Over the next few days, Gu Zhen focused on studying how to execute Shadow Fist with his legs.
As a B-grade star skill, it was something Gu Zhen had never encountered before, and learning it proved somewhat challenging.
It took him a full day to master it.
In the past, when learning star skill, Gu Zhen would spend only a few hours a day studying, dedicating the majority of his time to cultivation.
As a result, it often took him several days to fully learn a skill.
But to master Shadow Fist as quickly as possible, Gu Zhen devoted all his time to studying the skill, forgoing cultivation entirely.
This allowed him to learn it so quickly.
The rest of his time was spent researching ways to improve it.
The principles behind Shadow Fist were ingenious, but Gu Zhen felt that it wasn't designed for human use—it didn't quite align with the human body structure.
However, with slight modifications, it could still be executed effectively.
After mastering the skill mechanics, Gu Zhen attack speed increased dramatically. This skill was inherently designed to enhance strike speed using star power.
Adapting it for use with his legs was still a bit tricky, and simply increasing his kicking speed didn't meet his expectations. It needed to be paired with another star skill to achieve the desired effect.
Li Qin, observing from the shadows, was astonished to see Gu Zhen master Shadow Fist so quickly.
As the creator of Shadow Fist, Li Qin knew how difficult it was to learn. Yet Gu Zhen had grasped it in such a short time—his talent and comprehension were beyond Li Qin's expectations.
Though the version of Shadow Fist he had given Gu Zhen was a simplified one, with parts removed, Gu Zhen talent still left Li Qin in awe.
But soon, Li Qin let out a soft sigh.
No matter how great his talent and comprehension were, Gu Zhen was still just a failure with an F-grade superpower.
He'd remain a Realm 1 failure for his entire life—a pity for such remarkable talent and comprehension.
If he had a D-grade superpower instead, Li Qin couldn't even imagine how great Gu Zhen future achievements might be.
But with an F-grade superpower, Gu Zhen potential was firmly capped. No matter how great his comprehension, it was useless.
Still, such exceptional comprehension could be put to good use as a "comprehension generator."
At least it wouldn't go to waste.
Time passed slowly.
Gu Zhen spent his days researching star skill and his nights cultivating star power, steadily improving his star power realm without wasting a moment.
As Gu Zhen strength continued to grow, the Grand-Combat competition drew ever closer.
…
Training Room
Gu Zhen focused his mind, directing his attention to his legs. Star power flowed slowly within them, eventually gathering at the soles of his feet.
Under his control, the star power erupted in an instant, and his entire body vanished like a phantom. In just the span of a single breath, Gu Zhen reappeared twenty meters away.
A glimmer of joy appeared in Gu Zhen eyes as he successfully executed the skill.
After all his hard work, he had finally completed the modification.
The star skill he had just used was derived from Shadow Fist. Its effect, simply put, was a dramatic increase in movement speed after execution.
Unlike the short bursts of Instant Step, this skill wasn't limited to moving in a single direction—it allowed him to freely change direction while moving.
It also far surpassed Instant Step in terms of distance. The final distance depended on the amount of star power Gu Zhen expended, though he estimated that one kilometer would be his physical limit.
Lacking special physical traits, his effectiveness with physical star skill was average, and they took a toll on his body. If he had any other option, he wouldn't have chosen the path of physical skill.
Gu Zhen named this new star skill Shadow Step—simple and straightforward, fitting its effect perfectly.
In addition, Gu Zhen had also fully mastered the fusion of Iron Fist and Qi Palm.
With this skill in hand, he could bypass an opponent defenses and directly attack their internal organs.
Even a Realm 2 opponent wouldn't scare him.
With these two skills at his disposal, Gu Zhen felt no fear about the upcoming Grand-Combat Competition.
After mastering these two star skills, Gu Zhen devoted all his remaining time to improving his star power realm.
If his star power realm didn't meet the standard, even if he won first place in the academy Grand-Combat Competition, recruiters might not take notice of him.
As for recruitment, Gu Zhen wasn't particularly confident.
The three top-tier advanced star warrior academies would certainly look down on him. Their minimum talent requirement for recruitment was D-grade—they had never even accepted E-grade students, let alone someone with an F-grade superpower like him.
But Gu Zhen wasn't picky. As long as he could find an academy willing to recruit him and take him away, that would be enough. His main goal was to leave Sunmoon City, this wretched place.
With the Gu family and Li Qin looming over him, he couldn't act freely, constantly constrained and on edge even when leaving the academy.
More importantly, Sunmoon City was too small, with far too few resources and opportunities.
If he remained trapped here, curing his Star Disease would be impossible.
No matter how he looked at it, Gu Zhen needed to leave Sunmoon City. He had no attachment to the place and couldn't wait to get out.
Time passed slowly
Three days before the Grand-Combat competition began, Gu Zhen finally raised his star power realm to Realm 1, Level 7, barely meeting the standard.
At this time, Sunmoon Academy also released the matchup list for the competition.
The 556 students from the academy ten classes were divided into four zones, with 139 students in each zone.
The order of students from all classes was completely randomized, mixing all ten classes together.
Class 1 was far too strong, on an entirely different level from the other classes. Whichever zone was paired with Class 1 students would likely end up at the bottom.
Each zone would hold one-on-one matches, with the top four from each zone advancing. The sixteen qualifiers from the four zones would then be randomized for another round of one-on-one matches, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals, top three, and finally the champion.
Gu Zhen checked his assigned zone: Zone C.
Zone C didn't have many geniuses, and the competition wasn't too fierce. Only two people caught Gu Zhen attention.
The first was Zhang Changming, the second young master of the Zhang family. He possessed a C-grade transformation-type superpower, Blazing Gold Tiger, which granted him fire, metal, and physical traits and characteristics.
Backed by the Zhang family—one of the three major families—he had been heavily nurtured and mastered numerous star skills. It was said his strength had reached the formidable Realm 1, Level 8, making him a force to be reckoned with.
The second was Gu Zhen former self's younger brother, Gu Ming, who had a D-grade elemental superpower, Roaring Thunderclap.
With the strong support of Gu Lang, his strength had also reached Realm 1, Level 6.
There were a few other Class 1 geniuses in Zone C, but compared to Zhang Changming, they fell short, at best matching Gu Ming level.
It was worth noting that Gu Lingling was rumored to have already reached Realm 1, Level 9 and was attempting to break through to Realm 2.
The storm was coming and Gu Zhen was ready to ride it.