Mara stopped attacking directly.

Kai noticed it when the fifth exchange didn’t come — Mara stepped back two paces and looked at the field around the two of them.

Then she looked at the mountain.

Kai followed her gaze.

---

Mount Heiguers wasn’t just the camp clearing.

It was rock. Slopes. Northern sector trees with roots jutting out of the ground at angles that accounted for no human convenience. The edge of the clearing ended in terrain that rose abruptly toward the mountain and that Mara had trained on for two years.

Her territory.

Mara headed for the slope.

"Afraid of heights?" she said.

Kai followed her.

---

[DraconicLegacy: (°ロ°) MARA SWITCHED TO THE TERRAIN]

[Chris_Murray: her territory. two years training here. Mara has absolute advantage on this terrain.]

[Warwolf: KAI FOLLOWS!! DON’T STOP!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: the Orcs followed the movement. the circle expanded toward the slope. (°ロ°)]

[Kalgarth: MARA IN HER TERRITORY!! THAT’S A WARLORD!! (ง’̀-’́)ง (ง’̀-’́)ง (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: Kai without hesitating. followed. that man. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[TheDeadDragón: Serah and Lira on the edge of the clearing watching the slope. Serah’s markings pulsing.]

---

The first tree came from the left.

Mara shoved the fallen trunk sideways with her shoulder, and the mass of two meters ten moved the dead northern sector tree as if it had wheels.

The trunk shot toward Kai at a full sprint.

Kai activated Field Priority.

The trunk — vector, speed, size. The slope to his right — angle, friction. Mara behind the trunk — distance, probable direction of the next movement.

All in one second.

He pushed off with force toward the summit.

He leaped over the trunk.

He landed on the slope.

Mara was already there.

---

The rock beneath his feet wasn’t the packed earth of the field — it was Mount Heiguers rock, irregular, with the specific angle of something that had been there for millennia without anyone adjusting it.

The difference was immediate.

Kai’s first step on the slope was five millimeters higher than it should have been.

Mara read the imbalance.

Her fist reached Kai’s right shoulder before his foot found the correct support.

Kai went down the slope — three meters, the irregular rock below, until the root of a northern sector tree stopped him.

---

[DraconicLegacy: (╥_╥) the irregular rock. Mara in her element.]

[Chris_Murray: five millimeters. the difference between knowing the terrain and not knowing it. Mara read it by that margin.]

[Warwolf: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ GET UP KAI!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: the root stopped him. Mara calculated where he would fall and didn’t go to finish him. she waits. (°ロ°)]

[Kalgarth: MARA ON THE SLOPE!! THAT’S A WARLORD!! (ง’̀-’́)ง (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: Kai processing the terrain while getting up. I see it in how he looks at the rock. (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[TheDeadDragón: Lira calculating. Serah with her markings at the limit. both wanting to jump in and both knowing they shouldn’t.]

---

Kai got up.

He looked at the rock beneath his feet.

Field Priority active — the terrain as a simultaneous threat alongside Mara.

’The rock is irregular but has a pattern. The northern sector has this type of rock. I’ve walked on it for ten days.’

’Never fighting on it.’

’Mara has.’

’I can’t match two years of terrain knowledge in this fight.’

’But I can stop treating it like flat ground.’

---

Mara launched the next rock — a stone the size of a torso, torn from the slope with both hands.

Kai didn’t dodge it.

He struck it.

Resonant Impact at the center of the stone — the Qi transmitted to the inside of the object instead of the inside of a living being.

The stone split.

Two halves passing on either side of Kai.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ HE SPLIT THE STONE!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Chris_Murray: Resonant Impact on an inanimate object. first time he uses it like that. (°ロ°)]

[Warwolf: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ KAI SPLIT A ROCK ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: Mara threw the rock expecting Kai to dodge it. Kai didn’t dodge. he struck it. that wasn’t in Mara’s plan. (°ロ°)]

[Kalgarth: (°ロ°)(°ロ°) the stone split. (°ロ°) ... (ง’̀-’́)ง Mara adapts (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: the system is going to register that as a new application of Resonant Impact. Kai did it in combat. without calculating it beforehand. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[TheDeadDragón: Mara saw the stone split. something changed in her expression. small. but it changed.]

---

[System — update]

[Resonant Impact — new application: inanimate objects]

[The system notes that Qi transmission works on matter without a nervous system]

[The system considers that this opens possibilities Kai has yet to explore]

[The system waits to see which ones he discovers in this fight]

---

Mara used the terrain three more times.

A lateral tree — Kai read it with Field Priority and jumped before it arrived.

A steep slope — Mara pushed him toward it with a lateral blow. Kai used the slope to accelerate toward Mara instead of resisting it, Resonant Impact from the descending momentum.

It reached Mara’s side with more force than any previous blow.

Mara stepped back two paces.

A protruding rock where Mara directed the fight deliberately — the angle where the rock limited Kai’s dodges to two directions instead of four.

Kai chose the direction Mara wasn’t expecting because it was the one that required jumping over the protruding rock.

He jumped.

Qi Step on the rock — his feet adhered for a second, enough time to reorient and launch the next strike from above.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ QI STEP ON THE ROCK!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Chris_Murray: Mara led him to the protruding rock to limit him. Kai used the rock as a platform. (°ロ°)]

[Warwolf: KAI TURNED THE TRAP INTO AN ATTACK!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: Qi Step in the labyrinth was for the admin’s traps. now it’s for the mountain rock. same principle. (°ロ°)]

[Kalgarth: Mara stepped back two paces from the momentum blow. (°ロ°) first big retreat of the day. (ง’̀-’́)ง MARA!! (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: Kai is learning the terrain while fighting in it. same as he learned Resonant Impact fighting. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[TheDeadDragón: the Orcs on Kai’s side roared. first time the Kai side roars louder than the Mara side.]

---

Eight minutes.

Keth’s record in training.

Surpassed in real combat.

Mara didn’t announce it.

She didn’t need to — the camp Orcs had been keeping time from the start. When the eighth minute arrived, the perimeter changed in volume without anyone giving a signal.

---

Mara looked at Kai.

Kai looked at Mara.

Both on the slope. Both with accumulated damage — Kai with the shoulder from the start and his side from two blows that had landed when the terrain wasn’t enough to avoid them. Mara with the left side from the Resonant Impact and the two paces from the momentum blow.

"Eight minutes," Mara said.

"Yes."

"Keth lasted eight in training."

"I know."

"You’ve lasted eight in real combat." Mara looked at him. "It’s not the same."

"No."

"Do you know what comes next?"

Kai knew.

Mara still had more.

She hadn’t used it yet — the level where SSS strength stopped being what she had shown in the ten days at the camp and became what had made Mara exile herself alone from an entire territory.

---

Kai’s resonance Qi rose.

Not because he activated it — it was responding to Mara’s energy just as it had responded to the mountain from the first day. Mara’s frequency and Kai’s resonance Qi frequency were compatible in a way the system had registered the day they arrived and that now in direct combat was being amplified.

Kai felt it from the origin.

The same point Lira had taught him to find.

Eighty percent. Eighty-five. Ninety.

Rising on its own.

---

[System — notification]

[Resonance Qi: 90% — active combat influence]

[Skill shop — available]

[External Qi Level 3 — cost: current accumulated points]

[The system notes that Kai saved it since Chapter 72]

[The system notes that Kai promised it for when he needed it]

[The system considers that this is that moment]

---

Kai opened the skill shop.

Without taking his eyes off Mara.

He bought Level 3.

---

[System — External Qi Level 3 unlocked]

[Passive resonance Qi begins to be fully controllable]

[Origin control: partial → complete]

---

Kai’s resonance Qi reached one hundred percent.

Deliberately. All of it directed at Mara.

The full frequency without reduction.

Without a filter.

---

Mara received it.

Kai’s resonance Qi reaching the senses of an SSS who had spent two years on the mountain searching for exactly that frequency.

Her eyes changed.

---

[DraconicLegacy: (°ロ°)(°ロ°)(°ロ°) MARA’S EYES CHANGED (°ロ°)(°ロ°)(°ロ°)]

[Chris_Murray: Kai released the resonance Qi at 100% straight at Mara. that’s what the mountain responded to from day one. Mara felt it fully.]

[Warwolf: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ QI LEVEL 3 ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: he saved it since Chapter 72. he bought it here. he chose this moment specifically. Kai always knows when.]

[Kalgarth: Mara’s eyes. (°ロ°) two years searching for that frequency. she just received it fully. (°ロ°) ... the fight continues but something changed. (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: Serah and Lira on the perimeter. Serah’s markings pulsing. Lira with her glasses in her hand. both felt it too.]

[TheDeadDragón: Mount Heiguers trembled. just once. the same as the first night. but from inside the fight this time.]

---

Mara didn’t lower her arms.

Kai didn’t lower his arms.

The fight continued.

But different — Kai’s resonance Qi in the field between the two, the frequency Mara had waited two years for flowing between them while both kept fighting.

Mara threw the next blow.

Kai met it with Resonant Impact active — not dodging, finding the point where the resonance Qi at one hundred percent amplified the transmission beyond what it had done before.

Mara’s interior received more than she expected.

She stepped back three paces.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ THREE PACES ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ THE QI AT 100% AMPLIFIED THE RESONANT IMPACT!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Chris_Murray: the resonance Qi and Resonant Impact combined. Kai had never used them at the same time. (°ロ°)]

[Warwolf: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ THREE PACES MARA ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: Mara received more than she expected. first time in two days that Mara shows real surprise. (°ロ°)]

[Kalgarth: three paces. THREE. from Mara. (°ロ°)(°ロ°)(°ロ°) ... (ง’̀-’́)ง MARA HOLD ON!! (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: Kai found the combination. resonance Qi at 100% plus Resonant Impact. that didn’t exist before this fight. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[TheDeadDragón: the three hundred Orcs in total silence. the only sound was the mountain.]

---

Mara stopped.

She looked at her own chest — the point where the amplified Resonant Impact had landed.

She looked at Kai.

"That," Mara said, "is new."

"For me too."

"When did you discover it?"

"Ten seconds ago."

Mara processed it.

Then she laughed.

"Good." Mara repositioned. "Then we both learn today."

---

[System — update]

[New technique registered: Resonance Qi + Resonant Impact — combination]

[The system doesn’t have a name for this yet]

[The system expects Kai to name it at some point]

[Active combat time: 10 minutes]

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