2 Chapter 2: Turns Out It's my Cheat!
Steward Lin's thoughts were completely unpredictable, so Lin Xiu didn't waste any energy thinking about it.
He slept until dawn.
Lin Xiu got up to practice, then fed the horses and worked.
During lunch with the other servants, he learned from their conversation that Steward Lin had chosen someone else.
It was revealed by someone in the know that the person originally selected was Lin Xiu, instantly drawing envious and jealous glances towards him.
Seemingly unfazed, Lin Xiu quietly finished his meal and left.
Back at the stables, although he had narrowly escaped, Lin Xiu couldn't find it in himself to be happy.
"The income from that mine reportedly accounts for one-third of the Lin family's total income. Unless it is completely occupied by powerful Magic Beasts, the Lin family will definitely not give up."
Compared to money, the Lin family wouldn't care at all about the lives of the servants. As long as there's money, they can buy as many servants as they want.
"Is there any way to get rid of this servant status?" Lin Xiu pondered.
After a while, the servants who had finished lunch began to leave, returning to their positions as they passed by the stables.
"I heard earlier that the young master was going to be taken as a disciple by an Elder of the Misty Cloud Sect. How did it go? Did it happen?"
"It happened two days ago. It seems the clan leader gave that Elder a hundred thousand gold coins."
"A hundred thousand? That's a lot. The young master is only at the seventh stage of Dou Power, that Elder is asking for too much."
"It's not just about the spot. It seems they also had that Elder go look at the mine. But when that Elder came back, it seems he was injured."
"What's the situation with the mine? If even the Elder of the Misty Cloud Sect can't handle it, are they going to have to ask teachers from the Jia Nan Academy? That'll take another month. What if I get chosen early?"
A group of people chatted, walking further away.
Next to the stables, Lin Xiu paused, "Teachers from the Jia Nan Academy are coming to Te Lan City? Could it be for recruitment? If I could become a student of the Jia Nan Academy, wouldn't that mean I could escape this servant status?"
As an Academy situated between several empires, the Jia Nan Academy had a great reputation and recruited students from every empire.
The royal families and sects of those empires didn't dare to interfere. The Lin family was just one family in Te Lan City, with even less qualification to interfere with the Jia Nan Academy's student recruitment.
"But the Jia Nan Academy's recruitment standard seems to be reaching the eighth stage of Dou Power before eighteen. I don't even know my own strength."
Dou Disciples could sense their cultivation rank, but unfortunately, Lin Xiu's previous life was just a servant, with limited information and no way to determine his own strength.
The fierce neigh of the red-maned horse sounded somewhat irritable from behind, causing Lin Xiu to quickly turn around.
It stood in the stable, one leg continuously scraping at the weeds beneath its feet, as if something was bothering it.
After throwing some food for it, Lin Xiu cautiously approached and squatted down on the ground. Otherwise, if the red-maned horse decided to kick him, it could break a few bones at best or end his life at worst.
Carefully pushing aside the weeds, a halo of light revealed itself.
"What is this?" Lin Xiu was stunned. When did this thing appear in the stable?
Just as Lin Xiu was filled with doubts, the halo suddenly moved, charging straight towards him.
"Damn it?!" Lin Xiu leaned back, but the halo was fast, and he couldn't dodge it.
Lin Xiu lay on the ground, seeing a shimmering halo hovering over his chest, moving towards his head.
Caught off guard by this scene, Lin Xiu was at a loss, and suddenly everything went black before him.
After an unknown amount of time passed, consciousness returned to him. Lin Xiu got up from the ground, "No injuries on my body, I'm still alive. But what in the world was that thing?"
He subconsciously looked towards the red-maned horse "Do you know?"
"Gurgle gurgle—" The red-maned horse sprayed Lin Xiu with saliva.
"… Mr. Horse, I overstepped." He was truly in a panic, actually expecting a horse to answer him.
After washing his face, Lin Xiu recalled the scene just now and suddenly felt something unusual before his eyes. He blinked, and in his sight, words floated into view.
[Name: Lin Xiu]
[Age: 17]
[Realm: Dou Disciple Sixth Stage (59.9/60)]
[Constitution: 4]
[Spirit: 5]
[Aptitude: 1]
[Ability: Basic Qi Cultivation Level 1 (100/100), Making Horse food Level 3 (288/300), Horse Training Level 1 (42/100)]
[Attribute Points: 0]
...
"Oh! Turns out it's an status panel!"
Having read novels frequently, Lin Xiu was quite familiar with these texts; this was clearly his own golden finger arriving.
After earnestly reading for a while, Lin Xiu gained a rough understanding of his own realm and aptitude, but when it came to the specific Abilities on this panel before him, he was completely puzzled.
"Perhaps I'll have to wait until I get some Attribute Points to understand how to use them."
Lin Xiu scratched his head. His hack seemed not as advanced as it should be. Normally, shouldn't there be a "ding," and then he could open a newbie gift pack and take off right away?
Why was his just a lonely panel?
"I'm just a hair away from being a Dou Disciple Seventh Stage. They say there's only a month left until the Jia Nan Academy arrives. They want me to break through a stage in a month? I'm neither Xiao Yan nor Yao Chen."
In his current situation, Lin Xiu felt that just having a panel seemed insufficient to help him out of his predicament.
Unable to figure anything out, he pushed the panel to the back of his mind and continued his daily work.
In the evening, as Lin Xiu prepared a portion of horse feed, words suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[You have made a batch of horse feed, Experience +12]
[Your Ability "Making Horse food" has been upgraded to Level 4, gaining 1 attribute point.]
"Doing things related to Abilities can increase experience? Ability level upgrades can earn Attribute Points? Then what are Attribute Points used for?" Lin Xiu scanned the panel.
He noticed that in the sections for Constitution, Spirit, Aptitude, and behind Ability, there was a shining "+" sign.
Does this mean Attribute Points can be used to enhance them?
Without much hesitation, Lin Xiu selected and clicked behind "Aptitude."
[Aptitude: 2]
[Your Aptitude has been improved!]
[Your Ability "Basic Qi Cultivation" has been upgraded to Level 2, gaining 1 Attribute Point.]
"So 'Basic Qi Cultivation' was originally 100 points of experience, stuck at Level 1 without a breakthrough, turns out it was limited by Aptitude," Lin Xiu realized with a sudden understanding and added this new point to Aptitude again.
At this moment, his panel underwent a complete change.
[Aptitude: 1 → 3]
[Ability: Basic Qi Cultivation Level 1 → Level 2 (1/200), Making Horse food Level 3 → Level 4 (1/400)]
[Attribute Points: 0]
...
Suppressing his excitement, Lin Xiu chose to finish his daily work and then returned to the dormitory.
He attempted to cultivate, but perhaps due to today's previous cultivation, he couldn't sense any Qi.
Lin Xiu could only force himself to fall asleep.
The next day.
Just waking up, Lin Xiu immediately entered a state of cultivation.
[You cultivate, Realm Experience +0.2]
[Your realm has been improved! Gain 1 Attribute Point!]
[You cultivate, Realm Experience +0.2]
[You have completed a cultivation session, Experience +10] (for the Basic Qi Cultivation)
...
"I've broken through!" Lin Xiu exclaimed at the panel.
[Realm: Dou Disciple Seventh Stage (0.5/70)]
"The first two times, I could only cultivate Qi once. Now I can do it three times. Is it because my Aptitude changed from 1 to 3, so the number of Qi cultivations has also increased?"
Based on the amount of Qi cultivated, Lin Xiu felt that today's cultivation not only had two more sessions, but even his Dou Qi he gets in each session was higher than before.
Previously, if it was 1 per day, then today's Dou Disciple gains were 6.
"Every time 0.2, three times is only 0.6. Breaking through the Seventh Stage requires 70, so it will take more than 100 days."
At this rate, before the arrival of the Jia Nan Academy, it would be impossible to break through to the Eighth Stage of Dou Disciple. Lin Xiu decided to work hard to improve the levels of Aptitude and Basic Qi Cultivation.
