I Contracted Myself

Outside the city, at the rocky beach.

It was Zhang Ping's first time venturing out of the city, and the most surprising feeling he had along the way was a sense of safety.

He had expected to face endless dangers once outside the city, but to his surprise, following Liu Sishan all the way, they hadn't encountered a single Mutated Beast.

"Sister Sisi, what are we doing here? Weren't we supposed to have combat training?" Zhang Ping picked up a pebble, playing with it as he asked.

Liu Sishan had her back to Zhang Ping, and suddenly, a stream of water swept out from her side.

Swish!

The pebble Zhang Ping was playing with was instantly split in two. He quickly reacted, throwing the stone away and retreating rapidly.

"To ensure my training is effective for you, you can attack me with all your might, and I will counterattack appropriately to test your limits," Liu Sishan said, turning to face the wary Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping frowned, "Sister Sisi, are you sure you won't accidentally cut me in half?"

"That's hard to say. You'd better pray I don't slip up," Liu Sishan replied calmly.

As she spoke, four floating water spheres appeared around her, rotating and ready to transform into water whips to cut through everything around them.

"Come on."

Liu Sishan beckoned to Zhang Ping.

She stood still, dressed in white.

Gradually, the surrounding mist thickened, and under the refracted light, she looked like a fairy from the Moon Palace.

Zhang Ping felt at a loss. After a moment of thought, he bent down to pick up a few pebbles, deciding to use them as hidden weapons to test Liu Sishan's abilities.

He threw the pebbles.

The water spheres around Liu Sishan instantly flattened into shields, blocking the pebbles. Then, numerous small water spheres separated from the large ones, shooting towards Zhang Ping like bullets.

"Not good!"

Zhang Ping quickly dodged, the pebbles in front of him being pierced by the water bullets.

If the water bullets hit a person, the consequences would be unimaginable.

At this moment, Zhang Ping realized Liu Sishan was serious.

He took a deep breath, drew his Beauty's Tears dagger, and approached Liu Sishan quickly using the Ape King Form.

The essence of the Ape King Form lies in its footwork.

This footwork is ever-changing and highly unpredictable. When mastered, it is difficult to target unless one has a mental lock ability.

Zhang Ping's footwork was only at the beginner level.

But Liu Sishan wasn't using her full strength either. Otherwise, the water bullets would be faster and have tracking capabilities, making it impossible for Zhang Ping to keep up with his current strength.

With Liu Sishan holding back, Zhang Ping managed to dodge the water bullets using his footwork. But as he got close to Liu Sishan, he was swept five meters away by a giant water hand before he could attack.

"Ouch."

Zhang Ping landed on the pebbles, wincing in pain and gasping.

But Liu Sishan didn't give him time to catch his breath, as a series of water bullets came shooting at him again. He quickly rolled to dodge.

He got up and tried to approach Liu Sishan again, but the result was the same as before.

After several attempts, Zhang Ping was already panting and drenched in sweat.

"Is this all you've got?" Liu Sishan stopped her attack and looked at Zhang Ping.

Panting heavily, Zhang Ping couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Sister Sisi, what do you expect from a level three newbie?"

"But your performance is not as strong as when you were attacked by the Tianchang Fox. It seems... I haven't pushed you hard enough," Liu Sishan said slowly, narrowing her eyes.

Hearing this, Zhang Ping's eyes widened, sensing something bad.

Sure enough.

In the next moment, dozens of small water whips formed instantly.

However, these water whips didn't move at high speed or vibrate rapidly; they were just whips made of water.

Caught off guard, Zhang Ping was struck by a whip, his hair standing on end from the pain, his eyes widening, and his body trembling.

So painful!

He felt a burning sensation on his back. Seeing more water whips coming, he quickly extended his hand, releasing fire elemental energy to form a giant flame hand, blocking all the water whips.

The water whips attacked like octopus tentacles from all angles.

Zhang Ping dodged and rolled, but still got hit several times, wincing in pain.

During the fight, he had to abandon all unnecessary thoughts and focus solely on countering Liu Sishan's attacks.

Gradually, he entered a state of no distractions, starting to feel the rhythm in the wind.

No matter from which angle the water whips attacked, he could react in advance, blocking each attack with flames.

Liu Sishan watched Zhang Ping, a slight smile on her lips, as the speed and angles of the water whips' attacks increased.

A minute later.

Zhang Ping's fire elemental energy was exhausted, and he collapsed, powerless.

"I can't go on, I'm exhausted."

He glanced at the surrounding water whips, closing his eyes in resignation.

But the water whips didn't fall; instead, they retracted to Liu Sishan's side, turning back into water spheres.

Liu Sishan walked up to Zhang Ping and said, "You're actually very strong, at least among Primary Awakeners."

Whether it was his reaction speed or his control over his abilities, Zhang Ping's performance was commendable. His only weakness was the lack of long-range attacks, but this could be remedied in the future.

"I know I'm strong among my peers. Sister Sisi, if you were at my level, could you beat me?" Zhang Ping asked, looking up at Liu Sishan.

Liu Sishan replied honestly, "No, I only had defensive abilities before reaching the Intermediate level. I only started to develop combat power after that."

"How long did it take?" Zhang Ping asked.

Liu Sishan answered, "A year."

"Impossible!" Zhang Ping was shocked.

Advancing from Primary to Intermediate in just a year?

Liu Sishan said, "It's not impossible. Different abilities have vastly different advancement speeds."

Her ability involved storing water elemental energy by drinking water. Unlike others who could suffer water intoxication from drinking too much, she could increase her water elemental energy. As long as she released the energy in time, she could continuously train her ability by drinking water.

Abilities grow stronger with use.

Compared to abilities with stringent activation conditions, her ability had very lenient conditions, allowing for rapid advancement with diligent practice.

Of course, this also had to do with her remarkable potential.

Without sufficient potential, it wouldn't be possible to advance so quickly.

...

After resting for ten minutes.

Liu Sishan had Zhang Ping get up and continued leading him forward.

"Sister Sisi, where are we going now?" Zhang Ping asked, munching on an energy bar.

Liu Sishan replied, "Do you know why Mingzhu City was built here?"

"Why?" Zhang Ping genuinely didn't know the answer.

Liu Sishan explained, "Because to the east of Mingzhu City is the Changsha River, to the south is the Salt Mountain area, ten kilometers to the west are abundant iron mines, and to the north are endless mountains. Building the city here ensures a steady supply of water, salt, iron, and meat."

"So we're heading south now?" Zhang Ping looked up at the sun and guessed.

Liu Sishan nodded, "The road south to the Salt Mountain area is regularly cleared of Mutated Beasts by the Investigation Team and Patrol Guard, so the beasts there are generally low-level, perfect for your practice."

"Now?" Zhang Ping's eyes widened.

Liu Sishan replied, "We'll rest at the camp for half a day and start at night."

"That's good, that's good," Zhang Ping sighed in relief.

He was in poor condition, with his fire elemental energy depleted and his stamina nearly exhausted. He couldn't even handle a regular beast, let alone a Mutated Beast.

...

The Salt Mountain area was a place name.

It was actually a valley rich in salt mines.

It took about two hours to walk from Mingzhu City to the Salt Mountain area.

Sometimes, salt transporters couldn't make it back to Mingzhu City in time and would rest near the Salt Mountain area, gradually forming camps.

The problem was that spending the night in the wild was unsafe.

They often faced attacks from wild beasts and Mutated Beasts at night, leading to many casualties among the salt transporters.

Later, some adventurers saw a business opportunity and built better, safer camps near the Salt Mountain area.

For a small fee in Mingzhu Currency, guests could stay overnight, with Awakeners on guard to fend off wild beasts and Mutated Beasts.

The lodging was affordable and relatively safe.

Salt transporters gradually got used to spending the night in these camps.

In the Salt Mountain area, camps slowly became a decent business.

...

Two hours later.

Zhang Ping and Liu Sishan arrived at a camp.

The camp was built on a small hill, with a large pit in the middle where a roaring fire burned, resembling a small volcano.

Around the bonfire, many tents were set up, and guests could stay by presenting their corresponding number tags.

Zhang Ping and Liu Sishan's tent was close to the bonfire. Zhang Ping sat by the fire, absorbing the flames to quickly recover his stamina.

"Can you eat the flames you release?" Liu Sishan asked thoughtfully, seeing this scene.

Zhang Ping was taken aback, then tried it and replied, "I can, but it still consumes some energy. But this is a new idea!"

The main ability of a Fire Eater is to restore stamina by consuming flames.

Once stamina is full, the flames turn into fire elemental energy stored in the body. So, after exhausting his stamina, he could release fire elemental energy and then consume the resulting flames to restore his stamina.

Could this be the true use of a Fire Eater?

Zhang Ping wondered.

Many Awakeners don't fully understand the true use of their abilities.

They train and use their abilities based on their understanding. Even if their understanding is wrong, the abilities will gradually adapt to the Awakeners' habits through constant use.

Therefore, most Awakeners don't question whether their abilities might be different from what they think.

"Since you can restore your stamina by absorbing flames, don't just sit there. Do five hundred push-ups."

While Zhang Ping was pondering, Liu Sishan immediately realized the true use of a Fire Eater.

With the Fire Eater ability.

Zhang Ping could follow the path of physical enhancement.

He didn't need to worry about stamina depletion; as long as there were flames, he could keep training.

"Sister Sisi, five hundred is too little. I'll start with five thousand."

Zhang Ping said with a smile, then ordered himself to start training.

Exercising by the bonfire, he could absorb flames while doing push-ups, hardly feeling tired.

After finishing five thousand push-ups, Zhang Ping started frog-jumping around the bonfire.

It was broad daylight.

The salt transporters were out looking for salt mines, and no one was around to disturb him.

Apart from the crackling of the bonfire, the only sound in the camp was Zhang Ping's heavy breathing.