William Carter returned to his small courtyard. As expected, the strand of hair he had left on the door bolt when he left had vanished—someone had entered his yard.

He gave a rather disdainful smile and walked into the house as if nothing had happened. Inside, there was only the camouflage uniform and helmet that William Carter had changed out of, nothing else. Even if someone came in, what could they possibly see?

The things that truly belonged to William Carter's secrets—the liquid bulletproof vest was worn underneath, the military knife and Glock 17 were on his person, even the goggles and mask were with him. If those people searched, at most they’d find the helmet a bit odd. Could they really discover anything else?

The burlap bundle contained some daily necessities: oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, pots, bowls, pans, and the like. Since he had to live, these things were indispensable. Of course, these items weren’t worth much. The truly valuable thing was still the bottle of Peiyuan Pills in William Carter's pocket.

Previously, William Carter had thought Peiyuan Pills were just like tonic medicines on Earth—expensive, but only to a certain extent. He hadn’t expected that pills in this world would be so outrageously costly. A single Peiyuan Pill cost ten gold coins; an ordinary family couldn’t earn that much in a whole year, even if they spent nothing.

Grace Dawson's sword was quite good—not at the level of a legendary weapon, but among ordinary weapons, it was top-tier. Even so, it was only worth five Peiyuan Pills, with the most valuable part being the Dust-Repelling Pearl on the hilt. All the other miscellaneous jade pendants and such, when added up, were worth another five. In total, ten Peiyuan Pills—enough, William Carter thought, to fully restore his damaged soul.

William Carter's soul was truly lacking only in rank, not in completeness. Everyone mocked him for his low rank, but no one laughed at him for having a damaged soul. But with a soul of this level, who would be willing to spend a fortune on Peiyuan Pills to repair it?

He picked the most comfortable position to sit. Not only was this position comfortable, but it also slightly avoided the door, and his hand could draw the pistol from the holster at any time, ready to attack instantly. This was William Carter's habit—in unfamiliar places, a little extra vigilance was only right.

Taking a Peiyuan Pill and examining it, William Carter put the pill into his mouth. Then, relaxing his mind, he quickly entered a meditative state. With the experience from the first time, the second time was almost effortless.

A surge of abundant spiritual energy rose from William Carter's abdomen, rushing madly toward the soul space. William Carter could clearly feel that the streams of spiritual energy were heading straight for the incomplete, line-drawn little fish.

This spiritual energy was many times greater than what William Carter had experienced during his first meditation. It wasn’t a trickle seeping in, but a massive influx. Watching as the missing parts of the little fish began to fill in with new lines, William Carter knew the Peiyuan Pill was working.

No wonder people never cared about a damaged soul, only about its rank—turns out, a damaged soul wasn’t an unsolvable problem. Watching the lines on the little fish gradually fill in, William Carter finally felt at ease. Restoring his soul was just a matter of time.

Absorbing such a vast medicinal power would take some time, so William Carter focused his mind on the gray human figure. The figure remained motionless, sitting just as William Carter did in the outside world.

William Carter began to concentrate on the most basic military boxing he had learned. As soon as he thought of the boxing techniques, the gray figure immediately responded, standing up and performing a full set of military boxing moves with great seriousness, then starting a second round.

However, during the second round, the little figure’s boxing looked serious, but many moves were completely altered—each move and stance was heavily modified, the actions much sharper, and the angles of attack changed significantly. Any ordinary soldier trained in military boxing would shake their head at the sight.

But William Carter understood—the gray figure had transformed the military boxing, which was originally focused on subduing and restraining, into a killing art. Every move was now meant to take a life, no longer showing any mercy.

After the little figure finished the set, all those changes were imprinted in William Carter's mind, as if they had grown there, crystal clear.

Just as William Carter was about to have the figure practice the special forces killing techniques he had learned, the massive medicinal power suddenly cut off and disappeared. William Carter was startled, then realized that the power of one Peiyuan Pill had been exhausted.

Looking at the line-drawn little fish, only a small part of the missing sections had been restored—not even ten percent. This showed that while Peiyuan Pills were effective, he would need many more to fully repair his soul. Judging by the ratio, the remaining nine pills might not be enough to completely fix the damage.

William Carter didn’t dwell on it. No matter how much could be restored, he would restore as much as possible. Withdrawing his consciousness from the soul space, he swallowed another Peiyuan Pill and continued.

After having the gray figure optimize all the killing techniques he had learned—military killing arts, knife techniques, and other cold weapon methods—when he tried to introduce the use of pistols, rifles, and sniper rifles, the gray figure remained unresponsive. Since such firearms had never existed in this world, the gray figure wasn’t omniscient and couldn’t possibly know how to use them.