Chapter 2: Profession [Student]

Lu Yuan's father was named Lu Xinghua.

The small shop they owned sold grain and oil, along with cigarettes, snacks, drinks, daily necessities, and more.

Even Lu Yuan found it difficult to accurately categorize the nature of their family store.

When Lu Yuan arrived at the shop entrance, he saw his mother, Zheng Qiuling, watching TV while enjoying the cool breeze from a fan.

He glanced at the television screen, which was playing an older family drama.

He called out, "Mom," then went to the upright freezer by the door and took out a drink.

He chose the cheapest one.

"You're back."

His mother smiled when she saw Lu Yuan.

Just as she was about to talk to him, someone came in to buy cigarettes.

So she just said hurriedly, "I've prepared your lunch upstairs, go eat."

"Got it."

Lu Yuan replied and walked into the shop. He passed stacks of rice, barrels of various cooking oils, shelves filled with snacks and seasoning bottles, and finally exited through the back door of the shop.

There was a staircase leading upwards. A few bicycles and electric scooters were parked in the hallway next to the stairs, and at the end of the hallway was a small courtyard.

The building was quite old, with the handrails of the staircase covered in rust and cobwebs clinging to the corners.

The entire building had five floors.

The shop on the first floor was rented, while the corner unit on the second floor had been purchased by Lu Yuan's family.

Lu Yuan climbed the stairs step by step.

Reaching his door, he took out his key and unlocked it.

The not-so-large apartment opened directly into the living room, followed by a dining room that could be seen at a glance. The decor was also quite old-fashioned.

The apartment was quiet, and despite it being lunchtime, no one was home.

Lu Yuan silently changed his shoes and entered.

After washing his hands, he sat down at the table in the dining room.

There were three simple dishes and a soup on the table: stir-fried bitter melon, braised pork, smashed cucumber salad, and a bowl of winter melon and pork rib soup.

Lu Yuan served himself some rice and began to eat silently.

He had become accustomed to eating alone at the table during this time.

His mother, Zheng Qiuling, had to stay in the shop almost all day, from 7:00 AM when it opened until 9:00 or 10:00 PM when it closed.

For meals, someone had to bring her food downstairs in a bowl, and she had to use the restroom during moments when there were no customers.

His father, Lu Xinghua, had been at the hospital taking care of his grandfather for the past few days.

Lu Yuan guessed that his father had made lunch, as he could recognize the taste.

As for his sister, Lu Jing...

She had majored in archaeology in college and had gone on a mission with an archaeological team a while ago. She hadn't returned yet.

She had made a video call a couple of days ago, saying that she had arrived at a place called Xixu, where there were deserts and Gobi everywhere.

Lu Yuan looked up the location on the map and discovered that Xixu was more than 3,000 kilometers away from Jiaoyan City, where he currently resided. It was almost at the border of Xia Country, truly quite far.

Lu Yuan quickly finished his meal.

He ate quite a lot of the bitter melon and braised pork but left the pork rib soup untouched, intending to bring it down to his mother later.

He watched TV on the sofa for a while.

He flipped through the channels with the remote control, eyes fixed on the screen, but his mind was still preoccupied with the extracurricular class.

It wasn't that he was still hung up on the martial arts class.

Lu Yuan was considering telling his parents that he wouldn't sign up for any extracurricular class for now.

He could wait until things settled down at home and then casually choose one.

He also planned to take out all the money he had saved...

"I'll talk to Dad about it later this afternoon when I go to the hospital to see Grandpa."

Lu Yuan finally made up his mind.

With that thought, he quickly turned off the television and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes that had accumulated in the sink, placing them neatly on the drying rack.

Then he went into his room.

He pulled down the blinds, turned on the air conditioner, and sat down at his desk.

Lu Yuan checked the time on his phone.

12:05 PM.

"Finish the battle before 3:00 PM!"

He set a two-and-a-half-hour alarm, then took a deep breath. His gaze fell upon the pile of test papers and assignments in front of him, and his eyes instantly became calm and sharp, like a seasoned warrior.

"Activate – [Absolute Focus]!"

Lu Yuan silently chanted in his heart.

In an instant, all the noise around him faded away.

The occasional honking of car horns on the street, the loud conversations downstairs, the humming of the air conditioner in the room...

At this moment, they all disappeared.

Lu Yuan seemed to enter an independent space where only he existed. All that remained before him were the books and test papers.

"Beep beep beep -"

The alarm on his phone went off, the phone vibrating and the screen lighting up to display 14:35.

Hearing this sound, Lu Yuan, who had been sitting upright at his desk, writing diligently, suddenly slumped down like a deflated inflatable doll, collapsing into his chair.

"Whew -"

Lu Yuan let out a long breath.

His face was now pale, and a heavy sense of fatigue enveloped him.

He raised his hand with some difficulty and opened the drawer of his desk, taking out a box of gold-wrapped chocolates.

He popped one into his mouth and, with the water he had prepared beforehand, swallowed it whole, seemingly without chewing.

After eating four or five chocolates in one go, Lu Yuan finally seemed to regain his energy.

He sat up slightly, his hands slowly massaging his temples.

And before his eyes, lines of notification messages that only he could see quickly appeared.

[You have focused on studying for ten minutes, Profession EXP +1]

[Your Math skill has improved, EXP +2]

[Your Physics skill has improved, EXP +4]

[You have focused on studying for ten minutes, Profession EXP +1]

"Two and a half hours, Math increased by 9 EXP, Physics by 12 EXP, Chemistry... Profession EXP increased by 15.

Almost all of the homework assigned by the school has been completed. Not bad results."

A satisfied smile appeared on Lu Yuan's face. Then his eyes flickered, and a light blue virtual screen appeared before him.

[Name: Lu Yuan]

[Age: 17]

[Profession: Student LV3 (233/400)]

[Strength: 7]

[Agility: 8]

[Constitution: 7]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Basic Profession Skills: Language LV3 (203/400), Math LV3 (329/400), Physics LV3 (209/400), Chemistry LV3 (224/400), Biology LV3 (150/400), History LV3 (78/400), Geography LV3 (137/400), Information Technology LV3 (238/400)]

[Core Profession Skill: Absolute Focus LV1 (Active)]

[Attribute Points: 0]

[Skill Points: 0]

The entire screen had a very simple style, much like the character panel in some online games.

This was Lu Yuan's cheat.

When he had first transmigrated and seen this virtual panel, he had thought it was some kind of auxiliary optical brain that everyone in this world possessed.

After all, the technology in this world was much more advanced than in his previous life.

It was only after a period of repeated confirmation that he realized this was something unique to him.

As the name suggested, the ability of this Profession Panel was to improve one's professional abilities.