Lu Ren glanced at Xiang Yang, thought for a moment, took out a can from his pocket to fill his stomach, and then asked Xiang Yang for some water. He had watched Xiang Yang drink from this water bag and had kept it within his sight the entire time. Now, he was very short on water, and despite being on guard, he had no choice.
He still let Xiang Yang drink first. Under Xiang Yang's displeased expression, he took a sip from the water bag in his hand and asked with some confusion, "Why does this water taste so strange?"
Xiang Yang: "This is clean water purified by the sewer purification system. It's just that the purification agent has run out, so the taste is a bit odd. But rest assured, the water quality is absolutely clean."
"So you're saying this water is filtered from all kinds of filthy pollutants?" Lu Ren's face didn't look good.
He recalled when he first entered the sewers, passing by a pool of murky green water with skeletons and rotting flesh of unknown creatures in it.
Seeing Lu Ren's expression, Xiang Yang asked curiously, "Don't you know that a lot of clean water is recycled back to rivers and seas after being purified? Before humanity faced the cataclysm, my dad said a large portion of clean water came from pollutants made or discharged by humans, purified to standard quality and delivered directly to every household by the water companies."
"Alright, I understand. You don't have to say anymore."
Lu Ren handed the water bottle to Xiang Yang and quietly walked to the side to practice the Basic Sword Technique. Now that food and water were temporarily not a concern, the immediate priority was to enhance his own strength. In any case, maintaining consistent and diligent practice at all times is a necessary quality for survival.
"Ding, due to your continuous practice of the skill 'Basic Swordsmanship', your Basic Swordsmanship skill level increased by 1."
"Ding, due to your continuous practice of the skill 'Basic Swordsmanship', your agility, power, and constitution skill levels increased by 1."
"Ding, due to..."
Each time he completed a set of Basic Sword Techniques, the system's skill level notification sound kept ringing, gradually increasing his skill levels. At the same time, thanks to the Basic Swordsmanship, his agility, power, and constitution all received a boost.
Watching Lu Ren practice the routine meticulously, Xiang Yang couldn't help but ask, "Is this kung fu?"
Without stopping his movements, Lu Ren replied, "You can understand it that way."
"But you keep repeating the same routines. What can you do with that?"
Xiang Yang was a bit puzzled. If you follow this routine, can you defeat an enemy? Just watching a few times would reveal the opponent's moves, making it meaningless.
"Kung fu is honed over time."
"A move only becomes natural when it turns into a physical instinct."
Even for Lu Ren, it took over a month of relentless practice day and night to achieve the goal of mastering the skill of Basic Swordsmanship. The effort involved in his Soaring and Shifting Steps and exertion, if not taught by a true mentor, would be considered fake skills. Although he could rely on the Skill Proficiency System to acquire the skill, it definitely required a substantial amount of time.
Moreover, even if taught by a true master, without time to settle in, what you practice results in fake skills. Most people don't have Lu Ren's capability of forming a skill into instinctual memory once achieved.
"Relying on time, how long does it take?"
"For an average person to reach my level, it would take at least four years of uninterrupted daily practice, day and night, without missing a single day."
Xiang Yang asked, "And you?"
"I, too, took more than a month to reach this level."
Xiang Yang seemed speechless, clearly thinking Lu Ren was lying.
Lu Ren sheathed his sword and stood.
"You think it's fake?"
Xiang Yang retorted seriously, "I'm not saying it's fake, just that maybe the person who taught you is a fraud."
Yan Zhenghua was indeed a sleazy and lecherous fraud, and Lu Ren fully agreed with that.
However, the Basic Swordsmanship he taught was indeed substantial; otherwise, it wouldn't have been recognized by the system as a skill, deserving of the 2,500 yuan course fee. Having a mentor and being self-taught are completely different things.
Even though Yan Zhenghua didn't delve too deeply into teaching, his true teachings earned Lu Ren's respect. It's just that, after spending so much time with someone like Yan Zhenghua, that respect could only be kept in his heart.
"Maybe."
As for the thought of impulsively sparring with Xiang Yang, Lu Ren had no interest at all. Such a young girl couldn't pique any interest from him.
Seeing Lu Ren sitting silently in a corner resting, Xiang Yang boredly smacked her lips and got up to speak.
"I'm leaving now."
Lu Ren asked in surprise, "What are you going to do?"
"Of course, scout the surroundings and look for patterns."
"On the surface?"
"Of course!"
"Why not go directly to that experimental center through this sewer system?"
"If only it were that easy. The experimental center was established later; the sewer system is an independent operation. The experimental center, although connected to the main sewer, has many checkpoints, and after the incident, they were completely sealed off, making it impossible to get in through this way."
"Alright, I wish you martial luck."
Xiang Yang opened the heavy iron door, turned her head, and kindly said, "If you're willing to wait for me patiently, I can take you to my real base."
Lu Ren was glad, as he wanted to stay in this safe environment. As for bases and whatnot, it didn't matter to him, so he seriously said, "I'll be here the whole time."
Seeing Xiang Yang leave the door ajar, Lu Ren withdrew his gaze.
Is this girl genuinely kind-hearted?
In this environment, Lu Ren maintained a skeptical attitude.
Thanks to the environment being at least pure, without the chaos of the real world's thoughts and schemes, although Lu Ren had flatly declined Xiang Yang, she still bore no grudge. Apart from sulking briefly and feeling a little dispirited, she continued to treat Lu Ren as before.
But still…
Lu Ren couldn't help but smirk a little; she was after all still slightly naïve.
So young!
After resting for a while, frowning and rehydrating, Lu Ren threw himself into the next set of training.
Time flowed like water. At this moment, Lu Ren was shirtless. The diligent training over this period had given him a distinct muscle outline, each move showcasing the visual impact and explosive feeling brought by his swelling and relaxing muscles.
His physical attributes being a notch above ordinary people resulted in a rather good physical condition.
He also carefully researched the growth of each attribute value. Each point increase in attribute points had a coefficient of 1.25, meaning a one-point increase in attributes added to the base of five attribute points, with fixed values that wouldn't increase proportionally with physical enhancement.
In conversion, an increase in one strength attribute from a base strength value of a hundred pounds could gain twenty-five pounds of strength, whereas two points would gain fifty pounds.
The fixed attribute point, perhaps considered a general conversion value in games, seemed extremely abnormal in the real world.
But he didn't know if there would be changes later, as the impact of such attribute increases on the body wasn't calculated this way.
The gradual increase in skill level allowed him to clearly feel his strength steadily growing, and this rate of improvement was beyond anyone's imagination.