Three days

"Stone Skin Gene Potion..."

"Gigantification Gene Potion..."

Back home, while his mother cooked, Ji Zhixing borrowed her phone and entered those keywords into the search bar. Rows of information soon appeared.

[Stone Skin Gene Potion: First-order gene ability development potion. Helps Gene Cultivators develop the stone skin ability, strengthening their skin's defenses. Price: 10,000 gene coins per bottle.]

[Gigantification Gene Potion: First-order gene ability development potion. Helps Gene Cultivators develop the Gigantification ability, increasing their strength as their bodies grow larger. Price: 100,000 gene coins per bottle.]

He read through the results one by one, his brow furrowing more deeply with each entry.

"Gigantification Gene Potion... 100,000 gene coins a bottle..."

Ji Zhixing took a deep breath.

One hundred thousand.

His father worked for a moving company, and his mother stocked shelves at a supermarket. Their combined monthly wages were only five or six thousand.

To save 100,000 gene coins, his family would have to go without food or drink for a year and a half.

"The Stone Skin Gene Potion is cheaper, but it still costs 10,000 gene coins."

Ji Zhixing shook his head.

Even 10,000 gene coins was an astronomical sum to him.

"And I won't just need one or two bottles."

"No matter how compatible I am with the Three-Inch Stone Monkey Gene, there's no way I can develop both gene abilities with only a bottle or two."

Ji Zhixing understood that perfectly well.

He searched some more and found someone online claiming that a person had once used dozens of bottles of Gigantification Gene Potion without managing to develop Gigantification.

Dozens of bottles-that meant millions of gene coins.

I need to make money!

A powerful urge surged within Ji Zhixing.

For a Gene Cultivator, the fastest way to earn money was to leave the city and hunt Gene Beasts.

The wilderness outside the city stretched endlessly, with Gene Beasts roaming everywhere.

Their corpses could be refined in a gene furnace, with a chance of producing all sorts of things.

Gene Potions.

Gene equipment.

There was even a chance of producing exogenous genes that could grant Gene Cultivators other gene abilities.

Any one of those products could sell for a considerable sum.

But...

Ji Zhixing soon calmed down.

With my current strength, leaving the city would be too dangerous.

He knew his own limits.

He had fused with the Three-Inch Stone Monkey Gene, and his gene source energy was meager. With that level of strength, never mind hunting Gene Beasts-it was questionable whether he could even make it back alive.

The best option is to train for a while longer, then join a team to leave the city, Ji Zhixing thought. I can ask Liu Qifan and a few other classmates to form a team with me.

There's strength in numbers. It'll be safer, too.

For the moment, he set aside his plans to earn money. He deleted the phone's search history, put it down, then stood and walked to the window to look at the sky outside.

There's no point rushing when it comes to money. What matters most right now is honing my staff technique and building a solid foundation.

Over the next few days, Ji Zhixing devoted almost all his time to training.

Every morning, before dawn broke, he got up and went downstairs to practice the Basic Staff Technique in the open space below.

Chop, sweep, jab, lift, snap, deflect, intercept, control, thrust, hook, block, brace...

Move by move, repetition after repetition.

Apart from breaks to eat and rest, he practiced until late at night almost every day.

Over those three days, his staff technique grew increasingly polished through his training.

It felt like a rough stone being ground down little by little, gradually becoming smooth and rounded.

Three days later.

Ji Zhixing stood in the open space, holding an ordinary wooden staff.

It was an unremarkable White Ash Staff he had bought cheaply at the market.

"Let's give it a try."

He took a deep breath, gripped the staff with both hands, and began performing the Basic Staff Technique.

Chop!

The long staff rose high before slashing down, tracing a sharp arc through the air.

Sweep!

Jab...

He executed the moves one after another, his motions fluid and natural, without the slightest awkwardness.

"I did it!"

After completing the routine, Ji Zhixing's eyes shone.

He stopped and looked at the ordinary wooden staff in his hands, joy welling up inside him.

Now, there was little difference between using an ordinary wooden staff and using the Black Longstaff.

His movements were just as fluid, his application of force just as precise. Whenever he wanted, he could channel most of his body's strength into the staff. The awkwardness had vanished completely.

Three days. Three whole days of practicing every single day, over and over. A thousand repetitions? Two thousand? Maybe even more.

Now I can perform the Basic Staff Technique proficiently even without gene equipment.

If word of his progress got out, few people would believe it.

After all, the Basic Staff Technique was equivalent to a first-order, one-star gene ability.

That meant he had mastered a first-order, one-star ability in just three days.

A hundred percent compatibility really does make a difference, Ji Zhixing thought. The Three-Inch Stone Monkey has the potential to develop the innate staff heart ability. Since I'm a hundred percent compatible with it, that means I have that potential too.

I have more talent for staff techniques than ordinary people.

But mastering the Basic Staff Technique is only the beginning. To develop innate staff heart, I still need to master a First-Order Two-Star Staff Art.

There are videos of some common First-Order Two-Star Staff Arts online, but learning from videos alone would be too slow. I still need to find a way to get more support from the academy.

Ji Zhixing knew that the biggest reason he had mastered the Basic Staff Technique so quickly was the Black Longstaff in his hands, which felt like an extension of his body.

"Let's keep practicing." Ji Zhixing tightened his grip on the wooden staff and began another round.

He had already mastered the Basic Staff Technique, but more practice certainly wouldn't hurt.

Toward evening, he put away his staff and went home.

As he pushed open the door, the aroma of food greeted him.

"You're back? Go wash your hands and come eat." Zhang Yulan poked her head out of the kitchen.

Ji Zhixing nodded, washed his hands in the bathroom, and sat down at the dining table.

Three dishes and a soup sat on the table: braised pork, stir-fried greens, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and a bowl of seaweed egg-drop soup.

Meals like this had become the norm at home over the past few days.

Clearly, his mother also knew that with all the training he did every day, he couldn't afford to skimp on nutrition.

He accepted his mother's kindness and ate the meat in big mouthfuls.

Without enough nutrition, his body wouldn't hold up, and his training would become far less effective.

Once I make money, I'll make sure Mom and Dad have a good life, Ji Zhixing thought.

Monday morning.

Ji Zhixing met Liu Qifan at the entrance to the Rain-Listening Garden, and they headed to school together.

"Zhixing, do you know where I've been these past three days?" Liu Qifan looked excited, eager to show off.

"Where?" Ji Zhixing asked.

"At my second uncle's place. With his guidance, I've fully mastered all three of the Ironback Wolf's gene abilities." As he spoke, Liu Qifan thrust his right hand forward.

His hand rapidly writhed and shifted. His skin grew rough, his nails lengthened and sharpened, and in the blink of an eye, his hand transformed into a fearsome wolf claw.

Dense hair sprouted along his entire arm as well. Coarse, grayish-brown wolf fur covered his forearm and extended beneath his sleeve.

"Ironback, Wolf Sprint, and wolf claw." Liu Qifan proudly waved his wolf claw. "I've mastered all three."

"When we have that sparring match we agreed on, you won't stand a chance against me!"