This was unmistakably another physical talent.
Over this period, he had touched and checked the skills of at least a thousand people, if not ten thousand.
But so far, he had only encountered two people with physical talents.
The first had High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism.
And this was the second.
That alone showed how much rarer physical talents were than master-level skills.
And compared to the High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism talent, this one interested Hu Long even more.
"Ox Strength, capable of lifting a thousand pounds?"
As he knew, some basic facts about this world were much the same as in his previous life.
Take strength, for instance.
There was no simple way to generalize, since there were many ways to measure it.
When it came to punching power,
an ordinary adult man with no training could throw a punch with around 60 to 160 pounds of force.
An ordinary adult woman was weaker, usually managing between 40 and 100 pounds.
Those who had undergone systematic training, such as martial artists or athletes, could hit with 200 to 300 pounds of force, or even more.
But even the maximum force of a top boxing champion only came to around 400 pounds.
There had been records of people throwing punches with a terrifying 700 or 800 pounds of force, but their authenticity remained questionable.
As for deadlifting, the record was higher, at around a thousand pounds.
But that required the use of lifting straps, knee sleeves, and a weightlifting belt.
Even if such people existed, they were extremely rare, and it took years of intensive training to reach that level.
There might not be one in decades.
But a thousand pounds of strength like this meant that the person could display that level of power in any situation.
Under normal circumstances, it was simply impossible.
By the limits of human physiology, this far exceeded what the bones, joints, and muscles could withstand, causing catastrophic injuries.
Even he couldn't do that yet.
He had tested himself before. At full strength, his hardest punch had only reached a little over 600 pounds.
That was already terrifying.
Perhaps after stacking several perfected fighting techniques, his physique could reach that level.
But that was the most ideal scenario.
No one knew whether the effects would diminish with each added technique, leaving him with less of a boost each time.
After all, many fighting techniques trained roughly the same parts of the body.
But this kid here...
At that thought, he shifted his gaze to the owner of this physical talent.
There wasn't the slightest sign that he had ever trained.
He looked like a chubby boy with a round build, no more than fifteen or sixteen, and he still had the soft fuzz of a teenager at the corners of his mouth.
There was no way he looked like someone with Innate Divine Strength.
But the Panel's alerts were unlikely to be wrong.
This talent definitely made him qualified to practice Secret Martial Arts.
He could, in fact, simply download the Hu clan's Secret Martial Arts. There was no need to go to all this trouble.
But this talent was simply too precious. Besides, he needed a reasonable excuse—
one that would let the clan accept him and help him fit into the circle of Secret Martial Artists.
And the talent right in front of him was undoubtedly perfect for that.
He had to get it.
These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.
"Why're you staring at me, huh?"
The chubby boy frowned at Hu Long.
He held the latest model of a handheld gaming console, its screen displaying the word KO.
He was the one who had lost, and that had put him in a particularly bad mood.
Then he looked up and saw Hu Long standing nearby.
"Nothing. You just look familiar. Let me guess—you're a Hu, right?"
Hu Long smiled as he spoke, casually putting an arm around the boy's shoulders.
At the same time, he concentrated.
He spent six strands of Source Value to recharge six trillion bytes of data.
"Tai Su, download Innate Divine Strength!"
With a download speed of eight trillion bytes per second, it finished in an instant.
At the same time,
Hu Long felt an indescribable heat rise within him.
"How did you know?"
The chubby boy, Hu Zetong, stared at him in surprise.
"Wait a moment. My stomach's bothering me."
Hu Long turned and hurried away.
"Hey! Damn it, you're messing with me!"
Watching Hu Long disappear into the crowd, the chubby boy finally realized what had happened.
This was the Hu Clan Ancestral Hall. Who came here without being a Hu?
He was messing with him!
Ignoring the boy's reaction,
Hu Long hurried to the restroom outside the ancestral hall.
The ancestral hall was the most sacred and pure place for worshipping ancestors and holding clan ceremonies.
Restrooms were considered filthy and unclean, and were absolutely not allowed to share a building with the ancestral tablets.
That was why they were only outside.
After all, with so many people coming here, someone was bound to need the restroom.
But Hu Long hadn't come to use it.
He entered the men's room, shut himself inside a stall, and locked the door. Only then did he sit down on the toilet.
He could feel that the strange heat was growing stronger.
Even the skin on the back of his hand had begun to redden, as if he were sitting in a sauna.
At the same time, a series of faint bone-cracking sounds came from inside him.
It was as if his bones were constantly being reshaped.
A dull ache and tightness spread throughout his body.
Hu Long gritted his teeth.
"This time, it's getting a bit intense!"
Thankfully, the sensation didn't last long.
Five minutes later,
the heat and aching faded without a trace.
Crack!
Just then,
he reached out to the wall to steady himself as he stood.
But the instant his palm touched the wooden partition,
crrrk...
The fibers in one side of the panel snapped with a strained, splintering sound.
He pulled his hand away.
Hu Long's pupils shrank slightly.
A five-fingered handprint had appeared on the stall door.
The restroom partitions were made of hard wood. Unless you kicked them with all your strength, it was unlikely you could damage them.
Yet all he had done was press lightly with his hand, and he had left a clear handprint.
At that thought, he reached into his pocket, took out a key, and pinched one end of the metal shaft.
With just a little force, the metal key visibly bent.
Then, with a slight squeeze, he bent it straight again.
"So it's not just my strength that's increased. Has my body also been strengthened to some extent?"
Hu Long opened his palm, then slowly curled his fingers into a fist. A surge of strength flowed from his fingertips through his entire body.
It felt as if everything around him had become fragile.
Of course, that was an illusion. The real reason was that he had grown stronger.
And he could clearly feel that this physical talent had increased more than just his strength. His grip, overall physical fitness, and muscle density had all improved considerably.
But on second thought, that made sense.
If his physique wasn't strong enough, then even with divine strength, he wouldn't be able to use it. His body wouldn't be able to bear the strain, and overuse would inevitably cause severe stress and injury.
"Just as you'd expect from Innate Divine Strength. This is only Ox Strength. If I improve this talent, how strong would I become?"
At that thought,
Hu Long looked at the words Innate Divine Strength, his eyes burning with excitement.
Sure enough,
just like High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism, this talent also had a dim triangular rune beside it.
Hu Long understood that as long as he had enough Source Value, he could improve this talent too.
Ox Strength alone had already given him a thousand pounds of force.
How strong would he be if he improved it?
Ten thousand pounds, or even more?
What if he downloaded various physical talents and stacked them, then used Source Value to improve them?
What would happen then?
A fervent gleam flashed in his eyes.
If he could really pull it off, he might become a little superhero.