Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 98: The Third Profession

"I finally understand why I never liked Peppa Pig. Big sisters are the worst."

Li Wei turned slowly. In the firelight from the hearth, he saw Penny standing there with damp, loose hair, gazing at him with an air of pure innocence. She was quite the cleanliness enthusiast — no, the proper framing was: maintaining hygiene helped resist plague, because details determined success or failure...

Li Wei's thoughts were wandering. He had to admit, this version of Penny had the kind of beauty that emerged effortlessly — like a lotus rising from clear water. Stunning.

"George, time for bed!"

Penny spoke again, squeezing past him without the slightest hesitation or politeness.

Li Wei was left speechless. In the end, he slunk away — because unlike the early days when there'd been only one room and he could squeeze into any gap, there were vacant rooms now.

Fila and her old flame, Braised Egg Pete, had claimed Room Two. Old John and Leon shared a room.

Clyde had taken the last bedroom, leaving only the common room — Room One — unoccupied.

So his options were the common room or bunking with Clyde.

He couldn't very well squeeze into the room of a woman who wasn't his fiancee while empty rooms existed. Basic narrative logic had to be respected."Forget it — no point in trying to take advantage." Li Wei was pragmatic. These were all veteran players, each carrying item cards. Not worth provoking.

So he didn't even bother pairing up with Clyde. He simply stoked the fireplace with fresh wood, ate dinner, carved his nightly quota of ten wooden arrows and one wooden spear, went out for a night patrol, and completed his daily training routine.

Monotonous. Exhausting. But he'd long since gotten used to it.

Three days passed in a blink. Li Wei secured 120 Woodcutting experience points. The household remained as silent as ever — each member was identically busy, leaving at dawn and returning at dusk. Some didn't even come back for lunch.

Nothing remarkable yet.

Until a notification shattered the peaceful evening.

[Family member Pete has caught a one-star quality large fish. He has donated it to the family. He receives 7 Contribution Points.]

'Already producing results?'

Hot on its heels, a second and third notification appeared.

[Family member Fila has gathered one unit of one-star quality medicinal herbs. She has donated them to the family. She receives 8 Contribution Points.]

[Family member John has hunted a 30-kilogram one-star sika deer. He has butchered and skinned it, tanning the hide into a complete deerskin. He has donated everything to the family. He receives 15 Contribution Points.]

'Veteran players truly are bottomless wells of skill. Only three days in.'

Li Wei was impressed — but felt no urgency. He simply continued eating, training, and sleeping in silence.

Over the next three days, similar notifications popped up occasionally, but they were almost entirely from Braised Egg Pete, Old John, and Fila.

Clyde, Leon, Penny, and Sophie remained quiet.

But clearly, they were building toward something big.

Clyde appeared to be firing firebricks. Once those were ready, the blast furnace's temperature ceiling and durability would leap to the next level. Better molten steel meant easier production of one-star quality equipment.

Leon was constructing arrow towers and occasionally helping fire firebricks.

Sophie seemed to be digging a dam and clearing waterways — undoubtedly for transporting iron ore.

Penny was busy cutting and sewing... something.

Li Wei, meanwhile, pushed himself to the limit that day and secured his 250 Woodcutting experience points, successfully earning a One-Star Woodcutter Card.

"Do you wish to activate and bind the One-Star Woodcutter Card? You will gain a third profession — Woodcutter!"

Upon Li Wei's confirmation, the ordinary one-star card dissolved into threads of faint starlight that poured into his body, as if imbuing him with some mysterious new force.

In that moment, he even heard a distinct crack — as though some bottleneck, some limitation, had been shattered.

It felt as if he was stepping into an entirely new world.

The next second, his Three-Star Farmer Card, Two-Star Hunter Card, and One-Star Woodcutter Card emerged from within him, orbiting and overlapping until they settled into a triple-stacked configuration. Not merged — stacked.

Three-Star Farmer on the bottom, Two-Star Hunter in the middle, One-Star Woodcutter on top. Around all three, a translucent shell — a card case, perhaps, or something else entirely. Li Wei didn't understand it, but he sensed something was different.

Then, notifications cascaded forth.

[One-Star Woodcutter Card bound.]

[Promoted to Apprentice Woodcutter. This is your third profession. Your Destiny Grid has begun to stabilize, and new changes have emerged.]

[Profession talent acquired: Your weapons deal an additional 10% damage against all woody plants and wood-derived constructs. Your tree-felling efficiency has improved. You have a chance to discover rare timber, and during processing — felling, trimming, whittling, and similar tasks — you can faintly sense the "breath" of the wood. This allows you to increase the quality of semi-finished or finished wooden products by 30%. Additionally, this profession provides a minor gathering advantage: slightly improved efficiency when collecting mountain goods and medicinal herbs, and a 15% increased chance of discovering rare specimens.]

[5 Free Attribute Points automatically gained.]

[Note: Because this is your third profession card, upgrade requirements are slightly higher than for the second. Two-Star Woodcutter Card upgrade requires 500 Woodcutting experience or 600 Gathering experience + 1 unit of standard world resources or 1 standard gold coin.]

[Note: You can now view your Destiny Grid Stability. Current grids: Farmer, Hunter, Woodcutter. Details as follows:]

[Farmer Grid — Stability: 8. You have cultivated four acres of farmland and planted six acres total. You have harvested 520 kilograms of wheat and thirty kilograms of one-star quality wheat. Note: Stability determines the quantity of one-star quality and higher-grade grain you can produce.]

[Hunter Grid — Stability: 35. You have hunted 229 creatures, killed eight people, and completed 240 effective daily training sessions. Note: Stability determines how well your Hunter talents perform — essentially your proficiency level. For example, two people who both bind a Two-Star Hunter Card: one who never trains or sees combat can't even hit a target at twenty meters, while you — with daily practice and real combat experience — can dominate a battlefield. In simplest terms, Destiny Grid Stability represents the binder's effective utilization rate and depth of understanding of their profession card.]

[Woodcutter Grid — Stability: 23. You have felled 324 trees, chopped 30 units of firewood, whittled 249 wooden spears, and gathered 18 units of wild vegetables. Note: Rough and clumsy execution cannot withstand the relentless polish of day after day of effort. Diligence redeems stupidity — an honest saying that holds true.]

[Warning: Do not attempt to treat profession cards as mere tools. Although in practice, they are indeed special instruments that transcend your understanding, fusing knowledge from different civilizations and disciplines. But remember — from the moment you activate and bind a profession card, what that tool grows into, what it ultimately represents, is determined by you. In a very real sense, they can change your destiny.]

[Note: At any stage, you may choose to detach your profession cards. Under the principle of basic humanistic care, you retain fifty percent of your Level 1 Awakening attributes, all memories are erased, and you return to your homeland.]

[Note: The current instance is an orderly-peaceful world. If you are successfully targeted by a Plot Kill vote and cannot pay for immunity, you will not be eliminated or killed, nor face any penalties — you will simply enter the mission settlement screen. However, if you are killed by a native creature in this world, you will lose one profession card, be forcibly deducted 10 random attribute points, and then enter the mission settlement screen.]

—

'So that's how it works.' Li Wei was very satisfied — especially with the Destiny Grid Stability feature. He'd always felt that the Two-Star Hunter Card wasn't some kind of cheat code that handed him talent on a silver platter. That was precisely why he'd trained daily without fail. The results, it seemed, were excellent. He'd keep it up going forward.

Next, after a brief deliberation, Li Wei spent two Free Attribute Points to push Strength to 15. Then he poured the remaining three into Stamina, catapulting it straight to 200.

In that instant, Li Wei felt as though he'd been thrown into a blazing furnace — like the legendary Eight Trigrams Crucible, forging him into something new.

His entire body seemed ready to burst. His blood rebelled. His heartbeat hammered. His eyes, ears, nose, mouth — every capillary, every inch of skin — became hyperactive and exquisitely sensitive. Deep down, some forbidden power felt like it was breaking through!

As if his very genetic chain had been blown open!

Hum!

The three profession cards burst out, spiraling above his head before vanishing again. And in those few heartbeats, everything — all of it — dissipated like a mirage.

He returned to normal. But his body held more strength than before, and a strange hunger — though not the maddening, desperate kind. It was... enigmatic.

Without question —

He'd done it!

Just as he'd predicted, 200 Stamina had successfully triggered Level 1 Awakening.

Lines of golden text appeared silently.

[Stamina: 200 (Level 1 Awakening)]

[Congratulations. One of your attributes has undergone a qualitative transformation, completing Level 1 Awakening. You have gained an additional awakening talent bonus. Your Stamina has become deep and resilient. External changes — whether scorching heat or freezing cold, hunger or violent emotional swings — will no longer cause dramatic drops in your Stamina. When performing high-intensity physical output, your Stamina consumption is controlled at a stable threshold. You are truly a Stamina management master.]

[Note: Even if you fail and all profession cards are stripped, a Level 1 awakened attribute retains half its value upon return to your original world. This is humanistic care.]

[Note: Because you have awakened two basic attributes, you have automatically become an Apprentice Warrior.]

[Note: The Warrior profession has no corresponding profession card. However, upon reaching Master-level Warrior, you earn the right to forge your own Warrior Profession Card.]

[Note: The Warrior profession is typically ranked as follows: Apprentice (Level 1 Awakening x2), Professional (Level 1 Awakening x3), Senior (all attributes Level 1 Awakening), Expert (all attributes Level 2 Awakening), Master (all attributes Level 3 Awakening), Legendary (all attributes Level 4 Awakening), Epic (all attributes Level 5 Awakening), Immortal (all attributes Level 6 Awakening), Demigod (all attributes Level 7 Awakening).]

[Note: Warriors must answer the six-star Lord's summons once per year to serve in the Chaotic Killing Battlefield. This is mandatory and cannot be exempted. In exchange, the six-star Lord provides protection, allowing you access to orderly-peaceful worlds for daily development tasks, title acquisition tasks, and resource extraction missions to improve yourself.]

[Note: When you possess three three-star profession cards, you may apply for the Three-Star Lord mission. Upon success, like a newly anointed knight, you will receive your own small world territory.]