After warming up, Luo Zhe stood in front of the punch target. Starting from his legs, he suddenly exerted his strength and twisted his body slightly. A powerful force burst from his waist and hips, flowing through him in an instant before surging into his arm. His fist shot out like an arrow released from a fully drawn bow, leaving a blur in its wake.
With a thud, his fist slammed into the target.
Before the result even appeared, a hint of delight had already crept into Luo Zhe's eyes. That felt great. I put everything I had into that punch.
He turned to look at the display screen: "6,853 kg"!
"Haha!" Seeing the number on the screen, Luo Zhe felt a surge of satisfaction.
It had been barely over half a month since his last test. Even with the help of the Dimensional Space in his training, he hadn't even gotten his hands on the manual yet, and his punch strength had already increased by nearly 800 kilograms.
It seemed the Dimensional Space's assistance with training was even more effective than Luo Zhe had imagined.
Once he bought the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade after taking the Martial Artist Combat Assessment a month from now, the Guidance Technique would help him train, and his strength would surely improve by leaps and bounds again.
The rapid improvement in his punch strength filled Luo Zhe with delight. Next up was the speed test, and he wanted to see how much faster he'd become.
After taking a moment to compose himself, he walked to the track, adjusted his breathing slightly, and bounced lightly in place twice.
Whoosh!
He pushed off, and his whole body shot forward like a leopard, moving with astonishing speed. A gust of wind trailed behind him as he raced through the speed-testing zone. If anyone had been there to see it, they would probably have cried out in astonishment, "A blur!"
A blur was a visual phenomenon caused by light stimulating the retina. Even after the light stopped, the image lingered for a short time. This was due to the response speed of the optic nerve, which was about one twenty-fourth of a second.
For an ordinary person, seeing an image involved the eye's lens forming it, the photoreceptor cells sensing the light, and then converting the light signal into a nerve impulse that traveled to the brain and produced vision.
Generally speaking, when an object moved at a speed of 41 meters per second, it could create the kind of blur visible to an ordinary person.
But a martial artist's nerves reacted much faster than an ordinary person's. This was especially true of martial artists who specialized in firearms; their reactions were far quicker than those of ordinary martial artists. Only when an object moved at an extremely high speed could it appear as a blur to a martial artist.
When Luo Zhe walked over to the Speed Tester, he saw the number displayed on the screen: "90.1 m/s"!
"Yes!" Luo Zhe leaped into the air in delight!
In terms of speed alone, Luo Zhe had already reached the War General Level standard.
A speed of 60 meters per second was generally considered the minimum for Advanced Warrior Level physical fitness. A speed of 90 meters per second, meanwhile, was the minimum for Junior Warrior Level.
He hadn't expected his speed to far outstrip his punch strength and reach the Junior Warrior Level minimum, even though his punch strength was still nowhere near that level. It seemed he had more talent for speed than for punch strength.
Once he had calmed down, Luo Zhe stood still and ran a hand over the sparse stubble on his chin, thinking silently. The Nine-Fold Thunder Blade is so difficult to master because it demands an extremely strong body, keen sensitivity to muscle movements, and so on. My talent for punch strength is pretty good, and my talent for speed is even better. Does that mean I'm especially suited to mastering this manual?
"Haha, looks like I really am a genius!"
"Faced with a genius like me, I wonder where Yang Shu and Yang Lin got the nerve to mock me. Who gave them that confidence?"
The tests were over, and Luo Zhe was satisfied with his current strength. At his current rate of progress, in a little over a month—by the time the Martial Artist Combat Assessment took place on August 1—he might not have reached the War General Level, but he probably wouldn't be far off.
After turning off the Punch Strength Tester and all the other equipment, Luo Zhe raised his wristwatch and glanced at it. It was 9:15. Yang Shu had said the Quasi-Warrior Assessment was today. Since it was still early, he might as well head upstairs and see what was going on.
He entered the elevator and went up to the sixth floor.
Whoosh!
When the elevator doors opened, the first thing that greeted him was the familiar, enormous Martial Arts Training Hall. Seven or eight people were gathered inside.
Wu Tong, his long hair hanging loose, was whispering to a silver-haired man in a black robe at the edge of the crowd. Chen Gu stood not far from Wu Tong, staring off into space by himself. It was hard to tell whether he was still half asleep or just lost in thought.
The moment the elevator doors opened, Chen Gu noticed Luo Zhe inside. His face lit up, and he hurried over.
"Well, well, Luo Zhe, what took you so long? I went to your place first thing this morning, but your aunt said you'd already left. I rushed over to the hall, but you weren't here either. I've been waiting ages!"
"I warmed up downstairs. Besides, what's the rush? It hasn't started yet."
Luo Zhe replied cheerfully, looking Chen Gu up and down. "What about you, Brother Chen? Haven't you been out hunting monsters in the Wilderness Zone lately? I've seen you resting for over half a month now. You're starting to put on weight. Can you still swing a blade?"
Chen Gu shot Luo Zhe an annoyed look. "Your Brother Chen's nickname is Cannon. I'm an expert with firearms, so I don't need to fight up close. What's wrong with putting on a little weight?"
"Besides, have you ever seen a martial artist squad come back from the Wilderness Zone and not take a month or two off?" Chen Gu shrugged helplessly. "You have no idea how grueling life in the Wilderness Zone is. You need to balance work and rest. You'll understand once you've experienced it yourself."
"Anyway, what have you decided about what I mentioned last time?"
Luo Zhe glanced at Chen Gu but didn't respond.
He knew Chen Gu was talking about the suggestion he'd made at the martial artist gathering last time, asking Luo Zhe to join the Fire Hammer Squad.
Although the Fire Hammer Squad's captain, Double Wind Hammer Gao Feng, was a somewhat famous War General Level expert in Jiangnan Base City, the squad as a whole was still rather weak.
After all, apart from Gao Feng and Chen Gu, everyone else in the Fire Hammer Squad was only at Advanced Warrior Level. And Chen Gu was a War General Level martial artist who specialized in firearms.
As for Luo Zhe, after he took the Martial Artist Combat Assessment and became an official martial artist, he would get the start-up funds provided by the Extreme Martial Arts Hall to buy a blade technique manual. Once he started practicing the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade, with help from the Guidance Technique and the Dimensional Space, he'd soon have the combat strength of a bona fide War General Level fighter!
With strength like that, Luo Zhe was confident he wouldn't be the one holding a squad back, even if he joined a squad made up entirely of War General Level martial artists.
Most importantly, he used a War Blade.
The strongest member of the Fire Hammer Squad, Gao Feng, used a hammer, while the members weaker than Luo Zhe couldn't offer him much help. The squad simply wouldn't do much for him.
Chen Gu wasn't unaware of Luo Zhe's thinking. He just thought the Fire Hammer Squad wasn't strong enough. After all, squads like theirs were caught between the top and bottom: too weak for the strong to want them, yet too strong for the weak to join. So whenever they recruited, they could only gamble on someone's talent, like buying a lottery ticket.
But Chen Gu was in a difficult position too!
Zhang Ke, one of the squad's members, had been thinking of retiring for years. If he hadn't worried that his departure might break up the whole squad, he'd have retired long ago.
The captain, Gao Feng, was a powerful War General, but he wasn't good at dealing with people. That left recruiting to the vice-captain, Chen Gu.
The reality, however, was that even though plenty of people wanted to join the Fire Hammer Squad, Gao Feng and the others had standards that were too high. They looked down on most candidates.
What made it worse was that many martial artists who wanted to join the Fire Hammer Squad only saw it as a stepping stone. They planned to spend a few years there before jumping ship to a stronger squad, which made Gao Feng even less interested in them.
What could Chen Gu do? He was at his wits' end!
He'd finally heard from Wu Tong that a talented new martial artist had recently moved into the neighborhood. After meeting with him in person, Chen Gu had also thought he was a promising prospect: a bona fide Advanced Warrior Level fighter, tactful, and not nearly as arrogant as most geniuses.
So Chen Gu had tactfully brought up the idea of inviting him to join the Fire Hammer Squad. But the other man had stammered and hesitated, clearly trying to turn him down.
That had made Chen Gu furious. If he could find someone suitable, would he really have to swallow his pride and beg like this!?
Didn't he have any pride of his own? Just because he was vice-captain didn't mean people could treat him like a nobody!
But no matter how annoyed he was, life went on, and he still had to keep inviting people. Maybe the other man would suddenly lose his mind and say yes?
Before you continue