My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon-Chapter 29: I Know Spearmanship

As an adult, Fang Zhen wanted to have it all.

But reality, unfortunately, wouldn’t allow it.

Merit Points were precious. Fang Zhen had cleared out the dungeon and received a high evaluation, yet he’d only earned 85 Merit Points.

He couldn’t spend all these precious Merit Points on solidifying skills.

He didn’t know what the environment in the next dungeon would be. The Dungeon Life Game was so hardcore, and he only had one life. Fang Zhen had to save at least 10 points to get intel on the next dungeon and increase his chances of survival.

So, out of his 85 Merit Points, he could only use 75 at most. How should he choose?

Fang Zhen rubbed his chin.

’Wanting everything isn’t realistic. I’ll start by using the process of elimination to get rid of skills that don’t suit me or aren’t cost-effective.’

The first one to go was the Goblin Star trait.

That was one option down.

Looking at the descriptions for the abilities and traits, Fang Zhen got the impression that the abilities were active-use or fundamental techniques, while traits were more like passive or aura-type skills.

Goblin Star was basically a Mind Shock Aura that specifically targeted goblins.

Fang Zhen couldn’t tell if the Goblin Star trait was cool or not, but its application was definitely very narrow.

It was anyone’s guess whether he would even encounter goblins in the next dungeon.

So, Fang Zhen eliminated this skill first.

He looked a while longer, then bit his lip and made a painful decision, eliminating the Courage trait as well.

Fang Zhen had a high opinion of the Courage trait.

Its description said it could "effectively counteract a portion of fear, maintaining fighting spirit when facing enemies and difficulties stronger than oneself." It was also a mental trait, which clearly marked it as a passive skill. Based on the description, he knew it was essential for fighting uphill battles.

Fang Zhen really liked this trait.

Unfortunately, it cost 50 Merit Points to solidify.

Fang Zhen weighed his options.

’Fifty Merit Points. If I solidify the Courage trait, I’ll only have 35 Merit Points left.’

Before starting a new dungeon, he needed at least 10 Merit Points for intel to increase his survival rate. If he couldn’t even guarantee his survival, everything else was pointless.

So, if he solidified Courage, he’d only have 25 Merit Points left to spend, which was just enough for one more basic skill.

He was just five Merit Points short. If he could solidify two basic skills, Fang Zhen would have accepted it and considered solidifying Courage. But since he couldn’t, he had no choice but to give it up.

Fang Zhen shook his head.

He had a good mindset and quickly found a way to justify his decision.

’The Courage trait is good, and it’s a shame not to pick it. But I have courage of my own, which has already been proven in practice.’

’It’s not a skill, but my own courage can hold out for a while. As long as I don’t challenge dungeons with a difficulty that’s ridiculously beyond my abilities, it won’t be a big problem.’

His strategy was to choose dungeons of appropriate difficulty anyway. After a few more runs, his abilities would grow. That’s when he’d need a trait like Courage for challenging difficult dungeons, and he’d have another chance to solidify it then.

With that thought, Fang Zhen felt relieved.

After eliminating the two 50-Merit-Point traits, Fang Zhen suddenly felt his thoughts become much clearer, and his mood relaxed.

Soon, he also eliminated the ability Battle Fury.

Battle Fury was powerful when used, but it didn’t suit Fang Zhen.

Fang Zhen was very level-headed. He had a profound and clear understanding of the fundamental nature of the Dungeon Life Game: it was a hardcore game where you only had one life to clear it.

Under this overarching premise, Battle Fury was useful, but it made you fight too recklessly.

Going wild in a game was fine, but a real person going into a dungeon couldn’t afford to.

Fang Zhen needed a calm mind to ensure the best possible chance of survival.

Being able to think calmly was far more important than going into a rage and fighting recklessly.

Besides, there was the side effect of weakness after using it.

After Fang Zhen decided to give up Battle Fury, the choice became much simpler.

With 75 Merit Points, Fang Zhen determined the optimal solution was to choose two 30-point skills and one 15-point basic skill, or three 15-point basic skills and one 30-point skill.

After a moment of thought, Fang Zhen made his choice.

He chose Combat Intuition and Combat Focus.

Adding Basic Spearmanship (Thrust), it came to exactly 75 Merit Points.

He had carefully considered his choice of these three.

The Combat Focus ability was a must-pick.

Although they were all skills that could be solidified for 30 Merit Points, Combat Focus clearly had broader applicability.

Setting aside the increase in combat power, Combat Focus had a special property: it could improve his comprehension of other combat skills!

That was incredible.

In Fang Zhen’s view, Combat Focus was a tier above the other two 30-point abilities. In gaming terms, it boosted not only attack and accuracy, but also comprehension.

Being able to accelerate the comprehension of other skills meant it could be considered a ’mother skill.’

As the name implied, a ’mother skill’ could produce ’child skills.’

’Choosing Combat Focus is the right call.’

As for choosing Combat Intuition, Fang Zhen suddenly realized that using Combat Intuition, assisted by Combat Focus, could in some sense replace some of the basic skills.

After experiencing real combat, Fang Zhen had also discovered the importance of inspiration during a fight.

Used well, it was like landing a critical hit.

Combat Intuition also cost 30 Merit Points to solidify. Following basic logic, more expensive was generally better.

After settling on these two abilities, he chose the Basic Spearmanship (Thrust) skill as his last pick.

As for the reason, it was simple: safety.

The Stealth skill... if Fang Zhen focused, he could get it mostly right. If he had more Merit Points, solidifying it would be fine, but since he didn’t have enough, he gave up on it for now.

Basic Blademanship (Chop) sounded quite practical, but after some consideration, Fang Zhen gave up on it as well.

Fang Zhen’s reasoning was simple yet direct.

"A spear is longer than a blade!"

You didn’t even have to think too hard about it. Everyone knew that a spear was longer than a blade.

A long spear was over two meters, while a scimitar was only forty centimeters. Even if he switched to a Tang Saber later, it would only be a little over a meter long.

Fang Zhen thought along the most basic but extremely effective lines: the greater his attack range, the farther he was from the enemy, and the safer he would be.

A spear kept him farther from the enemy than a blade did.

If possible, Fang Zhen would have preferred an even longer-ranged weapon.

"These three it is. A real man doesn’t agonize over decisions. Once it’s chosen, there’s no need to second-guess it."

Fang Zhen’s resolve was set.

He moved the mouse cursor and successively left-clicked on "Combat Intuition," "Combat Focus," and "Basic Spearmanship (Thrust)."

As the cursor moved, the selected abilities instantly changed from plain text to a golden color, radiating light. A background of burning flames appeared behind the words.

In front of the computer, Fang Zhen suddenly felt a wave of heat surge through his body.

The heat was like the feeling of suddenly having hot pot with a friend when you were a bit hungry and cold from skipping breakfast—a warmth that spread through you, making you sweat and want to take off your coat.

Fang Zhen could clearly feel the heat in his body.

It didn’t last long. After about seven or eight seconds, the golden flame effects on the computer screen vanished.

However, the three abilities on the screen—"Combat Focus," "Combat Intuition," and "Basic Spearmanship (Thrust)"—had all turned into yellow text. After their descriptions, there was a parenthesis containing a single word: "Solidified."

Fang Zhen’s eyes were shining brightly.

A scene suddenly and inexplicably surfaced in his mind.

It was a scene from an old sci-fi movie called *The Matrix*, starring Keanu Reeves.

The protagonist, Neo, directly downloaded gunfighting and combat abilities, turning the downloaded skills from the software into his own power in a matter of seconds.

After Neo learned all that, he even delivered a classic line: "I know kung fu."

At that moment, Fang Zhen suddenly felt a bit like Keanu Reeves in the movie.

"I know... spearmanship!" Fang Zhen’s eyes sparkled with spirit.