Kai, go and get a good rest. I want you to be in your peak state for your first battle."
"Okay, dad,"
Kai was very nervous about his first fight. On Earth, he never needed to fight with anyone, and even if two people are in a conflict, they can settle that matter through conversation. But here in the Enlightment World, fists do the talking, and if he wanted to become stronger, he had to go through this trial eventually.
After coming out of the secret realm, Kai met Riya. He spent a lot of time with her and slept on her lap because it gave him a rare moment of peace and soothed his emotions.
After three days of rest, Kai is ready to battle for the first time.
"Dad, can you tell me who my opponent will be?" Kai asked the question because he did not want to fight an opponent without knowing about him.
"Well, a very good question. Your opponent will be a wild boar, and its strength is in the early stage of Tier 1."
'It seems my first opponent is a beast, and its strength should be similar to that of a cultivator in the body-tempering realm.' thought Kai.
Beasts are divided into Tier 1 to Tier 6. These are further divided into early stage, middle stage, late stage, and peak stage. Each stage grants almost the same strength as the corresponding human cultivation realm.
"Well, let's go to the secret realm. I already captured a beast for your battle," said Alex.
"I am also coming to see my son's first battle." Riya said it in a proud tone. Because she knows that Kai won't lose to a body-tempering realm beast.
Don't forget that Kai is also a cultivator; it's just that he can't use his strength because he is not 12 years old. He can only use the "one with the sword state," so he can't be considered a true cultivator, but he can call himself a half cultivator.
After a short while, both his parents and Kai reached a place that looked like a forest in the secret realm.
"Kai, you see that boar over there. Go and battle with it." Alex said as he pointed at a boar that was sleeping on the grassy floor.
"Okay, dad," Kai said, and started walking towards the boar. On his way, he picked up a stone and threw it at the boar.
The boar seemed to be provoked and started running towards Kai. Since Kai wanted to experience a real fight, he didn't use any surprise attacks on the boar. If he killed it without an actual fight, then what was the point of this battle in the first place?
The boar tried to use its horn to pierce him, but Kai dodged it calmly. He is trying to use this boar as an experimental subject to gauge his actual combat prowess. As Kai continued to dodge the boar without attacking it, testing out his movement skills, he started to get bored of it.
So he took out his sword and started fighting with it. A lot of sword marks appeared on the boar, and it went berserk due to the pain. He didn't attack any of its vital parts, as he was only training his sword skills on it.
The boar suddenly started acting even more reckless, so Kai used his sword to kill it immediately to avoid any trouble. Even a cornered rabbit can fight against a lion, so what if the boar actually managed to injure him because of his carelessness? Thus Kai swiftly killed it without any hesitation.
Kai may act arrogant and see people as tools, but he is also a very cautious person. If he ever sees a situation getting out of hand, he will end it before any problems occur.
"Kai, you did a very good job. I thought you would be afraid of killing it." Alex said it proudly.
Kai was also surprised about it because it was his first kill in both lives, but he didn't even feel any remorse or guilt.
'Maybe that was just me being real, whatever it is. I don't care,' thought Kai.
"Well done, baby; now you have taken the first step to become a strong person." Riya said so happily, seemingly not concerned about his killing.
"Kai, a single early-stage Tier 1 beast can't let you experience a real life-and-death battle, so you need to fight three at the same time."
"Dad, how about a middle-stage beast?" Kai asked because he can easily defeat any early-stage Tier 1 beast.
"No, you won't be able to defeat a middle-stage beast because their strength is comparable to the Qi gathering realm. The Qi gathering realm is a qualitative change; the increase in power is also massive, and the boar you defeated was just a creature with an inferior bloodline." Alex explained the reason.
What Alex said was correct: Kai won't be able to defeat a beast with a bloodline of higher quality. An adult tiger can easily defeat an adult boar without any difficulties. So, the strength of the beast in the same tier is calculated by the strength of its bloodline.
After Kai and his parents went deeper inside the forest, they saw a pack of wolves.
"Dad, I want to fight them." Kai said to his dad.
"Kai, do you really want to? They are four wolves that are very cunning in nature." Riya asked in a worried tone.
"Don't worry, mom, I can do this." Kai replied reassuringly.
"Okay, Kai, but you need to be careful." Alex agreed to his request reluctantly.
Then Kai gripped his sword and slowly neared them. He wouldn't play with them like he did with the boar, since they were stronger than him and also had an advantage in numbers. So he did not do anything stupid.
The wolves warned Kai by howling, but he didn't hear them and continued to walk towards them.
After Kai got very close to them, they pounced on him without considering the consequences. But Kai effortlessly dodged without making any errors. The wolves didn't give him a chance to attack them because they were continuously pouncing towards him whenever he was about to attack.
Kai kept a distance from them and calmly analyzed the surroundings, using perception to help him in this battle and to avoid getting injured.
Whereafter Kai positioned himself just before a tree, and after a wolf pounced towards him, he dodged the attack and stabbed another wolf directly in its heart, killing it without any hesitation.
The wolf that pounced on him had to defend itself from hitting the tree, giving Kai some time that he used to kill its companion.
After killing one wolf, the remaining fight was a piece of cake, and Kai easily killed all of them.
"Kai, it seems you need to improve your battle IQ a lot. Although you killed the wolves in the end with the help of your surroundings, you did miss a lot of chances to kill them in the battle. You also need to change your overly cautious character; it is good to be cautious, but it also needs a limit." Alex pointed out the mistakes Kai made during his battle.
"Okay dad. I will remember it." Kai calmly listened to his dad.
He did miss a lot of opportunities to kill them immediately because he wasn't sure if they would die.
'I need more experience to increase my battle IQ,' thought Kai.
But that's it for today, because for the next real battle, he has to wait until tomorrow since Alex needs to capture a suitable beast.
Then Kai did his body training, sword training, and will training. He always did them daily, even though they wouldn't increase his physical strength because he had already reached the peak of mortals. But he still did it nonetheless to perfect the moves.
The next day, Alex brought boars and wolves again. Kai had a fight with three wolves and boars. He managed to defeat the boar easily, but the wolves were harder to defend. Nonetheless, he did improve compared to the previous battle.
Like that, Kai continued to battle and train for four months.
'Now I can confidently say I have a lot of battle experience. I can easily defeat six wolves without sweating,' thought Kai, since he can easily defeat a pack of wolves without any trouble.
He was able to battle a middle-stage Tier 1 beast if he used the "one with the sword" state. But he can only battle with them, not defeat them.
Battling a middle-stage beast with a mortal body is a very impressive achievement, and even Alex was surprised by this. But Alex did not allow Kai to battle any middle-stage beasts after that, because the "one with the sword" state put a lot of pressure on his body.
Even though battling a middle-stage beast will be more rewarding than battling an early-stage beast, Kai didn't want to risk his body's condition when he had a safer way of developing. He also didn't miss any training for a single day in the past four months. Kai also further researched the [Will Manifestation] realm and discovered a new application of his willpower that he named [Will Might].
It allowed him to subtly intimidate any opponent using willpower alone, and if his willpower is stronger than the opponent's, he can completely overwhelm them and easily defeat them.