Infinite Realm

"Hai~ Back then, I never thought I would be making my way back here so soon." Fudo released a sigh that seemed to be entailed with the vicissitudes of life.

"Hold your horses, man. It's just been less than 2 weeks since we've last been here; not even a month. So why do you have to make it sound seem as if it's been years since you last showed up here?" Yato looked at Fudo with a queer expression.

"Hehe. What would you know?" Fudo replied.

"Seiichi. What's our current location?" Sato asked.

Being the only [Ranger] in the team, Seiichi was tasked with reading the map and pointing out the direction for the team. Lu Zhen took the role of a scout since the [Assassin] class was best suited for the task. Being the team's MT, Katsuo handled the front with Sato assisting him while Fudo and Xue Yan took the back. As for Yato, he was tasked with protecting the back-liners and keeping them safe from harm.

"Luckily for us I guess, we aren't so far from the Exit gate. It's just a 15 minutes walk towards the North from here." Seiichi replied right after he had finished consulting the map.

"15 minutes? Indeed, we are lucky." Sato smiled lightly.

It should be known that when players are teleported to the next floor by the Exit gate of the previous floor, they get dropped at any spot on the entire floor. If not for the maps being available, getting lost would extremely be easy much less finding the Exit gate to the next floor. Usually, the spot where players are dropped off is such that there would be a difference of at least 1 hour in distance between them and the nearest Exit gate. Most times though, this was 2 hours or more due to the winding paths as well as the obstacles on their path known as monsters. It was all of these added that made exploring Black Grill's Cave a difficult task and well as proceeding towards the 10th floor.

However, Sato and the rest had made use of the teleportation array in the Hall. While it still had a random stop, it was at least better than the Exit gates. This could be seen from the fact that they were teleported to a point just 15 minutes away from the nearest Exit gate. Something like this would never happen if they had used an Exit gate instead of the teleportation array.

"Let's get moving now. Time waits for no man."

It didn't take long for the team of 7 to reach their destination. In fact, it didn't take that 15 minutes to do so. Running at top speed, the group had one-shot any monster on their way, reducing the number of obstructions they would face. This was mostly Xue Yan's handiwork as she was currently the only one with the ability to one-shot a level 6 or level 7 monster, apart from Sato. In the end, it only took them 10 minutes to reach their destination with ease, with their clothing unarmed and their breathing still even.

"It's been long, guys." Fudo waved at the 3 Guardian Golems that secured the Exit gate.

"So, who's interested?"

Everyone in the team was currently stronger than most players by quite a lot. There was also the fact that the lowest level here was level 8. The Guardian Golems were level 9 before and they would remain the same since the Kobold King had nothing to do with them and this was currently the most formidable lineup any other player would have seen before.

While 3 Elite rank Guardian Golems would be a problem for most players to handle, for the 'men'[1]. On Sato's side, any one of them could take on this monster on their own and come out unscathed so rather than using a boulder to crack an egg, it was best that they took things easy.

"They are level 9. While you guys would be able to defeat them alone, it would be difficult if they group up." Sato commented.

"Let me handle them." Xue Yan called out.

After she was done with her trials, Xue Yan had taken a break from gaming to recover from the stress she was under all through the process. Unlike Sato, who was quite confident enough to exit the game a couple of times during the trials, Xue Yan only did so twice and each of those times wasn't up to even an hour. When her 'break period' was over, Xue Yan wasn't given enough time to get accustomed to her newfound strength and skills. Seeing an opportunity to fix that, she decided to volunteer to handle the monsters. Unlike the Fudo and the others, Xue Yan was already level 11 so taking on the three level 9 Elite Guardian Golems wouldn't exactly be a problem.

"Alright." Sato nodded.

If Fudo and Lu Zhen were to take these guys on their own, once they win, the Experience points would bring them closer to level 10 but Sato didn't feel it was necessary. The Experience points from defeating the Kobold King and his forces would undoubtedly be more than that and it would surely bring those two to level 10.

Having received the go-ahead order from Sato, Xue Yan proceeded to confront the Guardian Golems.

"Grawwww!"

Once Xue Yan got within the active range of the first Guardian Golems, it roared at her as a form of warning as its blue beaded eyes stared at her with a bit of apprehension.

Most Rock golems were just machines with no bit of emotion and only operated based on their programming rather than their instincts. However, the Guardian Golems were different. Though they couldn't be said to be intelligent, they still had a certain level of instinct that helped them differentiate between an easy target and a difficult opponent. The Guardian Golem before Xue Yan had managed to identify her as the latter so even though Xue Yan was already in its active range, it didn't attack yet but tried to scare her off.

Xue Yan smiled lightly as she kept on walking forward. It was as if she wasn't about to face off against 3 difficult opponents but was taking a walk along the park on a sunny day in Spring. Her entire expression was calm and unperturbed as she gave off the feeling of a harmless dainty lady.

Seeing this, the Guardian Golem became a bit confused as it had previously sensed a dreary amount of fire mana within the opponent but all of that seemed to have disappeared. As a creature formed from mana, its ability to sense mana was undoubtedly much sharper than players.

'Returning to origin? No, it's a bit far from the original. Xue Yan seems to have half a foot in that realm.' Sato was a bit astonished.

Returning to origin was a special martial arts technique but unlike the others, it had nothing to do about one's strength. It neither increased the user's attack power nor defensive power however, anyone who had mastered this skill wasn't to be underestimated.

For martial artists to grow, they have to engage in countless battles and improve on themselves and their techniques. During this period of growth, it was inevitable for one's aura to constantly change with the various situations and encounters one must have experienced. Returning to origin was a skill that helped one withdraw their aura back to themselves and seal it tightly, looking no different from a regular human being. While this sounded easy, it wasn't. Usually, only high-level and experienced martial arts experts were capable of pulling this off. Sato was surprised that Xue Yan was close to the true meaning of this technique since she has just stepped foot into the world of martial arts just some time ago.

With only a week of training and her 3-day(RT) experience in the Main Trials, it was astounding that Xue Yan was able to come close to the realm of Returning to origin.

'She's a talent worth keeping..' Sato thought as he stared at Xue Yan.