Chapter 10: One After Another
Bang!!
In the narrow alley, a dull sound of breaking air rang out, followed by the harsh screech of metal scraping against metal. From the sound of it, the finely crafted short knife Joshua had thrown did not embed itself into the shadowy wall, but instead struck some kind of metal and clattered to the ground.
At the same time, a figure emerged from the distant shadows and quickly retreated several steps.
This was a warrior clad in full-body armor, with many small protrusions on the armor designed to deflect arrows. It was precisely because of this that the short knife Joshua had thrown merely scraped off and fell, failing to pierce through. But now, even without seeing his expression, both men present could feel the warrior's shock.
"Silent Warrior?!"
Chris exclaimed in a low voice, recognizing this warrior who had always been by his father's side, and couldn't help but take a step back.
He had just been subtly prompted by Joshua to chat for a while, originally thinking it was to ease the atmosphere, but he never expected someone to be lurking nearby! As an alchemist, his perception was far higher than that of an ordinary warrior—how could he have had no reaction at all?!
The warrior standing still in the distance seemed just as surprised as Chris.
"Unbelievable?"
Joshua's lips curled slightly. He used his right hand to pull the long spear embedded in the ground and assumed a combat stance. "A shadow assassin and a psychic warrior specializing in silence? Not a bad combination. A psychic silence aura combined with shadow stealth, and you can still wear heavy armor while moving silently—truly top-tier stealth and survival capabilities."
"If it were anyone else, they definitely wouldn't have noticed, but in my eyes, your silence aura is nothing more than a large sound barrier. When you approached stealthily, all sounds on the left side disappeared entirely. Even an idiot would know something was wrong."
While saying all this, Joshua tilted his head to signal Chris to move away quickly. The enemy before him was at Silver High-rank. If the two of them fought, the destruction would be like two cannons exchanging fire, and anyone caught in the blast could easily be injured. Although he was confident he could kill the opponent within ten seconds, it was better to avoid any accidents.
As a special subclass of warrior, a psychic warrior often possesses several unique supernatural abilities. Although the Silent Warrior currently only seemed to have spell-countering abilities, he might have other trump cards.
The Silent Warrior paid no attention to his employer's son leaving. He simply stood still, staring at the warrior before him through his armor, filled with shock and uncertainty.
As a psychic warrior who had taken a vow of silence, he possessed the supernatural ability to interrupt spell incantations and conceal sounds. But in return, he could never speak for the rest of his life, communicating with others only through mental contact.
This was no big deal—just the price for gaining power. In fact, combining his silence ability with shadow stealth, the Silent Warrior believed he had perfected his survival and assassination skills. But even the best swimmer occasionally chokes on water. Being discovered by Joshua this time was hard for him to accept, but what shocked him most was something else.
(Can't communicate?! This will... it's like the hardest stone, completely impenetrable! If that's the case, my psychic attacks will also be severely diminished!)
Unable to discern the expression behind the armor, the Silent Warrior looked at Joshua, who seemed ready to charge at any moment, and found the situation extremely troublesome. (I've never seen such a stubborn mind, and he's a warrior. My 'Spell Interruption' is completely useless here, and he seems able to see through my stealth. There's no way to fight this!)
With that thought, he began to slowly retreat. (Facing him, I can't even use half my strength. I'll withdraw first.)
"Trying to leave?"
Joshua naturally had no idea about the opponent's inner turmoil. He simply relied on his keen instincts and observational abilities to detect the retreat intention, and then, without a second thought, he flexed the muscles in his arm, aimed, and hurled the long spear in his hand!
Years of combat experience allowed him not only to wield various weapons skillfully but also to use a machete like a greatsword and a long spear like a javelin. This thrown spear tore through the air, producing a harsh whine. Its momentum was so heavy that anyone could feel it would easily pierce any armor. The Silent Warrior was no exception. Faced with this strike that blocked his escape route, he felt a genuine threat to his life.
But the Silent Warrior was, after all, a Silver High-rank professional, and he was quite far away. If they were fighting face-to-face in close quarters, Joshua would undoubtedly have the absolute advantage, and the opponent wouldn't have had a chance to escape. But a single thrown long spear wasn't enough to stop him.
Faint light flickered across the gray armor. Under the influence of a sudden, unseen force, the thrown spear veered off course and flew toward an empty corner, exploding like a cannonball and sending countless crushed stones and dust flying. The surrounding residents began to scream in alarm. Amidst the chaos, the Silent Warrior pulled out a scroll from somewhere, and with a fluctuation of arcane power, his figure suddenly vanished.
"A Greater Invisibility scroll?"
Under the faint glow of the spell, Joshua identified the effect. He had originally intended to pursue but stopped, frowning slightly in helplessness.
What else could he do when a minor skirmish prompted the use of a high-level spell scroll? With the combination of a silence aura, greater invisibility, and shadow stealth, even revealing dust wouldn't work. Although this guy's frontal combat ability might not be half of his own, if he truly wanted to escape, even a Gold-rank expert would struggle to stop him.
"Pity. If I still had my Omniscient Eye from back then..."
Sensing that the silent zone created by the opponent's silence aura was rapidly moving away, Joshua clicked his tongue and couldn't help but reminisce about a passive skill he had in the Continent of Strife back then—the 'Omniscient Eye.'
This passive skill allowed him to see through all disguises, stealth, and invisibility within his field of vision, as well as detect enemies hidden underground or in forests. It was one of the most powerful passives. To obtain this ability back then, Joshua had killed at least a dozen and a half Eye Demon elders on the ninth layer of the Underdark to gather the sacrifices needed for the Omniscient Ritual.
"But the Omniscient Eye is an exception as a ritual ability. I have the 'Ultimate Essence of Technique,' so ordinary skills should be usable at will."
Pulling up his status panel and glancing at the words [MAX Ultimate Essence] in the skill bar, Joshua recalled the Qi-Infused Slash he had used earlier and pondered. "It seems that as long as the experience is there, the system acknowledges it."
As everyone knows, a game can't be cleared with just one skill. But in the late game, having too many skills becomes annoying. If you don't use a skill, even if you assume a charging posture or actually charge forward, you can't activate the Charge skill. And sometimes, when a sudden crisis occurs, the skills in your quick slots can't handle the situation, and an ordinary person can't quickly find the needed skill from hundreds of options... The result is dying and waiting for a respawn.
But after advancing to Legendary, everything changes.
For players who advanced to Legendary, the Continent of Strife game system removed all assistance. Archers lost their aiming reticles, warriors lost auto-lock, and mages had to complete incantations and rituals to cast spells. But in return, a warrior could charge simply by running at full speed, and a Cleave didn't require pressing a skill button—just pick up a weapon and slash diagonally with full force. Other classes were similar.
Legendary-level game characters no longer had active skills triggered by button presses. All abilities had to be controlled and released by the players themselves. To some extent, this was also a way to limit player strength, extend the game's lifespan, and increase playability. And indeed, after suffering for a while, many players joked that the game truly began after reaching Legendary.
Replacing active skills was the so-called Ultimate Essence—the 'Ultimate Essence of Technique.'
Those with this mark could freely unleash any skill they had mastered. Unfortunately, the skills Joshua remembered vividly were all powerful ones that required at least Gold-rank to execute. The few passives he remembered couldn't be assimilated by the Ultimate Essence and needed to be practiced from scratch. Ritual abilities like the Omniscient Eye required him to go back to the Underdark, kill half a dozen Eye Demon elders, and perform the Omniscient Ritual again. With his current Silver-rank strength, who knew how many years that would take?
Just then, Chris, who had run to a nearby alley, came back out. He looked at the situation and exclaimed in surprise, "It's over that quickly?"
As a Black Iron-rank alchemist, Chris's physique wasn't much better than an ordinary person's. To avoid being injured by the shockwaves, he had found a place to hide. But after a short while, all the sounds outside disappeared, prompting him to come out and check.
Joshua walked to a corner, pulled the long spear out of the stone wall, and said casually, "No, he escaped. He was too decisive—even I couldn't stop him." As he spoke, he swung the weapon in his hand with a displeased expression. "The shaft is half-broken. How long has it been? It broke this fast?"
"Oh well, it's just standard-issue equipment. It's normal for it not to be durable."
Once again reminiscing about the Indestructible Rune Greatsword he had used in the game, Joshua tossed aside the broken spear, turned to look at Chris, and then frowned. "Chris, there's someone behind you—what's going on? Why are there so many people sneaking around?"
"Huh?"
Hearing the warning, Chris was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted. He trusted his cousin's sensing abilities, so without any hesitation, the alchemist pulled a handful of shiny dust from his pocket and decisively threw it behind him.
Whoosh—as the glowing dust scattered, a blurry figure suddenly appeared in the alley. Judging by the build and posture, it was a woman. She stood there dumbfounded, as if she hadn't expected to be discovered.
"Flawless stealth. If it weren't for the heavy scent on you, I wouldn't have noticed either."
Joshua approached slowly but swiftly, walking up to the female stealth user who had no intention of leaving, and said solemnly, "I can tell you mean no harm. Otherwise, Chris would have died several times over. Since that's the case, I'll give you a chance."
With that, the warrior raised his right fist, staring directly at her. "State your purpose, sneaky stealth user, or leave your life behind."