Leaving the teaching building, Jiang Lan headed straight for the training room.
Xiao Feng had already granted him access to the astral condensation realm training room. All he had to do was swipe his student ID.
He pushed the door open and went inside. The training room was empty.
Perfect.
He had wanted to test himself ever since leveling up, but the classroom had too many prying eyes.
The empty training room was exactly what he needed.
Jiang Lan stood on the track, warmed up briefly, then took his starting stance.
He launched himself forward in one smooth burst.
"Beep-"
[97.2 m/s]
He was much faster than last time, though the increase wasn't outrageous.
His agility hadn't increased. The improvement in speed came entirely from his greater strength giving him more explosive power.
Still, Jiang Lan was quite satisfied with that number.
He nodded and walked over to the Punch Force Tester.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Lan adjusted his stance and drove a punch into the Punch Force Tester in front of him.
Bang, bang, bang!
A series of sharp cracks exploded through the air.
Finally, his fist struck the machine.
Boom!
With a deafening crash, the Punch Force Tester's springs compressed in an instant.
Fortunately, this machine had been designed for astral condensation realm martial artists.
If he had used the one in the classroom, he probably would have wrecked it on the spot.
The numbers on the display raced upward before finally settling.
[13,472 kg]
Thirteen thousand four hundred.
Even Jiang Lan froze for a moment when he saw the number.
His last result had been just over seven thousand eight hundred.
In other words, his punching force had jumped by five thousand six hundred?
The threshold for the astral condensation realm was eight thousand, and he had already far surpassed it.
That early-stage astral condensation realm student from the Heavenly Martial Academy could manage a little over ten thousand at most.
Thirteen thousand against ten thousand.
I've got the advantage!
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Lan walked over to the control panel and deleted the test records.
Growing quickly wasn't a problem, but it was better not to let people discover such an absurd rate of progress too soon.
At least he should give everyone else some time to adjust.
After all, only a few days had passed. If his punching force doubled again out of nowhere, it would be a little hard to explain.
He could just surprise them in the arena when the exchange tournament came around.
Turning off the equipment, Jiang Lan strolled out of the training room with his hands clasped behind his back.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Jiang Lan's life remained as regular as ever.
On school days, he trained at the Academy, then put in extra work in the gang condensation level training room after class.
On days without classes, he went out of the city with Shen Qingqiu whenever the opportunity arose.
During this time, the Rocket Class's training had become considerably more intense. Xiao Feng was clearly putting everything into making the Rocket Class shine at the exchange tournament.
But no matter how much the intensity increased, it hardly made a difference to Jiang Lan.
The others, however, had made substantial progress.
At the start of the month.
After class, Jiang Lan said to Xiao Feng:
"Sir, I'd like to use this month's Spiritual Energy Chamber session today."
"Sure." Naturally, Xiao Feng had no objections. "Come with me."
The two arrived outside the Spiritual Energy Chamber, one following the other.
Xiao Feng said:
"Same rules as before. Come out when you can't take it anymore."
"Don't worry."
Jiang Lan gave his assurance.
The metal door slowly opened, and dense spiritual energy immediately washed over him.
Jiang Lan stepped into the chamber.
It felt just like last time: warm, comfortable, and filled with mist.
A luxury sauna. Now that's more like it.
Almost at the same moment, the system panel appeared in front of Jiang Lan.
[High-concentration spiritual energy environment detected] [Spiritual energy can replace fierce beast blood essence for upgrades] [Current upgrade progress: second-tier fierce beast blood essence 16/16]
Jiang Lan secretly clenched his fists.
Hell yeah. More freebies.
Last time, he had gotten an entire level for free. He wondered how much he could get this time.
Let's get to it!
Jiang Lan focused his mind and threw punch after punch.
Spiritual energy surged into his body like a tide.
The number on the panel gradually decreased as well.
After half an hour, it had fallen from sixteen bottles to twelve.
After an hour, from twelve to seven.
Two hours later...
[Upgrade requirements met] [Upgrade indestructible diamond body?]
Looking at the information on the panel, Jiang Lan spoke without the slightest hesitation:
"Upgrade!"
[Indestructible diamond body advanced to level twelve!] [Defense +120, blood and qi +1,200, constitution +100]
A warm current swept through his entire body once more.
All his skin seemed to have been tempered, becoming tougher and denser.
It wasn't just his skin. Jiang Lan felt that even his internal organs had become much sturdier than before.
After a long while, the warm current finally faded.
Jiang Lan moved his body around. He felt a sense of solidity throughout his entire frame, yet it was incredibly comfortable, as though he had gained an invisible layer of armor.
He looked at the system panel.
[Host: Jiang Lan] [Realm: meridian opening] [Indestructible diamond body: level twelve] [Defense: 780] [Blood and qi: 8,550] [Strength: 208.8] [Spirit: 121] [Agility: 99.5] [Constitution: 180] [Upgrade requirement: second-tier fierce beast blood essence ×32]
Awesome!
His defense was nearing eight hundred, and his blood and qi had reached eight thousand five hundred.
Even if he couldn't beat a blood exchange realm expert head-on yet, Jiang Lan reckoned that someone at that realm wouldn't be able to break through his defense either.
The upgrade requirement had doubled again, but that wasn't a big problem.
He had saved up another twelve bottles of second-tier essence blood this month, and he could collect this month's blood essence allotment shortly.
He could either make another trip to the Wilderness Zone in a couple of days.
Or he could wait for the tournament to begin.
Xiao Feng had said that everyone who placed would receive a reward.
It was only first place. For him now, that would be a breeze.
Dismissing the panel, Jiang Lan pushed open the chamber's door.
Waiting outside, Xiao Feng saw Jiang Lan emerge and glanced down at his watch.
A little over two hours again.
Not particularly long, but not short either.
In truth, Jiang Lan could have stayed a while longer if he wanted.
But there was no real need.
The spiritual energy in the Spiritual Energy Chamber wasn't limitless.
After a little over two hours, he had almost used it all up. Even if he stayed longer, the effects would be far weaker than at the start.
Looking at Jiang Lan, Xiao Feng asked:
"The exchange tournament is in another half a month. Feeling confident?"
"Don't worry, sir. It's just first place. Sit back and watch."
Xiao Feng wasn't surprised by Jiang Lan's brimming confidence.
After all, he had watched Jiang Lan grow every step of the way.
For someone who could kill a Third-Tier Ferocious Beast alone, taking first place in a tournament like this was hardly unreasonable.
Besides, another month had passed. He reckoned Jiang Lan's physical abilities must have improved considerably again.
He simply hadn't organized another test yet.
"Good," Xiao Feng said. "There's nothing else to do here. Since it's the start of the month, you can go collect your allotment. Your benefits have already been adjusted. Just swipe your student ID."
"Got it!"
At that, Jiang Lan said excitedly:
"I'll be off then, sir."
"Mm..."
Watching Jiang Lan hurry away, Xiao Feng's gaze grew complicated.
This kid... why did it feel like he'd changed so much again after coming out of the Spiritual Energy Chamber this time?