A Pretty Useless Skill?

"Huh?"

"Proficiency +2, outstanding Stone Skipping?" Chen Jue stared at the scrolling notification, stunned.

He hadn't expected adding a running start to change things like this.

He tried Stone Skipping with a running start twice more. One stone skipped eight times and traveled over ten meters across the river, but the feedback was still the usual Proficiency +1.

The other skipped eleven times and flew more than twenty meters. The Attribute Panel gave it an [Outstanding] rating, and the proficiency gain doubled.

"So... did I trigger some hidden condition?"

"Was that a critical hit on proficiency?"

Chen Jue compared the results with his earlier attempts and analyzed them. It seemed he'd figured out a little trick for raising the skill on this panel.

After spending seven or eight minutes skipping all the stones left in his bag with a running start, he successfully raised Stone Skipping to Lv0 (42/100).

Of the twenty-odd stones, only five earned an [Outstanding] rating.

The rest gave him the regular +1, +1.

"It's fun, and kind of addictive, too."

"But if you do it too much, it really wears out your arm!" Chen Jue panted and rolled his aching right arm.

Stone Skipping looked simple, but repeatedly whipping stones with a mechanical burst of force put a real strain on your wrist and arm.

Chen Jue had spent years sitting at an office desk and rarely exercised. After throwing twenty-odd stones, his arm was so tired he didn't want to lift it anymore.

He also discovered that not every throw earned +1 proficiency.

The stone had to skip at least three times and travel at least ten meters.

Otherwise, the panel wouldn't count it as a successful attempt at Stone Skipping.

"Click~"

A lighter flared, and Chen Jue lit a cigarette before sitting on the grass by the river.

"Puff~"

He took a deep drag, holding the cigarette in his left hand, which he didn't use much.

His right arm and wrist were aching badly, and he didn't even feel like moving anymore.

But while his body couldn't move, his mind kept working.

He replayed the five [Outstanding] Stone Skipping attempts he'd just made.

His running posture, the angle of his arm swing, the burst of force, even the way he'd held the stone in his palm—all of it played through his mind like a slideshow.

"I never knew there was so much to Stone Skipping!"

"But there's something subtle about it... It feels even more relaxing than smoking..." Chen Jue sat on the grass, puffing away and marveling at the strange appeal of Stone Skipping.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten so absorbed in a fun childhood game.

He'd been drifting through Hang City for years. Every morning, he woke up in the little bed in his rented apartment and went straight to work, thinking about rent. He wasn't dating anyone; all he could think about was making money.

He couldn't even afford a home, so he didn't want to waste some young woman's time.

On weekends, at most, he'd go out to eat with friends or sit side by side with them at an internet café, gaming together.

But after a while, the novelty wore off, and Chen Jue found that this robotic life was getting more and more boring.

He'd never expected that this panel he'd awakened by chance, paired with Stone Skipping—a sport so obscure it barely counted as one—could become so absorbing.

Perhaps, in his view, happiness was always this simple.

Sitting on the grass, his thoughts wandered.

After resting for over half an hour, Chen Jue stubbed out his cigarette and got up to look for more suitable stones nearby.

The ache in his right arm had eased a little. He wanted to use the rest of the evening to grind Stone Skipping up to level one.

It was just like playing a text-based MUD game. Watching the prompts scroll by with their Proficiency +1 and +2 was incredibly tempting.

The temptation drew Chen Jue into trying one running-start throw after another.

His repeated attempts also attracted a crowd of onlookers camping nearby.

A few well-dressed children saw Chen Jue throwing stones into the water and gathered around, imitating his movements.

But they weren't strong enough. Their stones mostly went plunk and sank straight into the river.

They couldn't match the graceful, playful way Chen Jue's stones bounced across the water, making more than a dozen splashes in a row.

"Uncle! Uncle!"

"How come your stones skip so many times?" A little boy in camouflage came over.

Seeing the children's curious faces, Chen Jue used his break to rest his arms and wrists and patiently showed them how to skip stones.

He wasn't much of an expert himself, but he had no trouble teaching a few kids.

The children's parents saw what was happening and came over curiously, joining in with their kids.

"Hey, you're pretty good at skipping stones!"

"I tried a few times, but I couldn't even get ten skips." The young father, dressed in matching camouflage with the little boy, came over too. He'd tried several times but couldn't get the stones to travel far.

Chen Jue smiled. "Not bad. You just get better with practice." Then he looked the man over.

The man wore camouflage and had a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.

He was probably the organizer of the nearby camping group. He seemed to enjoy having fun, too, and got a bunch of kids to join Chen Jue in a Stone Skipping contest.

They planned to see who could get the most skips and send a stone the farthest.

There were no prizes, but kids loved this kind of wholesome contest.

Chen Jue had been grinding proficiency by himself and was feeling a little lonely, so he joined in.

He chatted about all sorts of things with the father, who was around his age, while looking for stones that were easy to throw.

They played for nearly an hour, and most of the suitable stones along the riverbank had been picked over.

At last, Chen Jue made a flawless throw. As he watched the stone skip twenty times across the river, a string of notifications scrolled across the top of the panel.

[ Ding~ ]

[ Completed an outstanding Stone Skipping throw. ]

[ Stone Skipping skill proficiency +3 ]

[ Ding~ ]

[ Proficiency reached 100%. Skill level increased. ]

[ Stone Skipping Lv0 (100/100) → Lv1 (2/200) ]

[ You've gained a little more insight and feel for Stone Skipping. ]

[ Ding~ ]

[ Completed a qualifying anaerobic exercise. ]

[ Free attribute points +0.01 ]

[ Ding~ ]

[ After a period of exercise, your right hand and arm muscle groups have grown slightly. ]

[ Strength attribute +0.01 ]

"Holy crap!"

"That's quite a level-up!"

Watching the notifications fill the screen, Chen Jue felt as if he'd just killed a hidden boss in a game, triggered a lucky critical hit, and looted a screenful of gear!

On top of that, he found that he seemed to have gained some personal insights about Stone Skipping.

How to adjust the stone's angle, how much force to use, how far to run for the best result, and so on. Compared to his mindless attempts at Lv0, he'd become much more adept at Stone Skipping.

Chen Jue shook out his right hand and relaxed his arm, then lit a cigarette and sat down to recover his strength.

He'd been playing with the adults and kids for nearly an hour. They'd taken breaks, but repeatedly running up and throwing with his right arm had still taken a lot out of him.

Fortunately, the panel had also given him a free attribute point, so Chen Jue immediately put it into Constitution.

His Constitution attribute rose to 0.91, and a faint warmth spread through his body.

The warmth came and went quickly, but Chen Jue noticed that the ache in his right arm and hand had eased somewhat.

While resting, he took the opportunity to find a suitable stone.

When he'd finished the rest of his cigarette, Chen Jue stood, took a running start, and used his newfound feel to squeeze out his last bit of strength. Then he hurled the flat stone toward the river.

"Plack~"

The rapidly spinning stone sent a string of splashes across the water. Under the nearby lights, ripples spread across the river.

Chen Jue estimated that it had skipped at least twenty times.

It had also traveled thirty-odd meters, up from the twenty or so meters he'd managed before.

[ Ding~ ]

[ Completed a superior Stone Skipping throw. ]

[ Stone Skipping proficiency +3 ]

The panel gave him another notification.

"Awesome!"

"That was my best one yet!"

"It skipped more times and went farther than before!" Chen Jue was so excited he nearly jumped on the spot.

Now that Stone Skipping had reached Lv1, he was confident he could replicate that [Superior] rating with every throw.

That was the feel and personal insight the panel's notification had mentioned.

He'd only ever heard people talk about having a feel for games or basketball.

But you could have a feel for Stone Skipping, too?

Even the adults and children watching nearby looked at Chen Jue with admiration.

But the excitement came and went quickly.

Once he'd used up his last bit of energy, he saw that it was already past nine. Chen Jue said goodbye to the kids and walked cheerfully out of White Horse Lake Park.

He didn't keep riding his bike.

He simply didn't have the energy.

He called a Didi on his phone and set his apartment complex as the destination.

Once in the car, watching the city lights flicker past outside the window, Chen Jue found himself laughing in the back seat for no reason.

"Looks like I've mastered a pretty useless skill."

"But tonight... was really fun!"

Third update~

The contract's signed, so don't worry—please like, share, and favorite!

Since it's a new book, please recommend it, vote for it, add it to your library, or reward it if you're inclined (grinning).

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