Chapter 15 - Nine Blades of Tang
When Sword Demon first t Gu Fei, he was so shocked by his skills he had not thought of using Appraisal to inspect his equipnt. Truth be told, Gu Fei’s robe was the usual run-of-the-mill so there was no value in using Appraisal on it. Top tier items, like Frost mories, had distinctive designs after all.
Sword Demon’s curiosity grew as he continued to hear the endless cries of the monsters from the other side.
How exactly is he fighting the monsters? As a player familiar with the many in-ga skills, Sword Demon could evaluate anyone’s fighting style just from sound alone. Yet, he simply could not see through Gu Fei’s thods.
Researching other players’ techniques and skills was Sword Demon’s passion, so he could no longer resist his curiosity and decided to scout Gu Fei’s fight.
Sword Demon used the Stealth skill to creep in closer to his research target.
Skills in Parallel World were not easily executed once learned. Constant practice was required to raise their proficiency level, and the higher the proficiency level, the greater the effects of the skills. Repeated use, quest rewards, or stat option from equipnt were so of the ways players could raise their skill proficiency level.
Stealth could be considered as the most important skill for the Thief job class. Experienced players like Sword Demon were very aware of its importance, so he had practiced it nonstop and managed to raise its proficiency level. The current Stealth Sword Demon used had no ti limit and could be maintained as long as he did not get attacked or initiate an attack. The skill was definitely essential for sneak attacks.
Sword Demon who was under Stealth mode made his way across the wall of trees and finally spotted Gu Fei.
There was no passing wind in the forest, yet Sword Demon still felt chilled to the bone. It was the type of coldness that originated from one’s soul.
Gu Fei’s way of fighting monsters completely went against everything Sword Demon had learned from his years of playing gas.
The man in mage robe appeared as if he was one with the wind with his elegant and swift movents; the shabby straw hat covered half of his face. His hand moved in a flurry of motion with constant flashes of silver. These flashes were accompanied by the monsters’ screams which persistently hung in the air. The silver flashes ca from a blade Gu Fei was holding in his hand.
The blade looked similar to a real Tang sword with how it danced in Gu Fei’s hand. Sword Demon could feel his gaming knowledge getting cleaved with every blow.
Gu Fei’s strikes were very beautiful as they were executed perfectly.
But although the attacks were beautiful, they were not in-ga skills but just regular moves!
Who would believe him if he said a Mage was defeating monsters and grinding much faster than him with just basic moves alone? Sword Demon was at a loss.
Sword Demon continued to carefully watch Gu Fei’s fight. After a while, he discovered just how amazing Gu Fei’s way of fighting the monsters was.
Every attack he dealt would inflict maximum damage!
Weapons in online gas would often have a set range of value toward the application of damage. The difference between the minimum and maximum damage one could apply was significant. There had always been an ongoing argunt if it was better to have a weapon with a high but unstable damage output or to have a fixed, small range that averaged better. Many players concluded that they could only rely on luck to maximize their weapon’s damage since it was still a mystery on how one could do it at will.
However, in the fully imrsive online ga, Parallel World, Sword Demon started to realize that low and high damage output was no longer dependent on luck, but rather sothing a player could have control of.
Based on Sword Demon’s preliminary analysis, the damage applied was directly affected by the accuracy as well as the proficiency exerted behind each attack.
Gu Fei before him was like this.
Sword Demon was convinced that every attack Gu Fei made dealt maximum damage or at least close to it. Having spent quite a long ti grinding his level here, he had a clear idea of how much health the monsters in this map had. Dividing that by the amount of cuts the blade landed, he easily figured out each strike’s degree of damage. Taking into consideration the fact that he was a Mage, Sword Demon was still certain that Gu Fei’s every blow had inflicted maximum damage.
Control! That was the word that drilled into Sword Demon’s head.
Who said there was no control in a VR ga? This was control, far beyond the usual MMORPGs’ mouse or even keyboard control.
The ability to control your level of damage and inflict maximum damage at will... This could be considered as peak control! Sword Demon saw a whole new world opened up in front of his eyes and could not help but get excited.
At this mont, Gu Fei began to coordinate his movents, moving to cleave the monsters while deftly stepping backward to dodge.
Wait, does he even need to rest? Sword Demon wondered. He did not see Gu Fei receive any injury! Although the ga had a fatigue setting, its design was just a hindrance to the player’s gaming experience. It would be hard for players that only possessed an average human physique to continue playing when they had been utterly exhausted from the constant high-intensity fight.
While there was a fatigue gauge, it decreased rather slowly. Players dubbed it as the anti-addiction system. In a way, they were poking fun at the gaming company that tried to prevent people from playing the ga regularly.
Could it be that the fatigue gauge actually decreases faster when you’re using peak control? Sword Demon thought silently. If that really was the case, the drawbacks would sowhat outweigh the benefit. Fatigue recovery was slow and there was currently no way to speedily restore it except for waiting idly, although the ti one was offline also counted as part of fatigue recovery. Sword Demon could not consider it worthwhile if that was indeed the case.
Regardless, Gu Fei was obviously attacking while retreating. The newly spawned monsters were not drawn over since he was out of the aggro range as he thodically eliminated the remaining monsters one by one. By the ti he reached the edge of the forest, he had already cleanly sliced the last monster.
How wonderful! Sword Demon marveled quietly. Gu Fei had such a high level of precision that he was able to grasp a path of retreat flawlessly; it was the very definition of peak control.
However, the real wonder had yet to begin. After killing the last monster, Gu Fei held the blade with one hand and adjusted his straw hat. His eyes which had been covered by the straw hat were now unveiled as he gazed in Sword Demon’s direction and laughed, “Is sothing the matter?”
Sword Demon turned around but saw no one behind him.
“Are you talking to ? You can see ?” asked Sword Demon as shock colored his face.
“I can’t see you, but I can feel your presence,” Gu Fei said.
“How is that possible?!” Sword Demon was surprised, but he imdiately recalled his failed Backstab that day when they PvP-ed. He thought Gu Fei beca aware of the last attack and was able to grab him because Sword Demon had revealed himself prior to attacking.
Putting the two incidents together, could it be Gu Fei already knew he had been here under Stealth mode the whole ti?
What is this? Is this still considered control? Sword Demon was at a loss.
“Reveal yourself already!” Gu Fei shouted. He knew Sword Demon was nearby, but he could not see him. Hearing his voice hanging in the air just made the situation too peculiar.
Sword Demon slowly erged into sight as he released his Stealth.
“What’s up?” Gu Fei asked.
“I just wanted to see how you fight monsters,” Sword Demon said.
“So how was it?” Gu Fei asked with a smile.
“It’s great!” Sword Demon nodded.
“My Nine Blades of Tang.”
“Nine Blades of Tang?”
“Yup!” Gu Fei nodded.
What is that? Is that what he calls his peak control? If I recalled correctly there’s a wuxia online ga two years ago that had a similarly nad low-level equipnt... Sword Demon wept silently as he realized that his vast knowledge and experience was only limited to online gas, mistaking the famous Tang sword for so insignificant equipnt.
“Three forms of Fenliu!” Gu Fei suddenly called out. With a twist of his wrist, he lifted the sword and delivered three cross slashes into the air.
“Three forms of Duanlang!” The montum changed as he called out once more. Three fierce slashes were made before him, akin to an enraged tiger descending the mountain.
“Three forms of Chiri!” The blade cut the air before him, with three rapid strokes falling upon a single point with a shake of his arm.
“The Nine Blades of Tang allowed the user to flexibly slice, cut, and stab their targets. Getting anywhere near mastering it would require decades of diligent kung fu practice. How can my diocre skill be a match?” Gu Fei laughed to himself.
Sword Demon could only nod his head obliviously. He simply had no idea what Gu Fei was talking about. In his eyes, the few strokes that Gu Fei had displayed ssily in front of him was not nearly as amazing as him fighting the monsters from before.
“Oh, yeah. Do you have a reason why you’re looking for ?” Gu Fei asked.
There was actually sothing Sword Demon had undecidedly wanted to ask. But after seeing Gu Fei’s peak control, he finally decided to go for it, “I’ve got a friend who’s looking for a few people to form a rcenary group, and I’m wondering if you’re interested?”
“rcenary group?”
“You know what that is?”
“Of course, I do.” There was no way Gu Fei, who was concerned with all aspects of this ga, would not know the two major organizational features that existed in-ga.
Guilds and rcenary groups.
Guilds were much like gangs in the usual online gas. In Parallel World, a guild could be ford through a person’s nomination and twenty individuals’ agreent.
anwhile, rcenary groups were a new feature very different from the traditional type found in most online gas. Since there was no required amount of players to establish a rcenary team, even a single player could form one. The rcenary quests given by the system allowed the mbers to earn money, gain experience, or be rewarded with equipnt. Similarly, players and guilds could also release missions for rcenary groups by providing remuneration; by completing a quest, the rcenaries would then be able to acquire the previously agreed upon reward. Naturally, players and guilds could not provide experience as rewards, so many would usually provide equipnt, gold, etc. as paynt.
Guilds and rcenary groups never clashed with each other. Even if the players were from different guilds, they could still form a rcenary group together. Though, the current trend was for the sa guild mbers to form a rcenary group. While it was possible to have a one-man rcenary group, the quests given by the system were usually impossible to be completed solo. Lone wolves might as well just wait for simple quests made by other players! Therefore, one of the most popular things to do in the ga right now was for guilds to groom their rcenary groups.
Gu Fei montarily laughed and said, “Oh, you want to join the Heaven-Defying Guild’s rcenary group?”
Sword Demon laughed bitterly, “Heaven-Defying Guild had already been disbanded.”
“Ack! Why?” Gu Fei was perplexed. Guilds could only be established by level 30 players, while only those above level 20 could second the establishnt. Since Sword Demon had already reached level 30, Gu Fei had thought his Heaven-Defying Guild would have long been established.
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