Armipotent

Chapter 1948: Weirdly Natural

"I don’t know if you have heard, but there is a place called God Realm that can be accessed only by God Rank. God Rank Items are common there, but just so you know, Your Majesty’s sword is considered of a better quality than most of God Ranks equipment."

The God Realm was not a secret, as Zhang Mengyao and Li Shuang had been mentioning that they would eventually have to move up to the God Realm. People’s opinion was split on the matter. Half wanted to stay in the place where they were born, and some wanted to move to a mysterious place.

"So, yeah, if you manage to hit His Majesty once, then you might get the best weapon on Earth," Zaneos told his students how precious the sword was even though he did not know the actual stats about the sword. He just wanted to encourage the Joes Family.

John Joe glanced at her friends, and he could see Sam and Cody’s eyes turned into stars. They were captivated by the sword. It was a lie if he was not captivated by the sword, but he was aware that they would not be able to hit the Emperor once for him to put the sword at stake.

He wanted to remind them to be more careful since the one in front of them was the Emperor, but he did not want to break his friend’s fantasy and let them be.

"He is one of the most talented students in this batch and managed to reach level 10 Sword Mastery in one month," Zaneos pointed at one of the Epic Ranks, not the Ancient Rank one.

Amy Joe looked around, did not know what to do when her instructor praised her in front of the Emperor. She was supposed to be happy that she was praised, but she became nervous instead. She felt like there would be a bigger expectation on her shoulders now, and level 10 Sword Mastery was not impressive in the Emperor’s eyes who had reached God Rank.

Zaneos clapped his hand, "Alright guys, you can message me your stats so His Majesty can match your stats for a fair spar. If you are uncomfortable sharing your attributes, then you don’t have to join. I will not force you to have a spar with His Majesty, but I recommend it."

Sam, Cody, and Amy did not think twice as they sent their attributes toward Zaneos. The God Rank Sword was on the line as the price if they could land a hit, just one hit. John Joe hesitated, but he ended up joining as well because his friends joined.

People were making the space for the sparring fight on the training ground as Sam stepped up as the first challenger. He was holding a training sword in his hand, and he was so nervous that his hand was shaking slightly. Even though the Emperor matched the stats with him, he was still nervous since he would fight the strongest person on Earth. People might refuse to admit it, but the leaderboard was the proof of it.

Tang Shaoyang used his Divine Armory as a rift opened to his right. He reached his hand inside and took out a sword. The sword was black in color with a tint of red, matching his Chaos Energy in color.

The rift shocked everyone in the training, and they were shocked when they saw the sword as well. It might not look as good as the God Rank sword, but everyone could tell it was a high-ranked sword.

"No no no!" Zaneos stepped up and stopped the Emperor to everyone’s relief, "I forgot to give you our training sword." The demon instructor offered the training sword and told the Emperor to return the black sword to the armory.

"You can use your skills, and His Majesty can’t use any skills but his passive skills!"

Tang Shaoyang was surprised when he got a grip on the training sword. He thought the training sword would be much lighter, but it was actually quite heavy. But soon realized that was because of his stats. He put all the stats into vitality and matched the remaining stats to his opponent’s stats.

Then he put away the cloak and the mask, and everyone recognized the familiar face. They confirmed now that the one who stood in front of them was the Emperor.

He nodded at Zaneos, indicating he was ready, and Zaneos started the fight by saying "Go!"

He stood in place, his left hand was on his back, and holding the sword with his right hand. Meanwhile, Sam was holding the sword with his two hands and stared at Tang Shaoyang intensely.

"It’s normal to feel nervous in a fight, Sam. Especially when you know you are fighting someone stronger than you, but you can’t let your nervousness get into your head. Use it, remain cautious, and always look for an opening!"

Zaneos noticed Sam’s nervousness and it almost froze his student.

Tang Shaoyang shook his head and motioned Sam to come at him, "If I come to you, you will not learn anything, Sam. You will lose in three strikes, and you will learn nothing."

Sam took a deep breath and recalled his instructor’s teaching. His instructor did not just teach him how to swing the sword, but also steps. Steps were quite important because you can use your lower body to give more strength to your swing.

Tang Shaoyang thought lowering his attributes would be enough to put him on the same level as his opponent, but he was wrong. Every movement was clear in his eyes, and he could see the projection in his head where Sam would strike him.

Sam came with a downward swing to his face, and he easily parried the sword, pushing Sam backward. Despite having the same number in Strength, he easily pushed Sam.

Tang Shaoyang was quite surprised and also felt weird at the same time. It was weird how easily he pushed Sam back, not even struggling. His sharp sense could be explained because of his Absolute Sense, but not his strength.

"I see you are puzzled too, Your Majesty. You have the same strength, and yet you easily overwhelm your opponent. That’s because of your form. You have surpassed even me, you have a superior form and the right stance that gives you an edge when you fight an opponent with the same stats."

It was so natural to the point it weirded him, but it made sense now because of his class. It must be the class that Arion gave him in the first-dimensional tower, the Paragon of Armament. The class that made him master all kinds of weapons.

When Zaneos mentioned it, the students immediately looked at Tang Shaoyang intensely. They wanted to learn the proper form from Tang Shaoyang.

The spar continued and Sam applied everything he learned from Zaneos in this spar with everything he had. At some point, he realized that the Emperor had not taken a single step from where he stood since the start.

His goal changed from hitting the Emperor to making the Emperor move in a single step. From the swing, a stab, or even moving his sword trajectory in the middle of his attack. All tricks he learned during the training, but it was to no avail. Until he lost the grip on his sword, his sword flung into the air, and the Emperor had the tip of the sword on his nose.

Sam Joe raised his hand in defeat, but there was an excited grin on his face. He failed to force the Emperor to move, but he managed to raise his Sword Mastery by three levels in a few minutes.

"My Sword Mastery reaches level 9!"

That surprised everyone how a few minutes spar with the Emperor could raise the skill by three levels. They worked so hard for it for an entire month, and some of them only managed to raise it up to level 3, and Sam got three levels from one sparring.

John Joe immediately stepped in to be the second challenger before Cody and Amy beat him. Raising his skill level got him more excited than the price of the God Rank sword.

The sparring continued after Tang Shaoyang matched his attributes to John Joe. Unlike the previous sparring, it was more intense. John emphasized his swing speed, but that reduced the power from each swing, yet it was fast.

As the intense exchange ensued, people watched it with great interest. Each class of their swords would cause a spark that made the sparring even more intense.

John lasted longer compared to Sam when the Emperor’s sword stopped at his neck. He had a similar reaction as Sam. Even though he lost one-sidedly, he had an excited grin.

"I get five levels in Sword Mastery!" He told everyone and then he bowed at Tang Shaoyang, "Thank you for your guidance, Your Majesty. You are willing to spend your precious time to teach me."

John started the spar with level 8 Sword Mastery, and he reached level 13 Sword Mastery after the spar.

Amy was quite clever as he let Cody go first and watched the spar from the side. She was watching Tang Shaoyang’s posture for each defensive move, and how he changed his stance when he was on the offensive. Cody got four levels of Sword Master at the end as he did not last as long as John did.

When it came to Amy, Tang Shaoyang purposely prolonged the fight. Zaneos did not lie about her being one of the most talented students in the batch. She approached the fight differently and always came up with something new each time her attack did not work out.

He let the girl exhaust all her moves on him, hoping it might give an insight to her, giving her more insights to her when she encountered a similar situation. It lasted more than ten minutes, and not because she ran out of ideas, but because she did not have the stamina to continue. She dropped her sword before her body followed.

"My skill advances to Intermediate Sword Mastery..." She did not finish her words before she passed out.

John, Sam, and Cody ran to her and picked her up, "I will bring her to—"

"There’s no need to panic. She was just exhausted because she pushed herself out of the limit. In fact, it’s actually good for her. Let her rest here."

Tang Shaoyang then took out four Legendary Treasure Chests, "This is the reward for you." He did not tell them why, but he just gave them.

The trio exchanged glances and did not expect this, at all. They did not know what to do until Zaneos slapped the back of John’s head, "What are you doing? Take it and don’t forget to say thank you to His Majesty!"

The trio almost knelt, but they bowed their heads instead. Sam was the first one to move, and the moment his hand touched the chest, he squealed like a girl and fell on his back. His eyes widened in shock, looking back and forth between the chest and the emperor.

"Aaa... iit... aa..." he stuttered and did not know what to say.

John and Cody had the same reaction, minus the squeal.

"Don’t say anything and take it! Unless you don’t..." Tang Shaoyang did not finish his words, and three treasure chests disappeared.

"I will keep Amy’s chest until she wakes up!" John took the last chest before they carried Amy to the side of the training ground.

Tang Shaoyang walked to his God Rank Sword and stored it back in his inventory, "There’s no more reward, but my offer still stands if you want to have a spar against me!"