Ryker's True Power
"Oh, and why does the Duke ask something like that from a mere Genesis Core expert?" he asked, a teasing tone included in the question.
"Well, it's because I would like you to do something if your strength is sufficient. There will be rewards if you accept the job of course, but the prerequisite is your strength is enough for this job," the Duke replied, ignoring his attempt to tease him.
"In that case, I will accept it," while he may reveal some of his cards, getting the recognition of the Duke seemed to be a high enough reward to risk it. Besides, he only used his mastery of the Law of Lightning along with everything he learned from Impervious Lightning Scripture's tablet.
"Excellent, in that case, please come to the training ground around 7 or so. Hylla will guide you to it," he pointed to the female servant who had been helping him get around the 'mansion'.
The grey-haired servant nodded at the Duke's word before leaving the two to their service. The two men then enjoyed the food, chatting about some other topics before dinner was over.
By then, he left the dining room before heading towards his room, not needing a guide anymore as he remembered the location of his room though the servant still followed him.
He let her do as she pleased, entering his room before lying on the bed. At the end of the day, he then slept, waiting for tomorrow to come.
-x-
True to the Duke's words, the servant, Hylla if he remembered the name correctly, knocked on his door a few minutes before 7. Thankfully, he had already washed up and was raring to go, only waiting for the servant to show him the way.
Hylla nodded at him, seeing how he was already prepared. She then led him to the training ground, where lines of guards stood in attention in front of the Duke. The Duke nodded at both of them before eying Ryker.
"Do you have some guess on how strong you are?" he asked Ryker, who nodded at the statement.
"Good. If you know how strong you are, please pick any guard for you to challenge. But there will only be Genesis Spring level guard for you to challenge, as you likely can beat every peak Genesis Source guard I have,"
Hearing this, Ryker raised his brow before deciding to not ask any questions, for now. He should prioritize picking a guard for him to challenge. But considering he didn't know how strong each guard was, he decided to just say something else.
"I want a guard with a cultivation at the 4th Stage Genesis Spring," he could theoretically beat a 5th Stage but it would mean he had to show his other hands, which he didn't want to unless it was necessary.
Some of the guards looked at him like he was crazy while some servants, Hylla included, gasped at his choice. As for the Duke, he merely stared at him before nodding.
"Alright, any 4th Stage wants to come to the field?" when no one volunteered, the Duke yelled, "Are you actually afraid of the challenge?!" Ryker opinion of the Duke increased as he said challenges instead of referring to him based on his cultivation realm, which is a plus for him.
One guard stepped forward, looking slightly resigned, though Ryker didn't know why they had such a look.
-x-
The guards that didn't come forward let out a sigh of relief. While some of them didn't watch the match directly, they still could see some matches shown from the projection crystals.
The young man is clearly powerful, with strength far beyond his cultivation realm. And he clearly knew his strength too. If not, he would likely died believing he was strong enough to handle an opponent far beyond him.
So, when he picks the 4th Stage, he likely, as there is a chance, a small one though, that he overestimated his strength. But no one likes to take their chances so they wait until someone volunteers while sighing in relief over the fact they didn't get to be picked.
-x-
The two then take their places on the training field. The guard looked anxious but calm while Ryker looked like nothing would happen. If it was anybody else, the guard would have thought that the man was overconfident but the person in front of him clearly can back say confidence.
The Duke flies on the field, allowing him the cultivator's eyes view of the training field. When everyone was in position, the guard decided to watch the match, the Duke called the start of the spar.
-x-
The guard began to activate his cultivation realm, likely wanting to use it to suppress him. Ryker was impressed. While it might seem like a simple thing to do, rarely does anyone ever do it against a weaker foe as their qi is enough to do the job.
It showed he was taking him seriously, which meant Ryker had to do the same, as while a person with one major realm stronger or even more could use their cultivation to suppress someone with lower cultivation in terms of major realm, it didn't work on him that much.
It is most likely due to his Cultivation Art being a high-level one, allowing him to negate the advantage of the major realm gap between him and his opponent. The higher a Cultivation Art grade is, the greater the purity and level of one own qi is.
With such an advantage, he was able to not be affected by the suppression. And the guard seemed to realize it as well, as he began to appear in front of him, wanting to take him down with one shot.
This is another brilliant move, as the guard likely didn't want to be surprised by any trick he could pull. Unfortunately, the guard seemed to forget the Law he was supposed to be a master of.
He was able to dodge the attack before answering it with his own. The exchange continued for some time before he was able to give the guard a small nick, making him back away as he touched the wound.
The man seemed to be even more cautious, likely knowing he couldn't hope to match his speed. Unfortunately, for the guard that is, he wanted to finish the fight as soon as possible, which made him use one of his rarely used techniques.
"Lightning Hawk Barrage," a large group of hawks made of lightning appeared before they dive-bombed the guard. Except, this time, their strength is around 3rd Stage Genesis Spring, which is one minor realm difference except the hawk is a suicide dive bomber, meaning their suicidal dive is a lot more powerful than a regular 3rd Stage expert.
As a result, the guard was beaten up, badly due to his unable to block all the attacks.