Consume and Digest Resources (4000 characters)

It was already past midnight when Xu Ziming returned home. Ordinarily, this would be the perfect time to practice the Galaxy Mental Tempering Method, but he had no intention of doing so.

Just moments ago, Sun Wenbin had sent him a message, the gist of which was that the rewards for defeating the alien had been processed and were now being deposited into his account.

In addition to this, Xu Ziming was awarded the title of City Hero. It might seem useless at first glance, but that was far from the truth.

This title granted Xu Ziming an extra 10 points on his college entrance exam! A full ten points.

In the lower score brackets, ten points might not matter much, but once you cross the six-hundred-point threshold, the gap created by every ten points becomes immense.

His mother and younger sister seemed to have already fallen asleep. Before leaving, Xu Ziming had told them he was going to train with Teacher Ma and might not be home tonight.

However, upon returning to his room, he still saw that glass of milk waiting for him.

Xu Ziming had received the 10 million Blue Star Coin earlier that day, but he hadn't spent it yet because he wanted to set some aside to help with household expenses. As for the exact amount, he would decide after Fang Xingyun sent him the address of the villa tomorrow.

But after earning a million in a single night, Xu Ziming suddenly changed his mind. He realized that as long as he was strong enough, he could earn as much as he wanted in the future.

I'll take the million I earned tonight and the reward from Officer Sun, give them to Mom tomorrow, and set aside ten thousand for my sister. I remember she wanted to learn a musical instrument.

Thinking this to himself, Xu Ziming opened the message from Officer Sun on his wristband.

Inside were the details of the rewards for defeating the alien.

First was the prize money: a full... fifty thousand!

It was certainly a significant amount, as this was a government reward, not money earned from fighting in underground death matches.

The second item was a Demon horn. One look told him it had been taken from a Flame Spirit Clan Commander, and it appeared to have been processed as well.

The third item was a piece of soft armor that looked quite durable.

To test its hardness, Xu Ziming specifically took out Jinghong and gradually increased the force in his hand, only to discover that the armor's defensive capabilities were astonishing.

Even when he exerted his full strength, he couldn't leave a single mark on it. Armor of this caliber was likely at the level of a Life Evolution.

Buying this online would cost at least seven or eight hundred thousand.

"I have to say, aside from the Blue Star Coin, the things the police station gives out are truly top-notch."

Xu Ziming smacked his lips and picked up the Demon horn.

[Detected equippable item: Flame Spirit Clan Commander's Horn]

[Expected entry to be obtained: Blessing of the Flame Spirit Clan (Blue)]

[Entry effect: The starting favorability of all races toward you will be at worst indifferent; they will not naturally harbor hostility, and injury recovery is increased by 300%]

[Note: This is a symbol of status for a Flame Spirit Clan Commander. The curse on the killer has been completely purged, leaving only the blessing of the Flame Spirit Clan for their dispatched commander.]

Increasing favorability and significantly boosting recovery—it truly lived up to the name "Blessing."

[Permanent solidification condition: Participate in the killing of 100 Flame Spirit Clan members. Current: 2/100]

The Blessing of the Flame Spirit Clan required killing members of the Flame Spirit Clan to permanently solidify. If the Flame Spirit Clan knew about this, they would likely be furious to death.

However, he did need to consider which entries to solidify, as the requirement to upgrade the Equipment Slot was to permanently solidify three green-quality or higher entries.

Currently, the only thing he was about to solidify was the white-quality Filter Charge.

But he should be able to permanently solidify the green-quality [Filter Charge+] soon; after all, he was no longer short on money to buy Blood Qi Potion.

As for the permanent solidification condition for the Sword Saint Body Technique, he recalled it required him to forge a strand of sword intent.

Now that he had the Five Prison Sword Art, he just needed to practice it.

As for the Qilin Body, destroying the True Martial Sect was impossible to complete, at least for now.

The final reward was actually the familiar [Alien Warrior Life Source Crystal (First Evolution) Purified Version]. Perhaps because this item only had an effect the first time it was consumed, they had only sent him one.

"I didn't expect to get another one so soon. This is really..."

Thinking about how he had just consumed the one his father sent him that morning, only to receive another one that night, Xu Ziming felt a strange sensation.

The moment he touched this source crystal, he realized he could equip the "Alien Slayer" entry again.

To his surprise, the solidification condition for this entry was merely killing ten aliens, and it was a green-quality entry.

That was another one solved. At this rate, he still had hope of advancing his Equipment Slot in the short term.

After dealing with all of this, Xu Ziming began browsing the wristband mall.

He needed to spend the 10 million sent by the martial arts gym, and there were less than ten days until the second mock exam.

Only massive resources could significantly improve his strength. At the very least, as things stood, he had no chance of winning against Shen Xingyue.

Opening the mall, Xu Ziming first bought another E-grade Blood Qi Potion; with this, he had just enough to fulfill the last requirement for permanent solidification.

Beyond that, he immediately bought ten D-grade Blood Qi Potions. An E-grade cost five thousand, while a D-grade cost fifty thousand.

The price was ten times higher.

Because Xu Ziming bought ten D-grade Blood Qi Potions, the merchant threw in the E-grade one for free, without charging him.

Thus, just purchasing these two items cost him five hundred thousand Blue Star Coin.

He still had 9.5 million Blue Star Coin left.

He was not currently lacking weapons, as he had Jinghong, and while he had been short on defense, Officer Sun had gifted him a piece of soft armor.

As for cultivation techniques, he could easily select them from the Nebula Armory, so what else was he missing?

Xu Ziming felt somewhat troubled; it wasn't that he couldn't afford things, but rather that he seemed too wealthy. He had already acquired many resources he had previously only dreamed of but could never obtain.

Therefore, Xu Ziming lowered his head and carefully contemplated his current needs.

For the time being, his goal was certainly the college entrance exam in over eighty days, but in the short term, the event that would impact him the most was the second mock exam.

The second mock exam required "Wilderness Survival," which, to be precise, meant staying in a secret realm for a sufficient amount of time.

Thus, the two things he lacked most were the ability to move quickly—as he had never had time to train in movement techniques—and endurance.

This meant his speed was not fast, and with less than ten days remaining, it was almost impossible to improve his speed through movement technique training in such a short window.

The second thing he lacked was endurance.

Just now, during his entanglement with the Demon Vine, he had nearly run out of energy after using Dragon Trap three times and some standard sword techniques.

This kind of endurance was simply too "short." While it might be excusable for other things to end in ten minutes, that wouldn't do in a fight.

Since his goals were set, Xu Ziming no longer had any extra considerations.

After buying these two items, he would save the rest of the money for future use; after all, the funds were annual, so there was no need to squander them all at once.

He first looked for items that could improve his speed. It didn't necessarily have to be something that truly enhanced his own body, as long as it could be recognized by the Equipment Slot and was genuinely usable.

Thinking of this, Xu Ziming immediately began searching the mall.

Soon, he found several items that were highly suitable.

The first was a movement technique called: Heavenly Demon Dance. Just reading the introduction was enough to see that this technique was extraordinary.

More importantly, this technique was created by the second strongest human, a man from the Eagle Kingdom known as Odin.

After glancing at the introduction in the comments section, it seemed that once one mastered this technique, even just the first level, speed would increase by thirty percent.

Thirty percent was very fast. A martial artist's speed was generally five seconds per hundred meters; if improved by thirty percent, that would be five seconds per one hundred and thirty meters.

In a chase, the distance between two people would close or widen by thirty meters every five seconds.

The most critical point was: this technique was not for running across flat ground.

It was a technique for short-range surprise attacks, so after mastering the first level, Xu Ziming could even achieve instantaneous movement within five meters.

However, according to the manual, executing it was extremely draining on physical stamina.

It seems I must find a way to replenish my stamina. He had made up his mind to purchase this movement technique.

The movement techniques in the Nebula Martial Hall were too mediocre, and the most powerful fist techniques were not what he needed.

Yet, this technique created by the world's second strongest was priced at 300 million!

There were nine levels in total, but fortunately, each level could be purchased separately.

The first level only cost two million, a low price set only because it was difficult to enter.

When the payment success icon lit up, a file appeared out of thin air in Xu Ziming's wristband. He gently cast his consciousness onto it, and piles of already-translated text appeared before his eyes.

Clearly, this was the first level of the Heavenly Demon Dance.

However, he did not start practicing immediately, as there was still one very important thing to do.

That was: how to improve his endurance.

Whether it was the Dragon Trap he had already learned or the Heavenly Demon Dance he was about to begin, learning them would be extremely difficult without sufficient endurance.

Endurance was actually Qi and blood. To improve Qi and blood, one needed to polish the Basic Body Forging Method day after day.

If he could raise this technique to the Great Completion realm, his Qi and blood would surely double.

But with less than ten days left, it was somewhat difficult to reach Great Completion in such a short time.

Therefore, at this moment, an item that could improve endurance was crucial.

Since he had a method to improve himself, he didn't look at cultivation techniques, but instead searched for items that could increase the concentration of Qi and blood.

The market was vast, and this requirement was actually easy to fulfill, but these items were all too expensive—shockingly so.

Any random item cost tens of millions, though Xu Ziming could understand why; for a martial artist, fighting against alien races was a matter of life and death.

Every small improvement determined life or death.

Each of these Qi and blood-enhancing items had significant effects; they were items that, just by being carried on one's person, would automatically gather the Qi and blood dissipated during combat and feed it back to the user.

After patiently searching the mall for a long time, Xu Ziming finally found a jade pendant.

It was called the Pure Yang Jade Pendant. According to its description, it seemed capable of helping to absorb eighty percent of dissipated Qi and blood, feeding fifty percent of it back to the user.

While the back-and-forth might seem small, it actually increased his Qi and blood by forty percent.

The price of this jade pendant was five million Blue Star Coin.

I was hoping to save some for later, but it seems that won't be possible now.

Xu Ziming shook his head with a helpless smile, but he still tapped his finger on the screen.

As the payment success notification appeared, only a quarter of the ten million that had just hit his account remained.

The Pure Yang Jade Pendant was now in his hands.

The jade pendant was exquisitely carved, shaped like a phoenix rising from the ashes. It felt warm to the touch, and his mind gradually calmed down as he held it.

[Detected equippable item "Pure Yang Jade Pendant"]

[Expected trait gained: Pure Yang Body (Green)]

[Expected trait effect: The blood-qi recovery effect provided by the Pure Yang Jade Pendant is corrected to absorb 100% of wasted blood-qi and return all of it to the host]

[Permanent solidification condition: Use the Pure Yang Jade Pendant to recover 100 times the total body blood-qi, current: 0/100]

Another green trait. The effect directly boosted the pendant's inherent capabilities by a significant margin.

Based on Xu Ziming's recent experience, items with such effects usually sold for over twenty million, yet he had snagged this one for five million.

The Equipment Slot is great, no need to say more!

With all items selected, his shopping spree came to an end. Now, there was only one thing to do: train!

He had to utilize every single resource.

Spirit, movement techniques, blood-qi, and swordsmanship.

Every aspect had to be improved; every aspect had to reach a new level before the second mock exam.

Beyond him, others were also preparing intensely. Shen Xingyue was sweating profusely in her home training room, hacking away at a wooden dummy.

She didn't even hear the sound coming from outside the door.

"Yueyue, still training this late?"

A gentle voice drifted in from outside the training room. A noblewoman who looked at most thirty-something gazed at Shen Xingyue with a pained expression.

Her skin was impeccably maintained, every inch as youthful as a young girl's; to the naked eye, one would never guess she was a woman in her forties.

"Mm."

At home, Shen Xingyue was not one for many words, reverting to that unapproachable, icy demeanor.

To be precise, Shen Xingyue was like this at all times, only acting slightly differently in front of Xu Ziming.

The reason was simple: she felt that Xu Ziming must be someone who, like her, worked hard in silence.

"A girl doesn't need to put so much pressure on herself, especially with the Martial Way. In the future, just find a good family to marry into. If you ask me, President Gao's son is quite good."

Shen Xingyue's mother said with a smile, seemingly trying to use these words to shake Shen Xingyue's resolve to practice martial arts.

"Why don't you two meet after the college entrance exam? You grew up together, so you're bound to have common topics."

Shen Xingyue ignored her mother.

Because this was not her biological mother; her own mother had passed away shortly after she was born.

The woman before her always wanted her to marry someone so that her own son could inherit the family business.

As she grew stronger through her training, the woman had even begun to subtly push her out.