Xiao Yanyan stood with her arms crossed, gazing at the once-watery valley.
Cai Lihua was busy in the kitchen next door.
Grandma sat cross-legged on a rolling stone outside the door, meditating.
Dad had already gone inside with Uncle Wu to visit.
No one was there.
Where had that voice just now come from? It sounded as if someone had whispered in her ear, yet also as if it had originated from within her own mind.
Ajiu felt a chilling premonition.
"Are you human or ghost?" Ajiu whispered to herself.
A cold dread crept up her spine. In these chaotic times of war and widespread death, could she have encountered a vengeful spirit? Suddenly, her vision went black.
The spiritual spring space?
*Plop, plop, plop.* Ajiu looked down; the puddle in the grass had grown.
It was once the size of a bowl, but now it was as big as a water ladle.
It had grown?
Ajiu looked around, but saw no ghosts.
Instead, she noticed that the entire spiritual spring space seemed to be laid out vertically before her eyes. In the bottom left corner, a bundle-shaped object was hopping about.
What in the world was that?
Ajiu's joy over the spiritual spring diminished considerably, replaced by fear.
"May I ask, Your Excellency, if you wish to open the new gift pack?"
It was that voice again. This time, it didn't sound like it was in her head, but rather echoing throughout the entire space.
"O-open?" Ajiu's voice trembled slightly.
"Ding!"
"Newcomer gift pack has been opened."
The bundle-shaped object then erupted in a fireworks-like display. Sparks fell, and several unfamiliar items floated in the air.
"Newcomer gift pack: 1. A set of silver needles. 2. A packet of seeds, ten in total. 3. A beginner's ear acupuncture medical book."
What was this all about?
As the system's voice finished, Ajiu cautiously reached for the palm-sized cloth bag.
It felt quite substantial.
Upon opening it, she saw ten seeds that looked different from each other. This one looked like a watermelon seed, that one like a peach seed, and oh.
Wasn't this a pomegranate seed?
It seemed this wasn't a dream. Ajiu then carefully touched each of the items.
Especially the book: "Introduction to Ear Acupuncture: Understanding ear structure, acupoint definitions, and the basic use of acupuncture techniques."
Ajiu frowned. When she was young, her family certainly couldn't afford doctors when she was sick.
However, her elder brother, Meng Nanxing, had once hired a physician and she had heard about acupoints and seen doctors administer acupuncture.
Ajiu became engrossed. She learned that the ears and kidneys were interconnected. Despite their small size, the ears were covered in a comprehensive array of acupoints.
The book also explained that the left ear represented yang, and the right ear represented yin, and that yin and yang needed to complement each other for good health.
Before she knew it, Ajiu had finished reading the book and felt a lingering desire for more.
She realized that the set of silver needles was likely meant to be used with the ear acupoints.
"Anything else?" Ajiu tried murmuring to herself.
"Your Excellency, the newcomer gift pack is a random system benefit. To unlock other skills, you will need to accumulate merit points."
Merit points?
Ajiu scratched her head. So, the spiritual spring growing larger and the ability to extract other items were because she had helped someone today.
This wondrous world was indeed fascinating.
Where were these items usually kept? Ajiu pondered.
Unexpectedly, the system responded: "They can be stored in the inventory grid. You may retrieve them when needed."
A grid, densely packed with empty squares, appeared before her eyes.
Ajiu suppressed her excitement and tentatively tapped one. The silver needles immediately appeared in the grid, along with a quantity indicator showing "1."
"I need the silver needles." The silver needles reappeared in Ajiu's hand.
Ajiu's hands trembled with excitement. It was so magical.
Right.
Ajiu almost forgot. She had seeds now, could she plant them?
Looking down at the full spring of spiritual water, why hesitate? She quickly took her water skin to fill it.
To her surprise, one water skin wasn't enough this time. The spiritual spring could fill at least two more water skins.
But she only had this one water skin with her.