The First Enlightenment

Karsha woke up an hour later with a splitting headache. He hadn't felt relaxed for almost a year, having spent the last several months training and building his strength so he could escape the Pit and the Slave Mine.

The body he now inhabited was just too weak. Karsha, despite coming from a world where cultivation was merely a fairytale depicted only in movies and books, knew he had been stronger than he currently was. But since he couldn't return to his old body, he had to accept his reality and focus on what he could do now to strengthen himself.

"Hah," he sighed, then took out his water bottle and gulped down three mouthfuls of water. "I guess I have to ask the system to clarify some things for me." After his recent encounter with the beast, Karsha became more aware of his lack of skills and techniques.

He had watched many cultivation movies back on Earth, and from them, he knew that cultivators possessed skills, spells, and techniques they used to fight their opponents. However, at present, he has none of these skills. Clearly, he had already forgotten about the Divine Rank technique in his inventory.

Techniques also have their ranks, just like weapons and the ranks for beasts and humans. These ranks were similar to those of weapons, starting from Common and going up to Divine. A Divine Rank technique was akin to possessing the most valuable thing in the world.

Every cultivator sought after powerful weapons and techniques, mostly in the legendary rank and above. They did this not because of their beauty, but for the significant damage output these techniques and weapons could deliver.

Learning the technique would grant them skills, and these skills were measured in tiers. Currently, most people knew up to only Tier 15 skills, and those with such high-tier skills were the influential and powerful cultivators in Quinox.

However, there are situations where those who manage to master their skills to a certain level gain insight and are able to upgrade their skills to the next tier, thereby attaining Tier 16 and beyond.

But this process is exceedingly slow. Being able to raise a Tier 5 skill to Tier 10 is something many would consider a great feat. However, in situations where they acquire Divine techniques, the skills they inherit are always in the 10th Tier and sometimes higher. All skills acquired from Divine techniques or weapons are always Tier 10 and above.

A Divine technique is often a package that contains multiple skills. For example, a technique for swordsmen might include three or more skills that make up the technique. Thus, if a swordsman gains a Divine technique, they will inherit three or more Tier 10 skills. This, of course, depends on their comprehension speed and soul strength. Mental strength is also required in some situations.

Divine techniques contain more skills than lower-ranked ones, making them a must-have for any cultivator. However, Karsha discarded his Divine technique and decided to face the monsters without any skills. It wasn't entirely his fault, but he knew something had to be done since he had already learned this lesson the hard way.

"System, care to tell me how and where I can acquire my own spells, skills, and techniques?" He knew he had the best assistant to provide him with answers. However, the system remained silent. It wasn't an exaggeration to say the system was mad at him.

He asked several times, but the system stayed quiet. Karsha had a lot of thinking to do, but at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder whether the system had abandoned him. But that wasn't possible since he had already fused with it, and floating before his eyes when he woke up was a series of texts he had just brushed through.

"Ha, I guess the system is off for the day. Back to the Tiger Strike technique, I guess." After spending five minutes asking the unresponsive system, Karsha gave up and took out the Divine technique again.

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< Tiger strike Dual sword Technique Manual >

Rank: Tier 8

- A tiger is fast and deadly, so what happens when a person takes a tiger's fury, agility, and smartness and turns it into a dual swords play? I see potential, and that potential is someone rising to the top with only his swords and wit.

Note: Hi, This is the God of swords; whoever is about to learn this technique should know it hates lazy people. So, if you are that type, kindly drop the manual before you invoke my wrath.

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"This guy sure is dramatic," Karsha commented as he read the description once again. The note added to the manual was poetic. The God of Swords was the master of the sword. He had many techniques under his belt, and for one of them to find its way to Karsha was a big deal.

However, Karsha didn't seem to think that way as he started flipping through the book. "Aiya, I hate reading," he sighed as he read the content on the first page.

"As the heavens echo and the thunder roars, the tiger shall rise and battle. They will say it is a legendary battle that will stay with us forever." That was what the Tiger God said before he fell at the sword of the God of Swords. It was a great battle that showed the God of Swords he wasn't perfect when it came to swordplay.

So, he repeatedly replayed the battle with the Tiger God, hoping to find where he slipped up and what he could do about it. Alas, he couldn't fix his loopholes, so he created a divine technique that, if fully comprehended, could rival the "Seven Scriptures of the Sword God."

I sought to learn it, but the requirements were too unique and streamlined, so I threw it into the universe, hoping to find the destined person meant to rise and surpass me. The Tiger Strike Dual Sword Technique is the result of 199 days of battle. It contains most of the skills of the tigers and the God of Swords. Be serious, and don't slack off."

"I guess the God of Swords doesn't know how to form proper sentences," Karsha chuckled as he read the remainder of the text, which was written in both the first and third person. "To the destined person, know that you will be unstoppable if you manage to learn this technique. However, your road to the top will be filled with dangers.

The strongest will want to challenge you, and the weak will be jealous. You will be the center of attention, so if you slack off, your name will be short-lived. Learn and make me proud since I will also be one of the people who will challenge you."

"Tsk, this man sure knows how to brag. It's just a technique; why exaggerate something so trivial to the point that it looks like the greatest technique in the universe?" Karsha chuckled as he let his relaxed nature take hold of him. He was known for joking about anything, sometimes even toying with dangerous targets he was instructed to eliminate.

"I guess there is nothing inside," Karsha said as he flipped through the book, which appeared to be empty. He wanted to throw it away, but just when he was about to, a fly landed on his forehead, making him swat it off using the manual.

However, the moment the book touched his forehead, a series of messages appeared before his eyes.

< Does the host wish to learn the Divine technique: Tiger Strike Dual Sword Technique? >

- Yes

- No

"Why not? Yes, I want to learn," Karsha said in a nonchalant manner. As soon as he answered, he felt a surge of information enter his mind. He immediately experienced a head-splitting pain as millions of pieces of information continued to flood his mind.

Five minutes later, the process ended, and Karsha slowly lifted himself from the floor. The pain had made him roll around like a baby crying for its mother. Just as he sat down, his eyes flickered, and his body stiffened. The air around him began to change as he sat there motionless.

It wouldn't take a genius to observe that he had entered his first enlightenment after absorbing the book's content. For someone to enter enlightenment, they must have reached a certain level of comprehension of a technique or skill. However, Karsha hadn't even started comprehending the ability yet managed to enter enlightenment.

It's a strange phenomenon that has never happened before. But as if that wasn't enough, the blood-red aura that emitted from him during his trance reappeared, looking sharper this time. It no longer had the same gloomy feel.

The longer he stayed in the trance-like state, the sharper his aura became. The only thing that didn't change was his malnourished body. His slim and bony frame remained the same, yet his aura had developed to the point where, if he were to face the Tier 5 beast again, he wouldn't struggle.

Ten days after entering the trance-like state, Karsha opened his eyes, looking sharper and more dangerous than before. He immediately retrieved his sword and began slashing it randomly, a small smile escaping his lips.

"So, this is how it feels," Karsha said as he continued to randomly slash his sword. Twenty minutes in, he retrieved the second sword and started executing a series of dual swordsman moves.

He slashed with one sword and parried with the next, executing thrusts and defenses seamlessly, or performing double slashes simultaneously. It was a normal thing to do, yet for someone who had just acquired a technique for dual swordsmanship, his movements, and strikes looked perfect, as if he had been training with the sword all his life.

"Looks like I have to find more monsters to practice the basics," Karsha said as he glanced toward the direction the Tier 5 monster had come from. He then approached the monster's body and took it into his inventory.

Without wasting a second, he dashed at full speed in that direction, leaving only dust in his wake.

However, as he departed, an old woman appeared out of thin air and stood where Karsha had been sitting for the past 10 days. She observed the departing figure of the General, then vanished into the distance, muttering to herself, "Looks like I have found the perfect candidate for the trial," before fading into thin air.