Familiar memories flooded Li Wen's mind at the sight of the panel.
'Isn't this the panel from that game I used to play?'
In the game, every player could choose a class.
Different classes possessed different core skills.
With a thought, Li Wen focused his attention on the [Class] column.
Soon, rows of information on various classes appeared before his eyes.
[Scholar: Active Skill (Absolute Focus), Passive Skill (Permanent Certification)]
[Martial Artist: Active Skill (…), Passive Skill (…)]
…
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Wen chose [Scholar].
[Do you wish to select "Scholar" as your class?]
[Confirm!]
As a loyal fan who had played the game until its servers shut down, no one knew better than him how invincible this class became in the late game.
That passive skill alone, Permanent Certification, put it in a league of its own, far beyond any other class.
Its only drawback was that it was significantly weaker than other classes in the early stages.
But that was in the game.
Now, in this world of high-level martial arts, the Scholar was just as overpowered in the early game.
[Name: Li Wen]
[Age: Eighteen]
[Class: Scholar LV1 (0/100)]
[Loading…]
…
After glancing at the panel again, Li Wen closed it with a thought, took a deep breath, and blew out the burning candle in front of him.
As wisps of white smoke drifted up, the living room lights flicked on.
The family of three gathered around and began to enjoy the cake.
…
"Mom, Dad, I'm going back to my room to cultivate." The eighteen years they had spent together were not diluted by his merged memories. Li Wen still saw them as his parents.
In fact, he now understood even more profoundly how great their love for him was.
"Okay, go on. Your dad and I can clean up," his mother, Wang Juan, said with a smiling nod.
Gazing at Li Wen's gaunt figure, Wang Juan's eyes filled with heartache.
She had witnessed Li Wen's diligence firsthand. Although his aptitude for the Martial Dao wasn't the best, she knew that if they could provide him with the same resources as a normal family, getting into a Martial Dao university wouldn't be difficult.
But she and Li Wen's father, Li Hong, were just ordinary people at the bottom rungs of society. The only way they could earn money was through blood and sweat.
After covering living expenses, they had barely any money left over each month, certainly not enough to buy the supplements Li Wen needed for his cultivation.
As a result, ever since Li Wen began cultivating, he had never been robust and had always remained gaunt.
Cultivation is a leap between life's strata, a process that consumes an immense amount of qi and blood—far more than ordinary food can replenish.
Most people have two ways to replenish their qi and blood.
One is by taking qi and blood supplements; the other is by eating the meat of Demon Beasts, which is rich in qi and blood.
The most common qi and blood supplements on the market are the various grades of Qi and Blood Potions developed by the Galaxy Alliance.
The Galaxy Alliance, composed of five major planets, serves as humanity's supreme command.
The price of Qi and Blood Potions increases exponentially with their grade.
The lowest, a Grade-1 Qi and Blood Potion, costs one hundred Galaxy Coins per vial.
One Galaxy Coin is equivalent to about five Huaxia Coins.
That means a single Grade-1 Qi and Blood Potion costs five hundred Huaxia Coins.
In Li Wen's class, most students consumed anywhere from five to ten vials a month.
He, in a month, only consumed three.
Any more than that, and his family couldn't bear the cost.
After all, sending him to Bluestone Third Middle School had already depleted nearly all of their family's savings.
Back in his room, Li Wen shut the door, slipped off his sandals, and stood barefoot on a mat.
He bent his knees slightly, slowly sinking into a stance.
His hands formed various gestures, holding a bizarre posture.
He closed his eyes, focused his will, and began to practice the specific breathing patterns.
A Cultivation Technique is the foundation for everyone who walks the Martial Dao.
It is precisely through these Cultivation Techniques that humans continuously elevate the level of their physical bodies.
The technique Li Wen cultivated was the Gold Attribute Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill, one of the five foundational Cultivation Techniques.
Though called a Cultivation Technique, it was actually more like an esoteric form of stance training.
This technique specialized in slaughter, pursuing ultimate sharpness and the power to destroy anything. Among the five foundational cultivation techniques, it was renowned for its combat power.
It was also the most commonly practiced of the foundational techniques, capable of gradually molding a person's body into a killing machine.
INHALE… EXHALE… Li Wen's chest rose and fell steadily with his breathing.
He could clearly feel the qi and blood throughout his body rapidly circulating under the guidance of the Cultivation Technique, stimulating each and every muscle.
However, because his understanding of the Cultivation Technique was so poor, most of this qi and blood was ineffective, simply dissipating and going to waste.
Even so, this was still the time of day Li Wen enjoyed most.
The sensation of his body growing stronger, bit by bit, was intoxicating.
Unfortunately, the good feeling didn't last. In less than ten minutes, Li Wen was drenched in sweat, his face bright red.
HUUUFF—
Exhaling a large cloud of hot air, Li Wen could no longer maintain the standard posture. He propped his hands on his knees, bending over on the mat and gasping for air.
His comprehension had always been poor, which was why his understanding of the Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill remained shallow, making it difficult for him to persevere for long.
However, all of that would soon be a thing of the past.
Never mind the fact that he had now activated the [Scholar] class and obtained its two core skills, Absolute Focus and Permanent Certification.
Just from the fusion of his two souls, Li Wen could vaguely feel his mind was much sharper now.
The old feeling of mental sluggishness was completely gone.
Thinking about it now, his previously poor comprehension was likely the result of a conflict between his two souls, which had not yet fully fused.
'Let's try Absolute Focus. I wonder what it feels like to use in reality.' After he had rested, Li Wen once again assumed the posture from before.
But this time, he didn't rely on his own power. Instead, he activated the Scholar's active skill.
'Activate!—[Absolute Focus]!' With a thought, Li Wen activated the skill.
In an instant, all the ambient noise vanished from his hearing.
Li Wen's eyes changed in a flash. His previously weary eyes were instantly filled with concentration.
Furthermore, his movements underwent numerous subtle micro-adjustments. The changes were small, but they created an entirely new impression.
This was the enhanced physical control granted by Absolute Focus!
If Li Wen had been paying attention to his internal condition at that moment, he would have been shocked.
The flow of qi and blood within him was more than twice as smooth, and the stimulation to his muscles had likewise multiplied.
Even more remarkably, the consumption of qi and blood was far lower than when Li Wen had been actively circulating the Cultivation Technique on his own.
The overall efficiency was several times greater.
In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed.
Li Wen suddenly dropped out of the Absolute Focus state.
'The improvement is much faster, but the drain on my qi and blood has also multiplied.' As he came to his senses, Li Wen immediately felt an emptiness inside him.
His face was deathly pale, a classic sign of qi and blood depletion.
'Good thing I still have one vial of Grade-1 Qi and Blood Potion left, or I'd have to crawl to school tomorrow.' Taking unsteady steps, Li Wen struggled toward the desk beside his bed.
He strained to pull open the top drawer, revealing a single vial of purplish-brown Qi and Blood Potion.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the Qi and Blood Potion, bit the stopper off with his teeth, and poured the contents into his mouth.
GULP… GULP…
The slightly coppery, sweet liquid slid down his throat.
A scorching heat quickly radiated out from his Dantian, spreading through his limbs and permeating his entire body.
The potion's essence, which would normally have taken several days to be fully absorbed, was now being greedily devoured by every cell in his body.
The faster it was consumed, the faster his strength grew.
Li Wen could distinctly feel his body growing continuously stronger.