Chapter 19

Haru looked at Bumi, whose fork fell.

Bumi stared at Haru's face, and he seemed to be in disbelief.

"Excuse me, young man, I'm getting old…112 years to be exact, and my hearing may have gotten weaker. Would you be gentle enough to repeat what you said?" Bumi put his finger inside his ear-hole and rubbed.

"I'm aiming to kick the Fire Nation out and unite the Earth Kingdom. If I get powerful enough, we conqueror them back, so they can never attack us again," said Haru without hesitation in his voice.

Everyone knows that the war wasn't in the favour of the Earth Kingdom, thanks to the Fire Nation technologies and the lack of unicity from the Earth Kingdom part.

Haru looked into Bumi's eyes, who stared at him with utter shock. Haru didn't know that his statement would stun Bumi to that degree. But as time passed, Haru started believing that Bumi may have gotten a mental dysfunction.

Before Haru could ask him if he was okay, Bumi looked at the roof and laughed.

Bumi closed his fists and hit on the table many times. "HAHAHAHA! Man! I'm happy that I lived this long! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

Haru decided to ignore the laughs of the king, and he waited for his reaction. It would be a shame if Haru got out without getting anything for himself. But at least, he should try. That is what Haru believed.

"Listen, young man, are you sure you can do that? This is a war, that started a hundred years ago, and I witnessed it, from the start 'till this very moment. You think a young man like you has a chance to achieve such an ambition."

"If I could bury more than a hundred men, why not?" Haru said. "I'm pretty sure that I will achieve my ambition.."

"A very dangerous ambition," said Bumi as he scratched his chin. "I will admit it: you are a strong bender. But I still don't know how can you be so sure. How will you lead your men? How will you protect yourself and the others."

"Those questions, if you had answers to them, you would have used them to kick the Fire Nation out. As for me, I have the answer. Might control everything. And that's what I'm planning to use." Haru said. If Bumi refused today, then Haru will take the army the hard way tomorrow. "Besides, I'm a unique person."

Haru pinched the air. Bumi's fork twisted its shape, and Bumi looked at it with awe.

Suppressing his chuckle, Bumi then stared at Haru. "Guess I can't speak of what I've seen out loud. Fine young man. Get up and follow me."

Bumi was smart enough not to reveal that Haru bent the metal. Somehow, there may be spies around the city. Bumi was wise for his age.

"It would be my pleasure. But where are we going?" Haru stood up.

"Hehe… did you think that I would just accept your request. I'm about to test you." Bumi said.

The soldiers looked at each other, before staring at their king and clenching their fists happily. They seemed to be excited about some show.

Bumi put his hands behind his back and gestured for Haru to follow him.

Bumi tapped his foot on the ground, and a secret door was opened in the near wall. Bumi then asked Haru to walk in.

Haru laughed and said. "You first, my dear king."

"Come on, It's a test." Bumi turned to Haru and smiled. "Are you afraid of the dark? If you are, how are you even going to fulfil your ambition."

"I'll take the stairs," Haru said, not provoked by Bumi. "I'm not going to fall for an obvious trap."

There was a hole under the ground. If Haru walked in that passage, he would fall to the basement.

"You have seen through it. Let's take the stairs then." Bumi sighed. He gave his back to Haru and muttered to himself. "Young men nowadays know nothing about having fun."

Haru rolled his eyes. He and the king then took the stairs down.

They arrived at an underground arena.

In the corner, there were a bunch of cells with men prisoned in them.

Bumi started explaining. "These men are criminals in Omashu, mercenaries, traitors earthbenders. They have done enough war crimes, and they are sentenced to death. Since they are good and may come to use, I didn't execute them. They are around 30… nothing much for a man at your level, right? A man who buried a hundred men from the fire nation"

Haru would have laughed if he didn't want to hide his emotion. He had gotten stronger from the time he fought the troops of the Fire Nation.

Bumi clapped his hands, and the cells were opened. "Listen men! Anyone, who can claim the head of the man next to me." He pointed at Haru. "Will get his freedom."

Bumi then lifted his leg and kicked toward Haru, who dodged by leaping high, 3 meters in the air easily, before landing on the arena.

Bumi harrumphed. "You deny me from the pleasure of throwing you to danger."

"Whatever." Haru muttered.

From the cells, men were getting out. Most of them were huge, beyond two meters tall, which indicated their strength and their potential when it comes to earthbending. They got out and stared at each other widely before they looked at Haru. A glimpse of hope could be seen in their eyes. Next to them, there were a few boxes with weapons full with them.

"Wait, hold on!" Haru objected.

"What? You aren't up for the challenge." Bumi said, sounding a bit excited.

"Water break. I need to drink some water." Haru crossed his hands and said, eyes full of seriousness.

Bumi narrowed his eyebrows. He then slammed on his face, and said. "Okay, after the water break, anyone who can get me his head, will get his freedom. Okay."

"Yes!"

"Sure!"

"I'll give his head to you!"

The guys seemed to be excited to get their freedom, and they roared.

Bumi turned his head and said with a lifeless expression. ".someone gets him water."

Haru sat on the ground. What he intended wasn't a water break, but some time to open the Epic Box he has.

[+ The Wise Learner Talisman (do you want to use (y/n))]

[Increase the experience gained by 100 per cent.]

'Hell to the Yes!' Haru thought. He could increase his gains from battles and training two folds. Haru wondered if the system was crazy to even ask him if he would use the talisman. Of course, he would.

He held his facial expression from showing his emotion. In a quick movement, Haru created some dust around his feet. He got the Wind Shoes from the storage and wore them instead of his old shoes.

The boots were brownish-green, and they didn't seem to be odd.

Haru stood up. He extended his hand to the right, holding a bottle of water that was thrown in his direction.

He opened it, drank a bit, and then spat, before throwing the bottle to the side.

He suddenly felt a bit of wariness when he saw their number. Unlike the last time, this is a direct battle.

"Bumi, Am I allowed to go for the kill." Haru turned to the king. "I need to go all out."

"Don't worry. They won't anyway."

"I see…" Haru turned his head.

Around ten earth benders already took their stances. They stomped on the ground, raising rocks. They then kicked and the rocks flew fast at Haru.

'Too slow.' Haru thought as he saw the rocks… 'Too small…'

These guys are as powerful as him when he was at level 2 or 3.

But now, his skills were at a very high level, especially earthbending and the associated skills such as bending with feet and hands. Haru aimed his hand forward, and the average-sized rocks stopped in the air.

He then closed his fist. The rocks turned into 6 swords that started floating around him. The swords started spinning. Their speed was so high that they were blurry.

Haru then dashed forward. His speed was inhuman thanks to his agility. Initially, he was just as fast as a normal human. But now, he was like a car on a high road thanks to his agility and shoe.

Haru could sense a few attacks coming in his direction from the side, but he didn't dodge them, and just pointed his hands at them and pushed, making the rocks fly back in their owners' direction.

Haru soon arrived at the centre of the benders. Some of them escaped. But the rest weren't lucky, especially the ones who had sent the first attack. They tried their best to create walls. But the six swords cut them along with their defence like butter.

5 poor outlaws. Haru did them good here since he revealed them from the misery of being jailed underground.

Without the need to see, Haru could tell that ten attacks were coming toward him. Around 20 earthbenders made a combined move. They combined their Chi and strength to create a more powerful attack.

Haru turned. He saw a boulder, 6 meters in length, flying at him with high speed.

"And you combined your efforts to make this."

Haru pushed with his hands and raised them, the boulder shifted its direction up and floated.

"Attack! His defence is open." The others seemed to gain confidence when Haru's hands were busy with the boulder.

They took their stances, and they shot sharp spikes at him.

Haru didn't want to cut their hope and tell them that he was having an easy time with their boulder.

He stomped on the ground, creating a wave that lifted the earth in their direction. The earthbenders tried to stop it with their counterattack as they slammed their first on the ground, creating their wave.

<<Decompress>>

The giant boulder grew bigger and decompressed into dust like.

This was an attack he had developed in his last battle.

The dust circled the benders as they finished their counterattack.

The dust swallowed them, and when Haru closed his fist, the dust shrunk on them and turned into a solid layer of rock that prisoned the men.

[Level 17 (30.000/70.000)] he didn't level up, but he gained a good experience.

Haru turned to Bumi, who was watching from the side and spread his arms. "What do you think."

"Impressive, I won't lie," Bumi said. "But who you fought aren't the top-tier earthbenders. Let me take you to the top ones."

"Who?" Haru said. "Some general?"

Bumi chuckled. He threw his green robs, and it appeared that Bumi was taking a weird stance to make his body look smaller.

Bumi stood up to his full height, almost seven feet. His body was full of muscles. The old man looked scary when he cracked his fists. He made a very long leap, longer than Haru's, and landed down.

"If you want to lead my army, you have to beat me first! Hahahah!" Bumi laughed. "This is fun!"

"Humph…" Haru flicked his finger. Dust rose and formed ten swords above Bumi before they fell on him.

Bumi stared above him, and he smiled. The change in his facial expression caused the sword rain to change its direction and fall away from him.

"Come on, we didn't even start." He smiled at Haru and flexed his muscles. "Sure, you have the skills, and your Chi sea seems to be the largest so far compared to earthbenders. Let's see what you can do against this old man."

[Ding, Boss Battle has started]

Haru rubbed his chin. This battle won't be easy.

"Old man my ass." His opponent isn't just an old man. "A supreme earthbender who lived for 112 years maybe."