Just walking through it casually and didnt see enemies behind him is really dense after all and he dont bother at all because that was even not a barrier for him. I dont know if he was that strong before age takes his power gradually till he found himself useless (refer to alternative story on same author)
@hartex92 Not really that he grew older found himself useless, but it's more like he just finally accepted that there wasn't any more space for him to grow any stronger, so being a battle junkie he is, he decided to gamble with his luck to get his desired crest, the fourth one for CQC. Actually, in the first chapter of the main story, it's pretty clear he's way stronger than he's here, from the fact he's fighting what is basically the Superman of the dragons (from the way he talks about it) and wins in 27 seconds solo. So this one he's already strong and a story about what he tried to do to get even stronger before reincarnating himself, while the main one is basically a new game+
@Ackeys It's technically a "What if" spin-off, it does take place before he reincarnated though, I don't get why people keep thinking it's a direct prequel. Elsewhere it says "Alternate Story" or (for some reason) "Doujinshi".