Chapter XXXIII: Cosmic Grade Skill

After six years of growth, three physique constructions, and bloodline awakening, I was now eighteen years, very handsome, six feet and eight inches tall, with tightly packed, well-developed, and intensely defined muscles.

My Bloodline alone was only matched by Princess Amara of the Royal Dragon Clan asher dragon bloodline was blessed by my people's World Tree and returned to complete purity awakening the Golden World Dragon Bloodline.

As for my physiques, with each new physique came a dramatic increase of strength and difficulty of physique construction. Depending on the quality of physiques, each physique increased one's power from 50 to 100 percent.

In my cased, My reflection of nature increased my power by 100 percent. The Dragon and Pheonix physique increased my power by another 100 percent. And when both physiques were destroyed and swallowed by my Wild Blood Physique, my power jumped a whopping 350 percent.

Martial Foundation is the most valued yet overlooked realm. But it determines the future of a cultivator. With a foundation like this, I was ready to take on the world and all its extremes.

So, when I laid eyes on Varja playing with three female monkeys. I was excited to see his cultivation somewhere in the Xiantian realm.

Walking up on Varja, he lept up from his pallet of earth and struck a fighting stance. He glared at me intently but didn't say a word.

"You look like a man that has achieved his revenge," I said with a smirk.

Varja's eyes widen. "You're supposed to be dead. It's been six years since... First Stage Houtian? Haha, Six years and only First Stage Houtian. This is great!"

Varja's attitude changed and his cultivation erupted for me to get a clearer grasp of his strength.

"Middle Xiantian. You've stepped into Rank 3. Congratulations!" I sang while clapping a few times.

I then felt a pressure drop on me as Varja wore an ugly face. Of course, I felt the pressure, but it was comfortable. Jinro was telling the truth. With all my physiques condensed as one, I still maintained the power of a triple physique cultivator. And now at First Stage Houtian with my vast capacity for Essence, this pressure felt good. Almost like scratching a good itch or stretching after a good night's sleep.

"You should tell the ladies to leave." I eyed the young Daemon beasts.

Varja told them to scram and his pressure doubled. He was growing furious the longer I remained standing under his assault. Like many geniuses, his power could leapfrog

"Enough dick measuring, I'm eager to firmly understand my limits. You're the first Ranked 3 beast I've encountered. let's do this." I taunted him. I was excited and my blood boiled. There was an itching feeling under my skin.

The moment Varja moved, the sensation vanished and a cool feeling fell over me. Jinro said I would become more primal. I knew then what he had meant. My battle body retained its eagerness for war and my Wild Blood had a synergetic effect with my Martial Intent. Like second nature, I moved as Varja continued on his path, landing a punch that ripped through my afterimage and destroyed four large trees.

"Wha--"

Crack! Pow!

I flash stepped using my concept of lightning. My fist crashed through the air as the concept of fire coated my fist and my bodily power erupted. The moment my fist made contact, Varja choked on his words, and his marrow exploded destroying his left arm.

The pain was so astounding that not even a scream was heard from the big ape.

"The power of two top quality and a primal physique is magnificent. I haven't even used my bloodline, essence, soul, or activated my Wild Blood Physique. Concepts and raw bodily strength are enough to jump levels. So this is the might of a perfect foundation." I spoke to myself as walked over to Varja who was sent thirty meters away under the force of my blow.

About ten meters away, earth spikes erupted from the ground. My body moved like a leaf on the wind as I glided to and fro leaving images in my wake. It was so graceful it looked like I was dancing and the fatal earth spikes were my many partners.

With a light step, I took to the air. My body twist and my hair fluttered. What appeared to be a light heel kick came down on Varja. He quickly used his right arm to block. When my heel connected, his essence fluctuated and his meridians turned to ice and his arm soon followed.

Varja pushed me away into a backflip. Instead of worrying about landing on my feet, a double-bladed polearm appeared in my hand coated in Lower Polearm Intent, covered the distance to cleave through the frozen arm that Varja was working on unthawing.

When it hit the dirt it shattered.

"Rooaar! This is impossible!" Varja was enraged. "Who the hell comprehends concepts and Intents before Xiantian Realm! That's like sacrificing life! You're a psycho monster! Four Concepts and Polearm Intent...How? When?!"

Though my cultivation was slow due to my environment and the need to purge my body of impurities, my training method was built towards long-term success. The moment I became Houtian, I earned 600 more years of life. The moment I step into Dao Attachment of Body cultivation I gain an extra 2,000 years of life. Sacrificing my childhood for this perfect foundation, fewer bottlenecks, and qualitative strength was well worth it.

As for being considered a genius and talented, it was all relative. to Cultivation Realms, Age, Conphrension, Battle Prowess, and so on. To forsake outer opinions and follow my own path has proven to be the best choice I ever made for myself.

However, for the rest of the world, cultivation is a race. And many were too fearful to risk their cultivation on theories as I had. But I attribute that to my soul that has lived as a scientist and for many years before entering this world as Orym Vamoria.

As a result, existences like Varja followed traditional routes and teachings. Not all the same but similar enough to consider me a madman for taking a route less traveled.

"Varja, this rivalry has been nice. But I see now, that my foundation was just too shallow to face you before. Now, however, I'm disappointed by the amount of importance I placed on you."

"You...you can't kill me. My father is the Diamond Crowned---"

My polearm arched and polearm intent beheaded the pathetic thing.

I sighed as I thought the death of Varja would be more fulfilling. Meanwhile, a middle-aged man with a bo staff made of metal, diamond hair, and a long monkey tail was fighting at the Yin Yang Cave beside the Lightning Qilin that had given me advice.

He then stopped mid-battle as one of three purple jades on his waist shattered.

"Varja!" he roared. "Uncle Liu Nan! We must go home!"

Liu Nan flashed in a 'U' shape killing four beasts in a pure lighting form. Once he stopped, not even a speck of blood was on his robes.

"What's wrong, boy?!"

"Varja is dead. My son is dead!"

Back in the forest, the temple spirit spoke to me.

"It's very hard to defend against concepts and intents if one hasn't begun to comprehend themselves. Not to mention your strength is nothing to scoff at. Orym Vamoria, 18 years old, First Stage Houtian. Sacrifice, Varja, son of Sabine, 29 years old, Fourth Stage Xiantian. Otym Vamoria, welcome to the Lunar Temple!"

An odd sensation infects my body. The world went bright for a moment. When the light fade, I was on an ancient battlefield.

"I've been waiting on you for 6 and a half years. Many men claim to be one thing but act another way. But you, you are truly a loyal man. Family, security, cultivation, in that order. I respect people like you." The temple spirit spoke to me.

"Foward!" she commanded.

After a few paces, the battlefield rumbled and a stone monolith emerged from the underworld.

"The tests are simple. Your scores will determine the parameters of your future trials. Strength, Soul, Essence, Martial Aptitude. Good luck, Orym Vamoria."

When the battle field fell silent. The stone monolith glowed with lines of inscription signifying that the test had begun.

Taking a step forward, I was three paces away from the monolith when an Elven character shined. I chuckled as I looked closer at all the text and noticed that it was all in my native language.

"Strength." I read before taking a martial stance.

If I was going to climb the temple, I wanted to do it right and make it worth something.

The full might of my cultivation was released. So dense and pure, the nature qi spread and created intensely green vegetation wherever it touched.

The strength of my body follows with a burst of force and swelling Yin Yang Qi. In an instant, my Physique manifested, and the battlefield beneath me crumbled like brittle wood.

Finally, my six shards linked up within my soul realm unleashing the locks on my bodily limits. The cracked earth turned to a creator in the blink of an eye.

The concepts of wind and lightning coated my person. Appearing before the stone monolith like a bolt from heaven, using the final form of one style in tandem with fire and ice, my fist collided with the stone and the sheer force rippled across the field taking up layers of earth. The stone monolith splintered and shined with solar-like magnificence.

when tempers cooled, my arm was buried to the elbow. Pulling myself free, ethereal text appeared in the sky with benchmarks also written in Elven Script.

Strength Scale:

Body Refinemment: 5 Metric Tons - 10 Mertic Tons

Martial Foundation: 20 tons - 200 tons

Houtian/ Peak Martial Foundation (Body Cultivation): 100 tons -500 tons

Xiantian/Dao Attachment: 1,000 tons - 2, 500 tons

Foundation Establishment/ 3 stage Dao Attachment: 5,000 tons -15,000 tons

Core Formation/forth Stage Dao Attachment: 25,000 tons -75,000 tons

Nascent Soul/ Fifth Stage Dao Attachment: 300,000 tons - 5 million tons

"Orym Vamoria, 2,200 tons!" the Temple Spirit announced. "Rank 1!"

The Battle Field repaired its self instantaneously.

"Inject your essence into the Monolith." said the Temple Spirit.

Following her direction, I naturally ranked at First Stage Houtian. Next came the test I was in great anticipation.

The Stone Monolith crumbled and a platform emerged in its place with four pillars represent the cardinal points. Stepping onto the platform, I stood in the center for three breaths before the platform rumbled and the inscriptions sapped my Soul Force.

In a blink of an eye, half of my soul force was gone and my grade was announced.

"12 Expansions and 9 Refinements!" the Temple spirit announced.

It seemed that I gained two expansions with every shard formed. What surprised me the most was that I was nowhere near ready enough to step into Sea Destruction although I was nearing the legendary 13 Expansions and 9 Refinements. The complete Six Natured Limit Breaker in tandem with Faye Blood was truly revolutionary. Then again, the technique was more than simple Soul Cultivation.

"Young one, if you can score well on Martial Apptitude, you'll be the first to take on the Heaven Trial since the construction of the Lunar Temples."

"Bring it on!"

"Fine. As you know, the world has Mortal, Earth, Heaven, and Cosmic Grade Skills and Techniques. Each of these skills must be mastered to fully display their might no matter their grade. The Levels of mastery are Lower, Intermediate, Higher, Perfection, and Transcendence." the Temple Spirit spoke about the basic swiftly.

She then added, " You have two hours to pick any skill our technique from the temple library. You then have one week to comprehend said technique. The requirements are simple. Mortal Grade must be comprehended to Transcendence mastery, Earth Grade must be comprehended to Perfection mastery, and Heaven Grade must be comprehended to Higher mastery. If you choose a Cosmic Grade, you have two weeks to achieve Lower Mastery. Before you search the library, you must choose your grade and category. Be warned, Cosmic Grade is the only way to earn a Heaven Trial."

When she finished, I took a solid minute before I answer confidently. " Mortal Grade, Movement Skill"

The Temple Spirit was silent for a brief second. "Really?" she asked.

I thought about it again. I was worried about Cosmic Grade Skill devouring my Mortal Grade Dancing Pixie and changing the essence of my Storm Dance Skill.

I then spoke aloud into space to the Temple Spirit who had yet to show herself. " Cosmic Grade water-based movement skill."

"That's more like it!" Her voice was almost sinister.

I appeared in a hall with 15 bookcases. Each bookcase had six shelves and six columns with all water-based movement skills. Unlike the first time I looked for skills, I didn't have time to spare. I directly looked for skills that melded well with Wind, Lightning, and the Cold Water Palm.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Lunar Temple came valued water-based skills a lot. Meaning no matter how hard I tried, the possibility of getting the best skill was slim.

Before I knew it, two hours had ended and the Temple Spirit's voice echoed in the room.

"Make a choice!"

"Middle-Level Cosmic Grade Skill: Tide Master Step!" I announced.