First Attempt

It wasn't even dawn when Li Xuan was woken by the cold.

He curled up in the pile of straw, feeling the chill seeping out of every bone.

His fever hadn't broken yet, and his mind was still groggy, but he was slightly clearer than last night.

Soon, there was movement in the temple.

One of the three burly men stood up and kicked the nearest refugee.

"Get up! All of you!"

The crowd stirred like startled insects.

Li Xuan leaned against the wall, forcing himself to stand. The sharp pain from the wound on his left leg made him gasp.

He looked at his status panel.

After a night had passed, his attributes hadn't changed at all, especially his potential points, which were still 0.

"You, you, and you five..." the scarred burly man pointed at people, "It's your turn to go to the north slope to dig for ash root today. You need to hand in three catties by sunset. If you don't have enough... hehe... you know the rules."

As he spoke, the scarred burly man glared fiercely at the selected individuals.

Included among those pointed at were Li Xuan and the white-haired old man. Each received a rusty short shovel and was driven out of the dilapidated temple.

The wind and snow had stopped, but the temperature was still very low. His exhaled breath instantly turned into white mist.

Li Xuan tightened the thin, tattered clothes on his body, though they couldn't block the wind at all.

He stayed at the back of the group, taking each step carefully, trying to put as little weight as possible on his left leg.

The north slope was two li north of the dilapidated temple. It was in the shade, and the snow was thicker than elsewhere.

The burly man leading them stopped at the foot of the slope and didn't go further. He found a rock out of the wind and squatted down. "I'll come to collect by sunset. If you're short one catty, you get no dinner tonight. If you're short two catties, you know the consequences."

After speaking, he wrapped his clothes tighter and left, clearly not worried about them escaping.

"Spread out and dig," the white-haired old man said, coughing. "Ash root is hard to find if you stay together."

The five people separated.

Li Xuan chose the outermost position. He needed space to test some of his ideas.

The ground was frozen solid. Each shovel of dirt only yielded a small amount of frozen soil.

After digging a dozen times, Li Xuan was already out of breath from exhaustion.

"Cough, cough... young man."

Li Xuan looked up. The white-haired old man had somehow moved closer to him.

"Ash root likes to grow under piles of rubble," the old man said in a low voice, pointing his short shovel towards a pile of rocks not far away. "It's warmer between the rocks, making it easier for the roots to survive."

Li Xuan was stunned for a moment. "Thank you."

The old man shook his head and continued digging his own patch, saying no more.

Li Xuan dragged his injured leg to the edge of the rubble pile.

As expected, lifting a few stones revealed that the soil underneath was slightly softer, and a bit of ash-brown root was visible.

He dug carefully, avoiding cutting the root with his shovel.

It took nearly half an hour to dig out the first complete ash root.

The root was as thick as a thumb and half a foot long. He weighed it; it was less than two liang.

Three catties would require at least twenty of these.

The efficiency was too low.

He glanced at his status panel; his potential was still 0.

How could he obtain it?

He had thought about it all night yesterday, but could only come up with a few possibilities: completing tasks? Killing? Special encounters?

In this godforsaken place, the easiest one to verify was probably...

Li Xuan gritted his teeth and continued digging.

By noon, he had only dug up seven ash roots, estimated to be less than a catty.

His stomach growled with hunger, and his lips were cracked and bleeding.

The progress of the others was similar; the slowest had only dug up four roots.

Just as he was prying up a large rock, several gray shadows suddenly darted out from underneath!

"Squeak, squeak—"

It was rock mice. There were four of them. Their hibernation had been disturbed, and they were now scattering in panic.

These creatures were about the size of small cats, with thick fur. Their movements were somewhat sluggish due to the cold.

One of them, in its haste, ran into Li Xuan's feet and tumbled over, disoriented.

Li Xuan froze.

The rock mouse froze too, its black-bean-like eyes fixed on him, its front paws digging at the snow, seemingly judging where to run.

Should I kill it?

Countless thoughts flashed through Li Xuan's mind: It's a living creature. Will the status panel change if I kill it? But what if it doesn't? Wasted effort. What if the Burly Man sees it and takes it? Rock mouse meat is sour and gamey, but it's still meat...

The rock mouse moved, turning to flee.

Li Xuan's hand was faster than his brain.

He raised the rusted shovel and swung it down with all his might!

The shovel blade struck the rock mouse's hind leg, the sound of bone shattering clear.

The rock mouse let out a sharp scream, rolling and struggling in the snow, leaving a trail of blood.

Li Xuan's heart pounded, but he didn't stop.

The second shovel strike hit its back.

The third strike hit its head.

The rock mouse's scream cut off abruptly, only the occasional twitch of its body remaining.

Dark red blood slowly bloomed on the white snow, like an ugly flower.

Li Xuan panted, staring at the small corpse.

Then he looked at the status panel.

[Potential: 0.00]

No change?

No... wait a moment.

The number flickered, infinitesimally.

Like a drop of rain falling on a calm lake, creating a ripple almost too faint to see.

Li Xuan held his breath, staring intently.

[Potential: 0.00]

[Potential: 0.03].

Li Xuan felt his hands tremble.

He had succeeded.

Potential could indeed be gained through killing. Although it was only 0.03, a pitifully small amount, it proved his hypothesis!

He took a deep breath of the icy air, forcing himself to calm down.

Now was not the time for excitement. He quickly stuffed the rock mouse corpse into his clothes and continued digging for ash roots.

He had potential, but how to use it?

Li Xuan thought for a moment, concentrated all his mental energy, and clearly recited in his mind: "Add 0.01 potential to Stamina."

[Stamina: 0.7] flickered.

The next second, [Potential] changed from 0.03 to 0.02.

An extremely faint stream of warmth flowed from his heart, coursing through his veins to his limbs, like warm water flowing over frozen fingers. It was fleeting, but the sensation was crystal clear.

The stabbing pain in his injured left leg lessened slightly, the dizziness from the high fever also eased a bit, and his breathing became a little smoother.

It worked!

Li Xuan gripped the shovel handle, his knuckles turning white.

He added all his potential to Stamina, and indeed, the subsequent digging became smoother.

By sunset, he had dug nineteen ash roots, piled together. He estimated they barely weighed three jin.

The Burly Man appeared on time, carrying a tattered sack.

"Put them in."

The five people handed over their harvests one by one.

The Burly Man weighed each person's haul with his hands. When he reached Li Xuan's pile, he glanced at him again: "Oh, you didn't lose any? Seems you're not as weak as you look?"

Seeing Li Xuan still looking sickly, he turned and left without waiting for a reply.

Relieved, Li Xuan let out a breath. He hadn't expected to be noticed.

His high fever had affected his thinking, he hadn't considered that.

On the way back to the ruined temple, the sky darkened.

Li Xuan deliberately lagged behind. The moment the people ahead rounded a large boulder, he quickly took out the rock mouse corpse from his clothes and tore off a strip of meat, stuffing it into his mouth.

It was fishy, gamey, and tasted of blood.

He almost vomited, but forced himself to swallow.

With something in his stomach, even if it was just a little, he felt a bit more grounded.

Returning to the dilapidated temple, those who handed in ash root received a bowl of thin gruel.

He didn't know what it was made of; it was grayish-brown, with almost no visible grains of rice.

If this were before, he wouldn't have even glanced at it, perhaps even disgusted and thrown it away.

But now...

Li Xuan finished it in a few gulps, licking the bowl clean.

At night, he curled up in a corner, looking at the three burly men warming themselves by the fire at the temple entrance.

The firelight reflected on their faces. The scarred burly man was sharpening a short knife, the blade making a rustling sound against a stone.

Li Xuan closed his eyes again.

Tomorrow he still had to go to the north slope, hoping to find more rock mice, or something else.