Epoch of Twilight

The third stage would naturally be proficiency, mastery and expertise. Proficiency in muscle coordination, mastery of Will, as well as expertise and exploration of the force field.

Until now, Luo Yuan had still been on the verge of exploring the force field. He thought that it had something to do with feeling and perception. When one reached that stage, the effect of a system upgrade would be minimal, while the effects of proficiency, mastery and expertise would vastly differ. Usually a one point increase in skill points would have the same value in a skill upgrade, but when it came to the expert level, a skill would need at last three additional points in order to upgrade. Therefore, the upgrade would be three times as slow. If one depended on the system to breakthrough to the expert level, that would meant that they would need an additional 60 skill points. It would take 12 upgrades to get those points.

It seemed simple but in reality, Luo Yuan was only at level eight. To be able to upgrade 12 times, a lifetime may not be enough time for him. Instead of rushing things, he would rather learn slowly along the journey. He had obtained five points from his last upgrade, but had decided to keep them for an emergency.

He walked towards the aircraft, pulled out his Zhanmadao and cut off a big piece of metal, letting out a sharp groan. A glow shined everywhere. He used the sword to shred the metal, leaving small metal pieces scattered all over the ground. Minutes later, there were more than ten long blades lying there. The material of the aircraft was excellent. It could even be compared to the Zhanmadao. If he polished it, it could easily chop off metal bars.

“Those of you who don’t have a sword, please take one. Today I’m going to teach you how to swing your sword as well as the correct way to use force!” said Luo Yuan. Luo Yuan’s earlier performance had amazed everyone. Although it had just been a simple swing, it had gotten them all excited. They stood up immediately. Those who already owned a sword pulled it out, while the rest picked one up from the ground.

“The way you’re holding your swords is wrong. Everyone please look at my hand! Don’t just squeeze all your strength into your fingers. That would make your body stiff and make it impossible for you to gather the force that you need. However, that doesn’t mean that you should hold your sword loosely. If you do, your swing will be powerless and the sword will leave your hands easily.”

“Before you swing your sword, your body needs to be both relaxed and focused. Be prepared to release your force when you swing.”

“You need an imaginary enemy, and your vision needs to be sharp. You need to give out a today-is-the-day-you-die vibe to your enemy when you swing.”

“What are you looking at? Don’t look at me, look at your target!”

Wang Shishi unwillingly turned her eyes to the front.

“What’s wrong with your legs? Why are they so tight? I’ve said it three times already, your legs are your body’s spring. If you hold them so tight, how will they be able to bounce? Your waist is too stiff, just relax!”

Huang Jiahui looked unhappy.

“Why is your butt so high up? All you need to do is move your body forward a little!”

Zhao Yali was blushing. She wanted the earth to open up and swallow her. Not everyone was like those protagonists in novels with impressive memory and strong athletic genes. Actually, none of them were like that. At first, Luo Yuan was very patient in correcting everyone’s posture, but later on, he started to get a little impatient. These people were just hopeless. To be fair, Huo Dong, Lin Xiaoji and Wang Xiaguang had some potential. They had been training for some time and would correct themselves according to his guidance. The rest of them, however, were as dumb as they came. They would forget his words immediately after he’d said them, testing his patience.

Wang Shishi, Zhao Yali and Mu Wenwen were driving Luo Yuan nuts. Surprisingly, the two young boys were very focused. Although their movement was painful to watch, they were still better than the three women.

As they watched Luo Yuan get more and more impatient, everyone started to get scared. The pressure was getting intense, and they were getting even worse than before.

“Never mind. Baby steps. In our first lesson, we’re going to learn how to stand!”

......

The training lasted from afternoon till evening. It was just one simple swing, but they could not manage to perfect it. Still, everyone had made some improvement. Wang Xiaguang and everyone else who had been doing sword training noticed an obvious improvement in their speed.

The sun was setting, and the sky was getting dark. Luo Yuan looked at the time and said,”That’s it for today, let’s continue tomorrow!” Everyone was relieved. The half day of training had required their full body strength and was just starting to take its toll on them. Everyone was exhausted. They were so sore that they could not feel their bodies anymore. Some of them even had cramps on their fingertips. None of them had dared slow down throughout the training. Even soft Wang Shishi had pushed through.

Later on, everyone started to prepare dinner. The intense training had given everyone a great appetite, and they all gorged down their food. The sky was getting dark, and the wind was blowing. Some of them looked up into the sky and started to feel upset. The chatter died away as everyone turned solemn.

As they finished their dinner, the thing they had been most afraid of appeared in the sky. It was the aurora once again. The beautiful view gave everyone a chill. Their food suddenly tasted bland.

“Finish your food fast and head back into the cave!” Luo Yuan shouted.

Everyone snapped out of it, their faces turning pale. They threw aside the bowls in their hands and ran frantically into the cave. The cave was dark, humid and constrained. None of them talked, so it was strangely silent inside. All they could hear was their heavy breathing and the sound of their hearts pounding.

They waited patiently for almost half an hour, hearing the sound of thunder outside. This time, the thunderstorm was not as intense as the previous day. It was much more sporadic and it did not last as long. It was completely over by midnight.

............

The next five days, the auroras and thunderstorms got weaker and weaker. On the sixth day, they disappeared completely. Although the thunderstorm was only a storm, it had caused a huge impact on the earth, the most direct effect being the rise of the temperature.

On the last day of the thunderstorm, the temperature during the day had reached 60 degrees. In the afternoon, the entire forest had experienced a high temperature, and everyone’s vision had gotten slightly distorted. A huge amount of steam had formed clumps of clouds on top of the forest. At the same time, the plants were growing and evolving every day, just like they had at the beginning of the apocalypse. The roots of the mutated plants went almost a hundred meters deep into the ground. The rise of the temperature and the evaporation of the water had not stopped the plants from growing. Quite the contrary, they looked livelier than ever.

The trees that had been damaged by the aircraft had started growing again. In the course of five or six days, they had already grown two meters tall. If Luo Yuan did not clean the forest in time, it would become really crowded in less than a month.

Everyone was filled with fear as they looked at the forest around them. They were smiling and talking less and less, feeling like a huge rock had been dropped on their chests. Despite their immense stress though, everyone was still striving to master the sword and get stronger.