Chapter 11

The national record is 10.17 seconds, a record that has been unbroken for five years. If it weren't for Zhang Guan's appearance, this national record might have remained unbroken for twelve years. But now, Zhang Guan has broken the record with a time of 10.16 seconds.

At this moment, the athletes competing in the same event gathered around to congratulate Zhang Guan. This was a heartfelt congratulations, a respect for the strong, and an encouragement for Zhang Guan's breaking of the national record.

A 17-year-old, who had only undergone two months of formal training and was still slow off the blocks, managed to outperform the top athletes in the country and break the national record. It seemed like a fairy tale unfolding before everyone's eyes. At this moment, everyone present knew that this young, still somewhat immature athlete would become the future of the men's 100-meter event, a rising star about to shine.

However, Coach Yu, who was watching from the stands, had a more far-sighted perspective. He saw not just Zhang Guan breaking the national record, but a new change in the landscape of the men's 100-meter event in the country.

Zhang Guan's 10.16 seconds not only broke the national record for the men's 100-meter event but, more importantly, it was within the 10.21-second mark, which is the Olympic A standard. Chen Jian's 10.22 seconds, while meeting the Olympic B standard, was just shy of the 10.21-second Olympic A standard. The difference between an Olympic A standard and an Olympic B standard put the national team in an awkward position.

Coach Yu could foresee that in the near future, the national athletics association and the sports administration would be embroiled in a debate and conflict.

Thinking about this, Coach Yu smiled to himself and muttered, "This will give the guys at the athletics association something to do."

...

The chief referee signed the final results confirmation form, and at the same time, a system notification appeared in Zhang Guan's mind.

"Task completed, national record broken, rewarded with 1 skill point."

Immediately after, another notification appeared: "You can obtain skill points through certain specific tasks, or by breaking records and achieving honors. The number of skill points you receive varies based on the difficulty of the record or honor."

"For example, breaking a national record rewards you with 1 skill point, breaking a continental record rewards you with 2 skill points, and breaking a world record rewards you with 4 skill points. Rewards are cumulative based on the highest standard, and different levels of records are rewarded based on the highest level, without double counting."

Seeing this, Zhang Guan nodded silently. According to the system, if he broke a world record, it would naturally also break the continental and national records, but the system would only reward him with 4 skill points for the world record, without additional rewards for the continental or national records. Similarly, breaking an adult record would also break a youth record, but only the adult record would be counted.

"Skill points are used to learn and upgrade skills. Skills are divided into active and passive skills. Active skills need to be activated to be used, while passive skills do not require activation. Some skills cannot be upgraded, such as this one:"

A gray icon appeared in the center of the system, with the skill name: Quick Reflexes.

"Quick Reflexes: Increases the speed of your body's reaction to all stimuli. Note: The effect of the skill is influenced by training intensity, age, condition, and other factors." Zhang Guan looked at the skill description, and the system required him to learn this skill.

"Will this improve my start reaction time?" Thinking this, Zhang Guan immediately decided to learn it, spending the skill point he had just earned on the "Quick Reflexes" skill.

Unlike the previous "Sprint" skill, the "Quick Reflexes" skill icon was white and marked as "non-upgradable."

Zhang Guan pondered, planning to test his start reaction time as soon as he got back. At this moment, the system displayed a new message.

"You are already the strongest in the country. The domestic stage cannot satisfy you. It's time to aim for the world." The system's message box flashed, and a new task appeared: "Newbie Task: Participate in an international competition and compete against foreign athletes."

Looking at this new task, Zhang Guan felt a bit frustrated. There are many international track and field events, but the domestic level, especially in sprinting, is not high enough to qualify for many international competitions. It's unclear how long it will take to complete this task.

But Zhang Guan then thought, the competition he was participating in was the selection for the Asian Athletics Championships. If he won first place, he should be able to participate. The Asian Athletics Championships is an international event!

Thinking about this, Zhang Guan's mood lightened.

After accepting the new task, the system displayed another message: "Skill bar unlocked."

A skill bar icon appeared in the system, and Zhang Guan immediately clicked on it. He saw a neatly arranged list of various skill icons, with active skills on the left and passive skills on the right. Two skill icons were lit up, "Sprint" and "Quick Reflexes," while the others were gray.

"Such a variety of skills, let's see what they are." Zhang Guan immediately looked at the skills below "Sprint."

"Curve Sprint: Increases speed in curves. Learning requirement: Master-level Sprint."

Zhang Guan then selected another skill to look at:

"Horizontal Sprint Jump: Increases the horizontal distance of a jump after sprinting. Learning requirement: Master-level Sprint, Master-level Jump."

"Stride: Improves the ability and technique of striding."

"Single Leg Jump: Improves the ability and technique of single-leg jumping."

"Dribbling: Improves the ability and technique of dribbling."

"Quick Direction Change: Improves the ability and technique of suddenly changing direction at high speed. Learning requirement: Master-level Sprint, Passive skill: Strong Body, Passive skill: Body Coordination, Passive skill: Strong Knees..."

"Free Kick: Improves the ability and technique of taking free kicks. Learning requirement: Master-level Free Kick."

"Swimming: Improves the efficiency of arm strokes. Learning requirement: Master-level Swimming Technique."

"..."

Zhang Guan roughly looked at these skills, which covered almost all sports, including track and field, football, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, boxing, shooting, and even racing's "High-speed Driving Technique" and e-sports' "Improving APM Hand Speed."

The more complex the sport, the more related skills there were. For example, each track and field event required only one or two skills, like the 100-meter sprint needing only the "Sprint" skill, while basketball required dozens of related skills.

Zhang Guan sighed, "What a mishmash. So many sports, so many skills, I'm afraid I won't be able to learn them all in a lifetime!"

Then Zhang Guan looked at the passive skill bar on the right, which did not require activation to use.

"Strong Body: Increases physical strength. Note: Growth skill."

"Endurance: Increases physical endurance. Note: Growth skill."

"Flexibility: Increases flexibility. Note: The effect of the skill varies with time, training intensity, age, height, and weight."

"..."

The number of passive skills was much fewer than active skills, and their main effect was to improve various physical attributes. Most skill effects had fluctuating factors.

"It looks complicated. But from the skill descriptions, some passive skills complement active skills. For example, to learn the active skill 'Quick Direction Change,' you must learn the passive skill 'Strong Knees.' Quick direction changes put a lot of strain on the knees, so you need the 'Strong Knees' skill to increase the strength of the knee joints." Zhang Guan realized that many skills in the system complemented each other and had a mutual support role.

...

The award ceremony was simple. This selection event did not even have medals; only a red certificate was given to the champion.

As the championship certificate was handed to Zhang Guan, a system notification appeared:

"National champion honor obtained, rewarded with 1 skill point."

Zhang Guan immediately understood that this was the way to obtain skill points through honors, as mentioned by the system.

However, Zhang Guan did not immediately use this valuable skill point. He felt that the system needed more study, so he did not rush to use the skill point.

Zhang Guan breaking the national record would later result in the national athletics association issuing a separate certificate and a cash prize. Zhang Guan did not have high hopes for the prize money, as official prizes have always been meager, far less generous than advertising sponsors.

As for the media present, they did not provide in-depth coverage of the new national 100-meter record. They only gave a brief introduction. This was partly because the scale of the competition was small and lacked appeal to the media, and partly because the men's 100-meter event had been weak for years, with no significant achievements internationally. A time of 10.16 seconds, while impressive, was still far from the top in Asia, so it naturally lacked attention.

However, for Zhang Guan's provincial athletics team, breaking the national 100-meter record was a significant achievement. The provincial athletics association's publicity personnel had already written a long news article and sent it to various newspapers. When the newspapers went to print, Zhang Guan was still on the train back.

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