Alloy. Alloy. Alloy.

Great Vajra's Talent was now 3.012H, with Activity Value holding around 2.45H. The Golden Jiao Totem was back in rotation — field-force storm running, ambient Activity pouring in at full speed.

Shen Cong himself had reached nineteen-bull strength. But his body seemed to have hit a wall. After nineteen-bull, strength, agility, and endurance were barely moving. The finer senses — sight, hearing, perception — were still climbing. Everything else had plateaued.

"My body has reached a critical threshold. As a flesh-and-blood organism, under Activity stimulation, it's been optimized as far as organic composition allows."

He made a fist, flexed his forearm, watched the muscle rise. Then he picked up an unalloyed knife and drove it into his arm.

The tip pressed against his skin. A light sting. No puncture.

He pushed harder. Nearly a ton of force behind it this time. The tip broke the surface — a small wound, a trace of blood — and stopped. The muscle had closed around it. Activity reinforcement held it there. The blade had bent.

"There's still more room."

He put the knife down and picked up the handgun. He loaded several low-grade bone-gold rounds, aimed at the outermost edge of his forearm — a graze at worst, nothing that would affect his health, healed quickly.

"Hah. Hah."

He blew out two slow breaths. First time he'd ever deliberately shot himself. Even now, even at this level, there was a flicker of tension.

He'd always been careful. He didn't hurt himself. But his confidence had grown with his strength, and there was a practical reason too — he needed to know exactly how much punishment his body could take before attempting what he was planning next.

"I'm at 2.302H Activity Value. Nineteen-bull strength. With a Beyond Three-Star Talent, relying on Activity fruit alone for further advancement is going to take forever. If I can establish my current physical limits — maybe I can take a more extreme approach to leveling up."

Crossing 3H Talent had knocked both him and Great Vajra back down in terms of level ratio. More Activity…