230 A School for Scholars

High-tier martial arts for Mystical Realm meant that they were high-tier martial arts that could only be practiced by those who had reached Mystical Realm, and it was self-evident that they were stronger than the high-tier martial arts of Blessed Realm. For example, Seven Stars Sword was a martial art from Sword of Heavenly Lake Faction. Even though Happy had never learned it in his previous life, he still had some understanding of it. Seven Stars Sword was quite a good high-tier martial art, and it could be considered as an average high-tier martial art in Mystical Realm.

It contained Constellation Breathing Technique and Seven Stars Sword Styles!

Constellation Breathing Technique was a high-tier qi cultivation technique that was in Mystical Realm. Once it was activated, the user's recovery speed would become much faster. It would also provide a certain degree of effect toward expanding the meridian system and strengthening their affinity.

Right then, there were not many people who had Mystical Realm qi cultivation techniques.

It was the same for Seven Stars Sword Styles. All the powerful players on the Dragon and Phoenix Ranks relied on high-tier martial art manuals of Blessed Realm that came in full sets to become powerful in one go. Once Happy practiced and mastered the sword technique, he might not become invincible, but at the very least, he would not need to fear most of the powerful players on the Dragon and Phoenix Ranks!

When Happy pushed Big Dipper Sword Technique to Grandmaster Realm, his qi realm finally reached Mystical Realm. However, unfortunately for him, he still did not meet the requirements to practice Seven Stars Sword.

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The requirements for practicing Seven Stars Sword were as followed:

AST: 37, AFF: 41, CPH: 60, BMM: 47. Qi realm: Mystical Realm.

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Player: Happy (Mystical Realm)

AST: 56, AFF: 57, CPH: 51, BMM: 50

Even though he had reached the required qi realm, and his Arm Strength, Affinity, and Body Movement had also surpassed the requirement once he had pushed various martial arts to Grandmaster Real as well as one body fortification technique and one lightness skill, the increase in Comprehension had always been rather slow. Despite Happy experiencing several events when his Comprehension increased, there was still some time before he could practice Seven Stars Sword.

In truth, this was also the system's way to protect players. It was set up to prevent people from practicing only high-tier martial arts to reach higher qi realms from the start to the end or from practicing only low-tier martial arts from the start to the end to increase their Comprehension. If it was allowed, it would be very easy for a chasm to appear between players in terms of power. Some people might even be able to display high-tier martial arts that surpassed their level.

However, this sort of thing was not a hindrance to Happy.

Once he notified Little North and Thunderous Battle, he quickly summoned his purplish-red horse and rode out of White Tiger Forest.

Over the last few days, aside from selling the high-tier martial arts and equipment in Fox Cave to obtain money, Happy had obtained quite a lot of loot from the fights, and the white tiger pelt that he got from the Mystical Realm White Tigers in White Tiger Forest was also very valuable. Right then, he already had more than four million taels of silver on his person, and his plan was to deposit all of it in the commission shop.

When Happy returned to Wuhu, he charged straight to the commission shop and looked through the high-tier martial arts he had managed to buy. Then, he left behind one million taels of silver while going away with the other three million taels of silver to a quiet school for scholars.

The two plates by the side of the door had a row of words carved into them.

[Learn all that you can]

[Do all that you can]

The plate above the door read as such.

[Road of Books]

Happy did not ride into the school, but got down from his horse. He saw that the doors to Road of Books were wide open, and the solemn sound of people reading out loud reached his ears. The soft noise created an atmosphere of tranquility and harmony that could not be found in the world of martial artists, though it barely perceptible.

Happy's expression became stern, and he changed to a normal blue robe and tied a hero's headband around his head. It made him look like a normal student, and he walked into the private school that had been set up by the system.

He had only taken a few steps when he was blocked by an old teacher with a graying beard standing at the entrance to the hall of the private school. The old man was dressed in a white robe, and there was some hints of sternness under his cordial smile.

"Young man, this is not a place where wanderers should go. For what reason have you come here?"

"I've come here to study."

"Why did you come here to study?"

The old teacher stared into Happy's eyes calmly, as if he wanted to see through the young man's thoughts.

However, Happy had been prepared for this since a long time ago, and he answered calmly. "I want to learn of the path of virtuous sages because I aspire to become a good person."

"Yes, not bad."

A satisfied smile bloomed on the stern face of the old teacher. He stroked his graying beard, swung his arm, and stepped aside.

"Please, come in."

It was actually a small test of the private school. If a player could not clear it because they stammered their answer or could not tell their reason for coming, the old teacher would stop them from entering the school without any hesitation. All the private schools and teachers in Wuhu would not impart that player with any knowledge.

In Happy's previous life, many people were unable to answer in time and did not fulfill one of the six virtues and six actions, which were wisdom, integrity, sacredness, benevolence, righteousness, and loyalty; fidelity, friendship, harmony, marriage, mercifulness, and sympathy. They would then be chased out of the private school in the city where they had spawned and would have to travel to cities that were further away to continue testing their luck. They had to do this repeatedly before they could successfully learn from those schools!

"Thank you, teacher."

Happy politely bowed, and under the old teacher's admiring gaze, he entered the hall.

What he saw straight away were hundreds of seats filled with people in the hall from which the sounds of reading came. Most people were dressed in white scholar robes, which were elegant and fit their bodies. They swayed their heads and looked incredibly charming. There were only a few people who were flipping through books in boredom or had their heads lowered while writing down something.

Of course, not all of the people were players. There were only a few players who could pay the amount of money required to enter in the beginning of the game to increase their Comprehension in private schools. The serious-looking scholars who were swaying their heads were all NPC students the system had arranged in the school. They were there to add some life to the place. When a player arrived, they would take the initiative to give up their seat for them.

Those who were flipping through the books and doodling were the real players.

Happy's arrival swiftly attracted the six people's attention in the hall. Their eyes lit up, and their gazes landed on him. They were all sizing him up and making guesses about his identity.

"Brother, there is an empty seat here."

The people who were sitting together waved their hands at him and gestured him over.

It had to be known that players who could enter the private schools right then were all rather rich, and they were all smart people. They hoped that they could form a clique and create a unique circle that could help with them developing their connections and increase their speed in progressing in the game later on.

Hence, many sects deliberately sent some of their sect members to linger around the private schools without spending any money to learn. They hoped that they could capture some people that had ability and entice them through hard work to join their side.

Happy was not very willing to talk to such people. He came because he wanted to quickly increase his Comprehension and not to waste time and talk about everything and nothing with those people.

He found a spot to sit down and summoned the studying system with a familiar move. There were plenty of books of various kinds inside, and each of them provided different amounts of Comprehension points. The money he had to spend to learn them was displayed behind the names of the books.

The most common of them was the Three Character Classic. He only needed to copy it once to obtain one Comprehension point, but he needed to spend fifty thousand taels of silver for it, and he could not copy it again.

There were only a few books that offered one Comprehension point.

The ones that provided two Comprehension points were more expensive. If Happy copied them once, he would have to pay one hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver crumbs, which was equivalent to what a high-tier martial art manual cost. The books that provided three Comprehension points cost four hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver. There was no one who could easily buy such books.

When the six people saw that Happy had decided to sit far away from them, they originally regarded him with a lot of disdain and scorn. However, as books swiftly appeared on his table, they quickly held their breaths. Their eyes went wide, and they fell completely silent!