Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
‘The meal that Jiang Lulu bought me, the system prompted: First time visiting a restaurant alone.’
‘A restaurant is different from a hotel.’
‘There is no difference in ratings, just high or low per capita. Hence, no matter how much I eat, I can’t get individual value, and I cannot repeat doing something for the first time.”
Tang Hong just recalled.
He chugged down the bottle of iced red tea and stood up to pay the bill. He decided to return to the school to do self-study.
‘Beep!’
‘Student card!’
Tang Hong took the public bus. It was not peak hour yet, and there were a lot of seats.
He found a seat beside the window and enjoyed looking at the passing scenery. He slowly got used to the shaky public bus and the occasional stops.
The pleasant wind blew across his cheeks as he stared blankly for a while.
Tang Hong rarely used the car that Fang Nanxun lent him temporarily. He did not feel like using it.
Because he had a guilty conscience, and had no confidence. He felt that these were all unreal, as if he was floating above the clouds and could not see the ground.
“Individual value.”
He called up the system interface.
Mortal: Extremely small and weak creature.
Willpower: 69%
Strength: 41%
Realm: 0.00
Individual value: 11
These individual value points were not enough, not enough yet.
Recently, through the exchange of text messages with Fang Nanxun and Fan Yu, Tang Hong increasingly realized the importance of willpower.
Willpower was the foundation of Transcendent, it was the only reliance that qualified humans to go against the gods.
And it was arduous to break the limit of willpower. Some could break the limit by simply drinking water, and some can only do it after traveling tens of thousands of miles in the wind and enduring hunger.
There was no fixed pattern…
There was no certain method…
If one got stuck and their willpower was at its limit, it was possible they would not be able to progress for life. It would be terrible, to be so near yet so far, inaccessible and unattainable.
“Oh right.”
“That day at the entrance of the teahouse in that alley, the Zhang Jing I met who was affiliated with the Tiansheng Organization was exactly in this situation.” Tang Hong secretly recalled.
At that time.
When Fan Yu spoke about counting the days to becoming a Transcendent, those words were not for Tang Hong, but for that short young man Zhang Jing.
Zhang Jing was only one step away from being a true Transcendent. After two years had passed and he still hadn’t broken through. This had caused a distortion in his mental perception, a deep-rooted obsession.
Just last month, he suddenly injured someone. He seriously injured a full member of the Tiansheng Organization.
Fan Yu had heard of it. When he met Zhang Jing, he naturally worried that he would suddenly go mad.
“Zhang Jing.”
Zhang Jing’s appearance and characteristics flashed past Tang Hong’s mind.
His face was gloomy and he had a buzz cut. He did not have any accessories except for the black cloth tied around both wrists. His appearance was somewhat scary.
With the increase of willpower.
Tang Hong became more objective when he recalled what happened. “Zhang Jing was like a gambler who lost till his eyes went red..”
“He was indeed a little pitiful.”
“I should take this as a warning. It’s better to save enough individual value before breaking through the limits of willpower. If it doesn’t work the first time, I’ll try it a second and third time. In this way…”
Tang Hong closed his eyes and quietly calculated: Assuming the willpower percentage value reaches the limit at 100%, he still had two chances.
Right.
Figuring out the incremental limit.
Was there a limit for increasing the value of willpower at one go? If there was no limit, would he be able to endure the unspeakable pain?
69%, 31% to hit 100%.
Split into two times.
The most he could increase each time was 15%.
If he could adapt to the pain of a 15% increase in willpower, he would have saved 20 individual value points when he reached 99% willpower.
At that time, he would break the willpower limit in one go.
“But.”
Tang Hong opened his eyes, his eyelids were a little heavy.
“Sigh.”
Tang Hong frowned.
He sighed in his heart, feeling regretful. “I may have to wait until next month to try to break the limit of my willpower.”
Tang Hong pulled out his phone from his trouser pocket and looked at it. It was June 9.
If he wanted to get more individual value, he had to look for more first-time incidents. Or find a second long-term gain. Long-term gains and first-time incidents were two main triggers that Tang Hong had concluded so far.
‘The first sentence upon waking up every day.’
‘What else can I do everyday that possess great difficulty?’ Tang Hong vaguely understood that he was single, and it took twenty-four hours before it increased a little.
Recently, Tang Hong had tried everything he could, more than once.
It was very, very difficult to find another long-term gain.
However, it didn’t mean that it was impossible.
If he mastered that Transcendent technique, that could be the second long-term gain.
“It’s a pity I deviated. I’ll go again tomorrow.”
The bus reached his stop and Tang Hong returned to the campus. From time to time, he heard a few people laughing, and saw couples in love.
He suddenly realized there was no place for him in this huge campus.
He no longer lived in the dormitory.
He no longer participated in club activities.
He woke up alone, studied alone, lied on his bed and slept alone.
“This…”
“Is the price to pay for becoming stronger?”
Welcoming the sunset afterglow, Tang Hong walked aimlessly.
At the same time.
In the counselor office.
The class monitress, who was responsible for checking proof of internship and other documents, picked up an original copy of the proof of internship and stared closely at the scribble marks on the piece of paper.
The class monitress touched both the front and back of the proof of internship with her fingertips.
It seemed like it was added on.
The class monitress hesitated, she was not sure. So she called over to the sports representative, Xuan Lizheng, who was helping to organize next to her.
“Take a look at this.”
The class monitress pointed to the black smear marks on the line of salary on the proof of internship: “Is this added on?”
“Ok.”
Xuan Lizheng had the intention of pursuing the class monitress. He hastily took the piece of paper.
He gave it a good look.
“Tang Hong.”
Xuan Lizheng stared. He especially liked fitness, but also particularly admire those with strong bodies. He especially admired the ten or so people who could do the bench press beyond 100KG in the entire school.
Recently…
There was an addition to the list of people he admired… It was his classmate, Tang Hong, who practiced bench press as if it was as simple as eating and drinking water.
Xuan Lizheng anticipated uncontrollably. He had been wondering if Tang Hong could set a new record by coming to the fitness center a few more times.
The fitness center of the University of Finance and Economics was just built last year. It was only officially opened to students on campus at the end of last year. Hence, the record for bench press was not too high.
He remembered that it should be 160KG weight class.
“Why are you in a daze?”
The class monitress asked softly. There were other class counselors in the office, her voice was soft yet it caught Xuan Lizheng’s attention.
“Impossible.”
“It’s impossible!”
Xuan Lizheng shook his head without thinking.
The class monitress did not expect Xuan Lizheng to be so excited and so conclusive. “Why? Have you been to the work address of this internship? How do you know it’s not fake.”
“Because this is Tang Hong’s proof of internship. He won’t falsify it.” Xuan Lizheng blurt out. But he couldn’t explain it.
It was just his gut feel. People who were that strong in bench press should be steadfast and have great willpower.
Just a few credits were not worth Tang Hong’s effort.
“Alright.”
The class monitress frowned. Actually, she thought so too.
However, the proof of internship indicated the Institute of Finance and Securities, which was a core position. She was the monitress for two years, and also served as vice president of the student council…
Even she could not get in. She did not even get a response to her resume, and could not find such a good internship.
Who was Tang Hong?
“I’ll ask.”
The class monitress was ready to take back the proof of internship to call the number on it.
“What do you want to ask?”
Xuan Lizheng’s expression changed slightly. On one side was the class monitress whom he had fallen in love with. On the other side was a bench press big brother whom he admired.
In an instant.
He seemed to have reacquainted himself with the valiant class monitress in front of him. His impression of her changed. “You can call if you want, but let me make it clear that the counselor only asked us to enter the information.”
“Even the counselor don’t think there’s a problem.”
“I’m leaving.”
Xuan Lizheng turned around and left.
“Aiya.”
The class monitress was startled. She glanced at the other counselors in the office, hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly chased after Xuan Lizheng. “What’s the matter? It’s not that I don’t believe you. I”m just curious. I won’t call them, okay?”
On the other side.
Xuan Lizheng lowered his head.
Actually, he was shocked too. He did not expect the cool and stern class monitress to come after him. At this moment, Xuan Lizheng seemed to have figured out something.
…
The next day.
A screenshot was disseminated from an unknown WeChat group chat which shocked the whole class: someone found an internship which paid Hua dollars per month.
The QQ group chat exploded.
Even the middle-aged female counselor was confused.
She had verified the proof of internship, yet she didn’t know about it. She was tempted to ask whose internship salary that was.