Daily Accumulation, Goals

There was nothing going on that afternoon.

Perhaps because the major exams were about to begin, Zheng Huai did not restrict how everyone trained that afternoon. He let them practice according to their weaker subjects and sharpen their weapons at the eleventh hour.

That evening, at the Martial Arts Hall.

As Lin Ye pushed open the door, a sense of emptiness washed over him.

At this hour, there should usually have been more than a dozen people training inside the Martial Arts Hall. Lin Ye swept his gaze around and found only three people practicing—Li Weiwei was in a corner working through a complex footwork set, Zhang Zhen was facing a sandbag and adjusting the details of his force generation, while Zhao Qiang was correcting his punching stance in front of a mirror.

Clearly, most people had chosen to spend today doing one last round of theoretical review or resting and adjusting their condition for tomorrow's exam.

Lin Ye walked to his usual corner and set down his bag. He did not begin training immediately, instead stretching for ten minutes to gradually bring his body into condition.

When Li Weiwei saw him, she stopped practicing and walked over with a teasing smile.

"I thought you wouldn't come today."

"It's a habit."

Lin Ye answered simply.

Li Weiwei nodded. "True. You need to maintain your condition, but don't train too hard. Save some energy for the day after tomorrow."

She knew Lin Ye was someone who liked to put in extra training.

"Got it. Thanks."

Lin Ye nodded, agreeing with Li Weiwei's words.

At that moment, Zhang Zhen also walked over and said with a smile, "Lin Ye, I was just adjusting the force angle for the Rolling Stone Chain. I found that if I sink my waist and hips another half inch, the efficiency of force transmission can improve by about three percent. Want to give it a try?"

"Sure, I'll try it."

The three exchanged a few simple words before returning to their respective training areas. At once, the Martial Arts Hall was left with only the howling wind of fists, the scrape of footsteps, and the occasional sound of adjusted breathing.

Lin Ye assumed the posture of the Primordial Stance.

He knew that training at a time like this would have a negligible effect on improving his strength and would not change the outcome of tomorrow's major exam. But Martial Dao cultivation was like dripping water piercing stone—it required accumulation day after day, and it was impossible to achieve a qualitative leap in just two or three days. Besides, the Proficiency Panel itself had been honed through time. He was used to it; this was his rhythm. Recklessly disrupting it would only affect his condition.

[Primordial Stance Proficiency +1]

[Rolling Stone Fist Proficiency +1]

The numbers on the System Panel rose steadily as promised, maintaining their constant increase, while the number of people in the Martial Arts Hall gradually dwindled.

An hour passed, and Li Weiwei was the first to leave. Two hours passed, and Zhang Zhen left next, but before leaving, he walked over and asked in a low voice.

"Lin Ye, your Blood Qi Value has increased quite a lot this month. It was already 185 during the last test, so you must have broken 200 by now, right?"

Lin Ye only smiled and did not deny it.

After all, Blood Qi Value could not deceive anyone. With Nutrient Agents and paid meals, coupled with the improved cultivation efficiency brought by Mastery Grade stake training, he had become the brightest focal point in the class during several small tests this month.

Seeing this, understanding flashed through Zhang Zhen's eyes as he smiled. "Judging by your expression, I'm probably right. Keep it up. Try to clear the third stage and participate in the Ranking Tournament on the third day for bonus points."

With that, he turned and left the Martial Arts Hall as well.

Only Lin Ye and Zhao Qiang remained in the Martial Arts Hall.

Not long after, Zhao Qiang left too. Before going, however, he deliberately looked at Lin Ye, who was still training. His gaze was filled with complicated emotions. He still said nothing and quickly left the Martial Arts Hall.

In truth, over the past month, Zhao Qiang had watched Lin Ye's Blood Qi Value steadily rise through several small tests. The feeling of being caught up to, perhaps even surpassed, was like a thorn embedded in his heart. Though he had originally not planned on extra training, over the past half month he had unprecedentedly increased his training volume by thirty percent.

Every time he finished the extra training, he felt deeply regretful.

Why was he comparing himself to the other guy? He only needed to do his own thing. Yet for some reason, that needle-pricking feeling would not go away, making him feel uncomfortable whenever he did not add extra training.

Thus, every time, he bounced back and forth between regret and discomfort.

This time was the same. By his original plan, he would have just trained casually tonight and called it a day. But when he saw Lin Ye still training, he persisted until evening self-study ended.

The dismissal bell rang, but Lin Ye turned a deaf ear and continued training.

At 8:30 the next morning, in the examination hall.

The first subject: Star Alliance Common Language.

Once the test papers were handed out, Lin Ye quickly scanned the questions. The listening section consisted of several common interstellar conversations, the reading section was an explanatory text on interstellar technology-sharing policies, and the writing prompt was Interstellar Cooperation in My Eyes.

He took a deep breath and began answering.

The conversations in the listening section were spoken quickly and mixed with several accents unique to the Star Alliance. But Lin Ye had long become adept at it. Even though he had practiced little this month, he could basically keep up.

The reading section required understanding some specialized terms, such as "cross-civilization technological adaptability" and "principles of Star Power resonance." Fortunately, the teacher had emphasized all of them.

For the writing section, Lin Ye relied on life experience beyond that of others and answered swiftly.

At ten o'clock, the exam ended.

"How did it feel?"

Wang Tao leaned over, his face pale. "I didn't understand the last listening passage at all..." "I was okay."

Lin Ye said.

"I knew you'd definitely be fine."

Wang Tao sighed miserably. "My essay went off-topic. It asked for interstellar cooperation, but I wrote a brief history of interstellar warfare... Boohoo, I'm finished."

At 10:30 in the morning, the mathematics exam began.

This was Lin Ye's strong suit. Energy attenuation functions, Star Power trajectory calculations, Blood Qi growth models... he had done these questions countless times. The exam lasted two hours, but he finished in an hour and a half, using the remaining half hour to check carefully.

When he handed in his paper, the proctor could not help giving him another look—this student's answer sheet was filled to the brim, his solution steps were clear, and even the calculations on his scratch paper were neat and orderly.

"Did well?"

the proctor asked casually.

"I did my best."

Lin Ye responded politely.

After a simple lunch.

At two in the afternoon, the exams officially resumed.

The first subject was physics.

The physics exam contained quite a few questions tied to Martial Dao, such as "calculate the energy equivalent of a Body Tempering Realm martial artist's full-force strike" and "analyze the energy consumption curve of a Star Power shield."

Lin Ye answered smoothly. The teacher had covered these questions countless times, and the given data was not difficult. He quickly completed his answers.

The history exam followed immediately after.

The questions mainly concerned the History of the Star Alliance, from the opening of the Astral Rift five hundred years ago, to the Star Alliance's arrival and its transmission of Martial Dao, then humanity's establishment of the Dungeon Defense Line and the beginning of interstellar cooperation... Lin Ye organized everything according to the timeline, focusing on the significance of several key turning points.

At 5:30 in the afternoon, he handed in the final paper.

As everyone walked out of the examination hall, they let out long breaths.

"Finally... the academic subjects are over."

Zhou Qian stretched, revealing her graceful curves and leaving the boys around her staring blankly. "Now it's time for the real thing."

Zhang Zhen said with a smile, "Indeed. Tomorrow's Blood Qi test is the main event."

Zhou Qian said with a cheerful grin, "Anyway, I've already prepared myself mentally. I'll be thanking heaven and earth if I can get into an ordinary Martial University."

Lin Ye did not join the discussion and listened quietly.

For him, if he did not have the Proficiency Panel, he too would have been thanking heaven and earth just to get into an ordinary Martial University. But now that he had it, his goal did not stop there. He did not hope to enter a provincial key Martial University or anything even better, but he hoped that through these three months of effort, he could at least get into a provincial Martial University.