Instructor Tong Yang

Although the cosmic energy in the Dimensional Space kept replenishing Luo Zhe's body, and he didn't feel the slightest bit hungry, long-standing habits still led him to eat breakfast before heading out.

The Extreme Martial Arts Hall was the largest martial arts organization on Earth, founded by Hong, the world's strongest man.

Dojos had flourished across the globe, propelling the Extreme Martial Arts Hall to the position of the world's largest organization. Only the Thunder Martial Arts Hall could offer it some degree of opposition.

Of course, the Extreme Martial Arts Hall had a clear purpose: to train students and continually produce more martial artists and powerful fighters, reclaiming the territories occupied by monsters. Its interests didn't conflict with those of the Five Great Nations, so they were happy to see it prosper.

"Beep!"

Luo Zhe swiped his student ID at the main entrance and entered the dojo grounds.

Although he had become a Quasi-Martial Artist a few days ago, he could still train in the Extreme Martial Arts Hall's Martial Arts Training Hall until he took the Martial Artist Combat Assessment and joined another organization.

Joining the Extreme Martial Arts Hall meant freedom!

Freedom—the two words every martial artist yearned for. That was one of the reasons the Extreme Martial Arts Hall had become the world's largest organization.

The dojo's main building loomed like a gigantic monster. Its grounds alone were larger than a high school campus. The three enormous silver-white buildings in the courtyard were the junior, intermediate, and advanced student teaching buildings.

The first and second floors of the advanced student building contained large lecture halls where the dojo's instructors taught classes. The third floor housed a Martial Arts Training Hall for advanced students, while the fourth was reserved for instructors and teaching staff to train and warm up. Quasi-Martial Artist students were also allowed in, of course.

Luo Zhe was headed for the fourth floor. He wasn't an instructor at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, and it had only been a few days since he passed the Quasi-Warrior Assessment. He hadn't even received his Quasi-Martial Artist certificate yet. But his records already listed him as a certified Quasi-Martial Artist, which meant he was entitled to enter the fourth floor.

After passing the stairways to the second and third floors, he reached a small room beside the stairs to the fourth. The logistics manager, Uncle Wang, usually used it as a storeroom. He often sat outside in a chair to keep the curious youngsters from wandering up and causing trouble.

But today seemed different. Uncle Wang wasn't at the door. Instead, the first thing Luo Zhe saw when he looked up was a foot poking out of the room, propped on the stair railing and swinging back and forth in carefree ease.

He could even hear someone humming a tune. Listening more closely, he recognized it as an old song from the Great Nirvana Period.

As he drew closer, Luo Zhe realized the foot belonged to Tong Yang, the dojo's instructor.

"Instructor, what are you doing here today? Where's Uncle Wang?" Luo Zhe asked in surprise.

It was rare to see Tong Yang at the Limit Dojo. For one thing, most of his teaching duties as an instructor were handled by the teaching staff under him; he personally taught only a few classes for advanced students. For another, there was a persistent rumor around the dojo that Tong Yang had powerful connections and had taken the instructor position just to pad his résumé.

Naturally, he didn't pay much attention to youngsters like them, who weren't even martial artists yet.

At the sound of Luo Zhe's voice, Tong Yang finally noticed him approaching. He hurriedly pulled his foot off the railing, then shoved a sock that was poking out beside the chair back into its shoe.

He tried to act as if nothing had happened and picked up the tea beside him for a sip, only to discover the cup was empty.

How freaking embarrassing!

He hastily changed the subject, trying to distract Luo Zhe.

"Uncle Wang wasn't feeling well today, so I told him to go see a doctor. But what brings you to the dojo today?" As he spoke, Tong Yang put down the empty teacup as if nothing had happened, then gave Luo Zhe a once-over, his eyes full of curiosity.

"You just passed the Quasi-Warrior Assessment a few days ago. You're already back to train? Shouldn't you be celebrating?"

Luo Zhe's gaze drifted slightly downward. The yellow bear on the sock was still perfectly visible. He hadn't expected someone as burly as Instructor Tong Yang to wear Winnie-the-Pooh socks.

When Tong Yang shifted his foot and planted it firmly on the Winnie-the-Pooh sock, Luo Zhe quickly looked away.

He chuckled and scratched his head. "I managed to cultivate Genetic Origin Energy over the past few days, so I wanted to see how much stronger I've gotten."

Tong Yang nodded.

That made sense. Every martial artist tried cultivating Genetic Origin Energy as soon as they got their hands on the Genetic Energy Cultivation Method. After all, successfully cultivating it for the first time brought a substantial boost in strength.

The main reason was that more than a decade, sometimes even longer, passed between a person's birth and their first attempt at cultivating Genetic Origin Energy. Their bodies had never absorbed any before.

Because they had never absorbed it, their bodies had been "starving" for more than a decade, sometimes even two. That was why the progress made during their first cultivation was so astonishing!

Luo Zhe seemed like a pretty gifted young man. He'd managed to cultivate Genetic Origin Energy for the first time after just a few days.

That was right.

Among the younger generation at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall in Jiangdu District, Luo Zhe had led the pack for the past few years. A twenty-one-year-old Quasi-Martial Artist might not be much in Jiangnan City as a whole, but in Yangzhou City—one of the Eight Satellite Cities—and one of its four districts, the title carried plenty of weight.

But how much stronger had he gotten? How big was the increase?

The improvement from a person's first cultivation also reflected their talent for cultivation.

For an ordinary person, gaining 300 to 500 kilograms of punch strength on their first attempt was fairly common. An increase of 600 kilograms was already considered impressive.

Some elite talents could gain more than 1,000 kilograms.

And then there were the monsters who gained over 2,000 kilograms the first time they cultivated Genetic Origin Energy.

Such prodigies were rare even across the globe. Even in the vast Jiangnan Base City, only one or two might appear in a year.

With nothing else to do, Tong Yang put on his shoes, stood up, and clapped his hands.

"Come on. I'll turn on the machines and see how well your first cultivation of Genetic Origin Energy went."

Tong Yang went straight into the Martial Arts Training Hall and turned on the Punch Strength Tester, the Speed Tester, and the Neural Response Tester. Then he stepped aside to give Luo Zhe room.

"Go on. Hit it with all you've got."

Luo Zhe nodded. He wanted to know just how much progress his cultivation over the past few days had brought him.

He walked up to the Punch Strength Tester, took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. After adjusting his stance, he exerted force throughout his body. His lower back tightened, and a surge of power traveled along his spine to his right shoulder.

Boom—

Before his fist arrived, the sound came first!

A sonic boom rang in his ears as Luo Zhe's fist slammed into the target like a precisely guided cruise missile. The target swung sharply backward, then sprang back and shook violently.

"Beep!"

As soon as he threw the punch, Luo Zhe looked at the Punch Strength Tester's display. He couldn't help feeling a little uncertain about the results of his cultivation over the past few days.

After all, his first attempt at cultivating Genetic Origin Energy hadn't gone like anyone else's. Soon after he sensed the cosmic energy, his body's starving cells had barely begun to fill up when the explosion caused by the opening of the Dimensional Space knocked him unconscious.

And every martial artist knew just how much a first cultivation of Genetic Origin Energy could improve the body!

Luo Zhe was desperate to see the result of the punch strength test!

The display showed the number clearly—"5895KG"!