Strange Matter

"If I'm an eyesore, I dare you to scratch me."

'Haha, as expected of the mad one's pupil, like master like disciple.'

"Sword Force? You are impressive, you learned how to leverage Water Force from the water around you, and now you are drawing strength from the sword in your hand and the metallic earth beneath you for sword force. Impressive indeed."

Will couldn't care less about this man's opinion, because an odd feeling had started to boil within the boy. This feeling started to surpass his fear. Will could sense a strange connection to a faint energy source.

Ever since he got these superpowers and abilities from the system, Will grew to appreciate how many more senses there were in the universe. Intent alone was already impressive, allowing him to view the world in a manner he could not possibly imagine. Now, most of those senses had been taken away.

Since gaining the Water Meister Class, Will had constantly been developing his relationship with water and always felt it around him, after all, moisture is everywhere. But now every droplet around him, big or small, was not within his control anymore.

'If water is out, then metal it is!'

This arena had not just water, but plenty of metallic earth as well. Not to mention Will's katana. Water force was boring the power of water around you. Soul Force was borrowing the power of your soul while masters could and even borrow energy from the soul of all living things around them. In this regard, Metal Force would be taking strength from the metal one has or within the environment.

Will knew that the rusty katana was made out of a special metal. He wasn't sure if the material he borrowed 'force' from would affect the strength and quality of the result. Either way, it was certainly a route worth testing.

If Water Force could be described as a massive collection of formless waves, malleable to Will's consciousness, then Metal Force would be a solid immovable substance that oozed corrosion and power. It had a malleable aspect to it but Will could not even begin to understand that part of the metal force. So he restricted his senses to sifting out what he needed. The Dao of Water was more vast, so he had an easier time assimilating Metal Force than with its watery counterpart.

Within the Metal Force category was Sword Force. It is a Sword manifestation at its peak. There were all kinds of swords in existence. Big swords, small swords, knives, broadswords, katanas, machetes, rapiers etc. These bladed weapons all had many aspects that differed. Some were heavy, somewhere light. Others were swift and piercing, others slow and overbearing. But they all had one aspect that shared across all points. Sharp! They were all sharp! Was a blade not glorified by the sharpness of its edge?

Will had a rough understanding of what his opponent wanted to do, so he had his plan. Sharp Sword Force gushed from the rusty Katana and the metallic earth straight into Will's body like a vortex swirling nonstop in a chaotic storm.

Jingsung Ha did not interrupt as he stood, waiting for the boy to reach the peak of his strength. He wanted to crush the boy when he had reached his peak, to thoroughly remove any and all doubts he had.

'What does he plan on doing with all that Sword Force?'

To Jingsung's surprise, Will did not attack. Instead, he stood there observing his opponent and building up power.

'Ordinary Sword Force is not enough to defeat me. For that, you need something extra. Modus would not have chosen this boy unless he had something else.'

That's when it hit. Will's eyes started to emit a silvery glow that chilled the area around him.

'This is a yin-type constitution? Interesting. If I'm not mistaken Modus has six pots for Silverton to give Middle and Lower worlds. This boy is qualified to enter. He is one made for the Extreme Path.''

The Extreme Path is when one chooses to become either pure yin or pure yang. Will's cultivation manual was made by a pure yin master. He possessed two yin-attributed intents. Currently, he had the best access to his water and metal gates, which were both yin-attributed elements. Water Meister is a Pure Yin Class by nature. Thus it made sense for Will to go in that direction. Jingsung Ha himself was also on the Extreme Path on the side of Yin.

Will had also been thinking about this for a while. There were 8 gates and Will assumed each could side with either yin or yang. Metal and water were yin in nature. Yin represented nature. It didn't refer to simple thoughts like Yin had to be cold. Many flames were unique in attribute. There were even some pure yang necromancers. The extreme path was a path that intended to break nature itself.

Water, mental and spirit gates were yin, while fire, earth, and wood were yang element gates. Space and Taiji had both attributes in perfect balance.

Will had five open gates. Of those gates, only the wood one was yang attributed. Hence his metal gate and yin-type constitution harmonized and synchronized better than he could have ever hoped.

'But to beat him, Sword Force and Yin energy aren't enough.'

Will started to take in slow, deep rhythmic breaths. His yuan would fluctuate up and down with each inhalation and exhalation. This was something all observing knew well.

'The Breath. Truly one of the most feared abilities in existence'

Jingsung raised a brow in contemplation and said, "Boy this is not a power one can easily understand or use. Are you sure you want to tread down the path of The Breath'? Many a warrior that I have seen have perished, with talent far superior to yours."

Will chuckled at his opponent's words but he didn't reply. He kept breathing. Then oddly as time went on, the seemingly voracious energy vertex calmed down. It was as if Poseidon had calmed stormy seas with his hand.

'The gushing and unrestrained Sword Force was restrained by his Breath. Good, he is starting to understand how to use it. He is more of the technique path.'

"Jingsung, you seem to know a lot about the universe. So tell me."

Will's energy had restrained himself but the edge of his sword was still pointed at his opponent. Jingsung didn't feel much, but he was feeling uneasy. He looked for the source of his unease but he found nothing.

'That boy's sword is pulling my attention, could it be he has done more than use The Breath and Sword Force?'

Will smirked as baleful and heavy aura Jingsung had never felt started to ooze out of the rusty katana.

"Have you ever heard of Strange Matter?"