novelraw Chapter 224: Perception Unlocked
Chapter 224: Perception Unlocked
Evening.
The sun sank in the west. The sky was clear and still. A gentle early-summer breeze drifted through — neither warm nor cold — and even the mood lifted a little.
The feeling of a good harvest was exactly this.
Three tents had been pitched along the riverbank, and a campfire crackled nearby. Above it sat a makeshift grill with two large fish — each about ten kilograms — skewered over the flames. Zhao Xuanxuan whistled cheerfully as she turned them with practiced satisfaction.
On the other side, Thomas had dug two field stoves, each with a pot on top, both bubbling with wild vegetable and fish soup.
Leon and Zhang Jinjun were in the river with their shirts off, laughing and splashing as they caught fish. About thirty were already laid out on the bank — all mutated river fish, similar to the mutated rats in quality, all one-star.
Not that either of them was a skilled fisherman. They'd taken the crooked path.
Specifically: Zhang Jinjun cut open his hand again and let the blood drip into the river. Within moments, red-eyed mutated fish came swarming in from every direction, and the two of them just stood there clubbing them with wooden sticks.
Incredibly simple.
A textbook example of the crooked fisherman's method.Li Wei, meanwhile, was working with his dagger like a man possessed, processing the catch. Behind him, Adai bobbed his head back and forth, and whenever Li Wei wasn't looking, snatched a fish eye.
Absolutely no dignity. You know what part tastes best and you go for the eyes?
Overhead, large flocks of mutated crows had begun circling — but none dared come down.
Out of respect for Adai, Li Wei couldn't be bothered to deal with them.
This had been a real haul.
The river was full of mutated fish — fat and plump, and remarkably stupid.
"Leon, Little Zhang — that's enough. Come eat."
Once all the fish were processed, Li Wei called out. Everyone gathered for a happy meal.
The past month had been genuinely miserable. They'd eaten so much rat jerky they were nearly losing their minds.
Li Wei grabbed a large bowl, filled it to the brim with fish soup, and downed it without caring about the heat — sweeping it clean in one go.
"Li Wei, try this one — it smells amazing."
Zhao Xuanxuan handed him a golden-brown grilled fish. Not bad technique — salt and chili powder rubbed in. Delicious. A one-star grilled fish, and Zhao the Gambler had done it justice.
Unlike Li Wei's ravenous eating, the others moved slowly and deliberately. They had the sense to let Li Wei eat his fill first before it was their turn.
In the end, Li Wei put away two grilled fish and a full pot of fish soup before letting out a satisfied belch. Much better.
Though in truth, it still wasn't quite enough to activate the Perception attribute. But that wasn't urgent — he still had a pile of Profession Cards waiting to be merged.
"You all eat. I'm going to sleep for a bit."
Li Wei went straight to his tent and gave Zhao Xuanxuan a look. She played the part of a mildly flustered girl — 'don't flatter yourself, I've got actual business to take care of.'
No need to explain.
Once Zhao Xuanxuan stepped inside the tent, Li Wei laid out thirteen cards. She understood immediately — a small pang of disappointment, quickly suppressed.
She quickly produced six cards of her own, drew a few from Li Wei's thirteen, and rapidly merged them. The result: one Life Card, one Agility Card, and two Stamina Cards.
Li Wei took one Stamina Card and gave the rest to Zhao Xuanxuan. He didn't need them — better to boost her base attributes. Otherwise she was too weak and risked dragging the team down.
Based on what he'd seen so far, the chances of Zhao Xuanxuan causing problems were actually quite low.
"Li Wei, I — "
"Tell Leon to come in."
Li Wei waved her off. That was enough. Don't play coy after getting what you wanted.
A moment later, Leon came in looking excited, immediately activating a Two-Star Conspiracy Card. "Brother, what do you still need?"
"Two Strength Cards."
"Ha — funny you should ask, I happen to have two One-Star Strength Cards." Leon grinned and handed them over.
Li Wei took them without ceremony. One-star attribute cards were something you were supposed to max out during the Rookie Mission. At their current level, they were like pocket change — candy and toys a grown-up might casually hand a child.
"By the way, do you know how to get Two-Star attribute cards?"
"Sure, it's simple. For example, two One-Star Agility Cards plus one Bronze Clearance Token will definitely synthesize a Two-Star Agility Card. Activate it and you get +3 Agility. Same principle for other attributes."
"So the bottleneck isn't the One-Star cards — it's the Clearance Tokens. Which brings me to something, brother: I have to warn you, you're leveling up too fast. You need to hold back. Once you have one Four-Star Profession Card, the Chaotic Killing Battlefield gets much harder. Three Four-Star cards and you'll be pushed into cross-dimensional missions. At the very least, max out your Two-Star attribute cards before you get there."
"Of course, sometimes you don't have a choice. You know how it is."
Leon sighed and fretted for a while, then finally said with some awkwardness: "Brother, I know this might not be the best time to ask, but — if the opportunity comes up and conditions are right, could you get me a Universal Gold Card? Of course, if it's inconvenient, forget I said anything. I know using one raises the difficulty by thirty percent..."
"Fine. I can do that. But get me two One-Star Agility Cards."
Li Wei agreed without hesitation, which left Leon genuinely stunned. 'Brother, you're incredible — though won't Night Owl be unhappy about this?'
Leon felt both elated and anxious at the same time.
Li Wei's thinking was simpler: Leon and Thomas were the two people he could absolutely trust right now. Their strength had to be raised. That was the only way to offset the unpredictability that Liang Yuzhi and Li Yue represented.
And he still had a Five-Star Retention Card. When the time came, he could use it to extend Thomas's or Leon's time in the mission. Whatever the cost — the result was what mattered.
He had to go all in. No holding back.
Night Owl could lose — but not on his watch.
It was that simple.
After that, Li Wei slept soundly. When he woke, the sky was full of stars. Leon and Zhang Jinjun were asleep. Thomas was on night watch. Zhao Xuanxuan was steadily grilling fish — ten done already.
Good.
"Li Wei, is this enough? I can keep going if not." Zhao Xuanxuan looked up. Everyone knew that merging attributes made you hungry — common knowledge.
"I've got the fire going too — can boil two pots of soup anytime."
Thomas added.
"Go ahead, start two pots."
Li Wei nodded, had Zhao Xuanxuan bring the grilled fish into the tent, and started eating. He put away three grilled fish until he was nearly bursting — and then finally activated the Hunter Destiny Grid and Woodcutter Destiny Grid.
In that moment, he felt something in his mind detonate — like a door being thrown open.
Three Profession Cards flew out from between his brows, circling. Farmer Destiny Grid, Hunter Destiny Grid, Woodcutter Destiny Grid — three destinies intertwining, like three vast galaxies merging and shifting...
Dimly, Li Wei seemed to see three versions of himself: Farmer Li Wei, Hunter Li Wei, Woodcutter Li Wei. Something ineffable — yet feeling entirely as it should be.
And almost the moment he saw those three selves, a beam of light descended. The three figures vanished. All he saw was himself. The light was himself, illuminating himself.
Then all the visions dissolved. The three Profession Cards between his brows seemed never to have moved at all. Only a cool, clear sensation lingered there. The world around him was perfectly quiet — he could even hear the blood flowing through his own veins.
Louder and louder. Bigger and bigger. Until at last it was like a mountain torrent, like a raging sea, like rolling thunder.
"Thud, thud, thud."
His heartbeat — or a vision.
Li Wei snapped awake. He didn't feel much of anything else. Just one thing: hunger.
He felt like he'd become a Magic Zombie himself — some terrifying force inside his body was consuming him ravenously. If he didn't eat, it would devour him.
He ate through the grilled fish one by one, sweeping them away like a storm, until the very last one — and then, strangely, the hunger vanished.
A warm glow spread through his entire body. A powerful wave of drowsiness hit him. He didn't even have time to say anything to Zhao Xuanxuan when she entered the tent — his eyes closed, and he was deeply, soundly asleep.
When he woke again, it was the next day. The sky was bright. Leon and Zhang Jinjun were shouting and laughing as they caught fish. In the distance, flocks of crows cawed noisily.
The moment Li Wei opened his eyes, he found Adai tilting his head, staring at him.
Everything seemed the same as always. Oh — Perception +1. That was all.
Beyond that, he felt extraordinarily sharp and refreshed. Renewed. As if reborn.
Strangely, he seemed to be able to read something like emotion in Adai's eyes.
'So — did it work?'
Li Wei felt a surge of excitement. He activated his Profession Card to check — and sure enough.
Two new attributes had appeared.
As his thoughts settled, a stream of delayed notifications surfaced.
[Your Hunter Destiny Grid and Woodcutter Destiny Grid have reached 50. The activation trigger has been completed. You have gained a new attribute — Perception — and its corresponding attribute — Spiritual Power.]
[Your current Perception is 1 point. You need to spend 2 Free Attribute Points to increase it by 1, or use a rare attribute card — activating a One-Star Perception Card will also increase it.]
[Your current Spiritual Power is 10 points. (Ordinary people typically have 1–2 points; geniuses have 2–5 points.) This attribute can be raised normally — spending 1 Free Attribute Point increases it by 1. It can also be raised using a rare One-Star Spirit Card.]
[Note: Having gained the Perception attribute, you have completely transcended the realm of ordinary humans. You possess sharper vision, stronger hearing, and the ability to sense dynamic changes in your surrounding environment. You can more easily identify enemy weak points. Your adaptability to unfamiliar environments has reached a remarkable level. When you equip a title or gear that increases Perception, you will automatically gain a 50% reduction in Stamina consumption.]
[Note: Spiritual Power is the fuel for the Perception attribute. In a passive state, Spiritual Power is consumed slowly and regenerates continuously — typically 1 point of Spiritual Power will sustain you for 24 hours of idle activity. If you are engaged in purely physical labor, Spiritual Power will not decrease — it will actually recover.]
[If you are performing work that requires constant vigilance — such as patrol or sentry duty — even if nothing happens, a single night may consume 1–2 points of Spiritual Power. The corresponding state is drowsiness.]
[If you are engaged in moderate-intensity combat, assuming you are not wearing the Tracker title, you may consume no more than 3 points of Spiritual Power before either exhausting your Stamina to kill the enemy or being killed yourself. The corresponding state is fatigue.]
[However, if you are wearing the Tracker title, regardless of what you are doing, you can sustain it for a maximum of 20 seconds. 10 points of Spiritual Power will be fully depleted, and you will fall into a deep sleep.]
[The above describes the difference between passive Perception and active Perception. Understanding this deeply and mastering it in combat is something you should pay particular attention to.]