NOVEL NEXT Chapter 18: Looming Danger
So after returning to his room he started executing his plan without further ado
[Dream/Reality]: Merge and Improve martial arts
And as soon as his ability was used, all the martial arts knowledge in his mind started colliding
At first, they started merging, then expanding filling in some of the missing things
Then it started getting rid of all the useless, overlapping, and showy parts that are just there to make it look good
What Lorien wants is a combat and battle-ready martial art, not something to use for a street show
After a while all the martial arts in his mind were gone, only leaving a new nameless one that combined the essence of all the others while also simplifying it and leaving only the needed moves
Following that his ability started optimizing it and adapting it to Lorien's body making some minor changes here and there
Then with his ability still operating, This martial art started getting engraved into his instincts bit by bit much like what happened with kenjutsu
After a while, Lorien can feel that this 'engravement' came to an end as the energy consumption suddenly spiked, meaning that any more improvement will be beyond the mortal level
And like that, it didn't take long for this new martial art to reach the same level as that of his swordsmanship, the peak of the mortal level
Feeling this he decisively stopped as to not waste energy
Standing up Lorien started testing his new martial arts abilities as he started fighting the air, executing one attack after another while defending from time to time, it was as if he was fighting an invisible opponent
This went on for a while before he took a deep breath and stopped, his mind wandering a bit
'It's identical to swordsmanship, I don't have to think about how to attack...'
Feeling this a happy smile appeared on his face, obviously, Lorien was in a very joyful mood
"I only have one shortcoming now, and that's long-range attacks..."
But after thinking about it for a while he gave up as he couldn't think of any effective way to solve this issue
If he wanted to do long-range attacks he would at least needs to be able to manipulate the energy inside his body, which he is currently unable to for some reason no matter how much he tried
Right now the Source Energy inside his body can only be used as fuel and nothing more
"I'll leave it for last then..."
After deciding to put it aside for the moment Lorien looked at the slowly recovering Source Energy inside his body
"It should be enough to start deducing the Supernatural Level, I can do it like I first did with Japanese, a portion every night until it is completed, I don't have to master it all in one night..."
Just as Lorien was thinking about his next target a voice suddenly came from behind the closed door
"Looorien~~ Are you there?"
Hearing this voice a happy smile appeared on Lorien's face as he walked to the door opening it
As soon as Saigai saw Lorien her eyes shone as she quickly took his hand and started pouting
"You promised we'd go out together today! Did you forget?!"
Hearing this Lorien instantly remembered, he had truly forgotten about it, but obviously, he won't say it
"No, I just went to the room to get ready..."
Hearing this Saigai looked at Lorien without doubtful eyes, it appears she didn't believe it, after all, they've been living together for half a year and they know each other pretty well
In the past half a year their relationship became very close and Saigai seems to have forgotten about her past as no more disasters happened since she started living with Lorien
This caused her personality to change from being shy and careful in everything she does and says, to a more cheerful personality starting to enjoy life
But it seems that she still doesn't like other people much as she acts very very coldly towards them, probably because of how everyone else treated her before
Looking at the bank look Saigai gave him, he felt a bit guilty, so quickly changed the subject
"By the way, Where should we go?"
Hearing this Saigai's attention was successfully averted as she started suggesting some places they've never been to, meanwhile Lorien listened to her as they walked away together to the outside
Right now, the town Lorien is in is facing huge changes, it's becoming more and more 'modern' while there are a lot of new shops opening here and there, it's slowly transforming into a city
So from time to time Lorien and Saigai would go and test some of the new things, and today was one such day
While walking towards a newly opened shop Saigai said curiously
"Lorien, why do you always practice?"
Hearing this question Lorien was taken back for a moment, but he then answered vaguely with a laugh
"Who knows~~ Maybe you'll become like me one day, hahahaha"
But she quickly denied it as she shook her head heavily
"I don't want to be a training maniac like you!"
Actually, Lorien has been a bit hesitant about awakening Saigai's talent, it wasn't a loyalty problem or anything as even if he were to be a very distrustful he can just make a contract similar to the one he made with the woman that sent him to this world when awakening her talent
That woman already gave him some information about how to make this contract alongside some other information about life levels...etc which he still hasn't checked yet as he thought they weren't very useful for now (Chapter 5 Last Paragraph)
The reason he didn't do it was because of her mental state and that there was no opportunity to do it
"When did this open?"
Just then Saigai's voice pulled him out of his line of thoughts
Looking towards where she was pointing he saw a newly opened restaurant which he haven't gone to yet
Visiting different places such as restaurants became a hobby for Lorien since he came to this world as it allowed him to experience this era more closely, so him seeing something new instantly made him curious
"Wanna try it?"
"Okay! let's check it out!"
.
.
.
The same night,
The moon shone brightly in the night sky illuminating a bloody spectacle
Hands, legs, and other dismembered body parts can be seen thrown everywhere amidst the numerous corpses thrown everywhere inside a Dojo
A foul smell permitted the air as all the blood around merged into a big pond
There, a man in his 30s can be seen on the floor barely alive, his eyes full of despair and unwillingness
He turned his head slightly with what's left of his strength to look at the cause of all of this
*Step*
*Step*
*Step*
There, a tall and muscular young man with blue patterns all over his body could be seen walking slowly in this direction
He had bright pink hair, and yellow eyes that had the words "Upper rank" and "Three" written inside them in kanji
"Weak!"
This word was full of an unbelievable amount of disgust as even the skin on the demon's body crawled because of it, it looked as if he was about to throw up
Seeing this, the man seems to have thought of something as he yelled with all the strength he had left
"WAIT!!!!"
But seeing that the Demon in front of him not carrying about him and continuing to walk in his direction to finish the job he remembered what the demon asked when he just came
'Are you a martial arts master?'
So thinking about the target of the demon, he thought of someone he just met not long ago
It was as if discovered the ticket that could save his life, so he continued yelling trying to save his life
"I...I KNOW WHERE YOU CAN FIND THE BEST MARTIAL ARTIST!!!!"
Hearing this the demon paused for a second as he was visibly interested
Seeing this reaction, hope ignited as he continued as fast as he could knowing that he discovered what the demon really wanted
"I KNOW WHERE YOU CAN FIND A GENIUS WHO PRACTICED ALL MARTIAL ARTS TO PERFECTION!!!! HE IS IN YUME TOWN!! JUST DON'T KILL ME I ALREADY TOLD YOU EVERYTHING!!!!"
Hearing all of this the Demon stopped walking, as a happy smile full of excitement appeared on his face
'Mastered all martial arts eh..hahahha!'
Seeing the Demon stop and his attention completely transferred from him to the information he just said, the man heaved a sigh of relief thinking that the danger already passed
And as he thought of the information he had just given, hatred and jealousy appeared in his eyes, but then those emotions turned into joy
'That's what you get for beating and then refusing me! a genius hahahaha! more like a dead one'
If Lorien was here he would have recognized the man as one of the 'Masters' that came to challenge him but ended up getting beaten
To be honest, his martial level wasn't that bad but it wasn't great either, so Lorien refused to allow him to try the second challenge, it seems that he held a grudge because of it
Just then, as the man was daydreaming a *swish* sounded in the air accompanied by a change in his perspective
A moment earlier he was looking at the ceiling, but now it appears that he is spinning around in the air, but then he noticed a familiar body on the floor
'Is that my....'
And before he could even finish the thought, everything returned to darkness
The demon stood there only giving the dead body one last look before running out of the Dojo, his direction is...Yume Town