Bamboo Hut Construction

Three afternoons later, when Zhou Ye returned from the bamboo grove, he was beaming as he carried four plump bamboo rats.

Over the past few days, those traps had caught three or four bamboo rats every day. Perhaps there were few natural enemies in the bamboo grove; the bamboo rats were hardly afraid of people and had no vigilance whatsoever, so the traps had a remarkably high success rate.

For that very reason, Zhou Ye planned to increase the number of traps. This kind of hunting was relatively easy—he only needed to collect the catch once a day and change the traps' locations.

Unexpectedly, the bamboo grove was a blessed land as well. If a round, rolling national treasure suddenly popped out, that would be even more... hilarious, wouldn't it?

With a sharp dagger in hand, he slaughtered the bamboo rats one by one, slit open their bellies and removed the innards, then carefully skinned them.

At first, since he had been a complete novice, every bamboo rat hide he peeled off would end up torn in several places. But now he was far more skilled. At the very least, he probably would not cut through them again, right?

After putting away the pelts, he planned to eat stir-fried spicy bamboo rat meat tonight. Bamboo rats were so darn cute—they had to be delicious!

By now, Zhou Ye felt that this body had finally recovered somewhat. It had taken in plenty of nutrients, and even the hunger no longer felt so intense. Unlike before, when he had been nothing but skin and bones, fat and muscle had begun accumulating beneath his skin. Even his height had started shooting up.

His diet had therefore gradually become more regular. He no longer stuffed himself wildly as before. Every day, he ate a fixed ration of one and a half jin of staple food, half a jin of meat, and half a jin of vegetables and fruit. Every so often, he would treat himself to an all-meat feast.

To his delight, the main framework of the bamboo hut had also been completed. The whole hut was raised above the ground and laid with bamboo flooring. He had even dug out a spot for a fire pit in the center of the hut. The only issue was that there were gaps between the bamboo poles, which could neither keep out rain nor block the wind. And in the original owner's memories, winters here were quite cold. It definitely needed further work.

After finishing all that, Zhou Ye immediately threw himself into training, because he had reached another critical moment in his cultivation.

More than an hour later, Zhou Ye lowered his blade. His expression turned strange—

Basic Chopping (Unranked): Proficient (0/100)

The bad news was that this upgrade no longer awarded free attribute points. But that made sense. If free attribute points were so worthless that they could be handed out casually, they might as well just give him a Martial Venerable System from the start. Then he could become invincible beneath the heavens and mow down enemies like grass in an Unrivaled rampage.

The good news was that Basic Chopping had advanced to Proficient. Along with the upgrade, vast amounts of experience and insight into proficient chopping flooded into his mind, and he grasped all sorts of tricks within chopping.

Just those precious insights alone could greatly increase his strength.

To be honest, the previous "Beginner" stage had been like a child who had only just learned to read, reciting and tracing characters. Now, Proficient meant he could understand some simple texts. The difference was as vast as heaven and earth.

It could also be said that only upon reaching the Proficient stage did one truly begin cultivating martial skills. Everything before that had merely been the stage of learning to walk.

But on the other hand, do not forget that this was—Basic!

They were all the foundational skills of chopping. One could chop with a saber, chop with an axe, or chop with a sword. There was even chopping with a one-handed shortsword and chopping with a two-handed greatsword...

That made Zhou Ye suddenly see the light. So that was how it was!

Just like Basic Throwing: one could throw flying knives, throwing spears, stones, and the like. All of those counted as foundational skills. Even if one had the ability to throw meteors, it would still count.

And with Basic Thrusting, it was not only long spears that could thrust. Swords, daggers, and so on could thrust as well, could they not? Thus, it was a broad category, and there was no separate Basic Spear Technique.

Speaking of which, when using swordsmanship, both Basic Chopping and Basic Thrusting were foundational skills that likewise needed to be blended together.

As for Basic Hammering, that belonged to the broad category of heavy weapons. Perhaps it also included warhammers, heavy staffs, and so on. There was no separate Basic Staff Technique either.

Of course, those ranked martial skills did not consist merely of such basics. They also involved techniques for exerting force, combination forms, and more. They were certainly far more powerful than these foundational skills.

Unless one was the sort of genius who could turn decay into magic. A genius, after all! Give them a dung fork and they could slay dragons. They could disregard every rule in the world.

In any case, Zhou Ye knew himself well. He definitely was not that kind of freak.

After understanding this, Zhou Ye fell into thought.

For now, grinding points had come to an end. At least in the short term, he could not continue grinding points. He still needed to return to improving his strength.

As for his main focus, it would definitely be Basic Chopping. He wanted to raise it to a higher level in one go.

For supplementary training, one would be Basic Movement, and the other... Basic Throwing!

With Basic Movement combined with his high Agility, he could become even faster and more nimble.

As for his shortcomings, they were Strength and Vitality, and there was simply no way to solve them in the short term. Close combat was definitely not an option, so he could only choose ranged attacks.

And Basic Archery for ranged attacks? Where was he supposed to get that many arrows, you know? In truth, he could only choose Basic Throwing.

He would just attack from far away. If the attack had no effect, he would turn and run without the slightest hesitation.

The next day, Zhou Ye carried a shoulder pole to the riverbank and dug up quite a bit of clay with a shovel...

On the third day, Zhou Ye smeared clay over the roof, then laid down tied bundles of grass and secured them tightly. Once they dried in the sun, the thatched roof would be complete...

On the fourth day, Zhou Ye mixed clay, river sand, gravel, and long strands of Black Crow Grass together, creating a bootleg version of fiber-reinforced concrete. After clamping it with wooden boards, he spread it over the outer walls. Once dry, it would form clay exterior walls...

On the fifth day, he also laid fiber-reinforced concrete in the indoor fire pit. There were also miscellaneous tasks, such as making the bed frame...

On the sixth day, he returned to the Old Camp. He carried back bed boards, a table, and two chairs. That would save him some time on carpentry and quite a few nails as well. After all, he still needed to build the main house later...

Inside the bamboo hut, Zhou Ye lay on the bed with blissful satisfaction. It seemed he had been transported here for about a month, and he finally had a safe new home.

To be honest, Zhou Ye was so excited that he wanted to dance with joy. How about dancing a little to add to the mood?

The problem was, he did not know how to dance. Then... perhaps a set of radio calisthenics?

There was no one else here anyway. No matter how bizarre he looked, no one would know.

Decided! Radio calisthenics it was! Zhou Ye enthusiastically performed a set of The Motherland Is Calling.

Then, all of a sudden, a panel appeared—

Basic Fist Technique (Unranked): Not Yet Initiated (0/10)

Zhou Ye stared blankly at the panel and could not speak for a long while. After quite some time, he finally could not help blurting out a curse.

"Fuck! What the hell is this The Motherland Is Calling? I want to answer the call, but Motherland Mama has to pay attention to her baby too!"

But then again, radio calisthenics really had been collectively created by an expert panel. Tell him—did that not count as a fist technique? A health-preserving fist technique? Ahem, ahem.

But he did not need it at all. Because there were no rewards anymore!