The True Meaning of Contribution Points

"Let's go to the restroom." Meng Chao's eyes flickered.

They went up two floors and found the most secluded restroom.

Seeing no one around, Meng Chao sneakily opened a stall and gestured for his good brother to enter.

"What are you doing?" Big White Bear grew nervous.

"Don't be afraid. I just want to study your muscles."

Meng Chao dragged him into the stall and, before Big White Bear could scream, hurriedly said, "When you just circulated Raging Bull Force to your ribs, did both sides of your ribcage feel faintly sore and swollen, as though power was about to leak out?"

Chu Feixiong froze.

He pressed his ribs, his expression turning ugly.

"Also, judging from your footprints, your lower body isn't very stable. But I've observed the muscles and tendons in your legs, and there's no major problem."

Meng Chao pondered. "When you pushed off the ground, did you first feel a needle-like stabbing pain from the sole of your foot, which shifted to your knee half a second later?"

Chu Feixiong stared at him in shock. "How did you know?"

Meng Chao smiled. "You haven't grasped the true essence of Raging Bull Force at all. At most, you can unleash fifty percent of your own strength. The remaining half has nowhere to go and runs wild inside your body, rebounding through your legs and soles, placing extra pressure on both your knees and ankles.

"If you keep practicing blindly like this, at best you won't be able to unleash your full strength. At worst, you'll get osteoporosis, joint degeneration, and chronically excessive cardiovascular pressure. That isn't cultivation—it's courting death."

Ignoring the toilet behind him,

he actually looked rather like a reclusive master beyond the mortal world.

Chu Feixiong was stunned.

He obediently let Meng Chao examine his height, weight, limb lengths, body fat percentage, and muscle distribution across his upper and lower body.

Meng Chao closed his eyes and calculated for a moment. A string of future force-exertion formulas surfaced in his mind.

When he opened his eyes again, a sharp gleam burst from them. He held a sharpened pencil stub between his fingers. "Come on, exert your force again."

As Chu Feixiong circulated Raging Bull Force, his muscles swelling and veins bulging,

Meng Chao suddenly jabbed him with the pencil tip.

Chu Feixiong was about to cry out in pain when he instead felt a tingling numbness like electricity.

A miraculous force seemed to be minutely adjusting every strand of his muscle, every blood vessel, every bundle of nerves.

His originally scattered brute force was all gathered together.

"What kind of technique is this?"

Very quickly, Big White Bear's expression changed from suspicion to delight. "My force is flowing so much more smoothly! Nothing hurts anymore, and it even feels like I've gotten stronger!"

"This is all from your years of hard training. I merely helped you find the knack and release your power completely."

Meng Chao's pencil flew across Chu Feixiong's body, growing ever smoother. He jabbed three to five hundred times before finally pausing.

He shook his aching wrist. "Try throwing a punch."

Chu Feixiong gathered all his strength.

The stabbing pain from the pencil tip on his acupoints guided him into a stance slightly different from before.

His muscles tightened to their limit. His whole body appeared to shrink by a circle, yet became even more solid, like granite of astonishing density.

When he threw his punch, faint ripples appeared in the air, accompanied by a tearing-cloth whistle as it split the wind.

"Damn!"

Chu Feixiong was startled by the sheer exhilaration of that punch.

He had never thrown such a satisfying punch before.

It was like mountain floods bursting forth, sweeping away dead wood and rotten branches.

Though he had not tested it, Chu Feixiong was certain that this punch had raised his Limit Fist Strength by at least three percent.

A mere few minutes of force adjustment had increased his punching power by three percent.

Meng Chao's technique could no longer be described merely as monstrous.

Chu Feixiong's face was filled with horror.

At the instant he threw his punch, the Strange Fire at the corner of Meng Chao's eye glittered gorgeously again. Sparks turned into two lines of small words:

Guided ordinary citizen Chu Feixiong in the basic skill "Wild Bull Technique." Learning progress: 10%

The ordinary citizen has grown stronger. Dragon City's overall combat power has increased. Congratulations, your civilization has become even stronger. Contribution Points +10

"Huh?" Meng Chao was both startled and delighted.

There was far too much meaning behind this.

"So, I don't need to scavenge trash. As long as I teach Future Martial Arts to the current Dragon City Citizens, it counts as contributing to civilization?

"That makes sense. A civilization's strength doesn't come from some hero fighting alone. No matter how strong I become by myself, I can't possibly take on every monster and Otherworld Gods and Devils single-handedly. But if I can become a Gold Medal Instructor a hundred times more formidable than Devil Yan and teach Future Martial Arts to all citizens, making everyone a hundred times stronger than they were in the nightmare, then we'll beat the shit out of those Otherworld Gods and Devils. Believe it or not?

"So this is the true meaning of Contribution Points—the principle that the stronger civilization becomes, the stronger I become!"

At that thought, the Strange Fire before his eyes changed:

Congratulations, Flamebearer, on making a contribution of more than 1 to civilization. Please select your first contribution reward.

You may upgrade "Wild Bull Technique" from "Expert Level" to "Master Level."

You may also awaken a new skill: "Basic Gunmanship" or "Ripple Force."

Behind the three options, the required Contribution Points were thoughtfully listed.

Upgrading Wild Bull Technique required 756 Contribution Points.

Awakening Basic Gunmanship required 3100 Contribution Points.

Awakening Ripple Force required 1500 Contribution Points.

"They're both among the Three Great Basic Force-Exerting Methods, so why is Wild Bull Technique so much more expensive than Ripple Force?"

Meng Chao remembered that awakening Wild Bull Technique had cost 3500.

Thinking carefully, Wild Bull Technique was a method of utmost hardness and power. After being injured last year, he had barely practiced it. Ripple Force, however, was supple and enduring, greatly beneficial for rehabilitation.

Over the past year, he had set aside all his other cultivation, but he had continued practicing Ripple Force.

"Because I already know a little Ripple Force, the price to awaken it is cheaper?"

Meng Chao pondered. Wild Bull Technique and Ripple Force—one hard, one soft; one an upgrade, one an awakening. Which should he choose?

He nodded and chose Basic Gunmanship.

Since it was being given away for free, of course he would choose the most expensive one. Was that even a question?

Urgent gunfire rang out in his mind.

It was as though a storm of bullets had howled past.

With a thought, countless firearm structures and shooting techniques immediately came to him.

Memories of his previous life flashed before his eyes like crystal-clear fragments.

He saw himself constantly firing, firing, firing at all kinds of Otherworld creatures.

Some Otherworld creatures looked as though someone had forcibly stuffed an octopus into the belly of a roast chicken. They were a hundred times uglier than today's monsters.

In what seemed like an instant, Meng Chao blew apart hundreds or thousands of such monsters.

His shooting experience surged forward by leaps and bounds. A tingling pleasure flooded every nerve ending, making him hum with bliss.

Seeing him with his eyes closed, his face intoxicated, making strange noises, Chu Feixiong could not help shuddering.

The two-hundred-plus-pound fat man shrank toward the corner.

After a long while, Meng Chao opened his eyes, his gaze deep.

Awakening a new skill had made him even hungrier.

Resources. He needed damned cultivation resources!

Chu Feixiong looked as though he were staring at a monster, chills creeping down his spine.

"Meng Chao, where did you learn such a bizarre technique?" Big White Bear stammered.

"We'll talk about that later. First, let's test your Limit Fist Strength."

Meng Chao calculated inwardly, then paused. "Wait. First, listen for anyone peeing outside. When we open the door, cover our faces with our clothes. Otherwise, if someone sees the two of us coming out of the same stall, it'll damage my good name."

They jogged all the way back to the cultivation room. Chu Feixiong reached the Fist Strength Tester in two strides and eagerly activated it.

The enormous, intricate crystal apparatus let out creaking mechanical noises as it operated, and its display lit up.

Big White Bear howled wildly and pounded his chest like a gorilla. Following the force-exertion techniques Meng Chao had taught him, he assumed the opening stance of Wild Bull Technique.

Just as he was about to exert force, someone suddenly stepped in front of him.

It was Zuo Haoran.

"What?" Big White Bear's entire body was stretched uncomfortably tight with force as he asked stiffly.

"Who allowed you to use the Fist Strength Tester?"

Zuo Haoran pulled a long face. "Even though this is a self-study class, you still have to follow classroom discipline. Everyone is cultivating seriously, while you and Meng Chao slipped out as soon as class started and only returned after ten or twenty minutes. Then you decided on your own to test your punching strength. Did you get permission?"

His voice was neither too loud nor too soft—just enough for the entire cultivation room to hear.

Big White Bear was so angry that his eyebrows stood on end.

"Don't be angry, Chu Feixiong. I'm doing this for your own good."

Zuo Haoran glanced at Meng Chao. "After all, you're different from 'certain people.' You still have a good chance of getting into an Undergraduate Program. In this final month and a half, focus on making your last charge. Don't keep hanging around with 'certain people,' or you'll delay your future and regret it when it's too late.

"Alright, go cultivate first. Ten minutes before class ends, I'll organize everyone to line up and test their fist strength."

The class monitor waved his hand, looking as though it were only natural.

Big White Bear flew into a rage.

"Class Monitor Zuo, do you really think you're a teacher? Waving a chicken feather like it's an imperial decree!"

He said loudly, "I've just gained some insight into Raging Bull Force, so I was anxious to test my fist strength. Even if the class teacher or Devil Yan came, they wouldn't stop me. Why are you meddling in other people's business? If you waste my moment of enlightenment, can you afford to compensate me?"

His voice was naturally booming, immediately drawing the attention of the other students.

Everyone pricked up their ears, wanting to know how the class's two top experts had openly come into conflict.

Zuo Haoran's face darkened.

He had not expected Chu Feixiong to dare make a scene in public. This was truly refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!

"An insight?"

Zuo Haoran sneered. "Chu Feixiong, I saw your force-exertion stance. It was crooked and twisted, strange and bizarre, far too different from standard Raging Bull Force. Exerting force like that, you definitely won't be able to throw a heavy punch. What kind of insight is that?

"This self-study class is under my management. Your Raging Bull Force is so crude that it would be one thing if you simply failed to throw a heavy punch. But if your force goes astray and you injure your muscles and bones, delaying your National College Entrance Examination, I truly won't be able to compensate you.

"If you really want to use the Fist Strength Tester, fine. Go practice at the side first. Come back after you've figured out Raging Bull Force!"