Born with Divine Strength?

"Little Junior Brother's here. Come sit."

Qin Zhixu rose to greet him without the slightest air of superiority. He went over to the kettle, poured a cup of tea, and set it on the table.

"Have a taste. I picked this green tea on the mountain during my last business trip. It's pretty good."

After sitting down, Lin Ye picked up the teacup and took a couple of sips. A fragrant aroma drifted through his nose and settled in his stomach.

After a little small talk, he took a clear plastic bag out of his backpack. Inside were twenty-five neatly arranged stalks of Black Spiral Grass.

"Senior Brother, this is Black Spiral Grass. There are twenty-five stalks in all. Please count them."

Qin Zhixu accepted it with a smile and casually set it aside without taking a second look.

"Right, it's the same account as before, isn't it? I'll have the finance department transfer the money to you at noon."

It was only ten-odd thousand yuan. It wouldn't have mattered even if he'd simply given it to him.

He was only worried that his junior brother had too much pride. If he gave him the money outright, he might overthink it.

Since their father intended to have Little Junior Brother attend this gathering, that meant he'd officially accepted him as a disciple. From now on, they were all family.

In the past, this sort of thing would have been announced far and wide, with a formal apprenticeship banquet. It was only nowadays that there were fewer formalities.

With that status, Little Junior Brother would eventually receive a share of the core resources. What was a little money in comparison?

Powerful figures had established themselves across the land, and the world seemed on the verge of descending into chaos. They needed to stand together.

Lin Ye nodded slightly. He'd entered his information into the system when he'd handled the procurement before.

"Sorry for the trouble, Senior Brother."

Qin Zhixu blew on his tea. "No trouble. It's nothing."

"If you need anything later, just go to the warehouse and take it. I've already let them know."

"I have to meet a guest at noon, and then I'll be heading back this afternoon. Teacher hasn't finished his work yet."

Lin Ye nodded. "Then I'll head back first."

Qin Zhixu stood and walked him to the door. Just before they reached it, he gave Lin Ye a light pat on the shoulder.

"I won't walk you downstairs. Be careful on the way. I heard a group of cultists came to the city these past few days, so watch yourself."

Lin Ye was a little surprised. He hadn't expected his senior brother to be so well informed.

"Got it, Senior Brother. You be careful too."

"All right. Off you go."

After leaving the school gates, Lin Ye glanced down both sides of the main road, then went straight home. It was Sunday, so the boxing gym was closed.

It wasn't even ten when he got home. A message popped up on his phone, showing that ten thousand yuan had been deposited into his bank account.

Lin Ye immediately turned on his computer and found the seller who'd been offering Golden-Thread Night Bats in his previous search.

A moment later, the page loaded. The seller was called South Bank Night.

After scrolling a little, he found the Golden-Thread Night Bats among the many exotic pets.

"Price: 1,800."

"Quantity: 15."

"Most recent transaction: 2028.4.16."

Lin Ye closed the page and leaned back slightly. The last transaction had been over two months ago, which meant Golden-Thread Night Bats weren't exactly easy to sell.

He'd hold off on buying them for now. Their poison was too potent; he could wait until he'd translated the mixing instructions.

What interested him most about Heart of Dark Night Boiling was its ability to improve mental strength.

Improving his mental strength might ease the strain of translating the manuscript. And if it grew stronger, it might even help him with martial arts.

After all, aptitude was hard to explain, but it probably had at least something to do with the mind.

Besides, if his guess was right, mental strength was a branch attribute under Intelligence.

In other words, increasing his mental strength should improve Intelligence, one of his four core attributes.

It might be the only way he could raise his Intelligence in the short term.

He shut down the computer and put it out of his mind, then went to the living room to start practicing his punches.

Punch after punch after punch.

He put all his strength into every punch, giving each one his full attention as he felt the sensation of qi spread along his meridians and into his limbs.

At noon, he simply boiled a few eggs, cooked half a jin of beef, and prepared a basketful of vegetables.

He practiced until six in the evening, then ate another meal just like the one he'd had at noon.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Lin Ye slowly controlled his breathing as the heat in his body gradually subsided.

He sensed the inside of his body. The qi sensation centered on his spine and spread along his meridians into his limbs. It had nearly reached his shoulders and hips.

"Monument."

He murmured the word in his mind. The black Monument appeared, and his gaze fell on the ability column.

[Soul Whale Fist, "First Layer" (5/100)]

After half a day of hard training, his experience had increased by another two points.

He leaned back slightly, feeling a little more at ease.

Training in martial arts really was grueling. There was no such thing as gaining a dozen experience points in a day and breaking through a realm after just a few days.

Not unless he had Potential Points. One Potential Point was worth a hundred experience points—equivalent to two months of hard training on his own.

Still, there was nothing wrong with practicing this way. He really liked the feeling, even more than he'd enjoyed taking on the Ozaki Eight in his previous life.

He could unleash his full punching power without worrying about injuring himself, and he could clearly see his steady progress, little by little.

That feeling was more addictive than cocaine.

The next morning, Lin Ye pushed open the boxing gym's front door.

It was already past seven. A few students were practicing in the hall, all of them new students from the same cohort as Lin Ye.

One reason was that the results were much the same wherever they trained; another was that the older students weren't as diligent.

Lei Long sat behind the registration desk, bored out of his mind. When he saw Lin Ye, he greeted him listlessly.

Lin Ye answered and strode over to the punch-force testing machine.

The sight made several students sneak glances at him. Even Lei Long raised his eyelids to look over.

Facing the punch-force testing machine, Lin Ye calmly took two boxing wraps from his pocket and wound them tightly around his fists.

He stepped back half a pace.

"Bang!"

"203 kg."

He looked at the reading on the machine and, without hesitation, swung another punch at it.

"203 kg."

"204 kg."

"203 kg."

Nearly identical numbers flashed across the display one after another.

Half a minute later, Lin Ye had thrown more than a dozen punches. The readings for each punch differed by no more than 1 kg.

After testing his right fist, he tested his left as well.

The readings were about 5 kg lower, but the difference between each punch was still no more than 1 kg.

After finishing the test, he gently massaged his wrists to ease the impact from punching.

He glanced at the readings and nodded to himself. When he used perfectly standard form, the force of every punch was nearly identical.

The only reason there was an error as large as 1 kg was that the testing machine couldn't display a more precise reading.

In the middle of the hall, the other students from his cohort stared wide-eyed, hardly able to believe it.

They'd originally only heard Head Coach Lin say that Lin Ye had excellent aptitude, but they hadn't really understood what that meant.

Now they finally realized the gap between them.

His right fist exceeded 200 kg of force, while even his weaker left fist came close to 200 kg.

That was more punch power than Wei Qian had! He was the top student in their cohort!

Good grief, he'd been keeping such a low profile before.

They'd even thought he was just the sparring partner hired by that rich young lady, Yan Yi.

Lei Long, sitting behind the registration desk, was also a little surprised. How could someone with a build like that hit with so much force? Was he born with divine strength, just like him?

"Thump, thump, thump."

Footsteps sounded on the wooden staircase leading to the second floor.

Lin Fei came down barefoot, her hands in her pockets, swaying with each step.