At that moment, Shen Xingyan's real-world stats were clearly displayed before his eyes. As he carefully examined them, he discovered a new line had suddenly appeared under his innate talent:
Insight: By consuming a corresponding amount of Primal Energy, increases your Insight by a corresponding number of points for one hour. Skill cooldown 24 hours. Current Insight: 8 points. (Skill obtained from a Bodhi Leaf)
Seeing the description of this skill, Shen Xingyan instantly knew what the leaf was, but upon understanding the ability's essence, he involuntarily gasped in surprise.
This skill, which appeared from the leaf absorbed by the card, increased his Insight!
Everyone knew that Insight and Luck were hidden attributes that, unlike the four main attributes, could not be raised by increasing one's level. For an ordinary person without special abilities, it was practically impossible to raise either of these attributes.
Insight as an attribute was called wisdom by some, perceptual ability by others, while still others equated it to the mental capacity of living beings. This attribute had many interpretations, but it was not limited to just them.
Although Insight was a rather mysterious attribute, and people did not fully comprehend its essence, its effects made everyone strive to improve it.
For example, when Shen Xingyan was studying a martial art in school, with his initial Insight value of 8, it took him one day to master the basics. But if someone had an Insight value one point lower, all else being equal, that person would have needed two days to achieve the same result.
This was the simplest explanation of Insight and the difference between people.
Insight determined a person's way of thinking and the speed at which they perceived information—it was a key factor in determining whether a person was a genius.
And now this Insight skill not only raised this value but did so proportionally to the Primal Energy invested.
This made Shen Xingyan very happy, as he had already planned to invest all his free attribute points into Primal Energy in the future. Now he had another important reason to transfer Primal Energy from the Star Source world to reality.
Although, judging by the description, the skill could only be used once a day for an hour, that was more than sufficient.
This unexpected stroke of luck excited Shen Xingyan. Even with 8 Insight points, he was one of the best students in school—of course, thanks to hard work, but Insight also played an important role.
In the future, when he had money, he could acquire and study advanced skills to increase his combat abilities, preparing for his eventual departure beyond the base. That's when Insight would truly come in handy.
Shen Xingyan's mind began to race due to the appearance of this skill.
However, after the first wave of excitement, he frowned, suddenly realizing a contradiction in the situation—the appearance of the Bodhi Leaf was simply too strange.
"How could something so unusual have been inside that giant rat's body? What if this joy turns into a calamity?" At this thought, Shen Xingyan's heart tightened, and a sense of danger quickly spread through his consciousness.
Shen Xingyan suppressed his anxiety and began to analyze the possible dangers, but his thoughts were chaotic and disjointed—everything had happened too suddenly and bizarrely. First, a giant rat appeared, a creature he hadn't seen for over a decade. Then, after he destroyed it, he found this Bodhi Leaf, which his Star Card immediately consumed, and now a new skill had appeared.
It all felt like a dream, yet at the same time, it was full of chaos. His intuition told him that if he didn't figure out the situation, danger would come crashing down on him.
This state of bewilderment made him feel like a cat on a hot tin roof, suffering but not knowing what to do.
At that moment, Shen Xingyan instinctively looked at the newly acquired Insight skill and thought, "Since I have no clues, why not place my hopes on the very 'culprit'?"
Without hesitation, he invested all 18 of his Primal Energy points into the Insight skill.
When the skill was activated, the description on his stats panel changed—the number indicating Shen Xingyan's current Insight value changed from 8 to 17!
His Insight had increased by 9 points; the ratio was astonishing—2:1, which far exceeded Shen Xingyan's expectations.
However, despite this joyful discovery, Shen Xingyan did not allow himself to get distracted by emotions and immediately began to analyze the situation.
Shen Xingying, standing nearby, noticed her brother's face becoming more and more worried and didn't know what to do. In her eyes, her brother had always been like the sky over their home—calm and confident, rarely showing such emotions.
She was about to ask what was wrong when she suddenly noticed that the worry on his face had disappeared.
Then a strange aura began to emanate from her brother; he had fallen into deep thought. This made her swallow her question, and she simply watched him anxiously.
With his Insight boosted, Shen Xingyan felt an unprecedented clarity of thought—the slightest idea gave birth to a multitude of other ideas.
His thoughts moved at lightning speed, analyzing, classifying, and summarizing the entire incident.
In just about two minutes, he considered countless possible causes.
Ultimately, based on the current situation, he chose the most probable version.
"What if this rat didn't break in through the border, but on the contrary, was trying to get out of the base?" As soon as this thought occurred to him, all the other details began to fall into place like a logical puzzle.
And Shen Xingyan understood why he had felt a premonition of danger.
Realizing this, he immediately ran to the storage room, grabbed a shovel and other tools, and headed for the spot where he had fought the rat.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to warn his sister:
"I'll be gone for a little bit. You stay home and don't go anywhere. Don't touch that rat, just wait for me to get back."
As he said this, Shen Xingyan smiled to reassure his sister.