Chapter 397 Close Combat (1)
The Master of the Dojo was not a man of many words.
He exerted some sort of martial art technique as he clasped his hands together, creating a sound wave that swept through the entire pagoda.
The seven Valxians who had been fully focused on their task at hand were pulled out of the weird state they had entered.
Nial's range of perception perceived them once again but his focus was somewhere else.
"Elder Walin contacted me already. So you're the human she talked about?" The huge Valxian asked as he stood in front of Nial imposingly and looked down at him. Nial was less than two meters tall and he must look like a tiny dwarf to the Dojo Master.
However, Nial didn't allow this thought to influence his mind or let his confidence waver. He looked upward to smile straight at the Dojo Master.
"If she talked about a new challenger for the entrance test of the Thousand Body Refinements Dojo then yes, that's me!" He answered confidently while he held his chin high up.
Nial may not be able to see but his facial features, expression, and attitude were more than enough to make it clear that he was not someone to be underestimated.
The Dojo Master glanced over to Elder Walin before his eyes fell on the wingless Gryphon, whom he looked at keenly for a moment.
While it had been easy for Nial to enter Alliance City, the same couldn't be said about Ryu. The wingless Gryphon had to undergo various tests and his mana fluctuations were noted down while his blood sample was collected to be run tests on and the results to be uploaded to the database of the Alliance City's artificial intelligence.
Ryu was labeled as Nial's pet and he was responsible for the beast. The moment Ryu made trouble, Nial would have to take responsibility and he would receive his pet's punishment according to the severity of the crime Ryu committed.
"You have an interesting pet. I've never seen a wingless Gryphon, and he is a mutation that leans toward the darkness at that. If you decide to sell him, you would make a big fortune," The Dojo Master said, seemingly nonchalant before he turned his attention back to Nial.
"If you're ready to take the entrance test right now, I would be willing to become your judge!" The Dojo Master declared, which caused several Valxians to gasp in astonishment.
While the Valxians were astonished, Nial could only look around in confusion.
'Isn't it normal for the Dojo Master to be one of the judges to see if I'm good enough to get accepted, to begin with?' Nial wondered.
His knowledge of other races might be low but he could tell that most races were prideful. It was very important for them to increase their reputation and to ensure that their image would stay the best.
By accepting a troublemaker in the Dojo, its reputation would face a big hit if he were to stir trouble.
This was why Nial was confused about the reaction of the other Valxians.
"Seems like you don't know our customs well. If I were to be your judge, you are unlikely to get accepted in the Dojo if you cannot win against Khain because I'm a harsh judge. To put it simply, you either win and get accepted, or you lose and you'll become our servant for three months," The Dojo Master explained what had caused the reaction of the other Valxians calmly.
"I don't really care about that but why would anyone sane be willing to accept you as their judge then? I mean, it's possible that they might lose against the most recently joined member…" Nial was still not sure if he understood things correctly. Logically speaking, he should reject the Dojo Master's offer to let him judge their fight because it would mean guaranteed slavery for Nial if he were to lose against Khain.
Nial wanted to avoid becoming someone's servant, after all!
However, he was also interested in what the Dojo Master would say about his strength and use the given opportunity to find out more about all the techniques that were taught in the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo.
The Dojo's name had already piqued Nial's curiosity, which was also another reason for him to even consider joining the dojo without getting to know other dojos, organizations or whatsoever.
"You're just like Elder Walin said," the Dojo Master laughed lightly for a few seconds before he pointed at himself with a slightly more serious expression.
"If someone wants to join my Dojo, their reason is usually to attract my attention. They want to become my direct disciple and learn the secret techniques I've learned from my master, who learned it from his master, and so forth.
I was able to gain some glory and territory for my race in the last few centuries, which is why I was granted permission to come to Jundra and build my own Dojo despite my age," The Dojo Master sounded prideful as he spoke but that was only obvious if his words were the truth.
"So you are some bigshot at the Keltia rank? That makes sense then…" Nial said, trying to sound as if he had been convinced with the Dojo master's offer but that failed miserably.
Even if the Keltia rank was the highest rank someone on Jundra could have right now, it was not as if beings at the Keltia rank really stood a chance against other beings in the vast universe.
Maybe the Keltia rank was something special for some races with low innate talent but Nial had seen too much through the memories of the late God of Darkness to be fooled by it.
He had seen countless battlefields and the terror caused by real bigshots.
It was easy to tell that Nial was still a bit suspicious, which caused many Valxians a major headache. They wanted to thrash Nial into a pulp and beat some sense into him but they held back knowing that the Dojo Master didn't like getting interrupted when he was speaking to others.
"I wouldn't call myself a bigshot because I'm not that old yet, but I'm on my way to becoming a real bigshot!" The Dojo Master offered, and Nial began to smile lightly.
He liked the Dojo Master's personality quite a bit because one could tell that his words were sincere and that he said it without a trace of sarcasm.
There was no need for the Dojo Master to lie, to begin with, which was why he didn't do so. But that was not everything! Nial knew that his comment was a bit rude. He wanted to slap himself for one of his comments, yet, the Dojo Master kept treating him with respect without getting angry.
Nial was at a much lower mana core rank, of a different race, and without a special background or advantages that could be considered a reason for the Dojo Master to treat him nicely, but the tall Valxian treated him well, nonetheless.
"Is it possible to learn to control my emotions as well as you can?" Nial asked on a whim, feeling that the answer to this might give him even more reason to join Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo.
"I don't think that I'm particularly good at controlling my emotions. I just lead them in the correct way using the experiences I've gained and my martial art techniques to release them when I feel like releasing some of my anger or stress," The Dojo Master answered before he cleared his throat.
"But enough of our chit-chat for now. Do you want me to be your judge, or should Elder Walin evaluate your fight?" He asked seriously.
"Go for it, I don't mind," Nial retorted with a small grin.
He could tell that Khain was agitated at the way his teacher and the Dojo Master were being treated by the human. Khain didn't like Nial's attitude or his current behavior.
He was eager to defeat Nial and to show the Dojo Master that he was strong and talented enough to become his first direct disciple.
Thus, while Khain and Nial remained in the arena and the others made enough space for the two to fight, the young Valxian's emotions erupted uncontrollably.
Nial was not sure why Khain was so agitated but he felt that it was quite advantageous.
He took a deep breath, entered a neutral combat stance, and unleashed his hyper-sensitive senses and Mana Sense simultaneously. Everything on the first floor of the pagoda was perceived in the finest detail, whether it was the noises, vibrations, sounds, or visualization of Valxians and objects surrounding him.
"Ready…set…go!" The Dojo Master started the fight without hesitation and Khain burst forth in the same instance.
His huge body lunged forward and he crossed a distance of close to 200 meters in the blink of an eye. He pulled his right arm back and started to exert some martial art techniques that required a tremendous amount of mana to be utilized.
Nial circulated mana through his entire body before he changed his stance lightly. It was an inconspicuous movement but it was more than enough for him to be ready to move at any moment.
In less than a minute, Nial could tell that his physical strength was lower than the physical strength Khain could exhibit. However, the difference was not much because Nial had been in possession of Ancient Origin rings, which were a grade above Superior Origin rings.
Even if Khain was powerful and talented, he had only created Advanced Origin rings. Nial might not be stronger than Khain but his speed was roughly the same.
Furthermore, Nial had observed the fighting style of the youngest Valxian during the last three days.
That gave Nial the necessary leeway to react in time and to prepare a counterattack.
Khain's flat hand thrust forward when he reached Nial's proximity. His entire arm was covered in a compressed layer of steaming mana that shot straight toward Nial.
Nial would die the moment he was to face the attack head-on. The young Original moved at the last moment and he evaded the attack by twisting his body.
Khain missed him by a hair's breadth and his fist pierced into the ground where all the mana was released all of a sudden. A burst of mana shot in the ground, just for a second impact to erupt all of a sudden.
The first impact was enough to cut deeper into the ground but the second impact caused everything in a radius of one meter to be devastated. The ground had burst open and Nial was bombarded with the small stone fragments that shot through the surroundings.
He lost his footing, as well as the ground below his feet, turned into rubble. Khain used this opportunity to punch out with his other fist.
His right arm pulled out of the ground while he twisted his upper body to deliver a dangerous blow with his left hand.
Khain had changed the martial art technique he exerted in order to accelerate the speed of the push with his flat hand that didn't create a single sound.
It was deadly silent and goosebumps sprang up over Nial's entire body as he reconsidered what to do in a quarter of a second.
'Should I just use my dead energy…or a runic armament?' He wondered for a moment before deciding against both.
'Fuck it, I can whoop his ass without runic armaments!'