Becoming God of a Dystopian World

For some reason, Zhao Luo felt disappointed. The legendary man who had completely turned the Sect upside down wasn't the Second Elder. Instead, it was the First Elder.

'Another interesting old man.'

Zhao Luo thought. 

'How far can I go with this brick?'

Zhao Luo wondered as he looked at the brick stick.

"Let it be."

Mite interrupted what Zhao Luo was doing.

"That brick has already been a part of someone else's rise."

Mite said.

"Indeed. Huh."

Zhao Luo replied while listening to what Mite had said. 

This was the first time he felt that Mite was acting like a senior brother.

"Let's get on that ring."

Mite instructed Zhao Luo as he jumped on one of the three square rings which had equipment.

The ring that Mite had entered was really big.

There were 5 rows with 5 drums per row lined one after another. 

"Will this be my debut performance?"

Zhao Luo who was standing at the edges of the ring said while looking at the drums.

He wasn't particularly interested in this instrument as he had never even tried it but it looked like there was some secret behind these drums otherwise why would the trainee hall's training area have so many drums.

Zhao Luo looked at Mite who was standing in the middle with his hands behind his back. Mite looked like a judge who was there to give them points on their performance on this drum-like equipment.

Mite brought one of his hands from his back and made a gesture at Zhao Luo. He was telling Zhao Luo to get on the ring.

'Let's do it.'

Zhao Luo encouraged himself as he went up to the ring stage.

Mite who had already been up there went up to the first row of the drums.

He equipped himself with the sticks that were next to the drum. The sticks looked like they were made of glass.

With a drum stick in both of his hands, Mite looked ready to conquer the World.

'FWISH.'

In just a moment he had pulled back his left leg with his back arched backward and his arms thrown up towards the sky with the drum sticks in his hands creating a distorting sound in the air around him.

The drum sticks shined when they were raised as much as Mite could raise them.

'Shwaa.'

The sound of air splitting was very audible as Mite brought down both of his arms with the drum sticks in his hands approaching the drumhead with an unimaginable speed. 

Then the last moment came when the drum sticks touched the drumhead.

"Boooom."

A loud sound reverberated in the whole practice area.

'Booom.'

'Boom.'

'Bom.'

After the echoes died down, Zhao Luo was looking at Mite who was moving to the second drum of the first row.

"I should close my ears just in case."

As Zhao Luo placed his hands on his ears so he doesn't end up with a headache, Mite proceeded to hit the second drum.

The same thing happened as he took his form and then lashed out at the drumhead.

Four sounds came from the second drum too. One was the sound of contact and the other three were the echoes.

Mite proceeded to the third one and did the same thing. 

He kept on repeating it till he was already at the last drum of the third row.

Again, he followed the same steps and made the drum beating sound echo three times around the practice area.

Zhao Luo looked at Mite who was in a tired shape as he was dripping with sweat.

There were still two rows of drums left ahead of Mite. But it looked like he was already done.

"Is it that hard?"

Zhao Luo questioned Mite as it only looked like, Mite weirdly beating the drum.

"Heh."

Mite just showed Zhao Luo q short laugh as he moved to the fourth row.

The first drum in the fourth row.

Mite was standing in front of him, readying himself.

Once again he raised his arms, arched his back swung his arms from back to the front landing the drum sticks on the drum head.

"Boom."

A sound was heard but this time there were no echoes.

'Did he not go all out?'

Zhao Luo wondered as it looked like Mite hadn't used his full power.

'Cough.'

Mite spurted out blood as his legs were wobbling. It felt like he would fall anytime.

Mite back away from the drum and came back to the start of the ring where Zhao Luo was standing.

"Your turn."

Mite said as he smiled which disgusted Zhao Luo.

The blood was on his teeth and he was sticking them out as if they were some kind of award.

Zhao Luo barely controlled himself from punching Mite.

Zhao Luo moved towards the first row.

He stood right in front of the first drum of this row.

"It's just a normal drum."

Zhao Luo said as he looked at the drum trying to find something extraordinary about it.

The only weird thing about this drum was the drum sticks which looked quite lavish.

Zhao Luo grabbed the drum sticks that were hanging on the side of the drum.

'Ah.'

Zhao Luo cried as the sudden pressure on his hand made him felt like his hands were gonna fall off from his arms. The sticks were unusually very heavy.

It took a few seconds for Zhao Luo to get used to them.

'So I just have to make it go Boom.'

Zhao Luo had a funny thought.

He had seen Mite's move 16 times already so it wasn't hard for Zhao Luo to copy Mite's movements.

Zhao Luo took a deep breath.

Zhao Luo pulled back his left leg as he slid it backward. He then arched his back as he raised his arms over his head which were falling backward because of the weight of the drum sticks.

'BREATHE.'

Zhao Luo took another breath.

After which he jolted his body as if his body was like a water tide. With the momentum of his lower body as his left leg slid forwards and the acceleration of his upper body as he jolted his back. His arms were coming like a jolted rope.

The drum sticks landed on the drumhead and a sound so loud was produced that it was enough to burst the eardrums of the people who had come here to spectate.

In this way, Zhao Luo had unconsciously aimed for two drums with one strike.

The first sound produced was because of the drum stick and drumhead coming in contact with this amazing force.

"BOOOOOM."

Then the echoes started to be heard around by everyone.

"BOOOOM."

"BOOOM."

"BOOM."

The three echoes were heard clearly by everyone. Zhao Luo looked happy as he had matched with Mite.

Mite was also smiling as this much was already given.

"BOM."

Right, when the 3 echoes died another echo was heard.

It lasted for a short interval but it was heard by everyone in the training area.

Zhao Luo scratched his head as he had put back the drum sticks in his hand.

He looked confused.

'Wasn't producing 3 echoes the best result?'

Zhao Luo questioned himself.

As every time Mite had hit the drum with the drumstick, it would only create 3 echoes so Zhao Luo thought that 3 echoes were the limit.

'Clap, Clap.'

Zhao Luo hears the sound of clapping coming from behind him so he turned around to look.

Mite who was pretty shocked with the fourth echo started clapping.

He was already admitting that Zhao Luo was better than many new trainees that he had seen before.

"You produced four echoes in your first try. That's remarkable."

Mite praised Zhao Luo. 

"Remember producing at least three echoes are required to pass every drum stage."

Mite started explaining.

"Why am I even beating on these drums?"

Zhao Luo asked the first question that he had in his mind. 

He had been going with the flow till now but it would be better to know what he was doing. In the first place, Zhao Luo wanted to fight this senior of his to qualify for becoming an outer disciple of the Sect.

"You don't wait, good. The total echoes that can be produced are ten. If the strike is even more powerful than that, the drumhead would just burst open."

Mite ignored Zhao Luo's question and continued his explanation.

"Four isn't bad but there are still six echoes that you could have produced."

Mite mocked Zhao Luo.

"What? But you only had three echoes on every drum stage."

Zhao Luo fought back with his words. He knew that something was wrong behind Mite's taunt.

Mite just smiled mysteriously.

"All the drums are connected. If you reach the 25th drum and produce 3 echoes on it then you will get an amazing boost in your powers."

Mite explained the reason behind the beating of drums.

'A boost in my powers? So my strength can increase if I reach the last drum.' 

Zhao Luo thought as he looked at the last drum in the fifth row with his glowing eyes.

"But it isn't easy. You will know when you reach the fourth row."

Mite also looked at the fourth row. That was where he had given up just now.

Zhao Luo thought that Mite was just spewing out bullsh*t to scare him.

"The Drums of the Bellum."

Mite said.

"You will know why these drums have that name soon."

Mite told Zhao Luo as he started grinning.