What do you mean by "almost no improvement after upgrading"

“Damn it! I died again!!!”

Zhong Yi clenched his fists, which trembled slightly, and his breathing grew uneven.

After finally figuring out how to deal with the axe-wielding shield soldiers, he had made it past them—only to have his path blocked by someone named Yuan Zhen.

That guy was frighteningly skilled with a spear. He had killed Zhong Yi in all kinds of ways more than a dozen times, leaving him so thoroughly beaten that his head was spinning and his composure was beginning to crack.

“No wonder he’s called the Ninja Killer… We’ve been completely figured out!”

Zhong Yi shook his head helplessly.

From his weapon to his techniques, everything Yuan Zhen used was designed to counter swordsmen. Thinking about the title “Ninja Killer,” Zhong Yi found himself somewhat relieved.

“This proves my guess even further… Ordinary thieves couldn’t possibly hire someone as capable as the Ninja Killer.”

Zhong Yi became even more certain that the fall of the Hirata Estate had been a premeditated attack.

He was so close to uncovering the truth, yet increasingly powerful enemies kept blocking the entrance. Zhong Yi couldn’t help feeling unwilling to give up.

He glanced at his experience bar.

He was still Level 0, and the bar was still less than half full.

“Heh. The answer is right in front of me. I’m not giving up that easily! Looks like I’ll have to grind hard for a while!”

Zhong Yi took a deep breath and made up his mind.

“Perfect. Let’s show everyone what I’m like when I get serious!!”

…

The Hirata Estate was an excellent place to grind levels.

The map was small, and there were plenty of enemies.

Zhong Yi ran back and forth through the entrance of the Hirata Estate more than a dozen times. In the end, he finally raised his level from 0 to 1.

“Come on, come on! Let me put some points into attack power. Then I can level up faster and raise my stats faster… Huh???”

When Zhong Yi opened his character panel, he was instantly dumbfounded.

There was no attack power, no health, no stamina, no defense…

Leveling up only granted him one skill point.

Moreover, the damage increases from the skills were minimal. Most of them were utility or support techniques.

Zhong Yi was stunned.

In Lu Ze’s previous games, players could generally overcome obstacles by grinding monsters, leveling up, and improving their character attributes.

For example, that was how things worked in “This Demonic Cultivator Isn’t Very Cold” and “Palworld.”

If you couldn’t beat a Level 30 monster, you could come back at Level 40.

If Level 40 still wasn’t enough, then you could return at Level 50.

But “Sekiro” had completely overturned that gameplay logic from the ground up.

When players leveled up, they could only learn additional sword techniques, and all of them were fairly basic. There were no overpowered skills that could instantly transform a player into an unstoppable force.

Health could indeed be increased, but not by grinding monsters. Players had to challenge various elites to obtain Prayer Beads scattered throughout the world. Even then, the increase wasn’t very significant—at most, it meant being able to take one extra hit.

All in all, the player’s character could barely grow stronger inside the illusionary realm.

The only way to become stronger was for the player themselves to improve!

As perceptive as ever, Zhong Yi immediately understood the point. He could only shake his head with a wry smile.

“No wonder Junior Brother Lu is so confident… This illusionary realm really can temper one’s swordsmanship…”

With that, he first learned Mikiri Counter. Then, rather than continuing to bash his head against the three-years-ago version of the Hirata Estate, he chose to return to the real world.

Yuan Zhen was no easier than the Chained Ogre—in fact, he was even more difficult.

Even the surrounding foot soldiers were several levels stronger than those outside.

Clearly, the Hirata Estate was far more difficult than the real world. It was not a place he should be challenging at this stage.

“Forget it, forget it. I’ll teach everyone how to defeat the Chained Ogre easily instead…”

…

…

Zhou Qiaoling’s illusionary world.

Zhou Qiaoling’s approach to combat could be summed up in one word: cheese.

She ran away from Yamauchi Shigenori, and she ran away from the Samurai General, too.

Avoiding fights was one way to play, but it came with certain costs.

For instance, when she encountered the Chained Ogre—a fight she couldn’t escape—Zhou Qiaoling was beaten until she was dizzy and on the verge of tears.

However, the difficulty of the Chained Ogre did not lie in deflecting attacks. After dying eighteen times, Zhou Qiaoling somehow hacked her way through the battle thanks to her godlike luck.

“What? Senior Brother Zhong figured out a way to defeat the Chained Ogre without taking damage? And there’s even a specialized fire-emitting prosthetic tool?!”

Watching the comments scrolling across the sky, Zhou Qiaoling couldn’t help letting out a long sigh.

“If only I’d found out sooner. Then I wouldn’t have had to suffer so much…”

She muttered under her breath. Then she held her breath and carefully crawled through the grass.

After somehow defeating the Chained Ogre through sheer luck, Zhou Qiaoling once again skipped the Samurai General behind the gate at the Ashina Outskirts’ stairway. Her philosophy was simple: go wherever she wanted and avoid whatever she could.

As a result, she discovered that a gigantic Great Serpent lived in the cliffs behind her.

The Great Serpent was a full thirty meters long, and its eyes gleamed with icy killing intent.

In the real world, this thing would have been Zhou Qiaoling’s adorable little pet. But inside the illusionary realm, Zhou Qiaoling was its food, and could only take advantage of the moments when it turned its head to inch through the grass bit by bit.

“So this is what it feels like for an ordinary person to encounter a demon beast… Damn! It saw me!! Run!!!”

…

As the most iconic chase sequence in “Sekiro,” the Great Serpent pursuit felt even more oppressive inside the illusionary realm.

That was because Lu Ze had genuinely placed the soul of a great demon inside it. Cultivators whose cultivation had been sealed would feel the threat of death the moment they were spotted.

Of course, the chase only looked difficult. It was primarily about creating an atmosphere, and the actual challenge was not that great.

Following the system’s instructions, Zhou Qiaoling stabbed out one of the Great Serpent’s eyes. She even found time to loot the treasure chests along the way as she fled…

…

“Phew… I finally made it into the city.”

Zhou Qiaoling wiped the sweat from her forehead and began calculating whether entering the “Sekiro” illusionary realm had really been worth it.

She had originally entered to avoid punishment.

At first, skipping fights left her feeling that the experience was quite fun.

But after making it through the Chained Ogre and the Great Serpent, she no longer felt that way.

“I’m starting to think coming into this illusionary realm is worse than just taking the punishment…”

Zhou Qiaoling muttered quietly as she crouched in the shadows, carefully avoiding the guards stationed atop the city wall.

“Heh. With this many foot soldiers, Old Demon Lu must have designed it so that attacking even one of them will trigger an alarm. I’m not falling for that!”