Demon Legacy

Time passed by as Kaden settled into his new routine. Once a day he would practice martial arts with Burcham and then go take his bath straight after.

After a month of following this routine, it was time for his second test. Burcham had decided to test his strength every two weeks. During the previous test, Kaden had a force of 62 kg. At that time, Burcham was sure that Kaden would reach the 2nd level two weeks later. Now it was time to put that to the test.

They both stood within the training room.

In front of them was a weird pressure plate recessed in the wall. The floor beneath the plate was a height adjustable platform. It was designed this way so that the children of the family would be able to reach no matter their height.

Above the plate was a screen that was currently blank. When someone punched the plate, the force of the punch would be calculated instantly and then shown on the screen.

To officially be in the 2nd level of the Body Tempering realm, Kaden would have to output a force of 100 kg or more with a standard punch.

Opposite the other realms in cultivation, the Body Tempering realm didn't have any exact methods of measuring. Practiced cultivators could sense other cultivators strength, but it wasn't always precise.

When Burcham looked at Kaden, he was pretty certain that he had already entered the 2nd level. But since he couldn't be sure it was still necessary to do a test.

Expensive scanners could also be used, but they weren't completely accurate either. The result being one level too high or too low was not uncommon.

Because of this, the force test was used. Each level would go up by a 100 kg. As long as you could meet that with a standard punch without the use of special techniques, it was considered adequate.

The reason it was so hard to measure was because the Body Tempering realm was purely related to one's Body Fitness. The later realms were based on Aether Essence which was easier to measure. All people had inborn Aether Essence, but it didn't have anything to do with one's achievements in the Body Tempering realm.

After making sure that the machine was set up, Burcham motioned for Kaden to go ahead.

Kaden promptly positioned himself square to the plate with a shoulder wide stance. He clenched his fists tight and focused himself.

Drawing in a deep breath, he tightened his core and pulled back his right shoulder. Like a bow pulled to its limits, he snapped back as he exhaled his breath, twisting his body.

"Whoosh!"

A sharp smack rang out as his fist struck against the plate.

The plate was covered with a dense rubber like material so it wasn't like hitting against metal, but it was still very solid. It had some give as it moved further back into the wall from the force of the punch.

A number was soon displayed on the screen above the plate, "104 kg."

He had exceeded the standard by a tiny bit and according to the Federation's metrics, he was officially considered to be at the 2nd level.

Burcham was excited, but he had also seen it coming so it wasn't too big a deal.

"Good. Tomorrow we will start weighted training. This is merely the beginning, you can't grow complacent with these results." Burcham lectured, but he also had a smile on his face. If those other families knew it had merely taken one month they would be green with envy.

The next day they truly began training with weights. It looked ridiculous but Burcham would make him strap a 1 kg plate to each of his hands and then punch.

He insisted that the resistance would train his body to output more force. The basic premise was that by punching with weights, he would develop the core muscles and stabilizers used in a punch.

It wasn't the most effective exercise and did more to increase speed than power, but it was only a small part of Kaden's training regimen.

Weights were also added to his other exercises. Squats, pull-ups and push-ups with a weight vest were the exercises that did the most for his strength development. The vest also allowed for easy adjustment. If the exercise needed to be made harder they could just load in another weight plate.

With weights the exercises hit his muscles a lot harder. He grew thankful for the medicinal bath that he would take everyday after training.

The bath was a wondrous blessing. It rejuvenated his entire body and melted his fatigue away. His muscles usually felt tired and worn-down after a long training session, but a quick bath in the medicinal liquid made him feel ready to go again.

He described it as a ticklish feeling to Sophie one time. But she wasn't idiotic enough to commit the same mistake again. She'd suffered twice and didn't want to experience the pain once more.