Chapter 66 Wind The Way

As the morning rays shone through his bedroom windows, Ikasa inserted the Wi-fi dongle in his chest's slot.

'I am glad the range increased from the previous 1 meter to 10 meters. If the range increases with my Cultivation, will I be able to cover the entire Villa when I am a peak Sense realm expert?'

[Connecting to the Cloud Printer…]

[Welcome Back]

A familiar system interface showed up in his mind.

"Let's see if the hundred-use manuals Li Fan brought from me are sold or not."

He checked his available points in the top right corner. What he saw dropped his jaw to the floor.

"A hundred and eighty-two Cultivation Points? They sold the manual this quickly?"

The last he remembered, he had around 80 points left. He had sent two 100x Manuals to Li Fan. And judging from the points, one of these manuals was completely sold.

"Truly, Li Fan was the best worker I had. A pity he turned on me and died."

Ikasa mourned the death of his capable worker once more. He turned his attention to the Battle Points.

As far as he remembered, they had hit the below 50 mark after he made 100x manuals of Peek-a-Boo Defense, Fast-Faster-Fastest, and Gazelle Punch for Xue Mi.

"Just 120 BP. Tsk. Xue Family is really bad at sales."

Ikasa snorted with contempt.

'Wait, I might be judging them unfairly.'

He thought as he saw the situation from a different perspective.

Battle Techniques were only valuable to those who fought for a living. On the contrary, the Cultivation method was useful even for Peasants as it helped them improve their physique and work more efficiently.

Naturally, the customer base for Cultivation Methods was many times larger than that of Battle Techniques.

'So selling about 70 uses is excellent performance.'

After looking through his points, he turned to the Print Button shining with a golden glow. It had already been seven days since he obtained the Chop.

"Please print another High-Grade technique like Chop or a Sense Realm Manual…."

He prayed to whatever deity there was in this world and pushed the button. A familiar scene of the densely packed screen with letters flashed before his eyes.

[Battle Technique manual, [Wind the Way], is ready to print.]

Intrigued by the name, he paid attention to the Printer placed in an inconspicuous corner between the wardrobes.

It had already whirred into action and began sucking the air.

'Is this an attribute technique? And what might be its special feature?'

The name got his hopes up as he got up from his bed and walked to the Printer.

A snow-white book with a turquoise blue title lay before the Printer.

Ikasa stabilized the quivering flower vase, a vital part of the Printer's disguise, and proceeded to pick up the book.

As he perused it, he let out a cheer of joy.

"What on God's Green Earth is this? This is Top-grade movement art!"

He read further, and characteristics of this skill became apparent.

"This is a superb evasive art! Pei Yuan can make good use of this. And this time, I will be the one to train him."

Laughing happily, he rubbed his hands at the thought.

He clicked on the latest Top Grade technique and proceeded to add points to it. A few breaths later, he was short of 10 BP, and his mind was in a strange landscape.

His mind had been transported to the body of a teenager. He was running along a meandering river surrounded by tall cliffs.

Screee!

A wake of vultures chased after him. The windy canyon and the opposing airflow made it impossible to outrun the scavengers. As the chase continued, the adolescent youth found a way to use the wind to his advantage.

He turned around and ran into the pack of vultures.

The foremost vulture slowed and tried to get him with his talons. The youth rolled and dodged its grab. The two birds behind the vanguard pecked at his head. He simply moved his neck with precision and avoided their attacks.

At this moment, he was facing the largest vulture in this group.

'This is probably a Spirit-Condensation stage beast.'

Ikasa thought with apprehension as he saw the body's owner run straight towards the beast.

Scree!

The leader of the pack screeched and dived to attack the young teen with his wings. He knew he would be in a world of pain if those steely, shining wings hit him.

Still, he jogged forward without fear. The tailwind from behind doubled his speed.

When the swooping vulture's wings were about to connect with the teen, he made an unbelievable dodge.

Even Ikasa, who had a first-person view, failed to see through the maneuver.

At one moment, the wings were almost touching the teen's chest. In another, he had sidestepped the attack with less than a finger's width separating him from the lethal feathers.

The intelligent avian screeched with fury as it reascended in the air. Instead of running, the boy slowed his pace and grinned mockingly at the pack of birds.

Seeing the prey still in range, the vultures dived down to get him. Except they were unsuccessful. The teen narrowly evaded their attacks every time. He did it until he got the hang of it.

And then he became more daring and started to go against the airflow during his dodges. The pressure built by the wind created flaws in his dodges. Soon the vultures found a chance to strike.

One of the Vultures furiously swooped down on the boy. At the same time, a strong gust of wind came from behind the vulture, giving it a speed boost while disturbing the teen's rhythm.

As he tried to dodge, he was a moment too late. The talon made a gash on his chest, drawing blood. Shocked by the injury, he failed to anticipate the attacks of the other vultures.

A wing smacked his head, and another's beak came dangerously close to pecking his ear off. The ecstatic high brought by walking on the edge faded, replaced by the fear of death.

His body moved on its own to protect itself until he came to be. The boy regained his composure and resisted the predators with his stick- like arms. But he knew he was outmatched after losing his chief advantage.

Now even the leader was about to join his pack in tearing him apart.

His training was about persistence and challenging his limits. Not throwing his life away. With every scratch, his chances of coming out alive lowered.

He couldn't take it anymore. Weaving a way through the Vultures, he escaped into the river. And while doing so, he exhibited mastery over the Top Grade Technique.

"Whoosh!" Ikasa wiped the proverbial sweat on his forehead. When the boy meditated, he also carefully reviewed the various applications of the movement technique shown by the boy.

He repeated the same routine for several days. Only the foes chasing the teen changed. Bisons, Coyotes, Falcons, and sometimes even Rattlesnakes. Until one day, the youth perfected his dodges while going against the wind.

His opponent for the day, a Lynx, got frustrated by his constant taunts. It was probably the animal with the quickest reflexes in this area. And yet, the teen was toying with it.

Every swipe of Lynx was avoided with precision. When the Lynx pounced on him, he dodged at the last moment, causing it to bump head first into the cliff behind him. In this way, the thrilling game of tag between two unlikely players continued.

Finally, the Lynx gave up in frustration and retreated. The teen realized that he had survived this encounter without a scratch on his body. And that too while going against the wind flow!

"YES! I did it!"

The boy celebrated his success with a fist aimed at the sky. Ikasa shared in the cheer of the young lad.

With his training complete, Ikasa saw the teenager return to a crowded city.

"You! Why did you return?"

The guards recognized the boy. Fearful of losing their jobs, they chased him through the streets with spears trained on him. Knowing he couldn't face them, the youth ran into the crowd to throw them off his trail.

The guards blocked the street he had disappeared in, but the boy simply winded his way through the passersby. He used the movements from the battle technique to avoid brushing against a single person.

Even though they were in a densely packed street, it was as if he had a layer of air around him, preventing anyone from touching him.

And then he disappeared from the guard's sight, into the night.

Ikasa returned to his body after the thrilling training experience. His brain was still pumping adrenaline in his body. When he looked at his hands, he noticed the goosebumps.

"Fcuk! This is not Wind: the Way; This is Winding the way through the enemies!"

This technique was about neither stepping on wind and flying nor using the wind to increase speed. It focused on running and winding through the enemies without letting them touch the hem of your robes.

Precise Evasion. That's what this type of footwork aimed for.

This movement art was an actual test of skill instead of just relying on an external superpower.

Ikasa's eyes glinted with excitement once he remembered the scenes of the teenager evading his enemies. He couldn't wait to master this Movement technique.

The difficulty of the skill did not deter him. Instead, he took it as a challenge, a challenge worth completing.