Planet Master

214- Rising Star (2)

The spectators knew that the rising star of this time belonged to the human race and their subordinate races.“Looks like their transcendent path is really wide, enough for the other races to partake.” One with a keen sight could see this and commented.

“Not only wide but it is also strong at the foundation.” Another added.

Whatever the case, the matches continued and the spectators could see various humans and their subordinate races did well on the matches, winning consecutively.

Soon, the seniors of Dian’s group finally reached Bronze Tier 5. It was a good exercise to fight five individuals and now they needed to defeat six individuals on one-on-one.

“The individuals we faced become stronger as we proceed. Exercise caution, everyone.” Tatsumi reminded.

“I can see that.” Chi You nodded and agreed with what Tatsumi had said.

“We will continue challenging Bronze Tier 6.” Ame said resolutely.

The spectators could see that the seniors were still so healthy enough to continue fighting. They let out a thunderous cheer as the seniors’ eyes flashed with determination and fighting spirit.

The next one was actually between Goto and a Rodent.

Goto gripped his sword; his stance was ready to take on any opponent he would face. His face was serious yet gave the spectators a quite handsome figure.

Sword Technique – Judgment Sword.

Goto then unleashed a sword technique. The technique was actually the realization of the sword as the king of weapons. As a weapon of a king, it had to be able to judge its opponent. Therefore, this technique was born.

The sword, which was held by Goto, then slowly but surely swung horizontally toward the Rodent. The Rodent used a spear and had the advantage of range but Goto closed in without hesitation, making the spear a liability instead of an advantage.

Then Goto quickly made another diagonal slash before changing into a thrust.

The transformation of the stance was quick enough not to give the Rodent any chance to recover. Just as the Rodent wanted to change the form of his stance to defense, the slash of the sword had already come to his neck.

The Rodent was fast enough to reflexively shift his neck, but he was unable to change his stance; therefore, he left the stance and started ducking while holding his spear, trying to gain distance.

But Goto was a step faster and intercepted the Rodent’s spear, stomping it with his foot. Then Goto finished the Rodent with another sword swing but the Rodent let out a final struggle, which made the spear thrust toward Goto.

Goto was hit but managed to shift his position slightly. Goto sighed and felt that the Rodent was decent and did not even surrender despite being doomed.

Then the Rodent was defeated, and a blinding light appeared. The Rodent had returned to its previous state and was ruminating his defeat.

“Good fight.” Goto then sheathed his sword and said this to the Rodent.

“Well, that is one novel experience. I still am in the middle of developing a technique to counter close-quarters combat.” The Rodent said before he was sent out of the arena.

Then the next fight would soon ensue, and both contestants were ejected from the arena. Dian knew that the arenas were mostly separate from each other and also differed in size according to the fighters' ranks.

Then the next fight was between Kudungga and a Kobold. Kudungga held a spear, his stature straight and flexible. Compared to the Rodent Goto had fought, Kudungga was truly threatening even to Goto, and he learned that the hard way.

That was why Goto became wary of spear users, going as far as closing the distance immediately to prevent them from taking advantage of their long weapon.

Kudungga then twirled the spear, spinning it as he felt the familiar spear created from the trace of memory of it. Then he grabbed the shaft of the spear with both hands and pointed it at the Kobold.

The Rank 3 Kobold was wielding a saber. Kudungga was a Rank 3 transcendent of the human race standard so he viewed this as a test of his techniques.

The Kobold then dashed forward after the arena had permitted the fight to begin. Kudungga then twirled the spear and made it wavy, moving to intercept the Kobold.

The Kobold then used the saber to hold the spear at bay but unexpectedly the force was enough to fling the Kobold to the side, and the Kobold parried the spear shaft to the side while recovering his stance.

Kudungga then swept using the spear, causing the Kobold to duck and then dashed closer once again. Kudungga snorted and then flicked the spear before thrusting it to the Kobold.

The Kobold then crossed his saber in front of him, being hit by the spear’s tip as it thrust, causing him to go further from Kudungga.

Kudungga and the Kobold were locked in the choreographic movement, as if the entire thing was for show.

Tatsumi and Ame looked at this with renewed focus. They learned quite a lot from real battles so they needed to see everything about their side as well as their enemies. Learning from both sides was the virtue left behind by the good predecessor which they followed.

The newbies were looking at the fight as if it were a sacred dance that was used in some sort of ritual. Kudungga was just using his experience to learn more about his own spear techniques. He wanted to improve it to the next level but he faced difficulties so he had to borrow some pressure from the others to break through his preconceived notion and rise higher.

Spear Technique – Thousand Stream Convergence

From the way Kudungga understood about Tatsumi’s Blade Intent, he learned spear intent and then comprehended a thousand spear intents and then converged them to create this technique.

Kudungga then swept, entangled and thrust his spear toward the Kobold. The Kobold used his blade intent but it soon proved to be inadequate against the Spear Technique.

The Kobold was then defeated and killed before being resurrected.

“You only have one blade intent. You should learn more blade intent, just like someone I know.” Kudungga even gave the defeated Kobold an advice.

‘Ha, although the Spear Technique- Thousand Stream Convergence is good but compared to that lad Tatsumi’s Three Thousand Blade Intent, it is still lacking.’ Kudungga shook his head and then was ejected from the arena space.

The spectators who watched the fight were cheering loudly. No, it became louder and louder.

Because the next one was actually Smagenrog himself. He was looking at both the spectators and the opponent he had to face with an overbearing attitude. Although there was a seriousness in the depth of his eyes as he needed to test himself in the way of mind power.

When referring to mind power, Smagenrog actually referred to the most primeval mind power that someone had only in a scattered amount. This was actually a way to expand upon that primeval power to develop, not just to unearth it.

That was why he needed to battle constantly to awaken this primeval part of his mind.

His opponent was actually an Elf. A long-range attacker versus a versatile being, the moment the match began, Smagenrog then conjured a lot of earth spears and then unleash it below the Elf’s foot as well as some of the supposed retreat route.

The Elf dodged while shooting the arrows at Smagenrog. Smagenrog closed the distance while also continuing to conjure a lot of other things too, like mist and water.

Then the mist condensed and the water was frozen, forming ice spears before being launched and aimed at the Elf.

Smagenrog also had to tank the arrow fired by the Elf. The power of the shot was strong enough to stagger Smagenrog for a brief moment, but by the third shot, Smagenrog had gotten used to the power and pressure so he kept overwhelming the Elf with firepower.

For every arrow the Elf shot, Smagenrog threw three ice spears.

Worse, Smagenrog dashed to get closer to the Elf. The Elf realized that the ice spears thrown by Smagenrog was actually limiting his choice of retreating.

He also realized that Smagenrog was also strong in close-quarter combat and decided not to engage him close, trying to increase his distance from Smagenrog.

But the Dragon of Ruin just smirked; he already knew what kind of state the Elf was in and how he thought.

Just as the Elf retreated and wanted to shoot with a bow once again, he realized that his movement was somewhat sluggish.

“No way…” the Elf realized too late that the moisture in the air, as well as the ice spears thrown, slowly melted, and the vapor was actually a bit poisonous, so it was a bit tricky to deal with.

Smagenrog did not waste the chance and clenched his hand, forming a fist and then punched the Elf right in the torso, to be exact, on his chest.

The Elf was defeated and killed instantly. Then a light appeared, and the Elf was resurrected.

“Hmph. You are still too early to face me.” Smagenrog said while snorting.

“Haha, right. You are probably right.” The Elf said before the two of them were ejected from the arena space.

“That was amazing. Could you teach me?” Chi You said to Smagenrog as soon as he came out of the arena space.

“Well, do you have good control of the mental energy?” Smagenrog asked which made Chi You stumped.

“How much is good? I can channel it to strengthen myself so I can say that I am pretty good.” Chi You boasted.

“That is not good. That’s crude.” Smagenrog stated without even caring about Chi You’s feelings.

“But I should be able to improve soon as I get a good teacher. Could you teach me the basics?” Chi You pleaded.

“Ah, fine. I’ll teach you the basics but don’t expect me to be lenient later.” Smagenrog said.

They were actually cycling between each other before they faced another opponent. Soon, they faced the second opponent and still they won the match.

The third match for the seniors, Tatsumi was called into the arena space.

“Three Thousand Blade Intent.” Tatsumi murmured and then multicolored light appeared on his blade. Then he swung it and a flying blade attack slashed toward the opponent. The opponent only had a small window of time to react but it was not enough.

The opponent was slashed through along with his weapon. The opponent was defeated using one move.

Then the brilliant light appeared, and the opponent appeared to be fine.

“Good match.” Tatsumi nodded toward the opponent. The opponent felt that Tatsumi was being sarcastic and he was fuming.

Then came Ame’s third match.

Ame was actually seeing Tatsumi’s match and had a small epiphany. She then used the opportunity to comprehend her own armament intent.

If Tatsumi focused on the Blade Intent, then she focused on the armament itself. The armament she had could transform into myriad forms, so she needed to be flexible.

Furthermore, the transcendent energy in the arena was abundant, and it was actually resurrecting the individuals there along with their mental power.

She quickly changed the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella into a halberd form. Ame used armament intent and the halberd intent was born. She then swung the halberd to her opponent. The opponent was also comprehending intent, and the two weapons clashed, letting out a spark.

Then the two danced on the arena, Ame focused on her armament intent which was flexible enough to fit countless transformations of her umbrella.

Ame kept changing her way of handling the halberd. She swung, she hooked and she thrust it. The opponent was slowly getting overwhelmed by her due to her letting out her armament intent alone.

Then she managed to disarm the opponent and the opponent was then defeated.

“I did it.” Ame’s eyes glowed with joy as she managed to transform her armament intent into any form she wished, even during combat.

“Congratulations. You have found your own way to understand armament intent.” Smagenrog was the first to say this. To him, this achievement was worth celebrating.

“Thank you.” Ame nodded at Smagenrog.

“You are amazing.” Tatsumi felt proud that Ame could do something like that. He approached her and held her hands.

“Well, I got so much inspiration from you that I can comprehend it. But it is not as strong as your intent." Ame protested playfully.

“Going from zero to one is the hardest. But going from one to ten is easier. Don’t be so down on yourself and strife to improve upon your intent. I believe that it will not lose to anyone, not even me.” Tatsumi nodded and advised her. He even believed that her intent would shine as much as his.

Then the fourth round went as expected. Every senior was called and they were sent to the arena space.

There was only a bit of time before they were called, so they were ruminating about their improvement in techniques and even strength.

When it came to the fifth, the opponent was surprisingly adept at intent. Although they were just at Rank 3, their intent was apparent.

Ame saw some of the seniors fighting and comprehended more of the armament intent. Her umbrella started giving off light as she saw the fight.

‘She is comprehending things fast now that she has a foundation. Will her intent be as formidable or more with the Three Thousand Blade Intent? Of course it will. After all, her intent encompasses all the armament. Although the development will be slower but the end result will be more formidable than even mine.’ Tatsumi let out a grin as Ame closed her eyes and then comprehended part of the armament intent.

Then she opened her eyes and saw the performance of the seniors in the arena space.

Tatsumi on the other hand tried to perfect the Three Thousand Worlds state. It was developing from his Three Thousand Blade Intent.

He felt the difficulty of developing it greatly, and now he needed to perfect it.

‘On the other hand, my intent is easier to comprehend. But going from Three Thousand Blade Intent into a Three Thousand Worlds is hard, really hard.’ Tatsumi frowned at the fact that the difficulty increased exponentially.

The difficulty lay in the fact that each blade intent transformed completely differently from before, forming a small world in which the intent reigned supreme. They formed their own domain for each blade intent and then he needed to fuse three thousand of them together seamlessly.

The difficulty could be imagined. That was why Tatsumi tried to train his transformation right on the Afterlife Arena. He wanted to challenge himself on trying to get the transformation and fusion process done.

It was possible to fuse three thousand blade intents together. Tatsumi swore that the Three Thousand Blade Intent could be fused together so well that the Three Thousand Worlds would definitely be possible.

‘So what is lacking?’ Tatsumi could only do a Three Thousand Worlds state in one breath. After that, the Three Thousand Worlds state would become chaotic and could even damage his mind.

‘Let’s start from the basics. The Three Thousand Blade Intent is just that, intent. They can be fused together since their forms are simple. But their transformed state is something else. Father God said that to master the Three Thousand Worlds state, I need to understand every transformation of the worlds formed from each intent. I…can do it, no, I will do it.’

Then Tatsumi patiently tried to understand the direction and the way the intent transformed into the world and its variations. He even did it as he battled with the fifth opponent that he had.

Then the seniors were promoted to Bronze Tier 5.

At this time, they were recovering their mental power since that was what needed to be recovered during their rest time.

Ame saw that Tatsumi was so focused to comprehend something. This caused a spark in her heart.

‘If he can be so focused just to comprehend something, then I need to increase my effort to not be left behind silently.’ Ame was determined to walk by Tatsumi’s side and not be left behind.

She also focused on comprehending more of the armament intent. As she did that, the pressure the others felt increased.

They also did not want to lose out to the next generation, so they also tried to comprehend the battle style and intent that suited them.

On the other hand, the spectators were on fire! They were really excited to see a potential race rise through the Afterlife Arena.

They believed that the strength of the humans would only increase as time passed on.

“Do you see that? Every single individual sent has comprehended an intent of their own.”

“Damn it. I don’t even comprehend a complete intent yet I see them have one each. They should be the subordinate race of the humans, right?”

“Well, they are still going. Are they going to challenge Bronze Tier 6?”

“From what I know, they definitely can challenge that rank.”

Murmurs and discussion took place. Many of the spectators were in disbelief. It was not easy to comprehend intent but the human race and their subordinate race could do that so easily.

They even saw some individuals with numerous intents which made them frenzied.

“After you all get some rest, are you ready to challenge the Bronze Tier 6 rank?” Dian became somewhat like their coach, overseeing their rest, preparation before, and debriefing after battle. He asked since Bronze Tier 6 was the upper Rank 3 transcendent as well as having intent to deal with.

“I am ready.” Smagenrog nodded his head. His humanoid form was letting out a majestic aura.

“I am ready anytime.” Tatsumi said with a determined expression.

“I will not disappoint.” Ame softly smiled.

The seniors were also responding positively.

“Then let’s go! Increase the Medal gathering for me and make me proud in this Afterlife Arena!”