"The theory is basically all for now. Next comes the most exciting part, which is..."
Moran and Gu Feng waited eagerly for what came next. Han Xinnian knew it had nothing to do with her, while Yuanchu, though keeping her head down and pretending not to care, was actually pricking up her ears to listen.
"Running. Today, before sunset, everyone except Xinnian will use this forest as a starting point and make twenty round trips to that distant mountain."
Everyone followed Elder Gu's pointing finger toward a towering peak in the distance. Let alone climbing it, the foot of the mountain was easily hundreds of miles away, to say nothing of the summit.
Moran swallowed hard and looked at Elder Gu with a complicated expression. "That's going to kill us."
"Don't worry," Elder Gu said, giving Moran's shoulder a firm pat. "Since you've all awakened, unless your Origin suffers severe trauma, you won't die. At most... you just won't be able to walk, or you'll pass out from hunger along the way..."
Elder Gu wore an innocent and harmless expression, but to Moran, his words sounded like the whispers of a demon.
One day? He doubted they could manage twenty round trips in ten days.
Ignoring the others, Yuanchu began walking forward on her own.
"Xiao Chu, are you just heading off like that?"
Moran hurried a few steps to catch up with Yuanchu. "Aren't you going to try bargaining with the Elder?"
Yuanchu shook her head. Looking at the rather dejected boy beside her, she decided to share her thoughts, especially since he had kindly come over to comfort her earlier.
"It's useless. Elder Gu probably means for us to collapse by the roadside from sheer exhaustion. Even though our physical strength has increased, it's still not as formidable as an adult's... When you get right down to it, this should be a test of our willpower."
Without giving Moran time to react, Yuanchu continued walking.
"That makes sense. Ah Feng, hurry up and keep up with us!"
The three of them continued on their way, while Elder Gu shouted from behind, "Yuanchu, if you don't run faster, I'm going to keep lecturing you about my glorious achievements tonight!"
Hearing that, Yuanchu instantly switched from a brisk walk to a full run.
"Hey, Xiao Chu, that's playing dirty... Slow down!" Moran grabbed Gu Feng's hand and started running as well.
***
"Alright, this is the cane for you."
Elder Gu pulled out a slightly curved, very old piece of wood that looked like a crude walking stick and handed it to Han Xinnian.
Her delicate little hand gently stroked the ancient-looking cane, and she tilted her head. "How am I supposed to use it?"
Elder Gu pointed to the top of the cane. "Put a drop of blood on it. Once it reacts to you, you'll be able to imprint some abilities into it."
Han Xinnian nodded and bit down with her two small canine teeth. A drop of blood flowed along the gap in her teeth onto her lips, the bright red color looking like a layer of seductive lipstick.
The moment the blood touched it, the cane reacted instantly, emitting a dazzling burst of light. As the light faded, Han Xinnian saw that the top of the cane had turned a vibrant red.
Elder Gu nodded and continued instructing, "Although you haven't awakened any abilities, you can attack by channeling the power they leave behind in the cane. The power can reach two-thirds of their current abilities."
"Then how do I use their abilities?"
"That's simple. For each ability, you just need to call out its name."
"A name?" Han Xinnian blinked.
"Yes. Once they master their Origin power, just have them name their own skills, and afterward you can simply hold the cane and speak the name."
Han Xinnian nodded, took her cane, and bid farewell to Elder Gu.
***
"Chu, how... how long have we been walking..."
The three who had previously been running were now out of breath and reduced to walking.
"Probably... about... another fifty miles... I guess."
Yuanchu was also running low on stamina. He had always thought his physical endurance was the worst, but it looked like the other two had even less stamina than he did.
"Oh, I can't do this anymore, I really can't walk. Let's sit for a while."
Moran let go of Gu Feng's hand and dropped heavily onto the ground. Though Gu Feng didn't say anything, his flushed face showed just how exhausted he was as well.
Yuanchu nodded and found a rock to sit on.
"Yuanchu, won't you tell me a story?" Moran wanted to chat with his friends during the break to pass the time.
"Me...? What do you want to hear?"
"Oh, anything is fine. Why don't you tell me about you and Elder Gu... You two seem to have a pretty good relationship."
Yuanchu thought for a moment and nodded.
"I'll keep it simple."
"To be honest, I don't even know how I got here. The very first thing I saw when I was born was that old man." A nostalgic look crossed Yuanchu's face.
The other two exchanged glances and leaned in closer.
"When I learned to speak, I once asked him where my mother had gone. But the old man wouldn't answer me. He just said I was an orphan with no parents."
"Once, when I seemed to have annoyed him too much, he even told me I came out of the stars." Yuanchu smiled. "How could that be possible? I figured he just didn't want to tell me, so I stopped asking."
"He taught me the theoretical knowledge of this world, and sometimes he would suddenly vanish—he is an Elder, after all, and very busy every day."
"Later on, I started cooking by myself..." Yuanchu paused, debating whether to mention how the old man used to exploit him by making him cook for him.
"Why'd you stop?" Moran asked, listening with rapt attention.
"It's nothing. Let me think where I was... Ah right, it was only later that I found out this guy is actually an Awakened. That completely shattered my understanding of the world at the time..."
Deciding to spare Elder Gu, Yuanchu continued, "Especially when I heard that Elder Gu is the guardian of our island—I was really, deeply shocked back then."
"The guardian?" Moran looked puzzled. "What's wrong with this island?"
"Haven't you heard the story of how Elder Gu suppressed countless mutations to protect the living beings of the island?" Yuanchu frowned.
"No." Moran shook his head.
Yuanchu looked at Gu Feng and saw that he also looked completely unaware of any such thing.
Yuanchu found this very strange. Logically speaking, shouldn't such a great feat be common knowledge? Was it covered up?
No, he had only learned about it through Han Xinnian. So it *was* covered up? Kept hidden from everyone else?
But what would be the point of doing that?
Yuanchu couldn't figure it out.
"Oh, come on, just tell us about Elder Gu's heroic deeds, then?"
"Fine."
And so, Yuanchu simply recounted to Moran and Gu Feng what Han Xinnian had told him.
"So Elder Gu is that amazing. But why haven't we ever heard about this?" Moran pondered, mimicking Yuanchu's thoughtful expression.
"Maybe they were afraid of causing public panic," Yuanchu waved a hand. "It's getting late. We should get back on the road."
And with that, the three of them once again sweat out their youth under the brilliant sunshine.
"Remember to tell us your stories during the next break!"