Chapter 5 This NPC Doesn't Follow the Script at All

I was back at the starting point again.

Time in the Illusion Realm had frozen once more; it wouldn't start moving until Zhao Haiping chose another card skill.

Zhao Haiping touched his neck with some lingering fear.

"That scared me to death, for a moment I even thought I was really dead...

"It still hurt quite a bit, like an unexpected cut, they must have deliberately turned down the pain? It feels like the pain is about 20% or 30% of what it should be?

"Good thing, I definitely couldn't have handled 100% pain; I can barely adapt to this degree.

"This game is seriously hardcore!

"Not only is there no hint whatsoever, but it also cranked up the difficulty right from the start. I didn't even get to speak before the emperor chopped me down!

"And what I never expected was for there to be misleading options among the three talent skills? This 'Aggressive' one looked pretty good, but in reality, isn't this just purely a trap?

"The creator's conscience is seriously broken! Looks like another one of those 'old thief' game creators who enjoys tormenting players."

Zhao Haiping's mood gradually calmed down.

When he arrived at the grand hall, he was on high alert, but after dying once, he surprisingly felt quite relaxed.

Especially since there were no penalties for dying and he could restart infinitely, a certain trait as a player was activated.

As long as I can retry, I'll show even the gods how to kill!

As a loyal action game player, Zhao Haiping enjoyed grinding instances. For a perfect boss kill sequence, he'd repeat it dozens or even hundreds of times.

As for the number of times he died in those games, it was countless.

And although this game felt realistic, it was still a game. As long as it's a game, there's nothing to fear.

Zhao Haiping looked at the three skill cards again.

[Gui-level Calm and Composed (White): Your emotions are steady, allowing you to face danger with equanimity.]

[Gui-level Swordsmanship Mastery (Blue): Your swordsmanship skill is correspondingly enhanced.]

[Ren-level Aggressive (White): You exude an oppressive aura that easily intimidates your enemies.]

"Eh? Aren't these exactly the same as before?

"Shouldn't there be three new skills to choose from?"

Zhao Haiping looked closely and then noticed a line of small text at the bottom: "Each death allows one of the talent skills to temporarily disappear, slide over the card to replace it with a new talent skill."

Zhao Haiping realized: "Oh, I see.

"Every death eliminates one wrong answer, and by refreshing like this, I'll eventually get a more suitable talent skill."

With that thought, Zhao Haiping swiped over the 'Aggressive' card, and it immediately flipped over and changed into a new skill.

[Gui-level Eloquent Speaker (White): Your thinking is nimble and you respond swiftly, making it easier to earn others' trust.]

Zhao Haiping almost had a bout of high blood pressure. Swapping out a Ren-level white skill for a Gui-level white skill is a little tough for anyone to handle.

But it's a classic moment of bad luck that happens to everyone; Zhao Haiping didn't blame the heavens or others. Instead, he started analyzing again.

"Last time I was clearly duped by the 'Aggressive' talent. Being overtly domineering ended up getting me on Emperor Yanling's wary side right as I entered the hall, and the positive effects of that crappy talent didn't come into play, only the negatives.

"So now with the three talents, Calm and Composed and Eloquent Speaker, one stabilizing my mental state and the other improving my ability to speak in the grand hall, they seem to aid in clearing the instance.

"But... ultimately, I will need swordsmanship to successfully assassinate.

"After all, I remember in actual history, Nie Rang's success in the assassination was also quite a close call..."

Knowing a bit of history has its benefits at times like this.

Although Zhao Haiping didn't know the details of Nie Rang's assassination of Emperor Yanling, he was clear on the general process.

Before being presented, the guards would check several times, making it impossible to conceal any weapon.

So, Nie Rang claimed to offer a symbol of good fortune.

The so-called symbol of fortune was a large piece of ink jade that Nie Rang had accidentally obtained. He asked a close friend who was also a skilled craftsman to carve it into an ink jade qilin, hiding a precious sword inside.

Of course, though it was called a precious sword, it was actually somewhat shorter than a regular dagger.

Emperor Yanling was ambitious and very superstitious; thrilled by the prospect of an auspicious sign, he allowed Nie Rang to present his treasure.

After entering the hall, Nie Rang was still quite far from Emperor Yanling, so he pretended that there was a small, barely noticeable flaw in the ink jade and requested to come closer to point it out to Emperor Yanling.

As soon as he was close, Nie Rang suddenly drew the sword from the ink jade qilin and attempted the assassination; however, Emperor Yanling was no weakling, skilled in martial arts from a young age, his combat ability at close quarters didn't fall short of a general's.

So the first strike failed.

The hall erupted into chaos, and the courtiers with the red-armored guards hurried forward to protect the emperor, but Nie Rang, as the best swordsman of his time, fought fiercely, slaying several, and at the critical moment threw his sword, striking true to the throat.

Considering this, Zhao Haiping thought if he wanted to perfectly reproduce Nie Rang's episode, then Swordsmanship Mastery was definitely a must-have.

Even Nie Rang, such a fierce swordsman, almost failed at that moment—where did I, a weakling, get the confidence to assassinate successfully without taking skills.

With that thought, Zhao Haiping made up his mind and gently touched the blue "Swordsmanship Mastery" card.

This time, the feeling was obviously different from "Aggressive and Pressing."

Zhao Haiping felt as if a mysterious power had flowed into his body, inexplicably giving him many muscle memories. How to hold a sword, how to strike with the sword, how to dodge and weave... All of these swordsmanship-related skills poured into his mind.

It was as if he had truly become a master of swordsmanship, a far cry from his earlier, weaker self.

Of course, he wasn't really weak before, since he was currently playing the role of Nie Rang, so his physical abilities were consistent with Nie Rang's at that time.

But having physical abilities without being able to fully utilize them was futile.

It's like in action games where newbies and pros use characters with the same attributes, yet newbies get killed without inflicting a scratch, while pros can eliminate enemies without taking any damage.

Now with the mastery of swordsmanship, it was like adding wings to a tiger.

What shocked Zhao Haiping even more was not the increase in his combat ability in the game but the feeling of being "anointed" in such a miraculous way!

He had played many other virtual reality games before, and even the current top-of-the-line consciousness-linked virtual reality games could only achieve about 50% realism, allowing for highly precise actions like in real life.

He already found that amazing, but in this game, he could directly acquire muscle memory through the game mechanics?!

Isn't that invincible?

Zhao Haiping had no time to worry about what kind of black technology this was—those things could wait until he left the game and checked the forums.

The immediate priority was to get through the instance.

With his confidence greatly boosted, Zhao Haiping followed the little eunuch back into the palace.

"This humble citizen pays homage to Your Majesty!"

Zhao Haiping knelt in the great hall as before, holding the wooden box high above his head with both hands.

The same silence and lack of response surrounded them, but this time, Zhao Haiping had learned his lesson and dared not look up.

After a moment, a deep voice came from far in front of him: "Rise."

The interval was actually very short, but under such immense psychological pressure, Zhao Haiping felt as if each second dragged on for an eternity.

However, just as he had barely stood up, Emperor Yanling suddenly and unexpectedly shouted angrily: "Why are you trembling and shaking? Are you guilty of something, harboring other schemes?!"

"Speak!"

The voice was like thunder, echoing throughout the entire hall.

A herd of ten thousand imaginary horses galloped through Zhao Haiping's mind.

He knew from history books that Emperor Yanling was capricious and unpredictable, often beheading officials for inexplicable trifles, but after all, that was just written word.

Only now, having witnessed it, did he understand what those eight characters meant.

Watching as he was about to inexplicably give up the ghost again, Zhao Haiping, in a moment of desperation, blurted out a quick kowtow: "Your Majesty, please calm your anger!

"This lowly commoner... this lowly commoner is a crude man from the countryside, overawed by Your Majesty's imperial majesty, hence trembling and panicking."

Sweat dripped from his forehead as Zhao Haiping knelt on the ground, not daring to lift his head, feeling like he was a mere fraction of a millimeter away from sudden death.

Another period of time passed—short but extremely agonizing.

Emperor Yanling seemed to accept this explanation, looking at the little eunuch beside him: "Go, take the auspicious jade kirin from his hands for me."

Zhao Haiping was stunned.

Eh? That's not right, is it? The script isn't supposed to go like this.

If you don't let me come forward to present the treasure, how am I supposed to assassinate you?

Watching the little eunuch quickly approach, Zhao Haiping hastily said: "Wait!

"Your Majesty, although this ink jade kirin is auspicious, there is unfortunately a small flaw on it, hard to notice without close inspection.

"Please allow your servant to come forward and point it out to Your Majesty."

The little eunuch stopped, seemingly waiting for further instructions from Emperor Yanling.

Zhao Haiping felt like there might be a chance, already calculating in his mind how he would perform after stepping forward, how he would extract the sword hidden in the ink jade kirin, and which part of Emperor Yanling to stab.

However, Emperor Yanling did not entertain his request at all.

"If you are so in awe of my imperial majesty that you tremble, unable to even look at me from afar in the hall, then why do you now dare to come forward to personally point out the flaw on this ink jade kirin?

"Hmph, it seems that you harbor ill intentions and have other schemes!

"Guards, arrest him!"

Zhao Haiping was stunned.

Fuck my life!

Why isn't this NPC following the script? Why is it changing the play on its own?