Chapter 111 – One Ton of Boxing Power, Lv② [Special Exertion] Technique

Large raindrops pattered against the glass window, producing a crisp and dense sound.

Lu Yuan closed the window. The room felt stuffy. He sat at his desk and opened his professional panel.

[Attribute Points: 1]

[Skill Points: 1]

After upgrading [Ancient Language Expert], he gained 1 attribute point and 1 skill point.

Ignoring the attribute points for now, his main focus was on the allocation of skill points.

He only had 1 skill point to distribute, yet there were many skills that urgently needed improvement.

Under the [Student] professional panel, the second core skill [A Moment of Inspiration] could trigger a “critical hit” effect during combat. During regular practice, it could significantly enhance Lu Yuan’s understanding of martial arts techniques.

[Crane Shadow Float] was ultimately unlocked through multiple triggers of [A Moment of Inspiration].

It was incredibly useful, almost divine.

[Death Messenger (Extraordinary)] was Lu Yuan’s only extraordinary professional panel at the moment. The three basic skills on this panel were still at the pitiful levels of 2, 1, and 1.

He had no idea when he would meet the prerequisites to unlock his first extraordinary core skill.

Then there was the [Martial Artist] panel, which had even more skills that required skill points for improvement.

For example, Spirit Crane Body. After reaching Lv2, the experience point increase from each practice session had significantly diminished.

Lin Zhiqin had mentioned that the assessment for the Crane Style personal disciples would start in a month.

By his calculations, there were about twenty days left.

If he could advance his progress in Spirit Crane Body, Lu Yuan would be more confident in passing the assessment.

Of course, such short-term decision-making was clearly unwise.

After a slight hesitation, Lu Yuan finally allocated the skill point to [Special Exertion].

He upgraded the second core skill under the [Martial Artist] panel from Lv1 to Lv2.

“What new effect will [Special Exertion] have at Lv2?”

“Let’s test it in the Consciousness Space!”

Lu Yuan closed his eyes. The noisy and dense sound of the rain quickly faded away from his ears.

…

Bright sunlight shone down, yet there was no sense of heat.

In an abandoned car park, Lu Yuan and a Cavern Ratman stood silently facing each other.

“Huff—huff—”

The Cavern Ratman’s blood-red eyes fixated on Lu Yuan. Its robust chest, covered in mottled black fur, heaved violently, producing a rough, bellows-like wheezing sound.

Waves of grey aura swirled around its body, suddenly rushing into its mouth and nose.

In an instant, the already muscular frame of the Cavern Rat Monster swelled even larger, showcasing an exaggerated muscle effect.

Lu Yuan watched the Rat Monster calmly, his right foot retreating half a step.

He clenched his right fist, raised it, and slowly drew his arm back.

He became like a drawn bow, his fist coiled with potential energy, the invisible bowstring tightening bit by bit.

“Boom!”

The Cavern Rat Monster, having absorbed all the grey aura, suddenly vanished, leaving a small crater where it had stood.

In the blink of an eye, it reappeared in front of Lu Yuan, its speed utterly astonishing.

At that moment, Lu Yuan’s bowstring reached its peak tension.

Release!

His right fist shot forward like an arrow.

As his fist flew, the muscles in his right arm surged like waves.

Then they expanded rapidly, muscles bulging, veins protruding… In an instant, his arm transformed into a terrifying serpent, striking the Cavern Rat Monster squarely in the chest.

“Bang!”

The dull thud of flesh hitting flesh echoed.

The forward momentum of the Cavern Rat Monster was abruptly halted, and it flew backward, arched like a shrimp.

“Huh?”

Lu Yuan’s brow furrowed, as if this wasn’t the effect he had truly desired.

But then, in the next second…

“Boom!”

A large mass of blood and flesh suddenly exploded in front of Lu Yuan, covering him head to toe in a shower of gore.

“Pfft, bleh—”

Fortunately, this was within the Consciousness Space. If it had been real, he would have been utterly disgusted.

Lu Yuan spat out the bits that had accidentally entered his mouth.

“Lv2 [Special Exertion], the minimum amplification of instant power reaches threefold.”

“My control over muscle movements has improved significantly.”

“And also…”

Lu Yuan looked at the Rat Monster in front of him, now reduced to a few scattered limbs and fragments, with a mix of surprise and delight in his eyes.

“Phased Power Exertion!”

When his punch had landed on the Rat Monster earlier, he was puzzled that it hadn’t punched through. It was only later that he realized most of the power from his Lv2 [special exertion] punch had penetrated into the monster’s body.

It had exploded inside.

This was why the Rat Monster had burst like a pricked balloon, scattering pieces everywhere.

“This technique is really useful.”

Lu Yuan’s current strength wasn’t weak, around 700 kilograms.

Under Lv1 [special exertion], his instant boxing power could reach 1,300 or even 1,400 kilograms, exceeding one ton.

But it wasn’t always effective.

At least in the Consciousness Space, when sparring with Lin Zhiqin, Qin Feng, and Zhou Ling, his one-ton punch seemed almost useless, barely having any effect.

He hadn’t understood why before, but after formally training in martial arts and body training, he realized.

Skilled martial artists, having undergone Skin Training, Muscle Training, Bone Training, and Organ Training, had bodies like refined steel, honed through countless trials.

When he punched them, the force was weakened layer by layer, naturally reducing its lethality.

“Mastering the technique of Phased Power Exertion changes things. My power can now transmit through the skin, muscle, and bone into the opponent’s body, and then explode internally! It’s like the ‘hitting a bull through a mountain’ technique…”

The more Lu Yuan thought about it, the more excited he became, unable to suppress his urge to fight.

“Let’s try it out on everyone!”

He quickly exited the Consciousness Space, then re-entered with a different imaginary enemy…

Moments later, having tested it on Lin Zhiqin, Qin Feng, the Divine Servant of the Crow Deity, Zhou Ling, and even Gao Qing, Lu Yuan suddenly opened his eyes, fully withdrawing from the [imaginary enemy] battles.

“Whew—”

He exhaled softly.

Besides the satisfaction of successful trials, there was a hint of helplessness and complexity on Lu Yuan’s face.

“While the threat to them has increased somewhat, the overall difference in strength is still too great.”

Lu Yuan had underestimated the problem.

Phased Power Exertion worked well against the Cavern Rat Monster, but it fell short when facing martial arts experts like Lin Zhiqin and Qin Feng.

The hidden force transmitted through Phased Power Exertion would dissipate quickly after penetrating just a little into their bodies, rapidly absorbed by their skin and muscles.

Skilled Martial Artists had long mastered the technique of automatic force dispersion.

Lu Yuan’s one-ton-plus force barely caused them any harm when it reached their insides.

However, it proved more effective against Cyborgs like Zhou Ling and Gao Qing.

A solid hit could make them spit blood.

The Effect on the Divine Servant of the Crow Deity was also limited. In their peak state, the thick layer of death energy surrounding them was not easily penetrated by physical force alone.

“Combining it with [death energy entanglement] might yield better results.”

“[Death energy entanglement] needs to be enhanced, gathering more death energy would improve its penetration.”

As Lu Yuan pondered, he suddenly became restless.

“In essence, it’s still a matter of insufficient strength points!”

“They can use force dispersion techniques to mitigate one ton of boxing power, but what about ten tons? A hundred tons?”

“As long as the instant force can break through their dispersion limit, any expert would be crushed by my punch!”

With one attribute point left, Lu Yuan decisively added it to his strength points.

Instantly.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Lu Yuan’s entire body emitted a series of crisp “crackling” sounds, and he suddenly grew larger.

“Whew—”

He stood up from the floor in one swift motion.

His expanded physique transformed from being lean and well-proportioned to strong and burly.

Though not exaggerated, his subcutaneous muscles thickened, increasing in strength and density.

This qualitative change made Lu Yuan naturally exude an invisible sense of oppression.

The room, already dim due to the rain, seemed to darken further under this invisible pressure… The light filtering in from the window appeared even fainter.

Lu Yuan opened the window, and the torrential rain immediately poured in.

The bean-sized raindrops pelted his body, bringing a refreshing coolness.

Lu Yuan extended an arm out the window.

His incredibly solid muscles visibly conveyed the explosive power contained within.

He opened his palm and, at the moment the raindrops fell…

He clenched his fist suddenly!

“Boom—”

A mist of water exploded before his eyes, the slight popping sound drowned out by the rain.

“Basic boxing power… might be around one ton now.”

Lu Yuan continued to clench his fist, creating bursts of white mist, thinking silently.

The more he added to his strength attribute, the greater the increase.

What truly limited his strength growth, however, were his constitution points and agility points.

The former determined how much of this power Lu Yuan could actually exert.

The latter represented balance, coordination, and neural reaction speed.

If he had great strength but his reaction speed couldn’t keep up, he would appear “clumsy,” “awkward,” and “slow.”

Like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly, all that strength would become a joke, reducing him to a punching bag.

“Fortunately, my agility points aren’t low now, so I can still manage this strength…”

Lu Yuan boredly squeezed the water mist for a while, quickly losing interest.

He retracted his hand and closed the window.

Then he entered the Consciousness Space again, testing the effect of Lv2 [special exertion] with his current one-ton basic boxing power.

The results were barely satisfactory.

With 16 constitution points, he could just manage to withstand three times the instant burst of one-ton basic boxing power.

…

“…She only has one son. Her husband passed away early, and she raised him alone with great effort.”

“Chen Yang, that kid, he’s a good person, filial, and warm-hearted. He just didn’t like studying much. He dropped out before finishing senior high school.”

“He listened to his mother and joined the military for two years. After coming back, he learned to fight and brought back quite a bit of money. I heard his salary was higher than working for a big company.”

“But who could have thought that such a good person would suddenly be gone, sigh…”

Lu Yuan squatted in front of an orange stall, eating this season’s freshly harvested early-ripening oranges while listening to the short and chubby Old Lady in front of him speak in a dialect-accented Mandarin.

The orange peels at his feet had already piled into a small mountain.

“Where did Chen Yang’s mother go now?” Lu Yuan asked, stuffing a few slices of orange into his mouth, looking intently focused.

At that moment, a young man in a black T-shirt approached, calling out, “Boss, how much are these oranges? How much per jin1?”

Lu Yuan casually glanced at the young man.

The latter met his gaze and, for some reason, suddenly fell silent, quickly walking away without mentioning buying oranges again.

“Uh…”

Lu Yuan looked at his solid arm muscles resting on his knee, forming exaggerated lines, and was momentarily speechless.

He looked up and saw the Old Lady selling oranges with an expression that seemed like she wanted to say something but was too afraid to.

After a brief silence, he said, “I’ll buy all these oranges from you in a bit.”

“No, no need!” The Old Lady waved her hands repeatedly, but Lu Yuan had already grabbed a plastic bag and started filling it with oranges by the handful.

“Go on, keep talking.”

“…Alright.”

Footnote:

1. Jin(斤): Jin” is a Chinese unit of weight. One Jin is approximately equal to 0.5 kilograms or 1.1 pounds. It is commonly used in China for measuring food, groceries, and other everyday items.