Henry Owen was already prepared: once he had secured his footing in the inner sect, he would have to find a way to solve the funding problem.

As for the top priority, of course, it was to study his system.

When Henry Owen was alone at night, the first thing he did was to redeem the other newbie special offer, ‘Eagle Eye’.

As his martial points dropped to ‘5’, Henry Owen immediately felt a warm current flow into his eyes.

The sensation was exactly the same as when he redeemed ‘Wind-Chasing Lightning Hand’ during the day.

In less than a single breath, Henry Owen found that the world before his eyes was vastly different from before.

It was as if a person with 600-degree myopia had put on glasses, or as if a 480P video had been switched to 8K ultra-high definition.

Henry Owen had heard that a hawk’s eyesight could spot the movements of prey from ten kilometers away.

Now he had a similar ability: Henry Owen could distinguish the wing patterns of a mosquito or fly twenty zhang away, and could gaze into the distance to see every detail of the Xiushui city wall five hundred zhang away.

Henry Owen, like a child with a new toy, tried out his eagle eyes in every possible way.

He was full of wonder and excitement.

For a martial artist, the value of ‘Eagle Eye’ was immeasurable, even no less than the Wind-Chasing Lightning Hand.

Powerful dynamic vision allowed him to discern every detail of an enemy’s movements, and thus predict every combat intention.

After nearly half an hour, Henry Owen finally calmed down.

He looked at the illusory screen before him and began to ponder the system: what kind of upgrade mechanism did it have? How exactly were martial points obtained?

Today, William Harris had said a single sentence on stage, and his reputation entry had changed from ‘none’ to ‘Ninth Rank, Lower (Virtual)’.

A battle with Longsheng had then changed his reputation from ‘Ninth Rank, Lower (Virtual)’ to ‘Ninth Rank, Lower (Actual)’.

It was obvious that this system was related to his reputation.

The greater the reputation, the more benefits one could obtain from the system?

Henry Owen looked at the words ‘Ninth Rank, Lower (Actual)’ on the screen, but faintly felt it wasn’t that simple.

He had a few ideas and needed to run some experiments.

Also, the first change in reputation had brought him 5 martial points, while the second change had brought 6.

Was there a reason for this?

Or was it that every future upgrade in the system would be a progressive increase?

Henry Owen then looked at the ‘Martial Treasury’ in the lower right corner, where only twelve colorful icons remained.

Autumn Sky Blade—a seventh-rank treasured blade, capable of unleashing blade energy, its edge as sharp as autumn frost, able to cut hair with a single blow.

There wasn’t much explanation for this blade, but it required 5 martial points.

Divine Power Pill—temporarily doubles strength, increases speed and reaction by sixty percent, lasts for twelve hours.

The benefit of this pill was that it had no side effects, and required 1 martial point.

All twelve items inside had their uses, making Henry Owen quite envious.

But what tempted him most was the icon at the very top.

Virtual Training—practice martial arts in a virtual scenario within a dream.

The effect of virtual training was the same as real-world training, without consuming physical or mental energy.

One martial point could be exchanged for one hundred and twenty hours of training time, which was a full ten days.

Henry Owen gave this icon a deep look, then continued reading.

Below, there were no more item icons, only a line of text—Treasury items refresh once per calendar month, or can be refreshed at any time for a martial point.

What Henry Owen didn’t know was that, while he was studying the system, in another room just a wall away, Emily Owen was flipping through a slightly yellowed document.

It was a hand-copied court bulletin, and one section caught Emily Owen’s attention for a long time.

[On the seventh day of the fourth month, Great General of Anbei, Marquis Weiyuan Grace Carter died suddenly of illness in his residence. The Emperor mourned in person and suspended court for three days. On the eighth, he was posthumously awarded the title of Grand Protector and named King Bawu.]

[On the twelfth day of the fourth month, General Yunhui David Carter succeeded as Marquis Weiyuan, Great General of Anbei, and Commander of military affairs in Bing, You, Ji, and Jue Prefectures.]

[On the seventeenth day of the fourth month, the late Great General of Anbei Grace Carter’s younger sister Olivia Carter was granted the title of Princess of Tieshan.]

After a long while, Emily Owen expressionlessly crumpled the bulletin in her hand into shreds, then silently walked out the door, glancing through the crack in the window lattice toward Henry Owen’s room.

Inside, Henry Owen was sitting on the bed, staring ahead with a dazed smile on his face, and even a bit of drool at the corner of his mouth.

Emily Owen immediately frowned. What was this guy thinking about?

Could he be thinking about women? The notorious womanizer Prince Kang would always make this lustful pig-like face whenever he saw a beauty.

Emily Owen inexplicably felt a bit uncomfortable.

She quickly put away her stray thoughts, and her whole body suddenly floated up, leaping over the courtyard wall.

Emily Owen moved like an incredibly agile spirit cat, darting swiftly through the night.

She couldn’t use martial true energy, but her body was still that of a first-rank martial artist’s ‘Impeccable Golden Body’. When she moved, she made no sound at all, and her presence was concealed to the utmost.

Although there were martial instructors from Zhengyang Martial Hall patrolling the night along the way, none of them detected even the slightest trace of her.

Even when Emily Owen walked right past them, these martial instructors remained completely unaware.