In the real world, humans can control their own strength to prevent their moves from becoming stale, but in games, every character’s attack method is fixed. Normally, when a player makes a move, there’s an attack wind-up, and after the move, there’s an attack wind-down. From initiating an attack to finishing the move, it usually takes about one second.

So how can you avoid wasting time during the wind-up and wind-down? This is exactly what professional players study. The game itself is rigid, but people are flexible. Many years ago, someone discovered that if you move your character slightly at the moment of attack, you can instantly cancel the attack wind-up. If you move again at the moment of finishing the attack, you can cancel the wind-down.

Taking a step as you strike is commonly known as kiting, which is the origin of hit & run.

There’s a tricky balance to this—you must move at the exact moment of attack. If you move too early, you can’t release the attack. In the youth training camps of major clubs, kiting is a required basic skill. If you can successfully kite 60 out of 100 times, that’s considered passing, while top professional players have a kiting success rate of over 90%.

What are the benefits of kiting? First, damage output. If you use the standard attack method with wind-up and wind-down, you can only attack once per second. But if you cancel both, you save time, and each attack only takes about 0.5 seconds.

Take ten seconds as an example: an average newbie can only attack 10 times in 10 seconds, while a high-level kiting player can attack 20 times in the same period. Even elementary school students can calculate the difference in damage.

Of course, kiting has its limitations—it can only be used with normal attacks. In the late game, when players have powerful ultimates, few people use basic attacks to deal damage. Imagine, if a player has the Six Meridian Sword that can instantly kill an opponent, who would bother studying kiting?

In the early game, especially on the first day of open beta when everyone lacks strong skills, kiting is extremely useful. This technique is basically the dividing line between ordinary and advanced players. For example, right now, Invincible Master has no idea how to kite. Against this kind of player, kiting is the legendary skill for crushing newbies.

After hundreds of years of player experimentation, kiting has evolved into a more advanced form: [timing-difference kiting]. Regular kiting is hard to use against slightly better opponents, but timing-difference kiting is different. This method requires excellent personal awareness and the ability to read the situation.

Simply put, timing-difference kiting means striking the moment the enemy is stiff or controlled, then moving away. When the opponent tries to attack you in return, you can dodge with slick movement. When neither side has skills, someone who’s mastered timing-difference kiting can absolutely control the whole match—this is the legendary “carry the team.”

At this very moment, Little Jack is shamelessly crushing newbies with timing-difference kiting.

Every time Invincible Master’s move ends and he’s left stiff, that sneaky, chubby black guy across from him takes the chance to kick him. And when Invincible Master recovers and tries to attack Little Jack, since Little Jack isn’t stiff, he easily dodges with graceful movement.

Invincible Master’s mighty ID is wasted—he couldn’t even take a single point of HP from Little Jack. Instead, after Little Jack’s fifth attack, Invincible Master let out a miserable scream and vanished in a flash of white light.

As Little Jack claimed victory, a pleasant system notification sounded in his ear:

“Congratulations on your victory. You are awarded 1 point of internal energy, 1 point of fame, 1 point of honor, and 1 tael of silver...”

“Congratulations on achieving [First Sword Duel Victory], you are awarded 1 point of fame...”

Volume 1 [006] Specializing in Low Blows

“Wahahaha, five wins in a row! Girl, you must be madly in love with your big bro by now, right?” In the game, Sophie proudly sent a private message to her bestie Dylan, unable to contain her excitement.

Five consecutive wins in the Sword Duel Arena is a pretty good record. If you can reach ten in a row, not only do you unlock a special achievement, but you also get extra generous rewards. All the experts in the Sword Duel Arena are aiming for ten straight wins—the reward is just too tempting.

“All right, pro gamer, I know you’re awesome.” Dylan replied, a bit envious.

“Hmph, just wait and see your big bro become famous! I have a feeling that after this summer, I’ll make it onto the main team.” Sophie was full of ambition. She was already half a pro—at twelve, she was selected for the Xingluo Club’s youth training camp in City C, joined the reserve team last year, and if she performed well this year, she might make the main team.

After five straight wins, Sophie’s mind was filled with sweet fantasies of fame and fortune.

Not all pro players are rolling in cash. Take a small club like Xingluo—the youth trainees only get 1,500 RMB a month for living expenses, and even after making the reserve team, the base salary is just 2,000 a month. That’s the basic treatment for fresh rookies. If you want a raise and a big contract, you have to make the main team and become a starter first.