Chapter 355 A Growing power from under
Whatever Dame was thinking in his mind, he decided to trust Ricktor with his words, but before leaving, he had decided to give the others strict instructions.
“Simyon, you’ve been learning the forging techniques and more about refinement of the body. The thing is your body is more like that of a weapon.”
“You need to put the body refinement technique and the weapon technique together to make them one and the same.”
“So you’re basically telling me I need to get beat up over and over again, right, even though I’ve now learned how to utilize Qi through my body to train my outer skin,” Simyon replied.
“I knew you would get it. The thing is, the body and a weapon are different in many ways. For one, the body needs to heal once it’s broken down, but you have the best person by your side.” Dame looked at Safa and said nothing more.
Her healing abilities, and magic in general, it was all to be kept a secret, especially from someone like Ricktor. Right now, they didn’t know whose side he was really on, but Dame didn’t mind because hopefully, the training would benefit them both.
After saying those words, it was time for them to leave, but he had one more message for them.
“The two of us will be going to the seclusion room at the very end. That way, if we hear the others moving to attack, we can warn you straight away, so you need to get ready for anything,” Dame explained.
The rest nodded, and Dame and Ricktor were off. They walked in, and finally, they had entered the room and stood opposite each other, staring into each other’s eyes.
Ricktor took a step back, and so did Dame as well.
“Do you use a weapon?” Ricktor asked, placing his hand on the hilt.
“My weapons are my fists, and I don’t think I need to tell you, you don’t need to hold back. You should be fighting like your life is on the line.”
Ricktor chuckled, and right there and then, he pulled the wooden sword out, and an eruption followed his blade.
It was a surprise attack, but Dame didn’t move from his spot. He punched the sword right on point, and his other fist was almost touching Ricktor’s face.
“If this was a real fight, you would have been dead,” Dame commented.
“You really think so? If you want me to take this seriously, then you need to as well, and hit me!” Ricktor shouted as he quickly drew the blade back and thrust it up.
The visual Qi was activated like a volcano, but the strike had completely missed, and Dame had delivered a fist right into his stomach deep.
Spit came shooting out of Ricktor’s mouth, but it wasn’t just spit; a bit of blood was seen with it as well.
“Haha, that’s it, that’s what I wanted!” Ricktor said, smiling, and his Qi energy was rising right after the hit.
“You are one strange guy,” Dame thought. “If only he liked getting hit as much as you did.”
—
Thinking about a specific person, the group wasted no time in fighting against the statue once more. They each got into their position and stayed apart from each other, covering three of their sides.
Unlike when they were fighting against the other students, they needed to experience the fear of danger and get through all of this with their own strengths, which is why they were split this way.
“Alright, Stoney, attack!” Safa shouted.
Immediately, Stoney didn’t pull out a sword and instead used his fists. These were the skills of the Lethal Bite Clan.
Liam had thrown his sword in the air, aiming to use the juggling arts, but a fist had hit the wooden sword away, right into the wall.
He had no choice but to spin, avoiding the attack. As the stone hit the fist, the whole seclusion room shook.
Safa thrust her spear several times, at three points. An attack that was meant to be a sure hit. The stone statue had managed to block two of them and got hit with the third, but the damage done to the statue was next to nothing.
From behind the statue, now it was Simyon’s turn. He readied his fist and threw it right at the bottom of its leg.
“A hard body means that everything, every part of me, is a weapon as well, so I don’t just take hits, but I can hit hard as well.”
The statue lifted its foot and then stomped down on his arm, pinning it. Now in its hand was a sword, and as it swung it, visual Qi like that of a river smashed, sending Simyon flying, hitting the wall.
He could see the stone statue on him, the sword thrusting toward his chest; it then smashed right where his heart was, but was unable to pierce through his skin.
The statue continued to twist the sword as it pinned Simyon against the wall.
“Stoney, st-“
“No!” Simyon shouted at Safa, and then placed both of his hands on the sword. “If we want to get through this assessment, then we need to grow stronger as well.”
“We can’t just rely on Raze. Do you remember what happened when we were in the Demonic Faction back then? We could do nothing, and in the end, he helped us.”
“We agreed to follow him, but the one thing we can’t do if we follow him is be a hindrance to him. He’s going to have more enemies on his back, so what we need to do is get stronger!”
While saying these words, Simyon could feel something. His dantian, it was growing and spreading through everywhere, and the earring he was wearing, it was starting to pulsate along with his body.
With a pulse, Simyon pushed through.
“Do you want that to happen again, that humiliation?” Simyon shouted.
Liam picked up the sword and tensed his fist. He remembered that feeling well; he remembered it because he had felt it more than once now.
The fire in his stomach was burning as well, and it was the same for Safa.
While the three of them had the same thoughts running through their heads, the Qi in their body, it was almost reacting with each other. All of it pulsating, their dantians growing, and soon, a strange mist started to rise out from the top of their heads, each of them bathed in color.
[Rare Rank Metal body has been achieved]
The ring glowed, and the power resonated with all of them in that moment, and finally, all of them had broken through to the third stage.
“ARGHH!” Simyon screamed at the top of his lungs, and so did Safa, as well as Liam as all three of them went to attack.
They could feel something had changed in them. They were already close to getting through to the next stage after being down here for so long.
They could feel they were nearly there, but what they didn’t have was the determination to want it enough. To force their bodies into growing stronger in the time of need.
All three of them struck the statue, and when they did, all of them were flung back, like a rebound as each of their bodies hit the wall.
“What is happening? I thought we had just broken through to the third stage?” Liam said, rubbing the back of his head.
The statue was standing there, with the sword in its hand. A faint Qi, visual Qi, was flowing from all around its body.
Liam wasn’t sure if his one good eye was working or not, but it almost felt like the statue had gotten stronger, and it had done so because they weren’t the only ones that had managed to break through to the next stage.
A few doors down, in the furthest seclusion room, the ground was splattered with all sorts of blood, but the last few spits of blood while receiving punishment from Dame were black in color.
‘This guy, I felt it before,’ Dame thought. ‘When I was fighting, he was carefully analyzing all of my punches. He’s a natural talent, one of the best I’ve seen.
‘He reminds me a lot of one of my brothers, which I don’t like too much.’
With his weak body, Ricktor could feel it. He lifted up his sword, wiping the black blood from his mouth.
“I’ve reached the fifth stage, but it’s not time to stop there; let’s keep going!” Ricktor ordered.
Chapter 356 Are we ready?
Raze had decided to return to the Pagna Academy. With everything he had done, it was close to being a full week he had been away.
The assessment was most likely in its last week, or perhaps it would even end earlier than that, but all of these thoughts were what were worrying him slightly.
He had given Dame the warning that things could take around a week or so, because he knew he needed to go to Alterian for the meeting. He just never imagined the whole affair would take even longer.
After that, things just continued to pile up one after the other, but now he was ready, and in order for him to return, he would have to open a portal and travel back through the dimension he had done before. Where he opened a portal from on his end didn’t really matter; it would put him in a random place in the other dimension, but what he had kept note of was where to open the portal once he was in the other dimension.
This was all so he could go back to the same place in the Pagna Academy, back to the underground facility.
He needed to be careful; otherwise, he could very well teleport in a completely different place altogether.
He even wondered if he did it a little too far out what would happen, would he appear stuck underground in the world of Pagna, or would he just pop up above where the place would have been?
‘I guess the portals need a place to construct themselves, so if an area is too dense, it just wouldn’t form. Then the location gets pushed up. This is probably why there haven’t been any cases of things like that happening or reports of that.’
The thing was, Raze didn’t know what to believe anymore. Because of the Grand Magus, he was sure there were several reports that would be hidden or kept from the public eye. Information that wouldn’t be shared with the whole world.
This was also one of the worrying factors because last time Raze had visited the Dimension he needed to pass through, he had killed some mages on his way.
What the mages were there for, Raze never really found out, but killing them, he was sure that things would be a bigger mess now.
There was only one way to find out, and Raze had teleported through. He was back in the world of Darkness, and not much had changed.
There was still that strange mystic blue sky that appeared to be taking parts of the top of the world into it, almost like a black hole had appeared above.
He was somewhere in the ruined city and could see the large wall at the other end, and most importantly, he could still see other mages, with the white robes and the marking of a golden ‘I’ on top of their heads.
Quickly, Raze jumped from his position using the Qi in his body. He leapt several feet with his strength alone, which he would have thought was impossible before.
He landed on top of a building, using his wind magic just at the very end to silence his steps. The second-floor roof had been destroyed, and three of the sides were left standing, while one looked to have been diagonally cut allowing him to see more of the outside.
‘There are even more mages than before.’
Raze could see them almost systematically searching every area and room. They were heading in and then filing in reports.
‘I guess they upped the security after I came. I can sense that there are quite some powerful ones among them this time. Maybe ones that are too hard for me to handle.’
Thinking about the situation for now, Raze was going to wait until the area was clear and then move from one building to the next to get to the other side.
“If I see any mages, I can use the extraction technique on them to increase my magic attributes as well,’ Raze thought to himself.
‘Right now, if I head back to the academy, I need to know the strength I have on my side, and whether it’s enough,’ Raze started to think, listing the allies that were willing to fight with him.
There was Dame, an initial stage warrior that was at his peak, but with the special gauntlets handed to him, Raze knew he was able to beat those at the middle stage.
Then there was Safa along with the other two. Although they might not be strong enough to take on a main disciple head-on, they could at least help him take out some of the other teachers if they were involved in stopping them.
Then Raze had to think of his enemies as well, the five main clans and the principal.
On his side, he had the Crimson Crane, who were eight strong middle stage warriors, and if he wanted to, he now might be able to get Rayna to help as well.
He imagined her strength was either greater than the Crimson Crane but had to be weaker than the Elder that they had gone against.
‘The issue is, this needs to be dealt with in the academy. With all the allies I have, we might be able to pull something off, but if all the members from the other clans get involved, we don’t have enough people, even if we get the Red Headband students on our side.’
At that moment, in the middle of his thoughts, Raze could hear someone coming up the stairs. He quickly leapt up, jumping high in the air.
When the mage reached the top of the stairs, Raze had landed on top of them. He pulled out his sword, stabbing through their shoulder and holding his hand over their mouth.
Right after, he placed his hand at the back of their head, and he started to use the extraction technique, absorbing their power away.
‘I can’t rely on the others to do the things that I need for me. In the end, the only one I can control what happens to, is myself, so I must get stronger myself. Just wait a tiny bit longer, guys… I need to make sure, if people are fighting for me, that I don’t lose them, not like last time,’ Raze thought to himself.
Chapter 357 The Hard Life Of A Warrior
The three of them, after so much time, had finally broken through to the third stage. They had done so in less than a month, and it was something that they should have been proud of.
Before coming to the academy, they would have been over the moon to have just stayed as Blue Headbands and then progressed maybe to the second stage before leaving the academy. Going on with their cultivation journey from there. Yet, now they were at the third stage, and it was only the second assessment that the academy was going through.
Of course, things had taken some drastic turns that not even they thought would happen. However, despite this achievement, all three of them felt defeated and down because they were now unable to even get a single hit on the statue.
“Man, what is going on with that thing?” Liam said as he looked at his broken arm. Safa was currently busy using her Light magic, trying to heal it. Larger wounds would take more restores, but she also noticed that if she took her time to gather more Light magic, then used the spell restore, it would have a greater effect.
She was also busy healing up Simyon as well. The three of them were taking a break from their training at the moment.
“Yeah, it somehow has gotten significantly stronger. Is there no way you can have it take it easy on us?” Simyon asked.
“Hey, you were the one that told us not to do that,” Safa argued back. “In order for us to get stronger, we have to fight like our lives are on the line.”
“Yeah, but not our literal lives,” Simyon said, holding his stomach.
There was something else that was getting to all of them now, and that was the hunger. They were faring better than the others, but now it felt like they were close to their limit. Even while fighting, it was hard for them to focus, and they were deciding whether or not they should stop training just so they could preserve the rest of their strength. Especially when they didn’t know when the others would attack or not.
In the middle of their thoughts, they soon saw a large shadow by the doorway.
“Do you mind healing up one more?” Dame said as he placed Ricktor down by the side of Safa next to the other boys. He was beaten black and blue, his clothes covered in blood, and had completely passed out, but he wasn’t the only one that had been hit.
Dame had a couple of grazes on his cheeks. He didn’t look to have any severe wounds, but he had been hurt.
“For some reason, I kinda like seeing him hurt like that,” Liam commented.
“The one thing the guy has is tenacity, that’s for sure,” Dame said. “He wouldn’t stop coming at me, even when he was beyond injured, and eventually, he passed out. How is the training with you guys going?”
The three went on to speak about their experience with the statue, and for Dame, it had only confirmed his thoughts more. That the statues were linked to the main disciples. It was something that he would need to talk to Raze about a bit more because maybe they could use this to their advantage.
The statue might now be even stronger than Dame, so it was no wonder the three were unable to do something, but if they could grow it a step further, then it was possible it could be another handy tool in the fight against the Pagna academy.
While the group was resting away and Safa was doing her healing, they had noticed one thing, and that was two students walking down the hallway. No one so far had headed to the seclusion rooms, especially when they knew that their attackers were by the side of them in the Dark Space.
However, it wasn’t just any two students, but it was the main disciples.
“I guess they’ve decided to use this place as training now as well,” Liam commented, his arm feeling a lot better. “Now that they know we’re still alive. They’re very brave after others take the lead.”
“Yes, and that other was Dame,” Simyon commented, making him remember that it wasn’t them, and they probably would be staying in the training area if it wasn’t for Dame.
A short while later, and the main disciples were seen walking back into the main area. It was perhaps around thirty minutes or so that they had spent.
“Maybe they got cold feet,” Liam commented, shrugging his shoulders. Their actions were strange, and they wondered if they walked past just trying to see if they were the ones in the seclusion room.
A few groans were starting to be heard from the corner of the room, and slowly Ricktor was starting to open his eyes again.
“I… passed out,” Ricktor said.
“That you did indeed,” Dame replied. “You are a tough one for a main disciple. I thought all of you guys were pampered by your clans, so a few hits here and there and you go running back.”
Ricktor let out a single loud laughter. “Do you really think that’s what a main disciple is like? If anything, I would have said the life of a main disciple is harder than that of just an ordinary one.”
“Are you kidding me?” Liam said. “You guys get to eat what you want, have the best facilities, and even have teachers to teach you martial arts from the day you can walk. You think that’s better than our lives where some days we have to hunt for our own food or worry about someone if they get sick or a beast ripping your eye out because your clan’s not strong enough to protect you!” Liam pointed at his own eye.
“You guys won’t understand,” Ricktor commented.
But Dame did know what Ricktor was talking about. Although it sounded pleasant to others, a main disciple’s life was much harder. There was more pressure from inside and outside, and even from a young age, there were those that either wanted you dead or expected you to be great from your first words.
As a main disciple, your life wasn’t your own; it’s never your own. And you were expected to follow the clan’s rules and everything to do with it from the get-go.
“Let’s just all agree to disagree; we won’t know each other’s lives unless we live it ourselves, right?” Dame asked.
“I was wondering, though, what about Raze’s life, Safa? How was his life?”
When asking this question, though, Safa didn’t know how to answer. She knew how hard her life with her real brother was, but what about Raze? What had he been through? He hadn’t really said much, but judging from the way he reacted or the things he said… it had to be difficult.
He lived a full life before coming here, yet why did he still have so much baggage with him? What could drive someone to have that type of emotion and never forget about it?
Before Safa could answer, though, Dame’s ears tingled, and he immediately stood up. The sound of heavy breathing was being heard, and the shuffling of feet. It was faint, their footsteps quiet, but Dame knew.
“Everyone, head to the training area; they’re attacking again!”
Chapter 358 The Last Struggle
Dame could hear it; he could hear the other students shuffling in the Dark Space. Their footsteps were light, something they had adapted and learned when doing whatever it was they needed to do to survive.
However, with so many of them, Dame could tell they were on the move. They had been gone for quite a while, perhaps a day or so, so he was worried. They would be fully fed and had gathered the rest of their Qi, ready for a fight. Compared to the rest of them who were in pain, lacking energy from fighting, it was going to be extremely tough.
Dame and the others had shot through into the training area, the look on their faces said it all.
“Are they coming?” Tinson asked, hopping to his feet, and his two friends, Violet and Joe, stood up as well. They had been cultivating as much as they could, trying to regather their energy. For them, there was no energy for training; they could only fight using everything they could to preserve their life.
“They are. There are more of them than us, so we need to work together!” Dame shouted. “Do what you did before; if we have our backs up against a wall, they can only come at us from one angle. It will limit our movements, but if we stay close to each other, we can protect each other’s sides.”
Working together, it was what Dame was suggesting. To all of them, when they originally entered the underground area and started the assessment, they had thought about it; some of them had even made groups. As time went on, though, the idea of working together seemed impossible. They were at each other’s throats and knew this assessment required them to be pitted against each other.
Even now, after they dealt with these attackers, what would become of them? But they couldn’t think about later; they needed to do what they could to survive now.
All of those in the lit-up training area had run straight toward the back wall. Now they were just staring at the hallway, the gap, the entrance where they would come from. Firmly in their hands, they held onto their weapons.
“It’s okay,” Simyon said. “We’re stronger than last time; we’re better than we were before. We can do this!”
Right on cue, three of the headband students came leaping out from the exit, and the rest followed like a horde of beasts coming to attack them. Rather than running straight on, they had split up and were coming from the sides.
Seeing this, one of the students leapt and swung the sword from above, and the one that had decided to step forward was Ricktor. He timed his footing perfectly as he shifted forward and swiped upward with his wooden sword. In doing so, it smashed against the chin of his attacker, who flipped back and fell onto the floor. It was clear; the student, the attackers, they were hurt much more than the last time they had attacked.
However, they were outnumbered; the Red Headband students, in total, consisted of 13 altogether, and the attackers were seventeen strong and wild enemies. It didn’t seem like a large gap, but one thing was clear: the others were stronger.
Tinson went for a swing, and his attack had missed; he then was punched by the side of his shoulder and he was thrown into the wall. As the attackers got in closer, Simyon ducked under a swing and punched the attacker deep in the stomach, sending them skidding across the floor.
“Thanks for the help,” Tinson said.
“You can thank me once we get rid of all these guys!” Simyon shouted.
The person he attacked was quickly getting up, and another came from the side, swinging a sword, hitting him on the back of his head. The sword didn’t do much to hurt him, though, and he managed to spin, hitting the attacker with the back of his fist.
But the first person he had attacked had leapt right on top of him and had hardened Qi into his fingernails. Glancing to his left and right, he could see that the others were having their own troubles that they were dealing with.
Safa was going head-to-head with one of the attackers; she was thrusting fast and able to keep an attacker off from her, but they were almost in a stalemate. The attackers weren’t the same as they were before. Their movements were slightly faster, they were also more switched on. They wouldn’t fall for the same trick once and weren’t wildly rushing in after they had been hit.
Although they had improved, their attackers had done so as well. Before, it took three of them to take down one or two on their own; at least now they could hold off one each, which was an improvement for them.
Dame was also keeping a good eye on everyone, and he saw one of the attackers leap forward towards Liam before he reached them, though, Dame had grabbed the back of the attacker’s shirt and threw him behind him back onto the ground.
‘I can’t help them out, not yet. The other students need to feel the desperate situation they are in, and then when we save them, they’ll be even more in debt to us. As for the others, they’ve improved to the third stage, but that’s not enough… they need to get out of this situation themselves and improve to the fourth stage just like their attackers!’ Dame thought.
The struggle, it was real. Safa had her spear finally knocked to the side, and a swipe of a wooden sword had hit her shoulder. She screamed in great pain, but the next attack was coming to her head. She had no choice but to roll, and as she did, she swung her spear, hitting the student and pinning him against the wall. No help was coming; this was something they had to do themselves.
As for Simyon, he had been trying to get the student that was on top of him off for a while; he was pinned down, and the student was stronger than him. His nails had dug into the side of his arm, and with a headbutt, he smashed it against Simyon’s head. However, the student felt a little light-headed after he lifted it back up.
“Yeah, I have a hard big head, you idiot!” Simyon shouted, nearly getting off, until he saw another wooden blade whack him right on his forehead, filled with Qi, causing the back of his head to smash on the ground.
The three he had helped before, they were all struggling against just one of the attackers, so now he was left to deal with two on his own.
‘Crap, how do I get out of this situation!’ Simyon thought.
There was one person who would always keep an eye on him and knew he needed help: Ricktor. He swung his sword, knocking his attacker away, off to the side, and quickly moved into position, that was until two people had turned to face him.
“One threw out their fist, and Ricktor had no choice but to jump back to avoid the hit.”
“What do you guys think you’re doing?” Ricktor asked.
“What do you mean, we’re surviving in this place?” Lisa replied, one of the main disciples, and standing by her side was Sherry, the other main disciple.
Mada, who was also fighting against the attackers, suddenly saw two of the Red Headband students in the same area as him, surrounding him as well.
“They’ve betrayed us, turned against us!” Mada shouted.
Chapter 359 The Winning Side
Ricktor was a little stunned at this sudden change of heart, although at the same time, not so much. Although he and the other main disciples couldn’t exactly call themselves friends, they had been in similar situations since the Academy started, so they regularly talked amongst each other.
Their positions were above the rest, so they knew how each other felt. That was why Ricktor never thought something like this would quite occur. However, what he didn’t see was what had happened while he was passed out, and the fact that Lisa and Sherry had both walked past their seclusion room.
“Do you really think it’s a smart idea, going against me?” Ricktor said, almost giving them a second chance to reconsider their positions.
“Do you really want to act all high and mighty with the position you are in right now?” Lisa asked. “You guys, all of you saw these guys like beasts, yet you seemed to forget that they are students just like us. They have been put into the same situation as us as well. They are human beings who you can talk to, so that’s what we decided to do.”
“And in your haste, you decided to work together with them in order to get rid of us?” Ricktor asked. “And what’s your plan after that, to just battle it out against yourselves?”
“Shut up!” Sherry immediately shouted back. “We are just doing what our clans asked of us! They said that we would get through this. And we saw you going ahead talking to the others; we knew you were planning to team up with them, but where does that leave us? You know that Raze will be picked for the martial arts tournament unless we get rid of him and his friends. Yet now you’re working for them? All we have decided to do is join the side that is most likely going to win; we’re on the winning side!”
“And we could say the same to you,” Lisa added. “When this is all over, what was your plan? We still have to get rid of each other after this; you think it will be all over after this.”
Ricktor looked around at the other Red Headbands, the ones that were fighting on the side of Simyon and the others. They were helping each other. He understood those close to Raze helping each other, but why had the other Red Headbands changed their way of thinking? The only thing he could think of was if they were promised a way out of here, promised a way to still live when this assessment is over.
Thinking this, Ricktor smiled to himself as he lifted his wooden sword, pointing it at the two girls.
“Do you really think you’ve joined the winning side? If you truly believe that, then you guys have been blinded by your own arrogance this whole time. Us main disciples are not the strongest ones in this place!”
Not talking anymore, Ricktor charged forward and swung his sword down. Sherry quickly came in to intercept as she swung her fan down toward the sword. The moment the two collided, she felt like her feet were going to buckle; the ground beneath her feet was breaking as she struggled to push back.
‘How is he so strong? I knew Ricktor was always stronger than us, but… it feels like he’s gotten even stronger.’
Just then, Lisa came in, leaping to the side to attack, and another student had come from the other side. Ricktor avoided them both, but his legs stumbled a bit.
‘Crap, I still haven’t fully recovered myself, and even the toll of not eating, it’s starting to affect me a bit as well,’ Ricktor thought.
Elsewhere, the others were having great trouble themselves. Safa was struggling. Her hands were weakening as well due to the lack of food. She had also been using a lot of her magical power, and in doing so, she hadn’t been able to recover as much Qi as she had done with the others. But she did have one thing on her, and that was the statue.
‘No, I can’t use the statue. I can feel it, even through this fight, although my Qi is emptied, with us forced to use it in this situation, I can feel our dantian; it’s breaking, it’s growing stronger, we can do this!’
It wasn’t just Safa; Liam and Simyon could feel it as well, and it was the same for Tinson and his friends. All of them were fighting with their life on the line, pushing their bodies to the limit, forcing them into a survival state. They were swinging wildly, getting hit, but drawing whatever power they had, and they could feel their bodies cracking down more and more.
‘This is it; everyone is doing it. Those other students there are close to reaching the third stage, and as for Safa and the others, within not a day of reaching the third stage, they were close to the fourth stage.’
‘Although this assessment is cruel and forces the minds and bodies of these teenagers to go through extreme things, the one saving grace is how quickly they have managed to evolve in all of this.’
Unfortunately, though, this was true for both sides. Mada was dealing with the two Red Headband students as well as two of the attackers; there were four on him. Due to him feeling weak, he was unable to properly perform his clan’s techniques, and all he was able to do was defend.
Right as he went to block a kick from one of the students, he felt his whole body get hit back and crash into the wall.
‘There’s black smoke coming off their body; have the Red Headband students broken through to the next stage… this is not looking good, this is not looking good at all.’
Mada was looking around for help, but everyone was struggling, mostly because of the lack of energy. It was frustrating them even more. If only they had eaten, then maybe even then their bodies would now have the energy to break through and help them out, but it felt like there was nothing they could do.
One of the students jumped up and thrust their sword toward Mada’s head. He moved to the side, avoiding the hit, then spun around another student. As he turned, he received another kick to the stomach. He skidded across the floor in pain; his legs wouldn’t stop skidding across the ground until he eventually stopped and fell onto his knees.
He was now away from the wall, away from the others, and away from his safety net, and he could see two others coming right for him.
‘Darn it… darn it! Should I have stayed with the others rather than close to Ricktor? Did I make a mistake?’ Mada thought.
He tried getting up, but his whole body was shaking, not from the pain, but just the lack of energy completely. He needed to pick up his sword; he needed to strike.
‘Just one hit, if I just could deliver one hit at full strength, I would take these two down, in a single blow!’
Mada screamed this in his head, and right in front of his eyes, he saw a sword slash across their chest; the top of the two students’ bodies fell to the ground; they were defeated, killed in an instant.
Mada looked at his own hand, but it hadn’t moved; he hadn’t picked up his sword, and with a wooden sword, he would have never been able to do such a thing.
“I’m ready,” a voice said to Mada’s right, and light steps were made as a figure walked past him.
“I’m ready to get rid of the ones that forced us all into this situation.”
Turning his head, Mada could see it.
‘Raze… you’ve returned, and the power around you, it’s causing my whole body to shiver.’
Chapter 360 Did you pick the right side?
Mada had to second guess himself as to what he had just seen. He was fighting against the rabid students, those that had reached stage 3 and stage 4. Their strength was relentless, as they weren’t as deprived of food compared to the others.
Even then, they had also somehow learned to attack and fight in their own way. Not relying on the skills they had learned from the academy or their clans, a way of fighting which was superior in the dark underground area they were in.
Because of all of these things, Mada was having a difficult time going against the others. So how, even if it was Raze who managed to best Ricktor, did he manage to slice two of those students down in a single attack? Not only that, but he was sure of it, that Raze had struck before even walking past him; his attack had somehow extended out of himself. When looking up, Mada could see the back of Raze’s head, the white hair.
“That’s definitely him; where has he even been this whole time?” Mada thought. “Was he just training or something? I mean… how else could he get so strong?”
Since the last time Raze was in the underground assessment, he was a 3-star mage and he was in the 4th stage. Since then, he had managed to become a 4-star mage, and on top of that, he had also increased his stage to the fifth stage. He wasn’t just any fifth stage warrior, but was close to reaching the 6th stage already.
He had fought against the Behemoth Clan, absorbing their energy, pushing himself to the fifth stage. But after that, he had absorbed the attackers in the other dimension, as well as the beasts that he could during that time. And then, there was the mess he had with the mages after increasing his magical strength further.
With all the power Raze had, it was hard to think of him as just another 5th stage warrior. At the end of the day, he was the one who had already taken down someone that was in the middle stage, even if they were a low-ranking one. Right now, Raze still had all that strength, the strength of at least someone at the middle stage, which was why it was so easy for him, with a swing of his sword combined with a bit of magic, to take out the other students.
Dame could feel the big changes in Raze, the strength coming off from his body as he just continued to walk toward the others.
“Before he left, I thought about it myself; I wondered if I was stronger than Raze. Maybe the two of us were now around the same level in terms of strength. But I’m sure of it now, Raze is stronger than me. He is someone who transcends just the normal stages of the Pagna warrior, someone who breaks and ignores all of the set rules. If anyone meets him thinking that they’re just going against another initial stage warrior, they will regret it.”
As Raze walked forward, several of the other rabid students had turned and came towards him. He dodged one of their attacks swiftly, moving himself, and swung his sword down. The edge of the sword slightly turned crimson as a strike was made. The attack had gone right through one and continued hitting the others away. He then charged forward with the second step, and Raze slashed through another one of the students. Just like that, three of them had been killed and were down for the count.
Soon, nearly all of the rabid students had turned their heads and were looking at Raze. They were ignoring the other students because they could tell that a larger threat had come. Their animal-like instincts were kicking in more than before. What should they do? Were they to team up and attack, or did they accept that this person was stronger than them?
“Unfortunately, for you, I’m not giving you a choice,” Raze said. He charged forward and knocked the hand away of his attacker and then grabbed onto their head. Right there and then, he started to drain them of their energy. Their bodies became weaker, their bodies becoming lifeless.
“With all of these in the room now, I should be able to reach the 6th stage as well,” Raze continued. The rabid students knew now that he was coming after them, and if that was the case, they needed to fight back.
“Wait, what are you doing!” Sherry shouted. “These are your fellow students, and you’re just killing them without a second thought; think about their families!”
“What is that bitch talking about!” Liam said as he was finding his footing, his legs a little wobbly. “Just moments ago, with them, she was willing to kill us. What about our families?”
Raze struck down another, slicing with his sword through the other’s wooden sword and creating a large diagonal slash. He was using his magic but limiting it to wind magic so the others weren’t aware of it. With it, they would just think it was part of his technique.
“These are humans now? Do you think they could go back and live a normal life after what they have done?” Raze asked.
“I saw the Dark Space; you decided to team up with those that even eat their own kind, those that won’t even allow their families to have a proper burial or see their children’s face for the last time. There is always a limit to how far you can go; there are lines that can’t be crossed. It might not be the students’ fault; they were forced into this situation, I don’t blame anyone for wanting to just survive. But then again, you can’t blame me for the actions that I do against you.”
Raze could see it as he was fighting the students. The looks in their eyes. They had already succumbed to the assessment. They were going to relentlessly fight anyone because that was how they had survived and achieved victory in this assessment before.
There would be no reasoning with them. They would stab you in the back at the first chance one would give them. It was too late for these students. He couldn’t save them, so the least he could do was put their horror to an end, and use their strength and add it to his own to punish those that were responsible. The whole room had stopped fighting; it was only Raze and the rabid ones, and they watched the spectacle as he took them down one or two at a time. The strikes he took were clean, and at most he would only hit them twice to kill them. Seeing the students being killed, the look in their eyes before death, for some reason, to the rest of the Red Headbands, it had brought tears to their eyes, due to the whole situation they were in.
“Why… why do we have to do this, this damn academy, our stupid clans!” Tinson screamed.
And finally, all of the rabid students had been dealt with, and now, there were just the rest and the betrayers.
“Did you forget about him?” Ricktor said with a smile, looking at the two girls. “If there’s one thing you should have learned from our fight with him, it’s that his side is always the winning side.”
Chapter 361 The Start Of An Upset
After seeing one person take on all of the rabid students that were between the third stage and fourth stage, the will, the confidence that all of what Lisa and Sherry had completely disappeared.
“Look at you guys now, huh?” Mada stood up and immediately swung his sword. Visual Qi of a flowing waterfall appeared as he smashed it right against the neck of one of the Red Headband students.
His whole body had fallen to the ground immediately. It was hard to know if the student had been killed from the powerful Qi strike or just hurt, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to get up from the strike either way.
“You guys, you really decided to team up with those that were trying to kill us!” Mada shouted at the other Red Headband student that had gone against them.
“During this entire time, we main disciples had decided to do nothing. We decided to leave all you guys be! Do you think we wanted to take part in this crap pot of an assessment? And, then when you get the chance you go against us!”
“Wait!” The student frantically dropped his weapon to the side and was shaking his hands. “It was Lisa’s idea, the whole thing was her idea. She said that only five of us could go through anyway! How were we meant to go against one of the Main Disciples?”
“Did you forget who I am!” Mada swung his sword, bashing it right across the student’s face. Blood splattered in the air along with a few teeth hitting the floor just before the student’s head hit the ground.
“I’m a Main Disciple as well!” Mada stated.
Hearing who was behind the attack in the first place, Raze had decided to move away from the bodies on the ground he had created. He looked over at the others. They were hurt, cut in places and bleeding, but none of the wounds looked to be major. More than anything, they looked a bit exhausted, and it was the same for the others as well.
After seeing this, he turned around and headed back into the hallway where he had come from without saying a word.
Both Sherry and Lisa let out a big sigh of relief after seeing this. They didn’t know why, but the look in Raze’s eyes, and whenever he was in the room, it just made them feel sick.
“What, you think now you’re free, after we just heard your plan, and the fact that you tried to kill us?” Ricktor said. “More specifically, you had personally targeted me as well.”
The two girls looked at each other out of the corner of their eye. In their heads, they were both trying to see how they could get out of this situation.
“We were left with no choice!” Lisa shouted. “You know what this assessment is for. The plan was for all of us to get through; we were the chosen ones for this assessment.
“But then, we saw you getting buddy-buddy with the others! There are only five places. What did you want us to do, just give our lives? We were meant to get rid of Raze together, and then the others, but you ruined that.”
“Get rid of Raze?” Ricktor replied. “That was an order that was given by your Clan Head, not mine, and our positions were never secure.”
“The handsome one, the eye-patch kid, the mute, the tall one, and Raze. That already makes five. In here, have you seen how they have evolved? What made you so sure that we were above them?”
Sherry was biting her teeth by her side as well. “And what about the others, why didn’t you agree to help? If you knew this was going to happen.”
When Sherry shouted, she was specifically shouting at Tinson and the others.
“Do you think we cared about the martial arts tournament?” Tinson replied. “We just want to get out of this place. So rather than trying to be part of the final five, we were just looking for a way to survive.”
“And how do you expect to do that? The assessment will go on for another week at least; can you survive with no food still? It’s even affecting us, so it must be worse for you guys.”
On cue, Raze had returned at that moment, and he was dragging two large sacks behind him. A certain smell was covering it up, the smell of blood that was lingering in the air.
When he came over, he placed the bag in front of Safa and Tinson and his friends, and let go of the tied end. As the large cloth unwrapped itself, that was when food was revealed to them all. Including large containers of water and cups for them to drink from.
Bread, different types of dried meat, and more. It was food, and it wasn’t small amounts of it either.
“Can we… eat this?” Liam asked. If he even had the saliva to come out from his mouth, he would have been drooling all over the place.
“I am keeping my part of the deal, and you must keep yours. Before taking any of this food, I need to make it clear to you all that this is an offer for you all.”
“If you agree to take this food, then you will be able to survive the assessment, but that means we have all gone against the order of the Pagna Academy and the Clans that ordered this.”
“The way the clans have treated us, the way the academy has treated us, it’s as if our lives don’t matter. They wouldn’t care if we are dead, so why should we care if they are still alive.”
“If you take this food, then you are agreeing to go against the academy with me.”
After saying these words, it didn’t take long for Liam and Simyon to already dig in, and Safa followed after. They started to hammer the food and chug it down.
“Thank you, thank you!” Tinson shouted. “I never thought… I would survive down here. I really thought my life was at an end.”
“Screw the academy, burn them all!” Tinson said as he went and grabbed the food, and his two friends slowly followed after.
Mada and Ricktor had yet to make a move, and Dame was carefully following them. Sure, it was nice that they got a few allies, but they were only three Red Headband students.
What they needed was the main disciples to join them. Not only would they be a benefit in strength, but also a benefit in information gathering and weaknesses of their clan.
They needed them more so than the others, and Dame was wondering if, with everything going on, enough anger had been placed in them.
While waiting, though, Sherry had stepped forward and had headed towards the food, to which Raze responded by stepping in her way.
“Not for you two, you two don’t get a choice,” Raze replied.
“What… but you just said… you just said.”
“The one thing that we need if we are going against the academy together is trust,” Raze replied. “Trust is the foundation of any secret group operating in a place.”
“We have to trust everyone with the information they give, with the tasks given with our lives, because one wrong move and it could mean the death of us all.
“You two have already betrayed us once. That trust is forever broken, and it can never be mended no matter what you do,” Raze ordered.
“But… but…!” Sherry was shaking. How did the situation change for her? Right there and then, close to rage, she lifted her fan aiming right for his chin.
Raze stepped back, dodging the blow. “Now!” Sherry shouted.
Right then, Lisa pulled out a small dagger, laced green. It was a special dagger she had been keeping on her for a while now.
‘The Clan Head, she gave me this. She gave me it and told me to use it when the time was right. It’s laced with the strongest poison that can take out even level 5 beasts. It’s practically a clan’s treasure.’
‘She told me to use it at the right time, and this is the only time I can use it.’
It was thrown out with all the Qi she had. It went perfectly straight and had hit Raze right on his shoulder. When it did, though, it didn’t penetrate him. Instead, a small reflective image appeared like a glare in a mirror, and the dagger had fallen to the ground.
‘The blazer… I currently have it in a hidden state underneath the school robes… it activated and protected me from the dagger.’
While thinking this, Raze already had held Sherry with one hand, and her entire body had already shriveled up, her energy absorbed.
“That dagger, it should have stabbed you, it should have killed you!” Lisa shouted. “How did you stop it? What are you… you… you monster!”
Chapter 362 The Last of the Main Disciples
The small poison blade had bounced off Raze’s clothing and fallen onto the floor. A small clang was heard as the knife hit the ground.
It was quite clear that the blazer he had worn, which had a hidden trait like Dame’s gauntlets, had activated. A strong energy barrier was created that would reflect magical attacks and physical attacks as well, to a degree.
When fighting against the middle-stage warrior in the Neverfall Clan, the blazer had activated back then as well. It stopped the slashes of a sword from piercing his clothing and skin, but the strength from the Qi and the impact itself couldn’t be stopped. The attacks still flung Raze around the room, and the Qi still hit his body.
In this instance, the Qi that was placed in the blade and thrown wasn’t strong enough to do anything, which is why it had given off the image as if the blade had just fallen onto the floor.
Looking at it on the ground, Raze could see it had been laced with something. He had been observant around a particular person that dealt with poisons in and out, and had a few conversations with him as well.
‘When I was a mage, the number one thing to winning a battle was thinking ahead. Trying to guess their next move and using the spells to build up your attacks.’
There was a small window of reaction, trying to figure out what spell was best to counter another, but not like this.
‘I didn’t expect something like this to be used. The world of Pagna is very dangerous.’
Raze was right, and poison was something that was frequently used in the world of Pagna. The clans were surrounded by people wishing to take their position at any time.
One closest to you could slowly poison you over time, making you sick and weak, or create a potent poison that would take you out in one go from a drink or slash.
It was a power that was deadly and transcended the levels of stages. A stage 2 warrior going up against a stage 4 warrior with poison, the battle could be very different.
However, as one increased through the stages, one’s body got stronger and stronger, so the poison needed to be used needed to be stronger as well.
Thinking about what could have happened, Raze started to walk towards her. Lisa was frightened; from every ally she had in this place, there was now no one to help her.
“You were confident that small blade would kill me, and judging by your reaction, I would guess it was laced with poison,” Raze commented.
Ricktor picked up the small blade and held it in the light. He then turned it left and right, and he could see traces of dried liquid on it.
“But you would never be able to get a poison that could take someone like me, at the higher initial stages, to kill me. My guess is you got a little gift from your clan, right?” Raze said as he now was within striking distance.
“Did no one see what I just saw?” Lisa pleaded to the people around her. “This man, the sword bounced off him, he’s… he’s not human. We need to get rid of him, if we want to protect the clans, we need to get rid of him!”
There were those that were glancing over, still stuffing their mouths. They were paying attention to what was happening, but in the dimly lit room, and with them being ever so tired, they hadn’t seen the same thing as Lisa.
To them, it was just the ramblings of a person who had lost it all, and she knew that.
She readied her fist and swung it forward; it did nothing but strike the air. Right in front of her eyes, she saw the blade swing down.
She didn’t even hear the strike, but she knew, as she heard a thud, and saw her own arms falling to the ground.
“There’s a saying, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and don’t worry, I’ll be taking out the whole tree soon.”
Raze placed his hand on Lisa’s head and started to use the extraction technique as soon as possible. What he noted, while using the extraction technique, was that it worked quicker depending on a number of things.
If the person was already defeated and worn out, it would work quicker, and if a person had less will to put up resistance, if their mind wasn’t ready to fight back. Which is why Lisa’s body was quick to meet its end as Raze dropped her onto the floor. It was done; the main disciples that had betrayed them were dealt with.
None of them were good to begin with; Raze still remembered when all five of them had cornered him, planning to kill him right there and then.
However, Ricktor and Mada, he would let go. He needed their help, and for now, if they agreed to join, at least they hadn’t done anything to break their future trust yet.
Shortly after, Dame quickly went over to Raze’s side.
“I told you that it wasn’t best for you to use that, especially in front of all the others,” Dame said.
“The extraction technique,” Raze replied.
“Many in here won’t know what it looks like, so you might be okay, but if you use that in front of the adults, they will think you’re working for the Demonic Faction,” Dame commented.
“And besides, absorbing another human… the feeling of it, it’s similar to what you saw the other students do in the Dark Space.”
“You’re taking their life force while they’re still alive, for many, that won’t sit right with that. If you’re going to preach about how far they have gone, then what about you who’s using the extraction technique.”
Dame was saying this out of concern. He truly did see the Dark Magus as an ally; he saw Raze as someone who they could build up a future with together.
Which is why he didn’t want him to go a step too far. The clans were ruthless, but there were just some lines that one didn’t cross.
Taking the energy of your enemies or those trying to kill you, Dame could accept, but if he started to just take the energy of those who were strong.
Or target those with power just to increase his own, that was too far for Raze.
“When I said those words to everyone, I was talking to them, not about me,” Raze replied. “I’ve already gone too far, more than once…”
“I’m already a lost one, but I am me. I know I can at least trust myself.”
Raze looked like he was ready to head back down the hallway, back into the seclusion room after all that. He thought he might have stayed with the others, talked about what had happened.
There was a part of Dame that felt like he was seeing more of Raze, seeing him relax with the others more, but since his return, it was almost like something had happened.
Something had brought him slightly back to the Darkness he had inside him.
“Raze, does this mean that you don’t trust anyone?” Dame asked.
“It was trust in the past that got me so hurt in the first place,” Raze replied.
“If you live a life like that, a life where you can’t trust anyone, then that is not a life worth living.”
“I know,” Raze answered, and almost immediately he felt something in his stomach.
He went down to one knee, as he could feel a surge of power inside of him. The energy he had absorbed he could feel it, it was settling into his dantian.
Sweat was coming off his body, and it was slightly black in color.
“I can feel it… after absorbing Lisa… I’m growing, I’m becoming a 6th stage warrior!”
363 Disrupting The Assessment
When absorbing energy, it wasn’t instant that it would be added to his own. There was a process which took some time. He could still use the added energy almost instantly, but it wouldn’t actually be completely absorbed into his own if he used it this way. During the times he had used the extraction technique again and again, he had been experimenting with it. Absorbing energy from those he fought against, if he used it straight away, it helped him fight using Qi for longer periods, but if he wanted to gain strength from it, It was best that he didn’t fight and waited for it to be processed through his body and added to his dantian, and now it had finally done it. All of the extra people he had absorbed and the main disciples’ Qi, which was more pure and more refined compared to that of most of those he had absorbed before, was causing him to break into the sixth stage. The palms of Raze’s hands were sweating. Down the side of his head, it was the same. Instead of a clear liquid, it was slightly black in color. Just like the times before, he could tell that this was the same. Each stage was getting rid of more of the impurities that affected the human body, and each time it would just happen in a different way. ‘Is he going through to the next stage right here and now? Is it because he absorbed the mana of the two girls?’ Dame thought. ‘No that can’t be. Raze is at a high initial stage now.’
‘Those girls, they were at stage 3 or 4, that means he must have absorbed much more, much more before he had even come down here. Raze, what happened to you while you were away?’ Dame thought. It was amazing; Raze had practically not taken part in the assessment but had managed to grow even faster than those who had done so.
This had to be an impossibility, and if people knew about it, clans from all over Pagna would be trying to meet with Raze, dissecting him to ask for his secret and knowledge in growth. “Arghh, it hurts my stomach!” Liam called out. Turning his head, though, Dame also saw something else, and that was Liam, Simyon, Safa going through something similar, but he soon noticed it wasn’t just them. The others, Tinson and his group that were eating, they were experiencing it as well. All of those who had eaten were experiencing the advancement to the next stage. ‘They fought with everything they had, pushed their bodies further than they were meant to go. With no food, no energy, they had to summon and force their bodies to grow from somewhere, but that can only work so much.’
‘After digesting the food, their Qi energy, their focus, everything is coming back to them, and now, their bodies are in the state to grow to the next stage.’ It was then that Dame realized this was how the others must have grown as well; only when they had gotten food by eating the others around them. ‘This is what we need, this is it. To get them stronger, we need everyone to eat for now!’ Dame’s eyes were widening, but there was one thing.
What about him? Now that Raze would be at the sixth stage, both of them would be at the same level in terms of being a Pagna warrior. He too needed to advance, and he needed to do something about it. After Raze had finished going through what needed to be done, he stood up as if nothing had happened, and continued to head to the seclusion room. When he got inside, he looked around before finally sitting on the floor. He let out a big sigh and started to close his eyes. ‘I managed to come back, just in time… I did a bit too much this time, one thing after the other, but I knew I needed to come back quickly. I was a bit worried that something might have happened to them.’ He thought. Finally, Raze was able to get some rest.
Back in the lit-up training area, everyone had finished going through their advancement and had finished eating until their bellies were full. It didn’t take much for them, since their stomachs had shrunk quite a bit from the lack of food they had. They also knew that they would have to save what they had for now. Even more than that, they were happy that they had managed to gain some strength. “I can’t believe it, we advanced through to the fourth stage!” Liam said, his eyes glowing. “But don’t forget what it cost to get here,” Safa replied. “So many students, so many people had to die for that to happen.”
“We can be happy we gained strength but, I can’t believe it took all of that.” “Hey, why don’t you go talk to Raze?” Simyon said. “You’ve been waiting for him to come back, right? Maybe you can just ask what he did and stuff, and how he got this food.”
“I’m sure he’s got some stories to tell, and hey, maybe you can show off your magic skills as well.” Safa knew Simyon was just trying to comfort her, but she was fine. “I’m happy to see that he’s still here, and I’m sure he needs his rest. He looked tired.” “You call that tired?!” Liam commented. “That man just took out so many, and even the main disciples. I’m sure he could have continued going on if he needed to.” Safa didn’t say anything else but just allowed Liam to ramble on.
It took a while, but eventually both Mada and Ricktor had decided to go to the food and grabbed some stuff to eat for themselves. Dame, who had been keeping an eye on them, smiled as soon as he saw this. “Does this mean that you plan to join him?” Mada whispered. “What do you mean, you are eating the food as well; doesn’t that mean you plan to join him as well?” Ricktor replied, stuffing another piece of bread in his mouth. “I’m just doing this to survive right now; I need the food,” Mada replied. “The whole thing about him going back against the Academy, it seems crazy!”
“Sure, I hate their guts right now, but to even think about going against them, it would be impossible. We’re still students; that would mean going against all of the Clan Heads.”
“Not just the Clan Heads, but also their talented disciples, that might even be family members of ours. Do you really think a bunch of students can do something?”
“Do you think Raze doesn’t know that? Do you think he’s the type of person to go in if he believes he will lose?” Ricktor replied. “The way I see it, without this food in here, or if he and his friends were to take this assessment seriously.” “Me and you would be dead; that’s as simple as it is. If we have to die later, or things get too tough, we can make a decision then, but right now, we owe him something.”
“And I believe something might just happen soon.” “What do you mean by that?” Mada asked. “Didn’t you know, Lisa was regularly communicating with her Clan Head in here; how do you think she got that dagger?” Ricktor replied. “And what do you think is going to happen when Lisa stops reporting to the Clan Head?”
Mass Release goals!
1600 Golden Tickets = 1 Extra Chapter
1 Caslte gift and above = 1 Extra Chapter
4000 Power stones = 1 extra Chapter
JKSManga
364 Breaking into the Middle Stage
Slowly, Raze’s eyes started to flutter open. The area around him was dark, apart from a faintly lit orange light coming from behind him.
He lifted his upper body off the ground and looked ahead, where he could see a wall.
“I’m still here; we’re still in this underground assessment,” Raze thought, slowly clenching his fist. As he did, he held on tightly.
His veins were popping on his hand, and he felt like he could crush anything beneath it.
“This is what it feels like then, to reach the 6th stage! The pinnacle of the Initial stage! But I guess from here on, it’s going to be tough, just like before, it will be a bottleneck.
“I’m sure they don’t separate the stages from Initial to Middle for no reason. Maybe it’s best if I speak to Dame about it since he’s at the sixth stage.”
The whole thing was quite exciting for Raze in a number of ways. When he was going up the star levels as a mage, he had already experienced it before.
So he felt like he was just going through the same motions as last time. Although there were some differences, and since he had been through it before, he could accelerate through the star levels, but being a Pagna warrior, it was completely different.
Each time he increased by a stage, his body felt even lighter than before. It was hard for one to even imagine because with his last stage increase, Raze had felt the same way as well.
His body was incredibly light; he could move faster but put more strength into his fist. He felt like he had reached the pinnacle of a human body, and then there would be a stage after that, which would be even more drastic.
In his mind, he was just wondering what the Divine stages would feel like. The naming of them was probably because one truly would feel like they had reached the level of a god.
“After a good rest, I feel a lot better. I should check up on the others and try to see if everything is okay. If all is well, then we can plan what to do next.”
When Raze was approaching the door, he could already sense that there was someone on the other side just by the doorway.
Another advantage of having reached a higher stage.
“You slept for quite a while there; I didn’t realize fighting all of those took so much out of you,” Dame commented. “I was keeping guard so no one would disturb your sleep, but you took so long I nearly fell asleep myself.”
“It wasn’t the fight; I’ve been quite busy on the outside,” Raze replied, and it was true.
He realized he had gained a large amount of fatigue, most of it when he used the astral projection technique to head to Alterian.
The whole thing took a large toll on him.
“Before we head over to the others, we should talk by ourselves; there are some things I wanted to ask,” Dame said, entering back into the room which Raze had just left.
The two of them leaned up against the wall and looked at each other for a moment.
“I’m guessing, you’re at the 6th stage now, right?” Dame asked.
To which Raze nodded.
“But, I know you’re stronger than that, with your other things. Out there, did you get what you needed, do you think we have the strength to take on the academy if need be?” Dame asked.
Raze thought about it. If the clan heads were all at the same level as Belil from the Neverfall Clan, then he felt like they had no chance.
But most likely, only the principal was on that level, but what about the other five top clan heads.
“The Crimson Crane can help us when the time is needed. I’m supplying them with stronger weapons. Their strength should be increased by a large amount by then; they won’t be the same as before.”
“There is a chance that I could call upon some other allies as well, outside of that. But, I think we might still need some time if we want to go against the principal. I think I need to at least be at the Middle stage unless we find someone else that can help.”
There was a thought in Raze’s mind, there was one item he had on him, one that would summon from the Divine realm, and they would have Divine strength.
The biggest issue was, how did they know if that person was on their side or not? It was a trump card that Raze could only use if all else fails.
“Right,” Dame replied. “I actually agree with what you’re saying. I think the maximum will be down here for a week or so more.
“In that time, the only ones that I think can reach the Middle stage are me, you, and Ricktor.”
“Ricktor?” Raze was surprised by that comment. He knew he was strong before, but Raze had been increasing his strength at an incredible speed, so it was hard to think that there was another that could do the same.
“He is truly a talent. I can see why he was the Dark Faction’s star, before you came along, that is,” Dame smiled. “Simyon, Safa, and Liam are also increasing at an incredible speed, with the items you gave them, they will be a big help, same with Mada and the other Red Headband students.
“They are all at least at the teacher’s level of strength now, maybe even better, which I think the academy will never expect.”
Raze knew about the items, with what Simyon had, with his special earring, he would have a body that most mages and Pagna warriors would find impossible to destroy.
He would end up being more useful than Dame realized, and it was the same for Safa, right now she was just a one-star Mage, but Raze had managed to receive a number of level 3 power stones. Now that he was back, he could give her the light magic book and increase her star level, hopefully to the third star. These two would be valuable in going against the academy.
‘If we take over the academy, then I can head back to the library and find out information about the Dark Faction founder. I’ll also be in a high position, to the point where Alter can no longer ignore me as well.
‘Whether that’s a good thing or not, we’ll have to wait and see.’
As for Liam, he was a curveball. He had been doing well to keep up so far, but whether or not he would prove extremely useful in the fight, it was hard to say.
“What do we need to do, to reach the Middle stage?” Raze asked.
“There are a number of things, a high-level power stone absorbed, but that doesn’t work for everyone. A special breakthrough in a dire situation when fighting.”
“And some clans even speak of special rituals. However, these rituals require a number of things that we won’t be able to get our hands on. Which is why I wanted to ask you about this.”
Dame threw the small statue, and Raze caught it. It was the mythical item that Raze had given them before he left, just in case they really needed it.
“It’s gone a little strange, the statue itself, it’s gotten a bit weaker,” Dame commented. “Is it broken?”
That seemed impossible, though; how could the statue break, why would it, so Raze then used his Dark magic to activate it, allowing it to show its information.
[2/5 markings of blood have been used on the statue. You are able to mark 3 more to increase the statue’s strength]
‘Wait, why does it say 2 of 5, to unseal the item, I gave it all five of the main disciples’ blood. Wait, is it because they’re dead?
‘The other three main disciples are now all dead. Those that mark the statue, if they die, then the statue loses its strength.
‘So it only has the strength of Ricktor and Mada right now, but if what it’s saying is true, then it means now it can be marked with three more people, to increase its strength again!
‘Last time I didn’t use Dame’s blood because I was worried about what could happen, but if we used it this time, wouldn’t the statue be incredibly strong…and what if I was to use… my blood as well?’
Bình luận
