In the afternoon, the spacious practice room had only a dozen or so people diligently training.
Lin Xue, Yi Rui, and the other class geniuses each had their own small groups and had rented a club practice room.
Amidst the students practicing various forms of martial arts and weaponry, Chen Chu stood within the crowd, holding the knife behind him with one hand, his eyes slightly closed.
Prior to starting his training on the Mind's Eye, Chen Chu had never delved into this realm. But today, as he held his breath and concentrated, a faint image began to form in his mind.
With a spiritual attribute of 55, roughly five to six times that of an ordinary person, Chen Chu's potent spiritual power naturally expanded, encompassing a range of several meters around him.
Typically, a cultivator's spiritual power would naturally increase as they progressed, allowing them to extend their mental awareness and perceive their surroundings. However, this also meant that others could detect them if they focused their mental senses.
To address this issue, the creator of this technique devised an alternative method: tapping into the human body's five senses and refining the sixth sense to its maximum potential.
Once achieved, the practitioner could sense any hostile gazes directed at them, regardless of the distance, making them well-prepared for combat.
The technique's formula materialized in Chen Chu's mind. He gradually channeled his mental power into his senses of hearing, smell, touch, and more, magnifying them infinitely through the blade.
Perhaps due to his increased strength or "evolution," Chen Chu soon felt the faint air currents around him. These fluctuations emanated from the movements of those practicing and the sound vibrations produced by their weapons cutting through the air.
As his mind grew calmer, Chen Chu's consciousness resembled a transparent mirror, with ripples continually playing on its surface, forming incomplete and blurred patterns.
He maintained this practice until noon.
Slowly opening his eyes, Chen Chu observed the students around him finishing their sessions and preparing to have lunch. With a single thought, he summoned his attribute page.
As expected, he saw the signs of his Mind's Eye awakening in the notes related to the knife technique.
Upon seeing this, a smile crept across Chen Chu's face. Once he entered the Mind's Eye state and it was recorded in his attribute page, he could gradually enhance it through dedicated practice.
After everyone had left, Chen Chu approached a strength-testing device and took a deep breath.
His body sank slightly, his fiery blood surged, and his right arm, as well as his upper body, swelled slightly as a powerful force surged forth.
Boom!
With Chen Chu's punch, the wall-mounted strength tester trembled with a loud bang. The numbers on the device fluctuated wildly before finally stabilizing at 1650.
Chen Chu's arm strength had reached 400 kilograms, nearly six times that of an average person.
Combined with the materialization effects of Dragon Elephant Kung Fu, this strength was further doubled, resulting in a punch that could unleash a terrifying impact force exceeding 1600 kilograms.
However, this was only a display of pure power.
Chen Chu then moved to the speed testing area, and the result was 24 meters per second.
Although this speed was already impressive, Chen Chu couldn't help but feel slightly surprised. With his agility attribute being five times that of an average person, shouldn't his speed be around 30 meters per second?
Perhaps, he pondered, speed and power were different; personal movement speed could be influenced by external factors like gravity and air resistance, making it difficult to convert using simple multipliers.
Baffled, Chen Chu conducted further tests.
He discovered that, although his actual movement speed was slightly lower than what the data suggested, his nerve responses were five times faster than an ordinary person's. His body was incredibly flexible and well-coordinated.
Evidently, the agility attribute encompassed more than just speed; it also included body coordination and neural responsiveness.
Chen Chu realized that he could slowly enhance his physique and strength while practicing Dragon Elephant Kung Fu.
It appeared that the evolution of his avatar had raised his limits, distinguishing him from those students who had reached the pinnacle of their first-level physique with no further improvements possible.
In the afternoon, as it approached four o'clock, Chen Chu didn't leave school like the others. Instead, he headed to the 33rd-floor reference room.
Every day, after completing his training, he would spend his free time searching for books on the top floor.
Given the strict internet controls in place, such information couldn't be found online.
Upon reaching the reading area with two books in hand, Chen Chu spotted a girl with black hair sitting by the window, as usual, engrossed in her book, her head lowered in deep concentration.
When Chen Chu took a seat across from her, Luo Fei appeared to sense his presence. She raised her head slightly, revealing a faint smile on her lovely face. She nodded to Chen Chu before returning her attention to her book, continuing to read with her head bowed.
Chen Chu reciprocated the smile and also bent his head, opening the pages of his book to read. The sunlight streamed through the window, casting a gentle warmth upon the two of them, creating a somewhat lazy and leisurely atmosphere.
Suddenly, a loud noise disrupted the tranquility. Underneath the ten-meter-deep river surface, a seventy-five-centimeter-long armored beast emerged from the riverbed, clamping its jaws around the belly of a large fish swimming above.
The prey was a black fish, measuring 1.5 meters in length, weighing tens of kilograms, and armed with sharp teeth. In its attempt to break free, the fish thrashed wildly, exerting great force. At that moment, a powerful claw landed on its head with astonishing might.
With a resounding click, the heavy armored beast shattered the skull of the snake-headed black fish with its formidable strike.
After vanquishing a fish twice its size, the heavy armored beast proceeded to feast. Its sharp teeth and immense biting force allowed it to effortlessly tear apart its meal. However, the heavy armored beast, possessing human-like consciousness, displayed a picky palate, favoring only the meat while showing no interest in the internal organs.
As the discarded organs slowly sank, tiny, finger-sized fish swarmed around them, tearing them apart voraciously. This ecosystem of large fish as predators and small fish as scavengers thrived beneath the great river's surface.
In no time, a nearly 100-kilogram black fish had been devoured. The heavy armored beast's astonishing digestive ability efficiently converted the food, causing its body to swell visibly.
The heavy armored beast appeared even bulkier and more ferocious after its substantial meal.
Grrrrrrrr! It expelled a string of bubbles and flicked its tail to seek out its next target.
Yet, at this very moment, a black shadow darted through the murky waters' depths.
Boom!
A powerful impact struck the heavy armored beast's abdomen, propelling it several meters into the air. Its massive form tumbled through the water's depths.
Just as the heavy armored beast regained its composure, the aggressor lunged once more, this time aiming for the heavy armored beast's head.
Chen Chu finally had a clear view of the assailant. It was a large fish over two meters long, covered in gray scales, resembling a sturgeon. However, its ferocious gaping maw, brimming with sharp teeth capable of severing a person's thigh, made it far more formidable than any sturgeon.
This fish was incredibly swift, appearing almost instantaneously before the heavy armored beast. Then...
With a muffled 'bang,' the mutated sturgeon received an unexpected blow to its mouth, courtesy of the heavy armored beast's reflexive tail. The ferocious creature was sent tumbling by the formidable force.
Despite being three times smaller, the mutated sturgeon was knocked off balance, leaving it bewildered.
In the blink of an eye, the heavy armored beast pounced on it. Its claws extended, gripping the sturgeon's body and tearing through its scales.
Injured and frantic, the mutated sturgeon struggled to shake off the heavy armored beast clinging to it. However, it couldn't break free, while the heavy armored beast, jaws agape, approached.
Click!
Under the heavy armored beast's terrifying bite force, the mutated sturgeon's back was snapped off, and its body went limp, losing all resistance as it became the next meal.
In this water territory devoid of formidable mutant beasts, the heavy armored beasts, armed with formidable strength and extraordinary defense, had virtually no natural adversaries.
And so, the midday scene continued.