Not far away, the Crownless reached into the air and conjured a long spear.
The shaft was slender and lethal, gleaming with a biting cold light.
Seeing this, You Luoming’s eyes narrowed.
In the game’s opening storyline, the Crownless started out in a base form without wings or a spear.
Only after being thrashed by the Rover to a certain extent did it manifest its wings and weapon.
Now, however, it had assumed its full form right from the start.
Fine by him.
He had beaten this form over a thousand times—he could do it with his eyes closed.
The only question was whether the Crownless’s real-world attacks matched its in-game move set.
While he was still pondering, the Crownless suddenly beat its wings.
The spear shot forward like a lunging dragon, thrusting straight toward You Luoming.
Where the spear passed, the air tore apart with a sharp, piercing howl.
You Luoming dared not be careless.
Tapping his feet, he stepped half a pace to the side, dodging the lethal thrust.
Catching the flaw in the Crownless’s stance, he flipped his grip on the Commando of Conviction and launched an upward diagonal slash.
*Dodge counter, kid!* Pained by the blow, the Crownless stumbled half a step back before raising its spear to attack again.
This time, its assault was even faster and fiercer.
Yet You Luoming didn’t retreat; instead, he drew his blade and struck first, once again seizing the creature’s vulnerability to slash brutally into its torso.
*Parry counter, kid!* “Interesting!
Really interesting!” The corners of You Luoming’s mouth curled up uncontrollably, his eyes shining with excitement as if he had just found a thrilling new toy.
The moves used by the Crownless were almost identical to its in-game attack modules.
Though there were slight differences, he could easily react to them.
Rather than waiting for the Crownless to attack, he took the initiative and charged.
The Commando of Conviction whirled in his hands, creating an airtight, dazzling storm of steel.
“You Luoming, be careful…
Nice hit, You Luoming!” Chixia had been completely focused on backing him up, but halfway through her warning, her words turned into a cheer.
The Crownless’s spear flashed like lightning, leaving afterimages with every thrust.
Yet You Luoming remained calm and unhurried.
Moving as lightly as a willow wispy in the wind, he casually evaded the fierce strikes with fluid elegance, a faint smile playing on his lips.
“Is that all?” He reversed his grip on the Commando of Conviction as brilliant light exploded from the blade.
Wherever his edge pointed, nothing could stand in his way.
The Crownless was slashed back repeatedly, staggering back in sheer embarrassment.
Humanlike rage flared within the burning purple flames of its eyes.
Yet it had no power to fight back.
Every one of its moves was broken and countered before the windup could even finish.
It was as though the man before it had fought against it tens of thousands of times, understanding its body far better than it did itself.
Every time this man struck, it was right at the moment when the Crownless’s old force was spent and new force had yet to rise.
Left completely unable to dodge, it had no choice but to take every bit of damage full on.
It was a Waveworn-class Tacet Discord!
Yet it was being suppressed like a father beating his son, utterly helpless.
*Bro, are you using hacks, or did you hire a top-tier booster?* The Crownless’s mental defenses crumbled, its temper flared, and it descended into sheer desperation.
With another metallic crash of clashing steel, the Crownless flew backward like a kite with a severed string, crashing down and kicking up a cloud of dust.
The power inside its body was entirely exhausted, requiring a brief period to recover.
To You Luoming, this state was simply being paralyzed.
*Finish it while it’s down!* You Luoming sprinted forward with his blade raised, expertly executing a tight combo sequence.
His movements were crisp and practiced, as if rehearsed a million times.
“Shape voice into form.” “A thousand cuts of floating sound.” “Resonant crescendo.” You Luoming flicked his wrist.
His Tacet Mark glowed faintly as an invisible, overwhelming surge of Spectro energy gathered in his palm, suddenly bursting forth.
“Echoes, resonate here!” Following a deafening blast, the Crownless was gone, leaving only a golden Echo hovering in its place.
“The outcome is decided.” You Luoming sheathed the Commando of Conviction.
His white casual clothes were completely spotless, and his face showed not a trace of smugness over the victory.
Possessing the power of the Rover, victory was only natural!
“You Luoming!
Are you okay?” With the Tacet Discord safely defeated, Yangyang and Chixia finally jogged over.
Chixia gave him an excited thumbs-up.
“You’re way too amazing!
You did a bit of this and a bit of that, and boom, you defeated a Tacet Discord like that!
You’re just like a hero out of a storybook!” Yangyang looked You Luoming up and down.
Seeing that he had no injuries, her heart finally settled.
“I’ve never seen such a powerful Tacet Discord, yet You Luoming crushed it so effortlessly.” You Luoming waved his hand modestly.
“You flatter me.
It was a group effort.” “Oh, stop being so modest!
You did the whole fight by yourself.
Yangyang and I didn’t even lift a finger.” Chixia trotted over to the Crownless’s Echo and gasped in amazement.
“Wow, a high-tier Echo!
What kind of luck is this?
You Luoming, quickly absorb it!
It’ll dissipate if you wait too long.” You Luoming nodded, pulled out his black PDU terminal, and absorbed the Crownless’s Echo.
In the game’s storyline, the Rover also dropped an Echo after defeating the Crownless.
However, unable to absorb it with a Level 0 terminal, the Rover had to absorb the Crownless Echo directly into their physical body (via Abby).
That unprecedented action naturally shocked Yangyang and Chixia, leading them to suspect the Rover had an extraordinary origin.
For You Luoming, however, absorbing the Crownless Echo through his terminal was simple because he had a system interface, unlike the Rover.
Echoes absorbed through his terminal went straight into his inventory, and he could see the stat bonuses provided by the Echo at the moment of absorption.
[Echo: Crownless (Sun-sinking Eclipse)] [Quality: 5-Star Waveworn-class] [Main Stats: Crit DMG +44%, ATK +150] [Sub-stats: Crit Rate +9.3%, Crit DMG +16.2%, ATK +40, Resonance Skill DMG Bonus +11.6%, Basic Attack DMG Bonus +7.9%] It was another heirloom-tier Echo, though unfortunately not part of the Celestial Light set.
Still, C4-class Echoes for Celestial Light could only be dropped by the Mourning Aix and Sentinel Jue.
Fighting Sentinel Jue was out of the question for now, and the Mourning Aix was a neutral Tacet Discord leaning toward humanity.
Gathering a full Celestial Light set was indeed going to be a bit of a hassle.
Sighing inwardly, You Luoming wasn’t picky and equipped the Crownless Echo immediately.
Even if he couldn’t activate the set bonus yet, the raw stats provided by the Echo itself were massive.
Before facing the Crownless, You Luoming had already collected three Common Class Echoes in the Gorges of Spirits.
He now had four Echoes from different sets equipped.
A quantitative accumulation brought a qualitative leap.
If he could have dismantled a house with his bare hands before, now a full-power strike could snap a small mountain peak.
Yet yesterday, he had been nothing more than a helpless ordinary human.
“Alright, are you still looking for that Rover person?
What if they left long ago?
It’s not safe to stay here; we should hurry back to Taoyuan Village.” Chixia’s voice pulled You Luoming back from his thoughts.
He cast a reluctant look back over the Gorges of Spirits before finally nodding.
“Let’s go.
We’ll head back to Taoyuan Village first.” Whether the Rover was still in the Gorges of Spirits or not, he couldn’t force Yangyang and Chixia to stay here with him any longer.
As for finding the Rover, that would have to wait.
You Luoming scratched his hair and sighed softly.
*How did the game plot collapse like this?!* [Main Quest: Utterance of Marvels – Part 1 Completed.] [Current Inventory: Radiant Tide × 20, Lustrous Tide × 10, Astrite × 1800, Shell Credit × 180000.]