Chapter 7: Aim

Yunqing raised an eyebrow and glanced at Liuliu, who had gone over four days without food and seemed perfectly fine. Clearly, this dog didn’t actually need feeding. Unwilling to give up, she continued experimenting with every possible way to open the scroll, but after numerous attempts, she still failed, right up until a knock sounded at the door.

When Yunqing opened it, she found Little Wolf Ye outside, his expression impatient. He shoved a leaf-wrapped bundle into her hands as if it were something troublesome, saying, "Save one for tomorrow."

Without waiting for her reaction, he turned and strode away.

She looked down at the bundle, still warm to the touch, and saw the corner of a roasted potato peeking out. In this moment of need, she was unexpectedly moved. By the time she looked up again, Little Wolf Ye’s figure had already melted into the darkness.

Returning inside, Yunqing unwrapped the package; inside lay three steaming roasted potatoes.

"Roasted Potato, Deliciousness 1, restores 30 fullness, increases Strength by 5 for half an hour."

Food with attributes—much better than the roasted potatoes she’d bought for five copper coins.

During her gathering earlier, she’d felt exhausted while walking through the grass, needing frequent rests before continuing. With these strength-enhancing potatoes, tomorrow’s labor would be much easier.

After nibbling on a few wild strawberries, she placed all three potatoes into her system backpack.

Little Wolf Ye had easily learned of Yunqing’s haul that day, which was why he’d brought her food in exchange.

The next day, on her way to gather herbs, with help from her four companions she received several handy tools: a pointed stone about a foot long, a sturdy stick, and two sharp bamboo rods.

With the roasted potatoes from Little Wolf Ye and these new tools, her work was much easier. She quickly reached Level 2.

Reaching Level 3 required more experience. Before finishing work, she raised her Gathering skill to Level 3, and could now gather flax leaves, resulting in more than double her previous day’s harvest.

Her companions, including Qiaoqiao Ye, were happy for her success; today’s gains would easily sustain her.

On the third day, with their help, Yunqing improved her grass-woven backpack to store even more herbs.

Finally, her luck turned—she stumbled upon a field of flax.

As she finished collecting, a system prompt appeared: "Achievement unlocked: Flax Picker—Reward: 1 Achievement Point, 1 Skill Point."

Seeing this, Yunqing sensed that learning or upgrading future skills would require not only silver and spirit stones, but skill points as well.

Flax Picker: Gathered 100 flax leaves in total.

Achievements seemed easy enough, but the difficulty lay in not being able to view a list; they were all hidden, waiting for her to discover them.

After collecting the flax, her Gathering skill reached Level 5. At Level 5, she could gather flax stalks. Harvesting them from the same field, she soon reached Level 6.

By the end of the day, her backpack bulged with flax leaves and stalks, astonishing her companions.

Though they were pleased, their smiles seemed tinged with something less than sincerity.

Big Chun Ye said with some envy, "Sister Yunqing, you outdid me today. You’ll have to look after us going forward."

No matter where you are, human nature is complex. The villagers of Ye’s family were kind and sincere, always willing to lend a hand in times of need. Yet, it was another matter to watch someone who had once lagged behind them suddenly catch up, or even surpass them in a matter of days.

They had helped her, and with a golden finger of her own, it was only fair to take care of them as she prospered, but Yunqing would never say so outright.

She replied with a smile, "I just got lucky today and stumbled onto that patch of flax. I did tell everyone, but you all thought my harvests had been poor lately and let me have a turn. Next time, don’t go easy on me—let’s all pick together."

Qiaoqiao Ye laughed, "Remind us next time and we’ll definitely join in."

That day, Yunqing earned one tael of silver and two hundred copper coins. If she lived only on roasted potatoes, she could survive a long time.

She was still far from affording the medicinal hoe she wanted. At Liuliu’s repeated requests, she spent a hundred copper coins on a piece of plain pork with no attributes, which only half satisfied Liuliu.

She also learned that with her silver, she couldn’t even afford a single attribute-enhancing potato, let alone food that restored health. Those delicacies were prepared by chefs who had reached the realm of Postnatal Martial Artists, purifying tainted food with their inner force or spiritual power.

From then on, Yunqing stored most of her gathered herbs in her system backpack, making sure the share left in her grass bag was always a bit less than her four companions’.

In just a few days, her Gathering skill reached Level 10, allowing her to collect Qi-boosting ginseng without tools.

One more thing became clear: the Central Continent was not the Spiritual Continent. No one here, not even the merchants, knew of the Spiritual Continent.

Yunqing suspected that the original owner of her body had crossed the Dark Sea, traveling from one continent to another.

No wonder her "sacrifice lottery method" didn’t work—the distance was too great, the delay too long, the prizes unsatisfactory, and the function of the experience scrolls in her backpack remained a mystery.

But what troubled Yunqing most was that after reaching Level 10 Gathering, she gained no more experience from collecting anything.

Liuliu explained that her Gathering skill was now too far above her character level to earn further experience; to progress, she would have to raise her own character level.

Yunqing guessed that meant hunting small animals.

She needed a new job, and before that, a proper weapon. The big rocks and pebbles in her backpack wouldn’t do for hunting.

There was a blacksmith in the village where she could buy weapons, but with her discreet herb selling, she was still far from having enough silver.

If she sold off her batches of Qi-boosting ginseng and hemostatic grass from her system backpack, maybe she could afford a mediocre weapon.

She didn’t have much anyway; turning everything over to the energy converter would only net a few hundred points of Level 1 energy, so she decided to keep them for emergencies.

Just as she fretted about how to make money, the system gave a notification:

"Little Wolf Ye’s favorability toward you +8."

"Qiaoqiao Ye’s favorability toward you has reached Acquaintance."

The favorability interface now displayed both their names.

"Qiaoqiao Ye, Favorability 8, Acquaintance."

"Little Wolf Ye, Favorability 2, Acquaintance."

Yunqing wondered—had Qiaoqiao Ye’s strength suddenly leapt to the Postnatal realm, or had she encountered some opportunity to gain such potential? Why was her favorability so much higher than Little Wolf Ye’s?

Liuliu coaxed, "You’ve reached 10 favorability points. Want to try a lottery draw?"

His words distracted Yunqing from her speculation. She worried, "If I draw, will their favorability reset to zero?"

"No, it’s just your system’s numbers, they don’t affect their actual feelings. If you don’t believe me, try it."

It made sense. Yunqing, excited, opened the lottery interface.

A primary draw cost ten favorability points—anyone who could resist drawing was a true master of self-control.

Silently, she chanted, "I sacrifice Liuliu’s rations for three days for the luck of the emperor, draw!"

The wheel spun, and the pointer landed on a question mark, which then unfolded.

System prompt: "Congratulations, you have obtained the combat support skill—Crosshair."