Ch 6 - Cairo

Half an hour later, Instructor Lester said loudly, "Boys, practice slowly. When the time is up,

you're free to go." After saying this, he took off quickly.

All the boys on the training field knew that he was on his way to report to the Family Head. In

the entire Alexei family, only a few people had the Fourth-level Aptitude, and only one girl had

the Third-grade Aptitude.

Billy also had a sense of who that girl was, and he wanted to call her his cousin.

Unfortunately, for the Alexei family's younger generation, the girls and the boys had to train

apart, and they even had different instructors. As a result, Billy couldn't see this girl on the

training field.

Once Instructor Lester was gone, the exchanges between the boys intensified and grew louder.

Everyone knew what it meant to have a fourth-level Aptitude.

The current Alexei family Head, together with Kane's father and other senior family members,

essentially had Fifth-grade Aptitude.

Although Billy had a fourth-level Aptitude before, he failed in producing his Internal

Strength for disparate reasons. Now that his problem had been ironed out, he could now

exercise the real power that his level possessed. There was a strong likelihood that Billy

would not take long to learn the ropes and simply leap out of the middle to become one of the

best.

As a result, the group of boys was filled with bitterness and jealousy.

Standing in the crowd was a tall, sturdy young man with dark skin. He clenched his teeth and

snapped, "Damn it! Once Billy surpasses me, I'll finish at the bottom of the ladder. No, I

won't allow that. Before that happens, I'm going to show my true power, so if he outdoes me in

the future, it won't be too sordid. And I just berated Billy a couple of days ago. If he holds a

grudge against me, he will certainly make my life a living hell. So before he can ostracize me in

the future, I might as well thrash him first and give him a tainted reputation!"

With this in mind, he walked up to Billy.

"Congratulations, Billy. Now that you've sorted out your issue with your Internal Strength,

you'll be expecting a meteoric rise in your skills soon." Then he smiled and cupped his hands

toward Billy.

His behavior elicited shocking responses from the surrounding boys.

"Didn't Cairo hate Billy back then? What do you think he's doing? Why would he..."

"I think Cairo would like to get on Billy's good side to avoid future complications. Now that

Billy's strength has improved, Cairo's trying to avoid his retaliation in the future."

"Tsk tsk! Cairo is such an ominous person. The more he grins like that, the more he's up to no

good..."

Kane quickly looked at them before he started practicing the Claw Condensation Technique. For

him, Cairo was nothing but trash.

After three years of training, he was still at the lower level of the Early Period of Mortal Rank. If

the Internal Strength of an Early Period of Mortal Rank warrior summed up to one hundred

percent, then Cairo would only have twenty to thirty of them.

Meanwhile, Kane only needed two months to achieve it.

Kane smiled oddly and mumbled under his breath, "Let this piece of trash test my cousin's

strength."

Billy watched Cairo coolly, but deep inside, he was very vigilant. A few days ago, they both

had a little run-in. Billy knew Cairo's very nature so well, and he knew how complicated it

was to indulge him so quickly.

Cairo's last name was never Alexei. His father was nothing but a servant of the family. But the

fact that he trained with the Alexei boys meant that his father was regarded as a high-ranking

servant. It was agreed that if Cairo broke through to the Human Rank, he would be given the

surname Alexei.

Billy knew that being a servant's son would put Cairo's status at the lowest level. Even

though he was a direct descendant of the Alexei family, but he couldn't produce the Internal

Strength, Cairo naturally targeted him, whether or not it was intentional.

But after seeing how his symptoms had healed, Cairo didn't want to let the matter rest easily.

Either to vent out his anger or to prevent Billy from going after him in the future, Cairo was

bound to do something about the situation.

At first glance, Billy did nothing but smile and say, "The gap between me and everyone else

is so big. How can it be so easy to catch up? It's just a matter of working hard during training

and focusing on building my strength."

Cairo laughed again. "Well, now that you've mentioned it, every time we're training, we often

fight and practice our skills in pairs. Since you couldn't generate Internal Strength at the time, no

one was willing to take you on. This time, will you allow me to fight you?"

At first glance, it was simply an amicable exchange. But in reality...

Billy sneered inwardly. 'Sure enough, he certainly doesn't have any good intentions. Even if

I'm able to produce my Internal Strength as of yesterday, how much can I really do overnight? It

seems like Cairo wants to tarnish my future accomplishments this early.'

If Billy had plans of becoming one of the Alexei family's senior officials, this disgrace in his

name would greatly diminish his prestige. However, such dishonor would easily be brushed

aside if he had a formidable force that would make the whole Alexei family admire him.

Cairo couldn't stop looking at Billy with a light smile. "How does that sound? It's a pretty

good suggestion, isn't it? Only in battle can we realize our weaknesses, and then work hard to

make them better. Don't tell me you don't want us to fight because I'm some servant's son? Are

you looking down on me?" His face suddenly darkened with an unreadable emotion.

Billy cursed in his heart. The Alexei family had many servants that didn't have their

surname. He supposed that as long as he agreed, all those servants would find out about it in

the afternoon. Thus, even if he was a direct descendant of the Alexei family, if many servants

harbored ill feelings toward him, his life growing up with them would never be easy.

At this point, the other boys around them also figured out Cairo's plan. They denounced him for

being so sly, but they reveled at Billy for his misfortune. It was apparent that a lot of them

were equally jealous of Billy.

They wouldn't be envious of Billy if only he could display his strength of the Fourth-level

Aptitude from the start. However, since he failed to produce his Internal Strength, they treated

him as an incompetent person. Suddenly, after Billy's symptoms had cleared up, he

became the Alexei family's Upper-grade genius. The immense gap between them and Billy

had made them feel unstable.

It also led to jealousy.

"Oh, Billy has so much going on now. Even if Cairo serves no purpose, it has been three

years since he first started gaining his Internal Strength. Meanwhile, Billy only developed

his for one night, and I'm afraid that's going to taint his life."

"Haha! Even though Billy grows stronger than us in the days to come, everyone's

perception of him will always be tarnished. We have nothing to fear from him."

"I guess you're right."

"I agree with you."

"It's such a shame!"

At that point, Kane also noticed him and lightly stroked his chin. "Cairo's not as dumb as you

think. He didn't challenge Billy directly, but he suggested that they fight instead. It's natural

to injure oneself accidentally while fighting, you know. After all, if he directly approaches and

provokes Billy and teaches him a lesson, I won't let him do it. The senior family members

know that Cairo and his father won't be having a good time afterward either.

Cairo also knows how to frame him. Billy is concerned now that he's caught in a quandary.

If he takes on the challenge, he'll be taught a lesson. If his character gets ruined, even with his

high qualifications, his future triumphs will be restricted. If he refuses to accept it, these servants

will make a mockery of him. His future won't be that great either."

Just like what both Kane and Billy had expected, Cairo had planned these to the hilt.