Throwing Punches

Inside the apartment.

There was a clanging and banging noise downstairs, as if they were repairing the exterior wall that had been bombed that day.

It's quite noisy.

However, it didn't have much of an impact on Lu Xiu.

After all, they stop working at night.

As for daytime...

Lu Xiu has figured out her strategy and is ready to officially Constructed Instance.

"Start boxing! Uh... something feels a bit off."

Lu Xiu raised her hands, gathered all her long, flowing black hair behind her head, and then skillfully tied it into a neat high ponytail with a hair tie.

With her long hair tied up, her slender, fair neck, as graceful as a swan's, was revealed.

Lu Xiu gently flicked her ponytail, feeling that what she had just said was rather strange.

But she quickly put that subtle thought out of her mind.

She did indeed want to spar with someone.

So that statement is correct.

As she pondered this, she put her Cat Step back on and then entered the Construction Space.

After the special event concluded.

The dungeon entry function and the Architect -related functions have been re-unlocked.

That boundless, pure white Construction Space reappeared before Lu Xiu's eyes.

After landing, Lu Xiu raised her arm with practiced ease, her slender fingers slightly spread, and began to construct the first core scene of the fifth instance.

Visual Mental Imagery Construction Method.

start up.

soon.

The previously empty, pure white ground began to tremble violently.

Immediately afterwards, graffiti-covered, mottled brick walls rose from the ground, quickly piecing together a narrow back alley in the city.

And at the end of the alley.

Two heavy, black, soundproof doors were then visible.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The moment the door was completed, a deep, frenetic, and highly rhythmic bass electronic sound pierced through the door panel and violently reverberated throughout the space.

Lu Xiu took a step forward, and the door opened with a click.

Meanwhile, the interior scene began to take shape, with dazzling, psychedelic pink and purple neon lights appearing.

There's a dance floor not far from the entrance.

Above the dance floor, blinding strobe lights constantly rotate and sweep across the area.

Below, a crowd slowly appeared, wildly twisting their bodies to the electronic music.

The music was deafening.

The lights were so dazzling they made your eyes water.

Lu Xiu slowly lowered her hand, not in a hurry to perfect the details.

There's no rush for the details.

This instance isn't primarily about wonders.

Lu Xiu took a deep breath, then gathered her thoughts and began to construct the enemies in this scene.

As she unleashed her Mental Strength, one after another, burly thugs, dressed in sharp suits or vests, began to appear in the booths and aisles leading to the dance floor.

They surveyed the area with unfriendly expressions.

Lu Xiu looked at the enemies, thought for a moment, and then closed her eyes.

She closed her eyes.

One of the burly thugs suddenly stepped forward and then abruptly swung a heavy punch the size of a sandbag.

As the force of the punch tore through the air, a faint, frenzied blue lightning flashed across the thug's muscular arm, producing a sickening cracking sound.

At the same time.

On the other side, a shirtless thug also moved, turning sideways and delivering a powerful elbow strike. Blazing flames erupted from his elbow, and the force of his strike even caused the surrounding air to distort slightly.

A thunderous punch, an elbow strike blazing with fire.

A perfectly normal modern nightclub suddenly took on a surreal look.

This is definitely not the same thing as the original game.

As for why such outrageous things would appear in a nightclub that appears to be set in a modern city?

That's a long story.

Lu Xiu plans to make some serious modifications.

The original framework of the Sifu is sufficient; the scenes, Posture Bar, high and low dodge mechanics, and age system can all be retained.

But I feel that these alone are not enough.

After all, this dungeon is designed to address the weakness of unarmed combat and to enhance one's self-defense capabilities.

But in reality, she would be facing top players with all sorts of unique talents and skills, whose attributes often completely overwhelmed her.

In this situation, simply fighting a few ordinary gangsters in the dungeon is too easy—it feels like you won't learn anything.

She felt she had to increase the intensity.

The main appeal is the dual torment of mechanics and numerical values.

This led to the superpowered punch we know today.

certainly.

In order to cope with these superpowered punches, the protagonist Lu Xiu also made some changes to her mechanics.

Lu Xiu plans to modify the parry system, which is already present in the game's blueprint, and replace it with Neutralize system.

Simply put...

The original hard block is still useful, but it will reduce your own health, and because of the superpower bonus, the Posture Bar will fill up extremely quickly.

The perfect parry has been replaced by Neutralize.

Um.

Neutralize force.

This isn't Lu Xiu trying to extort money from Teacher Ma.

Her idea actually mainly came from Wo Long —anyone who has played the game Wo Long should know how high the priority of the Neutralize action is.

Basically, all you need to do is use magic to complete the entire game.

But frankly speaking, Lu Xiu doesn't have a high need for weapon Neutralize, since she now has Perfect Deflect.

What she needs is Neutralize using her bare hands.

Just as Lu Xiu had anticipated.

This is a fundamental combat logic that emphasizes using minimal force to achieve maximum effect and leveraging external strength to defeat external forces.

When faced with a powerful blow that comes with superhuman strength and overwhelming numerical advantage, even if you manage a perfect parry with your arm, the terrifying kinetic energy and elemental damage would likely be enough to cause serious injury.

After all, weapons and flesh and blood are two different things.

But Neutralize it is a different story.

In theory, if she could actually get the right reward, she could completely deflect the opponent's attack the moment it was about to land, using the opponent's force to perfectly channel the violent attribute damage, and might even be able to disrupt the enemy's center of gravity.

This can be considered an experiment for Lu Xiu.

----An attempt at customized skills.

to this end.

She plans to drastically change the Sifu's mechanics, enemy and boss strength, as well as some scenes.

"Come on, let's see the results."

Looking at the chaotic nightclub, Lu Xiu summoned the System Panel, submitted the plan that she had been refining, and then began to generate the core construction objective, which is the protagonist of the dungeon.

soon.

A young man wearing a vest appeared in the enemy ranks.

Lu Xiu checked the protagonist's attributes, then closed her eyes and entered test mode.

As the perspective shifts, the Bai Guang in the Construction Space dissipates.

The deafening music became clear.

Lu Xiu's attributes were instantly suppressed to the level of the main character in the dungeon.

At the same time.

The thugs who had been on standby all turned around and slowly surrounded her.

"----die!"

The burly thug closest to her roared and charged forward like a raging beast, his right fist lashing out with blinding blue lightning that crackled and exploded across his knuckles.

Lu Xiu did not dodge, but instead, as planned, crossed her arms in front of her chest and made a standard hard block move.

Bang!

A dull thud followed.

A surge of violent kinetic energy, mixed with lightning, poured down onto his arms in an instant.

Lu Xiu felt a sudden numbness in her arms, her health bar dropped drastically in an instant, and her body uncontrollably slid back three or four steps. The elemental damage from the lightning, combined with the original kinetic damage, was really bad.

The yellow bar in the upper left corner of my vision, representing the Posture Bar, shot up like a rocket, instantly reaching two-thirds of its full length.

One punch almost made him lose his balance.

My Sifu is like Sekiro.

There is also a penalty for losing Posture Bar and becoming stiff.

"This should be an effective way to limit myself."

Lu Xiu shook her numb arm, not annoyed at all, but instead nodded in satisfaction. "Trying to clear this dungeon by brute force is absolutely not going to work. Faced with such overpowered attacks, you'll only have to block two hits before your Posture Bar collapses, leaving you vulnerable to being hit again."

"So, what's next—"

Lu Xiu raised her head, eager to try. "Let's try to Neutralize!"

really.

The burly thug who had driven Lu Xiu back didn't give her much breathing room. He quickly moved forward again, closing in on her in a few steps, and threw another punch.

This time, Lu Xiu didn't foolishly raise her arm to resist.

Instead, he suddenly turned to the side, raised his arms, pressed his wrists against the other person's arms, and pulled them sharply downwards and diagonally.

The movements were neither too fast nor too slow, just right.

As she moved, the terrifying fist force, carrying the power of thunder, immediately cut out in the direction she guided and slammed into the table next to her.

Click!

An electric arc shot out.

The solid wood booth table shattered into pieces instantly, with wood chips mixed with electrical sparks flying everywhere.

---- Neutralize based on the setup is feasible!

Seeing this, Lu Xiu's eyes lit up. She then used her waist to exert force, intending to take advantage of the situation and launch a counterattack.

However.

She severely underestimated just how torturous the dual torment of the mechanisms and numerical targets outlined in her proposal truly was.

Although the burly thug missed his target and his body lurched forward due to inertia, he managed to stop his momentum by twisting his thick waist.

Immediately following, his left arm, which hadn't swung, delivered a sonic boom and a vicious, tricky hook punch!

Blue lightning flashed once more on his fist!

Moreover, because it uses the momentum of the first strike to generate force, the starting speed of this punch is even three points faster than the previous one!

Although many things were changed.

But the Sifu's style of delivering brutal, visceral blows remains.

Lu Xiu used the Visual Mental Imagery Construction Method, completely referencing the original game—"The Enemy is a Bit Fierce."

Lu Xiu's right hand, which had just completed the Neutralize, didn't even have time to retract before the opponent's second strike, which was swift and decisive, tore through the air and slammed down on her!

She immediately pulled her arm back to defend.

But it was too late!

Bang!

Lu Xiu felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and was sent flying backward. A sharp, dull pain and a strong, numbing sensation from the lightning instantly shot into her brain, and her health bar at the edge of her vision dropped by more than half.

The yellow bar in the upper left corner, representing the stance, snapped and collapsed instantly.

"Stop!!!"

The enemy's movements stopped instantly.

Lu Xiu managed to steady herself, rubbed her shoulders, and looked somewhat surprised.

This seems a bit too difficult—the enemy itself is not weak, and she also set up a scenario where multiple enemies would surround and attack.

When facing a group attack, players must also forcibly seize these continuous windows of Neutralize with almost no room for error. The reaction speed required from players is simply hellish.

It looks like it might be tough.

Should we make some changes?

Lu Xiu thought for a while, then gently shook her head, a hint of stubbornness flashing in her eyes—the difficulty was indeed a bit high, but it wasn't impossible to pass.

Sekiro's Neutralize is not simple either.

Her original intention in creating this instance was to enhance her ability to protect herself.

The enemies in dungeons are exaggerated—then High Sequence players in real life must be even more exaggerated.

If you don't want to suffer in dungeons, where else would you want to suffer?

Moreover, she has no shortage of adaptability and perseverance.

After all, I've adapted to this brand new body, so I don't feel uncomfortable doing anything now—what else can't I adapt to!

It's just an extremely demanding rhythm for Neutralize issues.

Die a few more times, get beaten a few more times.

You can always learn it!

Um.

However, we can't just think about ourselves. After all, we also need to consider the new version, so the dungeon still needs to follow a gradual process.

Thinking of this, Lu Xiu temporarily exited the role-playing mode, then opened the planning document and added a note, "[The combo intervals of enemies in the early stages can be appropriately lengthened to give players time to figure out Neutralize the rhythm, and then gradually shortened later.]"

Then, after thinking about it, I added another line.

[After death and as age increases, the protagonist's attributes will change accordingly. In youth, strength is low, but agility is high. In old age, agility decreases, but strength increases. The window for Neutralize negative effects must also be slightly adjusted with age.]

After jotting down my thoughts.

Lu Xiu took a deep breath and entered role-playing mode again.

I'll revise it later.

First, you need to practice until you can do it yourself! Otherwise, you won't even be able to log into the dungeon!

Lu Xiu closed her eyes, experiencing a brief dizziness from the visual displacement.

The deafening electronic music became clear again.

The thugs surrounded them again.

Lu Xiu assumed a fighting stance, imagining herself as a grandmaster before the fight, moving with fluid grace and composure, effortlessly deflecting each of her opponent's punches.

But clearly, there's a gap between imagination and reality.

Neutralize the first punch.

Neutralize the second punch.

The third punch came from the side; there wasn't enough time.

He was sent flying by a single punch.

Let's try again.

Scene reset.

Lu Xiu found herself once again surrounded by the enemy.

This time, she dodged three attacks in a row, feeling that she had found a rhythm.

But this is a siege.

She didn't notice the enemy had circled around behind her, and by the time she turned around, the fiery fist was already at her face.

It flew out again.

that's all.

Starting over again and again.

Time flies.

Lu Xiu gradually became obsessed, neglecting to eat and sleep.

She would be beaten repeatedly, then come out, write down what needed to be corrected, review the flaws in her movements, and then go back in.

Occasionally, she would get a feel for it and be able to deflect four or five attacks in a row, and she would think that this dungeon would be really good.

Then he got sent flying by the sixth punch, and felt that this dungeon was a bit too much—he was such an idiot!

Then they started all over again.

Lu Xiu thus created a Neutralize system entirely based on her memories of playing hardcore action games in her previous life, without any systematic martial arts foundation or knowledge, and with some wildly imaginative ideas.

It can only be described as a newborn calf not being afraid of a tiger.

She's truly daring—and relentlessly pushing towards zero tolerance for error. The original blueprint of the game Sifu was already outrageous enough, but she also had to fight superpowered enemies.

But what's even more outrageous is her talent.

At first, she could only barely rely on the rules to Neutralize the enemy's attacks.

One hour later.

He was already barely able to dodge and weave through the attacks of three enemies.

Each time she was hit, the awkwardness in her movements would fade a little.

Each time she was hit, she was able to quickly adjust her movements.

With the combat skills she learned from Sekiro, she began to transform the theoretical knowledge that only existed in her mind into concrete actions at a visible speed.

She was growing rapidly, almost every minute.

As for the players.

The player was once again forgotten by her.