National destiny: Global tower climbing skills have decreased by 10,000 times.

Chapter 114 Adrenaline

This level uses single-player mode, which means he has returned to the most original single-player PVE.

Previously used tactics like "s|" and "long deliberation" can now be permitted.

Ye Fei felt very relaxed. He felt like he had returned to the original game, where he could be more meticulous in his calculations and optimize his battle losses using AI.

During his journey through the challenges, Ye Fei noticed a change:

Many cards originally unique to the first generation, such as "Potion Crafting," "Focus," "Quick Slash," and "Endless Pain."

wait----

These cards, which are quite rare in the international version, seem to appear more frequently here, perhaps to achieve some kind of balance; you can see one popping up every now and then.

He didn't delve into it further and proceeded step by step. Half an hour later, he reached the end of the third level and prepared to face the two bosses.

This deck of his is the Residual Image Dagger style, which is more offensive and has extremely high output efficiency. Defense relies on cards such as Residual Image, Relics and Scream.

Before long, under his overwhelming attack, the two final bosses fell one after another.

However, instead of a settlement page popping up, the screen flashed and took him into a new room.

When the image reappeared, with its deep, dark blue background and simple yet rough-textured art style, he immediately recognized it as the "heart chamber" of the fourth level of the first generation!

Since the source material is clearly from the first generation, the art style has changed, but his character design and cards are still from the second generation, making him look somewhat out of place standing in the middle of the screen.

A huge blue heart hangs in the air opposite, its surface covered with twisted blood vessels and veins, beating rhythmically and emitting a dull "thump, thump" sound.

Suddenly, a burst of rousing music rang out: "Deng deng! Deng deng!"

Upon hearing this voice, Ye Fei's hormones surged instantly, and a familiar feeling welled up in his heart.

A corrupt heart!

Ye Fei's pupils dilated slightly; this was the hidden boss he knew so well.

Since the release of the second generation, he has moved on to a different field and we haven't seen him for a long time.

Now, when we meet again, the same familiar look, the same familiar music, and even the same oppressive feeling in the air.

He was somewhat agitated.

In the first round, his heart striker used his familiar "Five Blessings".

Five status cards, namely "Dizziness", "Slime", "Wound", "Burning", and "Void", are arranged in a row in the center of the screen and simultaneously placed into the draw pile.

Then, he was simultaneously afflicted with two layers of Vulnerability, two layers of Fragility, and two layers of Weakness.

Everything tasted familiar, everything was the same familiar recipe, but when his gaze swept over the heart's health bar, he noticed something unusual.

Instead of the familiar "750" or "800", it's a health bar with a completely out-of-place design, and the health value is marked "99999".

Above the large heart, there is a counter-like number display with white numbers jumping on a black background, initially at 0.

A few small words were labeled next to it, which were automatically translated into Chinese and seemed to mean "damage counter".

"99999 blood?" Ye Fei frowned. He looked at the unusual health bar, as if it had been forcibly inserted, and felt like he had seen it somewhere before.

Before I could think any further, the round had already begun.

Eagle Nation, Institute for International Esports Strategy.

Data analyst Becker was sitting in front of a computer in the research lab, with the data monitoring interface of the "Dragon Slayer Ranking" backend on the screen.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his coffee cup had been spilled twice; he looked like he had been working continuously for a long time.

Suddenly, a name lit up in the list, and he sat bolt upright.

"They're here!"

He pointed at the screen and shouted, suddenly becoming excited: "Someone else has entered the hidden level!"

As soon as he finished speaking, several people in the research room immediately gathered around.

On the big screen, a familiar ID appeared in the list—'Sakura's Second Blade'.

Nationality: Japan (Sakura Country).

"It's him!" someone shouted.

"This is precisely the number one target among our four key IDs!"

Becker didn't reply, his fingers flying across the keyboard, bringing up a series of data panels.

Difficulty: A? Hidden level in the "Dragon Slayer Ranking" challenge.

Single-player challenge, no opponent matched.

After completing the game, players will still need to face a final boss alone, the "Corrupted Heart," who has "nearly infinite" health.

.

With no conditions for victory, their only goal is "survival".

The more they survive and the more damage they deal, the higher their score will be.

The system will then calculate the final score based on two indicators: the number of rounds survived and the total damage inflicted on the heart during that period.

This level was developed to more accurately capture information about top players.

In the previous A1-10 levels, due to the PVP aspect, many players, in addition to ensuring their success, also devised numerous strategies specifically for PVP.

This causes the game's direction to deviate from its original PVE focus, with many players being influenced by PVP strategies and unable to fully demonstrate their true skill level in the original PVE mode.

On the other hand, the high scores and leaderboards unique to hidden levels further widen the gap between top players and other players.

In the previous advanced stages, due to the influence of PVP and "entry points", some players may have similar strengths, but their scores can differ greatly.

The win rate at higher levels is already extremely low, and the point deduction is very strict. Some players may have the skill, but if they are a little unlucky, they will fall far behind in points.

This can lead to statistical biases, potentially obscuring truly outstanding players from the data.

Therefore, in order to highlight the advantages of top players, the "variable points" mechanism in the hidden levels adds far more points than the advanced PVP.

The addition of the "leaderboard" allows them to more intuitively and conveniently see the gap between top players and themselves.

Fortunately, not many players have entered this room yet; 'Sakura's Second Slash' is the second.

As a data analyst, Becker was eager to see if the model he had personally designed was suitable and what its effects would be.

"Let's see how long he can last!" Becker lay back in the chair, arms crossed.

Although I can't see the player's actual gameplay screen, I'm still full of anticipation for his result.

Soon, Ye Fei focused intently and began his "Heartbreak" battle.

Because he drew "Afterimage" this time, he was able to withstand the shock damage from "Heartbeat" every time he played a card.

After two rounds, he quickly activated the attack, unleashing a torrent of tiny knives.

Next, apply Weakness and Terror alternately, and use Scream to defend against multiple hits.

He unleashed explosive damage while occasionally using defensive cards, and combined this with constant "Weakness" and "Afterimage" to control a large amount of battle losses.

However, Ye Fei's weapon was ultimately based on the "Attack Knife". After several rounds of explosive output, the "damage counter" jumped several levels, but his health gradually became insufficient.

In the fifth round, he used his last life-saving card and a potion.

In the sixth round, after his heart was strengthened, the rhythm damage became "2". His "afterimage" could no longer support his damage-free dagger in the seventh round. A critical hit pierced through his few blocks, and his health bar was reduced to zero.

A "Game Over" message popped up.

Ye Fei stared at the death notification on the screen, slightly taken aback. This was the first time he had died suddenly since he started playing the "Dragon Slayer Ranking".

The settlement page popped up, showing his overall score; his points had suddenly increased by more than 300.

At the same time, a new leaderboard that I'd never seen before appeared at the bottom of the screen: "A? Challenge - Overall Score Leaderboard".

First place: "Sakura's Second Strike", 7 rounds, total damage 736.

Second place: 'Sando', 5 rounds, total damage 312.

Ye Fei was stunned; his gaze stopped on the second-place ID.

'Sando' is a person from Goryeo (Korea).

This surprised him greatly—there were actually people who had arrived here before him?

Furthermore, he had already defeated the previous three levels and entered the heart area, and even lasted five rounds, dealing more than 300 points of damage.

"This guy is interesting," Ye Fei thought to himself.

Another thing that surprised him was that he had never seen this ID before, nor had he ever matched it.

This shows that there are still skilled players in this world, but he hasn't matched with enough people yet.

Thinking about this, he couldn't help but become interested.

Inside the Eagle Nation Strategic Research Institute, Becker stared intently at the updated data on the screen, his jaw practically agape.

736 damage!

Seven rounds!

This result is more than twice as high as that of 'Sando', who arrived first!

"This—" A colleague leaned over, his voice trembling slightly.

"You said he hit over seven hundred?"

Becker didn't answer, but simply refreshed the data again, and the number remained unchanged.

Just then, the door was pushed open, and Kos walked in, holding a half-lit cigar in his hand.

"What's going on? Why is it so lively?"

"Sir, come and see!" Becker made way for him and pointed to the screen.

Kos leaned closer, glanced at the leaderboard, his eyes widening slightly for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.

He raised his cigar, took a puff, exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, and said in a low voice, "This cherry blossom country—I never expected it to have such a figure hidden away."

He paused, then pointed to the second-place ID: "Who is this 'Sando'? Why haven't I seen him before?"

Becker pulled up the data, quickly flipped through a few pages, and said rapidly, "This ID also suddenly appeared in the last two days. It climbed all the way to A10 with an extremely high win rate and very few losses."

"But—" he paused slightly, "this ID still doesn't match any of the Korean players we know of on the register."

Koss frowned deeply: "Two days? They reached A10 in just two days?"

"Yes."

"Could it be that man?" Kos turned his head, his gaze sharp.

Becker paused for a moment, then immediately realized: "You mean—"

"Park Kim Hyuk used an alias and suddenly entered the competition?"

Koss didn't reply, but his meaning was clear. The others, finding this reasonable, also agreed with the conjecture.

Even after Ye Fei died of a sudden cardiac arrest, he did not let go of the past.

Instead, he became passionate and started doing the same thing over and over again, just to prove a hypothesis.

This matter is—roII type!

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