3: Chapter 3 B-Rank Combat Skill: Thundercloud Spear

Su Mu, Leng Jing, and Lin Ruoxi.

The three of them were residents of Units 301, 302, and 303 respectively.

However, three years ago, Su Mu and Lin Ruoxi were still very young and needed someone to look after them. At that time, the only twenty-year-old, Leng Jing, took on the task of caring for her younger brother and sister.

"How was the Awakening Ceremony today?"

Su Mu said very happily, "I awakened an S-rank talent, Dark Thunder Domain."

Hearing this, Leng Jing covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes filled with shock.

Unconsciously, Leng Jing's legs went weak, and she almost slumped to the floor.

Su Mu reacted quickly, rushing forward to support Leng Jing.

The two of them walked to the living room sofa, and after calming their emotions...

Leng Jing looked at Su Mu with reddened eyes, her voice choking up as she said, "That's wonderful! That's wonderful!"

The siblings held each other.

Tears flowed uncontrollably from their eyes.

The moon was bright and the stars were sparse; many people in the residential area lost sleep tonight.

Early the next morning, a light rain was falling from the sky.

Leng Jing took Su Mu and Lin Ruoxi to the cemetery.

Humans are fragile in the face of a beast tide; most people don't even leave behind a single bone.

So, while it was called a cemetery, it was actually just a massive memorial monument.

The names of the beast tide victims were carved into the monument.

An Ran, Han Mei, Guo Hongtao, Li Liang...

Su Mu's gaze lingered on two names placed closely together.

Su Tianming, Bai Xiaoping.

Staring intently at these two names, scene after scene of memories flooded his mind.

The spark to exterminate the fierce beasts and revive the human race blazed fiercely once again.

He placed a bouquet of lilies before the monument, then uncapped a bottle of white liquor and poured it onto the ground in front of the memorial.

The light rain gradually grew heavier, washing the fallen petals into the sewers.

After leaving the cemetery, Su Mu headed straight for the martial arts hall.

There were only a few days left until the college entrance exam; he had to seize every moment to increase his strength.

There are three major martial arts halls in Huaxia.

Thunderbolt Martial Arts Hall, Tianyao Martial Arts Hall, and Sacred Water Martial Arts Hall.

Before his awakening, Su Mu often went to the Tianyao Martial Arts Hall because it was very close to both his school and his residential area.

Moreover, Tianyao Martial Arts Hall had the lowest fees, so most students from less wealthy families would choose it.

However, this time Su Mu was going to the Thunderbolt Martial Arts Hall.

Compared to Tianyao Martial Arts Hall, the biggest feature of the Sacred Water and Thunderbolt Martial Arts Halls was their vast collection of combat techniques related to the water and lightning elements.

The combat techniques Su Mu studied before awakening his talent were all from free school lessons.

They were useful, but lacked power.

Now that he had the 200,000 provided by the school and had awakened the S-rank talent Dark Thunder Domain, he could go learn a combat technique with strong offensive power.

He arrived at the Thunderbolt Martial Arts Hall in Jianglan City.

The Thunderbolt Martial Arts Hall had two modes.

One was training in the first-floor hall, which had less privacy but was cheaper. Any combat technique being practiced would be seen by everyone in the hall.

The other was renting a private room for training, which guaranteed privacy but was significantly more expensive.

Fortunately, both modes allowed the use of the hall's training equipment.

It was similar to choosing between a restaurant's open dining area or a private booth.

Su Mu went to the front desk to book six hours of training time and then purchased a B-rank combat technique.

He spent a total of 186,000 yuan: 180,000 for the technique and 6,000 for the six hours of training time.

Su Mu flipped open the technique manual.

B-Rank Combat Technique—Thunder Cloud Spear.

A technique that coats the entire spearhead in lightning elements, which can greatly increase combat power.

Su Mu continuously attempted to gather the thunder at the spearhead.

For the newly awakened Su Mu, trying to control his talent to manifest outside his body was not an easy task.

After training for over three hours, he finally reached the entry level of this B-rank combat technique.

Just then, a man with a pompadour hairstyle walked in through the door.

The man was accompanied by a girl.

"Brother Sun Zan, that Su Mu went too far. He actually slapped me! You have to get justice for me."

"Don't worry. Once I run into him, I'll definitely show him what I'm made of."

The woman was indeed Shen Qinghe, and the man was a genius from Jianglan No. 2 High School whom she had just met.

He had also awakened an A-rank talent, but his was the Earth attribute, which was the strongest counter to the Lightning attribute.

Sun Zan continued walking forward when he suddenly noticed Shen Qinghe standing still behind him.

He turned back and asked, "What's wrong?"

"He's Su Mu!" Shen Qinghe's voice trembled slightly.

Sun Zan followed Shen Qinghe's gaze and saw a man with a resolute face and an air of heroism, focused intently on practicing with a long spear.

Sun Zan's first thought upon seeing this man was jealousy; the man was too handsome. He even felt eclipsed in comparison.

Regaining his composure, Sun Zan walked straight toward Su Mu.

When Sun Zan was within ten meters of Su Mu...

Su Mu sensed him and glanced at the time. Only a bit over three hours had passed; his time wasn't up yet.

"Hello, and you are?"

"I'm Shen Qinghe's boyfriend. You hit my girlfriend yesterday.

I'm here to challenge you today. If you lose, you'll get on your knees and apologize to my girlfriend."

Ding! Facing Sun Zan's challenge, you have the following choices.

1. Pretend not to hear and continue practicing Thunder Cloud Spear. Reward: The 'Biggest Coward in History' title!

2. I am a polite person; if I hit someone, I should apologize. Apologize directly to Shen Qinghe. Reward: 100,000 yuan.

3. Accept the challenge and teach Sun Zan a harsh lesson. Reward: Blue-quality Combat Technique Proficiency Card.

Su Mu was speechless. This system seemingly gave three options, but in reality, it was forcing him to pick the third one.

"Fine, I accept your challenge. Let's find a place."

The commotion here successfully attracted the attention of everyone in the Thunderbolt Martial Arts Hall's main hall.

Every martial arts hall has an octagon cage.

It was specifically used to resolve conflicts between talent users.

Su Mu and Sun Zan entered the octagon cage one after the other.

To ensure he could defeat Sun Zan, Su Mu directly pulled out his B-rank alloy combat spear.

When he was practicing Thunder Cloud Spear earlier, he had been using a wooden spear provided by the hall.

It is well known that wood does not conduct electricity, so using a wooden spear to train the Thunder Cloud Spear yields twice the result with half the effort.

Now that he had switched to the alloy combat spear, black electric arcs danced directly across the spearhead and shaft.

Watching the silver-white long spear in Su Mu's hand, Sun Zan felt a strange sense of palpitations.

But since he had already entered the octagon, there was no going back.

Sun Zan also activated his talent, condensing a layer of Rock Armor over his body.

The audience outside the octagon discussed heatedly.

"Brother Wu, which side are you betting on?"

"I recognize this Sun Zan. He used to come to the hall to train often, and he has an A-rank Earth attribute talent.

On the other hand, I've never seen the other guy before, and it looks like he has a Lightning attribute talent.

He's being completely countered.

I'm betting on Sun Zan to win."

"Alright, I'll listen to you, Brother Wu. I'm betting ten thousand on Sun Zan."

Whenever people entered the octagon for a duel, people would place bets.

Basically, everyone thought like Brother Wu, believing it was impossible for Su Mu to win.

Currently, the odds for Su Mu to win were 1 to 100.

The odds for Sun Zan to win were 100 to 1.

Inside the cage, both sides had already taken their stances.

Sun Zan charged forward aggressively. Su Mu shook his head at the attack, which was full of openings.

With a turn and a thrust, he struck Sun Zan directly in the chest.

However, it was completely blocked by the Rock Armor on Sun Zan's body.

'Oh? The defensive type is okay!'

Su Mu made a light leap, then activated Thunder Cloud Spear, gathering all the lightning at the tip of the spear.

With a gentle flick, Sun Zan's entire body instantly went rigid, and then he collapsed to the ground.

Ding! Option three completed. Obtained one Blue-quality Combat Technique Proficiency Card, placed in the system inventory.

What a joke, trying to use earth armor to block his lightning. He didn't even check what kind of lightning it was before trying to block it.

Hadn't he heard that lightning can pierce through things?

To be honest, this Sun Zan was really nothing special; he hadn't mastered any of the movement techniques taught at school.

If it weren't for his A-rank Earth talent, Su Mu wouldn't even have needed to use his own talent.

"Holy crap, didn't Brother Wu say Sun Zan was a sure win?

It only took two moves to knock Sun Zan flat!"

The man called Brother Wu was equally dumbfounded.

He truly didn't understand how Su Mu's lightning could attack through the Rock Armor and knock Sun Zan down in a single blow.

Moreover, this caused him a serious loss; he had placed a heavy bet on Sun Zan winning.

In just three short minutes, he had lost 100,000.