Volume One: First Signs of Greatness Chapter 120: A Knowledge Supplement on the Forum

Driven by curiosity, Wang Jue tapped on the first email.

“Click.”

The first email opened, revealing a video.

“Hello, Mr. Wang Jue.”

A young woman dressed professionally appeared on the virtual screen, smiling warmly. “My name is Lin Shiyu, and I am responsible for online purchases.”

“Since this is your first login, you are entitled to a special benefit: as long as the price of the items you purchase does not exceed ten million credits, the internal network will reimburse the full amount without deducting a single cent from you. If the price exceeds ten million, you will be responsible for paying the excess.”

“Also, congratulations, Mr. Wang Jue, on successfully passing your Adventurer practical assessment. You are now officially a member of the Adventurers!”

With that, the video ended abruptly.

Wang Jue could tell this was a pre-recorded message.

If he wasn’t mistaken, every new adventurer would receive a similar video upon their first login, with only the name differing.

“Not bad. I didn’t expect becoming an adventurer to come with such a perk.”

A slight smile tugged at the corner of Wang Jue’s lips as he opened the second email.

This one was also a video.

“Dear newly minted adventurer Wang Jue, greetings. On behalf of the Adventurers’ collective, I welcome you to our big family.”

A young woman just in her early twenties smiled gently. “This is your first time accessing the internal network of adventurers. I will now introduce its functions to you.”

“Within the internal network, you can purchase various levels of footwork, swordsmanship, blade techniques, boxing, spear techniques, and many other martial skills and cultivation methods. You can also buy weapons, combat suits, hot weapons, vehicles, a wide range of potions, pills, and some special materials and treasures. As long as you have enough money, you can buy anything.”

“Once you pay, your goods will be delivered to your designated location within 24 hours.”

“Through the internal network, you can even request one-on-one instruction from experts ranked at least at the Red Star Mirror level via online sessions, though this also requires sufficient payment.”

“If you have enough points, all the above items are available at half price.”

Joking, right?

Half price?

Wang Jue was stunned.

Was this for real?

For example, if an item costs two hundred million credits, having enough points means you only need to spend a hundred million!

“Looks like these points are quite valuable.”

Wang Jue couldn’t help but sigh.

Unfortunately, his points were currently zero.

“The points have many uses, not just discounts on purchases. For example, points can be used to increase your adventurer rank.”

“Each level requires a certain amount of points: ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, ten million, one hundred million. The last two levels not only demand massive points but also meeting specific conditions.”

“The higher your adventurer rank, the greater your status, power, and benefits within the adventurer community.”

“There are two main ways to earn points.”

“One is by hunting star beasts. Using a one-star star beast as a baseline, you earn one point for killing one, ten points for a two-star beast, one hundred points for a three-star, and so on.”

“You can also extract important materials from star beasts and sell them to the internal network for money, but no points are earned this way.”

“The other way is through donations to the internal network. The more you donate, the more points you get.”

“Currently, the ratio is one point for every ten thousand credits donated!”

“The donation system requires a minimum of one hundred million credits to start, with a maximum cap at one trillion credits.”

“In other words, the highest possible points you can gain through donations is one hundred million!”

Damn!

Wang Jue almost thought he misheard.

Seriously, donations have limits?

A minimum of one hundred million credits and a maximum of one trillion?

If you donate too much, they just won’t accept it!

He had thought he was a billionaire now, but it turned out he had only just reached the minimum donation threshold.

“Mr. Wang Jue, I must remind you that hunting star beasts is the best way to earn points. It not only grants points but also earns money.”

“For example, after making money, don’t rush to purchase items. Instead, visit the Martial Artists’ Forum’s data section and carefully study some basic knowledge of martial arts. This will be very helpful when choosing cultivation methods, martial skills, or purchasing weapons later.”

“Finally, I wish you success in reaching the pinnacle of martial arts as part of our adventurer family!”

The young woman bowed slightly, and the video ended.

“Phew…”

Wang Jue couldn’t help but take a deep breath, almost doubting his own life choices.

He had thought himself quite wealthy, but now realized that among adventurers, he wasn’t even considered poor—at best, just barely scraping by.

Though he had over one hundred million credits, he did not rush to buy anything.

Instead, he planned to familiarize himself with the internal website first.

The website had many functions and sections: task acceptance and posting, private guest chat, cultivation modules, donation system, and so on.

The two sections that attracted Wang Jue the most were the Forum and the Shop.

He had no interest whatsoever in the task posting, task acceptance, private guest chat, or donation sections.

The Shop was a treasure trove of all kinds of cultivation methods, martial skills, hot weapons, cold weapons, potions, and more—everything imaginable.

In short, the Shop was where adventurers spent their money.

The Forum, meanwhile, contained myriad insights and experiences from many martial artists about cultivation, martial skills, and other topics.

However, viewing these posts required payment as well.

In other words, the Forum was also a place designed to make people spend money.

Compared to the Shop’s larger expenses, the Forum’s fees were relatively modest.

…

After a long while.

“A frog in a well could never know how vast the world truly is…”

Wang Jue, dazed, finally snapped back to reality and smiled wryly.

“That was a harsh blow. It’s made me not even want to browse the Shop right now.”

Between the Shop and the Forum, Wang Jue didn’t hesitate much and chose the latter.

“Let’s check out the Forum first.”

He clicked into the Forum and was immediately drawn to a post titled “Basic Data Archive.”

This post had no replies, only a large collection of foundational information.

“Explanation of Martial Skills?”

“Selection of Cultivation Methods.”

“Cultivation Experiences.”

“…”

Wang Jue flipped through the pages, searching for posts that caught his interest.

Finally…

“Huh? A Brief Discussion on Awakening.”

His eyes fixed on a post titled “Some Simple Descriptions About Awakening.” He said to himself, “This is it!”

“Brothers, since few seem to have much knowledge about the word ‘Awakening,’ I’ll give a brief introduction.”

Reading the first sentence, Wang Jue chuckled.

Clearly, this so-called forum’s data archive was a compilation of many martial artists’ posts, not formal documents.

The tone was quite conversational, making it somewhat hard to grasp at first.

“Awakening refers to the group of martial artists most feared within our circle.”

“Although, in theory, anyone can awaken, it doesn’t mean that training alone will guarantee awakening.”

“Every awakened martial artist is a prodigy, a super genius. Before awakening, they might just be ordinary martial artists, but once awakened, they become formidable!”

“What kind of formidable, you ask?”

“There’s only one kind of awakening: elemental awakening. This means awakening the attributes of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Ice, and so forth. The difference between having an attribute and not is beyond imagination.”

“Martial artists with attributes have a natural advantage. When facing ordinary martial artists without attributes, they essentially crush them. Several ordinary fighters may not even be a match for one awakened attribute martial artist.”

“Especially when the awakened martial artist trains in cultivation methods and martial skills that suit their attribute, their strength is not a simple sum. It might be more than three, or four, even five times greater.”

“Of course, for most non-awakened martial artists, whether their cultivation methods and martial skills have attributes or not makes little difference. For instance, a non-awakened martial artist practicing an elemental cultivation method won’t have major issues, at most, they cannot fully realize its power.”

“Whereas an awakened martial artist practicing compatible cultivation methods and martial skills can unleash 120%, even 150% of their power!”

At first, Wang Jue didn’t pay much attention, but as he read on, he found the post increasingly interesting.

He had some doubts about its authenticity initially.

But seeing the post remained undeleted, he soon realized it might well be truthful.

So he read every word carefully, not daring to miss a single sentence.

“What I envy the most is how quickly martial artists improve after awakening!”

“Awakened martial artists aren’t necessarily strong at first. Only after their bodies absorb more elemental energy and reach a certain threshold does their attribute advantage fully manifest!”

“How strong attribute martial artists can be, I won’t explain here. You’ll only understand when you encounter one yourself.”

“Whether you believe this or not doesn’t matter to me; I’m simply sharing what I know.”

Is that all?

Wang Jue paused.

He had expected the post to explain how to awaken.

But it never mentioned that at all.

It was like coming home from a trip, finding your wife missing, and just as you’re about to do something, you discover she’s invited relatives over.

Utterly frustrating!

Though annoyed, Wang Jue continued browsing many posts on the Forum.

There were posts like “Star Beast Hunting Tips,” “Wilderness Survival Knowledge,” “How to Avoid Provoking High-Level Star Beasts,” “Ways to Escape Danger,” and more.

Simply put, the Forum contained all kinds of posts, allowing Wang Jue to learn a great deal quickly.

At the same time, he gained an understanding of the hardships martial artists face.

He realized that although martial artists hold high status in human society, it’s a status earned through relentless struggle.

Wang Jue had been a self-taught outsider, relying on his own trial and error, leaving many gaps in his knowledge.

Now, after reading these posts, he felt like a sponge soaking up water, needing time to digest these precious insights.