撕衣服

"What?!" Realizing the reason for the feeling he got a few seconds later, the man\'s eyes widened in disbelief as his mouth went agape. "How the hell did he get his hands on an arquebus?!"

Before becoming the Arbiter of Veldanyr\'s Rise to Prominence tournament, Scho\'doxa had to learn about Veldanyr\'s culture and history in order to make sure that the five rounds of the tournament adapted well to the planet\'s circumstances.

Though there were some rounds where he really couldn\'t change much, such as the third round that was currently going on, the man was more or less successful in doing so, especially after he took the planet\'s level of technology into consideration.

Of course, it was because he knew the planet\'s current level of technology that he was shocked and surprised when Valyr brought his arquebus out, causing him to blankly stare at it for quite some time.

"Haah…" By the time he was able to snap back to reality, Scho\'doxa took in a deep breath to compose himself, only to then watch as Valyr began to arm his arquebus.

\'The firing mechanism is definitely matchlock.\' Although most of his attention was still on the fight as a whole, the man still glanced at the young man\'s weapon from time to time. \'However, it\'s been modified in a way that it looks more like the later firing mechanisms.\'

Watching as the young man teleported away from his current spot the moment the puppet aimed to strike at him, Scho\'doxa faintly nodded in satisfaction as he continued on his current train of thought. \'If I were to compare it to the arquebuses and other firearms found on planets near Veldanyr, none of them resemble the one he\'s currently wielding whatsoever… which means the arquebus could only be forged on the planet itself.\'

"But isn\'t Veldanyr\'s level of technology still around the end of the Early Middle Ages?" muttered Scho\'doxa to himself, recalling what he\'d learned about the planet before becoming the Arbiter of its tournament.

"To create an arquebus, you\'d need technology around the Late Middle Ages at the very least. Though, preferably, you\'d want technology at the Renaissance Age for an effective arquebus."

"That\'s about three eras of technology more advanced than what Veldanyr currently has." Feeling that this part of his explanation was the main cause for his confusion, the man pushed his current train of thought to the side for the meantime, instead deciding to look at it from a more open perspective.

With that, it did not take long for him to come up with a plausible hypothesis involving a recluse being that had access to technology far more advanced than what was commonly available on Veldanyr.

"At that point, the only question that remains is who forged the arquebus he holding," said Scho\'doxa to himself.

However, what he didn\'t know… was the person who forged the arquebus was none other than the young man currently wielding it.

…

"[Blink of the Azure Dragon]!"

Whoosh!

Having kept an eye on his opponent all this time, Valyr swiftly teleported away from where he previously stood, giving himself a bit more time to arm his arquebus for firing.

Taking out the materials needed for the weapon to work from his spatial bracelet, the young man decided to enlist the help of a couple translucent arms, speeding up a bit of the preparation process.

Swoosh!

As for the puppet, after missing its target the first time, it hastily stopped its movements before turning around to look where its opponent went.

Finding out that its opponent had appeared near where it initially stood, the puppet did not hesitate to charge once more, putting a bit more strength into its feet in the process.

Because of that, it took far less time for it to appear in front of the young man, which would have caught Valyr unaware if it were its attempt from before. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Unfortunately, having already loaded the arquebus for firing, Valyr proceeded onto his next step of the plan, infusing the strand of blue-white energy with his thoughts before sending it towards the puppet.

Thud!

At the very instant the two-colored strand made contact with the puppet\'s body, a plethora of blue-white vines swiftly began to bind its lower region in place, causing the momentum it previously built up to instead force it to crash head first into the floor.

Though the collision the puppet experienced was more than enough to render any other being in its place unconscious, the puppet instead began to stand up in response, realizing that it had been caught unaware by its opponent at that moment.

Reminding itself not to make the same mistake the next time, the puppet went ahead and attempted to cut the vines binding it down, only to then find out that the vines seemingly regenerated themselves the moment they were cut.

Realizing that the vines pinning it down could not be cut at all, the puppet soon thought about escaping its current predicament through brute force, hoping that redirecting all of its strength towards one spot was enough for it to free itself.

However, before the puppet could even enact its idea, Valyr had already made his move, empowering his stats as much as he could before pressing on the trigger.

"[Limit Break: Second Verse]."

"[First Encore]."

"[Four Paths Azure Elemental Arts: Raging Azure Phoenix]."

"[Rage of the True Wyvern]."

"[Truth Weaver Scripture: Tetrad]."

"[Intent of Shadow Energy]."

Bang!

With the aura he let out being far more tyrannical than the one he showed off back during the first round, Valyr aimed the arquebus directly at the puppet\'s chest, where its only vital spot could be found.

Its power core.

\'-832,975!!!\'

Unsurprisingly, the bullet that shot out of the arquebus packed more than enough power to kill it almost twice over, causing the puppet to pause in its tracks as a dark red number began to hover above its head.

Then, a few seconds later, as if it finally realized what had happened, the puppet soon lost all signs of life as it crashed to the ground.

Crash!

Dispelling the field of blue-white energy that pinned the puppet to its place, Valyr let out a faint sigh of relief once he made sure the puppet had no ability to resurrect itself from death.

\'Then again, I wouldn\'t be surprised if it had an ability like that,\' thought the young man as he stored all of the items he brought out back into his spatial bracelet. \'It is an android, after all.\'

"In any case, that was really close," muttered Valyr to himself as he thought back to the fight just now. "If I took just a bit longer to arm the arquebus, perhaps the puppet would\'ve been the victor of the fight."

Briefly thinking back to the field that bound the puppet where it was, the young man recalled how quickly it siphoned his Mystic Energy before he could even infuse more mana into the blue-white strand.

Because of that, he realized that he still had a ways to go if he wanted to say he was more than confident enough in fighting Myth-level beings comfortably.

Though, if one were to ask him if he could fight Myth-level beings and defeat them…

"…Honestly, I thought that the reason why you defeated the Myth-level being back then was because you had a powerful skill or had insanely high stats for your rank." While Valyr was still somewhat immersed in his own train of thought, Scho\'doxa went ahead and left the spectator\'s area as he made his way to where the young man was.

Though he didn\'t hear what the man said at first, Valyr was still able to fill in the gaps in Scho\'doxa\'s words the moment he snapped back to reality.

"Well, you still have insanely high stats for your class rank," the man said to him. "However, if we\'re talking about its contribution to being able to fight a Myth-level being, I\'d say its contributions are minuscule."

"Especially if you think about how you have access to an arquebus."

With how Scho\'doxa had the ability to bring out a Myth-level android as if it were nothing, Valyr wasn\'t surprised to find out that he also knew what an arquebus was.

After all, from what he could infer, the man had access to far more advanced weaponry than just the arquebus.

"Curious?" Of course, he also knew why Scho\'doxa brought it up. "Wanna know why something like this is in Veldanyr?"

"I would be lying if I said I wasn\'t," replied the man with a slight chuckle.

Retrieving the puppet he brought out, Scho\'doxa looked at Valyr with a curious expression. "So, where\'d it come from? A recluse being who has access to advanced technology? I wouldn\'t even be surprised if it came from an inheritance of sorts."

Briefly opening up a screen in front of him, Scho\'doxa interacted with it for a bit before tossing a couple of bottles to the young man.

11:22

Ding!

Briefly pausing at the man\'s speculations, the young man could not help but bitterly smile as he replied, "I\'d say it\'s a mix of both."

"A mix of both?" Scho\'doxa had a look of slight confusion. "So… a recluse being in an inheritance?"

\'…Even that interpretation isn\'t wrong.\' Though Valyr had such thoughts in response to the man\'s words, he decided to remain silent, letting Scho\'doxa interpret it however he liked.

Fortunately, the man did not delve into the topic any deeper after that, knowing that there were just some things that were better left unsaid.

Letting out a forced cough to alleviate a bit of the awkwardness, Scho\'doxa then returned the topic of their conversation to what it should\'ve been.

"Anyways, since you completed the challenge I gave you, here\'s the rewards I promised."

Whoosh!

Briefly opening up a screen in front of him, Scho\'doxa interacted with it for a bit before tossing a couple of bottles to the young man.

Ding!

Receiving the bottles with both hands, Valyr glanced at their contents in curiosity, only to pause as he heard a series of notifications go off in his mind.

Placing the bottles in his spatial bracelet for the meantime, he then proceeded to bring up his notification screen. Whoosh!

Reading through them with a solemn expression, the first few notifications he got were something he was already expecting to receive.

However… the same couldn\'t be said for the ones that came after.

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TrueDawn

Creator\'s Thought