Ben got his first tangible benefits from Minato Musashi's inheritance.
Though after he got the inheritance token, he already did his fair share of research to know more about Minato Musashi and also already understood how beneficial the inheritance was, Ben was still amazed by what he got.
Apart from the other benefits of his willpower, endurance, and swordsmanship increasing, he got his first special ability that was in tune with his advanced Big-bone bloodline.
Ben did not know how Minato did it, but the Gene Liberation special ability was like it was made just for him to complement his bloodline powers.
The specialty of the Big-bone bloodline was the incredible strengthening of bones and physical strength buffs that enabled the Carter descendants to fight harder than most of their opponents in close-range combat.
With their specially created pills, the strengthening of the Big-bone bloodline is amplified further. Now, the Gene Liberation took this even further.
When activated, this special ability enabled Ben to exceed the original limits of his bloodline, exponentially increasing the strengthening effect of his bloodline.
If originally, his Big-bone bloodline made him 2 times stronger than his counterparts, now, with the Gene Liberation special ability, his strength was amplified at least 5 times better than normal mystic warriors.
Though it affected only brute strength and not technique, finesse, and other attributes of a mystic warrior, Ben was still left ecstatic after this discovery.
With this, his overall battle strength just experienced a meteoric increase.
Apart from the Gene Liberation ability, Ben also learned his first master level skill which was a sword skill, the Precision Slash.
Though Ben had not used it in battle yet, from the memory that was ingrained in him through the pagoda, he understood how lethal this skill could be.
Like its name suggested, this master level sword skill gave full emphasis to precision and sharpness. When enough power was concentrated to a single place, the accumulation could split even heavens.
This was the premise of the Precision Slash. By concentrating all your strength to a single narrow slash, power that was at least 10 times stronger than the original strength of the swordsman could be released.
With these 2 gains, Ben was already satisfied with his journey to Minato Musashi's inheritance ground but this was not the end of his journey yet.
Now, Ben needed to face the mystic domain stimulation test. If he succeeded, he would get to benefit even more by taking the other floor tests.
What this stimulation test did was simply giving him different challenges to stimulate his swordsmanship.
The main requirements for unlocking the mystic sword domain were a deeper understanding with your sword, and achieving inner peace with it.
Once the test started, Ben removed all distractions from his mind and focused, he was determined to take full advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity to improve his swordsmanship as much as he could.
In no time, he soon lost himself in the groove and went with the flow.
With every swing of his sword, Ben felt his sword affinity improving.
…
Ben was not the only challenger of the 12-floored pagoda.
Alongside him were the other challengers, and like him, most of them benefited in various ways. The best among them who already unlocked the mystic sword domain before now already accessed the higher floors.
As for the unlucky and weak-willed ones, they were unfortunate and were still stuck in the 1st floor where they experienced mental tortures of various degrees. Without passing this test, they were bound to gain nothing.
The fate of every swordsman challenging the pagoda was up to them. For this challenge, they had the option of defining their luck or succumbing to defeat.
Even in defeat though, Minato would never let them quit.
They would suffer the mental tortures for 60 days till the challenge ends.
While all these challengers did their best to climb the 12-floored pagoda, unknown to them, there was another challenger, the real inheritance candidate.
…
"Lord Asuka, how did the Saint discover his true self again?" Rex asked as an expression of extreme curiosity now clouded his face.
The white-bearded old man smiled at the younger swordsman. "The Saint discovered his true self in a battlefield".
"Long ago, during the age of beast wars a few centuries after the age of awakening, Saint Minato Musashi rose as one of the most promising swordsmen of the era following the legacy of his father, the Great Sword Sage".
"Those who knew him and crossed his path described him as an extremely hot-tempered and determined man who could do anything to get to his goal".
"To others, the Saint was perfect but he actually didn't discover his true self yet. Unknown to others, like every human, the young Saint had insecurities then".
"It was not until the battle of the 5 armies where he discovered his true self. In that battle, he was drawn in so much by the energy in the battle that he forgot that he was in a modern era, he let himself sink into the medieval age of Samurais".
"By following the flow, he discovered his true self as a Samurai".
"The exact process is elusive as every mystic warrior who attained that level experienced different processes. When you get to that level, you'll know".
The old man smiled the next moment. "Before thinking of discovering your true self, you should first strive towards achieving inner peace with your sword".
Rex clasped his hands respectfully before this old man and expressed his gratitude. "Thank you, Lord Asuka, I will focus on achieving inner peace".
Rex finally stood up and looked around again. At this moment, he was inside what felt like a medieval training ground for swordsmen.
This was the real inside of Minato Musashi's inheritance ground that had never been discovered by the public, Rex became the first outsider to get here.
For the past 1 month, this was where Rex stayed after the harrowing battle against the Dust Snake and its army of snakes.
After the encounter with the strange antenna, Rex found himself here. Though his chances of survival were close to 0 at that very moment, this white-bearded old man, Lord Asuka was able to save him.
Through the old man, he was able to understand what happened.
According to Lord Asuka, the antenna was a special mystic treasure that was designed to detect the bloodline of mystic warriors.
Before Minato Musashi's death, he set some requirements for the lucky mystic warrior that would get his inheritance. Though he knew that the chances were slim, Minato set the requirements focus on 2 main points.
His inheritor must be a vampire and a worthy mystic swordsman.
Coincidentally, after centuries of not finding it, Rex finally came who fulfilled all criteria that were set by the Saint. Once Lord Asuka confirmed it, he dared not hesitate as he pulled Rex in to save his life.
Once Rex regained consciousness, Lord Asuka took his time to explain everything about the Saint to him including information about himself.
Lord Asuka was Saint Minato Musashi's follower. Being a Super mystic warrior who already unlocked the mystic sword domain and had the potentials to go further, Lord Asuka was one of the strongest warriors in the Saint's entourage.
What set him apart from others though was his loyalty, Lord Asuka was loyal to Saint Minato to a fault, to the extent that he could die for him anytime.
Saint Minato Musashi set up his inheritance ground through him.
After the Saint died and after he set up the inheritance, Lord Asuka did an act that would seem selfless and foolish to others but was right for him.
Apart from being a talented swordsman, Lord Asuka was also an extremely talented puppet master. With his mystic ability, Lord Asuka was able to create the ultimate puppet through which he kept his soul safeguarded.
With the puppet, he was able to live on centuries after death to fulfill his master's ultimate wish of finding the perfect candidate for his inheritance.
After finding Rex, a large part of Lord Asuka's goals was fulfilled. The next was impacting unto the candidate the Saint's knowledge on swordsmanship.
For the past 1 month, Rex simply underwent light sword training here in this chamber as he spent the majority of the time listening to Lord Asura speak on swordsmanship. Lord Asura also spoke on the Saint's inheritance.
If by the end of 2 months, Rex was able to rise to the expectations of the Saint, he would be rewarded with the Saint's centuries-long accumulation.
Minato Musashi had a greater plan and mandate for his inheritor.
Diligent as ever before, Rex obeyed Lord Asuka's advise and started his light sword training. As he swung his sword, the lectures of the Lord started playing in his head again like a song spreading coolness, freedom, and peace.
Unlike the other days of the past month, today was different as Rex's concentration hit a new peak again.
As his concentration increased, so did the frequency of his sword swings and stabs increase. This resonance between him and his sword increased so much to the extent where he and his sword felt like a single entity.
In this state, Rex felt all his worries mysteriously disappearing.
All his worries about his family, about Cassandra, about all his friends, they all faded away like the wind, paving way for perfect peace to settle in.
A few minutes later, Rex swung his sword as the air before him was cut in twain. Air was intangible, but for a second, the air became a cutting object.
As soon as he did this, Rex's eyes opened and almost at the same time, his system lit up a notification to him.
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Congratulations! You have unlocked mystic sword domain…
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