Chapter 28: Three New Skills

3 PM.

When the period of unconsciousness was about to end, Chen Shicheng entered the game in the new inn's room.

"Um…"

Before he even opened his eyes, he felt waves of excruciating pain rippling through his entire body, as if being sliced by countless knives.

"Squeak!"

His tiny whimper caught La Tiao's attention; it sprang from the foot of the bed, planted its two front paws on Chen Shicheng's face, and stuck out a pink little tongue to lick his face.

"Stop it, it tickles."

Suppressing the searing pain, Chen Shicheng tried to sit up, but as soon as he moved, he instantly felt a sensation of ice and fire at once.

His left hand felt void, sensing nothing, while his right hand seemed sliced by countless knives, unresponsive and giving a pain that felt better if it were chopped off.

"Young hero, you're awake!"

"Quick, drink this medicine!"

Someone wants to harm me!

Chen Shicheng weakly opened his eyes and saw two bodyguards: one helping him sit up, the other holding a dark broth of medicine up to his mouth, the pungent herbal scent making him want to roll his eyes.

【Healing Soup Medicine】

【Passive Effect: After consumption, it can suppress part of the pain and restore 5% of all injuries within two hours.】

【Description: Made from common herbs found everywhere, brewed crudely; cheap and of average effect, it is the common folk's first choice after injury.】

Don't be fooled by the soup's resemblance to a witch's poison; it is indeed a medicine for healing.

Although its effect was somewhat disappointing, appreciating the two bodyguards' goodwill, Chen Shicheng pinched his nose and drank the medicine.

Need not say, whether the medicine was astonishing or his constitution differed, once the soup entered his stomach, Chen Shicheng felt the pain at his wounds lessen considerably, allowing him a brief sigh of relief.

"Where is this?"

He turned his head, glanced at the simple yet clean room, and asked with some confusion.

"This is the town's infirmary. When we saw you unconscious, we brought you here, but—" one bodyguard, looking at Chen Shicheng's bald left arm, hesitated to speak.

Chen Shicheng shrugged his shoulders, looking at the severed arm that kept oozing blood, and said nonchalantly, "It's just a minor wound, no big deal."

"It's all our guard's fault; if you have any grievances, we are willing to …"

"Stop!"

Chen Shicheng quickly cut off the guard, "I am a player; you know what a player is, right?"

Seeing them nod, he continued, "Such injuries are minor to us; we die once and recover, you needn't blame yourselves."

"Then," a guard half‑drawn his sword, "are you unable to finish it yourself, want me to help?"

"Get lost!" Chen Shicheng said with a black line on his face, "I don't want to know what death feels like right now, so don't bother helping, but I'm currently …"

"Where are you headed, young hero?"

"Rolling Cloud Tower!"

The two guards exchanged glances, looked at the determined yet maimed Chen Shicheng with admiration, and without a word lifted him onto their backs and left the infirmary.

Along the way, any NPC who saw the odd trio cast surprised glances at them.

After they passed, some kept whispering softly, but with the three's keen hearing they heard the supposedly secret words clearly. "Young hero, we're almost there, please hold on," the guard carrying Chen Shicheng said without turning his head.

Hearing that, Chen Shicheng almost laughed; from that tone, even without looking, he could tell the guard beneath him had a face flushed red, and the words seemed spoken to himself, more like self‑encouragement.

Unfortunately, his hope to finish this conspicuous journey quickly was shattered.

Because Chen Shicheng spotted a bookstore by the roadside, its sign hanging at the entrance displayed a bold line of large characters.

【This shop has newly arrived various Skills, hand‑copied manuals, jade slips aplenty, limited stock, buy quickly!】

"Hold on a moment, I want to buy something at the bookstore."

Realizing his current lack of offensive options, he finally decided to purchase some Skills to enrich himself, lest he be forced to hack with a dull blade in reality.

"Hm? Hmm!"

The guard was startled and turned his head toward the nearby bookstore.

Although not yet at the destination, finding a place to hide temporarily was fine, so he quickly turned and plunged inside.

Upon entering, the shopkeeper in a silk robe greeted him warmly, as if he hadn't noticed Chen Shicheng's injuries.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the shopkeeper waved his hand, and a screen displaying a dazzling array of goods appeared before Chen Shicheng.

Although there were many items, after filtering out weapon Skills and unsuitable ones, only three Skills were presented to Chen Shicheng.

【Night Battle Eight Directions】

【Description: Using bladed weapons, unleash eight slashes around you in an instant, each slash's Attack Power being only 60% of a normal attack.】

【Price: 1 gold 50 silver.】

【Wind Sweeps the Remnant Clouds】

【Description: Using bladed weapons, with swift, fierce technique, slash forward rapidly, enveloping the opponent in blade light; Attack Speed increases 100%, Accuracy decreases 50%.】

【Price: 1 gold 50 silver】

【Eight-Step Chase Cicada】

【Description: A light‑skill that uses explosive power for rapid movement; at high levels one can consecutively take eight steps, each step increasing speed by 20%.】

【Price: 5 gold】

"Indeed, good quality and cheap price."

Chen Shicheng looked at the three Skills he had painstakingly selected, and raised an approving eyebrow.

In fact, besides the two he chose, there are many other sword techniques, but most are ordinary Skills like Power‑Slash Mount Hua or Horizontal Sweep.

For him, whose Basic Sword Technique has already surpassed limits, these moves can be replaced simply by altering the way he exerts force, making deliberate learning unnecessary.

Moreover, his current offensive methods have essentially detached from the damage of techniques and weapons, relying entirely on the blade aura to achieve effective killing.

The Blade Gang's damage, which even the unnamed protective artifact on Yu Wei cannot block, Yu Wei truly cannot think of any reason to abandon it.

Therefore, the first two Skills that can increase his progress speed became the only choice, and the final movement Skill was even more something he had long coveted.

That night, Yu Wei transformed into a lingering afterimage and vanished, then the scene that flashed before his eyes, he has never forgotten.

In reality they don't let you ride a motorcycle at high speed; can the game still not let you have some fun!

You should know, humans have the urge for extreme speed etched into their very bones.

(End of Chapter)