Absolute Death Game

Gu Yuexuan said with disdain, "What 'Gale Sword Skills'? Truly overrated. To help you complete your task, it looks like I have no choice but to teach you a set of sword skills first."

Xiao Buli was elated but didn't forget his manners, typing, "I feel so embarrassed."

Gu Yuexuan laughed and said, "What's there to be embarrassed about? I never said I would teach you sword skills for free."

Xiao Buli: "......"

Gu Yuexuan turned a blind eye to the string of ellipses Xiao Buli had typed and asked, "How many Contribution Points do you still have on hand now?"

Xiao Buli thought to himself that Gu Yuexuan was really stingy, not willing to teach a set of sword skills even to help with his task, but still honestly replied, "80 points."

Gu Yuexuan nodded, "A bit scarce—but better than nothing."

After saying that, he extended his hand, and a list of skills that could be learned popped up on Xiao Buli's screen.

It was quite similar to the list given by Xuanxu Zi, except that the master's list was entirely magic skills, while this list was all about sword skills and had far fewer options.

("Is this a trick any NPC knows?") Xiao Buli wondered while he clicked through the list.

A glance at the list made Xiao Buli's eyes heat up with excitement—Sword Flight, Sword Shadow Transfiguration, and various other awe-inspiring skills filled his sight, but a closer look showed that most of the skills were greyed out—unlearnable, so he looked at the requirements.

The minimum requirement was a Prestige that reached the Respect level with Gu Yuexuan, plus extremely high attribute demands. Considering Gu Yuexuan's bad temper, achieving such high Prestige would take forever.

However, as Xiao Buli scrolled to the bottom of the list, he found three sword skills that he could learn.

Swift Wind Sword Skills: Significantly increases attack speed while also enhancing the accuracy and rhythm of your attacks, allowing for higher attack efficiency.

Learning requires: Movement Speed 17 points, Agility 15 points. Contribution Value 80 points.

Army-Breaking Sword Skills: This set of sword skills originated from the battlefield and is focused on killing. The intensity of the killing intent drives the force of the sword; the stronger the killing intent, the more powerful the sword skills become. Each point of your Slaughter Points can bring you an additional damage bonus.
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Learning requires: Movement Speed 15 points, Strength 16 points. Contribution Value 80 points.

Tai Chi Sword Skills (True): Gathering the energy of both yin and yang, this extraordinary sword technique enables you to control the sword effortlessly, regardless of its weight or distance, using softness to overcome hardness and weakness to defeat strength.

In the state of this sword technique, your attack speed is reduced by thirty percent, and your opponent's attacks are subject to a deflection effect. Every successful deflection allows you to counterattack.

Since the origins of this sword technique stem from the Taoist concept of Tai Chi, those with the Taoist Heart skill can gain extra layers of sword technique power based on the level of their Taoist Heart.

Learning requires: Agility 15 points, Spiritual Power 15 points. Contribution Value 80 points.

("All the learning costs are 80 Contribution Points? Can't be such a coincidence, can it? Could it be that the items on this skill list can all be priced independently by the NPC?")

Xiao Buli thought, while contemplating the pros and cons of the three sets of Swordsmanship.

Although these three sets of Swordsmanship were considered lower-level by the skills list outlined by Gu Yuexuan, they were still very powerful for Xiao Buli, but deciding which set to learn proved to be a challenge.

Swift Wind Sword Skills was clearly an advanced version of Gale Sword Skills, but their effects overlapped too much and weren't very valuable.

Army-Breaking Sword Skills seemed to require Slaughter Points to unleash its power, something Xiao Buli currently didn't have. He guessed that it was mostly obtained by killing other players, which wouldn't be of much use to him in the short term.

As for Tai Chi Sword Skills, they seemed more to his liking. Even though they didn't do much damage in dungeons, the effect of deflecting enemy attacks caught his eye.

If he learned this set of Swordsmanship, even if he couldn't defeat that Swordsmanship master, he might at least be able to hold out for ten minutes, and it would benefit from the added layers of the Taoist Heart skill, undoubtedly the most suitable for someone with a hybrid profession like his.

With this in mind, Xiao Buli chose the Tai Chi Sword Skills (True) at the bottom of the list.

System prompt: You have learned Tai Chi Sword Skills (True).

Xiao Buli had plenty of Practical Experience, so he used it directly to level the Swordsmanship to LV10 and immediately comprehended a Mystic Skill.

System prompt: After a long period of research and practice, you have comprehended the Mystic Art — Omnipotent from Tai Chi Sword Skills (True).

Mystic Art — Omnipotent: By using this Mystic Art, you enter a mysterious state of Insight into everything. In this state, you cannot move, enemy physical attacks launched at you will inevitably be deflected, and you'll increase the upper limit of the attack strength you can deflect.

You'll also launch a counterattack against the attacking target, with the power of the counterattack equal to the power of the attack you receive (counterattack can only be triggered if it does not exceed the deflection limit). This state can last (Spiritual Power 21×0.3) 6.3 seconds.

Upon seeing the introduction to this Mystic Skill, Xiao Buli was thrilled. This was almost like a six-second invincibility skill. Although he couldn't move and it was only effective against physical attacks, the counterattack effect made those disadvantages seem less significant, especially the 'the power of the counterattack is equal to the power of the attack received' effect.

In other words, the stronger the enemy's attack, the faster they would die. A truly Divine Skill indeed.

Xiao Buli thought to himself, (Now that I have two Souls of Mystic Arts, I should be able to pass the Swordsmanship master's test.)

Thinking this, Xiao Buli said to Gu Yuexuan, "Thank you, Senior Brother. This time I'm definitely going to get you what you need."

Gu Yuexuan nodded slightly without showing much expression, "I hope so."

After he finished speaking, he stepped on his flying sword, and vanished without a trace.

Being able to fly is awesome.

Xiao Buli watched Gu Yuexuan's Shadow disappear above the bamboo forest, thinking enviously.

Being able to fly has always been one of humanity's greatest dreams, and Xiao Buli was certainly no exception. Among the spells that could be learned from Xuanxu Zi, there were indeed skills that enabled flight, one being Levitation Skills and the other Wind-Riding Decision.

The former could only float to a height of ten meters or so, and the moving speed while floating was ridiculously slow, requiring Taoist Heart LV3 and 25 points of Spiritual Power to learn.

The latter allowed for wind-riding flight, but required Taoist Heart LV5, and 40 points of Spiritual Power, which was not something Xiao Buli could hope for in the short term.

He'd better hurry back and complete the Sect mission as soon as possible, to earn Contribution Value to learn new spells.

Xiao Buli thought to himself. But since it was already dark, he didn't plan to continue recklessly. Since tomorrow was Sunday, he logged off, went for dinner, and while strengthening his power in the game was important, getting familiar with and mastering skills in the real world was even more crucial.

Xiao Buli had already decided that after dinner he would head home and spend the entire day tomorrow trying to master the newly learned spells and skills. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)