Chapter 121 - Chapter 121: Chapter ill: The Age of Great Conflict,
Chapter 121: Chapter ill: The Age of Great Conflict,
Unparalleled Sharpness of the Blade
Translator: 549690339
“Let’s go, back home.”
After determining roughly where the enemy was, rather than directly leading Justin Welan and the others to attack, Jack Clark chose to leave to avoid startling the enemy.
He didn’t even look back.
His unusual behavior made Justin Welan and Marcus Lee exchange glances. Both of them nodded slightly and said nothing, following Jack Clark’s departure.
Not until they got back to the car park and got into the car did Justin Welan ask, “Jack, did you find that guy?”
Jack Clark started the off-road vehicle and nodded slightly, “Almost. When I got there, 1 sensed a gaze on me, layered with a strong ill will.”
“Damn, Jack, your Heart’s Eye ability is quite useful,” Marcus Lee couldn’t help but express envy.
Being able to sense the enemy merely from a line of sight, detecting danger ahead of time, it would be false to say he did not envy this ‘talent’ developed through True Martial Cultivation.
Jack Clark gave a faint smile, “You can cultivate the Mind’s Eye Bright Knife too.”
Marcus Lee shook his head: “Forget it, my temperament is definitely unsuited to cultivating the Heart’s Eye. The mysterious essence of such a skill makes my head hurt just by looking at it.”
As for the special sword skill, the Mind’s Eye Bright Knife, over the years it wasn’t just Jack Clark who had exchanged it. Many people had only managed to develop the Light King Knife after several years of cultivation.
The realm of Heart’s Eye is too challenging.
Even if someone manages to cultivate to the first layer, their five senses would just become a bit sharper. Breakthroughs to the Second Layer are extremely rare, and nearly no one reached the Third Layer in the span of the past ten years.
As such, Marcus Lee lost interest after a cursory glance when he was exchanging Cultivation Methods.
Without the Heart’s Eye, the Light King Knife is just a common Sword Skill. For geniuses like them, more attractive are the advanced techniques.
Moreso, the True Martial Arts techniques are numerous beyond counting. Even successful cultivation of the Heart’s Eye cannot guarantee against being ambushed, because some methods can mask one’s aura and killing intent.
Like Freya Louise, for instance.
Moreover, there are some people who inherently have a weak presence. After cultivating corresponding methods, they can even erase traces of their own existence, making them perfect assassins.
So ultimately, it’s still oneself who’s most powerful, while Cultivation Methods are just aids.
The base of Erica Knowles is controlled by the military, barring ordinary people from getting close. Only after clearing several checks was Jack Clark and his group able to park their car outside the Service Hall.
As soon as they got out of the car, several youths, all dressed in dark red armor and carrying weapons, walked by. They emanated the formidable aura of the Third Layer.
When they entered the hall, Third Layer freshmen could be seen everywhere, each emanating a very strong aura, no less mighty than that of Marcus Lee or Justin Welan.
Marcus Lee was somewhat emotional, “I’m suddenly a bit glad that I participated in the trial. Otherwise, 1 might still be stuck in school, struggling to breakthrough to the mid-period of Second Layer.”
“Indeed,” Justin Welan also solemnly nodded in agreement.
In this place, geniuses who broke through to the Third Layer with the span of four months are everywhere – some of them even give off an aura that oppresses the both of them. These formidable auras were no less intense than Howard Lee’s.
Jack Clark said tersely, “Quit lamenting. Haven’t you thought that this is where a portion of the most talented Senior One freshmen from Eastern Summer have congregated?”
“So it means we are also one-in-ten-thousands elites, right?” Justin Welan’s eyes lit up.
Marcus Lee responded, “Of course, we’ve always been geniuses.”
Jack Clark shook his head, not bothering to engage these two fools who were always thinking of showing off.
However, they weren’t wrong. There are over 500 million people in Eastern Summer, and every year there are over two million Senior One freshmen. This year it is estimated that there will be several hundred thousand Cultivating Freshman.
Among them, First-class Universities have the highest rate of Foundation Establishment, followed by the second-class, and even less for third-class. The reason behind this, Jack Clark wasn’t clear.
And this trial has practically encompassed all the geniuses from first, second and third-tier martial arts high schools. Nearly five to six thousand Second Layer freshmen participated in the trial.
Over the span of two months, almost two thousand geniuses broke through to the Third Layer, with 70% of them being from First-Class Universities.
So, when Marcus Lee said he was one in ten thousand geniuses, he wasn’t wrong.
These pieces of data were gleaned by Jack Clark from chats with trial participants like Los Angeles Mark Massy during his free time.
With broadening exposure, Jack Clark realized his initial assessment of over one million cultivators, but no more, was an underestimate. Just in Eastern Summer alone, there are already several hundred thousand students cultivating at schools.
In addition to these are the graduates from previous years, martial cultivators trained en masse by the military, and cultivators hired by large groups from among the general public.
Even if the cultivation environment was extremely harsh ten years ago, no foundation-achievements method was available, and not even one in tens of students could cultivate, the accumulated number over time is still quite terrifying.
After all, in the fifty years of the New Era, he had never heard of any advanced cultivators growing old and dying.
This is just Eastern Summer, not counting the entire Human Alliance.
Thinking of this, Jack Clark felt an immense sense of an impending era of strife.
Of course, although most of those he estimated are low-level cultivators, high-end ones shouldn’t be too many as the path of Cultivation gets harder the deeper it goes.
Moreover, most of these cultivators are not in this ‘world’.
Soon, the trio completed their registration procedures and were each assigned a single room.
Leaving the Service Hall, Jack Clark handed the luggage and keys to Justin Welan. “Mr. Willard, help me bring the luggage to the room. 1 have some preparations to make.”
“Sure.”
Following the sign directions, Jack Clark took the elevator to the Underground Logistics Department of the base.
Why did they always like to build the Logistics Department in the basement of the base?
While muttering his complaints, Jack Clark stepped out of the elevator and saw the busy staff – about a dozen new students in armor were lining up..