A New Profession

[Student]

[Profession requirements: complete one instance of learning knowledge, 1 Class Change Stone]

[Martial Artist]

[Profession requirements: Jing attribute above 1, proficiency in a Jing cultivation method, 2 Class Change Stones]

[Qi Refiner]

[Profession requirements: all three attributes above 1.5, proficiency in cultivation methods for Jing, Qi, and Shen, 3 Class Change Stones]

"I see!"

"Looking at it this way, ordinary profession requirements fall into three categories: attributes, skills, and Class Change Stones."

"Professions like [Martial Artist] and [Qi Refiner] also have attribute requirements."

"What about a [Transmigrator] like me, or an [Immortal Cultivator] or [Cultivator]?"

The [Profession Guidance] skill gave no response to that request.

Wang An figured that professions truly involving supernatural powers required other conditions, or perhaps those professions simply didn't exist.

Thinking about those professions, Wang An decided that action was better than wishful thinking.

The Avatar appeared in the room.

He was dressed head to toe in hiking gear, standing only 1.6 meters tall, with a lean build and nimble hands and feet. His face was so ordinary that he would disappear in a crowd.

He picked up the flashlight from home and carefully went downstairs.

It was already past ten, and his parents were asleep by now. As long as he was careful, they wouldn't notice.

Just like that, the original body stayed home to study the meteorite landing sites and routes, while the Avatar went out to collect them. It was action in full swing.

By the early hours of the morning, the Avatar had found the three meteorites closest to the village.

Looking at the meteorites with their mysterious patterns in the space, Wang An sank into an exhausted sleep.

At nine the next morning, an alarm woke Wang An.

He went downstairs to wash up and eat. His mother had already left for work, and his father had gone out to do some work, so nobody else was home.

After eating, Wang An took a walk around the village and released the Avatar while no one was looking. The Avatar headed straight for the woods.

Wang An returned to his room and began meeting the requirements for the [Student] profession.

"I already have a Class Change Stone. All that's left is to finish learning something."

Wang An opened a short-video app on his phone, searched for videos teaching Taijiquan, and started learning.

He first watched one carefully, then followed along as he watched it again.

Finally, he went through it once on his own. After roughly half an hour, he was finally done.

[Knowledge learning (completed)]

[Incomplete Taijiquan (not initiated, 0/100)]

Yet the Taijiquan he had just learned was incomplete.

"It should be because I only have the forms, without the techniques or cultivation methods, and I only know of the underlying principles."

Wang An felt that because this style of martial arts was incomplete, the progress bar might remain like this forever.

But there was something more important to do, so he put that aside for now.

Wang An took a Class Change Stone out of the space and silently said, Take the [Student] profession.

The mysterious patterns on the Class Change Stone gradually disappeared, and information in his mind told him he had successfully taken the profession.

He brought up the panel.

[Name: Wang An

Jing: 1

Qi: 1

Shen: 2

Talent: Avatar

Professions: intelligent life-form, student]

[Student]

Function: improves learning efficiency (in any learning activity, makes it easier to find learning methods suited to oneself, improving learning efficiency)

Skill: Focus, greatly increases learning speed based on the strength and amount of Shen.

Consumption formula: Shen × soul strength × (1 + amount used / 10) = learning speed; duration (amount used (cannot be below 0.5) / 10 × 60 minutes = duration).

Seeing this information, Wang An understood what the profession did.

In a word: "learning."

Not only did it passively guide him toward learning methods, it also gave him a godly skill for active learning, greatly increasing the speed and efficiency with which he could take other professions.

The key was the [Focus] ability. He took out his phone and began calculating his learning speed.

"But I don't know what my soul strength is. As a transmigrator, mine should be a little stronger than an ordinary person's, right? And what does 'amount used' mean?"

Wang An put these questions to the panel, and it immediately returned the information.

"A little inflexible."

[Soul strength: 2.2]

[Mental power: 2 (must not fall below 0.5)]

"More than twice that of an ordinary person?"

"Let's keep calculating learning speed. I'll use up all the Shen attribute I can and see what the maximum speed is."

2 × 2.2 × 1.15 = 5.06 times

1.5 ÷ 10 × 60 = 9 minutes

"I have my Shen attribute and soul strength to thank for getting this much."

"An ordinary person might only get around 1.5 times. There's no comparison at all."

"Take martial arts, for example. By the time an ordinary person has learned one move, Wang An has learned a whole set, taking one-third as much time as an ordinary person."

In fact, if not for Wang An's exceptional Shen attribute and soul strength, the profession's ability could only be said to improve an ordinary person's learning efficiency a little, not enough to reach the level of a genius.

But with this profession, Wang An's learning efficiency was brought all the way up to the level of an academician.

Even though the skill's duration was still rather short, it was enough for learning the abilities of some professions.

As for how it worked in practice, practice was the source of true knowledge.

Wang An went online again, looking for breathing methods and standing exercises to go with Taiji.

On the first pass, he focused on memorization and familiarization, deciding to practice Wuji Standing and natural abdominal breathing first.

He cleared a space.

"[Focus], activate!"

Wang An felt a rush of clarity in his mind, which began working at tremendous speed.

Things that had been muddled quickly became clear. Following the video's explanations, his approach to learning opened right up, and he became immersed in it.

He stood relaxed, one hand resting lightly against his lower abdomen.

As he inhaled, he let his lower abdomen rise slightly, feeling his breath sink into his dantian. As he exhaled, his lower abdomen drew inward naturally, and he felt turbid qi leave his body. He repeated the cycle, gradually growing proficient.

He grasped the practice techniques clearly: his breathing had to be natural, without forcibly expanding or contracting his abdomen.

As a beginner, he only needed to guide it with his mind and gradually make it a habit.

Next came Wuji Standing, which he practiced while watching the video.

For his posture, he had to stand naturally with his feet parallel and shoulder-width apart.

His knees were slightly bent, neither fully straight nor clearly bent. His upper body was upright, his waist relaxed and hips lowered, his chest slightly hollowed and back lifted, with his arms hanging naturally at his sides.

His fingers were naturally extended, his chin slightly tucked, and the crown of his head gently lifted.

Relaxing his whole body, he gained an entirely new understanding of Taijiquan. He checked and relaxed each joint from top to bottom.

He imagined himself as a tree, his feet taking root and the crown of his head reaching for the sky, his body and mind merging with nature.

Combining this with the breathing method, he progressed step by step until it gradually became second nature.

Wang An felt his whole body gradually loosen, no longer as stiff as before.

His hands and feet grew nimble, and a warm current rose from the soles of his feet and flowed through his entire body. His body quickly heated up, and beads of sweat began to appear.

Just like that, the duration of [Focus] ended. A sense of heaviness washed over him, and his head throbbed so badly that he had to stop and rest.

He closed his eyes and rested for a while before slowly coming back to himself.

[Mental power: 0.5 (recovering)]

He thought to himself.

Looks like I can't use so much mental power all at once again.

If I keep [mental power] around 1, the side effects shouldn't be this bad.

After recovering his ability to think, Wang An simply ate lunch and took a break, lying down while keeping an eye on what the Avatar was doing.

Only when [mental power] returned to around 1 did he begin organizing what he had gained earlier: his insights and experiences, techniques and methods. He formed a complete cycle of learning, feedback, revision, and further learning.

[Basic Taijiquan (initiated, 5/100)]

Looking at the progress bar, Wang An breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"It's finally complete."

"Now that proficiency is displayed, it's more intuitive. It can also give me feedback on what I've learned and show me whether I'm practicing in the wrong direction."

He continued practicing the breathing method and standing exercise until dinner that evening, by which time Wang An was already handling this set of "internal techniques" with ease.

[Jing: 1.01]

[Basic Taijiquan (initiated, 15/100)]

After checking the feedback, Wang An estimated that he could reach the next stage in a few days.

The slight improvement in his attribute was pretty good too. He really was progressing at rocket speed.

Back in his room, Wang An began planning which professions he needed to take.

"Since the meteor shower is made up of Class Change Stones, profession holders will definitely gradually come to occupy the top ranks of the world."

"If the [Student] profession alone has these abilities, what about the others?"

"Do [Martial Artist] and [Qi Refiner] have all sorts of other skills too?"

Professions such as administrators, soldiers, police officers, and scientists, which required advanced technical skills and knowledge to enter, might provide even greater skill bonuses once taken.

Wang An wasn't worried about falling behind other people.

After all, his base stats spoke for themselves.

By making good use of these professions' abilities, he would surely become stronger and stronger.

So the next thing to consider was that, in any future competition for Class Change Stones, the means to protect himself would be the most crucial.

There was no point thinking about firearms and the like; he definitely couldn't get them. That made archery and martial arts his first choices.

"If I can avoid close combat, I'll avoid it as much as possible."

"A bow and arrows will be my main means of attack, capable of effectively killing a target at 20 to 40 meters."

"If I can take the profession, my offensive ability will be considerable."

Wang An checked the requirements for the Archer profession.