Chapter 101

Chapter 101: Establishing Dominance

But then Qian Jin thought about it again. “It’s not too bad staying in Four Season Valley for two years. There are almost no people here to interrupt my training, and I can go into the Endless World anytime to learn about pharmacy, mystic pharmacy and forging skills.

Also, the energy stone lode couldn’t be mined in a day. Most of the energy stones underground would positively affect each other, and they would gradually increase in quality.

With the energy stones, the option to train with the Wind and Cloud Power Training Scroll, and the ability to enter the Endless World freely without interruption, Qian Jin started to feel that getting stranded in Four Season Valley for two years wasn’t a bad thing.

“Since you are already here, then you should live here for a while.” The elder patted Qian Jin’s shoulder and said, “You can help me hunt some animals and gather food. During this time, you can train to solidify your Level 10 Warrior foundation. After you’re done, I will create a Warrior Energy Concentration Array for you so you can advance to a Demon Fighter. Then, you can train using the Wind and Cloud Power Training Scroll.”

“Hunt? Gather food?” Qian Jin shrugged his shoulder as he didn’t mind. However, his trust towards the elder had increased. “If he wasn’t sincere, then he wouldn’t have said things like solidifying my foundation as a new Level 10 Warrior.

The Qian Family didn’t forbid its members from reading the book that recorded the process of advancing from a Level 10 Warrior to a Demon Fighter. Every generation of the Elf King Bloodline Warrior who achieved the Ultimate Awakening had wrote about the importance of Level 10 Warriors in detail.

After many people advanced to a Level 10 Warrior, they would enter the Warrior Energy Concentration Array quickly to try to advance to a Demon Fighter. There was nothing wrong with doing that, but since the energy branches that connected the ten energy reservoirs were still thin, even if these people advanced to Demon Fighters, their future was very limited.

The importance of advancing to a Level 10 Warrior was to stay calm and not be greedy. One should slowly widen the thin connection branches from a small steam to a big river. That way, the chance of advancing to a Demon Fighter in the Warrior Energy Concentrate Array would be greater, and their future potential would be much greater as well.

“Oh, one more thing. Are you planning to live here at my place, or do you want to find a place for yourself?” the elder asked Qian Jin curiously.

“Here?” Qian Jin shook his head. The secret of the Endless World was better to be kept a secret. Living here with the elder wasn’t as optimal as living in the cave near the valley entrance.

“You want to live by yourself? That’s fine.” The elder nodded as he said, “Then you can come back tomorrow morning. I didn’t really expect someone to come, so I need to prepare some things.”

Qian Jin knew that he probably had to live in the valley for two years, so he could take it easy and not worry about losing half a day here and there. He picked up his Zhanmadao, turned around and was about to leave. Suddenly, a few questions appeared in his head, so he paused and asked, “Elder, my name is Qian Jin. How should I address you?”

“You want to know my name?” The elder stared at Qian Jin with a big smile. “You can only know my name after you can beat me. Before that, you can call me elder, or you can call me old man. Eh! A great warrior who lives in seclusion should have a mysterious presence to appear mightier!” he said.

Qian Jin curled his lips. “What kind of thinking is that? Did this elder also listen to a lot of stories told by traveling poets?”

“Then, elder…” Qian Jin thought about it and continued asking, “Do you know any animals around here that are easy to beat? Oh, I meant to say animals that are easy to beat as a Level 10 Warrior, especially large and furry animals.”

“Oh, you should in the opposite direction. Yeah, that way. Just walk alongside the lake. There are some animals there that satisfy your criteria.”

Qian Jin suddenly felt like he had seen that expression and intent on the elder’s face before. “That’s right! Blake, the old blacksmith in the Endless World Blake also had that expression and intent in his eyes when he tricked me into going to the West Mountains! It looks like I should not go there for now,” he thought.

“Is there anything else you want to know?” the elder looked at Qian Jin curiously as he asked. Although a Level 10 Warrior would feel cold during the winter in Four Season Valley at other places far from the hot lake, they didn’t need animal fur to stay warm.

“Also, about those stones and rocks…” Qian Jin pointed at the stone forest in the distance and asked, “Are those stones special or something? They seem a bit strange.”

The elder was getting more and more curious about Qian Jin. Normal people who came here would only say that the formation of the stones in the stone forest were very strange, yet mystic. They never paid attention to the actual stones themselves.

“Those are Auckime Stones.”

“Aukime Stones?” Qian Jin shook his head; he never heard of them. Although the Qian Family had a lot of books on stones, only people who failed to awaken their bloodlines and were weeded out would look at books like [Odd Stones Records] to handle the family’s business better.

“A simple way to put it…” the elder said as he tapped his forehead with his index finger, “They are a lot heavier compared to regular stones of their size.”

“That explains a lot.” Qian Jin thought. “No wonder why I couldn’t move the stone, despite feeling like I could. The reason why it felt like it was rooted to the ground was because these stones are a lot heavier.”

“Anything else?”

Qian Jin got the answers he need, so he shook his head.

“Great, then you can wander around if you want. Oh, one more thing, you shouldn’t go in this lake to take a bath. The fish in the lake are a lot more vicious and stronger than a lot of demon beasts on land.”

After the elder reminded Qian Jin, he quickly disappeared from the bank of the lake as he showed off his impressive agility and speed.

Qian Jin looked at the hot lake as he was very glad of the wise decisions he made. He let out a loud roar uncontrollably as he felt really lucky since he had finally found the Wind and Cloud Power Training Scroll. This was the reason why he came to Oakland City.

The roar resonated in the sky, and the sound wave travelled to a wooden house near the lake. The elder smiled and raised his head as he heard the roar. “It sounds like this kid is in a great mood. However, I’m not sure if he will still have this mood tomorrow after the training. Hahaha! I have refined and strengthened the method that my master used to train and torture me. I’m finally a master now! I can use all these methods on this kiddo.”

Vultures were a type of vicious bird; they were large and strong enough to lift a small horse off of the ground. However, they were very different from other smart and intelligent birds.

On the way back, Qian Jin lied on the snow and pretended to be dead with the Zhanmadao in his hand. In two hours, he chopped up eight more vultures who wanted to eat him. With the one additional vulture he killed on the way to the lake, he had in nine dead birds in his hands.

A mature vulture weighted about twenty pounds. With nine dead birds and the Zhanmadao, he carried a weight about three to four hundred pounds. He scared the two girls who were peeking out of the entrance to the cave when he threw all his prey onto the ground.

“These feathers have some cold-resistance. Be careful when you guys de-feather these birds. You can make some clothes out of these feathers and dry grass; they will help you stay warm.” Qian Jin said as he climbed into the cave. “We can roast the meat for lunch and dinner.”

After the two girls carefully took off each feather, they picked a fatter vulture and took off quite a few pieces of meat for their lunch.

Qian Jin still didn’t feel very secure. After dinner, he sat close to the entrance of the cave with the Zhanmadao. There was a light smell of blood in the cave now. He wasn’t sure if that would intrigue hungry and daring beasts to come and try out their luck.

The two girls knitting and weaving skill weren’t great. They didn’t make much progress after spending an afternoon on it. While Qian Jin sat down close to the entrance, the two girls rested on dry grass close to the furnace.

Qian Jin took out the Level 4 Energy Stone that was still functional and started his daily warrior energy training. Except for accumulating warrior energy, Level 10 Warriors also needed to try to widen those connections between each energy reservoir. The warrior’s technical term for that was “Warm Cultivation”.

After all ten energy reservoirs were connected, the suction that came from his body would be about ten times stronger compared to when the energy reservoirs were isolated. The warrior energy in the energy stone rushed into his body continuously like a downstream river that had the gate on its dam removed. The warrior energy from the stone flowed through the branches and became a part of Qian Jin’s warrior energy.

“Too bad… it’s only a Level 4 Energy Stone…” Qian Jin sighed in his mind disappointedly. A Level 4 Energy Stone had a much lower warrior energy reserve, and its warrior energy was less pure compared with a Level 10 Energy Stone.

If he had a Level 10 Energy Stone, it would be much easier to convert the warrior energy from the stone to his warrior energy. There were too much impurities in the warrior energy from a Level 4 Energy Stone, so after he sucked in the warrior energy, he had to decompose the warrior energy and get rid of the impurities before he could run this warrior energy through his energy reservoirs in the path on the training scroll and make it his.

After less than three hours, the Level 4 Energy Stone lost all of it warrior energy reserve. It turned from the grey and cloudy appearance to a transparent crystal appearance.

Qian Jin placed the energy stone onto the ground. He sighed lightly after he felt the warrior energy in his body increase a lot. This was one main reason why members of large families who were valued and focused on were able to grow and improve at a much higher rate than members who were not.

Energy stones! With the help from energy stones during warrior energy training, one would definitely get a better result. If these people had questions and were confused, they had special instructors who could answer their questions and help them. On top of all these resources, the people who were valued typically had above average talent. In theory, they would definitely have a better future and be a lot stronger than warrior who were “abandoned”.

Qian Jin looked at the mage hat beside him. He had to suppress the impulse of entering the Endless World at the moment. It was better to be more careful in this Four Season Valley that he wasn’t familiar with. He couldn’t be sure that this cave would be safe forever and that no vicious animals and demon beasts would appear.

Qian Jin had read a lot of books that recorded and introduced animals and demon beasts. He knew that in the animal and beast world, you had to exert your dominance and win a big fight. After the dominance was established, then you could draw your territory, and that territory would be a lot safer.

Gabriella had already fallen asleep, and Gloria was meditating; it seemed like she was getting ready to push the limit and condense her spiritual power into magic power.

Qian Jin could only sigh in admiration as he felt Gloria’s intention. Normally, after a Level 10 Mage reached the peak, he or she would need to have a lot of magic stone and magic cores taken from demon beasts to form a special Magic Power Concentration Array to help with pushing and condensing spiritual power to magic power.