Chapter 564: Exercising Free Skills

After finishing a set of skills, Spinal Break was already off cooldown again. Nie Yan continued to unleash another round of skills.

The Minotaur warrior kept swinging his giant axe at Nie Yan. Although his attacks appeared mighty, he couldn’t even graze Nie Yan. Nie Yan kept dodging the Minotaur warrior’s attacks using Shadow Dance techniques while simultaneously launching skill after skill. The Minotaur warrior couldn’t keep up with Nie Yan’s rhythm at all and was completely helpless. The difference in their speeds was simply not on the same level.

As the Minotaur warrior swung his axe downward, Nie Yan suddenly sidestepped and executed a Shadow Phantom Strike. With Zennarde’s sword in hand, he pierced straight through the Minotaur warrior’s throat.

Letting out a low, guttural groan, the Minotaur warrior collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.

It had taken about two minutes to defeat the Minotaur warrior, and it had been quite exhausting.

System: Shadow Phantom Strike has been upgraded to level 3.

While attacking the Minotaur warrior, the skill proficiency could only be described as skyrocketing, surging in large chunks. It was incredibly satisfying.

After reaching level 3, Shadow Phantom Strike could provide a 100% attack boost and a 5% critical strike chance. Each level increase would add 50% extra attack damage and 1% critical strike chance.

If Shadow Phantom Strike could reach level 7, it would provide a 300% attack boost and an 9% critical strike chance. Combined with Nie Yan’s already high attack power, it could be described as monstrous!

Currently, Nie Yan had five free skills. Spinal Break and Shadow Phantom Strike had both reached level 3. Reverse Backstab was at level 4, while Quick Strike and Counter were at level 2. He hadn’t had much time to properly train these skills before, so he wasn’t very familiar with them and couldn’t use them smoothly. But now, Nie Yan could use them relatively skillfully, achieving a completion rate of over 60%.

As for how to further increase the completion rate, there seemed to be other techniques involved, but Nie Yan hadn’t figured them out yet.

It seemed that the Minotaur warrior had dropped something. Nie Yan bent down and picked it up. It was a skill book for warriors called Tendon Sever Enhancement. After learning it, it could be applied to the Tendon Sever skill, increasing its effectiveness by 30%. This skill book was quite rare and could hardly be found in the market.

A good find! Nie Yan wondered whether Daoguang and Yantou had this skill. He would ask them when he got back. With that thought, Nie Yan placed the skill book into his backpack.

The loot was pretty decent. The only thing that slightly disappointed Nie Yan was that the Minotaur warrior didn’t drop any experience upon death. With such high health and defense, not giving any experience at all was too stingy. This meant that if Nie Yan continued training his skills here, he wouldn’t be able to level up at all.

Nie Yan checked his level. He was at level 97. Only two players had surpassed level 80 on the leaderboard. Once past level 80, leveling became several times harder than before. It would be impossible for others to catch up without at least a month of effort. Slower players might take two or three months just to reach level 90.

Therefore, even if Nie Yan stayed here for twenty or thirty days, he wouldn’t have to worry about other players catching up in terms of levels.

Might as well focus on leveling up my skills first! Having made up his mind, Nie Yan continued searching for his next target.

On the distant plains, another Minotaur warrior was wandering aimlessly.

Nie Yan stealthily approached, getting behind the Minotaur warrior until he was only about five yards away.

At such close range, Nie Yan could clearly see the structure of the Minotaur warrior’s armor. He could vaguely identify the various parts of the warrior’s body—the shoulder blades, heart area, abdomen, and the spine in the center.

Suddenly, some strange thoughts crossed Nie Yan’s mind. The free skills must have some unique significance. Take Spinal Break, for example. Its name, like Backstab, carried strong literal meaning—severing the opponent’s spine to leave them crippled.

All along, he had thought that simply attacking the spine was sufficient, mechanically following the skill description. However, his completion rate had only hovered around 60%, sometimes even as low as 50%.

Could there be a secret technique to Spinal Break?

Looking at the Minotaur warrior’s back, Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder—if he incorporated some real-world martial arts techniques into these skills, what effect would that produce?

Many skills in Faith were derived from reality. Take the Kick skill, for example. Kicking at the leg would have a relatively weak effect, but kicking precisely at the joint could cause a numbing sensation, significantly enhancing the effect.

Memories surfaced from his mind. In his previous life, when he was level 160, he had fought against a Shadow Dancer. That Shadow Dancer hadn’t used any powerful skills, just basic techniques like Kick, Backstab, and Stab, yet effortlessly dominated Nie Yan. One kick left his leg numb for five seconds—how could he fight under those conditions?

That Shadow Dancer had used a very skillful kicking technique. Wearing pointed boots, he didn’t kick Nie Yan’s leg or knee directly but aimed precisely at the indentation beside the kneecap. That single kick had crippled Nie Yan completely.

Thinking back now, that Shadow Dancer might have been using martial arts techniques.

Nie Yan momentarily lost himself in thought. He had mastered many Shadow Dancer techniques and could be considered a near Shadow Dancer. But what would he learn after becoming a full Shadow Dancer? What kind of system awaited him? Why had Shadow Dancer players in his previous life always been so secretive, with no relevant information available on gaming forums?

These were things Nie Yan would have to explore gradually.

Staring at the Minotaur warrior’s back, Nie Yan slowly crept closer. At this moment, he completely forgot that the opponent was a monster and instead treated the Minotaur warrior as a muscular giant.

If the opponent were a muscular giant, what techniques could he use from behind to disable his resistance?

Nie Yan seemed to suddenly understand something. He slightly shifted his body, performing a 60-degree rotational sidestep while engaging his waist muscles and forcefully swinging his arm.

This was a martial arts technique—using the rotational sidestep to increase arm power. Engaging the waist muscles allowed the full body’s strength to concentrate on the arm. As Nie Yan completed this movement, a small, sudden surge of heat emerged within his body, like ants crawling through his body and rushing toward his arm, significantly enhancing his arm’s strength.

What was this? Nie Yan was surprised but couldn’t interrupt the skill halfway.

Spinal Break!

Nie Yan shouted loudly and drove his sword into the Minotaur warrior’s spine at the abdominal area.

With a loud thud, the Minotaur warrior was pierced by the immense force, staggering forward a few steps before entering a disabled state, unable to move.

System: Spinal Break completion rate 73%, dealing 150% damage, causing a 3-second stun effect, gaining 100 skill proficiency points.

Nie Yan was unexpectedly pleased that this Spinal Break reached a completion rate of 73%, dealing 150% damage with a 3-second stun—this effect was extremely powerful. Alongside successfully executing Spinal Break, the gained skill proficiency was also doubled compared to usual.

Was this the true form of Spinal Break!

Nie Yan was ecstatic. He had somewhat figured out the trick. In fact, he could perform even better. This was the first time he had executed Spinal Break this way, and his movements weren’t particularly smooth yet. He still needed to explore and refine further.

But this successful execution of Spinal Break undoubtedly opened a new door before him, revealing an entirely new world.

So, the execution of in-game skills was actually connected to real-world martial arts techniques. By integrating the two, he could develop entirely new combat techniques, maximizing the damage potential of his skills!

Having grasped the trick to Spinal Break, Nie Yan decided to focus on practicing its technique and proficiency. As for skills like Reverse Backstab, he would explore them later. With one successful precedent, those skills shouldn’t be too difficult to train.

Nie Yan dodged the Minotaur warrior’s attacks using Shadow Dance techniques. Soon enough, Spinal Break was off cooldown again.

After delivering a Counter to the Minotaur warrior, Nie Yan quickly retreated.

The Minotaur warrior roared furiously and charged forward, swinging his giant axe high overhead and bringing it down toward Nie Yan’s head.

Nie Yan performed an Illusionary Dance Step, dodging the attack and positioning himself behind the Minotaur warrior. He executed a rotational sidestep, engaging his waist muscles. This time, his movements were much smoother than before, feeling even more powerful. He could feel a tremendous surge of force rushing down his arm. With a loud thud, the Minotaur warrior staggered forward a few steps, entering a disabled state.

A crisp system notification sounded—had Spinal Break leveled up?

Nie Yan felt slightly surprised. How could it level up so quickly? Checking the notification, he saw that Spinal Break had already advanced to level 4. He looked back at the previous system message.

System: Spinal Break completion rate 93%, dealing 270% damage, causing a 5-second stun effect, gaining 300 skill proficiency points.

This notification shocked Nie Yan. Gaining 300 skill proficiency points from just one skill was terrifying. For ordinary players, gaining 300 skill proficiency points would likely require a full day of training.

Normally, when performing Spinal Break outside this map, achieving a 60% completion rate would grant 1 skill proficiency point, 70% would grant 2 points, and 90% would grant 6 points. However, in this map, the gained skill proficiency was multiplied by 50. Therefore, executing Spinal Break resulted in an immediate gain of 300 skill proficiency points. Such a massive amount of skill proficiency instantly propelled Spinal Break to level 4.

Spinal Break’s base damage was 120%. With a completion rate of 93%, the damage reached 270%. This skill effect excited Nie Yan greatly.

In his previous life, he had heard rumors that Shadow Dancers could kill bosses over level 100, but he had thought it was just a myth. Bosses over level 100 were completely different from the creatures he had previously defeated, like the scaled frogs. Now, however, he realized that as long as he learned enough free skills and maintained a high completion rate, such high damage could easily penetrate high-level monsters’ defenses. Defeating high-level bosses might no longer be an unattainable myth.

If he could raise all five free skills to level 6 or 7, his combat power would at least double. Thinking about this, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel a surge of ambition.