<And...we still have a connection! Ha! Told you our bonds were stronger than some uppity spatial attributed aether treasure!>
=Indeed, and it appears that Nepherage managed to successfully tag along. I suppose [Possession] still works as a loophole against such requirements. Will need to keep note of this for the future.=
<Theyâre technically one being when it happens, so it makes sense.>
=True.=
[Wait a minute,] Hurricroak interjected,[doesnât that mean two more of us couldâve tagged along into that pocket dimension? Technically speaking, one of us couldâve been part of the maestroâs aether armor while the other couldâve been his armament. That way weâre also "part" of him.]
=That...couldâve actually worked, yeah.=
<The only issue is that doing so isnât exactly subtle. Our lord is still pretending to be a "normal" Aether Master, Iâm pretty sure doing what you suggest wouldâve make him look like an Aether Lord at least.>
[You make it sound like thatâs a bad thing.]
<=It is when youâre trying to hide in plain sight.=>
[Bah!]
_____________________________________________
âGodsdammit I hate teleportation shit,â Zhen Liu complained immediately after teleporting to his new location.
A couple of seconds ago, Zhen Liu was standing in the middle of an arena, surrounded by people and having just finished removing his puppet(kaijin) accessories.
The next thing he knew, he was teleported into the middle of what he could only describe as a wetlands type biome. This biome was the same one several other contestants were teleported to, alongside three other ones consisting of a desert, a forest and a wide open field.
A part of him mused on the possibility in ending up one of those places instead of these wetlands, but it was too late to complain about it now.
The [Myriad Marble Garden]âs teleportation effect was practically immediate, meaning Zhen Liu didnât have any time to complain about it happening during the process either.
âAlright, lets take stock of my surroundings...and check on my connections...â
The sensation reminded Zhen Liu of entering a wandering ruin, that weird feeling of reality bending and breaking for a moment before reestablishing itself in an entirely different way. The big difference though was that the former had this sense of "naturalness" to it, while the warping from this aether treasure felt more artificial.
If Zhen Liu was to somehow compare the sensations of dimension hopping to anything more mundane, it was the difference between diving into the ocean and diving into a pool. Both got you soaked, but the sensation on the skin felt different.
âOkay, it appears my connections to the kaijin and to the library is still present despite being in this sealed off space. Neat. And the inside of my head feels like Nepherage is still there...you are still there, right?â
[Yes, milord,] Nepherage answered, [it appears I have managed to enter the treasure space alongside you. Although, I am also getting the sensation that I wonât be able to assist you like normal. Something about this space seems...off.]
âThatâs fine, its more than enough that you can help me channel aether arts. Now, lets go find whomever I need to defeat and-â
"Sir! The contestant is over here!"
"Finally! Iâve been getting bored waiting here!"
â-and wait for him to come out and challenge me directly I guess, neat.â
From his observations on how the other contestants had to deal with these weird marble biomes, Zhen Liu was under the impression that he would have to explore the inside of this pocket dimension for a bit before his opponents would actually appear for him to fight, since that was the most common series of events that he had witnessed before being sent into this pocket dimension himself.
Zhen Liu even figured that he would have to sneak around the area and take out his opponents one by one like a guerilla warfare film, one man vs an army kind of deal.
Instead, the elite warriors and squad of soldiers he had to fight had just shown up a couple feet in front of him like a bunch of hoodlums looking to cause trouble.
It especially didnât help that the elite warrior leading the group looked less like a disciplined soldier and more like a wild warlord, complete with a large muscular body, armor that only covered his torso and legs at most and the fact that he was dual wielding a pair of heavy looking maces. It was a rather sharp contrast to the Zhen Clan soldiers he was leading, who were all wearing full suits of armor and armed with spears. They had no shields, but that was probably by the design.
âOne, two, three, yeah okay, that appears to be all of them. Huh...I figured that I would have to work a touch harder than normal for this. A bit of a letdown honestly.â
A part of Zhen Liu was thankful that he wouldnât have to wait too long to fight these guys, another part of him was annoyed that they had decided to kill any possible fun that couldâve been had from using weird, sneaky tactics on them.
Regardless, he had assess to kick and these guys were apparently providing them.
âWait if Iâm sensing this correctly, those maces are actually Silver-grade aether treasures,â Zhen Liu thought to himself as he stared at the weapons in the eliteâs hands.
âWould it be wrong for me to steal those after I beat him?â
[Huh? Why would you want to steal those? Isnât your bone club stronger than those things?,] Nepherage pointed out.
âThe Daemonâs Bone? Well...technically? I donât think I ever got a clear answer on what rank it was...actually, now that I think about it, none of my equipment seem to follow the normal aether treasure rankings...huh...anyways, it wasnât going to be for me, I was thinking of it getting it for one of you guys. Figure I might as well get you guys some actual weapons as gifts or something like that.â
[Oh...thank you, milord.]
âAinât no thing. Anyways, I think I should probably open dialogue with this guy before-â
"So youâre one of those branch clan scions Iâve been hearing about? You donât look too impressive to me."
âOr I get interrupted and this guy starts monologuing like a weirdo. That works too.â
The elite warrior stopped a few feet away from Zhen Liu, giving himself plenty of room to intercept the latter if they tried to run pass him. As for the soldiers themselves, they were initially in a two by two formation trailing behind the elite until the latter had stopped. Once they were stopped, the soldiers immediately dispersed and began to surround Zhen Liu on four sides, with two at his back and two at his sides. Nobody was at the front except for the axe wielding warrior...who was sounding more and more arrogant by the second as he began to shit talk.
"Now, Iâm not sure which of the branch clan brats youâre suppose to be, but I donât care. All I know for certain is that you have the honor of being defeated by me, the great Yue Tai Lung, hero of the Jade Pine Siege and wielder of the Black Steel Hammers!"
"Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!," the Zhen Clan soldiers cheered after Yue Tai Lung made this statement.
At the sound of this cheering though, Zhen Liu eyes went wide as he stared at the cheering soldiers in sheer disbelief.
âOh good gods theyâre a cheer squad. I didnât think that in a world where-wait a minute, "Yue"? Not "Zhen"? Something about that doesnât seem right...â
"And once I smash you into pieces, I will be officially inducted into the inner circle of the Zhen Clan!"
âAh, there it is.â
"Now with that being said...[Lionâs Fury]!"
ROAR!
Yue Tai Lung let out an earth shattering roar as his aether circulated like mad and the image of a roaring lion seem to engulf his body. As this was happening though, the Black Steel hammers in his hands began to glow with a dark red color, making it look as if the solid black maces had transformed into balls of solidified magma made of pure rage.
Once this change had occurred, Yu Tai Lung didnât even attempt to suggest that Zhen Liu surrender or that he would end up as meat paste if he didnât dodge. Instead, he just charged straight forward with blinding speed and prepared to swing his maces in such a way that Zhen Liu would be stuck between two hard places that threatened to cave in his ribs and shatter his spine.
"Youâre as good as dead!"
Now, most people would probably end up panicking in such a situation, an Aether Masterâs power was nothing to scoff at.
But in Zhen Liuâs case, he couldnât help but feel a sense of deja vu.
âHuh...isnât this...the same tactic those Blood Boilers tried to do when I fought them? What did I do to defeat them again?â