In Honkai with Tom Cat

"You make it sound easy, but I don't think I'm a funny character..." Li Huan complained, resting his chin on one hand.

"Besides, with Tom around, it would be easy to rack up points."

When it comes to comedic characters, Tom is definitely one of the top.

With Tom there, how could it possibly be Li Huan's turn to play the funny guy?

"[Hey, that's not how it works. No matter how funny Tom is, it's not your own humor. You need to be the one creating the laughs to earn the fun points.]"

"I see, but Tom isn't entirely useless, right?"

"[You're right. If the two of you work together to be funny, you can earn fun points, and the amount you get will depend on how well you cooperate and how funny it is.]"

"Sounds good, but it's not that easy, is it?"

"[Deliberately trying to be funny won't work. It has to be natural humor.]"

"Of course." Li Huan looked up at the ceiling. "This kind of thing is tough for me."

"[So, keep at it! There's a long road ahead.]"

"Let's focus on the present for now."

As he said that, Li Huan continued browsing through the system's shop.

The shop had a vast array of items, so many that it made his head spin. After carefully looking for a while, he began to understand the various items available.

The shop's goods were generally categorized into four types: skills, consumables, equipment, and summons.

Their purposes were fairly straightforward, as the names suggested.

The quality of these items was divided into five levels: ordinary, rare, perfect, legendary, and epic.

The higher the quality, the more fun points they cost. Items of legendary or epic quality were completely out of Li Huan's reach.

There were tens of thousands of items in the shop, and after browsing for a while, Li Huan gave up on checking each one individually and instead used the search filter.

He selected "skills," then checked "ordinary" and "rare," and finally chose "passive skills" before typing in "combat skills" and pressing search.

At the moment, what Li Huan needed more than items, equipment, or companions were skills that could actually enhance his abilities. In this situation, passive skills, which didn't require consumption, were more practical.

After filtering, all the ordinary and rare passive skills appeared in front of him.

Even with the search criteria, there were still dozens of pages, which made Li Huan's head hurt.

"No choice, I'll just have to look through them one by one."

Gritting his teeth, Li Huan spent about ten minutes searching before finally finding a skill that seemed decent.

[Skill Name:Beginner's Guide to Ancient Chinese Martial Arts (Volume 1)]

[Skill Quality: Rare]

[Skill Description: A fast-track guide to ancient Chinese martial arts, giving you a body that's resistant to beatings and durable.]

[Note:Taken from the fictional martial arts style in the Hong Kong slapstick comedy film "Love on Delivery." It contains half of the essence of the martial art, and once used, even a fool can easily learn it.]

This skill just happened to cost 500 fun points, which would completely drain Li Huan's current fun points if he redeemed it. But Li Huan didn't hesitate to do so. Why? Because this skill was exactly what he needed.

Li Huan wasn't much of a movie fan, but when he did watch movies, there were only a few actors he followed, and Stephen Chow was one of them.

No questions asked—Stephen Chow is a legend. In the realm of domestic slapstick comedy, Li Huan only acknowledged Stephen Chow. To this day, no one in the industry could surpass him.

Every year, Li Huan would rewatch Stephen Chow's movies, carefully savoring each one. He's watched "Love on Delivery" so many times that he could recite the scenes and lines by heart, so he knew exactly what level of skill this ancient martial art was.

As a slapstick comedy film, all the martial arts in "Love on Delivery" are essentially comedic.

Being a comedic martial art, it defies logic.

And the ancient Chinese martial arts in the movie were learned by the protagonist Ho Kam-An.

As for why he chose this instead of the potentially stronger "Break Water Style" technique from "Break Water Style Master"—well, that's because the "Break Water Style" technique was of legendary quality and very expensive, while the ancient martial arts beginner's guide only cost 500 points.

According to the description, Volume 1 doesn't include the "Golden Snake Binding Hands" or the "Invincible Wind Fire Wheel" techniques, but that's not surprising.

The "Golden Snake Binding Hands" was powerful enough to drive the undefeated martial arts master, who defeated everyone in his path, to the brink of despair. The "Invincible Wind Fire Wheel" could launch a devastating self-sacrificing attack anywhere it could roll.

These techniques are likely at least of perfect or even legendary quality, so it's normal that they aren't included here.

But why choose this skill then?

Check the description: "[Gives you a body that's resistant to beatings and durable.]"

Exactly—what Li Huan needs now is some solid defense to ensure he won't die an untimely death.

There's an old saying:

"First, boost your stamina to 40."

If you want to get stronger, you must first learn how to take a hit.

Forget about aiming for the invincibility of someone like Tom, who can't be beaten to death—that kind of thing is bound to be insanely expensive. It's better to start with the basics, like gaining some solid defense.

This way, even in the worst-case scenario—getting surrounded by zombies—he won't get torn apart and will have a chance for Tom to save him.

Don't underestimate the defensive power of this martial art. According to some "serious" literature known for its "masculine romanticism," the punches from the "Break Water Style Master" could generate a force of about three tons, surpassing even the basic form of a certain Heisei hero. Yet, this force couldn't faze Ho Kam-An, who used the "Golden Snake Binding Hands" to control his opponent to the point of tears.

Are these zombies stronger than the "Break Water Style Master"?

In any case, learning this skill is definitely the right move!

After redeeming the skill, Li Huan saw a beam of light appear in his hand, with something gradually forming within it.

*Plop.*

As the object fell into his hand, the light dissipated, revealing its true form.

Seeing the object, Li Huan's expression turned a bit odd.

This is the beginner's guide for dummies?

In Li Huan's hand was a plastic case that could be opened, with the title "Beginner's Guide to Ancient Chinese Martial Arts (Volume 1)" scrawled on it in crooked handwriting that looked worse than a three-year-old's.

Silently, Li Huan opened the plastic case, and his eyes widened.

Inside the case was a disc.

A standard DVD disc. Looking at it, Li Huan was suddenly reminded of his childhood.

In those distant days, he loved going to the local video store to buy pirated DVDs for ten yuan each, then taking them home to watch on a DVD player.

Even if the disc might be missing episodes, have screen glitches, or have out-of-sync audio and video, Li Huan could still watch those movies all afternoon with great patience.

As he reminisced about those good old days, Li Huan smiled and closed the case.

And then—

"This is a scam!"

He cursed and threw the entire plastic case onto the ground.

A disc? You could've at least given me a book! Where am I supposed to find a TV and a DVD player to watch this?

Refund now!