Xu Junyuan closed his eyes tightly. This was the only thing he could do against Wang Zhan's fist.
The killing intent radiating from Wang Zhan made Xu Junyuan feel that he was even more ruthless than the beasts in the wilderness area.
He was scared. Facing Wang Zhan, he finally felt fear.
However, it was too late. He had no time or space to evade or react.
After a long while, Xu Junyuan didn't feel the fist that should have landed on him. With a bit of confusion, he slowly opened his eyes and saw Wang Zhan's fist had stopped in front of his throat, less than three centimeters away.
Xu Junyuan knew very well that if this punch landed, he would undoubtedly die.
He was also very fortunate. Fortunate that this was just a contest of pride, a friendly sparring match, and not a fight to the death.
"If it weren't for what you said earlier, I would definitely have made you suffer," Wang Zhan said expressionlessly as he retracted his fist.
Xu Junyuan stared at Wang Zhan blankly, at a loss for words for a moment.
It wasn't until Wang Zhan turned to leave that he finally came back to his senses.
"I... concede."
Although the result of the fight was clear to everyone, Xu Junyuan still said these words, admitting that he was inferior to Wang Zhan.
"Heh, at least you have some backbone." Wang Zhan walked away without looking back, waving his hand dismissively.
On the high platform, Liu Zhenfeng looked shocked.
"To have such control over the Military Way Killing Fist after only a month?! Duan Kun, is this your excellent teaching, or is this kid extraordinarily talented?" Liu Zhenfeng asked in surprise, turning to Duan Kun.
"Of course, it's my excellent teaching," Duan Kun proudly claimed.
"Bullshit! Your favored student, Zhou Bingquan, barely managed to grasp the Killing Fist after half a year of study and took a whole year just to integrate it. Is that also your excellent teaching?" another mentor immediately challenged.
Seeing that Duan Kun was about to argue again, Liu Zhenfeng ignored him and kept his gaze fixed on Wang Zhan, who was walking away.
"This kid is the future of our Military Martial Arts Academy," he said quietly.
Wang Zhan was unaware that his performance had shocked the academy's high-level figures.
He had returned to his single dorm room and was taking stock of his gains.
Host: Wang Zhan
Strength: 324
Agility: 306
Physique: 318
Charm: 30
Wisdom: 16
All three main attributes have increased by about forty or fifty points each. It seems that sparring with someone still provides the fastest increase, Wang Zhan thought, pleased.
During the Martial Artist Stage, each level up increases the upper limit of the three main attributes.
According to the System, physical attributes actually reach their limit during the Martial Student stage.
Enhancing the three main physical attributes during the Martial Artist Stage is actually a benefit derived from breakthroughs in Essence Energy.
Therefore, every breakthrough in Martial Artist level brings an increase to the attribute upper limit.
Each breakthrough increases the attribute upper limit by 100 points. So, theoretically, Wang Zhan's extreme attributes as a Level 2 Martial Artist should be 450 points.
But because he had an extra 50 attribute points from breaking the limit during the Martial Student stage, after breaking through to Martial Artist, each level's attribute upper limit would also be 50 points higher.
This was the benefit of breaking the limit. The seemingly insignificant 50 attribute points from the Martial Student stage were beginning to be magnified in the Martial Artist Stage.
My extreme attributes should be 550 points. It seems I need to go through a few more battles, Wang Zhan pondered. But after fighting Xu Junyuan today, I doubt many freshmen or sophomores will want to fight me.
Just as Wang Zhan was wondering where to find some trouble, there was a knock at his dormitory door.
Opening the door, Wang Zhan looked at the person outside with some confusion.
This was a powerfully built, robust man, who looked to be at least a junior or senior year student.
"Junior Brother, nice to meet you."
Junior Brother? Wang Zhan was a bit puzzled. Shouldn't he have called me an underclassman? he wondered.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Zhou Bingquan. Like you, I'm a student of Teacher Duan Kun," the robust man said with an honest smile.
Wang Zhan suddenly understood. He had heard Duan Kun mention Zhou Bingquan; this seemingly honest man was among the top tier of students in the Military Martial Arts Academy.
It was said that though he had just started his junior year, he had already caught the attention of several armies.
"Senior Brother Zhou, what can I do for you?"
Zhou Bingquan took out a watch and a card from his pocket and handed them to Wang Zhan, saying, "This is your personal terminal and Academic Credits Card. Teacher asked me to bring them to you."
"Huh?" Wang Zhan took the watch and card with some confusion.
Zhou Bingquan looked surprised. "Don't you know, Junior Brother? Teacher should have mentioned it on the first day of school. Cash doesn't circulate in the Military Martial Arts Academy. All resources need to be exchanged with academic credits, and the personal terminal can connect to the school intranet."
Is that so? Wang Zhan awkwardly scratched his head; he couldn't very well say he was late and missed two classes on the first day of school.
After all, on the night before school started, he had broken through to the Martial Artist Stage. Duan Kun had then subjected him to demonic training all night, so it was already impressive that he had managed to get up the next day.
"Regarding the Academic Credits Card, you can learn more about it through the personal terminal on the school's intranet," Zhou Bingquan said. "Also, this card already has ten thousand academic credits pre-loaded; this is a special privilege from the school."
After explaining everything, Zhou Bingquan and Wang Zhan exchanged contact information, and then Zhou Bingquan left.
Wang Zhan returned to his dormitory and put on the watch with some curiosity.
After pressing the power button, a light screen appeared before him.
'Authenticating... Authentication successful.'
'Welcome, Student Wang Zhan.'
The text on the light screen flashed and then quickly transformed into a page with many options.
Wang Zhan quickly familiarized himself with the personal terminal.
Besides connecting to the school intranet, this device also had many other functions, such as real-time communication and satellite positioning.
Quite evidently, the primary purpose of the personal terminal was for exploration and combat in the wilderness area.
After understanding the personal terminal's functions, Wang Zhan accessed the school's intranet and quickly found the section for exchanging academic credits.
"Elixirs, cultivation methods, martial arts, and weapons—even exchangeable Grandmaster lessons? Interesting."
Wang Zhan browsed the cultivation methods section and found that most of them could be exchanged for only a few hundred, or at most a thousand, academic credits.
Seems like ten thousand academic credits is quite a lot, Wang Zhan thought.
He was in need of a cultivation method suitable for the Martial Artist Stage, but after searching for a long time, he didn't find anything satisfactory.
Most of the cultivation methods were too ordinary, merely speeding up the condensation rate of Essence Energy, and their effects didn't seem particularly outstanding.
Soon, Wang Zhan turned to the last page of cultivation methods. All methods on this page required ten thousand academic credits for exchange.
Seeing this very coincidental price, Wang Zhan guessed that the ten thousand academic credits the school had given him were probably intended for him to choose a cultivation method.
Compared to the previous ones, the cultivation methods on the last page were significantly more effective. Their descriptions often used phrases like 'multiply cultivation speed' and 'significantly increase strength.'
Just as Wang Zhan was struggling to decide which one to choose, the image on the light screen in front of him suddenly changed.
Hmm? A call request from Teacher? Wang Zhan accepted the call.
"Wang Zhan, have you received the Academic Credits Card? The ten thousand credits on it are a loan from the school for you to exchange for a cultivation method," Duan Kun's voice came through the terminal.
"Loaned to me?"
"Of course. The school treats all students equally. It's loaned to you in advance simply to prevent your cultivation from being delayed due to a lack of a cultivation method."
Before Wang Zhan could ask further, Duan Kun continued, "Let's not talk about that for now. There is a cultivation method called the 'Essence Concentrating Skill' that is very suitable for you. Go and exchange it with your Academic Credits Card, then come to my office."
After ending the call, Wang Zhan, filled with curiosity, quickly found the introduction to the 'Essence Concentrating Skill.'
'This cultivation method requires extremely high physical limits. Please choose with caution!'
The introduction began with a warning, followed by detailed information about the cultivation method.
After reading through it, Wang Zhan was already eager to try it.
This Essence Concentrating Skill is so peculiar. Other cultivation methods start by cultivating Essence Energy, but this one requires physical strength instead. The stronger the physique, the faster Essence Energy cultivation becomes.
Body refining is never simple. If one's physique isn't strong enough, the Essence Concentrating Skill might not be any more effective than ordinary cultivation methods that cost only a few hundred academic credits.
However, Wang Zhan's physique was exceptionally strong. Moreover, each time he broke through a realm, his body quickly reached its limit.
This Essence Concentrating Skill was practically tailor-made for him!
Wang Zhan quickly found the Academic Credits Exchange Office of the Military Martial Arts Academy. After swiping his card, he successfully obtained the cultivation method for the Essence Concentrating Skill.
Just like the Body Refining Technique he received before, this Essence Concentrating Skill was also recorded on paper, bound into a book.
It's strange. Since these are all recorded with images and text, why not send them directly to the terminal? Wang Zhan muttered in confusion.
After obtaining the cultivation method, Wang Zhan didn't hurriedly read through it but first went to find Duan Kun.
Duan Kun had been waiting in his office for some time.
"Wang Zhan, do you want to go to the wilderness area?" Duan Kun asked directly.
"Of course, I dream about it!" Wang Zhan nodded repeatedly.
He had heard countless people mention the wilderness area, and according to his mother, his father, Wang Yidao, had also gone missing in the wilderness area.
Wang Zhan had long been eager to see and experience the wilderness for himself.
Duan Kun said, "Generally, freshmen don't need to train in the wilderness area during their first semester. But you're different. You've already broken through to Level 2 Martial Artist. No amount of theoretical knowledge can compare to actual combat experience."
Seeing Wang Zhan's expectant face, Duan Kun's tone became serious. "Don't treat the wilderness area like child's play; it's not some place to look forward to! If possible, no one would willingly send you all there! Every year, at least twenty percent of the new students from the Military Martial Arts Academy die in the wilderness area! The number of injured and maimed is even higher!"
"However, if you don't truly face beasts, you will never grow. Therefore, some sacrifices, though regrettable, are necessary."
"Teacher, I understand all of this," Wang Zhan said with a serious expression. "My father went missing in the wilderness area. I would never underestimate its dangers."