The Young man returned to his room after a refreshing bath. He still wondered why he was the only one to suffer such embarrassing breakthroughs.
"Is it because I am advancing too fast? The kids perform their exercises daily. They do it at most once or twice. So, are their impurities being cleansed through their sweat every day?"
He pondered over his theory. It was sound in reasoning.
"It must be so."
He accepted the logic. There was no other suitable reason he could think of to prove otherwise. He then compared their situation to his.
"Compared to the numerous cycles the kids have to undergo, my energy path is cleared by one stage when I circulate energy just 30 times."
"And even for those 30 times, I used 30 CP to circulate energy, all at the same time. Did all of my impurities get pushed out through every open hole at once because of this?"
Ikasa guessed while putting on clothes. This conjecture made sense to him.
'I'll only know whether I am right or wrong when I try it out. I will slowly accumulate my cycles and not dump CP for the next breakthrough.
He removed the flower vase placed on his Printer. This vase had played a very important part in fooling the Li family's goons. After all, no one expects an invaluable object to be treated as a perch.
As soon as he connected to the Printer, he was greeted with a notification.
[Congratulations! You have unlocked the Sense Realm Manuals.]
"Noice!" Ikasa exclaimed, imitating one of his favorite characters.
In an ecstatic mood, he looked up the list of manuals only to find there was no new addition. His face fell at the discovery.
'I got excited about nothing. The device didn't give me a new manual!'
Then he switched to the Print Page. The Golden Print button beckoned Ikasa.
"After accumulating for a week, you better give me a High-Grade Battle Technique!"
He murmured and pressed the Print icon.
"Please at least High Grade! Holy Father, Virgin Mother, Lord of Beasts, King of Skies… Whoever is listening, give me a Top-Grade Battle Technique!"
Ikasa begged with palms clasped in each other. He watched with anticipation as the book formed before him.
"This Blood Red Cover… This is one ominous-looking book!"
Ikasa picked up the book and skimmed through it. A wide smile bloomed on his face, and his eyes widened with joy.
"Yes! A High-Grade Battle Technique, Chop!"
He placed it on the pile of manuals he had collected in the past week. His eyes roamed through the names of Battle Techniques in the pile. He picked up the book on top.
"The Forehand is an accompaniment to The Backhand. If Yan Xiao trains well in it, it can display power comparable to High-Grade Battle Technique."
Then he proceeded to go through the other books.
"Jab. Low-Grade; Useless. Sweeping Kick, Mid-Grade; Meh!..."
He discarded the books that he did not like into another pile. These books could only be used to pad up his list of manuals. Then he came across another Mid Grade Manual that caught his attention.
"Swift Attack, Mid-Grade."
He went through its description.
"Using superior speed, attack and retreat swiftly."
He placed it in the 'useful pile.'
"Judging from the description, this book looks like made for Pei Yuan. Until I can get a better grade manual for him, I guess he can train with this skill temporarily."
The rest of the books were Mid-Grade or Low-Grade. Ikasa was not even interested in wasting his BP to print out a few of them for advertising purposes.
'I used Targeted Printing every day just to end up with these trashy techniques. Why couldn't I get Better techniques?'
Ikasa thought with frustration as he slammed the bunch of books on the table. His gaze drifted to his first High-Grade Manual, and he smiled lovingly.
"Anyhow, I now have one that I can spend my BP on!"
He went to the list of manuals and pressed the [ + ] sign next to 'Chop'. Instantly, he lost 5 BP.
He was suddenly in a lean muscled man's body. His body may be thin but the muscles contained an explosive power. The man was facing off against a grandpa with a long beard but no mustache.
"Chop"
Ikasa's body made a move. His four fingers were aligned, and his thumb was in the palm of his hand. With one swift motion, his arm made a vertical swing, and his palm connected with the enemy's collar bone.
He heard an audibly loud snap, and the old man's clavicle had broken in the skirmish.
The scene changed.
In this new scene, the same man was fighting multiple opponents. He used his superb footwork as well as precise arm and hand movements to land a chop on each opponent's throat. Either killing them or making them unconscious.
During the entire process, Ikasa could feel the strength coursing through his arm. It was not just pure physical power. The strong offense was supported by the energy gathered in the palm.
This Energy was constantly circulating through the body and a change in the movement of the hand altered its flow.
This was similar to how one cultivated. The only difference was this energy only gathered for a short period of time and did not remove any debris in the channel.
"So that's why Battle Techniques need to be paired with appropriate Cultivation techniques!"
If someone who has cleared an energy path through his arms learns a Kicking technique, it would bring minimal enhancement to the technique's power.
On contrary, learning a Punching Technique meant his energy flow would not be hindered by debris in the energy path. Hence his punch will be thrice as powerful as his kick.
The vision ended, and Ikasa returned to his own body. He tried to imitate the man's actions. His movements were clumsy but correct. After a few tries, he got the hang of it.
On his next try, his hand made a swoosh sound. His Chop was powerful enough to make swishing sounds.
Strength coursed from his arm to his palm. When he felt the power, he was reminded of the Karate masters back on Earth.
To get sponsorship from his Company some martial dojos had given Karate demonstrations. They could easily break a stack of 5 to 10 tiles.
Jealous of their arm strength, he had denied them the sponsorship.
But now he possessed much more strength than any one of them.
"Bring me a stack of 50 tiles, and I can also break it!"
He exclaimed with joy mixed with arrogance. Thankfully, no one heard him. The feat he boasted of was impossible unless he could actively use energy.
He mimicked the man's fighting style and dueled against an imaginary enemy.
"Hye-ha!"
As he battled a mock opponent, he experienced a euphoria he had never come across on Earth.
"Damn! This feels great!"
The battle of wits is exhilarating, but fighting hands-on had a different joy.
His eyes shone with greed as he looked at the other battle techniques on the table.
'Should I learn the other Battle Techniques too? No, Only High-grade or better is worth investing my BP in.'
He shook his head and stored the manuals on his bookshelf. He continued to increase his proficiency with Chop.
While he was engrossed in his delight, Li Wu reported what he had seen at Ikasa's to Li Fan.
"Young Master, I saw Xue Family's Young miss come out of Manual Maker's mansion."
Li Fan's smile was replaced by a frown. He put down the book in his hand and queried further.
"Was she alone? Did you find out why she was there?"
Li Wu lowered his head, not daring to meet his master's eyes.
"She was with her maid. I couldn't find anyone to enquire about her purpose of visit."
Though dissatisfied with the answer, Li Fan dismissed the servant. He fell into deep thought.
'Is Xue Family making a move? Or do they know the identity of the person behind Ikasa?'
Li Fan clapped twice. This was the signal calling for the maid attending to Li Fan. Once she entered, he asked her to contact the person who could answer his questions.
"Call Umbra."