Cultivating Civilization - Chapter 111

Wu Angrui agreed to come to more game nights whenever they wanted, while Wu Dianrong declared that he would accompany her anytime.

Bei Kangping hesitated and asked “How often do you plan to do this?”

Jack gave him a noncommittal shrug and answered “Every ten to fifteen days. Not too often.”

Bei Kangping’s eyes narrowed and he said “Make it fifteen.”

They arranged the next game and Tong Huakun escorted the two White River family leaders back to the town.

Her voice slipped into the house from the outside “You were so close, Bei Kangping. I’m sure that you’ll have more luck next time.”

At the same time, Wu Angrui departed with her maid and thanked him for the fun night.

He chuckled and returned his friends’ lost spirit stones back to them.

They all had a round of drinks before Jack switched to English and asked “Do you have anything to report?”

He didn’t want to ask anything earlier while the tribal members of the company surrounded them. They didn’t know the language yet, but they knew enough specific words and phrases to make it awkward.

Shi Furui started with “We had few arguments with White River family members, but it never went to anything big. Almost all stopped after we won competition, but I had to instruct some men to stop provoking.”

He stopped to think, then smacked his forehead and added “Shetan broke through to grade four. I added him to shooting exercises, but he still figuring out how to form Air Blast spell.”

Jack’s face spread into a smile and he made a toast to He Shetan, one of the former Gravediggers.

When Shi Furui finished his report, Kuang Bindun declared “I think that we can start teaching atomic theory to the first batch of recruits. They understand most of the words that I taught them, and we have some good depictions of meridians in the library’s scrolls. Added to the fact that they already saw how real meridians look like, they should start cultivating relatively soon.”

Jack’s face turned serious and he locked gazes with his friend to say “If you think so, then we’ll do it.” He looked at the rest of the group and continued “I will teach it and all of you will listen in. It might give you some additional insight into the technique after all this time.”

He had noticed that different people absorbed spirit energy at different rates while the quality of their control and spells varied.

Some of the Elders in the Sect used to differentiate the potential of the disciples and choose the ones they would teach by it. Elder Yu, on the other hand, just cared about results and didn’t discriminate.

Jack still didn’t know how to identify the potential of a person, but he wondered if they based it on the quality and quantity of the meridians someone had, or by something else.

He only cared if someone worked hard and about their personality, so he didn’t worry too much about talent and set it to the back of his mind.

After everyone nodded their head, Yin Ping said “Reading and writing classes going good. Will need a few more months to teach everyone.” He hesitated for a second before he asked “People not returning scrolls after long time. Can I punish?”

Jack hid his smile by nodding his head while he added “Don’t be too harsh.”

A dangerous gleam flashed in Yin Ping’s eyes and Jack felt a pang of guilt towards the poor souls that kept scrolls for too long.

Bai Maolong thought for a while before he declared “Training good. Almost know all sigils for Chaotic Hawk Assault.” and left it at that.

Jack gave him a serious nod and turned towards the last member of his inner circle.

Ma Ruiman’s face spread into a self-satisfied smile as he said “I made a few new friends from the White River family. They’re not too fond of their leaders, but they’re not strong enough to stand up to them. From what I found out, I don’t think that anyone except for Bei Kangping and Wu Dianrong knows where the two brothers went.”

Jack thought for a while on what this could mean. He appreciated Ma Ruiman’s effort in learning English. The thin young man knew just a little less than Kuang Bindun.

A few seconds later, he asked “Did you find out anything else?”

Ma Ruiman took a pause for effect. When everyone rolled their eyes at him, he said “Of course. The situation in the White River Outpost isn’t as stable as it appears from the outside. Currently, three of the founding families rule over the other two. The leaders of our group come from two of the three families, while the people I got to know come from the other two.”

A smile appeared on Jack’s face and he declared “Good job, Ruiman. Try to find why the rifts appeared among them and if we can use them.”

After everyone gave their reports, they had a few more drinks and went to their beds.

On the next morning, he visited old Long and watched with satisfaction when the old man’s eyes almost popped out while three metal balls floated above Jack’s palm.

The balls started rising up in the air and neared the ceiling. When they went for more than a meter away from him, the thread of spirit energy lost its effectiveness and the balls fell back down into his palm.

“How can you move them to such a distance already?” old Long asked and sat back down at the table.

Jack shrugged and joined him at the table before he said “It’s not that hard once you get the hang of it. I just have to keep the spirit energy running through the place in my head fast enough before it loses that real feeling when it exits my body. The more I get used to it, the faster it gets.”

Old Long’s brows furrowed and he asked “How much can you sense with it?”

Jack started floating the three metal balls above his palm and said “I can feel the shape and weight of the balls, and the space through which my spirit energy passes. It’s a little strange, like I’m touching it with my hand and mind at the same time.”

The old man poured himself a cup and downed it before he declared “You will have to start practicing the use of more threads at the same time, and controlling heavier objects. The first exercise will help you with your control, while the second one will train your strength.”

Jack imagined hauling a boulder behind him everywhere he went and chuckled. An instant later, he nodded and made himself comfortable so he could listen to the old man’s future plans.

When the time for the shooting practice came, he had everyone demonstrate their progress.

Everyone, except He Shetan, could fire off a metal ball by now. Their aim remained terrible, but they improved a lot. The best White River family members almost reached the skill level of the worst member of Jack’s inner circle.

He decided to start the next part of his teaching plan and introduced real volley fire tactics to the people of this strange world.

Back during the Endless Cycle Sect’s destruction, he gave quick instructions to the disciples of the Undying Flame Mountain on how to do it, but they fell apart after only a couple rounds of fire.

This time, he planned to teach everyone the proper way of doing it.

When Bei Kangping heard Jack’s explanation, his brows furrowed and he asked “How would this help us in a fight against other cultivators? Wouldn’t it be better to learn how to shoot while moving?”

Jack looked at him like he just saw an idiot and questioned “What kind of an opponent are you likely to meet?”

Bei Kangping didn’t need to think about it when he said “Either charging tribesmen or someone that tries to besiege or break through our city.”

Jack nodded his head and asked “Do you think that it would be wiser to meet the oncoming enemy with a charge of your own or just enact a calm retreat while you batter them with projectiles from a distance? Especially with the accuracy rate that your men have.”

Bei Kangping’s eyes widened and then started flitting around the practice field like he saw the clash happening in front of him. A few seconds later, he sighed and agreed that they need to learn this technique.

Jack smiled and started shouting for everyone to line up while he thought ‘Good, you’ll go old-school while we go modern.’

Ever since he traded with the White River family for his technique, he never meant to teach them anything but the few basic tactics that anyone could come up with if given some time to think.

After marching the group up and down the practice field in columns and rows for a couple hours, he ended the session and went to prepare for his evening lecture.

Once the English lesson ended and everyone had something to eat, Jack called the first group of recruits back to the company’s small square where they held their classes.

The Haechi Tribe recruits already went back to their homes, so only the eighteen original recruits, Tan Boli’s sons, and Zhu Lielei looked at him with excitement, while the Gravediggers stood on the margins of the square and observed their surroundings.

Jack placed the Light Orb to the side so that everyone could see him, switched to English, and declared “I will teach you the foundational theory for the company’s cultivation method today. If you don’t listen or remember well, it might prove disastrous for you in the future.”

When he saw that he had their undivided attention, he continued “We will have these classes every night from now until every last one of you learns our method. Feel free to ask me to clarify anything that doesn’t make sense to you.”

He gave them an excited smile and finished “Now, let’s begin with the wonderful world of chemistry.”

The lesson didn’t last long, but the follow-up questions continued well into the night. Even some of the Gravediggers chimed in and asked Jack for clarifications of some terms.

He felt drained once he finished answering all of the questions.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Wu Angrui’s maid standing in front of the workshop and staring at the square during the entire lecture, but he didn’t mind.

Even if she had a higher cultivation grade, he doubted that she could have learned English during the few days she listened to it from the sidelines.

Nevertheless, he decided to hold all future lectures near his distant lab.

‘Damn, I need to work on the Farsight spell too. There aren’t enough hours in the day.’ Jack complained to himself as he walked back home.

He managed to form the traditional version of the spell without much issue after help from Tong Huakun during their hunt, but he needed to know more about the sigils to make the changes he wanted.

When he lay down in his lathers, he thought ‘I’ll visit Yin Ping tomorrow to see if he has anything that can help.’ A second later, he snorted and added ‘Damn, in the end, I’ll have to lug a boulder around if I want free time.’

He fell asleep without noticing the presence of a figure that stood on the outside of his house.