Chapter 6: Starting Over with Ten Thousand Steps
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As the two tall and mighty puppet warriors became increasingly coordinated, Fatty found himself nearly defenseless. He was so busy dodging between their massive swords that he was losing a ton of stamina—there was no way he had any energy left to counterattack!
The atmosphere in the arena was less chaotic than before. Players were glued to the stage, watching the relentless assault on Lin Nan and Fatty by the puppet warriors.
Though Fatty looked utterly pathetic, let’s be real—if these already initiated players had to face two enemies, their chances wouldn’t be any better than his.
You could tell that Lin Nan was in a somewhat better state than Fatty. Even though he was dodging the puppet warriors’ attacks as well, he at least looked much cooler doing it. After some impressive acrobatics, not even a hem of his outfit was grazed.
But the onlookers didn’t show signs of relief; they knew the longer this dragged on, the stronger the puppet warriors would get. Delaying time would only land them in deeper trouble.
Sadly, these two newcomers seemed blissfully unaware of the puppet warriors’ traits.
But hey, even if they did know, it wouldn’t matter—those puppet warriors weren’t going down without a good scrap!
It wasn’t too long ago when two players struggled to take down a single puppet warrior. They barely managed it before the warrior’s attack power skyrocketed. Now, these two were up against four—no point in continuing to watch them lose; it was already a done deal.
“Yikes, five minutes is almost up!” Cold Little Rain gasped.
Strong Brother’s expression was grim. “Yeah, once those five minutes hit, the puppet warriors’ attack power is going to make a quantum leap. They might be holding up for now, but after that five-minute mark? Yikes…”
Even the official host’s comment chilled those fans who had placed their bets on Lin Nan and Fatty, thinking they were good for at least one round.
How many times do they have to say it? Betting kills you!
Under the system’s persuasion, most players had put in over half their savings. After all, only betting on one round had the lowest odds—you’d need a big stake to make any decent return. Otherwise, it was just pocket change, like being rained on by a drizzle.
At this point, most people had given up hope. Some even left the streaming room early, intending to find a quiet corner to mourn their lost Spirit Coins.
“Five minutes are up!” players shouted as they noticed the clock.
“Wait, are the puppet warriors going to transform into planes or cannons?”
“I can’t wait! Do you think those two will get hammered into pancakes by the rampaging puppet warriors?”
“Definitely.”
As the players watched in bewilderment, the four puppet warriors that were attacking Lin Nan suddenly halted. They retreated to a safe distance, and then their arms seemed to glow faintly, as if masked with some mysterious power.
Lin Nan remained expressionless, analyzing his opponents.
After a brief pause, the puppet warriors charged forward again, but this time they swung their giant swords from several meters away!
What happened next was shocking.
Those massive swords created visible shockwaves, hurtling toward the two.
Fatty nearly rolled himself into oblivion to dodge what felt like a wave of sword energy.
What came next was even more astonishing. It wasn’t just a one-off move. Each time the puppet warriors swung those swords, they triggered an effect that let them deal damage from afar!
Now, they didn’t even need to get close to Lin Nan and Fatty—they just needed to keep swinging their swords close enough to unleash slicing sword energy.
And to make things worse, the sword energy was invisible to the n*ked eye; you could only guess its path by watching the warriors swing.
Before long, Fatty’s health was about to hit rock bottom.
If it weren’t for that 150 Spirit Coins on the line, he would’ve fallen flat on the stage by now, not wanting to move another inch.
What a scam, seriously!
Losing 150 Spirit Coins was bad enough, but right before heading onto the stage, they convinced him to bet on six wins. It’ll be a long day if he dies and doesn’t get that money back.
“Argh!”
Fatty let out a desperate yell, twisting to dodge a wave of sword energy.
“I can’t do this anymore. I’m really done for… If I d*e, I’ll just pretend this month never happened!”
After that outburst, he flopped down on the ground, his rear end sticking up high.
But a few seconds later, instead of the wave of pain from being shredded by sword energy, an eerie silence fell around him; even the chatter from the audience vanished into thin air.
What’s happening? Did I d*e? Is this a system bug that’s keeping me from being teleported back?
Fatty looked up, his expression a mix of confusion and horror.
What he saw next nearly made his jaw drop.
Two of the puppet warriors had their heads severed, falling heavily to the ground. Maybe once a puppet warrior’s head rolls off, it loses its armor protection, because suddenly the bodies cracked and poof—disappeared from the stage.
Fatty gaped, utterly clueless as to how Lin Nan managed that.
But as the remaining two puppet warriors watched their partners go down, they suddenly seemed to burst with energy, charging toward Lin Nan faster than ever from two different angles.
“Is this the third form of the puppet warriors?”
Players were stunned.
First, Lin Nan took out those two puppet warriors in the blink of an eye, and then the remaining two suddenly exploded with unprecedented speed.
Players knew that it had taken both of them to handle just one puppet warrior; anyone who experienced the second form was already as good as toast—let alone seeing the third!
Before they could even close their mouths, Lin Nan’s performance left them even more mesmerized.
In truth, Lin Nan didn’t even need to move much; it was just that his sword seemed to appear in two places at once, so fast no one could track it!
With those two massive swords racing towards his throat, the next second, both puppet warriors zipped past him, landing with their bodies and heads in separate jurisdictions. The previously iron-hard forms disintegrated into a pile of rubble, quickly evaporating into the air like smoke.
The arena was silent, as if no one existed.
Players were left dumbfounded, trying to figure out what just happened. Only high-level NPCs caught a glimpse of Lin Nan’s true movements.
Just as the puppet warriors’ swords were about to clash, Lin Nan’s sword shot out first.
With a flick of his wrist, the tip of the sword struck the neck of a puppet warrior with a force beyond everyone’s comprehension.
This was the result of all the practice he had put in during this time.
Especially at the last stage, with the little tough carrot hard as rock, it was a fine line; too much force would send it flying, too little wouldn’t even make a dent.
He had to exert the perfect amount of force right when the sword tip touched the carrot’s surface, and that’s how he succeeded.
What Lin Nan didn’t expect, though, was that this technique would come into play so soon.
Puppet warriors may look like walking tanks with their formidable armor, but as they moved, there were bound to be gaps—especially between the helmet and chest plate around the neck.
Plus, those recent fights with the wolf and tiger demons had sharpened his practical swordplay skills.
This was what set him apart from Fatty by such a wide margin!
Seeing all four seemingly invincible puppet warriors sprawled at Lin Nan’s feet so quickly, with two even having triggered their third form, the arena fell into a deep silence.
After a long pause, someone finally spoke up.
“Who is this guy? If he’s that good with a sword, there’s no way he’d be a nobody!”
“Right? He must have a main focus in swordsmanship. But all my skill points are in swordsmanship too, and I struggled against the puppet warriors; my level is even higher than his!”
“This is so odd. Did the puppet warriors let him win on purpose?”
“No way—that’s the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Martial Hall! The puppet warriors are conjured directly by the system, so there’s no way to cheat unless there’s a bug.”
Not just the players in the arena, but the live stream was also buzzing.
“Oh yeah! He just beat the first challenge! What a close call!”
“Seriously! I thought my 300 Spirit Coins were going down the drain; reclaiming them feels absolutely glorious!”
“Ha! Who would’ve thought? I was worried he wouldn’t even clear the first test, but look at him now; turns out we were overreacting.”
“And if the first challenge is this tough, the second one’s bound to be much harder. So betting on just passing one was definitely a wise choice.”
Cold Little Rain was filled with envy. “Strong Brother, I applied for the inner sect test of the Heavenly Sword Sect too. I barely made it to the second stage before facing a puppet warrior and got stomped. I never expected this player to slice through those puppet warriors like butter! What puzzles me is, if he’s that strong, why didn’t he go for the k*ll right away and only waited until the warriors triggered their second form?”
Strong Brother pondered. “I think he’s super skilled and bold; maybe he just wanted to see the puppet warriors’ second form.”
Cold Little Rain: “…”
Why do some people seem to exist in a whole different league?
If what Strong Brother said was true, that would really sting her pride.
That player’s level wasn’t that high, so why was his swordplay so refined?
A thought suddenly popped into Cold Little Rain’s mind—what if he’s actually a swordsmanship master in real life?
Since players could learn cooking skills in “The Way of Inquiry” and bring those skills into the real world, his swordplay could just as easily translate into the virtual realm.
Finally, it made sense why his sword skills seemed to outshine those of players at higher levels.
Cold Little Rain couldn’t wait to share her theory with everyone!
