29 Chapter 29

The girls went to join or watch the competitions while Koren recovered from his fight. As always, alchemy was first up. Today was the third and semifinal round, allowing only ten contestants to proceed to the final round. The task was again to create a specific pill from a recipe, but it was far more complex than before. Rila had failed the last test, leaving only Sila and Rose for this third round.

The process of creating the pill was much more difficult, to the point where even Rose struggled. When the time limit was over, they both succeeded in finishing the pill, with Rose finishing first and with a higher quality pill.

However, when judgment came, only disappointment followed. Both Rose and Sila failed to make it to the next round. It was nothing unexpected, as even Rose still lacked in experience, having studied for many years less than the top ten alchemist disciples, but she was still disappointed.

Sila and Rila took part in the rest of the competitions that they hadn't failed yet, but by the time it was over, they hadn't passed a single one. Again, very understandable, as they were young and spread their skills quite far.

With the competitions over, the only thing that remained for the day was rest. The girls had dinner together, but in a rare event, there was no sex. Koren was utterly exhausted and wasn't in the mood, something which basically never happened.

"I'm almost worried for you. Here we are, all four of us eager and ready to get fucked silly by you, but you're not in the mood? This must be a first in all of history," Aurora said, feeling annoyed that the one time she was so eager to let Koren have her in whatever way he wanted, he actually didn't want anything.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! That technique just really exhausts me. I need to rest if I'm to have any chance of winning tomorrow."

Aurora looked at Koren with narrow eyes. Sila, Rose, and Rila stood beside her, just as peeved.

"In that case, I think you owe us an explanation. What was that? That technique, you made it rain with swords! It's obscenely powerful," Aurora said.

"Well, it's a long story. It's just a technique. Do you really need to know? It's not like you can learn it. It's incredibly difficult to use, not to mention the strain it puts on the body. Even now, I can only use it for a couple of seconds at most."

"Come on, Koren. We want to know, and you know you can trust us. We've spent five months in the same bed every night. Just give us an explanation for how you became this strong. It's not like it's some sort of terrible secret, right?"

"Fine. The truth is, I found it. That's all there's to it. Last time I was on a mission, I came upon the remains of a fallen expert, and he had a few techniques on him. The one I used to win that last battle was the most powerful of them all, the Empyrean Sword Spirit Formation. The name's a bit convoluted, but it's insanely powerful when used to its fullest potential," Koren explained.

"So that's how it is," Rila remarked as Rose and Sila nodded.

"I see. But that woman, I can't remember her name, but when you used the technique, she was finished! She was done before even three seconds passed. With this, aren't you basically the undisputed number-one disciple in the entire sect? I can't see anyone getting the upper hand on you, even if someone on the cusp of becoming an elder should appear. It's just too difficult to deal with that many swords. There were hundreds of them, all in all," Aurora said. Koren sighed and looked to the side. A short silence followed before he spoke again.

"Her name is Mora. And should she have lasted two seconds more, I would have lost. Right now, the longest I can sustain the technique is barely five seconds. It is the limit of what I can possibly achieve as I am now. My cultivation base is too low, and so is my comprehension. I believe my understanding of the sword will have to reach an entirely new realm before I can hope to use the technique to even a tenth of its potential.

"Right now, it is a trump card, but a weak one. The swords can cut, they can kill, but they are weak and brittle. They will shatter before they pierce deep into anyone. Sure, with a hundred swords, I can still kill a group of weaker fighters, but against someone like Mora or someone even stronger… She would have possessed a chance of surviving even five seconds of deadly attacks, at which point I would be left helpless. So it's difficult to say. Am I the strongest disciple in the sect? I don't know yet. Am I in the top four? I believe so. I've even cemented the second place," Koren said.

"Hmm. Well, you're still amazingly strong, though, so all is good," Aurora said.

The time for the final round arrived. People cheered rampantly as two people stood alone on the center arena. One man and one woman. This fight would decide the publicly recognized strongest disciple in the Blossoming Rose sect, the third strongest sect in the entire nation. This fight would be a difficult one, more so than any before.

The woman who stared at Koren with cold eyes was one with renown like none other. For years now, she'd taken the number one spot in every single tournament. She was the one the sect recognized as the strongest disciple in the sect, one who was even stronger than Vara Kiera, before she rose to the stage of Core Building. She was old but had yet to reach the last stages of Condensation, yet her skill was tremendous. She was a warrior by birthright, one with battle in their blood. And her name was Zara.

The bell rang.

Clouds of dust appeared behind the two warriors as they exploded toward each other, each blocking the other's blow, but Zara's strength was too great! Koren was pushed back with ten successive attacks from Zara, each blocked by Koren to the point where his fist grew numb!

Zara showed no mercy and kept pushing, forcing Koren further and further back as he defended. Koren had immediately lost his momentum in the fight, but he had no choice but to fight on! Koren struggled to move his arm fast enough to block Zara's axe blows, and the ones who got through were barely blocked!

Koren had to do something! Even if he wanted to, he couldn't use the Empyrean Sword Spirit Formation now since the effort required to use the attack would leave him open for Zara. Rapidly stepping back, Koren's mind spun in circles, thinking of a way out of this situation. At this rate, he would be defeated before he had any hope of executing his ultimate attack. Zara was clearly too strong for Koren to defeat her without it.

Koren kept blocking and dodging, observing his opponent as she attacked. She was frighteningly still as she continued her onslaught, her face void of emotion.

"Seems like that's my only choice," Koren mumbled while blocking another succession of strikes. Koren had devised a method to create some distance between him and Zara, but it would not be pain-free. He took a deep breath, and then, instead of blocking the coming attack, he accepted it!

Zara's axe came down with a thunderous roar, slashing through the air and embedding itself into Koren's body, sending him crashing to the ground with enough force to shake the arena. Koren tumbled through the arena floor and slammed into the dirt beyond it before stopping.

Zara immediately took chase but was quickly stopped when the stunned silence filling the air was shattered by an onslaught of deadly blades that soared toward Zara like a swarm of angry hornets. She reacted with inhuman speed and agility, her arm a blur as she blocked and deflected most of the blades.

A few of them managed to slip past her guard and embedded themselves painfully into her body, burning her and setting her clothes ablaze. Her screams echoed through the arena as she dropped to one knee, her legs trembling with agony. But still, she fought on, rising up and defying the pain with a look of sheer determination on her face.

Dozens of swords flew toward Zara at once, each one filling the air with a deafening roar. But this fierce barrage was met with lightning-quick reflexes despite Zara's wounds; every sword was deftly blocked or deflected by her arm, which moved faster than the eye could see.

Still, a few of the swords managed to pierce through her defenses, no matter how well she defended, exploding into her body with painful force. Despite her immense pain, Zara quickly regained her balance and steadied herself, roaring in defiance at Koren, who could barely keep his body upright.

Koren let out a deep sigh as he exhaustedly watched his onslaught of swords, almost too drained to continue. His arms trembled with fatigue, and his face was drenched in sweat. He could feel himself beginning to succumb to exhaustion as he gazed upon Zara, who remained standing despite being battered and burned from the assault. Her clothes had been completely shredded away, leaving her naked body exposed and covered in light marks from the swords' explosions.

Koren's barrage of swords began to slow until finally stopping altogether, leaving him completely exhausted and unable to stay on his feet any longer. He couldn't even summon the strength to lift his sword.

Zara looked like a warrior goddess standing there in all her glory; her clothes had turned to dust, and her body was covered in wounds that oozed with blood. But despite this, a sense of power still exuded from her being as she locked eyes with her foe. Koren looked back, his gaze heavy with exhaustion yet still burning with defiance. But Zara was clearly heavily injured. She stood proud for only a few seconds before falling to her knees. Koren tried desperately to stand up, but his legs wouldn't answer him, and his arms were too weak to even push his torso up. Using the technique two days in a row had taken everything out of him.

Meanwhile, Zara slowly pushed herself back up, eventually managing to stand up again. Axe in hand, she took one step towards Koren. Then a bell rang, signaling that Koren had been on the ground for ten seconds.

"Zara Zirkovich! Zara Zircovich is the winner of the disciple's tournament once more! Koren Sarlow, a newcomer to the sect, fought valiantly and took a well-deserved second place! Additionally, as the only disciple in the top ten rankings to not be a core disciple is promoted to the core rank, effective immediately! This concludes the tournament of disciples for our Blossoming Rose sect. Disciples who ranked in the top ten, please report to the apothecary for your rewards."

The voice of the announcer elder resounded through the entire arena. As soon as she was done talking, she appeared next to Koren and Zara. With a smile on her face, she gave a quick look and nodded to Zara before turning to Koren.

"Koren, you have impressed a lot of people today. I believe you're the first one in a very long time to jump straight from outer disciple to Core disciple. A lot of people will be observing you in the future. I trust you won't disappoint. Also, prepare yourself for some interrogations. That technique is far too powerful for you to have created it yourself or obtained it from any sect. It is at a level where you shouldn't even be able to learn it, but you have reached a truly astonishing level of sword mastery already," the woman said. Before Koren got a chance to reply, she turned back to Zara.

"Come, Zara. You're once more the highest rank girl in the tournament, as the top ranker. The sect master already waits for you."

"Yes, elder," Zara said. In a flash, the two departed, leaving Koren on his own. Just like that, the tournament of disciples was over, leaving just the competitions to be finished. And just like that, Koren had become recognized as the second strongest disciple in the sect, despite being an entire stage below his peers. With nothing left to be done, Koren departed, heading straight to the house. He had no interest in being approached by hundreds of strangers. Instead, he just wanted to go home and go to bed. Sleep and rest was the only thing on his mind.