At the apex of Mount Fahren was a vat of bubbling lava, sulfurous gases furiously rising to its surface. Despite that, the angry glow from this liquid inferno still shone through, signifying to all those below the Advanced Mortal stage that this was the end of the line. As for the ones that were at the aforementioned prerequisite level, this was just the precursor to their final test of strength.
Rowan took the plunge, blanketing his world in a red-orange spectrum. He was already at the Ascendant level, eliminating any would-be struggles when it came to maneuvering in the lava and making it feel more like a warm bath than anything remotely dangerous. Spreading out his divine sense, he located a network of tunnels that led to a main cavern at the base of the volcano.
Navigating through these twisting tunnels filled with formations of stalagmites and stalactites resembling gaping jaws of beasts, he entered a vast, enclosed space 250 m at its highest and 2 km at its longest. Dark, ashen platforms allowed a stable foothold amidst the otherwise lava-filled area, with an especially large one in the back of the cavern holding what was obviously the last trial of Mount Fahren. Stepping onto this platform triggered a response from it.
"Greetings, Rowan! I trust you have unlocked your qi without issue?" The golem spoke in a naturally booming voice that sent forceful vibrations through the air without having to shout. This was a 20 m tall, broadly built, vaguely humanoid construct with orange veins of magma running throughout. It had blocky limbs and sizable five-fingered hands, but no 'feet'; a rugged, truncated cone encompassed the rest of the leg after the knee. Miniature volcanoes rose from its shoulders, though they seemed to be meant for aesthetic purposes than any practical ones. A neckless head shaped like a jagged boulder cut in half, smooth side facing front, sat in between the shoulders, with a formation shaped like an 'H' made of lava-filled cracks making up its sole facial features.
"No issue at all."
"Excellent! I have heard from Ming that you would be a force to be reckoned with. My name is Magmoor, one of the founders of Regis, and progenitor of this land of warriors."
So this was not a construct made for the sole purpose of being a final barrier, but instead was the original creator of the training system! Not just that, but...
"A founder? What chance would I have against such a powerful being?" chortled Rowan.
"Hmph! Pay no heed to such titular matters. My brothers and I may be masters of our craft, but we are far from the top. Far from it!" The inscription on his face flared up at this last statement, leaving Rowan feeling taken aback.
Magmoor noticed this, and quickly bowed his head. "Ah, my apologies! I am still working on my speech being less passionate, please forgive me!"
"Ah! Er, no, no, I was in the wrong for being so presumptuous. If anyone should be asking for forgiveness, it's m-"
"Unacceptable!" he said as he slammed a cottage-sized fist on the ground, creating small tremors in the process. "Such guilt will remain with me until the ends of time! I must rid myself of this burden!"
"W-well then. Consider yourself... forgiven?" Rowan was unsure what to think of the founder's personality.
The excitable golem breathed a sigh of relief, letting loose a plume of smoke from his face cracks. "Good! Very good. Now then... hm. Where was I again?"
"I'm not too sure, really. From what I recall, you were denouncing my claims of your superiority over me?"
"Of course! As practitioners solely of the Fundamental of Might, it is my firm belief that you greatly surpass my own ability. In fact, you might just be the strongest member of Regis!"
"The strongest? I am completely at the mercy of anyone here!"
"Strongest, not most powerful. That, my friend, is an important distinction." Rowan was able to make sense of it. During his time here, he failed to notice any displays of physical strength beyond the Advanced Mortal stage. Perhaps this world focused its efforts progressing through the other Fundamentals?
"Now!" Magmoor clapped his hands together, generating a booming sound as a result. "Normally, I would hold back in front of challengers for their final test. Such a level of power is no obstacle for you, so there is no need to prove anything; you have already passed the trial of Might! And yet, the prospect of being able to trade blows with an equal or superior..."
This was a familiar situation for Rowan. Warriors and magi back in his realm both benefited greatly from sparring with those at a higher level, allowing them to gain insights and advance on their chosen paths faster. It would seem that the golem had similar intentions, and Rowan could use this to garner a favorable reputation in this realm as well.
"Very well, I will spar with you."
"Sparring? Hm! You need not hold back against me! This match shall not end until I have been reduced to pebbles!"
"Is that so? Then I shall demonstrate to you what it means to be an Arbiter!" In addition to gaining insights from battling with seniors, it was also not uncommon to have mystical training areas that created entities, like golems or apparitions, that did not fear death for practitioners to test their mettle on. Therefore, Rowan felt no hesitation as he called forth Gladius from within his divine core, his aura flaring in preparation to go all out.
"Oho! Then," Magmoor proceeded to stamp a cottage-sized foot on the ground, causing a sword hilt made of a similar volcanic material to him to pop up in front of him. He grasped the handle with one hand and pulled out the rest of the blade, bringing the 15 m long, 3 m wide greatsword to a rest on the area between his head and shoulder. "Come forth, Arbiter Rowan!"
In an instant, Rowan closed the gap between them! With his current strength, he could travel tens of thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye. A distance of several meters was nothing in comparison.
Magmoor was not as weak as he had made himself out to be, as he raised his titanic blade up for an overhead swing right when Rowan made a move. However, it was not nearly enough to stop his advance as he sent his own Gladius to meet with the oncoming assault.
The blade came crashing down with the weight of mountains, but was repelled easily with Rowan's excessive power. As a result, Magmoor was thrown off balance and left wide open for a decisive attack-
*CRASH* ...Or so he thought, as Rowan was smashed into the ceiling by Magmoor's fist. Magmoor had prepared beforehand to use the backlash from the collision to swivel his torso around and propel his spare arm as an immediate counter; the golem's one-handed stance was not meant to be showy, but to free up his other hand for techniques such as this!
"Hahah! Wonderful!" Rowan heard as he wrenched himself free, leaving an imprint behind that quickly smoothed itself over. It would seem that this cavern had enchantments that granted it the resilience needed to withstand battles between fighters of this magnitude.
"It is true that you are weaker, but I can tell that you also have great experience."
"I was worried that this battle would end with one strike, but now? Hahah, I get to fight to my heart's content!" His excitement was palpable, almost like a child at play.
Their battle continued in much the same way. Rowan would charge at Magmoor, deflect the first couple of blows, and eventually find himself hurdling away due to his strength being used against him. Dodging was hardly an option due to the size of the attacks! Even when he invited the golem to attack him instead, it would end similarly with a clever use of the rest of the golem's limbs as extra weapons to quickly overwhelm him.
While it was clear that Rowan was outmatched in physical technique and could only land telltale blows, neither combatant could make any progress against one another. Any chips that the golem ended up with were summarily repaired, and Rowan's body was far too strong to be harmed by Magmoor. A stalemate like this left Rowan feeling bored, and he decided it was time to unleash a secret art and move on.
"Hm?" Magmoor noticed his opponent was preparing something. Before he could respond, his vision was bathed in sword light! He found it incredibly difficult to move, akin to that of a Baseline Mortal wading through mud!
The secret art used just now was one of the most common among higher-tier warriors in Rowan's realm. 'Sanctify' created a domain that surrounded the user with an aura pertaining to their chosen path that bogged down enemies, increasing in range and intensity depending on the purity of divine energy used and progression in their chosen path.
"Fall!" shouted Rowan, his sword beginning to gleam with a sharp, rainbow light. This particular technique was also a common one named 'Judgement', and functioned in a similar fashion by surrounding one's weapon with a mixture of divine energy and one's knowledge over their chosen path. Combined with the earlier secret art, they made up the well-known 'offense-defense duo' that should be expected when encountering any warrior Exarch and above. He had his doubts on whether or not Magmoor would actually succumb to such common secret arts. However, he was curious how he would respond to this incursion.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Right then, Magmoor's aura flared! Literally. His earlier dark-red coloration got charred pitch black by the intense flames dancing on his whole being. Suddenly, the golem was moving just as swiftly as before, if not more so!
Their blades met, but unlike before where Rowan would normally be the one to win the contest of strength, he actually found himself evenly matched! They exchanged multiple earth-shattering blows every second with neither gaining an advantage over each other. If it were not for the cave's enchantments absorbing the resulting shockwaves, this entire world would have been annihilated long ago!
"It seems you wish to put an end to our duel. A shame, I had hoped to battle more. Very well!" With a sudden burst of heat from Magmoor, Rowan was pushed back uncontrollably. As he stabilized himself in the air, he saw the golem raise a leg-foot imbued with fiery energy. Bracing himself for what he guessed was a wide-area attack, he contemplated on what his next move should be.
Once more, Gladius became sheathed in light, this time colored pure white. Magmoor's stomp created a powerful wave of fire comparable to that of Greater Mage Exalts, but in such a confined space, there was nowhere to run! However, the same principle went for Rowan's own attack.
Immediately, Magmoor stabbed his greatsword into the ground and used it as cover. The reason for such an action came from witnessing his flames be shredded apart with such ease: An energy strike clearly meant for covering tens of thousands of square kilometers stuffed the inside of the cavern, and threatened to destroy anything inside of it!
This was the result of Rowan's chance encounter with a powerful series of sword techniques called 'the Exalted Blade style'. The 'Exalted Blade' itself was a technique that concentrated the naturally offensive power of the way of the sword and magnified it to incredible levels! The sword style techniques themselves were profound methods to apply the Exalted Blade in combat with. He had condensed its teachings into just two powerful attacks, simply named 'Exalted Blade: Slash' and 'Exalted Blade: Pierce'. The former would let loose a furious arc of sword light, influenced by the power of the Exalted Blade. It contained a serrated edge to it that would allow it to rip apart most Lesser Exalts, and leave ordinary Greater Exalts gravely injured. The latter would shoot out a singular beam of sword light, covered with the Exalted Blade's energy. This energy would rapidly spin and give it drill-like qualities, greatly improving its penetrative ability.
Wide as the greatsword was, Magmoor was even larger; the golem would not be able to prevent his entire body from coming out unscathed. Rowan expected him to suffer superficial damage at best, however, and planned on following up the Slash with Pierce while his opponent remained stationary.
Instead, he was greeted by the sight of a heavily wounded Magmoor, 'bleeding' profusely! Rowan deduced that Magmoor's empowered state came with the drawback of lowering his durability. It made sense, considering he had not landed any hits to test it until now.
The golem promptly began repairing himself, but Rowan was not about to give it the chance to do so. Swirling white light surrounded a Gladius charged with divine energy as he aimed the finishing blow at the downed golem.
Unexpectedly, instead of moving to dodge, Magmoor charged straight at him! "Is he getting desperate?" thought Rowan as he fired off Exalted Blade: Pierce. This technique was something that no one Rowan had encountered thus far would take lightly, and he refused to believe that an expert like Magmoor would face it head on without thinking things through.
Pierce successfully punched a hole in Magmoor's side before Rowan realized he had missed a crucial detail about his opponent's actions! He prepared another instance of Slash while silently berating himself for forgetting that as a self-repairing golem, Magmoor would not care about any sort of damage afflicted unless it affected whatever core or inscription that gave the earthly being life. Luckily, there was just enough distance between the two that he was able to attack once more.
The wounded golem had come prepared, now that he had experienced Slash already. Since the weapon he had spawned was not a part of him, it did not ignite and lose durability like he did. As such, it could withstand Rowan's wide-area attack reasonably well. And so, the greatsword was spun like a windmill and launched ahead of Magmoor in order to plow a path through the inescapable energy.
Rowan shoved aside the incoming projectile that had spent most of its force paving a way for Magmoor. Without a weapon, the golem had lost much of its offensive power, giving Rowan confidence in finishing him off. Instead, he was gripped and trapped within the golem's hand while attempting to prepare another wave of Exalted Blade: Slash!
Inside the hand, he was helplessly pinned by Magmoor molding molten material around him and solidifying it, granting him no space to move around with; he was unable to generate enough force to break free from the hold. There was a lack of air as well, but beyond the rank of Lesser Exalt, one would not need to worry about such a thing. That was the least of his concerns, however.
"Guffuh! Hurk! Agh!" Rowan was being repeatedly buffeted by a sort of piston created within Magmoor's hand, powered by a fist ramming into the protruding end from the outside! This piston was directed at the center of Rowan's body, so his limbs were still suppressed and rendered helpless to retaliate against the assault.
Tough as he was, Rowan could not sustain this particular caliber of repeated attacks for so long. His earlier techniques were fairly efficient, having only consumed about a tenth of his divine energy reserves thus far. Yet, his time spent in this hold had forced him to spend over twice that amount protecting and healing himself! Resorting to his pitifully small qi was out of the question, so Rowan was left with one option.
A massive amount of divine energy poured out from the cracks in Magmoor's hand! Slowly but surely, the divine energy was loosening his grip on Rowan, enough that he was eventually able to slip through, but not without expending a staggering amount of his reserves. The 'Consecration' secret art Rowan just used was one specifically used to allow one to escape from a bind, albeit at a steep cost. By unleashing a torrent of divine energy, one would be able to overload entrapment formations or other such ordeals back in Rowan's realm. He had never expected to have to resort to such a technique to break free from someone's grasp!
Though Rowan was in a dire state currently, he would not fall for such a trick again. As a result, despite Magmoor's best efforts, he was reduced to pebbles and slag by Rowan's incessant Slash spamming, ending the battle quite anticlimactically. Magmoor, however, did not seem disappointed at this outcome at all.
"Hahah... this was truly a rare opportunity for me! A battle with a martial artist more skilled than I? Hohoh, many thanks to you, Rowan!" said Magmoor as he gradually reformed himself from the aftermath.
Rowan himself was left at a tenth of his divine energy reserves, but that was of no concern to his health and well-being until he was down to his last dregs in divine energy and, just recently, qi. "I must admit, that was an informative battle for me as well. In my realm, there are hardly any giants as skilled or powerful as you. Most threats would usually come in human shape and size, or would come in the form of mythical beasts of legend."
"Hm, intriguing! Then you must take me there someday, Rowan! Opponents of a similar level to myself are much too difficult to find these days."
"You have my word, then."
"Excellent!" Magmoor clapped his newly rebuilt hands together. "Now. I believe I have selfishly kept you here longer than needed. It is time you went off and learnt the rest of the Fundamentals."
"Ah, yes of course," said Rowan as he turned towards the newly opened tunnel leading directly outside the mountain. "These Fundamentals have actually been quite easy, no wonder Jin and Ming were so sure that I would be able to learn them in just a decade's time."
"Hm hm hm, is that so?" mused the chuckling golem. He found it amusing that his new friend had become so self-assured after learning one Fundamental, and his most familiar one at that. "Well then. Best of luck to you!"
Rowan waved farewell as he flew out from the mountain, away from the battle-scarred yet steadily reforming cavern and its sole occupant. His next destination would be the city of metal and lights, per Ming's directions. The first Fundamental, the Fundamental of Might, was completed here at Mount Fahren!
The second Fundamental, the Fundamental of Science, would be learnt in the place that bewildered Rowan in the beginning of it all: The city of Equinox!