Returning to the real world, Shen Xingyan slowly woke up, feeling tired. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the slight dizziness—the first such prolonged experience of his consciousness being outside his body had caused some discomfort.
Gazing at the familiar ceiling, Shen Xingyan recalled everything that had happened in the Star Source world. Compared to the cold buildings around him and a reality full of dangers, that atmosphere of ease and hope seemed almost like a dream.
The surprises that the Star Source world had given him were so great that, upon returning to reality, he felt a slight sense of unreality about what was happening.
Shen Xingyan mentally activated the black card still resting on his forehead and checked the information:
Name: Prairie Fire Spark (Shen Xingyan)
Number: 9527
Profession: Farmer
Professional Skill: 1. Consuming a certain amount of Primal Energy points increases the growth progress of crops in a specified area by 10%. The larger the area, the greater the energy consumption. Interval: 10 hours, skill cooldown: 24 hours.
Strength: 10 points
Agility: 10 points
Constitution: 10 points
Spirit: 10 points
Health: 100/100 points
Primal Energy: 18/18 points
Stamina: 4/10 points
Physical Attack: 10 points
Magical Attack: 10 points
Defense: 10 points
Speed: 10 points
Talent: Summon Skeleton—summons a skeleton monster with all stats equal to 1 for combat (cooldown: 24 hours)
Money: 8 copper coins
Enter the Star Source World → (countdown 12 hours)
Seeing that his professional skill remained the same as in the Star Source world, Shen Xingyan felt the oppressive mood he had felt because of his surroundings begin to gradually lift.
After staring at this information for a long time, Shen Xingyan realized that he had truly changed. The disappointment he had felt when he first awakened the Farmer profession now seemed like a small episode in his life. He really liked this feeling of relief.
It was early morning. Tired and hungry, Shen Xingyan left his room and quietly went to the kitchen, trying not to wake his sister. He quickly prepared breakfast for two, ate his portion in a hurry, and left his sister's portion to stay warm. Then he returned to his bedroom and fell into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, in the Star Source professional space, the field maintenance work didn't stop despite Shen Xingyan's absence. The little skeleton tirelessly carried out the tasks, following the Star Source prompts for tending to the wheat. As soon as the skeleton completed one task, the Star Source immediately gave it the next one, not giving it a minute of rest.
Thanks to the lack of stamina limits and its faithful execution of Shen Xingyan's orders, the skeleton could work without getting tired. Any other creature would have long since run out of energy.
By this time, the wheat in the one mu plot had grown significantly—the little skeleton working among the stalks was almost no longer visible. The results of its labor were impressive: the wheat was growing strong and healthy, unlike the fields of other farmers who, upon returning to reality, had left their plots unattended, allowing weeds to grow, insect pests to multiply, and the soil to dry out.
It could be assumed that when the wheat matured, the harvest from this small one mu plot would be at least twice as large as that of other farmers, who at best would gather 400-500 jin (1 jin ≈ 0.5 kg) from the same area.
Shen Xingyan himself, of course, was unaware of the changes happening in his professional space. At that moment, he was immersed in a pleasant dream, and a slight smile occasionally appeared on his face.
In his dream, he had become a powerful person, capable of working miracles with a single word, like the commander of Base No. 6. He hovered in the air and destroyed thousands of Catastrophes with a single flick of his finger. He even resurrected his deceased parents, and the whole family strolled carefree along lively streets.
However, this wonderful dream was suddenly destroyed by the appearance of a huge, unknown Catastrophe, which with a single strike destroyed the entire illusion.
Shen Xingyan sat up abruptly in bed, his forehead covered in tiny beads of sweat from the fright, and he was breathing heavily. Remembering how the Catastrophe in his dream had destroyed his fantasy, he involuntarily clenched his fists.
When his emotions gradually subsided, his body slowly relaxed. He remembered that yesterday he had only awakened the Farmer profession. Although his professional skill was very powerful, its true power would only manifest in the later stages of development.
At this stage, he still needed to hide his abilities and gradually accumulate strength. Shen Xingyan reminded himself: although the road ahead was long, one day even he, with the Farmer profession, would be able to venture beyond the base and make the Catastrophes tremble with fear!
Taking a deep breath, Shen Xingyan looked at the time—it was almost noon. His sister was having lunch at school and wouldn't be back home, so there was no need to cook for her.
Cooking only for himself, Shen Xingyan prepared a small meal, just enough to satisfy his hunger, but not allowing himself to eat too much. After all, now that he had awakened, according to the base's rules, his family no longer had the right to receive free food. The base's resources were limited and couldn't be used indefinitely.
The food supply in Shen Xingyan's house wasn't very large, so he tried to be frugal, first and foremost making sure his sister had enough to eat. Once the wheat in his Star Source space matured and he sold the harvest, he could then buy groceries or directly extract them from the Star Source world.
These two ways of obtaining resources were roughly equivalent, although in reality prices could be a little lower, but the difference was insignificant. For example, one kilogram of wheat could be sold to the Star Source store for 2 copper coins, but to extract it into the real world, it required 20 copper coins—a 1:10 ratio. In reality, a kilogram of wheat cost 19 copper coins, which was slightly cheaper.
Currently, Shen Xingyan had only 8 copper coins—not even enough to buy one kilogram of wheat, so saving was necessary.
After lunch and seeing that there were still five hours until his next entry into the Star Source world, Shen Xingyan decided not to waste time and began doing the physical exercises they had been taught at school.
Before, when training at school, Shen Xingyan felt that no matter how hard he worked, his progress was minimal. Later, a teacher explained to them that this was due to reaching a development plateau before the Awakening. After the Awakening, the accumulated potential was supposed to be unlocked, allowing for rapid improvement of various stats.
Now, Shen Xingyan clearly felt that his body had indeed changed, just as the teacher had said. Thanks to these exercises, his awakened body seemed to have opened the floodgates, releasing long-held energy.