The Blade Monarch was the weapon art Ahmed got as a reward for reaching second place.
It was a high ranking art that if mastered to perfection would allow it's user to be the Master of all Bladed weapons.
Ahmed couldn't use any all encompassing weapon arts, they would be too much for him to handle, the Blade monarch arts however only focused on bladed weapons, swords, daggers, axes and the like.
During his one week of training Ahmed had already reached the small circle in terms of mastery, a feat that would have shocked even the creator of the said art, after all it took him years to create it and several more to perfect the said art.
Arts had five levels of mastery known as circles, small circle was akin to a 25% mastery in the said art, some called it small success.
After small success was Large Success, this was akin to mastering 50% of the art, afterwards there was the Great Success which was a 75% mastery of the art, and Circle of Perfection this was when the art has been fully and wholly mastered.
Ahmed had already felt the small success but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't break the barrier after repeated attempts he put the matter in the back of his head and continued refining what he had already learnt.
He unleashed the results of his training by dancing through the mass of beasts with graceful ease that left a trail of blood, innards and corpses, he had forgone dismantling the beasts and mearly threw them into his spatial space.
After hours of fighting he remained the sole victor, bathed in the blood of his foes without a single corpse in sight except for the last beast he had beheaded.
He fell to his butt as he willed for a vial of nutritious solution which he chugged like water, he took four more before finally calming his breath.
Waves of steam rose from his body as his fatigue was washed away, his injuries however remained despite his sudden burst of energy.
He was however mentally drained, this was the first time he had seen so much blood and despite him being excited to fight it didn't mean he wasn't affected after all too much of something was bad, too bad even his form of relaxion involved looting the corpses of their cores, that is if they had any.
He willed for the corpses to appear before him only to be surprised, the skin was separated from the meat detached from the bones, drained of blood and all the organs were harvested and the glistening ethereal stone stood by itself.
"Do imprints have this function?" He mumbled and too his surprise he actually received an answer.
[Imprints offer five functions depending on the repeated actions of it's user during the first few months.]
A voice whispered into his ear, he could recognize it as the one from his reward space and the issuer of his trial.
"I see no wonder, thanks for telling me. So did I pass?" He thanked before asking.
[You have passed by the requirement: Conqueror; slaughtered all living things within their zone to advance.]
"Eh, so there's more than one way to advance?" He stared in shook, did I just unnecessarily kill all those beasts.
[Naturally there's more than one way to handle a situation, different ways have different rewards.]
The voice explained to the dumbfounded youth who reluctantly nodded in agreement.
[You have been awarded The Vial Of Ambrosia.]
A medium sized vial of golden liquid materialized before him and hovered in the air, Ahmed reached out and grabbed the vial only to be shocked by the contents.
[Item Name: Ambrosia.
Item Type: Consumable.
Item Rank: N/A.
A wonderous solution which is believed to be the food of the gods, it nourishes the body and strengthens the soul in mystical ways when consumed by a mortal.]
"T-this! Won't I receive divine punishment?!" Ahmed couldn't help but scream.
[No, the God's can't enter or interfere with the working of this place, its a prison after all.] The voice which had been neutral throughout the many exchanges between them suddenly carried a displeased tone.
'It seems the voice doesn't like the gods, wait prison what did it mean by prison?'
"Prison?" He asked nit wanting to overwhelm himself with questions.
[It would seem I overstepped my bounds, that is a topic not of your concern.] The voice regained its neutrality leaving Ahmed with questions unanswered.
"So do I just drink it?" He asked choosing to let go of his former query.
[Yes that simple, it's advised to drink it after devouring the beast cores.] The voice advised.
"I'm supposed to eat those?" He dubiously asked.
[How else will they nourish your body? Beast Core are consumed for the body, Soul crystals are absorbed for the soul, ichor fragments are consumed for the blood, Nane shards are absorbed for potential and finally exo crystals are absorbed for talent.
How do you not know this?]
The voice asked showing yet another emotion.
"Information is very restricted, what I know is what I was told by my siblings who were lucky enough to awaken, plus I'm a commoner with mixed blood, most assume I'll die before awakening so?" He shrugged.
[I see, the world hasn't parted ways with discrimination even with the absence of the gods.] The voice sighed helplessly.
"Hey, are you perhaps a person? If so what's your name? I can't be calling you Voice you know?" Ahmed smiled with expectant eyes.
[I...No we all are people, who you've met before isn't the same as the one your talking to right now nor will it be the same going forward. This is the only place where WE can converse.] The voice explained.
"I see, so the one in the rewards Vault wasn't you...but your voices afe soo similar." Ahmed complained.
[That's because we're all from the same mother..... Hm, I can't seem to say more than that, not that it matters anyway. Good luck on the next zone, ahh my name is Calypso, nice to meet you Ahmed.] The voice, no Calypso, introduced herself as she teleported Ahmed away.