Morning Practice to Slack and Accumulate Slacking Value, Master's Guidance Hides True Meaning

The night hadn't fully receded when the horn for morning practice blared—after the extra classes were added, the academy changed the morning assembly signal from a "knock" to a "horn," fearing students would be late. Tang San rolled over with the sound of the horn, groggily opening his eyes. The three people in the dorm, Wang Hu included, were already fumbling to get dressed in the dark, moving as quietly as thieves.

"Tang San, hurry up and get up! Teacher Li said today he's checking morning practice attendance. One tardy will cost half a month's worth of credits!" Wang Hu whispered, already wearing his shirt inside out.

Tang San rubbed his eyes, not rushing to get up. "What's the hurry? The horn just blew for the first time. There's still a quarter of an hour until assembly. I'll rest a bit longer and get up when the second horn blows; I'll make it just in time." As he spoke, he burrowed back under the covers, deliberately slowing his pace.

[Proactively delaying wake-up to avoid early high-intensity preparation, Slacking Value +1, current total 37 points]

As expected, it wasn't until the second horn blew that Tang San slowly sat up. While dressing, he deliberately mismatched two buttons and then spent another quarter of an hour fixing them. By the time he walked towards the practice field with a steamed bun, the students were already lined up, and Teacher Li was taking attendance with a roster.

"Tang San!" Teacher Li called out his name, looking up and glaring at him. "Last one here again! Get to the back of the line. Today's practice is 'Martial Soul Entanglement Evasion.' If you can't keep up, your credits will be deducted!"

Tang San quickly agreed and walked to the end of the line. Once practice began, the other students were diligently using their Martial Souls to entangle the wooden stakes while dodging the wood chips thrown by Teacher Li. Only Tang San slowly summoned his Blue Silver Grass—the blades lay limply on his wrist, only half-wrapping the stake before loosening, and he deliberately dodged the wood chips a "beat too late," always seeming to narrowly miss being hit but managing to evade them.

"Tang San, put some effort into it! Wrap the Blue Silver Grass tighter!" Teacher Li walked over, pointing his wooden staff at Tang San's Martial Soul. "If you keep being this perfunctory, you won't get any credits today!"

"Teacher, my Soul Power is weak. If I wrap it too tightly, I'll exhaust my Soul Power. I still need to practice dodging later, and it would be troublesome if I don't have the strength to dodge the wood chips," Tang San said, feigning panic. He quickly wrapped the Blue Silver Grass around the stake half a turn more, but still without much force.

[Reducing training intensity under the guise of "conserving Soul Power" to avoid high-intensity consumption, Slacking Value +1, current total 38 points]

Teacher Li could only shake his head and walk away helplessly. After morning practice, Xiao Wu ran over, handing him a handkerchief. "Tang San, you almost got hit by a wood chip just now. Why didn't you dodge faster?"

"Dodging too fast uses up Soul Power, and it's not worth it," Tang San said, wiping the sweat from his brow (which was actually feigned). "Let's go eat at the cafeteria. If we're late, there won't be any buns left."

As they walked towards the cafeteria, they ran into Yu Xiaogang. He was holding a cloth bag, seemingly containing something. "Tang San, after training this afternoon, come to my office. You need to get proficient with the Soul Power activation method I taught you yesterday."

Tang San's heart skipped a beat, wanting to find an excuse to refuse, but before he could speak, Yu Xiaogang continued, "Don't make excuses. I've already told the cafeteria to save two meat buns for you. Eat quickly and then go train. If you still haven't learned it this afternoon, you'll have to practice for an extra hour."

With no other choice, Tang San nodded in agreement. "Understood, Master."

[Forced to accept guidance, no Slacking Value increase]

After breakfast, the morning extra class was "Soul Power Endurance Practice"—students were to continuously release their Martial Souls and maintain it for half an hour without retracting them, to train their Soul Power endurance. Wang Hu and the others' Martial Souls erupted with brilliant light, but Tang San's Blue Silver Grass remained a faint, ethereal projection, with only twenty percent of his Soul Power released, looking like it could dissipate at any moment.

"Tang San, release more Soul Power! Your Martial Soul's phantom image is too faint, it's like you haven't even released it!" Teacher Zhang, who was in charge of the training, walked over, frowning.

"Teacher, my Soul Power is low. If I release too much, I won't be able to last half an hour. If I retract it midway, it won't count as completing the task," Tang San quickly said, his Blue Silver Grass weakening slightly. "If I train slowly like this, I can at least last the entire time. Don't you think so?"

Teacher Zhang pondered for a moment and found his reasoning sound, so he nodded. "Alright, then maintain this intensity. Just don't retract it midway."

[Reducing Soul Power release intensity under the guise of "completing the task," Slacking Value +1, current total 39 points]

Half an hour later, training ended. The other students were drenched in sweat, exhausted, but Tang San's complexion was ruddy, and he didn't look tired at all. Xiao Wu said in surprise, "Tang San, why aren't you tired at all? My Soul Power was almost depleted just now."

"I released less Soul Power, so my consumption is naturally less," Tang San smiled. "Let's go rest for a bit. There's still training this afternoon."

During the noon break, Tang San didn't return to the dorm. Instead, he found a stone bench under a tree, opened his system panel—39 Slacking Value points, 11 points short of the next Soul Power upgrade. He leaned against the tree, closed his eyes, and began to "meditate," but in reality, he was slacking off and soon fell asleep.

[Sleeping under the guise of "meditation" to avoid additional activity consumption, Slacking Value +1, current total 40 points]

The afternoon extra class was "Basic Martial Soul Defense Practice." Teacher Li had students use their Martial Souls to block attacks from wooden staffs, training their defensive capabilities. When Wang Hu and the others blocked the staffs with their Martial Souls, the sounds of "bang bang" could be heard. Only Tang San's Blue Silver Grass bent upon contact with the staff, managing to entangle it mid-air. His defense wasn't broken, nor did he exert much force to block.

"Tang San, your defense is too weak! A little more force and it would break!" Teacher Li held his staff, not pressing down further. "Use more force, otherwise how can you defend against enemy attacks?"

"Teacher, I'm using 'yielding to overcome the rigid.' See, although the staff bent my Blue Silver Grass, it didn't touch me," Tang San quickly said. He added another ten percent of Soul Power, and the Blue Silver Grass stiffened slightly, but still didn't exert much force to block.

Teacher Li was left speechless by his explanation and turned to instruct other students.

[Reducing defense intensity under the guise of "yielding to overcome the rigid," Slacking Value +1, current total 41 points]

After training, Tang San had no choice but to go to Yu Xiaogang's office. In the office, Yu Xiaogang had already set up two wooden stakes, with a blue crystal ball placed beside them. "Let's test your Soul Power first and see if there's any progress today."

Tang San placed his hand on the crystal ball, still releasing only thirty percent of his Soul Power—the crystal ball emitted a faint blue light, no different from yesterday. "Still no progress?" Yu Xiaogang frowned. "Come, practice the Soul Power activation method I taught you yesterday. You must master it today."

Tang San had no choice but to summon his Blue Silver Grass and, following Yu Xiaogang's method, slowly entangle the wooden stakes. He deliberately slowed his movements and released only twenty percent of his Soul Power. After several attempts, it only wrapped around twice before falling off.

"What's wrong with you? When I taught you yesterday, you could wrap it around once! How have you regressed today?" Yu Xiaogang became a little angry, his voice raising slightly.

"Master, I practiced Soul Power endurance this morning and defense this afternoon. My Soul Power is too depleted, and I really can't practice it well," Tang San said, feigning grievance. "Perhaps I could practice tomorrow? I'll have more energy tomorrow and will definitely master it."

Yu Xiaogang glanced at him, took a bottle from his cloth bag, and handed it to Tang San. "This is a Soul Power recovery potion. Drinking it will quickly restore your Soul Power. You must master it today, or you're not leaving."

With no other choice, Tang San took the bottle and drank the potion. Before long, he felt a warm current surge through his body, and his Soul Power recovered considerably. He had no choice but to exert a little more force, and the Blue Silver Grass finally wrapped around the wooden stake three times.

"That's more like it," Yu Xiaogang nodded. "Remember this feeling. When you practice again tomorrow, you must succeed on the first try."

[Forced to master the technique, no Slacking Value increase]

By the time he walked out of the office, it was already dark. Xiao Wu was waiting for him at the door. "Tang San, why did you take so long? I've been waiting for you for half an hour."

"Master insisted I master that Soul Power activation method before letting me leave," Tang San said helplessly. "Let's go eat at the cafeteria. I'm starving."

As they walked towards the cafeteria, Tang San pondered: Today he gained 4 Slacking Value points, 9 points away from 50. If he works hard to accumulate more tomorrow, he should be able to exchange for a Soul Power upgrade. Although he was forced to practice the technique by Master, as long as he persisted in slacking, he would always find opportunities to accumulate points.

The cafeteria lights were on. Tang San looked at the food in front of him and ate slowly—he knew that as long as he didn't give up on slacking, his "peak slacking path" would continue, and even with Master's supervision, he could find opportunities to slack off.