Li Wei stepped forward, "What is it, Commander?"

"It is partly thanks to you that I am still alive. This my gift to you to show my thanks. You can deal the finishing blow to that bandit. I know that you adventurers are different from us. You become stronger by killing enemies. He should be enough to help you progress quite a bit, right?" said the Commander with a tired expression.

The Commander then took a step back to allow Li Wei to approach but kept pointing his sword at the Red Bandit Leader. The militiamen did not really understand what was happening, but they followed their commander's order and opened a path for Li Wei, while some drew their weapons to help in case the Red Bandit would struggle.

"Commander. May I do whatever I want with him?" said Li Wei while approaching the Red Bandit Leader.

The Commander was puzzled but quickly nodded, "Of course, but what would you do to him? It's not like you'll let him go, right? "

Li Wei did not answer the Commander. Instead, he turned towards the Red Bandit Leader and looked into his eyes, "I am very interested in your fighting style... Are you interested in teaching me?"

The Red Bandit Leader froze for a moment. He did not answer. Instead, he spat out towards Li Wei who quickly dodged it.

Li Wei pretended nothing happened and calmly continued, "Are you sure of your decision? As you've heard from the Commander, I can do whatever I want, including letting you live."

The Red Bandit Leader hesitated for a while, but a few seconds later smirked, "Don't try to deceive me, I have been in this industry for countless years, I know all tricks of sweet talkers. Just finish me. I will never teach a member of the militia."

"Very well!" Seeing the determination in the Red Bandit Leader's eyes, Li Wei sighed. He then raised his sword and executed the Red Bandit Leader.

[System prompt: You have slain the Red Bandit Leader, awarded 2000 exp]

[System prompt: Congratulations player Seven. You leveled up. You have obtained a free stat point]

Despite leveling up, Li Wei was a bit irritated. What he really wanted was to learn the dual sword style. Even though he could practice by himself, it would be much faster to learn it from someone.

The commander approached Li Wei, "So you want to learn his dual sword style? I am sorry but no one in the militia learned this style. It is too aggressive and does not really suit the purpose of the militia."

"It is fine, I am very grateful for your gift, I have advanced a little but there is still a long way to go."

The commander smiled, "There are many other fighting styles you can learn from, my suggestions would be for you to go to the Tower of Heroes"

"Huh? Isn't the Tower of Heroes just for practice training?" asked Li Wei with a confused expression.

"Yes. You can practice the dual sword style there, but I am talking about the rewards. You probably haven't reached that far yet, but the Tower of Heroes contains 15 floors, the first 10 floors are merely for practice but the next 5 floors are where the real challenges are and the rewards there cannot be compared to the previous ones."

"Is one of the rewards the dual sword style?"

"I don't know, I have only climbed to the 13th floor myself, but you will definitely receive something that will help you on this path if you reach there."

"I see. Thank you for your advice. I will definitely check it out."

"Thank you again for saving my life." The commander smiled then turned towards the militia, "Everyone! we have won! As from today the Red Bandits are no more!"

The crowd cheered, the gruesome battle was finally over but a lot of post-battle work had to be done. The militiamen were well trained, they immediately divided the tasks; some when to loot the hideout while some gathered the corpses. As for Li Wei, his job here was done. He had a huge harvest; his inventory contained a dozen daggers and swords and he now had a hint on what to do next.

Li Wei did not stay there, he bade farewell to the Commander and went outside the Department Store. Outside, players were still observing from afar wondering what was happening. Li Wei quietly avoided the crowd and went to the inn. It had been a very long day for him. He needed to rest. After taking a good meal in the dining hall, Li Wei immediately went to bed, not even checking the forums.

....

The next morning, Li Wei woke up early as usual but did not go out hunting as he had to meet Elder Jari during the day. After a light breakfast, Li Wei went to see Carlos; the Blacksmith should already be up. He needed to empty his inventory and could also give the 10 middle-grade iron ores that he owed Carlos.

"Wow, you have already collected the ores! Quick! Give them to me."

As soon as he heard that Li Wei had the ores, Carlos' eyes beamed with excitement. He quickly took the iron ores from Li Wei, gently caressing them like babies. Li Wei did not know but these were very important to Carlos if he wanted to advance to Grade 1 Blacksmith, he needed to work with better materials and the middle-grade iron ore was one of them.

"Why are you so excited about those? I have another 17 in my inventory."

"What? How much are you selling them for? Name your price."

"I am not selling, I need them to upgrade my ring, remember?"

"Ah right, but you need a Blacksmith to convert them to ingots, right? With my tremendous generosity, I will do that laborious work for you for free!" said Carlos with a righteous look in his eyes

Li Wei looked at Carlos with suspicions, but he had no good reasons to refuse. He would get the ingots for free while Carlos would be able to increase his proficiency.

"All right I'll need 10 ingots in total, but I only have these ores with me for now. I will bring the rest later."

"Yes yes, no problem."

"Oh right, I also have these weapons that I collected, can I sell them here?" said Li Wei, while removing a sword from his inventory.

"Yes, no problem. Take out everything. I'll give you a quote."

“F*ck… Did you rob the armory or something?”

...

After a few minutes, Li Wei left the Blacksmith shop, he had obtained 67 gold from his transaction. It was the first time he was seeing so much gold in his inventory!

He also used this opportunity to get new needles and change his sword. Li Wei now had 10 brand new needles, 2 daggers, and 2 swords. These daggers and swords were much better than the original ones he had, daggers had damage: 4-5, while the swords had damage: 6-9.

As for the shield, Li Wei decided to abandon it. He wanted to try the dual sword style which did not involve having a shield.

Following the transaction at Carlos’ shop, it was time to shop on the main street. Li Wei refilled his stock of potions and then went to the magic shop. He now had enough capital to purchase a ring which stored spells.

He browsed through the different rings, they all had different stats and had different spells attached to them, but he eventually settled on one.

[Enchanted Ring](Grade 1)

Dexterity+1

Additional skill: Earth wall(Manipulates the earth and lifts it to form a defensive wall)

Mana cost: 20

Cooldown: 30 minutes

Among all the rings, Li Wei decided to buy this one, it cost 20 gold but from Li Wei's point of view, it was worth it. If one thought carefully, the Earth Wall could not only be used for defense but also for utility, to block the enemy or disrupt their casting. This was why Li Wei chose this ring. The huge cooldown was due to the fact that it was not one of Li Wei's skill. He needed to use the ring as a medium which had a huge cooldown associated with it.

With the new ring equipped, Li Wei walked towards the southern district. It was time to meet Elder Jari. It was the first time Li Wei went to this district, it was where the graveyard was situated and could be considered the poorest district of the town. It was surprising for the elder of the town to reside there.

Li Wei went to the address he was given. It was a very common house, there was nothing that showed that an important figure was residing here. Li Wei knocked at the door and waited. A few seconds later, footsteps were heard from the other side of the door and an old man opened the door.

After a brief introduction, Li Wei was invited into the living room for some tea. Li Wei was calmly observing the surroundings. As soon as he saw Elder Jari, he was surprised. Elder Jari was a level 10 NPC, the highest acceptable level of the Beginner’s village; Li Wei could not see his class but knew that this man could not be underestimated.

As Li Wei was sitting in the living room, Elder Jari went to get some water for the tea. Li Wei took notice of the strong medicinal smell that was in the house. Elder Jari was most likely an alchemist.

A few moments later, Elder Jari returned and sat in front of Li Wei. He immediately started serving the tea, doing all sorts of weird movements, looking solemn. Li Wei did not really understand what was happening but respectfully stayed silent. Both parties did not speak until Li Wei received a cup of tea.

Elder Jari calmly took a sip from his own cup and stared at Li Wei before saying;

"So you are the one that helped to capture these criminals... I heard that you saved my good for nothing son from the Red Bandits."

"Huh? Your son?"

"Yes! That unfilial brat, the commander of the militia is actually my son, but he only knows me when he needs potions and alchemical products!"

"..."

"But this has nothing to do with you. I still need to thank you for actions. This is your reward please give it a try," said the elder while discretely showing his own cup of tea.

Li Wei was surprised. Was that his reward? A cup of tea? but he did not say anything, he grabbed the cup and took a sip.

[System prompt: You have consumed the Tea of Wisdom, produced from an ancient Tea Ceremony. Your wisdom has increased by 1]

'Huh' Li Wei blankly stared at his cup of tea when he heard the system prompt, his stats had actually increased.

Elder Jari looked at Li Wei in amusement, "It seems that you have discovered the effect of the tea. Not too bad, right? Even though you are walking the path of a warrior, your wisdom cannot lack behind."

Li Wei did not say anything, instead, he took another sip but this time, nothing happened. He looked at Elder Jari who was enjoying himself.

"It works only once, don't be too greedy."

"I...", Li Wei was embarrassed, the elder had perfectly guessed what he was thinking.

But Elder Jari did not give time for Li Wei to think. "Never mind that, this was your reward for baiting the Red Bandits. Here is another thing from me for saving my son," said Elder Jari while taking out a red bottle from his pocket. "Drink it when you are back, it will be very useful for your progress"

Li Wei stared at the red bottle. He clumsily reached out his hands and picked the bottle:

[Body Strengthening Potion](Grade 1)

Permanently increase Strength by 1, (Can only be used once)

As soon as he saw the description, Li Wei immediately became excited. It was definitely worth it. This potion was equivalent to getting bonus stats which were very precious. But he quickly got himself together

"Thank you very much, Elder. I will make good use of this," said Li Wei while slightly bowing his head.

"There is no need for that... My role is to help and guide people on the path of strength..."

...

They continued to talk for a few hours until Li Wei tactfully decided to leave as lunchtime was approaching. Not only had he obtained some bonus stat points, he also got the opportunity to get a lot of information from Elder Jari.

For instance, Li Wei asked where he could find a Beast core which was required for upgrading his ring; so far, he had not even seen one despite the large number of monsters killed. He learned that Beast Cores were very rare, not only were they only found in the strongest monsters but here in the surroundings of Little Root Town, these monsters only appeared at night.

Li Wei also asked about the Tower of Heroes but did not get much information about that. It was built a long time ago, well before Elder Jari was born and he himself had only climbed up to the 13th floor. He only knew that the last two rewards were not actually items, and could only guess that they were skills.

Li Wei entered a nearby restaurant and ordered a simple meal, he sat down and enjoyed the calm atmosphere, waiting for his meal to be prepared. Eventually, his dish was served, and Li Wei started eating. While doing so, he opened his character window to have a look.

Name: Seven

Race: Human

Level: 8 (1935/4000)

Class: Warrior

Title: None

HP: 80/80

MP: 60/60

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 12(+1)

Vitality: 8

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 8

Stat Points available: 1

Skills: [Cleave], [Strengthen]

Fatigue: 12%

Information: Brackets "()" indicates the bonus stats from equipment