’A sparring partner...’ The word pricked Li Wen like a tiny needle. It was a distant, luxurious concept to him.

His classmates at school were all at a similar skill level, so their light-contact sparring was of limited use. Besides, it was easy for someone to lose control and cause an injury.

The Fire Hall, however, provided Martial Artists whose skills far surpassed his own. These sessions were highly targeted, offering a level of training that school sparring simply couldn’t match.

But the price... The lowest tier, a Level 1 sparring partner, cost 500 an hour. The ten thousand he’d just applied for in scholarship money would only be enough for twenty hours.

A Level 2 sparring partner cost a whopping two thousand an hour, let alone the staggering five thousand for Level 3... Li Wen did a quick mental calculation. The scholarship would only cover two hours with a Level 3 partner.

He had fantasized countless times about becoming a Level 1 sparring partner here—a considerable source of income. But as rich as the dream was, reality was stark.

There were two steep requirements to become a sparring partner: one had to be an official member of the Fire Hall and pass the national sparring partner qualification exam.

The latter wasn’t too difficult for someone who had graduated from a proper martial arts university with adequate skills. The hard part was the former: the selection process for official membership in the Fire Hall. The standards were astonishingly strict, far beyond his current reach.

Forcefully suppressing a sigh over the gap in resources, Li Wen shook his head and brought his focus back to the plate in front of him, single-mindedly digging into his food.

’Thinking about this stuff is useless for now. The right path is to fill my stomach and improve myself.’

After finishing his meal, Li Wen got up, ready to head downstairs to train. Just as he stepped out of the cafeteria, he happened to run into the two guys who had been discussing sparring partners.

He watched as they walked straight toward a private elevator on one side, one that was clearly more luxurious and had a security access panel.

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

The elevator doors slid open without a sound. The two of them walked in, chatting and laughing, their figures vanishing as the car ascended.

Li Wen calmly averted his gaze and headed for the wide public staircase on the other side, descending the solid, heavy steps one by one.

The solid feel of the steps came through the soles of his shoes, as if affirming that his own path could only be taken one steady step at a time.

The first floor was a massive, open training area, subdivided into Basic, Advanced, and Top-Tier Technique Zones.

Li Wen’s destination was clear: the Top-Tier Technique Zone.

The farther in he went, the sparser the crowds became.

As he passed through the Basic Zone, it was crowded with figures and filled with constant shouts. The Advanced Zone was slightly less populated, but the atmosphere was still intense. By the time he reached the corner housing the Top-Tier Technique Zone, only a couple dozen people were scattered across four spacious rooms, a stark contrast to the clamor outside.

The only people practicing here were either top students like Li Wen, admitted for free due to financial hardship, or true seekers of the Martial Dao from equally humble backgrounds, who were skilled enough for this zone but could only afford the most basic facility fees.

After all, the truly wealthy and promising young Martial Artists had long since used their memberships to train in the high-end Martial Arts Rooms on the upper floors, complete with private instructors.

Those private rooms, fully equipped and with personal guidance, were rumored to be a privilege reserved only for the absolute elites of this place.

Li Wen found the emptiest of the Top-Tier Technique classrooms and pushed the door open.

The layout was familiar: long benches for resting and racks for various weapons lined the sides, while the center was a vast floor space paved with a hard, specially-made stone.

The material was designed specifically for high-intensity Martial Dao training. Unless a Cultivator deliberately tried to break it, the floor could withstand the full force of even top-tier techniques without taking damage.

Li Wen walked to a weapon rack and skillfully drew a Standard Rapier. He tested its weight; the balance and feel were similar to the ones at his school.

He then moved to a corner far from the others and set his backpack, which was filled with various cheap supplements, on a bench.

After a simple warm-up of joint rotations and stretches, Li Wen cleared his mind of distracting thoughts, his eyes growing sharp and focused.

’In this age where the strong rule, constantly advancing on the path of the Martial Dao is the only reliable way to escape my circumstances and change my destiny!’

He angled the tip of his rapier toward the floor, his breathing steadied, and began his daily practice of the Rainbow Light Saber Skill.

He didn’t activate his [Absolute Focus] skill right away, choosing to practice normally first.

This was an efficient method he had recently discovered. He would first practice under normal conditions, allowing frustrations and bottlenecks in his training to build up. Once he had accumulated enough of them, he would then activate [Absolute Focus] and use its terrifyingly enhanced comprehension to focus all his efforts on breaking through those barriers.

If he used the skill from the start, precious focus time would likely be wasted on routine problems. The resulting mental fatigue would then drag down his overall efficiency.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! The blade cut through the air, letting out a sharp whistle.

Li Wen’s figure moved rapidly in the empty corner of the room, the rapier in his hand transforming into streaks of rainbow light—some bright, some dim—at an astonishing speed.

He had already mastered the basics, and his forms were much more fluid. However, when practicing the more advanced moves he had yet to grasp, or in the transitions between them, his movements were still stiff and his application of force was imprecise.

Sweat soon beaded on his forehead, trickling down the side of his determined face.

Time always flew by when he was focused on his practice.

When Li Wen smoothly finished his routine, completing a full practice cycle, he glanced at the large digital clock on the wall. The time was exactly two o’clock in the afternoon.

Slightly out of breath and his back soaked with sweat, he walked toward the bench to rehydrate. As was his habit, he silently called out in his mind, summoning his personal panel.

The instant his consciousness sank into the virtual panel—

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! A torrent of notifications erupted, refreshing like a waterfall!

[You have completed a Language Arts exam. Grade: Excellent. Scholar EXP +100]

[You have completed a Mathematics exam. Grade: Excellent. Scholar EXP +100]

[You have completed a Foreign Language exam. Grade: Good. Scholar EXP +80]

[You have completed a History exam. Grade: Excellent. Scholar EXP +100]

[You have completed a Politics exam. Grade: Excellent. Scholar EXP +100]

[You have completed a Geography exam. Grade: Excellent. Scholar EXP +100]

[You placed third in your class for this final exam. Scholar EXP +160]

[You placed 58th in your grade for this final exam. Scholar EXP +320]

[Your depth of knowledge and analytical abilities have significantly increased.]

[Profession: Scholar LV 3 (304 -> 1364 / 400)]

[Conditions met. Profession level up in progress...]

[Profession: Scholar LV 4 (964 / 800)]

[Conditions met. Profession level up in progress...]

[Profession: Scholar LV 5 (164 / 1600)]

’LV 5!?’ Li Wen’s mind seemed to freeze for a second. The barrage of simple text on the panel had the impact of a thunderclap right next to his ear.

The moment his final exam scores and class rankings were recorded, the accumulated experience points had burst forth like a flood from a broken dam, irresistibly smashing through two level-barriers.

His Scholar profession had jumped directly from LV 3 to LV 5!

He hadn’t even had a moment to process the meaning of this huge leap in level when an unprecedented, strange sensation swept through the depths of his soul.

It was like a thirsty traveler in the desert drinking from a cool, clear spring, or a shivering body in the dead of winter basking in warm sunlight.

An indescribable sense of profound euphoria, originating from the level of his very soul, instantly shot through his entire body like an electric current.

This sensation wasn’t physical. It was more as if his mind had been submerged in an ocean of incomparable warmth, clarity, and light, and his every thought had become incredibly sharp, active, and agile.

The subtle fatigue and mental sluggishness that had built up over a long period of high-intensity studying and using [Absolute Focus] were swept away completely.

It was as if his brain had been completely wiped clean and given a hardware upgrade. Its processing speed, information-handling capacity, depth of comprehension, and flashes of insight... all took an unimaginable leap forward in that single moment.

This intense feeling of spiritual sublimation lasted for nearly thirty seconds before slowly receding like the tide, leaving Li Wen feeling completely reborn, his mind clearer and more lucid than it had ever been.

Li Wen stood there in a daze, his gaze seemingly piercing through the void. He clenched his fist, clearly feeling the powerful support that came from this change to his very soul.