"Thanks for your hard work."
After dismantling the two wild wolves, Ye Fei patted the two little furballs on their heads, comforted them, and let them go play.
Before long, his inventory was full again, leaving Ye Fei no choice but to return home and empty it.
Everything he had previously listed in the trading channel had sold. He listed the four beast sinews and six beast bones he had just obtained, along with the claws rewarded for clearing trash.
When Qingxue the Little Fox and Feng Bai the little white tiger returned with prey for the third time, Ye Fei's random quest for the day was complete.
The quest's fifteen points arrived, and the Hunting Gift Pack yielded three Level-One Blood-Replenishing Pills, five beast bones, and one crafting recipe for a Simple Wooden Longbow.
After a full day of hard work, Ye Fei returned home to sweep away the snow before dinner. He opened his Friend Information and took the initiative to send his junior schoolmate a message.
[Me: How's your cultivation going?]
Previously, the other person had always been the one to start their conversations. After sending his message, Ye Fei wasn't sure whether he would get a reply, so he focused on sweeping the snow out with his broom.
Although the temperature in the yard had risen to 11°C, the accumulated snow still hadn't melted.
But it hadn't been entirely ineffective. The cucumber seeds in the vegetable patch had sprouted, while the cabbages and tomatoes were growing and had already developed four little leaves.
[Grassland/0090-1144-3656: Senior, it took me a whole day and night, but I finally absorbed spiritual energy! I went out today and killed a few sheep and wolves. I'm going to work hard to earn points. I think there'll definitely be better things in the future, like pills that give you loads of spiritual energy just by taking one...]
His junior schoolmate replied quickly, but reading about his current goal left Ye Fei feeling disheartened.
Killing several sheep and wolves-just what he would expect from someone whose combat power had already reached eleven.
But those pills he mentioned, the kind that could give someone lots of spiritual energy with a single dose...
Ye Fei wanted those too, but he neither had the points nor knew whether such pills would actually exist.
So tonight, he would keep working hard at cultivating in the yard.
For now, he would have to leave the bed inside the house to his pets.
[Me: I tried it yesterday, and cultivating in the yard was twice as fast as cultivating inside the house. You could give it a try when you get the chance, though I'm not sure whether it works that way for everyone.]
Rather than discussing pills that might not even exist, Ye Fei sent that message while continuing to sweep the snow from his yard.
[Grassland/0090-1144-3656: Got it! Thanks, Senior. I'll try it tonight.]
The other person replied, and Ye Fei didn't send anything else. That was the end of their conversation for the day.
After sweeping the yard and eating dinner, he sorted through the day's gains and began considering what to do with them.
He had smelted all the gray-quality items he collected that day, adding more than twenty points to the house's Stored Energy.
The Storage Cabinet had only six slots, occupied by: basic timber ×200, basic timber ×116, bread ×36, water ×29, Wild Wolf Meat ×36, and Unhatched Egg (?).
Since the egg's grade was unknown, Ye Fei had thought about hatching it when he returned home earlier, but the display told him that the hatching requirements had not been met.
Without knowing why, he simply put it in the Storage Cabinet.
He listed all his earlier materials for sale, whether they were Green Quality iron ingots or other white-quality materials.
His inventory now contained twelve Level-One Blood-Replenishing Pills, seven Level-One Spirit-Replenishing Pills, two bundles of Simple Wooden Arrows, and a Pine Seedling.
Four items. Ye Fei looked at the Pine Seedling. Although it was already dark, the snow was a pale expanse, and he could still see in his yard.
He dug a hole and planted this Pine Seedling too, lining it up in a horizontal row with the previous three.
His home's greening points now stood at 120. He figured he was still a long way from unlocking the next effect.
After taking care of all that, Ye Fei finally checked his survival points.
After a day of quests, item sales, and the rewards for killing eight wild wolves in total, he now had eighty-three points.
With two hunters beside him who were far stronger than he was, he was earning points much faster.
He checked the Survival Shop and temporarily hid the items he had already purchased and no longer needed. Among what remained were several equipment recipes, but thinking of his own three points of combat power, Ye Fei decided against buying them for now.
Even if he bought the recipes and crafted the equipment, he was too weak. He might even end up in the miserable position of owning equipment he couldn't equip.
Like that White Tiger Blade...
"Time to keep cultivating!"
Ye Fei rubbed his hands together until his palms warmed, then sat down on the ground in the yard.
Qi intake notifications refreshed in his information panel many times. Ye Fei immersed himself quietly in that comfortable sensation, paying no attention to their number.
Only when the sky began to brighten did Ye Fei open his eyes.
[Spiritual energy has reached 100 points. Begin Qi Refining?]
Seeing this prompt, which had appeared sometime after three in the morning, Ye Fei's eyes widened with excitement.
He now had 126 points of spiritual energy.
So he could begin Qi Refining without saving up a thousand points?
Begin!
Without a second thought, he chose to begin.
[100 points of spiritual energy consumed. Initiating Qi Refining breakthrough.]
This feeling...
Ye Fei felt as though his body had entered some kind of autonomous state. Spiritual energy was now flowing through meridians he had previously been unable to sense.
He could feel how the spiritual energy circulated, but he didn't understand this sort of thing and couldn't figure out how it worked.
Fortunately, he didn't need to dwell on that right now. He only needed to do his best to remember it.
[Breakthrough failed. 75 points of spiritual energy refunded.] [Spiritual energy has reached 100 points. Begin Qi Refining?]
A stab of pain in his dantian jolted Ye Fei out of that wondrous sensation.
Two notifications appeared, one informing him of his failure.
A failed attempt still refunded three-quarters of the spiritual energy?
He now had 101 points of spiritual energy, just enough for another attempt.
Although the loss stung a little, he still chose to begin.
He might as well try a few more times. Otherwise, it would stay on his mind even while he worked during the day.
Once again, spiritual energy coursed through his meridians, and Ye Fei kept doing his best to memorize its circuit.
Some time passed. The weather was fine that day, and after the sun rose, sunlight spilled over Ye Fei.
It felt pleasantly warm...
Before you continue