While Bai Liu and Tang Erda were talking, Hua Ganjiang took out a measuring tape and carefully stretched it from the tips of the toes on Mu Shicheng’s left monkey claw to the tips of the toes on the other claw, then measured the distance between the two points of his acromion.
“Arm span: two meters seventeen. Toe length: nine centimeters. Shoulder width: forty-six centimeters. Total upper-limb length: roughly seventy-seven centimeters.”
As Hua Ganjiang spoke, his apprentice recorded the data. Afterward, he pressed down on Mu Shicheng’s protruding scapula, turned his head, and added, “—The upper limbs and height may still grow. Make it eighty-five centimeters.”
Mu Shicheng shifted uncomfortably.
The apprentice looked at Mu Shicheng with a somewhat incredulous expression and muttered with a hint of envy and jealousy as he recorded the numbers, “At this length, he’s still growing. He really is a monkey...”
Mu Shicheng glared fiercely at the apprentice. “I just grow, so what! I’m still young. Every part of my body is still growing! Even my chest can still grow!”
Apprentice: “...= =...”
Hua Ganjiang interrupted Mu Shicheng’s provocation of his apprentice. “He’s complimenting you. Growing long is a good thing.”
Mu Shicheng looked over skeptically.
Hua Ganjiang explained, “Judging from your physique, you must exercise often, right? Then I’ll use sports as an analogy. In most competitive sports, such as basketball, volleyball, and even table tennis—a sport where full-body movement is relatively less frequent—generally speaking, aren’t players with longer limbs more favored?”
“Since you were little, you’ve been quite dominant in sports, haven’t you?” Hua Ganjiang glanced at his long arms.
Mu Shicheng nodded hesitantly.
“Long limbs mean your attack and defense range is larger than that of others. I’ve seen the game recordings Charles sent over. Your neural reflexes are quite agile, and your dynamic vision is top tier among the players I’ve encountered. Ninety percent of sneak attacks that enter your attack and defense range will be interrupted.”
Hua Ganjiang retracted the measuring tape and lifted his eyelids. “Do you know what this means?”
While Mu Shicheng was still thinking, Hua Ganjiang clearly did not expect an answer from him. He turned to put the measuring tape away and continued on his own.
“There is no member on your team whose skill can serve as a ‘shield.’”
“Your high movement speed and sneak-attack skills make you more like a ‘roamer’ or an ‘attacker,’ but your arm length expands your defensive range. That means that within the reach of your arms, you are a fairly decent ‘shield.’”
Hua Ganjiang turned sideways to look at Mu Shicheng. “You compensate for your team’s defensive shortcomings while also serving as a ‘roamer’ and secondary attacker.”
“With this three-sided identity, a tactician can use you as the contraction and extension point of the team’s tactics, greatly increasing the flexibility of offensive methods while reducing offensive risks.”
As he said this, Hua Ganjiang tested a piece of armor metal against Mu Shicheng’s body, then naturally handed the metal piece to him as if telling him to wash his hands.
“Hold this metal piece and put your hands into the magma.”
Mu Shicheng, who had been feeling a little light-headed from all the praise: “Oh, okay... WHAT?! Why do I have to put my hands in?!”
Hua Ganjiang looked at him strangely. “Your weapons are monkey claws. For quenching, of course you have to put your hands in.”
Mu Shicheng glanced at the gurgling, bubbling, blazing-hot magma. The apprentice was putting a glittering diamond into it; in less than a second, it melted until only a wisp of green smoke remained.
“Has Master’s magma temperature risen again?” The apprentice patted his forehead in distress. “Diamonds with a melting point of four thousand degrees can only be melted to serve as a base. The cost of modification has gone up again...”
Mu Shicheng: “...”
This was bullshit! If he stuck his two-meter-long arms in there, they would be instantly melted down to one meter!
Mu Shicheng refused to do it even if he died, so Hua Ganjiang decisively—
Sought help from Bai Liu.
“Hey, your team member isn’t cooperating with the modification.”
Bai Liu, who was talking with Tang Erda, poked his head out from the side. “What’s wrong?”
Hua Ganjiang pointed at Mu Shicheng, who had hidden his hands tightly behind his back. “I just asked him to put his hands into the magma, but he refuses no matter what.”
“What do you mean, ‘just’?!” Mu Shicheng’s eyes bulged as he cursed. “Why don’t you fucking try it yourself!”
Bai Liu jerked his chin toward Tang Erda. “Go help him.”
Seeing Tang Erda walk toward him, Mu Shicheng could not help covering his chest and shouting in horror, “Hey—! What are you going to do!! Don’t come over here!!! Ah————!!”
Mu Shicheng, whose neck was pressed down by Tang Erda while his hands were forcibly clamped and shoved into the magma, froze.
“Eh, it doesn’t hurt.”
The magma swirled warmly around his monkey claws. The metal in his claws melted like butter on a griddle, slipping through the gaps between his fingers before slowly migrating to plate the edges of his toes.
Not only was it not hot, it was actually somewhat comfortable.
Now Mu Shicheng perked up again. He arrogantly splashed magma onto his arms, gave Tang Erda—who was behind him—a sideways glance, and tried to kick the other man away.
“Get lost, get lost. I can’t believe I needed you to help me. I could’ve just—”
Before his voice fell, the motion of Mu Shicheng splashing the magma caused droplets to fly onto the trouser leg outside the furnace. In the blink of an eye, a large hole was burned through it, and flames climbed up along the edge of the hole, burning Mu Shicheng so badly that he started jumping.
It was Liu Jiayi, quick-eyed and quick-handed, who put out the fire with a fire extinguisher.
She could not help looking at the large hole in his pants—which was less than twenty centimeters away from Mu Shicheng’s lower abdomen—with the pitying eyes one reserved for an idiot.
“This is magma. Except for when it is specially quenching your skill weapons, its temperature is more than enough to burn you and your pants.”
Mu Shicheng lowered his head, a blanket covering his legs—because Bai Liu felt that exposing his thighs in front of a little girl was indecent, so he had Mu Shicheng cover the hole in his pants.
He sat by the furnace with his head drooping like a bullied little wife, not daring to move anymore, tearfully washing his hands with magma.
Compared with Mu Shicheng’s chaotic modification process, Liu Jiayi and Mu Ke’s modifications were much clearer and more straightforward.
“The role I undertake is ‘control,’ but I hope to expand the range of that control.” Liu Jiayi took out her glass bottles of poison and antidote, speaking concisely. “Fragile glass containers limit my performance. I need a drug container with shorter intervals and stronger volatility. Ideally, it can also add certain offensive attributes.”
Hua Ganjiang thought for only a moment. “There is a type of container that meets your requirements, but I don’t know whether it can successfully fuse with your medicine bottles.”
Liu Jiayi looked up. “What container?”
“Wait. Let me find it and show you...” Hua Ganjiang buried his upper body in a pile of things that looked very much like trash, scratching his backside every now and then as he searched. “...I remember it was here. Ah, found it!”
Hua Ganjiang tossed back two rusty cans. Liu Jiayi caught them steadily, lowered her head to look, and the corner of her mouth could not help twitching twice.
“—Pepper spray bottles?”
Hua Ganjiang patted the dust from his hands. “I’m not saying you’ll use these specific ones. They’re just for reference. It’s this type of spray-paint-like bottle. It can be used to store and atomize your poisons and antidotes, maximizing their efficacy and expanding their range of use.”
“By using spray bottles, as long as the dosage of poison or antidote is calculated properly, you can even use your skills as if they had no cooldown period.”
Liu Jiayi weighed the pepper spray bottle in her hand and tossed it back to Hua Ganjiang. “If I use this, what is the maximum control range?”
Hua Ganjiang caught the spray bottle. “I can modify the nozzle so that it sprays up to thirty meters, but at that distance, the effect of your medicine will be very weak. Most of it will dissipate, so it can only serve as a deterrent.”
Liu Jiayi nodded in understanding. Spray-type containers were like that—the farther the attack range, the weaker the effect.
Hua Ganjiang put on a welding helmet and pulled out a welding gun, aiming it at the spray bottle. He gave Liu Jiayi an inquiring look. “If you decide on this container, I can make several control-grade nozzles with different effects for you. For example, a fifteen-meter nozzle with the strongest drug concentration, then twenty-five meters, and finally the weakest at thirty meters.”
“You can also make nozzles with different degrees of concentration, right?” Liu Jiayi asked. “For example, a needle shape with extremely high focus, and a showerhead shape for wider diffusion.”
Hua Ganjiang nodded briskly. “Easy.”
Liu Jiayi made the final decision. “Then this is it!”
The apprentice put the spray bottle modified by Hua Ganjiang and Liu Jiayi’s skill-container glass bottles into a strainer and submerged them in the magma.
Mu Shicheng, who was still washing his hands in magma, poked his head over curiously. He saw Liu Jiayi’s glass bottles slowly melting into a liquid state in the strainer, then bit by bit, they clung to the spray-paint bottle at the other end.
Hua Ganjiang tossed up a pair of black daggers and caught them with his index finger. He glanced at Mu Ke. “This isn’t your skill weapon. There is no bond of desire between you and these daggers.”
“Yes. They were transferred to me by someone else.” Mu Ke answered Hua Ganjiang honestly.
“Light, airy, fast, and sharp.” Hua Ganjiang ran the pad of his thumb across the blade of the dagger. After seeing blood, he unconcernedly stuck out his tongue and licked it. After savoring it for a moment, he said, “These are the daggers of a top-tier assassin. Their only weakness is that they find it difficult to harm people.”
“This is a soft-hearted and cowardly fellow.” Hua Ganjiang lifted his eyelids and swept a glance at Mu Ke. “—Completely different from you.”
“Although your aggressiveness isn’t apparent on the outside, it is very strong. The daggers born from your desires are bound to be cold-blooded and malicious; they may look harmless, but they are destined to harm. They aren’t like these daggers, which haven’t even been sharpened.”
Mu Ke smiled amicably and echoed Hua Ganjiang’s words. “Is that so?”
Hua Ganjiang glanced at him. “This is not your original weapon, so the modification process is much more troublesome. But I can handle all of that. However, the most troublesome point is that after the modification, I can’t guarantee you’ll still be able to establish a soul connection with this pair of daggers.”
“This is not an outgrowth of your desire. I don’t know whether it can continue to bear your desire after modification.”
Mu Ke asked, “If it can’t bear it, what will happen?”
“You will blow up along with the daggers.” Hua Ganjiang tapped his finger against the dagger. “The best way to modify them is to keep them as they are. You’ll be safe, and the daggers will be safe too.”
“Safe...” Mu Ke lowered his long, slender eyelashes. He had refined features, red lips, and white teeth. When he lowered his eyes and fell silent like this, he gave off a sense of noble fragility, like some precious, easily broken object used only for decoration.
“If it were before, I would probably choose the safer option.” Mu Ke seemed to have made up his mind. He looked up with a light smile, his gaze passing through Hua Ganjiang and landing on Bai Liu, who was leaning against the wall.
Bai Liu watched Mu Ke calmly, as if he already knew what kind of choice he would make.
Mu Ke fixed his gaze on Hua Ganjiang’s face. “Is there any way to instantly raise the attack power of these daggers to the maximum? The kind that can kill the opponent in one strike?”
“I want to become the best assassin. The moment I roam into the enemy camp, I want to take away their tactician.”
Hua Ganjiang replied, “There is.”
But he added, “The assassin is indeed the skill most suited for ‘roaming,’ but the destiny of an assassin is sacrifice. To actually say such arrogant words about taking away the opponent’s tactician in one strike—are you prepared to sacrifice yourself?”
Mu Ke did not hesitate. “I am prepared.”
Hua Ganjiang stared fixedly at Mu Ke for a moment, then withdrew his gaze. He looked at the pair of daggers placed on the table and took a deep breath before saying, “You are not suited for short weapons like daggers, which see too little blood.”
“You are suited for long weapons like the katana, which follow their master to the death.”
Mu Ke did not feel there was anything wrong with Hua Ganjiang’s phrase “follow their master to the death.” He bowed politely in thanks. “Then I’ll have to trouble you, Mr. Hua Ganjiang.”
Mu Shicheng was still washing his hands with magma when he saw the apprentice bring over another strainer. Inside were two daggers and a long blade stained with blood. The apprentice hung it on the edge of the furnace, then walked toward Bai Liu and Tang Erda.
The apprentice looked at them timidly. “It... it’s your turn.”
Bai Liu and Tang Erda looked at each other and walked over. Tang Erda pulled out his gun, laid it flat on the table, and pushed it over.
Hua Ganjiang observed this weapon for a long time before removing the magnifying glass hanging by his eye. He looked at Tang Erda intently. “Your weapon doesn’t need modification.”
He wiped the gun clean and placed it back in Tang Erda’s hand. “Your weapon is already exactly what suits you best. Your desires have never changed. They are the same desires you had when you first entered the game. The only thing this weapon might need to have fine-tuned—”
Hua Ganjiang pointed at the rose brand on the gun handle.
“—is this rose brand. You should change the brand on your weapon.”
“As though you were changing the place your soul belongs.” As Hua Ganjiang spoke, he gave Tang Erda a deep look.
Tang Erda froze. He involuntarily tightened his grip on the gun. The rose brand on the gun handle pressed into his palm, cold and familiar—the mark that had followed him through countless worldlines—
—Just like Su Yang’s smile as he waited gently for him, and that call of “Captain.”
But the current Captain was Su Yang. He no longer needed to wait for that irresponsible Captain who only knew how to run away.
Tang Erda lowered his head and examined the gun for a long time. Finally, he gave a low laugh and said with relief, “Change it.”
The apprentice took another strainer, put the gun and one of Bai Liu’s gloves inside, submerged them in the magma, and hung them by the furnace.
Mu Shicheng asked curiously, “Wasn’t Bai Liu’s weapon already modified? Why did he take it back?”
The apprentice did not turn around. “It’s not to modify Mr. Bai Liu’s weapon. It’s using Mr. Bai Liu’s weapon to change the brand on Mr. Tang Erda’s gun.”
“Finally, only you are left.” As soon as Hua Ganjiang glanced at the bone whip Bai Liu placed down, he raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you know the rules of modification masters? We don’t modify bone whips.”
This was the first time Bai Liu had heard this. He asked back with interest, “Why?”
Hua Ganjiang pushed Bai Liu’s bone whip back. “Because in the current game, the most perfect weapon form is the bone whip.”
“After any modification master has seen Spades use the bone whip once, they can no longer think of any weapon form more vivid and thorough in its attacks than that.” Hua Ganjiang paused as if remembering something, then added, “And I’ve seen it quite a few times.”
“I don’t believe I can modify a weapon form better than the bone whip, so I made a rule: no modifying bone whips.”
Hua Ganjiang waved his hand impatiently. “Hurry up and take your perfect weapon and get out!”
Bai Liu went along with him and put away the bone whip.
The modification was nearing its end.
Liu Jiayi had troubled the modification master to add the Wandering Circus mark to her contact lenses—the pair given to her by Queen of Hearts. Mu Shicheng carefully pulled out his hands, which had been soaking in the magma for a long time. The apprentice pulled up the strainers hanging along the edge of the furnace one by one.
The liquid metal armor on the monkey claws was dark brown, soft yet tough. To the touch, it had the texture of animal hide and the chill of metal. Mu Shicheng extended his long claws; they glittered as though plated in silver. With one casual downward swipe, materials with a defense value below four thousand were mangled like tofu.
“Holy shit—!!” Mu Shicheng suddenly stood up, eyes shining as he held up his hands. “The attack value got so much stronger!”
Mu Ke pulled his katana from the strainer. Unlike his appearance, it was an excessively simple short katana, about forty centimeters long. The blade was as cold as snow, reflecting Mu Ke’s calm face.
The traces where the two daggers had fused together could be seen in the middle. Mu Ke snapped it downward; the handle split apart, and it turned back into two daggers. With a light touch, they attracted each other like magnets and turned back into the long blade.
Mu Ke gazed silently at the short blade. His breathing was so faint it could hardly be heard. He was as calm as deep, stagnant water without a breeze, without the slightest ripple. Even the brilliance of his appearance seemed to hide away as the blade was completed.
He gripped the handle with both hands, and his gaze suddenly sharpened. Without any warning, he swung it fiercely at a diamond placed on the table.
The diamond did not move.
Mu Ke sheathed the blade and turned to leave with a tranquil posture.
A dozen seconds later, fine cracks appeared in the center of the diamond. Those cracks grew larger and larger, crisscrossing and joining together, until the diamond finally shattered into a pile of powder.
Liu Jiayi’s glass bottles had become two spray cans, one purple and one white. They were the length of an adult’s palm, light and convenient. A dozen different spray nozzles for different ranges and diffusion patterns had been installed at the openings. Liu Jiayi tried them with a fresh expression—and then used the poison to corrode an abstract painting onto the wall.
Only Tang Erda remained relatively steady after receiving his weapon. He stared blankly at the hexagram and werewolf’s eye marks on the gun handle, his fingers rubbing them unconsciously.
“I say...” Hua Ganjiang interrupted these people, who were acting recklessly, with a headache. “That’s enough. You can’t use offensive skills against people in the Game Lobby. You can only try them on objects. But dead objects are not the same as the people you’ll actually fight. If you want to test them, go into a game.”
Bai Liu gathered the team members, who were as excited as children, and thanked Hua Ganjiang.
But he impatiently drove them away. “Get lost, get lost!”
Bai Liu led the team members, whose modifications were complete, toward the exit.
The side of Mu Shicheng’s headphones had been hand-carved by Hua Ganjiang with the hexagram and werewolf mark. Now he hooked them over his head with a smirk.
Tang Erda held his revolver with the hexagram on the handle pointing downward, his gaze alertly sweeping over the surroundings. Liu Jiayi sat on Tang Erda’s shoulder, wearing the contact lenses given to her by Queen of Hearts. Her pupils reflected the patterns of the hexagram and the werewolf’s eye—she had troubled Hua Ganjiang to print them onto the lenses.
Hua Ganjiang had originally wanted to engrave the team mark onto Mu Ke’s short blade, but Mu Ke shook his head and refused. He was an assassin; the lower his profile, the easier it was to succeed in a sneak attack. Such a conspicuous mark would be detrimental to his disguise.
And...
Mu Ke raised his eyes, looking devoutly and intently at Bai Liu’s back as he walked at the very front. His breathing was incredibly light.
He no longer needed to engrave that mark on the outside, because his life, his memory, and even his soul had already been engraved with that mark.
After Bai Liu straightened the edges of his gloves, both hands naturally hung at his sides. The hexagram mark flowing with magma on the back of his hand shone brightly. He lifted his eyelids and took the first step forward.
“Tomorrow, we officially begin league combat training. We need to find games with league players for practice.”
“Okay!!”
Mu Shicheng spoke up high-spiritedly, “Who are we facing tomorrow?”
Bai Liu turned his head with a faint smile. “Killer Sequence.”
Mu Shicheng froze. “?! What?! Which guild?!”
“Tomorrow, we’re going to challenge the Ice Field instance where Spades is present.” Bai Liu casually flicked the Siren’s Bone Whip in his hand, his smile deepening. “To experience the style of the legendary most perfect weapon.”
—
Author’s Note:
My friend: Skill weapons are equivalent to derivatives of desire. Bai Liu wanting to experience Spades’ weapon is equivalent to wanting to experience Spades’ desire, and he’s even taking his own whip—his desire—to experience the other person’s bone whip—his desire...
My friend: Understood. They are about to “clash whips.”
They are starting to play practice matches now. By that I mean Bai Liu leading a group of people to unilaterally harass large guild teams, then running away when they can’t win.
Also known as the “Free-Loader Practice Match,” or “Overlord Practice Match” (.).
