Eren looked at Renita and smiled before speaking further.
"Some of you will have to go through tough times to unearth your potential. And some of you will have an easy ride progressing in your path. We can't control what kind of curses or blessings we get after all.
But no matter what the days ahead will have in store for you, keep working hard. Keep striving to better yourself with each passing day.
There won't always be reasons that would make you want to push forward. And that's okay. Remember. The pursuit of power doesn't need a reason. The pursuit of self-improvement doesn't need a reason."
The White Raven Crew looked at each other as they heard Eren's words. They felt as if they had gone back in time and become the students of LA once again.
Eren disappeared from his position after saying what he had to say. The audience soon turned in a particular direction all at once to see that Eren was standing over the head of the giant statue that resembled him.
"I'm sorry if you didn't get to hear what you had come here hoping for," Eren said as he looked at the crowd from a new vantage point, a new perspective.
"To be honest, I didn't quite like the idea of Rankers sharing their insights into their respective Ranking Paths to pave the way for future generations. I believe that people don't care about or appreciate enough of the things they get for free.
Maybe, I'm just a bitter man about these traditions because I didn't benefit from them when I was in your shoes. But for some reason, I think making you work hard to gain my insights will eventually do you more good.
If my actions put a bit of blemish on the tradition we have here in Afang, so be it. But I refuse to give hand-outs to Rankers who haven't shown their resolve to me," Eren said before tapping into his bloodline Ability.
In the next moment, Eren effortlessly changed into the Array Master Class. He got on one knee and placed his right palm over the ground, activating an Array Formation. He also tapped into his divinity, adding divine runes to the statue.
The Array Formation lit up, assimilating with the divine runes. The spiritual fragments related to the Way of Water were manifested around the statue before they got assimilated with the statue as well.
Soon, a small water-element replica of Eren was created at the foot of the statue's leg. It dispersed into thin air after it was stabilized, becoming a part of the statue once again.
Something strange happened at this point. The statue started exuding a faint divine aura when Eren was done with it. Of course, the Rankers from Anfang were not exposed to the divine nature of things and the value of faith. However, they could sense that something had changed about the statue just by being in the vicinity.
The statue was soon coated in Eren's aura, reflecting his intense and blood-curdling Individuality. The Rankers who started in the statue's eyes started seeing the world of blood and gore. Some struggled to stay in their positions after they tried to gauge Eren's Individuality with their senses. They had to fight hard not to scream and lose their calm.
Eren's statue started having a somewhat similar effect on the audience as the Amazonians whenever they saw the giant statue of their deity– the Great Mother. However, the intensity of physical and mental pressure that Eren's statue had brought onto the audience was far lesser than that of her. Soon, even that pressure subsided after the runes slithering across the statue were absorbed into it like dry earth absorbs droplets of water.
It was as if Eren had turned the Colosseum into a pseudo-sacred ground, which was dedicated to him as a demigod. One could say that from destroying other gods' sacred grounds to making one for himself, a blasphemer had come a long way.
"Hmm. This should be enough. Like my father used to say– I will help you by not helping you.
I will leave my legacy here in Anfang. It will have the insights that you want," Eren said as he stood straight and looked his audience straight in the eyes.
"This colosseum will serve as an ideal testing ground for me to test your resolve. Show me that you deserve what I have to offer to you. And I shall make sure that your Ranking Path becomes broader and more profound than you'd ever thought was possible," Eren said as he scanned his audience.
Eren had again deviated from the customs of Anfang by leaving his legacy in Anfang when he was only a Grandmaster Ranker. One could say that he was a bitter-minded Scrooge who didn't want to let other benefits from his hard work.
However, the legacy he had left behind was more profound than what even Sage-level entities could afford or care to leave behind. Those who manage to get Eren's legacy for themselves are bound to soar to new heights no matter their respective Ranking Paths.
The low-ranking entities looked at each other with suppressed excitement when they understood what they had to do. They realized that Eren had used the colosseum's default mechanism as a way to imbue his Individuality into the statue.
Eren's manifestations would appear inside the Colosseum whenever the contenders issued their challenge in front of the giant statue. The Rankers needed to defeat these manifestations in order to claim Eren's legacy for themselves.
The colosseum's mechanism would make sure that the level of his manifestations is matched with the contenders in order to give even a low-ranked entity a fair chance to claim Eren's legacy.
The Rankers weren't sure what kind of legacy Eren had in store for them. However, they were all excited to challenge Eren's statue multiple times if they had to. After all, it was a legacy left behind by the infamous Grimdawn.
Little did they know that things weren't as easy as they thought them to be.
