Optimizing "Five Hearts Toward Heaven"

"The patient's recovery is progressing quite well, though the internal organs have sustained damage and require at least three months of quiet recuperation. During this period, the diet should be light, and strenuous exercise must be avoided."

Inside the ward, the attending physician had finished examining Chen Yuan and was now instructing Qin Zhan, who stood to the side. "My recommendation is to continue hospitalization for observation. Of course, it is possible to discharge now, but the hospital will not be held responsible for any issues that may arise once the patient is outside."

"Understood. We choose to remain hospitalized; I will go settle the fees shortly," Qin Zhan replied immediately after hearing the doctor's words.

The doctor nodded at Qin Zhan and then departed.

Once the doctor had left, Qin Zhan checked the time and said to Chen Yuan, "Xiao Yuan, just rest easy. I'm going to pay the fees now and will bring you lunch from the hospital cafeteria later."

Chen Yuan nodded from his hospital bed and replied, "Sorry for the trouble, Uncle Qin."

Qin Zhan smiled, then left the ward and closed the door behind him.

The room fell silent, leaving Chen Yuan as the only patient inside.

Chen Yuan let out a sigh of relief. "I can finally continue researching that System Panel."

He had been studying the light screen that appeared before his eyes earlier, but the sudden opening of the door by Qin Zhan and the doctor had caught him off guard.

Because the light screen had been quite bright at the time, the commotion of the door opening had startled him, and he was terrified that someone might see it.

Fortunately, the panel was exactly as Chen Yuan had hoped; only he could see it, and both Qin Zhan and the doctor had ignored the screen before him.

Chen Yuan had temporarily closed the screen to cooperate with the examination, and only after the two had left did he reopen it.

Name: Chen Yuan
Age: 19
Strength: 2010 (kg)
Realm: Apprentice Second Rank
Secret Arts: Five Hearts Toward Heaven (Rating D), Spirit Wind Sword Art (includes swordsmanship, footwork, Guiding Technique; overall rating C)
Force Output Level: 0.9
Current Optimizable Items: Secret Arts
Energy: 3

That was the content displayed on Chen Yuan's panel—extremely concise.

After a brief moment of study, Chen Yuan had roughly grasped the purpose of the panel.

It was simply that the panel could record his physical condition in real-time; nothing more.

It lacked the "permanent mastery" function he had envisioned; the panel was merely a record.

He had noticed earlier that his Force Output Level kept fluctuating between 0.8 and 0.9.

Chen Yuan understood this; because of his injuries, his control over his strength was wavering, which was perfectly normal.

But since the force attribute on the panel could jump from 0.9 back to 0.8, it proved that this panel did not possess the ability to anchor his physical attributes.

It wasn't just the force attribute; Chen Yuan guessed that if he lay in the hospital bed for long enough, his strength attribute would also drop below 2010 kilograms.

The panel lacked the ability to permanently lock his stats, which honestly disappointed Chen Yuan, but he wasn't particularly dejected because there was more content below.

"Optimizable items, Secret Arts?" Chen Yuan's gaze shifted downward, a guess forming in his mind. "Does this mean it can optimize the techniques I practice to improve their effects?"

"Is the energy displayed below what is needed to optimize the Secret Arts? Where did these 3 points come from?"

Chen Yuan stared at the number after the energy stat, lost in thought, when a piece of information suddenly surfaced in his mind—the panel answering his question.

"Energy gained through slaughter? These 3 points of energy are because of that Iron-Haired Wild Boar!" Chen Yuan realized. "Slaughtering creatures of the same rank yields energy, with the amount produced varying based on the size of the creature."

"If it's gained through slaughter, why not call it Kill Points?"

Just as this thought crossed his mind, he saw the word "Energy" on the panel blur for a moment before changing into the words "Kill Points."

Kill Points: 3

"So that's how it is. The content on this panel can be customized according to my thoughts." Chen Yuan's eyes lit up. He stared at the panel and imagined it anew, and soon, the content on the screen was completely refreshed.

Name: Chen Yuan
Age: 19
Strength: 2010.72 (kg)
Realm: Intermediate Warrior
Secret Arts:
Five Hearts Toward Heaven: Cultivation-type secret art, Rating D, Current Progress: Proficient (63.79%)
Spirit Wind Sword Art: Combat-type secret art, Rating C, Current Progress: Overall Beginner 37.32% (Swordsmanship 39.72%, Footwork 33.58%, Guiding Technique 38.65%)
Force Output Level: 0.89
Current Optimizable Items: Secret Arts
Kill Points: 3

Chen Yuan looked at the panel and thought to himself, "As expected, the panel's role is to display my physical condition in real-time. I can modify the displayed content to make it more detailed, but I cannot modify the state of my body itself!"

In short, he could change the units of the data—for instance, changing kilograms to jin or tons—but his physical state would not undergo any changes.

"So, the panel really is just a panel; it can neither grant eternal verification nor modify data to affect reality." After discovering the panel's limitations, Chen Yuan stopped paying it any mind and shifted his gaze downward. "Since that's the case, I might as well take a look at this optimization ability."

As soon as he focused his consciousness on the optimization tab, a message appeared in his mind.

"Please select an optimization project."

With a trial-and-error mindset, Chen Yuan thought, "Select optimization for Five Hearts Toward Heaven."

"Please select an optimization direction."

Chen Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Increase the efficiency of cosmic energy absorption and the cellular absorption limit."

"Optimization task established. Target: Five Hearts Toward Heaven. Direction: Increase efficiency, increase limit. Estimated Kill Points required: 200. Establish optimization task?"

200 Kill Points?

Chen Yuan felt a pang of bitterness; he only had 3 Kill Points, but still, holding onto the spirit of experimentation, he chose yes.

"Insufficient Kill Points. Task creation failed. Please replenish Kill Points or modify the optimization direction."

As expected, it didn't work. Chen Yuan tried optimizing another technique, Spirit Wind Sword Art, but it showed a requirement of 400 Kill Points, which was also impossible.

"Does this mean I have to wait until I'm discharged and go back into the wild to accumulate Kill Points? Doesn't that mean I'll just be sitting here for the next three months?" Chen Yuan felt somewhat helpless. As his gaze swept back and forth across the panel, he suddenly froze.

He stared at a line of text, lost in thought.

"Replenish Kill Points or modify the optimization direction, modify the optimization direction..." A flash of inspiration struck Chen Yuan. "What would happen if I modified it like this?"

"Whatever, I'll just try it and see!"

"System, optimize Five Hearts Toward Heaven. Optimization direction: Increase efficiency and limit of cosmic energy absorption, while abandoning universality and optimizing solely for the individual."

Chen Yuan stared intently at the panel, watching the new content appear.

"Optimization task established. Target: Five Hearts Toward Heaven. Direction: Increase efficiency, increase limit, abandon universality, optimize based on host's condition. Estimated Kill Points required: 2. Establish optimization task?"

"I knew it!" Chen Yuan's eyes lit up, his heart surging with excitement. "I was right. Universality is a direction for a technique; after all, techniques are designed for the masses to practice. If I abandon that and optimize it exclusively for myself, the energy required for optimization must decrease!"

It is like a powerful secret manual that everyone wants; if that manual were specialized and others couldn't practice it at all, its value would drop significantly.

The system's optimization followed the same logic.

"I just didn't expect that abandoning the universality of the technique would only require one percent of the energy!" Chen Yuan could hardly contain his excitement as he frantically tapped 'confirm' with his consciousness.

"Optimization task established. Estimated optimization time: 3 hours."

During Chen Yuan's excited wait, three hours passed in a flash. Qin Zhan brought him lunch, and after Chen Yuan finished eating, he took the lunchbox and left, informing Chen Yuan that he had business in the afternoon and would return in the evening.

So, after Qin Zhan left, Chen Yuan lay on the bed, counting down the timer on the panel to kill time.

Finally, the optimization countdown reached zero, and the task ended.

He cast his gaze over it and saw the following display:

"Optimization task complete. Secret technique 'Five Hearts Toward Heaven' has been optimized into 'Hibernation Method: Crystal Meditation' (Click Hibernation Method to expand details)."

Chen Yuan used his consciousness to open the description of Hibernation Method, which read: Hibernation Method: Crystal Meditation, a cultivation-type secret technique. Perform Deep Sleep through crystal meditation. Deep Sleep has the following effects:

1. Significantly increases the body's repair capabilities.

2. Can slowly increase physical strength.

3. Increases the efficiency of cosmic energy absorption and the cellular absorption limit.

Seeing the description of Hibernation Method, Chen Yuan's pupils dilated in shock.