'You should be thanking me!'
Despite not sending a message, it appeared that Aria knew what he was thinking, interrupting his thoughts with a message of her own.
'Ah… thanks?'
'It was obvious that you wanted this from the start, right? Aren't you lucky? Getting to experience high rank mana.'
Ren smiled lightly at being caught,
'Didn't you hear about that prophecy talk? It probably wouldn't have mattered what I did. But since it's become this way, I might as well keep going, right?'
Ren had a feeling that whether he accepted the offer to become Hale's student or refused, like now, he'd probably be in the same situation.
Aria shook her head with a sigh, but even she agreed this was a good opportunity to grow stronger,
'So what do you need?'
'Oh, I don't need anything. Just give me some encouragement.'
'Encouragement?'
Aria narrowed her eyes, looking away from the system window and then Ren, who was looking at her with a smile.
His smile was the expectant kind, causing Aria to concede.
'Fine…'
Aria smiled, sending a message and communicating with her eyes.
'Don't die out there, okay~!'
Ren's expression crumpled as he chuckled.
'Pft…How reassuring.'
Aria kept her smile for a bit longer before messaging again.
'Hehe, that was a joke… but seriously, I… believe in you.'
'Really? Then watch closely.'
Hale's Rank 5 mana flowed willingly into Ren. It was heavy and strong, it fit someone like Hale, yet to the rank 1 Ren.
'It's heavy and nearly impossible to control.'
In addition to gaining experience against a rank 5, Ren's main reason for wanting a spar was this.
Mana control was integral for every rank, where control exponentially increased.
Although his mind, from years of experience, knew how to do it, his body didn't.
By introducing the rank 5 mana into his body, it would push the body to its limits, yet since Hale's mana was willingly given to him, it wasn't dangerous.
A perfect chance to grow his body without hurting it!
A win-win!
But there were limitations,
Mana given by other people couldn't be used to rank up on your own; if done, it would deal damage to both your body and soul.
The mana could only sit inside your body and move around. This meant that you couldn't give a rank 0 mana to make their core, or else they would die.
'Your organs would burst before you cough out blood, just awful.'
The next problem was control.
Heavy and nearly impossible to move. This was why higher ranking people weren't giving their mana to lower ranking people.
They wouldn't be able to touch it, much less move it!
But although Ren's body wasn't used to the mana, his mind was.
Ren grit his teeth, trying to control the mana, staring up, and finding Hale's smile deepening.
"Incredible! To think you can actually move it. That prophecy really was right."
'Breathe in… then out. Calmly move it…. and don't rush.'
The green mana was moving inch by inch throughout Ren's body, and Hale seemed joyful at the occurrence, letting Ren take his time.
After a bit, Ren let out a deep breath.
Facing forward. Hale smiled, his green eyes glimmering with dark green mana.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes, thank you for waiting."
"Of course! Show me something interesting, boy!"
There weren't many techniques that Ren could use since most demanded fast movement and timing of mana, which Ren couldn't perform with Hale's heavy mana.
'I need a technique that is slow and heavy, but what about my weapon…'
Ren didn't have his sword in the first place, but he knew that it was useless even if he had it.
'With rank 5 mana, it would break due to its weak metal, and in the first place, since this mana is so slow, I wouldn't be able to push it into a blade effectively.'
As a person ranked up higher and higher, they wanted to also increase the level of their own equipment, both for convenience and strength.
It was obvious when Ren looked at the equipment near Hale's feet,
Hale was suited up to the max for his rank, and the metals and enhancements in said equipment could probably sell for a fortune in this world.
Since using a weapon was worthless, Ren disregarded the dagger at his waist.
'Then the element…'
Ran only had access to the 4 elements, and to narrow it down to his affinities, he could only use the fire element the most effectively.
But the level of his spells was tier 1, even if he could push himself and use tier 2 or even tier 3, it would be useless against the rank 5 Hale.
'His mana seems suited for the Earth element as well.'
Mana changed as a person ranked up, and the heaviness of Hale's mana had similar properties to the Earth element.
Many techniques passed through Ren's mind in an instant, faces of people he had known before, and they all taught him some technique.
They were comrades that Ren saw as family; some were traitors to humanity, joining the Ash god.
'I have just the perfect technique!'
It was a Fist technique that was slow in its activation, but once charged, it left a devastating attack that ruined the surroundings, or if controlled right, could focus all on the opponent.
The element was also perfect.
In fact, it didn't have an element; the technique could be used with an element, but it was first designed to disregard the elemental system entirely.
The face of a calm monk appeared in Ren's mind; his fist could sunder the world, yet his creed was one of non-violence, a warrior that he fought side by side with and one he watched die.
'Cadvadi, final disciple of the Golden Body sect, with a talent seldom seen in a thousand years.'
Ren couldn't help but smile, remembering the teachings of the sage, yet now there were memories of the past.
All these memories and calculations lasted for a moment as Ren looked up at Hale, changing his stance.
"Oh? A fist technique?"
Hale recognized what the stance was preparing for as Ren put one foot forward and pulled his left hand back, readying it for an attack.
Hale's heavy mana flowed across, focusing mostly on his knuckles and the joints of his fist.
The process was arduous as it was slow; if Ren had to compare it to the spell system, it was a tier 5 spell and required all of his concentration.
The technique actually ranked from tier 3 all the way to tier 8, depending on how a person used it.
But it was far from a spell that could be conventionally used in battle.
It shouldn't have been able to be used by Ren without him having immense mana control, time, rank 5 mana, and lastly, the spell's non-elemental structure.
The reason Ren could even use the technique was because of these facts.
Ren smiled and moved the mana gently through his left arm.
Ren had thinned the mana, stretching it and layering it like a blanket.
He needed it to be,
'Gentle, I must empty my mind…'
The blanket like mana then twisted around Ren's arm, then his fist.
Twisting and twisting until it twisted as far as Ren's control could take him. At this point, Ren's mind calmed as he looked forward at Hale.
Ren then released his stance, causing the knights around to give confused looks.
"Could he have given up?"
"Who wouldn't? Captain Hale is intimidating even without his armor."
"Yeah, who would want to fight him?"
They didn't admonish him. In the first place, Ren was young and an even lower rank than the knights, and the knights themselves weren't keen on fighting Hale even if it was a spar.
In fact, they felt pity, yet this pity contrasted with the looks of the rest.
Hale's smile only deepened looking at Ren's left fist,
Thetford's eyes glowed with astonishment at Ren,
Relia's eyes widened in surprise,
And Aria looked ahead with all her focus. Ren had asked her to watch closely, so she did, and she couldn't help but smile
It wasn't a smile of surprise or hope; it was one of belief, as if she expected no less from Ren.
Ren started to walk forward towards Hale, his thoughts slow.
'There's also another reason I shouldn't use this…'
With the immense mana control, time, rank 5 mana, and lastly, the spell's non-elemental structure needed for the technique.
There was also something else, another requirement that would stop a person from using the technique.
A willingness to destroy oneself.
A requirement not many had.
Ren continued to move forward and chanted in his mind, a chant taught to him by Cadvadi.
'Your presence was gentle and invisible dancing everywhere.'
'From past to present and to the future.'
'In the past, you were missing yet there.'
'In the present, you were always there by my side.'
'Little did I know your dance was a harbinger of the future.'
'A future of destruction.'
It was a chant describing time, from the past of Terra to the future of its destruction and its name changing to the Abyss.
Ren, in the present thought of the words that Cadvadi of his past gave him, and continued walking, finally reaching Hale.
They didn't speak, yet with Hale's smile and eyes, his message was clear.
Give it your best shot!
So Ren did, pulling his left fist back, he struck forward with immense will.
A past unraveled in the present to burst forward into a future.
[Century Fist!]
Ren's fist was slow and nothing special, yet its effects were far from 'Nothing special'.
A loud boom echoed, shaking the ground as Hale left everyone's view,
He crashed into the many trees a meter away, causing them to collapse as the bark groaned and snapped, landing on the ground with a loud thud.
The sound of the falling trees extending dozens of meters away.
Looking at the ground, there was a cobweb of cracks all over, as the loud boom shook everyone watching.
As the dust settled, only Ren was standing where the two were.
His leather clothing on his left arm to his shoulder was completely gone, exposing his skin.
Yet instead of the healthy skin of someone his age, there was immense bruising and cuts all over, blood dripping down onto the ground.
Everyone was silent.
But then a clapping was heard,
Everyone's gaze found Aria clapping with a smile, leading to Relia and Thetford to do the same, and finally, the rest of the knights started clapping along.
"That was crazy!"
"Did you see the captain? He just up and disappeared!"
"How did he do that?"
"That kid's amazing!"
"What are they feeding this generation?"
It was then that a loud booming voice and laugh echoed,
"Amazing!"
In the air with a high jump, Hale landed back where he was launched. His tunic was completely gone, exposing his bulging muscles, yet all Ren spotted was the light bruise in the middle of his chest.
He could only sigh,
'What did I expect? If he could go down that easily, he wouldn't be a rank 5.'
Ren took a look at his left arm, which was completely ruined. Thankfully, he was right handed; in fact, that was the reason why he attacked with his left hand.
'If I didn't use it correctly, instead of just injuring it, I would be one arm down.'
The technique relied on unfurling layers of twisting mana into the enemy in a single instant, doing devastating damage, yet it took way too long to actually use, making it unreliable in battle
'That felt awesome though! With this, my body's control skyrocketed. I can advance to rank 2 once I'm recovered. Once I'm recovered….'
Ren looked at Hale, who was saying something in front of him; it seemed to be praise, his eyes glowing in respect for Ren before they changed to worry.
'Ah… everything is blurry.'
Ren collapsed there and then.