"Now, as I described before, cultivation comprises 3 parts; Body, Mana, and Soul. How they function and the cultivation manual depends entirely on your chosen class. Body and mana play an integral part in your strength as a combatant. Without cultivating either of those two, you will never be able to fight anyone on the same level." he said with a grave tone. Cultivation would make or break how far someone can reach, and he had to make sure Lucian was apparent of that fact.

"Well, start with body cultivation. Body cultivation should be the first thing you ever cultivate before you ever decide to join any form of combat. From what I can sense, you have not cultivated anything so far, but I suggest the body first. The reason being is the defensive capabilities it offers. Body cultivation makes it easier to strengthen your physical stats and create something called [Health Shields].

"By incorporating mana into the body, you can form a shield of energy based on the class, cultivation technique, and physical stats you have to protect your body from damage. Humans are quite weak compared to the higher races. So much so that a single skill from them could end the life of a normal human even 50 Levels above them at later levels! The creation of Health Shields protects us against such an end. With enough body cultivation, thanks to health shields, we can now protect ourselves much better than before. Of course, depending on the cultivation technique, as well as augmentations from your class, extra effects that increase your defense even further can be applied."

"Now, to energy cultivation. Mana Cultivation is considered the heart of everything. Your skills, your abilities, your class, your profession, even your Body and Soul cultivations. Without Mana cultivation, it is virtually impossible to do anything, which is why it is so important. Similar to body cultivation, it is highly dependent on your stats and the class you have chosen. For example, a warrior would have warrior-based mana cultivation to complement his class. Choosing anything different would only cause a mismatch which will cause injury to their supernatural veins."

"Mana Cultivation also gives the path towards Mandates which significantly boost attacking power and furthers your path using laws of the world. In summary, Energy Cultivation is pivotal. Don't underestimate it.

Finally, Soul Cultivation is a very niche path of cultivation. For mages, it helps tremendously in combat strength, but for warriors, not as much. However, with the help of mana, it is very useful to anyone with a profession. It is only sometimes locked behind specific classes but instead much more diverse in what you can pick from. It is also very beneficial against any form of mental attack.

Listening to Giffard's explanation, he couldn't help but feel downtrodden. Mana affected everything so much! He was much more limited than he expected.

"So, is it possible to gain strength without using mana whatsoever? Has there been anyone who has walked the path without mana?" Lucian asked

Thinking he was asking on his behalf, he shook his head disappointedly. "Unfortunately, the answer is no. During my time as a warrior, I looked for ways to augment my strength further but came out with nothing. I have searched for a way, but apart from ancient broken paths that will leave you stuck, unable to advance, I couldn't find anything that could help. Mana is the reason why humans can combat the higher races. Without it, we are just as weak as we were before."

"What did you find?" he asked curiously.

"In my prime, I had amassed quite a large amount of wealth. I lost most of what I had before, but this item was the only thing I found related to other forms of energy since the beginning of my career. Apart from this scroll, with nothing but a worthless technique, there is nothing else." Giffard said as he brought out a crumbing scroll from his space ring.

Intrigued by what was on it, Lucian began moving closer to see what was on it. Unfortunately, he quickly began to put the scroll back.

Lucian quickly grew anxious. That could possibly be his one-time chance to fix his problems. He couldn't simply let it go!

"Teacher, may I borrow that scroll from you? I would like to study it," he asked. He had to be upfront lest he misses this chance to have a headstart finding a solution to his predicament.

"Oh? It seems you are quite interested in this field. Is there a reason why?" He asked with a curious expression. Giffard felt that Lucian seemed a bit too interested in this topic. He would like to believe that it was to help him, but he didn't believe that was the only reason.

Thinking quickly, he replied. "Since that field is not very researched, I'm hoping I could use it as a reference to gain some unique skills to feed by innate ability's requirements." externally, he had an indifferent face, but he was sweating bullets internally. If this scroll could help give him direction, it would be extremely beneficial. Also, It also would help with creating unique skills, which was not a lie.

Giffard paused for a moment as he stared at Lucian with a blank face. Silence ensued until suddenly, a slight smile adorned his face.

"Hmm, I did not think about that. That is a good idea. Just make sure to never combine the skills you learn with your main combat skills. I don't really need it anyway." He said as he threw the scroll toward Lucian.

"Keep it. Hopefully, it is much more of a benefit to you than I." Giffard said indifferently.

Grabbing the scroll, he internally rejoiced as he replied, "Thank you, Teacher."

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"For now, put that scroll away. We will continue with the training. The goal today is to learn the last three blade attacks." Giffard said as he got up. Moving extremely quickly, he stood in the center of the training arena in wait as Lucian followed. Just like that, they sparred for hours on end.

As they spared, he eventually learned [Severing wave]. He realized that the trick to it was twisting your waist even further while putting an extreme focus on your reaction speed, thereby increasing the speed as he unsheathed his sword. As he unleashed the blade, it created a wave of raw energy that cuts through anything within a 5-meter radius.

*Ding*

[New Skill - Quick Draw Stance - Severing Wave Acquired]

The other two, however, were a bit harder to acquire. The trick to [Triple Strike] was using extreme speed, momentum, and flexibility to make the sword fast enough to create after images that create the effect of attack three times. [Flowing Tempest], however, was a combination of everything he had learned into a single attack making it the most draining attack of them all.

[New Skill - Quick Draw Stance - Triple Strike Acquired]

[New Skill - Quick Draw Stance - Flowing Tempest Strike Acquired]

As usual, they trained for hours as Lucian practiced the skill for the 50th time.

"Now that you've attained skill in the final three moves, I recommend combining all your learned skills into the complete set. Once that is completed, you should see the full power of the stance, which will elevate your attack power dramatically." Giffard explained and dashed towards the armory once more.

"Now that the basics of the stance have been learned, it is up to you to complete your training in your free time. From now, moving forward, we will practice your expertise using different weapons." He said as he grabbed a couple weapons from the armory, throwing them onto the ground in a pile in front of Lucian.

A multitude of weapons lay there as he, as Giffard, stood beside with a frightening smile.

"You said you wanted to learn all these weapons here...Correct?"

Lucian immediately frowned in caution as he stepped back. Giffard slowly walked towards him with an evil smile.

"Well. It's time to get started!" He roared with a loud laugh.

"W-wait. I-AH!"

Hours passed by as screams echoed out of the training area periodically.

Hours went by as Giffard waved goodbye to Lucian.

"Now that you have some free time, ill bring Grayson. He can escort you through to the Class Selection area," Giffard said as he began to leave, A devious smile on his face as he vanished into thin air.

Hearing this, Lucian collapsed on the ground with multiple cut marks and bruises all over his body. His clothes were in complete tatters as he breathed heavily.

"Fucking...." He mumbled to himself as he forced his weary body to stand.

"That was far too much. He could've taken it easy!" He complained.

Not willing to wait for Grayson, he did consider leaving immediately, but he did want to visit the Class Selection area.

He first took a look at his new stats.

Strength - [0.3][0.73]

Constitution - [0.3][0.62]

Endurance - [0.3][0.73]

Perception - [0.3][0.73]

Agility - [0.3][0.62]

Dexterity - [0.3][0.73]

Willpower- [0.3][0.8]

Intelligence - [0.3][0.8]

Soul - [0.4][0.82]

Health [35]

Stamina [23]

Physical Attack [35]

Magical Attack [38]

Mana [10] (NULL)

Critical Chance [0.17%]

Critical Dmg [1.5]

Health Regen [1.8/Min][0.029/sec]

Stamina Regen [12/min][0.19/sec]

Mana Regen [0.21/min][0.003/sec] (NULL)

Soul Essence [10]

Soul Essence Regen [5.2/min][0.09/sec]

Innate Ability - Creative Momentum

Skills:

Phantom Body (Unique)(Unranked) LVL 11*

Soul Cutting Edge (Unique)(Unranked) LVL 8

Blood Burst (Unique)(Unranked) LVL 3

Quick Spirit Draw Stance (Unique)(Stance)(Rank E) LVL 14*

* Severing Soul Burst (Unique)(Rank E) LVL 16

* Overhead Soul Strike (Unique)(Rank E) LVL 14

* Horizontal Soul Strike (Unique)(Rank E) LVL 16

* Upward Soul Strike (Unique)(Rank E) LVL 17

* Spirit Break (Unique)(Rank E) LVL 14

* Spirit Parry (Unique)(Rank E) LVL 15

* Spirit Riposte (Unique)(Rank E) LVL 13

Severing Wave (Rank E) LVL 8

Triple Strike (Rank E) LVL 8

Flowing Tempest Strike (Rank D) LVL 8

Beginner Polearm Mastery (Passive)(Rank G) LVL 21*

Beginner Axe Mastery (Passive)(Rank G) LVL 8

Beginner Bow Mastery (Passive)(Rank G) LVL 6

Beginner Shield Mastery (Passive)(Rank G) LVL 8

Beginner Sword Mastery (Passive)(Rank G) LVL 9

Beginner Dagger Mastery (Passive)(Rank G) LVL 5

Beginner Scythe Mastery (Passive)(Rank G) LVL 6

Beginner Blade Mastery (Passive)(Rank G) LVL 41*

Beginner Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery (Passive)(Rank G) LVL 8

"My physical attributes are increasing quite quickly. It probably relates to my unique body. I wonder how long it will keep increasing so quickly?" he thought in passing as he focused on his stats.

"I can fuse more skills at level 20 and above as well, it seems. Most of my standard skills have shown significant improvements. Unfortunately, I'll have to combine the rest of the [Quick Draw Stance] and complete the set after I figure out what is wrong with my skills."

Just as he was about to look into his other skills, an instinctive pain assaulted his whole body once again as he dropped to the floor.

Lucian's eyes grew wide as he saw his skills squirming on his screen without his control.

"It's happening again."