Z-Secret Sword

[Z-Secret Sword Lv.1 (2+0/9000): Learn a supreme secret sword technique that allows for three instantaneous sword strikes. Agility +0.3, Constitution +0.2]

[Description: A supreme secret sword technique from the Xisa royal family, generally only accessible to royal members or those of Governor rank and above. This sword style focuses on speed, with its main characteristic being three instantaneous strikes. Powerful practitioners can carve a 'Z' onto a person in an instant, hence its name, Z-Secret Sword. However, rumors suggest the true killing blow of this technique is a fourth strike after the initial three.]

On Perkin's ship, Liu Zhi practiced the Z-Secret Sword he received from Perkin again and again. The difficulty and level of this secret sword technique far surpassed any other sword art. It cost Liu Zhi a full 3000 experience points to forcibly learn it, a stark contrast to the mere 30 experience points needed for Sailor's Basic Swordsmanship.

Furthermore, practicing it didn't yield improvements as easily as before. Liu Zhi had tried; he needed to complete a thousand sets of three-strike thrusts to gain a single point of related experience.

So, aboard Perkin's ship, Liu Zhi practiced whenever he had free time. As long as Perkin didn't ask him about the map, the only sound around Liu Zhi was the swish-swish-swish of his thrusting sword.

"You have great talent."

As Liu Zhi sheathed his sword, Lloyd's voice came from beside him. After boarding, he had become idle, wandering around the Deck, no longer nervously following Perkin as before.

Liu Zhi already knew his identity: he was Perkin's nephew and student, accompanying him on this trip solely to gain experience.

Besides him, Perkin had also hired a guide, a jungle survival expert, a five-person Mercenary team, and the four-person family of the ship's captain responsible for sailing.

In Perkin's words, if there were fewer cabins, he would have hired a chef and a fisherman too, so they would have good food on the journey.

Regarding this situation, Liu Zhi really didn't want to comment. Besides, Perkin's actions had nothing to do with him. He had already agreed with Perkin that he would only escort them until they could see the landmark mountain peak, Perkin's destination, and then he would leave.

That point also happened to be a turning point for Liu Zhi's journey towards Golden City, so he wouldn't be making the trip in vain.

However, he never expected that his instantaneous mastery of the Z-Sword secret technique would be discovered by Lloyd. For the past few days, Lloyd had been watching Liu Zhi intently while he practiced, clearly harboring the thought of challenging him.

"Fortunately, this sword technique is easy to learn but hard to master. I feel there's definitely a possibility of a fourth strike, but I can't find the angle for the final thrust, so I haven't been able to improve," Liu Zhi said, putting away his rapier and putting on a show.

This rapier was a gift from Perkin when he bestowed the Z-Secret Sword upon Liu Zhi, as the technique required the use of a sharp, pointed, slender rapier.

To his surprise, Lloyd listened intently and recalled, "You truly are talented. This Z-Secret Sword does have a fourth strike, but very few people notice it, let alone practice it with the fourth strike in mind from the beginning. With a dedicated practitioner like you, I believe you'll soon see new improvements in this sword style."

Liu Zhi paid no mind to Lloyd's flattery. If the experience wasn't so precious, he could level up Z-Secret Sword to Lv.2 right now.

But what was the point? It wasn't a critical moment for breaking through to the extraordinary at Lv.4. His experience was extremely valuable, earned by grinding Fishman back then. At its peak, he only had 14,372 points. After learning Z-Secret Sword, he had even less. He wasn't sure if he'd need more experience for other things along the way.

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

Just then, the leader of the Mercenary team hired by Perkin walked over.

The mercenary team consisted of four men and one woman. The leader stood at 1.8 meters tall, with a full beard, wearing leather armor, a shield on his back, a spear in hand, and a Longsword and hand axe at his waist – fully armed.

Among the remaining four, there was a black man, two meters tall, covered in muscle. Besides a wooden staff as tall as himself, he held a rope in his hand, clearly indicating he was the team's controller.

There was a musketeer, not tall, but heavily armed. In addition to a long musket on his back, he had six loaded short pistols on his belt. It was said he could switch guns incredibly fast, emptying all of them in under a minute.

The female throwing knife expert was also the team's scout. It was unknown how many throwing knives she concealed, but it was rumored that within ten meters, not even a mosquito could escape her blade.

Finally, there was a swordsman, who usually watched Liu Zhi practice from afar. Liu Zhi wondered why the mercenary leader was approaching today.

Upon seeing Liu Zhi, the mercenary leader was quite polite, "Mr. Sandru, we have entered the primitive jungle region. This is now a dangerous area. We need your map."

Liu Zhi knew that they had reached this point, and it was time to produce the map.

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

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

Spreading out the map, Liu Zhi first asked, "Where are we now?"

"We've just entered the Amazon River against the current from the estuary. We've been following the north bank."

"Following the north bank... let me see. Ah, yes. Did you see this rock?" Liu Zhi quickly flipped through his copied notes, finding a rock that distinctly resembled a giant snake's head.

"Not yet."

"This is a major landmark about thirty miles after entering against the current on the north bank. If you haven't seen it, we've taken the wrong path. After seeing it, you need to pay attention to the left side. Tributaries of the rainforest river will suddenly appear. We cannot proceed based on the number of the fork; we must look for corresponding landmarks that are not easily washed away.

The next landmark isn't very obvious. I only found some information in a few travelogues. Look at this: it says after a certain distance, you'll see a whale. And this: turn after seeing the whale. And this... So I deduced it must be something shaped like a whale. At this point, turn left and head north.

This leg of the journey is one where we cannot completely ascertain if our direction is correct. The distance is about forty miles. After that, we will find a sacred tree. I'm not sure if it's rock or something else, but many records mention it as the most obvious landmark. If found, it means we are on the right path. If not, we have to retreat to the whale's location and start over."