Leonidas woke up refreshed. He had decided to set a goal for himself, one that would make his life a little more interesting, which was to change this world, but first, business.
It had taken three days to arrive at the Palace, and this day was the last day he could train.
He stood up and went to the receptionist, asking her where the Palace’s training hall was.
The kind receptionist directed him to the training room.
Leonidas walked in, a bit nervously, but determined to achieve the almost impossible goal he had set.
He entered the hall, expecting many people, but surprisingly, there was only one.
He was a young man with short brown hair and deep eyes that seemed to stare into the Abyss.
He had a somewhat muscular body, lightning sparking on his hand, his brown skin complementing his hair.
He stood in a stance that spoke of his power, a long bow in his hand and a blue arrow on its bowstring.
The man called Arjuna pulled the bowstring back and let go. The arrow flew across the air like a supersonic jet, hitting a straw target square on. Leonidas stood at a distance, admiring his bowmanship. He finally decided to approach him.
“Hello there,” Leo said, a bit nervously.
Arjuna was going to ignore him, but decided to engage in conversation.
“Hello there, you must be one of the competitors. Nice to meet you,” Arjuna said, a warm smile appearing on his face, his hand stretched out for a handshake.
Suddenly, a large aura arose from Arjuna and was focused on Leonidas, threatening to crush him.
Leonidas stumbled, almost kneeling, yet held his ground. His body felt immense pressure, as if his very soul was bowing, yet he stood.
Arjuna called back his aura, a bit surprised by how Leonidas withstood his aura.
“Interesting. You managed to not kneel. You are the only one, except for another man called Karna, boy. You have the potential to become my sister’s husband,” Arjuna said.
“What? Wait, what do you mean, your sister? Are you suggesting that you are the Prince of the Brahman?” Leonidas said, a bit confused.
Arjuna laughed. It was a happy laugh. “Yes, actually. This is surprising because as soon as most people realise, they always bow, but you’re more interesting than I expected.”
Suddenly, Arjuna put his hand on Leonidas’s shoulder, a wide smile appearing on his handsome face.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Let me train you. Though you are at the Adept stage, your Rift energy quality is quite interesting. It shouldn’t be this pure. Your soul is quite interesting.”
Those words, “soul,” reminded him of the being that reincarnated him, that talked about his soul.
But he got knocked out of his trance by Arjuna. “So, do you accept?”
Leonidas said, “Yes, definitely.”
Arjuna picked up his bow and said that to see if he was worthy to be taught the Compression technique, which would definitely help him, he would have to survive 20 minutes against Arjuna.
Suddenly, lightning struck from the ground, hitting Leonidas at the speed of light.
Leonidas blinked as the lightning hit him and saw himself in a clearing with mountains surrounding him on all sides, with Arjuna in front. Leonidas was now ready.
For reference, Arjuna is a Spirit Knight, which is the third stage, but he decided not to hold back at all.
Leonidas prepared for battle, assuming a stance.
Arjuna summoned three arrows, infusing them with lightning. They shot through the air with immense speed before then combining the arrows into one massive arrow.
Leonidas covered his blade in flames before running towards the arrow, but instead of taking the hit, he stood to the side, using its speed against it, using his sword to knock it off course. Though the mere force of the blow destroyed a good part of the mountain. [For scale, ten mountains are the size of Mount Everest.]
Leonidas quickly rushed in at supersonic speed, aiming for his head, but Arjuna quickly dodged before punching him, then sending 4 arrows at him.
Leonidas stopped himself with his sword before sending 2 flame waves at him. Arjuna easily dodged. Those two flame waves had destroyed a city-sized portion of the mountain.
Arjuna’s lightning coursed through his body. He jumped into the air to the point where he could touch the clouds. He then nosedived back down, sending thousands of arrows infused with his lightning. He then suddenly changed his bow into a silver curved sword and rushed down.
This could happen because he held a Rift weapon, which is a weapon obtained by defeating the Rift’s strongest monsters, called bosses. An example of a boss is Fang Yuan. These beings held immense power.
Leonidas looked up, seeing the rain of arrows. Leonidas, to conserve energy, decided to parry while dodging if necessary. Then, suddenly, he condensed Rift energy into a blade.
Leonidas poured 50% of his Rift energy into his sword, preparing to block.
Clang. Both blades smashed into each other with force and power, but Leonidas’s sword broke almost instantly, yet Leonidas pulled the blade shards together with his flames.
Arjuna was impressed, but Leonidas crumbled to the floor, picking up his sword shards.
Suddenly, before he could grieve for his precious sword, a curved dao fell down from the sky from a black and red phoenix with a note.
“Hey, son, you are probably going to need this. This is a Rift weapon.”
It landed on Leonidas' hand before changing into a beautiful tachi
Leonidas admired the blade. It was the one Fang Yuan had. The thought of having his power filled his mind, but he kept his cool.
But deep down, he was quite excited.
Leonidas walked into the city, and a portal was there. This was his time to fight Karna. He entered the portal with renewed determination.
His tachi glowed on his hilt. He entered the portal. It felt similar to him entering the Rift. His heart jumped as the horrific memory of Fang Yuan surfaced. He slapped himself back to focus.
He arrived at a landmass with various stone mounds. He spotted Karna, a brown-skinned man with long hair and a divine presence.
Suddenly, an announcer’s voice said with excitement:
“In the right corner, this kingdom’s resident hero, the Prince of the Blazing Sun and wielder of the celestial spear, Karna!”
“And in the left corner, coming from Gradalon, the Crown Prince of flames, Leonidas!”
The crowd cheered, all ready to see this battle.
Karna stood in a battle stance, calling out to Leonidas, his spear wrapped in solar light. “Do not disappoint me, Prince.”
Leonidas replied, his new weapon wrapped in his flames. “You too, Prince of the Blazing Sun.”
“Fighters, begin!” the announcer screamed as they both ran at each other.
