Basic Skills

After his constitution broke through to 11 points, Gao Linzhi felt a surge of strength throughout his body. He felt as if he could shatter stone with a single punch.

The difference between 10 and 11 points seemed to be just one attribute point, but Gao Linzhi could feel that the gap between them was huge.

He immediately asked, "Captain Zheng, are there any other Basic Skills?"

"There are plenty of Basic Skills, like Basic Saber Technique, Basic Sword Technique, Basic Hidden Weapon Technique, Basic Internal Energy Cultivation, Basic Staff Technique..."

"Can I learn all of them?" Gao Linzhi wished he could master every one.

"Of course. But it'll be dark soon. You can go to the village Martial Arts School to learn them later," Zheng Dong said.

"Understood." Gao Linzhi nodded.

"All right, let's head back. Strange creatures tend to appear once it gets dark," Zheng Dong said, glancing at the sky.

Just then,

a huge crab suddenly emerged from the seawater.

It was enormous—one meter wide, one meter long, and half a meter tall.

It was practically a rectangular block of a crab.

Glaring at Gao Linzhi with its two tiny eyes, it crawled toward him menacingly.

Gao Linzhi didn't feel threatened at all. If anything, he found it a little funny.

It was like watching a praying mantis try to stop a cart.

It crawled rather slowly.

Gao Linzhi jumped straight down from the reef and thrust his spear at the giant crab.

The thrust nearly struck one of its tiny eyes.

The giant crab was so startled that it immediately pulled in both eyestalks, tucking its eyes safely away.

Then it snapped its pincers viciously at Gao Linzhi.

Gao Linzhi dodged lightly, and the crab's pincers closed on empty air.

He darted behind the crab and thrust his spear hard at its rear.

Clang! A deep white mark appeared on the crab's shell.

Rather than fly into a rage at the blow, the giant crab immediately turned and fled, scuttling sideways toward the sea.

Gao Linzhi pressed forward and attacked several more times.

Unfortunately, the steel spear was only a Whiteboard Weapon and couldn't pierce its defense.

"Forget it. Don't kill it. It's female."

"Leave it alive, and the crab population will grow faster. They're an important source of meat for the village," Zheng Dong advised.

"All right." Gao Linzhi let the crab go.

The snake he'd killed yesterday and the crabs he'd killed today had naturally dropped quite a few white-quality materials.

But all those materials belonged to the village.

Gao Linzhi wouldn't keep them for himself. Someone else had taken him out to hunt monsters.

With just the materials they got from these drops, the village and the players could work together and live quite well.

But the enormous threat posed by strange creatures after nightfall, along with the Corporate Players' watchful eyes and slaughter, would make all of that come to nothing.

Otherwise, this village really would be like a secluded paradise, where everyone lived in peace and prosperity.

After returning to the village, the two went their separate ways.

Gao Linzhi returned to the Fourth Elder's home. Steward Zheng came over and said:

"Mr. Canxue, the Fourth Elder has another order. From now on, any monsters captured by the village that aren't auctioned off for the right to kill them will be saved for you to kill at night."

"That's great."

"Please come with me now."

Steward Zheng led Gao Linzhi to the southern end of the village, where there was a temporary holding pen for monsters.

Gao Linzhi looked around and saw a series of enclosed cages built against a tall city wall, each divided into separate pens.

Each pen stood about five meters high and was enclosed with wire mesh to keep the monsters trapped inside.

Most of the monsters were wounded, lying on the ground and barely clinging to life.

Gao Linzhi felt no pity for them. Instead, he was excited at the prospect of all the experience they would give him.

"The monsters captured by the Patrol Team are kept here temporarily while we wait for the Descenders to buy the rights to kill them. Unless they're valuable, they'll all be killed eventually."

When the keeper saw Steward Zheng and heard that the order came from the Fourth Elder, he let Gao Linzhi into the pens to kill the monsters.

"The auction's already over for today. There are twelve monster rabbits left, eight monster foxes, crabs... venomous snakes..."

Gao Linzhi went down the line, killing them one by one with his spear.

He got several more material drops along the way, but of course he couldn't take those either.

Getting the experience was good enough.

What more could he ask for?

In the end, he gained a full 600 experience points.

Captured monsters were easy to kill.

After all, he'd only gained 1,500 experience points from killing crabs all afternoon.

He saved the 600 experience points, since adding them to any attribute for now wouldn't increase his constitution.

Then Gao Linzhi returned to the Fourth Elder's home and chose to log out.

Steward Zheng personally stayed by Gao Linzhi as he logged out. Only after seeing him disappear did he leave to report to the Fourth Elder.

"Alas, if only his talent could be combined with Lin Qing's," the Fourth Elder sighed.

"His comprehension may be excellent, but he still only has one life. Monsters are no problem for him, but against those unreasonable strange creatures... alas."

Lin Qing's talent was related to resurrection. Her potential was practically limitless.

As long as she was alive, there was always hope.

But comparatively speaking, it was a late-game talent. She had to grow strong before it could be useful.

An ordinary soldier who could revive endlessly wouldn't be very meaningful. One sealing technique would take care of her.

Only when she became a BOSS-level figure would resurrection have enormous value.

Steward Zheng listened silently, his hands folded before him.

From the Fourth Elder's words alone, a clever person could tell that Lin Qing's talent gave her more than one life!

No wonder the Fourth Elder valued her so highly. She was the village's future.

Night fell.

In the real world,

Gao Linzhi opened his eyes inside a wooden shelter in a mountain ravine.

It was late autumn. Insects chirped all around, and cold winds blew.

Yet Gao Linzhi felt a fire burning in his chest and didn't feel cold at all.

He'd more or less worked out his development path in Skyfall Game.

He would focus on Basic Skills, Level Lock, and gaining experience, then max out all his Basic Skills.

Once he got stronger, he'd go after gold, spend money, and take off.

Tomorrow morning, he'd head to the village Martial Arts School to learn some skills.

Thinking about it, he could hardly sleep.

Unfortunately, he couldn't use his phone right now. He couldn't risk revealing his location.

Damn Xu Corporation. It wouldn't be long before he made them pay!

Did they really think they could get away with anything?

With that thought, Gao Linzhi summoned the Corpse Vine and placed it beside him to guard him, then sank into a deep sleep.

He tossed and turned, too excited to fall asleep.

It wasn't until the sky began to lighten that Gao Linzhi finally managed to drift off.

When he woke, he sighed. "Life without a phone is miserable. At least I can log in and play the game."

Then he focused his mind on the game panel in his head and chose to log in, entering the game...

East Wolf Village.

Another morning dawned.

Gao Linzhi appeared in the Fourth Elder's courtyard. After eating some breakfast, he had Steward Zheng take him to the village Martial Arts School.

The school was on a street just east of the village center.

It covered a large area, with a spacious courtyard surrounded by walls more than four meters high.

As they approached, they heard a clamor of shouts and calls from inside.