To my great surprise, we all stayed in Australia—or rather, we were forced to stay. Only the rich kids were allowed to go back home.
I was actually pretty happy to stay, because it meant I could return to the fifteenth floor whenever I wanted.
We were lodged in a small local hotel. Joseph was quite disappointed that he couldn't go home to see his family.
We were sharing the same room.
"Alright, Joseph, listen to me. I'm going to train you—but not here. In your consciousness," I said.
Ever since I left the cave, I realized I could enter other people's consciousness—but only with their permission. Though I believe cultivators above the Immortal rank can enter even without consent.
"And how exactly are you going to enter my consciousness?" he asked, clearly not believing me.
"Just say you accept, and you'll see," I replied.
He agreed—and I entered his consciousness.
I landed on a training field.
Joseph appeared there too.
"Where are we, Tony?" he asked in a panic.
"I told you—we're inside your consciousness. Look over there, that's your cultivation wall," I said.
Joseph looked around and realized I was telling the truth. He calmed down.
"So you brought me here to train me?" he asked.
"Yeah. I can't tell you everything yet, but at least I'll tell you this much," I said.
I told him about the assassination attempt on me—nothing more. He didn't need to know everything that had happened to me.
"So that's why you want to train me—just in case they try to get to you through me. But how can you train me? We're both just rank one," he said.
"For your answer, how about a fight? You'll see," I replied.
"Alright," he said.
Joseph summoned a sword—not a wooden one, a real one.
"Hope you don't mind, Tony," he said.
"Don't worry about me. You should worry about yourself," I said with a smile.
Joseph rushed at me. His speed had increased significantly—but it still wasn't impressive compared to mine.
"Perfect, I'll test my new techniques on you," he said with a serious look on his face.
I hadn't moved yet. I was waiting for him to get close enough before acting.
When he was about five meters away, he drew his blade and began swinging wildly. I didn't understand what he was doing, so I used my Ather-enhanced vision—and then I saw it.
That lunatic was unconsciously using Ather. With his sword, he was forming orbs, and from those orbs emerged a bright red version of himself, aiming to hurt me—while the real Joseph stayed behind.
If I were a rank one like him, I would've had a hard time dodging that attack.
In response, I pointed my finger at him and conjured a massive fireball, which shrank down to the size of a soccer ball.
I launched it at him. His attack vanished, and he was hit directly. He caught fire and started screaming.
"Very good. Your training starts today. You've shown me something really interesting," I said enthusiastically, Joseph's screams echoing in the background.