Chapter 31: The Semi-Spiritual Long Blade

At this moment, Lin Yi had clearly not received Liu Bo’s message. He had been tied up with miscellaneous studio tasks that morning and had not managed to log into the Apocalypse World until midday.

After hunting corpse monsters on the outskirts of the Ancient Tomb Valley for the better part of the day, Lin Yi saw the sky dimming and returned to the campsite outside the valley with Gu Chenghu.

Over the past week of construction, the number of tents in the camp had increased significantly. Most were built by Dugu Feng and the members of the Fifth Squad. They had even thoughtfully helped Lin Yi set up a tent right next to Gu Chenghu’s.

At that moment, Gu Laosi had just lured a level 9 corpse monster out of the valley to serve as a training target for the Fifth Squad.

The corpse monster was massive, clearly having undergone some form of mutation; it stood a full two meters tall, and the ground trembled with every charging step it took.

Among the "Born" in the Fifth Squad, only Dugu Feng was level 6, while the others were mostly levels 4 and 5. Facing a corpse monster of this caliber was a grueling ordeal for them.

Under the monster’s charge, their defensive formation collapsed at the first touch, and the group scattered in flight. Wang Zilong, in particular, was chased by the beast, howling in terror.

Fortunately, Dugu Feng stepped up, using his agility to frantically distract the level 9 monster and buy time for the others.

Gu Laosi’s tone remained harsh as he frowned and barked from nearby, "Hold the formation! Hold the formation! I’ve said it how many times? When you encounter monsters in the wild that far exceed your strength, only unity and cooperation will allow you to survive."

But the pressure from a level 9 corpse monster was immense, with power and speed far beyond what any ordinary person could handle.

After half a minute of maneuvering, Dugu Feng made a careless move and was swiped to the ground by the monster. Qian Duoduo, Wang Zilong, and the others were so intimidated by the beast that they didn't dare to get close.

Gu Laosi could no longer stand to watch. "Ah Le, Xiao Ba, you two go. Bind the monster with the chains; we'll try again tomorrow."

Two level 9 militiamen from the Fourth Squad stepped forward and, with practiced coordination, quickly chained the level 9 monster back up.

Gu Chenghu, who had been watching from the side, frowned and said, "Old Four, this method of yours isn't working. There’s too large a level gap between the corpse monster and the Fifth Squad members. One slip-up could lead to casualties."

Gu Laosi sighed. He knew there was a level disparity, but his goal was to train the "Born" in cooperative synergy. He hadn't expected their performance to be so disappointing. The defensive formation they had spent a week struggling to practice was as fragile as paper. Whenever danger appeared, these "Born" would scatter, each running faster than a rabbit.

Lin Yi, having watched the entire process, felt the same. Gu Laosi’s method was actually quite sound, but he had overestimated the players' courage.

In the transcendent game of Apocalypse, you only have one life. Who would risk their neck for training? The players’ golden rule had always been to greedily seize any benefit while refusing to step into any pit.

Gu Chenghu, somewhat familiar with the temperament of the "Born," suggested, "I think it’s better to train their individual combat capabilities first. This way of training isn't the solution."

"Fine, I’ll train them for two more days. If there’s no progress, I’ll try your way."

Gu Laosi shook his head and then glanced at Lin Yi, saying enviously, "You, Gu Chenghu, are just lucky to have good talent delivered to your doorstep. If you send Qingshan over, I’ll go to the village head and demand a bottle of divine water for you..."

Gu Chenghu quickly interrupted, "Old Four, stop trying to poach my men. We’re still brothers."

Ever since he had set up camp and garrisoned outside the valley, he and Gu Laosi had shared several drinks, and their relationship had mellowed significantly compared to before.

However, he only had himself to blame; once, while drunk, he had bragged to Gu Laosi about how unique Lin Yi’s blade techniques were and how outstanding his talent was, which only made Gu Laosi covet Lin Yi even more, constantly looking for ways to poach him.

"Forget it, look at how stingy you are!"

Gu Laosi couldn't be bothered to say more. He roared at the Fifth Squad to disperse and then returned to his tent to rest.

Dugu Feng had been scratched quite badly by the corpse monster, with two gashes on his chest. After applying a healing potion, he walked over to Lin Yi.

"Brother Qingshan, the item was sold. Here is the weapon you wanted."

Dugu Feng took a long silver-shimmering blade from his inventory.

The blade was long, heavy, and thick, with a special luster on its surface. The hilt was crafted from fine ivory, with intricate and exquisite patterns carved along the edges. It was clearly a high-quality weapon.

Lin Yi took the shimmering silver blade and weighed it in his hand. The weight felt just right; the entire blade was seamless and made of an incredibly hard material.

While this blade didn't quite reach the level of a spirit weapon, it was a semi-spirit weapon. Wearing it provided a slight boost to his attributes, making it better than any of the blades he had seen in the treasury worth hundreds of contribution points.

Lin Yi said with satisfaction, "Many thanks, brother. You’ve worked hard."

"Small matter. I even made a small commission on this trip, so don't you worry about it."

Dugu Feng laughed. Three days ago, Lin Yi had handed him a manual for [High-Speed Footwork], asking him to help trade it for a suitable blade.

Even though [High-Speed Footwork] was only a common white-tier external technique, it was quite rare as it allowed for short-distance displacement.

Coincidentally, besides Changkong Kuo, Dugu Feng also knew several other high-level players in Gutan Village, and he had managed to trade the [High-Speed Footwork] for this semi-spirit silver blade from them. In the eyes of those high-level players, they naturally thought they had come out ahead.

But for Lin Yi, he wasn't losing out either. The [High-Speed Footwork] manual was one he had looted later; the one he had won in the gamble had already been learned.

Furthermore, over the past week, he and Gu Chenghu had looted many corpse monster catalogues and corpse oil chunks. He had handed a portion of these resources over to Gu Chenghu in exchange for an equivalent amount of contribution points. With those points, he hadn't just bought a large amount of blood-food; he had also redeemed a full set of defensive armor.

Equipped with the armor, Lin Yi had felt he was still missing a decent weapon. He couldn't get his hands on a full spirit weapon yet, but a semi-spirit blade was well within his reach. Since he hadn't had the time to return to the village, he had taken out the looted [High-Speed Footwork] manual and asked Dugu Feng to handle the trade.

The result was this silver-shimmering blade, and Lin Yi was very satisfied.

With this semi-spirit weapon and his defensive armor, he felt that, given his current strength, he could actually put up a fight against that level 9 corpse monster from earlier.

If Dugu Feng knew that Lin Yi was confident in defeating the level 9 corpse monster that the entire Fifth Squad couldn't handle together, he would likely die of shame.

Lin Yi’s current character panel was as follows:

Player: Qingshan Bulao
Status: Exhausted
ID: 007
Gender: Male
Level: 3
Health Points: 1744
Experience Points: 2720/400
Satiety: 89/100
Strength: 21+3 (Normal human limit is 10 points. Affects physical damage and the upper limit of weapon weight...)
Physique: 11 (Normal human limit is 10 points. Affects max health, health recovery rate, and base toughness...)
Agility: 10 (Normal human limit is 10 points. Affects movement and reaction speed...)
Stamina: 11 (Normal human limit is 10 points. Affects max stamina, stamina recovery rate, and carrying capacity)
Blood Qi: 35 (15 points sourced from blood-food)

External Techniques:
[Heavenly Star Archery · Green] - LV1 (102/500): Each point of Blood Qi attached to an arrow increases arrow damage by 2%. The seventh consecutive shot can unleash 12% extra damage.
[Blazing Sun Blade Technique · White] - LV8 (51/2600): Infusing at least 10 points of Blood Qi into the blade increases blade-intent damage by 512%. Doubling the infused Blood Qi doubles the damage.
[High-Speed Footwork · White] - LV1 (22/300): Consumes 5 points of Blood Qi to perform a brief high-speed displacement of half a meter. This technique places a heavy burden on the legs; frequent consecutive use carries a high probability of damaging ankle tendons and bones.

Equipment:
Defensive Armor: Crafted with care from the hide of a Black Bull monster, this armor provides substantial protection against slashing and blunt force damage. Not in the category of spirit weapons.
Shimmering Silver Blade: A long blade forged from meteor iron mixed with precious secret silver. The blade is sharp and long, possessing armor-piercing capabilities, and grants the wielder +3 to Strength. Possesses some of the power of a spirit weapon.

Initial Talent: Universal Talent (Red) - LV1 — Natural Bladesman