Roughly two hours passed before Leo finally opened his skill panel with a satisfied smile.
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Skill: Primordial Stance – Lv.2 (0%)
— Trait: Reinforce Body Lv.2
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Skill: Basic Hand Forms – Lv.1 (0%)
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Skill: Basic Leg Techniques – Lv.1 (0%)
— Trait: Power Boost Lv.1
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Skill: Basic Footwork – Lv.1 (0%)
— Trait: Agility Boost Lv.1
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Power Boost worked similarly to his raw Strength stat. Each level granted +1 Strength. Agility Boost, as expected, gave +1 Agility per level.
As for Basic Hand Forms, while it didn't unlock any traits, it had flooded his mind with a detailed new set of memories—hand positions, forms, motions. It had only taken one experience point to level it up.
Basic Leg Techniques and Basic Footwork, like Primordial Stance, had each taken two points to move from Level 0 to Level 1.
In total, he'd spent 10 experience points. In return, he'd gained useful memories and stats: +2 Physique, +1 Strength, and +1 Agility. Not a bad haul.
A thought crossed Leo's mind.
These foundational skills might not have level caps. As long as he had enough experience points, maybe he could keep leveling them infinitely.
If so, the associated attribute gains might also continue indefinitely.
However, he had a concern—basic skills might eventually offer diminishing returns. Like Zach said, stances progressed from Primordial to Taichi to Trinity. The more advanced ones were harder to train but offered greater rewards.
That was why he stopped at Level 1 across the board, saving his remaining 7 points to observe the effects.
"Alright."
Zach Mercer's voice cut through the courtyard.
He glanced at the group, all looking mildly miserable. "No one expects you to memorize everything today. I'll demonstrate the forms daily. You'll follow along. Eventually, you'll get it. If you can't even manage this, you might as well give up on martial training altogether."
As expected, the comment fired them up.
"We'll remember it, Uncle Zach!"
"Yeah, it's not that much. We'll get it."
"Way more fun than studying in school."
Leo rolled his eyes. Zach really loved using reverse psychology. But hey—Warren and the others fell for it every time.
Not everyone had two lifetimes to work with.
"That's it for today. Go practice your spear drills. Leo, stay behind."
The others looked envious as they walked away.
Leo smiled sheepishly. "Uncle Zach, are you going to teach me the Taichi Stance?"
Zach squinted at him, something about Leo's tone rubbing him the wrong way. "Hmph. How'd you manage to get it right in one go?"
"Huh?"
Leo scratched his head. "I dunno. It just… felt right. Like standing that way didn't take any effort. My mind sort of blanked out. Kinda like smoking a cigarette."
"Smoking…"
Zach subconsciously licked his lips.
"Cough. What the hell does smoking have to do with this? Don't compare nonsense. Anyway, you've got talent. If you take the Taichi Stance seriously, you should be able to enter the basics within a week. That's how we did it back in the day."
"Yes, sir."
Leo nodded eagerly. Let's get started already!
"Listen up."
Zach's tone turned serious. "Taichi is born from Primordial—out of stillness, duality arises. Yin and Yang. Everything in this world has two aspects. When we speak of martial arts, we must begin with stances. Stances are divided into static and dynamic. Once your static foundation is firm, you can move on to dynamic stances—like the Taichi Stance I'm about to teach you."
Leo soon understood that Zach's explanation wasn't just theory.
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Skill: Taichi Stance – Lv.0 (0%)
Unlock Condition: Primordial Stance Lv.2 – Achieved
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So it really did have prerequisites.
He guessed future skills like Trinity Stance or Taichi Flow might also have unlock conditions—without meeting them, regular people probably couldn't even begin.
Or maybe… the skill just wouldn't appear on the panel.
Training began.
The initial motion resembled Primordial Stance. Then came a shift—knees slightly bent, arms rising in front of him to form a circle at chest height.
After a few minutes, Leo's arms began to tremble.
"Remember how I taught you to rest? Five minutes of stance, one minute of break. Do that for one hour," Zach said, glancing over.
Leo exhaled in relief and loosened up.
No doubt about it—Taichi Stance was way tougher than Primordial.
He stole a quick glance at his panel.
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Skill: Taichi Stance – Lv.0 (0.5%)
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"..."
He was speechless.
Five minutes only gave him half a percent? That meant… 10,000 minutes to level up once.
One hundred sixty-six hours. No rest. That was… exactly a week.
He looked at Zach, silently thinking, *Did you even use the bathroom during training back then?*
"Take your time," Zach said. "The Taichi Stance is the foundation of all Taichi Flow forms. Master this, and the rest will come easier. Don't slack off."
With that, he walked over to check on the others.
Leo gritted his teeth, watching him go. He suppressed the urge to spend more experience points.
He had already entered the stance in just five minutes. That was fast. Too fast. Best to wait and level it later. With his enhanced Physique, even a minute of rest brought solid recovery.
An hour crept by.
Zach returned and gave Leo's form a once-over. He nodded slightly, his expression easing.
"That's enough for today. We'll resume tomorrow."
"Yes, Uncle Zach."
Leo let out a long breath. His body ached all over.
"Rest up. You'll be practicing archery again soon. Archery gets rusty fast if you skip even a day."
"Got it."
Leo nodded. His Basic Archery skill was already approaching 60%. With some work this afternoon and evening, he could probably hit Level 5.
That meant his Mounted Aim Trait would reach Level 3—giving him a 90% accuracy bonus against moving targets.
If they ran into a plains antelope again, his first shot wouldn't be so easy to dodge.
Practicing stances and forms wasn't just for defense. It would help him draw stronger bows.
His gaze shifted toward someone nearby.
"Uncle Zach, is Zhao training archery too?"
Zach followed his line of sight. "Looks like it. Maybe you inspired him. But if he really sticks with it, it'll be good for the camp."
Leo agreed.
The stronger the others were, the less pressure he had to carry.
Still, the most important strength… was his own.
"We're heading out on another hunting mission tomorrow morning."
Leo narrowed his eyes.
He wanted to take it slow. Conserve his strength. Avoid too much attention.
But every hunt was a brush with death. Holding back for the sake of appearances was… foolish.
So be it.
Time to invest more in Taichi Stance.