There were countless other such topics against Five Venoms. They swiftly appeared in the major forums on the official website. Once the entire university's force was mobilized, the evil conducts Five Venoms did in the past were swiftly discovered, and they were brought to light before everyone's eyes.
In just half a day, the negative rumors targeted at Happy faded into obscurity. They were replaced by condemnation for all the evil conduct performed by Five Venoms.
The players were especially enraged by Five Venoms' act of trying to kill someone to snatch a kill brazenly and then deploying the deplorable action of criticizing someone who was stronger than them after being defeated. This made many people who had at first accused Happy to feel incredibly ashamed and resentful. They felt that they had been deceived and manipulated! The tides changed, and now, it was Five Venoms that were pushed to the eye of the storm!
"Thank goodness we reacted quickly…"
The Three Lonely Wolves were in the dorms after they skipped class. Once they noticed that the direction of the accusations on the forum had changed, they finally released a breath of relief at the same time. Then, they turned around to speak to Happy.
"It's fortunate that you suggested this earlier. If you only took action too late, your bad reputation would have been etched into people's hearts, and the effect would not be very good."
Bai Lang paused for a moment before he nudged the frame of his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. "But how did you know that Five Venoms had done many deplorable acts in the past? Could it be that you planned this since the start?" he asked in puzzlement.
"No, it's just that when I saw their actions not matching what would be done by upright people, I thought it would be a good idea to search for their past deeds. I didn't expect that they had bullied and oppressed so many people before. It was luck to get myself out of trouble."
Happy's answer did not manage to clear up the trio's doubts.
In their hearts, Happy was not the type of person who would kill someone and steal for some benefits. Besides, his expression was incredibly strange in the battle replay. There was a deep hatred on his face, which made it clear that it was not the first time he saw them.
Of course, when the battle replay was shown on the computer, the quality was not perfect. There was a possibility that all of it was just what they perceived and not the real truth.
"Dude, you sure know how to invite trouble. After stirring up such great trouble yesterday, you still had the time to run out for a date with the Great Beauty of the disciplinary committee outside the campus? And when you woke up, you even remembered to tell us your plan! Aren't you too much of a monster? If I were you, I would have gone on a date with Xu Yao early in the morning."
"Yup, Xu Xin and Xu Yao… Bro, just what are you planning to do?"
"Xu Yao is showing you a lot of affection right now, but you're not taking any action. What's going on?"
The trio spoke one after another.
He was famous, and in terms of his career… If they were to talk in terms of the game, they could say that Happy was also successful. If he exchanged all his items in the virtual reality into RMB, he would have at least five hundred thousand RMB.
There were also two beauties who had taken a fancy to him.
It was basically the dream of all men. If the Three Lonely Wolves were in his place, they would definitely not act as stupidly as him and do nothing.
"My attention is solely on the game right now. School romances are not very stable, and I wouldn't feel at ease with one. By the way, let me tell you something. Xu Yao, the Great Beauty of the disciplinary committee, might have already asked Li Ning to figure out my identity in the game." Happy's calm voice attracted the trio's attention back to him. "I just wanted to give you a reminder. What you want to do once my identity is exposed?"
"I see, so that's what it is."
The trio scowled and fell into deep thought.
"When you put it that way, it's not that strange anymore. I was puzzled a while ago. You aren't as handsome as I am, so why did the two great Xu Beauties take a fancy to you? If they knew your identity, I can understand it now. After all, even Phoenix Dances has dropped subtle hints that she was willing to become your girlfriend. With that being the case, it's not at all strange that Xu Yao would have become attracted to you.
"It's a pity. That's another flower stuck in—" Before Chen Fan could finish lamenting, he sensed the temperature around him fall. He quickly stopped talking and changed the topic. "If that's the case, before long, you'll have to appear before everyone with your true self, right?"
When Chen Fan finished speaking, his three dormmates frowned. Stern expressions appeared on their faces.
"If your real identity is exposed, the worst case scenario will be that some sects will begin to target Beautiful Robes Faction, since it's the faction built by the students of the University of South China. Looks like we'll have to notify Phoenix Dances and Tea Words to increase their speed of building up the sect so we can get prepared beforehand."
"Yup."
Chapter 230 - A School for Scholars
High-tier martial arts for Mystical Realm meant that they were high-tier martial arts that could only be practiced by those who had reached Mystical Realm, and it was self-evident that they were stronger than the high-tier martial arts of Blessed Realm. For example, Seven Stars Sword was a martial art from Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction. Even though Happy had never learned it in his previous life, he still had some understanding of it. Seven Stars Sword was quite a good high-tier martial art, and it could be considered as an average high-tier martial art in Mystical Realm.
It contained Constellation Breathing Technique and Seven Stars Sword Styles!
Constellation Breathing Technique was a high-tier qi cultivation technique that was in Mystical Realm. Once it was activated, the user's recovery speed would become much faster. It would also provide a certain degree of effect toward expanding the meridian system and strengthening their affinity.
Right then, there were not many people who had Mystical Realm qi cultivation techniques.
It was the same for Seven Stars Sword Styles. All the powerful players on the Dragon and Phoenix Ranks relied on high-tier martial art manuals of Blessed Realm that came in full sets to become powerful in one go. Once Happy practiced and mastered the sword technique, he might not become invincible, but at the very least, he would not need to fear most of the powerful players on the Dragon and Phoenix Ranks!
When Happy pushed Big Dipper Sword Technique to Grandmaster Realm, his qi realm finally reached Mystical Realm. However, unfortunately for him, he still did not meet the requirements to practice Seven Stars Sword.
*****
The requirements for practicing Seven Stars Sword were as followed:
AST: 37, AFF: 41, CPH: 60, BMM: 47. Qi realm: Mystical Realm.
*****
Player: Happy (Mystical Realm)
AST: 56, AFF: 57, CPH: 51, BMM: 50
Even though he had reached the required qi realm, and his Arm Strength, Affinity, and Body Movement had also surpassed the requirement once he had pushed various martial arts to Grandmaster Real as well as one body fortification technique and one lightness skill, the increase in Comprehension had always been rather slow. Despite Happy experiencing several events when his Comprehension increased, there was still some time before he could practice Seven Stars Sword.
In truth, this was also the system's way to protect players. It was set up to prevent people from practicing only high-tier martial arts to reach higher qi realms from the start to the end or from practicing only low-tier martial arts from the start to the end to increase their Comprehension. If it was allowed, it would be very easy for a chasm to appear between players in terms of power. Some people might even be able to display high-tier martial arts that surpassed their level.
However, this sort of thing was not a hindrance to Happy.
Once he notified Little North and Thunderous Battle, he quickly su
mmoned his purplish-red horse and rode out of White Tiger Forest.
Over the last few days, aside from selling the high-tier martial arts and equipment in Fox Cave to obtain money, Happy had obtained quite a lot of loot from the fights, and the white tiger pelt that he got from the Mystical Realm White Tigers in White Tiger Forest was also very valuable. Right then, he already had more than four million taels of silver on his person, and his plan was to deposit all of it in the commission shop.
The two plates by the side of the door had a row of words carved into them.
[Learn all that you can]
[Do all that you can]
The plate above the door read as such.
[Road of Books]
Happy did not ride into the school, but got down from his horse. He saw that the doors to Road of Books were wide open, and the solemn sound of people reading out loud reached his ears. The soft noise created an atmosphere of tranquility and harmony that could not be found in the world of martial artists, though it barely perceptible.
Happy's expression became stern, and he changed to a normal blue robe and tied a hero's headband around his head. It made him look like a normal student, and he walked into the private school that had been set up by the system.
He had only taken a few steps when he was blocked by an old teacher with a graying beard standing at the entrance to the hall of the private school. The old man was dressed in a white robe, and there was some hints of sternness under his cordial smile.
"Young man, this is not a place where wanderers should go. For what reason have you come here?"
"I've come here to study."
"Why did you come here to study?"
The old teacher stared into Happy's eyes calmly, as if he wanted to see through the young man's thoughts.
However, Happy had been prepared for this since a long time ago, and he answered calmly. "I want to learn of the path of virtuous sages because I aspire to become a good person."
"Yes, not bad."
A satisfied smile bloomed on the stern face of the old teacher. He stroked his graying beard, swung his arm, and stepped aside.
"Please, come in."
It was actually a small test of the private school. If a player could not clear it because they stammered their answer or could not tell their reason for coming, the old teacher would stop them from entering the school without any hesitation. All the private schools and teachers in Wuhu would not impart that player with any knowledge.
In Happy's previous life, many people were unable to answer in time and did not fulfill one of the six virtues and six actions, which were wisdom, integrity, sacredness, benevolence, righteousness, and loyalty; fidelity, friendship, harmony, marriage, mercifulness, and sympathy. They would then be chased out of the private school in the city where they had spawned and would have to travel to cities that were further away to continue testing their luck. They had to do this repeatedly before they could successfully learn from those schools!
"Thank you, teacher."
Happy politely bowed, and under the old teacher's admiring gaze, he entered the hall.
What he saw straight away were hundreds of seats filled with people in the hall from which the sounds of reading came. Most people were dressed in white scholar robes, which were elegant and fit their bodies. They swayed their heads and looked incredibly charming. There were only a few people who were flipping through books in boredom or had their heads lowered while writing down something.
Of course, not all of the people were players. There were only a few players who could pay the amount of money required to enter in the beginning of the game to increase their Comprehension in private schools. The serious-looking scholars who were swaying their heads were all NPC students the system had arranged in the school. They were there to add some life to the place. When a player arrived, they would take the initiative to give up their seat for them.
Those who were flipping through the books and doodling were the real players.
Happy's arrival swiftly attracted the six people's attention in the hall. Their eyes lit up, and their gazes landed on him. They were all sizing him up and making guesses about his identity.
"Brother, there is an empty seat here."
The people who were sitting together waved their hands at him and gestured him over.
It had to be known that players who could enter the private schools right then were all rather rich, and they were all smart people. They hoped that they could form a clique and create a unique circle that could help with them developing their connections and increase their speed in progressing in the game later on.
Hence, many sects deliberately sent some of their sect members to linger around the private schools without spending any money to learn. They hoped that they could capture some people that had ability and entice them through hard work to join their side.
Happy was not very willing to talk to such people. He came because he wanted to quickly increase his Comprehension and not to waste time and talk about everything and nothing with those people.
The most common of them was the Three Character Classic. He only needed to copy it once to obtain one Comprehension point, but he needed to spend fifty thousand taels of silver for it, and he could not copy it again.
There were only a few books that offered one Comprehension point.
The ones that provided two Comprehension points were more expensive. If Happy copied them once, he would have to pay one hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver crumbs, which was equivalent to what a high-tier martial art manual cost. The books that provided three Comprehension points cost four hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver. There was no one who could easily buy such books.
When the six people saw that Happy had decided to sit far away from them, they originally regarded him with a lot of disdain and scorn. However, as books swiftly appeared on his table, they quickly held their breaths. Their eyes went wide, and they fell completely silent!
Chapter 231 - Silver Wolf
When Happy sat among one hundred students and listened to the sound of them reading out loud, he felt as if he had left the world of martial artists. The atmosphere was incredibly calm and peaceful.
He held a book in his left hand while sitting among the students in his blue robe. He flipped through it quietly and read the lines while noting some things down with his right hand. He never stopped, as if he had used some sort of hack. His written lines were neat but wild, and his words quickly covered the white sheet of paper.
The developers of the game had not created a programme that would make the players practice their calligraphy in the game. Hence, as long as the players paid attention and read the words, they would naturally write the words on the paper instead of having to do it themselves.
It was a very quick way to obtain Comprehension points, since it was much faster than practicing and pushing a martial art to Grandmaster Realm. Hence, the players sometimes needed to stay patient and spend time reading and writing.
For the sake of fairness, even if a player paid a lot of money to increase their Comprehension, they would need to read the books before their Comprehension would increase. The system only helped them write down the words.
Ding!
There was a clear sound of the notification from the system.
"Successfully learned the Three Character Classic. Comprehension +1."
The first book swiftly vanished from Happy's hand.
Hey did not find it strange and picked up another book from the table, flipped open the first page, and began reading it out loud.
Books like the Three Character Classic contained the easiest and most concise academic knowledge. The time required to read through them once was also the shortest. The others would require at least half an hour while some even up to two hours! Hence, reading and writing became the main theme of Happy's life that day.
He did not go to classes in reality, but instead came to the game to read and write. Many people would find it hilarious a
nd strange.
"The Osprey sings on the small island in the river. A kind and beautiful girl is the ideal partner for a boy."
Since Happy had experience from his previous life, he could easily read aloud many of the sentences, and he did so with great ease. He finished reading and writing the entire book in one go and looked like one of the NPC students who served as a background beside him.
They could be considered as old timers in the private school, and when they were free, they would come there to chat. However, they had only met a handful of people who came to the school to study. Most would just quickly glance at the books and would run away after they saw the exorbitant prices. Sometimes, a rich person would drop by and read Three Characters Classics, but they would be defeated by the prices after that too.
None of them were like Happy.
He had a pile of stupidly expensive books in front of him while he waved his brush and wrote at a moderate pace. He looked as if he wanted to spend all his money in the school.
But even if he wanted to spend his money, he needed to actually have it first.
The six people were completely intimidated by Happy's presence and bearing! They held their breaths and did not even dare to breathe loudly while whispering into each other's ears to try and guess his identity.
"He bought around ten of them… That's at least five hundred thousand, maybe six hundred thousand taels of silver."
"If we convert it to RMB, that's tens of thousands. This brat sure is willing to spend his money. Isn't it better to just buy a few high-tier martial art manuals if he's so rich? What's the point of pushing his Comprehension so high now?"
"Who knows? Besides, how would you know if he doesn't have any high-tier martial arts? Judging by his bearing, he doesn't treat money as anything. Tsk, tsk, when can I also be like him?"
"The likes of you? You waste your life when you have nothing to do! If I have to say, you can forget about it in this life, that is, unless there is an inflation!"
"Shut your trap."
Sword Among Us c1-1268 Page 120
