37: Chapter 37 Scholar Level 5

"Sparring Partner..." This word was like a tiny needle, lightly pricking Li Wen. It was a concept that was distant and luxurious to him.

Classmates at school were at a similar Realm; the effect of sparring while pulling punches was limited, and it was easy for things to get out of hand.

But Kindling Hall provided Martial Artists whose technical Realm far exceeded one's own as Sparring Partners. It was highly targeted, and the effect was naturally incomparable to sparring within the school.

But the price... the lowest Rank 1 Sparring Partner was 500 per hour. The ten thousand yuan scholarship he just applied for was only enough to hire one for twenty hours.

A Rank 2 Sparring Partner cost as much as two thousand per hour, not to mention the appalling five thousand for Rank 3... Li Wen silently calculated; his scholarship was only enough to hire a Rank 3 Sparring Partner for two hours.

He had fantasized countless times about becoming the lowest Rank 1 Sparring Partner here, which would be a quite good source of income. But while the dream was full, reality was skeletal.

There were two hard thresholds to becoming a Sparring Partner: one must become an Official Member of Kindling Hall and pass the National Sparring Partner Qualification Exam.

The latter wasn't too difficult for those who graduated from a regular Martial Arts University with passing techniques; the hard part was the former—the selection for Official Member status in Kindling Hall had standards so rigorous they were startling, far beyond what he could reach now.

Suppressing the sigh in his heart over the resource gap, Li Wen shook his head, pulled his attention back to the tray in front of him, and focused on devouring his meal.

Thinking about these things was useless for now; filling his stomach and improving himself was the right path.

After finishing his meal, Li Wen stood up to go downstairs to Cultivate. Just as he walked out of the cafeteria entrance, he happened to encounter those two boys talking about Sparring Partners.

He saw them walk straight toward a dedicated elevator on one side that looked significantly more Advanced and had access control.

One of them raised the smart bracelet on his wrist and swept it over the scanner; the previously dim elevator buttons instantly lit up with a soft glow.

The elevator doors slid open silently, and the two walked in chatting and laughing, their figures then disappearing into the ascending elevator car.

Li Wen calmly withdrew his gaze and walked toward the wide walking stairs on the other side, stepping down the heavy and solid steps one by one steadily.

The hard texture of the stairs transmitted through the soles of his shoes, as if affirming that his path could only be walked steadily step by step.

The first floor was a large open practice area, subdivided into the Basic Technique Area, Advanced Technique Area, and Top-tier Technique Area.

Li Wen's goal was clear—the Top-tier Technique Area.

The further in he went, the fewer people there were.

When passing the basic area, figures were everywhere and shouting was constant; the number of people in the Advanced area decreased slightly, but the atmosphere was still enthusiastic; by the time he reached the corner where the Top-tier Technique Area was located, only twenty or so people remained spread across four wide classrooms, forming a sharp contrast with the noise outside.

Those who could practice here were either top students like Li Wen who got in through the free quota for impoverished students, or true seekers of the Dao with similarly ordinary backgrounds who gritted their teeth to bear the costs of the basic area.

After all, truly wealthy and promising young Martial Artists had already used their membership or Official Member status to Cultivate in the upper-level Advanced Martial Arts Rooms with dedicated teachers.

Those fully equipped single rooms with personal guidance were rumors that only the "ceilings" here were worthy of enjoying.

Li Wen found the emptiest Top-tier Technique classroom and pushed the door open.

A familiar layout: benches for resting and racks for storing various weapons lined the sides, while the middle was a huge floor space paved with hard, specially made stone.

This material was specifically designed for high-intensity martial arts Cultivate; as long as the practitioner didn't deliberately destroy it, even a Top-tier Technique exerted with full force would find it hard to damage.

Li Wen walked to the weapon rack, skillfully pulled out a standard fast saber, and weighed it; the weight and feel were similar to those at school.

He walked to a corner far from the crowd and placed his backpack containing various cheap supplements on a bench.

After simple joint movements and stretching warm-ups, Li Wen cast aside distracting thoughts, and his gaze became focused.

In this era where the strong were respected, only by continuously climbing the path of martial arts could one find the most reliable way to escape predicament and change fate!

With the tip of his blade pointing diagonally at the ground, his breathing settled, and he began today's Rainbow Light Saber Technique Cultivate.

He didn't immediately activate the Absolute Focus skill, but first began practicing normally.

This was an efficient method he had recently figured out. First, practice in a normal state to accumulate the confusion and Bottlenecks encountered during the Cultivate process; once enough had been accumulated, he would activate Absolute Focus and use the terrifying Comprehension Ability it provided to concentrate fire on overcoming the difficulties.

If he used the skill from the start, precious focus time would likely be wasted on solving routine problems, and the subsequent mental fatigue would instead drag down overall efficiency.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The blade edge cut through the air, letting out sharp whistles.

Li Wen's figure moved rapidly in the corner of the empty classroom, the long saber in his hand turning into streaks of Rainbow Light, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, at incredible speed.

He had already reached the entry level, and his Moves were much smoother, but in practicing the subsequent unmastered parts or the transitions between them, there were still issues with stiffness and inaccurate force.

Sweat soon seeped from his forehead, sliding down his resolute profile.

Time spent in focused practice always flew by.

When Li Wen smoothly sheathed his blade and completed a full Cultivate cycle, he glanced at the huge electronic clock on the wall; the time pointed exactly to two o'clock in the afternoon.

He was slightly out of breath, sweat soaking his back. He walked toward the resting bench to hydrate and habitually muttered in his mind, awakening the Personal Panel.

The moment his consciousness sank into the virtual panel—

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! A long string of information refreshed and popped up frantically like a waterfall!

[You completed a Chinese exam, excellent result, scholar experience +100]

[You completed a Mathematics exam, excellent result, scholar experience +100]

[You completed a Foreign Language exam, good result, scholar experience +80]

[You completed a History exam, excellent result, scholar experience +100]

[You completed a Politics exam, excellent result, scholar experience +100]

[You completed a Geography exam, excellent result, scholar experience +100]

[In this Final Exam, you achieved third place in the class, scholar experience +160]

[In this Final Exam, you achieved 58th place in the grade, scholar experience +320]

[Your understanding of knowledge is deeper, and your ability to analyze problems has greatly improved.]

[Class: Scholar lv3 (304 -> 1364 / 400)]

[Conditions met, Class leveling up...]

[Class: Scholar lv4 (964 / 800)]

[Conditions met, Class leveling up...]

[Class: Scholar lv5 (164 / 1600)]

"Lv5!?" Li Wen's consciousness seemed to freeze for a moment. The few simple lines of text on the panel brought an impact like a thunderclap exploding in his ears!

Just at the moment when the scores for all subjects in the Final Exams were entered and the class and grade rankings were determined, the accumulated experience points were like a bursting flood, breaking through two solid Rank barriers with unstoppable force.

The [Scholar] Rank jumped directly from lv3 to lv5!

Before this massive leap gave him time to carefully savor what the Rank increase meant, an unprecedented strange sensation suddenly swept through the depths of his Soul.

Like a thirsty traveler in the desert drinking sweet spring water, like a shivering body in the cold winter bathing in warm sunlight.

An indescribable sense of extreme comfort originating from the Soul level spread through Li Wen's entire body like an electric current.

This feeling didn't act on the Physical Body; it was more like his thinking was soaked in an incomparably warm, clear, and bright ocean, with every thought becoming incredibly clear, active, and agile.

The subtle fatigue and sluggishness accumulated from long-term high-intensity study and the use of [Absolute Focus] were swept away.

His brain seemed to have been thoroughly cleaned and its hardware upgraded; the operating speed, information processing capability, depth of understanding, and the flashes of Comprehension Ability... all achieved an unimaginable leap at this moment.

This intense sense of Soul sublimation lasted for nearly half a minute before slowly receding like a tide, leaving behind a Li Wen who felt as if he had been completely renewed, with thoughts clearer and more transparent than ever before.

Li Wen stood in place dazed, his gaze seemingly piercing through the Void Realm. He clenched his fists, clearly feeling the powerful support brought by the changes at the Soul level.