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nAlex made his way to the sect library. At the entrance, he showed his nameplate to the attending elder and walked in. He didn't have a lot of contribution points, so the best he could get was a low-tier mortal grade technique.

nHe had an hour to look through the techniques, but it didn't take him that long this time.

nVery soon he found a sword-related technique called Smiting Blade. It cost only 200 contribution points, so he happily took it. For comparison, the Flame Mastery Scripture would've cost him about 800 contribution points.

nMortal grade techniques cost between 100 and 1000 contribution points, while the highest Earth grade technique Alex had seen previously was 4000 points. There might have been some that cost even more.

nAlex had tried to read the books in the library but realized they wouldn't open for some reason. So, he walked out of the library with the book in hand.

nHe handed it to the elder, along with the nameplate. The elder handed it to him and reminded him to return the book in 7 days. Alex also returned the Flame Mastery Scripture at the same time, as he didn't need it anymore.

nHe went to a quiet place and took out the book. Under the lantern's light, he started reading it. He didn't understand what the book really said, but when he finished it, he got a notification.

n

nHe opened the description of the technique.

n———————————-

nSmiting Blade

nGrade: Mortal

nInfuse Qi into the blade to increase its penetrating power.

n—————————————

n

"Alright, time to train now.

" He said as he looked at his new technique's description.

nHe needed to look for a place to train this technique now. And there was no place better for this in the sect than the training hall.

nAlex located the training hall a few distances away. Although it was called a hall, it was just a massive open field. He could see a few dozens of disciples training their battle techniques.

nSome were shooting out arrows, some were using a sword, some threw fire from their hand, while some just ran around a lot making weird moves.

nAll of these disciples were far away from each other, so there was no way they could hamper each other's progress.

nThere were about a few hundred wooden posts in the field denoting the place for training. Alex walked up to one of the posts that were far away from any disciple.

nHe looked at the carving on the surface of the post and places his nameplate there. As soon as he did that, about a few meters away from him, the ground opened up and a wooden puppet came out.

nThe puppet was what the disciples trained their techniques on. Similar to the alchemy room, the training hall too took 5 contribution points per hour, so he needed to get on with it.

nHe brought out his steel sword and activated focus mode. Once everything slowed down, he closed his eyes and tried to feel his Qi. This was too easy for him at this point.

nHe thought of the new technique, and the Qi started moving through his meridian. This was the first time, so it was going to take longer to complete the travel through the new path.

nIt slowly moved all over his body and reached his hands. However, instead of diffusing from his hands, it instead traveled from his palm to the hilt of the sword.

nThe Qi felt some difficulty in entering the hilt but still managed to enter it at last.

nThe Qi had visibly entered the sword hilt as Alex saw the hilt's color change to a slight yellowish hue. The color then traveled up the sword as it crossed the cross-guard, moved along the blade, and stopped at the tip.

nHis Qi has trouble moving along the entirety of the sword but succeeded in it at last. Now, the sword was glowing a mild yellow.

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"I wonder if the Qi is having difficulty because it's a metal object?

" Alex wondered.

nNow that he had successfully activated his Smiting Blade technique, it was time to test how good it was. He held the sword in a fighting stance and pounced forward to cut the puppet.

nBAM

nA massive cut appeared on the puppet where Alex had just cut it. The sword had stopped glowing yellow as he stopped the flow of Qi.

nHe looked back at the wooden post as a few words appeared on it.

n

nHe smiled. His attack just now had been equivalent to a Bone Tempering 1st Realm cultivator's normal strike. That meant his new battle technique improved his damage by 1 realm's worth.

nAdding to the fact that this 1 realm was an entire minor realm jump, the battle technique returned its worth twice over. He decided to attack once more.

nOnce more, he did the same damage as a Bone Tempering 1st Realm cultivator.

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"Hmm… I wonder how much damage I do without the technique.

" He just casually hit the puppet with no technique.

nMuscle Tempering 8th Realm

n

"Huh? Why is my damage lower than my actual cultivation base? What is going on?

" he was very much confused.

nHe tried attacking the puppet with his bare hands.

nMuscle Tempering 9th Realm

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"Wait. So I do more damage with my fists than I do with the sword? What sort of garbage was I handed during the tutorial.

" Alex couldn't believe what he was saying.

n

"Is this the game's way of balancing things out? Giving me ultra good talents and techniques, but then giving me trash pills that give 10 Qi, or a sword that does less damage than my fists.

"

nAlex didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He picked up his sword once more. The puppets were part of the sect running formation and had self-mending techniques, so they were back to perfect condition once more.

nHe infused Qi into the sword once more and started attacking.

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