「Five days later.」
「January 6, Year 226 of the Galactic Calendar.」
At dawn, the sky was just beginning to pale. Outside the old building's window, the cold wind was still biting.
"Ugh…" The moment before the alarm's jarring buzz could erupt, Li Wen's eyes shot open, and he reflexively slapped it off.
The bedroom fell silent once more. Only the steady beat of his heart and the soft, subtle sounds of his bones stretching as he moved reminded him that a new day had begun.
With a flicker of thought, a familiar, pale blue screen materialized deep within his consciousness:
[Name: Li Wen]
[Age: 18]
[Profession: Scholar Lv. 2 (188/200)]
[Realm: Unranked (Level 6.1)]
[Skills: Swordsmanship · Advanced (Major Achievement 99/100)]
[Cultivation Technique: Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill (Minor Achievement 30/100)]
Five days had slipped by, spent pushing himself to a near-frenzied limit.
The stat for his physical body level stubbornly remained at "6.1," but Li Wen could clearly feel the power within him slowly and steadily creeping toward "6.2." Every circulation of his qi and blood brought a subtle sense of replenishment.
His Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill had benefited from his solidified understanding of the Minor Achievement realm. Since breaking through the entry level, he had pushed it all the way to 30 points. The increased efficiency provided tangible returns on his cultivation efforts.
But his fastest progress was, without a doubt, his Scholar experience—a reflection of his core potential. At 188/200, he was just a stone's throw from the 200-point threshold for a level-up.
'Perhaps today will bring two happy occasions.'
'Scholar will advance to Lv. 3, and I'll shatter the bottleneck to perfecting my swordsmanship—the one that's plagued me for five days, a barrier that seems as thin as a cicada's wing yet is harder than tempered steel.'
An indescribable heat rose in his chest, a mixture of fierce anticipation and resolve. Li Wen got up swiftly, his movements quick and precise as he dressed.
The splash of cold water on his face brought a moment of sharp clarity. In the living room, the familiar, empty, purple-brown potion box sat quietly on the table. Tucked under its edge was a note in his mother's elegant script: "A new day. You can do it! —Mom."
Warmth flooded his heart. He carefully tucked the note away, devoured the breakfast his mother had kept warm for him in a few quick bites, and slung his worn but sturdy canvas bookbag over his shoulder. He then plunged into the winter wind, his destination—Bluestone Third Middle School.
...
In the academic classroom for Year 3, Class (21), history was in session.
On the podium, the history teacher, a man approaching fifty, adjusted his reading glasses. His voice carried a resonance that spoke of his years, yet it couldn't conceal his serious tone.
"...Today's lesson will be a review centered on the origin of the New Martial era. This topic is on the exam every single year! You must all commit it to memory, burn it into your very bones!"
He pointed to the screen behind him, where a massive timeline was marked with key dates.
"...Before Year One of the Galactic Calendar, there was the long Dark Era. Human civilization once struggled in a cosmic desert, a wasteland devoid of Spiritual Energy."
"Then, 226 years ago, as our Tianhe System orbited its supercluster, it finally left the Spiritual Energy-barren zone and entered a 'low-concentration Spiritual Energy belt' in the neighboring Star Domain—this was the landmark event known as the 'Spiritual Energy Tide'!"
The teacher's voice suddenly rose in pitch. "It was this great and perilous turning point that heralded the dawn of the return of Spiritual Energy! Humanity's potential in the Martial Dao, suppressed for a thousand years, could finally be unleashed…"
He paused, a heavy look passing through his eyes. "But this was also the beginning of a catastrophe! The savage speed at which the Demon Beasts absorbed and converted Spiritual Energy far surpassed that of our fragile physical bodies!
"They experienced the terrifying 'Awakening Tide' before we did, undergoing a much more rapid metamorphosis! What we lost was not just the tranquility of the old era, but the very lands that countless of our fellow people relied upon to survive…"
The history teacher explained everything in meticulous detail, methodically laying out the tragic grandeur and opportunities of the era.
However, the response from the class was sparse. In a class of more than forty students, fewer than half were truly listening with rapt attention.
The minds of the martial-track students had already drifted to their afternoon Martial Dao class and the final Martial Dao test, now only three days away.
Even the academic-track students, like Wei Wu, largely treated history as a collection of dry facts to be memorized, rather than the weighty memory of a civilization.
The teacher on the podium seemed long accustomed to this sight. He showed no anger, merely letting an imperceptible sigh flash in his eyes.
In the grand scheme of the Martial Dao college entrance exams, history's weight was admittedly too small to capture the interest of most hot-blooded youths who dreamed of shattering the heavens with their martial prowess.
[You have studied diligently for ten minutes. Scholar Experience +1]
[Profession: Scholar Lv. 2 (199→200/200)]
[Leveling up...]
[Profession: Scholar Lv. 3 (0/400)]
Just as Li Wen was once again immersed in his books, silently reviewing the material as the teacher spoke, a notification popped up on his panel without any warning.
An intangible ripple instantly swept through his sea of consciousness.
HUMMM!
A cooling sensation, far more intense and concentrated than when he'd gone from Lv. 1 to Lv. 2, rushed through him. It felt like a mountain stream in early spring, suddenly thawed and carving a path through the canyons of his mind.
It was a strange sensation, as if his mind were being thoroughly cleansed, expanded, and optimized. A dusty crystal, now polished bright. The sluggishness of his thoughts dissolved, and the entire world instantly became sharper and more vivid.
'Scholar Lv. 3—achieved!'
"Huuuh…" Li Wen couldn't stop an almost inaudible exhale from escaping his lips. A brilliant light flashed in his eyes for a split second before he quickly concealed it.
He quickly glanced up at the digital clock on the front wall—thirty-seven minutes left until class was over.
Without the slightest hesitation, with an almost sacred solemnity, Li Wen's mind raced. 'Activate—[Absolute Focus]!'
The moment the thought took shape, an intangible power, more concentrated and complete than ever before, enveloped him. The activation of the Lv. 3 [Absolute Focus] was virtually seamless and undetectable.
For Li Wen, it felt as if all irrelevant colors and sounds had suddenly faded from the world around him.