Back in his room, Wang Hao excitedly took out his Erh-hu, ready to show off his skills.
He gently plucked the strings and simply played 'little star'.
Although the tune was simple, it was full of childlike innocence and fun.
For some more difficult pieces, such as 'Moon Reflected on Er-quan', Wang Hao could also play them, but he had to look at the musical score to complete them.
After all, the Erhu Skill he had acquired only provided basic techniques and fundamental music theory knowledge.
This was like Cooking; being able to cook did not mean one could master the methods of preparing various dishes, there was a world of difference between the two.
"Congratulations, Erhu Skill proficiency +1, current proficiency: Erhu Skill 1/100."
Along with the proficiency prompt, Wang Hao finished playing 'little star'.
The unique timbre of the Erh-hu added a touch of subtle melancholy to the originally light and lively melody, as if narrating some emotion, making it more lyrical.
Although Wang Hao knew that his playing level was still at the 'park grandpa' level and not outstanding, the feeling of demonstrating a new skill still made him feel very satisfied.
Indeed, playing a piece of music once increased proficiency by one point, which was exactly like the principle of stir-frying noodles in Cooking.
Wang Hao secretly mused, "Perhaps in the near future, to improve proficiency, I might repeatedly play 'little star' until I reach a state of perfection."
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but silently apologize to his neighbors who were about to be 'tortured'.
Wang Hao opened his door and told his sister to put on her headphones, because he was going to continuously play 'little star' next.
Wang Lan nodded knowingly and gave an OK gesture to show she understood.
Wang Hao turned and went back into his room, carefully closing every window and door, doing his best to ensure he wouldn't disturb his neighbors who were about to be 'tortured'.
With everything ready, he took a deep breath and began his 'little star' bombardment journey on his neighbors.
However, too much of a good thing is bad.
More than an hour passed, and the first person who couldn't stand it and the most direct victim was his own sister—Wang Lan.
The headphones could no longer block the invasion of 'little star', and Wang Lan had gone from being initially interested to being utterly annoyed now.
Unable to bear it any longer, she knocked on Wang Hao's door.
Along with a series of urgent knocks on the door, a cheat prompt suddenly popped up in front of Wang Hao's eyes,
"Congratulations, Erhu Skill proficiency +1, current proficiency: Erhu Skill 100/100."
Immediately followed by another prompt,
"Congratulations, Erhu Skill has been upgraded to Intermediate Erhu Skill, current proficiency: Intermediate Erhu Skill 0/1000."
Seeing these prompts, Wang Hao immediately felt that his Erh-hu techniques and methods in his mind had become increasingly rich.
Even more surprisingly, some common and less difficult musical scores also began to automatically appear in his mind.
In the blink of an eye, his knowledge base was greatly enriched.
After gradually adapting, Wang Hao was overjoyed: "I didn't expect Intermediate Erhu Skill to be so powerful! Just over an hour of practice for me is equivalent to several years for others!
Now my level can definitely easily defeat those self-important old men in the park!"
He secretly mused, "If I continue at this rate, as long as I give myself a day to rest and then fully dedicate myself to grinding 'little star', I might even be able to directly advance to the advanced stage!"
Would new skills be unlocked then? This possibility seemed quite high.
Wang Hao's heart stirred, but he was not in a hurry to make a decision.
For now, he decided to first experience what it felt like to play 'little star' using Intermediate Erhu Skill.
As his will moved, Wang Hao's hands, which had long formed muscle memory, involuntarily began to pull the Erh-hu in his hands, playing shining 'little star' notes.
As soon as he started, he immediately noticed a stark difference from before—the sound lines of the Erh-hu became increasingly natural and smooth.
From a bystander's perspective, if his previous skill was compared to 720p low-definition quality, then at this moment, it seemed to have suddenly jumped to 1080p ultra-high-definition level, and the overall visual experience instantly improved by a level.
As the creator of all these changes, Wang Hao's feelings were even more profound.
He was completely immersed in it, deeply satisfied with the Intermediate Erhu Skill he had just mastered, his joy overflowing, and the corners of his mouth, like an out-of-control AK, couldn't stop curving upwards.
However, when the entire piece ended, a system prompt suddenly appeared, successfully suppressing his uncontrollable smile:
"Congratulations, Intermediate Erhu Skill proficiency +0.1, current proficiency: Intermediate Erhu Skill 0.1/1000."
Seeing this message, Wang Hao couldn't help but exclaim: "Playing with Intermediate Erhu Skill only increases proficiency by a mere 0.1!"
This means that the difficulty of increasing skill proficiency is simply rising linearly!
Why was I able to easily grind Intermediate Cooking Skill before?
Is there really a novice protection or grace period like in games?
Wang Hao was utterly baffled by this.
What made him even more helpless was that even with such a miraculous cheat-like thing, he couldn't ask it questions or seek answers, completely clueless!
It really was true: "Extreme joy begets sorrow"!
Wang Hao smiled bitterly and shook his head.
However, fortunately, he was not someone who liked to overthink things.
He thought, "Forget it, proficiency can be accumulated slowly anyway, it's already great to make progress every day, if I'm too greedy, I might lose more."
Just then, his sister's dissatisfied protests and knocking sounds came from outside the room.
Since his sister had already started protesting, Wang Hao decided to quit while he was ahead.
He put down the Erh-hu, said goodnight to his sister, and thus ended his fulfilling and meaningful day.
The next morning, sunlight streamed through the window into the room, waking up the sleeping Wang Hao.
He woke up on time as usual, thanks to his good biological clock.
At the same time, he and his sister Wang Lan began their day.
The siblings were busy with their daily routines, but today there was a slight difference.
As Wang Hao prepared, he casually put an Erh-hu in his backpack, planning to grind Intermediate Erhu Skill proficiency in his spare time.
Wang Lan noticed her brother carrying the Erh-hu, and the fear brought by 'little star' last night involuntarily surfaced in her mind.
She gazed at Wang Hao's figure, a hint of resentment in her eyes.
As if sensing his sister's mood, Wang Hao smiled, trying to ease her dissatisfaction with a relaxed tone.
Amidst their back-and-forth banter, the two arrived at Snack Street and began their day of setting up their stall.