The Hardworking Genius

"It was time for school."

After finishing breakfast, it was exactly seven o'clock.

Xu Ziming wiped his mouth, slung his bag over his shoulder, and left home again.

Although it was now Year 70 of the New Calendar, and unmanned subways and public transportation operated around the clock,

Xu Ziming still chose to run to class himself.

On one hand, it exercised his body. On the other, it allowed him to experience the rare "feeling of being around living people" that came with high school.

The streets were still bustling after seven in the morning. Besides the traffic on the ground, small Flying Boats in the sky had begun operating as well.

Passing by Yang's Wonton Shop at the street corner, he saw tables already filled with customers, while the owner busied himself.

"A-Ming, want some wontons?" The owner, dressed in work clothes, smiled at Xu Ziming.

Back when Xu Ziming skipped breakfast, he would occasionally come here for a bowl of wontons.

"No, Uncle Yang. I already ate this morning."

Xu Ziming continued running forward.

Twenty minutes later, Xu Ziming arrived at school on time.

He scanned his face to enter the campus. Today was a free training day.

Pengcheng No. 3 High School's senior students only had classes on Wednesdays each week, with weekends off.

For half of that day, Martial Way teachers taught courses according to their chosen specialties. The other half consisted of academic classes, and the academic teachers would also go over the week's key points.

The other four days were all free training days. Students only needed to scan their faces at the school gate to enter.

"I'll practice my swordsmanship first."

Xu Ziming arrived at the martial arts training room, lay down in a Virtual Pod assigned to Class Five seniors, and selected an individual training room.

The next moment, he appeared in a separate small room.

With a thought, the Type 1 Psionic Sword appeared in his hand.

He assumed his stance, settled his posture, concealed the blade at his feet; his chops struck like chisels, his thrusts landed like nails, his upward flicks flowed like water... The twenty-four forms, ending with returning to stance and centering his mind, were essentially expansions of the Basic Body Forging Method combined with variations of sword techniques.

"Life Energy Level can be improved with external resources, but swordsmanship still has to be practiced by me!"

"Even after becoming a Martial Artist, I'll probably need good swordsmanship to gain a foothold."

Life Energy Level was the foundation of a Martial Artist. Swordsmanship and movement techniques were the true weapons that allowed one to fully wield their physical capabilities.

Time passed as Xu Ziming practiced again and again, as if he never knew fatigue.

His swordsmanship proficiency rose rapidly as well.

Beginner (0.5%).

Beginner (1.3%).

After several hours of practice, his swordsmanship had become fluid and seamless, and his moves had begun to take on a few traces of his own style.

As he practiced more deeply, words once spoken by Blue Star's strongest expert, Sun Yuan of the Xia Kingdom, surfaced in his mind.

"Martial Way is not about surpassing others. It is about constantly surpassing yourself through repeated training, pouring in all your passion and hot-blooded spirit. Train through the dog days of summer and the bitter cold of winter, cultivate for eighteen hours every day, and persist without wavering. In the end, you will discover: I am Martial Way!"

"At the end of the sea, the heavens form the shore. At the end of Martial Way, I stand at the peak!"

It was already past eleven. The sun was climbing merrily toward the hottest time of the day.

Boom! A flying craft descended from the sky, landing directly before a standalone office.

A woman with an exceptionally voluptuous figure stepped out. Her black bodysuit looked as though it might burst apart at any moment.

At that moment, the office door opened, and a fairly robust man walked out.

If Xu Ziming had been there, he would certainly have recognized the man as his homeroom teacher, Ma Mingyu.

"Zhan Yao, this is the school you've been staying at?" The Woman in Black could not conceal a trace of loneliness on her face when she saw Ma Mingyu, though her eyes remained sharp.

"This is the first time I've come looking for you since you left the military camp. How is your injury recovery going?"

A rare hint of a smile appeared on Ma Mingyu's stern face.

"Let's not talk about that first. I heard you can only stay for three hours. Is the fighting on the front line that tense?"

"You don't know what the situation at the front line is like? Besides, the alien races' offensives have become more and more fierce over the past two years."

The Woman in Black seemed to recall something as she continued, "The reason I passed through Pengcheng this time was that a Martial Artist-level alien race led around twenty alien races that had not yet reached the Martial Artist realm through some unknown loophole in the defenses."

"They came to Pengcheng?" Ma Mingyu's expression became serious again.

"Not sure. The only thing headquarters has confirmed is that they are definitely in the northern part of Suzhe Province."

Pengcheng was located in northern Suzhe Province, but neither of them said so.

"Let's go to your Martial Way room and check your injuries."

Ma Mingyu and the Woman in Black moved very quietly, and almost no one noticed them.

Xu Ziming was completely immersed in swordsmanship practice and could not feel time passing at all.

He used to prefer studying academic subjects because he was relatively good at them.

Now that he had the [Natural Sword Bone] trait, he felt an inexplicable sense of closeness toward swords.

Thus, as he practiced swordsmanship and felt his physical capabilities steadily improve and his sword skills advance, he felt an irrepressible joy brewing in his heart.

Time passed second by second. Before he knew it, his swordsmanship had improved by a great deal.

[Basic Sword Method: (6.8%)]. A morning of practice had increased his swordsmanship progress by one-fifteenth.

"Very good. If I improve a little every day, I'll eventually get into one of the Five Great Spirit Academies and give my family a decent life. Better yet, maybe I can bring Father back from the front line."

He put away the Psionic Sword, and his consciousness withdrew from the Virtual Pod.

The next moment, he stood up outside the pod.

It was already noon without him realizing it. It was time to go to the cafeteria for lunch, and there were already barely any people left in the Virtual Pods nearby.

"A-Ming, what a coincidence. Let's eat together. Afterward, we can play a game outside. I've been pretty lucky lately—I just pulled a Heart of the Dark Continent."

Dai Fei had unexpectedly not left either. Seeing Xu Ziming emerge from the Virtual Pod, he warmly invited him.

"I'll pass. I need to train seriously lately. I'd better get a good result on the weekly test. But we can eat together."

Xu Ziming used to play games with Dai Fei often. With only a hundred days left until the College Entrance Exam, he had actually resigned himself to getting into a junior college.

But the arrival of the Equipment Slot gave him a chance to get into a university. How could he not cherish it?

"Fine, then we'll talk about games in a couple of days. Let's go try the Di Guo Chicken the cafeteria recently started serving. I heard it's pretty good."

The cafeteria's Di Guo Chicken was indeed quite good, but after eating, Xu Ziming still did not leave with Dai Fei.

That afternoon, he needed to seriously review Martial Way Theory.

Day after day.

Xu Ziming trained methodically, without the slightest hint of impatience.

Senior year was certainly difficult and dull, but things would be different once he endured it.

Besides, everyone was having a hard time, whether they were academic students or Martial Way students.

Some people were indeed geniuses, like that Chen Jinghao he had seen on television a few days ago.

But he still firmly believed that hard work was the greatest talent.

Some people online said that the claim that genius was ninety-nine percent perspiration and one percent talent was wrong, and that the one percent talent was more important.

But in truth, without that ninety-nine percent perspiration, there would be no opportunity for that one percent to shine.

If you didn't give it your all, how would you know you weren't part of that one percent?