Three Months of Transformation

The night gradually passed.

The next day, Chen Xuan did not choose to go to Zhang Shan's home. While hunting involved more than just bow and arrow, now that he understood the system better, he could acquire hunting skills directly from it.

Under such circumstances, there was naturally no need for him to pay a price to visit Zhang Shan again.

Besides, letting others know that he could always get meat was not a good thing.

Although most people in the village were not as miserable as his family, few could eat meat every day. Especially after this year's great disaster, there were even fewer. One had to guard against others.

Yet when Chen Xuan did not come again, Zhang Shan did not go to check on him either, as though he did not care much.

Soon, the first month passed.

Over that month, Chen Xuan's archery advanced by leaps and bounds according to the Conceptual Ability's training methods. By now, while running and shooting at a grass target, he could hit three to five arrows out of ten.

But when he wanted to continue into the second month of training, he ran into a little trouble.

He needed to practice on moving targets, but no one could help him move them.

Xiao Shitou was still too young to help. His mother needed to gather wild vegetables. Though she brought back very little each day, it still counted as food.

After thinking it over, Chen Xuan could not help recalling a dark, sturdy figure.

Without further hesitation, he headed straight for his second uncle's home.

In the end, Chen Xuan got Chen Er Zhuang to help him throw the grass target for moving-target practice, at the price of one jin of meat every ten days.

Chen Er Zhuang had initially refused. In his view, he was merely helping his younger cousin toss a grass target around—why would he need meat for that? But Chen Xuan insisted, and Chen Er Zhuang ultimately accepted.

There was no helping it. Meat was simply too tempting.

For Chen Xuan, although he did not want to reveal too much, that was only toward Zhang Shan. Judging from the past month, his second uncle's family was still trustworthy enough, so there was naturally no problem.

With Chen Er Zhuang's help, Chen Xuan's training returned to the right track once more.

In the second month, with moving targets added in, his archery improved considerably again.

By the end of the second month, while running, he could hit four or five out of ten shots at fixed targets. Against moving targets while standing still, he could hit five or six out of ten.

Then came the third month of training.

But upon reaching the third month, the Conceptual Ability indeed raised the difficulty of obtaining food sharply, just as he had expected.

Clearly, he had nearly picked clean all the easy ways of obtaining food nearby.

If he wanted to keep acquiring food, it would become much harder.

Especially as the third month drew to a close, the difficulty of obtaining food made Chen Xuan's heart tighten.

He looked at the few bird eggs he had managed to obtain.

Chen Xuan sighed.

With a thought, the list changed again.

Objective: Obtain sufficient food today (pending confirmation)

Setup complete

"Loading!"

"Loading successful!"

"Method One: Beyond the Old Locust Tree on the back mountain, one hundred meters away, there is a small stream. In three hours, a sika deer will be seriously injured. Arrive within three hours to obtain one sika deer."

"Method Two: Outside Small River Village, black carp are swimming upstream in the river. At dusk, place a Blue Stone within five meters of the river. Within one shichen, you may obtain a twelve-jin black carp from the river."

"Method Three: Set out immediately. You can reach Green Mountain City by dusk. West City Pharmacy is recruiting Herb Gathering Boys. Join as a Herb Gathering Boy to obtain food."

Lines of text appeared before him. Looking at them, Chen Xuan could not help sighing.

There were three methods, yet none was something he could presently obtain.

There was no need to mention the second method. After what had happened three months ago, Chen Xuan still felt a lingering fear toward that river, much less going into it to catch fish. As for the third method, if he set out now and traveled alone, even though his archery had become quite good, the odds of reaching Green Mountain City alive were not high. Not to mention the dangers after becoming a Herb Gathering Boy.

As for the first method, it looked quite feasible. The Old Locust Tree on the back mountain was only three to five li from the village.

But how had that injured sika deer been hurt? Chen Xuan could figure it out with his toes. It had clearly been wounded by a beast. Going there for food would be like snatching food from a tiger's mouth—courting death.

Shaking his head, Chen Xuan returned home.

Today, he did not plan to continue searching for food, even though what he had was not enough for the three of them.

But they still had some food left over from before. Getting through the next few days would not be much of a problem.

He returned home.

Chen Er Zhuang was already waiting for him.

"Er Zhuang, about the meat for these ten days... how about I give it to you next month?"

Looking at Chen Er Zhuang, Chen Xuan spoke somewhat awkwardly.

"This?"

"It's fine, Er Gou. You don't need to give me any meat."

"Besides, you're teaching me archery too."

Chen Er Zhuang said with a simple, honest grin.

Over the past few days, Chen Xuan had indeed taught Chen Er Zhuang some archery techniques.

That day, Chen Er Zhuang had said that his father had sent him to learn archery from Zhang Shan. But in the end, because his second uncle could not afford the meat Zhang Shan demanded, they could only give up.

During this time, Chen Xuan discovered that Chen Er Zhuang was still very interested in archery, so he began trying to teach him.

"Then, thank you."

Chen Xuan nodded and said nothing more.

Things truly were difficult now.

He could only hope that his archery would soon reach minor mastery. Only then could he obtain food more quickly.

The afternoon sunlight gradually passed.

Another day of training.

And the results that followed were just as Chen Xuan had expected.

The difficulty of obtaining food rose sharply.

To acquire food, he either had to enter the mountains or go to the riverbank.

Other than that, the food he could obtain was not enough to fill three people's stomachs. It would be a struggle even for Xiao Shitou alone.

His mother was also gradually unable to find wild vegetables.

The family seemed to be falling into straitened circumstances once more.

Of course, it was not just them. The village, too, was subtly changing.

Throughout the village, it was becoming harder and harder to obtain food.

Chen Xuan could clearly sense the village growing increasingly tense.

But Chen Xuan did not pay much attention to food. What he cared about more now was his training.

Day after day passed, his time spent in relentless practice.

Under such circumstances, several days flashed by, and the food stored in his home finally reached the point of exhaustion.

But at that very moment, Chen Xuan finally completed the third month of training according to the Conceptual Ability's method.

And his archery finally crossed beyond the beginner stage and reached minor mastery.