Was this buff really that powerful?!
When Shi Tiexin saw the description of the "complete comprehension" state, his eyeballs nearly popped out. He had always felt that cultivating mind arts was difficult, painful, and slow-going. Could it be that he had struggled every step of the way because he had never fully comprehended the First Layer secret manual?
The world was too vast, his knowledge too shallow. Old Tie was truly convinced. He had never known there was a state called "complete comprehension." Those heaven-blessed prodigies must have made sudden leaps forward, as if aided by the gods, only after attaining complete comprehension again and again.
But achieving complete comprehension was no easy matter. Without the top-grade "Step-by-Step Advancement" attribute, without the thirty percent reduction in aptitude requirements, perhaps very few people could fully comprehend anything. Even with a top-grade secret manual, success would likely be impossible without frequent guidance from a famous teacher.
But then again, what was going on with him?
Why had comprehending the secret manual earlier gone so smoothly—so smoothly it was like years of constipation suddenly clearing up, like an enlarged prostate of many years suddenly opening the floodgates?
Anyone could tell with their toes that there had to be some unexpected factor at work. Otherwise, how could mind art cultivation, once so difficult, suddenly become so easy?
Could it be... related to that peculiar mental state that felt both like sudden enlightenment and absolute certainty?
Could that state have been the legendary unity of man and heaven, resonating with the Dao, allowing him to suddenly receive enlightenment from the great Dao of the universe?
I was learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and the universe enlightened me?
What bullshit!
Shi Tiexin could not figure out the reason for his sudden leap forward, but the changes in the interface did not wait for him. The moment the secret manual comprehension progress bar lit up, it shrank into a tiny badge bearing the character "Comprehension," hovering at the edge of his vision. The badge radiated a warm, bright color, indicating that Shi Tiexin was enveloped in a positive status.
Immediately afterward, another new progress bar appeared in the upper-left corner of his vision. This bar was equally simple: the words "Pass" were written at its far left, while "Good" was written at its far right. The bar extended from the left by around ten percent, only barely beyond the starting point.
Shi Tiexin understood at once. This progress bar represented his current cultivation progress—he had only just passed.
A little low. How embarrassing!
He raised his head and looked at the boys in the classroom chatting nonsense and bragging wildly, as well as the girls gossiping and primping themselves. Shi Tiexin shamefully realized that he truly did not even measure up to the average level of the Trash Class. That was genuinely humiliating.
Just then, the "Comprehension" badge beside him suddenly fired out a beam of light, charging into the progress bar like a qigong blast. As though it had been turned into a well-oiled car, the progress bar abruptly lengthened amid gleaming highlights. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—within the light, the bar continued breaking upward, gaining roughly another thirty percent all the way before finally stopping near the middle.
The light of the "Comprehension" badge faded, leaving only a faint fluorescence, and the progress bar settled down as well. So this was the effect of complete comprehension's "initial cultivation progress increased by 30."
The interface's display was not merely a visual change. Shi Tiexin himself truly felt different. He could not say why. Perhaps it was the effect of some unfathomable system, or perhaps it was simply because his understanding of the secret manual had grown deeper than before. In any case, he could clearly feel that his mastery of Basic Mathematics First Layer had improved.
At the same time, a spark of thought burst through the neurons in his brain. An indescribable vital force emerged from the depths of his mind. Shi Tiexin did not know which cell, which nerve, or which fold of the brain had birthed it, but he could distinctly sense that his brain felt cool and refreshing, as if it had been smeared with mint toothpaste.
The sensation appeared for only a moment before fading away, as though it had never existed. Yet Shi Tiexin knew it was no illusion, but an unquestionable fact. That inexplicable vital force born from the spark of thought was thought energy.
The foundation of mind art cultivation.
Just like force art cultivation, although Shi Tiexin himself had a foundation in mind arts, this body and this brain had never cultivated force arts or mind arts. Therefore, vital energy and thought energy still needed to be accumulated. But unlike vital energy, thought energy was mainly derived from one's realm in the Six Fundamental Mind Arts. Once the realm was attained, thought energy would quickly catch up.
Thus, Shi Tiexin felt a trace of cool thought energy circling and growing within his brain, swiftly reaching the strength it ought to possess. This bit of thought energy was not particularly useful by itself, but every dazzling, miraculous, and unfathomable mind art in the future would originate from this very trace. How could Shi Tiexin possibly neglect it?
So Shi Tiexin immediately took out an Auxiliary Cultivation Manual—in other words, an elementary school Four Basic Arithmetic Operations workbook.
Of the fifteen workbooks he had on hand, nine were ordinary quality, four were fine quality with the additional "High Difficulty" attribute, and two were top-grade with the additional "Obscure" attribute. Given Shi Tiexin's current cultivation progress, he simply could not use "Limit Training" or "Little Genius." He needed a Good realm or above.
Therefore, the best secret manuals he could use right now were the four with the "High Difficulty" attribute. They basically increased cultivation speed by twenty percent, while "High Difficulty" increased it by another twenty percent, for a total cultivation speed increase of forty percent—these were practically supercars among Auxiliary Cultivation Manuals!
Who would use a lousy one when there was a good one?
He opened one, took out a pen, and got to it!
I, Shi Tiexin, will finish this entire Auxiliary Cultivation Manual tonight and live the decadent life everyone envies!
He opened the workbook and took one look. Dense, dense, dense.
After carefully examining the contents, Shi Tiexin picked up his pen, filled with heroic spirit and burning determination.
One minute later...
Two minutes later...
Five minutes later...
Smack. Shi Tiexin closed the workbook, calmly set it aside, then turned his gaze toward the ordinary workbooks. I'd better find an easier one...
This was fucking hard! They were only the Four Basic Arithmetic Operations. Shouldn't they just be addition and subtraction within a few dozen, multiplication and division with numbers in the teens? What the hell were these problems pouring out of the workbook? Why did he get dizzy and disoriented after just one look?
"High Difficulty" truly lived up to its name. The difficulty was indeed high.
No wonder it required at least a Pass to use, and would reduce speed depending on the situation for anyone below Excellent. He was already being slowed down now, and it was as slow as a turtle crawling. He could barely move forward at all!
It seemed that one should wear a hat sized to one's own head. Better start somewhere simple. Shi Tiexin looked left and right, but in the end, he picked up the mathematics textbook.
Didn't this textbook have the "Learn-Practice Integration" attribute? Then he would first finish the supplementary manual attached to the secret manual. Besides, the secret manual and its supplementary manual were originally one whole. Perhaps the progress would have some unexpectedly special effect?
Shi Tiexin opened the textbook and took a look. Addition and subtraction exercises within ten. Good. A journey of a thousand miles began beneath one's feet—he would start with this!
Shi Tiexin wrote furiously, fighting a life-and-death battle against addition and subtraction within ten.
Five minutes later, Shi Tiexin suddenly shuddered all over, because another change appeared in his vision.
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