Health Preservation, Library

At exactly five in the morning, Xue Jing opened his eyes from sleep right on time.

Though he had just woken up, he did not feel tired in the slightest. He was brimming with energy, as if the moment he opened his eyes, all drowsiness had instantly vanished.

He opened the Skill Panel.

Early to Bed and Early to Rise, Health Preservation EXP +37

Health Preservation Lv1 (236/300)

Xue Jing had activated the Health Preservation skill a week ago.

Based on his observations, its effects were to improve certain physical attributes, significantly enhance sleep quality, and, most noticeably, greatly increase his energy.

Ever since activating Health Preservation, he had barely felt tired throughout the day. He was full of drive—whenever he thought of something, he could immediately do it. His tendency to procrastinate had greatly diminished. On top of that, he could fall asleep shortly after closing his eyes, completely freeing himself from insomnia.

It could be said that this was the ordinary skill he was most satisfied with.

However, at present, Early to Bed and Early to Rise seemed to be the only way to gain EXP for this skill. He had also tried health supplements, eating meals on time to maintain a regular diet, and other little Health Preservation tricks, but they had all produced almost no response.

After closing the panel, Xue Jing was about to get up, wash up, and go for a run when he noticed that his left arm felt furry. Lifting the thin blanket, he found Maomao hugging his arm with all four white-gloved paws, sleeping soundly.

Xue Jing felt a bit of a headache coming on.

Although he had made Maomao completely reveal yesterday that she was not actually a cat, he had ultimately failed to make her speak.

As long as Maomao refused to talk, he could not obtain any information about Divinity Substance, and unlocking Twin Life's active effect would remain far in the future.

Nor could he openly say that he needed this "Divinity Substance." When it came to anything related to the Skill Panel, he was extremely cautious and had no intention of revealing even the slightest detail to anyone.

"Forget it. There'll be a way when I get there."

He pulled his arm from Maomao's embrace, got out of bed, and covered her with the thin blanket again, leaving only her cat head exposed.

The sky was still dark. He entered the bathroom, turned on the light, and began washing up.

After he finished, he changed into clothes suitable for exercise, put on his sports watch, slipped into his shoes, and went out for a run.

Not far from the residential complex where Xue Jing lived was a small garden for strolling and recreation. Outside the garden was a red-brick road built specifically around it, making it perfect for running when there were few people around.

At this hour, Xue Jing was the only person there.

The sky was still dim, and the streetlights had not yet gone out. Under their glow, Xue Jing walked onto the "track" and did some stretches.

Then he began running at a pace far beyond that of ordinary people, one that was nothing like a jog—almost like a slightly frail ordinary person sprinting at full speed.

This was what his current "jogging" speed looked like.

One lap, two laps, three laps...

An hour later, Xue Jing slowly eased his pace and gradually came to a stop.

He panted heavily, drenched in sweat. From his toes to the roots of his thighs, both legs burned fiercely. His lungs felt as though someone were clutching and kneading them in one hand; every breath of oxygen was squeezed back out by that hand, doing nothing to ease the suffocating sensation.

Only after several minutes did his breathing gradually settle and he recover. He raised his right hand and checked the data on his sports watch.

Running time: 1 hour 2 minutes 13 seconds
Average speed: 18.3 km/h

This average speed was already close to the standard of professional half-marathon runners from his previous life.

Running nonstop for an hour at that speed was an enormously demanding challenge even for Xue Jing's current body.

Recently, he had been running like this every morning.

Normally, he would not have been able to do it every day. His muscle damage simply would not have had time to recover.

But ever since Health Preservation had activated, his recovery ability had increased dramatically. No matter how exhausted he was, as long as he slept, he would feel completely recovered upon waking.

Xue Jing opened the panel.

You completed a long-distance run. Running EXP +205

Running Lv3 (463/800)

Running a little over eighteen kilometers had given Running 205 EXP.

As this skill's EXP grew and its level increased, everything related to running would be strengthened.

His posture and exertion would become increasingly perfect. How to exert force to unleash greater power while avoiding injury, what posture could reduce wind resistance and make him run faster, how to coordinate his breathing rhythm—all of it would be carved into his body like instinct.

His physical attributes had also improved, especially his lung capacity and leg explosiveness.

Xue Jing took another look at the Fitness skill.

You completed a long-distance run. Fitness EXP +32

Fitness Lv2 (288/500)

He walked over to a bench in the garden and sat down to rest for a while.

"Feels good."

He was exhausted, but the satisfaction of visibly becoming better gave him joy far beyond the fatigue.

Even setting aside the panel's growth rate, simply being able to clearly see one's own progress was already an incredible cheat.

It was like how some people could not persist with studying or exercising for long, yet could grind in games for several nights straight. The biggest difference lay in whether they could accurately recognize that they were moving forward.

The certainty of receiving immediate positive feedback, the anticipation of clearly knowing that one would become strong in the future—those things could stir up powerful motivation from the bottom of most people's hearts.

It was practically like having one foot in the saintly realm of unity of knowledge and action.

By now, it was past six. The sky was fully bright, and people were gradually beginning to appear nearby.

Xue Jing wiped the sweat from his forehead and slowly walked home.

After returning home, he took off his clothes and tossed them into the washing machine, then entered the bathroom and rinsed off. He felt refreshed.

Maomao was still not awake. Even though she had slept with him yesterday, her biological clock was clearly very un-catlike.

Xue Jing went into the kitchen, took six eggs from the refrigerator and put them into a pot, poured in just enough water to cover them, and set them on the induction cooker to boil.

He then poured a large bottle of pure milk into another pot, heated it on the gas stove until it was hot, turned off the flame, added oatmeal and some sugar, and made a pot of sweet oatmeal milk.

Then he took out the remaining slices of bread he had bought yesterday morning from the cupboard. That was his breakfast for the day.

Because it was too simple to count as Cooking, he did not gain any Cooking EXP.

He ate four of the boiled eggs, peeled the remaining two and placed them on a small plate. He also left some oatmeal milk and bread, setting everything on the dining table for Maomao to eat when she woke up.

Although this cat's constant refusal to communicate made him very dissatisfied, she had still brought him the opportunity for the Skill Panel's transformation. Deep down, Xue Jing was grateful to her.

After finishing all that, Xue Jing changed into his school uniform, slung his backpack over one shoulder, and casually took a dart from the hanging tube beside the dartboard.

When he reached the front door, he opened it and simultaneously turned around to flick out the dart. He immediately turned back without looking at the result, walked out, closed the door, and locked it.

On the dartboard hanging in the corner of the wall, a dart was deeply embedded in the bullseye.

Accurately hit the bullseye. Aim EXP +1

Xue Jing left home, walked for a while, and boarded a bus. Under the furtive glances of female students riding the same bus, he passed three stops and gained some more Charm Technique EXP. He then got off at his stop and arrived at Qing City Affiliated High School.

It was around six-thirty in the morning. The school gate was packed with people, and Xue Jing entered the campus with the crowd. However, rather than heading to his own classroom, he walked toward the building directly opposite the affiliated high school's teaching building.

As the affiliated high school of Sunny City University, Qing Fu Middle School and Qing Da shared connected campuses, allowing students from both schools to visit each other freely at any time.

The place Xue Jing was heading to was Qing Da Library.

In this world, there were some anomalous things that had not existed on Earth in his previous life.

However, for various reasons, the authorities kept information about such matters tightly sealed. Some information could be found online, but it was all vague and superficial.

But just because it could not be found online did not mean it could not be found at Sunny City University.

As one of the top universities in the Outer Ring, its students were all future social elites and qualified to know certain secrets.

Xue Jing was a student in Qing Fu Middle School's specially established Elite Class.

The Elite Class was a special class, so it naturally received special treatment. As long as Elite Class students maintained their grades and retained their status until graduation, they could choose not to take the college entrance examination and instead advance directly to Sunny City University.

Because of this, Elite Class students were granted some Qing Da student privileges in advance, such as... access to the seventh floor of Qing Da Library.

Ordinary affiliated high school students could enter the library's first six floors, but the seventh floor was different. It contained documents and records unavailable online, and no one could enter unless they were a Qing Da student or an Elite Class student from the affiliated high school.

Xue Jing had entered once out of curiosity. However, the documents and archives on that floor were too numerous, disorganized, and miscellaneous. There was no computer system to search for and locate books, making it difficult to find precisely the information he wanted. He had never returned after that.

But this was currently the only place where he might find information related to Divinity Substance, so he could only search blindly and try his luck.

Qing Da Library covered a considerable area. Several access-control gates stood at the entrance. Xue Jing took out his library card and scanned it at the gate's sensor. After verification passed, he entered the library.

He went straight up without stopping, heading directly to the sixth floor. At the stairway leading to the seventh floor was another gate. He scanned his card again, passed through, and arrived on the seventh floor.

Compared to the modern decor of the first six floors, the library's seventh floor was plain and unadorned. Old bookshelves, old tables and chairs, old books and documents, and old dim yellow lamps hanging from the ceiling—it gave him the illusion that he had crossed through time and returned to the past the instant he entered.

Yet it possessed a sense of historical weight and accumulated time that the first six floors lacked.

Few people visited the seventh floor under normal circumstances, much less this early in the morning. Xue Jing had assumed it would be completely empty.

Yet to his surprise, a girl was already sitting in the resting area furnished with old tables and chairs.

Please keep reading.