"How long do you think it'll take to reach the Fourth Life Lock?" Minos asked before leaving.
"About one month, the life lock had already loosened up for a while now, so I just need to consolidate myself for a little longer before taking the Lock Breaking Pill." Venix responded.
"Good, I'll see you in a month then." Minos left after uttering those words.
…
Just like that, a month passed in no time. Minos had attempted to break his Second Life Lock multiple times, but it was as solid as steel.
Theoretically, the perfect level Green Bull Tendon Fist should be around 5 times faster breaking through, and Minos had refined this technique even more, hence he should be at least 7 times faster.
But even then having perfected this technique two years ago, plus having pushed it beyond its limits about a year ago, Minos would have normally spent 8.5 years to break through.
Compared to the average of 2 years for most poorly talented handyman disciples. This meant Minos was somehow 4x worse then even the worst handyman disciples.
Sometimes Minos wondered if he had been cursed, otherwise why would his Life Locks be so firm, as if the heavens themselves went out of their way to confine him.
Regardless of what was wrong with him, it was quite clear that taking the traditional route was impossible for him, further solidifying his resolve to earn money and buy mid-level Lock Breaking Pills.
He had also spent time further refining the Shining Fist and already understood the principle behind how it worked.
However, manipulating his veins to match the Shining Talisman strokes wasn't any easy thing by any stretch of the imagination.
It required a far more precise manipulation of the body that Minos still had to spend a lot of time training to fully master.
Currently, his Shining Fist had become a lot brighter, but it was still a distance from being as bright as a Shining Talisman.
It also granted no bonuses to his strength, however Minos could feel his fist get faster and faster as he furthered this technique.
At this point, his Shining Fist was already twice as fast as his normal full powered punch, and when he combined this technique with Green Bull Through Planet, the damage was even more devastating.
Minos wanted to extend this technique to the Fireball Talisman, creating a Fireball Fist, but his control at the moment was still too weak, and he was worried if he attempted it, he'd end up burning his own arm, causing severe injury.
So until he completely mastered the Shining Fist and learned to control his veins with perfect precision, he wouldn't attempt that move.
Finishing a day's training, it was finally time to meet up with Venix. A month had come and gone, and Minos hoped Venix had broken through.
Walking up to his house and knocking on the door, Minos waited with patience. However he received no response.
After waiting for an entire minute, Minos realized that something was wrong. Given Venix's nature, he wouldn't play these kinds of waiting games, instead he was quick with the things he did.
With that in mind, Minos cupped his ear against the wooden door, trying to hear if there was any noise inside, but all he got was complete silence.
The hut lacked any windows, so it was impossible to look inside, hence Minos decided to just open the door and check firsthand.
Of course he tried to be as quiet as possible, since there was always a chance Venix was currently cultivating, and it was a massive taboo to disturb someone while they were cultivating.
However as the door swung wider and wider, what greeted Minos was an empty house. At this point he was completely bewildered.