I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

The boy carrying buckets and water was Dunn.

He wasn't tall, but he was sturdy, with dark skin and small abrasions on his arms from working. Seeing the watchman beside him, he neither approached nor hid.

They do their own work, occasionally glancing up at this side before looking down again to continue moving things.

Lu Yuan noticed his work habits.

Once a bucket of pesticide is mixed, he'll glance around to see which patches haven't been treated yet, then grab the bucket and head over. No one needs to rush him. His pesticide application technique is excellent; he applies the pesticide gently but effectively, leaving no areas untreated and wasting any.

He would carefully turn over the gray woodworms that were lying on the back of the leaves and flick them off one by one.

At sixteen, he acts with a composure beyond his years, neither hasty nor impatient. After finishing his tasks, he stands still to survey the overall progress and then decides where to go next.

It's clearly a habit honed from living independently for a long time.

The gray-white text at the edge of my field of vision jumped up and down.

[Target for detection: Dunn]

[An ordinary human being, no, his reason seems to be more resilient.]

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow at the gray and white comments that were "not bad."

Bor walked over and spoke to him for a few minutes.

As a medicine deliveryman, we chatted about things in town. Dunn's answers were brief and clear, responding to each question directly.

His voice wasn't loud, but he spoke each word clearly, neither ambiguous nor ingratiating.

Another person was at the other end of the medicinal herb field.

Jürgen.

He was half a head taller than Dunn, a bit thin, but with strong lines, broad shoulders, and not much excess fat.

There is a faint scar below my left ear down to my jawline. It has healed, but the mark is still visible.

The direction of the scar indicates that the injury came from the side and was very deep, almost reaching the throat.

He carried a short hunting knife with him at his waist, even when working in the medicinal herb field.

The gray text jumped again.

[Target for detection: Jürgen (mysterious and extraordinary)]

[Having embarked on the path to transcendence...a young hunter driven by hatred, perhaps his ultimate fate is to completely lose control.]

Lu Yuan stared blankly at the gray and white text.

Bizarre and extraordinary?

Has Jürgen embarked on the path to the extraordinary?

Lu Yuan, with a touch of curiosity, glanced at him a few more times; the work he was doing was no different from anyone else's.

But Lu Yuan noticed something: when Jürgen was working, his gaze would unconsciously wander around.

Jürgen moved faster than Dunn, almost in a rush, as if he wanted to finish quickly so he could do something else.

There is one detail.

While sweeping away insects, he found a particularly large gray borer under a patch of silver leaves. It was almost twice the size of the others, with dense gray-green hairs and its mouthparts open, looking as if it had eaten its fill.

Jürgen paused for a moment.

He looked down at the insect for two seconds, then stomped on it.

Bizarre and extraordinary.

As Lu Yuan looked at the line of gray text, many things came together at that moment, explaining why he had survived the strange creature's clutches.

An eighteen-year-old hunter's son, alone in a small town on the edge of an ancient forest, unknowingly and without any explanation, embarked on a path to the extraordinary.

Without guidance, without the Night's Watch system, without knowledge, without training, they have figured themselves out and made it to where they are today.

He's simply a genius.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze, not lingering on him for long.

Halfway through the morning, someone from town brought me water and bread.

Everyone put down their work and squatted down to eat in the open space next to the herb garden.

Several elderly people squatted together, chatting about whose lamp oil ran out last night, and whether the water level in the stream was lower than in previous years.

Lu Yuan also squatted down and ate a few bites.

The bread was rough but chewy, with the original flavor of wheat. The water was drawn from the stream, cool, and had a slightly sweet taste.

Bor chatted easily with several people in town. He could talk to anyone; the men talked about hunting, the women talked about the weather, and he could make them laugh in just a few words.

That's his skill. Lu Yuan has observed him many times; Bohr has a natural ease in social situations, a quality that's actually rarer among the Night's Watch than in combat.

Lu Yuan munched on a flatbread, taking advantage of a break to scan the other young people in the herb field. Grayish-white text jumped up one by one, all of them basic information, neat and tidy.

The pesticides were delivered throughout the morning, most of the pest infestation was dealt with, and the first impressions of the two candidates were also formed.

Nobody knows what he's looking at.

The work in the medicinal herb field was finished, and the people from town who had helped gradually dispersed.

Lu Yuan and Boer walked along the stone path by the stream toward the base, while Harold lagged behind, talking to an old man carrying a bamboo basket. His voice was not loud, and it was hard to hear clearly from a distance.

The afternoon sun filtered through the gaps in the tree canopy, casting warm patches of light on the stone path. A stream flowed by beside it, its sound soft and gentle.

After walking for a while, Bor spoke.

"How is it?"

Lu Yuan did not answer immediately. He took a few steps on the stone slab before speaking.

"Dunner is fine."

Bohr awaits the next installment.

"Jürgen has already embarked on the extraordinary path."

Bohr paused. He turned his head to look at Lu Yuan, his brows furrowing.

How did you find out?

"I can see things that others can't," Lu Yuan said briefly.

Bohr opened his mouth, then closed it again. After two seconds, he slapped his forehead, as if he had remembered something.

"I almost forgot, you really do have that ability." He took a breath, his tone becoming more serious. "Strange and extraordinary... According to protocol, this kind of situation should first be reported back to headquarters for Klaus to decide."

He paused for a moment and glanced at Lu Yuan.

"But this time you're leading the team. You handle it."

Lu Yuan nodded. "I understand."

He thought for a moment, then said, "Give me the copper box. I'll find some time this afternoon to test both of them separately. I'll also take a look around town to see if there are any other suitable candidates."

Bor took out the palm-sized brass box from his satchel and handed it to him.

Lu Yuan took it. The bronze box was heavier than expected, and it felt cool to the touch. Several shallow inscriptions and sealing patterns were engraved on its surface. He put the box in his pocket, close to his chest, so that it was not visible from the outside.

The two didn't say anything more. The base was just ahead.

in the afternoon.

Boer stayed at the base to help Harold organize the medicinal herb inventory and continue to oversee procurement, while Lu Yuan left the base alone and walked along the stream towards the town center.

The town is small; it takes less than the time it takes to walk from one end of the town to the other.

The afternoon sun shone on the stone roofs, giving them a warm gray glow.

The stream flows through the middle of the town, and the moss on the stone bridge shines bright green in the sunlight. Several elderly people sit on the stone piers by the bridge and chat in low voices.

A woman was drying herbs on a bamboo tray by the door, occasionally raising her hand to swat away small flying insects that landed on them.

Two children were squatting on a rock by the stream, throwing pebbles into the water. The pebbles made a series of splashing sounds as they hit the water.

The pace here is completely different from that of Bronze City.

As Lu Yuan walked along the stream, he passed several young people who were resting after finishing their work. When his gaze swept over them, the gray and white characters at the edge of his field of vision jumped up as usual.

[Testing Target: Residents of Gubo Town]

That was the end of it; there was no follow-up, and the same thing happened to the second person.

Normal people, the vast majority of people in this town are normal people.

Lu Yuan continued walking, and when he crossed the stone bridge, he glanced at two teenagers carrying goods at the bridgehead. The gray text there was only one line of basic information, clean and simple, with nothing special about it.

I already scanned the medicinal herb field this morning, and there was nothing special.

Now let's see if we've missed anything in town.

So far, there hasn't been any.

Then he noticed a girl.

Downstream from the stream, a woman was squatting by the water washing herbs, with a girl of about fourteen or fifteen years old beside her.

The girl soaked her hands in the stream, washing each herb one by one. Her movements were slow but her technique was meticulous. She would scrub the soil off the roots of each herb a few more times, and after washing them clean, she would neatly arrange them in the bamboo basket next to her.

As Lu Yuan passed by, the gray and white text jumped up.

[Testing Target: Residents of Gubo Town]

[A faint sensory fluctuation was detected...]

An extra line has been added.

Lu Yuan slowed his pace by half a beat. He didn't stop, but his gaze lingered on the girl for a couple more seconds.

The girl didn't notice his gaze; she kept her head down and continued washing the herbs.

Lu Yuan did not go up to speak to him.

He kept this information in mind and continued walking.

This is not within the scope of this mission.

Just go back and file it, then report it to Klaus.

Next to the stone monument in the town center, the door to the mayor's house was open.

When Lu Yuan arrived nearby, the town mayor was sitting on a chair by the door, a pipe between his fingers. When he saw Lu Yuan coming, he raised his chin to signal him to come over.

"Sit down." The mayor brought over a glass of water from inside the house.

Lu Yuan took a sip; the water was cold and had a slightly bitter taste from being soaked in herbs.

The two chatted for a bit about medicinal herbs. The quality of silver leaf grass was okay this year, but the yield was reduced by 20% due to pests, and the supply of bitter root vine was also tight.

The mayor's words were concise.

Then the topic took a turn.

"Things haven't been very peaceful in the woods lately." The mayor took a puff of his pipe, exhaled a wisp of smoke, and squinted as he looked towards the treeline across the stream.

"The hunters report that more animals are venturing out from the edge of the ancient forest. It's not a normal migration; the deer herds have retreated from the deep forest to the outskirts a month earlier than usual, and some groups have even ventured into the open areas near the town."

He paused for a moment.

"The animals running out means something inside is trying to get out."

Lu Yuan didn't respond, waiting for him to continue.

"It's happened before, every few years it'll happen for a while. But this year it's much more frequent, and it's come earlier." The mayor took his pipe from his mouth and twirled it in his hand. "I've already spoken to Harold, and he said he'll keep an eye on it. But he's the only one at the base, and he's getting old."

He glanced at Lu Yuan, his tone very direct.

"When you get back, could you please mention it to the branch office? The people in town don't have any decent weapons; if something comes out of the woods, torches and hunting knives won't be of much use."

Lu Yuan nodded. "I'll go back and give them a message."

The mayor didn't stand on ceremony, nodded, put his pipe back in his mouth, and the conversation naturally turned to this year's silverleaf harvest.

Lu Yuan made a mental note of this.