First practice

Li Xian walked casually towards Heibin Park, the nearest green space to their penthouse, just a quick ten-minute stroll away. While walking, he checked the group to see if there were any new messages. The chat, however, remained silent.

Unbeknownst to him, others in the group were also checking intermittently, hoping for some activity.

It was already 4:30 pm in the afternoon, and the park seemed pretty empty. If it were earlier in the morning, perhaps some older folks would be doing their daily health exercises.

"This is good! Even if I embarrass myself with weird poses, no one would laugh at me."

Li Xian mumbled to himself as he looked for a good spot to start his practice.

The park wasn't that big; a short 20-minute walk could cover everything. After searching for about five to ten minutes, Li Xian spotted a big banyan tree with lots of free space around it.

"This place is good, except a bit dusty. But that's okay for now."

Li Xian thought, preparing for his first-ever practice session of the Orion martial techniques. There were about six stances and a breathing pattern for each stance to complete one iteration.

These six stances were necessary before entering the initiate stage, essentially the beginner level. Li Xian remembered the stances well; they didn't seem too challenging.

"Alright!"

Li Xian took a deep breath and got into a horse stance position with both his hands outstretched straight. He then started doing the breathing pattern mentioned in the book, breathing in specific patterns.

At each stance, Li Xian needed to repeat a set pattern six times.

After that, he had to change his stance to the second one and do the same breathing pattern, then the third, and so on. In total, six stances meant thirty-six sets of breathing patterns, collectively called Entry stances.

Each breathing pattern took about one minute, making it about six to seven minutes for one stance and around forty minutes to complete an iteration of entry stances.

Li Xian's horse stance was pretty good, but as he started the breathing pattern, he felt he was unable to follow the rhythm mentioned in the book.

"Alright! One more take, Li Xian. You can do this."

After failing to follow the pattern, Li Xian stood up, rubbed his hamstring muscles a bit, feeling painful. He encouraged himself a bit before taking the position again and starting his practice.

The failures kept repeating with the breathing pattern, and he started feeling sharp pain in his thighs, hamstrings, and calves.

"Damn! This is much harder than I expected. Ha, Ha, Ha!"

Li Xian started panting as he stood up. He couldn't even finish the first set of patterns in the first stance after trying up to ten times.

"No! I need to persist more. I need to finish at least one set... no, two sets of patterns today."

Even though he was feeling a bit painful in his muscles, especially his legs, Li Xian didn't want to give up yet. He could still go on for some time.

He didn't try immediately this time. But he took a short break, sat beside the tree, not bothering about the dust anymore.

"One more time. Here I go!"

Li Xian started practicing again, much calmer now. He failed two more times, but on the third try, he finally completed his first set of patterns.

Right after finishing this set, he felt a cool energy washing through his body, especially on his legs, giving him a bit of relief from the sore pain.

He wanted to celebrate his first success, but he didn't want to waste it. He decided to hit the second set while the iron was hot.

One more minute passed, and Li Xian successfully pulled it off this time without any mistakes. Again, a similar cool energy washed over his legs and body.

'Ha' 'Ha' 'Ha' 'Ha'

But this he couldn't persist anymore and flopped onto the ground, panting heavily. He was sweating crazily, and his legs were shivering like crazy, and the amount of pain was unbearable.

"Arrrgh."

Unable to hold on, Li Xian made a short cry to bear through the pain. The sharp pain didn't last for more than thirty seconds; soon, his body started recovering. Li Xian sat there for about fifteen minutes to calm his body down.

"If I keep practicing like this every day, I doubt I'll be able to finish one iteration even after a month! Sigh."

Li Xian slowly stood up, expressing his frustration at his weak endurance.

Just as he was preparing to head back, his mobile chimed with notifications. This instantly prompted him to check them, hopeful that there might be messages in the chat group.

Without checking what the notifications were for, Li Xian clicked on them, and instead of redirecting him to the chat section, they redirected him to the stats section, stunning him.

Thinking that there might be something good, he checked his stats panel, which now had two missions activated for him.

Stats:

Name: Li Xian

Race: Human

Lifespan: 81 years

Stat Points: 0

Cultivation: None (0.5/100) (+) [Exp required for the next level]

Martial Skills: None

Items: Orion martial techniques [Currently at entry stances]

Missions:

Mission 1: Affiliate Program

Type: Permanent

Description: Whenever a member of the group spends a point in the Buy section of the group,

10% of the spent points will be rewarded to the host.

Current accumulation: 0 [Transfer] - Clicking on Transfer will instantly transfer points to Stat points.

Upgrade requirements:

 1. Group members should reach 10.

 2. All the founding members except for the admin should reach Warrior level martial artist.

Mission 2: Take a walk since you are weak for better metabolism

Type: Daily [Ends once the host reaches Warrior level]

Description: Take a good walk and get stat points as rewards for reaching milestones.

Milestones: Every five kilometers one stat point.

Current accumulation: 0 [Transfer] - Clicking on Transfer will instantly transfer points to Stat points.

Strength Rating: Can lift a chicken and Can move like a Snail (Weak as a twig).

"Why am I feeling like this is a kind of game? And what's up with these missions? Affiliate program and a walk? Does everyone in the group get the same missions?"

Li Xian felt a bit gobsmacked looking at the missions. There is a permanent mission, which will keep helping him with his practice, and there is also a daily mission, which he feels is a rich mission that can help him reach Warrior level quickly.

According to him, walking for five kilometers is pretty easy compared to practicing like this, which only gave him a meager 0.5 points. Now he won't be able to practice until he has enough rest to let his body recover.

"And my lifespan increased? Does that mean if I reach higher levels, I will be able to live hundreds of years?"

Li Xian felt a rush of excitement just thinking about living like a legend that can tell tales to the people in the future.

"With these missions... I think it will be easier for me to reach Intermediate Initiate level as long as I put enough effort into the missions before the real mission. But why does the squad leader say it like it's very hard to reach intermediate level."

Li Xian wondered, as he felt reaching intermediate initiate a bit easy with the mission's support.

What he didn't know is that Travis Head just said that to encourage them and make them try their best to reach that. But he never thought anyone of the five will make it.

'Ahhh.'

Just as Li Xian took a step, he felt the pain in his legs and couldn't help but moan in pain. But he still walked around the park, instead of going back, as he wanted to get one point reward from the daily mission.

As he walked, or to say limped, he opened the chat section and messaged, unable to wait anymore to know if all their missions are similar or not.

Li Xian:[You guys there? What missions did you all get? Let me know, so that we can cooperate to get as many points as possible.]

Li Xian dropped the message to the other four, as he didn't want to disturb Travis Head and irritate him.

The other four respective planets, who are also done with their practice, had been waiting for some time to discuss their practice in the group. But none of them wanted to take the initiative.

Seeing a notification finally coming, they hurriedly opened them, which instantly confused them. Even Travis Head checked the message, even though he is busy himself.

'Damn! Reply something, why are you leaving my message hanging there? Where is the team spirit?'

Li Xian cursed, as he saw the chat still dead silent, none bothered with his message.

Travis Head looked at the message a bit confused, as to what this troublemaker Li Xian is smoking. He wanted to message that the mission is still two months away, but in the end, he decided to leave it, as he felt it would only prompt more nonsense from him.

Alex: [Yo! Brother from the same race, What missions are you talking about? By any chance, did that practice session make you delusional?]

Alex replied a bit sarcastically, as he looked at his screen with a bit of pleasure. Currently, he is in a sci-fi level gym, just finished his practice.

Like Li Xian, he also felt the pain about this practice. But with the help of technology there, he was able to complete three sets of patterns in the first stance.

Luminara: [+1... You humans are a bit weird. Our mission is still two months away, right?]

Luminara, a graceful-looking lady, and her skin is actually a bit glowing with light. She is currently in a ground full of grass and trees, which are illuminating under moonlight.

Due to her lithe figure and inborn agile bodies, she was able to complete the entire six sets of the first set without much difficulty.

But due to her endurance level being low, she had to stop it for the day. When she saw the message from Li Xian, she couldn't help but get confused by him, and she even checked if she has missed any important updates from admin.

She even checked the Storehouse section to see if they have added any mission section there.

Not seeing anything, she felt a bit annoyed at Li Xian for making her excited for nothing.

Petra: [+1... Sister from Luminous! Ignore the humans, they are weird. How is your practice? I was able to complete five sets of patterns today. And I don't think I will be able to practice without rest anymore.]

Petra, a young girl around twenty just sat on a mountaintop with legs stretched. She doesn't look that exquisite, as her complexion is rugged and her skin color is red. But she does have the youthful energy making everyone attract to her.

Gromm: [Hm! Petra... You should have persisted a bit more; you would have been able to make it to six sets. (💪)]

Before Luminara responds, Gromm responded, as he also finished his practice for the day in a special practice ground in his village. The practice ground looks like an arena for gladiators.

He completely ignored Li Xian, as he is concentrated only on Petra and Luminara's messages. His message indicated that he completed six sets.

Luminara: [That's alright! Five sets are good too, sister Petra. Also, I have done the same as Gromm, six sets. But this is not a competition, and please make sure to follow the suggestions in the book. (☮️)]

Luminara responded as she saw the

both messages from Gromm and Petra. She felt Gromm's message a bit competitive and couldn't help but suggest.

Petra: [Big brother Gromm, I will try to practice more. Also, sister Luminara, thanks. (😊)]

Petra felt a bit down after seeing Gromm's message. But after seeing Luminara's message, she lightened up again.

Alex: [Why am I only able to do three sets? What about you, brother Li? (😢)]

Alex, who was looking at the screen a bit smug, couldn't help but twitch his face, as he looked at their messages. He felt that three sets are his limit right now and even his robot said the same after analysing.

Gromm: [Yo! Three sets? Are humans this weak? (😏)]

Gromm poked at Alex and Li Xian, as truly felt that humans are probably a weak race among the three races resent in this group. But he doesn't want to provoke too much, as the admin was also a human.

Li Xian: [Guess!!!]

Li Xian messaged, as his face is already funny, knowing that his hard effort to reach two sets still makes him the weakest of the bunch. He doesn't want to mention about this or else it will embarrass him too much.

Luminara: [0 sets? I think you were unable to complete even one.]

Gromm: [Agree +1]

Petra: [Don't be like this, sister Luminara and big brother Gromm. I think he probably did one set. (🤔)]

Looking at their messages, Li Xian felt awkward. He doesn't know what makes them think that he is that weak.

Li Xian: [Alright! You are all wrong. And also, when we meet at the mission time, you will know how strong I am. I have something urgent to take care of; I will talk to you all later.]

After messaging that, Li Xian closed the chat, as he has much important thing to deal with. The entire chat went silent for some time.

Petra: [Did we hurt him? Is Big brother Li Xian angry at us? (😢)]

Luminara: [I don't think so; that person probably has a very thick skin....]

They continued their chat, while Gromm and Alex messaged once in a while in between.

'So! This stats section is exclusive to me? Is it done by Travis Head?'

Li Xian forgot about the pain and started walking much faster with excitement. But he shook his head, as that would be an obvious unfair treatment for others. He racked his head for a moment, as to how he is the only one with this.

"Don't tell me! It does look similar to that..."