Era of Mist

Chapter 236 -235: Second Layer for All Subjects

From this day forward, Shi Tiexin strictly planned his time, turning down other matters as much as possible, and began to study in earnest. After ten days of hard work, Shi Tiexin felt the time had come. He started to break through the barrier, preparing to raise all his subjects to the second level.

The breakthrough process went smoothly, without any complications.

Just as Little Dog had said, with a solid foundation, guidance from a private tutor, and the top-tier secret manuals his underlings had specially sought out for him, breaking through was indeed quite easy.

Just like the previous two breakthroughs, once he had thoroughly understood the contents of the second-level Heart Skill manuals under his teacher’s guidance, an irrepressible, overwhelming feeling surged through him once more. The signs of the breakthrough and the spark of insight were like a raging flood, instantly demolishing the barrier between the minor realms of his Heart Skill.

Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Natural History—the four stars in the azure sky suddenly flared with a scorching light. From four different regions of his brain, mind-force simultaneously erupted from the sulci. The mind-force boiled, it surged, it erupted, instantly breaking through its shackles and pouring into the adjacent brain sulci.

In the azure sky, four golden beams of light, like laser cannons, thundered down and slammed into Shi Tiexin’s mind. The mind-force rapidly expanded, overflowing in all directions, even more violently than during his previous two-subject breakthrough.

However, during the last breakthrough, the shock had left him dizzy and seeing stars. This time, whether it was due to more experience or because the increase in his “Bone Structure” attribute had improved his body’s adaptability to mind-force, Shi Tiexin didn’t feel much more discomfort than before.

The feeling of expanding from the inside out came and went quickly. As his realm completely stabilized, the pressure in his eardrums immediately returned to normal, and clarity returned to his bloodshot eyes.

The advancement in his realm expanded the upper limit of the mind-force in his brain. Meanwhile, the “Qi Vein” attribute accelerated the speed at which his mind-force reserves were replenished. With every breath, Shi Tiexin could clearly feel the total amount of his mind-force steadily rising. It was as if an extra pipe had been installed in his brain; the Qi Vein attribute was indeed very useful.

“Warmest congratulations to the Cultivator for once again acquiring four second-level Basic Heart Skills!” The message board wobbled cheerfully and retracted. But after retracting, it shot back up with a WHOOSH, displaying new words: “But the delivery of these four was way too slow!”

‘Sorry for breaking through so late!’

But since even the board was saying so, Shi Tiexin felt a little ashamed, admitting to himself that he had indeed been slacking off recently.

Thankfully, better late than never.

“So this is the second level for all subjects.” Shi Tiexin pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the cool mind-force growing stronger. Enveloped by the mind-force, it was hard to say how much his thinking and learning speed had improved—it wasn’t something that could be quantified—but his stamina was definitely more abundant.

Shi Tiexin felt that he could cut his daily sleep by two hours and still be full of vigor.

After the breakthrough, when he looked at the Heart Skill Secret Manuals and supplementary cultivation records again, they seemed inexplicably simpler than before. It felt as if his brain had been enlightened.

“This feels great. Let’s keep going!” Shi Tiexin picked up his pen and enthusiastically continued to wrestle with the workbook in front of him. At his side, a large stack of workbooks was piled neatly, not a single one below “Fine” grade.

‘Reading top-tier secret manuals, using Fine, Top-tier, and Top-Grade secret records, with a private tutor for guidance… I wouldn’t trade these good days even to be a god!’

“I’m going to finish all of these secret records within the week!”

Outside the classroom, Sakuragi Kenji watched Shi Tiexin writing furiously, the shock in his heart simply beyond words.

‘This street boss… he was just too, too, too amazing at studying! I’ve seen people smarter than him, sharper than him, more talented than him—very few, but they exist. But I have truly never seen anyone with such a solid foundation. More importantly, I have never, ever seen anyone with such a burning passion for learning.’

‘In my past as a teacher, the biggest problem wasn’t how much I could teach, but how to get the students to actually learn.’

‘Those Heisei-era good-for-nothings were always so hard to handle. One wanted to play the euphonium, another wanted to start an electronic music band. This one wanted to organize a culture festival, that one wanted to go on a school trip. Their heads were filled day in and day out with either Koshien or the national championships, or else it was magical girls and choppers.’

‘This is high school, you bastards! Don’t you ever think about your futures? Don’t you want to get into a good university, join a bank or a trading company, and become elite employees or executives?’

‘No, they didn’t.’

‘The teachers from the strict-discipline faction were endlessly annoyed, always feeling that every new class was the worst one they’d ever taught.’

‘But this person in front of me, this street boss, this tall, brawny guy who looked nothing like a good student, this Black Venerable—I’ve fucking never seen someone who loves studying this much!’

‘Ward Heaven! He never loses focus, never daydreams. The moment he stares with those big eyes, he’s completely absorbed, making even the teachers nervous, afraid he’ll find a mistake in their teaching. There’s no need to assign homework at all; the amount you assign doesn’t even amount to a fraction of his daily practice.’

‘That furious pace he keeps when writing… it’s as if anyone who stops him from doing problems is his sworn enemy!’

Sakuragi Kenji had seen it with his own eyes. This Black Venerable arrived at six in the morning and didn’t leave until midnight. Listening to lectures, asking questions, practicing, reflecting—his schedule was packed to the brim. They say an inch of time is worth an inch of gold, but Sakuragi Kenji felt that for this guy, an inch of time was worth a *foot* of gold!

And this wasn’t just a fleeting passion. From the day he started studying until now, as long as nothing special came up, he was there, rain or shine, completely unstoppable.

Even Teacher Dazheng, who taught physics and was a notoriously strict disciplinarian, was completely stunned. No matter how strict a teacher he was, he had never encountered a situation like this, never heard of a monster who just kept studying every single waking moment.

“How can you study so seriously?” Teacher Dazheng once couldn’t suppress his curiosity. “Don’t you get tired? Don’t you find it boring? Don’t you want to socialize? Don’t you want to play some games or go shopping?”

“It’s alright.” Shi Tiexin thought about the army of students in the study halls of Fengming First Middle School and said with certainty, “Where I’m from, everyone studies like this.”

“Everyone studies like this?!”

“More or less,” Shi Tiexin said very honestly. “There are plenty of people who are better than me.”

Hearing this, Teacher Dazheng stood stunned for a long time. Suddenly, a great sorrow welled up from within, and he couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down his old face.

‘No wonder the Eastern Realm is so powerful. If there are plenty of monsters like this over there, then such a country is simply unstoppable! The heavens want to destroy Great Japan! I should probably hurry up and learn Chinese, so I can try to be a reeeeal good citizen in the future…’

And so, his progress was swift.

Although it wasn’t the thousand-mile-a-day pace he had when the Champion Scholar Stone was boosting his score, compared to before, his cultivation progress was now advancing by leaps and bounds. Every day, as Shi Tiexin watched the little stars hit the progress bar, he felt a profound sense of accomplishment.

He felt like a top student who had diligently reviewed before an exam—a solid, grounded feeling. The restlessness from his recent smooth sailing had been completely washed away.