It's been a few hours since Bai Shen left for the forest. He was now starting to regret doing it.
"F*ck this! I didn't think it would be so bad. It's starting to get darker, and not to mention doing something productive, I didn't even see a rabbit or some animal!"
Fuming along the way, dragging the heavy backpack on his back also irritated Bai Shen.
He wished for nothing more than to swing his sword at someone! But there was no one here...
"I walked a few kilometers; maybe I should stop and set up my tent for the night."
"There's also a river close by, I'm sure I can catch something from it."
Since the last increase in his attributes was a few days ago, Bai Shen didn't receive another point even after doing hundreds of push-ups and different exercises one could do at home, including lifting weights.
And so, he thought of a simple answer, "Combat experience. I need to hone my skills to a decent level."
"Or at least to the point of not mindlessly swinging my sword around."
Quickly setting up his tent, Bai Shen took his sword and a small fishing rod; on his back, there was a small harpoon.
'This will surely be useful in trying to catch some fish.'
A few moments later, the young man got to the flowing river and set up his fishing rod, praying that a dumb fish would get caught.
It wasn't that he didn't bring food with him, but if he was in nature, wouldn't it be a pity not to try these things?
...
Half an hour later,
"Ahh! Damn it! I give up!" Suddenly throwing his fishing rod into the bushes, Bai Shen heard a low 'Sss' sound.
"A snake? This could be my chance!" Bai Shen's eyes gleamed with passion as he thought of a potential prey falling into his lap.
"It's time to apply those techniques I've learned from AwesomeStreaming!"
Picking up his sword, Bai Shen tried to go around the bush. Since snakes have poor eyesight and hearing, Bai Shen was very delicate with his approach.
Slowly looking over the bush, he saw a snake about 1 meter long, coiling around the fishing rod he threw earlier.
"He didn't see me yet. I should try to cut his head with a single strike. I don't really want to get bitten, even though he doesn't look to be venomous."
Taking a deep breath, Bai Shen did his best to sneak up behind it.
Three meters... Two meters... One meter...
When he was less than a meter from the snake, Bai Shen brandished his sword and jumped!
'Die!' Inwardly screaming, he swiped down with his sword and managed to hit the snake!
"Oh, shoot! He didn't die!" Quickly abandoning his sword out of fear, Bai Shen turned around and ran away.
He put a few meters between him and the snake, continuing to watch the poor creature die.
He didn't miss his target; in fact, he neatly cut the snake's neck; just that he didn't get its head.
But still, the sword was more than halfway deep into the snake's neck, which left only a little time for the slithering creature to die.
But after seeing the snake convulsing in pain, Bai Shen was a bit scared, so he decisively left his sword behind and ran like a coward.
"I didn't really run away in fear. It was just a tactical retreat... yes, a tactical retreat."
A few minutes later, the snake stopped moving altogether. It was only then that he approached the snake again.
"Well, I think I found my meal for tonight..." Making sure to clean the sword and snake in the river, Bai Shen took his spoils of war to his tent.
Gathering some firewood, he started a fire before cooking the delicious-looking snake.
The truth was that Bai Shen was already starving, but he decided to wait until the last moment before opening a can of meat.
Luckily, a poor soul... Ahem, a snake appeared, completely changing his plans and moving from canned food to real, cooked meat.
Not thinking too much about the fire he started, Bai Shen patiently waited for the snake to be cooked.
"No! I completely forgot to test that thing."
Rushing to the snake, which was above the fire, Bai Shen touched it and muttered, "Steal."
"There's nothing happening yet. I don't feel any stronger. Did Steal fail? I should've expected it."
Just to be sure, he willed his System panel to appear in front of his eyes once more.
Name: Bai Shen (18)
Level: Locked
Talent: Stealing, Prediction
Attributes: Strength: 11.3
Agility: 11.3 (0.1^)
Physique: 10.6
Charisma: 8.1
Luck: 1.1
Opening his eyes wide, Bai Shen was shocked to see that his Agility increased from 11.2 to 11.3, "So all I need to do now is hunt these animals and use Steal on them?"
Excited at the crazy idea, the young man quickly calmed himself down.
"It's too late now to go and try my luck with zero vision," thought Bai Shen after a while. "Better have a quality sleep and try again tomorrow."
"At least I managed to find a way to increase my attributes... No, to steal them."
---
Even though the young man said 'quality sleep,' he barely closed one eye the other night.
"Damn, I was too excited about my findings that I only fell asleep when it was close to morning."
Sleeping from 5 am to 10 am, Bai Shen once again took his sword and went out to hunt something.
Last night was very peaceful for him, and he didn't think something could possibly happen.
---
The sound of rustling leaves was heard as a young woman was dashing through the forest.
Her clothes were in tatters and had mud stuck on them; even her hair was messy.
But still, this didn't help at all in hiding her beautiful figure.
"Come back, Ruoxi, I promise I won't hurt you!"
The shout of a man was heard from behind the woman. She didn't even turn back as she continued to run.
'Am I really going to die? Everyone told me that something was wrong with Ma Liang, but I didn't pay any heed to their warnings.'
'Look at him now, trying to force himself on me after going camping,' thought Lin Ruoxi as some tears threatened to fall off her cheeks.
A few minutes later, Lin Ruoxi suddenly stopped running.
It wasn't because she wanted to, but because someone was blocking her path ahead.
It was a handsome young man with a real sword in hand; blood was slowly dripping off the sword's blade...