Chapter 24: I can have a bright future, all thanks to my own hard work. Schedule

"A massive speed increase, just how far can it be boosted?"

Inside the classroom of Class (1), Grade 12 at Shilan Middle School.

While slowly eating his breakfast of soy milk and fried dough sticks, Lu Mingfei pondered the newly acquired entry.

"It can only last for ten seconds at a time; isn't that a bit too pathetic! Could it actually let me run the hundred-meter dash in under ten seconds? That would be barely acceptable; maybe I could even go and compete with the sprinter Usain Bolt!"

Logically speaking, he would usually try out a new entry first to experience its effects.

But that was clearly not possible this time; the entry's effect description was very clear—a massive speed increase is immediately followed by a state of exhaustion.

Heaven knows exactly to what extent this state of exhaustion goes.

If Lu Mingfei used it on his morning run to school, failed to reach the school, and then couldn't run anymore... he felt he wouldn't need to go to school at all; he might as well call 120 and reserve a bed in the morgue.

"When testing it, I have to find a safe place to ensure I'm not seen by others."

As a gaming otaku, Lu Mingfei still had a certain sensitivity toward things like 【Skills】.

Generally speaking, the more restrictive the conditions and the more severe the side effects, the stronger the effect will be!

Things like 【Super Speed Calculation】, 【Precision Hit】, and 【Physical Recovery】 which aren't so obvious can be ignored; at most, they can be explained away as "cashing in on talent" or having a "special constitution," which is barely passable.

But 【Explosive Sprint】 is different. If this entry really lets him run at Bolt's speed, wouldn't he face the risk of being dissected?

Possessing a Schedule that is clearly not very scientific, Lu Mingfei still had a little bit of caution and worry.

Having made up his mind to temporarily shelve the test plan, Lu Mingfei pulled up the Proficiency panel of the Schedule and clicked on the 【Learning】 category.

After the homework and self-study sessions last night, the proficiency of each subject had increased a bit, but Lu Mingfei had fallen asleep quickly and forgotten to check.

【Chinese LV0—Proficiency 78/100

Mathematics LV1—Proficiency 34/200

English LV0—Proficiency 95/100

Physics LV0—Proficiency 62/100

Chemistry LV0—Proficiency 70/100

Biology LV0—Proficiency 77/100】

"English is the closest to leveling up."

Lu Mingfei scratched his hair.

Before he had the Schedule, English was the subject he performed best in among all his subjects. This could actually be seen from the proficiency panel—his initial 【English】 proficiency was already 80.

"Mathematics leveled up to give 【Super Speed Calculation】; what can English leveling up give?"

Filled with curiosity and anticipation, once the scheduled time for 【Morning Self-study】 arrived, Lu Mingfei stepped on the warning mark and began Learning.

【Through diligent study, your 【English】 level has improved, gaining three points of proficiency】

【Through...】

Time passed minute by minute.

When the second person "arrived late" to the classroom, Lu Mingfei finally received the Schedule notification he had been looking forward to.

【Congratulations! Through diligent study, your 【English】 level has increased to LV1】

【You have obtained the entry—【Language Sense Mastery】!】

【Entry: Language Sense Mastery

Effect: Your English language sense has been significantly improved】

"Language sense?"

Lu Mingfei was stunned.

He was no stranger to this term.

Because he didn't know how many times his English teacher had scolded him with words like these—

"Lu Mingfei! Don't think that just because your language sense is good, you don't need to work hard. Are your grades very good? Aside from English helping you pull up your score a bit, are you any good at other subjects? Why aren't you working hard to memorize words and learn grammar!"

Unlike other subjects that require understanding, study, and memorization to get good grades, the subject of English has a very metaphysical skill called "language sense," which belongs to a "Talent Skill."

For example, for a math problem, if you don't know how to solve it, you don't know how to solve it.

If you can't understand the question, can't find the conditions, have no train of thought, make calculation errors, or forget the formula... there are countless links, and if just one is wrong, you can't solve it.

But English is different. As long as you have language sense, even if you don't recognize a single word, can't understand the whole reading passage, and haven't even understood the questions and options, you just read it once, "feel" that this word choice flows well, and then...

Hey, it's correct!

Of course, the fact that most English exams consist of multiple-choice questions is one important reason, but it is undeniable that this thing called "language sense" is truly useful.

Lu Mingfei was a typical beneficiary.

He hadn't memorized a single word since entering high school. He once had a moment of intermittent ambition and bought a second-hand Level 4 vocabulary book sold by a senior, but the progress bar was still stuck at "Abandon."

As for grammar, he couldn't even distinguish between the present continuous and the past tense.

But even so, relying solely on his junior high vocabulary and "language sense," he could score around 120 on every English exam!

Although that only converts to 80 points on a 100-point scale, it was already much stronger compared to Lu Mingfei's other subjects that often hovered around the passing line.

Lu Mingfei was somewhat grateful that English was a major subject worth 150 points; otherwise, his college entrance exam goal would have shifted from "securing a top-tier university" to "securing a vocational college."

In Shilan Middle School, where the rate of admission to top-tier universities is over ninety percent, falling to the point of "striving for an undergraduate degree" could no longer be considered shameful; even Lu Mingfei himself felt that by then, he should just bury himself in the dirt.

Of course, these were all things of the past. Lu Mingfei knew very well that as his proficiency increased, he would only get stronger and stronger!

It would just be nice to be able to relax a little bit... just a little bit would do!

"According to the English teacher, my language sense wasn't bad to begin with, one could even say it was top-tier. Because the English score I could get by relying purely on language sense was already between 110 and 125.

In this situation, my English language sense has been significantly improved again; how much of a change will the presented effect have?"

After a brief moment of thought, Lu Mingfei lowered his head and looked at a brand-new reading passage.

His question was answered very quickly, and he was even somewhat stunned because of it.

He had completely "read" and understood this reading passage!

Word after word came into view, recognized or unknown, familiar or strange...

The junior high English vocabulary Lu Mingfei had mastered was still enough to support him in recognizing the basic vocabulary within.

According to the original situation, he should have found those completely unfamiliar words next, then looked at the questions, activated his "I reckon power," and chosen whichever one looked pleasing to the eye.

But now—

The entire reading comprehension passage of several hundred words was automatically broken down word by word and sentence by sentence; all the unfamiliar vocabulary was summarized and categorized, automatically arranged, combined, and deduced in his mind...

Then, he "felt" it—the meanings of those unfamiliar words!

Because only by following the meanings he "felt" did this passage appear coherent and read reasonably!

Simply put, Lu Mingfei translated all the known vocabulary in an English reading comprehension passage into Chinese, leaving the unknown ones as blanks—

And then filled in all the gaps through "feeling."

All of this was automatic; Lu Mingfei only needed to read the entire passage, and then the translation of the whole text leaped into his mind.

What followed was even simpler; what difficulty could there be in multiple-choice questions for a reading comprehension that had already been completely translated?

Lu Mingfei quickly made his choices, then flipped to the answers to verify—all correct.

He fell silent.

"This is completely unreasonable..."

Lu Mingfei muttered, but soon became happy again.

If the entries for math and English were this powerful, the entries obtained after upgrading other subjects would certainly not be bad either!

By then, wouldn't it be easy for him to stage a comeback from being dead last in grades?

The only thing to worry about was perhaps improving too quickly by accident and being mistaken for cheating!

Lu Mingfei did not think he was cheating; he had been studying hard according to the Schedule, hadn't he? That little bit of rising Proficiency was the most powerful proof!

As for the entries, they were merely the "reasonable harvest" after his own hard work and sweat.

"Yes, that's it; that I can have a bright future is all thanks to my own efforts!"

Lu Mingfei quickly convinced himself; the countdown for the Electric Shock Warning for distraction rang out, and he threw himself back into focused Learning, shouting in his heart.

"Schedule, give me more Proficiency!"

The adjustment of my sleep schedule was a huge failure, but the update won't be delayed! There is one more update coming~





(End of chapter)