White, Green, Purple, Gold, Red

Two hours later, Mel was awakened from his closed-eyed state.

"Mel! You're bleeding from your nose!" Lily's voice was filled with anxiety.

Mel Carlo felt a cool sensation, but his Effort had already increased by 1200 points, plus 5 points from [Theft], which was a significant increase.

[Theft] Proficiency: 20/10000

[Assassin's Breathing Technique] Proficiency: 1810/10000

Current Effort: 2548.

[Assassin's Breathing Technique] could indeed condense spirit, but the physical strain was real. Otherwise, he wouldn't be bleeding from his nose. It seemed he needed to take better care of his body and sleep properly when it was time to sleep.

He could shorten this time appropriately. In the future, after practicing [Theft], he could add an hour of [Assassin's Breathing Technique] practice. At night, he could rest directly. Daytime hours couldn't be wasted.

Moreover, at this cultivation speed, the Assassin's Breathing Technique should be the first to reach 10000 Proficiency.

Mel Carlo slept the entire afternoon. In the evening, he would conduct his final [Theft] training. The food wasn't lavish, but at least it wasn't so difficult to swallow anymore.

Leisurely days passed one by one. Mel Carlo wasn't solely focused on cultivation; he would occasionally go with Chubby to look for leftover food or do nothing at all, just lying in the yard basking in the sun.

Lily was still as gentle, and Akai was as optimistic as ever. That was good.

During this time, Mel Carlo had also figured out one thing: this continent was indeed called the Kandewen Continent. However, another problem was that with just these maps, it was impossible to understand the true size of this world unless he had a complete world navigation chart. But it was entirely possible that this world hadn't entered the Age of Discovery yet.

It was the end of June in the year 200 of the Imperial Calendar, which was likely around the time he arrived in this world. Three months had passed since his transmigration, and the temperature had noticeably dropped.

"Gard Empire's Imperial City. Heading east, it might take a month or two to reach Oak City," Mel Carlo looked at the map on the table. There were still too few recognizable characters, so he could only cross-reference with his memory of the game's background to confirm the general location.

In the game, Oak City was the player's starting city. Nearby were low-level demon races. To the north were grasslands, to the east was a large forest, and to the south was the Exar Theocracy.

If he wanted to level up, he could either enter the Imperial City's sewers to hunt rats or go to Oak City to take on adventurer quests, such as dealing with low-level slimes. These village-issued quests generally didn't offer high rewards, but the danger level was almost nonexistent, just requiring some time.

"Master Anke, do you have paper and a pen?" Mel Carlo asked.

"No, do I look like a scholar to you?" Anke was lying on a chair, his legs propped diagonally on the table.

"No, you look like a thug, a gang member."

"Then there you have it." Anke spread his hands helplessly.

After looking at the map, Mel Carlo left the room and walked down the steps.

Akai was practicing sword swings. After all, this was a gang, and no one could provide him with professional guidance. If he wanted to learn stealth or theft, perhaps there were people within the gang who could teach him.

Lily was spacing out nearby; she really had nothing to do.

Mel Carlo sat down beside her and checked his System Panel. In a month, he had accumulated a lot of Effort:

[Flying Blade] Proficiency: 10000/10000 (Elite)

[Assassin's Breathing Technique] Proficiency: 10000/10000 (Master)

[Dagger Attack] Proficiency: 10000/10000 (Elite)

[Back Hop] Proficiency: 1601/10000

[Theft] Proficiency: 320/10000

Current Effort: 31807

He hadn't drawn any rewards during this time because he hadn't used the previous ones. Mel Carlo had a sense of unease, always feeling like someone was watching him, but he couldn't pinpoint who it was.

So, he could only be more cautious. For the past month, besides normal cultivation, he hadn't done anything else.

The good news was that skills brought astonishing returns after reaching full proficiency. The returns were basically proportional to the proficiency progress. [Flying Blade] with full proficiency not only granted 100% hit rate but also made the skill almost have no cooldown. As long as he had enough throwing knives, he could throw them continuously. The [Elite] trait was penetration, which he had also tried. It could easily penetrate targets. If the target tried to block, they would likely suffer penetration damage.

With [Assassin's Breathing Technique] at full proficiency, he could keep it active continuously, although it didn't have much effect in a short time. The effect he developed was condensing spirit. The [Master] trait was movement; he could maintain the skill even during high-speed movement.

[Dagger Attack] at full proficiency granted a 100% bonus to dagger-type weapon attacks. The [Elite] trait was critical hit, giving dagger-type weapons an additional 50% critical hit effect.

Furthermore, the appearance of traits made Mel Carlo feel they were very useful. These were like tags in the game. Skills with full proficiency were marked with colors: [Elite] was purple, and [Master] was gold.

If nothing unexpected happened, white, green, purple, gold, and red should correspond to Apprentice, Proficient, Elite, Master, and Legendary, respectively. These were the quality classifications for skill tags.

For potions, equipment, or other items, white, green, purple, gold, and red should correspond to Normal, Good, Excellent, Rare, and Divine Artifact, respectively.

Thinking about these things, Mel Carlo felt his brain wasn't enough. It seemed he absolutely had to buy paper and a pen. His mind was still sharp with these concepts now, but if time passed, he might forget very important information one day. He must use paper and pen to write down everything he could still remember.

"Lily, stay and practice with Akai. I'm going out for a walk," Mel Carlo stood up and headed towards the courtyard entrance.

"Let's go together! Or I can accompany you," Lily stood up, wanting to go out with Mel.

It wasn't that Mel Carlo didn't want to take them along, but this matter was originally intended to be done secretly. Paper and pens in this world seemed expensive because the poor wouldn't learn to read or write.

But if more people were involved, this matter would definitely become known to more people, and perhaps the matter of spending money would also be exposed.

"Please, Mel, I really want to go out and have fun with you, and Akai too," Lily pouted, holding Mel's arms with both hands and squatting on the ground.

In the past month, Mel and Akai had only focused on cultivation and hadn't had time to play with her. She felt a bit distant.

"Alright, let's go out for a walk together then," Mel said with some helplessness.

He didn't plan to use the money stolen from the wallet anytime soon. The only money he could use now was these copper coins, especially since he didn't have to offer tributes every day anymore.

He still had 83 Oren from his previous thefts. In ten theft attempts, except for the one time he was caught and beaten, he had basically made some income.