Outside the school gate, a panorama of human emotions was already on display.
Students who had not undergone Spirit Power Awakening and their parents huddled together, weeping as if mourning their parents.
Meanwhile, students who had Awakened Spirit Power and their parents laughed excitedly, completely disregarding the despair of the failures beside them.
Some Awakeners even specifically demonstrated their abilities; although it was only a preliminary Awakening, the weak Spirit Power swirling around them still made them feel extremely proud.
Zhao Mu turned and left. After Walking a few steps, he also summoned his own [demon clown].
A clown with a comical and strange appearance floated above his shoulder, but in a world filled with Spirit Power Users, it didn't seem particularly odd.
Zhao Mu pondered for a moment and attempted to communicate with the demon clown. He found that as long as a thought arose in his mind, the demon clown would immediately react.
For example, when he thought of "Walking," the transparent card in the demon clown's hand immediately displayed text.
"Walking: Life Skill, Proficiency 90."
"Conventionally, the maximum Proficiency Rank is 100."
Zhao Mu's mouth twitched. It wasn't even max Proficiency. What, did he not even know how to Walk?
He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to step with his left foot or his right, before finally deciding to quickly Walk home with a testing mindset.
And with his movement, the progress bar symbolizing Proficiency slowly increased.
"Proficiency 90.01..."
"Proficiency 90.02..."
...Zhao Mu observed the numbers changing while Walking, and after he had Walked for one kilometer, he realized that his normal Walking speed had actually increased slightly!
Zhao Mu's heart stirred. Instead of rushing home, he deliberately took a detour.
After Walking continuously like this, when he reached three kilometers, the Proficiency of his Walking skill had reached 95! The progress bar was almost full.
"The demon clown's ability means Proficiency has no upper limit. That is to say, I can continue to Breakthrough even after the Proficiency progress bar is full."
"Anyone can Walk, so the difficulty of increasing Proficiency is relatively low. In that case, I'll see what happens after I Breakthrough the Proficiency limit."
Thinking this, Zhao Mu looked at the progress bar display card, and a new goal for his efforts formed in his heart.
He turned around and headed toward the River Embankment next to Changxing District.
Normally, he ran at least 20 kilometers every morning and evening, so Zhao Mu had excellent foot strength.
Before long, he had Walked ten kilometers along the River Embankment.
At this moment, the demon clown's progress bar also grew steadily, finally reaching maximum capacity!
"Quack quack! Walking skill Proficiency max Rank, unlocking the second stage, [Light and Agile Steps]!"
"Light and Agile Steps: Life Skill, Proficiency 100."
Zhao Mu instantly felt that after Breaking through the limit of Walking, his legs had become much lighter. When Walking, it was as if a gust of wind was supporting his legs, and his speed became unusually fast.
"This is... Footwork!"
Zhao Mu was dumbfounded. He had learned in school that Footwork was extremely important for Spirit Power Users.
Because during Combat, pursuing or escaping was crucial.
If you could win a fight but couldn't outrun the opponent, you could only stare helplessly.
Although Light and Agile Steps couldn't compare to a proper Advanced Footwork Technique, it increased his speed by more than double!
Of course, this was because Zhao Mu had never stopped training for ten years, and his physical condition was excellent.
"Even Walking can be upgraded into Footwork! The ability of the [demon clown] is truly amazing!"
Zhao Mu excitedly clenched his fists and let out a howl, attracting reproachful stares from a group of Fishermen by the River Embankment.
Zhao Mu quickly shut his mouth. He thought for a moment and immediately communicated with the [demon clown].
"What if I change the target skill to Breathing?"
"Swish!"
The demon clown wiped its left hand across the display card, and [Walking] immediately disappeared, replaced by [Breathing].
"Breathing: Life Skill, Proficiency 70."
Looking at [Breathing], which only had seventy percent of its progress bar filled, Zhao Mu didn't feel speechless this time; instead, he felt joy in his heart.
If he raised Breathing to the max Rank, what would happen then?
Zhao Mu came to the River Embankment and found a quiet, empty patch of grass to sit down on.
Then—he seriously focused on Breathing.
The scenery by the River Embankment was beautiful. A refreshing Qi was carried by the breeze, making one feel relaxed and happy.
Breathing training was the simplest. Unconsciously, the progress bar increased at a steady pace until it reached the maximum level.
"Haha! [Breathing] skill Proficiency max Rank, unlocking the next stage skill [Turtle Breathing Technique]."
"Turtle Breathing Technique: Life Skill, Proficiency 100."
Zhao Mu blinked his eyes, carefully sensing the change in his current Breathing rhythm.
He found that his Breathing rhythm had slowed down, and his breath had become much longer and steadier.
"Turtle Breathing Technique—can I hold my breath like a turtle?"
Thinking this, Zhao Mu hardened his resolve, closed his mouth, and stopped Breathing.
Something that surprised him happened: after several minutes passed, he didn't feel the slightest bit of chest tightness or shortness of breath.
Only his heartbeat slowed down, the speed of blood flow became sluggish, and his body temperature dropped rapidly.
After holding his breath for five minutes, Zhao Mu still felt very mentally alert, and his physical state showed no abnormality whatsoever.
"This ability will be very useful for future infiltration and assassination, or for ambushing enemies. At critical moments, it can be used to play dead and deceive opponents."
Zhao Mu quickly thought of various ways to use the [Turtle Breathing Technique].
His body trembled slightly with excitement. The ability of the [demon clown] was simply too wonderful!
However, whether it was [Light and Agile Steps] or [Turtle Breathing Technique], filling the progress bar again would require reaching 1000 points of Proficiency.
But this was no problem at all, because everyday Life Skills could be trained continuously.
"If Life Skills are like this, what about using it to Cultivate Combat Techniques?"
Zhao Mu felt his horizons broadening.
If a Spirit Power User wanted to become stronger, not only did they need to raise their Combat Level, but powerful Combat Techniques were also crucial.
But in the Xuanfeng Empire, there were only two ways to obtain powerful Combat Techniques.
The first was the inherited Combat Technique of powerful aristocratic Families; only Family disciples could learn them, and they were never taught outside.
The second was to acquire military merit and exchange for them through the military System. However, the conditions were extremely strict, requiring one to complete various tasks risking life and limb, exchanging for them at a very high mortality rate.
Therefore, even a Genius from an ordinary Family needed to fight desperately for a chance to obtain the powerful Combat Techniques that the children of great Families possessed from birth.
Take someone with Zhao Mu's background, for example: even if he entered the [Qingfeng Camp] Military Martial Specialization School in Lujiang City, as an Elementary Reserve Soldier, it would be difficult for him to access Intermediate or Advanced Combat Techniques within three to five years.
Combat Techniques are divided into four Ranks.
Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced, as well as the [Divine Skill], which ordinary people can never access and is only held by the Empire's top Families and the Military Department!
The higher the Combat Technique Rank, the greater the power it can unleash, and naturally, the higher the threshold for Cultivation.
Generally speaking, mastering an Intermediate Combat Technique is enough to Cultivate up to the Fourth-tier realm of [Owl General] within the Spirit Power System.
However, the difficulty of acquiring an Intermediate Combat Technique is equally sky-high.
Zhao Mu looked at his demon clown, his eyes shimmering with bright light.
"In that case, I don't need to compete with others for Advanced Combat Techniques at all. Even if I only Cultivate the [Seven Kills] that Aunt Bu taught me, along with various Elementary Combat Techniques, as long as I continuously increase the Proficiency, I can reach the level of a [Divine Skill]!"