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Chapter 132

Most of the young nobles in this competition seemed to depend on swords. Shui as a city guard was no exception. He pulled his blade.

“Draw your sword.”

“I… um, don’t have one.” I scratched my cheek in embarrassment.

The spectating crowds broke into more laughter. When they spoke about martial combat, my thought was something like boxing or a mixed martial arts competition. I hadn’t expected swords until I had arrived here. Furthermore, I had yet to earn any significant joules, let alone enough to purchase a sword.  Of course, as the resident mortal, this only made everyone laugh more.

“Hmph, let it not be said that I bully the weak.” He put his sword back away, although there was a flash of disappointment before he continued. “This won’t me I will go easy on you.”

He wasn’t hard to read. He likely wanted to kill me with the sword. It was much harder to kill someone with your fists and make it look like an accident.

“I said you can come at me any time.” I declared, gesturing for him to come at me.

His eyes flashed with a cold fury. “No one can say I wasn’t lenient.”

He immediately launched a punch. His fist moved extremely quickly. If I had been a mortal, it was a speed faster than a person’s reaction time. His fist approached with such force that even the air seemed to burn around his fist, causing it to look like his fist was in flames. Any mortal would likely be dead before he even realized what happened. Thankfully, I wasn’t a mortal. For me, his fist only moved too slowly.

I reached out and nudged his fist slightly with two fingers. This caused his fist to fly wide, just missing my face. He seemed surprised, but he still immediately launched a second strike with his free hand. I moved my two fingers over and nudged his other hand. He continued to punch out, each strike releasing a small sonic boom right next to my ear, yet not a single one reached my head.

It was clear he was striking with his full strength toward my head to maximize the damage. He likely wanted to crush my skull if not at least leave me with a bad case of being brain dead. However, what ended up happening instead was he threw a dozen punches in only a few seconds, and every single one missed. When he finally realized what happened, he jumped back, a surprised look on his face.

His eyes widened as he stared at me. As for the crowds, most of the mortals couldn’t see fast enough to be clear about what happened, and to them, it just appeared like he intentionally missed. The kinetic vision of the paragons was better though, and especially those at the third and fourth realms were able to see his movements. Things grew quiet once again, and this time, all attention was on our battle.

“You…” Shui spoke in shock. “You’re not a mortal?”

“I never said I was,” I replied calmly.

Our words seemed to explode through the crowd of spectators like a bomb was set off.

“He’s a paragon?”

“How? He gives off no mana!”

“How is this possible, father?” Destiny looked over to her dad.

He stared down at the battle stage in contemplation for a few moments before he began to speak.

“I heard once of a unique type of nonsense mutation. They called it a silent mutation.”

“A… silent mutation?” Destiny blinked.

“In the case of a nonsense mutation, a status or skill is stunted.” He explained. “In most cases, this is considered a disadvantage, since nonsense mutations mean you lack the basic skills or status realm of any other human. However, a particular tribe of assassins nurtured such a mutation. It was a nonsense mutation that targeted the mana status. By having offspring with crippled mana, they were able to hide their evolutionary realm. After focusing on a purely physical state, they were effective assassins since their opponents would underestimate their strength until it was too late. The tribe was eventually wiped out, but it’s possible the trait still exists within some obscure population.”

Understanding started to dawn on everyone’s faces, and I could almost take a breath of relief. Of course, I hadn’t known about such a convenient story, but thankfully this knowledgeable father had given a perfect explanation. It took a lot of my worry away. Since such an event existed, I didn’t have to hold back nearly as much.

“So, Spirit is strong?” Destiny looked down at me, a complicated expression on her face.

“It’s true that he is a paragon.” Destiny’s father sighed. “However, he also has a very weak level of mana. He should be in the second realm, but even if he’s in the third realm, he’d be the weakest in the third realm. Mana is an extremely important part of martial combat. We infuse mana into every technique to amplify our strikes. Without it, his combat prowess is limited, I’m afraid.”

Destiny’s father’s words weren’t just useful to her, but I was listening to their conversation too. This was all the information I hadn’t known before. I had wondered how I fair up against others, and I hadn’t been aware of such a weakness. If mana could be used to fortify every status, then I truly did have a weakness. Sammy showed me just how much technique could overcome in terms of pure status. I might have a godly physique, but with my mana at niche, if I happened to encounter a human in my same realm, or maybe even a realm or two lower, I might not be able to defeat them as effortlessly as I thought.

Then again, I was properly worrying too much. The absolute strongest person I had yet to encounter was Lord Maxwell, and I was still confident I could take him in a fight. Then again, I had never actually seen him fight, so there was a bit of doubt.

“Hmph… I see… so you’ve got a bit of skill. No wonder you survived.” Shui seemed to relax after taking in what Destiny’s father revealed as well. “The conclusion of this fight is still inevitable.”

“Can Spirit defeat him?” Destiny asked, causing the expression on Shui’s face to turn rather interesting.

“He had depended on people not being aware of his level before. With that surprise gone, he’ll have to depend on his skill. Some techniques do not require mana. If he has practiced those techniques… no, even then he’d also need to possess a double nonsense mutation, which is even rarer. If that were the case, then he’d be at the third tier of the third realm, which is only a tier higher than Shui. It’s much more likely he’s in the 2nd realm though.”

Destiny’s father was able to see the exact tier I was in. He was wrong about the realm, but who could ever guess that I’d go nine evolutions before unlocking the mana skill?

“Hmph, even if you are a tier higher, you’ll never be better than me.” Shui declared. “It’s time for you to be defeated!”

He jumped at me, launching a kick. This time, I felt like he was infusing magic into this kick. When he believed me to be mortal, he didn’t even bother with any techniques since they would have been pointless, but now that he knew I was a paragon, he didn’t waste a second to pull out his best attacks. I have seen a handful of techniques so far. Few in the 2nd realm seemed to know more than one, but those in the third realm had a couple. Shui appeared to be no exception.

His kick was powerful, and there was no question that his leg was reinforced with some kind of magic, even glowing faintly blue as he sent it toward my midsection. I didn’t know what technique it was, but I was sure it was a powerful kick. It was likely a 2nd realm would be instantly defeated, and a third realm would likely still be significantly affected. If I blocked it with ease, I might cause suspicion once again.

However, it wasn’t a kick I could just feasibly dodge either. With his speed, it would look strange if I moved too fast to avoid it. I had to find a compromise, and as his leg struck out, I leaned forward, bringing up both of my hands and caught his leg. I allowed him to push me back, tossing me until I very nearly fell out of the stage. I heard a gasp from Destiny, and even Mara looked frightened for a moment, perhaps believing Destiny’s father’s assessment.

Shui looked at me in surprise. “You managed to receive my evolved force kick? You must be in the third realm. However, I’ll still defeat you in the end.”

“It’s good to be confident,” I responded. “But don’t set yourself up for disappointment.”

His eyes flashed. “Good, good, since you think you have a shot, I won’t hold back then.”

“Have you been so far?” I blinked.

“Hmph! A worm underground who can’t even see the stars but thinks himself a satellite.”

He attacked again, and this time every attack was infused with mana. It seemed like he had decided to go all out.