At noon, in Lu Yu's home.
It was the weekend, and his wife had just returned from work. The two children had just returned from school, and the whole family was eating together.
However, tomorrow was the day of the Federation Martial Arts Trial. Lu Yu's test was a major matter concerning all, and the entire family was somewhat nervous.
Looking at Lu Yu nervously, Giovanna consoled him, "Old man, it will be fine. Just do your best. You don't have to force yourself. You've worked hard for us for most of your life. You've done enough."
Lu Shan patted his chest and said confidently, "Dad, it's fine. It's fine even if you drop from the Martial Arts Warrior level. I'll grow up and support the entire family!"
"That's right, Dad." At his side, Lu Shui nodded slightly and said, "We're not young anymore. We'll grow up and become your strong support soon. You don't have to worry too much."
Lu Yu was well aware of his own strength. Even if he wasn't extremely wealthy, he certainly wouldn't have any problems feeding his whole family.
However, there was no need to explain too much at this time. If he talked too much, they might not believe him.
"All right, I know. Let's eat," Lu Yu said with a smile.
After dinner, the family sat together and chatted.
As for Lu Yu, he naturally got up and went upstairs to the attic, to continue developing his skills.
Some of the New Orleans Aquila poultry meat that he had eaten earlier had yet to be digested. Lu Yu continued to practice the Great Dao Heaven Devouring Skill to refine the last of the Aquila poultry meat.
Late at night, Lu Yu had completely refined it and his strength had risen a bit.
Just as he was about to rest, a notification appeared in front of him.
[Ding! Detected that host has eaten a complete D-rank Aquila. Skill obtained: Critical Hit Enhancement!]
Seeing this notification, Lu Yu was caught by surprise. He didn't expect that eating a complete Aquila would yield such a good reward.
It seemed that he would have to pay more attention when he ate other things in the future. He would try to eat the complete item so that he could get more rewards!
Lu Yu hurriedly checked his newly acquired skill.
[Critical Hit Enhancement]
Level: E-class
Effect: Passive skill. You can choose to activate it or shut it off. After activating it, when you use your full strength, you can easily deal critical hit damage. Damage can increase by 10% to 100%!
Seeing the effect, Lu Yu was overjoyed. It was actually a passive skill that could increase damage.
The range of improvement couldn't be compared to the Furnace skill or the Great Dao Heaven Devouring Skill, but it didn't clash with the first two. It could be used at the same time to overlap and increase its multiplication factor!
Lu Yu really wanted to test the power of this Critical Hit Enhancement skill, but it was already too late at night. Moreover, he had broken two testing stones in this area in a row so Lu Yu was feeling a bit embarrassed. In the end he decided to wait until the morning of the Federation Martial Arts Trial to test it.
The next morning,
under the expectant gaze of his family who were sending him off, Lu Yu left and made his way to the Trial venue. It was a giant stadium.
After filling in the information, Lu Yu waited on one side.
At this moment, an elderly man who had lost almost all his white hair saw Lu Yu. He walked over accompanied by a young man.
"Oh my, isn't this Lu Yu? The 'great hero' from back then? How's your strength now?" The old man greeted him with a beaming face. However, his words sounded a bit strange and creepy.
Lu Yu glanced at him and remembered that the old man's name was Zhang Hong. He was Lu Yu's old classmate and old war comrade.
The two of them were already not on good terms when they were still students.
Later, after the Holy War, when they faced powerful Fearsome Beasts once more, Zhang Hong advocated avoiding them and waiting for the strong experts to arrive.
However, at that time, Lu Yu had been in a hurry to save the civilians and had advocated fighting together, giving their best shot.
In the end, the team listened to Lu Yu's suggestion, and Zhang Hong had no choice but to tag along.
End of the day, they managed to save those civilians successfully and kill that powerful Fearsome Beast. However, their party suffered heavy losses as well.
Both Lu Yu and Zhang Hong had sustained injuries during that battle, which had resulted in their skills evolution not going smoothly after the war.
Because of this, Zhang Hong had always believed that it was Lu Yu's fault, so he had always held grudges against him.
Zhang Hong looked around and saw that Lu Yu had come to take the test alone. He immediately said with a proud smile, "How come you're so lonely at such an old age? Look at me, I brought my grandson here to take the test. My grandson is 16 years old this year, and he had just awakened and advanced to a Martial Arts Warrior. He's so slow."
The people nearby who were here for the Trial heard this and cast curious looks in their direction.
Awakening to become a Martial Arts Warrior at the age of 16 was considered a fairly good talent.
Zhang Hong's grandson also had a self-gloating look on his face, but he pretended to be dissatisfied and said, "Ah, it's all my fault. If I had worked a bit harder, I might have been able to successfully awaken and become a Martial Arts Warrior at 15 years of age instead. Becoming a Martial Arts Warrior at 16 years of age is really slow!"
Zhang Hong peered at Lu Yu with a smile and then pretended to ask, "Old classmate, how is your grandson? You're so strong, you're the 'great hero' of the past. I'm sure your grandson must be very powerful, right?"
Lu Yu simply smiled and ignored him completely.
Soon, all the participants filled out their information and the Trial began.
Lu Yu and Zhang Hong happened to be allocated to the same test zone.
Soon, it was Zhang Hong's turn.
After a full-strength punch, the testing stone didn't move at all, but Zhang Hong was sweating profusely and gasping for breath.
Fortunately for him, the monitoring device beside the testing stone displayed 1,002. Zhang Hong barely managed to maintain his position as a Grade 1 Martial Arts Warrior.
However, those with discerning eyes could see that Zhang Hong barely managed to hold on to the level of an entry-level Martial Arts Warrior. He could maintain his status as a Martial Arts Warrior for a year and receive another year's allowance. He would definitely not be able to do so next year.
But even so, it was considered very good. At his age, if he could still maintain his status as a Martial Arts Warrior for a year, it was considered a happy outcome.
Immediately, the people nearby went up to congratulate him, especially the older ones. Some of them were even a little envious.
"Congratulations, Old Zhang. You're still strong for your age!"
"Old Zhang, you're amazing! You can actually maintain your Martial Arts Warrior status for another year. Impressive, impressive!"
"If only I were as good as Old Zhang."
"…"
Hearing the congratulatory well wishes from the people around him, Zhang Hong's mood was also very good. He didn't expect that he could still hold on to the status of an entry-level Martial Arts Warrior. This was truly a joyous occasion.
"Hey, Old Zhang, haven't you finished the Trial? Why are you still here?" Someone asked curiously.
Zhang Hong smiled and said, "I'll hang around for a while more before leaving. I want to look at Lu Yu and see how far our 'great hero' has progressed, haha!"
Those who knew Zhang Hong and Lu Yu knew very well what had happened between them. They instantly realized that Zhang Hong wanted to stay and watch Lu Yu make a fool of himself.
Both of them were very old, especially Lu Yu, who was even older than Zhang Hong.
Since Zhang Hong was only barely able to maintain the strength of an entry-level Martial Arts Warrior, Lu Yu would naturally struggle even more.
As the Trial progressed,
some were happy while others were sad. There were young people whose strength had improved, and they were extremely happy. There were also old people whose strength had declined, and they had bitter expressions.
Soon, it was Lu Yu's turn. He stepped forward.
"Old Lu." The tester greeted him with a slight nod to show his respect. After all, he was a warrior who had participated in the Holy War.
However, he wasn't too hopeful about Lu Yu's test. After all, Lu Yu was already 90 years old.
Lu Yu arrived in front of the testing stone. The first test was the bare fist punch. He struck out with his fist.
The tester beside him widened his eyes. The strength of this punch did not seem weak at all!