After combining the two skills, Stone Skipping and Darts, Chen Jue had finally completed one of the small goals he'd set for himself recently.
Forcing himself not to spend any points was even more unbearable than [bleep] (censored) for him!
He tried using stones as darts a few times. Only when his stomach was growling too loudly to ignore did Chen Jue finally leave the park and find a breakfast shop.
But he found that his morning workout had not only left him feeling energized; it had also given him a much bigger appetite.
Sweet soy milk, meat buns, and freshly fried dough sticks. After finishing them, Chen Jue felt only half full, so he went next door and bought a jianbing to munch on as he walked.
"Breakfast cost 35 yuan. Hang City's prices are even more ridiculous than my hidden-weapon skills!" Chen Jue couldn't help grumbling.
The city's image had just risen after hosting the sports meet, and prices had taken advantage of the momentum to surge as well.
If ordinary people earning minimum wage tried to live in Hang City, their Engel coefficient would probably shoot past 80 percent with ease. Their earnings would be just enough to fill their stomachs!
Fortunately, he'd just changed jobs, and his salary had nearly doubled. Chen Jue had started spending much more freely.
As long as the food tasted good and was nutritious, he'd gladly spend several hundred yuan on a meal!
Of course, during breakfast, Chen Jue also took the opportunity to study his newly activated [Hidden Weapon Throwing] skill.
Once the skill reached level 5, its proficiency bar had jumped straight to 20,000 points.
At the rate he'd improved just now, it would probably take a year or two of practice to gain another level.
But when he saw the [Master-level] skill rating on his Attribute Panel, Chen Jue immediately thought of the "10,000-hour rule" he'd learned about at work.
It was a principle proposed by the writer Gladwell in his book Outliers.
For an ordinary person to become a world-class master in a particular field, they had to put in 10,000 hours of practice.
If they worked eight hours a day, five days a week, it would take at least five years to become a master in a field!
After graduating from a junior college at 21, Chen Jue had worked in risk-control data roles ever since. He'd changed companies several times, and by now had accumulated more than eight years of experience. Counting overtime, he could already be considered a master in risk-control data.
Yet this Attribute Panel had taken him from scratch to master-level hidden-weapon skills in a mere ten days.
That was just how efficient it was—and its ability to correct mistakes was downright unbelievable!
If I started a hobby class or took on a few apprentices, I bet plenty of people would sign up, Chen Jue thought with a cheerful chuckle.
Now that he'd improved his skills, he hadn't forgotten about making money, either.
Taking advantage of a brief, peaceful break after breakfast, he remembered the video account he'd opened online.
He clicked into the dashboard and saw that yesterday's upload, [Trick: Stone Skipping], had already racked up several thousand views.
As for the comments and bullet comments, they were finally no longer full of bots. Real people had started showing up.
But when Chen Jue saw what they'd written, his face immediately darkened.
"That's it? And you call that a trick? (Scoffs)"
"You haven't broken the world record, and you're already showing off? (Tsk, tsk)"
"Doesn't this guy know everyone on Bilibili is a big shot? (Doge)"
"Big shot, someone's showing off his trick in front of you. @Shen the Stone Skipper"
"Those stone-skipping stones must be from your shop, right? @Shen the Stone Skipper"
"Wearing a mask and acting all mysterious. Is this guy in our group? @Shen the Stone Skipper"
Everyone in the comments was tagging the world-record holder. He'd even joined in himself, leaving a comment that said, "Not bad. Keep it up! (Finger heart)." His tone was full of the condescending encouragement a big shot might give a rookie.
But despite the comments, the world-record holder had also sent Chen Jue a private message inviting him to join a stone-skipping hobby group.
Chen Jue didn't join. Instead, he clicked in to read the group announcement.
It advertised the group as "a gathering place for competitive stone-skipping enthusiasts," but underneath were several Taobao links to clay stone-skipping stones.
No wonder they'd turned stone skipping into a business. Gather a bunch of skilled enthusiasts, then use the opportunity to hawk their own stones—targeted marketing!
"You guys really know how to do business!"
Chen Jue gave them a thumbs-up in his mind.
After being mocked on the video site, Chen Jue had wanted to film another stone-skipping video to clap back at those arrogant, self-important keyboard warriors.
But after several attempts, he still couldn't break the world record—even using the newly combined level-5 [Hidden Weapon Throwing] technique to launch the flower-shaped clay stone-skipping stones he'd bought.
His best result was 250 skips, and the distance was only around 90 meters. That was already master-level stone skipping.
Beyond that, he'd have to beat the world record.
"Skills are only about applying technique."
"The real key is my strength attribute!"
"I'll focus on training my hand strength from now on. I refuse to believe that once my strength goes up, I still won't be able to send a stone flying to the other side of the lake!" Chen Jue grunted as he looked at the park lake, nearly 200 meters across. He was clearly a little frustrated.
But you had to take things one bite at a time, and build your skills little by little.
There was no need to get worked up over keyboard warriors.
With noon still a while away, Chen Jue slipped out of the park.
He returned to the talent apartment and picked up several packages. The darts and Grip Strengtheners he'd ordered online had arrived.
He'd bought quite a few darts this time, in a variety of styles, so he'd have plenty for future videos.
But with [Hidden Weapon Throwing] helping him out, each new style felt natural in his hands. After handling them for a moment, he tried throwing them from a distance at the foam padding in the package and immediately learned the best way to throw each one.
He tried out throwing knives, short swords, metal chopsticks, Steel Needles, and Meteor Darts. His proficiency didn't rise much, but Chen Jue had a great time playing with them.
After all, he'd spent several hundred yuan on these stainless-steel darts, and they felt and looked fantastic.
As a somewhat chuuni, grown-up shut-in, who could say no to fun little toys like these?
After testing the new darts, Chen Jue picked up the Grip Strengthener Yu Jie had recommended and adjusted it according to the instructions.
After squeezing it a few times, he found that with his current strength of 0.83, he could grip it with one hand and squeeze a maximum resistance of 50 kilograms.
Any higher, and he couldn't close the Grip Strengthener all the way.
"It goes up to 100 kilograms, and I'm still nowhere near that!" Chen Jue wasn't satisfied.
After heading downstairs for lunch, he started squeezing the Grip Strengthener like crazy.
There was an electronic counter on top, and each squeeze made the number tick up by one. After a few reps, it became as addictive as tracking his steps on WeChat.
But as he kept squeezing, his fingers, wrists, and forearms started aching badly.
Compared with [Hidden Weapon Throwing], the Grip Strengthener was clearly far more effective at training his arm strength.
He spent about half an hour alternating between his left and right hands.
After roughly 200 squeezes, both arms were rock-hard like [bleep] (censored), and the Attribute Panel finally displayed a notification:
------ [ Ding~]
[You completed a session of mechanical anaerobic exercise. The muscles in your fingers, wrists, and forearms received an effective workout, and your grip strength improved.]
[Strength attribute +0.01] ------
"I can't do it anymore! I can't do it!"
"This is a hundred times more tiring than playing League of Legends!"
Even though he'd seen his strength attribute rise, this workout had left a lasting impression on Chen Jue.
The Grip Strengthener looked tiny, but it had left him completely exhausted.
Once he put it down, he didn't even want to lift a finger.
Worst of all, the soreness lasted from the afternoon until night. That showed just how intense the workout had been.
He started by applying cold compresses to both hands.
Since he'd spent this time researching and learning, Chen Jue already knew that applying heat right after strenuous exercise could make blood vessels brittle, damage capillaries, and even worsen muscle fatigue and cause inflammation!
Take NBA players, for example. Quite a few star athletes went into special liquid-nitrogen equipment for cold therapy after an intense game.
After the cold therapy, once their bodies had cooled down completely, they took hot showers.
This helped prevent injuries and extend their competitive careers.
Chen Jue didn't have the means to buy the kind of liquid-nitrogen therapy equipment used by NBA stars, which cost millions. All he could do was mix ice cubes from his freezer with tap water and use that for his cold compress.
After the cold compress, he went to the bathroom and soaked his hands in hot water.
To his surprise, his first attempt earned him a pleasant surprise from the Attribute Panel!
------ [ Ding~]
[You completed a qualifying cold therapy session. The cold compress effectively lowered the temperature of the muscles in your hands, while the hot compress reduced lactic acid buildup. The alternating hot and cold stimulation slightly improved the muscles in both hands.]
[Constitution attribute +0.01] ------
"Those top athletes and stars really don't do anything without a reason."
"I didn't expect that learning recovery techniques from them, beyond the sports themselves, would actually work!" Chen Jue couldn't help sighing as he looked at the notification on the panel.
Top athletes were all worth billions, especially sports stars overseas. Many had assets worth tens or even hundreds of billions.
Only with that kind of financial backing could they afford elite recovery teams.
Chen Jue was still just getting started. He hadn't yet figured out a way to make money that suited him, so he could only experiment on his own with simple methods.
He didn't ask for much. He just didn't want to injure himself while training!
After finishing the hot and cold compresses, he sprayed Yunnan Baiyao on both hands and applied Tiger Balm pain-relief patches.
He'd been using a lot of these two remedies lately, so Chen Jue had already ordered two boxes online and stocked up.
Even after his homemade recovery treatment, his hands still felt weak.
He couldn't do the [Eye Health Exercises], and he didn't feel like moving his hands to scroll on his phone, either.
He'd planned to lie down early and go to sleep, but Wu Fang, who'd been silent all day, finally texted him back!
"You want to train in real martial arts? (Surprised)"
"Your dart-throwing technique isn't real martial arts? (Smirking)"
Before you continue