Chapter 470: The Student Council Hunt (V)

His lips curled up.

’4.902 Soul Points? That’s... cheap.’

Gray had barely spent a moment examining the technique before the system had already recorded its entire structure inside his mind.

The flow of mana, the order in which the lightning gathered, the method used to spread its destructive force across a wide area, and even the small flaws in its formation had all become clear to him.

It was as though someone had taken Kaedran’s technique apart piece by piece and placed every component in front of him.

’So this is Dark Lightning Heaven Breaker.’

Gray glanced at the scorched arena before returning his gaze to Kaedran.

’The foundation is decent, but the execution is rather crude. He wastes too much mana gathering the lightning, and the entire formation relies on overwhelming the opponent with a large number of attacks. Against someone who can’t keep up with his speed, that’s effective. Against someone who can see through the formation, however...’

His smile widened.

’It’s full of openings.’

Kaedran noticed the change in his expression and immediately took it as another sign of disrespect.

"What’s so funny?"

Gray raised his rapier slightly.

"Nothing. I was thinking your technique is quite interesting."

"Interesting?" Kaedran repeated, his eyes narrowing. "You barely survived it, and now you’re calling it interesting?"

"Did I barely survive it?"

Gray glanced at the undamaged barrier behind him, then back at the furious council member.

"That’s strange. I don’t remember being hit."

A few students in the stands burst into laughter before quickly covering their mouths when Kaedran glared in their direction.

His expression became increasingly ugly.

"You seem to have forgotten your position, freshman. You dodged one technique, and now you think you’re qualified to judge my techniques?"

Gray shrugged.

"I don’t need to be stronger than you to recognize a flaw in your technique, Senior. Although, if you’d prefer, I could demonstrate what I mean."

Kaedran’s eyes widened slightly.

Then his lips pulled back into a cold grin.

"Demonstrate it? You?"

He raised his spear and pointed its tip toward Gray.

"Go ahead, then. Show me what a mere Emperor such as yourself thinks he knows about lightning techniques. I’d love to see you embarrass yourself in front of the entire academy."

Gray nodded.

"Gladly."

He slowly lowered his rapier until its tip pointed toward the arena floor, and suddenly, he lifted his empty left hand.

At first, nothing happened.

The students watched him expectantly, but after several seconds passed without the slightest change in his aura, confusion began spreading through the stands.

"What is he doing?"

"Has he run out of energy?"

"Don’t tell me he’s planning to attack with his bare hands."

A few students laughed, while others exchanged puzzled looks. Kaedran himself stared at Gray for a moment before letting out an impatient snort.

"Well? I’m waiting."

Gray ignored him.

His Spirit Eyes had already finished examining the traces of dark blue lightning left behind by the previous attack.

Every strand of energy carried traces of Kaedran’s mana, and those traces served as a clear reference for the technique he had just copied.

He began rebuilding its structure.

However, unlike Kaedran, Gray did not gather his mana in one enormous mass before attempting to shape it into lightning.

He divided it into hundreds of tiny streams, each moving along a separate path.

Those streams crossed and connected in the air above his palm, forming a complex network of energy that remained almost completely hidden beneath his suppressed aura.

His [Parallel Mana Processing] ability let him run several operations at once, while his refined foundation provided enough mana to maintain the entire formation without unnecessarily straining his body.

The difference was immediate.

There was no wasted energy gathering around him, no violent pressure shaking the arena, and no long preparation that offered his opponent a chance to interfere.

Instead, the mana moved with a quiet precision that made the formation look almost effortless.

A faint crackle sounded above his palm.

Crk... Crk... CRACK!

Dark blue lightning appeared.

The entire arena fell silent.

Kaedran’s confident expression froze.

"...What?"

A thin bolt of lightning coiled around Gray’s fingers before rising into the air. Another appeared beside it, then another, until several dozen strands were floating around him.

Their color was identical to the lightning Kaedran had released moments earlier.

Even their faint metallic scent was the same.

One student in the front row abruptly stood up.

"Wait! That’s..."

Another demon stared at Gray’s hand, his mouth hanging open.

"Dark Lightning Heaven Breaker?!"

The words spread through the stands like wildfire.

"What?!"

"Impossible! That’s Kaedran’s technique!"

"How does that freshman know it?"

"Did he learn it before the duel? Is he hiding his real cultivation?"

"No, I watched the entire fight! He never used it before!"

The noise grew louder as more students recognized the technique.

Some immediately turned toward Kaedran, expecting him to explain what was happening, while others leaned over the railings to obtain a better view.

Kaedran stood motionless.

His eyes were fixed on the lightning surrounding Gray’s hand, and the more closely he examined it, the more his expression changed.

The formation was undeniably his technique.

Yet something was wrong.

The lightning strands were moving far more smoothly than they had when he created them.

The connections between them were tighter, the mana flowing through the formation wasted almost nothing, and the entire structure seemed to respond to Gray’s slightest movement.

It was as though his technique had been stripped of every unnecessary action and rebuilt into something far more efficient.

Kaedran’s grip tightened around his spear.

"How did you learn that?"

Gray tilted his head.

"Learn what?"

"Don’t play dumb! That’s my technique! Dark Lightning Heaven Breaker is a technique I developed through years of cultivation and combat. You watched me use it once, and now you’re standing there recreating it?"

Gray glanced at the lightning floating above his palm.

"Oh, this?"

He smiled innocently.

"Yes, I suppose it does look familiar."

"FAMILIAR?!"

Kaedran nearly crushed the shaft of his spear in his grip.

"Do you have any idea how much time I spent mastering that technique? I spent three years refining its formation, and I nearly crippled my mana circuits during the first successful attempt! You expect me to believe you learned it by watching me use it once?"

"Three years?" Gray gave him a thoughtful look.

"That’s right!"

"Ah..."

Gray nodded sympathetically.

"That explains a lot."

Kaedran’s expression became murderous.

"What does that mean?"

"It means you must have worked very hard."

Gray paused, and his smile widened slightly.

"To take three years to reach this level of mastery, I mean."

For a moment, the arena went completely silent.

Then someone in the stands let out a strangled laugh.

Kaedran’s face turned crimson.

"You little bastard!"

He took a step forward, but Gray raised his left hand before he could move any farther.

"Wait, Senior. I haven’t finished demonstrating the technique yet."

Kaedran’s expression twisted.

"YOU!"

Gray ignored him and focused on the lightning above his palm.

The several dozen strands began to multiply.

One hundred became two hundred, then three hundred, while new strands appeared between the existing ones, filling the gaps and tightening the formation.

The lightning did not lash wildly at the air as Kaedran’s had.

Instead, it formed layer after layer of interlocking patterns, each one supporting the others and directing their destructive force toward a single point.

The arena’s protective barrier began to vibrate.

VMMMMMMMM!

A group of instructors watching from a raised observation platform abruptly stood up.

One of them leaned forward, his eyes fixed on the network of lightning.

"That’s not right..."

Another instructor immediately turned toward him.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at the formation! He’s using the same principles as Dark Lightning Heaven Breaker, but he’s changed the way the energy connects. The original technique gathers power and releases it through a series of scattered strikes. This formation is doing something completely different."

The instructor’s eyes widened.

"He’s compressing the lightning into separate layers, allowing each one to reinforce the next. The energy isn’t leaking out of the formation at all!"

His companion stared at the arena.

"How is an Early Emperor controlling a formation of that complexity?"

Nobody answered.

They were too busy watching Gray.

He gave his wrist a gentle turn.

The lightning followed the movement.

Hundreds of strands rotated around one another, merging into a gigantic formation suspended above his head.

The air filled with the sharp scent of lightning, and the light pouring from the formation turned the surrounding stone a deep shade of blue.

Yet Gray still showed no strain.

He looked almost bored.

Scarlett, who had been resting comfortably against the railing, suddenly sat upright.

Her ruby eyes widened as she watched the formation expand above Gray. For the first time since the duel began, she had completely forgotten about teasing him.

’He copied Kaedran’s technique?’

She knew Gray possessed several strange abilities, and his combat experience had already surprised her.

However, there was a difference between recognizing an opponent’s technique and recreating it after seeing it once.

The former required observation and experience.

The latter required an extraordinary understanding of the energy in cause, an exceptional memory, and the ability to reproduce a complex technique without making a single critical mistake.

Yet Gray had done precisely that, and even more, he was not even finished.

Scarlett’s fingers tightened around the railing.

Her heart began beating faster, not from fear, but from the sheer excitement of watching something she had never expected to see.

’What kind of monster have I been living with?’

A shiver ran through her body.

She shifted in her seat, unable to keep the excitement from spreading through her limbs.

Her legs trembled slightly beneath her dark crimson dress as she leaned farther over the railing, her eyes following every movement of the lightning.

She had spent her entire life surrounded by powerful cultivators.

She had watched Great Rulers fight, witnessed Overlords demonstrate their strongest techniques, and faced opponents whose strength made ordinary students look insignificant.

But watching Gray imitate a technique he had witnessed only moments earlier, then reshape it into something far more refined, was a completely different experience.

Her lips parted into a whisper.

"Gray... What exactly are you?"

For once, there was no irritation in her voice.

Only astonishment, and a strange excitement she had no intention of explaining to anyone.

Gray finally looked back at Kaedran.

"Well, Senior, what do you think?"

Kaedran’s face had lost most of its color.

He could feel the pressure radiating from the enormous formation above Gray, and every instinct in his body was warning him that the attack would be far more dangerous than his original technique.

He tightened his grip on his spear and forced himself to stand straight.

"You think copying my technique makes you better than me?"

Gray considered the question.

"Not necessarily."

Kaedran’s expression eased slightly.

Then Gray continued.

"But if I can reproduce your technique after watching it once, remove its flaws, and increase its destructive power without even reaching the Ruler Realm, wouldn’t that suggest there’s still quite a bit of room for improvement in your original version?"

The man’s expression collapsed.

"Honestly, Senior, you should be thanking me. If I hadn’t challenged you, you might have spent another hundred years using that inefficient formation." Gray sighed.

The surrounding students stared at Gray in disbelief.

The instructors on the observation platform exchanged looks.

And Kaedran...

Kaedran looked as though he wanted to kill him.

"You arrogant little..."

His roar was cut short when Gray raised his left hand.

The lightning formation above him suddenly stopped rotating.

For a brief moment, every strand of energy became perfectly still.

Then the entire structure began to compress.

Hundreds of lightning strands folded inward, forming a series of concentric rings that revolved around a brilliant blue center.

The rings moved faster with every passing instant, drawing the scattered energy into an increasingly dense mass.

The air trembled.

The arena’s protective barrier flashed repeatedly as its formations struggled to measure the increasing pressure.

KRRRRRRRNNNG!

Gray’s expression remained calm.

"Since you were kind enough to show me the original, I’ll return it to you."

He lowered his hand.

"[Dark Lightning Heaven Breaker]."

The technique descended.

KRAKAKAKABOOOOOOOOOM!

A massive pillar of dark blue lightning crashed from the sky.

Unlike Kaedran’s earlier attack, which had spread across the arena in numerous separate bolts, Gray’s version struck as a single, concentrated force.

The outer rings unfolded during its descent, creating layers of interlocking lightning that covered the possible escape routes while the central strike aimed directly at Kaedran.

It combined the wide coverage of the original technique with a concentrated attack at its core.

There was no safe direction to run.

Kaedran’s pupils shrank.

Instinct took control of his body.

"STORMBREAKING DEFENSE!"

He slammed the butt of his spear against the ground, releasing every trace of mana he could gather into a defensive formation.

A dark blue shield spread around him, composed of rotating lightning lines that formed a thick barrier over his body.

The next instant, Gray’s attack struck.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The entire arena shook.

A tremendous wave of blue light swallowed the platform, and the protective barrier around the battlefield flashed so brightly that several students instinctively covered their eyes.

The shock wave swept across the arena, striking the walls and sending dust into the air.

The instructors on the observation platform immediately activated additional formations, while the audience watched in stunned silence.

For several seconds, the battlefield disappeared behind the light.

Ckrrr.... thrum...

Slowly, the pressure began to fade away.

The blue glow slowly receded, revealing the shattered surface of the arena.

Deep cracks spread across the platform, and fragments of stone floated within the remaining currents of lightning before falling to the ground.

The protective formations surrounding the battlefield were still active, but several runes along their edges had dimmed from the strain.

Gray stood near the edge of the platform.

He had not moved from his position.

Crackle...

His left hand rested beside him, and the final threads of blue lightning faded between his fingers.

Across the arena, Kaedran was kneeling.

His spear had been driven into the ground in front of him, its shaft trembling under the pressure.

His defensive barrier had collapsed, leaving his uniform torn and covered in dust, while dark smoke rose from several parts of his armor.

He was still conscious, but his breathing was uneven, and his eyes remained fixed on the enormous crater surrounding him.

The attack had not killed him.

The nonlethal formations had diverted the most dangerous part of the blow and protected his vital points, but even so, his defense had been shattered almost instantly.

He slowly raised his head.

"...Impossible."

His voice was barely audible.

Gray tilted his head.

"Did you say something, Senior?"

Kaedran stared at him.

"That... was my technique."

"Yes."

"You copied it!"

"Yes."

"AFTER WATCHING IT ONCE!"

Gray blinked.

"Well, I did have a rather good view."

Kaedran’s jaw trembled.

He had spent three years mastering Dark Lightning Heaven Breaker.

He had sacrificed countless resources, endured repeated injuries, and spent months refining its structure until he could use it reliably in battle.

Yet Gray had watched him use it once, reproduced it within moments, and unleashed a version so refined that his own defense had collapsed under its power.

It was not merely a difference in cultivation.

It was a difference in understanding.

Kaedran looked down at his trembling hands.

For the first time in years, he felt completely helpless.

The arena remained silent until a single voice broke the stillness.

"HE COPIED IT!"

Another student jumped to his feet.

"THAT FRESHMAN COPIED DARK LIGHTNING HEAVEN BREAKER AFTER SEEING IT ONCE!"

The entire audience erupted.

"WHAT?!"

"Are you telling me he learned Kaedran’s technique during the duel?"

"No, he didn’t merely copy it! Didn’t you see how much stronger it was?"

"His formation was completely different! He took Kaedran’s technique, corrected the flaws, and made it several times more destructive!"

"That’s ridiculous! Even an Overlord would need time to analyze a technique of that complexity!"

"Then what the hell is he?!"

The noise grew so loud that the academy’s announcer struggled to make himself heard.

On the observation platform, several instructors were already arguing among themselves.

"Did you see the formation’s structure? The boy distributed his mana across hundreds of separate paths without losing control of the main technique."

"He didn’t merely copy the structure, but also improved the circulation and compression of the energy. That attack would have consumed far more mana if performed using Kaedran’s original method."

"Then how did he do it? His cultivation is only at the Early Emperor Realm!"

One of the older instructors remained silent for several moments before speaking.

"Perhaps we’re asking the wrong question."

The others turned toward him.

He looked down at Gray, whose expression had barely changed after unleashing an attack powerful enough to shake the entire arena.

"What we witnessed wasn’t simply the ability to copy a technique. It was the ability to understand its structure at a glance, identify its flaws, and reconstruct it into something more effective. His cultivation might be at the Early Emperor Realm, but his comprehension of combat techniques is extraordinary."

He paused.

"And if that is only one of his abilities, then the entrance examination revealed far less about him than we thought."

Scarlett had not moved from her seat.

Her fingers remained wrapped around the railing, and her eyes were fixed on Gray as though she were afraid that looking away for even a moment would cause her to miss something else.

Her legs were still trembling slightly.

She slowly drew a breath, trying to calm herself, but the excitement coursing through her body refused to settle.

’He copied it on the spot...’

She replayed the battle in her mind.

Gray had not needed a manual, a teacher, or months of practice.

He had watched Kaedran release his technique once, understood its structure, and reproduced it with a level of control that surpassed the original.

And he had done all of this while suppressing most of his aura, never once giving the impression that he was exerting himself.

Scarlett’s lips curved into a smile.

This time, she made no effort to hide it.

"You’re unbelievable, Gray."

She leaned forward, her ruby eyes shining with unmistakable excitement.

’Come on, then. Show me what else you’re hiding.’

For the first time since she had met him, Scarlett found herself wanting to see Gray fight someone stronger than herself.

Not because she wished to watch him lose.

Quite the opposite.

She wanted to know how far he could go.

Back in the arena, Gray looked at the defeated council member and then glanced toward the floating display.

The system had already begun recording the result.

[Official Duel Result: Victory.]

[Winner: Gray.]

[Loser: Kaedran Voss.]

[Student Council Recruitment: Denied.]

Gray’s gaze settled on the final line.

"Ah..."

He sighed.