For just a moment, Kyle looked at his physical body.
Twelve unlocked Clusters.
All of the Clusters inside his body were unlocked.
He had done it.
Even if he were not part of the Array of Stars, he could join them.
The Array of Stars accepted any Unique Seeker without any tests.
And compared to his time as a Transcendent…
It had been much easier this time.
He had so much time left.
Only about 1200 years had passed since he had become a Primal. Just a bit more than half of his longevity as a Primal.
'My power is insane,' he thought. 'From what I've read, the bonus for advancing as a Primal is your physical body. After becoming a Crusher, your body's power only increases a tiny bit, and that small increase is the same for everyone.'
'That increase is about as big as unlocking two more Clusters. An 8/13 Primal, after advancing, will have the physical power of a 10/13 Primal while being a Crusher.'
'At this moment, my physical power is about as high as the physical power of a new Crusher who has advanced as a 10/13 Primal.'
'Most True Crushers never reach this level of physical power. You can only find 10/13 Primals in Lower Primary Organizations, and these kinds of Primals would represent the strongest Core Disciples or Chosen. Even in Higher Primary Organizations, only Core Disciples would reach this power.'
'Sadly, when you become a Sage, everything returns to normal again. The current difference in physical power will become negligible since a Sage's level of existence is so much higher.'
'It's as if I have 20 points of strength, while a normal Crusher has 10 points. When we both become Sages, I will still be stronger, but it will be more like 1,020 points to 1,010.'
'But at that time, it's more about the bonus you get for advancing as a Unique Crusher.'
Kyle pulled out his hammer and looked at it.
'With my current physical power, I can probably win against a Medium Crusher. I might even be able to win against a Major Crusher, but it would be a brutal True Battle.'
From what Kyle had heard, the Compression Realm had seven different levels, each divided by one more compression of someone's Center.
Each compression would increase the capacity of one's Center to store Energy.
Each compression needed something specific to be unlocked.
'I think I have all the prerequisites to become a Major Crusher, but funnily enough, I don't have the prerequisites to become a Medium Crusher,' Kyle thought. Crushers who hadn't undergone any compressions were called New Crushers.
In order to compress one's Center for the first time, one needed to know the Level Two Law of Center. Those Seekers were called Minor Crushers.
For the second compression, one needed to know a Pure Level Three Law. The Seekers who had undergone two compressions were called Medium Crushers.
In order to become a Major Crusher, one needed to compress one's Center three times, and to do that, one needed a Complex Level 3.5 Law or stronger.
So, strangely enough, Kyle could become a Major Crusher, but not a Medium Crusher.
'Long Transformation is probably in the same boat,' Kyle thought. 'She also doesn't know a Pure Level Three Law, but I don't think understanding one will be very hard. There are a good number of Primals who already know a Pure Level Three Law.'
'The only way I'm going to win against a Major Crusher is if I can push my Energy Manipulation to the next level.'
'I need the half-level advantage.'
'And that's exactly what I'm going to do now,' Kyle thought as he readied his hammer.
He swung a couple of times to get familiar with his improved body.
The Energy inside his Energy Pathways moved much more smoothly, and Kyle could also control it much better.
After just ten strikes, he managed to improve his power even more.
He didn't even have to move his body weirdly.
Some time later, he activated the mannequins again.
After striking it 50 times, it became faster.
In the next 50 tries, Kyle missed once, but afterwards, he hit the mannequin 50 times in a row.
Then, everything returned to how it used to be.
Kyle hit the mannequin about 70% of the time, but that obviously wasn't enough.
For an unknown period of time, Kyle just kept trying to hit the mannequin, and eventually, he got to 49 strikes in a row.
Yet, instead of delivering the last strike, Kyle purposefully missed.
He looked at his Communicator and noted that around 90 years had passed.
However, he wasn't surprised about how much time had passed but about how little time had passed.
'From what I can tell, the enhancement of my strike's speed is about as strong as the enhancement of my strike's Energy Weight.'
'I practiced my speed for a couple of decades before unlocking my last Clusters, which counts for a bit but not for much.'
'Without that, I would have probably needed around 110 years instead of 90. '
'The fact that I managed to push it to the same level in such a short amount of time is crazy, and I still feel like I can control everything.'
'I think it's time to combine the two parts.'
Kyle went to the Formation Array, controlling the mannequin, and changed its settings.
After testing the mannequin's durability, he finally got to a comfortable setting.
'Now, I need to improve my speed by about half of my maximum to hit it, and I also need to improve my hammer's Energy Weight by half to trigger it.'
'I need to be able to use both things at the same time.'
'This should be where the actual challenge begins.'
As soon as Kyle activated the mannequin again, he noticed that it essentially became undamageable.
When he hit it, he didn't have enough power.
When he had enough power, he didn't hit it.
Every 100 or so strikes, he managed to hit the mannequin and also damage it, but those strikes were just lucky.
One strike followed the next, and Kyle's success rate very slowly increased.
An unknown period of time later, he managed to damage the mannequin one in every ten strikes.
More time later, Kyle's success rate rose to 20%.
Just one strike after the next.
Endless striking.
Suddenly, half of the Energy inside Kyle's Center vanished, and he felt his hammer cracking.
Kyle immediately realized what was going on.
'It's happening again!' he thought.
However, his strike was so fast that he couldn't even properly follow the way his Energy moved through his body.
Kyle noticed that something was taking form where his hammer was.
He couldn't be sure if this was something new or if the dense Energy wanted to integrate into the hammer.
Kyle swung forward.
This time, his hammer didn't immediately break.
'Better than last time!'
He struck the mannequin.
But then, his hammer exploded again.
And the mannequin kept moving like always.
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