Mental Antibody

Mental Antibody

With a lingering sense of doubt, Shen Xing applied two drops of eye lubricant to his eyes and blinked. The three lines of text, resembling a status window, remained.

It was now certain that these attributes were not related to his physical body, but were instead manifested through the Woodcarving System—or, as he had initially misnamed it, the "sand-carving" system—appearing at the level of his mind or consciousness.

Looking again at the bust of Hong Bin, the black shadow remained curled up within the wood.

Shen Xing spent the entire night tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Whether his eyes were open or closed, those three lines of text remained in his field of vision, ever-present.

He had yet to receive any prompt regarding the activation of a "golden finger," and while he didn't understand how the woodcarving had managed to contain Hong Bin's shadow, the Woodcarving System was undeniably active. Could it at least give him a reason not to be so anxious?

Around two in the morning, unable to sleep, Shen Xing climbed out of bed. He didn't turn on the lights, but instead sat at his workbench, leaning forward with his elbows pressed against the surface, staring at the bust of Hong Bin.

The bedroom was filled with the scent of wood, beeswax, and lacquer. Shen Xing had grown accustomed to these smells; in fact, he felt that the aroma emanating from the wood could even be described as fragrant.

It was much like how some people enjoyed the smell of ink, the scent of freshly printed books, or the aroma of raw vegetable oil.

He could no longer tell if he had always enjoyed the scent of wood or if this peculiar preference had only emerged after his transmigration.

Perhaps it was merely a preference of the original owner that now influenced him.

Or perhaps it was the preference of the person in the photograph, influencing him through the original owner's physical memories.

His gaze shifted to the clean, exquisite photo frame on the workbench. The young woman in the photo smiled brightly, two shallow dimples appearing beside her mouth, her eyes seemingly fixed upon him.

Ye Ting, the girlfriend of the body's original owner. Or, to be precise, his fiancée.

After Shen Xing was reborn and gained the original owner's memories, he discovered that this young woman named Ye Ting had been missing for three years.

Initially, the reborn Shen Xing's impression of Ye Ting was limited to her physical beauty, but as he was gradually influenced by the original owner's memories, his mind would be flooded with waves of longing that he could not escape.

He still remembered the moment of his rebirth, when he had discovered a deep gash on his wrist. The tool used had been a carving knife, and the hand that held it had been his own—or rather, the original owner's.

After three years of failing to find his missing fiancée, the original Shen Xing had become convinced that Ye Ting was dead, choosing to end his own life with his favorite carving knife.

Following his transmigration, his body had been extremely weak for the first few days, but as the fatal wound on his wrist began to heal in a bizarre fashion, his condition slowly improved until not even a scar remained.

The memories inherited from the original owner told Shen Xing that Ye Ting and the original owner were college classmates who both loved woodcarving. They had each operated their own small shops, but after Ye Ting went missing, the original owner sold his own shop to manage the one that had belonged to her.

In the process, he had spent every cent from the sale of his shop searching for Ye Ting, yet until the moment he gave up on life, he had remained without a single clue.

He let out a long sigh and pulled his gaze away from the photograph. A surge of uncontrollable longing had welled up in his heart—a bitter yet sweet sensation that often struck without warning.

Even the woman in the photo now felt inseparable from the sweet memories of their past romance, thanks to the inherited memories.

His eyes wandered across the workbench, where the carving tools were arranged neatly: various sizes of Arc Blades and Flat Chisels, a Jigsaw, a stack of Sandpaper, and a Whetstone. A Bench Vise was fixed to the other end of the table.

Following Ye Ting's work habits, these tools were always within easy reach during the carving process.

Over time, Shen Xing had adopted the same habits.

In his previous life, he had a foundation in drawing, so although he felt like he was touching woodcarving for the first time after his rebirth, the combination of his artistic skills and the original owner's technique meant he hadn't struggled much when he first started.

His gaze fixed on the bust of Hong Bin for a long time. As his thoughts swirled, he felt more and more alert, still without a hint of sleepiness.

A moment later, Shen Xing's eyelid twitched. He snapped back to reality and immediately noticed that the three lines of attributes at the corner of his eye had changed!

The progress bar for the first line, "Mental Antibody," seemed to be increasing!

He focused his attention and looked closely. Indeed, the progress bar, which had been gray, was now partially filled with a pale white color. Although it was less than a tenth of the total bar, it was clear that the Mental Antibody entry had changed.

What could have caused the progress bar to increase?

Shen Xing was puzzled. He had been lost in thought just now without any specific intent, but his eyes had been fixed on... this bust!

Could it be because of the woodcarving?

To be honest, with the lights off and only the light from the window, his view of the carving was quite blurry.

He reached out to turn on the desk lamp and placed the carving under the light, staring at it without thinking of anything else.

About half a minute later, he noticed the attribute values in the lower right corner of his vision changing again.

Once again, it was the Mental Antibody entry; the pale white progress bar was extending forward, albeit very slowly.

Shen Xing stared at the carving without moving. Even when he didn't deliberately look at the corner of his eye, he could still perceive the progress bar increasing.

Slowly, after about half an hour, the spreading pale white color occupied about one-fifth of the progress bar.

This significant change startled Shen Xing, but just then, a wave of intense sleepiness washed over him. He didn't resist at all, simply collapsing onto the workbench and falling asleep right there.

Time passed.

When he woke up, it was already past two in the afternoon.

He sat up, feeling a bit dazed, and realized he had fallen asleep on the workbench the night before.

Shen Xing immediately felt a chill; sleeping like that all night made it highly likely he would catch a cold. He stood up and stretched his stiff limbs, his neck feeling numb and sore.

He went to the living room to turn on the hot water switch of the water dispenser. After washing up, he poured himself a cup of warm water and swallowed two cold tablets.

Regardless of whether he would actually get sick, he decided to take precautions.

Taking this opportunity, Shen Xing checked the attributes at the corner of his eye and found that only the Mental Antibody entry showed the changes from last night; the other two lines remained unchanged.

If my Physical Strength increased, maybe I wouldn't have to worry about catching a cold from sleeping without a blanket, he muttered to himself.

As for what the third attribute, "Latent Skill," meant, he hadn't the faintest clue.

He didn't feel like opening the shop today; he planned to take a good rest and, while he was at it, process the bizarre encounters he'd had from yesterday up until now.

To be honest, even now he couldn't say for sure whether the black shadow of Hong Bin trapped inside the wooden carving was actually a ghost.

But what he could confirm was that staring at the wooden carving that held Hong Bin's shadow for a period of time could increase his Mental Antibody attribute value.

As for what this Mental Antibody could be used for, it remained unknown for the time being.

Please provide the text you would like me to translate or revise. Once you provide the Chinese source text, I will ensure it is converted into natural, punchy English while adhering to all your formatting and stylistic requirements.