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Chapter 21

When someone used the Bone Reconstruction Technique after reaching the Creation Realm, it was as if they were destroying their house to build a castle. On the other hand, this process was more like replacing house parts with better ones rather than breaking it down completely.

It didn’t take long for Leonard to physically feel the changes. His jaw dropped. “Wow. This is just absurd.”

He had only reached the First Degree Body Refining Tier, but his physical abilities were now more than three times stronger than before. He’d skipped through several years’ worth of physical conditioning simply by ingesting ten mana stones.

Even my dantian and qi pathways feel as if they have expanded slightly. And I’m supposed to do this ten times, not once? The effects would significantly surpass that of the Bone Reconstruction Technique.

The Bone Reconstruction Technique didn’t necessarily make the body as reinforced as ten-thousand-year-old cold steel. Rather, it manifested the inherent potential of the body one was born with to the fullest extent and maintained that state. However, Body Refinement raised that threshold entirely and restructured the whole musculoskeletal system into something new. No martial techniques in his old world could induce such a magnificent effect.

“I should try taking more.” He felt a sense of revulsion as a martial artist because it was so easy, but he didn’t slow down his training. This feeling mainly belonged to his past self, and there was no reason to reject the conventions of this world. Besides, he didn’t find any kind of negative side effects after looking inside his body.

After Leonard ingested close to one hundred low-grade mana stones, he felt his body go through its second evolution.

Cra-a-ack!

He reached the Second Degree Body Refining Tier.

The First Degree enhanced his muscles, tendons, and ligaments. This time, it was as if his entire skeleton was being rearranged.

Several explosive cracking sounds came from his body as he sat in the lotus position. Starting from the ribs near his heart, all the bones in his upper body were broken and made anew. And amazingly, he barely felt any pain.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The wave rode down his hipbone to his femur and kneecaps and reached his toes. Finally, his ulnae and knuckles were remade. The transformation began to subside.

Leonard then realized that his physical abilities hadn’t been enhanced like they had when he reached the First Degree but that his body had become able to withstand a greater amount of mana reinforcement. The first time, he’d gained strength, and this time, he’d gained durability.

“I had to absorb ten mana stones to reach the First Degree, and one hundred mana stones to reach the Second. Does that mean I need a thousand to reach the Third?” he wondered aloud. While he was delighted by the effects of Body Refinement, he couldn’t help but be disappointed by how many mana stones he had to use.

According to Bradley, Leonard might only have enough to reach the Fifth Degree Body Refining Tier with a penta-core, but thanks to his consolidation of the five elements, the cost-efficiency had increased to be equivalent to a triple core’s. In that case, Leonard should be able to reach the Fifth Degree without having to use half of his mana stones.

Thankfully, he was wrong. Once he had ingested two hundred more mana stones, he felt his body begin to change again. Apparently, he didn’t need ten times the number of stones to reach the Third Degree. Reaching the First Degree had simply required a very small amount.

Hence, he reached the Third Degree Body Refining Tier. At that point, he felt his nerves collapse. His five senses became beyond acute, and his neural signaling became several times faster. He could now adjust his processing speed at will. He could now also sense things at a speed that shouldn’t have been possible and even react to them.

At this rate, not even a repeating crossbow will be able to graze me.

Even First-Class martial artists had trouble seeing arrows fired by a repeating crossbow right in front of them, but Leonard now had the reflexes that would allow him to intercept and dodge them. His senses were now as keen as an animal’s, and the sudden heightening of his senses even made his ears ring. He had to take a moment to collect himself.

Am I ascending through the Degrees too quickly? I have a feeling that doing this one more time will cause problems.

It was possible to have too much of a good thing, and one had to appreciate what they had. Leonard closed his eyes and shook away his greed.

I’ve already achieved too much in one day.

Now that he thought about it, something was off. If all one needed to reach the next Degree was to absorb mana stones, it should be possible to reach the Fifth Degree in one day. However, Bradley had estimated it would take Leonard half a year.

“Is that abnormal?” he wondered.

The boy was right. Though it was true that it took much less time to go through the Body Refining Tier than the other Major Tiers, it was hard to imagine someone reaching the Third Degree in one day like Leonard had. The only reason he was able to reach it so fast was because he had practiced yoga and had the five elements.

Leonard carefully inspected his body.

The First Degree refined my muscles, tendons, and ligaments; the Second Degree reconstructed my bones; and the Third Degree enhanced my nervous system. And they augmented earth, metal, and wood energy respectively.

Those who weren’t familiar with the theory of the Five Elements wouldn’t know this, but muscles, tendons, and ligaments were associated with earth. Bones were made of minerals, and the nervous system stretched across the body like branches.

That means the Fourth and Fifth Degrees will affect parts that are associated with water and fire.

The Five Elements Theory wasn’t just a principle that explained how the world worked. It also included every living being that resided in it. Humans were also a part of the five elements, and each part of their body corresponded to one of them. Leonard had absorbed and unified each elemental energy within him, which was why he was exempt from the obligatory side effects of the transformation and the recovery periods.

Without the earth mana, the muscle pain would be so severe I wouldn’t be able to move, and if it weren’t for the metal mana, I would need time for my bones to heal. And if it weren’t for the wood mana, each part of my nervous system would be suffering.

Naturally, one couldn’t keep absorbing mana stones until their side effects subsided. They would need a few days to a few weeks to recover even if they possessed the corresponding element. This was why it inevitably took around a month for the average person to reach the Third Degree Body Refining Tier.

Not even someone with a penta-core like me would be able to reach it this fast, Leonard thought with certainty. It looks like the misalignment of the Three Treasures actually helped me.

The Three Treasures were essence, energy, and spirit. Essence for the physical body. Energy for qi and mana. Spirit for one’s mind. However, Leonard’s were in heavy disarray. His spirit was incomparably stronger than his body and energy. So every time he took in mana, his essence and energy devoured his spirit so that they could catch up as soon as possible. This was why he had risen so fast.

“I suppose I’ll have to hide out here for at least a month,” he concluded. If Bradley caught wind of this, he would become suspicious and interrogate him. Leonard’s skill with the sword could be brushed away by labeling him as a prodigy, but it would be hard to come up with an explanation as to how a mere trainee could shatter hundreds of years’ worth of knowledge regarding mana cultivation.

He let out a long sigh and stood up.

Since I’ll have to maintain a cover anyway, I should plan ahead. I’ll tailor my past experiences with martial arts to fit this body so that the family won’t grow suspicious.

Even if he couldn’t use advanced techniques, he had no intention of letting go of martial arts completely. The Commander of the Order of the Fledgling Dragon, Fabian, already thought he was an extraordinary genius, so Leonard could take advantage of that misunderstanding.

The Sword Emperor Yeon Mu-Hyuk’s signature One Origin Five Elements Sutra Sword was too high-level for him right now. If he wanted to attempt it, he needed five swords to imbue with elemental energy, just as the Heavenly Demon had said. However, even if he surpassed the Body Refining Tier, he would need to reach at least the Tenth Degree External Force Tier in order to use it effectively.

“I suppose I should start with the Five Elements Style itself,” he remarked to himself. The Five Elements Style was a group of bloodline techniques that formed the basis of the One Origin Five Elements Sutra Sword, but decades of development had caused the Sutra Sword to deviate significantly from its original form.

The Four Symbols were a group of divine beasts representing each of the cardinal directions. If one included the Yellow Dragon that represented the center, there were five. Though some people believed that either the Qilin or humans held that position, Yeon Mu-Hyuk believed that the Yellow Dragon symbolized the center.

If he was to start his training from scratch, he would have to go back to the basics. He muttered, “I suppose it’ll take a long time until I master all 144 Forms.”

The Vermillion Bird had 36 attack-centered Forms using the mighty illusion sword art.

The Black Tortoise had 36 defense-centered Forms using the dull sword art and the idle sword art.

The Azure Dragon had 36 elusive Forms using the swift sword art and the eloquent sword art.

The White Tiger had 36 frenzy-inducing Forms using the heavy sword art and the supreme sword art.

Combining and incorporating all these styles into each other was known as the Way of the Yellow Dragon, making these 144 Forms the foundation of the Five Element Style.

I can’t use my sword properly here... But I can at least outline them even if I’m sitting down.

As he automatically drew the wooden sword at his hip, he realized that he hadn’t received a real sword yet. It was likely that Bradley was thinking that he would give Leonard one once he reached the Fifth Degree Body Refining Tier. Deep down, Leonard wanted desperately to go to him and ask for one, but because he had to hide his development, he had no other choice but to remain where he was.

Besides, with his level of skill, even a tree branch could be as effective as a sword in his hands. It was simply about personal preference to some extent.

He drew a smooth arc with the wooden sword. Fwoosh. He performed an opening display[1], making three auspicious balls of fire appear in the air, which then faded.

This was the mighty illusion sword art, which attacked the enemy until they were ripped into pieces.

This was the first of the 36 Forms of the Vermillion Bird.

***

One month and two weeks passed. The page who had been monitoring Leonard since his first day on Galapagos Island looked bored. “I know he’s supposed to go through the Body Refining Tier, but how can he not come out of his cave a single time?”

The young man next to him smirked. “Are you sure he’s not some unimaginably huge coward?”

“A coward has to have a reason for being scared. Do you think they’d send a kid who would hole up in his cave before he even saw anything that would scare him? Maybe he’s just planning to train there until he reaches the Fifth Degree,” the other retorted.

“Hey, you’re not wrong.”

It was incredibly difficult to get by on Galapagos Island. The weakest ones on the island were in the Fifth Degree Body Refining Tier, but they couldn’t travel much further than the beach areas and the outskirts of the forest.

These three apprentice knights were now in their fourth year and were geniuses who’d already reached the Second Degree External Force Tier. But not even they dared to get close to the heart of the island. That was how ridiculously hostile the place was.

“It doesn’t seem as if anything’s going to happen today either, so let’s go catch some fish. If you guys slack off again tomorrow, you’re gonna have to use your precious mana stones to get rations,” a third boy, their leader, said.

The two pages looked at him and sneered.

“Dammit, do you really have to be that stingy when you’re that good at catching fish?” one of them grumbled.

“That’s just how it is on Galapagos Island. Someone in the Second Degree External Force Tier is only about as formidable as a strong goblin.”

“A goblin?! That’s too harsh. Shouldn’t we at least be on par with an orc?”

“You’d still end up being eaten by trolls and ogres, though.”

As the rowdy trainees joked around, they grew farther and farther from Leonard’s cave. Finally, they disappeared entirely.

Creak.

The unoiled hinges groaned as the door opened, and Leonard stepped out for the first time in a month and two weeks. He had spent the time doing nothing but studying swordplay, eating, and sleeping. His hair was long and unkempt, and his clothes were torn, but his two eyes glinted sharply. He seemed as if he was ready to cut someone down at any moment.

“I should get a sword from Sir Bradley,” he muttered in a terribly hoarse voice.

Though he had been unable to modify all 144 Forms, his skills were now finally worth something. Now it was time to test them out by killing something.

1. An opening display is when martial artists put on a performative, non-combative display before a battle to show respect to the enemy. ☜