Galactic Calendar, Year 225, December 31st.
Dawn.
The sky was still dim, and little light penetrated the narrow windows of the old residential building.
Nghh~
Li Wen's groggy eyes fluttered open as he stretched languidly in bed. His bones let out a series of soft, crackling pops, and a sense of vitality, more distinct than the previous morning, washed over him.
He had intentionally reduced the intensity of his Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill training last night by one round, allowing his body to recover more fully.
And just as he'd expected, he woke up before his alarm today.
"The path of martial arts is all about gradual progress and balancing tension with rest," he murmured to himself, sensing the faint Qi and Blood within him was slightly fuller than the morning before.
Until he had enough Qi and Blood Potions to replenish what he over-consumed, he could only restrain himself. This wasn't just wisdom; it was a necessary choice for the long run.
After quickly washing up, he grabbed the warm buns and bowl of millet porridge his mother, Wang Juan, had prepared, finishing them in a few quick bites. He then slung his faded canvas schoolbag over his shoulder, pushed open the door, and merged into the uniquely crisp and bustling morning air of the old district.
Li Wen's pace was a bit faster today than it had been the last two days, filled with an unspoken anticipation. If all went according to plan, he would grind his [Scholar] class to Lv. 2 today.
When that happened, the comprehension bonus from [Absolute Focus] would jump from 10% to 20%, and his control over his physical body would also significantly improve.
It would be a qualitative leap—a crucial advantage in his fight for a spot among the top sixty in the Flying Star Class.
...
Bluestone Third Middle School, Year Three, Class (21) classroom.
Li Wen arrived at the empty classroom ten minutes earlier than usual.
He stuffed his bag into the desk's compartment and, without a moment's hesitation, immediately pulled out the thick, difficult tome: High-Energy Mathematics Foundation Theory. Time was precious and not to be wasted.
There was one fucking annoying thing about the [Scholar] class: even using [Absolute Focus] while studying books didn't speed up the rate of experience gain.
Experience points were only earned through accumulated, effective study time—one point per ten minutes. It was an immutable iron law.
This was an artificial restriction the game designers had implemented back in the day to balance learning-based classes with combat-oriented ones.
'I can't believe this damned restriction has now become a stumbling block slowing down my grind for Scholar experience,' Li Wen thought with a flash of helplessness, but it was instantly replaced by determination.
The restriction was static, but he was not. The only solution was to invest more time.
He calmed his mind, pushing aside all distracting thoughts. He immersed himself in the formulas, theorems, and deductive processes that most people would find tedious, dry, and logically complex.
[You have studied diligently for ten minutes. Scholar EXP +1]
[You have studied diligently for ten minutes. Scholar EXP +1]
...
Time slipped by silently, marked only by the faint SHUSH of his pen scratching across scrap paper.
Outside the window, the sky brightened, and the campus gradually grew boisterous.
Classmates began to trickle into the room, long accustomed to the sight of Li Wen's focused figure, who looked as if he were welded to his seat.
The bell rang for the third period of the morning, and the math teacher began to explain multiple ways to solve a complex application problem.
Li Wen remained buried in his sea of books, his experience bar steadily approaching its maximum.
The teacher's voice and the sound of classmates flipping through their books all seemed to fade into distant background noise.
Just as the math teacher finished writing the third key auxiliary line formula on the blackboard—
[Class: Scholar Lv. 2 (0/200)]
The notification popped up in his mind without warning. An indescribable, cooling sensation spread out from the depths of his soul, as if some invisible shackle had been broken. In an instant, his thoughts became much clearer and more transparent.
'Success!' Li Wen's heart pounded. He fought back the urge to immediately test out [Absolute Focus] and impassively continued to watch the example problem on the board.
He finally endured until the beginning of the last period of the morning.
'Activate!—[Absolute Focus]!'
With a flicker of his thoughts, the skill activated.
VMMMM—
This time, unlike the formless fluctuations at Lv. 1, the activation was almost completely imperceptible. It was as if Li Wen had merely taken a light breath, his mind instantly plunging into an ocean of absolute clarity.
The noisy classroom instantly faded away. His deskmate turned to say something to him but only saw the side of his face, head down, diligently studying the practice problems.
His gaze didn't even waver. The deskmate only felt that he seemed a little more focused than usual, completely oblivious to any abnormal energy fluctuations or changes in aura around him.
This was a prominent feature of leveling up Scholar to Lv. 2—the skill's activation was far more discreet!
Legend had it that upon reaching Lv. 5, one could even gain rough control over the skill's duration, avoiding the awkward situation of the user being completely drained before being forced to stop in the absence of external interruption.
Focus! Absolute focus!
In that instant, every condition, step, and formula from the complex application problem the teacher had just explained was laid out with perfect clarity in his mind.
The trade-offs between the various solutions, which previously required repeated deliberation, were now instantly apparent. He saw their key differences and applicable conditions at a glance, and even faintly deduced a more concise approach.
This 20% boost to comprehension might not seem like a large number, but when stacked on his own foundation and the thought-condensing properties of [Absolute Focus] itself, the increase in efficiency was far from a simple addition. It was a qualitative leap.
Problems that used to require a while of hard thought were now understood in a single glance.
For the entire class period, Li Wen maintained this state of heightened mental exertion.
DRRRING~~
Only when the piercing bell marking the end of fourth period suddenly rang out did he feel as if he were surfacing from deep water, slowly withdrawing from the [Absolute Focus] state.