"Since you have so many Soultraits, it will feel unnatural to stop using them for a while. However, I hope that you can attend my training sessions once in a while and that you won't use your Soultraits while training with me. Once you find a technique and a weapon that are compatible with you, you will notice that your combat prowess increases drastically," The Immortal Knight explained Michael calmly.
"After you reach a higher mastery with your technique and gain a great understanding of your chosen weapon, it will feel natural to combine both your techniques and weapon with your Soultraits. The first time you combine your Soultraits with your techniques you will know how much you've grown."
The Immortal Knight shared a lot of information and tips with Michael. He spoke for more than 15 minutes about the difficulty to deepen one's mastery with high-ranked techniques and to learn the true essence of a weapon, and that it would take years. Right after telling Michael how difficult everything was and how long it would take, the Immortal Knight switched over to pinpointing the benefits of techniques and the essence of weapons.
Michael didn't understand everything the Immortal Knight said, but one thing was obvious; He had to find a high-ranked martial arts technique that was suitable to him. In fact, Michael would have to find several high-ranked techniques, including a proper movement technique that allowed him to adjust his stance and combat style at any moment, and a breathing technique.
It was a good thing that his body refinement technique and mind refinement technique were neutral and that they didn't change his physique, or train of thought. If not for that, Michael would have to work much harder to either 'fix' the changes, or find techniques that were compatible with Sacred Rectification and Caesurium Menta.
Since that was not necessary, Michael was satisfied.
That left only one prerequisite to solve- He had to find a suitable weapon.
Michael was certain that he would be fine with spears and that he was quite compatible with them. However, the Immortal Knight gave him a mission- to test out a wide variety of weapons before making his decision.
Just like that Michael's to-do list expanded by several points.
He ordered the Weapon Department in the Underground Forging Hall to forge all weapons they had ever learned to forge. Then he had to procure a few more weapon forging blueprints to tick off the first point on the to-do list which was finding the weapon he was the most compatible with.
Then he had to study the essence of his new weapon, procure a Breathing Technique, a Movement Technique, and a Martial Arts technique that were all suitable to him and his weapon. In fact, if the weapon he chose was highly suitable for a wide variety of combat styles, Michael might have to procure multiple martial arts techniques.
But that was not even all. Another point on his to-do list was to join the Immortal Knight's training sessions to fix his bad habit of relying too much on his Soultraits. Michael realized that he had been naive to believe that no one could temporarily seal his Soultraits and that he never considered the possibility.
If all it took was a device that sealed all energy in a specific range, Michael wouldn't be able to use any energy other than the one residing within his body. Maybe it was possible to use Eagle Eyes, and Enhancement on his body, but Michael couldn't be certain about that either.
The ultimate truth boiled down to the fact that Michael had a lot to prepare, a lot to do, and his expenses were bound to increase even higher given that high-ranked techniques were hard to find. Furthermore, they were extremely expensive if purchased, and practicing them over a long period would consume lots of energy, nutrition, and possibly a valuable resource. Michael would have to prepare a batch of Energy Nourishing Pills and Body Strengthening Pills to fuel his body with energy and nutrition if he wanted to practice high-ranked techniques over a long duration. And that was something he would have to do if he wanted to catch up with the mastery his peers had already attained of their Inheritance techniques.
Michael learned once again that no matter how much money he had he would always stay poor. His territory, his people, and his own progress drained his wallet much more than the gains he made. All his funds were already reserved for future tasks. No matter how satisfying it was to grow stronger and how far his territory developed, it was a little bit frustrating to know that he was just a poor fool with a huge list of never-ending expenses.
This made him chuckle a little. He thought that he would be a wealthy tycoon now that he emptied the treasure trove of the Kitsun Lord. But the opposite was the case. He was dirt poor all over again.
Michael tried to distract his mind from thinking too much about his financial status. He began to train with the Immortal Knight for the next two hours while giving his best not to use his Soultraits. That was easier said than done. Michael had been using his Soultraits instinctively whenever he was in need of more defense, more attack power, or the ability to predict his opponent's movements with great precision. Whenever his strength fell short against his enemies, he would apply layers of Enhancement to his body. If his weapon was not sharp enough, layers of Enhancement and Reinforced Sword Qi would be applied instinctively to make sure that he could cut his enemies, and so on.
A complete overhaul of his natural combat style that relied on instincts and the usage of Soultraits to intentionally not using his Soultraits changed everything. Michael never expected that it would be this difficult, but training two hours with the Immortal Knight proved him wrong.
It had been disastrous, but a good experience to understand where he was standing right now…a painful and jarring reality that opened his eyes.
Once his training session ended, Michael left the training for the Bilrox ranch. After the Summoning Gate and the wooden manor had been shifted to the central area of the Untamed Jungle – or what Michael had presumed to be the central area until the Kitsun Lord's maps proved him wrong – Michael hadn't gotten the time to take a look at the development of the Bilrox ranch.
Bilrox feathers might be of decent value, but their value paled in comparison to most of Michael's sources of income. Therefore, he began to consider the Bilrox as animals that could carry heavy weights. They were rather fast and strong, but that was already it. Michael had some plans with the Bilrox, but to make them work he would need an even and smooth path in the Untamed Jungle – possibly even a street – and connections to different territories in the Savannah region and beyond.
Turning the Bilrox ranch into a huge caravan of traveling merchants sounded like a good idea. Unfortunately, he didn't possess enough rare resources, let alone the necessary workforce to put aside enough guards, merchants, and other helping hands to send out a caravan of traveling merchants.
The guards of the traveling merchants would have to be Tier-3 at the very least. If they were weaker, the caravan would probably be raided long before it passed through the Savannah region. That was something Michael wanted to avoid by all means.
Thus, he had been putting aside the development of Bilrox ranch for quite a while. The importance of the Bilrox ranch changed only after a unique phenomenon appeared. Michael read about it in the daily reports not too long ago. Apparently, one of the Bilrox gave birth to a Bilrox Queen.
As a result of the Bilrox Queen's birth the tamer who had been tending to the Bilrox Queen's mother was promoted to a 2-Star Breeding Master. It was an interesting change of events and something that intrigued Michael quite a bit.
According to his knowledge about Bilrox, Bilrox Queen could only be born in a safe environment. There could only be one Bilrox Queen in every Bilrox horde, controlling every single one of them through telepathy. Rumors said that the Bilrox Queen was connected to all Bilrox through the Link of Loyalty.
Therefore, Michael wanted to find out more about the Bilrox Queen, especially after he found out that the Bilrox Queen's presence would naturally nourish the Bilrox of her herd. They would reproduce faster and give birth to stronger Bilrox. Some of the newborn Bilrox may even be born with Unique Racial Traits and elemental affinities.
If that was really true the appearance of the Bilrox Queen could prove quite beneficial for his territory. It could turn the Bilrox Ranch into one of the most profitable businesses. After all, all Elemental affinities could be used in various ways. A Pyro Bilrox could help the blacksmiths in the Underground Forging Hall to forge, a Nature Bilrox could help the farmers tend to the farms, and Glacial Bilrox could help the cooks preserve foods, or aid them in the invention of 'new' dishes.
Elemental Bilrox would naturally improve the living conditions in the territory. But they could also change all war tactics drastically. If the Bilrox Queen's existence strengthened Bilrox that would mean that the Bilrox's racial limit would increase. That meant ordinary Bilrox would be able to reach the 1st Tier, or possibly even the 2nd Tier. A physically strong and fast Bilrox at the 2nd Tier would be a perfect mount for the Cavalry. This would be even better if such a Tier-2 Bilrox had a Unique Racial Trait or an Elemental Affinity!
Hoping that his wild imagination would be somewhat close to the truth, Michael finally reached the Bilrox Ranch.
'Beautiful Queen, where are you hiding?'
