Instruction

"I'm dead tired!"

"I've never worked this hard in either of my lives!"

"But getting stronger feels so good."

In the Training Center's training hall, Lu Zhan had kept working out straight through to the early hours of the morning.

If he hadn't known that overdoing things was counterproductive, and that sleep was the body's most important means of recovery, he would have wanted to train all night.

Though today's training had been exhausting and grueling, the results were also remarkable.

If the stages of Basic Combat mastery were classified according to the conventions of the fantasy novels from his previous life...

Then in a single day, Lu Zhan had grinded his proficiency from beginner to minor mastery.

"Life is so lonely!"

"Someone as talented and hardworking as me is destined to walk the great path alone."

Lu Zhan looked around the training hall. Earlier, a handful of people had still been working out.

But now, there wasn't even a rat in sight.

"Shit, that scared the hell out of me!"

"Whose light bulbs are that damn bright?"

"An ugly cat's been spying on me!"

Though there were no rats in the training hall, Lu Zhan spotted two flickering light bulbs in a dim corner.

A closer look revealed that they were the ugly cat's eyes.

Spying on him instead of sleeping in the middle of the night-it was clearly up to no good.

"Meow!"

Realizing it had been spotted, the ugly cat turned and ran.

Normally, Lu Zhan was a generous soul and would have let it go.

But today, he decided to put himself out a little and teach this ugly cat some manners.

Bang!

"Snake Form!"

Lu Zhan arched his body, then shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Of all the short-range explosive techniques in Basic Combat, Snake Form was best suited to chasing prey.

Moving like a king cobra, Lu Zhan reached the ugly cat's back in just a few lunges.

By then, the big black cat had barely fled half a meter.

The ensuing clash held no surprises.

In just three moves, Lu Zhan caught the ugly cat with a hooking grab and lifted it up.

"Meow, meow, meow, meow!"

Held by the scruff, the big black cat shrieked incessantly.

But no matter how wildly it kicked its legs, it couldn't escape Lu Zhan's grip.

"Go on, run! Why aren't you running now?"

"Last time I chased you, I nearly twisted my ankle."

"We've never had any beef, past or present. I didn't even dare tell the truth about you, and you still had to push your luck?"

"Don't think I don't know you left that puddle of cat piss outside my dorm."

"Good thing I kept my window shut tight, or you'd have pissed on my head!"

"Go on, scream! Scream louder!"

"Even if you scream yourself hoarse, nobody's coming to save you."

While pompously lecturing the big black cat, Lu Zhan sneaked another look around the training hall.

Once he'd confirmed that nobody would emerge to uphold justice, he flicked the ugly cat on the forehead.

The pain immediately enraged the big black cat. It bared its teeth and flailed its claws at Lu Zhan, only to earn another flick.

After a dozen or so flicks to the forehead, the big black cat finally stopped yelling.

"Sit!"

"Stand!"

"Bow with your front paws, push off with your hind legs!"

"Roll over, then do three backflips!"

"Stick out your tongue and sing a song!"

In the training hall, the ugly cat, beaten back onto the straight and narrow by Lu Zhan's stern corrections, began its rigorous training in feline virtue.

In just a few minutes, it mastered more than a dozen feline virtues.

Naturally, this wasn't because it was exceptionally gifted or smarter than other cats, but because Teacher Lu taught so well.

This wasn't mere boasting on Lu Zhan's part. He truly had a talent for animal training.

Often, all it took was a look or a moment of eye contact for the ugly cat to understand what it should do and where it had gone wrong.

Under Lu Zhan's instruction, the ugly cat's feline virtue improved at a rate visible to the naked eye.

"Not bad, not bad. My Eye Art really is working better."

"The Blood-Red Antenna really did change during Gourmet Appreciation Class."

"Before that, I couldn't project information this freely at all."

"Even instructions as simple as two bytes could fail. It usually took several attempts to succeed."

"But now, I can project even some complex instructions into the ugly cat's mind and trigger a conditioned response."

Watching the ugly cat complete nine consecutive backflips in the training hall, Lu Zhan was thoroughly satisfied.

Of course, it wasn't because he thought the ugly cat's flips looked good.

He was simply pleased with the effects of his Eye Art.

During Gourmet Appreciation Class, after he endured the hunger and his mind entered a state of profound clarity, the Blood-Red Antenna in Lu Zhan's mind had changed.

When Lu Zhan came back to his senses, all he could see was that some of its blood-red color had faded.

But what that actually meant was something he could only discover through experimentation.

As luck would have it, the ugly cat had delivered itself right to his doorstep.

Naturally, Lu Zhan had to use it for practice.

"The change in my Eye Art proves that my control over the Blood-Red Antenna has improved."

"Or rather, the Blood-Red Antenna has become more deeply integrated with me."

"But even now, I can still only project simple information."

"The ugly cat can't receive images that are even slightly more complex."

Seeing that the ugly cat had stumbled upon a fortuitous opportunity by sharing in the gourmet food, yet didn't know how to make use of it and only lazed around, Lu Zhan decided to teach it the Sun and Moon Breathing Method.

This was a fragment of a cultivation method Lu Zhan had taken from a fantasy novel in his previous life and infused with his own unique wisdom.

He hoped the ugly cat would carry this otherworldly cultivation method to new heights and blaze a new trail for him.

Ever since realizing that supernatural powers might exist in this world, Lu Zhan had planned to turn the accumulated knowledge of his previous life into reality and cultivate both martial arts and magic alongside adding points.

Cultivate toward immortality.

Unfortunately, the ugly cat lacked the aptitude and fortune. Even after Lu Zhan tried imparting the method through his Eye Art several times, it still failed to grasp it.

"Laziness is the greatest enemy of your feline life!"

"We both took the same Gourmet Appreciation Class, so why was I able to catch up and surpass you?"

"The answer is simple. Because I work hard enough and put in enough effort!"

"Starting today, do three hundred backflips every day!"

"I'll grant you a chance to take revenge on me. If you can touch so much as a hair on my head, I, Lu Zhan, will do backflips for you."

"If you can't, give me half your daily cat food. Golden Popcorn would be even better."

Exasperated by its failure to live up to its potential, Lu Zhan held the ugly cat by the ears and personally imparted his advice.

Though a deep grudge existed between man and cat, the magnanimous Lu Zhan still decided to let it off.

He believed the ugly cat would surely not repay kindness with malice. A kind person was bound to be rewarded with cat food.

"Meow, meow, meow!"

Dazed and convinced it had been having a nightmare the whole time, the big black cat finally came to its senses half a minute after Lu Zhan left.

Instinctively, it did a backflip.

Then, realizing what it had done, the big black cat followed up with a front flip to wipe away its humiliation.

Meow, meow, meow! That's just how rebellious this kitty is.