How Many Floors to Carry a Bag of Rice?

Cloud City No. 1 High School, Grade 12 Class 4.

Ji Ruo sat in the second-to-last row by the window, covering his right eye with his left hand while looking outside.

On the podium, the teacher was speaking with great fervor, and though Ji Ruo pretended not to care, he was actually listening very intently.

"Students, the Martial Exam is in three days. I have no other requests for you; I only hope that you can all survive."

Ji Ruo's mouth twitched. Even after transmigrating here two months ago, he still couldn't quite get used to it.

The fact that people could actually die during a college entrance exam was simply absurd!

But there was no helping it; that was the reality of the world.

In 2025 AD, Secret Realms descended, countless Monster Beasts ran rampant, and alien races caused chaos.

Humanity rose up to resist, yet the arrival of the Secret Realms brought with it something they called spiritual energy, which was highly beneficial to living beings.

Demonic Beasts possessed all sorts of strange abilities.

Meanwhile, Monster Beasts had thick skin and flesh with extraordinary physical constitutions, making them difficult to hit with ordinary firearms—mostly because they were hard to target.

Coupled with the descent of these monsters, the extraction of various mineral resources became exceptionally difficult.

The initial resistance went reasonably well, but later, as humanity's stored resources were heavily depleted during the conflict and battle lines were stretched thin without the ability to build supply stations, humanity suffered repeated defeats in the middle stages of the war.

Eventually, in desperation, humanity even resorted to nuclear weapons!

The effects were quite significant.

Countless monsters were killed, but their numbers were simply too vast.

Thus, humanity began carpet-bombing with nuclear missiles.

However, the radiation following the nuclear blasts caused the monsters to mutate, with some gradually evolving into silicon-based or even energy-based life forms!

The radiation mutated the monsters and caused the land to undergo cataclysmic changes...

At that time, humanity was nearly driven to extinction.

Fortunately, a brilliant Grandmaster of Xingyi Fist appeared during that era.

By observing and studying the monsters, he gradually developed a means to strengthen the self using spiritual energy—the Martial Dao!

The Blood Qi Power of a martial artist could effectively kill monsters.

This Grandmaster solemnly told the world: one must use spiritual energy to defeat spiritual energy!

Thus, the entire population took up martial arts.

To this day, a thousand years have passed.

Technology has been redeveloped and is actually far more advanced than in the world Ji Ruo lived in before he transmigrated.

Of course, the Martial Dao remains the most important aspect.

In this world, everyone practices martial arts, and martial prowess is held in the highest regard!

Therefore, in this environment, all children study the Martial Dao from a young age, and during the Martial Exam, they are dropped into a Secret Realm already controlled by humanity for their trial!

Although it is under control, they are still facing real, bloody slaughter, so accidents happen from time to time.

To this day, the annual Martial Exam still has a mortality rate of over three percent, and even more students fail to pass because they are too terrified to hunt any monsters.

The exam consists of two parts: the written exam and the martial exam.

The written exam finished back in the second year of high school; Ji Ruo hadn't transmigrated yet, but according to his memories, his grades were quite good.

On the podium, the teacher continued to give instructions regarding the Martial Exam. They were all clichés, but no student in the classroom felt impatient.

"Ding-a-ling~"

The bell rang for the end of class. The homeroom teacher took a long, deep look at the students below, as if trying to imprint the face of every single one into his mind.

"Students, you must, you must survive!"

"This is the final assignment of your high school years. In this exam, not a single person can be missing! Do you hear me!"

"Understood!"

The students responded like a tidal wave.

The homeroom teacher waved his hand and said, "Alright, class dismissed. Remember to come find me to hand in your assignment after the exam."

With that, he left the classroom.

The students in the class immediately began chatting in a hubbub of voices.

There was worry and excitement, but ultimately, no one was afraid, and no one intended to give up.

Ji Ruo stood up, draped his school uniform over his shoulders, and walked out of the classroom while still covering his eye.

"Everyone!"

At this moment, the class monitor, Liang Shixian, stood up and said, "I believe our class should unite and work as a team when we are in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm."

He urged everyone to make safety their primary goal, to attempt to hunt Monster Beasts only if the opportunity arose, and if possible, to work together so that everyone could get into a good university.

The students naturally agreed; teamwork was permitted during the Martial Exam.

That wasn't cheating; confronting demons and alien races had never been a one-man job.

Ji Ruo naturally agreed with this.

Strength lies in numbers, after all!

However, Liang Shixian noticed that Ji Ruo kept covering his eye, so he asked, "Ji Ruo, what's wrong with your eye?"

Ji Ruo let out a cold snort and said, "Hmph! Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. I am the reincarnation of the Evil King, and this eye is the Evil King True Eye, which seals power capable of destroying the world!"

The classmates: "..."

Liang Shixian's toes curled inside his shoes.

So cringe!

"Forget it, just remember to stick with us when the time comes."

"Heh, rest assured, I shall protect you all!"

Liang Shixian: "..."

Yet, just at that moment, Ji Ruo let go of the eye he was covering, switched hands, and covered the other eye instead, saying, "If there's nothing else, I shall take my leave."

A classmate couldn't help but ask, "Isn't there power sealed in your eye? Why did you switch hands?"

Ji Ruo sneered, "This Seat's hand is tired, is that not allowed?"

"..."

They were already used to this.

Lately, it seemed like Ji Ruo's brain wasn't functioning quite right.

"Anyway, go home and prepare well. The Martial Exam is no small matter," Liang Shixian urged.

"Rest assured, This Seat is well aware!"

Ji Ruo kept his eye covered all the way out of the school, switching hands whenever one got tired.

Suddenly, he sighed, lowered his hand, and said helplessly, "As expected, is simple chuunibyou not enough? How on earth is this damn achievement supposed to be triggered!"

Of course, it might also have to do with his clumsy attempt at being a chuunibyou—in his past life and this one, he had never been a chuunibyou person!

Ji Ruo arrived at the supermarket near his home and bought a bag of rice.

"Xiao Ruo, the Martial Exam is in a few days. Are you confident?"

The auntie at the checkout counter knew Ji Ruo and asked with a smile.

Ji Ruo said with full confidence, "Of course, otherwise why would I be buying this bag of rice?"

The auntie was stunned. "Come to think of it, I remember you bought a bag of rice the day before yesterday. What are you buying this one for?"

Ji Ruo gave a mysterious smile. "Auntie, I'll tell you, but you mustn't tell anyone else."

"Mm-hmm!"

She nodded earnestly, thinking Ji Ruo really had some secret to share.

Ji Ruo whispered, "I'm taking it back to practice Iron Sand Palm."

Auntie: "Hm, hmm?"

Ji Ruo chuckled. "To tell you the truth, I didn't control the heat properly when practicing Iron Sand Palm with the bag from two days ago, and I accidentally roasted it!"

Auntie: "???"

"Ha, ha, as long as you're happy, Xiao Ruo."

She was a bit puzzled. This child used to be so normal! Why had he suddenly become so childish lately?

Ji Ruo said goodbye with a smile and walked out of the supermarket carrying the rice.

He took the opportunity to plunge one hand directly into the rice.

The feeling of his entire hand being enveloped by the rice made Ji Ruo reveal a look of comfort, leaving the auntie at the counter behind him with a face full of black lines.

But there wasn't much she could say.

Ji Ruo carried the rice into the apartment building, chanting, "How many floors must one carry a bag of rice!"

He plunged his palm in and pulled it out.

Except for Ji Ruo, no one could hear the voice constantly ringing in his ears—

[Iron Sand Palm proficiency +1]

The boy wasn't being childish!

He was genuinely practicing Iron Sand Palm!

As for why he used rice to practice...

Who told him his golden finger was the 'Child-Oriented Achievement System'?

Unlocking achievements allowed him to obtain and Upgrade corresponding skills.

Plunging a palm into rice—in a child's imagination, wasn't that exactly how one practiced Iron Sand Palm!