Chapter 182: Rod’s Decision

“Go, I must go!” After much consideration, Rod finally made this decision. Whether it was the faint call within his own mind or other reasons, he couldn’t miss this opportunity.
Kiro had said that members would be selected mainly from the representative teams of the first and second tiers. Clearly, the second tier would form the core force—both in terms of strength and combat experience, they were far ahead. There might be very few from the first tier, perhaps three, two, or even none!
But whatever happened, he had to secure a spot for himself. Still, Rod wasn’t too worried. It wasn’t arrogance on his part; the strength and combat experience he demonstrated in this competition should have been recognized by everyone. Coupled with his outstanding performance in the final battle and his abilities as a Golden Warrior, these factors were enough to put him on par with the members of the second tier. He believed he wasn’t inferior to anyone, which laid a solid foundation for his participation in this mission.
Moreover, he had now grasped a new profound technique of the Shadowless Sword, advancing his swordsmanship to a new level and greatly enhancing his strength. There was no reason not to let him go.
Thinking of this, Rod felt somewhat relieved. There should be no problems. Additionally, from the lower tier, aside from himself, Viski and Thiel might also be selected. Both of them were geniuses, so they surely wouldn’t be overlooked. Then there was Paul from the Wind God Academy—his mastery of both magic and martial arts made him a powerful asset and backup.
After analyzing everything, Rod smiled slightly. There weren’t many issues. As for the middle tier, without doubt, Kiro would be selected. The rest of the members would likely come from the Wind God Academy, the Divine Martial Academy, and the Holy Light Academy. Naturally, members from the Light Academy would also be included—light magic was incredibly powerful at that level, and it would be impossible without them.
After sorting out all this, Rod put his thoughts aside. He had spent these past few days focusing on swordsmanship, neglecting his combat energy for quite some time. With nothing else to do, he decided to start training his combat energy instead, resuming swordsmanship practice the next day.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, before even beginning his cultivation, Fen Tian inside him seemed to sense Rod’s movements. A red light flashed, and it appeared before him. A soft humming sound came from it as its massive body circled around Rod, quietly enjoying the comfort, seemingly content with the surrounding environment. It affectionately rubbed its body against Rod’s.

Looking at Fen Tian beside him, Rod smiled slightly. This little guy had grown a lot over time—now at the level of a Silver Warrior, its speed was even more extraordinary than his own. It was hard for others to believe.

It continued to transform into the shape of a divine dragon. Seeing this appearance, Rod couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride and excitement. He had made the right choice back then.

He remembered the last time he summoned this little guy to fight together was during the final against Ciel. It was the only time they fought side by side. The strength this little guy displayed really surprised him. Although Ciel didn’t target it as a main threat, it still caused Ciel a lot of trouble, which made Rod secretly pleased.

However, he still felt a bit scared afterward. Fortunately, Fen Tian’s emergence didn’t cause any major issues. Perhaps it was because the Dragon Soul of the Indecisive Dragon had merged in, preventing others from recognizing it. Otherwise, if it had been recognized, things would have been different—his life probably wouldn’t be as it is now. Thankfully, no accidents had occurred up to this day.

After some deep thought, he began his cultivation. As for Fen Tian, it didn’t cause any trouble either. It lay quietly aside, enjoying the elements gathered by Rod, occasionally absorbing a little, looking extremely happy.

He slowly controlled his combat energy, advancing bit by bit, dividing his mental energy to control the combat energy separately. Since he understood the key to cultivating to the level of a Golden Warrior, he had deliberately focused on this aspect in his cultivation, hoping to gradually improve his control and utilization of combat energy and lay a better foundation for forming a true body in the future. Although this slowed down his cultivation speed, Rod didn’t care about that.

His ability to absorb combat energy was much faster than that of ordinary people, as he could feel himself. Under such circumstances, even if his cultivation speed slowed down due to his deliberate focus on control, he believed it wouldn’t be much worse than others’.

Each thread of mental energy controlled a tiny amount of combat energy, slowly moving within his body like iron nails, circulating through all the meridians.

Under such practices, Rod’s mental energy was depleted at an extraordinary rate. Even after a short while, he already felt tired. The exhaustion of his mental energy made him frown, with beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. Even with his strong mental energy as a backing, it was still extremely difficult. It seemed this task couldn’t be accomplished in a day or two. If it were that simple, there wouldn’t be so many people who couldn’t even form a true body even at the imperial or even sacred level. Moreover, Rod knew that even if he divided his mental energy into eight strands and mastered controlling these eight streams of combat energy, it would only reach the most basic level. To achieve mastery, according to Xuanyuan, he needed to divide his mental energy into sixteen strands, allowing each to flow independently within his meridians, while the remaining mental energy integrated with his overall combat energy. Each strand had to be as thin as a embroidery needle or even finer than a hair—only then could he reach perfection and achieve the best possible formation of a true body. Rod couldn’t imagine the enormity of the difficulties involved, nor did he dare to guess what lay ahead. He had to reach that level first. After another period of time, feeling his mental energy completely exhausted, Rod finally stopped practicing. He panted heavily, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and let out a long sigh. It was his first time practicing in this way, and the difficulty was immense. His mental energy was almost depleted. With a faint bitter smile, he realized it would be hard to start practicing again for at least a few days. Mental energy didn’t recover as easily as combat energy, which could be replenished from the outside world, whereas mental energy could only be restored through one’s own body. Thanks to his strong physique, he might recover in a few days, but for others? It would likely take five or six days. Even mages who relied on mental energy for their powers would probably need three to five days. Feeling that his combat energy had reached a full state, he decided to stop practicing. Reluctantly, he got up, washed up, and checked the outside weather. It was still dark, so he simply lay back on the bed and fell into a deep sleep. The depletion of his mental energy made him feel sleepy for the first time. And sleeping was one of the best ways to restore mental energy. …

“Captain… Captain…” Rod fell into a deep sleep. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he heard calls coming from outside the door. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes. A jolt of sensation from the rosy sunlight snapped him awake. He quickly jumped up and went to the window. “Damn!” His frustrated groan followed immediately.

He had actually slept until the afternoon. He hadn’t realized he had wasted an entire day like this. Hearing the calls continuing outside, clearly from John, he came to the door with a wry smile and opened it, looking at the group. “What’s the matter?” John, Kenny, Roy, and Wiski—all of them had come here.

“Captain, seriously? You’ve been sleeping until now! Hurry up and get ready—there’s an activity coming up!” Seeing Rod’s sleepy appearance, John exclaimed exaggeratedly before urging him to hurry up and get ready.

“What’s going on?” Rod asked skeptically, looking at them. Whatever John was talking about surely wasn’t good. His first thought was that it must have something to do with women.

“Hehe, I’ll tell you once you’re ready. It’s definitely good news. There are so many people who envy me and beg me to take them along. If it weren’t because you’re my captain, I wouldn’t take them!” Seeing Rod’s confusion, John continued to urge him impatiently.

With a disdainful glance at John’s smug expression, Rod smiled faintly and, under their urging, finished getting ready in the shortest time possible before joining them. “Go on, what’s the matter?”

“Hehe, Captain, you have no idea. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! You don’t know how many people are jealous and want to kill me after hearing about this. Do you know? Alice, Lucia, and Linda—they’re planning to go shopping tonight. Hehe, luckily, after some persuasion, I got the role of their bodyguard. It’s a chance to accompany you all. Hurry up! There’s not much time left. As a gentleman, I definitely can’t keep the ladies waiting!” John said excitedly and eagerly, his mouth stretched so wide that it almost split, earning Rod’s silent admiration at human potential—mouths could really be stretched to such an extent; even snakes might be outmatched.

“I’m not going!” But in the next moment, Rod’s words froze John’s expression. He stared at him with his mouth agape and eyes wide in disbelief.

“Captain, no! If you don’t go…” Suddenly, John became anxious. If Rod didn’t go… he couldn’t tolerate such a thing happening.