Chapter 120: Goodwill Exchange

The next morning, Chen Chuan woke up on time. After he got out of bed, he pulled the curtains back and opened the window. As he faced the morning sun, he sucked in a few deep breaths before going to wash up. Then, he left for breakfast.

Once he left the cafeteria, he went straight to the Weapons Department’s training hall. On his way there, he remembered the Merkarian student who had asked him for a spar.

But that Merkarian wasn’t strong. So, unless he approached again, Chen Chuan was not going to look for him to spar.

Quite a number of students were already jogging along the Spring-Autumn Lake. The morning breeze blew past the lake and onto Chen Chuan’s face, making a few strands of his hair dance. The wind in February was still quite cold, but refreshing.

When he arrived at the training hall, he went to his spot and picked up the training saber from the weapons rack.

Even though it was just a wooden saber, it was custom-made and contained a special saber insert. Its weight and length was about the same as that of the Frost King Saber, but today, he felt as if it had become lighter.

Without a doubt, that was due to the growth of his mutated tissue.

That was not all. Yesterday, he had timed himself and found that the maximum time he could overlap with his second self had increased by around half an hour after the battle with the Flying Heads, which marked a great improvement.

As the opponents he ran into grew stronger, the maximum overlap time increased considerably too, which was undoubtedly a good thing.

Chen Chuan swung the training saber a few times and chased away all the unnecessary thoughts. He went to the center of the area to do some drills and warm up while waiting for his opponent of the day.

Even though he was registered under the Sanshou Department because of Cheng Zitong, he seldom went to its invitation-only classes or public lectures. He could not actually recognize a lot of the people in the Sanshou Department. On the other hand, he had come to know quite a number of people in the Weapons Department.

Since the slightly weaker freshmen had only just mastered the basics of their breathing techniques, Chen Chuan mostly sparred against the sophomores and seniors.

Just then, someone familiar walked in.

“Senior Wu?” Chen Chuan called out to him.

Wu Han was taken aback. When he looked over, he grinned.

“You’re here today, Chen Chuan?”

When he saw the wooden saber Chen Chuan held, he grew interested in sparring against him. “Come on. Let’s spar today.”

He went to the weapons rack and instinctively went for a long spear, but after some thinking, he pulled away from it.

“Just use it, Senior Wu,” Chen Chuan said.

“Are you sure?”

Wu Han was quite surprised. A weapon with a longer reach would give him a huge upper hand in a fight with someone using a weapon with a shorter reach. If a skilled spearman fought with a spear, no one with a short-reach weapon could even dream about getting to him. Anyone who wanted to defeat a spearman with a single-handed saber had to be much stronger than them or gain an upper hand in terms of the terrain or something else. Otherwise, they would just be impaled.

Chen Chuan nodded.

Wu Han chuckled and raised an eyebrow at him. “I know that you’re good with a saber, but don’t go saying that I took advantage of you.”

Chen Chuan pointed at him with his saber and said with a grin, “Let’s try it and see.”

Wu Han grabbed the spear hilt and picked it up with his body serving as an axis. A short spear was not that much longer than Chen Chuan’s saber, but Wu Han’s spear was three meters long, nearly double the length of the Frost King Saber. If he wielded it with refined force, he did not need to worry about losing his balance or generating power. He could hold it steadily even if he was holding the spear by the end with just one hand. Wu Han was holding the spear with such ease that it looked like he was holding a chopstick. Chen Chuan could already imagine just how fast his attacks would be once he started moving.

Wu Han went to the center of the area with the spear tip pointed downward. Since the spear was long and Wu Han held it by the end, its body curved a little.

A few upperclassmen saw the weapons they held and became intrigued. They gathered around the perimeter in groups of two and three.

They knew Wu Han. After all, he was part of the Weapons Department and had recently received his weapons permit, which made quite a number of seniors incredibly jealous of him. They were also familiar with Chen Chuan since he often came to spar with them. He had shown himself to be quite strong during the training, so this spar was definitely going to be interesting.

Wu Han gave Chen Chuan a warning. “On your guard!”

He took the spear with both hands, pressed the shaft against his waist and tested the waters a little by performing a few feints. When Chen Chuan remained still, Wu Han’s spear tip swayed, and he thrust forward.

Yet even when the spear tip charged at him, Chen Chuan did not parry it with his saber or dodge. Instead, he brought up his unarmed hand and swung it down. With a snap, he broke off the spear tip with his bare hand.

Wu Han did not stop because of it. He twisted his waist, stomped down on the floor, and pushed the arm holding the end of the spear forward. It spun, and the momentum shot it forward. This time, the stub stabbed into the arm Chen Chuan had brought up as a shield. Wu Han could sense a force blocking the stub, which prevented it from piercing the flesh.

Their refined forces met, and cracking sounds filled the area. The spear broke from the center and shattered into multiple segments, scattering everywhere.

The students watching the fight brought their arms up and flicked away the shattered pieces that flew in their direction. When the pieces landed on the floor, they bounced up, showing the great force contained within.

Wu Han threw away the broken spear and exclaimed in excitement, “That was fun! Your refined force is impressive, Chen Chuan.”

Many students around them started clapping. While the fight was short, their responses and the solid foundation of martial arts both of them possessed were deserving of praise.

That was especially the case for Chen Chuan. Even though Wu Han’s spear tip was broken off, he could still stab through a wall if he sent refined force into it. But Chen Chuan had blocked it with just his arm. This was an effect of refined force, which was no easy feat.

They had never seen any upperclassman being able to do it or even having the courage to try. They also believed that Chen Chuan had not blocked the attack with brute force but had used some sort of technique.

It would not be surprising. Even though the refined forces the students practiced were, on the surface, open to all, their mentors were different and had some techniques others were not privy to in their possession.

Their guess was wrong, though.

Chen Chuan had only used something similar to the Wrapping Force to block the spear. He had used Wu Han’s refined force to test how much his mutated tissue had improved and how tough it had become.

By the looks of it, it was much stronger than before.

Even though he had overlapped with his second self the second the spear touched him, his second self showed no sign of blurring out, which meant that he could take this attack entirely on his own.

He had a feeling that he could take such an attack even without overlapping with his second self. After all, he did not need to worry about getting hurt.

Wu Han grabbed another spear and asked excitedly, “Another round?”

Chen Chuan smiled. “Sure.”

They sparred the entire morning, and Chen Chuan’s guess was proven right: even if he did not use his second self, he could fight toe-to-toe with Wu Han. When he did not overlap with his second self, his reflexes and speed fell by a lot, so he had to rely on his experience and knowledge to fight Wu Han.

Still, this was just a practice bout, so he did not care about winning or losing. What was most important was learning something. Once he could fight with ease against his sparring opponents without his second self, the lessons he learned would make him even stronger after overlapping with his second self.

When it was noon, he went to the cafeteria to eat with Wu Han, and they talked about recent happenings.

Wu Han had received quite a lot of missions, even some that were usually open only to seniors. He had to admit that having the weapons permit had brought him a lot of benefits.

“If only Liu Xin were still around,” he lamented.

“If we become strong enough, we will not only be able to do what Senior Liu did, but also protect ourselves while doing it,” Chen Chuan comforted him.

Wu Han nodded. “You’re right. I have to work even harder.”

After lunch, Chen Chuan parted ways with Wu Han and returned to the dormitory, just in time to run into the phone technicians. Since every room was connected to a telephone line, it did not take them long to install the phone.

According to the rules, Chen Chuan was the only one who could use the phone, and he could only use it for a limited time every day. If he broke the rules, his right to have a personal phone would be revoked.

After the phone technicians left, Chen Chuan went to the phone, picked up the receiver, and thought about calling his family, only to remember that the house would be empty at this time. It would be better for him to wait until night to tell them that he had a personal phone now.

Then, he called Ren Shu and told him that he could call his new number if he had any missions in the future. Ren Shu was delighted, because that meant that he could contact Chen Chuan in a more timely and convenient fashion.

“Mr. Chen, I’ve sent the commission fees from the mission into your bank account. The Department of Administrative Affairs gave us a lot of evaluation points. It’s just a pity that you aren’t a licensed agent yet, so you can’t get any personal evaluation points,” Ren Shu said.

Chen Chuan smiled. He did not care about it. He was not going to become a professional agent, anyway. He was only doing missions to get resources to train so that he could climb to further heights.

“By the way, I received quite a few old supernatural-related missions. Would you be interested in them?” Ren Shu asked.

Chen Chuan cast a glance at his second self. Even though the mutated tissue had stopped growing, his second self remained blurry, so he did not want to hurry into another mission.

“I just finished the Flying Head mission, so I’ll need some time to recover before I can take another one.”

“Oh, yeah!” He heard a loud smack. It was from Ren Shu smacking his forehead. “I was too excited and forgot about this. Please rest well, Mr. Chen. I won’t bother you anymore.”

Chen Chuan put the phone down and was about to leave when his phone rang. Surprised, he picked it up, and he heard the dormitory supervisor’s voice.

“It’s connected? Good. I’m just calling to tell you that you should gather with the other students at the dormitory entrance tomorrow at 8 a.m. A car will pick all of you up. You were all chosen to go to the Foreign Affairs Department with the Merkarian students, so remember to not have anything else scheduled during that time.”

“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you, Sir,” Chen Chuan replied.

“If everyone got scholarships, my work would become so much easier. I wouldn’t have to go around knocking on doors to notify you if anything came up,” the dormitory supervisor joked.

But that shows how important you are, Chen Chuan quipped inwardly.

The dormitory supervisor chuckled. “You’re not saying anything. Are you badmouthing me in your head? That’s fine. I don’t mind you badmouthing me a little as long as you get good results. This is your right. Anyway, I’m hanging up.”

Chen Chuan took a look at his phone. If you say that, I’d be losing out if I didn’t badmouth you, you know?

He put the receiver down and changed into his martial arts uniform before going to his personal training room. After regulating his breathing, he began his daily training.

***

The next day, at 7:30 a.m., Chen Chuan got ready. It was a formal event, so he changed into the formal student attire.

Since it was a goodwill exchange between two countries, they were not allowed to bring weapons, which meant that Chen Chuan had to leave the Frost King Saber and Halberd Pistol behind. But there would definitely be a security team watching over them during such an event, so he did not have to worry. Besides, if he really needed a weapon, as long as someone had one, Chen Chuan would have one once he took it from them.

He did a final adjustment of his attire in front of the mirror, put his student cap over his head, corrected its position, and went out.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep