'System, Where is Galatris? I need to speak with him.'
# Galatris is currently knocked out from receiving the Blessing of the Beast Saint. #
'You mentioned the Summoning Shop was closed, but am I still able to upgrade the Talents of those I have already summoned? If so, I would like to upgrade Galatris. He helped us a lot and should be rewarded for his actions.'
# Summoner, while you can upgrade Galatris, it might not be the wisest thing to do at this moment. It could cause incalculable troubles. #
'If I'm unable to increase my army size for this Qualification Realm Quest, I should at least make sure that those under my command are as powerful as they can be. Just give me the new price tag, System.'
# As you wish, Summoner, the first Talent upgrade costs 10,000 SP and will upgrade his Tier-10 Talent to Tier-G. However, by spending all 1.105.000 SP you can also upgrade him to Tier-1 Sun Talent immediately. #
'... now isn't it a 'lucky' coincidence that it just so happens to cost me all of my just earned SP?!'
# Indeed, you should be happy seeing as you can just barely afford it thanks to the discount of this being your first Talent upgrade. As you stated, until you're done with the Qualification Realm, SP are indeed useless to you… #
While Keiren was arguing with his System about the Talent upgrade, David took command of the 'First Brigade of the Nameless Empire' and taught them his Cultivation Technique. He also offered to do the same for Fermont and Suran, with the former accepting happily and the latter refusing respectfully.
However, both did teach David and Richard about how to effectively train an army. Surprisingly, David showed an astonishing potential in this regard, which Suran even admitted to be above hers. Yet it didn't hold long because Keiren barged into their conversation.
"David, Richard, Suran, Fermont, listen up for a second. I will send you to the Eternal Realm. There you will have ample time and opportunity to train. Just tell Rajansam that I sent you over, and the Knights and the Eternal Einherjar will help you."
Keiren waved his hand and the next moment everyone except Yang Yin, Kerum and Shyla vanished.
'OK, System, bring it on.'
Inside the Eternal Realm, on the plaza before Eternal Valhalla, David, Richard, Suran, Fermont, and the 'First Brigade of the Nameless Empire' appeared. Instantly the Phalanx surrounded them and formed a tight defensive formation with the rifles of the Riflemen sticking out of every opening.
"What a beautiful temple." Suran muttered in awe. She could see a Divine-Human flying towards them. It took her a bit of time to recognize him as the first Eternal Einherjar the Emperor had summoned. There was one thing strange, though. Upon their last meeting, he had still been a human at the 5th Layer of the Mortal Overlord Stage.
Just how had he advanced into the Immortal Realm in this short period of time? Suran was unable to tell what Stage or Layer, given the difference in their cultivation stages.
"Greetings, Suran Tarnum, Commander of the Eternal Knights, David King President of the Nameless Empire, Richard Bestial, Fermont and soldiers. The great Commander sent me to greet you so I came to escort you to the training field. The Eternal Knights are already training with us. I have to say they are not bad for living mortals. Their resilience while training with the undying is praiseworthy in my eyes." The first Eternal Einherjar spoke.
David and Richard stared at the person with wide eyes. How did he have knowledge about what happened just moments ago? Weren't they in a different Realm?
"My apologies, but I'm not quite sure how to call you?" Suran was perplexed.
"That is because I never introduced myself. You can call me Wolf or Old Wolf if you like."
"You look younger than the first time we met and you are now at the Immortal Realm. How is that possible?" Suran asked Wolf. Although she still believed all of this to be nothing more than the most realistic dream she had, so far it had followed some sort of logic.
Wolf started to laugh at this question as he walked towards the training field, leading the rest to follow him: "Being an Eternal Einherjar is good for your health! Now, I suggest we talk while we walk. It is better to start your training as soon as possible."
"OLD Wolf?" David tried to formulate it as a question, but the Eternal Einherjar seemed to know what he was going to ask, so he answered without missing a beat.
"That's what they call me because I happen to be the First Eternal Einherjar His Majesty summoned, giving me the honor of being the oldest Eternal Einherjar, if you only count our time as Eternal Einherjar, of course. As for your other questions, those will have to wait. I don't want to spoil all the fun." Wolf chuckled at his last sentence.
They walked onto the trainingfield in battle formation.
"Old Wolf. I see you brought fresh meat for us. These Knights learn too quickly. It's no fun to bully them!" One of the Eternal Einherjar yelled. Instantly, a group of Eternal Einherjar rushed over.
"Hold the line. Let nobody pass! FIRE!"
The First Brigade of the Nameless Empire jumped into action.
The Phalanx closed the gaps that had appeared during their march, and the Riflemen started to charge their guns. The rifles they used were low grade Earth Rank weapons, called Array-guns, a type that wasn't widespread in the cultivation world. Nevertheless, each bullet had enough strength to injure a Mortal Overlord.
It took the guns around 1 second to charge and fire. Unfortunately, it took 5 seconds to reload, meaning that one could only shoot once every 6 seconds. A master rifleman could make it in 3 seconds. A hail of bullets shot into the Eternal Einherjar that rushed over.
To everyone's horror, the bullets seem to do no damage whatsoever. The Eternal Einherjar shrugged them off like dust.
"Save the ammunition, it is useless against them. Draw your blades and slice them up." David commanded. Thanks to his Cultivation Technique and the Human God System he got insides about the Array-guns. The knowledge appeared inside his brain as the first rifleman learned his Cultivation Technique. The knowledge about battle formations, knighthood, how to lead a cavalry charge, etc… Everything manifested itself in his brain. As if he had studied it for a lifetime.
So began the 'training' (that was totally neither physical nor mental torture) Suran supported David the Eternal Knights were still by the side receiving one on one teachings from the Eternal Einherjar, while Richard gawked at the scene without doing a thing.
# The host has been deemed lazy again.
Analyzing...
Brain overstimulated…
Fixing brain damage…
Damage fixed …
Beast Saint is ready for battle now. #
"ARRRGHGHH!" A roar traveled over the training field as Richard began to transform. He grew taller and metallic fur appeared all over his body. From an average young man, he turned into a 4,5 m tall monster, resembling a fusion between Godzilla and King Kong.
Before anyone could react to his sudden transformation, he jumped onto the Eternal Einherjar. His right fist shot down and was covered in dense Spiritual Energy. His left hand transformed into a dragon claw and pierced one of the Beast Eternal Einherjar, ripping pieces of meat out of the poor fellow's side.
However, a purple glow surrounded the dismantled beast and it regenerated nearly instantly stronger than before. It has to be noticed that the Eternal Einherjar might be Immortal Stage Cultivators but they did not use their Cultivation base to train.
"ARRRGHGHH" Richard roared and spew a load of bluish-white fire all over the freshly generated beast.
Rajansam appeared beside Richard, grabbed him by the neck and threw him onto the other end of the training field.
"Thank you, Commander." The Beast Eternal Einherjar said.
"Don't worry, go and teach the easy prey. I shall take on this challenge."
The Demon-Asura turned around to deflect another breath attack. This time it was a hail of human sized ice shards. Rejansam summoned a wall made of purple Thunderfire to negate Richard's attack. Then he charged towards this giant Monster. To teach him a few things and give him a piece of his mind. Totally not in a cruel and brutal way…
While Richard got brutally maimed by Rajansam Resemen, The Destroyer of Hope.
David, Suran, Fermont and 'The First Brigade of the Nameless Empire' were destroyed, only to resurrect in this Realm and for it to start over. Time and time again, the Eternal Einherjar broke their battle formation, to crush, slaughter, annihilate, massacre and defeat them.
Despite David's access to enough strategic knowledge that would make any military genius envy him, it was all pointless against the Eternal Einherjar whose monstrous strength made any sort of trickery useless against them.
The worst and most humiliating part was that none of them used their cultivation at the Immortal Realms to fight and destroy them, only their skills. Being outnumbered 18:1 and still defeating the enemy without the usage of their cultivation was a hard pill to swallow for David.
Suran was calm like a sea because she knew that something was different about these Eternal Einherjar. To jump from the Mortal Realm to the Immortal Realm in just a day should be impossible, though eventually she just accepted this to be part of this dream's setting.
There was also a clear gap in experience and combat skills when comparing a Mortal King and an Immortal Realm cultivator. Disregarding the Immortals' trademark abilities, namely Divine Sense and Qi, the difference between those Stages was as far apart as heaven and earth. While fighting she circulated her Intents in her body to give her some edge against undying and invincible enemies. Doing that gave her an enormous boost in strength.
Eventually, Suran lost track of how long she had fought, especially after her deaths had passed the triple digits. However, the results spoke for themselves. Her skills became more and more refined until her body began to tremble, and her Intents began to fuse. The attacks that were aimed at her lessened, as she proved herself to be a more durable prey each time. It was after all training and no fight to the death.
If someone gained enlightenment in the midst of a life and death battle, it would spell their doom. Even in normal training with less skilled partners it might happen that the opportunity goes in vain, but on a field where 400 Immortals bully Mortals it will not happen that someone's enlightenment gets broken.
Old Wolf even stopped by her side and constructed a Qi shield around her to shield her from the wind and noise. Suran could feel how her fused Intent traveled through her body. From her heart, to her lungs, into her wings, down through all the organs right into her womb, here it circled a total of five times until it shot up into her heart again to repeat the cycle.
After entering the second cycle, her Intent wasn't constrained inside her body anymore and flooded the training field. Thankfully, the Qi shield around her hid that phenomenon. Otherwise, the fighting would have undoubtedly stopped and everyone with common sense regarding Cultivation would stare at her in awe.
This young Knight Commander had just fused her Intents into something overwhelmingly powerful. While everyone was oblivious to the situation, the terrifyingly strong intent that Suran emitted while in trance, attracted the 6 winged Valkyries attention.
The Valkyrie approached Suran just as she opened her eyes. Lightning bolts flash over her body.
"It is the first time I see a young girl at the Mortal King Stage Master 'Valkyrie Intent'. Your future is so bright that it is capable of blinding non-divine beings. I would hire your soul as a Valkyrie right now but I can not steal such a valuable subordinate from the Divine Lord." The Valkyrie said.
"Thank you, Lady Valkyrie. This is a dream to begin with, so it isn't important that I am special." Suran said without thinking.
The Valkyrie looked at Suran and they both vanished without further notice. No one besides Old Wolf noticed it and he just gave Rajansam a short report before he continued to bully *cough* train David and the First Brigade of the Nameless Empire.