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The portal sucked in both Sam and Leon transporting them from beyond the moon of Terra, towards an unknown location. Sam awakened to find herself lying on the floor, in a large room as big as the gym in the Academy, in the middle of a magic circle. It was a blue-colored crystal room with orange flames spread around, lighting every corner of the entire room. Standing up and examining the room was Leon. He had a frown on his face as he stared right back at Sam. Leon had seen his fair share of absurdity as he had been to many planets, witnessing the strange phenomenon that exists in alien worlds. But this was something he had not expected. He had sensed a slight vibration in the Odyllic and then everything had gone blank. When his mind had resumed consciousness, the entire world had changed. Color was gone, time had frozen, and Sam was trying to open a door that had appeared. A door that radiated massive amounts of Odic energy. His first instinct had been to stop Sam from opening the door, but in the end, they had been dragged through what had been a portal. And now they were back again in what looked to be an Echo field. Again. Leon went over to Sam, stretching his arm to her. She took it and got up her expression that of gratitude.
"Where are we? " Sam whispered.
"You tell me," Leon said. "It was your mana that bought us here." Before Sam could say anything, a screen appeared in the center of her vision with the same runes that turned to English.
Status:
Name: Samantha Cassandra Vysileaf Al Tauri
Rank: Beginning stage Adept ( First Tier)
Stats: Strength: 59 Agility: 56 Endurance:60 Stamina: 63 Charm: 100 Intelligence: 100 Magic power: 40 Combat Power: 80
Combat arts: Adamantium fist martial art- Five-star rank
Ability factor: ???:
Unique technique: ???: ???, ???, ???, Musica Conductor
Musica conductor: A unique technique that allows one to peer into the soul's frequency and wavelength.
That was the end of the information on the status listed. Sam ignored the rest, her attention was on the name part. The part of the name threw Sam off. Her mind went haywire as all thoughts of what it meant ran through her mind. One would think with the fragile mind Sam once had, she would go into some identity crisis. And she nearly did, if not for her higher mental processing forming various outcomes. The first thing her mind went to was that this system...whatever it was viewed her as someone else. Why else would it give her those names? And then the next thing she thought to do was to deny it and assert herself as Sam Mccoy. That was the name she had lived with for most of her life as a human, but then her mind went another route. And she decided on it. All for a basic desire that she had within her heart.
My name is Samantha Sinclair. Samantha Sinclair. Her longing for her Father, the pain she felt towards his death, and the desire to connect with his past that he had kept from her made Sam grasp for the name that could connect her more to him. Though Mccoy was the name she had grown up with, finding out the truth about her Father had made Sam rethink her life. To the point that she felt appropriate to use that last name. When she took a look again at the window, she was surprised to see that the name had changed.
Name: Samantha Sinclair. She could feel a sense of satisfaction which was weirdly from within her, yet Sam was sure that this feeling didn't originate from her.
"What's that?" Leon said. He analyzed the screen with all the information that was on it. He couldn't read it due to the unknown runes, but Leon recognized them as the same runes he had seen in the sewer when fighting the Erlking. It was also the rune that he had seen in the temple where he first met Sam.
"Can you see this," Sam pointed at the screen in front of her.
"Yes," Leon said. The screen was emitting an irregular flow of mana that felt strange. The mana was distinct from the mana Sam possessed, yet at the same time, it also felt like it was hers. "What is it?
"It's a system interface. It allows me to communicate with the system," Sam said.
"What system.." Leon was interrupted as chains broke through the floor, hooking itself around Leon's wrist. Leon tried to break it but then he felt his strength sealed off, stripping him of all his power. The screen in front of Sam changed, and a new notification popped up.
Enlightened must defeat obstacles to master martial arts.
Obstacles? Sam thought. She finally noticed the large statues that surrounded them. They were fifteen meters tall, with some of them wearing blue marble armor. They were familiar and looked like the same statues that were in the coliseum in the Academy. There were also nine of them. Sam saw the Asha statue that had filled her with a sense of power. The statue wore combat armor with a spear and shield in hand. The statue's eyes were glowing bright green tendrils of energy, the same energy that the portal and the Status had emitted. Leon fought against the chains but he was unable to break them. More statues with weapons were below the statue of the nine gods. They looked more like golems, with engraving lines running through them. The line markings stopped at the stomach of the golems where a circle hole with green shards glowed with an aura of power. The golems began to move, taking slow steps. A new screen popped up again with another news.
Adamantium fist style is a form of combat that focuses on punching, kicking, throwing, and grappling. It is a martial art that boasts great offensive and defensive power. Masters of Adamantium fists possess inhuman levels of strength capable of smashing mountains. There are five forms of Adamantium that one must learn to become a true Master.
Form one: Art of Echo. Sam blinked as her brain processed the information that appeared within it. It was like a part of Sam's mind had opened up, information that had been there all along seeped out, like a seal being opened to let out some of its content. Sam could feel more information beyond just the one that she had gained. Information that she felt was important and precious to her, but then the gate to the information closed, cutting off any kind of connection. All she knew was the information about the first form of Adamantium—the Art of Echo. This form focuses on footwork, breathing, and sensory input.
"Sam, watch out," Leon yelled. Sam looked up to see one of the golems in front of her. A sword was raised above her, and it came swinging down. Sam jumped out of the way, narrowly missing the sword as it gazed at her thigh. Drops of blood fell on the ground. Sam gritted her teeth as more of the golems appeared with their weapons. She focused her breathing as she infused her mana into her body. Her mana flow began circulating, a thin thread of Od coated some of her body, and then she began to focus on her breathing. She focused both her Internal and physical senses on the pulsation of the earth, becoming in sync with it. All her senses expanded, and Sam could feel the vibrations of every atom around her. There were minor tremors in the air, minute vibrations around her informing her of the presence and location of every single object in the room. This was the first form of the Adamantium fist style. It allowed her to detect vibration and sound waves. One of the golems jumped in the air, his war axe swept down as it lunged for Sam. Another one came from behind her with a spear slashing right at her. Everything happened so fast but Sam was able to see it all due to the first movement of the First form. She sensed the vibrations of their movement, able to predict the direction of their weapons. Sam bent down dodging the spear that came first, then she quickly rolled to her left as the axe smashed the ground. Her body was full of energy, the enhancement already boosting her reflexes and reaction speed. Without letting fear stop her, Sam sent a striking punch at the golem with the axe by focusing most of her mana flow in her fist. BOOM! Dust exploded everywhere and Sam's fist went right through the Golem's chest. The construction crumbled to dust.
Enlightened has defeated one Angel golem. So she had to defeat them all if she wanted to master the first form. Sam inhaled and then exhaled a couple of times, steadying her breathing alongside the pulsation of the earth. Her right foot moved backward while her left foot took the front position. Her fist went up in front of her. Luckily for her, she still had the Vambrace shield around her arm. It was the reason why she had been able to destroy the first golem so easily. Meanwhile on the sideline of the action, chained up and unable to do anything, Leon watched as Sam executed the first form of the Adamantium fist style. He knew the martial arts as he had gone up against various users of it. The martial art was a style that was used by those who possessed extraordinary physical strength. Since the style was versatile when it came to offense and defense, it required delicate mana control to be able to pull off the special move set. And yet, Sam was pulling off the first form's 1st movement. Where in the Nine Hells did she learn it? A piece of the golem stumbled close to Leon. He picked a piece and inspected it. He squeezed it and then it turned to Sand. I see. He looked at the various Marble golems that were attacking Sam. The one with the sword executed a forward and horizontal slash with two movements, the blade generating enough power to cut a body into two. Sam easily evaded it, her footwork responding faster than the average race. Her fist smashed the head of the sword golem and the rest of the body crumbled into dust. Leon figured out the secret behind these contraptions. Whatever was powering them imbued them with great offensive power but in exchange, the golems lacked any defensive attribute making them so easy to defeat. The more Golems Sam defeated, her movements became refined and better. Her mana infusion was good, but her mana flow was not very smooth. But it was better than what someone who just started learning how to manipulate their mana should be able to do. He could say it was definitely at the level of an Adept. There were now three Golems left, and Sam's breathing was becoming rough. There were tiny cuts around her, blood was slipping down her temple. Her mana skin was incomplete which left her vulnerable to injuries. If she was capable of using the reinforcement technique, Validus, Sam's defense would be airtight. But she did not know of it. Two of the Golems faced her while the one with a hammer turned around and sprinted towards Leon.
"You gotta be kidding me," Leon said. He pulled the chains but to no avail, as the chains were binding. Sam noticed the golem going for Leon but she was busy trying to avoid the broadswords and polearms of the two blocking her way. Dammit. She didn't want to use the next movement as she was still getting used to the first one, but she had no choice.
[ Adamantium fist style: Second movement: Rhythm footwork]. Sam's heart beat faster and louder, and then there were multiple images of her. She was able to create six afterimages of herself, her movements increased to the point that she could create the Illusion. They weren't perfect. A conscious intelligent person could notice how transparent each of the other images was. Even Leon noticed it. But the golem with the hammer didn't notice the differences between the two Sam that were trying to attack it. It swung the hammer at one of them just as Sam sent a forward kick through its waist sending it tumbling through the ground on the other side. She was breathing heavily now, sweat pouring down. She had used the muscles around her heart to force its beating to increase, thereby increasing her movement. But she was now feeling the drawbacks of using it. Her stamina had gone down, her body felt heavy, and it was hard to breathe. She couldn't properly control her mana flow, and she was even running low on mana. But she refused to give up. The Golems were distracted by the trick she had pulled, so now was the time to get rid of them. She was going to use the last of her mana, so she had no choice but to use it wisely. She focused her mana within her fist, reinforcing her muscles and tendons with it. Sam felt her senses heightened, all the vibrational waves from the golem's movement were perceived by her sight, hearing, smell, and touch as they all meld together into one vision. Sam felt a rush of power flow from her cells, and then a green pulse of electricity burst from Sam's body dancing through the entire Magic circle, and then the golems were pulled towards Sam's fist like they had been magnetized and she smashed them into dust. Sam's right knee gave out and she stumbled, trying to catch her breath. She had no idea what had happened, or what she had done. All she knew was that she had never felt so tired before as her body felt empty.
Enlightened has defeated all Obstacles. Enlightened has gained minor mastery of the first form of Adamantium fist style. Enlightened has gained access to the second form of the Adamantium fist style. Enlightened has strengthened the Flow control of her mana.
Runes appeared in front of Sam as soon as she defeated the remaining golems, and the chains binding Leon turned to dust. He felt the presence of his mana return, his connection to the Odyllic reassuring him that it wasn't a trick. He began to infuse mana throughout his entire system. Sam was breathing hard, slumped on the ground, her chest moving up and down. Leon couldn't help but be struck by her beauty. Watching her fight against those things had brought up a mixed feeling within him. A part of himself had wanted to be there helping her, to protect her. It was that same feeling that had forced him to intervene when the Abomination had gone after her. And there was a part of him that knew that she needed this...whatever this was. She needed to become strong. And fighting her fights was not something he should do. Maybe that's why he hadn't forced himself to truly break those chains. He knew he could have gotten rid of them if he wanted. While Leon was struck by Sam's beauty, Sam was staring at the glowing statue of the Nine gods. The one she was familiar with. And then it moved. It took a simple step, but that step shook the entire room like the world was breaking apart just from that step. And then another step, and another, and soon enough the statue was standing above Sam. Cracks began forming on it and then the marble caved out, falling apart into dust. It was just the armor that covered the statue that crumbled away, revealing what the petite-size statue truly looked like. Leon recognized the statue as one of the pagan gods that was back in the Academy's coliseum. He knew she was one of the gods worshipped by the inhabitants of the Hidden World a long time ago, a period when the gods walked among the mortals on Terra. Out of the nine gods, Leon knew the most about her due to being raised by a Terran Mother. The Goddess of Life, Asha, she who enriches life, the mother of humanity. All across the planets in the Neutral Free zones, Asha was the god most humans prayed to. She was who they worshiped and cried to. But not out in the open. For Asha was a heretical god by the decree of the Annunaki religion of the Divine Federation.
"You've gotta be fucking me..." As soon as those words left Leon's lips, a door appeared behind them, wide open with a vortex of green energy that both sucked Leon and Sam into it. As Sam's leg left the floor, the statue of the goddess, a statue with the likeness of Sam turned away walking back to the remaining eight pagan gods.