Chapter 13: Advanced Martial Disciple

For the entire morning, aside from picking up the attribute bubbles dropped by others during training, Wang Teng spent his time challenging people to sparring matches.

Footwork, fist techniques, sword techniques, blade techniques—whenever he knew one, he would find someone to spar with.

The nickname "Sparring Maniac" had spread among the intermediate students before he even realized it. Who started it, he had no idea.

"I better not find out which bastard came up with that!"

When Wang Teng heard someone call him that, his face turned black.

Damn it!

What kind of grudge or hatred did they have to smear his name like this?

"Ah... Achoo!"

Fatty Wu Liang was eating lunch in the Jixing Martial Arts Hall cafeteria when he suddenly couldn't help but sneeze.

The rice in his mouth went up his nose, and grains of rice mixed with snot flowed out.

He rubbed his nose, feeling depressed. "Sneezing for no reason, could someone be badmouthing me behind my back? How wicked!"

...

Wang Teng checked his attribute panel. The gains on the second floor were indeed significant; in just one morning, his various attributes were nearing those of an advanced martial apprentice.

【Comprehension】: 35

【Constitution】: 66

【Strength】: 621

【Speed】: 323

【Battle Techniques】: Basic Fist Technique (Mastery), Basic Footwork (Mastery), Basic Sword Technique (Mastery), Basic Blade Technique (Proficiency)

The threshold for an advanced martial apprentice required a constitution of 70, 700kg of strength, and a speed of five seconds per hundred meters.

As long as he put in a little more effort this afternoon, a fresh, tender advanced martial apprentice would be hot off the press!

His several basic battle techniques had also leveled up. Fist, sword, and footwork had advanced from Proficiency to Mastery, while his blade technique had improved from Beginner to Proficiency.

His overall strength had undergone a heaven-shaking transformation.

The only regret was that he hadn't picked up any other battle technique attributes today; it seemed most people chose these few techniques as their primary focus.

After leaving the training building, Wang Teng headed toward the martial arts hall's cafeteria.

He had heard from Zhang Shaoyang and a few other students that the Jixing Martial Arts Hall had a cafeteria.

And as long as you had money, you could eat anything.

Even star beast ingredients were available!

These star beast ingredients were hunted by the martial artists of the hall and then sold to the hall in exchange for points or cash.

Therefore, the hall's selection of star beast ingredients was far richer than what could be found outside.

Many rare star beasts weren't even sold on the open market.

Furthermore, the cafeteria had specifically hired Master Spirit Chefs to process the star beast ingredients.

Spirit Chef was a sub-profession derived from the martial artist profession.

Every Master Spirit Chef had to possess Force, and to cultivate Force, one had to be a martial artist.

A martial artist working as a chef—can you imagine?

However, the food made by Master Spirit Chefs wasn't ordinary food; it was "spirit food" that benefited a martial artist's cultivation.

Its cooking methods and various dishes originated from the Star Martial Continent.

In fact, the profession of Master Spirit Chef itself had been brought over from the Star Martial Continent.

Master Spirit Chefs earned high incomes and faced no danger. Many martial artists were eager to eat spirit food and held these chefs in high regard, so their status was actually quite high.

As Wang Teng and Zhang Shaoyang walked to the cafeteria, he asked curiously, "So, the Jixing Martial Arts Hall's cafeteria provides spirit food?"

Zhang Shaoyang explained, "Yes, our Jixing Martial Arts Hall is one of the three giants of Huaxia's martial arts halls, so naturally, we can afford to hire Master Spirit Chefs.

Nowadays, the dishes brought over from the other world have been researched and experimented with by Earth's chefs, and even innovated upon, gradually forming a complete system of spirit food cuisine.

However, this spirit food cuisine is only available on the third floor of the cafeteria. That area is generally frequented by martial artists; ordinary students can't afford it."

Wang Teng nodded, then asked in surprise, "Oh? You can see martial artists there?"

"You can see them, but there usually aren't many. Most martial artists are busy exploring the Star Martial Continent or executing missions issued by the hall, so they don't spend much time at the hall," Zhang Shaoyang said.

Wang Teng nodded again and asked, "Is spirit food very expensive?"

"Expensive? It's more than that! Ordinary dishes cost tens of thousands, and the difficult ones with rare ingredients can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions. It's super expensive, okay?" Zhang Shaoyang exclaimed.

Good heavens, even Michelin chefs aren't this badass, right?

Wang Teng was stunned.

Besides, spending hundreds of thousands or millions on a single meal—are martial artists really that rich?

Naturally, he didn't go to the third floor, opting to eat on the first floor with Zhang Shaoyang and the others.

He wasn't extravagant enough to spend hundreds of thousands on a meal.

He would wait until he became a martial artist and could easily earn a hundred million; then he would go eat it, and he could even let his parents taste this so-called spirit food.

After eating, he rested for an hour.

Then, he continued training in the afternoon.

Wang Teng grabbed a thirsty, impatient broadsword and went around challenging people, mainly looking for students practicing basic blade techniques.

Among his battle techniques, only his blade technique was still at the Proficiency level.

One must be fair in life and not favor one over the other, so he decided to prioritize bringing his basic blade technique up to Mastery.

In the afternoon, the hours flew by, and Wang Teng's various attributes had long since broken through the threshold of an advanced martial apprentice.

In other words, he had finally become an advanced martial apprentice.

Among martial apprentices, he was now in the top tier—a relatively strong ant.

His basic blade technique had also reached Mastery.

However, his footwork, fist technique, and sword technique had accidentally reached Perfection, leaving his basic blade technique behind once again.

So much for being fair!

"【Aggrieved】JPG!" went the basic blade technique.

"It seems I'm improving a bit too fast!" Wang Teng thought helplessly.

Life is truly as lonely as snow!

Wang Teng decided to stay on the second floor for a few more days; the improvements were the same regardless.

Perhaps the third floor had more attributes, but a few days wouldn't make a difference.

In the evening, Wang Teng returned home, ate with his parents, and then went back out to the Jixing Martial Arts Hall to pick up attributes.

He didn't return home until eleven o'clock.

After a shower, he lay on his bed and silently opened his attribute panel.

【Comprehension】: 43

【Constitution】: 84

【Strength】: 964

【Speed】: 533

【Battle Techniques】: Basic Fist Technique (Perfection), Basic Footwork (Perfection), Basic Sword Technique (Perfection), Basic Blade Technique (Mastery)

Not bad. Judging by these attribute values, he was at an upper-middle level even among advanced martial apprentices.

As long as he didn't run into a formal martial artist, he at least had some self-preservation ability.

Thinking about this, he lay on the bed and soon drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Wang Teng habitually woke up early. It was Monday, and he had to go to school.

He had almost forgotten that he was still a high school student.

He had just been reborn, still possessed an adult's mindset, and happened to run into the weekend, so he went off to practice martial arts—completely unlike something a high school student would do.

In the morning, the family sat together for breakfast.

Wang Shengguo drank his porridge and said, "Even though you're practicing martial arts now, you can't let your academic studies slide. Universities now have martial arts majors; as long as you reach the level of an advanced martial apprentice before the college entrance exam, you can apply.

If you can get into a military academy, that's also a good choice. Once you graduate, you'll at least have an officer's rank.

Nowadays, military rank is largely tied to martial arts level. However, as of now, only orthodox martial artists who graduate from military academies can be granted rank; martial artists who graduate from ordinary universities don't have this privilege."

Wang Teng nodded, his eyes thoughtful.

The state was the best umbrella. If he could enter a military academy and obtain a rank upon graduation, it wouldn't be a bad path.

Of course, even if he entered an ordinary school, martial artists would still have many benefits, and even ordinary schools had formed their own martial arts factions.

The protection each martial arts faction provided to its members was unquestionable, and the degree of freedom was relatively higher.

In short, each had its own advantages.

It seemed that if possible, he still needed to get into a good university. Even with his golden finger, he needed time to grow.

Before he became a supreme powerhouse capable of ignoring all rules, the best way was to find himself a powerful backer.

The problem was, whether in his past life or this one, he had never really studied hard, and his academic grades were, frankly, a complete mess...