Chapter 5: Black and White Twin Swords
"Henry fell off the horse."
Helen’s comment through the stream was so familiar to the fans of KOG in particular and those who follow the tournament regularly in general. How many times have they heard this phrase in KOG matches already? With Henry’s strategy of using his reckless, aggressive playstyle as bait, how many times has he fallen for it?
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"Damn Ignis you dog!" Henry shouted.
"Handle it yourself." Seeing his team's ace in a dangerous situation, Jin coldly gave his orders, as he always did. "Split into two paths, I’ll tank for Joseph, keep pushing against the Summoner. Xylo and Drift will push the left flank, harassing the guards. Lana will stick close to me, watch out for the Snipers, occasionally buffing Henry."
The KOG team was built around the "Lightning Rod" strategy. In the 5v5 battlefield, Henry was the spearhead, disrupting the enemy’s formation, while the other four teammates would maximize the opportunities he created. KOG had a balanced roster, but with one key difference: everyone was mounted on horseback. Jin was the Tank Knight, Lana the Healer Knight, Xylo the Mage Knight, Joseph the Cavalier, and Drift the Archer Knight.
When Henry’s Paladin got trapped in the enemy’s encirclement (which usually happened), Jin, the Tank Knight, would lead the charge, becoming a second lightning rod to draw some of the enemy’s fire. Protected by him, Joseph would use his Cavalier to sweep through the front lines, while Lana followed closely to support the team.
The other flank would be handled by either Xylo or Drift, alternating for professional tournaments, though both were fighting together now. They would circle around the battlefield, using long-range skills to harass the opponent.
As for Henry, well, Henry took care of himself.
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In Valia, after completing the main quests at the castle where players registered their residence, they would quickly reach level 80. At level 80, each character would have 1600 stat points. These 1600 points could be freely allocated into 4 categories: Vitality, Intelligence, Agility, and Endurance. Each category had 4 stats, totaling 16 types:
Vitality: HP, Power, Strength, Stamina
Intelligence: Mana, Magic Power, Cast Speed, Focus
Agility: Speed, Reflex, Attack Speed, Critical
Endurance: Defense, Magic Defense, Resistance, Recovery
Each Class had one or more "standard" stat distribution methods, allowing players to allocate points to fit their personal playstyle or optimize based on gear and skills.
Among these, there was a group of Classes that followed an extreme stat allocation, completely neglecting Speed—these were the Classes that used mounts. The simple argument for this approach was: since they had a mount, why bother with running speed?
With 1600 points evenly distributed across 16 stats, that would average 100 points per stat. Ignoring Speed completely, players would have 100 extra points to allocate elsewhere. If those 100 points were added to offensive stats, the resulting damage output would far exceed that of walking Classes, while the mount would "carry" the character’s speed.
Run fast and hit hard, but this style comes at a cost. First, the number of skills that work well with mounts is limited, making up about 20% of all the skills in Valia. Second, fighting while mounted is a skill in itself, requiring high expertise. Finally, the critical weakness is the risk of "falling off the mount"—with no speed points added, the character is essentially a stationary target for the enemy.
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This fully mount-dependent playstyle is called Full Mounted. It’s a style that professional players like Henry would never choose. To be prepared for all potential situations, the Half Mounted playstyle was created: it allows one to be strong on horseback while still capable on foot.
The Paladin is a Class designed for this playstyle. The Paladin’s mount-to-foot ratio is 50/50, creating a balanced character build. The downside is that neither playstyle is overly powerful, but the advantage is flexibility in all situations. At the same time, the Paladin’s strength almost entirely depends on the skill of the player.
The Paladin is one of the most difficult Classes to master in the game.
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"Leave it to me!"
Henry shouted to his teammates as if he were truly standing on a vast battlefield and they were running far away, rather than all sitting together in a gaming room. He rolled his mouse to switch weapon sets. Stowing away his signature shields to lighten his load, he was now left with only two Long Swords in his hands.
"Henry's using Dual Blades!"
Not far away, Helen exclaimed excitedly.
"Black and White Twin Swords!"
"Hey, it's a Mystic Item!"
"Mystic Item!"
"A Mystic Item paired with a Rare Item, the most unbalanced combo in Dual Wield history :))"
The twin swords Henry wielded in professional tournaments were already well known. They had a similar cross-shaped design, one black and one white, yet their ranks were as different as heaven and earth.
Right hand:
Xaltheon Lucis, Long Sword, Mystic Rank +10, Holy Attribute
Stats: Power +150, Magic Power +50, Attack Speed +50, Critical +10, Defense +15, Magic Defense +15, Resistance +5, Recovery +5
Skill Upgrade: Valiant Heart +2
Mystic Effect: When Valiant Heart reaches 25 stacks, activates Radiant Spirit, multiplying all stack effects by 1.5x and adding 20% Holy damage to attacks.
Legendary Effect: Increases Holy damage by 30%. Holy attacks have a 3% chance to reduce the opponent's Power, stackable.
Left hand:
Devil Sword, Long Sword, Rare Rank +90, Dark Attribute
Stats: Power +100, Magic Power +20, Attack Speed +20, Critical +10
Rare Effect: 2% chance to reduce the opponent's Attack Speed. Each successful attack has a 10% chance to convert the opponent’s debuffed stats into self-buffs for 5 seconds.
In Valia, the most basic gear is Common, followed by Uncommon, Rare, and Epic. Regular players strive to grind a full Epic set from farming spots, dungeons, bosses, or purchasing from the market. This marks the boundary between casuals and pros. Beyond this, items with overwhelming effects belong to the Majestic, Legendary, and Mystic ranks.
For an Adventurer, Mystic gear is the pinnacle of the game—ultra-rare treasures. Among 100 million Valia players, only 127 Mystic items have been recorded, of which only 24 are weapons.
Like all RPGs, high-tier weapons are the most coveted. Mighty Summon Relics have only 8 recorded pieces, while Mystic weapons number just 24—making them equally rare.
Henry wields Xaltheon Lucis, a Mystic-rank sword that 100 million players dream of owning. Yet, he pairs it with a mere Rare-rank sword—the unimpressive Devil Sword.
Lower-ranked weapons are much easier to upgrade. Xaltheon Lucis took an immense amount of money and time to reach +10, while Devil Sword easily hit +90, bringing decent stats in return.
A standout feature of Valia is that low-tier weapons, when heavily upgraded, can still hold up in raw stats. The main drawback is their lack of powerful effects. Compared to Xaltheon Lucis’s overwhelming buffs, Devil Sword only had a simple debuff transfer effect.
Yet, despite the existence of far superior weapons, Henry insisted on using this Rare-rank sword.
Raising the unimpressive Devil Sword to shoulder height, he pointed it straight at his opponent.
"Ignis, people say you're the mastermind behind all of Zephrania’s dirty tactics, huh? Even resorting to sneaky ambushes?" Henry sneered. "I’ll cut you down—then I’ll take out that Summoner hiding behind you!"
The Summoner stood atop a small hill. The slope behind it conveniently blocked the KOG team’s line of sight, as they had rushed in from the East without scouting properly. If they had circled around to the West Gate before attacking, they would have spotted Ignis Flamma lying in wait.
As Henry charged toward the Summoner, a blinding red blade suddenly filled his vision.
He wasn’t just knocked off his mount—he went tumbling down the hillside.
Now, looking up from the foot of the hill, he could only see the red-cloaked swordsman standing tall, his cape billowing in the evening light.
"Forget those small fry. Keep pushing the siege."
Ignis Flamma didn’t even bother replying to Henry—instead, he turned and gave orders to the Summoner.
"They won't even get close to you, so don’t worry."
"Son of a b*tch!"
Henry gritted his teeth at the sheer disrespect.
His Paladin class only had +50 Speed—not much. And his heavy armor made him slower than many other classes. Running wouldn’t help.
But Ignis Flamma was blocking his path to the Summoner, forcing a one-on-one fight.
And in a duel—Henry feared no one.
He charged forward.
