Chapter 2: The Bouncing Twin Tails!
It was still the mechanical and cold system notification sound, but falling upon Luke's ears, it sounded like heavenly music, causing his eyes to widen instantly, an uncontrollable fiery passion surging in his heart.
Black Swordsman!
"I can't believe I actually drew Kirito's legacy!"
Luke was extremely familiar with Kirigaya Kazuto.
Black Swordsman, Strategy Demon, Sword Flash Bro, Tech Player, Harem King.
He once killed the system administrator as a player, violently hacked bullets with a light saber like crazy, one sword flash dealt 999 damage, had both bros and a harem, always flirted with girls even if he couldn't marry them—basically, flirt first, ask questions later.
Definitely a man laden with sin!
And now, he had actually drawn the legacy of the Black Swordsman Kirito!
If the system had a physical form, Luke almost couldn't have resisted holding it and kissing it fiercely.
So, although it's usually not obvious, I guess I am... the legendary Emperor of Luck or something...
While thinking random thoughts, Luke took several deep breaths of the cool night air, forcibly suppressing the volcano-like excitement erupting within him, then eagerly looked at the pale blue system interface.
The black humanoid silhouette was no different from before, the five-dimensional body attribute values hadn't changed either.
The only difference was that the Job Legacy section no longer showed "None," but instead displayed the four characters [Black Swordsman].
His gaze lingered on the Job Legacy section for a moment.
The humanoid silhouette representing Luke in the light screen quickly faded, transforming into an inverted tree diagram.
"Is this... the exclusive skill tree for the Black Swordsman?"
Eyes burning with anticipation, staring at the skill boxes hanging like fruits on the skill tree, Luke examined them carefully one by one.
[One-Handed Sword], [Dual Wielding], [Insight], [Balance], [Swift Reflexes], [Solo Player], [Strategy Demon], [Incarnate].
A total of eight skills.
The bottom layer consisted of [One-Handed Sword], [Insight], [Balance], [Swift Reflexes].
The second layer had [Dual Wielding] and [Solo Player].
The third layer only had the [Strategy Demon] skill.
The topmost fourth layer contained [Incarnate].
The pyramid-like arrangement of skills was very clear.
To unlock upper-layer skills, the prerequisite was to raise the level of the lower-layer skills by one.
Meaning, only when all bottom-layer skills reached level two could the second-layer skills be unlocked.
And to unlock the third-layer skill, all second-layer skills needed to be raised to level two.
However, regardless of which layer the skill was on, all skills only had five levels, from Lv.1 to Lv.5, corresponding to Rudimentary, Proficient, Mastered, Transcendent, and Grandmaster respectively. (Simplified levels used here)
And the only skill Luke could currently activate was one.
[One-Handed Sword]
Looking at the only skill box in a white, activatable state, Luke's excitement gradually calmed down.
"Oh well, even a thousand-story building starts from the ground. Better work hard step by step..."
Shaking his head, withdrawing his gaze from the skill tree, Luke was about to reach out and activate the [One-Handed Sword] skill, but just as his fingertip was about to touch the skill tree interface, his movement suddenly stopped.
"Hey, System..."
Retracting his hand, redirecting his gaze to the eight skills on the skill tree, Luke felt something was increasingly wrong, his brow furrowing.
"I remember Kirito should have more skills than just these, right?"
As a qualified otaku, Luke was quite confident in his memory regarding anime.
He hadn't seen any of Kirigaya Kazuto's gorgeous and complex sword skills on the skill tree.
He hadn't noticed earlier because he was too excited about drawing the [Black Swordsman] Kirito legacy.
But now that he had calmed down, Luke immediately noticed the discrepancy.
"Where's Vorpal Strike?"
Vorpal Strike, a single-hit super heavy slash, one of Kirito's signature skills.
"..."
The system didn't answer.
"What about Sonic Leap?"
Sonic Leap, a high-tier one-handed sword charging skill, also one of Kirito's signature moves.
"..."
The system remained silent.
"Horizontal Square? Deadly Sins? Nova Ascension? Double Circular? Starburst Stream? The Eclipse?!"
After rattling off several of Kirito's signature skills, as well as his ultimate and original skills, Luke couldn't help but feel a bit exasperated.
"Don't tell me none of these skills count as part of the [Black Swordsman] legacy?"
[This system aims to cultivate Job Legacy successors, not job clones. Therefore, the exclusive skill tree only contains the inheritance of core job skills. This system is not responsible for the inheritance of active skills. If the Host wishes to comprehend active skills, please rely on your own hard work and training. Do not daydream about achieving success overnight.]
"You said so much... are you just trying to cover up the fact that you can only pass down passive skills?"
[...Host can choose to refuse and forfeit activating the skill tree.]
Luke wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but the system's usually mechanical voice seemed to carry a hint of emotion now?
But whether it was his imagination or not didn't matter.
Luke was just complaining; he would never willingly give up the [Black Swordsman] job legacy.
Passive skills are still skills!
And what the system said wasn't entirely wrong.
Kirito's skills were indeed good, but ultimately they belonged to Kirigaya Kazuto, not him, Luke.
If he completely copied Kirigaya Kazuto's skills onto himself, perhaps it would feel great for a while, but at that point, would he, Luke Starr, still be himself, or just a job clone wearing Luke's skin?
Besides, Luke wasn't someone who belittled himself.
If Kirigaya Kazuto could do it, he didn't believe he couldn't do it better.
And now, having inherited the [Black Swordsman]'s passive skills, he believed that sooner or later he could create first-class sword techniques that could rival, or even surpass, Kirigaya Kazuto's!
...Okay, actually, the above was all just Luke comforting himself.
If given the choice, who wouldn't want to become Superman overnight!
This system is so damn unreliable!
What Job Legacy System? Might as well call it the Passive Skill Legacy System!
After the emotional rollercoaster, Luke completely calmed down.
Shaking his head and sighing, he simultaneously reached out and lightly tapped the [One-Handed Sword] skill box.
[Ding! Congratulations Host, successfully activated the [Black Swordsman] exclusive skill tree. Skill [One-Handed Sword] successfully activated, current level Lv.1. Please continue to strive and unlock new Job Legacies soon!]
[Detected Host has formally activated the [Black Swordsman] Job Legacy. Trial mission countdown commencing! Current remaining time: 59 days 23:59:54]
Two consecutive system prompts sounded.
At the same time, the skill box representing [One-Handed Sword] had turned from white to gold, with a small Lv.1 floating below it.
Additionally, above the [Black Swordsman] job legacy skill tree, a line of blood-red countdown numbers materialized out of thin air.
[59.23:59:46]
Staring at this suddenly appearing line of blood-red numbers, Luke subconsciously tightened his lips, his expression somewhat grim.
"It's here already..."
Although he had long prepared himself to face the trial missions and had come to terms with possibly dying, seeing that line of constantly decreasing numbers now, he felt an immense pressure descend upon him, like a large hand squeezing his heart, making it somewhat difficult to breathe.
Fear of death was one aspect, but Luke had died once already.
Although he cherished his life more now after being reborn, he had become much more accepting of death.
If faced with an unavoidable end, he might even be more composed than many elderly people.
Therefore, besides the shadow of death, what truly made Luke feel suffocated by pressure was the content of the unknown trial mission.
What kind of mission could possibly deserve the name "trial"?
The unknown is always the root of human fear.
"System, if I... fail the trial mission, what happens?"
Watching the countdown decrease second by second, Luke suddenly asked.
[If the Host fails the trial mission in any form, including but not limited to death, the system will automatically unbind itself and erase all traces of its existence, including the Host's memory and begin searching for the next host.]
"Is that so..."
Hearing the system's unhesitatingly cold voice, Luke nodded, but a smile appeared on his face.
If this system, aimed at cultivating Job Legacy successors, were compared to a teacher, it would truly be an utterly cold and strict one.
Although this strict teacher could indeed bring many benefits and conveniences to the student, the moment the student failed a single test, it would immediately give up on cultivating the student...
Truly worthy of being called a system, completely devoid of human warmth.
And Luke wondered whether encountering such a system was good luck or misfortune.
Sighing inwardly about his turbulent fate, Luke lowered his head and looked again at the already activated [One-Handed Sword] skill.
As his attention focused, a string of small text appeared below the skill box.
[[One-Handed Sword] Lv.1 (0/5000): Small increase in sword skill comprehension ability, able to use one-handed swords relatively proficiently;
Small increase in all attributes when holding a sword, small enhancement to combat intuition;
Small increase in evasion rate when attacked by sword skills, small increase in critical hit trigger rate when attacking with sword skills.]
"Why are they all 'small'?"
Looking at the description of the One-Handed Sword skill, Luke frowned slightly, muttering with some dissatisfaction.
But then, he glanced at the small Lv.1 behind the skill icon and instantly felt relieved.
Sigh, small is small.
What can I do when my skill level is only Lv.1?
Better level it up first.
Besides, although the skill description provided by the system indicated small increases and small enhancements, the actual effects would only be known once he truly got his hands on it.
Although he wanted to try out how strong this Lv.1 [One-Handed Sword] skill was, he was currently penniless.
Although he had a few hundred bills in his pants pocket, they had no market value in Orario.
Forget buying a sword, he couldn't even buy a green onion.
Since he didn't have a sword, he naturally couldn't trigger the [One-Handed Sword] skill effect, so he could only stare eagerly at the gleaming golden skill box, satisfying his craving through imagination.
I must get a sword as soon as possible...
Just as Luke was staring blankly at the skill tree interface, the figure of a loli with long twin tails and a large bust suddenly walked past the street entrance in the distance, instantly snapping him back to reality.
Hestia?!
Eyes widening at the petite figure and the pair of twin tails swaying back and forth behind her as she walked, Luke was 100% certain that this was definitely the virgin loli goddess he was looking for, Hestia!
After all, that signature boob ribbon, and the dress that looked like some kind of embarrassing play, revealing an extreme amount of skin...
In the entire Labyrinth City, only Hestia had such refreshingly unique taste.
What was that saying again?
Watching Hestia's bouncing figure and those floating twin tails, Luke suddenly remembered a phrase he'd heard before.
Twin tails are the best steering wh... Cough, no, no, it's 'Searched high and low to no avail, only to find it when least expected'!
He had been worrying about how to find Hestia and the white-haired boy Bell, and now she had delivered herself right to his doorstep.
Hahaha, isn't this fate!
Adjusting the suit on his body, then vigorously rubbing his somewhat stiff cheeks, the next moment, Luke put on a sunny and gentle smile like a friendly big brother next door.
Taking large strides towards Hestia, he shouted loudly, "Kami-sama, wait! Please wait a moment!"
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