[MA] 267. Weakness Accepted (Patreon)

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[A/N: Chapters this week: 1/3

Next release: Thursday]

One Standard hour came and went; soon, it was time for Shen and Luthdel to fight. There were so many issues to point out on Luthdel's foundations that Shen didn't get a chance to display his own weaknesses before the battle. He didn't mind because he doubted the high elf had much to add.

There was no countdown for it to start, but suddenly, he got a countdown on how long he had left to win.

| Remaining time: 59 minutes, 59 seconds (Standard)

Standard time in the Alliance wasn't divided like on Earth. A minute had over sixty seconds, an hour had over sixty minutes, and so on. However, the automatic translation equaled the unit sizes for ease of understanding. Supposedly, it was easier for someone to multiply time for a constant than have to do with different divisions.

Shen believed that always translating everything would be better. There would be no issue if all time always came in Earth time. Nevertheless, before the system and its convenient translation function, getting everyone used to Standard time had been the norm, and it stuck.

Luthdel didn't notice the notification. He was swinging his sword around slowly, trying to get inspired on how to fix the latest issue Shen had pointed out. There were no flames anywhere, and his movements didn't reveal an ounce of strength. He was trying to feel his Path, not use it.

"Sorry, Luthdel," Shen said. "I want the points. I'll defeat you by exploiting your unsynchronized Path." He would get more points by mentioning the weakness one minute before exploiting it to win the fight.

| Weakness accepted

That was the thing Luthdel was trying to fix. The high elf didn't walk a True Path, not even close. Rather, to Shen's new eyes, he looked like almost a separate entity from his Path.

Figuring that one out hadn't been easy because Shen hadn't even known that could be an issue. Only after repeatedly witnessing Luthdel's trouble controlling Law-filled mana did Shen understand what he was looking at. The almost useless ultimate attack was the limit of how well Luthdel could handle multiple Laws at once.

Shen had no doubt it had to do with the man's lack of perspective on his future. He never expected to reach B-rank; he was sure he would die first. Therefore, he, and maybe his people, had only ever had him do the bare minimum to reach C-rank.

At Shen's words, Luthdel woke up from his movements and looked surprised at Shen and the notification. "Oh, already? Of course, Heart Sage! You already helped me so much! I'll just stay still and let you win!"

Shen shook his head. "No. Fight me for real. It might help me notice something else wrong to help you. And you might notice something wrong with me." More importantly, Shen worried that fixing fights might earn him fewer points.

"Well, if you say so. Prepare yourself, Heart Sage!" Luthdel said, lowering his center of gravity and holding his sword horizontally.

Shen was still holding the C+ Killing Weapon-cored spear that Liya had gifted him. He wore no armor, only weak G-tier clothes. It would be more than enough to deal with Luthdel.

"That's another weakness," Shen said. "We're opponents, and the battle has already started. If you're into it, you might give your enemy time to prepare beforehand, but when the fight is on, it's on. Show no mercy."

With that, Shen swung his spear from a distance.

Instead of the Concept of Sharpness, the Law of Extremity cut through everything. The invisible blade was sharp to such an Extreme that the very atoms it cut through didn't split if Shen didn't want to. It also never slowed down. It encountered no resistance on the way ahead because mere physical matter couldn't stop the power of the very Laws of Reality.

The blade moved fast, even for Shen's C- agility. It reached Luthdel instantly. It struck the high elf's standard C- armor and finally met something it couldn't easily cut through.

The attack hit Luthdel with precision. Luthdel's armor was split from the left shoulder to the right side of his waist—Shen purposefully didn't try to cut any heads to avoid winning too fast, just in case. The cutting line was perfectly straight and kept going, striking the high elven flesh underneath the metal, though only a few inches deep.

The very next instant, precision gave way to violence. The invisible blade had produced no sound as it moved ahead, but now, it exploded loudly as if finally recalling that breaking the sound barrier should create a sonic boom. At the same moment, millions of cracks surged from the line and covered the armor while Luthdel was thrown back by the blow.

Shen shook his head, disappointed. His simple attack could easily pierce through C- equipment. He wouldn't be able to do much training against Luthdel.

The high elf recovered quickly from the attack, somersaulting midair, but his armor would take a few moments to fully repair itself. Luthdel didn't seem to mind. He swung his sword to use his ultimate move.

Shen sighed and made a gesture as if grabbing Luthdel's attack. There was no need for the motion, but Shen wanted to give the high elf an indicator that he was counter-attacking. Maybe Luthdel would figure out a way to protect himself.

Luthdel didn't.

Shen willed True Boundlessness to split Luthdel's Path apart. The high elf's feeble control over his Laws shattered, and his ultimate move broke down as soon as it left his blade. His swing produced nothing but a few sparks.

"I'm starting to resent the high elves," Shen told a wide-eyed Luthdel. Shen could "see" through the helmet with his Law-vision. "You're supposed to help protect the Alliance in its hour of greatest need. Yet, they crippled you."

The cultivator had expected the high elf to like the verbal abuse. Instead, Luthdel frowned. For all his foolishness, there appeared to be some pride in the man. He was a high elf, and high elves were prideful.

"I cannot counter-argue, can I?" he said, trying to sound light-hearted but failing. "For that, too, I recognize you as my master. I'll deal with whatever needs to be dealt with, Heart Sage. You'll suffer no consequences for this decision of mine; this, I swear on my name. For now, please, keep teaching me."

Shen shook his head. Luthdel was a lost cause, clinging to the first guy who showed him any goodwill.

Well, he was slow to heal, but Shen had an entire hour. He guessed he could use the high elf as a training dummy. Fighting Liya hadn't been suitable for giving him perspective on his new power.

Shen couldn't turn himself into lightning—and wouldn't even if he could—but he was Conductivity. He willed himself to get behind Luthdel, and his entire self could feel the way to get there with the least resistance. He stepped ahead, and he reached his goal.

Luthdel hadn't even started turning back when Shen arrived.

Then, Shen's spear found the path of least resistance to Luthdel's heart.

When the cultivator stepped back, removing his spear with him, the high elf was still opening his mouth to scream from the pain.

= - = = =

After individually using his Laws against Luthdel, Shen recognized they gave him too much advantage against C-ranks who hadn't yet mastered their Laws. Even when Luthdel used mana, Shen's Laws could deny the man's attacks. The Laws simply didn't stick that well to the energy because the man's Path was so far from how he saw himself.

The cultivator suspected only C-rank True Path Walkers would be able to resist his Laws. Then, a C-rank with mastered Laws would have a decisive edge over him. It was a strange place he found himself at.

Shen stopped using his Laws like in favor of more straightforward combat. He fought Luthdel like he would a D-rank, except with stronger attacks—powered by Laws instead of Concepts. To no one's surprise, when they entered willpower combat, Luthdel's willpower was severely lacking compared to Shen's.

Shen hadn't been lying when he said he was starting to resent the high elves for keeping Luthdel that weak.

Then again, at least part of that was on Luthdel himself. Shen would never be as weak as that guy if he had had the same opportunities. Simply put, Shen strived for perfection; he always did his best. Luthdel had been comfortable with his mediocrity.

There was likely a whole branch of psychology that could explain why the high elf was a victim of circumstances and how living a life believing he would die had implications. Shen recognized it. It didn't change that Luthdel had chosen at least part of what led him to where he was.

Shen tested his powers for ten minutes, then finished the fight with True Boundlessness. He split Luthdel's entire body with that Law, separating matter with a formless and invisible blade of True Boundlessness, removing atomic bounds which existence he denied as limitations.

He instantly turned Luthdel's body into nuclear dust.

| You won!

| You have the remainder of the fighting period to reflect on the battle

| Your opponent will revive when the next talking period starts

Not even a True Path was required to resist such attack, only not having such loose Laws in one's Path. Luthdel was a pathetic fighter with trash-level control over his existence. Shen felt dirty for having his Law touch such a being on the inside, even to kill him. It had felt like touching stinky garbage.

'I'm thinking arrogantly,' he thought, recognizing it at once.

And yet, maybe Liya wasn't completely wrong because he did not want to change the feeling. Not in this instance. He needed that arrogance if he was ever to avoid falling into the same pitfall of mediocrity.

Shen would never accept becoming something like Luthdel.

= - = - =

When Luthdel was given a new body, Shen spent another hour pointing out issues in the high elf's foundations. Then, finally, Luthdel disappeared, once more replaced with Liya.

The drow appeared already in the middle of a laugh. "Ah, Shen! The look in your eyes! You finally get me, don't you?"

Shen wasn't amused. "I'm nothing like Luthdel."

"Not after I trained you for so long, you aren't."

The cultivator snorted but didn't have an answer for that.

Liya smiled and took the antidron from her special storage item. "We have a few more hours, and we'll use it to fix your foundations in a different area. Using Laws instead of Concepts isn't enough to fight at C-rank, your last battle non-withstanding. You need to develop proper Law-based abilities. We'll review everything in this antidron and rebuild your Concept-based abilities from the ground. Then, you'll be ready for your next step, true Law skills."

Shen nodded and did as told.

= - = - =

The abalu ignored Shen, then it was time for the D-rank battles.

=

Demonstration #3, 1st Stage, D-rank, 1st Round

Matching D-ranks with at least one D+ stat against each other.

C-ranks who already fought will be limited to D-rank, D+ standardized equipment, D+ stats, and mastered Concepts.

New fighters can use anything they want. Auras and domains are considered non-standard equipment.

Each party's tutor will be able to see the fight.

Other mentors will be teleported to their charges while they await the round's conclusion.

=

Shen's power was limited to D+, and he couldn't use Laws anymore. The hard-earned connection to the Laws that made his very body and soul was blocked, similar to how the omnispider had been blocked in the rift. Part of his very existence was kept from him.

In the next days, he went from fighting with D stats and mastered Concepts to E stats with non-mastered Concepts to F stats and no Concepts at all to an absolute commoner that couldn't even feel his Path. The feeling was astonished. To return to his origin after the breakthrough that saw him set so far apart from humanity was enlightening in unique ways.

More than ever, he comprehended exactly how much he had changed as he ranked up and progressed his cultivation.

And then, they all started growing stronger from the G-rank, and the genius of that demonstration was finally displayed.

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