007 A Seemingly Simple Dream
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After successfully copying the Tiger Subduing technique, Yang Tang lingered for another five seconds before continuing his ruse, “Alright, though it hasn’t been a full minute, I trust your patience now, Dongmen Lixin!”
“Senior, is there any task I can assist you with?”
“Go and gather a hundred corals from the Azure Iron Ox Demon first.”
“The Azure Iron Ox Demon? I’ll go right away!” Dongmen Lixin hurried off as soon as he accepted the quest.
Yang Tang breathed a sigh of relief. Since the remaining three skills were all assassin techniques, he could simply copy them from himself.
Aiming Shot Copying...
Instantly—
Aiming Shot Copy Complete!
Concealment Copying...
Two seconds later—
Concealment Copy Complete!
Scar Strike Copying...
Five minutes later—
Scar Strike Copy Complete!
Would you like to leave the dream?
Yang Tang paused, then quickly replied, “Yes.”
Exit countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven...
He’d wanted to leave long ago, afraid that the player Dongmen Lixin might return.
Just as Yang Tang’s figure vanished from Zhaiye Valley, Dongmen Lixin, busy slaughtering Azure Iron Ox Demons, was muttering, “Coral usually drops so frequently, why have I only gotten seven in half a day today!”
In a haze of golden mist.
The five skill plaques—Scar Strike, Concealment, Aiming Shot, Tiger Subduing, and Iron Shirt—floated in the air, flickering in and out of sight.
At the same time, Yang Tang, still unsure where he was, received a new revelation: As this is a trial dream, the number of skills that can be retained has doubled. Current skills retainable: two.
Random retention costs nothing.
Specifying which skills to retain costs one hundred merit or sin points multiplied by the number of skills.
Please choose random retention or specify which skills to retain.
Yang Tang was instantly vexed.
Each of the five skills—Scar Strike, Concealment, Aiming Shot, Tiger Subduing, and Iron Shirt—had its own unique advantage. Especially now, as the revelation provided him with the details of each, it was even harder to make a choice.
Scar Strike: Duration 300 seconds, cooldown for the same skill 480 seconds, mysterious two-stage assassination, can severely injure the target in one blow, active skill, instant cast, mana cost zero.
Concealment: Duration 2 seconds, renders one invisible without reducing speed, active skill, 0.5 second cast time, mana cost zero.
Aiming Shot: Duration zero seconds, aim and shoot, active skill, requires a ranged weapon, instant cast, mana cost zero.
Tiger Subduing: Duration 30 seconds, stuns for 3 seconds, active skill, instant cast, mana cost zero.
Iron Shirt: Grants triple defense for 15 seconds, lasts 10 seconds, active skill, instant cast, mana cost zero.
Yang Tang had to admit, all five copied skills were quite practical. After all, in Xuan Yuan Sword NN, there were skills that consumed massive amounts of mana, but those hadn’t been copied. He didn’t know whether that was a coincidence, or whether the revelation had deliberately avoided them because Yang Tang himself had no mana.
Realizing this, Yang Tang’s reckless urge to experiment waned. He decided not to spend merit or sin points to specify which skills to retain—after all, not only was it hard to choose, but it would also waste merit and sin points.
“Let’s go random!”
Then Yang Tang saw the five skill plaques in the golden mist shuffle and jumble together, until finally only two plaques remained floating.
Scar Strike and Aiming Shot were retained. Please exchange them for merit or sin points before the next dream begins, or they will vanish.
“Damn, there’s a next dream? Is this for real?”
“Hey, by the way, how much merit or sin do I need to exchange for a skill?”
Because these are skills copied from a trial dream, the required merit or sin for exchange is one-tenth the normal amount—ten points per skill.
“Is it really that easy? The skill effects aren’t nerfed, are they?”
As these are skills from a trial dream, their effects are one-tenth of normal. Specifying which skills to retain also costs one-tenth the usual amount, and you may use ten times the merit or sin to exchange for a single skill at tenfold effectiveness.
“Ugh, I knew there was a catch. If I’d known, I would have specified Concealment and Iron Shirt. Enough of this!”
“Anyway, it’s just a dream. Who knows if it’s real? I’ll just exchange for Scar Strike at tenfold strength using sin points.”
Deducting ten sin points times ten!
Current sin points: 1.7!
Warning: If both your merit and sin points reach zero, great misfortune will befall you!
“What? There’s such a thing? It’s just a dream, why talk about great misfortune!”
Would you like to solidify the skill?
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I, after exchanging for it?”
Warning: Your physical attributes are far below the requirements for solidifying this skill. Please spend 179 merit points to enhance your constitution!
“Wait, so my body isn’t strong enough? Then enhance it, it’s just over a hundred merit points, I can afford it!”
Deducting 179 merit points!
Current merit: 26!
Your constitution will be gradually enhanced over seven days. Scar Strike will also be gradually solidified during this period.
The skill cannot be used until solidification is complete.
Enhancement begins.
Skill solidification slot: one!
Solidification begins.
Current skill solidification slots: zero!
“Tch, thought of everything,” Yang Tang grumbled to himself, muttering, “In the end, I just have one slot for skill solidification.”
At this moment, he faintly heard familiar voices calling his name.
“Third! Third!”
“Third Senior Brother!”
As the voices grew clearer, Yang Tang abruptly opened his eyes to see Tang Xun and the other two standing by his bed, calling out to him.
“What’s going on?” Yang Tang asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
The youngest, Chen Song, grinned. “Nothing, Third Brother. It’s just that Tang and Duan kept hearing you talking in your sleep, so they called out to check if you were alright!”
Yang Tang pretended to be puzzled. “I was talking in my sleep? What was I saying?”
“We couldn’t make it out, you kept muttering. I got up to use the bathroom and you nearly scared me to death!” Tang Xun said dramatically.
Yang Tang breathed a slight sigh of relief and changed the subject. “What time is it now?”
Duan Yibin glanced at his watch. “Almost four in the morning.”
“Aren’t you cold standing around here? Go back to bed. I won’t talk in my sleep anymore. Even if I do, I’ll wear a mask so you won’t hear me,” Yang Tang said.
“Alright, I’ve got a new mask right here, I’ll give it to you.” With that, Tang Xun rummaged through his wardrobe, tossed a still-sealed mask onto Yang Tang’s pillow, and quickly dove back under the covers.
Chen Song and Duan Yibin also returned to their beds, and soon, the sound of snoring filled the room.
Yang Tang, however, found it hard to fall asleep again, wondering to himself, Did I really enter a dream by pressing the Kṣitigarbha mark on my chest? Is it real or not?
Skeptical, Yang Tang once again “held the Kṣitigarbha” as he drifted off, but this time, until morning, he did not dream again.
When morning came, as he dressed, Yang Tang muttered, “Why didn’t it work this time? Was the interval too short, or was it all just a coincidence?”
No sooner had he finished pondering than the revelation came again: Next formal dream opens on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month—searching... search complete, Lantern Festival!
“The fifteenth? That’s the Lantern Festival!” Yang Tang muttered, then called out, “What day is it today?”
Tang Xun, pulling on his shirt, replied, “Sixth or seventh, I can’t quite remember. Why do you ask, Third? Planning to take a long vacation?” He and Duan Yibin and Chen Song burst into laughter.
Yang Tang paid no mind to their teasing, and even joined in the laughter, though in his heart he found the revelation even more bizarre. Whatever, he thought, it’s only seven days away, real or not!
With that, he threw all thoughts of the dream aside, refusing to dwell on it any further. After breakfast, he and the three others headed to the classroom for early study.
Seeing the classroom full of students, Yang Tang, after these past two days, had finally come to terms with the reality of his rebirth and transmigration. Seated at his desk, he earnestly studied his English textbook.
The first two periods were history and math. During history, Yang Tang kept reading English. When math came, he switched to his relentless questioning mode, nearly driving old Zhang, the math teacher, to despair.
The morning passed in the blink of an eye.
After lunch, Yang Tang, ever mindful of the balance between work and rest, strolled alone to the basketball court, seized an opening, and joined a group of second-year boys for a game.
“Wow, Old Yang, how come your footwork’s so much faster today?”
“My footwork’s faster? I didn’t notice.”
In the morning, Yang Tang’s body had still felt a bit sore, but after a little movement, he now felt refreshed and energized. As he responded to the bespectacled defender, he gave a couple of probing steps, then dribbled quickly—passing his opponent in a single move.
“Damn, he really is faster! Liu Yu, you guard Old Yang and see for yourself!”
Liu Yu, a second-year track star who did long jump, knew Da Fei and thus also knew Yang Tang. He’d trained two years in basketball at the sports school, so he had solid technique. However, he was only 173 cm tall—a head shorter than Yang Tang—and never quite shone in athletics.
Liu Yu took the ball from the bespectacled boy, tossed it to Yang Tang, and squared up in a defensive stance. “Alright, Old Yang, let me see just how fast you’ve gotten!”
Yang Tang didn’t hesitate, assumed a triple-threat stance, and immediately used a probing step against Liu Yu.
Liu Yu largely ignored Yang Tang’s feint, lunged forward, and swiped at the ball—making contact and forcing Yang Tang to quickly pull back and protect it.