All Grubs Must Die!

The amount of qi needed to power the Fulger Crystal Long-sword was much higher than any of Young's other weapons. 125 qi -- per swipe and that was assuming he used the bare minimum amount of qi.

The way the sword worked was rather simple, rather than deteriorating like the other weapons Young could flow his qi into it as normal. When Young swung the blade a rending energy cut the air (or anything in its way). This was the Lightning Blade effect, and it also increased the attack range of the weapon by up to three meters in a single slash. However, three meters required three times the amount of qi to supply the strike.

And how did Young learn these things? Practice and experience! He fought when he wasn't meditating-- particularly Cave Grubs. Young would never claim to understand how monsters existed or why they did the things they did, which is why he didn't question it when hundreds of Cave Grubs appeared the night he successfully crafted the Long-sword.

Respawn, or perhaps they simply reproduced that quickly-- all Young knew was that the creatures were plentiful and ripe for slaughter at the blade of his new weapon. For the most part he could dispatch one of the creatures with a single blow. He still had to be careful, but acid was now less of a worry since he could hurl his spear from a distance. What's more, the nature of spirit weapons allowed him to recall the weapon. When overwhelmed by numbers Young employed this technique. He would then switch to the Fulger Crystal Long-sword and practice with it once their numbers dwindled.

By his count the cavern was populated by 129 Cave Grubs. This allowed him to collect roughly 640 or more monster spirits during the course of a two hour excursion. A pleasantly good haul by Young's standards.

By the end of the first night in conjunction with using Crashing Thunder cultivation, Young managed to completely max out his (Frame) reinforcement. He even had 37 monster spirits to spare.

[Body Reinforcement (Frame) - 101.92%] +

[Body Reinforcement (Frame) was successful, you've reached rank 1 of 3. As a result your body has undergone some drastic changes.

+50 Health. +5 Power. +5% Resistance to Physical Damage. Absolute Defense +1]

In addition, Young also got another pleasant surprise:

[By reinforcing your body in full you've gained additional benefits.

Health + 50, Stamina + 100, Qi Containment limit has increased to 9,500.

Power,Speed,Agility and Intelligence all increase by +10.

+2% Resistance to Physical Damage.

Your body is now 50% more resistant to scrapes or cuts.

Your body is now 50% more resistant to extreme elements.

Your body is now 100% more resistant to bone damage, muscle stress or tissue tearing.]

"Holy...this is really good! I can't believe I gained so much just from doing Body Reinforcement. It's too bad I can't start on rank 2 right away." He remarked as he glanced at his status. In fact, Young's only regret was that his cultivation level stopped rising long ago. His stats now looked like this:

[Name : Jade, Young]

[Age : 15 Years Old]

[Affinity : Lightning (Evolved)]

[Martial Style : None]

[Health : 276 / 276 (2%) ]

[Qi : 2,231 / 2,231]

[Stamina : 111 / 293 (5%) ]

[Power : 23 (33%) ]

[Speed : 16 (24%) ]

[Agility : 14 (85%) ]

[Intelligence : 22 (12%)]

[Cultivation Rank 0, Level 99 / 99*]

[Soul Sea Grade 3]

[Physical Resistance : 17%]

[Elemental Resistance : 10%]

[Absolute Defense : 3]

[Body Reinforcement (Outer) - 1] +

[Body Reinforcement (Inner) - 1] +

[Body Reinforcement (Frame) - 1] +

[Quest Complete : Body Fortification (3)]

Now that he'd managed to fulfill one of Spark's requirements, Young next focused on improving his stats, particularly his qi and agility.

The simplest way to improve stats would be to do activities which involved them. For agility Young had no clue how to train it properly but he realized it came in handy more than speed at this point. Mobility was a key factor in defeating Cave Grubs and while movement speed was important, the ability to shift weight easily and quickly resulted in quick battles.

It was also the lowest of his stats at this point, all things considered. With this in mind Young used the remainder of his monster spirits on the agility stat. This was enough to help him raise his agility by 2 full points.

Though his power, speed, agility and intelligence stats were much less when compared to his health or qi, he immediately noticed the difference after his body reinforcement. Rather than gradual strength which allowed one time to acclimate to their power, it took a few hours for him to "normalize" his own capabilities.

Young then decided to head back to the comfort of the spring, satisfied that his day of training had gone so well. He slept fairly well, despite not having a bed, for the first time in a long time. For the most part Young tried to ignore the hopelessness of his situation and though he wasn't totally alone, keeping busy was the easiest way to do this.

The next day was much like any other, Young did some warm up exercises, fed and watered himself then went for a walk. Since he'd grown a bit stronger by his own standards he decided to do some scouting to escape the ravine. What he saw was problematic to say the least.

The ravine wall was simply too high. Sunlight couldn't even properly reach the bottom. There were no materials Young could use to make a rope or ladder. Though the floor of the ravine was littered with the remains of animal bones they were all brittle in comparison to the hard, rock wall. Young could only trust that Spark would have a solution to the problem.

This realization made Young restless however. He could only train so much before his inner demons would get the best of him. For all the power he'd gained on many levels he still felt rather hopeless about ever escaping this place.

Even if he did manage to do so, the jungle awaited with much stronger foes. Would his body even be able to handle it? Also his saturation rate was more severe since he last spoke with Spark. Almost twice as much by Young's reckoning. Increasing his qi limit did help to alleviate that problem but considering that it was now day two and Spark was still asleep, young wondered if it was worth the headache.

"I can't be thinking like this." Young whispered to himself.

[Enemy detected : 1 ]

The alert completely caught him off guard but he reacted with haste. He called forth his Longsword and glanced around wildly but -- nothing.

Then the sound of falling pebbles drew his attention upwards. His foe was none other than the Feline creature, its fiery eyes gazing down at him from atop the ravine wall.