Chapter 5: Game Panel

The battle was over. Meng Dayong rested for a moment before dragging all five Big Dog Bears home and starting a fire to roast the bear meat. Both father and son had been hungry for a long time; usually, they could only rely on Guanyin soil to sustain their lives, so now that there was bear meat to eat, they naturally had to fill their stomachs first.

While Meng Dayong was roasting the meat, Meng Yifan finally had time to check the changes in his own body.

During the battle just now, a crisp female voice had been ringing incessantly in his mind.

Meng Yifan had read many web novels and immediately thought this was the "golden finger" essential for transmigration.

"System, come out for a second," Meng Yifan shouted in his mind.

He waited for two minutes, but there was not a single reaction.

"Strange, when I was killing monsters just now, that female voice was ringing in my head non-stop. Why is there no response at all now? Could it be that I'm calling it the wrong way?" Meng Yifan was puzzled.

"Beauty, are you there?"

"Beauty, are you pretty?"

"Goddess? Are you there?"

Still no response.

Is this golden finger's IQ a bit low? How come I've been shouting for so long and it doesn't even know to respond to its host? I want to file a complaint; can I exchange it for another one?

Meng Yifan remembered that he had clicked on a game before transmigrating, and with a flash of inspiration, he shouted in his mind: "Game Panel?"

In an instant, the light before Meng Yifan's eyes flickered, and an illusory light screen emerged.

Name: Meng Yifan

Race: Human

Occupation: None

Skill: Shooting Technique Level 2 (200/1000)

Strength: 7/10 (10 points for an ordinary person).

Defense: 5/10 (10 points for an ordinary person).

Speed: 8/10 (10 points for an ordinary person).

Aptitude: 0.2/100 (1 point for an ordinary person; aptitude affects cultivation speed.)

Experience Value: 144 points (can be used to upgrade occupation, skills, level, strength, speed, and aptitude.)

Note: 100 Experience Value points can increase aptitude by 0.1.

10 Experience Value points can increase strength/defense/speed by 1 point.

1 Experience Value point can increase skill proficiency by 1 point.

"Is there a beginner's guide? Or game quests?" Meng Yifan asked in his mind. Anyone who has played games knows that if there is a beginner's guide, it's like receiving free experience to level up quickly, and if there are game quests, one can obtain even richer experience values and even be rewarded with weapons and equipment.

The girl who spoke in Meng Yifan's mind seemed to have vanished; she simply did not respond to him.

"Big sister, say something at least. If you stay silent like this, how am I supposed to play the game?"

Meng Yifan complained. He discovered that the mysterious girl would only remind him that he had gained Experience Value after he killed monsters; at other times, she was silent. It seemed she was just a simple program with only the function of giving reminders, and she couldn't do anything else.

"Is there a game shop? Or a chat group? Don't all games have those?" Meng Yifan asked again, unwilling to give up. Still, he received no response, which left him very disappointed. It seemed his golden finger was just this Game Panel; if he wanted to improve his strength, he could only rely on his own exploration.

Meng Yifan looked at his Game Panel and fell into deep thought. That Shooting Technique skill must have been developed from the tens of thousands of bullets he fired in his previous life.

According to the display on the Game Panel, Meng Yifan's shooting technique could only be considered Level 2. One must know that in his previous life, his marksmanship was already outstanding among mercenaries; he wondered how awesome a Level 3 Shooting Technique would be.

"An ordinary person's strength, defense, and speed are 10 points. This body is only ten years old and still a minor; it's understandable that its strength and speed are inferior to an adult's."

"But an ordinary person's aptitude is 1 point, while the Game Panel's aptitude cap is 100 points. That's a bit exaggerated, isn't it? Does it mean some people's aptitude can be a hundred times that of an ordinary person, and their cultivation speed a hundred times faster? Others struggle to cultivate for a hundred days to equal what he does in one day—the gap in cultivation speed is just too extreme."

Aptitude is unrelated to age. Meng Yifan's aptitude was currently 0.2; even when he grew up, it would still only be 0.2. He was not even as good as an ordinary person—simply a piece of trash. No wonder the original owner followed Meng Dayong to practice martial arts but could never cultivate True Qi.

Meng Yifan had roughly figured out the function of the Game Panel. The most important point he summarized was killing monsters to gain Experience Value, then using that Experience Value to improve his strength.

"Kill monsters to level up? I'm familiar with this." Meng Yifan was thoughtful. On Earth, when he was bored, he played many games, so he was naturally familiar with killing monsters to level up.

But when playing games back then, he only needed to control a game character to fight monsters, and if he died, he could respawn and try again. Now, Meng Yifan had transmigrated into the game world himself; if he died, it would be completely over. He only had one life, so he had to be cautious and careful if he wanted to kill monsters for Experience Value.

"It's dangerous here; I must improve my strength as soon as possible. 144 Experience Value points is too little. If I use it to improve my Shooting Technique, I can't even get it to Level 3. Right, I can practice martial arts."

Meng Yifan had transmigrated and inherited the original owner's memories. He remembered clearly that Meng Dayong had once taught him a martial art called "Manyuujin". The original owner had persisted in practicing it for half a year, but due to poor aptitude, he could never guide Qi into his body. Later, when the famine hit, he stopped practicing.

Thinking of this, Meng Yifan sat cross-legged, palms facing Heaven, calmed his heart and breath, and began to practice "Manyuujin".

Seeing Meng Yifan start to practice, Meng Dayong shook his head helplessly. He had long since confirmed that Meng Yifan's aptitude was extremely poor and he was simply not material for martial arts.

If he were a child of a wealthy family, even with poor aptitude, he could use a large amount of Pills to assist his cultivation; he could pile up his cultivation level with Pills. Unfortunately, the Meng family was dirt poor and had no money to buy those expensive Pills.

Ten minutes later, Meng Yifan opened his eyes in pleasant surprise. He stared at the Game Panel; a cultivation technique column had appeared, which read: "Manyuujin" Level 1 (0/300).

Meng Yifan was overjoyed and, without hesitation, added the 144 Experience Value points to "Manyuujin". In an instant, he felt a surge of abundant energy suddenly appear in his dantian.

This energy traveled along one of Meng Yifan's main meridians for a cycle, widening many previously blocked meridians, before returning to his dantian.

At the same time, a lot of insights on practicing Manyuujin appeared in Meng Yifan's mind, as if he had been bitterly practicing this technique for a long time and could already skillfully use the True Qi in his body to unleash terrifying combat power.

Meng Yifan tried to mobilize the True Qi in his body to travel through his meridians. The True Qi was very obedient, moving as he commanded, completely following his orders. This made him very excited, like a child who had found a beloved toy, and he continued to mobilize the True Qi to perform a Great Heavenly Cycle within his meridians.

"Eh!" Meng Dayong was roasting meat nearby. He suddenly felt a surge of True Qi fluctuation from Meng Yifan and couldn't help but be greatly shocked.

"How is this possible?" Meng Dayong had been practicing Manyuujin for over a decade and was very familiar with its True Qi fluctuations. He carefully checked Meng Yifan's energy again and discovered that there was indeed True Qi flowing within Meng Yifan's body.

What surprised Meng Dayong even more was that the True Qi seemed quite robust, having already reached the level of a First Grade Lower Stage Martial Artist.

Meng Dayong was dumbfounded. He had obtained the "Manyuujin" cultivation technique in the army, spent two months of bitter practice to complete the guiding of Qi into his body, and then participated in many battles, repeatedly performing meritorious service and obtaining a large amount of military cultivation resources, only to break through to a First Grade High-Level Martial Artist within two years.

After that, Meng Dayong was injured and returned to his hometown, where he persisted in practicing for over a decade, but his strength remained stuck at First Grade Peak; to this day, he had not broken through the First Grade bottleneck to become a Second Grade Martial Artist.

Yet Meng Yifan had just sat there practicing for a short while and inexplicably became a First Grade Lower Stage Martial Artist. How did he do it? This was simply too incredible.

Meng Yifan stood up and channeled the Manyuujin True Qi into his right arm. His right arm suddenly swelled, his veins bulged, and it was filled with explosive power. He aimed at the adobe wall and punched out with his right fist.

"Bang!" With a loud noise, a large hole was punched directly into the rammed-earth adobe wall.

"Ha! Ha!" Meng Yifan was very satisfied with the destructive power of this punch. At this moment, his Game Panel had changed significantly.

Name: Meng Yifan

Race: Human

Profession: First Grade Lower Stage Martial Artist

Cultivation Method: Manyuujin True Qi Level 1 (144/300)

Skill: Shooting Technique Level 2 (200/1000)

Strength: 10/100 (The physical strength limit for a First Grade Martial Artist is 100)

Defense: 7/100 (The physical defense limit for a First Grade Martial Artist is 100)

Speed: 8/100 (The physical speed limit for a First Grade Martial Artist is 100)

Aptitude: 0.2/100

Experience Value: 0 points

After becoming a First Grade Martial Artist, Meng Yifan's physical strength increased by 3 points, already equal to the strength of an ordinary adult, and his defense also increased by 1 point; if he were to erupt with Manyuujin True Qi to fight, he could unleash even more powerful destructive force.

Meng Yifan pondered: "My body gained 3 points of strength and 1 point of defense; if I were to use Experience Value to add these attributes individually, it would require 40 points of Experience Value, but adding to the proficiency of Manyuujin True Qi can incidentally increase physical strength and speed, which is much more cost-effective than adding attributes individually. When I have more Experience Value in the future, I must properly summarize how to use Experience Value most cost-effectively."

"Yifan, how did you suddenly become a First Grade Lower Stage Martial Artist?" Meng Dayong asked in confusion.