While the other Princes had retreated to their respective Kingdom Corners as the third trial grounds were prepared, Ryu obviously did no such thing. Instead, he quietly meditated near the edge of the arena, once more increasing his Mental Realm to its peak state.
He was very close to accomplishing his goals here. The first trap had already been laid. Now, all that remained for him to do was win. He didn't care how many odds were stacked up against him, nor did he care about the killing intent filled gazes that stared daggers toward him. If they believed that this was enough to shake the Heir of the Tatsuya Clan, they were sorely mistaken.
The bottom of the battle arena began to slowly split apart. It was a grand display, the image of several hundred meters worth of land giving way astonished the crowd that very rarely saw such displays. This definitely wasn't something that could be seen in the lower Planes and was the product of years of preparation, all for this day.
Soon, a small city scape raised up from below. It was surrounded by a ring of forest which was separated from the small-scale city by tall, ten-meter-high walls with a thickness of at least five meters.
From a cursory glance, this battlefield looked like a replica of the four Kingdoms, taking elements from each. The ring of forest was taken from Tor Kingdom, while the city structure was a replica of Opes Kingdom. Finally, the Palace was identical in appearance to Viri Kingdom's Viri Palace and the walls were the brainchild of Lantes Kingdom.
Overall, the small-scale replica was just over one kilometer in diameter. The ring of forest took up half of this scale, while the city made up its core.
There were four starting points the attackers could choose from, corresponding to the four cardinal directions. The reason for this was obvious after realizing that the tall walls had four points of entry. Attackers could either choose to concentrate their forces, or split them apart, while the defenders would have no idea which of these options they would choose.
Not long afterward, Ryu was escorted to the city Palace, which would obviously act as his own starting point. It was clear by this point that although the attacking roles were relatively balance, there was a severe disadvantage to the defenders. What were ten-meter-tall walls in the face of Qi Refinement experts? Even though they couldn't fly, there were various methods available to them to circumvent these measures.
"Is he really planning on doing this alone?"
No one knew who asked this question first, but the murmur gained momentum and eventually became a wave over the crowd. They couldn't understand what Ryu was thinking. Had he really not cultivated any backers for himself in his lifetime? Even if he was the youngest Prince here, wasn't that a bit too pitiful?
Ryu accepted the Kingdom Core. As expected, the Core was massive, spanning over fifteen meters in every direction. In addition, it was incredibly heavy, weighing almost fifty thousand jin – a weight that was well outside the output Ryu's body could handle.
Other than this, the Core was made of Breaking Ore. It was known for its incredible density and absurd fragility. Its chemical structure was such that even a decently powerful teenage mortal could shatter it into pieces as long as they had striking power of about one hundred jins. Because of this, Breaking Ore, was looked down upon by almost everyone. Who would want such an obnoxiously heavy material that could break apart so easily?
However, when Ryu saw this Breaking Ore, sensing it with his foggy Spiritual Sense, he smiled brightly. His ran his hand over its transparent exterior. After confirming his thoughts, he couldn't help but feel happy.
Breaking Ore was an odd material. In its current state, it would be a beautiful crystalline if it wasn't for the fact the flecks of black and grey impurities pervaded its body. As things stood, it really was only useful to be used in such a trial. It was difficult to move without breaking, yet it was heavy beyond belief.
So why was Ryu happy? Because he knew well what this material could become if refined properly. After all, it was labeled as an 'Ore' for a reason!
Neutron Star Core was both the densest and hardest material in the world. Ryu's Chaotic Silk meridians ranked third on the list of hardest materials in the world. Although Breaking Ore couldn't stand up to these world defying materials, Refined Breaking Ore, or Breaking Crystal, was ranked twenty-second on the list of hardest materials!
This wasn't all either. If it was just about being the hardness, Ryu would hardly blink an eye. Hardness was great, but it was only valuable it had other properties. For example, Chaotic Silk was also incredibly light, while Neutron Star Core was incredibly dense. As for Breaking Crystal, it ranked top three among the most flexible materials in the world, and top ten in Qi Flow!
This flexibility index wasn't a simple matter of being able to bend, it also calculated the ability of a material to come back to its original form even after being deformed – this was a measure of elasticity. This sort of ability was invaluable in weapons. Not only would it mitigate the striking power of an opponent, it would also allow smoother attack patterns and an added unpredictable in said patterns.
In addition, a material Qi Flow index decided how smoothly it could accommodate its owner's qi. Those that ranked so highly had a high threshold for the amount of qi it could withstand.
Ryu could imagine great things for this material. If he used it as the material for his weapons' pole arms, he'd never have to worry about his weapons snapping under the weight of his strikes. However, this was only the tip of the iceberg. Just how amazing would Breaking Crystal be if refined into a long bow? Not only would its innate density make it capable of withstanding Ryu's use of the Natural Order Sect's heirloom, it would be outstanding as a bow even without it!
That said, Ryu knew he was getting ahead of himself. While the polearm and body of a bow were important, the blade and respective bowstring was just important. He would definitely have to take his time to find material worthy of being paired with this Breaking Crystal. He would also need to find a blacksmith with the skill to refine this ore properly.
Who would have known that the Mortal Plane would have such a treasure? This Ore would fetch a great price even on the former Shrine Plane. And, it was likely that this wasn't the only Breaking Ore they prepared for this trial, after all, didn't they expect Ryu to lose? That would mean that they expected his Breaking Ore to be shattered. Although the Breaking Ore was currently massive, after being refined, Ryu would be lucky to receive even a cubic foot out of this fifteen cubic meter block.. He'd definitely pillage these wasted resources. Since they wanted to kill him, why not take advantage of them?