Chapter 02 - Swordsmanship Proficiency

After a brief moment of silence, I was showered in applause. Only my opponent’s closest confidants remained conspiciously silent. The rest of the spectators erupted in cheers. The loudest of whom came from my fellow players.

“Oh my god! Bro just wiped the floor with that turd.”

“Wow! Did you hear that bone crack? Fuck, man’s definitely in a world of pain right now.”

“Dude, that was absolutely awesome! Where did you learn how to fight like that?”

Ignoring the questions for now, I focused on the new prompt that had appeared after the fight.

[Congratulations! By successfully defeating an armed opponent in a bout of swordplay, you have unlocked the proficiency 'Swordsmanship'. You can view the progress of your proficiencies under the proficiency tab.]

Surprised, I opened the tab which I had hitherto not known about.

[Proficiencies]

['Swordsmanship' - Beginner Lv.1]

“That's... new.” I muttered beneath my breath. The tab was obviously spartan, but would no doubt become more useful once I began to accumulate more proficiencies.

Turning around, I caught the veteran swordsman giving me a respectful nod—something I hadn't expected, considering his relationship with my opponent.

“Well done, young man," the older swordsman said, congratulating me on my victory as his friends tended to my groaning opponent in the background.

“It’s been some time since I last saw someone so young handle. sword with such skill."

The man's stern expression melted into a smile.

"You know," he said with a chuckle, "you sort of remind me of a younger version of myself!"

A chorus of groans rose from the other swordsmen.

…

The senior swordsman introduced himself as Hou Wen, the head of a small guard detail working for one of the wealthier caravan guests. Though he kept the identity of his charge close to the vest, he made no secret of voicing his opinion on the rest of the caravan's defence.

His exact words were: "I'm glad not all caravan guards are a useless waste of space."

As expected, the nearby players who'd been listening in weren't exactly thrilled by his assessment.

Surprisingly, I didn’t have to badger any of swordsmen to uphold their end of the wager. Within five minutes, a sturdy sword—still sheathed—was handed to me. I recognised the scabbard at once; it was the same one that had been strapped to my opponent's waist just moments before.

“This is definitely worth more than a silver.” I thought, unable to hide my satisfied smirk—the weight of the sword felt reassuring.

When the guard detail finally retreated to lick their wounds and laugh at the poor sod who’d lost against me, three players took the opportunity to approach me.

“Man, that fight was epic.” The first teenager said dreamily. He had a head of black curls and striking yellow eyes—the kind only players could have.

He reminded me of a cat.

“Yeah, you totally wiped the floor with that guy. Nice work," added a girl with bold purple hair. Her eyes, though, weren't one me—they were locked onto the sword at my hip.

The third one stayed quiet, though his youthful expression mirrored the same admiration as the first boy. He looked young—probably chose one of the lower age presets—but otherwise came across as natural, with tousled blonde hair and thoughtful blue eyes.

I nodded in acknowledgement, staring at trio, "Thanks."

“O-Oh right!” The curly-haired boy laughed. “My name’s DarkKnight—but you can call me Dark.”

“I am not calling him Dark.” I decided immediately.

“And this here is my younger brother, Li—cough, I mean Atom." He gestured at the blonde boy, who looked to be around thirteen.

"He's not actually thirteen, of course, but hey—now his avatar finally matches how shy he is." Dark chuckled, clearly enjoying himself.

Meanwhile, Atom glared daggers at his older brother.

“You suck.” He said flatly.

“I'm Luna," the young woman said with quiet confidence, offering her hand and meeting my gaze with steady eyes.

"A pleasure," I said, smiling despite the slight weirdness of chatting with what looked like a group of middle schoolers. "You can call me Bishop."

“Great, now that that’s out of the way," Dark said with a smile he probably thought was charming. "You think you could teach us how to do that?"

“Fight, you mean?” I replied, arching a brow.

Before Dark could respond, though, Luna interjected.

“That was a skill, right?” She asked, referring to something I'd done during the fight. “That parry, I mean. I looked all over the city, but I couldn't find any skill instructors." Her eyes narrowed slightly.

Shaking my head I decided to answer honestly.

“No skill involved, I’m afraid.” I said before realising I was, in fact, lying. “At least not in the game's sense. What you saw was something I learned outside."

I gestured toward the sky. "In the real world."

“Arrrgghhhh!” Dark groaned in exaggerated dejection. “Of course it was! God forbid this game be even remotely user-friendly!" He cried, throwing his hands up as he launched into a rant about how difficult the game's systems were.

After some brief hesitation, I decided to share my discovery with them.

“Although I haven’t found any skills yet either,” I emphasised. “I did just unlock a proficiency called “Swordsmanship”. I haven't checked it yet, but I'm pretty sure it's a passive skill of some kind."

Seeing the teenager perk up at my words, I continued. “I bet you can unlock it too if you start fighting with a sword. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there are loads of different proficiencies out there.”

“Proficiencies, huh?" The younger brother, Atom, mumbled to himself. "Maybe I can be an archer after all."

“But those require weapons, don’t they?” Luna was quick to point out the issue., her eyes flicking to the blade at my side. “And I assume there's no convincing you to part with that sword?"

I didn’t even have to answer, it seemed.

“Maybe I can do what you did?” Dark mused out loud. “Maybe I just need to challenge one of the guards?”

Watching him, it was like a light bulb had flicked on in his head. I opened my mouth to warn him—but hesitated, then closed it again.

“If he wants to try it, it’s his choice.” Suddenly, I remembered what Guard Yang had said back in Easton.

“It’s your life.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

…

As I expected, Dark didn't unlock any proficiency despite his best efforts. Still, his time wasn't entirely wasted—he did, at least, become noticeably better at taking a punch.

Watching his attempts, I could identify several factors that contributed to his failure.

Firstly, the remaining guards had clearly learned their lesson—as such, they took their challenger seriously from the very beginning. THere were no more overconfident overhead swings to exploit.

Secondly, while he was quick on his feet, Dark struggled with the sword itself. To his evident surprise, the weapon was far heavier than he'd expected, and his grip fumbled more often than not.

Thirdly—and perhaps most critically—after losing his last few copper coins, there weren't many willing to entertain his little gauntlet anymore.

If nothing else, the guard had a good laugh when Dark caleld one of them grandpa. I had to admit—it probably did more to smooth over my earlier win than anything I could've said.

Unlike their travel companion, Luna didn’t challenge any of the guards—instead, like me, she patiently observed Dark’s efforts and took note of what worked and didn’t work.

"A shrewd girl that one..."

Finally, Atom struck me as the type who'd avoid a fight whenever possible.

Caressing my new sword, I smiled faintly as I helped Quan Zan pack up camp. Apparently, we still had three more hours of daylight before nightfall—and the caravan leader had no intention of wasting them.

Now that I was somewhat acquainted with three of the players in the caravan, it felt natural for us to travel together.

Of the three, Dark was by far the easiest to talk to.

“Do you think the sect recruitment will be difficult?” He asked, walking beside me. Atom was busy twirling a twig between his fingers, and Luna trailed just behind us, silent but attentive.

Something about her made me keep my guard up.

"I imagine there'll probably be some form of test," I said, offering my honest take. "Though how difficult it is—that remains to be seen."

“You’ll probably pass it easily…” Dark muttered quietly, his eyes glancing at the sword hanging from my waist.

“Maybe.” I replied. “But without knowing what the test assesses, I’m not taking anything for granted. And I doubt combat ability is the only thing they'll be looking at.”

“Why?” Luna asked.

Turning around to look at her, I paused before answering.

“How familiar are you guys with the Xianxia genre?” I answered with a question of my own.

“I know a bit," Dark revealed. “When they announced the release of Cultivation Online, I looked into it. Xianxia is about becoming immortal, right?”

“That's part of it," I said. "But's more complex than that. Xianxia is rooted in Chinese mythology, Doism, and martial arts. It's about cultivation qi—life energy—to refine the self. That process strengthens the body, mind, and spirit, often granting supernatural abilities as one progresses toward immortality."

“Yeah I read about that.” Dark added. “I heard we can fly and get telekinetic powers.”

“Cultivators can, yes.” I corrected. “At this point of the game, everyone's still mortal.”

“Except Fishbones.” Luna pointed out.

“Maybe,” I replied with a shrug. Somehow, I doubted he'd made much progress without support.

“I don’t get how any of this has to do with the test though?” Dark said, frowning slightly.

“Right,” I said, taking a deep breath. “So, in most xianxia stories, you have to be talented enough to be accepted into a sect. It varies from story to story, of course, but generally, talent determines your natural ability to absorb, refine, and cultivate life force—or qi."

“So the test will assess our talent?” Dark asked.

“That’s my conjecture.” I said with a nod. Ultimately, though, it was all guesswork. The playerbase would lose their minds if something as arbitrary as chance or fate determined who got to become an omnipotent immortal—and who was doomed to stay as powerless as a bug.

After all, people played games to escape reality, not to relive its injustices.

“Shit, I’m feeling kinda nervous all of a sudden.” Dark laughed awkwardly. “It kinda reminds me of tests back in high-school hahah...”

“We’ll see," I offered. “In the end, all any of us can do is our best.”

Unfortunately, my words did little to assuage their worries.

Or my own for that matter.

…

When dusk approached, the caravan grinded to a halt for the night.

Apparently, traversing the road at night was a fool’s errand. Though we had yet to see any, the guards claimed there were monsters—and worse—lurking behind the treelines, waiting anticipatingly for foolish travelers to wander into the woods.

And for some reason, when I looked into the ancient forest, I didn’t doubt their words the slightest.

"I'm glad I decided to travel with a caravan instead of going by myself..."

Unlike the last pitstop we’d made, a proper camp with tents was set up this time. The horses had to be groomed and a perimeter had to be established.

Like last time, I helped out and earned a copper coin for my efforts.

“Slowly I’m becoming the richest player out there.” I thought as I nibbled the stale bread I had bought along.

Around camp, I noticed that the remaining players had formed several cliques, with mine being one of them.

Surprisingly, some players had wandered off, leaving the safety of the caravan to fend for themselves. I couldn't decide whether I respected or disapproved of the decision—probably both. Still, like the wise yet irritated guard had said, it wass their lives to risk.

Quan Zan briefly popped by to tell us we'd made good ground and would probably reach Durnatell sometime tomorrow evening. The caravan would resume at dawn.

Though the prospect of another day on foot wasn't exactly appealing, the thought of Durnatel on the horizon gave me something to look forward to.

Uninterested in roughing it beneath the trees, I logged out as soon as the caravan settled for the night.

…

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at a man well into middle age, gray hairs creeping further in each passing year.

Compared to the fresh-faced version of myself in Cultivation Online, this reflection felt like a weathered old relic.

Sighing, I brushed my teeth, sent my kids a few goodnight texts, and slipped into bed.

…

The next morning looked nothing like my usual routine. I practically inhaled my morning coffee, skipped the usual phone scrolling entirely, and hopped in and out of the shower with a toothbrush still in my mouth.

Then, without so much as a word spoken aloud, I logged back into Cultivation Online.

Back at the camp, I drew in a deep breath, savoring the crisp scent of pine and the damp, earthy aroma of moss. But as I glanced around, it quickly became clear that I might've been a little too eager—most of the NPCs were still fast asleep.

Impatient to get started, I decided to head off and get started with some morning exercises.

Gripping the heavy one-handed sword with both hands, I frowned as I tried to recall my old kendo drill.

Standing in the woods, surrounded by boulders and pine trees, it felt like a lifetime ago I last visited a dojo.

“Relax your shoulders," I reminded myself, adjusting my stance and repositioning my feet on the soft forest floor.

After a few steadying breaths, I began.

...

“Was it always this difficult?” I muttered as my arms began to ache. Still, I pushed on. I used to run through all these drills without stopping as a kid—no way was I going to rest now.

Nearly an hour later, I had worked through three different routines and was absolutely drenched in sweat.

“I hope this isn't going to smell later…” I muttered.

Still, despite the soreness in my arms, I grinned as a prompt lit up before me:

[You have created a new ‘Basic Swordsmanship Training’ exercise. As its creator, you may now name it.]

After thinking for a bit, I decided with a wry smile.

“Old Man's Muscle Memory.”

['Old Man's Muscle Memory' executed. Performance rating: 31%.]

[Results: +1 Swordsmanship Level (Beginner 1 → 2); marginal improvements to upper body strength, breathing, and endurance.]

...