Chapter 7 Health Cultivation, Library

At precisely 5 a.m., Xue Jing awoke from his sleep on time.

Despite just waking up, he felt no fatigue at all—his spirit was fully charged, as if the very moment he opened his eyes, sleepiness was completely banished.

He opened the Skill Panel.

[Early to bed and early to rise, Health Cultivation experience +37]

[Health Cultivation Lv1 (236/300)]

Health Cultivation was a skill that Xue Jing had activated a week ago.

From his observations, the effects were to enhance some physical qualities, significantly improve sleep quality, and very noticeably, increase his energy levels.

Since the activation of the Health Cultivation skill, he almost never felt tired throughout the day, was full of drive, able to immediately do things he thought of, significantly reduced procrastination, and could fall asleep shortly after closing his eyes, completely ridding himself of insomnia.

It could be said to be the most satisfying conventional skill he had.

However, this skill seemed only to gain experience through early sleeping and rising; he had also tried eating supplements, maintaining a regular diet, and other Health Cultivation tricks, but they barely made a difference.

Closing the panel, Xue Jing prepared to get out of bed to wash up and run, but he noticed the feel of his left arm felt fuzzy—lifting the blanket, indeed, Miao Miao was holding onto his arm with its four white paw 'gloves,' sleeping soundly.

Xue Jing felt somewhat troubled.

Although he had let Miao Miao thoroughly expose the fact it wasn't just an ordinary cat yesterday, he still couldn't make it talk.

As long as Miao Miao didn't speak, he was unable to obtain information about Divine Substance, and unlocking the active effect of "Twin Lifes" was still out of reach.

Moreover, he couldn't openly say he needed "Divine Substance"; he was extremely cautious about everything related to the Skill Panel, not intending to reveal any of it to anyone.

"Let it be, things will sort themselves out when it comes to it."

He pulled his arm from Miao Miao's embrace, got out of bed, and covered Miao Miao with the blanket, leaving only a cat head exposed.

It was still pitch-dark outside; he went to the bathroom, switched on the light, and began to clean up.

After finishing, he changed into clothes suitable for running, put on a sports watch, laced up his shoes, and went out for a run.

Not far from the residential area where Xue Jing lived, there was a small garden for strolls and recreation, and a red brick path laid out around the garden, constructed especially for use during quieter times, making it perfect for running.

At this point in time, Xue Jing was alone there.

The sky was still dark, and the streetlights had not yet been turned off; under the illumination of these lights, Xue Jing walked onto the 'track,' did some stretching exercises,

and then started running at a pace far above that of an ordinary jog, almost like ordinary people sprinting with all their might.

This was his current 'jogging' speed.

One lap, two laps, three laps…

An hour later, Xue Jing gradually slowed his pace and came to a stop.

He gasped heavily, sweat pouring down his body, feeling a burning sensation from his toes up to his thighs, and his lungs as if they were being squeezed by a hand, constantly kneading, each breath he took was pushed out, barely alleviating the feeling of oxygen deprivation.

A few minutes later, his breathing gradually steadied, and he recovered; he lifted his right hand and looked at the data on the sports watch.

Running duration: 1 hour 2 minutes 13 seconds, average speed: 18.3 kilometers per hour

This average speed was already close to the level of professional half-marathon athletes from his previous life.

Maintaining this pace for an uninterrupted hour was still a huge challenge for Xue Jing's current body.

Recently, he had been running like this every morning.

Originally, he couldn't manage to run every day—muscle damage simply couldn't recover quickly enough.

But since activating "Health Cultivation," his body's recovery ability greatly increased, no matter how tired, just a sleep, and he would wake up feeling completely refreshed.

Xue Jing opened the panel.

[You completed a long run, Running experience +205]

[Running Lv3 (463/800)]

Running a distance of over 18 kilometers increased the Running skill by 205 experience points.

As this skill's experience increased and the level rose, everything related to running on his body strengthened.

His postures and force applications became more perfect; how to use strength to avoid injuries while bursting powerfully, which posture can reduce wind resistance and run faster, how breathing rhythm should synchronize, all ingrained in his body like instincts.

His physical qualities were boosted as well, especially lung capacity and leg explosive power.

Xue Jing glanced at the "Fitness" skill again.

[You completed a long run, Fitness experience +32]

[Fitness Lv2 (288/500)]

He went to sit on a bench in the garden, taking a rest for a while.

"Comfortable."

Very tired, but the visible satisfaction of improving himself brought him joy that far surpassed the fatigue.

Even without mentioning the growth speed of the skill panel, just being able to clearly see one's own progress was an incredible cheat.

It's like how some people can't stick to exercising for long but can play games all night for days—the biggest difference lies in whether one can accurately recognize that they are progressing.

The certainty of receiving real-time feedback and the anticipation of knowing one would become strong could elicit a powerful motivation from deep within most people.

It almost brought one halfway into the saintly realm of 'unity of knowledge and action'.

It was already past six o'clock, and the day had fully brightened; people were gradually starting to appear around him.

Xue Jing wiped the sweat from his forehead and slowly walked back home.

Arriving home, he took off his clothes and threw them into the washing machine, then showered, feeling refreshed and invigorated.

Miao Miao hadn't woken up yet, even though it had slept with him the previous night—clearly, its biological clock was very un-cat-like.

Xue Jing went to the kitchen, pulled out six eggs from the fridge, placed them in a pot, and added just enough water to cover the eggs before setting it on the induction cooker.

He also poured a large bottle of pure milk into another pot and heated it on the gas stove until it was hot, turned off the heat, and added oats and some sugar, making a pot of sweet oat milk.

Then, he took out the bread slices from the cabinet that he had bought yesterday morning and hadn't finished—this was his breakfast for today.

Because it was too simple, it hardly counted as cooking, so the "Cooking" experience did not increase.

He ate four of the boiled eggs, peeled the remaining two, and put them on a small plate. The oat milk and bread were also left unfinished, all of which he prepared on the dining table for Miao Miao to eat when it woke up.

Although the cat constantly refused to communicate, which greatly displeased him, it still brought him the opportunity to transform through the Skill Panel, and for this Xue Jing was truly grateful.

After all this, Xue Jing changed into his uniform, slung his school bag over one shoulder, and casually picked a dart from the holder next to the dartboard.

At the front door, he opened the door and simultaneously turned and threw the dart, then immediately turned his head back without looking at the result, stepped out, closed the door, and locked it.

And on the dartboard hanging at the corner of the wall, a dart was firmly embedded in the bulls-eye.

[Precision Strike on Bulls-eye, Aiming Experience +1]

Xue Jing left his house, walked a distance, caught a bus, and during the ride with a girl student sneaking glances at him, he gained more Charm Art experience over three stops, then got off the bus and arrived at Qingcheng Affiliated Middle School.

It was around six-thirty in the morning, with crowds bustling at the school gate; Xue Jing followed the stream of people into the campus, but instead of heading to his class, he walked directly across from the Affiliated School's teaching building.

As the affiliated middle school of Qingcheng University, Qingcheng Affiliated Middle School and Qingcheng University's campuses were interconnected, allowing students to visit each other freely.

Xue Jing was heading to Qingcheng University Library.

In this world, there existed certain anomalies that were not found on Earth in a previous life.

However, due to various considerations, official information about these matters was quite tightly sealed off; some information could be found online, but it was all vague and simplistic in detail.

But not being able to find it online doesn't mean it couldn't be found in Qingcheng University.

As one of the top universities in the Outer Ring, the students who studied there were the future elites of society, and they were entitled to know some secrets.

Xue Jing was a student in the specially-established Elite Class of Qingcheng Affiliated Middle School.

The Elite Class was a special class that naturally had special privileges. As long as students in the Elite Class maintained their grades and kept up their status until graduation, they could choose not to take the college entrance exams and be directly promoted to study at Qingcheng University.

Thus, students in the Elite Class already had some of the privileges of Qingcheng University students, such as accessing the seventh floor of Qingcheng University Library.

The first six floors of the library were accessible to ordinary students of the Affiliated School, but not the seventh floor; it held documents and archives not found online and was off-limits to anyone who wasn't a Qingcheng University student or an Elite Class student from the Affiliated School.

Xue Jing had been curious once and ventured into this floor, but it was too chaotic and cluttered with documents and archives, with no computers to search or locate books, making it hard to find exactly what he wanted to know; he had not returned since.

But it was the only place where he might find information about "Divine Substance", so he had no choice but to search and try his luck.

The library of Qingcheng University covered a vast area; numerous access gates stood at the main entrance. Xue Jing took out his library card, swiped it at the sensing area of the access gate, was verified, and walked into the library.

He went straight up without stopping, directly to the sixth floor, and at the staircase leading to the seventh floor, there was another gate; he swiped his card again, passed through, and reached the seventh floor.

Compared to the modernized decoration of the first six floors, the seventh floor of the library appeared plain and unadorned with old bookshelves, old tables and chairs, old documents, and dim old-fashioned lamps hanging from the ceiling, giving the impression of having traveled back in time upon entering.

But it had a historic depth that the first six floors lacked.

Nobody was usually on the seventh floor, especially not early in the morning, and Xue Jing thought it should be empty.

However, to his surprise, in the area with old tables and chairs for resting, there was already a young girl sitting there.