Chapter 4: Becoming Extraordinary?
Xu Zhi was thankful for her habit of hiding her emotions at home, which gave her decent control over her expressions—she didn’t end up pulling some ridiculous face the moment the fruit appeared before her.
She paused for two or three seconds, then reached out and lightly tapped the black fruit with her fingertip.
It was cool to the touch, with a smooth surface, somewhat like a glass marble.
Xu Zhi held the fruit up in her hand and studied it. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but it seemed like there was a dark liquid swirling inside the marble-like fruit.
“Is this thing edible?” she wondered aloud, and when she looked down, a line of text had just appeared on the game screen:
[You are wondering about the origin and use of this fruit. You’ve thought a lot, but sometimes things are not that complicated. It’s just a fruit—it can either become a seed that, with time and energy, grows into a towering tree… or it can serve a simpler purpose.]
[Be eaten.]
Judging from the surprised tone of the narrator when the fruit was found, Xu Zhi figured it must be a relatively rare item for the early stages of the game. After some thought, she decided to feed it to the little snake. If all went well, she would try eating one herself if she found another.
“But… how do I get this back into the game?”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the black fruit vanished from her hand.
Xu Zhi quickly opened the in-game inventory and, sure enough, found the fruit there.
She selected it and chose to feed it to the snake.
[A good choice. Your familiar definitely needs it.]
[After consuming this unknown fruit, a powerful energy began surging within your familiar’s body. It needs to quickly find a safe place to digest the energy.]
[Choose: Find a safe place and sleep to digest the fruit. Estimated time: 1 hour.]
“One hour?”
Xu Zhi was a bit surprised. All the previous upgrades combined didn’t take this long—yet this fruit required a full hour to digest?
She began to look forward to what kind of surprise the little snake would bring after it was done.
Besides, she had started playing right after waking up and hadn’t even freshened up. This hour would give her time to get ready.
After slowly washing up, rolling herself to the living room with her handheld console, and taking all her medicine with a glass of warm water, the hour had almost passed.
She stared at the screen, waiting for the countdown to end.
[Your familiar has managed to digest part of the energy from the fruit. It was simply too weak to absorb it all, but even so, it gained significantly.]
[Level: Lv3 → Lv10]
[Mind: 120 Body: 480 Attribute: Blade
Traits: Venom Lv5, Sharpness Lv3, Bloodthirst Lv3, Cunning Lv1]
[Current Evolution Points: 0/1000]
[Your familiar has reached Level 10 and gained intelligence. You may now name it.]
Well damn.
Xu Zhi hadn’t expected such a small fruit to give the little snake such a dramatic boost. She stared in awe at the creature on-screen, now bloated in size like a black python. But what excited her more was the change in her own body.
When the game notified her that the snake had reached Level 10, she also experienced a noticeably physical improvement.
Her breathing became even smoother. The constant weakness that plagued her faded somewhat. The dizziness lessened too—at least now, turning her head didn’t make her want to vomit. Her heart, however, didn’t seem to improve much. Clearly, leveling the snake to ten still wasn’t enough.
But at least she no longer had to worry about suddenly dropping dead.
After thinking for a moment, Xu Zhi named the little snake: Yi (lit. “Number One”).
Yes, that simple and crude.
Xu Zhi quickly accepted the fact that she had absolutely no talent for naming things.
Nothing to be ashamed of!
Frustrated but determined, she pressed the confirm button.
[Now that it has a name, your familiar has gained wisdom. It can slowly absorb ambient energy to gain evolution points. From now on, you only need to give it general direction—your familiar will carry out your commands independently.]
“What does that mean?”
Xu Zhi was puzzled, then a set of options appeared on the screen.
[Choose:
1.Have your familiar continue leveling up as quickly as possible
2. Have your familiar search for mysterious items scattered across the land
3. Let your familiar rest]
Xu Zhi chose option 1. Another line of text appeared.
[Your familiar has accepted the command. Thanks to its “Cunning” trait, the chances of injury or death are reduced, and it is less likely to recklessly engage prey.]
[Your familiar has begun leveling. You may check back in 7 hours.]
“Huh?”
It became an idle game?
So what was she supposed to do for the next seven hours? Read?
But the game clearly didn’t intend to let her off that easy.
[Due to special circumstances, you may now extract one trait from your familiar.]
[Choose: Extract]
“Special circumstances?”
Xu Zhi thought for a moment, uncertain whether this was due to the black fruit or the snake reaching Level 10.
She leaned more toward the fruit being the cause.
In any case, it was a good thing.
Abilities had existed in the real world for a year, but those who possessed them were still rare. Xu Zhi had fantasized about becoming extraordinary one day—but always believed such luck would never come her way.
Now, it seemed her dream might be coming true.
As long as she extracted one of Yi’s traits, she would gain an unusual power—something that set her apart from ordinary people.
Now that she was actually at this moment, she didn’t feel as excited as she’d imagined. Perhaps the game console dulled the intensity of her emotions.
Of course, her heart couldn’t really handle intense excitement anyway.
She thought about Yi’s traits. If possible, she naturally wanted to draw Venom, the highest-level one. With her poor health, a venom-based ability might become her trump card.
Still, it was a one-in-four chance—not low, but not high either.
With a mix of anticipation and unease, Xu Zhi chose to extract.
[Extracting…]
[Congratulations. You have extracted: Bloodthirst Lv3]
Xu Zhi fell silent.
That was the one she least wanted.
“Bloodthirst” sounded like a trait that required physical violence to activate. With her body in its current state, how was she supposed to use it?
[Due to the difference between you and your familiar, the trait has undergone a slight transformation.]
[Bloodthirst Lv3: In battle, your opponent’s blood triggers your ability, extending your vitality. You can absorb trace amounts of life force from blood to replenish your own. The more blood, the more energized you feel. However, prolonged bloodthirst will contaminate your mind.]
As this line appeared, Xu Zhi felt a surge of heat in her veins. Her eyes flushed red for a moment before the feeling vanished.
“…What was that?”
It was strange. She had never felt so “fired up.” Oddly enough, she didn’t dislike it.
Though “Bloodthirst” was a trait that relied on violence, the ability to draw life force from blood to sustain herself suited her condition quite well. She lacked strength and stamina—her frail body would normally collapse after a few hits. But if she could maintain combat capability through bloodthirst, she might just turn the tables on an opponent.
[Note: Since your trait is derived from your familiar, it will level up when theirs does. If the familiar dies, the trait disappears.]
Xu Zhi raised an eyebrow. She saw this as a good thing.
After all, she had no way to upgrade Bloodthirst on her own—nor did she know how.
[Because your Familiar No. 1 has reached Level 10, Familiar No. 2 is now unlocked.]
[Would you like to enter the initial interface to begin cultivating Familiar No. 2?]
“Huh?”
There’s more?
“Well, of course I want to!”
