Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups Chapter 1203 - 585:

At the break of dawn, Yulong Lake remained as hushed as a relic of ancient times.

A gray-white mist blanketed the expansive water, shielding the entire world within its ghostly embrace.

The thunderous sonic booms had long since faded away.

Only a handful of startled egrets disturbed the quiet, their wings beating rhythmically as they skimmed the misty surface, soon vanishing into the reeds in the distance.

Blub blub... blub blub...

A sudden eruption of bubbles surged from beneath the depths, reminiscent of a miniature volcano, violently shattering the stillness of the water.

Splash—

A soaked head broke through the surface, sending a flurry of crystal-clear droplets flying into the air.

"Hoo..."

Fang Cheng wiped the water from his face, drawing a ragged breath.

Thick white steam billowed off his flushed skin, swirling in the air like a rising cloud.

He appeared as if a deity had just been pulled from the fires of a forge.

His eyes flickered within the morning haze, burning with a persistent, unyielding intensity.

Though he looked disheveled, the surge of excitement in his chest felt as unstoppable as a tsunami.

He had just achieved an unprecedented feat, a daring assault against the physical limits of a human being.

Treading water, Fang Cheng peered through the thinning fog toward the place from which he had arrived.

The shoreline was now nothing more than a faint, dark smudge in the distance.

Based on his current position, he estimated he was a full five kilometers from the edge.

In short, he was right in the middle of Yulong Lake.

The sheer distance he had covered was staggering.

Keep in mind, his longest jump powered by explosive force had previously been a mere hundred meters.

Yet today, he had successfully "flown" five kilometers across the treacherous water.

While no system prompt signaled the unlocking of a new skill, Fang Cheng did not feel discouraged.

To the contrary, that exhilarating sprint had allowed him a glimpse of a potential avenue leading to true flight.

The logic behind it was not overly complex.

After initiating his sprint at sonic speeds, he utilized his body to compress the air, generating initial lift, and then treated the surface tension and inertia of the water as leverage points to maintain his elevation.

It was a constant struggle to locate that delicate equilibrium between weightlessness and leverage.

If he practiced this hundreds of times, effectively grafting the sensation into his muscle memory until it became instinctual, he could potentially translate this technique from the water to the open sky.

True, the air is less dense than water and offers significantly less reactive force.

Nevertheless, provided his step frequency remained high and his strength immense, he could potentially compress the air into a solid wall to push off from.

More importantly, he possessed a vital ace up his sleeve to mitigate the difference in medium density.

He had the ability to hover statically for nearly nine seconds.

Those nine seconds of hovering acted as a pair of invisible wings, granting him sufficient time to reset his posture and regain his strength before finding the next foothold in the air.

For the average person, this would remain a utopian dream.

For the Fang Cheng of the past, this would have been a heaven-defying impossibility.

But now, with his extraordinary physical stats and powerful hovering ability, he was fully capable of accomplishing all of it.

"Coo—"

A sharp call rang out across the serene lake.

Fang Cheng looked up, tracking an egret as it soared in from afar.

With wide, graceful wings, it glided on the rising currents of the lake, moving overhead with effortless ease.

If he had simply waited for his agility to exceed 80 points, hoping the system would automatically grant him the ability to fly, he never could have imagined how, through mere data points, a person could defy gravity and take flight.

But the combination of a run-up, mid-air stepping, and wind-gliding had rendered the ethereal concept of flight entirely tangible.

Much like when he first unlocked his Boxing and Sanda skills, the complex maneuvers were broken down into fundamental, repeatable movements like straight punches, hooks, and footwork.

By mastering each piece individually and then weaving them together, he could gradually achieve a qualitative transformation, eventually mastering the skill as a whole.

This methodology for unlocking skills could perfectly replicate the path to mastering flying.

Determination burned in Fang Cheng’s eyes.

With a few more attempts, adjusting the angles and force of his steps in the air, he might not even need the system to push his agility past 80; he was certain he could shatter that final 0.02-second barrier on his own.

Even if the interface provided no skill reward, he would still possess the technique and raw strength to dominate the air currents.

That would represent the true freedom of the sky, where he could soar at will.

As his thoughts raced, the horizon began to brighten.

The mountains in the east were silhouetted against a pale, morning sky, and the heavy shroud of night retreated.

Under the gentle breeze, the dense lake fog slowly dissipated, revealing a vast, crystalline expanse.

The outline of distant city buildings began to sharpen in the gray light.

On the road encircling the lake, the faint sound of early morning joggers and the whir of street sweepers reminded him that the world was waking up to another day.