?The sharp stench of chemicals and blood wafted through the cold air of the Thor Faction's underground facility. Behind a ten-centimeter-thick glass wall, an anomalously muscled monster roared savagely. Its hands, bulging with thick black veins, pounded the glass repeatedly, creating hairline fractures that triggered warning alarms throughout the room.

  ?Varg, the Thor-blooded enforcer, smirked, flashing a smile laced with malicious intent. He crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring the panicked white-coated scientists recording data on their tablets.

  ?"Perfect," Varg growled, his eyes glowing in the lab's dim light. "Lord Thor will be very pleased with the results of this Brawler-class experiment. Unfortunately, beating up a glass wall doesn't give us real combat data."

  ?A head scientist gulped. "B-but Lord Varg, its killing instinct is too wild. If we unleash it on the streets, the city's security faction might intervene."

  ?Varg snorted disdainfully. A cunning idea flashed in his mind. "Then don't release it. Let the prey come to it themselves. Host a public tournament, and make that damn healing serum you created the grand prize. Scatter the pamphlets across the slums. Those desperate rats will surely come and offer their lives voluntarily for a single bottle of false hope."

  ?Varg let out a hoarse laugh, his voice echoing chillingly alongside the mutant's roars from inside the tank.

  ?The morning sunlight had just pierced through the fog in the hills, yet the sound of physical impacts already shattered the silence in the courtyard of Master Jiren's wooden hut.

  ?Usually, the sharp-eyed old man was always the first to breathe the morning air. But today, Jiren's steps halted at the doorway. The corners of his lips unconsciously tugged into a faint smile. In the dusty courtyard, Lucas, Blade, and Niko were already drenched in sweat, trading punches and kicks in an intense sparring session.

  ?"Enough warming up," Jiren's deep voice stopped them. The three of them simultaneously turned to Jiren. "You woke up earlier. Good. Now, I want to see how far you've come. Release your maximum Output. Lucas, you first."

  ?Lucas nodded. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Within seconds, a silvery-blue glow enveloped both his arms, thickening, like flames wrapping around his limbs.

  ?Force Boost and Force Barrier, Jiren thought. His eyes widened slightly. Lucas... this kid is terrifying. It hasn't been long, yet his Lux flow is so stable. The energy seems alive, naturally blessing him, Jiren muttered inwardly.

  ?"Good work, Lucas. Maintain that flow," Jiren praised before shifting his gaze. "Blade, your turn."

  ?Blade drew his katana from its scabbard with a sharp, metallic ring. Without much expression, he focused his gaze on the blade. Lux energy flowed from his palms, creeping up to coat the steel until it hummed softly. Force Armament.

  ?"You've improved significantly, Blade," Jiren nodded in satisfaction. "Remember, sometimes weapon attacks coated in Lux energy have a much more lethal penetrating power than bare hands relying only on a standard Force Boost. Your sharpness is your advantage."

  ?"Understood," Blade answered calmly, twirling his katana before sheathing it again.

  ?Finally, Jiren looked at the genius teen with protective goggles at the end of the line. "Niko. Show me."

  ?Niko grimaced slightly. He looked down, clenched his fists, and forced his Lux energy to flow from his core. However, instead of spreading throughout his body, the light sank and condensed densely in his calves and the soles of his feet.

  ?"Sorry, Master Jiren," Niko sounded frustrated. "For some reason, I can only pump Lux into my leg area. My hands aren't responding to the flow at all."

  ?Jiren walked over and patted Niko's shoulder. "Don't be discouraged. That's not a defect, but a characteristic of your energy pathways. If you keep training, you'll be able to master the other areas. But for now, make that anomaly your weapon. Use the Lux bursts in your feet purely for extreme speed acceleration, and learn a deadly combat style using kicks."

  ?Niko's eyes immediately lit up. His analytical mind instantly calculated the momentum of high-speed kicks. "Extreme speed for momentum strikes... You're right! Thank you, Master Jiren!"

  ?Jiren stepped back, observing his three students intently. "There is one combat secret you all must know. A rare phenomenon called Soul Resonance."

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  ?The three teens sharpened their hearing.

  ?"That's not a technique you can learn from a book," Jiren continued, his voice lowering and becoming more serious. "It's a climax phenomenon. An anomaly that only triggers when the exact moment you pump your Lux and the exact moment of physical impact on the enemy's body reach absolute synchronization. Specifically, zero point zero-zero-zero-zero-one seconds."

  ?"0.00001 seconds?!" Niko's eyes widened. "Mathematically, that's almost impossible to do consciously!"

  ?"Correct. That's why its effects are terrifying," Jiren nodded. "When Soul Resonance occurs, your destructive power will multiply, piercing through any physical defense no matter how hard, and delivering a Soul Shock that disrupts the enemy's soul energy flow.

  ?"Not only that, anyone who triggers this Soul Resonance will also enter a state of high-level focus, where Lux usage becomes highly efficient temporarily, and Lux energy continuously flows directly into the soul. Absolute luck is the only way to achieve it."

  ?Towards noon, they sat resting on the hut's porch. The hill breeze carried a stinging dry heat. Lucas, who had looked restless for a while, finally broke the silence.

  ?"Master," Lucas called out hesitantly. "About the villagers down the hill... that strange disease afflicting them..."

  ?Jiren let out a long sigh, staring straight at the horizon. His eyes reflected profound exhaustion. "So you've seen it."

  ?"Of course you already knew, right, Master?" Niko cut in quickly, his voice rising slightly. "It's all because of the insane chemical waste and air pollution from the Thor Faction's giant factory! We can't just sit around."

  ?"That factory does dump poison. That's a fact," Jiren answered softly, looking at his students one by one. "But... there is something else far more insane than just chemical waste."

  ?"What do you mean, Master?" Blade's brow furrowed.

  ?"Where do you think the endless barren land around those villages comes from?" Jiren picked up a wooden twig, scribbling in the dusty dirt in front of him. "In the middle of the barren wasteland between the villages, there is a giant ancient stone monument. A stone they call the Eternal Stone."

  ?"Eternal Stone?" Lucas muttered.

  ?"Yes. That stone is covered in strange carved motifs that don't belong to this civilization, and the lines of those motifs constantly emit a faint glowing light. The desperate villagers turned to worshipping the stone instead. They believe it is a remnant of a miracle that will eventually bring them blessings."

  ?Jiren crushed the twig in his hand. "One night, I tried approaching the monument secretly. Right before I stepped into its circle, my instincts screamed. That stone is alive, and it is siphoning life energy from the earth and the creatures around it. I felt it pulling at my own soul."

  ?"What?!" Blade leaned forward, his katana clinking softly. "Something like that actually exists?"

  ?"I'm warning you," Jiren stood up, his face undeniably stern. "Don't ever try to look for that stone. And about the villagers... I know you have good intentions. I'm proud of your empathy. But you must realize what kind of entity you're up against. Playing the naive, overly-heroic act will only send you to your graves in a flash. Never attempt anything reckless involving the people above us."

  ?Jiren turned around and went inside the hut, closing the door softly but firmly. He left the three teenagers in a suffocating silence. That truth slapped them hard.

  ?"So... what should we do, Lucas?" Blade asked, breaking the silence, his eyes darting sharply.

  ?Lucas just looked down. His clenched fists on his knees trembled slightly. His teeth ground together, holding back a rage he couldn't unleash.

  ?The next morning, the hill's sky was disturbed by the flapping wings of low-flying mechanical alien birds. From their beaks, hundreds of paper scrolls were dropped like snowfall in the middle of a dry season, spreading from the city center down to the dilapidated huts in the villages.

  ?The starving and sick villagers picked up the papers with trembling hands. At the end of a narrow alley, a desperate Gorgonid uncle gripped the pamphlet tightly.

  ?In the middle of the trail leading up the hill, ROT—who had just returned from inspecting their ship—scanned one of the papers caught on a tree branch. Identifying a crucial keyword, ROT immediately sped home.

  ?As soon as ROT arrived, it immediately projected a hologram of the pamphlet in front of Niko. Niko's eyes widened reading the lines of text. Wasting no time, he ran to find his two friends.

  ?"Lucas! Blade! Look at this!" Niko shouted, slapping the pamphlet onto a wooden barrel in front of them.

  ?Lucas and Blade leaned in. The bold text read: "Thor Faction Open Tournament. Grand Prize: One Full Tube of Disease Curing Serum."

  ?Silence enveloped them once again. But this time, it wasn't a silence of despair, but an absolute mutual understanding. They looked at each other. Without a single word needing to be said, their eyes conveyed one unanimous decision: They were going.

  ?Half an hour later, the three of them had gathered secretly behind a large boulder at the foot of the hill, far from Master Jiren's hearing range.

  ?"To fight in the arena, we have two combat machines," Niko broke the silence, looking back and forth between Lucas's broad back and Blade's calm eyes. "I have no doubt you guys can smash whatever the Thor Faction throws out there. But the problem is... the prize is only one tube of serum."

  ?"That probably won't be enough to cure Arin, let alone the rest of the villagers," Blade chimed in, arms crossed over his chest. "We need more than just a tournament prize."

  ?Lucas punched his own palm, his eyes blazing with determination. "I don't care. Whatever happens, we have to take that serum. Everything they have."

  ?Hearing that, the corners of Niko's lips slowly pulled upwards, forming a sly smirk he rarely showed. He adjusted his glasses, which reflected the afternoon sunlight.

  ?"If you guys are truly ready to go crazy..." Niko lowered his voice, exuding the aura of an architect of destruction, "I have an idea much bigger than just winning a tournament."

  ?The afternoon wind blew fiercely through the rock crevices, sweeping up dust and dried leaves around them. The sun slowly set, painting the sky in blood red. At the foot of that hill, the plan for the deadliest rebellion had just been born, preparing to burn the city skies the very next night.

  ?To be continued...

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