Li Fan stirred as a warm beam of sunlight slipped into the cave, brushing against the stone walls and landing across his face.
He blinked slowly, not fully awake yet. For a while, he just lay there, staring at the uneven ceiling, letting the silence settle around him.
He shifted his body slightly—waiting for the dull, familiar pain to shoot through his ribs or his shoulders. But there was nothing. No soreness. No stiffness. Even the bruises that had covered his knuckles were gone. Not even a trace of purple left.
He reached up and touched his ribs—the ones that had been bruised when he fought the boar. Smooth. Healed.
"Healed already…" he muttered under his breath, eyes wide with quiet surprise.
A slow grin tugged at his lips.
"System," he muttered, "open interface."
The familiar glowing panel shimmered into view.
[Host: Li Fan
Age: 16
Constitution: None
Physical Condition: Stable
Realm: Skin Tempering — Early Stage (15.4%)
Damage Conversion Rate: 1.0x
Passive Regeneration: Elementary
Physical Traits: [Locked]
Body Tempering Energy (BTE): 24 Units]
Li Fan studied the screen, eyes lingering on the "Passive Regeneration" line.
He scratched his jaw, thinking.
"…System," he said slowly, "how much BTE is needed to upgrade Passive Regeneration?"
After a short pause, the calm system voice replied:
[Upgrade Cost: 100 BTE → Intermediate Level.]
[Effect: Increased healing rate, reduced rest duration, faster tissue recovery after damage.]
Li Fan nodded to himself.
It made sense.
The more pain he took, the more often he'd need to heal. A faster regeneration rate wouldn't just keep him alive—it would let him train harder, more often, with less downtime.
He leaned back against the wall, eyes still fixed on the glowing panel.
"Alright," he murmured. "First goal… hit 100."
---
He exhaled, then stood, shook out his arms, and moved toward the front of the cave. Outside, the forest was already bright—sunlight filtering through the trees in warm patches. Judging by the warmth, it was already late morning—maybe close to noon.
He stepped into the clearing outside and found a patch of flat ground and planted his feet shoulder-width apart. He brought his arms up, steadying his breathing. Just like the drills back at the sect.
The basic boxing routine was one of the few things he hadn't been bad at. Nothing spiritual about it. Just balance, movement, timing. Something anyone could train if they didn't quit.
He started slow—measured jabs, light steps, tight hooks. Every movement deliberate and precise. His feet moved smoothly over the dirt. His fists sliced through the air with soft swishes.
He kept going. Minutes passed. Then an hour. Then two.
By the time he stopped, his body was slick with sweat. Steam rose faintly from his arms in the cool air. His chest rose and fell in steady rhythm, but there was no exhaustion. Just a warm hum under his skin, like his muscles were alive—awake.
He smiled, wiped his face on his sleeve, and walked back toward the cave.
Inside, he gathering a small pile of dry wood and twigs and built a simple fire pit. A ring of stones, some dry moss, and a few careful strikes of flint—and soon, a small flame flickered to life.
He stared into the fire for a long moment. Then he held out his hand. The heat danced across his skin.
"Here we go again…"
He gritted his teeth and slowly lowered his palm into the flame. The pain came sharp and immediate, licking up his arm like a whip. He hissed through his teeth but held steady.
[BTE +5]
He jerked his hand back, skin already reddening. He wrapped the hand loosely with a wet cloth, , and waited.
When the burn faded, he did it again.
Burn. Heal. Burn. Heal.
[BTE +5]
[BTE +5]
[BTE +5]
[BTE +5]
But after five sessions, his body started trembling. His hands wouldn't stop shaking. His skin felt hot, heavy, drained.
He slumped back against the cave wall, panting. His body had reached its limit. He needed time to recover—only then could he continue.
---
Li Fan stirred from his rest and slowly sat up. His palm was still sore, the skin slightly pink, but it no longer throbbed. The system's passive regeneration was doing its work. Not fast—but steady.
He glanced outside. The light had shifted. Long shadows stretched between the trees. Late afternoon already.
There was still some meat left from the boar, but it wouldn't last another full day—and who knew how long he'd have to stay out here before he was ready to return to the sect.
If he wanted to keep training, he needed food. And that meant hunting. Not every day would hand him a wild boar.
He pushed himself to his feet, gathered a few ropes made from braided vines, and grabbed the small knife, then headed out.
---
The forest had grown quieter now, shadows deepening between trees, birds beginning to settle in for the night. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the rustle of leaves—maybe a rabbit, or a small fox.
Perfect.
Li Fan crouched low near a game trail—a narrow path of trampled grass and broken twigs, where small animals seemed to pass regularly.
He worked in silence, hands steady despite his soreness.
A basic snare trap. He still remembered how his father taught him years ago, on one of their rare outings outside the city. Anchor the loop. Bend the sapling. Tie the trigger with a slight tension—tight enough to snap, loose enough not to scare.
He set three traps in total—one near a shallow dip in the ground, another by the base of a tree where droppings suggested recent animal presence, and the last by the stream, hidden behind some bushes.
With the traps in place, he returned to his cave. The sky was turning orange now, the last light of the day bleeding through the trees.
---
Evening had come. The sky above the trees glowed orange. Sunlight barely reached the clearing.
Inside, he added dry sticks to the fire and pulled out the last scraps of boar meat. A bit dry, but still good.
He skewered it on a sharpened branch and held it over the fire. The scent of roasting meat filled the cave once more.
This time, he didn't rush.
Slow bites. A steady chew. Letting the warmth fill him.
When he finished, he cleaned the stick, packed the bones in cloth, and stepped outside one last time to check the traps.
Nothing yet. But that was fine. He'd check again tomorrow.
---
Before he returned to the cave, he gathered a few thorny branches from a nearby bush and stacked them carefully at the entrance, adding a few stones to weigh them down.
It wasn't much—but if anything tried to crawl in while he slept, he'd at least hear the rustle.
Inside, he rolled his makeshift bedding—a few leaves, an old blanket, and his spare robe—closer to the inner wall. He lay down slowly, letting his body settle.
He lay there for a moment, arms crossed behind his head, eyes following the faint dance of light on the cave ceiling.
"…System," he murmured, voice rough. "Open interface."
At once, the familiar glow shimmered to life in his mind's eye.
[Host: Li Fan
Age: 16
Constitution: None
Physical Condition: Stable
Realm: Skin Tempering — Early Stage (23.4%)
Damage Conversion Rate: 1.0x
Passive Regeneration: Elementary
Physical Traits: [Locked]
Body Tempering Energy (BTE): 104 Units]
He stared at the bottom line. A hundred and four BTE.
That was the reward for an entire day of burning, training, and pushing his body to its edge. It hadn't come easy—each fire session left his skin scorched and raw. With passive regeneration stuck at its lowest tier, he'd spent half the day lying motionless, waiting for the pain to fade.
If he wanted to keep going, that had to change. He needed to heal faster.
"System," he said, "upgrade passive regeneration."
[Confirming Upgrade: Passive Regeneration → Intermediate?]
[Cost: 100 BTE]
[Remaining BTE: 4 Units]
[Confirm?]
Li Fan didn't hesitate.
"Confirm."
A soft pulse flowed through his limbs. Not a rush of power—but a quiet, soothing warmth. Like cool water poured over hot stone. His muscles loosened. The tension in his shoulders eased.
[Passive Regeneration: Intermediate]
[Healing rate increased. System recovery time reduced.]
He exhaled slowly, the tension slipping from his jaw.
"…That's more like it."
He closed the panel and curled onto his side, wrapping the blanket tighter. The cloth still smelled faintly of ash and sweat, but it was warm enough.
Tomorrow, he would check the traps. Burn again. Train again. Maybe even risk venturing deeper into the forest.
His eyes drifted shut.
And the cave went quiet once more.