Trample

The Vanishing Peak was, as its name suggested, hidden among the cloud recesses by an invisible barrier. Unless one was deliberately aware of its existence and location, it basically could not be found.

"This is the living quarters for elementary cultivators. Your room is the second on the left. Inside your room, you can find your academy robes and the academy token. Among the facilities in the Vanishing Peak, you may visit the mission hall, the canteen, the weapon hall, the first floor of the library, and the elementary cultivator training room. As your cultivation improves, you will gain access to more privileges and facilities."

Just as elder Wu Ying finished introducing me to the place, an intense earthquake that almost toppled my balance occurred and lasted for about 5 minutes.

"You don't have to worry. This is a natural phenomenon caused by the seasonal migration of the demon beast hordes from the north of the You Ling Forest to the south. Though it's a little strange, there's still one week left before spring begins. The demon beast hordes seem to be migrating early," elder Wu Ying stroked his long moustache with puzzlement.

"Anyways, I still have things to attend to. With your potential, you should make full use of your time here."

~Master, it is very likely that the early migration of the demon beast hordes is due to the destabilisation caused by the use of Plot Armour.

~The more I use Plot Armour, the more unnatural the story gets. I should really limit its use for the most important moments.

My quaint and cosy room consisted of a bed, a tea set and furniture. On top of a chair was my neatly folded academy robes and beside the tea set was my academy token.

~I can finally enjoy some peace and quiet.

~Master, don't forget your purpose here. It will be prudent to improve your cultivation level as soon as possible.

~Now that you reminded me, DeusOS, I actually have no idea how to improve my cultivation level. How do I move from Body Strengthening Stage 1 to Stage 2?

~Master, how did you even pass the Yin City Academy enrolment test…never mind forget it. At the Body Strengthening Stage, all you need to do is incremental strength training to improve your cultivation level. You can start with a 100 pushups. Because your potential has been increased by Plot Armour, even just doing a 100 pushups will improve your cultivation level from Body Strengthening Stage 1 to 2. Cultivators with average potential have to accumulate a total of 10,000 pushups before they can advance from Body Strengthening Stage 1 to 2.

"1…2….98…99…100". As I finished a 100 pushups, a warm flow of energy flowed through my body and nourished my dantian. I had broken through to Body Strengthening Stage 2 and was now capable of producing tenfold more strength.

~That wasn't as hard as I thought.

~Based on estimation, the number of pushups required for you to break through to Body Strengthening Stage 3 will be 1000. You can do them in sets but the time between sets must be shorter than 5 minutes for it to be effective in raising your cultivation level.

~Let's split that into 10 sets of 100 with 1 minute of rest interval between sets.

After completing the exercise, my body glistened with sweat. The familiar sensation of warmth spread through my body and concentrated around my dantian. I was now at Body Strengthening Stage 3.

~I want to visit the canteen first. It's been a long day and I'm hungry.

~That's a good idea, master. I'm curious how well the food will taste.

The canteen was rather crowded as it catered to all the disciples of the Vanishing Peak. A particular long queue formed behind the fried rice stall. As I went nearer to the queue, I saw the obnoxious figure of Jiang Meng.

"Hello there, big bro. Could it be that you're also a disciple of the Vanishing Peak?"

"You trash, I don't know how to manage to cheat your way through the enrolment test, but you don't deserve to be here," Jiang Meng said.

I smirked at him and pretended that I didn't hear him properly.

"Excuse me? Did you just say you don't deserve to be here? I completely agree with you on that."

"Trash, I said you don't deserve—" He couldn't complete his sentence as he ate my fist containing the strength of a cultivator at Body Strengthening Stage 3. Now that I was at the same cultivation level as him, I no longer had to maintain any civility.

"How dare you punch—" Another punch aimed squarely at his face. His molar was knocked out. His lips were bloody.

"Ow, that looked like it hurt, big bro. Haha, you look like a vampire with those lips."

He came at me with a vengeance after my assault, but I easily dodged all his punches. With lightning speed, I caught his face with my hand and slammed his head into the ground.

"Stay down, dog." I pushed harder on his face and he blacked out.

The good thing about Yin City Academy was that disciples could fight each other anywhere and anytime as long as they didn't kill each other. It was the perfect ground to assert dominance. Some cultivators at the Body Strengthening Stage in the canteen looked on with interest at my confrontation with Jiang Meng while most cultivators who were at stages where they could use Qi completely ignored the fight. They probably thought that pure fisticuffs were nothing amazing to look at after they had mastered Qi.

I stepped over Jiang Meng's unconscious body and ordered a plate of fried rice.

"That will be 10 academy points," the cashier gestured for me to hand over my academy token.

"Huh? What are academy points?" I asked.

"You're new here, aren't you? Academy points are the currency you use to obtain goods and services in the Yin City Academy, and they are recorded within your academy token. New disciples are all given 100 academy points within their academy tokens. Now, you have 90 academy points left. The most common way of obtaining more academy points is completing missions in the mission hall.

"Here's your fried rice."

Sitting down, I spooned a portion and tasted it.

~The taste is simply exquisite. It was worth queuing.

~Master, no wonder the taste package took up so much data during the download.

~Gotta enjoy while I can, eh?

With my hunger fully satiated and my energy replenished, I set off for the library.