"Tool Man" Brothers

At the crack of dawn the next day, Tang Ping finished washing up, gulped down his breakfast, and hurried to school, unable to contain his impatience.

"Hey! Great Thief, morning!"

As soon as he stepped through the school gates, Tang Ping spotted one of the targets he had previously earmarked as a "tool." He rushed over, slapped the guy on the shoulder in greeting, and took the opportunity to bind him as his first tool.

This person was named Jiang Yang, which was why his close circle of friends jokingly called him "Great Thief." Although he had protested, it was clearly to no avail. His strength was on par with Tang Ping's, but unlike Tang Ping, he had no system and only an average family background, meaning his natural talent was quite exceptional.

Tang Ping figured that given their relationship, even if the binding couldn't be undone, giving him a slot wouldn't be a waste, so he bound him without hesitation.

Once the binding was complete, Tang Ping hurriedly summoned the system panel in his mind to verify his earlier hypothesis.

[Heaven Rewards Diligence System]

Host: Tang Ping

Realm: None

Current available tool slots: 10.

Current bound tools: 1.

Tool No. 1: Jiang Yang (Reward distribution ratio: Pending)

Note: The current system reward level randomly increases cultivation effects by 1-10 times. For example, if a tool's cultivation increases their punching power by 1kg and a 10x reward is triggered, the increase becomes 11kg. The host determines the distribution ratio of the 10kg system reward, ranging from 1:9 to 9:1.

He casually set the distribution ratio to 5:5 and tested it, discovering that the ratio could be adjusted at any time.

"Unbind."

"Bind."

After experimenting, Tang Ping quickly confirmed that this damn system was still very useful after its self-update. Only the initial binding required physical contact; all subsequent operations could be handled via the system panel.

With the experiments mostly finished, Tang Ping walked into the classroom while chatting idly with Jiang Yang.

He gave a casual pat to Li Ze, the little fatty who had arrived at school earlier, and his second tool was secured.

After that, he followed the same procedure, and soon, all the brothers he was close with became his tools.

Heh heh... I'm basically providing welfare to my brothers. A wholesale system—tell me you aren't impressed, Tang Ping chuckled to himself after finishing the bindings.

With the updated system, the tools Tang Ping selected were essentially equipped with a cheat code. Although they couldn't perceive or control the system themselves, the actual effects were tangible.

Not to mention that Tang Ping, treating them as brothers, had set the distribution ratios quite high; even at the lowest setting of 1:9, it was still significantly faster than his own normal cultivation.

After binding his close friends in class, Tang Ping stopped. He didn't care for the talent of the others, and his relationship with them wasn't close enough to warrant sacrificing his own interests to give them a boost.

The remaining slots would naturally be reserved for tools with better talent, with the distribution ratio set to the minimum of 1:9 to maximize his own benefits and help him reach the Quasi-Martial Artist standard as quickly as possible.

Sitting down at his desk, Tang Ping cast his consciousness toward the system panel in his mind.

[Heaven Rewards Diligence System]

Host: Tang Ping

Realm: None

Current available tool slots: 10.

Current bound tools: 4.

Tool No. 1: Jiang Yang (Reward distribution ratio: 5:5).

Tool No. 2: Li Ze (Reward distribution ratio: 6:4).

Tool No. 3: Li Zhongyun (Reward distribution ratio: 5:5).

Tool No. 4: Wang Zhizhong (Reward distribution ratio: 6:4).

The distribution ratios set for his brothers weren't identical. It wasn't due to the closeness of their relationships, but rather because Tang Ping hoped that since he had this opportunity, he didn't want the gap between his brothers' progress to become too wide.

Since there were differences in individual talent, he adjusted the ratios based on their current strength: those who were stronger received a smaller share, while those who were slightly weaker received more.

However, this was just a rough estimate for now; he could adjust it later based on the actual results.

Hmm... after school, I'll drag them to the martial arts hall to train. I believe that once they get a taste of the rapid improvement brought by the system rewards, they'll train even harder without me having to say a word, and I can just lie back and level up. How sweet. Planning everything out in his mind, Tang Ping began to fantasize about his future life of leveling up while doing nothing.

With renewed hope for his martial arts cultivation, Tang Ping's attitude toward his academic classes reverted to his previous indifference. With his mind wandering, time passed quickly, and soon it was time for school to end.

In modern high schools, because students needed time for martial arts training, there was no such thing as evening self-study. Of course, students who were unwilling or lacked martial arts talent could choose to go home and study on their own.

Tang Ping certainly wasn't going to go home and study; he didn't even want to look at a book while in class at school.

After much persuasion and the promise of treating them to a meal, he finally managed to drag his four "tool" brothers toward the Limit Martial Arts Hall.

Sigh, what is this? I'm literally handing them a golden finger, and I still have to beg them and guide them to discover it? Tang Ping thought, looking miserable.

But there was no helping it. Although the brothers were among the top talents in the entire high school, they were still far from the Quasi-Martial Artist standard. Without reaching that standard, the college entrance exam was their best path forward.

With less than a semester left until the exam, they should normally be focusing most of their energy on academic knowledge. As for martial arts, those who hadn't given up might spend a little time consolidating their progress, just so they could continue training after getting into university.

The school wasn't far from the Jianyi District branch of the Limit Martial Arts Hall. The group arrived quickly while joking around. Since they were all intermediate-level students at the hall, they naturally headed into the intermediate student teaching building.

Once at the hall, the brothers naturally began to train seriously—everyone except Tang Ping.

He still had six tool slots left. If he didn't hurry up and bind some geniuses to help him cultivate, given his own mediocre talent, who knew when he would become a Quasi-Martial Artist?

The students who could enter the Limit Martial Arts Hall to train were all young people between sixteen and thirty, meaning they all still had some hope of becoming martial artists. Naturally, there were some little geniuses among them.

Tang Ping, who had previously been obsessed with becoming a martial artist and frantically completing system cultivation tasks, was a regular at the Limit Martial Arts Hall. He knew exactly who the geniuses in the intermediate student building were.

Pretending to pass by inadvertently, he brushed against them lightly. Soon, Tang Ping had successfully bound six tools he considered the most cost-effective—they had good talent, and most importantly, they were diligent enough, or at least appeared to be.