Chapter 39: Jadeite Ten Swords
Xu Xiaofeng wandered into the woods outside the city.
Her goal was quite simple: to farm some monsters.
Sitting on her b*tt all day was getting so boring that she might as well be sending fishes to a watery grave.
She was here to play a game, not clock in at a 9 to 5! Fishing around at work made sense, but fishing for fun all day? That was pure torture.
Plus, she needed to grind a bit for experience, keeping her level at the tail end of the first tier.
Honestly, the wild at night was a bit riskier than during the day, with monsters being a tad stronger, though the experience points were about the same.
That was one reason why player activity dropped significantly when night fell.
But for Xu Xiaofeng? She could not care less.
Her base stats compared to other players of her level? Who knows! But her gear was absolutely crushing.
Armed with a sword, she found a snoozing wild boar.
She tiptoed closer and executed a righteous backstab!
The wild boar jolted awake, spinning around while glaring at the sneaky human. The epic duel was about to begin!
Then Xu Xiaofeng started poking it with her sword, while the boar retaliated with its tusks, poking back.
In the end, the wild boar went down.
Wiping nonexistent sweat from her forehead, Xu Xiaofeng let out a heavy sigh.
“What an exhilarating battle.”
Meanwhile, lurking in the shadows was Edward, dumbfounded at the absurdity unfolding before his eyes.
Is this seriously what they call a fight?
Just one girl and one pig standing at a distance, poking at each other back and forth.
Dodging? Not a chance.
Parrying? Please, does that even look like something she can do?
They just went at it head-to-head until one of them fell flat on the ground…
Edward really wanted to ask if she was wielding a fire stick instead of a sword.
A sword, you say? Do you even know what that means?
And those legs of yours? If you’re done with them, maybe consider donating them to someone in need. Otherwise, a single jab will freeze you in place!
He nearly couldn’t resist the urge to reveal himself when he saw the wild boar attacking while the little girl just stood there, unbothered.
But thankfully, her gear was crushing it—thank goodness for that!
Soon, Xu Xiaofeng found her next opponent: a Unicorn Rabbit.
“Hey bunny, don’t run! Let me take a stab at you!”
“Woohoo!”
“Chop!”
With a series of nonsensical exclamations, the Unicorn Rabbit met its doom under Xu Xiaofeng’s—what is it, a fire stick?
And so, she moved on to the next one.
After watching Xu Xiaofeng bludgeon five monsters, Edward finally buried his face in his hands.
d*mn it, I can’t watch this anymore! What is this nonsense?
She just tanked the monsters’ hits and gave them a poke in return—sometimes poking twice just to get one back!
If she came across any agile ones, they’d run circles around her; with the strong ones, she was rolling on the ground just trying to recover.
Yet, she barely took any damage! Can you be any more infuriating?
Finally, after taking down six monsters, Xu Xiaofeng decided to rest for a bit.
Taking advantage of the moment, Edward pulled out a book from his sleeve and tossed it high into the air.
Moments later, a loud “Ow!” echoed through the night forest.
Xu Xiaofeng grabbed the object that had smacked her on the head, squinting at it.
“What the heck? Am I being ambushed?!”
She looked around and saw no one, then scrutinized what was in her hands.
It was a book, and the cover read four big characters—Jadeite Ten Swords.
“This is… a skill book?!”
Xu Xiaofeng’s face lit up with excitement as she gazed at the skill book, scanning the area once more and finding no sign of intruders.
Furrowing her brow, she took a deep breath and switched back to her NPC form.
Golden light flickered in her eyes as she surveyed her surroundings again.
Still no signs of anyone. Everything looked normal; not a hint of anything suspicious.
Finally, Xu Xiaofeng relaxed. If there was someone around, her Eye of Breaking Delusion would have spotted them—hiding wouldn’t help, because your body might hide, but your stats can’t stay concealed!
Meanwhile, just atop a certain tree, Edward wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
In that fleeting moment, he had an inkling he might get seen.
Despite his own disbelief, he quickly made his way up silently to the top of the tree.
That gut feeling had saved him many times; he could trust it wouldn’t be wrong.
“This girl’s eyes are something else. I almost got spotted.”
“Good grief, why does she have to be so alert at this time?”
While he muttered this, he couldn’t help but smile.
“She may be young, but she has some serious potential. Too bad she lacks experience; if she just looked up, I might have been caught.”
Shaking his head with a smile, he watched the little loli down below.
Meanwhile, Xu Xiaofeng had started looking at the skill book.
Skill books could be used immediately, and once used, could be reviewed again in the mind.
Using a skill book was like stepping into the world of skills; if she wanted to improve afterward, it required comprehension and practical application. Comprehension was reading; application was practice.
But facing this sketchy skill book, Xu Xiaofeng decided to first inspect it and confirm its contents before deciding whether to use it.
The book explained ten sword techniques, with the first five being basic and the latter five advanced.
The basics included thrusts, slashes, lifts, chops, and parries, while the advanced section was all about combos.
The first part was truly foundational swordplay, while the latter part was what players called skills.
Wait a minute, how much does this sound like it was custom-made for me?
After a moment of thought, Xu Xiaofeng asked in her mind, “Sister Tong, is this your way of giving me a gift?”
No response echoed in her mind, but she could almost see an eye-roll.
Well, it made sense; this was the system, a fair and just system. Just handing out items left and right was a bit much.
But this was exactly what Xu Xiaofeng needed right now.
As a player grinding her way to level 9, she had realized something quite awkward.
The forums said to learn one skill at levels 3, 5, and 8, but now that she was level 9, she had nothing from the system except for “Dragon and Phoenix Power!”
And the posts claim that melee classes inherently know how to wield swords, but she didn’t!
Was it because I’m a spellcasting class?
Remembering her class—NPC Little Girl—she was indeed a spatial magic expert.
But now, for a spellcaster not to learn skills? Is that even more useless?!
While her gaming talent was impressive, you couldn’t expect a 21st-century kid in a system-free game to create their own sword techniques.
That’s why she was there poking away!
There’s no way she could swing a magic staff; that would just be dumb.
Now, a golden opportunity lay before her.
Who said spellcasting classes can’t go melee?
Once I master this Jadeite Ten Swords, I’m going to chop you all to bits!
With that thought, Xu Xiaofeng took one last look around.
Confirming again that no one was in sight, she quickly used the skill book.
The skill book gave her five built-in skills, plus a year’s worth of sword practice—woohoo!
Five skills! Just by picking a skill book in the Beginner’s Village! If other players found out, they’d be green with jealousy!
As Xu Xiaofeng glanced at her sword, she felt a newfound bond. Is this what other melee classes feel like?
This was simply—totally awesome!!
