Lucas's father reached out, about to say something as he watched his son hurry away. But Lucas had already run into the courtyard to play on his own, so he merely smiled and said, "Always in such a rush."
Lucas paid no attention to his father and went straight to the stones he had collected that morning. Since he was still young, his wrists were not very strong. Stone carving was an art that required strength, and what he was trying to practice was the Flat Blade Style he had seen the protagonist practice.
This carving method used only a single tool from beginning to end, so it placed strict demands on the sculptor's wrist strength and allowed no mistakes whatsoever. Lucas had therefore selected some relatively small stones to try carving!
Having made up his mind, Lucas began sensing the stone before him. After all, he had previously been something of a feng shui master. What feng shui masters did best was observe qi, specifically the qi of mountains and rivers. What they sought were the courses of mountain and water veins, as well as places where vitality gathered.
In terms of the Coiling Dragon Universe, this amounted to a rudimentary application of the fusion of the Life Force Profundity, Earth Element, and Pulsation Profundity within the Laws of the Earth. This was something Lucas was quite skilled at.
Before long, he sensed the lines running through the little stone and discovered that it suited a carving of a small squirrel. Lucas began carving it little by little! Because he had little strength, he could scrape off only a tiny layer of stone each time, but he remained focused on his carving.
After getting the dagger, Lucas gradually spent less and less time playing with Benny and the others. He spent most of his time learning to carve in his own courtyard. He had possessed no carving experience in his previous life, either.
He therefore had to settle down and slowly explore and study it, and a month soon passed. Gradually, Lucas discovered that the more he carved, the faster he entered a meditative state at night. He came to understand that carving slowly calmed his heart, which had experienced the affairs of the world, and thus helped his meditation. After discovering this, Lucas grew increasingly focused on carving.
A year soon passed as well, and Lucas discovered that his spiritual power had more than doubled. One day, while he was carving a stone Wind Wolf, his mother, Selina, came over. She watched for a moment, then asked, "Aren't you going to play with your friends today, either?"
Without even nodding, Lucas simply replied to his mother, "Mm."
With that, he immersed himself in carving again, not noticing that his mother was still standing beside him, watching him carve. About two hours later, Lucas finished his final cut, revealing a fairly recognizable Wind Wolf sculpture!
At that moment, his mother, Selina, spoke. "My son really is a genius. You can already carve a Wind Wolf after just one year."
Only then did Lucas realize that his mother had not left. He looked at her with a smile and said, "I'm still a long way off. It doesn't capture even a trace of a Wind Wolf's spirit. Even the resemblance is still far from good!"
His mother, Selina, came over and hugged Lucas, who was already around 1.2 to 1.3 meters tall, then crouched and kissed his forehead. The sudden kiss left Lucas a little embarrassed. After all, his was still a mature soul.
He said to his mother, "I'm already grown up. If the other kids see this, they'll laugh at me."
Looking at her embarrassed son, Selina laughed heartily. "Let's see who dares laugh at my genius son."
As she spoke, she came over, took Lucas's hand, and said, "Come on, time to eat. Your father should be back, too!"
Lucas murmured an assent. His father was there at dinner that evening as well. After serving everyone food, Selina asked her husband, "Did you get anything on this hunt?"
Lucas's father tore off a piece of Long-Tusked Boar meat and began chewing it, saying indistinctly through a mouthful, "Yes, we killed a sixth-rank bear this time,
"and hunted over a dozen third-rank rock sheep. This meat will be enough to feed everyone until the spring plowing is finished!" Selina sat down and began eating as well, then said, "All right, then. Gather some more medicinal herbs. Our son will be six next year, so he can start taking medicinal baths."
"All right, I know."
Lucas finished his meal, then said to his father, "My dagger's getting pretty worn out. Could you replace it for me?"
Abuda paused, then said, "What have you been doing to wear out a dagger so quickly?"
As he ate, Lucas said, "I've been carving. The stones are hard, and my wrists aren't very strong yet, so it wears out the dagger pretty quickly."
As a warrior, Abuda did not really understand what carving was. After hearing Lucas's words, he asked in puzzlement, "What's carving?"
Lucas explained, "It means carving things out of stone, like that Wind Wolf I carved in the courtyard."
Once Lucas finished, Abuda said bluntly, "What good is this carving stuff? You'll be starting your training next year. Spend less time playing with things like that."
Naturally, Lucas could not give up Flat Blade Style carving. It was very helpful in the early stages for training his spiritual power and comprehending some of the Laws of the Earth. He explained to his father, "Carving helps me strengthen my wrists, and it also lets me train precise control over their strength."
As he spoke, he drew his dagger and performed a few flourishes with his wrists, which had already become fairly supple through practice. As a sixth-rank warrior, Abuda naturally recognized his son's dagger skills at a glance. He also noticed the flexibility of his wrists and told Lucas, "All right. I'll forge you a better one in a few days."
Once his father agreed, Lucas did not keep pestering him. After dinner that evening, Lucas began his visualization as usual. After finishing, he lay down and thought for a while before going to sleep. Right now, I don't have any battle qi or magic manuals, so I can only start by toughening my body from scratch. After that, I'll have to pin my hopes on succeeding with visualization, then cultivate the laws once my spiritual power reaches the Saint level.
But there was no telling how long it would take for his spiritual power to reach the Saint level. Even a genius like the protagonist, Linley, had broken through with battle qi first. Although Linley had benefited from being a Dragonblood Warrior, most warriors in the book had reached the Saint level at a younger age than magi.
Moreover, his body would remain as it was when he reached the Saint level. Lucas did not want to look old and decrepit by the time he broke through!
Cultivating both magic and battle qi would certainly be stronger than cultivating either one alone, but Lucas currently had neither. He recalled that, apart from visualization, he had also practiced some breathing methods in his previous life. He simply did not know whether he could use them in this world.
Before you continue