Chapter 554 - 361: Agility 10.0, Massive Skill Evolution!

Chapter 554: Chapter 361: Agility 10.0, Massive Skill Evolution!

The next evening, at the Bel Air hilltop villa.

A helicopter marked "FedEx Exclusive" landed on the lawn in front of Li Wei’s house. Two movers hopped out, hauling boxes of equipment into the gym one by one. There was a force plate, testing instruments, reaction training light arrays, a high-speed photographic analysis system, and a complete set of strength training equipment.

The latter was just to keep up appearances and make up the numbers. With the current weight capacity of the dumbbells, even if he loaded them to the max, it would probably only be enough for his bicep curls.

"These things aren’t easy to buy," Don Quixote said, leaning against the doorframe and watching the movers hustle back and forth. "There are barely any places selling this stuff in Los Angeles. I had to order them from New York."

"Thanks for the hard work," Li Wei said, unpacking a Bluetooth sensor to inspect it. "I can’t let my physical conditioning slip while I’m in Los Angeles."

"Do you really not need a coach or a nutritionist?" Don Quixote asked. "I mean, if you ever plan on returning to the NFL in the future—"

"Don’t worry," Li Wei smiled. "I know my own body. If I need one, I’ll naturally hire one."

Don Quixote shrugged and said no more.

After the movers left, Li Wei closed the gym doors. Standing alone in the center of the room, he opened his panel.

[Name: Li Wei]

[Bloodline: Hero]

[Class: Knight of the Silver Body (Dragon Blood Knight)]

[Power: 8.0]

[Spirit: 5.1]

[Agility: 6.0]

[Constitution: 5.5]

[Free attribute points: 4.0]

(Others omitted...)

Increasing his Power, Constitution, and Spirit didn’t hold much significance for him right now. His Power was completely sufficient. As for Constitution, unless he took a direct hit from heavy firepower larger than 12.7mm, ordinary attacks couldn’t threaten him, so he didn’t need it for the time being. In terms of Spirit, he was also perfectly well-equipped.

Agility was the only stat where an upgrade would yield visible results.

He looked at the [Agility: 6.0] on his panel and took a deep breath. Allocate points! Dump them all into Agility!

[Agility 6.0] -> [Agility 10.0]

In an instant, a jolt of electricity shot up from the base of his spine, spreading along his nerve endings to every muscle fiber in his body. His calf muscles contracted sharply, his Achilles tendons twitching like plucked bowstrings.

[Detected that Agility has reached 10.0]

[Agility has reached the Silver Level limit; cannot be upgraded before advancing to Golden Knight]

[Class: Knight of the Silver Body (Dragon Blood Knight)] -> [Class: Knight of the Golden Body (Dragon Blood Knight) 1/4]

[Knight’s Aura: First Sequence (Silver)] -> [Knight’s Aura: Blazing Sun (Gold 1/4)]

[Knight’s Aura: Blazing Sun (Gold 1/4): When you activate the aura, your charm and intimidation values will increase by a small (formerly minuscule) margin, making it easier for others to believe your words and obey your commands. (New) Silver Level investigation magic will not take effect on you.]

[Activation Effect: For friendly units within 10 meters, restores stamina, Spirit, and Magic Power by a minuscule margin.]

[Skill evolving...]

[Sky Stepping (Level 1)] evolves into [Sky Stepping (Level 2): New effect, Flight (Active)]

Wait! What did it say?

Li Wei’s eyes instantly widened. He stared closely at [Sky Stepping (Level 2)].

[Sky Stepping (Level 2): Wall Walking, Double Jump, Flight (New)]

[Flight: You can move and hover freely in the air. Flight speed is affected by the Agility attribute. Daily flight duration limit: 60 seconds.]

Holy shit! Here comes Superman!

Li Wei didn’t know what to say for a moment. He rubbed his eyes and read it again.

Flight.

Not wall walking, not double jumping—fucking flight!! True, literal flight!!

Li Wei stood in the center of the gym, his heart going THUMP THUMP THUMP in his chest for the first time in a long while.

He had fantasized about this for a long time. As a kid, he watched the Great Sage Equalling Heaven and Nezha soaring through the clouds, and read comics where Superman and Goku from Dragon Ball took to the skies. Every boy had dreamed of flying.

But for Li Wei, ever since he obtained the system and unlocked [Sky Stepping], this fantasy was no longer just a childish daydream. He had often wondered where the system’s limits lay. Wall walking and double jumping on thin air—ultimately, those were just "watered-down" versions of flight. He hadn’t been sure if the system could ever truly break past that barrier.

He thought, "Maybe the system’s upper limit is just infinitely approaching flight, but never actually achieving it."

But now. Flight. Even if it was only for sixty seconds a day. This was motherfucking flight!

Li Wei paced back and forth in the gym, trying to calm down. He couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from curling upward. He forced his face into a neutral expression, only for a grin to immediately break out again. He failed. He couldn’t calm down at all.

"Fuck," he said, punching the air with a clenched fist.

He felt an uncontrollable urge to rush outside. But for now, he suppressed the wild thoughts swirling in his mind. Don Quixote and Chen Haisheng were still at home. He would have to wait until nightfall.

Later that night, around 10:00 PM, after dinner, Don Quixote and Chen Haisheng had already returned to their rooms to rest. Li Wei stood before his bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling windows, taking in the night view from the peak of Bel Air. In the distance, the city lights of Los Angeles stretched out into a sea of amber.

He drove away from the house alone in the Cadillac Escalade. He couldn’t wait to test out the effects of his new flight ability.

Looking closely at what today’s upgrade had brought him, apart from flight, there was also the incomplete evolution of the Knight’s Aura. Its name had changed from [First Sequence] to [Blazing Sun], the self-buff had improved from "minuscule" to "small," and it had gained a new property: [Silver Level investigation magic will not take effect].

Previously, Li Wei’s [Silver: Vision Concealment] allowed him to turn invisible while evading ordinary cameras, and the skill description stated it could bypass Bronze Level investigation magic. This meant he was now immune to a higher tier of surveillance—infrared cameras.

That being said, Li Wei didn’t vainly believe himself to be completely invincible. Besides infrared, there were still things like multi-spectral cameras and terahertz imaging devices out there. However, he could completely bypass standard cameras now. As long as he didn’t enter places with outrageously high security, such as military bases or deep inside government buildings, he shouldn’t run into advanced imagers that could see through obstacles and concealments.

Li Wei drove his Cadillac Escalade near the drive-thru lane of a McDonald’s. Many late-night restaurants in the United States of America didn’t offer dine-in options or even physical storefronts for walk-ins. They only had a small window where customers could drive up to pick up their food. Li Wei only drove here to give himself an excuse. Later, he could just say he went on a McDonald’s run.

He parked the car and placed an order for a combo meal to be picked up in an hour. Then, stepping out of the vehicle, he glanced around and activated [Silver: Vision Concealment]. He definitely didn’t want to be spotted by the naked eye while flying.

Fly.

A bizarre and wondrous sensation suddenly blossomed under Li Wei’s feet. It wasn’t weightlessness. Weightlessness was that feeling of your organs floating upward during a rollercoaster ride or a free fall—an instinctively uncomfortable sensation. But this time was different. It felt more like stepping on an invisible, soft platform that could rise or fall at will.

One meter... three meters... five meters...

Li Wei gradually felt the night breeze, carrying the moisture of the Pacific Ocean.

Ten meters... twenty meters...

The wind grew louder, whistling as it WHOOSHED into his ears, the hem of his short-sleeved shirt snapping with a FLAP FLAP in the gale. At thirty meters, he felt the temperature drop slightly. At fifty meters, Li Wei hovered in place.

He looked down beneath his feet. The red and yellow ’M’ sign of McDonald’s had shrunk to a tiny speck, and his Cadillac Escalade in the parking lot looked like a small toy block. In the distance, the Los Angeles skyline stretched out beneath him like a swathe of velvet studded with crushed gold diamonds.

Li Wei tentatively tried to move. He didn’t need to move his legs, he didn’t need to push off anything, and he didn’t even need to maintain any specific posture. He only had to "think" about which direction he wanted to go, and his body would move that way.

The entire sky was his floor. What about his speed?

Empowered by his 10.0 Agility, the moment the thought flashed through Li Wei’s mind, his body received the command and instantly shot forward like a catapult. The wind shifted abruptly from a WHOOSH to a shrill WHINE, like a bullet tearing through the air.

He made a rough calculation. He was flying at about fifty meters per second, which was roughly equivalent to his running speed with his current 10.0 Agility—around 180 kilometers per hour.

After flying for about twenty seconds, Li Wei did a few light turns in the sky before slowly descending back to where he started. Even after canceling [Vision Concealment] in the bushes, opening the door of the Cadillac Escalade, and getting back into the driver’s seat, Li Wei’s heart was still THUMPING.

Flight. He really knew how to fly. He might be the only person in the world—the first and perhaps the last—to achieve unassisted physical flight.

Suddenly, he wanted to find someone to talk to about it. He scrolled through his contacts, looking at the profile pictures of Don Quixote, Anya, Elizabeth, and even Jin Heon. But after some thought, he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Who could he tell? And what would he even say?

Joy swelled and collided within his chest, erupting into a dazzling display of fireworks, but he had no one to share this joy with.

"...Now isn’t the time to speak up," Li Wei muttered to himself, clenching his fists. "But that day will come."

Tony Stark had stood in public, broadcasted live to millions, and declared: I am Iron Man. One day, he, Li Wei, could do the same.

On second thought, the only thing he could chat with right now seemed to be that [Jester’s Skull]. Li Wei took the [Chattering Court Jester’s Skull] out of his inventory.

As soon as the [Jester’s Skull] materialized, its two Ruby eyes darted around before fixing on Li Wei. A few seconds later, its upper and lower jawbones went CLACK CLACK.

[My master... have you touched a fraction of the Gold Level’s authority?]

Without waiting for Li Wei to answer, it circled him twice, activating its Investigation skill. Blue light glowed from its eye sockets.

[The power of flight... though only a tiny sliver.]

[Truly astonishing...]

[In this day and age, that a genius could actually touch the authority of Gold.]

[As your most loyal, most wise, most handsome... pile of bones, I offer my heartfelt congratulations.]

Fully satisfied, Li Wei was just about to put it back into his inventory when the [Jester’s Skull] popped up another dialogue box.

[However, while you shine with brilliant radiance right now, your servant... seems about to suffer some pain and malice.]

[Let me take a sniff... Not Extraordinary beings. Just ordinary mortals. But mortal malice can be far crueler than that of demons.]

Servant? Li Wei froze. Could it be Don Quixote?

[What? No, no, no. Your Knight companion is currently snoring soundly in his castle.]

[I am talking about a clumsy mortal servant.]

Jason Miller.

[Will you lend a helping hand?]

A quest prompt appeared before Li Wei’s eyes:

[The Chattering Jester’s Skull has discovered a new quest.]

[You have encountered a temporary quest: A Man of Loyalty and Righteousness.]

[Quest Description: In order to protect your property, your servant has run into a gang of thugs who plan to teach him a lesson. Will you cast a long line to catch a big fish, or will you strike fear into these scoundrels?]

[Option - Cast a long line to catch a big fish: Let the thugs have their way and settle the score later. Reward: some monetary compensation and +0.1 free attribute points.]

[Option - Strike fear into the scoundrels: Protect your servant and righteously intervene. Reward: your servant’s gratitude and +0.2 free attribute points.]

Did he even need to choose? Li Wei immediately selected to strike fear into the scoundrels.

The [Jester’s Skull] emitted a CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE in its dialogue box, then flew off in a certain direction. Li Wei glanced back at the McDonald’s, where his meal wouldn’t be ready for another forty-plus minutes. He started the Cadillac Escalade, slammed on the gas, and sped directly toward the direction the [Jester’s Skull] had gone.