Treasure Hunting
Chapter 6 The Shadow Pace

Chapter 6 The Shadow Pace

According to rumors, the limit of martial speed for all warriors in the Supernal Continent was tenfold.This meant that a warrior with tenfold martial speed only needed to spend one tenth of time to cultivatecompared to a warrior with only original martial speed. Warriors with higher martial speed had thepotential to reach a much higher cultivation level.

All sects selected their disciples based on the martial speed that they exhibited during their FoundationEstablishment.

Anyone who just started cultivating, as long as he developed martial energy and had original martialspeed, could be assimilated into a sect to be a formal disciple. If he had double martial speed, hewould be considered as one of the most important disciples. If he was gifted with triple or quadruplemartial speed, the sect would allocate all possible resources of cultivation to him, for his potential talentwas one in a trillion!

Therefore, with double martial speed, Zachary had a very promising future. As long as he remaineddiligent in improving himself, he would surely get better very quickly.

One night had passed. He slowly opened his purple eyes as the first beam of light penetrated the moistleaves and fell on Zachary's face. His eyes suddenly radiated strange lights, giving off a feeling of spiritand vitality, and this made him inexplicably charming.

"You have reached the second grade of Foundation Establishment!" Mimi exclaimed excitedly.

"I reached the second grade of the Foundation Establishment after only one day? That's fast, isn't it? Itseems that this God-slaying Formula is truly extraordinary!" Zachary exclaimed in awe.

"Since you've successfully cultivated the God-slaying Formula and reached the second grade ofFoundation Establishment, you can continue with the second newbie quest. Do you want to proceed?"Mimi asked.

"Sure. I hope there's no danger this time, though!" Zachary was obviously still wary of what he faced inthe first newbie quest.

In the blink of an eye, the door appeared in front of him once more. He stepped into it withouthesitation. White light flushed out and engulfed him.

Half an hour later, Zachary walked back out of the door. It seemed that he was having a hard time. Hisface was muddy and part of his hair was burnt. "What the fuck!" he cursed. "This is just insane! I wasdrowned in the first newbie quest and then in the second, I was struck by lightning! Are you guys tryingto kill me? I can still handle the quests. But if I proceed with higher-level quests, how am I going tosurvive?"

"Congratulations for completing your second newbie quest. Here is your reward: the manual onShadow Pace," Mimi announced.

"Manual on Shadow Pace?" Zachary repeated puzzled.

"Shadow Pace is a martial art at premium stage that can improve your speed. You can cultivate it anduse it at any cultivation level. When you're at a higher cultivation level, this martial art can be upgradedas well. It's the best skill for travel and escape!" Mimi explained.

Zachary scanned the memory of the owner of the body about martial arts. Warriors needed to cultivatenot only cultivation methods but also martial arts. Martial arts were skills that warriors used for fighting.The higher the stage of a martial art, the higher the chance a warrior had to defeat his opponent.

There was a wide range of martial arts in the Supernal Continent. There were some martial arts thatwere more powerful than others. Martial arts were classified according to the eight cultivation levels ofwarriors. Martial arts could be of Mortal Level, Earth Level, King Level, etc.

To cultivate martial arts, warriors needed to learn from manuals on martial arts. Normally, sects andfamilies had their exclusive manuals on martial arts. When their disciples reached a certain cultivationlevel, they could learn certain martial arts.

Most manuals on martial arts had a requirement for warriors' cultivation levels. For example, somemanuals might require the warriors to be at Mortal Level, and some might require the warriors to be atEarth Level. The manuals on martial arts were classified into three categories based on their power:primary stage, medium stage and premium stage. The higher the stage of the manuals on martial arts,the more powerful the martial arts.

However, some manuals had no requirement for warriors' cultivation levels. Most of these kinds ofmanuals were of the supporting type. For example, the manual on Shadow Pace that Zachary obtainedwas a supporting martial art, more specifically, movement skills.

Cultivation methods and martial arts were complementary to each other. Cultivation methods allowedwarriors to cultivate martial energy, and this was the basis for performing martial arts. A higher-stagemartial art could benefit warriors a lot as it saved martial energy.

It was important that the best cultivation method to use was picked. This was the basis for the rankingsof the sects in the Supernal Continent. A sect with a higher-stage exclusive cultivation method fosteredmore powerful disciples, and thus strengthened themselves even further. Even sects of similar levelscould be classified further. For example, within the medium stage, the powers of the cultivationmethods might vary greatly.

For example, though the Welkin Sect was classified as a sect at medium stage, it was near the bottomof this stage, because its exclusive cultivation method was not powerful.

A beam of light suddenly flashed towards Zachary's head. In the blink of an eye, the informationcontained in the manual on Shadow Pace was transferred into his mind.

"Congratulations for obtaining the manual on Shadow Pace! The third newbie quest will be madeavailable when you attain the third grade of Foundation Establishment. You are not permitted to startthe third quest yet. You can either choose to rest in the Treasure-hunting System or continue with yourcultivation," Mimi said to Zachary.

"Let me try the Shadow Pace!" Zachary exclaimed excitedly.

Then Mimi's voice disappeared suddenly.

Zachary tried to use the newly-learned martial art—Shadow Pace. Since the system directly imprintedthe manual into Zachary's mind, it could be considered that he had already learned the martial art. Allhe needed was some practice drills before he could use it with ease.

Just as Mimi said, the Shadow Pace was truly perfect for escaping. It could allow him to merge tensteps into one and this greatly improved his speed. The performance of the Shadow Pace was basedon his own cultivation level and martial speed. The higher his cultivation level and martial speed, thefaster he would be when he used the Shadow Pace.

After he had spent two days in the system, Zachary decided to exit the system first. Two days in thesystem was equivalent to two days in the real world as well. He was concerned that the people in theWelkin Sect might think that he went missing. Though he was not the owner of the body, he still felt thathe should fulfill his role.

Zachary was completely aware that the owner of the body was considered as a loser by the WelkinSect. No one ever talked to him. Even if he disappeared for half a month, nobody would notice at all.

The moment he got back to the real world, his stomach craved for food. He never ate anything for twodays. Even though warriors sustained themselves without food for days, their bodies still needed foodto replenish themselves with vital vitamins and nutrients.

Zachary thought about what he had to do. The Treasure-hunting Compass had to be repaired firstbefore he could return to his original world. While he waited for that, he would accept the identity of thebody and live the life of his new role in this new world.

Zachary went back to the empty land at the back of the mountain. After he got back to the Welkin Sect,he immediately headed to the kitchen. Though it was his first time here, Zachary seemed toinstinctively know where to go. Perhaps it was a place that the owner of the body frequently visited.When he was about to reach the kitchen, a few disciples blocked his way.

"Hey, isn't this Zachary?" one of the disciples said as the others snickered.