Battle Summary

By now, the alpha wolf was already at the end of its tether. After hesitating for a moment, it abandoned the wolf corpses littering the ground and turned to flee into the mountains.

But how could Zhou Ye possibly let this beast go? Agility +5 activated, and he caught up in just a few strides, not the slightest bit slower than the alpha wolf.

Seeing that escape was no longer possible, the alpha wolf leaped up and pounced again, beginning its final death struggle...

Several dozen breaths later, Zhou Ye held his waist saber as he pierced through the alpha wolf's belly, pinning it firmly to the snow.

Once the alpha wolf stopped struggling, Zhou Ye stepped on its corpse and pulled out his blade. Raising his waist saber high, he let out a long victorious howl!

Even after carrying the four wolf corpses back to the Little Homestead, Zhou Ye was still beside himself with excitement.

This battle had been a straight-on hard clash. There had been no flashy tricks throughout the fight—only his own strength colliding head-on with theirs. And he had faced a wolf pack, one against four! Yet even so, he had wiped out all four wild wolves.

To be honest, Zhou Ye's confidence had been thoroughly forged through battle. He now had a basic assessment of his true strength.

It was no exaggeration to say that among ordinary people, he could fight one against ten. Even against wild beasts, he could contend with most of them. And if he could not win, he could still escape. Thus, at the ordinary-person level, there was practically no danger left for him.

As for martial masters and demon beasts? That was harder to say. He would need a proper assessment in the future.

But no matter what, he at least had a certain ability to protect himself.

Then there were the gains. Aside from four additional wolf pelts, wolf meat, wolf fangs, wolf claws, and the like, the experience points for every skill had surged during this battle—Basic Chopping had reached mastery (751/1000); Basic Throwing had reached greater mastery (248/500); Basic Movement had reached lesser mastery (12/200); Basic Archery had reached proficiency (39/100); even Basic Shield Strike had reached proficiency (2/100).

The only pity was that, after taking too many impacts, the round shield was nearly damaged beyond use.

After calming down, Zhou Ye began summarizing his combat experience.

He still had to grind like his life depended on it! He would use this idle stretch of time for a round of intensive winter training!

First was Basic Chopping. In roughly thirty days, he could train Basic Chopping to its maximum level. He would gain his first max-level martial skill!

Basic Throwing also needed to reach mastery, Basic Movement needed to reach greater mastery, and Basic Archery likewise needed to reach lesser mastery. After all, thrown spears had relatively short range and were still somewhat dangerous. It was better to kite enemies from afar with a bow and arrows. If he missed, he could just run!

As for the other martial skills, all of them had to be trained to proficiency. He could not leave himself with any more weaknesses.

Just like in this battle, Basic Shield Strike had played an enormous role. What if he needed one of the other basic martial skills in a future fight? He could not possibly wait until the last minute to clasp the Buddha's feet!

Of course, Basic Shield Strike was also extremely important. It had to be prioritized as well and trained to lesser mastery.

Interestingly, Zhou Ye had just discovered that as his strength increased, the experience gained from Basic Shield Strike had risen from 3 points per day to 5 points?

Curious, Zhou Ye tried Basic Hammering as well and found that it had likewise risen from 2 points per day to 4 points?

Without a doubt, there were no other shortcuts or tricks for training these two martial skills. It all depended on increasing one's personal strength. Once strength rose, experience points increased faster as well.

As for that ruined round shield, Zhou Ye gave it some thought and took out that fish demon's scale.

This fish scale was extremely hard. Zhou Ye had tested it before—whether he slashed it with a blade or burned it with fire, he could not leave the slightest mark. Its size was suitable too, just right to modify into a round shield. It was even far lighter and handier than the original round shield.

He would glue on a handle with fish glue and call it the Fish-Scale Shield. It would serve as his shield from now on! Besides, it looked pitch-black and utterly inconspicuous. It perfectly suited the style of a low-key dog like him.

On the snow, a fox with fiery red fur was searching for food. Then, with a whoosh, a bamboo arrow accurately pierced its head.

Delighted, Zhou Ye picked up the fox, pulled out the bamboo arrow, and tossed it into the sack behind him. The household would gain another fox pelt.

In truth, Zhou Ye did not care much about how much prey he caught during hunts like this. He even deliberately chose poor-quality bamboo arrows. What mattered was experience points. During hunting, they increased relatively quickly.

Once he discovered that his Basic Archery had finally been raised to lesser mastery, Zhou Ye could not be bothered to continue. Carrying today's haul on his shoulder, he quickly ran toward the Little Homestead...

Nearly two months had passed. During this time, all the other basic martial skills had completed their goals, while Basic Archery was the final one.

As for The Motherland Is Calling? Better not mention it. The image was too beautiful—seriously doing broadcast calisthenics in the snow?

But regardless, Basic Fist Technique had also reached proficiency.

There was also the training of Basic Throwing. He could not possibly throw nets at thin air, could he? That would be far too dull.

So Zhou Ye went to that great river again. He found that the traces of the previous battle had long since vanished without a trace. Nature's ability to heal itself was indeed powerful. In any case, while training Basic Throwing, he could see whether he could catch a few fish with his net.

But to his utter surprise, he did catch fish—among them, two sturgeons, each weighing a full 4,500 jin! They even tore through his fishing net!

In the end, Zhou Ye spent several nights in a row mending the net. Seeing that he still had plenty of netting materials left, he also wove several trap nets along the way.

Then there was daily life.

Zhou Ye made several more trips and brought home a large quantity of rock salt. After extracting the edible salt, he cured another huge batch of salted fish and salted meat, and he still had more than 3,000 jin remaining?

After all, salt would not spoil. Making more did no harm. But more importantly, Zhou Ye was simply too bored and was merely finding things to do. Since he was idle anyway, he might as well keep busy.

That said, he put these little side episodes aside. What came next should be the final sprint for Basic Chopping. He would fight hard for thirty days and definitely grind Basic Chopping to its maximum level!

And so, more than twenty days passed.

One day, Zhou Ye woke up in bed and suddenly saw the panel before his eyes flashing. He was instantly stunned.

He had finally grown another year older. His age had become fifteen.

In the original owner's memories, his birthday was the third day of the Lunar New Year. Unexpectedly, the New Year had already passed without him even noticing.

After remembering the date, Zhou Ye looked at the panel again in delight. Aside from his age increasing, all his other base attributes had changed—Health +10; Strength +1; Agility +1; Constitution +1; Spirit Essence +1; Charm +1.

He had not expected a New Year gift pack! Zhou Ye was already blooming with joy.

With these new attribute points, Zhou Ye's strength surged once more...