GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

There was no blind spot in his divine sense. He saw and processed everything that he saw. That's why he was able to perceive the vine and why he noticed the numerous ones rising to take a swing at him.

"Shit" He cursed and picked up speed.

He couldn't dawdle or he would be soon surrounded. His legs began to blur as he moved through the forest. Suddenly a root he was about to step on moved up, he would have tripped but he somehow maintained his balance. His body made the maneuver because it remembered that the ground isn't there until you actually step on it. So he was able to shift his foot instantly and on a reflex.  It freed up his mind and divine sense which allowed them to notice that another root, massive this time, was trying to smash into him from the side.

If this root succeeded in smashing him backward, the vines pursuing him will be able to catch up to him. He used his other foot to step on the root that tried to trip him up and vaulted over the incoming attack. His jump took him just over the massive root and then he used it to push himself further away.

"I won't fall for that." He smirked.

He was elated that he got the best of their combo attack but his happiness was short-lived. Some sort of seeds shot towards his airborne form at incredibly high speeds. He seemed like he was trapped but he smiled and engaged the coiling dragon technique to boost his potential energy which he unloaded as soon as the seeds arrived. His hands blurred and knocked back the projectiles aimed at the vitality spots on his body.

But another attack came at the height of his jump. A tree branch swatted at him. He couldn't do anything as the branch hit him

He was slammed back down to the ground. The root he had initially stepped on moved in swiftly to receive him and bind him. Then came the massive root and the whipping vines. They pounced on his compromised form.

His vision blackened before returning to the entrance of the training room. He was once again at the spot where he entered the forest, the exit to the training room was behind him and the pointer towards the finish line was flashing again. His lips twitched.

"There's no way kids my age can get through that. There must be something I'm missing something." He thought back to what he had just experienced and he didn't believe some kids without his life experience could have done better than him.

"I did better than my former self too."

His movements were more efficient, if weaker, than in his past life. He used to move his body with his mind, he could make movements that shouldn't be possible because of the instantaneous acceleration and flexibility granted to him by his powerful mind but they seemed largely inefficient in retrospect. But he still retained the ability to use the divine sense as second nature, so he didn't miss any attack, and yet, he failed.

The attacks came one after the other, if he dodged one another was waiting for him. It was like a net was being created around him. If it was already this difficult for him he doubted others would find it easy to deal with. That didn't mean he was going to give up, he was going to try again and again in order to discover any pattern or weakness he can take advantage of. So began to plan his next course of action.

A voice interrupted his thoughts as he was contemplating.

"Soverick, I have good news."

He recognized the voice immediately but he was skeptical. Could the illusion array be causing him to hear strange voices? "Hadrick is that you.?" He asked with his plant sense.

"Of course it's me. I have news for you." His plant sense confirmed it was Hadrick.

Soverick relaxed but he continued to watch his environment. He didn't want the plants to ambush him while he was chatting. "Good to hear from you. I didn't think you can enter this deep into the battle academy."

"I can enter anywhere in this city. I built the battle academy so it is my backyard."

Soverick shook his head. "What news do you have?"

"We are winning the war against the gods. They lost all their manpower in the main plane. We are now waiting to let them starve before finishing them off when they are weakened."

Soverick shrugged. "It is to be expected. The gods will fall and the plane will be liberated. What I need right now is a way to pass this obstacle challenge."

"Did you use your environment?" Hadrick asked.

Hadrick's question confused him. "What do you mean by my environment? The environment isn't real. It is all an illusion..." He stopped speaking when he realized what he was missing. He never took the environment seriously because he thought it was not real so he did not think to use it.

A look of realization spread across his face. "Oh, I see."

"What did you see? I just wanted to know what you think about the realism of the environment. It is based on an invention of mine called the world engine. I'll tell you about it later, for now, I want to talk about the war." Hadrick seemed excited by something.

"We can't talk for long. I could be attacked here anytime."

"This place is a safe zone. You won't be attacked until you leave."

"Oh"

He wanted to go ahead for another try but chatting to an old friend was also appealing considering that there's no other source of entertainment around here. It won't hurt since this place is safe.

"Fine." He agreed, then he sat on the ground at the entrance of the training room into the forest.

Hadrick began regaling with him about the happenings of the war. He told him about the one guy that can swim in the ground as if it were water. This guy uses his ability to ambush the enemy to great effect. Then there's this guy who can shoot fire from his eyes, he had a variant of their divine ability called eyes of the blazing world. The eyes didn't come from a world of fire instead, it turns this world into one. The talk of divine abilities made him anticipate the first awakening of his eyes when he finally becomes a mana entity.

They talked more about special individuals and Tandrak came up. The efficiency of Tandrak's ability on the battlefield was perverse. Anything beneath the strength of a titan of law will be defeated by him immediately and with ease. Those in the titan stage can only resist for a few seconds before they are defeated. Only other sovereigns can match him but Tandrak can easily defeat someone he has fought before. It is like he has acquired the weakness of someone as long as he has the vibration frequency of their being in his database. Most sovereigns refer to the phenomenon as being similar to knowing the true name of a demon.

Soverick had a favorable impression of Tandrak. He liked Tandrak's succinct personality. The talk about Tandrak's ability made him compare who would win between Tandrak and him when he was still a sovereign. He understood how fearsome Tandrak's ability is from hearing about it but he was sure he could still beat Tandrak.

Tandrak's ability erodes matter by siphoning or supplying the energy that bonds them together depending on the vibration of the particles that make up matter. Soverick could heal almost all types of damages done to him but he doubts he will even need it.

As a sovereign of life, he can simply change the physical parameters of his being and reset the effectiveness of Tandrak's ability on him. His damage output will be nowhere compared to Tandrak's because he specialised in life while Tandrak specializes in destruction so they will be even for a while. But that will change as long as he can get close enough to Tandrak to do physical damage.

He can only be effective with physical attacks because his magical attacks won't be very effective against Tandrak. He has weaker magical attacks because he didn't specialize in something destructive, so his weak magical attacks will be easily disintegrated by Tandrak's domain. He had seen something like it too at the tower of heaven. There was a lady that could resolve all attacks thrown at her.

He could visualize the fight right now. Tandrak on his lightning drake with a domain of destruction around him. Him running about pathetically but undying. He is sure that his mind and his hold on mana are also more powerful than Tandrak's. Only dragons have a mind as powerful or more powerful than a high Elf, so he will be able to use that to push his body forward to catch up to Tandrak.

Tandrak will ultimately lose because he isn't really wielding true destruction. A dragon sovereign that is wielding just fire will be able to deal more damage than Tandrak. Tandrak's ability is versatile but he has seen high elves that chose fire over life and they can do what Tandrak can do too.

Tandrak's concept is complex but it needs something before it can be utilized. It needs a vibration frequency. Without it, it is useless. With it, it is versatile and very effective. That vibration frequency is both the strength and weakness of Tandrak's concept. Soverick just happened to counter him.