Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

Wei Chen leaned against the old locust tree, watching the harmonious scene, but his heart was heavy. According to the course of history, such good days wouldn't last long. The communal dining halls, the Great Leap Forward's steel production campaign, natural disasters... a series of blows were about to follow.

"I need to hurry up and prepare," Wei Chen thought to himself. The prey that spawns daily in the game world is a stable source of meat, but he still needs to obtain his staple food from the real world. He needs to find a job in the city; that might provide some convenience...

"Brother!" Wei Ran ran over, her little face smeared with oil. "Mom said it's time to go home."

Wei Chen then realized that the moon was already high in the sky. The villagers gradually dispersed, leaving only a few women clearing away the dishes. Li Xiulan came over carrying a heavy cloth bag containing the five catties of wild boar meat she had been allocated.

"Let's go." A long-lost smile appeared on her mother's face. "Tomorrow, Mom will make you braised pork."

On his way home, Wei Chen noticed flickering lights in the fields—the commune members were burning straw and wood ash to fertilize the land. In the distance, he could faintly hear singing; he wondered which production team was working late into the night. People of this era were building their ideal new life with astonishing enthusiasm.

"Mom," Wei Chen suddenly asked, "how many food coupons do we have left?"

Wang Xiulan was taken aback: "There's still over fifty jin left, what's wrong?"

"I'm thinking of... going to the city to see if I can find a job, or if not, I'll try to exchange some more food." Wei Chen carefully considered his words.

The reason was perfectly reasonable, and Li Xiulan had no suspicions. She knew her child was grown up and had his own ideas: "Okay, find some time to go and take a look."

Under the moonlight, the three walked slowly along the country path. Wei Hong skipped and hopped ahead, occasionally turning back to urge them on. Wei Chen watched his mother and sister's backs as they walked away, secretly vowing: This time, he would make sure his family safely weathered the difficult years to come.

Back home, Wang Xiulan hung the meat in the well to keep it fresh—a makeshift refrigerator for the countryside. Wei Chen, under the pretext of practicing his martial arts, went to the backyard alone. He took out his longbow and practiced archery techniques from the "Nine Heavens Sun-Shooting Technique" under the moonlight. As his true energy flowed, the sound of arrows piercing the air was incessant.

After shooting the last arrow, Wei Chen suddenly heard a noise outside the courtyard wall. He turned his head alertly and saw Wei Yan lying on the wall with his eyes wide open.

"Brother Chen... your archery skills are amazing!" The boy's voice trembled.

Teach me!

"Want to learn? Go inside and get my old bow. I'll call you!"

…………

It was another busy day. Wei Chen followed his mother to work in the fields all day. Only by working could they earn work points, and only with work points could they receive grain.

As dusk settled outside the window, he could hear his mother and sister breathing from the next room. He quietly dressed, then pulled a cloth bag from under the bed—it contained the thirty-six yuan he had saved up over the years, the largest denomination being a brand-new ten-yuan note. With a thought, he put it into his backpack.

"It's time to properly explore the game world," Wei Chen thought to himself, as a semi-transparent system panel appeared before his eyes.

Name: Wei Chen (Hunter) Level: 2 (150/500) Cultivation Technique: Nine Heavens Sun Shooting Technique True Essence: 3 years Skill: Piercing Arrow (Minor Success)

The rudimentary control panel left him somewhat helpless. Aside from the basic attributes, he had to figure out the other functions himself. However, the changes brought about by the upgrade were tangible—he could feel the true energy flowing within his body, as well as a noticeable increase in strength and reaction speed.

"Enter the game world."

In a flash, Wei Chen found himself inside the hunter's hut. Morning light streamed through the windows, illuminating the wood grain. He pushed open the door and took a deep breath of the fresh, grassy air. The starting village in the game world was forever frozen in early summer, neither too hot nor too cold, perfectly comfortable.

"Let's start with the money exchange." Wei Chen had seen it before, but didn't go in during his first exploration of the game world.

The money exchange was a small building made of blue bricks, with a plaque hanging at the entrance that read "Connecting the World". Pushing open the door, just like the weapon shop and pharmacy before, there were no NPCs, but Wei Chen could only walk to the counter and could not go any further.

Seeing the 36 RMB in his backpack, Wei Chen suddenly had an idea.

"Recharge!" Wei Chen said.

please

"Please insert the currency you wish to recharge." A box appears on the counter.

Wei Chen first took out a large black ten-yuan note and placed it in the box on the counter. The moment the banknote touched the table, it turned into a golden light and disappeared.

"Recharge successful, you have received 10 gold coins," a mechanical, monotonous voice announced.

"当前余额：10金0银5铜。游戏内1金=100银=10000铜。"

There is a number displayed at the bottom of the backpack showing the amount of money: "Current balance: 10 gold, 0 silver, 5 copper".

Wei Chen's eyes lit up. At this exchange rate, the prices in the game were incredibly cheap—the most expensive red potion was only 50 copper coins a bottle, and arrows were only 20 copper coins a bag.

In that case, he would lose money if he sold the "monster" meat he killed to the game system. A chicken only costs 20 copper coins to recycle, which is at least 2 yuan in real life. After recharging, it would be 2 gold coins, which is equivalent to 2 copper coins.

Don't sell the monsters you encounter immediately. Store them in your inventory until you reach the maximum value of 999, then sell the rest to the system.

"I'm rich!" Wei Chen suppressed his excitement and turned to leave the money exchange. With this "huge sum," he could buy enough supplies in the game and even consider getting a new set of equipment.

The subsequent exploration proceeded smoothly. Wei Chen first went to the pharmacy and bought the maximum amount of small red bottles of blood-replenishing medicine—the system limited each person to purchasing only 5 bottles per day. Then he went to the weapon shop to replenish ten bags of arrows, spending 2 silver coins.

"This hunter is going to make a big splash today!" Wei Chen thought to himself.

After making preparations, Wei Chen began his exploration and "monster-hunting" mission. He first went to the threshing ground at the village entrance, where more than twenty chickens were pecking at the grain. He took down his hardwood bow, nocked an arrow, and drew the string—

"Whoosh!"

The arrow struck a speckled hen precisely in the head, causing the flock to scatter in panic. Wei Chen remained calm, firing repeatedly, each arrow hitting its mark. He killed one hen, then with a thought, put it away, a notification sounding in his mind: "Gained 1 experience point, 1 copper coin."

The twenty-odd chickens were quickly cleared out. Wei Chen discovered that the experience gained was less than expected—it required 500 experience points to level up to level 3, but each chicken only gave 1 point. At this rate, he would need to kill 500 chickens to level up, which was too slow.

"We need to find higher-quality prey."

Wei Chen turned towards the back of the village, where there were goats spawned by the system. These goats were robust, with curved horns on their heads, and were not afraid of strangers, leisurely grazing on the grass.

"An arrow that pierces the willow branch!"

Wei Chen circulated his true energy, and the arrowhead glowed with a bluish light. The arrow left the bowstring with a sharp, piercing sound, instantly piercing the head of a goat.

"Gained 5 experience points and 5 copper coins."

The goat's carcass didn't disappear; instead, it lay in the same position as when it was struck by an arrow. Wei Chen approached to examine it and discovered that he could retrieve the goat's carcass intact—almost just like hunting in the real world.

Wei Chen spent the entire morning exploring the newbie village. Chickens, ducks, and geese were scattered throughout the village, each giving 1 experience point; rabbits were mostly in the grass, giving 2 experience points each; goats and pigs were confined to a few fixed areas, giving 5 experience points each. After repeated testing, he figured out the spawn pattern: 50 chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits spawned each day, while 20 goats and 20 pigs spawned each day.

"这样算下来..."卫辰心算着，"一天最多能获得50×1+50×1+50×1+50×2+20×5+20×5=450点经验。"

At this rate, he could level up from level 2 to level 3 in a day. But Wei Chen soon discovered a problem—the prey didn't respawn immediately, but rather at a fixed time each day. This meant he couldn't gain experience by repeatedly entering and exiting the game.

"Looks like I need to improve my efficiency. I have to wait until the new map and new high-level monsters appear, otherwise I'll only get 450 experience points a day."

However, Wei Chen wasn't worried. He didn't treat the game as just a game, but as his cheat code. This way, he could get so much meat every day, and he could also level up to get true essence. Even without leveling up, he could still cultivate in the game world. What more could he ask for?

The following night, when Wei Chen was hunting monsters again, he changed his strategy. Instead of searching for prey one by one, he used his enhanced mental power after leveling up to perceive the surrounding area. With his eyes closed and mind focused, the life force within a three-meter radius was as clearly discernible as fireflies in the dark.

"There!"

Wei Chen suddenly opened his eyes and shot an arrow into the bushes. The arrow pierced through the dense grass and accurately struck a gray rabbit.

"Gained 2 experience points and 2 copper coins."

This method is extremely efficient. I quickly gained another 50 experience points, and once I had 500 experience points, I leveled up.

"Upgrade!" Current level: 3 (0/2000), gained 3 years of True Essence.

The attribute panel will update accordingly:

Name: Wei Chen (Hunter)

Level: 3 (0/2000)

Cultivation Technique: Nine Heavens Sun-Shooting Technique

True Yuan: 6 years

Skill: Piercing Arrow (Beginner)

"My true essence has doubled!" Wei Chen was pleasantly surprised to find that the true essence in his body had doubled in size and was flowing much faster in his meridians. He tried to circulate the "Nine Heavens Shooting Sun Technique," and his true essence moved as freely as his own.

Wei Chen quickly finished clearing out all the chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits for the day. The remaining goats and pigs were even simpler—they were large, slow-moving, and practically sitting ducks.

When the last domestic pig fell, Wei Chen completed his monster-killing task for the day.

Over the next few days, Wei Chen established a fixed routine: during the day, he would work in the fields with his mother, and at night, he would go back to his bedroom and enter the game world to grind monsters.

He wasn't worried about losing track of time while in the game. After several days of testing, Wei Chen discovered that the game world was ten times larger than the real world. He could spend ten hours in the game world, but only one hour in the real world, enough to complete his daily "monster-hunting quests."

In addition, Wei Chen discovered that he could move around and sleep within the "Hunter's Hut" area. He could hear people knocking on the door and calling him in real life and come out quickly, which made things much more convenient for him.