Eric’s first few days went without issue. Though, to his misfortune, he only met with Lu Feng a total of two times, and only for a couple of minutes.

  What made it worse was that while he had expected to gain something, instead he got nothing but introductory lessons about the true nature of the world and how the energy flowed across and through it as the very—Eric kind of got lost in all the fancy word play.

  “This is why I hate cultivation stories,” Eric mumbled as Lu Feng left to do his job.

  That being said, his efforts weren’t completely fruitless. After only spending a day with the others, he realized that they all had similar abilities to what Lu Feng did. As he spent even more time with them, something clicked in his mind, calming some of his excitement.

  “Why do I find their abilities to be marvelous? Alex can turn mana into stone and Stella can throw fireballs. Is what these guys are doing that much different than that?” he asked himself. “It could just be that I’m now more aware of what is needed for those skills to come to life. It could also just be that I haven’t been around similar skills for that long.”

  Memories began to rush through his mind and indeed, he hadn’t seen many skills.

  The cold woman, hot lizard and poison pirate didn’t seem to be using skills. It looked more like that was just something about how their bodies functioned.

  Then he thought about Wu Ling, but he hadn’t actually seen much of her and her abilities.

  Harkus used hardened earth to fight, but he mostly used it on his weapon. Maybe it was his weapon’s ability and not his.

  The three brothers on the previous floor had unique abilities, but maybe a bit too unique.

  “But the thing that makes their abilities appear so alien to me is definitely the fact that I have nothing that is remotely similar. All my abilities are invisible like my weapon masteries, or internal like the various ways I use mana. The closest thing I have to an external ability is Mana Projection. And unless someone can see mana, it’s basically invisible.”

  As soon as he finished speaking, he got an idea and a faint sense of familiarity.

  No, it isn’t a similar situation, but it could be.

  Eric immediately began to scour his memories, specifically anything related to skills. Using Mental Focus, he remembered everything perfectly. From how he got Mental Focus, to how he made the decision to get the others. Then, as he recalled how he chose each skill, a specific memory from when he killed the spider boss rose to the surface.

  When he killed the spider boss, he leveled up, reaching level five and had to consider what skill to get. After a short deliberation with himself, already knowing that skills could be developed, he came to the conclusion that he should get Mana Sense. This would be done with the intention of developing more skills with the skill’s help.

  “But then a lot of shit happened and things just kind of got lost,” Eric said, remembering everything that popped up since then. “Well, whatever the reason was, I think I had the right idea.”

  He began to formulate ideas, quickly discarding those that were unfeasible, currently too difficult or ones that already had a solution.

  “Pretty sure I already know how to develop Mana Regeneration, but I don’t have the necessary skill to manipulate mana at that level. A mana core that resembles the shape that the rage formed should help, or it should at least clear my mind enough to be able to do the rest of what was done to regenerate mana when I fought the skeletal angel.”

  Most of the following day, he spent it observing the others who were with him. Eric’s eyes were basically glued to them as he took in everything they did with their abilities.

  One imbued whatever he had in his hand with flames. Another brought water forth with every swing of their weapon. But most just used pure unadulterated mana to attack at a distance. The same thing he had seen the knights do on the tenth floor, only to a higher degree.

  When the first week came to a close, Eric came to a simple conclusion.

  “I can probably learn from all of them, the question is, do I want to? I really don’t care for any of the elements. And my class is already multi-weapon because I didn’t commit, will I do the same with elemental abilities?”

  The question was simple, but for someone like Eric who might not really have any true wants or desires, it was a nightmare.

  If he pursued multiple elements, he would just end up losing more time and he already lost enough time while cultivating. If he chose one and down the line it turned out that he wasn’t meant to go far with it, it would be a huge blow and a lost investment.

  “I guess that answers that…” His words trailed off as he saw the one who could set anything he touched ablaze, light a bonfire.

  He reached for a random log, set it on fire and threw it back into the pile of wood. Then, the one who brought water forth with every swing, swung there hand atop a row of cups, filling them with water.

  How could I be so stupid! Eric shouted internally. “Just because I know how to do something doesn’t mean I have to take it to the limits. It’s not like my entire life will be nothing but trials and battles.”

  ----------

  Appearing under the arena, Anna quickly felt the healing effects that Alex had mentioned to Stella. When the wound on her arm was fully healed, she made her way out, following a set of stairs that led to a small exit behind the stands.

  She had no trouble finding her friends and began to walk without looking. Most of her attention was entirely on examining the site of where her wound had been.

  “Hey guys! Did you happen to catch the name of the one I fought?” Anna asked, without lifting her gaze. But upon hearing no response, she turned to look at them. “Guys?”

  Looking at her friends, and basically everyone in her line of sight, she saw that they were looking at the screens above the arena.

  Following their line of sight, she landed on one screen that only showed a single Asian man standing with his hands in his pockets, that appeared to be mumbling to himself.

  In front of him, exactly where Anna guessed his opponents had appeared, at least based on her own match, were five completely bisected corpses. And that wasn’t all. To his side, there were a total of four more bodies under the same conditions.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “What happened?” Anna asked, this time, her tone was considerably more serious.

  Ed was the first to notice her and answer. “We-I-I don’t know.”

  “Anna,” Stella began, her tone serious. “I think we just found someone from your family.”

  “What?!”

  ----------

  Stella had been watching all the matches with rapt attention. Like an unending slideshow, match after match was presented before her. Even though she was more than able to look at most of the screens, there were still some details that escaped her. So, she was actually straining herself to grasp everything.

  Within Stella’s eyes, there was a sense of wonder, and it was being fed by the various fighting methods that she was seeing in each of the matches.

  Some of the abilities she was seeing were easy to imagine and even trace how they came to be.

  Doesn’t appear to be magic—no—it’s more like Alex’s stone armor, but instead of stone, its water.

  “Abilities aren’t being used as much by those that have evolved,” Alex commented.

  “Of course. Did you see Anna’s fight? After she cleared her mind, she easily took care of her opponent. What was their name?” Stella asked, snapping her fingers, her attention still on the matches.

  “Glory to the… glory to the something,” Alex answered. “But still, even when fighting other evolved, they’re way too reserved.”

  “It could also just be because their skills weren’t able to keep up with their evolution,” Stella suggested.

  “What do you mean?” Ed asked, finding the topic interesting.

  “Oh right, you haven’t evolved yet,” Alex said, patting Ed in the back. “Well, look at those two.” He pointed at a specific screen that had two E ranked humans fighting each other. They were the only ones he could distinguish somewhat from sight alone. “Look at how they’re fighting. See how powerful a simple kick or punch is?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ok. Now compare the power of those attacks against the power of the basic skills you can get before evolution. Do you see the difference?” Alex asked.

  “But you would just need to level the skills up in order for them to grow stronger. I can’t see a world in where Stella’s magic is weaker than her punches, or where your stone is weaker than a simple fist.”

  “And that’s the difference,” Stella said, not elaborating, her attention still on the matches.

  “What she means is that we did train our skills. And in fact, there was a time when my body was stronger than my stone,” Alex answered, covering his hand in stone as he raised it for Ed to see. “It was only because I couldn’t get the necessary experience from monsters anymore that I decided to train my skills.”

  “Doesn’t that mean that a high-level skill can bypass the difference between evolutions?” Ed asked, finally seeing the opportunity to ask some burning questions.

  Alex sucked his teeth in, really pondering the question, or perhaps his answer. “No,” he answered, flatly.

  “Doesn’t that go against what you just said?”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Stella interjected, again refusing to elaborate or turn to face them.

  “To expand on her answer,” Alex said with a chuckle. “There’s a difference between someone who is still F rank and someone who has reached E rank.”

  “And wh—”

  Alex raised his hand, stopping Ed from asking a question. “I’m getting there,” he said with a smile. “The difference is control. Regardless of where your evolution takes you, there is one thing that is true about everyone, the control over our body increases. And it is that very control that allows us to use our skills in different and more powerful ways.”

  “But—”

  Suddenly, the air shifted, a certain intensity about it. Like the air was more heated than usual.

  Alex quickly turned to look at Stella, recognizing that it was her who was affecting the air. Following her gaze, he looked at the same screen she was. And in a similar way, everyone in the stands turned to look at the same screen.

  Lightning Child, Alex read, immediately knowing who the main subject was.

  There was a young Asian man, with his hands in his pockets that just stood there, mumbling. He wore casual streetwear, but there was something in his eyes that unnerved Stella.

  There’s disinterest in there. Like all of this is beneath him. Yet, there isn’t any arrogance.

  It hadn’t been the young man’s eyes that drew Stella’s attention, she hadn’t even noticed them until she took a good look at their screen. No, what drew her attention was the fact that none of the fighters were moving, and now that her focus was entirely on their match, she could see that that wasn’t entirely true.

  One of the elves is shaking uncontrollably…

  The Asian man suddenly inhaled deeply and without any fanfare, from head to groin, everyone else that was within his small arena, was bisected by crackling lightning. Inaudibly, the now two parts of each fighter fell, one to the left and one to the right.

  It hadn’t just been Stella’s group who had turned their attention to the Asian man’s match, everyone else was also drawn in. In the few seconds of silence where all of their attention was directed in one direction, the only sound that was heard was a faint whoosh as people continued to depart for their matches.

  ----------

  “Told you they would make it,” the young man with the katana said with a smirk as he turned to look at the older man.

  “That was conceptual power, wasn’t it? Was it the same one that the Korean tried to use?”

  The young man narrowed his eyes, fully aware that visually, there was nothing conceptual about what Lightning child did. “Yes and no. Unless he developed it on his own, as far as I know, each of the three has a concept unique to each of them. No one else in the family has access to it.”

  “Do you still believe that you can defeat them?”

  The young man pondered for a moment. “The Korean, probably. It depends on whether they couldn’t use the concept or simply decided not to. And the Japanese…” He pondered in silence for a moment longer. “The Japanese, well, I guess it depends on how far into the tournament we meet.”

  “Cecilia,” the older man called out, turning to the young woman with a ponytail.

  “Yes, Robert?” she answered.

  “In that internal ranking of yours, where would you put those two blade children we just saw? Are their System rankings accurate?”

  Without taking a moment to consider the question, she answered. “No. From what we have seen, both of them should be about the same level as Anubis’s chosen. And to clarify further, I don’t mean his messenger, but the jackals.”

  “Are any of the jackals here?” Robert asked.

  “Two are.”

  “Any comments or opinions you would like to share?”

  “Yes,” she answered, her tone conveying no emotion. “The Blades, by their very name, are users of the sword, like Ryuji.” She gestured at the young man with a katana with an open hand. “The very fact that neither of them has used a sword should be taken into account. Regardless of the Blade of Solace’s actions, it’s clear that she should be stronger while wielding a weapon.”

  “Thank you for your answer,” Robert said, turning to Ryuji once more. “Did you take that into account when you answered me?”

  Ryuji made an offended face. “What do you take me for? An amateur? Of course I took it into account. Their concepts are the only things that give me pause.”

  “Understood.”

  ----------

  Sitting on a sofa that was within a room that was an exact replica of the living room he had back on Earth, the Old Blade, Abe to Anna, was eating a pint of ice cream. He inched forward, as if he were watching something exciting.

  Suddenly, he jumped.

  “Yes!” he exclaimed, dropping the now empty container on the floor, near another, equally empty one.

  “That’s my granddaughter. We don’t need a sword to deal with such trash. Even cutting is too much for someone of their caliber. You just need to win. Every injury that you cause should be taken as a gift by such low creatures.”

  Sitting back down, space was sliced open, and a bottle of soda fell into his already open hand.

  After taking a drink, he narrowed his eyes. “Now where are the other brats? Oh! There’s one,” he said, quickly finding one of the people he was looking for. “And there’s the other. So, they both made it in time. And one of them is also one of the first people to fight… Coincidence? Fate? The whims of an old man? Who knows.”

  A few seconds later, his face turned into a scowl. “Too much for too little.”

  As if he had seen everything he wanted to, he rose from the couch and took a step forward. Space tore open before him. With every step he took, he traversed hundreds of thousands of kilometers. After the ninth step, he found himself standing before an already assembled council, ready to report.

  At some point during his short journey, the Old Blade’s clothes had changed. From a simple wrinkly robe, to an equally simple, but somehow more imposing one.

  His robe was a white so bright that it appeared to radiate its own light. The borders were fine and intricately woven into complex patterns, as was all the hand made robe’s stitching. The robe’s simplicity was a deception to all but the most learned.

  The relaxed and somewhat playful demeanor that he’d had only moments ago was nowhere to be seen. Before his family, before his council, now stood the Old Blade, one of the few, who in an infinite multiverse, held the title of “Old monster.”

  “Shall we begin,” he said with a calm and imposing voice that echoed throughout the room.