Father's Illness

Yet at this moment, Li Wen's mind remained firmly gripped by the [Absolute Focus] skill.

He could not cheer, could not relax, could not even produce any emotional fluctuation from having successfully entered the gate.

Within his consciousness, only two cold commands existed:

[Gate Entry Confirmed].

[Consolidate the Gains].

And so, having withdrawn from the limit-burst stance, Li Wen moved again within the cramped training room.

His movements no longer sought explosive limits. Instead, they became utterly precise, utterly focused.

One slash. Then another.

He tirelessly repeated the Rainbow Light Blade Art he had just entered the gate of, from the first form to the sixty-fourth, over and over.

Every motion strove for perfection. Every release of force was calibrated with exactness.

Through mechanical, bone-deep repetition, he carved the insights of "gate entry" deep into every muscle fiber and neural reflex arc.

This consolidation was trust in the effect of [Once Proven, Forever Proven], and even more so, the ultimate exploitation of the skill's time limit!

He would hammer the precious gains obtained in this short span into the firmest possible foundation.

"Ding-ling-ling-ling--!!!"

The piercing, shrill alarm clock sound stabbed like an icy awl, viciously puncturing the mental state shrouded by [Absolute Focus].

Whoosh--!

An indescribable sensation of detachment surged forth, as if his brain had been forcibly dragged from an utterly silent frozen sea back into the noisy, chaotic human world.

The cold, efficient, heart-stoppingly pure "filter lens" that had enveloped his consciousness shattered in an instant and vanished.

"Ugh..." Li Wen grunted, his body swaying slightly, as if his spine had been yanked out in that moment.

Massive fatigue crashed down like a collapsing mountain range.

Following it came the familiar mental backlash.

Needles seemed to stab viciously into his brain. Stars danced before his eyes. A constant ringing buzzed in his ears.

Yet, just as this overwhelming exhaustion and pain descended, everything that had happened in the past thirty minutes under the state of absolute focus flooded into his consciousness like a raging torrent.

"Shadow," "Startled Swan," "Blazing Sun," "Piercing Sun"!

Failure after failure, deduction after deduction, until the final success. That sharp, surging sense of power belonging to a top-tier technique.

And finally, every slash, every detail of that mechanical, repetitive consolidation.

All the fragments of memory—clear, coherent, revealed down to the finest detail—flashed and assembled in his mind.

The immense sense of achievement from mastering a top-tier technique formed a stark contrast of fire and ice with the physical agony and mental lethargy.

"Status panel."

The thought flickered almost instinctively. A virtual light screen, visible only to Li Wen, unfolded before his eyes.

His gaze, as solid as substance, instantly locked onto the [Skills] column:

[Skills: Blade Art (Mastery), Blade Art-Tier (Gate Entry 1/100)]

His gaze froze for a full second.

"1/100..." Li Wen's lips parted and closed soundlessly.

Then, a smile he could not suppress spread silently across his pale but still handsome face, like ice water melting in early spring. It grew and grew, until finally his mouth split into a grin.

"Heh... haha..." The exhaustion could not dim the light in his eyes. His hoarse laughter was filled with satisfaction and the unexpected joy of a bargain.

"Never expected... using those last few minutes of [Absolute Focus] to consolidate the gate entry... actually... even raised the experience points by one."

This was an unexpected bonus.

One point of gate entry experience. It was not just a number. It meant the door to the top-tier blade art had been thrown wide open to him.

It meant this path had been firmly planted under his feet. Future improvement was no longer an unreachable dream.

Gazing at the gleaming [Gate Entry 1/100] status on the panel, Li Wen's heart was filled with unprecedented certainty.

At this moment, Li Wen finally deeply understood this world's extreme reverence for "comprehension."

With a soul fused from two lives, his foundational comprehension was already far beyond ordinary people.

Yet even so, facing the subtle mysteries of a top-tier technique, he had still been firmly stuck on those few forms, unable to cross that invisible threshold for a long time.

Only when the lv3 [Absolute Focus] forcibly boosted this already exceptional comprehension by a terrifying 30%!

Quantity finally triggered a qualitative change. Those profound subtleties that had been separated by a single layer of window paper were finally forcibly pierced through by him.

"An ordinary person... the gift of two souls... plus a 30% boost in comprehension... barely enough to reach the threshold of a B-rank contract?"

A flash of information about the signing standards of the four major powers crossed Li Wen's mind.

From the news he had gathered recently, those so-called geniuses at Qingshi No.1 High School who had only signed D-rank contracts had taken no less than five days to enter the gate of a top-tier technique.

Only that legendary academic god, who had been pre-signed to a B-rank contract by Xinhuo Hall, had matched Li Wen's current speed of entering the gate—also just over two days.

Just from the speed of mastering top-tier techniques alone, Li Wen had already earned the hard qualification to sign a B-level contract with a major power.

This realization sent a slight tremor through his heart, but it was quickly buried under a stronger sense of urgency.

"At this rate... the day after tomorrow's final exam..." He clenched his fist, knuckles whitening from the force, a determined fire blazing in his eyes.

"Top ten in the class? That first-tier bonus for the improvement award... I've got it."

He bent down with difficulty, fumbling through his backpack to pull out an energy drink. Twisting off the cap, he tilted his head back and gulped it down.

The cool liquid slid down his throat with a faint, stimulating sweetness, slightly easing the exhaustion that felt like dehydration throughout his body.

Carrying a weariness that was oddly refreshing, Li Wen packed up his things and pushed open the heavy soundproof door of the training room. The noise of the outside world and fresh air rushed in at once.

Everything was ready—just waiting for the day after tomorrow.

After a high-energy dinner in the cafeteria, Li Wen, still shouldering his somewhat heavy backpack, walked straight to the bus stop and began his journey home.

Right now, he just wanted to get home early and use the evening to push through the Fracture Edge Gold Sha Method, squeezing out a bit more progress in his physical level.

"Cough~ cough~~ cough..."

Just as he inserted the key into the lock but hadn't yet turned it, a muffled, heavy cough—as if trying to expel a lung—seeped faintly through the crack in the door.

Li Wen's hand froze on the doorknob.

He turned the key silently and pushed open the door.

The living room light was dim. His father, Li Hong, sat hunched over on an old wooden stool, one hand covering his mouth, his body trembling slightly with each violent cough.

"Dad," Li Wen's voice carried a tension he didn't even notice himself, "what's wrong with you?"

"Ah Wen, you're back?" Li Hong startled, spinning around abruptly, a flash of panic and forced unnaturalness flickering across his face.