American Adventure: My Uncle is Don Quixote

"That’s right," Don Quixote nodded. "This was the 50th tournament. The first one was founded in the year 01 of the Imperial Calendar, and the next one won’t begin until year 511."

’Doesn’t that mean I can’t use tournaments to grind my stats anymore?’

Li Wei couldn’t figure out the rules for time conversion in Don Quixote’s dream world—if there even were any.

In Don Quixote’s dream world, the flow of time was completely out of sync with reality.

Previously, when they were apart for just a few hours, it could be several years in Don Quixote’s dream. Sometimes, when Don Quixote didn’t sleepwalk for half a month, it might mean ten months of arduous training in his dream.

But in the short term, the next tournament was still seven months away. He probably wouldn’t be able to grind for stats during that time.

"I understand," Li Wei nodded. "Thank you for telling me."

"However," he said, looking at Don Quixote, "Knight Don Quixote, about that favor I asked of you—the matter of a Gold-level dragon—do you have any leads?"

Don Quixote remained silent for a long moment, his eyes still closed.

After a good while, he shook his head.

"A Gold-level dragon..." His tone was cautious. "I’ve asked around. My old friends all tell me more or less the same thing: dragons have been extinct in these lands for over a thousand years."

"But," he paused, "I will continue to keep an eye out for you. In fact—"

He straightened his posture, his armor CLATTERING.

"I am preparing to leave the Royal City once more and travel to distant lands for training."

"Training?" Li Wei was taken aback.

"Yes," said Don Quixote. "You won the tournament championship, and it has been a long time since I’ve improved my own strength."

"I need to polish my swordsmanship, to temper my will," he said, his eyes shut tight and his brow furrowed. "When I return from my training, perhaps I can bring you some new information."

"Don’t forget to share what you learn with me," Li Wei said. "I need to improve my strength, too."

"When I return from my training," Don Quixote said with a smile. "Perhaps I’ll even discover the path to becoming a Golden Knight."

After saying this, he began muttering to himself and wandering around the room again. A moment later, with his eyes still closed, he felt his way back into the bedroom.

A few seconds later, the sound of snoring started up again.

Li Wei stood in the living room, looking at his attribute panel.

[Name: Li Wei]

[Bloodline: Hero]

[Class: Knight · Body of Silver (Dragon Blood Knight)]

[Power: 7.3]

[Spirit: 5.1]

[Agility: 4.2]

[Constitution: 5.3]

[Free Attribute Points: 2.7]

Skills: Omitted

Equipment: Omitted

These were the attribute points he had accumulated over the past while.

Now that Don Quixote was going off to train and there were no more tournaments to fight in, it meant he wouldn’t be gaining any more attribute points for some time.

’There’s no point in saving them anymore. Time to spend them all and enjoy the boost.’

「Early the next morning.」

Li Wei drove his Cullinan out of the underground garage of the Fortress City Apartments, went through the Lincoln Tunnel, and drove onto a suburban highway in New Jersey.

New Jersey was still bleak in late February, a far cry from the year-round spring of the West Coast. The bare branches on either side of the highway looked like rows of skeletons reaching for the sky.

As if they were worshiping him.

In less than an hour, he turned onto an unmarked gravel road and arrived at the entrance to his secret base.

Pushing open the reinforced iron door, Li Wei surveyed the physical testing area. Though a little dusty, it was clearly untouched. He nodded in satisfaction.

Everything was just as he had left it. The industrial-grade force gauge stood silently in the center of the room.

Li Wei took off his jacket and rolled his shoulders and wrists.

"First, I’ll get a baseline reading."

He walked over to the force gauge, gripped the alloy bar with both hands, and took a deep breath.

Then, as if to catch the machine by surprise, he yanked violently—

"GROAN—"

The numbers on the meter jumped rapidly before finally settling at 28,512 N.

"If you convert that, 7.3 Power is equivalent to about 2,910 kilograms," Li Wei said, letting go and wiping his palms. "That’s almost three tons, roughly six times the peak human limit."

’Time to add points. And more points. And more goddamn points.’

Li Wei walked over to a soft mat beside the force gauge, sat down, and closed his eyes.

[Power: 7.3] -> [Power: 8.0]

’Time to reach the next tier!’

A wave of power, deeper and more potent than any he had ever felt, surged from the depths of his bone marrow. Every one of Li Wei’s muscle fibers was torn apart, compressed, and rewoven.

About twenty seconds passed before Li Wei felt the surge of power subside. He let out a long, slow breath.

’It wasn’t over yet.’

Next was Agility.

After reaching the rank of Silver Knight, the disparity between his 7.3 Power and 4.2 Agility no longer caused that "out-of-sync" sluggishness he used to feel. Still, he decided to pull Agility all the way up to 6.0 in one go, closing the gap to an acceptable range.

[Agility: 4.2] -> [Agility: 6.0]

Unlike the violent surge from increasing Power, leveling up Agility felt more like an upgrade to his nervous system. It was as if the signal delay between his brain and body had been recalibrated, quickening his reaction speed.

Finally, he allocated the last 0.2 attribute points to Constitution.

[Constitution: 5.3] -> [Constitution: 5.5]

The increase to his Constitution was far gentler; he barely noticed any change, perhaps because the numerical increase was so small.

Once he was finished, Li Wei got up from the mat, walked back to the force gauge, and gripped the alloy bar.

The number on the display shot past the 30,000 N mark with ease and continued to climb.