“Why not?” Garen replied with a cheeky grin, revealing his pearly whites.
He turned his head towards the plaque and looked at the glowing names on the list. Randomly, he picked the guy at the forty-eighth rank.
The light flashed momentarily, symbolizing that the fellow had rejected his challenge.
Picking another person, he selected the one at rank forty-two this time. Once again, the light flashed briefly, showing that his challenge was rejected.
“At this rate, it seems like no one would want to face me. I guess it’s because I’m still a nobody who has no rank, so they probably see me as just a small fry,” Garen frowned at Sofia and Anjay Terin.
“I have an idea,” Anjay smiled, his smile gave off a sly vibe. “I haven’t pwned noobs [1] in a long time. How about I personally come on to let you try?”
“You?” Garen calmly looked him in the eye. His heart was starting to fill up with a sense of adrenaline, it was the feeling of his Willpower flowing through his arms as if the Crouched Eagle Talons itself had the “battle-loving” attribute.
“Senior, are you not afraid of being overthrown?”
“It all depends on the person claiming they can overthrow me,” Anjay Terin started to chuckle as shapeless waves started to ripple from his body. It turned out that he was a level four expert.
This sent a chill up Garen’s spine.
“Get onto the stage! Newbies tend to have an air of arrogance when they first join. I still remember the first day where I was dissatisfied just like you when I was being wrecked by my seniors. If you’re dissatisfied, then get up on the stage and give it your all!” Anjay Terin took off his clothes and walked up to the stage. The other two from earlier had already left the stage and the surrounding spectators also prepared to take their leave. However, as they saw the ranked fifteenth Anjay Terin walking up to the stage preparing to fight, most people stopped and turned back. A few people started asking around about what’s going to happen. Meanwhile, Sofia and company, who were the only ones who knew about the situation, started receiving countless notifications from their watches.
Garen’s vision flashed for a moment as he also walked up to the stage. Stripping off his clothes he threw it down the stage, miraculously hanging it onto the clothes rack at below the stage.
He had already adapted to the basics of the Crouched Eagle Talon technique. Along with his training for the basic Divine Statue Technique, he had managed to vastly increase the hardness of his two arms. Although he hadn’t faced off against a Crouched Eagle Talon user of the same level yet, he was confident that he wouldn’t be weaker than someone of the same level.
Garen felt that he was like a new expert who had just started training his Internal Energy, whilst the Eagle’s Nest was a large established Martial Arts Sect that was filled with countless skilled elders, all with their own experiences and battle capabilities.
As the two got onto the stage, the surrounding chatter got louder and louder. More and more people learned about the identities of the two on stage right now. One was a veteran expert, whilst the other was the debuting freshmen First Seat who had just started training in the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique.
Just based on the difference in Willpower, most people wouldn’t even blink an eye at Garen. Although the entire academic break has passed, approximately 6 months have passed since the tournament, but at the time of the tournament, Garen had only displayed a Level One Willpower. He did not engage in any Willpower counterattacks, so at best, he would only be at a Level Two.
At this Level of Willpower, going up against a Level Four Willpower expert, undoubtedly he would be utterly destroyed.
Of course, as he stepped onto the stage, he started to feel something awry. The man standing on the opposite end, Anjay Terin, had almost no weak spots on his body, and the only two points that seemed flawed looked like a bait for the enemy. This would’ve lured in the average youth, but for someone like Garen, he could easily detect the legitimacy of the weak spots.
“Ranked fifteenth… so this is what Level Four Willpower feels like? The Eagle’s Nest is amazing!” Garen exclaimed in excitement.
“Come! The strong shall stand tall! Let’s start!” Anjay Terin seemed to be hyped up by the momentum of going onto the stage, his eyes were opened wide as his body slowly emitted a strong energy field.
“Alright!”
Garen felt as if he was back in the Secret Technique World where his aura had been unparalleled, and he started to feel his passion rising up within him.
In his first step, he chained a few stomps off the stage, propelling him towards his opponent. It wasn’t any special technique, it was just a simple strike. He was not using the Ten Thousand True Technique, he even suppressed his own body’s abilities, reverting himself into the level of an average human being, all of this just to fully experience the true potential and ability of the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique.
“You’ve got guts!” Anjay Terin laughed out loud, his right arm transforming into a claw in response to the incoming attack.
Without any fancy tricks, the two clashed.
Clunk!!
The two of them were both knocked back by two steps, both glaring at each other with a sense of amazement.
“Great Eagle Claw! Once more!” Garen coldly huffed, his two arms smoothly raised up like a giant eagle, lunging fiercely at his opponent. Strangely, his feet were repeatedly kicking as he was in the air, these kicks seemed to cause a small gust, allowing him to manipulate his direction in the air. The two claws were slashing through the air, creating a loud screech. If these were real claws, they would be able to easily slice through even the hardest metal boards.
The spectating students were completely stunned, and those who had originally looked down on Garen started to change their impression on him. This freshmen First Seat had far exceeded their imaginations.
“It’s Level three! This degree of strength and hardness is at the very least Level three. Look at the color of his skin, it has a glow unlike other people, it’s obviously strengthened using some form of genetic potion, or else there’s no way it could have this sort of change. However, what sort of genetic potion did he use to be able to increase the hardness of his flesh to such an absurd level?”
Sofia could tell just with a glance that Garen’s arms were not normal, this was not something that could be achieved purely through the use of one’s Willpower.
“What a fearsome strike, Anjay Terin might have to use his full potential,” another boy started to nod in agreement.
“That might be true, but I can’t help but feel that there’s still something up that Nono’s sleeve,” Sofia shook her head.
At this point, the tides of the battle had started to change.
Garen had already changed his direction mid-air thrice now, and even Anjay Terin was taken aback by this strange move, though he still managed to immediately respond to it. Without a second thought, he stretched out his arms, creating two black slashes through the air, almost like an eagle’s claws awaiting the incoming attack.
“You think I’d be afraid of you!?” he roared loudly. Using his Willpower, he increased his movement speed to the extreme, to the point where a trail of his silhouette was visible, lunging straight towards Garen.
“Eagle Dragon!!”
With a loud pant, Anjay Terin’s claws made contact with Garen’s palms.
The two collided briefly, creating a huge crash. Garen was flung back, furiously stomping on the ground to stop the momentum and leaving countless deep footprints on the ground.
What was weird was that his palms had started to emit some white smoke as if he had just been scorched by something, and his skin was still red hot.
“Nono isn’t the only one who can strengthen himself with a genetic potion,” a few of the students at the side of the hall started laughing.
“It’s Anjay Terin’s Fire Snake Strengthening Potion! So that’s the awesomeness of a potion that can only be obtained with a huge sum of cash!”
“That Nono isn’t bad himself, if it was just another Level three, he would have been critically wounded by that one strike just now!”
The surrounding crowd started to make more noise.
Garen remained expressionless as he moved his palms around for a bit. The white smoke from his palms started to dissipate, the high temperature leaving no damage on his palms at all. This left the opposing Anjay Terin completely stunned.
“Was that a Willpower secret skill?” Garen asked.
“Of course not! This was just a gene strengthening potion, if I use my Willpower secret technique, it would cause a huge mess, you’re just a newbie after…”
“It’s fine,” Garen interrupted. “Your other moves shouldn’t have any effects, I’m only interested in your Willpower secret skills.”
Being interrupted was supposed to be something rude, but Anjay Terin seemed to reveal a hungry smile. Although he looked like a gentle person, in actuality, he was someone who loved to battle and fight. Seeing someone like Garen who liked to talk with his fists, he felt completely refreshed.
“I’ll let you have a taste of my Willpower secret skill then!”
Just as he finished his sentence, he raised his arms up high, leaving a silhouette in front of his body.
“Blink!!!”
In an instant, Anjay Terin seemed to have disappeared into thin air, leaving an ear-piercing boom in the air. In that instance, his speed was raised to an extreme degree.
At this speed, almost within a blink of an eye, he could leap a few meters in distance. Even with Garen’s amazing reflexes, he wouldn’t be able to respond in time. It felt like his opponent had disregarded air resistance and his entire body was engulfed and supported purely with Willpower. In a blink of an eye, he had already been hit.
At that moment, Garen felt the same feeling that he had felt when he fought with the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia.
With a loud bang, Garen was sent flying. Even though his arms had reflexively put up a guard and blocked the blow in front of him, it still connected. With this hit, he flew through the air as if he was a human cannonball, crashing into the wall surrounding the stage.
This was the fearsomeness of a high-level Willpower, it could largely strengthen and support the pilot’s physical body, and in the process, create terrifying explosive power. The strength of the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique lay within this terrifying explosive speed and the strength and sturdiness of the arms. For an expert who was ranked fifteenth, this used up almost half of Anjay Terin’s power.
“It’s the end.”
That was the one notion all the spectators had in their heads.
After being hit by a direct hit from Anjay Terin’s Willpower secret skill, even just the impact from the Willpower was enough to have Nonosiva kick the bucket, but now with his arms under influence of the genetic strengthening potion, he wouldn’t even stand a chance.
However, to everyone’s surprise, a low laugh started ringing from inside the walls.
“Heh… Hehehehe…” Garen couldn’t help but laugh, “Not bad… this type of enemy… This era…”
The fearsomeness and explosiveness of Willpower attacks, this let Garen finally understand why there were no secret techniques being developed in this era.
The reason was that the humans of this world have already found another path that led them to a similar strength.
If one were to see secret techniques as a way of enhancing oneself with the goal of evolution, then Willpower secret skills would be creating a whole new power with the goal of changing oneself.
If the two were compared, it would be like the contrast between a warrior and a wizard. A warrior would be able to maintain his strength at all times while having a strong aura, while a wizard could obtain an explosive strength for a short period of time, having an immensely high offensive output, but low vitality.
If this hit had landed on any other Level Three Willpower student, he would undoubtedly be severely wounded. However, Garen was different; he had 3 times the vitality of a normal person in addition to the amazing regenerative properties of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique. This strike was merely a scratch on someone like him.
However, judging from this strike, this Anjay Terin had at least half the level of his actual offensive prowess.
Licking his lips, Garen felt a sense of passion and excitement he had never felt since he had entered this world. In his last world, he had no worthy opponent; he had already been unparalleled in strength from the moment he was born, and standing at the top without a rival was an exceptionally boring feeling. However, in this world, there were existences which could destroy even stars, and he had also experienced the potential power of a Willpower secret skill.
Garen could finally afford to be serious…
Looking at Anjay Terin who seemingly started to tremble slightly, Garen let out a smile. His body started to emit a monstrous beast-like aura.
Crack… As he walked out from the dent of the wall, rubble started to fall off from behind him. Amazingly, there wasn’t any sign of wounds on his body, and even that light wound from earlier had already completely recovered.
“Be careful,” before he even finished the sentence, Garen had completely vanished. “Ten Thousand True Technique, Destruction!”
A clear white airwave sliced through the air, heading towards Anjay Terin.
Anjay Terin steeled himself, his body once again bursting with the strong shapeless energy field from earlier.
“Blink!!”
With a loud roar, he aimed his claws as he lunged towards his opponent.