On the swaying back of a horse, Leo Young held the reins with one hand. He was surrounded by a handful of armed escorts, who protected him as they slowly advanced.
Observing the faces, attire, temperament, and speech of these armed escorts, one could easily conclude this was a level of authenticity unattainable by actors through mere makeup, costumes, props, or performance.
["...What the hell."]
It had been several days since he arrived in this world. Whether Leo Young was willing or not, he had to accept the fact that he had transmigrated.
["As I thought... is it that game?"]
In his previous life, Leo Young had received a beta testing key for a single-player Wuxia game. The game was produced by a small, unheard-of workshop, yet its scale was astonishingly massive. It featured five scenarios with different protagonists from different eras, over a thousand maps with distinct art styles, and hundreds of endings branching from various main and side quests. A single scenario offered over two hundred hours of gameplay... For a single-player game, this colossal size was almost a demerit.
As a semi-fan of Wuxia games, Leo Young was recommended the game by a friend and managed to get an internal testing spot.
Leo Young watched the promotional trailer and became somewhat interested. But after creating his character and clicking 'Start Game,' his vision went black, then brightened, and he found himself here... in the world of the game.
["Sigh..."]
After a light sigh, Leo Young looked at himself. If there was one piece of good news since arriving in this world, it was undoubtedly that the testing spot the developers had arranged for him was slightly different. He had received a 'New Game Plus Initial Save.' The developers had estimated the achievement points a player might have after a normal first playthrough, allowing Leo Young to use them to create his initial character and simulate situations a player might encounter in their second playthrough.
——Of course, being on a second playthrough didn't mean he had to choose the second playthrough's protagonist. In the end, Leo Young still chose the scenario for the first playthrough's protagonist.
The purpose of these achievement points was to be exchanged at the start of the game for special talents that couldn't be obtained directly or simultaneously during a normal playthrough... And Leo Young had actually managed to bring these things with him.
However, there was a very subtle point to all this.
[Character: Leo Young]
[Physique: 12+6]
(Affects the speed of Internal Energy cultivation, the upper limit of Internal Energy experience gained per cycle, and the upper limit of Internal Breath released in a single skill.)
[Comprehension: 153]
(Affects the speed of learning, modifying, and creating martial techniques, cultivation methods, and miscellaneous skills.)
[Martial Arts Acumen: 1327]
(Cognition of martial principles; affects all martial arts-related attributes.)
[Common Traits: None]
[Unique Traits: True Peerless Genius, Body of Prime Origin, Fated Duel]
[True Peerless Genius: You possess astounding intuition and an endless wellspring of inspiration beyond the imagination of ordinary people, always able to grasp the crux of any matter...]
[When learning, modifying, or creating martial techniques, cultivation methods, and other miscellaneous skills, your Comprehension is tripled for all related checks.]
[You can directly learn others' martial techniques and skills by sight, without needing to see the circulation routes of their internal breath. The learning rate depends on your Martial Arts Acumen and the complexity of the martial art.]
[You ignore all cultivation requirements for skills.]
[You ignore all breakthrough requirements for skills.]
(Heh heh... Can't be done? Why not? I don't understand. If it were me, I could do it.)
[Body of Prime Origin: You possess an extremely special constitution, allowing you to always be one step ahead.]
[Base Physique value is increased by 50%.]
[When you cultivate a 'Harmonious' attribute cultivation method, you gain an additional 100% Internal Energy experience, and your Internal Breath intensity is slightly increased.]
(It seems this can evolve into other constitutions by cultivating special methods...?)
[Fated Duel: This is... a duel determined by destiny!]
[When you battle an enemy and win, you gain a physique enhancement and an additional percentage-based damage boost. This enhancement is permanent.]
[This Unique Trait can only gain enhancements from specific story battles.]
[The magnitude of the enhancement depends on the enemy's strength, identity, the importance of the story battle, and the number of interactions/battles between that character and the protagonist in main/side quests.]
[Each time an enhancement is obtained, the threshold for the check is slightly raised, making subsequent enhancements more difficult to obtain and lower in value.]
[When the battle format is a one-on-one duel, the previous entry is ignored, and you will receive the full, deserved enhancement upon victory.]
[When the battle format is a one-on-one duel, after winning and killing the enemy, you have a chance to obtain one of the enemy's non-physique-based Unique Traits. The probability depends on the enemy's strength, identity, the importance of the story battle, and the number of interactions/battles between that character and the protagonist in main/side quests.]
[Physique Enhancement Obtained: 0%]
[Damage Boost Obtained: 0%]
[Unique Traits Obtained: None]
(Was it destiny that led us to a point where we had no choice but to draw our blades against each other... No, it was our own choices.)
Overall Rating: D
(Note 1)
Body of Prime Origin and Fated Duel—these were the two talents Leo Young chose with his achievement points.
As for the first one, 'True Peerless Genius,' it was likely something inherent to Leo Young himself. This talent didn't exist in the game. Moreover, the line in the parentheses was Leo Young's catchphrase, which was strong enough evidence. One could even sense the overflowing scent of a conspiracy, but the current Leo Young lacked the ability to uncover its secrets and could only set it aside for now.
To get back on track.
The 'talents' in this game should be called 'Traits,' though 'passive skills' is an easier way to understand them.
Traits are divided into Common Traits and Unique Traits. Common Traits can be understood as traits that anyone can possess. There are nine in total: 'Innate,' 'Adamantine,' 'Duel,' 'Godspeed,' 'Martial Might,' 'Adversity,' 'Peerless,' 'Clear Mirror,' and 'Overwhelm.' We'll leave those for now and focus on the Unique Traits.
Unique Traits, as the name suggests, are traits that only one person can possess. They are also the core gameplay mechanic. The in-game explanation for them is 'special insights shaped by an individual's unique experiences' and 'innate or acquired special constitutions.' Two characters with identical stats and skill sets could have a 10-0 matchup purely due to a difference in their Unique Traits.
There was a lot of thought behind the two traits Leo Young chose.
The former goes without saying—a standard growth-oriented talent.
As for the latter, it was blatantly overpowered. And based on Leo Young's experience, it was very likely a trait exclusive to an evil playthrough.
The line 'the number of interactions/battles between that character and the protagonist in main/side quests' all but screamed 'characters with a deeper bond with the protagonist'... However, a game is a game, and reality is reality.
This trait requires story battles. In the game, story battles are concretely flagged as such. But now that he had transmigrated, he had no idea if that flag even existed anymore, not to mention he no longer had quest prompts. He had no way of knowing which battles were story battles...
Aside from being able to see character and item panels, he had no other game functions. Otherwise, something as simple as an inventory would be enough for Leo Young to exploit in countless ways, let alone quest prompts.
And even with the character and item panels, he could only see the parts that were 'created in the game.' In other words, if some expert who had no story presence in the game were to appear, Leo Young wouldn't be able to see anything at all.
Furthermore, there was the matter of the 'one-on-one duel,' which was difficult to assess. In the game, a duel was a duel. Unless there was a special plot point, no other characters would intervene in the fight. Forcing the protagonist or a limited set of party members into a specific battle is a classic, must-have feature of RPGs. But here... if an outsider suddenly jumped in mid-fight, would it still count as a duel?
Where the game and reality intersected, there were too many ambiguous and incomprehensible points.
["If I had known, I would have chosen some talents with more stable returns... No, if I had known, I wouldn't have even started this game."]
Leo Young was calm, however. He didn't fret over his gains and losses. It was best if he had these things, but it didn't matter if he didn't.
He could rely on himself for anything.
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