Combat Qi filled Shen's body and spear while War Qi filled his mind. He rushed at his armored enemy.
Both Combat and War let him know his spear wouldn't be enough to cut through his foe's black armor—F-tier equipment, he guessed. His qi made his spear proportionally stronger, but the weapon's base power was too small at the G tier.
Both Combat and War also told him to find a weak spot in his enemy's defenses and capitalize on it. Combat was perfect for that. Know yourself, know your enemy, and abuse their weaknesses. His Combat Qi would potentialize his spear enough if the flaw he found was terrible enough.
Combat let him find individual weaknesses more easily than War. The latter would be better to find flaws in battle formations and enemy strategies.
Indeed, the Concept of War gave him a broader view of things. It let him create plans in advance in case his current one either succeeded or failed. It also gave him a much better awareness of his surroundings. Just because the system said fights were one-on-one, Shen wouldn't bet his life on it.
He let just a little Combat Qi enter his brain, enough to improve his analytical abilities toward his enemy. It worked. There was an almost unnoticeable fold where two metal places had been melded together at the helmet.
Shen thrust his spear with all his strength at it. It shattered metal and pierced his foe's skull.
| Duel won. Reward: 200 AP
| Total AP: 85,224
He could've capitalized on a lesser flaw if he had used Sharpness Qi in his spear. Sharpness was better for straight attack than Combat.
If he had used War Qi instead, he would have needed to find a bigger flaw. Using the best tool for the job was part of War's domain, but it wasn't the same as crushing opposition by abusing their openings. In that, Combat was superior.
And Boundlessness would have been the worse alternative. That Concept hated being limited and would improve his attack, but not even as much as War, not against someone's armor.
Shen had been tempted to add Sharpness Qi on his spearhead for a faster victory, but he had learned better, and this fight was the final evidence he needed.
When he used two Concepts, especially the ones that made up the foundation of his Path, they perfectly complemented each other. If he added another, however, he became stretched too thin. He couldn't properly use them and even reached the wrong conclusions about what to do.
That was one of the reasons he had quickly won against Evelyn after he started using War and Boundlessness only. There had been no wasted moves, no wrong decisions; he had used both Concepts to the utmost. Of course, that was a simple situation with a straightforward solution—just rush at her—but he had been unable to do even that much while using War, Combat, and Sharpness at the same time.
Being limited to two Concepts at once gave him a lot to think about.
One's Path was the most critical thing every cultivator had. In practical terms, it determined a lot of their present power and all their potential growth. One couldn't break through to the following realms without a proper Path.
Using two Concepts might work for now, but Shen worried that it might cause an imbalance. The very foundations of his Path used three Concepts, not two. If he focused on one more or less than the others for long enough... he had no idea what that would do to him, but it couldn't be something good. A house built on unstable foundations would fall sooner or later, and a Path shouldn't be too different.
So, if something had to change. Shen had previously corrected his Path by changing it: he had taken the Concept of Boundlessness from its foundation. Now, he would rather not do that. Instead, he planned on fixing himself
"How much for a class teaching me to use three or more Concepts at once?"
| Classes beyond your learning ability are not available.
The answer was surprisingly informative. It let Shen know his current self couldn't achieve what he wanted. It also revealed that he could learn if he improved his learning ability.
That immediately made him recall the learning ability upgrade, but he was cautious. The upgrade might not be enough. The system hadn't said he needed the E-tier upgrade. What if he needed more?
"How much for a class that would teach me the possible ways to improve my learning ability enough that I could learn how to use three or more Concepts at once?"
| Learning Ability Overview: 10,000 AP | 10 minutes
That was relatively cheap in both AP and time—though he wondered if the system wasn't overcharging for something so easy to explain. Shen had the AP, but he didn't want to use more than he needed. There were tens of thousands of people in the spectators' seats, and he doubted he couldn't get nine of them interested in what he now saw as a precious class. He wanted that knowledge regardless of his current issues.
The one minute of grace after fights was definitely not enough to get to the distant seats, and every second he wasted was the same as losing AP, so teleport it was.
"Teleport to spectators' seat," he said.
He was surrounded by light, then materialized on the seats. He immediately opened his mouth to yell, but sheer surprise interrupted him.
People started materializing around him. They were a few first, but more kept coming. Soon, hundreds surrounded him.
They all started talking at the same time.
"Nice to meet you, I'm—"
"—cool, dude, and—"
"—beat you in a blink—"
"—awesome, can you teach—"
"—please! Take me—
It was impossible to understand what they were saying, so he didn't try. However, it was evident they wanted to make connections with him. That was expected in a stage where networking was the professed main goal.
But Shen had his own goals.
He infused his throat with qi to use his Lion's Roar ability.
"Everyone!" he said, his voice much louder than everyone around. They stopped to listen. "I appreciate your interest in talking to me; I really do." That was true. It did feel good to be valued. "However, this AP Arena is a rare opportunity, and I would rather not be outside of it more than I must. We might or not be able to network in later stages of the tutorial, but we were informed for sure that we can only bet AP between each other here."
Shen knew he had to find allies. Not only had he been told so, but focusing too much on his personal power had cost him before. Yet, he couldn't stop himself from using such a terrific opportunity to the utmost.
As much as this stage made it easier to network, his pacing wouldn't be decided by the Alliance. He had to find allies, but no one said it had to be in this stage. More importantly, his Path said no such thing.
His Path was his alone. No one could decide things for him unless he allowed them to have authority over him, like the Immortal Emperor. And even their orders had to be reasonable, or he might refuse them too.
The tutorial told him now was the time to network. Shen's heart told him now was the time to focus on AP instead.
"I came to the seats to find people willing to split the cost of the Learning Ability Overview class with me. It costs ten thousand AP. I believe it can help anyone, and I will take the class in ten seconds with whoever is interested." That much should be enough for them to decide on whether to come or not.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It only took a few instants for people to resume talking after he stopped. Most screamed their names and swore they would join the class. Some asked him to sit beside them. Shen ignored everyone as he counted to ten.
"Take Learning Ability Overview class with anyone interested," he said, still using the Lion's Roar technique.
| Waiting 3 seconds for interested participants
After a few seconds, he got a new notification.
| Learning Ability Overview: 10,000 AP | 10 minutes
| 127 people want to join
| Final cost for each participant: 1,000 AP
| 1,000 AP deducted
| Remaining AP: 84,224
Shen and the others were teleported to a large classroom. During his magic lesson, Alicia had said it had a "college format," which someone had corrected to "auditorium lecture hall." The floor, walls, and ceiling were made of black crystal. The seats and bench were dark wood with golden details.
He was already sitting in the front row, and the rules appeared in front of him like last time. That was unexpected; the AP Arena had only displayed its rules once.
Class Rules
1. You cannot stand up, move your seat, or touch anyone in any way
2. The instructor will arrive in one minute
3. Until the instructor arrives:
- You're free to swap seats with anyone by pointing at them and being pointed back
- You can talk to anyone
4. After the instructor arrives:
- You cannot change seats any longer
- You can only hear those whom you state you're willing to hear and whoever the instructor has allowed asking questions
5. Any questions toward the instructor will be ignored unless you raise your hands and are given permission to talk first
6. You'll be returned to your previous location when the class is over
Once again, everyone tried to talk to him. Shen didn't want to be rude, so he tried to listen to what they said, but it was impossible to discern anything. He couldn't even read their lips, as their language was nothing like the cultivator common tongue.
He ended up making gestures toward his ears to show he couldn't hear until the minute was over.
When the time was up, the teacher finally materialized in front of the class in a flash of light. Shen forgot everything about his classmates then.
Like last time he had taken a class, the instructor was a wisp of light, a point of solid light surrounded by a ball-like aura. She had a silky female voice. "Welcome to the Learning Ability Overview class. It will take around ten minutes."
The wall behind her turned into what Alicia had called a "slide presentation, only 3D." An endless starry sky with floating text replaced the dark crystal wall. New text kept appearing as the wisp talked, usually organizing her speech in topics.
The text was in an alien language with strange characters that Shen could still understand thanks to the system's translation function.
"In this class, you'll learn what learning ability is, how ranking up affects it, how the learning ability upgrades affect you, and other ways to improve your learning ability.
"The simplest definition of learning ability is that it represents the ease with which you absorb new knowledge and make connections between your existing knowledge."
That definition appeared on top of the presentation.
"Consider mathematics," she continued. "With higher learning ability, you'll understand why one plus one equals two faster than those with lower learning ability. Likewise, as more complex subjects are introduced, you'll be able to draw from what you've already learned much more quickly than others.
"A good example of knowledge connections is what you see when you look at something. Let's say a house." A house appeared behind her. It was so real it looked as if it was really there. "Someone with terrible learning ability would only see a structure. On the other hand, those with higher learning ability would also consider everything the house is: its foundations, its layout, its exits, its hazards, the materials it's made of, why it has that form, and more."
As she talked, the house was divided into parts, and many things about each piece were pointed out in topics. Color, material, size, weight, and origin were just a few among many that scrolled endlessly for each component.
"Now, you might be able to train such an outlook on life, but those thoughts would still take some time and effort. Higher learning ability lets you think of it much faster and without conscious exertion. The connections are instantaneous and as natural as breathing is for your kind."
Shen had gone through something similar when he got his F Learning Ability Upgrade; he had considered things which he hadn't thought of before. There had been no new knowledge, only better and quicker usage of what he already knew.
"To give you an example closer to the tutorial: higher learning ability turns you into better fighters faster. When one of your attacks works where another failed, you understand the reason behind it more easily. You also subconsciously remember how your body was moving and replicate it more easily, almost like muscle memory. More complex movements are easily divided into parts for better understanding too."
While she talked about that, the house was replaced with two girls fighting one orc each. Both wore leather armor and wielded a long sword.
A G letter floated above a girl and a D letter above the other. As they fought, it became apparent they were complete amateurs. The image paused multiple times to highlight what they were doing right or wrong. The G girl kept repeating the wrong moves while the D girl almost exclusively repeated only the correct ones.
The D girl killed her goblin in twenty moves. The G girl died in less than five.
"Now, some of you might think ranking up makes up for not improving your learning ability. It doesn't.
"Every time you rank up, you'll find your mind expanded. You'll multitask better and comprehend things that used to elude you. It is, however, what we call expansive understanding rather than base understanding.
"Think of challenging math problems." One such problem—much beyond Shen's means—appeared written on the presentation, then it revealed a floating white crystal writing on nothingness, solving the problem. "With enough rank-ups, you can try to solve many of them simultaneously. However, you won't have an easier time solving each of them." Now multiple crystals were solving different problems. The first crystal wasn't moving any faster or doing any better.
"Think of a 4D object." Space in the presentation actually twisted and showed a structure that hurt Shen's brain when he saw it. Fortunately, it only stayed there for a moment. "You probably can't. With enough rank-ups, doing so would take but a minor effort. However, you'll be no better at low-level trigonometry.
"Ranking up expands your horizons but doesn't make what you already know trivial. That triviality is the exclusive domain of learning ability.
"That said, higher learning ability would allow you to expand your mind beyond your rank too. It would, however, take a long time and study, unlike ranking up, which makes said expansion happen at once."
The wisp made a pause as the presentation was cleared. Maybe she was waiting for questions. No one had any, so she continued.
"We consider the average G-rank in the Alliance to have a learning ability score of 1. The average G-rank human has a score of 1.02. Slightly above average.
"At each rank, you can purchase a Learning Ability Upgrade from the Guardian Store. Each upgrade tier requires the previous one, the base one being the G-tier. For instance, you must first have bought the C-tier upgrade to buy the B-tier one. You also can only buy the corresponding tier or lower to your current rank. For instance, at the C-rank, you cannot purchase the B-tier upgrade, but you can purchase the D-tier one.
"The upgrades improve your learning ability by a fixed value."
The presentation showed a table with tiers and values.
"The G-tier upgrade improves your learning ability by 1.
"The F-tier improves it by 2.
"The E-tier, by 4.
"D-tier, 8.
"C-tier, 16.
"B-tier, 32.
"A-tier, 64
"It might not seem like much to you, but when you joined this tutorial, you were given the G-rank Learning Ability Upgrade for free. It doubled your learning ability. Thanks to that, about fifteen percent of trainees reached the second stage. We calculate less than five percent would've passed without it.
"Humanity was not ready to fight without forewarning or modern weaponry.
"An E-rank human who purchased the E-tier upgrade, and thus also the previous one, has a learning ability score of 8. Those of you who still have only the G-tier upgrade would score 2. The upgraded E-rank would understand new things and make connections four times as fast as you."
In Shen's case, the difference was smaller but still considerable. His current score was 4. In other words, the E-tier upgrade would double his learning ability.
"That is especially useful to advance through the ranks," the wisp continued. "Buying skills, improving stats, paying for lessons on magic or combat, getting tickets to exploration opportunities, all of that is relatively straightforward. However, to rank up, you'll require special knowledge. That knowledge is hard to grasp and can take a very, very long time.
"That time can decrease significantly with the learning ability upgrades. Ever since the upgrades became available, those who purchase them rank up on average ten times as fast as before.
"A higher learning ability will also help you more quickly reach the point where you need that special knowledge. As you humans say, it's a win-win situation.
"To sum it up: a higher learning ability will enhance the speed with which you get better at anything.
"It's common sense that you should always purchase a learning ability upgrade when you have the chance. No one has ever presented valid arguments against it, except one: cost. At each tier, the upgrade always costs fifty times what you paid to reach the rank that unlocks it. For instance, all of you paid one thousand AP to reach the F-rank, and the F-tier learning ability upgrade costs fifty thousand. Sometimes, it might be better to purchase something else. That's up to you to determine.
"There are five widely known ways of improving your learning ability:
"Purchasing an upgrade on the Guardian Store; training; replacing your brain, or soul, or parts of either with equivalent parts from a superior species; consuming or injecting suitable consumables or injectables; or using unique abilities or rituals.
"The Guardian Store is available to you all; how to do, achieve, manufacture, or even purchase the others are secrets heavily guarded by those in the know, with rare exceptions. You shall only have access to the store in this tutorial.
"That makes it for this class. Any questions?" Shen raised his arm. "Yes, Feng Shen?"
"Could an E-rank with the E-tier upgrade learn to use three Concepts at the same time during battle as well as they can use only one?" He thought of something. "In less than a week, with no external aid."
There was a pause after his question. The wisp had no facial features or released light any different, so he couldn't tell what it was thinking.
At last, it answered, "Yes."
"Thank you," he said.
Some other people asked other questions after that, none noteworthy.
The lesson ended much too soon for his tastes, but it had taught him a lot. It also let him know he could fix his Path—or rather, himself—with the learning ability upgrade.
He had a clear goal now.
When he returned to the Arena, he rushed to the fighting area, then started crushing opponents with renewed vigor.