North Wind Martial Arts School

The Savage Martial Arena was divided into four basic levels.

Low, intermediate, high, and top.

For a martial artist to enter the Savage Martial Arena, the first and most basic requirement was a recommendation from a martial arts school!

It could also be called a recommendation from a financial conglomerate.

A Fierce Martial Arts fighter had to earn a martial arts school's recognition. Only after the school submitted his file could he enter the Savage Martial Arena.

After all, the Savage Martial Arena was not simply a place for competition. It involved the distribution of profits. Without representing a faction, one had no right to enter.

The main quest required an Ash Zone Walker to fight three Savage Martial Arena matches of any difficulty.

The first prerequisite for that quest was finding a backer and getting into the ring!

Whether he could walk out of the ring alive was another matter.

"So first, rule out the major martial arts schools."

The major schools that had made names for themselves years ago were packed with experts and had no shortage of Fierce Martial Arts fighters. Typical examples were the schools under the three major consortiums: Huaxin Martial Arts School, Oros Martial Arts School, and Suzuki Martial Arts School.

The three major schools had the best instructors and technology, but each also had hundreds of Fierce Martial Arts fighters.

To fight one's way to prominence in a major school was hard-far too hard!

That made the fighting schools on the verge of bankruptcy, kept afloat by smaller consortiums, the best choice for an Ash Zone Walker.

Xia Lin picked up a card.

The words "North Wind Martial Arts School" caught his eye.

The North Wind Consortium was not a major consortium. Its main business was mining.

Today on the bus, Xia Lin had watched the North Wind Consortium's low-level Savage Martial Arena match. They had won, true enough, but their fighter had been crippled and would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

And that crippled fighter was the pillar of the North Wind Martial Arts School under the North Wind Consortium!

With him out of action, the North Wind Martial Arts School no longer had a Fierce Martial Arts fighter.

When Xia Lin arrived at the North Wind Martial Arts School the next morning, he could clearly sense the unease throughout the school.

Plenty of fighters wanted to compete in the Savage Martial Arena.

But few could win.

Every Savage Martial Arena match meant a massive distribution of profits. Once a fighter lost, his life or death was secondary; the losses outside the ring were the real cost.

The North Wind Martial Arts School still retained one Savage Martial Arena slot, but the problem was that they had no seasoned fighter qualified to replace their previous Fierce Martial Arts fighter.

In a word, weak!

Bang.

The punching machine let out a piercing buzz, drawing the attention of most of the people in the school.

A number was clearly displayed on the punching machine: 9!

A succession of sharp gasps rang out.

"Nine? Nine points of strength? That's strong!"

"Definitely. It's still below the Savage Martial Arena standard, but that level of strength is already professional grade."

"Look at that guy. His stance is wrong. He doesn't seem to have any Fighting Basics. Tsk, tsk. He hit a nine through sheer brute force. This guy's physically gifted."

"That's strange. The kid's tall and skinny. He doesn't look like someone born with tremendous strength."

In front of the punching machine, Xia Lin withdrew his hand and surveyed the room like a lion king.

He was flamboyant and unrestrained.

Only after he was sure no one there dared meet his eyes did Xia Lin look away and turn back to the punching machine.

This thing was interesting.

The natives of the Fierce Martial Metropolis Ash Zone were no different from normal humans in their physical capabilities.

Six points was normal, and ten was the limit.

That was why Xia Lin's nine stood out.

And that was the interesting part.

The nine points displayed by the punching machine happened to match Xia Lin's current strength attribute.

In his first Ash Zone, Xia Lin had used a temporary buff to raise his attributes to nearly a hundred points.

So he naturally knew that attribute growth in the Ash Zone was not exponential, but linear.

For example, if Xia Lin could punch with 90 kilograms of force at nine strength, then at 18 strength he could punch with 180 kilograms of force, and at 90 strength, 900 kilograms.

The increase was not much. That was true.

Essentially, a level-ten Ash Zone Walker with maxed-out attributes could punch with only ten times the force of a level-one Ash Zone Walker.

However, the appearance of limit-breaking skills meant there was no longer any upper limit to an Ash Zone Walker's attribute growth.

Even if attributes only grew linearly, what happened when the number reached ten thousand? A hundred thousand?

Numbers were truth!

That was without even mentioning the effect of skill slots.

As Xia Lin saw it, the greatest advantage levels gave an Ash Zone Walker was definitely not the increase in the attribute cap, but the unlocking of skill slots!

One more skill meant one more trump card!

His thoughts ended there, interrupted by footsteps.

Xia Lin turned to see a group of people in white training uniforms, with the words "North Wind" embroidered on their chests, emerge from the inner training area and approach him.

The man in the lead was nearly fifty, his hair already streaked with gray. He was burly, though, and clearly a trained fighter.

He came up to Xia Lin and looked first at the number on the punching machine, then at Xia Lin's build.

"Here to challenge the school?"

"No, I'm here to learn."

The atmosphere relaxed slightly, and the older man nodded in understanding.

"You've never had systematic training?"

Xia Lin shook his head. "No."

"So, how far do you want to take your training?"

Xia Lin grinned, baring his white teeth in a somewhat unnerving smile. "I want to try my hand in the Savage Martial Arena... The sooner the better."

"Pfft."

In the group behind him, a young man at the front, around twenty-five years old, couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Brother, you're hilarious. Cracking a joke like that on such a serious occasion? Come on, cut it out."

"The Savage Martial Arena? You think a complete novice like you can get in there?"

Xia Lin's grin widened. "Seriously, man, who the hell are you?"

Xia Lin didn't put up with that sort of thing.

But the man had a fierce temper too.

"North Wind Martial Arts School, Li Wenzhang! I happen to be the North Wind Martial Arts School's senior disciple, and its next Fierce Martial Arts fighter!"

Li Wenzhang stepped up in front of Xia Lin.

He stood so close that they could even feel the warmth of each other's breath.

Their eyes met. Li Wenzhang raised an eyebrow slightly as he looked at Xia Lin, a vicious glint flashing in his eyes.

"Every stray cat and dog thinks he can enter the Savage Martial Arena. Why don't you piss in a puddle and take a look at yourself?"

He reached out and slapped Xia Lin hard on the shoulder, making Xia Lin's body shudder.

He was stronger than Xia Lin, with at least 12 points of strength!

"Train some more. Give it a few years before you start thinking about the Savage Martial Arena."

Then he leaned close to Xia Lin's ear and spoke slowly, in a voice only the two of them could hear. "The important thing is, don't get in my way. Killing you would be easier than killing a chicken. Newbie!"

Having said his piece, Li Wenzhang turned and sauntered away without another glance at Xia Lin, not even caring about the old instructor's displeased expression.

Because he was the North Wind Martial Arts School's senior disciple.

His strength was a whole tier above the other students'.

He was also the only fighter at the North Wind Martial Arts School who might be able to enter the Savage Martial Arena.

Xia Lin wasn't angry. His smile simply grew stranger.

Only after watching Li Wenzhang's retreating figure disappear into the inner training area did Xia Lin let his smile fade and turn to the old instructor.

"I hate that guy."

The old instructor had no response to that.

"Forget it. Let's talk about training instead."

The old instructor nodded.

"How do you want to train?"

"Whatever you think is best."

Xia Lin knew nothing about martial arts.

Professional matters were best left to professionals.