In a field void of any signs of life, a tall figure wielding a weird, transforming weapon incapacitates waves of monster, seemingly undead in nature as they approached him, tearing their flesh apart every time he brandished his weapon, sometimes smashing his fist against bone figures shattering and turning them into dust.
“You just keep coming don’t you…” with the glow of his weapon revealing his appearance, the immortal-like figure of Wu Xiaotian was revealed, moving his body along with a rapier, piercing through one of the puppets, destroying the core that seems to power them.
It has already been the tenth level since the test started, after finishing the opponents off, the next round will increase their numbers by a hundred, and just now, he finished destroying thousands of Intermediate state Foundation Establishment Realm puppets without even breaking a sweat, clenching his hands as if to feel the improvement, the battle making him realize he got so much else to improve.
“I’ve been complacent from all the strength I got after reincarnating here that I forgot the most basics of battle, techniques, experience and most important of all, the indomitable will to defeat enemies” he said to himself as if to reflect all his experiences in this world so far. He had been so obsessed with cultivating his strength that he feels like he forgot to return to his roots, polishing his basics not only to perfection but to transcendence, and taking this test made him realize it, this experience will be etched as an important reminder in his heart.
“Enough about self-reflection, let’s deal with the next wave” he thought to himself as he decides to restrict his power to the same level as the next wave, a risky move that will pay a hundred-fold return of benefits to him should he succeed with his plans.
“Level eleven, survive assault from one hundred Advance state Pedestal Establishment Realm puppets with peak foundations” the mechanical voice rung once again as numerous figures emerged from the ground, this batch seemingly containing less of the complete bone puppets, and most of them like undead retaining some of their flesh mixed with more perfectly intact puppets.
“Come at me” Wu Xiaotian smiles while the Myriad Transformation Orb turns into a liquid like state once again, shifting its shape to a glove that completely covers his hands, the gloves filled with jagged edges that seems to deal substantial amount of damage should they hit hard enough.
One of the puppets, seemingly faster than the other goes first and dashed towards him, the quadruped accelerating as it roars, the sound coming from it enough to cause a distortion in the air, travelling fast and powerful enough to be considered as some sort of attack.
With the invisible attack approaching him, Wu Xiaotian merely raise his hands up, spreading his feet apart, rotating his right foot on its balls, the momentum causing his waist to twist a bit, the force generated from his movements eventually carried into his right arm, his first running straight towards the face of the puppet, bashing inside the moment they made contact, immediately incapacitating the beast.
Pulling his fist out from the head, he also starts dashing towards the approaching puppets, his face as if he rediscovered a thing he had lost through all the years of peace, a unique fondness for battle, along with the love for the feeling of constantly improving through a fight, paired with the desire to become powerful enough to free and protect the people he loves, it only made him more and more focused on the fight, his previous self, the number one mercenary overlapping his current immortal-like visage as he engages in a brutal melee against the puppets, the result being a one-sided slaughter being in favor of him.
As the mechanical voice sounded again, another hundred figures were added to the previous one, two hundred Advance state Pedestal Establishment Realm puppets start advancing towards him, making his figure tremble in anticipation as he clenched his fists.
“This is starting to get more and more fun” he said in an excited tone as he dashes forward once again, moving towards the middle of the puppets as he starts laying waste on them, destroying one of them with every punch, his figure seamlessly across all sorts of attack, not even a scratch on his clothes as he counterattacks and eliminates them one by one.
As the number thins down, it eventually reaches a point where there’s only four humanoid figure remains, what he thinks is the most skillful among this batch. As they surround him, they started simultaneously closing in on him, two throwing a fist towards him while the other two targeting his lower body with a swift kick, their actions being completely wasted as he dodged effortlessly once again, rotating his whole body to send a kick through one of the humanoid figures’ side, completely breaking it into two as it crashes through another puppet, the force of his kick throwing them so far away that the figures breaks when they stopped rolling on the ground.
As his foot lands down the ground, he steps his other foot forward once again, using the momentum from his previous kick to spin around, sending a hook kick towards another figure’s face, separating its head from its body in the process.
The final puppet could only do so much as it was immediately blocked when it attacked, Wu Xiaotian’s left arm completely setting its attack off course as he slams a fist towards its sternum, shattering the core causing the puppet to fall limply on the ground.
“Level thirteen, survive assault from three hundred Advance state Pedestal Establishment Realm puppets with peak foundations”
“Level fourteen, survive assault from four hundred….”
“Level fifteen, survive assault from five hundred….”
“Level sixteen…”
“Level seventeen….”
As he continues tearing apart and defeating all the puppets the comes towards him, Wu Xiaotian feels like his basics seems to improve to a level already far beyond what he has when he was Nyx. As he revels on the feeling, his martial arts seem to continue growing even further, his movements seemingly start becoming more and more fluid, there’s no longer any weird feeling and micro interruption during the transition from different movements and techniques, as if they’re already well blended and part of the same art, and while the feeling he get from this practice is still only a small percentage of what he got inside the Martial God Space, there’s just something about not relying on anything else but oneself that makes this achievement so satisfying.
“Level thirty-one, survive assault from one hundred Early state Core Formation Realm puppets with peak foundations” when the mechanical voice sounded once again, he realized that he’s already reached the Core Formation Realm, figuring out that this is the reason why he seems to start getting exhausted from fighting with only his bare hands.
With the figures of one hundred Core Formation Realm puppets appearing, he can now feel some threat when he keeps using limited amount of his abilities. After all, it is already in an entirely different realm, and fighting against them will be much harder than fighting against Pedestal Establishment Realm puppets that he fought with before.
Also understanding this fact, Wu Xiaotian starts changing his tactics, now employing the help of the Myriad Transformation Orb once again, the weird object transforming into a sword that seems to fit perfectly in his hand.
“Let’s practice weapons now” he muttered as he charged forward.
