Chapter 331 - What was lost and what was gained

"Thank you for everything Alphonso. You have given me more than what I asked for." Ren looked at Alphonso with genuine sincerity and bowed his head. Alphonso who knew of Ren's past incarnations and had witnessed his life as Demon Lord Kretos was stunned into silence.

Aside from Elizabeth, who was now called Silika, Alphonso knew the most about Ren in this world. So he was sure that Ren would never bow his head. If someone told Alphonso that the strongest mortal soul bowed his head to someone, he would look at that person as if he were the most instance being in the universe. 

The strongest mortal soul was someone who fought Dragons, Gods, Primordial beings, Dimension Destroyers, fate, and even the creator of all, The ORIGIN. This man was proud and arrogant, he would never lower his head to anyone or so Alphonso thought. 

Seeing the look on Alphonso's face made Ren smile. As expected of someone who knew his past incarnations so deeply. Alphonso had the exact same reaction as his past incarnations when he did a similar action and lowered his head. 

"Alright now that I thanked you, let's move on to other stuff. Do you have a place where I can move around a bit violently?" When Alphonso heard Ren's order like request he sighed in relief. This was the Ren he knew, this was the strongest mortal soul that he understood, not the one who bowed his head. Alphonso's lips curved upward a tiny bit as he stood from the chair he was sitting on.

"You really are such a slave driver... Fine then, follow me." Alphonso sighed as he scratched his head sounding annoyed but still had his lips curved upward. Even though he looked reluctant he still complied with Ren's request. Ren followed the ten-year-old Alphonso and spoke. 

"You know acting like that is cute when girls do it, but if you do it... Well, I guess with your current looks acting like a Tsundere might attract those older sister type women."

"Who the f*ck are you calling a tsundere!" Alphonso shouted at Ren who was walking behind him. In response, Ren pointed at Alphonso and looked at the now ten-year-old Alphonso with a weird expression. No words were spoken but the look Ren showed Alphonso was the same as if he said the words isn't it obvious. 

"I'm no Tsundere!... Damn it, no matter the incarnation with or without memories, you always know how to irritate me... Whatever here we are my special training room. You can wreak havoc here and go at it in full power. This place is a pocket-sized dimension than I use to conduct some destructive experiments." Alphonso opened a door in his shop, and the two were transported into a large open white area with nothing in it. This place felt like the realm inside Ren's soul.

"Thanks, also can I borrow some weapons to practice with." 

"Seriously, it's just one thing after another with you." Alphonso snapped his fingers and an array of weapons appeared before him. "Here you can use this. They're pretty good weapons but they don't have any spirit so their just third-grade legendary weapons. You can have them since they just gather dust in the back of my store." 

Alphonso spoke like it wasn't such a big deal, but every weapon that was displayed were powerful weapons used by legendary heroes of different worlds. Yet to him weapons without spirits were pretty much worthless. 

Ren looked at each weapon on display and found out that the quality of each weapon was better than most. In fact, except for those weapons that had spirits, these weapons were top of the line. 

"Well since you're giving them away, who am I to refuse." Ren picked up a broadsword and expanded his shadow which swallowed all the weapons in his sight. After he did that Ren closed his eyes and started to concentrate. He circulated his mana through his body and into the weapon he was holding. 

Alphonso who was watching at the side noticed that Ren's mana had once again increased and its purity was much better than before. It was so different from the time he and Ren fought. 

'Ludicrous as always, just by existing you grow stronger. Training, hard work, in front of you all of that seems like a joke.' Alphonso shook his head as he was once again reminded how ridiculous of an existence Ren was. 

...

Ren's mind turned blank and the world around him became nothing, what existed was only him and his blade. Ren then started to move, his sword swing seems slow but at the same time fast. He looked like he was moving but at the same time, he wasn't. His breathing and his sword swings were in sync, it made one feel like his swordsmanship was alive. 

Each swing of the sword was elegant and without impurities. Just by watching his sword dance one could feel like he was being cut. After understanding a portion of his feelings, Ren had received enlightenment. 

In the beginning, he always thought that a weapon was nothing more than a tool for killing. Techniques were just killing skills. Since it was for killing, then obviously it should seek to kill in one strike. Superfluous things are all abandoned in pursuit of the limit of speed and power. Concise and precise movements were all one needs. That was what was taught to Ren when he was still Kretos, back when he was trained in the Shadow Clan. 

Yet after accepting his feelings Ren had been enlightened. Weapons weren't just tools they were living and breathing like him. This was why some weapons gained spirits. Techniques weren't just for killing, they had a deeper meaning as well. Each sword strike had a certain flow to it, like the flow of battle. 

The precision of his strikes were still there, but there was now something more profound in them. Ren then started to switch weapons as he continued to train as if he was attacking someone. Each movement he made flowed so naturally even as he switched from weapon to weapon. 

Ren's body could now finally keep up with what he wanted to do. The feeling he got as he no longer needs to conserve energy was freeing. He wasn't as strong as his peak state as Demon Lord Kretos but he was getting there. In fact, even though he wasn't as physically strong as his time as Demon Lord Kretos, his technique was so much greater than before. 

If his current self were to fight his past self they would be evenly matched at this point. Once he reaches the same physical and magical strength he had as Demon Lord Kretos, Ren would've surpassed his old self. 

...

Alphonso watched in awe as Ren continued to swing one weapon after another. No matter what weapon he used his control and technique was superb. In technique alone, this reincarnation had surpassed Michael.

...

After a few hours of practicing Ren had a better feel of his newfound strength. He was so much stronger now than he was a few days ago, and he was growing stronger still. Now that he understood his physical limitations, Ren wanted to test the limitations of his mana. 

Ren lifted his right hand upward and released an enormous amount of mana. A large ball of pure mana appeared above Ren's head. Once he was done pouring most of his mana into the ball, Ren clenched his fist. The ball of pure mana started to compress until it became the size of a fist. Ren then unleashed this compressed ball of pure mana into the distance. 

The moment the ball of pure mana made contact with the ground it exploded and a powerful shockwave followed. The explosion happened hundreds of miles away yet the shockwave still reached Ren. 

After the smoke cleared Ren saw that the ball of mana created crater the size of two cities. He was satisfied with the experiment and looked at Alphonso. 

"Thanks for allowing me to use this room. Also once again thanks for everything, but I better get going. So where's the exit?" 

"..." Alphonso sighed as he snapped his fingers. A portal appeared before Ren. "There's your exit. Oh right, also here, catch." Alphonso threw two objects at Ren. One of them looked like a similar artifact to what Lance used to summon the original incarnation. There were some slight differences but the overall look and feel of the artifact was similar. The other object that was given to him looked like a crystal. 

"That crystal is a communication device. You can use it to contact me. The other one is an artifact that would be extremely helpful to you when you have your final battle. The original, the first hero should know how to use it." Alphonso scratched his head as he hesitated for a bit before continuing to speak. 

"I actually wanted to join you in your journey, but in my current state, I might become a liability to you. So I need to stay here and try to regain my real form. How about you Ren, what do you plan to do now?" 

Ren hid the two artifacts in his shadow before he answered Alphonso. "Before I answer your question can you tell me how many days was I unconscious?" 

"About five days." 

"I see..." 'The tournament should be done with the preliminaries right about now. I did want to join in the fun, but there's something important I need to do first.'

"Thanks, and to answer your question. I'm going to meet someone I haven't seen in a long time." After giving his answer Ren entered the portal and disappeared.