Returning to Ancient Times as a Top Student?

Returning to Ancient Times as a Top Student? It probably hadn't been long before his proper-looking blade practice completely fell apart. In the end, Chu Mu leaned against the courtyard wall, the long blade lying to one side, panting heavily.

"What a wonder this blade hasn't rusted through!"

Looking at the long blade before him, Chu Mu suddenly smiled. The blade weighed several pounds, and merely controlling its weight was manageable for a few swings, but truly practicing with it was no easy matter, let alone persevering over the long term.

In the Original Owner's memories, his father had practiced quite a bit during the first two years after taking a position in the Patrol Bureau. After that, though, he seemed to have become an old hand at office politics.

Perhaps he had felt that even if he trained hard, there would be nowhere to put his abilities to use. Or perhaps he had simply gone with the flow. This blade seemed to have become an "Iron Rice Bowl" blade. It had hardly ever been drawn, and being covered in rust was its normal state.

Shaking his head, Chu Mu stopped thinking about it. He silently recited a thought, and that Light Screen Panel once again appeared in his field of vision.

Name: Chu Mu.

Skill: Basic Blade Technique (Just Beginning) 15/100

Spirit Radiance Value: 100.5%

Seeing this change, Chu Mu raised an eyebrow, unable to conceal his astonishment. After all, his practice just now had been scarcely better than a Child's playing around. The only difference was that he had possessed some of the Original Owner's memory as a boost!

"Memory?"

Thinking of this, Chu Mu froze slightly. He lowered his head and glanced at the long blade in his hand, then raised it and swung it twice. After carefully sensing the result, he suddenly gained some enlightenment.

Chu Mu himself had never had any foundation, but the Original Owner had practiced extensively with his father. Whether it was memory or bodily instinct, it should have naturally fused with Chu Mu during his practice just now.

By that calculation, he could be considered to have a bit of a foundation in blade techniques. That it had appeared so quickly on the Light Screen Panel was hardly surprising.

With his doubts resolved, Chu Mu's gaze also settled on "Spirit Radiance Value." The value exceeding one hundred percent clearly showed that the accumulation of Spirit Radiance Value was not limited by the one-hundred-percent boundary.

Under normal circumstances, Chu Mu would certainly have studied it carefully. But now, as he looked at the blade technique skill that had appeared, along with the tiny plus sign still flickering after "Spirit Radiance Value," his brows furrowed again.

According to common sense, if Spirit Radiance Value was treated as skill points, then the skill allocation option should be displayed after the skill, shouldn't it? Yet the flickering plus sign before his eyes was still after "Spirit Radiance Value."

How, then, was he supposed to allocate the points specifically?

Or perhaps the existence of Spirit Radiance Value was not for the purpose of allocating points as he had imagined?

After thinking for a moment, Chu Mu made up his mind. No matter how much he guessed, it could not compare to conducting an experiment.

Once his decision was made, Chu Mu's thoughts stirred, and the plus sign after "Spirit Radiance Value" suddenly stopped.

At that instant, Chu Mu, who had been concentrating intently on the Light Screen Panel before him, suddenly shuddered. Then an expression of disbelief appeared across his face.

Only after quite a while did Chu Mu seem to recover from that shock. The astonishment remained, but indescribable joy followed in its wake.

"Excellent!"

Apparently unable to suppress the surge in his heart, Chu Mu could not help laughing aloud. His eyes were brighter than ever. He casually grabbed the long blade resting to one side, then strode out, and the proper-looking blade forms appeared in the courtyard once more.

If his blade practice just now could only be called Handan Walk, then this time, although it was still Handan Walk, that Handan Walk seemed to have boarded an express train, with growth and change plainly visible to the naked eye.

Before long, the clumsy stumbling had faded somewhat. His steps and the blade flashing through the air had visibly become more fluid, even sharp.

At this moment, Chu Mu, the source of that fluidity and sharpness, was also clearly different from usual.

His eyes were bright and deep, and his indescribably intense seriousness and concentration made it seem as if nothing else existed in this world—only the blade in his hand.

Cleave, slash, upward strike, thrust...

The ordinary Basic Blade Style appeared in Chu Mu's hands, one move after another. The long blade, originally quite cumbersome, seemed to grow as light as a feather with the passage of time.

At some unknown point, accompanied by a crisp impact, the chilling blade light moving with the moonlight abruptly came to a halt.

The long blade fell to the ground, and Chu Mu collapsed as well, drenched in sweat and gasping heavily. After his strength gave out, an overwhelming weariness completely enveloped him.

"Huff..."

He gulped in great breaths, and the intense soreness and fatigue filled his body and mind. Yet no amount of exhaustion could conceal the joy in Chu Mu's heart.

Today, Chu Mu had finally learned what it meant to part the clouds and see the light of day!

With the wisdom of an ordinary mortal, he had suddenly gained a touch of Spiritual Radiance. Thought, logic, memory... everything related to wisdom had received the blessing of that Spiritual Radiance and burst forth freely.

Put simply, it was rather similar to the learning state possessed by the protagonists of those top-student novels he had read in his previous life: extreme concentration, extreme seriousness, and wisdom's light bursting forth without restraint. The impassable chasms of yesterday had suddenly become smooth roads today.

That feeling... exhilarating! If he had encountered such a stroke of fortune in his previous life, Chu Mu estimated that, at the very least, he would have been the protagonist of a top-student novel. With the Spirit Radiance Blessing, he probably would have explored the peaks of science as well.

At this thought, Chu Mu raised an eyebrow, as if he had remembered something. His path as a top student at the peaks of science had been cut off, but now he was in ancient times, where the imperial examinations existed.

Ancient society was nothing more than literature and martial pursuits. With this Spirit Radiance Blessing, perhaps he could also take a walk down the ancient path of a top student?

Returning to Ancient Times as a Top Student? Chu Mu's expression became rather strange. This setup seemed a little off...

Soon, Chu Mu suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind. No matter what, for an ordinary man like him to encounter such a stroke of fortune was already heaven's blessing.

"Huff..."

Chu Mu exhaled a long breath, as if he wanted to expel all the bewilderment and gloomy worries he had accumulated since first arriving here.

With such a stroke of fortune, even if the future remained obscure and unclear, he had ultimately gained a few more grains of confidence and lost some of his bewilderment. The future was now worth looking forward to.

The moonlight remained bright and hazy. After lying there resting for a long while, Chu Mu finally slowly climbed to his feet.

The leap in wisdom brought by the Spirit Radiance Blessing was simply too intoxicating—almost enough to drive one mad!

In that frenzy, he had plainly overlooked everything! And now, the consequences had already appeared.

Everywhere in his body was sore. Once he stood up, he trembled nonstop. He lacked even the strength to lift the long blade lying on the ground. He staggered as he walked, and after only a few steps, he fell flat on his back.

From the courtyard to the bedroom inside, it was only a few dozen steps, yet Chu Mu staggered along for several minutes.

"I probably won't be able to report for duty tomorrow!"

Collapsed on the bed, Chu Mu shook his head with a bitter smile.

Although, because of the funeral, the Patrol Bureau had allowed him to report for duty a few days late, an Iron Rice Bowl was something people coveted. According to Chu Mu's thinking, he naturally wanted to take up the post as soon as possible. Only after he had firmly grasped the Iron Rice Bowl in his hands could everything be considered settled.

With him overtaxing himself so severely now, that plan had clearly fallen through.

Without resting properly for a few days, he probably wouldn't recover...