Exiting the palace, I walked down the stone path through the royal training grounds, and like usual, there were tens of royal guards training and whatnot; however, as I got closer to where Elaine and I train, I spotted Echo, seemingly educating a group of Elves about the importance of a strong physique, and from their expressions, they were happily absorbing her every word.
"Another thing, muscles are not only good for fighting, but they can also be useful to win a fight before it even happens." Said Echo seriously as she held a long stick in her hands while walking back and forth before several royal guards sitting on the ground like students listening to a teacher.
"They can? How so, Miss Echo?" Asked a tall yet skinny woman sitting at the back as she raised her hand, causing Echo to stop and point her stick at her suddenly.
"I'm glad you asked; the answer to your question is intimidation. People with large muscles can scare off possible enemies and opponents; you don't necessarily need to be strong, so long as you have a powerful-looking physique, your average person will be less likely to pick a fight with you. Of course, if you follow my teachings, not only will you have a powerful-looking physique, but you'll also have the strength to back it up." Stated Echo with a slight smile as she flexed her muscles, though she completely forgot that despite her words, each of the royal guards eagerly eyeing her muscles was far stronger than her.
"Well, this is a first; I wasn't expecting to see such a scene." Said Illumia as she and Elif stood to the side and watched Echo, who had an early Divine Lord cultivation base, teach a group of royal guards with a Celestial Emperor and Half-step True God cultivation bases.
"You could say that again, Illumia, though I suppose they are still technically training as they are learning different ways to improve themselves. Also, is that Vice-General Alliyah sitting in the middle of the group?" Remarked Elif with a nod as he summoned his Quạt tay and fanned himself before suddenly eyeing Alliyah sitting amongst the group, eagerly soaking up every one of Echo's words.
"Yes, that is her." Replied Illumia with an amused smirk as she glanced at Alliyah.
Shaking my head at Echo, seemingly instructing some royal guards, I approached them, well, more accurately, I approached Echo, and in doing so, she quickly noticed me, which caused me to think she was going to stop whatever she was doing, but it seems I had greatly underestimated her desire to spread the knowledge about muscles.
"Echo, what are you-" Said Elif calmly, though before he could finish, Echo grabbed him by the arms and led him to the front of the group.
"See, take Prince Elif as an example; he's incredibly gorgeous, and his beauty makes even the most charming of women hide their faces in shame. However, is he intimidating? No, not at all! If Prince Elif was your average commoner, despite the fact that he would've long since been sold as a sex slave, what person is going to be scared or intimidated by him?" Questioned Echo seriously while Elif flipped his hair behind his ear and displayed a narcissistic smile before suddenly frowning as Echo continued speaking, ending with him just blankly staring at her.
"Tch, alright, everyone leave, this is over." Declared Elif in annoyance as he dismissively waved his hands, and although the royal guards were saddened, they stood up and abided by his order, leaving just Echo, Elif, and Illumia.
"Make sure to come back at the same time tomorrow; I'll be here; oh, and tell your friends I must spread the truth of muscles to everyone!" Yelled Echo loudly with a smile as she waved her hand before doing one final pose while flexing her muscles.
"So Echo, mind telling me how you managed to get several royal guards and the vice-general herself to attend your teaching seminars about muscles?" Asked Elif curiously with a slight frown while looking at Echo, who just awkwardly smiled in return.
"Well, I may have used your name to garner some people's attention so I may spread my knowledge about the muscles to you Elves who are dearly in need of it; I hope you don't mind, Prince Elif." Replied Echo in slight awkwardness before clenching her fist and passionately raising it to the sky while smiling.
'Haa, what kind of person have I associated myself with?' Thought Elif with a sigh as he looked at Echo while his eye twitched.
"No, I don't really mind, though if I find out you're abusing my name, I'll give you a little beating. Speaking of beatings, I was about to go spar with Illumia; do you wish to join me? Fighting against Illumia is excellent for improving oneself, but it's very humbling, which I don't like; someone as fantastic as me should never be humbled." Said Elif with a shake of his head while Echo nodded before he glanced at Illumia in annoyance, only to pull out his trademark narcissism with a smirk.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, your fantastic, magnificent, and amazing Highness, but for twelve years I've trained you, you've never once landed a successful hit on me, let alone actually defeat me in our sparring sessions." Stated Illumia with a teasing grin as she glanced at Elif, whose expression froze before mechanically turning his head to look at her.
"Oh, you're real funny, Illumia; why don't you suppress your cultivation base to be the same as mine? Then we'll really see how fantastic, magnificent, and amazing I am." Remarked Elif with a frown as he leaned down, glaring at Illumia while provokingly pressing his head against hers.
"Ho, that depends on what kind of battle we're going to have, your Highness; if it's strictly using our weapons while forbidding the use of Qi, you will win; I don't doubt that. However, if we're sparring like usual, it will be challenging, but I'm confident I'll emerge victorious; the difference in our experience and comprehension of cultivation is far too monumental to be bridged by your talents. Besides, aren't you famously known to be able to fight across realms like it's nothing? Fighting me while I'm a major realm above you shouldn't be anything special for you, your Highness; after all, you're Crown Prince Elif Ausgust, the strongest in the younger generation, with none able to match your might." Said Illumia with a nod before smirking, using Elif's immense pride against himself, causing his expression to deepen in annoyance as he glared into her eyes.
"You know, sometimes I wonder how Mother was able to put up with your antics and smart mouth; I'm surprised you weren't abandoned or killed by her." Muttered Elif while looking at Illumia; though their foreheads were still connected, she could hear everything clearly.
"It's been a long time since I was Her Majesty's follower; besides, I've had billions of years to mature, so I was much different back then." Replied Illumia softly with a smile as she stepped back, causing Elif to click his tongue before ignoring her and turning around.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, old woman who still hasn't found a man, now let us go, Echo; I can use our spar to vent some of my annoyance." Said Elif as he grabbed Echo's hand and forcefully led her toward his training area, while Illumia calmly followed behind, though her constantly twitching expression said otherwise.
Thankfully, Illumia kept her mouth shut, so the walk toward the training area was relatively peaceful, something I've noticed has become exceedingly rare these past few days, though I suppose that makes sense with all the guests. I'm just glad neither patriarchs Aasveig and Krodh nor Queen Nerthus have asked me anything related to politics, as with everything going on, I'm not in the mood to deal with such talks, not to mention, outside of Yggdrasil, I don't really know what's going on with the Empire. After all, I see no reason to get involved when Mother and Father have everything under control.
Walking up the stairs to my training area, I entered through the gate, followed by Echo and Illumia.
"So this is your personal training area, Prince Elif? It's quite nice if you were to just add a few more formations; this place would be the greatest place to train in the OverRealm." Said Echo as she looked at the ground, observing the thousands of runes engraved on the ground in specific patterns.
"Hmm, you say that, but I've got a feeling the formations you're speaking of greatly assist in strengthening your physique; am I wrong?" Asked Elif with a raised eyebrow as he brushed his hand through his hair, using his Qi to tie his lustrous silver hair into a bun while his purple streak hung down on his face.
Echo didn't even need to respond; that smirk was all I needed to know that I was correct.
"So, what kind of sparring will we be doing, Prince Elif?" Asked Echo as she glanced at Illumia, who was calmly standing beside the wall, before looking back at Elif on the other side of the arena.
"Hmm, since you love speaking about muscles, let's only use our physique to spar. It wouldn't be fair if I were to suggest anything else; at least when it comes to the physique, I can enjoy myself a little." Replied Elif calmly as he suppressed his late Divine Lord cultivation base to that of an early Divine lord, which was the same as Echo.
"Heh, now we're talking!" Remarked Echo with a smile as she subconsciously flexed her muscles and eyed Elif in the distance.