"This is kind of interesting!"
"This is way more fun than playing Solitaire on the computer!"
Chen Jue smiled slightly as he looked at the "Skill Level +1" notification that popped up on his panel.
His talent-recruitment apartment was too small to practice with high-powered Darts or flying nails, which could easily affect the recovery of his left hand.
But the intensity of throwing playing cards was just right. He could practice it in his room, and it only used his right forearm, wrist, and fingers, without needing to engage his whole body.
Although the Skill Level he gained was a bit low, every little bit counted.
Besides, it was Chen Jue’s first time throwing cards, and he hadn’t yet grasped the true knack for it.
Under the influence of his Lv5 [Hidden Weapon Throwing], he felt his throwing technique still had a lot of room for improvement.
...
After hanging the cardboard delivery box on a hook behind his door, Chen Jue sat down by the window.
He pinched a playing card, flicked his right hand, and with a SWOOSH, the spinning card flew across the three or four meters of his room and embedded itself in the box.
This time, Chen Jue put more force into his wrist and fingers and, to his surprise, received a "+3 Skill Level" notification!
The card itself was now halfway embedded in the cardboard, its power clearly much greater than the previous throw.
’Is the technique to apply force with the forearm, wrist, and pinching fingers all at the same time?’
’The upper arm and shoulder don’t seem to require as much strength.’ Chen Jue pondered for a moment, adjusted his form again, and threw another card.
THUD. The playing card hit the cardboard box again.
But this time, the Flying Card’s power had increased dramatically; more than half the card sank into the box.
It was worth noting that these delivery boxes were made of triple-layered corrugated cardboard, giving them good cushioning and hardness.
An ordinary person would have a hard time tearing one open with their bare hands, let alone without a box cutter.
To say nothing of slicing into it with a thrown playing card!
’I didn’t expect these playing cards to be so sharp.’
’I could carry a deck with me and practice in my spare time to kill a few minutes.’ Chen Jue muttered to himself. As he examined the deck of cards he’d bought from a convenience store, he also went online to research what playing cards were made of.
Playing cards on the market were generally distinguished by their material and weight, broadly categorized into gray-core, white-core, blue-core, black-core, and PVC cards. The more expensive the card, the harder and heavier it was.
The deck Chen Jue had bought was made of the most common blue-core paper. It offered great value for the price, making it perfect for practicing card throwing.
"This big data is really something else!"
Unexpectedly, just after Chen Jue finished searching for information on playing cards, several video apps started recommending him a slew of videos about card tricks, casinos, and card throwing.
He clicked on a few and discovered that there were some highly skilled video bloggers among these online card throwers.
Besides sticking cards into cardboard, they also used them to slice cucumbers, pierce watermelons, pop balloons, and cut open soda cans. The variety was endless, and it was no less interesting than the Stone Skimming and Darts he had dabbled in before.
Moreover, there were many different card-throwing techniques. In addition to the standard wrist-flick throw, there were also finger-flick shots, finger-snap shots, and more, all of which packed a punch.
Most importantly, card throwing could be combined with fancy shuffles and cuts for practice transitions. From a purely visual standpoint, it was much flashier than just throwing Darts.
’You influencers really know how to have fun!’
’If the Gambling God Gao Jin had your card-throwing skills, he wouldn’t have needed Long Wu to protect him. SWISH, SWISH, what enemy could have stopped him?’ Chen Jue’s eyes were truly opened after watching these videos.
His own Master Level [Hidden Weapon Throwing] technique was clearly of a higher caliber than this card-throwing skill.
Drawing parallels from his existing knowledge, he tried a few throws, mimicked the motions, and quickly mastered all the card-throwing techniques from the videos.
He moved from the windowsill to his bed, throwing cards while correcting his posture—sometimes flicking, sometimes flinging. Watching the "+2," "+3," and even "+5" notifications for [Hidden Weapon Throwing] Skill Level float up continuously, Chen Jue felt the rainy night was no longer so dull and boring.
...
After about an hour of throwing, his right hand was slightly sore. Chen Jue had been retrieving and reusing the same deck of 54 playing cards.
In addition to his card-throwing skills becoming more and more proficient, Chen Jue had also mastered a nimble, one-handed fancy shuffle and cut.
He had only ever seen such tricks in the *Gambling God* movies. He never expected that after practicing [Hidden Weapon Throwing], his hand dexterity would increase so much that learning these card skills now felt incredibly simple and easy.
However, the blue-core playing cards were clearly not durable. After hitting the cardboard box a few times, the edges of the cards started to wrinkle and fray, losing the sharpness they had when they were brand new.
When he threw them at the box again, they would sometimes just bounce off.
’A 10-yuan expense, and I farmed over 1,200 points of Skill Level in total.’
’My right hand got a workout, and I even ground out 0.01 in the Strength Attribute.’
’This 10 yuan was well spent! It’s less than the gas money I spend going out to practice in the wild!’
Chen Jue gathered the frayed playing cards, planning to go online and stock up on more.
He searched for prices and found that Taobao had a deal for 10 decks of blue-core cards for 9.9 yuan, including shipping.
When he thought about the 10 yuan he’d paid for a single deck at the convenience store downstairs, Chen Jue suddenly felt that the prices in Hang City were ridiculously inflated.
It was like they were several versions ahead of second and third-tier cities!
Considering that future rainy days might be like today, forcing him to stay cooped up in his room grinding Skill Level by throwing cards, Chen Jue placed an online order for 100 decks of blue-core cards and one deck of more durable PVC cards.
The total cost was just over 60 yuan, cheaper than the Water-Drifting Stones he had bought before. The value for money was almost comparable to the 3-inch round nails from the hardware store.
’When the weather gets better, I can go to the park and film a special skill video, something with card throwing.’
’It’s about time I updated the Brother of Special Skills account.’
After watching card-throwing videos all evening, Chen Jue felt an itch to try it himself.
He planned to come up with a good creative idea to add another brick to the foundation of his video-making side hustle.
...
While lying in bed thinking up ideas, Chen Jue slowly drifted off to sleep.
When he woke up the next day, he found the soreness in his left hand had eased considerably. He could even move it a little. It was clearly the combined effect of the medicine from the hospital and the extra points he had added to his Constitution Attribute.
A glance out the window revealed that it was still overcast and rainy.
Since he couldn’t get any morning sunlight, Chen Jue had to open his computer and find a video that simulated red-light therapy.
He turned the screen brightness to maximum and, while "basking" in the light, used his right hand to perform the [Eye Health Exercises] around both eye sockets.
He never expected this spur-of-the-moment idea to actually work!
After half an hour of massaging, the panel once again displayed a notification: [Vision improved, Constitution Attribute +0.01]. This filled Chen Jue with joy.
However, Chen Jue knew there was a difference between the [Attributes] he trained and the Attributes he gained by spending [Free Attributes].
Take the Constitution Attribute, for example. No matter which part of his body Chen Jue trained, as long as the function of that organ or tissue improved, the increase in constitution value would be uniformly added to the [Constitution Attribute] on the panel.
To put it simply, the panel’s [Constitution Attribute] was a comprehensive value derived from data from his entire body.
The [Constitution] gained through training only affected the function of a specific tissue.
It wasn’t as if training his eyes for a 0.01 Constitution boost would cause all the organs and tissues in his body to grow simultaneously.
But the Constitution gained by spending [Free Attributes] affected his entire body.
The only thing was, the magnitude of this increase wasn’t as potent as targeted training for a specific area. It was as if the growth effect was divided up, with the improvement spread so thinly across the whole body that it was very faint.
...
Since it was raining and he couldn’t go out for his morning exercises, Chen Jue continued to practice throwing cards in his room.
Although the deck was worn out after just one evening and could no longer slice into the cardboard box, he still gained Skill Level just by aiming and throwing at the target.
Based on Chen Jue’s understanding, the panel’s judgment for Skill Level gain seemed to be based on a split between the process of the action and the result, perhaps a 70/30 or 80/20 split.
He didn’t necessarily need a perfect result from his card throw to gain Skill Level.
As long as his form was standard and the movement was effective, he could still see his Skill Level increase.
In two hours that morning, he ground out another 1,600 Skill Level points for [Hidden Weapon Throwing], bringing the progress bar to (6724/20000).
With these small gains adding up, he had made significant progress toward the next level-up. Feeling good, Chen Jue finished his breakfast and drove to Hengtong.
As usual, he timed his arrival to take the stairs, then slacked off at his desk.
It was Friday, and the atmosphere in the risk control office was noticeably more lively than the past few days.
Some were discussing where to go for dinner and fun that night, while others were talking about where to hang out as a group over the weekend.
After working for five days, only the two days of the weekend didn’t belong to the capitalists. Everyone was looking for ways to pass the time, de-stress, and have some fun.
As for Chen Jue’s Group Five, because they had already made plans, everyone was going out together, so the mood for idle chatter was even more enthusiastic than in the other risk control groups.
For instance, Fatty Bai, Shen Shikun, at the next desk had been researching various dishes in the group chat since he arrived that morning, showing far more enthusiasm than he ever did for reviewing clients!
...
From slacking off in the morning until the end of the workday, Chen Jue managed to grind out a total of 0.03 in attribute values.
He gained 0.01 Strength from using a hand gripper with his right hand, and the remaining 0.02 were Free Attributes obtained from climbing stairs and doing the Horse Stance.
In addition, the [Horse Stance] and [Squeezing Valley Dao] Skills he had been practicing for a few days also leveled up as expected.
——————
[DING~]
[Skill Level has reached 100%. Skill Level has increased.]
[Horse Stance Lv0 → Lv1]
[After a period of Horse Stance training, your understanding of this most fundamental Pile Step of Martial Arts has deepened. You are now less prone to making mistakes in your posture while practicing the Horse Stance; your lower back and leg muscles have been continuously strengthened, and your old problems of anterior pelvic tilt and lumbar disc herniation have slightly improved.]
——————
[DING~]
[Skill Level has reached 100%. Skill Level has increased.]
[Squeezing Valley Dao Lv0 → Lv1]
[After a period of continuous anal lifting exercises, your control over the muscles in your perianal region (e.g., internal and external sphincters, puborectalis muscle, etc.) has slightly increased; due to your focused concentration, your Spirit and willpower have grown, and you have developed a preliminary sensory stimulation of the nerves at the end of your Tailbone; your internal and external mixed hemorrhoids have slightly improved.]