Gold combat technique

Walking inside the arena with runes scattered across it, James was rather surprised when he felt all of his power sap away, he almost instinctively took a quick look at his status. When he did, he noticed that all of his stats were set at a fixed 1000 and all of his skills were disabled, even the ones on his equipment.

"Don't be so surprised young man, I left your hidden stats alone, so your pure technique won't be affected. I'm not testing you on skills and pure strength after all, those lousy other Gods have already made it clear that you are a monster even amongst Gods at this Tier, so that would be useless. I'm here to test you on pure skill in the sword."

The middle-aged man said while throwing a wooden sword at James, when he inspected it, he could see that the wooden sword was not just any other training sword, it was constantly feeding off the power of the divine runes below.

"Neat, isn't it? At any strength level below Tier 6 this special enhancement will guarantee that even these training swords will never break. Now, let's dance."

James would be lying if he said he wasn't a little scared, but most of all he was excited, he had almost lost the fighting spirit that had brought him so high in his previous life. Pure power and overwhelming victory were nice, but the excitement of a true life-or-death battle where everything comes down to your skill was not something you could replicate.

"COME ON!!"

For the first time since his rebirth leaving his calm persona behind, James revealed a big smile with his eyes wide open, he looked almost psychotic.

Both rushing at each other, James and the God of the sword had their initial clash in the middle of the arena. Since their stats were relatively low the only aftermath was a shockwave of wind coming from the sword clash. Even though their stats were equal, James got flung back, crashing into one of the walls of the training field.

Getting himself back up, James revealed an even bigger smile, THIS is what he had been waiting for, an opponent with such overwhelming skill that he would get pushed to the absolute limit. It was thrilling.

Getting up James had lost track of the God of the sword, only after heightening all of his senses to his limit did he find him, floating way up in the sky. At that moment it was already too late though, thousands of stars appeared around the man. James recognized this move, it was the silver combat technique that most of the Gods in the first and second zone could use, but this technique was clearly above what the normal Gods could use, James, suspected that it had already evolved into an Advanced silver combat technique.

Dodging all of the swords raining down on him, James took a huge risk by looking at the God of the sword the entire time and directing most of his attention to him. This got him in some close calls, but he was here to take risks. You didn't get to see someone in the beyond Truth realm perform combat techniques every day, he had to make use of this opportunity to make a breakthrough.

After the last sword fell James felt ready, he had witnessed this combat technique so many times over the last week, and now having seen the upgraded version he felt that his understanding had jumped leaps and bounds.

Now that the God of the sword had come down, James subsequently jumped up, dodging the sword slash that was coming his way. He then took one last deep breath and cleared his mind, readying his sword with the tip towards the ground.

Piercing his sword with all the power and speed he had in him, James retracted it as soon as it hit the ground and kept repeating, but sadly, being relatively unfamiliar with doing the movements, James only managed to do it 5 times before he was out of time.

This particular combat technique made use of extreme speed to confuse the enemy into thinking more than 1 sword came striking down at them. Well, they call it tricking you, but the fact that the God of the sword could strike down his sword thousands of times in under a thousandth of a second made it pretty much the same concept as striking down with multiple swords. James on the other hand could only do the movements 5 times in that same time span.

Needless to say, the God of the sword dodged the strikes easily, but even then, he had a surprised look on his face. He could tell that this was the first time James performed this technique from the lack of little tricks that most users used to increase the number of swords they pierce, but he still managed to create 5 strikes. Not to mention that it looked like he was using his version, maybe not a big difference in the eyes of many, but he had changed the technique slightly, making it more difficult for beginners to pick up, but also removing its limitations in the later stages.

Coming back down, James felt satisfied. Not because of the combat technique, he honestly felt slightly disappointed about that, but he could clearly tell that he was close to a breakthrough, he could feel that if he managed to learn this technique to a certain degree, he would step into the Transcendent realm. That was something that he had always dreamed of, but due to the lack of talent in that aspect, and the inability to pay for masters in that aspect, he never managed to do it.

More determent than ever, James said those thoughts aside while seeing the God of the sword rush at him, he had to make full use of this opportunity to witness a Beyond Truth Realm expert.

Now in a frontal confrontation with the God of the sword, James was getting pushed back further and further every second, he didn't seem to mind though, as he was looking at the God of the sword with stars in his eyes. He hadn't noticed it before, but now that he was paying closer attention he could clearly tell. Every seemingly normal action he made was on the level of bronze, or even silver combat technique, he hadn't noticed because the God of the sword integrated it so well with his normal movements and made them flow so well, that his normal movements were basically silver combat techniques.

Looking at the movements while getting his HP decreased slightly over time while he was being pushed back, James could also clearly tell that the God of the sword was holding back. James could tell that it wouldn't be that difficult to incorporate even Advanced silver combat techniques in his moves, yet he seemed to put more value in helping James than winning.

That help was clearly working, with every move he received James got a deeper understanding of how to integrate combat techniques with one's normal movements. After nearly 10 minutes of this, he had close to all of his HP shaven off, James felt that he could even incorporate bronze combat techniques with every move, maybe even some silver once if he had a deep enough understanding of them. The only thing he was missing was the combat techniques themselves to test it out.

Jumping back now that he was almost dead, James decided to test his newfound understanding another way. Jumping up in the sky James readied his sword once again, cleared his mind, and pierced down as many times as he could.

The God of the sword could only smile while marveling at the hundreds of sword lights coming his way.

"What a monster."

He had trained many people over the years, but to be able to pick up his technique, which had already far surpassed the realm of an Advanced silver combat technique, only being 1 step away from a gold one, while only seeing it once, was something, not even he was sure he could do. Not only that, but he had also improved his understanding of the realms of truth by an entire realm just by watching him.

While dodging the hundreds of swords coming down, the God of the sword could only sigh, such a talented swordsman would have been a great disciple. But if he couldn't have him, then him being in the hands of a trusted friend was the next best option.

After the last sword fell, James came back down, slightly exhausted, due to him not having totally mastered the technique he wasted a lot of energy while performing it at this level, but it was all worth it, he had reached the Transcendent Realm.

Snapping out of it he quickly searched for the God of the sword, expecting him to already be coming at him. The opposite was true however, the God of the sword was just standing there, with a big smile on his face.

"Well done young man, you are truly a genius with the sword, so I think it is time to end this."

After saying this the God of the sword disappeared. James didn't get to be confused though as all of his senses got cut off, even his gut feeling was telling him nothing. Even more surprising than that, a second after his senses had disappeared his thought process itself seemingly got cut. His mind was now just a bunch of memories, with no new thoughts coming in. He was truly powerless, even if he had all of his senses back, he wouldn't be able to think of an attack or counter. It was truly like all of the connections in his brain had been cut by a blade.

Only after a full minute of this James regained his ability to think, and he was honestly terrified. Looking around he found the God of the sword sitting down, still panting with sweat all over his face.

"You like that? My best creation in my opinion, 'mind piercing blade'."

The God of the sword said, still panting profusely. It took him another 30 seconds to stand up and approach James.

"Young man, I'm happy to say that you are more than worthy of passing my test. Before I depart and give you the Legacy Orb entrusted to me. I wanted to give you this."

He said while pulling a golden tabloid out of thin aid, it looked like a dense plaque of stone half the size of James, it had divine runes carved all over it and it gave off a golden glow.

Looking at it, James instantly knew what it was, and couldn't help but let his mouth hang wide open in amazement.

"HAHAHA, seems like I don't have to explain it to you, this is the technique table that has 10 opportunities for someone to learn my personal Gold combat technique, 'Mind Piercing Blade'. You are very talented, so don't be afraid to use it, I am granting only you permission, so only you will be able to enter it. No use trying to waste it on other people."

Looking at the big stone the God of the sword frowned.

"That thing is too big to carry around, let me help you with that. It would be dangerous if you carried that in the open."

After saying so the big stone tabloid condensed into a small statue of the God of the sword himself, even more surprising was that it turned into an item that could be held in your inventory, unlike the previous giant stone.

James couldn't get any words out, a true Gold combat technique, even in his past life, he had never had the opportunity to even see one in action, but now he had 10 opportunities to learn one himself.

"No need to thank me, young man, you deserve it. But I must be going now."

The God of the sword said while seeing James try so hard to get words out of his mouth. After saying so he started to slowly fade away, followed by the system message that James was so familiar with.

System: Completion Rate 120%. Do you wish to absorb the Legacy orb and complete your Tier 1 promotion?

Clicking yes, James's body started to blink with divine light for a few seconds before he felt a wave of strength coming over him, this was the boost given by the High-human race, increasing his base stats by 150% every time his tier increased. The second surprise he got was a slight increase in concentration, he knew that going up Tiers increased a person's concentration, but he thought that since he was so far above Tier 1 concentration that he wouldn't get a boost.

System: Congratulations on passing the Primordial God-grade trial with an SSS-grade completion and becoming a Tier 1 Origin Swordsman. Rewarding 50 Legacy skill points.