"Congratulations! You have become a Sword Master".
Hearing this from Lord Asuka, Rex felt a burst of pride surge in his heart.
Even with how humble he was, he recognized the incredible feat that he just achieved. It felt like a dream, but he completed the whole pagoda test.
For a long time, Rex had been seen by others and himself as a sword genius but today, he finally recognized himself as a sword master.
From now on, no matter which part of the world that he saw himself, he would still be able to beat his chest and stand out as a master mystic swordsman.
"Thanks, I was only able to achieve all these due to your guidance and help".
Lord Asuka smiled. "If you still remember, I once told you that if you can finish all 7 floor tests of the pagoda that correspond to your current understanding with the sword, you'll be eligible to take the Saint's other inheritance".
"The most significant inheritance that was left behind by my master".
"Before taking that inheritance, I want you to take the full rewards of completing the pagoda test. Of the rewards, only the mystic treasures are remaining". Lord Asuka led him to somewhere else as he spoke.
A few minutes later, they arrived before a great forge that was hidden deep inside the Sword Saint's tomb, unbeknownst to anybody.
Lord Asuka turned to face Rex again. "The pagoda has a plethora of different mystic treasures, it simply improvised to provide you with myth grade mystic treasures that would help you the most".
"Swordsmen mostly use one sword all their life, so instead of providing you with a new sword, the pagoda simply offered to upgrade Berserker".
"Throw it inside the forge and the upgrade would begin".
"Shing!"
Even before Rex could reply, Berserker already started vibrating in its sheath. Rex smiled and grabbed the sword before throwing it into the great forge.
What baffled him was that there was no mystic mechanic here to oversee the proceedings of the sword's upgrade but Rex did not ask.
"The same thing with your armor". Lord Asuka smiled.
Rex did not hesitate as he unequipped his armor before also throwing it inside the forge, he took a deep breath then he finally turned to face Lord Asuka.
"The last inheritance?"
"Yes, follow me".
Lord Asuka took Rex through the massive tomb until they arrived before a winding staircase that led downwards. As they started climbing down the staircase, Lord Asuka finally started speaking again.
"Do you know your master's roots?"
"The Sword Saint?"
"Yes", Lord Asuka smiled. "You took his inheritance, now he's your master".
Rex smiled, he had nothing against accepting the Sword Saint at his master, this inheritance helped him a lot in ways that he was not even sure of.
He finally replied. "I don't know much, but I know that he is the son of the Sword Saint and Legendary Mystic Warrior Swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi".
"You're right, but what else do you know about him?"
"I know that he was once a warrior of a marauding tribe".
"Yes, he was the greatest warrior of our old marauding tribe. Our story is a sad and tragic one, our family became marauders after being betrayed by one of our founding fathers…, Miyamoto Musashi".
"By using our whole family as a stepping stone, Miyamoto Musashi was able to take the last step and become the first mystic swordsman to unlock ultimate sword domain, making him the greatest swordsman of all time".
"Even after rising to the top, he never repented, instead, he wanted to completely annihilate the survivors of the old family".
"He enticed other marauding tribes to go against us and despite our struggles, we could not win, we ended up being annihilated".
"We did not thoroughly die though, we survived through a desperate last plan. Minato and other leaders of our marauding tribes spent a long part of their lives creating the ultimate plan that would save our bloodline from going extinct".
"That is when we created the Blood Spartan tribe".
"We brought the best youngsters of our marauding tribe, trained them specially and sent them to another planet. Before sending them though, we created the ultimate mystic treasure that would enable them to survive there".
Lord Asuka's voice deepened. "We created the Blood Shackle".
"Planet Tioron back then was an untamed planet. It was the center of most disasters that happened in the universe, when we discovered it, the atmosphere was thick with the blood of people who died through the universe".
"The Blood Shackle is a mystic treasure that enabled mystic warriors to survive by taking the blood in the air as a form of oxygen".
"Only vampires can use the Blood Shackle".
"Take".
Surprised, Rex looked only to see what seemed like a helmet appear in Lord Asuka's hand. He took it. "Is this…?"
"Yes, that is a Blood Shackle".
"The plan of our marauding tribe was that after our death, our youngsters who were sent to Planet Tioron would take the mantle on our behalf and develop in a planet that was not terrorized by a Hiroshima Musashi".
"After centuries, we believed in their competency to become strong warriors that would come back to take what belonged to our family and tribe".
"We called them the Blood Spartan Tribe because only our best youngsters at the time were able to make the roster to leave for Planet Tioron".
"The Sword Saint's inheritance is also our marauding tribe's inheritance".
"The Sword Saint and all our leaders want you to become the leader of the Blood Spartan Tribe. Go to Planet Tioron, organize the warriors under your wing, become their leader and bring them back to planet earth".
"You have only 5 days to do this before you'll be transported back".
"You'll figure how to bring them back to earth yourself".
Rex was about to ask a question but Lord Asuka stopped him. "That is not the end to this last inheritance, the Sword Saint added an extra layer of benefit to entice you in the case that you feel reluctant to go".
"The Age Extraction Special Ability that you inherited from the pagoda test is a result of some extreme experiments that the Sword Saint did when he lived".
"Through this same experiment, before he died, Sword Saint Minato Musashi was able to unlock the secrets of time travel and time acceleration".
Rex's eyes widened, the first reference that he made to this was of course his system and his family. "So, another person discovered the secret to this".
He kept silent but his curiosity about the real depths of the mystic world grew more than ever before as Lord Asuka continued.
"After unlocking the secrets of time travel and time acceleration, the Sword Saint was able to create a mystic treasure that he called the Fate Circle".
After speaking for so long already, they finally arrived before the end of the winding staircase. What was at the end was a single small room, and inside this small room was only one thing, something that Rex recognized.
Stored inside this small room was a great planetary teleportation portal, a portal that belonged to the old marauding tribe that the Sword Saint was a part of.
Lord Asuka continued in a reminiscing tone. "I last saw this planetary teleportation portal centuries ago when the youngsters were sent away".
"Do you see that blue circle surrounding the portal?"
On being reminded, Rex paid close attention and this was when he saw it. The blue glowing circle surrounding the teleportation portal distinguished itself from the portal itself, and in no time, Rex attributed mysterious elements to it.
"Is that the Fate Circle?"
"Yes!" There was emotion in Lord Asuka's voice now. "That is the greatest creation of my master, Sword Saint Minato Musashi!"
"With the Fate Circle, time can be accelerated or decelerated. The Sword Saint's Fate Circle will be adjusted by me to accelerate your time. You'll only need to spend 5 days, but it'll be recorded for you as 50 years".
"You and I know how important time is to vampires".
The next moment, Lord Asuka did something that shocked Rex. The old man fell to his knees, kowtowed and begged. "On behalf of my master and all the masters of my marauding tribe, Rex, please become the leader of the youngsters".
"Lead them to glory, lead them to rise like Spartans just the way we envisioned them to be, lead them to fight Miyamoto Musashi!"
Rex was flabbergasted as he rushed to raise the old man up. "Hey…, I'll help if I can but I'm not sure I can? I'm but an advanced mystic warrior".
"It doesn't matter, what matters is that you're the Sword Saint's disciple".
It took a lot of argument and persuasion and kneeling, but Rex finally agreed to the proposal. Thinking back to all the benefits that he got from the inheritance ground, he reasoned that this was the least he could do to repay his benefactors.
"Ok, I'll do it!"
"Good! My soul can finally rest in perfect peace knowing that I fulfilled my part in building the Blood Spartan Tribe".
The next moment, Rex stood inside the glowing teleportation portal after wearing the Blood Shackle. Lord Asuka took control of the portal and manipulated it a bit, the next moment the light intensified before dimming.
Bzzz!
Rex disappeared.
…
Somewhere dark and hidden, a pair of eyes suddenly snapped open.
The owner of this pair of eyes was an old man on white robes. His eyes were as sharp as daggers, his eyebrows as long and sharp as swords. His demeanor was mean and straight, he was a man with a powerful and sharp aura.
Everything about him depicted the sharpness of a sword.
His croaky voice reverberated. "After centuries, it finally activates again".
"Admirable patience".
The next moment, he stretched a hand only for a mighty sword to appear on it. With the sword, he tore the void open and jumped inside it.
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