Chapter 400: Fantasy Weapons

With fairness in the competition relatively assured, the martial arts tournament was in full swing. As for absolute fairness, it did not exist—life itself is unfair, and fairness is often more of a comforting notion.

While the martial arts tournament was underway, competitions for other non-combat professions, such as alchemists, artifact craftsmen, talisman makers, and formation masters, were also taking place, though not all started at the same time.

Many contestants were vigorous and extraordinarily talented geniuses who held multiple roles; they could both fight and perform alchemy.

To accommodate them, the schedules for the martial arts and non-combat competitions were staggered to allow participants to fully demonstrate their skills and capabilities.

By the time the competition reached the semifinals, despite many splendid fights and contests, the limited foundational magic infrastructure of the Rockman Kingdom prevented province-wide broadcasting due to high costs. Thus, only those present could witness the events.

Far in the royal city of Scaret, Muria faced no such difficulties. Every day, special recordings of high-quality battles and competitions were made with recording crystals at the venues and sent to the palace for Muria and two young girls to enjoy.

Since the beginning of the competition, Muria spent half of each day watching these crystals, selecting the talents he desired.

While watching, he kept a notebook at hand, quickly noting down any talents that caught his eye, then passing the information to Mia.

She would send people to approach them peacefully at first. If they refused, the list would go to Miles, who would use force if necessary. In any case, the talents Muria set his eyes on were bound to end up under his control in his half-plane realm.

The prizes Muria distributed were substantial, with no frills attached. If one wasn't noticed by Muria, that was it. But if they were and then rejected the outreach from Mia's people, the prizes wouldn't be so easily obtained.

Muria invested so much energy, deploying all his cloud giants and more than half his storm giants to maintain order during the competitions, even personally offering a portion of his treasures as rewards. What for? To select the talents he needed, of course.

Muria had acquired the legendary mage Heinar's half-plane, including a mostly demolished mage tower, a damaged floating city, and complete knowledge for golem crafting—all of which were of no help to him.

Muria aimed to repair the mage tower, continue the unfinished construction of the floating city, and restart the metal golem production line... All of these required a substantial number of high-end technical talents.

The talents under the legendary mage Heinar had been nurtured by him over long years. Muria had planned to do the same over his own lengthy lifespan.

However, after unexpectedly taking control of a realm, Muria, having completed the tasks Beladion wanted him to do, naturally began looking out for his own interests—scouring for technical talents.

As for combat talents, Muria felt no need for them. No matter how talented or powerful humans were, they were only formidable compared to their own kind. Compared to giants and dragons, humans had a natural disadvantage, with only a few able to bridge this gap through talent, luck, and effort.

Seated at the main seat, Muria watched the four battles broadcasted via recording crystals, his face showing utter boredom. The human geniuses employed flashy and destructive techniques and spells, but to Muria, these were full of flaws and hardly worth watching.

Thus, Muria's attention was mostly on the replay of a formation master's match.

However, just then, a newly changed three-dimensional battle image captured Muria's attention.

It was a competition between youths aged eleven to fifteen, and one of the participants, a white-haired boy, caught his eye—or more precisely, his weapon did.

In Erathia, the most common weapons were thick, long, and heavy—mainly heavy weaponry. But the weapon in the white-haired boy's hands was a long, thin katana, vastly different from the mainstream armaments.

"This katana looks so familiar!" Muria frowned slightly as he looked at the shape of the katana on the boy's back, feeling like he had seen it before.

"Seated in the frosty heavens, Hyorinmaru!" In the image, the white-haired boy drew his katana and uttered words that were very familiar to Muria. Then, a chain grew from the hilt of the katana, with a crescent-shaped blade at the end of the chain.

"A Zanpakuto!?" Initially distracted by the formation master's competition, Muria's attention was now wholly captivated by the slightly altered shape of the katana, and he was momentarily stunned.

"No, that's not right, it's not a Zanpakuto." After watching the white-haired boy wielding the katana in battle for a while, Muria decisively stated.

The white-haired boy was very

 much a living human, not the kind of spirit known as a "Shinigami." Although he wielded the katana as if it were an extension of his arm, there was no deeper connection; it was merely a weapon similar to the Zanpakuto Hyorinmaru.

"Mia, please ask the ancient gold dragon, Bast, to come here." Unsure why this seemingly fantastical weapon appeared before him in such a manner, Muria immediately requested the presence of the old dragon. When in doubt, consulting these ancient beings was the right move.

"Zanpakuto, Hyorinmaru!" As the ancient gold dragon Bast entered Muria's hall, he immediately saw the three-dimensional projection of the white-haired boy fighting with the katana, and with a slightly surprised tone, he recognized the name of the weapon.

"Bast, do you recognize this katana?"

"Of course." The wise, white-haired, white-bearded ancient gold dragon stroked his beard. "This young man is quite fortunate to have obtained a Zanpakuto, though it's a pity he can only use the basic abilities of Hyorinmaru's initial release and not its final form, which would unleash the power of the dragon soul and enhance his own."

"Obtained?" Muria's brow relaxed. "So it's not the fantastical weapon from my memories but a replica."

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