Earth, Huaxia, Jiangnan Base City, Yangzhou City, Mingyue Residential Area.
The sun had long since set. On the second-floor balcony of Villa 069 in Mingyue Residential Area, a delicate-featured young man lay on a lounge chair, gazing up at the stars.
As a third-year high school student, Jiang Xian was average at martial arts, with a current punching strength of 800 kg. He qualified as an advanced student, but he still had quite a way to go before the Quasi-Warrior Assessment.
He had transmigrated into this world eighteen years ago. His starting circumstances were fairly good: both his parents were War General Level, and his family had a War God Level powerhouse.
However, Jiang Xian's talent was rather ordinary. Despite using plenty of resources, his punching strength was still only 800 kg, making him just a little stronger than an ordinary person. In the Swallowed Star World, that could only be rated as utter trash.
When Jiang Xian first transmigrated, he had been full of ambition, too. But his Golden Finger had never arrived, and he was finding it a little hard to hold his head high.
So after finishing elementary school in Kyoto Base City, he had strongly insisted that his parents transfer him to Jiangnan Base City, where he could attend the same middle school as Luo Feng.
Now Jiang Xian and Luo Feng both attended Yi'an District No. 3 High School in Yangzhou City, Jiangnan Base City. They were as close as blood brothers, despite sharing neither a father nor a mother.
To play it safe, Jiang Xian had indulged himself with a little abuse of influence, finding Luo Feng's parents fairly good, easy jobs along the way. Surely that would guarantee him at least an Immortal.
Jiang Xian closed his eyes and lay there looking utterly done with life, thinking, Generally speaking, if you still haven't gotten a Golden Finger by eighteen, things look pretty grim. Surely it can't be a "don't look down on an impoverished old man" kind of Golden Finger! Surely not?
Suddenly, a ding rang out in his mind.
To Jiang Xian, it was like heavenly music clearing his ears. He immediately jumped out of his lounge chair.
"Ding! Congratulations on joining the Heavenly Chat Group and becoming its owner."
Jiang Xian studied the chat group for a while and found that it closely resembled the QQ chat groups from his previous life.
Looking at the chat group interface, he saw only himself listed at the top as the group owner. How was he supposed to add members?
"Search for group members?" Just as Jiang Xian was considering how to add members, a prompt suddenly appeared in the chat group.
"Yes," Jiang Xian quickly replied in his mind.
"Searching for group members." Jiang Xian saw a loading screen in the chat group. It would probably take a while to find members.
Just then, he seemed to hear another ding. It sounded a little different from before.
[Ding, Talent System successfully bound.] [Ding! Draw a talent?]
"Huh? Two Golden Fingers. Draw!" A smile curled Jiang Xian's lips, and he could barely contain himself.
[Draw successful!] [Obtained first talent: Built-in Fountain!] [Built-in Fountain: Restores 20% of your maximum health and mana every second.]
Jiang Xian focused on the talent. A stream of information suddenly flooded his mind.
This was a system for drawing talents. Starting from this first talent draw, he would be able to draw again on days increasing geometrically by powers of three.
He would draw his first talent on day one.
He would draw his second talent on day three.
He would draw his third talent on day nine.
And so on. On day 6,561, he would draw his ninth talent. Once he had nine talents, the draw intervals would change to multiples of nine. The system was that simple and blunt.
After figuring out the drawing rules, Jiang Xian turned his attention to the talent he had just drawn.
Jiang Xian felt that Built-in Fountain was probably a talent that would grow stronger the later things progressed.
It was not all that powerful early on. Once he reached Immortal, it would really start pulling its weight. In the early stages, it should make him invincible within his own realm, an unlimited artillery battery.
But later, at the Immortal and Universe Venerable realms, his divine body would fully recover in five seconds. Just thinking about it was terrifying.
He really would recover more than he lost from taking hits. If he also had a clone with an enormous divine body, he would truly be a cockroach that refused to die.
Jiang Xian decided to try out the talent's recovery effect. He went down from the second floor to the first-floor training room and performed a set of the Basic Fist Technique. He did not even feel any stamina being consumed.
He really did recover more than he expended punching. He then went to the first-floor kitchen, picked up a kitchen knife, and lightly cut his finger. The wound had only just appeared when it healed the next instant. It had not even taken a second.
Jiang Xian easily kept his composure and returned to the training room, where he performed ten sets of the Basic Fist Technique. He discovered that he seemingly did not need to rest at all. Even his mental energy recovered instantly.
Jiang Xian checked the chat group again. Seeing that it was still searching for members, he looked away.
Having just received his Golden Fingers—and two of them at that—he was a little too excited to sleep at all, so Jiang Xian practiced his punches in the training room all night.
Early the next morning.
Jiang Xian emerged from the training room brimming with energy. Shortly afterward, he left Mingyue Residential Area for the Limit Hall. He had arranged to meet Luo Feng there today to test their strength.
Luo Feng's punching strength was around 870 kg. Thanks to a little help from Jiang Xian, he was slightly stronger than in the original story, just a tiny step away from becoming a Quasi-Martial Artist.
Then there was Jiang Xian himself, whose punching strength hovered around 800 kg, the level of an advanced student.
An hour later.
Jiang Xian ran into Luo Feng at the main entrance of the Limit Hall.
Jiang Xian grinned, strode forward, and gave Luo Feng's shoulder a firm pat, his eyes full of interest in the show to come. "How's it going, Madman? Feeling closer and closer to the Quasi-Martial Artist standard? Nervous? I'm all ready to watch you stun everyone-or fall flat on your face right here."
Luo Feng waved a hand. "Xian, I don't know either. I came to test myself today. Hopefully, I can meet the Quasi-Martial Artist standard."
"Beep!" Jiang Xian and Luo Feng swiped their student cards at the entrance and entered the hall.
Jiang Xian looked around, muttering inwardly, The Limit Hall alone looks this grand. I really want to see what those top organizations out in the universe look like.
"Hello, Senior Jiang Xian!"
"Hello, Senior Luo Feng!"
As they walked into the hall, quite a few students greeted them along the way. Jiang Xian cheerfully waved back, looking entirely at ease.
Soon, the two reached the third floor of the advanced students' teaching building and headed toward the Punch Strength Tester in the training hall.
Usually, Jiang Xian, Luo Feng, and Wei Wen mostly trained in the training room at Jiang Xian's home. But now that Luo Feng was only a step away from becoming a Quasi-Martial Artist, the two had come specifically to the hall to test their limits using proper equipment.
Jiang Xian stepped up to the punching machine first and casually loosened his muscles and joints, looking relaxed. Executing the Basic Fist Technique, he gathered all his strength into his right fist and swung it forward.
"Bang!"
His fist slammed into the Punch Strength Tester. Numbers slowly appeared on the screen: "810 kg."
Jiang Xian raised an eyebrow, inwardly grumbling, Tsk, Built-in Fountain only gives me endurance, not a power boost. Relying purely on physical training makes progress painfully slow. Looks like I'll have to find another way if I want to get stronger fast.
"All right, all right, your turn to take the stage, Madman. The main character moment everyone's been waiting for!" Jiang Xian stepped aside, folded his arms, and watched Luo Feng with interest, looking every bit the spectator enjoying the show.
Luo Feng focused and gathered his strength, then punched the machine with all his might.
A number flashed onto the machine's screen: "891 kg."
Jiang Xian whistled and teased, "Damn, that's some serious progress! There's still more than a month before the college entrance exams. At this rate, you'll easily reach the threshold for Quasi-Martial Artist. Your future's looking limitless!"
The two then tested their speed: Jiang Xian reached 23.4 meters per second, and Luo Feng reached 24.3 meters per second.
Jiang Xian hooked an arm around Luo Feng's shoulders, grinning. "Not bad, Madman! You're about to become a Quasi-Martial Artist! Don't you dare forget me once you make it big. If you strike it rich, remember your old friend!"
Recalling all the help Jiang Xian had given him along the way, Luo Feng grew especially earnest. "Xian, no matter when, you'll always be my best brother."
Seeing how solemn he was, Jiang Xian felt a little moved, but he kept his easygoing expression and continued, "By the way, Madman, you're about to make your push for Quasi-Martial Artist. Are you still planning to take the college entrance exams?"
"No. I'm going to become a Quasi-Martial Artist before the exams, then join the Limit Hall," Luo Feng answered firmly.
The smile on Jiang Xian's face faded a little as he gave Luo Feng a serious reminder, though his tone remained somewhat light. "Then you'd better take it seriously. After the tests, there's still the combat assessment. Only after you clear every hurdle will you count as a true martial artist. Keep at it. I'm waiting to witness Madman's official rise!"
"La la la la la! What a wonderful day!" Jiang Xian hummed as he walked home.
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