Transcending Dreams

B2 - Chapter 26: Training

He grimaced when his palm sliced through flesh effortlessly, almost bisecting the faceless humanoid the room created for him. The extremely dead thing disappeared into thin air.

William used [Thunderous Palm]. It was too effective.

Since the humanoid being was the creation of the formation in the room, his system couldn’t show any of the attributes. It would have been helpful to see the specific attributes to evaluate how strong the humanoid was.

“State the desired level of your opponents.”

Instead of saying the general cultivation he thought would be sufficient, he decided to try something else. “Create one that can withstand my strike.”

“Creating Middle Stage Foundation Establishment Realm opponent specializing in close combat.”

“Fuck!” William yelped in surprise.

A heavy fist smashed into his raised forearm, pain exploding from the point of contact. It was easy to ignore, especially when it wasn’t accompanied by a system alert telling him of lost health.

This was all a simulation. It was an impressive illusion, but that’s all it was.

William’s Qi-covered palm speared into the humanoid’s face, or rather, attempted to. It hit nothing but air.

Pain exploded at his elbow before it was quickly followed with his chest almost caved in from a brutal punch.

“Defeat. Would you like to try again?”

He blinked when his body was reset. All the damage disappeared instantly.

The enemy created by the room had returned to its original position a hundred feet away.

William knew he couldn’t accomplish anything with the opponent at this level. He didn’t think it was the cultivation that was making it impossible. It was the martial arts.

It was laughable how defenseless he was without [Force Multiplier].

“I want my opponent to be restricted to defense only.”

“Accepted.”

William tensed, expecting it to rush at him.

When it didn’t advance, he wanted to facepalm. Of course, it didn’t. He was the one to make it only defensive.

Since that was the case, he would make his move.

The distance between him and the humanoid was covered in the blink of an eye. A Qi-covered palm thrust at its chest soon after.

There must be a significant difference between their Agility since William’s palm slammed into a forearm instead of a chest.

He pulled his hand back, ignoring the sting from the brick wall that apparently stopped him. His consolation prize was that the humanoid’s forearm was bleeding slightly, so he at least caused some damage for his own satisfaction.

Time to try [Thunderous Kick].

William took a small step back from the motionless humanoid before nodding to himself. This would let him do the most damage with a kick.

His leg flew towards the humanoid’s ribs like a whip. He expected that he would get blocked again. And it was.

William’s shin met the humanoid’s forearm and bicep with a sharp crack, leaving some damage but even less than his palm did.

He brought his leg down and hopped back, wondering why it had been so ineffective. He had been under the impression that his kicks were stronger than anything he could do with his hands, but that didn’t seem to be the case here.

… New martial skills were needed.

Sure, he could curb stomp enemies even stronger than this humanoid with [Force Multiplier], but that was limited to two uses and two minutes. After that, he would die either from the penalty of overusing [Force Multiplier] or from the enemy he couldn't kill in time.

William suddenly recalled what the voice told him. The thing it created was specialized in close combat.

“Remove the opponent’s specialization.”

“Accepted. The opponent is no longer specialized in close combat.”

The humanoid was restored to full health.

He tried again. [Thunderous Palm] first.

His palm speared toward its chest again, but the block wasn’t as clean this time. Like before, the humanoid blocked him with the forearm, but instead of being slightly injured, he felt bone snap underneath his palm.

The humanoid was pushed back slightly when its broken forearm slammed into its chest, but there was no other damage caused.

William pulled back with a frown. He didn’t think the difference would be so drastic.

“Restore it back to full health.”

“Accepted.”

He didn’t waste time in repeating the kick. He targeted the ribs again, a grunt leaving his lips as his legs powered to the target.

As expected, there was an attempted block.

The last time William tried this, the humanoid shrugged it off like nothing had happened. That was no longer the case.

The arm that was trying to absorb the kick shattered, his shin almost slicing through it before crashing into the original target.

William could feel the ribs give way under his shin, cracking under the force of his attack, and collapse inward before his foot was lodged inside the humanoid’s chest.

It disappeared not long after.

“State the desired level of your opponents.”

He ignored it, thinking about what he had just experienced.

All he had asked for was to have an opponent who wasn’t an expert in close combat, and that had changed from him being unable to cause significant damage to being able to deal out death with a kick.

Of course, this was also with a restriction of the humanoid only being defensive, but the point still stood. Knowing how to fight was perhaps more critical than knowing flashy moves.

Forget martial skills. He needed to learn a martial art first. That way, he could find the perfect skill to complement his fighting style.

William tilted his head, thinking of how the room could create those humanoids that were skilled in close combat.

“Teach me martial arts… or close combat.”

“Request sent to manager on-site. Head to the lobby and present your pass to a staffer. Exiting Martial Skills Practice.”

“No! Wait—” William cut himself off when the grassy field disappeared, replaced with the dull room. “Enter Martial Skills Practice mode!”

He waited for the room to react, but after a few seconds of nothing, he groaned in exasperation.

“Enter Cultivation mode!” That was William’s last-ditch effort. Nothing happened.

He was locked out for wanting to learn martial arts. It wasn’t such a big deal, all things considered. It was even great, but getting cut off when finally learning something interesting about his martial skills was infuriating.

Plus, William had no intention of going to the lobby without Lan Yang. As distracted as his mentor was and as short of a time he had to know the man, he still trusted Lan Yang over whoever this manager was.

He also needed to ask him what martial arts would be the best fit for him.

The only problem was that he doubted Lan Yang had returned to the room. The man was probably still keeping an eye on those bracelets and those who showed an interest in them.

William didn’t even mind. Lan Yang was picking out the equivalent of an engagement ring, so of course he would be careful.

That didn’t stop him from being annoyed that his time in the room was cut short.

Both of those were valid issues in William’s mind. Lan Yang was fretting over his Dao partner’s potential new gift, and William was annoyed about the room booting him out.

He eventually shrugged and let out a sigh. Not everything would be smooth.

He left the Qi Refining room and froze when he saw Xu Feng in the process of placing two Spirit Stones on the table.

Xu Feng had a similar reaction as he looked at him with surprise, which he quickly got over. “Brother Wei, I want to use the Qi Refining room for longer than I expected. This is my payment for it.”

“Er, that’s fine,” William nodded awkwardly. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Yes,” Xu Feng smiled, “I shall return to the room and leave you be.”

He watched the boy about to enter the Qi Refining room directly to his right. “Wait.”

Xu Feng stopped and looked at him quizzically.

“Since we are going to be around each other for possibly the next week, why don’t we get to know each other?” William fought to keep the frown off his face, feeling that he phrased that incorrectly.

Luckily, Xu Feng didn’t see anything strange in it. His eyes almost lit up in excitement, making William confused. “It would be my pleasure, Brother Wei.”