Chapter 51: Guess

The ID of the Shaman-class player right before him was Wen Yukun.

Upon seeing this ID, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero couldn’t help but be slightly startled, clearly surprised that the opposing player had actually chosen to use their real name.

Real-name players were those who used their actual legal names for their in-game adventures. To a certain extent, players who made their real names public would receive exclusive real-name player care packages. Although the items in the daily check-in packages were not particularly valuable, accumulating a certain amount of them could still save a significant amount of expenses.

At this moment, Wen Yukun smiled faintly and said, "She only took such a desperate measure because she was worried about failing the quest and being punished."

Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero was momentarily taken aback, looking somewhat uncomprehending, but the expressions of Night Feather and his group watching from below shifted slightly. In particular, the faces of Night Feather, Luo Feng, and Old Hu turned solemn as they gazed at Wen Yukun in the arena.

"I'm not particularly surprised. I had already more or less anticipated the significance of this matter right from the start," Night Feather said, his expression completely calm. "However, I imagine the most surprised one should be 'Three Years Difference'. He probably never expected that the character he sent out wouldn't even be able to force us to use our skills, and was instead completely intercepted by just our Shaman King alone—especially since the Shaman King hasn't even used many of his skills up to this point."

Old Hu sighed beside him and picked up where Night Feather left off. "Still, I suppose the battles later on will likely feature even more formidable figures sent to deal with us. They are bound to try and force all of our skills out."

Naturally noticing that the Shaman King in front of him had failed to fully grasp what he had just said, Wen Yukun simply shrugged and didn't elaborate further, instead directly stating, "In any case, the rest of it will just have to depend on me."

As Wen Yukun’s words trailed off, although a warm and amiable smile still hung brightly on his face, in the very next instant, he had already assumed a charging posture. After a brief moment of power accumulation, he burst forward wreathed in astonishing black flames, fiercely slamming toward Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero.

Seeing this, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero remained as calm as still water. He merely shifted his body slightly, effortlessly dodging Wen Yukun's charge. Then, using the black flames to shield his front, he easily managed to cushion the shockwave brought by Wen Yukun's charge. Capitalizing on that momentum with a fluid, seamless spin, he unleashed a palm strike squarely at Wen Yukun, shooting forward right after the blow. Meanwhile, Wen Yukun used the momentum of his charge to instantly decelerate, raised the long spear in his hand in the face of Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero, and met him head-on.

Thud—

With a muffled sound, Wen Yukun was instantly sent sliding backward from the impact.

Wen Yukun slid all the way back in a rapid retreat, coming to a reluctant halt only after being slammed by Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero against a boulder. However, ten percent of his health points were directly deducted. The combined impact of the charge and hitting the boulder resulted in accumulated damage calculation that directly shaved off ten percent of Wen Yukun's health bar.

"Since offensive Shaman-class players possess the conditional skills for a 'Perfect Defense', this recent exchange has made things quite clear," Night Feather murmured, rubbing his chin in thought for a moment before continuing. "Skills with high speed aren't so easily defended against instantaneously. Utilizing reaction time to achieve a 'Perfect Defense' requires preparation time. Such a sudden change in situation caught Wen Yukun off guard and allowed Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero to launch a direct counterattack. You have to admit, that move was brilliant!"

An inner-party civil war between offensive Shaman classes was actually quite tedious. This was because the definition of an offensive Shaman King lay heavily in high defense; even their attack damage was not necessarily top-tier. An offensive Shaman's damage output could be considered moderate, and their strength lay in maintaining sustained output under high defensive conditions. Under such sustained output, offensive Shaman classes appeared very powerful. However, while there were quite a few such Shaman players, whether even a single drop in the ocean of them actually played the class well remained unknown.

Furthermore, since attributes were balanced to an identical state by the arena's matchmaking and balancing system, civil wars best showcased both sides' skill design and the degree of familiarity with their personal techniques.

Wen Yukun violently shoved Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero away. Despite having ten percent of his health shaved off, he didn't care in the least. He immediately planted his long spear upright, and a flash of black radiance instantly enveloped the weapon.

Following closely, Wen Yukun raised the spear in his hand and launched a piercing thrust attack at Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero. As the spear danced, black flames swirled around his entire body, forming a terrifying sea of fire that swept outward.

Seeing this, the expression on Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's face remained entirely serene, failing to stir even the slightest ripple because of the scene before him. He abruptly raised his left hand, and black flames soared skyward.

Bang—

An even louder muffled sound suddenly rang out. It was not a "Perfect Defense."

Seeing this, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's expression shifted slightly. He furrowed his brows and muttered under his breath, "What's going on? How could this happen?"

At this moment, quite a few spectators watching from below the stage voiced their doubts. After all, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's defense had clearly been fully completed well before the attack arrived. Why, then, had a situation like this occurred, resulting in the absence of a "Perfect Defense"?

"There's no reason for this. The clumsy guy's defense was clearly fully executed, wasn't it? How could it possibly not count as a 'Perfect Defense'?" Night Feather said with a hint of bewilderment.

Seeing this, Old Hu also looked curious and nodded, saying, "Indeed. Judging by the timing of the defense, long before Wen Yukun's attack made full contact, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's defense had already achieved the effect of a 'Perfect Defense'. But why did this situation arise?"

Right at that moment, however, Luo Feng spoke up directly, "Look at that clumsy guy's health bar—he didn't lose any health. But why did the effect of a 'Perfect Defense' fail to trigger?"

"Could it be..." Night Feather and Old Hu said in unison, their voices dropping, "...because of his skill?"

Just as Night Feather and Old Hu ultimately concluded, because Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero’s defense wasn’t broken by Wen Yukun despite the lack of a "Perfect Defense," there was no reduction in health points, nor did any negative slow status effect emerge. It appeared that this was simply part of Wen Yukun's skill set—an effect that exempted him from the negative slow status usually inflicted by being subject to a "Perfect Defense."

It was precisely because of this reason that Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero did not immediately launch a counterattack.

Right at that moment, however, the long spear in Wen Yukun's hand flashed with a dazzling brilliance, and the black flames on his left hand actually condensed into a protective shield. Brandishing this massive shield, he charged straight at Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero once again.

Bang—

A crisp sound echoed clearly through the air, and every pair of eyes distinctly saw Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero being directly knocked back by Wen Yukun. Strangely enough, however, Wen Yukun once again suffered a reduction in his health points.

Following that, Wen Yukun's black flame shield instantly dissipated, surging directly into the long spear gripped tightly in his right hand. With a single, fierce spear thrust, he charged forward at extreme speed, stabbing viciously toward Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's chest.

Thud—

Clang—

Wen Yukun's spear attack did not directly pierce Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's armor; it merely produced a slight frictional sound of metal colliding and knocked Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero backward. Because Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero had failed to defend against it, this spear strike hit home directly, instantly achieving the effect of armor-breaking and knocking off twenty percent of Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's health points.

"Does anyone else feel like that Wen Yukun's attack power has increased? Even the bonus to the damage calculation has been raised. And this was just a normal attack combined with a successful armor-break effect," Old Hu remarked with considerable interest.

Faced with the current situation, even he hadn't figured it out immediately. But being a veteran player after all, he had already guessed that skills within Wen Yukun's customized talent skill tree likely included bonuses similar to increasing attack power when health points were reduced, alongside damage calculation boosts upon successfully breaking armor.

At this moment, Night Feather spoke up: "Clearly, there are damage-conversion trigger skills within his customized talent skill tree, though we can't rule out issues like post-health-reduction and post-armor-break amplification. But at the end of the day, at least one of these points definitely aligns with the skills in Wen Yukun's customized talent skill tree."

Night Feather had undoubtedly noticed one detail more than Old Hu had, prompting Old Hu to cast another deep, searching glance at Night Feather. This kid's analytical and observational skills were top-notch. If a newcomer like this grew over time, he was bound to make a name for himself. When that time came, becoming a dominant figure on one side of the game was hardly out of the question.

For now, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero wasn't giving Night Feather and the others too much cause for worry. After all, someone known by others as the Shaman King in the [Xuantian Server] couldn't possibly be that weak. Besides, he was already facing his third opponent; having reached this stage, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's health points were still maintained at around sixty-two percent, while his other stats hovered around seventy-five percent. Dealing with the current situation was still a very simple matter for him.

"It seems that our skills have certain differences when it comes to the customized talent skill trees. Who knows, my skill evaluation might be quite a bit stronger than yours," Wen Yukun said, the corners of his mouth curving upward into a dismissive smile that seemed to suggest his opponent was about to taste defeat.

Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero looked at Wen Yukun before him. Knocked into a rapid retreat by the previous attack, he had only just managed to steady his stance. The long spear in his hand flickered with faint black flames, and the black flames lingering at the very tip of the spear were particularly dense to the extreme. Even from a distance, one could sense that the black flames on the spear tip were intensely scorching and tyrannically peerless.

"Your customized talent skills are truly quite impressive."

Even when faced with such an evil grin from Wen Yukun, the somewhat dim-witted Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero raised his left hand and gave him a thumbs-up in admiration.

At this point, Old Hu's eyes gradually narrowed as he said, "What is that clumsy guy planning to do next? Will he choose to activate new follow-up skills to deal with him, or continue fighting with his current combat style and skills?"

However, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero did not do as Old Hu suggested. Instead, he simply adjusted his stance—evidently having only just stabilized his footing—and began to wave the long spear in his hand. Afterimages of the spear shot out in all directions, dazzling the eyes, yet imbued with a razor-sharp aura.

Detecting that razor-sharp aura, Wen Yukun hurriedly gathered the black flames on his left hand once again to form a black flame shield, forcibly blocking the indirect attacks of several spear afterimages and even batting many of them away.

However, the advantage of a ranged attack was that, provided an instant defense reached the level of a "Perfect Defense," one could still ensure that no negative slow status effect would appear. Consequently, Wen Yukun once again dissipated the black flame shield, channeling its energy back into his long spear. Right at that moment, his original attack was easily and cleanly defended against by Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero, and the crisp sound of a "Perfect Defense" rang out abruptly.

Yet this time, Wen Yukun was easily repelled by Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's "Perfect Defense."

Following the successful execution of this "Perfect Defense," a faint radiance flickered across Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero's black flame barrier. Seeing this faint radiance shimmering over the barrier, Wen Yukun looked thoroughly surprised, having completely failed to anticipate this development.

Wen Yukun's expression shifted slightly, and the black flame shield in his left hand manifested once more. Although a slight negative slow status effect flickered into existence the very moment it formed, suffering this status effect was a helpless matter for Wen Yukun, yet it didn't impact him too severely.

This time, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero chose not to attack directly, maintaining his defensive stance instead, with black flames lingering all around him. Seeing this situation, Wen Yukun wore a playful smirk at the corners of his mouth and said coldly, "Planning to stack damage and then kill me in a single strike? Don't harbor such pipe dreams. That's no easy feat—I'm no Mage class."

Hearing Wen Yukun's words, Cup of Wine Stumps the Hero smiled faintly, shrugged, and said, "Take a guess."