Chapter 42: Mastery of Knowledge

"Now I finally understand why the beginner quest—Survival Game—set such a despair-inducing time limit of one hundred and eighty days. It's clearly meant to give players room to grow," Liu Zhi said, panting for breath as he tossed aside his wooden sword and sat down to rest after being relentlessly overpowered by the Soul Naga for half an hour.

He had now spent a full thirty-one days in the Golden City. Life, once chaotic, had gradually settled into a steady routine, and his days passed with remarkable regularity.

He currently lived in a stone house on the eastern side of the pyramid, which he had cleaned up himself. The house was distinctly Mayan or Incan in style—though built of stone, it stood on stilts, designed to keep out water and dampness.

Since there were no other humans in the city, Liu Zhi hadn't even bothered to install a door. Every morning, he would descend to the plaza beneath the pyramid and practice swordplay with the Soul Naga for half an hour.

The Soul Naga's progress in swordsmanship had far surpassed Liu Zhi's expectations. Even now, with their daily half-hour sparring sessions, he could see his experience points steadily climbing.

Afterward, it was time for Liu Zhi's archaeology. Each day, he would travel between the eastern and northern districts of the city, searching for clues and recording all the patterns he could find.

Through these patterns, he tried to deduce hints of hidden writing.

After a month, Liu Zhi's basic language skill had already reached level three; he could now more or less guess and roughly interpret some of the information the city's former inhabitants had left behind.

At noon, there was usually a heavy downpour, followed by the daily fruit-snatching ritual.

Liu Zhi would keep an eye on one or two fruit trees after the rain and grab enough fruit to last him the day before quickly making his escape.

It wasn't that he didn't want to take more—on his first try, he had taken more fruit than he should have and, as a result, a giant snake that hadn't eaten its fill that day stared at the city from the riverbank for a full hour, terrifying Liu Zhi.

After that, he would estimate his daily needs and only take enough fruit to sustain himself, leaving the rest—perhaps as an offering to the snake.

Once the fruit was secured, Liu Zhi would take advantage of the receding floodwaters to explore the other two districts, searching for new plants and herbs. He would bring these back to the 'laboratory' next to his residence, experimenting with juicing and decoctions.

As for what he might produce, that was up to luck—if he succeeded, the system would notify him; if not, he would simply pour the failed experiment away and move on.

The rest of his time was spent tinkering with various projects. Most of his tools were crude vessels hammered out of gold. Now, Liu Zhi was able to forge thumb-sized golden bottles that didn’t leak.

At nightfall, Liu Zhi would climb to the top of the pyramid and enter the Nether Palace.

There, he would spend two full hours carefully experimenting with his control over the palace.

At midnight, he would return to his home, organize the day’s findings, and mark a tally on the wall to track the passing days before finally going to sleep.

Such a regular routine brought Liu Zhi progress in every aspect.

Not to mention anything else, just his passive skills were rapidly improving. If passive skills could enhance attributes, his stats would be exceptionally high by now.

[Name: Sandro (Sandro Yide: Interdimensional Game, Southern Swamp Plane, Ordinary Player, Wind of Bones Academy Graduate / Sandro Elance: Game Character, Fallen Noble of Sisse / Liu Zhi: Interdimensional Game, Galactic Arm Plane, V3 Player, Ordinary Human from Azure Blue Star)]
[Class: Necromancer (Necromancer: Not graduated / Noble: Not activated, not displayed, no skills / Newbie Quest Period, No Class)]
[Level: 1]
[Mana: 31/66]
[Title: Yide I]
[Sub-class: Extraordinary Sailor Lv1]
[Attributes: Strength 3.3, Agility 2.7, Constitution 1.6, Spirit 3.3]
[Active Skills: Sailor Basic Swordsmanship Lv4 (3976+0/9000), Sail Handling Lv4 (0+0/9000), Z-Slash Secret Sword Lv1 (113+0/9000), Indigo Wind-Chasing Swordsmanship Lv1 (79+0/9000), Goldsmithing Lv1 (55/100), Simple Toolmaking Lv2 (54/100)]
[Class Skill: Summoning Lv1 (35/1000)]
[Passive Skills: Magical Knowledge Lv3, Necromancy Knowledge Lv4, Basic Science Lv3, Basic Language Lv3, Ichthyology Lv1, Jungle Survival Knowledge Lv4, Toxin Knowledge Lv3, Culinary Knowledge Lv2, Botany Lv3, Herbalism Lv2, Occult Knowledge (Mayan Civilization) Lv2, Occult Knowledge (Incan Civilization) Lv2, Occult Knowledge (Aztec Civilization) Lv2, Occult Knowledge (Sacrifice) Lv1, Occult Knowledge (Weather) Lv2...]
[Special Skill: Master of the Nether Palace Lv1 (62/9000)]
[Trained Knowledge: Rotting Skin Gnoll Lv1, Surging Wave Murloc Lv1]
[Experience: 8967]

After his rest, Liu Zhi stood up, sheathed his wooden sword, and stretched out his hand. Instantly, the Staff of Death flew into his grasp.

"Alright, today we'll check out the southern district. Last time, I unearthed Incan quipu there. Although I haven't deciphered them yet, just working on untangling those knots made my Basic Language skill skyrocket. If I can find more, maybe I can push that skill to level four. Then, most non-magical writing will no longer be a problem for me."

As he spoke, Liu Zhi headed toward the southern district, with the Soul Naga trailing behind.

At this time, all four of her arms were armed—her upper arms still wielded the original longsword and dagger, while her main arms bore an obsidian sword, crafted by Liu Zhi following Aztec records in the style of a macuahuitl.

Although the obsidian sword he made was short and heavy, it posed no difficulty for the Soul Naga.

She wielded such weapons with ease.

Liu Zhi had already tested this—when the Soul Naga held weapons in all four hands, he could last less than a minute against her.

And that was with her holding back; if she truly attacked in earnest, he likely wouldn't survive even a single exchange.

With the Soul Naga’s protection, Liu Zhi dared go anywhere.

Soon, he reached the southern district and began searching in the place where he had previously found Incan-style quipu.

At that moment, Liu Zhi seemed to hear something—a sudden sound—and an eagle swooped over the valley.