Chapter 81 - A Hypothesis

Star Phoenix looked at the fight that was going on far away from them. Blue and white robes intertwined as both the women fought against each other at high speed.

"They are far from the woods now."

Long Hei followed his eyes. "Yeah. Frost must have realised that Sela-Cheng Xiu has figured out her plan."

San Zhe made a weird sound at the back of his throat.

Star Phoenix slapped Long Hei's head. "Shut up. Keep calling her SelaXiu. That is who she is in the game."

San Zhe looked up at him in surprise. "You are not going to reveal to the other Immortals about sister Xiu?"

Star Phoenix snorted. "Do I look like some kind of a goody-two-shoes that I will reveal this level of secrets to those idiots?"

"But you revealed the fact that you suspected sister Cheng's identity."

"Only after I heard the news that SelaXiu has been doing missions for a long time in the game."

"Oh."

Star Phoenix smiled. "come on. The interesting bit is going to start soon!"

San Zhe frowned for a second before he realised what he might be implying. "Frosted Limbs?"

Star Phoenix laughed. "Hopefully, yes."

San Zhe looked at the two female fighters in excitement.

Cheng Xiu tilted her head, barely missing the ice blade that went past her cheeks.

Frost looked at her with calculating eyes.

"You figured it out."

Cheng Xiu blinked in confusion until she realised what the woman must be implying. "It was rather obvious."

"I hoped otherwise."

"Sorry to disappoint you?"

Frost put her right foot forwards. "I did not have many skills when I was at this level you see, so there isn't much I can do."

Cheng Xiu smiled. "The Arena System declared you as my fifth opponent. I think we can both agree with the fact that it would be a crazy thing in itself if what you said is true. If you have no skills, then what about the experts until now that I fought? Were they toddlers?"

Frost gave her a nod. "I understand. I would be insulting my colleagues if I said that I do not have any skills. The Arena System seems to think that I have a higher chance to defeat you than EverHill and Crow did. But...I suppose that is the speciality of the Arena. It looks at an opponent's differently than we do."

Frost waved her hand, and two ice draggers flew towards Cheng Xiu.

Cheng Xiu bent her knees, ready to move to the sides. She was impressed by Frost's accuracy in attacking her vitals but something told her that this attack was different from the others.

The ice turned into water, and tried to wrap around her.

Cheng Xiu jumped away. "You can use water as it is?"

"It is the basis for ice, so obviously I can."

Cheng Xiu shrugged. "Some games don't have that mechanism."

Frost nodded. "That is true. But this is the basis in The Other World. Water and Wind make Ice."

"Understood," Cheng Xiu said as she manoeuvred the sword copies to hit Frost in the heart and the neck simultaneously.

Cheng Xiu was not surprised when the Ice Shield appeared once more, protecting Frost from her attacks.

Frost quirked her lips briefly before it once again returned to the stone-cold face it was before.

Frost closed her eyes. When she opened them, her blue eyes held a hint of deeper blue, and vapour seemed to come out of them. The tip of her hair turned white and sliver, while her lips turned blue.

Cheng Xiu frowned. She tried to think of a reason for the changes she saw in Frost.

Qi Manifestations were not as predictable as the variables of the machines, which made it difficult for her to comprehend. But she could guess that perhaps the expert in front of her could channel her ice power even through her own body.

And that was a surprise. She had heard of instances where Qi Manifestations would act internally but those were special skills like body strengthening, super speed, x-ray vision, and the likes that would change the Physical nature of the user, but this was the first time that she saw someone use Ice powers, a Qi Manifestation that should only have functions like a projector.

Cheng Xiu's eyes glittered in excitement at having found something so profound about Qi users. Was it a common thing that all Qi users could do? Or was Frost just that special?

Disregarding the sword clones that still fought against the frost blades, Frost jumped high into the air and extended a fist towards Cheng Xiu.

Cheng Xiu ducked.

A pale fist brushed past Cheng Xiu's cheek making her hiss in pain.

Cheng Xiu raised her hand, and gingerly touched the wound.

The place was cold, and a few splinters of ice was lodged into the skin.

There was no blood though. The ice had frozen it from flowing.

Cheng Xiu looked away from her fingers towards Frost who launched another fist at her.

Cheng Xiu stepped to the side, and used her sword to shield herself from the attack touching her skin.

The pale limb and the broad blade collided. A twanging sound echoed in the air.

Cheng Xiu's eyes widened when the ice started to coat the sword blade.

Cheng Xiu frowned for a moment in thought. "You can use such powerful skills even though you are at a Level 10 restriction?"

Blue lips tilted up briefly. "All skills are restricted to Level10 in the Arena. No exceptions."

Cheng Xiu frowned. Did that mean that Frost's attack was even more powerful than what she had witnessed? It was a possibility. But another hypothesis crossed her mind. A hypothesis that was substantiated by her experience this time in the White Room where she had met the Master.

"So what you are using is not a skill at all," Cheng Xiu said. Her voice held confidence that her heart did not. She was not sure if she was right, but it was a hypothesis that she thought could be the truth. "You are applying fighting techniques that you learned in the real world to the Virtual Reality of the Other World."

Frost smiled softly. Her entire face mellowed at the gesture. "Just like how you keep on learning to use Qi Burst, and Qi Absorption."

Cheng Xiu blinked. "You....knew?"