My stats are higher than yours!!

"On the path of pursuing power, we have abandoned our dignity and bottom line, and blinded our hearts. Although this experience is not directly related to the path of improving strength, it has affected our mentality, making our minds clouded when we are comprehending, and preventing us from giving full play to our true talents."

Bai Shuodong's voice was slightly dull. He stopped, turned to look at Jiang Lin behind him, and continued, "If you want to break through the shackles, you must overcome these, become your true self, and bring your talents and potential to the extreme."

"Ah."

Jiang Lin nodded slightly and fell into deep thought.

"come on."

Bai Shuodong patted him on the shoulder.

This is not just perfunctory rhetoric, but a genuine understanding. A person's character and habits are composed of countless past experiences. Some experiences are helpful pushers to improve, while others are invisible obstacles.

His past experiences will make him more cautious and considerate when facing various situations. In ordinary times, these extra concerns have little impact, but in battle and training, they become invisible obstacles, making it difficult for him to improve.

After gaining the ability to decompose, Bai Shuodong realized that he had enough trump cards to back him up and no longer needed to worry, so his mindset changed.

He found that he seemed to have become stronger.

It was a feeling that was hard to describe, but he felt that he had become stronger, his comprehension had improved, and he was more focused in battle, which directly raised his overall strength to a higher level.

"By the way, the head of teaching wants to see you. Go register your acquired skills later. I heard there are extra benefits after you complete the registration."

"Ah."

...

Office of the Head of Academic Affairs

Bai Shuodong stood casually at the door. He smiled at the door and knocked directly.

"Forward."

"Crack!"

Bai Shuodong pushed open the door and walked straight to Lao Bi with a relaxed smile on his face. He said directly, "I'm here to register to learn a skill. I'm an orphan. Could you give me a little more money?"

"..."

Old Bi was silent for a while, looked at him, then sighed and said, "Bai Shuodong, I'll give you 100,000 as an investment, but you're not allowed to say such things in front of others in the future, do you understand? I don't want to see students using their own scars to gain benefits."

"it is good."

Bai Shuodong felt a warmth in his heart. Although this old man looked strict, he was a very good person.

"I watched yesterday's battle, and your performance was quite good, much better than I remembered. Both your tactical arrangements and your psychological warfare were excellent. You can definitely be called a combat genius."

"but!"

Old Bi paused, then his gaze turned serious as he continued, "Why gamble in the end? Why make this choice?"

"In a real battle, the enemy will never give you a chance to abandon your defense and launch a surprise attack? This isn't a desperate gamble! This is suicide! If Xia Yanxin hadn't stopped at the crucial moment, you would be dead by now!"

"..."

Bai Shuodong lowered his head and remained silent.

Although theoretically that was the case, he felt an opportunity at the time, and felt that he should rush up and hug Xia Yanxin directly, so he could win. So he followed his instincts and did just that.

In retrospect, he also felt that his actions were too risky and had certain problems.

It's all because my intuition wasn't clear enough!

Otherwise, would I still need to take the risk?

"It won't happen again."

Old Bi added a sentence, then took a form from the table and handed it to Bai Shuodong, saying, "This is the skill comprehension form. Please fill it out. The more detailed the information, the better."

"Ah."

...

Soon after

Old Bi stared at the table, his eyes wide, and couldn't help but ask, "Is this a two-star skill comprehension?"

"right."

"It only took half a day to understand?"

"right."

"There are two more effects?"

"right."

"..."

Old Bi leaned back, looking at Bai Shuodong with the same gaze he would give Xia Yanxin; the word "monster" was no longer enough to describe him.

Mastering this skill will be extremely effective against most enemies, and the weakness of the [Slow Burst] talent is compensated by [Lock]. As long as you can enter the charging phase one second before the opponent attacks, you can unleash the strongest counterattack, which is further enhanced by the control and weakening effects of [Lion's Might].

The reason why [Lion's Might] is not well controlled in battle is because Bai Shuodong is fighting Xia Yanxin. This girl is a special existence. Her pain sensitivity is more sensitive than that of normal people, so she has also developed a stronger willpower.

Therefore, the control effect of [Lion's Might] had little impact on Xia Yanxin.

But what if it were someone else?

No one else has such a strong will!

One hit of [Lion's Might] is a solid form of strong crowd control, and it also significantly weakens attributes!

"You little rascal, you really surprise me."

Old Bi sighed, looking at the form in his hand, and continued, "Actually, I had no idea that Lion's Might had a control effect. Whether an ability has a control effect or not is a completely different concept. You are even stronger than I imagined."

"I understand a little better why you took that risk before. You must have released Lion's Might, but Xia Yanxin managed to block the control effect, so it looked like you were deliberately throwing your life away, right?"

"Ah."

Bai Shuodong nodded, looking worried, and said, "It feels like this control isn't very useful. It can't even interrupt Xia Yanxin who is charging and attacking. The effect isn't as good as you imagined."

"That's because Xia Yanxin's willpower is seven times that of a normal person. It would be strange if you could control yourself."

"what?"

Chapter Fifteen: Rewards and Promises

"Ah~"

Old Bi sighed, poured a cup of tea on the table, and handed it to Bai Shuodong. He continued, "You should have learned that besides the four basic attributes, we also have many hidden attributes, including willpower."

"Different people have different levels of willpower, so their final performance when faced with the effects of mind control is also quite different."

"Xia Yanxin is born with a high sensitivity to pain. In order to adapt to this pain, she was forced to develop a will far beyond that of ordinary people and a tolerance for pain far beyond that of ordinary people. This sensitivity also gave her a stronger fighting talent."

"After a special test by experts, her willpower attribute is seven times that of a normal person. Most skills that require willpower assessment are useless to her. This is not your problem."

"Is that so?"

Bai Shuodong sighed helplessly, feeling somewhat fortunate. If that were the case, his strength would be greater than he had imagined.

but...

In this way, Xia Yanxin's value is even higher, truly deserving of the title of a top-tier combat monster.

"In terms of raw strength, Xia Yanxin is undoubtedly the strongest among the first-year high school students. When she fought you, she didn't even need to learn any skills, and..." Old Bi stopped mid-sentence, seemingly touching on some sensitive topics.

As Bai Shuodong listened, a storm of shock surged within him. Wasn't her comprehension skill supposed to enhance combat intuition? Did it have other skill effects as well?

Or rather...

Does she possess more than one comprehension skill?

"Fine, you're a genius, there are some things you should know."

Old Bi crossed his arms and looked at Bai Shuodong, who was drinking tea in a daze across from him. He said seriously, "You should know that although you haven't gone through the trials of the spirit world, you do have spiritual energy in your body, but the amount of spiritual energy is relatively small."

“I know, the amount of psionic energy reserves is directly related to innate talent and spiritual attributes,” Bai Shuodong nodded in reply.

“We not only possess psionic powers, but we can also use them to a certain extent, such as casting spells using psionic abilities or skills. You know that, right?”

"know."

"Under normal circumstances, this ability to use psychic energy is exclusive to magic-based classes with a spiritual specialization before officially becoming a psychic. This is because they possess the strongest spiritual attributes and the greatest control over energy, which is why they can succeed."

"Wait...you don't mean to say..."

Bai Shuodong's expression suddenly changed, and the corners of his mouth began to twitch uncontrollably.

"Yes, you're right. Although Xia Yanxin is a warrior-type and has low mental attributes, she has successfully sensed psionic energy and mastered how to use it on her own... and she has even mastered some advanced uses."

How did she manage to get hold of it?

"It is said that it is grasped through intuition."

"monster."

Bai Shuodong cursed from the bottom of his heart.

"Bai Shuodong, because your skill comprehension quality is relatively high, I have decided to give you a scholarship of 100,000 yuan, which will be directly transferred to your card. The 100,000 yuan I mentioned to you before was my personal funding, so the total is 200,000 yuan."

As he spoke, Old Bi started rambling again, muttering, "Although your basic attributes aren't high right now, they're still at a mid-level. With this money, try to buy some better medicine, but don't buy the kind with big side effects."

“The Rongcui series is pretty good. The cooling time after injection is only three days, and each injection can increase the base attribute by 0.1 to 0.2 points. Moreover, the brand is quite good, the materials are solid, and the price is not expensive. One injection is only two thousand yuan, which you can afford with your current wealth.”

"From now on, we just need to play it safe and steady."

"Ah."

Bai Shuodong nodded and asked, "I want some training equipment. Could you send me some good ones, like those that boost melee proficiency or those that boost proficiency in clubs, spears, and lances? I feel like I want to use them all."

"So many? You want to buy and sell them?"

Old Bi narrowed his eyes, staring at him with extreme vigilance, and said, "I just gave you 20, you shouldn't be short of money, right? Could it be that you have debts?"

"no no."

Bai Shuodong waved his hands repeatedly, looking embarrassed, and said, "Director, you know my talent is slow burst, right? In actual combat, I have to adapt to the situation after a burst of power increase, so for training, the consumption of weapons may be a bit high, so I thought..."

"Oh, I see. As long as there's no need to buy or sell, everything is fine."

Old Bi breathed a sigh of relief, then patted Bai Shuodong on the shoulder and said earnestly, "I'll talk to the logistics department. You can just go and get it when you need it."

"But..."

"You can't have a lot of equipment consumption but little actual improvement. If that happens, it will be difficult for me. So... you need to keep that in mind."

Old Bi patted him on the shoulder again, a meaningful smile on his face.

The meaning is clear: as long as you can produce results and live up to the college's expectations, he, as the dean of studies, can turn a blind eye. But if the results are not good, then he cannot be allowed to cause trouble.

"Then, if I can raise my skill level to level 4 within a month..."

"It's normal for the equipment consumption to be high when the upgrade is good. If you can upgrade to level 5, I'll give you an unlimited supply. You can use one and dismantle another as needed."

"Really!"

Bai Shuodong's eyes gleamed, like a mouse about to enter a granary for a buffet.

The unlimited supply of training equipment might not be a big improvement for others, but it's a completely different story for him. The most terrifying thing about the skill decomposition is not the 200% increase in training speed, but the significant reduction in the difficulty of breaking through bottlenecks.

By cultivating skills and improving basic skills, you can accumulate progress. However, once you reach a certain level, you will be stuck at a bottleneck. Only by breaking through the bottleneck can you advance to the next level.

However, for normal people, bottlenecks are not something that can be broken through easily. Breaking through a bottleneck requires a lot of time to accumulate, a sudden inspiration, or a breakthrough in a life-or-death battle. Ordinary cultivation is not very effective in breaking through bottlenecks.

so...

The bottleneck is the key to leveling up!

The effect of the [Sword Technique Channel] is precisely to significantly reduce the difficulty of breaking through the bottleneck!

"It's true, but you have to provide results."

The head of the teaching department nodded slowly, a calm smile on his face. He thought to himself: This kid probably wants to use those petty, worthless connections to make money, or to buy and sell things privately. But as long as it doesn't come out and no one knows about it in public, he can turn a blind eye.

After all, those were just consumables. As long as they could accelerate the students' improvement in strength, he would have fulfilled his mission. He didn't really care how he accomplished it.

Chapter Sixteen: The Old Man! The Maniacal Laughter Mask!

Afternoon the next day

Bai Shuodong walked southwest along the open side of the school road, which was the direction of the logistics department.