"Let's review," he thought aloud while on the move.
Though his book didn't classify the number of realms and their rankings, Ji Yuan made an assumption and underestimated his own strength. With this understanding, he concluded that the Elementary Profound Realm is the first realm of power. This means that the last thing he should do is take risks because of his lack of power.
At least until he returns to the original level of strength Xiao Yuan possessed, he should remain low key.
The first thing to think about is how to get stronger. The book is offering an avenue to strength, but what about the standard rules of this world?
Cultivating profound energy into the body, strengthening it, and increasing one's realm. Learning techniques corresponding to one's realm to better release the energy in a form made for combat. He didn't inherit any memories at all, let alone ones pertaining to this system.
He needs to learn, but he can't exactly go to Blue Wind Profound Palace right now in his current state for multiple reasons. The biggest reason is his own lack of strength. That place has standards and Xiao Yuan barely met the standards. With his reduced strength, they won't accept him.
That's just how it is in worlds like these. Strength is the foundation for everything and a lack of it is the original sin.
The next thing to contemplate is the process of his death and any potential follow ups.
When he awoke in Xiao Yuan's body, there was blood dripping from the back of his neck that seeped into his clothes and stained them. The wound, from what he can feel, didn't even leave a scar, which means that there shouldn't be any sequelae even if the instrument of murder was poisoned.
Ji Yuan doesn't believe that there's too much danger in running around as someone who's assumed to be dead by his enemies right now.
The reason for that is the lack of personal effects on him. It's reasonable to assume that the person who killed him also moonlighted as a bandit and robbed him of all his possessions. Ji Yuan has nothing to identify him and no money to his name. There's not even a storage ring or a storage bag on him.
Though that just might be the fact that this person wasn't rich enough to afford such a thing. He didn't know how much those would cost in this world, but they should at least exist.
However, if he shows up in public, his killer might catch wind of it. This is also one of the reasons why he can't show up to the Blue Wind Profound Palace
The third thing on the agenda is his situation. He's gone over this in his mind multiple times now, but it's best to summarize it with all four current issues.
What he needs is what any average person needs to survive: food, water, and shelter. It's also what an average animal needs to survive. To him, he could be their food, which is why he needs shelter.
Currently, he's hungry and thirsty. That's probably because of the fact that this body lost a lot of energy while dead. He can only be grateful that he didn't wake to a body that had the contents of its bowels vacated, but that's all he can be thankful for.
Ji Yuan shakes his head. Dizziness was setting in, which is why he needed this review to keep him focused.
Last but not least, the Book of Genesis and Terminus.
It contains many things and Ji Yuan is certain he hasn't even scratched the surface of its capabilities. Whether it's those fourteen pathways, its ability to generate resources based on energy gained from recording the dead, or its ability to gather knowledge from his surroundings, it's been nothing but beneficial to him.
Should he be suspicious of this cheat?
If he distrusts it, then he shouldn't use it. If he's going to use it, then he shouldn't distrust it. He has his answer already.
Ji Yuan clapped his hands and summoned the book. As if feeling the desires of its master, it flipped to the page showing the map.
The map progress was currently at 0.8%. Ten minutes have passed. It'll require a minimum 2,500 minutes or 41 hours and 40 minutes to fully complete the map. A safe estimate is probably five days at minimum though.
Will the book gather energy from completing the map?
"Now that I think about it, does it only have to be human corpses that the book can gather energy from? Can't it be animals...or even plants?"
Ji Yuan looked at the grass around him and acted on his thoughts. He needed to do some testing sooner or later and this was the simplest way to find out.
He crouched and picked the grass from the ground, holding the book in one hand.
This book wasn't some auxiliary item that was nothing more than a helpful tool. He could feel that it was very much a part of him. His deep connection with his book allowed him to feel the infinitesimal increase of energy that was less noticeable than a fly landing on a person's hair.
At the same time, the book conveniently recorded the name of the grass on the page to the left of the map.
"Common bluegrass. It can be found all over the Profound Sky Continent with the exception of the colder wastes of the Navy Tide Nation and the dense, venomous marshes of the Black Fiend Nation. They possess no medical efficacy and serve as little more than nutrients for smaller herbivores around the region. However, in the Divine Incense Nation, there are variations of these grass which do possess medical efficacy and serve to strengthen the effect of calming incense."
The book got all that from just a few stalks of grass in his hand.
And even more than that, after it recorded that grass, its location was marked on the map around him, like he was afraid he wouldn't see it.
"This is...extremely useful." For this common grass that's everywhere below his feet, it might be pointless, but for rarer plants and maybe even ores, this could serve a real good purpose.
He could double as a treasure hunter with this book.
"Wait, this can also help me hunt for ingredients!"
Ji Yuan's dizziness became a thing of the past. Fully energized, he began searching for different plants and pulled them from the ground to record them in the book.
As he did so, he discovered another function. He could store these plants into the book, which means he doesn't even need a storage bag or ring anymore.
He takes back anything bad he ever said about his cheat. Even though he can't step to the top of the world in a single jump, he didn't need that nor did he even want that. This is just too helpful.
The transmigrator's journey of filling the map was slightly delayed by him acting as a herb picker. He dug through bushes for berries, picked fruits off of trees, picked different grasses, pulled up weeds, crushed insects, and snapped off tree branches. The last part was a little difficult given their thickness, but he wasn't a regular person anymore. He was a cultivator with superhuman strength, so it just took a little bit more effort than expected.
In the process of Ji Yuan lowering his efficiency of searching for essential survival needs, he found a Poplar Tree. He smiled and picked half of the leaves clean, storing them in the book.
"One less ingredient to worry about."
If there was anything to be disappointed about, it was the negligible increase in energy. Dead plants weren't worth much to this book.
Though, this is a fantasy world. What about those special plants? If cultivators are worth more, then plants that benefit cultivators should also be worth more.
As Ji Yuan added more plants to the book's compendium, he could cross-reference with the data he has to see the plants that haven't been added to the book.
He found many different types of herbs in the process. Poisonous plants that could produce positive effects when mixed with other plants, normal plants that would turn extremely harmful when mixed with other normal plants, plants with analgesic effects, plants that offer a tiny increase in profound energy, and plants with healing properties.
If it weren't for his stomach reminding him, he would've spent the rest of the day picking the forest clean. Unfortunately, he hasn't reached a level of cultivation where he could ignore his body's need for food and water.
And his body was really starting to cry for it.
While crawling on the ground after spotting a particularly unfamiliar bug, the sound of something flowing reached his ears through the ground.
"A river?"
He shot to his feet in an instant, ignoring the vertigo. He steadied his steps and marched to the source of the sound with caution.
There's a chance that there are dangerous animals using the river as a drinking source, so he can't rush to it in excitement. What's necessary to him is also necessary to others.
However, what he didn't expect was there to be people setting up camp by the river.
Ji Yuan's first thought wasn't something a normal human from the modern era should've had.