Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Having ended the battle, Ye Kong was about to assist the other ongoing fight. However, when he looked over, he realized that samuraisoul didn’t need his help. He was pushing back his opponent with his own strength—
Bang, bang, bang!!!
Samuraisoul moved extremely quickly, swinging his tachi in a silver blur, and his brute force left the Holy Cavalier struggling to block the flurry of blows with his greatsword!
Evidently, samuraisoul had a very high Dexterity stat, probably with no less than 10 points. Furthermore, his character class was the Berserker, which had Strength as its main attribute, so one could imagine how high his Strength stat was!
-10, -8, -9
As a result, the Holy Cavalier couldn’t withstand the Berserker’s constant barrage of attacks, and a string of red numbers streamed out of his head. Yet, there was nothing he could do about it!
The Holy Cavalier was a Stamina-type class, which had a high maximum HP, but even he couldn’t last long against this mad onslaught!
Just then, samuraisoul twisted his body and fiercely slashed the tachi down at an oblique angle—
He used the Berserker’s Skill – Herculean Swing!
Bang!
“The Yokai Legion Guild will never forgive you…” the Holy Cavalier roared out angrily. In the next moment, his HP dropped to zero, and his body turned into sparkling dust!
“Hmph!”
Looking extremely disdainful about the way they had threatened him, samuraisoul sheathed the tachi.
Seeing this, Ye Kong started to analyze samuraisoul: “It seems like the equipment this samuraisoul has on isn’t too bad, as his Strength and Dexterity are both very high. Moreover, he probably had some practice with the tachi in the real world.
“If it wasn’t for that, his attacks wouldn’t flow into each other so seamlessly.”
In terms of realism, Demon Realm was a perfect imitation of the real world, especially when it came to weaponry.
In the real world, if a player knew how to wield a certain type of weapon, this experience would carry over into “Demon Realm,” making the player more proficient with that weapon than a newbie player. The reverse was also true. Weapon expertise gained in the world of Demon Realm could be carried over to the real world!
Two years after the public release of “Demon Realm,” the number of martial artists in the human race had basically doubled!
Of course, there was a difference between martial arts in the real world and in Demon Realm—and that was the use of skills.
Skills in the game world of Demon Realm were “instincts” engraved into the player’s soul. Once players learned a skill, their bodies would be able to use it automatically. To put it more simply, a skill in the game was a “template,” and a player’s ability would fill up the template, combining the two to form a whole.
To give another analogy, skills are like the moves characters in wuxia stories use. A player’s level of technique was like their inner strength, and it was through combining the move with their own inner strength that they could bring out its full power. Without applying themselves to the move, they would just be going through the motions with no real substance.
Another example is how, during a fight, Ye Kong could take a simple skill like “Interrupt” and use it to its fullest extent. Any other swordsman using this skill wouldn’t be able to achieve the same effects.
This gap in ability was the difference between a regular player and a top-tier player!
After samuraisoul had taken care of his opponent, he immediately turned around and stood in front of Ye Kong.
Then, all of a sudden, he bowed solemnly and presented Ye Kong with a 90-degree bow—
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I, samuraisoul, am extremely grateful for Your Excellency’s gracious help. Your servant’s gratitude knows no bounds!”
Ye Kong’s expression stiffened. He never expected the famed samuraisoul to act so… oddly!
“Is this guy’s brain broken?”
Ye Kong couldn’t help silently judging him, and his expression became quite colorful.
In his previous life, Ye Kong had never interacted with samuraisoul. This was because when samuraisoul enjoyed his short-lived fame, Ye Kong was still just a small fry, and when Ye Kong rose up in the world, samuraisoul had already disappeared from the public eye.
In short, Ye Kong knew very little about samuraisoul, and he didn’t expect him to be a…
Samurai otaku?!
Only this term could explain the way he was acting.
At the moment, the scene looked extremely ridiculous…
Samuraisoul was bent over, as though he were a student paying his respects, which contrasted greatly to the ferocious performance he’d shown earlier… One didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
Ye Kong held back a laugh and put on a serious demeanor. “No need to thank me,” he replied. “I just didn’t like what the Yokai Legion Guild was doing, and it was really no trouble at all.”
“I disagree! Your Excellency lacuna is too modest!”
Samuraisoul’s voice was hoarse, probably because of the helmet he was wearing. “If not for Your Excellency’s virtuous act of assistance, my fate would have certainly been sealed, and I would have fallen, with hatred in my heart, into the hands of that gang of rogues and scoundrels!”
Samuraisoul’s tone was serious, and his attitude was earnest, but combined with the words coming out of his mouth…
It really hurt to watch.
Ye Kong could only try to change the subject. “Ehm… Ahem. Don’t call me ‘Your Excellency.'”
“Un… understood, Lord lacu!”
“Pfft!”
Ye Kong clutched his stomach, and his expression changed. Seeing this, samuraisoul asked in alarm, “What ails you? Lord lacu?”
“No, it’s nothing… You… Forget it.”
Ye Kong dismissed the idea, in case samuraisoul found an even more bizarre way of addressing him…
At the same time, he now had a better understanding of samuraisoul—He had an extremely serious case of samurai-philia.
“Lord lacu, please add me as a friend.”
Samuraisoul initiated a gesture of friendliness. “I owe Lord lacu my life, so from here on out, if Lord lacu has any requests, your humble servant will do anything you ask, come hell or high water! Spirits may be broken, but integrity remains strong. I definitely won’t go back on my promises!”
The phrase “spirits may be broken, but integrity remains strong” was a proverb originating from the Sakura State (GMT +9 time zone). It showed that samuraisoul had really done his “homework” in some areas.
Saying this, samuraisoul cupped one fist in his other hand, his armor clinking together…
Ye Kong was at a loss, and he didn’t know how to respond. Still, he had no reason to reject the offer—
“Okay, let’s add each other as friends.”
The two players added each other into their Friends List, and Ye Kong was quite pleased by this turn of events.
Aside from frustrating the Yokai Legion Guild, Ye Kong’s other motive for rescuing samuraisoul was to expand his network.
Ye Kong didn’t want to become one of the large guild’s pawns, nor did he intend to set up his own large guild.
The reason was that it cost too much to start a guild, and without the help of a financial power, Ye Kong would have to pour in a huge amount of money and energy. This would also end up leaving him drained, and wasn’t suitable for his overall masterplan—There was still a year and a half before the symptoms of Ye Bai’s illness started to show. When it came to time, Ye Kong couldn’t afford a long-term investment like a large guild.
The way Ye Kong saw it, the rationale for creating a large guild was simple. Guild leaders created guilds in the game to extract profits for themselves. It wasn’t so they could run around all day providing benefits for their low-level players. That would be an “inversion” of reality.
A real guild leader was good at using his subordinates, so he didn’t have to do everything himself.
It was just like how “coldwind” was making use of the Ethereal Mirage Guild’s resources to quickly develop his in-game character, while leaving the minor tasks to his subordinates. That was what a true guild leader looked like.
Ye Kong was starting the game at too large a disadvantage, and creating a large guild wasn’t a suitable path for him. However, he would still need a “small team” to ensure he could meet the requirements to participate in other aspects of the game, such as Nightmare Grade instance dungeons, or large-scale story events.
These kinds of things weren’t doable for a solo player.
Ye Kong needed a few teammates, and they had to be people who could trust each other, real friends who had each other’s backs!
As such, Ye Kong thought of creating a “private team.” A private team referred to a small-sized guild with no more than five guild members, including the guild leader. Even with one player as support staff, the organization would at most have six members.
It was very unusual to see a guild with only six members.
Still, in his past life, this kind of small guild appeared in the Nibelungen region.
The guild only consisted of five players, though each player was extremely strong. They participated in the final battle of the “Nibelungen” Epic Grade story event, and successfully defeated the main force of Yggdmillennia’s Soul Temple Guild!
In that battle, the Soul Temple Guild’s main army had over a thousand players, and each of those players was an elite in his own right!
Ye Kong wanted to create a private team like that!
A private team that belonged to him alone!
To bring his dream to fruition, Ye Kong first needed to have a network of connections so that he had a large enough pool of players to choose his real future teammates from. Furthermore, the people he selected should already be strong enough to be one of the top players. If he had to help them get their equipment and skills up to standard, then wouldn’t he just be babysitting them?
At the moment…
Samuraisoul seemed like a pretty good candidate.