32 Moment of Forgetfulness (1/2)

It took Shi Li around ten minutes to get back to his courtyard as he gripped on the training hammer, trying to get a sense of familiarity with it.

He went inside the room where Moddy was cultivating and dropped the hammer to the floor, but at the last second, he gripped it before it even touched the floor.

Shi Li wiped sweat off his forehead as he let out a sigh of relief. He almost forgot the basic rule of cultivation, just because he was ecstatic about the upgraded techniques.

'First and foremost, never disturb someone who is cultivating because they might face a backlash when they do.'

He thought of the other possible spaces he could train in and decided to head to the training space in his courtyard, since it had the earth needed to create magma.

...

He grabbed the martial technique from his waist and started to read it from its first page.

'[Ardent Magma Manipulation Art]. First step of achieving this art is to use the pressure of the hammer to generate heat to melt earth into magma.'

Shi Li pondered as to how he was going to do it. He lifted the hammer up with both hands and slammed it to the ground.

Bang!

A shockwave was created from the smash, which travelled through the ground, setting the dust off into the air.

He then lifted the hammer up and checked the area where he hit. The earth where the hammer hit was more compact than the surroundings, and when he touched it, it was slightly hotter than the earth found in the surroundings.

'Hmm... it's a bit hot, but not hot enough to melt earth.'

He gripped his hammer even tighter and used more strength as he slammed the hammer down to the ground.

Bang!

This time, small cracks formed from the area where the hammer hit the ground and started to expand outwards as the ground shook once more.

Shi Li lifted the hammer once more and saw that the affected area had water vapor coming out, showing that the current attempt was more fruitful than the previous one. He touched it as well and retracted his hand from the area out of reflex.

'Damn that's hot!' Shi Li thought inwardly, but sighed. 'But still not hot enough to form magma.'

'Again!'

Bang!

'Again!'

Bang!

Shi Li tried to form magma again and again for over a few hours, but alas he still failed in the end, only causing a rock from the ground to turn black from the heat.

'Huff...huff...'

He dropped the hammer and lied down on the ground, looking up at the vast blue sky. He regulated his breathing as he tried to collect his thoughts.

'So far, adding more strength in each swing increases the heat to the affected area. But it's not reaching the temperature of magma.'

Shi Li couldn't help but sigh. He was getting nowhere. But then something clicked within him.

'Why do I need instant results? Cultivation is a long and arduous process...hah. I forgot another basic rule of cultivation.'

He stood up once more and grabbed the hammer by the shaft as he closed his eyes, raising it up into the air. He then slowly muttered...

”When a cultivator has patience and persistence, he shall make the Heaven and Earth bow down before him. When a cultivator has impatience and impulsiveness, he shall die without a corpse.”

He opened his eyes all of a sudden, revealing a sharp glint as he shouted with force, ”Again!”

Bang!

The hammer collided with the ground at Shi Li's full strength, expanding the cracks further.The dust that had just recently settled flew into the air once more, bending to Shi Li's will.

He released his hammer and noticed that a small part of the affected area had glowing red earth. This glowing red earth also had a few bubbles popping up once a while as it slowly cooled down.

This sight made Shi Li beam with joy as he dropped his hammer and raised his arms with his fists clenched up in the air.

”Hahahaha! I've achieved the beginner level!”

For martial techniques or techniques similar to martial techniques, a person's comprehension of said technique could be classified into five grades from lowest to highest: beginner, adept, minor success, major success, and perfection respectively.

A beginner level of comprehension would allow someone to use around 10% of the technique's power as they aren't used to the technique. Between a cultivator that hasn't learned a technique and a cultivator that has cultivated a technique to the beginner level, the latter would win as even the beginner level would allow the cultivator to unleash the attack power of a higher level.

Once the cultivator gets familiar with the technique, they step into the adept level, allowing them to use around 30% of the technique's power. Normally it'll take a cultivator a few years to get to this level, for monstrous geniuses, it might only take months.

Next would be the minor success level, a level only achievable by someone who has cultivated the technique for tens of years or by a genius in comprehension. It allows the cultivator to use 50% of the technique's power, letting the cultivator triumph against those at the beginner level with no problem. Normally it would need a spark of inspiration for the cultivator to reach the minor success level.

After that is the major success level, allowing the cultivator to tap into 80% of the technique's power. It's around this level where the technique becomes second nature to the cultivator, adding their own special twists to the technique. It would take hundreds of years of dedication to reach this level for a normal cultivator, tens of years for a genius.

Last but not the least is the perfection level, where the cultivator can utilize 100% of the technique's power or even exceed that. This is the point where the cultivator starts to experiment with the technique, either enhancing its power, or changing into a new technique altogether. Those who reach the perfection level have put in their life into reaching it, becoming renowned amongst their peers. Only those fated would possibly reach this level...or a genius.

Shi Li sat down on the ground and looked at the hammer before pondering. Since he found a way to create magma, he just had to grasp the feeling well and turn it into muscle memory.

'But I might deviate from the true technique, turning into a technique of its own. If only I could memorize the whole...tech...nique...'

Shi Li raised both of his hands and slapped himself on his cheeks. If someone from Earth would see his current situation, they would definitely say that Shi Li is an idiot sandwich [1].