Chapter 33 – Advanced Leg Techniques

If it weren’t for his severe mental exhaustion, Lu Yuan would have liked to test the strength of Coach Qin, whom he also met on the second floor of the martial arts gym.

Barely holding onto his drowsiness, Lu Yuan quickly ate dinner and then collapsed into bed, unable to stay awake any longer.

He slept deeply until he woke up, groggy from the heat.

When he opened his eyes, it was still dark outside. His phone screen showed the time as 3:14 AM.

Since it was clear he couldn’t fall back to sleep, Lu Yuan decided to get up.

He distinctly remembered turning on the air conditioner before going to bed, but when he woke up, it was off again. It must have been turned off by his mom, Zheng Qiuling, when she came back after closing the shop for the night.

Whenever he went to bed early, his mom would always sneak in and turn off the air conditioner.

Lu Yuan was resigned to this routine.

Without bothering to wash up, he threw on a light jacket and headed out.

The night air was cool, much more refreshing than his room.

The main street was deserted and quiet, with not a soul in sight, only the streetlights faithfully shining.

In a little while, the sanitation workers would likely start their shifts.

Lu Yuan aimlessly jogged down the road, noticing that some breakfast shops were already lit up. A couple was busy inside, one rolling dough and the other making buns.

As he approached the street where he had bravely defeated eight kidnappers, he decided to take a detour.

After about twenty minutes, he finally reached the riverside park in Jiaoyan.

This park was usually bustling throughout the day.

But not now, of course.

There were just a few fishermen, possibly having stayed up all night, sitting on small stools by the river. They were so still and silent that Lu Yuan worried they might fall asleep and tumble into the water.

Finding an open spot, Lu Yuan began his training.

Since he had slept through the previous evening’s training time, he needed to catch up.

His primary focus was practicing his leg techniques.

In a state of absolute concentration, time flew by.

By the time Lu Yuan snapped back to reality, daylight had fully broken.

He noticed that the spot he had occupied was now filled with a group of elderly men and women in training uniforms, each holding a sword.

They were setting up a sound system and finding their places, probably getting ready for their morning exercises.

Lu Yuan quickly moved aside.

He pulled out his phone to check the time and saw that it was already 6:15 AM.

“I’ve been training for almost three hours?” Lu Yuan was surprised.

Despite maintaining [absolute concentration] for three hours, he didn’t feel very tired.

It seemed like his intelligence attribute had increased.

Although there was no change on his professional panel, it was possible that the increase was less than one point, so it didn’t show up.

The most noticeable change was that he had felt exhausted after three rounds of using [imaginary enemy] for mental combat the night before last.

Yesterday afternoon, he managed to activate it five times.

Today, he might be able to increase the number of attempts even further.

“Unexpected additional effect. From now on, it seems like intelligence points can be increased without using attribute points.”

He checked his [martial artist] professional panel.

In three hours, his professional experience had increased by thirty-seven points, and his basic leg techniques had gained a whopping two hundred and twenty points.

The experience bar for Level 4 was almost halfway full.

At this rate, by tomorrow, or the day after at the latest, his basic leg techniques would reach Level 5!

Lu Yuan felt quite pleased.

Suddenly, his stomach growled loudly, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten anything for nearly twelve hours since last night.

Seeing that it was about time, he quickly left the riverside park and ran towards his home.

Lu Yuan devoured fifteen large meat buns, truly starving.

That morning, it was rare that Lu Xinghua didn’t go to the hospital, and he took the opportunity to chat with Lu Yuan.

The topic was still about the fight Lu Yuan had gotten into the night before last.

To Lu Yuan’s surprise, Lu Xinghua didn’t scold him like his Mom did. Instead, he said, “At your age, it’s normal to get into conflicts and fights. But remember, don’t deliberately cause trouble. And if someone has a weapon, run. It’s not shameful!”

“Got it,” Lu Yuan replied. He then took the opportunity to mention his plans for the evening to Lu Xinghua.

“Dad, Cheng Peng asked me to play some games tonight. I want to go out for a bit.”

“Sure, go ahead. It’s good to relax after the exams. But don’t overdo it. There’s only two weeks left until the final exams after this Monthly Test. Don’t slack off with your studies.”

“I understand.”

Lu Yuan wanted to ask about how the “debt collection” mission from the other day went but figured he’d just get a “why do kids ask so many questions” response, so he let it slide.

After breakfast, Lu Yuan headed to the martial arts gym.

There were no classes at the gym today, so he planned to spend the whole day there.

Strength training required the use of the gym’s equipment, and there were also boxing stances in the training room. He could practice his leg and boxing techniques.

Practicing shadow boxing alone wasn’t very effective.

He even had lunch at the gym.

Regular students had to pay, but premium members ate for free.

Lu Yuan regretted not borrowing Cheng Peng’s student card.

At 4:45 PM.

“Bang!”

A whipping leg strike tore through the air, creating a whooshing sound as it heavily struck the black boxing stance.

The force behind the kick was immense.

Even the training stance, which weighed over 100 kilograms, shook violently before stabilizing.

[Your skill basic leg techniques has improved, experience points +8]

[Congratulations, your skill basic leg techniques has leveled up!]

Catching his breath, Lu Yuan looked at the notification on his professional panel with a hint of excitement.

Finally, his leg techniques had leveled up!

From 7:30 AM until almost 5 PM, aside from necessary strength training, he had focused almost all his energy on leg technique training.

During breaks to recover his strength, he even activated [imaginary enemy] to enter the mental space and spar with the middle-aged man to verify his techniques.

He managed to level up his leg techniques just before dark.

“Leveling up in a day, I’ve really pushed myself.”

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh.

Both of his legs were swollen, sore, and fatigued, reminiscent of his first day of intense training.

Considering his 10-point physique, the fact that he had pushed his body to this extent showed just how hard he had worked today.

This is where the benefits of having a professional panel really shine.

It’s like playing a game—you can see the experience progress bar in real-time.

Lu Yuan felt that he could push his basic leg techniques to Level 5 today, so he kept training hard.

If he couldn’t see the experience points, he would have probably taken a break or moved on to other training by now.

“After a whole day, my professional experience has increased by almost a hundred points, bringing my total experience to 165. If I can maintain this rate, I’ll be able to level up my [martial artist] profession to Level 5 in less than a week. If I’m at school, it might take around ten days.”

“Huh?”

Lu Yuan suddenly let out a soft exclamation.

On the virtual screen that only he could see, the experience progress bar behind basic leg techniques Level 5 had disappeared.

In its place was the word “Max.”

Not only that, but on the professional panel, the skill tree representing basic leg techniques had started to extend upwards.

Soon, a higher position on the tree lit up.

[Basic professional skill unlocked!] —

[Advanced leg techniques Level 1 (0/100)]