4: Chapter 4 Digging for Participation Energy

Lu Hu could easily inherit Tiger Dad's territory.

As for Mother Tiger's territory, Lu Hu didn't think much of it and didn't plan on staying long, but before leaving, he intended to collect a few things.

Following memories from a year and a half ago, Lu Hu slowly explored a hilltop, his pink nose constantly sniffing, occasionally extending a tiger paw to dig at the soil.

He was looking for the Ginseng he had planted back then. As soon as he had learned to run, Lu Hu relied on his tiger Constitution and memories of his past life to search everywhere in the mountains for medicinal herbs like Ginseng and lingzhi to eat.

As long as it wasn't toxic, Lu Hu wouldn't refuse anything; he ate whatever he saw. In these deep mountains and old forests, there were no traces of humans.

Medicinal resources were abundant. Lu Hu remembered that back then, he basically munched on two Ginseng roots a day.

Regardless of how many years old the Ginseng was, as long as he found it, it went into his stomach. When the medicinal herbs in Mother Tiger's territory became scarce from his eating, Lu Hu realized that if he continued like this, he would eventually exhaust his resources.

So, during his daily strolls, he didn't forget to do some planting whenever he could.

He specifically collected the seeds when the Ginseng fruit ripened and brought them back to plant around Mother Tiger's den, thinking he would eat them once they grew up.

Now, that batch of Ginseng had been growing for at least a year and a half, with the oldest batch being two and a half years old.

Since he planned to leave, he wouldn't be able to look after that batch of Ginseng. It would be a shame if they were eaten by other animals, so Lu Hu planned to eat them all now.

Even though they weren't fully mature, it was fine as long as they contained medicinal power and were effective.

Lu Hu remembered that he had planted a great many Ginseng roots. Even if the medicinal power of each was weak, if he ate them all, the accumulated power shouldn't be inferior to those old mountain Ginsengs.

"Awooo~~"

Lu Hu found his original den; it had now become a den for a pack of wolves.

When Lu Hu appeared there, the wolves panicked one by one and hurriedly fled.

The young wolves had never seen such a behemoth, but the fear in their bones left them without the courage to resist.

They could only pace uneasily in the distance, watching Lu Hu as he turned over the soil around their den.

"Awoo!"

Suddenly, Lu Hu roared in pleasant surprise; he had found it.

This weed-covered area was exactly where he had planted the Ginseng back then.

The area wasn't small, about a hundred square meters. Lu Hu didn't know much about planting; he just dug a hole, buried the seeds, and then pissed on it to finish the job. He had planted them very densely.

The germination and survival rate of the Ginseng Lu Hu planted should have been very low, but he couldn't help that he had planted so many; some had sprouted and grown successfully.

Lu Hu began to dig. After digging up the immature Ginseng, he gave them a couple of shakes and, without being picky about the remaining soil, ate them directly.

His movements were rough; once he saw a Ginseng, he would just dig and pull, ignoring the root hairs and just eating the main part.

As he ate the Ginseng one by one, a distinct warm current flowed through Lu Hu's body, nourishing his frame.

[Constitution +1]

Lu Hu wasn't surprised. He used to get these prompts when he munched on a lot of herbs as a cub.

He had been reincarnated with his memories, so what was so strange about having a bit of a golden finger? Besides, this golden finger wasn't particularly impressive; it was just a rigid, non-intelligent thing.

Lu Hu continued to eat. As a large amount of Ginseng entered his stomach, the warm currents in his body increased, and his massive body seemed to shrink just a little bit at this moment.

This wasn't an illusion; it was real.

Lu Hu found that there seemed to be no upper limit to his physical Growth; after eating meat, his body would grow continuously.

Once it accumulated to a certain point, he would receive a [Growth +1] prompt.

But when he ate herbs like Ginseng and lingzhi, and they accumulated until a [Constitution +1] appeared, the medicinal power of these herbs would turn into a warm current in his body, burning away Lu Hu's own flesh to nourish his bones and foundation.

Eating meat allowed his size to increase, while eating herbs made his Constitution stronger, tempering his body over and over again.

A year and a half ago, after Mother Tiger had dumped Lu Hu in Tiger Dad's territory, the reason he could shamelessly mooch off Tiger Dad's food was because of this.

After his body had been tempered repeatedly, his ability to take a hit had long since surpassed that of tigers of the same size.

Even a vicious tiger doesn't eat its cubs, and Tiger Dad wouldn't actually kill Lu Hu. His attacks were like a painless massage to Lu Hu.

Lu Hu wasn't a masochist; if it really hurt, he would have left long ago.

So, Lu Hu stayed by Tiger Dad's side to show his filial piety, helping Tiger Dad increase his hunting success rate so that Tiger Dad could survive better.

In passing, he also searched for herbs to eat in Tiger Dad's territory. While he seemed to be frolicking and playing everywhere every day, he was actually seriously looking for herbs like Ginseng to eat.

He stayed by Tiger Dad's side for a year and a half like this. Because he had eaten the Ginseng until they became rare and hard to find, the balance between Lu Hu eating meat and eating herbs was broken.

His size couldn't be controlled and gradually became even larger than Tiger Dad's.

"Sigh~"

Thinking about it now, it was probably because his size had become too large recently that Tiger Dad felt despair and ran away overnight.

Lu Hu sighed and continued to rummage through the ground for Ginseng.

Each dig with his giant tiger paw left a hole. Upon finding a Ginseng, he would use the tip of a claw to gently hook it out.

Lu Hu stayed busy until dark, until the entire tiger had turned into a dirt-covered tiger.

"Awoo~"

Lu Hu was tired. After yawning, he lay on his side and fell asleep, and soon loud snores rang out.

The wolf pack in the distance couldn't return to their home. After seeing that the tiger had fallen asleep, they also went to rest.

The next day, Lu Hu rarely didn't sleep in, waking up to the rising morning sun.

He stretched his tiger body; his size was a bit smaller than yesterday because the Ginseng he ate had burned away some of his flesh.

Although his size was smaller, his Constitution had clearly become stronger. An increase in size only increased strength, while a stronger Constitution was an all-around improvement in stamina, defense, agility, and more.

With the results being so significant, Lu Hu continued digging for Ginseng.

The Ginseng patch wasn't large, and only one small section remained.

The last few undug Ginseng roots were those he had planted when he was still a cub. They were the oldest, at two and a half years, and their medicinal power was greater than those from yesterday.

After Lu Hu had dug up seven Ginseng roots in a row and was digging up the eighth, a mechanical voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

[Ding! Successfully harvested one Ginseng. Reward: one wisp of primordial qi.]

[Current Task: Harvest ten Ginseng roots (1/10)]

Meow?

No, Awoo?

Lu Hu's tiger eyes widened, and his large head froze, completely still.

'system bro, you can talk?'

Lu Hu called out in his heart, Meow... bah, Awoo,

So the system wasn't just a rigid thing after all.

He had been reincarnated as a tiger for two and a half years before he found out.

However, after receiving no response to his mental call, Lu Hu sighed.

system bro is a bit aloof.

"Awoo~"

Suddenly, a powerful warm current emerged in his body. It should be the reward system bro had just announced being delivered. Lu Hu closed his eyes in comfort, seriously enjoying it.

This warm current was extremely thick, countless times more substantial and pure than the warm currents produced by munching on Ginseng.

Crack, crack~

This energy allowed Lu Hu's body to break through some kind of limit, and the foundation he had accumulated from munching on herbs for two and a half years exploded in full force.

Lu Hu's bones popped and cracked, and his body visibly shrank.

After a while, the warm current in his body disappeared. Lu Hu opened his eyes, and a sharp light flashed through them.

"Awoo-roar——!"

Lu Hu's voice was several times more powerful than usual. Spreading out with Lu Hu as the center, a highly penetrating infrasound wave echoed in the ears of all the beasts in the mountain forest.

At this moment, the ears of countless birds and beasts throbbed with pain, their hearts raced, their scalps went numb, and their minds went blank.

Meanwhile, the ants, birds, and insects near Lu Hu were all deterred by the tiger's roar; their entire bodies went rigid, and they fell straight to the ground, motionless.

If one looked closely, a small portion of them already had bodies that were growing cold.

Truly, a tiger's roar in the mountains shakes the heavens and earth.

None of the creatures dared to make a sound; the entire mountain became silent and noiseless at this moment.

After a long time, the various beasts finally reacted and fled in all directions for their lives.

"Awoo~" (Refreshing!)

This was the first time Lu Hu's strength had made such a clear and significant leap forward. After recovering, Lu Hu used a strong act of will for quite a while until finally, a light screen appeared in his mind.

[Harvest ten Ginseng roots (1/10)]

Meow, the system really does have a panel; I have to use a focused act of will to call it out.

Lu Hu tried it twice more, and the light screen disappeared and reappeared in his mind.

After mastering the ability to view the system's light screen, Lu Hu finally began to study its functions.

But no matter how Lu Hu operated it, the light screen didn't change. He couldn't find how to use or view a system inventory, his own stats, or anything else; there was only one task.

[Harvest ten Ginseng roots! (1/10)]

Could this be a novice task?

Would the system officially start after completing it?

Lu Hu thought to himself that this system didn't withhold rewards. The entire task was to harvest ten Ginseng roots, but he had only harvested one and already received a system reward.

Immediate payment; labor yields immediate returns.

A truly benevolent system in the system world!

A single wisp of primordial qi from one root was already so impressive; if he got nine more, wouldn't he evolve?

"Awoo-roar~" (How is 'harvest' defined?)

Lu Hu wasn't sleepy anymore, and his lazy state vanished into thin air.

He was full of energy and couldn't wait to complete this task, but now there was a problem before him: how exactly did the system define the task of harvesting Ginseng?

Over these two and a half years, if he hadn't dug up a thousand Ginseng roots, he had certainly dug up eight hundred!

But he had never received a system prompt before.

...