Chapter 5: From Pins to Nuclear Bombs

Chapter 5: From Pins to Nukes

[Entry requires 1 Destiny Point. Do you wish to enter?]
[.]
[You have met the requirements to open the store. Do you wish to open it?]
[.]

"The 10 Destiny Points from the reward, plus the 1 point that arrived punctually at midnight today, makes a total of 11. Deducting the 1 point to start the instance, the remaining 10 points meet the exact requirement for opening the store."

Jiang Ren was not surprised; he silently willed himself to enter the store. Ever since he first acquired the system, he had been curious about the system store, but he had never met the conditions until now. Finally, he could see what kind of goods were inside.

A crude interface expanded, quickly covering the entire system screen. Various items, ranging from the mundane to the miraculous, appeared in text form.

"10 Destiny Points. I wonder what I can buy with this."

With this thought, Jiang Ren began to browse the three categories of the store: Identity, Talent, and Items.

The "Identity" category allowed him to choose his birth; the more Destiny Points invested, the better the background.

The "Talent" category was vast, filled with an array of abilities. Examples included physical traits like "Born Strength" and "Agility," mental traits like "Photographic Memory" and "Abstract Thinking," and skill-based traits like "Shooting Elite" and "Combat Master."

The "Items" category sold things already existing in the Hunter world. It contained everything from a simple pin to a nuclear warhead. Once purchased, these items would be temporarily stored in the system space, ready to be retrieved when needed. Of course, this system space was temporary; once an item was removed, it could not be put back.

"Profiteer!"

After a quick browse, Jiang Ren couldn't help but complain. There were many goods, but he couldn't afford the ones he wanted, and he had no interest in the ones he could afford.

First was "Identity." He didn't want to change his birth; after all, his goal was to avenge that gunshot wound. Family support and the final evaluation were secondary.

Then there was "Talent." Most of the affordable talents were indescribable.

[Talent: Big Ears]
[Description: You will possess ears larger than the average person.]
[Note: How cute! Perhaps it can make you the center of attention in a crowd.]
[Price: 1 Destiny Point]

[Talent: Big Nose]
[Description: You will possess a nose larger than the average person.]
[Note: How cute! Perhaps it can make you the center of attention in a crowd.]
[Price: 1 Destiny Point]

[Talent: Big Mouth]
[Description: You will possess a mouth larger than the average person.]
[Note: How cute! Perhaps it can make you the center of attention in a crowd.]
[Price: 1 Destiny Point]

Most were useless talents that merely altered appearance. Slightly more practical ones, like long legs or long arms, not only doubled in price but also failed to spark his interest.

As for the "Items," the purchasing power of Destiny Points was high. If he wanted to become a tycoon or a scientist, many of these items would help him develop better. But for a hunter, their value was minimal.

"Better to save them and exchange for a more practical talent later."

Jiang Ren preferred talents that would serve him for a lifetime, such as "Hunting Master," which increased the mastery speed of hunter-related skills; "Beast Intuition," which warned of danger; "Frenzy Heart," which enhanced blood-pumping capacity; and "Ascetic," which improved physical stamina. Sadly, he couldn't afford any of them.

Jiang Ren shook his head, closed the store, and entered the Hunter world.

As in the previous few times, his consciousness appeared in a pitch-black space. A massive circular clock appeared, and the second, minute, and hour hands began to rotate counter-clockwise.

Jiang Ren didn't really understand why every simulation required this seemingly redundant step. The only pattern he had identified was that the longer he lived in the previous simulation, the longer this step would take. This time, the duration was noticeably shorter than the last.

Tick-tock!

The hands stopped. As the phantom of an infant appeared, Jiang Ren lost consciousness.

A cry rang out. Jiang Ren was born once again.

In this life, having been adopted by an old hunter, he displayed a yearning for the hunter profession much earlier, utilizing his experience from past lives to show remarkable talent. His hunting career began much earlier than in the previous life; at age eight, he quietly ventured into the wilderness alone, using traps and a hunting rifle to kill a wild boar weighing over a hundred kilograms. This earned him the tacit approval of the old hunter to hunt in the wild on his own.

During this time, Jiang Ren also accumulated a fair amount of money through means like sports betting.

Just like that, while trying his best not to influence the surrounding flow of history, he followed a developmental path similar to his previous life, reaching the age of fifteen once more.

Qishui High School. Class 3-2.

In the corner of the blackboard, the number of days remaining until the college entrance exam was written. The students sat upright, listening quietly to their homeroom teacher. It was the last period of the last day of the semester; tomorrow marked the beginning of winter break.

As the teacher finished their final sentence, many students grabbed their bags and rushed out of the classroom in high spirits. However, more students slumped over their desks with bitter expressions. In this critical third year of high school, the break made little difference to most of them; it merely meant moving from the classroom to a tutoring center.

In the back corner, Jiang Ren quietly packed his textbooks. Through scientific exercise and proper nutrition, his height was among the top five in the class, significantly taller than in his previous lives.

"Jiang Ren, where are you going for winter break?"

A lively, pretty girl sat at the desk next to him. She had large, watery eyes, a playful nose, and a small mouth; her seemingly delicate features possessed a vibrant, heroic spirit. Especially her eyes—they were fixed directly on him, making no attempt to hide her affection.

Jiang Ren gave a faint smile. "Hunting."

The girl was Liu Jingbai, an all-rounder in both sports and academics, popular among both boys and girls. She was interested in Jiang Ren not because of his looks, but because he had once helped her family avoid a commercial trap that could have led to bankruptcy. Since then, she had kept an eye on him, her initial interest growing into an undisguised love.

However, Jiang Ren did not want to waste time on such trifles. He had helped her only because he didn't want to see her family go bankrupt, which would have forced her to juggle work and studies until she died of exhaustion within half a year.

"I really want to go hunting too," Liu Jingbai said, resting her chin on the desk, looking at Jiang Ren just two fists away. She pouted, "Too bad my dad signed me up for so many tutoring classes. My schedule is even tighter than during school."

Jiang Ren smiled. "There will be opportunities later."

In this life, besides hoping to go further on the path of a hunter, his goal was to send those individuals suspected of being "poachers" and "enemy soldiers" to where they belonged. For this, he had been enduring for exactly fifteen years.