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The effect was immediate...

As soon as more information about the Green Lotus Core Technique was released, everybody moved.

The World System gave it to everybody for free, which is its way of heavily endorsing it. And since it’s free, of course some people will try it out.

Soon, at least 90% of the population have tried it out. And despite differences, the results were as stated by the world system. It was universal indeed. It worked just as it was advertised.

And although it’s not much at first, the fact that it had that much effect for such and easy and low-commitment kind of martial art was already miraculous on its own.

Additionally, it rewards long term commitment. It was revealed that there’s a possibility of breeding a Forged Martial Physique by simply practicing this technique consistently over a long period of time.

There’s no need for formulas, no need to collect rare ingredients, no competing or overly strict requirements either. Just consistency is all they need, and there’s a high chance they’d achieve it.

And this doesn’t even mention the technique’s long term benefit to the human civilization as a whole if the majority of its population were to practice it consistently.

At this point, regardless of who it was that’s asked, they are convinced why this entry raised so much commotion. In everybody’s mind, this technique fully deserved to be at the #5 spot on the Martial Arts list.

Obviously, this caused a frenzy in the entire human population.

Pretty much all news outlets were fervently discussing this technique. They invited experts all over the world to discuss the technique’s effectiveness, they pondered about theories, expressed opinions, etc.

It’s even worse online. The Green Lotus Core Technique dominated the Trending List. It was tagged at least millions of times already, and the day hasn’t even ended yet.

What made people crazy was that the five Martial Gods of the GMU gave the technique five-star reviews, a fact that cannot be hidden from the world. After verifying the source, it was indeed legit. The accounts used were the official ones and the Martial Gods themselves wrote their reviews personally.

What does this mean? It means that they too have tried the technique and confirmed its legitimacy. This isn’t an affront to the legitmacy of the World System’s appraisal, of course. But it’s different when people of their status joined the hype and pretty much confirmed that it’s real.

There’s much more weight behind their words. That’s all.

It’s thanks to their actions that those who were trying to stop the momentum and the spread of the technique were stifled before they could even start.

With the Martial Gods’ guarantee, everybody else’s ’opinions’ became secondary. Any discourse or attempts of them to smear the technique’s reputation will be viewed under a magnifying glass, a pressure that most of them are unable to handle.

Thanks to this, the technique practically reach everybody and will now truly replace the warm up and cooldown stretches of humanity’s martial arts from this day onwards.

**

While the world was going crazy with the new trend and the frenzy about the Green Lotus Core Technique, the Banished Arms Clan also entered a cultivation frenzy.

It wasn’t just because of the Green Lotus Core Technique. Of course, everybody in the clan is already practicing that and are now feeling the results.

The reason behind the frenzy was because, in addition to the Green Lotus Core Technique, the new version of Pain Demon Art — the Pain Demon Art 1.0, had been sent to them as well.

This one’s much better compared to the previous one. While it didn’t completely got rid of the forced agony upon the practitioner, it contains more tricks, tips, and exercises to increase the efficiency of practice. It also contains safeguards that prevents them from going too far, risking injuries upon themselves.

More importantly, the Pain Demon Art 1.0 makes the pain amplification effect a timed status effect instead of one hit wonder. It starts at 5 seconds and extends up to 30 seconds at perfection mastery stage.

That’s a world of a difference for the clan. And everybodya agreed that this new version was a more proper martial arts inheritance for a clan with a long history such as them.

And with the assistance and guarantee that the Green Lotus Core Technique added to the mix, the Banished Arms Clan doesn’t have to dance barefooted at the edge of life and death anymore.

With these two techniques combined, the clan should enter a period of growth, one that will allow even the nearly wilted ones to regain some of their youthful vitality as well.

As for the one who’s responsible for all the crazy things that’s happening to world? Well, he’s up to his usual routine.

He already mastered the Pain Demon Art 1.0, way ahead of everybody else of course since he’s the one who created it. And let’s not mention the Green Lotus Core Technique, which was improved with the addition of his Green Lotus Core Martial Physique.

Although there were no visible signs or effects around him, Ren’s vitality practically soared. He could afford to be more reckless, he could push his body more, demand more in his practice, and squeeze more potential out of his body without being afraid of damaging his foundation because of his blessings.

Now, his main concern is to learn more martial art that could provide more ’oomph’ behind his attacks. He needs one that will allow him to utilize and refine his raw strength into a controlled one, which will amplify his power output.

He’s only a stage away from being allowed to explore dungeons. Months will pass by in his practice, if he doesn’t start now, he’d fall off.

That’s why he thinks that it’s about time for him to start practicing using Mortal Grade Martial Arts.

So while everybody was practicing the Green Lotus Technique and learning the Pain Demon Art 1.0, Ren was at the 4th floor of the clan’s Martial Hall, flipping through pages of Mortal Grade Martial Arts.

**

Somewhere south of the Letter Kingdom, near its border where only a river seperates it from it’s neighbor kingdom, was D City, also known as the Desolate City.

It’s one of the poorer cities in the Letter Kingdom, certainly not the worse, but not the best amongst the worst either. Just right there in the middle, for better or for worse.

The reason behind the poverty of the Desolate City wasn’t because the Royal Family or the GMU’s deliberate supression of the city. If anything, Desolate City was, once upon a time, the jewel of the Letter Kingdom. It’s prosperity even rivalled the Central City, it even surpassed it at some point.

With such rich history like that, even after accidents, how can the kingdom or the GMU bare to mistreat them? At most, they’d honor the city’s history and won’t make their lives too difficult even if their results weren’t too impressive.

It’s hard to point fingers on who’s truly at fault here. But according to he consensus, what goes up must come down at some point. The Desolte City rose above everybody else in the kingdom before. They said that it simply had exhausted its luck and are now suffering the consequences of that.

Of course, those who lived in this city, especially those will old and profound roots tied to the long history of this place, hasn’t completely given up yet.

They are doing their best to revive the city and return it to it’s old glory, one that could compete with the prosperity of thr Central City or even the Royal City.

One of such families were Carmichael Martial Family.

The Carmichael Martial Family was one of the ancient martial families that war born and raised in the Desolate City. They were there since the beginning, they were there when the Desolate City rose to prominence, and more importantly, they remained rooted here even after the city’s fall from grace and nobility.

This family was practically tied to this city, and there’s probably nothing that could sever that connection.

However, this doesn’t mean that the Carmichael Family owns this city. Oh, no. Not by a long shot.

They’re not the only ancient martial family that’s tied to this city. There were others too. Two, to be exact. One was the Heartveil Martial Family, and the other was the Regrave Martial Family.

These three families are in some sort of an alliance. One that has been forged in some distant past but still takes effect to this day. The details of the alliance are private, but it’s clear that there’s coexistence and mutual protection involved.

However, if we’re talking about the current state of these three martual families, everybody who knew about them will most likely say that the Carmichael Martial Family was currently at a massive lead.

And it’s all because of one person — a young lady named Celestine Aria Carmichael. Aria, for short.

Why was she so important? Well, it’s because she was born with something called the Violet Gold Saint Martial Body - a Sacred Grade Martial Physique, second only to the Divine Grade Martial Physique which is the highest grade there.

If Ren was here, he would recognize her. After all she’s the leading lady of this whole story.