The Beginning of Transformation

10 p.m., Forbidden Pavilion.

Inside a secret chamber forged from Kelo Alloy, Shen Mu sat cross-legged on a cushion. Before him lay a black briefcase.

Click!

The combination case opened, revealing three neatly arranged wooden boxes: two manuals, "Destroyer" and "Mentalist Foundation," along with the drug Dragon Blood.

"This is Dragon Blood. Let me see how effective it is."

Shen Mu picked up a test tube. The Dragon Blood was a thick, pale gold liquid, faintly glimmering with golden fluorescence beneath the dim light.

The wooden box also contained a detailed introduction to Dragon Blood. Shen Mu knew how to use it—he only needed to apply it directly over his entire body. He mainly wanted to see its effects; after so many years, he could no longer remember clearly.

The effectiveness of Dragon Blood depended on the user's strength. If used by a War God-level martial artist, it might not even double their physical attributes.

But if used by a high-level warrior, it could even increase them three or fourfold.

Judging by Shen Mu's weakling-level physical condition, it should increase them by at least fourfold.

Pop!

Shen Mu pulled the wooden stopper from the test tube, poured the viscous Dragon Blood into his palm, and began smearing it over his body.

Very quickly, streams of heat seeped through the Dragon Blood-covered areas of his skin and entered his body, rapidly spreading through Shen Mu's limbs and bones.

In just over ten seconds, Shen Mu's body temperature rose sharply as intense pain and itching swept through his entire body.

As time passed, the agony sank into his bones. Every bone in Shen Mu's body seemed to be deep-fried beneath terrifyingly high heat.

Shen Mu's expression did not change, but his entire body still trembled faintly. It was his body's response to the searing pain, something that could not be altered by willpower.

Hum!

Invisible mental power spread out from Shen Mu's body. As his physical attributes rose, the amount of mental power this body could bear also increased rapidly.

Who knew how long passed before the transformation within Shen Mu's body finally ended, and the scorching pain swiftly faded away.

Shen Mu was now covered in a thick layer of grime. This was not the cleansing of sinews and marrow from martial arts tales, but the expulsion of cells that had failed during the transformation.

Shen Mu let out a long breath of foul air, opened his eyes, and lightly clenched his fist, carefully sensing the surging power hidden within his body.

"I'll wash up first, then test how much my physical attributes have improved."

Ten minutes later, first floor of the pavilion, martial arts hall.

Before the punching force tester, Shen Mu clenched his right fist, lowered into a bow stance, and thrust forward!

Bang!

Accompanied by a dull impact, the test result appeared on the instrument's screen: 10,914 kg!

Shen Mu's Brute Force had previously been just over two thousand kilograms. It had increased by around eight thousand kilograms—the effect was indeed not bad.

"Most of Dragon Blood's medicinal effects are still deposited in my body. After all, with my physical condition, even multiplying it five or six times wouldn't amount to much."

It seemed that for some time to come, he would need to train intensely in order to draw out the remaining effects of Dragon Blood.

For Shen Mu's Earthling original body, there were only two main tasks: raising his gunmanship realm and improving his physical attributes.

As for force-exertion techniques, they were not important for now. In any case, Earth's force-exertion techniques had gone down the wrong path. It would not be too late to practice them later.

The next morning, Forbidden Pavilion's small courtyard.

Shen Mu and Chu Qiang stood facing one another, long spears in hand.

Chu Qiang looked at Shen Mu. "Junior Brother Shen Mu, how much do you know about the four realms of Combat Techniques?"

Shen Mu did know something about the realms of gunmanship. In his previous life, he had struggled on the edge of death, so naturally he had devoted all his effort to researching mentalist techniques. His Combat Technique level had been atrocious. But in this life, it was fairly good—his gunmanship had reached the Specialized Level.

There was no need to say much about the Basic Level. Once one became proficient in the moves, they had entered the door.

Specialized Level gunmanship meant no longer being bound by rigid forms. Thrusting, stabbing, sweeping up, deflecting... one moved according to the moment, and the power greatly increased.

As for the Perfect Level, it was what the ancients called becoming one with spear and man—making the long spear feel like a part of one's body, wielding it as easily as an arm, following one's heart in complete freedom.

Beyond that was the Artistic Conception Level, where one merged with the artistic conception of nature. It was not yet something Shen Mu could touch upon.

Shen Mu explained his understanding of gunmanship point by point, then looked toward Chu Qiang.

Chu Qiang held his long spear horizontally, its sharp edge aimed directly at Shen Mu. "Not bad. Now let me see what your gunmanship is capable of."

Shen Mu did not waste words. His figure shot forth like a bolt of lightning, his great spear sweeping toward Chu Qiang.

While Shen Mu trained his gunmanship, deep within the ocean thousands of miles away—

"Roar!"

A majestic dragon's roar echoed across the seabed. A green azure dragon churned through the deep sea, surrounded by twelve Mental Power Weapons polished from sharp dragon scales.

A careful look would reveal that the traces carved by those scales intertwined with one another, forming an exceedingly intricate, maze-like pattern.

The twelve dragon scales alternated between fast and slow, weaving and outlining. Within a mere twenty-five seconds, they finally completed a maze pattern.

"Completing the second pattern of the Celestial Atlas within thirty-two seconds. Very good!"

The "Celestial Atlas" was an object-control manual within Mentalist Foundation, containing a total of ninety-nine patterns.

Even Ister, the most powerful Mentalist on Earth today, could only complete the cultivation of the eighteenth diagram. Yet Shen Mu knew that Luo Feng, who was currently trapped within Ancient Civilization Ruin No. 9, should have already surpassed Ister.

Comprehending artistic conception was left to his Earthling true body. As for increasing his Mind Amplitude, that naturally fell to the Azure Dragon Avatar, a second-stage Planet-Level Mentalist.

Crash!

Beneath the deep sea, colossal waves churned. Driven by immense mental power, scales of azure dragon repeatedly formed one profound diagram after another.

Throughout the entire month of January that followed, Shen Mu remained in the training camp, honing his spear techniques without going out.

It was not that Shen Mu did not want to leave. His official enrollment would not begin until February 1st. Before then, he was not allowed to leave camp, nor did he have any access time for the gravity chamber or trial chamber. He could only honestly practice with his spear.

In the blink of an eye, time arrived at January 31st.

In the small courtyard of the Forbidden Pavilion, Chu Qiang tossed Shen Mu a bottle of water after another sparring session.

"Junior Brother, tomorrow, you'll officially join the camp. Based on your ranking, you must head to City 1001 on odd-numbered days to hunt monsters. There's something I must remind you of."

At this point, Chu Qiang's expression became incomparably solemn. "Junior Brother, you're an Advanced General-Level Mentalist and can control ten throwing knives. The monsters in City 1001 are basically no match for you.

"But you must remember: you cannot hunt Beginner Lord-Level Monsters. The moment you become a God of War-Level powerhouse, you'll be forced to graduate."

"Rest assured, Senior Brother. I'm only going to the wilderness to temper my spear techniques. I generally won't use my mental power. Besides, with my combat power amplitude, I can easily kill a few monsters and rise to first place."

Chu Qiang could not help saying, "Indeed. With your combat power amplitude, surpassing me will be easy."

This was Chu Qiang's final year in the training camp. The old trainee who had once competed against him had already left, leaving him as the only student with a combat power amplitude above sixteen times.

He had thought he could dominate the rankings for the last few months and exchange for more resources, but then Shen Mu, this monstrous freak, had appeared.

Early the next morning, February 1st, Shen Mu followed more than ninety training camp students as they set out straight for City 1001.