Extraordinary Player

Chapter 36: Weapon Meant to Reflect Things

Once Qin Guan watched how the pro cleared the trial, he understood the concept.

The pro’s final score was 100 points, and he lasted for ten seconds.

He noticed, however, that the condition to clear the trial was not based on points. They were just a reflection of how much HP the person had left when the trial ended. The most important decider was the time behind the points.

If he lasted for five seconds without dying, he would be considered to have passed. If he lasted for ten seconds at full HP, he would score full points.

Qin Guan originally thought that the criteria for passing was rather low. After all, there was a huge difference between five seconds and ten seconds.

However, once he examined the recording, Qin Guan noticed that the balls of light reached their maximum number on the fifth second. If he managed to last through that, the level of difficulty would no longer increase.

Hence, the key to this trial was to last through the first five seconds.

Qin Guan watched the video a few more times. The pro also used a wooden pot lid as his armor, and the key to pass the trial was in reflecting the balls.

If he blocked it, the wooden shield would instantly shatter. Dodging was manageable at the start, but once the third second arrived, the balls of light would be very densely packed, making it incredibly difficult to dodge them.

At this time, he had to use the wooden shield to reflect the balls of light. Once they were reflected, the other balls they touched would explode, and it was only through frequent reflection that it would be possible to survive the inescapable assault.

Besides, knowledge was required to know which ball to reflect, at what angle, and how the body needed to move to achieve that. The player had to swiftly come up with strategies to handle the balls based on their formation.

However, there was only a fraction of a second between the appearance of the numerous balls and their subsequent charge. The person had to react quickly during that fraction of a second, forming a countermeasure in his head and accurately carrying it out.

“Once I clear this trial, I will probably be able to take a stroll through a shower of bullets and come out unscathed, right?”

Even though he had to suffer tremendously, Qin Guan noticed that once he completed this high-intensity training, his true abilities were vastly different compared to those of the others.

With such great pressure early on, he would be able to handle seemingly hopeless situations in the future with ease.

“Looks like if I don’t master my reflection skills, it’ll be impossible for me to pass this trial. If that’s the case, I’ll first focus on them!”

Qin Guan slowed down the video to carefully study how the pro reflected the balls in the battle record. Then, he decided to first practice on a specific color; that was the first problem he should solve.

Reflection did not seem difficult, but it did not have an upper limit, which meant that Qin Guan could practice it for his entire life.

If he wanted to perform a successful reflection, he had to determine whether the opportune moment to perform the reflection was short or long. Some of the slower attacks would have a longer reflection time that lasted for around a few deciseconds while the swift attacks would have a shorter reflection time that lasted around a few centiseconds.

Once he failed to reflect the balls, at best, his shield would shatter, and at worst, the ball of light would hit him, and he would die.

However, the benefits of mastering this skill were great. If he managed to reflect the red ball of light into a densely packed group of balls, he could make them explode, creating a safe zone. He could then reflect more balls in the same direction, and by doing so, he could even create a safety tunnel for himself.

Of course, the prerequisite for that was that he had to be fast enough when it came to reflecting the balls.

Qin Guan suddenly realized that there was a very great advantage to his wooden pot lid—it was light.

Every single person’s physical attribute was about the same. Based on the ultimate performance in the history records, the pro could use the wooden lid to perform five reflections in one second.

If he had an iron shield or a large stone shield, their sturdier materials would provide him with better defences and allow him to block more times, but it would become more difficult to reflect the balls.

With those shields, he would probably be able to reflect only one ball per second. This would make it impossible to do what the pro had done.

The wooden pot lid was apparently not a joke item. It was, in fact, the best based on its ability to reflect.

Of course, the prerequisite to bring that ability out was that the person had to perfectly reflect every single attack. No accidents were allowed to happen.

Qin Guan suddenly felt that the system’s arrangement for him could not be considered as it toying around with him.

While the system might have seemed to have trolled him, there was actually profound meaning behind its actions.

Otherwise, why would the pro in the history records have chosen to go through the trials with the useless person character, the fruit knife, and the wooden pot lid, just like Qin Guan?

Was he trying to act cool? There was no reason for him to do so. Who was he supposed to show off to?

Since the pro chose to clear the trials this way, it had to be because doing so had its benefits.

When he thought of this, Qin Guan suddenly felt driven. He really wanted to know what would happen once he completed all three of the highly difficult trials.

…

After training for four hours, Qin Guan came out of the world in his mind to rest a little and browse through the forum.

While his body would not feel tired when he trained in the world in his mind, his psyche suffered a lot from feelings of defeat.

Qin Guan looked at the ranking board. The ranks for Map of Trials 3 were changing rapidly. The player who was ranked first may be shifted to the second page after the refresh in thirty minutes.

The current number one was still trying to clear Medium Mode. He had zero points, and his time was 4.1 seconds.

While there might be a few deciseconds difference between the first and 500th player, those few deciseconds decided their life and death.

However, what surprised Qin Guan was that there were plenty of people who were discussing why he was not on the ranking board.

[Strange, where is that pro called Useless Person? Why isn’t he on this ranking board?]

[You’re right. He’s really not here. I already flipped to the last page, but I still don’t see him!]

[Perhaps the pro is resting today? Or perhaps he hasn’t woken up yet?]

[Stop joking around. There’s no need for us to rest.]

[I think the pro is thinking of letting us all have a head start before he makes his move and swiftly reaches the top…]

[Oh my, how sinister, pro, but I like it! I look forward to the day I see your name on the ranking board!]

Qin Guan did not know whether he wanted to laugh or cry after reading the comments. Those people had too much free time on their hands. If they were so idle, why did they not try to clear the trial? Why were they looking at the ranking board?

They would never be able to guess that Qin Guan had not been able to make it into the top 500 because he had been practicing how to reflect the balls of light.

The players’ points played a deciding role in their ranks; it was not entirely based on how much the player had progressed in a certain level of difficulty. For example, the players who gained 100% completion rate in Medium Mode of Jump!! would definitely rank higher than a player who just made it to the third platform in Hard Mode.

Qin Guan had been practicing how to reflect the balls of light all that while. His best time was just 1.5 seconds, so it was only normal that he was not among the top 500.

Once he mastered that skill, he might end up climbing the ranks at light speed.

“I’ll let you show off on the ranking board for now. I’ll go out and buy a few tangerines.”

Qin Guan then looked at the ranking boards for the other two trials. While his focus may have been entirely on the third trial, his position in the previous two ranking boards was still very stable. He did not see any possibility of anyone taking over his place.

At that moment, Du Wei sent a message to their chat group.

[Everyone, please make the best use of your time and clear the third trial. We will have a meeting three days later. I have a very important announcement to make.]