“Yeah, that’s the most difficult training for fine manipulation, I have fine manipulation at level 100 and it’s still difficult to do the most basic version, the one who created that is a true-blue genius.”

Gar was showing Rune and the rest of the group one of the famous energy puzzles that were becoming a discipline by itself.

It was a fusion of energy compression and grand manipulation to create the pieces, but everything else like assembling the puzzle and then resolving it was managed by fine manipulation.

“I can assure you that you can’t resolve the basic version and that even with this, the creator didn’t reach tier 2, maybe it’s like Rune said and you need a battle to the death or maybe you just need time like the accumulation theory says, but if the technique of Rune work then we’ll get an advantage,” Gar said what he had to said and left the place to the next.

It was Utopia’s turn, and his eyes were fixed on Rune, and he wasn’t blinking, so Rune started to feel that maybe the ardor of youth was influencing what he was going to say.

“I’m at level 100 for my 3 physical fundamentals, so I want to try fighting Rune now, this way I’ll see if I can advance just like that, and if not then it’s still win-win,” it was the comeback of heroic Utopia’s tone of voice, his charisma as a rululu was even influencing Rune.

‘I can’t treat him like my little brothers or sisters, he’s at the same level as me, so why not.’

Confirming his choice he answered; “Ok.”

And so they took position while the other retreated but kept in range of their sphere.

“Want some role-play? You’re the young hero while I’m just crazy?” Rune said before they started.

“Do it if you think that it’ll not affect your ability to fight,” a hint of hot-bloodedness passed through Utopia’s eyes, and Rune saw it, so he answered it.

Smiling like a child, Rune made a move he wanted to try, maybe it would fail, but maybe it would prove something.

“I hope you’re ready to die because what I’m going to inflict on your health isn’t really… Religious? Well, you’re Utopia the hero so I don’t need to worry right?”

Rune concentrated and felt his ether soul, he changed the disposition of his awareness to enter optimized battle mode with 80% of his awareness focused on his sphere’s sensitivity.

He did not doubt that he wasn’t the only one who could do it, maybe, and probably, Utopia did the same.

Then he carefully extracted his ether soul tier 2 energy and infused it in his whole awareness, and time slowed down, but it seemed to consume the next tier energy so he stopped its use, reserving it for later.

To make a true effect, Rune reinforced his hands with energy and then used reinforcement, he made his energy vibrate a lot more than necessary and clapped his hands.

It was a success, a very loud clap resounded through the Deep Void, and immediately after that, Rune adopted a crazy smile. It was time for a hobby he liked, acting.

“Little Utopia, how could you dare think of going against me, with your puny skills, hehehe… He He He!” Having said, done, and acted everything creepily, he could see Utopia being affected, so Rune clapped multiple times waiting for Utopia to move.

Utopia approached, appearing very much at ease for someone who didn’t use a platform to propel himself, but as he approached and Rune continued to clap, he seemed to hesitate but ultimately still decided on a collision course.

‘A direct engagement is it?’

“Pretty daring little Utopia, why not say a countdown before I kick your chest, 10, 9, 8, hehehe! It’s approaching so quickly, hehehe!” The creepy laugh was everything in what he was preparing to do.

Confident in his chance, Utopia didn’t stop, saving Rune the trouble of engaging, a platform appeared below his feet, it was the working prototype of his wanted moving platform spell.

Now engaging in close combat, Rune told one last line, “There is no escape anymore little rululu, you chose your own fate, so accept what follows, He! He! He!”

Infusing his tier 2 energy in his entire awareness, time slowed down, it was only very slight once he really tested it, and with his reserve, he could maintain it for 10 minutes, enough for anything safe from razing a nest.

But with this slightly slowed perception, he saw all the flaws in Utopia’s movement thanks to his tier 2 fighting instinct that unexplainably increased his combat observation and reaction beyond 100%.

So he just waited, and after he saw what he wanted to see, he even continued his countdown.

“3, 2,” Rune swayed to the right, modifying Utopia trajectory to collide where he wanted to, somewhere around his high chest,

“1,” Rune reinforced his body, then with something that no one here was even aware was possible, he simply kicked.

“0,” and then Utopia was sent flying.

A sway from his opponent made Utopia hesitate and adjust ever so slightly, and then Rune reinforced himself using 100 energy and kicked Utopia in the stomach before he could react, exploding his energy armor and sending him flying.

He just knew Utopia was too focused on his movement, so Rune’s swaying took Utopia off guard.

“Seems that you’re trapped here with me now that you opened the hostilities, hehehe! Let me show you what made someone attain tier 2, I call it… Death?” Infused energy words flew out of Rune's mouth, waking Utopia from his daze.

…

‘My momentum couldn’t even react to this simple entry-level move.’

Utopia was used to involve his momentum in everything, and his soul specialty was in fact the reason.

Natural Momentum

Soul Specialty (Tier 1)

Your momentum is different, it’s not something you want, it’s something you are, where others have to imprint their will onto reality, you just have to will for it to happen, momentum is your will, momentum is in your nature.

Reduce by a static 50% the spiritual power needed to reach your maximum momentum speed. Minor momentum manipulations are easier to use.

If Flandre Scarlet's theme, “UN Owen was here” could play, it would reflect Utopia's current state of mind, he was the weak hero going against the secret end boss.

(“UN Owen was here” original, or the better version “Crimson Trap Arrangement UN Owen was here” https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F1QAD5hB5go&list=RDAMVMF1QAD5hB5go)

And the end boss was not the cliche waiting type, he was intelligent and wanted to eliminate the young hero.

Rune propelled himself with his new movable platform spell, and attained a higher speed than possible with his momentum weakened by 50%, so it was pure strength-based speed, but giving up never passed through his mind.

‘As fluid as ether, it’s time to shine. It’s not a spar, it’s a battle for survival, and my energy armor is already broken.’

Keeping his calm, he took the initiative to avoid the charge of Rune.

But at this level, momentum, even above what was controllable, could be somewhat oriented, and Rune just proved that he had the level.

“You can try to fight but it’s already over little one…”

And once again before he could react, he didn’t see anything, his sphere sent nothing back, his eyes were off, he took another strike, this time a knee strike in the stomach, and the boss put his hands around Utopia's neck.

Survival instinct took over and Utopia kicked with a focused momentum, but his kick was blocked preemptively by another kick.

Rune approached his head and whispered to him like he had no worry, “That’s your all? You can try and cry for help, nobody is going to save you, oh, I just got an amazing idea… Can you hear your heartbeat?”

‘What a strange question to ask, what is he playing at?’

He still tried to struggle but every one of his strikes was blocked, nothing he did worked.

“Yes, your heartbeat, but did you know that you can lose your heart and nothing will happen? I experienced it when I died, hehehe. Now, let me help you with that, you’re my rival, but you’re too weak!”

An energy spike compressed in Rune’s hand, and while looking into Utopia’s eyes, he pierced where a rululu’s heart was.

‘What…?’

Completely mind-blown by what Rune just did, Utopia stopped his struggle, he could feel the heat leaving his body, something he knew should have continued beating stopped immediately.

Then he was freed, Rune backed while looking him in the eyes.

“It seems that your own countdown just started, can you feel your body dying? Tiktak, Tiktak… Weren't you ready to face death? Why not now? Come and try to fight, you’ll not advance to tier 2 like this! Hahaha! Do you know the perfect music for this occasion? Let me try to hum it for your last moment! It’s one we discussed together, let me hum it for you… Talala La!”

Utopia could only watch as Rune laughed hysterically while he started to clap with a rhythm that he knew and a hum he recognized to accompany it.

‘The “Spider Dance” by Holder…’

(Spider Dance - Remix by Holder https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5RQBDwjlvro&list=RDAMVM5RQBDwjlvro)

And then the only thought in his mind was to fight the madman in front of him, it was who he was, a hero and the hero died fighting the villain or ended up becoming one.

With clouded eyes, uncontrolled youth hormones, and heroic desires surging from nowhere, Utopia created a platform and propelled himself at Rune.

He could remember a moment when all the heat left his body and seeing that he didn’t bleed anymore, he heard Rune say something before being kicked hard in the head, “No break for you!”

And then he continued to hear the clap, the incessant clap.

Until a moment, when he suddenly felt his mind-clearing and time slowing down, Rune was still observing him with glittering eyes, but now he couldn’t hear the spider dance anymore.

As the exchange continued, he finally felt that he could respond when Rune kicked him, but after he blocked 3 times, the clapping speed increased and the spider dance rhythm returned to what it once was, but time was still slowed.

“Young hero! Come! Be freed from the constraint of reality! Let your mind come to the dark side! Left those pitiful weak tier 1 behind!”

He didn’t understand, he only knew that if he didn’t sight, it would be bad, really bad, so he did what he had to.

He continued to fight.

It was only when he felt his body slowing down and was nearly out that he could ultimately make sense of the situation, he wasn’t the only one bleeding, the opponent was also injured, and not lightly at all.

In his mind the theme returned to Flandre Scarlet one, he could fight, and he could win, he will win, he had always wanted to be a hero, the change of era was only a pretext, he would have become one anyway, that was something he knew long ago.

‘Time to end this.’

Looking into the lifeless eyes of his opponent, and comparing it to his full smile showing all his teeth, he knew that only one would get out alive.

His mind wanted to continue, but his body didn’t answer, he just saw his opponent approaching and taking him by the neck while looking at him in the eyes.

“You lost, hero? Hehehe…” A very controlled laugh, but his grip didn’t weaken, “It was a good spar, but now, it’s time to sleep... Your eternal sleep!”

Then the individual named Rune thumped him hard in the head, and with this strike, his consciousness went black.

Once an individual was sufficiently weakened, anyone could be knocked out. Of course, they would recover a minute later in the worst case, because that’s how the Ether Law worked.

…

“That was surrealist,” Astryde could still see the eyes of Utopia, so full of bloodlust, the laughs of Rune resonating in the Void, so full of craziness.

“That’s Rune and Utopia combo for you,” Arik told matter of factly, he knew that such a scene happened without the fighting before, once during their first encounter.

“So did Utopia reach tier 2 like that?” Gar asked what they wanted to hear and discuss.

“2 hours in, Utopia started to exchange equal damage with Rune, and Rune accelerated his clapping a little and talked less soon after, it probably has something to do with becoming a tier 2, and also why he trashed Utopia so much,” Adreana seriously analyzed everything and pointed the key points.

“Let’s go, Utopia is unconscious, we need to slay the villain before he wakes up and sees him,” Nelo started to approach the zone of conflict where Rune was standing in silence after making sure Utopia could still breathe.

If his ether soul couldn’t regenerate energy anymore then he would have to rely on his quarter ether life form state of life to survive, and he didn’t know what would happen.

He’d have tried to inject energy into him anyways, but he read about experiments on this subject, and injecting energy into another entity multiplied the cost by more than a hundred, which also explained why energy transfer and “healing” was a field that didn’t even develop yet.

He then felt the rest of the Undecided approach but waited for them to talk or something else, he was completely fine with keeping silent for eternity.

He first checked the notification he heard during his fight.

*Ding* Physical Fundamental: Reinforcement reached Tier 2 Level 1

*Ding* Physical Fundamental: Fighting Instinct reached Tier 2 Level 1

*Ding* Physical Fundamental: Fighting Instinct reached Tier 2 Level 2

*Ding* Physical Fundamental: Body Control reached Tier 2 Level 3

*Ding* Spiritual Fundamental: Momentum Manipulation reached Tier 1 Level 85

It was a very reasonable leveling up for a sparring session, maybe soon his passive training would bear fruits again, as of now, he was still a very advanced tier 1, he just had to open his masteries to see them.

Masteries

Tier 1 Masteries

Physical Fundamental: Reinforcement: Tier 2 Level 1

Physical Fundamental: Fighting Instinct: Tier 2 Level 2

Physical Fundamental: Body Control: Tier 2 Level 3

Energy Fundamental: Fine Manipulation: Tier 1 Level 53

Energy Fundamental: Grand Manipulation: Tier 1 Level 51

Energy Fundamental: Energy Compression: Tier 1 Level 78

Spiritual Fundamental: Perception Control: Tier 1 Level 78

Spiritual Fundamental: Awareness Division: Tier 1 Level 59

Spiritual Fundamental: Momentum Manipulation: Tier 1 Level 85

During his month on cooldown, he actively leveled his fine manipulation by 12 and his grand manipulation by 19, his perception control leveled by 4, and his awareness division by 5 due to the passive training he did with them.

As for the rest, he didn’t train them, he stopped his energy compression spell creation after coming back, and he couldn’t train momentum manipulation like that, it needed danger, reactivity, and all the package.

Gaining tier 2 levels had more to do with Utopia elevating his combat ability suddenly in the middle of the fight than just simply fighting.

Maybe it was his use of tier 2 energy that made him gain those levels, after all, to go further on the 3 physical fundamentals he would have to fight, again and again, that’s the reason for their existence.

“Can you do the same for us? Or do we need to fight against monsters?” He suddenly heard a question, so he woke up from his thinking and looked at who asked the question, Gar.

“We need to wait for Utopia to wake up, if what he experienced was similar to mine then it should be possible, maybe if we can find something to cloud your mind for the duration it would have even more chance of success, of course, it’s considering that your 3 physical fundamentals are level 100,” Rune explained his thought on what he did.

“I’ll carry Utopia, we'll move now, we need to know where we are so that I can plan our itinerary,” Nelo said, he wanted to move now, every second lost discussing was a second less of training, and discussing would change nothing currently without Utopia.

“Any direction? My specialty is axed around perception so my sphere’s a lot bigger under the dimensional restriction,” Rune answered back.

“Any direction, choose,” Nelo didn’t care.

But his sister didn’t seem of this opinion, “Mine is about affinity, so I can tell that there’s a nest somewhere in this direction,” Astryde finished and pointed in a direction.

Rune used the galaxy wings spell and started moving, everyone following after him as they, too, used the galaxy wings spell.

Since the release of this version of energy wings, no further big optimization had been found, so it still kept the same label after some updates.

As they traveled, the Undecided kept silent for the most part, they were waiting for the first monster to be found.

At the current steady speed of 30 meters per second, Rune found the first monster after 20 minutes, “Monster forward, a crawfish-like monster, very scary looking, it’s going to the right, follow me.”

2 minutes later, everyone found a crawfish-like monster appearing in their perception sphere, and Nelo took the initiative to lead.

“We are focused on physical training so spells are forbidden except support ones, Adreana or Gar you go, you’re the most in need of practice, decide who’s going.”

“I’ll go,” Gar stepped in and after talking, he directly engaged with the monster.

‘Maybe it’s possible to clean a monster’s nest in less than a week with everyone, once Utopia wakes up we’ll plan how to make Astryde and Arik advance, no chance I’m going to do everything by myself.’

5 minutes later, Gar killed the monster then joined the group back after taking the core.

“I’m at 854 monster’s core, so I’m still far from finishing that objective, it should be possible to share them. I did it when I cleaned a nest with another group once.”

“I’ll take you on your word, let’s continue,” Nelo said before forcing the group to continue.

It was going to be a long journey, and they only just started.