Chapter 68: Is This Damn System Competing with the Heavenly Way?

Name: Zhang Chu
Level: 1 Star
Combat Power: 1025/1000
Martial Skills: Skyrocket (1 Star, Low Grade), Iron Mountain Shield (1 Star, Low Grade), Thirteen Blazing Swords (1 Star, Low Grade), Silver Flash (1 Star, Low Grade)
Mental Power: 546.5/1000
Mental Martial Skill: Electric Vine Entwine (1 Star, Low Grade)

Looking at the data on his personal information panel, Zhang Chu couldn't help but complain, "System, what is this? I'm exhausted, and I'm still only 1 Star?"

"Friendly reminder: To advance as a Dual Force Warrior, both combat power and mental power must simultaneously reach the required threshold."

As soon as Zhang Chu finished speaking, a white pop-up appeared.

Reading the explanation above, Zhang Chu finally understood.

This was why the system's reward, his golden finger, was passive absorption.

Simply relying on slaying star beasts and absorbing their cores wasn't enough to quickly boost his mental power.

Only by combining Electric Vine Entwine and passive absorption could he maximize efficiency.

"Hello, Mr. Zhang Chu, this is Xiaoyu. Your trial is about to end. Please proceed to the teleportation hub for transfer."

At that moment, Xiaoyu's voice came through his wrist locator bracelet.

"Good thing I have the pass for the Star Beast Tree Hollow. Tomorrow I'll try my luck there. If I break straight through to 3 Stars, that'll be amazing."

Zhang Chu scanned his Dual Force Warrior badge, and the next moment, he was teleported to the Boundary Hall.

"Mr. Zhang, thank you for your hard work."

As the beam of light faded, Zhang Chu appeared in the teleportation hall of the Boundary Hall.

Zhou Xiaoyu quickly handed him a bottle of water, her eyes burning with admiration. "Mr. Zhang, do you have time tonight for dinner together?"

Ring, ring!

Just then, Zhang Chu's phone rang.

Seeing the caller ID, a smile appeared on Zhang Chu's face. "Sorry, I already have plans tonight. Maybe another time."

Under Zhou Xiaoyu's disappointed gaze, Zhang Chu left, got in his car, and answered the call. "Wang Peng, it's been so long since we met—I thought you ran off."

"Xiao Chu, you really kept this from us. You became a Dual Force Warrior but didn't tell me or Uncle Li. If it weren't for someone from the Martial Arts Research Institute coming to the black market to buy Concentration Pills, we’d still be in the dark."

"Tonight, you better be ready—we’re going to make you pay!"

Wang Peng's voice came through the phone.

"Alright, you guys pick the place."

Zhang Chu hung up, went home first, took a shower, and ordered 500 ten-year-old clovers on 69 City.

The flower shops on 69 City went crazy.

Five hundred ten-year-old clovers in one go, worth a hundred thousand.

And they needed to deliver in batches every two days.

When they saw the delivery address was Xisha Garden, the shop owners stopped worrying.

Residents of Xisha Garden who were Dual Force Warriors had plenty of money—and some peculiar hobbies...

Once the clovers arrived and were stored in the basement warehouse, Zhang Chu drove out.

Wang Peng sent the location: Li Dashan's hotpot restaurant.

He parked, went upstairs, and was led by the waiter to a private room on the second floor.

Bang!

As soon as he entered, a loud noise erupted.

It was Wang Peng’s prepped celebratory fireworks.

Li Dashan went even further, handing over a bouquet of flowers.

What stunned Zhang Chu most was the banner hanging on the wall: "Congratulations to Zhang Chu, the prodigy, for advancing to Dual Force Warrior—peerless and unmatched!"

Peerless and unmatched—those words were over the top...

Even Zhang Chu, who considered himself supremely narcissistic, was embarrassed. "Uncle Li, isn't this a bit much?"

"Not at all, absolutely not. You're the Welfare Institute's only Dual Force Warrior, and as far as I know, the youngest by far!"

Li Dashan’s eyes shone with pride as he pulled Zhang Chu into a seat.

"Xiao Chu, tonight Uncle Li went all out—he brought out his thirty-year-old Maotai, just to celebrate you becoming a Dual Force Warrior."

Wang Peng was equally thrilled.

There weren’t many brothers from the Welfare Institute, and Zhang Chu was likely the only one who could become a Dual Force Warrior.

This was not only their pride but the Welfare Institute’s pride.

Li Dashan and Wang Peng showered Zhang Chu with praise until he was at a loss for words, forcing him to raise his glass and drink it all at once.

"Wang Peng, don’t be envious. Today the Martial Management Bureau announced the time for the Divine Gift Arrival. Maybe tomorrow you’ll wake up as a Divine Gifted one."

"One Dual Force Warrior, one Divine Gifted—I'll have bragging rights for a year!"

Seeing Wang Peng’s envy, Li Dashan patted his shoulder in comfort.

"Uncle Li’s right."

"Tomorrow begins three consecutive days of Divine Gift Arrival. Once I return from the Star Beast Tree Hollow, you might be a Divine Gifted."

Once someone became a Divine Gifted, not only did their mental power leap to 1 Star, but their social status would undergo a dramatic transformation.

"Xiao Chu, you actually got a slot for the Star Beast Tree Hollow!"

Hearing that Zhang Chu was heading there, Wang Peng and Li Dashan's faces were filled with jealousy and longing.

The Star Beast Tree Hollow was not a place every Dual Force Warrior could enter.

But if you could enter—

Afterward, you could advance at least 1 Star, and if you obtained a mental power bead left by a Spirit Realm practitioner in the Hollow, your prospects would be limitless.

The three talked late into the night, drinking until the world spun.

They drank thirty-year-old Maotai straight from the case.

Zhang Chu had no idea how he got home, but he was certain he set an alarm.

Tomorrow morning at ten.

The Martial Management Bureau would open the Star Beast Tree Hollow. If he missed the chance to enter, the next opportunity wouldn’t come for another thirty years.

After a night’s sleep,

Zhang Chu awoke with a splitting headache. "Damn, Wang Peng can really drink—incredible that I blacked out, even as a Dual Force Warrior!"

Ding-dong, ding-dong, enable now!

Enable now!

Rubbing his head, Zhang Chu sat up in bed. Before he could react, hundreds of white pop-ups appeared before his eyes.

It was as if the system had frozen.

Pop-ups kept appearing, all with "Enable now" written on them.

What’s going on?

Enable what?

Zhang Chu was baffled, thinking he hadn’t sobered up yet.

He rushed to the bathroom and washed his face, confirming there were indeed hundreds of pop-ups before him.

"Enable?"

He couldn’t investigate what exactly needed to be enabled.

It must have been something the system started in the middle of the night after he got drunk.

But given his understanding of the system’s quirks, it definitely wasn’t the suicide function.

"Congratulations, host, Divine Gift Benefits enabled."

Divine Gift Benefits?

Staring at the pop-up, Zhang Chu was bewildered.

Weren’t Divine Gift Benefits only for martial artists below level 2 and ordinary people?

Did the system just hijack the Heavenly Path’s business, forcefully assigning him Divine Gifted status?

Ding-dong!

Before Zhang Chu could figure it out, another white pop-up appeared: "Congratulations, host, you have successfully received Divine Gift Benefits, become a Divine Gifted, and activated Divine Gift Martial Skill 'Double-Speed Domain'!"