Kill The Old Ones!

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Now that Ren was back to the real world and his short break was over, it was back to the dungeons for him.

The clan was busy right now, especially after he unloaded everything he gained from the trial grounds. Every elder of the clan, Mikel included, was there in the martial hall, pouring over his tests, theories, and discoveries.

At this point, Ren saw no reason to hide the sharpness of his mind from the clan. He trusts that Mikel would have his back and they won’t question him too much.

They were so busy in fact that they probably didn’t even notice that he left. But that works just fine with Ren too.

Now that he has returned to the real world, Ren found that his practice speed had basically turned into a slog. It was so slow that he felt like complaining about it.

Oh, how he missed the 6× training speed boost from the trial grounds...

But, it’s all over. He found comfort at the fact that it wasn’t just him who was bemoaning this loss. Those who have returned were loud on the online forums. After experiencing that kind of blessing, it’s a little too hard to accept that this is how slow it’s going to be.

Ren was upset, so to relieve him of that, he went to the dungeons to beat up some blade-maned leopards—the same monsters that attacked the clan and the city way back then.

This is their den, stages 30 to 35.

The ones back then were stronger since they were the cause of a dungeon overflow, which turns them berserk and far more dangerous than usual, similar to a state if these dungeon levels were to go to the black shade tendency.

Even the ordinary kind in that state could kill a lord or a boss of the same kind.

But thanks to the diligence of the explorers, stages 30-35 remained at a beige shade tendency, and Ren never had a difficult time beating them up.

Due to the outrageous leap in his strength upon returning, this was a slaughter feast for Ren.

He was practically invisible in these stages. Yes, stages 34 to 35 were involved. The elites, lords, and the boss couldn’t even touch the hem of his clothes, and these monsters were known to be fast, too.

But even if he allowed them to touch him, they wouldn’t have done much. This was thanks to Ren’s recent creation of a technique that he would be using fairly regularly from now on—the [Black Adamantine Style].

This was inspired by the Black Adamantium Glory Wing Art—a Sky Archon Art he bought and studied.

Adamantium is one of the mythical metals, one that has only been told in legends but never made an actual appearance...at least, not publicly.

Oh, it exists, alright. And they’re so rare that even the martial gods would be alarmed by their existence. Only the best and strongest smiths could work with a metal of such caliber.

Adamantium was said to be nigh-indestructible. In other tales, it is said to have limitless durability. In other stories, it was said to recover its durability and toughness so fast that it creates an illusion of being indestructible.

The truth is that it really is nigh-indestructible, but not because it’s tough, but because it could perfectly absorb kind of harm that comes its way. It’s also too damn flexible, and it’s lighter than one might think. Ren wasn’t clear exactly on how it’s formed, but he does know that it exists. Only, it couldn’t be found in this world. And this world was far from being enough to give birth to such precious metal.

A furnace whose temperature burns hotter than the sun’s core would be the bare minimum requirements to melt adamantium, and even that would take a long ass time to happen. That’s not counting the sheer level of skill, patience, and effort it would demand out of the smith to turn it into a tool.

So, yes. It’s practically impossible for this metal to appear in this world.

Anyway...

The dude who made the Black Adamantium Glory Wing Art wanted to turn his wings to the fabled Black Adamantium, which was a grade higher than the ’ordinary’ adamantium and even more elusive.

He was so crazy about it that he practically searched everywhere just to see and feel what it’s like. And the madman found it. Through that, he learned the secrets of Black Adamantium and used a large portion of his life researching how to turn his wings to it.

And in the end, he did it. It took a lot of effort, but he did, and it quite literally propelled him to the top of the world.

That said, he was unable to defeat the Godly Sky Archon, though.

The Black Adamantium Glory Wing Art was one of the most expensive Sky Archon Art pieces in the shop. It costs 500,000 points to buy, and even Ren had to save up for a whole damn week before he was able to buy it.

But it was worth it, because the dude who made it practically left nothing out. This art included even his most random and mad ramblings about the art’s creation. Which became a great source of inspiration for Ren.

As such, he turned it into a defensive martial technique that could be used offensively.

He hasn’t completely mastered it yet. And he won’t be mastering it anytime soon, for that matter. It’s that complicated.

But even at its infancy, it was enough to raise Ren’s defenses to an absurd degree.

He could stand still and allow the blade-maned leopards to hurl steel at him and swipe at him with their claws all day, and they wouldn’t even leave a scratch on his skin.

Because adamantium could absorb absurd levels of punishment without folding, the technique Ren made shares that aspect too.

The better his mastery over this art, the better his way absorbing attacks and impacts, too. At its peak, even if someone were to hurl a world destroying meteor at him, Ren could just tank it like it’s nothing.

Even better is that all of this absorbed impact wasn’t going to waste. He could store it and unleash it as he pleases. Adding even further to the absurd offensive power that Ren already possesses at his base.

It’s incredible, really, and this is just what he needs to tide him over to the Inhuman Realm. Hell, he might even rely on it for the rest of life.

On another note, Flash Steps have improved.

Thanks to his chakra network maturing, he now has sufficient chakra to support short-term flight. He’s still refining the method, but at some point, Ren would eventually be able to fly as he pleases through this, and that’s at the speed of Sky Archons, too.

As for his offensive technique, Ren took great inspiration from Titans.

He hadn’t seen a Titan before...well, if we’re counting the depictions of it in shows, anime, and games he had seen in his previous life, then, yes, he most definitely had.

But the general gists is that Titans are large humanoid creatures brimming with pure strength. They are often depicted to be creatures closely related to the earth element.

They usually don’t have a fighting style. They just punch things until they shatter, and most of the time, they usually do. With their size and strength, it’d be a wonder if they couldn’t crack planets with it.

That’s what Ren likes and the inspiration he took. Pure overwhelming strength. Power that shatters all fallacies and schemes. One that could silence the world and leave it trembling with its might and rage.

Pure violent aesthetic. That’s what Ren liked about it.

Of course, he wouldn’t be growing to the size of an actual titan anytime soon. He doesn’t even know if it’s possible at all. But, taking that as an inspiration for a fighting style wasn’t that hard to do.

Ren’s got so much power already. And sometimes, the most effective way to break a wall was to just punch it as hard as one could.

That said, Ren wasn’t running around like a maniac, hurling gigantic boulders at his enemies from afar, and punching them to nihility left and right.

...well, the latter part might be true, but at the very least, Ren’s method still had some finesse in them, a hint of skill and thought.

His brain hadn’t deteriorated just because he’s been taking inspiration from the reckless fighting style of the Titans.

There is still a lot of improvement that could be done with this, but for now, this will do. Ren would continue to refine it as he goes, eliminating flaws and inefficiencies he could see.

His progress might’ve slowed down after leaving the trial grounds, but there’s no reason to stop improving. Ren still has a long way to go.

For now, though, he would continue exploding the dungeons solo. He doesn’t feel like joining a party since, at his current state and power, it would just slow him down.

He would need to reach stage 50, or above, for his objective—an event that he cannot miss. One that will happen very soon.