Chapter 19: The Essence of Battle Qi and the Difficult-to-Condense Seed

Two longswords collided in the air with high-speed intensity, while Wang Yu’s figure shifted constantly around his opponent, his movements agile and swift, his footing remarkably steady despite the velocity.

In Wang Yu’s grip, the longsword felt weightless, slicing through the air at bizarre, cunning, yet technically flawless angles to strike at the other swordsman.

Yet, these rapid and ferocious maneuvers were effortlessly intercepted by the man in the center.

Without even shifting his stance, the man merely swayed his feet and tilted his body, using his own blade to parry Wang Yu’s onslaught with casual indifference.

The most terrifying aspect was not his speed, but the sheer power behind his every move.

A light tap of his sword tip was enough to forcibly halt the blade that carried the full momentum of Wang Yu’s entire body.

"You are doing well; swordsmanship is not meant to force you to follow rigid forms, but to teach you how to parry fixed techniques in the simplest way possible."

"Indeed, for if one possesses sufficient strength and speed, improvisation becomes the simplest and strongest sword art of all. It is precisely because one lacks the reaction time and raw power that swordsmanship becomes necessary."

"A well-put summary. Your application of this style is commendable."

"However, your arm could be steadier. As for power, using the strength of your upper arm is inferior to letting your shoulder drive the entire limb for speed and impact."

The one sparring with Wang Yu was Garcia, a Great Knight.

Serving as a practice partner for a squire was not so much a waste of talent as it was an overwhelming abundance of it.

Even with Wang Yu going all out, he could never hope to injure this formidable knight, whose base physical attributes were tenfold his own.

A month passed in the blink of an eye, and Garcia and Lilia, having returned from their errands, turned their attention to the training of Wang Yu and Aiviya.

Lilia was meant to tutor Aiviya, but the carefree witch was perpetually missing; not that she was off playing, but she preferred to bury herself in the laboratory.

Aiviya often complained to Wang Yu that she had to figure most things out on her own, though Wang Yu felt that anyone capable of becoming a Great Mage could hardly be lazy.

Given Aiviya’s talent, independent exploration might well be the best path.

By contrast, Garcia was far more reliable, not only sparring with Wang Yu daily but also ensuring his knowledge of the knight’s path never lagged.

Regarding the various training methods Wang Yu had devised himself, Garcia’s assessment was that while they were fine for personal practice, a true knight would consider them utter nonsense.

When Garcia demonstrated the knight’s cultivation method—which involved vibrating the entire body’s musculature to generate force from within—Wang Yu was shocked and treated it like a priceless treasure.

The efficiency of this method was many times greater than his original routine.

At the same time, he realized that this world was capable of feats far beyond his previous world’s imagination; past experience could not simply be applied here.

While effortlessly parrying Wang Yu’s full-force attacks and guiding him to correct his errors, Garcia grew increasingly satisfied.

Wang Yu had decent talent, a small prodigy in the realm of knightly cultivation—not comparable to Aiviya’s terrifying aptitude, perhaps, but he learned quickly.

Most importantly, Wang Yu was diligent and hardworking, striving to learn with intensity in every aspect.

This thirst for knowledge greatly pleased the veteran knight; a pure soul with such qualities could often travel much further.

With these thoughts, Garcia deflected Wang Yu’s sweeping blade and suddenly sheathed his own, raising the hilt and scabbard to strike downward at high speed toward Wang Yu’s forehead.

He used little force, but his immense physical prowess imbued the strike with terrifying speed.

It was a small jest between them—a sudden attack to test Wang Yu’s reflexes; constant vigilance was, after all, one of the fundamental laws of a knight.

Wang Yu noticed the sudden assault, his eyes flickering as he quickly shifted his feet.

Yet, even with the rapid neural response driven by his ripples, the gap in physical capability made the incoming scabbard strike difficult to evade.

His mind raced, a thought flashing through: regardless of why Master Garcia had struck, he would try *that*.

Void energy was mobilized at extreme speed, and the water in the flawless lake within his mental space plummeted, returning to its initial level.

"Whoosh!" The scabbard grazed Wang Yu’s ear and struck his shoulder; Garcia pulled his strength back instantly, causing no injury, though the impact was enough to leave a lingering ache.

Seeing Wang Yu’s expression remain entirely unchanged, Garcia curled his lip; the boy’s willpower was devilish.

The fun of seeing Wang Yu howl like he had when his own master struck him was gone—truly boring.

Still, the lad was interesting; he had been satisfied just to see Wang Yu react and attempt to dodge.

He had increased the speed to land a blow on the boy’s head, partly as routine discipline, and partly out of the mischievous desire to pass on the tradition his own master had inflicted upon him.

Yet, the boy had actually managed to evade it. Though Garcia hadn't used his full strength, the feat was worthy of praise.

Just now, Wang Yu had seemingly teleported, gaining a sliver of distance—a move that could not be hidden from the keen perception of a Great Knight.

It was that very sliver of distance that allowed Wang Yu to escape the strike. "You used sorcery just now, didn't you?"

Garcia asked, his tone casual, yet filled with certainty.

"That’s right. It was my first time using it, Master. You really gave me a fright."

Wang Yu nodded, feeling the nuances of the technique and reflecting on details he could optimize.

"For you to react and dodge, that’s not bad at all. I envy knights who can use sorcery."

"Truth be told, the advantage sorcery gives in battle is immense. What was that you used?" Garcia shook his head.

Even as a Great Knight, he envied those who could wield sorcery; it was not a simple matter of one plus one equaling two.

The various bizarre abilities unleashed in combat provided an advantage that was far from negligible.

"Time Stop?" Wang Yu’s tone carried a hint of hesitation, as he himself was not entirely certain.

"Time Stop!?"

Garcia’s voice was laced with astonishment. Time Stop was an eighth-circle spell for mages.

Its effect was to pause time for everyone but the caster for one minute—a forbidden-level spell that even an Archmage would require at least thirty minutes of incantation to cast.

Though there were ways to shorten the time, the difficulty remained largely the same.

"Yes, but it must have been weakened by an unknown factor," Wang Yu thought carefully before confirming.

"Hmm..." Garcia recovered from his shock and recalled the moment; he realized Wang Yu was right—his "Time Stop" was indeed weakened beyond measure.

The duration had been only about 0.05 seconds in his perception, and it seemed unable to truly halt time completely.

"I applied many restrictions: the target was you, the range was only you, and the duration lasted until the void energy was exhausted."

"But even so, that is all I can manage for now," Wang Yu explained.

Sorcery followed the basic rule that the greater the distortion of reality, the higher the consumption.

If it were the original Time Stop, even draining a million Wang Yus might not be enough to cast it once.

But by narrowing the scope of the restriction to a tiny fraction, the consumption was reduced infinitely.

Though it exhausted all his void energy in a single use, he had indeed "succeeded."

"Only you could use such a method of casting; other sorcerers could never do it."

"Still, it is quite impressive. The idea is excellent, and it will be a significant boost to your combat effectiveness!" Garcia understood.

He was a man of broad experience, having spent many years with Lilia, the unreliable mage and sorceress, so he had some understanding of these matters.

Wang Yu’s trick was impossible for other sorcerers, because for Wang Yu, exhausting his mental power and void energy was of no consequence.

But for other sorcerers, it was no different from death; once depleted, they would suffer distortion, be assimilated by the void, or die from mental collapse.

Once sorcery was triggered, it would continue to draw power until the effect was completed or all energy was spent.

Wang Yu’s Time Stop was essentially triggered on the premise of "using up all power." While it would drain him with extreme speed, it could indeed be activated.

This was something other sorcerers, whose mental power and void energy were bound to their life force, could not achieve.

Seizing every opening is a habit, and Wang Yu considered this one of his virtues; just now, he had limited his pause to Garcia alone.

Compared to the genuine "Time Stop," which could freeze the entire world, his super-weakened version seemed rather pathetic.

Yet, that fraction of a second—perhaps 0.05—had spared his skull from the blow. This time it was only a scabbard, but what if it had been a real blade in the heat of battle?

"Indeed, though it is a severely weakened, watered-down version, it still has its uses!" Wang Yu nodded, satisfied with his own ingenuity.

If the ability is lacking, it can be improved; as he progressed along the path of the wizard, the potency of this spell would surely grow.

"Well done. Your talent for combat is truly formidable. By your own metrics, your physique has reached a coefficient of 1.2, has it not? Still no sign of a battle-qi seed?"

Garcia affirmed Wang Yu’s combat instincts before inquiring about the condensation of his battle-qi.

"Not yet. My body has not spontaneously generated any battle-qi," Wang Yu replied, shaking his head with a touch of helplessness.

"That shouldn't be. Theoretically, once your physique hits that 0.9 coefficient you speak of, the body should naturally begin to form a battle-qi seed."

"Why it hasn't manifested even at 1.2 is a mystery. Still, such constitutions do exist; I shall consult the archives." Garcia had no immediate solution.

After a month of rigorous training, Wang Yu’s physique had reached a 1.2 coefficient, far surpassing his former self.

In terms of raw physical prowess, he had officially stepped into the ranks of a squire.

Yet, for reasons unknown, the battle-qi that marked the squire stage remained unborn, a source of frustration for both master and student.

While Garcia claimed such cases existed, Wang Yu had found no mention of them in the literature he had studied.

Usually, once the body crossed a certain threshold, battle-qi would emerge as naturally as breathing.

Garcia’s promise to check the archives was, in reality, a commitment to ponder the problem himself; in this, Wang Yu felt Garcia was truly a teacher worthy of the name.

"Why is this? According to the lore of this world, battle-qi is like a higher form of 'stamina'."

"It is something the body evolves and optimizes once it hits a certain limit. Why am I the exception?" Wang Yu pondered inwardly.

"As I suspected, concepts like battle-qi, internal energy, or chakra are far too ethereal for someone like me who has never experienced them."

"Even with the effects explained, I cannot perceive them. This makes the birth of such energy impossible; even if it exists, I cannot grasp it..." he muttered to himself.

"But those in this world who have yet to manifest it cannot perceive it either. How do they manage it?"

"Wait—spontaneous optimization. Could it be that the people of this world possess something akin to a 'gene' for evolving battle-qi?"

"Does reaching a certain level automatically trigger the production of this special energy?"

"Well, that is plausible. My body is an 'original import,' and I certainly lack any of that so-called bloodline power." Wang Yu began to understand his predicament.

He had crossed over with his original body, which was now ten years younger but otherwise identical to the one he had always known.

It was indistinguishable from his memories, meaning everything he possessed was brought from his previous life.

In his former world, battle-qi did not exist, nor did any mystical bloodlines.

Even as his body adapted to this new reality, what wasn't there simply couldn't be conjured out of thin air without a catalyst.

Based on his own understanding, the archives of the Cabin in the Woods Academy, and his discussions with Avia and Garcia, he had reached a conclusion.

He viewed battle-qi as a form of "life energy"—a higher-level substance than fat or glucose—that the body spontaneously evolved once physical fitness reached a certain peak.

There was no need to make it sound overly scientific or grandiose.

To everyone else in this world, battle-qi was merely an extra source of power that manifested once the body was ready; it was only "unfriendly" to Wang Yu.

"My body is adapting. The human limit should be a 1.0 coefficient, yet I have reached 1.2."

"In a sense, I have met the conditions for generating battle-qi; my body simply hasn't 'learned' the skill yet." Wang Yu rubbed his chin, searching for a solution.

"If I can just form the seed, the circulation of battle-qi should follow. The problem lies in creating the source..."

The vortex in the lower abdomen was the origin of a knight's power.

If that were destroyed, the energy would cease to flow. The very first vortex formed by a beginner was the battle-qi seed.

The hallmark of a squire was the birth of this seed.

Wang Yu was an anomaly: his physique exceeded the threshold, yet the seed remained dormant.

"My body is adapting to this world! Perhaps if I can make it 'feel' what kind of energy battle-qi is... it might slowly, spontaneously learn to produce this higher form of energy. But how do I perceive it?"

Battle-qi was like blood—everyone’s type was different, and it could not be transferred between individuals.

To attempt a transfer would result in death or mutilation, so having someone else channel it into him was out of the question.

"This is a paradox! How can I perceive battle-qi without having my own?"

"And without perceiving it, my body cannot learn to produce it! Am I to be forever devoid of it?!" Wang Yu felt a surge of panic.

"Forget it. My physique is still improving; there is no rush. As long as my body keeps getting stronger, it will eventually resolve itself!"

The man was as resilient as ever, refusing to be crushed by his current misfortune.

"Wait. If it doesn't exist, I can make it exist. Void creation—it doesn't exist, but I can distort reality to make it briefly manifest."

"It may be an illusion, but I can use the power of a wizard to make it real within limits. By borrowing this fleeting truth, I can learn how to generate it for real, using reality as my foundation!"

"The path of the wizard—in some ways, is it perhaps too powerful?" Wang Yu frowned, struck by the thought.

He quickly cast these idle, meaningless speculations aside. The most important thing was to seize the power within his reach!

He would begin his attempt at once!

(Believe me, my friend, this second update is for you, the one reading this right now. Your reading is my greatest motivation! A comment would be even better!)