Standing in the middle of the training room, Ren took a slow breath and settled his thoughts.
Before starting, he decided to organize his time properly.
A good plan would save him effort, and right now he needed every bit of efficiency he could get. He was still too weak to waste time on random practice, and his cultivation path was far too demanding for careless training.
After thinking it through, he quickly came up with a simple schedule.
From morning to evening, he would focus on the Basic Fist Technique.
From evening to night, he would practice the Basic Foot Technique.
At night, he would spend only two hours on the Basic Evasion Technique.
That part was unavoidable.
Unlike fist training or footwork, evasion was much harder to practice properly alone. The manual itself said that real progress in evasion required either an actual opponent or, at the very least, a changing environment. The technique was not just about dodging blows. It also taught how to use terrain, obstacles, timing, angles, blind spots, and different surroundings to your advantage.
That meant he could still study it and practice the core body movements, but without pressure from a real enemy or a shifting battlefield, the results would naturally be limited.
After that, late at night, he would use the remaining time for energy cultivation with the Energy Cores.
That part was the foundation.
Techniques were important, yes—but they were not more important than improving his cultivation stage. Better skills could help him fight above his level, but cultivation was what raised his strength, vitality, roots, and overall foundation. Without that, everything else would be shallow.
And since he had already rented the room for two full days, there was no reason to waste time going back home.
He would stay here.
Once that decision was made, his thoughts became much clearer.
"Alright," Ren muttered to himself. "Morning to evening, fists. Evening to night, footwork. Two hours for evasion. After that, cultivation."
Simple.
Direct.
Ren walked over to the side terminal and checked the room's basic functions.
It was fairly simple, just like the room itself.
There were options for timer settings, light adjustment, dummy placement activation, surface hardness presets within a limited range, and a few basic safety notices.
No advanced simulation.
No holographic enemies.
No moving terrain.
Public room, standard price.
Nothing fancy.
Still, it was more than enough for a beginner like him.
He set a general training timer, adjusted the light slightly brighter, then returned to the center of the room.
The first thing he did was open his status screen again.
NAME: Ren Valis
Age: 18
Talent: Bloodline Plant Lord
Lifeform Tier: 1
Evolution Pathway Level: Germination Stage
Skills: Basic Fist Technique (Not Started), Basic Foot Technique (Not Started), Basic Evasion Technique (Not Started)
He looked at the words "Not Started" for a second and then smirked.
"Yeah. Not for long."
The status screen disappeared.
Ren closed his eyes for a few breaths and recalled the Basic Fist Combat Training (Ren Valis Version).
Because of the optimization, the structure of the technique had become much cleaner than the original school manual. It had fewer unnecessary explanations, fewer wasteful motions, and a much more direct training method.
At the same time, Ren also understood something important.
These basic techniques were made specifically for Stage 2 pathway users.
Not because Stage 2 cultivators had full energy control—they didn't.
At this stage, although a cultivator had begun to accumulate energy, most of that energy was still being consumed by the seed as it expanded its roots throughout the body.
That meant a Germination Stage cultivator could not yet freely manipulate energy in battle the way stronger cultivators could.
Instead, the energy they absorbed mainly strengthened their body's existing functions.
Strength.
Speed.
Senses.
Recovery.
Reflexes.
Balance.
That was why the school's basic combat techniques did not require any direct energy manipulation.
They were designed to teach cultivators how to effectively use and amplify their enhanced physical abilities.
In simple terms, they taught people how to actually fight with the body they were building.
They also explained a principle Ren found especially interesting.
Ordinary people often could not use their full physical power properly. In moments of panic or desperation, some people could suddenly use far more force than they normally could. The manual said these techniques taught a controlled and repeatable version of that idea—how to bring out more of one's strength, speed, and movement efficiency in a stable way instead of only by accident.
That was why the optimized versions were so valuable.
They did not just shorten learning time.
They also increased the actual effect of the training.
Ren opened his eyes again.
"…Alright."
No more reading.
Time to practice.
He took his stance according to the first section of the manual.
Feet shoulder-width apart.
Knees slightly bent.
Back straight, but not stiff.
Hands raised naturally, elbows relaxed.
The first thing the manual emphasized was not power.
It was posture.
Without the right posture, even a strong punch would waste energy, expose openings, and destabilize the body.
Ren slowly adjusted himself.
Too stiff.
He loosened up.
Too loose.
He corrected again.
The first ten minutes passed with almost no real striking at all.
He was just trying to stand properly.
At first, that felt stupid.
But after a while, Ren began to understand why the manual insisted on it. The moment his stance became even slightly more correct, his balance improved noticeably. His center felt steadier. His shoulders aligned more naturally. Even breathing became easier.
So he kept adjusting.
Again.
And again.
After that came the first punching motion.
A simple straight punch.
Nothing fancy.
No dramatic burst of power.
No secret martial mystery.
Just a direct line from the shoulder through the arm, using the twist of the waist and the grounding of the legs.
Ren threw the first punch.
It looked awkward.
He immediately knew it.
The movement had force, but it was scattered. The shoulder was too tense. The waist turned too late. The fist landed in empty air with more effort than effect.
"…Ugly."
He reset and tried again.
The second one was a little better.
The third one was slightly cleaner.
The fourth felt wrong in a different way.
The fifth almost pulled his posture off balance.
Ren frowned, then kept going.
The optimized technique did not magically make him skilled.
It gave him a better manual, faster learning, and greater return on effort.
But he still had to put in the work.
So that was exactly what he did.
He repeated the movement over and over.
Straight punch.
Again.
Straight punch.
Again.
Straight punch.
Again.
At first, he focused only on form.
Then he added breathing.
Then timing.
Then waist movement.
Then how the legs supported the strike.
Soon, sweat began to form on his forehead.
The room was quiet except for his movement, breath, and the occasional dull sound of air being cut by his fist.
After some time, he activated one of the basic dummies using the side terminal.
A humanoid training dummy slid upward from the floor near the wall.
It was simple—no movement, no reactions, no simulation—but it gave him an actual target to strike.
Ren stepped in front of it and narrowed his eyes.
"Better than punching air."
He took his stance again and threw a straight punch.
Thud.
The impact felt different immediately.
There was resistance now.
Feedback.
He could feel where his force landed, how much of it transferred properly, and where it leaked out uselessly.
The first few hits were disappointing.
Too much shoulder.
Not enough hip drive.
Foot placement slightly off.
But with every strike, the manual's instructions began to make more sense in practice.
Ren adjusted.
Then hit again.
And again.
And again.
Time passed.
At some point, the first awkwardness began to fade.
The punch was still basic—very basic—but now there were moments where it felt right.
Not perfect.
Just right.
A brief alignment of stance, waist, timing, and fist that produced a noticeably stronger impact than before.
Whenever that happened, Ren immediately tried to remember the exact feeling.
The manual had called that the beginning of proper force transmission.
Instead of throwing strength outward in a loose burst, the body had to deliver it as one connected motion.
After another long stretch of training, Ren stepped back and flexed his fingers.
His knuckles were slightly red.
His arm muscles ached.
His shoulders felt worked.
But his mind was unusually focused.
He checked the time.
Only a few hours had passed.
"…That's it?"
It felt longer.
Then again, he had been more concentrated than usual.
Ren exhaled and sat on the floor near the wall for a short break.
Not a long one.
Just enough to let the tension in his muscles settle.
He took a few sips of water, rolled his shoulders, and mentally went through what he had learned so far.
The first big realization was simple:
Combat skills and cultivation were not the same thing.
Cultivation built the body.
Combat taught the body how to be used.
Without cultivation, combat had weak foundations.
Without combat, cultivation wasted much of its potential.
The second realization was even more important:
He had underestimated how much repetition would be needed.
Even with optimization, even with faster understanding, even with a better body than before—real progress still required grinding out movement after movement until it became part of him.
Ren looked down at his hands.
"Good."
That was fine with him.
He got up again.
This time, he moved into the next section of the fist manual.
The Basic Fist Technique was not just one punch. It included several foundational motions: straight strikes, compact body-weight punches, short-range follow-up hits, basic defensive hand recovery, and transitions between stance and forward pressure.
Still basic.
Still plain.
But not useless.
The manual kept repeating one thing in different words:
A beginner who masters the basics properly can still beat a careless beginner with flashy techniques.
Ren liked that line.
It felt practical.
So he trained.
When his punches became sloppy, he slowed down.
When his breathing got uneven, he reset.
When his shoulders rose too much, he relaxed them.
When his waist lagged behind, he corrected it.
Step by step.
Motion by motion.
By afternoon, his whole upper body was sore.
But the soreness was not meaningless.
It came with familiarity.
Now when he moved into stance, it took less thinking.
When he punched, the structure formed faster.
When he struck the dummy, the impact sounded a little sharper than before.
Not because he had suddenly become strong.
But because he was starting to become less wasteful.
That mattered.
A lot.
Eventually, evening approached.
Ren stepped back, breathing heavily, and looked at the training dummy.
Then he opened his status screen again.
NAME: Ren Valis
Age: 18
Talent: Bloodline Plant Lord
Lifeform Tier: 1
Evolution Pathway Level: Germination Stage
Skills: Basic Fist Technique (Beginner), Basic Foot Technique (Not Started), Basic Evasion Technique (Not Started)
Ren blinked once.
Then smiled.
"Beginner already?"
The optimization really was absurd.
A normal person probably would have needed much longer just to cross from "Not Started" into the lowest real level.
He closed the screen and stretched his arms slowly.
"Alright. Next up…"
"Footwork."
Compared to fists, the Basic Foot Technique felt more tiring in a different way.
Punching stressed the upper body.
Footwork stressed everything else.
The manual focused on positioning, direction changes, center of gravity control, balance under motion, and how to move without wasting energy.
At first, Ren thought it would be easier than fists.
He was wrong.
Punching awkwardly still let him feel that he was doing something.
Bad footwork, on the other hand, made him feel clumsy.
Every mistake showed up immediately.
Steps too long.
Weight too high.
Turn too slow.
Center drifting.
Heel landing too hard.
Posture breaking during transitions.
It was irritating.
And because it was irritating, Ren ended up concentrating even harder.
The optimized version of the footwork manual was again simpler and sharper than the original. It reduced several movements into more practical versions and emphasized efficiency over style.
The core idea was not to move a lot.
It was to move correctly.
A bad step could lose balance, timing, and position all at once.
A good step could avoid danger before the danger fully arrived.
Ren used the floor markers to train directional movement.
Forward.
Back.
Left angle.
Right angle.
Half-step shift.
Retreat pivot.
Advance slide.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Soon, sweat soaked through his shirt.
His thighs burned.
His calves tightened.
His feet felt heavy.
But after a while, he began to feel tiny improvements.
His turns got cleaner.
His stopping point got steadier.
His weight transfer became smoother.
Instead of feeling like he was dragging himself around the room, he slowly began to feel like he was moving with intention.
By the time night had fully settled outside, Ren's legs felt like lead.
He glanced at the clock.
Footwork time was over.
He stood there for a few seconds, breathing hard.
"…No wonder movement matters so much."
Then came the Basic Evasion Technique.
Just as he had expected, this was the hardest one to train alone.
The manual itself admitted as much.
Real evasion required reading pressure, reacting to attacks, using terrain, exploiting blind spots, and moving according to changing conditions. Alone in a plain room, he could only train body angles, head movement, torso shifts, and emergency repositioning habits.
Still, two hours were two hours.
So Ren practiced what he could.
He used the wall, the dummy, and imaginary attack lines to train slips, side-steps, partial torso turns, and reaction positioning.
It was frustrating.
More than once, he stopped and clicked his tongue.
"Yeah… this one definitely needs a real opponent."
Still, he learned enough to understand the logic of it.
Evasion was not random movement.
It was calculated survival.
And that made it worth practicing even if his progress tonight would be limited.
After two hours, Ren finally stopped.
He was drenched in sweat.
His arms ached.
His legs were exhausted.
His body felt like it had been taken apart and reassembled badly.
And yet—
He felt good.
Tired, yes.
But good.
He checked his status screen one more time.
NAME: Ren Valis
Age: 18
Talent: Bloodline Plant Lord
Lifeform Tier: 1
Evolution Pathway Level: Germination Stage
Skills: Basic Fist Technique (Beginner), Basic Foot Technique (Beginner), Basic Evasion Technique (Not Started)
Ren stared at the panel and laughed softly.
"Not bad."
"Footwork reached Beginner too."
Evasion had not changed yet, which was annoying, but expected.
Without an opponent or a more dynamic environment, it would be slower.
Still, that was fine.
He had already planned for that.
Now came the final part of the day.
Cultivation.
Ren sat down cross-legged on the training room floor, took out an Energy Core, and began the Energy Meditation Method (Ren Valis Version).
After the combat training, his body felt hot and opened up. The energy entered more easily than before.
He absorbed from both the atmosphere and the core, mixed the energy with his blood, and guided it into the seed.
As the seed absorbed it, the roots continued extending through his body.
The soreness in his muscles did not disappear, but the energy seemed to soothe it from the inside.
That strange warmth returned.
Growth.
Strengthening.
Recovery.
The familiar process settled him again.
Hours passed quietly.
When Ren finally opened his eyes, the room was dimmer, and the terminal clock showed it was deep into the night.
He exhaled slowly.
His body was exhausted.
But the roots had grown further.
That alone made the day worthwhile.
Ren leaned his head lightly back against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment.
Tomorrow, he would do it all again.
Fists.
Footwork.
Evasion.
Cultivation.
Again and again until the basics stopped being basic.
Until they became his Instinct or Muscle memory.
A small smile appeared on his face.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt like he had actually begun moving forward with his own two feet.
Not just surviving.
Not just reading.
Not just planning.
Actually moving.
And this feeling…
Is Amazing.
(Author Note: If you enjoyed the chapter, please vote, rate, and leave a comment if you can. Your support really helps the novel grow and motivates me to keep writing. Thank you for reading!)