After Lucas taught them about meridians and acupoints, he began teaching them how to meditate and enter a meditative state. This was the hardest thing to teach; after all, it could only be grasped intuitively, not conveyed in words.
Moreover, meditation involved the soul, so Lucas stressed even more strongly that they must not try it casually. They could only attempt meditation while he was present.
Thus, Lucas spent a month teaching meditation. With that experience, using breathing exercises to refine battle qi became much easier. That also took a month before everyone gained a basic grasp of absorbing and refining battle qi!
By this point, Lucas had learned that his father's magical talent was solely earth affinity, and only of a high grade. His mother's talent was a superior-grade Life Law affinity, along with a low-grade wind affinity.
Windsor also had a high-grade water affinity, as well as a low-grade light affinity. Benny's was simple: he had a low-grade fire affinity. Eric only had a superior-grade Darkness Attribute affinity.
After teaching everyone the battle qi cultivation method, Lucas let them head home on their own.
Lucas knew that after this first attempt at cultivation, everyone was still caught up in its novelty. They would all be eager to experience cultivating and growing stronger.
As they were leaving, Lucas said to Eric, "You only have a Darkness Attribute affinity, so I suggest you also practice using daggers. The Darkness Attribute is best suited to assassination. Of course, you can also choose your longsword."
Eric nodded after hearing Lucas's words and left. Windsor stayed until last, then asked somewhat hesitantly, "Can I teach these things to my parents and younger brother?"
Lucas nodded and said to Windsor, "You're going to be mine, so of course your family counts as my family too."
Windsor ran away blushing, and her voice drifted back from a distance. "Who said I was going to be yours?"
Lucas's father appeared in the doorway just then and gave Lucas a thumbs-up. "That's my boy! If I'd had your skills back then, I could've married several women."
As soon as Abuda finished speaking, he distinctly felt a chill down his back. Turning around, he saw the murderous look in his wife's eyes and immediately felt he was in trouble.
Sure enough, Lucas's mother said, "Go on, tell me who else you wanted to marry back then. You're sleeping on the floor tonight!"
Lucas gave his father a look that said he was on his own, then left without another word.
From a distance, he heard his father say, "No, honey, that won't do! That bastard Wilson had another son the year before last. Let's have another child so our son won't be lonely anymore."
Then his mother's voice rang out. "Go have one with those other witches you wanted to marry."
Lucas waved his hands helplessly, realizing that now that he was thirteen, his parents were becoming less and less inclined to avoid adult topics around him.
Lucas paid no further attention to these details and went straight to his little room to cultivate his battle qi. He had been busy teaching everyone these past few months and had neglected his own cultivation.
Sure enough, about a month later, Benny came to find Lucas in delight, with Eric accompanying him.
Benny came up and said excitedly, "Boss, this battle qi you invented really is amazing. It's so much easier than training by brute force."
During this time, Lucas had also focused on absorbing earth-affinity battle qi, so his progress had naturally become much faster. He had now broken through to the level of third-rank battle qi!
Eric nodded in agreement and said approvingly to Lucas, "Boss, you're a real genius."
Lucas smiled and patted both of them on the shoulders. Just then, Windsor walked in too, looking at Lucas with a smile. Benny also understood that Windsor liked his boss.
He grinned and said, "Our sister-in-law is here too!" Windsor rolled her eyes at Benny. Lucas said, "Since everyone's here today, I want to find Master Drake, the artificer, and learn artificing from him. You should come along too."
Windsor, however, said, "I'll pass. My father is teaching me archery now. I probably won't have any free time for a while!"
Lucas patted her head and said, "All right, then let's work together to surpass our predecessors and forge our own legends!"
Lucas held out his hand, and Windsor was the first to place hers on top. Benny went second, then looked at Eric. A smile appeared on Eric's usually icy face as he said to Benny, "What are you looking at? Boss is going to surpass our predecessors and create a legend. How could I be left out of that journey?"
With that, their group of four was formed, and they raised their hands together with smiles. It also symbolized the beginning of their path to legend!
Unfortunately, only after Benny followed Lucas to the artificer Drake's workshop did he realize that his boss seemed to have tricked him. Thinking back now, the impressive hammer-wielding master his boss had promised to find him was this scruffy old man before his eyes.
This was clearly different from the impressive hammer-wielding figure Benny had imagined. He watched his boss approach the old man and say, "Master Drake, we'd like to learn some artificing from you."
Ever since his last conversation with Lucas, Drake had been experimenting with ways to melt Magic Beast Cores, so he rarely had time to tidy his beard or clothes. Hearing Lucas say this, he asked, "Does that mean you want to become my apprentices?"
Lucas said, "No, Eric and I only want to learn some artificing from you. He's the one who actually wants to become your apprentice."
As he spoke, he pushed the somewhat reluctant Benny forward. Drake looked at Benny's reluctant expression and said, "You don't want to, boy?"
As he spoke, he released the imposing aura of a Sixth-Rank Warrior. Benny glanced at his boss and chose to follow his instincts. With a broad smile, he said, "How could that be? One look at you tells me you're a powerful warrior. I'd be more than willing."
Drake was a mischievous old man at heart, and after hearing Benny say that, he was willing to take him as an apprentice too. That rascal of a grandson of his was already in his twenties and clearly had no desire to inherit the family's blacksmithing and artificing trade. His only thought was to match the tribe's founder's great feat of becoming an Eighth-level Warrior. He never stopped to consider that someone from their family had followed that predecessor who had broken through to become an Eighth-level Warrior, and had a legend of his own.
At that thought, old Drake looked at Lucas and said, "I hear that brat Wilson's daughter likes you?"
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