"These masters on Tieba really love to joke around!"
"They really are all talented people! And they're so well-spoken. I love it there..." An image of a certain Mr. Zhou who bore a striking resemblance to Che Guevara flashed through Chen Jue's mind. He couldn't help chuckling before reading a few more sensible suggestions.
"But what the heck is this Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill?"
"Can you really master it quickly?"
Having learned two Shaolin martial arts, Chen Jue now had an inexplicable confidence in anything bearing the Shaolin name.
It was as though it had become some sort of benchmark of authority in his mind!
He closed Tieba and searched on Baidu, discovering that such a martial art really did exist.
However, the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill apparently had to be practiced from childhood. It had remarkable effects, strengthening the bones and tendons, building strength, and improving one's constitution. He was already twenty-seven, though. Could he still practice it?
As for being a virgin, Chen Jue still qualified.
The hand speed of someone who had been single for twenty-seven years... Ahem, he meant a confirmed bachelor of twenty-seven years!
His family had fallen on hard times when he was young, so Chen Jue had matured much earlier than his peers. But when it came to relationships, he was extremely conservative, even somewhat insecure and lacking in confidence. He felt that his family circumstances would burden someone else, leaving him single even at his age.
Although he had dated in college, the furthest he had gone was holding hands and sharing a little kiss. He had been ridiculously innocent!
"Why not give it a try?"
"I still have a week, anyway. It won't hurt to try a few more things."
Chen Jue began looking through the detailed instructions for the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill.
The Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill, also known as the Internal Strength Child Prodigy Skill, consisted of three parts: external training, internal training, and flexibility training. Like the Impact-Conditioning Skill Chen Jue had just learned, it was one of the Shaolin Seventy-Two Arts.
Since even children could practice it, its movements weren't particularly difficult. Having learned the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic, Chen Jue also readily grasped some of its stretching and flexibility exercises.
After just over ten minutes, the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill appeared in his skill list: [Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill Level 0 (1/100)].
"I really learned it!"
Chen Jue's interest was piqued. The more he practiced, the more comfortable his whole body felt, while his proficiency in the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill rose remarkably quickly.
Perhaps because it had been devised for children, the art was extremely easy to learn and pick up.
In less than an hour, his proficiency had risen by more than thirty points. It seemed that an afternoon of practice would be enough to raise it by one level, even without allocating any points!
"So it really is an art you can learn quickly!"
"I can grind proficiency several times faster than with Boat Boxing or the Eight Immortals Stance."
Chen Jue went to the kitchen and put the Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction he had bought earlier on to simmer, then struck while the iron was hot and began grinding proficiency in the Child's-Boy Skill.
By sometime after four in the afternoon, Chen Jue had worked up a light sweat all over. He watched the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill tick up to Level 1.
He felt a warm current gathering in the dantian in his lower abdomen, and his constitution attribute rose by 0.01.
He hurried over and drank a large bowl of Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction, then pressed on. His constitution rose another 0.02 before the physical transformation brought on by the skill's level increase finally stopped.
"My constitution is up to 1.66!"
"If it works, I'll keep practicing!"
"I love skills you can learn quickly!"
It felt as though Chen Jue had enabled cheats in a little game. He had tasted the joy of taking a shortcut, and the more he practiced the Child's-Boy Skill, the more enthusiastic he became.
After dinner, during which he drank plenty of bone broth, gnawed on large meaty bones, and ate three bowls of rice, Chen Jue rested for only half an hour before resuming his practice until nine that evening. He actually managed to push the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill all the way to Lv2 in one go!
As the skill broke through to the next level, Chen Jue drank the remaining half pot of Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction and watched his constitution rise another three hundredths.
He glanced at his attribute panel:
Player: Chen Jue Age: 27 Health index: 95% Strength: 1.06 Agility: 1.05 Intelligence: 1.23 Constitution: 1.69 Skills mastered: [Boat Boxing Lv2 (12/500)] [Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic Level 1 (10/200)] [Eight Immortals Stance Lv2 (9/500)] [Shaolin Body Conditioning Skill Level 0 (2/100)] [Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill Lv2 (22/500)] Unallocated attribute points: 0.28
Since the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill combined movement and stillness, it not only specifically improved constitution, like the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic, but could actually accumulate unallocated attribute points as well.
An afternoon and evening of practice had earned him another 0.06 unallocated attribute points. Though it wasn't as efficient as the Eight Immortals Stance, it was an art he could learn quickly, after all. Being able to grind out that many attribute points was already quite impressive.
And the more Chen Jue practiced the Child's-Boy Skill, the more invigorated he felt, his entire body brimming with energy.
After a hot shower, he lay on his bed and experimented with practicing the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic for a while to settle his qi and blood and ease his sore muscles. He planned to spend another full day grinding proficiency in this quick-to-learn Child Prodigy Skill tomorrow.
Chen Jue rose early the next morning and discovered that his body really had changed.
"Holy shit!"
"It really lives up to its name! Once you learn the Child's-Boy Skill, you're bursting with youthful vigor and energy!"
He got up, washed, changed into sportswear, and put a fresh batch of Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction on to simmer early.
While grinding experience yesterday, he had discovered that taking the medicine while practicing could speed up his proficiency gains in the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill.
And so Chen Jue made up his mind: today, he would get this quick-to-learn Child's-Boy Skill to Lv3!
Time to grind!
After two hours of morning practice, he felt full of energy. He jogged to Lin Family Village for breakfast and bought two racks of ribs to bring home.
The bone broth he had drunk yesterday and the marrow he had sucked from the large bones had worked wonders for the hairline fracture in his right hand.
When he got up that morning, he no longer felt any stabbing pain. The main reason was still yesterday's rise in constitution, which had helped his injury heal.
He had checked the health index on his panel that morning, and it had already recovered to 96%. It would probably take less than two days to return completely to his pre-injury condition, and he might even end up considerably stronger!
By the time he returned home with the groceries, the Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction was ready. He drank a bowl of the medicine, then continued practicing the Child's-Boy Skill.
With the medicinal buff, his proficiency gains rose from +30 an hour to more than +50!
He kept at it until noon, bringing his Child's-Boy Skill proficiency up to (273/500).
After lunch and a ninety-minute nap, he got up at two thirty and continued practicing.
By six in the evening, after gradually drinking two-thirds of the pot of Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction, Chen Jue finally finished grinding the full 500 proficiency points for the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill!
Before you continue