Taking the Plunge

Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, the powerhouse of single-player trainers, was all about brainless simplicity—easy enough for even complete beginners to use.

With its massive game library, abundant features, and detailed instructions, it remained a pillar among trainers even in 2043. Countless clumsy players joined the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect every year, and even plenty of experts joined after clearing games in pursuit of a different experience.

As a gaming enthusiast, Lucian was naturally one of the sect's many disciples.

Sometimes it was to skip meaningless grinding, sometimes it was to enable flight and explore everywhere...

Lucian knew Wind Spirit Moon Shadow too well. The moment that black panel appeared, he knew he had this in the bag.

The Grafted Scion clearly could not understand what had happened. Its sword, which should have pierced flesh, felt as though it had struck steel. No matter what it did, it could not push forward another inch.

Before Invincibility ran out, Lucian knocked the Grafted Scion's sword aside with an elbow, driving it into the ground beside him, then abruptly sat up.

Invincibility ended, and Lucian's command activated.

"Enable One-Hit Kill!"

Feature 10—Super Damage/One-Hit Kill activated (1 use)

His weapon had already been knocked from his hand, so Lucian did not bother retrieving it and simply threw a bare fist at the Grafted Scion.

The Grafted Scion watched the Tarnished before it in confusion. What could such a feeble punch possibly do? It took it as nothing more than a dying counterattack.

Bang

Lucian's fist was firmly stopped by the shield.

The next second, the Grafted Scion's body behind the shield exploded into bloody spray, splattering across the entire ceiling.

With over half its body reduced to ash, even a twisted monster like the Grafted Scion had suffered an utterly fatal wound.

It could not have been deader.

A stream of golden energy drifted from the corpse and entered Lucian's body.

"Was that... Runes?"

Lucian carefully sensed it, but had no idea where it had gone.

In any case, the danger had passed. Lucian had survived.

Looking at the bloody scene before him, Lucian's heart pounded. That had been far too close.

In the Lands Between, all kinds of roars held power. Some could briefly enhance one's strength, some could intimidate enemies, and some could deal damage directly.

He had nearly been finished off by that roar just now. If it had been some other move, Lucian could at least have relied on his memories of the game to judge how to handle it.

Still, Lucian had ultimately won this battle. He could surely put this experience to use next time.

Lucian also realized that not only did this body feel completely familiar to use, but in battle, his mind would rapidly assess methods of defense and attack.

It was just that sometimes his own mind lacked combat awareness and could not keep up with his body's movements.

But the Grafted Scion was dead, and the life-or-death crisis had been resolved. Once he left this isolated island, he would have plenty of time to grow stronger.

"The question now is, how do I get down?"

He had originally thought that once Wind Spirit Moon Shadow was activated, this would not be difficult. He could simply turn on flight and fly away.

But after examining it for a while, Lucian discovered that this Wind Spirit Moon Shadow was incomplete.

As for its available functions, it currently had: 1—Invincibility Mode, 2—Infinite Health, 3—Infinite Focus, 4—Infinite Stamina, 5—Zero Equip Load, 6—Invisibility Mode, 7—Cure Status Ailments, 8—Lock Enemy Positions, 9—Rune Acquisition Multiplier, 10—Super Damage.

Compared to the original version, it had far fewer functions. All features that directly altered attributes were gone, as were those that directly modified Rune amounts, levels, and item quantities.

Most critically, it had no flight function. In other words, Lucian could not leave this isolated island by flying.

Beyond that, Wind Spirit Moon Shadow could not remain active indefinitely.

Just as in the previous battle, Invincibility had lasted only two seconds, while One-Hit Kill had become weapon damage multiplied by an extremely high multiplier, along with an additional instance of Super Damage with an extremely high value. The panel did not explain the exact damage multiplier, and it likewise had a one-use limit.

Because a fist's base damage was too low, nearly all of his previous damage output had come from the latter fixed-value damage.

There was a five-segment blue energy bar on the black panel. Two segments had now emptied and turned gray.

Yes, the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow on Lucian had an energy limit. Each time he used a feature, one segment would be consumed.

And Lucian did not yet know how to restore it.

If it could recover over time, then Lucian only needed to hide somewhere, then use Invisibility Mode to find the bosses and cut them down one by one.

But if it could not recover over time, then energy would be extremely scarce.

Setting the matter of energy aside for now, the most urgent issue was still how to leave this isolated island.

Lucian rested for a moment and only approached the Grafted Scion's remains after confirming that he had recovered ninety percent of his condition.

He was going to loot the corpse.

A pair of Ritual Straight Swords, a Beast Crest Golden Greatshield, a huge blue blanket patterned with peacock tails, and scattered noble ornaments—this was everything the Grafted Scion owned.

Lucian tried swinging the paired swords, but as he moved them, the blades kept occasionally striking each other.

Lucian always felt that he lacked just one thing to wield these weapons perfectly, but he could not figure out what it was.

Too much time had passed, and he no longer clearly remembered the attribute requirements for weapons he rarely used.

The Beast Crest Golden Greatshield, however, was much more straightforward. He lacked the strength even to lift it, let alone use it for defense.

Wrapping everything in the blanket, Lucian planned to finish exploring the isolated island first.

A massive Leyndell Knight statue and a statue of Marika stood there. Under their watchful gazes, Lucian picked up a short length of rope.

Other than that, there was nothing else worth mentioning here.

After wandering around, Lucian arrived at the end of the isolated island.

There was a broken platform there. Looking out in the direction of the break, he could see an ancient castle, its outer walls densely covered in holes eroded by "death."

Lucian knew that it was Stormveil Castle, the domain of Godrick the Grafted, the Lord of the Golden.

"Sigh."

"So in the end, I still have to jump off a cliff."

Lucian looked down. Layer upon layer of Storm surrounded the area, and he could not even see the sea surface.

After thinking it over, Lucian still decided to jump into the sea. Wind Spirit Moon Shadow still had Invincibility; if he timed its activation right, he should not fall to his death.

Lucian removed all his armor, leaving only the small pouch he carried on him.

He wrapped the armor and weapons together in the blanket, tied them tightly with the rope, and held one end in his hand so he could let go at any time.

That way, if he failed to activate Invincibility in time and lost consciousness upon hitting the sea, the armor would not drag him down to the ocean floor.

Lucian took a deep breath and gave the Chapel of Anticipation one last look.

Then, dragging his luggage behind him, he leaped forward and plummeted toward the sea.