Chapter 71: Martial Arts Training Simulation
"Awoooo!"
The piercing howl of wolves echoed through the trees as the pack aggressively chased after them. Right behind the wolves, a massive swarm of various low-level beasts crashed through the underbrush, snapping branches and kicking up dirt.
"Of course there had to be wolves on our tail," Isaac grumbled. "Him running away and not fighting, I can understand since he is half-dead and exhausted," Isaac said, pointing at Ian, who was deep in thought while sprinting. "But you! For fuck’s sake, you are a Fourth-Stage Aura user and you didn’t do shit back there! You could only sit around in a tree! Why don’t you make yourself useful and at least kill these damn wolves leading the pack?"
"You are one to talk! What happened to you saying we should be carrying Ian since he would be tired and injured? But look at you now, being carried by that exact same tired and injured person like a sack! Don’t you have any shame at all!" Zena yelled back, looking at Isaac currently being carried on Ian’s back.
"And besides, in my defence I just advanced to the Fourth Stage less than a week ago! My body is not that stable yet," Zena added while breathing heavily. "I’m technically circulating my Aura right now just to increase my running speed. If I release some of my Aura to fight those guys, it would just be a waste of energy and it would instantly slow me down!"
Isaac just scrutinized Zena’s excuse and then looked ahead. "Nevermind..."
’It’s not like I can just tell him that my Cultivation is only at the Skin Refining stage, so I physically can’t run as fast as Ian, who has already completely surpassed that stage, and I would only slow us down,’ Isaac thought.
’This kid is really annoying. He just says whatever he wants to say, and Ian is being way too quiet right now,’ Zena thought while panting heavily to keep pace. ’And just how strong is this guy to run faster than me even though he just spent the whole day fighting’
"There are people ahead," Ian suddenly said while still running.
"Hmmm... Yeah, there are. Seems like five of them," Zena confirmed, narrowing his eyes into the dark woods. ’How did he know there were people ahead faster than I did?’
"They must be Adventurers," Isaac noted.
"What?!" Ian exclaimed.
"What is it?" Isaac asked.
"Their presence is completely gone," Zena said in surprise. "They must have used some kind of concealment magic to quickly hide their presence."
"So they know we are being chased by a massive mob of beasts, but instead of stepping in to help, they are just hiding and minding their own business," Isaac said with a dry chuckle.
"You are saying that like you wouldn’t do the exact same thing if you were in their shoes," Ian pointed out between heavy breaths.
"Of course I would, that’s exactly why I’m laughing," Isaac said, smiling. "It’s rare to meet like-minded people. The guy keadibg them really knows how to survive. "
"You are really sick in the head," Zena muttered in disgust.
"Thanks for the compliment," Isaac said.
"That wasn’t a compliment, you sick freak."
"Guys, I hate to interrupt your lovers’ spat, but I don’t think I can keep on running anymore..." Ian gasped. He was breathing heavily, and dark circles under his one good eye clearly showed deep signs of fatigue.
"I’m honestly shocked you even ran this far while carrying your idiot of a cousin," Zena said. "Well, Mr. Not-Wanting-Any-Help, how do you suppose we get out of this situation?" Zena asked, glaring at Isaac.
"..." Isaac remained completely silent and didn’t say anything. He glanced over his shoulder to check on the wolves, which were noticeably faster than the other beasts in the horde.
"Have you guys noticed that the beasts chasing us are only low-level beasts?" Isaac asked seriously.
"Of course... and that’s because we are not that deep inside the inner forest anymore," Zena answered as if it were obvious.
"No... that’s not the only reason." Isaac then looked down at Ian, who was showing signs that his legs could give out at any minute. "Hey, Ian. Can I take a look at that red core the older Orc gave you?" Isaac asked calmly.
"Aaah... you mean this thing?" Ian reached into his pocket and took out the glowing red orb, handing it back to Isaac.
"Mmmmh," Isaac examined the glowing orb closely. "Do you truly want it?"
"I don’t know. It’s not like I know anything about it," Ian shrugged tiredly.
"So it’s not important, right?" Isaac asked again to confirm.
"I guess. If you are gonna do something with it, then hurry it up," Ian grunted, breathing heavily.
"Don’t say I didn’t warn you later," Isaac warned simply.
"What do you mean by th—"
Before Ian could even finish his sentence, Isaac suddenly reared his arm back and threw the glowing red orb high into the air, tossing it far behind them directly toward the charging beast horde.
"HEY!!! What do you think you’re doing?!" both Zena and Ian yelled at the exact same time.
"I thought you said you didn’t want it," Isaac said, looking down at Ian with a blank, emotionless face.
"I never said that! I only said I wasn’t sure!" Ian argued in disbelief.
"Oooh... sorry about that. But it kinda worked, though. They are not following us anymore," Isaac pointed out.
Ian and Zena quickly looked back. The wolves and the entire beast horde had completely stopped chasing them. Instead, the monsters were violently scrambling and tearing each other apart just to get to the glowing red stone.
"Yeah, you are right... I guess it worked," Ian sighed, finally slowing down to a complete stop. "I guess you really are kinda smart, huh?"
"Smart my ass!! It was obvious from the start these beasts only wanted this beast core!" Zena yelled, completely losing his mind at the two. "Don’t you idiots know that beast cores are incredibly important to Mages and even Aura users?! They are extremely rare to find! I thought you two idiots knew the importance of it from the start, and that is exactly why we were running away with it!"
"Importance?" both Isaac and Ian asked at the same time, looking genuinely confused.
"Tch... nevermind. Just looking at you two is making my blood boil," Zena groaned, aggressively massaging his temples to soothe his massive headache.
"And this brat said he reads books, but he doesn’t even know this..." Zena mumbled to himself, angrily stomping ahead of them.
"With how strong that Orc was, I could have easily advanced to the Fifth Stage with that core...no.. no.. that would have not benefited us at all. What if Uncle used that core he had been stuck at 4th circle for a long time," he kept mumbling bitterly." Then we could have had a 5th circle in the family, DAMMIT!!!!"
"What’s got him so stressed out?" Ian asked, watching Zena walking ahead and talking to himself.
"Who knows? Maybe he is just tired," Isaac shrugged casually.
"By the way, where is Sarah?" Ian asked, tiredly following behind Zena.
"She left way earlier than us since she kinda pissed off that big Orc," Isaac smirked.
"If she got away earlier, why did she not come back with help?" Ian asked, frowning. "Did something happen to her or something?"
"Who knows," Isaac said dismissively. "By the way, I’m kinda curious about something."
"What is it?"
"How did you suddenly become so strong during the fight?" Isaac asked, his dull golden eyes locking onto Ian. "Even your punches heavily increased in raw strength mid-match, and the way you fought completely changed from a sloppy novice to an expert in a flash."
Ian paused in his tracks for a second. Then, he looked up at Isaac with a small, mysterious smile. "Who knows."
"Tsk, don’t give me that crap."
Ian just smiled wider and walked ahead of Isaac.
’I was just incredibly lucky with everybody’s breakthroughs back at the estate. The Points let me buy a technique right when I needed it, that’s all. But I’m definitely not gonna say that out loud,’ Ian thought happily.
— A Few Hours Ago —
Back in the clearing, during the exact moment the younger Red Orc was ruthlessly stomping Ian into the dirt.
’Dammit, I’m gonna lose if I don’t do something! But this guy is not even giving me a single second to breathe! If I drop my guard to try and get up, this bastard will just stomp my skull in even harder! Is this really how I’m gonna die?!’ While Ian was panicking in his thoughts, bracing for the next heavy kick, a familiar notification suddenly chimed loudly in his mind.
DING!
[DETECTED THAT ADAM THORNE HAS BROKEN THROUGH TO THE LATE STAGE OF SKIN CULTIVATION. REWARDED 50 PROSPERITY POINTS.]
’Adam broke through?!’ Ian didn’t even need a second to think. In pure desperation, he opened the System interface, frantically clicked on the Martial Arts tab, and blindly selected the very first martial art listed under the ’Fist and Palm Techniques’ category.
[DETECTED THAT THE HOST WISHES TO PURCHASE...] "YES!" Ian screamed in his mind, not even letting the System finish its prompt. He just forcefully willed it to accept.
Suddenly, the world around him started spinning.
’I feel dizzy... Is it gonna play a cutscene in my head again? Oh, I’m so dead. If this takes too long, my real body will be crushed into paste,’ Ian thought right before his vision faded to black and he completely lost consciousness.
...
"Aaah... where am I?" Ian groaned, slowly opening his eyes. He sat up and rubbed his temples. "My head hurts, like always... they should really fix this feature."
[WELCOME TO THE MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING SIMULATION.]
[HOST CAN ENTER THIS SPACE TO LEARN ANY PURCHASED MARTIAL ART BY DIRECTLY FIGHTING THE FOUNDER OF THAT TECHNIQUE USING PROSPERITY POINTS.]
[NOTE: AS THIS IS YOUR FIRST SIMULATION, THE FIRST TRIAL IS COMPLETELY FREE. USE IT WISELY.]
"Martial arts training?! At a time like this?!" Ian yelled, looking around the blank, empty space. "What about outside?! What if I die out there?!"
The System didn’t answer his question. Instead, another prompt popped up.
[DETECTED THAT HOST CHOSE: BOULDER CRUSHING FIST TECHNIQUE.]
[RECREATING THE FOUNDER: FIST KING LEE OF THE QIHAL WORLD...]
[ASSESSING HOST’S CURRENT MARTIAL LEVEL: EARLY STAGE OF BONE REFINING (FIRST STAGE OF ABYSSAL DRAGON JAW FORGING TECHNIQUE)...]
[MATCHING APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF FIST KING LEE TO THE HOST...]
[APPROPRIATE LEVEL FOUND: QI REFINING 9TH STAGE...]
[CREATION COMPLETE.]
"Qi Refining? What kind of level is that?" Ian muttered, furrowing his brow in confusion.
Suddenly, a bright flash of light appeared in front of him. When the light faded, a boy with long black hair, who looked to be exactly the same age as Isaac, stood casually out of thin air right in front of Ian.