"A spar?" Apostolos questioned, staring at Rory with confusion. "Now of all times?"

"Yeah."

"Not really like you to be the one to ask so out of the blue."

"I know," Rory said, rolling his shoulders. "But it's been a long time since my last ascension. I've honestly started to forget what a fresh ascension feels like."

"And so, you want to spar because…?"

"Fastest way to get a feel for the new capabilities," Rory said with a shrug. "So, are you game or nah?"

"Well, I'm low on anima so-"

"I'll pull my punches," Rory said instantly.

"Fine." Apostolos finally agreed, giving in.

"Oh, but one condition." Rory cut in before Apostolos could add anything else. "I don't want you to hold back. Like… At all."

"For real?"

"Yeah, come at me like you're trying to kill me," Rory confirmed.

"If you say so," Apostolos answered. He doubted he could do so with his master now having a full-tier advantage, but it was still strange to be requested to fight as if he were trying to kill him.

Taking their paces, a hundred instead of ten, given they were far beyond any earth-human reflexes, the two watched each other as Eia remained off the side.

"On Eia's mark," Rory called out, nodding toward the serpent.

Apostolos gave a curt downward nod to acknowledge that he understood as the two waited on Eia. The serpent raised her tail, hardening it to crystal as she prepared to wave it downward like a flag.

Apostolos held his breath, knowing that while in their prior spars, they had been… even-ish, there would likely be a rather stark difference now.

Rory, meanwhile, continued to roll his shoulder as he tested the feeling of his ascension-boosted body.

After what felt like an eternity but couldn't have been more than a few seconds, Eia swung her tail downward as Apostolos shot forward like a blazing comet, his scythe trailing like the tail of a meteorite.

Rory, conversely, stood absolutely still.

As Apostolos neared Rory, he swung his scythe, nearly a dozen sunlight rays charging for a split second before firing. At the same time, he spun himself through the air like the world's deadliest top, driving his glowing fist toward Rory's face, empowered with the memories of thousands of past punches. As if that weren't enough, his entire body seemed to glow with sunlight, drawing on his solar aspects to add heat to his muscles to subtly boost his performance.

Rory continued to stand still.

Apostolos wasn't an idiot; he knew it was a very bad sign that his master hadn't even twitched a single muscle, a consideration that raced through his mind in barely the blink of an eye. Still, the only thing Apostolos could do was commit. His fist swinging downward toward his master like a crashing star, the tier six version of his master wouldn't have been able to avoid the strike as close as it was within a mere inch or two.

That was the tier six version of his master.

In the blink of an eye, it was as if his master had vanished. Apostolos was sent flying in that same instant as a fist connected to his cheek.

Tumbling through the air, Apostolos crashed down on the ground hard, but that didn't stop him from springing up, looking to defend himself.

Except it almost didn't matter. His master was upon him again, a knee drive slamming straight into his gut as Apostolos folded over. In the same instant, he was again launched like a ragdoll-ed toy.

How?

His master had said that he'd put some attributes toward strength, and the general ascension boost grew with each tier, but this was a monster of a difference.

As Apostolos attempted to gather his bearings, he was again pummeled to the earth, this time by a two-handed hammer strike that drove him flat on his face into the ground, struggling to catch his breath. Not having a physical body meant that he couldn't take physical wounds, sure, but he could still feel the effect of having the wind knocked the hell out of him.

How?

The only thing he could think of was that the boost was far greater than they expected, but why would that have been-

Oh. Shit. Right.

Clicking all at once, Apostolos understood the little tidbit he'd forgotten.

A7 wasn't just any ascension. Many considered A4 a significant milestone, as it was the first time someone would undergo significant qualitative growth as their race was upgraded from the E bracket to the D bracket.

And A7 just happened to be when someone would leave behind the D bracket for the C bracket.

Well, I'm right done screwed, aren't I?

What followed couldn't even really be considered a spar as Rory mercilessly beat down Apostolos.

For fifteen minutes.

"Alright!' Apostolos finally croaked, his immaculate body failing to do justice to the pummeling he'd received. "I give, I give! Jeez!"

Blurring form freezing, Rory stopped inches from Apostolos's fallen form, a grin on his face.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Can't lie, that felt cathartic." Rory chuckled.

"You realized right away, didn't you?"

"Bingo, but I couldn't remind you, or you would have said no," Rory said.

"Ass," Apostolos grunted as he staggered to his feet. It was good that his master had done nothing more than basic physical strikes, or he would have found himself respawning back in Ekhorrus within the first minute or two.

"I'll admit, a tiny little trick was also involved."

"You weren't using illusions, were you?"

"Nah," Rory dismissed the suggestion. "But I was taking advantage of my newest skill. More of a passive skill, to be honest."

"Wait, I thought you can't get combat skills."

"Can't. Not without technicalities. Anyway, it wasn't a combat skill, but this."

Flicking a finger toward Apostolos, the younger man furrowed his eyes as he read the skill that Rory had just sent him.

"I don't understand what it means."

"It's vague as hell, that's for sure," Rory answered. "But I picked it up pretty quickly."

"What's 'it,' and how did you do that?"

"' It' refers to the fact that I've got a sense for… how should I say, the 'weak points' that exist everywhere. I can tell at a glance the best way to strike some of these stones to mine them, the splits in your armor that would be best to start from if I wanted to reforge areas, etc."

"And how did that help you?"

"Because I noticed something else, but I think it has more to do with my eye skill having a positive interplay with it," Rory said. "I can sense the seams in things you wouldn't think have seams. Such as the air."

"The air?"

"Sure. Air resistance plays a large part in reducing acceleration and the like. So, what if you just… split the air resistance?"

"And how the hell would you do that?" Apostolos asked, flummoxed.

"I won't lie; that's part of why I spent so much time beating you."

"I was a Guinee pig," Apostolos said.

"You were a Guinee pig," Rory confirmed. "And what I learned is, it's shockingly easy. A blade of pneuma thinner than the eye can see, splitting the air in front of you. It's a good thing I've been practicing my skills due to relying so much on projection magic over the years, or I'm doubtful I could have done it so quickly. The increased pneuma attribute probably doesn't hurt either."

"Right, well, thanks for the heads up." Apostolos sighed.

"Oh, chipper up," Rory offered him his hand as Apostolos grabbed it, letting himself be pulled to his feet. "You should be happy. When you were younger, you were all worried that I would stagnate and that you'd surpass me."

"Yeah, my mistake was ever worrying about you." Apostolos rolled his eyes as Rory belted out a laugh.

Eia had seemingly grown tired of waiting on the side, slithering up as she batted her head under Rory's hand, her intent obvious.

"Proud of me, eh?" Rory said as he proceeded to rub the ridge between her eyes. "Not too bad if I say so myself. I'll say that I'm damned glad I haven't tried my luck against the Tyrant of Earth and Scales before now. Given this boost's significance, it would have slaughtered us if it were on the level of a tier-seven monster."

"Do monsters even get the same breakpoint boosts as we do?" Apostolos suddenly questioned, glancing at Eia for the answer.

Eia flicked her tongue out, otherwise showing no direct answer.

"Very helpful," Apostolos muttered. "So then, time to head back?"

"Time to head back, indeed."

The return trip was…. Rather unexciting, everything considered. The only area of question was the plains where the tier seven badger lived. Still, with his improvement to A7, Rory could mask them without much trouble using his illusions and the effects of his projection magic.

By the time they'd returned to the Khan of Blue Lightning's temple, the massive serpent was nowhere to be seen, likely already resting, its version of a catnap that Rory had no intention of disturbing.

Teleporting to the surface, the three of them took the scenic route back, but not before Rory messed with Apostolos some more by juggling the precious void diamond. With all three of them at least tier-six, they could have made the trip back in less than three minutes, even at a jog -slither in Eia's case- but not everything always had to be done at max speed; therefore, they walked at a regular human's pace, spending several hours enjoying the day.

Finally returning, the three stopped outside the three walls of Ehkorrus, frowning.

"So…. There wasn't a siege wave scheduled, right?"

"No, considering the last one was not even half a year ago," Rory answered.

"Sure is a lot of dead monsters."

"Sure is." Rory agreed.

"Dead monsters are better than dead people."

"Sure is," Rory repeated.

Making their way to the city proper, they were relieved to see not a single dead person and the city itself untouched. There were clear signs of a high-level battle almost directly outside the main gate, but still no dead citizens.

Instead, they saw a team of tier-threes, whose names escaped Rory, piling the monster corpses on a cart.

"Founder Rory, Chief Protector Apostolos, Guardian Beast Eia!" The team nearly jumped out of their skin as they noticed the trio. "You're back!"

"We're back," Apostolos answered dryly. "What happened here?"

"Minions of the Bane appeared and launched a large-scale assault on us. Were it not for team MVM, we likely wouldn't be here."

"How did they get past our defenses?" Rory questioned, sounding offended at the mere thought that the defenses he'd spent so much time constructing and teaching others how to work with had been defeated.

"They circumvented them. From what we understand, they had some… artifact, which might be the best way to describe it, that shut down the offensive components of the walls. The walls weren't harmed, but with our defensive turrets shut down, our defenders were forced to pull back, unable to cover that much ground. With the walls abandoned, the void walkers and their little bug army could freely bypass them."

"Right," Rory grunted, feeling a tad bit better. "And team MVM?"

"Violet was in rough shape from what we heard, but they're all fine now."

"She was in rough shape?" Apostolos questioned, sounding more worried than he likely realized.

"Yes. They engaged a tier-six monster that stayed behind after the rest went insane and started to murder one another. I've heard she used a rather intense boosting skill, but I didn't see it myself. After all, we aren't high enough tier to have been allowed near the front line."

"All Monarchs Burn," Rory answered instantly. "She came to me shortly after she first took the skill. After we gave it a test… I can see why she was in rough shape afterward."

Boosting skills weren't uncommon, but there seemed to be levels of intensity they could get. Rory was one of the rare few 'combatants' without a typical boosting skill; his form of boosting was simply that he could mentally process things many times faster than those of a similar tier as himself. Aside from his personal oddness, the rest of the combatant types of Ehkorrus had picked up at least one boosting skill, most limited to generic baseline heart rate and blood flow acceleration.

All Monarchs Burn, as far as Rory could tell based on their still somewhat limited sample size, was an extremely potent boost in comparison, rivaling what he'd managed with his blood weaves in the past. After she'd tested the skill with his supervision, they had quickly understood that it was a skill that could quite literally burn you alive in only a short few minutes at most.

So, if she was forced to use that to fight a tier-six, and she was in rough shape after, but she's doing okay now…

Connecting the dots, Rory quickly caught on to the implication. Giving Apostolos a quick side-eye, faster than his former apprentice would notice, Rory further confirmed that Apostolos had not figured it out, the worry on his face clearly clouding his thoughts.

Hah. He's in for quite the shock.

"Well, I think we should pay them a visit," Rory said nonchalantly as Apostolos nodded with more vigor than he likely intended.

"I don't know about the whereabouts of the other two, but I heard that Violet can be found with Lady Irene at the warehouse."

"Thanks, uh…." Rory floundered, forgetting their names.

"Thank you, Jenny, Aaron, and Dolon. We'll head over right away." Apostolos cut in, saving Rory from himself.

The three bowed-

Seriously, bowing. Is that necessary?

-as Rory, Apostolos, and Eia took their leave.

Nudging his hand once, Rory glanced at Eia, who quickly turned her head elsewhere.

"Off to go do some of your own things? Sure, probably will be… maybe three weeks until I plan to leave."

Eia nodded once before the snake quickly slithered opposite them, intending to return to the forest for some hunting or whatever she did for fun.

"We should probably hurry up," Apostolos said, his voice hiding a hint of worry that forced Rory to hold back a chuckle.

"Yeah, we really should." Rory agreed, taking everything he had to keep a straight face.

Oh man, this is going to be great.

He couldn't wait to see the look on Apostolos's face when he realized that Violet had caught up to him.

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