Chapter 529: And You Say This Game Is Hard?
Soon, Li Jingsi found herself immersed in the game world.
It was a desolate graveyard, all gray tones, bleak and ruined, seemingly filled with ashes and human remains.
Ahead, various numbers of skeleton monsters were scattered about, blending seamlessly with the environment. There was no UI display at all.
It was impossible to tell whether they were just corpses lying by the roadside or dangerous monsters that could attack.
A pile of text was carved into the ground. Li Jingsi leaned down to look and found it contained some basic instructions about the game.
She looked down at herself. She was wearing a silver knight’s armor, with a shield on her left arm and a longsword in her right hand.
Since this was just a test demo, no other classes were available. Everyone who entered was defaulted to a knight.
At that moment, Chen Mo and Qian Kun were watching Li Jingsi’s first-person perspective through an external monitor.
Li Jingsi raised her shield, rolled, swung her sword to use battle skills, and wandered around in place for five minutes without taking a single step forward.
Qian Kun was baffled: “What is she doing? Getting familiar with the skills?”
Chen Mo rolled his eyes: “Otherwise? Is she breakdancing?”
Qian Kun: “…”
Different players have different playstyles when gaming. Most players are very relaxed mentally, don’t like reading tips, and hate watching cutscenes. They just charge ahead blindly until they clear the game.
That’s why many game companies simplify and dumb down their games to cater to these players—things like forced tutorials, skippable cutscenes, etc., so players can play without using their brains.
But there’s another type of player. When they play, they exhibit symptoms akin to an OCD outbreak.
They must read every single line of game text without missing a word.
They must practice every allowed gameplay mechanic until they’re completely proficient.
Only when they feel confident enough to handle most situations do they move forward.
Clearing the game isn’t enough. They have to collect all special items, complete all side quests, and find all hidden objects.
Clearly, Li Jingsi belonged to the latter category in a certain sense.
She spent five minutes familiarizing herself with all the controls right where she stood.
Although Chen Mo had modified parts of *Dark Souls*’ combat system, the core was still the same as the original.
After Li Jingsi got familiar with all the skills, her character stood there dumbly, completely still.
Qian Kun was confused again: “What’s she doing now?”
Chen Mo thought for a moment: “Probably reading the stats panel and the descriptions of various attributes.”
Qian Kun was speechless: “Looking at that now is completely useless. She can’t level up or allocate points…”
Soon, Li Jingsi seemed to have finished reading the stats panel. Only then did she step forward to face the first minor enemy.
The first enemy was very simple. Most people would just charge in and hack away mindlessly. But Li Jingsi didn’t do that. Instead, she raised her shield and waited patiently.
Qian Kun was dumbfounded: “Is she…?”
Chen Mo nodded: “Yeah… She’s practicing parrying…”
In front of Li Jingsi was a small skeleton monster. Well, strictly speaking, it wasn’t really a skeleton monster—it was more like a hollow.
But the name didn’t matter. This thing was just a trash mob in the beginner area, dead in two hits. Any player with a normal brain shouldn’t die to it.
At that moment, the hollow was swinging its weapon, trying to attack Li Jingsi, while she kept practicing parrying.
The knight’s shield was a medium shield, making it harder to parry successfully. But Li Jingsi’s reaction speed far exceeded that of an average player…
After failing twice, Li Jingsi’s knight shield successfully deflected the hollow’s weapon. She immediately stepped forward as the instructions said, and her longsword plunged straight into the hollow’s abdomen.
Instant kill.
For the next few enemies, Li Jingsi started experimenting with other combat methods. Things like rolling for backstabs, holding the shield to tank hits, using battle skills, and so on. She basically tried every move mentioned in the combat system tutorial on those minor enemies before smoothly making her way to Gundyr.
Qian Kun suddenly had a bad feeling. He felt that letting Li Jingsi test the game might have been a mistake. This girl was just like the shop owner—neither of them was a normal player!
As Li Jingsi pulled the coiled sword from Gundyr’s body, this boss—often called the “quit boss” by many new players—the Ashen Judge, stood up.
He was almost twice the player’s height, wielding a terrifyingly long polearm that looked like a mix between a greatsword and a halberd.
Qian Kun had suffered plenty from Gundyr. When designing this boss, he didn’t think it was that tough. But when they actually fought it, he realized this thing could one-shot you without hesitation!
Gundyr’s attacks were heavy and powerful. Even if the player raised their shield, it would drain a huge chunk of stamina. If you just stood there stupidly holding up your shield, waiting for Gundyr to finish his combo, the only result was getting your guard broken and then beaten to a pulp.
When Gundyr launched his attack, Li Jingsi immediately raised her shield. But just as Gundyr’s greatsword came down, she actually parried it with her shield, knocking it aside, and stepped forward, driving her longsword straight through his chest!
Qian Kun: “…”
Under the new physics engine, although Li Jingsi deflected that attack, her left hand still felt a strong vibration. But since parrying was about redirecting force, the impact wasn’t too bad.
That was the tricky thing about this boss’s difficulty. If the player couldn’t learn to parry or roll, this boss seemed almost unbeatable. But once the player mastered parrying, the first phase became completely harmless.
Except for one failed parry that cost her nearly half her health, Li Jingsi succeeded in all her other parries. Gundyr’s health dropped below half, triggering the second phase.
In the second phase, Gundyr erupted with the Pus of Man, his entire body covered in black Abyss matter. This substance formed a massive snake-like head, making his attack range larger and more dangerous.
Li Jingsi didn’t rush in to attack. Instead, she used an Estus Flask to restore her health, then rolled and dodged around the wide arena, studying Gundyr’s movement patterns.
Soon, she figured out the pattern.
After Gundyr leaped high into the air and slammed down, he often stood still for a long time. She could use that window to run up, attack him from behind, land two hits, then roll back. Repeat.
And so, the boss that had tortured Qian Kun for ten minutes was worn down by Li Jingsi on her very first try…
After defeating Gundyr, Li Jingsi climbed out of the gaming pod: “That’s it?”
Qian Kun looked helpless: “Yeah, that’s it. It’s just a demo. The game content isn’t complete.”
Chen Mo chuckled: “What did I tell you? A girl beats the boss on her first try, with one Estus Flask left. And you say this game is hard?”
Li Jingsi nodded: “Yeah, it really is too easy. There’s no challenge at all.”
Qian Kun was at a loss for words. He could only nod: “Right, right, you’re both right…”
At that moment, Qian Kun’s heart was filled with despair. Damn it, you two test subjects aren’t representative of anything, okay?!
What normal player comes in, does nothing at first, reads the instructions, and then practices techniques like crazy? That’s just not reasonable!
Qian Kun thought bitterly: “Sigh, fellow players, I can only help you this far. From here on, I’m powerless. You’re on your own…”