Jacob had survived Dragons, insanely powerful Demonic Beasts, and human trickery. However, after seven hours in St. Peter, he was exhausted.

He had taught his Aunt, Juliet, and Joseph a Cultivation Technique. He had also spent several hours dodging questions from the principal and his friends.

Even after cultivating for several hours, he had not reached the 2nd level of the Cockroach realm. He had taken too much damage from the use of the Forbidden Techniques on top of his measly talent: he was still recovering, and it would take him at least seven to eight hours more to reach the 2nd level.

His Time Domination Cultivation Technique would be slow even for ordinary people. Jacob, with his disgusting talent, was one of the worst matches possible. However, he would gain a significant advantage later on because cultivating would rely on insight as much as Qi and Mana. And he already had all the insights he needed to make it back to the 9th Realm.

I just wish I sucked a little less. I can barely fight in this state. And if I do, I might slow down my cultivation even more. But, people will take time to figure out how Qi and Mana work without Cultivation Techniques. Joseph has a decent 7th level Physical aptitude and 7th level Magical attitude as well.

Jacob had picked a suitable Cultivation Technique for the guy. It was a good one, but not on his Aunt’s or Juliet’s level. He did not trust Joseph yet; in fact, that kid had been spoiled rotten by his parents and had a terrible personality. The change appeared to have affected him positively, but Jacob still did not trust him completely.

Another person came suddenly to his mind. It was someone he would have gladly given a Cultivation Technique to, at least before being betrayed in front of half the adults in St. Peter.

Francis.

He did not blame him too much. Jacob had initially thought that he would fight alongside Francis and Helena in this life. However, unlike in his past life, he had met a childish Francis. He also had not said a word to Helena so far, getting tangled with Juliet instead.

After cultivating for the better part of the morning and the early afternoon, he was at the peak of the 1st level of the Cockroach realm for his Qi. His Mana was still barely non-existent. It didn’t matter too much: he would need way more Mana for the Spells that manipulated time.

“Jackie, go grab Joseph. It’s time to eat something!” his auntie shouted from the kitchen. Thankfully, they had some gas tanks for the stove. But, unfortunately, they did not have direct gas pipes like bigger cities.

Joseph had been on his own here. The housemaid provided by his family had gone back to Rome before him for some issue Jacob did not remember.

Jacob got out and got to Joseph’s place in less than five minutes.

“Joe! Time to eat, pal!” Jacob banged on the door and shouted.

His new acquaintance opened with a wary gaze.

“What?”

“My aunt is cooking for you, me, and Juliet,” Jacob shrugged, “she’s making some Carbonara, I think.”

Joseph’s eyes lit up at those words. From what Jacob remembered, this guy was helpless in the kitchen. Without his housemaid, he would probably starve himself.

As they started going back to Jacob’s place, the guy said: “I think I leveled up a couple of times in both Qi and Mana. I’m not entirely sure, though. The mind manual you gave me doesn’t explain how I can check my level.”

Leveled up? Manual? Does this guy think this is a video game?

“You probably did, Joe. You are quite talented. I’ll teach you how to defend yourself later”, Jacob commented.

“You probably already leveled up a bunch of times more, right?” Joseph asked.

“What?”

“I mean, you are like super strong or something, no?”

Jacob actually laughed. He just realized people did not know how useless he was.

“Oh no, Joe, my talent sucks. It’s the worst you can imagine. I have got the worst talent in the town, literally”, Jacob laughed.

“But how, I know that you killed—”

Jacob planted his elbow in Joseph’s side.

“Ouch! Right, right! Sorry, you are right.”

They had told everyone it had been Juliet who got the Janitor.

“I have some experience, Joe. I can kick your butt in a hundred and one ways. But my talent sucks. It will take time before my actual power will rival Juliet’s or even yours. So just don’t go tell people this. I will explain more to you if you don’t go yapping around, I swear.”

“Okay, man, okay. I’m sorry”, Joseph said with a frown.

In the kitchen, both his aunt and Juliet were getting the table ready.

“See, two women doing womanly stuff, for once,” Jacob joked to Joseph while getting murderous stares from the two women.

“Can’t wait to spar with you, Jackie,” Juliet said with feline eyes.

After getting a massive amount of pasta ready, they started eating and chatting.

“So, what’s next?” Juliet asked.

“We have to check with the principal how many agreed to go inside the school for the night. The attacks should come after midnight. We are also going to pick some people to act as sentries. Everyone above the 2nd level in Qi Cultivation should be able to hold his own with the Demonic Beasts we will be facing.”

“Juliet will need to cultivate more to reach the 4th level. Once there, she’ll be the strongest person in St. Peter, uncontested. My aunt will also pack quite the punch, thanks to her Spells. But we will keep that under the radars for now. We still don’t know who’s lost their mind. Having some secret weapon will help quell any animosity that should arouse.”

Jacob had never planned on speaking like a child just to fool others. And now, everyone looked at him in awe. However, he had not lost one of his marbles so far, keeping his composure, rescuing, and helping people whenever he could.

It was afternoon when they had started eating, and no one was ready to let go of this bit of normal life. Their lunch represented the first moment of peace after an agitated morning.

His aunt Linda had just gone to the front door after hearing someone knocking. When she came back, she looked right at him.

“Jackie, there is someone at the door for you,” she said with a frown.

“Who?” Jacob asked.

“A girl. She says that her name’s Helena and that she needs to talk to you.”

Jacob's eyes widened.