Chapter 410: Maxing Out the Night Wanderer Level

Chapter 410: Maximizing the Night Wanderer

May 17th was a Sunday. Wu Tong drove over to the Damei Studio, and before long, Wang Yanan stepped out from inside.

"Where is Meng Fan? Still training?"

Wang Yanan got into the car, casually asking as she buckled her seatbelt. Wang Yanan and Wu Tong frequently made plans to visit the zoo together to see Taili. Sometimes Meng Fan would accompany them, while other times the two women would arrive first, and Meng Fan would meet them later. Today was also a day for visiting the big cat.

"I am not entirely sure. He is probably out on some training assignment."

Wu Tong naturally knew what Meng Fan was up to next. To tell the truth, even she found it baffling whether Meng Fan's visits to various provincial sports academies for exchanges were genuine training sessions or just a quirky indulgence. However, while this matter was not kept strictly secret, there was no need to tell everyone. Primarily, telling Wang Yanan would serve no purpose anyway.

Over the past few days, Wu Tong and Wang Yanan had visited the zoo to see Taili quite a few times. Furthermore, both of them had followed Meng Fan down into the tiger's den to stroke the big cat, making them quite familiar with Taili by now.

Wu Tong was originally neither a cat lover nor a cat hater, but after adopting a stray cat, she had gradually grown fond of them, and she naturally liked the big cat Taili as well. Wang Yanan, on the other hand, was an avid cat lover to begin with. For her, being able to pet a tiger once in her life was an absolute dream. Now, that dream had already been fulfilled several times over.

Of course, no matter how familiar they were, neither Wu Tong nor Wang Yanan would dare to go down there without Meng Fan by their side. At most, they would conduct a round of feeding from the edge. The food for the feeding, naturally, was provided by the zookeepers.

After finishing the feeding, Wu Tong dropped Wang Yanan back at the Damei Studio and then returned to her university. Wang Yanan had been very busy recently, as the Damei Studio had taken on a great deal of work.

After all, with less than three months remaining before the Olympic Games, various promotional campaigns related to the Olympics had begun in full swing. The Damei Studio already had an ongoing partnership with the relevant organizations, and the quality of their previous collaborations had been high. Coupled with the factor of Meng Fan's involvement, a large portion of the comic-related content for the Olympic promotions here in Zhe Province had been funneled to them.

Wu Tong was busy as well, but her busy schedule followed a relatively methodical routine without any sudden emergencies. Even the commissions she took on short notice were simply pushed back in chronological order. Compared to Meng Fan, her speed of producing artwork was naturally very slow. It was often considered quite good if she could finish one piece in a week, and sometimes it took half a month for a single painting.

The commissions she accepted rarely involved commercial artwork; she primarily took on assignments to participate in art exhibitions, and after making the rounds in the exhibition circuit, the paintings would ultimately return to her own possession. Of course, some were sold, but the prices were certainly not high. Or rather, she did not pursue high prices; even when she did sell, it was mainly to people who were painters, artists, or collectors themselves. Through this kind of transaction, it was also a way to increase her own renown.

The profession of a painter was just like that: artistic skill was one thing, and market value was another. While the two could certainly equate to one another, truth be told, the proportion was not high. Instances of superlative artistic skill paired with an obscure reputation were quite common in this field—or rather, it was likely the case in many fields. If translated to the entertainment industry, it would be equivalent to possessing superb acting skills but low public recognition. As long as commercialization was involved, this remained an inevitable phenomenon.

Competitive fields, including competitive sports, were relatively the least affected by this.

"Are you gathering experience across the nation, or are you touring the country?"

In the blink of an eye, it was already the fifth day since Meng Fan's departure. Wu Tong, who was in the middle of painting, once again received a video call from Meng Fan, and one look was enough to tell that he was enjoying himself at yet another scenic attraction.

"I train and spar with the provincial team members during the day, and after dinner when there is nothing to do, I just stroll around. Guess where I am right now?"

Meng Fan turned the camera forward, and Wu Tong saw a lake appear on the screen.

Wu Tong naturally knew Meng Fan's itinerary. His first stop had been Shanghai—where he had not only visited the Shanghai Sports University but had also dropped by Wu Ji's mixed martial arts gym there—and then he had headed north. His second stop was Nanjing, and currently, he was at his third stop, Jinan.

Seeing a lake so obviously situated within a city, Wu Tong naturally knew exactly where he was and smiled. "You didn't go looking for Xia Yuhe, did you?"

"I didn't look for Xia Yuhe, but there really are quite a few lotuses here. They are blooming beautifully in this season, take a look." Meng Fan showed the lotuses to Wu Tong, then pointed the camera here and there, indulging in a rare moment of refined elegance as he said, "This scenery is quite nice. If you don't include those high-rise buildings in the frame, it really captures the essence of 'lotuses on four sides, willows on three sides, a city of mountain scenery, half a city of lake.' Well, this verse is truly well written."

"That is not a poem, but a couplet," Wu Tong laughed. "However, speaking of poetry, I do happen to recall one. This piece was written by that notorious historical playboy who left behind the largest number of surviving poems in history, the one associated with Xia Yuhe. I saw it a while ago when I was flipping through materials regarding his rural restaurant aesthetic. The poem is very long, but I remember the final two couplets very clearly: 'Look at those flourishing plants, rejoice in this trickling stream; how I wish for a sacred decree, so that both near and far may be thoroughly drenched.'"

As for the specific characters used, Meng Fan truly did not know. But from Wu Tong's laugh, he knew that "pengpeng" must refer to the word meaning flourishing, and when combined with the context, whether he knew the exact definition or not, he managed to decipher some of the underlying meaning. With a face full of despair, he said, "I deeply regret ever letting you get to know Meng Caiwei, and I regret even more letting you go out to play with her and Meng Caihe. You have been corrupted!"

On this journey of exchange among national sports academies, besides working on the task for the Thousand-Man Slayer, Meng Fan was also working on the task for the Night Wanderer along the way. In any case, resting after dinner was just resting, so he might as well work on his tasks while doing some sightseeing. From a certain perspective, this journey of exchange truly bore a slight resemblance to traversing the length and breadth of the country to achieve a sudden spiritual enlightenment.

Setting aside those statistics for a moment, from a psychological standpoint, Meng Fan had indeed made progress. After all, having thrown so many diverse athletes and actually engaged in some exchanges with them, and having seen so much scenery, it was bound to bring some benefits.

Leaving Jinan, he headed to Tianjin, then to the imperial capital, and then south to Shijiazhuang. Meng Fan advanced his own "cultivation" at a pace of one location every two days, or two locations every three days.

Meng Fan did not travel alone on this itinerary. The professional team tailored specifically for him accompanied him throughout the entire journey. After all, they were within the Olympic cycle and he had secured so many qualifications; if nothing else, the safety of his food and drink had to be guaranteed to ensure he did not accidentally ingest any performance-enhancing drugs. Furthermore, the authorities from the weightlifting, wrestling, and judo association would certainly not feel at ease if no one accompanied him. How could they possibly be so careless?

In addition to ensuring his sustenance and arranging the exchanges, the professional team also recorded the contents of Meng Fan's "exchanges." They were undoubtedly curious as to whether this method of "fantasy cultivation" used by Meng Fan was effective, and whether it possessed any merit.

Well, if this had been anyone else, it would certainly have been treated as a prank. But in Meng Fan's case, they had to treat it differently; for no other reason than that he was simply too powerful. There was bound to be a reason for his strength, and they could also see the effort Meng Fan put in behind the scenes. Moreover, the efficacy of the "Meng Style Training Method" was becoming increasingly evident. Once the momentum was established, forcibly helping to rationalize it could be considered standard operating procedure.

The weightlifting, wrestling, and judo association successively received messages sent by the team. They paid close attention and felt a deep sense of emotion. Now that so many days and so many stops had passed, they clearly knew that Meng Fan did not have some quirky desire to play a prank, but truly regarded this as "cultivation." It was simply too unscientific!

"Ding!"

It had finally arrived!

Having traveled all the way south and completed his exchange with the Hunan Provincial Sports Academy, he was currently touring Orange Island. Upon hearing the notification sound arise in his mind, Meng Fan exhaled a long breath. He had finally maximized this task of the Night Wanderer.

This task had been triggered for a very long time. Meng Fan had even brought a pillow to sleep out in the open at scenic attractions to work on this task, all for the sake of obtaining a higher capacity to stay up late, thereby making his time more abundant. He had completed phase three of the progress very early on, and feeling that his capacity to stay up late was temporarily sufficient, combined with the fact that there were points available for exchange, he had not worked on it quite so frantically since then.

However, after that, no matter where he went for competitions or other activities, whenever he had the chance more or less, he would work on it a bit. Although the frequency was not high, it had provided a very good foundation. This time, by exchanging and enjoying himself all along the way, he had made up the small number of remaining scenic spots.

"Ding! Accumulated visits to 100 scenic attractions, completed phase four of the Night Wanderer task; Reward: Points +100, Staying Up Capacity +1, Observation Skills +1."

"Ding! Completed the achievement task Night Wanderer, obtained the achievement title Night Wanderer (Staying Up Capacity +5, Observation Skills +3, Aesthetic Appreciation +1)."

After adding 6 new points to his staying up capacity, his total staying up capacity became +10—the rewards from the previous phases of this task had provided 3 points, and he had exchanged for 1 point.

After adding 4 new points to his observation skills, his total observation skills also became +10—the rewards from the previous phases of this task had provided 1 point, he had exchanged for 3 points, and he had allocated 2 points during the second attribute distribution.

After his capacity to stay up late was enhanced, for Meng Fan, it simply meant he could sleep even less at night.

If his observation skills were enhanced, the benefits would be numerous. Whether for painting or sports competition, it was an extremely useful attribute.

As for the additional "Aesthetic Appreciation" that came with this title, for Meng Fan, who studied fine arts, he had previously anticipated this attribute. Moreover, it was an attribute point that came as an extra benefit with the title. According to the previous "pattern," this attribute was bound to be scarcer and more useful than the preceding ones, or at least far rarer.

Meng Fan calmed his mind to carefully feel the effects brought by this attribute, and there was evidently quite a large difference from what he had originally anticipated.

In short, aesthetic appreciation was also a kind of metaphysical attribute. When Meng Fan combined it with the system's interpretation, it was a very illusory yet very real existence. When it was illusory, it was as empty as a man saying he would just touch the surface without entering, or a woman saying she would just look without buying. When it was real, it was more genuine than a clash of fundamental values or the conflict between the salty and sweet factions of food lovers.

When applied to Meng Fan's practical usage, it made him more adept at discovering beauty and creating beauty, increasing his scrutiny of this world as well as his self-scrutiny, and allowing him to commit it to paper.

However, to tell the truth, Meng Fan did not know whether these effects came purely from aesthetic appreciation or were related to the simultaneous increase in his observation skills. The best way to discern this was undoubtedly to use points to exchange for aesthetic appreciation and see the changes in effect, and then—he discovered that aesthetic appreciation could not be exchanged using points!

In other words, this aesthetic appreciation, just like luck, was a special attribute!

It could not be exchanged with points, nor could it be allocated with added points; it could only be obtained through tasks.