Spiritual Enhancement

On the bench, Li Wen downed the last gulp of his energy drink.

The cool liquid slid down his throat, bringing a hint of relief.

But it couldn't suppress the peculiar sensation slowly receding like a tide deep within his brain—it wasn't just fatigue being swept away; it felt more like a baptism at the soul level.

Half a minute ago, the moment his [Scholar] level jumped from lv3 to lv5, a wave of mental clarity far more intense and distinct than when he'd gone from lv2 to lv3 crashed through his sea of consciousness.

It wasn't a simple cooling of the mind, but a sublimation that touched the soul, as if soft yet resilient threads had thoroughly combed through his tangled, chaotic threads of thought, dusting them off, leaving every idea crystalline and razor-sharp.

His brain had never operated so smoothly, so actively, as if it had broken through some invisible shackle, gaining greater computational and carrying capacity—a solid sense of support rising from the very essence of life.

"Spirit attribute..." Li Wen closed his eyes, fingertips gently pressing his temples, feeling the unprecedented clarity of his consciousness as he pondered silently.

"Last time, when I hit lv3, it was just a brief moment of clarity, nowhere near this strong. In games, leveling up boosts the four core attributes. The [Scholar] class should correspond to the spirit attribute."

He recalled a hyper-realistic game he'd played in his past life, where Strength, Physique, Spirit, and Agility were the foundation for measuring a character.

Since this world had an overpowered skill like [Absolute Focus], technology similar to Virtual Pods, and even a division of martial realms, a hidden attribute system wasn't impossible.

It was just that reality wasn't a game after all—there was no intuitive digital panel displaying the four attributes; this felt more like an intrinsic enhancement of life itself.

"What benefits come with a high spirit attribute? Keener perception? Faster thinking? Or... could it awaken some kind of psychic ability?" Li Wen frowned slightly, searching his memory.

Yet in his eighteen years of life, from family trivialities to school education and even the martial knowledge he'd encountered, there was not a single word about "spirit attributes" or related cultivation.

"Has the upper echelon strictly sealed off this information? Or does this world's martial system inherently reject or simply not yet explore the spiritual domain?" He shook his head, burying this unanswerable question for now.

Without information, dwelling on it was pointless.

What he urgently needed to verify now was the change in [Absolute Focus] that came with [Scholar] lv5.

Based on his gaming experience from his past life, [Absolute Focus] at lv5 would unlock a key new function—the ability to control the skill's activation and deactivation duration to a certain degree, no longer leaving his body completely drained.

To ensure absolute certainty and to fully map the boundaries of this new function, Li Wen took a deep breath and began a rigorous experiment.

He activated [Absolute Focus] again and again, then tried to deactivate it, carefully sensing the subtle feedback from his body and the clarity of his consciousness during each state transition.

First activation.

The moment his consciousness sank in, Li Wen caught an experience completely different from before.

In the past, once the skill activated, his subjective "I" would be completely suppressed into the depths of his subconscious, like falling into a deep sleep, his body entirely driven by that cold, hyper-efficient computational instinct.

But this time, he sensed a difference—his main consciousness wasn't fully asleep! It was as if wrapped in a tough, transparent membrane, floating above a surging torrent of data.

He could vaguely perceive the external environment and the actions his body was executing, and could even faintly form thoughts like "stop," though executing them was still difficult.

This membrane was the new buffer zone between his main consciousness and the overclocked computational instinct.

"I see!" Li Wen realized inwardly.

"The core of being able to control it autonomously lies in the fact that my main consciousness isn't completely stripped of authority! In the game, it was just a cold 'cancel' button, but in reality, it genuinely preserves the possibility for me to observe and intervene."

Next, he repeatedly activated and deactivated the skill, carefully feeling the rate of mental energy consumption, the smoothness of interrupting the skill, and the discomfort in his body and brain after stopping.

After several rounds, the accelerated drain on his mental energy became apparent, but a rousing smile spread across his face. The experiment had confirmed success.

[Absolute Focus] lv5's function was exactly as expected.

Minimum activation duration: five minutes.

Within those five minutes, once the skill was triggered, his main consciousness couldn't forcibly stop it.

Manual deactivation: After five minutes, his main consciousness could, by will, interrupt the skill at any time, the end point entirely under his control.

After three more consecutive tests, when Li Wen stopped again, a wave of intense exhaustion slammed into him, far fiercer than when he'd simply practiced the blade art earlier.

Switching in and out of overclocked state at high intensity and frequency consumed far more mental energy than he'd imagined. His steps unsteady, he walked back to the bench in the rest area, leaned back, and rested, his chest rising and falling slightly.

"Huff... huff..." He gasped a few times before feeling some strength return.

He pulled out another energy drink, gulped down most of it, the cool liquid seeming to quench the burning heat in his mind.

Once his breathing steadied, Li Wen summoned the panel in his mind again:

[You practiced the blade art for one hour. Rainbow Light Blade Art has improved.]

[You focused on practicing the blade art for 20 minutes. Rainbow Light Blade Art +2.]

[Skill: Blade Art · Top-tier (Beginner 27→29/100)]

Seeing the experience values displayed as precise integers on the panel, Li Wen couldn't help but smile wryly.

This panel seemed to have a bit of "OCD"—it never showed decimal values below one.

Still, as the true owner of the experience points, he could vaguely sense that his actual blade art progress was now greater than 29 but less than 30, and leaning closer to the 30 end.

"Huff~" Li Wen let out a long breath, his face showing even more satisfaction.

"lv5's [Absolute Focus] is truly powerful! A 50% boost in comprehension, combined with my now-enhanced spirit attribute—just twenty minutes of focused practice, and I gained over 2 points of blade art experience! The efficiency is terrifying!"

Judging by this rate of improvement, his comprehension while [Absolute Focus] was active definitely surpassed that of the genius student from Qingshi No.1 High School who'd signed a B-level contract with the four major powers in advance.

That student was universally recognized as the top in comprehension across all of Qingshi County.

"The only pity," a hint of helplessness crept in after the excitement, "is that other people's super-high comprehension is a passive talent, always on and burden-free. My comprehension boost is a 'special-effect drug' fueled by burning mental energy and enduring immense pain. Time—that's the real key."