Chapter 218: [Special Talent: Penetration]
[Earn one hundred Gold Coins through mutually acknowledged, legitimate transactions. (98.6/100)]
“Yes! It’s almost done!”
In the small wooden cabin, while Freya was writing furiously at her desk, Lu Wei was lying on his bed, dreaming of a bright future.
He had sold 6 gold coins’ worth of blind boxes this morning, and just now he’d earned another 25 gold coins from Freya. The progress bar had shot up by 31, and now only the last little bit remained.
As for the remaining 25 gold coins…
‘To be honest, I never actually wanted it.’
‘Because I don’t actually intend to bring Furen back.’
‘Taking the money but not doing the job… Strictly speaking, I did lie to Freya.’
‘But if you were to call it a “scam,” I wouldn’t agree.’
‘After all, these 25 gold coins are technically repayment for an IOU, not a “service fee.”‘
‘Besides, I made it very clear—’
‘—I would *try* my best to persuade Furen.’
‘And since I’m just *trying*, it’s perfectly reasonable to fail.’
‘Nothing wrong with that at all.’
‘In any case, it all depends on Furen’s own wishes.’
‘All I have to do is take a trip to the Dome Pillar and put on a show.’
‘While I’m at it, I can deliver some more goods and check on the construction progress.’
‘Hmm?’
‘Speaking of which, why don’t I just go sell a few more things? I could finish the quest right away.’
‘It’s only 1 gold and 4 silver left, anyway…’
Suddenly, Lu Wei sat up in bed, wondering if he should just finish the quest today.
Just then, Bai Ya returned from seeing Marcus.
“Huh? Captain, you’re back?”
Having just entered the yard, Bai Ya noticed the bedroom window was open. She immediately ran over, leaned against the outside of the window, and asked eagerly:
“When did you get back? How did it go? Did Freya agree to let Furen go?”
“No.”
Lu Wei answered truthfully, “But I earned 25 Gold Coins.”
Bai Ya looked baffled. “Huh? How did you earn that?”
Lu Wei rolled his eyes. “Obviously, she gave it to me. She wants my help persuading Furen to return to Kalin Port.”
“So you…”
Bai Ya froze for a second, then her eyes widened.
“So you tricked her!”
“By the way, why didn’t you think I was bought off?”
Five minutes later, Lu Wei looked at Bai Ya, who was standing by his bed, and asked with great curiosity.
From his perspective, any normal person, upon hearing that he had taken Freya’s money, would definitely assume he had been bought off just like Mirana.
Yet Bai Ya’s first reaction was that he had “scammed Freya out of 25 Gold Coins.”
Although that was indeed the case, considering Bai Ya clearly lacked the ability for quick reasoning, how she had arrived at such an accurate conclusion was genuinely perplexing.
“What’s so hard to understand about that?”
Standing by the bed, Bai Ya put her hands on her hips and said matter-of-factly, “It’s because I’m slow to react.”
‘Wait, what’s the logical connection here?’
Lu Wei looked completely lost. It took him a good while to figure out what she meant.
‘Oh, I get it.’
‘In Bai Ya’s subconscious, I would never betray a comrade like Mirana did.’
‘And because she’s slow to react, the possibility of me selling out Furen didn’t even cross her mind at first.’
‘Which leaves only one possibility: I scammed Freya.’
‘A classic case of getting the right answer through all the wrong steps.’
“Alright, but I’m still going over to the general store tomorrow.”
Shaking his head, Lu Wei muttered, “I can’t just take the money for nothing. I have to at least put on a show.”
“Mm… huh? What about the blind boxes?”
“I’ll leave tomorrow after we sell them. I’ll prepare the prizes for the day after tomorrow in advance, so you can just go and sell them then.”
“Huh? By myself?”
Bai Ya hesitated, whispering, “Can I really do it…”
“Why not? Just don’t talk too much and you’ll be fine.”
Lu Wei instructed, “Just collect the money, don’t say anything else, and come back as soon as you’re sold out.”
“Okay…”
Bai Ya agreed, fidgeting with her fingers, her expression still filled with self-doubt.
After a moment, she asked hesitantly, “Can I find a helper, then? Don’t worry, I’ll pay her salary, you won’t have to spend a thing.”
‘?’
‘It’s only a ten-minute-or-so gig, and she needs to hire an assistant?’
‘What kind of business acumen is that?’
‘Completely unreliable!’
Lu Wei shot her a glance. “Who are you going to ask?”
“Aryan.”
Bai Ya already had someone in mind and answered immediately, “She’s much smarter than me and a good talker. With her there, there won’t be any problems at all.”
“…Fine.”
After a moment’s thought, Lu Wei couldn’t be bothered to interfere and just nodded.
‘It’s not my money anyway, so I wouldn’t care if Bai Ya hired ten people.’
‘Besides, Aryan is definitely more than capable of handling the job.’
He glanced at the setting sun outside the window. Because of the delay, it was already dusk.
Lu Wei decided to drop the idea of going back to town to sell more things and finish the quest today. He told Bai Ya to hurry up and make dinner.
“Oh, okay… Right, these are the prizes Marcus won.”
As she spoke, Bai Ya took a Healing Potion and a few small trinkets from the deerskin pouch slung over her shoulder. She handed them to him and went to make dinner.
Lu Wei, on the other hand, went to the backyard and added some hay to Xiaohui’s wooden trough.
It turned out that Bai Ya knew nothing about “carpentry.”
The “mud waterproofing layer” she had made herself yesterday had melted after just one watering, so now the wooden trough could only be used for hay.
For drinking water, they had to use a separate wooden bucket placed next to it.
After adding the hay and water, Lu Wei didn’t immediately go back inside. Instead, he carefully observed the scene of “the donkey eating hay.”
At the same time, he wondered if he should trade the donkey for a horse.
Wanting to “upgrade his ride” after just one day wasn’t a sign that he was getting arrogant.
It was because this little jenny didn’t seem as “docile” as the seller had claimed.
After hauling goods just once yesterday, Lu Wei had already gained a profound understanding of the term “stubborn as a donkey.”
It would be walking along and then suddenly just stop moving. Such a thing really did happen.
Although it didn’t throw tantrums or kick, it would remain stubbornly motionless no matter how much you yelled or hit it, making Lu Wei so angry he wanted to butcher it on the spot and eat donkey meat.
In the end, it was only after Bai Ya’s “gentle persuasion” that it reluctantly started walking again.
Non-violent non-cooperation… perhaps Gandhi learned this trick from a donkey.
And come to think of it, Furen was quite a bit like a donkey.
Once he set his mind on something, he would do it no matter what.
For things he didn’t believe in, he wouldn’t compromise even if it killed him.
In terms of personality, he certainly had the potential to become a “Hero.”
Unfortunately, the most crucial factor, “Power,” was not on his side.
Although the overall gap within the Mushroom Squad wasn’t too large right now, Lu Wei estimated that in a little while, Furen wouldn’t even be a match for Bai Ya, let alone himself.
‘Sigh, maybe going back really isn’t a bad thing.’
Watching Xiaohui munching away on the hay, Lu Wei sighed helplessly.
「Meanwhile, at the Dome Pillar.」
The enormous canopy of the tree blotted out the sky, casting a tranquil shadow in the twilight.
The “Golden Sword Hu Inn,” currently under construction, was already taking shape. The fresh scent of logs mixed with the smell of earth and plants drifted on the wind.
“Alright, this is far enough.”
In the woods to the east, Clara glanced at Furen, her tone full of dissatisfaction.
The last time, she had gone to see Furen in the evening, but he had sent her back before they could even exchange a few words, leaving her so angry she couldn’t sleep all night.
But on second thought, she figured Furen might not have understood her “hints.” So this time, she gave herself plenty of lead time and went in the afternoon.
She had thought Furen would at least let her stay for dinner; she had even brought a large bag of wine, fully prepared to “get drunk and stay the night.”
‘But who would have thought he’d send me back before it was even dark!!’
‘”Ah, it’s getting dark. You should head back, or you’ll miss dinner.”‘
‘Is that what a man is supposed to say when he’s alone in a cave with his girlfriend?!’
Glaring fiercely at Furen, Clara grew angrier the more she thought about it.
But Furen seemed completely oblivious to her mood. After saying, “I’m heading back then,” he actually turned and left.
His steps were rushed, his expression urgent, as if there was a peerless beauty waiting for him back at the Bear Cave.
‘Hmph…’
‘If I hadn’t already conducted two “surprise inspections,” I might have actually believed it.’
‘Go on then!’
‘Go spend time with your Dwarf Three-row Chess!’
‘If I make the first move again, I’m no better than a goblin!’
Stomping her foot, Clara made a bitter vow in her heart, then stormed out of the woods and headed back to the general store.
Furen, meanwhile, ran all the way back to the Bear Cave, blocked the entrance with a rock, relit the bonfire, and then continued playing chess against himself.
The stone walls blocked the light from outside, and the dim bonfire flickered.
Today was Furen’s fourth day here.
For the first two days, he would still go for a walk in the morning and never missed his three daily training sessions. He only played chess in the afternoon and evening.
But starting from yesterday morning until now, aside from just walking Clara back to the general store, he hadn’t left the cave at all. He hadn’t even slept, just sitting by the chessboard, playing game after game without stopping.
Furen was a very determined person.
This was evident from his five years of uninterrupted daily training, rain or shine.
So, for him to have paused even his training now meant there had to be a more important reason.
Considering Dwarf Three-row Chess wasn’t particularly fun, the idea of him being “hopelessly addicted to a game” was unlikely.
So then…
“…”
Time trickled by. Furen sat cross-legged before the chessboard, his silhouette projected onto the uneven cave wall by the flickering bonfire, magnified into a silent, swaying shadow.
The inside of the cave was damp and cold. Droplets of water seeping from crevices in the rock wall dripped down from time to time, splashing onto the stone slabs with a faint echo, as rhythmic as his steady heartbeat.
Unlike others who might play against themselves to pass the time, with every game, Furen was not just playing against himself, but also against Lu Wei, against Bai Ya, and against Mirana.
This was despite the fact that Furen had only ever played Gwent Card with them, and never Dwarf Three-row Chess.
But he was simulating their thought processes, or rather, using his own consciousness to simultaneously play multiple roles, all while trying to transcend their inherent patterns to find something more fundamental.
It was a sensation that was difficult to describe, one that perhaps only Furen, who had been sitting at the chessboard for four consecutive days, could understand.
The last rays of the setting sun sank completely beneath the dark green waves of the forest.
The sky seemed to darken in an instant, and pinpricks of silvery light began to appear.
A crescent moon quietly climbed over the eastern treetops, its light piercing through the cracks between the rocks at the cave’s entrance, casting long, narrow, blade-like streaks of brightness inside.
The night deepened, and all was silent, save for the lonely, distinct sounds of dripping water and the soft click of chess pieces inside the cave.
The battles on the chessboard had gone on for an unknown number of rounds. Furen’s expression grew more focused, and he could feel the blurry shadow in his mind with increasing clarity—
It wasn’t a barrier of knowledge, nor a shackle on his thoughts.
He couldn’t say what it was exactly.
But Furen desperately wanted to break through this final, thin veil, no matter how much time it took.
Until…
CLACK—
The last piece was placed, and another game ended.
This time, however, Furen didn’t immediately reset the pieces for the next game. Instead, he stared wide-eyed at the line of small text that had suddenly appeared in his mind.
[Special Talent: Penetration]
[Penetration: All of your Skill Levels (excluding Skills with no Level) will always be equal to your highest one.]
“…”
Outside the cave, silvery moonlight bathed the ground, and the sky was full of twinkling stars.
Inside, the bonfire illuminated the complex expression on Furen’s face—a mixture of shock, excitement, and boundless hope.
The streaks of moonlight spilling through the cracks between the rocks were still long and narrow.
And beyond those cracks lay a vast sky he had never seen before.