Logan nodded and began adding up the various pieces. When he was most of the way through, the total was already higher than the previous sale price. He eventually reached a little over a million credits, which would’ve been higher if the pelt was less damaged and better processed, but that didn’t matter for now.

After consulting everyone on the updated sale prices, he sold all the materials. Amelia decided to escort Ron and Betty home to the cavern while everyone else rested. Once she returned, Logan brought them out hunting again. He took that as an opportunity to discuss his thoughts on the infectious mushrooms, but instead of avoiding the tunnels altogether, they all decided to trust that the egg would heal them before it was too late.

They also opted to keep a healthy distance from the glowing mushrooms whenever they encountered some. Amelia thought of wearing a ripped-up piece of fabric over her nose and mouth to block any spores, the rest of the group deciding to join her. Logan doubted it could block a magical infection, but he kept that to himself.

A few hours after separating, Stephanie ignited her lifeline. The rats showed up less frequently, but everyone still managed to advance their cultivation before the end of the day. Everyone was ecstatic and immediately returned back to the cavern to practise their newly purchased technique manuals.

No one wanted to encounter a healthy Crystal Rat before they were ready.

Logan had been practising Flash Step the entire time they were out hunting. His success rate was increasing much faster than with Piercing Thrust, but he still took until the end of the next day to actually learn the skill to completion. He spent the next ten minutes charging around the cavern and down the hallways like a child.

He even got the others to join him for a game of tag. They gave up on the first round since no one could touch the hem of his robes, but it was fun while it lasted. The technique focused on using rotational forces to build up potential, releasing it all at once for a burst of speed. They had no chance of ever catching him. Being able to stand perfectly still before lunging in a random direction at full speed made that all but impossible.

The only problem was that it put a fair bit of stress on the body. Logan could only use it once every few seconds at most, leaving him feeling stiff later. Despite the minor flaws that could only be ironed out with diligent training, Logan was quite pleased with his progress.

Concepts: Rotation (10%)

Once his comprehension reached 25%, it would be ready to fuse with another. Of course, Logan had to bring a different concept up to that same level first. With two at 25% mastery, they would be able to fuse.

Once the game of tag was finished, Logan read over the new techniques in the Shop before practising his life force manual. He made it halfway through the Second Step before failing again, his progress making a big jump after his cultivation advanced. Still, he needed to reach the third as quickly as possible.

Completing it would signify that he had reached the pinnacle of human performance. The fourth through sixth steps were for cultivators. Logan was technically behind since he was only at the second step, which was designed for regular humans. Luckily, his progress was very fast due to having a more advanced cultivation. That would slow down as he approached an equilibrium, the fourth step designed for those at the first and second stages of Body Tempering.

He was excited to see how strong he would get after reaching the fourth step of the Nine-Step Spear, but first he had to decide what to make of these new techniques.

After raising his privilege level, Logan discovered an interesting addition to the Shop. Specifically, there were new books in the technique section of the Library. Not only were there more of them to learn, but there was also a new book that explained how one could progress their techniques. The virtual copy was only ten thousand credits, which had been considered a fortune just a few days ago. Now, it was petty cash that Logan could throw away whenever he wanted.

With a click, the book appeared in front of his face. It started by going over the basics of how to pick suitable techniques and learn them efficiently. To illustrate this, about half of the book detailed the lives of several warriors and their fighting styles.

Logan took the time to explain one of them to Amelia. It was a knight build that used a sword and shield, focusing on sudden dodges, fast and heavy attacks, and a combination of defensive techniques that would make anyone a walking fortress. While she didn’t use a sword herself, there were better techniques she could employ with her spear. He also explained a few others to her, each designed for a different style of fighting with a shield.

By that point, almost everyone had gathered around him. Logan continued sharing his notes from the book. He couldn’t quote them verbatim, but sharing the ideas behind the theory he had extrapolated himself was fair game. That was how he got around the System’s anti-piracy feature, which still achieved its purpose in the end.

If any of them wanted to model their fighting style after a particular warrior in the book, they would have to buy it to learn the names of their techniques.

Once everyone had an idea of what techniques they would buy in the future, the lecture shifted into a discussion on how to create a powerful team. Logan was their strongest member by a large margin. As such, they started coming up with ideas on how to support him in future battles. Nothing was set in stone, but he came away from that hour-long discussion feeling like everyone had a better idea of where they were heading.

Next, Logan read up on what concepts did for a cultivator. They were the foundation of all techniques and operated through the body. By comprehending one, a person could apply that knowledge to their movements, allowing them to punch harder or move faster. When techniques were added to the equation, cultivators learned how to focus that knowledge to be most effective, such as through a spear thrust or a palm strike.

When done correctly, that technique would trigger a reaction in the environment. This was known as invoking the Heavenly Laws. For example, Logan could invoke the Heavenly Law of Piercing with his technique. This was no different than using levers and pulleys to move something heavy. By understanding the physical laws behind it, cultivators could do things that shouldn’t be possible.

But that wasn’t the only thing a concept could do. If a cultivator fully comprehended one, the level of control they could exert over their body would increase by a substantial amount. That would improve everything involving the two. The ease at which a person learned techniques, improved their weapon mastery, and overall combat strength would all skyrocket.

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Saying that concepts were the foundation of a cultivator’s strength wasn’t an understatement. As such, progressing further along the path of techniques also meant learning more concepts. The easiest way to do that was by diligently practising techniques. Everyone would start with an amateur technique of their choice, and since all of them were built around one concept, everyone would start by learning that one technique and concept before moving on.

Four concepts governed the movements of a human body. Logan had already learned one of them, leaving him two directions on how to progress. Young children often learned four different techniques focused on each concept. This would grant them a surface-level understanding that would only grow as they learned as many techniques as possible.

This had a few benefits. Namely, it was the easiest path to fusing the four concepts by a large margin. By having a broad foundation to stand on, they could pick up four intermediate techniques and randomly merge them, repeating the process until they had one unified theory of movement. The only demerit to this approach was the time required.

Small children had years to learn techniques and improve. Logan, on the other hand, had no such luxury. His only option was to follow the most difficult path. By focusing on two concepts, he could raise his comprehension to the 25% minimum as he desperately tried to merge them together.

This had the risk of bottlenecking. Sometimes, people just got stuck for no reason. Logan had experienced that a few times with his visualisation technique. Learning only two concepts was risky, but it was also the fastest way to improve his strength, which was by learning an upgraded technique.

Logan could use the intermediate version of Piercing Thrust when he mastered another concept into his understanding of rotation. By directly upgrading his technique, he could also carry over most of what he knew about it. That would make using it easier and more powerful than if he were to learn an entirely new intermediate technique.

After that point, the only way to progress was to merge a third concept into the other two. Logan would have to reach 50% mastery in both before doing so, but that was the general process. Learn a technique, master the concept by practising it, and then try to learn its upgraded version until you figured out a way to merge them.

Rinse and repeat until you have four combined concepts and a plethora of techniques that flawlessly utilised the body.

Of course, this was the simplest path. Directly upgrading a technique was by far the best route to take. It was fast, easy, and helped save time. However, there were two other methods that had their own benefits.

The next easiest was to merge two separate techniques together without a manual. This was much more difficult, but it had the added benefit of allowing one to customise.

There was only one intermediate copy of Piercing Thrust in the Shop. It combined a speed technique into the original skill, meaning it would become swift on top of being able to pierce defences. However, if Logan didn’t like it, his only option was to learn a new technique or try to merge the amateur version of Piercing Thrust with another amateur technique.

There would likely be a reward for doing something so hard, but that was too risky a decision when he was stranded underground and had to protect a group of sickly seniors.

The last and most difficult method was to create a new technique. That was it. Experiment with however many concepts you wished until a new technique was born that did the thing you wanted it to. The process was incredibly long according to the book, and most people who were foolish enough to attempt it failed, but the ones who didn’t were rewarded with a flawless technique.

Everyone had slight differences to their body. Some were taller than others, had longer or shorter limbs, or had wider hips depending on the sex they were born with. As a result, techniques would be more powerful depending on who used them. Women who used techniques based on rotation had this benefit. Their wider hips increased their speed with rotation-based movements while men, on the other hand, had greater strength when they used techniques like Piercing Thrust since they generally had broader shoulders.

A self-made technique had none of those intricacies.

It would be perfect for the creator, allowing them to bring out greater power than if they were to learn any other technique.

That was all well and good, but Logan was again on a deadline. He couldn’t waste months trying to create a technique that might never be made, so he quickly settled on upgrading Piercing Thrust directly. With the book finished, he sat down and looked through the rest of the Library. There were some techniques here that could cover his weaknesses. He would grab them at some point, but for now, he relaxed and watched the others try and fail to use their new techniques, pondering over what to pick next.

Logan eventually settled on the amateur version of Shattering Strike to cover the main weakness of Piercing Thrust. He would raise both Piercing Thrust and Shattering Strike to the intermediate level as separate techniques.

Interestingly enough, the method of learning an intermediate technique was to merge two amateur ones. The only difference between that and the harder method was that the manual provided detailed instructions. If he wanted to make something original, Logan would have to figure it all out himself. There were a bunch of tiny details that made it difficult, such as compatibility and if the final move was even possible. Many people who tried would often come up short, never able to finish what they envisioned.

As such, Logan continued on his path of learning two separate techniques. He purchased Shattering Strike and began to practise it diligently. That was essentially how the next week progressed. He escorted the group into the various tunnels to hunt down weaker rats. They encountered a few Giant Ore rats as well, but they didn’t go deep enough into any one tunnel system to come across a Crystal Rat or its variant.

They also made sure to avoid the areas with blue fungus. Light was an issue at first, but there were other types of fungi growing in the tunnels that appeared to be from various species. Nearly every colour under the sun was present in the tunnels, some casting a rainbow of lights.

Logan initially thought he would be the first to learn a new technique as he already had two. To his surprise, Stephanie beat him and learned Shadow Thrust on the fifth day. It was a technique to increase the user’s attacking speed, making it so that all the enemy saw was the spear’s shadow. It was the other technique Logan needed to upgrade Piercing Thrust.

Thankfully, he managed to learn Shattering Strike next. He was fighting against a Giant Ore Rat while the rest of the group circled them to keep it from fleeing. They would then take turns to fight when each person got tired, giving everyone a chance to practise in live combat. Logan didn’t understand the precise mechanics, but being forced to use a technique under duress made it easier to break through the final bottleneck.

That was how he figured out Shattering Strike, the Giant Ore Rat charging straight into the tip of his spear as it tried to bite his foot off. The weapon rang like a bell as it slammed into the beast’s forehead. When it backed away, there was nothing but a tiny cut thanks to the beast’s rock-solid skull.

Logan assumed it was fine, which confused him since the technique should’ve triggered. He readied himself for another thrust, but as the rat took a step back from him, its legs crumpled beneath as lines of blood streamed out of its eyes, nose, and ears.

The vibration had rattled its brain so much that it instantly died.

Logan had no idea why the technique was so potent when Piercing Thrust was nowhere near as effective, but James explained why Shattering Strike had instantly killed it. If the Crystal Rat had a skeleton made of crystal, it made perfect sense that the Giant Ore Rats had mineral-reinforced bones.

The high density would be an excellent medium for the vibrations to travel through, turning its brain to mush.

The next person to learn their technique was Amelia. She did so on the sixth day, her Heavy Shield Blow breaking a rat’s rib cage. The damage eventually resulted in its death. After that, James learned Whispering Strike on the seventh day while Tom learned the same on the eighth.

It was a sword and dagger technique like Shadow Thrust, focusing entirely on speed.

Two days later, their hard work searching for a way up finally paid off. At one of the tunnel systems near the end of the hallway, Logan came across a large basin with a hole in the ceiling, lighting up the basin with what appeared to be sunlight. When his eyes adjusted, he saw a forest through the hole.