Eating So Gracefully

He first picked up the two-star skill book: Whirling Throw.

Whirling Throw Skill Book: Teaches you to comprehend the skill "Whirling Throw." Success rate: 100%.

"This skill book was crafted by a powerful High-Level Awakened."

Su Xiaoxiao was quite willing to chat with Bai Pu a little longer, so she gave him a brief introduction to skill books.

There were two types of skill books.

One was made by Awakened, while the other was produced by the Spirit Realm.

For an Awakened to create a skill book, they first had to cultivate that skill to an extremely high level!

Then, they had to completely record their insights into the skill on a specific "base material" for later generations to comprehend.

Such base materials were generally monster hides, bones, and the like from creatures with talents related to that skill. For example, the base material for War Stomp was usually leather from special parts of monsters such as Kodo Beasts, Earth-Rending Rhinos, centaurs, and so on.

Base materials were difficult to find.

For many rare skills, there simply were no monsters with the relevant talent. Even if an expert cultivated the skill to an extremely high level, they had no way to record their insights and pass them on to others.

Therefore, ordinary skill books were relatively abundant. As long as one had Honor Points, one could learn from them as many times as one wanted.

But rare skill books produced by the Spirit Realm could not simply be exchanged for Honor Points. With ordinary permissions, one could not even search for them! Su Xiaoxiao said, "I suggest you learn the most valuable one first, Unstable Shield. This is a rare skill book produced by the Spirit Realm Will. At present, no Awakened in the real world can create one."

Bai Pu nodded. The more skills an Awakened possessed, and the stronger those skills were, the lower their chances of successfully comprehending a new skill became.

So it made sense to learn the most valuable skill first, ensuring the highest possible comprehension efficiency.

Bai Pu opened the Unstable Shield skill book. A burst of light particles immediately surged out, transforming into a stream of information that flooded into his mind.

Before Bai Pu's eyes, a terrifying furnace suddenly appeared. Multicolored demonic flames filled its interior as chaotic energy rapidly expanded, reaching a subtle balance amid violent tremors.

Then, with a bang, the energy exploded.

You have learned the two-star skill: Unstable Shield. Current skill level: Level 1.

Along with the notification, Bai Pu clearly felt that he had gained a preliminary grasp of the skill and could view its detailed statistics.

The shield created by Unstable Shield could absorb up to 45 points of damage, which was three times his Endurance attribute.

Likewise, when the shield exploded, the maximum damage it could inflict on nearby enemies was also 45 points.

Area-of-effect damage of 45 points was definitely powerful in the early stages.

Its only drawback was that it took three seconds before it could be detonated. Bai Pu had to be careful not to let enemies wear down the shield too much after activating it, or it would lose its power.

Bai Pu then picked up the Whirling Throw skill book again. Now, his comprehension success rate for Whirling Throw had dropped to 97%.

"It's still 97%?" The people beside him, including the well-informed Su Xiaoxiao, were stunned.

"I remember that when Mad Dog learned his second skill, his success rate was 91%. That was already the highest among our batch... and his first skill was only one-star," Qilin muttered.

"Little Bai Pu's hidden attribute, comprehension, must be ridiculously high!" Su Xiaoxiao declared.

Bai Pu smiled, then calmed his breathing and opened the skill book.

An image appeared before him. A mountain-like Awakened bent slightly at the waist, like a great bow drawn to its limit! Then he swung his arm, and a shield shot out with a howl, tracing a powerful and elegant arc as it smashed a distant tree in half! The shield continued along its arc without losing momentum, flying back into the Awakened's hand.

No unlikely mishap occurred. Bai Pu successfully learned Whirling Throw.

For the third skill book, Leaping Strike, Bai Pu's comprehension success rate dropped to 85%. He learned Leaping Strike as well. Having another mobility skill would be quite useful.

"Good lord, your success rate for your third skill book is the same as mine was for my second..." Black Tiger clicked his tongue. "If you went to learn a fourth skill now, your success rate would probably still be above 60%."

"I don't have any Honor Points left," Bai Pu said. More than that, he still owed 300 points.

"Once you reach Level 2, your comprehension success rate for a fourth skill will be higher than it was at Level 1," Su Xiaoxiao said.

"That's right. An Awakened's success rate for comprehending skills is related to their level and Professional Template. The stronger the Professional Template and the higher the level, the higher the success rate. Especially at Level 4 and Level 7—the two thresholds for Intermediate Awakened and High-Level Awakened—the increase is particularly significant," Qilin explained this common knowledge.

Bai Pu stretched. Once everything he needed to do was finished, overwhelming drowsiness washed over him.

The exhaustion of clearing three levels of the White Bone Dungeon in a row and comprehending three skills consecutively was enough to crush anyone.

"Go get some rest. Sleep for a while, or your Spirit Energy won't recover at all," Su Xiaoxiao said with concern. "Your room is number 237. Here's your key."

Bai Pu yawned. "I still want to familiarize myself with the skills a little more..."

But he could barely keep his eyes open.

When Bai Pu woke up, he raised his wristwatch.

Intelligent Assistant Xiaobai reported, "Master, you slept for 3 hours and 46 minutes. The current time is 5:27 p.m. There is a package outside your door, delivered by Ms. Su Xiaoxiao. She also left a message."

Bai Pu rolled over and sat up, feeling completely refreshed. All his fatigue had vanished.

He opened the door and picked up the package. Inside was a set of clothes.

Su Xiaoxiao's message played at the same time. "Little Bai Pu, I bought you a set of clothes—a white hoodie, black trousers, and white sneakers. I thought they suited your temperament quite well~"

Bai Pu discovered that the package even contained unopened underwear and socks.

He could not help covering his face. How did Su Xiaoxiao know that he had just returned from the Spirit Realm without wearing underwear...

His looks must have done the trick. Bai Pu still was not used to being doted on by beautiful women and treated like the center of attention. For more than a decade, he had always been a nobody. His mindset could not change so quickly.

He gave Xiaobai an instruction to scan the outfit's price, then transferred the money to Su Xiaoxiao through his social account.

After his registration with the Security Department was cleared, Bai Pu could finally use his personal account without worry.

Bai Pu was poor, and there was not much money in his personal account, but it was all his savings. It was still enough to pay for the outfit.

A fierce wave of hunger hit him. Bai Pu quickly put on the clothes and shoes, then opened the door.

"Su Xiaoxiao said the base has a self-pay restaurant. Xiaobai! Help me locate it!"

Beep, beep. His wristwatch projected an illusory light screen displaying a floor plan of the God Strategy Army's Xi City branch base.

From Bai Pu's current location, a green line extended forward, turned twice, and pointed directly toward the restaurant.

Bai Pu silently praised the convenience and intelligence of personal information terminals. He had never been able to afford such an expensive personal terminal before. Following the navigation route, he quickly arrived at the restaurant.

The God Strategy Army base's restaurant was buffet-style. Its layout resembled a café somewhat, with partitioned seating areas containing small tables for two or four people.

There were very few people in the restaurant at the moment, scattered sparsely throughout its corners.

In a booth in the southeast corner, Bai Pu spotted Li Ling and Su Xiaoxiao sitting across from each other.

Li Ling was communicating through her personal information terminal, and she looked quite unhappy.

"Little Bai Pu! Over here, over here~" Su Xiaoxiao waved.

Bai Pu carried over a heaping tray of food and sat beside Su Xiaoxiao, then began devouring it like a whirlwind. He had expended a great deal of energy and needed to replenish it quickly.

Resting her cheek on one hand, Su Xiaoxiao watched Bai Pu eat with great interest and said leisurely, "Sigh, Little Bai Pu, how do you manage to eat so fast while still looking so good when you eat?"