26 4th Level of Qi Condensation
Kai Went back to his room at the Inn and extended his stay once again by a day with the receptionist. In his room, Kai showered and thoroughly washed his black Wanderer's robes. He then changed back into his clean white robes and reveled in the feeling of cleanliness.
Kai sat cross-legged on his bed and went through the details of the previous day.
"A lot happened in that fight. I could have handled it a lot better as well..."
Kai analyzed the fight with the [Fungus-Ape] and quickly came to realize that the beast was powerful but not unbeatable.
Kai ran through many possible scenarios and found that he could come up with ways to win. He analyzed the speed, strength, and intelligence of the beast and came up with a few tactics on how to face it in the future.
"Even if I'm alone next time, I'll be able to fight it and come out on top of 9 times out of ten if I'm extra careful"
The only scenario that Kai saw himself lose without a chance was if it snuck up on him quietly and finished him in one shot. However, this was unlikely considering how loud and obnoxious the beast was.
"Had I acted faster and been more decisive, I could have saved him..." Kai quickly stopped this train of thought. The past couldn't be changed so all he could do was learn as much as he could from Cai Lou's death.
It's not like Cai Lou's death was weighing heavily on Kai's mind either, but rather he acknowledged that he could have managed the situation a lot better and would try to come up with a better and more decisive solution next time.
While Kai was running through all the battle scenarios he could think off. He took a deep breath and realized that he had been subconsciously circulating his Qi following [Dragon Subduing Law].
"Is reflecting on battles beneficial to my breakthroughs?". Kai was initially worried when he noticed that his breakthroughs were gradually becoming harder, so knowing that these battle insights would help make the breakthroughs slightly easier, made Kai extremely happy.
Kai cleared his mind and focused on the new insights he had. He shut his eyes and concentrated even more.
"Begin!"
Kai yelled in his mind and started the breakthrough process. As expected, Kai felt even more pushback this time, spiking the difficulty of the breakthrough to a whole new level.
"If the difficulty keeps increasing like this, then doesn't that mean I'd have the possibility of failure?".
Kai hated the idea of failing a breakthrough considering how much effort he had to put in to collect the Qi. He had a feeling that a failure would still reset his Qi to zero which would be way too painful for him. Kai threw these unnecessary thoughts out of his mind and focused on the circulation of Qi.
Kai's Qi channels slowly expanded to be able to accommodate even more Qi. At the same time, Kai noticed that his core had grown by a bit again.
The process was intense and Kai had to add even more concentration to keep the larger amounts of Qi from going out of control and potentially damaging his Qi channels.
==[ Breakthrough successful. The host has reached 4th Level of Qi Condensation]==
By the end of this, only 10 minutes had passed but Kai was completely drenched in sweat. However, Kai felt the expanded Qi channels within his body.
Kai was now sure without a doubt that he could beat the [Fungus-Ape] all by himself. All he needed was a few Qi-enhanced punches aimed at vital spots. Plus if he added [Corrosive Dragon Stance] into the mix, then the fight would become child's play
Kai jump off his bead and breathed in deeply before slowly exhaling. He then looked at his body and sighed. "That was a little intense, now I'm all sweaty again...I'm going to have to take another shower. Note to self, breakthrough before I shower from now on..."
Kai looked at his entire Status page to see the full changes to his status recently.
==[Status]==>
[Name]: Kai (No Last name)
[Age]: 14 [Life expectancy = 38 years] {+2years added from Breakthrough}
[Internal Cultivation Level]: Fourth Level of Qi Condensation
[Body Grade]: Mortal Grade 2
[Health]: 40 /40
[Qi]: 0 /500 {+100 Qi added from Breakthrough}
[Qi Gather Rate]: [1 Qi /day]
[Status]: Healthy
==[Stats]==
[External Strength]: 6+(0)
[External Defense]: 13+(8)
[Internal Strength]: 8+(0) {+2 added from Breakthrough}
[Internal Defense]: 4+(0) {+1 added from Breakthrough}
==[Equipment]==
[Headpiece]: Wanderer's Head-band (Grade1: External Defense 1)
[Necklace]: Wanderer's Cloak (Grade1: External Defense 2)
[Body]: Wanderer's Robes (Grade1: External Defense:3)
[Feet]: Wanderer's boots (Grade 1: External Defense : 2)
[Ring]: None
==[Cultivation Manuals]==
==[Internal Cultivation Manuals]==
>[Dragon Subduing Law] [F-Rank based on [Grade-1] Fishing Rod]
[Limit]: Twelfth level Of Qi Condensation
[Qi Gather Rate]:1/ day
[Ability] You can absorb Qi from a beast you have caught yourself. Limited to 5 Qi per beast. Limits are increased based on cultivation level.
[Current level]: Level 3
[Qi Breakthrough Requirement]: 500 Qi
==[Body Cultivation Manuals]==
>[10,000 Year Immortal Summit Law] [F-Rank] based on [Grade-1] Rock]
[Limit]: Mortal Grade-2 [Limit reached]
[Action]: Lift rocks of varying weights daily during set intervals to increase strength]
==[Martial Arts Cultivation Manuals]==
>[Twig] [F-Rank] based on [Grade-1] Twig]
[Technique]: Passive Footwork. slightly increase balance when standing still]
>[Hare Leaps over Moon] [F-Rank] based on [Grade-1] Vicious Hare]
[Technique]: Active Footwork, Can perform a short leap at unprecedented speed in any direction
[Cost]: 1 Qi
[Cool down]: 1 minute
>[Corrosive Dragon Stance] [ E-Rank] based on [Grade-3][Roaming Spider Venom]
[Ability 1, Active]: Adds a corrosive attribute to physical attacks
[Cost]: 2 Qi per attack
[Ability 2, Active]: Infects any attacker with corrosive poison
[Cost]: 1 Qi, lasts 30 seconds
==[System Functions]==
>[Create Manual]
[Create a manual random manual from selected base material]
>[Qi Detection]
[Detect the value of Qi within an object. Detection limit is based on host's cultivation level]
>[Sub-Core Manual]
[Grants host ability to transfer manuals to Sub-Cores]
[Grants host ability to enhance or destroy Sub-Cores at the cost of Qi]
[Sub-Cores cannot be enhanced past the level of the Main-Core]
[Current Sub-Core Limit]: 1/5
>[Manual Customization]
[Manuals can be combined with a chance to create Manuals of a higher Rank depending on the Qi spent]
"I'm making some fast progress. If I keep going at this pace, I'll fast reach the cap of [Dragon Subduing Law]. I need to think about getting a better internal manual before I hit that wall"
Kai still had a wide-tooth grin as he thought about all the wonderful things that power could bring. He would soon hit a wall if he kept going at this rate, but the feeling of getting stronger was addicting to Kai.
"Oh right, I promised to meet Su Ling!, I've wasted too much time". He remembered that he still needed to finalize his contract with Su Ling and didn't want to keep her waiting any longer, so he quickly left his room after taking another shower.
Kai headed straight for the Hunter's Lodge. He arrived at the lodge and was surprised by the sudden influx of people. Unlike the previous times when Kai had come here, the place was now full of people going about their business. Even the second floor that was always empty had people talking and exchanging information.
Kai looked around and couldn't recognize a single face, but the people all looked quite powerful. Kai also took note of a certain group that was standing out towards the back of the hall. They were all dressed in matching black gear with an emblem of a red rose across their chests and right shoulder plates.
"Mr. Kai, over here"
Kai heard Su Ling"s voice and followed it to see the young woman waving at him from the other side of the hall. Kai moved around the people standing around went over to her spot by the window and took a seat.
"Do you know why there are so many people here today?", Kai asked while his eyes wandered around the crowd and finally landed on a well equipped group at the back.
Su Ling gave him a puzzled look in response.
"It's usually always like this. Most Hunter's in this city head west to follow the beasts, but they come back once the Seven Colored Lotus' season ends"
Kai nodded in understanding.
These people lived up to their names as Hunters and even followed the beast's migration patterns.
Su Ling handed Kai the contract along with a small bag of coins. We were able to collect 176 [Slime Vine] bladders which were more than we had initially hoped for. As promised, your payment is 352 copper.
Kai opened the bag and saw that it had 3 silver coins plus 52 copper coins. Kai gladly accepted the bag of coins and stored it away carefully. Kai refused to exchange anymore of his contribution points for money so these coins would serve him well.
He signed the contract proving that he was paid as per their, and thus his contract and their business were concluded.
"Mr. Kai, now that our business is done, I would like to formally invite you to join our Jade Serpent team. With your power, I am willing to step down as the Vice-Leader and hand the position over to you".
Kai could only look at her with an incredulous look on his face. Didn't they just lose their entire team?. Where did she get the balls to invite him to join that mess they called a team.
Kai would have gladly accepted Su Ling and Su Fang as followers or bodyguards, but Kai was becoming too ambitious to follow someone else. The stronger he got, the more ambitious and steadfast he became.
"Thank you for the invitation, I'll think about it". Kai said with a polite, nonchalant smile.
"I know we didn't make the best first impression so you may not want to join us, but if you do decide to travel with us, you can come to find us here".
Su Ling handed Kai a note small note with an address written on it.
"My brother and I will be leaving Huang City soon. With the return of the beasts, competition for hunting grounds is going to become fierce as well as quite dangerous."
"Oh, is that why there are so many people here recently?" Kai asked with honest curiosity.
Su Ling nodded her head and continued.
"Black Rose is also back so brother and I can't stay here for too long unless we want to invite trouble for ourselves"
Kai peered over to the group he had spotted earlier as Su Ling spoke. He noticed how well equipped they were and all seemed quite powerful.
"How do they compare to the Twin-Lions sect?. I hear their leader is an Internal Cultivator."Kai suddenly asked. He didn't have any frame of reference. All he knew was that the Twin-Lions Sect ruled the city so he would use that as a basis.
Su Ling didn't know if Kai was joking or not but answered his question anyway.
"The two are Incomparable. Black Rose is a strong Hunter team, but their leader is just a wandering cultivator who is rumored to be at the 6th level of Qi Condensation. He is strong when compared to us mortals, but I hear he wouldn't even be able to compare to even the outer disciples of the Twin-Lions Sect."
"I see, that makes sense".
Kai had figured as much but it was still nice to get confirmation. Hunter teams which seemed to be made up of Body Cultivators couldn't compare to Internal Cultivators that could use Qi. This seemed to be a fact of the world.
Su Ling sighed and bade him farewell. She had a feeling that Kai had no plans to join their team based on his nonchalant responses, but she still had to ask. Su Ling got up and was about to leave before she turned back to the table and whispered over to Kai.
"As I said before, the competition is about to get fierce, so if you plan to continue hunting around this city, it's better if you create a team with people you trust..."
"Competition is all right with me," Kai said with a smile.
For Kai, all blades were forged in fire, but the sharpest blades also need to experience some bloodshed as well. Kai tilted his head slowly and looked around the room with a merciless glint in his eye. Kai wouldn't show any mercy to anyone who got in the way of his grind-fest.
As for creating his own team, it wasn't a bad idea. Kai figured it could also be a good start towards his true goals.
