cat." She said this before continuing with her explanation while simultaneously cutting off any further questions.
"Although his adoptive father is the present patriarch of the sect, many of the elders in the sect are heavily against the child becoming the young patriarch."
"They insist the child is not suitable as an outsider with no blood ties to the patriarch. Rather than not suitable, they just want their children to become the next young patriarch. In the end, it's all just human greed at play."
"Likely this competition will be used to decide on the next young patriarch. Though it looks like he has already faced his first set back. Those in the top ten are all 5th realm mortals; meaning he'll likely only receive nine points in the test of strength. In the last test, for him to have any hope of victory, he'll need to withstand two realms of strength above what those at the top can withstand. Fighting above your level is already hard enough as it is for mortals."
"Really, it's such a shame. Hah. Such a shame." My little wife was sighing and shaking her head in regret like this little MC had no chance.
I couldn't help but feel my little wife was too naive. "My little wife, are you not underestimating the power of the MC too much? Do you want to be one of those who gets slapped in the face by underestimating the power of plot armour?"
"I can tell you now, even if he had to withstand the might of a 10th realm semi transcendent being, he could definitely last 2 minutes."
"In fact I'm willing to bet that the one administering the test will make it look like he's applying equal strength against everyone but the child will naturally have higher pressure applied."
My wife looked towards me appalled as she said "stinky husband, no spoilers please."
"But my wife there must be some kind of plot twist, right? There must be something interesting like the main character d…mm mmf mmmm."
My wife placed her hands over my mouth while looking left and right as if fearing further spoilers.
"Husband you should learn to not spoil the pleasant surprises in life." She smiled at me before releasing her hands from my lips.
I won't lie, I secretly licked my lips to have a taste. I'm not a pervert! She is my wife, it is a natural reaction! A natural reaction! It was important so I had to emphasize it twice, okay!? I am not a raging pervert, just a loving husband concerned about his wife's flav… ehem ehem. Moving on now. You can forget that last part. If you were really curious to know, I will only say, if aphrodisiac were a flavor… heh heh heh.
"My wife, if you want to stop me from talking, you might as well kiss me. That would definitely be more effective to stop me from providing spoilers."
My wife let out a small giggle before she said "husband don't forget the words you have just said. If you die again, don't blame this little wife of yours; okay?"
Once everyone finished the race and were all gathered together in the central plaza, the old man stepped up and said six short words "the strength test will now begin." After finishing he left and pointed towards a certain direction.
Really, a man of few words. Is he trying to be mysterious and embed the image of a far off distant master secluded from the mortal world? Why does everyone like to be such a poser? Well... two can play at that game.
My little wife looked over and tilted her head in confusion as she asked "husband why are you looking far off into the distance with blank eyes like you're reminiscing about the past?"
"There is a very... very deep reason for this my wife."
"Can you please explain this deep and profound mystery to this ignorant little wife of yours?"
I shook my head left and right slightly as I said "I'm… hah."
"You're what?"
I said "posing" with the most ancient voice I could muster while I looked as far off into the distance as humanly possible. If I were to look any further my eyes may turn bloodshot.
"Posing? What? Why?" My wife could not conceal the utter confusion on her fair face.
"If that old man can pose, why can't I?"
After being stunned silent for a while, like she had taken a heavy hit, my wife eventually burst into a beautiful laughter as tears formed at the rims of her eyes.
"Pose for the rest of your life then hahaha. Posing… He says posing like it were one of the ten wonders of the realm. My silly husband you should teach your little wife a bit about this so called art of posing one day."
I felt my pride satisfied by my little wife's request. "Little wife, it's good that you understand just how great an art it is."
We joked about like this until it was our turn for the test of strength. I headed over to one testing area while my wife headed towards another. All we had to do was lift a bar from ground level to above our head while weights were attached to the ends.
When I reached my testing area I noticed a certain 12 year old at the corner of my eyes in the testing area next to mine. It looked like he was going at the same time I was.
I told the examiner to put on 200 kg. The examiner nodded as the weights were quickly applied. I bent over and lifted it effortlessly above my head and after a few seconds I gently placed it back on the ground. The examiner nodded and asked if I would like to try with more weight added, but I told him 200 kg was my limit. I earned 5 points and walked back together with my wife into the crowd.
We moved towards the area where the 12 year old was currently being tested to observe. He lifted 350 kg easily enough before he moved onto 400 kg which he also successfully lifted, but it appeared he barely managed to accomplish such a feat. When he reached 500 kg, he had an ugly expression as he tried to lift with all his might. He managed to lift about halfway up and it looked like he would succeed, yet alas for this poor child, his hand slipped as the weight fell back to the ground. Unfortunately, he was stuck with 9 points.
The whole thing looked fishy but it was not my business to be the busybody that interfered.
I say that but I still wanted to know so I asked "wifey, was that really 500 kg?"
"No, it was 550 kg and the bar was greased. Also, the 400 kg was actually 500 kg. It looks like he knew but his pride wouldn't allow him to call them on it. It seems he doesn't have a way with words to compete against them like you darling. He looks to be quite the straight shooter. That sort of personality is more in line with what my father likes."
"Such blatant bullying is really disgusting though; the poor little child must be frustrated yet he just bottles it all up."
I couldn't help but think my wife was again to naive. What's poor about him? He's the main character, he's destined to slap these old fogeys by the end of it all.
"My husband, I hope our child doesn't have to face any hardships in life. I want to spoil and dote on our child when we have one. Is it wrong for me to think that way?"
"It's natural, no one wants their child to suffer. I especially don't want my child to become a main character. I'm content with both my child and I being the side characters who live long, healthy and happy lives."
While I thought such naive thoughts, it was as if something or someone wanted to slap me in the face. Suddenly, I heard something unexpectedly pop within me. As I examined myself, strangely enough I was giving off the feeling of a 2nd realm mortal.
"Wife, my wife, something strange and terrible has happened. For some reason without cultivating I'm a 2nd realm mortal."
My wife looked at me with a strange expression and she also seemed confused.
"Maybe it's an after effect of adapting to your new body? Your actual strength does already surpass your realm, so it could just be because of your body, right? Simple mortals cannot read your actual realm, but there's no way I cannot. You were definitely a 1st realm mortal moments before."
I could only think to myself in fear of voicing my concerns. My little wife, this is no joking matter! This situation is a horrible omen you know. There can be no second guessing my little wife. Only a certain existence can break through for no apparent good reason. It's better to not even think of such a possibility let alone speak of such absurdity.
My little wife saw the worried look in my eyes and she tried to direct my thoughts elsewhere, "now that I think about it, what is your physical strength at right now?"
"I don't know, we haven't had a chance to test it."
"Then tonight should we have a little fun?" She winked at me while she placed a finger that drew circles on my chest suggestively with her head slightly tilted and half lidded eyes.
This little wife of mine really knows how to shake me up and toss my worries to the side. I can only worry that she will one day play me to my death.
I didn't want to drop the topic just like that though, "wifey this is serious, how can I break through without doing a thing?"
"Maybe it was just a fluke?"
I didn't want to accept such a half hearted answer but it felt like I would get no answers with such limited information.
I could only reluctantly relent as I said "I hope it is. I really don't like it though, the timing was just too erie. It's like someone wanted to slap me in the face. I don't want to be a certain type of existence my wife, just loving you is enough for this little mortal husband of yours."
My wife looked at me mysteriously and it felt like she thought of something but chose not to say it.
Little wife, just say it! I know what you want to say! Don't act all mysterious! You'll make this little husband cry, okay? This damned world would never leave such a handsome man alone! I know little wife, I know! But men can dream, can they not?
We just looked at each other and it felt like we had come to some sort of understanding as we both just smiled and nodded towards each other.
Of course, at the time we had no way to know just how far off our wavelengths really were.
I can only wonder when we will truly reach that god tier level of knowing your spouse's thoughts with but a single glance.