+3 Qi
"Hm?" Mark was stunned. He noticed that the amount of Qi he could absorb was more than usual. When he opened his eyes and saw the 3-point increase in his Qi, it made him even more surprised.
"What's going on?" He muttered. The Ordinary Cultivation Manual could only increase his Qi by 1 in every hour of cultivation, so what prompted the sudden increase in the Qi that he could absorb?
Mark turned his head, but this action made his wounds hurt. "Hiss!" The injuries that he had temporarily suppressed using herb paste and medicine had relapsed. It made him grimace in pain.
Mark leaned on the wall and took out the remaining medicine he had. He didn't dare move too much to prevent his wounds from aggravating.
After applying the medicine to his wounds, he heaved a heavy sigh.
He rested for a few minutes before he began to inspect the small tunnel. He believed that whatever caused the increase in his Qi absorption was inside this tunnel.
He searched every nook and cranny, but he found nothing unusual. "It can't be. There should be something special here…" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"Could it be buried deeper in the soil?" Mark found that it was plausible, but this made him fall into a dilemma. He wanted to search for the cause of the phenomenon, but he had no digging equipment. Furthermore, he also didn't know the specific location of the thing he was searching for. He didn't even know what it looked like.
"Forget it. I'll just go back here after I sell my loot." Mark didn't force the matter and resumed his cultivation.
+3 Qi
+3 Qi
+3 Qi
+3 Qi
The next day, Mark had to halt his cultivation because he felt an intense wave of hunger. He quickly took out some meat jerky and devoured them in a matter of seconds.
After eating almost a kilogram of meat, he finally felt full. He then hurriedly checked his stats.
Player IGN: Wolf of the Grassland
Cultivation: Body Strengthening Second Level
Physique: Mortal
Qi: 36/200
Wealth: 180 Orbes
Vitality: 2.7
Endurance: 6.1
Strength: 3.1
Stamina: 2.7
Speed: 2.5
Spirit: 3.9
Cold Resistance: 1.3
Heat Resistance: 1.3
Damage: 1.7
"Eh? My Qi increased by 36! Just what kind of item is hidden beneath this patch of land?" Mark became more interested in the undiscovered item. If he could get his hands on it, he could increase his cultivation speed by three times! If he wasn't injured, he would have chosen to stay in this tunnel to cultivate.
"I'll stay here for three more days before I'll return to the village." Mark decided after careful consideration.
Having made this decision, Mark continued his cultivation. He only took breaks to eat his meal. He even skipped lunch just so he could cultivate steadily.
+3 Qi
+3 Qi
+ 3 Qi
Two days passed by in the blink of an eye. Mark was forced out of the game. He didn't even have the time to check his stats.
He reluctantly removed the gaming headgear.
Mark had nothing to do so after eating his breakfast, he scrolled through the official game forum to see if he could find some valuable information. However, he didn't see anything important, but this was within his expectations. Most people would choose to hide such information and keep everything to themselves.
Mark thought about posting his recent discovery in the tunnel, but he immediately discarded the idea. If he did that, the whole player community would use every means to uncover his real-world identity. This was something that he didn't want to happen.
Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!
Suddenly, he heard his doorbell ringing.
"It should be the gym equipment." He muttered as he went to look through the peephole. After seeing that it was the delivery personnel, he quickly opened the door for them.
"Good morning, sir! Are you Mr. Dublin by any chance?"
"Yes, that's me." Mark nodded his head calmly. Mark Dublin, that was his full name. It has been a long time since someone referred to him that way. In his former workplace, his manager used to call him by his name.
"Mr. Dublin, here's the list of items you ordered to be delivered. Please check it and you can sign here after you have checked everything."
Mark grabbed the list and inspected it carefully. Normal people would have signed it immediately without reading the document, but he was different. At a young age, Mark was trained to be prudent at all times. His late father said that it was very important to read any document presented to him. This made him develop a habit of cautiously reading any document.
The delivery men were surprised to see him seriously reading the list, even going as far as rereading it thrice.
After going through the list three times, Mark nodded his head. He then grabbed a pen and signed it.
"Thank you, Mr. Dublin." One of the delivery men took the document from him with a wry smile. "Where do you want us to put the items?" He asked.
"You can put them here. I will arrange them myself later." Mark didn't want to trouble them. He was also a delivery guy so he knew how much these guys value their time.
"Alright." The delivery personnel smiled upon hearing his response. They then moved his items inside his unit, a process that took more than thirty minutes. This was because Mark's unit was located in the middle of the apartment building so they had to go back and forth to deliver everything.
"Thank you for the hard work, everyone. Here's my payment. You can take the rest as your tip." Mark gave them a decent tip which made the delivery personnel happy. The dissatisfaction from going back and forth earlier was gone.
"You're welcome, Mr. Dublin! Thank you for the generous tip!" The delivery personnel left the apartment feeling very satisfied.
After they left, Mark arranged the equipment carefully. His unit wasn't big so the space looked crowded with the addition of the gym equipment. However, Mark wasn't bothered by this. He needed to train his body regularly so it was necessary to have the training equipment.
Mark spent two hours sorting out the items in his apartment. It was almost time for lunch so he cooked a protein-rich meal.
He couldn't afford to buy expensive meat so he settled for egg, yogurt, and some oatmeal.
In the afternoon, Mark began his physical training. He struggled in his routines, but Mark persevered and completed everything.
When he was young, he received professional training so his body was not weak at that time. After being kicked out from the family, he had to work multiple odd jobs and this caused his health to deteriorate.
'Should I quit my delivery job?' Mark thought to himself as he rested on the floor. With the physical training added to his daily routine, he would have less time for work.
'I don't earn much as a delivery driver. I should quit and focus on earning money in the game.' He pondered deeply. This was something that he couldn't decide on the spot. Although he had high expectations for the game, he felt that it was still too early to decide about the matter.
"I'll decide tomorrow." He said as he checked the time on his watch.