Chereads / The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion / Chapter 40 - Chapter 40: The Sacred Mantras

Chapter 40 - Chapter 40: The Sacred Mantras

It took Damian about fifteen days to reach the supreme stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Although he could absorb an enormous amount of Qi in an instant, he still needed to circulate it within his body before he could successfully cultivate.

No matter how talented one is, cultivating takes time.

This was an unbreakable rule.

Considering Damian's exceptional ability to extract Qi and his high-level talent, which allowed him to adapt to conditions that significantly improved his meridians and dantian, Damian might already rival, if not surpass, the geniuses of higher realms and worlds.

Despite his rapid progress, Damian could no longer cultivate.

Reaching the supreme stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm in such a short amount of time through the forceful induction of large amounts of Qi meant his body, mind, and cultivation required time to stabilize.

If he had cultivated like others, it might have been manageable, but as a supreme path cultivator, Damian needed even more time than most to stabilize his foundation.

Fortunately, Damian could stabilize his cultivation through physical training, and that's exactly what he was doing.

He held the spear he had taken from one of the warrior nuns during their confrontation and began his rigorous training.

[Class: True Magic Swordsman

Effect: Increases efficiency in mastering all forms of martial weapons by 20%.]

[Talent: Martial Lord

Effect: Grants a 30% increase in efficiency in mastering all forms of martial weapons.]

Damian fully utilized the effects of his [Class] and the additional benefits of his talent [Martial Lord] as he trained with the spear.

But that wasn't all.

Damian's other talents, [Rumination Clarity] and [Boundless Refinement], were also passively boosting his efficiency with martial weapons.

[Rumination Clarity], which gave him unparalleled abilities to learn, understand, comprehend, instantly memorize, and recall perfectly, made it effortless for him to identify and correct the mistakes he made while swinging his spear.

If he noticed flaws, imperfections, or gaps in his technique, they would be imprinted in his memory, ensuring he would never make the same mistake again.

Meanwhile, [Boundless Refinement], which provided an incredible 75% increase in his body's ability to adapt to any conditions or environment, refined his physical form.

This talent allowed him to become proficient with the spear in an incredibly short time.

Soon, using the spear felt like second nature to him.

[Your body has adapted to using the spear.]

[Your understanding of spearmanship has increased.]

[Your Spearmanship (Basic) has leveled up to Spearmanship (Intermediate).]

Damian didn't stop for a single moment and continued practicing his spearmanship.

He aimed to at least reach the high-level stage in spearmanship before transitioning to practicing his dagger skills.

His eyes began to glow with a neon blue hue.

[Eyes of Clarity: Innate Ability Activated]

The world around him turned a vibrant shade of blue, and everything appeared to move slower within his field of vision, as though time itself had decelerated.

With the effects of [Eyes of Truth], which greatly enhanced his eyesight and visual comprehension, Damian identified flaws in his spear techniques even faster.

Even if his spearmanship reached the higher stage, he had no intention of stopping.

He pushed himself to see just how far his stamina could take him and how long he could fight without rest.

[Your understanding of spearmanship has increased.]

Three days passed. Damian didn't stop training, not even for a second.

His spearmanship continuously improved, and his body no longer resisted or felt the weight of the spear.

It had completely adapted to the art of spearmanship.

After training continuously for three days, Damian finally felt exhaustion wash over him as he stopped and reflected on his progress.

His spearmanship had reached a higher level, and after leveling up his skill to an advanced stage, he moved on to training with his sword, quickly becoming highly proficient in it as well.

However, he noticed something peculiar: unlike with his spear and sword, using a dagger didn't create any related skill.

It seemed that weapons like daggers, sabers, katanas, and odachis all fell under the category of swordsmanship.

When Damian improved his proficiency with the dagger to the same level as his swordsmanship, he noticed a subtle improvement in his understanding of swordsmanship.

Damian was puzzled as to why, despite all his training, his swordsmanship skill wasn't leveling up.

It seemed he had finally found his answer.

To level up his swordsmanship to the next level, he needed to become proficient in all sword-like martial weapons.

"I need to find a saber, an odachi, a katana, and train with them as much as I can. I also need to find someone who uses a sword and fight with them. Training by myself won't give me any more experience,"

Damian clicked his tongue in frustration.

The higher Damian's proficiency in his skills, the more effective he became at using techniques related to those skills.

For instance, the higher his swordsmanship skill, the more he could unlock the potential of sword-related techniques.

Damian glanced at the [Qi Cultivation Manual], which contained five chapters.

[Qi Cultivation Manual: The Sacred Mantras]

[Chapter 1: Path of the Sacred Arts (Cultivation Method)

Chapter 2: Walking the Sacred Passage (Movement Technique)

Chapter 3: Dance of Sacred Blade (Sword Technique)

Chapter 4: Armor of Sacred Light (Defense Technique)

Chapter 5: Rain of Sacred Flames (Offensive Technique)]

This [Qi Cultivation Manual: The Sacred Mantras] came with five techniques that covered every aspect of battle.

The 1st chapter of The Sacred Mantras granted him the cultivation method known as [Path of the Sacred Arts], which aided in his cultivation.

The second chapter, Walking the Sacred Passage, was a movement technique.

[Movement Technique: Walking the Sacred Passage

Effect: Increases your movement speed by 30%.]

Damian held his sword and began circulating his Qi, following the instructions in the Walking the Sacred Passage technique.

The Qi flowed from his heart to his arms and then to his legs.

He took a step, and his figure blurred as he released a burst of energy.

Each time he moved, a spark of energy was released, causing his form to disappear, only to reappear in a blue flash in front of a large tree.

Damian slashed the tree, cutting through it before disappearing once more, reappearing in front of the cave.

[Sword Technique: Dance of Sacred Blade

Effect: Increases the sharpness of your sword while increasing its weight, which amplifies its destructive power by covering the blade with Sword Qi. This can also be used as a projectile attack in the form of a ray of sword Qi.]

Damian circulated his Qi into his sword, covering the blade with Sword Qi.

He then slashed horizontally, and a ray of Sword Qi shot from the sword, cutting through the forest.

The blade sliced through all the thick trees in its path without stopping.

[Defense Technique: Armor of Sacred Light]

Damian circulated his Qi, and it began to cover his body, forming a dense, blue armor.

His entire body was enveloped in Cuirass, Shoulder Armor, Arm Armor, Greaves, and a helmet, leaving only his neon blue eyes exposed.

[Offensive Technique: Rain of Sacred Flames]

He raised his hand, and Qi surged from his body, transforming into a rain of flames.

These flames shifted into a hundred sword-shaped projectiles that rained down upon the forest, destroying what remained of it.

"The system's rewards are always impressive," Damian smiled with satisfaction, though he couldn't use all the techniques from The Sacred Mantras yet, as his Qi reserves were still limited.

"It's time to take on the 2nd trail of the tower," Damian said. "But before that, let's check out my reward for completing the first trial."

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[Rewards for clearing the 1st Trial of the Towers]

1st Reward: +15 Free Stat Points

2nd Reward: +1 pass to obtain one piece of equipment from the system

3rd Reward: +1 pass to obtain a technique

4th Reward: +10,000 Gold

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[You have used the pass to obtain one piece of equipment from the system.]

[Since you completed the trial in Hell mode, you get the privilege of requesting any kind of equipment.]

"Let's see… I want a double-edged sword," Damian said.

[You have obtained the equipment: The Eclipse Sword]

As soon as he made his decision, a sword materialized in front of him and landed on the ground.

[Name: The Eclipse Sword

Type: Double-edged sword

A sword made from a special metal that can only be found in the world of Murim.]

[You have used the pass to obtain a technique.]

[Since you completed the trial in Hell mode, you get the privilege of requesting any kind of technique.]

"Give me a spear technique, then."

[You have obtained the technique: Thousand Armor Impale]

A wave of foreign information flooded his mind.

Damian quickly grabbed his spear and circulated his Qi, which began to cover the spear.

The spear glowed with an intense blue light.

He thrust the spear forward, and the Qi covering the spear left it, transforming into a thick, powerful spear.

The thrust impaled a tree in its path, piercing through not only the tree but all the others in its way, leaving a hole where it had passed.

"This technique is strong enough to pierce through a thousand armors if I train it to the grandmaster level," Damian muttered.

The techniques Damian had used so far were all at the intermediate proficiency level, while the spear technique he had just used was at a basic proficiency level.

The proficiency of skills and techniques are classified as follows:

Basic > Intermediate > High > Master > Grandmaster.