Chapter 44: Chapter 44: The Game’s Combat System


    Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion


    Jiang Qiao began to look through the content of the post in detail. The first thing that caught his eye was a screenshot of a Knight in dark red armor carrying his longsword on his shoulder.


    The Knight’s vision was obscured by his helmet, but Jiang Qiao could inexplicably sense from the screenshot… the Knight’s disappointment toward the person who took the screenshot.


    “I just updated the outside of the Tower of Trial with a bunch of NPCs and added a new quest to duel this NPC. I was the first to discover it and went up to fight him, only to find that this guy isn’t affected by floating or knockdown effects! I hit him into the air, and he could still counterattack. It also seems like he has skills like foresight and parry! I’ve suffered three times already, and he keeps saying things like ‘You Holy Spirits are no big deal.’ I’m so mad! I want to get back at him, but I can’t win at all. Kneel and beg for a pro to help me regain my honor.” Poster: Cha Ye.


    “NPC duel quests? I got one in Eagle w City too. NPC fights are super easy. I finished it in ten minutes. I guess OP’s skills are just bad.” Replier: Hou Qi.


    “What rewards do you get for beating this NPC?” Replier: Wang Duanwu.


    The original author, Cha Ye, was always online and kept refreshing the post. He would reply as soon as there was ament.


    “Seems like there’s no reward.” Replier: Cha Ye.


    “If there’s no reward, what’s the point? You might as well go level up with that time.” Replier: Shenlong Qingyin.


    “But this NPC seems to really look down on us, shouting things like ‘Is there no stronger Holy Spirit?’ Kneel and beg for a pro to help us get back at him.” Replier: Cha Ye.


    “First of all, I haven’t yed Holy Spirit, but from the NPC’s gear, it looks like he’s a heavy armor type. OP’s ss is Swordsman, right? I’ve seen streamers y that ss. Can’t a dual-sword Swordsman just sh him down?” Replier: Kou Tu Fen Fang.


    “Cloud gamer pro.”


    “Cloud gamers kill countless enemies using just a keyboard.”


    Jiang Qiao finished reading all the replies in the post. After thinking for a while, he logged into the game and directly entered the Tower of Trial through the portal.


    The Tower of Trial indeed had many more… indigenous NPCs. They were all natives from the Flowing Water Country. Among them were thirty-two Knights and twelve Mages who doubled as schrs. Their task was to investigate the status of the Tower of Trial and make contact with the legendary Savior, the Holy Spirits.


    One way of making contact was by sending people to test the truebat power of the Holy Spirits.


    Hence, the following scene urred: the most powerful elite among these Knights set up an arena and invited yers to duel.


    There were not many yers outside the Tower of Trial at the moment, only thirteen. Most yers were still grinding in the beginner vige or exploring instances. Few would idle outside an instance.


    @@novelbin@@


    Among the thirteen yers, the one who had posted in themunity forum, Cha Ye, was one of them. He was currently standing on the arena for the fourth time, facing that indigenous Knight.


    Jiang Qiao arrived at the edge of the arena, where there were three other onlookers who seemed to be Cha Ye’s friends.


    Jiang Qiao cast a probing spell on the indigenous Knight standing in the arena.


    “Name: Soral, Level: 40, ss: Warrior series. Description: Native of this world, Honored Knight.”


    A Level 40 Warrior… The yer Cha Ye, who was facing Soral, was a Level 33 Swordsman.


    This level was considered high among yers, but despite the seven-level difference, the Honored Knight Soral was not using his full strength against Cha Ye.


    Cha Ye was still at an absolute disadvantage for two reasons. The first was that he had enabledbat assistance during the battle.


    Not every yer knew how to wield a sword or gun. They relied on thebat assistance system to help execute skills when they mentally recited the skill’s name.


    However, skills executed throughbat assistance had a major drawback; they were too rigid! The skill actions were fixed and unchangeable. Against unintelligent monsters and NPCs, yers might be able to easily defeat them.


    But Cha Ye was now facing a battle-hardened Honored Knight.


    Even more fatal was that this indigenous Knight didn’t follow the basic rules ofbat, meaning he was not limited by the Holy Spirit’sbat system.


    Holy Spirit was a game, not a real-world simtion. Thus, itsbat differed from reality.


    Thebat system was somewhatplex, roughly divided into two parts. The first was the yer’sbat style rating, simr to Devil May Cry. The second was thebat system itself, epassingbo, aerial, ground sweep, parry, block, deflect, foresight, and counter.


    Take aerialbat as an example. Most games had this system, the most famous being Ace Combat… no, the Devil May Cry series. yers had skills that could knock monsters into the air, leaving them unable to counterattack and vulnerable tobos…


    But Soral didn’t fall for that!


    Jiang Qiao saw Cha Ye begin with a basic Swordsman skill, an upward sh, which actually hit Soral.


    Under the astonished gaze of the Knights and Mages behind Soral, Cha Ye’s slender katana sent the heavily armored Knight Soral flying a meter into the air.


    It seemed to be the first time Soral had been hit by such a blow. He was taken aback that this seemingly ordinary upward sh could lift him into the air.


    “What?!” Soral eximed in disbelief. He seemed flustered for a moment as he floated in the air for a second or two.


    This was the effect of the Holy Spirit’sbat system’s forced materialization, or rather, its physical engine. The upward sh had an aerial-effect bonus.


    The streamer yer Murata Swordmaster, who Jiang Qiao knew from before, was also a Swordsman. After the upward sh, he would typically follow up with a flurry of dual-sword strikes, Cross sh, another Flying Swallow sh, upward sh, and Shattering sh… finishing thebo in a satisfying sequence before waiting for the cooldown to attack again.


    Cha Ye had a basic understanding of the Swordsman ss. His other hand quickly conjured a Sword Energy de, a passive skill that Swordsmen acquired upon changing sses. In a rapid dual-swordbo, sparks and shes lit up against Soral’s leg armor within a second.


    Cha Ye should have continued with otherbo skills, but Soral had already regained his bnce in mid-air and swung his sword at Cha Ye.


    Cha Ye quickly stepped back to dodge the attack, and Soralnded back on the ground.


    This was amon scenario in high-level PVP between yers and NPCs. Opponents weren’t dumb; they wouldn’t just let themselves beboed in mid-air until they hit the ground. They sought opportunities to counterattack while in the air.


    As Soralnded, Cha Ye immediately assumed a stance for a quick-draw sh. As the de’s light appeared, Soral, who had anticipated this, raised his knight’s longsword to block and deflect Cha Ye’s katana.


    This was anotherbat system, parry. Most monsters couldn’t parry, only a few elite humanoid monsters could use this skill, and Soral was one of those elite humanoid monsters.


    “Your attack pattern is too immature, using the same move in the same way multiple times. Anyone can see through it at a nce.”


    Soral blocked Cha Ye’s strike and immediately kicked him out of the arena.


    ording to the rules, this bout ended with Cha Ye losing again, but Soral, after executing these moves, knelt down partly.


    Because he had internal injuries.


    No matter how parrying, blocking, or deflecting attacks, they couldn’t fully negate the yer’s damage, only reduce it.


    The damage was still dealt, the difference being that the opponent wouldn’t flinch from hits, and the damage would be mitigated by armor and block bonuses.


    This was the overpowering aspect of Holy Spirit yers. They couldn’t care less if you defended; high enough damage could still kill in one blow.


    Cha Ye’s attack wasn’t strong enough to one-shot Soral, but after several encounters with Cha Ye’s quick-draw sh, Soral’s health had dropped by nearly a thousand points.


    This was about a tenth of his health. For yers, it was barely a scratch, but for Soral, a real native, losing a tenth of his life was unbearable.


    Jiang Qiao watched thoughtfully as other Knights helped the wounded Soral away.


    “Hai Lan, summon the Tower Spirit,” Jiang Qiao said to Hai Lan beside him.


    “Are you nning to challenge him too?”


    Hai Lan felt upset seeing natives from other realms bullying their yers. Though Soral was the one most injured, Cha Ye could just drink an HP potion and continue ranting on the forums, while Soral might need to rest for a day or two before epting another yer’s challenge.


    “No, let the Tower Spirit heal the Knight to full health and have him continue fighting the yers.” Jiang Qiao opened the system interface and began editing a quest.


    “What?”


    “Such a good punching bag and PVP instructor shouldn’t be wasted. Also, let’s call a few more Knights. Treat it as a repeatable quest.” Jiang Qiao said.