The atmosphere at the entrance of the blacksmith shop froze instantly.
The players around, who were originally repairing equipment and buying weapons, stopped what they were doing one after another, either retreating to the side to watch the show or whispering to each other.
"It's the people from the Angel Guild... This bunch is being overbearing again."
"Who is that mage? Daring to provoke the Angel Guild?"
"It seems to be the person who posted equipment at the auction house earlier and mocked the Angel Guild."
Holy Light · Judgment heard those two icy words from Ye Yi, and the fake smile on his face instantly stiffened. As one of the vice-presidents of the Angel Guild, he was a well-known figure in the gaming circle. When had he ever been ignored like this by a solo player wearing a novice cloth robe?
"A bit of personality."
Judgment clapped his hands with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, but he didn't lash out immediately, instead waving his hand to signal the thugs behind him to stay calm.
"Brother, let's speak plainly. Being able to solo a level 15 BOSS and drop such top-tier equipment, you certainly have some ability. We checked the auction house's backend logs (in reality, they had people staking out the place), so locking onto you wasn't difficult."
Judgment took a step closer, lowered his voice, and said in a tone he thought was full of temptation:
"Our guild leader, 'Wings of Holy Light', appreciates you. As long as you are willing to join the Angel Guild, we can pretend we didn't see that 'remark' from earlier. Not only that, but we will give you the position of vice-captain, a monthly salary of 20,000 credits, and priority allocation of in-game resources. How about it?"
As soon as these words came out, many solo players around showed expressions of envy.
A monthly salary of 20,000, in this era where employment is difficult, is definitely considered a high salary. Not to mention being able to cling to the thigh of the Angel Guild.
Ye Yi looked at the hypocritical face in front of him, his heart completely calm.
In his past life, the Angel Guild also used this rhetoric to recruit many experts. But what happened after joining? Signing indentures, being forced to hand over all top-tier drops, and getting banned across the server for the slightest disobedience. The so-called "priority allocation of resources" was always only prioritized for that crown prince, Lin Tianyu.
"Not interested," Ye Yi said indifferently.
Judgment's expression finally sank.
"Friend, one must know how to read the situation. In this game, solo players can't survive. Although your level is a bit high now, our Angel Guild has thousands of people. As long as I give the order, you won't even be able to kill a chicken in this newbie village."
The ruse was exposed.
A threat, a naked threat.
Ye Yi raised his head, looking through his goggles, his gaze fixed on Judgment as if looking at a dead man.
"You can try."
After saying this, he directly bumped into Judgment's shoulder and walked out with large strides.
"You—!"
Judgment was bumped into a stagger, ashamed and angry. He suddenly raised his staff: "If you refuse a toast, you'll be forced to drink a forfeit! Brothers, take him out! Drop all the equipment on him!"
"Do it!"
The two warriors and one assassin behind him immediately rushed up.
In the safe zone (inside the newbie village), although players cannot cause damage to each other, using collision volume to block the road or get in the way is common. And as long as someone is forced out of the safe line at the village entrance, they can be forcibly PKed.
They clearly wanted to force Ye Yi out.
However, just as the assassin's hand was about to touch Ye Yi's shoulder.
"Swish!"
Ye Yi's figure disappeared into thin air.
The next second, he appeared in the crowd ten meters away.
[Blink]!
The whole place was in an uproar.
"Holy crap? Was that Blink?"
"Don't mages have to be level 20 to learn Blink? How does he know it?"
"This must be the skill book from the first kill reward, right? Too cool!"
Judgment and his subordinates missed, standing on the spot like clowns.
Ye Yi stood in the distance, turned his head back, gave Judgment a thumbs up, and then slowly turned it down, pointing to the ground.
"Tell Lin Tianyu to wash his neck and wait."
After saying this, he turned and dived into a complex alley, disappearing from everyone's view after a few leaps.
Judgment was shaking with anger, his face livid.
"Check! Check thoroughly! I want to know who he is in reality! I want him to know the consequences of offending the Angel Guild!"
...
Having shaken off the Angel Guild's tail, Ye Yi was not in a hurry to leave the village to level up.
He was very clear that the conflict just now was only the beginning. As a behemoth like the Angel Guild, once they got serious, it would indeed be difficult for him to confront the encirclement of hundreds of people head-on right now.
He needed greater power.
Not just levels and equipment, but also skills.
The reason the Magic Swordsman is strong is that it can evolve simple horizontal slashes into countless variations. And the foundation of all this, besides high intelligence, requires exquisite swordsmanship.
Ye Yi came to the most remote corner of the newbie village — the abandoned martial arts arena.
It was dusk, and the setting sun stretched the shadow of the old locust tree very long.
Wang Saoting was still sweeping the floor there.
"Swish... swish..."
The monotonous sound seemed eternal.
Ye Yi walked forward, still maintaining the previous respect, and saluted: "Senior, this junior has returned."
Wang Saoting stopped his work and turned around. Those cloudy eyes brightened slightly when they saw the demon sword at Ye Yi's waist, which, although disguised as a broken iron sword, emitted a bloodthirsty aura inside.
"The smell of blood is very heavy."
Wang Saoting said faintly, "What did you feed it?"
"The heart of the greedy." Ye Yi replied.
"Hehe, interesting."
Wang Saoting leaned the broom against the tree and walked in front of Ye Yi with his hands behind his back.
"Being able to control the killing intent of the demon sword shows that your temperament is passable. But having killing intent alone is not enough. A sword is a lethal weapon, and also an extension of the arm. Your sword technique now is too rough."
Ye Yi lowered his head: "Please enlighten me, Senior."
He knew this was the key dialogue to trigger the follow-up quest.
In his past life, it wasn't that no one had obtained the "heaven-swallowing demon sword", but most stopped there, using it as a Growth-type weapon. Only Ye Yi knew that Wang Saoting had a set of matching passive skill books here.
"Enlightenment is not the word."
Wang Saoting pointed to the old locust tree above his head.
It was late autumn, and as a gust of wind blew, withered yellow leaves fell like rain.
"Within the time of one stick of incense, use the sword in your hand to pierce through one hundred falling leaves."
Wang Saoting's voice became stern.
"Remember, it is to pierce, not to cut, nor to sweep away. The tip of the sword must accurately pass through the center of the leaf vein. If you fail to do it for even one leaf, you start over."
[Ding! Hidden quest chain second ring: The Inheritance of Sword Art.]
[Quest goal: Precisely pierce 100 falling leaves within the specified time.]
[Quest reward: Skill book Basic Sword Mastery (Unique Passive).]
Pierce falling leaves?
Ye Yi looked up at the sky full of falling leaves that were flying without any pattern.
This was much harder than killing monsters.
Monsters have volume and hitboxes. But falling leaves are light, greatly affected by wind, and the wind pressure from the sword tip might blow them away before even touching them.
This tested not strength, but absolute control over power, and... prediction.
"This junior accepts the order."
Ye Yi took a deep breath and drew the heaven-swallowing demon sword.
He closed his eyes, feeling the flow of the breeze.
The first leaf drifted to half a meter in front of his forehead.
Strike!
"Whoosh!"
The sword was too fast, and the wind it brought directly blew the leaf away.
Failure.
Wang Saoting snorted coldly from the side: "Fickle and impatient. The sword is not used to scare people, it is used to kill. Killing is silent, the sword leaves no trace."
Ye Yi was not discouraged. He retracted the sword, stood quietly, and adjusted his breathing.
He stood like this for a full ten minutes.
Until his heartbeat merged with the sound of the wind.
He struck again.
This time, his sword was very slow, so slow it seemed weightless. But at the moment of approaching the leaf, his wrist shook slightly.
"Chi."
A slight sound of tearing silk.
A withered yellow leaf was steadily pierced by the black sword tip, hanging on the blade.
The center of the leaf vein, without the slightest deviation.
"One."
Ye Yi's eyes were calm as an ancient well, his wrist flicked, shaking off the leaf, and he pierced the next one.
"Two."
"Three."
As time passed, his movements became faster and more concise. The originally heavy demon sword seemed to have turned into an embroidery needle in his hand.
If you didn't look at his cloth robe, no one would believe this was a mage practicing swordsmanship.
Outside the martial arts arena, a few solo players who had fled here while being hunted by the Angel Guild stopped in their tracks upon seeing this scene, stunned.
That kind of focus, that kind of pure beauty of technique, in this game full of numerical stacking, appeared so out of place, yet so shocking.
Two hours later.
When Ye Yi's sword tip pierced the 100th leaf, the system prompt arrived on time.
[Congratulations, you have completed the quest "The Inheritance of Sword Art".]
[Reward obtained: Skill book Basic Sword Mastery.]
Ye Yi took the yellowed ancient book handed over by Wang Saoting and slapped it directly onto his forehead.
[Basic Sword Mastery (Passive / Unique)]
[Effect: When equipping sword-type weapons, physical attack power increases by 15%. Attack speed increases by 10%. Unlock action judgment correction: Your melee attacks will be more likely to trigger "Weakness Strike" and "Critical Hit".]
The seemingly plain attributes were the divine skills that all melee fighters dreamed of. That "action judgment correction" meant that in future PKs, even if Ye Yi's operation was slightly off, the system would automatically calibrate it to the vital point!
"Thank you, Senior." Ye Yi saluted sincerely.
Wang Saoting waved his hand and picked up the broom again.
"Go. This small village cannot trap you. Since you have taken the sword, go and take a look at this Nine Provinces, see exactly how high this sky is."
"However..." The old man paused suddenly and looked at Ye Yi meaningfully, "Be careful of those so-called 'Angels'. Their light is too blinding, it's easy to go blind."
Ye Yi was stunned, then smiled.
"No matter how bright the light is, it cannot shine into the shadows."
He turned and left.
At this moment, he was level 15, holding a demon sword, and possessed unique skills.
It was also time to leave the newbie village and go to that broader stage — the Azure Dragon Main City.
But before that, he still had to see someone.
A stupid priest who was despised by everyone in his past life, yet stood behind him when he was at his most desperate.
"Little Bing Xin, I'm coming."