Eternal Night: I Have a Legendary Navigator's Manual

What?! You can add more?!

Looking at the contents of this page, Zhong Xu felt a surge of excitement.

He originally thought this "Navigator's Handbook" was just a map and an encyclopedia, but he never expected it could be used as "Deep Blue"!

This cheat code is truly amazing!

His mind started racing as he pondered how to allocate the two points of knowledge he had previously acquired.

The effects of the four attributes, namely [Constitution], [Perception], [Intelligence], and [Mental Strength], can be roughly judged from their appearance alone.

The last one, "Gene Lock Unlock Progress," is grayed out, seemingly indicating that it is locked and its purpose cannot be determined.

Apart from his low [Constitution] stat, the other three attributes are decent, with [Perception] being far superior.

Zhong Xu guessed that this was likely related to his experience; as a navigator, he had to be able to keenly notice subtle changes in the environment and judge potential dangers.

In order to ensure that the conclusions he draws from information are as true and reliable as possible, he often spends time in the only library in the downtown area.

Therefore, there is little time to exercise, so it is normal for the body's constitution to be relatively low.

But with this manual, his future changed completely!

With enough understanding, Zhong Xu will have no weaknesses, allowing each attribute to develop in a balanced and comprehensive way, making him a well-rounded warrior!

Looking at the "personal profile" in his mind, Chung Hsu began to think about where to apply these two cognitive points.

Rather than focusing on improving his physical attributes to address his weaknesses, he actually prefers to go all in on his perception.

The reason is simple: as the navigator of the team, there are very few situations where he really needs to use his muscle strength.

Why not maximize the attributes that are most helpful to your navigator role?

Having made up his mind, Zhong Xu tried to focus his cognitive points on [perception].

As his finger tapped the attribute bar, the number after the [Perception] column immediately jumped up and became a two-digit number 10.

Almost instantly, he realized that his perception of his surroundings had become more acute.

Whether it was the slowly flowing black mist, Roy tapping his fingers with a hint of boredom, or Lilia's body trembling slightly from the previous high-speed chase, it was all there.

Zhong Xu captured all these small details clearly.

Not only that, but the pain in his body also became clearer, and he could even vaguely perceive the location and extent of his injuries.

It feels like I've broken two ribs...no wonder it hurts so much...

Is it possible to achieve such a significant improvement with just a small addition?

Feeling the changes in himself, Zhong Xu was somewhat surprised, but just as he was about to continue adding cognitive points to [Perception], the manual in his mind turned on its own.

New content appeared on a blank sheet of paper.

[Successfully reached the first gene node, gene lock unlocking progress +1]

[A new direction for evolution has been discovered!]

Seeing all this, Zhong Xu was overjoyed. He never expected that his reasonable choice would accidentally unlock the first genetic lock!

It seems that you only need to accumulate 10 points in a single cognitive point to unlock the genetic lock once!

On the other blank page, new content grew rapidly, with two nodes appearing at the very center, and some black lines extending out from above, spreading out like tree branches.

Both of these nodes have annotations next to them.

[Trace Identification]: Able to notice subtle traces and some subtle changes.

[Danger Premonition]: Able to sense impending danger and its approximate source.

These descriptions are not difficult to understand; it seems that unlocking the genetic lock is equivalent to learning a new skill in a game.

The effects of both gene nodes, based on their descriptions, tend to be auxiliary.

To be honest, it's a bit of a difficult decision.

Whether it's the former or the latter, it will greatly improve Zhong Xu as a navigator, only the focus is different.

The former is helpful for analyzing the environment and identifying directions, which is a matter of life and death under the black fog.

The latter allows him to be aware of potential dangers in advance, take countermeasures, and avoid them.

Zhong Xu wants to do both things well, but for now he can only solve one problem.

After much deliberation, he decided to keep this precious unlocking opportunity for now, as it was still relatively safe and there was no need to rush.

This choice may become the key to breaking the deadlock at some point!

Turning back to the last page of the manual, Zhong Xu discovered that the original [Perception] had changed to [Acuity Perception] after being maxed out at ten points.

If you want to add more points, each time it will cost 2 points.

Tsk... Did the price go up after upgrading...?

With no other option, Zhong Xu could only allocate his remaining cognition point to [Intelligence], an attribute that would make it easier for him to study in the library.

Perhaps because of the advancement of the [Perception] attribute, the improvement from adding one point to [Intelligence] is significantly smaller.

It seems we must first take a comprehensive development approach...

Reaching ten points in an attribute not only unlocks a gene node, but also brings a significant boost when the corresponding attribute advances.

Having set a short-term plan, Zhong Xu's attention returned to his "personal information".

[Physical Fitness: 5]

[Acuity of perception: 0]

【Intelligence: 8】

【Mental Power: 7】

[Gene Lock Unlock Progress: 1]

[Usable cognitive points: 0]

"Zhong Xu, Luo Yi, the car's fixed... Ugh—"

Lilia's voice beside the exploration vehicle pulled Zhong Xu back to reality. She didn't seem to have fully recovered yet, but thankfully she was just dry heaving and didn't vomit anything.

Zhong Xu slammed the car shut and let out a long sigh of relief.

He opened the parameter panel, checked the surrounding environment, and tried to contact the control tower to confirm the return direction.

Her fingertips moved across the blue screen, which looked like dancing to Lilia.

"Sigh... what a pity about that exploration vehicle, we basically didn't find anything on this trip."

Despite having just escaped death, Roy was already sighing and complaining; that exploration vehicle made his heart bleed.

Seeing his expression, Lilia said somewhat irritably:

"It's better than dying there, isn't it?"

Roy, unusually, did not refute, but his actions revealed his sadness.

Zhong Xu, who had been staring at the screen and hadn't participated in their conversation, spoke up at this moment. His calm tone revealed something that startled both of them:

"It's alright, I can try to locate that exploration vehicle, and we can try to bring it back during the next operation."

"What?! My God! You actually managed to do something like that!"

"You truly deserve to be called the most talented young navigator. With those words from you, I can already see the points I'm losing beckoning me!"

When Roy heard Zhong Xu's words, the faint sadness he had felt before seemed to have never appeared. His eyes lit up when he talked about points, and his voice was so loud that the whole carriage shook.

However, compared to the simple-minded but physically strong Roy, Lilia, as an engineer, had a much richer range of expressions on her face.

She had read in a book that locating an accurate position in the black fog without any beacons was extremely difficult.

They were able to find the dead squad thanks to the signal generators on their bodies—as required by the mission, those transmitters had been recovered and were in the trunk.

"How...how did you do that?!"

Lilia looked on in surprise and disbelief, as this was beyond her comprehension.

Roy also looked at Zhong Xu with curiosity, waiting for him to explain.

"Even if I explained it to you two, you wouldn't understand..."

Zhong Xu shrugged. Of course, he couldn't actually tell them that he had a "Navigator's Manual" in his head. He just pretended to be profound and started talking to them about various professional terms.

Factors such as the humidity, temperature, surrounding pressure, concentration, flow rate, and direction of the black fog at the time.

One word after another came out, leaving Roy and Lilia stunned.

Finally, his gaze swept over the two bewildered faces, and he couldn't help but add:

"Navigators must master the ability to determine direction and position by relying on these details."

He was actually right, but he exaggerated the accuracy of using this method to determine direction and location.

Zhong Xu wasn't worried at all that the two of them would discover this, because all of this was something the original owner had learned and remembered by spending countless hours in the library.

Even Lilia, an engineer—a profession that requires some brainpower—has read less than one-tenth the amount of books Zhong Xu has.

As for Roy, needless to say, his ability to read and write is a testament to the quality of his basic education.

In this apocalyptic world, the pressure of simply surviving is immense, and very few people have the time and energy to delve into knowledge.

Professional navigators need a vast amount of knowledge to support them, but people with so much knowledge are generally not willing to take the risk of becoming navigators.

This makes navigators highly sought-after by all exploration teams.