The Nightinblades were shorter than the average werewolf and wore gray cloaks that covered their entire bodies. When Shen got close enough, their cloaks opened to reveal they were holding two long, thin blades. Their cloaks also started changing colors in a mix of camouflage and an attempt to confound his sight.

Shen was almost disappointed at the enemy. That seemed way easier than the Techmages.

Until they rushed at him.

The werewolves were as fast as he was while using qi. That should be impossible if they were F-ranks, except that maybe this was one of the first occasions where the enemy might be using an item to go beyond their limits, or at least simulating that. And speaking of limits...

Could he allow himself to be limited by the system's rank bullshit?

Shen filled his body with Boundless Qi, willing it to push him beyond undesirable, artificial boundaries. His qi reacted to invisible barriers he had never felt before and tried to destroy them.

Instead of success, he got a system message.

WARNING!

Immediately cease your attempts at circumventing the Guardian System.

If you insist, you will be removed from the tutorial.

Further insistence will place you on the Guardian Bounty List.

It was the first time he saw a yellow title, that he was threatened by the Alliance, and that he failed to make the message turn transparent or disappear. If anything, it reiterated to him the need to find a way to protect himself from the system's seemingly absolute hold over him. For now though, he was forced to bow to it.

Shen reined his qi in, and the message finally disappeared. He focused on the fight; the enemy was already upon him.

He surrounded his spear with qi and fought back.

Spear met blade. Many of the Windstorm Spear Art movements involved having a spear with a shaft that could resist enemy attacks. That could be accomplished by having a resistant enough shaft or through qi, none of which he had had before.

Now Shen had qi though, which let him use many moves he hadn't had the chance. His enemies were also skilled enough that he could try more advanced things. If the previous rows had pushed his footwork to the limits, this one was great for his spear art.

The closest werewolf used both blades to slash horizontally. Shen defended himself with the spear shaft on the vertical and rotated his body to push the edges away. Meanwhile, he moved his spear to the horizontal, and the butt missed the werewolf by inches. On the other side, the point forced an approaching enemy to retreat instead.

A third one was already behind him and, seeing the trajectory of his incoming spear, chose to preemptively lower its body and go for his legs. Shen had seen the werewolf coming, expected the attack, and been prepared for it. It took only a slight glance on the corner of his eye for him to confirm his suspicion. He jumped, twisted his body in the air, and brought the spear down on his crouching foe.

The werewolf found itself incapable of hastily dodging and chose to defend itself instead. It rose both weapons in a cross. Shen's spear hit the defense's center point.

The blades cracked, and the Nightinblade couldn't resist the force of his attack. The strike continued until the spearhead hit and went through the werewolf's head, cleaving it in half.

Shen twisted his body midair to dodge two new attacks, fell on the ground rolling to avoid yet another one, and stood up to continue the fight.

It quickly became evident that they were considerably weaker than him despite being as fast. He trained new moves for a few minutes, but he was limited in how much qi he had. Even with his core now absorbing qi while he fought, and him consciously doing the same in small bursts when he could spare the attention, he would find it hard to go beyond ten minutes.

So Shen killed when he had the chance.

The most significant revelation he had in the fight was how annoying it was to deal with enemies as fast as him. They dodged his attacks as much as he escaped theirs.

Speed and footwork, he realized, were great but not invincible. It didn't even take a terrible match like the dome to defeat them. Merely having an enemy as fast and skilled as he was put him in a bind.

Shen only killed them relatively easily because the Shadows had trouble adapting. He put them in situations where they were forced to defend, and then he could make use of his superior qi-enhanced weapon. If it wasn't for those two factors, he had no idea how he would win.

He didn't beat himself for that, though. That was the nature of the battlefield. The winner would always be the one who had some advantage, be it technique, adaptability, or more power.

Strike by strike, he killed the Nightinblades. After thirty were dead, he was forced to retreat and recover his qi.

He did so, then went back to the fight. Rinse and repeat, the last F-rank was soon dead.

| Enhanced Werewolf Nightinblade (F) | 2,504 → 2,514 AP

Shen timed the last kill to be as far from the E-ranks as possible. He then recovered his energy, bought a new G spear—his was about to crumble—and went back to face his enemies.

The E-ranks reacted for the first time, and he was surprised to see them reveal not two but four blades each. They had four arms and came at him.

That was unexpected but still not a big challenge; Shen had gone through more attacks from all directions in the dome. The werewolves weren't as strong as he was with qi. His qi-enhanced spear also gave him enough advantage that even their four arms couldn't defend against his attacks.

They fell without him needing to rest even once.

| Enhanced Werewolf Nightinblade (E) | 3,414 → 3,514 AP

Shen rested once again, then faced the next enemies.

The fast Nightinblades gave way to their opposite, the Brutalizers. They were taller and buffer than the ordinary werewolf, packed with so many muscles it looked unnatural. As expected from their physique, they specialized in strength rather than speed.

They were still only as strong as Shen using his qi, which left him with faster speed and a more potent attack thanks to his qi-enhanced spear.

The more he used his spear like that, the more he got used to fighting like this. Since that was his strongest form, it made sense to focus on that when he needed to get AP before the stage ended, even if he was giving up on some training opportunities.

A thick fist met a spearhead head-on. The spear pierced the fist, the arm behind it, left through the shoulder, and entered the beast's head. Shen took the spear out quickly and swung it before his foe could react.

The last E-rank's head flew.

| Enhanced Werewolf Brutalizer (E) | 5,304 → 5,404 AP

Once again, he replaced his spear with a new one and moved forth.

The sixth row had the weakest enemy yet. If the dome was the best counter to a Shen at the Core Formation realm, a Shen at the Fate Origin realm was the perfect counter to the Formless Werewolves.

They looked like any werewolves, but their bodies could extend, retract, and divide like goo. Shen tested a theory by striking them without qi in his spear, and indeed, the spear struck without dealing any damage, as if it was hitting water. The cut he made quickly regenerated too. The werewolves held long daggers that would've had no trouble reaching him if it weren't for his qi spear.

Shen's Boundless Qi simply crushed them in a way they couldn't regenerate. He reckoned any type of qi would do; they were weak against energy attacks in general.

Whatever part of their bodies his spear touched disappeared for good as if the water there had evaporated. Since it was like hitting liquid, there was no resistance either. Shen destroyed them quickly, including the E-ranks that turned into fast-moving but still vulnerable formless blobs of grey liquid.

| Enhanced Formless Werewolf (E) | 7,194 → 7,294 AP

Shen replaced his spear and moved on.

Two rows remaining until he ranked up.

Liya was kneeling in front of the chieftain's hut. Their encampment was primal and devoid of any comforts, as usual for orcs. Tents made of animal leather, most of them from D-rank beasts, were erected on the muddy ground. It was the third day she had been in that position, and it had rained all along.

She was naked, as orc custom dictated for what she was doing. It symbolized the baring of her anger and perceived injustice to the world, hiding nothing. The rain fell on her deeply scarred and perfectly toned body, which attracted many orcs' gazes. She cared not; modesty was weakness, and she had long thrown hers away.

Liya's hands held her spear before her, showing how she sought to settle her grievances. The weapon stopped any orc from trying anything with her as much as her superior rank and the ritual she was going through.

Enough time had passed from her last cry, so she raised her spear to the skies yet again. "Chieftain, hear my call! I have been wronged by Uk'Gaar! I ask you to give me your blessing to seek retribution!"

Orc culture was complex at first glance but simple once you got the gist of it. Their Rising Star was protected by many customs and laws, but there were ways to kill him without official backlash if he was in the wrong.

Liya's chosen way was the fastest, yet it still took a long time—and courage.

It started with going naked from one tribe to another in the orc homeworld. Anyone of her rank or below could attack her with no consequence while she was traveling, and she was allowed to use no item to heal herself if she got injured.

Then she had to kneel in front of at least 333 chieftains to get their approval for her cause. Each of them had three days to either give her their blessing or fight her for it.

Finally, once she had the blessings, Liya would be allowed in the orc capital and be given an immediate hearing by the High Chieftains. Once they heard Uk'Gaar had lied to her, put her in danger to save his ass, and might've brought war between two races, they should allow her to fight him to the death.

They wouldn't, of course; no race would ever allow their Rising Star to get killed like that. But then, she would have the moral high ground to assassinate him with little repercussion from other races.

Only some chieftains were as obstinate as the one whose hut she was currently kneeling before. No Rising Star came to their position without making enemies and attracting envy. She had gotten a hundred blessings in less than a local week already. She should be done in another week or two, even if she met the eventual loyalist like this chieftain.

Unfortunately for the loyalist, three days had passed. As expected, the puny early C-rank inside didn't choose to fight her.

"You have my blessing," the male chieftain said without even leaving the tent.

"Thank you, wise one," she said the words she had to say, then stood up, and ran.

A few moments later, she knelt in front of the central tent in the closest tribe.

"Chieftain, hear my call!" she yelled. "I have been wronged by Uk'Gaar! I ask you to give me your blessing to seek retribution!"

She lowered her head and spear and waited.

232 blessings remaining until she talked to the High Chieftains.