After Kyle returned to the Farmountain Guild, he went back to the cube.
But this time, he wasn't striking the cube with his body but with his hammer.
He hadn't swung his hammer in 75 years, and he wanted to get back into the swing of things.
When he struck the cube for the first time, an intense vibration washed over the surroundings.
It was far stronger than all the other vibrations Kyle had made ever since he got here.
When the Disciples saw Kyle swinging his hammer, they were surprised and unsurprised.
This guy was called Meteor Hammer. Of course he was using some kind of hammer.
However, the surprising part was just how powerful Kyle's attacks were.
They had expected a lot, but they hadn't expected this much power.
The attacking power Kyle showed…
It was on the level of a True Crusher!
He was only a 4/12 Primal!
How were his strikes that powerful?!
When Kyle struck the cube with all of his power, his hammer received a couple of cracks.
It could still withstand his all-out attacks, but he had to quickly repair it after every strike.
'I'm on the edge of what my weapon can handle,' he thought. 'If I become a 5/13 Primal, there's a chance that my weapon will break after an attack.'
'Fucking weapons, dude. Always breaking.'
'Guess I have to focus on the next Metal Fragment when I get back. Can't have my weapon break on me.'
Whenever Kyle struck the cube, it rolled for about ten meters.
For the next five years, he just kept rolling the cube across the fleshy planet.
By now, he had gotten familiar with his improved body, and this bit of swinging had also improved his remaining locked Clusters a bit.
At this moment, the three remaining minor Clusters were 60% unlocked.
They were significantly harder to unlock than the previous ones, but Kyle didn't really feel a difference.
Surprisingly, all the minor Clusters felt easy to unlock.
It just took some time, training, and dedication.
"The time is up," the Head said as he arrived beside Kyle.
Kyle took a deep breath of nothing and put his hammer away.
His aggression vanished, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Alright," he said. "Where do we fight?"
"I will bring you to our arena," the Head said.
Kyle and the Head flew towards a big crater in the fleshy planet.
When he arrived, Kyle already saw over 1,000 Disciples surrounding it.
It seemed like quite a few people had gathered for the grand event. The top Disciple was already waiting in the middle of the arena.
When Kyle saw the top Disciple, a flicker went through his eyes, and his smile grew a bit wider.
'I won,' he thought.
However, Kyle wasn't referring to his battle.
He was referring to something else.
Kyle overtook the Head and landed in the middle of the arena, shaking the entire thing.
The top Disciple calmly looked at Kyle without saying a word.
In the next moment, the world around the top Disciple changed.
It became dark and distorted.
He had activated his Momentum.
Kyle activated his own Momentum, but…
It was suppressed!
His opponent's Momentum was stronger than his own!
This seemed crazy, but one had to remember one thing.
With every new Realm, a True Battle increased one's Momentum even more.
Kyle hadn't gone through a single True Battle as a Primal, while the top Disciple had probably gone through two.
Kyle's instincts warned him of significant danger, but his mind knew that his instincts were influenced by the opponent's powerful Momentum.
He knew that he would win the battle.
There was no question.
When the top Disciple saw that Kyle's Momentum was slightly suppressed, he didn't seem surprised.
It was like a 45%/55% split. Kyle was suppressed, but not by a lot.
The top Disciple had gone through two intense True Battles within the last few years, but his Momentum was only suppressing Kyle by a bit.
While the two combatants looked at each other, the Head stopped between them.
"It is time to see the result of the wager," he said.
Kyle put his hammer over his shoulder as he looked at the Core Disciple.
Surprisingly, Kyle's Momentum vanished, and a knowing smile appeared on his face.
When the top Disciple saw Kyle's smile, he sighed.
Kyle's smirk was so arrogant.
The top Disciple wanted to punch Kyle's face in for such arrogance.
Yet…
"No need," the top Disciple said.
Everyone looked at him.
"The result of this battle is not important," he said.
Some of the Disciples were confused, but most of the Disciples understood.
While the entire wager revolved around this battle, many of them had realized that it was actually meaningless.
It didn't matter if Kyle won or not.
"He won the war," the top Disciple said. "The outcome of this battle doesn't matter."
"He's right."
"I'm wrong."
Kyle didn't say anything while the top Disciple continued.
"I believed the speed of my advancement was more important. I chased quick gains and ignored the slow ones."
"I also understood what he meant when he said that he didn't need to grow stronger."
"He wasn't saying that he was doing nothing. He was saying that he had the luxury to focus on the harder parts of growing stronger. He had the time to work on things that don't improve your strength as much."
The top Disciple sighed.
"When I saw him training with such intensity, I felt pressured. I needed to grow stronger desperately. If my power doesn't increase, I would lose."
"And then, I realized that I couldn't become stronger. My Realm hit a bottleneck, and I didn't have enough time to work on my other powers."
"But then, I realized that I could actually increase my power. I just didn't want to do it."
"I went out and fought several Primal Beasts while hiding from Crusher Beasts."
"I consumed their Beast Cores, which allowed me to work on my Ninth Cluster."
"Right now, my Ninth Cluster is 95% unlocked. Just a bit more, and I can become a 9/12 Primal."
The top Disciple sighed again. "If only I had started five or ten years earlier, I would be a 9/12 Primal. At that point, I wouldn't be helpless."
"But even then, I would still have lost. Maybe not the battle, but the war."
"If my power didn't increase, he would win the battle and the war. If my power increased, I might win the battle, but he would still win the war."
"He convinced me."
The top Disciple turned to the other Disciples.
"We are not in danger. We have a safe home. When you do not have any backing and are in constant danger, chasing a higher Realm might allow you to live another day. That is the correct mindset in that case."
"But it's incorrect for our situation. We are neglecting our foundations. We have the luxury of safety, time, and freedom. Many Seekers don't have that."
"We shouldn't emulate the unaffiliated Seekers. They progress like this because they don't have any other choice."
"We do."
"Increasing your Realm is easy, but increasing your Battle-Strength is hard."
"If we just worked on our Battle-Strength more, maybe we would already be a Primary Organization."
"We are too fast."
"We need to slow down and take our time."
"Quality over quantity."
The top Disciple turned back to Kyle.
"You win."
Then, the top Disciple bowed politely.
"Thank you for your teachings, senior."
tg://resolv?domain=StrongestHammerGod
The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.