Chapter 633: Martial King Test
It was late in the night and one day before the nationals officially started.
For the past week, Karuza High’s team had been hard at work training, except Kiernan, who was keeping it easy.
He heeded the warning that he should take it easy while he was getting used to his Martial King body.
It was a bad idea on his part to fight against Snake, but luckily, the fight ended quickly before it had some serious consequences.
Thus, he hadn’t been training and had been just enjoying the air-conditioned cottage.
At the current moment, Kiernan was sitting on the beach of the training village, his bare feet sinking into the sand.
It felt like yesterday when he was training here, on the beach, with his sweat clinging to his body and legs burning with exhaustion.
People of the village saw him at the beach. Some of them planned to do some night swimming, but after seeing him there, they changed their minds.
They didn’t want to inconvenience him.
"..."
Kiernan looked at the night sky. It was sparkling with stars, and a giant moon was shining brightly, illuminating the lake waves.
Beautiful sight, truly.
He then picked up a stick from the sand and slashed it at the lake. The lake got cut in half, but then the two sides of the lake came together and reformed.
With just a simple swing of a stick, he was able to do feats that seemed truly godly, and none of the participants of the nationals could ever imagine doing something like that.
"...Mhm."
Kiernan looked at his right arm. It ached.
"...System, how long will it take for my Martial King body to get fully well? A simple waving of a stick is already painful."
[Processing...]
[22% complete...]
"Twenty-two percent? Sigh. It will take several months then."
Kiernan sighed, lay back down on the sand, and looked at the stars in the sky.
"...Whew, time to go to bed, I guess."
He carefully stood up. It was as if he was an old man who had trouble standing up because of some back pain.
He slipped his feet inside the sandals that were resting in the sand.
With his hands inside the pockets of his shorts, Kiernan left the beach with his loose shirt flapping in the wind behind him.
Without realizing it, he actually walked past Karuza High’s cottage and kept walking forward absentmindedly.
He walked across the village and arrived at the front of another cottage. Lights spilled out of the window.
He was able to see some representatives of some weaker schools gathered around a table, smiling and laughing while playing some games.
They didn’t expect to get very far in the nationals, so they came here to have some fun and make the most of the experience.
"Hey, who are you?"
In that moment, a young man with a plastic bag of snacks walked over with his other hand slipped inside his left pocket.
He left the training village to visit a store that was about a kilometer away to purchase some more snacks and drinks.
Then, he saw a stranger standing before their cottage.
With a raised eyebrow, Kiernan turned at him, and the young man’s eyes widened in surprise before he accidentally dropped his plastic bag.
"O-Oh, i-it was you. I-I didn’t recognize you, I apologize."
"Mm, no offense taken."
Kiernan said and kept walking past the cottage with his head hanging low, and the young man kept watching him as he walked away.
’...Why does his figure look so lonesome? I must be thinking things. It would be amazing to be powerful and famous like him!’
...
The following day, Tiamut, fireworks exploded across the sky. The welcoming ceremony of the nationals was in full swing.
Teams, carrying the flag of their respective schools, walked in a circle around the arena, waving towards the crowd with smiles on their faces.
In that moment, Karuza High stepped out into the arena, and the crowd’s roars of excitement reached a deafening level.
The flag bearer was Kiernan. He carried it high and with pride, leading his team onto the field. Screams of Kiernan echoed throughout the air.
It wasn’t only people of New Rakuya that came to watch the broadcast. There were also his international fans that came to watch just for him.
The record viewership of New Rakuya’s nationals got shattered immediately with Kiernan’s entrance onto the field.
"There he is, Kiernan of Karuza High, and currently reigns as the strongest student of New Rakuya.
"He had just returned from the tournament between humanity and the Animal Kingdom, where he fought as the last member of humanity’s team and defeated Beast Prince Arazimir in an insane match!
"No one was really expecting him to participate in these nationals, but oh boy, are we glad that he is.
"Without Kiernan, Karuza High is already a very formidable team, as they are champions of the Spring Invitationals!"
The commentators shouted.
After taking the tour around the arena, Karuza High’s team returned back to their locker room, and the viewership of the broadcast gradually began to dwindle.
The welcoming ceremony was also pretty much over, as Karuza High was the last team to get introduced.
While in the locker room, important figures of New Rakuya’s government came to talk with Kiernan and were all smiling while shaking his hand.
He was the biggest star that had come out of their tiny country ever, and they doubted anyone could ever match his current fame.
After greeting several dozen people, Kiernan left with the rest of Karuza High and went to get some food from a nearby fancy restaurant.
The restaurant staff was more than happy to have Kiernan there dining, and then they took a picture with him and put the photograph on the "Celebrity Wall" that they had.
After that, they returned to the hotel, and while everyone else went to sleep to get some early rest before the important day tomorrow, Kiernan stayed awake, sitting on the couch and staring at his system interface blankly.
[Low Stage Martial King Test - Do You Want To Accept?]
[Y/N]
It was something that appeared after the day of his battle with Beast Prince Arazimir. It was apparently an extremely important test, according to the system.
If he successfully cleared the test, the system would become Expert leveled. It would also include several other things.
However, he hadn’t taken the test just yet, as he couldn’t really use his body well because it was still getting used to being Martial King.
This was how his future ranks were going to go, apparently. If he wanted to become Middle Stage, he had to clear this test.
If he failed, it was going to be over for his martial arts career, and he would never be able to advance any more.
Thus, he wanted to be in his best possible condition before doing it.