The pre-dawn darkness clung to the university campus as four figures made their way toward the advanced training facility. True to their promise, each team member had arrived precisely at 5 AM, their breath visible in the crisp morning air. The weight of yesterday's commitments and revelations hung between them, but so did a palpable sense of anticipation.
"I still can't believe we're actually doing this," Sora murmured, adjusting her training bag. "Three months to transform from campus representatives to national competitors."
Haneul's hand rested unconsciously on his sword hilt. "The gap between university level and national level... we saw those profiles yesterday. It's not just wide—it's a chasm."
"Which is exactly why we need professional guidance," Minwoo replied, though he felt the familiar flutter of nervous energy in his stomach. The Infinite Unity Manual pressed against his chest, a reminder of secrets he couldn't yet share. "Master Liu isn't just any instructor. Principal Mu said he was a three-time national champion."
Daesung, ever formal even at this early hour, nodded respectfully. "A master of his caliber agreeing to train us personally... it's an honor we must prove worthy of."
As they approached the facility, they noticed additional modifications had been made overnight. New training equipment lined the walls, and the energy density in the room felt notably different—thicker, more challenging to breathe, as if the very air demanded greater effort.
"Impressive dedication," a crisp voice cut through their conversation. "Arriving early shows promise. However, punctuality means nothing if you're not prepared for what comes next."
The team spun toward the voice. A man emerged from the shadows near the far wall—average height but possessing an presence that seemed to fill the entire space. Master Liu Tianming looked to be in his mid-forties, with graying temples and eyes that held the sharp focus of someone who had seen countless battles. His simple training clothes couldn't hide the fluid grace of his movements or the way space itself seemed to bend around his calm confidence.
[New Mentor Detected]Name: Master Liu Tianming
Expertise Level: ★★★★★ (National Champion Grade)
Teaching Bonus: +200% training efficiency when following guidance
Specialization: Team combat formations, advanced tactical analysis
Warning: Extremely demanding training regimen detected
"Master Liu," Minwoo stepped forward and bowed respectfully, the others following suit. "We're honored by your willingness to train us."
"Honor is earned, not given," Liu replied, circling them slowly like a predator evaluating prey. "I've reviewed your tournament footage and yesterday's team exercises. You've made impressive progress for amateurs, but you're about to discover the difference between playing at teamwork and truly understanding it."
He stopped in front of their carefully arranged formation—the same positioning they'd developed and refined over the past few days. With casual precision, he gestured for them to demonstrate their coordination.
"Show me your best combination technique. The one you're most proud of."
The team exchanged glances and moved into position. They'd practiced the Trinity Harmony Formation dozens of times now, and their synchronization had reached levels that amazed even them. Energy began flowing between Minwoo, Haneul, and Daesung while Sora established the protective perimeter.
For thirty seconds, everything worked perfectly. Minwoo felt the familiar surge as his combination abilities bridged the gap between Haneul's razor-sharp sword energy and Daesung's deep, mountainous internal cultivation. The three energies didn't just merge—they evolved, becoming something greater than the sum of their parts.
Haneul's sword began to glow with an ethereal light, each movement leaving trailing arcs of pure energy in the air. His speed increased dramatically, but more importantly, his precision reached levels that seemed almost supernatural. Every strike would have found its mark with mathematical certainty.
Daesung's internal energy spread outward like ripples in a still pond, enhancing not just his own capabilities but creating a field that strengthened everyone within it. The very air around him seemed to thicken with power, and his normally composed expression showed hints of wonder at the depths he was accessing.
Minwoo himself felt the exhilarating rush of perfect coordination—energy flowing through him like a lightning rod, transforming and amplifying everything it touched. His combination techniques were operating at efficiency levels he'd never imagined possible.
Sora's formations sparked to life around them, geometric patterns of light that moved and shifted with fluid grace. Her defensive barriers didn't just protect—they redirected and channeled the team's combined energy, creating a mobile fortress that could advance or retreat as one unified entity.
For those thirty seconds, they were no longer four individual martial artists. They were a single, unstoppable force that moved with perfect unity and devastating capability. The training chamber's energy readings spiked beyond normal parameters, and even the advanced monitoring systems struggled to process the harmonics they were generating.
Then Master Liu moved.
What happened next would be burned into their memories forever—a demonstration of skill so far beyond their current abilities that it redefined their understanding of what martial arts mastery truly meant.
Master Liu didn't launch a devastating attack or unleash overwhelming power. Instead, he simply walked forward, each step measured and precise, as if he were strolling through a garden rather than approaching a combat formation radiating enough energy to level a building.
As he moved, the air around him seemed to bend differently, as if reality itself was adjusting to accommodate his presence. There was no visible technique, no flashy display of power—just an absolute confidence that suggested the laws of physics were more like guidelines in his vicinity.
When he was three meters away, Haneul struck first. His enhanced sword, crackling with combined team energy, launched forward in a perfect thrust that should have been unavoidable. The attack moved faster than thought, precise enough to thread a needle, backed by power that could have pierced steel.
Master Liu tilted his head slightly to the left. The sword passed harmlessly through empty air, so close that it should have at least grazed him, but somehow finding only space where he had been a microsecond before.
Daesung immediately followed up, sending a wave of internal energy that expanded outward like a crushing tide. The technique was powerful enough to knock down walls, spread wide enough to be inescapable, and moved with the speed of striking lightning.
Master Liu raised his hand palm-first, and the energy wave simply... stopped. Not blocked, not deflected—stopped, as if it had encountered an immovable object that existed in dimensions beyond the physical. The wave pressed against his palm for a moment, then dispersed harmlessly like mist meeting sunlight.
Sora's formations activated desperately, geometric barriers springing up to box him in, energy nets designed to entangle and restrict movement, defensive walls that could have stopped a charging elephant.
Master Liu continued walking forward without breaking stride. Each barrier he encountered didn't shatter or explode—it simply ceased to exist as he passed through it, as if his presence negated the very concept of obstruction.
Finally, with casual precision that spoke of absolute mastery, he reached out and placed a single finger on Minwoo's forehead.
The touch was gentle, barely more pressure than a feather landing, but the effect was catastrophic. Every energy connection in their formation didn't just break—it inverted. What had been harmony became discord, what had been amplification became interference, what had been perfect coordination became chaotic feedback that sent shockwaves through each team member's energy systems.
Haneul stumbled backward, his enhanced sword flickering and dying as the energy sustaining it turned against itself. His perfectly controlled movements became clumsy and uncertain as the feedback disrupted his internal balance.
Daesung gasped as his internal cultivation experienced violent fluctuations, his carefully maintained energy circulation spinning into chaos. Years of disciplined practice wavered as competing harmonics tore through his system like discordant notes in a symphony.
Sora's formations didn't just collapse—they imploded, the geometric perfection she'd spent years developing crumbling into fragments of confused light that scattered and faded like dying stars.
Minwoo himself felt the worst of it. As the central conduit for their team's energy, the feedback hit him like a physical blow. His combination abilities, which had been operating at peak efficiency moments before, now felt like trying to conduct electricity with broken wires. Every technique he'd mastered seemed foreign and unreliable.
They all ended up on their knees, gasping and disoriented, while Master Liu stood calmly above them with his hands clasped behind his back, not even breathing hard.
"Thirty-seven critical vulnerabilities in thirty seconds," he announced with clinical precision, as if he were reviewing a technical manual rather than having just dismantled four martial artists simultaneously. "Your formation's energy flow is too centralized, making it vulnerable to cascade failure. Your defensive arrangements prioritize coverage over adaptability. Your offensive timing follows predictable patterns that can be anticipated and countered."
He began walking around them slowly, continuing his analysis while they struggled to regain their composure. "Most importantly, you've become dependent on perfect conditions. Your coordination requires harmony, but real combat is chaos. You've built a beautiful system that only works when everything goes according to plan."
"But Master Liu," Minwoo managed to say, still feeling echoes of the energy disruption, "our synchronization rate was at 97%. The power amplification was unprecedented..."
"Meaningless if your foundation is flawed," Liu replied, though his tone carried instruction rather than dismissal. "You've achieved remarkable energy coordination, yes. But you've built it on tactically unsound assumptions. Power without adaptability is just elaborate failure waiting to happen."
"Thirty-seven critical vulnerabilities in thirty seconds," Master Liu announced calmly as the team struggled to regain their composure. "Any one of them could have ended your participation in a real match."
Minwoo felt his face burning with embarrassment and confusion. "But our synchronization rate—"
"Means nothing if your foundation is flawed," Liu interrupted. "You've achieved impressive energy coordination, yes. But you've built it on fundamentally unstable tactical assumptions." He gestured to where they'd been standing. "Your formation prioritizes harmony over security, efficiency over adaptability, cooperation over survival."
He began walking around them again, this time pointing out specific issues. "Minwoo, your position as the energy bridge makes you a single point of failure. One disruption to your concentration and the entire team becomes worse than useless—it becomes actively dangerous to itself."
"Haneul, your sword techniques are individually excellent, but you're suppressing your natural combat instincts to fit the group dynamic. In a real battle, that hesitation will get you killed."
"Daesung, your internal cultivation enhancement is remarkable, but you're sharing too much energy. You're making yourself weaker to make others stronger, which is noble but tactically unsound."
"And Sora, your formations are textbook perfect, but textbooks don't account for opponents who don't follow predictable patterns."
The silence that followed was crushing. Everything they'd been proud of, every achievement they'd celebrated, had been dismantled in minutes by someone who barely seemed to be trying.
"However," Master Liu's tone shifted slightly, becoming less harsh and more instructional, "you have something most teams lack entirely—genuine trust and willingness to sacrifice individual glory for collective success. That foundation is rare and valuable. We just need to build proper tactics on top of it."
He moved to the center of the training area and assumed a relaxed stance. "Your real education begins now. For the next three months, you will train harder than you've ever trained before. You will question everything you think you know about martial arts, teamwork, and your own capabilities."
"The national championship isn't just a competition—it's a proving ground where the best martial artists in the country demonstrate the peak of their disciplines. You're not just representing your university; you're testing whether your revolutionary approach to martial arts can survive contact with absolute excellence."
Master Liu's eyes seemed to gleam with something between challenge and anticipation. "By the time I'm finished with you, you'll either be ready to stand among the greatest martial artists of your generation, or you'll understand exactly why that level of achievement is so rare."
He gestured toward the modified training equipment. "We'll start with basics you thought you'd mastered. Then we'll rebuild everything from the ground up. The foundation you create in the next month will determine whether you have any chance of surviving the tournament."
"Are you prepared for that level of commitment?"
Four voices answered simultaneously: "Yes, Master Liu."
"Good. Because there's no partial success at the national level. You either achieve excellence, or you fail completely." He smiled for the first time since his arrival—a sharp, predatory expression that somehow managed to be both encouraging and terrifying.
"Let's see what you're really made of."
[Training Intensity Level: Maximum][New Quest Activated: Survive Master Liu's Foundation Reconstruction][Warning: Physical and mental limits will be tested daily][Estimated Success Probability: Dependent on team dedication and adaptability]