Island God: Going From Level 1 To World Ruler-Chapter 102: Strength Test

Seriously!?" Midas was awestruck, ’I mean... I guess it makes sense. After all, now that I think about it, his third sentence was: The only thing that exists is the one who observes your thoughts--the immortal soul, or in other words, you.’

Even though Midas was still in slight disbelief, he smiled. He grinned, even. He wanted to enjoy the feeling of winning, because why not!?

’If I moved closer to my goal, I should cherish the feeling. I don’t want to be consumed so deeply by my desire for victory that it makes me forget to enjoy the journey there.’ He thought to himself.

"I’m curious now..." Dorian said, "You are very strong, Midas. Much stronger than before. I want to see to what extent that power goes."

"What?" Midas immediately asked, "How so?"

"Let’s fight," Dorian replied with a smirk.

"Nope." Midas barely let Dorian’s words fall out of his lips before rejecting the proposal. He turned, slowly walking away.

’Please don’t say anything... please! I don’t want to die!’ Midas thought inwardly.

"Don’t worry... I won’t do anything to harm you. In fact, I won’t even throw an attack. I just want to see your full combat ability in practice." Dorian said, his smile unchanging.

"Oh?" Midas replied, his tone now more accepting. He turned, "You won’t attack, you say? Fine then..." He also smirked.

’In truth, I have been waiting for a moment like this. Ever since I turned level twenty, I’ve been mostly focusing on important topics that Bzzrt brings up with me about my kingdom. Food rationing, property lines, battle formations, and so on are being constantly changed, so I have to be the one to give the final okay on them. Apart from that, cultivating this breathing technique is the only thing I have time for. I became Pulse Tier recently, giving me the ability to project my mana and power things that I am holding. I haven’t tried this ability out on anything yet apart from trees and rocks.’ Midas thought, becoming more eager to be tested.

He unsheathed two dark blades from his waistbelt.

They were short scimitars with a dark blade and gold colored handles. They changed slightly in appearance ever since being taken by Midas.

Now, they had golden inscriptions at the center of the blade.

’Black Reapers.’ Midas said the name of the weapons in his head. He closed his eyes, exhaling smoothly as he channeled his mana into the weapons.

Within seconds, the blades shone brighter in a slight light. The aura that exuded from them was like a black smoke. However, this smoke emitted a bright gray light that contributed to lighting up areas.

’A battle is coming soon. For it, I need to be as prepared as possible.’ Midas thought, holding his blades out to the side.

Dorian raised his chin. "Come at me with all your strength and abilities. Don’t be shy... You don’t have to hold back. Let me see what you have become in the short time you’ve lived on this island." He said with a smirk.

"Sounds good." Midas retorted. ’Scan.’ He said inwardly. This was his new ability: to see the status of any other being.

He had already used it on all of his subordinates, which gave him very useful results. He found out that even if beings were much stronger than him, he could still see their stats.

’Let’s see how Dorian compares...’ He said to himself.

[Status]

[ERROR]

[The person you have attempted to scan far exceeds the limitation of your current skill mastery.]

’W-what!?’ Midas said inwardly, ’That... is the first time such a thing has happened. Even with Dorhal, or Bzzrt, who are far stronger than I am in terms of stats, I can still see their stats.’

This showed Midas how far Dorian must have been in a league.

Dorian raised his hand, gesturing for Midas to approach.

Midas didn’t hesitate, lunging forward with fast and light steps.

He appeared right in front of Dorian, turning in a circle as he swung his blades at the man’s stomach.

Dorian jumped backwards a couple of times, avoiding the oncoming slashes. Midas followed Dorian as he attacked, stopping his slashes after a few steps and driving his blades down in unison.

Dorian was forced to duck, sliding his leg gracefully to crouch before rising again a few feet to the left.

Midas’s onslaught continued, followed by a series of slashes that hailed from all different directions. Each one of his strikes was followed by a howl of wind and a gust of air. The aftershock could be heard from several feet away.

It was clear to the naked eye that a single swipe from him could shatter straight through dense bone with ease.

Following the goblin dagger-fighting style, Midas had learned to almost always be in close range with his opponents.

He had gone past basic goblin-style techniques, however, since his movement was even more advanced now.

He had taken the foundation of his technique and improved upon it.

Now, he could predict his enemies’ future movements and aim attacks at where they were going to step next.

It was less of a future sight, but rather, creating a pocket or trap for his opponent using his previous attack-type moves.

He swung his daggers from the right, forcing Dorian to either step back or duck down and to the right.

’He’s moved backwards many times when I attacked like this... but to not be predictable, he will most likely move to the left this time.’ Midas thought, predicting this as he shot his next attack at where Dorian was predicted to be.

However, Dorian did not duck and move to the right. Instead, he dodged backwards again.

Midas was quite shocked to see this, glancing at Dorian only to see a smug smirk on his face.

’H-he predicted my prediction!’ Midas thought, amazed. ’Fine then...’ He swung his daggers from the left this time.

’He can either go back, or down and to the left. Since he moved back last time, he will most definitely know that I know of his next move. So, I will attack the back this time to catch him off guard.’ Midas said, swinging his blades like a machine.

This time, Dorian did not move backwards, but instead jumped right over the slashing blades.

"Stop," Dorian said, floating mid-air.

Midas panted, his blades drawn to his sides. "You are strong... super strong. Even though I didn’t let up even once, you were able to move out of the way of each one of my attacks." Midas said, humble in defeat.

Dorian floated back down.

"Do not judge yourself based on me. I am far too high a bar to set. You should be very proud of your abilities, Midas. I’m sure your swordwork would be enough to defeat that of any other player on this planet." Dorian replied with a confident tone.

Midas’s eyelids shot wide open. "S-seriously!?"

"Well... I don’t know. Probably." Dorian replied.

"Oh..." Midas said, disappointed.

"Anyways, I don’t think you have too much to fear with this upcoming challenge," Dorian replied.

"That... is great to know!" Midas said with an eager tone.

"However, let me give you a piece of advice on this swordwork. Something quite simple that will help your speed increase by leaps and bounds." Dorian said, grabbing a long sword out of the air.