Chapter 47 - The Iron Person
Upon seeing Lin Ye and Lin Xiaodie leaving the house for training, Lin Yao knew that he could not delay any further.
While other people trained in the early morning, Lin Yao would take out a book and study inside the house in the meantime.
When it was time to attend the classes at school, Lin Yao and Zhang Heng found the instructor as soon as they arrived. Lin Yao told the instructor about his talent and then applied to train independently.
There was not much ado. Lin Yao applied for permission to train independently at around eight o’clock in the morning and obtained permission at around 10 o’clock. In addition, four bottles of nutrient drinks were given to him.
This was a reward from the school, and there were four bottles because Lin Yao had already traded for the silver combat skill.
“One combat skill and four bottles of nutrient drink. Are they valuable?”
It was not a new combat skill, after all, and was thus not valuable. Without contemplating it further, Lin Yao prepared to head home after informing the people at school he was closer to.
However, the one-eyed instructor stopped him before he could leave.
“Although you have applied to train independently, I suggest that you train on the newly-built training ground at school. There is a forest by the edge of the lake, and the spirit energy there is relatively abundant and clean. There are also some special training tools which are suitable for you.”
“New training ground? Thank you for informing me, Instructor.”
Lin Yao did not stand on ceremony. He lived in an ordinary, small community that was certainly no better than a standalone training ground.
Following the one-eyed instructor, Lin Yao soon arrived at the mountain behind the school. There was a training ground there that was about to be completed.
As he looked at the newly-dug lake and the trees planted around it, Lin Yao’s mind felt soothed and he inexplicably thought of Project Heavenly Abode.
‘Like Project Thunder God, this plan has been both a success and a failure. The original purpose of this plan was to make everyone’s home a training ground. In the end, it was proven unrealistic. However, thanks to some famous mountains and huge rivers, some training grounds that can aid in cultivation have been built. It’s just that there are too many people in China and too few training grounds, and the best training grounds have already been taken by tertiary institutions, the military, and powerful dojos… The school has now built a new training ground. Have there been any new developments with Project Heavenly Abode?’
As he thought about it, Lin Yao headed toward the training ground.
After entering it, he felt different immediately. It was as if he had crossed over from a dusty construction site to a natural park filled with fresh air. A soothing feeling welled in Lin Yao’s heart. At the same time, he could sense more spirit energy in this area than in the surrounding places.
‘The country has definitely succeeded. This feels like a small training ground.’
It was indeed comfortable to train there. He would no longer hold himself back. After conversing shortly with the one-eyed instructor, Lin Yao walked to a clearing on the training ground and began practicing military boxing under the sun.
During his training, sunlight from the sky replenished Lin Yao’s energy and reduced his exhaustion. At the same time, the three vital energy seeds condensed in his body were continuously absorbing the sunlight. They turned crystal clear and seemed to be brimming with energy.
‘Three is still not enough. It so happens that the school just gave me four bottles of nutrient drinks. With four bottles, I can condense one more seed.’
He would normally need 10 bottles to condense one seed. Nevertheless, Lin Yao had not been idling for the past two days. He had been training all this while. Therefore, he could condense the vital energy seed with the four bottles of nutrient drinks and some training time.
Training was boring, but the feeling of gradually becoming stronger motivated Lin Yao, so he endured the boredom.
It was noontime, and the sun was quite strong. Lin Yao absorbed the four bottles of nutrient drinks in one training session. After 12 training sessions, he could feel his physique improving. The number of vital energy seeds had also increased by one. At that moment, he had a total of four vital energy seeds and could thus unleash four combat skills.
“Phew… Phew… Phew… All the nutrient drinks have been used up. I can only rely on the sun from now on.”
While speaking, Lin Yao also looked inside himself. He opened the attribute interface and all his attributes were displayed before his eyes.
[Name: Lin Yao]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 17]
[Existing Energy: 3,400 grams]
[Other Energy: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Thunder 100 grams, Light 200 grams]
[Cultivation Method: 13th Military Boxing (Real Success: 100%; Gold)]
[Realm: Martial Artist (Vital Energy Seeds: Four)]
[Physical Realm: Iron Person (1%)]
[Combat Skill: First move of the Clear Mirror Swordsmanship (Proficiency 10%) (Gold)]
[Tree Planted Now: Tree of Light (Seedling 800/1,000)]
[Talent: Sunlight Absorption LV3 ]
[Tree Species Quantity: One]
Lin Yao, who had just become a martial artist, was still very weak. As he basked in the sun and regained energy, Lin Yao glanced at the words “Iron Person”.
Mankind’s martial arts journey was an evolution of the human body and the transformation from man to god.
However, Rome had not been built in a day. No one could cross the abyss between man and god with one step.
In the past, mankind had not had spirit energy nourishment and technology had not advanced to the stage of transforming the human body. Therefore, all human beings were ordinary mortals.
The Iron Person was the first step toward an extraordinary existence. The most important ability of this physical realm was breaking the Human Body Limit, allowing the body to continuously improve with spirit energy nourishment, and then unleashing the vital energy in the body, temporarily increasing one’s strength.
‘The difference between Iron Person 1% and an ordinary person with a Human Body Limit 100% is not that huge. However, if the difference becomes 10%, that will translate to a 10% physical gap, and a difference of 100% will be akin to twice the physical gap.’
This gap might not seem huge, but the gap would apply to all aspects, including unleashing muscle strength, nerve reaction speed, resistance to abnormal conditions, physical resilience, and so on. When all this was combined and the Iron Person reached 100%, their physique would surpass that of mortals several times.
The other point one needed to be clear about was that someone with a Human Body Limit of 100% was not akin to ordinary folks of the 21st century. Someone who had reached the Human Body Limit by absorbing spirit energy would, in fact, be stronger than boxing champion Tyson at his peak. If this template was doubled, one would not be any weaker than Captain America, who had been injected with super serum.
‘Iron Person 1% is not the limit. In fact, even 100% is not the limit. Some people have accumulated up to 300% or 400% in the iron physical realm.’
Accumulating to 300% or 400% might seem abnormal, but one would understand after knowing the situation in the physical realm.
Above the Iron Person was the Silver Person, which was followed by the Gold Person.
The ascension from a mortal to an Iron Person and then to a Silver Person was a form of gene transformation. In addition to one’s strength, there would also be an improvement of one’s hypostasis and intrinsic nature.
For example, a young elf was not as strong as an adult but could still become a Silver Person.
They also had the potential to be called a Silver Person. First of all, elves typically possessed some special talent, such as affinity for magic, sharp eyes, and most importantly, a long lifespan.
That was right. The main differentiating factor between a mortal, an Iron Person, a Silver Person, and a Gold Person was not strength. Although strength was the most important indicator, what truly distinguished them were the genes of the transformation and the change in their intrinsic nature. The most direct manifestation of this was one’s lifespan.
The lifespan of the same hypostasis would vary depending on the species. When it came to human bodies, the lifespan of a mortal, an Iron Person, and a Silver Person were respectively 150, 200, and over 300, and a perfect Gold Person could reach a lifespan of 800.
The advancement from Iron to Silver was a genetic transformation and an improvement in intrinsic nature. This kind of improvement would allow mankind to break through the limit of its species.
But was it possible to improve purely the strength and not the intrinsic nature?
Of course. This was the origin of Iron Person 300%. Although this kind of existence was very powerful, its lifespan would not be long. The hypostasis limit also enabled one to surpass some ordinary Silver People, but one would not be able to beat a true peak Silver Person.
There were two scenarios of being stuck as an Iron Person and not advancing. One of them was when the intrinsic nature was damaged and could not be improved. There was nothing one could do about this.
The other scenario was when the person in question wanted to accumulate more to reap more gains upon advancing.