As the Azure Dragon Essence was absorbed, Jiang He subconsciously closed his eyes, expecting to once again enter the Domain of Time and see that 「Great Tree of Time」.
However, after waiting a few seconds, he opened his eyes in shock.
Eh? Where's my tree?
"How was it this time, did you see anything?" Old Jiang leaned over curiously and asked.
"…I didn't see anything." Jiang He answered honestly.
"Really?" Old Jiang looked doubtful.
Jiang He couldn't hold it in anymore.
The world was getting worse, people's hearts were no longer what they used to be—where had the trust between himself and himself gone?
He was clearly telling the truth, so why did even he not believe himself?
Fortunately, Old Jiang knew this child Jiang He had a bit of cunning, but not much.
Judging from his expression, he could tell he wasn't lying, so he rubbed his stubble.
"That shouldn't be the case."
"Judging from the effect last time, your Talent would absorb these special resources as nourishment."
"The Azure Dragon Essence and the True Spirit of Phoenix Egg may not be the same type of resource, but it shouldn't be completely ineffective either…"
"Carefully sense your Talent again, see if there's any change."
Jiang He nodded and calmed his mind.
When he carefully sensed the flow of information representing his Talent and noticed the change within, he finally sighed in relief.
He had almost thought the Azure Dragon Essence had failed.
This was an S-rank resource—if it were wasted, it would have been truly heartbreaking.
As it turned out, it had simply manifested a different effect—
The True Spirit of Phoenix Egg's effect was observing the future, strengthening the Talent's information.
The Azure Dragon Essence's effect was…
Strengthening oneself, enhancing the link with the Heroic Spirit.
A thought flickered in Jiang He's mind, and an image surged into his head—
As though looking into a mirror, he saw himself from another direction.
This was Old Jiang's "perspective"!
Jiang He said: "My Talent has been strengthened. I can now obtain the Heroic Spirit's five senses and view the world from your perspective."
Old Jiang nodded with a smile: "Then there's no problem."
Jiang He continued to borrow Old Jiang's perspective, seeing himself grinning excitedly.
"Before, when you were fighting the Ever-Changing Beast, I could only rely on your descriptions of the battle…"
"Next time you fight, I'll be able to watch it directly in first-person!"
Now that's what you call immersion!
Hearing this, Old Jiang was momentarily speechless: "Wait, with something like five-sense sharing, and you're only thinking about spectating?"
Jiang He: "…What else could I do with it?"
Looking at his younger self, Old Jiang seemed to see a smooth, wrinkle-free brain, and couldn't help but cover his eyes.
"This is five-sense sharing!"
"Don't you want to learn combat techniques, to become stronger?"
"Before, when I taught you, it was ultimately just me 'speaking' and you 'listening'."
"Now it's different."
"While I teach, you can directly gain my five senses, to 'see' with your own eyes, even to personally feel and comprehend true combat…"
It was like attending school.
The teacher lectured in a classroom, teaching many at once.
The students could learn, but the efficiency was far from one-on-one tutoring.
Five-sense sharing went a step further, turning into first-person teaching.
Naturally, the efficiency was improved tenfold, a hundredfold.
Jiang He suddenly understood and nodded awkwardly: "I get it now."
…
There were many marvelous uses for five-sense sharing; teaching and spectating were only part of it.
Jiang He felt reassured and was very satisfied with the Azure Dragon Essence.
The only pity was that, like the True Spirit of Phoenix Egg, it could only be used once, never a second time.
But thinking carefully, if it could be used repeatedly, high-ranking Transcendents would have already consumed it long ago—it would never have reached Jiang He.
After using up a resource, the next step was naturally "digestion"—
The time left for Old Jiang was growing short.
Jiang He wanted to learn as much as he could before his return.
However, Old Jiang did not have him immediately go challenge the Metal Knight.
Instead, he first spent most of the day playing fighting games with him.
From midnight, all the way until three in the morning—
From three to six was Jiang He's sleeping time.
Using the Word-Spirit, he entered Deep Sleep, and in just three hours could fully restore his mental and physical energy, returning to peak condition.
May 28th, Monday.
After getting up and washing, Jiang He once again played with Old Jiang from six in the morning until noon.
By this time, he had lost countless rounds—not only starving, but also dizzy from defeat.
When Old Jiang finally announced the end of class, Jiang He felt as though he had been granted amnesty, and promptly dragged Old Jiang out to eat.
After lunch, Jiang He delivered the Spirit Storage Vessel to school, earning his second sum of money, and then entered the Combat Hall to begin challenging the Metal Knight.
And sure enough—
Whether it was because Jiang He had been tormented too much in the game and wanted to vent in reality…
Or because he had actually learned a lot—
In his very first challenge against the Metal Knight, without Old Jiang's help, he broke through yesterday's limit, raising his battle-energy ratio to 221.7!
It had to be known, every increase of one point in battle-energy ratio represented a doubling of basic energy level!
A ratio of 221.7—sixty percent of the training students had barely a fraction of that number!
You could tell just from their eyes—
The students watching Jiang He after his challenge no longer looked at him with envy, but only with awe.
Too monstrous.
But the first match was just Jiang He testing his strength.
The second match onwards was where things became truly monstrous.
Because… Old Jiang entered.
Through five-sense sharing, he guided Jiang He hand-in-hand on how to fight.
Naturally, this kind of teaching match caused the battle-energy ratio to soar even higher.
If not for Old Jiang holding back, focusing more on teaching than on battling—
Helping Jiang He achieve a four-digit battle-energy ratio would have been an easy feat.
And so, Jiang He challenged while learning, battling until about nine at night before finally leaving school.
After a late-night meal, he spent two hours drawing Spell Words.
The rest of the time was once again game time.
This time, Old Jiang didn't do a 1v1 with him, but had him open online service and queue for ranked fights…
Yes, "Transcendent 2025" was actually an online game.
It not only had single-player battles and multiplayer battles, but also allowed players to find opponents online, engage in ranked matches, and compete for the title of "Transcendent Champion."
To this, Jiang He happily agreed.
Fighting Old Jiang was pure torment.
Playing all night and not winning a single round—who could stand that?
Even an internet-addicted youth would be cured of gaming addiction!
In contrast, in online battles, Jiang He was unstoppable, winning streak after winning streak, his rank score skyrocketing.
Only when his account rank reached "A-rank" did he finally begin to meet opponents and start losing matches.
Every time he lost, Old Jiang would analyze the cause of defeat from the perspective of Transcendent power, explaining to him how to counter…
Now that was real learning!
May 29th, Tuesday.
When Jiang He went out for lunch, he still felt unsatisfied, his mind constantly filled with scenes of Transcendents clashing with abilities, skills colliding…
By the time he arrived at school and entered the Combat Hall to challenge the Metal Knight—
He felt like he was playing a real Transcendent fighting game, immersing himself in the role of "Zhong Honglian," battling fiercely and displaying exquisite techniques.
Without Old Jiang's help, he directly pushed his battle-energy ratio up to 347.2!!
This meant his combat level had undergone a qualitative leap!
Even the Metal Knight gave him the evaluation of [Outstanding Combat Experience].
At this moment, he finally understood Old Jiang's painstaking efforts.
Just as he finished the challenge and returned to the preparation platform—
After watching for more than a day, Yunyang finally couldn't hold back, blocking his path.
"Jiang He."
"What is it?" Jiang He asked curiously.
He had just finished challenging the Metal Knight—if Yunyang wanted to compare results, couldn't he just go challenge directly?
Why stop him here?
"…I've been training with the instructor these past two days, yet the gap between us has only grown wider." Yunyang took a deep breath and said.
"How did you become this strong?"
Hearing Yunyang's words, the students in the Combat Hall all turned curious gazes his way.
They too wanted to know how Jiang He had grown stronger.
Jiang He was silent for a moment, then asked: "Do you know 'Transcendent 2025'?"
"What?" Yunyang froze.
Jiang He said: "I paid a huge price. Now, I've already reached S-rank."
After saying this, he walked toward the exit of the Combat Hall, leaving only a lonely back behind.
Yunyang: "…"
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(˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) ‹ (TL : More Chapters @patreon.com/c/Gooberilla)