Transcending Dreams

B2 - Chapter 33: Ranged Martial Skill

William left the Qi Refining room and froze after he saw Spirit Stones piled on one of the seats.

“Xu Feng left that for you before he locked himself inside the Qi Refining room after the first day of the auction.”

He approximated the Spirit Stones and raised a brow. “There’s enough for forty days.”

“You’re right.”

William hid the excitement he felt deep inside. He had shown himself to be someone above such shallow matters like wealth, even though he was salivating at taking possession of the Spirit Stones piled on the seat.

“Let me guess,” William said wryly, “Xu Feng insisted on paying me and took advantage of my absence.”

“You’re right again!” Lan Yang said with a slightly mocking tone.

“Well, I’ll talk to him when he leaves the room.” William was banking on that talk to be less than productive. He had no intention of letting his Spirit Stones leave his possession, no matter how much he claimed he didn’t need the wealth.

He had to fight the urge to turn back and stare at the Spirit Stones as they exited the room.

“So, how much have you progressed with martial arts?” Lan Yang asked casually, leading him to their area.

“I’ve mastered the novice stage. I hope to do the same with the intermediate stage before the auction ends.”

“Novice stage?” Lan Yang stopped with a frown. “How much time was spent cultivating?”

“Er, none?” William replied unsurely, concerned at the way he was being looked at. “I’ve been practicing martial arts nonstop.”

Lan Yang tilted his head with confusion. “I have to say I didn’t expect that. Those who show interest in martial arts take a few hours to master the novice stage.”

He struggled to keep the grimace off his face. With Lan Yang’s expected timeline, he had still been getting his face beaten in without being able to land a solid hit on the novice stage humanoid.

“What’s the usual time for the other stages?”

“Those vary much more,” Lan Yang continued to their seats, motioning to the one beside him. “The intermediate stage is usually mastered in a few months, and the expert stage a little over a year. Mind you, this is if one is fully dedicated to martial arts. These are the fanatics that skip cultivation in favor of it.”

William's expression matched Lan Yang’s; a frown was prominently displayed. Those timelines weren’t outrageous, but disregarding cultivation for a year when a cultivator was young would be akin to self-mutilation.

It wasn’t done by anyone sane.

He was starting to understand why martial arts were given little thought. It was most beneficial when at low cultivation but detrimental to learn. When the time cost was negligible due to high cultivation, so were the benefits martial arts could offer. Shifting the effort to other areas would be more worthwhile at that point.

“No, fanatics is too mild of a description. Lunatics would be more fitting,” Lan Yang said, insulting those who learned martial arts.

William ignored his muttering. “Is expert the highest stage then?”

“Of course not,” Lan Yang replied instantly. “There is the master stage beyond that and grandmaster after. But it is impossible to reach those stages with the Qi Refining room. You will need someone accomplished in body cultivation to be your master.”

“Body cultivation,” William repeated slowly. “So those stages are reserved for them, I assume?”

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“Reserved isn’t the correct word. Anyone with enough determination can try. However, as I said, they are all lunatics if they aren’t body cultivators.”

“… Senior Yang, is this your way to tell me that I should quit trying to learn martial arts?”

“This is my way to tell you it shouldn’t be your priority. The martial arts grandmasters hold immense power, but traditional cultivation can easily match or beat their best with less effort.”

“I see,” William nodded. He understood why Lan Yang was being so forceful about this. To a normal cultivator, it might be better spent actually cultivating instead of practicing martial arts. However, to William, cultivating wouldn’t be worth it unless he was receiving an unbelievable amount of experience points.

It sounded like the snobbiest way to think of himself, but he wasn’t like other cultivators.

William shoved the sudden feeling of superiority and was about to ask Lan Yang more about these martial arts grandmasters but was blocked by the older cultivator’s palm.

“She’s introducing the first skill manual.”

He blinked at the hand before turning his attention down to the stage. He had almost forgotten about the reason he left the Qi Refining room.

The same applied to Xia Qing, something he was sure Xu Feng would find unbelievable. The sword-wielding boy probably had her imprinted in his mind.

“It’s not usual that we allow human-tier manuals in our auction, but the Rising Merchant House has contributed greatly. Exceptions were made, and I’m sure many of you will be interested. We have found that none of the items offered by the Rising Merchant House are simple.”

William stared at the wall behind Xia Qing. Instead of a close-up view of the item being sold like with all the previous times, there was large text explaining what the skill manual could do.

“This grade two lot will greatly interest disciples in the foundation establishment realm! The Swift Step—”

He tuned Xia Qing’s voice out and read the information on the wall. The name of the skill made the effect obvious. It increased the movement speed by up to three times the baseline while the skill was active.

It's not exactly what William would call a ranged martial skill, but it certainly fit his current repertoire well. It would allow him to close the distance with far greater ease without having to resort to [Force Multiplier].

The only unfortunate thing was that it was a human-tier martial skill. With how [Force Multiplier] had a depreciated effect after he advanced to his current cultivation realm, it would be safe to assume the same will happen with [Swift Step].

“Let’s start the bidding at ten Spirit Stones!”

“What?” William said in shock at the starting bid. It didn’t help when the bids poured in. “Senior Yang, what am I missing here? This is only a human-tier skill.”

“Movement skills are some of the harder manuals to find. Most are held tightly by sword sects, so anything outside their control is valued highly.”

“Oh,” William shifted in his seat when a woman on their floor bid a hundred Spirit Stones.

“We have a bid from the Red Floor!” Xia Qing smiled brilliantly at their floor. “Ten more bids are allowed. Good luck!”

William was tempted, but he wanted a true ranged skill, not one that might help his helplessness when his enemy was too far away for one of his punches. He did his best to ignore the bids that were slowly eroding the ten allowed.

“You want this skill,” Lan Yang commented as the fifth bid was announced.

“It would be nice to have, but I’ll still be left with the same issue I have now.”

“That’s true,” Lan Yang nodded. “Be sure to be the first bidder on this floor if you want an upcoming skill. No need to ask me for permission. I can approve or deny after the fact.”

William nodded in acceptance, thinking about the rule that seemed counterproductive to the auction house, no matter what he initially thought. With Lan Yang’s instruction to be the first bidder from the Red Floor, it was easy to figure out the importance of doing so.

Xia Qing took the tenth and final bid. “To the original bidder on the Red Floor, would you like to beat the bid by ten Spirit Stones?”

“Yes,” a soft voice replied without hesitation.

“Sold!”

Predictably, [Swift Step] was acquired by the initial bidder that started the countdown.

“Senior Lan, no matter what you say, it seems like this ten-bid rule is terrible for the auction house to put in place. So far, every single person seemed more than happy to beat the highest bid at the end. The price isn’t going high enough.”

“Wrong,” Lan Yang declared immediately. “The sect profits no matter the price, and you overestimate how high the bids can go without conflict erupting. All cultivators have their own personal limits, and when those are passed, trouble arises. This happened in the early days of the annual auction before the sect decided it wasn’t worth the headache.”

“The next lot is another item from the Rising Merchant House!” Xia Qing interrupted Lan Yang’s explanation.

“And there is the other reason why the sect doesn’t care,” Lan Yang smirked. “Outside the imperial auctions, our sect holds the most prestige in the Empire, with a reputation for fairness and safety. It is an honor for one to be able to list their wares in this auction.”

“One of the very few ungraded lots in the auction! The earth-tier martial skill, Heavenly Thunder Scripture!” Xia Qing announced without taking her eyes off the skill manual, as if she wanted to take it for herself.

William heard a hush fall over the auction hall as he read the text that appeared on the wall.