Huh?
What was this?
The legendary golden finger every transmigrator was supposed to have, guaranteed to help them marry a rich, beautiful wife and reach the pinnacle of life???
So, after all these days since transmigrating...
Was the good life finally coming for me, Fang Shuwen?
His thoughts raced through his mind, and Fang Shuwen couldn't help breathing faster.
Activate it. He had to activate it.
At a thought, the screen before him rippled like flowing water.
[Martial Dao Panel activated successfully] [Name: Fang Shuwen] [Attack: 2; Defense: 2; Vitality: 2; Spirit: 2] [Technique: First Set of Body-Strengthening Fists (Not Initiated)] [Special Effects:] [Skill Points: 1]
A thoroughly unremarkable panel.
It was exactly the same as the panel in that comprehensive martial arts game he'd played before transmigrating.
Only, back then, not one of his game character's four starting attributes had been below double digits.
By the looks of it, the original owner really had a pitifully weak foundation.
Maybe those two points in each attribute were the result of the two of them merging after he transmigrated.
Otherwise, why were they all twos?
No, wait. That damn game was the real culprit!!!
Fang Shuwen silently grumbled to himself, but his gaze swept quickly over the panel.
The radio exercises taught at Xikou County's public middle school counted as martial arts?
When the martial arts schools outside charged thirty or fifty silver dollars just to teach martial arts, the public middle school only required ten silver dollars per semester and forced its students to practice the Body-Strengthening Fist.
Fang Shuwen suddenly found the whole thing absurd.
But thinking about it, the original owner had apparently spent two years in middle school, practicing this Body-Strengthening Fist for more than seven hundred days.
And yet, it seemed like it hadn't done a thing.
At once, he understood.
You got what you paid for.
Even if the Body-Strengthening Fist counted as martial arts, it was probably at the very bottom of every technique out there.
He skipped over the "+" next to the Body-Strengthening Fist on the panel.
And continued reading.
Special Effects: None
Skipped.
[Skill Points: 1]
All right. By the looks of it,
this golden finger didn't seem to be much use right now.
All in all, he had just one martial art, and his four attributes were all twos.
Pathetic.
That single skill point was the only thing he had to feel comforted by for now.
Skill points could directly raise the level of a technique or increase his four attributes.
But at the beginning, the best use for them was to invest in a technique.
After all, raising a technique's level
would increase all four attributes and grant martial arts moves.
That meant more attack power, stronger defense, and a bigger health bar.
"It's a free point, anyway. I'll put it in and see what happens."
Fang Shuwen focused his thoughts, and the words before him changed.
[Raise the level of "First Set of Body-Strengthening Fists"?]
Yes!
The instant the thought crossed his mind, a strange current of warmth surged from his chest, as if someone had lit a lamp inside him.
The warmth flowed along a fixed path.
His muscles, bones, and sinews—every inch of his body—grew faintly hot.
The sensation lasted about three seconds, then abruptly stopped.
At the same time,
thirty-six figures appeared in Fang Shuwen's mind, practicing the Body-Strengthening Fist's every move over and over.
Some moved fast, some slow, each from a different angle and with a different way of exerting force.
They deconstructed the fist technique he'd thought was nothing more than "radio exercises," laying every detail bare.
Breathing rhythm, the twist of the spine, the lowering of the center of gravity...
Every move concealed a subtlety he'd never noticed before.
The memories in his mind lasted only an instant.
But to Fang Shuwen, it felt as though he'd practiced for three years.
Then,
he suddenly opened his eyes.
The words on the panel flashed.
[First Set of Body-Strengthening Fists (Initiated)]
At the same time, his gaze fell on his four attributes.
[Attack: 2→3; Defense: 2→3; Vitality: 2; Spirit: 2]
His attack and defense had each gone up by one point, while his vitality and spirit hadn't changed.
"I feel a lot stronger. Even my muscles seem to have grown."
Fang Shuwen clenched his fist, clearly sensing the changes in his muscles.
His attack and defense had each increased by one point.
It didn't look like much, but compared to before,
he was one and a half times stronger.
He stood up,
took a deep breath, and threw a punch.
"Pow!"
The wind of his fist split the air with a sharp crack.
He froze.
This world was strange and dangerous, and the land was in turmoil.
So whether under the previous dynasty or the current Great Flame New Kingdom, martial artists held extremely high status.
Before the original owner started middle school, he'd once pestered Old Fang into taking him to a martial arts school for half a month.
His talent had limited him, and he hadn't learned anything substantial.
But he did know some basic things about martial arts.
A single crack was worth a thousand gold.
In the initial stage of martial arts, making one bone crack was the mark of having entered the path.
At the major martial arts schools, it meant passing the entrance test.
You could then be listed as an official disciple.
You'd get half off tuition and three meals a day.
But if you could make your bones crack three times, you'd have trained your force into your body.
At that point,
you'd be a Bright Force martial artist, truly accomplished.
During the Great Yin era, you could be called "Master."
You could even enjoy privileges such as exemption from personal labor duties and a fifty percent reduction in taxes.
Even now,
with the New Kingdom established and Western guns and cannons running rampant,
martial artists no longer held the status they'd enjoyed under the previous dynasty. But you could still work as a bodyguard for some wealthy family and want for nothing for the rest of your life.
And if you advanced further, reaching Dark Force,
you could become the head of a local power.
For example, the higher-ups in Xikou County's gangs had that level of strength.
Some weaker martial arts school owners were at that level, too.
"So I've really entered the path of martial arts now!"
The original owner's half a month of hard study, plus more than seven hundred days of training at middle school—
he'd accomplished in a single breath what all that hadn't.
You had to hand it to a cheat. Getting stronger in an instant felt great.
Fang Shuwen suppressed his excitement and threw a few more punches in a row.
Every punch came with that sharp crack.
It wasn't loud, but it was definitely there.
It hadn't been a fluke.
"Hey, what are you doing? If you break anything, you'll have to pay for it."
The shopkeeper's wife called out, sounding a little impatient.
But her soft, lilting Jiangnan accent made his ears tingle.
"Got it."
They were in a public place, after all, even if he was the only customer right now.
Fang Shuwen stopped.
He looked at the panel again.
His skill points had been used up. The number had dropped to zero.
"But how did this cheat activate? Was it because I touched that piece of mixed jade when I paid just now?"
Thinking of it, Fang Shuwen hurriedly opened his money pouch.
But the mixed jade was nowhere to be seen.
There were a few silver dollars, some copper coins, and a pile of pale green powder.
So,
that strange energy really had come from the mixed jade.
Thinking back, when the old man had given him the jade, he'd worn an expression like he was constipated. He'd clearly been pained to part with it.
Where could he find another piece of mixed jade like that?
He thought it over, but had no idea.
Fang Shuwen didn't dwell on it. He simply closed the panel and turned his gaze back to the window.
By then, darkness had fully fallen.
Pedestrians on the street had grown sparse. Streetlamps lit up, their dim yellow glow swaying faintly in the night breeze.
The two fellows who'd been squatting nearby were nowhere to be seen.
"Time to head back. If I'm any later, Old Fang will start worrying."
Fang Shuwen stood, slung his cloth bookbag over his shoulder,
and left the bookstore, slipping into the nighttime street like a fish.