Kapitel 10: Chapter 10 Bicycle Race
"Is that all?"
Li Ang's face showed no signs of disturbance.
He didn't believe that anyone would run over just to hand out favors for free; there must be a catch involved.
Even if you encounter an NPC midway, you get rewards only after completing a task.
Eric hesitated for a moment but didn't hold back anymore, as this wasn't something shameful.
He had not spoken directly because the matter sounded too miraculous.
Who could expect to solve a long-standing problem just by bumping into a stranger and saying hello?
"Here's the thing, the bicycle team we put together will soon face a team competition, which is very important to us. But, because one of our team members got injured half a month ago, we now have a spot open..."
After explaining the situation, Eric looked up earnestly and said to Li Ang:
"Therefore, I want to invite you to join our team. As payment, if we achieve good results, I can decide to give you 50% of the prize money."
In fact, given his family's financial situation, he didn't care about the money. Keeping 50% was out of consideration for the other team members' feelings.
"By the way, you haven't registered as a professional cyclist, have you?"
Eric suddenly interjected.
Seeing Li Ang shake his head, he relaxed again.
During this pause, Little Eric had also caught up. He hastily took a sip of water and hurriedly said:
"If you're really that good, we'll give you 75%. The first-place team prize is ten thousand dollars, second place five thousand, and third three thousand. How much we end up with will depend on our strength."
Li Ang nodded, appearing indifferent.
In reality, he was ecstatic inside. His entire savings amounted to just over two thousand dollars, and even just third place would double his bank account.
Fearing Li Ang might refuse, Eric quickly added:
"Even if we don't place, we'll still pay you a participation fee of five hundred dollars, including a roadworthy bike."
The competition might not be gold-plated in terms of honors, but it mattered to the Eric brothers who wanted to achieve it on their own merits, without family backing.
For this, they didn't even ask for money from their parents but tapped into their own piggy banks.
For wealthy progeny like them, investing in such sports was the healthiest hobby imaginable.
"Then, it's a pleasure doing business with you."
Li Ang extended his hand and shook hands with the two.
He wasn't clear about his own level of strength, so having a safety net was naturally for the best.
After exchanging contact information, they arranged to meet in the city center the next day.
With only a week left until the start of the race, their time was extremely tight. Eric had no idea what kind of results they could achieve in the end.
"Do you think that Li from the East can make it?"
Little Eric asked uncertainly.
"At least he's the best option we've got right now."
Eric answered with a lowered voice.
The upcoming bicycle race was primarily targeted at amateur students and young people, so even if they were willing to pay a lot to bring in a strong foreign aid from elsewhere, it might not meet the rules. The residency requirement alone was a major hurdle.
They also had to consider factors like amateur status and age. At the moment, Li Ang seemed the most suitable.
...
Returning home, Li Ang was in a clearly delightful mood. The unexpected encounter with the bicycle race could, if all went smoothly, resolve his urgent needs.
Of course, even without this event, in a few days, he would have had to look for something to monetize his abilities.
After simply eating some bread and drinking a cup of milk, Li Ang once again began his study of Tongbei Quan.
He had a faint premonition that today's practice might bring some breakthroughs.
A set of Xiao Lian Shou left fine beads of sweat on his body.
Now, he could barely complete a full set of the movements, but he still needed to improve their fluidity.
Next was the Pile Skill exercise that accompanied Tongbei Quan. Li Ang was pleasantly surprised to find that his standing ability had improved significantly compared to yesterday.
In an instant, he associated this with the improvement of his [Cycling] skill level earlier that day, which had enhanced the strength of his lower limbs and, as a result, his standing ability.
Compared to practicing Xiao Lian Shou, the movements for standing skill were much simpler. He had mastered all the relevant movements during his first practice session—the only thing lacking was an understanding of some aspects of exerting force.
Li Ang closed his eyes, standing like a stake, yet upon closer inspection, one could notice his body was not completely still but pulsating with a kind of wonderful rhythm.
The [Cycling] skill seemed to have no connection with [Tongbei Fist], but at the end of the day, both are about exerting force with the body, so there were bound to be some commonalities.
Merging the body exertion techniques he acquired after [Cycling] reached [Master] with the Tongbei Fist Standing Exercise, Li Ang found the practice to have twice the effect with half the effort.
Time flew by unnoticed, and over an hour had passed, Li Ang still maintained his posture without moving, as if he had entered a state where he was completely oblivious to everything around him.
Keep in mind that just yesterday, the longest he could sustain a session was no more than twenty minutes.
Suddenly, the sound of a bird outside the window finally broke this state.
Li Ang opened his eyes and, as if he had lost all his strength, his legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the floor.
His legs felt as if they weren't his own. He hadn't noticed while he was standing, but now that it hit him, he realized how much he had overexerted himself.
He reminisced about the old days when he sneaked off to internet cafes to play games during the holidays. He could go all day without eating or drinking; it was all about total immersion.
Unfortunately, as he got older, it became increasingly difficult to find something that could deeply engage him like this.
Having experienced this feeling after a long time made him somewhat nostalgic.
He opened his status panel, and as expected, there was an additional item in the skills section.
Name: Li Ang
Strength: 7.95 (+0.02)
Constitution: 10.12 (+0.06)
Response: 10.32 (+0.02)
Spirit: 13.44 (+0.04)
Breakthrough Points: 0.10
Skills:
[Cycling] 20/400 (Master)
(Trait: Lower limb strength and endurance increased by 20%)
[Running] 12/200 (Proficient)
(Trait: Lung capacity increased by 10%)
[Tongbei Fist Standing Exercise] 78/100 (Beginner)
It was a pleasant surprise for him, not only had his stand skill just reached the beginner level, but it had also gained a substantial amount of proficiency, getting very close to the next phase.
Geschenke
-- Geschenk
erhalten Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein