TL: Etude
"Shall I merge?"
At that moment, Ye Tian dared not merge, as he did not know what reaction the merging would cause. It would be better to merge in a place where nobody was around.
The academy's management was loose and did not care about the students' comings and goings; it didn't matter if they did not come to the academy.
In fact, once they had learned the body forging technique, the students were mostly practicing on their own, as the teachers in the academy didn't have much time to teach the students how to cultivate.
This was the current state of the Fifth Academy. It was very different in the First Academy.
Strictly speaking, only the First Academy was the real academy, while the others were just larger martial arts schools.
Back at home, his younger sister, Ye Yu, was reading books to learn about martial arts knowledge. Those books were left by their parents, and Ye Yu read them in her free time to prepare for martial arts practice in two years.
Ye Tian went into his bedroom alone and locked the door.
"Merge!"
Boom!
A mysterious force acted upon Ye Tian's body, washing over him.
Pain!
Boundless pain surged into his mind, and his whole body felt like it was going to explode.
"Damn, I didn't expect that merging the copied talent would be so painful!" Ye Tian muttered to himself in anger.
But even if he knew it would be painful, he would still merge without hesitation. This was a chance to change his talent, like reincarnating with new bones. What did a little pain matter?
"Big Brother, what's wrong?" Ye Yu seemed to sense the noise and asked softly from outside the door.
"It's nothing!" Ye Tian yelled through gritted teeth.
He dared not scream in pain, or he would have no explanation.
Fortunately, the pain came quickly and left just as fast. Ten minutes later, the pain in Ye Tian's body gradually subsided, replaced by a sensation of relief, as satisfying as the pleasure between men and women.
Of course, Ye Tian did not forget the most important thing.
He immediately checked his talent situation.
Human: Ye Tian Cultivation Talent: Medium Talent
Seeing the information on the virtual screen, Ye Tian could not help but feel excited.
Finally, he was no longer weak in talent. This meant that his talent had truly changed, and it represented an unlimited future for him.
Warrior, Elite Warrior, Grand Warrior were no longer his limits. As long as he continued to merge new talents, he would certainly become an existence beyond a Grand Warrior in the future.
"One month… I need another month before I can copy talents again!" This was the information Ye Tian received after copying the talent.
That meant he could only copy talents once a month.
"Let's try the cultivation speed that medium talent brings!" Ye Tian was eager to try it.
In fact, after mastering the initial 18 moves of the body forging technique yesterday, he couldn't help but try it, but unfortunately, the effect was very weak. He only felt a slight tingling all over his body. If it were not for his strong soul, he might not have even noticed it.
Because the feeling was not deep, he went to class again today, wanting to know if he had practiced it wrong.
Regrettably, he did not practice it wrong at all, meaning his cultivation speed was so slow that without prolonged cultivation, there was no effect. If it were not for the copied talent, he would have had no hope of becoming a martial disciple even after a year of cultivation with his original talent.
"First move!"
"Second move!"
...
Ye Tian had begun performing the exercises of body cultivation in his room. These movements looked quite peculiar but were the best basic body cultivation techniques that humans had tried and refined over time.
The eighteen movements took half an hour to complete. Only by performing all eighteen movements at once would there be the effect of strengthening the body.
Soon, half an hour passed, and Ye Tian had perfectly executed all eighteen movements.
When the eighteenth movement was performed, a surge of heat suddenly emerged from Ye Tian's body, slowly flowing to various parts of his body, refining it.
This heat flow represented the potential of the human body, and body cultivation was an effective way to tap into this potential.
However, overdevelopment of human potential could harm the body, so body cultivation could be practiced a maximum of ten times a day, and only three times consecutively at most, based on the summarized experience of countless people.
"It's worthy of being a medium talent, far stronger than the effect of yesterday's weak talent cultivation… It's a hundred times stronger. No wonder Chen Dong became a martial disciple in just half a month, possessing the strength of 200 catties within a month!" Ye Tian was satisfied with his medium talent, but he also knew there were even higher talents, the progression of which he could not currently imagine.
Therefore, he had to work hard.
After the heat flow from the first round of body cultivation had nearly dissipated, Ye Tian began the second round.
After performing body cultivation three times consecutively, Ye Tian's body was covered in sweat and faint black impurities.
Ye Tian first took a bath, then ate about ten buns.
Cultivating body techniques consumed a lot of energy, so he had to eat more to replenish it.
A month later.
Ye Tian was practicing in a small grove of the Fifth Academy. It was a place he often came to cultivate.
"Phew, I've completed my daily ten rounds of body cultivation!"
Ye Tian stopped and headed to the number three martial training ground.
There were many stones on the training ground, some weighing a hundred catties, some two hundred, and even three hundred.
If you could hold a hundred-catty stone above your head for three seconds, it meant you had the strength of 100 catties. If it was a 200-catty stone, it represented 200 catties of strength. It was the simplest test method.
On the eighth day of his body cultivation, Ye Tian had already achieved 100 catties of strength, entering the level of martial apprentice.
"Today, I should be able to lift the 200-catty stone. Chen Dong has the guidance of the dean and progresses quickly. But I'm not bad either, with my medium talent combined from weak and medium talents. In theory, I'm slightly stronger than Chen Dong. Plus, I've been diligent for a month, not wasting a single moment, completing the daily ten rounds of body cultivation. The more you practice, the more painful it is, and not everyone can complete the ten rounds daily. Considering Chen Dong's character, he probably only manages seven or eight rounds, so my progress might even be faster than his."
Ye Tian thought to himself.
After resting for a while, he walked to the 200-catty stone.
"Rise!"
With a forceful effort, he lifted the stone at his feet and raised it.
When the 200-catty stone passed above his head, and he held it for three seconds, Ye Tian dropped the stone, lying on the ground, utterly spent.
He knew he now had the strength of 200 catties.
"This is a good start. With my medium talent, perhaps I can become a martial warrior within a year!"
Ye Tian clenched his fist, full of expectation.
After resting for about fifteen minutes and the sky gradually darkening, Ye Tian left the academy, heading home.
Walking on the streets, shops were still open, and the entire base was illuminated by various lights.
This era no longer had electricity, and some powerful bases had managed to use elemental power instead of electricity, creating many magical devices, recreating the glory of the pre-apocalyptic era.
But that was in large bases, while the small Linhai base did not have this capability.
People used oil lamps or candles. In these streets, Ye Tian felt as if he had returned to ancient times.
Suddenly.
"Ah, a fierce beast!"
"Run for your lives, a fierce beast is coming!"
Fear and panic spread throughout the street.