Chapter 96: Training in the Ancient Tomb
After witnessing Happy’s impressive light-speed movement skills and dagger skills, Lei Zhan no longer regarded him as an ordinary player. He knew that ordinary players couldn’t reach such levels and would even dare not enter the ancient tomb—given the Stone Giant’s formidable combat strength, it only took three strikes to kill a player, and hitting a vital spot could result in instant death!
“To deal with the Stone Giant, at least three people are needed to take turns fighting it. Each person can hold out for five minutes, and after two rounds, they can defeat it.”
“But if it’s just me, three minutes… that’s tough. At most two minutes—I’ll need to find a place to use medicine and recover through internal energy.”
“I’ll try my best to assist you by attacking the Stone Giant’s joints to slow down its attacks,” Happy replied slowly, nodding. His calm and confident demeanor surprised Lei Zhan, giving him an inexplicable sense of peace, as if this companion wasn’t from the ordinary world.
Decided in his heart, Lei Zhan nodded. “Good!”
With that, he pulled out a broad sword as wide as his palm from his Qiankun Bag. The blade was golden in color, thick yet unadorned, with two faint inscriptions on the hilt—clearly the work of a master craftsman.
“The Fangque Sword—increases attack by 200 points and weapon defense by 50…” Lei Zhan said proudly. “To fight the Stone Giant, only top-quality weapons will do. Even slightly inferior weapons will dull after prolonged use and need to be repaired… What are you practicing… an axe? Not bad—turns out it’s also a masterpiece!” Before he could finish, he saw Happy take out a shiny silver axe from his Qiankun Bag. Rising an eyebrow in surprise, he said, “Axe techniques have the highest attack power and the best blocking success rate. I was just about to suggest you practice axe techniques—working with someone who knows their stuff is truly efficient! Enough talk—I’m in!”
With that, he turned and charged toward the Stone Giant in the far corner.
Happy held the axe in both hands. His refined appearance contrasted oddly with the axe.
Closing his eyes slightly, he took a deep breath calmly, feeling the internal energy surge from his dantian and spread throughout his body. Then he suddenly opened his eyes and leaped forward.
Whoosh!
His Cloud-Stepping technique was activated at full speed, and he quickly caught up to Lei Zhan, who had drawn the Stone Giant’s attention and was standing not far away.
The Stone Giant’s heavy body moved as if equipped with springs, seemingly weightless, moving swiftly as if in a gust of wind. In two steps, it closed the distance to within two meters of Lei Zhan.
Whoosh!
A fierce wind howled as a grayish-white giant fist, carrying immense pressure, rushed straight at Lei Zhan.
The lightning battle was like a ghostly movement; as he crouched to dodge the punch, Fang Quejian swiftly drew a white mark across the stone giant’s waist, emitting a sound almost like metal striking metal. It seemed as though Lightning Battle had the upper hand, but in reality, the stone giant felt no pain at all and turned around effortlessly, striking Lightning Battle’s left arm with a heavy punch as if its back had eyes. THUD!!! Lightning Battle and his sword were sent flying several meters away, his face turning an abnormally bright red, clearly suffering internal injuries. THUD! THUD! THUD! With heavy steps, the fierce-looking stone giant pursued relentlessly. Just then! CRASH!! Amidst a loud noise, the stone giant’s massive body trembled slightly, with some stones scraped off its knees. Turning angrily, it saw a young man holding a gleaming axe in its line of sight. It was Kai Xin, who had managed to draw the stone giant’s wrath at the critical moment! This was one of the advantages of these mechanical puppets—they were incredibly destructive but lacked intelligence, never knowing to pursue an advantage. They only attacked the intruder closest to them, which made them useful targets for practice later on. “Well done!” In the blink of an eye, Lightning Battle had recovered from his injuries. Following his sword, he took advantage of the stone giant’s injury and swung his broad sword, slicing through the air and striking the stone giant’s knees. Although he believed he had more experience dealing with stone giants than Kai Xin, Lightning Battle wasn’t stubborn. Seeing that Kai Xin’s attacks could disrupt the stone giant’s rapid counterattacks, he knew it was wise to adopt similar tactics. Indeed, the stone giant’s upward strike paused slightly… Though it was just a brief pause, it was enough for Kai Xin to retreat safely, minimizing the threat. With Kai Xin’s retreat, Lightning Battle once again drew the stone giant’s attention! He quickly turned around. Huh… Lightning Battle shifted from offense to defense, braving the stone giant’s attacks. Under constant assault, vulnerabilities would inevitably appear. Initially, he had planned to use his experience to dodge the attacks a few more times and extend his practice time, but he almost failed early on. After Kai Xin turned the situation around, he had no choice but to adopt a defensive stance and practice earnestly. Kai Xin didn’t say much either; he simply followed Lightning Battle’s example and returned behind the stone giant. With internal energy surging in his dantian, he unleashed the Five Elements Chain Axe with full force, rhythmically matching the stone giant’s movements and pouring his attacks upon it. Lightning Battle was clearly practicing advanced sword techniques. Kai Xin had seen them before—the Kunlun School’s “Wuji Sword Technique.” It had few defensive moves, and without a fine sword and solid defensive skills, it would be quite difficult to survive.
Nevertheless, Lei Zhan still had to fight while retreating, trying to avoid battles whenever possible to buy more time.
Kai Xin remained calm as water, fully monitoring every move of Lei Zhan and the Stone Giant. Relying on the Five Elements Chain Axe and the Bagua Steps derived from his sword techniques, he closely followed them. Against the Stone Giant at the mid-stage of the Creation Realm, his axe strikes never missed target, often hitting the giant’s joints to relieve pressure on Lei Zhan.
As time passed…
The lower-tier martial art, the Five Elements Chain Axe, rapidly gained experience points, rising from level 80 to 84 in no time. It took less than three minutes—proving just how effective using NPCs at the Creation Realm for training was!
The same was true for Lei Zhan. Though it was his first time cooperating with Kai Xin, he felt much less pressured. Within a few minutes, the level of his Wuji Sword Technique also improved significantly, which was extremely encouraging!
However…
Activating combat techniques and protective arts required a great deal of internal energy. By the fourth minute, Lei Zhan felt his energy running low. He called out, preparing to leap out of the arena.
“Take pills to cover it.”
“…”
Lei Zhan was stunned, then rolled his eyes. “Using pills to cover it? Are you crazy? One pill costs a hundred taels of silver—barely enough to last two minutes. Which elder did you go to that ancient tomb with before? Such extravagance?!”
“…”
Kai Xin immediately realized his mistake and cursed himself for being careless. In the early stages of the game, players found it hard to make money, so few were willing to spend a fortune on pills just to train. After all, an hour of training cost three thousand taels of silver, and in that time, one could only defeat two Stone Giants, each containing a relic worth only a thousand taels. For Lei Zhan, practicing his techniques multiple times not only accelerated his training but also provided a good source of income from the relics inside the Stone Giants.
Although Kai Xin felt it was a shame, he wasn’t willing to take on the Stone Giants himself. He would just make them run around—after all, with Lei Zhan’s current skill level, it wouldn’t take many minutes.
Soon, the ancient tomb hall was once again filled with the howling punches of the Stone Giants and the heavy sounds of axes…