Basic Art of Every Weapon
''Failure will remind you of your success,
Success will remind you of your pain,
Pain will remind you of your love,
And love will remind you that it was worth it."
These words echoed like thunder in Tianshang Long's ears. He watched dumbfounded as the Old Man's figure faded away. He felt that he had heard these words before. He tried to remember where but to no avail. Thinking no more of this matter, he etched these words into his heart. He exited his mental energy sea, as it was late into the night and he decided that he would study the training manual for The Chaotic Divine Body tomorrow.
Thinking of something Tianshang Long asked," Aaron, are there any backup files left in the system?"
"Yes, Master. The work folder, music folder and images and videos folder are in the backup, would you like to access them?" , replied Aaron.
Hearing this Tianshang Long eye's lit up with joy as he said, "Play, Sing Me to Sleep."
"Yes, Master."
The sound of music filled Tianshang Long's head as he lay on his bed with a blissful expression on his face. He closed his eyes as he drifted into the land of dreams.
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Next morning Tianshang Long woke up feeling refreshed. He sat on his bed and practiced controlling the mental energy strand under the pressure from the ring given by Grandma Ming for an hour. After taking a bath he joined his family for breakfast. The room felt empty as he missed his sister's bubbly laughter. His parents didn't say much. Tianshang Long knew that it would be very difficult to ask his parents to leave for training alone as he was only a 3 year old in their eyes. Also, he didn't have an expert protecting him like Grandma Ming was protecting Tianshang Fenghuang.
Still, he probed his parents by asking, "Father, I would like to start training."
Hearing this brought his parents out of their sad moods and they looked at him with a sad look on their faces. Tianshang Long understood the reason they had such looks in their faces. He knew that they felt it would be impossible for him to catch up with his sister. He sighed ruefully but did not explain anything to his parents.
Tianshang Yixing could see that his son was disappointed by their reactions and he did not want him to feel this way, so he said," The children in this village train every day. You are of the age where you can start training. If your performance is good, after a year you can go to the outskirts of the Sea and Mountain Range Forests to train and hunt. Come I'll introduce you to the village trainers."
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Tianshang Yixing leads Tianshang Long to the village trainer grounds. Tianshang Long could see around fifty children between the age of 4-10 training with different weapons. Some of them had huge physiques and could be seen lifting weights and training their bodies.
There were three trainers present on the field who were providing guidance to the children.
One of them was teaching group of children who were wielding swords. Apparently, he was the Sword Master of the village.
He had brown hair and his eyebrows looked like a pair of unsheathed swords. He had a sharp aura around him.
Tianshang Yixing said, "He is Lin Li. The only Sword Master in the village."
Another trainer had a similar face as that of Sword Master Lin Li. He was training a group of children who were wielding Daggers. He had no aura around him, but Tianshang Long felt that he was more dangerous than Lin Li. He deduced that he must be the twin brother of
Lin Li. Tianshang Yixing said,"He his Lin Feng. He is a Close Combat Master."
The children with huge physiques were being trained by a man who had buzz cut hair and seemed like a professional bodybuilder from earth. He had a pair of a battle axe on his back. He had a built like a mountain.
Tianshang Yixing seeing this had a wry smile on his as he said,"He is Xiao Shen. He has a Silver Body. He is a body refiner and also a Battle Qi Warrior. He trains his body and also cultivates Battle Qi. The Lin brothers are Battle Qi cultivators. The Battle Qi cultivators make break-throughs by cultivating their Battle Qi and increasing the comprehension of their Battle Weapons. As the Battle Qi masters go up in the Martial Path, their Battle Weapons change according to their comprehension. A Warriors Battle Weapon is a part of the Battle Qi Warrior."
Tianshang Long nodded, he had read the Warriors of the Elemental World and knew all this. After Awakening, a Battle Qi master can materialize his or her Battle Weapon. The Battle Weapon materialized can be changed at any point in the life of a Battle Qi Matter but they would have to train from the beginning. Moreover, there were some very rare cases of Battle Qi master materializing more than one weapon and a little more common case of materializing dual weapons.
Tianshang Long realized that Xiao Shen was the case of having dual weapons. Here also knew that the number of daggers or any kind of hidden weapon would increase as the level of the Battle Qi Warrior increases, though it depended on the comprehension of the Battle Qi Warrior.
The three trainers were of the same generation as Tianshang Yixing. Seeing Tianshang Yixing, the three trainers gathered together and made their way to the father and son pair. Accompanying, Xiao Shen was a tall kid about 6 feet tall. Tianshang Long deduced that he was Xiao Shen's son as he was similar looking but had a lot of baby fat on his face and arms. He looked like a baby bull. He had an arrogant look on his face as walkies alongside Xiao Shen with his chest puffed out.
Tianshang Long ignored the baby bull and observed the three trainers. The three trainers greeted Tianshang Yixing which surprised Tianshang Long. Lin Li had a grin on his face as he observed Tianshang Long and said,"Eldest brother had always been stronger than us. And brat, after your birth he grew much stronger than three of us could not defeat him together."
Xiao Shen humped but did not refute what he said.
Lin Feng said,"Long'er has turned three this year so I am guessing eldest brother had brought him to start his training."
Tianshang Yixing nodded and said,"Please pass him the Basic Arts training manual and let him choose his weapon of training. Long'er Lin Feng is the leader of the hunting squad of the village and also the head trainer. The Basic Arts Training Manual contains training method of most of the weapons used. Of course, there is a chance that the weapon you use after Awakening will be different from any of the Basic weapon and that is a rare case. You should train the forms of the Arts carefully. If you perform well you will be allowed to go to the outskirts of the Mountain Range to hunt for low-level beasts."
Hearing this Tianshang Long nodded and grinned excitedly. The condition to train the Chaotic Divine Body the confirmation was to bath in the blood of beasts. Tianshang Long hoped to collect the blood of some low-level beasts to start training in the Chaotic Divine Body Manual.
Seeing the excited expression of Tianshang Long, Tianshang Yixing thought that his son was underestimating the training. He smiled and rubbed Tianshang Long's head and then said in stern voice,"I have taken the manuals with me and I'll transfer them to your mother's ComLink, go home and study the manuals. When you want to practice you can start in the training room and then come up to the training field to spar with others to check your progress. If you have any problem with training you can ask any of the instructors here."
"Yes, father", said Tianshang Long like a good obedient child and ran towards home.
Seeing this the three trainers laughed and Xiao Shen had a smile on his face and said in his rough voice,"Yu'er was like this when started training."
Hearing this Tianshang Yixing smiled sadly, he felt that Tianshang Long would always stay under the shadows of his sister.
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Reaching home, Tianshang Long found the ComLink on the table and a note by Tianshang Ling, beneath it, which said,"Figure out how to use the ComLink, the manuals are in it. There are some wooden weapons in the training room, so feel free to practice. If you want other weapons, then you can tell your father. Practice hard, Long'er. Love Mother."
He kept the note carefully with him and took the ComLink to the training room in the basement of the house. The room was made with special material to absorb impacts. Tianshang Long taped the ComLink and opened the library menu. The contents were:
1. Basic Sword Art
2. Basic Dagger Art
3. Basic Spear Art
4. Basic Axe Art
5. Basic Archery Art
6. Basic Saber Art
7. Basic Cross-wheel Art
8. Basic Hidden Weapons Art
9. Basic Hammer Are
10. Basic Movement Art
11. Basic Breathing Art
Tianshang Long transferred the manuals to his own ComLink and put them in a Basic Arts folder.
"Aaron analyze the contents of the Basic Arts folder and then plan a proper training plan for me."
"Yes, Master. It will take about 5 mins.", replied Aaron.
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"Master the analysis is complete. I am transferring the training plan to your ComLink", said Aaron after some time.
Checking the ComLink Tianshang Long found the training plan in the personal library.
The testing plan was:
According to analysis, the Basic Breathing Art helps to overcome fatigue.
Any Basic Weapon Art.
After that Basic Breathing Art.
Once Basic Weapon Art reaches 50% merge with Basic Movement Art.
Repeat for all the Basic Weapons Art.
Current Progress:
None.
"Master, you can choose any Basic Weapon Art you want. I'll play the video of the stances and track your progress."
Tianshang Long pondered on which Basic Weapon Art to choose from as he checked out the weapons in the training chamber. There was a pair of swords, a Spear, some daggers and a cross-wheel.
Tianshang Long decided to start with the Sword as it was the most popular cold-weapon on Earth.
He said,"Aaron I'll start with the Basic Sword Art."
"Basic Sword Art is added to your training program. The video for the first form will start now."
The video was titled 'Drawing the Sword'.
He played the video was surprised to find a figure similar to current 3 years old him standing in a stance with a sword strapped to his waist.
His knees and elbows were bent and his fingers around the hilt of the Sword. The Sword was similar to what he was holding, a wooden one.
And then the video ended.
Tianshang Long was shocked to see the video ending just like that. He asked Aaron,"What happened, Aaron? I didn't see the sword move in that video."
"Master, the Sword move was executed when it would reach the Pinnacle of what it could be trained to. I analyzed your body and that is the best you could do with your current physique."
Tianshang Long felt that he was being looked upon by an A.I.
He said,"Slow down the video by 10 times and the play it again."
"Yes, Master."
Tianshang Long watched the video again and he was disappointed again. All he could see was a slight twitch of the hand of the figure and a flash of light before the video ended, again.
Sighing ruefully, he said,"Aaron, slow down the video to a rate at which I can see the move clearly."
"Ok Master. Slowing the video by a 100 times."
Tianshang Long rolled his eyes. He felt that he was being looked down upon but he didn't say anything and watched the video again.
This time he could perfectly see every single movement of the Sword Drawing Move.
Tianshang Long strapped the Wooden Sword in the practice room to his waist. He lowered his back and bent his knees and elbows and closed his eyes.
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Inside Tianshang Long's mental energy sea, there was two figure floating above it. They were silent as they watched Tianshang Long get into the stance and closed his eyes. One of them was Rachel, her blonde hair falling over her back made her look like a celestial being. Her perfect was made her look like she can't be profaned in any way. She had a slight smile on her face as she watched the Old Man beside her, looking in shock the video of the Drawing The Sword again and again.
There Old Man was none other than Old Man Long. Before Rachel, he behaved like an obedient kid.
"Damn, this Old Man has been alive for so long and he had no idea that such a Basic move could be executed like this. It is perfect." He, unlike Tianshang Long, was watching the video without slowing it down.
Rachel ignored the Old Man and observed Tianshang Long. Seeing this the Old Man quieted down and put on a somber expression and started to observed Tianshang Long.
He was dumbstruck to see Tianshang Long three-year-old figure move his hand slightly as his wooden sword flashed in the air before returning to the sheath.
A notification rang out,"Drawing the Sword move executed."
Progress: 65%
Old Man Long nearly fell down as he remembered the first time he practiced this move. He was not even half as good as Tianshang Long. He felt that he had this video at that time he would still not be able to compare to Tianshang Long.
The first time he executed the move, the seniors in his clan deemed him a genius.
He knew that the seniors of his clan had discerning eyes and he himself after living for so long could see that Tianshang Long was an absolute monster.
Seeing this Rachel giggled a little before saying,"He has the body of a three-year-old, he'll improve as he grows."
Old Man Long was flabbergasted as he just remembered that Tianshang Long had a body of a three-year-old.
Seeing this Rachel giggled again as she vanished from there. Old Man Long sighed as he mumbled,"What a monster! His move was restricted by his body and his lack of experience." He then realized that he was helping Rachel create a monster by giving him both the Chaotic Divine Body Manual and the Dragon Cultivation Manual. He sighed at the good luck Tianshang Long had and vanished from the spot.
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Tianshang Long didn't feel satisfied with the move he made.
His body felt stiff and his arm muscles hurt a bit.
"Master you should warm up and stretch. You can use the equipment in the training room."
Hearing this Tianshang Long remembered that he had the body of a three-year-old. He ran around the rooms a few times. He stretched his muscles and then strapped the sword back on his waist.
He then got into the stance for the Drawing The Sword move and closed his eyes. He tried to remember the feeling he got when he first swung the sword. He compared the move he made to the one in the video and then made small adjustments to his stance and then executed the move again.
Notification: Drawing the Sword executed.
Progress: 75%.
Tianshang Long sighed again as he closed his eyes and reviewed the move again.
He had no idea that seeing his progress in two moves almost made Old Man Long throw up blood.
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It was the first day of the new year, everywhere in the Sea and Mountain Village people could be seen moving around, greeting each other and exchanging gifts.
Inside the Tianshang residence, in the basement where the training room was situated, an almost 6 feet tall, young man with a little baby fat on his face, long white hair and grey eyes that looked like they held the experience of a lifetime, was seen moving among various obstacles and trying to hit the moving targets on the wall with throwing knives. The knives curved between the obstacles as it hit the target, dead center.
A mobile target appeared in front of him and as quickly out appeared, there was a flash of light and the target was cut in half. A control panel near the entrance of the training room showed that the gravity inside the room was 5 times the normal gravity.
The young man was Tianshang Long who turned four years old this year. He had been training hard for the past year and his training plan which recorded his progress looked like:
Progress:
1. Basic Sword Art - 99%
2. Basic Dagger Art - 99%
3. Basic Spear Art - 99%
4. Basic Axe Art - 99%
5. Basic Archery Art - 99%
6. Basic Saber Art - 99%
7. Basic Cross-wheel Art - 99%
8. Basic Hidden Weapons Art - 99%
9. Basic Hammer Art - 99%
10. Basic Movement Art - 99%
11. Basic Breathing Art - 100%
Special Weapon Art: Double-Edged Sword.
Progress: 70%