Chapter 4. Have I Went Insane? Welp, It Can't Be Helped Then.
With no one except Ren Qingquan in his room, I realized I didn't have anything to do. So, I decided to deepen my understanding of my abilities.
At first, I wanted to try upgrading other abilities. But recalling the 9 remaining points I have, I decided to keep them for later.
Now then, which ability should I test first?
Perhaps I should start with the most important one?
As for the most important ability, for me right now, it is definitely [Anchor].
As long as I haven't found a way to leave this dark space, I would need to depend on this ability to contact the outside world and find my chance.
Once I have made up my mind, I begin to act.
The first thing I need to do is to check how lending my cheat abilities to other creatures works.
I tried to recall the memories that came with my cheat ability, and soon found a way to do so.
First, I need to activate my [Scan] and detect the creatures within the surrounding area. Then, I simply need to choose which ability I want to lend and will [Anchor] to lend it to them.
That doesn't sound difficult at all. But here comes the problem: the range of [Scan] that I can activate through Ren Qingquan is only 11 meters radius around his body. That is barely enough to detect part of Ren Qingquan's courtyard.
As a core member of the Ren family, Ren Qingquan has his own courtyard.
It consisted of three buildings and a gate, surrounding an open field with a well in one corner. One building serves as his bedroom, one as his guestroom and dining room, and the last as his bathroom and storage room.
Meanwhile, behind the building that serves as his bedroom, a vast expanse of greenery stretches.
Due to the sheer size of his courtyard, the only things within my [Scan] radius are the area full of greenery, the field, the building Ren Qingquan used as his bedroom, the building he used as his bathroom, and the building he used as a dining room.
The most important thing is that within the range of my scan, I couldn't find a single person except for Ren Qingquan!
It also means I couldn't activate [Anchor] to lend my ability to others.
I had considered lending my skill to the mosquitoes or other insects in the room. But, lending my abilities costs an unknown amount of points, which I haven't even understood the worth of.
What if gathering even 1 point actually took a ton of effort? Won't I take a massive loss when the mosquito I lent my ability to got slapped to death?
Furthermore, even if mosquitoes or other insects I lent my abilities to aren't smacked to death, their lifespan is extremely short anyway. In less than a year, they would've died already.
From the memories regarding [Anchor], I haven't seen any mention of a refund when the creature I lent my abilities to died, which makes me assume that the point I spent to lend them my abilities will simply disappear when they are killed.
So, I patiently waited until the right moment to activate [Anchor] on a human. A being that could live for a much longer time than insects.
It's not as if the wait will last long.
According to what I've seen in the original Ren Qingquan's memory. Although he rarely saw his father and grandfather, he was actually doted on by both.
I dare bet that not long after he woke up, Ren Qingquan would be called to meet the two of them. At that time, I could immediately activate [Anchor] on either his dad or his gramps.
Now that I think about it, between his dad and his grandfather, his dad is a much better candidate. Mainly because his father's influence is significant enough to have access to important information, while he isn't old enough to have one foot in the grave like Ren Qingquan's grandfather.
I shook my head, or at least did a motion I think is shaking my head, and pushed back the idea to experiment on [Anchor] for now.
Instead, I begin to compare the remaining abilities I had before deciding to experiment on [Scan]. As for [Calculate] and [Devour], I decided to skip them for now because they are either too vague or require other material to test.
Through the [Scan] on Ren Qingquan, I began to test [Scan]'s limit.
First, I did my best to extend the range of [Scan] beyond 11 meters. But even after trying for an hour, I still failed to do so.
It seems the range of [Scan] can only be increased by spending points, or perhaps the way I tried to expand it is wrong.
Then I stopped and checked what I could already detect from [Scan].
Sight, smell, and sound are something I am already used to. So, I immediately focused on my ability to sense energy.
First, I focused on the air and detected traces of energy from the technique Xiao Cai used to heal Ren Qingquan. That energy is quickly dispersing and will most likely disappear entirely soon.
Except for that energy, I tried several other means to check the air but found no other energy. So, I focused my attention on Ren Qingquan, who currently lies on his bed.
Activating [Scan] while focusing my attention on his body, I begin to sense the energy within it.
Compared to the amount of energy in Xiao Cai's body, the amount of energy in Ren Qingquan's body is pitifully small!
Not only did he lack the energy Xiao Cai had in her abdomen. But the energy that circulates around Ren Qingquan's body is incredibly thin.
Is this really the energy contained in a Martial Master realm martial artist? Or is the amount of energy contained within Ren Qingquan lessened because he was recently injured?
Suppose the energy within Ren Qingquan's body is indeed on a normal Martial Master's level. It would mean Xiao Cai is definitely not a simple person!
Then I begin to imagine how she might be an assassin, or some kind of vigilante with a double identity.
And so, a whole day and night passed while I experimented with my [Scan], imagining nonsensical things, and trying to possess Ren Qingquan's body while he was unconscious.
What a pity. Even though he is unconscious, I could only receive the sense felt by Ren Qingquan and still couldn't control his body. That makes me feel a bit disappointed.
Luckily, although I couldn't control Ren Qingquan's body even when he was unconscious, I had found an interesting thing that caught my attention.
I could actually generate a 3D map of objects within the range of my [Scan] using [Calculate].
I guessed I should be able to send the 3D map I imagined to Ren Qingquan through our connection via the [Anchor] ability. But Ren Qingquan is currently unconscious, so I couldn't test it.
As I am starting to run out of things to do while waiting for Ren Qingquan to wake up from his coma, I decided to spend my time training the ability to imagine 3D objects.
After a few hours of training, although I couldn't imagine an incredibly intricate detail, I could already recreate the area of Ren Qingquan's courtyard that's within my [Scan] with a considerable amount of detail.
At least the detail is good enough for a map. After all, what kind of System doesn't have a system map?
That's right. Although a bit unwilling, I've also been trying my best to work as a System and help this guy to survive.
Although the system map I could create is only 11 meters in radius from Ren Qingquan, that's still a system map! I won't accept anyone's opinion that says otherwise!
Then, I begin to play around with my newfound power.
After tinkering for a long time, I found a way to turn the 3D images I imagined into some sort of hologram.
Looking at an illusory 3D map that existed in front of me, which was the result of my whole night of training, I spent some time appreciating it.
The 3D map works much like the screen I sent to Ren Qingquan. It is basically a hallucination I crafted and solidified with the help of [Calculate].
Now that I've created another illusory thing in front of me. I am starting to think I might have a mental illness.
But who cares!
I don't think a normal person could stay long under my current situation. After being stuck inside an empty space for god knows how long, losing a screw or two is already a good end! At least I didn't turn into a crazy person that seek revenge against the world or something cringe like that.
Even though I said so, concluding I might actually be slightly bonkers still makes me feel sad. So I focused my attention on perfecting the 3D map I could create.
Unknowingly, several hours have passed.
While I am tinkering with the map in front of me, the attention I left on my [Scan] saw Ren Qingquan's body begin to move.
While moving slowly like a ninety-year-old man, Ren Qingquan finally sat on his bed after some difficulty.
Through [Scan], I saw him touching his stomach and caressing it slowly like a pregnant mother caressing her unborn child.
"Darn, that traumatized me. I forgot that Ren Qingquan has been injured." Ren Qingquan said, before suddenly slapping himself.
Through [Anchor], I could hear him repeatedly reprimanding himself. 'I am so stupid! The original Ren Qingquan never mentioned himself in the third person! If someone saw or heard it, they might be suspicious and think of me as a body-stealing demon!'
I saw his expression shift from red to pale, then to a bluish hue.
While I am appreciating Ren Qingquan's chameleon act, I saw him pull his hair. 'Argg, I am so stupid! I AM REN QINGQUAN! There is no such thing as original Ren Qingquan!'
As I don't want to watch this pitiful self-abuse show any further, I decided to show my presence by sending him several screens.
[Ding! Congratulations on surviving in another world for a day. Several newbie missions have been posted.]
[Newbie mission 1: Travel around the Ren Family's residence and [Scan] the whole place.
Reward: System Map function.]
[Newbie Mission 2: Devour 1 point worth of energy.
Reward: Unlock Mission function (full version).]
As I am currently stuck in this empty space, I need a way to control Ren Qingquan to do my bidding.
With the extensive knowledge about cheat systems that I have in my memory, I decided to add a mission function for Ren Qingquan.
After all, it's normal for a system to release missions, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Chapter 5. Suspiciously Strong Family
The two missions to scan the Ren family residence and devouring 1 point of energy are something I've thought of while I am training my 3D imagining skill.
The first one exists to help me understand the situation around the transmigrator.
Although I also got a copy of the original Ren Qingquan's memory when the transmigrator possessed him, which also contains a lot of information about the Ren family's residence. But, memory is memory. I still need to make sure of it myself.
Meanwhile, the second mission is to help me better understand my abilities.
My abilities are indeed extremely overpowered and seem to have unlimited potential. But that's all under the pretext that points are easy to gain.
Which means that before I prepare my plan, I need to quickly find a way to gauge how difficult it is to gather points.
***
While I am thinking, Ren Qingquan has already read all the notifications I sent.
The first thing he does is complain, 'Why is it newbie missions? Where is the newbie benefit?'
I am utterly speechless at how brazen he is.
Anyway, as a kind person, or a kind system to be exact, I decided to reply to his question.
[The newbie mission is a benefit as it's extremely easy to complete.]
I saw him roll his eyes at my answer before rubbing his chin and thought, 'Should I do mission 1 or mission 2 first? Or perhaps I should actually do both of them at once?'
Ren Qingquan then nodded his head, 'Let's complete both of them at once. I remember there are quite a lot of animals, like fish and birds, at the Ren family's residence. I could secretly kill some of them while traveling around the residence!'
'I am such a genius!' I heard him think as he slowly exited his courtyard and paused on his step. 'Wait a minute, how do I activate [Scan] again?'
I facepalmed when I heard Ren Qingquan's thought. Did I forget to teach him how to activate [Scan]?
It can't be helped, though; using this ability is kinda like an instinct for me.
Anyway, I sent him a screen containing the explanation.
[Ding! Simply thought of 'Scan' to activate it. Once activated, the information regarding every area within scanning range will be sent to your mind.]
Ren Qingquan read it and immediately tried to think of [Scan].
As I had already granted him the right to use [Scan], I first filtered it to receive only information about sights, noises, and energy before activating [Scan].
The instant [Scan] was activated, I saw Ren Qingquan kneeling on the floor, sweat dripping from his forehead.
I felt something was wrong and quickly deactivated Ren Qingquan's [Scan].
With the [Scan] turned off, Ren Qingquan stood up while holding his head, 'Urghh, my head hurts so much!'
Looking at the veins that bulged on Ren Qingquan's forehead, it seems there is a problem with [Scan].
After I searched for the source of the problem, I realized it might be because he forgot to activate [Calculate] first. So, I reminded him of it.
[You could try using 'Scan' in conjunction with 'Calculate' to receive the information better.]
Ren Qingquan nodded and thought, 'Calculate!'
His [Calculate] activated, and Ren Qingquan can feel himself turn slightly smarter. Then he continued to shout in his mind, 'Scan!'
This time, he held on for ten whole seconds before he fell to the ground while grabbing his head. 'Argg, so dizzy. I wanna vomit!'
I deactivate Ren Qingquan's [Scan] once more and become confused. It seems the problem lies in the [Scan].
But, how come I could use and accept the information from Ren Qingquan's [Scan] while he can't?
I began to think of the possible causes by looking at the difference between the two of us.
After a whole minute, I can only think of two main differences between the two of us. First, those abilities are mine, and Ren Qingquan only borrowed them. But I don't think the problem lies here.
The second difference is that Ren Qingquan has a physical body and exists in the real world. Meanwhile, I don't have a physical body and exist in god knows where.
I guess it might be because I don't have a brain?
Wait, I mean, it's because I don't have a brain in a physical sense! Even without a physical brain, I am still brighter than average!
Sigh, who am I even explaining this to? I guess it's true I've gone slightly bonkers.
***
After Ren Qingquan recovered from his headache, I decided to weaken his [Scan].
[Ding! Detected the host's hardware is insufficient to use 'Scan'. Preparing to update 'Scan'.]
Ren Qingquan saw my notification and scratched his head, "What do you mean by insufficient hardware?"
[The host's brain isn't good enough.]
Ren Qingquan: (¬_¬)
"Are you saying I am stupid?"
[The host is the one acknowledging it. System never said the host is stupid.]
[Anyway, it seems the host's brain is too weak to accept the information gained from 'Scan', even with the help of 'Calculate'. So, System has updated the 'Scan' function.]
Ren Qingquan asked, 'Can you explain the update to me?'
[The current 'Scan' will be separated into two modes, passive and active.
In active mode, the host may look at an item or person and think of 'Scan' to see their details recorded in the system database. Meanwhile, the passive mode will be constantly active to record the host's surroundings within the range of 'Scan' and store them in the system's database.]
[Additionally, you may check the place that has been visited and recorded through the System Map (locked).]
Ren Qingquan nodded and walked toward a stone table in his courtyard, then thought, 'Scan!'
I quickly wrote on a screen and sent it to Ren Qingquan.
[Stone table.
Description: Outdoor table made out of hard stone. Has traces of bird poop on it.]
Ren Qingquan saw it and pulled the hand he had placed on top of the stone table while wiping his palm with a corner of his robe.
Then, he waited for a bit and frowned. 'Is that all? This seems to be pretty useless?'
I couldn't accept such slander, so I retorted back.
[That's because the host is too ignorant and hasn't come into contact with related information. The system will only display information that has been recorded in the system database.]
"Are you saying it's my fault?" Ren Qingquan rolled his eyes.
[Indeed.]
He speechlessly stared at my reply before ignoring it and focusing on a random flower located nearby. 'Scan!'
[Unknown flower
Description: Unknown flower.
Note: Please learn more about herbology.]
'Damn, this time it's even worse!' Ren Qingquan massaged his temple, 'It seems I need to start studying things.'
He then ignored the [Scan] for now and prepared to leave his courtyard.
When he just took a few steps out of his courtyard, Xiao Cai suddenly appeared from outside the range of my [Scan] and bowed toward Ren Qingquan. "Young master, you've finally woken up! The master and the second elder have been looking for you."
Ren Qingquan paused his step upon seeing Xao Cai. From [Anchor], I could feel him trying to recall the original Ren Qingquan's memory as he panicked, 'Who is she?'
After freezing for a full minute and putting on a poker face, Ren Qingquan finally recalled the memory of Xiao Cai and how the original Ren Qingquan usually interacted with her.
Regaining his calmness, Ren Qingquan nodded toward Xiao Cai. "Sorry, I've been lost in thought. Can you lead me to where my father is?"
Xiao Cai nodded and led Ren Qingquan through several courtyards, gardens, and halls.
During the journey, I constantly activated the [Scan] attached to Ren Qingquan and collected the data about the Ren family's courtyard.
Although I didn't gain any important information, I've become even more certain that there is something suspicious regarding Xiao Cai.
While walking toward his father's place. Ren Qingquan has passed through several servants and guards.
Yet, except for a few that have energy around Ren Qingquan's level, which means they are at the Martial Master realm. The other servants are all at the Martial Apprentice realm, which is one realm lower.
That makes Xiao Cai, who has reached god knows what realm, stand out all the more.
***
Midway through the journey, Ren Qingquan grew bored and thought of something.
While staring at Xiao Cai, he thought, 'Scan!'
[Name: Xiao Cai
Level: Far above Martial Master. Possibly at Martial Saint and above.
Description: Suspicious maid of unknown strength.]
'Huh? What does that mean?' After receiving the result from the [Scan] I sent, Ren Qingquan looked confused. 'How come Xiao Cai is so strong? I am pretty sure the original Ren Qingquan's feat of reaching the Martial Master realm before fifteen is already seen as genius.'
'How old is Xiao Cai again? 14? 16? Reaching Martial Saint level at such a young age is unreasonable!' He then thought of hundreds of possible reasons: she might be an old woman who has found a way to retain her youth, his father's illegitimate child by some overpowered woman, an assassin, or even a spy.
His guesses are even more absurd than mine.
While I am secretly reading Ren Qingquan's guesses about Xiao Cai's identity, she suddenly stopped in front of a courtyard and said. "Young master, we've arrived."
Without waiting for Ren Qingquan to respond, Xiao Cai knocked on the courtyard's door and said, "Master, elder, the young master has arrived."
"Come in." A heavy, middle-aged male voice answered from behind the door.
As Xiao Ling opened the door, I finally saw Ren Qingquan's father and grandfather for the first time.
From Ren Qingquan's eyes, I saw two middle-aged men sitting at a table while drinking a warm tea in the middle of the courtyard.
One of the middle-aged men should be Ren Qingquan's grandfather, Ren Wangzhen.
According to Ren Qingquan's original memory, he is a martial artist at the peak of the Martial Lord realm and one of the few Martial Lords of the Ren family.
Although he looks like a middle-aged man, Ren Wangzhen is actually an old man in his mid-eighties.
He looks like a middle-aged man because once someone reaches the Martial Saint realm, they can retain their youth.
This fact often led to situations in which a son appeared older or close in age to his father. This often creates an awkward situation.
***
After Ren Qingquan stepped into the courtyard, Ren Wangzhen suddenly asked while blowing the cup of tea in front of him. "How is your wound?"
"After applying the medicine, my wound has started to heal." Ren Qingquan replied as awkward silence descended into the courtyard.
Watching the awkward silence, I suddenly recalled some information from the original Ren Qingquan's memory.
Ren Wangzhen, Ren Qingquan's grandfather, is someone who rarely speaks.
Actually, I recall that most of the Ren family members in Ren Qingquan's original memories are the kind who rarely speak much.
Well, except for his father, Ren Shiluo, who is a super nagging and gossipy chatterbox capable of shooting words at a speed equaling a machine gun.
While Ren Qingquan stood awkwardly, Ren Shiluo immediately began his machine gun attack. "That Ren Xuan from who know where is just too much. He actually targeted our main family branch suddenly during the yearly tournament. Why couldn't he just target another main family branch? It's not as if there's no other genius there. The third elder's sixth grandson is also at the early stage of the Martial Master realm. Although he achieved it at twenty years old which is five years older than Ren Qingquan, but don't you think it is more appropriate to use him as a target to show off. After all, not only does that kid often fight with random people in the city which could be counted as battle experience, our Qingquan has just achieved the Martial Master realm recently and has not been used to his strength. Not only that, I have even heard some news saying that the Ren Qingchen kid is a no good thing, he actually entered the city with the smell of human blood at midnight, if not for him to be our Ren family member the guard that met him might've already killed him on sight ....."
Whoa, I knew he was a chatterbox. But after seeing it in person, I am still awed by Ren Shiluo's talent at spewing nonsense nonstop.
If possible, I wanted to press 'Space', 'Esc', or 'Enter' to skip Ren Shiluo's nonsensical dialogue. What a pity, this is reality and not a game. So, there is no skip button for dialogue.
Although I complained, I still placed all of my attention on Ren Shiluo. Not because whatever nonsense he is speaking is actually important. But, because of the energy he has.
The energy I sensed on Ren Shiluo's body is much higher than that in Ren Wangzhen's body.
Actually, forget about that. Even the energy inside Xiao Cai is actually only slightly lower than Ren Wangzhen's.
Just what the hell is going on? Didn't the original Ren Qingquan's memory say his father, Ren Shiluo, is only a salted fish at the Martial Grandmaster realm?
But by comparing the energy in Ren Shiluo and Ren Wangzhen. Ren Shiluo's energy is definitely much stronger.
If Ren Wangzhen is indeed a Martial Lord, as the information in the original Ren Qingquan's memory said. That means, Ren Shiluo is either also at the Martial Lord realm or perhaps even stronger and has reached the Martial Emperor realm, which is the peak of this world!
Seriously, just what is going on? Is Ren Qingquan's family actually full of hidden experts?
Chapter 6. A Cannon Fodder Family?
While my mind is in chaos, I could hear Ren Qingquan grumbling in his mind, 'When will this old fogey stop? I feel like my wound almost reopened from the stress. Is he calling me here just to complain about a useless thing?'
Suddenly, Ren Qingquan paused, 'Damn it, I forgot I've already transmigrated. That guy is now my father, so even while thinking I need to call him dad. Otherwise, if I somehow think out loud, I'll be on for some trouble.'
Ren Qingquan then continued to talk in his mind nonstop.
His endless whining, coupled with the nonsensical sound from Ren Shiluo, makes me feel the urge to bash my head against something hard and turn unconscious.
So, to make him stop complaining, I decided to shift Ren Qingquan's attention to something else.
[Ding! Data on strength comparisons have been updated. The host may activate 'Scan' on another creature to check the update.]
As expected, Ren Qingquan finally stopped whining and looked toward Ren Wangzhen, who was currently busy sipping his tea with closed eyes.
In his mind, I heard him shout, 'Scan!'
Since I was already prepared, I quickly sent him the screen I'd made.
[Name: Ren Wangzhen
Realm: Martial Lord, Unknown Stage.
Description: Second elder of the Ren family.]
After reading Ren Wangzhen's result, Ren Qingquan looked thoughtful and then looked toward Ren Shiluo who's still speaking like an author trying to pad their word count.
[Name: Ren Shiluo
Realm: Martial Lord or Martial Emperor, Unknown Stage.
Description: Your super doting and nagging father.]
(・o・)
After reading the result of Ren Shiluo's scan, I could feel Ren Qingquan turn shocked. Luckily, he somehow kept his poker face. So on the outside, his expression remains calm and serene.
Amid his shock, Ren Qingquan entered a state of thoughtlessness as too much information collided in his brain at once, freezing his thoughts. If he's a computer, it'll start lagging around now before suddenly crashing and turning into a bluescreen.
Without having to hear two chaotic noises at once, I feel much better and recall my plan to test [Anchor] on Ren Shiluo
I took action and targeted Ren Shiluo via Ren Qingquan's [Scan]. Then, I willed [Anchor] to lend my [Scan] ability to Ren Shiluo.
The instant I willed it, I could see that 1 point of energy in the dark space began to behave strangely. This is quite similar to how 1 point worth of energy began to act strangely when I first tried to upgrade my [Scan].
As I was only testing the cost, I immediately dismissed the idea of lending Ren Shiluo my [Scan]. Instead, I began to analyze my findings.
It seems the cost of lending my [Scan] to others is only 1 point? Then, what about [Calculate], [Devour], and [Anchor]?
I tried to lend [Calculate] and [Devour] to Ren Shiluo, then quickly canceled them.
Just like [Scan], it requires 1 point to lend [Calculate] and [Devour] to others.
But, when I tried to lend [Anchor], the energy acted oddly but in a different way from when I am spending them. This time, they felt like a monkey that had been fed a lot of caffeine. The energy around me began to spin erratically at incredible speed.
As I didn't quite understand what the movement means, I quickly canceled it by removing my intention to lend [Anchor] to Ren Shiluo.
The instant I do so, the energy returns to its usual state and stops entering their high caffeinated state.
Looking at my 9 remaining points, I gritted my teeth and focused Ren Qingquan's [Scan] toward Ren Shiluo. Then, I activated [Anchor] and lent my [Scan] ability to Ren Shiluo.
Immediately, I saw that one-ninth of the energy in that dark space disappears. In exchange, I could now feel that an additional existence had been anchored into me.
That existence should be Ren Shiluo, who has just received the [Scan] ability I lent him.
I don't know how to explain it, but I felt the connection between Ren Shiluo and me was much fainter than the one I have with Ren Qingquan.
It's like the difference in internet speed between a city and a wild mountain in the countryside.
Feeling I've been distracted from the main topic, I shook my nonexistent head and focused on the connection between Ren Shiluo and me. I need to make sure I can indeed use the [Scan] I've lent to him. Otherwise, I would've just wasted 1 point for naught.
Soon, I followed the connection between us and focused on it.
Different from when I connected with Ren Qingquan, which feels like entering an ultra-realistic VR.
The only things I could sense from Ren Shiluo were information that can be captured by [Scan], like light, noises, smells, and energies.
Just like sensing through Ren Qingquan's [Scan], I need to spend my calculation power to process the information I got from Ren Shiluo's [Scan] into something comprehensible.
But what has become my main concern is the distance I could see through Ren Shiluo's [Scan].
Instead of 11 meters like the one with Ren Qingquan, I could only sense around 10 centimeters around Ren Shiluo! Which means the range is only 1% of Ren Qingquan's!
What the hell is going on!
Is it because Ren Qingquan is someone who has long been anchored to me, or is it related to the amount of abilities I have lent to others? Or perhaps it is because I haven't lent Ren Shiluo my [Anchor] ability?
Well, guessing alone won't do shiet. So I chose to act and prepared to eliminate the guesses one by one.
Because the only thing I could try for now is to lend more ability to Ren Shiluo, I decided to do so.
Gritting my teeth, I hardened my will to add [Devour] on Ren Shiluo.
After I willed 1 point worth of energy to activate Ren Qingquan's [Anchor] and lend my [Devour] to Ren Shiluo, I found the energy inside that dark space hasn't decreased at all.
I checked the energy and found them reacting just as they did when I tried to grant [Anchor]. They're moving erratically at high speed, but much less exaggerated in terms of speed.
Huh? How come I couldn't do it? Did it fail?
Think, me! Think! What could possibly do such a thing?
I tried several guesses and arrived at the most likely possibility
There is a very high probability that the failure is due to insufficient energy.
If it's indeed true, that means the cost of lending my ability will increase when more abilities are lent to the same person.
Because when I tried to lend Ren Shiluo one ability before, it only cost 1 point to do so.
As this was an extremely important matter, I quickly turned my attention to another person in the courtyard.
I planned to lend one of my abilities to Ren Wangzhen. If it succeeds, that means my guess regarding increased cost when lending more than one skill to the same person is true.
Just like before, I found 1 point worth of energy began to turn into a vortex and disappeared.
That means my guess is indeed correct! The cost of lending more than one ability to the same person will increase from 1 point to more.
Also, does the speed of that energy's movement have something to do with the amount of energy I lack? Like the faster or slower they moved, the more energy I actually lacked?
There is too much unknown here. So, I'll put things on hold until I get more information and points to be used in my experiment.
***
Although it took such a long time for me to experiment with things, actually, only an instant has passed in the real world - Or not.
I actually spent around ten minutes experimenting with my abilities.
Even so, Ren Shiluo still hasn't finished blabbering nonsense. Currently, He has somehow pushed the topic toward how the son of some clan's aunties has already married, and when will Ren Qingquan find a suitable partner.
After another three minutes, Ren Wangzhen suddenly placed a lid on his tea cup. He narrowed his eyes while calmly saying, "Shiluo, you need to remember you're also a late bloomer that only marries at your thirties. So let's not push the younger generation too far."
Ren Wangchen easily silenced Ren Shiluo, then steered the conversation back to Ren Xuan. "Regarding the matter about Ren Xuan, I will handle it on my own."
Ren Shiluo quickly replied. "Dad, you should seriously handle this matter. Don't just shrug it off like you usually do. I want that Ren Xuan to at least lost a layer of skin! How dare that unknown guy from a distant family branch dare to injure Qingquan!"
Ren Shiluo's words made me speechless. He seriously sounded like some brain-dead xianxia villain. The kind that get killed in three chapters or less after planning some idiotic plan.
Even Ren Qingquan agreed with me as I could hear him think, 'Uwahh my dad sounds like some cannon fodder villain.'
Now that I am on the topic regarding xianxia villain. This Ren Xuan guy is pretty suspicious, too.
Although Ren Qingquan's combat experience is low, he is still a core member of the Ren family, which entails having a much better skillset compared to someone from a side branch.
Even so, Ren Xuan actually achieved a leapfrog battle at a crucial competition and defeated Ren Qingquan, who is at a higher martial arts realm than him.
There is also Ren Xuan's name, which consisted of only two characters.
In the xianxia novels I read in my past life, most of the protagonists have two character names like him.
Meanwhile, most of the supporting casts or some cannon fodder in xianxia novels have three-character names like Ren Qingquan and his family.
Every clue points to the possibility that Ren Xuan might be a protagonist-like existence. Meanwhile, Ren Qingquan should be a young master who becomes a stepping stone for the protagonist to shine!
Then, I laughed at my own guesses.
Pftt~ there is no way, right? After all,l this is reality and not fiction.
┐(´д`)┌
Chapter 7. A Fatty, Every Xianxia Main Character's Best Friend.
While I am busy entertaining myself, Ren Wangzhen asked Ren Qingquan. "Sigh, your father don't seems to trust you old grandpa. So, Qingquan, how do you think I should handle this matter?"
I could feel Ren Qingquan's nervousness as his mind raced. The speed of the collision between thoughts is so fast that I could barely overhear them through the connection from [Anchor].
I think I can hear some keywords like "protagonist," "villain," and "don't wanna mess with Ren Xuan" among them.
Should I say Ren Qingquan being the first creature anchored to me might be fate? His thought process is exactly the same as mine!
While I felt Ren Xuan sounded like a protagonist, is just a mere coincidence. Ren Qingquan took it to heart and devised a way to avoid getting involved in whatever mess usually followed a protagonist.
With his plan ready, Ren Qingquan checked in his memory on how the original Ren Qingquan usually responded and followed suit.
With a faint smile, he said. "Grandpa, I think it is better to let the past go. Instead, we need to throw an olive branch at him secretly. After all, he is a talented member of Ren's family. Of course, we still need to make some public show of targeting him slightly. Otherwise, other people might think we are a pushover."
I could see that both Ren Shiluo and Ren Wangzhen wore a surprised expression on their face.
Ren Shiluo's laughter soon reverberated throughout the courtyard. "Hahahaha! As expected of my son, this small setback wouldn't affect you much. You have greatly matured instead!"
Well, if only Ren Shiluo knew his son had stressed himself to death over this 'small setback'.
Feeling a bit awkward, Ren Qingquan could only smile when listening to Ren Shiluo's praise.
(◍•ᴗ•◍)
Ren Wangzhen smiled toward Ren Qingquan. "Good, good, good. You actually thought of a pretty good plan. This plan will also allow us to pull some more people to our side by showing our generosity and love for talent."
"Then, I'll use Qingquan's plan and try to show our generosity by inviting Ren Xuan to our faction." Ren Wangzhen said while boiling another pot of tea.
While Ren Wangzhen boils his tea, Ren Shiluo continued to nag Ren Qingquan for a few minutes before allowing him to leave the courtyard.
The moment Ren Qingquan left the courtyard, I saw Xiao Cai suddenly appear. "Young master, let me lead you to your room."
Ren Qingquan shook his head. "I am injured and couldn't train. Right now, I feel a bit bored and wished to walk around the family residence."
"Then, please allow me to accompany you." Xiao Cai said while following behind Ren Qingquan.
Ren Qingquan simply nodded.
While Ren Qingquan randomly travelled around the Ren family's residence. I activated Ren Qingquan's [Scan] and began collecting data regarding the surrounding area.
With the help of [Calculate], I forcefully remembered the information about Ren family's residence and some of its residents.
With the extra calculation power, I began analyzing the people around Ren Qingquan.
First is Xiao Cai.
By comparing her energy with Ren Qingquan's grandfather, Ren Wangzhen. I am sure Xiao Cai's strength is at the Martial Saint level at the very least. Which is two big realms above the current Ren Qingquan.
There is simply no way a normal maid would have such strength. But if I include Ren Qingquan's father in the calculation, everything is perfectly normal.
From original Ren Qingquan's memory, I know that Ren Shiluo doted on Ren Qingquan.
The original Ren Qingquan hasn't turned into a useless arrogant young master under that insane level of doting is a miracle in itself. Although it seems he turned into a crybaby instead.
So, with the fact that Ren Shiluo is actually a hidden Martial Emperor level expert. Secretly giving Ren Qingquan a super high-level maid is perfectly normal.
I guess I don't need to worry that Xiao Cai will suddenly kill Ren Qingquan. Which will cause me to lose contact with the physical world.
***
While I am spending time analyzing Ren Qingquan's relationship based on the information from the original Ren Qingquan's memories and the information I just got. A whole day has already passed by.
Although injured, Ren Qingquan remains a Martial Master. So, after spending most of the day, he succeeded in helping me [Scan] most of the Ren family residence.
What a pity though, with Xiao Cai always watching, he didn't manage to kill any animal to devour their soul and collect data regarding points.
Nevertheless, I still sent him the map I've promised as a reward for scanning the Ren family's residence.
[Congratulations on completing Newbie mission 1! You've been rewarded with a System Map function.]
[Host may open the map by thinking of 'System Map' or through the personal panel.]
Ren Qingquan read the notification and said to Xiao Cai, "I am returning to my courtyard."
Xiao Cai nodded and led Ren Qingquan to his courtyard.
After Ren Qingquan entered his courtyard and saw Xiao Cai leave, he immediately opened his personal panel while still standing in the gate leading to his courtyard.
[Name: Ren Qingquan
Point: 0
Realm: First Stage Martial Master
Martial arts method: Flame Tempering Method.
Martial arts technique: Iron Palm (Beginner).
System function: Devour, Scan, Calculate, Map.]
Then he opened the System map, which is the 3D map I'd just learned to make when he'd fallen unconscious before.
Seeing the illusory 3D map of the Ren family, Ren Qingquan played with it by zooming in and out before focusing on the one showing his room. 'Hmm? What is this white dot here?'
I heard his doubt and sent a screen toward him.
[Ding! The white dot is the host's current location.]
Ren Qingquan was surprised by the screen that suddenly appeared in front of him. But seeing it's just my reply to his question, he relaxed while pointing at a blue dot in the 3d map.'Then, what about the blue dot and yellow dot here?'
[The blue dots mark creatures other than the host. The bigger the dot, the stronger the target is. The yellow dots are dead things that contain some energy.]
Ren Qingquan nodded at my explanation and planned his next move. 'Tomorrow, I'll begin looking for creature to kill and complete the system's second mission.'
After preparing that simple plan, Ren Qingquan seems to be satisfied with his own genius idea and sleeps without a care in the world.
While he slept, I focused on the [Scan] attached to his father and grandfather. But because of the short range of the [Scan] attached to them, I didn't hear any important information.
At most, I could hear Ren Shiluo gossiping about some useless thing to people I don't know.
What should I do with information like the first wife of the Yu family actually never soaked her feet, or the gossip that the second elder of the Liang family's child has finally given birth to a son.
The worst is that I accidentally heard that the child actually looks nothing like the father. Instead, he looks more similar to the madam's guard.
(¬_¬)
Wait a moment. Actually, I think the last information might be useful. But I don't even know who the third elder of the Liang family is.
After listening to more useless information, I turned my attention to Ren Wangzhen's [Scan] and found that he had already fallen asleep.
With nothing to do, I simply listened to the gossip Ren Shiluo shared for half an hour till the sky outside was completely dark and the people Ren Shiluo spoke to left his courtyard.
Then, I saw Ren Shiluo begin doing some paperwork. But because the information I got from Ren Shiluo's [Scan] is kinda blurry, I couldn't see what he is working on.
Compared to Ren Qingquan's [Scan], which feels like seeing things in ultra-HD resolution. The [Scan] attached to Ren Shiluo and Ren Wangzhen feels even lower than seeing something in 144p.
Soon, Ren Shiluo also fell asleep, and I truly ran out of things to do.
To be honest, I envy those people. Since I got stuck in this dark space, I think I've lost the ability to sleep. Even so, I don't think I feel tired at all.
The only difficult thing is fighting boredom while being stuck in a space devoid of anything.
So I tried to waste time by watching how the points in the dark space I was in moved. Until finally, morning arrived in the world.
While Ren Qingquan is still sleeping, a loud explosion-like noise comes from the gate of his courtyard.
Accompanying the loud voice are the sounds of something heavy falling to the ground, followed by a boy's shout. "Young Master Ren, I've come to pay you a visit!"
Ren Qingquan who was still deep asleep, was jolted awake upon hearing the loud noises.
He sat on his bed while scratching his head before looking toward the door with half-opened eyes.
After yawning a few times, Ren Qingquan exited his room and saw a fat boy sitting in a corner of his courtyard. The boy looks around fifteen years old with a fat body that seems to weigh a hundred kilograms.
I could feel Ren Qingquan's confusion as he dug deep into the original Ren Qingquan's memory to find the fatty's identity.
After thirty seconds of standing in a daze while digging his memory, Ren Qingquan finally remembered it and smiled at the fatty while walking toward him. "Fatty Zhang, how come you visit me so early in the morning?"
After Ren Qingquan went to dig his memory, I've also looked at the information regarding that fatty from the original Ren Qingquan's memory.
That fatty is the original Ren Qingquan's best friend and also a core member of the Zhang family. An established family in the Azure Empire that has resided in the capital city for a long time and mainly dabbles in medicinal trades.
In terms of overall power and influence, the Zhang family is roughly equal to the Ren family, which controlled an entire city and its surrounding area.
As for that fatty, he is called Zhang Jixiang. He is basically the manager of the Zhang family's medicine store in Burning Sky City.
The original Ren Qingquan knew him because Ren Shiluo and Fatty's father are close buddies who've often explored the world and had survived several life-and-death situations together. That makes Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang extremely close.
While I recalled the information about Fatty Zhang, Ren Qingquan had arrived at the stone table in a corner of his courtyard and sat in front of Fatty.
Ren Qingquan first apologized to the fatty. "Fatty Zhang, I am sorry for being unable to pour some tea for you. I've just woken up and haven't prepared my tea set."
Fatty Zhang waved his hand and said in a loud voice. "There is no need at all. I've heard Young Master Ren has been injured and is currently in a slump. So, I come this morning to ask you to drink at my tavern! "
I am utterly speechless at Fatty's suggestion. Which sane person would bring an injured person to drink booze in the morning?
Chapter 8. Insects Also Have Souls, You Know~
Ren Qingquan heard Fatty's suggestion and rolled his eyes.
'Is this fat guy trying to kill me? He knew I am injured and wanted to make me go and drink?' Ren Qingquan wanted to decline Fatty Zhang's offer when I could hear him suddenly changing his mind. 'Wait a minute, this might be my chance to complete the newbie mission I got.'
Ren Qingquan smiled and said, "Actually, Fatty Zhang, I am currently not in the mood to drink. Instead, how about we go to the nearby forest and hunt for fun today? I missed the taste of your roasted meat."
Fatty Zhang laughed as his plump head became even rounder. "Alright, Young Master Ren. But I didn't bring any carriage here. So, I need to bother you with preparing one for us."
Ren Qingquan nodded.
Coincidentally, Xiao Cai has arrived while holding a tray of food. She paused in front of the door leading to Ren Qingquan's courtyard, which had been smashed by Fatty Zhang.
Through [Scan], I could see Xiao Cai sending a dead glare at Fatty Zhang after seeing the broken door. All the while, she calmly walked to the table and set the food before Ren Qingquan.
"Young master, here is your breakfast." She then asked while staring at Fatty Zhang. "Do I need to prepare food for Sir Zhang?"
Before Ren Qingquan could reply, Fatty Zhang waved his hand. "There is no need. I've eaten my breakfast before arriving here. "
"Furthermore, Young Master Ren and I planned to go hunting and roast some meat. So, I need to leave some space in my stomach." Fatty Zhang said while rubbing his fat stomach.
Xiao Cai looked at Ren Qingquan and said. "Young master, you're currently injured. It's dangerous to go and hunt in your current state. Furthermore, the forest you usually visit to hunt is connected to the periphery of Endless Mountain, where many powerful ferocious beasts reside. So, please reconsider."
Ren Qingquan recalled the existence of powerful ferocious beasts in this world that could rival martial artists and said to Xiao Cai. "Then, prepare some guards for me. Staying cooped up in my courtyard is boring. So, I want to try hunting instead."
"I'll prepare it." Xiao Cai replied upon seeing Ren Qingquan's persistence. Still, she also added. "But please allow me to join you, so I can make sure you're safe."
'Well, I only wanted to test the system's [Devour] function. So, having a powerful expert like Xiao Cai should be helpful.' Ren Qingquan thought as he replied to Xiao Cai with a nod.
After Xiao Cai left, Ren Qingquan ate his food, which consisted of a porridge, a bowl of unknown mixed vegetables, and a bowl of stir-fried meat.
From my [Scan], I found whether it is the porridge, the meat, or the mixed vegetables. All of them contained a great deal of energy.
I dug into the original Ren Qingquan's memory and found that the food he usually eats is actually something expensive.
For example, the rice and vegetables Ren Qingquan eats daily are pretty much a medicine that could boost his martial arts training speed. Meanwhile, the meat comes from ferocious beasts hunted on the Endless Mountain, where many such beasts reside.
Eating those meats will allow Ren Qingquan to regain his energy much faster. Which will speed up his martial arts practice.
***
While Ren Qingquan is busy eating. In front of him, Fatty Zhang is busy checking the inner side of his vest.
I am a bit curious what Fatty is doing. So I focused my [Scan] on him and found that the inner side of his vest is actually filled with herbs, medicinal paste, and condiments.
I saw Fatty Zhang ignore the medicinal herbs and paste. Instead, he weighed the condiments like salt, pepper, chili powder, soy sauce, and other unknown things that had been stored inside a small jar. Occasionally, he nodded or entered into thought after weighing the condiments.
The scene makes me speechless. I never expected I would see a walking talking condiment shelf in another world.
Then, I checked Fatty's energy and found that the energy in him is actually only slightly lower than Ren Qingquan's. That should've meant he is someone at the peak of Martial Apprentice realm. Only one small level lower than Ren Qingquan.
As I don't know what else to do, I activated [Scan] and observed the herbs and medicinal paste on Fatty Zhang's inner vest.
I stored the data of those herbs and pastes in the database I created through [Calculate], and tried to understand their composition by thoroughly scanning them.
While I am busy learning about medicine from the paste and herbs stored in fatty, Ren Qingquan has finished eating.
Soon after Ren Qingquan finished his food, Xiao Cai returned and said. "The guards and carriage has been prepared."
Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang followed Xiao Cai and saw a small carriage that could seat four people.
Around the carriage, there are ten guards riding on horses. Nine of them are at the Martial Master realm, and one of them is at the Martial Grandmaster realm. Each of them seems battle-hardened and looks extremely strong.
As for the carriage's coachmen, he is actually also a Martial Grandmaster-level expert.
After Xiao Cai opened the door to the carriage, Ren Qingquan was the first one to enter the carriage. Followed by fatty and finally Xiao Cai herself.
Because fatty alone actually has taken one and a half seats. I must say Xiao Cai has done a great job at selecting the carriage.
The group traveled through the city toward the eastern gate, the one closest to the forest Ren Qingquan usually hunted in.
While the carriage passes through a busy street. I found an interesting person among the pedestrians.
Amidst the crowd on Ren Qingquan's left side, my [Scan] detected Ren Xuan. The person who has caused the original Ren Qingquan to die from stress.
He is currently wearing a hood that hides most of his face and a tall shoes that allow him to change his height.
Inside his robe, my [Scan] saw many bottles and boxes containing herbs, medicinal pastes, and unknown liquids. There are also several empty bottles and empty boxes he stored in his pocket.
That makes me utterly speechless.
If Fatty Zhang is a walking condiment shelf. Then, Ren Xuan is basically a walking apothecary.
Is it a trend to hide medicines in your clothes these days?
I also tried to focus on the energy in his body. But, he has left the range of Ren Qingquan's [Scan] before I could do so.
***
After the accidental meeting with Ren Xuan, Ren Qingquan's group encountered nothing interesting.
Soon, they exited through Burning Sky City's eastern gate and drove on the official road for a few more hours.
During the journey, I've been storing a map of the surrounding terrain in Ren Qingquan's [Scan].
Thanks to the surrounding guard's occasional chatter that I overheard while trying to [Scan] the surroundings. My knowledge regarding the energy of someone at the Martial Master realm is already mostly complete. Right now, I should be able to know which small realm someone at the Martial Master realm is at based on their energy.
Amidst the guard's chatter, the group arrived near a forest, took a dirt path, and drove through a place full of vegetation for a whole hour.
After arriving at an opening, the coachmen stopped and said. "Young master, we've arrived. From here on, you need to continue on horses."
Ren Qingquan and his group walked out of the carriage, while Xiao Cai took the hunting equipment placed in the carriage's storage compartment.
Among the guards, three people at the Martial Master realm descended from their horses and lent them to Ren Qingquan, Fatty Zhang, and Xiao Cai.
Together with seven guards, Ren Qingquan, Xiao Cai, and Fatty drove deep into the forest.
As for the three guards without any horses. They stayed with the coachmen to guard the carriage.
I guess the original Ren Qingquan's skill has indeed been inherited by the current Ren Qingquan, as I actually saw him controlling the horses with ease.
My attention is also pulled toward the scenery around the forest. But soon after, I found it quite boring. This left me slightly dazed as I mechanically recorded the surrounding maps with [Scan] and stored them in [Calculate]'s memory.
Luckily, it didn't last long; the group soon found a small, ordinary rabbit.
Ren Qingquan held the bow that was among the hunting equipment Xiao Cai had brought and shot an arrow toward the rabbit.
Even as a noob in terms of archery, I could see that Ren Qingquan's form was incredibly wrong. But, through sheer luck, the arrow he shot hit that rabbit right in the head and killed it.
"Congratulations for young master on doing such an amazing shoot." Behind him, Xiao Cai's praises can be heard. Which makes Ren Qingquan full of smug thought.
I think Xiao Cai means she didn't expect his trashy shot to hit the target. But whatever makes Ren Qingquan happy.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After showing a smug smile, Ren Qingquan recalled his goal and quickly thought, 'System, activate [Devour]!'
[Ding! Devour has been activated.]
When I activated [Devour], I felt an invisible suction force appear on Ren Qingquan. It swallowed something from near the rabbit's corpse, and in exchange, I felt a small increase in energy in the dark space around me.
I instinctively felt the thing I just absorbed should be the rabbit's souls. So, I tried my luck and released some of the [Scan]'s filters. Who knows, among them, there might be one that allows me to see souls.
Feeling my command, [Scan] released another thing I had blocked due to information overload. With it, I could now sense a faint mist-like thing nearby the rabbit.
A part of the mist is continuously dispersing toward the surroundings, while another small part has been sucked toward Ren Qingquan.
Is this soul?
While I was in a trance at the sight of the rabbit's soul being swallowed, I saw several other extremely tiny, mist-like souls drift toward Ren Qingquan.
After searching around where the source of those souls came from, I found they actually came from some insect that had been accidentally killed.
Compared to the rabbit's soul, the soul of insects contained much less energy.
From my observation, after some of it dispersed, the rabbit's soul is equal to less than a thousandth point, which is frickin little. Meanwhile, the souls coming from those insects are so incredibly small that I couldn't even feel any sort of increase.
In conclusion, I am fucking damned!
Gathering 1 point of energy is actually so difficult!
Are you kidding me? To collect 1 point, I would need to kill 1.000 rabbits!
It's a thousand, you know? A thousand rabbits are enough to feed a small city once!
While I spend time thinking of useless things, Ren Qingquan has been messaging me for the last few seconds.
'Hey, system. How much point has I gathered?'
After Ren Qingquan failed to get any response from me, he began spamming his thoughts. 'Hey! Hey! Hey! System! System!!!! How much point did I get?'
[Please be patient. System is currently calculating.]
I sent some nonsense while planning how I should respond.
Should I show every increase in points? But, calculating four-digit past coma is quite troublesome. So, should I just display one digit past the comma?
Suddenly, an idea struck me. I followed that idea and sent a notification to Ren Qingquan
[Ding! Successfully devoured 0 points! Points below 1 will be accumulated before being displayed.]
That's it! I am such a genius.
With such a screen, I just need to spam that same message until Ren Qingquan collects enough points. I don't need to use my brain to calculate the exact decimals of his points and waste my precious time!
***
After killing that rabbit and collecting its corpse. Ren Qingquan's group pressed forward, hunting every animal that came into view. Occasionally, they will collect some animals to be roasted later.
Soon, the afternoon arrived, and they had walked quite deep inside the forest.
Since the last few minutes, Fatty Zhang's stomach has been grumbling. The sound from his stomach grows stronger with each passing second.
As the sounds are starting to get on everyone's nerves. The moment they spotted a slightly open area, the group stopped and built a campfire.
Some of the guards collected dried wood, while others dug into the ground, prepared equipment for grilling, or prepared the animals they'd hunted.
At last, a simple campfire suitable for cooking has been created.
Fatty helped prepare the meat they'd hunted while picking condiments from his inner clothes. With those condiments in hand, he began masterfully applying them to the meat and roasted it over the campfires.
Looking at his technique, those not in the know might think Fatty Zhang is a chef.
Well, that's actually true. One of Fatty Zhang's identities is indeed a renowned chef in Burning Sky City. Every dish cooked by Fatty Zhang could fetch quite a lot of money.
While Fatty Zhang is busy cooking. From Ren Qingquan's [Scan], I saw the surrounding guards begin to tense up.
They're staring in a direction while gripping the sword at their waist.
Ren Qingquan also sensed the odd situation and turned his head toward the spot where the guards were staring.
With a rustling sound of leaves, a massive boar can be seen charging toward their location from behind dense foliage.
The moment that the boar entered the range of Ren Qingquan's [Scan]. I found the energy inside that boar is pretty considerable! It's actually as strong as a third stage Martial Master in terms of level.
Upon seeing the boar, the Martial Grandmaster level guard immediately moved and dashed toward it. With several swings of his sword, he split the boar into two pieces.
I could feel Ren Qingquan being awed by such a strength.
Meanwhile, Fatty Zhang, who's been busy barbecuing, has just raised his head upon noticing something amiss.
When he saw the boar that had been split into two, he shrugged. "Let's add some pork on the menu."
Fatty Zhang calmly told a few guards to prepare the boar while he roasted some meat.
After half an hour, the food is ready.
As there is an extra boar that they have just killed. The group of ten people could eat to their fill.
Chapter 9. Killing Machine XC-3000 deployed!
After they finished eating and rested for a moment, Xiao Cai looked at the sky and said. "Let's just hunt around this area until evening. Any further and the place will be too dangerous."
The Martial Grandmaster level guard looked at the sky and nodded while curiously looking at Xiao Cai. "What miss Xiao Cai said is right. We're almost entering the periphery of Endless Mountain. Once we enter, I couldn't guarantee the young master's safety due to the sheer amount of ferocious beasts around."
Ren Qingquan simply believes whatever the two experts said. "Then, let's continue hunting around this area."
"What about the remaining boar meat?" Fatty asked while pointing at the half-eaten meat.
"Just bury it and let nature handle the rest." One of the guards said with a smile while using a big branch to begin digging the soil.
The surrounding guard followed suit and dug a hole for that boar meat.
Suddenly, the group's expression changed as they heard several wolves' howls.
"Let's leave from this place. Encountering a wolf pack is quite troublesome. Especially this deep in the forest. For the wolf pack to stay here, that means their strength is pretty considerable." The Martial Grandmaster said while beckoning to the others to move.
Xiao Cai said, "Too late. Those wolves has arrived."
She pointed at a thick shrub with a pair of glowing eyes inside.
After the pair of eyes, more and more pairs of eyes appeared around Ren Qingquan's group.
I felt quite curious after seeing two beasts attack. Compared to the animals that hardly appeared during Ren Qingquan's journey, the few minutes the group spent cooking and eating had already triggered two rounds of beast attacks.
Is the smell of Fatty Zhang's cooking really that tempting? I thought animals have a different sense of smell and taste from humans?
***
While everyone is tense, many wolves slowly moved forward and surrounded Ren Qingquan's group.
Once they had come nearer, my [Scan] could detect three Martial Grandmaster realm wolves, nine Martial Master realm wolves, and four Martial Apprentice realm wolves.
The Martial Grandmaster level guard has probably sensed the power of those wolves as he began to sweat.
Seeing the strongest among them look nervous, the other guard tensed up and slowly formed a circle to protect Ren Qingquan, Fatty Zhang, and Xiao Cai.
Even Fatty Zhang's round face began to tremble and sweat when the guards grew serious.
The only ones remaining calm are Xiao Cai and Ren Qingquan, who knew there was a humanoid missile called Xiao Cai standing next to him.
The guard in the Martial Grandmaster realm looked at the others and gave a bitter smile. "All of you, guard the young master and find a way to return to the carriage!"
The other guards quickly replied in a low voice. "Captain, you should be the one to bring the young master away. It's easier for us to hold them with our number!"
"That's right, Captain. You have a much higher chance to keep the young master safe compared to us." The surrounding guards nodded along.
"You guys..." The captain looked at the other guards from the corner of his eye while keeping an eye on the wolves. His eyes turn slightly red from being overwhelmed by his feelings.
While those guards were playing their drama, I saw Xiao Cai unsheath the sword at her waist and move gracefully like a leaf blown by the wind.
"Luckily I decided to tag along." I heard Xiao Cai mutter while she easily passed through the guard's formation and entered the wolf pack.
Every time Xiao Cai passed through a wolf, a flash of light appeared, and a wolf's head would fall to the ground.
On the outside, Ren Qingquan wore a dumbfounded expression upon seeing Xiao Cai killing the wolves easily. But internally, he is screaming toward me, 'System, activate [Devour]! Quick! Quick!'
If I hadn't heard his excited internal voice, I would've believed his shocked expression.
What a drama king.
(¬_¬)
While Xiao Cai is killing all of the surrounding wolves, I activated Ren Qingquan's [Devour] and swallowed their souls.
It seems that because the level of [Devour] is quite low, the speed of swallowing the wolf's soul is quite slow. Furthermore, I couldn't devour souls that are too far away from Ren Qingquan. This slowed the pace at which I gained points.
By the time Xiao Cai killed most of the wolves, leaving only one of the grandmaster level wolves that had fled with a large gushing wound on its back. I sent a notification to Ren Qingquan.
[Ding! Successfully devoured 1 point!
Note: Please get closer to the corpse to devour the souls that are located beyond Devour's current range.]
Actually, the amount of points gained from Xiao Cai's slaughter has already accumulated to slightly more than 2 points.
But I decided to separate Ren Qingquan's points from mine. So, I taxed a portion of his income to fill my own pocket so I can do some personal experiment. *Ahem* 50% tax *Ahem*.
Actually, forget about that tax matter. It isn't important~
After Ren Qingquan walked around the area full of wolf corpses. I've successfully devoured another half point.
With this massive boon in terms of points, the amount of points I have has finally increased.
[Name: System
Point: 9
Ability: Anchor, Devour, Scan, Calculate]
This also makes me feel more relieved, as killing strong beasts with martial art attainment actually rewards me with more points.
The gain from each wolf is around 100 times the amount I gained from the rabbit Ren Qingquan first killed!
After feeling happy, I didn't forget to send Ren Qingquan a notification.
[Congratulations on completing newbie mission 2! You've been rewarded with a System Mission Panel.]
[Host may open the Mission Panel by thinking of 'System Mission' or through the personal panel.]
Ren Qingquan saw the notification I sent and opened his panel.
[Name: Ren Qingquan
Point: 1
Realm: First Stage Martial Master
Martial arts method: Flame Tempering Method.
Martial arts technique: Iron Palm (Beginner).
System function: Devour, Scan, Calculate, Map, Missions.]
Then he opened the mission panel and saw it was actually empty. After all, I am still planning what kind of mission I should place there. 'System, where is the missions? Ain't a mission panel should be filled with mission?'
[Please wait for the mission to refresh. The process might take some time to finish.]
'Darn, did you just released a half finished function? It won't be filled with bugs right?'
While Ren Qingquan is complaining to me, the guard captain said. "With the existence of that powerful wolf group, there shouldn't be any more powerful ferocious beasts in this area. So, we could hunt safely."
He occasionally stole a glance at Xiao Cai with an expression that was filled with admiration.
It seems somehow Xiao Cai has gained several fans.
Xiao Cai ignored the admiring looks of the surrounding people and asked Ren Qingquan. "Does the young master still wish to continue?"
'This is a rare chance to hunt for points. So, I shouldn't waste it.' I could hear Ren Qingquan contemplate and nod.
Xiao Cai sighed and told the guard to continue as is. She also told everyone to keep her ability a secret.
After hearing Xiao Cai's words, the guards are smart enough to go on as if nothing had happened.
Soon, evening arrived, and Ren Qingquan had gathered an additional point (tax included).
While riding his horse on the way back to his carriage, Ren Qingquan said. 'System, open my personal panel.'
[Name: Ren Qingquan
Point: 2
Realm: First Stage Martial Master
Martial arts method: Flame Tempering Method.
Martial arts technique: Iron Palm (Beginner).
System function: Devour, Scan, Calculate, Map, Mission.]
After reading the panel, he silently closed it and watched the surrounding scenery.
The journey toward the city is pretty calm. There is no sudden appearance of a robber, a blocked road, a random sexy female noble being in a pinch, or other cliched scene.
By the time Ren Qingquan's group returned to Burning Sky city, the sky had begun to darken. Yet, the main street of Burning Sky City remained busy.
There are many stalls selling meat, fish, snacks, herbs, martial arts books, fake martial arts books, and many other trinkets.
While I am scanning the surrounding scenery. I found a wild Ren Xuan, currently visiting a stall selling mysterious trinkets.
While I am focusing my attention on him. I could hear Ren Xuan saying 'I finally found it' in a small voice.
What is this dude doing right now?
Recalling my previous nonsense guess and Ren Qingquan's guess regarding Ren Xuan being a protagonist-like character. I decided to spend a point to activate [Anchor] and placed my [Scan] ability on him.
Who knows? If Ren Xuan is indeed a protagonist-like existence, he might surprise me and give me a clue on how to leave this dark space and start my own adventure in another world.
It's not like I hate the whole being a system thing I've been doing.
Becoming a hidden mastermind and secretly manipulating events is something I quite enjoy. But, I still kinda miss the feeling of controlling a body~
I also wanna sleep with arrogant young master and slap some jade beauties' faces.
Wait, I get it mixed. I mean, I also wanna slap some arrogant young master and sleep with a jade beauty.
By the time Ren Qingquan's carriage had passed Ren Xuan, I've successfully placed my [Scan] on him.
I stopped scanning Ren Qingquan's surroundings and switched to Ren Xuan's [Scan].
From it, I saw him holding a plant while muttering how he could now join the Martial Spirit sect and immediately become the disciple of an elder-level figure after concocting some pills.
Because the information I could get from Ren Xuan's [Scan] was quite confusing. I decided to return my focus to Ren Qingquan.
While scanning his surroundings to increase my database, I recalled the information about the Martial Spirit sect from the original Ren Qingquan's memory.
It didn't take much time before I found some information.
The Martial Spirit Sect is the top sect in the world. In terms of influence, it is only half a level lower than the whole Great Azure Empire.
The sect's headquarters is located somewhere in the Endless Mountain. And just like the Great Azure Empire, they constantly fought against the beasts inside Endless Mountain to guard the living space for humans.
The Martial Spirit Sect is pretty much similar to the sect I've read in xianxia and wuxua novels from my past life. So, an elder-level figure should be someone of pretty high status there.
***
After arriving at the Ren family's residence, Ren Qingquan immediately bid Fatty Zhang farewell and entered his courtyard.
He took a short bath, then fell asleep in his room from exhaustion.
As for me, I am busy deciding what step to take next.
I spent a whole night contemplating several plans before deciding to send two missions for Ren Qingquan.
The moment he woke up the next day, I sent the screen I had been preparing all night.
[2 new missions have been added to the mission panel.]
Ren Qingquan's half-opened eyes quickly opened wide, and he checked the mission I sent.
[Mission: Collect books about general knowledge, martial arts methods, and martial technique!
Detail:
0/10 general books recorded.
0/10 martial arts methods recorded.
0/10 martial techniques recorded.
Deadline: 1 day.
Reward: Library function.
Punishment: -1 point.
Note: This mission will be released daily until the host completes it.]
[Mission: collect 100 points within 30 days!
Detail: 0/100 points collected. Only the latest 30 days are counted.
Deadline: None.
Reward: 1 point.
Punishment: None. ]
I sent the first mission to learn more about this world.
After Ren Qingquan finished the newbie mission to [Scan] the whole Ren family's residence, and passed by the library, I had already thought of this mission.
Because the mission is extremely easy, I decided to add a deadline to test Ren Qingquan's response.
As for the second mission, it's to force Ren Qingquan to seek a steady source of points. I really need more points to experiment with my abilities.
After reading the missions I sent, Ren Qingquan complained as he racked his brain to finish them. 'System, why do I need to finish missions to open your function? Did I guessed it right and you're indeed a defective system that got released before being completed?'
Your family is the one that's defective!
Holding my urge to curse him, I give him some nonsensical explanation.
[The system functions are separated to give the host some sense of achievement.]
'Well, whatever.' Ren Qingquan said while opening the system map. 'System, can you mark the location of Ren family's library?'
What a lazy guy. Can't he read the map on his own? I complained while creating a book like mark on the system map.
[Ding! Location has been marked.]
After reading the notification I had sent, Ren Qingquan opened the system map again and saw the mark I had added.
Walking along the road leading to the library, Ren Qingquan unfolded the map and checked the dot on it.
Every time he saw a person within the 11 meters range of his [Scan], Ren Qingquan asked me to [Scan] them and show their status.
[Name: ?
Level: Sixth/Seventh Stage Martial Apprentice.
Description: Servant of the Ren family.]
[Name: ?
Level: Eight/Ninth Stage Martial Apprentice.
Description: Servant of the Ren family.]
[Name: ?
Level: First Stage Martial Master.
Description: Servant of the Ren family.]
After repeatedly scanning the many people he met, Ren Qingquan compared the size of their dots on the system map with their martial arts level as shown by the [Scan] result.
By the time he arrived in front of the library, I could hear Ren Qingquan praising himself as he now could guess the target's approximate level from the size of their dots in the System map.
Hearing him endlessly praise himself, I could no longer bear it and sent him a message.
[Actually, the host may activate 'Scan' on a target through the system map. So, whatever skill you just learned is actually useless.]
While walking into the library, Ren Qingquan's faint triumphant smile froze. 'Why didn't you tell me since the start!'
[Host didn't ask.]
Ren Qingquan: (ノ｀Д´)ノ彡┻━┻
Seeing angry Ren Qingquan makes me happy.
Who asked you to call me a defective system!