Chapter 387: Battle in the Tunnel

At 2 am on the 17th of May, the result of the first round of Battle of the Cocoon and the name list of the redemption rounds had been announced . Since this was in sleeping mode, ten full hours of in-game had passed between 1 to 2 am in real life . For so many participants, all the matches should be finished already . During the remaining time left before 2 AM, the system was completing the calculations, and the employees were organizing the information .

Xiao Tan had just finished a scenario and had returned to the log-in lobby . He received the system notification that told him he had advanced to the next round . Looks like Laughing Sound’s analysis was not unfounded . Even among the winner’s group, he achieved 42 wins . That ensured that he was not at the bottom . In the next two days, Xiao Tan, who had more of a breather, was accompanied by Laughing Soul to conduct focus training on his Sorcery Mastery . He also finally found a Sorcery-type skill that he could use . It was priced nicely at the Thriller Box .

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Name: Drawing a Cross to Curse You (Will be known as Cross Curse from here on)

Skill Card Property: Active, Permanent

Skill Type: Sorcery

Effect: Curse a target so your next attack on the target will cause 10% additional damage (The target can only be a non-friendly character within your sight and within 50 meters; the target will know that he has been cursed; the same curse can be applied on the same target multiple times but the effect will not stack)

Exhaust: 2 Sorcery Points (Cooldown timer is 5 minutes . It will last forever until the effect is triggered . )

Learning Requirement: Sorcery F

Remark: The most basic sorcery skill from the passage of I from Seven Psalms of Gui Guzi . This skill was created by the 250th direct descendant of Gui Guzi . Whenever he ran into people he disliked, he would use this skill to annoy them and to make them believe that they are being haunted by spirits . He would then lure the target to his own “Supernatural Detective Agency” to ply his own service, scamming and pranking the target at the same time .

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This skill was immensely helpful in helping Xiao Tan train for his Sorcery Mastery . A player at Level 35 with 350 Sorcery Points and the consumption of 2 Sorcery Points was almost negligible . Xiao Tan’s sorcery mastery was Level E, and the success rate of activating any Sorcery Skill was at 40% . Assuming he would be successful once every three trials, on average, he needed to expend 6 Sorcery Points to use the skill once . The skill would not go into cooldown if it failed to activate . Therefore what Xiao Tan needed to do was to spend 2 to 6 Sorcery Points every five minutes and use this skill at least once . This way, within one hour, he would expand 72 Sorcery Points at most, and his Sorcery Points would be at zero after 5 hours . During this period, he would have used this skill at least 50 times already .

The actual situation in the scenario was naturally much better than on paper . Basically, whenever Xiao Tan entered a long scenario, he could guarantee a skill activation every 5 minutes for 8 hours . This skill had no limitations as regards the target, as long as it was ‘non-friendly . ‘ In other words, the target could be the crow on the tree, the fish in the river, or anything else . Therefore, in the recent scenarios of the past two days, the other players who were in the same group as Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul would see a scene like this often . There was this guy known as Kuang Tanzhi, and he would focus his eyes on some living object every five minutes . This living thing could be an ant, a monster, or a passing NPC . After the target was selected, Brother Kuang would silently draw an X on his palm . He would mumble, “I am cursing you . “

With this focused training, on the afternoon of the 18th of May, Xiao Tan raised his Sorcery Mastery to Level D…but that was all . He failed to raise it to Level C before the start of the second round of the Battle of the Cocoon . On the night of the 19th of May, Xiao Tan’s level had reached Level 36, and he gained a new fighting skill from the scenario .

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Name: Binding Jaws

Skill Card Property: Active, can only be used twice

Skill Type: Fighting

Effect: Use the palms to unleash a giant jaw-like impact to bind the target to the nearest surface (Cooldown is 30 seconds, and the target needs to possess a corporeal body)

Exhaust: 300 Stamina Points

Learning Requirement: Fighting Mastery C (The skill card cannot be traced after obtaining it)

Remark: A skill that was common to most beast-like summoned creatures . The first summoned creature that used this in record was the leader of the Ursa, Loui Striker . From various documents, it was clear that Loui was a known sorcery genius . He was not only familiar with druid spells, but he had also dabbled in necromancy . He was a sorcerer that was unique in that he was familiar with both schools of magic that dealt with the contradictory forces of life and death .

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For the past two days, Brother Jue purposely had Xiao Tan queue up in games with Laughing Soul because they were close in terms of level and power level . The effect of the training would be optimum . If he joined in, who knew what the scenario would become?

From the result, Brother Jue’s decision was not wrong .

Finally, at 1 AM on the 20th of May, the second round of Battle of the Cocoon started as scheduled .

…

“The first round of Battle of the Cocoon will start soon . Your data will be input in 30 seconds . Please do not leave the log-in lobby . Ten seconds countdown before logging in . Ten, nine, eight, seven… two, one . “

Unlike last time, Xiao Tan was transported out of the elevator .

“The pupa curls in the cocoon and hibernates for three nights in the forest, spinning the smoothest silk spun into the hardest carapace . “

The opening song and a bright light blinded Xiao Tan, causing him to close his eyes .

“Download completed . You are currently playing Tournament for the Best—Battle of the Cocoon . This mode does not have a scenario introduction . There are no side/hidden quest or unique world views . “

“Reward for winning the scenario: Join the winners’ group . “

“Main quest has been triggered . “

“Kill your opponent . “

A series of announcement windows appeared and then swiftly disappeared . Xiao Tan gained access to mobility afterward . He opened his eyes and realized that everything was quite dark . There were only a few dim light sources . At that moment, he was inside a tunnel . On the wall that ran down his left side, there was a dim light bulb at every 10 meters . The bulbs were about 3 meters off the ground, and they reached infinitely down the tunnel . Using these lights, he could barely see the situation inside the tunnel .

Xiao Tan observed his surroundings and believed he was standing on a railway track . For one, he was stepping on an iron rail . Secondly, the rail was not electrified, and there were peddles littered around the rails . Furthermore, the rails were arched, and it was only wide enough to fit one train . Also, there was only one track .

So, the obvious question was… what would happen if a train came barreling down the tunnel?

Based on the game’s usual wicked arrangement, since the players were placed inside a tunnel, something would throw the players off balance . It could be a fast train barreling down a tight tunnel . It could happen sooner or later .

“Hmm… I should see who my opponent is first . ” Xiao Tan looked around but could see not another person other than himself . He walked to the nearest lightbulb, leaned against the wall, and opened the game menu .

“Ah? Brother Long?” Xiao Tan glanced at the menu, and the ID of his opponent was Long Aomin . Long Aomin was the first in-game friend Xiao Tan and Brother Jue made . They kept in touch even though the writer did not shed light on their communications . Xiao Tan had just queued up with Brother Long five days earlier . At that time, Long Aomin joked that they might end up fighting each other in the semi-finals . Who would have thought that it would happen?

This is not good, Xiao Tan thought . He was very familiar with Long Aomin’s skill, title, and fighting skills . Of course, that was when they were teammates . He had no idea how Long Aomin would act in a competitive scenario .

Other than that, the news that Long Aomin had beaten Zen Dream had spread all over the forum and game . Even though Zen Dream still returned to the winner’s group through the redemption rounds, Brother Long had leaped into fame through that one match . Facing this familiar yet unfamiliar opponent, Xiao Tan greatly felt pressured . He understood how powerful Brother Long was, and he was overwhelmed by helplessness . He understood why Zen Dream would lose . Similarly, as a player who focused on accuracy, speed, and agility, Xiao Tan could not figure out how to break through Long Aomin’s defense .

Brother Long should be a player at the same level as Seven Kills . Looks like I’ll have to take great risks if I am to win this battle . Xiao Tan started to strategize in his mind .

But from the other side of the tunnel came a familiar shout .

Long Aomin was not going to hide in the dark . He opened his throat and yelled, “I am here! Come and get me!”