When it ended, the academy rejoiced in a modest manner. Students spoke, instructors toasted, and Isshin Ryugen's name rang out like wildfire across the kingdom. Yet while jubilation rang out within the capital, elsewhere there was silence in the darkness.
Franz's family was enraged. His older brother had departed the stadium with his body quietly, but his anger had been palpable. Franz's younger sister, Nora Zeldyr, had not been spotted on campus since the event. The promise of vengeance loomed over Isshin like a shadow, and he knew it was only a question of time.
Later that evening, Isshin sat with Khalid, Rune, Karin, and a few others in Khalid's home, recounting what had transpired in the cave. He left out anything related to Raijin or the world inside — there were certain truths which weren't ready for disclosure.
"So that's it?" Rune said, crossing his arms. "You battled undead for weeks underground?"
More or less," said Isshin. He reclined. "I fought. and progressed. Much of it was similar to a maze. The Skeleton King forced me to fight his troops, one after another.".
Karin was clearly uneasy. "Why would he ever let you go?"
"He didn't, not at first." Isshin paused. "But I kept winning. Afterward. it was respect. Or maybe he just got bored."
Khalid stared at Isshin for a long time. "And you're sure that's all that happened?"
Isshin narrowed his eyes again. "That is all you have to know for now."
Khalid nodded once, knowing that he couldn't go any further.
Subsequently, in his own chamber, Isshin finally had an opportunity to go through the rewards:
A high-level beast core, brimming with brute strength.
A high-grade cultivation elixir, emitting dense spiritual energy.
And lastly, access to the Forbidden Pavilion of the academy — a rare privilege, granting him knowledge of techniques even most teachers were not allowed to read.
Just as he was about to consume the core, Raijin's voice echoed in his mind — then appeared next to him.
"These rewards are not to be consumed individually," Raijin explained to him. "Their worth is in how you pair them. Consume the elixir and ingest the core at the same time. That is when your body will synthesize properly."
Isshin gazed at the core in his hand, then at the bottle. "Risky."
Raijin shrugged. "But worth it."
Without hesitation, Isshin gulped the core and chased it with the elixir. His body immediately burst with untamed, crashing strength. Even the system lit up red.
WARNING: Overwhelming Surge of Qi. Stabilization Needed.
Raijin paced beside him, laying a quiet hand on Isshin's back. "Concentrate. Let it come. Don't struggle with it — direct it."
Hours dragged by. Energy stormed through Isshin like a tempest. His every fiber burned, writhed, and remade. And then—
Bang.
The door creaked open. "Isshin, are you—" Karin halted in the doorway. "The door was open, and you weren't responding—"
Raijin vanished in an instant.
A second later, a flash of light blinded and blasted through the ceiling, creating a huge hole towards the sky.
Rune and Khalid gazed upwards from the courtyard at the column of radiant Qi bursting from Isshin's room.
."That's new," Rune complained.
Somewhere far away, on the highest floor of a rural inn in the kingdom:
Think he'll be a problem?" asked a blue-haired man, drinking his tea while gazing at the horizon.
"He shouldn't be a hassl—" his friend started, before stiffening as a huge beam of spiritual energy sliced through the air.
They both gazed at it silently.
…"That's him," the first man said gruffly.
"Only one guy would have the idea to use both the core and elixir simultaneously. Idiot's got guts."
"Or he's just built different."
Back at the academy, instructors, students, and even the principal looked up at the golden flash stretching out into the clouds. They all knew what it meant.
Rune and Karin were by the dorms, looking at the light in the sky. They both realized that they now had a long way to go to reach Isshin.
Isshin Ryugen
Level: 124
Health: 68
Strength: 71
Endurance: 73
Mana/Qi: 66
Intelligence: 52
Points Available: 4
Level of Cultivation: Nascent Soul Realm – Stage 4
When the light dissipated, Isshin's eyes opened. His breathing slowed. Energy still pulsed under his skin. He glanced around and blinked at the presence of three individuals in his room — Karin, Rune, and Khalid — then up at the gaping hole in his ceiling.
"I suppose that did it"