Drawing a slow, deep breath, he silently accepted the prompt to begin the next challenge.
[5th Battle Trial: Duel Variation Initiating.]
[Opponent: Cultivator at the 1st Layer of the Spiritual Foundation Realm.]
With a flash of digitized visual effects, a young woman materialized in front of him, wearing traditional taoist robes. She carried a longbow, and a full quiver of arrows was slung across her back.
Ding!
The start of the Battle Trial was signaled by the familiar chime. But unlike before—where Mikael had typically been more casual, even reckless, and often rushed in without hesitation—this time he remained completely still. He didn't take a single step forward, his eyes fixed on the archer with sharp attentiveness, every muscle ready to react and dodge the moment danger arose.
Seconds ticked by in silence... until the archer slowly raised her bow. A glowing Qi arrow began to form, the energy condensed directly from her dantian into a sharp, focused projectile.
Mikael's body subtly tensed, his gaze narrowing, every fiber of his being locked onto the arrow. He was prepared to dodge the instant it launched.
"Swish."
The Qi arrow sliced through the air, rocketing toward him at a frightening speed. Mikael's eyes widened—but not for the reason one might assume.
With a sudden, precise movement, he sidestepped the arrow's path. It flew past him in a blur and embedded itself into the ground behind, burrowing several meters deep into the stone before finally coming to a halt.
Yet Mikael's attention wasn't focused on the arrow that had just passed beside him, nor solely on the archer—although he remained cautious enough, knowing it was still a fight and he couldn't afford to be caught off guard. The majority of his focus, however, was on analyzing the arrow's speed and power.
'Okay, what the fuck was that? The arrow's speed and power were far too weak. Is this some kind of trap to get me to lower my guard?'
He cautiously observed the archer, who stood still, silently watching him. 'The other fighters seemed to lack real intelligence, more like they were programmed rather than thinking beings... but maybe she's different and is trying to set a trap?'
'Yeah, that's probably it. The previous enemies were dumb on purpose to make me relax, and now this one is more intelligent, deliberately holding back her power to lure me into underestimating her. She's probably planning to suddenly unleash a devastating attack to take me down.'
Immediately, Mikael raised his internal guard to the highest level. Outwardly, he appeared calm, but inwardly he remained hyper-alert, ready to react to any sudden and overwhelming attack.
"Boom"
"Boom"
In the minutes that followed, as the fight continued, Mikael grew increasingly certain of his theory. The enemy cultivator continued launching Qi arrows at him, one after another, yet each arrow was slow and relatively weak, making them easy to evade. His movements allowed the arrows to either miss him entirely or strike the floor, where they either pierced several meters deep into the ground or created craters several meters wide, depending on the specific type of Qi arrow.
The woman grew visibly more 'frustrated' as Mikael continued to dodge every one of her shots. Eventually, she screamed, "Damn rat, stop evading!"
Mikael outwardly showed no reaction, calmly continuing to avoid her attacks. Inwardly, however, he firmly confirmed his suspicion. 'I was right. This opponent is definitely more intelligent than the previous ones, who behaved more like programmed constructs than real people!'
Growing increasingly impatient, the archer shouted, "Try to evade this, Aqua Dart Technique!"
The Qi arrow on her bow immediately transformed as she spoke. Water rapidly gathered around it, entirely changing its aura. It became smoother, imbued with the fluidity and adaptability of water itself.
'It's the moment of truth,' Mikael grimly thought. At that instant, the logical course of action would have been to immediately close the distance between them and kill her before she could unleash her undoubtedly powerful technique. However—
'It's way too obvious, so obvious that I'm nearly certain it's a trap. That's why I'll do exactly what she doesn't expect!'
Consequently, he didn't rush toward her to try to take her down before she could unleash her attack. No—he simply stood there, calmly watching as she formed her water arrow.
"Dieee!!" she loudly screamed as she released her technique.
Mikael inwardly rolled his eyes. 'It's so evident that she's overacting. I mean, who would genuinely act like that?'
The arrow, carrying a certain 'intangible' force that Mikael couldn't quite explain, rapidly crossed the distance between them. Although it still appeared somewhat 'weak', Mikael refused to underestimate an enemy who was a whole phase above him. He immediately decided to go all out.
Aura, fire mana, wind mana, and lightning mana wrapped themselves around his sword as he invoked his Elemental Sword Style at maximum power—pushing it to the highest level he could without impairing his fighting capacity or needlessly exhausting himself. Then, with extreme force, he slashed at the approaching arrow.
"Slash"
Expecting a fierce collision between their two techniques, Mikael was surprised when his black and blood-red longsword effortlessly sliced through the Aqua Dart Technique.
For a brief moment, he froze. But he quickly regained his composure, convinced that the 'weakness' of the enemy cultivator was yet another trap.
"Impposssibbble!" she shakily murmured.
Her words only reinforced Mikael's conviction that even this so-called powerful technique was part of a larger scheme. Unwilling to engage her in close combat—especially without knowing the 'true strength' of a Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator—he decided it would be safer to wear her down from a distance using powerful spells.
'4th circle fire spell, Fire Storm.'
An extremely powerful fire spell instantly manifested, covering a hundred meters around the archer in a sea of flames. Caught off guard, the archer wasn't able to move out of the spell's near-instantaneous range and was trapped in the heart of the blazing inferno.
Almost immediately, the woman's pained screams echoed throughout the battle arena as the intense flames licked at her skin, beginning to burn her rapidly. Her powerful body and Qi worked together desperately to shield her, but clearly, it wasn't enough—or at least, that's how it seemed—as with each passing second, her once fair skin became more and more blackened and burned.
"This…" For the first time since the fight had begun, Mikael started to doubt whether she was truly acting—or perhaps she really was this weak? For once, he wasn't certain, genuine doubt creeping into his mind. Yet, unwilling to risk falling into a potential trap, he maintained his distance and cast another more powerful spell without hesitation.
'5th circle fire and wind mixed spell, Fire Tornado.'
In the next moment, a raging Fire Tornado appeared, further imprisoning the archer in a sea of flames. This time, however, powerful winds violently circled around her, ensuring that she wouldn't be able to escape from this newly formed death zone.
The cultivator continued to let out agonized screams while frantically attempting to counter the Fire Tornado with various techniques. However, she clearly wasn't strong enough; the violent rotation of the tornado caused any damaged areas she managed to create to 'self-repair', making all her desperate efforts more or less meaningless.
In this manner, she continued to suffer increasingly severe damage until—
[5th Battle Trial: Duel Variation Complete.]
[Reward: Cultivation Aptitude Level 5 → Prodigious Cultivation Aptitude Level 1.]
[Do you wish to leave with the current reward, continue the Battle Trial: Duel Variation, or switch to another trial?]
[Leave]
[Battle Trial: Duel Variation]
[Choose Another Trial]
"She really was that weak?" he murmured dumbfoundedly. 'Isn't fighting an enemy a phase above supposed to be nearly impossible!? So how the fuck was she this weak? I would've been able to kill her using only my Vitalis-enhanced body!'
'At the time, I thought she was setting up some kind of trap, but now it seems that my body, passively enhanced by my Vitalis, is simply stronger than the body of a 1st-layer Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator… I was just overpowering her without even realizing it.'
Several seconds passed like this before Mikael, running a hand through his hair, finally realized, 'It seems that I'm stronger than I thought... but still, there's no reason to become arrogant. I must remain cautious against stronger enemies to avoid being caught off guard!'
'Currently, I possess a Prodigious Cultivation Aptitude of Level 1, which is already pretty good... but I want something even better—the best I can possibly achieve!'
With these determined thoughts in mind, Mikael initiated the 6th Battle Trial: Duel Variation, where he would now face a cultivator at the 2nd layer of the Spiritual Foundation Realm.
This battle unfolded in a very different manner compared to his previous fight against a Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator. Now that he knew he was stronger than he had initially believed, he wasn't nearly as tense or serious as he had been during his first encounter.
No, this time he deliberately took his time during the battle, using the opportunity to test himself and to truly understand how he compared against a 2nd layer Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator.
Throughout the fight, Mikael observed many things, but the most critical was that his body strength, durability, speed, and overall physical attributes remained a notch above even that of a 2nd layer Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator. Of course, this advantage was only maintained due to the passive enhancement from his Vitalis; without it, he knew he would be significantly weaker.
Once he had gathered all the information he needed, Mikael ended the battle by taking down his opponent with relative ease.
Unfortunately, when the fight concluded, he received some disappointing news—
[6th Battle Trial: Duel Variation Complete.]
[Reward: Prodigious Cultivation Aptitude Level 1 → Prodigious Cultivation Aptitude Level 1 (Points awarded but not enough to reach the next level. Continue to gain points to have your Cultivation Aptitude evolve.)]
Realizing that his Cultivation Aptitude would no longer evolve by simply defeating a single opponent, Mikael sighed in mild frustration before moving on to face his next adversary—a cultivator at the 3rd layer of the Spiritual Foundation Realm.
This new battle once again differed significantly from the previous ones. This time, the opponent was considerably stronger, enough that even Mikael's Vitalis-enhanced body was slowly but surely being overwhelmed.
The gap between them wasn't enormous, but it was real, and as the fight dragged on, it became increasingly apparent. Recognizing that relying solely on the passive boost from his Vitalis to test his limits was no longer a good idea, Mikael decided to become serious. He reactivated his aura cloak and simultaneously began to wield his Weightless Wind-Explosive Style and Elemental Sword Style in conjunction.
Instantly, the tide of the battle shifted completely. Mikael unleashed a powerful sword slash, aiming to cut the enemy cultivator cleanly into two perfect halves—or at least, that was what he imagined would happen.
In reality, although he did succeed in slicing his opponent in two as anticipated, it was far from being a clean or perfect division. Instead, the cut was uneven, and, more importantly, the resistance he encountered during the strike was unexpectedly intense—so much so that he actually struggled to complete the attack in a single blow. Logically, this shouldn't have happened. While it was true that the enemy's body was somewhat tougher and sturdier than Mikael's, the gap between them wasn't wide enough to justify such a noticeable level of resistance.
If Mikael, for instance, had attempted to withstand his own strike without the enhancement and protection granted by his aura, he wouldn't have stood the slightest chance of survival. His body would have been torn apart without question. Therefore, an opponent merely a little stronger than himself shouldn't have posed such a challenge to cut down.
And yet, Mikael didn't show any trace of surprise on his face, even though it would have been a natural reaction. Instead, his features hardened, and a grim expression took over as a heavy realization anchored itself in his mind.
'So it finally happened… the energy quality disparities!'
Author Note:
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