Chapter 129: The Next Percent

Joe settled into a routine that gave Ninefold Spear half an hour of concentrated practice each morning. He devoted another short session to Unbroken Step during the afternoon, usually after his principal cultivation work had ended. The arrangement left most of his time available for Innate research, medicinal studies, and the business matters that required his attention. His instructors considered the schedule insufficient for anyone hoping to achieve serious martial attainment before the Decennial. A complete inheritance required years of consistent practice, and even exceptionally talented students rarely reached Major without devoting much of their youth to the art.

Joe did not argue with their assessment. His progress depended on something they could neither observe nor reasonably anticipate.

Every meaningful session contributed far more experience than its duration suggested. When he practiced an unfamiliar thrust, his understanding of the movement deepened rapidly, and the corrections settled into his body without requiring the thousands of repetitions ordinary students performed. When an opponent exposed a weakness, his subsequent practice allowed him to examine the problem through an amount of accumulated experience that far exceeded the time he had spent training.

The first month produced rapid improvement in both inheritances. Ninefold Spear advanced through its introductory material, and Joe began applying its methods against opponents who changed distance and direction without warning. His instructor corrected several mistakes during the early sessions, particularly when Joe attempted to shorten his grip while advancing. Within days, those errors disappeared from his practice. Unbroken Step developed more slowly. Joe could perform the prescribed movements with exceptional accuracy, but the inheritance required him to recognize which position would remain favorable after an opponent's next attack. His instructor therefore arranged exercises against practitioners using different weapons, forcing him to adjust his decisions instead of relying on the same movements.

At the end of the first month, Joe examined the panel after an evening practice session.

Ninefold Spear — Lv.2 / Minor

Unbroken Step — Lv.1 / Beginner — 68%

He studied the entries with satisfaction. Ninefold's advancement had required little interruption to his cultivation schedule, and Unbroken Step was progressing steadily despite the additional judgment its methods demanded.

The following day, Joe returned to his usual routine. He had no reason to increase his training hours merely because the results were extraordinary. Consistency already provided more than enough progress, and his principal cultivation required substantial time for recovery and research. His Innate Transformation had reached 33.18 percent when he began the new training period. During the early months, he continued examining the connections between transformed and ordinary tissue, concentrating on regions where preparing supporting structures could improve the efficiency of larger conversions.

The method produced several successful sessions. Joe transformed smaller connective sections before expanding into the muscles and supporting tissues they served, allowing his Acquired Energy to move through prepared regions with less resistance. His recovery remained unusually dependable, and the transformed portions retained their progress without the instability described in several historical records. By the end of the second month, Innate Transformation had reached 36.22 percent.

The numerical increase was modest compared with his martial training, but Joe had begun identifying which regions could still be approached through his existing anatomical knowledge. He continued making progress wherever he understood the necessary sequence and set aside locations whose structure required further research.

During his recovery periods, Joe also practiced calligraphy. He had already developed excellent technical control, and the activity provided a welcome change from cultivation. His brushwork occasionally produced passages with an expressive quality that he found difficult to reproduce deliberately, but he did not allow the pursuit to interfere with his principal studies. His medicinal research continued through correspondence with the pharmaceutical workshop. The earlier investigation into inconsistent preparations had drawn his attention toward the harmful effects of residual attributed energy, and he occasionally reviewed samples and reports concerning unwanted reactions. Those observations contributed to his broader understanding of medicinal compatibility, although he had no immediate reason to begin another extensive project.

The third month brought a more noticeable change in Joe's public martial training. His Ninefold instructor had begun introducing exercises ordinarily reserved for students approaching Major. He expected Joe to struggle with several of the transitions, particularly those requiring a practitioner to recover from a disrupted attack without surrendering control of the exchange.

Joe initially encountered difficulties, but the instructor's corrections produced extraordinary results. A weakness exposed during one lesson often disappeared by the next, and movements that required years of accumulated familiarity began appearing naturally in Joe's practice.

The instructor eventually questioned his training history. After watching Joe recover from a difficult shortened-grip exchange, he lowered his practice spear and asked, "How long did you train with the spear before Marcus arranged these lessons?"

Joe gave the same answer he had provided during their introduction. "I practiced occasionally, but I hadn't studied a complete spear inheritance."

The instructor examined the weapon in Joe's hands. "I've trained students who began learning Ninefold as children. Several came from families that employed private instructors, and some had already spent years with the spear before I met them. Your progress resembles someone who has accumulated that experience elsewhere."

"My Foundation training helped considerably," Joe replied. "The movements became easier once I understood how the spear transferred force."

"Foundation explains why your body can execute the movements," the instructor said. "It doesn't explain how you've acquired so much familiarity with the weapon in three months. If you trained under another master, I would prefer to know which methods you've already learned."

Joe understood the suspicion but he didn't want to justify. His serious spear training had begun under the man's instruction, and he could not explain his talents without revealing secrets he intended to preserve. The instructor ended the conversation and continued the lesson, although he later raised the matter with Marcus.

Marcus had already examined Joe's previous records and knew that his martial development had repeatedly exceeded ordinary expectations. He saw little purpose in investigating the same question again.

"Teach him according to his present ability," Marcus instructed. "If he has surpassed the exercises you've prepared, arrange more demanding opponents. His progress is precisely why we're investing in his training."

The instructor accepted the direction, though his doubts remained. Joe welcomed the additional opponents. More demanding exchanges provided better opportunities to develop the practical understanding that Ninefold required, and his talent converted each successful lesson into a substantial improvement. Meanwhile, Mary arrived in Ashbourne under the escort Serena had arranged.

Joe had purchased a residence in the East District several weeks earlier. The house provided enough rooms for Mary and future family visitors, together with a private courtyard and space for his training. Edwin lived nearby, allowing Joe to maintain their friendship without continuing to occupy his guest room.

Mary settled into the house quickly. Serena introduced her to a music teacher who examined her playing and recommended a structured program of lessons, theory, and regular practice. Mary welcomed the opportunity, although she was less enthusiastic about the exercises her teacher assigned to correct her weaker habits.

Joe allowed her to arrange the ordinary details of her room and education with Serena's assistance. He established a personal allowance for discretionary purchases while paying the costs of her lessons and necessary equipment separately. Mary initially found Ashbourne's shops more tempting than she had anticipated, but living with Joe required her to manage her spending rather than ask for additional money whenever she wanted something. The household gradually developed a routine of its own. Joe continued training and studying, while Mary's lessons introduced visitors, music, and ordinary social activity that Edwin's guest room had never required him to accommodate.

By the fourth month, Ninefold Spear had begun approaching an attainment that even his instructor considered exceptional. The older man had reached Major after many years of training and understood how difficult it was to use the inheritance reliably against experienced opponents. Joe had not yet demonstrated every aspect of that standard, but the speed of his advancement had already surpassed any student the instructor had taught.

During one session, Joe faced a veteran spearman whose principal method involved collapsing distance and forcing his opponent into shortened-range combat. The man repeatedly entered past Joe's spearhead, attempting to control the shaft before Joe could recover.

Joe initially surrendered too much ground. The veteran exploited the opening and maintained pressure through several exchanges, forcing him to defend without establishing a favorable distance. The instructor identified the problem and demonstrated how to preserve the central position while shortening the grip.

Joe repeated the movement several times before returning to the exchange. The veteran attempted the same entry, but Joe maintained his ground and redirected the attack through the shaft. When the man adjusted, Joe recovered his spearhead and threatened his shoulder before another advance could develop. The veteran increased his pressure, using unfamiliar changes of direction and attacking through the shaft rather than the spearhead. Joe responded with increasingly reliable movements, correcting his position whenever an exchange revealed another weakness. By the end of the session, the veteran could no longer reproduce the opening that had initially troubled him.

The instructor watched the final exchanges without interrupting. Afterward, he examined Joe's stance and asked him to demonstrate several transitions again. Joe performed them accurately, but the older man remained unconvinced that such progress could have come from only a few months of instruction. That evening, Joe checked his panel.

Ninefold Spear — Lv.3 / Major

The advancement pleased him more than the earlier levels. Major represented a standard that even gifted martial artists often required ten years of continuous practice to reach. Joe had accomplished it within months while devoting only a small portion of each day to the inheritance. His accumulated experience had also begun changing the way he approached unfamiliar opponents. He could maintain Ninefold's techniques through complicated exchanges without consciously recalling their individual sequences, allowing him to concentrate on the opponent's intentions and available openings.

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Joe returned to training the following morning and continued his normal schedule. His instructor's attitude had changed considerably. The man could recognize Major-level technique because he had reached that attainment himself, but Joe's progression had exceeded the boundaries of what he considered possible. He continued questioning the claim that Joe had never received extensive spear instruction.

Joe did not attempt to convince him otherwise. Marcus was more concerned with the practical result. He arranged additional sparring partners from established martial families and began allowing Joe to participate in exchanges involving stronger Acquired practitioners.

The sessions provided an opportunity to develop his public reputation without exposing his private cultivation. Joe wanted the state's selection committee to recognize that his combat ability extended beyond what his Early Acquired realm suggested, particularly when his opponents possessed greater physical strength and deeper reserves of Acquired Energy. He did not intend to depend on favorable consideration during the Decennial. A guaranteed top-three finish required the ability to defeat strong candidates directly, and his developing spear mastery offered a means of doing so without revealing everything he possessed.

Unbroken Step also continued advancing. Its instructor had begun introducing increasingly complicated exercises, particularly those involving changes in terrain or opponents who deliberately manipulated Joe's movement.

Joe reached Minor during the fifth month and continued accumulating experience through short daily sessions. His Foundation allowed him to execute nearly any movement the inheritance demanded, but the art's broader application required him to recognize favorable positions across many different combat situations. His training therefore concentrated on unfamiliar opponents rather than repeating ordinary movement sequences. The instructor arranged exchanges against swordsmen, spearmen, staff practitioners, and physically stronger Acquired fighters, changing the available space whenever Joe became accustomed to a particular environment.

By the sixth month, Joe had become considerably more difficult to corner. He could preserve favorable positions while responding to opponents who attempted to restrict his movement, and his footwork increasingly allowed him to control the direction of an exchange before his weapon techniques came into play. His Innate Transformation crossed fifty percent during the same period.

The advancement occurred after Joe completed another successful sequence of transformations through the upper leg and hip. He had prepared the surrounding connections during several earlier sessions, allowing Acquired Energy to pass through the region without encountering the resistance that had previously interrupted his progress. Once the transformed structures settled, the panel displayed a result slightly above fifty percent.

Joe examined the number before returning to the historical records he had gathered from Montclair's archives. Several of the older texts described fifty percent transformation as the minimum threshold for attempting an Innate breakthrough. A practitioner who successfully consolidated the transformed regions could enter the Innate Realm without completing the remainder of the body. That achievement would be genuine Innate, not a lesser realm. For someone who intended to use Innate as preparation for Kindling, the additional transformation offered no inherent improvement to the Kindling result.

Joe found a historical account explaining why the Martial Ancestor had stopped at approximately fifty percent. His purpose had been to obtain the cultivation foundation required for Kindling, and advancing further would not have served that immediate objective. The situation was different for martial artists who intended to continue cultivating beyond Innate.

A separate commentary explained that Grandmaster required a more complete foundation. Practitioners who entered Innate below seventy-five percent transformation lacked the bodily preparation necessary for that subsequent breakthrough.

Joe examined the records carefully. The restriction gave ordinary martial artists a compelling reason to continue transforming their bodies long after becoming eligible for Innate. Those without Spiritual Roots had little incentive to abandon their future path merely to reach the next realm sooner. It also helped explain why the youngest reliably documented Innate breakthrough outside the Martial Ancestor's exceptional history had occurred at approximately forty years old.

Joe had already passed the minimum threshold, but he had no intention of consolidating his body yet. His ambition extended beyond Innate, and he wanted to preserve every opportunity for future advancement. Reaching Grandmaster before the Decennial remained an important personal objective, while the possibility of progressing farther made a complete foundation even more desirable. He continued examining the available research. The records became increasingly sparse beyond the seventy-five-percent requirement. Most successful practitioners had concentrated on reaching the minimum necessary for Grandmaster, and few texts discussed the possibility of transforming every remaining structure before consolidation.

Joe encountered particular difficulties with the nervous system, marrow, and several complicated internal organs. The existing manuals described successful outcomes in broad terms but rarely explained the precise sequence required to transform those regions without disturbing their connections to surrounding tissue. He could identify several possible approaches, but the available evidence was insufficient to determine which method would work safely.

The limitation frustrated him. Whenever he established a valid process, his transformation advanced rapidly, and the progress remained secure. Without a reliable method, however, repeating the same attempt offered little benefit. He gradually reduced the time devoted to uncertain experiments and concentrated on studying anatomical records, medical observations, and accounts left by earlier martial practitioners. His transformation continued advancing through regions he understood, but the rate slowed as the remaining work became increasingly dependent on information the archives did not provide. By the eighth month, his principal progress came from spear and movement training.

Ninefold had advanced considerably beyond Major. Joe's instructor could still arrange challenging opponents and identify tactical mistakes, but he increasingly struggled to provide technical corrections. Several movements Joe performed naturally were beyond the man's personal attainment, making it difficult for him to judge their full significance.

The instructor eventually stopped attempting to determine whether Joe had reached Complete. He had never achieved that level himself, and he knew too little about it to offer a reliable assessment. His reports to Marcus therefore concentrated on observable results.

Joe could defeat or control practitioners with considerably more years of spear experience. He adapted rapidly to unfamiliar attacks and maintained the inheritance through prolonged exchanges. His technical ability had become exceptional enough that the instructor recommended exposing him to stronger opponents rather than continuing ordinary instruction.

Marcus arranged additional matches within Montclair's training network. The results strengthened Joe's position among the Decennial candidates. He had not publicly advanced beyond Early Acquired, but his spear technique and movement allowed him to contest opponents whose cultivation should have provided a substantial advantage. Unbroken Step reached Major during the same period.

Joe confirmed the advancement privately after a demanding session involving several different opponents and restricted movement areas.

Unbroken Step — Lv.3 / Major

The result pleased him. Movement had required greater judgment than Ninefold, and its techniques remained applicable regardless of the weapon he carried. He could now establish favorable positions consistently against opponents whose movements would previously have forced him to surrender ground. The combination substantially improved his combat ability, particularly when he needed to avoid revealing the greater strength available through his private cultivation.

During the ninth month, Joe began concentrating his spear practice on the remaining weaknesses within Ninefold. His instructor could no longer explain every movement, but the demanding exchanges Marcus arranged continued exposing situations where Joe's decisions required improvement.

Joe devoted his private sessions to those problems rather than repeating techniques he had already mastered. He practiced recovery after unsuccessful attacks, transitions between long and shortened grips, and the preservation of distance when opponents attempted to control his shaft. Each meaningful correction produced extraordinary progress, and he gradually eliminated the remaining weaknesses within the inheritance. Near the end of the tenth month, Joe completed another private session and examined his panel.

Ninefold Spear — Lv.4 / Complete

The advancement marked another extraordinary achievement. Joe had acquired the equivalent of decades of spear experience within ten months of regular practice, despite devoting much of his time to other pursuits. He could now employ the inheritance as a complete combat system, maintaining its techniques through difficult exchanges without losing their structure. Perfection remained ahead, but he had already advanced beyond the personal attainment of most instructors available in Ashbourne.

Joe examined the entry with satisfaction before dismissing the panel. His training had produced precisely the advantage he wanted for the Decennial, and he could continue refining Ninefold without remaining under constant supervision. Unbroken Step also showed substantial progress within Major, although Joe had not yet reached Complete. He intended to continue practicing it alongside the spear, allowing both inheritances to develop through the exchanges he would encounter during his travels. His Innate research had advanced more slowly. By the end of the ten-month period, his panel displayed:

Innate Transformation — 55.80%

Joe studied the result without disappointment. He had already established that his talents could transform suitable tissue with extraordinary efficiency, and the remaining difficulty came from the absence of reliable guidance. His anatomical notes contained several unresolved questions concerning the nervous system, marrow, and the integration of complicated internal structures. He could not confidently determine how to proceed through those regions using the methods described in existing records. He had also begun suspecting that completing the entire transformation might offer benefits beyond the minimum requirements for Grandmaster, although he had found no reliable account confirming that possibility. Most historical practitioners had been fortunate merely to reach the ordinary Innate threshold, leaving little incentive for them to investigate a completely transformed body.

Joe had no intention of abandoning the pursuit merely because previous records offered little guidance. He would continue studying the problem and use his talents whenever he discovered a valid method. For now, the pause in cultivation allowed him to devote more attention to martial training and his family.

Serena had already prepared the journey to Blackwood. The arrangements had been postponed until Joe completed the training period, and Marcus agreed that continued daily instruction was no longer necessary. Joe possessed authorized copies of the inheritances he had studied, while his instructors remained available for further consultation after his return.

Marcus also arranged for several stronger martial practitioners to exchange moves with Joe before the next stage of state selection. He expected Joe's developing spear mastery to improve his chances considerably and wanted that progress to continue even during his absence.

Serena organized the travel papers, escort, and necessary correspondence. She would accompany Joe and handle any administrative matters that arose in Blackwood, allowing him to spend time with his family without devoting the visit to official meetings.

Mary remained in Ashbourne. Her music lessons had become an established part of her routine, and Joe saw no reason to interrupt them with another lengthy journey. Edwin agreed to oversee the household during his absence, while Serena arranged for the ordinary administrative work to continue through her assistants.

Joe wrote to his parents confirming that he would finally return. He had already arranged to spend several weeks in Blackwood, and his training would continue privately throughout the visit. They departed twelve days later with two Montclair guards and the equipment Joe required for cultivation and martial practice. The journey proceeded without serious difficulty. Joe reviewed his training notes during the carriage rides and practiced whenever the caravan stopped at suitable locations. His spear technique continued improving, although he did not attempt another formal assessment during the journey.

After several weeks on the road, the familiar approaches to Blackwood finally came into view. Joe had left the town as a promising young martial artist seeking opportunities in the state capital. He returned with a complete spear inheritance, Major attainment in an advanced movement art, and a partially transformed body that placed him far beyond his public cultivation.

None of those achievements had required him to abandon his ordinary responsibilities or devote every waking hour to martial training. His talents had allowed him to accumulate extraordinary progress while continuing his research, businesses, and personal studies.

As the carriage approached the town, Serena reviewed the arrival arrangements and informed Joe that Simon had already received notice of their expected arrival. Joe looked toward the buildings ahead and recognized several streets he had once walked regularly. He had remained away longer than intended, but the coming weeks would give him time to see his family properly before returning to the capital for the next stage of Decennial preparation.