Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World

"The trick is to use your eyes..." Ark explained.

"Use your eyes?" Olivia furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Yeah." Ark nodded and leaned on his glaive. "It is not that most players do not keep their eyes open, they do, it is impossible to swing your sword otherwise..."

"But there is a big difference between opening your eyes and actually seeing."

It was just like there was a difference between hearing and listening...

The brain processes millions of visual stimuli with each passing second, most players and humans in general ignore this information.

They only picked out what was needed at that moment, they never took out time to understand what they were seeing, they did not try to process it.

But more experienced players, players like Tristan, knew exactly what to do with this information, they knew how to filter what was important, they knew how to use this information to turn the tides of battle.

"When we fight, don’t just open your eyes, try to see what I am doing..."

Olivia gave him a dumbfounded stare. "Are you purposely trying to sound like one of those elite sages? Because you just said a whole lot of nonsense."

"Tch." Ark clicked his tongue and lifted his glaive. "Let’s hope you learn faster in battle."

Even Ark had not fully grasped the technique. There were times where lines would appear in his vision, and he would be able to predict the path of the blade, but sometimes it would fizzle away.

He already knew the feeling, now it was just to grasp onto it, and never let go!

Olivia smirked. "Now that is more like it, enough with the boring talk!"

She launched herself forward, just like she had done in the first fight. Ark waited, he took in every ounce of information, from the wicked smirk on her lips, to the way her axe drifted in the air.

’Come on...’

He tried to force his mind to comprehend her moves, but it was not coming to him, and he could not wait forever.

Bang!

Because he had waited for so long, he was too slow to react, and so Olivia’s axe bounced his glaive upwards.

Ark retreated back, but she was upon him like a rabid beast, chuckling darkly as she cleaved down.

He blocked again, but his glaive was almost sent out of his hands. Ark took two quick steps back, and then he leaned low as Olivia’s axe cut above his head, nearly taking it off.

He hooked his arm around her shoulder, and then he pushed his body forward, sending her flying into the air, and right toward the steel mat.

But her wings fanned out and propped her upward, then she spread out her legs, and suddenly spun around, the movement so fast that her body blurred.

And then Ark saw it.

Small wisps of smoke that cascaded through the air, the wind that was forced back by her kick, and the leg that was charging towards him.

He could trace the attack!

He easily blocked her attack with his forearm, and then Ark drove his knee into her gut, sending her flying back in the opposite direction.

Olivia wheezed and doubled over as she coughed out her lungs. And then she raised her gaze and glared at him as he slowly walked towards her.

"I only learned about this technique after almost dying in the hands of Tristan..." he thought out loud, his glaive sparking as it scratched the floor.

"Maybe we need to stimulate your death?" At that point where you feel your life is on the line, when you are absolutely sure that you were at death’s door...

Time would slow. And then just maybe, maybe she would understand what he meant.

Olivia got up with her arm wrapped around her stomach. "Now don’t get cocky, do you think you can simulate my death?"

Ark shrugged. "There is no harm in trying, right?"

Olivia frowned. "Alright then, let’s see what you’ve got."

"Haha, now that is the spirit." The spear tip of the glaive transformed into a curved crimson blade, and then the patterns on the staff shifted as the weapon fully transformed.

Something shifted in the air the moment Ark held the scythe.

This time Olivia did not rush forward as recklessly as she normally did. She waited, her green eyes boring into his own, she was trying to see.

’She is a better student than she seems.’ Ark thought.

But that was not the only reason she hesitated. A drop of sweat slid down her face as she watched him, because now she could sense it.

This was no longer an ordinary spar.

Ark was trying to kill her.

But Olivia had been at the other side of a blade far too many times to be afraid. She lifted her weapon, ready to strike when Ark appeared in front of her.

All this time, she had even the will to make the first move, but now, Ark had taken the liberty of initiating the battle.

His scythe whipped through the air, whistling like a siren as it sliced through the wind.

’Fast!’

Olivia immediately jumped back, the scythe slashing through the tender skin on her belly. It was not deep, but it stung harshly.

She launched her axe at his head, and Ark swung his glaive, both weapons clashing in the middle.

Bang!

A gust of wind blew past them, causing Olivia’s hair to billow back. She felt her fingers tremble from the sheer force behind the blow, and her knees nearly buckled as she tried to keep his scythe back.

’How is he this strong?!’ It was almost as if his strength had more than doubled in the space of a few seconds.

Maybe if that was the only change, Olivia would have been able to handle him, but his speed was something else entirely!

They broke off and then exchanged several blows, the sound of clashing metal filling the arena.

Olivia was forced to move faster than she had ever moved before, she could feel a fire burning in her bones, and a heat in her chest as her heart raced to keep up.

Clang!

Her lungs trembled.

Bang!

Her insides felt watery, her muscles ached from the pain.

Ark swung again, and this time she dodged, the weapon ricocheting off the alloy floor. He did not abandon the attack, the glaive screeched over the floor as he flung it at her face.

Olivia’s green eyes gleamed as she leaned back, the sweat she had left behind was split in two perfect halves.

’What is the meaning of this?’

She glanced at Ark, watching as his burning orbs stared at her with malicious intent.

She was sparring with her friend. So why did it feel like she was fighting for her life?

Soon a crowd began to gather around them.

— Who are those rookies?

— Damn, are rookies these days really that good?

— I’m next! I want to have a go with both of them!

Clash!

The area was filled with a bright light, as well as a wave of heat from the friction from their attacks.

Olivia tried to tank the blow, but her hands were flung back from the impact. She did not have time to use her secret art, she did not have time to think, and her axe was too far off course to do anything.

Ark raised his glaive, steam streamed out from between his teeth, the crimson blade shimmered in the light, and then he glowered down at her and said:

"Die."

It was one simple word, but it made all the difference. Necause in that very moment, Olivia realized.

That she was going to die.

And it was at that point that her eyes were truly opened.

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