Chapter 6 – Fighting Experience (1/2)
It had been two months since Gravis started going to the research assistant preparation course. In that time, he learned more about pitfalls in cultivation and what he had to look out for in the lower realms. Some basic fighting methods and general weapon usages were included as well. He also got a crash course in every essential side-path in cultivation.
Pill refinement: Alchemists mix and refine natural resources into pills, which increase aspects of a cultivator. Faster cultivation speed, one-time upgrades, auxiliary uses, and many more different pill effects were all covered. A general overview of how pill concocting worked was also part of the course.
Equipment forging: Forgers mix and refine natural resources into armor, weapons, artifacts, and treasures. At some point, either the cultivator got too strong to use mortal armaments, or the necessary natural resources got too hard to refine into useful gear. Gravis also learned the absolute basics of that.
Formation arrays: Rules, attributes, laws, and similar things were used as a basis to create a specific effect. It required one to be at the energy gathering stage in order to make any progress in formation arrays. Without energy, it was impossible to come into contact with these kinds of concepts. It was even harder to manipulate them for one's wishes.
Cultivation inscription: at early levels, everyone could write down their cultivation and battle techniques, but starting at the spirit accumulation stage, the description of said methods only got harder. Words were not enough to describe all concepts at this stage.
There were, of course, other side-paths in cultivation, but those four were the essential ones. Every single one of them was vital to progress in one's path. Pill refinement was necessary to speed up or stabilize cultivation. Without useful equipment, one can't bring out their full battle power. Formation arrays were essential for fleeing or for fortifying one's base. Without cultivation inscriptions, one would not be able to learn new techniques from others, starting at the third major realm.
All in all, those two months varied between boring and exciting for Gravis, but in the end, he was happy that the theoretical part was over. The remaining four months were for gaining practical fighting experience. Gravis was excited! Finally, he could fight for the first time in his life!
Gravis was standing in a black hall, together with his about 30 other classmates. Not much light came into the building, the only source being the door behind them. The expressions in the faces of his classmates varied like the colors of a rainbow. Some looked scared. Some looked excited. Some looked nervous. Some looked happy.
”Alright!” Forneus loudly clapped his hands. With his clap, a little over 30 portals opened in front of the youngsters. ”Everyone will take one portal each. Inside those portals, you will fight a varied mixture of things. Monsters, humans, plants, cultivators, and even the environment itself will be your enemy. Since it's your first time, you will only face one enemy at a time. Your only goal is to kill your enemy. If the environment is your enemy, you will need to survive with as much stamina to spare as possible, or your next enemy will have a huge advantage.”
”You need to kill and survive for as long as new enemies appear. There is no time limit.” Most of the youngsters sighed in relief. When Forneus saw that, he grinned maliciously. ”That is a bad thing. It means that, if you can't defeat your enemy, you will die. This is a genuine life and death battle. If you can't win, you will die.”
Before the youngsters could react to his words, Forneus' energy rumbled, and every youngster got pushed towards one portal each. ”For your info: On average, about 20% of people die in their first test.” Forneus grinned more. ”Good luck!” With a clap from Forneus, everyone shot into a portal, no matter if they wanted to or not. A comfortable chair appeared, and Forneus sat down, having no care in the world.