Seeing their shocked faces, the old man continued with a smug look, “Yes, skip levels. You know warriors do it all the time, right? What are the 10 levels of martial training in Mortal Body Forging?”

Cheza instantly replied with the 10 levels which were: 1. Entry Level, 2. Muscle Quenching , 3. Skin Hardening , 4. Bone Forging, 5. Tendon Strengthening , 6. Blood Boiling, 7. Organ Quenching, 8. Perception Domain, 9. Spirit Sense Awakening, and 10. Apex Level.

“Do you want to know an open secret?” The boys instantly pecked up their ears hearing the old man’s words. “Traditionally, Organ Quenching actually comes before Blood Boiling. In reality Blood Boiling is the 7th level not the 6th! After-all, the level gets its name from the Blood Boiling technique that allows warriors to excite their blood to a boiling state and multiply their power. This technique is harmful to internal organs that have not gone through the organ quenching process so why would Blood Boiling come after Organ Quenching? The answer is resources!”

The 3 boys were mind-blown by the answer but it made sense. Since the beginning of time, internal organs could not be trained through martial arts so warriors would always have them as a weak point. This continued for eons and for a long time internal destruction martial arts that targeted internal organs were extremely popular as they could down even the most powerful warriors. However, this came to an end once a great medical researcher found a way to nourish and quench organs so as to protect them. This great medicine woman who had walked the earth numerous millennia ago went by the name Maisha, the same name as one of Mwana’s classmates with the apt meaning of ‘life’. The medical method she theorized was later applied to martial arts. Therefore, Organ Quenching involved creating a permanent protective coating over internal organs that would act as a cushion protecting them from damage. A thin film of energy would be formed protecting these organs.

However, every organ is different and varying resources, herbs, minerals, and skills were necessary for each of them. The brain, heart, spleen, liver, kidneys, lungs, nervous system, etcetera all had different requirements. As a result, Organ Quenching was one of the most expensive levels for a warrior to get through thus many warriors opted to go through Blood Boiling first.

“If it can be done with Organ Quenching, why can’t it be done with Tendon Strengthening? After your Awakening Ceremony, you will likely reach Bone Strengthening in the next few weeks. You should then directly aim at Blood Boiling!” The old man went straight to the point and Mwana felt like he made a lot of sense. Immediately a heavy load was lifted off of his shoulders.

However, before Mwana could sigh with relief the old man’s next words almost made him vomit in anger, “But those are just the big problems, you still have another weakness!”

Mwana could only glare at the old man while thinking, ‘why didn’t you drop all the bad news at once!’

The vice-head did not leave Mwana hanging and went on to explain, “Your biggest weakness right now is that your Elemental Affinity which is thunder does not match your Bloodline Affinity of fire thus it will be more difficult for you to excite your blood and utilize your bloodline power.”

Mwana understood this point very well because as soon as his bloodline awakened, he felt a boiling heat. Most dragons usually had a fire element affinity with a few having other elements as their affinity. In Mwana’s case, the Sun dragon definitely had a high affinity for fire with light coming second. As for innate elemental affinity, this was the affinity one was born with. Once a warrior started training and absorbing natural energy, different people would be more inclined towards different elements. The reason the Sun and Moon Arts had 10 different forms was to accommodate the various elemental affinities. Usually these affinities fell within the 7 major elements or their variations: Earth, Water, Wind, Lightning, Fire, Light, and Darkness.

Mwana’s elemental affinity was thunder thus his mastery over the Lunar Thunder Turn of the ‘Sun and Moon Arts’ was exceptionally high. This could be seen with how he utilized its techniques such as [Delayed Thunder Charge] and [Rushing Thunder Charge] in his fight against Uchoyo to great effect.

The vice-head continued advising Mwana, “If I were you, I would focus on your soul talent. You have something there kid.” To start fixing his issues, Mwana indeed understood that his strengthened soul was one of the solutions. His two strong points were his soul strength and his understanding of the way of the sword. The old man explained further, “Spiritual sword techniques and the sword path could be your way out. While your sword talent is nowhere near your late father’s, even a sliver of your father’s sword talent is already a notch above most in the village.”

Mwana did not take these words negatively as his late father had indeed been a true genius. He was the only Crystal Warrior to come out of Jua village in a long time. However, Mwana still pointed out to the old man that the spear was the main weapon on the battlefield while the sword was mostly a sidearm. Even Damu added that the spear was superior to the sword in combat. Cheza did not add anything but nodded to show his agreement. In the Zika world, spearmen usually trounced over swordsmen of the same level more times than not. Warriors mainly carried swords as side-arms for close combat and backup.

However, the old man clarified that with enough talent and by reaching a level higher than your opponents, you could always beat those at a lower level but with a superior weapon. “Rookie, Master, Grandmaster, Great-grandmaster and so forth; the path of a warrior is long. If you are a master swordsman, you can beat a rookie spearman. If the spearman is a master, you just need to be at a higher mastery of the sword. I know you might think it might be impossible to achieve martial arts mastery at a young age, but your father was already a grandmaster by the age of 15!”

Mwana, Duma, and Cheza were shocked to hear this. Most martial arts grandmasters were old men past the age of 50. After all mastering martial arts was not the same as increasing their natural energy levels. It was more about skill and expertise. However, after thinking about it for a bit longer they realized that power level alone was not enough to be a Crystal Warrior. The tournament to fight for core discipleship of the tribe would weed out anyone who only possessed high energy levels but low skill level. Fighting strength and technique was just as important in becoming a Crystal Warrior.

After seeing the look of realization on their faces, the old man gave himself a pat on the back for leading them on the right path. He then suggested a solution to Mwana. Mwana could go seek apprenticeship with the Sword Elder, the same man that had trained his father to reach the Grandmaster rank at 15! However, this elder was a recluse who did not bother to see or interact with anyone. While other people planted crops, he had a sword farm that visitors would have to go through in order to see him. When Mwana pointed this out, the vice-head elaborated saying that, “Do you want to know a secret? That old man has been waiting for you.”

Mwana was shocked at the revelation before asking, “How do you know? I heard the old man never leaves his hut and no one can reach him.”

The vice-head replied with a simple answer that made a bit of sense, “What is so hard to understand? The same way you boys know all the gossip and secrets of other ‘critters’ your age even if you don’t interact with them, we old people also know a lot about other oldies.”