Chapter 38: Chapter 38: The Acquired Path
"Huh! Damn it!"
Wang Wu stood there stunned, his mind blank, Ice Spiritual Qi, Basic Ice Spirit Root?
This works too!
Am I dreaming?
But after his shock, the first thing he thought of was those five White Rats.
If he’s not mistaken, these five White Rats probably had a similar experience last year. They first brushed up their Ice Resistance and gained Perfect Ice Resistance, then somehow acquired Ice Spiritual Qi.
I just don’t know if these five have cultivated the Basic Ice Spirit Root?
Wang Wu thought about this, and a sense of urgency came over him.
Because by calculating time, it’s been a month and a half since the first snowfall, and the cold winds will diminish and disappear.
No matter where this thing came from, whether it’s a variant of the Golden Particles or a benefit given by a Great Demon to the Little Demon...
The time left for him is at most only one month.
He must hurry.
At this thought, Wang Wu quickly returned to his cave, slept soundly, and after waking, began to eat and drink heartily, gathering enough 500 points of Satiety before rushing into the tunnel and out of the snow nest.
The cold wind still showed no sign of abating, even if Wang Wu had acquired a bit of Ice Spiritual Qi and cleared a branch meridian, blowing on his body, it still hurt, mercilessly penetrating fur, flesh, bones, viscera, skull...
Wang Wu gritted his teeth and barely held on for twenty-one seconds before he had to retreat into the tunnel, starting his frenzied collision mode.
With the experience from last time, he was more effective this time. He focused on which positions to collide with and what force to use, gathering the rampant cold air in his body to one place, specifically, the branch meridian he had cleared before.
The whole process took merely five minutes.
Once gathered, the pain disappeared instantly, and then a message swiftly emerged.
"You have successfully harvested 0.04 points of Ice Spiritual Qi."
——
No way, only this little?
Wang Wu was taken aback, then calculated, the day before, he indeed persisted for about 500 seconds outside to barely gain 1 point of Ice Spiritual Qi.
Converted, it indeed comes to this amount. This Ice Spiritual Qi is harder to acquire than the Spiritual Qi formed by Golden Particles.
Is there any difference between the two kinds of Spiritual Qi?
Wang Wu pondered, he could now clearly feel the short branch meridian he had cleared in his body, like an opened path, tangibly existing, with that bit of Ice Spiritual Qi inside easily accessible, though destined to need prolonged training.
But the Spiritual Qi he obtained before, where is it hidden?
It seems to be hidden in his bloodline, naturally managed by his Spiritual Talent, ready to be called upon, much like a child covered by parents, doing whatever one likes, quite capriciously.
"If I must compare, the two are approximately an innate and an acquired relationship."
"I haven’t improved my Spiritual Talent much, so the sensation isn’t as strong."
"But if I upgraded my Spiritual Talent to Level 5, I should achieve a very strong contrast effect."
At that moment, Wang Wu couldn’t help but think again of those five White Rats and the Flame Scorpion King.
Previously, he couldn’t see the difference between the two, but now it seems, the White Rats had clearly acquired Ice Magic through acquired cultivation.
Hence, their tribe, those Gray Mouse Knights, couldn’t master Ice Magic.
Because this is an individual’s action.
So, the White Rats could quickly gain status allocation, though weak, they are very special, thus receiving great attention.
But then looking at the Flame Scorpion King, it can launch fireballs itself, similar to Flame Spell.
The problem is, its offspring can also trigger fireballs.
This is the essential difference.
It’s like two paths, one of acquired cultivation and the other of innate bloodline talent.
Both paths are not inferior.
Even the bloodline talent might be stronger.
Wang Wu is very certain of this, since how strong his four bloodline talents are is evident.
And he has never enhanced his Spiritual Talent, if enhanced, he might as well spar with the Flame Scorpion King.
However, he ultimately has a human soul, and his perspective, breadth, depth, are not comparable to those Little Demons.
"I will walk both paths."
"But I will never be high-profile, never get swollen with pride, low-key development, and stealthy progression are my mottos!"
——
"Bang bang bang!"
In the dark tunnel, Wang Wu, through continuous collisions, sorted and gathered the cold wind invading his body, while also summarizing the rhythm of such collisions.
Because he was seeking an effective method to perfectly release this Ice Spiritual Qi.
Can’t he absorbed Ice Spiritual Qi and never use it?
"If I were human, perhaps I could use various spells to release Ice Spiritual Qi with a wave of a hand, but I’m a bear, I can’t use humans as a reference."
"My only reference target now is actually that White Rat."
Wang Wu thought quietly, reminiscing.
The White Rat he fought with several times, how did it release Ice Magic?
"It seemed to use three attack methods."
"The first is area freezing damage, with the maximum measurable freezing distance around ten meters, able to freeze the target instantaneously, but the power and duration of this spell require the surrounding environment, needing sufficient water or during rainfall. Before casting this spell, it had an upright movement, where its two small paws suddenly pressed forward."
"The second is the Ice Cone, seemingly a rather complex spell with a long casting time, taking at least nine seconds, but once the casting completes, up to nine ice cones can be launched at once."
"The third is using a Talisman, but currently unclear where the White Rat obtained it."
Thinking to this point, Wang Wu also tried doing the upright movement, with two paws slapping down, but to no avail.
"Perhaps it’s not like this, I shouldn’t impose human habits and thinking, these Little Demons couldn’t have such delicate thoughts, so the medium for triggering Ice Spiritual Qi should ideally be movement, without overthinking, but rather needs to be naturally released with the rhythm of the attack."
Wang Wu at this moment linked it to the cold air management and collision movements he summarized, gradually gaining insights.
Thus, he resumed colliding with the tunnel walls, bumping with the left side, and then with the right.
This collision action could evolve into an attack move.
Humans have Iron Mountain Lean, this could be called Bear Mountain Lean.
For a moment, Wang Wu stopped worrying about releasing Ice Spiritual Qi and focused on perfecting this attack method.
For instance, starting with a run, an accelerated run, at the moment of charging at and approaching the target, avoid attempting to stand upright or swat with paws, as this would slow down and lead to significant loss of the inertial potential energy gained from the run.
But if switched to Bear Mountain Lean, it wouldn’t waste the inertia impact force formed by running.
And in practice, he can completely switch between Bear Mountain Left Lean or Bear Mountain Right Lean based on the target’s dynamics.
Having thought it through, he simply tested this in the tunnel, first retreating a distance, then accelerating, accelerating, at the moment of almost reaching the tunnel’s end, he immediately adjusted his body’s center of gravity, adjusting the body’s angle, naturally, using his right side, heavily crashing into the tunnel wall.
At that instant, as if it were divine intuition or natural progression, or perhaps, the body’s inertial impact autonomously activated his Ice Spiritual Qi.
The previously cleared branch meridian was like a switch receiving a release signal.
At the moment he successfully crashed into the wall, a burst of Ice Spiritual Qi rapidly released, instantly covering the entire wall in a thick layer of ice!
It worked!
Although this Bear Mountain Right Lean directly exhausted his stored Ice Spiritual Qi, Wang Wu was so delighted that he was bouncing.
Yes, just like this, this is the feeling, there’s no need to mimic humans, needing spells before releasing magic, his attack moves are the signal!
No need to align with humans.
Humans do so because they are too fragile, preferring to attack from a distance if possible. But being a bear, with thick skin and flesh, close combat suits just fine.