Chapter 21 Balong's Confusion

Day Eight of Stay, Training Ground.

The scorching sun hung high. Zhou Jing, stripped to the waist, wielded a practice greatsword, sweat glistening on his body.

His breathing was rhythmic, his entire body's muscles vibrating at a high frequency with each movement.

Suddenly, a glint flashed in Zhou Jing's eyes. He exhaled sharply and brought the greatsword down with a mighty chop.

"Ha!"

*Bang!* A furrow was smashed into the ground.

[Hunter's Breath Forging has been upgraded]

[Current level: lv1 - (Novice)]

[Effect: Stamina +1]

"Finally leveled up!"

Zhou Jing exhaled a long breath and flexed his arm muscles. He felt noticeably stronger than he had a few days ago, and the fatigue from using Hunter's Breath had decreased significantly.

He had practiced for several days, going from unfamiliar at first to rapidly developing muscle memory. Now, he had truly grasped the basics.

"This skill really is different from the others. Leveling up also increases attributes. Every level should add to stamina..."

Zhou Jing was secretly delighted. He had finally found a skill that could visibly strengthen himself.

At that moment, Balong, who had been supervising from the side, walked over with a very complicated expression.

"You... you've already learned it?"

"I think so. I feel like I've gotten stronger. This breathing technique you taught me is really effective!"

Zhou Jing clenched his fist and laughed heartily.

"..."

Balong subconsciously clutched his chest.

His heart ached.

If he hadn't personally guided Zhou Jing and confirmed that he had never learned Hunter's Breath, Balong would have almost grabbed Zhou Jing by the neck and roared, "Why are you so skilled?!"

Balong originally thought it would take at least ten days for Zhou Jing to memorize the technique of the Hunter's Breath, and then, after a long period of repetitive training, Zhou Jing would be able to master it and allow his body to slowly get used to it... The whole process would take at least a few months.

That was how he had learned it.

But after only a few days of instruction, Balong was dumbfounded.

Zhou Jing's speed of progress stunned him, almost making him doubt his world view of the past few decades.

He could accept that he was quick to grasp the technique, which at most represented intelligence, still within his realm of understanding.

But his body had only been training for a few days, and he had achieved the training effect that would normally take months, strengthening at an unbelievable speed... Was that even humanly possible?!

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would have slapped anyone who dared to brag about it like that!

Balong swallowed, looking at Zhou Jing with suspicion and uncertainty, not even daring to speak in his usual loud voice.

*Dare not speak too loudly, for fear of alarming the celestial beings!*

A genius! An unbelievable genius!

Zhou Jing didn't know what Balong was roaring inside. He was happy for a while and asked, "Now that I've mastered the basics of Hunter's Breath, how much further do I need to train before I can use the Exotic Blood Potion?"

Balong suppressed the shock in his heart, opened his mouth to answer, but then stopped again, hesitating.

He originally wanted to say, as he had before, that you would have to train for two or three years, but Zhou Jing's situation had obviously exceeded his understanding.

He felt that his previous experience didn't apply to this person...

After hesitating for a long time, Balong carefully weighed his words and spoke in a tentative tone:

"I have to admit, your performance has far exceeded my expectations. I don't even know how long you need to train... How about you train for a few months first and see?"

"Alright."

Zhou Jing nodded, calculating in his mind.

A few months in the Exotic Beast World was only a few days in the main world, which was worth it for development, much shorter than he had originally expected.

If [Hunter's Breath Forging] had the effect of Stamina +1 for each level, then he could accumulate more base stamina to improve the Exotic Blood enhancement effect.

At least another two or three levels.

After [Hunter's Breath Forging] leveled up to lv1, the accelerated training fee to reach lv2 would be 150 Star Realm Points. By analogy, then, the accelerated fee to level up from lv2 to lv3 would be 200 points... So, at least 350 Star Realm Points would have to be invested in this area.

Some Star Realm Points also had to be invested in mastering swordsmanship to unlock accelerated training. Although the cost was lower than the breathing technique, it was still an expense.

'So, calculating it this way... Fortunately, I have enough Star Realm Points in stock.'

Zhou Jing didn't hesitate. He directly activated the new level of accelerated training for [Hunter's Breath Forging], reached out and grasped the hilt of the practice greatsword, ready to continue training.

Just then, his mind suddenly shook.

'It's time...'

Zhou Jing immediately realized this, looked up, and saw a Streamlight Rift quietly opening in the sky.

*Buzz!*

In the next moment, his consciousness directly detached from his body and floated into the air.

Zhou Jing looked down and saw the body of his Star Realm Apostle from above.

After his consciousness left the body, "Jason Wood" merely paused for a moment, without any other anomalies, and then continued to train as before.

Zhou Jing withdrew his gaze, his consciousness rapidly ascending and entering the Streamlight Rift.

...

Last time, he returned in a dazed and unconscious state. This time, he returned in a clear and normal state, so he didn't need to adjust.

Returning to the Transcendent Preparatory Space, Zhou Jing looked at the panel. The return settlement information was displayed.

[This projection has ended!]

[Actual stay time: 8 days]

[Resource collection: 124 Star Realm Points]

[Experience log has been archived, and relevant exploration results have been recorded in the encyclopedia.]

[Next traversal cooldown time: Main Body 15 hours]

This time, he collected fewer Star Realm Points than last time, after all, he had killed an Exotic Beast last time, and this time he hadn't done anything major.

However, this was within Zhou Jing's expectations. He had planned that the goal of his second Apostle's initial traversal was to find a stable environment and start developing.

Now, "Jason Wood" had successfully integrated into Frostwood Village and was training with Balong, getting on the right track.

According to this trend, he would soon accumulate strength and gain extraordinary power... By then, his first step of planning would be completed.

What he was uncertain about now was how the Star Realm Apostle would act in a normal state of placement.

During placement, the actions of the Star Realm Apostle were also recorded in the form of a first-person video in the experience log, which could be viewed at any time, and the relevant memories could also be directly received.

And last time, "Will Wood" was unconscious during the entire placement period, acting out a bed scene from beginning to end, which was of no reference value.

Zhou Jing casually glanced at the statistical details of the return settlement and switched to the placement mode interface.

[Please formulate the placement action plan for the Star Realm Apostle]

[Placement target: Jason Wood]

[Highest recorded synchronization rate: 31% (Phase 2)]

[Placement revenue limit: Star Realm Points 0/2000, Information State Particles 0/20]

[Please set the main action goal, the secondary action focus, the handling plan for events, the handling plan for battles, the interaction plan for characters...]

"The goal is development, so let's focus on cultivation and reduce the possibility of accidents..."

Zhou Jing thought for a while and quickly decided on a placement plan.

The primary and secondary action goals were both "focus on cultivation", and other handling plans for events, battles, and interactions were chosen in a more conservative style.

In addition, he specifically set the main skill to practice as [Hunter's Breath Forging].

[Placement plan has been saved and will take effect immediately]

[Do you want to open the map overview mode to additionally specify the activity area and plan the activity trajectory during placement?]

Zhou Jing thought for a while and designated the placement area as Frostwood Village, choosing the plan of "do not leave unless necessary".

[Settings completed]

[Traversal Preparatory Space closed]

[Next entry countdown: 15 hours]

Zhou Jing's eyes blurred, and his consciousness returned to his main body.

Opening his eyes, he was back in his rented house.

Outside the window, the starry night was brilliant and the neon lights were flashing.

Zhou Jing looked at the time. He had entered at 5 PM yesterday, and now it was 1 AM the next day, the traversal time was exactly eight hours.

He recalled the situation before his traversal. His memory was very clear. He had stayed in the Exotic Beast World for eight days, and his sense of time had not been distorted.

"Has the mental attribute increased?"

Zhou Jing looked at the attributes of his main body, but there was no change. The mental attribute was still 7 points.

His body didn't feel the fatigue of hard cultivation in the Exotic Beast World, but instead felt as comfortable as if he had rested enough.

"Next is to wait for fifteen hours..."

Zhou Jing opened his phone and looked at the recording.

During this traversal, he had deliberately disconnected his phone from the internet and filmed against the corner of the wall, only allowing his main body lying on the bed to appear in the edge of the frame, so as to record the situation of his main body during the traversal. He found that it was no different from normal sleep.

Zhou Jing fast-forwarded through the recording and confirmed that his main body was normal, and couldn't help but fall into thought:

"Although I feel full of energy every time I return, to be on the safe side, it is best to treat the traversal as sleep time, and each timing is best not to exceed twelve hours, unless there is a life support pod."

"The cooldown time of the traversal seems to increase with the increase of the landing time. If I analyze it correctly, then according to the current ratio, as long as I control the main body time of each traversal well, I can roughly carry out a Star Realm traversal once a day."

Zhou Jing silently calculated.

Now it was July 20th, and there were still some days until September 20th.

Calculating it this way, the traversal opportunities were still sufficient.

With the training method of Hunter's Breath in mind, Zhou Jing thought for a while, stood up, and carefully tried it out.

Although the abilities of the Star Realm Apostle who had not cleared the game would not be inherited, knowledge and memory were not affected, and he had mastered the technique of [Hunter's Breath Forging].

He had finally learned a skill that was somewhat close to transcendence, and he was naturally excited and would not miss it, so he let his main body try to practice it.

However, after tossing and turning for more than ten minutes, Zhou Jing was sore and panting as he confirmed two things:

First, the technique of Hunter's Breath also had an effect in the main world and could be used normally.

Second, the physical fitness of the main body was too poor to practice it.

"It seems that I have to exercise..."

Zhou Jing rubbed his cramping calf, a little helpless.

The current main body was still too weak, far inferior to the initial physical fitness of the Star Realm Apostle he had created, and could not reach the threshold for training [Hunter's Breath Forging].

Although clearing the Star Realm Apostle was the best way to obtain extraordinary power, and it was also the most cost-effective, the main body could not be idle, and the time during the traversal cooldown had to be used, and exercise could not be neglected.

Both hands must be grasped, and both hands must be strong.

Zhou Jing had an unprecedented enthusiasm in his heart, and his thoughts were flying, thinking about the action plan of his main body in these two months...

First of all, he had to study the Terra Empire language by himself, using the advantage that knowledge was not affected, and try to master it as much as possible. In this way, if there were more valuable skills in the future, he would not have to inherit the language analysis skill, and leave this empty free inheritance slot for other skills.

Secondly, he should search online for some historical data that was in line with the development stage of the Exotic Beast World, as well as some wild survival and cold weapon data. Although the worlds were different, the knowledge accumulated in the Interstellar Era was also useful, and some of it was more advanced.

He was also thinking about whether to find some ancient technological data and try to climb the technology tree in the Exotic Beast World, but after thinking about it, he temporarily gave up this idea.

The laws of the two planes might have subtle differences, and it would take a lot of time to explore, so it was better to consider this issue after obtaining extraordinary power. At present, he should still focus on exploration and development.

Then, he had to exercise his main body. Although he could not practice Hunter's Breath, he could do some basic exercises to at least make his body healthier.

Not to mention anything else, he still had to train his six-pack abs.

Finally, he had to work hard to carry out Star Realm traversal and try to clear an Apostle as soon as possible to complete the plan...

Zhou Jing made up his mind and quickly made a plan.

"It's quite fulfilling..."

Zhou Jing felt that after having a goal, his whole body was as motivated as if he had been injected with chicken blood.

At this time, he had the leisure to check his phone to see if there were any messages in the eight hours of traversal.

Soon, Zhou Jing discovered that a group chat named "Best Buddies" was flashing with message records.