How to unlock the Scholar career in Where Winds Meet

Where Winds Meet features two powerful careers, Scholar and Healer. While the Healer fixes broken bones, poisons, and maladies of the body, the Scholar can help players get out of trouble, as well as solve deep philosophical debates. In addition, they can craft powerful Talismans that nobody else can make. It’s useful to do, but it’s far from required.

It’s likely that Scholars cannot fix their own problems, such as if they get falsely accused of a crime, similarly to how Healers cannot fix their own ailments. We’re still looking into this, and if there’s a way, we’ll update accordingly. However, here’s how you can begin the path of a Scholar in Where Winds Meet.

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Unlocking the Scholar career in Where Winds Meet

You can begin your Scholar career in Where Winds Meet once you have access to Moonveil Mountain and are at least Level 13. From there, you can begin the Legacy: Scholar’s Path exploration quest by heading to the location that will be available on your map, seen below.

You need to speak to Yan Huaijin at Deeforage Grove, and the easiest travel point for us was Stillwind Slope, which will still require you to do some intense mountain climbing. Just run up the side of the mountain, pausing when you need to, until you reach the top. There is likely going to be a powerful bandit group in the mountains, but you can avoid them, if you aren’t feeling confident enough to fight them.

Upon arriving to speak with Yan Huaijin, he’ll inform you that there’s nothing more that he can possibly teach you. It seems like Yan Huaijin has hit a crisis of faith, in terms of his skill. He stumbled into someone so stubborn that not even his words as a literary master can reach them.

Naturally, as the hero of the story, it’s going to be up to us to set things right. Go inside the nearby building, and climb the ladder to the second floor. Once there, speak to the retired doctor, Wei Rujun, who is going to destroy all of his valuable medical notes. It turns out, despite saving a hundred people, his work also killed his daughter.

Head into the mountains to become a scholar! (Image via NetEase)

We’re going to have to use our words to halt the destruction of these valuable notes. You’ll have to use Gift of Gab to defeat him in a debate. It’s unclear if you need to have already unlocked Gift of Gab to do this, because it uses a different set of cards. In this debate, you’ll have access to Heart Stab, while Wei Rujun uses Wild Boast cards. Unfortunately, his debate style is stronger than yours, but it’s nothing you can’t overcome.

It’s unlikely that you can even lose this debate, given how much damage we were doing with our cards. You’ll be given cards one at a time at first, to introduce you to the system, with some like Kind Words in Return that can temporarily silence your opponent as well as deal significant damage.

You just have to win this one simple debate (Image via NetEase)

His words won’t deal very much damage, but it’s a good way to learn how the system works. Focus on using cards that deal damage and have a chance to silence if you can, but there are also cards that can increase your defenses temporarily. You can honestly just bulldoze Wei Rujun down.

Once the debate is over, speak to Wei Rujun again, and your character will convince him not to throw his life’s work away. Your character will also agree to go through the records and examine them to find the errors that may exist, but you won’t actually have to do it in this quest. Once you’ve spoken to him, return to Yan Huaijin outside.

As a reward, you’ll unlock the Novice Tier of Scholar, and the Unarguable Card Level 2 in Infuriating Nitpicking, and officially, you’re a Scholar! If you want to upgrade your ranks as a Scholar, you need Career Notebooks, which are given as a reward for winning debates. These can also be used to level up your Healer career as well.

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How debates work in the Scholar career in Where Winds Meet

As you can see in the image below, you will ultimately have access to four styles of debating in Where Winds Meet, as you progress through the Scholar career. Infuriating Nitpicker beats Yapping, Yapping beats Wild Boasts, Wild Boasts beats Heart Stab, and Heart Stab beats Infuriating Nitpicker.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." - Sun Tzu (Image via NetEase)

Like other debate styles in Where Winds Meet, such as Healing, you’ll be given cards, and each one has a cost, and an ability. You’ll have 10 points that regenerate as the debate goes on, but you need to think on your toes, because your opponent will be able to keep battling you with their words too.

Treat it like any other debate mini-game in Where Winds Meet, and batter your opponent while thinking quickly. There’s another thing that you can do with Scholar, and that’s clear someone’s false charges. You’ll find these on the Career Tab of the Jianghu Bounty. Agree to debate on someone’s behalf, and then go to the spot and win! It’s that simple, and it’s also a way to get solid rewards, such as Bounty Tokens.

Avoid false accusations, and hire a Scholar (Image via NetEase)

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that you can battle on your own behalf in Where Winds Meet, because I couldn’t. At least as a Novice Scholar that is. In the early access period, I was given false accusations of a crime I didn’t commit, and needed to call upon a fellow scholar to debate for me, though it cost me a Bounty Token. If you’re trying to farm tokens and other rewards, it’s a solid way to do so.

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Check out our other Where Winds Meet guides and features:

• Best beginner's tips and tricks for Where Winds Meet
• Where Winds Meet Friendship system guide