"Finally," I said tiredly as I opened my eyes. Though I am quite tired, I am happy, I have finished refining the Mystic Energies from all the six Mystic Methods.

They would not be much help in Championship as their collective power is still weaker than my Armor and they are not that flexible as my Runic Armor but still, they will turn useful, with them I will not have to summon my complicated Armor for every small thing.

I just wished I had found a way to integrate Mystic Energies into my Armor, if that had happened then I wouldn't have feared to fight someone like Jill and Ellen.

I shook my head of those thoughts and got up, there is no meaning in thinking about them when they are not possible. I should focus on other methods that increase my strength for tomorrow's battle.

I looked at Holowatch and got up. The evening had come, it was time for me to cook dinner for my family. 

"Micheal, you don't have to cook today, you should focus on training; you have a big match tomorrow." My father said as I walked into the kitchen. He seemed very proud of me and believed that I will be able to win the battle tomorrow.

Unlike my father, my mother's eyes reflected reality as she looked at me worriedly. She seemed extra worried today, and I don't think the whole worry about me; it is likely about the thing that had been bugging her for quite a few days.

"Don't worry, father, all the preparations for tomorrow had been done," I said with a smile and played with my sister before I started to make dinner. 

Forty-five minutes later, I finished with dinner. We began to eat dinner while talking about the Championship.

"Ellen is very powerful. I did not think Ellen would be that powerful." said my father, his voice filled with awe I felt when I saw her release her strength. "True, an exception among the Knights." My mother added, hearing that I am not surprised.

No knight who had fought in the arena had shown the same power as them; even my fight paled completely in front of theirs.

"Micheal doesn't take too much stress." "Life is full of many things, winning and losing are just small parts of them." mother said when I was about to leave after the dinner. I don't know why; I felt like it contains a much deeper meaning than I am understanding. 

"Don't worry, mom, I will not lose my way even if I lose," I said to my mother, who just smiled softly at me.

I left the kitchen soon after and directly walked into my training room. I am planning to give my all in sessions of training; though I am very far from making any progress, I will still try.

If I am lucky, then I should be able to level up into the general stage; I have acc.u.mulated huge amounts of energy by eating crystals daily and now just a little more to make a breakthrough into the Marshal stage.

Marshal Stage! If I reached it today, my bond with Nero would completely solidify, and I will receive him. 

I couldn't help but feel slightly excited about it; Nero is a life made of Miracle fruit energy and given wisdom by that being hiding in the Garden, the ability he will provide me with will be quite shocking.

Or I might not receive any ability for that same reason, Nero is a special life, nothing could be said about him. 

So, I drank four drops of Soul Tempering Essence, one more than usual before I started practicing the tree method. 

It is quite difficult to practice the three methods, especially the Secret Method, with four drops. It makes me feel quite heavy, as there is a load of thousands of kilograms weighing down on my body.

Each drop adds quite huge pressure, making it quite challenging practicing the method. 

Three drops is my limit, but I had drunk three, doing that. I was kind of hoping to make the advancement into the Secrete Method, which I had not made since I returned from the ruin.

The advancement of the Secrete Method is unpredictable; one would never know when they will make advancement. 

Still, I was kind of hoping I would make it today; the strong soul would help me very much in the operation of my runic Armor.

Gulp!

I gulped down another piece of monster more as I reached the 15th Move of Body Cleansing Method and started performing poses inside it. Yesterday, I had reached the 73rd pose of the 15th move; it was extremely difficult to get there.

Today I was hoping to reach the 90th or at least 85th pose to feel Nero enough energy to reach the Marshal stage.

Crack Crack Crack...

I continued performing and reached the 70th pose and moved to the 71st pose when suddenly I heard a familiar cracking sound. 

The expression of shock couldn't help but appear on the face; I was hoping to make advancement into the Secrete Method but had not believed I would make it seeing the unpredictability of the Secrete Method.

Seeing the breakthrough came, I pushed both the Supreme Combat Exercise and Body Cleansing Technique until the blood started to go out of my nose and ears.

The Body Cleansing Technique is too far to take advantage of this advancement to make the advancement of itself; if I did not push myself beyond my limit then, there would be no advancement in the Body Cleansing Technique.

I need my body to go through 5th Grand Cleansing (15th Move); tomorrow, I will need a shred of strength to hang on the battle, not embarrass the people close to me.

So, I pushed myself as I had never before and gulped down all the monster cores I had been holding in my mouth; I did not reach 15th Grand Cleansing, then I will become extremely injured by these pieces of cores that I had eaten. 

Crack Crack Crack...Bang!

Finally, a faint bang sound rang out, and I found myself enveloped in the familiar darkness.