Chapter 88 - 30% Aggro

Cheng Xiu looked down as the Qi Root slowly wound itself around her ankles.

The tendrils of the Qi Roots touched the back of her hand and twisted around her wrist. The bright jade bracelet looked even more luxurious against the black background.

Dark Phoenix eyes looked at the cowering Frost with cold eyes. "I don't like the feeling of being helpless when the ones that I care about are hurt. And I don't like those who make me helpless in such situations."

Frost frowned and jumped to her feet. Her face held the grim realisation that Cheng Xiu broke away from her Illusion. "You really are skilled, SelaXiu."

Cheng Xiu raised an eyebrow. "Were you expecting otherwise?"

"Considering the fact that you were are supposed to be a rookie, yes."

Frost closed her eyes. The air around them turned colder and colder until mist started to form around Frost's body. The mist entered Frost's skin, turning it snow white. Her hair turned completely silver and her lips turned into pure blue colour.

Frost opened her eyes and revealed a pair of golden eyes.

"I admire you," Frost stated, mist appearing with each breath that she took. "It takes a lot of power and intelligence to break through the illusions that I create. Can you tell me how you were able to do it?"

Cheng Xiu frowned.

The Qi Root around her wrist tightened its grip almost like it was responding to her ire at the Immortal.

Cheng Xiu sighed and patted the tendrils with her other hand.

"Go. Take a few minutes of break."

The Qi Roots seemed to hesitate.

Cheng Xiu's lips held a soft smile that was hidden behind the mask that she wore, but the Qi Roots losened its grip. It was able to understand her intentions through the Qi connection that they still shared.

The roots dug into the ground and disappeared. The only signs that it even existed was the shredded and cut of pieces of roots around her and the long lose soil trails.

Cheng Xiu's eyes flashed. She looked up at Frost.

Frost looked at their surroundings in disinterest. Seeing the look that Cheng Xiu's eyes held, Frost frowned. "This is a match. If you did not want your pet to be hurt, you should have kept it in your storage ring instead of bringing it out. Do you not expect me to attack your pet in retaliation?"

Cheng Xiu glared. "Forgive me, Ms Frost. I am not a logical person when it comes to those I care about. And I do not care whether it attacked you first, or my Spirit Pet attacked you first, the thing is, I only care about the fact that you have hurt my Qi Root and so, I have to retaliate."

Frost nodded. "Very well then."

Thin layer of ice covered the entire skin of Frost as she moved forward, even her feet left behind indentaitons of her icy footsteps.

Cheng Xiu bowed her head and concentrated. Six sword copies started to circle around her, and she summoned the black flames once more.

The black flame engulfed both her arms, burning away the hem of her clothes.

Frost leapt at her.

Cheng Xiu side stepped her.

Frost created an ice pole and used it to manuevour in the air, and kicked Cheng Xiu, ice blades following the attack.

Cheng Xiu raised her leg and met Frost's in mid air.

Frost smirked, expecting Cheng Xiu's leg to be peirced by the ice blades.

Black Flame burst out from her legs, burning away her shoes and parts of her pants.

The flame consumed the Qi in the blades, weakening their momentum.

Frost frowned. The circles had not appeared. She wanted them to appear so that she could put the white-robed girl in a stronger illusion.

"You must be wondering why your magical circles have not appeared," Cheng Xiu said in a clam voice, her eyes flitting to her barefeet and then back towards her enemy's face. "The answer is simple. I let the flames consume your spell."

Frost glared as she understood what she had done and what she had figured out. "You realised it?"

Cheng Xiu smirked. "Your illusions and your ice powers are those that you had even when you were in the real world, but powers like that are not stable enough for a person to use unless they become proficient in all aspects of their Manifestations. For you that should be wind, water, and sound, correct? In the real world, you need that level of understanding of your own powers to fully utilise it. But you are not an S Rank, so I can safely assume that you do not have that level of control. How am I doing so far?"

Frost glared. She felt like she was becoming even more aggressive than she should at such comments. What she said was the truth, so why was it irritating her so much?

Frost leapt at her with an ice sword that turned into a lance at the last second.

Cheng Xiu used her Ghost Flame as a shield, and attacked Frost with a fire whip.

Cheng Xiu had finally become efficient enough in her power that she was able to project the flame from her hand. But because of her limited Qi capacity, she could only use a short whip.

"I guess I am on the right track," Cheng Xiu commented as she dodged another thrust from the ice lance.

Cheng Xiu looked at the words that floated above her head briefly.

The words were in a flaming red colour. [Title: Aggro Queen. (Player has a 30% chance of gaining aggro of the players around her.)

Cheng Xiu had activated that title.

Titles remained passive and excerted their will on the player and their environment, but once active, the effects could really be felt.

Cheng Xiu activated the title because she had realised that it was the only real advantage that she could have against Frost's illusions. The woman was too calm. It was only if her emotions were unstable that Cheng Xiu could win against her.

Cheng Xiu had figured this out at the last moment, just before she fell into the illusion. Frost's words had triggered the memory of her mother speaking to her about stability in emotions and Cheng Xiu had realised that Frost used that method of fighting. And Cheng Xiu just happened to have a title that affected the emotional stability of the opponent.

"Here is what I realised," Cheng Xiu said, her heart beating in excitement as her plan took shape, "the Other World follows the rules of the real world when it comes to its power usage and but there are ways to circumvent the obstacles that we face in the real world because in the end, this is a game world. You are using a witch's spell to circumvent the obstacle of having to learn more about your skills to use it together. In the Other World, you can use ice to supplement your Illusions and vice versa."

Frost glared, her face twisted in a sneer. "That is not that big of a guess!"

Cheng Xiu grinned. 30% aggro was too OP.

"But if you are able to use both your skills together only by the use of a spell, that means that as long as I keep preventing you from using said spell, I am in all clear."

Frost gasped.

Cheng Xiu tilted her head.. "And the Ghost Flame is specially skilled against spells."