Two Ranks in One Day

The battle on the city wall continued.

Lin Feng gripped his long blade, staring at the two Iron-Armored Demon Wolves charging at him again.

From that last slash, he could feel his strength had grown noticeably.

The effect of the system's stat allocation was immediate, but being at the fifth stage of Martial Disciple was still too much of a stretch against a pack of Iron-Armored Demon Wolves.

"Left!"

Wang Tie's shout came from beside him.

Lin Feng instinctively sidestepped, a demon wolf's claws grazing his shoulder and tearing through his combat suit.

He swung his blade back, the edge cutting into the demon wolf's hind leg, blood spraying.

The demon wolf yelped and collapsed, while another lunged for Lin Feng's throat.

Lin Feng had no time to dodge, only able to raise his blade to block.

Bang!

The immense impact shook him, sending him stumbling back several steps until his back slammed into the city wall.

The demon wolf opened its gaping maw, the stench of blood washing over him.

Just then, a long blade thrust in from the side, piercing straight through the demon wolf's head.

Wang Tie pulled out his blade, flicking off the blood: "What are you spacing out for? Hurry up and finish it off?"

Lin Feng snapped back to reality and slashed at the injured demon wolf's neck.

[Killed F-Class Exotic Beast: Iron-Armored Demon Wolf] [Obtained Martial Path Points ×1] [Current Martial Path Points: 2]

The battle lasted a full two hours.

When the last demon wolf was riddled with bullets from the heavy machine gun, the city wall finally fell silent.

Lin Feng slumped to the ground, drenched in blood, unable to tell if it was his own or the exotic beasts'.

He looked around; of the fifty people in the Recruit Camp, only thirty-seven remained.

Some bodies were still intact, others had been torn to shreds.

Zhao Gang sat not far away, his face pale, the blade in his hand still trembling.

He'd gotten lucky, hiding behind the veterans and only killing one demon wolf.

Li Ming was worse off, curled up in a corner, his pants soaked.

"Clean up the battlefield!"

Chen Lie's voice rang out, "The belongings of the fallen will be burned together tomorrow, and compensation will be sent to their families. Those still alive, dig out the Magic Cores. Sell them to the military or keep them—it's up to you."

Lin Feng struggled to his feet and walked over to the demon wolves he'd killed.

He pulled out a dagger and, following the method he'd seen earlier, cut a slit in the demon wolf's head.

Blood mixed with brain matter oozed out, making him nearly vomit from the disgust.

But he held it in and kept digging.

A few seconds later, a thumb-sized purple crystal appeared in his hand.

This was a Magic Core.

Lin Feng wiped off the blood and put it in his pocket.

He'd killed six demon wolves in total and dug out six Magic Cores.

"Not bad, killing six on your first time on the battlefield."

Wang Tie walked over, carrying a cloth bag stuffed with Magic Cores. "These go for a thousand each on the Black Market, but I'd recommend handing them over to the military. You'll only get eight hundred, but it's safe, and you won't have to worry about being targeted."

Losing two hundred per core?

For someone like Lin Feng, who'd always been poor, losing two hundred was like taking his life!

Lin Feng thought it over: "Where's the Black Market?"

"You really want to go?" Wang Tie raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I'll take you there later. But I'm warning you now, the Black Market's a mixed bag. If something happens, don't come crying to me."

Lin Feng nodded and continued digging out Magic Cores.

When he finished the last one, the system prompt sounded again.

[Current Martial Path Points: 6] [It is recommended to improve strength as soon as possible]

Lin Feng glanced around, making sure no one was watching, then focused his mind.

"Allocate points, realm."

[Consumed 6 Martial Path Points]

[Realm Ascension: Martial Disciple Fifth Stage (50/50)]

[Ding! Martial Disciple Fifth Stage → Martial Disciple Sixth Stage!]

A surge of heat swept through his body once more.

This time, the sensation was far stronger than before. Lin Feng felt his bones emit faint cracking sounds, his muscles tearing and reforming.

He clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth to suppress any sound.

After about a dozen seconds, the heat dissipated.

Lin Feng clenched his fist. His strength had clearly increased by a significant margin.

He estimated that he could now easily take down that injured magic wolf from earlier.

"Holy shit!"

Wang Tie's eyes went wide. "You broke through?"

Lin Feng was taken aback. "How did you know?"

"No shit, your aura changed." Wang Tie circled around him. "Martial Disciple Sixth Stage? Weren't you at Fifth Stage just now? How long has it been?"

Lin Feng said nothing.

Wang Tie sucked in a sharp breath. "Battlefield breakthrough? I've heard of people breaking through at life-or-death moments, but those are geniuses—one in ten thousand. You, kid..."

He paused, then clapped Lin Feng on the shoulder. "Alright, I didn't misjudge you. From now on, we're brothers. If anything comes up, just say the word."

Lin Feng nodded.

He could tell Wang Tie meant it.

In a place like the Northern Territory, having a reliable teammate was a good thing.

Just as Lin Feng was about to leave, a commotion broke out nearby.

"Let go of me! That's mine!"

Lin Feng turned to look. A few veteran soldiers were surrounding a new recruit.

The one surrounded was Li Ming.

At the head was a scar-faced man, about 1.8 meters tall, with a flood dragon tattooed on his arm.

He kicked Li Ming over and snatched the Magic Core from his hand. "Newbie doesn't know the rules? Around here, you pay protection fees."

Li Ming lay on the ground, trembling. "But... but the instructor said the Magic Cores are ours."

"The instructor said?" The scar-faced man burst into laughter. "The instructor controls the battlefield, not the camp. Here, I'm the one in charge."

He raised his foot and kicked Li Ming in the face again.

Li Ming let out a pained cry, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

The surrounding new recruits kept their heads down, none daring to speak.

Lin Feng frowned.

He had planned to leave, not wanting to meddle.

But the scar-faced man clearly wasn't done with him.

"Oh, another greenhorn?" The scar-faced man walked over, sizing Lin Feng up. "Kid, hand over your Magic Core. I'm in a good mood, so I'll spare your life."

Lin Feng looked at him. "Scram."

The scar-faced man froze, then burst into laughter. "Another one who doesn't know fear? I'm Zhang Hu. I've been here three years. I've killed more Exotic Beasts than you've seen people!"

He pulled a cleaver from his waist, the blade still stained with beast blood. "Last chance. Hand it over or not?"

Lin Feng didn't answer. He just tightened his grip on his long blade.

Zhang Hu's face darkened. "Looking for death!"

He swung his blade down, fast.

Lin Feng could tell this guy was a Martial Disciple Sixth Stage, no pushover.

But now, he was also a Martial Disciple Sixth Stage.

Lin Feng sidestepped the strike and countered with a slash aimed at Zhang Hu's wrist.

Clang!

The blades clashed, sparks flying.

Zhang Hu's expression shifted. "You're also a Martial Disciple Sixth Stage?"

Lin Feng didn't reply. He kicked Zhang Hu square in the chest.

Bam!

Zhang Hu flew backward, crashing hard onto the ground.

He clutched his chest and climbed to his feet, staring at Lin Feng in disbelief. "Impossible! A new recruit can't be Martial Disciple Sixth Stage!"

In previous years, the new recruits were all students who had failed the martial arts undergraduate exam and didn't want to attend a martial arts vocational college—their strength was mostly at the third stage of Martial Disciple.

Zhang Hu never expected that this time, someone who had actually passed the martial arts undergraduate exam would show up.

A perfectly good martial arts undergraduate program, and he gives it up to come to the Northern Territory?

"I'm at the sixth stage now." Lin Feng said calmly.

The few veterans behind Zhang Hu exchanged glances, then drew their weapons one after another.

"Let's take him together!"

Just as the two sides were on the verge of clashing, Chen Lie suddenly appeared.

He swept his gaze across the scene and said coldly, "Want to fight among yourselves? Get lost to the Colosseum—life and death are on your own heads."

Chen Lie was long accustomed to this kind of bullying of new recruits.

If this were peacetime, he would certainly punish them severely, but now...

As long as they could go to the battlefield and kill exotic beasts, they were good soldiers!

Zhang Hu clutched his chest as he stood up, staring at Lin Feng with venomous eyes. "Kid, you've got guts! See you at the Colosseum tomorrow!"

With that, he led his men away.

Li Ming trembled as he got up, pulling two Magic Cores from his pocket. "Thank you. Here, take these."

Lin Feng glanced at him, took one, and said, "This is enough."

Then he turned and left.

He wasn't some great villain, but he wasn't a good man either.

One Magic Core counted as payment for his help.

Back in the barracks, Wang Tie said meaningfully, "Zhang Hu has backing—he's the nephew of the Seventh Defense Line Adjutant. You've offended him; life's going to be rough from now on."

Lin Feng calmly wiped his blade. "So what? In the Northern Territory, fists are the only truth."

Wang Tie laughed. "Alright, straightforward enough. But tomorrow at the Colosseum, you'd better be careful. Zhang Hu is a sneaky bastard—he'll definitely pull some tricks."

Lin Feng nodded.

Night deepened.

Everyone else in the barracks was asleep, but Lin Feng lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

He glanced at the System Panel.

Code
[Realm: Martial Disciple, Sixth Stage (0/60)]
[Martial Path Points: 0]

To keep improving, he had to earn more Martial Path Points.

And the way to earn Martial Path Points was to kill exotic beasts.

Lin Feng thought it over, then rolled out of bed.

He crept out of the barracks, avoided the patrolling guards, and headed toward the city wall.

The area outside the Northern Territory city was even more dangerous at night.

But it was also better for hunting.

Lin Feng climbed over the wall and landed on the wasteland beyond.

The Rift in the distance had already closed, but some residual exotic beasts still remained.

He gripped his long blade and walked toward the direction where the aura came from.

He hadn't gone far before he spotted his first prey.

A lone Iron-Armored Demon Wolf was gnawing on the corpse of its companion.

Lin Feng held his breath and crept closer.

When he was close enough, he lunged forward and slashed his blade into the wolf's neck.

The wolf let out a pained howl and spun around to attack.

But Lin Feng was faster—he sidestepped the charge and struck again with a backhand.

Code
[Killed F-Class Exotic Beast: Iron-Armored Demon Wolf]
[Obtained Martial Path Points ×1]

Lin Feng dug out the Magic Core and moved on.

Code
[Killed F-Class Exotic Beast: Venom-Sting Lizard]
[Obtained Martial Path Points ×1]

All night long, he roamed outside the city, deliberately picking off lone exotic beasts.

Iron-Armored Demon Wolves, Venom-Sting Lizards, Rock-Shell Beetles...

As long as it was an F-Class Exotic Beast, he would kill every single one he saw.

But if he ever ran into an E-Class Exotic Beast, he wouldn't hesitate—he'd be the first to run.

By the time it was almost dawn, the system prompt sounded.

[Current Martial Path Points: 68]

Lin Feng found a hidden spot and began allocating points.

"Realm, add 60 points."

[Consumed 60 Martial Path Points]

[Realm increased: Martial Disciple Sixth Stage → Martial Disciple Seventh Stage]

[Remaining Martial Path Points: 8]

This breakthrough was more intense than before.

Lin Feng felt like all the bones in his body were being reforged, and his muscles ached as if burned by fire.

He gritted his teeth, enduring the pain without making a sound.

After about a minute, the pain subsided.

Lin Feng stood up and clenched his fists.

His strength had skyrocketed.

He estimated that now, facing Zhang Hu, he could kill him without a doubt.

"There's still the Basic Body Tempering Art."

Lin Feng glanced at the system panel.

[Technique: Basic Body Tempering Art (2/10)]

[Remaining Martial Path Points: 8]

He hesitated for a moment, then added the remaining 2 points all into the technique.

[Basic Body Tempering Art (10/10)]

[Remaining Martial Path Points: 0]

A warm current surged from his dantian, flowing through his meridians and spreading throughout his body.

Lin Feng could feel that his physical fitness had improved another notch.

He stretched his limbs, climbed over the city wall, and returned to camp.

The sky was just barely light, and some people in camp were already up.

Lin Feng went back to the barracks, where Wang Tie was sitting on his bed smoking.

Seeing Lin Feng come in, he was startled: "You didn't sleep all night?"

Lin Feng nodded: "Went out for a walk."

Wang Tie stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly widened his eyes: "Holy shit! You broke through again?"

Lin Feng didn't say anything.

Wang Tie sucked in a cold breath: "Martial Disciple Seventh Stage? Are you some kind of monster?"

He stood up and circled around Lin Feng: "No, you've got the smell of exotic beast blood on you. Did you go out of the city to grind monsters last night?"

Lin Feng nodded.

Wang Tie was silent for a few seconds, then gave a thumbs-up: "Hardcore."

He paused, lowering his voice: "But you'd better not let anyone else know. Martial Disciple Seventh Stage is already top-tier in the Recruit Camp. A tall tree catches the wind—watch out for people targeting you."

Lin Feng nodded.

Just then, a sudden commotion erupted in the camp.

"The Colosseum is open!"

"Zhang Hu is going to duel that new recruit!"

"Hurry and watch!"

Wang Tie glanced at Lin Feng: "Let's go. Time to take care of that bastard."

Lin Feng picked up his long blade and followed Wang Tie out of the barracks.

The Colosseum was in the center of the camp, a simple arena.

It was already packed with people, both veterans and recruits, and some were even taking bets.

Chen Lie stood on the high platform, coldly announcing the rules: "Life-and-death battle. Sign the waiver, and if you die, you die for nothing."

Zhang Hu grinned viciously as he stepped onto the arena, holding a brand-new F-Class Alloy War Blade.

That was a standard weapon only Martial Artists were qualified to use, worth at least a hundred thousand.

"Kid, it's not too late to regret." Zhang Hu licked his lips. "Kneel down and kowtow three times, call me grandpa, and I'll spare your life."

Lin Feng tightened his grip on his long blade, speaking one word at a time.

"Call your mother's ass!"