Order Guard

The night passed without incident. Nothing happened at all. Early the next morning, Yu Xian freshened up and sat down on the edge of the bed. In silence, he pulled the consolation prize from his inventory. Upon opening it, two enhancement stones and one awakening stone appeared in his hand: a character enhancement stone, a class enhancement stone, and a Skill Awakening Stone. The standard trio. Evidently, Chi Feihong knew very well what mattered most in the Zhen Realm. Yu Xian picked up the Skill Awakening Stone and used it first. He was curious to see what skill an Order Guardian could awaken. After using it, he immediately felt a new change wash through his body. Clearly, this awakened skill was a passive one. He opened his attributes and saw a new skill listed among his abilities: [Heavenly Dao Myriad Phenomena: Can draw the power of Order from certain things and use it to strengthen various rules of Order.] Interesting. Seeing his new skill, Yu Xian could not help smiling. This ability truly was the mirror image of Chaos Myriad Phenomena—one pushed rebellion and deviation to the absolute extreme, while the other took adherence to rules just as far. Just then, a breeze blew in through the window. Closing his eyes, he mobilized the power within him and slightly amplified the wind. In an instant, what had been merely a gentle morning breeze turned into a howling gale, scattering everything in the room into complete disarray. "Not a bad power." Yu Xian opened his eyes, then took out the character enhancement stone to boost himself to +1. After reaching +1, the power within his body indeed became much more controllable. He immediately cast Forward Shield on himself, then reshaped it according to his will. Forward Shield was originally a standard V-shaped shield, but under his modification, it morphed into a flat, horizontal L-shape. It looked rather like a snowboard, except with a windshield attached to the front. Yu Xian stepped onto Forward Shield and tried to maneuver it. The shield promptly levitated and moved at his direction. With a thought, he drove the shield straight through the bed, slicing it neatly in two; because he had sharpened the edge of the "windshield," its cutting power had grown significantly stronger as well. "Pretty good." Yu Xian couldn't help but chuckle. He had taken an honest-to-goodness defensive skill and turned it into one capable of both offense and defense—and even granted it mobility. Naturally, only someone like him could pull this off so easily. This was not because he was cheating, but because his original realm was high enough. Even though entering the Zhen Realm had drastically reduced the potency of all his powers, he was still a Mighty One after all. Looking down from the height of a Mighty One, altering a minor skill at whim was child's play—something ordinary players couldn't dream of doing. For most players, reaching +1 would at most let them bend an attack's trajectory mid-flight or delay its release. Changing a skill's shape and function was not a matter of willingness, but an utter impossibility. Yu Xian adjusted Forward Shield into the shape of a floating chair, sat cross-legged atop it, and directly used the class enhancement stone. The shield, which had only emitted a faint golden glow, flared with brilliant radiance the moment he applied the stone. Its power had clearly received a tremendous boost. Yu Xian opened his attributes, first checking the changes to his class. [Name: Yu Xian] [Enhancement: +1] [Level: 1] [EXP: 50] [Class: Order Guard] [Skills:] [Forward Light Shield: Bestows a Forward Light Shield upon yourself and allies to block all frontal attacks.] [Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena: Can draw the power of Order from all things and use it to strengthen various rules of Order.] …… …… Guard? Yu Xian could not fathom why Order Guardian had turned into Order Guard upon being enhanced. "Guardian" sounded grand and imposing, whereas "Guard" gave off the feeling of a doorman. Since he couldn't figure it out, he didn't bother dwelling on it. Moving right along, he saw that Forward Shield had become Forward Light Shield. A single character difference might not seem like much, but Forward Light Shield made it abundantly clear that its light-elemental affinity had been amplified. Simply put, the shield was no longer limited to physical attacks; it now packed light-elemental damage. Smashing into enemies would hit harder, and it would prove even more potent against dark-element monsters. Yu Xian manipulated the chair beneath him—formed of the light shield—extending a small, sharp tip from its back. He then used Grand Dao Myriad Phenomena to amplify that tip. The golden light grew searingly hot. With a flick of his mind, a golden laser shot through the wall of the room, piercing straight toward the distant horizon. "Who says a meat shield can't deal damage? Looks pretty strong to me," Yu Xian muttered to himself as he shifted Forward Light Shield into full armor, enveloping himself completely and hovering in midair. Just as he was admiring his handiwork, the room door was swung open by an NPC. With a face dark as thunder, the NPC swept his gaze over the wreckage of the room, then looked up at Yu Xian and ground his teeth. "You don't go to the training hall to test your skills, and you trash the inn's property like this?! Pay up!" "How much?" Yu Xian touched down and produced a hefty stack of coin. Fortunately, if there was one thing he never lacked, it was money. If Ximen Wangcai could use the system to withdraw money stored in a previous run, Yu Xian naturally had ways to transfer his past wealth into this one as well. In fact, his method was far simpler. After all, he was here to accompany Zhang Buyao, not to suffer. Having settled matters with the NPC, Yu Xian stepped outside in high spirits. He walked over to Zhang Buyao's room, but just as he raised a hand to knock, the door opened from the inside. "Let's go. Time to keep leveling," Zhang Buyao said, blushing slightly at the sight of his face as she recalled the romantic mood between them the night before. Yu Xian smiled. "Let's go. I've got something cool to show you." Once they exited the inn, Yu Xian cast Forward Light Shield directly onto Zhang Buyao. As the shield morphed, he thoughtfully added handlebars. "Let's ride!" Stepping onto his shield, Yu Xian soared into the sky and zipped toward the city outskirts. "You can do that?!" Zhang Buyao stared at the light shield in sheer disbelief. Quickly stepping onto her own shield, she focused her thoughts, and the light shield instantly took flight according to her will. That was the beauty of modifying skills: Yu Xian was responsible for reshaping it, while the skill's inherent properties remained intact. Because Forward Light Shield could be applied to allies, ownership of this particular shield was truly transferred to Zhang Buyao, allowing her to control it as she pleased. A moment later, Zhang Buyao caught up with Yu Xian, who was hovering outside the city waiting for her. Together, they set off toward the Slime Plains. "Are we grinding slimes again today?" "No, we're going after other monsters. But we have to pass through the Slime Plains anyway, so we might as well run down a few slimes on the way." "Oh, by the way, I leveled up." "To what level?" "I'm Level 5 now!" Instantly, Yu Xian's light shield screeched to a halt. He stared at Zhang Buyao in utter shock. Level 5 already?!