"Have you heard of Broken Fantasy Technique?" Udona asked Terran.
"Inverse the real and the fake, and break whatever the user deems as fantasy." Terran answered.
Naturally Terran had heard of this technique. But he still didn't know why Udona was asking. Even with such a technique, inversing reality and fantasy was not an easy task even for legendary Lord Rank warriors.
Udona did not let Terran keep guessing his intentions. He went straight to the point, "Every technique has a source of inspiration, that is, whatever inspired the original creator to make it. It can be observing nature, watching the movements of animals, and in the case of the Broken Fantasy Technique, it was inspired by a flower that although rare, has very little value."
"I am sure you have heard of its more mainstream names – Buni flower or Fantasia." Udona said in one mouthful of air. His talking speed was something else.
"Fantasia? Isn't that just a flower used by the rich to decorate their tombs?" Terran was mildly interested as he asked.
"Indeed it is. But this flower is really the Broken Fantasy Flower!" Udona said before continuing, "Although it has been reduced to a decorative flower over the years, that is not its true purpose. Even its use in decorating tombs is somewhat based on old traditions attempting to shatter the reality of death!"
Hearing these words, light slowly started entering Terran's eyes again. Although the change was subtle, Udona caught it. Naturally as a teacher, how could he stand and watch his student fall into despair. That was why Udona said these words to at least bring some hope into Terran's heart.
The Broken Fantasy Flower was extremely rare. Further, while the flower was not as valuable today, this was not actually a good thing. Fantasia's value had dropped because it had lost its value after the original medical formulas, potion skills, and magical techniques of utilizing this flower had been lost. Simply put, Fantasia's true value was still there but the ways to use it had been lost in the river of history. And even if Terran got his hands on the flower as well as how to use it, he would still need other extremely precious and rare materials to concoct what he truly needed.
However, none of this mattered to Terran.
'It is hard? So what? Just do it! Move forward!' This was Terran's mindset.
After all, there was finally hope to save Nawiri!
"Fantasia. Where do I get it?" Terran asked. There was a hint of enthusiasm in his dry voice.
"Unless your turn into a grave robber or a tomb raider, there is only one place to get this kind of rare product in the province and the next three over – Milele Town within Boss Q's organization," Udona said.
"With a normalization formation in the town, you won't be able to act as willfully as outside. It is best to do things smart," Udona continued advising Terran, "So if you want things to go smoother, go to the Soaring Door. It is in the 14th area somewhere in Milele Town's Southern District. You will meet someone there."
"Thank you." These were the only words that Terran could say. And they were enough.
"Thank you, thank you, thank yo-"
As he left, Terran kept muttering these words. In his moment of despair he had finally seen a hint of light.
However, to Udona, these words were like gently flowing water but also like cutting blades of wind. As a teacher and a master, no matter how much he helped in this moment, he still felt inadequate.
When Terran had needed him the most, Udona was not there. In fact, Terran's mission far away from home when tragedy struck had been assigned by him. Although Udona knew that this entire event was as a result of life's cruel fate, to some extent Udona still blamed himself partly for what happened.
The journey from Giza forest to Milele town which usually took caravans days if not weeks to cover, only took Terran a single day. And late in the evening of that same day, Terran arrived at the Soaring Door in the 14th area as instructed by Udona.
It was there that he met two men, Miko-no and Akrabu Nge. Their names could be shortened to Miko and Nge.
These two men also had other aliases: Code H – the Hands (Miko) and Code S – the Scorpion (Nge). Both men were part of the Codes in the Red Hawk Organization but they were also some of the many eyes and ears of Udona the Chameleon across Toro.
While Nge was a normal looking tall and slim man, Miko stood out even in a crowd since he actually had 4 arms!
The Soaring Door where the two men waited for Terran was just an unassuming wooden house with a plaque at the top of the entrance.
Seeing Terran walk through the door, Miko did not bother with greetings. Instead, what greeted Terran was a large fist, almost the size of a football, swinging towards his face. In one swift motion, Terran ducked the first punch and sidestepped the second before proceeding to deliver a body blow to Miko's torso.
After landing the blow, Terran did not pause in his attacks as the body blow was quickly followed by an uppercut launched from the side. He not only narrowly evaded Miko's third blow but landed a punch to the chin from behind his opponent's swinging arm!
However, even with such a powerful shot, Miko did not falter or fall. His huge and sturdy body was not just for show.
"Bring it on!" Miko shouted as he unleashed a rush of punches with all his 4 hands.
Terran was obviously not left behind as he also used his boxing technique throwing punches so fast that they blurred into one stream of power. Miko was shocked to see that for every of his 4 punch combinations, Terran was able to keep up with just two! This was a difference in speed.
After clashing for a while, the two opponents were evenly matched in close quarters combat so they decided to step away from each other.
Although Miko was just testing Terran's strength and they seemed evenly matched, deep in his heart Miko already counted this as a loss. 'If you cannot overwhelm someone's 2 hands with your 4, then you have already lost.'
Seeing the two men separate after the short clash, Nge who had been standing silently at the side finally spoke welcoming Terran.
"Welcome to the Codes. From henceforth you are now part of the Red Hawk Organization."
…
Act 5: Battle Results
[Today – Etibar Aurel-Terran: Age 20]
…
An instantaneous attack.
That was enough.
A battle between powerful individuals is usually decided by millimeters; a victor emerging in a fraction of a second.
Resonance – A flash into the opponent's mind, their memories. There was only a 1 in a million chance of this happening when 2 warriors clashed.
Mwana had caught a glimpse of his opponent's life. Suddenly, this man was no longer just a nameless thug to him anymore, but a worthy opponent; someone worthy of respect.
"What is your name?" Mwana asked, even though he no longer needed to ask.
"Terran." The man answered as he collapsed and fainted.
This man was Code A – the Apotheosis of the Red Hawk Gang, but he was also Terran of the Arun, a man who was still fighting for those he loved!
With Mwana's victory, he underwent a fundamental transformation. The golden sword in his hands emitted a sword cry that rushed to the heavens and Mwana's eyes seemed to have opened anew.
He had finally achieved the Great Swordsman rank!
The Grandmaster rank was close at hand.
Battle Results
11 gangsters – Unconscious
3 gangsters – Severely injured but conscious
1 gangster – Lightly injured
Looking at the men sprawled on the ground, littered everywhere like beaten fruit, Mwana turned towards one of them who was still conscious. Although he was covered in mud and groaning in pain, Code C – the Cipher, who was the spokesperson of this group, was still awake.
He was also the least injured compared to the rest of the Codes who were mostly broken and unconscious. He had his 7 Star Armor to thank for that.
"We will pay!" Meeting Mwana's hawkish gaze, the Cipher said with a hint of fear in his voice.
'Will this guy take a shot again?' The Cipher thought. Mwana's 'violence' had already shaved away the Cipher's arrogance.
"Oh. Now wasn't that easy? You should simply have paid from the beginning when I asked you to." Mwana said in a tone that implied 'I am giving up with you' or 'I told you so' while sighing helplessly.
'Bastard! You accosted us in a back alley and said 'you have to pay' in such an aggressive tone,' although he dared to think it, the Cipher did not dare to say it.
It can be said that apart from some payment and looking to save the man that was getting assaulted by this gang, Mwana did not actually intend to partake in violence on this night.
But the members of the Codes escalated the situation and a fight broke out. If he was weaker, these thugs would not have been merciful so naturally, Mwana was not merciful either. Some of these guys would need a few months to recover from their injuries. Even if they recovered, their battle strength would definitely drop in the future.
One could say that this entire matter was the consequence of living on the side of violence; one would end up interpreting everything as violence.
Because these rogues were used to living a life on the edge and settling everything with violence, they interpreted Mwana's words as violence. Some of the thugs even thought he was an enemy sent by a rival organization! In the end, this was the result.