Chapter 6 The Shadow Pace

According to rumors, the limit of martial speed for all warriors in the Supernal Continent was tenfold. This meant that a warrior with tenfold martial speed only needed to spend one tenth of time to cultivate compared to a warrior with only original martial speed. Warriors with higher martial speed had the potential to reach a much higher cultivation level.

All sects selected their disciples based on the martial speed that they exhibited during their Foundation Establishment.

Anyone who just started cultivating, as long as he developed martial energy and had original martial speed, could be assimilated into a sect to be a formal disciple. If he had double martial speed, he would be considered as one of the most important disciples. If he was gifted with triple or quadruple martial speed, the sect would allocate all possible resources of cultivation to him, for his potential talent was one in a trillion!

Therefore, with double martial speed, Zachary had a very promising future. As long as he remained diligent in improving himself, he would surely get better very quickly.

One night had passed. He slowly opened his purple eyes as the first beam of light penetrated the moist leaves and fell on Zachary's face. His eyes suddenly radiated strange lights, giving off a feeling of spirit and vitality, and this made him inexplicably charming.

"You have reached the second grade of Foundation Establishment!" Mimi exclaimed excitedly.

"I reached the second grade of the Foundation Establishment after only one day? That's fast, isn't it? It seems that this God-slaying Formula is truly extraordinary!" Zachary exclaimed in awe.

"Since you've successfully cultivated the God-slaying Formula and reached the second grade of Foundation Establishment, you can continue with the second newbie quest. Do you want to proceed?" Mimi asked.

"Sure. I hope there's no danger this time, though!" Zachary was obviously still wary of what he faced in the first newbie quest.

In the blink of an eye, the door appeared in front of him once more. He stepped into it without hesitation. White light flushed out and engulfed him.

Half an hour later, Zachary walked back out of the door. It seemed that he was having a hard time. His face was muddy and part of his hair was burnt. "What the fuck!" he cursed. "This is just insane! I was drowned in the first newbie quest and then in the second, I was struck by lightning! Are you guys trying to kill me? I can still handle the quests. But if I proceed with higher-level quests, how am I going to survive?"

"Congratulations for completing your second newbie quest. Here is your reward: the manual on Shadow Pace," Mimi announced.

"Manual on Shadow Pace?" Zachary repeated puzzled.

"Shadow Pace is a martial art at premium stage that can improve your speed. You can cultivate it and use it at any cultivation level. When you're at a higher cultivation level, this martial art can be upgraded as well. It's the best skill for travel and escape!" Mimi explained.

Zachary scanned the memory of the owner of the body about martial arts. Warriors needed to cultivate not only cultivation methods but also martial arts. Martial arts were skills that warriors used for fighting. The higher the stage of a martial art, the higher the chance a warrior had to defeat his opponent.

There was a wide range of martial arts in the Supernal Continent. There were some martial arts that were more powerful than others. Martial arts were classified according to the eight cultivation levels of warriors. Martial arts could be of Mortal Level, Earth Level, King Level, etc.

To cultivate martial arts, warriors needed to learn from manuals on martial arts. Normally, sects and families had their exclusive manuals on martial arts. When their disciples reached a certain cultivation level, they could learn certain martial arts.

Most manuals on martial arts had a requirement for warriors' cultivation levels. For example, some manuals might require the warriors to be at Mortal Level, and some might require the warriors to be at Earth Level. The manuals on martial arts were classified into three categories based on their power: primary stage, medium stage and premium stage. The higher the stage of the manuals on martial arts, the more powerful the martial arts.

However, some manuals had no requirement for warriors' cultivation levels. Most of these kinds of manuals were of the supporting type. For example, the manual on Shadow Pace that Zachary obtained was a supporting martial art, more specifically, movement skills.

Cultivation methods and martial arts were complementary to each other. Cultivation methods allowed warriors to cultivate martial energy, and this was the basis for performing martial arts. A higher-stage martial art could benefit warriors a lot as it saved martial energy.

It was important that the best cultivation method to use was picked. This was the basis for the rankings of the sects in the Supernal Continent. A sect with a higher-stage exclusive cultivation method fostered more powerful disciples, and thus strengthened themselves even further. Even sects of similar levels could be classified further. For example, within the medium stage, the powers of the cultivation methods might vary greatly.

For example, though the Welkin Sect was classified as a sect at medium stage, it was near the bottom of this stage, because its exclusive cultivation method was not powerful.

A beam of light suddenly flashed towards Zachary's head. In the blink of an eye, the information contained in the manual on Shadow Pace was transferred into his mind.

"Congratulations for obtaining the martial arts on Shadow Pace! The third newbie quest will be made available when you attain the third grade of Foundation Establishment. You are not permitted to start the third quest yet. You can either choose to rest in the Treasure-hunting System or continue with your cultivation," Mimi said to Zachary.

"Let me try the Shadow Pace!" Zachary exclaimed excitedly.

Then Mimi's voice disappeared suddenly.

Zachary tried to use the newly-learned martial art-Shadow Pace. Since the system directly imprinted the manual into Zachary's mind, it could be considered that he had already learned the martial art. All he needed was some practice drills before he could use it with ease.

Just as Mimi said, the Shadow Pace was truly perfect for escaping. It could allow him to merge ten steps into one and this greatly improved his speed. The performance of the Shadow Pace was based on his own cultivation level and martial speed. The higher his cultivation level and martial speed, the faster he would be when he used the Shadow Pace.

After he had spent two days in the system, Zachary decided to exit the system first. Two days in the system was equivalent to two days in the real world as well. He was concerned that the people in the Welkin Sect might think that he went missing. Though he was not the owner of the body, he still felt that he should fulfill his role.

Zachary was completely aware that the owner of the body was considered as a loser by the Welkin Sect. No one ever talked to him. Even if he disappeared for half a month, nobody would notice at all.

The moment he got back to the real world, his stomach craved for food. He never ate anything for two days. Even though warriors sustained themselves without food for days, their bodies still needed food to replenish themselves with vital vitamins and nutrients.

Zachary thought about what he had to do. The Treasure-hunting Compass had to be repaired first before he could return to his original world. While he waited for that, he would accept the identity of the body and live the life of his new role in this new world.

Zachary went back to the empty land at the back of the mountain. After he got back to the Welkin Sect, he immediately headed to the kitchen. Though it was his first time here, Zachary seemed to instinctively know where to go. Perhaps it was a place that the owner of the body frequently visited. When he was about to reach the kitchen, a few disciples blocked his way.

"Hey, isn't this Zachary?" one of the disciples said as the others snickered.