Chapter Eight: The Rules of Attributes

As evening approached, Luo Yuan stepped out of the Extreme Martial Arts Gym. He glanced at the sunset blazing across the sky, marveling at how swiftly time had flown by. In the blink of an eye, the day was gone. He walked to the bus stop by the gym, waiting for his ride home.

Taking the bus, Luo Yuan returned to his rented apartment. In the living room, he found that icy, alluring woman named Xu Qian sprawled on the sofa in a lazy pose, munching on sunflower seeds as she watched a movie. Her long, snow-white legs were propped carelessly on the coffee table.

“By the way, Sister Qian, the black card you gave me last time actually had a balance of two million. The manager of the Monster Pet Park refunded me four hundred thousand. So, I’ll return three hundred thousand to you now, and the remaining hundred thousand I’ll pay back later. Is that alright?” Luo Yuan suddenly remembered the card.

“No need. You keep that four hundred thousand for now. I have plenty of money,” Xu Qian replied languidly, making Luo Yuan feel a bit odd. What was this woman’s true personality? Not long ago, she was the icy, commanding type, but today she’d become the cheerful couch potato.

“Alright. If you ever need anything, just let me know.”

With those words, Luo Yuan headed to his own bedroom. He didn’t immediately fuse the attribute points he’d picked up that day; he’d wait until the woman left later tonight. He wondered if this time, he might finally break through and become a martial artist.

Lying on his back, Luo Yuan took out his Advanced Student ID from the Extreme Martial Arts Gym and smiled in satisfaction. This thing was truly useful—he could access any public area of the gym freely, and each month he’d receive a compensation of five thousand.

Out of habit, Luo Yuan reached for his phone, only to discover several missed calls. They were all from his Mediterranean-haired homeroom teacher, Cui Dashan. Luo Yuan curled his lip in disdain, guessing he was being asked why he’d skipped class. He wasn’t bothered.

With only a month left before the college entrance exams, Luo Yuan felt no anxiety; he wasn’t planning to take them. His academic scores were only average, making it difficult to get into a good university. Besides, he didn’t see much point in studying in this world. Still, he planned to visit the school tomorrow to formally withdraw, so he wouldn’t have that Mediterranean nuisance pestering him every day.

From today’s attribute collection experiments, Luo Yuan had discovered some rules about his golden finger:

1. Only individuals or monsters at or above the Beginner Student level could drop attribute bubbles, and the stronger the target, the higher the value and rarity of the bubbles.

2. Dropped bubbles had a time limit—about five minutes.

3. Each person or monster could only drop a limited number of bubbles within a certain period, depending on their strength. The stronger they were, the more bubbles they could drop.

4. The bubbles’ colors indicated their quality, but the specific values could only be known upon fusion. So far, he’d seen white and red bubbles, with white being the lowest.

That was all he could summarize for now. Seeing the time was still early, Luo Yuan cooked dinner himself. Xu Qian came over once again to freeload a meal, but he didn’t mind; after all, she was his creditor at the moment.

After dinner and washing up, Luo Yuan played on his phone in his bedroom. The phone itself was curious—completely transparent, like a small rectangular block of glass. He opened the Extreme Martial Arts Gym’s forum, which required him to input his student ID number, identity number, and even a facial scan to access content.

Luo Yuan patiently complied, setting his forum nickname as “Running Melon-Eater.” Soon, he was inside, only to discover the forum bustling with activity—tens of thousands of posts. Most were from students chatting idly, though some martial artists posted trade information. Clearly, those above the martial artist level didn’t have time to hang out here.

Suddenly, he spotted a post: “Another Advanced Student at Yangzhou Extreme Martial Arts Gym—just a madman who only knows how to run!” Opening it, Luo Yuan read carefully. It detailed his actions at the gym today, though the assessment was rather malicious. Luckily, it didn’t include his name or photo. He checked the poster’s nickname: “Brother Sun’s Lackey,” also an Advanced Student.

“Very well, I’ll remember you,” Luo Yuan muttered through clenched teeth.

Next, Luo Yuan browsed the forum’s resource section, finding explanations on martial artist rankings, movement techniques, encyclopedias on monsters, weapon introductions, gym rankings, world history, and more.

Faced with such a dizzying array of knowledge, Luo Yuan felt overwhelmed. He clicked on the guide to martial artist movement techniques, the topic that most intrigued him.

The evasion techniques of martial artists were divided into Basic—Subtle—Perfect—Artistic Realm.

Basic was self-explanatory; most Advanced Students could do it. Subtle meant using the smallest movements to dodge attacks, achieving maximum efficiency. Perfect meant mastering the environment, using any object—be it life, stone, building, and so on—to evade with precision. This was the “Perfect” level.

As for the Artistic Realm, the explanation was only a single line: “Can only be understood, not described.”

He then checked the martial artist ranking guide, which stated the levels from lowest to highest: Beginner Student, Intermediate Student, Advanced Student, Junior Warrior, Intermediate Warrior, Advanced Warrior, Junior Commander, Intermediate Commander, Advanced Commander, Junior War God, Intermediate War God, Advanced War God, and finally Beyond War God. What “Beyond War God” meant, the guide didn’t explain.

Luo Yuan could only smile bitterly at these rankings. In the universe, all these Earth levels were collectively called “Apprentice”—the weakest beings in existence. Even the planet-level “Beyond War God” was nothing more than a slave in the wider universe.

“Looks like I’ll have to get stronger quickly, or I won’t even be able to defeat an alien’s slave,” Luo Yuan thought, clenching his fists. He was willing to sacrifice his dignity to grow stronger.

“Click—”

The sound of a door closing echoed. Luo Yuan glanced at the dark night outside; his phone showed it was already 9 p.m. He stepped out of his bedroom, finding the living room empty. He knocked on Xu Qian’s door—no response. She’d gone out. Quickly, he locked the main door and his bedroom door.

“Attribute fusion, begin…”

“Strength +1.”
“Strength +1.”
“Speed +1.”
“Speed +1.”
“Defense +1.”
“Defense +1.”
“Nerve Reflex +1.”
“Nerve Reflex +1.”
…

“Ah—so painful—”

The next day at noon, Luo Yuan woke from unconsciousness. He glanced at his phone: 12:18.

Enduring the pain in his body, he opened his personal attribute panel and was instantly astonished.

ps: To all true gods, please reward, vote, and bookmark—Luo Yuan bows in gratitude.