A long time passed. The materials sat on the crafting table, yet the third SlashBlade never appeared.
Ronan Mountwell realized something was wrong.
The materials were right, and everything was placed correctly.
For there to be no reaction for this long, there was only one possibility: the crafting had failed!
But how was that possible?
"I clearly followed the prompts to make it. The Proud Soul Orb is here, the Lapis Lazuli Block is here... Why hasn't it worked?"
Given the current intensity of the Crisis, going out to obtain these materials now might cost several players their lives.
They were incredibly precious!
So why did the crafting fail?
The excited audience also realized something was amiss.
"What's going on? Where's the third SlashBlade!"
"They gave all the materials, so why hasn't it been made yet? Is something missing?"
"We can't see the specific interface, but Mountwell shouldn't be making such a rookie mistake!"
"Then why hasn't the SlashBlade appeared? Did it fail?!"
"How can this be? The Hunter skill is like the Book of Wisdom; it shouldn't give a wrong answer!"
"He already has the orb, what else could be missing from the recipe?"
"Is the SlashBlade mod really this difficult!"
At this point, the bullet chat finally realized how arduous it was to advance the SlashBlade tiers.
Even with the combined efforts of the Alliance, progress was incredibly slow.
It was truly mind-boggling!
"Mountwell's skill was even triggered, so why is the progress stuck?"
Outside the screen, Takeshi Sable was the most anxious.
They had indeed received aid from the Freedom Nation to help clear the lava.
But the worst-case scenario had still occurred.
This lava was of high quality; while it would cool over time, its cooling rate was significantly slower than normal lava.
He could feel the ambient temperature rising; much of the surrounding vegetation had been destroyed.
Oxygen levels were dropping, making breathing difficult. The small amount of aid from the Freedom Nation was barely helping.
And this was only after a short while!
He didn't even want to imagine what would happen later.
Since things had come to this, he could only pin his hopes on the SlashBlade. If they pushed the progress faster, they might get some National Luck rewards to counter the disaster.
He didn't ask for a return to peak condition, but at least get rid of this lava, right?
He never expected that even after triggering the skill, the SlashBlade still wouldn't be crafted.
'Calm down. The stronger the mod and the weapon, the harder it is to make!'
'This just proves that the strength of the SlashBlade isn't an exaggeration—it's incredibly powerful!'
Stabilizing his emotions, Takeshi Sable could only comfort himself this way.
It was true that progress hadn't been made, but if he didn't have progress, nobody else did either!
Within the Alliance, Mark had given full authority over the SlashBlades to them; the others were just waiting to reap the benefits.
Players who hadn't joined the Alliance were even less of a threat; they barely had time to deal with zombies, let alone study SlashBlades.
Galen Yu was indeed unexpected—his progress was neck-and-neck with theirs, and now he was also stuck at the third blade.
'Just stay steady for now. Once we survive and the strongest SlashBlade is created...'
It wouldn't necessarily be weaker than the gun mod. When that time came...
The leadership of the Alliance would shift from Mark to Oakmoor. Once they had progress, the National Luck rewards would naturally follow!
He settled his mind and continued watching.
On Sky Island, Galen Yu faced the zombies with his White Sheath.
The foggy weather was indeed annoying and had some impact on him.
Ordinary zombies were nothing; he was only afraid of those skeletons and zombies carrying guns.
With the fog blocking his vision, an arrow coming out of nowhere could have very nasty effects.
Now, with no obstructions, he could see the skeletons or armed zombies in advance and prepare.
Seeing a new skeleton spawn, he ducked behind a stone block and switched to the Tri-Bow.
There was no need to aim precisely; he just found the general location and let go.
Whoosh!
Nine arrows shot out, crippling the zombies while instantly killing the skeleton.
The main theme of the Crisis was still zombies. Even though skeletons had been buffed, they were still just supporting characters with very low health.
Once he confirmed there were no more threats, he switched back to the SlashBlade to fight.
With the strongest armor on him, Galen Yu didn't need to be as cautious as the Alliance players; he could boldly charge out.
Unless he encountered armed zombies, ordinary attacks dealt very little damage to him. And even if there were armed zombies...
If the caliber was small and the distance was far, the damage they did to him was even lower than an ordinary zombie's.
Switching to the Tri-Bow, it was just a matter of counter-sniping.
The bullet chat went a bit silent.
"Are you saying those are Crisis zombies?"
"Zombies with guns... I remember their damage being very high, able to kill a player in two hits, right?"
"What's with Galen Yu? He dives into a horde of zombies—is his gear so strong he doesn't fear bullets?"
"Is this the charm of enchantments? Hiss, that's a bit ridiculous!"
"It's been proven that enchanted gear and non-enchanted gear really aren't in the same league!"
From the Alliance's perspective, they could clearly see the horror of the zombies.
High damage, high speed, and massive numbers.
They appeared at any time; their bloody heads made it feel like a true horror game.
Switching to Galen Yu... clearly, Mark also had Fiery equipment and a battleaxe from the Twilight Forest.
But no matter how they fought, the visual experience was vastly different.
They knew very well that the only difference between the two was the enchantments!
They really wanted their own players to try enchanting too, but as soon as they started typing, the bullet chat stopped again.
Unfortunately, even after seeing it with their own eyes, they still didn't understand how the Enchanting Table was made, making it impossible to follow in Galen Yu's footsteps...
Enchanting had become a legend—something visible but unreachable.
As he continued grinding mobs, the White Sheath proved to have higher durability than the Marionette.
But both were entry-level SlashBlades, so the difference wasn't that great.
It was just a matter of killing a few more zombies; the durability was soon depleted.
It was just a matter of killing a few more zombies; the durability was soon depleted.
To the audience's surprise, when the White Sheath ran out of durability, it didn't shatter and disappear like a normal weapon.
Instead, it entered a broken state.
"Does this have something to do with the SlashBlade mod?"
Fries thought thoughtfully.
Having watched the Alliance's stream, the Marionette disappeared after shattering, but the White Sheath did not.
There seemed to be some logic in this that he didn't know yet.
"Wait, since upgrading the SlashBlade requires the previous one—using the Marionette to upgrade to the White Sheath—and the Alliance side consistently fails to make the third one..."
"If the crafting recipe is confirmed, and the White Sheath can enter a broken state, does that mean...?"
Realizing some key information, Fries's pupils constricted slightly.
As it turned out, his guess was right.
Looking at the broken SlashBlade in his hand, Galen Yu let out a soft sigh of relief.
"Finally ran out the durability!"
He had crafted a Marionette in his inventory beforehand and switched to it to grind mobs.
Some viewers thought he was just having fun playing with SlashBlades, using the Marionette just to practice since the White Sheath's durability was gone.
In reality, Proud Soul Fragments are obtained from broken SlashBlades.
The way to break them is simple: just use them until the durability is gone.
The Marionette had the lowest durability, so it quickly shattered into Proud Soul Fragments, which were then smelted into Proud Soul Orbs.
Returning to Sky Island, he took the materials for crafting.
"Blaze Rod, Proud Soul Orb, Lapis Lazuli Block, broken White Sheath, Coal Block, String, Gold Ingot."
One by one, the items were placed on the crafting table.
The bullet chat went from surprised to shocked.
"How does Galen Yu know the recipe for the Proud Soul Orb?"
"Mountwell has to rely on a bit of luck, but Galen Yu's movements are so smooth and practiced, it's as if he's done this thousands of times!"
"Is he actually going to make the third SlashBlade?"
"It's fake. Everyone is stuck at this stage; he must be bluffing!"
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