Battle spirit

"Yes, a right handed one and besides a good bow I will also need light and space element nature stones. I'm sure your treasure tower has those?"

"Yes, nature stones for reaching elemental seed and tree realms are for sale here in the treasure tower, but if you want to buy them for higher realms you will have to go to the auction house." The clerk replied with an even brighter smile than before.

Fang Qiu already learned about the elemental comprehension realms when they were leaving the restaurant.

"The reason it's impossible to reach revolving core now is because my elemental comprehension is not up to standard. currently I am in the awakening realm of elemental comprehension which according to the old man is the first realm of elemental comprehension.

In order to reach revolving core I have to be at peak foundation aswell as breakthrough to elemental seed realm which is the next realm in elemental comprehension.

Elemental awakening, seed, tree, soul, domain, world.

In order to reach foundation no elemental comprehension was needed, but from then on a cultivator needed both qi accumulation and elemental comprehension.

To reach the nascent soul realm I would need to be at peak revolving core and elemental tree realm, for divine spirit realm I need a peak nascent soul and elemental soul and combine them into a divine spirit.

Yet, It seems like my ability can only help me reach the peak in each realm of qi cultivation, for elemental comprehension I am just like anyone else. Hence why I am stuck at peak foundation realm right now. In fact, I might be one of the weakest peak foundation realm cultivators out there since I am nowhere close elemental seed realm and I also possess zero skills.

The mortal ways I used to hunt in the forest would not be sufficient in fights where others have actual superhuman skills and elemental powers. In a real fight even early foundation realm cultivators could probably kill me if they had some decent skills." So first I need a weapon and nature stones and after that I will have to get myself some skills."

The clerk had already received two jade slips from a servant whilst Fang Qiu was thinking and was now handing them over to him.

"Young master, these are the inventories of the bows and nature stones for foundation level cultivators. Please take a look."

"Sending his qi inside, Fang Qiu suddenly felt all sorts of information appear in his mind. Bows for most of the main elements appeared and some were even designed for rare element users.

The only main elements missing were light and earth element, since light element cultivators were specialised in support and generally had less offensive combat ability, and earth cultivators had the innate stronger body so of course nearly all of them took the front lines and fought up close. Bows for these elements were usually custom made or they used bows that had no elemental preference.

Space, fire and wind element had the most bows since those elements were mainly suited for archery. Space element archers generally had very unpredictable and hard to dodge attacks, fire element archers had huge offensive powers and usually made use of explosive skills to deal huge AOE* damage.

And lastly wind element users had a combination of unpredictability and speed.

In fact, most archers were wind element since wind element cultivators could innately levitate in the air and fly albeit slow.

Hence why wind element was considered the main long range element with light coming in close second but mainly focused on support instead of damage.

Of course Fang Qiu ignored all the other elements and only focused on the space element bows. The difference mainly lied in the materials used and the added in elemental markings. Some of them focused on penetrating defence, others focused on amplifying skills or even carried their own effects.

Basic amplifying runes were the most popular since they increased the power of the skill used by the cultivator, but some cultivators preferred catching enemies of guard by using a bow with special effects.

And then there were the last type which was cultivators trying to fix their shortcomings, space element archers lacking offensive power would want a bow with more offensive runes, some lacking in defence would want a bow that was made of very sturdy materials so they could use it to block attacks.

Fang Qiu even saw a bow that had an added effect of shot arrows having a fake decoy making it harder to discern which one was real. Of course, activating the effects of treasures consumed a certain amount of qi so they were mainly used as trump cards or killing moves.

To Fang Qiu it was difficult making a choice since he didn't know what kind of skills he wanted yet. Every cultivator had to make this choice eventually and the old man was no stranger to Fang Qiu's dilemma seeing his hesitant look.

"Little fourth, you might think I had you become an archer in order to win the bet but I truly have the best interests in mind for my disciples. Deciding you had to become an archer had many reasons behind it. So if you want me to help you decide..."

Snort*

"Old man, are you okay in the head? You had your one armed disciple become an archer, what's next? Making Blind Ye a scout? You can try convince me but I doubt you have my best interests in mind."

"You shameless little sh*t, do you want to bet?"

Seeing the old man's angry face made Fang Qiu realise he might not have been lying, but how could making him an archer be in his best interests?

"N..no, old man you should look a bit more friendly, you will never find a husband this way!"

"Trying to mess with the great god Fang? See how I ruin your reputation, old man!" He thought to himself.

And just as he thought...

"Fine, no angry faces and no bets! Just listen to what I have to say at least."

"The first reason I had you become an archer is because your senior brothers and sister are all close combat fighters, so they need a long range cultivator to support them. No one in this world makes it to the peak on his own, everyone had people to support them in getting there.

My second reason is that you are not made to be a close range fighter, your "dig in" and eating ability enables you to heal mid fight, but you or your core spirit will easily be cut down if you start eating in the middle of a close range fight.

Even if you use the panda to instantly absorb the corpses and heal, you will be killing yourself by doing so since your panda is not a battle spirit."

"A battle spirit?" This was the first time hearing that term

Seeing Fang Qiu's confusion the old man slowly explained "most core spirits are battle spirits, meaning they are designed for battle and have certain offensive abilities but most importantly battle spirits have the same defensive power as their owner. This allows them to confidently use the spirit in battle.

They can usually be recognised by the spirit ability being offensive in nature, meaning the core spirit is generally also offensive in nature and well suited for battle.

Take Su Meimei's lucky cat for example, her ability allows the cat to ignore barriers and steal things from enemies. This is clearly an offensive ability and the cat assists her in battle by stealing enemies' treasures or disarming them.

If cultivators were to attack and kill the cat it would be more difficult since it has the same defences as meimei. After which it would return to her core and be resummoned when her qi reserves are full.

Hence why her core spirit is called a battle spirit.

Yet your core spirit is clearly a support type allowing you to heal and increase cultivation.

In battles it could be killed from the weakest of attacks. Just like battle spirits you will not be able to use your spirit ability until it is revived. But the main weakness is that even a freshly awakened cultivator could kill your core spirit in a single hit. Look at those chubby cheeks! Do you think little black has your body's defensive powers? I could spit the damn thing to death." The old man said in a joking manner.

In fact, the main strategy to attack support type cultivators is to kill their core spirit since it barely takes a single hit to do so. Weakening them in the process by removing their spirit ability from the equation.

As for the likes of Fatty Zhang, they have an internal core spirit meaning it is inside their bodies which is just as rare as a dual element cultivator. Their core spirits cannot be targeted which gives them a huge advantage as support types, but the damned Fatty chose to be a close range assassin!

Do you understand now why you are meant to be an archer instead of a close combat fighter?"

"Everything you said is logical, old man. But you are forgetting the main issue at HAND, Literally! I only have one arm!!"

"That's what you're worried about? There's plenty of space element skills that enable cultivators to create what is called phantom arms. They bend space in order to have more arms on top of their real two arms usually connected to their torso, shoulders or back., which is a very popular space element skill for craftsmen since it allows them to multitask leaving many of the other refiners in the dust. Of course the fire, water and most other elements have their own version of phantom arms. But the space element ones are considered the best ones for side occupations since fire or water arms can easily influence the finished product's quality or end result.

So basically, you could just modify a phantom arm type skill to replace your missing arm instead of adding more arms. That way you can be an archer using only one real arm and one phantom one!

Fang Qiu suddenly felt enlightened yet there still was an issue remaining.

"But, doesn't a skill like that consume a lot of Qi to remain active. How do I fight if just my phantom arm is a big hit to my Qi reserves?"

"Are you retarded? Look behind you!...no, on your back stupid! Can't you have your panda eat constantly in order to replenish your qi? In emergencies you can even have it use dig in on a corpse to instantly refill your qi reserves or heal you!"

Sigh*

"And I thought Little Airhead was the dumbest out of all of you."

"Master, who is little airhead?….It's my senior sister isn't it? What would she think of you if I told her? Hehehe..."

"You little...if you want to become a pancake on the wall just say the word!"

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1. AOE damage means "area of effect"