Martial Arts

Regalus returned to his bedroom. It was night now and usually, the maids were off doing nightly chores and going to sleep, however, the red-headed maid still stuck by him. He looked at her closely.

"What's your name?" Regalus suddenly asked.

"..."

Regalus only heard the cold quietness. From her expression, he could tell that it was due to pride and unwillingness.

'I'm the prince and she's the maid yet she's too prideful to answer. On top of having the training, she's probably my guard sent by my parents. A talented and prideful girl with unlimited prospects forced to become my guard, eh? Still a bit clumsy though.'

Regalus smiled wryly at her silence and ignored her from the on and instead looked at the two manuals he took with him. The red one was called [Inner Dao] and it interested him greatly. The book itself seemed to give off a mysterious and profound aura. If it was before, he would've opened it regardless, however, since his parents said not to look into it till later, he ignored it for now.

The green one was called [Immaterial Palm.] 'Quite an interesting name,' was Regalus's first thought.

Inside, it showed various poses and figures of people. It showed how and where force should be applied and the movements ought to be made. Regalus was amazed at the precision of it all.

In it recorded 5 levels of Mastery; Beginner, Practitioner, Comprehended, Peak, and Penultimate.

At the Beginner Mastery, the palm could destroy one's skin and flesh; Practitioner Mastery could break bone and shatter normal iron; Comprehended Mastery could launch attacks that pierce through air, destroy Qi, and turn any defense to dust; lastly, at Penultimate Mastery, an Immaterial field could form upon one's hands, turning materials to dust upon intent. It was definitely a top-class technique by the standards of his world.

There was also a new term in its description, "Qi." Regalus had read upon this word before and believed it to be the same as his world's "Mana," or Worldly Essence. An enigmatic substance present since the beginning of time, born of the world itself. In his world, it was used to perform magic; here, however, people also use it to transcend humanity and gain immortality via cultivation.

Compared to his world, Aether, Adia's system has a much different goal. The former's goal was to gain power, the immortality gained later on is just a side effect, not that anyone's complaining. The latter's goal is to achieve immortality, gaining power in the process. The Esoteric Arts, magic, definitely beats Cultivation early on but Cultivation would actually surpass it much later. Though magic would always be more powerful than the cultivation techniques, in the end, high-level mages can't stand even close to the sheer body strength and resilience of a high-level cultivator. In front of a mid-level mage, a mountain could be turned into plains under a single chant, but a cultivator upon reaching a high level could do the same, on top of his/her sheer body strength.

In terms of firepower, mages would

never be beat, but a cultivator can outlast a mage thousand times over. As for other things from his world such as knights and paladins, they may as well start learning magic.

——

Regalus stood up and closely memorized the first page of the manual. The manual all in all contained the 10 palm strikes of the Immaterial Palm. The first is a basic palm that pushes forward.

Regalus stood up and positioned himself as described in the manual. It doesn't require any mana, or Qi as it is called in this world, so he doesn't need cultivation to pull it off, though the later moves would.

Ira looked at Regalus, somewhat surprised that Regalus was about to practice martial art just minutes after reading it and so late at night. Despite feeling wronged, it is still her duty to safeguard Regalus and this is unsafe by all its definition. An amateur, no, someone who have never tried martial arts attempting a complicated move is just seeking death on multiple levels. Ira tried to reach out and stop him but she heard a soft, but definite shout interrupting her.

"Shaking the foundation!" Regalus shouted. He applied his strength precisely as it showed on the book, as such, despite having the measly strength of a 6-year-old, the little strength from his limbs added up and cause air to part. It wasn't special or even powerful, but it was enough to push back a strong, normal human. It was a success at the first try.

As the name of the move suggests, this is a palm specializing in testing one's foundation. If hit on a person's body, shockwaves would go through their muscles, tendons, and bones, and test their foundation. If it is just a bit weak or imbalance, it would find it and capitalize on it.

Ira opened her eyes wide. The successful launch of any of a martial art's moves meant that they had started on its path and gain a Beginner Mastery over it. Ira took months to gain that same Mastery on a martial art equal to the difficulty of the "Immaterial Palm," and she was celebrated for it. But a single look from Regalus was enough to reach the same height.

"A fluke, definitely," Ira calmed herself down. She didn't know Regalus was already well versed in combat and thus quickly assimilate knowledge.

Regalus was happy with this martial art. It was a top-notch technique that had very few flaws that even he would have to spend some time to find. If it was brought to Aether, a small nation could be founded just from the technique.

He put a wooden chair he sat on in front of him and did it once more, but not the same as last time. Last time he did it normally, it was decently fast and hit hard, this time he wanted to do it slowly. His researching habits took him over as He wished to grasp how exactly the moves work, how force is added up and applied, how the muscles move and what it affects. He slowly sent his right palm out.

Ira saw what he was trying to do and pay attention closely if Regalus was hurt, the responsibility would fall into her. At the same time, she scoffed in her mind thinking Regalus, a person that had not known a single thing about martial arts till today, was attempting to decode the profundity of a Sea-level martial art.

As his palm slowly reached its final destination. He imagined the chair in front of him as a normal human and went further to simulate the human body in his mind. As it reaches just above the navel of his imaginary human, a burst of power came up from his feet up to his hips, waist, neck, chest, left arm, and left shoulder. It all gathered in his stomach before shooting out his right arm to his palm. His palm vibrated with near invisible distance and speed, yet with bursting with strength. He imagined his palm penetrating through the skin, strike the dummy's abdominal muscles, and shake its organs outward, causing it to go back. The slight vibration isn't much, it's not enough to kill nor enough to concuss, but would definitely hurt. For a six-year-old, it was very, very strong.

The dummy disappeared and was replaced with a cracked chair against a wall 6 feet away from him. Cracks covered it's surface and looked as if it would collapse in a single touch. Just moments ago, it had looked as it had been new.

"Yikes, my chair," Regalus regretted his actions, he now doesn't have a chair to sit on.

While Regalus was mourning the loss of his chair, the maid was speechless. He was able to utilize the full power of the 1st move just minutes before reading it!

Regalus didn't see her astonished expression and instead, pain and exhaustion caught up to him. He had underestimated the amount of stamina required just for a single palm, much less two. The pressure put on him was too much for a 6-year-old body to take. His left arm turned slightly purple and beads of sweat immediately appeared on his head.

Regalus reaches over to a nearby towel, wiped off his sweat, and laid down to his bed. Completely exhausted, instead of reflecting on what happened, he put that aside for tomorrow and went directly to sleep.

——

As soon as Regalus went to sleep, Ira rushed to the King's chambers. She rushed through the stone walls of the castle, speedily walking across the halls.

5 minutes.

10 minutes.

30 minutes.

"Ehem," Ira blushed in embarrassment as she grabbed the attention of a fellow maid, "C-could you please show me the way to the King's chamber?"

Ira looked at the older looking maid with shy eyes.

"Ehe, sure," the maid smiled, thinking the small Ira was a newbie, not paying attention to the fact they're in the opposite side of the castle.

"Just go to the left here, when you see..." the maid told her the way.

5 minutes.

10 minutes.

30 minutes.

"Aaagggghhhhh!" A very angry scream of frustration sounded out throughout the castle.