Chapter 57: Promotion Again! Ability Points Exhausted!

Crackling~~~

Crackling~~~

In the second-floor training room of the villa, Lei Guang flickered unpredictably.

Xu Jingming wore only shorts, seated cross-legged on the ground, eyes half-closed.

Amidst the rumble of thunder, countless fine bolts of Lei Ting and electric arcs danced across his skin.

Chest, abdomen, thighs, calves...

Where Lei Ting passed, his skin turned slightly red and gained an odd resilience.

This was the cultivation method of the S-rank body-strengthening technique, Lei Ting Bu Mie Shen.

By special techniques, the lightning-based ability is applied directly to the flesh to enhance physical strength!

Of course,

Only a body that has established the foundation of Bu Mie Shen can endure such training.

Otherwise, this act would be no different from self-mutilation.

"Ming-ge, time's up—let's head out."

Liu Wentao's voice called up from downstairs.

Xu Jingming suddenly opened his eyes, and lightning seemed to flash within them.

"Coming."

He replied, then retracted the countless purple Xiao Xu Shenlei filling the air.

He stood, went to the bathroom for a quick shower, put on a T-shirt and long pants, then walked downstairs.

6:41 PM, entrance of the Metropolis Ability University.

Metropolis Ability University stood at the center of the university district, nestled between several other campuses.

And Metropolis Ability University's grand entrance.

Caused every student from nearby schools passing by to unconsciously glance this way.

But now, unlike before, some of the female students.

While glancing at the gate, found themselves drawn to a young man beside it.

The young man was tall and slender, with sharp eyebrows and star-like eyes, rugged and masculine.

Merely standing there, he radiated a unique, distinctive aura.

Yet intimidated by his powerful presence, many girls only glanced from afar, too afraid to approach and ask for contact.

This man was Xu Jingming.

Beside him stood his roommate, Liu Wentao.

The gate was the agreed meeting point—departure at exactly 7:00 PM.

Before long, two of the four people Liu Wentao had arranged to meet appeared at the gate.

They were a pair of twin sisters, strikingly similar in appearance.

Both had delicate oval faces; one wore her hair in twin pigtails, the other in a single ponytail.

Both stood around 1.62 meters tall, dressed in a cute, girlish style.

"It's twin sisters."

Liu Wentao blinked in surprise.

He hadn't expected his casual last-minute pick to land him such beautiful girls.

The two girls spotted Xu Jingming and Liu Wentao from afar, waved, and hurried over.

"Hi there, I'm the older sister, Li Wanti."

The one with the single ponytail, Li Wanti, greeted them boldly first.

The twin-tailed younger sister giggled: "I'm the younger sister, Li Wanyue."

The twin-tailed sister was adorable—her smile revealed a tiny, cute canine tooth.

"Liu Wentao."

"Xu Jingming."

Liu Wentao and Xu Jingming smiled and introduced themselves.

But Li Wanti and Li Wanyue instinctively fixed their gazes on Xu Jingming.

After all, they had come here for Xu Jingming!

At noon, from the spectator stands, they had seen Xu Jingming on the arena.

But the distance was too great to observe closely.

Now, up close, they found his aura even more impressive than during the match!

The sisters exchanged glances, both detecting surprise on each other's faces.

Of course,

They weren't star-struck fangirls—after all, they'd passed the entrance exam for Metropolis Ability University.

Their reason for joining this social event was not just to satisfy their fangirl impulses, but primarily to connect with Xu Jingming.

After the match at noon, anyone with eyes could see:

Xu Jingming's strength was on a completely different level from the other freshmen.

His future potential was limitless!

With such an opportunity to make contact, they certainly wouldn't let it slip.

In fact, most girls who commented on the post shared this same intention.

Of course, if they could develop something further with Xu Jingming, they were more than willing.

Li Wanting and Li Wanyue both had cheerful, open personalities, and after arriving, they quickly struck up a conversation with Xu Jingming.

During the chat, Xu Jingming also learned.

The two sisters both possessed the same auxiliary healing-type B-rank ability—Healing Holy Water.

It could heal all kinds of injuries, and even their abilities could stack to achieve A-rank ability effects.

"So if you ever want to form a wilderness expedition team, consider us sisters first."

The elder sister, Li Wanting, smiled sweetly.

As auxiliary ability users, they did have combat capability, but it was actually quite low.

Even if they wanted to enter the wilderness to hunt ferocious beasts in the future, they would still have to rely on teammates.

Someone like Xu Jingming, with powerful abilities, was undoubtedly the most reliable teammate.

They hadn't come here to leave a deep impression on Xu Jingming.

As long as he thought of them first someday when he needed an auxiliary ability user, that would already count as success.

"Alright."

Xu Jingming nodded with a smile.

The wilderness, ravaged by ferocious beasts, was dangerous—but also held great wealth!

For example, the flesh and blood of ferocious beasts, or rare flowers and herbs that grew only in the wilderness.

Many current students at the Metropolis Ability University chose to form ability teams.

In their free time, they entered the wilderness to hunt ferocious beasts, earning money and credits.

The composition of an ability team was also crucial, just like playing an online game.

Warriors, mages, and healers—these roles were indispensable.

Only then could the team ensure higher survival rates within the wilderness.

Xu Jingming had no immediate plan to form an ability team.

But making friends with some auxiliary ability users was still a good thing.

More friends meant more paths.

As he thought this, Liu Wentao beside him gazed ahead, his eyes lighting up.

"Big Brother Ming, the last two have arrived."

Hearing this, Xu Jingming instinctively looked forward and saw two girls walking out from the campus gate.

They were two girls of nearly equal height.

The one on the left had a slender figure and a lovely face.

She wore a floral dress, and her long, straight legs beneath it looked healthy and elegant.

The girl on the left was already very beautiful, but the girl on the right was even more striking.

Her eyes were as clear as a baby's, her nose delicate, her lips cherry-red, her features sweet and charming.

Her black hair was tied high with a red ribbon, revealing her fair neck.

Her clothing was simple—just an ordinary women's T-shirt and light blue jeans.

Yet her figure was curvaceous, her chest full and prominent.

Her long legs, hugged tightly by the jeans, displayed smooth, rounded curves.

It was a peculiar contrast: her face was youthful and innocent, yet slightly naive.

But her body was like a ripe peach, swaying with captivating grace.

This made Xu Jingming think of one word—"a girl with a womanly allure."

And this girl was Song Qiuyun, whom he had seen before.

"Good evening, everyone. I'm Qi Dongxia, here as invited."

Qi Dongxia walked up with a beaming smile.

"I'm her roommate, Song Qiuyun," Song Qiuyun added right beside her.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Xu Jingming."

Xu Jingming also smiled and introduced himself.

"Xu classmate, I don't think this is our first meeting, is it?"

Song Qiuyun blinked her clear, large eyes.

Seeing the mischievous glint on Song Qiuyun's face, Xu Jingming recalled their gaze exchange at the freshman assembly.

Indeed, it wasn't their first meeting...

"Alright, everyone's here. Let's go."

"Big Brother Ming, you take Song Qiuyun and her, I'll take the Li sisters."

Seeing all six had arrived, Liu Wentao didn't delay.

They split into two groups, taking two different taxis to downtown Metropolis.

The main urban area of Metropolis consists of five districts: Huangpu, Xuhui, Changning, Yangpu, and Jing'an.

The Metropolis University district is located in Jing'an District.

If divided by urban and suburban areas, all five main urban districts of Metropolis are considered downtown and are extremely prosperous.

But the downtown area Xu Jingming and the others were heading to was Metropolis's most bustling place—Huaihai Commercial Street!

This was one of the top commercial centers in the entire country!

It sold not only luxury goods, but also all kinds of equipment and pills needed by ability users.

The Metropolis Ability University was not far from Huaihai Commercial Street.

Xu Jingming's group took a taxi and arrived at the street's entrance in just half an hour.

"This is, Huaihai Commercial Street!"

What appeared before Xu Jingming was a bustling commercial street.

It was now 7:30 in the evening, and the sky had already begun to darken slightly.

But the bustling commercial street before his eyes was blooming with all sorts of holographic projections, with countless crowds weaving through it.

A deafening roar of voices!

And Xu Jingming also spotted quite a few familiar shop names among the storefronts on the commercial street.

Hengyuan Equipment, Lingxi Pharmaceuticals......

Liu Wentao, who was also visiting for the first time, along with Song Qiuyun and Qi Dongxia, gazed in amazement at the bustling commercial street before them.

As for the Li Wanting sisters, it seemed this wasn't their first time here, and their reactions were rather more subdued.

"I've been to this commercial street before. There's also a snack street nearby—shall we go grab a bite first?"

"Sure."

"Okay."

"......"

They were all eighteen or nineteen-year-old youths, so naturally they didn't want a proper meal.

Thus, when Li Wanting, with her single ponytail, suggested going to the snack street, she immediately received everyone's agreement.

After spending over an hour filling their stomachs at the nearby snack street, Xu Jingming and the group folded back and began to stroll the commercial street.

It had to be said, the things in the heart of Magic Capital were far more complete than those in Jiangcheng.

The same Hengyuan Equipment Group that sold Obsidian Guns provided a pitifully small selection of battle suits and weapon models over in Jiangcheng!

But here in Magic Capital, everything was available—anything you could want.

Even the Obsidian Guns came in various sub-models, making Xu Jingming's heart flutter.

Unfortunately, his current set of equipment had only just been swapped out recently, and it was still sufficient.

So he held back his impulse and didn't buy anything.

But Song Qiuyun, who was with them, had no such reservations—upon seeing pretty, good-looking battle suits,

she would wave her hand and buy them as casually as ordinary clothes.

In just over half an hour, she had bought three sets of battle suits, spending up to several million.

This made Xu Jingming sigh inwardly—Song Qiuyun looked simply dressed, but who would have thought she was actually a little rich girl.

Friendship between young people always grows quickly; they wandered Huaihai Commercial Street for over four hours.

They quickly became familiar with one another, chatting and laughing all the way.

It wasn't until just past eleven at night that they took a cab back to school.

Entering the student dormitory area, Xu Jingming and the group first said goodbye to the Li Wanting sisters.

Then they saw Qi Dongxia and Song Qiuyun back to the entrance of their dormitory.

"We're at the dorm now, bye-bye."

"Also, we had a great time today—thank you all."

At the dormitory entrance, Song Qiuyun said goodbye to Xu Jingming with a smiling face.

She wasn't the type of girl who enjoyed going out with the opposite sex.

Because of her A-rank ability, Dawn's Light, her perception could be called sharp!

Therefore, she could always sense the burning desire hidden deep within every boy's heart when they looked at her.

Yet Xu Jingming was entirely different.

Although she could also sense his gaze, she could only feel his appreciation for something beautiful.

And it wasn't mixed with any other emotions.

This surprised her somewhat, and at the same time, it also stirred a bit of goodwill in her.

"Bye-bye."

Xu Jingming also smiled and waved his hand.

After watching Song Qiuyun sway her way into the dormitory with Qi Dongxia,

Xu Jingming only then returned to his own dorm with Liu Wentao.

"Phew, going out for a stroll every now and then is still pretty nice."

Liu Wentao plopped down onto the sofa.

Xu Jingming, beside him, couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Indeed,

these few hours of relaxation also made him feel cheerful.

"But after tonight, I have to keep working hard."

Xu Jingming murmured in his heart.

Just as Xu Jingming had said.

Ever since that day he went to the heart of Magic Capital with Song Qiuyun, he had once again fallen into a life revolving around three points.

Dormitory—instructor's villa—cafeteria.

Every day, if he wasn't training, he was on his way to training.

Although Liu Wentao looked like a devil-may-care sort, the fact that he had passed the entrance exam for Magic Capital Ability University also spoke to his strength and potential.

During this period, he too had been training and cultivating.

Of course, every few days he would set aside some time to go out and live it up a little.

In his words, balancing work and rest is the way to go the distance......

15 days later, July 16th, 9:00 PM.

In the second-floor training room of the villa, Xu Jingming opened his system panel:

【Name】: Xu Jingming

【Level】: First Rank Mid-Grade (+)

【Ability】: Purple Thunder Doushen Shenlei (S)

【Physique】: 460 Qi-Blood (+)

【Spirit】: 351 He (+)

【Skills】: Spear Technique (Advanced+), Fist Technique (Beginner+), Lei Mao (Beginner+), A-Rank Chain Lightning Spear (Beginner+), Lei Shan (Beginner+), Lei Yu (Beginner+), Lightning Wind Break (Advanced+)

【Body Cultivation】: Thunder Indestructible Body (First Layer+)

【Ability Points】: 1048

"Close enough. Time for another upgrade."

It had been nearly half a month since Xu Jingming last advanced to First Rank Mid-Grade.

Now, even if he advanced again, though his progression was still fast, it was at least less conspicuous.

"Then, let's spend the points!"

Xu Jingming's mind stirred, and his consciousness clicked directly on the plus sign after his level!

Ability Points -456!

First Rank Mid-Grade → First Rank High-Grade!

Boom!

In an instant, Xu Jingming's aura surged upward!

"Level finally reached the top tier of incoming freshmen."

Clenching his fist, Xu Jingming felt the surging qi-blood within him, significantly stronger than before.

The next moment,

Amidst piercing thunderclaps, purple-blue-purple Thunder Doushen Shenlei materialized, swirling around Xu Jingming.

"The power of Purple Thunder Doushen Shenlei has also increased."

Xu Jingming nodded in satisfaction, then reopened his system panel:

【Name】: Xu Jingming

【Level】: First Rank High-Grade

【Ability】: Purple Thunder Doushen Shenlei (S)

【Physique】: 520 Qi-Blood (+)

【Spirit】: 421 He (+)

【Skills】: Spear Technique (Advanced), Fist Technique (Beginner+), Lei Mao (Beginner+), A-Rank Chain Lightning Spear (Beginner+), Lei Shan (Beginner+), Lei Yu (Beginner+), Lightning Wind Break (Advanced+)

【Body Cultivation】: Thunder Indestructible Body (First Layer+)

【Ability Points】: 592

Advancing to First Rank High-Grade, his two core attributes each rose by roughly sixty points.

Additionally, Xu Jingming noticed the plus sign after his level had vanished.

"It seems the remaining ability points aren't enough to push me to Second Rank."

Xu Jingming rubbed his chin, "Then it's time to head to the Wild Zone, hunt ferocious beasts, and replenish my ability points."

"But first, spend all remaining points to push my strength to its limit."

Xu Jingming's gaze flashed, and he selected another point allocation!

Ability Points -354.

Thunder Indestructible Body First Layer → To Second Layer!

Thunder Indestructible Body, as the only S-Rank combat technique Xu Jingming currently possessed,

was naturally the first skill to upgrade once level gains stalled.

And as an S-Rank combat technique, the ability points required to upgrade Thunder Indestructible Body were undeniably high!

Yet, it was all worth it.

When Xu Jingming's Thunder Indestructible Body reached To Second Layer, he felt a thunderous sound echoing within his body!

Bone density increased again; muscles grew tighter and denser!

"Huh—"

Xu Jingming slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, "Thunder Indestructible Body has broken through to the Second Layer. The Third Layer can't be far off."

Thunder Indestructible Body has thirteen layers total.

As an S-Rank body cultivation technique, Thunder Indestructible Body was far more than mere physical enhancement.

Every time it advanced three layers, a special ability was unlocked!

When Thunder Indestructible Body reached To Third Layer, it would activate the special state—Thunder Extreme Mode!

'Thunder Extreme Mode' was similar to the Thunder-Activated Cells Xu Jingming used during the Wu Ke Gaokao.

But it was its ultimate enhanced version!

Once Thunder Extreme Mode activated, movement speed, spear speed, punch power, leg strength—all aspects received comprehensive boosts!

"Thunder Extreme Mode… I can't wait…"

Xu Jingming glanced again at his system panel.

After upgrading Thunder Indestructible Body, 242 ability points remained.

He spent another 178 ability points to upgrade Chain Lightning Spear from Beginner+ to Intermediate.

According to Xu Jingming's estimate, upgrading to intermediate should require 200 Ability Points.

But since he had been training regularly, he spent only 178 Ability Points to upgrade the quantity to intermediate.

On the system panel, the Ability Points were now down to just 62.

From then on, Xu Jingming's system panel had almost all of its Ability Points exhausted.

"Tomorrow, I'll tell my teacher, then prepare to head to the Wilderness Zone."

Xu Jingming thought silently to himself.