From Igniting Talent to Becoming a Demon God Section 17

Busy and fulfilling.

Ever since he took the security job at Dreamfire Bar, Lu Chao's life had completely fallen into a new rhythm.

During the day, he went out with the cleanup crew to collect bodies. At night, he worked part-time as a nightclub security guard at the bar.

The rest of his time was spent grinding Gold-Stone Combat Arts at the martial arts hall. It was a true three-point routine, and he recovered completely on only five or six hours of sleep.

Gradually, in the first month after he joined Gold-Stone Martial Arts Hall and became an official disciple...

Tap, tap!

His steps were steady. He stood on the iron crossbar in a lowered-waist, seated-hip stance, holding a ten-kilogram iron ball in both hands without the slightest tremble.

Thirty seconds, two minutes, five minutes...

The fourth movement of Gold-Stone Combat Arts, Iron Cross Stake, was completed by him with ease.

Then came the fifth form, Hard Stone Combo, the sixth form, Flying Sand and Moving Stones...

Lu Chao clenched both fists and hammered the sandbag until it boomed and thudded, continuing for over a hundred strikes.

After that, he sprang aside in a leap, weaving nimbly between hard stakes as thick as the mouth of a bowl. His movements were smooth, and he did not fall once.

Compared to when he had first started, he had already improved a great deal.

And then, today...

[Vitality: 9→10!]

[Potential Progress: 31%]

He leapt down and landed steadily on the concrete floor.

Lu Chao raised a hand to wipe away his sweat. Steam rose from his body as he took the chance to glance at the panel.

During this period, he had worked two jobs to save money and repay his loans, taken an advance on his wages to pay rent, and bought high-quality food to supplement his nutrition.

Massive amounts of practice, watered by sweat.

His potential progress had jumped by a large chunk, and his vitality had increased by a full three points again.

Thanks to this, Lu Chao could feel that his strength had risen another notch. His stamina and endurance were the same, and the body beneath his training clothes now showed some obvious traces of exercise.

His shoulders and back were at least a bit thicker, the lines of his chest and abdominal muscles had begun to appear, and the girth of his arms and legs was two or three millimeters greater than before.

"I wonder how much punching force I have now."

Slightly curious, Lu Chao thought of the Vitality Development Theory he had read over these past few days.

This was knowledge an extraterrestrial civilization had passed on to Earth Star, summarizing several methods of vitality development.

The basic parts were not restricted by the authorities and could be looked up online. Because he practiced martial arts, he had deliberately learned a little about it during this time.

According to its theory, before vitality broke past the twenty-point threshold, every point of increase in vitality corresponded to an increase of five kilograms in strength, along with a certain burst in reaction speed and movement speed.

Although this was only a rough standard classification, and the specifics could deviate somewhat due to differences in physique and method, after calculating carefully, his current punching force should have reached one hundred kilograms.

"Not bad, Junior Brother Lu."

"You've already become proficient in the first seven movements of the first layer. If I'm not wrong, your vitality has probably reached ten points already."

Zhang Hong, who had just finished tempering his physique, walked over while wiping away sweat and guessed with a smile.

Vitality testing equipment was not cheap. The martial arts hall had not specially purchased any, so they could only make rough guesses or go to some large gyms for testing.

Lu Chao did not deny it. Glutton's panel was more accurate than any instrument.

"I'm still far behind you, Senior Brother Zhang."

"And from what I've seen, the other senior brothers are improving very quickly too. Most of them have basically already broken past ten."

He was not being modest, because an increase of four or five vitality points in the first month could only be considered middle-level at Gold-Stone Martial Arts Hall.

When first coming into contact with combat arts and receiving formal tempering, the human body was like a shriveled sponge. Every improvement from absorbing nutrition was extremely obvious.

But as time passed, and as one's physique strengthened, the demand for nutrition grew higher and higher. This process would gradually slow down, and improvement would become more difficult.

"Hah, making fun of me again."

"I've been here for two months, and my vitality's only at fifteen points now."

Zhang Hong shook his head, somewhat helpless.

With the same middling-to-low aptitude, he could personally feel how hard this process was.

In the first month, he had improved by a full five points, but in the second month, he had only grown by four.

His vitality improvement was like it had hit a bottleneck, becoming slower and slower. If things continued according to this trend, whether he could break through the twenty-point threshold in the third month was truly unknown.

Lu Chao did not refute him when he heard this, but a guess rose in his heart.

Because of Primary Resilience, he seemed to be somewhat special in this aspect.

Although his improvement speed was relatively ordinary, overall, it was steady and continuous. Perhaps he could rely on grinding hard to sprint toward his own limits and avoid this situation.

"Junior Brother Shen really is impressive."

"With superior roots and talent, even though he joined the latest, I hear his vitality has already reached thirteen points."

Zhang Hong suddenly sighed, his training uniform long since soaked through with sweat.

Lu Chao followed his gaze and saw, not far away in the ring area, a figure sparring with Senior Sister Lin, a true disciple.

He was about 1.78 meters tall, lean and solidly built, with neat short hair, probably around eighteen years old.

His white-gray training uniform fit closely, outlining some of his muscle definition. Right now, he moved nimbly around the ring, sometimes stepping in with a straight punch, sometimes lashing out with a whip kick or side kick, carrying a rather sharp, imposing force.

"According to the rules, we can only spar with fighting-level senior brothers after passing the ordinary-student stage."

"Look at Junior Brother Shen. He skipped that step entirely, and he's even being personally guided by Senior Sister Lin, a professional-level expert, who trains with him every day."

Zhang Hong spoke enviously again, his eyes somewhat complicated.

During this time, other disciples also stopped practicing and turned to look, discussing in low voices, their expressions somewhat sour.

The gap between fighting-level and non-fighting-level was rather large, which was why Master Luo had previously set the rule that one had to defeat three ordinary students at the same time before entering the second stage of live combat.

But.

"A genius always gets the corresponding privileges."

Lu Chao felt no ripple in his heart over the exception on the platform. He was even long used to it.

Junior Brother Shen's full name was Shen Tianchen.

A junior brother who had joined ten days later than him.

The two of them should have been at the same stage. In fact, Lu Chao should even have been a little ahead.

But the other party's talent was extremely high. In just around twenty days, he had raised his vitality from five points to thirteen, and had fully gotten the hang of all seven movements of the first layer, nearly to the point of proficiency.

In private, almost everyone was saying that he was guaranteed to reach the fighting level. It was only a matter of when.

As for that.

"Hoo!"

He exhaled a breath of turbid air, and Lu Chao threw the envy and sourness of the people around him to the back of his mind, not paying much attention to it.

Other people's level of talent had nothing to do with him.

He believed [Glutton] would let him move forward one step at a time, constantly surpassing himself.

At once, his mind settled.

Lu Chao turned and walked toward the open space on the south side of the indoor hall. The concrete beams and pillars there were spaced farther apart, and a layer of cushioned mats covered the floor.

This was an empty sparring area, nearly a hundred square meters in size, dedicated to basic live-combat training.

Looking over now, he could see ordinary students in groups of three, wearing protective gear as they surrounded and attacked one formal disciple, suppressing him.

"Junior Brother Lu, are you ready?"

Zhang Hong withdrew his gaze and followed over curiously.

He remembered that over this past month, Lu Chao had always failed, at most defeating two veteran students before being unable to continue.

This had nothing to do with stamina. It was more a lack of strength and reaction speed.

"Mm."

Lu Chao nodded lightly, his thoughts clear, his eyes bright.

He did not have Shen Tianchen's talent or privileges.

But as long as he passed this hurdle, he could also enter the second stage of live-combat training, step into the ring to spar with fighting-level senior brothers, and gain more combat experience, as well as stronger stimulation to raise his vitality.

Bang!

As the thought flashed through his mind, a formal disciple on the platform fell to the ground, landing with a muffled thud.

Although he had defeated two ordinary students, he had stumbled at the last one, perfectly proving the old saying that two fists could not fend off four hands.

"I'll do it."