Eight o'clock the next morning.
Sunlight from the window streamed directly onto Lam Minh's face. His closed eyes slowly opened, and a feeling of refreshment spread throughout his body. Never before had Lam Minh woken up feeling so full of energy. Taking a deep breath, he felt his body become unusually light.
"System!" Lam Minh called silently in his mind.
[Ding! The Attribute Picking System is happy to serve the host!]
[Name: Lam Minh]
[Age: 16]
[Cultivation: Mortal (0/1000 Blood Essence)]
[Spiritual Root: Hoang-Grade Spiritual Root (0/100,000 Spiritual Root Points)]
[Lucky Spin (Break through to the 9th layer of Body Tempering to spin again)]
Well now! It seems the system has more information after a night of cultivation.
First, to break through to the first layer of Body Tempering, he probably needed 1,000 blood essence attribute points. He recalled that in his past life, during the university entrance exams, he had to use a blood essence testing machine for admission. His result back then was only 10 points—truly pathetic.
Second was the 100,000 spiritual root points. This meant he could also upgrade his spiritual root without using the rare upgrade card provided by the system. He didn't know if 100,000 spiritual root points was a lot or a little, but the fact that he could upgrade it to a higher level was a promise of a bright future.
After years of research, humanity's cultivator-researchers had established a specific classification for spiritual roots. Humans and cultivators alike possessed four main types of spiritual roots: Thien (Heavenly), Dia (Earthly), Huyen (Profound), and Hoang (Yellow). The lowest was the Hoang-grade spiritual root. The higher the spiritual root, the more heaven-defying the cultivation speed. Since Earth had never had spiritual energy in the past, even if a spiritual root existed in a person's body, it would lie dormant and undetected. The saturation of spiritual energy across the globe had awakened the spiritual roots in every human body, ushering in the age of cultivation.
However, there were some people who had no spiritual root at all. These individuals were called "rootless," with no hope on the path of cultivation.
Lam Minh was a special case. It wasn't that he had no spiritual root, but rather that it was somewhere in between—both there and not there. So the system had rated it as a "waste spiritual root." Originally, spiritual roots were fixed at birth; no one could change them. But thanks to the Universal Upgrade Card, he had opened a path to upgrade his own. And it could still develop if he worked hard enough in the future. This just showed how heaven-defying the system was.
And third, the lucky spin. It was currently a dull gray, which meant that if he wanted it to light up and spin again, he had to break through to the ninth layer of Body Tempering.
After composing himself and taking stock of all the new information, Lam Minh broke into a smile—the smile of a reborn person with a promising future.
Grumble! Grumble!
Just then, his stomach let out a ferocious roar.
He quickly freshened up and stepped out into the living room. On the kitchen table was a portion of boiled pork and white rice, accompanied by a small note.
<>
Lam Minh held the note in his hand and chuckled. How adorable. His sister cared for him deeply. She was an excellent student and was passionate about acquiring knowledge. Her dream was to become a researcher at the National Cultivator Research Institute, but she always put her brother first. In his past life, when their parents asked her to quit school early to work, she didn't hesitate or even blink. And from that day on, she had given up her dream.
The more he thought about it, the more his heart ached for his precious little sister.
He sat down quietly at the table, bringing each spoonful of rice, each piece of meat to his mouth. Tears fell silently. I will let you finish your studies and achieve your dream. At any cost.
[Ding! The host has finished eating 300 grams of pork + 2 bowls of white rice.]
[Based on the Hoang-grade spiritual root, +10 unrefined blood essence points.]
[Suggestion for the host: Exercise can help the host refine blood essence.]
Ah! So there's this too? This meant he didn't necessarily have to pick up attributes to increase his cultivation level; when he consumed substances, his spiritual root would also help condense blood essence. So this was the benefit of a spiritual root.
The Body Tempering stage was, in essence, the cultivation of blood essence. The body was an existence of blood essence; if one wanted to become stronger and break through, one had to accumulate a sufficient amount of it. Currently, Lam Minh needed 1,000 blood essence to break through to the first layer of Body Tempering.
Immediately, Lam Minh didn't even bother with the dishes. He started doing push-ups and squats continuously. He performed all the exercises aimed at improving his health. But a weak 16-year-old body, standing at 1.79 meters but weighing only 52 kilograms, couldn't do much. His limbs grew weary after just a dozen push-ups and squats. With this kind of physical fitness, dreaming of cultivating without a system was truly wishful thinking.
[Ding! The host did not push to the threshold of failure, only absorbing 6/10 blood essence points.]
[+6 blood essence points added to cultivation.]
Instantly, a warm current of energy coursed through Lam Minh's entire body. His muscles tensed slightly, and the veins in his arms bulged for a few seconds before subsiding. +6 points wasn't much, but the effect was clearly noticeable.
6/1000 points. Too slow.
If the children of wealthy families knew about this, they would probably beat Lam Minh to death out of pure envy. Increasing blood essence during the transition from mortal to Body Tempering was incredibly difficult. Most children from prestigious families with ordinary spiritual roots would start cultivating blood essence at the age of 12 or 13, accumulating it until they were 18 to gather enough 1,000 points to break through and enter their dream of the Combat University. That was the cultivation path for families with money.
As for Lam Minh, he had gained +6 blood essence points from a single meal, yet he wasn't very satisfied. But after a moment's thought, it seemed reasonable.
Lam Minh had two years left. By the time he turned eighteen, his goal was 1,000 blood essence points, the requirement to qualify for the Combat University. The reason why the 26-year-old Lam Minh of his past life had only reached the third layer of Body Tempering was that he had slowly accumulated those 1,000 points from the age of 16 until he was 25 before he could finally break through. Nine long years. Looking back, the warriors who graduated from the Combat University at 26 were all at the Foundation Establishment realm, or if they were more talented, the Golden Core realm. And he was just a lowly Body Tempering grunt.
But now, it was different. With a Hoang-grade spiritual root and this system, as long as he worked hard enough, two years was more than enough time for him to gather sufficient blood essence and enter the Combat University. When that time came, let's see who would dare to laugh at him, laugh at his family. He would never let history repeat itself.
The more he thought, the more his will blazed, his spirit soaring.
…
Click!
The sound of the front door opening echoed as his sister, Lam An, walked in, dressed in her pristine white ao dai uniform.
Lam Minh glanced at the clock on the wall. Ah! It was 11:45 AM. He had about an hour before he had to go to school.
"Big brother, wait a bit. I'll change and make lunch. You should eat before you go to school," Lam An said as she took off her shoes.
"Mmm, you go rest. I'll cook." Looking at her worn-out white shoes that had turned the color of porridge, Lam Minh felt a pang in his heart. If he could, he would buy his sister a new pair immediately. He felt his pants pocket. Mmm, he had exactly 50,000 VND left (equivalent to $2). Perhaps besides cultivating, he needed to do something to earn some extra income.
"Oh, come on, brother. You've never cooked before. Let me do it," his sister said with a laugh.
It was true. Although Lam Minh's family was very poor, thanks to the nurturing of Mr. Dao and Mrs. Mai, he had never had to do any housework growing up. But in his past life, during his university days, he had lived alone about 20km from home, so he had experience cooking for himself.
"Be quiet and go take a shower. By the time you're done, the food will be ready," Lam Minh said.
He opened the refrigerator. There were four duck eggs, some bean sprouts, and some mustard greens.
He immediately got to work. There were only four eggs; if he wanted to make it look like more, he had to use a trick. He cracked all four eggs into a bowl, whisked them until smooth, and seasoned them with a little MSG and fish sauce. Then, he added a few handfuls of bean sprouts, mixed everything together, and poured it straight into a hot pan to fry. A classic student trick. Four eggs, fried this way, would look like twice the amount when finished.
And just like that, the result was a heaping plate of fried eggs. Next, he cooked a small, simple pot of mustard green soup.
Once everything was done, he set the rice and dishes on the table. Looking at the result of his work, he suddenly felt a warmth in his heart. It was the first time he had cooked for a family member, and the feeling was magical. Mmm, thinking back to his useless sacrifices for Lieu Nhu Yen, how foolish.
Whoosh!
As soon as she came out of her room, Lam An cried out in surprise. The fragrant aroma of food filled the room. She never expected that her brother, who had never set foot in the kitchen, could create such a visually appealing and enticing dish with just four eggs.
"So, what do you think? Believe I can cook now?" Lam Minh said, his chin held high as he looked at Lam An.
"Okay, okay, let's eat, big brother. I'm so hungry," Lam An said, and without waiting for Lam Minh to sit down, she eagerly sat at the table and started scooping rice. One bowl for her, one for him.
The two siblings didn't talk much, but the atmosphere was truly warm. Many emotions flickered in Lam Minh's heart.
After the meal, Lam An washed the dishes while Lam Minh took the opportunity to train, converting the food he had just digested into blood essence.
[Based on the Hoang-grade spiritual root, +5 unrefined blood essence points.]
Oh! So the points were calculated based on the food. Eating meat would yield more points than eating eggs and vegetables.
He began to train furiously. What was the lesson? He had to train to the threshold of failure to maximize the blood essence points; otherwise, he would only absorb a portion and waste the rest.
Lam Minh tried to do pull-ups. By the fourth one, he felt he couldn't pull himself up anymore. Was this the threshold of failure in training? No.
Thinking to himself, he gritted his teeth, held his breath, and tensed his entire body.
F...Five!
As soon as he completed the fifth pull-up, he let go of the bar, panting heavily.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for reaching the threshold of failure with sheer determination, +5 blood essence points added to cultivation.]
Hahaha! So that was it. The threshold of failure was when you thought you had reached your limit, you had to push to surpass that limit.
Another warm surge of power permeated Lam Minh's body. To describe the feeling right now, it would probably be "one punch could kill a buffalo." But Lam Minh knew this was just a feeling. If there were actually a buffalo here, the first thing it would probably do is gore him to death.
Looking at the clock, 12:25 PM. It was time for school. After all these years, the feeling of going back to school was truly magical.