Earth's Greatest Magus

With the recent mention by Shena about improving her swordsmanship proficiency, both Emery and Klea agreed to work this matter together. They then made their way to the Hyperion center, wanting to use the training facility there. In the meantime, the female magus was still following them.

The three of them entered a particular room that had many arena-like fields with wooden puppets standing in the center. Those were the objectives of Emery and Klea arriving here.

[Combat Puppet]

These wooden puppets were the result of the entire Magus Alliance's ingenuity in passing down weapon combat skills. They were just like the ones available in the Combat Institute's training ground and Lord Izta's castle.

However, the ones that were present in this Hyperion facility were all the black ones – the advanced combat puppets that could be used as training and sparring partners all the way until level 9.

The main reason they came here was for Klea to improve her proficiency in swordsmanship, she has been training with the puppet on staff weapon before, now she has to learn sword form level one. Hence without further ado the girl chose the sword and stood opposite of the wooden puppet.

Of course, Emery did not just come to accompany and watch her training. He was itching to once again challenge the wooden puppet, and finding out where his strength stood at the moment.

He walked to the arena next to the one Klea chose and accessed the panel on the side.

This time, instead of choosing a sword like he usually did, Emery scrolled past the option and went on a search for one particular weapon category listed in the list.

[Choose your weapon]

"Hand to hand"

[Choose the type of hand-to-hand]

[Fist, Leg]

Emery's eyes quickly swept across the panel as he glanced at every skill visible on the panel. Surprisingly, there were many different types of weapons that fist could use, while the legs involve different kinds of boots.

Amongst the weapons the fist could use, there were a few options; gloves, knuckles, claws, bracers, gauntlets. Emery picked the claws and chose the one most similar to his own claws, one with long blades.

"I choose Fist."

[Combat puppet level one [Fist] level one is ready, Enter the Arena]

Knowing that these puppets would adapt to his strength, in order to ensure maximum training efficiency, Emery took out everything he had. [Immortal Gate], [Night Transformation], [Battle Howl]; all three activated in succession before finally Emery's [Blade Claw] made its appearance.

The moment he took one step forward, the countdown started to move.

[3…]

The combat puppet began moving, transitioning into a fighting stance.

[2…]

Long blades just like what Emery had came out of its wooden knuckle.

[1…]

Being so excited, Emery couldn't hold himself back. His figure shot towards the puppet at breakneck speed, swinging his claws with all the strength he could muster. The air seemed to be ripped apart as the sharp tip of the claws approached the puppet rapidly.

Swwwishhhh—

Unfortunately for Emery, the combat puppet wouldn't just let the attack land so easily. It swiftly swung its claw hand as well, and the two claws swiftly clashed against each other.

CLANK– CRAAACCCKKKK!!

Much to Emery's surprise, the claws of the wooden puppet shattered apart when it came into contact with his, and still retaining much force, his claws advanced further and penetrated through the puppet.

One blow, and the fight was over with broken parts of the combat puppet scattered on the arena.

Seeing this spectacle, Magus Shena laughed boisterously. "Hahaha, you are simply too strong for those puppets. Remember that this is about improving your techniques, not overwhelming with strength."

Emery was a little embarrassed hearing the other party's words. If he didn't remember wrong, it was mentioned that Terra Castle could only afford three black puppets as training tools for the whole army because each of these puppets were very expensive.

Turning his eyes to the broken remains scattered on the ground, Emery could only hope that the alliance wouldn't charge him.

In the end, Emery left the arena where the broken puppet was and walked to another arena. After selecting the weapon and skills the puppet would use, this time Emery only used [Fey Transformation].

With that, this time the black puppet wasn't destroyed in one exchange. It managed to match Emery's strength, and the two quickly began to engage in a fight with each other.

The techniques and movements the level one combat puppet displayed was pretty basic, hence Emery could defeat it easily without breaking a sweat.

[Combat puppet level one has been defeated]

Emery waited for the reward to come. However, because he had already received the battle power reward from the sword, this time Emery received no increase to his battle power and only obtained the skill reward.

[Received claw technique level 1.]

Emery used the level 1 claw technique he had just learnt to defeat the level two combat puppet. It then rewarded him with a level 2 claw technique, which he used to defeat the next level combat puppet. The same sequence basically repeated.

[Combat puppet level 4 has been defeated]

Emery was quite surprised when he defeated the level five combat puppet. He didn't expect that he could go as far as level six in his first attempt. Thanks to the battles with the combat puppet earlier, by this time Emery had learned claw techniques from basic to advanced.

As for the fight with the level six combat puppet, Emery's progress wasn't as smooth as his previous one. It took him several hours of continuous loss before he finally grasped the level 5 claw technique and emerged victorious.

[Combat puppet level 5 has been defeated]

[Received claw technique level 5.]

At this point, Having so much hard time fighting level 5, Emery knew that he needed to train and have proper understanding of the level 5 claw technique before attempting to fight the combat puppet level 6. Therefore he decided to take a break and see how Klea progressed with her swordsmanship training.

When he arrived at the arena where she was, Emery saw that the girl had passed the level six combat puppet. However, the girl's natural talent apparently lost its potency at level 7, and at this point she needed to work hard in order to pass through.

Seeing the intense sword fight, Emery threw away his thoughts to rest. He accessed the panel once again, and this time he chose the sword option. The eyes of the combat puppet quickly lit up, and this time he was faced with the strongest level the black puppet could offer.

[Combat puppet level nine [Sword] level nine is ready, Enter the Arena]

Emery was excited by the prospect of fighting such an opponent. Returning to his human form, he took out his Savage Sword before stepping into the arena.

"Let's start!"