The Growth of a Titan
Chapter 296- A Dead End

Chapter 296: Chapter 296- A Dead End

One Week Later...

One week had passed since Sol started his seclusion, though this couldn’t be called a true seclusion as he would leave the mountain to train his Martial Arts.

Below the mountain was an equally dense forest. Withing this dense forest, Sol was sitting at the edge of a clearing that spread out one hundred meters in front of him. Abdu was close by taking a nap, though he would occasionally open his eyes to observe Sol.

Sol had his eyes closed for about half an hour when they suddenly flew open. He then stood up, and the two bracelets around his wrists expanded before floating behind him.

Sol activated Total Eclipse, causing a dark aura to surround his body while his hair and pupils turned a reddish-black color.

Clenching his fist, Sol then used his Heavenly Domain Fist.

A giant projection of a black fist encapsulated Heaven and Earth. It radiated a domineering and forceful aura as it shot forward. The void trembled due to its power. The land in the surroundings wasn’t spared from destruction either as large chunks of rocks were raised from the ground, sending dust and small debris into the air.

The one-hundred-meter clearing in front of Sol increased to about one hundred and thirty meters.

The bracelets clamped back around Sol’s wrists before he sat down in the dust and debris, which hid his figure slightly.

He then closed his eyes and the image of that fist projection replayed over and over in his mind.

By the time Sol opened his eyes and stood up once again, the dust and debris had already settled down.

After standing, Sol formed three sets of seals with his fingers. The Wood Aether Energy in his acupoints moved through his twelve main meridians and towards his hands as he formed the seals.

A formless power slowly gathered around Sol’s fist. By the time he finished his last set of hand seals, this formless power resembled his Heavenly Domain Fist.

Sol gritted his teeth as he clenched his fist and threw out a punch.

Heaven and Earth were suddenly overshadowed by a large project of a white fist.

It was the Heavenly Domain Fist.

The earth shook and the void trembled.

However, something was different about this attack. It had all the outer appearance, but it lacked the power as well as the domineering and forcefulness the original had.

Even the power it had wasn’t one-third of the Heavenly Domain Fist Sol had just used, even though he hadn’t gone all out to perform that Heavenly Domain Fist before.

Seeing this, Sol was disappointed, but he didn’t hesitate to perform another set of hand seals before throwing out another punch.

This time the Wood Aether Energy in his body stayed still, rather it was the Fire Aether Energy in the surroundings that gathered and rushed forward towards the white fist projection. The white fist projection gained a crimson color as flames rolled off of it.

As this imitation of the Heavenly Domain Fist struck out, intense heat spread out in all directions.

This attack was more powerful than the one before, however, it was still nowhere near as powerful as the original Heavenly Domain Fist.

"Damn it."

Sol cursed as he scratched his head. He then plopped down onto the ground and groaned.

"What am I missing? I just don’t get it!"

Over the past few days, Sol decided he would create a Martial Skill based on the Innate Ability from his crescent moon bloodline.

In the morning he would exercise before pondering how to do this. Afterward, he would focus on his Master’s Runic Techniques, and then study some Alchemy before eventually cultivating right back until he restarted the next day.

That had been his routine for the past week. He only stopped to sleep for an hour or two, and snacked on some of the Sand Dragon meat that Mar-Dule’s great granduncle had given him.

However, as time went by Sol would slowly start allocating more and more time in the morning for his Martial Arts training. So much so it was spilling over into his other sessions, but he had to do this.

He realized it wasn’t so easy to convert an Innate Ability from his bloodline into a Martial Arts Technique he could use without taking off his bracelets.

First, he had to create the necessary hand seals and circulation path for his Aether Energy.

That in itself was difficult.

It felt like Sol had to translate one obscure and hard-to-learn language into another obscure and difficult language without losing the meaning of any of the words.

But that’s where looking through so many Martial Skills back in the Library of the Academy came in handy for Sol, and he was able to successfully create the necessary hand seals and circulation path.

However, it was after he created them did the real problem reared its ugly head.

The Martial Skill he created was indeed powerful, close to the level of a Spiritual Realm Martial Skill. But it was nowhere near as powerful as his original Heavenly Domain Fist.

If Sol wanted to use it in a fight going forward in the future, then he could forget about it.

So, he started to work out why the Martial Skill he created was so weak compared to the original.

The first thing he found out was that it was hollow. It lacked any of the profundities that the original had.

So, Sol thought if it was hollow then he should fill it up!

But to do that, he had to create a new set of hand seals to gather the Fire Aether Energy in the surroundings.

In the cultivation World, there were two methods of performing a Martial Skill.

The first is to use one’s Internal Aether Energy to supplement the Skill aspect, and the second is to forgo that and instead use the surrounding Aether Energy.

It was similar to a Spell; however, a Spell didn’t require a strong physique to perform.

Sol had done the first method by using the circulation method he created in conjunction with the hand seals to perform the Martial Skill, but now he chose the latter since his Wood Aether Energy might be the reason why the Martial Skill was hollow.

However, even after Sol had successfully created the hand seals to gather the Fire Aether Energy in the surroundings to fill this hollow version of his Heavenly Domain Fist, the problem was that it was still too weak!

Of course, compared to his first attempt it was way more powerful, and it could be considered an actual Spiritual Realm Martial Skill, albeit of the lowest level.

A Mortal Realm Cultivator creating a Spiritual Realm Martial Skill, if anyone in the cultivation world heard of this, they would completely dismiss the idea of it even being possible.

That was how brilliant Sol was, however, for him, it wasn’t enough.

He promised he was going to make it so his Immortal Cultivation could rival the feats his two bloodlines could accomplish, and he was going to stand by that.

Sol went into his thoughts to try and solve this issue. However, no matter what, he just couldn’t think of what to do to make this Martial Skill more powerful.

He had struck a dead end.

Sol sighed before he tried to calm his emotions. He was starting to get frustrated, but that couldn’t help at the moment.

"Okay, let’s come at this from a different angle. I’ve been putting off pondering on this concept, but how the heck can me forming some hand seals gather the Fire Aether Energy in the surroundings?"

Even though Sol had created these hand seals for this Martial Skill, he still didn’t know the answer to this question.

After he thought for a moment, Sol eventually concluded.

"It’s as if the hand seals met a prerequisite for the Fire Aether Energy to gather towards me. No..."

Sol’s eyes suddenly flashed.

"Rather, it’s like the hand seals are languages that successfully communicated to the Fire Aether Energy my desire to gather them."

Sol felt like he had grasped something profound, however, the moment this feeling appeared it disappeared; it was as if he was trying to grab a handful of clouds.

Sol tried to find that feeling once more, but he couldn’t. This made him sigh and return to being frustrated.

"So what? Even if I comprehended this concept the fact of the matter is if I fill this Martial Skill with Fire Aether Energy, it’s weaker than the original. And I bet it would be the same with the other Elements... *Haa!*"

Sol sighed once more, and his shoulder slumped.

"And the original didn’t even contain any Elemental Aether Energy so why I am even doing this? It contains... wait... what it truly contains is a domineering and forceful aura."

Sol suddenly grasped something, and he held onto it like his life depended on it.

_______________

Hey guys, don’t forget to vote with Golden Tickets and Power Stones to support the book! Also leave a review if you haven’t already!!