Shangjing City.
Jiuzhou Corps Headquarters.
Major General Wu took a deep breath and stepped onto a peculiar machine.
On the machine's right side, a metal plaque stood erect, with a line of words written boldly—Spiritual Ability Tester.
Several researchers in white lab coats quickly gathered around, connecting wires to the commander's body.
A large group of people in white coats stood nearby, either closely watching Commander Wu or staring at the data on their handheld tablets.
Soon.
An elderly man in a white coat shouted, "Begin!"
The machine was activated immediately.
Commander Wu let out a muffled groan, his expression showing slight discomfort.
After a few seconds.
The elder called out again, "Stop!"
The machine was turned off.
A person in a white coat immediately announced, "According to the data from the Spiritual Ability Tester, Commander Wu's current physical value is 10.2 points."
The elder nodded with a smile, "Not bad, an increase of 0.1 points compared to four days ago."
However, Commander Wu was not satisfied: "Too slow!"
The elder did not agree: "At your current rate of improvement, it's absolutely top level on the Canglan Star. I don't think anyone can surpass you."
Commander Wu frowned, "At this rate, it will take me several years to reach a physical value of 100 points, officially touching the first barrier."
The elder reassured him, "Several years is not slow."
Commander Wu shook his head, "Great Xia urgently needs warriors!"
Without hesitation, he said, "I will go for training."
The elder watched the back of the commander as he left, silently sighing.
A researcher softly said, "Commander Wu is pushing himself too hard, training over twelve hours a day. What if he harms his body?"
The elder remained silent.
In this position, he fully understood the immense pressure Great Xia was facing, so he completely understood the commander's sense of urgency.
Time was too tight, leaving no room for delay.
*
Lanjiang Riverbank.
Yang Fan, wrapped like a big dumpling, walked with a bucket for over ten meters, turned a corner, and descended twenty steps onto the hard ice surface.
He did not rush to work, instead quietly taking out the Thunder Branch, supplying electricity to his thermal suit.
The electric wires embedded in his pants and clothes began to slowly release heat, resisting the encroaching cold.
This equipment was the key to allowing him to operate outdoors for such extended periods.
Not as Zhao Xiaoying imagined, "The fishmonger doesn't fear the cold," nor as some fellow anglers said yesterday, "The young guy has plenty of energy, much stronger than our old arms and legs."
Yang Fan glanced at the ice surface, shaking his head, "Nothing here, let's change location."
Relying on the sensing power of his Spiritual Language Superpower, he only needed a glance at the ice to determine if there were slightly mutated river fish below.
Yang Fan put on a pair of ice skates, slightly activating his Light Spirit Superpower, gliding away like a gust of wind.
His speed was slightly faster than a normal person but not by much, unlikely to draw attention.
Furthermore, with the aid of his superpower, his physical exertion was minimal.
A minute later.
Yang Fan stopped, a hint of excitement flickering in his eyes, "There seems to be a big fish below."
He took out a small ice pick and started chiseling the ice surface forcefully.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
The sound traveled far.
On the surface, it seemed quite laborious to chisel, but in reality, it was not the case.
The Thunder Branch released an electric current, which quietly flowed from under his feet, converting electric energy into heat energy, causing the ice to melt rapidly.
With no one around, he could freely use his superpower without worry.
Soon.
A hole appeared in the ice.
Yang Fan first sprinkled some bait into the hole, then took out his fishing rod and began fishing.
Before long.
A fish swam over.
It swam around the hook, cautiously observing the bait, yet did not bite the hook.
Unfortunately, this caution was pointless.
"Zap!"
A wisp of electricity instantly hit the head of the river fish, killing it outright.
A magical power swept over, and the river fish disappeared without a trace.
Yang Fan slightly shook his head, "Just an ordinary fish."
In reality, the fish had not disappeared but was instead captured into the Space Pearl from afar.
Yesterday, he carried over dozens of pounds of fish home, with the actual catch being astonishing, no less than two thousand pounds of fish, which served as future food reserves.
While the fish had not mutated much, catching one more was a bonus.
After all, Canglan Star is changing beyond recognition bit by bit, who knows if fish will evolve and become toxic, completely inedible in the future?
Yang Fan felt a bit smug: "Other anglers brave the cold to chip out ice and fish, truly just to fish; I'm here for stocking up."
After a while.
"Pop!"
The electric light crackled again.
A one-meter-long big fish silently floated up.
Yang Fan's face lit up with joy: "Got it."
The Soul Stealing Wisp flashed by, instantly draining the energy from the big fish, and the remaining Spiritual Source Points rose to 2.3 points.
Increased by 0.1 point.
Yang Fan grinned excitedly: "Indeed, the early bird gets the worm."
He thought it over and decided: "Now that there's a way to gain Spiritual Source Points, I might as well add 0.1 points to both physical Value and Spirit Value every day."
He happily muttered: "This is called guaranteed point addition!"
Spiritual Source Points immediately dropped to 2.1 points.
Attributes panel changed.
[Attributes]
physical Value: 6.7
Spirit Value: 14.4
A slight hunger immediately came over him.
Yang Fan was prepared, quickly took out a duck foot from Space Pearl and started gnawing on it with relish.
He muttered as he gnawed: "With the Great Xia Kingdom's population of 1.8 billion, there must be talents galore, adding 0.2 points daily should be near the top, right."
*
An hour later.
A figure appeared nearby.
The person was the fishing buddy met yesterday, nearly fifty, claiming to be the "Old Gangster."
Old Gangster shouted from over ten meters away: "Xiaoyang, truly young folks have stamina, getting here so early!"
Yang Fan laughed: "Couldn't sleep."
Old Gangster walked over asking: "You seemed still here when I left yesterday; how many hours did you fish yesterday?"
Yang Fan replied: "Around eight hours."
Old Gangster clicked his tongue: "Impressive! If I fished for eight hours, I'd be frozen into an ice sculpture."
Yang Fan laughed without a word.
Old Gangster asked again: "How's today's catch?"
Yang Fan pretended with a sigh: "Not good! Much worse than yesterday."
Old Gangster glanced at the big bucket and saw only two one-pound river fish inside, he laughed: "Indeed, still needs work."
Yang Fan put away his fishing rod and said: "This place seems to have no fish, I should change spots."
This was a lie.
Space Pearl contained over forty fish, the largest was close to two meters long, nearly all the nearby fish were scooped up, a full fruitful harvest.
Old Gangster nodded: "Good luck."
After Yang Fan left.
Old Gangster looked at the ice hole and chuckled: "There should be quite a few fish nearby, saving me the trouble of chipping ice."
The guy took out a small stool, and set a plush cushion on it, sitting comfortably.
Old Gangster fiddled with the fishing rod: "Watched Xiaoyang fish yesterday, the young man is a bit impatient, needs a seasoned angler like me to take the lead!"
An hour and a half later.
Old Gangster looked at the empty bucket, began to doubt life: "So many baits thrown, yet not a single bite?"
"Phew!"
The cold wind swept by.
Old Gangster shivered a few times, swearing under his breath: "Damn, cold to death."
One kilometer away.
Another ice surface.
Yang Fan gazed at a newly carved ice hole, flicked his finger.
"Pop!"
A fish of nearly one and a half meters ceased breathing and slowly floated up.
This fish weighed nearly a hundred pounds; a casual angler couldn't possibly drag it ashore without several hours of struggle.
Possibly even breaking the fishing rod, with not only the big fish escaping but also losing the costly fishing equipment.
But in front of curiosities, the big fish had no resistance whatsoever.
Yang Fan shook his head regretfully: "Such a big fish, why hasn't it mutated?"
Space Pearl cooled slightly.
The big fish vanished into thin air.
Yang Fan recited with a shake of his head: "Lonely old man on a boat, fishing alone in the cold river snow!"
"Woo!"
The icy river wind swept by.
He felt nothing at all.