Mariz Barony's Frontier Town

As they slowly made their way to their next destination, the journey, thankfully, had been lackluster. They had left the village during the first day of Bariki, the second month of the 24 Moon Period.

Unfortunately, their luck in gathering resources had diminished, or other cultivators had gathered them before them, he would not know. In any case, they only get several low-rank Genesis, around grade 1 based on the books they have.

Nevertheless, with he reached the Genesis Formation realm, the amount of energy crystals he got also increased, though it still will take him a long time to have another major realm breakthrough. The only way to speed up his cultivation is to increase his comprehension of his Cultivation Art, something he had done though only a small part, and gather resources.

As they made their camp, Ryker had used the Hidden Ancient Mansion, making Ina look at the suddenly appeared spatial tool in shock. Entering and seeing it inside for the first time sends her to another shock.

The only thing he heard from her that night was a variant of "cultivators are scary" or something similar. Nonetheless, they had their nightly activities, though slightly restrained so Ina wouldn't be too tired for their journey.

-x-

As they spotted a wall, Ryker knew that they had reached the border town of the Mariz Barony. From the information the chief gave them, Mariz Barony was established by a noble of the Birak Kingdom about 50 years ago, in the land given to him by the kingdom.

The barony was one of the many noble territories, vassal to the Birak Kingdom. The noble ruling the barony is Baron Mariz, a noble who rises in the war against the Birak Kingdom's enemies.

While he was not sure of it, the chief had told them that all the leaders of the towns and cities, from mayor to city lord, were cultivators. He advised him to not antagonize any of them, as they were most likely stronger than him, something he agreed to.

Right now, they only reached the frontier town but the guards already had their cultivation at the 3rd Stage Genesis Gathering. He wondered how powerful the leader was, how powerful the leaders of towns and cities near the capital, and how powerful the noble was.

"Halt," his musing was stopped by the guards.

"Please state where you come from and where is your current destination?" a guard with grey hair asked.

"We come from a small village about 50 kilometers from here and we are just traveling, with no end destination though we do plan to stop at the capital," Ryker explained.

"In that case, please exit the carriages as the guard will perform an inspection. Please be assured we will let you in after we confirm everything you said. For assurance, you can keep your blade by your side," the guard ordered them.

Ryker and Ina quickly get out of their stead before getting the children to exit the carriages. To their amusement, the guards' eyes bulged as they saw the horde of children, though they didn't ask about them.

Very quickly, the guard checked every nook and cranny, before giving a nod to him.

"Very well, it looks like there are no illegal goods. We were sorry for the inconvenience but rules are rules," the guard said before letting them enter.

Before they could get back on their stead though, one of the guards grabbed Ina's wrist.

"Why don't you leave the guy and come with me? I'm going to show you a good time," he said, a lecherous smile on his face.

Before Ina could refuse, she was pulled by Ryker, who glared at the daring guard, "You should watch where you put your hands, or you might lose it," he coldly said.

The guard couldn't help but feel a bit fearful when that glare fell on him, though the fear slowly turned to rage.

"You better watch your mouth boy! I'm better than you in every way so give me that girl or I'm going to make you regret it!" he snarled.

The guards around didn't do anything, looking uncomfortable by what one of their own was doing. Unfortunately, the guard is the son of one of the major families in the town, their patriarch had reached the peak of the Genesis Gathering realm.

This allows his son to act brazenly, the town lord and the captain of the guard leave him alone because doing anything might jeopardize the town's safety as the family holds a great amount of power.

However, Ryker didn't pay any attention to the guard, instead looking at the leader of the guard, "If one of the guards decided to start something for no reason, can I protect myself?"

The question took the leader by surprise, but he nodded, essentially giving him the green light to take action. The exchange didn't go unnoticed, the twisted look on the guard's face became even more contorted from rage, the guard suddenly took his sword and swung it at the brat.

"Die!" he yelled, already planning to violate the beautiful young woman.

In that instance, a powerful pressure descends, making the guard fall to the ground as the powerful pressure presses him deeper, almost burying him. The guards around them didn't escape the pressure, the only reason they didn't get buried was because the pressure was weaker. They still kneeled from the force.

"G-ge-nesis F-for-m-mation," the leader stuttered. To think the young man in front of him is a Genesis Formation expert. If he had known, he would do his best to prevent his subordinates from touching his woman.

The pressure slowly increased causing several bones to break as the guard screamed, the pain was too much for the spoiled brat. As Ryker continued his onslaught, the pressure cracked a part of the wall, causing the guards around the area to look in the direction of the cause.

In a room, a bearded man was busy writing when he sensed a power similar if not greater to his own. He quickly exited his room before going to the source. In a short moment, he reached the source where he was met with the sight of one of his men being buried in the ground while the others were forced to kneel.

"Sir, even if you are more powerful than I am, can you give me a face in this city?" the bearded man said.

However, his words were heard by grey grey-haired man and his subordinates. The bearded man is the second most powerful person in the entire town, only weaker than the town lord. To think that the young man who looked like he didn't reach his twenties was stronger than him.

Ryker looked at the incoming man with a smile, "I would leave to give you some face. In fact, I would prefer to remain unnoticed and not cause trouble, if not for the fact this piece of trash decided to try to take away my woman and even tried to attack me. Naturally, I retaliate,"

Hearing one of his men dare to touch the woman of someone he likely couldn't even beat, he looked at the guard in question before letting out a stream of curses. To think his most troublesome guard would do such a thing.

"I apologize for my foolish subordinate action. He would be punished severely, I promised," the bearded man said, Ryker, looking at him with a cold look.

"Have him whipped in the public, then I would let him off," he nonchalantly said, making the bearded man narrow his eyes.

"To have him whipped in the public, his family would-" "If his family dare to do anything, I will kill them," he cut off the bearded man's word.

The bearded man was about to say something when Ryker continued, "If you want to defend this piece of trash, you going to need the other Genesis Formation expert," he turned his head in one direction.

"But just be clear, I'm going to turn this city into a rubble in the process. And one more thing," a more powerful aura was released, making everyone in the city feel it, the bearded man suddenly grew paler, "I didn't show even half of my strength yet, so you should think about which person you don't want to offend," as he said that, he casually pushed all of the guards, including the bearded man to the side.

His siblings and Ina followed him, their horses following their master as they left the paralyzed guards near the gate. It took them a while before the bearded man came to his senses.

"Men, bring him to the prison. Have him whipped there. I'm going to talk to the town lord about when to have his punishment," The other guards looked at him in shock.

"What about the young man, what are we going to do to him,"

"What are we going to do to him? Do you think you can punish him when you are not even a match for him? He could kill you easily. The only thing we can do is try to appease him, lest the town might be gone when he truly angered," the bearded man replied, already walking away.

"Sir, it is true, that you won't even stand a chance against him?" the leader, bravest man of the bunch, dared to ask.

The bearded man looked at him right in the eyes. To the leader's credit, he didn't waver at the cold gaze, "What he said earlier, that's him being generous. If both the town lord and I fight him, he would kill both with some effort,"