"Can I…follow you?" The Martial Artist boss from the tavern prostrated on the ground and asked Arak.
"Sure, do as you see fit." Arak nodded casually and didn't put much thought into it. After all, his life truly wasn't in danger, thanks to his Cheat of Immortality. The same was true for Ruora.
It was because he had carefully placed a few droplets of his blood of Immortality in her heart. The moment it stops thumping, in the case she was killed, the droplets would merge into the heart and rapidly heal her.
He also placed some droplets in other parts of her body, in preparation for any scenario. Therefore, even if Ruora was killed, she wouldn't die.
The Martial Artist boss from the tavern only wished to see the end of this path, wondering why Arak was only focusing on destroying the magical element of their martial arts and nothing else.
"Can I ask for a reason?" He asked after following them for a week and seeing them in action dozens of times in this duration.
"That magical element introduced to martial arts is cancerous in nature. It gives you a great boost in power, but it's actually crippling this world in response. If nothing is done, the world would collapse in a decade." Ruora said. This was the explanation provided to her by Slayer.
She didn't have the knowledge necessary to verify this claim, and hence, she iterated it as is.
"T-Then," The Martial Artist boss from the tavern asked, "If the Martial Artists become like me, will the world recover."
"Yup, for that's the natural state of this world," Ruora spoke in confidence.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. The number of followers entertaining the beliefs spread by Ruora was in the tens of thousands now.
The reason for this rapid rise in their influence was that once he absorbed enough of the magical element into himself, his Cheat evolved a little, now allowing him to use his Immortality to forcefully create a Dantian in the bodies of commoners.
This meant that even commoners were now able to become Martial Artists, which had been reserved for the elite born with Dantians until now.
By this point, Arak's fate had overwhelmed and forced the Murim World's fate to submit. When he felt such a strong connection, he was able to peer into its laws, allowing him to comprehend the concept of martial arts better.
And thanks to that, Arak was casually able to create martial arts manuals on the level of Divine Arts. Just this was enough for people to flock to his side.
"Heaven Divine Scripture, Earth Mountain Scripture, and Man Monument Scripture," Arak stood on a platform and addressed his followers that now numbered enough to form a city, "These three are the Godly Arts I've created. They are all-encompassing in that they have a breathing method, cultivation method, body refinement method, recovery method, and all manners of fighting arts from attack, defence, and evasion, to even senses."
"The Heaven Divine Scripture gives you an uncanny perception of nature as your sixth sense. With it, you'll be able to employ nature to your essence, as if you are fighting at your home." He spoke.
The Heaven Divine Scripture allowed the Martial Artist to become one with nature. In water, they were fish, underground, they were an earthworm, and in the air, they were birds. It had the highest adaptability skills, able to survive in the harshest of climates.
It had comparatively weaker raw power, but it could be assisted by the nature perception, allowing one to wield the very nature itself against the enemy.
The Earth Mountain Scripture focused on tempering and refining the body by subjecting oneself to the elements. It was a simple but robust scripture.
Finally, the Man Monument Scripture was fully auxiliary, allowing one to forge the greatest of tools, from weapons to everyday objects, capable of infusing them all with QI to give life to them.
As the essence of these three scriptures was extracted from the core laws of the Murim World itself, they were top of the top martial arts manuals, the likes of which were enough to spark a world war.
But Arak gave them away for free, teaching them to all his followers. With it, their level of martial arts grew leaps and bounds, making them completely let go of the magical powers they wielded before.
After all, their current martial arts were stronger.
All the followers erected a city and then spread out over the years, causing the martial artists of the old to realise that their powers became outdated. Eventually, they voluntarily approached Arak to be removed of their magical properties.
Following that, they learnt the Godly Scripture of their choice and became happy. By the end of two years, Arak had extracted the magical element from all Martial Artists and had gone a step ahead to give everyone a Dantian.
With this, the world fell back to the Murim Genre. But now, its growth, stability, and future were fully influenced by Arak. After all, his fate had wrapped around and merged with the Murim World's. Now, the fates of both were tied up.
Arak was mostly free of any pain by this point. He sighed in relief, "I can rest a little now."
The moment he spoke this set of words, his surroundings changed as he observed the figure of Slayer before him. Staring at the familiar surroundings, Arak realised that he had returned home, "Thank you, Grand Master."
"It was a pleasant journey."
"It's not over yet." Slayer said as he put on a pondering expression, saying after a minute, "There are other worlds out there just like the one you visited. Why don't you take this as a training experience and go through them?"
"When you reach the end, you'll have a pleasant surprise waiting for you."
"Will he…attain universality?" Ruora figured out the hidden meaning behind his words, asking excitedly.
"Yup," Slayer nodded, smiling as a result, "If Arak becomes strong, this world becomes safer for the people to live in."
"What's…universality?" Arak asked.
"Ruora will explain it to you in detail." Saying so, Slayer snapped his finger, teleporting the duo to another Murim World that had changed genres.
He sent them off with a wide smile, barely able to rein in his excitement as he appeared in another part of the world, staring at the figure of Anak, Arnark's second son.
Anak too had gone on a journey with a Cheat User that fell for him. His destination was a Cultivation World. And after achieving his objective, he returned.
"There are other worlds in a similar situation." Slayer iterated the same dialogue as before, "Why don't you consider this as a training expedition and go through more worlds?"
"By the end of your journey, you'll receive a pleasant surprise."
"Universality?" His companion was sharp as she asked, "Is that possible?"
"Absolutely," Slayer smiled, "This is a great opportunity."
"Grand Master," Anak stared at Slayer, "Is Arak on a similar journey?"
"Yes, he's training in the Murim Worlds." Slayer said, expressing a hint of surprise, "How did you come to know?"
"You have an excited glint in your eyes," Anak laughed, "I've only seen this glint when I was born."
He spoke after a moment, "I can remember everything that happened since birth ever since I became a Saint of the Cartographer Class too."
He then asked, "Will my attaining this…universality help our world?"
"It will immensely do so." Slayer nodded, "When you attain universality, you'll understand how much valuable it truly is."
At present, in the entire Fantasy World, there were only six entities that had attained universality to their powers—meaning, their powers function in all worlds and genres.
It was Slayer and his five Universe Relic Wielders. That's all. So, only by increasing the number of people with universality in their powers would the Fantasy World grow stronger and become capable of resisting the Systems in the future.
"Then, I'll be on my way." Anak smiled, "I'll attain universality before Arak."
He thought for a moment before asking, "Will I…encounter dad's enemies on my journey?"
"You won't, as I'm actively eradicating them." Slayer said, "I can't allow any external interferences to hinder your growth."
"Then, take me on a hunting trip once I attain universality." Smiling as a result, Anak vanished with his companion, heading to another Cultivation World that had jumped genres.
Their actions brought the Cultivation World back to its root. It was as if Slayer was cleaning the filth plaguing the Murim and Cultivation Genres and restoring them to their original, pristine states.
But only he was aware of the true reason for such an elaborate plan, one that had been ongoing for eons. Having been researching and accumulating data all along while living like a rat, it was finally the time to peek out of his burrow and take action.
After all, with Immortal and Martial out of the picture, once the Murim and Cultivation Genres were restored, they were ripe for the picking. It was an opportunity of a lifetime that he had zero intentions to miss.
