Sword God in a World of Magic

Contestant 1 and contestant 12 looked at Lei with narrowed eyes.

They had heard of these strange warriors that didn't follow either of the two established paths, but they hadn't seen one of them yet.

"What authority do you have to call me a Barbarian?" contestant 1 asked.

"What else are you?" Lei said. "We can all agree that True Path Stage warriors are warriors, but that is where the lineage of warriors has ended in the Lightning Manor's territory."

Nearly everyone's eyes shone in understanding and recognition.

In the Lightning Manor's territory?

Now, they knew where these warriors were coming from and why they were making trouble.

This was a rivalry between Empires.

"The person that has created the True Path Stage was a pioneer for warriorkind, but the people that invented the Diamond Body Stage and Weapon Variance Stage were not."

"They were pioneers for Barbariankind and Weapon-Master-Kind."

"What is a Diamond Body?" Lei asked rhetorically. "Isn't it just an expansion of the Bloodline Infusion?"

The two contestants narrowed their eyes when they heard about the Bloodline Infusion.

It was possible that the warriors in a different territory created a True Path Stage separately, but the chances of them creating something as specific as the Bloodline Infusion were incredibly low.

This meant that the knowledge of these mysterious warriors derived from Area 23.

"Would you call the Bloodline Infusion a path of its own?" Lei asked with a smirk. "No, it isn't. It is just a basic tool for warriors. It is an addition to a warrior's power, not its own thing."

"Yet, look at you," Lei said to contestant 1 with a snort. "You refined the Bloodline Infusion and pushed it one step further. You managed to transform your spine into a storage for Mana, increasing the overall level of Mana inside your body."

"That is an amazing accomplishment," Lei said. "However, instead of using it to increase the warriors' powers, you say this is the path forward."

"At most, you are a Barbarian, but in truth, you are someone that slaughtered the golden goose that lays golden eggs. You can increase your power quickly in the short term, but you will ruin your future."

"And not just yours. You ruin every warrior's future."

"Do you know what I think of your Diamond Body Stage?"

Lei held his hand out.

SHING!

small bottle of pills appeared in

think of your Diamond Body Stage," he said

1 furrowed his brows, but he opened the bottle and

more he looked at them, the more shocked

most about the human body in the entire world,

show on his face, but deep inside, he felt like his

a

more complex, the Bloodline Infusion or creating

Infusion, obviously. The Diamond Body only transformed one part of a body into Mana, while the Bloodline Infusion changed someone's entire body

the Bloodline Infusion had become public knowledge and the sheer amount of

extremely advanced, invasive, and monumental procedure had been transformed into a mere bottle

Something this fundamental.

Something this complex.

Something this advanced.

transformed into a small

Bloodline Infusion into a bit of medicine. You only have to take it for

will be any different?" Lei

CRACK!

as contestant 1 clenched his fist

is vastly different from the body of a True Path Stage warrior, and a Soldier Stage warrior can't withstand the pressure of

the Diamond

continued smirking

right," he said. "They

Diamond Body is

did his best

Lei asked. "You think we wouldn't notice the obvious drawback of your Diamond

for more power,

releasing a tiny bit will fill all of your Mana Pathways. Performing intricate techniques requires incredible control, and with your Diamond

more physical

that sound exactly

1's hands turned white as his grip

managed to enrage contestant 1 to this degree before, but this

could be considered to be an actual Path, but

nearly as outraged as contestant 1. In fact, he felt actually quite good right now since Lei managed to publicly lay out the weaknesses of the Diamond Body for

trades, master

strongly as