Chapter 4: Getting a Little Hooked on Stone Skimming

’Riding a bike is aerobic exercise?’

Three lines of pixelated text scrolled across his vision.

Gasping for breath, Chen Jue glanced at the attribute panel.

He noticed that the attribute panel, which looked like something out of a MUD text-based game, had a few new changes.

——————

Character: Chen Jue

Strength: 0.76+

Constitution: 0.89+

Spirit: 1.05+

Skill: [Stone Skimming Lv.0 (11/100)+]

Assignable Free Attribute Points: 0.01↑

(Character Evaluation: A perfectly ordinary office drone. Your body is in a severe sub-healthy state.)

——————

First, his Three-dimensional Attributes and Skill Bar now had a conspicuous ’+’ sign after them.

According to the panel’s prompts, Chen Jue could use free attribute points to increase his stats.

The conversion ratio for assigning points was 1 free attribute point per point of an Attribute.

Alternatively, 0.01 free attribute points could be converted into 10 points of Skill Level.

Chen Jue had learned these rules for assigning points from a prompt that appeared when he focused his thoughts on the ’+’ icon.

The rules were simple, just like leveling up a character’s attributes in a mini-game.

However, Chen Jue had no idea what the consequences of spending these free attribute points would be, as the panel offered no specific information.

Furthermore, his base Attributes were extremely low. Other than Spirit, the other two were both below a single whole point.

’What standard is this attribute panel using as a reference for its values?’

’The average adult?’

’Or an athlete’s physical data?’

Chen Jue worked with risk control data, dealing with all sorts of client information daily, which made him extremely sensitive to numbers.

Instead of recklessly assigning the point, he began to think about and analyze the underlying logic of the attribute panel.

Beyond that, the [Stone Skimming] Skill also seemed incredibly strange to him.

To the average person, stone skimming was just a fun pastime—something you did for a bit of fun, with no real significance.

Yet, this attribute panel had singled it out and codified it as a Skill.

’Even if I level this useless skill up a hundred times, it’s still just stone skimming! What’s the point of adding points to it?’ Chen Jue couldn’t figure it out, nor could he wrap his head around it.

The very existence of this attribute panel in the real world was already completely preposterous.

To try and analyze something so fundamentally preposterous was just preposterousness upon preposterousness.

’Forget it! I’m overthinking this!’

’First, I’ll try adding a point to my Three-dimensional Attributes!’

After taking a moment to rest and compose himself, he finally tried focusing his attention on the ’+’ signs after his Strength, Constitution, and Spirit Attributes.

’Which Attribute should I increase first?’ Chen Jue hesitated.

It was his first time, after all. With no experience, anyone would find the choice difficult.

If this was like in many of the web novels he’d read, where casually adding a single point could trigger some "meridian cleansing" and knock him unconscious for days, Chen Jue would definitely have gone back to his rented apartment to try it out from the comfort of his bed.

It was just like his job reviewing client loans. Customers with poor credit were typically denied, or they were required to provide additional collateral and accept a higher interest rate. In the worst-case scenarios, he would refer them to smaller companies to transfer and absorb the risk.

But here he was in the unfamiliar Baima Lake Park, in the middle of nowhere.

If something went wrong from randomly assigning the point, there’d be no one around to help him.

Besides, he had just biked for nearly half an hour, exhausting himself, all for a measly 0.01 free attribute points. The return on investment was incredibly low.

He hesitated for a moment, then glanced again at the ’sub-healthy’ character evaluation.

Chen Jue’s remaining rationality was crushed by impulse.

’Fuck it! I’m almost 30 and I’m still this indecisive. No wonder I’m stuck working for someone else!’

’I’ll go with Constitution. Add the point!’

Chen Jue slapped his sweaty cheeks and, without another thought, brute-forced it.

The free attribute points reset to zero. On the panel, his 0.89 Constitution flickered and became 0.90, and the remaining ’+’ signs vanished.

A moment later, a strange warmth spread from his chest throughout his body. His skin felt slightly hot, but the sensation vanished instantly as a cool park breeze blew past.

’That’s it?’

’Nothing changed at all!’ Chen Jue couldn’t help but complain to himself.

But as he focused on the feeling, he noticed that the soreness in his legs from the bike ride seemed to have eased slightly.

It was a faint change, but his recovery was definitely a smidge faster than normal.

Chen Jue figured it was because the Attribute increase was too small to have a major effect on his body, which was why he didn’t feel any significant change.

’Oh well, better than nothing!’

’As long as there are no obvious side effects, it’s fine.’ Chen Jue muttered to himself. He parked the shared bike and slipped into Baima Lake Park.

...

Night fell, and the park was dotted with sparse lamplights.

Green trees on both banks swayed in the wind. In the distance, an antique-style bridge spanned the river. Under the lights, he could vaguely make out several uniquely designed modern pavilions and a prominent tower on the opposite bank.

Since it was a Friday night, many families from Hang City had come here to relax. Tents and tarps were pitched all over the park’s lawns.

Even farther in the distance, there was a concert-like stage flashing with spotlights, where an unfamiliar singer was performing a soft folk ballad.

’A music festival in the park?’

’I didn’t expect this place to be so lively.’ Chen Jue thought as he strolled along the paved stone path.

He felt that in the two years he’d been living nearby, he’d been too much of a homebody, completely missing out on such a beautiful natural environment.

His company was dissolving in about ten days, and he had no idea if he’d ever have the chance to visit this park again.

’Time to get to work!’

Shaking off his sentimental mood, Chen Jue took out his phone and started searching for stones on the grassy riverbank.

Since it was an ecological wetland park, natural stones were everywhere. After about ten minutes of wandering along the riverbank, Chen Jue had collected over twenty suitably shaped ones.

To make stone skimming easier, he had even cleared out a section of the small messenger bag he wore to work, leaving a compartment just for the stones.

He found a secluded spot, dropped his bag on the ground, and took out a flat stone, weighing it in his hand.

Then, recalling his movements from that afternoon in the small rooftop garden, he wound up his right arm and flicked his wrist. The stone shot from his hand and, SPLAT, skipped across the river’s surface a few times.

[Ding~]

[Movement meets requirements.]

[Stone Skimming Skill Level +1]

Seeing the familiar prompt scroll across the panel, Chen Jue smiled knowingly.

’Not bad!’

’About the same as in the pool. Plus, the river is much wider here, so I don’t have to hold back.’ Chen Jue recalled how timid he’d been on the rooftop that afternoon.

Even though the skyscraper’s roof was spacious, Chen Jue hadn’t dared to use his full strength when skimming stones.

If a stone had accidentally flown off the 28-story building, he couldn’t have afforded the consequences, whether it hit a car or a person.

This wetland park was different. The river was hundreds of meters across at its widest point, so he could throw as hard as he wanted without worrying about hitting anyone.

So, after standing still and skimming a few stones to farm some Skill Level points, Chen Jue grew bolder and started using a running start for more power.

SKIIIP~

Watching the stone sail dozens of meters across the river, chaining together more than ten skips in one go, Chen Jue couldn’t help but break into a wide grin.

’Fun!’

’This is kind of addictive!’

He’d skim one, and then immediately want to skim another, just to see if he could get it to go farther and skip more times.

A man’s happiness is often just that simple and unpretentious!

What Chen Jue didn’t expect, however, was that this stone skimming attempt with a running start actually changed the panel’s prompt.

[Ding~]

[Movement meets requirements. Excellent Stone Skim achieved.]

[Stone Skimming Skill Level +2]