Unexpected Joy

In the midst of this heat, he felt the light before his eyes growing brighter and his vision clearer, while the muscles throughout his body alternately contracted and relaxed.

The sensation felt vaguely familiar, but before Chen Shouyi could figure it out—

The heat came and went just as quickly. After lasting only a few seconds, it faded without a trace.

Feeling his body grow somewhat light and floaty, Chen Shouyi finally remembered.

Wasn't this the same sensation he'd experienced the first time he entered this Small Island, when the Book of Knowledge had transformed his body?

His heart stirred, and he quickly opened the Status Panel.

Strength: 131

Agility: 131

Constitution: 138

Intelligence: 126

Perception: 11

Will: 118

Knowledge: Chinese Language (Mastery 6); Physics (Proficiency 12); Chemistry (Proficiency 11); Mathematics (Proficiency 9); English (Proficiency 6); Computer Science (Beginner 6); Cooking (Beginner 5); Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms (Proficiency 8); Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self (Proficiency 8); Swordsmanship (Proficiency 12); Archery (Proficiency 6)

Talent Ability: Natural Healing

Energy Accumulation: 295

His attributes had undergone a tremendous change.

His Strength had risen from the original 127 to 131, an increase of 04 points.

Besides that, his Agility, Constitution, and Intelligence had all increased by 03 points.

Even his Will had grown by 02.

However, Chen Shouyi guessed that this was probably not due to a physical transformation, but rather the result of this life-and-death battle.

The more Chen Shouyi looked, the more pleasantly surprised he became.

Although this growth was nowhere near the one or two-point increase he'd received last time, it was like discovering an unexpected fortune beneath your mattress. You couldn't exactly demand more.

With 131 Strength, converted into actual numbers, he now possessed roughly 350 kilograms of force—already far beyond the minimum standard for a martial artist.

After being excited for a while, he suddenly calmed down, unable to keep the doubt from rising in his heart.

After his Intelligence increased by another 03 points, his thoughts became even more lively.

His memory, observation, imagination, thought, judgment, and a whole series of abilities had all improved.

He looked at the "fruit pit," which seemed to have been thoroughly mauled.

He couldn't help falling into thought.

When something abnormal happened, there had to be something sinister behind it. This was definitely no coincidence.

That "fruit pit" had always been kept close to the Barbarian Tribe chief's body and had never changed. It was impossible for its power to have been absorbed by him and transformed his body the moment he got his hands on it.

If such a good thing existed, the Barbarian Tribe chief would have used it himself long ago.

If there was anything special about him compared to the barbarians, there were only two possibilities. First, he wasn't from this world.

Second, he had the Book of Knowledge on him.

He quickly eliminated the first possibility. The odds were pitifully small.

Then the only explanation was that it was caused by the Book of Knowledge, which existed within his body in the form of the World Tree.

Its origins were extraordinary. Its very material was the heartwood of the World Tree, and it had been refined into a Divine Artifact. Although it had long since been broken and its power no longer revealed itself, it still possessed some special abilities.

Unfortunately, he had too little information and couldn't make a definite judgment.

However, he vaguely felt that this thing was no benevolent creature. Looking at it actually filled him with a sense of revulsion.

In truth, Chen Shouyi didn't know that this was the influence of his subconscious.

Although he had no memory whatsoever of those mysterious, hypnotic whispers from before, his subconscious had nevertheless developed resistance and wariness toward them.

Of course, in the end, this was also because Chen Shouyi's Will wasn't strong enough.

The "Tree God" was called a god, but it was still far from being a true deity. It was merely a Divine Creature, and its abilities were still quite weak. Against a battle-hardened warrior, this kind of interference could be completely ignored or even thoroughly blocked.

Chen Shouyi gave the fruit pit a light squeeze. It was so fragile, as if it had been molded from flour, and immediately crumbled to pieces.

He rubbed his fingers together lightly and could feel that the powder still contained some moisture.

It really was a fruit pit.

He tossed away the powder, then clapped his hands.

He then pulled the two arrows from the barbarian's body one by one, hoisted up the corpse, and walked toward the sea.

It felt lighter than he'd imagined.

Of course, he also knew that this was an illusion caused by his increased Strength.

He carried the corpse and moved forward step by step, carefully trying to adapt to his newly increased attributes.

Fortunately, the increase wasn't large. Before long, he gradually grew accustomed to it.

After throwing away the corpse, he began dealing with the two dugout canoes stranded nearby.

Things were different now!

The last time, he had worried that if the dugout canoes remained on the Small Island, barbarians passing across the sea might see them and expose him. In the end, he could only push them into the sea.

But now, he naturally had no need to worry about that.

Instead, he was worried that once he pushed them into the sea, the barbarians might obtain them again.

The dugout canoes were enormous—four or five meters wide and roughly ten meters long. Their interiors were terribly uneven and crude, covered everywhere with dense, overlapping chisel marks. Clearly, someone had forcibly hollowed out a hole in a massive log to form them.

At the same time, the cuts left by the chisels were far from smooth. The wood's natural structure had been completely destroyed, with loose fibers sticking out everywhere. This showed that the tools used for carving were not sharp; the canoes had been hacked out through repeated blows of immense force.

How long would the Barbarian Tribe need to build a dugout canoe like this?

Chen Shouyi estimated that, with enough people, selecting and cutting down the log and then hollowing it into a boat would take at least three to five years.

After all, although the barbarians were far stronger than humans, the trees here were just as dense and hard as iron. Building such a massive dugout canoe was an enormous undertaking even for the barbarians.

That estimate already assumed the Barbarian Tribe had a group of specialized boatbuilders who focused solely on constructing dugout canoes and did no other productive work.

In reality, it might take even longer.

A dugout canoe like this was a precious asset that a tribe could pass down for decades or even centuries. It was also an important survival tool for catching fish in daily life.

Losing two of them would be no less than a devastating blow to the Barbarian Tribe—an event serious enough to mean going without several meals.

Chen Shouyi naturally couldn't let them get them back, even if it was only a possibility.

He waded through the seawater and climbed into one of the dugout canoes.

At once, all kinds of strange, foul odors wormed their way into his nose.

He immediately held his breath, picked up a crude rope braided from vines and strips of bark that was connected to a hole at the bow, waded back through the seawater, and tied it to a rock on the shore.

Then he tied down and secured the other one as well.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten the arrows from the corpses floating on the sea. He washed and recovered them one by one.

This battle had shown him the tremendous power of bows and arrows in warfare.

An expert archer could often overcome the strong with the weak as long as he kept his distance.

The barbarians were stronger than him and faster than him, but in battle, aside from the Barbarian Tribe chief, everyone else had died from a single strike.

After recovering all the arrows, Chen Shouyi discovered that eight were missing.

They had all fallen into the sea and could no longer be found.

He didn't care. He wasn't short of money now, and these metal arrows given away by the seller only cost around twenty yuan each. A hundred yuan could buy five of them. He had already decided to buy another batch when he returned.

He picked up the War Bow, the clothes, and the pelt left on the ground. After glancing back, he turned and walked toward the passage entrance on the mountainside.

From far away, he saw Shell Girl flying through the air, apparently quite excited.

When Chen Shouyi approached, she immediately flew down onto his shoulder, bouncing up and down excitedly as she shouted, "A-a... a giant was killed by you! A-a... a giant was scared away by you!"

Did you really need to tell me that?

I knew that ages ago.

Chen Shouyi kept an unconcerned look on his face, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help curling into a smile.

At that moment, he remembered Shell Girl's timely warning earlier and felt that he had to give her a reward.

He felt around in his pocket and, unusually generous, fished out two small glass beads.

"Gems. These are for you—for discovering the giant!"

Shell Girl immediately flew in front of him, clutching one in each hand as she beamed with delight.

"Great giant, you're such a good person!"