Chapter 178 - 137 Virtual World

Chapter 178: Chapter 137 Virtual World"Let’s give it a try," Ji Xinghuo said. Sёarch* The novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Qing Hong raised its head, a glint of thought flashing through its eyes, and quickly grasped the usefulness of the Gravity Mutation. It revealed its true form on the bed, a four-meter-long serpentine body weighing tens of kilograms, but it soon became as light as a feather. Its body lunged forward, and its speed increased several-fold, reaching the corner of the room in a blink of an eye. Just before colliding with the wall, it suddenly plummeted, forcefully changing its direction. Between that lunge and the drop, the essence of the Gravity Warrior’s ability was displayed. Using the instantaneous change in its own weight to alter speed and strength. When it became lighter, its speed surged without affecting the magnitude of its strength; when it became heavier, although its speed slowed, the same strength could cause greater damage. "Come here." Qing Hong coiled itself onto Ji Xinghuo’s hand. Its weight immediately increased, and Ji Xinghuo felt his arm grow slightly heavy as Qing Hong’s body weight rapidly tripled to over a hundred kilograms. Then it lightened again, weighing just over ten kilograms. The change in gravity was very rapid, completed almost in the blink of an eye. This was just the change in its true form. When Qing Hong was Minimized, it became almost weightless and much faster; in Giant Transformation, it became as heavy as ten tons! Even in its Giant Transformation form, it could become lighter, maintaining both speed and strength. "Gravity Mutation is really the perfect match with Miniaturization and Giant Transformation!" Ji Xinghuo couldn’t help but admire internally as he watched Qing Hong fumble with the effects of Gravity Mutation. Moreover, when Qing Hong was hidden on his body, the Gravity Mutation also worked on him! He had Qing Hong wrap around his hand, changing his own weight. The sensation was quite peculiar; the mass of his body remained the same, yet his speed and strength changed, still obeying the law of conservation of momentum. He looked at the interface, noting that upgrading Gravity Mutation to the Second Level required 67 points of Spiritual Origin Ability. He had just over 80 points remaining, enough to upgrade. Ji Xinghuo placed his hand on Qing Hong and invested his Spiritual Origin Ability. Soon, Gravity Mutation became (Second Level 1/347). After the upgrade, the range of gravity variation Qing Hong commanded became broader, capable of increasing its weight by five times or reducing it to one-fifth, thus its speed and strength also increased. "You train by yourself," he said. Ji Xinghuo let Qing Hong practice with the new Ability in the training room, while he returned all the remaining Abilities he had. By the time he finished, it was already two in the morning. With different day and night cycles between Earth and the Star Realm, and having spent a year and a half in the Star Realm, Ji Xinghuo was still adjusting to the time difference. Consequently, he was unable to fall asleep, but he didn’t want to Cultivate either. He saw the Virtual Platform login cabin in the corner and suddenly felt intrigued. He lay down inside. Streams of magnetic force secured his body, and two neural sensors were attached to his temples. Closing his eyes, he softly said, "Power on." The Virtual Cabin trembled lightly as it activated. Ji Xinghuo felt a faint electric current sweep over his body with no harm or discomfort. Yet, it instantly collected his body data: height, weight, muscle and bone density, heart rate, brain waves, and more. A slight pressure was felt at the temples – and without opening his eyes, he "saw" the scenery. This was a visual neural signal sent directly to the brain, forming an image within. Ji Xinghuo entered his security house. This was the login point for each Virtual Platform user, which could be set to the style they preferred. His login point was the default one, located on a gentle hillside bathed in sunshine, brushed by a light breeze, surrounded by an endless prairie with rolling snow-capped mountains in the distance, and cotton-like clouds drifting across the sky. Ji Xinghuo looked down and saw that his character’s appearance was also default – identical to his real-life physique and wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with trousers. Raising his hand, he unfurled a row of icons in front of him. Each icon represented a different virtual world, each with its own function. Shopping, cloud tourism, cinemas, online offices, classes, social media, combat platforms, games, etc. – nearly everything available in the real world had been transferred into the virtual one. Looking at the icons before him, Ji Xinghuo became somewhat entranced. Previously, he had barely been able to perceive that it was a virtual world; it was tough to discern the difference between virtual and reality, deceiving enough for him to be confused with the real one. Most people felt the same way. That’s why so many were engrossed in the rich and colorful virtual world, escaping the dull and monotonous real life. But now, Ji Xinghuo could tell at a glance that it was fake. His Microscopic Perception was constantly aware, sensing that everything around him was illusory: the smells, the touch, the sights, everything he sensed was like a fleeting dream, ready to burst with a poke. Ji Xinghuo’s mind was still aware of the real world. Even without opening his eyes, he could clearly grasp his state in reality. It was like having two separate bodies at the same time. If he were an ordinary person, he might already have suffered a nervous breakdown, but Ji Xinghuo easily adapted to this state, temporarily ignoring reality and focusing on the virtual world. He reached out and lightly tapped an icon in front of him. The icon was designed very simply, its rough shape a variation of the character "Martial," with its strokes forming the outline of a person throwing a punch, straightforward and clear. "Martial Arts World!" The Global Martial Arts Association launched a Martial Arts combat platform for online sparring, with users from the First Dan to the Sixth Dan able to earn points through defeating opponents and advance through the ranks in the Martial Arts Platform. Ji Xinghuo’s surroundings changed, and in an instant, he was in an antique courtyard. Many options appeared before him again. Watching battles, ascending ranks, matchmaking, attire, leaderboards, character profiles... Ji Xinghuo opened the character profile and saw his own data. Nickname: Xinghuo Xinghuo Xinghuo Xinghuo Xinghuo Gender: Male Age: 25 Rank: Amateur Third Dan Record: 1935 wins, 504 losses Points: 1563 To the right of the character interface was his avatar, with the default appearance and clothes provided by the system—he had never spent a penny on the Martial Arts Platform. These two thousand plus matches had been accumulated since he turned eighteen. Each battle on the martial arts platform did not last long, the quickest only half a minute, and the slower ones generally did not exceed ten minutes. So although it seems like a lot of matches, the total time spent playing was not actually that long, just over two hundred hours. Reaching Third Dan as an amateur in just two hundred hours, with a 79% win rate, truly demonstrated top-tier martial arts talent. Those high-ranking players on the leaderboard had competed in up to a million matches! In comparison, Ji Xinghuo’s match count was but a drop in the ocean. He opened the platform’s data, and at this time, there were still over three hundred million people online on the Martial Arts Platform. Not only Mutants but also ordinary people could participate in battles, although it was quite difficult for ordinary people to advance in rank. "Let’s warm up." Ji Xinghuo was eager to try. Ever since acquiring Microscopic Perception, he had not yet had a real sparring session on martial arts. The biggest improvement Microscopic Perception brought to him was in close combat. Although on the virtual Martial Arts Platform, character attributes couldn’t match his real body and many Abilities can’t be used, it was still a measure of pure martial arts strength. But he believed that, with Microscopic Perception, he could be invincible even in the virtual world! Ji Xinghuo was about to start when he noticed several school friends online in his friends list. Thinking it over, he logged out of the Martial Arts Platform interface and registered a new account, creating a character with the default appearance and clothes, with body metrics identical to reality. Naming the character took him a few minutes because all the names he could think of were taken. Ji Xinghuo’s face showed contemplation as he typed in "New Heaven." The prompt indicated it was already in use. He shook his head and added the number 2223 after "New Heaven"—no good, it was taken too, as was 2224. Finally, switching to 2225 worked. The account was successfully established, he skipped the newbie tutorial, but he couldn’t immediately join the ranking battles. He had to first play ten beginner matches for the system to evaluate and assign his initial rank. "What a hassle." Ji Xinghuo set his weapons to a sword and longsword—choosing the ones he was accustomed to—and then started matchmaking. Matchmaking was almost instantaneous, and after a three-second countdown, he found himself on a fighting stage. The square stage was fifty meters on each side, surrounded by spectator seats, but it was empty of any audience. In the middle of the stage, a light screen separated the two combatants. Ji Xinghuo saw his opponent: a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth who looked like his character had been crafted with care; with striking brows, sword-like eyes, suave and handsome in a well-fitting white martial outfit with a jade belt and a silver crown, wielding an ornate longsword. "Pay-to-win player." Ji Xinghuo opened the opponent’s profile, unable to see the name, but like himself, had no rank—a beginner. But a wealthy beginner. That outfit was worth several thousand Ya Yuan, yet it offered no actual enhancement to combat ability. No matter how ornate the longsword, its attack power remained the same. The opposing player also sized up Ji Xinghuo, seeing his standard default attire, his initially tense mood instantly eased. A ten-second countdown appeared on the light screen. With a longsword in his right hand, Ji Xinghuo took step by step towards the light screen. As he arrived at the base of the light screen, the countdown ended, the screen vanished, and he continued advancing towards his opponent. The opponent suddenly felt an inexplicable pressure. Raising his longsword, he charged at Ji Xinghuo. When they were only five steps apart, he suddenly accelerated, unleashing a thrust he had practiced for years directed at Ji Xinghuo’s throat—confident that even if he couldn’t defeat his opponent, he could at least force him back a few steps. Thud. Before the longsword could hit anything, Ji Xinghuo’s sword had already sliced across his opponent’s neck. The victor was clear. The stage was once again separated into two by a light screen, and the contenders were returned to their starting positions. "Damn it!" The face of the opponent was filled with disbelief and confusion; he didn’t understand how he had lost but realized he had faced a master. According to the rules, the loser could challenge again, with points calculated normally. The winner had the option to accept or refuse. Accepting the rematch, if the loser was defeated again, they would lose the right to challenge after two consecutive losses; if, however, the loser won the second round, then the new loser could also initiate a challenge to play a third round; regardless of the result of the third round, the battle would be completely over. It could be understood as best of three, with each round scored separately, provided the winner agreed to the rematch. Ji Xinghuo received a request for a second-round challenge. He immediately accepted. The light screen displayed a countdown. Ten seconds. Ji Xinghuo dispatched his opponent with a single strike, giving no chance whatsoever, not even a single collision of blades occurred. With consecutive wins, this battle was completely over. Ji Xinghuo ignored the opponent’s intention to chat and exited the stage, starting matchmaking again, ready to face his next opponent. In less than five minutes, Ji Xinghuo defeated five consecutive opponents. Not all of these opponents were beginners—the system had matched him with increasingly stronger adversaries—but the outcome was the same. Each opponent suffered two consecutive losses, with none standing against him for even three seconds. The longest delay was actually the countdown before the fights. "New Heaven 2225, you have completed your matchup battles." "Based on system evaluation, your rank is ’Elite Sixth Dan’!" Ji Xinghuo received a system notification that his profile had jumped directly to Martial Arts Sixth Dan, with his points soaring from 0 to 7000. To reach Seventh Dan, one needed to achieve 10000 points and maintain a win rate above 55%; or one could participate in offline ranking matches, or in martial arts competitions to achieve a rank promotion by the Martial Arts Association. Ji Xinghuo had no intention of competing in martial arts competitions; he simply wanted to test his skills, so he chose the "rank promotion" battle. Quickly, he was transported to the stage and faced his new opponent.