Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

Happy was dazed for a long while, and even after he recovered, he still found it incredibly hard to believe what he just saw.

He lowered his head to look at his dirt-stained hands. He could not believe that an expert martial artist in Gate Realm had just died because of him.

The tomb robber had been in Gate Realm…

His qi was more than 40, and once he activated his realm, the lethality of his martial art techniques, his defense, speed, and everything else got a 10% percent boost.

And Happy was just a new player who had learned Shaolin’s Long Fist a few days ago.

“Killed Third Tomb Robber. Received 10 Martial Artist Chivalry Points!”

“Killed a martial artist in Gate Realm. Received 50 World of Martial Arts Reputation Points!”

“Battle Danger Assessment: Class A. You have gained a deeper understanding toward the flexible use of Shaolin’s Long Fist. The realm of this skill has been increased from the ninth realm to the tenth realm!”

The stream of notifications from the system finally snapped Happy from his stupor.

However, what caught his attention and made him excited was not the Martial Artist Chivalry Points or the World of Martial Arts Reputation Points. The former could be obtained if he killed people who did immortal things and harmed the society. The latter was a little harder, but for the time being, it was of little use to him.

But the Battle Danger Assessment he received after the battle ended meant that the system had acknowledged the battle, and it made Happy extraordinarily happy.

This was a major feature in World of Martial Arts. When the enemy was very obviously stronger than the player, the system would perform an assessment on the level of danger based on the difference between their strengths. The lowest was Class E, which meant that their abilities were about the same. The second was Class D, which meant that the player was at a slight disadvantage. The third was Class C, which meant that the battle was very risky for the player, and even if they paid a price, they would not be able to gain any benefits. The fourth was Class A, which was basically impossible for the player to win. The last was Class S, in which the system decided that the player was determined to die.

Battle assessments did not appear every single time.

Unless both sides were engaged in a fight to the death and one side died, the system would not show this sort of notification.

If the person in a disadvantage won and killed their enemy, it meant that the person had reached a personal breakthrough. The system acknowledged it, and the person would receive some unexpected rewards.

The higher the danger assessment was, the greater the rewards would be!

Class A!

The system had judged that Happy would not be able to win against the tomb robber, and it was very normal for it to judge it so. One of them was a martial artist in Gate Realm who killed without batting an eye, and the other was a newbie who did not even know any lightness skills. The disparity between their abilities was very great! And it was true that Happy had racked his brains to deliver the unexpected kick, which allowed him to gain the system’s acknowledgement and recognition.

His Shaolin’s Long Fist had entered the critical level—Level 90.

All that was left was to reach Level 99.99 to reach great completion for this skill. Then, it would enter Grandmaster Realm.

Happy executed a few random moves in excitement. His actions were clear-cut, and the loud, whooshing sounds of him breaking the speed of sound could be heard. The earth 6.5 feet ahead of him even trembled slightly.

‘Feels so good!’

He was one realm away from Grandmaster Realm, which was the pinnacle of perfection!

His qi had also increased from its original 2.27 to 4.57 because of the increase of Shaolin’s Long Fist’s realm. This was how it worked in the game. Once any low-tier martial art reached the ninth realm (Level 80), the player’s qi would automatically increase by one each time they gained another realm. Qi cultivation techniques could slowly increase their qi as well, but it would not go past 0.15 points a day.

It was thus something of a surprise and a delight.

But even though Happy was extremely high in spirits, he did not forget about the other benefit gained from killing a martial artist in Gate Realm.

The system sent him another notification at that moment. “You can search through Third Tomb Robber’s corpse and obtain his belongings.”

Happy quickly went to Third Tomb Robber’s side. While the virtual reality in World of Martial Arts was very similar to the real world, there were still some limitations to it. For example, there were no extremely bloody sights and scenes that people could not stomach.

The face and wounds of the corpse were very blurry.

Happy groped about Third’s body until he found a black cloth bag. His eyes brightened upon seeing it.

It was a Universe Bag. [1]

It was a storage item produced only by Heaven’s Secret Valley. It could expand and contract freely, and it could store many items. Weapons, medicinal pills, and other items could be stored inside it, which was very convenient. New players would usually have to reach a certain level or complete a certain mission or quest before their clan or sect would give them a Universe Bag.

Happy looked inside.

He poured out everything in the bag, and his eyebrows rose in happiness.

His rewards were good!

Besides twelve gold ingots and a few jade pendants, there was also a manual named Lancet Knife Throwing Manual and thirty-six lancet knives. There were also some Jinchuang Ointments in there.

Twelve gold ingots were equal to one hundred and twenty taels of gold crumbs, which was equal to one thousand two hundred taels of silver crumbs. He could also sell the jade pendants to the shops, and they would be worth a lot of money as well. Happy was so happy that he grinned widely. He was rich now.

The Lancet Knife Throwing Manual might come from a small sect, but to Happy, who needed a new martial art right then, it came at the right time. The Hundred-Battle Saber beside the corpse was also very good. Heh heh.

Happy put away all the items and secured the Universe Bag at his waist. He then searched around a little more, but gained nothing. At that moment, the Murong Clan’s butler and a large group of men with extraordinarily imposing presences arrived.

The butler looked around and saw the corpses who lay strewn all over the sword tomb. He frowned at them. When his gaze moved to Happy, his expression relaxed a little. He asked, “Where are the tomb robbers?”

“Well…” Happy cast a glance at the group of people whose qi cultivation and presence were extraordinary behind the butler. He did not dare to be negligent in his duties, so he told the butler everything that had happened with all honesty.

As the butler listened to him, the surprise in his eyes grew greater.

The sword tomb was visited by two groups of tomb robbers in one night. The first group were greedy villagers, and all of them had died. One of the second group of martial artists had died as well, and he even did so in the hands of a disciple from his clan.

The disciples from the Murong Clan who stood behind the butler also looked over with admiring expressions while finding it hard to believe what had happened.

One of them moved forward to observe Third Tomb Robber’s palm and skeletal structure. He then nodded at the butler.

“He should be pretty strong.”

“Hmph, how dare he try to rob the Murong Clan? He got what he deserved!” While the butler raged, a hint of amusement appeared in his eyes. He said to Happy, “You did well. When we return to the mansion, I will tell the lady everything that transpired here so that she can personally reward you!”

“It is only what I should have done.” Happy might have acted humble, but he was very happy in his heart.

He should have completed the quest beyond what was expected of him, so the rewards should be pretty good.

He was only too happy!

The butler gave a few more words of instruction, took notes of the two other two tomb robbers’ faces, and left the sword tomb with the people and the corpses. Happy believed that by the next morning, the Six Doors would have the portraits of the two robbers who had fled stuck all over the four city gates.

When he returned to the mansion, Happy met the Murong Clan Lady in the backyard.

The Murong Clan Lady held Whitey in her arms while she walked to him in an extremely cordial manner.

“As expected, my eyes did not deceive me in regards to you.

“The butler has already told me what happened. This time, not only did you perform a meritorious deed by protecting the sword tomb, you even managed to kill a tomb robber. You have increased the Murong Clan’s reputation, which proves that my judgment was correct. The master of the clan is very pleased.”

“It is all thanks to your guidance and your aid in educating me, my lady.”

“Alright, this is the Wudang Clan’s sword skill the butler originally wanted to give you. Take this manual for Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword.”

The Murong Clan Lady gave Happy a new manual, then with a flip of her hand, a very simple and elegant longsword with a purple sword tassel appeared in her hand.

“If you have a sword manual, then you must also have a sword! The disciples of Murong Clan have to have a good sword when they practice swords! And that sword has to fit the Murong Clan’s status and temperament!”

Her gaze moved to the longsword in her hand. She then said in a profound manner, “This is the Noble Sword. My younger brother was in possession of it when he was young. Now, I will give it to you. I hope that you will not ruin the grace of the Noble Sword.”

Happy was lacking a good sword at that moment, so his eyes immediately brightened. He quickly thanked the lady for her gift and began brandishing it once it was in his hands. The Murong Clan Lady smiled faintly and left.

Translator’s Note:

[1] Universe Bag: Otherwise known as Qiankun Bag. Same function as bag of holding and storage bag, but the characters are different.