True Invincibility at the Same Rank
"You all continue training; I'm going to test out the training dummy's capabilities."
After bidding Luo Hao, Erica, and Jibril a brief goodbye, Eriri selected her training dummy. Once she finalized the dummy's basic settings, a new isolated battle space materialized outside the arena, and she was immediately transferred into it along with her training dummy.
The others, however, were far too interested to continue their own training and instead watched Eriri's isolated space with great enthusiasm.
Inside, Eriri and the training dummy stood across from each other, separated by a mere few dozen meters. Eriri hadn't customized the dummy's appearance, so it looked identical to the default form she had seen in the others' training spaces.
Once Eriri activated the battle, the Level 8, Stage 6 training dummy vanished from her sight, only to reappear directly behind her with a small, snow-white fist bearing down with a force potent enough to devastate entire galaxy clusters.
Yet Eriri's eyes saw through everything. Though the dummy's speed exceeded space itself, dodging was as simple as a flick of her wrist.
But Eriri hadn't come to the arena to dodge attacks. She had come to hone her combat experience and test the true limits of her own power.
Without tapping into her cosmic energy, she raised her own fist to meet the incoming blow. Over more than a decade of absorbing cosmic energy, Eriri's body had become unimaginably powerful.
In the instant their fists collided, the dummy was sent hurtling backward, a web of cracks spreading across its arm.
The strength gap between them was simply too vast.
Emotionless and thoughtless, the dummy showed no fear of Eriri's overwhelming power. It steadied itself and adjusted its attack strategy, knowing that close combat was futile.
Next, it unleashed a flurry of powerful attacks and pure energy strikes upon her. Each attack was forceful enough to require the full attention of an ordinary opponent at her level.
Watching the flashy onslaught, Eriri raised an eyebrow and wondered aloud, "Is this it?"
Realizing she had underestimated herself, she saw through every path of the dummy's attacks. Evading them all was effortless; her cosmic energy protected her from even the homing abilities of certain techniques.
Eriri moved with ease, dodging every attack, before teleporting directly behind the dummy and sending a quick knife-hand chop at its head. The dummy's quick reaction initiated a defensive barrier, but it shattered upon contact with her blow.
The dummy attempted to escape using spatial abilities, but Eriri's control rendered it helpless. With another quick chop, she effortlessly neutralized it.
The watching trio—Luo Hao, Erica, and Jibril—were dumbstruck. Each had faced the dummy's relentless strength personally, only to see Eriri handle it effortlessly.
The next scene completely shattered their understanding of "peerless at the same rank."
After dealing with one dummy, Eriri wasn't satisfied. She activated ten Level 8, Stage 6 training dummies at once and engaged them simultaneously.
The outcome was the same—none of the ten dummies managed to lay a finger on her.
Then, Eriri activated one hundred dummies, which formed an impenetrable wall of bodies surrounding her.
A hundred dummies was an entirely different scale; their combined assault nearly sealed off all escape routes.
But dodging wasn't her intention this time. She wanted to test her full strength.
With that, Eriri released her mightiest power. A wave of cosmic energy surged from her body, spiraling in radiant colors and expanding outward.
Without hesitation, she unleashed cosmic energy in a full 360-degree blast, swallowing up the hundred dummies as if they were nothing. Their attacks were obliterated in the resulting storm of energy.
The ferocious power warped the battle space around her. Had Eriri not restrained the energy, the entire space would likely have been annihilated.
When the attack subsided, Eriri stood alone in the space. The hundred dummies had been erased without a trace.
Having confirmed the results she was after, Eriri decided to end the training. After this short fight (or rather, target practice), she concluded that her combat experience was largely irrelevant. Her cosmic energy endowed her with strength leagues beyond any peer, enabling her to read all attacks. Her physique allowed her to dodge any strike—even those from enemies slightly stronger than herself.
This was true invincibility at the same rank!
When she returned to the main space, she was met with a look of admiration from Luo Hao and awe from Erica and Jibril.
"Eriri, those training dummies… were they really at the same rank as you?" Luo Hao asked, unable to believe her eyes.
"Yes, they were all Level 8, Stage 6 dummies." Eriri nodded, appearing relaxed.
"That's unbelievable! How on earth can you be this powerful, sister?" Luo Hao's eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Well, my situation's unique. I'm pretty much a one-off case."
Eriri's tone turned somewhat helpless as she explained, "Actually, I've never actively trained before. Today was the first time I decided to practice, though it didn't accomplish much beyond showing me my own limits."
Her words were so nonchalant, and yet, they left Luo Hao speechless.
But Erica, feeling proud of her powerful liege, thought little else.
"Master, you're so strong; you truly deserve the title of 'the strongest,' unlike Lord Artosh's supposed 'invincible' status," Jibril declared proudly, disregarding her creator's renowned title. The God of War might have wanted to recall her to the forge if he'd heard.
After parting ways with the trio, Eriri exited the Arena module, while the group chat remained as lively as ever. Technically, the chat interface could also be accessed from the Arena, as Luo Hao and Erica had been chatting with everyone while training.
Although not everyone was as dedicated to honing their skills, most members had at least tested their limits in the Arena, avoiding the helpless situations they'd encountered in the past.
While few could claim to be "peerless," members of the group were no less capable than others of the same rank.
Compared to the Arena, the chat group's lottery system was much more popular. All the senior members had accumulated over a hundreds of millions points, so no one wanted to pass up the chance at a rare item.
There were now several dozen worlds available through the chat group, many of them advanced, so the odds of drawing valuable items or techniques were high. And even if a member didn't get an item, doubling their points still felt like a win.
Meanwhile, the chat group's marketplace had only added one new item, bringing the total to three.
The first item, Cross-Boundary Talisman, was available in unlimited quantities; the second, Designated Invitation Tickets, was limited to one per month.
The third item was a "Universal Armament" created by Eriri. While the design looked nothing like the rabbit doll used by Sakura, this armament took the form of a pink, decorative magical girl wand.
True to form, Eriri named it the "Universal Armament - Pink Fluffy Bunny."
As Eriri had promised, it was available as a rental, with a rate of 100 points per hour. The wand would appear in a member's possession for the rented period before automatically returning to the marketplace. Members could extend their rental by paying additional points before the period expired.
So far, only Ruri Gokou had rented it out of curiosity, leaving it otherwise unused.
Mine, Akame, and Kurome fell in love with the villa within half a day. Per their request, Aoi set them up in a single bedroom. The villa's rooms were spacious, with enough room for three adults, let alone three young girls.
The luxurious surroundings stunned Akame and Kurome, as it was beyond anything they'd ever imagined. Even Mine, familiar with modern spaces from the Food Wars memory images, was impressed.
The villa's interior was top-tier even by modern standards, and the avenue lined with eternally blooming cherry trees was a breathtaking feature unique to this residence.
Having lived on the streets, Akame and Kurome couldn't believe such grandeur existed. In their minds, even the empire's palace couldn't be more opulent.
Earlier, Eriri had taken them directly to her bedroom for baths, so they hadn't seen the villa's full extent.
Like curious explorers, they wandered around until they stumbled upon the gaming hall, where they found Momo and Nana playing.
The sight of the various games piqued their curiosity, and soon they were trying out video games for the first time. With Momo and Nana as their guides, the girls became instantly hooked.
It was a scene of pure delight, three young girls immersed in the games, an image that would surprise most people in the outside world. But in this household, where even the young Sakura and Reina often joined in on games after school, it was par for the course.
The three of them sat intensely focused on their controllers, their eyes glued to the screen until Eriri came to fetch them.
Eriri's purpose was to help them develop their strength so they could one day achieve their goals.
She would begin with body enhancement, a field she had recently deepened her knowledge of.
Initially, she could only grant non-supernatural people the ability to absorb cosmic energy, making them strong but reliant on periodic "recharges."
For existing supernatural beings, however, she could amplify their power limitlessly, enhancing their bodies and fusing a trace of cosmic energy within them.
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