'5-Star? Impossible! The Strength Pillar is broken. Right, it broke.'
"Zayn, go to the side. I need to confirm something."
He placed his hands on the Strength Pillar and closed his eyes. His Qi infiltrated the Strength Pillar. A light again appeared. It slowly moved upwards. From 1-Star to the 10-Star without any resistance at all.
'The Strength Pillar works… This can't be! No way, there's no way that anyone could bridge half a realm. Impossible! The talent to achieve that shouldn't exist that.'
Vown's inner thoughts started going crazy. He could not bear this information.
Normally to skip one or two stars one would either need a perfect foundation or a stronger cultivation technique, not including weapons, skills, and celestial bodies. These two factors could decide a cultivator's strength. But to skip nearly five stars, that would seem impossible. The reason behind that lied in those two factors. A better foundation than a perfect foundation is not possible. And the strongest cultivation technique Vown knew of could only skip two stars at most.
Zayn possessed the Infinite Star Arts. The ultimate qi cultivation technique. For this cultivation technique, it was not anything to skip half a realm. One would not even need to possess the Infinite Star Arts to achieve that. Vown's knowledge was just limited to the Thunderlord Empire. Out there in the bigger worlds, you could find thousands of cultivation techniques that could skip half a realm at the Body Refinement Realm.
"I passed, right? 5-Star should be slightly above average, right?"
'SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?'
"Hmph… Yeah just slightly."
"So, I am your student now?"
"Hold on. Not yet, there are still two tests."
In all honesty, Vown would take Zayn as his student, through this result alone. He just wanted him to fail at any of the remaining tests. One of Vown's biggest lesson of his life was that arrogance diminishes progress. So, as he would take Zayn as his student no matter what, he wanted to give him his first lesson. The lesson of failure.
"The next test tests your intelligence. You will get a Martial Skill to learn. The Thunder Fist. I want you to at least be able to perform it with one thunder spark. The time limit is half an hour. After that, you have to perform."
"Wait, Martial Skill? Is that like skills from games?"
"…"
"Martial Skills are powerful attacks, defenses and so on. They use qi to create them. It is like a guide on how to use your qi to perform that action. The founders of these Martial Skills used years of their life to create and perfect them. In theory, you could create your own Martial Skills, but that would take years."
"Yeah, like in the games! Not exactly, but still."
"… You really don't know anything about cultivation?"
"Nope, not the slightest clue!"
"Nothing to be proud of! Teaching you will be a pain the ass…"
Vown then took out a scroll from his robe. He explained that inside the scroll everything about the Thunder Fist is explained. Zayn just would need to comprehend it and perform it. After handing the scroll over, Vown left the room. He then sat down in front of the door.
The test Vown gave Zayn was hard to accomplish. Vown wanted Zayn to fail, so he gave Zayn a task, which was really hard to accomplish. At the enrollment test, the students also got a similar task. They had to perform the Finger Pistol, a beginner's martial skill in which one concentrates qi on his finger to shoot them off. Their time limit was an hour. The Thunder Fist counted as a harder Martial Skill to comprehend. It was far harder than the Finger Pistol. Concentrating qi on a finger and on the fist were two completely different difficulties. Not only that, the Thunder Fist had also an element on it. The cultivator would also need to learn about the element. Still, given enough time even the stupidest person in the world could learn it. But that was what made this task hard. Time. At the enrollment test, the students had an hour time. Zayn got half an hour time and he had to comprehend a harder Martial Skill.
Zayn immediately sat down. He was thrilled to learn something new again. Martial Skills were powerful attacks, defenses and so on. Meaning, he would learn something cool. Through cultivation techniques his body got stronger, this itself was an amazing feat and he liked it really, but Martial Skills were like those special attacks, the protagonist in his favorite games and shows had. This fact made the whole test way better for him. Even if Vown gave Zayn something boring to learn he would still do it, with joy, but learning a Martial Skill was more than joyful for him. It was incredible, he could not wait to perform the Thunder Fist.
.
Half an hour later, Vown stood up and entered the room.
"Time's up."
Zayn was sitting in the middle of the room and deep in concentration. The scroll laid before him and he still studied it.
"TIME'S UP!"
Vown screamed at him, trying to wake him up from his concentration. Zayn was immediately startled.
"You don't have to scream!"
"Time's up. I know it might be frustrating for you. The Thunder Fist isn't an easy Martial Skill. Nonetheless, you failed. Don't worry I will accept you as my student. You could see that as your first lesson. Failure does not mean that you gave up. You can still learn the Thunder Fist in the future."
"10 minutes! Only 10 minutes!"
"Kid listen even if I gave you another 10 minutes you wouldn't be able to perform the Thunder Fist with one spark. It's a hard Martial Skill. I myself needed 6 hours to perform it with one spark."
"What? No. I want to try out the True Thunder Fist."
"…"
"You should be able to perform the Thunder Fist with six sparks first before you think about that!"
"Yeah, I know. It's just six sparks."
"… Just six sparks… If it is that easy why don't you show me, kid!"
The Thunder Fist had seven different stages. These stages were also used as a measurement for one's comprehension. The stages were one spark, two sparks, three sparks and so on until the six sparks. The seventh stage was called the True Thunder Fist. In this stage all six sparks fused and engulfed the fist, making the fist look like it was created through thunder. In the stages one to six, it was just a regular fist with the sparks flying around it. Each spark harbored immense strength, adding it to a punch results in a powerful attack. The strongest stage, the True Thunder Fist, strength was more than double than the sixth stage.
Zayn jumped up. Standing in front of Vown, his qi traveled to his fist. Around Zayn, many little sparks formed and deformed again. The qi flow in the environment was drawn, like a vortex, towards his fist. With each passing second, a spark was created around his fist.
One Spark
Two Sparks
Three Sparks
Four Sparks
Five Sparks
Six Sparks
After appearing they flew towards each other and then flew away from each other. This happened multiple times. The six sparks tried to fuse with each other. But Zayn did not comprehend it fully right now, resulting in a back and forth.
"…"
Vown's first Martial Skill was also the Thunder Fist. He learned it when he was starting his cultivation journey. It was given to him and his older brother by his father. His older brother learned the True Thunder Fist in a week and a half. He only needed a week. After that achievement, he was acclaimed as the genius of the family.
"Six Sparks… Half an Hour… 5-Star Strength…"
"You aren't a genius. You are a Monster!"
.
.
.
In a dark space, in the middle of nowhere.
"This boy sure is interesting! Hahahahahahahahahahah. His Intelligence is far too high. The six sparks aren't even that amazing of an achievement. The amazing thing is that he learned the first chapter of the Infinite Star Arts in a day. In a day! Amazing.
Well, his bodily talent is just trash. He doesn't have any qi affinity at all. It's like his body was never in contact with qi before. Cultivating will become a hard and slow part for him. Hahahahahahahahahahahh. Still, his intelligence amazes me. I could fix his bodily talent, but I am still trapped.
Teaching him would be fun."