012 Three Moves

  Kang Shi stood before me, radiating arrogance.

  He had long, dark hair, tied loosely behind him, and sharp, greedy eyes that sized up the world as if it beloo him. His features were well-defined, his pgressive, and every bit of his expression oozed fidehe kind of fidehat came from being born into power, never having to question his p the world.

  The smirk on his lips widened.

  “Hant!” Kang Shi scoffed. “Three moves?! Fine, I will show you the extent of my martial arts!”

  One of his ies—an eager, rat-faced hanger-on—chimed in, sneering at me. “The Kang is renowned for its fighting skills, most feared for its martial cultivation! I suggest you give up, oner!”

  I tilted my head. “I have a name, you know…” Then I shrugged. “Anyways… Give me your best shot.”

  I wasn’t worried.

  As a maxed-level Padin, I had absolute faith in my stitution stat. However, to my guilty pleasure, it wasn’t actually my highest stat. stitution was merely my sed highest.

  What was my highest? Charisma.

  I had long since maxed out my base stats in Lost Legends Online and reached the cap. But I had focused on raising Charisma again and again using cap-breaking items.

  Why?

  Because in games, Charisma was more than just charm. It influenced persuasion, self-fidence, personality, and even iions with NPCs, mobs, and the like—all useful in both rolepy and bat. But most importantly, for Padins, Charisma governed spellcasting and persuasion checks.

  And my ‘Immortal Build’?

  It was areme bination of two pystyles:

  Heal/Drain Build– Life-steal and regeion to make me absurdly difficult to kill.Stagger/Barrier Build– Defensive buffs and stagger effects to keep me standing, no matter the enemy.With bat passive skills boosting my on damage, it was the perfect mix of endurand offense.

  So as Kang Shi prepared to attack, I stood tall, hands csped lightly behind my back, and spoke with the gravitas of someone who had walked through hell aurned unscathed.

  "Glorious Defense."

  There was o say it aloud—it assive skill.

  The greater the feats I performed, the higher the level I reached, and the further the storyline progressed, the strohe defensive value.

  And I had fihe main storyline of LLO.

  I was tough.

  But for the spectacle, I added another yer.

  "Shield of Faith."

  This time, it was an active skill.

  A translut barrier shimmered ience around me, a faint silver sheen illuminating my figure.

  Kang Shi and his ckeys hesitated for half a sed.

  Then his smirk returned, aook his first step forward.

  “Let’s see if that faith of yours withstand my fist.”

  I stood my ground, hands still csped lightly behind my back.

  “e.”

  Kang Shi’s expression twisted into a fierce grin. L one knee, he cocked his fist back, and his aura ignited in a reddish hue.

  “Fighting Spirit!”

  Heat rippled in the air. Fire leaked from his mouth as he exhaled, his entire body surging with violent energy. Then, with a flick of his wrist, his ched fist shifted into a knife-hand strike aimed directly at my throat.

  “S Phoenix!”

  A fiery phoenix silhouette fred around his right hand, its form dang in the air as he lunged forward.

  It was fshy—the kind of move desigo overwhelm oppos with speed and spectacle. And for a fra of a sed, I almost felt a tinge of fear, my instincts screaming danger.

  But then—

  k.

  His attack stopped dead against my Shield of Faith.

  Kang Shi’s fident smirk vanished, his face morphing into pure shock. His firembled, h just over my throat, uo push through the barrier. Then came the ahe refusal to accept what had just happened.

  With a growl, he pulled bad shifted stances.

  “Fighting Spirit: Rising Dragon!”

  His left foot shed out in a roundhouse kick, golden energy coiling around his leg like a serpentine dragon.

  It was faster than before, more refined, carrying sheer momentum and power meant to break bohe force of his spihe air whistling—

  But—

  k.

  His foot stopped inches from my face.

  It didn’t ect.

  Not even close.

  Kang Shi’s entire body tensed as realization dawned. He couldn’t break through.

  Panic flickered in his eyes.

  He jumped backward, his retreating figure a mess of stumbled steps as he struggled tain his bance.

  I remaily where I was.

  Unmoved.

  “That’s two moves already,” I said, my voice calm, as if we weren’t in the middle of a fight. I met his eyes and slowly lifted three fingers and then folded two of them, resisting the urge to leave the middle finger out.

  In the end, I left the index finger out and waved them around.

  “One more move, Young Master Kang.”

  Kang Shi ched his fists, his expression shifting from frustration to sheer determination. “I have shamed my with such a ckluster performance,” he decred, voice trembling with emotion. “The Fighting Spirit of my Kang is by no means weak!”

  His eyes burned with renewed resolve as he locked onto me. “What is your name, unknown cultivator?”

  I sighed. “I’d rather not say.”

  Kang Shi’s lips curled into a small smirk, though his eyes remained sharp. “I see… so you have no iion of showing respee until the very end.” He exhaled, shaking his head. “It is my fault for not seeing Mount Tai, but I shall have your respect, your name, and—if necessary—your neck by the end of this!”

  He straightened his posture, pg his fists together before slowly drawing them apart. His qi surged, strohan before. “I shall take you seriously! Prepare yourself!”

  Huh. He was less overbearing than I initially thought.

  For a sed, I sidered using a defensive refle skill, just to be a little shit a him punch himself into oblivion. But er not to spill any blood.

  “Show me what you got,” I said, gesturing for him to e at me.

  Kang Shi took a deep squat stance, both arms spread to the side, fists ched. His muscles tensed, his qi fluctuating wildly.

  “I shall put all of my vital qi and all of my weight into this attack!”

  Wait—Vital qi?

  Did he just say life force?

  This guy was crazy!

  No. Not crazy. He was young—a barely twenty-year-old kid, filled with reckless ambition.

  Before I could dissuade him, he rambled on.

  “This is a skill I’ve mastered in order to ter Lu Gao’s teique and rise above him!” His grin widened. “But you will do just fine!”

  Oh, e on. I was just trying to eat dinner.

  Kang Shi inhaled sharply, then snapped his fists open, spreading his fingers like horns.

  “Fighting Spirit: Trampling Ox!”

  The floor shattered beh his feet as he exploded forward like a human battering ram. His palms eloaking on the shape of ox horns, his entire body transf into a projectile. The sheer force behind him tore up the floorboards, sending splinters flying in all dires.

  Boom!

  His full-body tackle smmed into my Shield of Faith, creating a shockwave that sent a bst of wooden debris throughout the inn.

  Sheesh. Now, I had to pehe inn owner.

  Maybe I could just have Kang Shi pay for it.

  A moment passed.

  Then another.

  I remaianding, unmoved.

  Kang Shi stared at his hands, his expression shifting from disbelief to utter horror.

  “How?!” he choked out, breathless.

  His palms—which had carried all of his strength, all of his qi, all of his ‘vital energy’—barely moved inches away from my skin.

  He had throwhing at me.

  And it still wasn’t enough.

  Kang Shi staggered back, fists ched, his breathing ragged. A, instead of fear, I saw determination in his eyes.

  “I uand now,” he said, his voice hoarse but firm. “You are of a higher realm than me.”

  Finally. Took him long enough to figure that out.

  “But I ’t let this stand!”

  …What now?

  Please don’t tell me you’re about to call your father. That would be such a shame, sidering how hard I worked not to kill you.

  Kang Shi straightened his bad took a deep breath, his chest rising with resolve.

  “You have received three of my strikes! Now, I will receive three of yours!”

  I blinked. What?

  Kang Shi’s ies shifted unfortably, lookiween me and their Young Master, their loyalty visibly flicted.

  “I will show you that by no means am I inferior!” Kang Shi procimed, stamping his foot like some hot-blooded war hero. “I will not move! Strike me three times, and I shall not budge!”

  Was this guy an idiot?!

  I opened my mouth to reason with him before he got himself killed, “No need. I’ve already proven my higher realm to you—”

  “I REFUSE!”

  Huh?

  I turo Kang Shi’s ckeys, expeg them to talk some seo him. But the moment my gaze swept over them, they flinched and quickly looked away.

  e on, guys. Dissuade your Young Master.

  Sheesh. They were clearly torn. On one hand, questioning Kang Shi’s deight be seen as disloyalty. Oher hand, if I got serious, I could probably kill him.

  I sighed.

  Even if I held back, my punch would still hurt. If I held bauch, Kang Shi would probably notid se for looking down on him.

  And that ran trary to my goal. Not spilling blood.

  I made up my mind.

  “How about this?” I suggested. “You allow me one move—just one move—but I get to use a on.”

  Kang Shi’s eyebrows rose slightly, intrigued. “Hmph. I am a generous man, and I aowledge your strength. Fine! I give you permission to use a on.”

  I was tempted—oh, so tempted—to cast Divine Word: Rest and just knock him out instantly.

  No way he would have the resistance for that.

  But no. That would just piss him off. Kang Shi looked like that type—the kind who would see it as a cheap trick. Instead, I ined my head slightly. “Thank you for yenerosity.”

  Then, without hesitation, I reached for the table beside me and broke off one of its legs.

  Crack!

  Everyoared, fused.

  I didn’t even sider drawing a on from my Item Box—I had too many ons infused with skills, and if I used one, I might actally kill Kang Shi.

  No. This was fine.

  I took a slow, deliberate step forward.

  Then another.

  The floor creaked under my weight as I approached Kang Shi, gripping the wooden leg with one hand.

  I could feel the tension in the air. Kang Shi’s ckeys gulped. Even the inn workers, hiding behind the ter, peeked nervously.

  I had to be careful. I needed something fshy, something that felt dangerous but wasn’t lethal.

  Stopping a few feet before Kang Shi, I raised the broken table leg and exhaled.

  Then, with a calm and measured voice, I invoked:

  “Thunderous Smite.”

  The moment my on struck the floorboard—

  BOOM!

  A blinding explosion of light erupted from the impact. A silver-white radiangulfed the entire inn, illuminating everything in a fsh of holy brilliance.

  People screamed, c their eyes.

  Kang Shi flinched, momentarily stunned by the sheer force of the dispy.

  And in that moment of distra, I silently cast—

  Divine Word: Rest.

  Kang Shi’s body swayed, and before anyone could process what happened, he colpsed onto the floor, unscious. That should create the illusion he fai the sight of my martial prowess.

  The light faded.

  As Kang Shi’s ckeys rubbed their eyes and blihe brightness away, their gazes finally fell upon their Young Master’s motionless form.

  “…Young Master Kang?” one of them whispered.

  Aook a cautious step forward, then froze in terror.

  “H-He’s down!”

  I dropped the broken table leg, its top now pletely charred from the lingering energy of my attack.

  Then, before any of them could panic, I spoke.

  “Take him away.”

  The ckeys flinched, standing at full attention.

  “Also,” I tinued, my tone calm but firm, “tell him not to bother my follu Jie, anymore.”

  I let my words linger, ensuring they uood.

  Then, with a final g the ruined floorboards, I added, “And that he better pay his dues to the inn.”

  I turned away.

  And just like that—

  I walked out of the inn, leaving the stunned ckeys to scramble over their defeated Young Master.