The result from six nonstopping hours in cultivating the two Minor Brilliance Oysters came ruthlessly like a hammer coming straight for his head. He was only rewarded with three grains after staying here without moving from the morning to late noon.
To make it worst, he starved himself here just in case he messed it up in between.
And with only three grains, the result was not even enough to use as a fuel for the table lantern at night. But with the time is getting late and the sky is turning darker, Chen Xuan can only submit to his fate.
After returning the oysters back into the river and the bucket on where it should be, Chen Xuan followed the crowd to queue outside the western entrance.
The quick inspection took him a while, but he was eventually allowed to enter the town after showing the guards his entrance token.
Chen Xuan then makes his way straight to the inn for his dinner. Dejectedly, he returned to his room quietly after filling his growling belly with three bowls of bone broths today.
Grabbing a seat on the only chair inside the room, Chen Xuan put his hand inside the pouch given by Yanran Liuli. He seems to be looking for something else other than the few leftover Yang Yuan Pearls.
"I must have missed something today. Or else, it should be impossible to achieve this kind of disappointing result." Chen Xuan spoke without restriction as he was the only one in the room.
And to his surprise, the scroll and the book are nowhere to be found inside the pouch. The six Yang Yuan Pearls were the only thing that was left inside that fancy pouch.
"Did I misplaced the scroll? How can the book be lost as well? Don't tell me that I left both of them back near the river while cultivating the oysters?" Chen Xuan panicked. Both of them might not be worth a single Yang Yuan Pearl, but they're considered precious to a newcomer like him.
"Wait... Did I place them inside the system's inventory by accident?" Chen Xuan quickly remembered that he had a system on him. But because it was different from what he expected, he did not pay too much attention to it.
After all, the systems he knew from reading web novels were almighty on their own and capable of turning a loser like him into an expert within a day in another world. But instead, he ended up as someone worrying about his food three days later.
"Inventory!" Chen Xuan called the Inventory Interface out.
The system panel only visible to him appeared in a flash, and ten boxes filled the blank and boring screen on the lower bottom. It seems the luck has yet to give up on him. Out of the ten boxes shown in the inventory panel, six were occupied.
The first two are naturally the Peach Seed and Wood, and they were the first item he had since arriving into this Lingyu Realm, after all. As for the scroll and book, they took the third and fourth slot in his inventory.
His heart was immediately at ease when the scroll and book were safely inside the system's inventory. And to his surprise, the fifth slot was occupied by the Yang Yuan Sand, and the sixth was taken by the bottle of Goddess Miracle Tear.
His attention went directly to the Lesser Yang Maturing Technique's scroll to check if he missed something from yesterday's reading. But he was stopped by what was written on the description before pulling the item out from his inventory.
== == == == ==
(Standard-Tier) Lesser Yang Maturing Technique
-Introduction: An introductory Maturing Technique for Yang Element.
Had minor effectiveness in increasing the practitioner's external Yang Force.
-----
-Current Level: 0
-Experience: 6 / 10
-Yang Force Capacity: 60 / 1,000
== == == == ==
"Huh? Did I really miss something yesterday while reading this?" Chen Xuan ceased his intention to take the scroll out, and all his attention was on the description panel right now.
From what he can see on the interface, the number of experience and Yang Force were tallied with the number of hours he used to cultivate the Lesser Yang Maturing Technique.
"Is there a level limit on this technique? As for the experience, doesn't it seems to be tallied with the number of hours? Won't it means I can level up the Lesser Yang Maturing Technique if I cultivated for four more hours when the sun is up?" Chen Xuan felt he was rewarded with something more beneficial than the Yang Yuan Sand today.
Unfortunately, the current him had no way to clarify his explanation. The only way he could check how credible his answer is when the sun comes up. And fueled with curiosity, Chen Xuan shifted his attention to all the other items in his inventory.
But from its look, only the Lesser Yang Maturing Technique had an update when placed within the Inventory Panel. The others still remained the same, including the Peach Seed inside his inventory.
And surprisingly, the Goddess Miracle Tears in his inventory was actually locked like the other three options in his system. This outcome makes him more than curious about why the detailed information was locked away from his access.
"Did the Goddess Miracle Tears had something else other than a life-saving medicine as the Middle God Yuan-Ling said?" Chen Xuan roughly guessed. And at the same time, he wished that he wouldn't have to resort to using this in the future.
Since there's nothing he can do with them, Chen Xuan decided to take a step back and returned to the system's main menu. He was immediately greeted by the familiar interface all over again.
== == == == ==
[Main Menu]
-----
=>Conversion - Crafting - Inventory
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=>Locked
=>Locked
=>Locked
== == == == ==
And with more items inside his inventory, Chen Xuan decided to give the conversion and crafting panel another chance.
(Conversion option is chosen. The user does not have enough resources option. Returning to the main menu right now.)
He was kicked out of the option just like the first time. This time, it made Chen Xuan questioned what resources could mean in the system's language. But when he selected the Crafting option next, the result was a little different from his expectation.
He did not get bounced off like the Conversion option. Also, the box with Yang Yuan Sand had a brighter background light, as if it could be selected.
"Looks like the Yang Yuan Sand was considered as a part of the Material and Ingredients category. But unfortunately, the craft with the Yang Yuan Sand as an ingredient was hidden from me." Chen Xuan rubbed his chin out of habit.
His gaze stays on the box with the word 3/8 was written on it. And the only thing he had on him with that number was no other than the Yang Yuan Sand.
"Wait a minute..." Chen Xuan seems to remember something from the book.
"Didn't the Standard-Tier Record stated that you could refine a Yang Yuan Pearl from ten grains of Yang Yuan Sand? If that's the case, why would the option here is eight instead?" Chen Xuan asked. The question gave birth to a wild thought, which gave him enough motivation to continue.
That motivation turned out to be a dangerous one when Chen Xuan decided to dives onto the bed.
He had forgotten that the mattress on this world was unlike the one he was used to. Having to feel the pain firsthand between the human body against cold bricks made from mud, Chen Xuan tried to sleep.
It was still painful for him after sleeping soundly through the night. But as this was his second day sleeping in the exact same room, he felt much more comfortable than before.
When the morning is here, Chen Xuan leaves the inn immediately after getting a simple breakfast and paying for his accommodation for tonight. He could no longer use his time leisurely as he would be homeless in the next two days.
That's unless he managed to do something.
The Chen Xuan today can be said to know more about what he had to do today. Instead of copying what the others did, he spent some time observing what everyone else was doing.
'No wonder some people succeed, while some failed...' Chen Xuan noticed something irregular from some experienced oyster cultivators. Instead of randomly picking a few oysters and started the cultivation immediately, they took their time to patiently choose two to three good shellfish out of the bunch.
And something like this was not part of the knowledge written in the Standard-Tier Record. But even if he found out what they were doing, Chen Xuan couldn't help but questioned himself.
"How do I determine which one is an excellent oyster and which was wrong?" he was in a dilemma once he stepped into the river to start choosing the correct oyster.
With over ten thousand Minor Brilliance Oysters here, Chen Xuan instantly got overwhelmed by the choices he had. Furthermore, they come in various sizes, appearances, and weights.
'Well... At least the giant oysters can be eaten to fill our belly when we're hungry, I guess? But again, what can be done for me to choose the correct oyster to cultivate?' Chen Xuan conversed with himself while searching for a clue.
Another miracle soon appeared while he wasn't expecting it. The system magically reacted to what he had in mind while staring straight at a considerably giant Minor Brilliance Oyster inside the water bucket in his hand.
But ten Yang Force he gathered yesterday was deducted to make this wish of his happen.
== == == == ==
(Young) Minor Brilliance Oyster
-Introduction: Can be cultivated to produce Yang Yuan Sand. Production rate depends on the cultivator's depth in Maturing Technique.
-Age: One year and sixteen months
-Yang Force Capacity: 12 /170
-Absorption Rate: Slow
== == == == ==
"I won't be able to compare with only one Minor Brilliance Oyster." Chen Xuan tells himself. He hates to use ten more of the Yang Force to inspect another target, and it's not like he had a choice.
Unless... Chen Xuan is prepared for another failure like yesterday.
"Should I do it?" Chen Xuan pondered. For each minute he's wasting here, he could possibly cultivate one more grain of Yang Yuan Sand inside the oyster. And he eventually lost to the fear inside him.
He stares intensely at the second Minor Brilliance Oyster in the wooden bucket.
And when the information appeared on his system's interface, Chen Xuan smiled.
"That's it, baby... That's it." he smiled.
It seems his second attempt on another Minor Brilliance Oyster was a successful venture. While the shellfish is significantly younger than the other oyster by ten months, it had a much higher absorption rate.
The Yang Force Capacity of this shellfish is significantly lower, but that wasn't vital for him right now.
Chen Xuan immediately smiled as he finally found a correct Minor Brilliance Oyster to apply his maturity technique. But with only one a tad better, Chen Xuan is still in a dilemma to either exchange the first oyster or randomly replaced it with another one.
'Let's see how different it could be today.' Chen Xuan made a decision after giving it a thought. Putting his hand into the water, he randomly grabbed another oyster into the wooden basket before picking a spot to sit down.
Immediately, Chen Xuan followed the breathing practice just like before and channeled his energy while picturing their movement simultaneously. This might be his second time practicing the Lesser Yang Maturing Technique, but the process was more rhythmic than yesterday.
He looked unusually calm as he practiced the Maturing Technique. And exactly four hours later, he had a hint of epiphany in mind as the flow of Yang Force inside his body was smoother by a level. Even his flesh and tendon felt livelier as the energy gushed inside his blood vessels.
This was the most evident hint that he just had a minor breakthrough in his Lesser Yang Maturing Technique.