As soon I was done, I returned the remaining materials to the female elder, with my heart almost breaking when I saw her hiding it back in her storage ring. Just like I thought, those incredibly usefull items were present in this place as well, setting yet another target for me to achieve during my stay in the sect.

"Anyway, follow the usual route. In the next stage, you will see your last opponent, that I want you to defeat. When you will be done, just use the stone you were given before the trial, and I will come to pick you up. Good luck!"

With nothing better to do, I cupped my hands in front of my chest and bowed slightly, before moving to the next stage as advised. At this point, there was no need to bother myself with the details of the surroundings. What I previously took for hints that could let me understand whether I reached the point where I should feint weakness and give up now lost all their meanings, with my last opponent being my… well, last opponent.

After pa.s.sing through the set of the doors at the far end of the circular area, I stepped inside yet another corridor, now pained full in white. While I wasn"t going to pay any attention to those kinds of details, the change from gradual increase of the whiteness intensity into a sudden full coverage made me wonder whether the doors that I was crossing actually served their normal purpose or if they were cleverly hidden portals transporting me around completely different set of buildings that I expected.

The answer to this question came rather quickly, with the entire corridor taking a right-hand turn, meaning that if it was all just a set of normal buildings, I would enter one of the stages I already visited, with the whiteness barely visible on its walls. 

Contrary to mu suddenly spiking expectations though, while the corridor leads me to a place I thought I visited when the time came for me to enter the next area, instead of a set of doors, I saw stairs leading me underground!

Following the path down, it took me only a moment to finally reach the gate, only for my jaw to barely hold itself from dropping down. The interior of my last fighting arena was still a semi-sphere, with a delicate angle of the curvature… but compared to all the previous places I visited, its directions were reversed!

Instead of the floor being the base and the roof curving above me, it was the floor that forced me to knock my foot into the stones that it was made off, in order to prevent myself from sliding down the slope towards the centre point where the last opponent of mine awaited.

"So you"ve finally come!"

Just like those previous suckers that couldn"t imagine a fight before making fun out of their enemy prior to it, the young adult dressed in the purest white robes I have ever seen in my life a.s.sumed a cla.s.sical position of an eastern philosopher, with his hands locked behind his back, his breast pushed forward and his eyes looking down on me, despite the fact that his head was about ten meters below the height that my feet were at this moment.

"Are you really going to waste my time with your c.r.a.ppy speech? Do you want to fight or pretend that you have anything left for the brains after spending all your growth points on your muscles?"

In order to effectively use my weapon, I had to find myself in the right position. Unless I could properly bait him into attacking me, the shape of the arena on which we were supposed to fight would prevent me from using my umbrella in any other way than smas.h.i.+ng his head.

After all, it was designed with only a single purpose in mind, that would gain the quick acknowledgement of the Polish memers who invented it in the first place.

"Eh, if you want to have your face slapped as soon as possible, then be my guest! Come!"

Not even moving his hands from behind his back, the guy simply stood in his place, motionless.

"Don"t mind if I do."

Running the complex calculations in my mind, I gave up on treating this fight seriously. Just a single scan with my energy vision was enough to confirm that this guy had nowhere close even a fraction of energy of the female elder I meet just a moment before. While the fight would be simple, the first move that I would make had to land perfectly, with the perfect force and under a perfect angle, if I was supposed to properly fill the teacher"s request!

Giving up on the idea of retaining a stable footing, I jumped lightly, using the momentum of the fall that brough me to the ground a few meters further than my initial position, instead of attempting to regain my footing upon touching the ground, I simply kicked on the floor again, only increasing the speed of my descend.

Directing most of my available energy into my first, I grabbed the tip of my umbrella with it, making sure it would be sharp enough to serve its purpose while remaining blunt enough to not cause my enemy any real harm outside of the one on his reputation.

With just two more steps, I had only one move remaining before I would reach the guy, so I redirected the energy from my fist into my leg, using it to kick powerfully at the ground, ejecting myself towards the guy.

Before he could even react, my suddenly increased momentum allowed my foot to reach for the side of his head. In this single, tranquil moment, I could swear I saw his face squas.h.i.+ng, as it leaned on his neck before his body flew in the direction of my kick. 

Stepping on the floor, instead of making the momentum ravage my insides, I kicked the floor once again, redirecting my body towards the flying guy while readying the umbrella for the most devastating attack that this city has seen.

While I was moving through the air even faster than the lifeless body of the fainted guy, the distance that he gained before I could change the direction that I was moving, made it so that I arrived behind him only a split of second before he would bury himself in the barrier of the arena.

With the pointy tip of my umbrella aimed perfectly as the unglorious opening of his lower body, currently covered in his still pure robes, I readied my finger on the small b.u.t.ton, bound to release the spings of the umbrella, returning its s.h.i.+eld to its usual size.

At first, I could feel a small resistance on my hand, as the half sharp ending of the umbrella tore through the guy robes, but soon, I the feeling of resistance got replaced by a smooth feeling of entering something squishy, as the fainted guy suddenly regained his consciousness.

"STOAHHHH!"

Before his words turned into a nonsensical scream of pain, my finger pressed on the b.u.t.ton, releasing the springs on the shaft, and opening the umbrella right up his a.s.s.