Chapter 34: The Training Begins

Sunset and sunrise. Just like that, a day passed.

The next morning, Song Qi yawned and climbed out of his newly purchased, spacious bed.

Normally, moving house, furnishing, and cleaning would take at least several days. Thanks to Principal Shen’s help—with both the move and introducing acquaintances at the furniture market—all the furniture was bought at the best prices, delivered free of charge, and everything for their family was settled in a single night.

Take, for example, the double bed he personally picked out last night!

After sleeping for over a decade on a partitioned bed less than a meter wide—so narrow he’d often fall off if he turned over in his sleep—Song Qi had developed a deep resentment toward small beds. Though he still didn’t have a partner, he chose the widest double bed, just so he could roll around freely.

He stepped out of the bedroom...

“Well, my dear son is up!” As soon as he walked out, he saw his parents had already prepared breakfast and were waiting for him in the living room, beaming with smiles.

“Breakfast is so lavish today?” Song Qi sat down and glanced at the table, surprised to see that breakfast wasn’t buns and fried dough, but several kinds of expensive-looking pastries!

“This isn’t breakfast—it’s almost noon, already ten-thirty! Might as well call it lunch,” his mother explained. “And all these pastries were gifts from the neighbors. If we don’t eat them soon, they’ll go bad in a few days.”

“Neighbors sent them?” Song Qi paused, picked up a piece, and took a bite. The taste was indeed excellent: the cream melted on his tongue, the texture sublime. Definitely high-end pastries.

His father lounged comfortably in a chair, looking at his phone. “Early this morning, several neighbors came by. You were still asleep, so we didn’t wake you. I’m telling you, folks in this inner city are truly welcoming—everyone brought loads of gifts, and these pastries are actually the least expensive!”

“One neighbor even knows the leader of a major mercenary group. With a single phone call, they arranged a job for your sister—thirty thousand credits a month, and it’s not even hard work.”

“Life just keeps getting better,” his parents said, feeling nothing but hope for the days ahead—so dreamlike it felt almost unreal.

Song Qi, however, suddenly understood. He finally realized why the city lord had asked Principal Shen to handle his move. So, there was another layer of meaning behind it.

After a simple breakfast and some idle chatter, Song Qi bid his parents farewell and headed toward the replica plaza.

...

When he arrived at the plaza, Wang Zihao and Gongsun Wuyue had already been waiting. As soon as they saw Song Qi, they hurriedly sent him a party invitation, and the day’s dungeon runs began.

As usual, they started with three rounds of the “Corpse Tide” instance. Then came the endless repetition of the “Crimson Blood Hive” dungeon.

For Song Qi, running dungeons had become a monotonous routine, devoid of challenge. Its only purpose now was to test his new skill, “Life Blessing.”

He’d already tested it: once activated, he could withstand about five blows from the boss of “Crimson Blood Hive.” This level of defense was more than satisfactory. As the strongest boss among low-level instances, that creature had attributes totaling over two hundred. If it attacked him directly, he might not survive even one hit.

More crucially, after the shield was broken, whether the summoned creature was recalled depended entirely on his will—it wasn’t forced back immediately. This gave him some tactical flexibility.

There was also the matter of “Soul Link” proficiency.

After several hours...

Song Qi left the party and said goodbye to his friends. Having used a triple experience card all afternoon, he had reached level fourteen.

His attribute panel now read:

Name: Song Qi
Class: Summoner
Level: 14
Experience: 251338/500000
Strength: 7
Constitution: 22
Agility: 21
Spirit: 38
Free Attribute Points: 14
Equipment: None
Talent: Divine Summoning Art
Skills: [Summoning], [Soul Link], [Life Blessing]
Summoned Spirit: [Divine Lü Bu]
Items: [Triple Experience Card x9], [Quintuple Experience Card x1], [Mirror Skill Book], [Class-Specific Item Voucher]
Quests:
[Optional Quest 1: Clear the dungeon with S-rank or higher (Completed)]
[Optional Quest 2: Reach level ten (Completed)]
[Optional Quest 3: Defeat 50,000 monsters (21,457/50,000)]
Evaluation: Unknown figure, but possesses extraordinary talent in the path of summoning.

Song Qi opened the skills panel:

[Soul Link LV0: Current proficiency (2/3)]

One more use tomorrow and Soul Link would level up, shortening its cooldown further. He wondered how long it would take to reach max level.

Additionally, “Optional Quest 3” was finally more than halfway done. At this rate, in three or four days he would complete the final quest and unlock five lottery draws.

When he reached the tenth guaranteed draw, with all common and rare items removed, and combined with the Class-Specific Item Voucher, he would be able to obtain at least a Transcendent-grade summoner item!

Of course, if possible, he hoped the item would be of the highest quality.

Lost in these thoughts, Song Qi soon arrived at the city lord’s mansion. He took the elevator to the twelfth floor. As the elevator doors opened, the city lord, dressed casually and with a cigarette between his lips, appeared before him.

“City Lord, I’m here.”

“Hmm.” The city lord nodded. “Oh, I forgot to ask yesterday—have you used your free attribute points?”

“No,” Song Qi replied, shaking his head.

“Good. Keep them. Wait until your attribute values reach their limits before using them. With just a single point, you can easily break through the ceiling and continue improving your attributes through training. If you add them directly, you’re just wasting them.”

Song Qi was surprised. Free attribute points had such a use? Yet another piece of knowledge missing from textbooks. That meant each point was extremely precious. Fortunately, he hadn’t used them recklessly.

“All right, come with me.” The city lord turned and walked down the right corridor. Song Qi hurried after him.

Soon, the city lord stopped before a door made of heavy iron. “This is the training room. It will accelerate your cultivation. It’s also a gravity chamber—apart from controlling gravity, it can monitor your attributes in real time and adjust the difficulty accordingly. But don’t worry, you’re not yet strong enough to need gravity training.”

Song Qi looked inside and saw all sorts of equipment and formations interwoven, presumably powered by supernatural forces.

The city lord then pointed to the room across the hall. “That’s the changing room. Locker number 02 is yours. Your training clothes and today’s potion are ready. Apply the potion all over your body—one bottle per session, don’t waste a drop—then change into your training clothes and come back in.”

“Understood,” Song Qi replied obediently, pushing open the door and stepping into the changing room...