C3

Morning to afternoon. The sun was setting.

"Little brother, do you have any business with me?" The old man suddenly raised his head.

"My family is poor, and I don't have any books, so I want to borrow them." Dongfang Qingyu said seriously, his expression sincere.

"Good!" The old man nodded, his eyes filled with admiration. "Books are the most respected wealth given by the ancients to their descendants. Here is a book for you, but you must do something for me."

"Of course." Dongfang Qingyu happily accepted.

The old man's hand moved, the book in his hand disappeared, and then, Dongfang Qingyu saw a white ray of light shooting towards his brain. Before he could even react, he felt that there was an additional piece of knowledge in his mind, and a beautiful voice sounded by his ear.

Ding! System Notification: Congratulations to player Dongfang Qingyu for learning Identification Art, I hope player will continue to work hard.

Identification Art: Level, Apprentice. Able to appraise and view the item's attributes and level.

The old man led Dongfang Qingyu into a room at the back. It was quaint, with rows and rows of shelves divided into many small squares, with various kinds of items placed on top of them. Most of them were dim and did not look amazing.

"There are 1,000 items to be appraised. You need to appraise them one by one. For every successful appraisal, you will be rewarded with 5 copper coins. If you fail the appraisal, you will be punished with 10 copper coins. Do you understand?" The old man stared at Dongfang Qingyu, his expression solemn.

"Understood!" If he failed, he would have to be doubled. Dongfang Qingyu disagreed in his heart, but as a person under the roof, he did not dare to show such an intention.

"Very good!" The old man revealed a smile, and started to explain some of the appraising techniques and details. He explained it in detail, and it was easy to understand.

"Master Fu led the way in, practicing cultivation on your own. The rest is up to you." After the old man finished, he did not care whether Dongfang Qingyu agreed or not, and left immediately. Dongfang Qingyu was the only one left in the room.

If it failed, it would cause a certain amount of damage to the item. Each item would not be used by Durability, and the number of times it failed would also be different. After a certain number of failures, the item would be directly destroyed to the point that it could not be repaired, which was the so-called scrap. Thus, appraisers were also a high-risk profession. If one wasn't careful and destroyed an expensive item, then they would just wait for the other party to chase them down.

Dongfang Qingyu picked up a strip shaped item and used a Identification Art to bid. Before the item was appraised, its original appearance could not be seen. Only its shape and size could be seen.

Ding! System Notification: Identification failed, Item Durability -1%, Proficiency + 0.001%.

The item's appearance did not change, but if one looked carefully, they would see that the item's luster had dimmed a little, and another Identification Art was being used.

Ding! System Notification: Identification failed, Item Durability 3%, Proficiency + 0.001%.

The luster of the object dimmed a bit. It was as if he had not slept for several days and nights, and was in a haggard state.

Ding! System Notification: Congratulations to player Dongfang Qingyu for appraising it. Proficiency + 0.005%.

There was a level of proficiency in failure, but the level of proficiency was minuscule. Only with success could the level of proficiency be considered considerable.

Big Chop Blade: Iron Level, Attack 5-11, Attack Speed + 1%, Durability 18/20.

After he succeeded, Dongfang Qingyu's mood rose again. He picked up the second item. It was smaller in size, probably a dagger or something of the sort.

Ding! System Notification: Identification failed, Item Durability 2%, Proficiency + 0.001%.

Ding! System Notification: Identification failed, Item Durability -5%, Proficiency + 0.001%.

After two consecutive failures, Dongfang Qingyu was already sweating profusely. Even the Durability had been reduced by 7%, he did not know what had happened.

Ding! System Notification: Identification failed, Item Durability -10%, Proficiency + 0.001%.

This time, even more sweat poured out. Dongfang Qingyu almost did not dare make a move, but seeing that there were still so many items on the shelves, he clenched his teeth, closed his eyes and released a Identification Art that released a faint white light.

Ding! System Notification: Congratulations to player Dongfang Qingyu for appraising it. Proficiency + 0.005%.

Wolf Fang Dagger: Steel Grade, Attack 7-14, Attack Speed + 2%, Durability 17/20.

Although it was much smaller, its attack was much stronger than the big chopper. Looking at the shiny dagger, Dongfang Qingyu heaved a sigh of relief, the stronger the attributes were, the harder the appraisal, and looking at the many items, he suddenly started to look forward to it, not knowing if he could appraise a one of the bronze equipment.

Ding! System Notification: Identification failed, Item Durability 2%, Proficiency + 0.001%.

Ding! System Notification: Identification failed, Item Durability -5%, Proficiency + 0.001%.

Ding! System Notification: Congratulations to player Dongfang Qingyu for appraising it. Proficiency + 0.005%.

"..."

Dongfang Qingyu mechanically repeated the same action again and again, and the system's prompt kept ringing beside his ears. When he heard of the failure, he was always scared witless, and when he heard of the success, he felt as if he had eaten honey. In the beginning, it took three to four or even five tries to appraise an item successfully, but each time, it was only one success. The most ridiculous thing was that it was a Peach Blossom Sword, which had failed five times before succeeding, and after a few attempts, there was only 10% of its Durability left, which was very close to being wasted. If it wasn't repaired, it wouldn't even take a few seconds to discard it. But for White grade equipment, basically no one would choose to repair it. Repairing it would cost a lot, and Durability s with White grade equipment were originally low, so they had no value in repairing it. Therefore, this Peach Blossom Sword that had been successfully appraised was actually just a chicken ribs. It was a pity that it had no taste for food.

But Dongfang Qingyu did not care about that anymore. For him, it was fine as long as he did not fail, because failure meant that he had to compensate 10 copper coins.

The sky slowly turned dark. The old man entered the room and lit the oil lamp, but Dongfang Qingyu did not know that as he was immersed in the world of appraisal, he did not even realize that his success rate had started to increase from the moment he had 150 items. Basically, he was able to succeed in three tries, and very few people had tried four times. Moreover, up until now, he hadn't made a single failure. This was something rarely seen among beginners.

In the middle of the night, the old man went in to refill the oil, seeing that Dongfang Qingyu was focused, he did not disturb him, and quietly went out. Starting from 500 items, Dongfang Qingyu's success rate increased again. Basically, he would be able to appraise the item twice, and he slowly concluded that the success rate of some new equipment was higher than the Steel grade, while the equipment with weaker attributes had higher success rate than the equipment with better attributes. Amongst the five hundred pieces of equipment, there was a relatively unique item. It was an item in the shape of a ring, and after three attempts, it failed, the Durability had dropped by 20%. Dongfang Qingyu decided to put it aside temporarily. He faintly felt that this ring should have a higher level. If he continued to appraise it, he should be able to succeed, but the number of Durability would decrease by a lot, so he decided to appraise the other items first. He believed that after he mastered it, this ring should not be too difficult for him.

Ding! System Notification: Identification failed, Item Durability 2%, Proficiency + 0.001%.

Ding! System Notification: Congratulations to player Dongfang Qingyu for successfully appraising, experience + 0.01%.

Ding! System Notification: Identification failed, Item Durability 2%, Proficiency + 0.001%.

Ding! System Notification: Congratulations to player Dongfang Qingyu for appraising it. Proficiency + 0.005%.

"..."

Six hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred oil lamps had been extinguished and looking out the window, it was already bright outside. Unknowingly, a night had passed, yet Dongfang Qingyu did not feel tired, but he was still brimming with energy, and once again, he encountered an item that could not be appraised. It was an iron piece, and he did not know what it was, but after losing two times, Dongfang Qingyu was not able to continue, and placed it aside as he picked up a new item.

The time in the game was synchronized with the time in real life. Many players had already gone to bed during the second half of the night, but after resting for a night, those who had recovered their energy immediately logged on. Most people probably didn't even have breakfast.

Ding! System Notification: Congratulations to player Dongfang Qingyu for appraising it. Proficiency + 0.005%. I hope the players continue to work hard.

Pig Skin Shoes: Black Iron, Agility + 11, Weight -1, Durability 18/20.

It even had an extra attribute. Although this shoe's name was unpleasant to hear, it was still considered a small item. After appraising hundreds of items, Dongfang Qingyu had a better understanding of equipment. Most of the weapons and equipment had weights, and the most obvious were shields and armor. It was not that Mages could not equip armor, but they were too heavy and could not move after wearing them. Dongfang Qingyu appraised hundreds of items, and this was his second time seeing the attribute reduction skill.

Right after the pair of shoes was appraised, a milky-white light fell from the sky and landed on Dongfang Qingyu's head, the light contained a powerful energy, causing Dongfang Qingyu's body to tremble, he immediately felt a boundless energy flooding into every cell, the powerful feeling moved him to the point that he wanted to shout out loud, at the same time, a melodious system prompt sounded out in his ears.

Ding! System Notification: Congratulations to player Dongfang Qingyu for reaching 100% proficiency in Identification Art, you have levelled up to a Basic Identification Art, I hope that player will continue to improve.

Identification Art: Level, Beginner. Can appraise and view the item's attributes and level.

Dongfang Qingyu looked at it in a speechless manner. Picking up an item, he used the Identification Art on it, and immediately felt the difference from a trainee Identification Art. Previously when the Identification Art fell, one could only faintly feel a wave of energy, but now, one could see a faint light, looking very tall.

Ding! System Notification: Congratulations to player Dongfang Qingyu for appraising it. Proficiency + 0.0005%.

Dongfang Qingyu's face immediately twitched. Initially, it was a good thing to pass the appraisal once, but after seeing his experience, he was not happy. When would the next upgrade be?