Z-Secret Sword

Z-Secret Sword Level 1 (2+0/9000): Learn an extremely powerful secret sword technique. Allows you to thrust three times in an instant. Agility +0.3, Constitution +0.2.

Description: An extremely powerful secret sword technique from the Xise royal family. Usually, only members of the royal family or governors and those of higher rank have the chance to learn it. This sword technique prioritizes speed, with its main feature being three thrusts in an instant. The truly skilled can write a "Z" on someone's body in a flash, which is why it was named Z-Secret Sword. There is a rumor, however, that the technique's true killing move is a fourth thrust after the first three.

Aboard Perkin's ship, Liu Zhi practiced the Z-Secret Sword he had learned from Perkin over and over again. The secret sword technique was far more difficult and higher-level than other sword techniques. It had taken Liu Zhi a full 3,000 experience points to force his way through learning it. That was worlds apart from Sailor's Basic Swordsmanship, which could be learned for just 30 experience points.

Practicing it himself also wasn't like before, when he could improve whenever he wanted. Liu Zhi had tried it: he had to complete a thousand sets of three simultaneous thrusts to earn one point of related experience.

So, whenever Liu Zhi had free time aboard Perkin's ship, he practiced. As long as Perkin wasn't asking him about the map, the only thing anyone heard around Liu Zhi was the whoosh of his thrusts.

"You've got a lot of talent."

As Liu Zhi lowered his sword, Lloyd's voice sounded beside him. Since boarding the ship, Lloyd had been idle, wandering around the deck instead of anxiously sticking close to Perkin as he had before.

Liu Zhi already knew who he was: Perkin's nephew and student. He was only along for the trip to gain experience.

Besides Lloyd, Perkin had hired a guide, a jungle survival expert, a five-person mercenary team, and the captain's family of four to handle the ship.

As Perkin put it, if there had been more room in the cabin, he would have hired a cook and a fisherman too, so they could have good food along the way.

Liu Zhi didn't want to say much about this. What Perkin did was none of his business. He had already agreed with Perkin that he would only accompany him as far as the mountain that marked the destination of Perkin's trip came into view, then he could leave on his own.

That spot was also where Liu Zhi would turn toward the Golden City, so the trip wouldn't be a waste for him.

But he had never expected Lloyd to notice how quickly he had learned the Z-Secret Sword. For the past few days, Lloyd had watched him practice, looking as if he wanted to challenge him.

"Not bad. This sword technique is easy to learn but hard to master. I feel like there must be a fourth thrust, but I haven't found the angle for it yet, so I haven't been able to improve." Liu Zhi put away his sword as he bragged shamelessly.

Perkin had given him the sword along with the Z-Secret Sword. The technique required a pointed, sharpened Fine-Thorn Sword.

Lloyd took the remark seriously and thought it over. "You really do have a lot of talent. The Z-Secret Sword does have a fourth thrust, but very few people notice it, much less start practicing with it in mind from the very beginning. With your dedication, I'm sure you'll make new progress with this sword technique soon."

Liu Zhi didn't take Lloyd's praise to heart. If experience weren't so precious, he could raise the Z-Secret Sword to Level 2 right then and there.

But what would be the point? It wasn't like he was at a critical moment where he needed to reach Level 4 and break through to the extraordinary. His experience was precious. He had earned it by farming Fishmen day after day, and even at his peak, he'd only had 14,372 points. After learning the Z-Secret Sword, he had even less. He still didn't know whether he would need experience for anything else along the way.

For now, he had to save as much as he could.

Just then, the head of the mercenary team Perkin had hired walked over.

The mercenary team consisted of four men and one woman. Their leader stood about 1.8 meters tall, with a bushy beard. He wore Leather Armor, carried a shield, and held a spear, with a sword and hand axe at his waist. He was armed to the teeth.

Of the other four, one was a Black man, two meters tall and all muscle. Aside from a wooden staff as tall as he was, he carried only a coil of rope. It was clear he was the team's controller.

Another was a short gunslinger with a considerable number of weapons. Besides the long musket on his back, he had six loaded pistols hanging from his waist. They said he could reload incredibly fast, emptying all his firearms in under a minute.

The woman, a throwing-knife expert, was also the team's scout. No one knew how many knives she had hidden on her, and they said that within ten meters, even a mosquito couldn't escape her blade.

The last was a swordsman. He was usually the one who watched Liu Zhi practice from a distance. Liu Zhi had no idea why the mercenary leader had come over today.

When he saw Liu Zhi, the mercenary leader was quite polite. "Mr. Sandru, we've entered the waters of the primeval jungle. From here on, we're in a dangerous area. We need your map."

Liu Zhi knew that now they were here, he would have to take out the map.

He nodded, found a place to sit, then pulled out the map he had drawn from his backpack.

He also took out a stack of parchment, on which he had copied some information from books in the Governor's Mansion.

After spreading out the map, Liu Zhi asked, "Where are we now?"

"We've just entered the Amazon River from the estuary, going upstream. We're following the northern bank."

"If we're following the northern bank, let me check. Right, have you seen this rock?" Liu Zhi quickly flipped through his copied notes and found a picture of a rock that looked distinctly like a giant snake's head.

"Not yet."

"This is a prominent landmark about thirty li upstream along the northern bank. If we don't see it, we've taken the wrong route. Once we spot it, we need to keep an eye out on the left. A branch of the rainforest river will suddenly appear. We can't just follow a set number of forks; we have to look for landmarks that won't easily be washed away.

"The next landmark isn't very obvious. I found information about it in only a few travelogues. Look here. This one says that after a while, we'll see a whale. And this one says to turn after seeing the whale, and then there's this... So I figure it must be something that looks like a whale. At that point, we turn left and head north.

"This stretch is a journey where we can't be completely sure we're going in the right direction. It's about forty li. After that, we'll find a God Tree. I'm not sure if it's a rock or something else, but it's mentioned in a lot of records as the most obvious landmark. Once we find it, we'll know we're on the right track. If it isn't there, we'll have to go back to the whale and start over."