Five days passed in a flash.
Over those few days, Jiang Lan's life had fallen into an exceptionally regular routine.
On school days, he went to the Academy and practiced Body Technique with Xiao Feng. After class, he continued practicing Iron Mountain Fist, then went home at dusk.
When he had no classes, he stayed home studying the technique manual, repeatedly pondering its key principles.
After several days, his progress with Iron Mountain Fist was considerably faster than he had expected.
Jiang Lan attributed this to his Mental Attribute.
His intelligence wasn't quite monstrous, but he was indeed much smarter than before, and his ability to apply what he learned to new situations had improved considerably.
His comprehension and memory, in particular, were far better than the average person's.
Although he still hadn't fully mastered the technique, every punch he threw now carried at least twice as much force as before.
As for further improvement, repetitive drills alone wouldn't do much anymore.
If he wanted to improve further, he needed actual combat.
Early that morning, Jiang Lan heard movement in the room next door.
An idea struck him. He immediately pulled on his Combat Uniform and ran into the living room.
Shen Qingqiu opened his door, saw Jiang Lan dressed in a Combat Uniform, and twitched the corner of his mouth.
"What are you up to?"
"Hehe..." Jiang Lan grinned. "Last time you went out of the city, Auntie, I had school. Today's my day off, so of course I'm coming to the Wilderness Zone with you."
"Besides, I feel like I've gotten much better at my fist technique. This is the perfect chance to try it out."
"All right." Since Jiang Lan had put it that way, Shen Qingqiu didn't refuse. "Come downstairs with me."
Everyone had already gathered in the City Guard compound.
Nobody found it strange that Jiang Lan had tagged along again.
Zhao Gang came over with a grin.
"Back again, brother? Getting addicted?"
Jiang Lan grinned too. "I missed you, Brother Zhao! A day apart feels like three years."
Zhao Gang waved his hands repeatedly.
"Give it a rest, little brother. Stop teasing me."
"Hahaha."
Everyone shared a laugh, then boarded the vehicles and set off.
Their destination was still the Northern Suburbs Ruins.
Once they arrived, the three squads split up.
This time, before Jiang Lan even had to ask, Shen Qingqiu said:
"Go on. Meet back here in two hours."
"You got it, Auntie."
Jiang Lan answered, left the group, and headed deeper into the ruins alone.
After leaving the group, Jiang Lan took a deep breath and loosened up his wrists.
Hunting Ferocious Beasts was one reason he had come out of the city today, but more importantly, he wanted to test Iron Mountain Fist in actual combat.
After so many days of practice, he had to try it out to know whether it really worked.
He hadn't gone far when a familiar roar came from up ahead.
"Raaagh!"
An Ironback Wolf sprang out of the ruins, its scarlet eyes fixed on Jiang Lan. With a low growl, it lunged straight at him.
Jiang Lan adjusted his stance slightly, lowering his center of gravity and planting both feet firmly on the ground.
The instant the Ironback Wolf reached him, Jiang Lan drove his foot hard against the ground.
Power surged up from his feet, through his waist and hips, driving his shoulder and arm.
Thud!
With a dull impact, Jiang Lan's fist struck the Ironback Wolf squarely in the head.
"Awooo!"
The Ironback Wolf jerked as though struck by lightning. A large section of its skull caved in, and the tremendous force flipped its entire body over. It slammed into the ground, its limbs twitching twice before it went completely still.
One punch, one kill. Clean and decisive.
Jiang Lan looked at the Ironback Wolf on the ground and raised his eyebrows slightly.
Damn. Not bad.
Previously, he could also kill Ironback Wolves with one punch, but most of the time, he sent them flying, and they still struggled a few times before dying.
This punch, however, had smashed the Ironback Wolf's head in before it even had a chance to struggle.
It seemed all those days of hard practice had been worth it.
Gathering his thoughts, Jiang Lan walked over to the Ironback Wolf's carcass and began processing it.
After putting away its blood essence and Beast Core, Jiang Lan continued onward.
For the next hour or so, he once again swept through the ruins, crushing everything in his path.
This time, however, he consciously used Iron Mountain Fist's method of generating force.
At first, his success rate wasn't very consistent.
But as his kill count grew, he gradually reached the point where almost every punch delivered twice the force.
One punch, one kill. One punch, one kill.
With his efficiency improving, Jiang Lan's hunting speed increased considerably as well.
An hour and a half later, Jiang Lan took stock of his haul.
Sixteen bottles of blood essence and sixteen Beast Cores.
Five more than last time.
The only pity was that he hadn't encountered any second-tier beasts today.
And this lousy place was full of nothing but Ironback Wolves. There wasn't even any variety.
Tsk...
When would I get to try somewhere else?
First-tier Ferocious Beasts were now practically made of paper as far as he was concerned.
Shaking his head, Jiang Lan turned and headed back to the Rally Point.
At the Rally Point, after hearing about Jiang Lan's haul, Zhao Gang couldn't even be bothered to act surprised anymore.
"Brother, those Ironback Wolves really have rotten luck running into you."
"Hehe..." Jiang Lan chuckled.
A short while later, everyone had gathered. After checking the head count, Shen Qingqiu called for them to board the vehicles and head back.
On the return trip, Jiang Lan leaned back in his seat and silently did the math.
The twenty-one bottles I saved earlier, plus today's sixteen, makes thirty-seven.
That leaves twenty-seven to reach sixty-four.
The Academy will give me thirty bottles at the start of next month, bringing the total to sixty-seven.
Enough.
Not only enough to upgrade, but I'll have three bottles left over.
In other words, I just need to wait until the start of next month and collect the Academy's blood essence, then I can go straight up to the eighth level.
No... if I can go out of the city with Auntie twice more, I can also save up enough blood essence for the upgrade.
The thought filled Jiang Lan with delight.
He could spend that time practicing Iron Mountain Fist some more. Combined with the stat boost from the eighth level, his combat strength would take another huge leap.
By then, even second-tier vicious beasts would probably be no different to him than Ironback Wolves were now.
The vehicles sped along and returned to the City Guard compound.
Once they finished tallying their haul, Jiang Lan handed five Beast Cores to Shen Qingqiu as usual, asking her to distribute them among the others in the squad.
Although he had killed all those Ferocious Beasts himself, he couldn't keep everything to himself.
Most importantly, he couldn't put his auntie in an awkward position.
After saying goodbye to Zhao Gang and the others, Jiang Lan followed Shen Qingqiu into the off-road vehicle.
As they drove out of the compound, Shen Qingqiu held the steering wheel and asked casually:
"How did it feel today?"
Jiang Lan leaned back in his seat, thought for a moment, and said:
"Much smoother than last time. Iron Mountain Fist works pretty well. Now I can basically kill an Ironback Wolf with a single punch."
Hearing that, Shen Qingqiu turned his head to glance at Jiang Lan.
Indeed.
Jiang Lan was spotless this time. He didn't even look as though he had just returned from fighting in the Wilderness Zone.
A smile crept onto Shen Qingqiu's face.
The stronger Jiang Lan became, the happier he naturally felt as his auntie.
And he felt that Jiang Lan had somehow been getting more handsome lately.
It wasn't that his features had changed much. It was mainly his physique, and... his bearing?
Ever since Jiang Lan had awakened his special talent, there seemed to have been quite a change in the way he carried himself.