World Keeper

Chapter 515: Testing the Technique

It took me fifty days of rooting through the records of my world host and practicing its methods in order for me to familiarize myself with the concept of creating life. During those fifty days, I similarly spent my time integrating what I was learning into a fighting style that I could be proud of. I had a number of techniques already created using purely my domain, but divine power would be the first thing that invaders would be trained to fight against at this tier.

My hand was wrapped in a faint red light as it punched out in front of me. However, there was no gust of wind, no sound of the air being split apart. For all intents and purposes, I had delivered a casual punch. Seeing that, I let out a small smile, nodding my head.

Accalia? Have you prepared the simulations? In order to ensure that my new techniques were effective not only in theory, but practice as well, I had requested Accalia to create combat simulations to pit me against suitable opponents.

Yup! Finished up the last group yesterday with Bihena’s help! Her response was energetic, as if she were looking forward to the test as much as I was.

With a nod, I focused on ascending, leaving my host behind once again. When I arrived in the Admin Room, it was within the living room, and I was momentarily taken aback by the number of people present. Aside from Accalia, there was also Bihena, Aurivy, Udona, Terra, Keliope, Irena, Ryone, and even Tubrock? What was he doing here?

The dwarven god caught my gaze and let out a loud guffaw. “I heard ye were gonna be testin’ out some new skills, and figured I oughta come and take a look!”

I shook my head, realizing that they had turned my training into a sports event. “Alright. Let’s get this started, then.” I opened up the ‘game’ we had bought previously. “What am I looking for here, Accalia?”

“Randomized training routine, A-C Three!” Accalia called out with that same excited tone, and I navigated through the list to find it. Naturally, I chose to fight with my own skills and physique. As I chose to enter the game, I saw Terra snapping her fingers, turning the television on.

With the warm light enveloping me, taking me into the simulation, I simply rolled my eyes. Within the span of a blink, I had gone from a furnished living room to a wide, grassy plain. Much like the one I had only just left. However… there was no opponent across from me.

“You have chosen a randomized trial with a starting distance of ten kilometers.” A booming voice spoke to me from the surroundings, informing me of the ‘rules’ to this combat. “Do you require any equipment to prepare yourself?”

“No.” My answer was firm, clenching my fists as I looked ahead. Ten kilometers, huh? That shouldn’t be too hard to search. Leowynn, you remember the plan?

Of course, father. Even Leowynn seemed excited to be able to try out our new tactics. I listened to the voice counting down the seconds until the start of the trial. Once it had concluded, I leapt high into the air.

I didn’t know what level of power Accalia had created my opponents, or what skills they had. Since I couldn’t even see them from my starting position, I was unable to draft a specialized plan in advance. However, from my elevated position, I saw a party of five humans sprinting towards me.

Two of them wore heavy armor, one of which carried a sword as tall as his person and the other brandished a smaller sword and a shield. One was a woman with red leather armor, one a man with black leather armor. And finally, a tall man wearing white robes.

The leather-clad woman did not seem to carry any weapons, while her male counterpart held a pair of daggers. If I were to judge them by conventional standards, that would make them two warriors, a monk, a rogue, and either a mage or a priest.

“Let’s go.” I said, dashing down from the sky to meet them. Meanwhile, I felt Leowynn’s power coursing through my hands.

I manifest the School! A pair of cloth bracers emerged on my wrists, bearing the mark of three fish at her mental shout. All around me, numerous illusory copies were created. Since there were five enemies, I chose to face them with five of me.

“Above!” I heard the shout of their rogue, his eyes being the first to spot me darting down. Suddenly, the shield-bearer stood in front, planting his shield in the ground.

“You shall not pass!” He called out vehemently, a silver barrier wrapping around the party. They seemed intent on absorbing my initial strike with this barrier, but… I had no reason to fall for that, did I?

My clones and myself split up, surrounding the barrier on all five sides. Each of us took a combat stance, waiting for the shield to drop. “Now!” I heard the rogue calling from within the barrier.

“I am the spirit of absolution. My words twist the laws of magic.” The ‘priest’ began chanting, his hands folded in prayer. “What I seek is the blinding light of faith. What I desire is to purge all who oppose the will of heaven. Descend from the shining realm, and let this mortal coil behold your glory.”

Though his words could be taken as a prayer to a god, I saw the geometric spell diagram lighting up at his feet. Judging by its shape, and the mixed spheres within an otherwise flat plane, it was a third tier spell. With that chant, it should be an elementalist spell with a focus on light.

As I considered that, five blinding pillars of light fell down from above, but my lips curled up in a smile. If I wanted to, I could take over this spell using the divine power of Tsubaki, the Goddess of Light. But instead, I created five mirrors, one above me and each of my clones. These mirrors were tilted at an angle such that when the light fell, it was immediately redirected to attack the barrier.

The shieldbearer let out a shout of surprise as the party’s own spell was turned against them. It only took a moment for cracks to form along the barrier, before it shattered outright. However, two figures dashed out from the field of light, each moving towards one of ‘me’.

The first was the monk, who seemed to accurately guess which of the five were me. She dashed over, her fists wrapped in ki as her body blurred. She was not just a monk, but an assassin monk… Meanwhile, the rogue picked one of my clones, a silver light wrapping around his daggers. Accalia really went all out with mixing things up, it seemed.

My attention was naturally focused on the monk before me, allowing Lewoynn to pilot the clones for now. With my domain of illusions, I could make them appear real and take damage, so I shouldn’t have to worry about the thief coming to back her up.

Her palm flashed towards me with a deadly gleam, and I met it with my own. The yellow light of her palm met the red light of mine, and we both retreated a few steps. Her hand seemed fine, while I could distinctly feel a soreness radiating from mine. Regardless, I felt pleased.

“It’s this one!” She called back to her friends, who immediately turned their focus towards me. No doubt she was able to sense the ki being used in my strike, though the fact that she emerged unscathed seemed to confuse her.

“Don’t let your guard down, now.” I said as the clone fighting the rogue took advantage of its distraction to elbow the back of his head. “This is still an even fight.”

“I don’t think so.” She answered, taking another stance. “You’re barely a match for me, let alone the rest.”

My lips tugged up again, and I charged. Like before, the two of us clashed with our fists. Only this time, I did not use the same red glow, but rather that of pure ki.

The monk let out a pained scream as she was thrown back, holding her limp and mangled arm. While the white-robed man got to work on healing her with divine energy, the large sword-wielder charged at me. It seemed that the rogue was working on holding back my clones that would only fight with their physical bodies.

That suited me just fine. Once again, my hands wrapped in a red glow. One of them reached up to catch the sword while the other thrust a palm out at the warrior. This time, it was my turn to let out a cry of pain…

I felt the sword digging into my palm, splitting it open and tearing down my arm as my open hand slapped the warrior’s armor. Thankfully, that was enough to push him back, earning me some distance. He seemed pleased at the sight of my health bar appearing over my head.

My eyes glanced briefly to my half-severed arm. If I used my Ki of Beginning, I could repair it easily. But that would require a few seconds at the very least, which I doubted that he would give me. With a roar, he lunged at me, his sword swinging in a horizontal swipe.

“What is fake is real.” I muttered as the sword cleaved into my side. Suddenly, I was standing before the rogue, my hands both wrapping themselves in a red glow as I struck. Off to the side, I could see the warrior cleave through a clone, which I had just swapped places with.

“S***, he’s over here now!” The rogue shouted, meeting my hands with his spirit-infused daggers. He realized that he was now fending off not only my manifested illusions, but also the true me at the same time.

“I’m ready!” The monk called out, using her ki to amplify her speed and rejoin the battle. My hands were both sliced open by the knives of the rogue, and I was thrown back again by a kick from the monk. Once more, my health bar appeared over my head, but my smile didn’t fade.

I could see the warrior moving back to join the shieldbearer and priest now that the monk rejoined the fray. However, my moment of distraction was met with a sting of pain in my chest, warmth flooding my body. “Where are you looking?” The rogue asked coldly, watching my health plummet.

Meanwhile, the monk seemed cautious, her eyes remaining on the last three clones. Clearly, she expected me to swap to one of them. Unfortunately, that was no longer necessary. I staggered back, one hand going to the knife in my chest as I laughed. The pain felt so vivid.

It was hard to imagine that none of it was real…

There was a shout of surprise from behind, alerting the rogue and the monk. When they glanced back, they saw half of the priest’s body fall to the floor, an enraged look on the wielder of the greatsword. His weapon was bloodied, clearly having delivered the strike himself. “What are you doing?!” The shieldbearer called out in surprise, turning to face him.

The monk turned to me as that duo began their new fight as well. “He must have done something.” She said, charging to the rest of the clones. With precise ki-infused strikes, she finished each of them off, their heads caving in without the ability to protect themselves with ki.

“Well, you’re not wrong!” I laughed, looking down at the dagger in my chest. “But I guess this is where it ends, huh?”

“Got that right.” A voice spoke from behind, the rogue having used the moment of distraction to sneak around me. I felt another stab, this time in the back of my neck. Surely, that strike would be fatal.

Leowynn, dismiss the clones. I thought to my daughter, and the four clones vanished. This left me standing there alone, two daggers stuck into my body. As they had expected, they had indeed struck my real form. But… with what?

I looked down to the dagger again, and it grew blurry, fading away. Similarly, so did the wound that it had inflicted. Not only on my chest, but my hands as well. Then, the one pierced through the back of my head did followed suit, much to the surprise of both the monk and rogue.

“Sorry, but I shouldn’t play with you two anymore.” I said with a smile, dismissing the illusion that I had created. There was no way that the Beginning Fire would have no effect. My crimson ki was far too terrifying for that.

Both the rogue and the monk looked down at themselves, finding their own figures growing blurry. This was the technique that I had created to control the flow of battle. Combining an attack that could erase space itself with an illusion that nothing had happened. Replacing the target at the moment of their death with the idea that they were fine.

And of course, because they were but an illusion, so was the damage that they dealt afterwards. All that was left was the shieldbearer, who I began walking towards with a red glow wrapping around my hands…

This was the technique that I had spent fifty days to create. The illusion of battle.

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