Chapter 6: Aspirations

Chapter 6: Aspirations

Ji Xinghuo returned home and withdrew from the outside world.

On his way back from the Stranger Service Center, his Star Power value had increased to 5, and his physical body was further enhanced.

Although there were no outward signs of change and his physique remained the same, his strength, endurance, and overall physical abilities had noticeably improved.

Ji Xinghuo kept in mind the precautions to be taken during the evolution process and took a short rest.

"It's still early..."

He glanced at the clock; it was just past three in the afternoon. Idling away the time like this was pointless. "I shouldn't over-exert myself, but some light training won't be a problem."

He opened his phone and purchased some training supplies.

Ten minutes later.

Ji Xinghuo received a notification. He saw a silver-white drone swiftly approaching his apartment building from the horizon. It landed at the preset delivery location, gently placed a parcel on the balcony outside his apartment, and then took off again.

Ji Xinghuo went to the balcony, brought the parcel inside, and opened it to find the items he had just ordered.

After spending a few minutes unwrapping the packaging, he revealed a set of several dozen coins of various sizes, a dozen tennis balls and iron balls, a set of rubber juggling bottles, an electronic keyboard with hundreds of keys, a now-obsolete input keyboard, several bundles of rope, and some oddly shaped tools.

An assortment of items, they resembled props one might find in a circus performance.

These were all tools he would need for training his "Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands."

Ji Xinghuo picked up a coin, placed it on the back of his finger, and quickly moved his fingers, causing the coin to roll between them.

After a few seconds, the dancing coin stalled.

"Still not smooth enough..."

Ji Xinghuo practiced for a moment and soon mastered the technique of rolling a single coin.

The coin danced like a wave between his fingers, moving at a rapid pace and creating a dazzling display, yet it never fell.

He then added another coin.

According to the training requirements, each hand could simultaneously juggle up to three coins of varying weights and sizes without them colliding.

Even with the assistance of the Myriad Astral Eyes, this was no easy feat for Ji Xinghuo.

He didn't expect to master it instantly and switched to another exercise after half an hour. He began tossing tennis balls into the air one after another. Once he reached ten balls, he stabilized for a moment before adding the rubber juggling bottles into the mix, immediately causing him to fumble.

From afternoon until late at night, Ji Xinghuo repeatedly practiced each of the exercises several times.

Coin flipping, ball juggling, lightning-fast piano playing, typing, rope tricks, and disassembling puzzle locks—he mastered them all.

He felt that he was making rapid progress.

Before going to bed, Ji Xinghuo checked the information interface and saw that his Star Power had increased to 28.

However, the progress of the Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands was still only at 1/47.

"It's indeed challenging to upgrade my abilities," Ji Xinghuo sighed, but he didn't feel discouraged in the slightest and soon fell asleep.

When he woke up the next day, Ji Xinghuo realized that his body had become even stronger than the night before, although the improvement was not as significant as the previous day, indicating that the enhancement speed had slowed down.

His Star Power value had reached 41, and the growth rate had also slowed.

"My first evolution period should end today," Ji Xinghuo thought as he got out of bed, washed up, ate breakfast, and then began his daily ability training.

Using abilities also consumed Star Power.

Different abilities consumed varying amounts of Star Power, and Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands, being a passive ability, consumed the least.

Ji Xinghuo had trained for seven to eight hours the previous day, constantly using Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands, yet his Star Power consumption was minimal, not even a third of his total.

Moreover, the Star Power consumed during ability training had a negligible effect on his overall growth, even after recovery.

To increase Star Power efficiently, one had to combine it with physical training.

Therefore, ability training and Star Power cultivation were usually done separately, creating a conflict in time allocation that Strangers had to navigate, making it challenging to manage both effectively.

One had to choose between focusing on Star Power cultivation or ability training.

Ji Xinghuo didn't have this dilemma yet, as he wholeheartedly practiced Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands, finding the monotonous training enjoyable and immersive, losing track of time in the process.

Every few minutes, he would open the interface to check his progress.

The day quickly passed.

After dinner, Ji Xinghuo continued his training until he finally stopped around nine in the evening.

In the Myriad Astral Eyes interface, the information for Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands had updated!

[Ability: Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands (Level 1, 2/47)]



"Finally..."

Ji Xinghuo breathed a sigh of relief and silently calculated, "From yesterday until now, I've trained for a full twenty hours, and the progress of Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands has only increased by 1 point."

"Assuming the difficulty of the subsequent progress remains unchanged, it will take 940 hours to reach Level 2."

"If I go all out, with 16 hours a day for sleep and meals, 8 hours for Star Power cultivation, and 8 hours for ability training, it will still take 120 days to upgrade Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands to Level 2."

After making these calculations, Ji Xinghuo's eyes lit up.

"That's too fast!"

The higher the grade of an ability, the more challenging it was to upgrade.

Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands was an exceptional ability, and being able to reach Level 2 in just four months was undoubtedly very fast.

However, even if one were to squeeze into the top 0.1%, they could only be considered first-rate, not among the top echelon of geniuses.

This was because that 0.1% still constituted a substantial number.

Yet now, Ji Xinghuo felt as if a path to the heavens had revealed itself before him, a smooth and unhindered journey to the very apex of evolutionary potential!

All of this was thanks to the Myriad Astral Eyes.

Over the past two days, Ji Xinghuo's senses had been especially sharp.

The function of the Myriad Astral Eyes went far beyond mere sight; it delved into his self-awareness, his body's control, his perception of external changes, and it transformed him from the inside out in a profound and revolutionary manner!

One very evident aspect was that when he practiced the Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands, his hands exhibited extraordinary precision and stability, with an exquisitely delicate exertion of force. As a result, his progress was remarkably swift, and almost the entirety of his training was effective.

This was by no means the typical effect of the normal Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands, but rather, the influence of the Myriad Astral Eyes.

Not to mention, the Myriad Astral Eyes also allowed him to visualize the upgrade progress, providing positive reinforcement during his training and helping him maintain high enthusiasm and focus.

"What a pity..."

Ji Xinghuo sighed with regret.

The Myriad Astral Eyes were incomplete, and the missing part was a core component. The power it displayed now was perhaps not even one ten-thousandth of its full potential!

"I dare not imagine what it would be like if the Myriad Astral Eyes were whole," he mused, shaking his head. His gaze fell upon the Star Power value on the interface, which had reached 53 a few hours ago and had not changed since.

"My first evolution has ended," he stated.

"As I expected, this evolution period lasted about 24 hours."

However, Ji Xinghuo was somewhat perplexed.

"Is the Star Power of a novice-level Stranger really only 53?"

The strength of Star Power had always been a vague and subjective concept, with no established standards for measuring the amount of Star Power possessed by Strangers of various levels, neither by the ADC nor by research institutions worldwide.

Even the Star Power value displayed by the Myriad Astral Eyes seemed to lack a unit of measurement, resembling a dimensionless quantity.

Ji Xinghuo felt helpless about this and could only set the issue aside for the moment.

He sensed the surging power within his body, and as the evolution concluded, his physical state stabilized, no longer subject to the constant fluctuations and uncertainties.

"I wonder what level my strength has reached now?"

Ji Xinghuo proceeded to warm up.

The physical qualities of a novice-level Stranger far surpassed that of an ordinary person, and their warm-up routine was exceptionally swift. His body entered a state of readiness in less than two minutes.

In the training room of his apartment, there was a complete set of fitness equipment.

Ji Xinghuo lay on an incline bench and performed several bench press repetitions, increasing the weight of the barbell with each set. He started from 130 kilograms and pushed through to 200 kilograms, and he still had strength to spare.

Ultimately, he reached a bench press weight of 220 kilograms and managed to push it up ten times in one go before his strength gave out.

"My bench press has increased by 90 kilograms!"

Ji Xinghuo was highly satisfied.

This weight would have been considered remarkable even in the early 21st century, before the emergence of Strangers. Back then, the record for an unequipped bench press by the most talented powerlifter was 355 kilograms, and it could only be pushed once.

He rested for a while before moving on to squats and deadlifts.

The weights he lifted were 278 kilograms and 303 kilograms, respectively, bringing the total weight lifted across all three exercises to 801 kilograms!

In just under two days, his strength had increased by nearly 300 kilograms, yet his physique and body weight remained largely unchanged, completely defying the laws of human physiological structure.

This was the true might of a Stranger!

"The Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands don't seem to amplify strength," Ji Xingyan remarked as he admired his well-proportioned figure in the mirror. "If it were a 'Giant' Stranger, merging with the first core ability, 'Gigantification', the combined strength of these three exercises should easily surpass 1,000 kilograms, perhaps even reaching 1,200 kilograms."

He pushed aside these random thoughts, "My evolution is complete, and now I can cultivate my Star Power."

"Let's see the rate of Star Power growth."

The first step in cultivating Star Power was to deplete it, and the most efficient way to do so was to combine it with physical training.

After performing a few sets of exercises, his Star Power had already decreased significantly.

The interface displayed a current value of 45.

Ji Xinghuo jumped onto a treadmill and sprinted at full speed, covering a distance of 10,000 meters in just 19 minutes, improving his previous record by a full 10 minutes.

He ran for half an hour, concluding his aerobic exercise.

Next, he switched to anaerobic exercises, using barbells, dumbbells, and performing bench presses, squats, and deadlifts, all at his maximum weight, one set after another.

His Star Power diminished gradually, and after 20 minutes of strength training, it was completely depleted.

Ji Xinghuo's stamina had also reached its limit.

"Huff... huff..."

He sat down, panting heavily, his back drenched in sweat, resembling someone who had just been pulled out of the water. His clothes were soaked through.

Yet, he still opened up the Myriad Astral Eyes interface and stared intently at the line that displayed his Star Power, making a mental note of the current time.

Soon, as his stamina recovered, his Star Power began to rise.

When his Star Power returned to 53, it was already one o'clock in the morning.

"140 minutes." Ji Xinghuo calculated the time. "It takes me 140 minutes to fully recover my Star Power, a little longer than I expected."

"My stamina is also completely restored."

"But I can't immediately start training again at full intensity, or I'll risk over-exerting myself and causing damage to my muscles and bones. I need to rest for at least four hours."

"In other words, even without training my ability, I can only exercise a maximum of three times a day."

Ji Xinghuo's mind was abuzz with ideas. "However, during the rest periods between these three training sessions, I can practice the Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands. It doesn't consume much Star Power, so it won't affect my Star Power recovery much."

He quickly made a training plan for himself.

Every day, he would cultivate his Star Power three times, with each session lasting five hours, including rest time.

During the last two hours of each rest period, he would train the Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands, doing this three times a day for a total of six hours of ability practice.

He tried to schedule meals and bathroom breaks during the rest periods as well.

With that decided, he got started.

The next morning, Ji Xinghuo woke up at 6:30 am and promptly began his day's training at 7:00 am, following his plan to the minute.

At noon, he completed the first training cycle of the day.

In the afternoon, at 5:00 pm, he finished the second cycle.

He took a one-hour break for dinner.

Then, at 6:00 pm, he continued, finally concluding his day's training routine at 11:00 pm.

After that, he lay down on his bed to relax, browsed the news, surfed the internet for a while, and went to sleep promptly at midnight.

Ji Xinghuo immersed himself in the monotonous training, oblivious to fatigue, and remained indoors as if oblivious to the passage of time.

Three days later...

[Ability: Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands (Level 1, 3/47)]



The progress of the Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands had increased by one point.

Ji Xinghuo was delighted by this.

This increase had only taken a little over nineteen hours of training, indicating that upgrading the ability didn't increase the difficulty. Instead, as he became more familiar with the training, he was completing it in a shorter time.

One week later...

[Ability: Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands (Level 1, 4/47)]



[Star Power: 54]



"Finally..." Ji Xinghuo breathed a sigh of relief.

After a full seven days, over twenty instances of depleting his Star Power, and pushing his body to its limits, the fatigue was starting to affect his mental state, and his mind felt numb. Finally, his Star Power had increased by one point.

The change from 53 to 54 in Star Power wasn't that significant.

If not for the Myriad Astral Eyes interface displaying the information, it would have been challenging to notice the enhancement in his Star Power.

Ji Xinghuo did some calculations. If, on average, his Star Power increased by one point per week, then in a year of training, his Star Power would roughly double.

"I wonder what the upper limit of a novice-level Stranger's Star Power is?"

"And how much Star Power will I need for my next evolution?"

Ji Xinghuo didn't have much of a clue about these things.

He sat down at his desk, and a projection of light and shadow rose from the desk, forming a clear display screen in front of him. He opened a search engine.

It had been nearly two centuries since the Earth entered the Stellar Era.

The internet was filled with information about Strangers cultivating their Star Power, with various tutorials, analyses, ability research, profession template explorations, and an immense ocean of data in the form of videos, papers, and more, growing exponentially every day.

Ji Xinghuo only searched for content related to novice-level Strangers.

Several hours later...

After perusing a lot of information and videos, he had a general idea.

Typically, there wasn't a significant gap in strength between novice-level Strangers.

For Strangers of the same profession and abilities, whether it was a Stranger who had just advanced to the novice level or one who was about to evolve again, if their combat experience and martial arts realm were similar, there wouldn't be a huge disparity in a fight.

The latter's main advantage would still be their more abundant Star Power and greater stamina.

The difference in Star Power wouldn't be more than double.

If profession template differences were taken into account, some professions would have stronger Star Power, such as 'Martial Artist', 'Flame Maniac', and 'Halo Fighter', whose Star Power would be significantly higher than that of other professions.

However, the Ranger profession didn't fall into this category, as their Star Power was average.

"Double the Star Power!"

"As long as I cultivate for a year, my Star Power will double, and I'll be able to evolve again to become an intermediate-level Stranger!"

"Such a rapid rate of advancement is not much slower than any genius!"

Ji Xinghuo's eyes sparkled with anticipation.

He suddenly thought of the hottest topic lately, Zhao Manying, the "Sword Immortal", who had taken a little over a year to advance from a novice-level Stranger to an intermediate-level one.

If she can do it, so can I! Ji Xinghuo was full of confidence.

However, he didn't immediately continue with his training. Instead, he changed into a set of clean clothes and stepped out of the house for the first time in a week.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end