New Training

Xia Tao

Descending from the fortress peak after my morning training, I couldn't help but reminisce about the previous night. The surprise gift had been beyond my wildest expectations. As I walked, a contented smile crept across my face. Life truly was beautiful.

Opening my system's status, I noticed a new entry: Cultivation Partners: 3/3 (Zhang Mei, Lin Qing, Li Meiying). I sighed with satisfaction but also with a sense of urgency—I needed to raise my cultivation level, as I definitely didn't plan to stop at three partners.

Ding Task Completed: Invitation Sent. Golem's Charge Replenished! Excellent.

Exiting the fortress, I activated the array, sealing the entrance to the cave. We had decided to make the entrance accessible only on demand rather than leaving it open. It was a wonder we hadn't thought of this sooner.

Wandering the mountain, I contemplated my next move. Suddenly, I noticed a group of clan disciples (identifiable by a small emblem on their uniforms) marching somewhere in unison—all twenty of them, including the short bimbo. Curious about their destination, I followed them at a discreet distance.

Hui Ying (Bimbo shorty)

We managed to reach an agreement that any attempt to seize the idol would be made only in the last two days of the week. The rest of the time, we would focus on obtaining strawberries from the patch. The strawberries drastically accelerates learning and mastery of skills, enhancing absolutely all techniques used. The training room in the mini-fortress is great, as is access to various knowledge, but it's incomparable to the benefits of the strawberries.

We quickly realized that simply knowing about these berries could get us killed. Actually accessing them felt like a gift from the gods, and we'd be fools not to take advantage of it.

As a result, we tried everything we could to get the strawberries, but it seemed impossible. We attempted to disguise ourselves as Elder Mei, but it didn't work. Though, we did manage to steal the idol once using that disguise—people turned out to be easier to fool than the spiders.

We even tried using expensive concealment talismans, designed to hide our presence if we moved very slowly. We managed to collect couple of strawberries before being caught. The next time we attempted it, we were tied up as soon as someone touched the berries. Somehow, the spiders had learned to track either us or the berries, but we never found out how.

We concluded that if we couldn't defeat the spiders, we should try to learn from them. Yes, the idea sounded crazy, but we had run out of options. Using the technique provided by Elder Mei, we could see the movements of the spiders—not their actual forms, but their silhouettes and the webs they created as they moved. This technique allowed us to observe the spiders' movement and the intricate web patterns they left behind.

The spiders moved with incredible speed, creating webs as they moved or even shooting webs from a distance. Interestingly, these webs were made of spiritual energy. At a general assembly of disciples, we decided to study how the spiders created these webs and attempt to replicate them. The webs were phenomenal weapons—flying at monstrous speeds, hindering the use of spiritual energy, and being incredibly strong. Plus, they became invisible even to spiritual sight after a short time, making them almost impossible to detect. Studying their formation was extremely challenging, only possible in the first fractions of a second after creation.

Our idea might not work, but if it did, it would give us an immensely powerful weapon.

The idea we came up with was this: the team holding the idol would sit nearby and, under a concentration technique that accelerated perception, would eat strawberries and observe how the spiders created their webs. The goal was to understand and replicate their methods. The rest of the disciples would provoke the spiders and attempt to dodge their attacks. This training was extremely exhausting and required careful management to avoid provoking more than a few spiders at once, as any more would be overwhelming. We had to act from a distance.

As soon as everyone except the observers was ensnared, the remaining disciples would record their observations on crystals. The information would then be shared among all the disciples. This cycle continued until we uncovered the secret of creating webs.

This approach yielded results. As expected, the strawberries were simply magnificent. We learned to create a web similar to the one the spiders shot. While our version was much weaker and less effective compared to the spiders' webs, it was still an incredible weapon compared to our usual techniques. Our web was faster (relative to other techniques we used, though still much slower than the spiders'), faintly visible but much thicker and thus easier to see, and far less durable. The technique involved specific points on the body where spiritual energy could be most effectively released. The further the thread extended from the body, the harder it became to control. Beyond 10 meters, the thread became unmanageable.

What baffled us was how the spiders could shoot their webs accurately over distances greater than 20 meters and even control them to some extent.

In the end, we developed a technique allowing us to use this web within a 10-meter radius. The number of threads one could use varied from person to person, and managing more threads increased the difficulty. At higher thresholds, some threads would simply dissipate into energy. My limit was three threads if I stood still, and two if I was moving.

Compared to our capabilities before coming to this mountain, this technique was a game-changer. The almost invisible threads could quickly bind any disciple. We tested this on disciples who hadn't sworn allegiance to the clan, and it wasn't even a fair fight. Within half a second, the target would be bound and clueless about what had happened. They could still use spiritual energy, but since the threads could conduct energy, we could knock them unconscious in no time. We hadn't yet figured out how to imbue the threads with energy-blocking properties.

We brought this technique to Mei, and she praised us, promising to give us 100 grams of strawberries weekly for each thread we could control over year, and a bonus of 15 kilograms of strawberries for mastering every five threads. The technique immediately became clan property and was classified as a secret.

As a result, everyone was highly motivated to improve their mastery of the technique and enhance it further. The second aspect of our training focused on dodging spiders and their web, which was initially extremely difficult. However, once we received the Flicker of the Dragonfly technique from Mei and began practicing it, things improved. The more we trained, the better we became. Interestingly, the spiders also seemed to improve their accuracy and web work, creating a classic arms race between shield and sword.

After two and a half weeks of training with the help of the strawberries, my Flicker of the Dragonfly skill had reached Minor Achievement, with 17/22 progress. Soon, I will master all the basic nuances and will work on perfecting it. While Void Rush was a good technique, it was more complex and suited for different movements not within a small radius. Flicker of the Dragonfly was better for our current needs.

Now, if I was dodging a single spider, I could hold out for about a minute or two at a distance of 20 meters. Any closer and it was hopeless—I would be bound in a matter of seconds. The webs could be cut if two or three people attacked the same spot simultaneously with some technique.

We practiced shooting the web from distances of 10, 20, 30, and even 100 meters, but since the technique became unmanageable after 10 meters, we had to train to aim accurately even when the thread was no longer controllable. My accuracy currently extends to about 50 meters, and I can even pull objects from that distance. However, trying to grab strawberries is futile. As soon as you shoot at them from distances beyond what the spiders typically use, they somehow intercept our web and pull it toward them. Instead of capturing the strawberry, I end up being dragged towards the spiders, pulled by what seems like a tiny spider but with immense strength.

Interestingly, the spiders also gradually increased their effective range. Initially, they could work accurately at around 15 meters, but now it's closer to 30 meters.

Our current strategy involves shooting at the strawberries from about 20-25 meters, attracting the spiders' attention. If only one spider starts trying to bind us, we practice dodging. If more spiders get involved, we retreat. Interestingly, the spiders have stopped reacting to us in swarms over time. It feels as if they're observing and learning from us, resulting in almost a duel-like scenario. However, we still can't strike back at the spiders because we can't see them. They move so quickly and shoot from various angles that, for now, we're only able to practice dodging.

When sparring with regular disciples, even if I didn't attack and only dodged, none of them could touch me. Training with such motivation and under the influence of the strawberries was divine. According to a disciple who accompanied the elders to study a cave, the strawberries we received were much weaker than those available to the clan. Our motivation was through the roof, and even the disciples who hadn't sworn allegiance began to reconsider. If we had achieved such progress in just a month and a half, what would the future hold?

I never would have thought that developing skills could be so easy and enjoyable in such a pleasant place. Since we had the idol this week, we were the ones observing. We disguised and dressed up one of our girls as Elder Mei and approached, claiming that the idol needed to be taken for some array updates. The fools handed it over without question. When they came back in the evening and asked Elder Mei when the idol would be returned, she looked at them as if they were idiots. We laughed so hard. But I sensed this trick wouldn't work again, and we needed to come up with a way to identify ourselves better to avoid such confusion. It turns out that eyes can be easily deceived.

Xia Tao

I watched a peculiar scene unfold before me. Six disciples sat down comfortably, ate some strawberries, and activated some technique, judging by the faint glow in their eyes.

One by one, the other disciples approached the strawberry patch, staying about 20 meters away, and did something I couldn't quite make out. It seemed like they were releasing something from their hands towards the strawberries and sometimes darting away. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see what they were releasing. It was like a flicker at the edge of my vision that disappeared when I focused on it—a highly frustrating sensation.

What was remarkable was the way the disciples moved—quickly and fluidly, sometimes with their entire body, sometimes just leaning slightly. At first, I thought they were simply training, but I couldn't understand what the point. Then, once every minute, it seemed like something would snag a disciple they were dodging, sending them flying away from the others at cannonball speed. Sometimes their fellow disciples managed to save them, sometimes not.

I was stunned. I had to find out from Mei what was going on. Judging by what I saw, I wouldn't be able to hit these disciples no matter how hard I tried, and I wouldn't be able to dodge whatever they were attacking with either. Incredible, I had fallen behind the very disciples we had accepted into our clan! A fire of motivation ignited within me. I needed to learn what and how they were training from Mei.