Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 49 The Failure of Emperor Ruyan

Lightning-struck wood is a superior spiritual material, and also the most common high-grade spiritual material.

This is because such spiritual material can be artificially created, and the older the tree, the more precious the lightning-struck wood produced.

Of course, not all trees can become lightning-struck trees by being struck by lightning. Most trees will die from lightning strikes. In fact, they can't even withstand ordinary lightning, let alone lightning strikes. So this opportunity can be said to be extremely precious.

Just like now, after figuring out what lightning-struck wood was all about, Murong Ruyan's eyes lit up immediately, and she ran towards the next ash tree.

She cast another lightning spell, and a bolt of lightning began to gather in the small dark cloud. With a deafening roar, the lightning struck the tree trunk.

But this time they weren't so lucky. The sturdy ash tree shattered into pieces the moment it was struck by lightning, and then spontaneously combusted.

Murong Ruyan was startled and hurriedly tried to form a water incantation, but because she was too anxious, she couldn't condense water for a long time. It was only after Zhang Chengdao used a water-generating technique that the flames were extinguished.

Seeing the fire extinguished, Murong Ruyan breathed a sigh of relief, then looked helplessly at Zhang Chengdao—

The ash tree was clearly completely destroyed; the split trunk was reduced to black charcoal fragments, and even the roots were not spared. It looked utterly dead.

Not only did she fail to strike down the lightning-struck wood, she also wasted a "magic tree"!
Although Zhang Chengdao also felt a little sorry for the ash tree worth 80 peach blossom stones, he couldn't help but sigh slightly when he saw Murong Ruyan, who only now looked a little like a young girl.

He smiled kindly and comforted Murong Ruyan, saying, "It's alright. Trees struck by lightning are born by divine grace. It's normal for them not to be struck by lightning. Don't take it to heart."

Murong Ruyan nodded silently and picked up the axe she had just dismissed.

Zhang Chengdao bought a sapling of Manchurian ash from the mall and replanted it in the same spot where he had just planted the tree. He then added, "Look, I still have a sapling. Although this tree is precious, it's not that valuable. Just be careful in the future."

After calming Murong Ruyan down, Zhang Chengdao continued chopping down the next ash tree. Murong Ruyan, holding the axe, didn't try any other methods and just obediently chopped down the tree again and again.

Just as Zhang Chengdao said, he had almost cut down all the trees in the entire ash forest, while Murong Ruyan had only cut down one tree. The efficiency was indeed pitifully low.

Of course, Murong Ruyan's efficiency is actually that of a normal person. Even so, this is the speed she can achieve after she has mastered the art of channeling spiritual energy into her axe. Moreover, she has to meditate and rest for a while after every few chops, otherwise, if her spiritual energy is exhausted, she will be even less able to "break through" the tree's defenses.

If an ordinary person were to cut it down, given the toughness of the ash tree, they probably could only cut down one tree a day!

"Alright, all the ash trees here have been cut down. Ruyan, go and have some fun!"

Zhang Chengdao pointed outside the courtyard and couldn't help but say, "Children should act like children. Now that you've guided your Qi into your body, you have the ability to protect yourself. Go play around in the mountains and feel nature. It's too tiring to always be busy cultivating with your senior brothers!"

These two apprentices are only 15 years old, but they're as curled up as high school seniors every day!
Before she transmigrated, when she was 15, the first thing she did after school every day was to play video games or go out and have fun with her classmates. Sometimes she wouldn't go home and her parents would have to drag her back, and she would often get a beating. Murong Ruyan seemed a little unconvinced, but she opened her mouth but didn't talk back. She just cupped her hands and said, "This disciple understands."

The tone was full of defiance, conveying a sense of "I may not accept it, but you're the master, so you have the final say."

Zhang Chengdao was amused by the little girl, shook his head, and left the courtyard.

He also has to rush to build the two buildings that he finally got the materials for, so he can upgrade his cheat code!

Previously, only two buildings remained that were blocking his level: the Cloth Shop and the Elixir Shop.

Once these two buildings are completed, the cheat code will be upgraded to level 10. Following the original game's content, the entire system will experience a qualitative leap, unlocking many new features.

For example, there are more blueprints for refining weapons, forging, and sewing, as well as various food recipes and elixir recipes.

In the original game, more than forty special characters have been released. Although all characters can be purchased directly from the store, there is also a way to obtain tokens through daily PvE gameplay. Once a certain amount is accumulated, most characters can be exchanged for them.

However, while characters can be obtained for free, their "exclusive weapons" cannot.

The so-called "exclusive weapon" is a weapon that is unique to a character. Different characters are good at different skills and weapons. Equipping a character with an exclusive weapon can greatly improve the character's four main attributes.

Characters like Zhang Chengdao, who received a free upgrade upon his first recharge after transmigrating, automatically come with corresponding upgrade materials and a unique weapon—the sword he gave to Chang Ping'an. Other characters acquired for free don't receive this treatment; they either have to purchase the weapon from the shop or forge a high-grade weapon through the crafting system—because the default base weapon is simply too weak to be usable.

It's worth mentioning that there are more than twenty types of weapons available in the game. Players can consume raw materials to repeatedly forge the same weapon in order to randomly obtain a better initial weapon effect.

The number of effect modifiers added to weapons varies depending on their tier. A character's default weapon has no effect modifiers, blue/yellow tier weapons have one, purple/black tier weapons have two, gold/earth tier weapons have three, and red/heaven tier weapons have four.

Although character-specific weapons are also classified as Heavenly Tier weapons, they have a flashing effect on top of their red base color, hence the name "Red Flash". In addition to the four normal effect attributes that can be refreshed repeatedly, there is also a fixed exclusive attribute corresponding to different character skill effects, which is the origin of the name "character-specific weapon".

Effect modifiers also vary in rarity and come in many varieties. There are modifiers that provide numerical bonuses such as "increase hit rate" and "increase critical hit rate," as well as special effect modifiers such as "attacks inflict poison" and "attacks inflict bleeding."

However, weapon affixes are not available from the start. Weapons below level 10 only have one effect affix slot available. More effect affix slots will be unlocked at levels 10, 20, and 30.

Therefore, even the Night Talk White Heron, the exclusive weapon given to Chang Ping'an, currently only has one initial attribute: [Increases hit rate by 5%].

(End of this chapter)