Loops nine through twelve settled into a productive rhythm. Chen Mu continued his dual focus: intense physical training exploiting the reset's safety net, and diligent academic consolidation leveraging his foreknowledge and enhanced learning efficiency. His Physique stat climbed steadily, reaching a solid 1.5 – noticeably fitter and stronger than his original baseline. His Mentality touched 1.48, reflecting a mind sharpened by constant, optimized learning. The [Accelerated Recovery (Minor / Loop Only)] buff proved useful, allowing him to push slightly harder during the week before the inevitable reset wiped the slate clean.
He felt powerful, capable, intellectually leagues ahead of where he 'should' be. Yet, a nagging thought began to surface. While his core stats were improving, the rate of gain felt slower now. Pushing Physique from 1.4 to 1.5 seemed to require more effort than going from 1.1 to 1.2. Likewise, squeezing out hundredths of a point on Mentality demanded exhaustive focus. The rewards, while consistent, remained small – typically 2 or 3 System Points per loop for maintaining his high level of academic and physical activity. At this rate, accumulating a significant amount of System Points for... whatever they might unlock... would take an eternity of seven-day cycles.
Was there a more efficient way to progress? To gain more substantial rewards?
During the quiet hours of Loop 13's Day 2, while ostensibly reviewing Chemistry notes he already knew by heart, Chen Mu pulled up his [Host Status] panel again. He scrolled past the stats, his eyes lingering on the [Skills] section.
[Basic Cooking (Survival)]
[Mandarin (Native)]
[English (Intermediate - Reading Focus)]
[Running (Proficient - Endurance Focus)]
[Mathematics (Expert - High School)]
[Physics (Expert - High School)]
[Chemistry (Expert - High School)]
... (Expand for details)
These were skills he possessed before the system. He hadn't actively acquired any new ones since gaining access to the loops, merely refined existing academic knowledge which the system categorized under skills.
What if he tried to learn something entirely new? Something concrete, measurable, achievable within the seven-day timeframe if pursued relentlessly? The system rewarded achievement. Perhaps acquiring a distinct, new skill qualified as a more significant achievement than incremental stat bumps.
His gaze fell upon the simple keyboard connected to his aging desktop computer. He was, like most of his peers, a hunt-and-peck typist – functional, but slow and inefficient. What if he dedicated loops to mastering touch-typing? It was a practical skill, useful for everything from future university essays to potential programming endeavours. And crucially, progress was easily quantifiable in words per minute (WPM).
The decision felt right. It was a deviation from pure stat grinding, a tangible goal beyond the looming Gaokao he now felt overly prepared for.
Starting with Loop 14, Chen Mu reallocated his time. He maintained his morning run and a baseline evening workout to preserve his Physique gains, and did minimal academic review to keep his knowledge sharp. But the hours previously dedicated to pushing ahead in textbooks or optimizing Gaokao strategies were now funnelled into intensive typing practice.
He found free online tutorials and typing tutor software. The initial hours were frustrating. His fingers felt clumsy, hitting wrong keys constantly. His speed was abysmal, barely 15 WPM with a high error rate. The system interface reflected this nascent effort, adding a new line under his skills: [Typing (Basic)].
But Chen Mu possessed two advantages: unwavering discipline and infinite time (in seven-day chunks). He forced himself through the initial awkwardness, meticulously following the finger placement guides, drilling letter combinations over and over. When frustration mounted, he reminded himself that every mistake, every moment of slow progress, would be wiped clean by the reset, leaving only the learned muscle memory and neural pathways.
Loop 14 ended with him reaching a shaky 30 WPM. The system reward was standard: a couple of points for physical/academic maintenance. No bonus for the typing effort yet.
He redoubled his efforts in Loop 15. Hours melted away in focused practice. The rhythmic clacking of the keyboard became the dominant sound in his room. He used his foreknowledge of the school week to his advantage – knowing which classes required less participation allowed him to mentally check out and plan his evening's typing drills. By the end of Loop 15, he was consistently hitting 50 WPM with decent accuracy. The skill listing updated: [Touch Typing (Developing)]. Still no extra reward.
Loop 16 was the breakthrough. The muscle memory began to feel natural. His fingers flew across the keyboard with increasing confidence. He focused on accuracy, then pushed for speed again. He found himself typing notes in class (on a cheap tablet he owned) far faster than he could write by hand. By Day 6 of Loop 16, he clocked a consistent speed of 75 WPM with over 98% accuracy. He felt a sense of genuine accomplishment, a mastery over a new, practical domain.
As midnight approached on Loop 16's final day, the system notification chimed with a slightly different resonance.
[Loop Cycle 16 Completed.]
> Evaluation: Skill Acquisition Focus (Touch Typing). Proficiency Milestone Achieved.
> Host Memory Retention: Confirmed.
> System Data Retention: Confirmed.
> Reward Calculation: Achievement Bonus Applied.
[Reward Issued: +15 System Points]
[Reward Issued: Skill Acquired - [Touch Typing (Proficient)]]
Fifteen System Points! That was significantly more than the usual trickle. It confirmed his hypothesis: achieving distinct, new skill milestones yielded substantially better rewards than simply grinding existing stats or knowledge within a loop. His total System Points jumped to 61.
The skill listing on his status panel now proudly displayed [Touch Typing (Proficient)]. It felt earned.
A new layer of strategic thinking overlaid Chen Mu's approach to the loops. Stats were important foundations, but skills were achievements. And achievements were the key to accumulating System Points faster.
He looked at his current total – 61 SP. Enough for what? He mentally probed the [Time Loop Configuration] menu again. The option [Modify Loop Duration?] remained grayed out, but now had a parenthetical note: (Requires 250 System Points or Significant System-Defined Achievement).
250 System Points. That felt like a distant, but now potentially reachable, goal. Longer loops could open up possibilities for more complex skills, deeper investigations, maybe even tackling problems that couldn't be solved in just seven days.
As Loop 17 began, Chen Mu's mind wasn't just on study or exercise. It was racing through possibilities. What other practical skills could he acquire in repeating seven-day blocks? Basic programming? A new language foundation? Advanced first aid? Each skill learned wasn't just self-improvement; it was fuel for the system, currency to potentially unlock greater control over his looping reality. The path forward had just become clearer, paved with achievable goals and tangible rewards.