After training for a while, Fang Xingjian now had a deeper understanding of the reason why The School of Sword Arts was so dilapidated.
Kyle could be said to be the only person supporting The School of Sword Arts. He was a one-man show, from cleaning to lecturing. As for those who attended The School of Sword Arts, they were mainly little children and youngsters from the neighborhood.
Today, Kyle was lecturing on the of different categories of martial arts techniques.
“Martial techniques can be split into four categories, namely Nurturing, Training, Amassing, and Killing.” He was standing in front of all the students, explaining with confidence as the crowd listened with rapt attention.
In this ‘strength-dictates-all’ world, an individual’s level of power determined his or her future. The only way for ordinary people, or rather, commoners, to gain recognition was to raise their combat prowess. Being able to learn martial arts was their greatest blessing and also the best path they could take.
Therefore, it was many commoners’ choice. Most families would sacrifice a substantial portion of their resources just to invest into the nurture of their children’s martial arts cultivation.
Kyle continued, “Fifty years ago, the Divine Level Expert Rose Knight’s <
“The Nurturing Path is like Spring, nourishing all living things, cultivating the body, increasing one’s potential, and thus allowing the physical body to grow stronger naturally. It is like a seed planted in spring, gradually developing and growing strong.
“The Training Path is like the blazing summer; intense heat shining on one’s head, akin to the extreme tempering of the body, squeezing out every drop of potential and igniting the energy obtained from the Nurturing Path. But this is also the reason why I’ve never taught you this. Your training in the Nurturing Path is still insufficient, and your bodies’ potentials are still lacking for now. If you were to start on the Training Path now, it would be equivalent to exploiting your lifespan and depleting your potential.
” The normal procedure is to wait for your basic sword techniques to reach perfection, which means getting you to level 10 or above before we start on the Training Path.
“As for the Amassing Path, it is akin to late autumn. It is both the start to the harvesting of the fruit and the end to the miserable death of a myriad living things. It speaks of a spark of life in a world of silence. This describes the bettering of the physique through one’s breathing and blood circulation, and it is essentially a qualitative evolution in one’s way of living.
“However, the Amassing Path is too profound and has extremely high requirements. It isn’t time for you guys to learn this just yet.”
Looking at the disheartened expressions appearing on his students’ faces, Kyle smiled as he continued, “Now for the last one, the Killing Path. It’s simple to speak of, since it’s purely combat and killing techniques, which can be compared to the bitter cold of winter, smothering all life.
“This type of technique is an entirely different concept compared to the usual ones, which mainly train your body.”
“Teacher, when can you teach us the Killing Path?” inquired a chestnut-haired youngster who seemed to be less than twenty years of age. He was about 1.9 meters tall and extremely muscular, giving the impression of a small mountain to people who looked at him.
His name was Ogden, and he was considered one of the most senior students at The School of Sword Arts, and even the Eldest Martial Brother. Regardless of stats or techniques, he was undoubtedly the strongest in the group of students.
Hearing Ogden’s question, Kyle laughed as he shook his head. “Now is the time for you to establish your foundation. Learning the Killing Path too soon wouldn’t be beneficial for the nurturing and the training of your body.
“Alright. That will be all for today. Next, we will start a round of practice for the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique.”
At that moment, from the back of the class, Fang Xingjian raised his hands as he inquired, “Teacher, I have a question.”
Seeing Fang Xingjian raise his hand to ask a question, encouragement flickered in Kyle’s eyes. Fang Xingjian’s talent, and the effort he had put in these past few days were very obvious to Kyle, so he had nothing but admiration for this student of his.
“Speak.”
“I wanted to ask… When training sword techniques, after reaching level 10 one would gain an increase in attributes for the majority of the sword techniques. What is the reason behind this? What happens if a cultivator practices over a hundred different sword techniques up to level 10? Wouldn’t one be invincible then?”
This was one of the questions that he had been constantly pondering recently, as it also concerned him whether his strength would continue to increase at the current rate of progress.
After hearing Fang Xingjian’s question, Kyle smiled. “Firstly, you are speaking of someone who has mastered over a hundred different sword techniques. That is pretty much impossible. A warrior with an average talent would have to practice a particular set of sword techniques over a hundred thousand or over one million times before he can be proficient in it. It would take roughly five to ten years before his sword technique could reach level 10, and at least several thousand years for him to reach this level for all one hundred sword techniques.
“Even if the person is one of those rumored geniuses with a learning speed ten times faster than others, one would need between half a year and a year to attain level 10 in each of the sword techniques. Not only that, one would still need several hundred years of relentless practice without even taking the time to eat or drink before being able to achieve this.
“Naturally, there are also legendary geniuses who would be able to achieve this. However, geniuses at this level are extremely rare. One can’t see such a talent in several decades. You might not even get to meet one in your entire life.”
After saying this, Kyle paused for a while before addressing Fang Xingjian’s other question, “As for the question regarding the increase in one’s attributes after reaching level 10 in a particular technique, the theory behind it is extremely profound. Even the experts from the headquarters might not be able to fully grasp it.
“However, a majority of experts jointly agreed upon some conjectures.
“Basically, after a new technique reaches level 10, it enhances and improves the method of circulation within a human’s body, reducing the restrictive forces around one’s muscles, bone structure and vessels. Thus it allows one’s strength, agility, and other attributes to be displayed more efficiently.
“There are rumours that the lords from the Royal Knight Academy have performed an experiment before. When martial techniques that are similar in nature reach level 10, only the first one of their kind would bring an increase in attributes. This aligns to the conjecture. Of course, the methods in the Nurturing Path and the Amassing Path which can strengthen the body, establish one’s foundation and ignite one’s potential are not taken into account concerning this theory. Those are ways of transforming one’s physique, and of gaining increases in attribute stats on a fundamental level.
“However, similar techniques of the Amassing or the Nurturing Path are likely to overlap as well when they reach level 10.”
Hearing Kyle’s words, comprehension flashed in Fang Xingjian’s eyes. The stats-boost gained from sword techniques was actually caused by the leveling up.
Simply put, if a person’s muscles had the brute strength of one ton, the contradictions between the muscles and bone structure would only enable him to have 100 jin worth of strength output. Only after learning martial arts and learning how to exert strength properly would the internal dissipation of power when it passed by the bones and muscles be reduced, thus enabling a strength output of 200 jin.
Fan Xingjian’s sword arts practice was precisely the cause of the increase in attributes and the additional one hundred jin of strength.
‘So that was the case? If this is true, then only one technique out of a multitude of similar sword techniques would bring stats increase, while the others would have no effect on me? Well, in any case I will only know after trying them out. Anyway, with the talent and learning speed I have now I can easily master the majority of sword techniques the very instant I learn them, so there’s no harm in learning more.’
After this, Kyle once again directed and guided the students in their practice of the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique. This basic sword technique of The School of Sword Arts was profound and all-encompassing, easy to learn but tough to master. However, it could strengthen one’s physique and increase one’s potential. As a result, the students of The School of Sword Arts would generally have to practice it several times every single day.
However, this time round, after a few training sets, Kyle pointed to Eldest Martial Brother Ogden as he shook his head, “What’s wrong with you? How many times have I told you that what the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique needs is both physical and mental control? The crux is in the tremble. You are merely using brute strength, and this is why you’re still unable to break through to level 10. Now, each time you’re practicing the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique, you’re no longer gaining any experience points, am I right?”
Ogden lowered his head as he replied, somewhat shamefaced, “I’ve honestly been practicing eight hours every single day, but I have no idea why, ever since I’ve reached level 9, I’m no longer gaining any experience points.”
Ogden’s pain was something Kyle understood. Commoners’ descendants like Ogden could only rely on martial arts for a way out of their situation. Ogden had been training in The School of Sword Arts ever since he had been eight, and his physique had been trained to far surpass that of ordinary humans. He had a surplus of 15 points in the strength, agility, and endurance attributes, all of which he had gained through training.
Other than leveling up techniques or leveling up oneself, another way to increase attributes was to train the body daily. For example, after practicing the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique of The School of Sword Arts, one would gain a miraculous increase in strength and agility.
However, there was a limit to this type of training as well. The higher one’s original attributes were, the lower the training’s effect would be.
For example, Ogden’s level 9 Grizzly Bear Sword Technique had already ceased adding a strengthening effect to his body. If he still wanted to gain an increase in attributes through this method, he would have to make a breakthrough with the Grizzly Bear Sword Technique.
Kyle shook his head, pointing at Fang Xingjian at the side, and said, “Come, demonstrate the movements of the technique we were just practicing. The rest of you, take a good look.”