Chapter 181: The Assessment Ends
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After some arrangements, Zhu Nian brought the 10 dead bodies of the heretic members that Lin Huang and Mu Lan killed to the headquarter. Since the incident, everyone built their tents accordingly and rested inside, including Mu Lan. However, Lin Huang headed to the middle of the Little Devil Island on the next morning. After activating one Double Card, he started killing gold-level monsters with Tyrant's help.
An hour later, he did not only obtain 20 Cross-Ranking Reward Cards but he even managed to accumulate two complete gold-level Monster Cards. They were the Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion which was an enchanted monster and a Gold-Armored Skeleton of the undead species. He decided to combine the card pieces into cards as he wanted to keep them to replace his epic cards during emergencies.
Before heading back to the assessment location, Lin Huang got Xiao Hei to list all his cards:
"You have 14 Monster Cards as below."
"Epic Monster Cards: Charcoal, Bai, Tyrant, Ghastly (Ghastly Clown), Bloody (Demonic Dandelion Vine)"
"Rare Monster Cards: One-Eyed Swordfiend, Alexandrian Eagle."
"Normal Monster Cards: Gold-Armored Skeleton, Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion, Ox Devil, Lion-Headed Troll, Viridian Wolf, Demonic One-Eyed Ape, Spectre."
"You have 21 Skill Cards as below."
"Talent Card: Superhuman Strength (Rare)"
"Life Seed Card: Sly Hands (Rare), Life Replacement (Rare), Sensing Circle (Rare)"
"Combat Skill Card: Great Sword Scripture (Epic), Wildfire Sword (Epic), Fatal Tactics (Rare), Thunder Sword (Rare), Mountain Blade (Rare), Hundred Flowing Blades (Rare), Spectral Snowsteps (Rare), Cloud Steps (Rare)"
"Monster Skill: Blood Spirit, Immense Strength (Intermediate), Advance Disguise, Super Robust, Magic Eye Deterrence (Intermediate), Absolute Defence (Beginner), Blood Hunt (Beginner), Boundless Vision (Beginner), Third Eye (Beginner), Mask - Control"
"These are the 20 cards for your cross-ranking reward:"
"Advance Card x3, One-Time Skill Card x3, Double Card x2, Item Card x3, Provisional Transformation Card x2, Provisional Summoning Card x1, Healing Card x1, Skill Combination Card x1, Treasure Card x1, Mission Card x1, Challenge Card x1, Transportation Card x1"
"You have 40 Functional Cards as below:"
"Provisional Transformation Card x7, Advance Card x5, Healing Card x5, Treasure Card x4, Double Card x4, Prop Card x3, One-time Skill Card x3, Mission Card x2, Flawless Card x2, Skill Combination Card x1, Provisional Summoning Card x1, Transportation Card x1, Challenge Card x1, Small Destruction Card x1"
Seeing a couple of Functional Cards that he had never seen before, Lin Huang read the detailed description.
"One-Time Skill Card: It can seal the skill that is being used before you (monster and human combat skills) and release the skill upon reactivation of the card."
"Remark 1: Your ability is restricted, the highest skill that you can seal at the moment would be holy fire-level skills."
"Remark 2: This card is limited to one use only. Once the skill is activated, the card will disappear."
…
"Provisional Summoning Card: One monster can be randomly summoned upon activation. Summon limited to one hour only."
"Remark 1: The combat strength of the random monster will be one level higher than the highest level of monster the user owns."
"Remark 2: A monster that is related to the monster that the user owns will also have the highest chance of being summoned."
"Remark 3: Consumable upon activation, each card can be used once."
…
"Transportation Card (3): You will be sent to the location you specified for one time upon activation."
"Remark 1: 10 seconds waiting time upon card activation."
"Remark 2: Can not be used when you are moving."
"Remark 3: The location has to be somewhere you have been before."
"Consumable, each card could be activated for three times. The card will disappear after three uses."
…
"Challenge Card: You will be transported into a challenge dimension upon activation. There would be a random monster in the challenge space. Once the user kills the monster, the user will obtain a Monster Card of the monster that he killed."
"Remark 1: The monster that will appear in the challenge dimension would be exactly the same combat strength as the user. The monster species and rarity would be randomly chosen."
"Remark 2: The user would have to fight using his own strength in the challenge dimension, no Monster Card or other Functional Cards are allowed."
"Remark 3: Each Challenge Card will disappear when the user defeats the monster. The maximum number of challenges is three times. If the user fails three of the challenges, the Challenge Card will disappear."
"If the user dies in the challenge dimension, the user will actually die. Therefore, if the user encounters an invincible monster. It is recommended that the user backs out from the challenge dimension."
…
After looking through the new cards, Lin Huang was in a good mood as the cards had strong practicality. As usual, Lin Huang activated three Item Cards. Whenever he received Item Cards, he would activate them without hesitation. However, there was nothing useful as he only got weapons. This time, he obtained two weapons and a bottle of elixir.
He then took a look at the green elixir.
"Insanity Elixir (For monster use only): After the summoning beast is injected with the elixir, it will go insane. Its strength, defensive abilities, and speed will be increased tenfold. Effective Time: One hour."
"Remark 1: After the elixir is injected, the summoning beast will completely lose its mind. It will attack everything it sees, including its master."
"Remark 2: After the effect wears off, the summoning monster will be exhausted for 100 hours. It will fall into deep sleep."
"I got a bottle of elixir!" Lin Huang raised his eyebrows while looking at the remaining cards.
"Oh, I have a Skill Combination Card!"
"Activate Skill Combination Card!" Lin Huang instructed.
"Skill Combination Card has been activated"
"Choose from the packages below."
"1. Combine Sword Skills: Great Sword Scripture, Wildfire Sword, Thunder Sword, Mountain Blade, Hundred Flowing Blades"
"2. Combine Movement Skills: Spectral Snowsteps, Cloud Steps"
"3. Combine Vision Skills: Magic Eye Deterrence, Boundless Vision, Third Eye"
"Please choose one."
"I would like to choose the third one." Lin Huang decided without hesitation as the monster skills that he could manage were limited to 10. Combining the monster skills could give him empty slots to obtain more monster skills.
"Skill Combination Card has been consumed. Monster skills Magic Eye Deterrence, Boundless Vision and Third Eye has been consumed. The new Skill Card is on the way…"
"Congratulations, you have received a new vision card: Kaleidoscope "
"Kaleidoscope: With the combination of many vision skills, it will combine more vision skills automatically with increasing vision strength."
"Remarks: The basic functions at the moment would be Magic Eye Deterrence, Boundless Vision, Third Eye and Illusion."
"Besides the three original skills, there was one extra skill - Illusion after the skills were combined. Besides, the skill could improve as time goes by." Lin Huang smirked while looking at the new skill. He then took a look at his monster skills which had reduced to eight skills from the original 10 skills so he had two empty slots. However, he was not in a rush to extract the skills. He then rode on the Alexandrian Eagle and headed back to the assessment location.
Mu Lan did not ask Lin Huang where he went as she knew that he was safe with Tyrant. As long as he did not encounter any transcendents, he would be safe. For the following days, Lin Huang followed the rest and set up a tent on Little Devil Island while waiting for the upgrade.
On the fourth day, the news finally came. As Mu Lan reported on time, it had lessened the damages of the Hunter Association. There were 63 assessment locations that were invaded but only participants from 11 footholds were completely captured. A part of the participants from 37 assessment locations was captured while the participants from the remaining 15 assessment locations were all rescued. There were more than 12,800 participants that were captured which were close to 30% of the total number of the 63 assessment locations.
All of the 63 assessment locations that were invaded had been suspended. The Hunter Association headquarter announced that all of the remaining participants in the 63 assessment locations would not have to go for the next assessment and they would officially be Regular Hunters.
When Mu Lan announced the news to the participants, the participants of the assessment location where Lin Huang was in were cheering. However, Lin Huang did not care about that. To him, there was no difference if the assessment was suspended or not. The only thing to be happy about was that he would be able to head home to celebrate the new year.
As the assessment was over, the Hunter Association sent a Demonic Crystal Spaceship and brought all participants back to foothold No.7B24, Beixuan City. Many in the Hunter Association division in Beixuan City were watching as Mu Lan brought 489 participants to the registration.
"Is the passing rate so high this year? It's usually less than 300 people." Someone was skeptical.
"Yeah, I think there were 12,000 participants this round. The passing rate is 4% this time around. It's usually only 2%."
"Perhaps the assessment was easier this time?"
As the Hunter Association had yet to disseminate the news that the assessment was invaded, many were discussing the high passing rate. Although there were many of them, the registration did not take too long as they were all Reserve Hunter, the Hunter Association had a record of their personal details. All they needed to do was to update their personal information and re-test their combat strength. Each registration would take less than 10 seconds. There were three registration counters which made it quite fast.
Lin Huang waited in the queue for less than 10 minutes. Just as he was leaving, he was called by the person who registered him.
"When you registered in June, you were not even iron-level. It's December now and your combat strength is already silver-level rank-1? This means you only took six months to level-up to silver-level?" The person was in disbelief. What she did not know was, Lin Huang was holding back his strength during the test.
What the person said was heard by all of them in the hall, they looked at Lin Huang. It was terrifying for an ordinary person to level-up to silver-level in six months. Even if a talented person who was trained in a high-level Life Skill, filling up iron-level Life Power would take at least one month per circle and three months for three circles. It would then take at least two months to stabilize the Life Power. Leveling-up to bronze-level rank-1 would take almost six months.
When one reached bronze-level, the speed they filled their Life Power would be slower, approximately three times slower than it was before they got to iron-level. It would take at least nine months to fill three circles of their Life Power while the stabilization would take at least another two months. In total, that would take them at least 16 months to be able to reach bronze-level. This was someone who was trained in a high-level Life Skill. In reality, most of the people would take more than two years while those who were talented would take around one year and six months.
However, the fact that Lin Huang only took six months stunned everyone.
"Yes." Lin Huang nodded in certainty.
"Then I shall report your puzzling training speed to the management. Somebody will be evaluating your performance." The person said to Lin Huang. She was concerned that Lin Huang was cheating. If that was so, the punishment would be terrible.
"Sure." Lin Huang nodded, he knew what did the person mean.
"It's there's nothing else, I'll make a move."
"That will be all." The person waved her hand, "Next!"
Chapter 182: Going Through Another Review
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Just as Lin Huang walked out to the hall of the Hunter Association, he was stopped by Mu Lan.
"Head examiner Mu, is there anything wrong?" Lin Huang thought it was odd.
"Is what the person at the registration said true? That you managed to level-up up to silver-level from an ordinary person in six months?" Mu Lan asked directly.
"It's true."
Lin Huang thought there was nothing to hide as it would be revealed anyway since he registered himself at the association.
"What kind of Life Skill did you train? How is it possible that you leveled-up in such a short period of time? It's impossible to do such a thing even if what you trained was an Ultimate Life Skill. I think I'm quite talented and I took almost a year to achieve silver-level." Mu Lan revealed her training speed.
"I trained Army Attack Tactics ." Lin Huang looked at Mu Lan with a smile.
"The early stages of training Army Attack Tactics is not even comparable to a high-level Life Skill. What level are you on now?" Mu Lan frowned.
"Level-6." Lin Huang lied.
"You managed to train Army Attack Tactics to level-6 within six months?! You really are a talented genius!" Mu Lan thought it was unbelievable that Lin Huang got to level-6 in Army Attack Tactics within six months as it was difficult. Some people were stuck on level-5 for more than ten years.
Lin Huang smiled without saying a word. Mu Lan then said to him, "I'll recommend you for intensive training."
"Intensive training? Is that something similar to the exclusive pass?" It was the first time Lin Huang heard of such a thing.
"Of course not. The exclusive pass is just for those who had yet to join the Reserve Hunter assessment to become a Regular Hunter. There are many of them. However, intensive training is a special pass that the Hunter Association gives out to geniuses. All of the people who obtain the pass were all geniuses. Not only they would be given access to a massive amount of resources, the information that they can obtain is similar to holy fire-level executive officers…" Mu Lan explained in detail.
"How is it that I've never heard of this?" Lin Huang did not think that Mu Lan was lying to him, he was just curious that he had never heard of that before.
"That's normal. In the Hunter Association, only Gold Hunter and above will have the access to this, let alone outsiders." Mu Lan smiled.
"If that's true, the slots should be quite limited. If you were to recommend me, I may not necessarily get it. Am I right?" Lin Huang had no idea that he was already recommended earlier but he was declined during the final review.
"It truly is limited. There are less than four people in Division7 who can pass the review in the entire year. Even if there were exceptions, it would not be more than six people. The recommendations that we submit would go through three rounds of review. The first two rounds are easy, but not the final review as it has to go through 12 executive officers. As long as one of them disagree, the review would be declined. However, I'm confident that you'll pass the review!" Mu Lan had full confidence in Lin Huang.
"Alright then, I shall thank you in advance. To show my appreciation, I shall treat you to dinner tonight." Lin Huang said. Although he did not think that he would pass the review, he did not want to reject Mu Lan's kindness.
"I'll take a rain check. I've some errands to run at home, I'll have to head home right after I am done with the registration." Mu Lan smiled, "However, I'll submit the registration for you by today. Don't worry about it."
"It's alright, you can do that anytime you want." Lin Huang shrugged his shoulders, "We'll postpone our dinner then."
"Sure, we'll talk about it the next time we meet." Mu Lan nodded. She asked again, "Oh right. When are you heading home?"
"I haven't booked the ticket yet. I'm not sure if I can manage to book the ticket for the day after tomorrow. If that's not possible, I'll have to wait until next week." Lin Huang did not think that he could get a ticket as the date was too close.
"You can check now. If you can't manage to book one, I'll help." Mu Lan took the initiative to help Lin Huang.
"It's okay. Since the assessment ended earlier and it's still days before the new year, I can leave one week later." Lin Huang rejected.
"I'll check it out." Mu Lan then looked for the ticket page of the Demonic Crystal Spaceship. As she had Lin Huang's personal details in the assessment registration, she found the spaceship schedule that he was looking for within seconds.
However, the spaceship was fully booked. Lin Huang saw it from the side.
"I'll get the tickets for next week then."
"It's alright, there are still available seats in the VIP cabin." Mu Lan then booked the ticket.
In less than three seconds, the ticket was sent to Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring.
Lin Huang was speechless, "I'll transfer you the money, please send me your account details."
"There's no need for that, consider this my apology for almost getting you killed by Xia Yu earlier." Mu Lan still had the incident in her mind. She then turned around and headed to the hall of the Hunter Association.
Lin Huang was stunned and remained wherever he was standing. He knew that Mu Lan would not take his money even if he chased after hear. He shook his head and headed to the hotel. The hotel that Lin Huang booked located near Beiming Plaza where the Demonic Crystal Spaceship would depart.
In the hotel room, he sat on the couch in the living room and stared blankly at the two cards on his hand. There were two Rare Monster Cards, one was the One-Eyed Swordfiend while another was the Alexandrian Eagle. He had five Advance Cards, which were sufficient to get him two Epic Monster Cards. Lin Huang was determined to level-up One-Eyed Swordfiend as it would grow extraordinarily powerful when it was upgraded to Epic.
However, Lin Huang was not sure if he should upgrade the Alexandrian Eagle which was also a mutated monster as he only had one flying monster. If it was upgraded, he could not reveal it as often anymore. Each double mutation would cause a big scene, that was the reason why he was delaying the upgrade. Since the heretic invasion just passed on Little Devil Island, it would be too much if Lin Huang upgraded it right away.
He then kept both cards and took out an Epic Monster Card. It was the Demonic Dandelion Vine that he named Bloody. Although it was an Epic Monster Card, it only possessed two skills right now which were Leech Pods and Absolute Control . Meanwhile, there were three skills that had yet to be developed. Although it was silver-level rank-3, Lin Huang had no idea what would happen if he was to upgrade it.
Lin Huang had to extract two monster skills as he was waiting for One-Eyed Swordfiend and Demonic Dandelion Vine to become epic-level monsters so that he could extract the skills at once. No matter what, the skills of an epic-level monster would be much more powerful than other monsters.
After some thoughts, Lin Huang kept the cards and opened the calendar in his Emperor's Heart Ring. It was December 21st, it was one month before the new year. He could spend the time with Lin Xin and Lin Xuan during the month as well as stabilize his Life Power. Lin Huang did not do much during the two days in Beixuan City where he spent most of his time strolling around, shopping for souvenirs during the day and practiced Army Attack Tactics for three to four hours during the night.
What he did not know was that someone was cracking his head for Lin Huang during these two days. It was dinner time when the executive officer Xu Tianyu received the second recommendation. He planned to ignore the message, but since it was sent by Mu Lan, he took a look at the message after some hesitation. In the message, Lin Huang was described in all sorts of manners. Mu Lan did not only mention his terrifying speed and his double mutated summoning monster but she even explained how Lin Huang helped in the heretic invasion.
Xu Tianyu was stunned after reading the message. He had always thought it was Mu Lan who discovered what the heretics were up to. He did not know that it was Lin Huang who found out.
"It seems like this kid is very trainable. I've underestimated him!" Xu Tianyu frowned as he said this, "However, it's hard to pass the review since all of the executive officers are old-timers with a huge ego. They won't accept someone that they've rejected, especially Old Li…"
"Dad, I have been calling you for dinner!" A tanned middle-aged man knocked on Xu Tianyu's door.
"Oh, I'll be there soon." Xu Tianyu nodded.
The man at the door saw Lin Huang's photo and asked, "Dad, why does this kid look so familiar?"
"He's the one at your assessment." Xu Tianyu nodded.
"Now I remember, I think his name is Lin Huang. He and another girl were the only two persons who managed to get the information about the crystallized weed during the second assessment." The middle-aged man was the head examiner of the first round of assessment, Xu Jinpeng.
"Oh, really?" Xu Tianyu raised his eyebrow, "What do you think about him?"
"I don't know much about him. I heard about him from Zhuo Lin, he looked up to this kid. However, we did not test them on their abilities during the two assessments so we have no idea of the extent of his abilities. If you'd like to know, you'll have to check with the two head examiners who were responsible for the remaining assessments." Xu Jinpeng answered honestly.
"I have the comments of both head examiners…" Xu Tianyu smiled awkwardly.
"What's wrong with this kid? Did he cause any troubles?" Now Xu Jinpeng was curious.
"He did not cause any trouble. Both the head examiners recommended him for intensive training. Seems like this kid is really something, that's too bad…"
"Isn't that a good thing, what's too bad about it. Dad, if you think he can make it, pass him into the final review." Xu Jinpeng thought it was an easy task.
"The thing is, I've already recommended him once but he was rejected at the final review…" Xu Tianyu shook his head.
"So you are worried that the executive officers would think that you are trying to find fault with them if you recommend him for a second time?" Xu Jinpeng figured out what was his father's concern. "Can I take a look at his documents?"
"Sure." Xu Tianyu nodded and brought out all the documents sent by the two head examiners. After reading the documents, Xu Jinpeng became serious, "Dad, we can't let such talents slip away. If other organizations took him, it's our loss."
"I know, but now the problem is that he would not pass the final review!" Xu Tianyu nodded but he felt helpless.
"I bet you must be worried about Old Li?" Xu Jinpeng knew what the problem was.
Xu Tianyu did not say a word.
"If that's your concern, there's a solution." Xu Jinpeng smiled.
"What is that?" Xu Tianyu raised his eyebrow.
"The family of the head examiner Mu Lan, is close with Mr. Fu. Get her to send the documents to Mr. Fu. As long as Mr. Fu talks to Old Li, the problem will be solved." Xu Jinpeng suggested.
"But what if Mr. Fu wants Lin Huang for himself?" Xu Tianyu was not sure if that was a good solution.
"Mr. Fu has already retired from the Union Government for more than 30 years. During the 30 years, there were many geniuses in Division7, did you see him wanting anybody?" Xu Jinpeng thought Xu Tianyu's concern was unnecessary.
"Alright then, I shall write to the Mu family then…" Just when he was walking to the desk, a lady walked in.
"I have been waiting for you for dinner, what are the both of you chatting about? The dishes are cold now…"
"I'll go right there…" Xu Tianyu nodded continuously while Xu Jinpeng laughed at him…
Chapter 183: Peculiar Mentality
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Mu Lan found it strange to see Xu Tianyu's reply letter. Although she had no idea why he insisted on her sending Lin Huang's documents to Mr. Fu so that he could say something good about Lin Huang to Old Li. However, she obliged and wrote a proper letter, sending it to Mr. Fu together with the documents later.
When Mr. Fu received the letter, he was fishing on the sea smiling while smoking his pipe. The sun was setting with the red sun right above the horizon. When he finished going through Mu Lan's letter and documents as well as the video of Lin Huang that was included, Mr. Fu held his head up. It was hard to tell if he was glad or upset, he proceeded to smoke while looking far into the horizon.
Awhile later, he looked at the photo of him fishing which was taken by Lin Huang earlier. He then looked at the red sun that was the same color appeared in the photo, he took a long breath.
"Is this fate…"
He sat on the high chair while he zoned out into the horizon. He seemed to be thinking and just when the sun was setting on the horizon, the fishing rod on his hand became heavy.
"Hmm?"
Mr. Fu snapped out of it and realized that the fishing rod was pulled down. He raised his eyebrow, pulled up the fishing rod and saw a golden fish appear from the water. It then fell hard on the deck of the spaceship. Looking at the half-dead Goldenink Grouper, it was a similar size to the one that he caught a few days back. He was stunned at first but soon, he let out a big smile.
He proceeded to send a message to Old Li of the Hunter Association with Lin Huang's details. It was a short message that read, "I want this kid!"
Old Li thought it was ridiculous when he received Mr. Fu's message. After he looked at the documents that were attached together with the message and Lin Huang's details, he looked doubtful. He remembered Lin Huang as the young man that he rejected from the intensive training list a few days ago.
"A young man that's wanted by Mr. Fu… Seems like my judgment was wrong…" After staring at Lin Huang's documents for a long time, he let out a sigh, knowing that there was no return. Meanwhile, Mr. Fu had found Lin Huang's contact details on his communication device. He then called Lin Huang immediately…
When Lin Huang saw Mr. Fu's call request, Lin Huang thought it was odd. He was eating grilled fish at a barbecue stall when Mr. Fu called, he picked up the call anyway. In the video, Mr. Fu was smiling warmly as usual.
"Good evening, Mr. Fu." Lin Huang greeted him with a smile.
"Boy, are you eating grilled fish?" Mr. Fu saw the half-eaten grilled fish on the table in front of Lin Huang.
"Yeah. Have you eaten, Mr. Fu?" Lin Huang not sure what was the purpose of the call but he smiled and answered politely anyway.
"I'm just about to, look at what I got!" Mr. Fu showed Lin Huang what was behind him, it was a Goldenink Grouper. Mr. Fu then rotated the screen back to himself and smiled, "Seeing the grilled fish that you're eating, I shall do that today as well!"
Lin Huang gulped as he remembered how good Mr. Fu's cooking was. It was the cooking of a real Food Hunter, unforgettable.
"Hehe…" Mr. Fu saw that from the video.
"Would you like to try my cooking again, boy?"
"Of course I do, I could never forget how good your cooking is. However, it will have to wait as I have errands to run tomorrow morning. I'll meet you one day for a good feast." Lin Huang shook his head and smiled as he had to make it to the spaceship tomorrow.
Mr. Fu did not expect Lin Huang to reject his invitation. Initially, he wanted to lure him in with food and talk to him when Lin Huang was on his spaceship. However, that plan would not work now. After some hesitation, he decided to ask directly, "Boy… What do you think about being my apprentice?"
Lin Huang was stunned, although he was not sure who exactly Mr. Fu was, however, he thought they were fated. Moreover, he was impressed by Mr. Fu's ability to capture the Goldenink Grouper with only his Life Power the other day.
Seeing Lin Huang was stunned, Mr. Fu added, "Think about it, let me know as soon as possible…"
"Would you teach to fish like you did as well?" Lin Huang asked.
"Of course I'll teach you. However, to be able to perform detachment and objectification with your Life Power, you'll need to be at least at the holy-fire level. If you'd like to disguise yourself as some other creature to escape monsters, you'd need to be on an even higher level…" Mr. Fu explained.
"I agree!" Lin Huang agreed to be Mr. Fu's apprentice immediately.
Mr. Fu was stunned this time, he did not expect Lin Huang to accept his request so fast. "Just like that?"
"Is there something wrong?" Lin Huang asked him back.
"Alright then. From today onwards, you, Lin Huang shall be Fu Qingshan's apprentice!" Mr. Fu was scared that Lin Huang would regret his decision so he announced it hurriedly.
"Shouldn't there be a proper ceremony?" Lin Huang read from novels that apprenticeships must go through some kind of official ceremony.
"There's no need for that, it's just for a show." Mr. Fu seemed to despise the so-called ceremony.
"I've seen the Army Attack Tactics that you were training, I could tell you that you're at least on level-7 or even level-8." Mr. Fu said to Lin Huang, "Which level are you really on?"
"Level-8…" Lin Huang did not expect Mr. Fu to see through him.
"What's your combat level now? Which rank of silver-level?" Mr. Fu asked again.
"White silver-level rank-3." Lin Huang replied honestly.
"Your speed is rather terrifying. Please stabilize your Life Power properly, don't be lazy. It's a good thing that you level-up fast but it's important to have a stable foundation." Mr. Fu was impressed as he recalled Lin Huang was only a bronze-level rank-3 few days ago when they met on the spaceship.
"Alright." Lin Huang nodded.
"I've seen your documents that were sent by the Hunter Association, I know you have a summoning monster that went through a double mutation. Although you're an Imperial Censor, you should not be relying on your summoning monsters while ignoring your ability. A truly powerful Imperial Censor should have abilities that are no less than his summoning monsters or even stronger. Don't ever forget that your own ability is the root of success. You can treat your summoning monster as your partner. However, their strength is not yours at the end of the day." Mr. Fu advised.
"I understand, master." Lin Huang had noticed this problem recently. Ever since he possessed powerful summoning monsters, he became weak himself. Just like the battle with Xia Yu earlier, he did not have the strength to fight back at all, all he did was relying on Tyrant to cover him. He wanted to be stronger himself as well instead of relying on his summoning monsters.
Through the video call, Mr. Fu managed to know a little bit more about Lin Huang as well as giving him a simple guidance. Before seeing Lin Huang's performance in a real battle, he did not plan to guide Lin Huang in his direction at all.
Now that Mr. Fu had already found out some details about Lin Huang, he said to him after some consideration, "The year is ending, I shall give you a mission."
"Please. Do tell, master." Lin Huang nodded.
"You are a Regular Hunter now, so you're eligible to battle in the Hunter Arena. My mission to you will be for you to enter the Division7 Hunter Arena within two months and rank up to top 10 in the Silver Hunter Leaderboard without using any of your summoning monsters! Remember to record the battle in a video.
Lin Huang was surprised at the request, his expression showed it all. The mission was not exactly easy. Lin Huang had never been to the Hunter Arena, however, he knew there were many powerful hunters in there. Most of the Regular Hunters would have their own accounts at the arena. Like the Gold Hunter Leaderboard, a portion of the statistic on their personal ability came from the results at the Hunter Arena.
Although he knew that it would be a challenge, Lin Huang accepted anyway, "I'll give my best no matter what."
"I mean the two months when the Hunter Arena is open. It doesn't include the New Year holidays as it'll be closed during that period. You should spend time with your family during the holidays." Mr. Fu added.
Oh right, there's something that I'll need to tell you. The Hunter Association wanted to list you into intensive training but because of me, you will not pass the review as I am not one of the members of the Hunter Association. Those who are listed in intensive training must be apprentices to those who are members of the association." Mr. Fu did not forget to tell Lin Huang about that matter.
"It's alright, I heard of the review process from head examiner Mu, I knew I might not pass the final review." Lin Huang did not mind at all.
After some advice, Mr. Fu hung up the call.
…
Lin Huang boarded the Demonic Crystal Spaceship the next morning. As Mu Lan bought him a ticket in the VIP cabin, many people looked at him as he pressed 11th floor in the elevator, they thought he was a member of royalty. When he arrived on the 11th floor, he was the only one left in the elevator. It was the first time he came to this floor in the spaceship. He found his room number which was Room 1108, he scanned the key card and went it.
Lin Huang raised his eyebrows when he saw how big the room was, it was not thousands of meters but it was at least 800 square meters. There was almost everything in the room. After taking a thorough look in the room, Lin Huang found out there was a mini swimming pool in a single room. The bedroom was not only spacious because the bathroom was 50 or 60 square meters, sufficient to accommodate a group of people.
After looking at the room, Lin Huang came to the living room. As he was planning to take a look at the Hunter Arena, a news video popped up. It was a video of the Hunter Association opening up about the invasion of heretics at the assessment. After the Hunter Association condemned the heretics, they declared war upon the heretics in Division7. The heretics were asked to publicly apologize and release all the captured hunters or else their members in this division would be badly affected.
A couple of minutes into the video, the heretics responded. The presiding judge was wearing a black robe with a white, scary mask on his face.
"I would like to apologize on behalf of the organization for the troubles caused to the Hunter Association. We will release all of the 12,800 people within a month after the evaluation. We would also pay for the damages caused to the Hunter Association so that we are at peace. We never meant to start a war with the Hunter Association and the Union Government. We hope the public would understand that we are not some terrorist, we have just a normal organization that practices freedom. If you are interested, you may call the number at the bottom right of the screen to join our assessment…"
"What the hell is that? How does an open apology become a TV commercial?" Lin Huang thought the mentality of these heretics was quite puzzling.
"They'll be released within a month? Would the Hunter Association still want them?"
Chapter 184: Hunter Arena
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Not many people knew what exactly the heretics were about. All they knew was that the Heretic Organization was one of the most powerful organizations in the underworld. However, the Hunter Association knew very well that although the heretics belonged to the underworld, they were on a whole other level. It was unlikely that they would create trouble and unlike other organizations where human lives were nothing. However, their members were untameable where they did whatever they wanted without thinking of the consequences.
After seeing the apology of the Heretic Organization's presiding judge, the executive officers of Division7 were upset. He managed to apologize within three minutes after the Hunter Association released the video, it was obvious that he came prepared. The apology was proper; he did not only apologize but he even wanted to pay for the damages and release the victims. However, could it be possible that he would dare use the people he captured? Who would know if the victims were not brainwashed?
It was a play well-done by the heretics as they knew the Hunter Association did not want that batch of people anymore but they decided to release them anyway. Even if they were not brainwashed, the Hunter Association would not be the only one who would not accept the 12,800 victims, but the other organizations as well. The only solution the victims had now was to join the heretics or they would remain an ordinary person for the rest of their lives.
However, it was nice that the heretics were willing to apologize so openly. There was nothing else the Division7 Hunter Association could do. Soon, they announced a cease-fire since there would be no good that could come was no good that would come out of the war. They would rather ask for more compensation.
The incident had captured the attention of many other organizations.
"The heretics are so smart. They let the Hunter Association go through the trouble of putting the participants through all the preliminary evaluation before they scooped the talents away. Wouldn't the apology and compensation that come later be like buying people off with money? They even conveniently promote themselves on the video which was aired in 12 divisions. Tsk tsk, these people…"
"That's right. I wonder which genius came up with this idea! Why don't we suggest this to our boss? We can do the same in June next year?" A person laughed.
"Don't even think about it. We, the Purple Crow, would be dead to the Hunter Association if we did that. Division7 wouldn't be the only one to declare war on us, the other 12 divisions might do the same and band up with the Hunter Association. You should know that we're considered as a terrorist group within the Hunter Association. The heretics would only be labeled as mentally ill among the other organizations if we did that.
The Purple Crow were not the only ones. Other underworld organizations were tempted to do the same as well but they gave up copying the heretics when they thought about the uniqueness of what they did. The Hunter Association went easy on the first attempt. If there was a second time, the consequences would be dire. If the Hunter Association did not show what they would do to people who would dare repeat such an invasion, people would think that the Hunter Association was a pushover and there would be more attempts in the future. Taking these factors into consideration, the other underworld organizations decided not to follow them.
Since the incident happened, the Hunter Association was already up and running again. Xu Tianyu brought up the matter of including Lin Huang in the intensive training list again. When Xu Tianyu projected new documents of Lin Huang before the executives during the meeting, many thought it was strange. Old Li did not say a word but later proceeded to mention, "Old Xu, I know he's your favorite. However, no matter how much we like this kid, there's nothing that we can do anymore."
"What do you mean by that?" Xu Tianyu was confused.
Theoretically, Mr. Fu should have spoken to Old Li, why would Old Li intervene now?
"The kid has been taken in by Mr. Fu." Old Li shook his head, "It seems like we've lost a talent… Sigh…"
"Mr. Fu took him in?!" Everyone was shocked.
"Old Li, maybe you misunderstood. What did Mr. Fu tell you?" Xu Tianyu thought that Mr. Fu was making the matter of including Lin Huang in intensive training too complicated, giving Old Li the impression that Mr. Fu wanted Lin Huang.
"He sent me a message that says 'I want this kid!', before sending Lin Huang's documents over. It seems like he has taken him as his apprentice. The message was served to us to inform us of this so that we won't enlist him in intensive training." Old Li explained.
"Mr. Fu has many apprentices, included Old Li too. I think it's still possible that we insist to enlist Lin Huang in intensive training." Xu Tianyu said.
"That's true. Moreover, we have been taking his advice throughout the years, he had taught us a lot. We respect him deeply and treat him as our master. However, he only had one real apprentice, the one he found 300 years ago. Since the death of that apprentice, he has never taken in any real apprentices anymore. Those who came later would address him as sir instead of master. That's why we call him Mr. Fu; something everyone addresses him as right now. If it was not something out of the ordinary, Mr. Fu's would not have sent me that message with his character." Everyone went silent after hearing what Old Li said.
"We can't enlist Lin Huang into intensive training anymore, however, he'll still remain as a member of the Hunter Association. His performance was good in the assessment, let's make him a Gold Hunter. It should be sufficient for him." Old Li suggested.
Xu Tianyu had to accept the cold hard truth, he thought to himself that he should not have sent Lin Huang's documents to Mr. Fu.
…
Meanwhile, Lin Huang turned off the apology video of the heretics. The lives of the victims that were captured by the heretics had completely changed. Even if they were released, they would be accepted by the Hunter Association anymore. No other organizations would accept them besides the heretics. Lin Huang shook his head and looked at the Hunter Association's page. On the main page, there was a war declaration was posted on top, one in the middle and one on the right.
Lin Huang saw the posts but he did not click on them while he was looking at the eligibility of his account. It had a copper logo, he had been given the authority of a Regular Hunter. He found Hunter Arena on the download page and proceeded to download the game. Two to three minutes later, the game was downloaded and a plug-in page popped up. The plug-in download was fast, soon Lin Huang was on the login page with the background of an ancient hall.
Lin Huang scanned his ID and the log-in was done within seconds.
"Please register a nickname for yourself. This nickname will be used in battles." A lady in a pink dress said as she smiled.
"Sword Overlord!" Lin Huang thought of a nickname for himself.
"I'm sorry, this nickname has been taken."
Lin Huang raised his eyebrow, he did not expect this to happen in this world.
"Heaven's Sword!"
"I'm sorry, this nickname has been taken."
"This too?" Lin Huang frowned, he then thought of another nickname, "Sword Genius!"
The nickname 'Sword Genius' is available, are you should you want this as your nickname."
"Yes." Lin Huang nodded.
"Hi, player Sword Genius , the game will be controlled by your consciousness. We'll scan your body and create a body for you in the game following the data we extract from your body. All the bleeding, pain and death in the game would simulate 100% of what's happening in real life…"
"If you're ready, please press 'Enter Game' . After the 10-second countdown, your consciousness will be pulled into the game.
Lin Huang nodded and entered the game. The lady in pink disappeared was replaced with golden three-dimensional numbers. It spun as it counted down from 10. A final beam of red light was shot out of the number to scan Lin Huang's body. After the countdown ended, Lin Huang was led into darkness and appeared in a building that he had never been in before. He looked at his body, it was the same as before. He then looked at the cards in his body, they were all there.
"Xiao Hei are you there?" Lin Huang contacted Xiao Hei with his mind.
"Yes."
"Are you in the game too?"
"This is an incomplete virtual reality, it's normal that I'm able to enter."
After chatting with Xiao Hei, Lin Huang began to look around. The enormous building was crowded with people. There were many commercial boards with a variety of elixir and weapons. However, the most obvious one was the huge three-dimensional screen in the middle. It was an introduction of the Hunter Arena.
Selected battle scenes were being played in the video, Lin Huang became exuberant after watching the video. Finally, there was a guide at the end of the video. All of the information was connected to the Emperor's Heart Ring. As long as the ring was active, the guide would appear. Lin Huang opened his Emperor's Heart Ring, the function was different than usual.
A lady's voice was heard together with a golden arrow on the interface.
"There's an image of crossed swords on the left. That's the challenge button. When you press the challenge button, the system will randomly choose an opponent for you following your level and ranking in the game. The image of an eye on the left was the watch button. It allows you to watch all the live battles available within your authority level. The third button which was an image of a person would be your personal details. You can look at your personal details which include your ranking in the game…"
"The points system in the arena is set as below:"
"Win: 1 point."
"Killing opponents with one hit will get you double point, which is 2 points."
"Tie: 0 points."
"Achieving ties for 10 battles will get you 1 point"
"Lose: -1 point"
"Getting killed by your opponent in one hit will deduct double points, which is -2 points."
"Additional Rules: Win for 10 consecutive battles, 20 battles, 30 battles will double accumulated points.
Lose for five to 10 battles, point deduction will be doubled. Lose for more than 10 battles, point deduction will be multiplied by three.
If there's a tie between a consecutive win or lose, the streak would be suspended."
After spending a couple of minutes listening to the introduction, Lin Huang knew how the game was basically run. He then tapped on the ranking board and looked at one of the silver-level players. Looking at the points of those who ranked in the top 10, Lin Huang frowned as the points were above 10,000.
"Without the double points from winning streaks, I would have to win 10,000 battles to get into the top 10. To accomplish this within two months isn't easy…"
Chapter 185: Killed in One Hit!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang calculated the possible scores, following the point system.
Winning ten battles would mean 10 x 2 = 20 points.
Winning 20 battles would mean (20 + 10) x 2 = 60 points.
Winning 30 battles would mean (60 + 10) x 2 = 140 points.
…
With his calculation of the double points, he would have to win 90 consecutive battles to accumulate more than 10,000 points. A single draw would not be allowed as it would stop the double points and he would have to start all over again.
The mode of battle was chosen randomly and the more winning streaks he got, the more points he accumulated. It also meant opponents were more powerful as time went on. Towards the end, the winning streak would be a lot harder to keep.
After looking at the rules for one last time and making sure that he did not miss anything, Lin Huang proceeded to press the challenge button.
"Player Sword Genius has successfully applied to the challenge. According to your level, which is silver-level rank-3. You will be sent to the sixth floor"
Within seconds, Lin Huang was sent to the sixth floor of the arena. There were fewer people on this floor but it was still crowded.
"Player Sword Genius, you currently have zero points. Please wait while the system randomly matches you to your opponent… Opponent found!"
"Players can choose not to reveal their real face with a mask challenge. You can also choose to battle without a mask. Please make your selection now!"
Lin Huang thought about it and decided not to reveal his own face. "Mask battle then."
"Player is being sent to ring No.188 of the arena, on the sixth floor."
Not long after being sent to the sixth floor, Lin Huang was matched with an opponent and sent to the ring. As he entered, a silver mask was attached to his face. The mask was a perfect fit leaving just enough space to move, with no discomfort at all. All the others could see was his pair of eyes.
Looking around, Lin Huang noticed he was alone, with no audience around the ring either.
He had arrived earlier than his opponent. Two to three seconds later, a topless hunk appeared.
Golden numbers appeared on top of the ring and the countdown started: 10, 9, 8…
"Nickname: Sword Genius"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 0"
"Accumulated Points: 0"
"Winning Percentage: 0%"
Looking at Lin Huang's score, the hunk laughed.
"It seems like I'm a lucky guy today, encountered a rookie in my first battle of the day."
Hearing what the hunk said, Lin Huang then looked at the score of his opponent.
"Nickname: Overlord Golden Gun"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 251"
"Accumulated Points: -19"
"Winning Percentage: 46%"
Lin Huang was surprised when he saw the person's score, which was negative. He then recalled that it would happen when one lost a battle, especially when the person lost more than they won.
"Overlord Golden Gun, is he using a gun?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow. Once the countdown ended, Lin Huang plunged towards the hunk. No matter the person was using a weapon gun or a spear, Lin Huang figured things would not go wrong as long as he got closer to him.
Seeing Lin Huang plunging towards him, the hunk grinned.
"Ah, another kid who fell into my trap. The Overlord Golden Gun isn't a real gun, nor a spear, but the 'gun' in my pants! What I'm expecting is close-quarter combat!"
Lin Huang had no idea what the hunk had in mind. Even if he did, he would not mind at all, the hunk's winning percentage was only 46%, which showed that his ability was just mediocre at best. All he wanted to do, was to kill him as soon as possible and obtain the points.
The rings on the fourth to sixth floors of the Hunter Area were 20 meters wide. It seemed spacious but for the people of silver-level, it only took two to three steps to walk 20 meters away. Using Spectral Snowsteps, Lin Huang appeared in front of the hunk like a ghost. Although Lin Huang was fast, the hunk still managed to see him. Noticing that he was coming, the hunk punched towards Lin Huang's shadow with his muscular arm.
"I have been waiting for this!" Lin Huang smirked.
Looking at the trajectory of the hunk's fist, Lin Huang moved slightly and avoided the hunk's seemingly deadly hit. He then got closer to the hunk and fully unleashed his level-8 Army Attack Tactics. The 96 circles of Life Power worked like a drill on the hunk's tummy.
"Bang!" An intense burst was created, even Lin Huang was shocked and retreated.
While he retreated, he noticed there was a hole the size of a bowl in the hunk's tummy. Through the hole, he could see the seats that were empty behind him. The now dead hunk fell to the ground. His 'dead body' fading into pieces, the blood that was spilled on Lin Huang's hands and body as well as on the ring disappeared too.
Lin Huang remained shocked, he did not expect his punch to be that terrifying. Although the hunk was not wearing any armor, he was still a silver-level but Lin Huang had killed him in one hit.
"The combination of Army Attack Tactics and Fatal Tactics was that powerful?" Lin Huang thought it was unbelievable.
"Congratulations, you have won the battle!"
"You managed to kill your opponent in one hit, you have obtained 2 points!"
Hearing the notification, Lin Huang looked at his personal score.
"Nickname: Sword Genius"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 1"
"Accumulated Points: 2"
"Winning Percentage: 100%"
"If I managed to kill my opponent for 10 consecutive battles in one hit, I would not only get 20 points, but 40 points!" The first battle gave Lin Huang confidence. It was normal that he was given weaker opponent in the beginning as he did not have any points yet, which made getting a winning streak easier. He started to aim higher, which was to kill his opponents in one hit.
"I shall try my best to kill all of them in one hit then." Lin Huang decided.
"Would you like to continue to battle?" A notification box popped up before Lin Huang.
"Yes!" Lin Huang selected immediately.
"The system is matching you with an opponent please wait… Matching has been completed!"
Soon, an opponent was sent across the ring. It was a tall lady in revealing attire. She wore black stilettos that were 30 centimeters high with black stockings pulled up to her thighs. She wore black leather panties and above that was a black leather corset which covered most of her breasts, leaving her cleavage just showing with her back, shoulders and arms revealed. She wore a black metal mask, not supplied with the system, she brought that mask along with her.
Holding a black whip in her hand, she looked at Lin Huang in a snobbish manner. Lin Huang then looked at the score.
"Nickname: Master Queen"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 27"
"Accumulated Points: 19"
"Winning Percentage: 85%"
"This girl has a high winning percentage… She must be powerful. She's using a whip which is good for long-distance attacks, I'll need to get closer to her." Lin Huang was analyzing the girl from far. The lady was calm after looking at Lin Huang's score. Just when the countdown ended, when Lin Huang was making his move, the lady had her whip out.
"Surrender, kid. As long as you surrender, I'm sure to give you…. something good…" There was a charm in her voice.
"Mind skills?" Lin Huang squinted his eyes and figured the lady was using some mind skills. However, as Lin Huang possessed Kaleidoscope , he was immune to the skill and he was not affected at all. Using Cloud Steps , he managed to avoid the lady's whip easily while approaching her at a lightning speed.
"As long as you say 'I surrender', I will be sure to love you…" The lady's voice was echoing in Lin Huang's ears.
"You sure you want to do this?" Lin Huang's eyes became swirly as he used Kaleidoscope …
"Will you really love me?" The young man was always just across from the lady wherever he was.
"Of course, I love such boys like you…" The lady grinned, "Come, listen to me, say 'I surrender."
"I…" Just when the young man started to speak, the lady felt an intense danger was coming towards her. She planned to escape but the young man's voice came into her ear.
"Your sweet dream should end now."
The lady felt an immense pain in her tummy. She looked, there was a hole that was size of a bowl through her tummy. She held her head up, the young man in the silver mask was stood three meters away from her, while looking at her without an expression. Soon, the lady's body was breaking down and the blood on the ring disappeared.
Lin Huang stood where he was and smirked, "I didn't know I could use other abilities here. It seems like I could use all monster skills in the battles, including sword skills and combat skills."
"Congratulations, you have won the battle!"
"You managed to kill your opponent in one hit, you have obtained 2 points!"
"Would you like to continue to battle?"
"Yes!" Lin Huang selected immediately.
"The system is matching an opponent for you… Matching has been completed!"
Lin Huang's third opponent was then sent to the ring…
Chapter 186: Level-up to Gold Hunter
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
With the Magic Eye Deterrence, the Evil Eel stood at where it was. Its head exploded with Lin Huang's punch. Seeing the blood and brain juice that spilled all over, Lin Huang took a step back as he watched the headless body fall to the ground before it disappeared.
"Congratulations, you have won the battle!"
"You managed to kill your opponent in one hit, you have obtained 2 points!"
"Congratulations for 30 consecutive wins!"
Lin Huang managed to win all 30 battles with only one hit each, the name 'Sword Genius' was now known by many. Since his 20th consecutive win, people started coming to watch. On the 30th battle, they were more than 500 people surrounding ring No.188.
"Would you like to continue to battle?"
Lin Huang looked at the time when he saw the notification, it was 9:30 p.m. He chose to leave. His body disappeared from the ring.
"It's only 9:30 p.m., why did he leave so early? Maybe he has something else to do?"
"Maybe he's tired, he had been fighting for 30 battles, it's normal to take a rest."
"It's strange that his name is 'Sword Genius' but I have never once seen him using a sword. All the 10 battles that I watched were close-distance attacks."
"Maybe it was a random nickname, nobody says he must use a sword if his name is Sword Genius."
…
Seeing that Lin Huang has left, the audience started discussing among themselves. After leaving the ring, Lin Huang appeared in the hall on the sixth floor of the arena.
"Nickname: Sword Genius"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 30"
"Accumulated Points: 280"
"Winning Percentage: 100%"
Lin Huang took a look at his score before logging out of the game. When his conscious has returned to his body, Lin Huang closed the game page and started watching the battle videos that he had recorded. Lin Huang did not have many battle opportunities with humans before. The 30 battles allowed him to improve tremendously. He grew with each battle. However, he knew that there was still room for improvements.
He watched each and every battle video and noticed that his improvements were significant. However, he also found a couple of mistakes. After watching all the videos, he watched some of the detailed parts repeatedly before concluding on his performance.
"The good thing about me is that my body physique is so much more powerful than the other silver-level rank-3. My strength alone increase ten times with my superhuman strength, along with the increase of the intermediate immense strength by four times, my strength overall is 14 times more than those of the same level. It even surpassed most of the gold-level rank-3."
"With the Super Robust which boosted my body physique by ten times more. My resistance and adaptation abilities are comparable with those of gold-level rank-3. Although my Absolute Defense is only at a beginner level, it could give me immunity to 50% of the attacks. Besides, Kaleidoscope enhanced my vision beyond that of regular people…"
"To me, these are all the biological advantages that I have.The only thing that I cannot compare with a gold-level rank-3 would be my speed. My movement, attack speed and reaction speed. My movement speed can be compensated with my body movement combat skill while my attack speed can be compensated with my Sly Hands and sword skills. My reaction speed can be increased as I battle more. My speed level is just of a normal silver-level rank-3."
"In conclusion, my ability ranked the top in silver-level rank-3. Although I can't fight gold-level rank-3 players yet, I might be able to defeat gold-level rank-2 players. However, as compared to the silver-level rank-3 old timers in the arena, I lack battle experience. Looking back at the videos, I was not calm enough whenever the frequency of attacks increased. My dodging speed was not fast enough, there were also a lot of extra movements. I exposed my flaws easily and did not react timely which wasted many good opportunities to attack first. I am much weaker when it comes to mastering the battle rhythm, I was even taken advantage of during some of the battles…"
After analyzing his own strengths and weaknesses, Lin Huang listed them down one by one and recorded in his file on the Emperor's Heart Ring while writing down the improvement plan behind it.
"From tomorrow onwards, I will only do 10 battles while trying my best to improve my weaknesses! After completing the battles, I will come up with a conclusion of what I lack and improve again the next day!" Lin Huang has made his decision. It was almost 12 a.m. by the time he was done. He washed up and went to bed.
Lin Huang woke up after eight the next morning. He had his breakfast after taking a shower, it was almost nine when he was done. Just when Lin Huang was ready to go into the arena, he received a message. He was stunned as he read the message.
"Mr. Lin Huang, due to your outstanding performance in the assessment, you have passed through the evaluation and leveled-up to a Gold Hunter. Congratulations!"
"I'm a Gold Hunter now? Lin Huang just recalled Mr. Fu mentioned earlier that the Hunter Association could not enlist him in focus training anymore so it was replaced by the Gold Hunter upgrade.
"That's not bad, at least I am entitled to all the information transcendent could access…"
However, Lin Huang thought of another matter immediately, "Since I'm now a Gold Hunter, that means I should have an upgrade in my authority in the Hunter Arena. I should be able to watch gold-level battles live now!"
Lin Huang launched the Hunter Arena immediately. His logo was now gold in color. With his authority as a Gold Hunter, he could now move around from the first to the ninth floor of the Hunter Arena and watch all live battles with vacant seats. He could even watch the replay of battles of specific individuals from the seventh floor and below for free.
As a Gold Hunter, he could watch all the replays of battles that were on the seventh floor and below for free. However, he would need to pay if he would like to watch the live battles gold-level from the seventh floor to the ninth floor. For the Silver Hunters, they were only entitled to watch live battles from the fourth floor and below for free. To be able to watch replay battles of the silver-level, they would need to pay as well.
Lin Huang was a Copper Hunter, he could only watch the replay of battles on the first to the third floor by paying, he was not entitled to watch the battles from the fourth to the sixth floor even if he paid. However, with this upgrade, he could watch the battle replays that he wanted while absorbing the skills. He opened the silver-level leaderboard on the sixth floor and downloaded all the battle videos of the top 10 hunters.
The one ranked No.10 was a young man called the 'Unbelievable Fate Changer', he had accumulated more than 11,000 points with a winning percentage of 68%. He had battled for more than 4,000 times and more than 1,000 of the battles were on the silver-level rank-3 floor. For the following days, Lin Huang did not battle in the arena. Instead, he watched the battle replays of the top 10 hunters.
Besides watching the videos, he was taking notes. He learned quite a number of things in each battle. 11 days passed fast on the spaceship, besides eating and sleeping, Lin Huang spent all of his time researching the videos. Within the next 10 days, he only managed to watch all the battle videos of the individuals who ranked 10, 'Unbelievable Fate Changer' and 9 'Salt36'.
It was after four in the afternoon when the Demonic Crystal Spaceship landed in Baqi City. Lin Xin had finished school when Lin Huang arrived on the Alexandrian Eagle in Wulin Town. Lin Xin ran towards him as he returned home while shy Lin Xuan watched the both of them from the side. Lin Huang patted both their heads and brought them into the living room. He took out all of the souvenirs that he got from Baqi City. There were food and toys.
After giving out the souvenirs, he then kept the food in the fridge.
"Brother, why did you come back so early? I thought you said you'll leave for two months? It has only been a month…" Lin Xin recalled and asked.
"Something happened and our assessment was suspended. Everyone got their Regular Hunter license." Lin Huang smiled.
"Was it the invasion by the heretics invasion?" Lin Xin saw the news too. However, she was not sure which assessment location Lin Huang went to.
Lin Huang was stunned, he nodded.
"I hope you weren't attacked by them?" Lin Xin was concerned.
"Of course not, am I not standing in front of you?" Lin Huang smiled, he did not plan to tell Lin Xin that he had escaped death.
"Those victims are so pitiful…" Lin Xin was still upset.
"Alright, don't think too much." Lin Huang did not want to continue with the topic.
"Winter holidays will start in half a month, am I right?"
"Yes, two weeks to go." Lin Xin was happy again. All the students were the same, they would forget about all their worries once school holidays were brought up.
"Let's go to the Snow Ridge City after New Year, it's not too far away." Lin Huang suggested.
Lin Xin did not seem too keen on the idea. She wanted to go but she hesitated as she thought about the invasion.
Lin Huang saw through her and patted her head, "Don't worry about it, nothing would happen this time. I'm an official hunter now, I am much more powerful than before!"
Lin Xin nodded. Lin Huang then looked at Lin Xuan, "Xiao Xuan, did you listen to your sister during those days when I was away?"
Lin Xuan nodded immediately.
"Xiao Xuan has been good. He had been eating, playing games and sleeping every day. He's an expert in Gun Master now, he never lost once!" Lin Xin said.
"Really?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow. Recalling the advanced version of sword skill that Lin Xuan performed after watching Lin Huang, could he be talented with guns too?!
"Did you record any videos? Show me." Lin Huang asked Lin Xin.
Lin Xin nodded and sent more than 10 videos for Lin Huang. Lin Huang randomly played one of the videos. It was taken from the perspective of the gamer where he could see the entire process of Lin Xuan battling the opponents.
Lin Huang was shocked as he finished the first video. Lin Xuan's performance was perfect. There were no flaws in the gun skill or battle awareness, Lin Huang could not even perform some of the things that Lin Xuan managed to. After watching a couple more videos, Lin Huang was sure of one thing. Not only Lin Xuan was talented with the sword, he was also unbelievably talented with guns.
"Is this kid a genius?!"
Chapter 187: He's Even More Dangerous Than Who He Was 10 Days Ago
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Come here, Xiao Xuan." Lin Huang shouted waving at Lin Xuan, who then quietly walked over to Lin Huang.
"Give me your hand." Lin Huang said as he extended his hand, "Let me know whenever you don't feel comfortable then I will stop."
Lin Xuan nodded and placed his small hand on Lin Huang's palm. As there hands touched, there was a silver glow coming out of Lin Huang's palm, it then entered Lin Xuan's body through his palm. Lin Huang's Life Power took a stroll in Lin Xuan's body, there was nothing unusual and Lin Xuan did not feel any discomfort or pain.
"Lin Huang watched as no reaction came from the Life Power in his body. That means he's just an ordinary person…" Lin Huang could not figure out where Lin Xuan's talents came from. He noticed that there was a slight exhaustion of Life Power later on. However, he did not dwell into that as he thought it was normal.
"Do you feel any discomfort?" Lin Huang asked after checking his body.
Lin Xuan shook his head.
"That's great, I will buy two more Gun Master rings within these two days. You will not have to take turns to play with your sister." Lin Huang patted Lin Xuan's head and placed the order.
Lin Xin was curious, "Brother, Xiao Xuan doesn't have an Emperor's Heart Ring, he can not register an account in Gun Master. Could you get him one?"
"It's okay, I will come out with something." Lin Huang nodded. He was thinking of bringing Lin Xuan to the Union Government to get him an identity. However, the process was troublesome. Moreover, he would not be able to receive his Emperor's Heart Ring in such a short period of time.
After ordering the Gun Master, Lin Huang called Yang Ling.
Yang Ling accepted the video call immediately, he still looked as relaxed as he always was. "Hehe, do you need a second identity now?"
"This time not for me, it's for somebody else. I need it to be able to register with the Hunter Association, is that possible?" Lin Huang did not bother to carry out small talk with him so he asked directly.
"Of course that's possible. Would you like to apply for Reserve Hunter or Regular Hunter?" Yang Ling asked.
"You could even get the Regular Hunter one?" Lin Huang was surprised.
"Of course, don't you know who I am." Yang Ling was proud of himself. "No matter if it's Copper, Silver or Gold, I can get all of them for you."
"Even focus training?" Lin Huang asked.
"That's possible, but I'm not doing it." Yang Ling raised his eyebrow.
"Why not? It's money." replied Lin Huang.
"There are only a few candidates chosen for focus training in each division, it would be too obvious if I do that. The chance of being exposed is too high, I wouldn't want such trouble." Yang Ling said.
"If you need the authority to get into the Hunter Association, I can get you an identity of an executive officer. However, the price is high."
"I understand. How much would the price of Copper, Silver and Gold Hunter be?" As a traveller, Lin Huang was skeptical if Yang Ling's Goldfinger was an original or not.
"500 for Copper, 1,000 for Silver and 1,500 for Gold! You know very well of which currency I'm talking about." Yang Ling replied while shaking his leg.
Lin Huang thought about it, "Get me a Gold Hunter one."
Lin Xuan's situation was unique, Lin Huang planned to bring him along to the Hunter Arena to see how much he could learn from there.
"Send me the name, age and photo. You could also send me a backstory that you made up as long as it's not too ridiculous. If you don't send me any back stories, I will create one on my own." Yang Ling reminded, "Also, please use the usual currency of transaction."
"I understand, I will send it over tomorrow as the Credit Bureau is closed now." Lin Huang nodded.
"I can get it done later, which address are you staying right now?" Yang Ling asked.
"The same address as before, just send it to me." Lin Huang knew Yang Ling had his address.
"Oh." Yang Ling nodded, he hesitated but asked anyway, "I know this is none of my business but have you destroyed your original Emperor's Heart Ring?"
"Yes I have." Lin Huang nodded.
"That's great, however, I would advise you to move away from where you are staying as soon as possible." Yang Ling reminded.
"I would like to but I can't get the permission to stay in B-grade and A-grade footholds…" Lin Huang said casually.
"I could help you with the accommodation entitlement but it isn't cheap." Yang Ling looked proud again.
"Don't fool me, are you serious? They will need my identification when I purchase a house!" Lin Huang did not expect Yang Ling could even get that done.
"Let me ask you, did the Emperor's Heart Ring that you got from me ever fail?" Yang Ling asked him back.
"Don't worry, I guarantee you that it works. I have done it at least 800 times, none of them failed."
"How much is it?" Lin Huang asked immediately.
"A-grade foothold ranges from hundred thousand to one million while B-grade foothold would range from ten thousand to thirty thousand. The exact price depends on which foothold you want. This doesn't even require delivery, I can get it done right now, all I need is three minutes." Yang Ling was confident in the business.
"A-grade foothold is so expensive…" Lin Huang was surprised at the price as the currency Yang Ling was talking about was Life Crystals. "B-grade foothold isn't cheap either…"
Lin Huang only had 8,000 Life Crystals at the moment. Deducting the 1,500 for the new Emperor's Heart Ring for Lin Xuan, he could not even afford the accommodation in the B-grade foothold. Yang Ling seemed to notice Lin Huang's hesitation, "Since you're a regular customer, if you don't have sufficient Life Crystals now, you could pay by instalment. There would not be any interest."
Lin Huang smiled in an embarrassed manner, "Thank you so much."
"Which foothold are you looking at, I can get it done for you now." Yang Ling wasn't worried that Lin Huang couldn't pay right now.
"I haven't decided yet, the most ideal one would be the Qiantang City in the A-grade foothold. But looking at the price, I will have to put it aside." Lin Huang smiled awkwardly. "I haven't decided on a property in the B-grade foothold, I shall contact you when I have decided then."
"You have high standards, do you know how much the accommodation is right now for Qiantang City?" Yang Ling smirked, "800,000!"
Lin Huang was shocked when he heard the price. He could only get a couple of Life Crystals for a gold-level monster from the Hunter Association. To be able to obtain 800,000, he would need to kill hundreds of thousands of gold-level monsters.
"Alright then, let me know when you have decided. I shall get the Emperor's Heart Ring done first. Quickly send me the details." Yang Ling hung up the phone right after he said that.
Lin Huang sent Lin Xuan's basic details and a photo to Yang Ling immediately. It was past six o'clock in the evening when Lin Huang was done. Lin Xin had made grilled meat for Lin Xuan and the take-away had arrived. The grilled meat was cooked by the barbecue machine that Lin Huang had bought earlier, Lin Xuan's meals depended on the machine as he would only eat meat. There was nothing that Lin Huang could do.
Meanwhile, the take-away food was for Lin Xin and Lin Huang as they could not eat grilled meat everyday. Although delicious, it would be sickening if they were to eat that everyday. After dinner, Lin Huang returned to his room and entered the Hunter Arena. After 10 days of analyzing and learning from watching the battle replay videos, he could not wait to perform what he had learnt.
He pressed the challenge button after entering the sixth floor of the arena. Soon, Lin Huang was sent onto an empty ring. Just as he was adapting to his surroundings, there were people entering the audience seats. Not only one, there were more than a hundred people. Lin Huang recognized some of them, they were the same bunch of people who watched him 10 days ago. However, the sound from the audience was isolated from the ring with the purpose that the fighters on the ring would not be affected.
Lin Huang saw a couple of them were yelling at him, before he could figure out what it was they were shouting, his opponent was sent onto the ring. From the person's size, he should be a young man like Lin Huang. He was also wearing a silver mask with a silver gun on his hand. He was wearing all white, he looked like a professional. Lin Huang raised his eyebrow and checked out the opponent's score.
"Nickname: White Gun"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 128"
"Accumulated Points: 299"
"Winning Percentage: 91%"
Although the number of battles was not high, his winning percentage was high. He should have outstanding abilities available. When Lin Huang was checking out his score, it was obvious that he was checking Lin Huang's too. He grinned and said to Lin Huang, "30 consecutive wins weren't easy, however, it's unfortunate that you encountered me today. Your winning streaks will end now."
"I'm afraid you will be disappointed. I don't plan to stop before winning 90 consecutive battles." Lin Huang told him his goal.
"Wow, you sure are arrogant!" 'White Gun' scoffed when he heard about Lin Huang's ridiculous goal.
The countdown ended together with the end of their conversation. 'White Gun' took the first move. Instead of moving forward like he usually did, Lin Huang remained standing wherever he was while waiting for 'White Gun' to come to him. Seeing that he got the advantage, 'White Gun' grinned while pointed his gun at Lin Huang. It was an outstanding gun, it was fast and stable, it aimed directly at Lin Huang's heart. His silver Life Power covered the entire gun, especially the mouth of the gun, where there was a whistling sound as the gun moved through the air.
Lin Huang was impressed. The gun was above standard, this alone showed him that this opponent was stronger than the 30 opponents he had encountered before this. If this happened 10 days ago, Lin Huang would have chosen to avoid him while planning his move if he was taken advantage of. However, he was different from what he was 10 days ago. He leaped with the tip of his toe and avoided the attack. The back of his left hand collided casually on the gun.
'White Gun' felt an intense force coming towards him, the gun on his hand almost fell. He was shocked, he held his gun tight at an instant. However, as Lin Huang approached him, he felt an immense pain on his chest. He looked down, Lin Huang was pressing two fingers on his heart. 'White Gun' then fell on the ground and his body faded away. The audience noticed Lin Huang changed his way of battle, his vibe was completely different from 10 days ago.
"He's even more dangerous than who he was before…" A young man in a golden robe commented.
Chapter 188: The Keeper Of The 50th Battle
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After squeezing the opponent's neck with three fingers, a gigantic body fell on the ground.
"Congratulations, you have won the battle!"
"You managed to kill your opponent in one hit, you have obtained 2 points!"
"Congratulations for 40 consecutive wins!"
As he completed the 40th win, many people came to the room to watch him after hearing the notification that was announced on the sixth floor. However, all they could see was Lin Huang disappearing from the ring. Not many people managed to win 30 battles consecutively, let alone 40 battles. Those who have won 40 battles consecutively were all professionals. If someone did manage to win 50 battles consecutively, the announcement would not only be posted to the entire sixth floor but would also be played from the first to the ninth floor. In the whole of Division7. From the first floor all the way to the ninth. The number of people who have managed to win 50 battles consecutively was only in the single digits.
With his mask, Lin Huang stood in the arena hall on the sixth floor to check his score.
"Nickname: Sword Genius"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 40"
"Accumulated Points: 600"
"Winning Percentage: 100%"
"600 points, there's still a long way to go…" Lin Huang frowned, he decided to leave the game anyway. Little did he know, that many in the audience of the ring, were still talking about him.
"This Sword Genius used to fight ruthlessly, but now he completely changed. Not only was he stable, but his strategy was flawless, even his combat spirit was different than before…"
"That's true, he had some flaws in his strategy before, as well as issues in his combat rhythm. Now he did not even give a chance to his opponents, he was like a lifeless killing machine."
The young man in golden robe gave a short comment. "He is a changed man!"
…
If a players account with Hunter Arena could be logged in by someone else. Many people would have thought Lin Huang's, 'Sword Genius' account was being played by someone else instead. Having no idea that he was being discussed by many in the arena, and turning off the game. Lin Huang sat and watched the last ten battles he had fought. Although he was a couple of times better than before, he still managed to find points that he could improve on.
"The blocking point was not the best angle to apply force, the effect would be better if I stepped two centimeters back… The landing point from avoiding the attack was slightly too far, if I could be ten centimeters closer it would improve the precision of the counter-attack… There's some problem with the angle of this punch…"
Lin Huang was harsh on his own battle analysis. He wanted himself to be cleaner, more precise and faster. So that each attack would reach its maximum impact. After he was done with the analysis, Lin Huang took a look at the battle videos of the person who ranked No.1 'South Palace Laugh'. He only went to bed after midnight, in the early hours of the morning.
The Gun Master ring arrived the next day at noon. Lin Huang gave one to Lin Xuan and kept another one for himself. However, Lin Xuan still had to use Lin Xin's ring as he could not create an account yet. The Emperor's Heart Ring that Lin Huang bought for him would only arrive at least a week later. For the following days, Lin Huang had been researching on the 'South Palace Laugh's videos before entering the game again.
As he pressed the challenge button, he was soon sent to a ring that was surrounded by people. Although Lin Huang could not hear the voice, he could see that there were more people than the last round. There were at least 2,000 people in the crowd and the number was increasing. However, he did not think that the people were here for him, more like the fans of his opponent.
He then started to check out his opponent. He was a tanned man of 2.5 meters tall. He was half naked showing his tanned upper body with terrifying muscles. He was not considered handsome, however, he gave out a ferocious vibe. Especially his eyes, they looked crazy and dangerous.
"This is a dangerous man…" That was the first impression Lin Huang got when he saw his opponent, then he took a look at his score.
"Nickname: Mad Tiger"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 989"
"Accumulated Points: 711"
"Winning Percentage: 83%"
Since he had fought almost 1,000 battles, he should be an old-timer. Moreover, he managed to maintain his winning percentage at 83%, it showed that this person, was a professional.
"40 consecutive wins, all were killed in one hit…" 'Mad Tiger' licked his lips after checking out Lin Huang's score. Although Lin Huang did not fight many battles, however, it was not easy that he managed to win 40 battles consecutively. Furthermore, from his score, it was not hard to tell that he managed to kill all his opponents under one hit. It had piqued 'Mad Tiger's interest.
There were more and more people in the audience, looking at both scores, they were excited about the battle. One was a powerful old-timer while another was a rookie who had never lost a battle before. Who would win?!
As the countdown started, seeing Lin Huang not using his sword, 'Mad Tiger' yelled at Lin Huang, "Since you call yourself 'Sword Genius', you must be an expert in sword skills then? If you don't pull out your sword now, you wouldn't have the time later."
"It's alright, thanks for your reminder." Lin Huang replied.
He had never denied the truth that he was an expert in sword skills, however, many were curious.
"Since he said that, is he really an expert in sword skills?"
"I think he has never once used any sword skills throughout the 40 battles?"
"Could he be too arrogant to use his sword here?"
…
'Mad Tiger' looked upset on the ring. Not only Lin Huang did not deny his sword skills, he refused to use his sword. 'Mad Tiger' perceived that he was not worthwhile for Lin Huang to bother to use his sword on him.
"Kid, your arrogance will kill you!"
Lin Huang figured out why was he mad, however, he did not want to explain. He could see that although his opponent was strong if he really used his sword, it would be a sure kill for Mad Tiger. Lin Huang thought that, when encountering an opponent such as Mad Tiger, showing how much he respected him would be to fight at a close distance. Not from afar.
The countdown soon ended. Leaving 'Mad Tiger' really mad. Just as the countdown ended, he plunged towards Lin Huang like a tank.
"His speed is okay, however, running in a straight line would give out his trajectory too easily. As he runs, he charges his punch. The power should be there. Maybe he's too tall, the bottom part of his body doesn't seem too stable…"
Lin Huang managed to see many flaws from 'Mad Tiger'. If it was another person in the ring, they would have been scared just by his vibe, which was like a tank. His force was terrifying, he plunged right in front of Lin Huang. Fists charged aiming right at him, but at the last moment, Lin Huang avoided his attack by slightly moving his body. Mad Tiger tripped falling to the ground. Just when he wanted to get up he felt a cold wind blowing behind him.
His head was pressed by an immense force, his face was crashed into the ground and crushed by the force.
"Bang!" The ground of the ring cracked with gravel flying everywhere. There was a hole in the ground. Meanwhile, 'Mad Tiger's head which was crushed to the ground was destroyed. Lin Huang then let go of his hand on 'Mad Tiger's head.
The audience's jaws dropped when they saw 'Sword Genius wins!' on the notice board. All they saw was 'Mad Tiger' plunging towards 'Sword Genius' then a quick blur as 'Sword Genius' avoided the attack. Then again a with such speed he leaped, smashing the head of 'Mad Tiger' into the ground. All happening within three seconds. The audience sat in silence amazed, followed by cheering and clapping.
"Congratulations, you have won the battle!"
"You managed to kill your opponent in one hit, you have obtained 2 points!"
Lin Huang was expressionless when he heard the announcement. The opponent was not weak at all he underestimated Lin Huang. Although the result would be similar if they do it all over again, at least the opponent would not lose in an ugly manner like he did.
"This 'Sword Genius' is getting unpredictable…" The young man in the golden robe who had been watching Lin Huang's battles looked very serious.
For the following battles, Lin Huang won easily. Up until the 49th battle, there was no opponent that was as powerful as 'Mad Tiger' and after killing all his opponents in one hit, Lin Huang welcomed his 50th opponent.
The 50 winning streaks was a great honor in the Hunter Arena, not many people would obtain that every year. There were less than 10 people, even combining the fighters from the first to the ninth floor.
The 50 winning streaks were difficult and as the 49th battle came to an end, the system would no longer follow the usual way of matching a player, instead, it would ask the winning fighter to choose a powerful opponent as the keeper.
The keeper would be chosen from those who ranked top 100 on the leaderboard. However, usually, the fighters chosen would be ranked lower than 50th. It was rare that those who were within the top 50 would be chosen as the keeper. As the system was matching the 50th opponent for Lin Huang, the audience stared at the ring without blinking.
Soon, the matching was done, and a person was sent into the ring. The audience was stunned by the appearance of his opponent…
Chapter 189: The Appearance Of Sword Genius
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Across from Lin Huang, was a young man in white. He looked older than Lin Huang, about 16 or 17. He was not that tall and looked like he was 1.7 meters. His hair touched his chin, he had a small braid at the back of his head while the front was messy. However, Lin Huang had to admit that he was handsome. If he was to be placed on earth, girls would totally go after him. The most unique part about him was his small, long eyes that looked mysterious.
Lin Huang noticed there was a thin, long sword on his waist. From the size of the scabbard, the sword seemed to be different from a regular sword. It could be custom made. After checking him out, Lin Huang's conclusion was this man was powerful as he could sense a dangerous vibe from this young man. It was the first time he had such feeling in the ring. He had no idea who that young man was, however, the audience seemed to know.
After the young man was sent to the ring, within three seconds, the seats were all full with 10,000 people.
"Who is that kid in the mask? Why would he challenge 'Master White'?" Somebody asked.
"It's not that he challenged 'Master White', he was chosen by the system to be the keeper of his 50th battle." Someone explained.
"How is that possible?! The keeper would usually be chosen from top 50 to top 100. It would only happen two or three times, where the top 30 would be chosen, but 'Master White' is 18th! How could he be chosen as the keeper?" Somebody found that unbelievable.
"It's true, perhaps this 'Sword Genius' is too powerful. However, the system is cruel to send 'Master White' to be his keeper, the winning streak might end now…"
After checking him out, Lin Huang took a look at his score.
"Nickname: Master White"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 1273"
"Accumulated Points: 8761"
"Winning Percentage: 98%"
He had battled more than a 1,000 times with outstanding points and winning percentage. Although Lin Huang had no idea who this person was, with the number of people who were watching this match, he could tell that this person was popular on the pitch floor.
"So the system is challenging me?" Lin Huang smirked as he knew at the 50th battle and above, he would be given a powerful keeper.
Looking at the sword on his waist, Lin Huang did not want to risk his life. He then took out his silver-level battle sword.
"The 'Sword Genius' finally took out his sword!" Someone exclaimed, that person must have been watching Lin Huang's matches and knew that Lin Huang had never once used a sword in the battles. There were a couple of Lin Huang's past opponents among the audience. They had been watching his battles since they were defeated, including 'Mad Tiger' and 'White Gun'.
They were upset when they saw Lin Huang pulling out his sword as that meant Lin Huang did not show them his sword skills he had in early battles.
"Interesting…" Seeing that Lin Huang took out his sword, 'Master White' was not surprised. Instead, he was excited. He squinted while checking out Lin Huang. Meanwhile, Lin Huang stood wherever he was like a piece of rock without an expression.
The countdown ended, 'Master White' launched his attack. Drawing his sword out of the scabbard in a flash, within a breath, he leaped tens of meters forward and arrived right before Lin Huang. His sword was even faster than his feet, it was then pointed at Lin Huang's throat.
"That's fast!" Many in the audience thought as they watched. Some of them were concerned looking at where the sword was pointing at as they knew they would be dead if it was them in the ring instead of Lin Huang.
However, the man in golden robe did not think that Lin Huang would die under that attack. The speed of attack was fast, probably faster than Lin Huang could comprehend. 'Master White' had a gift in speed, combining this skill which grew and improved as time passed by, speed was definitely his advantage. Moreover, to increase its speed, 'Master White' even modified the shape of his sword. It was longer, even the arc of the blade was modified to lessen the air pressure to reach its optimum speed.
If this happened in the past, Lin Huang's rhythm would be affected by his speed and he might fight back with speed as well, but Lin Huang who had a disadvantage in speed would definitely be defeated. However, he was a changed man. Seeing the lightning sword coming his way, he was calm and firmly stood his ground.
Just when the sword was reaching his throat, he avoided the attack with the help of cloud steps. At the same time, he swiped his battle sword at 'Master White' and sliced him across the waist with Great Sword Scripture. He waited for that moment as he knew there was no way that 'Master White' could avoid his attack. Even if he attacked one second earlier, 'Master White' could change his way of attack at any time.
Lin Huang's goal was to create an illusion where he did not have time to escape from 'Master White's lightning speed and just when he almost got him, only he would launch his attack. 'Master White' was shocked as he saw Lin Huang managed to avoid. He did not expect Lin Huang to escape when the tip of his sword had left a slight cut on Lin Huang's neck.
However, it was too late. He was defeated by his own speed. If he was slower, he could have retreated from what Lin Huang was going to do to him. As Lin Huang avoided 'Master White's sword, the silver-level battle sword sliced across his waist. He was stunned. Soon, blood was splashing with the top half of his body falling onto the ground.
The audience was shocked at what they were seeing. The 'Master White' who ranked 18th on the leaderboard was sliced in half! It was shocking to all of them. When they saw 'Sword Genius won!' on the noticeboard, only then they realized that they were not dreaming. What they saw on the ring was real! 'Master White' was defeated in one hit!
"Congratulations, you have won the battle!"
"You managed to kill your opponent in one hit, you have obtained 2 points!"
Lin Huang remained expressionless when he saw the notice. Soon, a different announcement came from the system.
"Congratulations player 'Sword Genius' defeated keeper 'Master White' on the sixth floor of the arena and won 50 consecutive battles!"
"Congratulations player 'Sword Genius' defeated keeper 'Master White' on the sixth floor of the arena and won 50 consecutive battles!"
"Congratulations player 'Sword Genius' defeated keeper 'Master White' on the sixth floor of the arena and won 50 consecutive battles!"
The voice sounded like an old person, it was different from the lady's voice from previous announcements. It only stopped after repeating for three times. 50 winning streaks were different from other winning streaks as the announcement could be heard not only on the sixth floor but from the first to the ninth floor as well. All the players in Division7 could hear it.
Hearing the different announcement, Lin Huang frowned while touching the wound on his neck. He then left the ring and returned to the hall on the sixth floor. Watching the screen playing the scene where he sliced 'Master White's waist, he was speechless. He knew that 'Master White' would hate him if he was to see this. He shook his head and looked at his score.
"Nickname: Sword Genius"
"Combat Strength: Silver-Level Rank-3"
"Battle Count: 50"
"Accumulated Points: 1240"
"Winning Percentage: 100%"
"Honor: 50 consecutive wins!"
There was an honor added to his scoreboard and it was glowing in gold. It was sparkling and caught many's attention. Lin Huang turned off the projection and left the arena. After leaving the arena, he downloaded his own battle videos. After watching from the beginning to the end, he watched the match between him and 'Master white' repetitively. The more he watched, the more he frowned. He was not satisfied with his own performance.
"It seems like I took a risky move, it was not the best move that I have. If the person had the skill to speed up or extend the length of his sword, I would be dead in the battle. I did not think it through, there are other better ways of confronting him…" After concluding his mistakes, Lin Huang wrote down the strategies that he would have taken. Later, he switched on the arena and found 'Master White' on the leaderboard.
"18th!" Lin Huang only just found out that 'Master White' who he had just killed ranked so high on the leaderboard. However, he did not dwell on it while downloading all the battle videos of 'Master White' on the silver-level rank-3 arena. He wanted to see how did the others defeated him, perhaps he could find other strategies that he had never thought before. Even if he did not explore more strategies, watching the videos could benefit him where he could apply strategies when encountering opponents who had lightning speed.