The Missing Information

"Brother Tao, I've cleaned it off. Have a seat while I set up some warning bells. When I'm back, I'll start a fire and roast the meat."

The two continued hiking through the woods for over half an hour, putting plenty of distance between themselves and the place where they had fought earlier. Zhang Wei diligently wiped down a bluestone slab, then eagerly took several bells and arranged them around the area.

Tao Yu said nothing about it and quietly sat down.

Along the way, he had walked behind Zhang Wei while chewing on dried Serpent Meat, eating roughly three kilograms of it.

Together with over half an hour of recovery time, both his injuries and stamina had recovered seven or eight tenths.

Once Zhang Wei roasted some more meat, he should be back in peak condition before nightfall.

After Zhang Wei finished hanging the bells and returned to start the fire, Tao Yu took the chance to inspect his new skills.

Stealth: Python lv1: Reduced the chance of being detected, muffled sounds, and lowered one's presence.

Burst: Python lv1: A technique that compressed the muscles for instantaneous explosive force. It placed a heavy burden on the muscles and could easily cause strains.

These were the two skills that appeared after he absorbed the teeth from the last three snakes and completed all the missing information.

They could be considered low-level basic skills, but they were highly practical.

With enough practice, certain martial arts striking techniques could achieve the effect of Burst: Python, or even surpass it. However, Tao Yu had never had the money to attend a dojo and study properly. He could only learn the basics. For ordinary people, Burst: Python also had to be used carefully, making it somewhat impractical.

But for Tao Yu, it was undoubtedly a perfectly compatible skill.

He had already withstood the burden of combining Bullet Time with a burst of vital energy and blood. Adding Burst: Python would not be a problem.

His endurance would suffer, but life-and-death battles were decided in an instant. The earlier encirclement by the three snakes had been the best example.

If he had been even a beat slower, getting struck by the Giant Snake would have meant death!

A tiny difference could lead to vastly different outcomes!

Stealth: Python was also quite good. Thanks to Bullet Time, Tao Yu already possessed extremely powerful perception. Now, he could pair that with concealment.

Uh, had he somehow ended up on the assassin path?

Tao Yu felt a little dazed as he considered his skills. It really did seem that way.

Stealth, burst, one-hit kill?

Still, it was not bad.

Even someone far stronger than him would die if their head was cut off. Tao Yu had heard his parents gossip countless times about the weak defeating the strong and powerful people getting overturned. First-meeting kills with a single trick were even more common.

Putting everything else aside, the Giant Snake's base attributes should theoretically have crushed his own, yet he had still killed three of them.

He checked his Wish Power. Although he spent a few units every day to accelerate his Breathing Technique, Giant Snake teeth occasionally yielded eighteen or twenty units of Wish Power. He had accumulated around one hundred and fifty again.

Basic Breathing Technique had only taken around one hundred and forty to enhance. That meant he could enhance another decent skill.

Without hesitation, Tao Yu focused his mind on Stealth: Python. The next moment, however, he was stunned. He did not have enough Wish Power?

"This skill actually needs three hundred points of Wish Power?"

Tao Yu was somewhat surprised. The initial abilities really had not cost much. His second talent was definitely a god-tier skill.

The innate talent Dynamic Vision had only cost eight hundred, while the effective Breathing Technique had cost only one hundred and forty. Yet this seemingly ordinary Stealth: Python required three hundred?

But seeing that cost did not make Tao Yu curse or complain. Instead, it made him excited.

Both Bullet Time and Basic Breathing Technique—Modified had demonstrated their superiority, and Bullet Time's effect was beyond compare. The greater the cost, the more exceptional the ability had to be!

He shifted his attention to Burst: Python. This time, the anticipated cost was fairly ordinary. It only needed around one hundred points, far less than Stealth: Python, though still a little more than the three basic skills.

That made Tao Yu hesitate. For the time being, he chose to save it.

Even if Burst: Python could further enhance his explosive power in an instant, his main source of damage was still firearms. It was not an urgent need.

Saving it would leave him some Wish Power for emergencies, and he also wanted to see the effects of a three-hundred-cost skill like Stealth: Python.

Basic Breathing Technique—Modified might be nothing compared to Bullet Time, but Tao Yu still thought it was quite good. Why did Stealth: Python cost more than twice as much?

There had to be some special new effect.

"Brother Tao, the meat's ready. Do you want it tender or charred? The water's boiled too. I got it from a tree hollow and filtered it with some stones first. There are also a few tree grubs here."

Zhang Wei busied himself attentively beside him, while Tao Yu accepted the food and smiled.

"Perfect. I'll explain the Basic Breathing Technique to you first. Understand it before you practice. Don't train blindly. Without guidance, it's easy to injure your lungs, and those injuries are hard to heal. Later, I'll guide you through experiencing it..."

"Alright! Thank you, Brother Tao! I'll listen to you!"

"...Breathe in. Remember, if you feel pain, don't endure it. Stop immediately. Right, make this area expand. Keep going..."

Tao Yu extended his fingers, pressing against Zhang Wei's chest and back at the same time. He did not hold anything back when teaching the Basic Breathing Technique.

Because the skill had been transformed, he directly possessed the ability to sense the vital energy and blood within his body. Many of the questions he had once had about the Breathing Technique had become clear, and he fully understood its principles. Teaching it was not difficult.

"Cough, cough!"

However, the Basic Breathing Technique was not so easy to learn. Zhang Wei soon began coughing violently, and Tao Yu stopped.

"Alright, you got the wind knocked out of you just now. You can't practice anymore. Rest until this time tomorrow before trying again. Don't attempt it in private."

Tao Yu himself had learned it with Third Brother's help, and it had taken him a long time.

The reason was that one could not rush this kind of training. Otherwise, lung damage could become irreversible.

"O-Okay. Thank you, Brother Tao."

Zhang Wei covered his mouth as he coughed, still expressing his gratitude.

He knew the value of the Basic Breathing Technique. If he could learn it this time, he would be making a killing!

He was willing to work hard and flatter Tao Yu however much necessary. He had to make sure Brother Tao was pleased.

But just then, the bells rang out with a tinkling sound, instantly putting both of them on alert.

There was no wind now. The warning perimeter Zhang Wei had set up had been triggered!

Tao Yu held his gun as he leaned against a tree trunk, scanning the surroundings and locking onto the direction of the sound.

It was not a major disturbance, so it might not be a Giant Snake, but he could not let his guard down.

Following Tao Yu's gaze, Zhang Wei gripped his steel pipe and crept over. He crouched halfway down, bracing the end of the pipe against the ground as he kept watch, ready to burst into action at any moment.

Then a voice came from the direction of the bells.

"Yo, you're pretty alert. Don't fire carelessly, pioneers."

After hearing the voice, the two of them relaxed slightly.

But this was a wilderness without any rules or restraints. They still needed to remain cautious.

They could not truly let down their guard simply because they came from the same place.

Then the bushes near the bells shook, and three figures emerged.

The moment Tao Yu saw those three figures, his pupils contracted slightly.

One of them had a mechanical arm, and mounted where it connected to his shoulder was a shoulder-fired cannon!

Golden hair, a white man's face, a powerful build, and a partially mechanized body all combined to create an invisible pressure. He was one of the Inner City youths!

Whether in the Inner City or the Outer City of Starfall City, there were people of all races, though yellow and white people were the most common.

When that Inner City youth saw Tao Yu and Zhang Wei, his eyes lit up. He then laughed.

"Haha, not bad luck. Two people. We're only short one now."

Hearing this, Tao Yu immediately understood. Their encounter was probably not entirely coincidental. The earlier gunfire and grenade explosion could likely be heard over a considerable distance. They had probably been drawn over, seen the snake corpses, then followed the trail toward the firelight.

"Sorry, but because the difficulty of this Awakening Day has clearly increased, the snake teeth have already been absorbed. My talent is B-rank Dynamic Vision. If I had known you needed them, sir, I should have kept them."

Tao Yu lied without blinking. The items had already been absorbed anyway, so naturally he chose the most pleasant version of events.

Zhang Wei, on the other hand, honestly revealed that his talent was Stamina (D+).

"B-rank?"

Yosef froze for a moment, then swiftly raised his mechanical arm and waved it before Tao Yu's eyes.

"What numbers did I show just now?"

"Three first, then four, and finally a fist."

Tao Yu knew Yosef was testing him because he did not quite believe him. The mechanical arm had moved very quickly.

Still, it was necessary to show some value. He only hoped Yosef's talent was not poor enough to make him jealous or anything. He was from the Inner City, so probably not.

"Whoa, not bad. Two Combat Talents. You're much better than these two pieces of trash."

Then, remembering that Tao Yu had used the Wish Power Snake Fangs, Yosef looked unconcerned.

"It's fine. What's used is used. The information in those things is pretty chaotic anyway. You need at least twenty or thirty of them before you might be able to sort it out, and the mental contamination isn't low either."

Yosef had clearly only asked casually and did not place much importance on the snake teeth.

For an Inner City youth, that mechanical arm alone cost at least tens of thousands of Wish Power, assuming one even had the right connections. The number and quality of skills they learned from childhood naturally far surpassed those of Outer City people, so such things were not especially rare to them.

Instead, the Combat Talents of Tao Yu and Zhang Wei made his eyes light up.

"B-rank Dynamic Vision. Work hard and you might even make it into the Inner City. Stamina is a versatile talent too. Both of you are pretty decent."

At that, he cupped his hands toward the sky from afar and said,

"Especially since Young Master Sun wants to establish a settlement here. This is exactly when people are needed. You two are quite good and caught a fortunate time. You might even receive benefits greater than your talents."

Yosef seemed to appreciate Tao Yu's talent. He reined in some of the arrogance typical of an Inner City youth and acknowledged that value...