Chapter 16: The First Trial of External Skills
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The green-quality external skill came with a fine bow. If the demon arts truly exacted the heavy price that Gu Liehai claimed, then exchanging with him was a great bargain for Lin Yi.
Glancing at Gu Chenghu, Lin Yi considered and said, “Captain, I agree to the trade, but about the external skill you mentioned...”
“Teaching external skills takes considerable time, and I don’t have that,” Gu Liehai replied. “But I have the original manual for the skill, which you Descendants can use directly.”
Gu Chenghu was shocked. “The original manual? Liehai, how can you just hand that over? If Qingshan learns it, the manual will vanish.”
Gu Liehai smiled. “This demon art, ‘Mirage Sound,’ is also an original manual. It’s a one-for-one trade—no loss for either side.”
After reaching the agreement with Lin Yi, Gu Liehai took back the “Mirage Crow Iron Feather·Green” and “Mirage Sound·Green,” leaving the “Intermediate Demon Blood·Green” for Gu Chenghu.
...
Back at the militia’s lodging, Lin Yi spread out his bedding and luggage, then took out the green external skill manual given to him by Gu Liehai.
It was a somewhat ancient-looking book, appearing to be many years old.
The characters seemed to be carefully copied stroke by stroke.
“Celestial Star Archery·Green”: A rare human external skill, an archery technique created by contemplating the stars. It channels vitality into arrows, increasing their damage by a percentage. When shooting consecutively, the seventh arrow detonates the accumulated percentage damage of the previous six arrows.
After reading the manual, Lin Yi didn’t hesitate and immediately used it to learn the skill.
“Celestial Star Archery·Green has been learned. The original manual has disappeared!”
“Ding! You have learned an external skill. Character vitality attribute unlocked!”
Player: Qingshan Bulao
Status: Mild internal injury
ID: 007
Gender: Male
Level: 1
HP: 83
EXP: 300/100
Satiety: 78/100
Strength: 7 (Normal male: 10; affects physical damage and maximum weapon weight...)
Constitution: 8 (Normal male: 10; affects max HP, HP regeneration, base resilience...)
Agility: 7 (Normal male: 10; affects movement and reaction speed...)
Endurance: 11 (Normal male: 10; affects stamina max, stamina recovery, carrying capacity)
Vitality: 8.5
External Skill: [Celestial Star Archery·Green] - LV1 (0/500): Each point of vitality attached to an arrow increases damage by 2%. The seventh consecutive arrow triggers an additional 12% damage burst.
...
Initial Talent: Universal Talent (Red) - LV1 — Treasure Sense
...
Lin Yi saved his experience points, so his level did not increase. Only his Strength rose slightly due to recent physical labor; other attributes remained mostly unchanged.
Notably, learning the external skill unlocked the vitality attribute.
However, vitality is linked to the four main attributes, so Lin Yi’s vitality was very low at just 8.5 points.
Using this 8.5 vitality to power Celestial Star Archery meant he could shoot roughly eight arrows.
Clearly, he needed to raise his vitality more in the future. After all, breaking through from level four to five required meeting vitality thresholds.
He then took out the Bear Tendon Great Bow that Gu Liehai had given him.
The bow was black overall, about 1.5 meters long.
“Bear Tendon Great Bow”: Made from black bear tendon leather and ironheart wood. It requires great strength to draw and is not considered a spiritual weapon.
Lin Yi tried to draw the bow but could only bend the string slightly; he couldn’t even pull it a third of the way.
“Looks like to use this bow properly, I’ll need to reach level four or five and focus my attributes on Strength. No way now.”
After tidying his belongings, Lin Yi handed over duties to Dugu Feng and logged off.
However, when Dugu Feng logged on and learned that Lin Yi had just helped slay three monsters, he was speechlessly envious.
“Three monsters? That must have yielded so many rewards! Awesome! Hey, why wasn’t the captain around when I logged on to lure the Bloodthirsty Wolf...”
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When Lin Yi returned to his lodging, he first looked in the mirror and noticed a slight scrape on his forehead—probably from being thrown by Gu He.
As for his two bleeding ears, fortunately, when Gu Liehai handed him the Celestial Star Archery manual, he also casually gave him a Healing Talisman.
The Healing Talisman costs 30 contribution points and can target a specific injured area for healing.
Thanks to the talisman, his ears were almost healed, though moving them still caused some pain.
He found a baseball cap in his wardrobe to cover the forehead wound, put it on, and headed to the workshop.
Though Lin Yi had been monitoring the workshop’s progress occasionally over the past few days, his focus had shifted to the Awakening World, causing the workshop’s daily revenue to decline somewhat.
He decided to supervise it personally.
After about two or three hours, as dusk fell, Lin Yi grabbed a simple beef noodle meal at a nearby snack shop, then returned to the gym near his apartment.
The gym he joined was located near many sports facilities spanning three floors of a mall—there was a swimming pool, skating rink, and an archery range.
After a light workout, Lin Yi went to the archery range downstairs and bought a quarterly membership card.
Originally, he planned to learn swordsmanship first in the Awakening World, but since Gu Liehai had taught him an external bow skill, he decided to focus on archery.
His attributes were too low for close-range monster hunting, which was risky; if he could kill monsters from afar with a bow, he would be much safer.
However, no one in the Awakening World was available to teach him archery, so he had to learn in the real world.
Soon a coach named Zhang arrived. He was a sturdy man in his forties with powerful arms. Smiling, he asked, “Brother, are you new here? Ever practiced archery before?”
Lin Yi shook his head. “No, just starting.”
“Good. I’ll teach you some basic shooting techniques, then help you pick a bow with the right draw weight…”
“First, there are two traditional shooting methods: the three-finger draw, also called the Mediterranean style, which is the most instinctive for most people; and the thumb draw, known as the traditional thumb ring style, which requires special training and a thumb ring.”
The coach was responsible and thorough, covering fundamentals well.
After grasping the basics, Lin Yi chose a 40-pound bow to practice.
At first, he didn’t attempt to use the Celestial Star Archery technique but focused on form and accuracy.
After practicing for over an hour and becoming somewhat familiar, Lin Yi nocked an arrow, attached vitality to it, and released.
Swoosh!
The arrow’s tail shimmered faintly.
The first arrow’s 2% damage boost was subtle.
He continued shooting the second, third, up to the seventh arrow, each flying swiftly and sticking deeply into the wooden target.
Though the seventh arrow triggered a 12% damage boost, Lin Yi shook his head slightly. His low Strength and the low-poundage bow meant the attack power wasn’t very high.
Nearby, Coach Zhang was astonished at how deeply the arrows embedded.
“Brother Lin, your arm strength is impressive. Getting this depth with a 40-pound bow? Keep training, and you’ll handle bows with higher draw weights soon.”
Lin Yi smiled quietly and continued practicing.
...
The next day, Lin Yi logged in to find Dugu Feng waiting outside his room.
The second team was on rest duty today, so no city watch was needed.
Dugu Feng’s face was eager. “Brother, I heard you traded with the captain for a bow external skill. Learned it yet? I’ll pay top price for it—in real money or in-game items. You name it.”
“Sorry, I’ve already learned it.”
“Ah, what a pity…”
Dugu Feng sighed deeply. After Lin Yi logged off yesterday, he tried to find out what Lin Yi had obtained. Learning that it was a rare green-quality bow external skill, he was so excited he couldn’t sleep, wanting to get his hands on it.
He himself practiced archery and originally sought the level-one team’s bow skill.
But the level-one militia was strict about recruiting Descendants; after failing to get in, he bribed Gu Xiaoliu in the second team and ended up there like Lin Yi.
Though the second team also taught archery skills, Gu Liehai’s green-quality manual was very rare.
Dugu Feng used to look down on Lin Yi as a lucky newbie, but now that he had learned a green external skill, Lin Yi was clearly a promising talent. He wanted to maintain good relations.
“Brother Qingshan, I guess you earned over a hundred experience points yesterday, but you don’t seem to have leveled up?”
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Lin Yi smiled. “Not in a rush. I heard lower levels get more experience from killing monsters.”
“Lower-level experience bonus?” Dugu Feng was surprised; he hadn’t known that.
“Brother Qingshan, that info’s important to me. But I won’t let you lose out—I’ll share a tip. Southwest of our Gutang Village, there’s a valley with level-five corpse monsters. Most of these corpses were militia. Killing them can drop the external skills they once learned.”
Dugu Feng paused, then added, “I got a lightness skill external called ‘Rapid Steps’ there.”
Lin Yi was intrigued. “A lightness external? What quality?”
Dugu Feng sneered. “Brother, what quality? Just white quality. You think green externals are common like watermelons lying around?”
Lin Yi scratched his nose. Yesterday in the real world, trying the green Celestial Star Archery skill, he hadn’t felt it was especially powerful. Of course, the arrows’ damage was low, possibly because the skill level was too low.
Lin Yi asked, “Brother Dugu, the outskirts of Gutang Village are dangerous, full of monsters. Aren’t you afraid of encountering them on the way to that valley? Or does the militia escort you?”
“The militia doesn’t fight those corpse monsters; they only lurk outside the valley and don’t threaten the village,” Dugu Feng said. “The valley is only about three kilometers straight-line distance, not far, and we have a big shot leading us.”
“A big shot?”
Dugu Feng grinned proudly. “There’s a brother in the first team who’s level eight and holds three external skills. We’ll prepare some talismans and potions, so it should be safe.”
Lin Yi asked, “Are you telling me this because you want me to join your team?”
“Of course. With a green external skill backing you, I’ll probably have to cling to your leg later. But right now your level’s too low. If you reach level four or five, I guarantee you can join us, and getting several external skills won’t be a problem.”
“Thanks, Brother Dugu. I’ll come to you when I’m ready.”
Lin Yi didn’t close the door on this, as external skills were rare. The valley’s corpse monsters were a valuable resource.
“No problem.”
Finally, Dugu Feng said, “Brother, the info I gave you is important, but you…”
“Don’t worry, I won’t blab.”
After Dugu Feng left, Lin Yi began sorting his backpack.
First was the “Strange Stone·Growth Soul Artifact,” which he had unearthed a few days ago using his talent. It was valuable and could detect nearby strange spirits. Lin Yi planned to bind it today.
Next was the “Low-grade Demon Blood·White” he obtained yesterday. It was worth about 30 contribution points in the treasury. Lin Yi intended to exchange it for life-saving talismans.
Finally, the Bear Tendon Great Bow, the “Rapid Talisman,” and several hundred copper coins.
Since he had been able to hunt three demons in a row yesterday only with the second team’s help, he planned to treat the entire second team to a big feast at noon. He wasn’t sure if the copper coins would be enough.
If not, he would use contribution points to exchange more. After all, if Gu He hadn’t protected him yesterday, he might have died from being too slow and caught by the Mirage Crow’s call.
So maintaining good relations with the militia was important.
Lin Yi was not stingy with a little money.
He then went to the Gutang Village treasury, where the guard was still Elder Gu Yuan. However, Lin Yi noticed something odd: a chunk of Gu Yuan’s white hair was missing, and the corner of his eye was swollen and red.
Had he gotten into a fight?
Who in Gutang Village dared fight an elder?
Not thinking much of it, Lin Yi exchanged the Low-grade Demon Blood·White.
Perhaps because the Bloodthirsty Wolf was higher level, this demon blood was better quality than the Ghost Demon’s, and Lin Yi received 41 contribution points.
Seeing Lin Yi’s gaze linger on his swollen eye, Gu Yuan scowled, “Kid, what do you want to exchange? Don’t stare.”
“Elder Gu Yuan, I want to exchange some copper coins—five hundred to start—and keep the rest of my contribution points for now.”
For Lin Yi, what he craved most was security.
Right now, he wanted the “Defense Talisman” from the treasury, which could resist attacks from demons and spirits below level eight.
Unfortunately, it cost 80 contribution points, so he needed to save more before redeeming it.
“Alright.”
This time Gu Yuan didn’t give a big bag of copper coins but five taels of silver.
In Gutang Village, the silver-to-copper ratio wasn’t 1:1000 but 1:100, so five hundred copper coins equaled five taels of silver.