Shi Fen's Strength

Shi Fen's transformation came to an end. Sitting cross-legged in the bathroom, he slowly opened his eyes.

"Getting stronger this quickly shouldn't be this miserable for everyone, right? This transformation took less than an hour, but even that nearly shook me apart." Shi Fen grumbled, more or less unwillingly.

He didn't believe anyone else could be as unlucky as him when using a treasure, forced to endure an overwhelming amount of pain.

He'd used treasures twice and suffered through two agonizing transformations.

Shi Fen stood up and casually threw a punch. His fist pierced the air like a cannonball, cracking with a sonic boom. A smile immediately spread across his dirty face. He didn't know exactly how strong he was now, but he was definitely beyond the War God level.

"Who can blame me? I became a War God in one go. It was worth it. I could take a few more rounds." Shi Fen was so pleased with how much he'd gained that his expression changed like a monkey's, turning into a smug grin as all his earlier complaints vanished.

If the Black Mirror knew what Shi Fen was thinking, it would have rolled its eyes at him. "Without me, those nine spheres in your brain would have drained you dry!"

Shi Fen hurriedly showered and changed into clean clothes. His strength had skyrocketed, and he hadn't controlled it properly in the shower, so he'd ripped the faucet handle right off...

It was an awkward situation.

Shi Fen quickly called the apartment's "service staff" and asked them to come repair it.

The apartment had two exits.

The entrance Shi Fen had used was the interior entrance, the front door to his room. And where there was a front door, there was a back door. On the other side, several heavily guarded metal gates led directly to the "Service Station" on the ground.

The Service Station took care of everything in the apartment. The accommodations were genuinely better than five-star luxury. Shi Fen didn't have to lift a finger for anything; whatever service he needed arrived at once.

He'd enjoyed plenty of delicious meals over the past few days.

Shi Fen eagerly left the Cultivation Room, closed the door behind him, and jogged straight to the Punch Force Tester.

Standing in front of the Punch Force Tester, he clenched his right fist. Without using any technique, he put all his raw strength into it. His fist, accompanied by a sharp sonic boom, shot forward like a cannonball and slammed into the target.

BAM! The sound, loud enough to shatter someone's eardrums, reverberated through the Forging Room. Fortunately, its walls were made of special sound-absorbing material. Otherwise, the "explosion" would have echoed through the underground Forging Room for ages.

A string of numbers appeared on the display: "301548 kg."

"Hiss." Shi Fen sucked in a breath and rubbed his eyes in disbelief before finally accepting that the number was real.

"Becoming a High-level War God in one go made all that suffering worthwhile!" Shi Fen was deeply moved. The pain of those two transformations was more than most people could bear, but fortunately, it had all been worth it.

Shi Fen rubbed his chin, thinking of the three bottles of medicinal wine from Elder Qian that he still had. "Looks like I can return them to my master."

Shi Fen was convinced that even without the wine's help, he could raise his physical fitness to the War God limit.

He had an Inner World!

Now that he had a cultivation method, a wealth of manuals, adjustable gravity, and a rich supply of cosmic energy, failing to reach the War God limit would be a joke! The resources at his disposal were already far beyond what the Elite Training Camp could offer, even counting only the boost from his Inner World.

Compared with the Elite Training Camp's students, all Shi Fen lacked was a martial arts instructor.

With gravity he could adjust at will, around the clock, paired with the abundant cosmic energy, even Hong would be envious.

Shi Fen swept the room with his Spiritual Force. A chisel flew off the table like an arrow loosed from a powerful bow, accelerating to its top speed in an instant. With its point facing backward and its base facing forward, the chisel's base slammed into the target.

Another deafening crash rang out.

"518564 kg."

"His Spiritual Force really is at the War God limit, and even a little beyond it." Shi Fen wasn't surprised by the number. His Sea of Consciousness had changed several times, becoming a dazzling golden ocean, and it now held nine strange Golden Crystal Spheres. It would have been abnormal if he hadn't surpassed the ordinary limit.

"Let's see how many tools I can control at full power."

The chisels and knives on the surrounding tables rose into the air one by one, each accelerating to its top speed. Under Shi Fen's control, the tools darted around him, filling the air with piercing sonic booms.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."

It was as if planes were flying back and forth across the Forging Room's open floor.

Shi Fen's Spiritual Force imbued each flying tool with his strongest attack power. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! They all exceeded ten times the speed of sound.

One, two, three... fifteen, sixteen... twenty, twenty-one... until there were twenty-four.

That's right, twenty-four!

"Looks like this mutated golden Sea of Consciousness has some real punch. Or maybe my Brain Domain Width is pretty high." Shi Fen controlled the tools as they zipped around him at top speed. He hadn't expected his Mental Power Amplitude to be this high.

"My status as a genius Spiritual Master is secure, even in front of Hong." With this talent, Shi Fen could forge to his heart's content and do whatever he wanted.

Shi Fen often practiced controlling his Spiritual Force in his spare time. He wasn't exceptionally skilled, but his control was certainly good. Even after his strength had soared, he still had a firm grip on all twenty-four tools.

After his strength skyrocketed, Shi Fen's biggest concern wasn't how strong he was.

What he cared about most was his mental computational ability!

Shi Fen returned all the tools to their places, then practiced the Soft Fist of Taiji Fist in the open area, training his control over his body and making the newfound strength his own. He wanted to avoid another embarrassing mishap.

He looked as if he were simply practicing his punches, but most of his consciousness had already entered the Image Space in excitement, where he was trying to comprehend the Basic Secret Patterns.

"Haha, my mental computational ability has really improved by leaps and bounds!"

After taking Dragon Blood, he'd practiced his punches to master his strength, and during that time, analyzing Basic Secret Patterns had become much easier. He could now analyze nearly twenty three-dimensional Basic Secret Patterns formed from three two-dimensional Basic Secret Patterns each day. He'd found that "rapid-fire practice" feeling again.

After taking Dragon Blood, Shi Fen's mental computational ability had been strong enough to support analyzing three-dimensional Basic Secret Patterns formed from seven two-dimensional Basic Secret Patterns.

Now, analyzing three-dimensional Basic Secret Patterns formed from nine two-dimensional Basic Secret Patterns was no longer difficult! He could even calculate everything perfectly just by visualizing it, without any models to help. Analyzing three-dimensional Basic Secret Patterns formed from three two-dimensional Basic Secret Patterns was child's play now; he could finish fifty or sixty a day.

At this rate, he could complete the analysis of all 10,081 Basic Secret Patterns within a year.

That would still leave him two years to study the Secret Pattern Diagram.

His forging abilities had been exposed by accident, bringing him to the attention of humanity's upper echelons ahead of time—and the results had been surprisingly sweet.

Not only had Shi Fen met Elder Qian, but his strength had also soared overnight. Although he was a "War God with no official records," with nothing to prove he even existed, Shi Fen didn't care!

The leap in his mental computational ability was what he wanted most! With it, the Foundation Trial would be within easy reach. With War God-level strength and Yi's inheritance, Shi Fen didn't care about power or status on Earth.

August 10, 2056.

That was the day Shi Fen became a War God!

Other than Shi Fen, Hong, and Elder Qian, almost no one knew how strong he was. Hong and Elder Qian had tacitly chosen to keep quiet.

Everyone had their own interests.

Hong's thinking was simple: keep it hidden for as long as possible.

Hong didn't expect Shi Fen to go out and fight, kill Lord-level Monsters, earn heroic merit, or claim the recognized title of Invincible War God. Hong wasn't withholding these things from him; Shi Fen simply didn't want them.

The day after giving Shi Fen the treasure, Hong had spoken with him and learned what he was thinking.

Shi Fen's thinking was simple.

For now, Shi Fen didn't want to devote too much effort to improving his combat strength. He wanted to focus on learning forging from Elder Qian. He wanted to use the Extreme Martial Arts Hall's resources to test in the real world all the forging ideas he'd come up with on his own. With Elder Qian's experience, the two of them could work together to develop top-tier weapons.

Shi Fen didn't want to have Hong use his special privileges to register him as a powerful Martial Artist. He wanted to keep a low profile. Once he and Elder Qian had results to show for their forging work, they could see what to do next.

Shi Fen was also afraid of startling Luo Feng, so for now he wanted to keep a low profile.

Shi Fen thought it was best to keep his current status as a special talent at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall.

Hong was delighted, of course. Shi Fen focusing on forging research was exactly what Hong wanted most. Hong's own selfish wish was simple: as the world's strongest man, he deserved to be the first to get a full set of top-tier SSS-grade equipment. That wasn't unreasonable, was it? As for his second brother, Thor, he could wait.

So Hong quietly covered up the information about Shi Fen. Since Elder Qian had personally recruited Shi Fen, no one dared to provoke Elder Qian. Hong simply went along with things and didn't have to do much.

Elder Qian's thinking was much the same as Hong's. Knowing that Shi Fen was willing to devote himself to forging research with him had made Elder Qian overjoyed these past few days.

Elder Qian had been racing around, handling affairs and making arrangements so he could free up all his time later to work on forging with Shi Fen. After hearing a few ideas Shi Fen had "casually mentioned," as well as seeing a design sketch Shi Fen had given him, Elder Qian had been so excited he couldn't sleep at night.

Shi Fen's ideas had hit Elder Qian like a thunderbolt!

If Shi Fen hadn't still been working on improving his strength, Elder Qian would have dragged him into the workshop to start researching together right away.

Shi Fen practiced his punches for another three days. Each day, he practiced Five Hearts Towards Heaven to continue improving his physical fitness. The medicinal effects still lingering in his body continued to work powerfully, subtly raising his physical abilities.

Shi Fen felt he'd nearly mastered control of his strength, so he immediately started eyeing the Forging Hammers on the open floor—especially the one with a diameter of one meter, which he'd had his eye on for a long time.

Shi Fen wasn't reckless enough to grab the biggest hammer and start playing with it. He began with a "small hammer," swinging it through the air as if he were forging nothing but air. He was a forger. Was there anything better suited to helping him adapt to his strength than swinging a hammer?

Clearly, there wasn't.

Once he started swinging a Forging Hammer, he made rapid progress in mastering his strength.

Before long, he'd be able to forge to his heart's content with high-grade materials! Comprehending the Basic Secret Patterns was important, but having powerful forging skills with no chance or means to put them to use was deeply frustrating.

Now, his chance had come!