Transcending Dreams

B2 - Chapter 32: Novice Stage

One thing he appreciated about training in the Qi Refining room was that he never ran out of stamina. It was temporary since everything was simulated.

William wasn’t sure how long he had been getting absolutely destroyed by the novice stage humanoid, but it wasn’t an exaggeration when he thought it had to be at least a day.

It was mentally tiring, feeling the bones of various parts of his body getting snapped repeatedly right before the killing strike ended the spar. It was good that he was also improving quickly enough to eventually match the featureless humanoid blow-by-blow.

William was no longer as hopeless as he had been at the start. The fights still ended with his face receiving a killing strike in the form of a brutal kick or an equally skull-cracking punch. Still, instead of that happening within a few seconds, it took several minutes.

Just like the fight he was putting up now.

Its hand was pulled back. Obviously telegraphing the attack, but William had been destroyed enough where he didn’t lunge at the false opening.

There was a slight shift in its leg. Far too subtle for him to notice normally, but repeated ass-kickings had forced him to learn by necessity.

This was the moment his ribs would be cracked under the weight of a brutal kick.

William took the gamble that his assumption was right.

He lunged forward with his leg lifted. The momentum the humanoid needed for an effective kick was killed. It left him free to counter.

His fist ruptured the skin on the humanoid’s torso, cracking the ribs underneath. The blow was followed by another. Then another. Again and again until his fist pierced through the humanoid’s body.

It disappeared. The first time that happened while it was in the novice stage.

William felt satisfaction seep into his tired body as he took heavy breaths, waiting for the room to reset his injuries and restore his stamina.

“Opponent at the novice stage defeated. Would you like to try again or move on to the intermediate stage?”

He was back to his peak physical condition. It was still strange how he was out of breath one second, then back to completely normal the next.

William had returned from the edge of death and even regrown a limb, but restoring Stamina? He had never experienced that in the real world.

There had to be something that would have a similar effect. He made a mental note to find out. It would be as valuable as the Vitality Restoration Pills.

He was coming to realize that against skilled enemies of similar cultivation, it was likely that he would be exhausted even if he had won. It could be a disaster if he still needed to fight others after that.

The most obvious solution in a scenario like that was to use his ever-reliable trump card, [Force Multiplier]. However, it wouldn’t be a trump card if he resorted to it too much. The drawback he would have to suffer was harsh enough that he was hesitant to use it lightly.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Another more sustainable solution was to get good at martial arts. Really good.

“How long have I been training?”

“Twenty-five hours, thirty-one minutes, and fifty-eight seconds.”

Just over a day of being destroyed by the novice stage.

William didn’t fool himself by thinking he could consistently beat the novice stage humanoid. Not at all, but at least he now had a chance.

He decided to accept the coming torture and move up a stage.

“Change to the intermediate stage.”

“Training started.”

William's eyes sharpened, tracking the movement of the newly created humanoid. It was already in his personal space, fist cocked back and ready to end the fight.

He recognized this move. It was common in the novice stage at the start. A feint that was meant to distract him from the true danger.

William shifted, one leg sliding forward. Ready to stop the attack from below. On the slight chance the fist wasn’t a feint, he was prepared to block that, too.

Pain exploded from his knee. He was barely able to register that it had shattered when a fist plowed into the bottom of his jaw.

“Defeat. Would you like to try again?”

His body was reset back to perfect health, leaving him to stare at the immobile humanoid. If he tried again, he would die before he even knew what was happening.

That excited William.

Not the dying part. That was depressing. It was the thought of being able to reach this level that excited him.

Even though the humanoid was practically at the same cultivation with similar physical attributes, he hadn’t been able to see how it killed him. This was the result of intermediate-stage martial arts.

He wanted that. He needed that.

Still, he was nowhere near ready for this stage.

“Go back to the novice stage.”

“Accepted.”

***

William smacked the incoming fist to the side. His leg shot up to knee the humanoid in the bottom of its ribs. He felt them crack sharply.

He slammed his elbow down on the humanoid’s thigh, stopping it from doing the same to his ribs. He put all his weight into the punch with his free hand.

William felt satisfaction when he saw its featureless face crater inward. The humanoid disappeared.

“Opponent at the novice stage defeated. Would you like to try again or move on to the intermediate stage?”

There was no reset to fix his injuries. He had none. In fact, the last time he had been touched by the humanoid had been over five fights ago.

It was safe to say that William was now unbeatable in the novice stage.

“How long have I been training?

“Thirty-six hours, fifty-seven minutes, and twenty-two seconds.”

All things considered, it was much faster than he had initially assumed. With Lan Yang telling him it was rare to find cultivators that bothered to learn martial arts, William believed that it was a difficult skill to learn.

He had mastered the novice stage in a day and a half. That was practically nothing to the long-lived cultivators, so there was no reason this wasn’t widespread.

Unless mastering the intermediate stage would take exponentially longer, with the expert stage even more so. The issue with this was the quest he had received, mainly the reward.

[Reward: 70000 XP]

That sounded like an impressive amount of experience points, and it would have been when he was still in the early Qi Gathering Realm, but not now. All it would do is take him past the next few levels.

The reward implied that becoming an expert would be reasonably easy to do.

“Junior Wei!”

William blinked owlishly, almost confused at hearing something that wasn’t the genderless voice the room had.

“Senior Yang?”

“Exiting Martial Skills Practice.”

The vast grassland disappeared, the dull room replacing it as the door opened. Lan Yang stood at the entrance with a wide smile.

“The staff have alerted me that some skill manuals that might suit your needs will be auctioned soon.”

He stared for a moment before a broad smile appeared on his lips. “Let’s go, Senior Yang!”