It took Kaya approximately 5 hours to clear out all 20 waves of monsters. The first one was various critter-type monsters that numbered thousands, they were easy to defeat due to their low defense and although they were fast and had outnumbered Kaya, his spearmanship allowed him to defeat all the critters with ease but at the cost of his spear losing all of its durability. The next 4 stages were the same critters but a lot stronger and quicker Kaya had long predicted their patterns and by using two-handed swords, he easily sliced a dozen bugs with one swing. The next 5 stages of monsters changed from bugs to beasts, this time, Kaya was given a bit more of a challenge but in the end, things went along with his plan since the majority of the beast had the same attack patterns as the animals he fought back at the forest.
Then the next 5 more stages, things changed to a more drastic challenge. He could feel himself tiring since he had been fighting monsters nonstop for over 2 days in a row. The waves he fought were now humanoid monsters and were highly intelligent which allowed them easily adapt to Kaya's combative abilities, thankfully, Kaya had countless techniques that could throw their predictions off and with that, Kaya was able to defeat them but he lost 30% of his health as a result.
The final 4 waves were rather different than the previous bouts, several monsters didn't show up but rather a single fighter appeared. These fighters ranged differently in physical attributes, combat style, and weapons. The first one was an ogre, this ogre had two sets of arms and in each arm was a one-handed sword. Kaya confronted the ogre with two steel batons. These batons were just sticks but how Kaya was able to use them easily overwhelmed the ogre. When the ogre tried to brandish four blades at once, Kaya twisted his arms and weave the sticks in a very unnatural yet smooth way that to the ogre's eyes looked like a very slow moving but once it tried to block it, its hands would go numb as if it had just slammed its fist on a steel wall.
Before the ogre knew, his four wrist hands had gone weak disabling him from wielding his swords anymore so for countermeasures, he used his superhuman strength to push Kaya to the ground and end him with a barrage of punches but Kaya already knew that the ogre would go for such lengths so he rendered his body immobile by hitting the acute points in its body and just like that, he shoved both the sticks right at its eyes and coagulate it's brain into a mixture of guts and soup immediately killing it.
Before the next wave could arrive, Kaya went into a lotus position to regain as much of the energy that he lost. He had lost as much as 40% of his energy from the fight but after meditating, he gained back 3/4th of it unfortunately, it didn't heal his health which was still 70% not budging up nor decreasing down.
Right away, not even giving him time to retaliate, a dart flew over his head. Kaya caught the dart with his hand and a few more darts flew over his way as he tumbled down in a donkey roll and dodge every darts, he then grabbed an axe on the ground and used it as a shield to block the projectiles. When the darts stopped flying his way, he saw his opponent a few meters away from him. His opponent was covered in a veil of dark fabric but he could tell from his foe's movements that he was at the very least an Abyssal Realm expert. In its two hands held daggers and right as he showed the daggers, two more darts flew his way trying to throw Kaya's balance. Upon blocking the darts his opponent disappeared and reappeared right at his face lunging both daggers at lightning speed.
'Phantom Steps!'
Kaya was surprised at the footwork he just saw, it was one of the most advanced techniques a martial artist of the Abyssal Realm could learn. It allowed the martial artists to disappear from their target's senses thus causing their brain to think that they had just vanished into thin air but the only downside of this technique is that it could only work on an opponent a few times before the senses could adjust to the changes. For Kaya's point though, as he had learned this skill and mastered it, it only took one attempt for him to learn where his opponent would appear and disappear.
After 20 minutes of nonstop exchange, Kaya performed his Phantom steps causing his opponent to fall back in surprise but before it could guess his movement, his axe had long brandished its neck completely lopping it off from its body.
[Stage 17 Completed]
Upon seeing the window panel, Kaya immediately sat back down heavily breathing. The body of his opponent disappeared to ashes. Despite that short amount of time, it had taken quite a toll on his body. He was already amazed that he could perform at maximum effort for 2 days straight and in this span of days, he had learned a lot. What he needed right now was not a strong opponent but rather an opponent that could allow him to use all the cards in his hands. He needed an opponent that made him go all out in pure technique and not brute Strength. His mind was rambling around recalling the previous fight and thoughts of ways where he could improve.
The 2 fights were the same, each of his opponents was a peak expert in a specific category, one was a High Demon Realm expert while the other was a Low Primordial Realm expert. This fight opened a whole new path that Kaya never knew existed. All his life, he had believed that the strongest foe in the world was his grandfather and if he couldn't surpass him, he'd be nothing but a frog in the well but in reality, his strongest enemy was himself.
Ting~
[Stage 20
We have gathered all the data regarding your combative abilities. Defeat your doppelganger to finish the quest.]
As soon as the window panel appeared, the entire terrain changed. He was standing on crystal clear water and in front of him was himself but shrouded in darkness. It was his mirror self but with the n-word pass (It's a fucking joke snowflake). The doppelganger was able to transform any weapon in his armament on a whim while Kaya on the other hand was unarmed since all his weapons had long been destroyed.
This doppelganger was in the same realm as him, it move the same way, and its skills and techniques were practically a carbon copy of his. What differ between the two was how they executed it, Kaya performed like flowing water while the doppelganger executed like a robot being given commands.
Fighting the doppelganger, Kaya was exhilarated. This was the first time that he was able to fight someone toe-to-toe, it was in complete balance. The only thing that differed them was stamina, despite the long bout, the doppelganger didn't show any sense of tiredness while Kaya had become sluggish as sweat poured all over his body.
Added to the fact that his enemy could change his weapon in a split second, Kaya was forced to a defensive stance. Wounds gradually appear on his body and his health fell tremendously. If he wasn't able to turn the situation in his favor, he would surely die but despite being placed in a corner, Kaya remained standing. He grinned as he finally gain understanding.
'So this is what it feels like to break the bottleneck of your capabilities.'
His focus suddenly reached a realm he had never stepped on. In this realm that he awakened, he could feel the blood flowing in his veins, how each pore in his skin drip the sweat, how each muscle fiber contracted as he moved his muscles, and how the pain receptors alerted his brain. It was tingly yet astonishing. He was finally able to reach Half-step in the Enlightenment Realm.
' I don't want to lose this feeling so let's end this.'
His body and mind underwent a drastic change as he channeled the qi in his body to move in one direction. Unlike how he forcefully move his qi, this time he could move along the flow of his internal energy and becoming one with it.
Evading one blow after another, the doppelganger was forced to reveal an opening and by raging both palms to form a dragon, he blasted all his qi right at his open chest (Imagine Kamehameha).
Boom!
A loud explosion occurred from impact as the calm waters rippled. The doppelganger halted his attack realizing that his entire chest had been carved open. A giant whole destroyed his entire body as he fell to the ground disappearing into dust and leaving an orb in his wake.
Kaya grabbed the purple orb on the ground and a window panel appeared before him.
Ting~
[Fighting Monarch's Orb
Type: Orb
Rank: Mythical
An empty shell that contains the Fighting Monarch's power. Allows the transfiguration of all the weapons in the world but can currently activate none.
Sword- Absorb 10 tier 1, Unique rank swords to unlock the base form.
Spear- Absorb 10 tier 1, Unique rank spears to unlock the base form.
Bow- Absorb 10 tier 1, Unique rank bows to unlock the base form.
Axe- Absorb 10 tier 1, Unique rank axe to unlock the base form.
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Requirements: Fighting Monarch]
'This...what the fuck is this?'
Seeing the information of the orb, Kaya couldn't help but be bewildered. He had to let the orb absorb unique rank weapons just to unlock its basic form. He couldn't even obtain a single weapon but he needed 10 Unique ranks at that and it had to be a tier 1! It was virtually impossible to find 10 of these by himself and just the thought of his shitty luck that didn't allow him to obtain weapons made the situation a lot worse. Sighing, he retrieved the orb to his inventory and immediately plop down to the ground to heal up his stamina as it had fully drained him out of energy after performing the last attack.
Ting~
[You have completed all the stage quests!]
[Calculating results...]
[Results:
Combat- 100%
Reaction- 99%
Stamina- 98%
Versatility- 100%
Overall- 99.25%]
After seeing the results of his test, Kaya was satisfied. The results were a lot higher than he expected and he hoped that he could earn a bountiful reward from this. Suddenly, his instincts told him to run away and before he could, a giant pressure pressed him down to the ground.
'What the fuck is this!?'
Kaya was surprised, the pressure was so strong that it felt like he was being crushed down to the ground. It couldn't even be compared to Johanne's aura. While Johanne's aura was like a demon, this one felt like he was facing a God. He wondered, who could emanate such a powerful aura? He tried to hold on to his remaining consciousness by biting his lips so he could remain awake. He forced his eyes to look at the figure but he could only see the figure's feet. The man started to walk towards him as he squat down and spoke in a very low and dark tone.
"Don't let me down."
Ting~
[Class quest Completed!"
[Class has changed from Warrior (0) to Fighting Monarch(1)!]
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'Fucking hell.'
Kaya simply cursed at himself seeing the window panels bombard his view as his consciousness disappear. He fainted.
[YOU HAVE LOGGED OUT]