Mystical Journey

Garen observed this special Soundwave Technique carefully. As with the previous Multiple Speed Fist, this technique also seemed to require mobilizing all of his blood qi, and then releasing it in an explosive instant through his throat to create a terrifying impact of sound.

After he walked a few circles around the black person, Garen slowly began to understand the rhythm and range of the Soundwave Technique.

Bam!

He barely just avoided a Soundwave Ball in advance, and then it disappeared into the darkness behind him without a trace.

Garen panted heavily, his face slightly pale. The Soundwave Ball was way too fast, he could only dodge it half of the time, and could not increase his success rate beyond that.

"This technique seems to be an upgraded version of the Multiple Speed Fist just now, it looks like these two types are creatures come from the same roots.

An idea occurred to Garen, and he started to use Multiple Speed Fist from earlier, the blood qi in his body turning slowly, beginning to flow and gather inside his body like countless streams. They all moved to his throat, gathering and condensing slowly.

Garen held his breath, his face turning slightly red. The blood vessels and veins in his face also began to pop, one after the other.

Just then, the black person turned towards him, opening its mouth and gathering power as it prepared to unleash a new attack of its Soundwave Technique.

In that instant, Garen opened his mouth abruptly and released a violent wave of air and sound.

Roar!!!

A transparent current of air that looked like a sharp arrow shot straight for the black person together with the tremendous soundwave.

Hah!!

Before the black person could react, this arrow hit it straight in the head. With a bang, it shattered into countless black shards, and fell apart completely.

Garen stopped, panting, and feeling as though he was slightly weak all over. Inside his body, however, that crazy regenerative power was also starting to kick in quickly.

"That's another decent killing move, the Soundwave Technique. I'm earning quite a lot from this excursion." Garen breathed in and out slowly, gradually healing his slightly damaged lungs.

It was not as though he could not create a similar technique, but he had always been fixed on training his Willpower, so he had never even considered this angle. Besides, it was no easy feat to create such a complicated set of blood qi pathway. When he was in the Secret Technique World, all the techniques of this sort could only result in a power that was one-tenth that of these killing moves. Most of them only used soundwaves to shock and shake the enemy, while they attacked the enemy at the same time. They could not use the after-shocks to directly kill off the enemy.

There was a huge difference between the two.

Thankfully, however, all martial arts belonged to the same roots. Garen's martial arts had reached an extremely high realm, so it was not too unexpected for him to be able to quickly understand and mimic a relatively simple killing move like this one. But if it was an extremely high-level and complicated technique, that would be a different story altogether. His body in this world was completely unlike those before, he could still mimic and recreate some simple blood qi pathways, but high-level ones were a no-go. Garen was completely unfamiliar with the blood qi rhythms of the body in this world, and his only choice was to slowly explore them to create a new system. He had no idea what changes might occur at each stage.

So low-level techniques were still fine, but when it came to high-level techniques, he had to start collecting the relevant experience from scratch.

'You have won the second stage, so you can obtain the corresponding reward.'

The invigilator's voice echoed through the space.

The darkness around him instantly retreated like a tide, and the light entered Garen's eyes. He instantly realized that he was standing on the same silver ball plaza as before.

The invigilator looked at him with a smile, his attitude much better than before.

Garen nodded at him politely as a show of respect, and then he looked around him, noticing that some people had already come out of the dark space. March and Nora were both there, as was Wade, who was leaning on a sharp stone plaque by himself, resting with his eyes closed.

Out of these people, Nora seemed to be slightly injured. This revelation caused Garen's pupils to dilate slightly.

"That black person's destructive power isn't all that impressive, so how--?" His heart gave a jolt.

"Boy, if you had not destroyed that black person with a similar technique in one shot, I bet you would still be in there, being surrounded, hehe." The invigilator seemed to have noticed his confusion, and explained quietly with a laugh via voice transmission.

"What do you mean by that, sir?" asked Garen directly through voice transmission, looking at the invigilator perplexedly.

"Those Dark Creatures cannot be destroyed by normal attacks, so attacking it with other methods won't kill it. Instead, it will absorb the power of your attacks, and then split up into more new bodies. They increase as the fight goes on, but you had killed the mother body using the same technique and at the same frequency of the shockwaves. If you had used other methods to kill it once, the second time you would face two such entities. The third time you would face four, and then eight, sixteen, all the way up to a hundred. For each one, the power of their soundwaves can stack up. Hehe, you can imagine how that might end up."

The invigilator explained teasingly.

"But you killed the main body, and got a good resource in return, you can check your body to see it."

Garen was slightly stunned, but then he immediately checked his entire body.

Instantly, he noticed that the surface of his body was covered with a layer of faint black mist. He had no idea what this mist was, it stayed there and did not scatter, covering his skin all over his body.

He did not have time to think too much about it, though, as of those people who were recuperating nearby, March seemed to sense something, opening his eyes.

"Hm?" He stared at Garen in the distance, surprised. "That kid got out!?"

Garen's direct refusal to sell to him before this had already sowed seeds of discontent in him, and now this kid, who was not even thirty, could actually get past the second stage?

After all, those who did not pass were tossed straight out of the Mothership, and were not allowed to stay inside. That was why there were only so few of them left here.

He had just barely managed to stay in there until he was surrounded by thirty-two clones, this was already much better than the sixteen last time. The rule just said that you had to hold your ground for three seconds when facing sixteen or more, so he should have passed it this time.

"Maybe he's just lucky that he can avoid well enough to beat the clock." March was not particularly bothered, as long as you did not attack and kept dodging, you would be able to drag it on for quite some time too. That way, you would be able to pass by the skin of your teeth, but you would not get any reward. He thought that Garen had probably kept hiding in there, and that was how he managed to just barely pass by dragging the time on.

Thinking back to how strong the kid's regenerative power was, he thought it more and more likely.

"Hmph, he was lucky." March moved his gaze away. He had already ordered Yiling and the others to wait outside for when Garen was tossed it, they lay in wait of their prey. He managed to stay in here for now, which meant he had dodged a bullet there.

But Garen was only a small matter to him, even more than ten billions' worth of essence was only a minor temptation to him. The most important thing was the results of this second stage.

March's gaze moved to his other two old rivals.

Wade's face was pale. Evidently, he had also attacked the black people constantly, just like March, and ended up with too many split bodies than he could handle before he was kicked out. March did not know how many he had withstood, though.

Nora's power was one notch lower than him, so her result would not have been any better.

March analyzed it inwardly, his gaze moving slowly across the two of them.

The results of the second stage directly influenced the gene transplant, the peak-level blood vessel modification surgery, after all!

If he could get first place, he would be able to choose a suitable gene from the Gene Vault and have it transplanted into himself. The Gene Vault on the Mothership would at least be much better than those in the Northern Yu Province, and the price of the transplant surgery plus the value of the gene itself would be calculated by hundreds of millions at the very least. Even the lowest ones required a billion!

A billion crystals, what an astronomical number!

That was why, historically, the only one who could get such a modification had always been the single strongest disciple at the heart of the sect. If the others wanted a transplant, their only hope was to go through the Spirit Mothership. Most minor sects could not afford that even if they poured all their finances into it, and it was not just the cost, there were other necessary skills as well.

"The test is over."

The time was seemingly up, and the invigilator spoke slowly.

"The four of you have passed. I will give each of you a reward according to your placing. Of course, firstly it depends on what you yourselves have chosen."

He waved his hand, and their placings appeared on the silver sphere slowly.

As expected, March was first, followed by Wade in second, Nora third, and finally Garen.

The four of them lined up from top to bottom.

"Ten of the rewards will be distributed to you by random, and you will be allowed to choose. After choosing, you will be teleported directly out of the Mothership. That is the end of this test," said the invigilator calmly, touching his beard.

That was the end?

Dissatisfaction flashed through March's eyes, and he stood up to face the invigilator.

"Sir Invigilator? Even with my results, I can't pass the second stage to reach the third?"

"You are still miles away." The invigilator looked at him calmly. He had gone through many provinces, large and small, and seen almost a thousand peak-level prodigies. He did not even bother with March's question, and just replied flippantly.

"Then may I ask, Sir Invigilator, what standards would I need to meet to reach the third stage of the test!?" he asked loudly, taking one step forward and refusing to give up.

"Choose." The invigilator could not be bothered with him. With a wave of his hand, a large wheel appeared in front of each of the four of them, with ten different items listed there.

"Sir Invigilator!" March refused to give up, raising his voice and stepping forward again, he could not accept it! This was his last chance to join the Spirit Mothership, once he passed the age limit, he would never have a chance to enter here again. If he still could not earn the right to enter the third stage now, then he was basically set that way for life! He could not stand that, he was a prodigy who was destined to break past the Two Hearted limit, and reach the Three Hearted Resonance stage! He was not going to stop at the basic grade of the Inherited Level!

But the invigilator did not even give him another look, moving his gaze away and looking at Garen on the other side instead.

Crack...

March gripped his fist tightly, making some dissatisfied cracks. His muscle and bones pressed and rubbed against each other, and his expression was extremely ugly as well. He had obtained the second stage reward several times, and although it was precious, it was still nothing compared to the third stage. The types of genes available for transplant were all under Inherited Level, and only the third stage had mutated genes above Inherited Level.

"March, just admit it. Our Northern Yu Province won't have a genius that can reach the third stage at this age, hehe, such a talent would have entered a large sect in the Central Metropolis by now, why would they stay in a tiny place like ours? You were dreaming," said Nora sarcastically beside him.

"Shut up!"

March stared at Nora, his gaze icy cold.

Nora's expression stiffened and changed. "Who do you think you are? Telling me to shut up? You'd better call your master, the Giant Region General, for that!"