13: Chapter 13 Observation

Two days later, May 23rd, light rain.

The rain had been falling since early morning, a gentle patter that made a soft, rustling sound as it hit the concrete ground in the courtyard.

Chen Mo woke up just past four o'clock as usual. He glanced out the window; the sky was grey and not yet fully light.

Without hesitation, he put on his waterproof jacket and went out.

Rain did not hinder his training.

As long as there was no thunder, rainy days were actually better conditions for training. The mud on the ground added instability, which provided even stronger stimulation for his ankles and core.

Moreover, there wouldn't be anyone on the mountain on a rainy day; even the elderly who gathered firewood wouldn't come out.

His current training was primarily about searching for Spiritual Qi.

However, the strengthening effect of Spiritual Qi on a body without muscle damage was relatively weak, so he still had to train first, then search for Spiritual Qi to recover and grow stronger after finishing his workout.

After finishing his training, he returned, showered, ate, and then sat in the Main Hall to begin the second task of the day.

It wasn't training. It was research.

A pile of printed materials was spread out on the table, and several web pages were open on the laptop screen next to it, all content he had been collecting and organizing over the past few days.

Since discovering the existence of Spiritual Qi, he had begun to systematically monitor two things: first, whether there was any pattern to the distribution of Spiritual Qi itself, and second, whether the outside world, especially the official level, had noticed these changes.

Regarding the distribution of Spiritual Qi, after hundreds of sample absorptions under different terrain conditions over the past two days, he had already figured out a preliminary pattern.

The concentration distribution of Spiritual Qi in the air was uniform.

There was no difference between mountainous areas and flat land, and it had nothing to do with whether it was early morning or afternoon.

The amount of Spiritual Qi present within a large area was roughly the same; there was no difference between the city and the mountains.

It had no correlation with environmental, airflow, temperature, or humidity meteorological factors.

It was as if it didn't exist in the same dimension as us.

Currently, he only knew that it was pitifully thin overall, and even this conclusion was something he had barely pieced together after trekking over mountains for several consecutive days.

He opened a notebook and wrote down a few questions.

What was the growth curve of Spiritual Qi concentration?

Was it linear growth or exponential growth?

He couldn't be sure right now.

Did the Spiritual Qi actually come from underground or from outside the atmosphere?

Judging by its current uniformly dispersed manner, both were possible.

Also, if the concentration of Spiritual Qi continued to increase to a critical value, would it be detected by instruments?

Would it be exposed beyond his cognitive world, causing everyone to notice it overnight?

There were no answers to these questions.

He had already checked today's system panel data while on the mountain.

His punch force was 525kg, having already surpassed half a ton.

Mental Power was 1.9.

From the day after discovering Spiritual Qi until now, his strength had increased by 75 kilograms; everything was growing steadily.

The world was changing.

He had to become stronger, and before that, he must absolutely not expose himself.

Chen Mo did not begin his evening technical training as usual.

He opened his notebook to a blank page and wrote a line at the top:

"spirit energy particles, preliminary summary of patterns."

Then he paused, closed his eyes, and went over all the fragments of perception from the past two days in his mind again.

It wasn't just recalling, it was analyzing.

It was classifying and recording the data feedback he collected when passing through every terrain and at every time point.

A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and began to write.

First, the form of existence of Spiritual Qi in space was not uniform diffusion, but discrete distribution in units of particles.

Each particle was a tiny energy source that wouldn't move actively, but would only slowly dissipate in place.

This was the first point he had confirmed.

Today, while running on the mountain ridge, he discovered that not every place had spirit energy particles, which were the sources of Spiritual Qi.

Most places only had the portion that dissipated from the particles.

The Spiritual Qi that dissipated this way was too little for Chen Mo; absorbing at this rate in one spot might only compare to the effect of absorbing one particle in a whole day, and the improvement to his body could basically be ignored.

Only the effect of the spirit energy particles was truly significant.

However, the reaction duration of the spirit energy particles was very short.

In the end, there was still too little Spiritual Qi in the air.

Second, the concentration of Spiritual Qi was roughly uniform on a macroscopic scale, but to absorb it efficiently, one had to get close to the particles.

This was also confirmed after repeated verification.

In the tens of kilometers of mountain roads he ran today, he had captured dozens of reaction points of particles.

If these points were marked on a map, it would be found that they were distributed roughly evenly throughout the entire mountain forest area.

They were on the mountain peaks, in the deep valleys, in the depths of the dense forest, and could also be encountered on bare rocky slopes.

There were no obvious gathering areas, nor was there any terrain where the particle density was significantly higher than elsewhere.

But the absorption efficiency was not like that.

He did a simple test.

At two points about two hundred meters apart, he had sensed spirit energy particles using his ability.

At the first point, he stood in the center of the particle, and the system panel absorption reaction was extremely intense; a warm current surged through his entire body almost instantly, and the recovery effect was immediate.

At the second point, he deliberately stood about five steps away from the position where the sensing was strongest, and his ability could only slowly pull the spirit energy particles over to be absorbed.

The closer he was to the particle, the more he absorbed, and the faster it was.

The further away from the particle, the slower the absorption.

Third, the system panel gave him the ability to actively absorb spirit energy particles, which ordinary humans did not have.

Ordinary life forms could currently only passively receive the tiny bit of energy that dissipated.

This point was the most critical.

When he was running back and forth on the mountain, he passed at least three places with vegetation that happened to be right next to spirit energy particles.

He stopped to observe those plants.

A small cluster of shrubs, an old pine tree, a few clusters of unnamed wild grass.

They had no abnormal reactions.

The leaves didn't become greener because of it, and there were no signs of accelerated root growth.

The spirit energy particles were dissipating right next to them; the plants passively received a tiny fraction, but they didn't have the ability to actively pull Spiritual Qi into their own bodies.

Not to mention animals.

He passed by a few squirrels and a flock of tits.

The frequency of the birds' wing flapping hadn't changed, and the posture of the squirrels jumping in the forest hadn't changed either.

The spirit energy particles still dissipated and radiated, but the animals within the radiation radius had no reaction.

As for humans.

He browsed the news and forums in the afternoon.

There were no reports at home or abroad about the human body actively absorbing abnormal substances.

No one in the forums was discussing physical changes, and no one even asked if the air had gotten better recently.

Currently, only he was.

Only he had the system panel, had the ability to actively find the location of spirit energy particles, and had the ability to actively absorb them.

Ordinary people could only passively receive that tiny bit of energy that particles dissipated into space.

The concentration was too low, the amount was too small, and it couldn't be felt at all.

It was like a person standing by a wide river, drinking with a straw as thin as a hair in their mouth.

They could drink a little water, but the water level in the cup rose so slowly, so slowly that the person drinking might think it was just their own saliva secreted in their throat.

Fourth, according to the current particle concentration and dissipation speed, it would probably take another one to two months for ordinary people to go from passively benefiting to being able to clearly perceive physical changes.

By then, the small portion of people closest to the particles would be the first to notice.

He drew a simple timeline on the edge of the whiteboard.

If the current concentration continued to grow slowly, and based on the daily increment added to the passive absorption rate, in about thirty to forty days, the people closest to the particles would begin to experience visible physical changes.

First, various chronic pains would disappear, then physical strength would obviously increase, energy recovery would accelerate, and then strength would grow.

The growth rate of plants would also accelerate, and I'm afraid that plants that break through their growth limits would appear before long.

But Chen Mo was certain: he was standing on a track that only he was on.

The gun hadn't fired yet, but he had already run several kilometers.

Next, a more critical question was placed before him.

Cultivation Technique.

He had previously tried the Classic of Muscle Transformation, Eight-Section Qigong, and an Internal Skill method that he couldn't find a complete version of online, but none of them worked.

But back then, Spiritual Qi hadn't appeared yet.

Would those Internal Skill methods that had been passed down for hundreds or thousands of years also change?

If he tried them again in the place closest to the spirit energy particles, would there be a different reaction?

And plants.

Ordinary wild grass had no movement yet, but what if one day, some kind of plant happened to take root near a dense area of spirit energy particles and mutated after passively absorbing too much?

If there was such a place in the core of the Shennong Mountain Range, it might not glow or shine as in legends, but there must be an essential difference between it and ordinary plants.

He wasn't sure, but he needed to know.

He picked up his pen, turned to the new column at the bottom of the page, and wrote down three things.

First, go to other famous mountain areas for comparative monitoring.

Determine whether the appearance of spirit energy particles was related to terrain and altitude, or if it was purely randomly distributed in nature.

Second, verify the reaction of ancient Internal Skill Mind-Cultivation Techniques in a Spiritual Qi environment.

Re-test the breathing methods and Standing Post of projects like the Classic of Muscle Transformation and Eight-Section Qigong in areas dense with particles to see if they were truly effective.

Third, conduct continuous observation on the edge of the Shennong Mountain Range.

Pay attention to whether any plants had already shown abnormal growth rates and whether there were any obvious changes in root morphology.

Everything had a safe distance as the bottom line.

After writing, he picked up the whiteboard marker and marked the bolded word "Safety" next to it.

Thinking could be infinite, but actions must have boundaries.

Observation was the priority; do not rashly go deep into the core area; everything was based on his own safety.

This was the principle he had written in the front of his notebook from the first day the system panel appeared, and it would still not change now.

It was late at night, and the chirping of insects in the mountains seeped in from outside the window.

Chen Mo closed the pen cap, stood up, walked to the window, and glanced outside.

The outline of the back mountain under the moonlight was as quiet as usual.

The air was still permeated with invisible energy sources, slowly dissipating their trace of radiance.

And these radiances were also silently seeping into the leaf tips of the grass, the pores of the soil, and the cortex of tree roots.

In another month or two, the first batch of people closest to the particles would begin to notice changes in their bodies.

After longer, this range would expand, and the world would also usher in new changes.

He closed the curtains, turned off the lights, and lay flat on the bed.

He had to continue training tomorrow.