Peak of the Third Rank

"Make your move," Bobby said as he calmly went into his battle stance. Tom felt like he had heard wrong. Was this the same Bobby as before? The moment he took a closer look at Bobby, his expression changed and he said, "No wonder you're so confident. I heard you got your orange belt. I didn't believe it, but now I sense it. However, if that's all you've got, then you'd better start begging for forgiveness now."

Tom felt a little surprised, but it didn't affect his plans. That was because Bobby had reached the second rank very recently, and Tom had reached the peak of the second rank almost a year ago. He also had high-ranked martial arts skills.

"Please stop speaking. I've got no time to waste," Bobby said coldly.

"Don't be arrogant," Tom said as he suddenly turned his four limbs and body into a familiar but still weird stance, and like a poisonous snake, plunged towards Bobby. In a flash, Tom used his Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake. In terms of speed and power, he far exceeded Bobby. Tom has probably already trained the Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake to a high level, Bobby thought to himself.

On the archery field, Sarah had a moved and slightly shocked face. Being one of the institution's geniuses, she obviously had major support and so naturally had access to high-rank martial arts skills. The higher the rank of a skill was, the harder it was to train in it. Once a high-ranked skill had been trained to even the lowest level, it would have more power than a middle-ranked skill trained to a high level.

"What speed! The damage is at least 50% higher than before," Bobby thought to himself as he blocked off the first attack. Bobby stomped both feet downwards under the Air Pushing Breathing Technique. He put power into both of his arms. Tom suddenly realized that Bobby's power was rapidly increasing. He had become more shocked as Bobby put even more power into his arms.

"The third stance of Angry Dragon Fist—Angry Dragon Flipping the Rivers."

At that moment, Bobby was like a dragon. As his fists punched downwards, the first punch made Tom's body shudder and almost caused him to spit out blood. His Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake was about cunningness and flexibility, but forte wasn't in fighting straight on. Bobby's fist felt like they knew where he was going to move and always hit his weak spots. Using Air Pushing Breathing Technique, Bobby had already trained the Angry Dragon Fist technique to a high level.

Tom shouted as he was hit by Bobby with outstanding power and landed on the ground kneeling. His arms felt numb and blood was leaking from his mouth. "You've lost," Bobby said as he left without another glance at Tom or his two helpers.

As they fought, Bobby had used his left eye and clearly seen Tom's attacking routes. He had also seen some errors in Tom's high-ranked martial art, which meant that it was yet to be perfected. Bobby felt that Angry Dragon Fist and Air Pushing Breathing Technique complemented one another to an unimaginable degree, which gave him confidence to fight people who were even higher ranked than him.

"How is this possible? My skill is a higher ranked one!" Tom crawled on the ground and screamed. The whole fight only lasted for two breaths. One move, Tom lost.

The students in the archery field looked on in shock, although they had the same rank. To win in one move was too exaggerated, especially when the loser had used a high-ranking skill. As she followed Bobby away with her eyes, Sarah murmured, "Angry Dragon Fist is a powerful move and could be comparable to other high-ranking skills, but it is very hard to learn. I think he trained himself to learn another skill and used it with Angry Dragon Fist, which allowed the power to almost double."

"Sister Sarah, how did Tom lose when the strength and skill were both higher?" a girl next to her asked.

"Moves are dead, but people are alive. Tom's use of the Thirteen Changes of the Poisonous Snake was extremely bad, and he has only learned the first three moves, which is far from his older brother Jacob. Also, his battle awareness is nowhere near that of Bobby's. Also, Bobby has learned two skills that are very close to being high-rank ones and trained them to a very high level. Under the usage of those two skills, his strength exceeded that of Tom."

After the girl listened to Sarah's analysis, she exclaimed, "Bobby is so strong!"

"Maybe, but apparently Tom's older brother Jacob is ranked fifth amongst the city students. I wonder if he will come take revenge for Tom. Jacob is really protective over him."

Bobby shook his head and left the martial arts field. It wasn't long before he arrived at the open court in front of his house. He came here to train himself, learning the most mysterious footwork skill, Lightly Floating Fairy.

Lightly Floating Fairy was without a doubt the skill of the highest rank amongst those he had. The problem was that it was partially ruined and was very hard to learn.

"When Angry Dragon Fist and Air Pushing Breathing Technique are used together, the damage is awesome. I just do not know how good the Lightly Floating Fairy will be," Bobby thought with his mind full of expectations. Immediately, Bobby started to meditate because he knew that he had to keep his mind and body at peace if he was going to be able to master his skills. When he concentrated, the faint green glow inside of his left eye's pitch-black dimension spun faster and faster. Bobby felt that Lightly Floating Fairy's moves were burned into his mind, which made it easier for him to understand them. But it was not as simple to learn as Angry Dragon Fist or Air Pushing Breathing Technique. "Lightly Floating Fairy is way harder to learn than a peak middle-rank skill," he thought to himself as he compared the three skills. Although it was hard, it did not stump him. Bobby only needed three days to understand the first quarter of the Lightly Floating Fairy to a beginner level. He used the next six days to master the beginner level.

Normal skills had four ranks that depended on how well trained one was in it. These were Beginner, Low, High, and Peak level. Beginner level equaled 30% of the maximum power of the skill, Low level equaled 50%, High level equaled 70%, Peak level equaled 90% or higher. Bobby had easily trained Angry Dragon Fist to High level and Lightly Floating Fairy to Beginner level in the same amount of time. But it was only the first quarter of the skill.

Bobby's body flashed and his body was as light as a bird as he floated five meters up in the air. His feet pushed off the branches and felt fabulous as he flew. At that moment, Bobby felt like a bird happily flying through the forest. "I have only trained Lightly Floating Fairy to the Beginner level, but the speed of it far surpasses most middle-ranked skills that I've trained to a high level," he thought to himself. It could be seen that Lightly Floating Fairy far exceeded most high-ranked martial arts skills. With this ability, he could jump high into the sky and glide as if he had wings of a bird, while also giving him the speed of a cheetah.

After Lightly Floating Fairy reached a Beginner level, Bobby started to train in Angry Dragon Fist and Air Pushing Breathing Technique again. This was because Lightly Floating Fairy only helped with his footwork and didn't increase his strength much, even though it was a high-ranked martial arts skill. After training in a high-ranked skill such as Lightly Floating Fairy and then going back to training Angry Dragon Fist and Air Pushing Breathing Technique, Bobby felt that his movements had become quicker and smoother.

After two days, Bobby had managed to master the Air Pushing Breathing and Angry Dragon Fist technique. He closed his eyes and felt the power that coursed through his body. His strength was greater than when he first reached the orange belt, and inside his left eye's dimension, the radius of the faint green glow had extended and now had increased in its size. "It looks like my strength has reached the peak of the orange belt level. I just need one more step to break through and be strong enough for the green belt," Bobby thought to himself as he took a deep breath and controlled his excitement. It had only been half a month since he got his orange belt. The speed at which he was improving his skills and strength were impressive and almost unbelievable. The thing that made him most astonished was the Air Pushing Breathing Technique as it was a hard skill to master in such a short span of time.

Bobby now felt that he was closer to understanding the concept of qi, after mastering which he could be called the true master of the martial arts.

Bobby never expected that he would reach his peak at the orange belt level so fast and was happy and proud to think that his strength could be compared to that of the green belt holders. And just half a month, Bobby's strength had doubled, all due to his mysterious god eye.

That night, Bobby began mapping out his life goals. His first goal was to perform well at the family sparring contest one and a half months in the future. He could not wait to be able to spar with the true geniuses of San Francisco. "The change in my left eye grants me a high level of understanding, the only thing stopping me from becoming a genius here are my resources," Bobby analyzed. Since he merged with his left eye, his mental energy and analysis speed have increased. He also became calmer and steadier. The only problem was, how was he to gain resources? Bobby's growth was found, but it was still hard to break past the peak at the third level. However, if he had enough resources, this barrier could be easily broken through.

"Got it!" Bobby's eyes twinkled, and soon he had an idea. His lips curled into a confident smile.