Arriving at the old ancestral house, he went to the storeroom to fetch the fire tongs and bucket needed for beachcombing. Just as he picked up the items and prepared to head toward the east end of the village, he suddenly noticed several icons appearing in his field of vision. At first, he thought he was just seeing things.
He rubbed his eyes and opened them again, only to find the icons were still there.
Looking closer, he realized these icons looked remarkably like the hero skill icons from the last video game he had played in his past life!
This...
"Could this be my Golden Finger?"
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Looking at the six icons before him, he reached out to tap one, but found his hand passed right through as if they didn't exist at all.
So, he mentally recited the first skill, and a skill description appeared above it.
Skill 1: Titan's Wrath: Passive. Every basic attack binds the target for 2 seconds. The cooldown for the same target is 10 seconds. (Note: Can be manually toggled off.)
Looking at the skill description, Wang Chu'an trembled with excitement.
"Holy cow, did I really bring my Titan skills across with me? From now on, Mom will never have to worry about me losing a fight."
After a few minutes, once he had calmed down, he looked at the second skill.
Skill 2: Dredge the Channel: Fiercely hurls an anchor forward (Note 1: Any hooked object works). If it hits a target, it hooks them and binds the target and the hook tightly together (Note 2: Barring uncontrollable factors, the target cannot break free). Cooldown is 30 seconds, and the attack range is 150 meters.
Reading the description, he felt the Titan skills had been nerfed quite a bit, and the skill's damage had also been removed, but that was understandable.
After all, reality and games were different. Having skills at all, who could complain!
He continued looking at Skill 3.
Skill 3: Scan: Can scan all living creatures within a 300-meter diameter (Note 1: Excluding the same species; other creatures will be rendered as 3D images in your mind after being scanned). Duration is 10 seconds, cooldown is 60 seconds. (Note 2: It is recommended to use sparingly before your mental strength is strong enough; overuse will turn you into an idiot. It is currently recommended not to exceed 20 times a day.)
Skill 4: Flash: Can teleport instantly within a 100-meter diameter. Cooldown is 300 seconds. (Note: It is recommended to use once every two days before your body is strong enough; overuse carries the risk of death.)
Skill 5: Retribution: Can be used on a target to make them lose 30% of their stamina. Cooldown is 60 seconds, attack range is 150 meters. (Note 1: Can only be used once per target. Note 2: Before your mental strength is strong enough, it is recommended not to use it more than 10 times a day. Note 3: Does not conflict with the use of any other skills.)
After reading the descriptions of all five skills, although they had all been nerfed to varying degrees, his excitement was beyond words.
After all, with these five skills, he could live well in any era.
However, he looked with some puzzlement at the sixth icon, which looked like a House.
He couldn't figure out what kind of skill this was. Since the hero was only level one at the time, his innate skills plus the equipped skills and the purchased scan should have been all of them!
Could it be...
With a surge of excitement, he opened the description for Skill 6.
Skill 6: House: The original owner's rented house, 143 square meters, 2.8 meters high. (Note 1: Time within the space can be adjusted between two states: stopped time and normal time. Living creatures entering the space will fall into a deep sleep and will not be affected by the normal time state, with the exception of the host.
Note 2: Every entry and exit will have a certain strengthening and maintenance effect on the host's current body and mind. It is recommended not to enter and exit more than 3 times a day.
Note 3: The flow of time inside is 1:1 compared to reality.)
"Holy cow, this means I basically have a portable space! Not only can it store living things, but it can also strengthen my body and mind. I just don't know to what extent."
"Since I've already transmigrated, why not just grant me the ultimate body right off the bat? Doing it this way is such a hassle."
"Sigh, my superhero dream is gone, but the maintenance effect is pretty good. At least when I get old, I won't have to worry about the neighborhood kids bullying an old man like me."
Suddenly remembering something, Wang Chu'an wore a sly expression on his face.
"Hehe, what if I ambush someone, put them in the space, and let them out ten years later? Would that be equivalent to making this person time-travel ten years into the future?"
He shook his head, knowing this was something he could only think about in his heart. If he actually did that, and his secret got out, he'd probably get hauled away for dissection and research.
After figuring out these skills, Wang Chu'an hummed an unknown tune and walked toward the east end of the village.
...
When he reached the east end of the village, he found that there were indeed quite a few people beachcombing today. Glancing across, there were probably seventy or eighty people. After all, this wasn't the only place in the village for beachcombing!
Seeing so many people, he didn't rush to find his mother and younger sister, but instead walked toward a quieter spot.
After all, he would need to use the Scan skill later, and with so many people around, it wouldn't be convenient to look for seafood.
Just as he was about to leave, he ran into his next-door neighbor, Auntie Qian, coming from the opposite direction. Figuring it wouldn't be polite not to say hello, he spoke to Auntie Qian:
"Auntie Qian, how's the harvest today? Did you pick up anything valuable and good?"
Auntie Qian glanced at him and replied with a smile, "Oh, if it isn't the groom-to-be! There are too many people today, so I just dug up some Manila clams to go make soup back home. Why are you coming over now?"
"I was just sitting at home with nothing to do, so I thought I'd come over for a stroll and see if I could pick up anything good. By the way, Auntie Qian, why are there so many people here today?" he asked curiously, looking at the beach.
"Sigh, it's all because of that little brat from the Zhou family. He got lucky today and picked up a seventeen or eighteen-pound green grouper right as he arrived, selling it at the dock for over twenty yuan. As soon as word got out, everyone came running over."
"Oh, so that's how it is. I was wondering why there were so many people today."
"Never mind, with this many people around, you won't find anything good anyway. I'm going home to cook," Auntie Qian said, preparing to leave.
"Alright, take care, Auntie Qian. I'm going to go check out that side."
"Okay."
Watching Auntie Qian walk away, he turned and headed toward the Mangrove Forest, where there were fewer people.
Actually, the people near the Mangrove Forest were only fewer by comparison; just within sight, there were still twenty-odd people.
Because the Mangrove Forest was a habitat suited for mud crabs, red-clawed crabs, and other crab species, it never lacked people coming here to catch crabs!
Still, there wouldn't be too many people. First, mud crabs were relatively hard to find. Second, the terrain here was treacherous, muddy, and full of swamps, making it easy for a lone person to get into trouble. Usually, people came in groups of three to five.
Arriving beside this patch of mangroves, looking at the seemingly endless Mangrove Forest before him, he felt a certain degree of fear in his heart.
After all, in his past life, he had never been beachcombing, nor had he even seen the ocean, let alone faced such a massive Mangrove Forest. For him right now, this was quite a trial.