Late at night, moonlight spilled softly over the camp, and the forest was silent.
Sitting by the campfire, Qin Tian took a cup, placed a few mint leaves inside, then poured hot water and waited patiently.
For Qin Tian, having a cup of mint tea to refresh himself every night after the shift change had already become a habit.
After a moment, Qin Tian lifted the freshly brewed mint tea and took a sip, instantly feeling refreshed as the drowsiness faded considerably.
While drinking, Qin Tian turned around and glanced at Ye Lin inside the wooden shelter. After confirming she was asleep, he summoned the System and switched to the Mall item interface.
***
Skillfully, he navigated to the talent section. Qin Tian now had 11,000 Points, enough capital to purchase a talent.
The Mall offered many talents, but most required far more Points than he could afford.
After browsing for a long time, Qin Tian’s eyes lingered between two talents: Swift Cheetah and Strength of an Ox.
Both talents cost exactly 11,000 Points, just enough for Qin Tian to redeem, and both were extremely useful on this deserted island. He hesitated, unsure which to choose.
***
Swift Cheetah needed no explanation—Qin Tian deeply understood its value as a life-saving skill.
However, its drawback was high stamina consumption, making it impossible to use for extended periods. If faced with a relentless beast like a tusked wild boar that would neither die nor give up and could track by scent, running fast would be futile. Eventually, one would be caught.
Strength of an Ox seemed to grant the power of an ox. With this talent, Qin Tian would become a humanoid beast, able to confront wild boars head-on.
But this advantage was only one-on-one. If confronted by a group of wild boars, it would be a case of two fists against four hands—certain death.
After weighing the pros and cons of both talents, Qin Tian stretched out his hand and pressed the Redemption Key under Swift Cheetah.
“Run first when danger comes; whether I can escape or not, I’ll deal with that later,” was Qin Tian’s conclusion after careful thought.
The fundamental reason Qin Tian did not choose Strength of an Ox was that he already had the Recurve Bow, which could somewhat compensate for his lack of strength.
***
As soon as Qin Tian’s Points hit zero, the System’s voice rang out.
“Host has successfully purchased the talent.”
“Host’s physical transformation begins.”
Hearing the last prompt, Qin Tian suddenly felt a bad premonition.
Unlike using an Experience Card to gain a talent, the process this time was different. Under Qin Tian’s gaze, a cheetah leapt out from the electronic screen toward him, but before it reached him, it turned into scattered stars that enveloped his body.
Whenever one of these starlight points touched Qin Tian’s skin, he felt a slight electric shock, like being zapped by a lighter.
A single zap from a lighter wasn’t painful—barely even noticeable. But this was only one; imagine hundreds or thousands.
Every star that touched his skin sent an electric shock through him. The sensation of receiving hundreds or thousands of these shocks simultaneously was unbearably sharp.
Afraid of disturbing Ye Lin, Qin Tian gritted his teeth and endured. Fortunately, the process was brief and was soon replaced by an indescribable comfort, as if waking from a deep, refreshing sleep, with all fatigue wiped away.
Moving his joints, Qin Tian’s body emitted crisp sounds. He could clearly feel the changes the talent had brought him.
***
There was still some time before dawn. Calming himself, Qin Tian picked up the wooden stick he had found earlier and began stripping off the bark one by one, preparing to make arrows.
This time, Qin Tian did not sharpen the arrow tips but instead placed one end of the shaft into the campfire until the surface charred into carbon.
He then ground it on a stone to form the arrowhead, dried it by the fire, and finally attached the fletching.
Arrows treated this way were lighter, shot farther, and the carbonized tips were harder, eliminating worries about the arrowhead dulling like before, making them reusable.
Practice made perfect. As he made more arrows, Qin Tian grew more skilled, speeding up his production. Two hours later, he had made thirteen arrows.
***
Taking a deep breath, Qin Tian rested briefly before picking up a shard of stone and began grinding it on a rock.
These shards were cracked from larger stones, sharp and thin, perfect for crafting arrowheads.
This was the second method recorded in the Wilderness Craft Encyclopedia, more powerful than carbonized arrow tips, but Qin Tian was uncertain by how much since he hadn’t tested it yet.
He planned to make three stone arrowheads for comparison with the carbonized ones. If the stone tips weren’t significantly stronger, he’d mainly use carbonized arrows.
Making stone arrowheads was time-consuming; after half an hour, Qin Tian finished sharpening them.
Most of the time was spent on symmetry—an asymmetrical arrowhead would cause imbalance and reduce accuracy.
After shaping the arrowheads, Qin Tian split the arrow shaft end in two with his dagger, inserted the arrowhead, then bound it tightly with hemp rope. The rest of the process was the same as the carbonized arrows.
Thus, the night passed.
***
The next day, Qin Tian continued practicing archery, hoping to improve his accuracy as quickly as possible.
After a whole day of practice, Qin Tian grew familiar with the Recurve Bow’s performance. His arrows consistently hit the tree trunks, but his bullseye rate was only 60%, and mostly on the outer rings.
With the current skill level, hitting large animals like wild boars was not a problem, but hunting smaller, quicker animals like rabbits would require much more practice.
Fortunately, Qin Tian’s arrows had improved greatly in power. Both stone and carbonized arrows could firmly pierce tree trunks.
Between the two, stone arrows sank deeper into targets and were noticeably stronger than carbonized ones. After consideration, Qin Tian decided stone arrows were worth making.
***
Including today, Qin Tian had been at the camp for five days since the rainy night.
During these days, he had been busy crafting various items, living a peaceful life. Yet, accustomed to venturing out for supplies, the calm made him feel something was missing—an urge to leave the camp.
Following his instincts, Qin Tian set off early the next morning, carrying a bamboo-made Arrow Tube on his back and holding the Recurve Bow.
Though the heavy rain had passed days ago, the dense canopy still blocked much sunlight, leaving many forest corners damp.
Not far from camp, Qin Tian stopped. Mud nearly one centimeter thick clung to his shoe soles, making walking more difficult.
Lifting his foot, Qin Tian rubbed the mud off on a nearby tree trunk.
***
“What is this?” As he scraped, Qin Tian noticed something and looked to the side.
Beside him grew an unknown plant with leaves spreading out radially, holding a palm-sized pool of water at the center. Swimming inside was a tadpole.
At first glance, Qin Tian thought he was mistaken. Upon closer inspection, it was definitely a tadpole—with two legs already grown, it would soon become a frog.
Having grown up in the countryside, Qin Tian had seen plenty of frogs and tadpoles, but always in ponds or ditches—not inside a plant’s leaf.
Still, wherever it was, it was just a tadpole, nothing special. After cleaning the mud off his shoes, Qin Tian moved on.
***
After half an hour’s walk, a bamboo forest appeared in sight. After a week, Qin Tian had returned.
But this time, Qin Tian wasn’t here to hunt wild boars but to collect bamboo and bamboo shoots.
Though he now had the Recurve Bow and a talent, that only offered self-defense. Hunting wild boars was too dangerous; he had no intention of courting trouble.
He observed carefully for a long while before entering the bamboo forest, ensuring no wild boars were around.
Like bamboo shoots sprouting after rain, the recent downpour had caused plenty of fresh bamboo shoots to sprout. No need to search—any casual glance revealed tender shoots.
Soon, Qin Tian gathered two bundles of bamboo shoots. Then, he took out the Stone Axe to begin felling bamboo.
***
Just as he was about to act, the distant crow of a chicken reached his ears.
Recalling something, Qin Tian put away the Stone Axe and followed the sound.
He soon saw a group of brightly feathered wild chickens foraging in the bamboo forest.
There were about seven or eight, each larger than a pigeon.
They weren’t listed in the Common Animal Encyclopedia, so Qin Tian didn’t know the species—only certain they weren’t domesticated chickens.
But whether wild or domestic, to Qin Tian, they were meat and excellent material for making arrow fletching.
Carefully sneaking closer, once within range, Qin Tian raised his Recurve Bow, nocked an arrow, aimed, and released.
“Shu—”
The carbonized arrow flew out but, embarrassingly, landed about half a meter beside the target—just as in practice. Qin Tian wasn’t surprised.
What baffled him was that the wild chickens seemed completely unfazed by the sudden arrow, ignoring it entirely. He didn’t know if they hadn’t noticed or simply weren’t afraid.
This gave Qin Tian a second chance.