Chapter 692 - 302: New - : System Phase Two!_2

He had to admit, ever since that high-speed ski descent from Mount Everest last time, Li Younan had realized that deep down he really did have a gene for pushing the limits and testing the boundaries of what humans can do.

Maybe over the next few months, he could take some time to think this through properly.

When Li Younan decided he wanted to use these few "vacuum months" to go traveling, Liu Li and Jing Chaoyi had no plans to go with him.

The two of them were going back to run the guesthouse, while continuing to experience university life.

By comparison, Li Younan could feel that neither of the girls loved freedom as much as he did.

Deep down, they still preferred a more certain kind of life.

So for the journey ahead, Li Younan only took two companions with him: Tuantuan and Xuanhuan.

He drove his Land Cruiser, with Li Younan at the wheel, leaving Shanghai and heading north along the national highway.

No direction, no destination.

But just three days later, this state of having no direction and no destination changed.

He completed a check-in task in Lianyungang.

He obtained the skill [Beer Brewing].

And this skill was a level-one skill that hadn’t had any other skills stacked onto it in a long time.

Honestly, the fact that his cooking skill didn’t get stacked onto beer brewing was quite surprising.

But if you thought about it carefully, it actually made sense.

Brewing and any of the skills he currently had basically didn’t overlap much at all.

Brewing is a very complex craft. At its core it’s microbial fermentation, using that as a base to generate flavor, which is an extremely complex chemical reaction.

Chemistry isn’t like math, with that razor-sharp, absolute sense of beauty.

The charm of chemistry lies in its uncertainty.

Sometimes, even when you follow exactly the same steps, someone else can make something that you just can’t reproduce; the tiny, subtle differences in between are enough to support an entire PhD thesis.

That said, Li Younan didn’t really like drinking beer, so this skill didn’t matter much to him. At best it counted as a "better than nothing" life skill.

[Beer Brewing LV.1: You have a solid grasp of the principles of microbial fermentation and flavor balance, can independently complete the full process from malt mashing to boiling and fermentation, and can consistently produce craft beer that meets classic international styles.]

In reality, getting this skill wasn’t all that exciting in itself, but the acquisition of this skill opened the second Chapter of Li Younan’s traveling life.

Right after the system notification sound for the new skill, the system immediately followed up with a brand-new prompt.

[Detected: Host’s domestic check-in completion meets the requirement. System Phase Two can be activated. Global Travel Check-in System unlocked.]

After that, on his check-in system map, the previously dim overseas map lit up with brilliant check-in markers.

...

"Huh? You’re going abroad? Why so sudden?"

In the hotel, Li Younan was on the phone with his mom.

After making the decision, the first person he told was his mom.

There wasn’t even anything to think about there; at least for now, the most important woman in his life was his mom.

His mom had never interfered with any decision he made.

But as soon as she thought about her son going somewhere that far away, and for that long—several months in total—of course she felt a bit reluctant to let him go.

His mom still had a few years left before retirement. Although earlier, when chatting with her, Li Younan had hoped she could quit her job, take a nominal position at Liu Yu’s company for those last few years before retirement, keep paying into social security until she retired and that would be enough, his mom hadn’t agreed.

She still wanted to keep working at the place she’d devoted so many years to, all the way until retirement.

Before his mom retired, there was basically no chance for Li Younan to take her on long trips.

And over these few years, it was just right for him to travel around the world.

By the time he’d seen most of the scenery he wanted to see a few years from now, his mom would have retired too. Then he could drive his Unimog and take her to check in at all the places within China he hadn’t visited yet, and also go on a round-the-world trip by yacht.

Although his mom was a bit reluctant, she didn’t nag at all. She just said one gentle but serious sentence: "Son, no matter where you go, you must stay happy. Aside from life and death, nothing is a big deal. Remember that, okay?"

Once he’d fully confirmed he was going abroad, Li Younan started thinking about where his first stop should be.

He had a few possible directions in mind.

From the perspective of convenience for check-ins, the most suitable place was Europe.

Although the global map had been unlocked, overseas check-in points weren’t as dense as those in China. All the check-in points in every other country in the world, added together, were roughly equal to the number in China.

In other words, a country might only have three or four, or even just two or three check-in spots. Some countries might have only one.

And because there are so many countries in Europe and transportation is relatively well-developed, if he was going purely for check-ins, Europe would be extremely efficient.

If he considered it from the angle of scenery, then every continent and every country had its own unique side, so that wasn’t really a good standard to judge by.

To Li Younan, scenery he hadn’t seen and cultures he hadn’t experienced were all quite interesting.

If he looked at it from the angle of convenience, then the first choice of country to go to would be those that offered visa-free entry to China.