One line of text after another appeared before Hu Long.
Not everyone had skills of their own.
Although the Panel had provided him with no information about this, after observing and analyzing things over the past few days, Hu Long had come to some conclusions.
The conditions for a skill to form were not simple. Basic abilities like eating, sleeping, and riding a bicycle did not count as skills.
Skills weren't something everyone had. There seemed to be an invisible standard at work.
In Hu Long's view, things everyone could do, like eating, walking, and singing, naturally didn't count as skills.
Only when an ability surpassed the ordinary could it become a true skill.
For example, someone had to sing beautifully enough before it could be called a "talent."
Only skills that required a great deal of time and effort to learn could be displayed.
No, perhaps the Primordial Plain Panel adjusted its criteria based on Hu Long himself.
For instance, it might show skills that other people had mastered but he hadn't.
Of course, these were only Hu Long's guesses. He wasn't sure whether that was really the case.
That was also why some people had no skills, while others had more than one.
Besides that.
Even when different skills were at the same level, they required slightly different amounts of data.
For example, some proficient-level skills required 3M, while others needed only 2M.
Hu Long took a seat near the window, making sure he could get plenty of sunlight. The caregiver had gone to queue up and get his meal.
At the table in front of him sat an old man with grizzled hair, arranging the grains of rice from his bowl on the tabletop one by one with slow, intense concentration.
Farther away, on the right, a middle-aged woman kept nodding at the empty air, a fixed smile hanging from her lips.
Hu Long appeared to be staring out the window.
But he wasn't. With a thought, the Primordial Plain Panel appeared before him.
His gaze fell on the last entry.
[Source Value: 6.71 strands]
A month and a half had passed since he came to this world.
His Source Value had reached 6.71 strands.
Based on his previous rate of gaining 0.1 Source Value a day, it should have increased by around 4.5 strands, bringing the total to well over 7.
But that wasn't what had happened.
Huanyang City, where he was currently staying, lay in the lower reaches of the Jing River. Cold and warm air masses often clashed over the region for extended periods, forming a quasi-stationary "Plum Rain Front."
As a result, the summer often brought weeks of continuous rain.
Rainy weather blocked out the sunlight.
This meant that for several days, Hu Long had been unable to gain any Source Value.
"Mealtime! Hehe, I love eating! I want a chicken leg..."
Just then.
A burly figure walked by, followed by—
A tall man with a vacant expression plopped down heavily behind him.
The man grinned, mumbling incoherently as a glistening strand of drool ran from the corner of his mouth and hung down onto his collar.
His eyes were unfocused, and his empty grin showed not the slightest sign of reason.
But this was a mental hospital. Not being right in the head was the norm.
People like Hu Long, who appeared clearheaded and could speak and communicate normally, were actually few and far between.
Hu Long didn't turn around or respond.
Still, the habit he'd developed from using the Panel made him reach out behind himself almost without thinking.
His fingertips barely brushed the man's clothes.
In an instant, Hu Long's eyes narrowed, a faint flicker of surprise passing through them.
[Target: Guo Yuan] [Physical Talent: High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism] [Size: 6M (Status: Available for download)] [Description: With this physical talent, the metabolism in the stomach is highly efficient, and the person can eat several times as much as an ordinary person. Not only can he quickly digest food and convert it into energy, he can also rapidly break down certain toxins, alcohol, and drugs.]
"A physical talent, of all things?"
A strange look appeared in Hu Long's eyes.
Over the past few days, he'd intentionally or unintentionally touched patients, nurses, and doctors, and encountered all sorts of skills. But this was the first time he'd seen a physical talent.
The description made it easy to understand what this physical talent did.
To be honest, this talent would be very useful to Hu Long.
Even though he'd spent the past month recuperating here and eating more, he was only a little better off than before.
He still often felt dizzy and weak all over. It felt as though he'd lost too much of his vital energy.
Thinking of the strange thing that had been haunting him, Hu Long suspected that its presence was the cause. Otherwise, his condition made no sense.
Now that he'd seen this talent, an idea immediately came to mind. If eating normally wasn't enough to help him recover quickly, what if he had this physical talent?
At the thought, Hu Long glanced at his Source Value.
Six strands of Source Value were just enough to exchange for six terabytes of data. His current reserves were more than enough to download this physical talent.
Seeing this, Hu Long didn't hesitate. With a thought, the figure in the Source Value entry changed to 0.71.
Meanwhile, the data entry went from 0M to 6M.
The whole process was remarkably simple and quick.
Then Hu Long silently said to himself again,
"Tai Su, download the physical talent High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism for me!"
Buzz!
The instant the thought crossed his mind,
the silver Panel before his eyes trembled slightly.
The 6M of data in the data entry was instantly used up.
At a speed of eight megabytes per second,
the physical talent High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism, which was only 6M in size, finished downloading in less than a second.
At the same time,
it was as if a current of static electricity had passed through him. Then Hu Long felt his stomach grow pleasantly warm and tingly.
It was quite comfortable.
The feeling lasted for a few seconds before vanishing, as if it had all been an illusion.
Hu Long looked at the Primordial Plain Panel. A new line of text had appeared on it.
[Physical Talent: High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism]
"It worked!"
Hu Long felt a stir in his heart, while Guo Yuan, who was eating in front of him, remained completely unaware.
"So the downloaded talent is still there, as if it's been copied and pasted?"
Seeing this,
Hu Long's gaze shifted slightly.
He reached that conclusion at once. Although the download Panel had given him some information, it was rough and incomplete.
For example, it hadn't explained how Source Value worked or how fast the download speed was.
Nor did it say whether downloading a skill directly stole it or copied it.
Now it seemed it was the latter.
But after learning that,
the tension in his mind eased.
If downloading someone else's skills or talents made them disappear from that person, it would inevitably draw the attention of anyone looking for trouble.
In that case, he'd have to be careful whenever he needed to download someone else's skills or talents in the future.
This was undoubtedly the best possible outcome.
With that thought,
he prepared to close the Panel.
Then he suddenly stopped.
Because he saw a "△" after the High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism talent, translucent and dimly lit.