Chapter Seventeen: The Terrifying Skill Advancement (Please Continue Reading)
The semicircular hut rumbled loudly, and the once gentle light turned unbearably dazzling. Li Xia closed his eyes and shielded his face with his hand, yet even so, he still saw a blinding white glow.
Gradually, the light faded. Li Xia sniffed curiously; at some unknown moment, a moist air tinged with the scent of earth and fresh vegetation lingered at his nostrils.
He slowly opened his eyes, but the world before him had changed drastically.
The small wooden cabin of Tanjiro Kamado stood right in front of him. The sunlight was perfect, filtering through the leaves to scatter delicate patterns of light on the ground.
The breeze gently swept across the grass, stirring a wave of green.
“Are you my student?”
Li Xia turned abruptly and saw Tanjiro Kamado standing behind him. Compared to before, he seemed like a different person entirely.
His originally gaunt cheeks had filled out, and his stooped posture had straightened.
This was Tanjiro after the removal of his debuffs!
Li Xia tried to converse with Tanjiro but found that he hadn’t been granted much intelligence, only able to give simple replies.
Hmm… perhaps the Hall of Worthless was conserving resources.
Since reminiscing was impossible, he decided to focus on studying…
Wait, studying? Li Xia was suddenly alarmed. No, why did I have to study?
Wasn’t skill improvement just a matter of clicking and instantly leveling up? Did I really have to learn it myself?
An ominous feeling rose in Li Xia’s heart, and very soon, that feeling proved true.
The so-called resource saving was actually to prevent him from getting distracted by setting simple intelligence.
Whenever he lost focus, Tanjiro immediately stood up:
“Oh? It seems you’ve made some progress. Then let’s give it a try.”
Drawing a wooden sword, he prepared to spar. After getting beaten badly, he would just shake his head.
The worst part was that time inside seemed to stretch endlessly; he couldn’t tell how long had passed by sunrise or sunset.
This prison-like torment was enough to drive anyone mad.
“Breathe! Pay attention to the flow and connection between breaths!”
“Feel it deeply; sense every movement!”
If possible, Li Xia would never choose such a method to improve skills again. Never!
...
[Detection: The first sovereign’s current unit time load exceeds mental endurance limit; related learning memories will be temporarily blurred.]
...
Is it already over? Li Xia rubbed his neck awkwardly, feeling extremely exhausted.
This drained sensation was like pulling an all-nighter followed by a whole week of advanced calculus.
It seemed... very simple? Just a click and it’s done.
The Hall of Worthless was truly miraculous…
Li Xia glanced at his status panel. For some reason, when he saw the words “breath,” he instinctively gagged.
His body tensed, and he naturally switched into the Sun Breathing style, warily scanning his surroundings.
After a while, he realized what was happening and scratched his head in confusion: a side effect of skill enhancement?
[This is a normal reaction to rapid skill proficiency improvement over a short period; no need for concern, sovereign.]
Indeed, it was a normal reaction. Li Xia relaxed and endured the nausea as he read through his skill panel.
[Sun Breathing]: Mastery (Level 5: 0%)
Skill cost: consumes 2% stamina per second
Skill effect: During activation of breath, strength is increased by 200%, dexterity by 140%, and perception and reflexes are greatly enhanced.
From Novice (Level 2) to Mastery (Level 5), he had skipped the intermediate stages of Slight Proficiency (Level 3) and Skilled (Level 4).
The effect was explosively good. Although stamina consumption increased, it was only because his body hadn’t caught up yet.
If his physical conditioning reached a certain level, he could try to maintain the fully focused “Constant” state of Sun Breathing.
No need to adjust breathing; he could instantly unleash immense power.
In short, he had made a huge gain!
Best of all, as a sovereign, all this was completely... free!!!
No cost whatsoever!
Li Xia clenched his fist, overwhelmed with excitement. One click had boosted him two levels, now at Mastery.
If he clicked more, couldn’t he directly push Sun Breathing to the highest proficiency, Transcendent Saint (Level 10)?
His finger decisively pressed the plus sign again.
[Dear sovereign, you have reached your physiological limit and cannot continue to improve skills. Please rest before proceeding.]
So there was a cooldown period?
No matter. Using it occasionally, his skills would improve rapidly!
Li Xia tried to invigorate himself, but the fatigue in his body and mind only grew stronger. He longed to collapse and sleep immediately.
He looked around. The desolate surroundings clearly weren’t a place for rest.
“Hall, can you create a comfortable room?”
[Dear sovereign, void creation requires tremendous energy. The Hall currently cannot afford such a high expenditure.]
Li Xia felt even sleepier. He forced himself to stay upright and asked,
“Then can you send me back? I need rest. You can send me the specific real-world rules later.”
[Dear sovereign, per your request, teleportation is set to your home bedroom. World traversal rules will be sent to your mailbox.]
[Good night, sovereign.]
...
Jinling City.
In a household within the HZ district, Li Xia suddenly appeared in his room. Struggling, he climbed into his bed. The familiar environment and scents instantly brought immense security.
Within seconds, the room filled with deep, heavy breathing.
How long he slept, he didn’t know. Li Xia awoke from a deep slumber, feeling a burning pain in his stomach and unbearable pressure in his lower abdomen.
After resolving his personal matters, Li Xia hastily changed clothes and rushed downstairs to a small eatery. He ordered enough for three people and, amid the owner’s astonished gaze, ate ravenously as if starving to death.
The fragrant rice soothed his suffocating hunger slightly. After washing it down with a bottle of soda, Li Xia let out a long, satisfied burp.
Only then did he have the leisure to open his mailbox and check the messages from the Hall.
[Original World Management Code, Version 212239]
[No disclosure of the Hall’s existence in the original world by any means; violations will be warned, and if warnings are ignored, execution will follow.]
[No incitement, inducement, coercion, or persuasion of others or oneself to commit mass slaughter in the original world.]
[In the original world, all Apostle active skills are sealed, and personal space is locked.]
[Apostles may stay in the original world for 7 to 30 days; duration depends on merit rank and is self-determined, but cannot be less than seven days.]
[In the original world...]
[In the original world...]
...
[The above regulations have no binding effect on first-generation sovereigns!]
The Hall still had these sorts of rules… Li Xia’s lips curved upward. Actually, the Hall wasn’t so bad; it was just a solo affair.
It was like playing on a private server.
He put down his chopsticks, stretched contentedly. Maybe the pressure these past days had been too great. He had slept so soundly last night he even dreamed of struggling through learning Sun Breathing.
Every time he got distracted or lost focus, Tanjiro Kamado would beat him up mercilessly.
Li Xia shook his head. Next, he would follow his plan: improve his basic attributes as much as possible in the real world and acquire foundational skills!
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