They were truly different worlds. Those at the highest level practically owned these planets and wielded influence and power far superior to everyone else. Kayden needed to reach at least level three to gain more comfort and ease in achieving his objectives.
"Hello, Miss Reyna, we will need to follow standard protocols for your friend. Sorry for the inconvenience," Kayden and Reyna heard a voice and found themselves in front of a teenager dressed in an elegant suit.
He wore a mask to conceal his identity, a practice to ensure that no government worker was targeted outside of their duties. Kayden sensed a spiritual presence in his body as certain measures were taken.
"Name?" A small questionnaire began.
"Kayden Heart."
"Organization?"
"None."
"Home planet?"
"It no longer exists."
"Spouse?"
"No."
"Path followed?"
"Combat."
"Class?"
"Standard Mage."
"Realm and level?"
"Fifth realm, I have no level in my cultivation path." This statement surprised both Reyna and the official, but they didn’t dwell on it for long—everyone had their secrets.
"Age?"
"I don’t know," Kayden replied honestly. He had already realized that he was being observed by some kind of soul spell in this place, and false answers would trigger an alarm.
"An estimate?"
"I think several tens of billions of years." Kayden’s response was so shocking that the two mages stood for a few seconds, waiting and hoping the runes would show it as false.
It was terrifying to think that a being in the fifth realm could live for such a long time. Kayden was likely a reincarnation, and the standard procedure required the official to ask this question.
"Are you the reincarnation of a mage? What was your former identity?"
"I am and always have been Kayden Heart." This was the answer they received, and the runes did not react. It took a few seconds for the two to recover; this was such strange information to process.
"How many rays? You can omit that information if you wish." Kayden was given this privilege only because he had come with Reyna.
"Nine perfect rays." Nine perfect rays meant that he had achieved this from the first realm, something even rarer than a simple nine-ray mage in the fifth realm.
This time, the two were a little less surprised. Reyna had expected something like this based on everything Kayden had presented to her. The issue was that neither of them expected a mage with nine perfect rays to be without an organization.
Again, the rune confirmed that Kayden was telling the truth, which only deepened the mystery surrounding him.
"Without any further tests, we can grant you a level two privilege." The official couldn’t finish his sentence before Kayden interrupted him.
"I would like to take the test." Kayden was not satisfied with such a low privilege; it would hinder his plans to face the strongest on this planet.
"Very well, we have several types of tests for different areas. You’re a combat mage, right? The test is very simple: to reach level three, you must defeat a mage from our organization with nine rays. To gain level four, you must face a mage at least one realm above, also with nine rays."
Kayden thought the tests were good—they were simple and directly reflected strength. The problem was, that he had no idea how strong the mages of this era were. He clearly remembered how terrifying Nyc was in his time.
"I would like to face a mage in my realm first." Kayden chose to be cautious, believing he could handle a nine-ray mage without much difficulty.
Even though Kayden had nine rays, he was a step above. The way he had built his path was unique. His soul was one of a kind in the entire universe, and not even a mage could claim perfect resonance with the universe like he could.
"Great! Do you need time to prepare?" Kayden shook his head and replied, "No, but I think our combat zone should be in a more isolated area—I tend to destroy everything around me." Kayden was being modest. His path forced everything around him to cease to exist and turn into mana. It wasn’t "kind of" destroyed—it was completely obliterated.
The two didn’t take this too seriously. After all, what could a mere mage in the fifth realm do?
"Don’t worry, we have special zones for such battles." Kayden blinked and found himself in a different environment, along with the other two. The butler asked for a few seconds, and after a few minutes, Kayden was in the arena.
It was a space nearly a thousand kilometers wide, with forests and vegetation all around. This was truly a large combat zone. Kayden could feel the boundaries at the edges—they only prevented spells from leaving the bubble but allowed them to enter.
Outside, there were other combat zones of similar proportions. Kayden saw various mage duels happening, most of them weak, with only eight rays. Their fights were quite boring for him at this point.
"I need a bigger arena," Kayden muttered, and a voice spoke in his mind.
"Don’t worry, kid, I’ll make sure nothing gets out of control. I am a false god of nine rays and ninth realm." Kayden heard the voice directly in his head and could only sigh. He had already warned them twice; now it was up to the government to deal with the consequences. "Is there any mage we shouldn’t call because they would be too strong against your weaknesses?"
"No," Kayden answered curtly and waited. A few seconds later, a mage from the fifth realm with a strong aura of light appeared. The light around her seemed to twist in her presence.
She was blonde, with pale hair all over her body, and her eyes were completely white. Her stature was medium, and she had three legs and three arms arranged in an odd formation, marking her as non-human.
Her aura was powerful. Kayden could tell she had nine rays. As soon as she stepped onto the field, she began to multiply, and... each copy was perfectly identical in every way.
It seemed as though Kayden was facing more than a dozen opponents simultaneously, and he could sense that each one was real, none weaker than the original.
"Incredible," Kayden murmured, waiting for the judge’s signal. When it came, he decided to hold back and learn as much as he could. His decision proved correct when he witnessed one of the most well-crafted spells he had ever seen.
The mana moved at an absurd speed between each copy, ensuring that everyone had the same mana reserve as the original. The spell was so complex and beautiful that Kayden was stunned for a moment.
The attacks began to pour in without pause, from all the copies—mostly arrows and slashes of light. Each copy seemed capable of casting spells individually. They were excellent, but...
Crack! Crack! Crack!
A strange sound echoed through the area as Kayden broke each attack by simply forcing his presence into the world. This was only possible because the attacks were imperfect. They still had a long way to go to be flawless.
The mere fact that they weren’t 100% refined allowed Kayden to break them as if it were the easiest thing in the world. That was the level of perfection he had reached on his path.
"How?!?" The mage shouted at Kayden, staring at him in total shock. The boy only smiled and explained.
"Your light spell is perfect. I can’t understand how you managed to simulate so many identical copies, but the problem is that your attacks are weak and poorly crafted." It was the first time in the girl’s life that she had heard her attacks described as poorly crafted.
She had spent thousands of years honing these attacks. If they were poorly made, what could be considered well-made to Kayden? What level of perfection was he aiming for?
She dismissed his words as shallow provocations and attacked Kayden again. This time, her attacks were much stronger than before. Now, she was attacking to kill. Kayden could no longer break them as easily.
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He had to counter each attack with an aura slash, sometimes two slashes per attack. The woman was strong, and her copies began to surround Kayden and strike at his blind spots. Unfortunately, those didn’t exist for him, as Kayden was simply a scarecrow.
"Is that it?" Kayden muttered in disappointment. The woman was strong, but was it her that was lacking, or had he just grown too powerful?
The mage grew increasingly pressured and began unleashing her secret spells. A massive sun appeared above her head, occupying an easy four hundred kilometers. Its white color radiated an intense light.
That was a real atomic bomb, Kayden felt space breaking as that sun descended against him and pressed him to the ground, not only that but it burned everything around it, putting out an absurd heat. This was not a common attack, because, in addition to destroying the things around it, its rays were impregnating the ambient mana and making it erratic and disguised, practically making everything melt, the speed at which it was falling was very accelerated,