Expedition and the First Day of School

It was time.

Li Wei softened his footsteps, peering downward by the faint glow of the second-floor hallway light.

Don Quixote stood at the bedroom door, fully clad in his armor.

Unlike previous nights, Don Quixote did not immediately push the door open. He remained perfectly still, his entire form like a frozen sculpture.

"Sir Don Quixote?" Li Wei walked to his side and called out softly. "Long time no see?"

It took a long moment before Don Quixote turned his head.

"Ah, Sir Li Wei, my friend... you have come at the perfect time," his voice was deep, yet carried a faint, underlying tremor of excitement. "After ten months of arduous cultivation in the Wilderness Frontier, I have felt it... the bottleneck that has bound me for years is finally loosening."

Li Wei chuckled inwardly, but played along. "So, you are about to ascend?"

"Indeed!" Don Quixote declared loudly. "Tonight the moonlight is thick; it is the moment to break through my rank and reshape the glory of knighthood!"

With that, he strode toward the small garden behind the back door.

At that very instant, Li Wei felt the familiar voice resonate in his mind:

[You have received a quest: Protect the Dharma]

[Knight Don Quixote is at a critical moment of transcending his mortal form and stepping toward the extraordinary. As his friend, you must ensure he is not disturbed by dark creatures for the next 30 minutes.]

[Quest Reward: Free Attribute Point +0.1]

It had been over ten days; it finally arrived.

The corners of Li Wei's mouth curled upward as he followed Don Quixote to the stone-paved ground of the back garden.

"Where is the holy icon we brought back?" Don Quixote looked around, then turned to head back. "I shall go fetch the icon."

Seeing him about to walk back and attempt to move the statue beyond his own strength, Li Wei quickly stopped him.

"Let me do it!!!" he said hurriedly. "You need to conserve your strength for the breakthrough! Do not waste your energy on such things!"

If Don Quixote actually tried to move it and realized he still couldn't, he might go back into seclusion, and Li Wei couldn't afford to wait another ten days.

He hurried back into the house and moved the Plaster Lion Statue, which they had brought back two weeks ago with its gold paint peeling, to the center of the yard.

"The holy icon shall witness this moment," Don Quixote sat cross-legged facing the Plaster Lion Statue. "Friend, please guard this pure land for me. Before I complete my internal circulation and the holy light is reforged, not even a lord of hell shall be allowed to step foot here."

"Understood!"

Li Wei squatted on the steps, one hand propping up his chin, the other holding an electric flyswatter, ready to support Don Quixote at any moment.

For the next 30 minutes, Don Quixote kept his eyes closed, his breathing rhythm slowing as his entire body trembled slightly.

Li Wei spent the late night guarding Don Quixote with the electric flyswatter, which would occasionally emit a crackling sound.

Thirty minutes later.

Don Quixote let out a long breath and stood up from the ground.

A panel popped up in Li Wei's mind right on cue:

[Quest: Protect the Dharma completed]

[Under your protection, Knight Don Quixote has successfully completed his "Sublimation"]

[Reward granted: Free Attribute Point +0.1]

Before Li Wei could even revel in his joy, another panel jumped out:

[You have observed the Knight's "Sublimation" at close range]

[Physique +0.1]

[Physique 1.4]--[Physique 1.5]

A double win!

He hadn't expected that after ten days of no quests, the next trigger would be a double reward, granting him 0.2 attribute points directly.

Seeing Don Quixote about to try and move the statue himself again, Li Wei didn't even have time to allocate his points; he tossed the flyswatter aside and rushed over to take over the task.

"I feel that I am filled with power," Don Quixote said upon returning to the house. "I can now begin preparing for the expedition."

"Expedition?" Li Wei asked curiously. "Was the witch not already defeated?"

"The witch was merely an immediate threat, my friend," Don Quixote said earnestly. "We have enemies even further away."

Fine. Don Quixote must have bought a new knight fantasy novel recently, so his storyline had updated.

However, Li Wei actually enjoyed this. After all, compared to the uncertainty of triggering quests outside, he could trigger them with much higher frequency while Don Quixote was sleepwalking.

"Please let me join your expedition party!"

Li Wei said loudly, simultaneously activating [Eloquent Speaker] to try and influence Don Quixote.

This request was perfectly reasonable to Knight Don Quixote, and with the boost from his skill, it didn't take much effort before Don Quixote nodded in satisfaction.

He patted Li Wei's shoulder solemnly, then dragged his clanking armor back to the bedroom. Not long after, the familiar, low, thunder-like snoring penetrated the floorboards from the first floor.

Li Wei returned to his second-floor bedroom and looked at his available free attribute points.

His previous physical sensations had led him to change his strategy; simply stacking strength caused a sense of lag between his muscles and his neural reaction speed.

He decisively changed his strategy, investing 0.1 attribute points into Agility.

[Agility 1.5]--[Agility 1.6]

The dual improvement in Physique and Agility in such a short time made Li Wei feel that his physical reality had reached a new level.

His heartbeat became steadier and more powerful. As Li Wei carefully felt it, placing a hand on his chest, he could sense a formidable power that felt as if it were about to burst out of his body.

The intense pump could instantly transport high concentrations of oxygen to every muscle fiber.

The increase in Agility also brought a clear, tangible change to his neural conduction speed; the feeling of his body moving in perfect harmony with his will, hitting exactly where he aimed, became even more pronounced.

Li Wei couldn't help but look out the window.

It had been nearly a month since he arrived in New York. The system he obtained had raised his Strength from 0.8 to 1.8, Spirit from 1.0 to 1.5, Agility from 0.9 to 1.6, and Physique from 0.8 to 1.5.

The changes brought about by this were earth-shattering. He had gone from an unhealthy rookie who struggled to push a 40-kilogram barbell and wasn't particularly bright, to a super-strong man capable of a 225-kilogram bench press, a 280-kilogram squat, and learning a difficult foreign language in two weeks (he could now understand slow-paced Russian news).

With this physical fitness, he wasn't just high school varsity material; even in a higher-level university league, his physical stats would be considered bulldozer-tier.

Not to mention he had acquired two "bug-tier" skills and a Bronze Body whose principles he still didn't fully understand, granting him increased durability and resistance to various diseases and plagues.

Even more exaggerated was the fact that his strength seemed to be growing without limit.

Presumably, when his individual attributes reached 3.0, his body might evolve even further.

"Tomorrow is the first day of school," Li Wei closed his eyes. "I hope my classmates are easy to get along with."