Chapter Four: Another Breakthrough! Physical Attributes Surge!

"Ding!"
"The host has shown kindness; the merit is immeasurable!"
"Merit points +20!"

Three consecutive notifications rang out, leaving Yu Fei momentarily stunned.
"I thought I would have to keep bluffing, but I didn't expect to see results so soon."

What Yu Fei did not know was that upon touching the original items, Alice had experienced flashes of many memories. Most of these memories were related to an "informant," which led her to completely believe in this identity. As a result, he received a brief settlement of merit.

"As expected of the savior of this world; even a slight influence can bring me a massive amount of merit points!"

Not knowing the truth, Yu Fei could only attribute it to the uniqueness of Alice as the "savior." At the same time, this strengthened his resolve to keep "shearing the wool" off the "savior"! With just a few simple words, he could earn so many merit points—where else could he find such a perfect target?

However, this thought only lingered in Yu Fei's mind for a moment before his attention shifted to the merit points he had just acquired. Without hesitation, he commanded, "System! Upgrade Combat Skills!"

In a daze, Yu Fei entered that mysterious space once again. Inside this space, he engaged in combat and fighting for what felt like ten full months. From fighting one-on-three at the beginning to one-on-ten at the end, and then back to one-on-three. The difference was that the first ten were merely ordinary people—at most, they were physically stronger, but their combat techniques were highly amateurish. The final three, however, were not only extremely strong physically but had also reached a truly professional level in combat skills! Because time was short, Yu Fei was ultimately unable to defeat the three professional fighters, managing only a draw.

His consciousness returned to his body. The vast experience, techniques, corresponding physical reflexes, and a portion of physical attributes gained in the mysterious space were all fully integrated into Yu Fei.

"System!"
A translucent, pale blue panel appeared.

Host: Yu Fei
Physique: 1.1
Spirit: 1.0
Skill: Combat LV.2 (0/100)
Merit Points: 10

"As expected!"
"Improving skills can also drive a corresponding increase in attributes!"

Yu Fei looked at his physical stats, which had risen from 0.8 to 1.1, and a smile appeared on his face. Although he had felt his physique being reinforced while upgrading his combat skills earlier, the panel had not changed at that time, and he hadn't dared to be certain. Now that he had leveled up his combat skill to LV.2 and his physique had reached 1.1, it had completely proven his previous hypothesis.

"My physique increased from 0.8 to 1.1, an overall improvement of about one-third, but I feel that the change in my actual strength is far more than just one-third!"

Yu Fei felt his body; the small belly he once had was gone, replaced by a set of abdominal muscles. A physique of 1.0 is the standard for a normal, healthy male. A physique of 1.1 is only one-tenth better than that of a normal, healthy male; logically, this should not be a huge difference. Yet, Yu Fei could sense that the change he felt at this moment was far greater than that one-tenth.

"Taking strength as an example, a normal healthy adult male can exert a punch force of fifty kilograms. I can now exert at least one hundred and fifty kilograms! Or even more!"

This showed that the change in attribute values was not proportional. The gap between a 1.0 and 1.1 physique was not ten percent, but at least fifty percent!

"It seems the increase in physique points is far more important than I imagined!"
Yu Fei's eyes flickered, and he made a decision.

"System! I want to upgrade my physique!"

In an instant, six merit points vanished. A faint, almost imperceptible golden light merged into Yu Fei's body. Feeling as if he had consumed some powerful tonic, Yu Fei felt his entire body and mind become extremely refreshed. His body, which had just been reinforced, underwent another change. Yu Fei, who had previously looked a bit thin, saw his muscles grow significantly, even stretching his casual clothes until they felt slightly tight.

"Not only that, it seems my height has changed a bit as well."

Yu Fei glanced at the full-length mirror in front of him. He had been about 181 or 182 centimeters tall, but now he seemed to be nearly 185. This change was too obvious to ignore.

"It seems the growth in physique is comprehensive—it includes the bones as well!"

In that case, such a large increase in strength was understandable. During the previous physical transformation, it wasn't just his muscles that improved; his bones, viscera, and other organs had all upgraded as well. Although, overall, it might have only been an improvement of one-tenth, the combined result created a change far beyond what "one-tenth" could summarize.

By the same logic, Yu Fei's physique attribute rising from 1.1 to 1.2 seemed like an increase of only one-eleventh, but the changes it brought to Yu Fei were far more than that!

"If my punch force was about 150 kilograms at 1.1 physique, then with my physique now at 1.2, my punch force must exceed at least 200 kilograms!"

What kind of concept was this? The punching power of Mike Tyson in a match was between 150 and 200 kilograms (150kg for the left, 200kg for the right). (Note: Outside of a match, it could reach 500 pounds, about 230kg, but that is the result of accumulated kinetic energy, not true explosive power.)

Yu Fei's 200-kilogram punch force belonged to a normal explosive state. And because he gained it through system points, his left and right fists were consistent; both could erupt with 200 kilograms of force. In terms of strength alone, Yu Fei had fully reached the level of a world champion like Tyson!

"It's just the consumption of merit points..."
Yu Fei looked at the remaining four merit points, his heart aching. He had previously thought one merit point corresponded to 0.1 attribute points, or at worst, two points for 0.1. But now? Raising his physique from 1.1 to 1.2 had consumed six full merit points, far exceeding his previous estimate.

"The increase in attribute values should be the same as the increase in strength; it does not grow by a fixed value."
"My physique from 1.1 to 1.2 consumed six merit points, but if I want to raise it from 1.2 to 1.3, it will definitely take more than six."

Yu Fei estimated that he would likely need seven or even eight merit points to push his physique to 1.3.

"Avery, are you ready?"
Alice's voice came from outside.

(Note: Avery, the protagonist's English name, meaning "ruler of the elves" or associated with "flying," symbolizing soaring in the free sky. I originally thought about just calling him Yu or Fei, but it didn't seem quite right, so I chose a similar English name.)