Swordsmanship Training (Please Bookmark)

"Ancestors, please bless A'Chen. Our village will depend on him from now on."

Lu Chen's talent was simply too astounding, and the shaman had even begun praying for his safety.

After praying, the shaman noticed that Lu Chen was about to deal with the Fire Ox himself, which made him smile.

"A'Chen, go get some rest first. I'll find some people to handle the Fire Ox."

"Other people?"

"Yes. You may be strong, but when it comes to processing prey, you're no match for professional Hunters. Besides, you've just finished hunting and need to rest."

After thinking for a moment, Lu Chen nodded.

"Alright, then I'll trouble you, Elder Wu."

Lu Chen had no concerns about leaving the matter to Elder Wu. More importantly, his own strength meant he had no fear that anyone would dare steal his things.

After all, in this era, stealing from others—especially from the strong—was not something that earned you a couple days in detention. People died over such things.

Although Lu Chen left, Xiao Wei did not.

She stood in the courtyard with her eyes wide open, staring intently at everyone else and giving them no chance to steal so much as a scrap.

That made Lu Chen chuckle.

Why does it feel like I've raised a guard dog? Still, not bad.

After leaving the courtyard, Lu Chen did not rest. Instead, he stood in the Backyard with an iron sword in hand and slowly began to swing it.

The Sword Cultivator expert who had once wielded the Black Umbrella had given Lu Chen much fundamental experience, even raising his Swordsmanship Proficiency to Master Swordsmanship Proficiency. But cultivation was like rowing against the current—if one did not advance, one would fall behind.

For the sake of improving his swordsmanship, and to better display his skill in battle, Lu Chen trained diligently.

Yet when he first began practicing, his brows kept furrowing. He could not find the feeling of swordsmanship training from his dream.

After standing there for a long while, Lu Chen continuously recalled the scene in his mind.

Only after a full ten minutes did Lu Chen open his eyes and, following his instincts, strike with his sword.

The strike seemed utterly ordinary, but Lu Chen could feel that the blade did not tremble in the slightest, as if it were an extension of his arm.

At the same time, after he swung that sword, a voice suddenly rang beside Lu Chen's ear.

Ding. System notification: Host has practiced swordsmanship and executed a perfect strike. Master Swordsmanship Proficiency Experience Points +1. Current Experience Points: 1/3000.

The sound caused Lu Chen's mind to relax, and he fell out of that state.

But Lu Chen could not spare the attention for that now.

Looking at the system notification, Lu Chen revealed an expression of understanding.

"Sure enough, Experience Points can be gained through training. Killing monsters is experience, and ordinary training is experience as well."

"However, ordinary training seems to only increase the Experience Points for whatever is being trained. It doesn't grant general experience."

"But that's only natural. It's impossible for training swordsmanship to give experience in spellcasting."

Though it could not increase his general experience, Lu Chen remained highly motivated. The dangers of the real world made him unwilling to give up even the slightest opportunity to grow stronger.

Thus, Lu Chen trained frantically for the entire afternoon.

As he trained, Lu Chen would occasionally execute a perfect strike without the slightest fluctuation. Whenever he did, the system notification would sound.

Over the course of one afternoon, Lu Chen, whose stamina was abundant, swung his sword more than ten thousand times. Yet what made his lips twitch was that only a little over two hundred strikes met the system's standards and were recorded as Master Swordsmanship Proficiency Experience Points.

"Ah, this ability wasn't gained through my own painstaking cultivation, but taught to me by someone else. Sure enough, if I want to improve it, I'll need prolonged training to properly integrate it."

Only one out of every several dozen sword strikes qualified during his swordsmanship training, which was indeed discouraging. But it was not without surprises. When he gained 10 points of Master Swordsmanship Proficiency Experience Points, the system suddenly announced:

System notification: Host has practiced swordsmanship. Swordsman Experience Points +1. Current Experience Points: 1/600.

Lu Chen froze almost instantly at those words.

"Practicing sword swings in reality can actually increase Swordsman class experience?"

That was right. This notification was no longer for Master Swordsmanship Proficiency, but for the level experience of the Swordsman class.

Lu Chen had been quite surprised when the notification first appeared.

But he quickly understood.

"A Swordsman isn't a class unique to a single world. Many worlds have swordsmen. I have Experience Points that allow me to improve, and those swordsmen can improve as well. They don't have Experience Points, so they raise their Swordsman levels through diligent, arduous practice."

"If others can raise their Swordsman levels through hard cultivation, then naturally I can as well. Read a book a hundred times and its meaning will reveal itself; if I keep swinging my sword, I can naturally increase Swordsman Experience Points."

"Excellent. From now on, aside from killing enemies, I can also improve through training in the real world."

Of course, Lu Chen also discovered that while diligent training could indeed raise his swordsmanship level, he could only gain a few dozen points in an entire day, nowhere near as much as hunting provided.

"Hunting, even if it's only hunting residual souls, gives more than twenty points at a time. That's equivalent to an entire afternoon of training. Sure enough, unless someone has extraordinary talent, training is not as fast as killing for improvement."

"But that makes sense. Killing means risking one's life, so naturally the gains are faster. Training's advantages lie in its stability and safety."

Lu Chen quickly sorted out the strengths and weaknesses of the two paths. But after doing so, he did not choose one and abandon the other.

Only children had to make choices. He wanted both.

That was right. Lu Chen had no intention of giving up hunting, nor did he intend to give up training.

"Train regularly, and whenever I get the chance, kill. That's the fastest way to improve."

With the mindset of wanting it all, Lu Chen saw that it had already grown dark outside.

Seeing this, he stopped training. After taking a bath and drinking quite a bit of nearly dried-up Fire Ox blood, he rested for a while before preparing to continue his nighttime patrol and hunting.

Since Lu Chen had already slept deeply for some time during the day, even after training all afternoon, he did not feel the slightest bit tired after digesting the Fire Ox blood.

After saying goodbye to Xiao Wei, Lu Chen arrived at Totem Plaza. There, the barbarian youth named Arrow had already brought ten Pottery Jars for him.

"These are the Medicinal Soups brewed today. Witch Doctor Master told me to deliver them to you."

Looking at the ten Pottery Jars, Arrow felt like swallowing, but that was all. He was not jealous in the slightest; rather, he felt grateful to Lu Chen.

"Thanks for today. Because of you, we all got quite a bit more Medicinal Soup."

"No need. Without the supplementary ingredients your families gathered, Witch Doctor Master wouldn't have been able to brew the Medicinal Soup either."

Lu Chen did not carry the Pottery Jars himself. Naturally, the two barbarians following him carried them.

The two barbarians had not a single complaint about this.

Last night, although the two had traveled alongside Lu Chen, Lu Chen had been fast while they had been slow. By the time Lu Chen grabbed hold of the Black Umbrella, the two had only just reached the battlefield and had not taken part in that fight.

Still, even though they had not fought, they had seen several companions lying on the ground. This made them once again realize the dangers of nighttime patrols, while also strengthening their resolve to cling to Lu Chen's thigh.

"That Black Umbrella was powerful, but even something like that was wiped out by A'Chen. As long as we follow A'Chen, we won't need to worry about evil spirits until A'Chen falls."

Compared to death, no one would complain about being an errand boy.

And so, carrying only an iron sword, Lu Chen set out on his nighttime patrol with the two barbarians.

Upon reaching the edge of the totem's boundary, Lu Chen discovered that Human Head Fireballs had appeared there again.

"Fuck, they're impossible to kill off."