Chapter 2: A Land of Fortune

But Lu Chuan didn’t let his emotions show.

“All done choosing?”
“Take them home then…”

The officer sneered and added mockingly, “Oh, right—don’t forget. In fifteen days, you’ll need to pay the year-end grain tax. It’s collected based on the number of people in your household.”

“Make sure you bring the right amount of grain back here!”

“And if anyone dares to cheat or shortchange us…”

“Don’t blame me for showing no mercy!”

With that, the officer slung his blade over his shoulder and swaggered off.

Lu Chuan shook his head slightly.

He glanced at Su Ruan and Bai Siyu.

“Let’s go…”

What puzzled him, though, was that even though he had successfully taken them in, the rewards still hadn’t activated.

But once they got home—

“Su Ruan taken in. Affection Level: 10.
Reward unlocked: Portable Storage Space – 3 cubic meters!”

“Bai Siyu taken in. Affection Level: 20.
Reward unlocked: Basic Hunting Skill; Basic Beast Taming Skill!”

The moment the voice echoed in Lu Chuan’s mind, he felt a warm current flow through his body.

He pushed open the gate to his courtyard.

Su Ruan and Bai Siyu followed behind. When they saw the run-down yard, both were visibly shocked.

Their impression of Lu Chuan dropped considerably.

A shabby little courtyard—and he dared to choose the two most beautiful women?

They assumed he must just be lustful and shameless.

But in their current situation, they didn’t dare show it.

“There are just two rooms.”

“From today on, you two will stay in the west room for now.”

“Rest for a bit. I’ll go out and find something to eat.”

As he spoke, Lu Chuan walked over, took the rope he’d left soaking in oil, and tied it onto the bow frame he had prepared.

A simple hunting bow was now complete.

Su Ruan looked at him with curiosity.

When she saw the bow in his hand, a strange light flickered in her eyes.

Lu Chuan, unaware of her reaction, pulled out one of the wooden arrows he had dried earlier.

He nocked the arrow to the bowstring.

In that instant, his instincts as a mercenary kicked in—and the basic hunting skill further enhanced his perception.

His gaze sharpened, and a distant, blurry old persimmon tree now appeared crystal clear.

It was like his eyes had auto-focus!

It felt amazing.

He was at least fifty meters away from that tree.

As he released the string—

Thwip!

The arrow cut through the air with a sharp whoosh.

A second later—

The last shriveled persimmon hanging from the tree was struck and fell to the ground.

“Not bad…”

Lu Chuan weighed the bow in his hands. While his aim was still a little off, this was about as much as he could achieve with current materials.

Later on, if he had the chance, maybe he could make a compound bow.

With that thought, he nodded to Su Ruan and Bai Siyu, then turned and headed up the mountain path.

Bai Siyu remained calm.

But Su Ruan stood there frozen, as if she couldn’t believe what she had just seen.

“What’s wrong with you?”
Bai Siyu looked at her, confused.

“Did you see that?” Su Ruan asked seriously. “He shot that persimmon off the tree with one arrow—using just a wooden bow. With aim like that, he could easily be a Centurion in any army.”

She came from a military family—while others might not recognize what they’d seen, she knew exactly what it meant.

She never expected that, in a small village like this, there would be someone with such incredible archery skills!

Bai Siyu was also stunned by Su Ruan’s words. She knew Su Ruan’s background and judgment. If even she said that, then Lu Chuan’s archery must truly be extraordinary.

…

Once Lu Chuan entered the mountains, it got even colder.

The forest was blanketed in snow. The path wasn’t too hard to walk, as the snow hadn’t hardened yet. Step by step, Lu Chuan trudged uphill along the trail.

His food supplies at home were running low.

Forget the grain tax for now—if he didn’t hunt something soon, his household would run out of food in a few days. No matter what, he had to bring something back today. Ideally, he’d hunt enough to trade for even more grain.

Otherwise, paying the year-end grain tax would be a nightmare.

But with the heavy snow sealing the mountain, finding prey wasn’t going to be easy.

He walked for more than half an hour along the trail but hadn’t seen a single animal.

Damn!

Was he really going to return empty-handed on his first hunt?

Come on, even games give you a beginner’s grace period!

Just then, Lu Chuan spotted something in the distance—a trail of narrow footprints stretching across the snow before vanishing ahead.

He didn’t let his guard down. He jumped down from the trail and examined the tracks carefully.

A spark of excitement lit his eyes.

“Looks like today won’t be a waste after all.”

The prints were narrow and sharp at the front.

A seasoned hunter would recognize them instantly: dumb roe deer tracks.

The only problem was that these prints were somewhat similar to wild boar tracks, so many inexperienced hunters avoided them to be safe.

“This basic hunting skill is really paying off,” Lu Chuan thought.
He wouldn’t have known this kind of detail before.
The knowledge felt like it had been implanted directly into his brain.

Following the trail, he tracked it deeper into the forest.

Eventually, near a partially frozen riverbank, he saw a dumb roe deer drinking water.

It looked around from time to time—not out of alertness, but more like it was enjoying the scenery.

Lu Chuan didn’t hesitate.

He raised his bow. At that moment, his vision sharpened, as though his eyes were zooming in. The target became clearer and clearer.

Whoosh—!

The arrow shot out like a streak of light.

The deer barely had time to react before the wooden arrow pierced straight through its head.

It tried to bolt.

But after just two staggered steps, it collapsed, motionless.

Lu Chuan walked over and examined the body.

“Shame… I was a bit too far. My preparation wasn’t perfect.”

“The wooden arrow was a bit too light. I aimed for the eye—wanted to make a clean ‘deer hat’ shot. But it didn’t quite work.”

The arrow had gone straight through the deer’s skull.

He could still skin the body cleanly, but the top of the head—which could have been used for trophies or trade—was ruined.

Still, meat was meat.

Lu Chuan didn’t overthink it. He tossed the deer into his portable space.

Then he noticed something odd.

There was a lot of animal dung near the water.

Looking around carefully, he realized: this was running water—even in winter, it wouldn’t freeze entirely. That made it one of the few places animals could drink from during the season.

“This place… is a gold mine.”

Lu Chuan sighed in admiration.