MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Any player could take part in the Blade Peak Arena. There was no minimum number of battles required. Points were given regardless whether the player won or lost. One thing that kept players coming was the chance of a random reward simply for participating in the Arena — a Battlefield Honorable Gift Pack.

There were many great items that could be obtained from the Battlefield Honorable Gift Pack. On-the-spot Resurrection Talisman, 2.5x EXP Scrolls, etc. There was even a small chance of obtaining a Tier 1 Equipment Set and a rare mount.

Their sights set on this random Battlefield Honorable Gift Pack, Blade Peak Arena bustled more and more each day. Of course, not everyone left happy. For example, when one player killed another player. Then ‘Ding!” the defeated player received a Battlefield Honorable Gift Pack, while the victorious player received nothing…

“This… depends on your luck!” These were the words of the mega healer, Nirvana Inaction who never once, received a Battlefield Honorable Gift Pack even after four years in the Arena.

Of course, the Battlefield Honorable Gift Pack was only a small portion of the Arena’s attraction. The main event was the Season and Annual Championships.

Those who accumulated 2,000 Battlefield Points and above qualified for the Seasons. There was a selection process every four months, and the player with the highest Battlefield Points was the Season Championship’s winner.

There was one champion each season and each person could only hold the title once. The birth of four champions was the prelude to the Annual Championship.

In the beginning, many found this selection via Points to be unfair. But as players went on to accumulate more than 2,000 Points, with time, a lot of them found this Point System to be acceptable.

After the first 2,000 Points, Points would increase after wins but would drop after losses. It was completely up to the System to decide opponent match-ups. There were times where one would battle with NPC opponents. This made cheating virtually impossible.

As it was not easy to accumulate Points, many camped out in the Arena all year round to maximize Battlefield Point accumulation.

On the other hand, due to the limitation of classes, there were bound to be some classes who would not be able to wield their full potential in individual battles. But that was not a huge deal as apart from individual championships, there were 2 versus 2, 5 versus 5, and hundred-men battle royale competitions. Any wins brought about bountiful rewards.

There were now seventeen bodies lying in front of Li Yi. None of them were worthy opponents. It took no more than 10 arrows to take all of them out.

With seventeen consecutive wins in the bag, Li Yi easily surpassed the 2,000 Battlefield Points mark (Extra Points for consecutive wins).

[Congratulations, you’ve obtained the Battlefield Newbie title. Participate in the random tournament?]

[Yes!]

Li Yi selected yes without any hesitation. The reason for his participation in the Arena was simple — He wanted to make up for his regrets in his past life and win himself a champion title in the Season Championship.

The rewards for the Season Champion was attractive. It has been announced at the official website. 10 Battlefield Honorable Gift Packs, 10 Skill Points, 3 Soul Stones, and a flying mount.

The only way to obtain a flying mount before Level 70 was winning tournaments in the Season Championship.

The Arena began earlier in the Eastern Continent than the others, there were only less than twenty days left before the Season’s selection. Hence, the bustling activity in the Arena. The number of participants was countless.

A Curse Priest dressed in black appeared in front of Li Yi. A name displayed on top of his head — The Cursed, Hylash.

As Li Yi’s level was too high and out of the majority of players’ league, the first opponent assigned by the System was a strong NPC.

Hylash’s first attack was Weakening Curse, followed by Deceleration Spell, Feeble Spell, Impairment Spell… In the blink of an eye, Li Yi received over ten debuffs. An arrow shot at Hylash only dealt -258 in damage.

Under normal circumstances, one arrow by Li Yi would deal at least 1,500+ damage, and critical hits would bring it up to 4,000+. Such low damage was a result of the curse spells.

It was fortunate that Curse Priests did not possess any high ATK skills, apart from constantly diminishing their target’s HP through Blood Stasis.

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Damage kept appearing on top of Li Yi. Blood Stasis was working fast and if he did not take out Hylash soon, he would fall first.

“Dark Devour!”

A dark gas enveloped Li Yi’s body, banishing the effects of all curses. Li Yi quickly fired Crippling Shot and Chain Arrow Skill.

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A three critical combo. As each skill reset, Li Yi carried on with Chain Arrow Skill.

NPC opponents tend to have higher HP than players. Li Yi’s vicious attack only took Hylash’s HP out by half.

“Violent Bear’s Protection!”

“Eliminate!”

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An Epic-level skill activated a special effect which almost took out Hylash on the spot.

Weakening Curse, Deceleration Spell, Feeble Spell, Impairment Spell…

Hylash cast a bunch of curse spells at a steady pace while healing himself. His HP zoomed up and quickly restored past 50%.

One needed to prepare for a protracted battle when dealing with Curse Priests. Although they were not proficient in Healing Spells, it did not mean they did not know how to. However, compared to healbot Priests, the amount of HP healed and their mana to do so would be a lot less.

“Life Blood!”

Luckily for him, a Master-level Apocatherist such as himself could still utilize a skill called Life Blood to recover 1,500 HP (Potions were not allowed in the Arena).

Without any other skill to dismiss the curses, Li Yi could only keep on fighting to the death with Hylash. Violent Bear King had made its way ahead, taking a lot of damage on Li Yi’s behalf.

If this Curse Priest was a player, Li Yi would have taken him out long ago. It was expected since Hylash was coined the Battlefield Floor King. An NPC no players would willingly go up against.

As his HP continuously lessened, Li Yi was forced to use his trump card. He switched to his precious Frost Arrows.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

A few arrows that landed on Hylash froze him on the spot. Li Yi circled behind him and fired vigorously with Intermediate-level Flame Arrows.

The freezing effect of Frost Arrows would diminish upon fire damage received. Li Yi chose to attack from behind to buy time for the cooldown of his skill.

Li Yi was alternating between the usage of fire and ice with the massive damage of Flame Arrows and freezing of Frost Arrows. At times, he ran to the front, then to the back. It was hard work that took more than ten minutes before he managed to obliterate Hylash.

His Battlefield Points were now updated to 2,100. Li Yi received another notification from the System.

[Continue?]

“Continue!”

He had not even entered the ranking board. This meant his Battlefield Points were far behind from the top.

Dab! Dab! Dab! Dab!

The System assigned an opponent and after five minutes, a Dwarf player appeared in the Arena.

His left hand held a shield while his right wielded a sword. He was a Dwarf Armored Warrior. His name was not concealed. He was Misty Rain.

Another prominent figure.

Li Yi broke into a smile.

This Misty Rain person was not famous for playing Armored Warrior but after he switched his class to a Black Paladin, he began setting foot into the top players’ league.

As the Black Paladin was a hidden class, in the eyes of many players, hidden classes must be the bomb. So when the official web announced the Black Paladin class, many of them went wild and wanted to switch into that class at any cost. Upon succeeding in doing so, they realized that the Black Paladin class was not fun as they imagined.

The skills may be kick-ass and the ATK may be high but the equipment and Skill Tomes were super hard to find. Many players who switched classes to Black Paladin could not get their hands on Black Paladin equipment even after four or five years of playing. They had to get by with the starter equipment gifted by the System.

Black Paladins wore plate armor but not the regular kind. Only dark equipment with Dark Runes could be worn.

Countless Black Paladins scrambled to the official web, posting demands for Pantheon to amend the drop rate of dark equipment in the past life. Yet, Pantheon would not budge. Instead, they released a statement, “You can choose to reset and forget the Black Paladin class but to increase the drop rate of dark equipment? We shall not do so.”

Out of 1,000 Black Paladins, only one was able to collect dark equipment and it was Misty Rain here. He had the most complete collection.

In the early phase of King of Pantheon, the players’ equipment were nothing out of the ordinary. During this time, it was all about the technique and once the players’ levels were raised, along with their HP and equipment, techniques were no longer enough, equipment became the crucial factor!

Misty Rain, nicknamed the Black Paladin King, won the Arena’s Season Championship three years in a row. He also took home the trophy for the Annual Championship once. This was his extraordinary personal battle achievements.

Compared to Misty Rain, Li Yi was quite the sob story. He won third place five years in a row. First place was always so close and yet so far. He could only watch as others obtained the mount. Third place earned him 1 Skill Point and 5 Battlefield Honorable Gift Packs, and nothing else.

When he fought with Misty Rain in his past life, Misty Rain was dressed from head to toe with legendary dark equipment. Li Yi stood no chance against him and only managed to reduce his HP by a tiny amount. It only took the latter three swings of his ax to wipe him out.

He was dressed in gold-colored equipment, armed with a purple-colored weapon. He would be in the Level 50 range with ATK around 1,000, DEF 1,500 and HP 5,000+.

Li Yi took one glance at Misty Rain and could tell his current attributes. Eight years in King of Pantheon has developed Li Yi’s eyes to be better than any reconnaissance skills.

At the start of the battle, Misty Rain came Charging over. There were two types of Charge in the Warrior class so the majority of Warriors would initiate a storm-in with a Charge.

Li Yi sounded a whistle and Violent Bear King appeared roaring, standing in the pathway to block off this Charge.

Before Misty Rain could make another move, Li Yi leaped into the air and glided over him, firing a shot downward.

Pft!

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It was a hit on Misty Rain’s shoulder. Misty Rain shifted his head to look back when Li Yi made another leap, aiming his arrow downwards.

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He leaped to the left, then to the right. He made another left, then right. Li Yi leaped back and forth over Misty Rain for a jump-shot, focusing in on Misty Rain’s shoulders until he drained his HP. Misty Rain did not get to lay a finger on Li Yi at all…

Misty Rain lay on the ground, unable to accept this outcome. He spat at Li Yi, even at death’s door. “Despicable!”

…