Basic Steps

"Hu!" Chen Shouyi woke up from his dream.

"Why was my experience different from the experiences listed on the web by those practitioners?" He recalled everything in his dream as a sense of puzzlement filled his heart.

The initial experience of 'entering meditation to train the body' should be 'a chaotic fight between dark and light'. Why was it that after optimization, he could clearly see the contours of his muscles and body in three-dimensional shapes?

This thought flashed past his mind. No matter what, he decided to try it first before saying anything else.

He impatiently sat cross-legged. However, the moment he sat down, his thoughts began to calm down as though he was long since familiar with how to enter a meditative state.

"How is this possible?"

This was only the first time he practiced, and his sensing boundary already expanded to his chest and the entire lower body.

According to the experiences recorded on the internet, when an ordinary person sensed their body through meditation for the first time, they could at most sense the muscles in their fingers or toes. And even for those people with very strong innate mental energy, they could only sense a foot or a palm.

If one was to say that his talent in mental strength was outstanding, Chen Shouyi wouldn't believe that at all. If his talent was truly outstanding, he wouldn't have been stuck at 'Entering Meditation' (ungraded) for such a long time.

The attributes from the Book of Knowledge that could explain the legendary mental energy were undoubtedly perception and willpower. His willpower might have grown somewhat stronger, but at most, it would only be slightly stronger compared to ordinary human's. As for his perception, it was so ordinary that it was insignificant.

At this moment, he suddenly thought about the difference between his entering meditation's scene and normal people's.

"Could it be that the amount of information I perceived is relatively stronger?"

The more he thought about it, the more he felt it was so. It was just like wanting to draw a figure in a watercolor painting. First, one had to use lines to portray the contours before filling it up with the colors. And as for the 'entering meditation to train one's body' for ordinary people, when they used the brush, they straight away filled in the colors without first portraying the contours.

Under the same number of pixels, the former could allow one to quickly sketch out the outline of the things they wished to paint. As for the latter, they were incapable of finishing it in a single brush stroke.

...

He got down from bed, took up his wooden sword, and began training his Bow Stance Pierce. He tried to sense meticulously and discovered that there weren't any great effects. It felt the same as it was before.

After that, he couldn't help but smile helplessly. This was after all the first time he trained in 'entering meditation', how could there be such an obvious effect?

'Entering meditation to train the body' would consume a large amount of mental energy. Right now, he could feel his temple swelling, and it was very hard to focus his mind. There was no need for him to think about doing homework now.

Luckily, tomorrow was the weekend, and so he didn't need to be in a hurry to do his homework. In the future, he would only practice 'entering meditation' before sleep.

He continued wielding the wooden sword and simply went on with his practice of the Bow Stance Pierce.

...

The next morning, Chen Shouyi went to a youth martial training center.

Even before he entered the hall, there were already quite a few flyers in his hands. He looked at them. The advertising leaflets were like a deluge of heavenly flowers. There were descriptions such as 'true martial practitioners coaching you' and 'concentrated training history of twenty years'.

Some of them were the tuitions he had taken during his holidays.

When he thought about the effectiveness of those lessons, his expressions couldn't help but contort.

"Dogshit!"

When he saw the next rubbish bin, he instantly tossed all the flyers in his hand into it.

Before he came, he already did some research on the internet and had a target in mind. But before he registered, he had to do some on-site monitoring first.

He swiftly went into the elevator and arrived on the fifth floor.

Even before he walked to the training room's door, a melodious female voice drifted out through the air.

"Do you know why the requirements for sword techniques in the Martial Apprentice Test are so high? I believe everyone is very clear that the gravity in the Other World is three times higher than that of Earth. This makes it so that even an ordinary barbarian has a much stronger body compared to our martial practitioners.

"We don't have the innate bodily advantage. Since that's the case, we can only train ourselves in techniques, pursuing them to the limits in order to mitigate the differences.

"Right now, what we are learning is the version 5.0 sword techniques, modified by supercomputers through human muscle analysis. Each trace of muscle movements was precisely calculated, and it was the result of human mechanics and aerodynamics.

"Under the prerequisite of no injury and capable of unleashing the greatest speed and strength, a martial apprentice who meets this standard can erupt forth with three times their power, while martial practitioners can reach a five times increment. As for grand martial practitioners, the amount of strength they can erupt forth with will be even stronger…"

Chen Shouyi felt some disbelief. When he thought of his shocking performance last night when he had used a wooden chopstick to penetrate a wall, he suddenly felt that this might be the case. When he was practicing the Bow Stance Pierce, every sword he pierced out had shockingly fast speed.

If a sword was likened to a bullet, in that case, the increase in power that was transmitted through each muscle that acted as levers would be the driving force.

It could cause an ordinary wave of power to be increased by several times.

The door to the martial training room was opened halfway. Through the gap, Chen Shouyi could see a woman with a racy figure clad in hot pants.

"The advertisement on the web isn't false at all. The teacher of the tuition class is actually a beauty. I heard that she just graduated from the martial academy and is only a step away from being a martial practitioner. In addition to that, her personality is gentle and soft and she is very patient.

"Student, can I help you?" Chen Shouyi was only here for a few seconds, and the beauty seemed to have noticed his arrival and instantly glanced toward him.

When she spoke, she had a smile on her face. Her tone was light and gentle, and she was as elegant as a hundred blossoms.

This caused Chen Shouyi's initial nervous feeling of being caught peeping to rapidly relax. He hurriedly spoke, "I...I came to register for the sword techniques tuition."

"Oh, I'm conducting a class now. Please wait for a moment."

"Alright, no problem." Chen Shouyi waved his hand.

"I wonder if I can enter the class and listen to you, miss?"

That beautiful woman was startled. She glanced at him before nodding. "Mn, sure you can."

After that, Chen Shouyi removed his shoes and walked into the classroom.

There were a total of ten students in this class, six males and four females. All of them were people around Chen Shouyi's age, and there was also one that was evidently a junior high student.

These people glanced at Chen Shouyi and no longer paid any attention to him after that.

Chen Shouyi discovered a few resting benches at the back. Thus, he then went over and sat down.

Very soon, the tuition teacher continued with her lesson.

"Today, I'm going to teach the 'slash' aspect of sword techniques. 'Slash', in a detailed analysis, can be split into motionless slash, small-stride slash, and large-stride slash. In addition, due to the difference in the way one holds the sword, it can also be split into single-handed slash and two-handed slash.

"Motionless slash means that there are no obvious movements for your steps. However, your legs will continue to exert strength. Everyone, look at my legs now!"

They could see her holding the wooden sword, preparing to slash out with it. Countless tender and delicate muscles appeared in her originally smooth and glossy legs, moving in a rhythmic flow. There seemed to be a surge of power generated from the bottom, flowing to her backbone and then to her arms after that.

At the next instant, her waist was like a spring and she instantly unleashed a slash. The arc of her sword was graceful, warming the heart and delighting the eyes, exuding a sense of beauty.

Next, she continued to demonstrate the small-stride slash, large-stride slash, and the two-handed slash variation.

She was especially more intense during the large-stride slash, yet there was no sense of being overly intentional. She simply took a normal step forward and instantly moved three meters away, slashing out with her sword. This was simply the 'Shrinking Ground into Inches' in the legends.

Chen Shouyi had seen many television programs about martial practitioners. He knew that this was the basics, a kind of unique movement technique used by martial apprentices and martial practitioners when they were in combat. It was different from how one exerted strength when one was walking.

For the basic steps of this movement technique, the foot had to have a clear action of 'grab' or 'peel', and the spine also had to follow the movement and sway gently. Moreover, its purpose was not only to maintain the body's center of gravity, but it was also a type of boosting force.

'Shrinking Ground into Inches' was somewhat strenuous and also tough to train in.

From the perspective of outsiders, when one was using the basic steps of this technique, they would give off a faint floating feeling and the ability to shrink the ground into inches.

Therefore, it could allow one to erupt with shocking speed instantly. In combat, martial apprentices and martial practitioners would use this step over the normal moving methods of ordinary people.

...

When she was demonstrating, her movements were succinct and smooth, like flowing water and shifting clouds, with no excess movements. Although her speed wasn't quick, it gave everyone a feeling of majestic power.

Chen Shouyi felt that despite the fact she was using a wooden sword, if she was to strike his body, it might truly be slashed open.

A blazing heat appeared in his heart as he watched. He felt that coming here today was too worth it. Just this move alone was completely worth the fee.