However, Jack Harper was very greedy. He wouldn’t even practice anything below 95% compatibility; he only chose to practice those under 100%.

At first, there were quite a few at 100%, but later the numbers started to drop. Those that were originally at 100% decreased, because his brain database had already been updated. His brain knew the new ones weren’t suitable, so naturally, the numbers went down.

This actually saved him a lot of time. Otherwise, if he practiced each of these techniques even once, it would take at least a year, and that’s assuming he was cultivating every single day.

In the end, he only spent three days to select, from all the techniques, the one most suitable for him, but it still didn’t reach 100% compatibility.

“Lieshan Technique, compatibility: 91.1%.”

It was just a bit over 90%, but there was no other choice. This was the highest for now, so he’d have to look for better ones in the future. Reaching ninety was already considered excellent, though the name of this technique wasn’t impressive at all. Names like “Rebirth from Fire” or “Dragon’s Breath” sounded much cooler than this.

Oh well, high compatibility is what matters most. He couldn’t help but feel that if he didn’t have this ability, he probably would never have chosen this technique to cultivate in his entire life.

This technique was obscure among the obscure; even the records of its transmission no longer existed, and it was incomplete—the latter part of the cultivation method was missing.

For Jack Harper, it didn’t matter if the latter part was gone. After all, a technique is just a training method. However you trained before, the effects would still be there. Later on, he could just find a more suitable way to train, and there wouldn’t be any problem.

The technique was about strengthening the star spirit, making it more robust. The star spirit would absorb and release star power, and could use star power to nourish the body. The compatibility was actually the combined effect on both the star spirit and the body.

Jack Harper had tried a technique that was the strongest at improving the star spirit among all the techniques, but for the body, it was the weakest. Practicing this technique would make his star spirit extremely powerful—possibly invincible among those at the same level—but his body would be the weakest.

Different technique emphases could lead to different results. For cultivation, training the star spirit and the body went hand in hand. You couldn’t just put less effort into one and expect to save time. Therefore, high compatibility not only gave an advantage in efficiency, but also in results.

Three days later...

During these three days, Jack Harper devoted himself to practicing the Lieshan Technique. The 91.1% compatibility really worked wonders, making him feel like Zhang Wuji cultivating the Great Shift of the Universe—he broke through a level after just a few tries.

Of course, that was just a feeling. He didn’t actually reach the highest level in a few hours. Zhang Wuji had years of foundation from practicing the Nine Yang Divine Skill, while he, before this, was basically a level one star apprentice with almost no foundation.

Chapter 10: All of This Is an Illusion

At this moment, Jack Harper was staring blankly at his own star spirit. It was a red orb of light, with four streams of light swirling around it. He knew that each stream represented a level of star apprentice, and also represented a channel for utilizing and absorbing star power. The strength of the star spirit was the base value of star power, and also the size of the channel.

After nine streams of light, the star spirit would need to evolve. Once the evolution succeeded, the nine streams would merge into one, and the star spirit would undergo a qualitative leap.

Four streams of light meant he was now a level four star apprentice!

Counting the time spent testing techniques, only six days had passed. That was an average of one level every two days. No one would believe it if they heard, especially since it happened to him.

If this kept up, wouldn’t he reach level nine star apprentice in just over ten days? Of course, that was impossible. First, the higher the level, the slower the progress. Second, he was already out of star beast flesh.

After thinking it over, he decided to go hunting in the back mountain!

A level four star apprentice could hunt some low-level star beasts. Although the star beast flesh might be a bit less and weaker, it was still something. Besides, this would pave the way for the future. To become strong, he had to hunt star beasts and obtain beast souls to strengthen his star spirit.

The beast soul was actually the star spirit of a star beast. The star spirit was very hard to grow and evolve through cultivation alone; it needed to absorb other star spirits. This was true for both star warriors and star beasts.

Simply put, the star spirit needed to be fed in order to grow and evolve, and the food was other star spirits.

Cultivation strengthened the star spirit, just like how there’s a huge difference between someone who trains and someone who doesn’t. But everyone has a limit. Once you reach that limit, you need to grow and evolve to break through to a new limit.

Therefore, pure cultivation alone could never make you strong. You couldn’t even break through to the star soldier level, and would be stuck as a star apprentice.

But if you only relied on hunting star beasts to get stronger without cultivating, you wouldn’t have the strength to hunt star beasts. Plus, your own star spirit would be too weak to absorb more than a tiny bit of beast soul, or maybe not even be able to absorb it at all.

So, to become strong, both cultivation and hunting star beasts were indispensable and complemented each other.

With weapons, gear, and potions in hand, it was time to go grind monsters in the back mountain!

“Deadweight, you finally came out. I thought you were hiding inside and didn’t dare to come out!”

“??”