Chapter Eleven: Experimental Skills (Part Two)

In Xiaocui’s eyes, her young master had already eaten over a dozen baked pancakes that morning, so he shouldn’t have had much of an appetite by the afternoon. To her astonishment, he seemed completely unaffected—truly shocking! What she didn’t know was that if Xu Kang hadn’t eaten magical bread at noon, his appetite would have stunned her even more.

Naturally, Xu Kang had no intention of revealing his abilities to anyone. Such things were far too complicated to explain, and if anyone suspected him of being a monster, he might well end up dead for no good reason. Therefore, until he had absolute power to protect himself, he would keep his secret carefully guarded and wouldn’t share it lightly with anyone.

Of course, he didn’t expect this period of secrecy to last very long. Xu Kang could already sense that he was entering a period of explosive growth in power!

“One day, the great roc rises with the wind and soars ninety thousand miles. As the guardian of Azeroth, I am fearless. Lok’tar Ogar!” Emulating the fat man’s habit of shouting those grandiose orc slogans from Mount Mountain, Xu Kang suddenly felt a surge of hot-blooded excitement. On impulse, he grabbed a kitchen knife from the kitchen and strode into the courtyard to unleash the skills of a warrior.

“Charge and Execute!”

With that thought, his right leg kicked off the ground with a sudden force, and his body shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring. In an instant, he covered fifty meters at a sprint, arriving before the great tree in the center of the courtyard.

At the same time, the kitchen knife in his hand swept down toward the tree!

There was a dull “thud” as the blade struck the tree, slicing a longhorn beetle with white-spotted wings cleanly in two.

“Success!” Seeing this, Xu Kang’s lips curled into a faint smile. As he sheathed the knife, he muttered to himself, “To die beneath my finishing move is an honor you can boast of, Beetle Sprite!”

Having dispatched the now-twitching beetle, he paid it no further heed, instead setting his sights on other “sprites.”

“Cricket Sprite, you’ve finally shown yourself—taste despair! Charge and Execute!”

“Prepare yourself, Caterpillar Sprite—Charge and Execute!”

“Don’t think you can escape, Ant Sprite—Charge and Execute!”

…

Thanks to the magical bread and enchanted water that replenished his energy and relieved fatigue, Xu Kang was able to “vanquish demons and subdue monsters” in his own courtyard, gradually mastering the warriors’ skill, “Charge and Execute,” as taught by those from Mount Mountain.

As for how effective a skill trained in such a manner would be in real combat—that was another matter entirely. But such concerns didn’t trouble Xu Kang. His goal was to become a man of letters!

The reason he learned the warrior’s “Charge and Execute” was merely out of the philosophy that more skills never hurt; he certainly didn’t expect to use it to fight others. After all, he was a product of a peaceful era, with no innate thirst for battle. Even now, knowing he had crossed over into a time of chaos, his ambitions did not lie in conquest, but in becoming a renowned scholar—one who could protect himself and survive.

In his mind’s eye, he saw himself as a Zhuge Liang figure: feather fan in hand, composed and serene atop a wheeled chair, sweeping away enemy fleets with a smile and some clever words—not charging into battle with a weapon in hand, which simply didn’t fit the persona he envisioned.

So, after mastering “Charge and Execute,” he promptly tossed aside the kitchen knife and began considering other skills.

“Now that I’ve mastered the mage’s ‘Conjure Food and Water’ and the warrior’s ‘Charge and Execute,’ all that’s left are the paladin’s ‘Invincible Steed,’ the rogue’s ‘Stealth and Search,’ the priest’s ‘Heal and Cure Disease,’ the hunter’s ‘Beast Mastery,’ the druid’s ‘Animal Transformation,’ and the warlock’s ‘Agony of Despair.’”

At the thought of “Agony of Despair,” a painful memory surfaced, making him shudder involuntarily and clamp his legs together.

“Damn, the warlock’s skill is just too vicious—utterly inhumane. I’d better not practice that for now. Besides, the hunter’s ‘Beast Mastery’ and druid’s ‘Animal Transformation’ both seem risky, and the paladin’s ‘Invincible Steed’ involves summoning a warhorse, which would make too much commotion. I’ll set those aside for now, too!”

With two class skills under his belt and four ruled out for the time being, only the rogue’s “Stealth and Search” and the priest’s “Heal and Cure Disease” remained.

Given his current situation, Xu Kang reasoned that these two skills would be of great practical help, so he decided to start with them.

“The priest’s ‘Heal and Cure Disease’ requires someone sick or injured to practice on, and that’s not possible at home right now. I’ll start with the rogue’s ‘Stealth and Search’!”

With that in mind, he crouched low, recalling the techniques passed on by the rogue persona in his mind, and tried to enter a state of stealth.

“Stealth!”

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his body began to blur and fade, and within a few seconds, he had vanished entirely from where he stood.

But soon, he reappeared a few meters away, only to disappear again. After repeating this several times, Xu Kang was nowhere to be seen in the courtyard—it was as if he had left entirely.

But in reality, that was not the case.

A few minutes later, a dry branch snapped underfoot with a crisp “crack,” and Xu Kang’s figure materialized once more.

This time, he didn’t attempt to re-enter stealth. Instead, he wiped the sweat from his brow and let out a long breath.

“Phew… Stealth really is hard to master. It requires a high degree of bodily coordination. Standing still is fine, but as soon as I start moving, it’s hard to stay invisible. With my current abilities, I can only manage to stay stealthed at half my normal speed. Looks like I’ll need a lot more practice.”

He took a few deep breaths, then slipped back into stealth and doggedly continued his training.

To restore the energy spent in the process and ease his mental fatigue, Xu Kang consumed three more magical breads and two packets of enchanted water.

Finally, as night fell completely, he was able to move at seventy percent of his usual speed while maintaining stealth—a remarkable improvement!

Yet this time, unlike when he’d practiced “Charge and Execute,” he was not so easily satisfied. Instead, he resolved to attempt a live trial.

“Whether stealth actually works depends on whether I can make a move and then slip away under someone’s nose. Let’s give it a try!”

With that, he entered stealth once more and crept toward the rear courtyard.

The rear courtyard, originally a stable and firewood shed, now housed two carpenters, since there wasn’t enough room in the front. The most pressing reason was that Xu Fu had bought two carpenters for the urgent task of making a hundred wooden chests for Xu Kang, and working in the rear wouldn’t disturb those in the front.

At this hour, the two men had lit an oil lamp and were busily sawing wood in its dim light, the steady rasp of the saw filling the air.

Just as the two were engrossed in their task, the oil lamp suddenly went out.

There was no wind at the time, so the carpenters were puzzled, but they didn’t think much of it and simply struck a tinder to relight the lamp.

To their surprise, the moment the lamp was burning again, it abruptly extinguished a second time with no warning.

At this, a chill of fear crept into their hearts, making the hairs on their arms stand up.

It was precisely then that a sinister voice sounded right by their ears.

“When men light lamps… ghosts blow them out…”

“Hiss…”

Hearing this, the already frightened carpenters gasped, then screamed at the top of their lungs.

“Ah—ghost!”