Fling Trainers: the mainstay of single-player game modifications, built on a simple, no-fuss design that even a novice can use easily.
Because of its massive game library, rich features, and detailed instructions, Fling remained a pillar among trainers even in 2043. Countless clumsy players joined the "Fling Sect" every year, and even seasoned veterans would use it after finishing a game to try out different experiences.
As a hardcore gamer, Bai Shi was naturally a member of this vast community.
Sometimes, he used it to skip meaningless grinding. Other times, he would enable flight mode to explore.
Bai Shi knew Fling inside and out, so when the black panel appeared, he knew he was safe.
The Grafted Scion clearly couldn't understand what was happening. The sword that should have pierced flesh was instead hitting what felt like steel, unable to move forward even a fraction of an inch.
While his invincibility was still active, Bai Shi elbowed the Grafted Scion's sword, knocking it to the ground beside him. He then abruptly sat up.
Just as the invincibility ended, Bai Shi's command was triggered.
"Enable one-hit kill!"
'Function 10 - Super Damage / One-Hit Kill Activated (1 use)'
His weapons were already out of his grasp, so Bai Shi didn't bother picking them up and simply punched the Grafted Scion with his bare hand.
The Scion looked at the Tarnished in confusion. What could such a weak fist possibly do? It just saw it as a desperate, dying counterattack.
"Thud."
Bai Shi's punch was met squarely by the shield.
The next second, the body behind the Grafted Scion's shield exploded into a bloody mist, splattering across the entire ceiling.
With more than half of its body vaporized, this was an undeniable fatal wound for a twisted monster like the Grafted Scion.
It was deader than dead.
A golden energy drifted from the corpse and into Bai Shi's body.
"Is this... Runes?"
Bai Shi tried to sense it but couldn't tell where it had gone.
The crisis was over. Bai Shi had survived.
Looking at the gory scene before him, Bai Shi's heart pounded. That was a truly dangerous encounter.
In the Lands Between, various roars contain power. Some can temporarily enhance one's strength, some can intimidate enemies, and some can directly cause damage.
He was almost taken out by that roar. With other moves, Bai Shi could rely on his game knowledge to figure out how to respond.
Ultimately, Bai Shi was victorious in this struggle, and this experience would surely prove useful in the future.
Bai Shi also realized that his movements with this body felt completely natural. In fact, during combat, his mind would quickly analyze and decide on defensive and offensive strategies.
The only issue was that his own brain, lacking combat experience, sometimes couldn't keep up with the body's actions.
But the Grafted Scion was dead, the life-or-death crisis was over. He just needed to leave this isolated island, and then he would have all the time in the world to make himself stronger.
"The only problem now is how to get down."
Initially, he thought this would be easy after activating Fling—he could just fly away.
However, after examining the system, Bai Shi discovered that this version of Fling was incomplete.
First, let's talk about the functions. The available ones were: 1. Invincibility Mode, 2. Infinite Health, 3. Infinite Focus, 4. Infinite Stamina, 5. Zero Weight, 6. Invisible Mode, 7. Remove Status Effects, 8. Lock Enemy Position, 9. Rune Multiplier, and 10. Super Damage.
Compared to the original, many functions were missing. All the direct stat-editing functions were gone. Similarly, there were no functions to directly modify Rune count, level, or item quantities.
Most critically, there was no flight function, which meant Bai Shi couldn't fly away from this island.
Beyond the missing functions, Fling couldn't be used indefinitely.
Just like in the previous fight, invincibility only lasted for two seconds. One-hit kill had become a weapon damage multiplier combined with a fixed amount of super damage. The exact damage multiplier wasn't explained on the panel, and it was also limited to a single use.
Since his bare-fisted punch had a low base damage, the output was almost entirely from that fixed super damage value.
On the black panel, there was a five-bar blue energy meter. Two of the bars were now empty and gray.
That's right, the version of Fling Bai Shi had was limited by energy. Each time he used a function, one bar was consumed.
And currently, Bai Shi had no idea how to restore it.
If it could regenerate over time, Bai Shi would just need to find a safe place to hide, then use invisibility to find bosses and take them out one by one.
But if it didn't regenerate over time, that energy would be a very scarce resource.
...
The energy issue could wait. The most critical problem right now was how to get off this island.
Bai Shi took a moment to rest and, once he felt he was about 90% recovered, he walked over to the Grafted Scion's remains.
He was going to loot the corpse.
A pair of ceremonial straight swords, a beast-emblazoned golden shield, a huge blue peacock-feathered cloak, and some scattered noble trinkets—this was all the Grafted Scion had on him.
Bai Shi tried to wield the dual swords, but as he swung, the blades kept clattering against each other.
He felt like he was just a little short of something to perfectly handle these weapons, but he couldn't figure out what.
It had been so long since he played that he couldn't remember the exact stat requirements for these less common weapons.
The beast-emblazoned golden shield was much more straightforward: his Strength stat wasn't high enough. He struggled just to lift it, let alone use it for defense.
He wrapped everything in the cloak and decided to finish exploring the island first.
The massive statues of a Leyndell Knight and Marika stood here. Under their gaze, Bai Shi found a small piece of rope.
Other than that, there was nothing else of note.
After circling the area, Bai Shi reached the edge of the island.
There was a broken platform there. Looking out in the direction of the break, he could see an ancient castle whose outer walls were pockmarked with countless holes, eroded by "Death."
Bai Shi knew that was Stormveil Castle, the domain of the Golden Lord, Godrick the Grafted.
"Sigh."
"So in the end, I still have to jump off a cliff."
Bai Shi looked down. Layers of storm clouds swirled, and he couldn't even see the surface of the sea.
After thinking it over, Bai Shi decided to jump into the sea. With the invincibility cheat, he could time its activation to avoid dying from the fall.
He took off all his armor, leaving only his small pouch on his body.
He wrapped the armor and weapons together in the cloak, tied it tightly with the rope, and held one end of the rope in his hand so he could let go at any time.
This was a precaution, in case he failed to activate invincibility in time, fell unconscious upon hitting the water, and was dragged to the bottom by the weight of the armor.
Bai Shi took a deep breath, glanced back at the Chapel of Anticipation one last time.
Then, he and his bundled gear leaped off the edge and plunged toward the sea.