Despite that difference, Li Ming was unable to penetrate Kikyo's defenses. The [Draconic Spear s.h.i.+eld] was blocking every spear stab Li Ming threw that wasn't met by Kikyo's own spear, which left them both at a stalemate.

'[Draconic Spear s.h.i.+eld] only lasts for 10 seconds,' Li Ming thought, 'If I can hold out past that, I'll win!'

'[Draconic Spear s.h.i.+eld] only lasts for 10 seconds,' Kikyo thought as she panicked, 'How can he be faster than me? Is he just as strong as grandpa? I need to do something fast!'

Li Ming, steadily put more strength into his shoulder and waist to proceed to increase his spear's pacing. He steadily grew his two spears thrown per every spear Kikyo threw at him to three spears. And from three spears to four spears.

Slowly, Kikyo started losing more and more health.

72% health... 68% health... 60% health... 50% health... 38% health...

Then suddenly, Li Ming felt the spear in his hand grow lighter and lighter. The spear would start to spin with his stabs and strikes, adding more power and stability to each strike. With each spear stab, Li Ming grew more and more confident, and his spear grew more adventurous, attacking from more extreme angles as well. He wouldn't target just Kikyo, but every part of her. Her hair, her ankles, her speartip, her sides, her shoulders, and even her spear's handle. Then...

*BOOM!*

Kikyo's spear went flying as Li Ming's spear swept it aside in the same motion that brought Kikyo down to 0.2% health and knocked her onto her back.

"... I can't believe it..." Kikyo gasped in pain, "... that definitely wasn't Grandpa's Dragonic Charge..."

Li Ming, stunned at the feat he just accomplished, wordlessly stood there as he took in the experience. His spear felt like it was alive all on its own but at the same time, guided by himself, charging relentlessly at the enemy. It felt extremely fresh and relaxing, as if he had learned something new.

*BANG*

A bullet struck Kikyo, turning her into rainbow pixel dust.

"She wasn't finished off yet, ya know?" Hanzo called out.

They regrouped as both groups had finished their respective fights.

"Hey Li Ming, that wasn't a game skill, was it?" Ken asked, "I don't remember a skill like that existing..."

"Yeah that was really cool!" Kaori exclaimed, "There were so many spear strikes flying everywhere! She was doing something similar as well, no?"

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"Could a new skill have been added already? I didn't see it in the patch notes..." Hatori wondered.

"No, its spear technique." Li Ming explained, "I was learning spearmans.h.i.+p from her grandfather, I just learned that technique this morning."

"That's a martial art?" Ken exclaimed, "you mean you can do that in real life?"

"The first part? Yeah, probably..." Li Ming replied, "But the second part, probably not? I still don't fully understand what happened there."

"You mean the second part where you got really wild right?" Hanzo commented, "You looked so flashy there. We were so surprised that we didn't want to interrupt!"

"What do you mean you practice with her grandfather? Did you know that female spearman?" Kaori had noticed what Li Ming had said.

"Uhhh, yeah..." Li Ming hesitated, "Her name is Kikyo... You know, the boss of the delinquents?"

"EHHH? The Demon Queen Kikyo that runs the Martial Arts Club?" Hatori exclaimed.

"Wasn't she supposed to be unbeatable in that club?" Hanzo followed up, "I heard she sent all the uppercla.s.smen to the hospital when they tried to hara.s.s her into joining the club, but now she's running the whole scene!"

"Yeah! I heard that rumor too!" Kaori chimed in, "And you're training with her grandpa? He must be even scarier!"

"Haha, yeah.." Li Ming remembered the old man starting the sparring session before Li Ming had warmed up or gotten ready, "He's pretty scary, but he's really nice too."

"Is this how you were able to become a pro player?" Ken asked, "That, and your new cla.s.s of sword mage?"

"Can we stop calling it swordmage?" Kaori interjected, "I'm starting to dislike it the more I think about it. It's not cute at all!"

Kaori's interjection struck a chord in Li Ming. He too, had been bothered by this fact. When he had faced the Swordmage in the last conflict with Kikyo's party, their Swordmage, Johnny, had used a broad sword against him.

Thinking about the cla.s.s t.i.tle of Swordmage, Li Ming definitely envisioned that type of character: A swordsman using a Runeblade of some sort, that would enchant themselves and the sword to augment their sword mastery instead of depending on game abilities.

For example, instead of using the swordsman ability [Accelerating Slash], which would make one's blade change direction and accelerate, one could instead use the Chinese Martial Art similar to Wushu to rotate the blade upon it's center of balance in combination with twisting one's waist to change the direction and speed of the slash.

However, the swordsman who depended on the ability would have to continue relying on an ability that could go on cooldown. However, the swordsman that had depended on himself for the sword technique and instead chose to augment his blade with something like [Enchant: Static] would do more damage despite having a similar sword movement.

Li Ming, on the other hand was more like a mage in addition to a spearman. He casted spells, but also used his spear. He utilized many skills from different unique cla.s.ses in harmony to achieve the effect of 'The Dawn'.

"How about Spearmage?" Ken suggested, "It includes your actual weapon this time."

"That's too similar..." Hanzo complained, "It wouldn't want something that similar for my cla.s.s... I can't imagine being called a Gunnermage or something. I'm just a gunner that has a single mage skill after all."

"How about 'Arch Knight' as the name?" Hatori suggested, "Like an archmage and a knight?"

"I definitely can't see 'The Dawn' as a knight," Ken attempted, "How about 'Combat Mage'? That would sound like a blade user that also uses spells."

"Yeah, but that sounds like the user would also only have access to self-buffing mage spells. That's basically a swordmage." Li Ming reb.u.t.ted.

"How about 'Spellblade', then?" Kaori suggested, "It suits your role completely, and it sounds pretty cute too!"

***

Despite the fiery start to the Battle Royale game, Li Ming found that there was absolutely no one in their way on their journey to the second gate. It was completely uneventful as they made their way through the river path towards the east gate yet again.

Li Ming couldn't detect the slightest movement from any direction other than the occasional NPC event that would occur. Of course, these NPC events were all easy for their party, as Li Ming could solo the entire event. If the party a.s.sisted Li Ming, the event would end even earlier.

To Ken's party's dismay, having a pro player on their team actually made the game less entertaining than usual. They were used to having slightly difficult fights, with each fight having at least some risk of defeat. But with Li Ming there, the party easily made quick work of each and every event.

Instead of enjoying the game, they were enjoying their discussions with Li Ming instead.

"I better get free front row seats to your games!" Ken commanded as he used a heal on Kaori, "Front row seats for all of us so we can cheer you on!"

"Sure, but if we're playing out of country, you're getting your own plane tickets." Li Ming shot back as he cut down a zombie.

"Hey, Li Ming, what if I change my character to do something like yours," Hatori asked while dropping down to execute another undead, "I want to try something similar too!"

"Maybe you should start with learning a martial art first" Hanzo recommended while reloading, "It seems like Li Ming's skill partially comes from making use of combining his real life skills and his in game skills."

"Hey Li Ming, do you think I can come and check out your martial arts training?" Kaori asked, completely unfazed by the numerous zombies slamming against her s.h.i.+elds, "I'm quite curious-"

"And risk meeting THAT Kikyo?" Ken cut her off, "Isn't that too much of a risk?"

"I mean, there's probably other ways to play your same cla.s.ses too." Li Ming suggested, "Give me a bit to think about it, though."

Li Ming had remembered Chie's gunner character, and how she utilized [On the Hunt] defensively against 'The Dawn'. If utilized properly, the gunner wouldn't need to hide behind a tank and would be able to be more mobile. Coupled with Chie's [Short Distance Teleportation] trinkets as well as [On the Hunt], Li Ming could definitely feel a new style of Legends Rise at the horizon.

"Alright guys," Ken called for everyone's attention, "Here we are, the third and last gate."

"According to the kill feed, there's only four teams left, including us." Hanzo remarked as he checked the kill feed for the first time since they pa.s.sed the first gate.

"Actually, they're probably incomplete teams." Kaori remarked, "There's only 14 players left in the game, meaning that besides us, there are only 9 players left."

"That's right," Hatori agreed, "That means that at most, there is another team of five left. And since it shows that there's four total teams left, that means that there's no guarantee of how many players are left on each team."

"Since the last stage is a colosseum battle, we should stay vigilant about the headcount of different parties." Ken reminded them, "Since this colosseum battle will take place in a ghost town, we should spread out just enough for us to not get wiped out by an area of effect spell, but close enough so none of us can be picked off."

"Actually," Hanzo thought of an idea, "How about we have Li Ming split up from us? We can have him travel parallel to us and take care of parties to make sure we don't have a third party flanking us."

"Good idea! That way, if we need to, Li Ming can flank our enemies too!" Hatori agreed.

"Sounds good." Ken said. Despite the unorthodox strategy of letting the strongest player roam around solo, Ken went ahead and let 'The Dawn' go off as a branch of their team instead of sticking together. "As they say, the true nature of Legends Rise is applying both personal skill and adaptable strategy to win the match!"