Despite the top Disciple's speech, the reactions of the other Disciples were mixed.
The top Disciple had been the head of opposition in this conflict of Seeker philosophy, but several of them still wholeheartedly believed his previous words.
"I mean," Kyle said, scratching the back of his head. "You basically got it right, but you made it way too complex."
"It is actually all about increasing your Realm. Your way of thinking wasn't wrong in that regard."
The Disciples looked at Kyle.
"It's more about what you aim towards," Kyle said. "If you want to chase an increase in Realm, what you've done works out perfectly fine. It's just that it won't work forever."
"You can easily rush through the Primal Realm, but that's because the Primal Realm seems relatively easy to advance in. At some point, you will meet a Realm that needs Laws, like the Transcendent Realm."
"When you get there and haven't gathered enough experience in comprehending difficult Laws, you will be stuck. You could try going the path of least resistance, but in the future, the path of least resistance will be as difficult to get as the current path of most resistance."
"If you don't know how to carve a river through a mountain instead of a flat plane, you would have to learn everything from scratch."
Kyle shrugged. "Sure, most people probably won't succeed. Not many people can become Unique Transcendents or 12/12 Primals. But when you see that you have some time leftover, it's not wrong to try to get there. Even if you've failed, your Battle-Strength would still have increased, and you would have attained valuable experience."
"I get that you want to become stronger quickly, but you're not supposed to join the current leaders. You're supposed to surpass them."
"Sure, the other organizations will overtake you in the short term since their Disciples grow faster, but in the long term, you will become stronger."
"Also, shouldn't you aim for the stars as a Seeker? Try going all the way, and if you fail, you fail. That's that."
The Disciples listened, and while not everyone agreed, they could see what Kyle meant.
Aiming for the stars sounded easy, but it wasn't that easy to actually chase that goal.
How many people on Earth wanted to be billionaires?
Yet, how many of those people actually went towards that path with conviction?
Getting something like an MBA in evening college while also working full-time. Living frugally for several years to save starting capital for a company.
Founding a business and spending even more money on it, fully knowing that there is a big chance that it might fail.
Gathering many different people with the necessary know-how.
Years of work and years of living frugally just to bet everything on a business idea.
And then, most likely, failing.
Trying again.
Failing again.
Just for the small chance that the business might work out.
Asking these Disciples to shoot for the stars was asking them to commit their lives to this.
Just like everyone else, they were humans, and they had their limits.
"How do you do that?" the top Disciple asked.
"Do what?" Kyle asked back.
"How do you aim for the stars? What do you do? What's your plan?" he asked.
Kyle scratched the side of his head as he thought about it.
"I would love to say that I'm just doing what feels right, but while that's true for my current situation, it's not true overall."
"I guess I'm just trying to push all four criteria for power evenly."
The top Disciple furrowed his brows. "You mean the Aspects of Power?"
"No," Kyle said. "It's something that I came up with just now."
"There are four ways to improve your power, according to the thing I literally just made up. Realm, Laws, Momentum, and Other."
"Increasing your Realm makes it easier to comprehend Laws."
"Comprehending more Laws makes it easier to increase your Realm."
"Increasing your Momentum makes it easier to increase your Realm and to comprehend Laws."
"Other is just other, you know? Random stuff that doesn't fit. Like, getting better at swinging your weapon. Being more creative in battle. Getting more battle experience. Stuff like that."
"I think you should not push one of these criteria to the limit before going towards another one. I think you should push them evenly. At least, that's what I've been doing, and it's been working out pretty well so far."
The top Disciple listened to Kyle and thought about his words.
The words Kyle spoke were very similar to what their Head had said all the time.
Yet, hearing them coming from Kyle somehow made them more believable.
"What should I do?" the top Disciple asked. "What should I focus on?"
"Momentum," Kyle answered immediately.
The top Disciple furrowed his brows. "I've just increased it."
"Yeah, but it's not enough. You need more," Kyle said. "I don't think that's enough to become a 12/12 Primal. "
The top Disciple's eyes widened a bit.
A 12/12 Primal?
Kyle thought he could do that?
The current leader of the Farmountain Guild had once been a 10/12 Primal, and they hadn't had another one since then.
Yet, Kyle wanted him to go even further than the most powerful person in their organization?
"Why?" the top Disciple asked. "Shouldn't I aim to become a 10/12 Primal first?"
Kyle rolled his eyes. "Dude, your Momentum is the key to everything. You need a Level Three Law to become a 10/12 Primal. Guess what happens with Law Comprehension? Right, Momentum!"
"Becoming an 11/12 Primal needs willpower. Momentum is very similar to willpower. Having more Momentum will help there as well."
"You need Momentum anyway."
The top Disciple furrowed his brows.
Yes, Kyle was right, but…
"Is it worth the risk?" the top Disciple asked. "Every True Battle could end deadly. My Momentum is already pretty strong for my Realm."
"Depends on your viewpoint," Kyle said. "In here? Sure, your Momentum is very strong. In a Higher Primary Organization? Your Momentum is probably average to below-average."
"In the Array of Stars? You would probably be dead last."
"Which person in the Array of Stars didn't risk their life several times in battle? Just because you can die in a True Battle doesn't mean that they can't die."
"They've literally done what I told you to do. There's no way around it."
"Either you do it, or you don't. Aim for the stars or aim for something else."
"There's no shortcut."
Silence.
The top Disciple fell into thought.
"I have to think about it," he said. "For now, I simply want to thank you for sharing your experiences with us."
Kyle nodded with a smile. "Sure thing."
The top Disciple looked at the Head, who turned to Kyle.
"According to the wager, you are allowed to share some words with us," the Head said.
"Oh, I already did that just now," Kyle said. "There's nothing to talk about anymore."
The Head nodded. "Meteor Hammer, would you prefer to stay here or go back to the Array of Stars?"
Kyle smiled sheepishly. "No offense, but while I like it here, I would rather get back. It's just… the Array of Stars has more resources, you know?"
The Head nodded understandingly. "Then, I'm afraid that I have to tell you that you're too powerful for us."
The next moment, the Head took out two big bottles filled with green liquid and handed them to Kyle.
"These are your rewards for being the top Core Disciple. You may return to the Array of Stars."
Kyle smiled.
"Thanks."
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