The Second Long-Term Gains (Part 1)

The smallest bedroom in the bungalow had a circulating air of 23 degrees cold.

After taking a shower, Tang Hong laid on the bed while covered in a thin red blanket. The front of the blanket was even printed with an animated white Pomeranian pattern.

He had brought this over from the dormitory room.

He had been using this for more than three years.

He wasn't willing to throw it away so easily.

"Cough, cough, cough."

Tang Hong coughed.

He lowered his head and closed his eyes.

The system interface emerged amidst the darkness.

Light would still be able to pass through someone's eyelids to an extent even if they had their eyes closed. As a result, one would still be able to perceive the changes in lighting on the outside world even if their eyes were closed.

Tang Hong discovered that he could still see the system interface with his eyes closed.

Describing this scene as 'seeing' seemed inaccurate…

Tang Hong was more inclined to believe that the words he was looking at right now were complex instructions directly injected into his neural signals. If this was the case, then physical barriers truly were useless against the system.

Mortal: Extremely small and weak creature.

Willpower: 69%

Strength: 41%

Realm: 0.00

Individual Value: 38

"Mortal."

Tang Hong finally couldn't restrain his desire to complain.

When could he get rid of this mortal title?

When could he leave the initial category of being an 'extremely small and weak creature'?

He should be able to achieve this by breaking through the limit of Willpower, right?

If that didn't work—then at most—he just has to break through the limit of Strength too.

Then, inevitably, he would no longer be a mortal.

"But…"

"What's the Realm column all about?"

Tang Hong stared at the Realm column with a figure of 0.00.

Even Individual Value wasn't able to change the value of this column.

Because it was at zero and there was no foundation at all.

Therefore, it couldn't be changed.

After coming to this conclusion, Tang Hong decided to not think about matters that he couldn't control for now.

He pondered for a while.

He recalled the recent first-time experiences.

It should include informing his family in advance about his so-called internship.

"Mm."

Tang Hong made a decision.

He flipped through his phone's photo album and sent the proof of internship along with the screenshots of the school's credits-rewarded web page to his WeChat Moments.

He changed the setting so that only his family members could view them and then he added a few lines of text.

'The first official paid internship in my life!'

'Work hard in the internship, buy a TV for my mom, and buy a watch for my dad…'

Tang Hong originally wanted to write buy a car for his dad.

But he was just a third-year university student. If he suddenly said that he would buy a car and give it to his father, it would seem that he was getting carried away and cocky. It would make him look arrogant and pretentious. This didn't conform to his low-key concept of living.

Within three minutes, the post was liked by several people.

There was a message from his mother.

'I am proud of you. Work hard in your internship. *smile*'

Simultaneously, his father—Tang Wenjun—also sent a message on WeChat

'The internship salary is as high as 30,000? Be careful of being scammed. Be careful outside.'

On the proof of internship that Tang Hong sent to his parents was the salary portion that wasn't smeared with carbon pen.

They were his biological parents after all.

There was nothing that he couldn't tell them.

If he couldn't even believe in his parents and he had to deceive them, then who else could he trust?

He concealed the part about the Transcendents and gods for fear that his parents' memories would have to be erased. In addition, he was also afraid of bringing harm to them.

If not for these, he definitely wouldn't hide the matter from them.

It should be known that the most tragic thing wasn't the failure of confiding to someone when a person was depressed and in a difficult situation. Rather, it was when a person was doing well yet had no one else to share the joy and excitement with.

'The internship was done via invitation, so the salary is a little bit higher.'

Tang Hong explained as seamlessly as possible.

'All the best!'

Father Tang Wenjun sent several voice messages that lasted forty to fifty seconds.

Seeing this, Tang Hong had a headache.

The translation was also very slow, he had to listen to them patiently and express his opinion.

Three more voice messages arrived.

Tang Hong was speechless.

After a long chat, he finally dispelled his father's worries.

"Tomorrow."

Tang Hong took a deep breath.

Tomorrow, June 30, the layer of mystery concealing the extraordinary world that was hidden beneath the surface of this world would be unveiled for him.

At such a moment, he should be more nervous than taking the college entrance examination.

But for some reason, he was unusually calm.

'The reward points in the special training camp…'

Tang Hong's eyes gleamed with anticipation and slight desire.

There were reward points for the top three in the entrance test.

The first ranker would receive 300 points, plus a Transcendent item.

The second ranker would receive 200 points.

The third ranker would only receive 100 points.

Tang Hong was confident of getting to the top three in the entrance test.

However, his goal for himself had long ago changed from the top three to the top one.

He wanted to fight for the top position.

Of course, it didn't matter even if he couldn't achieve it.

He just needed to do the best that he could.

He hoped that the members of the Yellow River Organization in this batch of the special training camp would have a few more talents so that there could be more competition.

Only when there was competition would there be pressure and motivation.

"It's a pity that I still haven't reached the minimum standard for the Fist Technique, yet."

"According to Fang Nanxun, the time used to learn the Transcendent Technique isn't the standard for geniuses. It's just that the six Transcendent geniuses in Hua Country basically reached the minimum standard in their first to third time practicing it."

Tomorrow, he shall practice it once again.

It would also be his last time practicing under the guidance of Fang Nanxun.

Regardless of whether he reached the minimum standard or not—tomorrow—he had to take the train to the Imperial Capital as soon as possible.

In total, he had already practiced this Transcendent Technique more than eight times now, yet he still hasn't reached its minimum standard for practical usage. If he didn't succeed tomorrow, then it would be his ninth failure in the row.

Every time he failed, every time he made a mistake, all of these seemed to show that he was nothing out of the ordinary—that he was the farthest from being a genius.

But Tang Hong could feel that there was some kind of a reason why he wasn't able to reach the minimum standard of the Fist Technique no matter how hard and how much he tried.

'There's something weird…'

After all, there was obvious improvement every time he tried, yet it was always a little bit off from true comprehension. Even Fang Nanxun was distressed by Tang Hong's inability to grasp the technique.

'This was unscientific.'

'Illogical.'

He could only hope that the scholar from the Central Research Institute would arrive in Yunhai City tomorrow morning to help him find the root of his problems.

Tang Hong laid down, his chest rising and falling. He let out a long sigh.

Hu!

Fang Nanxun sighed leisurely.

Standing at the door of the temporarily borrowed medical clinic…

His expression was ugly.

"How can it be?"

"Why is it wrong again!?"

Throughout his experience, he had never encountered such a strange problem.

Even those who have reached the minimum standard of the technique might not even have Tang Hong's deep understanding of this martial art.

Could it be that teaching it to Tang Hong in advance had done him more harm than good?

Click.

Turning on the lighter, Fang Nanxun was about to smoke.

From the corner of his eye, however, he noticed the hospital sign and put the lighter back in his pocket.

Rubbing the cigarette butt, he gently smelled it.

In the very next moment—inside the room with precision inspection equipment—a middle-aged man wearing sky blue long sleeves pushed open the door.

He walked out and glanced at Fang Nanxun.

He wanted to speak but he stopped.

His eyes looked sleepy.

He hesitated for a while before speaking. "Sorry. I don't see any problems in Tang Hong's body that might hinder him from reaching the minimum standard of the Transcendent Technique."

In other words, everything was normal. It was just that Tang Hong couldn't simply succeed.

"No, this can't be." Fang Nanxun was stunned in place.

Tang Hong was such a good seedling.

If he couldn't successfully practice the Transcendent Technique, then he could only rely on the intervention of external forces.

According to his speculations, Tang Hong's resistance to Divine Breath was very high. This resistance was good if Tang Hong was an ordinary man, however, he was an aspiring Transcendent being.

Since his resistance was so high, then he had to consume more resources to achieve the same effect compared to those that have average resistance to Divine Breath.

As a result, Fang Nanxun was hoping that Tang Hong could break through his limits through the use of Transcendent Techniques.

The middle-aged man lowered his head and said in a low voice.

"Have you ever thought that maybe Tang Hong isn't suitable for this path?"

"Willpower is the prerequisite for everything."

"But our body is the foundation that supports Willpower. In recent years, it is not uncommon for some preliminary Transcendents to have extraordinary Willpower but their bodies just couldn't keep up."

"Also…"

"It doesn't matter if he can't reach the minimum standard. The Central Research Institute has reached a critical juncture in their anatomical experiments of the gods recently. So a breakthrough in their research is likely."

The middle-aged man looked at Fang Nanxun.

He owed Fang Nanxun a favor.

This was why he agreed to take the trouble to come over and help him with this matter.

But he was also hopeless against the current situation…

"No…"

"Tang Hong is a natural-born Transcendent." Fang Nanxun's tone was extremely firm at this moment. "Setting aside, Tang Hong's desire for the extraordinary and his curiosity about those gods. I don't see the slightest fear, panic, nor submission in him despite his current situation."

The middle-aged man instantly went silent.

After a long time, he whispered, "There's still a meeting in the Imperial Capital in the evening. I have to go back as soon as possible. In this case, let me check again. Let Tang Hong execute it in front of me one more time."

"Okay."

Fang Nanxun opened the door and lowered his head slightly.

The middle-aged man entered the room quickly and plunged his head into the data of those measuring instruments, trying to find out the problem.

He would be ashamed if he couldn't find anything useful.

On the other hand, Tang Hong stood in the corner.

His expression was normal while wearing a measuring instrument on his body.

Tang Hong squeezed a smile and said, "It's a pity. I have let you down again."

"That's not the case." Fang Nanxun waved his hand.

"Prepare for a while and practice for the tenth time…"

"Dr. Sang will help you check what the problem is."

He had just finished saying that when the middle-aged man's surprised and strange gaze appeared at the edge of the instruments at the other side of the building.

He glanced at Tang Hong.

Ignoring Fang Nanxun's confusion…

He quickly pulled him out of the room.

After moving farther away, Dr. Sang let go of Fang Nanxun's arm.

He had a weird expression on his face. "Tell me. Tang Hong has failed eight times, nine times including this time… are you with him every single time he trained so far?"

"Yes."

Fang Nanxun said naturally, "You also know that these techniques are very dangerous. Without me reminding him on the side, he might injure his internal organs."

The middle-aged man scratched his hair and said, "I suggest you don't accompany him this time. Let Tang Hong practice the Fist Technique by himself."

"But—"

"I just found out that…"

Dr. Sang interrupted.

"Tang Hong seems to be nervous."