Shun POV:
[Title: Acknowledgment of the Mwalimu
Effect: When entering dungeons containing Sentri, there is an increased likelihood of the Mwalimu revealing themselves to you.
• Training Sentri significantly increases their wisdom and encourages self-reflection.
• Training Sentri significantly increases their physical attributes and intelligence.
• Your care and understanding of the Sentri has reached its genuine limit.]
“Dibla, take me to the Mwalimu.”
Dibla’s entire body stiffened for a few seconds before she rushed toward me. She assumed the seiza position of sitting and rested her hands on top of one another.
“Human... How could you know about them?”
“The same way I know you’re a descendant of one.”
Dibla’s hand covered her mouth. The full dilation of pupils pushed her smooth eyebrows to the sky, but I couldn't care less how shocked she was. All I felt was disappointment now that my line of thinking had been verified.
“Now, either take me to one or tell me where they are.”
“F-forgive my earlier manners. For a human to understand and care for Sentri to such a degree, I... I feel moved to tears. But...”
Dibla wiped her eyes, discarding the emotions she just felt along with it.
“The Mwalimu are no longer with us.”
‘Idiots. A bunch of idiots. If it wasn’t for Zinyul, I’d kill them all.’
I peered down at the descendant supposed to carry on the will of her elders, yet look at what she had become. She was a disgrace to her seniors. She had no respect for the task she was entrusted to carry on.
“Looking at you makes me sick. Take me back to the highest stage. I’m going to kill that Sentri Guardian.”
Dibla bit her lip and looked to the side. Her long flowing hair covered a face full of shame; words weren’t needed to express the obvious.
“Time’s cha—“
“Keep your mouth shut in front of me. I don’t care what year it is; integrity and morals remain the same.”
Tears splashed against a tightened fist. All the expectations placed on her isolated Dibla from her peers. She was meant to be the hope of her species. Instead, she joined their path of self-destruction.
Zinyul wasn’t a descendant of the Mwalimu. He didn’t know about the origin of Senfex, Sentramould, Sentravision, or Sentramend. What he did know was preservation. What he did know was the greatest obstacle in his path was himself. What he did know was that violence wasn’t the answer.
“Please... Instead of losing your life to Vojiq, run awa—“
I got to my feet and walked off. Her once soft voice now became scathing. It reeked of blood and weakness.
The Sentri here weren’t the only Sentri in Ayadell. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if all of them had deviated. The difference was the Mwalimu should still exist in some of their communities. Whether the suppression of The System stopped the triggering of another mission was irrelevant. I didn’t need its help to follow this up in the future.
The strong people of this world didn’t use Enhanced Equipment or Ki Artifacts. It was likely that, at least a few of them, did wear clothes made of special materials: a material like Senfex.
This was my current hypothesis, but I could only verify it after learning about the properties of Senfex. The ability to increase its own weight seemed like a side effect due to improper usage and formation. It made sense for the fibres to be woven together in sets of three: symbolic of union, completion and balance.
In other words, for only one attribute to increase, proved that the quality of Senfex had dropped over time.
“Don’t be a maniac.”
The corners of my mouth rose at the newfound power seeping into her tone. Dibla had made her decision, but I had made mine too.
“You should watch carefully, Dibla.”
“...Good luck then.”
She grabbed hold of my arm, and we appeared back outside the underground tunnel. Dibla positioned herself in a way that hid her face from me, content with the distance being double what it was before. Her confidence had been stripped. Her innocence had been disregarded.
Dibla felt vulnerable.
The first person bold enough to leave a deep impression on her was the first person genuine enough to tell her how much of a disgrace she was. That armour could protect her body, but it couldn’t shield her heart.
“Your plan?”
We passed the bar and mixed in with the crowd. Dibla’s gaze fell in my direction, waiting for a reply she’d receive when I felt like it. Once I found an angle that allowed me to see through the gaps between the hundreds of Sentri, I parted my lips.
“To improve.”
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Two HP bars floated above the Armoured Sentri Knights. The abysmal amount of health remaining in them signalled their long fight was coming to an end.
I weaved my way through the cheering crowd. I pushed aside those who stepped into my path until I reached the front. Armoured Sentri Knights stood guard around the closed-off area, separating the crowd from participants.
They didn’t stop my advancement. The barriers formed an opening that welcomed me to my deathbed. Only those chosen to conceal their face were given the Sentri’s admiration.
A no-name Sentri like me was nothing more than an outcast. An outcast they would make an example of.
The Armoured Sentri Knights understood this; their spear and sword shot toward me in unison once the barriers sealed my fate.
“!?!?!”
I stepped past the falling bodies. Two kunai-shaped holes decorated the middle of their foreheads. A loud thud silenced the crowd, and the drop of a hood made them gasp.
“How interesting.”
Vojiq peered down at the kunai aimed toward his head. My lips curved into a wide smile that reached the corners of my eyes. It was time. It was time to grow.
“Come. Your death... will make me STRONGER!”
An ominous laughter weighed down on the air. It forced a thick silence to be imposed on those in attendance. Two red eyes glowed through the shadow that fell over the Sentri Guardian’s face.
“Yes...”
He rose to his feet.
“I’ve been waiting for someone suicidal like you.”
Vojiq cracked his neck to the side before hopping into the arena. The ground shook from the mass of muscle that arrived. The Armoured Sentri Knights strengthened the barrier in response, aware of the power he possessed.
Sentri Guardians.
Their name matched their height; they were Sentri over 3 metres tall. That was the only physical trait shared among them. Each specialised in an area of combat and were capable of using the ultimate variations of those techniques. This specialisation was one of the two requirements to become a Sentri Guardian.
The acknowledgement of the Sentri was the second. A simple demonstration of their growth made this the easier condition to achieve. Once successful, a metamorphosis similar to knighthood would begin. All of their physical attributes received an astronomical increase and so did the strength of their grey scales. They weren’t guardians to the king. They were guardians of their craft.
They were proof of a deviation that started long ago.
Rather than share the knowledge they obtained, they protected it. They kept it locked away, only revealing their power to demonstrate how much they had improved. That was why Sentri Guardians weren’t the Mwalimu.
As for Vojiq, he stopped climbing the ranks once he became a Sentri Knight. He honed himself through arenas and isolated practice. This was evident due to the Ransasu being the only piece of clothing he wore. His scales had a faint reddish-tint to them, but it was unrelated to the cannibalism that took place behind closed doors.
Sentri Guardians couldn’t become Sentri Gladiators.
Why?
Because a guardian was already specialised. Gladiators didn’t just fight against other humans; they fought against wild beasts too. In other words, Sentri Gladiators had the potential to specialise in several areas of combat. A feat that was different to the Ultimate Sentri Style the Sentri King likely used.
If the Fishnin could evolve the Fishnin Style, then a conquering race like the Sentri would have achieved the same result. The difference was how and what was the cost of accessing it? For the Fishnin, there was no drawback, but for the Sentri...
It was hard to say.
Vojiq flicked his chin toward the Armoured Sentri Knights. They bowed their heads, stepped inside, and removed the dead Sentri from the battlefield.
“Retsu.”
Ki spread along the stone floor. It covered a 40-metre radius that was bordered off with red and white banners. Vojiq’s eyes swivelled toward it for less than a second before returning to me.
“No restrictions. Just pure buffs.”
He cocked his head to the side while the corners of his mouth rose. Sadism parted Vojiq’s lips. Elation widened their borders, and expectation shone from the whiteness of his teeth.
“You’re a maniac like me.”
“COME ON!”
I shot forward. Hands blurred in the middle. Cracks spread across the stone floor from the rapid exchange of blows.
‘Rin. Rin. Rin. Rin.’
Every strike Vojiq threw was parried with Rin.
“!”
So when my shin cracked his jaw into the other side of the barrier, silence fell again. The entire underground tunnel shook from the collision. Vojiq had made his own assessments on my strength, but he wasn’t a deep thinker. The continuous usage of Rin offset his preconceived notions and led to this result.
“...How are you outputting that much power at Monzen?”
Vojiq got back to his feet and rubbed his chin. His eyebrows furrowed at the new evaluation he would have to make going forward. The small dent in his HP was proof of his strength but also his stupidity.
Vojiq extended his hand and beckoned for me to start the engagement once more. I spun the modified kunai around my fingers before obliging.
‘Pyō.’
The next exchange consisted of Vojiq weaving through sharp strikes with his hands in his pockets. Red eyes darted around until a palm shot the kunai out of the equation. He followed it up with a heel sinking into my stomach.
‘This should hurt more?’
The force alone blasted me into the barrier. Then it made me ricochet off it, right in line with Vojiq’s massive fist igniting the air.
‘Tch. I forgot to remove the Sentri Set.’
“!”
A timed paper bomb exploded from the kunai Vojiq had knocked away. It flooded the entire arena with smoke. Whether Vojiq followed through with his attack or hesitated made no difference to me. I palmed his fist down before spinning with the ricocheted momentum. My instep snapped his head back but failed to move his muscular body.
“A resourceful maniac.”
He twisted his neck toward me, but I was already gone. I threw the Sentri attire into the inventory and continued to hide my presence. Now it was time to improve.
‘Rin. Pyō. Tō.’
A white tiger head ripped through the smoke. By the time its presence was made known to Vojiq, I was positioned behind him.
‘Jin. Zai. Tō. Pyō.’
The smoke parted from the descent of a flaming boulder. It swirled around the comet that took up half the size of the arena. Its complete arrival quaked the underground tunnel and buried Vojiq underneath it; he had failed to dodge the combination technique due to the earlier distraction.
Jin.
Jin represented Knowledge. The technique allowed me to gain deep insight into a chosen target and could even reveal some of their weak points. However, at my current Ki Stage, I couldn’t use Jin on its own in any capacity.
That was why I used it in a combination technique.
Jin didn’t just grant deep insight; it also assessed the understanding I had made on the target when combined with other Mudra. Zai formed the massive boulder based on that understanding and strengthened the restraints Tō would form.
The Vitarka Mudra was the half seal for this technique. Vitarka meant ‘teaching’ or ‘discussion.’ It emphasised the transmission of information, hence it was also known as the Gesture of Explanation.
In other words, if my understanding of Vojiq was too low, I would have been the target of this combination technique instead.
Tō empowered the flames and turned them into fiery chains that rooted the trembling rock in place. Embers formed swirling marks across the boulder’s surface. Pyō guided the technique to its destination and the embers, intersecting them in the middle to form a black ofuda.
Now, Vojiq’s defence would fall proportionate to the duration he spent trapped underneath it. As long as the talisman remained, Vojiq only had three methods of escape: overpower Monkey Seal, counter it, or wait.
His HP plummeted along with my Ki Reserves. Beads of sweat rolled down the side of my forehead from the struggle he was offering.
‘Rin.’
Vojiq was as simple as he looked: a maniac obsessed with self-improvement and ruling over others with an iron fist. There was a reason this arena was chosen to create Sentri Gladiators.
A kunai shot toward the quaking boulder. It speared into the middle of the ofuda and caused an implosion to occur.
Vojiq’s HP?
3/4’s of it was deleted. His own Ki had fuelled the flames further.
He was an idiot.