Tai Ping Residential Complex, Building Four, Sixth Floor.
Fang You was still lying on the floor, his chest heaving erratically, unable to get up.
He didn't want to get up either.
Too tired!
Although he wasn't as exhausted as he had been when training to the extreme in the state of endless practice—if not for being manipulated like a puppet, he would have fainted from exhaustion.
But now, he felt just as worn out as if he had run ten kilometers.
His whole body ached, his muscles sore and swollen.
Without checking the game interface, Fang You knew he was in an 'extremely fatigued' state.
"Is learning a skill always this exhausting?"
"It's true that I learned it in an instant, but..."
Sure enough, taking shortcuts comes at a price.
He had originally planned to learn 'Mysterious Evil Tracking' and 'Palm Thunder' as well, but now felt he had to take it slow.
Learning a common skill was already this damaging; would ascending to learn a rare skill completely hollow him out?
No, he was already hollowed out as it was.
If he continued...eh, is there such a thing as over-exhaustion?
"After mastering the basic swordsmanship, my physical condition improved from 1.3 to 1.6, which isn't bad, but the process was much more painful than using the Physical Fitness Elixir."
"But since my physical condition has improved, perhaps learning new skills next time will be somewhat easier?"
"So...before learning Mysterious Evil Tracking, should I first improve my proficiency in basic swordsmanship, thus enhancing my physical condition as well?"
He had quite a few skill training cards in his hand now.
The one left over from before, two from a mission, three from drawing cards.
That made six in total.
They couldn't all be used for himself, after all, Black Blade was his number one fighter, but he could use some...after all, he did provide long-range support, making a significant contribution.
He decided to use one card for the moment to elevate his basic swordsmanship to the proficient level.
It's just that...
"Judging by what happened when learning skills, improving proficiency will probably not be easy either."
"When I helped Black Blade improve, he seemed to have been in an 'exhausted' state for a while, didn't he?"
He hadn't noticed.
When controlling Black Blade, it was just a game of clicking, and some nuances only become apparent when experienced personally.
Poor Black Blade.
Before, he even crammed three training cards into Black Blade all at once, and it was a good thing he didn't burst.
Fang You was lying down and turned over.
"But Black Blade recovers his energy quite quickly; is it because of his inherently strong physique?"
Lying there for half an hour and still not wanting to get up, Fang You figured that probably wasn't the case.
His own energy had only recovered a tiny bit in that half-hour, still feeling weak.
The gap between himself and Black Blade couldn't be that big, could it?
"One possibility is that Black Blade is in a special space?"
"Like the Angel Envoy space?"
Having regained some energy, Fang You picked up his phone and started tapping away.
Currently, there were only four modules.
Apostle of Fate, Destiny Draw, Item Overview, Mission Dispatch.
Several other modules were greyed out with a lock symbol, indicating they were locked.
Certain conditions needed to be met to unlock them.
One important module was labeled 'Base'.
Fang You kept tapping, pressing hard, and perhaps annoyed by his persistent tapping, a ding resounded with a prompt that popped up.
'Owning three Angel Envoys unlocks the Base module, current condition: 2/3.'
Fang You: "...."
Well, he indeed prodded something out.
He wondered if Black Blade usually stayed inside the unbegun base.
Black Blade had recovered so quickly, could it be related to the base too?
"The condition was that I included myself in the count, but we still lacked one Apostle of Fate. The next extraction should probably pull one out, right?"
"The requirement for the next time is nine destiny points."
Nine destiny points were not that hard to come by; today alone he had earned 1.2 units, and it shouldn't take too long to gather the rest.
Easier than pulling a five-star character in some mobile games.
Only,
Could he really pull an Apostle of Fate?
Fang You felt he probably could.
"The chances for the third extraction will increase a lot, and it's likely to produce a blue-tier item. It makes sense that an apostle could come out."
"Will it continue to pull out special angels, or some from reality?"
"Will it be a hunk or a little sister, or perhaps a non-human?"
Fang You looked at the angel envoy list with only two men, a handsome guy and a hunk, yet there wasn't a single cutesy little sister, which was quite frustrating.
That envoy list, better not to look at it!
After resting for a while, during which Fang You took a hot shower, ate lunch, and took a nap,
when he naturally awoke, his spirit was full and his energy replenished.
He held the beginner's wooden sword in his hand, practicing each move—thrusting, leading, lifting, parrying... becoming familiar with the swordsmanship techniques.
His movements were not very proficient, but they were passable, at least not self-injurious.
Only, the living room was too narrow. He couldn't fully extend his movements. A complete set of swordsmanship techniques included footwork, but he had to stop halfway to shuffle around; otherwise, he would hit the furniture.
He also had to hold back a bit while performing some sword techniques, unable to execute them precisely, which felt awkward.
"After intermittently practicing a set of swordsmanship, my own game character's Basic Swordsmanship rose from 'Beginner 0%' to 'Beginner 0.06%'. It goes to show that daily training is beneficial."
He didn't feel much himself.
This thing, after all, required persistence. Training was never easy, but he could see noticeable improvement on his character panel, making it easier to keep up the exercise than others.
But it still wasn't easy.
"The techniques I just practiced weren't quite standard. If I could perform a complete set, maybe I could gain 0.1% proficiency, and about a thousand repetitions would get me to a proficient level."
"But a thousand repetitions..."
People get tired. The Basic Swordsmanship techniques needed to be standard, and just one set would consume a lot of energy.
A thousand times was definitely not easy.
So,
it's time to cheat!
Where I, Fang You, am today is all because I diligently played games.
He opened the item bar.
My turn, select the Skill Training Card, use it!
Suddenly,
as if the world spun around, when he came back to himself, he was already in a decrepit training ground, empty except for himself.
In his hands, he was holding a wooden sword,
already practicing on his own accord.
A classic rerun, if you will.
.....
Meanwhile,
outside Tai Ping Residential Complex, a few figures were also arriving.
Wei Nian, Ke Yuan, and several auxiliary workers.
The main duty of an investigator was to seek and eliminate Mysterious Evil. The entire bureau naturally couldn't just have its dozen or so investigators, nor let them waste energy on trivial matters.
There were more auxiliary personnel.
An investigation team usually had several auxiliary workers, but since the construction site had been confirmed to contain Mysterious Evil last time, to avoid collateral damage, the auxiliary staff stayed outside the cordon.
This time,
the personnel in charge of communication had gotten a clear understanding of the situation.