284: Still want to mess with me?

Shen Bei admitted one thing: he had no love for academic subjects.

But when it came to Cultivating Martial Skills, he was absolutely top-notch.

Bai Wei's statement that the bookshelves were filled with Martial Skills that couldn't be Cultivated greatly piqued Shen Bei's interest.

It was like reading a Chinese textbook; he just couldn't get through it. But when reading a novel, he would definitely not miss a single word, carefully pondering every detail and action.

He was incredibly serious.

It was the same with Martial Skills; they held infinite charm for Shen Bei.

Shen Bei asked again, "Could it be that all the Martial Skills on this bookshelf are 'dead skills'?"

Bai Wei, however, admitted, "They're not all 'dead skills'. A small portion isn't suitable for human Cultivation; only Stranger can Cultivate them. And some Martial Skills require special Cultivation environments that our Earth doesn't possess."

It should be known that Martial Skills originated from the catacombs and were designed specifically for the body structure of Stranger.

This is not difficult to understand. It's like the body structure of a fish; some fish can dive thousands of meters deep into the sea without issue, but if a human tried, they would be crushed by the pressure.

This is the specificity of body structure.

And while Stranger are similar to humans, there are still some differences.

According to research data, there are some differences in bone and muscle texture.

This means that when humans try to reverse-engineer Stranger Martial Skills, they can't just practice them directly.

They need to be localized and gradually adapted to the human body structure.

At the same time, this is a Martial Artist world where countless Seniors have explored and sacrificed to evolve the diverse and flourishing Martial Skills of today.

When Seniors truly couldn't figure out how to improve a Martial Skill, they classified it as a 'dead skill'.

The 'dead' in 'dead skill' is not a fixed noun, but a verb.

Every year, there are Prodigies or Geniuses who manage to activate Martial Skills that the Seniors had deemed 'dead'.

For example, Shen Bei's Phantom Step.

But such examples are rare, very few indeed.

Currently, the military's Martial Skill library contains no less than a hundred 'dead skills'.

"Are these 'dead skills' not entered into the computer database?"

Shen Bei's fingers traced the books on the shelf.

"Of course not." Bai Wei leaned against the table, arms crossed. "The Martial Skills in the computer database are all cultivable ones. Why would we put uncultivable ones in there to take up memory?"

"Stop looking. Come to the computer desk quickly and choose a Martial Skill."

Shen Bei hesitated for a moment.

In his opinion, the Martial Skills in the computer were all common.

Nothing new.

If he was going to practice, he'd practice something difficult.

The more difficult it was, the more impressive its power.

So, Shen Bei ignored Bai Wei and continued to flip through the 'dead skills' one by one.

Bai Wei seemed to see through Shen Bei's thoughts and said bluntly, "I admit you're a Martial Dao Genius, but some 'dead skills' aren't some chuunibyou fantasy where the harder it is to Cultivate, the more explosive its power. Some 'dead skills' have no Cultivation value, and the cost-effectiveness of investing time in them is low."

Shen Bei, of course, knew that.

Part of the reason 'dead skills' couldn't be Cultivated was one thing; another part was that their power wasn't great, so no one bothered to spend a lot of time researching them.

At this moment, Shen Bei pulled out a 'dead skill' titled "Magnetic Pole Cyclone Yuan Skill."

This name... was a bit of a tongue twister.

He roughly flipped through it and saw that, according to the Senior's estimation, after achieving Major Achievement in this Cultivation, it could unleash the power of thunder.

“Hmm?”

Shen Bei looked at the title on the cover again.

Isn't this a bit off-topic?

Clickbait?

The power of thunder... isn't this the lightning-type Martial Skill that Jian Tong Cultivates?

Is there any difference?

"What's the deal with this Martial Skill?" Shen Bei asked.

Bai Wei shrugged, "I'm not a teacher; I don't have time to research this stuff. Go ask your teacher. If you like it, take it. You only get one chance, don't come crying to me if you regret it."

"A good horse doesn't eat old grass."

Shen Bei signed the receipt; he wanted this 'dead skill'!

As for regretting it... he would definitely change it.

Shen Bei's biggest advantage was his shamelessness.

According to Qi Chuanyu, he was a "troublemaker" and a "nag."

It was just that Bai Wei hadn't experienced it yet.

Whenever Shen Bei was shameless, he could annoy people to death.

He was even more long-winded than Tang Sanzang in A Chinese Odyssey.

After receiving the Martial Skill.

Shen Bei bid farewell to Bai Wei and left the military department directly.

Fixed route.

He climbed over the wall and entered the Martial Arts University.

The security guard, who was hiding behind a rock playing games, was used to it; he merely glanced at him before focusing on his lane.

He walked along the school road towards the classroom.

When he passed the administration building.

Shen Bei saw Qiu Bu Ye hurrying, seemingly about to leave.

Shen Bei greeted him neither humbly nor arrogantly: "Happy New Year, Principal!"

Qiu Bu Ye stopped, turned around, his face showing disgust and confusion: "What?"

"I'm wishing you an early Happy New Year," Shen Bei said, chin raised, grinning.

Qiu Bu Ye's mouth twitched.

Damn it...

New Year was still eight months away. Who wishes someone a Happy New Year so early?

Qiu Bu Ye snorted, a look of displeasure plastered across his face: "Don't try to be funny with me!"

Shen Bei spread his arms and said, "Principal, don't let your emotions show on your face; it's easy for people to see through you."

"If not on my face, then on your wall?"

This smell of gunpowder... was a bit choking, but Shen Bei was very shrewd, surpassing Qiu Bu Ye. Faced with Qiu Bu Ye's sharp retorts, he remained unmoved: "Principal, where are you off to?"

"None of your business?"

"Why haven't my credits been deducted? Don't you like it?"

Qiu Bu Ye's teeth ground together, and he turned and left directly, leaving a sentence in the air: "You'll see, just wait!"

Shen Bei's gaze was calm as he watched Qiu Bu Ye walk towards the parking lot.

His special car came with a driver, a thin, unremarkable man in his thirties, who was currently wiping the car.

After Qiu Bu Ye got into the back seat, the driver put away the bucket and rag and drove out of the campus.

Shen Bei tilted his head.

He thought to himself, "He's still trying to mess with me? What a petty person. Instead of bickering with me, he should think about how to improve teaching quality and Cultivate excellent Martial Artist students."

He turned and left. Soon after, Shen Bei entered the teaching building.

He arrived at the classroom.

He pushed the door open.

Professor Gu Xinrou was teaching catacomb language.

Shen Bei's arrival surprised Professor Gu Xinrou and the others.

Niu Yanben even ran to the window, pushed it open, glanced at the sun in the sky, then scratched his head and said, "The sun hasn't risen from the west, hey!"

Shen Bei: ...

You're getting cheeky again, aren't you?

Shen Bei sat down in his seat, took out his book, and looked at the blackboard with a serious expression, like a prodigal son who had turned over a new leaf and was diligently studying.

Qi Chuanyu moved over, his face full of doubt: "Just say what you want, don't make that pose, it's damn scary."

The others nodded.

It was indeed scary.

A gangster doing good deeds, a prostitute reforming, a butcher raising a dog...

It was completely topsy-turvy.

"Teacher, I want to change seats. Qi Chuanyu is affecting my grades." Shen Bei openly tattled.

Professor Gu Xinrou was momentarily speechless, unable to respond. After a moment of silence, she said, "You, do your grades still have room to drop?"

Shen Bei: ...

Shen Bei patted his chest and said excitedly, "Can't I try harder?"

Professor Gu Xinrou kindly advised, "Let's be realistic; don't overthink it."

Shen Bei wanted to flip the table.

He couldn't not learn the catacomb language; he was still planning to go down into the catacombs.

Shen Bei rolled his eyes dramatically and urged, "Class, class."

...

The morning classes were all academic subjects.

Aside from the catacomb language, the rest were courses aimed at personality development.

The purpose was self-evident: to help student Martial Artists gain a correct self-perception.

As for the effect...

That was hard to say.

And this time, when Shen Bei studied the catacomb language, with the Fifth Dimension Attribute's boost, he finally began to grasp it.

At least he was no longer a layman; he had learning techniques and ideas, instead of just transcribing the pronunciation of catacomb language with Chinese characters as before.

It was truly a big step forward.

Even Professor Gu Xinrou began to be suspicious.

She wondered if Shen Bei had been taken by Possession.

How did he suddenly 'get it'?

It was truly... strange.

In the afternoon, Zha Tian Gang and the others went to the training building to Cultivate Martial Skills, temper their bodies, and uncover their attributes.

Jian Tong had an appointment with her dormitory friends to go shopping.

Shen Bei liked this about Jian Tong; she wasn't clingy.

In the classroom, only Professor Gu Xinrou and Shen Bei remained.

"Alright, what is it?" Professor Gu Xinrou went straight to the point.

Shen Bei pulled out a Martial Skill book, placed it on the table, and pushed it over: "I found a Martial Skill. Teacher, please help me take a look at how this thing should be Cultivated properly."

Professor Gu Xinrou said "Oh" in confusion, then opened it and began to read.

She read for an hour.

The records in this Martial Skill were very chaotic.

After all, it was a 'dead skill'. When Seniors researched it, it was more like they were taking notes, writing whatever came to mind.

Many parts of the content were not coherent.

Moreover, more than one person researched this Martial Skill, and each person recorded their insights in it, with over ten different handwritings.

This made the Martial Skill's content even more chaotic.

It was even hard to distinguish between insights and the actual content of the Martial Skill.

This was also where Shen Bei had a headache, and he needed to consult Professor Gu Xinrou more.

Although Professor Gu Xinrou's Martial Artist rank was low, in terms of academics, she was the most capable teacher Shen Bei had ever met.

At this moment, Professor Gu Xinrou was constantly drawing and annotating, removing all the insights left by other Martial Artists and extracting the content of the Martial Skill.

After researching for a while.

Professor Gu Xinrou shook her head, rubbed her temples, and said, "How did you get another 'dead skill'? Are you particularly fond of them?"

Shen Bei shrugged and smiled, "'Dead skills' hold surprises."

"I don't think you'll be so lucky this time."

Professor Gu Xinrou pointed at the Martial Skill and said, "According to my understanding, this Martial Skill should be about magnetic field rotation, but the Seniors named it Magnetic Pole Cyclone Yuan Skill to fit the catacombs."

"According to the records above, the Senior saw an Stranger unleash the power of thunder after performing this Martial Skill."

This was also where Shen Bei was confused, asking, "Isn't the power of thunder just electricity? Is there any difference from the lightning-type Martial Skill that Jian Tong Cultivates?"

If there was no difference, then a problem arose.

Lightning-type Martial Skills were already a very mature Cultivation system within the Martial Artist world.

Jian Tong's spiritual attribute was indeed exaggerated, even Shen Bei couldn't compare.

But no matter how exaggerated, in the Martial Artist world, there were many more Martial Artists more powerful than her.

Jian Tong's progress in Cultivating lightning-type Martial Skills was not slow.

There was no reason why the Seniors couldn't figure out this Martial Skill or couldn't Cultivate it.

So... where did the problem lie?

But at this moment, Professor Gu Xinrou shook her head and said firmly:

"Wrong, your idea is completely incorrect."

"Incorrect? Why?"

"Lightning-type Martial Skills are lightning-type Martial Skills, and the power of thunder is the power of thunder. They seem similar on the outside, but their essence is different?"

Shen Bei frowned: "Where is the difference?"