Su Chen was genuinely a little flustered this time. The panel would glitch out from time to time, and he couldn't find any pattern to it at all.
Sometimes, no matter how hard he tried and how wildly his emotions churned, the professions on the panel showed no reaction whatsoever.
Yet other times, a random, inexplicable thought would surface, and the panel would react.
Last time, the Rope Master had challenged someone above its level and been directly counter-killed.
If the Strongman got counter-killed this time, would this profession of his still exist?
[Gale Walker was bewildered and caught off guard by a sudden sneak attack. Furious from humiliation, it immediately struck back. The Strongman was outmatched, but thinking of the host's expectations, it erupted in a furious assault. Gale Walker was consumed by unwillingness.]
Good job, Strongman. You didn't disgrace yourself!
The panel's result made Su Chen breathe a sigh of relief, but he continued staring eagerly at the final outcome.
[Strongman devoured Gale Walker, achieving ultimate sublimation and transforming into a first-tier top-class profession—Sky-Rending Warrior. It simultaneously retains the professional traits of both Strongman and Gale Walker. Please fulfill the remaining advancement requirements as soon as possible to unlock more professional abilities.]
A first-tier top-class profession!?
Su Chen's eyes lit up. Good Strongman, good brother!
You didn't disgrace yourself!
He didn't know whether the profession would disappear if the Strongman got counter-killed, but this was undoubtedly the best possible outcome.
He only needed to fulfill the advancement requirements to enjoy the benefits, saving a tremendous amount of time.
However, before Su Chen could carefully inspect what conditions he needed to fulfill, a sudden spasm of pain shot through his body.
"Fuck, this is bad!"
The agony from when he had become a Strongman last time was still fresh in his mind. Though this pain wasn't as intense, it came far more abruptly.
The worst of it was concentrated in his legs. The large tendons in both legs felt as though they were being forcibly stretched apart, while his muscles twitched uncontrollably.
He could no longer support himself, swaying as he fell to one side, both hands flailing wildly.
"What's wrong with you?"
Someone suddenly grabbed his left hand. It was Bai Fengxi.
He instinctively grabbed her hand in return and pulled himself up. Staggering, he pressed his right hand against her shoulder and struggled to support himself, barely managing to remain standing.
Bai Fengxi looked at him suspiciously. She had noticed earlier that Su Chen's expression had changed rapidly in a short time, turning pale at the end as if he were about to collapse for no reason.
"I'm fine. My leg... leg... leg cramp..." Su Chen gritted his teeth and barely maintained his composure. His legs trembled nonstop, and cold sweat covered his forehead.
Leg cramp?
Bai Fengxi's eyes shifted slightly as she looked at the hand gripping her shoulder, veins throbbing across it.
Her brows suddenly furrowed. Something was wrong—her shoulder hurt!
"What's wrong with him?" Instructor Zheng noticed their movements and was rather surprised.
This cool and aloof girl, Bai Fengxi, had never exchanged more than three sentences with anyone else before. Why was she so close to this guy?
"His leg cramped." Bai Fengxi's face was taut.
"A cramp?" Instructor Zheng was briefly dumbfounded. The other students looked at one another, and someone couldn't help saying, "After just moving around a little?"
"How poor is his foundation?"
Instructor Zheng was also somewhat speechless, but out of a teacher's duty, he still asked, "Do you want me to take a look?"
"No need." Before Su Chen could speak, Bai Fengxi rejected him for Su Chen, her expression ugly as the pain grew worse.
"All right..." Instructor Zheng frowned but said nothing more, turning to remind the others of a few precautions.
This training class was nearly over. Everyone was panting, leaving in groups of two or three while discussing what they had learned from the exercise.
Click, click!
The doors opened. The first person to leave abruptly stopped. A figure stood outside, and someone greeted him with an odd expression. "Senior Zhou..."
Zhou Zong responded warmly and asked, "Where's Fengxi?"
"Uh..." Everyone exchanged glances and answered vaguely, "In the back, in the back..."
Zhou Zong keenly sensed that something was wrong. The crowd had already consciously made way for him, and with a single glance, he saw Bai Fengxi and Su Chen acting extremely intimate.
Su Chen stood slightly behind Bai Fengxi, his right hand pressed against her shoulder, their bodies nearly touching.
!!
Zhou Zong's expression froze. Bai Fengxi had kept her distance from him from the very beginning; even getting within a meter of her had been difficult.
But this guy...
"Um, Su Chen seems to have cramped up..." someone quietly reminded him, having a good impression of this senior.
"Cramps..." Zhou Zong sneered inwardly and quickly stepped into the room, saying calmly, "I'll help..."
"Get lost!" Bai Fengxi coldly spat out a single word. The shoulder beneath Su Chen's hand trembled slightly.
The intense pain radiating from her shoulder made it hard for her to remain calm.
Zhou Zong stiffened where he stood. The students who had yet to leave swallowed hard. Were they really that in love?
"No, I..." Zhou Zong's expression was strained.
"Get lost!" Bai Fengxi's voice rose slightly, trembling faintly. It hurt—too much!
Zhou Zong's face turned pale, then green. He snorted coldly, said nothing more, and immediately turned to leave.
Naturally, no one else dared say anything either. They exchanged looks, suppressing their excitement at catching a whiff of gossip as they hurried away.
The metal doors slammed shut. Instructor Zheng looked as if he wanted to speak but held back.
A moment later, Su Chen let out a long breath and removed his hand from her shoulder. Helplessly, he said, "Sorry, my body's not really up to it."
Bai Fengxi stared at him, seeming somewhat angry. "It's fine!"
"Then, I'll head off first?" Bai Fengxi's stare made Su Chen's scalp tingle.
"Mhm." Bai Fengxi nodded.
Su Chen stood there for a while before cautiously taking a step. As if he truly were suffering the aftereffects of a cramp, he walked out with uneven, unsteady steps.
When he reached the door, he seemed to suddenly remember something and came back, taking out his Message Communicator. "Add me?"
Adding contact information with this thing was rather strange. The devices had to be pressed together for information to be entered.
"Su Chen..."
After watching him leave, Bai Fengxi murmured softly and extended her right arm, slowly rolling up the sleeve of her training uniform.
A distinct palm print was clearly visible on her shoulder, its edges already turning bluish-purple.
She lightly touched it and sucked in a breath, her fingers jerking back as though shocked. "Such strength."
"I feel like I could fly..." Su Chen controlled his steps, feeling lighter than ever before. He had the sense that with just a little force, he could shoot several meters forward. His strength had also increased considerably.
The changes to his body were obvious. He opened the panel again.
[Sky-Rending Warrior: 25%] [Professional Ability—Wind Erosion: Briefly increases strength and grants the blessing of the wind element.]
"Tsk, not only did the development progress carry over, it even jumped forward quite a bit." Su Chen couldn't help grinning. "Strengthened evolved into Wind Erosion. Not bad, not bad. This is what a top-class profession should be..."
There was only one remaining advancement requirement he needed to fulfill—
[Advancement requirement to be fulfilled: Raise any basic physical training method to Mastery.]
After all the Strongman's meddling, the accumulated running-time requirement was gone.
"A basic physical training method?" Su Chen slowed slightly, finding it somewhat troublesome.
"Molten stone should count, but... its progress is very slow, and it's clearly F-grade. Do I need to find something even more basic?"
Just as he was thinking, the panel changed again.
[F-grade training methods only need to be raised to Proficient.]
"Ha, now that's more like it..." Su Chen nodded, trying hard to restrain his urge to spread his wings and soar.
"Birds of a feather. I thought your standards were really that high. Something Jiang He had played with, and you treat it like treasure..."
In the distance, Zhou Zong stared coldly at Su Chen's retreating back. Having been publicly humiliated, he had truly lost his composure.
"This student..." Seeing his hostile expression, a passing Inspection Guard reached out to stop him.
"Have you never seen this face before?" Zhou Zong snapped angrily.
The guard who had stopped him looked annoyed, but the companion beside him smiled. "So it's Director Zhou's son. Sorry... sorry..."
Zhou Zong snorted coldly, straightened his clothes, and walked away.
But after rounding a corner, he ran headlong into another dark figure. The impact was strong enough to make him sway, nearly falling over.
"Are you blind?" Zhou Zong's voice was icy, but the person didn't even dare look back and hurried away.
One piece of bad luck followed another. Zhou Zong ground the name "Su Chen" between his teeth as he disappeared from sight.
Before you continue