[ Before reading: I have two more pieces of information to share with you about the future of this fanfiction ;
Firstly, I plan to incorporate time skips to skip levels, as in the original story. I don't want to bore you by repeating the same narrative pattern. Instead, I prefer to write fewer levels, each significant to the story.
Secondly, on another topic, what would you think about me occasionally writing parallel stories (non-canon to Yeong's story) in which the main group finds themselves, for the duration of a chapter, in a different world from another fictional universe? (Manga, anime, or novel. By the way, you can suggest a universe that you think would be interesting for the MC to interact with. Your choice could be considered if it seems intriguing to me, but if I see the same suggestions frequently, I might still decide to pursue this idea regardless.)]
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As soon as the special test of Lero-Ro began, aimed at making him fall, the test administrator quickly took out a turquoise needle from his pocket, immediately infusing it with Shinsu, which took the form of blue lightning around his weapon. Manipulating Shinsu in the form of electricity is already rare, but it's even more so outside of the Khun family. This showed the regulars in front of him that he was not an ordinary Ranker.
"Don't be so surprised," he said with a smile. "If I didn't give it at least a minimum effort, then this challenge wouldn't be a real special test."
Yeong was greatly wary of his opponent, and as he looked around, he analyzed the situation to formulate a strategy. "I've never worked in a team before, so my teammates' actions are unpredictable. Plus, I can't unleash my destructive flames around me for fear of injuring them or preventing them from helping me. Maybe I should..." But he was interrupted in his thoughts by Lero-Ro, who moved so quickly toward him that he aimed for his neck with his needle. However, in a life-saving reflex, Yeong managed to draw his weapon in time to protect his vital point.
The sweat from Yeong's stress could be seen running down his needle. Then Lero-Ro explained his choice to attack first the young heir of the Yeon family: "I can't allow you to explode the Shinsu I'm using with that strange technique you employed during the preliminary test. But after watching your fight with the Princess of Zahard, I realized that this attack can be double-edged. Indeed, you wouldn't be foolish enough to explode the Shinsu near you, or you'd also be caught in the blast."
"I expected nothing less from a Ranker. You saw through that technique after only watching one fight. However, I'm not the only regular in this test! Go for it, Rose, I'm counting on you!" Yeong shouted to his partner.
You didn't need to tell me, Yeong; I would have done it myself. I'm going to teach that Ranker that you should never turn your back on a member of the Arie family," she said, before using her family's swordsmanship to unleash a multitude of attacks with her sword all over Lero-Ro's body.
But the Ranker was far from foolish; he knew perfectly well the danger of such an attack. He reinforced his body with Shinsu to absorb all the air blades rushing toward him.
Even with all his resistance, one could see several red cuts on the white suit of the test administrator. However, Lero-Ro was in great shape and dared to provoke the young princess of the empire. "If the test was to injure me, you would have succeeded, Princess of the Arie family. However, I don't need to remind you of the rules of this test, do I? Even if I could grant you victory if you bring me to one knee, such an attack will never do it. Never underestimate a Ranker; we have over 300 years of experience, and I'm going to show you."
"I advise you not to let my next attack explode, child of the Yeon family, or you'll endanger not only yourself but also your teammates," he said, glancing at Yeon, who was preparing to unleash his Shinsu. "Princess of Zahard, if you are so proud, you should be able to deflect my technique."
[ Dangan Style: Weapon Reinforcement Technique - Lightning Strike ]
Lero-Ro gripped his weapon tightly before releasing all the electricity that had been stored in it until now, in the form of a large beam of Shinsu infused with electricity. The attack was so fast and powerful that Rose didn't have time to prepare or evade, and she knew deep down that her pride had been her downfall.
All the regulars present could witness the power of a Ranker in action as they saw the damage from his attack. Indeed, the beam of Shinsu ended its course after carving a large hole in Evankhell's mothership, destroying everything in its path. Fortunately, Rose was not reduced to ashes and was saved at the last moment by Aldwin, who teleported her to his side with one of his lighthouses.
The strategist of the team was calm, but deep down, he was filled with doubt. To him, this situation seemed hopeless. "I've been observing since the beginning of the fight, and this Ranker doesn't seem to have any weaknesses. As if that weren't enough, he's not arrogant and knows every one of our weaknesses, like preventing Yeong from showing his true power. Rose, on her side, can't afford to deploy her father's technique in such a confined space, or it would put our lives at risk. This situation seems hopeless. I might have a way, but I'll have to rely on luck. I must believe that Yeong has a way to bring a Ranker down. " he thought hopefully.
Aldwin followed his bold plan. Using one of his beacons, he teleported Rose next to the Ranker to surprise him, then immobilized the Ranker for a moment with another of his light cubes. Finally, he teleported Yeong behind Lero-Ro with his last tool so he could bring him down. Although these two team-mates were surprised to be teleported, they were both fighting on instinct, but just as Yeong impregnated his fist with flames to strike, the Ranker teleported towards the helpless Aldwin and gave him a fearsome knee blow to the sell, bringing him to his knees before collapsing in pain.
"Your technique might have worked on another Ranker of my level, young man from the Tu Perie family. Unfortunately for you, when I was climbing the tower, I was myself a Light Bearer, so I was able to free myself from your immobilization and wait for the right moment to strike when you would be defenceless," said the Ranker, as his opponent began to struggle to stay conscious. "I told you not to underestimate a Ranker, even if you are part of one of the ten great families or a princess of Zahard!"
As some regulars began to cross the Shinsu wall, the repeated attacks from Yeong and Rose still yielded no results. Even though Lero-Ro was becoming increasingly injured, he remained standing. As the test administrator grew more frustrated with his two regulars for not working together despite all their failures, he threatened Aldwin's life by repeating his attack, Lightning Strike.
"I won't allow this!" Yeong shouted angrily as he saw his teammate's life endangered by Lero-Ro's terrifying attack. "You think you know me, Mr. Lero-Ro, but know this: no Shinsu attack against me will ever dare to strike twice!"
[ Yeon Yeong Shinsu Control Style - Ataraxia ]
Aside from the Axis and the administrators, only Blossom and Yeong have the unique gift of seeing the flows of Shinsu with the naked eye, allowing them to understand a wealth of information about their immediate surroundings. Knowing that manipulating Shinsu is essentially about controlling these flows to shape them as the user desires, Blossom and her student are easily able to read an attack before it is launched.
Additionally, this gift has allowed Blossom to develop a technique that accelerates these flows, either to neutralize her opponents or to enhance her surprising attacks. On the other hand, Yeong, having learned this technique, chose to take a different path by wanting to slow down the flow he observed until it became null, thus allowing him to neutralize all the Shinsu around him.
After many months of training with Blossom, he decided to specialize in this art to nullify any Shinsu attack he could see. However, he quickly understood that to stop a particular Shinsu attack, he had to meet a necessary condition: he must know how his opponent's attack worked. That's why Yeong must first observe his opponent's manipulation of Shinsu flows to nullify their attack.
In this way, he is the greatest enemy of the wave controllers in the tower. True, he can be quite weak in close combat if he cannot use his flames to keep his opponent at a distance, as in the current situation. However, Blossom herself believed that if a High Ranker, solely a wave controller, were to challenge him, she was certain it would be her student who would emerge victorious. Yeong was that paradox, depending on his opponent, he could be as strong as a High Ranker or, conversely, as weak as a regular.
And so, by slowing down the flow of Shinsu around Lero-Ro, the Ranker's attack was nullified, evident shock visible on the test administrator's face as he tried to make sense of what had just happened, unaware that the princess of Zahard was behind him
"Don't be distracted, Ranker!" she said, preparing an attack with her sword imbued with white Shinsu. "Do you seriously think that all my attacks were only meant to hurt you? You underestimate my intelligence and the Arie swordsmanship. Because if there's one thing I agree with my father on, it's when he said our swordsmanship is not static but dynamic. You may not have seen it, but every blow I dealt you was aimed at bypassing your body reinforcement. I've now adapted, and you're going to feel the full force of my technique!"
[ Arie Swordsmanship - Shark Tooth ]
Seeing the surprising power of that horizontal attack, Lero-Ro knew he couldn't completely dodge it, but he wanted to at least reduce the damage. However, when he tried to teleport, it didn't work, and he turned to see Aldwin Tu Perie on the ground, still with enough strength to neutralize his own Lighthouses with his. The test administrator tried to protect himself as much as possible from the incoming attack, but it was in vain, as Rose's technique cut through his Shinsu shields and body reinforcement, slicing into his chest.
But Lero-Ro, even though he was struggling to breathe, was still standing, much to Yeong's group's dismay. Seeing his bloodied chest, the Ranker smiled at his opponents instead of showing fear, before charging his entire body with electric Shinsu. "You are some surprising kids; you're the strongest regulars I've known since I became a test administrator. To show you that I respect you, I will increase my power, so don't give up, and try to bring me down if you can!"
On the side of the other test administrators, there was obvious shock at the turn of events during the special test. "This is impossible, Han Sung! How could these three regulars force Lero-Ro to take them seriously and injure him? Do you think these three monsters are irregulars?!" exclaimed Quant, astonished.
But Yu Han Sung, the test director on the second floor, did not respond to him and didn't even take a sip of his tea, which showed that he was genuinely disturbed by what he was witnessing. "Ironically, you're right, Quant; among those three is an irregular. Luslec, you still don't realize that now, among the 10 great families, there's a monster who can nullify Shinsu. This irregular is so absurd that even on the second floor, he might stand a chance against me, a Ranker who can rival High Rankers. But as a wave controller, he is a natural enemy. I hope that soon the son of Arlen you're waiting for will arrive because otherwise, this could spell the end of FUG." he thought, trying to reassure himself.
As almost all the regulars had passed the wall, which would consequently signify the end of the special test, Lero-Ro, with his lightning Shinsu, was so fast that none of the three regulars could see his attacks coming. They were overwhelmed by his repeated assaults, unable to do anything to touch him. "This will soon be the end of our special test, regulars. But don't count on me to be lenient; I will remain in this form to continue attacking you. I don't want you to use your techniques against me" said the test administrator, leaving them no chance to injure him in close combat."
Feeling powerless to witness such a massacre, Aldwin desperately sought a way to touch their swift opponent. He attempted a completely crazy idea that might work, betting on the speed of his houselights compared to Lero-Ro's speed.
"Don't think, just launch your strongest attack and count on me!" shouted Aldwin Tu Perie.
Yeong and Rose were badly battered, but they trusted their ally for a moment, having no other rational choice. Rose prepared her attack 'Shark Tooth' again, while Yeong focused his flames, on one hand, to use his mother's technique, 'Fall of the Zygeana Flowers' once more. Of course, the Ranker easily dodged their techniques, unaware that Rose and Yeong's attack was not directly aimed at him.
[ Tperie's Lighthouse Skill - Twin Mirror ]
A technique of houselights developed by Tperie Tu Perie during his first journey in the Tower, which requires two houselights to function. With great skill, one can store an attack captured by one light to be launched by another. However, with true precision, it's possible to take two attacks and send them both back at the same time.
Thus, Aldwin, using all his intelligence, simultaneously captured his allies' attacks to send them back to the Ranker. However, the member of the Tu Perie family were cunning. To bring him down, he first brought the light containing Arie Rose's attack closer, which was unavoidable and would surely hit him, even if he was fast. When Lero-Ro was struck, he was momentarily defenceless, and that was precisely what the group's strategist had calculated, unleashing Yeong's overwhelming technique on him afterwards.
When the beam of heat was about to hit him, Lero-Ro made a final attempt to use all his houselights for protection. However, all his barriers were pierced by Yeong's attack, enhanced by Aldwin, and he was struck hard once again. The attack created a cloud of heat that obscured his condition for a few seconds. But when the smoke cleared, it became evident that Lero-Ro was not on the ground; however, he had one knee on the floor, which meant that Yeong's group, consisting of Rose and Aldwin, had won the special test.
Everyone watching the test unfold couldn't believe their eyes, these three regulars had managed the incredible feat of bringing a Ranker to his knees. Despite being injured, Yeong's group quickly stood up and gathered to congratulate each other on their success. Yeong didn't hesitate to use his green flame on himself and his teammates, as well as on Lero-Ro, to heal all their wounds.
Lero-Ro stood up and applauded with his hands. "Thank you, young Yeon. I also want to congratulate all of you; you have greatly exceeded my expectations by succeeding in my special test. It is certain to me that you will become powerful Rankers in the future. However, before you can continue your ascent, you will now have to face the Ruler of this floor, the powerful Evankhell. I hope you're still up for it; her test is likely to be more challenging than mine, you know?"
"If this allows us to progress more quickly in the Tower, then I am ready to face her flames with my own," said Yeong, still determined even after his trial.
"That's excellent. It's this determination I see in all your eyes that will help you gain the acceptance of the Ruler of this floor," he said, glancing at Rose and Aldwin. "Now, let's go. I'll let Quant take care of the other regulars while I guide you to Evankhell."
As Lero-Ro led the eager group toward Evankhell, they were unaware that she had been observing them from the very beginning. "This special test was just what I needed to reignite my desire to fight. I can't wait to see if my flames are stronger than that kid from the Yeon family."
What will Evankhell have in store for our group?