=Indeed, and it appears that Nepherage managed to successfully tag along. I suppose [Possession] still works as a loophole against such requirements. Will need to keep note of this for the future.=
[Wait a minute,] Hurricroak interjected,[doesn’t that mean two more of us could’ve tagged along into that pocket dimension? Technically speaking, one of us could’ve been part of the maestro’s aether armor while the other could’ve been his armament. That way we’re also "part" of him.]
=That...could’ve actually worked, yeah.=
[You make it sound like that’s a bad thing.]
<=It is when you’re trying to hide in plain sight.=>
_____________________________________________
’Godsdammit I hate teleportation shit,’ Zhen Liu complained immediately after teleporting to his new location.
A couple of seconds ago, Zhen Liu was standing in the middle of an arena, surrounded by people and having just finished removing his puppet(kaijin) accessories.
The next thing he knew, he was teleported into the middle of what he could only describe as a wetlands type biome. This biome was the same one several other contestants were teleported to, alongside three other ones consisting of a desert, a forest and a wide open field.
A part of him mused on the possibility in ending up one of those places instead of these wetlands, but it was too late to complain about it now.
The [Myriad Marble Garden]’s teleportation effect was practically immediate, meaning Zhen Liu didn’t have any time to complain about it happening during the process either.
’Alright, lets take stock of my surroundings...and check on my connections...’
The sensation reminded Zhen Liu of entering a wandering ruin, that weird feeling of reality bending and breaking for a moment before reestablishing itself in an entirely different way. The big difference though was that the former had this sense of "naturalness" to it, while the warping from this aether treasure felt more artificial.
If Zhen Liu was to somehow compare the sensations of dimension hopping to anything more mundane, it was the difference between diving into the ocean and diving into a pool. Both got you soaked, but the sensation on the skin felt different.
’Okay, it appears my connections to the kaijin and to the library is still present despite being in this sealed off space. Neat. And the inside of my head feels like Nepherage is still there...you are still there, right?’
[Yes, milord,] Nepherage answered, [it appears I have managed to enter the treasure space alongside you. Although, I am also getting the sensation that I won’t be able to assist you like normal. Something about this space seems...off.]
’That’s fine, its more than enough that you can help me channel aether arts. Now, lets go find whomever I need to defeat and-’
"Sir! The contestant is over here!"
"Finally! I’ve been getting bored waiting here!"
’-and wait for him to come out and challenge me directly I guess, neat.’
From his observations on how the other contestants had to deal with these weird marble biomes, Zhen Liu was under the impression that he would have to explore the inside of this pocket dimension for a bit before his opponents would actually appear for him to fight, since that was the most common series of events that he had witnessed before being sent into this pocket dimension himself.
Zhen Liu even figured that he would have to sneak around the area and take out his opponents one by one like a guerilla warfare film, one man vs an army kind of deal.
Instead, the elite warriors and squad of soldiers he had to fight had just shown up a couple feet in front of him like a bunch of hoodlums looking to cause trouble.
It especially didn’t help that the elite warrior leading the group looked less like a disciplined soldier and more like a wild warlord, complete with a large muscular body, armor that only covered his torso and legs at most and the fact that he was dual wielding a pair of heavy looking maces. It was a rather sharp contrast to the Zhen Clan soldiers he was leading, who were all wearing full suits of armor and armed with spears. They had no shields, but that was probably by the design.
’One, two, three, yeah okay, that appears to be all of them. Huh...I figured that I would have to work a touch harder than normal for this. A bit of a letdown honestly.’
A part of Zhen Liu was thankful that he wouldn’t have to wait too long to fight these guys, another part of him was annoyed that they had decided to kill any possible fun that could’ve been had from using weird, sneaky tactics on them.
Regardless, he had assess to kick and these guys were apparently providing them.
’Wait if I’m sensing this correctly, those maces are actually Silver-grade aether treasures,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he stared at the weapons in the elite’s hands.
’Would it be wrong for me to steal those after I beat him?’
[Huh? Why would you want to steal those? Isn’t your bone club stronger than those things?,] Nepherage pointed out.
’The Daemon’s Bone? Well...technically? I don’t think I ever got a clear answer on what rank it was...actually, now that I think about it, none of my equipment seem to follow the normal aether treasure rankings...huh...anyways, it wasn’t going to be for me, I was thinking of it getting it for one of you guys. Figure I might as well get you guys some actual weapons as gifts or something like that.’
[Oh...thank you, milord.]
’Ain’t no thing. Anyways, I think I should probably open dialogue with this guy before-’
"So you’re one of those branch clan scions I’ve been hearing about? You don’t look too impressive to me."
’Or I get interrupted and this guy starts monologuing like a weirdo. That works too.’
The elite warrior stopped a few feet away from Zhen Liu, giving himself plenty of room to intercept the latter if they tried to run pass him. As for the soldiers themselves, they were initially in a two by two formation trailing behind the elite until the latter had stopped. Once they were stopped, the soldiers immediately dispersed and began to surround Zhen Liu on four sides, with two at his back and two at his sides. Nobody was at the front except for the axe wielding warrior...who was sounding more and more arrogant by the second as he began to shit talk.
"Now, I’m not sure which of the branch clan brats you’re suppose to be, but I don’t care. All I know for certain is that you have the honor of being defeated by me, the great Yue Tai Lung, hero of the Jade Pine Siege and wielder of the Black Steel Hammers!"
"Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!," the Zhen Clan soldiers cheered after Yue Tai Lung made this statement.
At the sound of this cheering though, Zhen Liu eyes went wide as he stared at the cheering soldiers in sheer disbelief.
’Oh good gods they’re a cheer squad. I didn’t think that in a world where-wait a minute, "Yue"? Not "Zhen"? Something about that doesn’t seem right...’
"And once I smash you into pieces, I will be officially inducted into the inner circle of the Zhen Clan!"
"Now with that being said...[Lion’s Fury]!"
Yue Tai Lung let out an earth shattering roar as his aether circulated like mad and the image of a roaring lion seem to engulf his body. As this was happening though, the Black Steel hammers in his hands began to glow with a dark red color, making it look as if the solid black maces had transformed into balls of solidified magma made of pure rage.
Once this change had occurred, Yu Tai Lung didn’t even attempt to suggest that Zhen Liu surrender or that he would end up as meat paste if he didn’t dodge. Instead, he just charged straight forward with blinding speed and prepared to swing his maces in such a way that Zhen Liu would be stuck between two hard places that threatened to cave in his ribs and shatter his spine.
"You’re as good as dead!"
Now, most people would probably end up panicking in such a situation, an Aether Master’s power was nothing to scoff at.
But in Zhen Liu’s case, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu.
’Huh...isn’t this...the same tactic those Blood Boilers tried to do when I fought them? What did I do to defeat them again?’