For those of you who are jumping off your seats saying something like: "Golden Snake? Isn't that the old guy with Drake Lancelot a few chapters ago?!" Then you are absolutely correct!
Go give yourself a cookie.
For those who were paying attention: It is right for you to assume that this sleazy narrator of yours is messing with you. However, I deceive you not. The last thing I'd do to you readers is try to lie to you...!
How dare you readers look down on me! Do I sound like the type of shameless narrator that teases you readers for my enjoyment? If you really want me to mess with you, then try reading this:
{Once Alex Stuman and Golden Snake got onto the same rooftop, they talked to each other, had intense bout of dialogue, then our dearest protagonist went on to fighting his last epic battle before his death. Just like the Super Badass he is!
The magic-like techniques our benign old freak of a martial artist could conjure went pew pew pew while Golden Snake's electrical techniques went zap zap zap. Both old veterans used their fighting styles to forcefully try taking the upper hand.
Alex had his standard last-ditch power up to fight before finally succumbing to his injuries and deciding to use the Mechanical Aeon Reincarnation Art to ascend to the 'Higher Realm'.}
I guess you could say I'm such an evil narrator for trivialising the battle which put many things in motion. However, writing about this battle so spectacularly without even mentioning stakes wouldn't be interesting since this isn't really a 'fight' if you already know of the outcome. The protagonist can't always be winning his battles.
Let's switch things up and first talk about something else: Time to get expositional~!
Don't worry though, I am a man of honour who will definitely come back to this and drop truckloads of exposition about the Power System of Earth, the place which has the most flexible way of 'Levelling Up' compared to the rigid Magic System of Gaia.
It will really be a blast talking about the mechanics of 'Martial Arts' and 'Enhancements' once I've got you all cosy with reading this passage. For the meantime though, let's take our focus our attention away from how these old martial artists beat the life out of each other and instead focus on the reason this whole battle occurred in the first place.
Why is it that such high profile martial artists suddenly felt like stealing Alex's techniques?
For what reason were the two fighting?
Well, the true reason Golden Snake let the four Elders he was in charge of go on and ambush the Grandmaster nicknamed the 'Ouroboros' by those who truly understood how he had evolved as the former Black Dragon of the West to the current generation White Dragon of the West, was due to this seemingly benign old man surprisingly being the thief who stole his Clan's ancestral heirloom:
A vial of Golden Snake's blood!
Not the blood of the old Grandmaster who took on the title of Golden Snake, but the actual 'Golden Snake' itself that had rumoured to have descended from the mythical world known to internal martial artists of Earth as a place called the 'Divine Realm'.
Two out of the forty four vials that were left had been stolen by 'Ouroboros', an action that was enough for the Grand Elder of the Voltage Storm Snake Clan to want nothing more than to absolutely destroy him! The thief must die!
What caused such a big reaction from them was due to the every branch of the Transcendent Clan being strong only due to the blood of the Golden Snake flowing through their veins. Every vial of mythological beast blood was essential for the survival of the five clans, or else the power within their bloodline would dilute to the point that their families would no longer be 'Transcendent' Clans.
Golden Snake was well-aware that he'd no longer be able to retrieve the vials that were stolen since he knew the internal energy seals placed on them had been broken a long time ago.
He didn't care why the enigmatic Head of the Dragon Family stole his clan's only lifeline to exist for many more generations. All he was focused on was crushing the criminal responsible for this...!
That said: For what reason did Alex offend such terrifying people to gain what was rumoured to be the Golden Snake's Blood Essence? That had to do with a familiar figure who had a different identity before he ascended to Gaia as a 'Demon Lord'.
That's right, his 'older brother', Alan Smith, was the one who started up the Radiant Sword Mirror Cult in the first place. A narcissistic scumbag who has always been the one Alex wanted to surpass the most. Calling their bond a 'rivalry' would be giving the little brother too much credit in this relationship since he has always been a punching bag. There has never been one instance of him ever winning...!
It's a little pathetic to tell you readers the truth...
Despite being a benign old man who had literally better things to do (like now taking care of his grandson), he still decided to steal a family heirloom of a very traditional clan which valued the bloodline heritage so much it lead to them taking vengeance in return. Even as he was dying, the thing that made him want to use the Mechanical Aeon Reincarnation Art so badly was because he wanted to one-up his brother by being the first to see the 'Divine Realm' known in myths...
Though to say the truth, Alex Stuman's desire couldn't exactly be considered childish when you consider how deep he and his brother's 'rivalry' became over the years. The old freak even discovered his own special method of practicing martial arts that was uniquely different from the regular methods used by those of the Modern Era.
A method that would later be known as the horrifically difficult 'External Way' of martial arts.
Their fight was of legendary proportions...!
But first things first, let's bring up the rigid Magic System of Gaia for a second. You know the one!
Gaia was a place where the Magic System ihad always been naturally ingrained into the minds of all beings without needing to be taught by another individual. It's similar to how four-legged animals instinctually knew how to stand after their birth.
The path to success is already laid out for them upon being birthed on Gaia, which gives them no reason to question what is the purpose of their existence and other existential questions which pop into the minds of philosophers.
A man born with a Warrior Class will naturally become a warrior. A woman born of the Farmer Class will naturally become a farmer. Although their was no Class that gave one the right to become a Noble or King, the existence of the Imperial Attribute which can control time itself made it clear who exactly had the potential to lead humanity.
You could even consider the Divine Realm its own form of heaven since there was no reason for people to go against what they were essentially 'born to do' in life... This made it so Gaia Humans never had to conflict over getting a specific position in society as long they abided by the invisible 'rules' that the Will of Gaia set up. Their paths to a simple life were guaranteed to them...
The humanity that existed on Earth, however, weren't blessed with this kind of 'guidance'.
Once they came to existence, they would ignorantly believe in their youth that all men are created equal, unknowing to the fact that 'talent' does indeed exist in their cruel world.
It's pitiful... Let's say a musician obsessed with poetry tries and puts all his effort into his craft for years on end. Perhaps his efforts will be rewarded in the short run by luck or the efforts of those who too cared for him, but a talented newbie musician with a knack for poetry can one day make all his efforts seem meaningless in comparison.
To the point that the musician might realise that if he had put his effort in a field he was more talented at, he might've reached a far greater height then he did with poetry. This was true despair to some...
This kind of thought process once caused nightmares to the old freak, who despite having great talent, was unable to compare to his older brother's competence at all. He was an inhuman sibling Alex was deeply competitive towards.
Though the two held no blood relation due to Alex being adopted, that didn't stop Alan from being someone he admired greatly. It was this desire to become a greater fighter than his brother than caused him to create a new 'way' of martial arts.
Alex knew he wasn't as talented as his brother, a man just like Rosetta in the way that he completely reformed the ancient style of the Black Dragon into his unique and personal style of combat.
So how could he keep up with such a prodigy?
He could've chosen to train in the same path as Golden Snake until he reached King Class, by that time they would've made him roughly even with Alan despite putting more efforts to train.
Reaching this 'Class' would in turn would have given him an endless supply of internal energy, a special ability related to his internal Attributes, and a spiritual weapon on choice known as a 'Avatar Wear' (An Earthling type of Spirit Essence).
However, there was no way he would've had the chance to execute the Mechanical Aeon Reincarnation Art if he had done so. The way he acquired the required strength to fight Golden Snake off for so long was due to his expertise born through constant life and death battles, enough to gain insight into a level of martial arts never seen before was through 'sharpening' his techniques.
Unlike the 'Tempering Path' of the Internal Way of martial arts that focused purely on mastering skills through long years of training in solitude and repetition, the 'Sharpening Path' instead focused on gaining practical experience through fights.
In ancient times, the Sharpening Path of the External Way was considered the most dangerous method of training martial arts considering it required martial artists to fight hundreds more life and death battles than those of the Internal Way.
The reason he was crazy enough to follow this path was because he could think of no other way to catch up with his brother. He knew he'd always fall behind if he followed the Internal Way, so his decision was to become a powerhouse by 'Sharpening' himself. This was the only option he had if he wanted to become stronger than Alan.
Time passed, and the 'basics' of his martial arts became so refined that exert strength far beyond the norm for his Rank as a genuine fighter. As a Master martial artist at the time, he was strong enough to take two of the Elders that had previously attacked him on his own, and as an External Grandmaster that had created a unique Rank for himself, the difference in his 'Path' allowed him to become a man worth looking up to.
When Golden Snake, someone who had secretly trained to become a King Class martial artist before fighting Alex in his weakened state, jumped onto the same rooftop as him, it was through the refined use of his Four Fundamental Internal Forces that Alex was able to survive despite having lost an arm only recently. He wasn't wasting any of his stamina.
The pressure that was exerted on him on 'that day' as a regular Master martial artist allowed the old freak to surpass his previous limits and into a new 'Class' of his own. One he personally created.
As an External Grandmaster, he didn't have an 'Avatar Arm', 'Magic Style', and 'Four Treasures forged using Higher Forces' like Internal Grandmaster martial artists... all he had was the Internal Forces he cultivated and sharpened to their limits until they became inseparable from his superhuman body. His Internal Forces had been 'refined' to the point his Qi Centre could control them as if they were limbs he was born with.
If your wondering what all these new terms mean, I will explain all these details in a simple way.
A Qi Centre is the basis for internal martial arts of Earth and is normally only used to 'install' practical Internal Force that can be used in combat. This is also referred to as 'Lower Installation'!
These being:
Ki Meridians (which focuses on physical combat)
Psion Circuits (which focuses on mental power)
Aura Gate (which focuses on combat instincts)
Chakra Root (which focuses on magical combat)
Only External Grandmasters had no other choice but to master these four inner forces completely.
Internal Grandmasters on the other hand can focus on their Higher Forces (Spirit, Glyph, Power, and Cyber Force) to blend them together, but they could only TRULY be considered Grandmasters once they have formed their Avatar Arm (which was the equivalent to a Spirit Essence) and released their Higher Forces into 'Treasures'.
Once created, these Higher Forces that physically exist apart from the martial artist that made them.
Getting to the main point here: What I'm trying say is that External Grandmasters were better at fighting overall, but had a low chance of actually surviving the many life and death battles required to follow the Sharpening Path of the External Way.
And not just that, Alex had surpassed this Rank through learning how to fuse all his skills into one fighting style and fused his Higher Forces all into one 'Treasure' within his body. In ancient times long forgotten by man, this Rank was once called the 'Saint Class', and was the mark of a martial artist gaining the ability to becoming almost invincible in close-combat. The amount of power they could display had nothing to do with their injuries or bodily state since they could use even a small bit of power to overcome any odds.
Once the old freak had reached this Rank, Golden Snake had no choice but to take the unconscious Elders and leave since an Internal King no match against an extremely rare External Saint.
The Mechanical Aeon Reincarnation Art the old freak used after the battle which was boosted by his Saint Class strength gave Alex the ability to turn his body into a mechanical entity of internal energy that could break through the void using his power.
Normally, Master martial artists could only dream of going to the Divine Realm, but on the day he used that technique, everything changed. The laws of the world became disorderly thanks to him...
The world was no longer the same as even Rosetta quickly picked up her son before entering the 'spacial cracks' in the sky which had been formed because of his terrifying technique. These old Masters all over the world considered the chance to go to 'Divine Realm' the large majority had dreamed of to be the reward for all their efforts.
This was the beginning of all the disasters which would await Gaia, all because of a certain benign old man and his obsession towards becoming someone who could surpass his jerk of an older brother... Someone reaching the absolute peak!