Hoo--hoo--hoo!
Xiao Jie adjusted his breathing as he ran. Twelve minutes had already passed, and compared to yesterday when he had been huffing and puffing after just a few minutes, his endurance had undoubtedly increased by quite a bit.
The effect of allocating those attribute points was truly immediate. After adding the points in the afternoon, he could already feel the changes by evening.
He could feel that his physical fitness had undergone an all-around improvement. Although the magnitude of each individual boost wasn't very large, combined together the feeling was extremely noticeable.
Unfortunately, human physical training had an upper limit, and the further along one got, the harder it was to improve. His base attributes being lower than average was probably related to his lack of exercise. If he could have trained for a few months first, he could have raised his physique, strength, and endurance by at least one or two points; allocating points after that would have been much more cost-effective, and might have even pushed him a step further to break through the limits of an ordinary person.
But there was no help for it; he couldn't just keep holding off on attribute points in the game.
So that sort of thing was only worth thinking about.
Still, it didn't matter. No matter how much one trained in reality, raising things by one or two points was already very difficult, and raising them by three or four points probably required a massive amount of training and time.
Yet in the game, it only took leveling up once or twice, and the gained attribute points could cause one's physical fitness to undergo a comprehensive improvement. No matter what, it was no wonder this game attracted so many people to play it at the risk of their lives.
This feeling of rapidly growing stronger was truly mesmerizing.
He had to achieve Sudden Enlightenment in Taming as soon as possible. Once he had a pet, he could venture out of the village to kill monsters and level up with relative safety. Once he casually gained ten or eight levels, just relying on allocated attribute points would be enough to make himself a "superhuman."
Hoo--hoo! Xiao Jie finally stopped running. An endurance of 10 was still not enough to let him keep running like a marathon runner.
Xiao Jie looked around and found that he had run a full circle around the small earthen hill of the park, once again arriving at the place where he had encountered the Black Cat last night.
Huh, that black cat again.
He looked into the darkness, where a large black cat with green pupils was crouching on the stone steps, looking at him with curiosity.
Looking at that cat, a piece of information suddenly appeared in Xiao Jie's mind--
[Cat, a chordate animal of the order Carnivora, family Felidae, genus Felis. Cats are small in size, with fur colors ranging from bluish-gray to brownish-yellow, slender bodies, and a body length of 0.3-0.5 meters...]
Uh... this should be the effect of Beast Lore.
Strange.
Xiao Jie knew very well that animals like cats usually depended on humans to live, especially stray cats in the city, which mainly relied on human feeding and rummaging through garbage cans for food.
With this place being far from any village or town, what was a cat doing running all the way out here?
Besides, looking at it, it had neither a collar nor a pet name tag, so it should have been a stray cat.
However, Xiao Jie didn't overthink it; it was just a cat...
He waved at the black cat and headed down the path he had come from.
Returning home, Xiao Jie took a hot bath. He hadn't exercised this freely in a long time, and after breaking a sweat, he felt all four limbs and hundreds of bones relaxed to the utmost.
Sitting in front of the computer, Xiao Jie drank iced cola while taking stock of today's gains.
Today's harvest was truly not small. He had obtained a dharma tool, earned two hundred copper coins, comprehended Beast Lore, and even increased his reputation in Ginkgo Village. Unfortunately, he hadn't achieved Sudden Enlightenment, which was his biggest regret.
He still had five days left, so he had to press on.
Herding sheep originally seemed quite simple, but now it seemed he still needed to ask someone for advice to be safe.
Thus, Xiao Jie logged into the Boundless Sea of Knowledge forum once again.
As usual, he posted a cry for help in the Daily Queries section, offering a bounty of 100 big bucks.
[Consultation: May I ask if anyone knows any tricks to herding sheep? Assuming I have fifty sheep, how should I herd them to be the most efficient while ensuring no sheep run away, preferably involving techniques related to the underlying logic?]
Soon, replies began to trickle in below.
[My god, brother, have you gone to the countryside to return to simplicity? How come it's chopping firewood and now herding sheep?]
[What does underlying logic mean? I read little and don't understand. Explain it to me, will you?]
[What underlying logic could there be to herding sheep? Just drive the sheep to the grassland and let them eat grass, that's the end of it.]
[Herding sheep actually has some tricks to it. If we're talking underlying logic, I don't know if this counts--the key to herding sheep is to identify the lead sheep. Because sheep are social animals, there is a lead sheep in every flock. Generally speaking, the flock follows the lead sheep in their movements. If you had to manage them one by one, wouldn't you die of exhaustion? The simplest way to herd sheep is to find the lead sheep in the flock and keep an eye on it. As long as the lead sheep is there, the other sheep naturally won't run around blindly, and even if they run off a little bit, they'll run back sooner or later.]
Huh? The lead sheep—he hadn't paid attention to this point before.
Xiao Jie thought to himself that as expected, everything had its own knowledge. If he herded sheep tomorrow, he would have to observe carefully.
He only had five days left. If he still couldn't achieve Sudden Enlightenment tomorrow, he would have to quickly change tracks. While the buff time hadn't ended, he needed to achieve as many Sudden Enlightenments as possible; stubbornly sticking to herding sheep was not a wise choice.
The next day, Xiao Jie entered the game bright and early.
He couldn't wait to arrive at the livestock pen and find Old Yang.
Old Yang (Shepherd): "Aha, young people these days sure are hardworking, coming to pick up jobs so early! Come, come, come, this is the shepherd's whip, hold on to it well, and take care not to let the sheep run away. If they run away, your wages will be docked, you know."
Xiao Jie drove the flock of sheep onto the grassland. This time, he didn't pay excessive attention to those energetic sheep, but instead searched the flock for the presence of a lead sheep.
He sized them up one by one, observing the body shapes and characteristics of these sheep.
After observing so carefully, it really did allow him to discover some details.
The sheep in this flock clearly had a distinction between males and females. The rams had larger horns and were slightly larger in build, while the ewes had much more delicate horns.
Moreover, the lambs all liked to stay around the ewes, while the ewes all stayed around a sturdy ram.
A dozen ewes, a dozen lambs, and this sturdy ram formed a collective whole, while the remaining rams were scattered around the periphery of the flock.
That's right, this sturdy ram must be the lead sheep.
Xiao Jie looked at the distribution of the flock, and the originally chaotic scene suddenly became clear and distinct.
Whether the answer obtained from the internet was effective or not, he would know after a try.
This time, Xiao Jie didn't frequently drive the flock. He let some of the surrounding rams eat their fill without blocking them, allowing these rams to wander around the edges, with a few even walking to the edge of the hillside.
But to his surprise, these sheep really didn't stray any further; the moment they heard the call of the lead sheep, they hurried back to the vicinity of the flock.
Just like that, the flock gathered and dispersed. It looked quite chaotic, but not a single sheep actually ran away.
And every time the flock was driven, these sheep would gather around the lead sheep and move together.
Xiao Jie finally set his mind at ease. Herding sheep became much simpler now; there was no need to constantly drive and relocate them at all. Every time, he just needed to keep an eye on the position of the lead sheep.
Sometimes, when the flock had eaten almost all the grass nearby, the lead sheep would bleat on its own and lead the flock to move to a new grassland, requiring absolutely no action from Xiao Jie. This job of herding sheep was practically AFK work; he just needed to watch from the side.
An hour passed quickly, and Xiao Jie didn't move much during the second half. When the time was up, the system prompt sound finally rang out.
[System prompt: Your "Enlightenment" state has been triggered, you have obtained a "Sudden Enlightenment"!]
He finally succeeded! Xiao Jie was overjoyed. Hopefully, this Sudden Enlightenment was Taming!
He clicked on the golden icon in the center of the screen.
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