Chapter 3: Talent

  On his retina, the system screen that should have shattered and vanished unexpectedly materialized again on its own.

  [Welcome to this Trial]

  [Current Status: Surviving]

  [Shelter Level: 1]

  [Main Quest: Survive]

  [Current Objective: Collect Wood ×200, Stone ×50, Upgrade Shelter to Level 2]

  Staring at these familiar mechanical fonts, Lan Chi felt disoriented, his brows knitting tightly together.

  The screen seemed to have reset, reverting to that cold, impersonal state from when he first entered this world, as if the previous "purge" and "struggle" had been nothing but an illusion.

  But he knew the fresh scar on his wrist and the surging heat within his body were undeniably real.

  Lan Chi calmed his mind and began carefully examining the upgraded system functions. Compared to before, the interface now displayed many additional elements. Besides the Infrastructure Channel, there was now a Trade Channel, and a World Channel whose characters flickered erratically, sometimes visible and sometimes not.

  Beyond these, there were several other unidentified channel pages that wouldn't open no matter how he tried. Lan Chi attempted to scroll and look; the text peeking through those pages was wildly varied, the fonts twisted and chaotic. He couldn't comprehend the meaning of those symbols at all, yet deep in his soul, he felt an inexplicable sense of awe.

  Most importantly, he found his personal status bar. Opening it, the very first line of information left him frozen in place:

  [Trial Participant: Anomaly / No Class]

  [Rank: 0]

  [Talent: Aberrate]**

  "What the hell? My species changed? And what is this 'Class'?" Lan Chi's heart skipped a beat. The system had directly labeled him as an "Anomaly."

  He quickly suppressed his unease and tapped on the sole [Talent] column to check the details:

  [Aberrate]:

  "Can aberrate and sublimate any entity."

  "The same entity can only be sublimated once."

  "The content of the sublimation depends on the user's investment of mental energy."

  "What is this? The system actually dropped something?" Amidst his shock, a surge of immense surprise welled up in Lan Chi's heart. He didn't know how useful this talent was, but it was a legendary talent!

  After glancing around the room, he felt somewhat lost again. "But how do I use this talent?"

  He continued exploring the functional areas and noticed that the "Level 1 Reward," which had nearly cost him his life, had changed color and was now in a claimable, pending state. This time, instead of violently slapping it, he cautiously clicked to claim it.

  The system interface twisted for a moment, and several objects spurted out from its center, tumbling onto the floor.

  System Prompt: [Claimed 10 x [Tier 1 Phosphorus Crystal]].

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Ten dull red crystals rolled a short distance on the floor before coming to a stop, emitting a faint red glow.

  Lan Chi stared at these crystals, holding his breath and waiting for a moment. But the anticipated attack never came.

  The newly generated system interface remained utterly silent. The insane "purge program" seemed to have gone completely dormant after its previous shattering. It didn't identify Lan Chi as an "outsider," didn't show any hostility. It just floated mechanically before his eyes.

  This bizarre change created a delicate balance, giving Lan Chi a chance to catch his breath, a cover, and an opportunity to start anew.

  At that moment, a cramping sensation from his stomach interrupted his thoughts.

  Since arriving yesterday, Lan Chi had only managed to stay alive with two wild fruits. Though he still had some left, he hadn't dared eat more before figuring out if they were safe.

  But now, hunger was overwhelming his reason. He took out the remaining eight wild fruits. Considering his body had shown no adverse reactions during this time, the fruits seemed safe. So, hesitating no longer, he stuffed two more into his mouth.

  The tart juice burst in his mouth, but it couldn't fill the void in his stomach. Lan Chi stared at the last fruit in his palm, recalling the [Aberrate] talent he had just seen.

  "Since it can sublimate things, that should include fruit, right?"

  Driven by curiosity, Lan Chi decided to conduct his first test. He focused all his attention on the wild fruit in his palm, trying to connect with the warm energy flowing inside him.

  As he invested his mental energy, the fruit's surface began to distort. The original mottled deep red and emerald green gradually merged, transforming into an uneven, purple-black kernel.

  A new attribute line flashed across his retina:

  [Unknown Aberrated Seed]: Growth period 6 hours. Edible. Restores blood and Qi upon consumption.

  "It actually worked!" Lan Chi was utterly astonished.

  Although the seed's appearance had become somewhat eerie, the words "Restores blood and Qi" were nothing short of a lifeline in his current environment.

  Without wasting a moment, he walked out of the wooden hut, dug a hole in the soil in front of the shelter, and solemnly planted the aberrated seed.

  No sooner was it planted than the soil was pushed up into a slight mound. Lan Chi felt an unprecedented sense of novelty. This ability finally gave him a grip on a glimmer of hope truly his own in this silent, dead forest.

  Lan Chi looked down at the crude stone axe by his feet. If fruit could be sublimated, what about weapons?

  He took a deep breath and concentrated his mental energy on the stone axe. The axe trembled violently. Its originally dull surface began to pulsate, almost like a heart. Several dark red tendrils burrowed out from the wooden handle, tightly coiling around his wrist.

  "Damn!" Lan Chi was so startled he instinctively threw the axe away.

  Upon hitting the ground, the axe actually sprouted several bizarre, long legs and stood up. A crack split open above the axe blade, revealing a murky, huge eyeball. The stone axe, originally only a few dozen centimeters long, grew wildly during the aberation, transforming in an instant into a monster a full meter tall.

  The axe monster didn't attack him. That huge eyeball stared straight at Lan Chi, as if waiting for his response.

  Lan Chi felt his sanity being severely challenged. Subtle thoughts from the axe emerged in his consciousness. Though he didn't know what it wanted to express, Lan Chi still tried issuing a command, discovering that he could actually communicate telepathically with this creature.

  "Go, cut down those trees by the entrance."

  The meter-tall axe monster wriggled its tendrils, hopping and bouncing like a spider out the door, and began chopping at the giant trees. Strangely, the trees being cut didn't attack it.

  "So it only picks on me, huh?" Lan Chi wiped cold sweat from his forehead. Although the axe monster looked comical, it was at least a powerful laborer.

  Having tasted success, Lan Chi wanted to continue trying to aberrate other things. However, when he attempted to gather his mental energy again, a sharp, intense pain suddenly shot through his brain, as if countless needles were piercing him. The world before his eyes blurred with double vision; his legs felt weak, and he stumbled, nearly falling.

  "No... can't use it endlessly." Lan Chi held his forehead, feeling a strong wave of exhaustion. He realized his ability had certain limitations and urgently needed rest and recovery.

  Lan Chi sat on the threshold, curiously watching "Little Broken Axe" work for a while, then casually opened the newly appeared Trade Channel. The screen was filled with densely packed orders—some trading various building materials, some trading food, and others trading crystals with strange names.

  Lan Chi stared at the screen, secretly astonished. Those twisted, struggling order texts—he could read every single symbol without any difficulty.

  Remembering the monster meat he had decomposed yesterday, he tried listing it anonymously. Upon receiving the request, the screen on his retina transformed into a bizarre mouth, directly "sucking in" those few pieces of foul-smelling meat, not even leaving the blood on the floor.

  This made Lan Chi's eyelids twitch wildly. Fortunately, although the logistics transmission was eerie, its efficiency was extremely high. The order was soon successfully sold, and ten stones were credited to his private inventory.