Central Pilar continent, Thousand Peaks territory:

"Hehe! Is that so? How very surprising and interesting."

Back in his Dwelling, Herman was listening to Tianxia Xue's report while she was shyly enveloped by his arms. Unable to help himself while thinking about this truly interesting piece of news, his hands started groping around, earning himself an embarrassed glare from the woman.

Retracting his naughty limbs and shrugging to show innocence, he used words and kisses to coax the poor girl into giving more details.
Minutes later, Herman's surprised face turned thoroughly shocked.

"Are you sure she ordered them?"

[Mhm! I can't hear what the answer was, but when she was talking about servants, she did end with 'That's an order!' before pausing to allow others to reply.](Tianxia Xue)

"I see."

When Feng Qian came over and told him the news about Harper being so gifted, he naturally couldn't believe that such an absurd genius would stay hidden and there's also no way in hell she died early. That means that in his past life, even with the major sects' resources, they were unable to find her.
That's why Herman asked Xue to keep an eye on the woman and report back to him when something fishy happens. As he expected, such a thing did occur. However, much to Harper's disappointment when she'll find out, not even Communication Jades won't be safe from interception from a powerful cultivator.

"So she's the Peak hidden leader, huh? How very disturbing and thoroughly interesting at the same time."

[Do you need me to make a move and remove them? I know where the Barony where they took over is.](Tianxia Xue)

"Nope! There's no need. On the contrary though, if they plan to spy on me and get more helping information through such a method, I'd say we give them a hand."

[Eh!?](Tianxia Xue)

Seeing her baffled expression, he could understand her confusion. Based on how they acted, they appeared to be his enemies after all. Herman wouldn't kill the hen for the eggs though.
Yeah, getting rid of them would be pretty simple even for him without asking Tianxia Xue for help as long as he shows some slight 'talent' to the bigger factions and gets their support, and then use them to fully suppress the Peak alliance.

As for doing what they are doing and devouring territory while seizing political power... not even slightly interesting in Herman's eyes. What use is there to hold an empire's worth of territory, just to have a much stronger expert come over and trash you for resources?

"Having wealth without the necessary power to back it up, is nothing more than a sin."

Even more so, it would be better to help them to further develop themselves. Back on Earth, he helped everyone out not to have a better rating or to help uphold the pride of his world against the other participants. He did that so the foundations on which the human cultivators would build on could become sturdy enough to support them in the future.

Thinking about the times he participated in the Void Invasions, even with his low cultivation level and the weak servants well hidden behind the experts, he could still see thousands upon thousands of geniuses dying at the hands of those terrifying beasts. Remembering how even Linkwill returned heavily injured and Bian Hua's pale face while missing an entire arm, an ugly expression was plastered on his face.

At that point, even Peak members were helpless against the horrifying monster tides. By then, each cultivator alliance's members were separated into three stages: the normal members (average strength levels, making up for 80% of the numbers), the elites (decently powerful, able to withstand normal Void monsters, making up for around 15% of the numbers), and finally the monsters (ridiculously powerful geniuses such as Link, UX, Bian Hua, Envy, etc, strong enough to contend with officers in the Void monsters army, yet vastly outnumbered by the enemies).

"The resources to produce more elites and hopefully some more monsters are there and were available in the past as well. The problem was that we didn't know how important having more numbers was back then and everyone in leadership positions hoarded such resources instead of utilizing them to nurture more experts. What I need to do right now, is instill the importance of growing stronger as a group to everyone from Earth. That would make it easier in the future when facing off against other continents, and the pressure we'll put on them will surely force a similar reaction. As for how I can do this..."

Seeing the silently contemplating Herman, Xue remained quiet while curiously looking at him. Noticing her gaze, he smiled and brought her closer to his chest, bringing about a blushing response from the beauty.
After a refreshing workout session, he finally reached a decision and left to meet with Harper. Aware of her position as a leader of such an important faction in the future, his plans became eviler and eviler by the second. He could barely hide the grin on his face while seeing the surprised and doubtful look on her face.

"She is probably thinking about how strange it is that I came here right after her conversation with the rest of the alliance. Hehe! I'll show this girl how scary it is to be played by someone since she wants to play me herself."

"Hello, fairy Harper!"

[Mister Herman, please, call me just Harper. I am not used to being addressed with such a title, as flattering as it might be.](Harper)

"Very well, but once more, only if you call me Herman as well."

[*Giggle* Understood. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?](Harper)

"I have been talking with Sect Master Qian and realized that I've been unintentionally neglecting you."

[Eh? Neglecting? I am afraid I don't understand what you're talking about.](Harper)

Seeing the confusion and the well-hidden wariness behind those fluttering eyelashes, a cold smile appeared on Herman's face for a second. This woman's acting was Oscar-worthy for certain. She would put Hollywood stars to shame.

"I have been hearing about two factions taking over the native territories and one of them is belonging to our world. That made me realize that after coming here, there wasn't much help that I could give others from Earth due to the lack of a proper communication channel. However, I still have you so close to me but did nothing to help you out even if it's just recounting my experiences. So, I decided to come over and have a chat with you. If there are any questions you have, feel free to answer."

[...](Harper)

Seeing the doubtful expression on her face deepen, the grin on Herman's face became more and more evident. Who knew what was going inside that pretty head of hers at the moment. Yet only seconds later, true happiness appeared on her face.

[In that case, can I bother you to show me around your Dwelling? I heard that you bought one and that its functions are of high importance to our future. I haven't bought one myself just yet, so I would love to know about the major things I should keep in mind when purchasing one.](Harper)

"Very well! Shall we?"

What followed was a full day tour where Herman kept talking continuously while presenting different pros and cons of having a Dwelling and its buildings. Seeing Harper look like a cadet listening to its instructor, he couldn't help but tease her a couple of times by feeding her exaggerated rumors that, in truth, weren't that far off from the actuality of things.

When night came, Celeste appeared to let him know that dinner was served and under the previous instructions he left, invited Harper as well. While Harper might be okay at theatrics, Celeste was good enough to teach a class about it. She even coaxed her to sleep over, while arranging her room next to Herman's and winking at her, making the hidden leader of the Peak faction freeze for a second.

The next morning when breakfast was served, she was facing the ground with an embarrassed look on her face, unable to look Herman in the eyes. He realized that he forgot how her room was next to his when Tianxia Xue and Xu Wen'an sneaked in the bed with him. So... he let loose as usual and the sounds of moaning could've been heard from the other side of the pavilion. Now, he was slightly embarrassed himself, seeing how he was keeping his distance from him as if he was the big-bad wolf ready to eat her as well if she wouldn't keep her guard up.

"Hmm... should I make a move on her? How funny would it be to take control of the mastodon that is the Peak alliance by 'conquering' their leader?"

Leaving aside the silly thought, Herman started the second day by teaching her the first thing Xue mentioned she was interested in. The lecture about servants was very in-depth and he touched upon all important details such as how to identify a companion that could become one, how to determine their bloodline and even some details about the primary attributes of servants after ascension.
Harper was sipping every word coming out of his lips, not even blinking in the process, afraid that she might miss something. Then, the conversation moved to sealed beasts where he advised her to attempt the first two levels immediately if her attributes were high enough since she could very well use the beast pills for further advancing her Cultivation Base.

Not stopping there, Herman touched upon the 20 worlds challenge and also advised her to use up all 300 entries available to her. The resources are of major importance for Alchemy and Blacksmithing, but also for the equipment they could find as loot after combat. Herman himself had only 240 entries left and he didn't plan to use up all of them any time soon.
He didn't have a chance of doing that in any case, since even if he used up one entry per day, he would only be able to use up at most around 180 of them. And even in that case, everything would have to happen in the Westmount territory making the resources available to him only at the basic level, able to use only a portion of them, while the others would have to be sold for Spirit Stones.

By the point where Harper left, Herman already promised to write a short guide for each one of the things they went through and hand it over in the following days. As for himself, the feeling of having someone run in the palm of his hands... gave quite the interesting feeling. The taste of that absolute power that could toy with someone's life was... intoxicating.

"Using the intel I just fed her, the Peak alliance should grow stronger by quite a bit. The problem is that I can't get a hold directly of Linkwill or UX and advise them of the same things. I need their factions to grow stronger as well."

Luckily, he had Feng Qian and her 'uncle' that held quite a bit of power and could investigate were on the continent where those two and Bian Hua located. Given their high-profile nature, it shouldn't be too difficult to do that. The power level of people from Earth will be increased as a result and factions of opposing nature would keep each other in check, making it impossible for the Peak alliance to become a true threat.

"As for Laura... well... I feel pity for the entire continent she's on and the surroundings as well. The 'Rose Saint' should make an appearance this time around as well, but her sphere of influence would be limited by the Autarchs who are fairly close to her home continent. With the intel I gave them at the start, they should've already started to devour nearby empires as well and with their warring nature, they won't fall behind Laura."

The 'Rose Saint' was a title given to her by the other participants in the race. The reason? Well... she was as beautiful as a rose, yet she had the thorns to show for as well. Those thorns dug deep into the surrounding empires, creating a large base of operation for the faction she set up later on. Truthfully speaking, that was the only thing useful thing about territory: the resources one could use for cultivation.

If one had access to an empire's resources, they could nurture both natives of the Immortal World into servants, but also help the participants develop at a faster rate. After reaching Soul Wandering, one could either join or create an alliance where more options that can help cultivators develop appear. Herman wasn't sure what he should do, but he would most likely create one herself rather than joining another's.

Turning his gaze on his Dwelling, he found the upgrades done to the Immortal Mountain more than pleasant with resources to spare for upgrading the Qi Gathering Array. The Blacksmith and the Alchemy apprentices were doing well as well, close to reaching Level 2 in their respective profession soon enough. As for the reason for their fast growth, Herman purchased all three 'Yearly Gifts' available, giving enough grandmaster notes for the pupils to study from.

Unfortunately, the chances of them reaching Level 4 any time soon weren't that great. The alchemist wouldn't be an issue since he had over 12 types of recipes for each professional level, giving him enough work for him to steadily level up.
The blacksmith on the other hand... well, besides the void stones used to upgrade his inventory space, nurturing him would be close to burning money - or in this case Spirit Stones - before he could become truly useful.

With most things taken care of, Herman relaxed and focused solely on cultivation. On his eight-month in this cultivation world, he was preparing to finally undergo tribulation, even more so, four of them in a row. The reason why he held back and didn't advance one step at a time and instead chose such a brutal method was his desire to further refine his bodily cultivation using the tribulation lightning.

Looking next to him at the smiling Feng Qian, he couldn't help but shiver at the memory of the covenant they did and what monstrous results she got from it. His own gains were stupidly high as well in terms of Cultivation Base, reaching a total of almost three million. He wasn't sure if it was due to the high rank of his core, the fact that he had a higher realm than when he first attempted this ritual or the fact that he spent many of his resources upgrading his position in the Raging Flame sect to Custodian level in record time, getting his hands on the Raging Flame Sect Heavenly Book. Probably because he used a 'donation' to circumvent waiting too much and spent 200SJ as result, the System directly upgraded the skill to the maximum level, giving him another 856 points in Perception.

"Is it because of her Immortal Spirit Body? Anyway, the results were comparable to an actual dual cultivation session. I am certainly preparing to give her my 'first time' as soon as I am close to Golden Core X."

Hours later, lightning finally stopped hammering the ground, and Herman who was buried in a crater to his knees. Just looking at his miserable appearance once could tell that he was heavily injured. Fortunately, it was just the outer body that was damaged and his veins and meridians were in good condition. Actually, his muscles, bones, and viscera received a proper lightning bath and were further refined, pushing his bodily cultivation higher as well.

 

Each spiritual cultivation level gave him 50 points, while the bodily cultivation levels gave 100 each. His main attributes received yet another pleasant boost as result. The extra boost usually given to Vitality was nowhere to be found this time around, mostly because his body was 'refined' through the use of tribulation lightning, making him happy that he didn't lose any points, rather than gaining.

After resting for a couple of days, he started grinding entries into Westmount while passively cultivating as well. The free time for himself was, at this point, no longer existent. His hands full of grinding, cultivating, and socializing with his companions there was nothing left for him even as much as enjoying a proper meal.

In such a way, the eleventh month since his entry in the Immortal World arrived.

 

With one million Cultivation Base needed for a breakthrough in the Soul Wandering realm, Herman prepared for his first dual cultivation session, wondering about who should he go through it with. Given how he's already 'involved' with both Tianxia Xue and Xu Wen'an, deciding to pick Feng Qian who hasn't even gotten 'physical' with him might throw him in a world of pain and hurt the two women in the process.

"All I can do is set up a meeting with all three girls and find out their input. Hopefully, I can survive it..."