Shen put his helmet back on, wondering if Uya could deal with C+ armor as easily as C-, and stood a hundred yards in front of her. He greeted her his way, cupping his hands before him and bowing respectfully. She raised an eyebrow at that and, surprisingly, returned the gesture.

"It's been a while since the last noble visited this place," she said with an astonishingly polite tone, "and I have been long gone from the Blessed Lands. Forgive me for not recognizing a peer. Uya greets you." So, for all of Uya's bravado, she knew how to behave.

"I'm no noble," Shen replied. Taking advantage of a superior's misconceptions was not only against the rules but also against his ethics. "I suppose you're talking about the Cultivator Association's hierarchical structure, but I never visited them."

Uya finished the greeting anyway. "A rogue cultivator?"

"Yes, but I was born in a clan and had access to its structured teachings," he replied.

He was answering his superior officer's implied question, not only her literal words. Rogue cultivators had a harder time finding valuable information and usually were a mess of mixed techniques and self-taught things that didn't always work well together.

"To my shame," he continued, "I was expelled from it, but the drow picked me up and trained me as well as a Guardian can train a cultivator."

Anytime he mentioned he once belonged to a clan, he had to also state he had been expelled. He couldn't even mention the clan's name. Those were the rules, and such was his shame to carry to his deathbed.

Finally, he concluded, "I come from a land that was once part of the Republic of Imperia."

That wasn't a secret, as other cultivators had been left on Earth and snatched by the Association. That information was out there already. The secret was that Earth once was the seat of the Eternal Empire.

In the antidron's message, the Grand Senator had said the Republic had colonized Earth in the past and then given up on it, which was a lie. Shen couldn't be sure, but his and Liya's best guess was that the Immortal Emperor had changed the other cultivator's memories, or it wouldn't make sense to forbid Shen from talking about it. Shen and three clans had stayed on Earth as punishment when the Eternal Empire left, and it made sense that part of the criminals' punishment was having their memories changed.

Unlike Liya's strong feelings about it, Shen didn't think less of the Emperor for punishing people with memory change. Shen didn't know the circumstances. However, he likewise didn't feel grateful for retaining his memories. That was basic human decency because he hadn't been a criminal like the others.

All that said, he saw no issue revealing information that should be easily accessible by anyone willing to dig a little.

For him, the most intriguing part of this exchange was that the antidron had revealed that the Association called itself Blessed Lands but not that it had nobles. Either nobility was a regional thing the Emperor hadn't found out or something new. In either instance, it evidenced Shen shouldn't fully trust the intelligence, which might be outdated at the very least.

"That's curious," Uya replied. "Theoretically, the greeting you used isn't exclusive to nobles, but it's an old one that only nobles use nowadays. I wouldn't go around using it again if I were you. They might take it as an attempt at impersonating them, and they don't take kindly to that sort of thing. No one does, really. If you hadn't just told me the truth and I learned your true identity later, I might've punished you myself for forcing me to bow to you."

"I only lie to my enemies," Shen replied, "or if compelled by Alliance law." The lieutenant also knew lying to her would be against the rules, so he only shared his personal belief.

She chuckled. "Keep that attitude, Recruit." Her smile then turned predatory. Whichever nice moment they had had because of the novelty he represented had just outlived its entertainment value. "Get ready."

The system pushed mana into his body. It pushed some deep parts of himself down, and he followed its guidance until he knew exactly how much power he could use without qi and still be within D-rank limits. He could do nothing about his resistance, though.

Then, a countdown appeared.

| 5

Shen analyzed his opponent. He didn't recognize her Law. She carried her four longswords the same way Zyn carried sabers, though, two on the waists, two on the back. It might be a standard military or racial setup, evidence of a Path model based on a chosen weapon, or misdirection.

| 4

He would assume her Law came from the Laws of the Sword until he found evidence otherwise. Not getting hit by them was of utmost importance. Of course, he would also stay on the lookout for a manifestation of any other Law.

| 3

Her obvious weak spot was her head. Everything else was covered by C+ plated leather if he was reading the armor's qi density right. The separate plates of the antidron had C+ enchantments, and the hexahedron's qi density had felt almost the same, so he was confident of it.

| 2

A spear was more defensive than a longsword when wielded by commoners, just like Aqur's halberd. However, Shen had never learned to fight only defensively. He had started with cultivator techniques from the get-go, which were very offensive. Also, one of his Path's Laws was Killing Weapon. He favored offense.

| 1

Yet, his Path was also his experience, intelligence, and wisdom. He would let her move first and react. That's what he had thought would be the best decision for Aqur when the guy was also limited to D-rank stats, and Shen still thought it was the best choice.

| 0

Uya didn't wait to see if he would make the first move. She ran straight at him with qi-enhanced D+ agility.

Shen also pushed qi into his body to become faster, but the lieutenant was still twenty percent faster than him. Thanks to the third demonstration, he didn't need to move to test his peak speed, so she wouldn't know the difference between them. He would wait to reveal it until the last second.

Uya probably understood her D+ stats a little better than he did his, but the most crucial factor should be her superior techniques. Shen had created his own C- moves, which weren't up to par with hers. Liya had helped him with it but was a Guardian, and they had based a lot on the Concept-level techniques in the antidron, so there should still be a gap between his inventions and proper C-tier techniques.

All things considered, a twenty-percent gap was too small. C-tier techniques should give Uya a greater advantage unless they were C-, which he doubted if she was ready to rank up. Either she was limiting herself while they fought as D-ranks, or she was holding back and wanted to surprise him with a sudden boost later.

So, maybe both of them were thinking along the same lines.

Shen nonchalantly stood straight and kept his spear diagonally pointed down and to his side with part of the shaft behind his back. He didn't think Uya could be so easily taunted, but why not test it? Also, he wanted to see how she would react to him appearing so open.

As expected, she didn't react at all. She kept coming at him like she had approached Aqur in their second bout.

Shen waited until she was fifty yards away to change his posture. He did it at D+ speed, still hiding how fast he could move. He stepped ahead and crouched into a horse stance, holding his spear horizontally with both hands at chest height, waiting for his foe.

Uya smiled slightly at the movement and finally arrived.

The lieutenant tried to deal with him like she had dealt with Aqur. She sidestepped and attempted to get to his back, but Shen followed her and parried her attack with his spearhead, following it up with a swing. It flowed beautifully, aiming for her exposed neck. Although she widened her eyes in slight surprise, she didn't lose even a split instant to adapt and step back, dodging his swing.

Shen turned the swing into a thrust midway through, and Uya raised her longsword to deflect it sideways. From there, her longsword kept scrapping his spear's shaft and moving towards Shen's hands while she moved closer.

She certainly expected him to try to dodge, but Shen used that opportunity to use all his speed to also move towards her at what he judged to be the perfect moment. He would attempt a reenactment of sorts of her second victory over Aqur. He let go of his spear with both hands and thrust his right one at her neck. The qi burned in his body, giving him all the boost it could.

Uya once more was surprised but reacted quickly. She kept coming, turning her sword movement into a thrust aimed at his neck as if declaring she could do better than him in his own game.

She had the reach advantage, but Shen had planned for it. He had let go of the weapon but kept his left hand positioned to grab it. Now, he used a qi string to pull his spear back to his waiting hand. He dissipated the qi line right after because he didn't want to test her willpower yet.

He quickly rotated his spear and struck her blade diagonally from below with his shaft. It pushed the sword off-track. His hand was still headed toward her exposed neck.

Uya answered by suddenly rotating her body, moving much faster than before, around least eighty-percent faster than Shen could. There was the speed boost he had expected. She was so quick, and her movement so perfect, that his fingertips touched her exposed neck at the same time her blade reached his helmeted neck.

The lieutenant's longsword couldn't ignore Shen's C+ defense like it had ignored Aqur's C- robe. It cut through metal and flesh for two inches, then got stuck. Uya pulled the weapon while applying pressure on her target, sawing the helmet and neck underneath.

Shen's fared worse. His bare fists had D+ strength and agility going against C+ resistance. His qi enhancement could only do so much, especially because she was also qi-enhancing her defenses.

All his hand's bones broke as he pushed, from finger to wrist.

However, he had expected that. The harmless impact and injury were meant to distract Uya. He had let go of his spear again when she started rotating her body, and a thin qi string pulled it to his broken hand. When it neared, which was very quickly, he grabbed the shaft close to the spearhead with a qi hand and pushed it deep into her left eye.

The spearhead pierced deep into her brain at the same time she finished sawing her helmet and beheaded him.

It was Shen's victory.

He had "died" but brought the superior enemy down with him.

Uya stepped back while Shen grabbed his helmet with qi and reattached it to his neck. The helmet was also self-repairing.

"A dead man, but a brave and crafty one," the Staff Lieutenant said approvingly while grabbing the sword on her waist with her free hand. "You earned the right to be destroyed by techniques I'm actually good at."

Considering their difference in power, that was both his honor and punishment for not being adequately crushed as she wanted. No one expected Shen to win anymore. He had C- stats, while she had C+. She would have a significant advantage in the second bout, not to mention the third when they would use Laws out of their body.

Well, he still had a surprise for her: his aura.

Staff Lieutenant Uya had said nothing about it. He would use it if he found a good opportunity in the second or third bouts. Preferably in the second because she might just crush him with a domain in the final one.

He was also satisfied with his C+ armor. While her sword would become sharper now that she could use her Law, it should at least hold against one blow. It might just be enough for him to clutch it because he found her reaction speed and decision-making were slightly inferior to his. It wasn't a matter of experience but training; he knew better when and how to react to his enemy. It proved Liya had known what she was doing when she trained him.

Shen had wanted to fight now to avoid getting information for free, but getting it himself was another matter. It was part of what he had learned to do. He was also testing how well he could acquire and take advantage of data on an unknown foe.

He and Uya said nothing while they healed. Shen planned and prepared himself.

As soon as his HP was back to full and his helmet was whole, the countdown reappeared between them.