Exceeding Ultimate Mode

"Scabbard?" Han Sen was unsure what he meant. Qin Xuan was only seeking to learn a new sword skill; it wasn't as if she was being melted down and reforged into a blade herself. What scabbard?

"The most important aspect of Empirical Sword lies in the ruler's heart. If there is no heart, there can be no sword. But this heart..." Qin Taixuan sighed and then continued to say, "The absolute power is dependent on the heart. If the heart sinks, so too does the power. She needs a person to keep her feeling as if she were in danger. She needs a person who gives her purpose to proceed and strive ever forward, not to remain where she is and be content. Only that can sharpen the sword, the sword that will be sheathed inside the scabbard you will embody."

"Why me?" Han Sen asked with confusion.

There were many elites in the Qin family, so Han Sen did not understand why Qin Taixuan wanted him to be the scabbard. He was an outsider, and no one else in the Qin family even knew about him.

"If you do not know the heart, how can you be the scabbard?" Qin Taixuan said, while staring at Han Sen. He continued, "Tell me your name, kid. I can only suppose you are someone special."

Qin Taixuan believed Han Sen to hail from a big family, if he indeed possessed such wisdom. The kid intrigued him very much and so, he wanted to confirm his identity before allowing him to become the scabbard.

Han Sen hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I am Han Sen. I am a subordinate of Team Qin. Now I am Captain of the Special Squad. If I can help Team Qin, I will do whatever I am able to."

"You are Han Sen?" Qin Taixuan looked at him in a strange way.

Qin Taixuan had heard Han Sen's name before, but not through his achievements. It was because he was the son-in-law of Ji Ruozhen, and had a blood relation with the Luo family.

"Yes. If you need me, give me a call." Han Sen nodded, as there was nothing else he could say. And there was nothing else he could do to prove he was indeed Han Sen.

"Have you joined the Luo family?" Qin Taixuan wore a serious look.

"My surname is Han, not Luo," Han Sen replied.

Qin Taixuan's expression was complex, and after a brief time of silence elapsed between the two, he said to Han Sen, "Qin Xuan will be depending on you."

"What should I do?" Han Sen was not sure what was needed to be a good scabbard.

"Spend time practicing with her. Beat her, but not too harshly," Qin Taixuan said this and prepared to leave.

"How can I contact you?" Han Sen asked.

"My name is Qin Taixuan," he answered.

Han Sen was shocked, and in his heart, he thought to himself, "The demigod Qin Taixuan? It is no wonder he is so powerful. I am afraid he already went easy on me. If he didn't, I wouldn't be standing here with a modicum of health remaining."

"Old Qin, there is something I must ask." Han Sen felt embarrassed.

"What is it?" Qin Taixuan looked at Han Sen.

"Qin Xuan does not know who I am; could you please not tell her? If you told her, I can only suspect she will become mad." Han Sen bore a wry smile.

"Okay." Qin Taixuan nodded.

"Thank you, Old Qin." Han Sen was now beaming with happiness.

After Han Sen departed, Qin Taixuan looked puzzled. He thought to himself, "I hope he does not join the Luo family. A person like that, joining them? It would either be the luckiest thing or the worst thing for the Alliance."

"Great Grandpa, what were you doing with my coach?" Qin Xuan finally saw him return and asked the question as quickly as possible.

"Nothing. I was just testing him. I wanted to see if he was sufficiently qualified to teach my cute, great granddaughter. He is alright." Qin Taixuan smiled.

"Why would you not allow me to see?" Qin Xuan looked as if she didn't entirely trust what he had to say.

Qin Taixuan merely squinted and said, "Do you want to stand around here all day chatting, or do you want to come home with me so that I can show you the true Empirical Sword?"

"I can learn it?" Qin Xuan looked surprised, not expecting to be allowed to learn it so soon.

The Empirical Sword she had previously learnt was just a skill. The hyper geno art was forbidden from the family, and without Qin Taixuan's permission, she wouldn't even be allowed to look upon it.

"Remember this; to not fight is the most oppressive thing you can do. To learn this without heeding that will only harm you," Qin Taixuan said, with an unreadable expression.

...

Han Sen practiced with Qin Xuan every day, and when he wasn't practicing, he spent his time playing Hand of God. Playing Hand of God actually aided the training of his perception.

And especially so, since he was going up against bots. Highly-advanced AI posed a far greater challenge to him than humans did. The primary reason for this was because of the AI's reaction speeds, which far exceeded that of ordinary humans. The AI always knew when the next lightspot was to appear.

With AI as your opponents, you would need brilliant abilities of perception. You would have to accurately predict where the lightspot was before the AI itself became aware, and then react before they did.

Han Sen chose to compete against the hardest level of AI, one which other humans had great difficulty going against. In the beginning, Han Sen's success rate was low, only managing to get two lightspots out of every hundred. And even those times were through guesses.

But as Han Sen became more powerful, the number of lightspots he managed to obtain increased. After all, the AI was programmed and scripted, adhering to rules established by the creators. Over time, Han Sen began to get a feel for the AI's rhythm, and as he did, his success rate grew.

After two months of constant practice, Han Sen's perception with his dongxuan aura only continued to improve. By that time, it had almost wholly caught up with Jadeskin's eighth sense.

"Congratulations! You have beaten Hand of God's super mode." After getting the final lightspot, the announcement played to congratulate Han Sen.

At the same time, the whole community of Hand of God played the announcement.

"Evolver-class player 'Win A Girlfriend' is now the first player to complete super mode and has been granted the title 'Hand of God.'"

The announcement played three times across the entire community, and brought everyone to a standstill.

"Holy smokes! Is that for real? An evolver finished super mode?"

"Who is that powerful? They must be cheating; how can an evolver finish super mode?"

"He must have been single for fifty years, willing to do anything to win a girlfriend."

"I don't think the system can make mistakes. But I'll echo your sentiments and ask how an evolver could possibly pass this difficulty?"

Many people believed the feat to have been impossible. A lot of the professional Hand of God players went to search for the identity of the player only known as "Win A Girlfriend." They added him as a friend and invited Han Sen to play many times, to see how good he truly was.

When Han Sen saw the first request, he accepted it. But later, the friend request tone was like a fire alarm. Unable to cope with the number of requests he was suddenly receiving, he simply decided to turn on his "busy" status.

The only person he accepted sent him a match request. "Player 'God's Third Hand' has sent you a match request. Will you accept?"