Training

"To practice this manual, you have to first develop an energy center..."

Yoo Jeong-Mok proceeded to show He Lei how to cultivate and what its functions are. Of course, He Lei paid attention to hear for any exploits he can abuse for the future. By the end of the evening, he had a ten percent mastery of the manual to the shock and envy of his master and eldest brother. At night, he sneaked out of the house he was sleeping in to go next to a Plum Blossom tree and cultivated there as Joo Seo-Cheon did. The amount of progress made was ridiculous and by the next morning, he was at thirty percent mastery.

He didn't bother telling anyone about his growth as he was distracted by something strange that very morning. Nobody else could see it but him. You see, two things showed up in front of him during his cultivation session. One was a silver blob that floated in the air and the other was surprisingly his favorite pokemon, Delibird but a golden variant of it.

He Lei didn't know what to do in the situation and to his amazement, both of them walked into him. They didn't pass him but rather entered him. The next thing he knew, there was information about both of them and what they do.

The Golden Delibird was a spirit of treasure that gives him random treasures at random times. However, it has another function where he could ask for a treasure. Depending on the rank of it, there are varying cooldowns. One Low-level treasure could be asked for once a day, one Mid-level a week, one High-level a month, and one Grand-level for once a year. There was no indication as to what was considered a treasure of each level so he just went with it.

As for the silver floating blob, it was a weapon spirit. If He Lei uses a weapon, the blob will fuse with it and strengthen it. Along with the fusion came enhanced comprehension. Whatever weapon He Lei has at hand, the spirit will give him a better affinity towards it temporarily. In essence, the weapon spirit aids him in the mastery of weapon arts, so martial arts like the Plum Blossom Sword Art is going to be a cakewalk for him.

With nothing better to do, he activated his Delibird's ability for a treasure of the Grand-level. What he got was a paper talisman that floated to his chest and fused with him. There wasn't any difference to his body except for the marks of the talisman on his chest. It wasn't large enough to cover him completely, but it did cover his sternum area and upper stomach. This mark had one amazing function and an ability that has a monthly cooldown.

He Lei was ecstatic about having such a life-saving skill. He wondered what other treasures he can get, so he asked for the other three as randomized items. For the High-level, he got three red orbs that he couldn't understand, a Plum Blossom fruit that radiated Qi for the Mid-level, and a weird glowing white potion for the Low-level.

Since Delibird can hold items for him, he gave the red orbs back to it and kept the fruit and potion. After drinking the potion, he felt a small burning sensation in his body and a month's worth of internal energy added to himself. He didn't find any visible differences as the changes were minuscule at best and moved on to the fruit.

His instincts told him to activate the Plum Blossom Qi Arts and he did so under the best conditions. Sitting under a Plum Blossom tree, he ate the fruit and circulated his cultivation manual. The effects were simply mind-blowing. His mastery of the manual surged from thirty percent to seventy in mere moments and it was still rising. Only at night did he stop cultivating and reflected on his progress.

'The fruit helped with the mastery of the technique. Simply astonishing. Now I'm at eighty-nine percent mastery and in a few days, I'll reach completion. I wonder how others will react to it.'

The reactions were..not what he was expecting. His master only nodded and congratulated him in reaching twelve percent mastery. He Lei remembered that the talisman mark was hiding his progress and he was fine with it. At least he doesn't have to come up with an explanation, not that he would've given one anyway. As to why he forgot about the function of the mark was due to its other capability.

During the next day, He Lei joined Joo Seo-Cheon on his rock climbing. It was something he requested as he wanted to solidify his brothership with the protagonist. It might've backfired as He Lei found the training to be extremely easy and not very painful which led to Joo Seo-Cheon having a strained smile around him. That was why he asked for some weights so that he could get something out of it.

Right now, there were four metal bracers on his arms and legs that weighed twenty pounds each along with two boulders attached to his body. Having seventy-ish pound boulders on him made everything many times more difficult. Watching his junior work hard although he didn't have to motivated Joo Seo-Cheon. He realized that he was slacking compared to his fellow disciple and a strong sense of rivalry formed.

Yoo Jeong-Mok was extremely satisfied by both his students as he observed everything. He was grateful for He Lei to ward off any sense of loneliness his first disciple had and for being a hard worker. Most students these days lazed away and bullied others but these two...they made him proud. Even the competition between the two triggered the urge to join them and he did. Going back to his private space, he practiced his swordsmanship and refined it even further.

In the following days of peace, a rumor spread around about how a pupil mouthed off to the elders and didn't hold any sense of respect for them. He Lei, being himself, ignored them and focused on his meditation. If there was one thing he has always done, it's relaxing. Breaks go a long away when you take them here and there.

Yoo Jeong-Mok chanced upon this sight of his youngest student partaking in this activity and smiled. Seeing him, something clicked in his head and he sat by his student to meditate with him. The wonderous cool breeze ran through their bodies and filled them with slight pleasure. A great flowery scent was around them and the darkening of the night brought in a sense of gentle peace.

Both master and student opened their eyes and welcomed in the sight of numerous stars.

"It's nice isn't it master?"

"Indeed." He turned to He Lei. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being my disciple."

He Lei grinned. "You're welcome."

Days went by and a whole week has passed since the incident with the elders. As He Lei was constantly training, his cultivation skyrocketed. His internal energy was about five years give or take and his insanely powerful physical body was upgraded somewhat. He gave credit to the potion that he had been drinking for the past week.

He Lei had decided to put off swordsmanship training for a while. At the moment, he wanted to enhance his body overall and practice what he knew. With exercises from Earth, he built up his muscles and foundation so that he could adapt to any situation in the future. He thought about the fights he is going to participate in and he prepared for them accordingly. His body was his greatest tool and he was going to improve it until nothing can harm it.