The grim cycle established at the end of the previous chapter became Drake's entire reality within Legacy of Alvari. Enter the Unbeatable Guardian's chamber. Brace for the opening attack. Use [Perfect Recall] to distinguish the telegraph – was it the instant-kill overhead smash (~425 damage) or the barely survivable standard jab (~330 damage)? If it was the smash, accept death. If it was the jab, execute [Defend] with the painstaking 94% SCR timing he had finally locked through hundreds, possibly thousands, of prior deaths.
CLACK! << Skill Success! SCR 94%! Damage Blocked: 250! >> << Damage Taken: 175! HP: 35/210 >>
Surviving the first standard hit, left critically wounded but alive, was the new starting line. But survival meant little if he couldn't progress. The Guardian didn't pause; its second attack, often a swift horizontal sweep (~380 damage), followed fractions of a second after the first impact. His goal shifted from merely surviving the opener to the infinitely more complex task of surviving the opener, landing a single attack, and surviving the immediate follow-up.
"Okay, 94% Defend holds against the jab, leaves me with ~35 HP. Perfect Recall analysis shows maybe... three-tenths of a second between my block recovery and the start of the sweep telegraph. Is that enough time for a 90% SCR Basic Slash? And crucially, can I execute that slash and recover mentally and physically in time to execute another high-SCR Defend against the sweep?"
He began the next phase of the grind: the synchronization nightmare.
Attempt 1 (Focus Attack): Enter. Standard Jab opener. Block (94% SCR). HP ~35. Immediately initiate [Basic Slash] (90% SCR). << Skill Success! SCR 90%! Damage Dealt: 5! >> (Still negligible vs boss HP). Guardian starts sweep attack. Drake tries to activate [Defend]. Too late. Attack animation locked him for a fraction too long. << Damage Taken: 380! >> << You have died! >>
Respawn. Recall. Analyze. "Attack landed, but defense failed. Slash animation recovery is too slow, or my reaction to the sweep telegraph after attacking isn't fast enough."
Attempt 2 (Focus Defense #2): Enter. Standard Jab opener. Block (94%). HP ~35. Guardian starts sweep. Drake focuses only on blocking the sweep, ignoring the attack window. He uses his general 90% Defend baseline for this new timing. << Skill Success! SCR 90%! Damage Blocked: ~180 >> << Damage Taken: ~200! >> << You have died! >>
Respawn. Recall. Analyze. "Survived opener, blocked second hit at 90%, still died. Need higher SCR on the sweep block timing specifically. And still haven't landed an attack and survived."
The grind fractured. Now he wasn't just grinding one defensive timing; he was grinding two defensive timings (opener jab, follow-up sweep) and the offensive timing between them, plus the transitions. He spent countless attempts just focusing on the sweep block, pushing its specific SCR higher through repetition and analysis, just like he did for the opener. [Eidetic Execution] faithfully locked each tiny improvement for that specific context: 91%... 92%... maybe reaching a shaky 93% SCR against the sweep after another hundred deaths.
Then he tried integrating the attack again. Block opener (94%). Instantly attempt Slash (90%). Instantly attempt Block #2. The mental load was immense. Any hesitation, any fractional mistiming on any of the three actions meant instant death.
He died when his slash timing was off by milliseconds, leaving him vulnerable. He died when his slash was perfect, but his transition back to defense was too slow for the second block. He died when both blocks were perfect, but he fumbled the attack input in between. The cycle of death felt endless, the progress invisible. The forum posts echoed – impossible.
"Focus. Block one timing: 94%. Attack window: ~0.3 seconds. Block two timing: 93%. Need perfect flow. Recall the exact moment the block recovery ends... anticipate the sweep telegraph while initiating the slash..."
He pushed himself, leveraging [Perfect Recall] not just for post-mortem analysis, but trying to access its clarity during the action itself, anticipating milliseconds ahead. It was like trying to solve three simultaneous high-speed equations while being punched by a machine.
Then, after an uncountable number of failures that had stretched hours into a blur, one attempt flowed.
Guardian Jabs. Drake Blocks. << Skill Success! SCR 94%! Damage Blocked: 245! >> << Damage Taken: 100! HP: 110/210 >> followed by [Basic Slash] SCR 95%! >> Guardian Sweeps. Drake transitions instantly from offense to defense, shield snapping up, matching the sweep's timing perfectly. << Skill Success! SCR 95%! Damage Blocked: 265! >> << Damage Taken: 65! HP: 45/210 >>> << [Peak Performance Replication] updated: [Defend] SCR 95%!
Guardian prepares his third attack. Drake, running on pure adrenaline and focus from nailing the sequence, tries to react... his health too low. He dies.
<< You have died! >>
Respawn. But this time, the familiar despair was absent, replaced by a surge of fierce, almost violent satisfaction. He checked his character sheet, his skills interface. [Basic Slash] baseline: 95% SCR. [Defend] baseline: 95% SCR. He had done it. He had achieved near-perfect execution on both his core skills, forged under the impossible pressure of the Unbeatable Guardian, locking them permanently.
"Ninety-five percent. On both. Locked. It can be done."
He could now consistently survive the first two standard attacks and land a blow in between. It was a monumental step, achieved through a grind that would have broken almost any other player. The Guardian still seemed insurmountable, victory infinitely far, but the wall was no longer absolute. He had found a crack, honed his edge against it, and proven progress was possible.
With grim confidence renewed, Drake felt ready. Ready not to win, but to push further, to survive the third hit, the fourth, to truly begin learning the deadly dance required.
The mental exertion of the past hours, culminating in this breakthrough, was immense. Recognizing the need to be fully recovered before attempting a longer run with his new capabilities, Drake decided against immediately re-entering. He logged out of Legacy of Alvari, allowing the hard-won progress to solidify while he rested in the real world.
With grim confidence renewed [upon logging back in], Drake felt ready. Ready not to win, perhaps, but ready for a proper attempt..