In the world of martial arts, there was a saying: Reason says there are three methods feasible, but instinct says that only one leads to growth.

Modus had given Will a wealth of information, valuable information, and Will had understood all of it, applying it, however, was a different story. This was similar to his experiences in cooking; if one was had the recipe for a dish, there was no guarantee that one could prepare the meal. In fact, many people changed the original recipe to suit their own tastes. Will dared not call himself a chef, but he had some experience cooking.

It was this wisdom that he employed to create the technique that had destroyed the Sicarios pyramid. The concept was simple enough, focusing on the shapeless and force aspects in the Dao of Water.

Water had no definite shape. It changed its form according to its boundaries and environment. This was the shapeless aspect of it. Yet, water also carried a force with its movement.

According to conventional knowledge from Earth, a liter of water was one kilogram, so water was quite heavy. A shapeless material that could carry an enormous momentum, the applications of powers with such intents were boundless.

The concept was simple. First, he had crashed water into the pyramid with a momentum that was synonymous with his own movement. Will had then focused the force of his movement forward and applied it to the water. This had been the first application of force.

Then, Will had employed the shapeless attributes of water by removing all interference from the surroundings. In other words, the momentum of the water was only applied to the pyramid, which was why there had been no noise or rus.h.i.+ng gust along with the stream of water.

Will then used the normal force of the pyramid resisting its destruction to compress the water and followed with a step forward, further increasing the water's momentum. This resulted in highly compressed water that bore a ridiculous amount of force and tension.

At the final moment of contact, Will utilized the shapeless aspect of the Water Dao and converted all the ma.s.s into energy. In other words, it had not been a ma.s.s of water hitting a ma.s.s of earth, but a ma.s.s of water-type yuan cras.h.i.+ng into earth-type mana.

Will's application of intent, the superiority of yuan over mana, and the bonuses from his t.i.tles allowed him to accomplish his goal. Without dual-mind propagation, this task would have been impossible. Will made it look easy, but doing this had taken a lot of effort from the young man and was mentally taxing.

After leaving Letty, Will arrived at the beach and sat down at his usual spot. He pulled the water toward him and doused his hand in the water as he usually did. Green energy defused from his hand into the water, continuing his usual practice. This was the so-called 'fis.h.i.+ng.'

Will was experimenting with something, and the results were quite pleasing. He planned to use this discovery plus his changes to the city to cause some mayhem.

'I wonder who they are going to send to me.'

Will wondered what kinds of people the empire would send him. Will hoped they would be strong and arrogant because he looked forward to seeing their faces when they realized how epic he was.

Will was by no means modest: a young man at heart, the flames of compet.i.tion raged within him. He knew that in terms of talent and skill, he was the cream of the crop, but there were still beings like Ignius and Hanzo who made him uncomfortable.

'In the end, I'm still too weak; I need to grind my levels.'

Will was hesitant about leveling up too quickly because he disliked becoming strong without a full understanding of his capabilities, but the situation had forced his hand.

'3 days, huh That's too far away.'

Will planned to level to a decent level before the reinforcements arrived.

'Tomorrow is gonna be a long day.'

Sighing, Will relaxed as he pondered the rest of the advice Modus had given him.

...

Modus had taken the time to explain how beings outside the system cultivated, which would become more important as Will grew stronger.

The process of cultivation was divided into certain levels, which were each divided into sub-levels. The majority of cultivators in the system we're stuck on the first level. They rarely contacted those in the second or third levels.

Cultivation was possible without the system, but then a few details would change.

Outside the system, each level had a name, with the first being the Foundation Realm. This cultivation realm was divided into nine sub-levels. These nine were equally divided into three parts, with each part containing their own three sub-levels. The first sub-level of a part was referred to as lower, the second, middle, and the third, upper. Levels 1 to 100 in the system corresponded to the Foundation Realm.

The names of the three parts had different names depending on whether one was a warrior or a mage. For mages, the parts were Novice, Acolyte and Scholar. For warriors, the parts were respectively Student, Fighter, and Teacher.

For example, if one were in the Foundation Realm and in the seventh mage sub-level, one would be a lower Scholar.

As one upgraded between parts, one experienced a qualitative leap in power, and the differences in ability between each part increased the higher your cultivation was. For example, the difference in strength between a Novice and an Acolyte was far smaller than the differences between an Acolyte and a Scholar. One Acolyte could barely defeat ten Novices, but one needed more than a hundred Acolytes to beat one Scholar.

To cultivate, one needed to feel World Energy in an environment and incorporate it into one's body. Ones own apt.i.tude determined whether one became a mage or warrior. Some bodies only produced warrior qi whereas others could only produce mage mana.

There were three major factors that determined the quality of one's energy. The first was talent and ones elemental affinity; the second was hard work; the third was your cultivation method.

All qi and mana consisted of at least one of the five basic elements: earth, fire, wood, water, and metal.

Most beings were born with little to no elemental affinity. Some were born with a high affinity to one element while talented people were born with an affinity toward two elements. Meanwhile, prodigies with affinities to three or more elements were as rare as unicorns; one could even say they were practically myths.

Cultivation methods were instruction manuals on how to move mana or qi in certain paths around your body. Like an electric circuit, the more times one moved their energy in a particular path, the higher the energy quality one would possess and the greater capacity ones body would have for energy.

This energy moved according to ones will through one's blood vessels but was actually intangible and had no noticeable effect on bodily functions.

Although having an affinity to multiple elements had advantages, it also had disadvantages.

Wills body had a perfect affinity for multiple elements; one could say he was a once-in-lifetime prodigy. According to Modus, Wills affinity with s.p.a.ce due to him having the s.p.a.ce Gate would become vital in the future, but he refused to explain in detail, only saying that Will wasn't ready for such information.

Once Modus left, Will realized how complex cultivation was. It was not simply meditating to improve. There were gates, doors, cultivation levels, the Dao, intent, elemental affinity and probably many other factors he was unaware of. To be the top, Will had to understand all these and master them to the best of his abilities. The question was, what was his limit?

Will smirked as he thought of all the possibilities. He had no intention of waiting for the backup. He wanted to solo the dungeon by himself and give the visitors a nasty surprise.