“Again!”
“I still don’t believe it!”
Luo Miu’s consciousness reshaped in front of the familiar Dragon Bone Giant Tower.
He was already tired of seeing the bright red word “NOOB” displayed there. This was already the thirty-second time he had fallen at Tai Lan’s feet.
‘I shouldn’t use a ninja’s mindset to deal with a ninja!’
This time, Luo Miu changed his strategy. He abandoned stealth and gave up on those flashy opening moves. He wanted to use absolute power and speed to bring that damned dragon sword to the opponent’s neck before they could react!
*Boom!*
Luo Miu’s body shot out like a cannonball, the ground cracking inch by inch under his feet. The 40-pound dragon sword felt as light as nothing in his hand, letting out a sharp whistling sound as it slashed directly toward Tai Lan’s face!
There was no testing the waters—this was an all-out strike!
Facing this thunderous horizontal slash, Tai Lan’s body merely tilted slightly. It was an incredibly tiny sidestep. Yet it was this exact movement that allowed Tai Lan to dodge the blow Luo Miu was certain would land, the blade passing right past the tip of his nose.
With such immense power hitting nothing but air, Luo Miu’s body stiffened for 0.1 seconds.
Now!
Tai Lan’s body seemed to have no bones as he slid inside, pressing against the arm Luo Miu used to swing the sword. His elbow slammed precisely into the joint of Luo Miu’s armpit.
*Crack!*
Luo Miu felt his right arm go numb, and more than half of the strength holding his sword vanished instantly. At the same time, a knee slammed into his abdomen. It wasn’t meant to cause damage, but to destroy his center of gravity.
‘Crap!’
Luo Miu forcibly twisted his waist and abdomen, trying to stabilize himself. But Tai Lan’s next move had already arrived. A hand-blade strike chopped cleanly and decisively against the back of his neck.
*Thud.*
Darkness descended.
“Again!”
The forty-fifth time.
Luo Miu stood in place, panting heavily. He had lost so many times that he had barely even touched the corner of the man’s clothes. But it felt amazing!
Feeling his entire body being mobilized and gradually mastering the sensations, Luo Miu’s gamer soul burned fiercely.
Why? Why was his power and speed clearly superior, yet he was always interrupted and countered at the most critical moments?
He began to replay the battle that had lasted less than three seconds over and over in his mind.
Tai Lan’s sidestep. The elbow strike. The knee thrust. The hand-blade chop. Every single move had a purpose.
‘…Joints.’
Luo Miu’s pupils suddenly constricted. ‘All of his attacks weren’t aimed at vital points; they were aimed at my joints and my center of gravity.’
Every attack was like a precision-engineered part, jamming exactly into the gears of Luo Miu’s movements. It left him with plenty of power but no way to use it.
‘So that’s how it is…’
Luo Miu looked down at his hands. He possessed the body of a Dragon Ninja, but he was completely unfamiliar with the Taijutsu arranged within the talent tree. His previous battles had been won purely through overwhelming stats. What Tai Lan was showing him now was true Taijutsu.
“Making a tutorial level into a boss fight… that’s really something else,” Luo Miu cursed, but the corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably.
“Again!”
—
The fiftieth time.
Luo Miu charged again. The same opening, the same full-power horizontal slash. Tai Lan made the same sidestepping dodge.
But this time, Luo Miu didn’t let his power go to waste. The moment the blade was about to finish its swing, his wrist suddenly dropped, forcibly changing the trajectory of the dragon sword!
He transitioned from a slash to a sweep!
The blade shifted horizontally, cutting straight toward Tai Lan’s waist!
Tai Lan instantly abandoned his plan to get close to Luo Miu, his body floating backward to open up some distance.
“Oh?” He looked at Luo Miu and finally let out a sound.
‘I forced him back!’
This tiny bit of progress was enough to exhilarate Luo Miu! Although Tai Lan still dodged, this time, Luo Miu was the one who had driven him away!
‘The process is still wrong. I need to refine it. My footwork and breathing aren’t coordinated.’
Standing still, he felt the tearing pain coming from his wrist. Forcing a change in moves put an immense load on the body. But he had succeeded.
“I’m not done yet!”
Luo Miu’s figure vanished again. This time, he no longer pursued a one-hit kill. His mind held nothing but Tai Lan’s movements.
Imitate him! Duplicate him! Copy the question first, then look for the answer!
The sixtieth time.
When Tai Lan’s elbow struck, Luo Miu didn’t block. Instead, he imitated the movement and met it with his own elbow!
*Pa!*
As their elbows collided, Luo Miu was knocked back half a step, his arm going numb. Tai Lan was also momentarily paused by the force of the counter-shock.
‘There’s a chance!’
Luo Miu immediately pressed the advantage.
The seventy-third time.
Tai Lan’s knee strike arrived. Luo Miu didn’t dodge or block; he raised his own knee in the same way!
*Boom!*
He was sent stumbling back three steps, a sharp pain blooming in his abdomen. However, Tai Lan’s attack rhythm had also been disrupted.
The eighty-ninth time.
Facing Tai Lan’s hand-blade, Luo Miu finally made the perfect reaction. He didn’t try to block it. Instead, he suddenly crouched low, letting the hand-blade sweep over the top of his head. Simultaneously, the dragon sword in his hand swept upward, lunging toward the opponent’s jaw.
*Puff!*
Though Tai Lan blocked it in time with his arm, leaving only a shallow white mark on his forearm, this was the first time Luo Miu’s attack had truly landed in a meaningful sense!
“Heh…”
Luo Miu licked his dry lips, the light in his eyes brighter than ever before. “So this is how the game is played.”
Opposite him, Tai Lan slowly lowered his blocking arm. He looked at Luo Miu with his arms crossed over his chest, and within the eyes hidden behind the mask, a different emotion seemed to emerge.
“Not bad.”
The raspy voice rang out once more. “It seems you are ready, kid. Remember today’s strategies and movements. You must integrate them into every battle. That is all for today. Next time we meet, I will teach you something else.”
Luo Miu’s consciousness returned to his body, feeling like he was falling from ten thousand meters into the deep sea. The lingering shadow of the pain from Tai Lan’s hand-blade striking his neck in the Illusory Sea Secret Chamber had not yet fully vanished.
Luo Miu snapped his eyes open.
The first thing he saw was the familiar pattern of the tent ceiling. His nose was filled with the cool morning air unique to the forest, a mixture of earth and dew.
“Whew…”
He let out a long breath and sat up. His body wasn’t tired at all; instead, he felt exceptionally clear-headed due to the intense mental focus. In his mind, Tai Lan’s ghost-like movements and unpredictable techniques replayed over and over.
That wasn’t just power or speed. That was the ultimate control over timing, distance, and gravity.
‘Every attack hit the point where I generated force, breaking the continuity of my movements…’
‘Joint techniques?’
Luo Miu moved his right wrist. He tried to mimic Tai Lan’s movement, dropping his elbow inward at a tricky angle and then suddenly thrusting it out.
*Crack!*
His bones let out a crisp sound, and a refined force instantly transferred from his waist and abdomen to the tip of his elbow. Although it was far from being as smooth as Tai Lan’s, he had indeed captured a trace of that feeling.
**[Talent Skill: Slaying Technique Unlocked]**
**[You can execute any unit that has suffered severe physical mutilation.]**
“Hmm? This…”
As Luo Miu looked at the description, something immediately integrated into his mind. Countless battle trajectories flashed before his eyes. Humans, monsters, and even gargantuan existences that could blot out the sun… When they were weakened or had limbs severed, a Dragon Ninja could seize the opening to extinguish all their life force.
Gradually, those afterimages in his memory began to merge with Luo Miu’s consciousness.
‘To get stronger, I have to train…’
Although Luo Miu believed that ‘if there is a cheat and you don’t use it, you’re offending heaven,’ this process of gaining rewards through grinding was also a nice change of pace.
‘The talent tree gave me the class system, the Illusory Sea Secret Chamber handles my training, and I can earn more credits every day…’
Was he really going to soar to the heavens just by stepping on his own feet?
“Well, it makes sense. If there wasn’t a tutorial, it would be normal not to understand how to use the cheat properly,” Luo Miu whispered to himself as he pulled open the tent and walked out.
The sky was already starting to brighten, with a pale white glow appearing on the eastern horizon.
The final round of this exam was beginning!
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