While Lothur and Viktoria were trying to return to their routine after Annaliese and Aiken's departure, the few local enemies who still wanted his head were already aware of his return.
Among them, the most stressed of all was patriarch Baier, who hated Lothur the most and was furious that this opponent he alone could no longer handle had returned alive.
He was currently on his estate alongside some local allies, planning what to do now that his more violent actions had failed.
"Now the Frost family has someone else for us to worry about..." One of those men commented, putting Lothur and Viktoria on the same footing.
"That doesn't change anything. We were planning to act against this family during the Secret Realm. So neither of them will be around..."
"Uh? What do you mean? Lothur isn't guaranteed a spot in the Secret Realm."
"Of course he does. Do you think someone like him won't be able to win the competition at the Morning Star Academy for one of the spots for that place?"
After those words, the individuals gathered at Patriarch Baier's residence opened their eyes, realizing that this was indeed a good point. Lothur was using items to promote his strength in the situation of days ago. But his speed and strength were undeniable.
He might not be strong enough to handle them without those auxiliary items. Still, to fight academy juniors, well, he could be considered a monster.
"Yes, come to think of it, he must be the favorite in the contest!" Alric's father commented in satisfaction, feeling that their plan to affect the Frost family would work well in Lothur and Viktoria's absence.
Since he and the others felt that weakening the Frost family would be one of the steps to harming Lothur, everyone there felt more hopeful for their eventual revenge against that fellow.
Now what mattered was no longer even following the plans of the third prince's faction and harming the Frost family. Instead, what mattered was to return all the defeats their families had recently suffered to that fellow!
'Let's act as soon as possible while his strange plans do not proceed!'
...
After Lothur had communicated with all his local allies on the day of his return to Peters City, a week passed quietly in this city.
During this period, he attended the academy regularly, studied hard in that institution in the mornings and early afternoons, and continued his relations with Elke and Annaliese.
Because of this, they had both advanced in terms of soul, and Annaliese had even evolved the level of her body cultivation.
But their advancements, as well as what Viktoria also had, were related more to the spiritual crystals they had received from Lothur than to their 'activities.'
Their 'activities' helped, but not so much that Annaliese rose from level 12 to level 14 in just one week.
But this was how spiritual crystals worked in this world. As long as one had access to them and was talented enough, absorbing large amounts of energy and getting stronger was simple.
Unfortunately or not, most cultivators in this world had low talent. While some could achieve almost 100% efficiency in absorbing these items, most could not even achieve 10%.
On the other hand, few people had access to this kind of item at these women's cultivation stage. So it was rare to see someone raising their level as quickly as Viktoria, Annaliese, and Elke were doing.
To get an idea, the entire Linn Province produced about 20,000 spiritual crystals annually. But of these, Lothur had given 120 to his women for them to simply absorb.
That would be considered a great waste in the view of local leaders, who would surely use these same crystals to create new arms for their factions.
For example, the late leader of the Mouse Company had created his group with less than a third of the value that Lothur gave his women!
In any case, the local leaders were not surprised by the improvements of these women since most of them had found out that Lothur was now a millionaire.
But some students at the Morning Star Academy were beginning to think it unfair that people connected to a monster like Lothur were competing for places in the Secret Realm.
So even though he had not had any problems this week, Lothur had heard a lot of buzzes and had been questioned by teachers and professionals in the academy.
But he always ignored these people, and when he left the academy in the afternoon, he forgot about matters unrelated to the production of his cars.
In the afternoons, Lothur would take care of the affairs of the Ritter Motor Company, which would finally have its factory delivered at the end of the next day.
He had also been following the development of the auxiliary institutions to his automobile company, participating in the necessary investments, and discussing the business models.
He was the only one with the earthly experience to know of some mechanisms to increase profits or improve the structure of the business. So he had to participate in a little bit of everything.
But at the end of the day, Lothur still found time to train in his spiritual professions, which helped him finally reach the peak of the first star in each of his professions.
With that done, he planned to spend Sunday producing things for his women to consume and enhance their features. He had already combined his medical, alchemy, and poison master skills to produce items that, in combination, would greatly help his women.
All he lacked was the time to produce such items and the ingredients, which he had already ordered and would arrive next Saturday.
Apart from these things Lothur had been doing, he was also fulfilling his responsibilities as a man and training his techniques at least three times a week.
That helped him reach level 15, the 6th Revolution of a Spiritual Warrior, a level he was not far from it when he left the Three Great Lakes Region.
Finally, Ice had been living quietly in Peters City, with Lothur feeding her Bronze-grade medicines daily.
But unlike humans, who could get stronger quickly in many different ways, beasts were slower in their evolution. So that creature was still struggling to reach level 15.
...
[Name: Lothur Ritter]
[Physique: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger]
[Bloodline: Life Devourer]
[Cultivation: level 15]
[STR: 165.7] [CON: 363] [DEX: 161.5] [AGI: 167.5]
[INT: 113] [PER: 187.3] [WIL: 134.5]
[EVF: 0]
Lothur saw his status as he left his estate in the morning, heading towards the academy, no longer being pursued by local observers.
After this week since his return, Lothur no longer had to worry about having people watching his movements and following him from a distance 24 hours a day.
The local powers that had heard his warning during his trip to the Finn Mountains or even heard from August that he wanted peace had withdrawn their men from Lothur's proximity. Meanwhile, his still enemies did the same for different reasons, not wanting anything with him before the Secret Realm.
As such, while riding on Ice's back, Lothur quickly arrived for another day of study at the academy.
'Ah, I can live quietly like this without complaining...' He closed his eyes and sighed.
But that would not last long!
...