Beginning the Attempt at a One-Life Clear

After submitting the basic information for the instance dungeon, Lu Xiu directly chose to enter the construction space.

In the blink of an eye.

She arrived in the familiar pure-white space. Above her was bright as day, beneath her was bright as day, and it stretched infinitely ahead, with no end in sight.

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[Welcome to the construction space.]

[Constructor Level: Level 3 Constructor]

[Maximum Constructible Instance Dungeons: 3]

[Current Survival Points Available for Investment: 2415]

"..."

Lu Xiu paid no attention to the pop-up window. The dividends from the [Resident Evil] instance dungeon had not been settled yet, so there was nothing worth looking at.

She looked around and quickly noticed something unusual. The pure-white space was not completely empty... not far away floated the sealed [Resident Evil] instance dungeon.

It didn't disappear?!

Lu Xiu was somewhat surprised. She had thought the sealed instance dungeon would vanish once it went online, but it was still here.

Why?

Was there some kind of mechanism at work here? Or was it merely decoration?

Curious, she opened the Constructor panel, only to find that there were no prompts at all.

Forget it.

After thinking it over, Lu Xiu decided not to worry about it for now... the instance dungeon was already online, so any problems had nothing to do with her. All she had to do now was wait for the ticket dividends.

She should focus on the new instance dungeon instead.

Lu Xiu withdrew her gaze and began sorting through the ideas for constructing her second instance dungeon.

In the end.

She still planned to use Sekiro as the basis for her second instance dungeon.

It wasn't as if she had never hesitated.

Her goal was melee combat, and she preferred cold weapons, so an action game centered around slashing and combat had to be the right choice.

But there were so many action games. Some emphasized combos, some emphasized mechanical depth, and some emphasized brutally difficult combat.

It was genuinely hard to choose.

The first games Lu Xiu eliminated were titles like Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, and Bayonetta, with their strong arcade fighting-game influences, move lists, and deep, entertaining action systems whose skill ceilings were impossible to see.

Because games like those... were too game-like.

Fighting in them was practically like dancing.

For the time being, Lu Xiu simply had no way to turn them into instance dungeons.

She also eliminated games with simplified controls that focused on story or strategy, as well as those centered on RPG progression systems, skill trees, and overly complicated equipment systems.

Because what she wanted right now was to learn offensive techniques and practice fighting people, not actually play games.

Anything too hardcore wouldn't work. Anything too casual wouldn't work either. RPG progression systems that were too complex were also out.

After considering everything, Lu Xiu realized that Souls games and Soulslikes really were the most suitable genre.

Such games generally had relatively simple controls, no complicated combos, and mostly relied on fundamental mechanics.

Moreover, the characters were relatively weak. Growth depended on investing resources, but mastery of the controls mattered more than numerical improvement.

This was currently the most perfect template for an instance dungeon.

But just as Lu Xiu made up her mind, she remembered the messy assortment of weapons in Dark Souls, the complicated stats and maps, and shook her head again.

The main issue was that Lu Xiu did not need all those things.

She did not currently need a complicated weapon system, too many builds and playstyles, or strength piled up through equipment. Besides, rolling around in an actual fight would look ridiculous.

Although Dark Souls had fewer related builds and playstyles compared with other games.

For Lu Xiu, it was still too much.

What she wanted had been simple from the very beginning.

One sword.

And the ability to use that sword to confront others head-on.

Then.

Sekiro, a game that was not quite a Soulslike, appeared in Lu Xiu's mind.

Although that game also had different paths, such as the samurai path, the ninja path, and the Shinobi Prosthetic path.

But in the end.

Its core gameplay was still direct combat centered around the posture bar.

Battle was as fierce as fire.

The clang-clang-clang of blades striking made the blood race.

Its blisteringly fast combat pace, rapid shifts between offense and defense, and aggressive attacks left no room to catch one's breath. It did not encourage passive waiting; there were only frequent, tight exchanges.

The purpose of attacking was no longer simply to reduce health, but to suppress the opponent and seize control of the tempo.

This created a high-speed combat system centered on relentless pressure and the integration of attack and defense.

And that was exactly what Lu Xiu wanted. She wanted to cross blades with people... and thereby gain the ability to fight others, the ability to attack them.

Besides.

Sekiro was also the right size. The map was suitably sized, and its self-preservation abilities... It had taken more than half a year just to create the instance dungeon. What self-preservation was there to speak of...

Moreover, many of the game's systems were dispensable, making them suitable for trimming without causing too much impact.

Like Senpou Temple Martial Arts, for instance...

After all, an instance dungeon was an instance dungeon, and a game was a game.

In truth, even if Lu Xiu cut out some things when turning Sekiro into an instance dungeon... its complexity would still be enough to make people cover their faces and weep.

If their memories were truly stripped away, clearing it would probably be excruciatingly painful.

Leaving aside anything else, just look at the Chained Ogre. Could players entering the instance dungeon for the first time really obtain the Flame Vent...? Lu Xiu was doubtful.

And if there was also a mechanism that blurred their memories after clearing it... well, once the instance dungeon went live, the players here could only pray for themselves.

Of course.

These issues were not issues for Lu Xiu.

The more Lu Xiu thought about it, the more suitable Sekiro seemed for her.

Of course.

Whether it was truly suitable or not would only be known after trying it.

"Activate Visual Mental Imagery Construction Method."

After briefly sorting through her construction ideas and gaining confidence, Lu Xiu directly activated the construction method she was most proficient with.

Since this was a new instance dungeon, Lu Xiu still closed her eyes.

She began imagining the scenes from her memories... An unknown fluctuation rapidly spread outward from her, like a drop of ink falling into clear water.

Then.

Ripples like those on water spread across the pure white ground. Soil slowly emerged, and wind began to blow, damp and cold with a biting chill.

Next, withered yellow grass broke through the earth. Its roots spread, and its leaves were dry and stiff.

In the distance, a broken mountain path stretched into existence. Stones, wheel ruts, tracks of crushed mud... every detail was rapidly filled in.

A wooden camp gate rose from the ground, creaking in the cold wind. Its charred beams and pillars exposed the misery it had suffered under the flames of war. Several red military banners snapped in the wind, especially glaring against the stark white snow. Two braziers stood before the gate. With a pop, flames appeared, their flickering orange-red glow casting broken shadows over the snow.

Inside the camp gate stood a multi-level watchtower built from rough logs. Like a wooden beast, it overlooked this only passage.

Farther out, the mountains took shape, stretching endlessly into the distance. Clouds and mist coiled between the perilous ridges, silent and oppressive.

Once the general framework of the scene had taken shape, more scattered objects began to appear, filling it in.

Very soon.

Before Lu Xiu, a massive vertical banner appeared, bearing the words: "Glory in Death, Shame in Life."

Beneath the banner, a figure emerged. At first, it was only a shadow, stretched long at the edge of the firelight.

But soon, the shadow gained substance.

Its outline shifted from illusory to real.

The samurai stood amid the wind and snow, radiating a murderous aura that seemed to seep into the bones. He wore a black-lacquered, wide-sleeved domaru armor. The plates were tightly layered, their edges trimmed in striking red, reflecting a cold, hard metallic gleam in the firelight.

Lu Xiu opened her eyes. Looking at the familiar scene, she let out a long breath.

That was right.

This was the first minor boss in [Sekiro], the Samurai General many players jokingly called the Refund General.

The reason Lu Xiu had constructed this scene and this enemy was to test just how difficult it would be.

"Next comes the protagonist."

Having regained the feeling from when she constructed the [Resident Evil] instance dungeon, Lu Xiu no longer closed her eyes. Instead, she raised a hand directly.

Another figure appeared out of thin air.

He wore a coarse, earth-yellow robe. His left arm was strange, as though covered in peculiar armor—not solid metal, but formed from countless fine plates and leather straps intertwined together, possessing an unusual mechanical beauty. A thick grayish-white woven scarf was wrapped around his neck. Even in the bitterly cold wind, the long scarf only swayed slightly.

And in his lowered right hand, he gripped a slender ancient sword.

It was none other than the protagonist, Wolf.

After examining him briefly and confirming that there were no problems, Lu Xiu began drawing on other subsystems, preparing to get the scene running first.

Thanks to the experience accumulated from the previous [Resident Evil] instance dungeon, it was not particularly troublesome overall.

Sekiro's protagonist had only two growth attributes: Vitality and Attack Power. Simple enough—the former increased by one point for every four Prayer Beads spent, while the latter increased by one point for every Battle Memory spent. Both had caps.

As for enemies—

Setting aside subsequent playthroughs, their stats were basically fixed, changing only with the weather and time of day.

Before entering the construction space, Lu Xiu had already compiled the approximate values.

Whenever she fought a different boss, she only needed to assume the protagonist had obtained all prior Prayer Beads and Battle Memories. The same went for experience, skill points, Shinobi Prosthetics, and so on.

Anything she had not accounted for yet could be generated by the system for the time being.

Lu Xiu tinkered with it for about an hour before the entire scenario was up and running.

"Done."

Lu Xiu closed the mess of windows before her, looked at the motionless enemy and protagonist, and prepared for some practical training.

Although she had never crossed blades with anyone or fought in close combat before.

She believed that as long as she practiced enough, with her memories retained... and her understanding of the game from her previous life—

She would definitely clear it without dying even once! She would breeze through it!

[Scenario Roleplay Mode, activating—]

As the prompt appeared—

The boundless white space abruptly contracted, and the entire scene instantly became an isolated island.

Lu Xiu's vision went black, and a brief yet intense wave of dizziness washed over her. When she opened her eyes again, she was already wearing the protagonist's avatar suit, with the ancient blade known as "Kusabimaru" gripped in her hand.

"So it's still my original body... just like Resident Evil. I've only changed into a different avatar suit. Though my stats are way better than Ethan's."

After adjusting to the disorienting sensation of spatial displacement, Lu Xiu held her sword without immediately triggering the battle. Instead, she lowered her head to examine herself, then bounced in place a few times.

Once she confirmed that nothing felt wrong—

She finally looked at the sword in her right hand.

Sure enough, no one could resist things like swords and blades.

Lu Xiu was no exception. She lightly swung the blade, a delighted smile spreading across her face as though she had found an incredibly straight stick.

She played around on the spot for quite a while. Only after satisfying herself did she move forward, ready to fight.

"Come on."

Lu Xiu strode forward confidently, approaching the samurai standing beneath a banner.

The moment she drew close—

Oppressive music began to play—although this was only a test, Lu Xiu had still added BGM to enhance the immersion.

And the samurai standing amid the wind and snow moved when he saw Lu Xiu.

He bent at the waist and drew his sword.

The motion flowed without interruption.

Clang—

Accompanied by the crisp scrape of metal—

He drew his longsword. His body, steady as a statue moments ago, suddenly tensed, while the black-lacquered large-sleeved dōmaru armor gave off a soft clatter of plates with his movement.

He gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the longsword high above his head, assuming an immensely oppressive hassō-gamae attacking stance.

Looking at the heavily armored samurai general before her, his longsword raised high and violence radiating from him, Lu Xiu suddenly had a bad feeling...

But she was already here.

"Come!"

Almost instinctively, Lu Xiu raised the ancient blade Kusabimaru horizontally before her.

The samurai gripped his weapon with both hands. Beneath his black star-crested helmet, his cold eyes locked firmly onto Lu Xiu.

"Ha!"

With an angry shout—

The samurai general charged forward. A powerful diagonal robe-cut descended with the momentum of his rush, carrying a shrill gust of wind as it slammed viciously into Lu Xiu's ancient blade.

The two swords crashed together fiercely in midair, scattering sparks in every direction.

However, the elegant, crisp perfect deflect she had imagined never came.

Lu Xiu only felt a brutal force surge through the blade. It passed almost unhindered through the web of her thumb, jolting her entire upper body numb in an instant.

Lu Xiu only felt that brutal force strike her. It passed directly through the web of her thumb, jolting her entire upper body numb. She had neither martial arts training nor any idea how to redirect force. Under that mountain-crushing heavy blow, her balance collapsed in an instant.

The next moment—

Her legs gave out, forcing her into a half-crouch. She nearly fell onto the ground, and the weapon in her hand almost flew from her grasp.

The facts proved that.

A game was a game.

A real person was a real person.

Lu Xiu had nearly been one-shot by a minor boss...

"..."

Lu Xiu raised her head, utterly bewildered, then hurriedly shouted, "Stop! Stop!!"