「March 24th.」

The air of spring had seeped into every corner of Bluestone County.

For Li Wen, it was another day where every second counted.

A little after six in the morning, he was seated in his Flying Star Class classroom, right on time. With his mind highly focused, he plunged into the vast ocean of academic knowledge.

The passive ability from his [Scholar] profession panel, "Once Learned, Never Forgotten," ensured that every concept he understood became perfectly organized, forming its own coherent system in his mind.

Six hours of arduous study passed in a flash. The panel refreshed right on cue:

[You have studied diligently for six hours. Scholar EXP +36]

[Profession: Scholar Lv. 7 (308 → 344/6400)] 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Gazing at the experience bar, which was crawling along at a snail’s pace, Li Wen felt not a sliver of impatience.

He knew full well that every breakthrough as a Scholar brought about an all-encompassing transformation.

After lunch, he strode with determination straight to the top floor of the Hongyi Building.

He headed for his private Martial Arts Room—the sanctuary where he would strive for the pinnacle of his blade techniques.

Inside the spacious, well-lit Martial Arts Room, only the clear ring of a blade echoed.

Li Wen gripped the Standard Rapier and, with single-minded focus, practiced the Shadow-Stealing Form of the Flowing Rainbow Five Forms again and again.

He didn’t activate his Absolute Focus. Each strike relied solely on his own profound skill, his near-microscopic control over his body, and his initial grasp of the form’s core principle: "speed above all."

He constantly replayed the "cutting line" from the virtual instructor’s demonstration in his mind, feeling how his qi and blood, muscles, sinews, and even his will resonated with the blade at extreme speeds.

Sweat soaked through his training uniform. The alloy floor was covered in countless footprints of varying depths and fine blade marks—a testament to the effort he poured out as he pushed himself to his limits.

From clumsy and halting to smooth and continuous, every minor improvement made the edge of his attacks that much sharper.

Around four in the afternoon, Li Wen stopped, wiping the sweat from his brow as he prepared to regulate his breathing.

Just then, his personal terminal vibrated softly—the academic results for the first provincial mock exam had been officially released.

At that very same moment, the long-dormant profession panel, like an awakened dragon, abruptly flooded his mind’s eye with a massive stream of information:

[You achieved an excellent score in Language Arts on the provincial mock exam. Scholar EXP +500]

[You achieved an excellent score in Mathematics on the provincial mock exam. Scholar EXP +500]

[You achieved an excellent score in Galactic Common Tongue on the provincial mock exam. Scholar EXP +500]

[You achieved an excellent score in History on the provincial mock exam. Scholar EXP +500]

[You achieved an excellent score in Geography on the provincial mock exam. Scholar EXP +500]

[You achieved an excellent score in Political Science on the provincial mock exam. Scholar EXP +500]

[Your overall ranking is in the top ten province-wide. Scholar EXP +4000]

[Profession: Scholar Lv. 7 (344 → 7344/6400)]

[Profession leveling up...]

[Profession: Scholar Lv. 8 (944/12800)]

The massive amount of EXP accumulated in that instant was like a raging flood, instantly shattering the barrier to Lv. 7.

An immense power, far greater than any he had felt before, descended upon him with a crash.

HUMMM—!

Li Wen felt a violent roar deep within his brain, and his entire sea of consciousness trembled violently.

The miniature, jade-like Primordial Spirit floating high in the core of his sea of consciousness was suddenly infused with an immeasurable amount of spiritual essence.

Its once-clear yet ethereal body began to solidify and grow more substantial at a visible rate. It started to glow from within, as if transforming from illusory jade into a real, flawless gem.

It abruptly grew by nearly half a foot, and a more condensed, oppressive spiritual pressure began to radiate from it.

As the Primordial Spirit grew, his entire sea of consciousness expanded frantically.

The boundaries of his spiritual world were forcibly stretched. Its formless walls extended in all directions with a great RUMBLE, becoming vaster, more stable, and deeper than before.

His Spiritual Power materialized into crystalline motes of light, sprinkling like stardust across the newly forged domain.

An indescribable sense of clarity washed over his soul. It was as if the whole world had snapped into focus, and his thoughts now flowed as smoothly and unimpeded as the orbits of stars.

The transformation of his sea of consciousness lasted for over ten seconds before gradually subsiding.

Li Wen drew in a sharp breath, suppressing his shock. A look of immense, pleasant surprise then spread across his face.

’I jumped straight from Lv. 7 to Lv. 8! I thought it would take at least a few more months of burying my head in books to even get a chance... I never expected the reward for placing in the top ten on the provincial mock exam to be this huge.’

This unexpected leap made his confidence in his goal—to break into the provincial top three on next month’s second mock exam—skyrocket.

The reason was simple and powerful: at Lv. 8, the core ability of the [Scholar] profession, [Absolute Focus], now provided a terrifying 80% boost to his comprehension.

Not only that, but while in this focused state, his speed of thought, information-processing capabilities, and reaction time would all be massively enhanced across the board.

Furthermore, now that his jade-like Primordial Spirit had been strengthened, the amount and intensity of Spiritual Power it could handle had surely increased significantly. This meant the duration and endurance cap for using [Absolute Focus] would also be much higher.

A massive wave of anticipation surged through him.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Li Wen activated it with a thought. ’Activate—Absolute Focus!’

HUM! The Lv. 8 Absolute Focus activated with overwhelming power!

In an instant, the world changed. Or rather, in his eyes, the world had returned to its true essence.

The countless moments he had spent practicing the Shadow-Stealing Form, every stutter in his movements, every hint of disharmony in the flow of his power, every minuscule millimeter of deviation in his trajectory...

All these flaws, which had previously taken him vast amounts of time and repeated effort to even notice, were now as clear as the lines on his own palm.