Chapter 105
Chapter 105
“I understand! I finally understand!”
Zhou Ming’s breathing quickened, and wild delight surged through him. It was as though he had wandered through a maze for ages and finally found the right path. “The mechanic Dawnbringer is missing is sealing!”
“???”
Little Bowl Wide Noodles stood at the very edge of the arena, keeping as far from his opponent as possible. Utterly baffled, he asked, “What sealing?”
“It means I shouldn’t rely on crowd control to interrupt a skill’s activation. I should stop my opponent from ever getting the chance to use it in the first place.” Zhou Ming walked over and stopped directly in front of him as he explained.
Little Bowl Wide Noodles: “…”
Wait, you can see me?
“Thank you!” Zhou Ming said gratefully.
If this opponent had not tried to disgust him by chaining Stealth into Forced Stealth, he would not have found his direction so quickly.
Little Bowl Wide Noodles gave an awkward smile. “You’re welcome!”
Ding!
[System: Congratulations! You have defeated [Little Bowl Wide Noodles]. Current Victory Points: 1! (Note: Reach 3 Victory Points to advance to the next round.)]
Ding!
[System: An opponent has been matched for you. Would you like to proceed to the match now?]
…
“Yes!”
Zhou Ming confirmed his choice and appeared atop another arena. His opponent was a tall, handsome man dressed in purple mage robes and holding a rather impressive green staff.
[Barrier Breaker · Submit and Perish] (Dragon Soul Mage)
Level: 53
…
“They actually met in the first round!”
The entire venue erupted. Countless gazes turned toward their arena, everyone eager to see who would emerge victorious.
“Let’s have a good match!”
Zhou Ming was exceedingly polite.
Submit and Perish!
The third-ranked expert on the Eastern Region’s level rankings!
Zhou Ming had previously watched footage of him casting a Forbidden Spell on the forums.
“Let’s save our battle for later.” Submit and Perish’s expression shifted repeatedly. After hesitating for a moment, he turned and left. “Beating you wouldn’t be difficult, but the price would be a little high. It isn’t worth paying in the first round.”
Three wins out of five meant every player could afford to lose one match.
Even if he defeated Zhouyou Shijie now, he would not be able to prevent the man from advancing.
Ding!
[System: Barrier Breaker · Submit and Perish has forfeited. You are victorious! Current Victory Points: 2!]
Beating me… wouldn’t be difficult?
Watching the man throw down those bold words and leave the arena without hesitation, Zhou Ming raised an eyebrow. “Then I look forward to seeing it!”
The third opponent Zhou Ming encountered in the first round was thoroughly mediocre. He dispatched the man with ease.
Ding!
[System: Congratulations! You have successfully passed the first round of [Pinnacle Showdown]. The second round will begin in two days!]
Having advanced without trouble, Zhou Ming returned to the City Lord’s Estate. He immediately reentered the Return to Ruin state and began researching his new direction.
“You look pleased. Did you find an answer?” Qianying asked.
“I did!”
Zhou Ming nodded and immediately told her his idea in full.
“It sounds somewhat similar to Silence.” Qianying understood at once.
Silence!
It was a tyrannical status effect that prevented an opponent from using skills.
“But Silence can never last very long,” Zhou Ming said frankly. “A few seconds at most. The sealing effect I’m imagining would remove one of my opponent’s skills for a prolonged period.”
Exactly!
That was the mechanic he believed Dawnbringer lacked!
As crowd-control effects, Silence and Suppression overlapped in duration, preventing him from maximizing their value. Sealing would not have that problem.
“So that’s it!” Renee, who had been eavesdropping nearby, exclaimed in realization. Then she clicked her tongue. “You want to lock down one of your opponent’s skills so completely that they can’t use it before they die?”
“That’s the idea.” Zhou Ming nodded with a smile.
“…”
Renee had nothing to say.
Zhouyou Shijie’s idea was brilliant, but even god-tier experts had no way to obtain such a heaven-defying effect. How was he supposed to create it?
“Please help me find skills related to Silence,” Zhou Ming said. “And every kind of crowd control you can find. I don’t care how low the rank is or how short the duration may be. As long as it has that kind of effect, I’ll take it.”
Truthfully, his idea would be extraordinarily difficult to realize.
If he did not have three god-tier experts offering him their unconditional support, it would be nothing more than a fantasy for any other player.
“All right!”
…
In reality, Su City…
Even as Zhou Ming worked to create an SSS-Rank skill of his own, enemies sent by various nations continued targeting his parents.
Pfft!
A silenced gunshot rang out. Before a burly Black man wielding a knife could react, a bullet struck him between the brows and killed him on the spot.
Someone passing by quickly removed the body from the entrance to Zhou Ming’s parents’ home, leaving no trace behind.
After holstering her pistol, a tall, beautiful woman emerged from hiding with a frown. “That’s already the third one today!”
Her name was Xu Yingying. She belonged to Grand Xia’s Eastern Theater Command and specialized in protecting important officials and their families.
Recently, she had received orders assigning her to protect this married couple without disrupting their lives.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Another casually dressed operative approached, likewise disguised as an ordinary civilian. “Our superiors said there will be quite a few of them in the near future. You’ll have to hold out a little longer.”
“A little longer…?” Xu Yingying was surprised. “Do you mean something will happen afterward that makes these mercenaries from other regions too afraid to target the couple again?”
“That should be what they mean.” After a moment’s hesitation, Wang Zhenfei agreed with her interpretation.
“That’s strange.”
Xu Yingying’s doubts only deepened. “International mercenaries have never been afraid of death. What could possibly make them hesitate?”
“Well…”
“I specifically investigated this couple,” Xu Yingying continued. “To be honest, they’re ordinary. Their identities are ordinary, their abilities are ordinary, and even their family background is ordinary…”
“Enough!”
Wang Zhenfei cut her off in a stern voice. “Follow your orders. Don’t ask questions.”
“Yes, sir!”
Xu Yingying tactfully stopped asking and returned to her duties.
Watching her walk away, Wang Zhenfei shook his head and murmured, “If you couldn’t find the answer, that only means you investigated in the wrong direction… They may be ordinary, but their son certainly isn’t…”
…
Over the following days, Zhou Ming remained utterly immersed in the Return to Ruin state. Aside from eating and sleeping, he spent almost the entire day online.
He learned new skills every day and worked to comprehend and integrate them.
With three “master instructors” tirelessly guiding him, correcting him, and studying alongside him, Zhou Ming possessed an advantage no other player could imagine.
Even so, he repeatedly ran into dead ends, unable to solve the difficulties involved in fusing Dawnbringer with other skills.
Only by attempting it for himself did he truly understand how difficult the Sin of Sloth’s demand to create an SSS-Rank skill actually was.
Ding!
[System: Attention! The second round of [Pinnacle Showdown] has begun. An opponent has been matched for you. Would you like to proceed to the match now? (Note: Refusal to compete will be treated as a forfeit.)]
“…Yes!”
Zhou Ming accepted.
Without him even noticing, the second round of Pinnacle Showdown had already begun.
…