Souta and Heili arrived at Beinu City, the city where the main base of the Mince Hand was situated. Souta let Heili go to the Mince Hand first as he had something to do. After that, he went straight to a brothel and release his pent up stress. He felt refreshed after doing it for a long time. Saya even complained to him as she didn't want to hear those disgusting voices.
On the next day, Souta went to the Mince Hand. He checked all of his skills first. After practicing with Alexander inside the Multiple Elements Realm, his combat arts had grown stronger.
Although he didn't need the sublimation book as he had Saya with him, he was still grateful to Alexander. Most of all, the forbidden spell was what he needed the most. Saya wasn't a spell master in her time so she didn't know the formation and structure of forbidden spells. Saya just knew that its fundamentals were quite similar to the sublimation of combat arts.
Since he was closer to sublimation than a forbidden spell, Souta decided that he should focus first on sublimation. Actually, he would gain this function once he learned enough skills. But that's too far since he didn't even have enough skill points.
Souta gives his skills one more glance.
Skill(s): [Dash] Level 9, [Stab] Level 9, [Cat's Speed] Level 10, [Air Walk] Level 8,[Triple Muscle Strengthening] Level 10, [Shadow Cloak] Level 10, [Shadow Step] Level 7, [Crimson Moon] Level 10, [Cross Moon] Level 10, [Transforming Shadow Barrage] Level 6, [Burrow] Level 3, [Energy Manipulation] Level 6, [Night Overlord's Aura] Level 10, [Dark Menace] Level 10
If he was going to divide the ranks of his skills. [Dash], [Stab], [Cat's Speed], and [Triple Muscle Strengthening] belong to the basic tier. The rest aside from [Energy Manipulation] was high tier as this skill was on a higher tier.
Sublimation of combat arts. The first thing that he needed was [Energy Manipulation] at level 8. That's the same for the forbidden formation. If he unlocked the system function, then he didn't need it he just needed to pay skill points for sublimation and forbidden formation.
[Energy Manipulation] was harder to improve than [Mana Manipulation]. He was already lucky that he improve it to level 6 all this time. His type of training was to control his best feram and prevent it from leaking out of his body all the time. So when he constantly trying to control it twenty-four hours a day. He was just letting it out when he was fighting.
Aside from [Mana Manipulation], Souta needed to reach Perfect Mastery over his chosen combat arts that he wanted to sublimate. Perfect Mastery means level 10 in the system. Also, if his chosen combat arts were related to swords and other weapons he needed to make it up with his mastery. Luckily for Souta, his [Weapon Mastery] right now was level 8 and only [Sword Mastery] reached level 9. Sometimes sublimation needed a higher level of elemental power.
These steps were just the basic requirements of sublimation.
But Souta's goal was different. Although he focused himself on sublimation, he just wanted to learn the basics for his target.
Souta arrived at the Mince Hand. Heili already told the instructors that he was alive when she returned yesterday. All this time, the Mince Hand thought that they were dead. After all, only a few people survive that incident in Ardous City. That incident spread out and made the war between the Hundred Face Alliance and Green Vine Pavillion stop.
Although they stopped the war, the two factions were still fighting silently. If a member of the Green Vine Pavillion saw a member of the Hundred Face Alliance, they would immediately proceed to kill the other group. The large-scale battle was the only one that stop.
"I will train for a while..."
Souta said to Heili and his teacher before he went to his room. He stayed inside for two days. He practiced his techniques inside Saya's inner consciousness for ten days straight. His [Divine Dark Circulation] technique had reached the limit, the Sixth Stage. Aside from that, he also studied the sublimation of combat arts.
When he finished his training, Souta went straight to the instructor of his class. He wanted to become the Core Disciple of the Mince Hand to get his hand on the last volume of the [Divine Dark Circulation] and finished his quest.
"You want to become a Core Disciple?!" Instructor Vick looked at him with widely opened eyes. He looked at him up and down before he realized that Souta was exuding the aura of a high level B-rank. It was too fast.
"Yes, I think I've reached the requirement." Souta nodded as he silently showed his [Divine Dark Circulation]. He showed the aura of the Fifth Stage even though he already mastered the Sixth Stage.
"That's really the Fifth Stage of [Divine Dark Circulation]..." Instructor Vick muttered in a low voice. He looked at Souta once again and said, "Wait for me, I'll arrange the test for you and also choose the one you wanted to challenge."
After saying those words, Instructor Vick turned around and left. Becoming a Core Disciple was a bigger deal than becoming an Inner Disciple so it was inevitable that the upper echelons of Mince Hand would be informed of this matter.
Souta looked back and shook his head. Although it was a big deal for others, for him it wasn't the case. It was just a simple test to complete his quest and get the rewards.
'Ufufu... Isn't it interesting? Everyone here thought that you are a talented person.' Saya's laugh echoed in his mind.
'Well, I have an excuse for my power level. Even Senior Sister Heili achieved high level B-rank after passing the trials in ancient ruins, so why wouldn't I?' Souta shrugged his shoulders.
The only thing that matters the most was that the Mince Hand wouldn't get suspicious so that they could give him the last volume of the [Divine Dark Circulation].
After waiting for more than ten minutes, Instructor Vick returned.
"Let's go follow me." Instructor Vick said before he passed a piece of paper to Souta. "The list of the current Core Disciple is listed here. Choose one that you want to challenge."
Souta nodded and looked at the names written on the paper. There were ranking among the Core Disciple from first to twentieth. Soon, he found Neiso's name at number fifteen.
'This guy managed to survive?!'
He was a little bit surprised when he find out about this. Still, this doesn't change that Souta would challenge him to the position of Core Disciple.
"Instructor Vick? There are twenty Core Disciples, why?" Souta asked. When he asked Heili before about Core Disciple she told him that there were less than ten Core Disciples.
"Some of them are Personal Disciples of an elder. They are considered as Core Disciples of Mince Hand." Instructor Vick answered.
The two arrived in the backyard of the Mince Hand and saw a huge training field. There were pillars around it with various exquisite carvings. Looking at it, Souta felt that Mince Hand really had a long history. He could see some ancient words written on it despite not knowing how to read.
"I want to challenge Senior Neiso." Souta said after a while.
Instructor Vick looked back at him before he continued walking. They entered the arena. There were already two old men waiting for them. Instructor Vick said that Souta wanted to challenge the rank fifteen of the Core Disciple.
One of the old men simply clapped his hands and said, "Call Neiso over here. Tell him that a challenger has appeared and if he didn't get here on time the challenger will win by default."
Souta felt the air tremble a little bit. The old man used a little bit of mana to his voice so that it could be heard by other people hiding in the bushes. Souta already knew that there were people hiding in the bushes but he simply ignored them. They were all S-rank and their total number was more than thirty.
Also, the two old men were One Shackle Realm. No matter how much they tried to conceal their mana, they couldn't escape Souta's extreme senses. There was no secret before his eyes and he could even tell if someone was lying or not.
Soon, Neiso arrived. He was a little bit shocked when he found that Souta was the challenger yet he didn't show it on his face. He kept his expression as he politely greeted the two elders.
Souta and Neiso stood in the arena as Instructor Vick stepped out of their way. The two old men also sat at the side without caring about the battle. They only talk to themselves. For them, the battle of this level wasn't worth their eyes. It's normal for Inner Disciples to challenge the Core Disciples and they've seen it a lot of times.
"I will be the referee of this battle. The rules are simple, just knock your opponent out and you will win." Instructor Vick said.
Watching Neiso, Souta could hardly contain his excitement. He wanted to finish this quest but his expression suddenly change. Although it was faint, the words of the two old men got his attention.
