His Little Brother Recovered

"Is that so? Then, Hao, make sure you keep a close eye on your little brother. If anything seems wrong, bring him back inside right away."

"Got it, Mom."

Liu Hao took his little brother's hand and slowly led him out of the room to the doorway.

Although he already trusted the system a great deal, he wanted to put his father and little brother at ease.

So he had Liu Yao stick out just one hand first to test the moonlight's effect.

By then, the sun had long since set completely.

Countless stars clustered around a bright crescent moon hanging in the sky.

Gentle light spilled down, bathing all things.

A small hand, unusually pale from years spent in darkness, tentatively reached outside the door and caught a strand of light.

At that moment, Liu Yao's fingertips seemed to resonate with the starlight above, giving off a soft glow of their own.

An overwhelming sense of comfort and longing made Liu Yao, who had still been a little hesitant, step decisively through the doorway and bathe in the moonlight and starlight.

In an instant, Liu Yao seemed to become a little glowing sprite.

Countless tiny points of light swirled and gathered around him.

Liu Yao instinctively spread his arms, tilted his face toward the moon, and slowly closed his eyes.

Innumerable particles of light lingered over the scars on his face, sinking into his sun-damaged skin and repairing it at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The miraculous sight stunned Liu Jun, who was still sitting inside.

Excited, he grabbed his crutch, propped himself up, and made his way to the doorway.

He seemed to want a closer look, to see whether this dreamlike sight was real.

"It... it really works."

Liu Jun murmured to himself, his eyes wide.

No matter how unbelievable he had found it before, seeing it with his own eyes made him accept it completely.

He could not help recalling what his son had said about his leg condition that evening.

Could my legs really recover too?

The more Liu Jun thought about it, the stronger his anticipation grew, but he feared that the greater his hopes, the greater his disappointment would be.

So he could only forcefully suppress that hope for now.

With those tangled emotions, Liu Jun stared fixedly at the figure covered in light by the doorway, his thoughts unknown.

Fortunately, in this place with no nighttime entertainment, the villagers had all gone to bed early.

No one else saw it.

Otherwise, this scene would surely have made their family a topic of gossip once again.

Liu Hao knew the system was badass and had prepared himself to some extent.

But a scene filled with special effects like this was something he could only have seen on a screen in his previous life.

Seeing it unfold before his eyes still packed quite a punch.

As time passed, the scars on Liu Yao's face covered less and less area until they disappeared entirely.

At the same time, all the radiance lingering on his skin sank into his body.

An ordinary but fair, flawless face appeared before father and son.

But since Liu Yao had yet to open his eyes, neither of them spoke, sharing an unspoken understanding.

They kept watching quietly, occasionally glancing around to make sure nothing disturbed him.

After roughly another half an incense stick's time, Liu Yao finally opened his eyes and lowered his outstretched arms.

"Yao, how do you feel?"

Seeing that Liu Yao seemed to be finished, Liu Jun could no longer contain himself and immediately asked.

"Dad, my face doesn't hurt anymore, and my whole body feels really comfortable..."

Liu Yao answered his father with tremendous excitement, bouncing up and down on the spot.

"Good. That's good..."

Liu Jun nodded and murmured to himself, tears gathering in his eyes.

His inner world had been plunged into utter darkness because Liu Hao could not become a Soul Master.

Now, a glimmer of light appeared again.

As for why it was only a glimmer, perhaps it was because they had yet to confirm whether Liu Yao could now go outside normally during the day.

And because they still did not know whether Liu Yao could awaken Soul Power and become a Soul Master.

Liu Yao was only five, and his mind was still immature.

Moreover, he could only spend his days huddled in a dim corner, unable to interact with outsiders.

His language skills had developed even more slowly as a result.

So, although he felt grateful to Liu Hao, he did not know how to express it.

He simply felt close to his big brother and ran over to hug him.

"Big brother..."

Feeling Liu Yao's little arms around him, Liu Hao seemed to experience the closeness of their shared blood.

It was a warm feeling that defied explanation.

"Let's go inside. I'll take you out to play tomorrow."

Smiling, Liu Hao rubbed Liu Yao's head.

"Okay."

Early the next morning.

Liu Hao got up as soon as the sky began to brighten.

With practiced ease, he lit the fire, cooked porridge, and simmered the medicine.

Then he sat beside the stove, staring blankly at the firewood.

As a transmigrator from Blue Star who had read the original Douluo novel and fan fiction and watched the animation.

Liu Hao naturally understood the importance of a Soul Ring's age, and he also knew that the stronger his physique, the older the Soul Ring he could withstand.

The problem was that his family was too poor.

They simply could not afford for him to train.

Because exercising made him hungry, and hunger meant eating to replenish his body's energy.

Yet the family was already barely scraping by on his father's single Gold Soul Coin each month.

If his training increased their food expenses.

It might bring the whole family crashing down.

As for scrounging food from other households, especially the village chief, Old Gordon.

In theory, Old Gordon often helped his family out, so eating at his place might seem harmless.

But the thing was, when someone offered something of their own accord, that was their kindness.

If he went asking for it himself and put them in a position to give, that would be insatiable greed.

It was not as though his family truly had nothing to eat and was about to starve.

Going out to beg for meals would also harm his family's reputation.

So, although Liu Hao had always known the importance of a strong physique, he had hardly trained at all.

But things were different now.

With a cheat in hand, anything was possible.

"System, I want to strengthen my physique in every aspect. Simplify that for me."

After several experiments, Liu Hao clearly had considerable trust in the system.

So when putting it to work, he no longer asked many questions and simply issued an order.

Ding! Host request received. Strengthening physique. Simplification in progress...

One simplification opportunity consumed. Remaining opportunities: 6. Simplification successful! Methods for strengthening physique, including consuming natural treasures and training under heavy pressure, have been simplified to standing, walking, and running.

Whenever the host is in any one of the above three states-standing, walking, or running-the host's physique will improve by 0.0001% of its current strength per second.

Whoa~

The same familiar mechanic, the same familiar number.

Maintain a particular posture and gain a fixed percentage every second.

Simple rules, an overbearing mechanic!

Now lying down increased my Soul Power cultivation every second, while standing increased my physical strength every second.

I could automatically grow stronger whether lying down or standing. Invincible!

Heh heh heh!

Bro System was fucking awesome!

"You little shit of a host, looks like you're starting to get used to how powerful this system is, huh?"

"..."

Considering that it could put him on the road to invincibility, Liu Hao could not be bothered to respond to the damned system's teasing.

He merely rolled his eyes, silently rose, and began pacing around the kitchen, carefully savoring the sensation of his physique growing stronger.

Unlike the feeling of his Soul Power increasing while he cultivated lying flat, the strengthening of his physique did not bring such obvious warmth.

Instead, there was a strange, indescribable sensation that defied words.

In this state, Liu Hao felt extraordinarily energetic, his whole body brimming with strength.

He wanted nothing more than to immediately run an exhilarating hundred-kilometer marathon. The feeling went straight to his head.

Just as Liu Hao was losing himself in this state, as though he had been pumped full of chicken blood.

A young voice suddenly rang out.

"Big brother~ I'm up."