Testing the Slash Blade

"The Slash Blade Mod doesn't refer to one specific sword or a particular fighting style. It's the collective name for a whole series of blades." Fang Bie explained as he stacked the dirt blocks in his hands.

"Starting with the ordinary Wooden Sword, also known as the Nameless Wooden Puppet, and going all the way to the most powerful Demon Sword Cursed Blade, they're all products of this mod. Since we have this scroll, we can now make swords capable of slaying gods and demons!"

There was no exaggeration in Fang Bie's words. Slash Blades truly had immense combat power. They had no defensive properties of their own, but their outrageous attack power and powerful dynamic effects—enough to turn the tide of battle—were beyond the reach of anything else.

"Something like that really exists?" Yinsen still looked surprised, though he seemed more accustomed to the strange than anything else.

He'd even encountered world-hopping. After everything else he'd come across over the past half month, even the most timid person would have developed nerves of steel.

"I still can't understand how a sword like this can unleash such terrifying power." As a true Northerner, Yinsen couldn't understand the power of cursed blades from Eastern mythology and legends.

"Do you know the mythical spear Gungnir?" Fang Bie changed the subject to something Yinsen could understand. "Just think of these swords as divine weapons like that, imbued with mysterious power."

"You mean... these swords possess the power of gods?" The astonishment on Yinsen's face appeared again, this time in earnest.

Unlike the people of China, people like him had grown up in a world of faith. To them, encountering power on the level of the divine was almost unimaginable.

You just don't know the names of these swords... Fang Bie thought. Those authors with their twisted sense of humor had used the names of just about every famous blade in the world. All kinds of strange divine weapons, and even more varied toys, had been loaded into the mod.

"Fang, I've finished preparing this plot of land. This afternoon, we can plant potatoes and carrots here, then plant beets in the plot behind the house. That'll be all the farmland taken care of." Yinsen set down his hoe.

The speed with which he switched between roles always left Fang Bie feeling a little out of sorts. He even thought that the bespectacled, middle-aged bald man before him was better suited to this bizarre world than he was. At the very least, Fang Bie couldn't keep every little thing in mind like Yinsen did.

Fang Bie didn't answer. He pulled out a Wooden Sword and gave Yinsen a light poke. Only after seeing its durability drop by a sliver did he return to the house, satisfied.

"So that's why you had me shoot arrows at you?" Yinsen rubbed his back, which still seemed to hurt. Fang Bie had just stabbed him in the back, and he'd only just recovered.

"Couldn't be helped. Making a wooden puppet sword requires lowering its durability a little. You were right next to me, so of course I took a swing at you first!" Fang Bie said as if it were only natural.

He knew the hit couldn't actually hurt Yinsen, so he didn't feel the slightest bit guilty.

Yinsen wasn't angry either. Little White had put more than a dozen arrows into his head before. What was one slash?

Their long months of fighting outdoors had toughened them up, making them unafraid of getting hurt.

Getting injured in this world came at so little cost that they'd grown used to it. As long as they ate enough, they could recover their health.

"Come on, shoot me with an arrow!" Fang Bie called to Yinsen, holding the wooden blade with complete confidence.

"It's not your safety I'm worried about. It's how many arrows I have left," Yinsen muttered, raising his bow and firing.

After practicing on countless Zombies, he'd become an almost infallible archer. He had almost never missed a moving target within ten meters.

Fang Bie watched the arrow's path. His right hand whipped out the sword, and a faint flash of light streaked by. He easily knocked the arrow aside.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Yinsen swore. He could clearly see that the arrow he'd just fired had been knocked away by that strange white flash.

"That's the second special property of Slash Blades: they can absolutely block ranged attacks!" Fang Bie had received all the information as soon as he got the sword, so he spoke with complete authority.

"That really is a miraculous sword. I'm starting to believe what you said earlier." Yinsen examined the Wooden Sword in Fang Bie's hand with a curious look, but Fang Bie pushed him away in annoyance.

"If you want one, make it yourself. Don't stroke my sword like some lovesick creep!" Fang Bie teased.

After nearly a month together, the two of them had long since lost the awkwardness they'd felt at first. Especially since they were already bound to this world, they had no reason to doubt each other, and they got along exceptionally well.

Yinsen was easygoing too. He turned and pulled a Wooden Sword out of his Backpack. "Then come over here and let me take a swing at you."

Fang Bie's smile froze. He took the other man's hit with a miserable look.

Before long, the empty lot was filled with two guys swinging wooden swords around and hacking wildly!

"Slash Blades all have strict kill-count requirements. With how rarely monsters spawn in our world, we'll be at this until the end of time!"

Fang Bie thought of that again and couldn't help feeling a headache coming on.

"Then, if that's the case, Tony's world won't work for us either. Those monsters don't seem to count as living creatures. What if killing animals on Earth doesn't count as killing either?"

Yinsen had learned how the swords worked too. He sat beside Fang Bie and considered the problem.

These Slash Blades were either cursed blades or demonic swords. They really were sinister.

If he hadn't known they only absorbed the power of the monsters they killed, he wouldn't have dared use one so casually.

Just like in movies and legends, what good ever came to the people who wielded such cursed blades?

Fang Bie couldn't help sighing. The kill count had become another obstacle in their way, and he'd have to think carefully about how to solve it. If all else failed, they'd have no choice but to risk going out onto the grasslands to hunt monsters after nightfall.

"Why don't we..." Fang Bie suddenly hit upon an idea. "We open another portal and see what that world is like?"

Yinsen didn't object. "Sure. I'd like to see a new world too. That's one of the reasons I came here in the first place!"

This middle-aged medical doctor, who'd once been so utterly dispirited, had gradually emerged from the shadows of despair and hardship under Fang Bie's subtle influence.

"Great! Let's do it tomorrow!" Fang Bie declared, sealing the decision.