Backhand Backstab! William Carter, relying on his own understanding of the backhand backstab skill, attempted to use it for the first time. However, before he could successfully execute the skill, he was interrupted by the desert beetle’s charge, which dealt twenty-three points of damage to William Carter.

William Carter quickly retreated, attacking the desert beetle with his dagger as he backed away. The dagger flashed with cold light as he slashed, and although these were just normal attacks without any skill bonus, the damage was still considerable. In the end, by kiting and fighting on the move, he managed to wear down the remaining 50% of the desert beetle’s health and finally exhausted it to death.

William Carter checked his own health—only 23% left, not even enough to withstand another charge from the desert beetle. He let out a sigh of relief, gathered up the loot, and waited in place for his health to recover.

After several consecutive failures, William Carter fell into deep thought, pondering why his backhand backstab skill had been interrupted before it could be cast.

Backhand backstab and backstab are two different skills. Backstab can only deal damage to a monster from behind, while backhand backstab is different. Backhand backstab allows you to leap to the monster’s flank when facing it head-on, delivering a backstab and then circling around to its rear. This not only deals damage but also helps avoid the monster’s attacks. It’s a very useful skill for rogues when dealing with monsters or melee players. With this skill, a rogue can stick to the opponent’s back and keep attacking. However, the skill is also demanding, as it can be interrupted during execution. This requires the rogue to have excellent awareness and agility, acting decisively at the right moment to successfully perform the skill.

Since the backhand backstab skill can be interrupted, timing is crucial. William Carter recalled that when he tried to use backhand backstab earlier, it was right as the desert beetle turned around to attack—wasn’t he just running straight into the line of fire?

Thinking again about the backhand backstab movement, he felt that this skill was something he could pull off!

Summing up the lessons from his earlier failure, William Carter was eager to test his theory. After recovering a bit, he continued searching for the next monster.

After mastering the technique for using the stealth skill, William Carter constantly reminded himself to follow the requirements of the stealth skill. Although his movements were still a bit clumsy and he didn’t feel much difference when moving slowly, his actions were standard and very precise. William Carter knew that if he kept following this standard, his body would soon form the habit. Once the habit was formed, he wouldn’t need to consciously remind himself and could perform the actions perfectly.

With a flick of his fingers, the dagger traced a perfect arc in William Carter’s palm before being gripped again. Whether it was a blade as thin as a cicada’s wing or a slender, sharp dagger, these hands could wield them with ease—this was a habit ingrained deep in his bones.

William Carter understood the power of habit. If you don’t form good habits at the start, it will cost you several times, even dozens of times more effort to correct them later. But if you form good habits from the beginning, everything you do afterward will be much more efficient.

He found another desert beetle. As usual, William Carter used standard stealth movements to sneak up beside the desert beetle, stunned it with a surprise attack, and dealt some damage with normal attacks.

The desert beetle screeched and turned to lunge at William Carter. William Carter took a step back, dodged, his pupils suddenly contracting—backhand backstab!

William Carter successfully dodged the desert beetle’s attack and completed the backhand backstab skill. However, his jump was a bit off, and he didn’t hit the beetle’s back precisely. Fortunately, the backhand backstab still dealt some damage to the desert beetle.

System: Backhand backstab skill completion rate 60%, dealt 67% skill damage.

William Carter was a bit stunned—there’s actually a completion rate for backhand backstab? Although he only achieved 60%, it was still a good start for William Carter. He now roughly understood the right timing and key movements for executing backhand backstab; he just needed to improve his timing and refine his actions.

After completing the backhand backstab, William Carter moved to the right rear of the desert beetle, gained the initiative, retreated while fighting, and finished off the beetle by kiting. Checking his health, he still had 65% left.

This battle went fairly smoothly, with much less health lost than before. Previously, when killing desert beetles, William Carter would always drop below 50% health.

Chapter 8: The Essence of Backhand Backstab

William Carter picked up the copper coins dropped on the ground. Besides the coins, he also found a piece of white-grade cloth armor. William Carter put it on. Although it looked a bit old-fashioned, it still offered some extra defense—much better than the newbie cloth shirt he was wearing. He’d just have to make do for now.

William Carter checked his gains. From morning until now, he had earned a total of thirty-one silver coins. Besides the thirty-one silver coins, he had also picked up two pieces of white-grade equipment for other classes. These things were worthless at the auction house—nobody would want them. Maybe he could sell them to an NPC for some money.

William Carter continued grinding these desert beetles, practicing the backhand backstab skill based on the feeling he had just found.

System: Backhand backstab completion rate 76%, dealt 87% skill damage.