A crystal-clear, translucent golden film appeared around Admiral Rudra, coating his body like still water. The aura even extended over his clothing, a sign of an advanced Fortification. Maintaining this seamless connection from skin to clothing was no easy feat—projecting Fortification outward without losing the bond to the skin required mastery at a high level.
“You must keep the entire pathway of the chakra network consistent, and no chakra point must connect to more than one. Assign a starting chakra point and an ending chakra point while connecting all chakra points into a seamless network.”
Almond nodded, immediately closing his eyes and focusing inwardly as he began.
“Keep at it. I’ll return in half an hour to finish some procedures concerning your entry into GAA.”
Half an hour later, Admiral Rudra returned and saw Almond as he promptly recognized a proper activation of Fortification on his body.
“Good. Now, let’s begin your evaluation for your profile.”
“Profile?” Amond blinked.
“Like this,” Admiral Rudra showed his profile.
[Rudra Deva]
-Platinum-rank / level 118
-Combat Power: A-10
-Combat Arsenal:
—Physical Enchantment—
↳ Stage 3 Strength Boost: level 10.
↳ Stage 3 Focus Field: level 10.
↳ Stage 3 Fortification: level 10.
—Aura Enfold—
↳ Stage 3 Body Enfold: level 10.
↳ Stage 3 Weapon Enfold: level 10.
—Mana Transmutation—
↳ Stage 3 Elemental Mimicry.
↳ Stage 3 Complex-Combine Mimicry.
—Flow State—
↳ Stage 3 Overdrive.
↳ Stage 3 Overload.
“Admiral Rudra, are you perhaps the highest stage in all Mana techniques?” Almond asked while wondering about Admiral Rudra’s combat power.
“Let me tell you a secret. My profile is classified solely to me,” Admiral Rudra said, a faint smile playing on his face. “I’ve shown it to only three other people, and you are the fourth one. As for your question, yes. I am the one who explored, developed, and coined names of these techniques, so I am indeed at the highest possible for now.”
“W-What?” Almond was dumbfounded.
“Well, I wouldn’t say I did this all on my own,” Admiral Rudra chuckled. “I had found an interesting book on the 2nd Floor of the Labyrinth nine years ago. It showed that Mana hid more mysteries than just using it to execute skills. It was a damaged book and didn’t have detailed information, but whatever knowledge it had, I had used it to research and explore possibilities with Mana to reach this stage.”
GAA was indeed at the forefront in terms of people with a higher mastery of Mana techniques. For the public of adventurers, it was because GAA was researching more on this, but it turned out that it was this old man who solo carried the whole research! Although he had a damaged book, it was surely his insight, talent, and aptitude that allowed him to research this.
‘That makes sense. In my previous life, there were also these Mana techniques, with minor changes in name…’ Almond remembered some techniques. ‘It could be someone or a group also found that book in my last life’s world and researched these techniques.’
“That’s awesome. I wonder how much these techniques can increase one’s power,” Almond asked in wonder. ‘I hear Mana Transmutation can give elemental properties to our Mana…but I don’t know much about it and Flow State since such information wasn’t on the library or news.’
Hearing Almond’s question, Admiral Rudra chuckled, “Well, I am not bragging when I say that I am strongest in one vs one. Nobody can defeat me alone even if I don’t use any of my class skills…” Experience more on мѵʟ
Pausing a bit, he added with a glint in his eyes, “At least, nobody from our world.”
“Our world?” Almond’s pupils shrank. “Are you saying there are people from other worlds here?”
“That is what my intuition is saying after the information I have perceived and unnatural things I’ve noticed,” Admiral Rudra nodded. “I can’t help but feel that there’s more to this Grimworld’s Tutorial than meets the eye and that some people of our world have made contact with them, especially the dark organizations.”
“I believe you,” Almond somberly said. “I have some knowledge, but it’s incomplete. I need to clear Labyrinth floors to get that, but I am sure that it will be of great help to us. All I can tell for now is that something big will happen once the 10th labyrinth floor’s floor boss is defeated.”
In Almond’s past life, the 10th floor was cleared soon after he became Adventurer, and he knew something had happened, but the memory wasn’t clear. He needed to clear the 2nd Labyrinth Floor to find that out properly.
Admiral Rudra raised his eyebrows upon hearing Almond’s words and tone, “It seems you have some secret. Alright, I’ll wait until you are ready to tell me. For now, let’s begin your evaluation so that I can create your profile.”
“Let’s do it,” Almond grinned, slightly excited.
…
*BOOM!*
Almond punched the crystal cube.
“Good, Stage 1 Level 10 Strength Boost. I’ll guide you on Stage 2 once you cross 100 points in all three Physical stats. Now use your Focus Field as best as you can and keep it for 1 min without any change.”
Almond did as told while Admiral Rudra’s eyes gleamed, observing Almond’s Focus Field.
After a minute, he nodded at Almond. “Deactivate it. Your Focus Field had a 32-meter radius consistently for 1 minute—that’s stage 1 level 3 Focus Field. Next, activate Fortification.”
Almond did as told, activating Fortification within 2 seconds.
“Not bad, that was fast. Now, stand still and grit your teeth. This will hurt a bit,” Admiral Rudra rolled up his right sleeve and, in the next second, punched Almond.
*Smack!*
Almond’s Fortification shattered as he was flung several meters away, but in the next second, a wave of healing showered over him as all pain and injury vanished.
He could only release a hollow laugh in response as he got up, “That’s one way to test Fortification, alright.”
Admiral Rudra laughed, “The fastest way is for me to personally test it. Based on what I felt, you can keep your Fortification up for 60 minutes easily due to your fine mana control, and it boosts your overall body toughness by 24% of your original toughness—that makes your Fortification at Stage 1 Level 2.”
“Alright, now use Body Enfold.”
Almond nodded, using Body Enfold as an airy light blue aura spread around him, reminding him of Dragon Ball Z’s super saiyan mode, but less showy and small, more closely to the body.
“Punch me with your full strength.”
Almond blinked before he grinned and didn’t hold back as he punched Admiral Rudra with his full power.
*Boom!*
Naturally, Admiral Rudra had Fortification activated, so not even his clothes got damaged, let alone him.
‘I expected it, but still…’ Almond wryly smiled.
“Not bad. Your Body Enfold increases your Physical Stats by 27%—That’s stage 1 level 2 Body Enfold, and you’re already close to reaching level 3.”
“Next, use Weapon Enfold in your sword.”
Almond took out his Preying Hunter’s Sword. He had already trained 10 hours solely in Aura Enfold at first, so he was proficient in using it with this weapon.
Admiral Rudra observed it for a moment and said, “Extend its range as much as you can while keeping Weapon Enfold activated. Its aura must not budge even in a bit.”
Almond nodded, his expression focused. The sword’s length range increased by half a meter, and its blade width also increased. One must know that the extended ranges, although not physical, share the same level of power as the boosted sword.
It was essentially like the sword had gotten bigger and longer while getting the boost from Weapon Enfold.
“Attack me.”
Admiral Rudra saw Almond’s wrist and body resonating as his sword slashed, and a hint of amazement appeared in his eyes. ‘This kid is indeed monstrous with the sword. His vibe entirely changes subtly when he wields it. That’s perfect slash imbuing the flow and power of his entire body.’
*Slash!*
“Wonderful. You managed to increase your weapon’s attack power by 48%,” Admiral Rudra wryly smiled. “Your rate of improvement with Weapon Enfold is absurd, alright.”
“True, but I think it’s only when I use a sword,” Almond said before he shrugged, “Well, I am not going to use anything other than swords, so that’s fine by me.”
“Your Mana control is already high, so when you studied this sword and activated Weapon Enfold, it paired well, allowing you to reach a higher boost in Weapon Enfold than Body Enfold.”
“So I need to study my body better to allow for a better execution of Body Enfold? Got it,” Almond smiled.
“The last evaluation is of your combat power, but it’s better that you do this in Firefly City,” Admiral Rudra smiled as he showed a hologram screen to Almond from his wristwatch.
“Special Hunter?” Almond read it out loud, surprised. “What’s that?”
“A new position in GAA for you.”
“Ehh?”
Soon, Admiral Rudra explained why he did this.
Apparently, Admiral Rudra had decided to create a special position for him in Firefly City’s GAA branch to allow him more freedom than usual new low-rank members. After all, Almond was capable of clearing Labyrinth Floors at higher cycles and stronger than his usual rank.
This would scream bias and make him look like a case of nepotism, but it was Almond’s job to shut them up, which was why he decided to let Almond hold the last evaluation to determine his Combat Power at the Firefly City’s GAA branch.
“Alright, your profile’s completed. I am going to send it to the GAA branch in Firefly City. Your jet is also ready, so you can depart after half an hour.”
Admiral Rudra handed a wristwatch to Almond—an advanced Magitech device that was like a minicomputer. It acted as a mobile phone with ‘Magic Whisper’ ability and information source.
Wearing it on his wrist, Almond checked his profile.