Chapter 28: Path of Martial
Jaden clenched his fists, and he could feel it... His physical strength was beyond what he was supposed to have... Considering that the system rewarded him with enhanced stats with each level up, and the enhancement due to practising [Iron Body Form ★], his physical strength was simply beyond the league of normal Initiates.
A wide smile appeared on his face as he threw a few punches around. However, he did not allow himself to stray from his goal.
Heaving a sigh, he looked at the other stars in the sky of the white world of [Epiphany Zone]. A few moments later, he decided to learn the remaining martial arts in this order:
[Shattering Fist ★] → [Dashing Step ★] → [Basic Sword Forms ★] → [Falling Petal Sword ★★] → [Gale Steps ★★]
Martial arts did not require a high level of understanding at the 1-star and 2-star levels; however, they demanded a lot of physical work simply because one needed to enhance their body with constant training to master them.
This, however, allowed Jaden to gain the experience worthy of the 2-star arts, which in turn would increase his intelligence stat, making learning the 2-star spells a bit easier.
He pointed at the next martial arts that was floating in the sky as a star and called out to it.
He flipped open the book and began reading it, and soon he started to perform the mana circulation and physical forms and movements depicted in the book.
About five hours later, the sound of something similar to a gunshot echoed within the empty world of [Epiphany Zone] as a blue screen appeared before Jaden’s eyes.
[Congratulations, you have learned a 1-star art: Shattering Fist]
[Experience +15 (Art Learned)]
[Level up!]
[Host has reached level 4!]
————[Profile]————
Host: Jaden Cross
Age: 18
Job: The Shutter Summoner [SSS]
Job Description: You can capture and summon anything using your camera and grimoire.
Rank: Initiate [4] → Adept [10]
Enhanced Stats:
Strength: 4 (1↑)
Agility: 4 (1↑)
Intelligence: 9 (1↑)
Spirit: 9 (1↑)
Charisma: 4 (1↑)
Affinity:
Elemental: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Ice, Lightning, Darkness, Light.
Mark: Shadow, Soul, Death.
————[Profile]————
Jaden’s lips stretched into a grin as he read the message before him... his eyes sparked before he took a deep breath and continued with the other martial art manuals.
After about three and a half hours, Jaden dashed around the mirror-like lake with his [Dashing Steps ★]
[Congratulations, you have learned a 1-star art: Dashing Steps]
[Experience +15 (Art Learned)]
Soon, he stopped as a thoughtful look appeared on his face, and he mumbled.
"How do I train a sword art here?"
He had expected the system to provide him with the information needed for that, but... it seemed like he would have to find the answer to that himself.
Looking around, he thought about how things worked here in the [Epiphany Zone] ...This strange world allowed him to understand things more easily, and it also had a slower time in comparison to the real world or the dream realm, in his case.
But... those were simply how the world itself functioned; Jaden could enter this world on will, and he could also call any spell or martial arts within his vicinity here... he simply willed them to be.
"Would this work?" he thought as he tightened his fists like he was holding onto a sword, and just as he did so... an eternal mist-like blade took shape in his hand before it froze and became like pure white jade.
"That’s... amazing..." Jaden added as he looked at the white jade sword that had appeared in his hand.
He looked at the sword before shaking his head and calling out to [Basic Sword Forms ★], flipping through its pages, he saw depictions of various stances, strikes, blocks, thrusts, draw and sheath.
He focused on them and began imitating the forms with absolute focus. The forms at the beginning appeared like a strange dance with no rhythm, but as he continued to follow the forms depicted in the martial arts manual, his sword techniques became refined.
Eight hours passed as he continued with the sword forms, and at last a blue screen appeared before him.
[Congratulations, you have learned a 1-star art: Basic Sword Forms]
[Experience +15 (Art Learned)]
"Huff... Huff..." he took deep breaths as beads of sweat glistened across his body.
He let go of the sword and fell on his knees... Training with the sword was much harder than the other two, yet it made him feel like he had advanced greatly.
He continued to breathe heavily as he looked at himself in the mirror-like sea beneath...
’Who would have thought I’d be doing all of this?’ amused by the thought, he chuckled and lay back on his back.
"I don’t feel that coming into this world is much of a loss."
A bittersweet smile appeared on his face as he added.
"I had no one in my past world after all, having to earn from a young age didn’t allow time for making friends..."
"And I never had the luxury to see my parents."
His expressions turned downcast. He bit his lips... and let out a shaky breath.
"I can whine about all of that later."
He stood up and began training the next arts, both of which together took two days... making it a total of six days that had already passed within the [Epiphany Zone]
[Congratulations, you have learned a 2-star art: Falling Petal Sword]
[Experience +30 (Art Learned)]
[Congratulations, you have learned a 2-star art: Gale Steps]
[Experience +30 (Art Learned)]
[Level up!]
[Host has reached level 5!]
Jaden looked at the messages before him with a grin as he thought.
’Just 5 more...’
[Host has reached one of the milestones.]
He raised an eyebrow and added with a puzzled look.
[Host’s reward is being decided.]
[Host has the mark of shadow.]
[Host is bound to a platinum grimoire.]
[Host has the Eight Elemental Physique.]
"Blasted hell... what is going on?"
[Host’s reward has been decided.]