[Achievement: Whale-Kill Hall Newcomer]

Jiang Weilan froze when she heard Lin Ye's words, then slowly nodded after a few seconds.

"Learning martial arts is a good thing. Look at how skinny you are—maybe you'll put on some weight. How much is the registration fee?"

"I'm still short two thousand," Lin Ye said.

Jiang Weilan took out her phone. "All right, I've transferred it to you. It's fine if you don't get good at it. Being able to exercise is already a good thing."

Lin Ye glanced at his phone. She had transferred three thousand.

"There's one more thing. The professor spoke to me yesterday and asked me to be his research assistant in my senior year. My tuition has been reduced by seventy percent."

Jiang Weilan's hand holding the phone stiffened, and delight appeared on her face.

"Seventy percent! That means we only need to pay eighteen thousand!"

Lin Ye nodded slightly.

After receiving confirmation, Jiang Weilan beamed. "Then that's enough!"

"Bzz, bzz~~"

Lin Ye's phone vibrated twice, and another three thousand was transferred over.

"Take it. Have fun during the summer break. If you run out of money, ask Mom for more."

"Oh, and when school starts, I'll buy you a laptop. It'll be more convenient for you."

Jiang Weilan let out a long breath. The smile on her face was still hard to contain, and there was something in her eyes that he could not tell was relief or guilt.

After eating, Lin Ye tidied up and was about to head to the Whale-Kill Boxing Hall when his ears suddenly twitched.

"Brother, I don't need that money. I'll transfer it back to you later."

"Keep it for yourself. This New Year... come back and see Father. The old man talks about you often."

Bang.

Lin Ye looked toward his mother's room. As the door closed, the voice on the phone could no longer be heard.

"Uncle?"

A vague figure in a black suit surfaced in his mind.

He did not have many memories of his uncle. His only impression was from the year his father from the original body had died at sea, when he was four. Around the New Year, they had visited his maternal grandfather's home once.

Though he could no longer remember clearly, it had probably been quite a large villa. It was not in Coast City and was fairly far away.

Click—

He pushed open the door, put it out of his mind, and headed straight for the Whale-Kill Boxing Hall.

An hour later, after passing through the alleys of Green Pool Terrace and reaching the end of the commercial street, the Whale-Kill Boxing Hall appeared before him.

This boxing hall was actually only one of the three major branches of the Whale-Kill Boxing Hall. The true main hall was located somewhere in the suburbs.

Looking at the hall, there were far more people than yesterday. At least dozens were coming and going.

When he arrived at the entrance, his gaze fell on the whale sculpture atop the stone monument on the right.

When he had looked up information about the boxing hall last night, he had happened to see an introduction. This type of whale was called the "Red Whale."

A marine behemoth active during the super-ancient era, it was an extremely dangerous and terrifying creature.

Because of its excessively brutal and ferocious nature, it also carried the nickname "Demon Whale."

No creature in the seas of that era could contend with it. For a time, it had become the absolute ruler of the oceans.

Besides that, he had also looked up some information about the super-ancient era.

It was an ancient period spanning an extraordinarily distant stretch of time.

According to geological analysis, between roughly seventy million and thirty million years ago, many populations of hundred-meter-class giant beasts had existed on this planet.

As the ocean overlord of a certain era, an adult Red Whale could grow beyond three hundred meters in length.

Later, however, changes in the planet's environment deprived those giant beasts of the conditions they needed to survive, and they all went extinct within just a few hundred years.

People of the present naturally did not have any particular feelings about that era and simply found it ordinary.

But to Lin Ye, it was as absurd as aliens seeing humans living in a corrosive gas called oxygen.

A terrifying giant beast over three hundred meters long—there was no way that was normal.

He became even more convinced that this world had once possessed an unknown extraordinary ancient history.

He pushed open the doors and entered the boxing hall. The floor of the lobby was covered in gray rubber mats, and the space was as large as a basketball court. It looked very simple.

Sunlight slanted in through the windows, casting several patches of light and giving the place a bright, open feeling.

Students wearing identical black training uniforms practiced freely throughout the lobby.

Some used equipment to build strength, some practiced alone, and some sparred with one another.

There were also several training rooms around the outside of the lobby, marked with numerical labels.

"Hello, are you here to register?"

Lin Ye looked to the side. There was a reception desk, where a receptionist in a uniform resembling that of a flight attendant smiled at him.

"Yes," he replied.

The receptionist nodded politely and took out a registration form.

"Please fill this out, then pay the fee."

Lin Ye was stunned. It was that easy?

Hadn't they said Ancient Fist Technique had high requirements for aptitude? Was there no aptitude test or anything?

The receptionist pushed the registration form closer to the edge of the desk, picked up a mechanical pencil from nearby, and thoughtfully removed the cap.

"Student, our boxing hall is amazing. Our coaches can punch students seven or eight meters through the air. You can't go wrong choosing us."

She looked at Lin Ye seriously and sincerely explained the hall's advantages.

Lin Ye stepped forward to the reception desk and accepted the mechanical pencil in a daze.

"Punch students? Not punching sandbags?"

The receptionist shook her head, revealing a standard professional smile.

"The coaches say that martial arts are all about the thrill of battle. How could punching sandbags possibly feel as good as punching students?"

Lin Ye lifted his head slightly and looked at the smiling receptionist. Was this... really right?

After filling out the form and paying, the receptionist operated the computer for a while before handing him a card.

"All done, Student Lin. Your information has been entered. This is your student ID."

Lin Ye accepted the card. It was dark black, with an image of a Red Whale on the front.

The back contained his basic information and was embedded with a metal magnetic strip.

"Student, what size do you wear?"

"XXL."

The receptionist crouched down and rummaged beneath the desk, taking out a black garment bag and a martial arts manual.

"Here. This is our boxing hall's standard training uniform and martial arts manual."

"The changing rooms are over there. Once you change, you can head to Training Room One for the beginner course."

"Class starts at nine, so there's still a while to go."

As she spoke, the receptionist gestured behind Lin Ye.

Taking the manual and training uniform, Lin Ye turned to look. The men's and women's changing rooms were separate, their entrances covered by black curtains.

"Okay."

After answering, he walked toward the changing room.

He looked at the martial arts manual in his hands. Written on its black cover in red paint were the words Soul Whale Fist.

The instant he saw those three words, black text appeared before his eyes.

[Achievement Triggered: Whale-Kill Hall Newcomer]

[Achievement Description: An utterly ordinary martial arts newcomer who has just joined the Whale-Kill Boxing Hall.]

[Unlock Conditions]

1. Become a Whale-Kill Boxing Hall student (Completed)

2. Strength attribute reaches 0.5 (Completed)

3. Constitution attribute reaches 0.5 (Completed)

4. Memorize the entire Soul Whale Fist manual (Incomplete)

5. Perform the complete set of Soul Whale Fist smoothly and without interruption (Incomplete)

6. Apply Dieluozi Oil to the back and use high-temperature gas for a hot compress (Incomplete)

[Achievement Reward]

Ability—Soul Whale Fist "Level One" (1/100)

Ability Description: A type of fist technique.

The black text existed for only a single breath before turning into smoke and dissipating.

Lin Ye looked at the Soul Whale Fist in his hands and quickened his pace.

[Soul Whale Fist "Level One" (1/100)].

This (1/100) did not represent quantity. It represented experience points!

One Potential Point was equivalent to one hundred experience points!

With just one Potential Point, he could directly skip past the first level and reach a higher realm!

Damn it! If I'd known, I wouldn't have spent my points!

But he quickly calmed down. There had been no problem with allocating the points; it had allowed him to understand the Monument better.

Besides, even if he had Potential Points, he could not use them now.

A new boxing hall student mastering the fist technique to the second level on the very first day—no, within the very first hour of receiving the manual...

That was not genius. That was a freak who would get dragged off to be dissected and sliced into specimens.

He took several deep breaths and steadied his somewhat excited emotions.

He lifted the changing room curtain. The space inside was large, around a hundred square meters, with more than a hundred metal lockers.

Following the number on his student card, he found his assigned locker, swiped the card to open it, and quickly changed into the training uniform.

It was entirely black and very loose, yet it did not look baggy.

The material was comfortable as well, like ice silk, with a Red Whale embroidered over the left chest.

This training uniform alone would cost at least three to five hundred on the market.

He looked into the mirror on the back of the locker door. His facial lines were clear, and his messy hair partly covered his forehead, making him seem especially youthful.

"A little skinny, but... being young feels great."

He stared at his reflection, and something called ambition flowed deep within his eyes.

His gaze landed on the martial arts manual beside him. The red lettering against its black background carried a profound air.

Power belonged to oneself...

Train! What he would train was Soul Whale Fist!

He adjusted his clothes and put his student ID into his pocket.

He took out his phone and opened his wallet balance: 3998.6.

Looking at the pitiful number, he shook his head slightly.

The material cost for one bottle of Night of the Black Goat was close to nine hundred, and last night's success might have only been due to luck.

If he factored in losses, this money might not even be enough to prepare two bottles of potion.

And he still did not know what the "Dieluozi Oil" in the "Whale-Kill Hall Newcomer" achievement was. It might not be cheap either.

It really burned through money.

Money...

Shaking his head, he put away his phone, took the Soul Whale Fist manual, and headed toward Training Room One.