Chapter 4, The First Lesson of the Jianghu

Ah, I am exhausted. This morning, I went out to play that game you mentioned, "Jianghu," and I played all day!" Ye Kai shouted at the three of them.

"What’s the rush? After we finish the noodles, let’s go together. A Kai, you should come too!" Chen Peng said

The three of them seemed as if the sky had fallen, anxiously ignoring A Kai's words, and stood up to leave. Just before departing, the leader turned back and threw out a remark: "We are leaving first, come find us after you finish eating!"

Those who deceive are dogs! Ye Kai made a small vow

Damn, just mentioning this makes me angry!" Saying this, Ye Kai recounted the subsequent events once again

Upon exiting the internet café, it was indeed true that the sky was darkening. I left when the sun rose and returned as it set; my schedule no longer aligned with that of the sun.

Sigh, this could probably be considered a bug of the intelligent NPC; you are truly unfortunate, the boss lamented

Ake, feeling helpless, explained it in detail once again

"Come on, the equipment isn't important. Last time I gave you the Longquan sword, you were so thrilled you couldn't contain yourself!" Liangzi said dismissively to Chen Peng.

Is that so? How did you practice? Please tell me about it! the boss asked.

Xiao Peng echoed, "Yes, yes, let's go quickly, what else is there to eat!"

The boss handed a bowl to A Kai, then turned and went to eat the instant noodles that had swollen several times in size and taken on the flavor of cold noodles with the other two.

Liangzi said: "Boss, why are you speaking more and more like a character from a martial arts novel! Enough already, what are we waiting for? I am going to give it a try right now!"

Ye Kai briefly recounted the process of completing the task

"Wind Walks the World" and "Mind's Eye"

"Go ahead and eat, we'll talk after eating. Bring me a bowl too!" A Kai shouted. "I haven't eaten anything for a day!"

The three listened attentively, and Chen Peng remarked, "So it turns out we need to complete all the tasks in the novice village. We certainly haven't done that! Everyone was eager to leave there as soon as possible. If it weren't for the necessity of helping a certain village chief, we wouldn't have completed even one task!"

Before Chen Peng could retort, Ye Kai interjected, "Oh, when you all came back this morning, you were shouting. Wasn't Xiao Peng practicing with the staff? Why does he want a sword now?"

Oh, here I randomly received 'Wind Walks the World', and 'Mind's Eye' is another reward. The system said I was the first to complete the hidden task in the game, so it randomly gave me another one...

What is there to envy? A loser is still a loser; even when picking up things, they never find anything good. What kind of useless heart technique is that! Liangzi once again fully expressed his disdain for Xiaopeng, and then he was gestured by Ye Kai, who had spoken first, to go ahead and say what he wanted.

The three of them paused again to eat noodles, all staring at A Kai. Their scorching gazes swept over A Kai more intensely than before, causing him to break out in a sweat. The leader then sighed, saying: "Not only is it impressive, but I believe there are no martial arts in this 'Jianghu' that can astonish people more than what you two have demonstrated. If I hadn't heard it with my own ears, I certainly wouldn't have believed it."

The boss laughed and said, "That is his hobby. Isn't Xiao Peng a martial arts enthusiast? So when he sees a martial arts skill, he has to practice it. In reality, he is mainly practicing swordsmanship, because he has a 'Sword Control Technique' mindset, which can increase his sword attack speed by 20% and his attack power by 20%. He gained this while following a group to farm BOSS experience. When the BOSS dropped a lot of loot, people scrambled madly for the items on the ground, and this item just happened to fall at his feet, which he casually picked up. Many people are envious of him!"

"Speak one at a time," the boss replied

The "Mind's Eye" increases the hit rate to 50%. "Wind Walks the World" is said to have seven forms, and I have just mastered the first form, "Swift as Lightning," which increases movement by 100%! How about that, not too shabby right!

Returning to the dormitory, the three of them—Lao Da, Liang Zi, and Chen Peng—had just gotten out of bed and were preparing instant noodles, their mouths still engaged in an ongoing debate about "Jianghu"

"Hey, boss, you've been playing martial arts games for a few days, and now you talk as if you're a bit dazed. What do you mean by 'there must be a hidden story'? A-Kai, quickly recount the details of your quest again!" Liangzi shouted.

What did you practice? Again, it is a chorus of voices.

"What level are you at?" asked the boss. "Do you have any good equipment?" inquired Liangzi. "What skills have you been practicing?" asked Chen Peng. This time, the three questions were quite different from each other.

I think it's better not to wear any equipment. Just imagine walking the world in a full suit of armor; how ridiculous would that look!" Chen Peng interrupted Liangzi's words.

After half a day of analysis by the three individuals, there still was no reasonable explanation.

Indeed, it turns out it needs to be done this way. Let's go back another day and give it another try to see if we can trigger it again, the boss said

"Damn, what are you thinking? My head is already hurting. I'm going to go back to the novice village and try it again." Liangzi was the first to become impatient.

I haven't started practicing my level yet; I just left the novice village. I don't have any equipment, and as for martial arts, I have practiced two moves.

"Indeed, you are bragging again!" Liangzi laughed so hard he was almost out of breath, "Your name is quite cleverly made up!"

"What? The system says you are the first to complete the hidden task!" Liangzi interrupted Ye Kai's words and jumped up upon hearing this. "Many people have done this task, how could you be the first!"

Of course, that means adding all the martial arts skills. How much have you added to your 'spiritual eye'? We forgot to ask! And what about your 'Wind Walks the World', what have you added to that?" Xiao Peng asked eagerly, already forgetting Liang Zi's disdain for him

What is it, have you never heard of hetushucom.com?" Chen Peng muttered

"Ah, who should I answer first?" Ye Kai found it amusing. He had never seen the three of them show such enthusiasm in their studies.

Ye Kai nodded

"But you just said the system sent you one item, how did you end up with two?" Chen Peng asked in confusion

How would I know this! '' Ye Kai was astonished by Liang Zi's reaction

Oh, you two also have moments of agreement!" A Kai laughed

Then, did you choose your two?" Liangzi asked

"What, you went to play 'Jianghu'!" The three of them responded almost in unison.

Ye Kai shot him a glare and said, "Ah, my 'inner eye' also increases the chances of striking, and another aspect is accuracy, but it doesn't specify which martial arts technique is enhanced!"

Ah... haha... After listening to Ye Kai's account, Liangzi once again laughed so hard that he couldn't catch his breath. "You really are quite unfortunate!"

Old Road: "Liangzi, you may not often play games, but you should know that hidden quests have become one of the main attractions in today's online games. Hidden quests often yield unique rewards that cannot be obtained elsewhere, which is why many people are eager to search for them. According to what you said, no one has found the hidden quest in 'Jianghu' to this day, and your completion of the quest seems a bit suspicious. Although the three of us haven't fully completed the novice village tasks, there must be quite a few people who have completed all of them like you, yet none of them have triggered the hidden quest. There must be some underlying reason for this."

Having spoken, he turned to look at the boss and Chen Peng. The two were also exchanging glances at each other.

While eating noodles, Liangzi's mouth was also busy. "Akai, it seems you don't have enough understanding of the game. I only have this moment free during the day, so I'll give you a brief introduction to 'Jianghu' while I eat." Without waiting for Ye Kai to respond, he began to speak incessantly. "In 'Jianghu', there are no specific professions for characters; the distinction lies in each person's martial arts and equipment. Each character has four basic attributes: physique, strength, agility, and dexterity. Physique affects health and defense, strength affects attack, agility affects movement speed and hit rate, and dexterity affects attack speed and evasion. After leveling up, you can allocate five points to these four attributes. The actual attributes of a character include health, internal energy, attack, defense, evasion, movement, action speed (attack speed), and hit rate. Among these, only internal energy can be increased through internal cultivation, and it is said that the amount of internal energy also influences attack and defense power. The other attributes can be enhanced through basic attribute points, equipment, and training. Speaking of equipment, there is an interesting backstory: during the initial development of 'Jianghu', there was a consideration to eliminate the equipment system in order to simulate the martial arts world as realistically as possible, but in the end, it was retained. Moreover, the equipment system is quite extensive; after all, it is a game, and equipment is indispensable. What fun is there in a game without equipment..."