Chapter 181: Enlightenment

Chapter 181: Enlightenment



Three days later, early in the morning.

As Rain emerged from the sea and stepped onto the shore, the crowd of sword practitioners on the beach had varied expressions.

Basque, who had witnessed Rain staying underwater for at least fifteen minutes, muttered to himself, "Damn, it feels like Rain's learning progress is way ahead of mine. I feel like an idiot in comparison."

"This is so demoralizing!"

The young men nearby exchanged glances, feeling the same way but refraining from voicing it due to their pride.

They were taught by the same master, but Rain seemed like an accelerated elite apprentice, while they were regular students. Rain had completed in a week what took them a month to learn.

No, it was even faster than that. Who could bear such a pace?

The crew-cut man sighed inwardly, "Looks like he's mastered it. It only took him three days to master the Inner Breathing Technique. It took me five whole days."

"Now, we have one more person in our group."

Currently, Rain's proficiency in the Inner Breathing Technique had reached level 3 (14/500).

The reason for his rapid progress was mainly due to the acceleration effect of Tough Seaweed Juice for enlightenment, as well as his training in the sea.

However, it seemed that he had hit a bottleneck. After reaching level 3 in the Inner Breathing Technique, his progress had slowed down.

Over the past three days, Rain had noticed that the young men practicing swordsmanship on the island would occasionally disappear for half a day, presumably moving on to the next stage of their training.

But Rain didn't inquire about it.

In his opinion, the most important thing was to focus on the tasks at hand and maximize his progress and efficiency.

As for the subsequent content, Master Gunther would naturally inform him when the time was right.

Even though Master Gunther hadn't taught him anything else during these three days, Rain was kept busy with the dynamic task of cutting seaweed and the static task of practicing the Inner Breathing Technique.

Rain had a feeling that even if Master Gunther didn't teach him the next steps from now on, he could still explore and improve his swordsmanship significantly through these two tasks.

From an outsider's perspective, Rain could be aptly described as a 'Training Maniac' without exaggeration.

Aside from eating and sleeping, Rain hardly engaged in idle chatter or took breaks. He was either in the stone house, applying Tough Seaweed Juice and meditating on the Inner Breathing Technique, or in the sea, cutting seaweed.

If one could observe this area of the sea from mid-air, they would clearly see a noticeable bald patch in the dense growth of tough seaweed where Rain had been practicing.

But Rain couldn't be blamed for this.

Whenever Rain cut seaweed in the sea, the system prompts kept appearing:

[You have trained in the Underwater Bear Blade Technique, and your related enlightenment has increased!]



[Your skill, Bear Swordsmanship, has improved. Experience gained: +15]



[You have trained in the Inner Breathing Technique, and your related enlightenment has increased!]



[Your skill, Inner Breathing Technique, has improved. Experience gained: +2]



This was highly addictive.

Especially the process of cutting seaweed underwater simultaneously trained both the 'Bear Swordsmanship' and the 'Inner Breathing Technique,' and the results were far better than on land.

At Rain's current level 7 in Bear Swordsmanship, if he were to practice on land, he would gain 5 or 6 experience points, but in the sea, the experience gained was more than double that.

The efficiency was evident.

Rain also made another significant discovery.

When he practiced the Inner Breathing Technique, he could clearly feel that this training subtly influenced his cultivation of the Bear Breathing Technique, causing a subtle change.

It was as if his internal organs and overall bodily functions were being enhanced bit by bit, and this change became more noticeable as his Inner Breathing Technique level increased.

This time, when Master Gunther, standing on the reef, saw Rain emerge from the sea, dragging a long bundle of tough seaweed behind him, still not out of breath after fifteen minutes of intense exercise, he knew that Rain still had more to give.

In other words, Rain had exceeded his task requirements.

Without waiting for Rain to approach him, Master Gunther walked over and said, "That's enough, Rain. You can now proceed to the third training. Follow me."

The onlookers on the shore had different thoughts as they witnessed this scene.

Although they had known since the first day that Rain was strong, they found his perseverance even more astonishing. He trained almost non-stop, like an iron man.

So, they could say that over these three days, they had witnessed Rain's visible progress with their own eyes.

From being able to maintain cutting seaweed in the sea for seven to eight minutes at the beginning, to now being able to stay underwater for over fifteen minutes, the improvement in his Inner Breathing Technique was too obvious.

"Are you already moving on to the third training task? Your progress is catching up to ours!" Arturo said in surprise.

"It's not just catching up, but he's about to surpass us," the young man named Doug said solemnly.

Everyone fell silent!

In fact, Gunther’s second training task was to have Rain master the Inner Breathing Technique within three days. According to the system panel, this would mean reaching Level 1 (1/100) of the Inner Breathing Technique would be considered the standard. However, Rain thought that since he had three days, he might as well take the training a bit further. He could feel that the effect of this Inner Breathing Technique was unique and had a lot of uses.

On the other hand, Basque had mentioned that the general standard for determining if someone had mastered the Inner Breathing Technique was whether they could continuously cut tough seaweed underwater for fifteen minutes.

So, Rain decided to hide his progress a bit, revealing his Inner Breathing Technique on the third day, only showing his current level on the system panel, which was Level 3 (14/500). At Level 1, one could roughly maintain combat underwater for fifteen minutes, while at Level 3, he could do it for half an hour.

It might not seem like a long time, but one had to remember that during this period, Rain was continuously cutting tough seaweed, a high-oxygen activity, Rather than just holding one's breath underwater.

This was a completely different concept!

Soon, under Master Gunther’s guidance, Rain and a dark gray sharkskin armor with fine scales were handed to Rain by Basque. The slight touch of surprise, but he took it without hesitation. The touch was like oiled-soaked, thick leather, similar to what he had seen before. The design was also unique, much like a diving suit from his previous life.

"This is made from the Reef Shark’s exoskeleton and provides excellent defense against Coastal Marauders. Even if you encounter a group of them, your safety should not be a problem," Master Gunther explained.

Rain nodded, and immediately began to put it on.

Although he had the Extraordinary characteristic 'Iron Skin Level 3' protecting him, he didn't think his defense was inferior to this sharkskin armor. But there was no need to stand out as a show-off now.

Beside, meanwhile, Basque began to extract a brown, thumb-thick, wriggling tube worm from a wooden bucket he had prepared.

"This is a Tube Worm, the favorite food of Coastal Marauders. Rain, your task for this stage of training is to kill as many Coastal Marauders as possible within an hour," Master Gunther pointed to the brown worm and said.

"Kill as many as possible? Master Gunther, what's your standard?" Rain thought for a moment.

"Ten, I guess. If you find the Coastal Marauders challenging at first, you can take some time to practice your original sword skills, like those few. You might have a different enlightenment."

"Additionally, the first task of training, 'Seaweed Cutting,' is best done every day, as it will still be quite helpful for your Inner Breathing Technique."

After a pause, Master Gunther added another sentence:

"The time limit for this training task is one month."

With those words, Master Gunther turned and slowly walked away.

What the consequences of not meeting the standards would be, there really wasn't a second option.

"Alright, Master Gunther," Rain nodded with a nod.

Until Master Gunther walked away, Basque looked at Rain with admiration and said, "You're doing bad! I didn't realize your progress was so fast!"

"Not only that, but Gunther treats also looking at you differently. He doesn't make it easy for people to feel close to, and he usually appears quite strict and serious, not the kind who inspires much affection."

"Really? How did you figure that out? I didn't feel it," Rain couldn't help but asked.

Basque, he always treated a lot of the Inner Breathing Technique, but he has a unique and significant effect. So, Rain's task is clear comparison, but he also didn't notice. He usually treated to explain the same way, Gunther usually explained a few of the general tasks and left it clearly.

Basque explained.

Rain raised his eyebrows slightly, as he was genuinely unaware of this.

"Rain, you should be the fastest to complete the first training task, and the second fastest to complete the second task. How long do you think it will take you to complete the third task?" Basque asked with a smile.

"Oh? How long did it take you to master the Inner Breathing Technique, the second task?" Rain couldn't help but ask.

"Half a day, it was created by Miss Kayla." Basque's expression showed a mix of admiration and reminiscence.

Rain glanced at Basque and shook his head slightly, silently sighing. Young man, you're beyond help. Women will only hinder your sword speed.

Moreover, it seems that Kayla is Basque's 'White Moonlight'!

Half a day, huh?

If he didn't hold back, it seemed like it would only take him half an hour.

Rain thought for a moment and then shook his head again.

What's the point of that? Learning something truly useful is the most important.

"Alright, Rain, I'm going to release the tube worms now. Pay attention to the sea surface; the Coastal Marauders will arrive soon, and there's a high chance there will be more than one!" Basque warned.

"They love tube worms the most." Basque added.

Rain nodded and began to focus intently on the sea surface, preparing himself.

Seeing this, Basque immediately threw the snake-like tube worms into the seawater about four to five meters ahead.

As soon as the tube worms entered the water, they started writhing violently.

Sensing the scent of the tube worms, Rain keenly observed ripples forming several dozen meters away on the sea surface.

Three or four fish, ranging from thirty centimeters to half a meter in length, darted towards the tube worms like high-speed torpedoes.

As these fish approached, Rain noticed that their bodies were torpedo-shaped, with a streamlined physique that allowed them to swim extremely fast in the water.

Their blue-gray bodies had brown circular spots, and their backs were lined with fin-like spines. Their mouths were large, filled with sharp teeth.

Upon sensing the writhing tube worms in the water, the fish pounced ferociously.

In just a few moments, the tube worms were torn apart by the fish, and blood oozed out.

At the same time, Rain's expression changed slightly.

He felt as if he had slashed through layers of thick cowhide, and this sensation was transmitted through the greatsword to Rain's hands.

The fish's defense was incredibly strong!

Despite his powerful strike, he couldn't directly kill it.

Just as Rain thought he might have alerted the fish, it quickly turned its body and charged towards him, intending to counterattack.

This behavior was very different from the typical animal instinct.

Usually, after being attacked, animals would first flee, observe the attacker, and then decide whether to counterattack.

However, the Coastal Marauders lived up to their name; they immediately counterattacked without regard for the attacker's strength.

However, this also brought a glimmer of joy to Rain's heart. He had initially worried that his sword strike might not kill the Coastal Marauder, allowing it to escape.

Rain had just witnessed the Coastal Marauder's speed in the water, which he couldn't match even if he rode a horse.

As the Coastal Marauder approached Rain, it forcefully flicked its tail, suddenly increasing its speed. Rain's second sword strike barely grazed the creature's body.

Seizing the opportunity, the Coastal Marauder fiercely bit into Rain's body. Thanks to his sharkskin protection, Rain only felt a tearing sensation and didn't suffer any injuries.

In fact, even if the Coastal Marauder bit him directly, Rain likely wouldn't have been harmed. His level 3 Iron Skin defense was even stronger than sharkskin, so he wasn't concerned.

After several clashes, Rain returned without any success.

However, Rain soon discovered the problem. For fish that could move at high speeds in the water, the currents they created significantly interfered with the precision of Rain's greatsword slashes.

This forced Rain to focus his attention on the fish's movements, trying to find its weaknesses or patterns.

But these patterns didn't seem easy to grasp, so Rain decided to 'cheat' a little by studying the Coastal Marauder's body structure, hoping to gain some insights.

"Gigantic Strength!"

A 30% Power Surge!

Rain's muscles swelled, and he aimed a powerful downward slash at the approaching Coastal Marauder.

"Bang!"

Contrary to Rain's expectations, the Coastal Marauder wasn't cut in half. Instead, its hard skull clamped down on his greatsword, still struggling fiercely.

Huh?

Such a hard head?

Its vitality was exceptionally tenacious! Rain recalled Basque's earlier warning about its nickname, the 'Iron Head Fish', and he seemed to understand.

After using 'Power Surge' to cheat-like kill a Coastal Marauder, Rain carried it ashore.

"Rain, you... succeeded so quickly?" Basque stared at Rain in shock, pointing at the Coastal Marauder in his hand.

What surprised Basque even more was that the Coastal Marauder's head, the toughest part of its body, had been split open.

Damn...

Basque was at a loss for words.

As Basque curiously examined the Coastal Marauder, Rain quickly dissected it.

First, its scales were extremely tough. Each scale was semi-circular, tightly clasping the fish's body, and multiple layers of scales overlapped, forming a fish scale armor akin to metal plates.

This was the true fish scale armor!

This characteristic resembled the structure of cleaner fish scales that Rain had seen in his previous life.

Additionally, beneath the fish's outer scales, Rain found a white exoskeleton covering most of its body, further enhancing its defense. The density and thickness of the exoskeleton around the head were particularly exaggerated.

This was a double defense!

Rain estimated that if this fish died on the shore, even an ordinary person with a small knife might struggle to cut open its body.

So, when it was alive and swimming quickly in the sea, the difficulty of killing it was unimaginable.

On the other hand, the challenge also stemmed from Master Gunther's training task requirement: 'Kill it with a sword in the water' rather than using other methods.

Otherwise, with human ingenuity, even ordinary people could find ways to kill the Coastal Marauder, such as using bait or poison.

After dissecting the Coastal Marauder, Rain gazed into the distant sea, deep in thought.

He had just realized that the effect of 'Triphasic State' in the water was far less potent than on land.

The reason was simple: the resistance in the water was hundreds of times greater than in the air, and seawater had even higher resistance.

If Rain remembered correctly, seawater resistance seemed to be over 800 times that of air.

This caused Rain's immense strength to be 'overcome by the gentle' seawater, significantly reducing the power of his strikes on the Coastal Marauder.

To compare, if 'Triphasic State' increased Rain's combat power by 100% on land, in seawater, it might only boost his combat power by 20%.

What was the solution?

Rain soon recalled Master Gunther's words before he left: 'You can take some time to practice your original sword skills.'

At the same time, he also remembered the scene of several young people tirelessly practicing sword skills on the shore.

Clearly, the key to solving the problem lay there.

So, facing the sea, Rain began to wield his greatsword on the reef, practicing Bear Swordsmanship!

Gradually, the vastly different sensations of swinging his sword in seawater and on land began to intertwine. Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Rain, and enlightenment burst forth!

At that moment, a system notification appeared.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end