Chapter Two: The Ultimate Martial Arts Hall-Picking Up Attributes in Swallowed Star(Braised Pork Rice Bowl)

The next morning, after washing up, Luo Yuan left the house without making a sound. That cold and beautiful woman named Xu Qian hadn’t gone out last night, but he paid her no further attention. He sensed that she belonged to a world entirely different from his own. Though she maintained a polite façade, the arrogance in her bones and the indifference in her eyes could not be concealed.

From a god’s perspective, this woman was nothing more than a background extra in this world. Perhaps it was the lingering mentality of a loser from his past life that led Luo Yuan to entertain inappropriate thoughts toward beautiful women. Such thoughts were certainly unbecoming of someone who aspired to be strong.

“It seems that, whether in strength or mindset, I’m still a far cry from a true powerhouse,” Luo Yuan mused with self-deprecation, shaking his head.

On the bus, Luo Yuan sat in the back row, surveying the unfamiliar surroundings. The ultra-modern buildings and electronic displays outside the window gave him a sense of dislocation and unreality, leaving him feeling powerless and alone.

“This isn’t my world. How am I supposed to live here?” he wondered.

“The Extreme Martial Hall stop has arrived. Passengers, please disembark.”

As the bus’s electronic voice announced the stop, Luo Yuan stepped off and gazed at the distant, irregularly shaped building brimming with high-tech flair. He knew this was the holy land coveted by countless martial artists—the Extreme Martial Hall.

Luo Yuan joined the end of a long line of visitors, most of whom were ordinary children not yet of age, accompanied by some adults. He noticed official trainees of the Martial Hall entering through a special passage after scanning their cards, which drew envious looks from the onlookers. Some adults seized the opportunity to encourage their children to train hard in the future.

Watching those sturdy trainees move with such ease and confidence, Luo Yuan couldn’t help but feel envious. This world was truly unkind to ordinary people. The protagonist of this world, Luo Feng, was blessed with extraordinary luck and the rare talent of psychic power. Luo Yuan felt that if he didn’t have some sort of cheat, his life would be as ordinary as before—if not cut short one day by a beast attack.

The Extreme Martial Hall sprawled like a colossal beast, occupying more land than a high school. Its main gate was wide enough for ten cars to pass through side by side.

After ticket inspection, Luo Yuan followed the crowd into the hall’s interior, where a tour guide at the front explained its history and the heroic deeds of several famous figures.

Within the grounds stood three enormous, silver-white buildings, shaped like spaceships.

These three structures housed the primary, intermediate, and advanced trainees, respectively. The first and second floors of the advanced building were vast lecture halls, each capable of seating thousands. Instructors taught their classes here. The entire Martial Hall boasted a student body of thirty to forty thousand.

Only at sixteen could one enroll as a trainee, and after thirty, further study was forbidden to avoid occupying resources.

There were only a few hundred advanced trainees, most in their twenties. As a visitor, Luo Yuan could only tour the primary building; the intermediate and advanced buildings were off-limits.

But as Luo Yuan stepped into the first floor of the primary training building, he was startled to see white bubbles dropping from the martial artists and falling to the ground. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The primary trainees were the most numerous, so there were especially many bubbles on site, yet everyone else seemed oblivious.

“Hey, can you see the bubbles on the ground?” Luo Yuan suddenly asked a nearby visiting child.

The child glanced at Luo Yuan as if he were an idiot, rolled his eyes, and muttered, “Crazy.”

After confirming that no one else could see these white bubbles, Luo Yuan plucked up courage and approached them.

“Strength +1.”

“Speed +1.”

“Defense +1.”

…

Each time Luo Yuan touched a bubble, these words flashed before his eyes. He could clearly feel his strength and speed increasing, his body growing lighter, as if he’d just gulped down a bottle of ice-cold Sprite on a sweltering day—an invigorating chill ran through him, making him shiver.

A boundless joy surged from deep within. Was this his cheat? Heaven hadn’t abandoned him after all. Luo Yuan was about to rise! Thrilled, he began wandering energetically around the vast first-floor training hall, eventually breaking into a run, moving faster and faster.

His antics soon attracted the attention of those present. The ordinary visitors thought he was mad, watching him leap and dash about the hall like a monkey.

But the primary trainees shifted from initial disdain, to frowns, to outright shock. Some newer trainees, thinking Luo Yuan was disrupting their practice, wanted to teach him a lesson, but were stopped by the more experienced students. A few newcomers tried to chase Luo Yuan, only to find themselves falling farther behind.

Eventually, Luo Yuan was moving so quickly he left afterimages, astonishing everyone. The commotion caught the attention of an instructor upstairs. A seasoned teacher descended to see what was happening and was visibly shocked, but knew he had to intervene before things got further out of hand.

With a flicker, the instructor intercepted Luo Yuan mid-run, but Luo Yuan’s momentum dragged them both several meters across the floor, nearly wearing through the instructor’s shoes.

Stopped, Luo Yuan glared at the instructor in irritation. Breathing heavily, the instructor—himself possessing only the strength of an intermediate trainee and having taken a position here due to age—shouted, “Whose student are you, making a scene in my hall?”

He was inwardly nervous, worried the youth before him might have powerful backing.

“Ahem, I’m just a visitor, not a trainee,” Luo Yuan replied, forcing an awkward smile. He’d gotten a little carried away, but seeing the untouched bubbles fading away pained him—it seemed they were time-sensitive.

“Not a trainee? Impossible. Without training, how could you have such speed and strength?” the instructor said angrily, giving Luo Yuan a skeptical look as if to say, “You can’t fool me.”

Luo Yuan offered no further explanation. He wanted to check out the upper floors. The primary building had three stories; the first was full of rookies, with only a few sidelined veterans. The upper floors should house more experienced students.

“Instructor, I’m sorry, but may I take a look upstairs?” Luo Yuan asked politely.

“No. Visitors can only tour the first floor. The upper levels are for veteran trainees,” the instructor replied curtly.

Luo Yuan didn’t press the matter. Haste would only lead to trouble. He had just acquired a little strength and couldn’t afford to get arrogant. It seemed he needed to obtain official trainee status at the Extreme Martial Hall.

P.S.: To all the true gods out there, please bestow your rewards, votes, and bookmarks—Luo Yuan bows before you!