The yoga mat was covered in sweat stains, and Lingering Fragrance wafted through the room. Su Qi's cheeks were flushed red as she panted out foul breath.
She looked as though she were about to breathe her last, yet the flexible sword in her hand continued to whirl on its own. Her movements showed no sign of slackening, graceful as a startled swan and dazzling to the eye.
"Ha—ha, System, I can't do this anymore. Stop, stop already!" Su Qi begged desperately.
Every muscle in her body felt as though it were trembling violently. Even each step beneath her little feet felt like she was treading on cotton. Rather than controlling her own body, it felt more as though a puppeteer were manipulating her, while she could only dance helplessly.
"Believe in yourself, Host. You can do it. Know that all who attained great enlightenment were once beyond saving. If the heart does not die, the path cannot be born. When driven into a corner, press forward with unstoppable force."
The System actually gave a philosophical response, leaving Su Qi stunned for a moment. Then she realized—wasn't that something from this morning's news? It sounded cool, but she really couldn't keep going.
Her jade-like foot tapped lightly, followed by a stunning backbend. The flexible sword in her hand never stopped during the bend, continuing its fierce slashing motions. She looked imposing, like an elf dancing among flowers.
Only after the finishing move following thirteen thrusts did Su Qi finally escape that terrifying state.
Her arms and thighs trembled wildly, like they were cramping. No, they were cramping. Even her calves shook like sieves, especially visibly beneath her fair skin.
Yet Su Qi had no time to care about her cramping calves. Her waist was in even worse shape. As someone who had never learned to dance, that full backbend had nearly snapped her waist in two. It ached unbearably now.
"System, is this secret manual poisonous or something?! This is only the second page, and it already feels like it's killing me! I'm scared that if I turn to the third page, this manual might actually want me dead!
What kind of setting makes someone keep practicing like this without any proficiency? The secret manuals other systems give let you master them immediately, like Doraemon—you learn it with one 'beep.' Why do I have to practice yours move by move?" Su Qi lay on the yoga mat for ten minutes before she barely had the strength to complain.
"Host, please correct your understanding and abandon such utterly shameful notions of gaining without effort. Not only is your idea profoundly unscientific, but merely having such an idea is wrong.
If such a shortcut truly existed, wouldn't that be disrespectful to ordinary people? Could someone else's lifetime of effort be worth less than a single secret manual?"
Su Qi detected a faintly lecturing tone in its emotionless voice. Though hearing the word "science" from it felt a little strange, considering it was itself a being beyond science.
Still, the System's values were quite upright. As it said, becoming proficient at everything after binding to a System would indeed be disrespectful to everyone else.
Before Su Qi could think any further, the System explained again, "Although this System cannot allow the Host to achieve the ideal results you envision, it has introduced an intelligent learning system. Through repeated practice of a movement, you can develop muscle memory.
Furthermore, the Host has no foundation in dance or sword dancing. If you learned on your own, the chances of success would be negligible. That is why the secret manual's forced assistance can be used. To be fair, without forced execution, when would the Host have given up?"
Su Qi felt that as the System spent more time with her, its learning ability was growing stronger and it was becoming more articulate. What it said really did make sense.
She had opened the book after finishing lunch at two in the afternoon.
At around three ten, she had already begun to complain. After an hour of exercise, her muscles had started to ache. Without the secret manual's help, she probably would have given up after about an hour.
By four, she had no strength left at all. The secret manual had dragged her body through the corresponding movements.
Just now, at five, Su Qi had felt as though she were about to die. Yet her body had acted before her brain did.
Thinking about it that way, it was rather remarkable, though not particularly user-friendly. For example, after that leg-splitting move, Su Qi felt as though the tendons in her butt had been stretched longer. It would have been nice if she could grow a little taller too.
Her height of just over 1.7 meters was indeed somewhat short.
"System, at this rate, even if I don't rest for the next few days, I won't be able to finish this thick Flower Stance Secret Manual!"
Su Qi did not want her money to go down the drain. Whenever she thought of that tyrannical clause stating that a single failed photo would void everything, her temples throbbed.
"Rest assured, Host. All decisions made by this System fall within the Host's usable limits and will not exceed them. After all, we are one whole—when one prospers, all prosper; when one suffers, all suffer," the System replied.
Su Qi glanced at the battered, weighty secret manual and estimated that it still had at least 150 pages left. She had spent three hours on the ten movements of the second page today. She truly could not understand where the System's confidence came from.
Forget it, no more thinking. Maybe she would know the answer tomorrow or the day after, perhaps it was related to the ability she would awaken later. As Su Qi thought this, she actually found herself somewhat curious about tomorrow's change.
She even had the thought that having something new and novel appear every day might not be so bad.
How could I possibly be looking forward to becoming a woman? No, no!
After yesterday's experience, Su Qi did not want to sleep on the yoga mat again. She climbed onto the bed that still carried Wang Yun's lingering scent. The blanket was as light as a feather and exceptionally soft.
Before long, Su Qi fell asleep. Because she had exercised so intensely, even her breathing carried faint snores.
Though it was not yet midnight, if someone had been beside Su Qi, they would have discovered that her figure was slowly changing.
Her flat chest gradually swelled, becoming rounder and fuller like balloons being inflated. It finally stopped when they were about the size of two apples, while the bones of her waist also slowly transformed.
If the previous Su Qi had still possessed a trace of masculine stiffness in her bones despite being soft and cute to hold, then the current Su Qi was a truly soft, delicate girl in one's arms.
Her waist was slender enough to fit in one hand, and her bones were no longer as broad as before, making her entire body appear much smaller and more delicate, especially paired with those slightly raised twin peaks.
Though the changes to the bones in her chest were enormous, the greatest change was undoubtedly her pelvis. After all, this was where the skeletal differences between men and women were most pronounced.
Women bore the great responsibility of carrying children.
This was why women's pelvises were broad and short, while men's were slender and long.
As her pelvis changed, a careful observer would discover that Su Qi had actually become a little shorter. But that did not mean those centimeters had vanished—they had merely found their way elsewhere.
In her sleep, Su Qi only felt as though her butt had gotten bigger. She shifted a few times before falling back into a deep sleep. Her perky rear supported her on the bed, sinking into the mattress even more deeply than before.
If Su Qi knew that her height had been traded for that perky rear, who knew whether she would cry her eyes out.
But she had no such thoughts right now. She was still happily dreaming her sweet, impossible dream.
In her dream, she was still a boy, with Wang Zijin in her left arm and one hand on An Ning's thigh. Wang Yun sat on top of her, while Bai Miao stood beside her holding a food box and feeding her. She was filled with bliss. She even wore a foolishly delighted grin, utterly unaware of the changes happening to her body.
The System inspected Su Qi's figure, especially admiring the size of the pair of twin peaks on her chest.
They were not the enormous type the Host liked, but it had consulted plenty of material, especially the Host's works.
Most of the characters Su Qi drew initially had chests that were only barely graspable with one hand. Then, as the main plot progressed, the female protagonist would begin to grow from small to large.
The Host especially liked this gradual progression. This time, she could experience it personally!
Surely the Host will praise me!
Before you continue