3 Chapter 3: Guide to Using Skill Points

Wang Lan and Jiang Xinyu had known each other from a very early age—how early? Wang Lan had seen Jiang Xinyu when she still wore split pants.

From childhood to adulthood, Jiang Xinyu's personality had always been extremely competitive, and everyone around her complimented the naturally extraordinary and favored daughter of heaven. The only exception... was Wang Lan!

"Why are you here?" Wang Lan asked with a smile.

"You won!" Jiang Xinyu blurted out without preamble, but there was not a hint of defeat in her tone, rather it was a declaration of victory.

"I won? What did I win?"

"You're still so annoying, pretending not to know when you actually do. Can't you just let me win once?" If others saw the Ice-Snow Queen Jiang Xinyu talking to a boy like this, their jaws would probably drop.

"Are you talking about the exam? You can't seriously have been competing with me in secret all these years, can you? How boring can you get?" Wang Lan remarked sarcastically.

"You think this is boring? Boring for you?" Jiang Xinyu suddenly became a bit agitated.

"Isn't it boring? You're a Star Martial Warrior, and for the college entrance exam, you just need to pass the minimum threshold for the written test to be considered successful. Going to such lengths over a matter of pride? Ever heard of 'Praise be to sixty marks, any more is a waste'?"

"Heh, men."

"What do you mean?"

"Spouting that any more is a waste, and yet you? Since elementary school until now, you've been first place in every exam, basking in the glory of being the top student, must feel quite vain, huh?"

"Not at all. If I weren't forced, who would bother trying so hard? Aren't beds cozy? Aren't couches soft?"

"Is it because of the bet?" Jiang Xinyu asked, her cheeks slightly flushed as she lowered her head.

"No, I never make bets with people. Because of a damned trial task, I have to be first place a thousand times in a row. Is this something a human should do..." Wang Lan muttered to himself, resting his hands behind his head, "Class is about to start, gotta run!"

Whoosh—

A gust of wind blew past, and the air suddenly got a bit colder.

Wang Lan stiffly turned his neck, only to meet a pair of cold eyes filled with murderous intent, "Have you really forgotten? Or should I say, you never cared in the first place?"

"Not good!"

Xu Xiangwen's face changed dramatically as he shouted, quickly shutting the eye that had opened on his forehead, "Xinyu is about to make a move; she's freaking out."

As his voice fell, two figures flashed instantaneously, rapidly heading toward the rooftop where Wang Lan was.

"Ah? Why is your temper still the same? Exploding at the slightest thing!"

Hiss—

In a blur before Wang Lan's eyes, Jiang Xinyu appeared in front of him with a trail of afterimages, grabbing his collar.

"Need me to remind you? Eight years ago, third grade..."

"Xinyu, don't be rash..." A cry of alarm rose, interrupting Jiang Xinyu's words. Xu Xiangwen and Gong Feiyu hurried onto the rooftop with panicked expressions.

"Right, Xinyu, if you're angry, you can just break Wang Lan's legs. Any of the three legs, just don't actually push him off; that could kill someone."

"Damn, Gong Feiyu, are you speaking human language? Aren't you going to save me..." Wang Lan, with half his body already over the edge of the rooftop, looked frail, helpless, and pitiable.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jiang Xinyu's face turned cold, but she gently let go of her grip. With a slight blush on her face, she casually flicked her long hair back, "Forget it; let's just forget it. It's time for class."

Wang Lan patted his chest and straightened his disheveled collar.

"I'm telling you, Lan, congratulations on successfully defending your title again." Xu Xiangwen wrapped an arm around Wang Lan's shoulder, leaning in to whisper in his ear, "Nicely done. You've utterly dominated her over eight hundred times; not many people can be that ruthless."

"Was it you, you bastard, fanning the flames on the side? Otherwise, why would Xinyu explode? I knew you were up to no good, trying to kill me to inherit my Q coins, right?"

"Sorry, I'm Xinyue Eight, a Purple Diamond member; your Q coins are nothing to me."

"Are we done? Shall we go? How about barbecue tonight?" Gong Feiyu suggested with a bright smile on his face.

"I'll pass, I've got some things to do tonight." Wang Lan was now focused on studying the system, having awakened it along with his Star Martial Warrior talent. For the three of them, their future was likely to hold more partings than meetings, but as far as Wang Lan was concerned, there will be plenty of time.

Jiang Xinyu's behavior had indeed been abnormal today. Wang Lan propped his chin and pondered; it had been a long time since he'd seen Jiang Xinyu in person, aside from online contacts. In reality, Wang Lan was busy studying and practicing problems, while Jiang Xinyu was busy with her cultivation.

Even their recent online chats had been just a few simple greetings, and he couldn't remember doing anything to offend this woman, whose temper seemed to grow with her age. Why was she so... agitated today?

Suddenly, Wang Lan shuddered.

Eight years ago, third grade?

That time, Wang Lan and Jiang Xinyu tied for first place. Even with the same scores both being first, Jiang Xinyu insisted on being above Wang Lan. Could Wang Lan agree to that? If he did, what about his trial task?

In the midst of their argument, the two seemed to have made some kind of bet...

"Wang Lan, you annoying man, I, Jiang Xinyu, swear that I will do better than you in the next exam."

"Good luck, I believe in you."

"Ah, I'm so mad, if I can't beat you, I'll... I'll... I'll jump off from here."

"Why such dark thoughts at such a young age? How about this—if I win, you become my wife when you grow up, how does that sound?"

"And if I win?"

"I'll be your husband."

"Deal! It's settled!"

Wang Lan had known Jiang Xinyu from a very young age and knew this girl could be impulsive when excited. And she was incredibly stubborn; the more you tried to talk her out of something, the more determined she became. If she said she'd jump, she might really do it.

After all, they were just kids, and Wang Lan treated it as a joke and soon forgot about it. Besides, Wang Lan remembered that the initial bet was for the next exam, and there have been either a thousand or at least eight hundred exams since then.

"This girl's persistence is no longer just persistence; it's become an obsession," Wang Lan chuckled and shook his head.

And with Jiang Xinyu's intelligence, couldn't she tell what was said in jest? Who in the world would take a childish bet seriously? Maybe she wasn't talking about that time, I'll think it over.

Since it was the last day, there was only one class in the afternoon. It wasn't really a class, just handing out summer homework. There were some assignments from the teachers, and also the 'gifts' prepared for the students by Extinction Master.

As expected, five years' worth of college entrance exam questions, three years of mock tests, and an analysis of various commonly mistaken problems... Analyze your sister.

When faced with a stack of homework even heftier than the one at the start of school, the whole class fell into despair. Some even stared at the inch-thick pile of homework, muttering to themselves.

"Mad... Extinction Master is mad, Lan is mad... everyone's mad..."

With his backpack in tow, Wang Lan hopped on the bus and went straight home.

In the business center of Suzhou City, Wang Lan owned three office buildings, each over thirty stories high. Before his mother's disappearance, she had handed them over to professional managers to handle. No need for business operations, just renting them out for the rent income.

Wang Lan's home was in the Xinyu Building, on the top floor in a flat of five hundred square meters. There was a private elevator that went straight up and down, operated by a fingerprint lock that only Wang Lan could use.

The parking garage was split into three levels; the first and second were public, but the third had been converted into a training area. The walls were lined with PS armor. When powered, it could create a strong magnetic field, rendering ordinary weapons unable to even scratch the PS armor without exhausting its power.

Wang Lan lay on a chair in the training area, his thoughts sinking into his Spiritual Sea of Consciousness. First, he had a hundred skill points, and secondly, he had a Star Martial Skill called Self Healing.

Usually, when Awakening a Star Martial Skill for the first time, one's overall qualities would be enhanced. The weaker the foundation, the more pronounced the enhancement. But Wang Lan's foundation was not weak; his qualities had already reached a certain height even before activating the system.

As for how much enhancement, that required actual measurement.

Wang Lan approached the strength-testing machine, took a deep breath, and threw a lightning-fast punch.

"Boom—"

"Two hundred kilograms"

A look of joy appeared on Wang Lan's face; his previous maximum punch force had been only one hundred and fifty kilograms. In other words, after awakening as a Star Martial Warrior, his punch force surged by a quarter.

Wang Lan took another deep breath and, using the technique of Inch Strength Fist and Mana, threw another punch at the target in front of him.

"Boom—" A loud noise erupted.

"Seven hundred kilograms."

Wang Lan was overjoyed. Previously, his Inch Strength Fist could only produce a maximum force of four hundred kilograms. Seven hundred kilograms was beyond the lethal force of an average person. Aside from a few naturally gifted individuals capable of delivering attacks of over six hundred kilograms, for a normal person, three hundred was the limit.

That a sixteen-year-old with a slim figure like Wang Lan could produce a punch force of seven hundred kilograms demonstrated the physical quality of Star Martial Warriors.

Furthermore, the advanced combat power of Star Martial Warriors came from Star Martial Skills, and the Inch Strength Fist Wang Lan just used was merely a Basic Skill. With a Basic Skill's power already surpassing that of most of his peers in the Star Martial Class, Wang Lan's baseline was stronger.

But the key experiment was next. Inch Strength Fist was the skill Wang Lan focused on cultivating; at the Bronze 3 tier, leveling it up to Bronze 4 required ten points. Without hesitation, Wang Lan allocated skill points to Inch Strength Fist.

After adding ten points, the original Bronze 3 became Bronze 4. Following the skill upgrade, Wang Lan clearly felt his muscles seemed more flexible, allowing him to control his strength more smoothly than before.

"Ha!"

He punched again, making the strength-testing machine boom.

"Boom—"

"Eight hundred kilograms—"

Wang Lan's body shook, his eyes showing astonishment. Eight hundred kilograms, a whole one hundred kilograms more than before. Although to a Star Martial Warrior this increase might seem tiny, almost negligible,

The issue was that Wang Lan went from seven hundred to eight hundred in just a few seconds. If he had relied on his own cultivation, not to mention how long it would take, just reaching eight hundred kilograms constrained by body development would take at least a year.

"I've struck it rich, truly struck it rich... Ten skill points, a matter of seconds, and I've saved a year of hard cultivation. Skill points, indeed the cornerstone of my cheating life.

As long as I have enough skill points, who the hell needs to race on the track? I'm going to fly!"

Wang Lan suppressed the urge to put all his skill points into Inch Strength Fist. As a studious genius, he couldn't let go of his intelligence just because he had acquired strength. Intelligence is a valuable asset that can't be discarded.

Skill points are precious. The most beneficial utilization of skill points requires reasonable distribution.

It takes ten skill points for Black Iron skills to level up to Bronze. Ten points—just enough for a Bronze skill to level up one tier, but enough to raise a Black Iron skill by one quality. And if relying on cultivation alone, upgrading from Black Iron to Bronze would take at least three years. That's the most cost-effective investment.

Unarmed combat, Black Iron 8, add two points to upgrade to Bronze 1.

Suddenly, there was a moment of confusion in Wang Lan's eyes, and then he became clear-headed again.