Chapter 112: Cycling and Repeating

Chapter 112: Cycle and Recurrence

The cold metal walls, the soft lighting.

Qin Feng returned to that familiar C-709 martial arts room on the space fortress.

He leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, every part of his body screaming in agony.

But he paid it no mind, immediately beginning to calculate the gains from these three days and nights.

His battle record could be described as pitifully meager.

In the relentless high-intensity combat without rest, he had only killed fifteen second-level Greenskins, and in a large-scale siege, together with dozens of other warriors, he had barely managed to wear down one third-level Greenskin.

According to the rules, team kills meant points were split evenly.

“Teacher, how many points do I have now?”

Qin Feng asked.

Lin Yue called up the terminal, glanced at it, and said, “Before you came, you had 175 points. Over these three days, killing second-level Greenskins earned you 150 points, and for that third-level Greenskin, because too many people participated in the siege, you only got 25 points. So, your total points now are 325.”

Qin Feng nodded slightly, committing the number to memory.

Though his battle record was poor, his strength had improved at a truly rapid pace!

He opened his system panel.

【Killing Art】:

Thousand Army Spear (Perfection)

【Proficiency】: 12121 / 100000

In just three days, through relentless grinding at the edge of life and death, the proficiency of the Thousand Army Spear had skyrocketed by over ten thousand points!

This was even more effective than a month of ranked matches in the Imperial Arena.

And another killing art gave him a surprise.

【Killing Art】:

Fierce Bird Fist (Mastery)

【Proficiency】: 1173 / 10000

The Fierce Bird Fist had, without his notice, broken through to the Mastery realm!

And with the breakthrough in the fist art, a new insight surged into his mind.

He stood up from the ground and began to move slowly in the empty martial arts room.

His footwork was no longer the smooth and steady style of the 【Wandering Dragon Body Art】; it had become full of aggression and attack.

Sometimes it was like a bird of prey diving, incredibly swift; other times like a fierce bird turning, bizarre and unpredictable.

This was a completely new body art!

The Fierce Bird Body Art focused on offensive momentum, perfectly complementing attack moves, enhancing charge speed and explosive power.

In stark contrast to the 【Wandering Dragon Body Art】, which emphasized defense and evasion, the Fierce Bird Body Art was a pure body art born for offense!

Qin Feng’s combat system had gained another crucial piece of completion!

He picked up a spare long spear nearby and integrated the insights from the Fierce Bird Fist more deeply into his spear technique.

Now, when he wielded the spear, it carried both the weight and grandeur of the Thousand Army Spear and the ferocity and swiftness of the Fierce Bird Fist, becoming more agile and more lethal.

What surprised him even more was that, in countless extreme battles, he found himself unconsciously incorporating some of the power techniques from the Advanced Imperial Body Forging Method into every movement of combat.

Every block, every spear thrust, every dodge subtly aligned with the rhythm of the body forging method.

This allowed his body forging proficiency to grow slowly even while fighting!

Fighting to train, cultivating the body forging method in battle!

This was Qin Feng’s latest realization.

This kind of training was slower than dedicated body forging practice, but it allowed simultaneous cultivation of killing arts, and it was most suitable for the battlefield.

“Fighting to the limit is the best cultivation!”

For the first time, Qin Feng understood this saying so deeply.

He even had a faint feeling that if he continued down this path, he might… create a spear technique truly his own, unique in the world!

After reviewing his gains in strength, Qin Feng began to think about another practical issue—resources.

He opened the private network exchange mall and found the option for “Advanced Psychic Potion.”

【Advanced Psychic Potion: Price 300 points per vial.】

“Three hundred points per vial…”

And to advance to an A-level contract, he needed a full ten thousand points.

Qin Feng began calculating rapidly in his mind.

“At my current consumption rate, I need at least ten vials of Advanced Psychic Potion per month just to barely maintain maximum efficiency in training.”

“A B-level contract comes with three vials per month. That means I need to buy an extra seven vials each month.”

“Seven vials is twenty-one hundred points.”

“And with my current strength, earning two to three thousand points per month on the battlefield is not difficult. Plus, the number of potions increases by one each month.”

“If I buy individually, I can exchange points for resources at any time and immediately invest them in training.”

“But if I choose to save ten thousand points to advance to an A-level contract, that process is too long. By the time I save enough, my strength might have already outgrown the need for an A-level contract.”

After some calculation, Qin Feng made a decision immediately.

Don’t advance to A-level contract!

Use points to buy individually!

Push his strength up as fast as possible!

“Now, my B-level contract resources still have two vials of Advanced Psychic Potion, two sessions of Advanced Deep Repair Medicinal Baths, and two vials of Intermediate Mental Recovery Potion…”

“Psychic potions are a necessity; the rest can wait. Points must be used on the blade’s edge.”

A new, crystal-clear training plan took shape in his mind.

“From now on, I’ll take three days as a cycle.”

“Take the psychic potion, then enter the battlefield, fight wildly until exhausted.”

“During battle, think more, reflect more, focus on comprehending and creating killing arts, and fully integrate the body forging method into them.”

“After exhaustion, return to the fortress, use three days for recovery, settling, and mental cultivation.”

“Cycle like this!”

After finalizing the plan, he raised his head and looked at Lin Yue, who had been sitting quietly aside the whole time, not disturbing him.

“Hmm?”

Lin Yue seemed to know what he wanted to ask, pointing to the other side of the room. “The shower is over there. If you need rest, there’s a bed.”

She shrugged and added, “You don’t need to mind me. Just carry out your plan. Pretend I’m not here.”

"Good teacher, thank you."

Qin Feng nodded, speaking with genuine sincerity.

Lin Yue, upon hearing this, suddenly smiled: "No need to thank me. Actually, taking on this 'Guardian' mission for you is also part of my imperial duties. When the mission is complete, I too will receive imperial contribution points as a reward."

Despite her words, Qin Feng thanked her once more.

He walked into the bathroom, washing away the blood and exhaustion from his body with hot water, then poured an entire pack of high-grade deep repair medicinal bath into the tub.

Under the effect of the medicine, his body slowly recovered, his flesh growing tougher, and his vitality index steadily rising.

He also swallowed a high-grade spiritual energy potion, then returned to his bed, sinking into a deep sleep.

—

Time, on the battlefield of blood and fire, was the cheapest and fastest-flowing unit of measurement.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

When Qin Feng once again dragged his exhausted, blood-soaked body back from the battlefield of Hell-VII to the "Aegis-III" space fortress, his entire demeanor had undergone a earth-shattering transformation.

The greenness and naivety had been thoroughly washed away. In their place was a calmness like that of a ten-thousand-year glacier, and a pair of eyes that seemed to have seen through life and death, as still as an ancient well.

During this month, he had experienced hundreds of battles, large and small.

He had once led an elite squad of veterans deep behind enemy lines, traveling over a thousand kilometers, destroying a giant green-skinned "I Think It Works" factory, and escaping by the skin of his teeth amidst the blazing explosions.

He had also been forced to lead a group of "rookies" like himself, holding a canyon surrounded on three sides by the green-skinned horde for two full days and nights until reinforcements arrived.

He learned how to find the safest route of advance amidst a hail of bullets;

how to judge the landing point of a shell from its whistling sound;

how to form the most effective offensive and defensive alliance with completely unfamiliar teammates within a second.

He had killed cunning green-skinned snipers, chopped down charging green-skinned war vehicles, and even, in a brutal siege, personally thrust his spear into the heart of a third-level war chief.

He was no longer the "rookie" who needed protection.

In this cruel meat grinder, he had grown into a true, qualified iron-blooded warrior, trusted by any comrade.

...

Inside the C-709 martial arts chamber.

Qin Feng sat cross-legged, silently reviewing his gains and changes over the past month.

He opened his data panel.

[Name]: Qin Feng

[Vitality Index]: 21.23

[Martial Artist Level]: Second-level Martial Artist

Looking at this number, Qin Feng's brow furrowed slightly.

One month.

A full month of relentless, highest-intensity life-and-death combat, and his vitality index had only increased by 1.21 points.

This speed, compared to his previous terrifying efficiency of increasing by 0.2 points per day, was a world of difference.

And the resources he had consumed for this were enormous.

The three high-grade spiritual energy potions that came with the B-level contract, plus the two he had exchanged with all his merit points—five high-grade potions in total—had long been exhausted.

"The pace of improvement has slowed down."

In his heart, Qin Feng conducted a calm analysis of his current situation.

"First, after completing the 'Intermediate Imperial Body-Training Method,' the passive enhancement effect brought by the system has disappeared. Every bit of progress now has to be earned through real effort and grinding."

"Second, and most importantly, I haven't set aside large chunks of time for the monotonous practice of the body-training method. Instead, I've integrated its operation into combat. This approach, while allowing me to adapt to the battlefield faster and improve my killing techniques, has greatly reduced the frequency of pushing my body to its limits."

"Back at school, I could perform three to four extreme body-training sessions a day. Now, on the battlefield, I need to fight continuously for three days and three nights to truly push my body and mind to the limit once. The efficiency is naturally incomparable."

He also compared another cultivation method in his mind.

"If I had used the advantage of resources to go into seclusion in the space fortress and pushed my vitality index straight to 30.0, then when I entered the battlefield, the pressure I would feel from facing second- or even third-level greenskins would be much smaller. In that case, the progress of my killing techniques would inevitably become extremely slow."

"This way is just right."

"High-intensity combat pressure maximizes the honing of my killing technique realm and combat will. And while integrating the body-training method into combat is less efficient, it has the advantage of stability. After all, this mission lasts a full year—time is abundant."

"Moreover, even if I had raised my vitality index to 30.0 early on, what then? I would still be stuck at this level, waiting for next year's Qiming Inter-School Tournament."

Having realized this, the anxiety in Qin Feng's heart over the slowing progress dissipated like smoke.

Martial arts cultivation was never something achieved overnight.

Sometimes, settling down was more important than rushing ahead.

(End of chapter)