Chapter 1 The Results of the First Round

By two o'clock in the morning on May 17th, the results of the first round of the [Cocoon War], as well as the list of players for the repechage, had been announced.

Because they were in sleep mode, the time between one and two o'clock was equivalent to a full ten hours. For a 1v1 match, even a long drawn-out battle should have been finished by then. The time remaining before two o'clock was for the system to calculate the results and for the staff to organize the relevant information.

When Xiao Tan finished a scenario and returned to the login space, he received a system notification, informing him that he had advanced. It seemed that Bei Ling's investigation and analysis were indeed reliable. Even in the winners' group, a record of forty-two wins was not enough to be at the bottom.

For the next two days, Xiao Tan, who had a lot of free time, devoted himself to the cultivation of Spiritual Arts Specialization, accompanied by Bei Ling.

He finally bought a cost-effective Spiritual Arts skill that he could use from the Horror Box:

[Name: Draw a Cross and Curse You]

[Skill Card Attribute: Active Skill, Permanently Mastered]

[Skill Category: Spiritual Arts]

[Effect: Curses a target. Your next attack will deal 10% extra damage to the target (can only be cast on non-friendly targets within 50 meters that are in your line of sight; the target can sense that they have been cursed; can be cast multiple times on the same target, but the effect does not stack)]

[Consumption: 2 Spiritual Energy (Cooldown: 5 minutes, Duration: Infinite until it takes effect)]

[Learning Condition: Spiritual Arts Specialization F]

[Remarks: A basic Taoist art recorded in the Wuwo Chapter of the Seven Chapters of Guigu. This move was created by the two hundred and fiftieth generation direct descendant of Guigu Taoism. Whenever he encountered someone he didn't like, he would use this spell to put psychological pressure on them, making them feel like they were haunted by ghosts. Then he would lure them to his "Paranormal Detective Agency" for consultation, ultimately achieving the dual purpose of rectification and blackmail.]

This skill was very helpful for improving the proficiency of Spiritual Arts Specialization. A level 35 player had 350 Spiritual Energy points, so the consumption of a mere two points of Spiritual Energy was almost negligible.

Xiao Tan's Spiritual Arts Specialization was E-level, and the success rate of his Spiritual Arts skills was 40%. Even if he only succeeded once every three times, on average, he would only need six points of Spiritual Energy to cast a skill. The skill would not enter cooldown if it was not successfully cast. Therefore, what Xiao Tan had to do was...spend two to six points of Spiritual Energy every five minutes to use this skill once. This would only use up 72 points of Spiritual Energy in an hour at most, and it would take five hours to use up all of his Spiritual Energy. During this time, the skill would have been cast at least fifty times.

The actual situation in the scenario test was obviously much more optimistic than the above calculation. Basically…as long as Xiao Tan entered a long scenario, he could guarantee an efficiency of once every five minutes for the first eight hours.

Moreover, this thing did not have very clear restrictions on the target, as long as it was "non-friendly," that was enough. That is to say...crows in trees, soft-shelled turtles by the river, anything was fine.

Therefore, players who encountered Xiao Tan and Bei Ling in team scenarios in the past two days could often see this scene—the guy named Wang Tanzhi in the team would cast his gaze on a nearby living thing every five minutes. This living thing could be an ant, a monster, or a passing NPC; after locking onto the target, Brother Wang would silently draw a cross in the palm of his hand, muttering, "Curse you..."

With this very targeted strategy, Xiao Tan raised his Spiritual Arts skill to D-level on the afternoon of May 18th, but...that was the end of it. He did not reach C-level until the second round of the [Cocoon War] began.

By the evening of May 19th, Xiao Tan had successfully reached level thirty-six, and he had also acquired a new Fighting skill through the scenario:

[Name: Binding Fang]

[Skill Card Attribute: Active Skill, Disappears after two uses]

[Skill Category: Fighting]

[Effect: Emits a giant tooth-shaped impact with the palm, binding the target to the closest plane to it (Cooldown: 30 seconds, the target must be an entity)]

[Consumption: 300 Stamina]

[Learning Condition: Fighting Specialization C, this skill card cannot be traded after being picked up]

[Remarks: A move derived from ordinary Spirit Beast Summoning Technique, invented by the half-bear tribe leader, Roy Seeker. From any point of view, Seeker was a magical genius. He was not only proficient in his tribe's Druid magic, but he also made great achievements in necromancy. He was a peerless man who mastered both natural and death energies.]

In the past two days, Jue Ge intentionally arranged for Xiao Tan and Bei Ling to queue up for scenarios together, because their levels were close, and their strengths were similar. This was the best way to level up as a team. If he interfered, the situation of the scenario would be difficult to predict...

Judging from the results, this move was quite effective.

…………

Finally, at one o'clock in the morning on May 20th, the second round of the [Cocoon War] arrived as scheduled.

[The second round of the Cocoon War is about to begin. Your data will be loaded in thirty seconds. Please do not leave the login space.]

[Ten-second countdown before loading, nine, eight, seven...two, one.]

Unlike last time, Xiao Tan was directly teleported this time.

"A silkworm sleeps in the depths of the forest, softness around the finger is tempered into steel." As the opening words sounded, the blinding white light obscured Xiao Tan's vision, forcing him to close his eyes.

[Loading completed. You are currently participating in the Peak Tournament - Cocoon War.]

[This mode has no scenario introduction, no side quests, and no special world view.]

[Scenario Victory Reward: Advance to the Top 720]

[Main Quest Triggered]

[Kill Your Opponent]

A series of voice and window prompts quickly popped up and disappeared.

Xiao Tan then gained the ability to move.

He opened his eyes and found that the surrounding light was dim, but there were still some sources of light.

At this moment, he was in a tunnel. On the wall to his left, there was a dim light bulb every ten meters or so. The light bulb was about three meters above the ground and extended into the distance. With the help of these lights, he could roughly see the situation inside the tunnel.

Xiao Tan observed for a while and initially speculated that this should be a tunnel for trains to pass through... First of all, there were railway tracks under his feet. Secondly, it was obvious that the railway tracks were not electrified, and the tracks were surrounded by gravel. Furthermore, the tunnel was arched, and its height and width could only accommodate one train, and there was only one track.

So...the question came...what if a train came?

According to the game's consistent, malicious style, since the map was arranged in a tunnel, then a train, a thing full of dramatic effect and that would catch players off guard, would definitely come...

"Well...let's first see who the opponent I was randomly assigned is..." Xiao Tan looked around to the front and back, not seeing the figure of his opponent. So he came to the side with the light bulbs, moved forward slowly against the wall, and opened the game menu.

"Eh? Brother Long?" Xiao Tan glanced at the menu and saw the ID [Long Aotian].

Long Aotian was the first friend that Jue Ge and Xiao Tan met after entering Thriller Paradise, and he was also someone they interacted with quite closely. Therefore, they often queued up for scenarios together. Just five days ago, Xiao Tan had queued up for a scenario with Brother Long. At that time, Long Aotian joked that maybe the two of them would meet in the rematch, but he did not expect...a casual remark had now come true.

"This is not good..." Xiao Tan thought to himself.

He was very familiar with Long Aotian's skills, title abilities, and fighting style. Of course, it was the kind of familiarity that came from being teammates...fighting against each other was a different matter.

In addition, the news that Long Aotian had defeated Meng Jingchan a few days ago was quite a sensation. Although Meng Jingchan later returned to the winners' group through the repechage, Brother Long had still become famous in one battle.

Facing this familiar yet unfamiliar opponent, Xiao Tan felt a lot of pressure.

Because he understood the other party's strength, he felt at a loss of what to do... He understood why Meng Jingchan had lost in the first place. As a close-range player who also excelled in "skill, speed, and agility," Xiao Tan could not think of how to break Long Aotian's defense.

"Brother Long is an opponent at the same level as Qisha... It seems that I can only seek victory in danger..." Xiao Tan was still thinking about his tactics in his heart.

Unexpectedly, a familiar shout came from the distance in the tunnel.

Long Aotian was straightforward and shouted directly, "I'm here! Come on!"