A few hours earlier…

The ship of the Ten High Peak Faction glided carefully along the calm waves of the Blue Sea—a large body of water encased between the meeting point of three continents:

Ainsveld, Eldraemar, and Mennanion.

The ship was very large. It had multiple rooms, various sitting areas, three large sails, and the sculpted head of a dragon leading it forward.

Within one of the ten master bedrooms inside the ship, Noa sat alone in her room, seemingly mastering her Ancestral Ability.

An array of multicolored Aura binds, seals, and arrays were littered around her room.

With her eyes closed, she tinkered with each and every one in curious ways.

She created some, destroyed others, and morphed more into different shapes and sizes.

Finally, she opened her eyes for but a moment. ‘I’ve never seen such a variety of Aura seals. Not only are they different in shape and size, but their internal mechanisms coded by Aura are vastly different as well. It’s like a whole new world of puzzles to figure out… amazing!’

She grinned with eagerness, closing her eyes before continuing her training.

On the surface of the ship, Malon trained on the completely left side—opposite of the helm.

With an orb of floating Aura in front of him, he panted while standing before it. He seemed cut and bruised, exhausted and drenched with sweat.

A man stood behind him. He seemed older, about 40 years in age. His hairy, muscular arms were crossed in a sense of sternness.

He wore basic clothing: long brown trousers along with a slightly more formal white tunic. His hair was buzzed, and his face was blocky.

He was around 6’2″ tall, and his body was highly developed from just a glance. Overall, his look gave a tough presence.

“Again…” he said in a low tone.

Although panting, Malon clenched his teeth, raised his large shield in front of him, and rammed into the crystal Aura orb.

As soon as Malon made impact, an explosion sent him flying backward. He landed on his bum before rolling back and sliding to a stop a few feet away.

“Stand!” the buzzed-hair man shouted, prompting Malon to quickly get back to his feet.

He stepped forward and thrust his shield, unleashing a blast of energy that clashed against the crystal.

However, the crystal absorbed the attack instantly—taking zero damage.

“Tsk!” Malon exclaimed in frustration. “What is this damn thing? It has an ability similar to my shield… growing stronger with each attack and absorbing all the force. Except, it seems superior in every way.”

Out of nowhere, his shield shrunk.

“Wha—oi! Get big again! What are you doing?” Malon yelled, shaking his arm. When he brought his hand closer to his face, the shield suddenly increased in size again, slamming into his nose and making him fall onto his back.

“Ack.”

The man overlooking Malon’s training shook his head side to side in disappointment.

“It’s a Power Crystal… a popular training technology within the higher factions of Eldraemar. What you described was right. This crystal absorbs all attacks and slowly becomes stronger. That is why it is considered to be a perfect training tool for most. It can grow in power to even rival some Faction Branch Captains…”

“W-what!?” Malon said in shock, standing up and wiping himself off while making his shield disappear into his arm.

‘Stupid shield has a mind of its own now…’ he thought inwardly. ‘Ever since I took that ability from Mrama…’

…

“Are you sure? Faction Branch Captains… that means you, right, Captain Steel?” Malon asked the man.

The man addressed as ‘Captain Steel’ slowly turned to face Malon. “Me? Well… I suppose you are right. But, I am not like most weakling Faction Branch Captains.” Steel paused.

For a moment, Malon thought to himself, ‘So this crystal could also beat up the emperors in Ainsveld with its full power, huh… how absurd. But… I guess it has to train with a partner that strong to get that strong over time. It doesn’t just start off like that.’

“Apart from me, however,” Steel continued, “This crystal is able to rival that of other Branch Captains… like—”

“Wait!” Malon said with excitement. “Prove it… show me that you can overpower this thing.”

Captain Steel looked unimpressed. “Tsk tsk tsk.” He exclaimed, shaking his head as he walked over to the crystal.

‘This object seems invincible… will he really be able to overpower it?’ Malon thought to himself, unsure.

After taking a deep breath and exhaling, Steel clenched his fist, tightened his arm, and swung his elbow directly into the center of the Aura crystal.

There was an initial afterblow of force that blasted through the air, nearly taking Malon off his feet.

After that, however, there was a standstill where the crystal continuously absorbed the force put on it by Steel.

However, after a few seconds, Steel’s eyes widened as he dug his feet into the floor and pushed with his entire body.

“Hrah!” he yelled, forcing his elbow through the crystal and shattering it into a thousand pieces.

A powerful explosion of Aura flew out, shaking the entire ship.

Captain Steel stood back. “Don’t underestimate me… brat.”

Malon was shocked, his maw open slightly with astonishment.

On the other side of the ship, Hanzo stood a few feet away from the helm—leaning over the railing and looking out into the sea with a blissful look on his face.

As the ship shook over the water, he remained stoic in his gaze.

Tyr stepped beside him, also staring out into the sea with one hand on the railing. “What are you thinking about here all alone?”

Hanzo looked behind his shoulder at Tyr and then faced the sea again.

“Oh… well, I was just thinking about my dream.”

Tyr raised one side of his lip, unimpressed. “You still haven’t found it? You are hopeless!”

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Hanzo slightly laughed as he exhaled. “Not yet… I haven’t found a dream, but that doesn’t mean I never will. As long as I have even a 0.0001 percent chance of finding a dream good enough, I am not hopeless.”

Tyr slowly stopped smiling, understanding this was more serious. “Yeah…” He leaned backward on the railing, facing the sky.

“I can’t tell you what to dream of… it has to be something you want yourself. Just make sure… it’s worthy of being a part of Judgment.”

Hanzo looked back at Tyr again, but Tyr was already walking away by this point. As he stared at the young man leave, he thought to himself: ‘Worthy of being a part of Judgment, huh…’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep