Soul of Martial Refinement (Please Bookmark and Recommend)

This Skeleton Swordsman was far faster than ordinary skeletons. It was not clumsy at all, but extremely agile, rushing before them in just a few moves. Bai Qi hurriedly stepped in front of Zhao Fu, drew his sword, and met the attack.

Facing Bai Qi, the Skeleton Swordsman raised its hand and slashed with its sword.

Bai Qi swung his sword to block the Skeleton Swordsman's attack. The Skeleton Swordsman withdrew its blade, then hacked down several times in rapid succession. Steel rang out as it attacked without the slightest fear, showing no intention of defending at all.

After blocking the Skeleton Swordsman's attacks several times, Bai Qi became familiar with its movements. As it delivered another straight downward slash, Bai Qi sidestepped and swung his sword upward from below, its blade carrying threads of sword qi as it cut toward the Skeleton Swordsman.

Bang!

The Skeleton Swordsman was sent flying six or seven meters and fell to the ground. Only a few bones in its chest had been severed, and it was not seriously harmed. Its bony joints twisted as it slowly tried to rise again.

At that moment, Zhao Fu also attacked. A Blood-colored Fireball shot over and struck the Skeleton Swordsman. With a bang, it exploded and sent the Skeleton Swordsman flying again.

However, the Skeleton Swordsman lying on the ground twisted its bones and tried to stand once more. Zhao Fu had just used Hellfire Ball and could not cast it again so quickly, so he chose an ordinary Fireball instead.

An orange Fireball shot out and landed on the Skeleton Swordsman that was trying to rise again. This time, it failed to get back up. Its body was blown apart, collapsing into a pile of bones on the ground.

Within that grayish-white heap of bones, a blue flame flickered gently. Zhao Fu stepped forward to inspect it and received a piece of information.

[Soul of Martial Refinement]: After use, grants one or more skills possessed in life.

So that was what it was. Upon receiving the information, Zhao Fu understood. A Soul of Martial Refinement was formed when someone trained a certain skill to the utmost limit, even integrating it into their soul. After becoming undead upon death, they would leave behind that skill when killed.

This differed from using ordinary skills. Ordinary skills required training and practice to master, but after using a Soul of Martial Refinement, one could directly raise the skill to at least a proficient level.

This Skeleton Swordsman was clearly a melee class. Zhao Fu realized that he was not actually skilled in close combat, and his attributes leaned more toward magic, so it did not suit him very well. He turned and handed it to Bai Qi.

His gaze swept over the rusty sword on the ground. Curious, he picked it up and examined it.

[Taiqing Sword] Grade: Blue. Attributes: Strength +1. Description: Originally a Gold-grade weapon. After more than ten thousand years of weathering, it had ultimately fallen to Blue quality.

"What? It used to be a Gold weapon?"

Zhao Fu was somewhat astonished. He had not expected such a rusty sword, one that looked ready to fall apart, to have once been a Gold weapon. Even after ten thousand years of weathering, it had retained Blue quality.

No one was currently selling Gold weapon swords on the market. A Silver weapon cost anywhere from one thousand to several thousand silver coins, while a Gold weapon would cost at least hundreds or thousands of times more than a Silver weapon. By rough estimate, its starting price could be no less than 1,000 gold coins.

Do not be fooled by how little 1,000 gold coins sounded. In Apocalypse World, 100 copper coins equaled 1 silver coin, 100 silver coins equaled 1 gold coin, and 1 gold coin equaled 10,000 copper coins. Thus, 1,000 gold coins equaled 10 million copper coins. Based on the real-world exchange rate of ten yuan for one copper coin, the minimum price of a Gold-grade weapon would be 100 million yuan. But even with 100 million yuan now, one could only dream of buying a Gold weapon.

Zhao Fu looked regretfully at the Taiqing Sword in his hand, while curiosity filled his heart. What kind of place was this, where even a random skeleton by the road possessed a Gold-grade weapon? Thinking of something, Zhao Fu said, "Bai Qi, fuse with the Soul of Martial Refinement and see what skill you obtain."

Hearing this, Bai Qi nodded. He closed his eyes and pressed the Soul of Martial Refinement against his chest. The blue flame slowly merged into his body. After a while, Bai Qi opened his eyes and answered with some delight, "Your Highness! I obtained a B-grade skill, One-Breath Slash!"

"What? A B-grade skill?"

Zhao Fu could not help being shocked once again. His D-minus grade Hellfire Ball was already so powerful, let alone a B-grade skill. What kind of place was this? Zhao Fu's heart was filled with curiosity.

They raised their torches and continued forward. In less than a few minutes, blue soul-fire ignited within the skull of another skeleton lying on the ground. It gripped its rusty broadsword and twisted its bones as it prepared to stand.

Zhao Fu acted first, sending a Blood-colored Fireball flying out and blasting it away.

The Skeleton Warrior lying on the ground swayed as it was about to rise. Bai Qi seized the opportunity to rush forward and use the skill he had just gained, One-Breath Slash.

A large amount of white sword qi erupted from his blade as he slashed the Skeleton Warrior across the chest.

Bang!

The Skeleton Warrior was sent flying more than ten meters. Its body directly fell apart, shattering into countless small pieces of bone. This time, the Skeleton Warrior did not have a Soul of Martial Refinement. Zhao Fu picked up its broadsword and examined it.

[Baishan Blade] Grade: Blue. Attributes: Constitution +1. Description: Originally a Gold-grade weapon. After more than ten thousand years of weathering, it had ultimately fallen to Blue quality.

Sure enough, it had once been a Gold-grade weapon too. What exactly was this place? Zhao Fu grew even more curious.

With that curiosity, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi continued exploring deeper. Along the way, they encountered several more skeletons. After killing them, they obtained two Souls of Martial Refinement, while their weapons, without exception, had once been Gold-grade and had become Blue weapons after more than ten thousand years of weathering.

Of the two Souls of Martial Refinement they obtained, Zhao Fu chose one from an Archer skeleton. After using it, he gained the C-minus grade skill, Stone-Shattering Arrow.

This place had now become a treasure trove. Blue-grade weapons were almost guaranteed, and they could even obtain fairly good skills. A Blue-quality weapon was worth between 100 and 1,000 silver coins. Weathered weapons like these should be worth around 300 silver coins each, at the very least, not to mention the possibility of obtaining skills.

From this expedition alone, they had gained six weapons and three Souls of Martial Refinement. Bai Qi's B-grade skill in particular was worth more than 10 gold coins. Altogether, their total value was 31 gold coins, equal to 310,000 copper coins.

Such abundant rewards brought joy to Zhao Fu's heart. He had originally intended to continue deeper with Bai Qi, but the number of skeletons in the passage gradually increased. There were as few as five or six at a time, and as many as twenty or thirty. For safety's sake, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi could only choose to retreat.

After returning to the surface, Zhao Fu ordered people to conceal the place immediately and build stairs to make it easier for large numbers of people to enter in the future.

Afterward, Zhao Fu took the six rusty weapons to the blacksmith, Wang Dawu, and asked whether they could be simply repaired.

Wang Dawu took the weapons and inspected them. His face was also full of astonishment, along with some regret. Such fine weapons had become like this. After examining them, Wang Dawu nodded and said, "They can be simply repaired, but materials are required."

This made Zhao Fu somewhat awkward. Great Qin Village's weapons were currently mostly made from Ironwood, and they did not even possess more than a few proper iron weapons. Zhao Fu immediately sent people to investigate the nearby area and see whether there were any open-pit iron mines or the like.

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