Volume One: First Arrival Chapter Seventeen: Talent

Just as Meng Xingchen eagerly prepared to pull Zhai Yao over to guide Tongtong in stripping metal materials from the wreckage of the plane to forge herself a new sword, he noticed Tongtong leaning against her mother's frail frame, her pale cheeks making him pause. The recent battle with the gnolls had already drained her weak constitution; was it too inhumane to keep pushing this child labor like this?

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Meng Xingchen caught a flicker of movement from the nearby woods. Squinting, he saw two gnolls peering cautiously from the trees, spying on their group. It seemed that although they had been driven off by Meng Xingchen’s thunderous assault earlier, some gnolls were still resentful and hiding nearby, waiting for an opportunity.

His eyes brightened instantly. Scanning around, he confirmed no other directions were being watched by the gnolls. To avoid any diversion tactics, he beckoned Ye Feng, who was explaining the differences between Eastern fantasy and Western fantasy worlds to some nearby, saying, “Xiao Lan, come here for a moment.”

Ye Feng, engrossed in his explanation, was surprised but pleased to see Meng Xingchen calling him. Yet, when addressed as Xiao Lan, he was puzzled—wasn’t he being called? Noting many around him instinctively looking up at his head, he quickly realized the mix-up and, with a hint of grievance, ran over to Meng Xingchen. “Boss Meng, my name is Ye Feng, not Xiao Lan.”

Meng Xingchen nodded. “Alright, Xiao Lan, I have a mission for you.”

Hearing the word "mission," Ye Feng no longer minded the nickname. He puffed out his chest and declared loudly, “Boss Meng, rest assured, I’ll complete the task!”

At this moment, Zhai Yao, standing next to Meng Xingchen, and Xiao Yun, who had come over upon hearing the commotion, both looked toward Meng Xingchen.

Raising his hand and pointing, Meng Xingchen said, “There are still gnolls lurking in the woods around us. I’ll go clear them out. You all stay alert. If any gnolls appear, shout loudly to raise the alarm and use ranged attacks to slow them down.”

Then, focusing on Zhai Yao, he emphasized, “Do not engage the gnolls in close combat. Their constitution and agility attributes are both above ten. If you get close, with your current abilities, you’ll be defeated instantly.”

Zhai Yao knew this was mainly directed at him, scratched his head awkwardly, and nodded, “No problem.”

Taking a deep breath, Meng Xingchen leapt backward toward the trees. Spinning in mid-air, he drew his longsword smoothly. Upon landing, he left an afterimage with a tap of his toe, then shot forward nearly ten meters into the woods.

Watching Meng Xingchen’s graceful and swift figure, Ye Feng and Xiao Yun both looked on with envy, then turned their gaze toward other directions in the woods to guard against any sneak attacks.

Soon, several pained howls came from the forest. Moments later, Meng Xingchen emerged, holding his sword in one hand while dragging two gnolls by their hind legs with the other, like dead dogs, out of the trees.

He dragged the two gnolls in front of Tongtong, causing her and her mother to step back in fright.

Meng Xingchen handed the longsword to Tongtong. “Kill them.”

Ye Feng and Xiao Yun, stepping closer, noticed the gnolls’ chests still rising and falling slightly—the creatures were merely knocked unconscious, not killed.

Tongtong looked at Meng Xingchen timidly, unsure what to do, then sought help from her mother.

Though uncertain of Meng Xingchen’s intent, He Qingwan nodded encouragingly at Tongtong.

Summoning courage, Tongtong took the longsword but hesitated, unsure where to strike. Meng Xingchen steadied the blade, guiding Tongtong to place the tip over the gnoll’s heart.

Releasing the sword, Meng Xingchen nodded in encouragement. Tongtong inhaled deeply, pressed her lips tight, closed her eyes, and leaned forward, pressing her weight onto the blade, piercing the gnoll’s heart.

She repeated the same method to kill the other gnoll. Meng Xingchen then kicked the bloody bodies far away and said to the panting Tongtong, “Check how much bio-energy you’ve gained.”

Tongtong checked and replied, “Forty-eight points.”

Meng Xingchen nodded. “Level up, then put the free attribute points into constitution.”

This operation was not only to assist Tongtong but also a test. It was now certain that only the one who inflicts fatal damage on a monster can obtain its bio-energy—and they receive all of it.

After leveling up and allocating points, a flush of color returned to Tongtong’s pale face, her physical condition visibly improved.

He Qingwan, watching tensely throughout, was overcome with emotion, covering her mouth and silently shedding tears. Ye Feng and the others, witnessing this, felt both envious and inspired.

The one who felt the improvement most keenly was Tongtong herself, who gratefully said to Meng Xingchen, “Thank you, Brother Meng.”

Meng Xingchen smiled, patting her head. “No need to thank me. Brother also needs Tongtong’s help.”

Afterward, under Zhai Yao’s guidance, Tongtong extracted metal from various parts of the plane wreckage, combining them into a metal mass, then stretched it into a sword blank.

The entire process was astonishing. At normal temperature, the hard metal became as fluid as liquid, controlled at will by Tongtong as she pulled it from the wreckage, metals naturally fusing into a single mass.

When stretching the sword blank, Tongtong, unfamiliar with the final longsword shape, couldn’t shape it as Meng Xingchen desired.

Yet, she could soften the hard metal to the consistency of clay, allowing Zhai Yao to reshape the sword blank freely with both hands into the ideal longsword Meng Xingchen envisioned.

Meng Xingchen tenderly stroked the freshly forged sword, unable to part with it.

The entire sword measured 1.2 meters: a 20-centimeter hilt and a 1-meter blade, the widest part only 3.5 centimeters across, sleek and seamless.

Swinging the sword, Meng Xingchen familiarized himself with its feel. As requested, the sword was sturdy yet retained a degree of flexibility.

At that moment, a quarrel erupted nearby. Meng Xingchen turned to see a middle-aged woman tugging at a young man clutching a foam box.

Frowning, he approached and asked, “What’s going on here?”

The middle-aged woman, seeming to gain confidence from his presence, clung to the young man’s sleeve, refusing to let go. “This young man is hoarding food. These are critical times; all food should be centrally managed and distributed. He’s utterly lacking in a sense of the bigger picture.”

The young man’s face flushed red as he protested, “There’s no food in here.”

The woman smirked, “How is that possible? I just saw some potatoes and rice in that box.”

All eyes turned to him, even little Tongtong tilted her head suspiciously. The young man’s face flushed even deeper, almost bleeding with embarrassment as he explained, “These are seeds, not food.”

His name was Yuan Jinglong, a graduate student at the Agricultural University specializing in seed cultivation. The foam box truly contained experimental seeds of crops like potatoes and rice.

After hearing Yuan Jinglong’s explanation, Meng Xingchen’s eyes sparkled like he’d found a priceless treasure. “What special ability have you awakened?”

Meng Xingchen’s gaze made Yuan Jinglong uneasy; he stepped back awkwardly. “Plant... plant control.”

Upon hearing this, Meng Xingchen nearly laughed aloud. With Yuan Jinglong and his seed box, food shortages would no longer be a worry.

The arrival of Zhai Yao and Yuan Jinglong made Meng Xingchen realize a grave mistake: the most vital resource was not the plane wreckage supplies but the survivors themselves.

Hurrying to Captain Zhao Changfeng, who was organizing the salvage of the wreckage, Meng Xingchen said, “Captain Zhao, I’d like to discuss something with you.”

After a brief discussion, Meng Xingchen raised his voice: “Sorry to take up everyone’s time. To better cooperate and complete the second main mission, we want to collect everyone’s basic information: name, age, and awakened talents or abilities.”

Seeing all eyes on him, Meng Xingchen pointed to Zhao Changfeng and the flight attendants beside him. “Please line up and register your information with the cabin crew. This is not about invading privacy but about understanding everyone’s capabilities to better coordinate manpower and accomplish the mission.”

“Since I proposed this, I’ll start. My name is Meng Xingchen. Before crossing over, I was a sophomore in college. My ability is Insight, enhancing my visual capacity and allowing me to break invisibility and illusions.”

“I excel in close combat. Through system rewards, I’ve learned internal energy cultivation, lightness skill, and swordsmanship. I also have some mid-to-long-range attack ability, mainly using thrown short spears.”

The chief flight attendant then led two stewardesses to register the survivors’ information, while Captain Zhao continued organizing those who had completed registration to sort through the wreckage supplies.

Upon receiving the personnel registration list, Meng Xingchen couldn’t help but marvel.

The flight was not full; including passengers and crew, there were 127 people. Amid the gnoll and kobold attacks, 17 had died, leaving 110 survivors.

The awakening ratio between talents and abilities was roughly half and half: 53 with talents awakened, 57 with abilities.

The talents were diverse with almost no repeats: forging like Zhai Yao, tailoring awakened by a middle-aged woman, and super memory talent by the chief flight attendant, Xu Jingya.

One middle-aged man named Liang Junyi caught Meng Xingchen’s special attention. He was an engineer before crossing over and now had awakened a building talent, likely to play a crucial role in future camp construction.

The abilities roughly fell into two categories: elemental control and physical enhancement.

Tongtong’s metal control, Ye Feng and Xiao Yun’s fire control fell under elemental control, while Meng Xingchen’s Insight was classified as physical enhancement.