[ "Calculating rewards for World Conquest Battle…"]
["Pioneer mission complete. Rewards: Gold Pioneer Medal ×1, Gold War Medal ×1."]
["Pioneer leveled up to 21."]
Gusion listened to the string of announcements, completely dazed.
Divine Space surrendered before the fight even began?
He'd heard that killing opposing explorers in World Conquest Battles tripled the drop rate of Deadman's Chest.
Thinking of this, Gusion suddenly felt like he'd suffered a huge loss.
Divine Space's surrender cost him a great opportunity for loot. He felt a bit indignant.
But he soon calmed down. After all, he got rewards without lifting a finger—still a win.
Especially since his Pioneer Mark ranked up, meaning he could now use the 7 free attribute points he'd saved.
He rushed to the physical enhancement hall for a new round of upgrades.
He chose +4 Strength, +3 Agility, making himself a little more balanced.
With his stats greatly improved, his overall power transformed dramatically. But he also noticed some issues.
First, his attribute gains from basic training had slowed at third-tier—no longer gaining a point every few weeks.
Gusion guessed this was because End Space attributes grew exponentially, not linearly, so each point was worth more at higher tiers. Even though his training speed stayed the same, it seemed slower in points.
He also suspected his limiter-release talent might have room for improvement. End Space rated talents from E- to SSS+, and his was only S.
Gusion felt that after reaching fourth tier, the talent's help would be less obvious, so he wanted to find a way to upgrade it.
He'd read that talents could be upgraded through certain missions, but he hadn't yet triggered such a quest.
Also, explorers weren't limited to one talent—everyone could theoretically awaken a second, if the right conditions were met.
After enhancing himself, Gusion headed straight for the third-tier arena to test his new abilities and try to reclaim his title.
Since he'd advanced to third-tier, his previous second-tier "Unmatched" arena title had expired, lowering his stats a bit—he hoped to get them back soon.
["Pioneer #008, your current ranking is 73,918. Matching you with an evenly matched opponent."]
Gusion was pulled into an arena field—amid skyscrapers, facing another third-tier explorer on the street.
His opponent seemed to be a warrior-type with a heavy hammer. Upon seeing Gusion, he immediately used a scouting skill—a standard arena habit.
He too had just reached third tier, aiming to climb the ladder and practice combat skills.
In theory, new third-tiers all start ranked low, so everyone's about equal, perfect for testing each other.
But when he scouted the black-clad man opposite him, he froze—just a row of question marks.
Gusion frowned too; he thought his opponent was too weak—was this really evenly matched?
The warrior, thinking it was just anti-scouting, or that he'd met some rare, unranked third-tier, charged forward with a battle cry to test Gusion's strength.
But the next moment, Gusion merely narrowed his eyes, and an invisible, dark red aura erupted, crushing the warrior's soul. He blacked out.
When he woke up in the rest room, he muttered, "What the hell just happened?!"
He replayed the match to see how he died:
["You were suppressed by Conqueror's Haki.]
[ Your Spirit: 24. Opponent's Spirit: 65.]
[ Difference over 40 points…]
[ Judgment passed: You were scared to death."]
The warrior sat there dumbfounded. "Seriously? I got scared to death in the arena?"
He felt ridiculous—his build mainly invested in strength and constitution, not spirit. He had good combat skills, and with teammates, he'd avoid magic enemies. In his team, he wasn't expected to tank magic, just find chances for melee DPS.
But against Conqueror's Haki, he had no resistance—insta-killed by fear.
He decided to keep this embarrassing defeat to himself.
But he was puzzled: the guy had Conqueror's Haki and such high spirit? Was he really just a new third-tier?
…
Meanwhile, Gusion kept matching, and as expected, climbing from low ranks was boring.
Most low-tier explorers were mediocre, not even as good as those he'd met on Birka—at least those were elite new third-tiers.
End Space's explorer death rate was high, but some did reach third tier with a team; these were often weak solo fighters.
Gusion barely bothered drawing his blade—he'd just use Conqueror's Haki to instantly down those with low spirit, or stun the strong, then finish them with lightning.
Now he understood why Enel was lazy in hand-to-hand—if you could kill with lightning, you'd get lazy too, especially against weaklings.
After dozens of matches, Gusion got a clear sense of his lightning's power.
Thunder was truly the bane of carbon-based life. Even heavily magic-resistant tanks would spasm under his lightning; if he amped it up, they'd die in seconds.
Most opponents, hit by a single bolt, had their hearts stop briefly and went into shock—basically a death sentence.
No wonder Body Killer didn't dare kill Enel earlier—it was incredibly hard. If a sneak attack failed, no matter what she tried, she couldn't survive against him.
If you get hit by lightning once, it's over.
…
After three days, Gusion began facing late-stage third-tiers, including a magic tank with insanely high spirit (66) and magic resistance.
But even that guy couldn't handle several bolts—just being hit caused stiffening, then he'd be finished off with a blade.
In practice, Gusion realized that thunder abilities were OP at low tiers.
If Divine Space had known his true state, their surrender was logical—even with numbers, they were just second-tiers.
One blast of Conqueror's Haki and half would drop, then he could sweep with lightning—a massacre.
In any normal, physical-combat world, thunder ruled. Even in Bleach or Naruto, it would be formidable.
All in all, eating the Raijin Fruit was worthwhile. He didn't have to worry about late-game ceilings yet—his current strength was maxed out.
So, Gusion continued climbing the arena, adapting to his new stats and abilities, fighting for seven days straight.
[Prompt]
[ "Pioneer #008, you are on a 318-win streak. Current rank: 3. Continue matching?"]
"Continue," Gusion replied. The last match had been his first of the day—he'd rested well, ready to charge for the top.
Once he reached the top 100, all opponents were maxed third-tiers, yet he kept winning.
Gusion now had too many stackable buffs; fully powered, he wasn't suppressed by other third-tiers, and his powers were clearly superior.
[Prompt]
["Matching… Success. Your opponent: current third-tier arena #1."]
Gusion focused. From the top 10 onwards, all opponents were skillful, never just stat blocks.
How strong would number one be?
As white light flashed, Gusion appeared in a maple forest. Through the falling leaves, he saw his opponent.
A surprise—it was someone he knew.
"It's you? Shouldn't you be second-tier…?"
Mandrake spoke in a hoarse voice, eyes suspicious. She'd received the challenge notice and came herself, only to see Gusion.
"Just advanced last world," Gusion replied, hand on his blade, a maple leaf falling on his shoulder.
"Doesn't matter, I need that title. Time to knock you out."
With that, Mandrake vanished amid the falling red leaves.
Gusion tensed, using Observation Haki to the max, but couldn't sense her.
Devil Fruit power? No, probably her own unique ability.
Gusion grinned—finally, an opponent worth going all out.
Blue lightning flickered across him, splitting into countless fine currents, extending through the area to detect Mandrake.
She was an assassin-type, and #1 for a reason—her attacks would be fierce. If she caught him off guard, even Gusion might be instantly killed.
So he prepared to go all out from the start.