Bai Lang cackled with a perverted expression. "As expected from a person we trained. He has indeed inherited the legacy of the Three Lonely Wolves from the computer engineering department!"
"Legacy, my foot! Only dead people can pass their legacy to others!" Qi Ci finally caught a chance to hit Bai Lang, and he smacked his head repeatedly.
"Ack!"
"Hush."
Chen Kaixin walked out of the bathroom. The trio quickly laughed foolishly before they turned around. "Happy, we knew you'd be alright. Even if you're not alright, don't worry. We gathered money to buy a Virtual Reality Helmet (VR Helmet) for you. Tomorrow, us four wolves can fight together in our dorm. We'll fight our way through the World of Martial Arts. We shan't bother ourselves with the rumors at school."
Qi Ci was the one who reacted the fastest. He brought forward the plan they had prepared a long time ago to shift Chen Kaixin's attention from the crime of the trio eavesdropping on him.
Chen Kaixin had experienced this before. In fact, it had been three years ago.
When he heard the suggestion, he rolled his eyes and pulled out a bill with Mao Zedong's face on it. He then said a few simple words. "Paying by installments. Will settle the bill in three years."
World of Martial Arts had joined the market for less than a month, and it had done so in a grand fashion. Within a short period of time, it attracted more than five million players from all around the world, and the VR Helmet, which was a unique terminal login, sold for 3,600 RMB per unit.
"Darn."
Qi Ci and the other two watched Chen Kaixin hand over one hundred as if he had predicted their action. It stunned them for a long time. "You bastard, you want to pay in installments for something that costs around three thousand? You sure have a lot of awareness of what's going on, huh?
"Who among you leaked the news?"
"Nope, absolutely not me!" Bai Lang and Chen Fan began to suspect each other.
"Stop guessing. You were sleep talking yesterday, and you said everything so clearly that I heard every word."
"You mean something that crazy happened?"
Bai Lang pushed up his glasses, unable to believe what he heard.
But Chen Kaixin did not care about him.
"Where's the helmet?"
World of Martial Arts might have been in the market for less than a month, but there were quite a number of people who had already made a name for themselves. He remembered that when he first joined the game, World of Martial Arts had already formed more than fifty thousand factions. In fact, the practitioners who practiced the peak of all martial arts skills, Nine Yin Manual and Nine Yang Divine Skill, were about to appear. Hence, there might be many great martial arts skills that were being inherited by many people at that very moment.
Qi Ci and the other two were speechless again.
They had thought that it would be very difficult for them to get the only good student in their dorm to join them in World of Martial Arts. They expected to have to work hard and devise a lot of persuasive speeches to attract him to play the game. Thus, they were surprised to see that he was the type to hide his talents in gaming, and by the looks of it, he was even more of a seasoned gamer than they were.
Could he be one of the legendary low-profile bros who did not flaunt their talents?
"The helmet is in your closet."
"If someone bullies you once you log in, remember to tell them my name. I'm Young Lonely Seven," said Qi Ci.
"I'm Young Lonely Black, and Bai Lang is Young Lonely White. Why don't you just call yourself Young Lonely Heart?" Chen Fan gave Chen Kaixin a very ridiculous name.
When Chen Kaixin picked up the soft, foldable helmet from his closet, an inexplicably profound light flashed in his eyes. He remained silent for a long time before he raised his head.
"I'll just call myself Happy."
At that moment, Chen Kaixin made his decision!
Three years later, after the Sword Among Us tournament in Mount Hua… this name will be remembered by all the people on earth!
Translator's Note:
[1] Shaoshi Mountain: Is part of Mount Song, in the Dengfeng district of Henan Province.
Chapter 2 - Murong Clan
The moment Chen Kaixin put on the helmet, the sound of hooves across the plains came from the distance. They became clearer and more prominent…
"Ha!"
In the endless darkness, someone opened the chapters to a story speaking of sabers flashing and blood splashing! The whistles of sabers and swords when they sliced through the air sounded as if they were right beside Chen Kaixin. They would awaken a person by swinging their weapons around and clashing against each other. The sounds made it seem like the wielders of the weapons were engaged in a complicated, chaotic fight in the darkness, but also like there was an order to it. The fight was neither fast nor slow. The noise advanced and retreated as if there was someone who handled all the swords, sabers, and hidden weapons that came from everywhere while on retreat!
'A powerful person!'
Chen Kaixin listened to the sounds carefully and noticed something.
He remembered that he had heard this noise when he had entered the game the previous time as well, but at that time, he had just entered World of Martial Arts and had no idea what those sounds meant. When he heard them, he thought they were sound bites from a major wuxia film. His craving for the world of martial artists had been satisfied for a while before he truly entered the game.
But by the looks of it now…
Chen Kaixin did not need to open his eyes to differentiate the unique skills. From the vibrations when the weapons met, various blurry figures appeared in his mind.
The image of one highly skilled fighter fighting alone against eight people arose in his mind. He saw him being surrounded by different weapons and fists.
There was no need to question Chen Kaixin's thoughts…
During the three years he had spent in World of Martial Arts, he had fought against countless powerful fighters because he had been set on pursuing the one emperor, two empresses, three kings, seven dukes, and thirteen aces, who were said to be unmatched in their abilities. He learned many martial arts from different factions, and he could remember many of the qi cultivation techniques and skills after he looked at them once. He even had them at the tip of his fingers.
The skills shown during the opening scene of the game were from peerless martial arts, and neither were they from an out-of-the-way technique that was rarely seen in the world. The martial skills the surrounded person used were a little strange and seemed to be a mix of many martial arts, while the eight people who surrounded him used Shaolin's Arhat Fist, Wudang Sect's Breeze Sword, Emei Sect's Falling Leaves on Wind Sword, Kongtong Mountain Sect's Heaven's Leg Breaker, Kunlun Sect's Soft Palm Strike, Mount Hua Sect's Noble Sword, Beggar Sect's Dog Beating Staff Technique, and Tang Sect's Scattered Flowers Palm.
The person using Beggar Sect's Dog Beating Staff Technique had the highest skill level, while the other people's skills were only at novice level. However, while their skills were at a low level, their realm of understanding towards the skills was not ordinary. All of them could easily use the skills, and they were always at the tips of their fingers.
They executed the skills, then pulled back. While they advanced to attack and moved back in retreat, they showed the skills of grandmasters!
However… the person who was surrounded was clearly of greater skill. Even though he faced the powerful assault of the eight great sects, he remained composed and moved about with ease. The skills he executed did not have a fixed skill set that Chen Kaixin could use as a reference, and he could find no sources that he could use to trace them. The person seemed to have reached transcendence in his skills, which allowed him to block all attacks perfectly. He gave off a feeling of perfection, and that his defense was impenetrable.
As he listened to it, Chen Kaixin found himself becoming more and more immersed in the sounds!
He did not n
otice that he could already visualize the fight. He could even clearly see a man in white moving in a relaxed manner, like a breeze blowing through mountains, while he blocked the attacks from the eight people surrounding him.
Just when Chen Kaixin found himself enthralled by the scene in his head, he heard an unexpected clap of thunder, and the image in his head suddenly vanished.
Chen Kaixin was stunned. Then, he noticed that his character stats tab had shown up. The scene changed, and he popped up on a wide street.
"What an intelligent and adorable boy." A woman who looked like an Non-player Character (NPC) moved past him. When she saw Chen Kaixin suddenly appear, she came to a swift stop and put on an amiable smile towards him. "Many wanderers have shown up in the city lately. Lad, don't go running off with some random stranger, alright? Where is your house?"
Chen Kaixin raised his tiny head and looked at the woman who was all smiles. He was both surprised and delighted!
What faced him was the most normal of all missions that could be triggered. Only new players who had high Affinity and great Comprehension could trigger it within ten minutes of entering the game.
However, this was strange, since Chen Kaixin remembered that his Affinity was very normal. He should not be able to meet this particular woman!
Could it be that his luck had increased?
Despite being puzzled, he was still felt very excited. He did not intend to miss this rare opportunity to train…
The heartless game gave him the background of a wandering orphan whose parents died. As long as he said the truth, he would be taken away by an NPC who took pity on him. He would then skip the stage of having to search for work through various hardsh.i.p.s and do errands.
He could learn normal fighting techniques while he worked for the woman. If he were lucky, he could even be taken in as a disciple and begin learning martial arts immediately.
"My name is Happy. My parents… I don't know where they are. I can't go home now…"
"Oh."
The woman had a kind heart. She let out a long sigh as compassion filled her heart. With pity, she stroked the head of the young boy who was not even four feet and six inches tall. "You must have been separated from your parents during the chaos of war, you poor child. The world as it is now… Ah… you poor lad, if you're willing, come to the manor with me.
"The mansion has been hiring servants over the past few days. If you go there, you can run some errands and do some housework on usual days. You will face no problems with food and housing. You can even earn a little money at the end of the month. What do you say?"
Happy would naturally not refuse the offer.
The kind woman let him follow her around. Soon, they arrived before the door of a stylish mansion that had two statues of lions standing guard…
When Happy raised his head, he saw two large and beautiful words carved on a huge plate with silver borders.
[Murong Mansion]
When she saw the dazed and surprised look on the child's face, the kind woman bent down and said with a smile, "Happy, from now on, you will work in Murong Mansion. I will bring you to meet the butler of the mansion first. He will give you some easy work to do."
What she did not know was that the boy next to her was not surprised by the stylish air of the mansion. Instead, he was surprised that the kind woman had brought him to the famous Murong Clan.
This was THE powerful aristocratic family, Murong Clan, that many players had racked their brains on how to join! They thought of countless ways to enter it so they could learn its martial arts!
What? Someone did not know about this family?
What an international joke! Even some of the foreigners would shake their heads furiously while singing a particular line, "I will deal with you in the same way you deal with me." Even in their dreams, they wanted to learn Shifting Stars [1]. There was no wuxia fan who was unfamiliar with that ultimate technique.
When the kind woman spoke, Happy felt his brain short circuit. He absolutely could not understand how he managed to get hit by such a stroke of luck.
"You silly boy, don't stand here in a daze. Come in with me."
The kind woman took Happy's hand and walked into the Murong Clan's mansion.
"These plants are valuable, so be gentle with them. If you damage them, you can pack your bags and leave."
Murong Clan's butler stood in the courtyard with a stern face. He was commanding a few maidservants and manservants to trim the flowers and trees.
Despite all of them being dressed in servant clothes, Happy could tell from how their eyes moved that they were the first batch of players who had managed to squeeze their way into the Murong Clan.
"Mister Butler, this is…"
The kind woman dragged Happy over and told him Happy's situation. This action swiftly caught the attention of the maidservants and manservants by the side. The seven of them had astonished expressions appear on their faces.
It had to be known that they had spent a lot of effort to get in, so it was their first time seeing an NPC bring in a player into Murong Clan on their own.
Happy did not bother with those people. He swept his gaze past Murong Clan's courtyard and found various valuable plants decorating the field and road. In the distance, there was an elegant woman in white. She sat at the corner of a pavilion with a small, fluffy rabbit in her hands. It created an incredibly beautiful picture.
"The lady of the Murong Clan? And the lady of the Wang family…"
Happy put on a curious expression. The kind woman had already finished explaining his basic situation.
The butler sized him up. Then, he nodded with satisfaction.
"Your name is Happy, right? Very good, I can tell that you are a smart and intelligent boy at first glance. Alright, from today onwards, you are a member of the Murong Clan. Your task is to serve the pets the lady rears in the backyard. Come with me."
Happy instantly began smiling happily.
Translator's Note:
[1] Shifting Stars: THE ultimate skill from Demi-gods and Semi-devils.
Chapter 3 - A Dream That Lasted Three Years, the Embarrassing Confession
"How did my Affinity and Comprehension become so high? Was it really a dream? Have I lived three years in a dream?"
In the morning, Chen Kaixin joined the sea of students walking to their morning lectures with his books in his arms and a spicy soup dumpling in his mouth. While he walked, he thought about the strange matter of his Affinity (AFF) and Comprehension (CPH) increasing.
When he entered the game three years ago, he remembered very clearly that his AFF had been just 15, and his CPH 17. At that time, the official website for the game had revealed that the highest AFF was 35, and the highest CPH was 27!
It was rumored that even if the players deleted their characters and made a new character, their character attributes would remain unchanged. That was why Chen Kaixin did not expect that once three years passed and he returned to begin anew, his AFF would have increased to 18, and his CPH to 25. His other two attributes, though, were still the same as before. His Arm Strength (AST) was 21, and his Body Movement (BMM) was 21.
In conclusion, his current situation was much better than three years ago. At that time, he had suffered because his CPH was low and had run into all sorts of obstacles everywhere. Because of it, he did not have the chance to learn many high-tier martial arts.
'No wonder the kind woman from Gusu City's Murong Clan randomly took a fancy to me. My CPH is actually 25…'
Chen Kaixin might have been puzzled and curious, but he was also whooping with joy in his heart.
A high CPH meant that his chances of learning more high-tier martial arts were greater, and he could also learn them faster!
Naturally, high-tier martial arts would not be handed to him on a silver platter. If he could not keep his eyes and ears open to trigger missions and complete high-difficulty missions, no matter how high his CPH was, it would still be useless. Otherwise, all the playe
rs with low CPH and AFF would not be able to do anything in the game.
When he thought of this, Chen Kaixin's heart instantly became calm...
In the past, he had relied on working hard and going through many trials and tribulations to get into the best sixteen in Mount Hua's Sword Among Us tournament where over a million people participated. His ATT and CPH were not good at that time, but so what? Starting attributes could not decide whether a person would succeed or fail, much less determine their future.
A person still had to rely on themselves!
Chen Kaixin absolutely did not notice that his three friends had left his side quietly at some point in time.
Countless people watched him sideways and pointed at him while he walked to his lecture hall. They talked about this nobody who had dared to hand an umbrella to their department princess, Xu Xin, at night after lectures. Yet the person on everyone's mind shamelessly refused to give any sort of reaction. He even seemed to be giving himself encouragement nonstop.
When they entered the lecture hall and saw that Chen Kaixin did not act any differently, quite a number of people came to a conclusion that made them feel dejected.
'I didn't expect that this rascal would be so thick-skinned!'
All the girls from Dorm 203 who had been sneakily trailing behind Chen Kaixin while surrounded and escorted by other girls were also disappointed. They had intended to give the audacious boy a taste of their strength, but they did not expect that he would refuse to even turn his head around to look at them. It was such a waste of their energy.
"Xu Xin, when lecture ends, we'll wait at the entrance. This brat will definitely confess to you."
"He has good intentions. How could you do this?"
"All men are perverted wolves. How can you say he has good intentions? We have to protect the treasure of Dorm 203. We can't let any perverted wolf take you away from us."
"That's right, if anyone wants to take you away, they have to get through us first."
The union of the girls in Dorm 203 immediately caused ideas to form in the minds of the boys in the area, and they looked at them sideways.
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