Volume One: The First Signs of Brilliance Chapter Seventy-Three: Lack of Experience

After agreeing on a meeting time with Lan Yiyi for the next day, Wang Jue decided to improve his abilities—not his cultivation, but his martial skills. He realized his repertoire was far too limited; aside from the basic sword technique, he had nothing else worth using. So, he considered buying a basic fist or palm technique to practice. After all, he couldn't always rely on his haphazard fighting style in every encounter, could he? That might work against those with lower cultivation and strength, but if he faced someone on par with himself, it would be useless.

Though Wang Jue didn't want to diversify his skills too much, having more martial techniques would certainly be beneficial. Besides, he now had ample experience points to invest in his skills. Basic martial techniques were sold everywhere. Without much effort, Wang Jue found a shop selling martial arts manuals, spent a mere hundred credits, and bought a fist technique. On his way to the Martial Arts Association Hall, he immediately used his experience points to raise the newly purchased technique to the "Subtle Mastery" level.

In an instant, a torrent of information about the fist technique flooded his mind. Feeling a swelling pain in his head, Wang Jue quickly closed his eyes and focused on absorbing the new knowledge.

Half an hour later, he exhaled deeply and opened his eyes. "It seems my perspective was too narrow," he mused. "I shouldn't judge things with prejudice. Truly, there's no hierarchy among martial arts—it's all about how well one understands their technique. The power lies in mastery, not the technique itself."

Curiously, Wang Jue glanced at his status panel:

[Name: Wang Jue]
[Cultivation: Body Tempering, Seventh Layer]
[Talent: Scarlet Rank (Superior) 0/500]
[Technique: Stellar Soul Codex, First Layer (Unknown) 0/1000]
[Martial Skill: Basic Sword Technique (Subtle Mastery 0/1,000,000)]
[Martial Skill: Basic Fist Technique (Subtle Mastery 0/1,000,000)]
[Movement Technique: Basic Footwork (Subtle Mastery 0/1,000,000)]
[Stellar Source: 202]
[Experience: 72,312]

"Not bad. From entry-level to subtle mastery cost less than twenty thousand experience." Satisfied, Wang Jue nodded. But when he saw the string of zeros trailing the three martial skills at subtle mastery, a wry smile replaced his delight. "Originally just two million, now it's three million. Who knows when I'll ever stumble upon three million experience points..."

By coincidence, the bus stopped just then. The vehicle, previously jam-packed with students, emptied in an instant. Only then did Wang Jue realize just how many others were, like him, skipping class.

For teachers, this was certainly not good news; any teacher would be upset to find their students skipping class. But for Wang Jue, it was a stroke of luck! The more students who skipped, the easier it was for him to "reap the benefits," and the more experience points he could collect.

Just like yesterday, Wang Jue hung back, following the crowd of students into the Martial Arts Association Hall to begin his grand experience-gathering endeavor.

Time flowed quietly by. Soon, closing time arrived.

Wang Jue had stayed from late morning until closing, almost an entire day spent at the Martial Arts Association Hall.

As for his harvest—it was considerable! Compared to yesterday, when he gathered just over a hundred thousand experience in a few hours, today he earned more than three times that amount. With his previous balance, Wang Jue now had a little over four hundred thousand experience points.

Of course, the rate of experience gain slowed as time went on: from once an hour at first, to every ninety minutes, then every two hours. If not for the steady arrival of new students, Wang Jue would have been lucky to get just over two hundred thousand—there was no way he could have reached four hundred thousand.

With the hall closing, everyone went their separate ways. Content, Wang Jue returned home and enjoyed a good night's sleep.

The next morning, upon waking, Wang Jue received a message from Lan Yiyi: the meeting time was set for eight o'clock. Glancing at the clock, he saw it was already nearly half past seven. He quickly dressed and set out. Passing through the living room, he greeted his mother, who was making breakfast in the kitchen, and grabbed an egg from the table as he left.

Fortunately, the meeting place Lan Yiyi had chosen wasn't far. When Wang Jue arrived, he was surprised to find it was a rather well-known hotel. No sooner had he arrived than he saw a young man approaching from a distance. Wang Jue stepped forward and greeted him. "Brother Lin."

Wang Jue wasn't well acquainted with the members of the hunting team; he had only worked with them once before and exchanged a few words. The young man, known as Brother Lin, was Lin Mu—tall, thin, and cheerful. Seeing Wang Jue, he clapped him on the shoulder and teased, "Well, look who it is! I heard from our captain you're joining us for the hunt this time?"

"You're pretty lucky, you know. Liu Li was seriously injured by a Tier Three Starbeast last time but still insisted on joining us again before he'd recovered. He ended up getting attacked while the beast was dying and was badly hurt again. He's still not healed. He was supposed to come today, but the captain turned him down, saying the replacement was already chosen. At first, we wondered who it could be—didn't expect it to be you."

Wang Jue smiled awkwardly. "It's all thanks to Captain Lan's trust."

"No, no, I know our captain well," Lin Mu replied, shaking his head. "If she values you, you must have some special talent. Otherwise, with her personality, she wouldn't have made such a decision."

"That I really don't know," Wang Jue said, scratching his head in embarrassment.

They chatted for a bit, and soon the rest of the group arrived one after another. To his surprise, the team consisted of the same people who had helped him clear out the Black Dragon Gang before—except they seemed to be missing one or two members compared to last time.

Wang Jue stifled his curiosity and greeted everyone in turn. They responded warmly; everyone already knew Wang Jue would be joining them for the hunt. Though they were aware his strength was not impressive, since his job was only to help transport corpses, no one minded his presence.

At eight o'clock, Lan Yiyi arrived. The group was now complete and set out together.

Lan Yiyi's hunting team consisted of ten members: herself, Lin Mu, Liu Li (who was absent), and, among the remaining members, four women—Huang Li, Li Lin, Zhou Meng, and Chen Xiaoxiao—and three men: Tian Yuan, Wen Da, and Wei Lin. With Liu Li injured, Wang Jue was taking his place.

Perhaps because he had never left the peaceful little town before, Wang Jue was filled with curiosity about everything once outside. The towering, exotic trees surrounding them were unlike anything found on Earth in his previous life. It was only because of these trees that Wang Jue truly accepted that he was no longer on his old world. The town might look similar to Earth, but once outside, it was a different place entirely.

Along the way, the group occasionally encountered other martial artists.

Yet there was always an undercurrent of caution between them. In the wild, there was no law; robbery and murder happened frequently. Even acquaintances kept their guard up.

Compared to those wary strangers, Lan Yiyi's team remained composed. They traveled along the road for a while before entering a mountain range. Wang Jue followed at the rear, pushing a cart with an iron cage.

At first, it was easy going, but once they entered the mountains, things became difficult. There were no paths, and climbing was exhausting. Fortunately, Wang Jue was a martial artist with considerable strength, and the group's pace was slow—they had to constantly stay alert for any signs of danger, searching for prey while guarding against ambushes.

It was clear from this that hunting was no easy task. For lone martial artists, especially those without great strength, it was extremely dangerous.

"Captain, there's a Tier One Starbeast ahead..." Half an hour into the forest, the group finally encountered their first prey. Tian Yuan, scouting ahead, reported back and let Lin Mu handle it.

Wang Jue glanced at the Tier One Starbeast and realized it was a suitable opponent for himself. He caught up to Lin Mu and volunteered, "Brother Lin, how about I take care of this one? I'd like to get some hands-on experience and improve my combat skills—would that be alright?"

Lin Mu looked him over, then glanced back at Lan Yiyi and the others. Seeing no objection, he nodded. "Alright, but be careful."

"Thanks, Brother Lin!" Wang Jue beamed and drew the sword slung across his back, charging at the Starbeast.

He recognized this creature from lessons at school—a Tier One Starbeast, the Spined Scale Beast. Covered in snake-like scales and resembling a porcupine, it was about a meter long.

Wang Jue advanced quickly and slashed with his sword, sending a sharp blade of light toward the beast. With his seventh-layer Body Tempering cultivation and subtle mastery of the basic sword technique, he thought killing this Starbeast would be no problem.

Unfortunately, the Spined Scale Beast seemed to sense danger. The instant Wang Jue approached, it bolted without hesitation. As a low-tier beast, it was at the bottom of the food chain in these mountains. At the first sign of trouble, its instinct was to flee.

The attack missed. Though his strike looked fierce, it failed to even scratch the beast.

Lan Yiyi, Lin Mu, and the others shook their heads as they watched. With their experience, it was obvious that Wang Jue lacked practical combat experience. Still, they understood—this was his first time fighting a Starbeast, after all.