Chương 19: No Wings, Repeat Queue

The dragon's eye narrowed. Meno stood on the shrine stone with the Ashen Crown Tail Spike in his hand and the kill notice still burning at the edge of his vision. He knew the route would not last. Maybe it was not an exploit in the same clean way Post Tech had been. He was not stealing a training dummy. He was not carrying a valid target around like a criminal.

He was using fall velocity, an Epic III dragon spike, and enemies the UI could not classify inside a mountain city he had reached by being fired through two zones. The AI had definitely not considered this situation. That meant it was thinking now. Viewers: 51, 204. The dragon watched him with one molten eye. It did not block the passage. It also did not move aside in any generous way. The open stairs behind the vanished lavafall waited under its attention, and the red-lit hollow below clicked with alert patterns.

"Clock's running," Meno said. Meno did what he did best. He queued the same bad idea until it either worked or broke him. The first jump missed by a humiliating amount. He aimed for a Cinder Hound circling a fire channel, adjusted for its turn, and discovered midair that the hound had accelerated. The Tail Spike stabbed empty air, then the side of a basalt cart, and Meno hit the ground shoulder-first.

[Death | Fall Impact] [Dropped: Cracked Prayer Bead x1] The second jump landed on a treasure awning made of chain and scorched cloth. It slowed him for half a second, which was enough to let three Morgra Glasswalkers look up together. Their molten arms reached in intersecting lines, and one brushed his ankle before gravity finished its work. [Death | Morgra Glasswalker — Molten Reach] [Dropped: Dead Button x1] The third jump hit a bridge rail. The rail won.

The fourth jump struck a Cinder Hound's shadow, which taught him that shadows gave no XP and stone gave concussions. The fifth jump landed in a fire channel. The Tail Spike stayed in his hands. The rest of him became a lesson about aiming. The sixth jump clipped a Glasswalker's shoulder and spun him sideways. The spike scraped black glass, sparked, and failed to bite deep enough. The Glasswalker's head turned toward him during the fall, slow and offended.

[Death | Fall Impact] [Dropped: Cracked Prayer Bead x1] Meno respawned at the shrine and lay there for one breath longer than usual. The dragon's nostrils flared.

"Still no wings," it said. Meno pushed himself up.

"Working on it." still no wings LMAO fall damage any% he is reverse learning flight 6 deaths 0 kills He flexed his fingers around the Tail Spike until the haptic rig stopped arguing with him. On the seventh jump, he waited longer. Below, a Morgra Glasswalker crossed beneath a broken bridge and paused to click orders toward a pair of hounds. The patrol pattern had changed after every death, but not completely. The Glasswalker held still for less than a second after each command pulse. Meno ran.

The ledge vanished under his boots. Red air rushed past. The Glasswalker looked up too late. The Ashen Crown Tail Spike punched through its upper back and out through the ember core in its chest. Black glass burst outward. Then the floor killed him. [Kill Confirmed: Morgra Glasswalker] [XP Awarded: Threat??? Solo Kill] [Level Up | Level 20] [Level Up | Level 21] [Death | Fall Impact] [Dropped: Cracked Festival Token x1] [System Notice] Titan III eligibility detected.

Titan III achievement cannot be gained while prior Titan reward review is pending. Meno stared at the notice, then at the empty space where his achievement should have been.

"Are you kidding me? First you steal the reward, now the achievement too?" For one moment, the shrine light, the dragon's eye, and chat all seemed to hold still. Then the system kept going. [Class Milestone Reached | Swing Master Level 20] Choose one Class Technique. Meno stood very slowly. The dragon watched the menu as if it could read it. Maybe it could. Meno hoped it couldn't, because several of his class choices had the nasty shape of a street brawl behind a pawnshop. Viewers: 62, 771.

[Option 1: Panic Pump] Once per combat, immediately gain 100 chain stacks and set current HP to 1. Maximum HP is unchanged. Meno stared.

"Okay, that's disgusting." PICK IT 1 HP LOL free Hundredfold panic pump sounds like your whole career"One hundred stacks immediately," he said.

"HP to one. Once per combat. That means instant Hundredfold if I'm already fighting something. Horrible for enemies that sneeze on me. Great if I only need one button to turn a bad engage into a burst." He moved to the next option. [Option 2: Clean Break II] Manually end an active Compound Swing chain to recover HP equal to 1% per stack consumed, up to 50% HP.

"Old option came back upgraded," Meno said.

"Level ten had Clean Break at twenty-five percent max. This is fifty." pick sustain for once adult option he won't healing is cringe to him"It's sensible," Meno said, which was why he distrusted it.

"It turns stacks into recovery. Good in normal fights. Bad against everything currently breathing in my direction, because I'm either full enough to continue or deleted." He read the third. [Option 3: Chain Lunge] Spend 25 chain stacks to charge to a target within medium range without breaking Compound Swing. Meno's eyes narrowed.

"That's actually real." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. mobility FINALLY pick lunge class problem solved??? medium range gap closer, no break"Twenty-five stacks is not nothing, but not terrible. Preserves chain. Fixes target swapping. Helps with moving enemies, spacing, airborne nonsense, maybe boss mechanics." He looked toward the stairs below.

"Does absolutely nothing while I'm throwing myself off a cliff with a non-weapon dragon spike." Then the fourth option appeared. [Option 4: Titan Engine] Achievement Variant — Titan II. Activate to convert Compound Swing's stack bonus from damage into 1% action speed per stack; deactivate to restore damage scaling and end the chain after your next swing. The chat overlay became a shouting wall. TITAN ENGINE SPEED MEMO take it take it take it action speed scaling??? broken finally fast swing master bait?

no bait you're bait Meno read it three times. Titan II. Achievement variant. Already available even with reward pending. That was either good news or the system placing a delicious trap. He did the math aloud because chat hated it and he hated being alone with numbers.

"Normal chain," Meno said.

"Say Chain 100 to 200. Average bonus around sixteen times base damage across the hundred hits." wrong streamer math no calculator no rights count from 101 idiot"Close enough for decision-making. Hundred hits, roughly sixteen hundred times base damage total." He pointed at the option.

"Titan Engine converts stack bonus from damage into action speed. So those hundred hits are weak. Maybe one times base each, assuming no damage bonus, so a hundred times total. Then you cash out around Chain 200. One next swing at twenty-one times base before the chain ends." WRONG SPEED MAKES MORE HITS ACTION SPEED COMPOUNDS he forgot time window bait bait bait"Time window matters," Meno said.

"But it still trades giant damage across every hit for speed. Total if you're just hitting the same target? Maybe one hundred plus twenty-one. One hundred twenty-one times instead of sixteen hundred. The total is bait unless you're using the speed to stack for something that consumes stacks without breaking the chain, or repositioning with other skills, or abusing a mechanic we don't have yet." Chat screamed harder.

MATH CRIMES take Chain Lunge then take Titan Engine later speed dream dead Panic Pump is suicide 1 HP is literally you Meno's thumb hovered. Titan Engine was tempting because speed felt like salvation. The dream version of Swing Master finally moving fast enough to make people shut up. But chat was forgetting the ugliest pattern the system had already shown him. Clean Break had returned upgraded. Old options could come back. If Titan Engine showed now as an achievement variant, maybe it could return later.

Better numbers. Less penalty. Some upgraded form after more Titan nonsense, if the AI did not ban him into merchandise first. Panic Pump, meanwhile, did one very specific thing right now. One hundred stacks immediately. Hundredfold Cleave immediately. No ramp. No setup. Just HP to one and a loaded gun. Meno selected Option 1. [Technique Acquired: Panic Pump] Chat hated it beautifully.

NOOOOO SPEED MEMO DEAD worst choice 1 HP MAN PICKS 1 HP SKILL Hundredfold synergy yes but also death he chose clip bait Meno closed the menu.

"Old skills can reappear upgraded," he said.

"If Titan Engine comes back juiced later, I'll take the better version. If it doesn't, blame me after I'm rich." we already blame you you are not rich you are in dragon jail He had no time to enjoy the level-ups. The city below was adjusting again. The Morgras no longer stood calmly under ledges and command posts. Cinder Hounds looked upward now, ribs flaring whenever dust fell from above. Glasswalkers moved close to overhangs, then stepped away unpredictably. The fall route had become contested.

The AI had not patched it yet. It had learned enough to make it worse. Meno kept jumping. The next nine attempts were uglier. One hound sidestepped as he fell and left him to spear a treasure urn that burst into coins he could not loot before dying. One Glasswalker raised a molten arm and slapped the Tail Spike aside midair, which felt personally insulting. Twice, he overcorrected and hit stairs.

Once, a hound's Scent-Flare caught him during the fall and cooked the last half of his HP before impact could finish the job. Viewers: 71, 488. targets dodging now AI learning live stop feeding it data he can't, it's Meno 9 misses for one hit incoming The tenth drop barely counted as a success. A Cinder Hound lunged away from his shadow at the last instant. Meno twisted midair, both hands locked on the Tail Spike, and caught the creature through the rear ribs instead of the core.

The impact drove the spike sideways into the road. The hound cracked open, half-killed by the strike and half by its own momentum folding around the dragon material. The floor collected Meno immediately after. [Kill Confirmed: Cinder Hound] [XP Awarded: Threat??? Solo Kill] [Level Up | Level 22] [Level Up | Level 23] [Death | Fall Impact] [Respawn: Ashen Crown Shrine] [Dropped: Cracked Prayer Bead x1] Meno rolled onto one elbow at the shrine, laughing once without much humor.

"Barely counts." The dragon rumbled, maybe amused, maybe annoyed.

"Still counts," Meno told it. The next enemy took eleven attempts. By then his body had stopped understanding why hands existed. The run-up, leap, aim, miss, die, respawn loop became a punishment machine. He lost junk in pieces: a dead button, two festival tokens, a cracked bead, one strip of failed string. The Tail Spike stayed. The Epic mats stayed. Gear stayed. The system kept eating garbage first, which remained the closest thing to mercy Veyrath had offered him.

The successful hit came on a Glasswalker near a lower bridge. It raised its molten arm to cut him out of the air, but Meno had seen the reach angle twice already. He tucked, let the heat skim his side, and drove the Tail Spike down through its shoulder into the glowing seam under its neck. The kill notice landed before the death. [Kill Confirmed: Morgra Glasswalker] [XP Awarded: Threat??? Solo Kill] [Level Up | Level 24] [Level Up | Level 25] The shrine returned. Then the notice that followed made his skin go cold.

[Class Milestone Reached | Swing Master Level 25] [Passive Modification Choice Pending AI Review] Meno did not move. The last time a choice menu had gone strange, three options had turned into eight-hour suspension. Titan II reward was already pending. Now Level 25 was pending too. Viewers: 84, 902. BAN INCOMING pending review x2 he's cooked AI has opened his file gf was right say sorry to wife before ban Meno's jaw tightened. Aurelia's voice from whispers came back with disgusting timing.

Looking for your next ban. He hated that she might have been right.

"So," he said, standing.

"Anyway." ANYWAY??? double review and he says anyway stop jumping keep jumping content law says jump He kept jumping. The next target took five attempts, which felt almost merciful until he remembered mercy was just the setup for worse pricing. The Morgras had shifted patrols upward, but that made one Cinder Hound pause under a broken chain lift longer than usual while sniffing for him on the wrong ledge. Meno took the run-up before thinking could rot into caution.

The Tail Spike hit clean through the center of the hound's coal ribs. [Kill Confirmed: Cinder Hound] [XP Awarded: Threat??? Solo Kill] [Level Up | Level 26] [Level Up | Level 27] For one second, Level 27 sat in his vision like a stolen car key. He was probably back near the board. Maybe on it. Maybe not. He did not check. Checking was how hope got strangled by numbers. Chat was losing cohesion. LVL 27 BRINESAINT GAP???

check board don't check board reward pending pending pending AI review AI review AI review no wings meta The dragon watched him stand.

"Human," it said, low.

"The mountain notices." Meno looked toward the stairs.

"So do viewers." That was not an answer. It was just what he had. He went again. The next target took fourteen attempts. Fourteen looks over the ledge. Fourteen leaps. Fourteen decisions to turn his own body into delivery packaging for a dragon spike. He missed hounds by inches. Hit a bridge rope and spun into the abyss. Got cooked by Scent-Flare mid-drop. Had one Glasswalker step backward with almost elegant timing and let him impale a basalt block.

Died once to a fire channel splash before the fall impact could claim credit. Viewers: 103, 337. HypeForge commentary must have picked up the loop. Or the clips had finally turned into a migration. The number no longer felt like an audience. It felt like a stadium watching him fail to invent flight. On attempt fourteen, he hit. The target was a Morgra Glasswalker at the edge of a lower stair, turning to command a hound.

Meno dropped from above, adjusted for the step, and slammed the Tail Spike into the seam between its glass plates. The body split around the strike. Its ember core burst in a sharp red flare. The kill notice came. [Kill Confirmed: Morgra Glasswalker] Then nothing. No XP. No level movement. No reduced contribution. No reward. Meno hit the floor and died anyway. [Death | Fall Impact] [Respawn: Ashen Crown Shrine] [Dropped: Dead Button x1] He sat up. The silence after the respawn was not actually silence.

Chat was moving. The dragon was breathing. The cavern was hot and alive. But the XP line was missing, and that absence filled the room. patched PATCHED LIVE no xp target died tho invalid attribution? he got cut off AI said enough guilds cried lame Meno opened the combat log with stiff fingers. Kill confirmed. Death confirmed. No XP award.

"That's bullshit." The words came out flat. The route had never been clean. He knew that. It had been ugly, review-flagged, probably doomed. But the target had died. Solo. By his hand, or his spike, or his falling idiot body. The game had counted it before. It had given Titan II. It had fed him levels. Now it had stopped. The screen went black. Not the shrine dimming. Not a death fade. Black. Meno's stomach dropped so hard his real body answered. A system message appeared in the dark.

[Account Access Temporarily Disabled] To resolve a system failure involving achievement rewards and the Level 25 threshold skill choice, your account is currently unable to log in. We apologize for the inconvenience and will attempt to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. No timer. No merchandise credit. No joke. Meno stared at the message. The stream did not cut immediately. The black screen and system text remained visible long enough for chat to understand exactly what had happened. Viewers: 117, 904.

HE GOT CUSTOMER SERVICED not ban?? system failure lmao achievement rewards broke LEVEL 25 CHOICE STUCK PrayerBeadGod killed login CANT LOG IN EITHER WTF login down this is worse than 8 hours Meno did not scream this time. His jaw clenched until it hurt, and in the black reflection of the rig display, he could see his own face lit by a message that sounded like a refund policy written over a locked door. The AI had not banned him. It had put him in a queue.