"Who would have thought that a few reward announcements from the Star Source would cause such a massive reaction! It looks like I need to be even more cautious in the future!" Shen Xingyan mentally warned himself, beginning to worry.
After all, according to his plan to "shear the sheep," breaking records should become commonplace. If a world announcement appears every time, it will attract far too much attention. He wondered if there was a way to disable these announcements and planned to try to lower his visibility in the future.
While pondering this, he recalled the thin patrolman's words about the restless situation. He had no reason to doubt their truth—the patrolman had no incentive to deceive a simple farmer.
"It seems moving needs to be planned as soon as possible!" Shen Xingyan thought.
Various thoughts and plans raced through his mind. Rubbing his temples, he temporarily put these reflections aside and focused on the Awareness skill on his Star Map. While the two patrolmen were conducting their inspection and asking questions, his Awareness skill had finished its cooldown and was ready for use.
Without hesitation, Shen Xingyan activated the skill, and the familiar sensation washed over him once more. A translucent figure appeared in his mind, demonstrating the Demon-Quelling Staff technique.
Easily taking up his staff, Shen Xingyan began to mimic the figure's movements, intently studying its actions and correcting his own clumsy motions.
After about fifteen minutes, he felt a sudden surge of power in his hands and realized that the Demon-Quelling Staff technique had passed a small hurdle.
Finishing the exercise, Shen Xingyan quickly checked the technique's description on his attribute panel:
Demon-Quelling Staff (Initial Stage): When activated, consumes a corresponding amount of Stamina, temporarily increases Strength +3, Defense +1, Attack Range +6 meters. Current Progress: 50%
Indeed, when the progress of an initial technique reached 50%, a small improvement always occurred. The Demon-Quelling Staff's attacking power and attack range had both increased, and although the gain was only 1 point, Shen Xingyan was very satisfied.
While he understood that such noticeable progress was only possible under the influence of the Awareness skill, the ability to clearly see his level of mastery was a huge incentive for practicing combat techniques.
Looking at the 50% progress and having the ability to track his development in real-time, he felt immense motivation to continue training.
Wasting no time, he continued to practice—the precious minutes of the Awareness skill's duration could not be squandered.
While Shen Xingyan was engrossed in his training, the urgent inspection of farmers was underway across all the human bases on the Blue Planet. It seemed the Farmer profession had suddenly returned to the historical stage, once again drawing universal attention.
"Suddenly, everyone's discussing the Farmer who broke the records. It seems the Talent Stone's influence is truly massive. I'm sure the major families have already started training countless people."
"They say many farmers, ignoring wheat, have started experimenting with vegetables that mature in two or three days. The Tian family has a farmer with the 'Crop Quality +1' talent; they've already started intensely developing him!"
"And the Li family has a farmer with the 'Yield +10%' talent. With the boost from the Talent Stone, it'll be even easier for him to break the record."
"Exactly! We auxiliary professionals can only break records through quality, but for farmers, it's enough to slightly increase the yield each time to get the rewards. If someone could control the yield from every mǔ of land, that would be simply unbelievable!"
"Are you joking? How can one control the yield? Even the recent wheat records were unstable! Don't say such scary things, it gives me the creeps!"
The emergence of the Talent Stone sparked discussions among all Professionals. Some were excited, some merely observed the events, and others began to search for and evaluate the farmers around them.
This was entirely natural, as the Talent Stone was impossible to find even in the Star Source Store. At least, at the current stage, no one, even those with the highest access levels, could unlock it. Unlike other special items, the Talent Stone had no usage restrictions. This made it incredibly valuable, which explained the frenzy of those who knew of its existence.
Shen Xingyan, immersed in practicing the Demon-Quelling Staff, paid no attention to these discussions.
As his technique increasingly mirrored the sample demonstrated by the transparent figure, he managed, in the final minutes of the Awareness skill's duration, to raise the level of the Demon-Quelling Staff by a whole stage.
Demon-Quelling Staff (Advanced Stage): When activated, consumes a corresponding amount of Stamina, temporarily increases Strength +6, Defense +2, Attack Range +8 meters. 10% chance to create a shockwave dealing +20 Physical Damage. Current Progress: 3%
As the Awareness skill's time ran out, Shen Xingyan exhaled deeply and, with a satisfied smile, examined the description of the Demon-Quelling Staff on his Star Map.
The technique's level-up brought a significant increase in Strength and Attack Range, and, like the Dragon-Elephant Fist, it added a new special effect. Shen Xingyan pictured suddenly unleashing such a strike in battle, causing his opponent to freeze in astonishment.
Calming his joyful emotions, he proceeded with further training.
After a full day of exercises, which outsiders might have found tedious, Shen Xingyan felt his body had improved considerably. Over the decades of his hard life, he had developed his own ways of finding joy in difficult training.
Leaving the training room, Shen Xingyan returned home with his sister. During dinner, assuming that today's inspection might have a follow-up, he once again reminded his sister not to tell anyone about the "giant rat incident."
"I won't tell anyone! People will simply turn green with envy over that much money!" Shen Xingying resolutely promised.
Hearing this, Shen Xingyan smiled and affectionately patted his small, money-loving sister on the head. After dinner, he immediately headed into his cultivation space in the Star Source world.
Gazing at his improved Innate Talent, he rubbed his hands together with excitement. This was the first time he was going to summon two small skeletons at once.
Taking a deep breath, Shen Xingyan began reciting the familiar sequence of summoning sounds, which remained incomprehensible to him.