[DraconicLegacy: 81%. OVERWHELMING.]

[RagingMutant: (╬ Ò﹏Ó) (╬ Ò﹏Ó) (╬ Ò﹏Ó) THE OTHER STREAMS (╬ Ò﹏Ó) (╬ Ò﹏Ó) (╬ Ò﹏Ó)]

[Drakeking: the remaining four are going to combine everything the previous eight learned. that’s a huge problem.]

[Jack_Moore: @Drakeking Kai has a face like it’s exactly what he wanted.]

[Wolf1179: (ง’̀-’́)ง (ง’̀-’́)ง (ง’̀-’́)ง HOLD ON KAI (ง’̀-’́)ง (ง’̀-’́)ง (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Mist_Of_Death: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ he can do it ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

---

The remaining four changed.

Not physically — in behavior.

Each one’s four arms positioned differently from all previous exchanges.

The upper ones in guard — not attack, defense.

The lower ones outward for balance instead of gripping.

Stance.

They had learned a guard stance from watching Kai’s exchanges.

Kai looked at them.

’They’re imitating me.’

The marks pulsed in the Qi — not from the creatures, from the labyrinth itself, as if the wall material was recording what was happening.

’The labyrinth learned from me fighting.’

’The creatures learned from the labyrinth.’

’And now they’re using my guard.’

Kai looked at the four creatures with a poorly executed Muay Thai stance — feet at the wrong angle, weight too far forward, upper arms higher than the stance required.

Poorly executed.

But recognizable.

’They’re using my stance.’

’With the mistakes I made in the early days.’

The first of the four lunged — with a step Kai recognized as the start of a badly calibrated side kick, the same one he himself had had to correct.

Kai corrected it for them.

He moved to the exact angle where the kick should have landed if it were well executed.

The creature didn’t get there because it didn’t know how to do it right yet.

Kai got there first.

Palm strike to the chin.

The creature hit the ground.

’They learned my techniques badly.’

’And I know exactly how they mess up because I made those same mistakes.’

’This is the weirdest and most interesting thing that’s happened to me in Aethon.’

’And that includes Serah.’

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ THEY LEARNED HIS TECHNIQUES BADLY AND HE KNOWS EXACTLY HOW ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛]

[Drakeking: THE CREATURES LEARNED HIS MISTAKES AND HE USED THAT AGAINST THEM]

[Jack_Moore: "and that includes Serah" — Kai ranked this weirder than having an SSS as a girlfriend. correct.]

[Wolf1179: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Mist_Of_Death: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

---

The remaining three saw it.

Processed.

And adjusted — not the techniques they had learned badly, the level of imitation.

Instead of copying Kai’s movements, the three spread into a triangle, the kind of position that blocks escape routes in a four-meter-wide corridor.

’They stopped imitating.’

’Went back to group tactics.’

’But now incorporating what they learned from the combat.’

’Three in a triangle. No blind spot. No unprotected flank.’

’Good.’

Kai looked at the ceiling.

Five meters high.

’The labyrinth doesn’t have a single horizontal plane.’

He launched himself at the corridor wall — his soles struck the black material, Qi activated in the soles of his feet the same way as when he’d climbed up through the ceiling in the guild, and he ran two steps along the side wall before gravity took over.

The two steps were enough to get above the creature at the front vertex of the triangle.

Knee to the back.

The triangular formation lost a point.

The remaining two turned.

Kai was already on the ground striking the second’s side.

The third came from behind.

Kai ducked — the upper arm passed over him — and struck upward with his elbow to the third’s underbelly.

The creature went upward half a meter and fell.

Level 3 fell silent.

---

Kai stood still in the center of the corridor.

Left forearm red.

Right knee protesting.

Right shoulder with something that wasn’t pain yet but was going to become pain in the coming hours.

The twelve creatures neutralized around him.

Kai looked at level 3.

Then looked at his hands.

Qi active and stable — not exhausted, exercised.

The difference between two things that look alike from the outside and can only be distinguished from within.

’Good.’

’That was good.’

The opening to level 4 was at the end.

Kai walked toward it with the stride of someone who just got exactly what they needed.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ LEVEL 3 COMPLETED ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ KAI ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛]

[Drakeking: he ran ON THE WALL. WITH HIS FEET. ON THE SIDE WALL.]

[Jack_Moore: @Drakeking Qi in the soles of his feet. he used it in the guild to climb to the ceiling. applied it here.]

[Wolf1179: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ LEVEL 4 NOW ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Mist_Of_Death: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

---

[ACTIVE VOTE — VIEWERS FROM OTHER STREAMS]

[Modification: Level 4]

[Option A: Unclassified boss — 69%]

[Option B: Empty corridor — 31%]

[Result: Option A]

---

[DraconicLegacy: 31% voted empty corridor HAHAHAHA]

[RagingMutant: (╬ Ò﹏Ó) someone wanted to torture him again (╬ Ò﹏Ó)]

[Drakeking: 69% had compassion. or wanted to see the boss.]

[Jack_Moore: @Drakeking probably both.]

[Wolf1179: unclassified boss. just like Serah and Lira.]

[Mist_Of_Death: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ LET’S GO KAI ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ] 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

---

Level 4 had the boss.

It wasn’t like the fortress-material creature Serah had faced — different in form but the same in origin.

The same absence of vital signature.

The same black material that responded to Qi.

But this one was smaller.

One-eighty.

Human proportions.

No facial features.

And when Kai entered level 4, the boss raised its head and adopted a stance.

Guard stance.

Kai’s guard stance.

Well executed. Without the mistakes of the level 3 creatures.

Perfectly executed.

Kai stopped.

Looked at it.

’The labyrinth learned from the twelve creatures of level 3 that learned from me.’

’And built a boss that uses my stance without my mistakes.’

’I have to fight against my own style.’

’Better executed than me at the beginning.’

Kai studied it three more seconds.

And smiled — wider than any smile from level 3.

’Now this is interesting.’

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ THE BOSS USES HIS STANCE ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ PERFECTLY EXECUTED ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛]

[Drakeking: THE LABYRINTH LEARNED FROM THE CREATURES THAT LEARNED FROM KAI AND BUILT A BOSS]

[Jack_Moore: @Drakeking and Kai is SMILING WIDER]

[Wolf1179: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Mist_Of_Death: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[System — notification]

[Current viewers: 20,100,000]

[The system notes that the stream just surpassed twenty million viewers]

[The system notes that Kai is smiling in front of a boss that uses his own stance]

[The system notes that Serah and Lira are already in level 5]