Physical transformation

Sure enough, when the crowing of roosters woke Chen Jue a little after five the next morning, he felt refreshed all over. The fatigue and soreness from yesterday's strenuous training had vanished without a trace overnight.

When he went to the bathroom to wash up, he also noticed that his complexion and overall appearance were much better than before he came home.

Back when he worked in Hangzhou, he often stayed up late scrolling on his phone, allowing toxins to accumulate in his liver, gallbladder, and kidneys. His face had been dark and greasy, and his urine was often yellow and foul-smelling.

But since returning home, he had kept a regular schedule, going to bed before eleven and getting up around six. Although he slept for only a little over seven hours, his face was much less oily.

His first pee of the morning brought relief without any burning sensation, and even his hair no longer fell out in handfuls like before.

"This is the perfect routine I've always wanted!"

Discovering these changes left Chen Jue rather excited. He felt that his decision last night to put all his free attribute points into constitution had been absolutely right.

"Right! Time for morning training!"

Chen Jue had become a little hooked on training. Even after a night's sleep, he felt uncomfortable all over unless he practiced some Boat Boxing.

After washing up, Chen Jue changed into the shorts, T-shirt, and sneakers he had brought, stepped outside, and jogged toward the mountain.

Since he had stocked the fridge with nearly a week's worth of ingredients, he had no plans to power-walk to Panlong Town today. Instead, he would jog around the reservoir and practice his boxing along the way.

After all, the air was at its freshest and cleanest in the early morning.

Surrounded by mountains, the Chen Village reservoir had abundant water and vegetation, with egrets occasionally flying past at play. It was practically a natural oxygen retreat.

After jogging up onto the reservoir dam, Chen Jue felt that his stamina had improved considerably. He needed only a few deep breaths before his pounding heart settled down.

He knew this was because he had raised his constitution to 1.25 last night.

There were still at least two hours before the sun would rise above Leigong Peak, the highest mountain around. Chen Jue took a deep breath of the fresh air blowing across the dam and began practicing Boat Boxing.

From Huang Family Village in the distance came the occasional crow of a rooster. Wisps of smoke curled upward as people cooked breakfast, carrying the scent of burning firewood.

Most of the elderly villagers slept relatively little, so it was perfectly normal for them to be up at this hour.

Ripples occasionally disturbed the reservoir's surface as fish leaped from the water. Now and then, an egret skimmed across it and landed among the weeds in the shallows, creating a picture of peaceful tranquility.

"I really did come to the right place!"

Looking at the picturesque scenery around him, Chen Jue could not stop marveling inwardly.

Previously, he had always trained on the reservoir dam at night. Visibility had been limited, preventing him from taking in all the surrounding scenery.

Now, in the ample morning light, he could finally see the Chen Village reservoir in its entirety.

As he stood on the dam, cool morning breezes blew past from time to time, carrying incredibly fresh air. It felt as though his mouth, nose, and lungs had all been washed clean, leaving him wonderfully refreshed.

This joy of being close to nature was something he could never experience living in the city!

There were no exhaust fumes, no clouds of dust from construction sites, and no blaring car horns. There was only the reservoir's picturesque scenery, with everything existing in harmony.

Practicing Boat Boxing in such surroundings, Chen Jue felt his movements flow smoothly and his thoughts become intensely focused.

The skill proficiency on his panel kept climbing rapidly, and so did his free attribute points.

Only when the outline of the sun appeared above distant Leigong Peak, bringing a wave of heat with its dazzling rays, did Chen Jue stop training and start down the mountain.

He checked the time on his phone. It was already around eight thirty. This boxing session had taken over two hours, including a half-hour break sitting on the railing along the edge of the dam.

His attributes had also made a tremendous leap in those brief two and a half hours.

Name: Chen Jue

Age: 27

Strength: 0.87

Agility: 0.79

Intelligence: 1.22

Constitution: 1.25

Skills learned: [Boat Boxing Lv1 (32/200)]

Available free attribute points: 0.05

Over the course of one morning's training, the stimulation from Boat Boxing had raised his strength and agility by another small increment each, while he had accumulated another 0.05 free attribute points.

His Boat Boxing proficiency, meanwhile, had increased by about 31 points.

Compared with before, his efficiency had practically taken flight!

If he kept training like this, Chen Jue might become a martial arts master straight out of a novel in less than a year.

That was only wishful speculation on his part, though. No one knew whether the attribute panel could maintain the rapid gains of this initial stage.

After all, Chen Jue's physical foundation was still relatively weak. Apart from constitution and intelligence, which were noticeably above those of a standard adult male, his strength and agility were both below the baseline.

Maybe being below the baseline is what lets them improve faster!

Take constitution, for instance. It hasn't budged after a night's sleep and an entire morning of training. Once it goes above the baseline of 1, its growth slows down too. Chen Jue speculated as he walked briskly down the mountain.

Thanks to the steep downhill path and the substantial improvement in all his attributes, Chen Jue walked straight from the reservoir to neighboring Lin Family Village in about twenty minutes.

He checked the time. It was already nine, and the Lin family's breakfast shop was actually about to close up.

Makes sense!

Most country people get up early. Anyone heading into town for work or school has a long commute, too. A breakfast shop probably only gets business until around nine, or nine thirty at the latest. Thinking this, Chen Jue glanced over the food on offer and ordered a bowl of sweet soy milk, a large bowl of sticky rice, and two fried sesame balls.

He had only just sat down and started eating when he saw a rather familiar-looking woman his own age come downstairs from the shop's second floor.

She had fair skin and delicate features, with a little makeup on her face. In her arms was a sleepy little girl with tousled hair, who looked about three or four.

The moment she saw Chen Jue, the woman holding the child gave a soft exclamation. "You're... Chen Jue from Chen Village?!"

"You know me?" Chen Jue asked in surprise, setting down his bowl and chopsticks.

"I'm Lin Mengruo, your primary school deskmate. You haven't forgotten, have you? Class Three at Shannan Primary School." The pretty woman explained with a giggle.

Memories came flooding back to Chen Jue, carrying him back to his childhood in the countryside.

"Oh, it's you! It must've been at least fifteen years!"

"Is this your daughter? She's adorable. How old is she?"

Chen Jue recalled his primary school days. He had attended Shannan Primary School near Lin Family Village, only moving on to a secondary school in the county seat after graduating.

He and Lin Mengruo had shared a desk for several years. They had been childhood companions and playmates, and he had never expected to run into her here.

Nor had he expected that Lin Mengruo, who was his age, would already be married, with a child old enough to run errands. He could only marvel at how things changed and how quickly time flew.

"She's four already, and such a little rascal! I'll send her to kindergarten after summer vacation," Lin Mengruo said, before asking how Chen Jue had been doing.

When she learned that Chen Jue was still unmarried and single, a curious gleam flashed in her eyes. "Want me to introduce you to my younger sister? She just graduated from university and is still looking for work in the city."

"No matchmaking, thanks! I'm not planning to get married so soon. Haha." Chen Jue smiled awkwardly and politely declined.

As he remembered it, this primary school deskmate of his did indeed have a little sister who followed her everywhere. But it had been so long that his memories were rather hazy.

If he kept coming here for breakfast, he would probably run into her sooner or later.

But after awakening his attribute panel, Chen Jue had lost all interest in romance.

How could dating possibly be as thrilling or satisfying as training?

"You boys spend a little time in the city, and then every last one of you starts copying city people and marrying late. Those other boys from our primary school class are just like you. Almost thirty and still unmarried, with their families nagging them to death..."

Listening to Lin Mengruo complain, Chen Jue felt so awkward he practically wanted to dig himself a three-bedroom apartment with his toes.

Then again, at his age, discussions of marriage seemed to have become an ordinary part of life.

If he had not awakened this attribute panel, returned to his old home in the countryside, and picked up a martial art along the way, Chen Jue would probably still be struggling to make a living in Hangzhou.

When the time was right, he would find a reasonably suitable girl whose personality matched his, marry her, have children, carry on the family line, shed his country-boy label, and live an unremarkable city life.

But would you truly be content with a life like that?

Chen Jue asked himself this question, but for a moment, he had no answer.

He glanced again at Lin Mengruo as she held her daughter and fed her breakfast. Beneath her pretty, smiling face, he could just make out the fatigue of caring for a child and the weariness of a busy life. A realization jolted him awake. This isn't the life I want!