Re: Sword Emperor

"Sorry for the wait guys. Let's get going, the forest of beginning is still waiting for us." Shesmu apologized. Once he started training he forgot about the notion of time. In those few hours, nothing existed in his mind but the sword in his hand.

"No problem, and yeah, we should get going. Everyone already left a while ago." DepressedRyan replied in an exasperated manner. He then continued, "plus, the instructor has been waiting for a long time already. He is probably pissed off by now."

While Shesmu and DepressedRyan were talking, Leo pondered for a second before asking, "But what took you so long though? Were the skills way too hard pull off? I know, dude."

Even though his speech represented acceptance, Leo's eyes couldn't hide his disappointment. Shesmu showed an incredible amount of precision in his attacks in the tutorial room. He was one of the first to activate his skill. When Leo saw that, he was at awe. At that point, he couldn't even begin to understand how to activate his skill, and was so frustrated that he rethought his decision to buy the game. But when he saw that someone could activate Empowered Slash, his competitive spirit was ignited. However, now he saw Shesmu struggle with something so simple, Leo couldn't help being shocked.

When Shesmu saw the disappointment in Leo's face, he felt obliged to clear his confusion, "Ah, no that's not it. It was just a trick that I thought about while using the skill. I won't spend so much time just on learning how to activate my skill, haha."

Hearing Shesmu's confirmation, Leo's face brimmed with hope.

"Of course! With your ability, how could you ever have a hard time activating your skills?"

Listening to Leo's declaration, Shesmu couldn't help laughing awkwardly.

Well, I guess no matter what happens, skills get you respect.

"I'll show it to you later. It's hard to understand what happens if you don't see it being used against a live target."

"What do you mean? Is it a bug?", Leo asked.

"Yeah, I'm interested in what kind of technique would take you three hours to train," DepressedRyan chimed in.

Surprise caught Shesmu with Leo's question. He pondered for a little before sighing in resignation and answering, "No, it's not a bug. I can explain but I doubt that it would make sense to you right away. It's just that thing."

Shesmu then stopped and turned around, "Well, I'll show you the technique once and we'll get going. It's better than me explaining things over and over again."

Shesmu took a stance and with ease performed the Empowered Slash Cancel. He tried to slow down his movement as much as possible so that the duo can at least see what happened.

"What was that? The green light didn't appear until the middle of your swing! Is that a bug?," Leo exclaimed.

DepressedRyan got annoyed at his friend's question and cut in, "Is everything a bug to you? There is no book that says Empowered Slash can only be activated at the start of the swing. Now the question is: what is the use of doing that?"

Shesmu opened his mouth slightly in surprise before he closed it again.

This guy is sharp!

"Woah, you're sharp. I didn't even think of that, haha," Leo was also in shock at DepressedRyan's wits. He just scratched his head in embarrassment and laughed.

Shesmu pondered for a moment before he decided, Well, if he is this good then there is no harm telling him. Maybe I will be surprised.

"When your sword hit a target, the system counts it as damage done. You should have noticed it if you played a bit with the training doll in the tutorial."

Both Leo and DepressedRyan nodded at Shesmu's statement in approval. He then continued, "Well, if it already takes the damage into account when you first hit the target, then what would happen if you used Empowered Slash after your normal slash hit?"

DepressedRyan's eyes widened for a second before he answered in a low voice, "The damage of your normal hit and skill will both stack up on top of each other. This-this is amazing."

When Leo heard DepressedRyan's explanation, he also exclaimed, "Oh! So it's like Sword Slash Cancel in Demon Heart?"

"Yeah, it's kinda like that, but why are you bringing that game up, Shesmu may have not played that game and you may have just confused him. That's why you're so bad at social interactions — put yourself in other people's shoes. I warn you, if you stay this way, you'll never get a girlfriend!" DepressedRyan rebuked Leo with his hands on his waist. But under his breath he was still muttering in a barely audible voice, "Even though you're this tall and everything…".

When DepressedRyan stopped his rebuke, Leo's neutral face cracked into a big smug smile, "Haha, you may have thought that you got me this time, but it's you who is being the idiot. Shesmu also played Demon Heart, he told me when we first talked!"

The proud smile on Leo's face irritated DepressedRyan to no end, but he managed to stop the urge to plummet Leo's head once again to ask Shesmu, "Wait, you played Demon Heart? What was your name there?"

"Yeah, I played Demon Heart, and my name was the same. It was Shesmu." He replied with a smile on his face. That the two were this experienced with video games to know about the Sword Slash Cancel came as a pleasant surprise for Shesmu. Maybe I can teach them some stuff later. Leo was a matter but even Ryan is no noob.

While Shesmu was thinking, DepressedRyan was doing the same. "Shesmu- Shesmu, where have I heard this name before?" He kept muttering, before his eyes widened, "Shesmu! Are you God Speed Shesmu?!"

"Yep, that's me. Though I would like it if you dropped the "God Speed" part, that's just cringy as hell," Shesmu laughed at the end of his speech. Both Leo and Ryan starred in shock as a legend of a game that for so long dominated the scene unveiled itself.

Leo couldn't contain his excitement any longer and blurted out, "Wait, are you for real? The heck, you were my idol in that game. This is just way too much!"

Looking at the duo's dumbfounded reactions, Shesmu bursted out laughing, "Haha! You should see your face, it's way too funny! So how do I look like to you guys? Just for your info, I still go to the bathroom like every other regular human being. Haha!"

Even though Shesmu tried to break the ice that generated between them, the duo was still awkward while talking with him.

Seeing them being like this, Shesmu pouted for a second before a mischievous smile appeared on his face.

"Well, if you're going to be like this, then you leave me with no choice." He said as he approached the both of them. Shesmu then strained both of his hands and punched them both in the guts.

"I'm still your friend, idiots! Don't make me angry with this idolization bullshit again, we good?"