Chapter 229: This Isn

Erbi, though muttering under his breath, knew this was a dungeon run and, having no intention of being a liability, immediately launched his flying sword as planned.

But instead of controlling it for ranged attacks, he grabbed the talisman in his left hand and activated his Flying Sword talent's Sword Qi skill directly.

"Hah! Taste my Gengjin Sword Qi!"

A beam of Bai Guang slashed from the sword's edge, carving a deep gash into the ground; the Demon Dragon boss, forced to evade, hesitated—just as he dodged, Guan'er leapt upward, his aura shifting from white to yellow, his body plummeting like a mountain from the sky, slamming hard into the Demon Dragon.

"Boom!"

Though the damage was low, the physical impact was real—the Demon Dragon's movement stalled, its split tail swinging back to strike.

But three Bai Fa Shi's healing spells landed on Guan'er in a rhythmic, tiered pattern, keeping his HP safely above the danger line, while Erbi, emboldened, kept switching talismans, unleashing waves of colored sword light like laser cannons.

"Hmph. Is this how you use talismans?"

Suddenly, the seemingly disadvantaged Demon Dragon let out a scornful laugh; hearing these lines, Guan'er slammed his great shield into the ground, activating his high-reduction Shield Wall, his voice ringing out:

"It's going to phase two, Erbi!"

"Got it!"

Erbi no longer cared about correcting the name—he retracted his flying sword, grabbed a handful of talisman papers, switched his talisman to Zhen (), and hurled them with a roar:

"Nine Heavens' Supreme Thunder Emperor!"

The talisman's power fused with the Nine Heavens Thunder Control Skill, instantly summoning storm clouds that blanketed the ceiling; purple lightning rained down without pause—Feng Xue's massive form surged forward, enduring the full blast, and snatched the talismans from Erbi's hand.

"What the hell! Boss is stealing gear!" Erbi cried out, but saw the scorch marks left by the Nine Heavens Thunder Control Skill vanish as if refreshed—looking closer, he felt the boss's appearance had changed subtly; though he couldn't quite say how, it was clear: compared to its former bio-horror look, it now looked far more like a true dragon!

"Hahahaha! The power! The power of thunder!"

The Demon Dragon stretched its body, blue lightning exploding across its form; its speed, already blazing, surged further—in a single blink, it reached the three Bai Fa Shi.

Guan'er instantly activated Guard to intervene, the Bai Fa Shi frantically casting shields to stall—but the twin tails, wreathed in Lei Guang, swept both the mage and tank clean off their feet.

"Watch closely—this is how you use talismans!"

In that instant, every player's mind went blank; only after dying and watching the replay did they see the lightning darting wildly across the screen, and hear the thunderous roar!

…

"What the hell, this boss doesn't play fair—how the hell can it steal player items?"

Guan'er immediately opened the guide group to complain—but instead of sympathy or outrage, he got this:

"Hahahaha, I told you so—another one!"

"Another what? Who else got robbed?"

Guan'er wasn't new to gaming—he instantly understood, then heard a player with the ID SuperInvincibleDragonWarrior reply:

"Bao Long—he held Kun and Gen talismans in his hands, tanked the boss, and got crushed by the boss gripping his hand. That's why you idiots always hold them in your hands? Why not just tie them to your waist with a rope from the general store? Look at me—I never got robbed!"

"Tying them to my waist won't trigger the effect! I can barely channel mana through the talismans already! This damn game has no assist system..." Bao Long muttered in the group; SuperInvincibleDragonWarrior burst out laughing:

"You all used to complain that in a virtual game, skills were still too locked down—now that they're finally free, you're not happy?"

"But not this free! At least give me a tutorial on how to use mana! Damn it, as a warrior my mana bar is already short, and my mana-costing skills have long cooldowns—it's hard to train!" Guan'er sighed helplessly; the Dragon Warrior replied:

"That's why cultivators are the meta. Flying Sword skills drain mana continuously; Talisman skills have short cooldowns and lots of options—cycle through them all, sip a mana potion, and your cooldowns reset. Body Strengthening builds increase max mana and recovery speed—clearly, cultivators and talismans are the perfect match. Why not create a alt and train talismans on a cultivator, then switch back to your main?"

"Is it necessary?" asked a player with the ID TenYearsOnlyBow, unimpressed; the Dragon Warrior replied:

"It's essential. I think this patch might be the game's turning point. Before, it was just a thinly disguised trash MMO—if not for zero competition, it would've died long ago. But after all this time, other studios' new games are nearly ready—I think the devs are planning a shift. This talisman system? I believe it'll become the game's core mechanic."

"Ten buff skills? Calling that the core mechanic is overkill," TenYearsOnlyBow doubted; Guan'er, however, had a sudden thought:

"Come to think of it, the boss's line 'This is how you use talismans' was mocking—but those lightning streaks across the screen were so cool! If you can actually pull that off, maybe it really is the core mechanic."

"Boss skills and player skills having different effects is normal, isn't it? Back in World of Warcraft, Ashbringer was the same tier as Frostmourne—what did you get when you picked it up? And Windrunner—did it live up to the lore?" muttered an elderly player—but before the Dragon Warrior could respond, a string of text suddenly popped up in the group:

"Holy shit, you won't believe what I figured out! The game's still hiding stuff! Check this out!"

【ScienceMadman】 uploaded 【ResearchReport. mp4】.

"What's this?" the Dragon Warrior blinked, clicked the video—and after a brief download, the screen showed a cultivator alt's flying sword darting wildly across the entire screen like lightning.

Others thought the sword had gone mad—but Guan'er recognized this sight instantly: just moments ago, the boss had moved exactly like this!

"Is this a talisman? How did you do it?"

"Huh? How do you know it's a talisman?"

(End of Chapter)