Chapter 004: Advancement to Second-Level Martial Apprentice

"I’m exercising. I don’t want to come back battered and bruised after being extorted, like you did," Xin Lang replied.

Gu, the chubby one, didn’t argue with Xin Lang’s teasing. "Do you really think stabbing the air like that is good exercise?"

"Uh… I’m not stabbing the air. I’m strengthening my arms," Xin Lang explained.

"Oh!" Following Xin Lang’s example, Gu did ten push-ups, collapsing onto the floor in exhaustion. But he refused to admit defeat and shouted, "Damn, this is actually kind of tough!"

He joined Xin Lang in the training once again. Whatever Xin Lang did, he imitated.

Xin Lang, drained, secretly took a bottle of "Floral Wolfberry Elixir" from his backpack and drank it before continuing.

"What did you just drink?" Gu’s keen eyes had caught him, even though Xin Lang had acted with utmost caution.

Feigning nonchalance, Xin Lang pulled out another bottle of "Floral Wolfberry Elixir" from his clothes and handed it to Gu. "Floral Wolfberry Elixir—restores energy quickly. One silver coin a bottle. Want one?"

Gu had tried Xin Lang’s "Red Flower Elixir" before and knew he wasn’t being deceived. He tossed over a silver coin and downed the bottle in one go. Only after finishing did he ask, "Is this another of your family’s secret remedies, and is this the last bottle again?"

"The formula is a family legacy, but it’s not a secret remedy. I just made this today," Xin Lang replied.

Gu’s small eyes went round as saucers. "You made it? Are you an apothecary?"

"I transferred from the Academy of Alchemy," Xin Lang reminded him.

"Damn, how did I ever overlook that about you? Classmate, this ‘Floral Something Elixir’ works great. Make me a few dozen more bottles later. Tonight, I’m going to the Spring Delight House to find a few girls and battle them for three hundred rounds!" Gu said with a lecherous grin.

Xin Lang’s forehead was instantly covered in black lines. He thought to himself, "He really intends to use the ‘Floral Wolfberry Elixir’ as an aphrodisiac. Only he could come up with that!"

In the following days, Xin Lang diligently completed the daily tasks set by the Leveling Device. He split the daily tasks into three sessions: forty repetitions of each movement in the morning, thirty at noon, and thirty in the evening. This not only saved on the Floral Wolfberry Elixir but also didn’t interfere with classes—a win-win situation.

Gu, the chubby one, had grown much closer to Xin Lang. He made sure to train alongside Xin Lang every day and had become the most reliable consumer of the Floral Wolfberry Elixir.

"Task complete. User is awarded one experience point!" the Leveling Device notified.

Seeing this single point, Xin Lang was overjoyed. Today marked the fifth day since he’d acquired the Leveling Device. With the bonus from the side quest of making the elixir, he now had a total of ten experience points—enough to upgrade himself.

Xin Lang opened the device’s interface and checked his basic stats:

User: Xin Lang
Level: Martial Apprentice, Level 1
Experience: 10
Martial Skills: None
Weapons: None
Beast Companion: None
...

At present, Xin Lang was a Martial Apprentice in the "Obvious Strength Phase." Because his punch force was still under a hundred pounds, his rank remained at Level 1. Only when his punch exceeded one hundred pounds would he reach Level 2, and so forth. To reach Level 10, a punch force of a thousand pounds was required.

Ordinarily, it would have taken him at least half a year to reach Level 2, but with the Leveling Device, he had a chance after just five days.

The "Upgrade" button beneath his character icon was now glowing. Controlling his excitement, Xin Lang pressed it.

"Upgrade to Martial Apprentice Level 2. Requires 10 experience points. Unlocks a second inventory slot. Proceed with upgrade?" the device prompted.

"You actually get an extra storage slot for leveling up? What a bonus!"

Without hesitation, he chose "Yes."

As soon as he confirmed, white light spiraled up from beneath his character’s feet in the interface, swirling around the figure and finally transforming into streams of light that plunged into the character’s body.

Simultaneously, Xin Lang’s own body experienced the same change. Streams of white light surged into him, and he felt his strength increase rapidly...

Eighty pounds…

Ninety pounds…

One hundred pounds…

One hundred ten pounds…

One hundred fifty pounds…

One hundred eighty pounds…

One hundred ninety pounds…

One hundred ninety-nine pounds…

Xin Lang’s punch force reached a staggering one hundred ninety-nine pounds!

For an ordinary cultivator, surpassing a hundred pounds marked Level 2. Xin Lang hadn’t expected the device to be this outrageous—he was instantly boosted to the very peak of Level 2, just one pound away from Level 3.

He clenched his fists, bones cracking, and threw a few punches into the air. His strength felt two or three times greater than before.

He tried out some of his daily exercises and found that, after reaching Level 2, they were much easier than before.

But his joy didn’t last long. Checking the task list, Xin Lang discovered that the daily requirements had changed: instead of a hundred repetitions per movement, it was now two hundred. Ten movements in total—two thousand repetitions.

"It seems the device increases daily tasks as your level rises," Xin Lang thought.

His rank had truly advanced, and his strength was now at the very peak of Level 2. This made him even more confident in the Leveling Device.

He packed his days full. Morning sets rose to eighty repetitions per movement, sixty at noon, and sixty in the evening. Life was busy—besides his classes in general knowledge and martial theory, he also crafted Floral Wolfberry Elixir for himself and for Gu.

Gu continued training with Xin Lang, going through at least ten bottles of elixir a day. His consumption was enough to cover Xin Lang’s daily expenses and the elixir’s raw materials.

Ten silver coins a day was no small sum, but Gu saw a return: just as Xin Lang advanced to Level 3, Gu’s punch force finally reached the Level 3 standard.

However, Gu’s Level 3 couldn’t compare to Xin Lang’s; Xin Lang’s punch force was at two hundred ninety-nine pounds, while Gu’s was just over two hundred.

Even so, Gu was thrilled. When he’d entered the academy, he was a Level 2 with a punch force of one hundred fifty pounds. After just half a month training with Xin Lang, he’d gained over fifty pounds of force and reached Level 3.

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