Chapter 3: Breaking Limits- The Path to Strength and Survival

Li Yang felt the changes in her body.

If she were to chop the four-leaf clover again, she could probably cut it down in just an hour.

No wonder He Song only needed one strike.

She was only at 70 points in physical strength, yet the difference in her body was massive.

And 80 points was just the minimum threshold to apply for the military academy.

Considering He Song was an assistant instructor, his strength was likely several times higher.

Li Yang sat back in her chair, summoned the system panel, and checked her current stats.

Name: Li Yang

Lifespan: 5 years / 10 years

Physical Strength: 70

Mental Strength: 30

Note: Lifespan remaining is only 5 years. Please harvest mutant plants to gain more lifespan.

With her recent experience, Li Yang no longer rushed into spending multiple years at once.

Instead, she chose to invest one year at a time.

Less than one year seemed to have no effect, while more than one year was efficient but came with intense growing pains a brutal experience she wasn’t eager to repeat.

Li Yang spent one year.

[You trained for one year.

Due to the repetitive nature of weightlifting, your motivation declined.

Training effectiveness dropped.

Physical Strength increased to 76 points.]

Li Yang: “…”

Fine. It makes sense that progress slows down.

She invested another year.

[You forced yourself to train for another year.

Frustrated by the lack of improvement, you engaged in binge eating.

Physical Strength decreased to 75 points.]

Li Yang: “………………”

It dropped?! Again?!

Her heart ached.

She checked her remaining lifespan only 3 years left.

That meant she only had two more attempts.

Spending real money in games was already nerve-wracking—but here, she was burning her own lifespan.

If she had a lot of years to spare, maybe it wouldn’t feel so bad…

But with only a few years left, her hands were shaking.

Li Yang stared at the panel for a long time.

She needed her Physical Strength to reach 85.

Would two years be enough?

If not… she’d have no choice but to hunt for more mutant plants.

Making up her mind, she threw in two years at once.

[You trained for two consecutive years.

With enough time, you planned your training carefully.

You successfully completed high-speed skiing in the snowy mountains.

Physical Strength increased to 90 points.

Mental Strength increased to 40 points.]

Li Yang: “!”

Afraid she had misread, she stared intently at her panel.

Name: Li Yang

Lifespan: 1 year / 10 years

Physical Strength: 90

Mental Strength: 40

Note: Lifespan remaining is only 1 year. Please harvest mutant plants to gain more lifespan.

No mistake!

She had not only increased her Physical Strength, but she had also gained Mental Strength!

Li Yang thought for a moment.

“So… longer-term investments give better returns?”

But

As expected, the pain struck immediately.

Her entire body felt like it had been pummeled, and she curled into a tight ball on the bed.

However, compared to last time, it was far more bearable.

Her physical endurance had already evolved, so she recovered much faster.

After a while, she calmed down and went to take another shower.

She stopped spending lifespan for now.

With only one year left, if she kept going, she’d literally die.

For the next few days, Li Yang didn’t rush back to school.

Instead, she tried to learn more about the world.

The original host’s memories were messy.

She knew mutant creatures existed, but she didn’t fully understand the situation.

The original host’s home had no internet, and she only had an old flip phone.

Li Yang didn’t waste money on a new phone instead, she went to an internet café and spent half the day researching.

With that, everything became clear.

About 300 years ago, a phenomenon called the “Astral Realm” appeared on Earth.

Ordinary people knew little about it, and even online, there wasn’t much detailed information.

All they knew was that “Astral Radiance” leaked from the Astral Realm, and any creatures exposed to it mutated.

These mutant creatures became incredibly powerful and aggressive, wreaking havoc on human society.

Entire small nations collapsed overnight.

Later, certain individuals gained control over the power of Astral Radiance.

They developed superhuman abilities, hunted down mutant creatures, and sealed the entrance to the Astral Realm, helping humanity rebuild society.

These legendary figures became known as “Astral Guardians.”

Three hundred years later, for most ordinary people, this was just distant history.

People had grown used to mutant creatures appearing from time to time.

They ignored the Astral Realm, going about their normal lives.

However, the number of Astral Guardians had steadily increased over the years.

Now, nearly all major figures in society were Astral Guardians

From politicians to business moguls, even celebrities in the entertainment industry.

The first-generation Grandmasters had also developed a structured training system, creating clear ranks within the Astral Guardians.

The ranking system spanned from First Tier to Ninth Tier.

The power difference between tiers was massive

A First Tier beginner was like a regular rifle, while a Ninth Tier supreme expert was equivalent to a nuclear bomb.

In this world, everyone dreamed of becoming an Astral Guardian.

There were many ways to become an Astral Guardian, but the most common and safest was getting into a military academy.

Li Yang continued searching for information on various military academies.

Huaxia had two top-tier academies: Zhongdu Military Academy and Zhanxing Military Academy.

Both were located in Zhongdu, the capital of Huaxia.

The two schools were evenly matched, with different specializations, but neither had ever clearly surpassed the other.

Because of He Song, Li Yang was particularly interested in Zhongdu Military Academy.

She focused on researching this school and then, her eyes lit up.

Agricultural Science Department?!

A military academy with an agriculture department?!

Among all the threads introducing Zhongdu Military Academy, one stood out because of its unique angle

“Come to Zhongdu Military Academy and roam the golden fields! No more worries about finding a partner!”

The post included a video.

When she clicked on it, a vast golden wheat field appeared on the screen.

These wheat stalks were definitely mutant plants.

They were three times the size of regular wheat, and their golden ears were as thick as a person’s thigh.

Most importantly, the glowing golden grains looked like shimmering nuggets of gold.

Li Yang stared without blinking.

Whether it was beautiful or not didn’t matter.

The key was that just like the four-leaf clover these wheat fields had an extremely high safety rating!

There had only been one four-leaf clover.

But here, there was an entire field of wheat!

If she could harvest it all, she’d never have to worry about running out of lifespan!

Li Yang was thrilled and focused her search on the Agricultural Science Department.

The reason military academies had agriculture departments was to research mutant plants.

However, this field was unpopular.

Among the top-ranked military academies, only Zhongdu Military Academy had an independent department for it.

Other schools lumped it under the Military Engineering Department.

Since it wasn’t a separate discipline in other schools, they probably didn’t have large-scale, structured farming like Zhongdu did.

The more Li Yang researched, the more determined she became

She had to get into the Agricultural Science Department at Zhongdu Military Academy!

To be honest, Li Yang wasn’t interested in the Astral Realm or mutant creatures.

Such dangerous tasks should be left to braver people.

She just wanted to roam the golden fields, harvest wheat, and extend her lifespan.

Monday.

Li Yang completed the paperwork for her return to school and took a seat in the last row of the classroom.

The original host had dropped out earlier in the year.

Her grandmother’s passing had hit her too hard, and with her average grades, she had no chance of getting into a top university.

Even if she barely made it into a lower-tier school, the tuition fees would have been too expensive.

Li Yang flipped through the original host’s textbooks and felt relieved.

The two worlds had many similarities.

Subjects like history were probably very different, but science and math seemed almost the same.

In her previous life, Li Yang had been a science student.

Even though it had been years since graduation, she hadn’t forgotten everything.

Most military academies didn’t focus much on academics, but Zhongdu Military Academy had high standards.

With the original host’s grades, getting in would have been difficult.

But after doing a practice test, Li Yang felt confident.

If she studied intensively, she could definitely make it.

Students began arriving in the classroom.

A group of boys gathered and chatted excitedly:

“Today is the military academy’s general exam I’m so nervous!”

“I heard Zhongdu Military Academy raised the physical strength requirement by another 3 points this year! It’s getting crazy higher every year!”

Hearing this, Li Yang perked up.

If the requirement increased by 3 points, that meant the new threshold was 83.

With her 90 points, she was more than qualified.

“Why even think about Zhongdu Military Academy?”

“Anyone who gets in is either a genius or insanely rich.”

Li Yang didn’t quite understand the joke, but the boys did, sighing:

“Yeah, take Yu Hongyuan for example. His physical strength was about the same as ours, but his dad is loaded! Total envy.”

So the ‘rich’ part meant money, not intelligence.

They lowered their voices, but thanks to Li Yang’s improved physical stats, she heard everything clearly.

“That ‘Condensed Essence Pill’ really works? Just one boosts physical strength by 10 points?”

“It costs a million per pill! Of course, it works!”

“Didn’t Yu Hongyuan take two of them?”

“His family is filthy rich…”

For the past 300 years, the world had trained Astral Guardians and developed a complete training system.

Since military academies had specialized research departments, it wasn’t surprising that alchemy and enhancement pills existed.

Still

Even a million-dollar pill only increased physical strength by 10 points?

Li Yang suddenly felt a little better about her “lifespan-burning system.”

A girl joined the conversation:

“I don’t think Yu Hongyuan will do well. Strength from pills is just for show. Even if his dad buys his way into Zhongdu Military Academy, he’ll still be useless!”

“Stop being jealous. He’s just going there for the reputation it’ll make inheriting his family business easier.”

“I’m not jealous. I just respect our school’s real top student. Her father’s in the military, and she didn’t use any pills to boost her stats!”

“Come on, Fang Chuyun’s whole family are Astral Guardians. Her older sister’s already a Third-Tier Astral Guardian. Besides, how do you know she didn’t take pills? She probably did since childhood that’s why she has 85 points in physical strength!”

“What? She’s already at 85?! I’m only at 65. Comparing ourselves to her is just depressing.”

“Yu Hongyuan must have at least 83, right? That’s the new entry threshold for Zhongdu”

Before they could finish, a tall, muscular boy strode in.

His voice was naturally loud, and he boomed:

“I heard you guys talking about me at the door. What’s this about 83? I just tested this morning I’m at 86 now!”

The classroom buzzed with excitement.

“Whoa! Yu Hongyuan, you’re incredible! You’re our school’s number one now!”

“Of course,” Yu Hongyuan said smugly.

“85 is a huge barrier going beyond that is insanely hard. So 86 is basically the max!”

Hearing this, Li Yang glanced at her system panel.

Physical Strength: 90.

So 85+ was a big hurdle?

Huh.

She might’ve gone a little overboard.

Another boy sighed enviously:

“I heard if you get accepted into both top academies, the city gives you a 100,000 yuan scholarship.”

“Not that Yu Hongyuan cares about pocket change like that.”

Yu Hongyuan ignored them what was 100,000 yuan to him?

After all, he had just spent another million to boost his physical strength from 84 to 86.

But

Li Yang’s ears perked up.

“What?! Scholarship?! How much?!”

100,000 yuan!

She had to get into Zhongdu Military Academy no matter what!