[MA] 275. Hoping to Get Picked (Patreon)

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[Chapters this week: 1/3

Delayed chapters: 1

Next release: Tomorrow]

Staff Lieutenant Uya and Recruit Aqur lak'Safur flew a dozen miles from the big building to fight. Uya took one of her longswords from her waist while Aqur produced a halberd from the system's Inventory.

Uya's weapon was beautiful, a gray blade with fancy silver edges, a bronze handle, and a white handle. It was fancy without becoming vulgar. Aqur's halberd, on the other hand, was an aberration. The blade was silver, the shaft golden, and red drawings of mythical beasts could be seen everywhere. It looked like a child's toy—unlike his inner robe.

Shen had barely paid attention to his fellow cultivators' clothing beyond noticing their style. He could tell the white and blue outer layers were enchanted because of how much qi they had, but they were only at E+. He could also tell the inner light gray robe should be at least C-. He knew little about enchanting and crafting, but Liya had taught him enough to avoid surprises.

So, when Aqur's inner robe suddenly became liquid, covering Aqur's entire body, then turned transparent—and didn't mess with his short hair—Shen wasn't caught off-guard like Luthdel. He knew the enchanted inner robe served a magic purpose; he had only been ignorant of what that purpose was. If he had fought Aqur, he would've kept alert about it.

"We have to pretend we're training," Staff Lieutenant Uya said.

That also didn't surprise Shen; those were the military rules. Yet, the more he looked at and heard her, the more convinced he became that she meant what she said. Indeed, she would only fight out of boredom and was forced to put on a show of training everyone because of regulations.

Of course, First Lieutenant Zyn might've expected Uya would act that, so he sent her here. Shen lacked information, but he guessed Uya would half-ass it if she was ordered to combat-train the new Recruits, but would be through if she decided it herself.

He couldn't point out the exact source of that guess. Maybe he had gotten good at identifying people after the third demonstration. Perhaps it concerned the Ethereal Harmonization realm and his Law vision. More likely, it was a mix of both and the widening of his Path, which now also encompassed interpersonal relationships.

Shen had Harmonized with the Ethereal. He was partly Law in a way no modern Earth human was. He had connected with the cosmos, and a faint trace of that connection remained, though he couldn't do anything with it. He was harmonized not only with his Path but also Reality itself to a point.

So, Reality whispered some things to him...

No, that wasn't it. It wasn't an active thing Reality did. Instead, he detected subtle things on an unconscious level and instinctively used his knowledge and experience to analyze them.

While it was useful, he considered it a downside of his Idealized Path. He was his Path, but his Path was also the Laws he pulled into it. Such Laws were alien and from a sentient, if not sapient, set of Laws. He was partly them and linked to them but couldn't control the connection.

Shen wondered how many heart demons—a poisoning of one's will—resulted from giving in too much to the Laws until they changed you into something incompatible with the original part of your Path.

Just watching Zyn and Uya and acknowledging that intangible feedback was enough for Shen to conclude Liya had been wrong. While arrogance was part of him, he was being influenced by his Laws to some extent. He'd better take note of it.

Shen didn't think less of First Lieutenant Zyn for using Staff Lieutenant Uya's personality to control her. Understanding your subordinates and using such comprehension to make them move accordingly was the mark of a wise leader.

He would watch the First Lieutenant closely in the incoming days to see if he could learn a thing or two from him. Considering that Luthdel had already gotten Shen endangered, he needed it. What he had learned from the Concept of War let him manage his people well in a war setting, but some nuances hadn't been part of it.

Uya continued her speech about pretending to be training her subordinates, "So, we'll start from the beginning. Our stats will be limited to D-rank. Don't use Laws at all, not even internally. Only internal qi is allowed, except for your equipment. That includes small usages like moving your equipment around.

"After I beat you up once, we'll go to C-tier stats. The rules for qi will remain the same, but we'll be allowed to use Laws internally. I'll beat you again, and then we'll fight using our full power." A small smile blossomed on her face, content and a bit sadistic. "I'll teach you my showing my superior skills. You can compare them to your own and plan how to improve."

"Yes, Staff Lieutenant," Aqur replied.

The front lines had a special set of functions within the Guardian System. The Recognition Interface let everyone know everyone's ranks in the auto-inspection feature. Another function let anyone set stat limiters while training.

It wasn't a hard limiter like the one Shen had experienced on the third demonstration. There, his body and soul were limited by a domain he could barely feel, like a whisper in the wind. He had been simply incapable of disrespecting the rules. Even if he had wanted to use C stats while fighting a D-rank, he wouldn't have been able to.

Here, the system surrounded one's stats with a thin string of mana and kept pushing it inwards. The Guardian had to accept the push until they felt the demarcation of how much power they could use. They were responsible for limiting themselves, and the string would rupture if they exceeded the limit.

Aqur and Uya saluted each other. The recruit bowed low while the lieutenant only nodded slightly. While it differed from how things had been in the Eternal Empire, the traces of respect and hierarchy were obvious.

A five-second ten-yard-wide white countdown appeared between them for everyone to see.

When it reached zero, the fight was on.

Uya didn't hide that she either didn't think highly of the new recruits. She didn't put a helmet on, leaving her head vulnerable, and only unsheathed a single longsword. She used only one hand to wield it, and Shen could see many instances where she instinctively moved her other hand around, which was supposed to wield another sword. She was a dual wielder.

Although the weapons on her were longswords, it didn't surprise anyone that she could wield two. She was C-rank. She could wield a modern war tank on each hand, and it would still not feel encumbered.

At the commoner level, halberds were naturally defensive weapons, slower and usually shorter than spears. However, just like Uya could use two longswords, even a Guardian with D-rank stats could freely maneuver a halberd.

So, it became a matter of deciding how to better tackle your enemy. Uya had mastered a Law and claimed to only lack AP to rank up. She was also probably a career military woman, meaning she fought Void Spawns for a living. She had all the advantages.

Aqur decided that that meant he had to take the initiative before it was too late.

Shen would've agreed with it if Aqur's enemy weren't looking at him. In a duel, letting the superior foe with unknown capabilities make the first move would be wiser, especially when the said foe was willing to move only as fast as its qi-enhanced D+ agility would let her. It would've given Aqur precious information.

Aqur moved at peak D+ agility toward Uya, his halberd held horizontally, the pike aiming at Uya's midsection. It was an okay first move, taking advantage of his weapon's greater reach than a longsword. Uya would be forced to react somehow, and he could go from there.

He also acted slightly sneaky at the end. When he was about to reach Uya, he filled his legs with qi to push his speed to his peak.

Uya simply slapped the halberd away with her sword and stepped ahead with a thrust of her blade. She was also moving at peak D+ with qi. Aqur didn't have enough mastery of his body to stop his momentum or dodge the longsword, which pierced his neck all the way to the hilt.

That was a bit sad. Shen had had high hopes for his peers, but they crumbled like sand.

Not that he blamed Aqur. Uya's movement seemed simple, but she had acted at the perfect moment. Too soon, and Aqur would've dodged. Too late, and she couldn't have used his momentum like that. She also moved about twice as fast as Aqur, evidencing she had a better grasp of her stats and superior techniques.

That was a loophole in the arrangement. While they were limited to D+ stats and using internal qi, higher-tiered techniques had a prominent edge.

"You lost," Uya said with a pleased smile. "At least you have guts. I can't remember the last time someone charged me like that." She pulled her sword out of his throat and jumped back, once more standing a hundred yards away. "C-tier stats now."

The second bout went almost as bad as the first. While both would be limited to C-tier stats, it was a range, not exactly C. Aqur had C- agility, while Uya had C+.

Aqur waited for her to approach this time. "Well, if you insist," Uya said and rushed at him.

She moved slower than Zyn, enough that Shen could see her. Aqur couldn't. She became a blur to the poor guy, went behind him, and beheaded him with a single strike.

The C- inner robe's protections were easily pierced in both victories. Her sword was C+ and likely enchanted for that bypassing defenses. That was another loophole in the rules: their equipment wasn't standardized.

Ethereal Harmonization cultivators wouldn't die if beheaded, but it lowered their battle power significantly. That was all that took for a winner to be decided in combat training. Aqur quickly grabbed his head and reattached it, both the system and his qi quickly healing him.

Uya shook her head. "I can't even commend your bravery now, can I?" She returned to the starting position. "Show me everything you got."

Aqur did as told.

As soon as the countdown reached zero, he surrounded himself with qi within seven yards. One of his three Laws physically manifested itself. Flames surrounded him, moving like an angry hurricane, hiding him even from Shen's Law vision, which could be blocked by quantity or high density. Uya's taunt worked as Aqur moved to her instead of waiting.

To Aqur's credit, she was trying to distract Uya with that flashy move. He commanded the Laws in her surroundings to strike at her. There was no halberd in the air, which was likely one of his Laws, but there was heat and light.

Flames immediately engulfed Uya and exploded with violence while a thick white laser beam appeared above her head to smite her down.

Shen didn't see how she defended herself. All he knew was that the explosion cleared as her Law, whichever it was, took control of her surroundings and quickly dissipated the smoke, fire, and laser. Then, she looked with pity at the incoming Aqur, who missed a step when his Law attack was broken, causing a chunk of his willpower to be spent.

"What a dumbass," she said, creating a simple line of qi that went from her to the incoming fireball. It moved even faster than she did. It almost instantly touched Aqur's qi, forcing a willpower battle.

A split second later, the man fell unconscious on the ground, his flames harmlessly dissipating.

Shen was also disappointed, but fighting such an overwhelmingly more powerful foe would end in a loss anyway. Calling Aqur a dumbass for making a bad decision when there were basically only bad decisions to be made was a bit harsh. It was borderline verbal humiliation, which was against the rules, but not enough for a report.

Uya pursed her lips. "Not even enough for an appetizer." She waved her hand, and Aqur was pushed back to where the others stood. Then, she looked at the Recruits one by one.

No one said anything. Either they knew they were forbidden from volunteering in this specific setting—like Shen—wanted to see her fight someone else to gather more information, or feared her. After a few moments, she pointed at Shen. "I'll pick novelty, I suppose. I have never fought someone with seven Laws. Why would anyone waste so much time mastering that many Laws?"

Shen smiled; he had been hoping to get picked.

He would lose. According to Liya, a mastered Law could crush him even if he didn't have lower stats, which he had. Yet, fighting her with less information about his opponent would be a greater challenge and let him answer something he had been wondering about.

How good were Liya's training, his comprehension, and his ability, really? Theoretically, the training was the best the drow could offer, and he wasn't that bad. But how well did that theory hold against reality?

He would start getting the answer by fighting this peak C-rank.

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