[Jenny got one-shotted in just a few slashes?]
↳ [Not just one-shotted, her left arm got chopped off!]
[That's way too tragic. Jenny just gave us a live demonstration of a truly disarming performance!]
The viewers in the livestream were also exclaiming in shock, all of them completely dumbfounded. They never expected Jenny to lose so cleanly and decisively, not even lasting three seconds!
Jenny didn't have the mind to care about the in-game situation. She was terrified, her heart pounding wildly. Her first instinct was to reach for her left hand. After feeling the touch of her real hand and confirming she could move it freely, Jenny finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.
'Thank goodness, thank goodness, it was just a video game cutscene. My left hand still existed in reality.'
But for that split second, Jenny truly felt as if her left hand had been severed.
'Damn it, this game being too realistic definitely has its downsides...'
While sighing inwardly, Jenny finally returned her attention to the game. After being killed by Genichiro, the blood-red "DEATH" didn't appear in her vision. The game was still continuing.
After striking Wolf down, Genichiro calmly sheathed his sword. "Is this all? How disappointing..."
Jenny gritted her teeth in anger but was completely helpless.
"If that is the case, I will be taking the Divine Heir." Genichiro turned and left. The camera shifted to another person wearing a feathered cloak and a Tengu mask, and on this person's shoulder rested the unconscious Divine Heir.
Clearly, this masked man was Genichiro's subordinate. The two left with the Divine Heir, one after the other.
Jenny's vision faded to complete pitch black.
"Wow, the chat guessed right, it really was a scripted death!" Seeing this, Jenny couldn't help but sigh. "But it wasn't me getting a scripted kill on the enemy, it was the enemy getting a scripted kill on me!"
[I just realized, this is New World Studio game we're talking about, how could they possibly let the players have it easy!]
[This Genichiro Ashina is so fucking strong. Damn, you can tell at a glance he's a master martial artist. He took Jenny out in four strikes!]
↳ [But since Genichiro had a health bar, that means it's actually possible to beat this dude.]
↳ [Yeah, aren't New World games always like this? In Silent Hill, destroying the radio lets you beat it early. In Subnautica, saving the woman in Lifepod 2 unlocks multiplayer mode. This Genichiro Ashina definitely has an alternate storyline if you win.]
↳ [True, when the game is released, I'll go give it a try!]
↳ [I want to as well, but it looks really hard.]
As the viewers discussed, Jenny's vision cleared up once again.
She opened her eyes and saw a dilapidated wooden ceiling. Looking around, she realized she was in a ruined temple. The temple was filled with all sorts of carved wooden statues.
The bottom left corner showed her health bar was almost empty, but she wasn't dead yet.
She was at extremely low health.
"You're awake."
A voice suddenly came from behind Jenny. She quickly turned her head and saw an old man in tattered monk robes squatting on the ground. By the light of an oil lamp, he was carving a piece of wood with a small knife, one stroke at a time.
"It seems you were not fated to die..." the old man muttered. His entire body was covered in an exaggerated amount of white body hair, making him look almost like an orangutan. Jenny also noticed that the old man only had one arm.
Jenny pushed herself up from the ground with both hands, and then she suddenly remembered. Wait, hadn't her left arm been chopped off?
How did she still have a hand?
Jenny immediately raised her left hand and was stunned. She discovered that her current left hand, and even her left forearm, had undergone a massive change.
It was no longer a real human hand, but something resembling a puppet's arm. It was exquisitely crafted, with every single joint of the fingers perfectly recreated. The inside of the arm contained what looked like highly complex mechanisms.
Jenny moved it around a bit and felt no different from a normal human hand.
"What's going on with my hand? It looks badass," Jenny marveled.
[Whoa, a mechanical prosthetic?]
↳ [It's not mechanical, it looks more like bone or wood.]
As the viewers debated, Wolf's surprised voice also echoed. "This left arm of mine, what is it..."
"It is a Shinobi Prosthetic," the old man spoke. "It will serve as a fitting fang for a one-armed wolf. It used to be mine, but nowadays, I am just a sculptor of Buddhas. Such an instrument of slaughter is useless to me now, so I have given it to you."
"This thing doesn't just replace your lost arm. If you find any shinobi tools later on, bring them to me. I will fit them into your Shinobi Prosthetic. Then you will understand the true power of this arm."
As the Sculptor finished speaking, a prompt popped up in front of Jenny.
[Shinobi Prosthetic: The prosthetic arm given to Wolf by the Sculptor. Carved from a bone-like material resembling human limbs, it contains various mechanisms. Once Shinobi Tools are fitted into it, it can serve various functions.]
"Shinobi Prosthetic..." Jenny muttered. Touching her hand, she actually felt a cold, rigid stiffness, as if her hand had truly become a prosthetic limb.
The sheer realism of the simulation was incredible.
At this moment, Wolf asked another question. "Why am I here?"
"I simply picked you up from the silver grass field. I couldn't just let a man who wasn't fully dead be eaten by wild dogs," the Sculptor replied.
"How long was I asleep?" Wolf asked again.
"A while," the Sculptor continued slowly. "But you needn't worry. Your master is still alive. He is imprisoned in Ashina Castle, though his blood will soon be put to use."
"Blood? What blood?"
"Legend says there is a bloodline known as the Dragon's Heritage, possessing miraculous properties. Your master carries this blood. It is the reason he is called the Divine Heir."
"Dragon's Heritage? So that's why Genichiro targeted the Divine Heir?"
"Definitely. But this Sculptor knows so much, his identity probably isn't simple either."
"Agreed!!!"
As the viewers discussed, the Sculptor's voice sounded again. "Enough, I have spoken too much today. Do as you please. I must focus on my Buddha carving..."
The Sculptor then quieted down. For a moment, the only sound in the dilapidated temple was the thud, thud, thud of his carving.
Jenny understood this meant she was free to move around.
"Let's head out of this temple and take a look around," Jenny said, stepping out of the dilapidated temple and into the open.
Walking out, a vast bamboo forest greeted her eyes. The gentle breeze rustled the leaves, making a soft swooshing sound. The temple was nestled deep within this very bamboo forest.
"Wow, another gorgeous bamboo forest scenery!" Jenny exclaimed, but she was quickly drawn to a Buddha statue on the ground ahead.
The statue appeared to be made of stone, depicting a fierce, terrifying deity with three heads and six arms. It was glowing with a faint green light.
Jenny immediately walked over. As she approached it, a prompt appeared in her vision.
[Sculptor's Idol: Commune with the Sculptor's Idol to rest. Resting will fully restore your vitality and replenish the uses of your Healing Gourd. You can also use it to travel to other Sculptor's Idols.]
[Sculptor idol Image:]
"Oh, I get it, this is the save point and fast travel point!" Jenny nodded. After all, this was a common element in video games.
Since that was the case, she might as well rest at it first.
Jenny immediately sat cross-legged. The green light radiating from the Sculptor's Idol enveloped her. Her vision darkened for a moment before quickly returning to normal.
Looking at the bottom left corner, her health bar was completely restored.
"Nice, I'm at my full power once again!" Jenny said boldly. With another kip-up, she flipped to her feet and continued onward.
She was growing more and more fond of using the kip-up move. After all, it looked incredibly badass when pulled off.
Ahead of her was a courtyard. The dirt ground was covered in scattered bamboo leaves, and in the corner of the courtyard stood a person.
The person wore battered armor and had a sword at his waist. He looked somewhat like a soldier of Ashina Castle, but he wore a mask over his face, obscuring his features.
Puzzled, Jenny walked over.
The man also noticed Jenny and called out in surprise, "Hmm, I don't believe we've crossed paths before. May I ask your name, sir?"
Wolf remained silent.
It was obvious Wolf suffered from severe social anxiety. He had barely spoken on the journey so far, and when he did, he treated his words like gold, usually just grunting out a few syllables at a time.
"Won't even give me your name?" The man chuckled. "Regardless, it seems you are quite skilled. Therefore, I insist you cross blades with me."
The next moment, combat background music started playing. With a sharp ring, the masked man drew his sword, and a health bar appeared above his head.
"Whoa, why are we fighting straight out of the gate?!"
Jenny was a bit surprised, but she didn't hesitate, drawing her sword in response.
The next second, the man slashed at her. Jenny reacted half a beat too slow and took the hit, losing a solid fifth of her health bar.
The man immediately pressed the attack, but this time Jenny was ready. She raised her sword in a backhand block!
Clang, clang, clang!
Three times in a row, Jenny deflected the man's attacks. His Posture gauge maxed out, and he quickly began swaying in place as a red dot appeared on his body.
Jenny showed no mercy, driving her sword into the man's chest to execute a one-hit kill.
"You asked for this!" Jenny even threw in a tough one-liner for good measure. The man's attack speed was quite slow, basically on par with the earlier grunts, so she handled him without breaking a sweat.
[Tsk tsk, Jenny is getting more and more ruthless!]
[Jeez, that combo was sick!]
[Hey, wait a minute, the guy is still moving!]
Just as the viewers were about to praise her, they noticed something off. The man lying on the ground suddenly groaned. His body stiffened, and in a posture that completely defied the laws of physics, he stood straight back up.
[WHAAAT THE FUCK?!!?!]
[What the hell is this thing?! Is he unkillable?!]
[Whoa, a zombie?!]
Forget the viewers, even Jenny was scared out of her wits. She hurriedly backed up a few steps. The man's movements were way too similar to a corpse coming back to life.
"Do not be afraid, sir," the man said, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Sigh, it seems I truly cannot die..."
"What kind of thing are you?" Even someone with a strong mental fortitude like Wolf was a bit spooked, asking in a low voice.
"You may call me Hanbei the Undying. I am immortal, also known as the Infested. People like me have a strange centipede living inside us. As long as the centipede does not die, neither do I," Hanbei replied.
[HANBEI:]
"Infested?" Jenny was shocked.
Seeing this, Jenny and the chat realized that this world wasn't just a straightforward martial arts world.
"By the way, sir, would you like to use me to practice your swordplay?" At that moment, Hanbei spoke again. "As you can see, I will not die. No matter how much you cut me, I will be perfectly fine."
As soon as he finished speaking, two options popped up in front of Jenny: [Accept] / [Refuse]
Hearing this, Jenny immediately understood. "I get it, devs put this Hanbei here specifically so we can practice sword combat!"
[Yeah, it really looks like that's the case!]
[Tsk tsk, such rare goodwill from devs!]
Hearing this analysis, the viewers also felt it was highly likely. Although they hadn't played the game themselves, just watching Jenny play was enough to show them how hardcore it was.
So providing a dummy for players to practice on made perfect sense.
Naturally, Jenny chose to accept.
The practice soon began. It was divided into four parts: attacking, defending, parrying, and dodging.
Attacking went without saying, you just proactively swung your sword. It was the easiest.
Defending was a bit harder. You had to block attacks coming from various directions.
As for parrying, that was even harder than defending. You could call it the core combat mechanic of the game.
Finally, dodging was incredibly useful. You could use various movements to evade enemy attacks, and after dodging, strike while your opponent was still recovering. Your counterattacks had a high chance of landing.
Of course, all these movements were assisted by the haptic suit's exoskeleton rig, making them look incredibly fluid and stylish.
Jenny spent about twenty minutes practicing on Hanbei and quickly became much more proficient in all the techniques.
By the end of the session, she could precisely dodge or parry every single one of Hanbei's attacks.
"Okay, I'm pretty much fully trained. Time to set out again. Ashina Castle, here I come! Genichiro, I'm coming for my revenge!"
Jenny gave a heroic shout. Right now, she felt completely refreshed. She felt she had a solid grasp of all the techniques.
She even developed a bold confidence that if she ran into Genichiro right now, she wouldn't lose.
Leaving Hanbei, she first rested at the Sculptor's Idol to fully restore her health, then left the bamboo forest.
Outside the bamboo forest was a three-hundred-foot-long suspension bridge, but the bridge was broken and impassable.
Just as Jenny was wondering what to do, another prompt appeared on the left.
[Grappling Hook: You can use the grappling hook installed in your Shinobi Prosthetic to reach places ordinary people cannot. Pay attention to protruding rocks, rooftops, and tree branches.]
"Whoa, the Shinobi Prosthetic has this feature too?"
Jenny exclaimed in surprise and quickly looked around. Soon, she spotted a protruding rock on a cliff face higher up.
Without hesitation, Jenny swung her left arm. The grappling hook embedded in her prosthetic shot out and hooked securely onto the rock. With a powerful tug, she was launched through the air!
"Whoa!" Accompanied by Jenny's scream, she cleared the seemingly bottomless abyss in a single bound and landed safely on the cliff ledge.
[Spooder maaaaaan.]
The chat were instantly hyped! This mechanic felt incredibly familiar. The Prawn Suit in Subnautica could do something similar.
But that was in the ocean, and it required a vehicle. How could it compare to this?
It was basically a budget version of Spider-Man!
[Adaaaaaaaavanced 30 chapter on patreon.com/EdgyReader]