Zhang Fan was so excited that he nearly jumped off the bench, his heart filled with joy.
He forced himself to calm down and immediately opened his Skill Panel.
A new skill icon was quietly lying beneath [Woodcutting] and [Herb Pounding].
[Name: Reading]
[Level: Level 1 (0/100)]
[Learning Requirement: Spirit 3, Comprehension 3]
[Attribute: Significantly enhances comprehension when reading books, increases memory efficiency by ten percent.]
[Remarks: All things are inferior, only reading is superior? Perhaps.]
Although it was only a mere ten percent boost, it meant he was on the right path!
"This damn system, what's with the remarks? Looking down on me? But having a skill is good, with a skill there's hope!"
Zhang Fan felt a surge of energy throughout his body and immediately threw himself back into the grand endeavor of reading aloud.
This time, it felt completely different.
Although the words were still difficult, he found his mind seemed much clearer. The pharmacology that was previously incomprehensible now seemed to reveal a faint pattern.
Time flew by.
Zhang Fan was so absorbed that he neglected sleep and food, only pausing for necessary water and meals, and when his satiety dropped, he gnawed on cornbread.
The second hour passed.
[Ding! You have successfully used the Reading skill, Skill EXP +1!]
The third hour passed.
[Ding! You have successfully used the Reading skill, Skill EXP +1!]
...
By dusk, Zhang Fan had been reading continuously for five hours.
His [Reading] skill EXP had steadily increased to [Level 1 (5/100)].
"At this rate, I can gain over ten points of experience a day. Although three days is tight, memorizing it by rote shouldn't be a problem!"
He felt reassured and prepared to push through the night.
It's funny, after graduating high school, he barely wrote anything. In college, he used a computer, and the last time he studied hard was in his senior year of high school.
When Zhang Fan finished the sixth hour, eagerly anticipating the experience +1 notification, the system remained silent.
He persisted for another hour, yet still no experience increase notification.
Puzzled, Zhang Fan opened the Skill Panel, and the [Reading] skill's EXP was stuck at [5/100], unmoving.
"What's going on?"
Zhang Fan was stunned.
He switched to a different chapter and continued reading aloud, but the result was the same.
Unwilling to give up, he tried silent reading, but it still didn't work.
No matter how he tried, that damn experience bar wouldn't budge.
"Could it be that the experience gain for this skill has a cooldown? Or is there a daily limit?"
He realized that things were far more complicated than he had imagined.
The experience gain for this [Reading] skill seemed to have hidden rules he was unaware of.
"Perhaps the Reading skill is a different type from the ordinary Woodcutting skill?"
As the sky grew darker and the village's cooking smoke gradually dispersed, Zhang Fan knew that staying any longer today wouldn't yield any progress.
Moreover, he remembered Xu Xiake and the others, and perhaps he could gather some information about skills and hidden attributes from them.
With that thought, Zhang Fan carefully put away the Primer of a Hundred Herbs, greeted Doctor Lin, and dragged his weary body towards the village's central Ancestral Hall.
Under the night sky, Apricot Blossom Village shed its daytime hustle and bustle, appearing exceptionally serene.
Zhang Fan arrived at the entrance of the Ancestral Hall but didn't log off immediately. Instead, he leaned against the old locust tree at the entrance, patiently waiting.
He didn't have to wait long before the sound of slightly chaotic footsteps and voices came from afar.
In the moonlight, three familiar figures appeared on the path at the village entrance. It was Xu Xiake, Empty Gate, and Dreaming of Jiangnan.
However, they looked much more disheveled today than yesterday, the three of them huffing and puffing as they carried a massive prey, which looked quite heavy.
"Brother Mortal Dust, getting ready to log off?"
Xu Xiake spotted Zhang Fan from afar and greeted him weakly.
They dropped the prey with a thud on the open ground in front of the Ancestral Hall, all three panting heavily.
Zhang Fan approached and saw it was a large wild boar, its black bristles stained with blood and mud, its tusks protruding fiercely.
"Brother Xu, what's this..." Zhang Fan asked.
"Exhausted!"
Xu Xiake plopped down on the ground, wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face a mix of joy and worry.
"This wild boar is a hefty fifty kilograms! But damn it, none of us know how to handle it! How on earth do we deal with this thing?"
The tall and honest Empty Gate also complained, "Yeah, I've heard pigskin, pig bones, and pig offal can all be sold, but we have no idea how to take them apart."
Dreaming of Jiangnan, being a female player, kept her distance from the wild boar with disdain.
"Don't even mention it," she said with a tone full of resentment, "I've been learning the [Cooking] skill from Aunt Wang in the village for a month now, just helping her with the fire and washing vegetables, and I haven't even seen a skill panel. This game's life skills are a total trap!"
Xu Xiake nodded in agreement, "Tell me about it! I thought about learning [Forging] at the blacksmith's, but the blacksmith had me working the bellows for half a month, and I learned nothing. This damn game, learning a life skill is harder than climbing to heaven. I reckon it must have something to do with those invisible hidden attributes, like Comprehension, Root Bone, Luck, and so on."
Hearing this, Zhang Fan's heart skipped a beat.
"Something's not right! Is learning a life skill really that hard? Others can't learn it in a month, and I managed to master two in a day?"
He instantly realized just how incredible his Talent [Heaven Rewards Diligence] was!
This wasn't just a cheat; it was practically the treatment of a GM's favored child!
"No way, I absolutely can't let this be exposed! Otherwise, I'll either be banned as a bug or caught and dissected like a lab rat!"
A cold sweat broke out on his back, and he quickly feigned the same curiosity and confusion, moving closer to ask, "Brother Xiake, your levels must be pretty high, right? You're out there killing monsters every day, must be gaining a lot of experience."