Healing System

The rounds went by, with seemingly worse luck for the other teams.

Out of the rounds before Michael himself had to step up, the other teams had not fought theirs even once.

It was quite comical, but he didn't mind—after all, it made it that much easier to prove how overwhelming their sect was.

And soon, it was his turn.

"Munjin of the Golden Dragon sect versus Tai Feng of the Plum Blossom sect. Proceed onto the platform," Sect leader Li stated, and Michael did just that.

Surprisingly, out of everyone present, Tai Feng seemed the strongest, nearly reaching Tier 4 in strength.

Yet that shouldn't be much of a problem, since he had been able to Charm him earlier.

Sect leader Li checked if both of them were ready, and after affirming, immediately sent his hand down. "Begin!"

His words hung in the air. However, Michael did not instantly attack, since there was a certain interesting thing happening on the platform, which seemed to go unnoticed by everyone present.

Sect leader Ji, disguised as Chu Dong, was weaving his mana and expanding it all over where Michael stood.

'So that's what an actual Elder is like, huh,' he mused before suddenly stepping down.

And as he did, the platform cracked into two, while at the same time, the mana was dispelled.

Tai Feng seemed startled by this sudden gesture, and without even hesitating, used Qi to empower himself, emitting a fierce pink light all around himself.
Continue your journey on empire

But when he approached to strike, Michael merely took the full brunt of the attack, testing his shield's power.

He hadn't seen his skill's effects in a while, and the system did not seem like it had finished compiling the dragon words either, so it was a bit of a pity.

Nonetheless, once Tai Feng made contact with Michael's body, the shield immediately bounced him off.

And even more surprisingly, it had not even been broken.

'Full HP shield is back,' he put on a smirk and glanced at Tai Feng.

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to attack?"

"You did something." Tai Feng's calm yet serious voice resounded, making Michael raise a brow.

"Really? I did? It seems to me like you just missed," Michael taunted, but that seemed to not do anything in the slightest, as Tai Feng merely took another approach.

Dashing in, he swung his sword down, and just as it was about to connect with Michael's body, he halted the sword mid-swing.

That confused Michael for a moment, but in the next, his eyes suddenly widened.

The sword had not hit him, and yet, the shield had taken effect.

For some reason, that effect was even more draining than the rest.

Almost like, if he did not absorb a single attack, his mana would be reduced instead.

"That's a cheeky solution," Michael couldn't help but comment as he summoned a few dozen miniature shields which he could control at will.

"However, that's all it is. A solution to the first problem."

"Is that so?" Tai Feng glanced at what was happening with shaking eyes that betrayed his outer confidence.

And when Michael noticed that, he immediately began his attack. Taking a few steps forward, he summoned a single Sword of Light and slashed horizontally, making the mana cleave outward as a result.

However, Tai Feng blocked it by redirecting the mana upwards before his pink Qi grew even brighter.

"Even now, you don't fail to surprise me," Michael stated with a small smile.

He had been on the losing end for so long that it felt weird having this much control over his opponent.

Playing around in a life-or-death fight, win-or-lose everything type of fight, really made his heart race again.

Fighting, and achieving his goals, really was the best way, so he decided from here on out to get even stronger.

To do that, however, Michael would need to increase the intensity of his training by a lot, until eventually, he would reach the limit of this world.

But still, that would take a while.

Putting his focus back on the fight, Michael sent out a Piercing Light, which immediately switched its form, becoming a byproduct of Mirage of Light.

As that happened, a miniature sword pierced straight through Tai Feng's calf.

Before he fell to the ground, however, Tai Feng caught himself and swung his sword in a weird arc.

Immediately, and for the first time ever, Michael felt a sense of urgency—the type that told him, if he were to stay and not back away, he'd face serious injuries.

So that's what he did, shielding himself heavily while taking several steps back.

And as he did that, pink flower petals began falling onto the ground, covering it entirely.

Yet, perhaps because of his strength, or the Disciple skill which helped him against mind-altering attacks, he noticed something interesting.

In the midst of all these pink flower petals were tiny sword slashes that were constantly being rotated.

It did not take long for Michael to find out that each and every single sword slash was coming from Tai Feng, whose mana was being drained at a noticeable pace.

Even then, an attack like that...

'I want it.'

It had been a long time since he actually invented a proper attack—one that would actually turn the tide of battle, while also not costing a limb to cast.

A simple attack which used mana but did not have a cooldown.

Just like Sword of Light, but even stronger.

The Golden Dragon sect also has something like that, each sect has a few set scriptures that would help you train or hone yourself in a special way, the system commented, piquing his interest.

'Oh? But I would need to win all these tournaments to get it, correct?' he questioned.

That's right, so do your best, the system encouraged, and immediately, Michael stopped playing around.

Tai Feng was a good opponent for some, but for Michael, that was not the case.

Therefore, he brought his hand down, and without even a moment's hesitation, pierced straight through each of Tai Feng's limbs, pinning him onto the ground and shattering his sword.

A Tier 3, nearly a Tier 4, defeated like an ant, just like that.

Even the crowd could not believe it, nor Sect leader Li himself.

Nonetheless, the results had to be announced.

"Mujin of the Golden Dragon sect wins!"

With that, Michael made his way down, as a few people in Daoist robes came up and took Tai Feng's body away.

Yet before Michael could even take his seat, Sect leader Li's voice resounded.

"Mujin of the Golden Dragon sect versus Xue Mei of the Cloudflower sect. Step back onto the platform."

'The no downtime rule might have been a little much,' Michael thought with a sigh and went back to the middle, before being asked if he was ready, and lastly...

"Begin!"

Just as Sect leader Li's words rang out, Michael sent a single Sword of Light right at the woman, who tried blocking it.

However, he put a lot more strength into it, causing her sword to shatter in a single blow.

But as he thought it was over, Xue Mei suddenly pulled out a steel whip, before sending it towards him.

Michael was slightly startled, as even in the past, he had never fought against someone using whips.

It felt a bit... out of place, to say the least.

Yet, as she swung it around, and his shield deflected it, Michael noticed a massive usage of mana.

'Hmm...' he hummed inwardly. 'The length and versatility are triggering my shield... How did I not know about this weakness sooner?'

If he had known, he could have fixed it very easily, but now, it was a bit of a pain to do so. Therefore, he relied on the external shields he could make out of his mana.

While at the same time, he questioned the system. 'Can you fix that skill? Aegis of Light? It's broken.'

It's not broken, you are just overpowering your own skills. It is a beginner-level skill after all, the system replied, making him raise a brow.

'Even so, why would it lose its effects? I am getting stronger, and shouldn't the skill as well?'

If only it were so easy. Passive skills are fine; however, active skills are a bit different, hence why I tried so hard to unlock the Skill Sacrifice tab for you. Even I myself had several dozen skills at the Supreme level, since the ones before could no longer support my strength.

'But what about Sword of Light? It's holding up well.' Michael dug deeper.

Yet the reply was the same. It was Basic at first, and then turned to Beginner. It has a slightly higher limit than the rest of the skills that usually start out at Beginner rank, but I can assure you, the limit is near.

'So if I level up a random skill all the way from Basic to Supreme, then I would have something extremely overpowered?'

Essentially that's the case, but it doesn't really matter. Supreme rank is enough to harness skills even if you are Tier 20. Trust me.

'If you say so.' Michael shrugged it off, before putting in much more strength, and with a single push of his hand, cracked Xue Mei's skull.

"W-wha... Mujin of the Golden Dragon sect wins! We are going to be having a timeout..." Sect leader Li's words were soon interrupted as Michael walked up to her and healed her.

Not even a second after, Xue Mei was back to full strength, but the hollow and horrified expression on her face really did seem true.

Sect leader Li walked up to Michael and whispered, "You can go back now. Refrain from doing... that for now."

Michael nodded and made his way down, as soon, the next round was announced.

"Kai of the Golden Dragon sect versus Lian Hua of the Cloudflower sect!"