The chat room was silent for a good while.
Everyone was thinking about what they had to do tomorrow.
Dungeons at Pioneer and Godlike difficulty levels are pre-set with certain stats.
This means that equipment stats don't have much impact. The most impact comes from special effects.
Actually, the developers designed this game in a "horizontal expansion" style.
This means there are still tier levels; level 69 equipment will be stronger than level 59.
But among the same level 69 equipment.
The stats are balanced fairly well. And the developers frequently adjust the stats to fit the class.
The difference in stats between equipment of the same level mainly lies in the quality color.
Gold equipment, if desired, is not too hard to obtain.
Gray, Common equipment can be purchased from NPCs in the cities.
Green, Rare equipment is sometimes sold in the cities. Mostly, it comes from dungeons and monster hunting.
Purple, Mysterious equipment, drops from dungeon bosses or some special quests.
Gold equipment is the most used and can be obtained in many ways, but the most common is exchanging "First World Tokens."
By completing daily quests, you receive First World Tokens, and an average piece of gold equipment costs between 10-20 tokens.
And gold equipment exchanged from First World Tokens is only available at level 69.
Equipment obtained this way will not have special effects.Gold equipment obtained from boss fights has a low drop rate, or can be acquired from the Pioneer missions, and will have additional special effect attributes.
The same applies to gold equipment obtained from quests.
The most famous gold equipment from a quest is the [Overlord's Gauntlet], known for its short-range pulling effect.
It's widely used in PVP for its ability to pull both enemies and allies.
No One has completed the quest chain to get those gauntlets, but they are rarely used in PVE, especially for dungeon runs.
In theory, the [Yin-Yang Twin Blades] that No One received also came from a quest, so they should have special effects, right?
However, upon checking previously, it only had a line describing the weapon.
He didn't mind much, as gold equipment was still gold equipment; its stats compared to his previous sword were worlds apart.
If it weren't for No One's skill in animation canceling while using sword energy, its damage couldn't compare to the twin blades.
Speaking of animation canceling,
No One had experimented a bit earlier.
He could still cancel animations using sword energy with the twin blades. However, it was a bit awkward.
He thought he could unleash two sword energies at once with the twin blades.
But each time, it was still only one sword energy.
No One also tried using the First Move of the Blade Dancer in conjunction with music.
The Buff from The Vocal stacked with The Dance was extremely powerful. It was the first time he had seen numbers rise so much.
However...Unable to animation cancel.
Even when No One attempted it mid-dance, deliberately trying to dash.
Instantly, the First Move of the Blade Dancer would end.
Can't animation cancel the dance?
No One pondered for a moment.
If that's the case, the damage output of the First Move of the Blade Dancer would be fixed at this level, which is quite high—not bad.
However, there's no room to increase it further.
I wonder if consulting with the Heavenly Demon In Black could lead to greater insights...
With that thought, No One opened his phone.
The chat interface of the game can be accessed via phone.
As a result, players can start a chat with an NPC even when they're not in the game.
Many players use this method to chat with NPCs, increasing favorable points within the game.
✧[No 11: Master.]✧
✧[Heavenly Demon In Black: What is it?]✧
✧[No 11: I'm facing a bit of a challenge during training. Could I ask for some guidance, Master?]✧
✧[Heavenly Demon In Black: Alright.]✧
TING
A notification sounded for a message received from the Heavenly Demon In Black.
The Heavenly Demon In Black sent a teleportation talisman. It seems to be heading to her grand hall.
"What is it? Is there something troubling you? Have you hit a bottleneck after just one day of training?"
"Not exactly. It's just that when I was training, I thought of a few things that I could improve on, but I couldn't execute them."
"Alright, show me."
"It's like this..."
No One then drew his twin blades and performed a Peerless Dancer's dance in front of the Heavenly Demon In Black. As he danced, he explained.
"The First Move of the Blade Dancer are actually a series of attacks executed during the dance."
"And the final move of this set is the strongest attack, Sever The Sun And Moon."
"However, isn't there some excess?"
"Like the first sweep of the twin blades. Right after the point of impact, you injure the enemy. But then you have to spin around again before you can lower yourself to attack the head."
No One demonstrated the first sweep.
Then, right when he finished the first sweep, he didn't spin.
Instead, he pulled out a toy item, a small bell, and used it.
Similar to drinking a potion to cancel an animation, he used the bell to stop the animation of the First Move of the Blade Dancer.
Immediately after, he used sword energy to slash, canceling the animation of the small bell.
The bell made no sound.
No One canceled the animation so perfectly that the sound had no chance to emerge.
"However, if I do this, the First Move of the Blade Dancer ends abruptly and can't continue."
The Heavenly Demon In Black was taken aback, watching the action No One had just demonstrated.
"Ha..."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
She broke into laughter.
"Wonderful. Wonderful!!!"
Her laughter was full of joy and lingered for a moment.Exhilarating, like a mad person.
No One was a bit dumbfounded.
Wasn't this a bit over the top?
Before he could realize it, the entire hall seemed to shake and tremble from that laughter, almost as if it was about to collapse.
The Heavenly Demon In Black placed her hands on No One's shoulders.
"Excellent. Very good."
"You've only been practicing the First Move of the Blade Dancer for a day, and you've already surpassed the illusion."
Illusion?
He just did an animation cancel.
The Heavenly Demon In Black snapped her fingers.
A mist began to envelop the hall.
"Do you know the difference between the most powerful individuals in this world and everyone else?"
"Level...?"
The Heavenly Demon In Black lightly tapped No One's face.
"Nonsense."
"All truly powerful people are madmen."
She grasped No One's hands, which were holding his twin blades.
Then, she took them from his hands, seemingly preparing to demonstrate something.
Swish.
Swish swish swish.
SWISH.
What's this?
What's happening?
No One thought to himself, is this a dream?The Heavenly Demon In Black was executing the First Move of the Blade Dancer.
BUT.
SHE CANCELED THE ANIMATION!?
With a sweeping slash, she didn't actually turn.
She directly released the sword energy. Then she immediately performed the next move, followed by more sword energy, repeating this over and over.
Countless sword energies were created, shooting into the void.
The First Move of the Blade Dancer continued uninterrupted.
The dance did not miss a beat, nor did it appear to "stutter" like when players cancel animations.
It was as if it had always been this way from the beginning.
"I have met a few people from distant lands like you. They call this animation canceling or overriding."
"You were vaguely about to ask me about it, but feared I might not understand the term, right?"
"The natives of this world don't call it that, and very few do it."
The speed of creating sword energy suddenly increased.
Faster and faster.
However, the rhythm of the dance remained unchanged, with no sense of urgency.
At this moment, it actually looked like a glitch.
The sword energy and the image of the Heavenly Demon In Black didn't match at all.
At one point.
The sword energy stood still.
The crescent arc of the sword energy hung in the air.
But it was flickering, twitching.
No One didn't understand anything.
"The natives of this world. The strongest ones standing at the peak of this world."
"Call it."
The sound was continuous, like a hum, or a sudden ringing in the ears.
No One felt like his simulation device was malfunctioning?
"Destroying Principles."
BOOM.
No One fell down.
But he couldn't take his eyes off the scene in front of him.
The line of sword energy suspended in mid-air, now clear through the mist, revealed its true nature.
An afterimage!
When something moves too fast, it seems to stand still!
The sword energy was continuously being released, so densely that it appeared stationary!
In the distance, at the wall of the great hall.
Constant pressure bore down along a single straight line, cutting deeply, precisely along that singular path.
The Heavenly Demon In Black twirled the twin blades and thrust them into the ground.
"Learn as much as you can."
"Take the principles of this world, destroy them all."
"That's how you become strong."