Rank 2

Lu Hao stood to one side, watching her. Before long, Lu Aoyun drew her last breath, and Lu Hao received a notification.

[Enemy killed, Slaughter Point +327]

Looks like Lu Aoyun hadn't been far from the late stage of Rank 2, Lu Hao thought.

He hadn't expected to dispatch this mid-Rank 2 warrior so easily. After all, earlier, two peak Rank 1 warriors had nearly threatened his safety.

But neither of those had been an ordinary case. Both had been special circumstances: one had obtained a large amount of equipment through ties with the Evil Cult, while the other had simply been a lunatic.

An ordinary Rank 1 or Rank 2 warrior would basically die after being struck by Lu Hao's second slash. After all, Rank 1 and Rank 2 warriors didn't temper their chest bones, so they had no way to withstand his attack.

Lu Hao glanced at his Slaughter Points.

[Slaughter Point: 384]

That was enough to temper seven bones, with 34 points left over—enough to recover 340 calories of Vital Blood, which would also be sufficient for a battle.

After checking his gains, Lu Hao finally went over to Yu Jie, who was bound. Only when he reached him did Lu Hao realize that Yu Jie was also a martial artist. But with such feeble Vital Blood, he was probably only in the early stage of Rank 1.

"How are you? Still alive?"

"W-water..."

Lu Hao picked up the water on the nearby table and gave Yu Jie a drink. He also used his phone to notify the police officer who'd been investigating, asking him to come deal with Yu Jie. Lu Hao hadn't expected Lu Aoyun to have tied Yu Jie up here and tortured him.

After returning to the Detective Bureau to turn in his assignment, Lu Hao went home. He couldn't wait to start tempering his bones; afterward, he'd be able to reach Rank 2.

As soon as he got home, Lu Hao went straight to the Martial Arts Training Room and began tempering his bones. He didn't even have time to shower. Breaking through to Rank 2 would be a huge boost for him, and by then he might even be able to fight a Rank 3 warrior.

He'd spent two hours tempering two bones when Bai Qiuyao came home. Lu Hao came out to wash up and eat, then told his mother about the two incidents that had happened that morning before returning to the Martial Arts Training Room to continue tempering his bones.

The next day, at ten in the morning, Lu Hao finally dragged himself out of bed. He'd tempered seven bones the previous night, which had taken a heavy toll on his mental energy, so he'd gotten up especially late.

After getting up and eating breakfast, Lu Hao checked his status panel.

[Slaughter Point System]

[Host: Lu Hao]

[Vital Blood: 313/313 cal]

[Spirit: 206/299 Hz+]

[Storage Space: 10 cubic meters]

[Slaughter Point: 34]

His Vital Blood had reached 313 calories, and he'd finished tempering all the bones in his lower limbs. Tempering all of them had given Lu Hao ten more calories of Vital Blood.

Lu Hao was now a peak Rank 1 martial artist. But if anyone saw his Vital Blood, they'd probably mistake him for a mid-Rank 2 warrior.

Lu Hao didn't choose to break through right away. His mental energy hadn't fully recovered, and he'd need quite a lot of it to open up his meridians. If his mental energy ran out, his breakthrough might fail.

So he didn't continue practicing his combat techniques. That would also consume Vital Blood and mental energy. He'd give himself the afternoon off, then rest up in the evening and make a single, all-out attempt to break through.

With that in mind, Lu Hao headed outside. He didn't have a destination in mind; he'd just go wherever his feet took him. He'd come out to relax and recover his mental energy.

That afternoon, Lu Hao toured the zoo and amusement park in Beiding District. He had a pretty good time.

The only thing that dissatisfied him was the roller coaster and drop tower. Now that he was a martial artist, he didn't feel a thing on rides like those. The heights were so insignificant that even if he fell straight down, he'd be fine.

That evening, after telling his mother, he began preparing to break through under her watchful gaze.

The process was much like breaking through to Rank 1, except that this time he had to expand the meridians in his upper limbs instead of those in his lower limbs. With his mother's explanation, Lu Hao remembered every detail.

After taking a Bone Tempering Pill and an Organ Protection Pill, Lu Hao began guiding his Vital Blood to widen his meridians.

One hour, two hours, three hours.

Bai Qiuyao watched him the entire time, but she wasn't as nervous as she'd been during his breakthrough to Rank 1. After all, Lu Hao had given her so many surprises lately.

From tempering his bones twice, then three times, to the news Bai Qiuyao had received that day that Lu Hao had killed a mid-Rank 2 criminal—

All of it had given Bai Qiuyao a great deal of confidence in him. She'd already come to accept Lu Hao's talent. In her heart, as long as he didn't die before his time, he was certain to become a Grandmaster.

So now, her role was mainly to support him, listen to him, and give him moral support. She no longer interfered with his choices. Lu Hao's growth had already surpassed what she could foresee as his mother.

If she kept trying to raise him according to her own methods, she might end up ruining him.

Three and a half hours later, Lu Hao completed his breakthrough. When he opened his eyes, he felt his Vital Blood surge so violently that he could barely control it.

He opened his status panel.

[Slaughter Point System]

[Host: Lu Hao]

[Vital Blood: 93/345 cal]

[Spirit: 104/314 Hz]

[Storage Space: 100 cubic meters]

[Slaughter Point: 3]

His Vital Blood had increased by 32 calories at once, nearly a tenth of its previous total. No wonder he was having trouble controlling it. His mental energy had also passed the 299 mark, increasing by 15 Hz.

The plus sign after his mental energy was gone, too. It seemed this was the limit of his current mental energy. If he tried to break through again, his body might not be able to take it.

He only had three Slaughter Points left, though. Lu Hao had forgotten that his Slaughter Points would shrink after a breakthrough. If he'd known, he would've used some to restore his mental energy that morning. After the reduction, there was little difference between having them and not having them.

As for his Storage Space, it had simply increased tenfold. If he reached Rank 9, wouldn't he be able to fit an entire Hua Nation inside it?

He'd broken through to Rank 1 on March 1. Now it was May 12, so it had taken him a little over two months to advance from Rank 1 to Rank 2.

There were 62 bones in the lower limbs, which meant Lu Hao had tempered an average of one bone per day.

Now that he'd reached Rank 2, he'd have to kill Rank 2 warriors to earn Slaughter Points. But Rank 2 missions were already fairly rare. After all, people who reached Rank 2 generally had some sense of their own strength.

They weren't like Rank 1 warriors, who thought that becoming a martial artist made them invincible.

So from now on, his average time to temper a bone would probably be longer than a day. There were three and a half months until school started in September. If he took on a few missions during that time, he should be able to reach Rank 3 before classes began, barring any mishaps.

After that, he could head to the Magic City Abyss. Rank 3 was when ordinary people usually began entering the Earth Cave. There were plenty of martial artists at his rank there, unlike now, when they were hard to find. He'd be able to advance quickly then.

After chatting with his mother for a bit, Lu Hao went to take a shower. The breakthrough had left him covered in quite a bit of foul-smelling blood.