Online Game: Me, with Unparalleled Comprehension

Under the old locust tree at the village entrance, the village chief was still puffing on his pipe, but there were fewer players around him than before, most of them had gone to level up or do quests.

Wu Changfeng pushed aside two players who were asking about the mission and said directly to the village chief, "Old man, the matter you asked me to do has been completed."

The village chief raised his eyelids and glanced at him. When his gaze swept over the bulging, obviously excessive bundle at his waist, a hint of surprise flashed in his cloudy eyes.

"Oh? Not bad for you, young man. How's the harvest?"

Wu Changfeng opened the package directly, and a small pile of grayish-white wild dog teeth and fluffy rabbit ears poured out, far exceeding ten portions.

The village chief was taken aback for a moment, then a genuine smile spread across his face, his wrinkles smoothing out considerably: "Good, good! I never expected you, young man, to be so honest and diligent, ridding so many scourges of trouble! The villagers can rest assured now. This is your reward; as for any extra, I'll make sure you get it!"

[System Notification: Completed the task "Clean Up the Menace". Gained 300 experience points and 50 copper coins.]

[System Notification: Due to submitting an excess of quest items (ten times the normal amount), you have received an additional reward: 500 experience points, 100 copper coins, and 1 [Grass Restoration Pill].]

[Grass Rejuvenation Pill (Green): Instantly restores 200 health points upon consumption, and then restores 10 health points per second for the next 10 seconds.]

A golden light flashed, and the level increased to level 4.

"Thank you, sir." Wu Changfeng put away the reward; the green Herbal Rejuvenation Pill was a decent life-saving medicine in the early stages.

The village chief stroked his beard, looked at Wu Changfeng, and seemed to find the young man quite agreeable. He lowered his voice and said, "Young man, you seem agile and kind-hearted. This old man has a more troublesome problem here. Would you be willing to help?"

"Please speak, sir."

"Alas, our village is remote. Besides wild animals, we are often harassed by a band of bandits who entrenched themselves in Black Wind Pass to the north. There are only about ten of them, but they are all fierce. They often come down the mountain to steal grain and livestock, and sometimes they even kill people. The government is too far away to manage it. If you are really brave, go to the outskirts of Black Wind Pass and clear out some of their scouts and lone bandits, and take back their identification tokens. That would dampen their arrogance and give the villagers a breather. Of course, those bandits are much more dangerous than wild dogs, so you must be careful."

[System Prompt: Accept the quest "Eliminate Bandits"? Defeat the bandit scouts in Black Wind Pass to obtain bandit tokens (0/10). Quest Difficulty: Normal. Recommended Level: 3-5, Team Up.]

The difficulty level is already displayed, so teaming up is still recommended. Wu Changfeng only hesitated for a moment before nodding: "Leave it to me."

"Good! You're a promising young man!" The village chief patted him on the shoulder. "Black Wind Pass is to the north of the village. It's just past the hillside where you cleared the wild animals; continue walking along a mountain path for a while, and you'll reach it. Remember, know your limits!"

Wu Changfeng tidied up the extra wild dog teeth and rabbit ears, not in a hurry to hand in the bandit suppression mission.

He turned back to the village and headed straight for the only small general store in the village—a simple shed made of thatch with a faded cloth banner with the character "货" (goods) hanging at the door.

The shopkeeper was an old man with squinty eyes, who was dozing off on the counter.

"Do you accept materials?" Wu Changfeng tapped on the wooden countertop.

The old man slowly raised his head, glanced at the pile of things he had spread out on the table, and a glint of shrewdness flashed in his eyes.

"Buy. Wild dog teeth, two for one coin. Rabbit ears, a pair for two coins. You have quite a lot."

"Let's take inventory."

After a flurry of rustling calculations, the old man pushed over a small string of copper coins: "Fifty-six dog teeth, twenty-eight coins. Fifty-four pairs of rabbit ears, one hundred and eight coins. One hundred and thirty-six coins in total."

More than expected. Wu Changfeng took the money, the clinking copper coins falling into his backpack. Adding the 150 coins he received from the previous mission (50 + 100), and the original small change, his total assets now reached 427 coins.

A huge sum of money.

Without delay, he went straight to the threshing ground to find Instructor Wang Hu.

Wang Hu had just finished instructing a player learning staff techniques and was standing by the weapon rack with his arms crossed, watching the novices clumsily wielding their weapons on the field, his brow slightly furrowed.

Wu Changfeng walked up to him.

"Instructor Wang."

Wang Hu turned to look at him and recognized him: "It's you. How's your swordsmanship?"

"It's alright." Wu Changfeng didn't mince words and went straight to the point, "I'd like to learn some other self-defense skills. Besides swordsmanship, what else can you teach here?"

Wang Hu looked him up and down, seemingly a little surprised by his "eagerness to learn," but didn't ask any further questions. He said in a deep voice, "I can teach you the basics of fists, palms, knives, and sticks. But kid, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The first time is a token of appreciation from the village chief, a favor from the village. If you want to learn more, you'll have to pay tuition."

"How many?"

"One hundred coins per lesson." Wang Hu held up a thick finger. "Pay the money, and I'll teach you the moves. As for the equipment..."

He pointed to the weapon rack over there, "Those are for people taking on their first mission. If they break, they'll have to fix them themselves. If you want more, you'll have to buy them from Blacksmith Li. I don't handle weapons here."

As expected. Games don't let you get skills indefinitely for free.

Tuition fees and weapon costs are the thresholds for controlling the speed of skill acquisition and resource consumption in the early stages.

Wu Changfeng quickly calculated in his mind. He currently had 427 coins. Learning three subjects would cost 300 coins. That would leave him with 127 coins. Weapons…

"How much does it cost to buy even the most basic weapon?" he asked.

"That depends on what you want. The cheapest iron knives, iron swords, and wooden sticks are probably around 100 coins at Li the blacksmith's. Gauntlets are more expensive because they need to be designed for palm techniques and are more complex to make, so they might cost 120 coins." Wang Hu seemed to be very familiar with these prices.

Wu Changfeng nodded. The money was enough.

The descriptions suggest that both fist and palm techniques require gauntlets. To learn these, you only need to buy one pair of gauntlets. You can learn the sword technique first; you can buy other weapons later when you have more money.

This maximizes the use of existing funds, allowing you to immediately begin improving new skills and not waste a single second of your exceptional talent.

"I'll learn boxing, palm techniques, and swordsmanship," he decided.

Wang Hu raised an eyebrow: "Three hundred coins."

Wu Changfeng deftly counted out three hundred copper coins and handed them over.

The clinking sound of the coins made several players practicing nearby turn their heads, their eyes filled with surprise and envy—the server has only been open for a short time, where did this person get so much money?

Wang Hu took the money, weighed it in his hand, and casually tossed it into a small, locked metal box at his feet with a dull thud. "Come with me."

He walked to a relatively open corner of the threshing ground.

"Let me teach you the basic punches first. Watch closely, these are the fundamental punches, emphasizing straight movements and power originating from the waist and stance." Wang Hu assumed a stance, demonstrating several basic punches—straight punches, hooks, and uppercuts—one in front of the other, simple yet powerful. "Once you've mastered the punches, your footwork needs to be agile, so focus on body movement."

Demonstrate three times.

[System notification: Instructor Wang Hu is teaching you "Basic Boxing Techniques" (low-level). Do you wish to learn?]

"study."

A familiar, faint warmth. A new skill has been added to the skill bar: [Basic Fist Techniques (Beginner 0/100)].

"Next is the palm." Wang Hu changed his fist to a palm, palm facing forward, demonstrating actions such as pushing, slapping, cutting, and flicking. "The palm technique has more variations, and the application of force is more skillful, but it also requires more arm strength to support it."

The demonstration was repeated three times.

[System notification: Instructor Wang Hu is teaching you the "Basic Palm Techniques" (low-level). Do you wish to learn?]

"study."

[Basic Palm Techniques (Beginner 0/100)]

"Finally, the sword." Wang Hu took a rusty iron sword from the shelf. His stance was completely different from his swordsmanship, emphasizing slashing and wide, sweeping movements. "The sword is the courage of all weapons. It's all about momentum, with great power and a heavy impact. That's all for the stance. To truly master it, you need real combat experience and hard work."

The third warm current.

[Basic Knife Techniques (Beginner 0/100)]