Chapter 23 - 23 21 The Gift of the Sword

23: Chapter 21: The Gift of the Sword 23: Chapter 21: The Gift of the Sword “So that’s how it is, thank you, Brother Wang, for clearing up my confusion. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I might really have run into danger.” Xiao Jie was not offering mere lip service with these words; after all, these were lessons summarized by the predecessors at the cost of their lives—experience in games often came at the expense of the players’ trial and error. To clear a dungeon, one might have to experience dozens or even a hundred wipes, but in the game, death was merely a little waste of time and not much of a significant cost. However, in Old Soil, every bit of experience was earned with real lives; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a lesson purchased with blood. Therefore, Xiao Jie’s tone was exceptionally sincere. “Haha, no problem at all, we are all players from the same village, after all, we should help each other out, right?” Just as the two ended their conversation, I Want to Be Immortal, who had been eavesdropping, interjected, “Brother Sui Feng, thank you for what you did yesterday.” “Don’t thank me; thank Brother Wang instead, it was his money after all.” “No, of course I have to thank Brother Wang, but the fact that you saved me is true too. Regardless of your reasons, saving a life is saving a life. Just like how a police officer gets paid, if I were in real danger and received help from a police officer, I would still express my gratitude, wouldn’t I?” Xiao Jie thought to himself that this guy was quite sharp, and couldn’t help but see the careless ghost in a new light. “Hehe, no need for formalities. What’s important is that you become less reckless in the future; that would be better than anything else. This game gives you only one life, and there aren’t many chances for do-overs. Not every time will someone be there to save you.” “I understand, Brother Sui Feng. I was too overconfident before, and yesterday’s incident was indeed a lesson for me. Oh, right, Brother Sui Feng, please take this as a token of my appreciation.” As he spoke, he opened the trade window, and a saber appeared inside—it was a Yanling Saber! Xiao Jie was somewhat surprised; that thing was worth thirty thousand yuan. It seems this youngster was quite thoughtful to have bought it specifically to give to him. Judging from the way he spoke with Wang Kai earlier, he probably bought the saber at that time. Of course, compared to saving a life, thirty thousand yuan wasn’t much, but there were too many stories of repayment of kindness with ingratitude in society: news of being scammed by the elderly they helped, people who rescued drowning children ending up in the hospital only to find none of those they saved showed up, or mountain climbers who, after being rescued, simply stated it was the rescue team’s duty and saw no need for gratitude… Sick of such infuriating news stories, Xiao Jie had become much more pessimistic about human nature. Now facing I Want to Be Immortal’s heartfelt thanks, he was somewhat taken aback. But he wasn’t the type to stand on ceremony, so if someone was well-intentioned, there was no need for him to be overly polite. “Alright, I won’t beat around the bush; I’ll accept it.” He clicked to complete the trade. Xiao Jie looked at the Yanling Saber in his bag and immediately equipped it. Holding the treasure sword in his hand, he felt very satisfied. Although he had lost his suit of leather armor, with this saber, it felt different; if a battle was triggered, he would feel more confident. “Brother Sui Feng, I have another request, and I wonder if I might become your disciple? I think you play the game exceptionally well, and if I could learn a thing or two from you, I would surely be able to go further.” “Let’s not talk about discipleship; it’s just a game. But we can definitely share experiences with each other. If you have any questions, just ask me. Anything I know, I won’t keep to myself.” Information must be shared to grow, just like Wang Kai didn’t hoard information about Night Ghost for himself; he didn’t take his bit of gaming experience that seriously either. Of course, what’s most important in online gaming is having friends, which opens many paths, especially in a death game. The importance of teammates cannot be overstated. If one wants to complete dungeons and defeat bosses in the future, it simply won’t be possible alone; organizing a reliable core team is a must. Xiao Jie had become accustomed to being a guild leader in the past, so naturally, in this game, he also considered forming a guild and expanding his influence. However, the number of players in this game was too small, and since he knew only these two players in front of him, he certainly wanted to build a good relationship with them. Hearing what Xiao Jie said, I Want to Be Immortal was quite sincere and immediately asked, “Sui Feng, could you tell me how you learned that combat skill?” Xiao Jie chuckled inwardly; it turned out the other was waiting for this moment. But he didn’t really mind, as the question was asked with both respect and politeness. Xiao Jie remembered that it was possible to pay for learning combat skills from the Civilian Soldier Captain, of course, one needed prerequisite weapon skills to do so and they were quite expensive. He didn’t have the money to learn, but this kid looked like someone who wasn’t short on cash, so it might be worth a try. “You can’t learn the combat skill I have, but if you want to learn combat skills, go to the Civilian Soldier Captain; he has a few entry-level combat skills that can be learned for a fee.” This wasn’t just a brush-off; the Skill of “Comprehension” was different from the Skill of “Satori.” A skill like “Sword Weapon Specialization” should be able to be comprehended just by chopping wood for a long enough time, while a skill like One Cut, Two Pieces, without the Enlightenment BUFF, you might never learn no matter how hard you tried. Moreover, Xiao Jie was quite suspicious that even with the Enlightenment BUFF, the skills gained through Satori might not be the same. I Want to Be Immortal said, “I’ve been to the Civilian Soldier Captain, but he said I didn’t have the aptitude and refused to teach me.” Xiao Jie said, “To learn combat skills, you first need the corresponding weapon skill. When they say your aptitude is insufficient, they’re probably referring to this. NPCs in the game usually don’t spell things out clearly, so you must learn to understand the real message behind their words. When they say your talents aren’t good enough or your strength is inadequate, they’re actually talking about prerequisite skills, character attributes, profession level, and stuff like that.” “Then how do I learn weapon skills?” “By doing tasks, of course. Different tasks correspond to different weapon skills. For example, I came to understand Sword Weapon Specialization through Chopping Wood. Following this logic, if you want to learn the saber, go chop wood; if it’s the axe, go lumberjacking; if it’s the hammer, go blacksmithing. I can’t say exactly what you will comprehend, after all, I’ve only played for a day myself. These are my deductions based on the information at hand; I can’t claim they’re 100% accurate, but they’re probably pretty close.” After hearing Xiao Jie’s explanation, I Want to Be Immortal became excited immediately, “Thanks a lot, Brother Sui Feng. I’m off to look for work, can I come back and ask you if there’s anything I don’t understand?” “No problem at all.” Watching I Want to Be Immortal head off toward the Firewood Workshop full of excitement, Xiao Jie thought it was time to stop dawdling and start working. After saying goodbye to Wang Kai, he also began his work for the day. With just seven days of the Enlightenment BUFF, he had to make good use of them. If handled well, it could give him quite an advantage in the early stages. The Basic Combat Skills taught by the Civilian Soldier Captain were clearly inferior to the One Cut, Two Pieces he had gained through Satori. If played right, he definitely could gain even more powerful skills through Satori. But then again, he had to decide precisely what tasks to do and which development path to take. There were so many tasks in the village, and it’s likely each one could lead to the comprehension of a corresponding skill, but now he only had six days left, so he had to make some choices. To ensure he made the best decision, Xiao Jie decided not to rush into working but instead strolled around the village, asking anyone he met if there was any work to do, recording each task he could trigger in his notebook. After wandering around the whole morning, Xiao Jie had triggered more than a dozen tasks. He compiled all the work he found and prepared to give it some serious thought.