Courage is forged by flirting with danger.

“Want to train your courage?”

After reading Zhou Chuan’s paper, the first method Chen Jue thought of to build bravery was through climbing. Just like those who work at great heights in specialized trades, he believed that subjecting oneself to heights inaccessible to ordinary people could stimulate and strengthen one’s nerve.

In the era Chen Jue lived in, he no longer had access to the large wild beasts of ancient times. Even to see animals, one had to pay for entry at a zoo. As for battling wild beasts through hunting and throwing, that was out of the question. The protection of wildlife in China was extremely strict—unless one moved to the African savannah, there was no chance of encountering such creatures.

As for Jiang Province, where Chen Jue lived, it lacked the harsh cold of the polar circles; even snowfall in winter was a luxury, let alone relying on the rigors of nature to temper one’s will and courage.

...

Having read the selected excerpt from the paper and resolved some of his doubts, Chen Jue felt completely refreshed. It was as if he had been searching everywhere for a carriage, and a kind-hearted coachman had suddenly pulled him aboard.

As for Zhou Chuan, though he came across as somewhat utilitarian, many of his arguments suited Chen Jue’s tastes perfectly, even earning recognition from the system panel. Unfortunately, Chen Jue didn’t have enough money to easily win over this eccentric scholar. Otherwise, he’d have liked to read more of Zhou Chuan’s works and papers, to learn more about the mysteries and bold hypotheses of the human body.

“Perhaps Zhou Chuan has his own difficulties,” Chen Jue thought to himself. Doing research certainly burned through money, though Chen Jue hadn’t realized just how much until today, when he saw that top billionaires would easily invest $3 billion to start. Only then did he realize that he wasn’t the only outlier on the path to pursuing a healthy body.

...

After carefully reading and studying the excerpt Zhou Chuan sent, the lunch break had already passed. In the afternoon, there was a clinical surgery class, covering general surgery. Since it was a small class, Chen Jue slipped into the back row with his textbook, squeezing a hand gripper with one hand and squatting in a horse stance with his hips raised, passing the class in this strange posture.

Still, this training managed to net him another 0.01 point in strength. Yet Zhou Chuan’s bizarre arguments from that morning had left such a deep impression that the regular surgery class felt bland and tasteless in comparison. It was like eating a heavily seasoned meal and then being served plain broth—one’s palate immediately becomes more demanding.

“It really is a top university,” Chen Jue muttered to himself. “A graduate student’s arguments outshine even some of the professors’.”

As for the hand gripper, thanks to Chen Jue’s steadily increasing strength, it was now set to the 90 kg level. The lower settings could no longer stimulate his hand muscles, and attribute gains had declined. He had bought this 100 kg gripper weeks ago, and at this rate, it would soon become useless—it was already suffering from metal fatigue after constant high-intensity use, and the springs were loosening.

The gripper had only cost a dozen yuan, less than the price of a meal, so Chen Jue hadn’t expected great quality. But since he still needed to increase his grip strength, he ordered a new gripper online, this one capped at 165 kg.

A 165 kg gripper was the highest available on the market, since hardly any ordinary person could squeeze it, and manufacturers wouldn’t bother making molds for something with such low demand. Anything higher required a professional custom order—multi-stage springs, digital counters, grip strength apps for real-time monitoring, and upper limits of half a ton or more. These were used by professional grip athletes aiming for the GM150 World Grip Ranking, and the spring quality was far superior.

But those custom grippers were expensive and not needed for now—Chen Jue decided to wait until his strength caught up before buying one.

...

After class, Chen Jue didn’t go to the track for street workouts, but instead drove to the sports park he’d visited before. Nearly three weeks had passed since he’d last stood outside the climbing club.

He remembered how, when he first came here, he’d been overweight, greasy-faced, and unkempt.

Compared to now—not only had he lost weight and body fat, but he’d also shed the glasses he’d worn for over a decade, and his outlook was becoming more optimistic and positive. Chen Jue felt a sense of unreality.

“Maybe spending time with students really does make you younger in spirit and demeanor,” he mused.

It wasn’t just Chen Jue who found it unreal—even Yu Jie, squatting at the base of the climbing wall glued to his phone, was amazed.

“You’re... that Jue bro from before?” Yu Jie stared wide-eyed. He hadn’t seen Chen Jue in a while and thought he must be mistaken.

“It’s me! Yu Jie, didn’t you have class today?” Chen Jue asked curiously.

“I skipped a class this afternoon to earn some extra cash. Not a major course, so it’s fine,” Yu Jie grinned, quickly pocketing his phone to greet his guest. He looked Chen Jue up and down. “But Jue bro, what have you been doing lately? You’ve changed so much!”

Chen Jue explained that he’d started practicing street fitness, and showed off his grip strength. With a few grabs and a kick, he used the protruding holds to climb up the beginner’s wall that had once given him trouble.

When the system panel flashed “Climbing proficiency +3,” a slight smile touched Chen Jue’s lips—he knew he’d come to the right place. This sport seemed tailor-made for leveling up his Climbing skill.

“Not bad, Jue bro!” Yu Jie called. “You don’t even need to practice on the beginner wall anymore. Want to try the pro wall?” He pointed to a wall over ten meters high.

Chen Jue jumped down from the three-meter wall, donned a safety harness under Yu Jie’s guidance, and began the ascent.

At first, climbing so high made him nervous, and unfamiliarity with the holds slowed his progress. People naturally feel dizzy, nauseated, and weak-kneed when suspended at heights, sometimes even an urge to jump. But as the Climbing skill kicked in and the safety rope eliminated the risk, Chen Jue gradually overcame his fear. The higher he climbed, the more exhilarated and excited he felt.

After two minutes, he reached the top, and the system panel flashed new notifications:

———
[Ding~]
[You have completed a high-standard climb. Your adrenaline secretion has increased, your metabolic function has improved, and your hormone secretion is slightly enhanced.]
[Your fear of heights has diminished, your courage has increased, your willpower has strengthened, and your gallbladder function has been trained.]
[Physique +0.01]
[Mental +0.01]
———

“Awesome! Another critical hit!” Chen Jue punched the air excitedly atop the wall.

Yu Jie was also surprised below. Though Chen Jue’s movements were a bit clumsy, his technique was nearly flawless, as if he’d taught himself climbing in secret—he just lacked experience.

“Jue bro, you’ve got a talent for climbing! Want to sign up for a course and step it up?” Yu Jie scrambled up to the top in seconds and started pitching the club’s lessons.

Seeing Yu Jie’s speed, Chen Jue was impressed and a little envious. But he explained his real purpose: “No need to sign up. Spending thousands on an annual membership isn’t worth it since I can’t come often. But I’d like to learn from you privately. I’ll pay you for lessons—interested?”

“Uh... Isn’t that going behind the club’s back?” Yu Jie hesitated, surprised by the suggestion.

“There’s nothing wrong with it! You’re just a part-timer, not a full-time employee. I’ll pay you privately, and you just don’t tell anyone,” Chen Jue said, clapping the student on the shoulder and giving him a crash course in real-world dealings.

“Well... all right,” Yu Jie agreed sheepishly, glancing around to make sure no staff were watching.

A quick check revealed Yu Jie only earned about a hundred yuan for a half day’s work. As expected, college students were the cheapest labor around—even with such advanced climbing skills, capitalists would barely give them pocket change.

“I’ll pay you two hundred per lesson, and we’ll just use the club’s facilities.”

“And I won’t come too often—usually just weekend afternoons. If anyone asks, say I’m a club member from the university,” Chen Jue added, even providing an excuse for Yu Jie.

Yu Jie grinned, nodding eagerly, thus accepting the “overaged” club member.

...

After agreeing on payment, Chen Jue transferred two hundred yuan and began learning formal climbing techniques from Yu Jie, starting with theory.

According to what Yu Jie had learned, the reason people fear heights is rooted in our early ancestors, who faced the risk of falling while foraging for fruit or climbing trees. It’s a natural protective mechanism, a physiological response that keeps us away from danger.

“My former club president said that 91% of modern urbanites have some degree of acrophobia,” Yu Jie explained. “Climbing is about gradually overcoming both the physical and psychological barriers of fear.”

Yu Jie demonstrated proper grip and climbing posture, and as Chen Jue mimicked him, his Climbing proficiency soared by +1, +1—it was clear his two hundred yuan was well spent.

“As for types of climbing, in competitions there’s lead climbing, speed climbing, and bouldering. I’m best at speed climbing—on a fifteen-meter standard wall, I can reach the top in about ten seconds,” Yu Jie said with a hint of pride.

However, the world speed climbing record for fifteen meters is 5.208 seconds, so Yu Jie’s time was only amateur level—he didn’t show off too much in front of Chen Jue.

...

After two hours of practice, Chen Jue’s fingers and forearms ached from gripping the holds so often, but his Climbing skill proficiency had shot up by over six hundred points, and his free attribute points by 0.01. With the earlier attribute boost, he’d gained 0.03 points in a single afternoon—no less efficient than his street workout routine.

Most importantly, frequent climbs on the fifteen-meter wall helped Chen Jue gradually overcome his fear of heights.

“Is there any especially thrilling climbing activity to really train courage?” Chen Jue asked during a rest break.

“There is! What we’re doing is called artificial wall climbing, or Sbing. The really thrilling stuff is unprotected natural rock climbing, called Tbing—no ropes, just bare hands on real rock faces. It’s totally insane,” Yu Jie replied, introducing a few technical terms and showing Chen Jue a clip from the documentary “Free Solo.”

The film followed a climber named Alex, who scaled the world’s most difficult El Capitan with no safety equipment at all.

According to Yu Jie, free soloing was the ultimate one-life challenge—if you failed, that was the end, no second chances.

“Plenty have died on El Capitan. Alex is the current king of free solo climbing. Every day, tens of thousands of people search online to see if he’s died yet, but he’s still alive and well—he’s braver than any Red Bull daredevil,” Yu Jie shrugged.

Chen Jue watched the documentary and noticed that these free solo climbers seemed completely immune to fear of heights or death. Their eyes were calm as still water—the very picture of composure.

“To conquer even the fear of death—what kind of courage does that take?” Chen Jue wondered, feeling that his gentler training methods were still missing something.

Second update—please vote for me~

No more staying up late tomorrow; doing this every day isn’t efficient. I’ll adjust the update schedule over the next couple of days.

(End of chapter)