"Not bad. Even though your aptitude is so dull that you didn’t sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for eight or nine days, after more than a month, you’ve finally managed to cultivate to the peak of the first level. Slow, yes, but not to the point of making people despair, haha~" The honest-looking young man laughed again, mockingly patted David Clark on the shoulder, and then turned to leave.

Compared to guys like this, he truly felt a sense of superiority in his heart!

As for David Clark, he stood there in a daze for a moment, then quickly hurried to the cafeteria. No matter what, it was best to get some food to eat.

Some time later, at Servant Valley Courtyard No. 697, inside the courtyard, David Clark finished off over a hundred jin of cured meat in one go, only to shake his head in despair and force a bitter smile.

Over a hundred jin of cured meat—enough for a normal martial artist’s meals for about ten days—yet after eating it all at once, he still wasn’t even close to feeling a bit full. He was still so hungry his chest was sticking to his back. Even though he felt his strength had faintly increased during the process, when would this damned hunger ever end?

By now, he was also certain that the last time he fainted, he was unconscious for 23 days straight, and his cultivation had bizarrely soared to the peak of the first level. Was it because he had swallowed ten spirit stones in one go not long ago?

But normal martial artists absorb spirit stones by circulating their cultivation techniques, refining their bodies after absorbing the energy, and then converting it into cultivation. Most people in Servant Valley need at least ten days to consume ten spirit stones, but he finished them in just a few dozen breaths, and gained a whole body’s worth of cultivation!

"Ugh~"

A moment later, enduring the terrifying hunger, David Clark grabbed a stone the size of his palm and squeezed. The stone instantly crumbled into fragments. With just a slight exertion of force, he crushed a stone he could never have broken before into tiny pieces? This strength was terrifying!

Chapter 005: Blood Prison Trial

……

"Wind Rises to the Ends of the Earth!"

"Bang~"

……

In the courtyard, on a sunny morning, with a low shout, David Clark's body turned into a streak of green light, shooting forward at an astonishing speed, only to accidentally crash into the courtyard wall. If he hadn’t stopped himself in time, he might have smashed down a whole section of the wall.

After steadying himself, David Clark frowned slightly. His strength was too great, his speed too fast...

It seemed this courtyard couldn’t withstand his torment.

And not only was his cultivation aptitude poor, but even his martial arts comprehension was lacking. Four days had passed since he reached the peak of the first level, and he’d been so hungry during those four days that he felt anxious. It took David Clark half a day just to barely adapt, and then he began practicing martial techniques.

But he hadn’t expected that after more than three days and nights without sleep, practicing the six-move first-grade martial art Gale Fist, he still hadn’t even mastered the first move, "Wind Rises to the Ends of the Earth."

Martial techniques, cultivation methods, precious medicines, spiritual weapons, and so on are all divided into ten grades. Grades one and two correspond to first- and second-level martial artists, grade seven corresponds to the Saint level. With his current peak first-level cultivation, David Clark could only use first-grade martial techniques. The mastery of a martial technique is further divided into six levels: beginner, ordinary, proficient, master, grandmaster, and divine.

Simply put, beginner-level mastery can only unleash 30% of a technique’s power, ordinary 50%, proficient 80%, master 100%, grandmaster 200%, and divine... well, divine need not be mentioned for now.

The key to these varying levels of power, even up to double, lies in how much spiritual energy of heaven and earth the martial artist can attract when using the technique. The higher the mastery, the more energy is drawn, and the greater the power.

This shows the importance of martial techniques—a martial artist’s high cultivation doesn’t necessarily mean great strength; the key is still the martial technique!

But he hadn’t expected that after several days and nights without sleep, he still hadn’t mastered even the first move of Gale Fist. If he could just reach beginner level, he wouldn’t almost crash into the courtyard wall every time he practiced!

"A normal servant can master a set of first-grade martial techniques in a month. My comprehension isn’t actually bad among the servants—much better than my cultivation aptitude. But at this rate, I’ll barely reach beginner level in Gale Fist after a month? Still too slow! I absolutely can’t let Brian Harris treat me like a clown anymore, and I can’t let Senior Sister Foster lose face!"

Actually, David Clark knew that even without relying on cultivation or martial techniques, his terrifying physical strength and speed probably weren’t inferior to an ordinary single-element first-level martial artist. But since he didn’t know his own limits, he still desperately wanted to improve his mastery of martial techniques.

After standing there thinking for a while, he couldn’t help but sigh. Mastering martial techniques was one thing, but what troubled him even more was the hunger inside him. He was so hungry he couldn’t sleep. He didn’t know if going without rest for so long would have any bad effects, but he knew that after enduring for three or four days, he was almost at his limit. If he didn’t find something to eat soon, he might go crazy. But with his current appetite, even eating over a hundred jin of cured meat at once didn’t make him feel even a bit full. If he went to the cafeteria and ate his fill, never mind whether they’d let him eat as much as he wanted—even if they did, eating so much at once would probably scare people out of their minds!

After all, over a hundred jin of cured meat wasn’t even close to making him feel a bit full. Did he need thousands of jin of meat to be satisfied? How could he dare eat that much?

"Where can I find food? Servant disciples aren’t allowed to wander around..."

"It was hard enough for me to be accepted into the sect by special exception from Senior Sister Foster. I can’t steal food here. If I break the sect rules, not only will I embarrass Senior Sister Foster, but my hope of saving my father will become even slimmer. I can’t steal, and the cafeteria isn’t an option, so where can I find food?"

……