Mystery in the Forest (I)

Just like the rest of the students, Mark buried his head in the book checking each diagram closely.

''Time up! I will display the postures each individually, try to see as much as you can''

Nick slowly went through each posture, allowing the students to see each movement of his body.

However the difficulty is obvious, even Nick clearly had to think through each movement before performing it.

Then it was the students' turn.

Typically the elite students found the first pose easy followed by completing the second pose however when it got to the third their bodies couldn't hold it anymore as it fell to the ground.

Some of the unlucky Ordinary students couldn't even get started. Their feeble arms strained hard as they tried to hold themselves up. Clearly the first movement looked simple, but when trying to recreate it the difficulty presented itself.

Mark, on the other hand, easily finished third. But to avoid the attention he fell to the ground just like the other students. After all, his strength is still there even if it was halved.

''Not bad, finishing the third posture on your first try.'' Nick nodded in satisfaction.

''Wow look at that!''

''Finishing the fourth pose?''

''He's the only one in the class right?''

At this point everyone's attention was drawn to Mike. For the young women of this age, a strong man like Mike was inevitably attractive.

They looked with awe in their eyes as he passed through and finished the final posture with sweat falling down his face.

''Very impressive! They found a good trainee'' Even Nick looked with some appreciation.

Naturally he was happy to see a talented student in the class.

Mark ignored the praising comments around him and concentrated on perfecting the first three movements while he could.

The tense feeling pulling his muscles increased with each slight fix in his body.

Luckily the other students were preoccupied, or they would notice Mark only slightly sweating as he went through the three poses.

Of course it's easy for Mark to go through the first three poses without much work, with half his strength he was comparable to a Rank 2 warrior's combat power.

'What's the effect of this though?'

'Status'

[Status

Name:Mark Ashfield

Combat Power: 205 (550)

Cultivation: Rank 4 Small Warrior

Strands of Energy: 55 ]

'A 5 combat power increase?'

This amount might seem small, but considering he had only been exercising for 10 minutes. It was a large bonus.

Of course it was nothing compared to what he gained from absorbing the 3 spiritual crystals however the importance was on building a solid foundation.

And Mark's current foundation was still incredible compared to people on his same level.

Generally a Rank 4 Warrior would only have around 100 combat power without the spiritual energy. And Mark's was double that.

''The importance of your foundation is evident.''

''Generally you should have 25 combat power with purely your body when it comes to you becoming a warrior.''

''For every rank in the small warrior real after that, you should increase it by 25 in order to match the burden of the spiritual energy on your body.''

Nick preached to the students.

After that, the lesson ended quickly and Mark couldn't help but rush home to continue using this technique.

Thump!

He quickly entered his dorm and slammed the door closed. In order to facilitate the students' learning of the body tempering technique, the entire class was given three days to familiarise themselves with it.

And Mark intended to make good use of it.

'System split me into 13 more clones'

Immediately a familiar spiritual tornado appeared forming thirteen standing figures.

Each had 50 combat power, enough to complete the first three postures of the body tempering technique.

Of course there was still one clone sent to retrieve the items lost.

Mark had no intention of exercising himself. Rather he intended to continue to read through the body tempering book lent to each student.

After all, the more perfect the postures the better the effect. Combined with his high talent provided by the system he could easily increase his strength.

*****

The clone sent by Mark to retrieve the weapons, shuttled through the forest.

With his strength he easily noticed small tracks of Rodents and leapt the opposite way.

Mark also took this chance to consider how he was going to get the weapons back.

While the clones might be 100% loyal to the main body of Mark, and are resolute to follow the orders. They still have their independent thoughts.

And this clones thoughts were currently on how long it might take to wait for the lunar wolf to leave after he found what he was looking for.

But when he arrived at the right location in his memory he found it completely empty.

What weapons? What Clothes?

There was absolutely nothing. No trees, no grass, not even any rocks on the earth.

Everything was gone.

''What the hell happened here?''