Breakthrough

After the panel vanished, Li Yuan saw the numbers again.

The number floated beside Yan Yu: "0~1."

He reached out to grab it, but his five fingers passed straight through the "0~1."

With a thought, he looked at himself and saw a "0~1" floating there as well.

"What is this...?"

At a thought from Li Yuan, the number vanished. Another thought, and it reappeared. Thinking of the panel from before, he suddenly understood something.

To test his idea, he carefully moved his left arm, trying to pull it free without disturbing the woman.

But the moment he moved, the woman woke anyway.

Yan Yu had tasted the clouds and rain for the first time, becoming a woman from a maiden. Some of her girlish innocence had faded, replaced by the ripe allure of a beautiful young wife. Her watery almond eyes looked hazily at the youth as she panted, "Yuan Ge'er, lie down a little longer this early in the morning."

"Sister Yan... last night..."

Yan Yu stared at him wide-eyed. After a brief silence, she let out a soft sigh and said gently, "Yesterday evening, I went to Aunt Wang's house to borrow grain and saw that Old Lin Family's sickly son had died.

"Heh. Sick and with nothing to eat—how could he not die?

"Our family isn't quite that bad yet. We still have a little money left, but once it's spent, I really don't know how we'll live afterward, or what will become of us.

"If it truly comes to that, if there's no other choice, I'll wash my face clean and dress up a little. Then you can sell me to some lord's household in the county.

"But I wanted to give myself to you first.

"Whether I live somewhere else later or die, at least my heart will feel a little better."

Yan Yu buried herself in the youth's embrace, her frail, snow-white shoulders trembling gently as she choked out, "Yuan Ge'er, I only want to be with you. I don't want to be with anyone else..."

Li Yuan held the delicate woman in his arms tightly. "Sister Yan, I'll go out and take a look around. If we really can't hold on, we'll use that emergency money of ours. I'll figure out what to do after that."

He pulled out his arm, put on his undershirt and old cotton trousers, slipped his feet into his boots, then grabbed the padded coat from the rack.

"Mm..." Yan Yu nodded listlessly, then said, "There's still a bowl of congee jelly left from last night. Yuan Ge'er, eat it."

Li Yuan answered, went to the table, and hurriedly wolfed down half the bowl of congee jelly.

It was cold and coarse, but at least his stomach finally felt something.

"Leave the other half for you."

"Oh, Yuan Ge'er, you should eat it all! I... I'm not going out. If I lie down a while longer, I won't be hungry."

"Eat when I tell you to eat."

As he spoke, Li Yuan slung his hunting bow over his back, tucked in his Firewood Chopping Knife, grabbed the three-pronged ox-head fork, and stepped outside.

Suddenly, he paused. Glancing to his side, he saw that the floating "0~1" had become "1~2."

Li Yuan's expression shifted. He quickly left the house, looked around, then deliberately walked along the village's main road, quietly observing the villagers.

Along the way, whenever he encountered someone, he could see a number floating above their head.

But the overwhelming majority were "0~1."

Those carrying sickles, hoes, iron shovels, and the like displayed "1~2." Yet some who looked weak and listless remained "0~1."

Li Yuan stopped walking. He understood.

Sure enough, this was the operating system of a game he had played in his previous life.

There was a panel, there were points to allocate, and the meaning of these numbers was "overall strength."

Ordinary people who had never practiced martial arts all had overall strength of "0~1."

Once they picked up a weapon, that value fluctuated, so their overall strength became "1~2."

But some were frail to begin with. Even when they picked up a weapon, they were still "0~1."

When this game had first launched in his previous life, people had mockingly called it the "Numbers Game."

Players wandered outside, spotted monsters with lower numbers than their own, and charged straight in. Some evil-faction players would even see players outside the city with lower numbers and charge straight at them too.

But after charging in often enough, those players were left completely bewildered.

Then the game gained another name: the "Sneaky Game."

Could you imagine a "3~4" taking on a "1~2," only for that "1~2" to instantly pull out some treasure and become "10~20"?

However, such sudden changes relied on the Equipment Bar.

Without an Equipment Bar, you couldn't pull off such tricks.

Wait...

He had an Equipment Bar.

Though it was still locked, it was indeed on his panel.

And he also had that Eternal Life divine ability.

Li Yuan glanced at the divine ability once more.

Eternal Life: Infinite lifespan, maintains current appearance, will never die of old age

Only now, after confirming again and again that this was no illusion, did a true surge of wild joy flood Li Yuan's heart.

Eternal Life—he could actually live forever!

That was the sort of thing one could only dream of.

But Li Yuan quickly calmed down a little.

This "Eternal Life" merely meant he would not die of old age. It did not mean he could not die.

In other words, if he encountered danger and lacked the strength to resist it... then this Eternal Life divine ability would be utterly useless.

If he wanted to make the fullest use of Eternal Life, he needed to avoid misfortune and seek fortune, steadily accumulating strength.

Li Yuan walked silently for a while.

"Since that's the case, I can't live too flamboyantly from now on. I'll use time to build up my strength and hidden cards. I have all the time in the world. Anything that can be endured with time isn't a problem."

"But first, I still need to fill my stomach and get through the hardship right before my eyes."

He suddenly stopped, walked into the old woods beside the road, went a few steps deeper, and when he reached a place with no one around, he thought, Allocate points.

A tiny "+" appeared after each of the two skills on the panel.

Li Yuan first tried allocating 1 point to Beginner Archery.

He felt nothing.

Li Yuan then allocated another 3 points to Beginner Archery in quick succession.

As the information in the skill bar changed to "Intermediate Archery (0/20)," a keen sense for archery emerged within him.

It was as though he had held the bow in his hands, focused completely, and trained day and night for dozens of days.

During those days, he had shed sweat without a single distracting thought, and that was how he had gained this modest improvement.

Yet as time passed, the expenditure from that training had been swallowed by the long river of the past and had not affected his present self.

Li Yuan let out a quiet breath.

"Thankfully, allocating points doesn't cause any expenditure, or anything like depletion of qi and blood.

"Then there's nothing to worry about."

He casually put the final point into Beginner Tracking.

At once, his panel changed:

Name: Li Yuan

Points: 0

Realm: Not Ranked

Cultivation Method: None

Skills: Intermediate Archery (0/20); Beginner Tracking (5/10)

Divine Ability: Eternal Life

Equipment Bar: Locked

He glanced to the side again. His overall strength had already changed from "1~2" to "2~3."

The change did not seem particularly great, but after walking through the village, he had not seen a single "2~3." That gave Li Yuan a small measure of reassurance.

With overall strength as a reference, he could lie low more effectively.

But if he encountered someone weaker than him who lacked the sense to recognize it, then he did not need to lie low either.

The first time was unfamiliar; the second time came naturally.

Li Yuan returned to the outskirts of Little Ink Mountain. After following the mountain path for a while, he drew out his Firewood Chopping Knife and entered the woods beside the path through a narrow trail. Beyond the woods lay another stretch of open ground. He put away the knife, took out his bow and arrows again, and remained on guard at all times.

In the distance beyond the clearing was a stream that had nearly dried up.

From his memories, Li Yuan knew that once spring arrived, there would be quite a lot of prey here. But now... encountering a wild beast here was truly difficult.

He circled around to several other places where, according to his memories, he might find wild beasts, but still found nothing.

"It looks like if I really want to hunt, I'll have to go around to the other side of Second Layer Mountain..."

"I'd better wait a little longer."