Enlightenment

Xiao Jie hurriedly opened the Skill Bar to check.

[Blade Weapon Mastery (Beginner)

Passive Effect: When using bladed weapons, attack speed increases by 10%, and attack accuracy increases by 10%.

Skill Description: You have gained a basic understanding of using bladed weapons. When fighting with such weapons, you can handle them more skillfully and make better use of them in combat.

This skill is also a necessary prerequisite for learning blade combat skills, martial arts techniques, ultimate moves, and profound arts.]

After reading the skill description, Xiao Jie could not help but feel delighted. Choosing to play it safe and develop gradually had indeed been the right choice.

So that was it... so that was it...

Any game designer would create a reasonable growth path for players in their game.

The simplest design was to make monsters weaker than players of the same level. That way, players could keep defeating monsters to level up, grow stronger, and then challenge higher-level monsters.

Slightly more complicated games would add various class quests or talent systems. Besides fighting monsters, players would also need to complete specific content to gain further boosts in strength.

But this game before him clearly had a growth path that was freer and more concealed.

Through this newly acquired skill, Xiao Jie quickly deduced the proper development route for new players in this game.

Players could gain insight into basic weapon skills through work in the village, and different jobs probably corresponded to different weapon categories.

Blacksmithing should be hammers, logging would be Battle Axes, and Firewood Chopping naturally meant blades. Farming, perhaps... Polearm Weapons.

Once they had weapon skills, they could learn the corresponding combat skills and martial arts techniques to increase their strength.

They could also earn Copper Coins while working. With money, they could buy basic equipment.

And with equipment and skills, leaving the village to adventure would naturally be much safer.

That was right, exactly so!

At that moment, Xiao Jie's thoughts became incomparably clear.

Although this playstyle had no explicit game guidance, players could theoretically leave the village directly to fight monsters and level up. Perhaps they could even gain insight into weapon skills while fighting.

But without a doubt, the route he had discovered was the optimal solution for ordinary newcomers.

Xiao Jie swung his blade at the firewood again. After only a few strikes, he could clearly feel that both his control and accuracy had improved somewhat.

The improvement was extremely slight. Ordinary players might not even notice it, but for a professional player like Xiao Jie, who refined game controls down to every detail, it was exceptionally clear.

Previously, even when chopping the same spot on a tree, the blade's landing point would still deviate somewhat. It was like the crosshair spread in a shooting game—the blade's point of impact could not be completely controlled. This was not something skill alone could make up for.

But now, Xiao Jie could make every strike land precisely where he aimed.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Firewood +1 +2 +1 +1 +2!

The more he chopped, the smoother it became. Xiao Jie's mouse movements seemed to carry some wonderful rhythm, flowing as smoothly as drifting clouds and running water.

In moments, a tree had been chopped down to a bare trunk.

He rushed straight toward the next dead tree.

The more Xiao Jie chopped, the more it felt right. The more he chopped, the more rhythm he found. His blade swings became broader and more forceful. No matter how high he raised the blade or how fast he swung it, he could accurately chop the branches he intended to cut.

One bundle, two bundles, three bundles... Firewood accumulated in his inventory at an astonishing speed.

Even the right hand sliding the mouse seemed to be exerting force along with it.

Watching his character's blade swings become sharper and fiercer, Xiao Jie felt a faint stirring in his heart. He vaguely sensed that something was about to happen, that the calm surface of a lake was about to be broken.

But what was it?

It was clearly within reach, yet seemed to be separated by a thin veil. He stared fixedly at the screen, trying to find that fleeting opportunity within the game's details.

Until—

Whoosh! He slashed down again.

He raised this strike quite high, and it came down exceptionally cleanly and decisively.

Then came a sharp crack.

The blade actually severed all three branches extending from the left.

With one slash, he had chopped down three pieces of Dry Firewood. Looking at the breaks, all three branches had been cut cleanly at their roots, the cuts smooth and even.

[System Notification: Great Success in Firewood Chopping—Firewood +3!]

[System Notification: Your "Enlightenment" status has been triggered. You have gained a "Sudden Enlightenment"!]

A flash of golden light suddenly appeared above Xiao Jie's character's head, and a golden icon appeared in the center of the screen.

Two golden words were written on it—Sudden Enlightenment!

Xiao Jie froze when he saw those words, then immediately became excited.

He had always wondered what the [Enlightenment] buff he had prayed for in the Ancestral Hall was actually for. How exactly was this Sudden Enlightenment effect supposed to activate?

He had not expected it to happen so naturally in the end.

Looking at the gleaming golden symbol in the center of the screen.

Xiao Jie impatiently clicked it.

[Words of Enlightenment: Through your continuous labor of chopping firewood, you have mastered the knack of splitting an object in two, thereby comprehending the combat skill—[One Cut Two Pieces].

[One Cut Two Pieces (Combat Skill)

Applicable Weapons: Single Handed Blade, Single Handed Sword.

Combat Skill Cost: 50 Stamina.

Skill Effect 1: Deals 300% weapon slashing damage and triggers one "Limb Severing" effect.

Skill Effect 2: ???? (Locked. Requires inner force to activate).

Skill Description: A combat skill gained by the Nameless Swordsman through Sudden Enlightenment while chopping firewood. After assuming a stance, remain still, then suddenly strike, delivering a fierce slash combining speed and precision.

It is said that the blade used to chop wooden branches can just as easily sever the limbs of living creatures.]]

Haha, he finally had a combat skill. His prayer to the ancestors had not been in vain.

Xiao Jie impatiently used the newly learned skill on the dead tree before him.

His character assumed a stance with the blade hidden behind his back, then instantly slashed out. The blade drew a dazzling arc through the air and split a branch as thick as a rolling pin in two. The branch seemed not to have reacted yet, hanging in midair for a moment before falling to the ground.

Cool!

He tested it twice more and quickly became familiar with the skill's power, speed, and attack range. This combat skill required a 0.5-second Charge windup. After charging, he could hold the attack and wait for the right moment. But once he struck, it was nearly twice as fast as an ordinary swing, making it extremely difficult to dodge.

And after seeing the description of the "Limb Severing" effect, Xiao Jie strongly suspected that monsters in this game could truly have parts of their bodies chopped off.

Xiao Jie had played games with limb-severing effects before, where hands and feet could be cut off. That would undoubtedly greatly reduce a monster's combat power.

Although One Cut Two Pieces had no exaggerated visual or sound effects, it was simple and practical. The strike was fast enough that it would definitely be extremely useful as an early-game combat skill for self-defense.

But learning it in the game was not enough.

He had to master it in reality as well.

After returning to the village and logging out, Xiao Jie impatiently wanted to try it in real life too.

He searched around the room and ultimately found only a kitchen knife.

Fine, a kitchen knife it was.

He found a cardboard box and placed it on a stool as a target.

After taking his stance, he swung the knife.

Crack. The blade cut halfway in and got stuck.

Damn, why did it feel completely different? This was just an ordinary chop.

Xiao Jie swung several more times, chopping a perfectly good cardboard box into pieces, but there was none of the sharpness and coolness of the in-game One Cut Two Pieces.

No, it seemed this ability was not so easy to use.

How had he performed Kite Flip back then?

Right, it had been instinctively triggered at a life-or-death moment.

Xiao Jie replaced the box with a new one.

Standing before the cardboard box, Xiao Jie calmed his mind and concentrated, trying hard to find the image in his memories.

He imagined that rapidly approaching red sports car.

He relived that instant of terror.

The lingering fear gradually surged up within him. The despair and helplessness of facing death in that moment, and amid his chaotic memories, the image of Hidden Moon Follows Wind swinging her blade suddenly appeared in his mind.

That was it!

He suddenly opened his eyes and swung the kitchen knife with all his strength. The blade drew a dazzling arc through the air and slashed across the cardboard box.

The box remained intact, seemingly completely unharmed. But that wholeness lasted only an instant. The next second, the cardboard box split into two and crashed onto the floor.

Xiao Jie picked up the box that had been cleaved in half and examined the cut. It was smooth as a mirror, without the slightest frayed edge, as though it had been cut by a machine.

Xiao Jie looked at the kitchen knife in his hand, his heart overflowing with excitement. Had he really swung that slash himself?

That was right. This was power. Though that power was still weak, given time—

What fell beneath this blade would no longer be cardboard boxes, but Liu Qiang's head.