The next day Liam arrived at the dojo. Master Baker immediately called him over, forcing him to bend in various strange positions. Although he felt some pain, but it was accompanied by a heated feeling streaming through his flesh.
Master Baker nodded with an appreciating gaze.
"Your martial arts are making good progress. You are not far from reaching the first stage, flesh strengthening.
Train diligently for a few more days and eat well. You should soon break through."
Liam, performing a handstand, his face beet red could only speak with a strained voice.
"Thank you, master."
A while later Liam collapsed to the ground, almost out of energy. He dragged his body to the training room, relaxing while pondering over his martial arts.
He was too tired to further train the game's skills today despite knowing the importance of ranking them up.
The damage from low level skills simply wouldn't be enough in the future.
Naturally, he had already informed his teammates about this. Silent Acacia told him yesterday that he and Quickstep were taking the advice serious, expecting to rank up their skills soon.
However, Cyclone had a valid question. She didn't understand how she was supposed to train in the real world, leaving Liam stumped.
With some time left until the game was about to go online the young man decided to experiment.
He sat down cross legged, feeling the VR console resting around his upper body.
With a thought he used his only magical skill, [Holy Wave].
With the console as a conduit a strange energy flashed through Liam's body. Instantly a wave of light spread from him. It emitted a sacred feeling, as if all lies could be uncovered under its illumination.
However, crashing against the training room's walls it dissipated immediately, barely shaking the window.
It wasn't that the skill was too weak. But the training room was constructed to train martial arts. Naturally it was incredibly sturdy.
Liam didn't concentrate on the skill's power, though. He frowned recalling the fleeting sensation of energy passing through his body.
Not able to come to a conclusion he used the skill again. Suddenly a feeling of weakness assaulted his body. Obviously using skills also put a burden on Liam.
The young man couldn't help but yawn. But in his mind was a hint of recognition. He deduced something from his body's state.
The energy used to activate the skill came neither from himself, nor from the console but was absorbed from outside.
Liam had a certain guess. He couldn't confirm it, but the likelihood was high.
This energy might just be starlight energy. It is said that starlight masters can produce similar effects as the skills in the game. Naturally other forms of energy like radiation or whatever can't be excluded but are comparatively more farfetched.
However, how could one be able to train magic skills then? Is it necessary to first become a starlight master?
Deep wrinkles formed on Liam's forehead. He took of the console, closing his eyes.
He tried to repeat the earlier sensation but came up with nothing. No energy seemed to enter his body.
A hint of excitement crept up in Liam's mind. He didn't believe that he couldn't figure it out.
He didn't even consider asking C about it. His body seemed to discover extra reserves of energy.
Shaking off his tiredness Liam one by one tried the poses described in the Winding Dragon Martial Technique.
A few minutes later he stood with both his feet turned outward, his upper body in a strange forty-five degree angle. One of his hands was stretched upwards and one almost touched the ground.
Liam held his balance, attempting once again to activate the skill.
Suddenly his body jolted. He felt a stream of extremely feeble energy running through his body. When it reached his skin, a faint glow could be seen, which dissipated swiftly.
Delight shone from Liam's eyes. A thud sounded out. Liam fell to the floor, utterly exhausted, not able to move even a finger.
But his mind was reeling in excitement.
"That's it! Mana pathways! Haha, it works!"
A strong feeling of accomplishment welled up in Liam.
In the game mana pathways are one of the foundations of magic. Players don't need to learn them, but NPCs do.
Yet, when players cast magic skills, they can still feel these paths.
It seems like the same theory can be applied in real life. However, the mana pathways are extremely difficult to sense and require a lot of training.
It won't be easy for mages to improve their skills like this.
If Liam were to report his findings to Master Baker, the old man would be surprised.
The mana pathways Liam discovered were known to martial artist under various names. Some techniques called them starlight paths, conduits, or meridians.
Clearing them was the important last step to finish the basic training and become a real starlight master.
Liam, inspired by the console, could be said to have reversed the order of the basic training.
This was not an entirely novel approach. However, usually disciples were dissuaded from doing so as they tended to be overconfident, using spells which injured their bodies and might even cut of their paths in the worst case.
Liam didn't think so deeply at this moment. He was enjoying the feeling of solving a problem while his eyes slowly grew heavier.
Two hours later Liam woke up with a start. After understanding his situation, he smiled wryly, sitting up and putting on the VR console.
The others must already be waiting for me…
As soon as Liam entered the game, messages cluttered his vision. Being more than an hour late the other party members were understandingly annoyed.
They even tried the leveling strategy without him. Silent Acacia took on Liam's role, quickly faltering under the pressure. During his second attempt he almost made it to the village but was obstructed by a group of scavengers.
Right now, the party was preparing for a third attempt.
Liam convened with his friends, apologizing repeatedly. He was just about to take on his role when Silent Acacia stopped him.
The hunter was eager to succeed, adamant in his wish to lure the wargs. After managing to convince the party he took the meat and began his third attempt.
Listening to the beasts fletching their teeth and howling behind his back, Acacia felt a tremendous pressure. Even the other party members wore tense expressions, praying for the hunter to succeed.
With each close shave Silent Acacia felt his stomach sink. However, after a few minutes the village came into view.
Silent Acacia nimbly weaved between the scavengers, leaving them in the dust this time, before successfully reaching his target.
Noticing his elated expression the others didn't tease him, praising him genuinely. Only Radiant Shield and Bloody Edge looked somewhat envious as Quickstep welcomed her boyfriend with a kiss.
Subsequently however, Liam took over the duty again. Since Silent Acacia already died twice, they didn't dare to take any more risks.
Thus, another day of leveling quickly concluded. A storm was set off in the global chat.
"Wow! Look at the ranking list!"
"Three levels in two days! Can others even compete?"
"Do others even have time to level? Wouldn't they be searching for a strong class after reaching level 10?"
"Yes, other than the top, nothing much changed on the ranking list."
"What classes do you think those at the top got?"
"With how quick they moved, it can't be anything special right?"
Liam and his friends didn't care much for the global chat. However, angry curses could be heard for quite a while from within Brayan's room in Colville Tower.
It took the young man quite a while to get back into his usually calm mental state. He opened the opulent door leading towards his living room.
However, he was surprised to see someone seated on the luxurious white couch. Naturally, he recognized the well-dressed man quickly.
"Dad? What brings you here?"
"Sit. Look at this."
Brayan was confused. He sat down next to his father, staring at the pieces of paper, which were placed neatly on the black, wooden table designed solely for him.
A frown quickly appeared on his face.
"It's one of Silva's contracts. Why are you showing me this?"
"It seems you don't quite remember. Don't you recognize the name?"
"Liam Varsmith? I…"
Suddenly Brayan fell quiet. Something came to his mind.
"Weren't there some explorers going by the name Varsmith?"
"Exactly. A few years back we bought their home…"
"Yeah… bought."
"Bought!", stressed Owen sternly. "Anyways, we thought we found everything they extracted from the ancient ruins. But now it seems they were quite cunning.
The Varsmiths must've hidden some beforehand."
"I did think it was strange how someone unknown seemingly anticipated all the boss moves beforehand…
But what can we do with this information?"
"We need to find a way to make him hand over whatever he knows. But be clever about it."
Brayan furrowed his brows, obviously thinking deeply.
"I will find a way."