Potential I

The inside of the Eternal Heaven Pearl had no doubt been categorised as the heaven on earth, those who had the opportunity to enter and enjoy its boundless energy, ranked it as no less than a paradise beyond the paradise created by the Biblical God.

A marvellous paradise filled with golden rivers and land as far as one could see, boundless energy, clashing laws and to top it off a different time axis that favoured strengthening. If before the Golden Dragon could only be seen as a God, the possession of such a wondrous artefact did nothing but settle him as the most incredible God in Draconic Deus.

Within this marvel and with his golden eyes looking at the fights in the distance, Richter took a shrimp from the platter that Layla was holding.

"Master, I thought you would be leaving for the Earth by now?" Layla was sitting on her master's lap as it was the most natural thing to do.

"There are a few matters I want to check. Aphrodite, Ophis and Ruby… but-"

"You're enjoying yourself quite a bit here, aren't you?~"

"I can't deny that. The lads are working hard to become stronger, it is rather touching".

Every single day was spent in pure bliss, the most delightful energy, the warmest company of his beloved women, mountains of cherries and shrimp gotten from the outside and a perfect atmosphere that favoured his habit of sleeping for long periods of time.

'It is almost difficult for me to leave... but, there are things I must do' Richter sighed.

"In less than a year in the outside world, you will be a father again," Layla remarked while playing with his golden hair, giving it a nice smell... her words drew silence and she felt him flinch a little, not many things in this world could achieve that.

"…"

"Does it make you nervous? If big sister stays in the Eternal Heaven Pearl for longer, our child is going to be born faster, don't you want that?"

"I think I did well enough with my son, why would I be nervous...? it is also better if she gives birth here in this world that is filled to the brim with Primordial Gold as my apostle... in fact, I have several ideas on how we can sort everything out perfectly and for that... I'm going to use Ophis and Ruby".

"Only you could casually talk about 'using' the Dragon of Dreams and the Ouroboros Dragon, brother-in-law... don't worry... I'm used to it".

Richter's eyes drifted towards her, more accurately, towards her chest, "Each time you call me brother-in-law... it is because you want something from me".

"You're my Husband, brother-in-law, master... step-father~" The last words were whispered to his ears like the most succulent of temptations, "Is there any relationship that we don't share? sometimes I'm a little jealous of Destiny~"

"..." Richter watched as Layla started to lick his neck seductively, groping here and there with her intentions clearer than water, nonetheless, he was still a little confused.

'Why would she be jealous of Destiny?'.

**

**

Not so far from the Dragon's nest of love, in one of the many battlefields, a group of individuals clashed with a ferocity that indicated that this wasn't just 'training'. Only one characteristic they all had in common. They all had a sword.

*BOOOMMM!!*

Destruction and apocalypse engulfed as a group of individuals all clashed against a single figure. Anette was standing just there with her sword, Transcendence... her lack of sweat indicated she wasn't even trying... however, on the other side her opponents were all injured and visually exhausted.

"I thought you'd say something along the lines of... 'you're in the way, weakling!' or something like that" Kiba panted and raised his sword after having knelt down for a whole minute, his words were directed to Xenovia who wielded her Durandal also in a kneeling position.

"Fighting this monster, do you think we have the luxury to lack a member?" She cleaned the blood from her mouth while groaning at Anette who covered her mouth after snoring.

"Come at me with everything you have got, like this, we won't be able to defeat Team Divinity"

With how powerful she was, Annette couldn't help but be worried about the strongest team in this competition... she wanted those points no matter what to make a request and not only that but Azrael and Nyx being in that team increased their chances of getting a request of their own. All of the Golden Peerage members had already had their discussion and Layla was even willing to sacrifice her own desires in order for Team Divinity to lose and stop Nyx's ambitions.

While the strongest member of the team had their worries, so did the weaker ones.

'We're already giving it our all!'

It didn't matter what they did, it seemed like Annette and Benneth were unreachable. Fighting together in their team were Karlamine and Irina Shidou who had already been incapacitated and also, Arthur Pendragon who was one of little words. As for the rest of the members, they were fighting Benneth in the distance, not having much luck.

<Sword Birth!>

A majestic row of swords manifested from the ground Annette was standing on, the amount was vastly greater than when Kiba just entered this world, and his strength had increased, but it wasn't enough.

The swords broke the moment they made contact with Annette's body.

"Put more energy into that, your swords are feeble, Kiba".

*WOOSH!*

With a single sweep of her sword, no energy involved, she shattered the world around her and all of the manifested swords.

"This space is riddled with my master's boundless energy, you no longer have the excuse of lacking resources, optimize your bodies to use this energy to its maximum extent, like this!"

This time her attack was redirected towards Arthur who she recognised was the strongest and more calculative among the trio... unlike their combined brass offensive, Arthur fought cleverly, but...

'Clever won't beat me'.

*BOOOOOOMMMM!!*

Arthur managed to parry the strike although he was blasted away before regaining his balance.

"Not bad, it looks like you're learning".

"What you're trying to say is... that in this space, there is no difference between each one of us, right?" Arthur clarified.

"Correct... with these outfits, in this world... the same energy is available for all of us at the same time, the same way. The difference between you and me, is our innate abilities and experience!".

Her sword was imbued with a dark aura, she didn't use primordial gold, merely her own innate strength.

<First Strike!>

*BOOOOOOMMMMM!!*

A mere attack split the floating island they were fighting in two, blasting all the members away, floating in the wilderness, utterly tired.

"Defeat me... otherwise this world will be condemned due to your weakness".

Those were Annette's last words before she moved away, intending to give them half an hour of rest before they engaged in another half a 'day' of sparring.

"How is it going on your side, sister?"

"They're wasted... but they're getting better" Benneth shrugged her shoulders, appearing from the nothingness to show that she had also incapacitated her own group already, faster than her.

"There is big sister Morrighan in the Devil Team and Albedo in the Tank Team".

"But without a doubt, the most troublesome one is the God Team, it is almost unfair".

"Sister Layla on her own is already difficult. But then there are also Amaterasu, Nyx and Azrael".

"Yasaka and Gabriel... that team should be re-balanced with the sorcery team who seems to have the weakest members".

"Not really, I can tell what Master was trying to accomplish".

"Hmn?"

"Tomorrow is the battle royale, right? you will see then..."

The dynamic was simple. During the week the teams were left to train on their own, using their own implemented dynamics. During the weekends they were tasked to participate in a battle royale between teams. The last team standing would gain 'points'.

By the end of the month, all teams together would be tasked to go against the 'Dragon Team'

Richter, Jie Yuan, Li Suo & Ni Jie.

The teams to defeat at least one of the members of the Dragon Team would gain 'points', a greater sum of them. Naturally, except for Ni Jie none of the members of the Dragon Team were fighting seriously.

The teams to win the battle royale would also win 'points'.

The individual members to become the strongest in their own team during the battle royale would also win 'points'.

As for what those people could do with the points, the answer was simple... they could do whatever they wished.