"Not necessary. Fourth Master will take care of those matters of yours," the thin servant said.
"All right."
The thin servant then left.
Zheng Dong looked astonished as he said to Gao Linzhi, "The Fourth Elder just wrote on the note,"
"that from now on, I'll be assigned to train you and raise all your Basic Skills to the limit of your Descender kind."
Gao Linzhi was delighted.
Finally, he could grind experience to his heart's content.
It hadn't been easy.
As expected, showing off had its risks, but it could also earn you attention and support.
And with his unlimited revives and Game Character clones, he could avoid the risks of showing off while enjoying its benefits.
By comparison, Rogue Players still had to grind for money to buy monsters, while Corporate Players had it even worse—they were nothing but cannon fodder and tools.
"Then thank you, Captain Zheng," Gao Linzhi said sincerely.
"No need to thank me. You're a village guard. The stronger you are, the better off the village will be." As Zheng Dong said this, he seemed to think of something, and his expression turned gloomy for a moment.
Zheng Dong glanced at the sky, then said, "It's still early. I'll take you to Green Flood Dragon Beach to grind crab monsters."
He went into the courtyard and took two steel spears. Then he patted the two children on the head. "Neither of you is allowed outside. You can only play in the courtyard, and when the sun starts to set, you have to go indoors."
"Got it, Daddy," the two children said sweetly.
Gao Linzhi furrowed his brow slightly. He felt that Zheng Dong had a story of his own, too.
The two of them left, and Zheng Dong locked the gate behind them.
"Where did Zheng Shan take you earlier? Foxy Slope?" Zheng Dong asked as they walked.
"He took me to Myriad Snake Cave."
"Myriad Snake Cave? Why would Zheng Shan take you there?"
Zheng Dong looked shocked.
"Is something wrong with that?" Gao Linzhi asked, pretending to be confused.
"There's a level-15 Crown Snake in Myriad Snake Cave!" Zheng Dong said anxiously. "It's very hard to kill, and it has an area-of-effect poison attack. So even Corporate Players often can't get rid of it in time. Before going there, we always check with them first."
"Did Zheng Shan ask the Corporate Players before taking you there?"
"No, he didn't. We did run into the Crown Snake, but I got away," Gao Linzhi said calmly.
"Damn Zheng Shan! I'll give him a piece of my mind later! How could he forget something so important?"
"At least you're safe." Zheng Dong was furious.
Clearly, Zheng Dong didn't yet know that Zheng Shan had died.
He would find out soon enough.
Gao Linzhi certainly wasn't going to tell him.
They chatted as they walked, and soon left the village.
Under the guards' watchful eyes, they headed east.
Both of them walked quickly.
Zheng Dong deliberately picked up the pace, and Gao Linzhi kept right up with him.
In less than half an hour, they had covered more than forty li.
Gao Linzhi saw a beach ahead.
"This beach is Green Flood Dragon Beach," Zheng Dong said, finally breaking his silence again. "They say a few hundred years ago, a flood dragon fell here."
"But there's no flood dragon here now."
"The highest-level monster here is just a level-six giant crab."
"I'll teach you Basic Spear Technique first. With your current abilities, you should be able to match it."
Then he handed one of his two steel spears to Gao Linzhi.
Gao Linzhi took the spear and hefted it. It wasn't heavy—in fact, it felt a little light.
His constitution was now 5+4, for a total of 9. Ten was the normal human limit.
"Good. You've got a solid physical foundation." Zheng Dong nodded, then began explaining the fundamentals of Basic Spear Technique...
"Basic Spear Technique: thrust, snap, coil, sweep, smash, block..."
He explained as he demonstrated.
Before long, Gao Linzhi heard a game notification:
[ding! Congratulations, player! You have successfully learned Basic Spear Technique (0/100).]
"I've learned it."
"Huh? What?" Zheng Dong was just as astonished.
After Gao Linzhi demonstrated the technique, Zheng Dong had the same expression as the Fourth Elder.
"You Descenders really are blessed. You truly are the future of this village." As Zheng Dong said this, his expression grew gloomy again.
It seemed he had finally understood why the elders favored the Corporate Players.
People sided with whoever held the advantage.
And clearly, the Corporate Players held the advantage.
Ordinary Players couldn't compare to them.
Gao Linzhi said nothing more. So long as it was within his power, he would do everything he could to ensure Zheng Dong's family lived in peace.
He believed in repaying kindness and settling grudges. That was Gao Linzhi's bottom line and principle.
Zheng Dong didn't dwell on his sadness for long. He took Gao Linzhi straight to a field of scattered reefs.
A group of crabs was basking in the sun there.
The moment they saw the two men, they stirred and charged straight at them.
They were even more aggressive than the foxes and venomous snakes.
Just like Zheng Shan, Zheng Dong chose a tall reef.
The two of them jumped onto it, then stood there and started grinding crabs, just as they had ground snakes.
They killed the attacking crabs with one thrust apiece.
Zheng Dong didn't kill the crabs outright. He just broke a few of their eight legs, then tossed them over to Gao Linzhi for him to finish off.
Gao Linzhi was very pleased to see this.
As expected, the treatment was completely different.
This was what real training looked like.
You had to prove your worth before anyone would invest in you.
Without value, who would care about you?
And so, time passed.
Gao Linzhi patiently ground the crabs.
The crabs were much safer to deal with.
Although they piled on top of each other and climbed toward the high ground,
they were much slower.
With a single swing, Zheng Dong could knock them apart and send them tumbling down.
But the crabs were low-level, mostly level one or two, so they didn't give him much experience.
He usually got only 3 to 10 experience points, and there weren't that many crabs, either.
At a glance, you could still count them. There were probably only a few hundred in all—nowhere near as many as the snakes.
All things considered, it was much less efficient than grinding snakes.
But it was safer.
Most importantly, crabs weren't poisonous, and they lacked powerful burst damage, so an accident was unlikely.
The two of them kept grinding there until the crab swarm gradually thinned out.
The remaining crabs didn't dare approach. Instead, they crawled into the sea.
The sun sank toward the west.
Gao Linzhi checked his experience. He had accumulated 1,500 points.
The rate was much slower than when he'd ground snakes, but it was decent.
Gao Linzhi began allocating his points.
He first spent 200 experience points to raise Basic Lightness Skill to level 30.
Then he spent another 1,000 experience points to raise Basic Parrying to level 20.
Finally, he put 300 points into Disguise Art.
His attribute panel immediately changed.
[Constitution: 5+6 (The normal human constitution limit is 10. Ordinary Players' bodies are game-ified, so the limit does not apply; calculate their bonus based on 11 points. Incomplete Players' bonuses are calculated using the limit of 10. They must further learn external-body tempering techniques to break through the constitution bonus limit.)] [Basic Lightness Skill level 30, +3 points; Basic Parrying level 20, +2 points; Basic Fists and Feet level 10, +1 point.]
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