An hour later.
In the room, Song Changming, with his upper body bare, stopped wielding his sword and checked his panel.
[Soul-breaking Saber: Basic level not achieved (2/100)]
The newly added martial arts sword skill section indeed saw an increase in value, directly rising by two points from zero.
This indicates that the method he has been exploring to practice swordsmanship, although perhaps not precisely accurate, is effective for him.
Without any surprises, the value displayed on this panel is most likely the progress bar from uninitiated to achieving the basic level of sword skill.
Once it reaches the limit of one hundred, he will have completed the initial basic level for this set of Soul-breaking Saber.
Of course, further verification and confirmation are required.
After all, this sword skill is the first martial arts he has practiced, and the specific situation is still unclear.
"Since that's the case, I'll grind it out!"
After drinking a large bowl of water to catch his breath, Song Changming felt quite delighted now that he had a very tangible goal.
He was not concerned about the speed of progress in this sword skill practice, as long as there was continuous improvement.
Even if it takes more time, it does not matter; after all, in this lifetime, he is least lacking in time.
...
Time swiftly moved five days forward.
These days, Song Changming continued his duty patrolling at night, performing his professional work.
The only difference from before is that he practiced swordsmanship daily during spare time.
No longer choosing to lie flat, even the daily sleeping time has been reduced.
The result of this wholehearted dedication is the rapid progress of his sword skill, with accumulation speed exceeding his expectations.
[Today's Evaluation: A meaningful day, lifespan +1, acquired time-limited state 'Heaven Rewards Diligence']
Heaven Rewards Diligence: Heaven will reward the diligent; the effort you put in will surely yield results, lasting one day.
Indeed, it's again the 'Heaven Rewards Diligence' state.
On the nighttime street, Song Changming was not surprised when he saw the state entry refreshed again at dawn.
The main reason for the rapid progress in sword skill these days, beyond his expectation, is significantly due to this new state entry.
'Heaven Rewards Diligence', simply put, is a complete upgrade version of the 'Concentrated' state.
If the Concentrated state can provide him an extra twenty percent efficiency in martial arts practice, then the Heaven Rewards Diligence state is easily over fifty percent, perhaps even higher.
The conditions to trigger it are not difficult; daily diligent work, coupled with relentless sword practice, as long as you are sufficiently industrious and progressive, you can trigger this evaluation reward.
During these five days, at least four were spent in the 'Heaven Rewards Diligence' state.
This also caused his Soul-breaking Saber progress bar to rise from just the beginning to ninety-five points.
Only one step away from reaching the maximum progress.
"Today, I can achieve it when I go back!" Song Changming's eyes sparkled; thinking of this brought a bit of urgency in his heart.
However, no matter how anxious, the patrol work must continue; it pertains to the continuation of his favorable state effect.
Additionally, it's worth mentioning that although the Heaven Rewards Diligence state is good, the lifespan reward only adds one day.
And he consumes one day of lifespan daily, effectively negating it, so his remaining lifespan in these four days is neither more nor less.
Song Changming also noticed the underlying pattern; the more he lies flat and does not seek progress, the more lifespan gets added.
Conversely, the more he works hard in cultivation, actively progressing, the smaller the gain in lifespan.
Heaven Rewards Diligence, lifespan +1
Concentrated, lifespan +3
Unavailing Effort, lifespan +5
Wasting Time, lifespan +10
Embarrassingly, in the past, Song Changming basically oscillated between the states of Unavailing Effort and Wasting Time, which caused his lifespan to increase rapidly.
The state of Heaven Rewards Diligence was triggered for the first time recently, after more than a decade.
Combining the fact that in his past life he overworked and stayed up late, leading eventually to sudden death, he unexpectedly found these daily evaluation rewards to be somewhat reasonable now.
Excessively progressing indeed might shorten one's lifespan...
Luckily, though he is now deeply immersed in practicing swordsmanship, he still maintains sleep time, never repeating his past life's mistake of overextending himself.
Simply, if he intends to continue increasing his lifespan days, he cannot always pursue Heaven Rewards Diligence; appropriately lying flat is also necessary...
With an uneventful night, as dawn's light gently appeared between heaven and earth, Song Changming's patrol work came to an end.
Returning to the Patrol Armor Bureau to finish his shift, Song Changming went straight home and practiced sword skills.
With the Heaven Rewards Diligence state in play, the remaining five progress points were filled within just over an hour.
The next moment, images of the past days of dedicated practice flashed in his mind, forming links, suddenly bursting forth numerous Spiritual Lights.
If previously, it was solely his own effort to innovate behind closed doors, practicing swordsmanship according to the content on the parchment paper and combined with his understanding.
Uncertain of accuracy, some things were a bit rushed and disorganized.
At this moment, the summary of several days' results magically pieced together a complete and systematic path of swordplay in his mind.
This time, Song Changming was utterly certain that this is the Soul-breaking Saber!
He successfully achieved the basic level of sword skills!
Feeling excited, Song Changming once again wielded his saber with renewed energy.
This time, the saber in his hand was swung with evident methodicalness, the swordplay was fierce and elusive, faintly accompanied by an eerie quality—characteristic of the Soul-breaking Saber.
Now, the saber in Song Changming's hand truly possesses the killing power of sword skills!
Far superior to ordinary slashing or stabbing.
Song Changming was very satisfied with his transformation this time; after days of diligent practice, he finally received the reward.
Expand the panel.
Name: Song Changming
Lifespan: 36,002
Spirit: 7
Root: 10
Related Physique: Fear of Water (Gray)
Martial Arts: [Soul-breaking Saber: Basic level achieved (0/500)]
"According to the parchment paper, under daily diligent practice by ordinary people, the shortest takes half a month, the longest about a hundred days to achieve the basic level of this sword skill.
And I achieved it in almost six days, aside from Heaven Rewards Diligence, apparently the attribute points accumulated over the past years weren't in vain..."
On his panel, besides lifespan, there were also two main attributes related to him: 'Spirit' and 'Root'.
Based on his years of observation and contemplation, the Spirit attribute might be related to his intelligence, spirituality, comprehension talent.
Initially starting at seven points, it has remained unchanged.
As for the Root attribute, he speculated it relates to his physical condition, root bone, and various aspects of aptitude, initially at four points, eventually increased to ten points over the years.
He gradually transitioned from being weak initially upon crossing over, becoming robust and strong; unlike his childhood frailty and frequent illness, in recent years he has not even caught a cold or fever - undoubtedly, this is the effect of his Root attribute enhancement.
That's also why he kept upgrading the Root attribute, fearing weak health might someday abruptly lead to serious illness.
Spirit 7, Root 10.
Song Changming self-assessed this martial arts aptitude, though not a prodigy, definitely above average among ordinary people.
Plus, with the daily reward of Heaven Rewards Diligence state bonus, this allows him to achieve the basic level of sword skill faster than average.
Additionally, on his panel there is a related physique section.
Currently, it only shows a gray Fear of Water trait.
He reckons this is likely an inheritance from the predecessor.
At six years of age, the predecessor drowned, post which Song Changming crossed over, resurrected from death.
This Fear of Water physique is hard not to associate with the drowning incident.
Causing him to be a landlubber, unable to enter water as easily as others.
Extremely poor swimming ability, which is the negative effect brought by this related physique.
He mused, if there's a chance in the future, he should definitely eliminate this weakness.