As the saying went, those who did not work did not eat! That went doubly for a newly arrived outsider like Li Xing.
So, after saying goodbye to Lucy, Li Xing knew better than to sit idle and went to help out at the town's lumberyard.
He also took the opportunity to ask the uncle in charge of the lumberyard, whom he had greeted earlier, how to repair his dilapidated house.
After transmigrating, Li Xing found that his physical attributes had improved, and he was learning carpentry at an incredible speed. In a single afternoon at the lumberyard, he completed a full day's work for one person.
Since he had exceeded the task the lumberyard uncle had assigned him ahead of time, Li Xing spent the remaining time asking the uncle about repair skills.
The uncle in charge of the lumberyard had already taken a liking to Li Xing when they met again, particularly admiring how energetic he was.
He even remarked to his coworkers from time to time that Li Xing "reminded me a lot of myself when I was young!"
He saw that Li Xing worked at the lumberyard with an efficiency comparable to a goblin logging machine. Before long, Li Xing had finished a full day's work.
So he agreed to Li Xing's request to learn repair techniques.
As he learned the repair techniques the uncle taught him, Li Xing found that his learning efficiency was improving just as rapidly as it had while he was chopping wood.
Unable to make sense of it, Li Xing attributed the phenomenon to a buff from his peasant class.
He went from knowing nothing at the beginning to asking relevant professional technical questions near the end. If the uncle in charge of the lumberyard had not witnessed Li Xing's progress with his own eyes, he would have thought a hidden expert in the same trade was toying with him.
"Here's the lumber you need, young man.
Let me ask you one more time!
Are you sure you want to take most of your wages in raw lumber?
Repairing a house on your own is hard work. Why not take my advice and get paid in gold coins instead? Once you've saved enough, you can hire some workers to help. That would be much better."
"Thanks, uncle!
I know what I'm doing. I can manage on my own.
Besides, when we workers see a job through to completion, the sense of accomplishment is different! Right, uncle?"
Faced with Li Xing's response, the lumberyard uncle did not know how to persuade him otherwise.
"I have to say, young man, you've convinced me.
Seeing a house you built with your own hands, brick by brick, really is something to be proud of!
If you need help, just let me know. All you need to do is work at my lumberyard for a few more days like you did today! Your wages will be the same as usual, of course!"
After watching the lumber he needed being bundled and loaded onto a cart, Li Xing replied.
"Thanks, uncle! I'll come help again tomorrow. It's almost dark, so see you tomorrow!"
"All right! See you tomorrow."
Li Xing boarded the freight wagon. After checking that the cargo had all been loaded, he got aboard and called to the driver to head for his dilapidated house.
His house stood on high ground two or three hundred meters from the town center.
Thanks to its elevated position, he could see most of central Hunter Town from the front of the house.
When the freight wagon reached his rundown house, Li Xing paid the driver a small number of gold coins out of the wages he had left. After unloading the cargo, he saw the driver off.
Once he saw that no one was around, Li Xing broke into a delighted smile!
"Hahaha! I, Li Xing, have finally hit it big!"
That was right. Li Xing had finally received his golden finger.
While working at the lumberyard, Li Xing had thought the changes to his body were what would give him a foothold in this world.
But after experiencing how efficiently he learned the repair techniques, he was still savoring that feeling even now.
It was the excitement of a child discovering the world for the first time, a feeling of knowledge racing through his body and brain like blood. It was as though the knowledge had already existed in his mind, and learning was merely the "key" that unlocked its seal.
When he finished learning, a notification seemed to sound in his ears, like one from a game, and knowledge of how to use the relevant repair and construction abilities appeared in his consciousness.
Now, Li Xing picked up the hand hammer he had borrowed from the lumberyard uncle in his right hand;
He walked over to the lumber and held a bundle of it in his left hand.
Then he stood in front of his house, selected it as his target, and swung the hand hammer to begin repairs!
Bang! A sound rang out,
And Li Xing saw a health bar, or rather, a progress bar, light up over the house in front of him!
"Damn, it really is what I thought!"
That was right. His so-called golden finger was the manifestation of his class's abilities from the game!
And his class was peasant.
In Warcraft, peasants built and repaired things simply by swinging their hammers. Just like in the game, Li Xing mechanically swung his hand hammer and began repairing his house.
"Whew~~ That's exhausting!"
Once the lumber in his left hand had been used up, Li Xing sat down on the ground.
Li Xing found that his class ability was good, but it was not without its drawbacks.
After testing it during repairs, he came to a conclusion: "The Void Repair skill only counts the number of hammer swings, not the force behind each blow."
The clearest example was that a heavy blow made the same repair progress as a light tap with his hammer. However, merely touching the hammer to the house made no progress at all, so he needed to work out how much progress each different amount of force produced.
Experimenting like that took considerable energy. Moreover, as the progress bar advanced, the lumber he held in his left arm was used up, disrupting the rhythm of his subsequent repairs.
Afterward, Li Xing tried piling the lumber beside his left hand and simply resting that hand on the pile.
As he swung the hammer with his right hand, the Void Repair skill activated, and the lumber beside his left hand dwindled in turn, greatly improving his work efficiency.
In this way, the more precisely he controlled the force of his light hammer blows, the faster he could strike. By the time half the lumber had been used up, the whole house looked brand new, and a task-completion sound signaling that the repairs were finished rang out in his consciousness!
He gazed at the little wooden house before him and its perfectly fitted doors and windows.
Just as he had said earlier, a sense of accomplishment welled up in Li Xing.
Because of his golden finger, his sense of accomplishment was not as great as he had expected! But Li Xing did not feel there was anything worth being disappointed about in that small regret. After all, satisfying his material needs was his top priority right now.
Looking at the remaining lumber piled in front of the house, Li Xing tidied it up and set it aside. He planned to build some structures or items he wanted after mastering more technology and techniques in the future.
By the time he finished tidying up, the late-afternoon sun had long since set, and moonlight from the sky had already spread across the land.
Standing outside the repaired cottage and watching cooking smoke drift above the buildings in the town center, he felt hunger for the first time since transmigrating.
Feeling his body's desire for food, he did not panic much.
After all, the positive changes in his body since transmigrating were becoming increasingly apparent.
So he put down the tools in his hands, picked up a staff he had just made, and headed for the tavern on the west side of town.