I Have a Date with a Thousand-year-old Female Corpse-Chapter 1263: Entering the City

"Young man, you did quite well! You leveled up instantly, haha. Were you already pretty skilled to begin with?" An old man cheerfully took the rabbit skin and tossed it into a basket nearby. You glanced at the basket and found it already filled with rabbit skins.

"Sir, you don’t know. I could have reached level fifteen in just three or four hours." You spoke to the old man somewhat proudly.

"Oh really? And what have you gained from that?" The old man chuckled, looking at you with a smile.

"Gained? "

"Exactly. While you may have quickly leveled up to fifteen, you lack the practical combat experience a level fifteen player should have. You must understand, the greatest difference between this game and the others is its realism—it’s 99% true to life. Many people play this game precisely because of this. Among them are world champion fighters, martial arts experts, and military elites. Tell me, what do you think their goal is when they come here?"

"They..." You hesitated, and the images of five towering figures suddenly flashed across your mind. "They’re here to train themselves."

"Correct, you’re absolutely right. Actually, this game has completely abandoned the traditional leveling system. Even if you find shortcuts to reach level one hundred in a single day, you still won’t beat a diligently trained level thirty swordsman. Ah, I’ve said too much, haha. I won’t take up more of your time. Go train now—for only the strong can survive in this world."

"Thank you!" Hearing the old man’s words, you felt a sudden epiphany. Bowing to him, you said earnestly, "Your guidance is a kindness I will never forget!"

"No need, no need. Come find me again when you believe you’re truly strong. I have another task that requires someone capable to complete."

You nodded and turned, charging toward the wild rabbit herd outside the village...

Time flew by, as quickly as a meteor shower. In the blink of an eye, another month had passed. With more than a month left until your school semester began, you had already spent an entire month immersed in the game world. During this time, you fought beasts almost daily to improve your strength—even battling wild wolves. Across eight defeats, however, on the ninth attempt after resurrecting, you never lost again.

At this point, levels no longer mattered to you. Upon reaching level twenty, you stopped mass slaughtering monsters and decided to spend over ten days mastering the "Kuanglan Blade Technique" given by the sloppy-looking man.

This game was truly captivating because everything here felt incredibly real. Take the "Basic Sword Technique" book in your hand, for example. In past games, "Basic Sword Technique" was merely a skill name—when used, it only involved one or two predefined moves, simply appearing as part of the skill menu.

But in the New "Arrogance," there was no skill menu at all. All skills had to be understood and mastered personally. "Basic Sword Technique" was a physical book, filled with numerous moves and strategies. The book resembled the secret manuals found in martial arts novels, illustrated with both text and graphics.

You spent an entire month training to master "Basic Sword Technique."

You could now handle four or five wild wolves with ease, but this wasn’t enough for you. During a conversation with someone one day, you suddenly realized a critical issue—many skilled players in the game boasted extraordinary swordsmanship but appeared frail and scholarly in the real world.

Among these so-called masters, there were even many who were just kids in their early teens. Their prowess came from familiarity with the game mechanics and their exceptional control over character movements.

Military personnel and martial arts experts, on the other hand, excelled due to rigorous training in the real world. Their prior experience allowed them to surpass ordinary players by leaps and bounds in the game. But you were different—your real-world self and in-game self were one and the same. To outperform your foes in both realms, you resolved to train even harder in the game!

As a unique hidden task item, the "Kuanglan Blade Technique" book did indeed contain advanced sword techniques. However, its descriptions of meridian points and pressure points left you baffled. To make sense of it, you ventured alone to the largest nearby city—Chaoge.

Chaoge City was constructed at great expense by the Iron Gale Cavalry Alliance. According to some rumors you’d picked up en route, the alliance’s leader, Ximen Shenggu, was the son of Ximen Wuwei, the highest administrative officer in Earth’s Asia region in real life.

Ximen Shenggu commanded a powerful network and large numbers of followers. Across the entire Luofu Continent, only Dongfang Yunlong’s "Louwai Building" and Koizumi Tadashi’s "Tensho Society" could rival him.

During your month in Bamboo Village, most players you encountered were around level twenty. But upon reaching the outskirts of Chaoge City, you discovered that the player levels here were absurdly high—many were above fifty, each looking mighty and imposing in armor and capes.

In contrast, you resembled a mountain dweller crawling out of a dirt hole, with nothing presentable to wear—your appearance was shabby to the extreme.

"Halt!"

Before entering Chaoge City, you were stopped. Yet it wasn’t malicious players blocking your way, but two tall, imposing city gate guards.

"Gentlemen, may I ask why you’ve stopped me?" You maintained an expression that made you look easy to bully.

"Entry to Chaoge City is prohibited for untidy individuals. Come back after you’ve cleaned yourself up," one of the guards sternly announced.

"Why is that? The game doesn’t stipulate that players can’t enter the city."

"This is the City Lord’s rule—no one is allowed to defy it!" The guard glared at you angrily. "Kid, you’re only level twenty. What makes you think you’re qualified to enter Chaoge City? If you’re clever, you’ll leave now!"

"Oh? Interesting." Keeping your ’easy-to-bully’ demeanor, your smile subtly became tinged with mischief. "What if I insist on entering? What will you do then?"

"Seeking death!"

The guard swung his blade at you instantly. You sidestepped and pivoted to evade the attack, the steel blade sweeping in a graceful arc before slicing diagonally at his waist!

Just as the guard was about to be cut down, the second guard drew his weapon and joined the fray. The pair had been guarding this area for over a year, and their coordination was relatively seamless. With the second guard’s addition, your situation quickly turned unfavorable. After all, their levels were significantly higher than yours, and your abilities couldn’t fully manifest. Before long, you found yourself forced off the moat bridge.

"Kid, come back when you’ve trained properly!" One guard bellowed with laughter, holding his blade aloft.

You tutted under your breath, pondering whether you might bribe your way into the city. But just then, a dignified man suddenly appeared between you.

The two guards, upon seeing him, immediately knelt before him, shouting in unison, "Greetings to the Second City Lord!"