His speed was incredible, reaching metres away in less than a second, his sword swinging down.
''Your fast''
Franklin gently moved his legs, like a perfect dance he moved backwards, but was in no means slow.
Zach's sword swung and easily missed his body. But before Franklin could relax the swinging sword changed trajectories moving forward as he stabbed forward.
'Thunk'
The two wooden swords hit together as Franklin just gently knocked the sword away before swinging his blade towards Zach's head.
Zach quickly recovered, his arms shaking from the impact before he lifted up his sword to block the incoming attack.
The Innate Sword Physique activated spreading throughout his skin, filling them with an incredible sense of grace.
Quickly the battle raged on. The two shared hundreds of moves in a matter of seconds.
The Team members, including Emilia on the edge of the court were stunned. Although Franklin limited his strength to the First Realm of Gas Refining, not even using any special physiques it was already a shocking scene.
A Mortal could compete with a Gas Refiner!
Zach frowned, his body covered in sweat while Franklin still looked calm. Although it seemed like he was fighting on even ground his energy was quickly running out.
Instantly he burst out with his full blow. The power of over one hundred Physical strength attributes shot out his skin turning a faint green to protect himself from the aftershock.
''Haha interesting!''
Franklin smiled happily. He was more and more confident that Zach was a Genius on the same standing as him.
His Aura flowed into the sword easily deflecting Zach's blow sending his sword flying away. But Zach didn't give up there.
His hands formed into claws as the sun seemed to glow on his body.
''You actually practised a bit of the Sun Blessed Physique already? Impressive''
Zach's skin seemed to glow gold as he pushed forward. His fierce blow caught Franklin off guard as he was knocked back by one step.
However this final attack seemed to draw all of Zach's energy out of his body. He dropped to the ground out of energy, falling unconscious.
''Get him to the doctors, he is fine just overusing his physical strength.''
Franklin waved his hand holding Zach floating in the air. His face filled with satisfaction. If the rest of the geniuses in the group could be considered the Elites, Zach could be considered a Peerless Genius!
''It seems like I need to persuade my father to invest even further. He hasn't broken through to the Gas Refining Realm yet, it isn't too late to improve his foundation.''
Quickly another day passed and the Righteous Split awoke.
Zach quickly regained his energy with the assistance of multiple Physiques and his strong body.
''It seems like I am still too weak to break through. The other geniuses seem to be able fight with Gas Refiners one on one before they even think about breaking through!''
Zach wasn't satisfied with his current progress. After having access to the Government's basic Library he had learnt a lot that he didn't know before.
For example Franklin's Attributes might've been even more exaggerated than he let on in the past!
Although his Physical Strength might be maintained at a slightly lower level, the physiques he had were definitely top quality alongside the practise techniques being exquisite.
The more you temper your body the better your foundation when you break through.
''It's good that I learnt the process of breaking through to the Gas Refining Realm before it is too late.''
When Zach read the books, he finally learnt why it is so important. When you break through to the Gas Refining Realm you take the Aura of the world into your body directly.
The stronger your body the higher capacity you have for Spiritual Energy.
And Physiques can make it easier to temper the Aura that you have absorbed.
For example, a Mortal with 10 Physical Strength breaks through to the Gas Refining Realm and someone with 100 Physical strength, there will be a Ten times difference between their Capacity of Spiritual Aura!
But now if you consider the Aura to be water running through a tap.
People that don't have a Physique will be forced to drink the unclean water, while a Physique can act like a Filtration Unit, taking out a portion of the impurities of the water making it better to drink.
''The Cultivation Techniques are less important, but those that temper your body have a similar effect to the Physical Strength Attribute, the denser the quantity the more techniques you can use in the future.''
Zach nodded slightly. After his fight with Franklin he had realised his imperfections. He relied on Physical strength and a bit of natural energy to activate the skills as a Mortal.
Eventually he was tired and could no longer maintain that state.
But if you break through, the Spiritual Energy in your body can activate, then the importance of capacity is even higher.
''Find a way to learn a Body Tempering Skill and focus on buying new Physiques to increase the strength of the body.''
In fact Zach felt a little headache when he thought of this. He was unwilling to activate a new Descent before he reached the peak of the Mortal Realm.
After all, it will determine your future!
This is one thing that Zach didn't know before reading in the library.
When you break through to the Gas Refining Realm you will no longer rely on your Attributes.
Instead your entire Attributes will be condensed into something called your Potential Value.
Of course your Attributes will still exist and can still be earnt. But unless called upon they will no longer be visible.
''According to the Potential Value, it has an accurate description of how strong your descendants will be in the future and how long it will take them to advance when they step into the world of Cultivation.''
Zach suspects it is an easier way for people to quantify their strength in the World of Family Development.
The higher your Potential Value the higher your future strength, while your Combat Power explains your current strength.
''Forget it, take some Government Tasks earn some contribution points and purchase a Body Refining Skill First.''
Zach thought about it. Some of the cheaper skills only cost ten Contribution points.
Opening the tablet he was given a while ago he began to scour through the different options.
''This one!''
Finally after ten minutes he selected a mission.
{Eliminate an Evil Player Nest-
In the East Side of Nikton City a Hotel is suspected to have been occupied by a ground of Evil Players. The number has reached no less than 7 Confirmed members but there is no Cultivator Activity in the Area.
Reward: Deed for the Luminous Hotel, 100 System Points, 1 Contribution Point}
''Perfect.''
Zach mainly looked at this one because of the deed.
Although the deed would go to the Regiment, it is in his best interest to develop the industries belonging to the Regiment.
''Are you sure? 7 Evil Players might be quite difficult to defeat.''
After picking the mission he went to Franklin to apply.
Franklin sat behind a desk in a small office. He had his legs up as he read the task information that Zach wanted to accept.
''Yes, I'm confident I can complete it.''
''Good, the profits from a Hotel won't be small.''
Franklin nodded, a slight smile on his face.
''By the way, I have noticed recently you are close to the standard of breaking through to the Gas Refining Stage.''
''Generally when people reach this stage they start to pay less attention to developing their family in the World of Family Development, instead prioritising strengthening one person to increase their own cultivation.''
''As a little warning, the importance of your Families is beyond your imagination. Duals are just an insignificant part of their benefit, in the future you will wish you spent more time developing them.''
As Zach walked through the city he remembered what Franklin had told him. In fact he had been thinking exactly what Franklin had been saying.
After experiencing gaining 100% of people's attributes through killing them, he was far less interested in completing Duals.
Which in turn reduced his focus on developing the entire family. Instead he had really thought about focusing on a few key descendants to ensure his cultivation increased.
''Franklin comes from such a prestigious background, it isn't an insignificant thing for him to warn me about increasing my Family strength.''
Zach thought about it for a while, even sinking his mind into the Family Space in the system. But the millions of Family members hadn't changed, just standing there motionlessly.
''Forget it, pay more attention to developing them in the future and ensure that their quality is high enough.''
Unbeknownst to Zach, when he left to complete the mission a figure had appeared in Franklin's office.
''Boss, why did you let him know? Wouldn't he figure it out naturally when he becomes a Cultivator?''
The shadowy figure spoke out with a faint curiosity. He had never seen his boss pay this much attention to someone.
''Haha you don't realise. I want my Regiment to become the strongest on Blue Star, eventually occupying its own planet! To do that I need a lot of competent Generals.''
''You and I both know the benefits for cultivating a strong reserve of Family members, the Planetary Descendant Battlefield has been getting more and more violent recently, but the resources are more and more plentiful.''
''If possible my Potential Value will rapidly rise, and in the future it should be possible to support hundreds of talented students to become the backbone of my regiment.''
Franklin smirked.
The planetary Descendant Battlefield was just that, a place where every planet could put their descendants to fight.
It is just a large land where the only thing you can do is fight! When your Descendant dies they will be reformed after a certain period of time, and when they kill someone you will get a reward.
Sometimes it will be in the form of System Points or sometimes it will be rare rewards like Physiques, skills or rare fruits like the Longevity Fruit.
''But even that isn't the limit to Descendents' usefulness. Although my Grandfather wasn't clear he stressed the importance of Descendants greatly.''
Franklin looked with faint consternation.