Martial Arts Worlds

Martial World, Capital City, the Selection Mansion.

In the outskirts of the Capital City, which had mostly forests, steep hills heading over to the mountains, and flowing rivers, there existed a mansion of immense size.

After surviving through the first test in the government building, they were sent to the Selection Mansion for the selection rounds, and at the current moment, buses, and cars rolled to the yard of the mansion.

Thousands of young men and women entered the mansion through the front entrance—they were all Martial Masters and above.

While some of them were the greatest talents of their respective countries, there were also those who didn't amount to much in their countries even though they were Martial Masters.

It was because they were from tier one and zero countries, where there were talents of their caliber behind every corner.

"…Welcome everyone!"

"…Wow. Everywhere I look I see faces that I had seen on television before. I suppose it is really true that every talent of eighteen years and younger has come here…"

"…I am called the greatest talent to ever come from my country, but here, I am among the lowest martial ranks…"

With looks of awe, and wonder, they entered the mansion, were led to their rooms, and got settled.

The mansion had thousands of rooms. It was one of the largest places any of them had seen. And walking down the hallway alone took them close to half an hour to find their room.

…

In the mansion, with a backpack in hand, Antigone Collingwood entered her room with a look of awe.

It was surprisingly spacious, and while it wasn't as big as her room back in Collingwood Estate, it was still a decent size.

She put her backpack down, jumped on the bed, and let out a contented sigh as she felt the softness of the bed underneath her.

It was a long trip for her to arrive here—plenty of uncomfortable plane seats and inn rooms back in the Capital City—however, she luckily wasn't alone.

While her family didn't come with her, they trusted her with Xerxus, who had been public about teaching her to her family.

Thus, they trusted her with the former Fleet Admiral of the Navy. There wasn't a better person to trust her with.

While Xerxus stayed back at the Capital City as he wasn't allowed to come here, but well, if he had asked, the Human Government would've most likely allowed him.

However, he didn't want to make a scene and didn't want to make it public knowledge that he was teaching Antigone.

It was because Xerxus was publicly a member of the Martial Order now, and they might come to the conclusion that so was Antigone.

Human Government had been very interested in Martial Order and had asked Xerxus to reveal his ties to them, but he'd been dodging their calls.

"…This is the last day of the tests, and he has still not arrived."

Antigone checked her phone, and checked everyone who'd been accepted for the first selection, and didn't see Kiernan anywhere.

She knew that Martial Order gave him a potion, and it would take a while to digest it. While digesting, he was going to be very sick and ill.

Thus, it made sense that he hadn't taken the test yet, but the time was running out, and he only had a few hours left.

'…I don't know what that potion contained, but apparently it should improve Kiernan's strength…'

…

A while ago, in Pankratios cave.

"This is it…"

Amara placed a steaming hot flask of potion on the stone table, and it didn't have a cork on it, so the aroma was quite overwhelming.

It wasn't officially a Martial Order meeting, so only Pankratios, Amara, Liora, Xerxus, Antigone, and Kiernan were currently around in the cave.

"It'll make me stronger? Just like that."

Kiernan snapped his fingers to create a snap sound and asked.

"I gave Amara ingredients to make this one. It's a Power Potion that will increase your strength, yes, but something like that is difficult to make.

"The ingredients are extremely rare. One of the ingredients that I gave does not exist in this world anymore, I believe. However, this tournament is more important than this ingredient.

"To increase the chances to win, you must become stronger."

Pankratios said.

"Why not give to Antigone? Or have you already?"

Kiernan asked.

"…Well, we had only enough ingredients for one potion. We decided to give it to you. As we believe that your martial arts exceeds Antigone's at the current moment."

Pankratios said.

"What's the side effect? Give it to me straight."

Kiernan asked.

"…It will damage your martial soul, slightly, and so, it will be much harder for you to break through the bottleneck to become Martial King."

Pankratios said with a serious look.

It was a very tough and horrible side effect, as that bottleneck was already going to be extremely difficult.

If the matter wasn't so pressing, Kiernan was never going to drink that, but his current strength, while it might be enough for him to be chosen, wouldn't be enough in the tournament.

At the current moment, there wasn't any human talent that could compete against Beast Prince Arazimir, and Kiernan had to become that someone.

"Shit…"

Kiernan cursed, picked up the flask, and inhaled the strong aroma that had the smell of burnt sulfur and pine.

"For humanity… I suppose."

With cheers, Kiernan gulped the potion's warm liquid down his throat, and at that moment, his stomach began churning like a volcano.

He felt like his insides were being set ablaze, and crushed with unbearable pressure.

"Argh…"

Kiernan dropped to one knee, hugged his stomach with a very uncomfortable look, and screamed in pain.

However, he felt his strength starting to slowly climb as he watched the transformation through his system interface.

His strength stat just kept rising, and so did every other stat of his.

"That pain will last for a while, and you'll become sick, but you should be fine before the first selection round.

"Good luck, young one."

Pankratios said.