Initial Mastery

[Mountain-Crushing Fist, heart and intent as steady as a mountain; when thrown, a punch seemed like a colossal mountain collapsing]

[Initial Mastery: increases Strength by 3 points]

[Complete Integration: increases Strength by 6 points]

[Perfect Mastery: increases Strength by 9 points]

[Advanced Mastery: increases Strength by 12 points]

[Transcendent Mastery: increases Strength by 20 points]

"So martial skills were divided into five stages..."

Yang Ling subconsciously glanced at his status panel.

Character: Yang Ling

Class: Martial Artist

Level: 8

Strength: 11

Agility: 5

Spirit: 10

Martial Arts: Vajra Wisdom King Art (first-rate cultivation method, beginner)

Experience: 10/100

Mountain-Crushing Fist (beginner)

Proficiency: 0/100

Health: 110

"Cultivation methods use experience points, while martial skills use proficiency. But both only need 100 points at the starting stage."

"Wu Que's Black Tiger Fist had already reached Advanced Mastery, and Zhang Hao's Zhang Family Leg Technique was Advanced Mastery too."

"Hui Neng's Stele-Splitting Hand and Gale Step were both at Advanced Mastery as well."

"Judging by the bonuses, the first four stages should be relatively normal in difficulty. But Transcendent Mastery was obviously incredibly difficult to attain, which was why it gave a full 20-point Strength increase."

"Enough thinking. Time to train!"

Yang Ling closed his eyes and repeatedly recalled the training method for the Mountain-Crushing Fist.

The next second, he suddenly assumed a stance and began practicing each movement with utmost precision.

Second by second, time passed.

About an hour went by.

A layer of sweat had already formed on Yang Ling's forehead.

Just then, a warm current entered his body.

"There's a reaction!"

He looked at his status panel.

[Mountain-Crushing Fist, Proficiency: 1/100]

"The Vajra Wisdom King Art gains one point of experience in around fifteen minutes. Why does an ordinary martial skill need a whole hour to gain one point of proficiency?"

A trace of suspicion flashed through Yang Ling's eyes.

Logically speaking, the Mountain-Crushing Fist should have trained faster than the Vajra Wisdom King Art.

After all, it was merely an ordinary punching technique.

"Whatever. Just keep practicing."

Yang Ling couldn't be bothered to dwell on it and continued practicing his fist technique with focus.

Whenever he got tired, he would rest for a while.

Before he knew it, roosters were crowing outside.

Yang Ling abruptly came to his senses and checked his status panel again.

[Mountain-Crushing Fist, Proficiency: 6/100]

"Six points of proficiency? It doesn't have a daily limit like the Vajra Wisdom King Art?"

Yang Ling was pleasantly surprised.

To verify it, he had no intention of resting and continued cultivating the Mountain-Crushing Fist.

An hour later, his proficiency increased by another point.

Before he knew it, noon had arrived.

[Mountain-Crushing Fist, Proficiency: 12/100]

"Just as I thought..."

Yang Ling muttered to himself.

"This fist technique actually has no limit on cultivation. In other words..."

A sharp gleam flashed through his eyes as he instinctively clenched his fists.

"As long as I train hard every day, I can accumulate 100 proficiency in seven or eight days. Then I'll reach Initial Mastery?"

Yang Ling's heart immediately filled with excitement.

But after staying awake all night, he was somewhat tired.

"Cultivating the Vajra Wisdom King Art seems to restore energy quickly. If I can use it instead of sleeping, I can spend all twenty-four hours leveling up..."

Yang Ling acted as soon as he thought of it and began cultivating the Vajra Wisdom King Art.

More than an hour later, he had accumulated another five experience points.

[Vajra Wisdom King Art, Experience: 15/100]

Yang Ling slowly opened his eyes, feeling completely refreshed, as if he had slept for ten hours.

"This is the feeling!"

Yang Ling was somewhat exhilarated.

He wolfed down two flatbreads and continued cultivating the Mountain-Crushing Fist.

Since he couldn't enter the mine these days anyway, this was the perfect time to push the Mountain-Crushing Fist's proficiency.

For the next four full days, Yang Ling never left the house.

"Phew!"

After finishing a set of punches, Yang Ling felt a little thirsty. He picked up his cup and gulped down several mouthfuls of water.

He glanced at his status panel.

[Vajra Wisdom King Art, Experience: 35/100]

[Mountain-Crushing Fist, Proficiency: 99/100]

"Just one point of proficiency left."

Yang Ling wiped the water from the corner of his mouth and continued practicing.

Before he knew it, another hour had passed.

The Mountain-Crushing Fist's proficiency silently reached 100 points as well.

Phew!

Yang Ling's fist suddenly gained a bit more power. When he threw a punch, even the sound of it slicing through the air became louder!

"I broke through!"

Yang Ling immediately checked his attributes.

Character: Yang Ling

Class: Martial Artist

Level: 8

Strength: 14 (3)

Agility: 5

Spirit: 10

Martial Arts: Vajra Wisdom King Art (first-rate cultivation method, beginner)

Experience: 35/100

Mountain-Crushing Fist (Initial Mastery)

Proficiency: 0/1000

Health: 110

"Those three extra points of Strength came from the Mountain-Crushing Fist."

"I didn't expect to reach Initial Mastery in just four or five days, but..."

Yang Ling noticed that the Mountain-Crushing Fist's required proficiency had become 1,000.

"So if I want Complete Integration, I'll have to grind day and night for forty or fifty days?"

"Perfect Mastery won't require 10,000 proficiency, will it? That would take over a year..."

"And Advanced Mastery? Wouldn't that take more than ten years, even if I trained day and night?"

The blazing fire in Yang Ling's heart was suddenly doused by a bucket of cold water.

He finally understood why Wu Que and the others had only cultivated their martial skills to Advanced Mastery.

Those guys had undoubtedly cultivated for more than a decade.

But to reach Transcendent Mastery, it would probably take over a hundred years.

They would grow old and die before getting there, unless...

"Unless they're extraordinarily gifted. If I could gain ten proficiency points an hour from practicing my fist technique, my progress would increase tenfold..."

"The Mountain-Crushing Fist isn't even the main issue. Looking at it this way... the Vajra Wisdom King Art's experience points might correspond to proficiency."

"It only has four layers, but there's a daily cultivation limit. I can only gain five experience points per day."

"The first layer alone requires twenty days."

"If the second layer also needs 1,000 experience points, that'll take two hundred days."

"The third layer... two thousand days."

"The fourth layer... twenty thousand days."

"Haha, how many twenty thousand days does a person have in their life?"

Yang Ling couldn't help laughing, though he felt rather helpless.

"Still, there should be some external means in the Divine Realm that can increase the rate at which proficiency and experience grow..."

Yang Ling's expression shifted.

This guess wasn't baseless.

It came from his experience playing so many games.

Games needed settings like that to make sense.

"If only I could find a way to ask the local martial artists about the martial world and see how other people cultivate..."

After pondering for a moment, Yang Ling immediately shook the distracting thoughts from his mind.

At the very least, he only needed one or two months to cultivate the Mountain-Crushing Fist to Complete Integration.

And in another thirteen days, he could cultivate the first layer of the Vajra Wisdom King Art.

By then, the Mountain-Crushing Fist would increase his Strength by six points.

The Vajra Wisdom King Art would also give him five free attribute points. While circulating it, his Strength and Agility would each increase by another fifteen points, and his Health would rise by 100.

Those attributes were actually absurdly powerful.

At least in a place like Green Mountain City, they would definitely be enough.

"Leveling up is still the most practical thing. Every time I level up, I gain one point of Strength."

"The local martial artists don't seem to have that advantage. They can't level up, and all their attribute points come from cultivation methods and martial skills."

"Looks like I still need to mine and grind experience."

"I love mining the most."

Yang Ling picked up the refined steel pickaxe beside his bed, tucked it at his waist, and pushed open the door.