Chapter 12: The 2nd Top Grade Item

Su Tan's world remained dark. However, unlike before, he no longer believed that being blind meant his life was over. Even in a dark world, one could inject a little light into it themselves.

That light was life itself.

And how interesting life could be!

In his past life, he had never felt that life was this beautiful. It had been nothing but work, leaving him no time to truly enjoy life or notice the details around him—a flower, a stone, a small pattern on a door... But that was in the past! There was no need to dwell on it.

Su Tan was a disciplined person. He habitually listed the difficulties he would face in the near future, followed by the solutions and his work plan. This prevented him from feeling lost.

"You want to learn how to read?" Village Chief Chen asked, surprise evident in his tone upon hearing this.

"Yes. Since I have plenty of free time anyway, I might as well find something to do!" Su Tan replied.

Village Chief Chen fell silent. Su Tan knew exactly what the man was thinking; he was likely wondering why a blind man would want to learn how to read when he couldn't even see.

Blind Su did know a few characters in the past, but the number was pitifully small—one could count them on a single hand.

"But how will you learn? It's very difficult when you can't see," the village chief said.

Learning to read wasn't hard for an ordinary person, but for a blind man, it was incredibly difficult! How could he possibly learn?

"I'll learn with my hands. I can feel the strokes made with wooden sticks, have words traced on my palm, or even touch stone carvings!" He had already figured out the method when he first decided to learn.

Seeing Su Tan's determination, Village Chief Chen said no more and instead fully supported him. It didn't matter whether he could actually learn it or not; doing something was always better than sitting around like he used to.

Lately, Village Chief Chen felt that Su Tan had changed. He had become hardworking, hygienic, and full of confidence in life. This was by no means a bad thing.

The village chief had seen all these changes, and he was genuinely happy to see Su Tan transition from decadence to optimism. He believed this drastic change happened because Su Tan had finally come to terms with his situation.

"Alright then. As long as you want to learn, I'll hire a teacher for you tomorrow."

"There's no need for a teacher. Qi will do. He should know quite a few words as well," Su Tan said.

Through their past interactions, he knew that Qi was quite literate.

"How could that work? Qi is just a half-baked amateur. No, no..." Village Chief Chen hurriedly shook his head, well aware of his own grandson's limitations.

"It doesn't matter. It's just learning words, not profound scholarship." Su Tan didn't mind, as he was already familiar with Qi.

"Alright then, as long as you don't mind. I'll have him come over tomorrow," Village Chief Chen agreed, finding the reasoning sound.

"Thank you, Village Chief. Rest assured, I won't let him do it for free. I'll pay him the same wage as I would a hired teacher!" Su Tan said.

"Don't say that. What do you mean 'wage'? It's just lifting a finger. If you bring up payment again, I won't let him teach you," Village Chief Chen replied, looking displeased.

"No, let's be clear. Friendship is friendship, but even blood brothers settle their accounts clearly. I don't want a free lunch!" Su Tan was a man of principle.

"I can't agree to that. By that logic, I still owe you a life-saving debt. How do we settle that?" Village Chief Chen countered.

The two were locked in a stalemate. In the end, it was Su Tan who compromised. Who could argue when the other party had the upper hand?

Su Tan had no choice but to silently note down this favor, hoping to repay it in the future...

Su Tan was a grateful person. Gratitude didn't mean returning an apple for an apple; that wasn't gratitude, that was a transaction. What was true gratitude? Repaying a drop of water with a bursting spring! It meant remembering kindness from the bottom of one's heart and acting with a clear conscience.

The Chens' could never have imagined that the Chen Family's future supreme glory—becoming a behemoth revered by all under the heavens—would be entirely due to the blind man before them. Their descendants would also feel extremely fortunate. They would be thankful that their distant ancestor was a man who knew to repay kindness, and that he had consistently cared for this blind man, whose early life seemed entirely unremarkable, for ten whole years.

"Right, aside from learning to read, there are a few other things I need to trouble you with, Village Chief," Su Tan said.

"Just say the word!" Village Chief Chen said straightforwardly.

"I'd like to ask you to buy me some Medical Books and items related to cultivation if you get the chance to visit the market. You can buy anything related, such as things pertaining to Elixirs, Arrays, Martial Techniques, or Cultivation Techniques..." Su Tan requested.

He couldn't go to town right now, and even if he did, it would be inconvenient to shop, so he had to entrust this to the village chief.

"No problem!" the village chief agreed, patting his chest.

Su Tan had previously mentioned wanting some Cultivation Techniques or Martial Techniques, but those items were simply too scarce, and they hadn't found any yet.

The village chief hadn't made empty promises to Su Tan. The very next day, he brought over his grandson, Chen Xiaoqi, along with various peculiar items. He brought anything he thought might be useful to Su Tan.

"I suddenly thought of a method. If I carve all the characters from the Character Canon onto wooden boards, won't that make it easier for you to recognize them?" the village chief suggested.

The Character Canon was the comprehensive encyclopedia of Celestial Fragrance's writing system, similar to a dictionary on Earth.

"That is a good idea!" Su Tan replied.

There were only over ten thousand characters in the Character Canon. Excluding the obscure ones, the most commonly used thousand or so were more than enough.

The village chief had come up with an excellent learning method for him. Since he had to rely entirely on touch to recognize words now, carved characters were the most suitable for him.

Of course, this wasn't the easiest method. The simplest and easiest way would be to find a copy of the Character Canon and place it directly into the system Inventory; that way, he could learn all those words in an instant.

Su Tan had thought about this approach, but he currently only had a single slot in his Inventory. Since he didn't yet know how to expand its capacity, he had to be cautious about what he put inside!

After weighing various factors, Su Tan wanted to save this slot for Medical Skills, or perhaps a Cultivation Technique.

With Medical Skills, he could attempt to cure his own eyes.

In a High Martial World, Su Tan was certain that Medical Skills wouldn't be ordinary. For advanced Medical Skills, treating a visual impairment would be absolute child's play.

He could learn how to read on his own, but he didn't dare to casually grab a book on Cultivation Techniques or Medical Skills and start comprehending, researching, and practicing them!

He had never been exposed to cultivation before, nor did he understand it. If he rashly tinkered with it on his own and made a mistake in his comprehension, suffering from cultivation deviation would be practically guaranteed.

To ensure absolutely nothing went wrong, Su Tan had to save that slot in the Inventory for those specific items.

This was a High Martial World; Su Tan was certain that one day, he would definitely come into contact with those things.

Over the next period of time, Su Tan learned how to read and how to cook from the perspective of a blind person. He gradually figured things out, becoming independent and self-reliant. His growth was astonishing.

Whether it was academics or life skills, he mastered them quickly. This was especially true for learning characters; he could learn nearly twenty words a day. It was highly efficient.

Su Tan thought, "Perhaps this is the advantage of being blind!" In his past life, he had never felt his learning aptitude was this strong. Becoming blind had forced him to become hyper-focused. And no matter what one did, focus made it much easier to achieve success.

Village Chief Chen found Su Tan's progress unbelievable, almost inhuman. Even a normal person wouldn't learn that quickly. Aside from helping with his studies, the village chief would scour for numerous treasures to bring back every time he went to town.

Medical Books, various bootlegged and fake Secret Manuals, and even supposed ancient treasures sold by street vendors—as long as he felt they might be useful, he brought them all back for Su Tan...

The village chief had brought back many useless objects.

Su Tan thought, "Facts have proven that street stall items are indeed garbage. Anyone trying to find treasures via Taobao-style scavenging is a fool.

"Out of this pile of items, apart from the Medical Books bought from actual stores that are somewhat interesting, the rest are useless garbage.

"This just goes to show that this place is far too backward—I can't even get my hands on a single Cultivation Technique!"

An unknown amount of time passed in this routine until, finally, a slight ripple appeared. After all, if you cast your net wide enough, you're bound to catch something. Today, among the pile of scrap metal Village Chief Chen brought back, there was a bronze artifact resembling a Token that caught Su Tan's... oh, no! That caught the system's attention!

"DING! Discovered a Level One Top Grade item!"

Su Tan was briefly stunned before a wave of joy washed over him. The last time the system chimed was when it discovered the Divination Turtle Shell. The Divination Turtle Shell had brought him numerous benefits. What would this new item be?