Master of Kaidan
Chapter 417: Probing

Chapter 417: Chapter 417: Probing

Looking at a low table that only reached his knees, the player who had just remembered how ancient people played the guzheng knelt down (actually sat upright) and finished playing the piece, then looked at Feng Xue with hopeful yet somewhat resentful eyes.

However, what surprised Feng Xue was that the piece played was neither a whole-life routine nor a plagiarized Western musical piece, but rather a classical-styled piece unique to this world.

As for the quality...

"Mediocre at best," Feng Xue shook her head and then nodded, saying,

"The musical theory is decent, but the skills are lacking. Take this and practice. When you’ve mastered it, come back to find me."

After speaking, Feng Xue pulled a small booklet from her bosom and threw it to the player, who caught it and immediately showed joy, repeatedly calling her "Master" as if he was about to kowtow to her.

In response, Feng Xue gestured with her hand,

"Don’t rush, it’s too early to call me master. Alright, go play by yourself."

After speaking, Feng Xue waved her hand, and a gust of invisible wind gently pushed the player ten meters away, then she went back to digging up coffin boards by herself again.

The player, seeing this, didn’t leave but stood by a big roadside tree and started flipping through the booklet, while Feng Xue continued with her work but kept an eye on the player.

What she had given the player was not a Phantom Secret Manual, but merely a book copied casually in this world. Since it was copied on True Object paper, it lacked the rapid learning function associated with Pseudo Artifacts that also contain book elements.

The book recorded some basic Inner Strength cultivation methods and techniques for strengthening fingers through Sunflower Acupoint Hand using Inner Strength. It wasn’t meant to establish a school in this world, but simply to test what these players’ game templates could actually achieve—such as accelerated learning, training assistance, automatic translation, and so forth...

While she was contemplating this, her gaze suddenly shook because she noticed that the small booklet in Yun Yao’s hands had unknowingly shifted from True Object to a state between Pseudo Artifact and a digitalized True Object (the kind that was edible for them).

...

"It’s really just ’Basic Skills’... Huh? It’s blue? A basic skills book is blue!" Looking at the rating given by the game after Identification, Yun Yao’s eyes widened. Identification was a special feature within the game, displaying Item Attributes was one aspect, but mainly only Identified Items could bind to a character. Otherwise, upon death, Items would be dropped 100%—including money.

Yes, money was fully dropped upon death too, of course, Identification could work, but firstly, the number of items a character could identify per day was determined by their reputation in the game, and every single coin counted towards that Identification quota. Secondly, once money was Identified, it became a bound Item only usable in player-to-player trading.

This setting, completely different from traditional online games, initially sparked a lot of discussions. But, with just this one virtual game and having barely secured a spot in the beta test, who wouldn’t play?

However, Identification had its advantages; at least after Identification, as long as a Secret Manual was read, it could be learned immediately.

Looking at the blue rating of Inner Strength and finger strengthening buff in the evaluation, Yun Yao was quite pleased. After all, during the month long test, the highest players had only obtained Items of a green rating.

Although the Wooden Swords sold by her own master were also blue, they were consumables that would fade with usage. How could they compare with the Secret Manual she held?

...

Noticing her cheap disciple reading the Secret Manual while generating Inner Strength, Feng Xue frowned slightly.

The functionalities of the players’ game panels were more impressive than he had anticipated, even capable of directly digitalizing True Objects in this world. So far, the only other place he had seen with this capability was Infinite City.

"Could this game system also be a Kaidan of Infinite City level? However, the action of digitizing the Secret Manual caused the data volume of that player’s body to drop somewhat, so it seems that each player’s ability to digitize items must be limited."

Feng Xue secretly pondered the capabilities of these player systems, while also daring to entertain a rather bold idea—even bolder than the idea of escaping from the game world.

...

"Master, master! I’ve learned it!"

It seemed a bit exaggerated to learn by just watching once, so the female player named Yun Yao didn’t appear in front of Feng Xue until the next day. Feng Xue, who saw through everything, didn’t really care, and just pretended to be surprised while showing some suspicion.

"That quick? Play a tune and let’s see."

Looking at the Qin table and the Qin, Yun Yao thought about her knees and said helplessly,

"Master, could I have a stool?"

Little did she know, that statement immediately drew a surprised glance.

Seeing Feng Xue’s strange look, Yun Yao felt she might have made some low-level mistake. Could it be that in this world, one cannot sit on a stool to play the Qin?

Thinking of this, Yun Yao quickly added,

"Um, never mind..."

"It’s not that..." Feng Xue calmly looked at Yun Yao and pointed at the "low table" and said,

"I did give you a stool, didn’t I? I thought you preferred to play the Qin sitting upright."

"..." Yun Yao wished she could dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it. But then she realized another issue—if this is the stool, then where does the Qin go?

Hmm, maybe... on her lap?

But that would be too heavy, right? And the posture would be awkward too!

Yun Yao sarcastically thought to herself, but then remembered that this was a Martial World, and perhaps the weight wouldn’t be an issue here.

However, having no experience in this regard, she contemplated trying it with her own zither when she returned to reality, but stuck here, she helplessly knelt down.

There’s no choice, better to kneel and maintain her dignity while playing than to make a fool of herself.

The clear sound of the Qin drifted through the village under the locust tree, immediately attracting many players. After yesterday’s events, Feng Xue was somewhat of an internet celebrity among NPCs by now. Anyone who had read a few online gaming novels would now recognize this as triggering a hidden mission.

However, Feng Xue was not interested in the onlooking players at this moment; he was just quietly observing Yun Yao’s condition. Her playing skill hadn’t improved significantly; at most, it could be said she had adapted to playing while kneeling. However, her finger force was much steadier, and as a trace of almost imperceptible inner strength flowed, it added a slight characteristic to the sound of the Qin. But the flow of the inner strength was awkward, clearly not controlled actively by the player.

"How interesting. This interface can actually grant Inner Strength directly. Is it adding some elements directly to a data-constructed body, or is it a customized tag?"

Feng Xue recalled that Infinite City could directly lend specific capabilities with "tags," and understanding the player’s current transformation somewhat, he rudely clapped his hands and interrupted Yun Yao’s playing—

"Stop, stop, stop. Who taught you to play like that? It’s worse than yesterday!"