MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

The Paladin’s Repentance dealt no damage but it could force the target to repent for the duration of one minute, in which the target would remain immobilized and their skills disabled. Should the target sustain any damage, the Repent status would automatically be dispelled.

Cassio’s Holy Light Repentance was different from the regular Repentance used by players. He was a Disciple of the Holy Light, his Repentance was infused with Holy Light Punishment, inflicting damage per second. Each damage was at 100+ and it doubled with every 10 damage inflicted.

“If Repentance supplemented with Holy Blessing was cast on a Holy Light devout believer, they’ll recover HP but if this was cast on you, a sinner who desecrates the Holy Light, punishment will be bestowed upon you.”

Cassio was gloating as he watched Li Yi’s HP drop.

“Forgiveness only brings destruction to this world. There is only one truth in this world and that is to believe in the Holy Light. Now, take in the Holy Light Repentance, haha.”

Cassio got on his Holy Light Warhorse and rode off.

Li Yi’s frown deepened as he could only watch as his HP drop at a consistent rate.

Without any equipment enhancement, he only had 900 HP. The Holy Light Repentance could not be dispelled. Death was imminent unless he was able to pull through for 60 seconds.

This tactic Cassio used was adjusted to a player’s level. There were many players in the past life who had experimented in order to escape this death.

The majority of them failed and only a small fraction of those with super high HP succeeded.

But…

The outcome would be the same regardless of failure or success. This had no impact on the quest’s route. The only difference remained on the fact whether or not one was killed by Cassio.

Uh huh, only a balls-digging player would read too much into this lame matter.

Li Yi, with all certainty, dropped dead. His character died.

Now lay two options before Li Yi. He could run his corpse and resurrect, or… he could stay a corpse and wait for Elenor’s arrival.

Similar quests such as this have really suckered many players in the past life. A lot of people did not know that by resurrecting and running their corpses, they would encounter Cassio at the nearby exit who would then repent them to death again…

Of course, the System would not set this pitfall up for nothing. If a player were to be killed by Cassio’s Repentance five consecutive times, he would then unlock an achievement, Relentless Sinner.

But what was the point of achievements, though? Unlocking some achievement could gain them some rare items such as equipment or mounts. But most of the achievements were useless. There were neither equipment nor mount rewards. Apart from the increase of Achievement Points, it served no practical use.

Li Yi was not an achievement fanatic so he was not going down that path. He lay on the ground, waiting for Elenor to arrive.

After about ten minutes, Elenor flew down from the sky. She sighed as she cast a Resurrection Spell on Li Yi.

“Young Archer, I apologize on behalf of Cassio.”

Li Yi smiled and said nothing.

He was only killed once and because he was revived with a Resurrection Spell, he did not lose any EXP. He lost nothing.

“I had you pick the Seeds of Holy Light so that you could comprehend the Force of Holy Light in the process. It’s a shame that you can’t sense the powers of the Holy Light.

“Perhaps you’re wondering why I did so? I can tell you. In order to pick up a weapon created by God, one must master new powers.”

“New powers?”

Elenor nodded with a smile, “Powers that surpasses your own. The Force of Holy Light is one of them but it’s not absolute. You will never understand just by listening to me. You need to grasp it with your own heart.”

Elenor chanted some incantation and flung her arms up to create a Holy Guard gathered by Holy Light.

A Holy Guard was the strongest defender summoned by a Light Priest. Holy Guards were unable to attack anyone but they could increase an entire party’s defense by 50%. There was no time restriction and this buff would keep until the Holy Guard was killed.

“Use only normal arrows to kill this Holy Guard. Once you’re able to do so, come find me.”

Elenor’s body was about to take off when Li Yi dashed to grab ahold of her ankle, pulling her down.

Li Yi asked, “What if Cassio stirs up trouble?”

Elenor fell deep in thought. She shook her head, “Cassio isn’t mean at heart. He only hates everything unrelated to the Holy Light. Don’t worry, I will keep watch on him.”

Elenor flew away, leaving Li Yi to chuckle to himself. He had finally completed the first stage of the hidden quest.

When players accepted Elenor’s test, Cassio would continuously pop up to thwart players. And because he was so despicable, many players, upon completion of quest would form a party to return and kill him. But the outcome was not favorable.

Cassio was the manifestation of the Holy Light. Situated in Land of Light, he could endlessly heal and resurrect from death. He was like a cockroach that would never go away…

Many players had tried to kill Elenor and succeeded but no matter how many players attempted to take Cassio’s life, they all failed. Unlimited Resurrections and AoE Holy Light Repentance enabled Cassio to become an existence that surpassed even Elenor.

There were also players who attempted to kite Cassio out of the Land of Light but failed all the same. Cassio was a manifestation of the Holy Light. If he were to leave Land of Light, his body would disappear.

The Holy Guard summoned by Elenor had 500,000 HP. The quest would fail if special arrows were used so he could only use normal arrows to defeat him.

Another balls-digging quest.

Since any techniques were out of the question, he could only shoot on repeat…

Of course, Li Yi must stock up on arrows or else he would be stuck if he ran out prior to receiving any notification of the quest being completed.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Li Yi raised his arms to shoot three arrows. All arrows swooped through, dealing no damage to the Holy Guard.

Li Yi activated auto mode before opening the web forums and browsing the latest updates.

The story about him sneaking into the Western Continent was a sensation on the forums. And that one time where he had got a taste of his own medicine courtesy of Brother Windcloud Nine was, of course, spread by Brother Nine. Players from both Eastern and Western Continents reacted strongly towards it. It was abuse on one side and joyous celebration on the other. There were just all kinds of reactions.

In the Eastern Continent, players who supported Li Yi occupied the majority. The reason was simple. It was only an open PK and nothing more. The video where Li Yi ambushed Brother Nine at the second half was dubbed as a classic by many. In another location, topped with extremely accurate archery would have taken down Brother Windcloud Nine more than a hundred times over if it were not for his high EVA.

“Brother Nine’s the strongest. He said so himself. Since the very beginning, he has spent over five hundred million RMB. Dark Wing is indeed awesome but is he richer than Brother Nine? Brother Nine can drown him in cash!”

“What’s the point of having that much cash? Already over the moon from one win? Careful, don’t be a bitch now, Brother Windcloud Dog!”

The keyboard warriors in the forums did not have class, spewing cusses for the sake of their own heroes. Li Yi lost interest after reading for a bit. He flipped a few pages at random until he saw a technical article posted by an Archer named Quiet Night Thoughts.

“Real men take the path less trodden and hold it in without shooting. Quiet Night is here to teach you to be a real man. Full walkthrough on pure Pet Archer class’ skill path.”

Quiet Night Thoughts was a Western Continent player who was an unknown to the public in the early stages of the game. He enjoyed publishing new ideas on the official forums. However, as his equipment was so-so and his PK techniques were lacking, it was all armchair strategy. Hence, every article he posted became a subject of ridicule by other players.

No matter how true his words rang, if he was not a recognized expert, his words would receive no praise. This was the evaluation made about Quiet Night Thoughts by players who hung out regularly in forums.

Li Yi was familiar with him because the first Archer who never shot a single arrow in the King of Pantheon was him…

He was always trying to create new tactics. It was too bad though, that because of the rarity of the Archer class, his goal was never achieved. The Shooting Path Archer class had always been the mainstream, with the Trap and Pet Path as supplementary.

Quiet Night Thoughts was only recognized when a top-notch Archer, a player with a Phoenix pet said this sentence.

“I always read Quiet Night Thought’s strategies. It was only because of him that I was able to tame a Phoenix.”

These were the words that threw Quiet Night Thoughts into stardom. His tactics and strategies went from unknown to famous overnight. From that moment on, Li Yi took note on this person.

Li Yi was devouring the first article posted by Quiet Night Thoughts in the forums. In his article, he mentioned that he was playing a pure Pet Archer due to the influence of Dark Wing. He did not want to take the common route nor follow the herd.

To publish a contrary-opinionated post when Dark Wing was most talked about had Quiet Night Thoughts’ posts flooded with cusses from Li Yi’s fans. Many said he was talking gibberish and trying to take down a great player.

The point brought up by Quiet Night Thoughts in his article was to first achieve 20 levels of the Level 50 Beast King’s Heart and Level 55 Beast Soul’s Possession before conquering the world with these two techniques.

Beast King’s Heart was used by players to control their pets. Their pets would follow their lead with each order issued. This was unlike the situation with Li Yi, who could summon Violent Bear King and was limited to issuing simple orders to attack, defend and flee. He could not make Violent Bear King jump or move at specific timings.

Beast Soul’s Possession was an interesting skill. A pet’s knowledge would be implanted within an Archer so that he may replicate every skill the pet has for a short span of time. This way, the Archer needed not to fire arrows to attack as he had become the pet…

There was no dispute on Beast King’s Heart. Players who played the Pet Archer class would naturally fully level up this skill. The skill that sparked controversy was Beast Soul’s Possession.

When an Archer activated the Beast Soul’s Possession, they would be deprived of their own skills. This Beast Soul’s Possession was also incomparable to Violent Bear’s Protection which could provide its owners with attribute buffs. Even if the owner was able to replicate a pet’s full set of skills, it still would not be able to bring the pet’s powers to full play.

There was no increase in attributes and the Beast Soul’s Possession could probably yield one-fifth of their own pet’s abilities.

It was worth nothing. With just a fifth of the pet’s abilities, one would be better off shooting blanks. What a waste in putting precious 20 Skill Points on a trashy skill.

Hence, the moment Quiet Night Thought’s post appeared the forum, it immediately received quite a backlash…