The Effect of Skills

He observed the enemy's movements, judging the distance between them.

He remembered an expert once saying that a key difference between a professional and an amateur was the ability to gauge an opponent's distance.

Now, he understood that feeling.

If a group surrounded him, he could instantly identify who was closest and posed the greatest threat.

At that moment, the Fourth Elder stopped his lecture and said to the two of them:

"Though you have been granted a heavenly opportunity, learning skills still requires steady effort."

"Mastering even an ordinary skill takes years of hard work—let alone these extraordinary ones."

"You must be patient. This is not the game world of you Descenders."

"Understood. Thank you for your guidance, Fourth Elder," the two said in unison.

Then, the Fourth Elder taught them through the entire night.

He passed on the specific cultivation methods and content of the Secret Scouting Technique, Basic Lightness Skill, Basic Parrying, and Basic Fists and Feet to them one by one, first having them memorize it.

If they were ordinary villagers, such teaching would be impossible, but as players, they could rely on the Game System's logs to forcibly record the content and cultivate on their own.

This greatly improved teaching efficiency.

Though it was only a broken Game System, with just one life and no resurrection function, it still created a vast gap between players and ordinary people.

Lin Qing did just that—forcibly recording everything with the log function, planning to digest it slowly later, like a cow chewing its cud.

This way, even if trapped somewhere, she would have a way to break out.

Gao Linzhi, however, was different.

After a full night of hard study and earnest comprehension, he had already grasped it and made his first steps.

His game panel now transformed into:

[Skills: Heavenly Sight, Earthly Hearing, Person-Judging Art (Broken) (0/100), Basic Fists and Feet (0/100), Basic Parrying (0/100), Basic Lightness Skill (0/100).]

In his mind, he automatically grasped many combat-related skills.

His limbs seemed to have developed muscle memory on their own.

"These basic skills are also available in the village's library, but they cost Copper Coins and Contribution Points to exchange."

"Speaking of Contribution Points, that's a new term you Descenders brought to the village. We never had such detailed things before..." the Fourth Elder explained.

According to him, an Ordinary Player would need to work hard for at least a month, hauling bricks, to exchange for a single basic skill.

Clearly, being a guard came with many benefits—but the corresponding duties and risks were absolutely enormous.

Otherwise, only a fool would take the job.

By now, the sky was faintly brightening. The Fourth Elder stretched and shook his head:

"I'm getting old. From now on, I'll have to rely on you young folks."

"Take your time practicing. This old man will go get some sleep first." He looked at the two with a gratified expression as they worked hard.

What teacher doesn't like diligent students?

The harder they worked, the more peacefully he could sleep.

Smiling, he ambled into the back courtyard.

The Fourth Elder's compound was a three-section courtyard.

The two lived in the east and west wing rooms of the first section, while the Fourth Elder occupied the main hall of the second section.

"Elder, you've worked hard."

"Take care, Elder."

They watched the Fourth Elder leave.

At this moment, Lin Qing and Gao Linzhi finally had time alone.

She looked at Gao Linzhi with a smile and said:

"What a coincidence. Looks like we'll be colleagues again."

Gao Linzhi looked puzzled: "What do you mean? Miss Lin, have we met before?"

"Oh, sorry, I misspoke," Lin Qing said with a faint smile. "I'll have to rely on you from now on."

But her expression seemed to suggest she was certain about Gao Linzhi.

Gao Linzhi didn't mind and simply replied flatly: "Oh, let's look out for each other."

He knew that without training, it was very hard to completely disguise himself as a stranger in front of someone familiar.

It was like playing Werewolf—different identities meant different information, and the perspective you showed when speaking was different.

A few words from an experienced player could expose you.

But none of that mattered, because he had cheats.

After finishing her laugh, Lin Qing went to a corner of the courtyard and began training hard.

The first thing she trained was the Basic Lightness Skill.

Only, this skill was a bit too difficult; to even enter its threshold, given her talent, would take over ten days of effort.

Still, she believed that if it was hard for her, it would only be harder for others.

At that moment, "Can Xue Waves Across the Map" stood there looking completely clueless, unsure what to do.

She had indeed just been probing Can Xue.

A woman's intuition told her that the timing of his appearance was a bit too coincidental.

She wondered if he might be Gao Linzhi, the same person who had discovered Manager Li's body with her.

Confirming this wasn't difficult; she just needed to test him later with information only Xu Corporation employees would know.

After exchanging a few brief words with Lin Qing, Gao Linzhi returned to his own eastern side room.

He then logged his game character out.

He needed to quickly check in reality whether he had truly mastered these skills, rather than...

Brain: I've got it.

Hands: Bullshit.

He opened his eyes. The fire pit before him, the rocks behind him—nothing had changed.

On the minimap, everything was normal; no trackers appeared.

The sky was also faintly brightening.

He looked at a nearby birch tree, reached out with a punch, then followed with a kick.

A left hook, a right front kick—smooth and practiced.

As if he had trained for decades, the results were excellent.

But the birch tree only swayed twice, shedding a few leaves; the destructive power was just so-so.

He felt that if he ran into those two bastards again now, even without using his pet, he could easily kill them on his own.

After a brief round of practice, Gao Linzhi confirmed that his hands and feet had learned the moves, and only then felt at ease.

He then covered the dying embers of the fire with dirt, drank a few mouthfuls of bottled water, ate a few sausages as breakfast, and finally took two vitamin tablets.

With all that done, he decided to leave this place and continue south.

Next, he tried out the "Basic Lightness Skill."

He felt his steps were now light and brisk; walking on the mountain path, every step had technique, every detail had its nuance.

Where to step, what to avoid, how to reduce and eliminate footprints to avoid tracking—there was a vast amount of detailed knowledge involved.

No wonder it took a month or even years to learn.

If this knowledge hadn't been instilled by the game, he could never have mastered it.

Walking on the mountain path originally took twelve parts of effort, but now it only took five, and that was enough.

Some steep slopes that were hard to climb could be scaled quickly with just a few steps.

Comparable to certain old masters in livestreams who had real lightness skills.

This had major strategic significance.

It meant the distance he could cover in a day had greatly increased compared to before.