An unfamiliar wooden ceiling loomed above me. What happened to me? Did I regain consciousness? I sensed my teacher’s presence nearby.
— Ooooh! — I groaned, sitting up on the bed. — Teacher, what the hell was that?
— Careful, don’t get up just yet. You overexerted yourself—don’t do that again.
— Explain?
— Simply put, you used up more aura in a short time than you should have under normal circumstances.
I closed my eyes and looked within myself. My mana was fine, but my aura was indeed alarmingly low.
— Can this be fixed?
— Yes, don’t worry. In a day or two, everything will return to normal. — He sat down beside me. — But I have another question for you. Where did you learn the Nine Heavenly Steps movement technique?
— Teacher, honestly, I don’t even know which technique you’re talking about, but the one I use, I pretty much created myself. I once saw three steps performed by a Battle Master and developed them into twenty-seven steps on my own, then combined them with my spear techniques.
I was telling the absolute truth, being as open as possible. Kruk looked thoughtful.
— Twenty-seven… Twenty-seven… — he repeated, staring at the floor.
— Teacher, I can show you the technique in full once I feel better…
— Oh, I believe you. It’s just that creating such a technique at your age requires exceptional talent.
Wow! Praise from a Battle Ancestor! That felt damn good.
— Alright, go to your quarters, rest for the next two days, and try working on aura defense as I explained.
— Thank you, teacher!
I got up and headed to my room. Aura. Where does it come from, and can its natural capacity be increased? I had noticed that my aura grew each time I advanced in level. But was this a direct correlation? And if so, why?
Should I just level up and not worry about it? But what if I increased its natural quantity first and then leveled up—wouldn’t that benefit me more? Theoretically, I could advance to a higher-tier Battle Master right now, but for that, I needed to absorb monster cores, and I didn’t want to do that around people.
Especially not around someone as powerful as my teacher. Besides, the external effects of my breakthroughs weren’t exactly subtle; they could easily draw the attention of the entire city. Should I ask Kruk to cover me with his aura while I broke through? No, that was ridiculous. What was I supposed to do—go up to him and say, “Teacher, to get stronger, I need to absorb the mana of monsters, which is lethal to humans. Please help me keep this a secret from everyone!” Yeah, right. He’d probably kill me on the spot, and no one would even blame him. Haaaaah… What should I do? There were only two days left until the qualifier matches.
I sat on the floor and closed my eyes. Back to aura—it was the only thing I could work on right now. I found a few aura strands beneath the skin on my wrist and tried weaving them together like fabric. It was pointless; they were too thin and short, and my weaving unraveled instantly, even though I followed Kruk’s instructions precisely.
Just to be sure, I tried again with the same result. Right. A person who repeats the same action over and over, expecting a different outcome, is a fool. I sharpened my senses, focusing on a single strand of aura in detail.
It was incredibly thin, but… this strand wasn’t straight. Rather, it looked like a spiral. I tried to unwind the spiral and straighten it, but as soon as I let go, it coiled back into its original form. Could I use this to my advantage somehow?
Chainmail! I unwound the spiral and brought its ends together before releasing it. The strand coiled back, intertwining into itself. I had a small ring, about three millimeters in diameter. My attempts to break or straighten it were futile. This seemed like a promising idea.
I considered which body part needed protection the most. The heart? The head or neck? Eventually, I concluded that I needed to protect everything at once. So instead, I reframed the question—perhaps I should first defend the body part most likely to block enemy attacks? The answer was obvious: my left arm. That would be the starting point of my defense.
Time passed as I carefully wove ring after ring into chainmail beneath my skin. Hours went by, and as the sun rose, the sounds of the bustling city filled the streets. My chainmail now stretched from my fingertips to my elbow. I looked at my arm. Externally, nothing had changed—it looked like ordinary skin.
I pulled out a knife and, wrapping it in aura, pressed it against the back of my hand. Nothing. Harder? I swung and struck with force—a thin white line appeared on my skin. To finish the experiment, I gave it one last full-strength blow.
Ouch! That hurt! — I hissed.
The aura-wrapped knife shattered into tiny pieces. Another faint white mark appeared on my skin. My bones ached—the chainmail couldn’t absorb the full impact of the strike.
So aura compressed into rings was stronger than aura simply coating a weapon in the air? That made sense. I wanted to discuss this with Kruk, so I got up and went to him.
Kruk examined my arm for a long time, stroking his gray beard.
— How did you figure this out?
I explained in detail that I had failed to weave aura the way he had taught me, so I tried a different approach.
— Indeed, your aura strands are too short to hold together with normal weaving. But how did you manage to coil them into rings?
I told him about their spiral shape. Surprised, Kruk closed his eyes and looked within himself.
— Mine are straight!
— Does that mean something’s wrong with me?
— How should I know? I’ve never studied anyone else’s aura this closely.
We fell silent for a moment, each lost in thought.
— Aney, show me your movement technique in combination with your spear.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
I stepped into the courtyard and began sparring with an imaginary opponent. After executing all twenty-seven steps as best I could, I returned to my teacher.
— Can you move like that while incorporating the strikes and combinations I taught you?
Well, I had been meaning to try. I sat on the porch, closed my eyes, and first attempted to merge the techniques in my mind.
Half an hour passed. Kruk waited in silence, not interrupting me.
— Alright, I’ll try now.
I stood up and attempted the first step. It wasn’t great, but I kept repeating it until I got it right. Time for the second step…
I completed the fusion of techniques after several hours—all twenty-seven steps, combined with both individual strikes and full attack sequences in various variations.
— Well? — I asked Kruk, who had been watching me.
— Ho-ho-ho, I like this!
In an instant, he appeared beside me, pulling out two wooden sticks the size of standard spears.
— Now, let’s fight a real opponent instead of an imaginary one! — he said, handing me a stick.
What? Old man, are you crazy? You’re a Battle Ancestor—you could flatten me with a single poke.
— No aura, just speed and technique. First, you attack while I defend. Then, we switch. Agreed? — he reassured me.
I attacked the moment he finished speaking.
— Ho-ho-ho! A skilled lad! I like this! But faster! Even faster!
We became two flickering shadows, weaving across the courtyard amidst swirling dust and whistling wind. I pushed myself to the limit, trying to land a single strike on my teacher, but it was hopeless. Every time I thought I had him, he vanished from under my blow, reappearing somewhere to the side.
— My turn! — he exclaimed, counterattacking in an instant.
I felt the wooden stick tap my cheek. The next moment, a barrage of strikes rained down on me. They weren’t painful—he was controlling his strength well—but they were humiliating. I had reached my maximum speed, yet I still couldn’t keep up with him. How strong was he really, if he could do this even without using aura? But giving up wasn’t an option either.
Retreating quickly, I tried to deflect at least some of his strikes. Over time, I adapted—not fully blocking them, but at least redirecting or weakening their impact.
— Alright, that’s enough for today, — Kruk said after an hour of this ordeal. — We’ll repeat this tomorrow morning!
Exhausted and frustrated, I sank to the ground.
— You did well, Aney. Few Battle Masters could withstand such pressure. Think over this fight carefully tonight. I expect you to be even better tomorrow!
With these words, he went to his favorite chair with a copper teapot. Well, I’ll think about it, yes. I also got up and went to my house. Of course, one could justify this devastation by thinking that he was a Battle Ancestor, while I was merely a Battle Master, but I felt that would be destructive.
So, what was I lacking? Experience. I lacked experience in fighting people. And the teacher was the perfect person to help me gain it. Having settled on this, I continued weaving my chainmail until late at night.
The next morning, I was waiting for him in the courtyard with sticks in hand, even before he stepped out of his house.
— I am ready for your next lesson, teacher!
Not allowing him to sit in his chair and take a sip from his teapot, I declared. His face visibly showed the inner conflict between breaking his sacred ritual and fulfilling his teacher’s duty.
— Oh, kid, how impatient you’ve become!
He lunged at me and snatched a stick while simultaneously attempting a strike. I blocked.
— No, teacher, today won’t be as easy as before!Tot
His eyes flashed with malice.
— Is that so?
It seemed I had spoken too soon.
— Enough, short break!
I pleaded to Kruck after a few hours. By that time, he had wrung every ounce of strength from me.
— You’re learning fast. At this pace, in a week, you’ll be my equal in a fight without aura.
— You exaggerate, teacher. To reach your level, I’d need at least a few more years!
— Ha-ha-ha, rest for a bit. We’ll start round two after lunch.
I sat on the ground. Whew, I’m still making many mistakes, but it’s much better than yesterday. We continued training almost until nightfall.
— Good, — said Kruck when it was already dark, — I believe you’re now fully ready to win the tournament. So tomorrow, you must rest all day. The day after tomorrow, you have the qualifiers—there shouldn’t be any problems.
— Thank you for the lesson, teacher!
Finally, the day of the tournament arrived. Tot and Sui came for me, and we headed to the city’s central stadium. Along the way, the streets were adorned with flowers and red lanterns, while the crowd bustled back and forth to the shouts of street vendors selling pastries and desserts.
At the stadium, we were let in instantly as soon as we showed our participant tokens. Inside, it was packed with spectators who were constantly shouting, eating, and drinking. An official led us to the side where the tournament participants were gathered. Quite a diverse company. Both humans and representatives of other races had split into small groups, discussing something amongst themselves.
About half an hour later, a man in a golden mask flew into the air above the stadium and, with a voice amplified by magic, announced:
— Welcome, everyone present today! For those who don’t know me yet—I am Willis, chamberlain of the royal court! And as always, I am responsible for hosting the royal tournament! This year, the rules will not differ from last year’s, and at the end, the top hundred participants will be offered a place in the royal court under the best conditions, granting you unparalleled advantages for future development! So, I declare the royal tournament officially open! And I remind you, the fight continues as long as both sides agree or until one side is physically unable to continue. As always, the intentional killing of an opponent will result in severe punishment, regardless of the perpetrator’s origin or status! Now, the first challengers may take their places in the arenas!
At his words, fireworks burst into the sky from the stadium roof, and three dozen low arenas rose from the floor. The crowd of tens of thousands roared with cheers and applause. The first and most determined participants headed to the arenas.
When a participant stepped onto an arena, a floating inscription appeared above them, revealing their age and strength. Their opponent had to approach the arena and press a large red challenge button, after which a magical barrier would rise, leaving only the two opponents and the fight judge inside.
I observed the fights for a while, trying to thoroughly learn the rules and assess the average strength of the participants. Almost all were third-class warriors of various degrees, which wasn’t interesting to me at all. I craved a fight with someone equal in strength.
— Tot, are there any other Battle Masters here besides me?
— Yes, of course. Out of nearly a thousand registered participants, there are eighteen Battle Masters, so you can just wait for them to start stepping onto the arenas.
— I’m going! — Sui suddenly announced and quickly moved toward one of the arenas.
Neither Tot nor I stopped her; we simply moved closer to cheer her on. The girl ran to an arena where a hefty third-class high-tier warrior stood and pressed the button. She stepped onto the arena, and after a few words from the judge, the barrier rose, and the fight began.
The warrior rushed at Sui without hesitation, but his arm was unexpectedly caught by a magical shield embedded in the ground, while behind Sui, a night sky with countless stars and lilac nebulas appeared. Black wings with silver patterns, resembling those of a butterfly, suddenly grew on her back, and she took to the air.
— Here it is! — Tot exhaled heavily. — He’s done for!
From the night sky behind Sui, black butterflies, shaped like arrows, emerged. Their wings bore the same pattern as Sui’s, but their shape was triangular. These butterflies began slicing through the warrior’s body like blades, piercing his aura as if it were rotten burlap.
— She’s strong! — I was in awe of Sui’s ability.
— Do you think they call her the Butterfly Queen for nothing? — Tot looked at me with pride. — Alright, I’m going too.
He ran to an arena with a third-class mid-tier warrior and pressed the button. I turned back to Sui’s fight. It was nearly over. The warrior was bleeding heavily from a thousand tiny cuts, desperately trying to seal them with his aura. Sui, however, mercilessly increased the pressure on him.
— I surrender! — he cried out with his last strength.
The girl instantly removed the shield and recalled her butterflies into the night sky, which slowly faded behind her. The warrior was a pitiful sight. Three healers immediately rushed to him, laid him on a stretcher, and carried him away. They poured potions into his mouth and over his wounds, which possibly helped. Sui hovered in the air until a mage official cleaned the arena of blood, then landed and withdrew her wings.
— The winner is Sui, third-circle mage! — the judge announced.
There was no emotion on Sui’s face; she remained focused, waiting for her next opponent’s challenge. “Ruthless,” I thought. I had never seen this side of Sui, nor even suspected it existed.
I raised my hand in greeting, congratulating her on her victory, and she smiled when she saw it. Finally, on one of the arenas, a first-tier Battle Master appeared, so I wasted no time and hurried there. Along the way, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tot’s dramatic fight, where he displayed incredible agility and flexibility against a sword-wielding warrior. I approached the arena and pressed the red button.