Genius? Elite?

"No..."

"Still no!..."

Two hours later, Wang Ji got up irritably. He paced back and forth a few times, then drank some tea and tried to reassure himself. "Stay calm! It took Luo Feng several hours to sense the cosmic energy too! A few days is already pretty good for an ordinary person! Even ten days or half a month is normal."

"Try again!"

"Try again!"

"Oh, come on! I refuse to believe it! Add some points!"

"Hss..." The ultimate bliss lasted for more than thirty seconds!

"Try again!"

"Still no? Add some more!"

Amid the overwhelming bliss, Wang Ji suddenly felt as if his whole body had opened up. Wisps of hazy energy drifted around him. He struggled to overcome the pleasure, refusing to let his thoughts sink into it. At last, through that sensation, he felt the cosmic energy.

In the blink of an eye, the bliss vanished without a trace, and the sensation faded... faded...

He was so close!

Wang Ji gritted his teeth. "Add some more!"

"Hss... Hold on! Feel it!" It was as if he had pierced a membrane. Wisps of cosmic energy seeped in through his palms, the soles of his feet, and the top of his head. The wisps flowed more and more smoothly, becoming streams, then a drizzle, then a downpour, until they surged in like a torrential rain or a mighty river.

Amazing! Just as amazing as adding points! His body was being elevated to its utmost limits.

He didn't know how long it had been before he finally came to. He checked the time. "That was... three hours? I feel like I could knock out a bull with one punch!"

In front of the Punch Strength Tester, Wang Ji gathered his strength slightly, then threw a punch.

Bang! 2,824 kg!

"Adding points brought me up to 1,900 kg, so my first training session increased it by 900 kg? I guess that's not bad!" Wang Ji wasn't disappointed. This was a solid result. He couldn't compare with the elites who gained over 1,000 kg on their first training session, or the geniuses who gained over 2,000 kg. But Wang Ji knew his own limits. In both his previous life and this one, he had always been an ordinary person. He'd simply been lucky enough to get a system in this life. The instances were his greatest advantage.

At the martial arts hall's training area, Jiang Nian saw Wang Ji's punch strength and instantly widened his eyes.

"Hss... This was your first training session? You succeeded?" Jiang Nian asked excitedly.

Wang Ji smiled. "That's right!"

"Hit it again!"

Bang! 2,840 kg!

"Incredible!... I remember you scored 1,040 kg in your Quasi-Warrior Assessment, right? That's an increase of a full 1,800 kg! Incredible!" As he spoke, Jiang Nian excitedly took out his phone and started reporting it. "Hello, Supervisor! Yes! We've got a genius here. His first training session increased his punch strength by 1,800 kg! No... Just hear me out. He's definitely a genius! He may not have gained over 2,000 kg, but he's young! Only seventeen! Really! He really is seventeen! All right, we'll head over now!"

Jiangnan Base City, Extreme Pavilion.

"Jiang Nian, this young man is Wang Ji, right?" a booming voice rang out.

"Yes, Chief Instructor," Jiang Nian replied. He then introduced the man to Wang Ji. "This is the chief instructor of Jiangnan Base City, Wu Tong!"

"Come on, throw a punch!"

A moment later, Wu Tong said, "Punch strength: 2,837 kg. Speed: 34 m/s. Nerve reaction: excellent for an Intermediate Warrior! Not bad!"

Jiang Nian said, "Chief Instructor, although he didn't gain over 2,000 kg, Wang Ji is young! Only seventeen! It wouldn't be unreasonable to grant him an exceptional genius rating, would it?"

"Genius rating... Hmm?... Hold on, I need to take this call!" Wu Tong answered the phone respectfully.

"Supervisor, yes! He definitely has a lot of potential! All right, understood!"

A projection then appeared on the wall. It was a temporary video conference.

The image of a middle-aged man in a Tang suit appeared on the projection. He was thin, with a hooked nose and a gentle smile in his eyes. He had an air of delicate refinement about him.

Wu Tong and Jiang Nian both respectfully greeted him. "Supervisor!" Jiang Nian then quietly introduced him. "This is Supervisor Zhuge of the Limit Martial Hall in Jiangnan Base City!"

Zhuge Tao! City Lord Luo's early angel investor! Seeing him in person really was something. At last, Wang Ji had finally met him.

The middle-aged man in the Tang suit smiled warmly. "You must be Wang Ji. Not bad! Keep training hard. Wu Tong, let's grant Wang Ji an exceptional genius rating. I'll submit the special application myself. According to the usual rules, he'll receive 20 million in start-up funds, as well as three manuals—a movement technique, a guidance technique, and an attack technique—worth no more than 50 million in total."

"Yes!"

Wang Ji smacked his lips. His treatment wasn't quite as good as Luo Feng's, but it was still pretty good! He thanked them respectfully.

"Welcome to the Limit Martial Hall family, Wang Ji." Wu Tong smiled and held out his hand.

Wang Ji reached out and shook his hand.

"Normally, you'd have to wait until after the practical assessment to move into the Warrior Residential Area, but Supervisor Zhuge and I have high hopes for you! Starting today, you can move straight into the Warrior villa community," Wu Tong said with a smile. "As for your start-up funds and the manuals you choose, you'll have to wait until you officially become a warrior and receive warrior privileges. Only then will you be able to access the Limit Martial Hall's internal network and select manuals. The start-up funds will also be transferred directly into your warrior account."

Wang Ji felt relieved. Once he moved into the Warrior Residential Area, his safety would be fully guaranteed. His mother and sister could finally rest easy, too.

"Chief Instructor, Uncle Jiang, can I go upstairs and take a look?" Wang Ji asked before Jiang Nian led him away.

Wu Tong smiled. "Of course! Floors six through twenty are for official warriors to train and relax. You're a Quasi-Martial Artist, so you can go there anytime!"

Jiang Nian laughed and teased him. "You little rascal! So curious, huh? The Limit Martial Hall in Yangzhou City isn't enough for you?"

Wang Ji smiled. "I'm excited because there are warriors coming and going everywhere here! The Limit Martial Hall in Yangzhou City doesn't have nearly this many people!"

"Obviously! Jiangnan Base City has over a hundred million people, while Yangzhou City only has twenty million! How can you compare them? Besides, warriors spend most of their time either in the wilderness or training at home. Of course, there aren't many people training at the martial arts hall! Since you want to look around, go ahead."

Wang Ji swiped his ID and made it up to the seventh floor without a problem. He followed the prompts... "Instance discovered: Training Ground. Please move closer to enter!"

"Huh! I'm still not close enough... It's not on the seventh floor! Then I'll try the eighth!"

Wang Ji continued upstairs in search of it. Pretending to be curious, he wandered around at a leisurely pace.

"Ding! Instance discovered: Training Ground. Enter?"

Ha! He'd finally found it! Wang Ji looked at the training room in front of him. Training Room A083.

It seemed no one had claimed it, so Wang Ji swiped his card and went inside. "Hss! It's huge! Uncle Jiang had the nerve to say that! This is way better than the training rooms in Yangzhou City!"

The training room covered an area of more than three hundred square meters and had a full five meters of headroom. It looked spacious and comfortable, not at all cramped. The decor was simple yet elegant. A closer look made it clear that it had cost more than some so-called luxury furnishings. The spacious Training Ground contained weapon racks for training, sandbags, a punch strength tester, and equipment for training one's nerve reactions.

"Enter! Enter the instance!"