"How much?"

  "You deaf?! I said it was 10 silvers!"

  Saliva nded on Wang Yun's mask, which he was wearing to hide his face. In front of him stood a sour-looking guard who immediately changed his attitude upon hearing that Wang Yun might not be able to pay the entrance fee to the martial hall.

  The martial hall before him was rger than the one in his vilge and seemed more fitting to be called a pace. It was currently nighttime, and he considered sneaking inside as he had done back in the vilge, but he realized that even at night, the martial hall was still active. There seemed to be many more enthusiastic people here than in his vilge.

  Seeing as he couldn't sneak in, he tried to enter through the front entrance while wearing a mask, but he didn't realize the price to enter was a ridiculously high amount. 36 coppers were equivalent to 1 silver, so 10 silvers was about 360 coppers, and he only had 10 coppers on him. How would he be able to enter?

  As for the fairy from st night, he temporarily put her aside, as it was futile to dwell on her anyway.

  "Hey, get out of here!" The guards shooed him away, and Wang Yun sighed and walked away. Along the way, he encountered a young man, nearly 1.9 meters tall. He had short hair, a fierce expression, and a victorious grin.

  When he saw Wang Yun, he raised his eyebrows.

  "Young kid, why are you wearing a mask?" the man suddenly asked. Two rge men stood behind him, likely bodyguards.

  Inside the mask, Wang Yun raised his eyebrows. "I'm not a kid. I'm older than you, actually..." Wang Yun said, shrugging and deepening his voice. He was technically being honest. At least his mind was older than the young man in front of him. Wait, was he?

  Even martial artists could easily live past 100, as their bodies were strong, so this man might look below his twenties but he could very well be in his thirties..,but his thoughts were interrupted.

  The young man simply frowned slightly. It was unclear what he was thinking.

  "Why do you want to enter the hall?"

  "Just because." Wang Yun answered. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

  "Wait..." The young man called out to him and turned toward the guard of the martial hall. "Let him in," he said before stepping inside. The guards simply nodded and made way for him.

  Wang Yun paused for a moment, wondering what the man's deal was. In the end, he accepted his offer and entered the hall. There were many sections within the hall, and he could clearly hear shouts and grunts from inside, indicating there was an array or something that blocked sounds from escaping.

  After asking a servant, he was soon led to the general strengthening section. There, all kinds of weight equipment could be seen, and a few people were currently training their bodies inside. It looked more like a gym than a pce for martial artists.

  From what he knew, martial artists had to train their bodies while circuting qi, only then could they break through and achieve higher ranks. At least that was the simplest expnation. It was said that the best way to do this was to practice body techniques while circuting qi, but even such techniques were expensive.

  So this was the alternative.

  There were blocks of weight on the side. Since he had a free pass to enter, he would not only use the strength-measuring equipment's but he was also curious about how much weight he could lift, even though he had a rough idea.

  He went to the rgest block, where the number 50 was etched meaning it weight 50 tons. Unlike in the vilge, this block of weight was entirely made of steel. Crouching in front of it, he strapped it on. The few people training in the hall couldn't help but stop as they watched.

  Then, in one go, Wang Yun stood up. The result was not a surprise. He opened his system...

  K'el

  Race: Kryptonian.

  Css: 0

  Physique: 180

  Abilities:

  Flight

  Because he was busy today, he had only managed to gain 24 points. Still, he now had nearly 55 tons of strength. He gently put the weight down, and someone approached him.

  "May I ask who this friend is?" A shirtless man approached, his muscles showing as sweat soaked him.

  "I'm nobody," Wang Yun said with a gesture and then asked, "Say... How strong is a rank 10 martial artist?"

  The man seemed taken aback. "You don't know?" He seemed genuinely surprised.

  "No, I don't," Wang Yun responded with a chuckle as he approached one of the equipment that looked like a giant, heavy punching bag. On the side, there was what seemed like a number indicator.

  The man followed him, curious about Wang Yun.

  "They have the strength of more than 40 tons at least, but martial artist just don't really on brute force" the man answered. Wang Yun paused as he turned toward the man. "Really?"

  "Really... Judging from your strength, you must be a rank 11 martial artist, right?" the man said.

  Wang Yun paused for a moment, then nodded. "You could say that..." Then he turned his attention back to the rge punching bag, took a step back, and let out a punch.

  Bang!

  The rge, heavy bag swayed, and numbers appeared on the number indicator. Quite high-tech, Wang Yun thought.

  Soon, the numbers 751 appeared.

  "Is that good?" he asked the man. This time, the man was less surprised. "A martial artist of rank 12 has about 1000 force... so that's pretty high."

  I see, so I'm still quite a bit away from rank 12, Wang Yun thought. "How about cultivators? Foundation establishment?" This time, he asked what he had wanted to know all along.

  How strong were cultivators? At least in terms of strength and force. The man's face turned awkward. "I don't know. No foundation establishment cultivators ever visit this type of pce anyway, because at the foundation establishment realm, one cultivates qi and techniques more than the body anyway."

  "I see..." Wang Yun said. Before he could ask more, the man continued.

  "I once saw a martial artist rank 12 immediately explode with a wave from a foundation establishment cultivator. So to them, martial artists are really nothing."

  Wang Yun nodded, having already gotten what he needed. He intended to put his physical abilities to the test here before he left.

  On to the speed test!

  "How strong?"

  "At least martial rank 11, though. Our people didn't feel a single ounce of qi in him, so we don't know for sure..."

  The young man from before showed a surprised expression at the same time he felt lucky that he had let such a person in and hoped to garner his good grace. Then again, if that person was that powerful, why didn't he have money to enter the hall?

  One reason immediately entered his mind: the person was actually just a kid! But then he shook his head. The idea was ridiculous. "Have you tracked him?"

  The servant put on an awkward expression and said, "That is... no... we didn't, but we can still find him through our people."

  The young man was a little dissatisfied with the servant but in the end shook his head. "Go, but don't be too harsh in doing it, and especially don't be too obvious lest you offend him."

  Wang Yun left the martial hall, several people approached him, eager to converse or even spar. Though tempted, he was aware of his crude disguise and the risk of being recognized. Therefore, Wang Yun ignored them and fled.

  Had he been stronger and older, he might have enjoyed a beer or a spar with them. He missed having companions of a simir age...well mental age.

  Believing he still had time, he ran until he reached the forest. After confirming he wasn't being followed, he took to the air, soaring just above the trees. The night wind caressed him, and he never tired of this sensation.

  Given his rough estimate of his speed, he had already exceeded the speed of sound! Had he not been concerned about causing a disturbance and damaging his clothes, he would have pushed himself to his limits.

  As...

  As he flew through the night, his thoughts turned to the figure he had encountered. Who was she, and how had she performed such feats? Pondering this, he realized he knew little about the specific capabilities of cultivators beyond what he had heard.

  'Since I'm in the city, I'll try to learn more about the capabilities of these foundation establishment cultivators,' Wang Yun thought. It would be even better to witness a cultivator's combat. Even if he underestimated himself, he believed he could reach or surpass the strength of a Rank 12 martial artist within a month. While he cked mystical abilities, overwhelming strength and speed could compensate.

  He paused in mid-air to gaze at the stars. The night sky had a single moon, like Earth's, but the stars seemed more prominent, creating a breathtaking celestial dispy. Floating there, Wang Yun couldn't help but feel a sense of awe. A quote from one of his favorite artists came to mind, "I know nothing of my fate, but man..." Wang Yun sighed, "The sight of the stars makes me dream..."

  "Is that part of a poem?"

  A familiar voice startled him, causing him to curse involuntarily.

  "Fuck!"