Effort

Torrential rain poured down, and the unbroken peals of thunder drowned out every other sound between heaven and earth.

In this world beneath a canopy of dark clouds, countless filthy, glorious, and ordinary things continued to happen. Yet a situation like this had never appeared in this world before.

As if in celebration, the instant Liu Tian formed the thought, thunder suddenly cracked. A brilliant flash illuminated the entire room before everything sank back into darkness.

Even this high-end residential complex had long since lost power. Whether the transmission lines had been torn apart by the gale or there was some other reason, Liu Tian was not surprised to find that even in the pitch-black darkness, he could still clearly see the simple panel before him.

Origin Points. Heavenly Martial Fist.

Having read countless books, he easily guessed what this thing did. He quickly calmed himself and lightly tapped the words "Upgradeable" with his mind. In an instant, the level displayed beside Heavenly Martial Fist blurred, changing from three to four. Then, a scorching current surged from the depths of his soul and flowed throughout his body.

Liu Tian felt a numb, tingling ache spread across his body, as though ants were crawling all over him. It was like he had just endured a long period of painstaking training and finally, through some stroke of opportunity, broken through his current bottleneck and entered the realm of Martial Artists that his master Tian Dao had once mentioned.

Beginner, Martial Artist, Fighter, and even the King of the Century that existed only in legend—these were the ranks of Martial Artists Tian Dao had spoken of. Since becoming Tian Dao's disciple, Liu Tian had trained bitterly for ten years, yet had remained stuck outside the threshold of Martial Artists.

Although the guidance of a famous master and his study of profound martial arts allowed Liu Tian to unleash strength no weaker than that of a Martial Artist, the rank of Martial Artist was not determined by the amount of force one could erupt with. It was measured by another standard—when the heart moved, intent followed; when intent followed, strength arrived. In the span of a single thought, one could instantly mobilize every ounce of strength in the body and unleash it all at once.

Though a Martial Artist's raw strength might not necessarily exceed that of an apprentice stuck at the Beginner stage, a Martial Artist whose body followed the heart and whose strength followed the will could easily toy with an apprentice in the palm of their hand, even just after breaking through and without further increasing their strength.

A difference of a single line was the difference between heaven and earth.

Tian Dao had once judged that Liu Tian would need at least another year to break through to Martial Artist. Yet now, with merely a thought and a light tap, he had crossed the barrier with ease and without the slightest aftereffect, as though he truly had trained bitterly for another year before making his breakthrough.

To prove it was not an illusion, Liu Tian threw punches and kicks, producing whistling cracks through the air. His body flickered several times as he leaped back and forth between the ceiling and floor like an agile monkey. With a casual kick, he sent a vase flying to the other end of the room, then easily caught it before it struck the ground.

If Liu Tian had possessed this level before, he likely would not have needed to rely on the park's complicated terrain to hide and dodge. Even in an open field, his odds of winning would have been extremely high.

After all, when fighting a gunman, Liu Tian did not need to be faster than the gun. He only needed to be faster than the gunman.

After moving around a little and venting the excitement in his heart, Liu Tian looked at the vanished "Upgradeable" prompt on the panel and the glaring zero Origin Points. He tightly gripped the diamond-shaped Prism Pillar, feeling the endless warm current, and let out a long breath.

With this, he had confidence. In this unsafe world, he had the confidence to live well, and to live better and better—the prerequisite being that he had enough Origin Points.

Though he did not know why, he somehow understood that the pillar in his hand was not the source of the panel. It merely happened to contain Origin Points and had activated it ahead of time. Even without it, in a few more days, he would have naturally awakened this strange panel on his own.

There should be other things in this world that can bring me Origin Points.

Liu Tian clenched his trophy tightly as the thought crossed his mind. Then he began considering how to carry it on him—no, against his body.

While cleaning up earlier, Liu Tian had already experimented with it. As long as it was separated from him by a certain distance and blocked by something, without direct contact, he could not obtain the warm current. And if he merely set it aside and touched it again later, he could not collect all the warm current produced during that time in one go.

That meant that if he wanted to acquire Origin Points quickly, Liu Tian would have to carry this pillar, which represented endless trouble, on him—no, against his body.

Though he did not know what this thing signified, judging from the decisive methods of those two people, who had most likely been carried off by the seawater, it was definitely no ordinary object.

If someone discovered that Liu Tian possessed it before he had grown strong enough, even if they did not discover that he had taken it by force, it would still bring trouble.

He had to find a way to carry it without attracting attention, while also making sure he would not lose it.

Compared to losing over half the efficiency, Liu Tian decisively discarded the idea of hiding it away and only touching it each night to absorb the warm current. The risks that might come from being discovered were instantly cast aside before the benefits. His mind was filled only with ways to carry it without attracting attention.

The pillar was neither large nor small. If he wore thick enough clothing, it would not be much of a problem. But in the height of summer, when people wore little clothing, something as thick as an index finger and over ten centimeters long would stand out no matter where he put it.

Standing before the mirror, Liu Tian repeatedly looked himself over. The man reflected within was nearly one meter ninety tall, muscular, and ordinary-looking. He considered how to store it as the pillar spun between his fingers, but he simply could not find a suitable place. Growing somewhat desperate, he even considered one of the few holes on a man's body, but immediately shook his head. It had not come to that yet.

As he thought, he unconsciously exerted a little force. The originally solid pillar dented easily, then instantly returned to its original shape when he released his grip.

It's solid inside, but it can deform? And it automatically returns to its original form? What kind of metal could be so light and so elastic? Even Earth doesn't have anything like this, let alone a world whose technology is, at best, equivalent to World War II...

Wait. It can deform?

Liu Tian's eyes lit up. He pressed his palms together and effortlessly flattened the Prism Pillar. Clearly, being flattened did not affect his panel's absorption of that strange warm current.

Thus, he quickly came up with the best place to store it—a place where it would be absolutely safe as long as he did not engage in intense combat.

With the final problem solved, Liu Tian let out a breath of relief and immediately felt exhaustion washing over him. Though he did not know what time it was, his well-regulated body clock kept reminding him—it was time to sleep.

Then sleep. But before that, there was one final matter to consider.

With a thought, Liu Tian summoned the panel. What should he call this thing? Deep Blue? Light Black? System? Attribute Panel...

A whole host of names flashed through his mind. Then Liu Tian recalled the feeling of adding points and settled on the name of what would become his greatest reliance—Effort!

From now on, your name is Effort!