Chapter 12: A Pleasant Surprise, [Sub-profession] Activated
Chapter 12: Chapter 12: A Pleasant Surprise, [Sub-profession] Activated
The next morning, when Jon woke from his sleep, the blizzard had already subsided.
The fire in the small cabin had long since gone out, but he didn’t feel particularly cold. In fact, he was covered in sweat, unsure if it was due to a young man’s vigor or the effects of the Chu Blood Grass.
Jon glanced at his status bar and saw that his Life Value and Magic Power Value had both recovered to 155 points, more than half...
"Huh? 155?"
The young man did the math and realized the numbers didn’t add up.
His Life Value was 116 when he went to sleep yesterday. After he drank the Chu Blood Grass Essence, his status bar showed a recovery effect of 10 points per hour for 6 hours—a total of 60 Life Value points. Due to his Heart of Balance, 30 of those points would be converted into Magic Power recovery.
So, his original 116 plus the 30 points of recovery should have put his Life Value at 146.
’So where did the 155 come from?’
’Where did this extra 9 points of recovery come from?’
After a moment of thought, he quickly figured out the answer.
The change came from becoming a Mage Apprentice!
In the lore of *Yino*, Casters could communicate with the natural elements, unconsciously absorbing them and converting them into their own Magic Power.
In other words, the "hidden" ability of Caster-type classes—natural Magic Power regeneration!
This was an ability that only existed in the lore and didn’t appear on the stats panel.
After all, in the eyes of the players, this was just compensation from the developers for the difficulty Casters had in replenishing Magic Power in the early stages, a form of class balancing.
But now, it seemed it wasn’t just a simple piece of lore or class balancing!
The difference between the game and reality was once again laid bare before Jon.
He roughly estimated that he had slept until broad daylight, about 9 hours.
And because of his Heart of Balance, his Magic Power Value and Life Value recovered in sync.
The original 2 points of Magic Power Value recovered per hour became 1 point of Life Value and 1 point of Magic Power Value per hour.
This meant that from the moment he became a Mage Apprentice, even without using potions, he would naturally recover 24 points of Life Value and Magic Power Value per day!
This made Jon rub his chin gleefully, feeling more and more that choosing the Heart of Balance had been a great decision.
’Who doesn’t like getting something for free?’
’This is good. All of it is good!’
After figuring this out, the young man boiled another pot of water and took some more Chu Blood Grass Essence, warming his body and continuing to restore his Life.
Then, he picked up his cleaver, strapped on his Arm Shield, adjusted his Thick Hide Armor, and, full of confidence, pushed open the creaking, dilapidated door.
"Time to go!"
——
In early winter, the forest was often more vibrant than usual.
During this season, it wasn’t just humans who had to prepare for the coming winter; the beasts of the forest did as well.
Herbivores had to eat their fill to build up fat; carnivores had to hunt diligently to stockpile food. All of this was to face the crisis of food shortages during the long winter.
And with the blizzard from the previous night having died down, the entire forest became even more "lively."
As Jon ventured deeper into the mountains, he saw four or five sites of recent kills along the way, covered only by a thin layer of snow. Besides the bloodstains, not even a scrap of bone was left.
It was a reminder—predators were on the prowl nearby!
But he was fearless. This was just the outer region, an area both he and his predecessor were very familiar with.
Even if a few unruly bears or wolves wandered into this area, he could put up a fight with the weapon in his hand. At the very least, self-preservation wouldn’t be a problem!
After walking for about an hour, the young man saw a hook-shaped rock formation in the distance. He compared it to his memories and thought to himself.
’This should be the area...’
His main goal for the morning was to gather medicinal herbs.
This was partly to try and activate the Sub-profession panel, and partly to use his game knowledge to craft some potent, heavy-duty potions in preparation for a Dungeon run.
And this area was where several types of herbs were supposed to spawn, according to his memory.
Jon glanced around, ambled over to a birch tree, and dropped to the ground without a care for his image. He then carefully brushed away the accumulated snow with his hands.
Beneath the layer of snow were a few plants that still held some vitality. Their stems were slender and their leaves delicate, yet they grew in a patch, together bearing the weight of the snow.
Unfortunately, they weren’t valuable medicinal herbs.
But he couldn’t let them go to waste.
In the spirit of a player who plucks every goose that flies by and scrapes the land three feet deep, Jon pulled up these tender weeds all the same, tied them into a small bundle with their own stems, and tucked it into his belt.
His hunting plans for the afternoon would require the "sacrifice" of these little things.
Finding nothing under the first tree didn’t bother Jon; he just moved on to the next one.
Gathering herbs was the kind of work that required patience.
And right now, patience was something he had in spades.
Besides, the herbs grew in this area; it’s not like they were going to grow legs and run away.
The second tree, the third... finally, under the fifth birch tree, he hit pay dirt.
Jon brushed aside the layer of snow, revealing a plant that was dark green all over, with leaves like swords.
"It’s Sword-leaf Grass... The leaves are poisonous, so I have to be careful picking this..."
He blew a puff of warm air onto his hands and rubbed them together vigorously until his knuckles were no longer stiff, only then beginning his work.
He cleared the weeds, scraped away the loose soil, and finally, with the tip of his cleaver, sliced off the part of the Sword-leaf Grass above the ground in one go!
And as he finished, a system notification followed.
[Gathering Integrity: 100%. Gained 10 General Experience.]
’I got Experience Points!’
That’s right. On the Yino Continent, actions related to Sub-professions like gathering herbs, mining ore, brewing potions, and Forging equipment could also grant Experience Points. It was a peaceful path to leveling up left for life-skill players who didn’t like to fight.
However, the speed of gaining experience this way was naturally far slower than leveling up by killing monsters.
But Jon’s attention wasn’t on this notification. His focus was entirely on his own system panel.
The previously inaccessible [Sub-profession] interface was now open to him!
’Just as I thought! Engaging in a related activity unlocks the feature!’
The familiar data stream refreshed and reappeared!
The Sub-profession column was split into two sides. The left side had a mechanical, gear-based style and was currently blank. The right side, with a floral and vial-based style, was shining brightly!
——
[Alchemist LV.1 (Skill Level 0/1000), Flesh and Blood School (Locked)]
[Known Skills: Gathering LV.1, Extraction LV.1, Concoction LV.1... Click to Expand]
[Known Recipes: Hemostatic Dust, Chu Blood Grass Essence, Nightflower Potion, Acid Burst Potion... Click to Expand]
——
"Just as I thought. Even though my Sub-profession’s level was reset... the recipes were preserved!"
Jon opened the recipe list, and the sight of the densely packed potion recipes made the corners of his mouth curl up into a slight smile.
He knew that while these recipes would be a dime a dozen among players in the future, easily collected by following guides for life-skill professions on the forums, that was all in the future!
In this era, where NPC Alchemists still passed down their knowledge through an ancient master-apprentice system and had not yet felt the Impact of player Alchemists, any one of the recipes in his hands—tweaked and verified by countless players—could bring him enormous profits!
Money isn’t everything, but you can’t do anything without it!
This was especially true for him, with his Dual Professions and their higher demand for all sorts of resources. Later, when his power grew, if he wanted to conduct research into space-time, that would be an even bigger bottomless pit for money.
’How could I possibly manage without money?’
’Make money! I have to make a ton of it!’
Of course, to make big money, one also needed the strength to protect that wealth.
These were two completely parallel tracks; he had to pursue both, and he had to master both!
For now, everything was developing in the right direction!
Jon closed the panel and let out a determined huff.
"Let’s just get it done! I’ll set a small goal first: hit level 2 today!"