章節 4: Training: Practicing various Battle Methods

"Uncle, I want to use the forested land behind us to practice. Please!" Alex suddenly said with a begging tone in his voice and with a lovable smile hanging on his seraphic face.

"Of course! Why not? I bought that place with you in mind. Come with me." Then he led Alex to the land behind the mansion.

This place was a large forest, the land was really big. Very tall trees that had had colorful canopies were abundant here.

The earth was covered by tall grasses and nice fragrances permeated the air. They exuded from colorful flowers which added great scenic beauty to this place.

His uncle turned and walked back to the mansion leaving Alex behind to practice.

Alex took a deep breath as he got serious.

He looked within and summoned that energy in his power vessel to his palm.

The moment this energy came out of his palm, it caused the air to become turbulent, the wind raged as they kicked up dried leaves littering the soil, and dusts into the air.

Abruptly gathering in his palm and following the steps for the 'wind ball' technique, the mass of energy that had gathered in his palm rapidly shaped into a ball, it felt real in his hand, like it was a ball made of true matter.

Deploying his willpower, he compressed it, making it smaller and added more energy to it to make it more solid.

Then he aimed the palm holding the cyan ball at a large tree in the distance and the ball shot out of his palm towards the tree.

The instant the ball shot out, air was pulled over in all directions. It speedily gathered around the glowing energy ball in large amounts.

In a few seconds, the air had swiftly compacted into a huge ball of air that enclosed the cyan ball within.

Bang!

Once the ball exploded on impact with the tree, the tree shattered apart and gales rushed out from the area of collision.

These gales swept dusts and leaves to distances dozens of feet away.

Alex's mind shook.

"Is it right for my attack to have such level of power at my present cultivation stage just in my first practice?" he asked in a perplexed tone inwardly.

The blast of the wind ball seemed to possess more power than normal.

He paid it no further thoughts. He continued to practice.

He would rest a bit to recover energy and practice again. The only way he could restore his energy was to cultivate to replenish the depleted energy in his energyhouse.

He continued his practice till dusk. After he felt he had practiced enough, he went back into the mansion.

He went to his room to resume cultivation.

Air gathered around him and cyan energy entered into his body through his pores accumulating in his power vessel.

He forgot himself in cultivation till morning came.

Once the sun rays shone in his eyelids, they snapped open. He immediately stood up and went to take his bath.

Feeling refreshed, he dressed up in tight-fitting clothes and went to the forest to practice again.

- In the forest -

Spreading a palm wide open, windforce energy came out from it and quickly molded into a cyan ball.

The instant this energy discharged from his palm, It caused the air to turn into furious winds.

Everything on the ground such as leaves, small stones, dusts were thrown into the air.

This ball was more powerful than the ones he produced yesterday, it had more quantity which made it heavy, and it was denser, being compacted to the maximum.

He was getting adept at using the 'wind ball' attack technique.

"Wind ball!" he shouted and threw that palm out hurling the cyan ball at a tree in the distance.

The ball shot out at great speed gathering large amounts of air from all directions.

The air enwrapped it in seconds and quickly condensed into a large ball of air that enclosed the cyan ball within.

Bang!

A few trees shattered into splinters when the ball exploded on impact with a tree.

Once it exploded, strong currents of wind erupted, shoving everything in their path into the far distance.

"Awesome." He smiled as he exulted his success.

He looked away and fixed his gaze on another tree.

Moving windforce energy to his palm, it abruptly condensed and shaped into a blade.

He sent his palm out and the blade shot out at extreme speed towards the tree he aimed at.

Shrr!

The blade pierced through the tree and through other trees behind it.

"So cool." He smiled.

His little success in the techniques had filled his heart with ecstasy.

"I have gotten only two moves down. The other moves need a lot of energy to sustain them. I need to breakthrough into the next cultivation stage to be able to execute them or I could use the wind elixir technique, but it would result in future problems for me." he said inwardly.

Then he closed his eyes for sometime and when he opened them, they shone with intense cyan.

The instant he opened his eyes, the winds became violent again.

This was a technique called the air control vision. With just his eyes, he could influence winds.

By sending this methodology, he gained an ability called 'wind sense.'

Through this wind sense, he can summon air from distant locations and use his air control vision to manipulate them.

Not very long, his eyes returned to normal which restored calm to this place. Then he resumed practice of his windball and wind blade technique.

He practiced till late night before he went back to the mansion.

Feeling seriously hungry, he went to have his dinner at the dining hall.

"Alex, what would you like to eat?" A young girl around the age of fourteen came over and asked with a beautiful smile.

She wore a gorgeous gown that accentuated her great figure and eyes that shone in hazel. She was the only daughter of one of the workers here and was beautiful.

One impressive thing about her is that she carried herself like a noble and not as a worker as she had her character and way of doing things influenced by Alex.

This was because they were good friends and spoke almost every time.

But Alex was now busy with cultivation and they didn't get to see and talk to each other like before.

She worked to get money for herself and not rely on her parent. At her young age, she was smart and really hardworking.

As of now, by learning from many people, she had learnt and perfected a lot of skills.

"Kate, I am fine with anything. How are you doing? Am so sorry you haven't been seeing me, it's because I have started cultivation." Alex responded affably and a cute smile surfaced on his lips.

"That's good, but why not go to an academy? your uncle can surely pay for your fees." Kate asked in a bewildered tone.

Alex's uncle was very wealthy to be able to afford Alex's cultivation academy's school fees and other expenses.

So she was surprised.

But she didn't know it was for a reason.

He shook his head. "He wouldn't. Right from when I was very little, he had been the one teaching me how to read and write. It's as if he's scared if I go to any of these academies I may never come back. But I think I would enjoy him more than any other teacher in any academy. He teaches me patiently and explains all over again if I get nothing." Alex said with a smile.

His uncle was a good teacher.

From what Alex knows about cultivation academies, he had always known to be institutions owned by a person or a group of individuals.

They teach people how to cultivate, provide them with resources like herbs and pills to cultivate the energies they have attuned to and give treasures to assist in their cultivation.

But to enter these institutions, multiple tests are first conducted.

When one passes and is given admission, they are required to pay acceptance fees or admission fees which is usually very cost.

After paying that, one would pay the school fee for every year which is also very high and increases as you go on.

This is normal as the the school needs money to continue to operate. They would remunerate the instructors, pay the non-cultivation staff that would maintain the beauty of the academy.

Only affluent people or people from noble homes can afford the costs of sending their younglings to cultivation academies.

Another thing about these academies is that they act as shields for their outstanding students, especially the ones called Great Sons and Daughters of the Academy.

When they move out of the academy, they are stealthily followed by some of the elders whom would spring into action in a moment's notice once they detect danger.

"Okay. But it's cool if you could study at an academy, it would provide a competitive atmosphere which helps to build your overall prowess. Anyways, you might not need it just as you said earlier. Your uncle is a really nice man, painstakingly teaching you everything you need to know. Besides, look at all the wonderful unceasing opportunities he gave to us. I just pray the gods continue to bless his business." Kate wholeheartedly prayed for him.

Alex only smiled when he heard gods.

It had been clear to him since that these gods were once humans or other forms of living creations that strictly trained themselves to reach the god level.

He didn't explain anything to Kate as he would only upturn everything she ever knew or believed in.

But he decided to do it slowly. With time, her belief would change.

With the guess that she would have good cultivation talents, he asked "Would you like to cultivate? My uncle has a large library that has tons of cultivation books, I can get you some and see which one you have affinity to?"

"No. I don't want to ask for too much. I am okay living and working here, Alex. Just forget it. And let me go get you something" she said and gave a smile. Then she stood up and left.

"Okay" Alex responded.

***

After a while, Kate brought a scrumptious meal that exuded great aroma.

Alex offered his thanks and dived down, voraciously. He didn't comport himself in her presence, there was nothing to conceal from her.

Kate looked at him as he ate with a smile on her face the entire time. Alex was just too lovable, and he was handsome, his look and facial expression would always tug the heartstrings of every girl he came across.

Like that, Alex ate to fill his empty belly while being watched by Kate whose face flushed every time.

They were in a big, grandly furnished dining hall that only the table alone could accommodate thousands of people. This was because Houston saw his workers as his family.

They all always ate together at different hours of the day when it was time for meal.

When he finished eating, he spoke with Kate for a long time.

Then he left and went to his uncle's room.

"Kid, you have abandoned me because of cultivation. That's not fair." His uncle said with a fake unhappy look.

Alex smiled "Uncle, I am sorry. I was carried away by it. I promise to visit more often." he said.

His uncle shook his head, "No need to visit me. Just do your thing. I was only teasing you. But I am very happy with you. You are really diligent. But look at your body, you are getting skinnier. Skipping breakfast and lunch just for practice? You can skip lunch but always make sure you come to the dining hall for your breakfast." His uncle said in a serious tone.

Alex smiled again "Alright uncle. I would do just that." he said in response to what Houston said.

"You don't even come to me again for explanations. It seems you now know a lot that you don't need to know about any other thing, right? I read so many books just to answer any question you might ask me when you are older. But your thing for cultivation has made it so that you no longer come to see me." His uncle said with a smile.