The Martial Lord of the Troubled World

Chapter 8 Extra Points
At the end of August, when the sweltering heat had not yet subsided, two major incidents occurred in Luanhe County, shocking the entire county.

One is that, with the joint efforts of the major chambers of commerce at the dock, the Luanhe River Association, which had been dormant for many years, has restarted the river god worship activities.

The sacrificial ceremony was personally presided over by Fu Guoping, director of the Civil Affairs Department of Luanhe County, and unprecedentedly, it lasted for a month. Its scale was unprecedented in the past ten years.

The second incident involved a series of vicious kidnappings in Luanhe County, with the victims being daughters and sons of wealthy merchants.

The perpetrator acted meticulously and disappeared without a trace. Although the Luanhe County government ordered the two departments to cooperate and do their best to investigate, the case has not yet been solved, causing panic throughout the city.

Two major events, one joyful and one sorrowful, simultaneously occupied the front page of the Luanhe County Daily, fermenting in the streets and alleys, becoming the topic of conversation for everyone during this last period of summer.

At the same time, the Fu family.

In the backyard of the Fu family, there was a large, empty room that had been specially cleaned out.

At this moment, on the tatami mat covered with thick soft cushions, two figures were locked in combat.

One of them was young and handsome, dressed in a silk training uniform, and was agile and fierce in attack.

The other person looked older, dark-skinned and muscular, with a somewhat simple and rustic air about him.

When the two fought, the former usually attacked while the latter blocked. Occasionally, the latter would take the initiative to strike, but he would only touch some insignificant parts of the former's body, and then withdraw his attack without causing any pain or discomfort.

After a few rounds of exchange, the younger man suddenly punched the older man hard in the left shoulder. The older man staggered back a few steps and then said with a wry smile, "I admit defeat, young master."

"It's boring, really boring!"

Fu Juemin loosened his grip and said with some dissatisfaction, "Wang Shuisheng, if you continue to treat me like a fragile porcelain doll, and don't even dare to step into the stance, then don't accompany me to practice boxing anymore."

"Young master, you're innocent!"

Wang Shuisheng rubbed his shoulder, which had just been hit, and complained, "Although I held back a bit, Young Master's punches are accurate and vicious. It's true that I can't beat him."

"You dare to make excuses!"

Fu Juemin frowned, and Wang Shuisheng immediately became embarrassed and dared not speak.

Fu Juemin suddenly lost interest and waved his hand, "Never mind, you can go now. Go to the accounting office and get five silver dollars as usual."

"Thank you, young master."

Wang Shuisheng probably realized that his flattery had backfired, so he accepted the reward and quickly left the training room.

With Wang Shuisheng gone, Fu Juemin was left alone in the training room. Li Tong was away on business, and Fu Juemin was too lazy to call the servants in, so he simply played around with the training posts in the corner by himself.

When I first started practicing Mingquan, I thought Wang Shuisheng was so adorable, but now I think he's so "hateful".

As Fu Juemin mastered the basics of Mingquan and his skills gradually improved, Wang Shuisheng's "nanny-style sparring" suddenly became annoying.

When the two sparred, he always hesitated to make a move, fearing that he might hurt Fu Juemin even a hair on his head. He deliberately let Fu Juemin win in every situation. What's the point of sparring with someone like that?

Fu Juemin could understand Wang Shuisheng, but he didn't have any good solutions. He tried to mention this to Li Tong, but all he got in return was Li Tong's dismissive reply: "You are the young master of the Fu family. Their livelihood is provided by the Fu family."

"It looks like we'll have to find a way to change our sparring partners."

"boom!"

Fu Juemin landed a heavy punch on the punching post, causing it to shake slightly.

Feeling a bit annoyed, I opened my character panel—

Fu Juemin

【攻击——3防御——2生命——1法力——0】    【功法：混元桩（入门）明拳（入门：攻击+1）】

【talent:】

He spent half a month getting his skin treated and being beaten under Li Tong's rattan cane for half a month, with remarkable results.

First of all, I am much stronger than before. I can now lift a 40-pound stone lock with one hand without much effort. It's called "skin-grinding," but it actually trains the skin and the flesh.

The mysterious black ointment that Fu Juemin applied to his body each time he had his skin exfoliated, while Li Tong was whipping and hammering his skin, allowed the medicinal power to penetrate under the skin, which also exercised his muscles and caused them to grow rapidly.

Both of these are reflected on the panel; Fu Juemin's [Attack] and [Defense] attributes have each increased by one point.

Secondly, he was proficient in the techniques of Mingquan. Although Wang Shuisheng always let him win during sparring, Wang Shuisheng was a martial artist at the Bone Forging Realm. Compared to ordinary people, Fu Juemin felt that he was already a relatively skilled "fighting expert".

However, even now, my proficiency in both the Hunyuan Stance and the Mingquan Fist is still at the "beginner" stage, and I don't know when I will be able to break through.

According to Uncle Tong, I will be able to master the Skin Polishing skill in another half month. Once I master Skin Polishing and enter the Bone Forging stage, my various attributes should be able to improve further.
Um? ! "

Fu Juemin scanned the panel and suddenly noticed that the circular groove shaped like a yin-yang symbol underneath the panel had become empty.

He wondered if he was seeing things. Just this morning, he had seen the left half of the tank almost filled with blue energy, and he had even wondered what would happen after it was filled.

"How did everything get cleared out of nowhere?"

Fu Juemin didn't care about anything else at the moment and began to carefully study his character panel.

A moment later, he finally noticed the difference—on the panel's four-dimensional attribute bar, a small transparent "+" had appeared after the three attributes: [Attack], [Defense], and [Health].

"The blue energy bar is full; can I exchange it for some free attribute points?!"

Fu Juemin suddenly realized, and then was overjoyed.

The blue energy bar represents the energy he accumulates through training and supplementation. Now, this energy can be exchanged for extra attribute points. Doesn't this mean that Fu Juemin's speed of increasing strength will far exceed that of ordinary people?!

"This way, I can continuously improve my strength even if I lie still. But why is it that only three of the four basic attributes can be improved? Why isn't there a '+' next to [Mana]?"

Fu Juemin was somewhat puzzled. To be honest, he had never understood what the [Mana Power] attribute represented. Its initial value was 0, and it didn't seem to be related to martial arts.

I don't understand.

I simply ignored it.

He's now more interested in which base attribute to allocate the extra attribute points.

"Of the three options: [Attack], [Defense], and [Life], [Defense] should be excluded first."

After the skin smoothing process, my defense improved slightly because my skin became more resilient, and my overall ability to withstand impacts also increased.

But this basic level of defense is practically useless against pistol bullets; you'll be injured or killed anyway if you get shot.

Judging from the current situation, the [Life] attribute is probably the hardest to improve. He has been practicing martial arts for so long and it hasn't increased at all, but it's still for a similar reason as not investing in [Defense].
After much deliberation and careful consideration, Fu Juemin finally decided to add the [Attack] skill first!
"In the early stages, it's better to specialize in one skill rather than averaging out your points. Focus on increasing your [Attack] stat first. As the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense!"

Thinking of this, Fu Juemin's eyes fell on the virtual "+" after the [Attack] attribute on the panel, and he pressed it down hard.

The instant the value "3" behind the "Attack" indicator jumped to "4", the "+" signs after the other two attributes also disappeared.

"As expected, there's only 1 point that can be added..."

Despite having anticipated this, Fu Juemin couldn't help but sigh softly.

Before he could continue his reflections, a surge of intense, scalding heat suddenly welled up from his heart, instantly spreading throughout his entire body.
(End of this chapter)