The Venerable One, Reincarnator Extraordinaire, has lived through all. Nine lives showed him many shades of life; he was a Hero once and Demon Lord in another; again a Heavenly Beast and a Time Manipulating Vampire in another. Finally, a Cultivator...
Eleven years was a long time, and I am used to having disciples who leaped through multiple ranks in a year. So it is not up to my standard that Ruby, my twin sister of all people, only managed to climb four ranks in a decade despite my guidance.
Though I suppose I can't blame her. The majority of my past disciples were bloodthirsty, running after either a grandeur revenge or a noble goal beyond a mortal's hand. Naturally, for those driven souls, it's natural for them to advance very fast. Their drive was what made me pick them as my disciples, to begin with.
Ruby naturally lacks that. Magic itself is a new concept to her, the fact that she can do that amongst the seemingly billions of other people who can't, satisfies her ego already. Though admittedly, she is better than even a lot of children back in my 5th life, where I was the Sorcerer of Eternity. Kids at the age of 15 just started their Magic Academy, so most of them were at 2nd Circle, 3rd if they were from rich families, and 4th if they were Royals or Descendants of Heroes.
Granted that I haven't been as harsh with Ruby as I was with my other disciples, naturally since she doesn't have any immediate need for such powers and this is just a hobby of mine to teach her, I'd say she stands at a pretty solid spot.
Now, let's talk about myself.
"You called me out earlier, but you are still at 4th Stage too! Tch, haven't you been doing this longer than me? Why are you stuck?"
Ruby mocked me as I splashed water over my face from a bottle and then began to wipe my sweat. I need to shower, but before that, I am going to meet Ai and President Ichigo so I need to clean myself for a bit. I can use a simple [Cleanse] Spell for this, but I decided a long time ago to not use magic for everything. May seem like a stupid decision for newbies, but for old souls like me, the little struggles make life more enjoyable.
"I already told you my [Jade Rank] and your 4th Mana Circle aren't the same. My energy reserves alone, I can crush you like an ant if I release my aura." I told her with a slightly irritated tone, but she seemed to take that as a joke as she showed me her tongue.
I wonder what her reaction would be if I actually pressed my aura down on her. A mischievous part of me wanted to go through it, but I held back. She might cry, that'd be annoying. Plus she looks cute today, wearing a witch outfit, so I will let her off.
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I added, "Besides, I am not 'stuck' as Jade. I can advance anytime, just that I am waiting for an event before that. It'd make my future easier, you won't get it."
"Yeah, yeah, sure, right." The girl didn't buy it and scoffed at me dramatically, I just shook my head while pouring water down my throat.
It was true. After advancing from Iron, I am not 'stuck' at Jade for the last 7 years, I'm just waiting for an exceptionally large lightning incident to happen, or to meet a strong magical beast with lightning properties. Then, by killing the beast and absorbing its remnant energy into myself, I can fortify my foundation better. I can still advance without any of those, but that'd cause a bit of trouble in the future that I can just ignore by waiting patiently.
