A Complete Transformation

This New Year's gift package was probably the result of long-term nutritional supplementation, along with this body finally beginning its postnatal development.

Not to mention anything else, over these past six months or so, Zhou Ye had shot up in height, growing more than half a head taller than before. He had more or less reached the average height of an ordinary person.

His weight had also increased dramatically. By several dozen jin, at least?

Especially since he had gone from being skin and bones to developing fat and muscle. He even had eight-pack abs now? At the very least, he counted as a very strong ordinary person.

So the increase in his basic stats was perfectly normal. And once he entered his growth spurt, he ought to be able to gain a few more points... right?

That evening, Zhou Ye cooked up a whole table of dishes. It was both to celebrate his birthday and to welcome the belated New Year. He even opened some wine, intending to have a few drinks.

It was just that the winemaking had not been entirely successful. Three jars had spoiled and gone bad, leaving only five intact jars. Still, flaws could not conceal the jade; it was impossible for everything to be perfect.

And so, drinking fine wine and admiring the snowy scenery, Zhou Ye spent a very pleasant evening.

But after waking up the next day, he resumed his life-or-death grinding. There were only a few days left, and even Basic Chopping was about to reach max level.

A few days later, Basic Chopping reached max level. Max-level reward—Strength +1, Agility +1, 3 free attribute points.

After thinking it over, Zhou Ye added another point to Constitution, 0 → +1; then another point to Charm, -1 → 0.

That way, he met the minimum requirements for cultivating those three third-rate martial arts.

[Zhou Ye (Ordinary Person): 15]

Bone Structure: -3

Comprehension: +4

[Basic Stats]

Health: (100/100)

Strength: +2

Agility: +7

Constitution: +1

Essence: +5

Charm: 0

[Technique]

Basic Poison Technique (Mortal): Perfect (1000/1000) (+)

[Martial Arts]

Basic Chopping (Unranked): Perfect (1000/1000)

Basic Archery (Unranked): Minor Accomplishment (0/200)

Basic Thrusting (Unranked): Proficient (3/100)

Basic Throwing (Unranked): Perfect (102/1000)

Basic Movement (Unranked): Minor Accomplishment (127/200)

Basic Shield Strike (Unranked): Proficient (6/100)

Basic Hammering (Unranked): Proficient (1/100)

Basic Fist Technique (Unranked): Proficient (0/100)

Basic Throwing (Unranked): Proficient (1/100)

Free Attribute Points: 3

Judging from these basic stats, aside from Charm, he was at the average level of an ordinary person. Neither handsome nor ugly, he had the sort of utterly ordinary face that vanished into a crowd. That suited Zhou Ye perfectly. He wanted to be impossible to pick out when thrown among a crowd, entirely unremarkable, so that he could keep a lower profile.

As for his other stats, nearly all of them were positive. Especially Agility +7 and Essence +5—those already far exceeded the level of ordinary people. It could be said that his talents stood out in certain areas.

Then there was Basic Chopping at max level. Sure enough, just as he had expected, it came with a max-level reward, and a full five points at that.

However, the earlier max-level reward for his technique had included five points of Comprehension, plus another five points in other rewards, for a total of ten points.

This time, the max-level reward for a martial art was equivalent to five free attribute points, so it was a full half less than the technique's reward.

Forget it. Getting a reward at all was already quite good. Besides, it had still rewarded five points. He had already undergone a complete transformation.

Also, after reaching max level, Basic Chopping did not have a "+" suffix. It seemed Basic Chopping could not be upgraded. Having cultivated it to max level meant he had more or less reached its absolute limit.

From that day onward, Zhou Ye began cultivating the Ten Military Saber Forms, hereafter referred to as the Ten Saber Forms.

Sure enough, the panel displayed—Ten Military Saber Forms (Third-rate): Not Initiated (0/10).

Honestly, whether or not it was only a third-rate martial art, it was still far more exquisite than an unranked one. Its only drawback was how difficult it was to cultivate. He gained only a measly 2 experience points per day?

But what Zhou Ye had in abundance was time. Five days later, it became—Ten Military Saber Forms (Third-rate): Initiated (0/50).

Sure enough, upon reaching the third-rate martial arts level, there was once again an initiation reward: 1 free attribute point.

Moreover, Zhou Ye discovered that once the Ten Saber Forms had been initiated, he could merge Basic Chopping into it.

So Zhou Ye chose to merge them. It converted into quite a lot of experience points. In the end, it became—Ten Military Saber Forms (Third-rate): Initiated (39/50).

Seeing that this experiment had been quite successful, Zhou Ye pressed on while the iron was hot. He likewise successfully triggered the Wild Bull Body Tempering Method and the Cloud-Leaping Ladder. Over the following ten days, he raised them to—Wild Bull Body Tempering Method (Third-rate): Initiated (0/50); Cloud-Leaping Ladder (Third-rate): Initiated (0/50).

Without any surprise, initiating these two third-rate martial arts also earned him 2 free attribute points.

Yet after hesitating again and again, Zhou Ye did not choose to merge Basic Movement into the Cloud-Leaping Ladder.

That was because Basic Movement was more well-rounded. It could be used for endurance running, sprinting, moving nimbly within a small area, and scaling heights and descending depths...

The Cloud-Leaping Ladder, as its name implied, leaned more toward scaling heights and descending depths. It was somewhat weaker in other aspects.

Therefore, Zhou Ye intended to lay a solid foundation first. He would train his fundamentals until they were more solid, then merge Basic Movement into the Cloud-Leaping Ladder after Basic Movement reached max level.

No matter what, he currently had as many as 6 free attribute points. That counted as rare financial strength.

Now, he needed to consider his cultivation plan for the next stage.

It was simple: his main focus would be Basic Throwing and Basic Movement. He would strive to push both martial arts to max level in one go.

His secondary focus would be Basic Archery, Basic Shield Strike, and the Ten Saber Forms.

He would cultivate Basic Archery to Major Accomplishment as soon as possible, preserving his consistent combat style of prioritizing ranged attacks.

Basic Shield Strike would likewise be cultivated to Major Accomplishment. As for the Ten Saber Forms, Minor Accomplishment would be enough.

Although these two martial arts did not require much experience, cultivation efficiency was not the concern now. What mattered was practicality. These two were for close combat, forging his final line of defense. If he encountered a sudden face-to-face attack, he would at least be able to protect himself.

And so, spring slowly drew near, and the season when all things revived had arrived...

Over the past few days, another four thousand-plus jin of salt had accumulated at home. Mainly because he had nothing to do and was bored to the extreme.

So when Zhou Ye discovered that quite a few bamboo shoot tips had emerged in the bamboo grove, he eagerly began digging up bamboo shoots.

He carried several sacks of bamboo shoots home. Unfortunately, all the bamboo rats had been eaten, leaving behind only sheets of bamboo rat hide. In the end, he peeled a few bamboo shoots, thawed some frozen fresh meat, cut off a piece of salted ribs, and put them all together to make soup...

Looking at the house stuffed to the brim with all sorts of things, Zhou Ye saw that not only was the storeroom full, but even the kitchen and his bedroom were packed. He still needed to convert all these goods into something useful as soon as possible.

Otherwise, once spring came and the snow outside thawed, many things would no longer keep. They would go to waste for nothing.

Since that was the case, once the snow melted, he would leave the mountains again... right?