Assassinate Wonderwind [Book 1 Completed!]

I used to spend a lot of time studying top players and their playstyles, either to learn their tricks and incorporate them into my own gameplay, or with less skilled players, I looked to learn any weaknesses I could exploit for assassinations. Naturally, I’d seen almost all of the available replays from Dragrath’s one versus one tournaments, as well as his random duels in the wilderness. Studying them had led me to one conclusion if I ever met him.

Run.

Sneakily or quickly, exit the area and don’t get to a fight. I had absolutely no chance of winning.

Not that I could have escaped either. Dragrath sprung to movement. In one fluid motion, he dashed and unsheathed his purple mythic Moonlight Katana for a swing straight out of the sheath.

The attack was as close to perfect as humanly possible. I hopped back and out of the way, the tip of his blade inches from my face.

Out of nowhere, a dagger landed on my right thigh, making me flinch.

A feint! I cursed in my head. I hadn’t even seen him throw his dagger. His swing had been just a distraction. The very first exchange, and I was already outsmarted.

[You have been Fractured. Your armor has been penetrated.]

[Dagger Of Null Void has Fractured you; movement-based abilities have been locked.]

My eyes saw the reflection of moonlight as a follow-up attack crashed down at me. I knew my dash was on cooldown, but the sheer speed of his katana made me try to dash away by instinct anyway. When that didn’t work, I flicked my daggers for a panicked block.

The katana turned to shadowed particles as Dragrath passed straight through me.

Fuck! I thought, spinning my body to see him [Shadow Dash] straight to Veyra.

She was already dipping to a portal, managing to dodge just barely. She landed a good distance away and cast [Hex Of Dawnbreak].

Veyra didn’t cast the middle of the circle under his feet. Instead, the circle left Dragrath at the furthest edge away from her. A clever zoning strategy, which gave Dragrath two options. He could easily dodge the hex by jumping backward, which would give Veyra even more distance away from him. If he chose to attack, he’d have to run through the hex, tanking its effect.

He chose to jump back, a small grin on his face. “Impressive,” he said. “You predicted me.”

Veyra responded by blasting him with pebbles of hail.

The free-handed hail was almost impossible to dodge. That was why Veyra always used the specific spell to apply any item effects. If even one pebble hit, [Heaven’s Taint] would be applied. The ten percent slow would be huge for us.

Except, Dragrath dodged by quite simply running to the side, behind a pillar. Every bit of hail missed his feet by mere inches.

The pillar’s shadow suddenly became as dark as the night, glimmering with moonlight. Particles of [Shadow Dash] appeared, and I had a fraction of a second to react when his katana materialized before my eyes, about to cut me down. [Fracture] was still active with his dagger in my thigh, restraining my own ability to dash.

But I wasn’t unskilled either. I knew Dragrath wasn’t afraid to use his dash aggressively. My feet were in a strong stance, and I blocked.

Suddenly, he pushed his blade with his hand, turning the swing to a tackle. I missed a perfect block, and I found myself being pushed backward.

How? I thought, unsure of how he’d performed the trick.

There was no time to figure it out, as his sword was already hitting me from the right. Only my sickle was in position for a panicked block.

Dragrath’s katana hit like a boulder dropping from a mountain on my head. With [Fracture] stealing my defence, my sickle wasn’t nearly strong enough to withstand any sort of block. I lost my grip and the sickle was sent flying. I stumbled backward.

Just one perfect block! I thought through gritted teeth. If I landed that, I could get lucky with The Immortal’s passive to blow open his stance.

In a dizzying blur, I tried to see the trajectory of Dragrath’s sword. I spotted Veyra trying her best to find an angle to shoot Dragrath, but we moved too fast for her to cast a spell without hitting me.

Dragrath’s sword glimmered like the embrace of a starry sky.

I’d never felt anything like it. Annath had been fast and powerful, but her footwork was always readable. As insane as she was, her attacks could be blocked.

With Dragrath, I didn’t even know where he was before his sword was already on my neck. I hadn’t read his attacks a single time in the fight.

I managed to lift my dagger. The regular block did nothing, not with my defence pierced and my footing loose. My last dagger fell from my hands as I stumbled backward. I desperately used [Recall Daggers].

I slashed wildly in his direction, only for a slash to resound in my head as Dragrath’s blade pierced my heart.

[You have died.]

[Experience Progress Reduced by 41%]

[Gear Piece Lost.]

[Character Time-out Remaining: 1:59]

[Logging out…]

I found myself in the dark attic, lit only by the RGB lights of my game pod. I stared blankly at the tempered glass of my game pod. For a while, my brain was empty as I processed what had just happened.

I hadn’t landed a single hit. I hadn’t landed a single good block. I hadn’t even read a single attack properly.

Oh my god, I thought, my heart starting to race. I lost. I actually lost.

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I couldn’t keep up. It wasn’t even close. Dragrath utterly dominated me.

It wasn’t close either, like my first loss against Annath in the wilderness. Back then, I’d seen a way to beat her. A difference in equipment had made it impossible for me to damage her. If only I wasn’t underleveled, I knew I could fight her in a rematch.

This was different. It wasn’t a gear difference. This was just a pure skill issue. Dragrath had fucked us up, one versus two.

I remained in my pod for a while, shocked. What the hell had just happened?

Until I remembered I wasn’t the only one in there. I opened Wonderwind’s app on my phone. Another wave of despair hit me when I saw that Veyra’s account was also offline and on a death time-out. She’d lost.

Her status turned to green as she logged on with her phone. She began typing a message.

Veyra: “He got me. Absolutely no chance.”

I bit my lip nearly hard enough to bleed. I felt sick. She kept typing.

Veyra: “I lost my hat and the fire-mage’s spirit. What about you?”

Thank fuck, I thought, relieved ever so slightly. Veyra’s hat was beautiful, but it was just an epic. That was a manageable loss.

I almost didn’t want to check what I’d lost. There was a one in nine chance to lose over a million dollars, and a four in nine chance to lose a vital item to my build. My gloves could possibly be replaced, but I’d hate to lose my cloak, dagger, or boots.

I sighed in relief when I saw I’d lost Runebrand, my headpiece. That one was only an epic, and not even a unique. Hardly an important item for my build. Lesser Spirit Of The Rogue Wanderer was also missing. My monster avoidance spirit. I sent Veyra a message to tell her what I’d lost.

Veyra: “Lucky. Looks like we both dodged a bullet. Rip to monster avoidance though lol. And I lost the boss drops. That sucks.”

Assassin: “Sorry, I completely lost. I couldn’t do anything.”

Veyra: “I mean, anyone would lose to Dragrath. You blocked a few attacks even with a completely new build. We were just too cocky bringing mythics so deep in the wilderness, I guess.”

I almost bit a wound in my lips, having to force myself to relieve pressure. Veyra was giving me too much credit. I hadn’t read anything at all. I could have wielded my main dagger, and it wouldn’t have made any difference at all. Dragrath had completely overpowered me to the point it hadn’t even been a duel.

Veyra: “I saw one positive thing, though. My idea with the hex worked pretty well. Dragrath moved back to dodge just like I hoped he would. I’ll need practice. Like a lot of practice. There’s one trick I might be able to use to make this build OP.”

Assassin: “You also predicted his one-shot dash. That was awesome.”

Veyra: “Heh. I was still slow. If I’d predicted it faster he would have dashed onto Chronorift. Too bad.”

I sat on my bed, feeling like a complete idiot, while the phone read Veyra is typing… for over a minute.

Veyra: “Overall, that was a very successful week, though. Can’t complain after defeating Shaltar. Imo, we should take a break from frontrunning for now. I need practice with my new build. I’m guessing you’re feeling the same. I can see potential, but it’ll be a stretch to try to fight top players right now.”

Goddammit… I hated to admit it, but I couldn’t argue back.

Assassin: “I think I agree. Your build is awesome right now. I don’t really see potential in mine, though. There are too many problems, like the lack of defence. I’ll look at the auction for upgrades or re-specs.”

Veyra: “I’ll see if I can spot any items for you as well.”

Veyra: “I think this is a good time for a reality check though lol. I’d prefer to chill when you’re in Thailand anyway. We’ll have loads of time to figure our builds out. No need to stress frontrunning 24/7. It’s a shame we couldn’t loot the castle, but it is what it is. The city will be too dangerous now with Dragrath inside.”

I sighed. A light smile appeared through all the frustration.

Assassin: “I love how positive you are after that lol”

Veyra: “I mean, if my staff had dropped, you’d be hearing from me on the news xD”

Assassin: “Lmao, hopefully the fight doesn’t make it to the forums.”

Veyra: “Dragrath doesn’t really stream, so we’re good. I’ll draw spell patterns today, I guess. I’ll need to spend some time practicing solo. Like a few days to a week. After that easier guild wipes or duo dungeon hunts would be optimal.”

Assassin: “I’ll find a dungeon and open up the map, then.”

I said that, but if I spent any more time running around, while Veyra practiced, I was almost certain I’d be left behind. She was already much more useful in the fight today, and she immediately saw what she could improve on.

Was I just too scared and unconfident? I asked myself. I hadn’t been locked in. A fearful mindset could absolutely make one perform way worse than they usually did. Was that the reason Dragrath stomped me so hard?

Practice was a must either way. I needed an efficient practice method against opponents who were on even ground or slightly better than me. That, and I needed to put an actual good build together. My glass-cannon approach wouldn’t work anymore, not when I was the only one getting one-shotted while requiring a dozen hits to actually do anything back.

Veyra: “Sounds good, see you later ^^”

Assassin: “See you <3”

She went offline. I sighed, feeling like I should go to sleep, even though I just woke up. What a way to start the day. I couldn’t even remember the last time I properly died in the wilderness to something that wasn’t my headset going out. That was long before meeting Veyra for sure.

I had almost nothing to do in real life. It was currently midnight, and I had a two-hour timeout. Regardless of what item was lost, the two-hour timeout was always a pain. I didn’t have homework to do like I used to, and studying top players was becoming less effective now that most of them were way weaker than me.

But I wasn’t the best. If today was an indication, the current matchup wasn’t even close. I was good only because everyone else was bad.

I lay in bed for fifteen minutes, wondering how I could even begin to practice. Back in the day, I used to find an NPC that was way overtuned and intended to be beaten with better gear, not by outplaying them. That took me far, but it also trained me to exploit weaknesses within the AI rather than…

Hold on, I thought, springing to sit. Was that what I was missing?

My fighting style relied a lot on opponents making mistakes. AI NPCs and monsters always made mistakes, no matter how hard they were to spot. That habit carried over to PvP, especially when people used the [Swing] system. Exploiting its long wind-ups and predictability was much easier than trying to be the aggressor.

But now that I thought about it, I’d used the same style against Annath as well. Sure, I threw feints here and there, but I relied a lot on perfect blocks and dodging, usually letting my opponent take swings at me until they made a mistake. Most opponents, even those that didn’t use the [Swing] system, eventually left opportunities for me to swing at them if I just waited patiently enough, even Annath.

Dragrath, though… His fighting style was the opposite of that. He didn’t wait around for his opponent to make mistakes. He took the aggression and forced his opponent way out of their comfort zone, until a mistake appeared. He created mistakes. That was how he’d screwed me up today.

Was that also why the sickle didn’t feel right? The Immortal and Sablethorn both promoted my defensive playstyle. Sablethorn a bit less so, but I tended to play the first few exchanges cautiously, until I got a few good hits in to stack defence. In comparison, Sickle Of The Soul Harvester was purely an offensive item. It had a lot more attack force and an armor piercing effect that I wasn’t properly using. If Dragrath had been the one hitting me with the sickle, I knew I would have been screwed.

I suddenly had energy. The vision I had overpowered the despair I’d felt. I’d identified a reason I’d lost, and with that, I had ways to improve. I could either double down and improve my style, or I could take notes from Dragrath and try to practice a more aggressive method.

Either way, I needed a place to practice. Wonderwind could be suboptimal. Finding a good sparring opponent could be difficult. NPCs in the wilderness probably wouldn’t be efficient, and losing to them would put me on a death timeout every time.

I needed a place to spar against real humans. Preferably in virtual reality, and in a setting where my opponents were genuinely good.

Luckily, that place already existed. In fact, I’d always wanted to try it, but the game was strictly eighteen plus, and after my birthday, I didn’t have the hours needed to invest into starting it with rent money assassinations taking almost all the time I had.

Art Of Steel VR, the most popular virtual reality fighting simulation game.