Perceiving Evasion, Skillfully Slacking, Extra Class Training, Steadily Accumulating Value

As the morning light filtered through the cracks in the window, Tang San was flipping through the Plant Martial Soul Perception book that Yu Xiaogang had lent him. The pages were yellowed, filled with dense annotations between the lines, clearly showing it was an old book. By the time Wang Hu and the other two rubbed their eyes and got up, he closed the book and slowly folded it, placing it by his pillow—today's lesson was "Perception Evasion," and he needed to conserve his energy for "slacking off" and couldn't expend too much too early.

"Tang San, hurry up and get up! Today's morning training is 'Basic Martial Soul Perception,' and Teacher Zhang said it needs to connect with the afternoon evasion training. If you're late, you'll definitely be punished!" Wang Hu shouted while getting dressed, putting his socks on inside out.

Tang San stretched languidly and slowly sat up. "What's the rush? There's still over an hour until morning training. I'll wash up first. You guys go ahead and grab a good spot so you don't get assigned to train in the wind and get a headache." He deliberately dawdled while looking for clothes. After Wang Hu and the other two left, he took his towel to wash up. He even took an extra half-stick of incense time to tidy his bed. By the time he walked to the training ground, many people were already adjusting their martial soul perception.

[Proactively delayed arrival at morning training, avoiding early exertion, Slacking Value +1, current total 1 point]

On the training ground, Teacher Zhang stood in the center holding wooden chips. Seeing Tang San arrive, he pointed to an empty spot at the side. "Tang San, get in position quickly. Today we're practicing 'Martial Soul Perception of Wooden Chip Trajectories.' Use your martial soul to perceive the direction of the wooden chips I throw. Evading them counts as passing; failing to evade means a five-lap penalty!"

Tang San quickly moved to the empty spot and summoned his Blue Silver Grass. Unlike the others who spread their Blue Silver Grass to expand their perception range, he only made the leaves sway gently in front of him, deliberately shrinking his perception range to within half a zhang. This way, he could save Soul Power and still perceive the nearby wooden chips. For the distant ones, he could claim he "didn't perceive them" and use "weak Soul Power, small perception range" as an excuse.

"Everyone ready? Begin!" Teacher Zhang said, and the wooden chips flew out like raindrops. Tang San's Blue Silver Grass swayed gently, only evading a few chips in front of him. The distant chips "just happened" to graze his clothes as they flew past, making it seem like he hadn't perceived them.

"Tang San, why are you only evading the ones in front? Didn't you perceive the distant ones?" Teacher Zhang walked over, frowning.

"Teacher, my Soul Power is weak, and my perception range is only half a zhang. I really can't perceive the distant wooden chips, so I can only try my best to avoid the ones in front." Tang San feigned helplessness, quickly making the perception range of his Blue Silver Grass even smaller. "See, the range is even smaller now. There's really nothing I can do."

[Reduced training intensity with the excuse of "small perception range," avoiding excessive consumption, Slacking Value +1, current total 2 points]

Teacher Zhang didn't say anything further and turned to instruct other students. After morning training ended, Xiao Wu handed him a bottle of water. "Tang San, you could clearly perceive the distant wooden chips just now. Why did you deliberately not evade them? You almost got hit."

"Perceiving distant wooden chips consumes Soul Power. We still have evasion training this afternoon, so I need to conserve my energy." Tang San unscrewed the water bottle and took a slow sip. "Let's go to the cafeteria for lunch. There should be pork rib soup today."

As the two walked towards the cafeteria, they ran into Yu Xiaogang. He was holding a cloth bag, which seemed to contain wooden chips and ropes. "Tang San, come to my office after training this afternoon. I'll teach you 'Perception Evasion Techniques.' I've prepared some wooden chips, which will be perfect for practice."

Tang San's heart skipped a beat, and he wanted to find an excuse to refuse. But before he could speak, Yu Xiaogang continued, "Don't look for excuses. I've already told the cafeteria to save you a bowl of pork rib soup. Eat quickly and then head to training. If you don't learn it this afternoon, you'll have to practice for an extra hour."

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

The morning's extra class was "Precise Soul Power Perception Practice"—students were to use their martial souls to perceive the location of pebbles on the ground and pick them up without looking. Those who picked the wrong ones or missed any were penalized by picking up ten more. Wang Hu and the others had martial soul perception ranges of over one zhang, and they quickly finished picking up the pebbles. Only Tang San's Blue Silver Grass slowly fumbled around on the ground, "just happening" to miss a few pebbles each time, and he only managed to pick up half of them after a long while.

Teacher Li, who was in charge of the training, walked over and looked at Tang San. "Tang San, why are you so slow at picking them up? Is your perception not well-trained?"

"Teacher, my Soul Power is weak, and my perception accuracy is poor. I can only search slowly. If I rush, I'll easily pick the wrong ones, and then I'll have to pick up more as a penalty, which takes even more time." Tang San quickly said, slowing down his Blue Silver Grass even further, deliberately missing a pebble. "See, I missed another one. I'll have to search for it again."

Teacher Li didn't say anything further and turned to instruct others. Tang San breathed a sigh of relief and continued to "slowly pick up pebbles"—anyway, as long as he finished in the end, being slow was better than expending Soul Power.

[Reduced perception speed with the excuse of "avoiding penalty picks," avoiding excessive consumption, Slacking Value +1, current total 3 points]

After the extra class ended, Tang San hurried to the cafeteria—he hadn't eaten much in the morning and was already starving. As soon as he arrived at the cafeteria, he saw Wang Hu and the other two waiting for him. "Tang San, you were too slow picking up those pebbles just now. We all finished, and you'd only picked up half."

"My Soul Power is weak, there's nothing I can do. I'll take it slow." Tang San picked up a meat bun and ate it slowly. "We still have training this afternoon. You guys eat quickly so you're not late."

The afternoon's extra class was "Martial Soul Evasion Practice"—students paired up, one throwing wooden chips and the other using their martial soul perception to evade, switching roles for half an hour. Wang Hu wanted to pair up with Tang San, but Tang San shook his head. "My evasion speed is slow. I'll hold you back if we're paired together. You find Li Qing; I'll pair with Zhao Yu."

Zhao Yu had less strength and threw wooden chips at a slower speed. Pairing with him would allow for "easy evasion." During their practice, Tang San deliberately slowed down the perception speed of his Blue Silver Grass, evading the wooden chips "just as" they were about to reach him, making it look like he was almost hit but managed to dodge at the last second.

"Tang San, can you dodge a bit faster? It's so close every time, I'm almost afraid to throw. If it keeps going like this, both of us will get told off by the teacher," Zhao Yu said helplessly.

"Dodging too fast consumes Soul Power, there's no need." Tang San said with a smile, his Blue Silver Grass maintaining its slow-paced perception. "As long as I don't get hit, being slow is fine. It's better than running out of Soul Power."

[Reduced evasion speed with the excuse of "conserving Soul Power," avoiding excessive consumption, Slacking Value +1, current total 4 points]

After training ended, Tang San had no choice but to head to Yu Xiaogang's office. In the office, Yu Xiaogang had already laid out the wooden chips and ropes, and several circles were drawn on the floor. "Today, I'll teach you 'Perception Evasion Techniques.' Stand inside the circle and use your Blue Silver Grass to perceive the wooden chips I throw. You must not only evade them but also stay within the circle while evading. Stepping out of the circle counts as failure."

Tang San followed the instructions and stood inside the circle, summoning his Blue Silver Grass. He deliberately used only thirty percent of his Soul Power, shrinking his perception range to within half a zhang. He also deliberately slowed down his evasion speed, evading "just as" the wooden chips were about to reach him, and he almost stepped out of the circle.

"That's not right. Expand your perception range a bit more and speed up your evasion!" Yu Xiaogang frowned. "Although your Soul Power is weak, you can increase your perception speed. Don't always think about saving Soul Power."

With no other choice, Tang San released another twenty percent of his Soul Power, expanding his perception range to one zhang, and quickened his evasion speed a bit. However, he still deliberately lagged by half a beat, staying just within the circle.

"That's more like it." Yu Xiaogang nodded. "Practice a few more times to get familiar with it, and we'll consolidate tomorrow."

[Forced to increase perception and evasion intensity, no Slacking Value gained, but by "slowing down by half a beat," excessive performance was reduced, no points deducted]

After practicing for half an hour, Tang San finally emerged from the office. Xiao Wu was waiting for him at the door. "Tang San, why did you take so long? I've been waiting for you for almost an hour. I thought you were being punished by the teacher."

"No, Master was teaching me Perception Evasion Techniques. It took a long time to get proficient," Tang San stretched. "Let's go to the cafeteria for dinner. I'm starving."

As they walked towards the cafeteria, Tang San pondered: he had accumulated 4 points of Slacking Value today. Although he was forced by Master to practice the techniques, there was still an overall gain. As long as he continued at this pace, he would definitely accumulate enough Slacking Value for the next exchange of Soul Power.

The lights of the cafeteria were on. Tang San looked at the food in front of him and ate slowly—he knew that as long as he persisted in slacking, his "peak slacking path" would continue, and even with Master's supervision, he could find opportunities to slack off and steadily become stronger.