Cultivating Battle Qi

Arnold had given Linley the Greater Gravity Spell after some consideration. It was not about currying favor. Although Arnold believed Linley was practically the continent's chosen son, child of destiny, son of fortune, child of the world, and so on, he had only given Linley the Greater Gravity Spell as a brother, hoping Linley could go even further.

Of course, the strongest version of the Greater Gravity Spell Arnold had developed reached ten times gravity. Giving Linley the eightfold version was also meant to keep the secret from being exposed.

After returning to the academy, Arnold discussed matters with Yale for a while and expressed his desire to join Dawson Commerce.

Arnold had already become a Sixth-level Mage, yet he was only a little over sixteen years old. That was talented enough. If he joined Dawson Commerce, and was also Yale's brother, it would greatly help Yale's position within the clan. That was what Yale thought.

Thus, Arnold signed a contract with the people sent by Yale's clan. Afterwards, Yale even had people send over a top-tier earth-element battle qi cultivation manual, as well as all the level one through nine spells for the earth, fire, water, and wind elements.

Arnold was now considered a member of Dawson Commerce. Naturally, he did not need to fulfill any responsibilities yet. He only needed to remain at the academy and cultivate until he became a Seventh-level Mage.

Ordinarily, Dawson Commerce would not have thought much of a mere sixteen-year-old Sixth-level Mage. However, Yale was the eldest young master of Dawson Commerce, which was why Arnold received so many benefits.

The only drawback was that Arnold had effectively been tied to Dawson Commerce's chariot, and some other factions had already been informed. But with Linley ahead of him, the other factions only made a brief inquiry into Arnold before losing interest. After all, Arnold was far inferior to Linley.

The top-tier battle qi method Yale had sent was called Earth's Threefold Waves. After cultivating this battle qi, one could use a special technique to continuously stack the battle qi, allowing attacks to unleash tremendous power.

After a warrior cultivated battle qi, it was stored roughly a fist's length below the navel. Furthermore, the earth elements absorbed during battle qi cultivation were the same earth elements absorbed by mages.

On the academy's back mountain, Arnold sat cross-legged with his eyes closed and began cultivating battle qi. Arnold's affinity for earth elements was so high that his talent as a warrior was not weak either.

In only three days, Arnold had gotten started with battle qi cultivation. Even without counting his physical strength, he was now a First-level Warrior.

Three inches below Arnold's navel, the battle qi within his body slowly gathered together, forming a crystalline structure. That was Arnold's source of battle qi.

With a burst of force, the battle qi within Arnold's body was naturally activated. Arnold slammed his fist into the ground, leaving a crater behind.

By using battle qi, Arnold could also form a thin, earth-yellow battle qi barrier over the surface of his body. However, this barrier was extremely weak. Arnold felt that even a second-level spell could break through it, but he did not care much. He had only just gotten started, after all.

For the following period, Arnold set aside part of his time to cultivate battle qi. With the Greater Gravity Spell, his battle qi cultivation speed increased greatly. Under the effects of that immense gravity, Arnold's entire body was under pressure. His circulating battle qi instinctively sought to resist that pressure, naturally causing his battle qi cultivation speed to rise continuously.

In the blink of an eye, Arnold had cultivated battle qi for a month. On June 18, Linley's first love, Alice, became engaged, though not as a principal wife. Half a month later, news that the Debs Clan was suspected of smuggling water jade ore rapidly spread throughout Fenlai City. Yale was naturally the one who told Arnold about the news.

Through battle qi cultivation, Arnold came to understand a principle. A warrior's cultivation was closely related to physical strength. The stronger one's physical strength, the smoother battle qi cultivation became. Even battle qi barriers could be broken through quickly. Therefore, Arnold now cultivated battle qi under eightfold gravity every time. As for tenfold gravity, he had not yet adapted to it.

Once one understood the principles behind battle qi cultivation, it was actually nothing special. Arnold naturally wanted to use battle qi to wield some of the powers related to the Earth Law he had comprehended, but that was clearly something for when he became an Advanced Warrior. Until he reached at least a Sixth-level or Seventh-level Warrior, Arnold could not be bothered developing battle qi-related ultimate techniques.

Arnold never stopped cultivating battle qi or training his body each day. Moreover, merging himself into the earth elements was even more effective than meditation at increasing spiritual force, so he certainly would not stop doing that either.

Naturally, Arnold spent most of every day training his body, cultivating battle qi, and merging into earth elements to train his spiritual force. During the small amount of time he had left, Arnold began studying wind-element magic.

Arnold had obtained the battle qi cultivation method in May and cultivated without pause. By September, his spiritual force had unexpectedly risen directly to the level of an Upper-tier Seventh-level Mage. Arnold was astonished for quite some time, though fortunately, his earlier decision had been correct. To make time for battle qi cultivation, Arnold had shifted away part of the time he spent training his body and studying magic, but he had not touched the time he spent training his spiritual force.

With such strange growth in spiritual force, Arnold naturally knew it was due to his comprehension of merging into earth elements.

Thus, Arnold adjusted his daily cultivation schedule again, using most of his magic research time to train his spiritual force, striving to reach the level of an Eighth-level Mage as soon as possible.

Going from a Seventh-level Mage to an Eighth-level Mage required nearly twenty years even for a genius. Yet Arnold had a feeling that, ever since he comprehended the technique Earth Fusion, his spiritual force was growing even faster than when he had been a Third-level or Fourth-Level Mage. He might be able to reach the level of an Eighth-level Mage in just one or two years.

October 11 was the day Kant Debs of the Debs Clan was to be executed by hanging. Linley invited Yale, George, Renault, and Arnold to gather at his residence.

The five brothers drank and chatted. By the end of the drinking session, Linley asked Yale to help him find several medicinal herbs. Yale naturally thumped his chest and promised there would be no problem, while Arnold inwardly speculated about why Linley was gathering herbs. Medicinal baths were the first possibility Arnold ruled out. With the Greater Gravity Spell Arnold had given him, Linley's physical training results were already extraordinarily good. Arnold thought about it for quite a while but could not figure it out, so he could not be bothered to keep thinking about it.

By November, Arnold's battle qi cultivation had reached the level of a Second-level Warrior, while his physical strength had directly broken through to the level of a Fourth-level Warrior. Arnold had also begun adapting to tenfold gravity. Under tenfold gravity, the results of his physical training were truly excellent. There were no major changes in his spiritual force for the time being, and because he had too little time to study magic, combined with his merely upper-tier wind-element affinity, which was not particularly high, his research into wind-element magic had yet to produce any results.