Yan Guang awoke when he heard a knock at the door. Of course, it wasn't a person who wanted to meet him, it was the designated alarm of the inn.
Such an alarm system had once existed on Earth in the Middle Ages. However, it had long gone out of fashion with the invention of the electric alarm. The residents of this world unfortunately did not have the luxury of such a thing.
The novelty of living in a medieval world had still not worn off yet for Yan Guang. It was both a massive inconvenience and a source of much excitement as it was like nothing he had ever seen before.
Immediately, Yan Guang blurted out, "Status."
[Opening Status Screen]
[User: Yan Guang
Race: Human (homo sapien)
Talents: Inferior cultivation talent, inferior martial physique, inferior comprehension, semi-eidetic memory
Stage: Pseudo Martial Artist
STR: 4.5
VIT: 4.3
AGI: 4.3
INT: 1.43
SPR: 3.6
Attribute Points: 0]
"How come I still don't feel close to breaking through?", muttered Yan Guang to himself. His stats were already approaching that of the average martial artist yet he had not even the slightest feeling that he was close to the next stage.
After pondering the subject, Yan Guang formed a hypothesis.
Firstly, his spirit was still lower than 5 and as the stat that represented the amount of internal energy he possessed, it was probably the most important for breaking through.
Secondly, his talents could have increased his limit at each stage to be higher than the average person.
These two factors were likely what led to the situation Yan Guang found himself in.
"No problem, my next actions are the same in any case.", thought Yan Guang.
After leaving the inn, Yan Guang went to the adventurer's guild again to take a monster-hunting quest.
He then proceeded to exit Guming town in search of the beast.
While traveling to the beast's location, he would train the Flowing River Steps, and while fighting it, he would train the Raging Tiger Fists.
At this point, wild beasts no longer posed much of a threat to Yan Guang. He just saw them as a source of points and blood.
In the end, finding and subduing the beast didn't take much effort. Instead of deciding to immediately return to the city, Yan Guang decided to harvest whatever blood he could from the beast and move to a spot slightly further away to begin cultivating.
Since he was already in the wilderness, he might as well take advantage of the rich qi of his surroundings.
Sitting down, Yan Guang slowly entered a trance. He didn't let himself fully slip into meditation because there was still a chance wild beasts could attack. Still, even this partial meditation reaped great benefits when paired with the abundant qi present in nature.
As the brilliant sun began to set and the sky turned a shade of ripe orange, Yan Guang slowly stood up. He knew from his brief stay in the wilderness that the dangers grew exponentially at night, especially without any kind of shelter.
Yan Guang promptly returned to Guming town before turning in the remains of the beast to finish his quest.
Finally, he returned to the inn and practiced the 10 exercises of the Tiger-Bear Manual before falling asleep.
This was his everyday routine for an entire week.
Was it repetitive? Of course.
Was it boring? Yan Guang disagreed. The feeling of furthering his cultivation was exuberating.
All the while, he was slowly stockpiling his points, preparing for the next shopping spree.
As the end of the week rolled around, Yan Guang was pleasantly surprised. Grinding quests repeatedly had increased his adventuring rank already. He was now an apprentice adventurer, one rank above a novice.
Ranking up meant he could now take on more difficult quests. Of course, it also came with some other amenities such as discounts at adventurer's guild-affiliated inns and shops.
It was through these small perks that the guild created loyalty amongst its adventurers, which was the ultimate reason for its widespread success.
Even his guild badge had changed to a slightly fancier one made out of metal, unlike his previous wooden one.
Deciding to take advantage of the discounts, Yan Guang decided to head to the market. The guild receptionist had suggested him to, as apprentice quests were difficult to complete without any equipment.
The receptionist was already shocked that Yan Guang had managed to kill so many beasts with his bare hands. It was a truly barbaric fighting style that most martial artists looked down upon.
As soon as he stepped foot into the market street, a cacophony of yells could be heard. Everywhere one looked sellers were hawking their wares and customers were bartering for a lower price. The entire place gave off the bustling aura that any big town should have.
Squeezing into the crowds, Yan Guang walked by the streetside stalls looking out for any equipment that might catch his eye.
Eventually, an establishment that stood out from the rest interested him and he decided to enter.
Yan Guang exhaled a sigh of relief after finally managing to escape the crowds. The establishment he had finally decided to patronize was called the Soaring Martial Pavilion, quite an ostentatious name.
An attendant approached him and began to espouse some information regarding the shop.
"Welcome to our Soaring Martial Pavilion, sir! We sell all types of goods from weapons to elixirs that aid in cultivation and even martial arts techniques! What would you like to buy today?", the attendant said in an excited tone.
After a moment of deliberation, Yan Guang uttered, "Weapons, oh, and armor. For the weapons, show me what you would recommend to a fist-style martial artist."
The attendant swiftly led him to a display case containing weapons like knuckledusters, hand blades, and gauntlets before opening the case and letting him have a closer look at them.
For Yan Guang, gauntlets felt a little too bulky which made him gravitate towards the more agile knuckledusters. His eyes were drawn to one in particular which was pitch-black and engraved with spiral patterns.
"You have a good eye, sir. That is our Soaring Martial Pavilion's very own model, made of spirit alloy. Its exceptional strength makes it perfect for martial artists such as yourself."
Yan Guang internally disregarded anything the attendant said, as shops weren't known to be truthful about their own product. Instead, he asked, "Can I try it out?"
"Of course!", replied the shop's attendant.
Picking up the pair of knuckledusters, Yan Guang immediately noticed their weight. While they weren't exactly heavy by his standards, he did feel they had quite a bit of heft. He could only imagine how heavy the gauntlets would be if they were made out of the same materials.
His fingers fit quite smoothly, and as he demonstrated his martial arts, Yan Guang could feel the power it added to the Raging Tiger Fists. The spikes made it more deadly and the weight itself increased the overall strength of the punch.
Overall, they were a pleasure to use.
"How much is this pair?", Yan Guang asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.
The attendant answered, "Well, for normal customers, it'd be around 15 silvers, but for you, my good sir, I'll sell it for just 10."
10 silvers wasn't cheap. Considering each monster-hunting mission had a reward of around 3 to 4 silvers, Yan Guang would have to hunt 3 monsters to make up for the cost of the knuckledusters.
Still, they were worth it.
After putting it back into its display case, Yan Guang followed the attendant to the armor section.
There were mainly 3 types of armor on sale, light, medium, and heavy. To prioritize speed, Yan Guang went with a light armor set that was made from beast skin.
In all, the price for both the armor and knuckleduster was around 25 silvers. A bit pricy, but still within the level of price Yan Guang could afford at the moment.
Reaching into a pouch slung along his waist, Yan Guang forked out 25 silvers to the attendant before walking out of the shop.
"Pleasure to do business! Please come again!", the attendant yelled as he left.
With only 5 silvers left, there was almost nothing he could buy in the market so Yan Guang decided to return to the inn.
...
Closing the door behind him, Yan Guang put down his purchases and sat down on the bed.
Almost instinctually, he proceeded to say, "Status".
[Opening Status Screen]
[User: Yan Guang
Race: Human (homo sapien)
Talents: Inferior cultivation talent, inferior martial physique, inferior comprehension, semi-eidetic memory
Stage: Pseudo Martial Artist
STR: 7.5
VIT: 7.4
AGI: 7.5
INT: 1.43
SPR: 6.0
Attribute Points: 0]
All of his attributes had increased greatly since the start of the week, already surpassing those of a third-grade martial artist. Even his spirit had passed the threshold of 5, leaving Yan Guang clueless as to when he would be able to become a true martial artist.
He had fulfilled all of the prerequisites, yet he was still stuck as a mortal! This was truly an injustice!
Yan Guang even wondered if this was a sign that there was something wrong with him. Would he ever be able to break through and become a graded martial artist?
"System, open the shop.", Yan Guang ordered.
[Opening shop tab]
[Sorting by price, lowest to highest]
[Random yellow-rank inferior-tier martial art: 25 points]
[Yellow-rank inferior-tier cultivation manual: 50 points]
[Yellow-rank inferior-tier body refining manual: 75 points]
[Yellow-rank inferior-tier loot box: 100 points]
[Random yellow-rank medium-tier martial art: 125 points]
[Yellow-rank medium-tier loot box: 200 points]
[Yellow-rank medium-tier cultivation manual: 250 points]
[Yellow-rank medium-tier body refining manual: 300 points]
[Total points: 310]
Looking at the options before him, Yan Guang felt puzzled. He could go for the loot box, but that would place his fate in Lady Luck's hands which felt too risky. The other option was to buy either a medium-tier cultivation manual or a body refining manual, both of which would
However, Yan Guang knew that just sitting there and stressing over the choices wouldn't do him any good. Making up his mind, he decisively chose to buy a medium-tier cultivation manual.
An intense head-splitting pain assaulted Yan Guang immediately as information rushed into his mind all at once. It was as if a thousand new memories were being created at once and being engraved into his mind permanently.
Yan Guang could not think of anything other than the cultivation technique that was just injected into his mind. He quickly learned its name, the Spiritual Vortex Art. It was not just an upgrade in terms of a name, every aspect of it was superior to the Qi Absorption manual.
The primary purpose of the Qi Absorption manual was summarized by its name, to draw in the Qi of Heaven and Earth into oneself. However, the Spiritual Vortex Art took this practice to greater heights by revolving the Qi within one's body.
Enough revolutions would create a vortex, and a vortex would create a pocket of low pressure. As Qi followed the same laws of physics as gases did in his previous life, they would naturally gravitate towards this pocket, leading to greater suction of the thousands of tiny motes of qi present in the environment.
Adept users of the Spiritual Vortex Art could even create multiple vortexes in their bodies.
Finally, in terms of combat, the spiritual vortexes could also be infused into martial arts to inflict twisting damage on enemies.
The fact that an increase of just one tier led to so many improvements astounded Yan Guang. In comparison to the Spiritual Vortex Art, the Qi Absorption manual was truly nothing. It was the barest of bare-bones, only suitable for mortals who had never set foot on the path of cultivation.
If yellow-rank manuals already had so many mysteries hidden beneath their surface, how many valuable insights could he glean from a black-rank or earth-rank manual?
Yan Guang couldn't wait to advance further and gain more points. The system was truly invincible!