Cultivation Skills

Cultivation Skills

Zhoubi Suanjing: One of the Ten Computational Classics. Comprehension +1.

It was actually a book that increased Comprehension!

Ye Weiming had originally been saving money to attend a private school and make up the one point of Comprehension he lacked for cultivating the Primal Chaos Skill.

Today really was a good day. Not only had he found the important quest target, Ah Huang, but with Ah Huang's help, he had also saved a full 100 gold! It truly proved the saying: Life was like a play, and it all depended on acting!

Then again, the Divine Constable Bureau had strict rules forbidding its members from using force or their official positions to bully ordinary citizens. Otherwise, he would not have needed to rely on acting to deal with that price-gouging "Dog Yama."

Still excited, Ye Weiming subconsciously opened the book.

Ding! Would you like to use the "Zhoubi Suanjing"?

When the system prompt rang in his ears, Ye Weiming suddenly remembered what A Zhong had told him earlier.

"Big Brother, using skill books directly like this is such a waste. If you can be patient and read them carefully, word by word, not only can you learn how to make Beggar's Chicken, but you can also gain some extra Cooking proficiency."

Perhaps he should try the method A Zhong had mentioned?

He hurriedly selected no, then immediately closed the book again and left the abandoned house with Ah Huang.

Ah Huang's matter had interrupted his plans to eat lunch earlier. Now, his stomach was protesting again, and he had to find something to eat.

He could not bear to eat the Roasted Wolf Meat A Zhong had made, the kind that increased Arm Strength. Fortunately, in a major city like Luoyang, as long as one had money, buying food was never a problem.

He had not gone far before spotting a stall selling meat buns by the roadside.

Meat Bun: A bun made with fresh pork. Satiety +20%. Constitution +1 for one hour.

Though it was also attribute-boosting food, it was obviously nowhere near A Zhong's cooking. Meat buns cost 10 copper each, or 1 silver for a steamer basket of ten. Dirt cheap.

Ye Weiming bought two baskets outright, ate one himself, and casually tossed one to Ah Huang. Then he noticed that the auntie selling buns was looking at him rather unfriendly.

Well, feeding a dog with someone else's buns right in front of her stall was indeed a little inconsiderate. What would the other customers who wanted to buy buns think?

With an awkward smile, Ye Weiming immediately fled with Ah Huang. After reaching a quiet street corner nearby, he ate buns and fed Ah Huang while taking out the Zhoubi Suanjing again. Opening it, he began reading it carefully, word by word.

Come to think of it, Ye Weiming was rather curious what a mathematics book written in classical Chinese would look like.

The facts proved that this sort of textbook really was not very readable. After Ye Weiming finished the first page and satisfied his curiosity, he lost interest in the rest. Still, remembering A Zhong's reminder and with a try-it-and-see mindset, he patiently turned to the second page...

The book's contents were not actually extensive, but Ye Weiming read very slowly. With the attitude of simply passing the time, he read the entire book word by word, taking more than forty minutes.

Ding! After studying the "Zhoubi Suanjing" with great focus, you have gained much from it. You have comprehended the Cultivation Skill "Deduction." Comprehension +1!

With the sudden system prompt, the Zhoubi Suanjing in Ye Weiming's hand immediately turned into a streak of white light and vanished.

Huh?

There was an unexpected gain?

Hadn't A Zhong said it would only grant a bit of extra proficiency?

What was this suddenly appearing Cultivation Skill?

After playing for so long, Ye Weiming had gained a general understanding of the game. He also had a vague idea of what Cultivation Skills were.

Unlike internal arts, moves, and mental arts, which directly fell within the category of martial arts, and unlike survival skills that could directly produce economic benefits, Cultivation Skills were a rather special kind of ability.

They might seem useless in everyday circumstances, but once they reached a certain level, they could greatly increase certain NPCs' natural favorability. They could also enhance certain specific martial arts.

For example, common skills such as Buddhist Dharma, Daoist Dharma, and Literary Talent were all Cultivation Skills.

This Deduction skill was the first one Ye Weiming had ever seen. He had no idea what its exact effects were.

He opened the skill panel.

Deduction

The ability to derive and calculate.

Level: 1

Proficiency: 0/1000

All move-type martial arts: Attack +5%, Defense +5%, Accuracy +5%.

Provides auxiliary effects for special skills.

This skill looked quite good, but what were the special skills mentioned in its description?

Ye Weiming guessed they were probably special skills related to deduction, such as mechanisms or the Five Elements and numerology. Still, clinging to a shred of hope, he opened his skill list and looked through it.

The descriptions of his internal arts had not changed at all. Neither of his two sword arts had changed, and his movement art was the same. His mental art... Wait!

Tai Shan's Secret (Ultimate Art)

The Taishan Sect's supreme mental art. With powerful mental calculation, it could predict the enemy's moves and defeat them in a single strike!

Level: 2

Proficiency: 1211/2000

Attack Damage +20%, Hit Rate +20%, Critical Damage +20%.

An active effect could be activated in battle to deduce the flaws in an enemy's moves and defeat them in a single strike!

(Enhanced by the "Deduction" skill. Calculation difficulty is reduced by 5% when the mental art is activated.)

Calculation difficulty reduced? Reduced how?

Did it mean the equations had one fewer digit, or that there would be one fewer math problem to solve?

That really was hard to say. Through his previous experiments, Ye Weiming had discovered that when activating Tai Shan's Secret's active effect, the system's math problems were not fixed in either difficulty or quantity. Facing Xie Xun and facing the West Lake Bandits had been entirely different matters. In other words, even if he wanted to test what this 5% reduction in calculation difficulty meant, he had no basis for comparison.

No matter what, the attribute bonuses this Deduction skill granted to all move-type skills were quite impressive, and Ye Weiming was very satisfied.

He had now gathered the required 30 points of Comprehension. The only things separating him from the Primal Chaos Skill were 5 points of Aptitude and the level of his Breathing Technique. Everything was developing in a positive direction.

Sure enough, carefully studying the same manual and directly consuming it produced completely different results...

Wait!

If even a Zhoubi Suanjing could allow him to comprehend such a useful skill as Deduction, then what about the Eight-Step Toad Leap, Dragon-Phoenix Dance, all those experience manuals, Tai Shan's Secret... and the Washing Away Grievances Collection that he had casually consumed before?

Oh my god!

How many good things had he missed out on?!

For no apparent reason, Ye Weiming felt an unprecedented pang of heartache. Yet just as his heart was aching, someone walked past him who made it hurt even more!

The man wore coarse cloth and had a flat head and square face. Every line around his eyes and brows radiated layers upon layers of rusticity, while from head to toe, within a hundred paces, he was utterly ordinary.

This person was none other than the NPC Ye Weiming had once hated to the bone—Soy Milk Xiaobai!

At the moment, Soy Milk Xiaobai was carrying a shoulder pole as he hurried south through the bustling crowd. Judging by his hurried pace, he apparently had not noticed Ye Weiming watching him from the shadows with ill intent.

Thanks to reader Dirt-Eating Youth for the generous 1,000 Qidian Coin reward! (I previously missed one 1,000 reward, so I'm adding it now.)

Thanks to reader Shi Liangyue for the 200 Qidian Coin reward!

Thanks to reader Qianye Changsheng for the 100 Qidian Coin reward!

Please give some recommendations and favorites... A young seedling needs care. Please show it some love...