Combat Skill

"Damn it." Liu Xing cursed inwardly as soon as he heard that Chen Ming's fear source was the mist. Li Ming really had good luck. The entire Harvest Festival event venue was now shrouded in mist. This meant Li Ming's fear source was everywhere, and Li Ming was bound to enter a state of fear.

"Then, let's finally roll for the duration of Li Ming's Temporary Madness State. However, because this Mirror World is very special, the unit of duration has changed from hours to five minutes," Kpcao sneered. "I can also tell you this: if you can't escape the Mirror World within an hour, your chance of passing this Advancement Game will be slim to none. So, after this roll, please continue roleplaying and find a way to escape."

Li Ming, 6, duration of Temporary Madness State: 30 minutes!

As soon as the roll result came out, Liu Xing saw Li Ming's pupils dilate, his breathing quicken, and his limbs begin to tremble.

Just as Liu Xing was about to perform a psychological analysis on Li Ming, Tian Dao, who was standing next to Li Ming, suddenly struck Li Ming's neck with a knife-hand. Without even passing a check, Li Ming directly fainted...

"kp, we need to open a secret room." After knocking Li Ming out, Tian Dao immediately applied to kpcao for secret room time.

Although kpcao didn't respond, Liu Xing was already familiar with the unique sense of spatial displacement when a secret room opened. Thus, Liu Xing knew the secret room had been opened.

"My profession is Fighter. That was the Combat Skill I used just now. Because Li Ming's will has already collapsed, I was able to knock him out so easily. After all, this is our best option right now." Tian Dao explained his thoughts.

Just as Tian Dao said, Li Ming, who had fallen into a state of fear, would either run around in a panic, freeze in place, or attack randomly and shout. Therefore, knocking Li Ming out was indeed the best choice, to prevent Li Ming from injuring himself to death or alerting the "tiger" lurking in the Mirror World.

However, what made Liu Xing even more concerned was that Tian Dao actually possessed Combat Skills.

Combat Skills are a special existence in the Cthulhu TRPG. They are not quantified as skills that can be checked for success by rolling dice. Instead, they are formed through the player's description and connection of a series of actions. The kp then judges this Combat Skill to determine if it can succeed. Of course, sometimes, if the Combat Skill is too complex or difficult, related checks will still be performed.

In the Real World, the factors influencing the success of a Combat Skill are the detail of the player's description of the Combat Skill. For example, the simplest description for Tian Dao's Combat Skill would be "I directly strike Li Ming with a knife-hand," while a detailed description would be "Taking advantage of Li Ming's state of fear, I aimed for Li Ming's x-th cervical vertebra and used seventy percent of my strength to strike Li Ming with a knife-hand."

Therefore, for the kp, when faced with a simply described Combat Skill, they would choose to have the player make a certain check, while for a detailed description, they would choose to grant direct success.

However, these are the rules for Combat Skills in the Real World. Liu Xing was very curious about what requirements Combat Skills would have in The Real Cthulhu TRPG.

Although Liu Xing's Character Card belonged to a support role, it didn't mean Liu Xing couldn't use Combat Skills. So, on the principle of asking when you don't know, Liu Xing said to Tian Dao, "Tian Dao, what are the requirements for judging Combat Skills here?"

"Uh, how should I put it? It's actually similar to the requirements for Combat Skills in the Real World. Before using a Combat Skill, you must provide necessary descriptions to the kp. However, there's an additional standard here: proficiency. When you use a Combat Skill for the first time, you'll be given an initial proficiency based on the effectiveness, and a Combat Skill section will be added to your Character Card. You can name the Combat Skill, and each use will increase its proficiency. The Intermission Growth options will also include items to increase the number of Combat Skills. Ultimately, the detail of your Combat Skill description and your proficiency will jointly determine the success of the Combat Skill," Tian Dao thought for a moment and explained everything he knew about Combat Skills.

Liu Xing nodded. It seemed it was time for him to train some Combat Skills so that he wouldn't be completely defenseless when fighting enemies alone.

"By the way, do you know when Li Ming will wake up?" Ming Shi Xiang asked, pointing to Li Ming lying on the ground.

Tian Dao heard Ming Shi Xiang's question and awkwardly touched his head. "Uh, because Combat Skills are not skills, the effects caused by using them are not described in detail, nor is there a check for Li Ming's unconsciousness. Therefore, I can't guarantee when Li Ming will wake up..."

Tina frowned and said helplessly, "So, we can only carry Li Ming with us? After all, we can't just leave Li Ming somewhere and hide him to continue our Exploration, can we?"

Tian Dao sighed helplessly and nodded. "Tina, you're right. We can't just abandon our teammates. So, I'll carry Li Ming. After all, my strength and physique are not low. Carrying Li Ming will only reduce my agility by 15 points."

Liu Xing looked at the burly Tian Dao, then at his own pathetic strength and physique, and finally at Li Ming lying on the ground. He ultimately gave up the idea of taking turns carrying Li Ming with Tian Dao. After all, Liu Xing felt that whether he could even carry Li Ming was a question...

"By the way, we can basically confirm that there is definitely a Mythical Creature in this Mirror World, and it might have already controlled Minami Kotori's mother. So, Tina, it's best for you to hold onto or even hug Minami Kotori and prevent her from running around. Also, although the mission doesn't mention whether we need to rescue Minami Kotori, being able to rescue Minami Kotori will definitely affect our final score. So, I suggest we try our best to rescue Minami Kotori," Liu Xing said, looking at Minami Kotori beside him.

Tina nodded. After all, among the players present, she had the best relationship with Minami Kotori.

"By the way, I have another question. Tina and Ming Shi Xiang, are you both Foreign Players?" Tian Dao asked, his face full of curiosity, a question Liu Xing also wanted to ask but was too embarrassed to.

"No, I'm also Chinese," Tina and Ming Shi Xiang said in unison.

PS: In the next chapter, the protagonist will face a Mythical Creature for the first time.