New Skill: Dao Gathering

New Skill: Dao Gathering

During self-study period, the students all bent over the papers before them, writing furiously. In this era, it had become even harder to rise above the crowd; for now, studying was still a path to a better tomorrow.

But it was said that Second Colony Star had already developed brain-computer interfaces capable of uploading all knowledge into the brain within seconds. If that technology became widespread, then there truly would be no road left to take.

As the key class of a key academy, Su Tu's class had an excellent atmosphere for studying. Not a single person spoke during self-study; only the scratching of pen tips across paper could be heard.

While everyone else wrote furiously, Su Tu had already set down his pen and gathered up his papers.

One notification after another flashed rapidly before his eyes.

Completed Gaokao Math Mock Exam Paper A. Spiritual Wisdom Proficiency +1

Completed Gaokao Math Mock Exam Paper B. Spiritual Wisdom Proficiency +1

Completed.

After ten consecutive notifications, Su Tu had gained a total of 10 Proficiency points.

As a top student, Su Tu's grades had always remained steadily within the top thirty of his year. After unlocking the system, his normal studies had also unlocked a skill for him.

It was not a skill like mathematics or physics, but one called Spiritual Wisdom.

At its root, everything he learned was knowledge, and knowledge itself could not be considered a skill. Yet knowledge could accumulate and improve one's intelligence, emotional intelligence, cognition, and more. The skill born from that whole chain of improvements was Spiritual Wisdom.

Learning any kind of knowledge would increase Spiritual Wisdom Proficiency. That was precisely why Spiritual Wisdom had been the first skill Su Tu raised to Mid Grade.

However, after reaching Mid Grade, its Proficiency increased much more slowly. A paper that once gave him 10 Proficiency points could now provide only one.

Su Tu could clearly feel that his memory, comprehension, and even his intelligence had all rapidly improved with the emergence of Spiritual Wisdom.

The simplest example was his ranking. In the past, Su Tu had been practically nailed around thirtieth place in the year. After all, a key academy never lacked top students. But ever since he unlocked Spiritual Wisdom, his grades had surged like a dark horse, and he had taken first place in the entire school in the last two mock exams.

After finishing the mock exam questions, Su Tu's mind was filled with what Lin Feiyang had told him during the day.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that his guess might be right.

It was an almost instinctive sense, an indescribable ability that had appeared after his Spiritual Wisdom reached Mid Grade.

"But in this day and age, is personal martial strength really still useful?"

"With the Federation's current technological development, I have no doubt that Prosthetic Technology and Gene Modification already exist on the colony stars. No matter how much ordinary people train their techniques and strength, they cannot compare to such technology."

"The state would never include a useless subject in the Gaokao, unless there is something behind martial arts beyond my imagination."

Su Tu's mind spun quickly, countless thoughts flashing through it in an instant.

Seeing a student zoning out, the teacher at the podium had just been about to unleash the old Class Teacher's flying pen, but the moment he saw that it was Su Tu, he immediately stopped paying attention.

Did he even understand the weight of first place in the year?!

When others zoned out, they were slacking off. When Su Tu zoned out, that was called relaxing his mind!

What, you thought it was unfair? Then go get first place in the year yourself and see!!

I should sound Brother Feiyang out again. I wonder how many points martial arts will account for. If it makes up a large portion, then there will be far too many variables.

The academy Su Tu wanted to apply for was called Star Ark University. It was not on Blue Star, but on Third Colony Star, on a planet named Celestial Capital Star.

As humanity entered the Interstellar Era, Blue Star, humanity's birthplace, had always been protected. All kinds of potentially dangerous experiments were conducted on colony stars, and policies that might trigger upheaval were likewise implemented there.

The world was like a hundred ships racing; if one did not advance, one fell behind.

Blue Star enjoyed protection, but it had also fallen behind. It was not that the colony stars withheld their technology from Blue Star. On the contrary, once the technology of any colony star became stable, it would be released on Blue Star at the first opportunity.

But the key lay in those two words: stable. Every development and advancement carried risks. By the time a technology was stable enough, it could only mean that it had long since become outdated.

Nearly all of the world's top hundred academies were now located on colony stars, and Star Ark University, the one Su Tu wanted to attend, was among the very best. Its required scores were so high they left people staring in astonishment.

Originally, Su Tu had been fairly confident about getting into Star Ark University. But if martial arts were included in the Gaokao, there would definitely be changes.

Simply because of information barriers: by the time you learned a piece of news from someone else, it meant that others had long since begun working toward it. Some people had already reached the end of that road, while others did not even know it existed until the very end.

For certain reasons, Su Tu had to get into Star Ark Academy. Therefore, he could not afford to take this matter lightly.

After class, Su Tu left the classroom at once.

This caught the Class Teacher's attention.

"What's with that child being so absent-minded? Don't tell me he's in an early romance?"

"That won't do. Early romance affects grades. I need to have a good talk with him—"

The Class Teacher's worries and deliberations vanished the instant he saw Su Tu's paper.

He marked one check after another across the paper. There were even several solutions he himself had never seen before.

"Date!!! Date hard!!"

"If you'd told me dating could get you grades like this, I'd call my daughter over to meet you!" The Class Teacher was an old master of double standards.

Su Tu arrived at Lin Feiyang's office and knocked on the door.

Before anyone could answer, however, he knocked the door open.

The office before him was empty.

"Not here? Makes sense. A PE Teacher is 'sick' all year round; if he comes in to teach even one class, that already counts as him working hard."

Su Tu looked at the empty office and sighed. It seemed he had made the trip for nothing.

He did not intend to enter the office. With no one present, if he went in without permission and something happened, he would not be able to explain himself.

Just as he was about to close the door, he suddenly noticed a particularly unusual painting hanging on the office wall.

He took another curious look. The next moment, everything around him changed, and he found himself standing atop a pitch-black mountain bristling with strange rocks.

At the foot of the mountain lay a white-furred, hanging-eyed great beast. The Fierce Tiger's eyes were blood-red as it crouched upon the ground, killing intent rising and falling like the eternal current of a vast ocean.

At the mountain peak coiled a blue-brown giant snake. Its head stared straight toward the heavens as though it wished to swallow heaven and earth. The scales on its body were broken, and two indentations marked the top of its head.

Yet neither of those was what drew Su Tu's attention most. What he truly cared about was that high in the vault of heaven, two enormous moons had been painted—one flawless white, the other... red as weeping blood!

Su Tu was captivated by the surrounding wonders. Without realizing it, his breathing rhythm changed. Each inhalation and exhalation seemed to carry a certain cadence, while a faint rosy radiance emanated from his skin and shone upon his body, making him seem like an immortal guest in the mountains, banished down to the mortal world!

But soon, Su Tu felt his breathing falter slightly. His body had already reached its limit. He immediately woke up, and the strange phenomena around him vanished without a trace, as though they had never existed.

Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have learned the skill: Dao Gathering!

Successfully mastered a new skill. Skill Point +1

First Dao Gathering completed: Dao Gathering Proficiency +10, Spiritual Wisdom Proficiency +10, Body Strengthening Proficiency +50

The notifications before his eyes kept swaying, while Su Tu's breathing grew scorching hot along with them.

"There truly are things in this world that transcend common sense!"

The appearance of this painting confirmed Su Tu's guess. There was definitely some unknown mystery behind martial arts, and this painting was the best proof.

There was even less need to mention the painting's owner. Su Tu was certain that martial arts would become a new Gaokao subject.

After regaining his senses, Su Tu did not continue staring at the painting. Instead, he closed the door.

Suppressing his excitement, he strode away.

To stumble upon a treasure by chance was fortune, but to continue coveting it was theft.

Su Tu was no gentleman, but neither could he commit the acts of a petty man.

What he wanted to know now was what use this newly activated skill called Dao Gathering actually had.

Not long after Su Tu left, the office door opened on its own. Lin Feiyang rolled up the painting in his hands and gazed down the corridor with an inscrutable look in his eyes.

"After all, you're my, Lin Feiyang's, student. Since you have some talent, I don't mind giving you a hand. I just wonder, among the four visualizations—Dragon Transformation, Crouching Tiger, Twin Moons, and Azure Peak—which one did you see, and how much did you see clearly?"