38: Chapter 38 Mental Enhancement

On the bench, Li Wen gulped down the last of his energy drink.

The cool liquid slid down his throat, bringing a bit of relief.

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But it couldn't suppress the strange sensation slowly receding like a tide from the depths of his brain—it wasn't just fatigue being swept away, but more like undergoing a baptism on a Soul level.

Half a minute ago, the moment the Scholar Rank leaped from lv3 to lv5, a wave of mental refreshment far more intense and clearer than the upgrade from lv2 to lv3 swept through his Sea of Consciousness.

It wasn't a simple cooling of the mind, but a sense of sublimation touching the Soul, as if soft yet strong threads had completely combed through his chaotic and tangled thoughts, brushing away the dust and making every thought crystal clear and incredibly swift.

His brain had never functioned so smoothly and actively, as if it had Breakthrough some invisible shackles, possessing stronger calculation and processing capacity; a solid sense of support originating from the life Origin arose spontaneously.

"Spirit Attribute..." Li Wen closed his eyes, his fingertips gently pressing against his temples, feeling an unprecedented clarity in his consciousness as he pondered silently.

"The last time I reached lv3, it was just a brief feeling of clarity, far less intense than this time. In games, character level-ups increase the four basic attributes. The Scholar class should correspond to the Spirit Attribute."

He recalled the highly realistic game he had played in his previous life, where strength, Physique, spirit, and Agility were the foundations for measuring a character.

Since this world has Heaven-Defying skills like Absolute Focus, technology similar to virtual pods, and even divisions of Martial Dao Realms, a hidden attribute system is not impossible.

However, reality is not a game after all; there is no intuitive digital panel to display the four attributes. This is more like an essential improvement within life itself.

"What are the benefits of a high Spirit Attribute? Stronger perception? Faster thinking? Or... will it Awakening some kind of Mental-type superpower?" Li Wen frowned slightly, searching through his memories.

However, in his eighteen years of life, from family matters to school education and even the Martial Dao knowledge he had encountered, there wasn't a single word about "Spirit Attributes" or related Cultivation.

"Is the information strictly blocked by the upper-level powers? Or does this world's martial Dao system itself reject or has not yet developed the mental Domain?" He shook his head, pushing this temporarily unknowable question back into the depths of his heart.

With a lack of information, there was no point in agonizing over it.

What he urgently wanted to verify now was the change in Absolute Focus that came with Scholar lv5.

Based on his previous life's gaming experience, Absolute Focus at lv5 would unlock a key new feature—the ability to autonomously control the duration of the skill's activation and deactivation to a certain extent, preventing the situation where his body was completely drained.

To ensure nothing went wrong and to fully understand the boundaries of this new feature, Li Wen took a deep breath and began a rigorous experiment.

He activated and then tried to deactivate Absolute Focus time and again, carefully experiencing the subtle feedback from his body and the clarity of his consciousness during each state transition.

First activation.

The moment his consciousness sank in, Li Wen captured an experience completely different from before.

In the past, once the skill was activated, his subjective "self" would be completely pushed into the depths of his subconscious, like falling into a deep sleep, leaving his body entirely driven by that cold, ultra-efficient computational instinct.

But this time, he sensed a difference—his primary consciousness was not fully asleep! It was like being wrapped in a tough, transparent membrane, floating above a surging torrent of data.

He could vaguely perceive the external environment and the actions his body was performing, and even faintly generate the thought of "stop," although it was still difficult to execute.

This membrane was precisely the new buffer zone between his primary consciousness and the Overclocked computational instinct.

"So that's how it is!" Li Wen understood in his heart.

"The core of being able to exercise autonomous control lies in the fact that the primary consciousness has not been completely stripped of its authority! In the game, it was just a cold 'cancel' button, but in reality, it truly preserved the possibility for me to observe and intervene."

Following that, he repeatedly activated and deactivated it, carefully feeling the consumption rate of Mental Energy, the smoothness of interrupting the skill, and the uncomfortable reactions of his body and brain after the interruption.

After several times, the depletion of Mental Energy became increasingly apparent, but an excited smile appeared on his face. The experimental verification was a success.

The function of Absolute Focus lv5 was exactly as expected.

Minimum activation duration: five minutes.

Within these five minutes, once the skill is activated, the primary consciousness cannot forcibly stop it.

Active deactivation: After five minutes, the primary consciousness can use its will to interrupt the skill at any time, with the end point controlled by himself.

After testing it three more times, when Li Wen stopped again, a strong sense of exhaustion hit him suddenly, much more intense than simply practicing his Blade Technique before.

Switching the overclocked state at high intensity and frequency consumed far more spirit than imagined. His steps were somewhat unsteady as he walked back to the bench in the rest area, leaning back with his chest slightly heaving.

"Whew... whew..." He took a few breaths before feeling some of his strength return.

Taking out another bottle of energy drink, he gulped down more than half of it; the cold liquid seemed to extinguish the burning sensation in his brain.

His breathing having steadied slightly, Li Wen re-awakened the panel in his mind:

【You have Cultivated the Blade Technique for one hour; the Rainbow Light Saber Technique has improved.】

【You have focused on Cultivating the Blade Technique for 20 minutes; Rainbow Light Saber Technique +2.】

【Skill: Blade Technique - Top Tier (Beginner 27→29/100)】

Looking at the experience point display on the panel, which was accurate to the nearest whole number, Li Wen couldn't help but smile.

This panel seemed to have a bit of "OCD," never displaying values smaller than 1 after the decimal point.

However, as the true owner of the Experience points, he could vaguely feel that the actual progress of his Blade Technique at this moment should be greater than 29 and less than 30, leaning closer to 30.

"Phew~" Li Wen let out a long breath, the look of satisfaction on his face deepening.

"Absolute Focus lv5 is indeed powerful! A 50% increase in Comprehension Ability, combined with the boost from my currently improved Spirit Attribute, resulted in an increase of over 2 points of Blade Technique experience in just twenty minutes of focused Cultivation! This efficiency is terrifying!"

Calculating based on this rate of improvement, his Comprehension Ability when activating Absolute Focus definitely surpassed that of the Genius student from Qingshi No. 1 Middle School who had been signed to a b-rank contract by the Four Great Factions in advance.

That person was the recognized top-tier individual in Comprehension Ability in all of Qingshi County.

"The only pity is," after the excitement, a trace of helplessness crept into his heart.

"Others' super Comprehension Ability is a 24/7, burden-free passive talent, while my increase in Comprehension Ability is a 'special medicine' obtained by burning Mental Energy and enduring immense pain. The time limit is the key to everything."