*Lucas' POV*
It's already been six days since Kim started his training. After he passed my test during the first day and proved that he could sense Qi, I taught him how to further expand his senses to feel the Qi which was further away from him and by the end of the day he could already do this with relative ease. On the second day, I thought him how to manipulate Qi energy in real time. This took him a little longer stretching into the third day and by the fourth, he could now comfortably materialize a small ball of Qi.
I still remember the happy look on his face when he finally unlocked the attribute. The message was probably something like this;
[
Congratulations! You have fulfilled all requirements and learnt the attribute 'Martial Practicioner'!
]
It normally took a martial artist about a month or so to learn how to do basic Qi manipulation and the exceptional ones got it down in a few weeks or even days, but.... Two days?? I realized that calling this kid a monster was a massive understatement. He was one of those prodigies that came only once in a few hundred years and I got to be the first master of such a prodigy. It was exciting as well as depressing. It was exciting in the sense that he was eager to learn from me and at the same time depressing since whenever I compared myself to him, I became dangerously aware of how untalented I truly was.
On the fifth day, we just dedicated ourselves to drills. We normally did some basic exercise after our training but we decided to just focus on that for the whole day since his physique was too low to practice certain martial arts and we had to change that. We started with basic exercise and developed into the advanced ones. The advanced exercises we did were ones that involved incorporating Qi into certain movements and those caused a lot of physical damage and fatigue, that was were the recovery potions came into play. We rushed the whole thing because of time and ended up using more than 20 bottles. Each of them cost about about 1000 coins but they were just low-grade potions and didn't do much so to actually notice an effect, one had to consume at least three. What pained me the most though was that I used up almost a third of my savings buying those so called low-grade potions. I would have to ask Kim to repay me for that someday.
Today is the sixth day since training begun and I was finally going to teach Kim how to practice the twenty four formations of the
"Is everything alright, teacher?" Kim asked noticing how dejected I looked. I didn't even know I was making such an expression.
"Huh, oh, yeah am good". I hurriedly answered in an attempt to eliminate his worries but they did exactly the opposite.
The kid now wore a sad and pitying expression before saying.
"It's because of me isn't it?"
I was a little shaken by this statement but I don't want to worry him anymore so i responded.
"No, that's not it". Keeping my words short to not arouse any more suspicion.
"Don't lie to me. I also thought it was strange, the heavenly tempest sword school was supposed to participate in the
".....!!" I was silent and he continued.
"There is no way YOUR master would support this so you two fell out. That was my hypothesis, at least until I confirmed it last night. I witnessed a scene where you guys were arguing with each other over the very same issue. You are training me at the detriment of your own self improvement".
"...!!" I was speechless. He had so accurately deduced the situation that it was actually a bit scary.
He was right. I was supposed to represent the school in the contest but here I was, doing something unnecessary and training someone who was barely even related to the school. For a man as old as I was this was quite a stupid thing to do and I couldn't blame the old man for taking it against me. But, I just keep getting this gut feeling that this kid was gonna be the one to redeem the school by winning the
"And that's why...." The kid was still talking.
"I'll enter the competition on your behalf and win the whole thing. I'll start by proving that old man wrong and then becoming a proper student of heavenly tempest sword school".
I don't know why, but I suddenly felt the urge to smile and I did.
"Hmmmm. Now that's the spirit. Remember, a promise is a promise".I have made my decision....and it was ensuring that this kid developed a proper foundation to learn the heavenly tempest sword techniques.
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*Kim's POV*
Two days had already passed since I had that conversation with Lucas.
Why did I make those promises to Lucas back then? I didn't know. Maybe I was just acting on impulse or perhaps I felt the need to repay him for everything. I wasn't sure. But one thing was for certain, and that was I had already made a promise and I was fully intent on seeing it through to the end. A little something I was taught as a child by my peculiar guardians.
It was the ninth day since I began my training and by now.
"Ha!" I shouted as a threw a straight stab with my wooden sword while assuming a peculiar stance, Qi energy wrapped around my entire body.
"Ha!" I shouted again as I threw an ascending slash while assuming a different stance than the last.
I was performing the twenty four formations of the
*Ding*
[
You have learnt a new skill ' Heavenly Tempest sword training'.
]
I felt elated to hear that I had unlocked the skill and decided to open my status window. I hadn't checked it out since I started training.
'status window'. I thought inwardly and then a medium sized panel opened up in front of me.
[
Name: Carter Kim
Attributes: TRANSMIGRATOR(rating: rare ), Martial practicioner (rating: unique)
Karma points: 0
Coins possessed: 0
Understanding: 27
Skills( TRANSMIGRATOR): Transmigrate lv.1, Mass communication lv.1
Skills(Martial practicioner): basic Qi manipulation lv.2, Heavenly Tempest sword training lv.1
Passive skills( TRANSMIGRATOR): Assistant lv.max, Adapt lv.1
Passive skills (Martial practicioner): Qi sensing lv.2
Stats: strength lv.15, agility lv.17, durability lv.14, stamina lv.15, intelligence( Qi) lv.17
]
When I saw my status window, I was a little shocked to see how many new skills I had acquired. I thought back and remembered that I did receive notifications for them but I was either too excited or concentrated to pay any attention to it.
My stats had also increased by quite alot and now I had an average of approximately sixteen. I was making quite some progress. The intelligence stat, I guessed that it applied to any
"Looks like you are satisfied with your stats now". He smiled at me.
"H-huh, you can see this?" I asked.
"No, but I could guess. After all everyone in the
I was a little shaken by this but I quickly regained myself. It wasn't unnatural that everyone else had a status window.
'i wonder what master's status window would look like'. I thought inwardly.
["Unfortunately, I don't have information on other people's stats"]
The familiar voice replied my unintended question.
'it wasn't meant as a question'. I thought to it.
["Ok"]. It simply replied.
"Alright, it's time". My master announced and I got up from where I sat.
"Are you ready?" He asked me to confirm.
"Yeah". I assured him.
We then packed up our stuff and made our way back to the school.
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When we arrived, we saw the old man whom I was enlightened to be the 'Heavenly tempest sword saint' sat cross legged on the podium in the training grounds meditating. He opened his eyes as we arrived and watched us walk up to directly before where he sat on top the podium. He jumped down from there with a loud boom
*Boom*
He stood at a height, far superior to ours and was looking down at us, specifically me, before saying.
"The week has run out, why are you still here child?" His question was directed at me and I answered
"I have come to re-apply for an admission into this heavenly tempest sword school". I said in the most polite way I could manage given my mediocre communication skills.
The heavenly tempest sword saint looked at me with a raised brow, probably trying to guess whether I was actually serious. Instead of backing down though, I held his gaze. A strong determination to prove myself could be seen in my eyes. We stayed like this for a few more seconds before.
*Tsuchht*
His eyes began to glow again as he activated the skill
*Sigh*
The sword saint heaved a great sigh and looked at my master Lucas before saying.
"Is this really who you are placing your hopes on?"
My master responded with a resolute nod.
*Sigh*
The sword saint sighed again before returning his gaze to me and saying.
"Alright. I'll give you one last chance. But if I once again judge you as unworthy to be a student of this school then that will be final and you will leave this place, never to return again. Got it?"
I simply nodded in response.
I was beckoned to take the stage and I stood a few meters from where my observers were. I was already holding a wooden sword in my hand.
The sword saint sat on the floor but even then he was about the same height as my master who was still standing and looking at me with expectant eyes.
"I see you came prepared". He smirked a bit before continuing "perform any sword training technique that you know. if it's up to my standards then you pass, if it's not, well you already know what happens". He gave me my instruction.
I took another glance at my master before taking a deep breath and assuming the starting stance of the
As I did, a system message rang in my ear.
*Ding*
[
You have activated the skill Heavenly Tempest sword training lv.1
]
I noticed the saint's left eyebrow twitch a little but I paid little attention to it and continued.
I performed the technique to my utmost capacities. I allowed each formation to flow into the next and while doing this, I could feel my body reshaping itself. I could feel my muscles getting strengthened and my bones getting firmer and harder, I could feel the Qi circulating gracefully within me. It was a really strange feeling, but one thing was for certain. My body was undergoing a metamorphosis.
I ended the technique with a descending slash, my legs about a shoulder width apart from each other. My body was.....sweating, no, the smell coming from it was so rancid. I looked down at my self to discover a blackish substance had replaced the sweat and that seemed to be the source of this disgusting smell. It was all over my body and although I didn't show it on my face I was actually a bit panicked.
'Did I not do it properly? I thought for sure I was because of that feeling earlier. Was all that just an imagination?'
*Clap*clap*clap*
I started hearing clapping noises and when I looked ahead, I saw my master clapping for me. The sword saint sat, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly opened. He didn't seem to realize this because when he did, he quickly recomposed himself.
"Hmm. It seems that I may have judged you quite...... Improperly. Though I could still notice a few minute errors here and there, your execution of the technique was near flawless".
My eyes went wide at his words. I was confused.
'if I performed it properly then why is all this black substance.....?' it then struck me. I remembered that most murim novels always had a scene like this, when the mc would perform a body cleansing technique and then a nasty substance would start escaping his skin and they represented his internal impurities. My thoughts were later confirmed by a system message which I then heard.
*Ding*
[
You have leveled up the skill; Heavenly Tempest sword training lv.1
]
I smiled.
The sword saint got up from where he sat and walked towards me, he stopped just mere meters from where I stood and asked.
"What's your name, child?"
"The name is Kim Carter sir".I replied, realizing that we hadn't had a proper introduction since I got here.
"I see. I shall call you Kim then?" He said in a questioning tone.
I simply nodded in reply to this. He focused his gaze on me before saying
"Good. Kim, from today onwards you are a student of the renowned Heavenly Tempest sword school and shall learn alongside your master turned senior Lucas".
I looked up while smiling stupidly as a sense of accomplishment washed over me.
"Training starts today. Oh and try not to soil our good name, got it? But before that go take a bath, you reek".
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