"Sylv, hit me with all you have."

Sylv got a worried expression. "Are you sure?"

Regis watched with excitement and anticipation as I said. "Yeah"

With a nod, Sylv concentrated mana into her hand, much like I had done in front of the barrier. 

As her hand started visibly glowing white, with a strained voice she said. "Alright, prepare yourself."

I gave the armor access to my aether reserves, but it didn't use them at all. It simply created a small pulse of aether that reverberated throughout the room and back, bringing with it an overwhelming amount of both mana and aether particles.

Sylv wound up and exploded forward, punching me straight in the abdomen. The attack hit me, but I could tell it significantly slowed down even before it reached me, and that Sylvie didn't slow it down voluntarily.

The rest of the force felt like a large push that launched me away, but the armor returned to its liquid state, forming large wings that stopped me in mid-air, and then instantly reformed back into an armor.

Flabbergasted, I said. "I didn't do that."

 I landed on the ground unharmed, giving Sylv a thumbs up and receding my armor into the white cape.

Regis looked at me, saying. "That was pretty damn cool."

As we walked through the halls to the exit portal, I noticed Godfrey walking up to the portal.

As soon as he noticed me, his face brightened up. "Truly, thank you. I thought I would never see my family again, but you have given me hope. I have one last selfish request, could you tell me your name?"

"Arthur Leywin." 

I walked up the steps to the portal, looking back at the sea through a large window in the portal room.

A bright flash covered my vision as I found myself standing on soft dirt being hit by heavy rain. An enormous thunderstorm was ongoing, the skies flashing every few seconds. I was in a seemingly unending forest with various types of trees around me. Rodents ran around frantically collecting resources, beasts whizzed across the trees, and birds were screeching all around me.

I looked above the forest with Realmheart, seeing a large geyser of aether in the distance. I flew in its direction, the density of aether in the air increasing with me getting closer. 

Smoke was coming out of the area, and getting closer I saw multiple buff humanoids with four arms and eyes, large beards and no hair. Their skin was ivory with a tinge of purple, their eyes piercing purple with large black pupils.

Upon approaching, a figure approached me at speeds I didn't expect, its purple-tipped spear almost grazing me. It was one of the members of the tribe, now on the ground with a battle stance.

I called upon my armor, the tribesmen's fierce expression softened upon seeing it.

"I come in peace." I yelled.

He looked at me with a confused face, slightly leaning his head to the side.

'I don't think they understand you.' Said Regis.

'Yeah, very helpful.' I grumbled

Two tribesmen walked out of the largest tent, one being very old, probably an elder, and behind him was a very tall and muscular one exuding a very powerful aura.

The old man pointed at me and yelled something that I didn't understand, and the tribesmen instantly attacked me.

What was interesting, though, was that the strongest one just stood there, arms crossed, watching me intently.

I let Sylv and Regis take two each for themselves while I fought off five other tribesmen. 

I wanted to test out my armor, so I let one of them hit me. His spear bounced off without a problem as I kicked him in the stomach.

'Don't kill them, try to knock them out.' I ordered.

For this reason I didn't take out Night's ballad, and was punching and kicking instead.

They were skilled with the spear, as they attacked me from four sides and from above.

I caught a spear thrown at me by the blade, using the handle to whack one on the face, and kicking him back to the village, probably taking him out of the fight. I charged aether and mana in my fist, punching another in the stomach and launching off of him onto another. 

It was also funny watching Regis whine about not being able to do much, as he could only slam into them or headbutt, because his other options were lethal.

Sylv was still getting the hang of unarmed combat, but she was able to take on two at once while Regis distracted the other two.

After I dispatched the last one, the large tribesman finally moved. He slowly walked up to me, stopping about a meter in front of me.

"You.. are strong." The tribesman said.

This shocked me greatly as I responded. "You can speak our language?"

He nodded, adding. "Yes, I learned from.. others like you."

He had slight pauses between words, but he spoke well.

He extended his hand, asking for a handshake. "I am Cyrus."

I accepted the handshake. "Arthur"

Cyrus' expression turned serious. "Arthur, I challenge you to a battle."

I could figure out what he meant. No weapons or armor, only martial arts and physical strength.

With a slight chuckle, my expression turned to a smirk. "I accept."

Sylv and Regis sat on the sidelines, eagerly watching us as we got into our positions. 

"Ready?" Cyrus yelled.

"Always."

Cyrus launched at me with terrifying speed, his fist ready for a punch. I reinforced my body with both aether and mana, dodging his punch by shifting to the left by a little. He dug his right foot into the hardened soil, stopping his momentum instantly, and pivoted to kick me with his right leg. 

I saw an opening, winding up my fist while going in close to minimize the impact from his kick, and landed a punch in his gut. 

He unleashed a swift barrage of punches and kicks on me, that I dodged, retaliating with an elbow to his upper shoulder. 

I was faster, my small body being able to pivot and weave between his punches easily, but he was stronger and more durable.

Aether flowed from one part of my body to another, swiftly regenerating due to the geyser. 

I managed to land more hits, some in his ribs, some in his stomach, but that only seemed to make him faster.

He landed a kick in the side, launching me through some trees. He instantly followed with a barge barrage of punches. I couldn't reciprocate due to his larger number of arms, so my only choice was to parry and dodge to wait for an opening.

After a few minutes, I saw one. He leaned too much to the right and forward when punching, extending his fist too far. This allowed me to grab him by the arm and smash him into the ground, creating a large crater.

He got up, yet his body language showed no signs of attacking. He was instead laughing. "It is my loss. I enjoyed our fight, Arthur."

"So did I, you're scarily powerful."

Cyrus gestured for me to follow. "Come, I will give you something."

Walking inside a long tent, there were various crystals filled with aether as well as some weak relics.

"Pick whichever you like." Said Cyrus with a smile.

...

I eventually settled on the largest and brightest crystal of aether I could find, yet even that wasn't much.

'Arthur, we have about a month before the Victoriad starts. Do you want to use this geyser of aether to train a little?' Asked Sylv.

'Yeah, good idea. Regis, you can absorb aether and mana from my core freely, just make sure I don't go into a hibernation state, or I'm cutting you off entirely.'

'Yes, sir!' Regis said in a mock impression of a soldier, starting to hungrily suck the mana and aether out of me.

My aether replenished at extreme speeds due to the geyser, and so did Sylv's. She was ridiculously close to integration stage, however, so she focused on her mana core.

I focused on pure aether, no edict. My armor and Regis hungrily funneled more and more aether out of me, yet I was effortlessly able to keep up with it. The last impurities were also expelled out of my runes, as I was constantly expending and absorbing aether. 

My training was knocked into fourth gear, because without the threat of my aether running out I could go all out. 

26 days later

I felt an immense surge of mana from Sylv, who has finally reached integrate stage. Golden runes surfaced on her dragon body as her core spread inside her. Her dragon form grew into a full-fledged adult dragon, with it her horns, and her human form aged, now looking 15 years old. Her ability to influence aether as well as the amount of aether her Asuran body could take in rose. She could now effortlessly wipe out scythes and even battle against some of the weaker asuras like Windsom.

The biggest change happened to Regis, though. He learned to absorb mana and aether from the atmosphere, although not too much, and his form matured. The concentration of aether, mana and universe flames in his body increased dramatically. He could now create wings out of aether, and the flames on his body burned brighter and fiercer than ever. 

I stood up, sending them both a message. 'It's time we left. You both got stronger.' 

I walked up into the large tent where the elder along with Cyrus was residing. "Thank you for your hospitality, we unfortunately must leave now."

The burly tribesman laughed heartily as he extended his hand for a handshake. "It is alright, no thanks necessary. You spared our people even though you could have slaughtered us all. I was merely repaying the favor."

I shook his hand and ventured towards the portal, Cyrus following close behind.

Climbing up the steps, I cast one last look behind me, seeing Cyrus giving me a nod.

I nodded back as a flash of bright light overtook my vision.

Author's note: I got a burst of productivity today. Let's hope this lasts.