Lower the sword to the ground, dripping with Water-Qi, imagine a dragon, as tall as a mountain, as powerful as gods, rising amidst the water, seeking the heavens. Let it out, all in a single instant, to cover the skies.

Myriad Waters Sword Technique

Sixth Stance, Rising Dragon!

A long jet of water quickly leaves my sword and whistles through the air. Although not as quickly as Infinite Rain, it's much more powerful. Easily exemplified by the training dummy the "dragon" destroyed. I wish I was more powerful so I could really make a water dragon, and not this snake like jet of water.

This was my first time practicing with the sword Dad gifted me yesterday. It's much easier to conduct Qi through it, almost as easy as doing it with my own limbs. This conductivity made it possible for me to use the Sixth Stance, which I had never done before, though I still can use the Fourth and Fifth ones. I had only been able to perform the three first stances until now, Infinite Rain, Unstoppable River, and Dispersing Waves.

Yesterday after I returned to the dorms with Richard and Doggy I didn't went out anymore, I only meditated until night before I slept. I took a break for myself after so many thing happened in a short amount of time. Be it in this life or my past one, this amount of change would be too much for anyone. Two months ago I was incredibly sick, with a disease no one knew something about. However, now I'm a cultivator of the Qi Gathering 6th Stage, in one of the top Academies of the Empire, surrounded by strong and/or talented people.

I sigh as I once more realize that thinking about things I already know are not worthy of my time.

Today there isn't any classes I'm interested on, I already checked with Richard the classes schedules. I go back to my room and look for the books the old man gifted me. They're all piled up on the corner of my study table, which is by the side of the bookshelf.

I sit down and start reading seriously each word contained on the first book of the pile, Introduction to Formations. It's name couldn't be simpler, but it's content is extraordinary. The first sentence of the book reads, "All of you who seeks the Heavens and Earth, create your own through formations!".

These word carry an infinite amount of arrogance, but it lives no space for retorts. It's like they are the absolute truth of the world.

Inspired by the grandiose words I carefully read the whole book in the morning. It wasn't difficult as I've always read fast and I've become even faster after I got Reading Comprehension, which leveled up once in this session, making to Lv. 8.

The book wasn't very thick, but it's content was concise. It perfectly introduced what they are, what they do, and how they do it. The title couldn't be more self-explanatory.

Formations, as the book says, are nothing more than a combination of lines following certain rules, or Laws, with the purpose of changing, improving, destroying or creating something. The book doesn't go really deep into how it works, but I assume the other ones will have a lot more information on that.

I woke up at the sunrise, practiced the Burning Skies Yang Fire Technique and then did sword training, so it's been roughly six hours since I woke judging by the position of the sun. I should go eat something now. I had some trouble with measuring time for a while before I learned how to read the sun's position, I really miss watches...

I put the book aside and go out of the room to eat lunch at the dinner room, one of the few advantages of the this dormitory, same about the private servants and cooks.

After I finished eating I went to look for Richard for a rematch, however he wasn't in his room nor training at the courtyard. However, I found Lyra. Thinking about it now, I didn't fight with her before.

With this thought in mind I asked her for a match, which she quickly agreed. She's probably eager to test her abilities after the Heavens' Blessing.

I was really looking forward to battling her, imagining what her battle style would be. But I've never been more disappointed.

Her battle style consisted of trying to tie me down with the vines she made with Qi and shooting arrows whevener I slowed down. Like this, the battle became an endurance competition, both of Qi and Will, which she used to make and control the vines, respectively.

In the battle of Will, I obviously would have won as I'm already at the Second Realm. However, in the Qi battle, I lost absurdly fast. I needed to use Qi to cut the vines she created, but even with the Preliminary Sword Intent decreasing my usage of Qi I still couldn't compare to her in sheer Qi Pool size.

She created the vines incredibly fast and in large amounts, but still managed to control them adeptly while shooting arrows with her bow from time to time. Her Will Cultivation Realm mustn't be behind mine by much if she can multitask this well.

The only possible method to win against her is to overpower her with pure power or speed. If you try to do a balanced fight you'll only get caught in a quagmire.

There's only one Technique I have capable of making me win against her in the future, that's the Burning Skies Yang Fire Technique. It's currently on Lv. 3 and only increases my vitality and physical prowess a bit. However, the fourth level is a turning point. The fourth level allows you to do two things, to strengthen your life source and change it to a yang-aligned life source, and to give the ability to use the energy store by the Technique the same way you use Qi, but with much more explosive power.

With my heart full of bitterness because of being played by Lyra I go to the courtyard and start training. It's currently one of the best periods to practice as the sun is high in the sky, so it'll much easier and efficient to absorb the yang fire, also called sunlight essence by the traditional cultivators in the past.

I practice for two hours before I start to feel bloated, this is a sign to stop practicing or else my body won't be able to handle the energy. Stopping after this point is a must, you'll start to feel like your insides are boiling if you continue. It wasn't fun to experience it the first time I practiced the Technique...

I'm not at the peak of the third level yet, so it's not possible to break through now. However, it seems that after my enlightenment I can gather the sunlight essence for more time than before, like my body's become more receptive towards energy. I think I'll be able to break through to the fourth level in a week and a half if I go by my current rate of absorption.

Already inside of my room, I start circulating my Qi, while also absorbing Heavenly Energy, to grind the barrier which traps my realm. This process was tedious before, but it now gives a strange sense of accomplishment and progress.

Just like my cultivation of the Burning Skies Yang Fire Technique, my cultivation base is not at it's peak. Therefore, I can only grind slowly, making it easier for my breakthrough in the future.

I continue cultivating until nightfall. There's a cool breeze coming from the window, the light stones in the room illuminate the room in a warm light. I for the second time in the day open the books in my study table and start reading.

However, this time I'm reading some books with more tangible content, "Twelve Formations for Beginners" and "Miniature Formations; Talismans". These book cover only the most basic formations and talismans, but they are still not something I, who only read a little about them, can use.

But more surprising than anything is that the effects of some of these formations can be achieved directly by using your own Qi with the correct purpose, same can be said about the talismans. Exemplified by the Fireball Talisman and other ones.

The book also includes some basic training methods for setting up formations, like drawing the formation lines in the air with Will and Qi and trying to maintain them. I try it a few times and didn't have much difficulty maintaining them, but I couldn't draw the lines well enough.

This could be a great training for my Qi Will Manipulation, making it level up faster than before.

These two books were shorter than the first one, however I still took some time to read them carefully and it's already completly dark. I'm a little too excited with the content of the books right now, so it would be hard to fall asleep, so I just cultivate to clear my mind before lying in bed for a good night of sleep.