<h4>Chapter 19: Chapter 18 Racing Against Time</h4>


    "Wow, even the effects of the auxiliary abilities are excellent..."


    As he followed the team forward, Tao Yu focused his mind on some flowers and nts nearby. Soon after, he could instinctively gain a certain understanding of those nts.


    There were no words or images to describe it, but the information allowed him to understand the general properties of the nts—mainly, whether they were edible, poisonous, or had some therapeutic effects on his current physical state—just some basic information.


    While not much information, Tao Yu felt it waspletely sufficient. It undeniably made some of the knowledge he had umted more effective and allowed him to be safer in external environments.


    He could even determine if someone was trying to poison him.


    Fifty Yuan Force units for a Deification skill, who needs a bicycle?


    With possible future enhancements, or as his proficiency with the skill improved, perhaps he could gain even better effects.


    Because of the pressure from the potential presence of facehuggers, Tao Yu took some dried snake meat from Zhang Wei and munched on it while following the team, all the while focusing on elerating his proficiency in "Basic Breathing Technique - Modified"!


    Yuan Force''s eleration typically needed to target a specific skill.


    If one had the ability to multitask, it was also possible to elerate multiple skills at the same time, but this would consume more Yuan Force. It wouldn''t save on Yuan Force cost but could save a bit on time.


    But Tao Yu wasn''t worrying about that right now. He kept to the rhythm of the breathing technique, elerating his practice of "Basic Breathing Technique - Modified," all while continuously gnawing on the dried snake meat.


    Qi-blood tumbled inside his body, circting throughout. With each cirction, he felt a slight enhancement, a tangible effect each time!


    While chewing, he also took the opportunity toplete a few shots, improving his proficiency in "Basic Shooting - Modified."


    "''Bullet Time'' enhanced by ''Dynamic Vision'' makes shooting practice improve much faster than the breathing technique. No wonder talent is everything for most people..."


    Tao Yu was merely firing a couple of shots at some nearby leaves and branches in passing, with the main Yuan Force eleration applied to the breathing technique, but his shooting abilities were improving even faster!


    Ratatat~


    A three-shot burst hit the base of a branch thirty meters away. Wood splinters flew as the branch broke off and fell.


    "Not bad at all, deserving of a B-rank ''Dynamic Vision.'' How many times did you choose to elerate? You''ve reached lv2, right? With your talent, that should be enough," said Li Le, who was in line with Tao Yu in the team, both ahead of their rear-guard Wino. At that moment, Li Le watched Tao Yu chew on snake meat while firing and showed some surprise.


    Noticing the meat fibers remaining in Tao Yu''s mouth, Li Le continued, "You''re practicing a breathing technique, right? ''Basic Breathing Technique''?"


    Tao Yu swallowed thest of the snake meat and said calmly, "No choice, I don''t have a family like Li Ge. I have to take advantage of the abundant meat avable now; what will I eat when I really go back?"


    This fragmentary area''s abundance of meat was actually a benefit. Once back, aside from some food they brought, if you wanted to buy more from the forts in the Outer City, it would cost two Yuan Forces per pound—prohibitively expensive.


    Private trades ran the risk of having your cannon fodder points reset to zero and might even encounter sting operations; there was no need to take such risks.


    As Tao Yu spoke, he quickly walked to a nearby bush, broke off a stalk that resembled sugarcane, and started sucking on it—replenishing his fluids and sugar.


    "Do we have data on this nt? You sure are bold," Li Le remarked, somewhat taken aback by Tao Yu''s actions. He even suspected that what the other was practicing wasn''t ''Basic Breathing Technique.''


    He himself had learned the ''Knight Breathing Technique'' brought from the Inner City by his family, but such a non-basic breathing technique was incredibly rare in the Outer City. There was nowhere to even learn it, and Tao Hu probably didn''t have it either.


    "My backpack was eaten by a python when I came here; I was so thirsty I gave it a try, and it turned out pretty good," he said.


    If he hadn''t deified all his auxiliary abilities, Tao Yu wouldn''t dare to eat randomly, but now it all seemed much simpler.


    The nt, which was both cane-like and bamboo-like, was crunchy to bite into. He could directly absorb the liquid inside, which was extremely rich in water content.


    Stepping on the thickyer of fallen leaves and soil, Tao Yu didn''t waste a second.


    He knew practicing the Breathing Technique so intensely might seem odd and potentially attract some attention.


    But there were better Breathing Techniques and rted skills in the Inner City. He wasn''t too concerned about them, nor could he hesitate because of their gaze. He couldn''t let that stop him from eating!


    With the facehuggers appearing, aside from deifying his skills, he also had to speed up his practice as quickly as possible!


    Whether it was the Basic Shooting - Modified or the Basic Breathing Technique - Modified, he had invested at the rate of one hundred units of Yuan Force per hour in eleration.


    The difference was that he didn''t continuously practice Basic Shooting - Modified; it was sporadic, consuming less than one-tenth of what the consistently practiced Basic Breathing Technique - Modified did.


    Regrettably, he had started off with poor physical conditioning during the golden era of Breathing Techniques. Although he had initially spent only five hours per hour at ten points for improvement, the effect was tremendous, bringing his overall ability to the level of an amateur athlete.


    Now, even though he had increased his consumption rate to ten times per hour, the diminishing effectiveness of the Breathing Technique itself, along with the reduced eleration multiples after getting stronger, meant Tao Yu no longer felt he was undergoing constant transformation.


    Thew of diminishing returns was hitting hard.


    After all, the description for Basic Breathing Technique - Modified was just ''it can increase the physical upper limit to a certain extent,'' which, while far better than the unmodified Breathing Technique, wasn''t overly exaggerated. The main benefit was actually the active surge of Qi-Blood during a burst.


    Continuing at this rate of increase, Tao Yu estimated that when he used up all the Yuan Force points for eleration, he might just barely reach a levelparable to an Olympian all-around, being able to run a hundred meters in about ten seconds would be pretty good.


    Uh, but because it was an all-around increase, he could almost achieve this level even with weights on, and he could keep it up for longer...


    However, looking at the speed of proficiency improvement, the Basic Breathing Technique - Modified should soon reach lv2, and the surge from the instantaneous burst of Qi-Blood would increase a bit more.


    Due to his talent, shooting had already reached lv2. After getting used to the gun he was holding, he could ensure a decent hit rate despite the unpredictable trajectory.


    "Another increase in burst capability, it feels like I''m getting more and more off track," Tao Yu muttered as he chewed on another pile of snake meat, feeling slightly helpless. While it''s true that most life-or-death situations are decided in an instant, he couldn''t help feeling that there was something odd about it—wasn''t the dream of every man to be a muscr, enduring powerhouse?


    "We''re getting close, stay alert," Wino''s voice came from up ahead, and the team''s pace slowed a tad more, everyone heightening their vignce.


    Thanks to Tao Yu sporadically firing a shot now and then, this tactic of alerting potential threats worked in their favor, allowing them to avoid minor troubles along the way.


    Tao Yu, meanwhile, had stopped his shooting practice and asionally looked around.


    He had already reached lv2 in shooting; it was time to stop wasting bullets.


    And after firing the gun for so long, he wondered if they might attract something prematurely.


    For normal animals, and even for pythons, an unknown sound warranted evasion first and foremost, an instinct for survival etched into their genes by nature.


    But...


    For some other abnormal creatures, perhaps it was a different story.


    If it weren''t for the facehuggers, where would I have borrowed so much from, eh? You guys better think of something...


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