Chapter 19: Muscle Gain

With a single, fatal blow, the Corpse Beast’s head shattered, splattering blood and flesh.

A Spiritual Source appeared and shot toward Su Li’s forehead.

New information appeared in his mind.

“Level 1 Spiritual Source Wielder: Spiritual Source 9/10”

Su Li’s heart pounded with excitement; he was only one Spiritual Source away now.

Letting out a low shout, Su Li charged forward.

The Corpse Beasts seemed startled. They abandoned the corpse of the One-Eyed Frog they were chewing on and swarmed toward Su Li all at once.

Excluding the one he had just smashed, five were still standing.

Su Li silently calculated, feeling a slight regret that the number of Corpse Beasts in front of him was so small. He had grown to love these low-level Corpse Beasts that were weak but supplied him with Spiritual Sources. The more, the better.

His figure flickered. Su Li tracked the attack trajectories of the low-level Corpse Beasts with his eyes, easily dodging them, and then brought his hammer down again.

With a “thud,” another Corpse Beast collapsed, and a Spiritual Source appeared from its body, flying toward Su Li.

“Level 1 Spiritual Source Wielder: Spiritual Source 10/10”

“It’s done.” Su Li felt a rush of excitement.

As the Spiritual Source in his body reached 10/10, a powerful surge of heat violently rushed through his entire body, immediately followed by an extremely powerful eruption of strength.

In that instant, his strength, speed, reaction time, sensory perception, and overall physical fitness all received a significant boost and enhancement. A feeling of elation bubbled up from deep within him.

It was an indescribable thrill.

Messages appeared in his mind, one after the other.

“Beginning Advancement. Advancement Successful”

“Level 2 Spiritual Source Wielder: Spiritual Source 0/20”

“Basic Enhancement: Enhanced Lung Type I”

“Special Skill: Peering Rune (Fragmented)”

“Enhancement Choice: Upgrade Enhanced Lung Type I, Enhance Stomach, Enhance Muscles. Only one can be chosen.”

Feeling the surging power within, Su Li estimated that after advancing to Level 2 Spiritual Source Wielder, his strength had increased by at least nearly 100 jin (approx. 110 pounds). If he could previously exert 500 jin of force with both arms, he could now unleash no less than 600 jin.

The remaining four Corpse Beasts charged forward. Su Li didn’t have time to choose an area to enhance. He swung the hammer in his hand repeatedly. Though the hammer was not long, it was made of iron and had considerable weight. While its weight was now too light for his current strength, it could still deliver terrifying lethality. Any spot hit by his hammer instantly shattered the bone, even the densest skull.

In a single exchange, Su Li shattered the head of another Corpse Beast. He watched the monster fall, and a Spiritual Source appeared and merged into his body, but this time, there was virtually no change in his internal state.

As he grew stronger, the changes triggered by absorbing the Spiritual Sources became smaller and smaller, to the point where they were now almost negligible.

The most surprising thing was that this time, after absorbing the Spiritual Source, no new notification appeared in his mind.

“What’s going on?” Su Li was slightly stunned. He then killed the remaining three Corpse Beasts consecutively. Although he absorbed a Spiritual Source from each one, none of them caused any further change.

The amount of Spiritual Source he needed to evolve again remained at 20.

“Could it be that now that I’m a Level 2 Spiritual Source Wielder, these Corpse Beasts are too low-level, so absorbing their Spiritual Sources is no longer effective?”

Su Li pondered this possibility.

If this were true, it meant that becoming stronger would now be much more difficult; he would need to hunt stronger monsters.

“Advancing to Level 2 Spiritual Source Wielder has given me another enhancement opportunity. I now have three choices: continue to enhance Enhanced Lung Type I, enhance the Stomach, or enhance Muscles. Which part should I choose to enhance?”

“The function of Enhanced Lung Type I is to increase lung capacity, extending breath-holding time by two minutes. If I choose to enhance this, I should be able to hold my breath for even longer.”

“I just don’t know what abilities enhancing the Stomach or Muscles would grant.”

Su Li knew that for a submerged city, the length of time he could hold his breath was extremely important. However, with his current enhanced physique, he could already hold his breath for no less than two minutes. Adding the two minutes from Enhanced Lung Type I meant he could currently hold his breath for four minutes.

“Four minutes should be enough for now. If I fall into the water, that’s enough time to resurface for air. If I can’t surface in that amount of time, it likely means I’ve encountered something terrifying, and an extra minute or two of breath-holding probably wouldn’t help anyway.”

After long consideration, and also out of curiosity regarding the other two body enhancements, Su Li finally chose to enhance his Muscles.

Based on his own conjecture, enhancing muscles should be related to strength. His fight with the One-Eyed Frog made him realize that strength was paramount; only sufficient strength would allow him to hunt increasingly powerful enemies.

As soon as he chose to enhance his muscles, new information appeared in his mind. At the same moment, he felt an unusual change beginning in all the muscles of his body.

“Basic Enhancement Acquired: Muscle Augmentation Type I”

“Muscles have undergone basic enhancement, gaining 100 jin of strength, increased muscle control, and enhanced muscle toughness.”

Su Li took a deep breath. He felt all the muscles throughout his body spring to life, twisting and vibrating like small snakes. He could visibly see his chest, abs, arms, thighs, and calves—all his muscles swelling and bulging. Waves of power erupted from these muscles. Not only that, his control over them increased. With a thought, he could instantly reinforce those muscles, making them harder and increasing his resistance to impact.

“This is incredible. All the muscles in my body have been enhanced! According to the message, Muscle Augmentation grants an extra 100 jin of strength. It’s not just an increase in power; I can also manually control these muscles, making any muscle I want swell and harden. In this state, I can resist some attacks.”

Su Li experimented with controlling his muscles, feeling both astonishment and joy. Breaking through to Level 2 Spiritual Source Wielder had already boosted his strength by about 100 jin (approx. 110 pounds), bringing his two-arm strength to 600 jin. Now, by mastering “Muscle Augmentation Type I,” he gained another approximately 100 jin of raw power. It meant the force he could exert with his two arms was now no less than 700 jin (approx. 770 pounds).

700 jin, or 350 kilograms (approx. 770 pounds), was an unimaginably formidable amount of strength for Su Li, who was originally just a normal office worker who didn’t exercise much.

This meant that the current Su Li could lift five average-sized humans weighing 70 kilograms each with his arms.

“This Spiritual Source is truly astounding. It can make a person this powerful. And, I can become even stronger! It’s a shame that the required Spiritual Sources have increased to twenty, and the Spiritual Sources from these low-level Corpse Beasts are no longer effective.”

(End of Chapter)