Lory stepped up front with no hesitation at all. He was excited with the prospect of fighting and was more than willing to do it.
Lyra on the other hand was much more shy and wasn't really into the mood to fight at all. But, with even Umbra telling her to do so, she really didn't have much choice in the matter at all.
Ning stood back with a massive smile on his face as he waited for the other people to step forward.
The men lined up as per Ning's orders and the one at the front of the line looked toward Lory before turning to Ning.
"That… that beast is only in the 5 Sense Improvement realm. Are you sure that you want me to fight him?" he asked.
"Of course," Ning said. "Why else would I ask you to fight him?"
"But… I'm in the Essence Sense realm," the man said.
"I know," Ning said.
Emma frowned from the side. Was there something that her father knew that she didn't? She had asked him not to teach her much about Essence aside from providing her with the best techniques, but she had wanted to learn the rest about Essence herself.
There was definitely something here that was making her father really confident in Lory and Lyra's capability.
The man that was to fight Lory didn't trust Ning still. He looked at the baby puma and back at Ning again. "Do I just stay and let him attack me?" he asked. He could do that, even thought he would probably be bruised by the end of it.
"No," Ning said. "I want you to fight him serious. No holding back at all."
The man was finally more surprised than suspicious. "You want me to seriously fight him?" he asked.
"Yes," Ning said. "Use any swords or weapons you might have too. Its all fine."
"If you say so," the man said and pulled out a normal metal sword.
Ning finally reacted a little. There was something about this entire thing that he had been curious from the start, and seeing it now, he was even more surprised.
'There's someone here that is capable of making Spatial artifacts very cheaply,' he thought. There shouldn't be any other reason why a thug like them could have so many storage artifacts.
Ning was curious for just a moment before his curiosity waned and his focus returned to the fight at hand. He looked at Lory who as raring to go.
"You can fight now," Ning said.
As soon as the words left Ning's mouth, Lory dashed forward. He sprinted forward and ran toward the man, who had reacted a split second late. He quickly swung his sword, stopping Lory from getting too close.
Instead of stopping, however, Lory ducked and went under the swing before jumping up and hitting the man in the chest.
The man was sent flying back as he flew straight to the ceiling and came down with a large bag. A small dust cloud rose that quickly settled down.
The man that was the reason for the dust cloud, however, could no longer get back up at all. He had lost consciousness from just that one strike.
The remaining 7 men slowly turned their head toward Lory and their eyes went wide with shock.
"What… just happened?" Emma couldn't help but ask in shock. It wasn't just her either. Even Umbra was shocked.
She had let her children take part in the fight, not because she believed in them, but because she believed in Ning. She had assumed that this was going to be training to prepare them for the day when they would ahve to fight for real.
However, this was no what she was expecting at all.
"What did Lory do?" Umbra had to ask.
Ning smiled and turned toward Emma. "Remember the story I told you, about me going through my journey?" he asked.
"Yes," Emma said. "What about it?"
"Do you remember how even though my body and talent were normal, I was still doing quite well? Especially in terms of my physical strength and Senses," he said.
Emma thought for a bit and nodded. There were parts of the story that mentioned that. However, she didn't imagine why that was useful right now.
All she could think was the fact that her father had most likely abused the system as some point and wasn't telling her about it.
"The reason I was so strong back then was simple," Ning said. "I… accidentally… formed a Pure Essence core."
"So?" Emma asked.
"So, Pure Essence core gives you quite the bit of benefit. It makes your physical strength superior to your peers. It makes your senses stronger, and it improves your ability to go through ranks so that you easily enter the higher ranks and don't have to struggle through any of it," he said.
Emma frowned. "It has such properties?" she asked.
"Yes," Ning said.
"I thought you gave them the fruit because you could use any sort of Essence with pure Essence," Emma said.
"That is the main reason," Ning said. "But not the only reason."
Emma frowned for a moment. "Did I make a mistake by not choosing Pure Core too?" she asked.
"No," Ning said. "You have little use for those benefits. You strength and senses are already strong, and I have given you the best books to aid with your speed."
"As for using any Essence you want, well… that one you chose yourself not to do," Ning said.
Emma thought for a bit and nodded. "That makes sense," she said. "Then…does that mean that Lory and Lyra are now as strong as Essence Sense realm fighters?"
Ning smiled. "They are even stronger," he said.
Emma couldn't believe his words. "How?" she asked.
Ning's smile widened even further. "They don't only get their benefits from the Pure Core," he said.
Emma's eyes widened. "Ah! They have added strength from their Shadow Core as well?" she asked.
Ning nodded. "Now you see why I wanted them to fight. This is perfect training for the two."
