My Infinite Cultivation System-Chapter 104: Hostility from two top geniuses

Alex looked at Sofia with his calm expression, as if nothing had happened between them. His posture was relaxed, his hands clasped loosely behind his back, his breathing steady. To anyone watching, he appeared completely unruffled by the fact that he had just forcibly touched a Star Level predator in a way that no sane person would ever attempt.

"Man, that was close. I thought I was a goner for a moment," Alex said, heaving a sigh of relief that sounded almost genuine.

Sofia’s cold voice lingered in the air like frost on a winter morning, each word precise and deliberate. "You have two months. I will not come for you in these two months. But if you do not face me when the time comes, everyone from your universe will die."

Then she was gone.

Not teleportation. Not displacement. Simply absence, as though she had never been there at all.

The silence that followed was different from before. It was not the silence of tension or fear. It was the silence of disbelief, of minds struggling to process what they had just witnessed.

Then the murmuring began.

"Did that bastard just touch that demoness’s butt and survive?" a voice from somewhere among the gathered geniuses said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "What kind of luck is that? Does good looks help you in every problem? I am so jealous."

"He must have some kind of defensive treasure," another voice speculated. "No one survives touching Sofia Haris without permission. No one."

"She is the second rank prodigy," someone else added, their voice carrying a note of analysis that suggested they were trying to make sense of the impossible. "A cold hearted one at that. How did he do it? There has to be something we are not seeing."

The crowd of geniuses from various races had grown larger during the confrontation, drawn by the concentration of power that Sofia’s presence had created. Now they stood in loose clusters, their eyes fixed on Alex with expressions ranging from admiration to envy to barely concealed hostility.

He had done something none of them would dare. He had survived something none of them would have survived. And he stood there looking like he had just completed a morning stroll.

---

Somewhere in a corner of the gathering, separate from the murmuring crowds, an extremely handsome young man stood in perfect stillness.

Fourteen wings of pure light extended from his back, each one radiating a soft luminescence that made the air around him shimmer. They were not decorative. They were not symbolic. They were the physical manifestation of a power that had earned him the highest rank in this battlefield, a power that had crushed every challenger who had been foolish enough to stand against him.

Valerias Aurelion.

First rank. Five million points. Undisputed apex of this generation.

His hands were clasped in front of him, his posture impeccable, his expression serene. But his eyes, those pale golden eyes that had seen the fall of armies and the rise of empires, were fixed on the distant figure of Alex with an intensity that made the air around him grow cold.

He had watched the entire encounter.

He had seen Sofia appear. He had seen the newcomer approach her, speak to her, offer her a handshake as though she were an equal. He had seen the teleportation that was not quite accidental, the touch that was not quite proper, the escape that should not have been possible.

And now Sofia was gone, and the newcomer was standing there breathing, and Valerias felt something he had not felt in a very long time.

His hands unclasped.

"He touched my woman," he said.

His voice was calm. Almost gentle. The voice of a man who had decided something and was simply informing the world of his decision.

"Anyone who gives me his location during the hunt will receive a universe rank treasure as a reward."

He turned. His wings folded against his back, the light dimming to a faint glow that barely escaped the edges of his robes.

"Let this be known to everyone."

He walked away.

The reaction was instantaneous.

It spread through the gathered geniuses like wildfire through dry grass, whispers becoming exclamations becoming declarations that carried across the entire encampment.

"Did you hear that? Valerias personally declared a reward. A universe rank treasure." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"The first rank is truly angry now. That weakling is finished. There is no escaping Valerias when he sets his sights on someone."

"First Sofia Haris, now Valerias Aurelion. That newcomer managed to provoke the top two geniuses on his first day. I have never seen anything like it."

"He must have a death wish. Or he is insane. Either way, he will not survive the next hunting period."

The excitement was palpable. Geniuses who had been bored, who had been waiting for something to break the monotony of survival, now had a purpose. Find the newcomer. Report his location. Claim a reward that could elevate their cultivation for centuries.

The hunt had begun before the hunting period even started.

---

In the corner where Alex and his group stood, the news arrived quickly.

A young woman from a nearby race, someone who had clearly overheard the whispers and wanted to be the first to deliver the information, called out to them with a mixture of glee and malice.

"Your friend has made quite an impression. Valerias has put a bounty on him. A universe rank treasure for anyone who gives him the newcomer’s location during the hunt."

She laughed, a bright, musical sound that held no warmth. "Better enjoy your last day of peace. Tomorrow, everyone will be looking for him."

She turned and walked away, her laughter trailing behind her like a banner.

Ares was the first to react.

His face had been a mask of frustration since Alex’s encounter with Sofia, his earlier warnings about recklessness proven more accurate than he had ever wanted. Now that mask cracked, revealing something closer to panic.

"Damn it," he said, his voice rising. "You are really a cursed child. You have earned the hostility of the top two geniuses on the day you appeared here."

He stepped back, his hands raised as though warding off a curse.

"You should stay away from us. We do not want to die because of your insanity. I said it before and I will say it again. You are going to get us all killed."

Alex waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. He even yawned, the motion so casual, so utterly unconcerned, that Ares looked like he might actually strike him.

"Anyway," Alex said, as though Ares had not spoken at all, "tell me something. Is the time flow similar to outside? One day here equals one day there?"

Jaros, who had been watching the exchange with an expression of deep contemplation, shook his head. "No. One year here is one day outside. The battlefield exists in a temporal pocket. It allows for extended training and combat without disrupting the flow of the greater realms."

Alex’s shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly. One year here, one day outside. That meant he had time. Real time. Time to grow, to adapt, to integrate the talents he had stolen and the ones he would steal in the future.

He turned his attention inward, to the system that had been silent since the confrontation with Sofia.

"System," he thought, keeping his excitement carefully contained, "will my cultivation break through according to time here or outside?"

The response came immediately, cold and precise.

[According to the outside time.]

Alex’s excitement evaporated.

One year here. One day outside. His cultivation would progress at the same rate regardless of how much subjective time he experienced. He could spend a hundred years in this battlefield and his cultivation base would advance only as much as it would have in a hundred days outside.

He kept his expression neutral, but inside, he was recalculating. His earlier assumption that he could simply wait and grow strong had been wrong. He needed another method.

"What a bummer," he thought, his mind already shifting to alternatives. "I should tame some powerful geniuses from other races. That would increase my strength more directly."