Peak Second-Rank

"Don't worry, Teacher Li. I know what I'm doing."

"Good. As long as you know your limits. After all, there's nothing more I can teach you."

Lu Hao had thought about it too. He had killed quite a few people, and an ordinary person his age might already have developed a taste for killing.

Their minds might become twisted, but Lu Hao felt nothing. Killing those people was no different from slaughtering pigs to him. But did that count as a psychological disorder? After all, he didn't seem to value human life.

Later, though, Lu Hao realized that it wasn't that he took life lightly. He simply showed no mercy to those who deserved to die. He still respected ordinary people.

He had never looked down on ordinary people because of his strength or the killing he'd done. Lu Hao figured the system panel had a lot to do with it. It kept his mind from being corrupted by killing.

Otherwise, he might already have become someone who would do anything for power, slaughtering entire cities on a massive scale.

Soon, some people were completely drunk, and about half the group had passed out. The rest said they were going to karaoke, but Lu Hao decided not to join them. He knew what he was like, and he'd be better off going home to cultivate.

After saying goodbye to the few who were still sober, Lu Hao prepared to leave.

"Lu Hao, if you go to Martial University and run into danger, remember to run. You can always drop out. Don't get carried away—and don't you dare die."

Lu Hao heard Xiao Jun say from behind him.

Without turning around, he waved and continued on his way.

As for Xiao Jun's advice not to take risks, who in the Earth Cave didn't have their head on the line? No one knew when disaster might strike, but tomorrow would surely be better.

On June 16, Lu Hao finished tempering another bone. His total number of tempered bones reached thirty, bringing him to the middle stage of Second Rank. After so much practice, he had finally brought his control over Vital Blood to the point where he could use a trump card.

Even a casual strike from Lu Hao could now reach an attack strength of 75 calories of Vital Blood. An ordinary peak Second-Rank martial artist had only about 400 calories. Even if they were capable and could control their Vital Blood, they could unleash only 40 calories—no match for Lu Hao.

As for Third-Rank martial artists who had plenty of Vital Blood but had merely piled it up with pills, they had about 500 calories. They couldn't control their Vital Blood well enough to unleash even 50 calories, so they wouldn't escape death if they ran into Lu Hao.

Although he had mastered a trump card, that didn't mean Blood Battle Mad Blade was useless. On the contrary, now that he was at the middle stage of Second Rank, he could perform the final strike of Blood Battle Mad Blade.

The power stacked by the third strike let Lu Hao unleash the force of a finishing move—nearly 120 calories in a single burst.

But because this wasn't a finishing move he had mastered himself, performing the strike cost about 360 calories of Vital Blood, nearly three times the output.

After three strikes, most people would be out of Vital Blood and helpless. Still, that didn't diminish how powerful this combat technique was. It let people unleash the power of a finishing move by stacking their strikes.

If Lu Hao's father hadn't created it, Lu Hao probably wouldn't have been qualified to learn it.

On June 29, Lu Hao was training his saber technique in seclusion when he received good news: the Beiding Detective Bureau had a new Second-Rank mission. The target had only just committed the crime and probably hadn't gotten far.

Lu Hao headed to Beiding District to take the mission, then immediately set off after the target.

On June 30, he successfully killed a middle-stage Second-Rank martial artist and gained 311 Slaughter Points. That was enough to temper another six bones, bringing him one step closer to breaking through to Third Rank.

On July 8, a new Second-Rank mission appeared in Wanhui District. But by the time Lu Hao arrived, someone else had already taken it. He could only wait and see if they completed the mission. If they failed, he could step in right away.

The result disappointed him: the other person completed the mission cleanly and efficiently. They were probably a Martial University student. Lu Hao didn't go out of his way to make contact and went home to continue tempering his bones and training his combat techniques.

As far as Lu Hao was concerned, reaching Third Rank before the semester began was enough. His goal was the Earth Cave. Second-Rank missions were already scarce on the surface, and Third-Rank missions were even rarer. As for Fourth Rank...

Sorry, anyone who reached Fourth Rank without being affiliated with an organization had usually joined the Evil Cult. Without the resources of the Evil Cult, most people could only reach Third Rank before they hit a wall.

On August 17, Lu Hao had gone more than a month without encountering a single Second-Rank mission. He was baffled, so he could only keep his head down and train.

What Lu Hao didn't know was that word had spread about him completing several Second-Rank missions in a row. No one knew who was behind them, but the Magic City martial arts community was convinced a genius from Martial University had come to gain experience.

As a result, the Second-Rank martial artists who had been taking advantage of the chaos to fish for easy prey had become much more cautious lately. After all, rumors said this outsider had killed a peak Second-Rank martial artist and was no weakling.

That evening, Lu Hao directed his Vital Blood into his humerus. It was the last bone in his upper limbs that he had yet to temper.

As Lu Hao continued channeling Vital Blood into it, impurities were expelled, and the bone began to whiten and harden.

Half an hour later, Lu Hao stopped.

Whew~

Lu Hao immediately felt his Vital Blood increase considerably. It had risen by quite a bit when he finished tempering all the bones in his lower limbs, and the same thing happened now.

With a thought, he brought up the panel.

[Slaughter Point System]

[Host: Lu Hao]

[Vital Blood: 127/429 cal]

[Spirit: 134/314 Hz]

[Storage Space: 100 cubic meters]

[Slaughter Point: 69]

His Vital Blood had reached 429. Tempering all the bones in his upper limbs had increased it by 20 calories. Lu Hao was still at peak Second Rank, but in terms of Vital Blood, he was already at the middle stage of Third Rank.

His combat strength was even more frightening. Now that he had mastered a trump card, his regular attacks could reach 85 calories of Vital Blood. He could take down a high-stage Third-Rank martial artist who hadn't mastered Vital Blood.

Against a Third-Rank martial artist who had mastered Vital Blood, he could only handle someone in the middle stage. And against someone who had mastered a trump card, he could likewise only take on a middle-stage opponent.

It might seem as though mastering a trump card made no difference when facing someone else who had mastered one, since he could only handle middle-stage Third-Rank opponents either way. But once a high-stage Third-Rank martial artist tempered their spine, their entire body became connected, and they received a tremendous boost.

That was why the gap between high-stage and peak Third Rank wasn't large, while the gap between high-stage and low- or middle-stage Third Rank was huge. A high-stage Third-Rank martial artist could take on three or four middle-stage opponents without much trouble.

So even though Lu Hao had mastered a trump card, he only dared to take on high-stage Third-Rank martial artists who hadn't mastered Vital Blood. If he faced one who had, he might be the one who got killed.

Still, fewer than fifty people across all the Martial Universities had probably mastered a trump card while still at Third Rank. A trump card wasn't something as common as cabbage.

Lu Hao had managed it because his soul had crossed into this world and merged with his talent, greatly enhancing his aptitude, and because he had gained insight into Blood Battle Mad Blade ahead of time.

Most Martial University students were focused on mastering Vital Blood. Once they could control it, they could unleash one-tenth of their reserves. Combined with a Third-Rank martial artist's Vital Blood reserves, that made defeating First- and Second-Rank opponents easy.