Within the human nation of Hanbei on the planet Earth, there was an inconspicuous tavern. Its sign was a charging boar with a vertical slit running through one of its eyes. Inside, there was the merry laughter of the crowd, which was predominantly from the beastkin races. Although there were a scant few humans or elves, this was one of the rare establishments in the city that specialized in cuisine from Tyrna, the land of the beastkin.

For some reason, the food produced here didn’t seem to sit well with those of other races, so it was always only a matter of time before they left. When they did, there was a beastkin that stood with a jovial laugh. “Haha! Sorry, our food’s not always to the taste of others.” He walked them out with a happy smile, as if he had seen the event countless times before.

However, the moment that they were gone, he returned with a serious expression. He locked the door behind him, and the laughter in the tavern died down at once. Suddenly, everyone who had worn carefree expressions on their faces all assumed a more businesslike expression.

“Is everyone here?” He asked towards the bartender, who gave a casual nod of his head, still cleaning one of the glasses left behind by an elf. “Good, looks like there wasn’t anything unexpected.”

After saying so, he moved to sit at his table, which was located near the middle of the tavern. “The Sisters have sent word, our time is coming soon.” Numerous expressions hardened at his words, but he continued. “In a few months time, a new enemy will appear in the world. There is a chance that they will be able to blend in with us, so we’ll need to be on our guard. Spread word to the other branches, but remember… though we have left the forest…”

“The forest will never leave us.” The words echoed from around him, causing him to nod with a small smile.

Roughly half of the customers of the tavern stood up together, walking to the door and unlocking it, leaving without paying for whatever drinks they had consumed. As soon as they left, they split up. Some of them went home, some went to wait in line at the town portal, others walked to a different business.

For those in the latter group, there was something in common with every business that they entered. That was the presence of an eye somewhere on their sign, a vertical slit running through it. While in the businesses, they casually passed off notes to the owners, who nodded with small smiles.

Long ago, the ninjas had left the forest. They had done all that they could from their seclusion, and had decided that it was time to integrate with society. However, though they left the forest, they did not leave behind their ways. They were still a people united, sharing a common mission.

I let out a small sigh as I sat in my new world. After I had acquired the key to this realm from the centaurs, I had Ryone use fourth tier magic to obscure its planar coordinates. Now, there would be nobody that would be able to use the old methods to find this place. They would have to either stumble across it by pure chance, or know the method to break Ryone’s spell.

“I guess it’s time to train seriously, then.” I muttered, before looking around. I was sitting within a wide field, which was the area that the previous portal led to. Accalia, run a quick check for monster activity in this world.

Understood! I’m reading various low level signatures, however nothing above one hundred. The method that the centaurs had used to establish their gates to other worlds ensured that the worlds in question would have the same physical laws as the ones that they connected from. Although it could take them weeks to find a single world, constantly channeling the mana of numerous mages, this ensured that they didn’t find any truly dangerous areas where the laws of reality themselves were against them.

Then I won’t have to worry too much. I gave a nod. My presence would likely cause the average level of monsters to sharply rise, but that would not be for some time. By then, I would have already left this world, and handed it over to Tubrock.

The easiest way for me to advance in strength was to train in my currently acquired abilities. These were my domains, and the martial arts I had bought previously. Although I had reached the final stage of Aki Seppo with Leowynn, I had not yet mastered the Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads.

In fact, I was fairly certain that that art couldn’t be mastered without spending hundreds of years training your mind to multitask. The further one goes in the art, the harder it gets. As Terra had once said, it was an ‘imperfect’ creation, an end designed without consideration for the means. Similar to the Perfect Self, it was something that a Keeper had designed through the system without first testing it themselves.

While the art had proven useful until now, I had taken it as far as I reasonably could. At this point, it would be more effective for me to either purchase or create a new art. The former would ensure that I had a direct training manual, while the latter would give me something that was entirely my own.

Thinking back, I remembered my fight against the other Keepers at the monthly meeting. The ki technique that had been used to kill me, collapsing space itself with immeasurable power. At the time, I hadn’t been able to properly grasp how to perform a move like that, as I was still too inexperienced.

Now, on the other hand, I could picture it in my head. How to create artificial arms through a specialized ki path. How to control those arms as one’s own. And how to use them to destroy a region of space. These were all possible with the fourth tier of ki. In fact, at the time my opponent had been restricted to the power of a first rank Keeper, so they had been made to go through extra steps to complete the process.

If it were me now, I was confident that I would be able to create a similar technique with enough training. But, that wasn’t what I wanted either. I wanted something that would take advantage of my own strengths. A power that was truly mine. Only then would I be able to use it to its fullest.

There was always the option of simply designing an art, and then using the shortcut of having the system create a training plan. I’d have to spend a few points, but it would ensure success. If I did that, though, I’d be giving up my trump card, as anyone would be able to find the art developed on the market.

I couldn’t even really ask the other gods for help. Not because I didn’t trust them, but because none of them had the powers of ‘mirror’ and ‘illusion’. While their advice would be helpful for a normal technique, it would be useless when facing such a specialized problem.

And so, I closed my eyes. I pushed my multitasking ability to its fullest, thinking about this from every angle that I could. Aside from my two godly domains, I also held the power of a saint level energy. Back when I first heard about the Saint of Five Lights, the concept of a ‘saint energy’ confused me, but now I somewhat understood.

The only thing that stood above a saint was a god. The only thing that stood above a saint energy was divine energy. By some measures of logic, that meant that divine energy would always surpass saint energy… but even the basic mana or ki could kill a god if used at a high enough level of mastery.

If fourth tier magic could slay a god… didn’t that mean that a technique of the third tier, used through saint energy, could do the same? Maybe even the second tier. With this thought in mind, I included my Ki of Beginning into my plans for creating this new technique.

Lifting my hand, I used the Beginning Water ki and slowly swiped it through the air. Beginning Water was capable of stopping the vibration of atoms, essentially freezing anything it touched. Fire amplifies the vibration of those atoms, allowing weaker objects to be directly disintegrated. Earth halts momentum of an object as a whole, and amplifies momentum at the moment of impact.

Then… what if I applied this energy to a technique capable of impacting space? Would it show a new effect? As I thought about that, I slowly stood up, and then made myself rise high into the air. Just in case the effects were truly devastating, I wanted to make sure that I was safe from any splash damage.

Let’s start with water. I muttered to myself, clasping my hands together. Gentle blue light wrapped around my hands, flowing along the path I set, before I reached out in front of myself and clenched my fist. Normally, this would be a third tier technique capable of causing distortions in space.

Now, the air in front of me seemed to… almost solidify. There were wavy lines drawn through the air, much as with the normal version of this technique. But they weren’t moving, and gave a faint feeling of dread when one looked at them. As if the space was being squeezed, struggling to break free but unable to move.

As I watched that, I noticed a series of notifications appearing, alerting me that I had leveled up my Saint of Five Lights class numerous times. So that’s how it is. Although the Ki of Beginning was an energy made from all four basic types, it was at its source primarily ki.

Wind next. Turning to face a different direction, I swapped the Beginning Water with Beginning Wind and performed the same technique. This time, however, the results were… dramatically different. There was a roar as space twisted and shattered, darkness storming out in a cone from my hand.

However, this darkness seemed mixed with odd shades of blue and green. The space was ripping itself apart, but at the same time being suppressed and held together. Light seemed to break apart in fragments, turning into a mosaic before me.

Next, I tested both fire and earth as well. Fire clearly held the most destructive effect. Without a sound, everything in my vision turned black when I used the technique with Beginning Fire. In a range of ten kilometers, space itself was silently erased.

On the other hand, when I used Beginning Earth, space was not damaged in the slightest. It took me a moment to register what had happened, before I realized that I had ‘locked’ space. Any spatial techniques would have to first overcome this lock before they were able to function in this area.

As I practiced, both my Saint of Five Lights and my Monk levels were increasing drastically. I knew that with this kind of power, it wouldn’t be difficult to kill a god. As long as they were within the area that I used third-tier attacks, I could quite literally erase them.

Funny enough, when I used the generic Ki of Beginning for this same effect, it did nothing. It didn’t even have the same destructive might of regular ki, as it was an energy designed purely to repair and heal.

Part of me had to ask… if third tier attacks were this strong when mixed with these energies… what about the fourth tier? Would it be possible for me to erase entire cities? Countries, even? I had to give this serious consideration before I even began testing. What was the appropriate safe distance in case the power was greater than I imagined?

Regardless, now that I knew the power of the third tier, I could begin to incorporate it into my plans for a unique fighting style. And I was already beginning to imagine just how I could do that.