Chapter 7: The Battle of Proof Against the Boxing Champion

Sunlight streamed through the glass window, illuminating a bright, pale patch of the room.

Fine dust motes drifted gently in the air, like countless dancing sprites.

A bead of sweat rolled down from his chin, dripping onto the worn red pine floorboards.

Fang Cheng raised his left hand and wiped his sweaty face.

Then, tightening the muscles in his thighs and lower abdomen, he bent his knees into a squat, continuing his training.

“……”

“71.”

“72.”

“73.”

“74.”

As he reached 74, Fang Cheng’s gaze burned with intensity, and he let out a low grunt from his parched throat

“Done—”

A panel lit up before his eyes, displaying a series of notification messages.

【You practiced squats with all your might, reaching a certain level and gaining a profound understanding of them.】

【Skill Unlocked: Squat Lv0 (0/100)】

【You challenged your limits, triggering your body’s self-protection mechanism.】

【Potential Activation cooldown has ended; usage conditions met.】

The light screen flickered continuously.

An intense, needle-like pain radiated downward into his calves and upward, enveloping his waist and hips.

Soreness, stiffness, and rapid breathing.

His entire body felt like an empty shell, almost losing its connection to his brain.

Just as his legs went weak and he was about to collapse—

*Thwack!*

Fang Cheng braced his palms against the floor, steadying his heels.

Then, straightening his back, he lifted his head from the squatting position and slowly stood up.

"Potential Activation" was taking effect rapidly.

A familiar sensation surged forth like a tide, and his stamina instantly restored to full capacity.

The "Gold Medal Technician" was back online, sweeping away all the negative factors caused by his previous exertion.

In particular, the clicking sounds in his elbow and shoulder joints—caused by long-term push-up practice—were completely eliminated.

From head to toe, every part of his body felt comfortable.

The effect was like a rejuvenation buff in a game.

Calling it "miraculous" would be an understatement; it could absolutely serve as a trump card for survival.

Fang Cheng savored the long-lost "extraordinary power."

He suddenly recalled a clip from the disc he had watched last night.

A certain boxing champion was asked by a reporter before a match how many sets of training he did daily to maintain his punching power and footwork agility.

The champion replied, "I never count how many I can do. I only start counting when I feel the muscle soreness, because that is when the real training begins."

Fang Cheng felt this statement in his bones and agreed with it wholeheartedly.

Even though today was a rest day and he didn't have to work, he had still woken up at five in the morning to start boxing and warming up.

Then, he practiced 10 sets of standard push-ups.

Following that, he did 74 squats in one go, pushing himself until he was completely exhausted.

The training volume, which exceeded the endurance of an ordinary person, had allowed him to successfully unlock a new skill once again.

“So then…”

“Next, I’ll use my fists to prove the effectiveness of this training.”

Fang Cheng took a deep breath.

He stared at the display on his skill bar.

【Boxing Lv0 (67/100)】

That’s right.

He intended to use shadowboxing to break through the experience cap in one go.

He wanted to complete the upgrade of another long-awaited combat skill.

“Focus, activate!”

With a silent command, all the ambient noise and clamor of the surroundings were shut out of his ears.

Fang Cheng stared straight ahead, as if he had entered a corner of space that belonged only to him.

No.

There seemed to be a shadow!

A dark-skinned, faceless figure was standing at the entryway.

The 1.9-meter-tall frame almost touched the ceiling.

His thigh muscles were as solid as stone pillars, and his gloved hands were like two iron hammers.

As he shifted his shoulders, his latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles bulged slightly in the interplay of light and shadow, appearing even more three-dimensional.

One could vaguely sense an invisible power surging in the air.

There was no trace of cowardice in Fang Cheng’s eyes.

He raised his fists, assuming a high guard.

Suddenly, he pushed off with his right foot and leaped forward with his left, instantly closing the distance between them.

*Swish!*

Accompanied by the sharp sound of shoe soles scraping the floor, a sprinting straight punch struck rapidly toward the shadow’s abdomen.

*Thwack!*

The shadow’s seemingly light parry neutralized the momentum Fang Cheng had gained from his sprint.

Immediately after, the shadow’s long-coiled right arm hooked like a claw, aiming for Fang Cheng’s chin.

His lead hand, having been thrown out, also snapped back with a whistling sound.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!* He threw three lightning-fast jabs with those hammer-like fists.

Parry-block, rear-hand hook feint, lead-hand jab combo!

In less than half a second, a combination of techniques erupted instantly, leaving the opponent no room to react.

It was a profound interpretation of "still as a virgin, moving like a rabbit."

However, Fang Cheng’s reaction was also surprisingly fast.

As he leaned back to dodge the hook, seeing that he was exposed, he decisively twisted his waist and slid a large step to the rear-right.

He hoped to use this to escape the effective range of the jabs.

But—

While his brain had processed the move, his body hadn't managed to complete the action in time.

*Snap!*

A punch, feeling as solid as reality, grazed his earlobe, leaving it ringing.

Fang Cheng’s footing faltered, and he stumbled, falling onto the floor.

The high-difficulty evasive maneuver he had just performed had nearly strained his own hip muscles.

If this were a real fight, he likely would have been knocked into shock by that heavy blow.

Fang Cheng braced his hands on the floor and quickly scrambled up.

Then, breathing slightly heavily, he raised his fists again, using his arms to protect his chin and ribs.

His eyes were burning bright, like dark red flames.

He stared fixedly at the powerful opponent before him, who felt like a nightmare.

“Again!”

Two figures, one tall and one short, one large and one small, tangled in an endless fight.

Side-step, collision, back-step, fall.

The shadow was tall and strong, with arms significantly longer.

To defeat him, one had to risk being KO’d, rushing into the inner circle to disrupt his attack range.

The strategy was correct, but the gap in strength was hard to bridge with technique alone.

Moreover, the shadow’s technique was exquisite to the extreme, his punches so fast they left only afterimages.

He was like a high-speed moving stone wall, yet as agile as a dancing bee.

He could close the distance in an instant and launch a lethal strike from any impossible angle.

However, Fang Cheng was not entirely without his own advantages.

His Spirit attribute of 18 points allowed his neural reaction speed to far exceed that of most people.

Even the world champion famous for his "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" style might not be able to compare.

After repeated failures, he adjusted his mindset.

Fang Cheng simply gave up on attacking entirely, focusing on defense and honing his evasive techniques.

He even began to mimic the opponent’s famous "Butterfly Step," with his shoulders constantly swaying and his footwork switching back and forth.

*Tap, tap-tap, tap-tap-tap.*

It was as if a spirited dance tune had begun to play; in the cramped room, two figures—one real, one phantom—danced, spun, and chased each other.

………………

“Hoo—”

A puff of hot white steam erupted from his mouth and nostrils.

Fang Cheng’s gaze flickered, and he detached himself from the "nightmare" that kept knocking him out.

The white sportswear he was wearing was soaked through with sweat.

His thermal underwear clung to his skin, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

He glanced at the alarm clock on the table: 9:25.

Nearly an hour and a half had passed.

A long string of notification messages flowed past his eyes like a waterfall.

【You practiced shadowboxing and gained some insight; Boxing experience +1】

【You practiced shadowboxing and gained some insight; Boxing experience +1】

【You practiced shadowboxing and gained some insight; Boxing experience +1】

…………………………

He looked at the skill bar again.

【Boxing Lv0 (91/100)】

Shadowboxing practice was indeed highly efficient, but it also consumed a great deal of physical and mental energy.

But seeing the experience value surge, no matter how exhausted his body and mind were, it became a trivial matter.

A "masochistic" smile appeared on the corner of Fang Cheng’s mouth.

Recalling the two hours of footage he had watched last night, combined with the simulated combat experience just now, he had gained many insights.

The champion was truly a champion.

In his bouts with him, he was basically just getting beaten up, with no power to fight back.

Fortunately, this was just an imagined opponent, with no real pain or physical damage.

It was the perfect way to practice defensive techniques.

Thinking of this, while Fang Cheng felt pleased, he couldn't help but feel a bit of doubt.

He felt his imagination was unusually vivid; the imaginary enemies he conjured for shadowboxing were too realistic.

The sound of breathing, the pressure brought by the combat—it felt as if it weren't a hallucination, but something that truly existed.

Fang Cheng guessed this must have something to do with his high Spirit attribute.

On second thought, he felt something was wrong.

If a higher Spirit attribute made hallucinations more realistic, then if he eventually reached a point where he couldn't distinguish reality, wouldn't he become mentally ill?

Shaking his head with a smile, Fang Cheng temporarily dismissed this somewhat alarmist thought.

He walked slowly around the room, kicking his legs and swinging his arms, doing the relaxation exercises he had learned in his boxing class.

He would rest for half an hour, wait for his spirit and stamina to recover slightly, and then continue to activate his Focus skill.

“This time, the opponent is Coach Hu!”

Watching the familiar shadow gradually emerge in his field of vision, Fang Cheng raised his fists, his eyes calming down once more.

*Tap.*

He stepped forward with his left foot, hopped, and launched a probing jab…

Perhaps because he had the champion as a reference, the pressure in the fight against Coach Hu felt suddenly reduced, much easier.

He focused on defense at the start, continuously practicing back-steps, slips, side-steps, slides, and circling footwork.

Gradually adapting to the opponent’s rhythm, he seized a few counter-attack opportunities and decisively landed a few heavy punches on the opponent’s face and abdomen.

His confidence was greatly boosted, and his body began to relax.

Slowly, his punches became more fluid and coordinated, and even the newly learned Butterfly Step became increasingly proficient.

Thus, he simply used all the moves he had remembered from the disc last night.

The two sides traded blows, and it didn't become the one-sided rout it had been before.

If calculated by points, Fang Cheng was only slightly behind.

This was the benefit of sparring with top-tier experts.

Not only was his progress rapid, but his perspective was also vastly different from that of an ordinary student.

“Hoo—hoo—”

In the midst of his self-forgetful practice, the panel before his eyes lit up, as if something were rapidly glowing and expanding.

Fang Cheng immediately stopped his offensive, panting heavily.

The phantom vanished from his sight, fading away.

Several new notification messages followed.

【You practiced boxing diligently; your skills have been integrated, and you have reached the expert level from the introductory level.】

【Boxing Lv1 (0/250)】

【Congratulations on obtaining a skill enhancement reward. Please make a choice between the two enhancement directions in a timely manner.】

(End of chapter)