Matrix Survival: One random treasure chest per day

Chapter 268 Swordsmanship Mastery Achieved!

"I understand." Li Zheng said thoughtfully. "So that's why you were so concerned when I encountered a similar situation, and even helped me gather a lot of information?"

At first, Li Zheng thought that Lu Li was willing to help him because he considered him a friend, but now that he thought about it... where did he get such great charm?
“That’s right.” Lu Li nodded. “Although we haven’t had much contact, I know that you would never do something so disgusting, so I trust you unconditionally.”

He raised his hand to wipe away his tears and turned his head away: "And I don't want something like what happened to my brother to happen again."

Witnessing Lu Manjiang's death was a deep-seated trauma for Lu Li, causing him to suffer from intermittent mental illness. Only when his mind was in a state of confusion during an episode could he temporarily forget some of the less pleasant memories.

Li Zheng looked at Lu Li and was absolutely certain that Lu Li was not having an episode at this moment; perhaps this was Lu Li's true nature.

“If you want to learn marksmanship, perhaps I can teach you,” Li Zheng said after a moment of silence. “Of course, it won’t be free; you’ll still have to pay tuition.”

“I understand.” Lu Li knew that Li Zheng’s specialty was marksmanship, and he could teach him more than Zhan Zhouzhou.

"With your mediocre skills, you still want to charge tuition?" Zhan Zhouzhou looked down on Li Zheng. "Looks like I'll have to raise the price, lest you think my family's swordsmanship is cheap and common."

"Not...cheap?" Li Zheng rolled his eyes. "Do you know how much time and ingredients it takes to make ninety meals?"

Zhan Zhouzhou ignored his bargaining tactics and proposed new conditions: "I want three dishes and a soup, a mix of meat and vegetables, and the minimum grade is gold!"

“Anything else is fine,” Li Zheng countered, “but I’ll decide the grade. I haven’t seen any gold-grade vegetables yet.”

"Alright, you can decide for yourself." Zhan Zhouzhou was surprisingly agreeable this time.

Li Zheng wondered if he had overlooked something, but upon closer inspection, he couldn't find anything wrong.

Zhan Zhouzhou checked the time: "There's still an hour and a half left, enough time for me to give you a rough explanation of the swordsmanship. Lu Li, you go practice on your own for now, and I'll have him teach you privately later."

“Okay.” Lu Li readily agreed, silently jumped off the stage, returned to the “wooden dummy” where he had practiced before, and began thrusting with his spear.

Mastery skills are relatively easy to develop; even without the aid of a training room, you can gradually figure them out on your own.

Li Zheng stared at it for a few seconds, then couldn't help but shout, "Are you stupid? That thing is obviously a machine! Why are you poking at it like that?!"

"Huh?" Lu Li was taken aback. He hadn't paid much attention before, as his focus was entirely on Zhan Zhouzhou's battle with the robot.

Upon being reminded, a button and a small display screen were indeed seen below the "wooden dummy".

In the past, after starting the game and selecting a mode, the "wooden dummy" would slowly rotate, and several long sticks simulating weapons would move along a certain trajectory.

What Lu Li had to do was to hit the sensor with the spear when these long sticks reached a certain point, so that he would unconsciously adapt to the trajectory of the spear's attack.

As a result, the acquisition speed of spear mastery is indeed much faster.

After watching for a while, Zhan Zhouzhou said, "Alright, don't worry about him for now, I'll explain the first move to you..."

Li Zheng focused his attention and listened attentively as Zhan Zhouzhou dissected all the sword moves in the Zhan family sword technique.

Zhan Zhouzhou has been practicing this sword technique since she was a child, for more than ten years now, and has a very deep understanding of all the sword moves.

At this point, the lesson began, explaining things from simple to complex, analyzing the key points and difficulties, and resolving many of Li Zheng's doubts during his practice.

As the teaching progressed, Li Zheng would also practice a few times as required, with Zhan Zhouzhou assisting and adjusting from the side.

An hour later.

Li Zheng was able to use most of the moves from the Zhan family sword technique, but there were a few moves he just couldn't learn.

Or rather, one can develop the form but not the spirit.

But it's enough.

After at least an hour, with Zhan Zhouzhou's assistance, Li Zheng finally mastered swordsmanship.

At the moment the system gave the prompt, Li Zheng felt, in a surreal way, that the longsword he was holding had undergone some changes.

I seem to have gained some new insights into the handling of longsword-type weapons, and I am now more adept at using them.

Moreover, in this state, he could barely manage to use those few sword moves he couldn't learn. Zhan Zhouzhou, with her sharp eyes, instantly noticed the change in Li Zheng's sword-wielding posture and understood: "You've learned it?"

Li Zheng nodded: "I've learned it!"

"It seems you've practiced quite a bit, but your talent is just too low," Zhan Zhouzhou said sarcastically. "There are no shortcuts in your practice from now on; you'll have to rely on yourself for most of it. When practicing swordsmanship, it's best to practice the complete sword moves. You'll gain different insights each time you practice."

"The day you can perform nine sword techniques in a row with your eyes closed, then message me privately, and I'll teach you more advanced techniques."

"More advanced techniques?"

"Yes, the skill of unleashing sword energy when practiced to its peak," Zhan Zhouzhou said. "Although I don't think you'll ever reach that level in your lifetime."

“…That really hurts, bro!” Li Zheng was speechless.

Even if it's the truth, saying it so bluntly is still very hurtful!

Li Zheng jumped off the stage, threw all the weapons he had brought up back onto the shelf, and walked over to Lu Li.

There's still some time in the training room, which is a good opportunity to give him some pointers so he can master marksmanship as soon as possible.

"Hey." Zhan Zhouzhou called out to him, "Martial arts training requires patience and perseverance. Practicing one martial art every day is very energy-consuming. I sincerely suggest that you specialize in one skill and not learn too many different things."

She meant for Li Zheng to choose between spearmanship and swordsmanship.

Li Zheng knew the principle of "focusing on mastering a few skills rather than practicing a variety of ones."

However, the reason he acquired multiple proficiency abilities was actually for the purpose of becoming a "fighter".

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." With a wave of his hand, Li Zheng went over to instruct Lu Li on his marksmanship.

Bored, Zhan Zhouzhou decided to remove the "overweight" necklace's restriction and start training with four robots at once.

She held out for a minute before being defeated by the four robots.

Although Li Zheng mastered his marksmanship through the "Memory Releaser" prop, his experience in that "Memory Space" was almost etched into his DNA, making him more than capable of teaching Lu Li.

Before the training session ended, Li Zheng explained and demonstrated all the basic techniques of spear fighting to Lu Li.

In the last minute, the three gathered together, and Sakura also brought Pink Polly out of the gravity chamber.

Li Zheng didn't know what the two little ones were doing inside. When he came out, Xiao Ying had stayed in the gravity chamber.

Before parting ways, Li Zheng instructed Lu Li: "Just practice your basic marksmanship a little bit every day. Don't use it against the creatures inside the matrix until you are absolutely certain of success."

Things are different now. The current player base is generally much stronger than it was ten days ago, and the matrix creatures they encounter are also incomparable.

Lu Li is not yet proficient, and if he rashly uses this half-baked marksmanship against the enemy, he is likely to suffer a defeat.

"I understand." Lu Li nodded seriously. He only had intermittent mental illness, not a real mental illness.

"Hmm." Li Zheng nodded and looked at Zhan Zhouzhou. He felt that as a "teacher," he should at least give his student a few words of advice, right?
Zhan Zhouzhou tilted her head and thought for a moment: "There are only twenty seconds left. Are you sure you don't want to verify where my heart is located?"

Li Zheng: "...???"

Is this something a "teacher" should say?
Can you be a little more serious like me?
At that moment, Li Zheng suddenly felt a pang of regret.

If I had known you were this kind of person, I should have hugged you a little longer before entering the training room.

hateful!

Time reset to zero, and the group simultaneously left the training room.

Li Zheng saw Zhan Zhouzhou reveal a strange smile the moment she disappeared.

"Damn it, could she have fooled me?"

(End of this chapter)