After taking her medicine on time and resting for a night, Qu Weichen’s shoulder injury had mostly healed.
Still, to be safe, she didn’t go practice boxing.
Even though Constance said there was no need to train the next day, Qu Weichen didn’t just lie in her room all day.
She couldn’t practice her boxing, but she still had to run laps.
Qu Weichen felt her footwork wasn’t stable enough, and her dodging during fights wasn’t great either, so she needed to work on that.
After yesterday’s fight, her combat star rating didn’t go up.
But she did get a new skill, [Combat Instinct], currently at one star, with a max of two stars.
Qu Weichen didn’t really get this setting: “My boxing has a max of three stars, and hunting is even five stars.
Why is the cap for combat instinct so low?” [I didn’t set this.
This is just my system’s opinion, and honestly, I think your five-star hunting cap is a bit inflated too,] said Number Nine.
Qu Weichen had nothing to say to that.
Her boxing was also at one star, with a max of three stars.
She’d already given up on being good at everything.
After all, potential points were even harder to get than skill points or storage slots, and she seemed to have a lot of weaknesses.
She decided to wait until she learned more useful things before deciding how to use them.
Qu Weichen started practicing horse stance.
When she couldn’t hold it anymore, she’d move around a bit, walk two laps around the yard, then run a lap, and after a break, go back to horse stance.
She kept at it until noon.
After eating the meal delivered by the female guard, she went back to her room and changed into her uniform.
She put her Yuanlang card from her storage slot into her pocket.
Even though her stipend hadn’t come in yet, she still had over five thousand Yuanlang, enough to buy some everyday clothes.
Besides that, she wanted to know what people in Uvino thought of the Prison Sanctuary and its master.
And she was curious about the academy she was about to attend—was it any good?
But, she figured, eighty percent of the students admitted to Uvino’s academy were probably nobles.
Even the non-humans were likely to have status and money, or at least had been well-raised and had decent talent.
This was her first time leaving the Prison Sanctuary, and her first time walking the streets of Uvino.
Uvino was bustling, with signposts at intersections for directions.
Qu Weichen memorized the roads as she headed toward the shopping district.
“…It’s really prosperous.” It was just like when she’d gone to the busiest mall in her previous life on weekends—absolutely packed.
There didn’t seem to be any beggars on Uvino’s streets, and everyone was dressed well.
Elves? Giants? The ones with furry pointed ears were probably beastkin, right? In the crowd, Qu Weichen even got smacked on the back of her hand by some unknown big tail.
She saw that gray tail swishing impatiently, clearing out a space in the crowd.
What a fascinating continent.
Qu Weichen glanced down at a dwarf trying to squeeze through the crowd beside her, and thought of that remote little village from before.
They were all on the same continent, but their lives couldn’t be more different—like two separate worlds.
If she hadn’t been brought into the Prison Sanctuary by its master, could she really have survived in Uvino on her own? She could only afford one bottle of awakening potion, and those nutrient solutions were way out of her budget.
Without the boost from nutrient solutions… could she have made it through nine rounds on willpower alone? Even if she awakened, what could she do then? Work as a waitress? Maybe, but who knows how long it would take to reach Martial Artist First Rank, or how long before she learned real combat skills.
No, knowing herself, she’d probably go out hunting, maybe even try to hunt magic beasts for money.
Maybe she’d join a mercenary group… but at her age, would anyone even take her?
Qu Weichen went to several shops, and finally bought two shirts and some loose pants at the cheapest one.
Then she went to another affordable shop for a coat and a pair of boots.
She had 3,685 Yuanlang left… Even though she’d picked the cheapest stuff, Uvino’s prices were just… Qu Weichen remembered the looks on the caravan members’ faces when she’d said she was heading to Uvino.
In a city like this, it really was hard for ordinary people to get by.
It was supposed to be the city of peace and freedom, the source of all hope.
After shopping, Qu Weichen went back.
She didn’t have the luxury to relax.
She washed her clothes and hung them to dry, then went back to training.
… Once she mastered “Qi,” she’d officially break through to Martial Artist First Rank.
Constance had given her a booklet on stake training, and told her to follow the postures in it.
When standing stake, she had to guide her “Qi” to flow through her fists, then her arms, connect with her heart, and form a small cycle.
Once she could do that smoothly, she’d guide the “Qi” to other parts of her body, forming a big cycle to nourish herself.
There were a lot of stake training methods in the booklet, but Qu Weichen just picked the horse stance for now.
She was a bit interested in the Floating Cloud Stake, though.
After breaking through to First Rank, she added five more laps to her morning run.
Constance got stricter with her, too.
Before lunch, Qu Weichen’s task was to knock down the wooden dummy.
After lunch, she’d spar with Constance.
Even though Constance didn’t use Qi, Qu Weichen was still the one getting knocked flying most of the time.
Days went by.
On the thirtieth day, after finishing her fifteen warm-up laps in the morning, the system in her head suddenly chimed.
[Diligence Makes Up for Clumsiness (I)]: Kept up early morning training for a month.
Reward: 1 skill point.
The sudden skill point stunned Qu Weichen for a moment.
There was a (I) after the achievement, so it was clearly a series.
It’s just persistence, right? Qu Weichen thought, as long as she didn’t get knocked out, she’d get up and train every day, even if she had to crawl! Constance casually told her to take a break, only to see her disciple suddenly burst with fighting spirit, just like when she’d beaten Wan Zhiming.
Was she—running herself silly? “If you think fifteen laps is a bit much…”
“I can do twenty laps!” Qu Weichen said firmly.
Not only that, she’d do some planks and push-ups before her midday break.
Now that her diet was good, with magic beast meat at every meal, she had plenty of energy to burn, so of course she’d push herself as much as possible.
Number Nine, watching silently, was speechless.
It felt like its host was never coming back from the martial artist path… She’d only learned Curse from the necromancer skills, clearly treating it as a support.
No, have some faith! Necromancers were all about the late game, this was normal.
Martial artist stuff was just a shield for a necromancer—real progress would come from necromancy! Number Nine comforted itself, pulled out the “Guide to Helping Your Host Become a God” in its space, reviewed it, and regained its confidence.
Time passed day by day, and Qu Weichen had perfected the small cycle.
As for actual combat, even though Constance never went all out, after so many one-sided beatdowns, Qu Weichen had learned a lot about taking hits.
She’d improved a lot at dodging attacks and reading her opponent’s intentions.
Her combat instinct reached two stars, maxing out.
“My combat instinct shouldn’t be weak, so why is the cap so low?” Qu Weichen was frustrated in her room.
She stared at her potential points for a long time, then at her combat instinct, and finally let out a deep sigh: “With such a low potential cap, if I raise it to three stars, I’ll have to spend more potential points to expand it, right?” [This system thinks, since your cap is low, it won’t be easy to reach three stars,] Number Nine comforted her.
[Don’t worry, it won’t be wasted.
Look, you’ve been practicing boxing for so long and it’s only at two stars.] As for combat, it was still at one star, but that was better left unsaid.
It had taken three months to go from one to two stars, and that was just the early stages, which were supposed to be easier.
Even so, it took three months.
Honestly, Number Nine didn’t think its host had much talent for martial arts.
She had willpower, endurance, determination, and courage, but sometimes… talent really did hurt.
Qu Weichen didn’t reply.
She stared at her potential points, hesitated, and finally put them into combat instinct.
Combat instinct was a mysterious thing—not only useful for martial artists, but even if she learned advanced necromancy later, it would help in battle.
“Uvino Central Academy…” Qu Weichen stood in her room, practicing stake training and circulating her “Qi.” Three months of training were over, and she was about to start school… Honestly, she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little sad.
She’d have to live on campus, maybe only come home once a week.
This time… there’d be no more Constance as her sparring partner.
But there were upsides—she’d learn more at the academy.
Even if she couldn’t use all kinds of magic, she needed to understand them, so she wouldn’t be clueless in a fight.
As for the master of the Sanctuary… As a newcomer, Qu Weichen didn’t even know how to ask around, so it was hard to get any info.
Even in Uvino’s taverns or teahouses, people weren’t just going to gossip about the Sanctuary’s master for no reason, which made Qu Weichen wonder if those intelligence sources in novels were even real.
She’d asked Constance and the female guard who brought her meals, but both admired the master so much that no amount of praise seemed enough.
—Yes, Qu Weichen didn’t even know the master’s name! She couldn’t just grab a random person on the street and start asking about the Prison Sanctuary’s master, right? If she did, she’d probably get thrown in jail by the Sanctuary guards… and then get brought out by the master.
Still, Qu Weichen had learned something useful.
At least she knew that once she reached Martial Artist Third Rank, she could apply for a trial, and if she passed, she could join the Sanctuary guards.
