I Will Grind My Way To Godhood

The gentle voice of Xue Jing's mother, Nan Jiayu, came through the phone.

"Hello, Mom," Xue Jing said with a smile, setting the phone on speaker and placing it in the hanging basket next to the stove as he busied himself. "What's up? Why the sudden call?"

In this lifetime, although his parents traveled often for work, their love for their two children at home was undiminished. They spent all their hard-earned money on the children.

"Must there be something wrong for me to call? Can't I just want to hear my son's voice?" Nan Jiayu feigned anger.

"You're right, Mom," Xue Jing conceded immediately.

Only then did Nan Jiayu, with a smile in her voice, begin to inquire about Xue Jing's recent situation. The two chatted about family matters for quite a while.

"Your father and I should be back around New Year's, and we'll bring you some gifts then."

"Also, be careful going to and from school these days. Don't wander around aimlessly. It's best to stay at home when possible. I just saw on the news that a group of smugglers might be in Clear City. They're dangerous people, and if you notice anything suspicious outside, please keep your distance."

Nan Jiayu warned earnestly and sternly.

Xue Jing realized that was the real reason for her call.

He reassured her, "Don't worry, Mom. I've got it handled. If something happens, I can run faster than a dog."

"That's good to hear."

Nan Jiayu sounded relieved and then seemed to remember something, asking, "Oh, have you called your sister recently?"

Xue Jing replied, "I haven't called her in about half a month. We did chat a little on WeChat a few days ago. What's up?"

Nan Jiayu was silent for a moment before saying, “Yesterday afternoon, Wanwan suddenly called, saying she missed your dad and me.”

“Isn't that quite normal?” Xue Jing asked, puzzled.

“It is normal, but I feel like something's not right. That child and your dad are alike; she seems lively, but when something happens, she likes to bottle it up and not let anyone know.”

“Maybe it’s a mother’s intuition. I just feel uneasy. Son, when you have time, check in with her. You and Wanwan have always been close, and you're siblings. If something's really troubling her, she might open up to you.”

Xue Jing thought for a moment and agreed, “Alright, don’t worry, Mom. I’ll make sure to ask her.”

…

After finishing the call with Nan Jiayu, Xue Jing looked thoughtful.

His sister, Xue Wan, was an outgoing and beautiful person, always one of the popular figures at school. She consistently topped the list for school beauties and had excellent grades. Though she didn’t get into the inner city, she was admitted to an outer-ring university ranked even higher than Qing University. She had always been someone reliable.

But Xue Jing, who grew up with her, knew she was far from perfect. She would laze around in bed unless forced to get up, often used underhanded tactics when gaming, had a poor attitude when betting and never admitted defeat. She could easily brush off those who called her out with a playful "woof," and she would even use the line, "Let me introduce you to my handsome brother," to make her female classmates treat her to meals.

Yet her biggest flaw, just as their mother said, was keeping things bottled up when troubled.

Xue Jing felt a touch of anxiety as he thought it over. He picked up his phone and entered a number, his finger hovering over the call button, but he didn’t press it. Instead, he exited the screen and put the phone away.

“I’ll call her later tonight,” he decided, planning to talk to his sister Xue Wan in the tranquility of the night.

That time of night was when people were more inclined to confide.

Putting his phone away, he continued his tasks in the kitchen, cooking a pot of rice and preparing three dishes, his culinary skills improving by over fifty points.

After lunch with the cat, Xue Jing picked up the now full and lazy cat sprawled on the floor, carried it into his room, and sat down at his computer chair, hitting the power button.

With one hand petting the cat's belly, too lazy to move, and the other on the mouse, Xue Jing planned to search for information on 'Jinli,' a type of internal energy.

He opened the browser, entering a frequently used search engine, ready to type when something caught his eye.

Xue Jing's keyboard was black, resistant to dirt, making most dust and grime difficult to see.

However, with his enhanced vision following the activation of his aiming skill, he could see what others could not.

He distinctly noticed that the gaps between the keyboard keys were littered with both black and white hairs, barely detectable.

'Is this... cat hair?'

Xue Jing glanced down towards the cat in his arms, without a hint of expression.

'This little thing, did it mess with my computer?'

Skipping past numerous useless advertisements and misguided information, it took Xue Jing about ten minutes to find some relevant material on a professional Q&A platform akin to something like Quora.

Lost in the content, the cat on his lap perked up, looking at the webpage.

'Hmm? Searching for martial arts? Is he planning to practice martial arts?'

The cat mused as it read along.

'These half-baked articles, all pretending to understand but they only fool outsiders. What nonsense about 'generating special abilities through advanced practice;' is that even possible through training alone? Without taking forbidden drugs or implanting foreign materials, even those who break through the limits, the so-called "Limiters," remain mere flesh and blood. There's no miracle of human body in this world, only relentless effort and technology...'

The cat lifted its head, gazing at Xue Jing's softly outlined chin.

"If he really is interested in martial arts... once I leave, I can introduce him to that person. Consider it as my rent for staying here..."

The cat mused as it yawned.

After eating its fill, drowsiness set in.

It curled up, resting on Xue Jing's lap, the comforting scent of the young man surrounding its nose, slowly lulling it to sleep.

"..."

Noticing the cat's steady, long breaths indicating it was fully asleep, Xue Jing quietly exited the website.

He opened a search engine, typed "hidden screen recording software," and after some browsing, successfully downloaded a suitable program.

Setting it to "auto-start" and "auto-record," he then rebooted the computer to check the setup, confirmed it was working fine, and turned off the computer.

Having completed these tasks, Xue Jing gently lifted the cat and placed it on his bed, then tiptoed out of the room.

...

In the "gym," Xue Jing stared at the barbell on the bench press rack in front of him.

It was a standard bar weighing twenty kilograms, with a pair of twenty-kilogram weight plates on each side, totaling one hundred kilograms.

This was his typical bench press weight, though he could push another twenty kilograms when pushing his limits.

After deliberating a moment, Xue Jing picked up two fifteen-kilogram weight plates from the yoga mat piled with them on the floor and added them to the bar, followed by two five-kilogram plates.

With this, the barbell now weighed one hundred and forty kilograms.

Lying down on the bench press rack, Xue Jing grasped the barbell with both hands, took a deep breath, and lifted the barbell off the hooks to bring it down to his chest before pushing it up with force. His muscles instantly tensed as he lifted!

The barbell, weighing a full 140 kilograms, was lifted steadily with almost no trembling throughout the motion, clearly indicating he still had energy to spare.

After successfully lifting it, Xue Jing didn't stop but continued to bench press repeatedly. Only after completing a set of nine did he return the barbell back to the hooks.

Slightly out of breath, he felt a sense of ease and satisfaction.

“After activating 'Combat,' my physical fitness has increased significantly. Along with over 100 fitness experience points gained from fighting, my bench press maximum weight has increased by about twenty to thirty kilograms.”

While this weight might not seem impressive, it's essential to understand that human training faces diminishing marginal returns.

The closer one gets to the human body's limits, the harder it is for strength to increase.

With diligent training, a person might go from bench pressing sixty kilograms to one hundred and twenty in just two or three years, but reaching one hundred and forty is no longer just a matter of effort. It might take eight, ten, or even a lifetime without success.

Thus, Xue Jing's additional twenty to thirty kilograms in bench press weight held significant value.

After testing the bench press, Xue Jing walked over to the freestanding punching bag in the middle of the room. He took a deep breath, focused his gaze, and struck out with a punch!

“Bang!”

A loud explosion-like sound echoed as Xue Jing's fist made solid contact with the leather surface of the bag, creating ripples. The force of the punch seemed to show faint air currents spreading, and the iron base, filled with sand and weighing over 300 jin, suddenly tilted drastically to one side.

Xue Jing extended a hand to steady the bag, nodded, and murmured to himself, “Not bad.”