Way of the Devil

After exchanging a few words with Xia Cheng, Lu Sheng parted with them. As Xia Cheng’s friend chided him, he walked into the library.

The library building was shaped like a horseshoe. There were six stories in total, with three of them being underground and the other three above. The library was silvery-gray, and the huge symbol of the Platinum Academy hung on the topmost story—it was a six-petalled Yingbai Flower.

This flower had a hexagonal appearance. The petals were slender and straight. Other than the oval stamens in the middle, Lu Sheng could not differentiate it from a hexagon.

Classes were ongoing now. Not many students went in or out of the library. Most of them walked with hurried steps. Only students such as Lu Sheng, who just started the term and whose teaching materials were not distributed yet, would have no classes and free time on their hands to visit the library for books.

Lu Sheng entered the great hall of the library. He received a borrowing card from an old librarian, and walked up to the floor guides. He searched for the floor which contained the information he wanted.

According to Jorin’s memories, the last time he came into the library was a few months ago. He was here to investigate the explosion all those years ago.

Back then, he had stayed in the lower-third floor for half a month. Although he did not find many clues, he had a deep understanding of the causes and effects of the incident.

The Platinum Academy had categorized the explosion as a study case for the intelligence course and the assassination course.

The culprit was still at large even after assassinating the important person. It could be considered one of the 10 most successful assassination attempts in the federation.

Lu Sheng quickly found the floor where the teaching materials on Harmonizing Power were kept. They were in Room A10 on the upper second floor.

“Bam.”

All of a sudden, someone bumped lightly into him from behind.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

A bespectacled mild-mannered man scratched his own head. He kept apologizing as he panted slightly.

“I ran too fast and couldn’t stop in time.”

“It’s alright,” Lu Sheng said drily. “Just be careful next time.”

“I will, I will.” The bespectacled guy hastily nodded his head. Then, he ran up to the floor guide, glanced at it, and hurried away. He dashed into the nearby elevator, which had just opened its doors.

The elevator’s doors closed. Lu sheng stood where he was, lost in thought. He fumbled around in his pocket and felt a white paper strip.

‘Interesting.’ He raised an eyebrow. He did not take the paper strip out. Instead, he took the stairs and walked up to the second floor.

On the deserted stairs, he silently took the paper strip out and glanced at it.

There was only a row of small words written clearly. “Be careful.”

“It’s this handwriting again…” Lu Sheng furrowed his brows. When Jorin came to the library to investigate about the explosion incident, it was because of the guidance from this mysterious paper strip.

This time, the paper strip came again.

The bespectacled man just now was completely different from the previous person.

‘Looks like the waters are deep here… I must be careful. It seems that Jorin’s investigations had stirred up some trouble. My Arrival here might not be due to an accident.’ He had some guesses in his mind. He had not intentionally knocked Jorin out with sparks.

He went to the second floor at a normal pace. There were not many people here. The seats along the corridor were occupied by embracing couples. One of the pairs was even kissing as if they were the only ones there.

Lu Sheng found Room A10 beside a couple. He pushed the door open and went in.

The administrator of the reading room was a young female student. She was sitting at a table reading something along the lines of XXX Chronicles.

Lu Sheng gave her his reading card to check. The girl gave it a casual glance and returned it to him.

Lu Sheng received his card, and swept his gaze across the room. There was only a handful of people in the reading room, much to his surprise.

“Weapons and combat on the left, Harmonizing Power and external machine parts on the right. Help yourself.” The administrator had a lazy air about her. She did not even lift her head up. With that, she continued reading her book.

Lu Sheng did not care.

Everyone had similar talents when it came to Harmonizing Power. It was also a simple thing to train. Hence, not many put an emphasis on it.

The Harmonizing Power training methods of the various schools were largely similar to each other. The only difference was in the selection.

Everything came down to the talent an individual possessed. The ones with greatest talent and least talent were only different by a small margin. Hence, it was only natural for Harmonizing Power to be deemed unimportant.

Lu Sheng passed by a female student who was squatting while she read through some books. He quickly found the rack containing the materials on Harmonizing Power.

“Introduction to Harmonizing Power”; “The Path of Harmonizing Power”; “Exploring Harmonizing Power”; “Letting Go of Your Heart”; “On the Power of Concentration”; “The 365th Day I Fell in Love with Harmonizing Power”.

The multitude of amusing book titles immediately dampened Lu Sheng’s interest to filter through them.

He swiftly scanned the title and decided on the simplest book, titled “Three Mainstream Schools of Harmonizing Power”.

He took the book and flipped through it casually. Lu Sheng quickly understood what this so-called Harmonizing Power was. This was how it was written in the book.

“…after decades of debate, there is no conclusive agreement as to the nature of Harmonizing Power. Some say that it’s the manifestation of the brain’s spirits, some say it’s the manifestation of concentration and the senses. Some even went as far as to say that it’s some self-defensive power given by a divine spirit to humans.

“This power is terrifyingly stable. The key influencing factor of Harmonizing Power lies mainly in the body’s functions and its coordination with the mind.

“In today’s society, there are three mainstream training methods of Harmonizing Power. The first one is the Fifth Iron Cross Set. The second one is Seventy-seven Variations of Self-massaging. The third one is Iron Man’s Three Gears.”

The styles and emphasis of the three Harmonizing Power training method were different.

However, the overall difference in their effects was extremely small. All of them worked to develop the abilities of the human body. Their methods were different, but their effects were similar. It had to be said that this primarily showed that the current training methods were already quite advanced.

Lu Sheng did a comparison. Because all three of them had similar effects, in the end, he chose the one with the least side effects, which appeared to be the best choice given the circumstances. He chose the Iron Man’s Three Gears.

The Iron Man’s Three Gears had a clear-cut advantage compared to the other two training methods. However, its shortcoming was that the user would be tired, extremely tired. It was not widely applicable.

‘I’ll pick this. Let’s take a look at the actual training method.’

The Iron Man’s Three Gears was very simple. It was divided into three gears. When he accomplished the third gear, he would basically have unleashed a human’s body Harmonizing Power already.

According to statistics, that would take him three years.

Lu Sheng quickly memorized the training methods of the three gears. They comprised bodily movements similar to yoga or gymnastics. At most, he would be adding weights while practicing them. Hence, there were not many words. The content was only about 4000 words long, which complemented the explanatory figures. For Lu Sheng who was in the Weapon Grandmaster tier, this was something that could be done in two minutes.

Two minutes later, he completely memorized the entire training method. Then, he tried to find descriptions and explanations about the Iron Man’s Three Gears in other books.

He went through dozens of books. Lu Sheng summed them all up together, and came up with a standard edition with the most standard contents and the largest capacity to accommodate mistakes.

‘After this, it’ll be training of the first gear. I can begin immediately after I go back. The good thing about this training method is it’s low requirement of the surroundings.’

Lu Sheng put the book back on the shelf and walked out from between the shelves.

“Jorin?” In a space beyond the bookshelves, a big and tall male student with long hair stood. The student was regarding him with a shocked expression. He seemed to be slightly surprised.

“You’re here as well?”

“Oh, it’s you, Shajay?” Lu Sheng was slightly surprised as well. Unlike the green Jorin, he had the vague feeling that the appearance of the class monitor, Shajay, here was too much of a coincidence.

“I’m here to look up something. Are you feeling better now, Jorin? You seemed to have gotten hit pretty badly back then.” Shajay appeared kind.

“Thanks for your concern, class monitor. I feel much better now,” Lu Sheng replied off-handedly.

“That’s good…” A hint of puzzlement flashed across Shajay’s eyes. However, he quickly masked it.

“Carry on with your work. I’ll be leaving now,” Lu Sheng added.

“Mm-hm. Alright.” Shajay nodded slightly.

Shajay looked at Lu Sheng’s receding back as he exited the reading room. His expression slowly grew cold.

‘I can’t believe he’s still alive after that. What a lucky guy.’

Shajay turned around and did not care about anything else. He casually grabbed a book and left the reading room as well.

After a short while, Lu Sheng’s figure reappeared in the reading room. He swept his gaze across the room. When he did not see Shajay there, he had an answer in his heart.

…

In the afternoon, back at the dormitory.

Lu Sheng immediately started the training of the Iron Man’s Three Gears’ first gear. There was no need for extra weights for the first gear’s training. Hence, he could just carry it out in his room.

‘Imagine a layer of goo covering every inch of your skin, maintain the image, and make the posture as shown in the diagram.’

Lu Sheng had been practicing martial arts for a long time and dabbled in many techniques and secret Arts. Naturally, he was extremely adept at the most fundamental drills that resembled auxiliary exercises.

However, Jorin’s body was too weak. It could not bear too heavy a burden. Lu Sheng successfully completed the movements of the first gear and felt a tearing pain all over his body. Many of his muscles were forcibly pulled open.

‘Almost there. It’s good enough to be initiated with the basics.’ Without wasting any time, Lu Sheng immediately sat down to rest. He poured a glass of water for himself and downed it in one gulp.

“Deep Blue,” he called out internally.

The faint blue frame surfaced. Lu Sheng immediately looked toward the last frame.

“Armor Harmonizing Power. Weak Level Two (Iron Man’s Three Gears, Uninitiated). (Special traits. Ability to Control an Armor up to 11 Centimeters Thick.)”

“So it’s appearing now?” Lu Sheng did not delay. He pushed the modify button under the Modifier. Then, he trained his eyes on the Armor Harmonizing Power’s frame.

“Improve the Iron Man’s Three Gears by one level.”

His Mental Energy decreased slightly, but not even a single unit was expended.

Lu Sheng immediately saw the frame shake slightly. It blurred and immediately regained clarity. The new frame immediately switched to the forefront.

“Iron Man’s Three Gears. First gear, level one. (Armor Harmonizing Power, Weak Level Three.)”

Lu Sheng clearly felt some invisible power being enhanced. This feeling was intriguing. It was as if he had a better grasp and awareness of the objects around him.

‘So it’s increased by one level, has it?’ Lu Sheng looked at the book and learned that there were three ranks to Harmonizing Power.

Weak, Average, and Excellent.

Every rank was divided into five levels. The three ranks totaled 15 levels. Ordinary people could constantly train according to the training method and slowly improve their Harmonizing Power with the passage of time. The limits of ordinary people were in the range of Average Level Two or Three.

The training method of the Iron Man’s Three Gears matched the categories of the 15 levels. The first, second, and third gears were equivalent to the Weak, Average, and Excellent ranks.

“Let’s continue.”