Exchange and Training

Walking once more down that familiar tree-lined avenue, with the training grounds visible in the distance at its end, Noah opened the shop panel.

[You have selected the Six Powers: Kami-e Skill Scroll (Intermediate) and the Taijutsu Training Acceleration Card (7 days), for a total of 1,200 points. Exchange?]

Without hesitation, he chose "Yes."

A notification window popped up to confirm the successful exchange. He had already mastered Intermediate Kami-e, while the Taijutsu Training Acceleration Card had been placed in his inventory and required manual activation.

"Looks like skill-related items can't be stored. The other items, though, can be exchanged in advance and left in the inventory until the right moment."

Having figured out the difference between the two, Noah shifted his gaze to the basic attributes list. Every attribute had a "+" beside it, just like the RPG online games he had played in his previous life. It felt strangely familiar.

Intelligence and charm required far too many attribute points. He simply couldn't afford them right now.

So which of the first three basic attributes should he invest in?

After hesitating for a long while, Noah finally made up his mind. He spent all four thousand points he had earned from Bell-mère and tapped the "+" beside endurance twice.

His reason for choosing endurance was simple. He was currently still in the stage of training behind closed doors. A substantial boost in endurance would help him preserve more stamina during training, allowing him to push himself harder with greater efficiency.

Combined with the newly exchanged Taijutsu Training Acceleration Card, it was a perfect match.

Moreover, the physical improvements brought by endurance were the most discreet. Unlike strength or agility, a sudden overnight surge would not arouse others' suspicion.

Watching his endurance stat jump from "9" to "11," Noah had not even had time to regret the points he had spent before he clearly sensed his blood and vitality blazing within him, as though a hot current were surging through his organs and veins.

"Hmm?"

Noah moved his joints slightly and found that his body, which had been somewhat exhausted after a whole day of hellish training, was clearly in much better condition. It even gave him the illusion that he could keep training until dawn tomorrow without collapsing from fatigue.

"At least fifty percent stronger than before..."

Feeling the abundant, surging strength inside him, Noah could not help grinning. His mood brightened considerably.

He had possessed an exceptional physique since childhood. In terms of endurance alone, he had always been absolutely among the best even in the Marine Headquarters Elite Training Camp. Otherwise, he could never have continued training alone at night after completing his daily training assignments.

And now, after adding two attribute points, he was confident that among the more than two hundred trainees of his class in the Marine Headquarters Elite Training Camp, not a single one could surpass him in endurance!

"If I keep focusing solely on endurance, will I turn into some monster even tougher to kill than Luffy, that unkillable cockroach..."

Noah chuckled to himself. "Then if I happen to run into Kaido, I'll shout that I want to become the King of the Marines. He'll fly into a rage and hit me with a Raimei Hakke. Huh, it doesn't one-shot me. Then he swings again, and I still don't die—I'm still bouncing around full of life..."

Just imagining Kaido's stunned expression sounded pretty amusing.

Of course.

That was merely a spur-of-the-moment fantasy. Noah knew that if he only invested in endurance, the points required would probably skyrocket before long. When that happened, he would still have to raise his strength and agility as well.

In the blink of an eye, he had reached the end of the tree-lined avenue. Noah did not linger. After opening his inventory and using the Taijutsu Training Acceleration Card, he strode straight into the training grounds.

The night was not particularly good tonight. Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and the starlight was dim. Fortunately, several streetlamps still remained around the training grounds, keeping the area from becoming too dark.

There were already several figures training diligently in the grounds. This was more or less everyone in the entire Marine Headquarters Elite Training Camp who persisted in extra training every day.

After all, merely completing the regular training arranged by Zephyr was already exhausting enough. Most people were utterly spent before sunset and simply did not have the energy to give up their evening rest to keep torturing themselves.

Noah found a corner, draped his coat over the wall, then took a deep breath and began running laps along the outer edge.

One lap around the Marine Headquarters Elite Training Camp's grounds was roughly two kilometers. For ordinary Marines, thirty or forty laps was about half a day's training. Those with poorer stamina would collapse to the ground afterward and need a long time to catch their breath.

But Noah ran a full hundred laps, and that was only his warm-up before the extra training.

About an hour and a half later, he finished his laps.

Drenched in sweat, Noah rested for only a few minutes. After replenishing some water, he began strength training.

The first exercise was five thousand one-handed push-ups.

After every thousand or so, he changed his point of exertion and posture, ensuring that the muscle groups in both arms, his core, and his abdomen all received proper training. Amid the repeated cycle of muscle tearing and fiber reconstruction, he painfully yet joyfully experienced himself growing stronger bit by bit.

"Four thousand six hundred and one, four thousand six hundred and two..."

Sweat soaked a large patch of ground beneath him. Noah's entire body was taut like a bowstring. As he breathed lightly, he silently counted the repetitions in his heart.

The increase in endurance points had already made a vastly different impact on him.

Before tonight, even when his stamina was at its fullest, he would be panting like an ox near the end of his one-handed push-up routine. Every part of his body would ache unbearably, and he could collapse at any moment.

But now, despite having already spent most of his stamina on a full day of training, he remained in remarkably good condition. He could even maintain an even, steady rhythm of breathing.

"It seems increasing endurance points isn't just about gaining more stamina."

Noah was filled with excitement as he stared at the ground rising and falling beneath him. "In that case, let's see where my limit is now."

Though he said that, after he passed five thousand, the pressure and pain brought on by nearing his limit still arrived as expected. Noah gritted his teeth and persisted with all his strength, without the slightest thought of giving up.

There were three levels to pain. First, you felt pain. Then, you accepted pain. Finally, you understood pain.

But Noah was not among them. He had long since carried a sack of rice and sprinted all the way to the rooftop. He had already reached the highest realm—enjoying pain!

"Six thousand nine hundred and thirty-five, six thousand nine hundred and thirty-six..."

When the threshold of seven thousand was within reach, Noah finally reached the limit his muscles could bear. His right arm suddenly gave out, and he crashed face-first onto the ground.

"Feels good."

Though his entire body was limp and powerless, to the point that he could not even stand, Noah wore a satisfied smile.

He rolled onto his back and sprawled out flat, staring quietly up at the deep, pitch-black night sky.

Although no system notification sounded, he could clearly feel that after using the Taijutsu Training Doubler Card, his training efficiency had nearly doubled at a visibly astonishing rate.

If he devoted all his energy to taijutsu training over the next few days, then one week would probably equal at least more than two months of his previous training results.

The physical limit that he had struggled in vain to break through before finally seemed like a loosening bottleneck. Through diligent training, he could continue improving.

This time, he rested for a long while before pushing himself up from the ground.

Rubbing his somewhat sore wrist, Noah was considering how to test Intermediate Kami-e when, beneath a black streetlamp, a slender figure hesitated for a moment before suddenly walking straight toward him.