CHAPTER 50: The Quiet Years
While Rohan spent eight relentless months beneath the roar of the forge...
Far away, within the secluded halls of the Jena Estate—
Krishak's main body lived a life that appeared almost ordinary.
Every morning, he woke before sunrise.
He cultivated.
Not to increase his realm—he had long since reached the Peak King Realm—but to polish every strand of spiritual energy until it became flawless. Every circulation compressed his foundation further, preparing for the distant day he would step into the Emperor Realm.
For him, advancement was no longer a matter of accumulating power.
It was a matter of perfection.
...
Occasionally, he would close his eyes.
Memories from his clones flooded into his consciousness.
The endless ringing of Rohan's hammer.
The progress of the First Disciples.
The gradual expansion of every hidden plan he had placed throughout the world.
After reviewing everything, he quietly adjusted future instructions before returning to his own cultivation.
His true body rarely left the estate.
There was no need.
Every clone was another pair of eyes.
Another pair of hands.
Another lifetime of experience.
...
Yet cultivation occupied only a portion of his day.
The rest...
He devoted to something completely unexpected.
Science.
Technology.
Books filled his study.
Physics.
Chemistry.
Mechanical engineering.
Materials science.
Electronics.
Computer architecture.
Artificial intelligence.
Communication systems.
Even military engineering.
One after another, he absorbed knowledge at an astonishing speed.
To ordinary people, these subjects required years.
To a Peak King Realm cultivator whose soul could memorize entire books after a single careful reading...
Days were enough.
Not because he underestimated science.
But because his spiritual perception allowed him to understand and retain information with terrifying efficiency.
...
There was another reason.
Government surveillance.
The Jena Estate had never truly escaped the attention of the authorities.
Several agencies quietly monitored the family.
The private tutor assigned to teach his younger sister...
Was no ordinary teacher.
She was one of the government's observers.
Krishak had discovered that fact the day she entered the estate.
Yet he pretended not to notice.
There was no benefit in exposing her.
Instead...
He simply behaved exactly like an exceptionally talented ten-year-old child.
He attended lessons.
Read books.
Played with his sister occasionally.
Asked reasonable questions.
Never revealing anything beyond what the world could accept.
Sometimes, hiding required greater skill than displaying power.
...
In his previous life...
Technology had never become the dominant path.
Communication required transmission talismans.
Transportation relied on flying beasts or spatial formations.
Weapons were forged by master blacksmiths.
Medicine belonged to alchemists.
Power belonged to cultivators.
Entire civilizations advanced through cultivation instead of machines.
Naturally...
Krishak had never paid attention to technological civilizations.
Most worlds possessing advanced machinery lacked powerful cultivators.
Compared to the great cultivation realms...
They were considered lower worlds.
There had never been a reason to visit them.
But Earth was different.
Here...
Technology had evolved alongside spiritual awakening.
Satellites connected continents.
Computers processed impossible quantities of information.
Artificial intelligence performed calculations faster than countless scholars.
The internet allowed knowledge to spread across the globe in moments.
None of these relied on spiritual energy.
To Krishak...
It was an entirely different civilization.
One worth understanding.
Perhaps...
One worth surpassing.
...
As evening descended, Krishak closed another thick textbook.
His gaze drifted toward the distant horizon.
Within the same moment—
He could sense Rohan completing another perfect hammer strike.
One disciple refined his body.
Another clone guided countless students.
His hidden organizations continued to grow.
And his own understanding of an entirely new civilization deepened day by day.
The world believed the young master of the Jena Estate spent his days quietly studying.
In a sense...
They were correct.
Only...
None of them understood what he was truly studying.