Before the official date of the competition, all the registered competitors needed to head out into the town to buy essential gear to prepare their swords and protect themselves. Inside their room, while Ben was getting ready to leave, Rei called out to him.
"Wait, Ben. Come here for a minute."
Ben turned around, adjusting his cloak. "What is it you want, Rei?"
Rei reached into his travel pack and pulled out the newly synthesized weapon hilt, extending it toward him. "Here. It's yours. Its name is Mistletoe."
Ben carefully took the metallic object, looking at it from different angles with a puzzled expression. "What is this? A sword hilt? Do I need to forge and attach an actual metal blade into this hilt?"
"No need for putting a blade in the hilt," Rei said. He pointed the weapon forward, safely away from both of them, and indicated a specialized control mechanism built directly into the grip. "Look at this button. When you click it, the blade will come out."
Ben pressed the button. Instantly, a magnificent blade composed of solid yellow light erupted from the guard, with vibrant sparkles violently crackling and flashing around the energy edge. The sheer radiance illuminated the entire room.
Ben stared at it, completely awed by its magnificence. "It's... it's such a beautiful weapon."
"Don't be manipulated by its looks," Rei warned coldly. "It is incredibly deadly. It can even cut through a dragon's scale, making it one of the strongest weapons in the history of the world."
Ben's expression turned deeply serious as he absorbed the gravity of what he was holding. "I need to be very careful using this, then." He clicked the button again to extinguish the energy blade, returning the weapon to its dormant hilt form, and tucked it away securely. "I will take good care of it, Rei. In return, what can I do for you?"
"Though there is nothing at this scale you can give me to match it, you can find and deliver five specific krystallites to me," Rei replied. "One of each attribute: holy, demonic, dark, light, and shadow."
"Consider it done. They will be delivered to you," Ben promised.
Just then, Kaiser's loud voice echoed from the open doorway. "Rei! Come on, we have to go buy the official gears for the competition before the shops get completely cleared out!"
"Coming," Rei called back.
Rei walked out to join Kaiser and his waiting group. As they started down the corridor, Adriel crossed his arms, looking annoyed. "You took too long to come out."
"I was doing some important work. Let's go," Rei said flatly.
As they navigated the crowded streets and reached the local market district, they found the equipment shops completely swarming with practitioners. Rei looked around, observing the massive turnout. "Wow... there are too many swordsmen and swordswomen gathered here."
"It's not just regular practitioners," Sentry noted, his eyes scanning the crowds. "There are some notable heroes here as well."
Rei adjusted his blindfold slightly. "Heroes? Who are they exactly?"
Hella chimed in, eager to explain the hierarchy. "They're individuals ranked by the scale of the lives they've saved. People who have protected a small village of fifteen to twenty people are known as Folklore Heroes. Those who have saved a larger town with twenty to fifty people are called Small Heroes. If you save an entire city of fifty to a hundred people, you're recognized as a Big Hero. Those who protect a whole state of a hundred to a thousand people are known as Classical Heroes. Then, those who save a country of a thousand to ten thousand people are Epic Heroes. And finally, those who have saved the entire world are known as Legendary Heroes."
Rei thought about the breakdown for a moment. "So, are there any Legendary Heroes among the crowd today?"
Sentry burst out laughing. "What are you even talking about? There have only been three Legendary Heroes in the entire history of the world, and none of them are around anymore."
"Who were those three Legendary Heroes?" Rei asked, his curiosity piqued.
Kaiser took over the explanation. "If I remember the lore correctly, they are Blaze, the Warrior of the End; the Millennium Sage, the supreme mage of a hundred spells and the one who could see the future; and finally, the Snow Empress Glaze, also known as the one who successfully defeated the Leviathan. But like Sentry said, none of them are alive now."
"I have heard about Blaze and the Millennium Sage before, but I hadn't heard about Glaze," Rei remarked. "By the way, who might be the highest-ranking hero present among this crowd today?"
Kaiser grinned, nudging him. "You're acting like you and I are not heroes ourselves! Well, let's see... I don't know the exact count, but there are definitely some Classical Heroes roaming around here. No Epic Heroes, though."
Sentry corrected him gently. "Couldn't some of the grandmasters overseeing the participating sects be Epic Heroes?"
"Oh, yeah! I completely forgot about the masters," Kaiser admitted, scratching the back of his head.
The group finally pushed their way inside a specialized training armory. Arranged neatly on the display racks were specialized competition weapons completely sculpted from dense white marble. They were entirely blunt, specifically engineered for tournament regulations.
Hella looked over the racks, then turned to Rei. "Those Marble swords you see are called Bokken. Do you want me to help choose a bokken for you, Rei?"
"No, I will choose a bokken myself," Rei replied.
He walked up to the rack, reached out, and lightly traced his fingers along the blunt edge of one of the marble weapons. He blinked behind his blindfold. "It is giving off the distinct sensation of getting cut."
"That's because it was intentionally manufactured that way to keep people from treating it like a harmless toy," Sentry explained. "However, don't just think it gives a mere illusion of pain. The properties of the bokken also temporarily stop the physical functioning of whatever body part it strikes during a match."
"It's not a problem," Rei said indifferently. He moved down the row, lightly tapping several different marble options before lifting one from the end of the rack. "I will take this one."
Kaiser leaned in, examining it. "Why that specific one?"
"Because it is structurally the strongest bokken out of all the weapons currently present in this shop," Rei analyzed.
Kaiser immediately grinned and grabbed the roughest, most poorly weighted bokken right next to it. "In that case, I will take this one!"
Rei glanced at it. "But that is literally the weakest bokken in the entire shop."
"You already know I like to constantly push my limits," Kaiser laughed. "That's exactly why I want it."
Sentry sighed, picking a standard, middle-tier weapon. "I really didn't want to join this tournament, but since I'm locked in, I'm just going with this bokken."
"I will take this one," Adriel said, pulling a heavy-grip marble weapon from the wall.
"I've decided on this one," Hella added, selecting her own light weighted bokken.
As Rei began walking toward the counter to pack and pay for his selected weapon, a rough hand suddenly reached over his shoulder and snatched the marble bokken straight out of his grasp.
A well-built man, flanked by a small group of arrogant friends, smirked as he weighed it in his hands. "Don't you think this bokken will suit me perfectly?"
One of his friends laughed, nodding along. "Yeah, that bokken was practically meant for you."
Rei stopped in his tracks, turning his blindfolded gaze directly toward the man. "That bokken is mine."
The man holding the weapon looked down at Rei with absolute indifference, treating him like someone who didn't even require basic courtesy. "Oh, yeah? Well, now it's mine."
"Give it back to me right now," Rei said, his voice entirely devoid of emotion. "Otherwise, you will face severe consequences."
The man scoffed loudly, stepping closer to intimidate him. "Do you even know who I am? I am a registered Classical Hero in this region, and you think a blindfolded brat like you can defeat me?"
Rei simply narrowed his eyes beneath the cloth, his voice dropping into a low, demanding, and incredibly cold register. "Give. My. Bokken. Back."
"Looks like you're simply not going to understand what I'm telling you through words," the man sneered. He casually tossed the marble bokken backward to his friend for safekeeping, reached to his hip, and drew his actual, razor-sharp steel combat sword.
With a sudden burst of speed, the man lunged forward, executing a lethal strike. But because Rei was blindfolded, he didn't rely on sight; he easily anticipated the exact trajectory of the air currents and physical momentum. Rei casually slipped past the blade, completely dodging the attack. Before the man could recover his stance, Rei extended a single finger, lightly touching the flat of the steel blade.
Instantly, Rei channeled a high-frequency kinetic vibration directly into the metal. The blade hummed violently for a fraction of a second before shattering into thousands of tiny metallic shards that rained down onto the floorboards.
The man stared at his empty hilt in utter horror. "What... what did you just do?!"
Rei didn't reply.
"What did you do?!" the man shouted again, his voice cracking with rising panic.
"You don't need to know the technical details," Rei replied calmly.
Deciding to conduct a quick biological experiment, Rei subtly waved his hand through the air, focusing his energy on the internal fluids of his attacker. Utilizing precise manipulation, he seized control of the iron and water content within the man's own bloodstream, forcing a localized rupture within his internal vessels.
The man gasped violently as a sudden surge of blood was forced up his throat, causing him to cough heavily across the floor. Due to the rapid, severe internal disruption and sudden shock, the man's knees buckled, and he crashed heavily to the ground, panting for air.
Rei looked down at him. "Still want to fight me?"
The man looked up, his eyes wide and trembling, yet still burning with a stubborn, fierce defiance. "I don't care... how strangely strong you might be. I have already made an unyielding oath to myself. I will rather die due to my own arrogance than live the rest of my days due to cowardice!"
Rei sighed internally. He's really not going to back down, is he?
Determined to continue the fight, the man gritted his teeth, relying on his raw martial arts training. He launched himself from the floor, throwing a heavy, sweeping kick aimed at Rei's head. Rei raised his arm calmly, stopping the force of the kick dead with his palm, and used the momentum to smoothly leap up onto the wooden display counter.
The man, driven by adrenaline, jumped up onto the counter right after him, unleashing a rapid barrage of heavy fist strikes. Rei fluidly swayed his body, dodging every single punch with perfect economy of movement. Slipping past the final strike, Rei closed the distance instantaneously, placing his palm flat against the top of the man's head.
"Sleep," Rei commanded softly.
He immediately manipulated the specific bio-electric brain waves within the man's central nervous system, forcing his consciousness into an instantaneous, deep sleep state. The man's eyes rolled back, and his body went completely limp, collapsing quietly onto the counter.
Rei hopped back down to the floor and walked over to the man's friends. Seeing their leader neutralized so effortlessly, the friends were no longer guarding the prize; they scrambled past Rei in a panic to check on their unconscious companion.
Rei calmly retrieved his selected marble bokken from the floor, walked up to the stunned shopkeeper, and paid the required fee. He then gestured to Kaiser and the others, walking out of the establishment.
Rei thought at least he and his friends are not cowards, for not running away when their partner is hurt
As they hit the street, Adriel looked at Rei with a mixture of shock and intense curiosity. "By the way... what exactly was that bizarre technique you used back there that made that guy suddenly spill blood all over the floor?"
Kaiser nodded eagerly, walking alongside him. "Yeah, that was completely new! I've never seen you use that before."
"I was just experimenting to see if I could successfully manipulate external blood flow," Rei explained casually. "Turns out I can."
Sentry shook his head, a chill running down his spine. "Manipulating someone's internal blood... now that is going to be an terrifyingly powerful ability in a real fight."
"Whatever," Hella muttered, stretching her arms out as she looked toward the massive arena towers in the distance. "I am just waiting for this week to pass quickly so I can finally get out there and fight in the competition."
"Yeah, you're right," Rei murmured. Though he agreed, his face showed absolutely no signs of excitement for the coming battles.