After a busy morning and a simple lunch, he brushed off Zhao Li's idle chatter.
During the lunch break.
Su Ye rushed back to his room like an arrow let loose, slamming the door shut with a loud BANG.
Leaning against the door, Su Ye took a deep breath and whispered nervously.
"System? Panel?"
HUM.
A pale blue screen of light instantly appeared, hovering before his eyes.
[Name: Su Ye]
[Cultivation Realm: Qi Refining, Second Layer]
[Profession: Seaman Lv. 0 (5/10)]
[Cultivation Technique: Ghost Water Skill]
'It's not a hallucination!'
Su Ye summoned and dismissed the panel several times, his heart filled with wild joy.
'A cheat!'
'This is it. This is my very own cheat ability!'
Su Ye's heart settled. In this world teeming with hidden dangers, he finally had a modicum of security!
WHOOSH...
Taking a deep breath, he suppressed his excitement and agitation.
Su Ye began to carefully examine the virtual screen.
He soon noticed another option at the very top of the screen labeled [Ship Panel].
He tried to open it, but his command was met with no response, as if a stone had sunk into the ocean. The panel remained completely still.
'Ship Panel... Wait a minute, isn't this from that single-player naval exploration game I played in my past life?' a thought suddenly struck Su Ye.
He remembered that in the game, players could only open the [Ship Panel] after becoming a captain and owning their own vessel.
'In that case, I'm not in a hurry...'
Su Ye turned his attention to the [Profession] entry.
[Seaman Lv. 0 (5/10)]
Processing the demon fish all morning had earned him five points of Seaman experience.
Based on his personal experience and his memory of the game, it seemed that as long as he was performing his duties as a [Seaman], he had a chance to gain experience points.
And the odds of gaining experience from processing the demon fish didn't seem to be low at all.
'As long as my luck this afternoon isn't too terrible, I should be able to meet the level-up requirement for Seaman Lv. 0 tonight!'
'And if this works like the game, every time my profession levels up, I should get some stat boosts, maybe even skills...'
Su Ye's eyes gleamed, filled with hope for the future!
In his original world, he came from an ordinary family. After more than a decade of arduous study, and though he wasn't a natural genius, he had relied on sheer diligence and grinding through practice problems to finally test into a university.
But his worldview was too limited, and he chose a dead-end major. After graduating, he was hit by a wave of unemployment; every résumé he sent out was like a stone dropped into the ocean.
The very few jobs that did respond came with absolutely horrendous conditions. The hours were long enough to make a grown man weep, and the salary was pathetically small. After rent, utilities, and basic living expenses, he would have had to pay out of his own pocket every month...
He would've been paying for the privilege of working.
Even casting aside the tattered robes of his old self, he could see no bright future ahead.
But now, in this world, Su Ye stared dazedly at the virtual panel.
Its pale blue ripples shimmered with the light of hope.
'Transcendence! Eternal life!'
...
The lunch break ended.
Work resumed.
The demon fish's carcass still lay sprawled across the deck, emitting a pungent, fishy stench, but the way Su Ye looked at it now was completely different!
It was like looking at a mountain of gold that was beckoning to him!
Lured by the promise of experience points, Su Ye needed no external motivation; he automatically picked up his pace.
Carving out fish meat, collecting its fat, gathering scales... Su Ye was filled with vigor.
As he worked, notifications from the panel began to pop up in his vision!
[Seaman] Experience +1...
[Seaman] Experience +1...
Finally...
As the sun began to set, the final notification for [Seaman] experience gain flashed across Su Ye's vision!
His experience was full!
Having waited for so long, Su Ye's spirits soared!
He immediately summoned the virtual panel and quickly scrolled to the [Profession] section.
[Profession: Seaman Lv. 0 (10/10)+]
Right after the experience bar, a glittering golden "+" sign had appeared!
'By my invincible comprehension, my peerless... uh, I forget the middle part... and the end. Anyway, allocate the point!'
Su Ye mentally pressed the "+" sign!
In that instant!
A cool stream of energy emerged from the void and flooded into every corner of his body!
"Haaa..." Su Ye narrowed his eyes, enjoying the pleasant sensation that spread through his body. The exhaustion from a long day of hard labor was swiftly washed away by the cool energy, fading into nothing!
After a few moments, the sensation faded.
Su Ye subconsciously looked at the panel again.
[Profession: Seaman Lv. 1 (0/100)]
[Professional Attribute Bonus: Damage +1, Defense +1]
'The change from reaching Seaman Lv. 1 must be this professional attribute bonus.'
'Damage... Defense...'
Su Ye studied the panel, pondering.
'From a literal standpoint, does this mean my attack power and Defense Power have increased?'
He closed the panel, gripped his butchering knife, and walked toward the demon fish's corpse, planning to test the changes brought by the attribute bonus.
Su Ye adjusted his position, using his body to block the gazes of others and create a blind spot.
Then.
SCHLICK.
The butchering knife slid smoothly into the flesh!
A flicker of joy lit up Su Ye's eyes.
The demon fish's flesh was tough, with a texture like leather armor. Even with a butchering knife infused with Spirit Iron, slicing it was quite strenuous.
Cutting it with such ease was an unprecedented experience for him!
Next, Su Ye used his knife to pry loose one of the demon fish's scales.
Earlier that morning, a moment of carelessness had nearly earned him a bloody gash from one of them!
But now... Su Ye extended a finger and pressed it against the razor-sharp edge.
SCRAPE!
He swiped forcefully!
He only felt a faint sting!
Su Ye lifted his hand and saw only a white mark on his fingertip!
'What a powerful bonus!'
'Just one point each in Damage and Defense made such a huge difference?!' Su Ye was ecstatic.
'If it can even enhance an external object like the butchering knife, does that mean my Magical Artifacts and Magic... can be enhanced too?'
'And... the attribute bonus doesn't consume my own Magical Power, nor is it restricted by my Cultivation Realm...'
Su Ye's heart burned with excitement; he knew exactly what this meant!
As long as he kept raising his profession level and increasing his stats, relying on the panel's enhancements, he could easily gain the power to crush cultivators of the same rank, and even fight those above his level!
And this fighting strength would undoubtedly make his path of cultivation much smoother!
'Eternal life is within reach...'
"Phew..." Su Ye took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
He concealed his delight and threw himself back into the work of butchering the fish, making sure not to show any hint of abnormality.
Su Ye even deliberately held back some of his strength, so that his panel-enhanced attributes wouldn't seem abrupt, allowing him to fade back into the crowd.
'Lay low!'
Being conspicuous meant danger!
Su Ye never underestimated the evil of human nature.
Besides, his surname wasn't Luo; he was just an expendable outsider!
Out here on the vast, empty sea, far from civilization, the consequences of showing any abnormality would be dire and unpredictable...
Therefore...
'Lay low! Get strong!'
'With this panel as my special ability, time is on my side!'
Su Ye's eyes narrowed slightly.