Chapter 592 Stackable!

1. [Heaven-Turning]

Compatibility: 83.7%

Elements: Defensive counter, transition. Description: "Use rotation as the boundary of defense, and the fang's thrust as the spearhead of attack."

When using [Spinning Slash] to successfully block or parry an enemy attack, your next [Fang Hunt] will gain explosive startup speed.

2. [Howling Suppression]

Compatibility: 86.9%

Elements: Intimidation, pursuit. Description: "When the wolf howls, death descends."

When pursuing a target afflicted with the "Fear" status, your [Fang Hunt] gains a speed bonus, and the power of your next three [Spinning Slash] strikes is slightly increased.

3. [Hunting Arc]

Compatibility: 89.7% - 93.2%

Elements: Rhythm, linkage. Description: "Slash like the crescent moon, strike like a hunting fang."

You can execute the [Fang Hunt] - [Spinning Slash] combat technique combo with greater fluidity, gaining the ability to adjust its execution speed and rhythm to a certain extent. When you fully control the rhythm of battle, the power of both combat techniques will be enhanced to a certain degree.

Note:

An additional, suitable combat technique can be appended to bridge this combo.

Xia Nan leaned back against the soft sofa, cradling a steaming teacup in both hands.

He appeared dazed and absentminded, but a thoughtful gleam flashed through his pitch-black eyes.

'A battle posture?'

He was completely unfamiliar with the term.

He had never heard anything about it before, but the text on the Attribute Panel hovered right before his eyes—it couldn't possibly be some meaningless fabrication.

He fell deep into thought.

This was the reality of a self-taught background.

Compared to those with masterful mentors or deep family resources, Xia Nan had to grope his way down the path of an adventurer entirely on his own.

Even though he had spent a tremendous amount of time, energy, and money using various channels to acquire whatever transcendent knowledge he could, knowledge itself came with a threshold—especially in this strictly hierarchical world with a long history of genuine transcendent power.

An adventurer from a peasant family, even after acquiring a Class Level, would never have a way to touch high-tier knowledge unless they signed a contract witnessed by the gods, trading absolute loyalty for a chance to join a major faction.

Xia Nan only had his golden finger, the Attribute Panel, giving him the ability to make autonomous choices at several critical junctures in life. Where others faced crossroads relying purely on luck, he was able to find the path that suited him best.

Otherwise, his development as a Class Holder would never have been as smooth as it was now.

Judging from the panel's description, he could roughly guess that this so-called "battle posture" was a combat system derived when the proficiency of combining different combat techniques reached a certain threshold.

Earlier, back in the secret realm when he had transformed into a wolf, he'd had a vague premonition while combining [Fang Hunt] and [Spinning Slash]. Using the two combat techniques together felt increasingly seamless. At times, it even created the illusion that the two were inherently one, and unleashing them in a combo felt like executing a single skill.

He just felt like he was missing something somewhere, and had trained hard to bridge that gap.

It wasn't until his battle with the Bloodskin Shark Beast a few days ago that things changed. That overwhelmingly powerful enemy had pushed him to his absolute limits, forcing him to play every hidden card and wringing out his mind and body. In that near-desperate state, he finally fused the two combat techniques completely, satisfying the conditions to form this "battle posture."

Xia Nan's gaze swept over the hovering Attribute Panel again and again, his mind racing with thoughts.

But since it was a completely foreign concept to him, he really couldn't be certain.

It wasn't much of a secret, and the teammate beside him—who had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with him many times—was worthy of trust.

Xia Nan turned straight to Captain Lorraine, who was resting her injured leg and puffing out clouds of smoke beside him, and asked her about the concept.

"A battle posture? Why are you asking about that?"

She held a cigarette between the index and middle fingers of her right hand, tobacco smoke drifting from between her lips.

Lorraine looked surprised, clearly not expecting him to suddenly bring up the term.

But a second later, the black-haired young man's outstanding battlefield performance flashed through her mind, and a look of dawning comprehension washed over her face.

Without pressing further, she subconsciously tapped her ashes. She frowned slightly in thought and said, "I actually don't know that much about battle postures. After all, it isn't really something professionals at our Class Level should be thinking about."

"But since you're asking, I'll give you a brief rundown."

"Of course, I might not be entirely right, so just take it as a reference. If you want to dig deeper, you can look for other channels after we head back to Barracuda Bay."

First of all, what was a battle posture?

Simply put, it referred to a personal combat style unique to an individual, formed after they proficiently applied and seamlessly integrated several combat techniques they had mastered. It was a qualitative change triggered by the blending of different combat techniques.

If individual combat techniques were compared to independent musical notes, then a battle posture was the symphony created by weaving those notes together.

Take Xia Nan's mastered [Fang Hunt] and [Spinning Slash] for example. Before combining them into a battle posture, he certainly had plenty of experience using them in tandem. But ultimately, it was nothing more than using [Fang Hunt] to sprint first, then borrowing its momentum to drive his blade and unleash [Spinning Slash] to increase the skill's damage.

It was merely pairing them up for simple use.

But after truly executing the two as a "battle posture," the resulting effects were exactly what those three paths on the Attribute Panel displayed. It far exceeded the capabilities the combat techniques possessed on their own, granting additional bonuses.

Next, how was a battle posture born?

On the Aifala Continent, the number of combat techniques was as vast as a sea of stars in the sky.

But obviously, simply picking two random combat techniques and training them to max level didn't guarantee they could be combined into a battle posture.

Just like how taking up certain special classes required necessary combinations of combat techniques, a "battle posture" could only potentially form when some associative effect occurred between the skills. Then, it required massive amounts of repetitive training, countless high-intensity, life-or-death battles, and a crucial stroke of luck.

To some extent, luck definitely played a part in Xia Nan acquiring a "battle posture" at his current Class Level. After all, without any guidance, not just anyone would pick [Spinning Slash] and [Fang Hunt]—a pair with a definitive combo connection—as their first and second combat techniques when starting their professional path.

But on the other hand, it was also because he maintained his diligent, day-to-day training even after leveling them up to the absolute maximum, constantly striving to integrate them and improve his practical combat abilities.

That was what finally allowed him to use his journey in the secret realm as a wolf as the catalyst to truly forge them into a "battle posture."

"That's about all I know," Lorraine said. She cast a glance at Xia Nan, an odd look in her eyes.

"Anyway, if there really is a chance to combine combat techniques into a battle posture, it's definitely not a bad thing for us adventurers."

"It's just that a battle posture demands incredibly high proficiency in skill combination, rich combat experience, and perfect compatibility with one's fighting style. Adventurers at our Class Level basically have no chance of touching it, which is why it's rarely brought up in everyday conversation."

There was no doubt about it. Even with veteran adventurers like Lorraine, whose Class Level was already as high as Level 7, there wasn't a single person among all the adventurers on Stodd Island capable of mastering a "battle posture."

According to her, the only people who could train multiple combat techniques to the point of forming a battle posture were likely high-level practical fighters possessing both exceptional combat talent and abundant battle experience.

He mulled it over.

Following Lorraine's brief introduction, Xia Nan now had a solid understanding of a "battle posture."

Looking at the information on the Attribute Panel again, his considerations for his choice became far more comprehensive.

Honestly speaking, if he only looked at "Compatibility," the values for all three battle postures were quite high, generally hovering around 85%.

Even if he picked one at random, he wouldn't run into any issues adapting to it.

But that made sense. After all, the battle posture's very creation stemmed from Xia Nan's gradually coalescing combat style and his two highly proficient combat techniques.

With such a solid foundation, the compatibility of the resulting battle posture naturally wouldn't be bad.

Under that premise, what he needed to focus on were the specific effects of the three battle postures.

The direction [Heaven-Turning] focused on was similar to "defensive counterattack."

In actual combat, he would block first, then explode with power. Given Xia Nan's reaction speed and Perception attribute, triggering it wouldn't be difficult.

And as long as the block was successful, the instantly explosive startup of [Fang Hunt] would undoubtedly catch enemies off guard, perhaps even resulting in a one-hit kill.

[Howling Suppression] was undoubtedly a derivative of the [Fang Hunt] Feat [Night Mother's Gaze], and it would be exceptionally useful in group battles.

Xia Nan could already imagine the satisfying scene of facing weak monsters intimidated by the wolf howl, activating the battle posture, rapidly catching up, and dispatching them with a single sword strike each.

If he played it smart, he could even use fleeing weak monsters as "batteries" to strengthen his [Spinning Slash] before turning back to eliminate the main enemy on the field.

As for [Hunting Arc]—

To be honest, Xia Nan had initially been a little confused by this battle posture's explanation on the Attribute Panel.

What did it mean to adjust its execution speed and rhythm?

If it was just a matter of adjusting his force when using the combat technique, he could already do that.

Why did it need to be emphasized through a battle posture?

But soon, after getting the relevant information from Lorraine, Xia Nan gained a much deeper understanding of [Hunting Arc].

In real combat, this battle posture's specific effect might be similar to "change-of-pace dribbling" or a "Euro step" in his past life's football and basketball, or a "delayed strike" mechanic in video games.

From fast to slow, from slow to fast—using sudden shifts in rhythm to create timing discrepancies, thereby shattering the enemy's defensive predictions.

And as long as he used this to control the tempo of the entire battle, forcing his enemies to give up the initiative just to react to his moves, the power of both combat techniques would be buffed by the battle posture.

Thinking up to this point, Xia Nan's eyes lit up.

Although all three options on the panel were excellent and any of them could perfectly integrate into his combat system, if he had to choose one, [Hunting Arc] was undoubtedly the most to his taste. It was also the best fit for his current combat style.

Not to mention that, according to [Hunting Arc]'s description on the Attribute Panel, it had obvious room for growth compared to the other two. It stated that he could seek out another compatible combat technique to add to the combo.

He considered it carefully for another moment to ensure he hadn't missed anything.

His decision made, Xia Nan focused his mind and gently tapped the [Hunting Arc] option on the panel, confirming his choice.

Hum—

Of course, there were no physical changes to his appearance.

From an outsider's perspective, Xia Nan was simply sitting on the sofa, spacing out with a teacup in hand.

But from Xia Nan's own perspective, he could clearly feel that he had gained some indescribable, profound comprehension of [Fang Hunt] and [Spinning Slash].

His heart hitched with excitement; he was itching to grab his sword and practice right then and there.

But considering his current surroundings and his heavily injured physical state, he ultimately suppressed his surging emotions and sat quietly on the sofa.

And apart from the "battle posture," Xia Nan's biggest harvest from this fight was naturally [Gravity Control], which had finally reached Level 2.

It was hard to imagine that this combat technique was one of his foundational skills upon acquiring a Class Level.

Now, when [Spinning Slash] and [Fang Hunt] had long since maxed out, and even the latecomer [Ember Echoes] had caught up and advanced to Level 3, [Gravity Control] had finally accumulated 100 proficiency points through the secret realm's opportunities, pushing the digit next to its rank from a "1" to a "2."

Although he had long anticipated its slow progression speed, seeing its level actually rise still left Xia Nan feeling rather emotional.

'Finally... Finally...'

Of course, it was entirely foreseeable just how outrageously slow the progression speed of [Gravity Control] would become now that it had reached Level 2.

But obviously, now wasn't the time to worry about that.

With a combat technique of such high quality, the benefits brought by its level increase naturally far exceeded the norm.

Just going from Level 1 to Level 2, [Gravity Control] directly bestowed Xia Nan with another incredibly precious base attribute point—the kind of bonus many ordinary combat techniques only provided upon reaching max level. This pushed his already outstanding Perception attribute to an exaggerated score of 14, a height even many hyper-specialized transcendent beings might fail to reach.

Not only that, but alongside the combat technique's level-up, combined with [Heavy Tide] which had previously been raised to Level 5 Mastery, he had gained another precious associated Feat.

[Layered Waves]

Category: Feat. Effect:

After exerting a gravitational influence on an enemy, a brief gravitational vortex will be left on their body. This will provide you with continuous guiding feedback, granting traction to your next attack and slightly increasing your attack speed and Strength (stackable).

Description:

Stackable! Stackable! Stackable!

Note: "The world fears the squall and the gale, ignorant that true destruction comes from the waves—until they quietly drag you into the abyss, where you truly gaze upon that profound pitch-black."

—Sword and Water, Chapter Three Epigraph

"One, two, three—run before he counts to four."