The Martial Arts Players' Greatest Benefactor

The western area outside the main city of the Duchy of Merrick quickly became lively due to the construction of fortifications.

With nobles and Class Holder participating, the construction progressed quickly.

On the first day, Lister himself stayed in this area, watching Tim direct the operation.

Having overseen numerous castle constructions, he possesses considerable talent in construction, far surpassing his natural talent as Class Holder.

He explained the basic blueprints of the complex teleportation array only three times, and the student could understand it.

She possessed this ability and was also deeply trusted by him.

Lister naturally didn't treat Tim unfairly; this viscount title was an early reward for his actions.

Seeing that things were progressing smoothly, he finally left for the Alchemy Ruined City.

Upon entering the preliminary testing area of District Forty-Nine, I opened the long-unused game chat and was immediately bombarded with countless messages.

"We need 2 more players for our team. We're looking for a healer, mage, or mechanical class. No martial arts classes."

"A max-level, second-job-reincarnated Psychic-type player is leading a team to grind experience. We need a Mechanical-type player for crowd control. Martial Arts-type players, please don't join! Any experienced players are welcome!"

"Why is the entire 'Love Tiger Oil' team discriminating against us martial arts students?"

"I had already agreed, but then some magic-based player kicked me out!"

"Damn it! They have absolutely no credibility!"

Sure enough, a hierarchy of contempt among professions gradually formed.

Mechanical and magical classes are naturally popular these days, given their abundance of AOE skills, making them ideal for grinding experience.

In contrast, the martial arts category, despite having a considerable number of players due to Lister's influence, has been largely met with indifference.

Gunners are somewhat better off, as they have more small-area skills and can barely hold their own.

Sword and blade Class Holder have been relegated to the bottom tier since Act III.

This situation will worsen after entering the Galactic Federation.

The personal friend message bar, which I haven't checked in a long time, is already overflowing with messages from "War God of Jiangling Prefecture".

"Brother Chen, are you still accepting assassination missions?"

"Brother Chen, can you kill someone else for me in the city? I'll pay a high price! I guarantee you'll be satisfied!"

"Brother Chen, say something!"

"Brother Chen, it seems our martial arts department isn't doing so well anymore! You also use a sword, do you know any new ways to acquire advanced skills? I can't seem to climb the rankings!"

"Brother Chen, don't tell me you've stopped playing games. Are you short of money?"

Give me your account number, and I'll transfer the money to you!

The last message was sent more than half a year ago, around the time when the fourth act began.

Jiang Hao replied to the messages while browsing the server rankings.

There aren't many players with an overall rating of A on the leaderboard right now; the majority are at B level, and you can still see a few players with C-level combat power at the bottom of the top 1,000.

As for the top ten, they were indeed unrelated to martial arts majors. There were four mechanical majors, three magic majors, two supernatural majors, and one healing major.

Given that this is the Alchemy Ruined City version, it's normal for mechanical classes to be strong.

But I never expected that even the healing class could suppress the martial arts class. No wonder they are discriminated against.

Lister vaguely remembered that during his sixth act, which was also his most desolate period, it was difficult to find even one martial arts player among the top 200 on the server.

Fortunately, he saw a gunner in the first twenty.

Meanwhile, the information about "War God of Jiangling Prefecture" was also seen as the 103rd person.

He's definitely a pro player; probably the leading expert among knife-wielding players right now.

As for his arch-rival "Love of a Lifetime," he is a swordsman and ranks ninety-ninth.

It's estimated that if it weren't for the relatively strong A-level Merrick Saber Technique he taught, plus his two or three passive abilities, he would have been much stronger.

Otherwise, the "War God of Jiangling Prefecture" probably wouldn't even be able to maintain his current ranking.

"Holy crap! Brother Chen, you're finally alive? What happened?!"

"I had some family matters to attend to recently, so I took a break from the game for a while."

Lister simply used the reason given by the other party.

"Need money? Give me your account number, I'll transfer some to you."

"No need, I have enough."

"Brother Chen, I was originally planning to discuss with you other ways to improve your swordsmanship!"

"Sigh! I didn't realize you'd been away from the game for so long..."

Chen Xinhe's name is still quite memorable among players, after all, he was the first ruthless character to kill someone in the city, and he was able to evade the red-name wanted status.

Even though there haven't been any major news stories lately, the name "Outlaw" still resonates.

There is a way.

"Grand Duke Merrick has appeared in District Forty-Nine; you can learn advanced skills there."

"Really? An advanced skill?"

"Could it be that Merrick Saber Technique can be learned to S-rank?"

"Yes! Requires level 40 and 5 gold coins."

I didn't dare set the prerequisite level too high, since players specializing in swordsmanship will inevitably reach the maximum level anyway.

Other players will consider the cost-effectiveness of upgrading. If the level is too high to advance to S-rank, and it's not a major class, then they need to weigh the pros and cons.

System notification: You have received a transfer of 100 Energy Coins from "War God of Jiangling Prefecture".

As expected of a tycoon, starting with 100 energy coins, which, at the current in-game exchange rate, is worth a fortune.

Before long, "War God of Jiangling Prefecture" found him, followed by more than a dozen other players.

It must be that the players he recruited were all martial arts enthusiasts who wielded swords.

I quickly glanced at the information about "War God of Jiangling Prefecture".

The second job advancement, "Dragon Yang Swordsman," has an active skill called Longyang Saber Technique, which is only A-rank, but like Merrick Saber Technique, it has been upgraded to level 80.

There's also a bunch of miscellaneous low-level martial arts skills, but their levels aren't low at all.

Besides that, he has a total of three passive skills, but only two of them are at a relatively high level, and the third one is hardly leveled up at all.

The overall rating is B. I estimate that if I max out the three passive skills, the overall rating will reach A.

Unfortunately, so far, players haven't really felt much of a difference with passive skills.

It wasn't until the Galactic Federation era, when it was discovered that the difference in levels was far less significant than the difference in combat power, and when top players took the lead in discovering the secrets of passive skills, that passive skills were truly elevated to an important position.

By then, the rankings will be dominated by A-level combat power, with B-level combat power relegated to the bottom.

"Holy shit!"

As the skills were fully imparted, Chen Shanqiang couldn't help but exclaim in surprise!

The brand-new S-rank Merrick Saber Technique on the panel is truly amazing; it's just too domineering.

All their attacks are area-of-effect (AOE)! And they're immune to Super Armor for the entire duration!

More importantly, with Merrick Saber Technique reaching S-level, his overall rating jumped from B-level to A-level.

On the server leaderboard, his ranking jumped from 103rd to 22nd, temporarily placing him at the bottom as an A-level player.

If you want to improve your ranking directly among those at the same level, the only way is through PvP (player versus player) battles.

After gesturing excitedly with the people behind him for a while, Chen Shanqiang finally noticed Lister in front of him, who was pretending to be puzzled, and then he realized what was going on.

"Wow... I... I Lister, Grand Duke Lister, for your instruction!"

After saying that, he excitedly led everyone away, presumably to try out the new Merrick Saber Technique.

With Chen Shanqiang's group leading the way, many players quickly gathered around Lister, and the news that he could teach S-level sword techniques spread far and wide.

Keep in mind that this is an S-rank skill; currently in this fourth act, S-rank skills are exclusively for top-tier players.

It can be obtained either through special missions by veteran players or by paying players who spend money to buy it.

Currently, there are probably only a few hundred people on the entire server who possess S-level skills.

Now, Merrick Saber Technique has been directly upgraded to S-rank.

This is an incredibly beneficial update for martial arts players, especially those specializing in swordsmanship!

Soon, a long queue had formed in front of Lister, and various messages were flying around on the public screen.

"Is this the AI's way of balancing things out for us martial arts players?"

"Holy crap! Every strike is an area-of-effect (AOE) Iai Slash, and Super Armor the whole time! This is amazing!"

"Damn it, this is so unfair! First the Mechanical Engineering department took off, and now the Martial Arts department is getting such heavy support?"

"What about us in the magic system? Why don't we get any skill-based giveaways as a benefit?"

"You guys ganged up on our martial arts department, now you can't even look up to me!"

"Count Merrick is the best! He's giving us fan service right from the very first scene! He really is the big boss of our martial arts department!"

"This fourth act is a bit late, but at least I've finally got to see it!"