Chapter 22

Panda is very angry. There are a few shameless cheaters on the new book chart, shamelessly boosting clicks and votes. Especially one of them, with just a few dozen collections, managed to brush into the top eight. It's utterly shameful, and Panda is ashamed to be in the same company! Brothers and sisters, if you have votes, give more to Panda! We absolutely cannot lose to these shameless cheaters. Losing to them would be a disgrace! A great disgrace! Let Panda see the fighting spirit of the brothers and sisters united with Panda, defeat the cheaters! Charge! Charge! Charge!!!

...

At noon, at the construction site.

Seeing Liu Menglong carrying six bags of lime and running as fast as the wind, the surrounding workers were a bit numb. The foreman, trembling, recorded Liu Menglong's morning workload, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, cleared his throat twice, and shouted, "Stop! Time for lunch!"

Hearing the words "lunch," everyone stopped. Some stretched their shoulders, some patted the dust off their bodies, and some plopped down on the ground, looking at Liu Menglong as if he were a monster.

It's not that the brothers and sisters are making a fuss; one person doing the work of ten small workers, brother, you must be a reincarnated old yellow ox.

Everyone else stopped, but Liu Menglong didn't. At this point, the architect skill had reached 99% intermediate level, and with the upgrade just around the corner, how could Liu Menglong bear to stop?

Carrying lime with his broad shoulders, he ran around the construction site, his exposed arms showing steel-like muscles. Sweat splashed, and his face and body were covered in a mix of colors, but Liu Menglong was completely unaware. He had just thrown the lime where it was needed, turned around, set up the sieve, and quickly scooped up the sand with a shovel.

The foreman thought Liu Menglong would stop to eat after throwing the lime, but he didn't expect him to start working again. Although this enthusiasm pleased the foreman, such intense physical labor, even for a robot, would require a break to apply some lubricant, let alone a living person.

"Xiao Liu, Xiao Liu! Stop!" The foreman shouted. Seeing that Liu Menglong still hadn't stopped, he thought, "This won't do," and hurriedly ran over. His round belly jiggled as he ran, more vigorous than a woman's chest.

After a 30-meter jog, the foreman was a bit out of breath, panting, "Xiao... Xiao Liu, stop... for now... have lunch first, and then work in the afternoon."

"You guys eat first, I'll finish this bit and then come." With just 1% left, how could Liu Menglong resist the temptation of an upgrade? He said this with a hint of impatience, and the speed of his shovel increased even more.

Seeing Liu Menglong revert to his rich young master's temperament, the foreman smiled bitterly and said, "Xiao Liu, take a break! It's not working hours now, even if you work more, it won't count as work."

"I don't need your money, consider it free work."

This statement left the foreman speechless.

Fine! Since he's willing to work for free, the world can never have too many such fools. The foreman shook his head and walked away.

Five more minutes passed, and Liu Menglong's strong body trembled, and his hands stopped moving.

"Host, after relentless effort, the architect level has been upgraded again. It is now a senior architect. Life profession upgraded, special reward: Strength +5, Intelligence +1, Experience 1000, Money 5000."

Liu Menglong was taken aback. He had expected the +5 Strength, but why did Intelligence also increase by 1 point? He focused his mind and saw his latest status.

Liu Menglong: Level 5 (1500/3000)

Strength: 50

Speed: 35

True Qi: 60

Intelligence: 36

Remaining Points: 0

Talent: Auspicious Sense: Innate ability to sense good and bad fortune, making it easy to avoid misfortune.

Skill: Wild Punch (16% Beginner): Wild punches can kill an experienced master, with no pattern, leaving the enemy at a loss. Strength +10%, Speed +10%, effective for 30 seconds, no cooldown, consumes 5 True Qi per use.

Money: 9925

Equipment: Brick (Durability 1/1): A piece of trash, unremarkable, low damage, but very painful when hit, 1% chance to cause 3-second dizziness when hit on the head.

High-Quality Watermelon Knife (Quantity 3): Damage +10, very sharp, successful attack can cause a tearing effect, bleeding for 15 seconds, the amount of bleeding per second varies depending on the wound size.

Steel Knuckle (Durability 17/20): Made of steel, very hard, Damage +15, 10% chance to cause 2-second dizziness.

Golden Snake Whip (Durability 320/500): Damage +30, 5-meter attack range, made of steel, very hard, the whip is coated with pepper spray, causing 500% pain when hit, an excellent torture tool.

Mountain Splitting Blade (Durability 334/510): Damage +100, +10 armor penetration, made of steel, sharp and heavy, causes a strong tearing effect when hit, continuous bleeding until death.

Life Profession: Architect (Senior 0%): Can skillfully construct any building up to six stories.

...

Intelligence indeed increased by 1 point, and Liu Menglong was puzzled, "Dragonfly, where did this 1 point of Intelligence come from?"

The little fairy Dragonfly appeared in a glow, landed on Liu Menglong's shoulder, and smiled, "Being an architect is not just about physical labor. To build, you need a lot of specialized knowledge. This knowledge is relatively simple before reaching the senior level, but it becomes more advanced after reaching the senior level. Absorbing this knowledge naturally increases the host's Intelligence."

"I see." Liu Menglong nodded and then asked, "Why is the money 5000?"

Wasn't it 1000 before?

"Can the salary of a junior chef and a senior chef be the same?" Dragonfly countered.

"I understand." Liu Menglong's doubts were dispelled, and he looked at his attributes with a smile.

It's different now, really different. Not to mention the experience, just the four main attributes. Now, the Strength attribute has reached a terrifying 50 points, 15 points higher than Speed. Even though Intelligence increased by 1 point, it is still 14 points lower than Strength, only 10 points lower than True Qi. Since the life profession was activated, Strength has increased by a total of 15 points, which is quite significant.

But Liu Menglong couldn't tell if this was a good or bad thing. With such high Strength, his Intelligence was no longer sufficient to control his maximum strength.

Actually, Liu Menglong had noticed this yesterday while working. After the Strength increase, his control over his strength was not as effortless as before the life profession was activated. It's like athletes who have just undergone a crazy strength training session; the sudden increase in muscle mass makes their nervous system unable to adapt, leading to errors.

Liu Menglong's body had been precisely quantified by the system. Just exercising wouldn't balance his body. The only way was to change the attribute points through upgrades or by activating other life professions. Fortunately, the difference between Strength and Intelligence points was not too large, so it wouldn't be difficult to achieve the previous balance.

Relaxing, Liu Menglong looked at the abilities of a senior architect, which were indeed different from those of a junior architect. A junior architect could only build single-story houses, while a senior architect could build all buildings up to six stories. The difference was significant. He wondered what changes would occur when he reached the master level. Would building skyscrapers be a piece of cake?

"Xiao Liu, are you tired?" The foreman walked over with two boxed meals in his hands. Seeing Liu Menglong turn to look at him, he chuckled, "Let's eat! There's still a lot to do in the afternoon!"

Looking at the dark-skinned foreman, Liu Menglong smiled, "Okay."

...

After reaching the senior architect level, it wasn't easy to increase experience. Working for four hours in the afternoon only increased the experience by 2%. However, he had already reached 2% in a little over three hours, so a simple calculation showed that four hours of work should increase the proficiency by 2.5%. In a day, he could reach 5% proficiency. According to this calculation, it would take 20 days to upgrade the architect from senior to master.

It took only one and a half days to upgrade from junior to senior, but it would take 20 days to upgrade from senior to master. The difference was significant.

After finishing the day's work, Liu Menglong left the construction site with a fairly good mood, humming a song on his way home. However, he was stunned before he even reached his front door.

In front of the villa, Nalan Ruyue, wearing an apron, stood on the hard ground. In front of her was a small table with a foam box on it. Next to the box was a wooden sign that read: "Secretly Made Imperial Buns, 5 yuan each."

At that moment, Nalan Ruyue was constantly taking steaming buns out of the box and putting them into plastic bags. A dozen elderly men and women surrounded her, vying to buy the buns.

"Four celery buns for the old man."

"Two melon buns for the old lady."

"Two of each! What? No change? Then keep it as a tip."

"..."

"Is this...?" Seeing the scene before him, Liu Menglong was speechless, "What's going on? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?"

*************

Thank you to 'Baili Yuntian Shen', 'Zi Mu Feng Ying', 'Long Jian Tian Xia Xing' for each donating 100 Qidian coins, and 'sam~tang' for donating 200 Qidian coins.

[AD begins]

[AD ends]