Scholar lv5

"Sparring partner..." The word pricked Li Wen like a fine needle—a distant, almost luxurious concept to him.

His classmates at school were at similar cultivation levels, making their practical bouts limited in effect and prone to accidents if they went too far.

Xinhuo Hall, however, provided martial artists whose skill levels far surpassed his own as sparring partners, offering highly targeted training with results incomparable to school practice.

But the price... The lowest tier, Level 1 sparring, cost 500 per hour. The ten-thousand-yuan scholarship he'd just applied for would only cover twenty hours.

Level 2 sparring was a staggering two thousand per hour, let alone Level 3's jaw-dropping five thousand... Li Wen silently calculated that his scholarship could afford just two hours of Level 3 sparring.

He'd fantasized countless times about becoming the lowest-tier Level 1 sparring partner here—it would be a decent source of income. But dreams were plump, while reality was bony.

Two hard thresholds stood in the way of becoming a sparring partner: one had to be an official member of Xinhuo Hall and pass the national sparring qualification exam.

The latter wasn't too difficult for someone who'd graduated from a proper martial arts university with solid skills. The real challenge was the former—Xinhuo Hall's selection process for official membership was appallingly strict, far beyond his current reach.

Forcing down the faint sigh over the resource gap, Li Wen shook his head and pulled his focus back to the tray before him, burying himself in his meal with single-minded determination.

Dwelling on this was useless for now. Filling his stomach and improving himself was the true path.

After finishing his meal, Li Wen stood up to head downstairs for training. Just as he stepped out of the cafeteria, he happened to run into the two guys who'd been talking about sparring partners.

They walked straight toward a noticeably more upscale elevator on the side, one with a security lock.

One of them raised the smart band on his wrist and swiped it over the scanner. The dim elevator buttons instantly lit up with a soft glow.

The doors slid open silently, and the two stepped inside, chatting and laughing, their figures disappearing as the elevator ascended.

Li Wen calmly withdrew his gaze and headed for the wide staircase on the other side, descending step by steady step along the thick, solid stairs.

The hardness of the steps transmitted through his soles, as if reminding him that his path could only be walked one firm step at a time.

The first floor was a vast open training area, subdivided into Basic Technique Zone, Advanced Technique Zone, and Top-Tier Technique Zone.

Li Wen's target was clear—the Top-Tier Technique Zone.

The deeper he went, the fewer people there were.

Passing through the Basic Zone, figures crowded together amid constant shouts and cries; the Advanced Zone had fewer people, but the atmosphere remained lively. By the time he reached the corner of the Top-Tier Technique Zone, only a little over twenty people were scattered across four spacious rooms, a stark contrast to the noise outside.

Those who trained here were either top students like Li Wen, using the free access granted to impoverished students, or genuine seekers of the way from similarly ordinary families, gritting their teeth to afford the Basic Zone fees.

After all, truly wealthy and promising young martial artists had long since gained access, through membership or formal status, to the upper-level advanced training rooms with dedicated instructors.

Those single rooms, fully equipped with personal guidance, were a legend reserved for the "ceiling" of this place.

Li Wen found the emptiest Top-Tier Technique room and pushed the door open.

The familiar layout: benches for resting and racks for various weapons lined the walls, while the center was a vast floor space paved with hard, specially treated stone.

This material was designed for high-intensity martial training; unless a practitioner deliberately tried to destroy it, even full-force Top-Tier techniques could barely leave a mark.

Li Wen walked to the weapon rack, smoothly pulled out a standard-issue quick-blade, and weighed it in his hand. The balance and feel matched what he used at school.

He moved to a corner far from others, setting his bag of cheap supplements on a bench.

After a simple joint warm-up and stretching routine, Li Wen cast aside distractions, his gaze sharpening.

In this era where the strong reigned supreme, only relentless climbing on the martial path was the most reliable way to escape hardship and change one's fate!

He angled the blade tip toward the ground, steadied his breath, and began today's practice of the Rainbow Light Blade Art.

He didn't activate the [Absolute Focus] skill right away, instead practicing normally first.

This was an efficient method he'd recently figured out. He'd train in his regular state, accumulating the confusion and bottlenecks encountered during practice; once enough had built up, he'd activate [Absolute Focus], leveraging its terrifyingly enhanced insight to concentrate on breaking through the tough spots.

If he used the skill from the start, the precious focus time would likely be wasted on solving routine problems, and the subsequent mental fatigue would drag down overall efficiency.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The blade sliced through the air, letting out sharp whistles.

Li Wen's figure moved swiftly through the empty corner of the room, his long sword transforming into streaks of rainbow light—some bright, some dim—at astonishing speed.

He had already entered the beginner stage, his moves flowing much more smoothly, but when practicing the unmastered follow-up techniques or the transitions between them, there were still issues with stiffness and imprecise force.

Sweat soon beaded on his forehead, sliding down his determined profile.

Time always flew during focused practice.

When Li Wen smoothly sheathed his blade, completing a full training cycle, he glanced at the large electronic clock on the wall—it read exactly two in the afternoon.

He was slightly out of breath, his back soaked with sweat. He walked toward the bench to rehydrate and, out of habit, silently called up his personal panel in his mind.

The moment his consciousness sank into the virtual panel—

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! A torrent of messages flooded in like a waterfall, frantically refreshing!

[You have completed a Chinese exam with excellent results. Scholar experience +100]

[You have completed a math exam with excellent results. Scholar experience +100]

[You have completed a foreign language exam with good results. Scholar experience +80]

[You have completed a history exam with excellent results. Scholar experience +100]

[You have completed a politics exam with excellent results. Scholar experience +100]

[You have completed a geography exam with excellent results. Scholar experience +100]

[You achieved third place in your class in this final exam. Scholar experience +160]

[You have achieved 58th place in the entire grade in this final exam. Scholar experience +320]

[Your understanding of knowledge has deepened, and your ability to analyze problems has greatly improved.]

[Class: Scholar lv3 (304 → 1364 / 400)]

[Conditions met. Class upgrading...]

[Class: Scholar lv4 (964 / 800)]

[Conditions met. Class upgrading...]

[Class: Scholar lv5 (164 / 1600)]

"lv5!?" Li Wen's consciousness seemed to freeze for an instant. The few lines of concise text on the panel carried an impact like thunderclaps exploding right by his ears!

The moment all final exam subject scores were recorded and class and grade rankings were finalized, the accumulated experience surged like a burst dam, smashing through two solid level barriers with unstoppable force.

The [Scholar] class had jumped directly from lv3 to lv5!

Before this massive leap could give him time to savor what the level-up meant, an unprecedented, strange sensation suddenly swept through the depths of his soul.

Like a parched traveler in the desert drinking sweet spring water, like a shivering body in the bitter cold basking in warm sunlight.

An indescribable, soul-deep feeling of extreme comfort shot through Li Wen's limbs and bones like an electric current.

This sensation did not act on the physical body; rather, it felt as if his thoughts were immersed in an infinitely warm, clear, and bright ocean. Every single thought became incomparably clear, active, and sharp.

The subtle fatigue and sluggishness accumulated over long periods of intense study and use of [Absolute Focus] were swept clean.

His brain seemed to have been thoroughly cleansed and its hardware upgraded—processing speed, information handling capacity, depth of understanding, the insight for sudden flashes of inspiration... all had undergone an unimaginable leap in this moment.

This intense sensation of soul ascension lasted for nearly half a minute before receding like a tide, leaving behind a Li Wen who felt completely renewed, his thinking never so clear and penetrating.

Li Wen stood frozen in place, his gaze seeming to pierce through the void. He clenched his fist, clearly feeling the powerful support brought by the changes at the soul level.