Kyle looked at his Center.
He had spent a century on strengthening his Center, and it was time for him to advance once again.
The next declarations of battle would appear in two years.
'Alright, let's get to it,' Kyle thought as he shoved more Energy into his Center.
The constant drizzle inside his Center became stronger.
While the number of droplets didn't increase, their size increased by quite a bit.
As he pushed more and more, the droplets became even bigger.
When Kyle couldn't put any more Energy into his Center, he saw a constant rain inside of it.
Kyle had become a Medium Crusher.
'Bro, the Energy inside my Center literally doubled again. That's fucking crazy!' he thought.
Naturally, Kyle's physical power also increased a bit, but not a lot.
As he summoned his illusory hammer, Kyle noticed that it still consumed 50% of his Energy.
'That's a good thing! That means that my Law of Hammer has grown a lot stronger!'
Kyle experimented a bit more and calculated some things.
'My illusory hammer is extremely dangerous to Advanced Crushers, but they might still survive an attack. If they don't focus on defense or speed, I can probably kill them with one strike of my illusory hammer.'
'Of course, if I hit them with my actual hammer, any Advanced Crusher will die.'
'Based on my power, I could probably count as a weaker Fulfilled Crusher.'
Kyle smiled a bit as he adjusted his Realm Cloak to reflect that he was now a Fulfilled Crusher.
'As the Ancestor, I have to be the most powerful member of Explosive Karma. Would suck if Searing Spark advances first and claims my job.'
'Anyway, since I already fulfill the requirements to become a Major Crusher, I might as well go ahead and advance another level. Not advancing would be a waste. A higher Realm makes Law Comprehension easier, and I have a lot of Law Comprehension in front of me in the future.'
As Kyle focused on his Realm, the next declarations of battle arrived.
Luckily, this time, Kyle didn't need to get involved.
Dawnlight once more got its tribute. Fortunately, Explosive Karma still wasn't strong enough to enter their eyes.
Killing Squad didn't send a declaration this time. Instead, they proposed individual True Battles.
This was similar to the War Zone Explosive Karma had established with the Primal Crushers, but for Major Crushers.
Major Crushers needed to kill other Major Crushers to advance, and these kinds of battles fulfilled that purpose. Explosive Karma had received a couple of new neighbors, but none of them sent a declaration of battle.
This time, the only declaration of battle had come from Dawnlight.
For the first time, Explosive Karma didn't need to fight for their survival.
They had six Planet Systems, and they had the power to protect a territory of this size.
However, Explosive Karma also didn't want to do nothing.
Since they were so powerful now, they wanted to take advantage of their power.
So, Explosive Karma sent their own declarations of battle.
The first one went out to the Untainted.
During their first century, Explosive Karma had refused to battle the Untainted, but this time…
The Untainted refused to battle them.
They only had a single Advanced Crusher and ten Major Crushers.
Meanwhile, Explosive Karma had at least seven Advanced Crushers.
This was not a fight the Untainted could win, and they knew that.
The second declaration of battle went out to one of their new neighbors, who was also weaker than Explosive Karma.
The new power paid tribute to Explosive Karma.
Finally, they sent one more declaration of battle to Bright Side, who refused the battle.
More Karmic Luck for Explosive Karma.
And that was it.
This century, there would be no battles.
Just a bunch of Karmic Luck and tributes.
All the members of Explosive Karma had time to focus on their power in peace.
A century passed in the blink of an eye.
Swamp Dragon, Star Genesis, and Manny had become Medium Crushers already.
With their powerful Momentum and Laws, they were now as powerful as actual Advanced Crushers.
While the three of them advanced, Kyle once more focused on his Center.
He gathered more and more Energy and pushed it into his Center.
The droplets became even bigger, and the frequency of rain increased.
By now, the bottom half of Kyle's Center was covered in liquid Energy.
In a way, it looked like a heavy rain that fell over the ocean.
'And once more, the Energy inside my Center doubled,' Kyle thought. 'The amount of Energy Crushers receive is actually insane!'
Kyle checked his Law of Hammer and noticed that it still needed 50% of his Energy.
'However, this time, something's different. It feels like I'm approaching some kind of limit.'
'Most likely, when I'm an Advanced Crusher, I will reach the hard Energy limit, which means I have to also increase the level and quality of my Law of Hammer. On the other hand, I can also use it more often since it would be cheaper.'
'Anyway, since I'm going to be focusing on Laws, I should go all the way. Luckily, reaching the Advanced Crusher Realm is the only advancement that doesn't require a century. I just need to eat a bunch of beasts.'
'Might as well go and advance.'
Kyle quickly left his cave and went to one of Explosive Karma's Beast Planets.
After easily and quickly killing three Peak Crusher Beasts, Kyle looked at his Center again.
He had already absorbed the Beast Cores, and the Energy of his Center had already doubled once again.
Kyle summoned his illusory hammer and immediately noticed something.
'As expected,' he thought. 'It only costs 48% of my Energy.'
'I've reached the limit of my Law of Hammer.'
Kyle sighed. 'Why is there always so much to do?'
'Gotta focus on the Level Three Laws. Gotta make a new Complex Law. Gotta increase my Momentum. Gotta increase my Imposing Law.'
'Well, anyway, as an Advanced Crusher, I should now be more powerful than 99% of Fulfilled Crushers. Sadly, there's a gigantic gap between Fulfilled Crushers and Unique Crushers.'
'A Unique Crusher has a Level Five Complex Law. That's so fucking insanely powerful that it's not even funny.'
Kyle thought about his three friends.
'When they become Advanced Crushers, they might be able to fight the weakest Fulfilled Crushers, but that's about it. We have benefited a lot from our time in the Primal Realm, but we have basically already used up all of our accumulations.'
'For now, their limit is being part of the absolute strongest Advanced Crushers, while my limit is being part of the absolute strongest Fulfilled Crushers.'
'If we want to get further, we have to work on our Complex Laws.'
Kyle looked at his hammer.
'It's time that I comprehend the Law of Minor Metal. My hammer is getting quite brittle.'
'Then, I will get the Law of Minor Fire, and finally, I will make a new Complex Law.'
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