Blue Star, Kurong City, Shadow of the Storm Club.
"Xiao Zhen, what’s up with you today?" asked the crew-cut young man in a blue and white high-collar jacket, with a grim look on his face as he watched Fang Zhen walk out of the virtual cabin. "You’re looking pale and you were so distracted during training that you couldn’t coordinate with the others."
"Could it be that recently you’re..."
"Playing some game you shouldn’t be?"
In this age of virtual game explosion, there are all sorts of virtual games; if you can imagine it, it probably exists.
"Captain Li, I haven’t. I’ve just been pulling late nights, that’s all," Fang Zhen quickly explained, seeing the displeased look on the crew-cut young man’s face.
Even though Li Ranxing was not very old, only turning 22 at the end of the year, he was the team leader who Shadow of the Storm Club had hired at a high price.
With Li Ranxing’s addition, the Shadow of the Storm team leaped from not even being able to qualify for Mecha Continent’s national competition to making it into the national top 32. In the singles event, they even achieved an impressive sixth place.
This year, Li Ranxing had ambitious plans for the Mecha Continent national competition. In this year’s personal circuit, he scored three wins and one loss, defeating last year’s third place Blood Flame Gun Girl, Chen Ya.
So this year, Li Ranxing plans to lead the Shadow of the Storm team straight into the national top 8, with intense training sessions from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. As for himself, Li Ranxing is even tougher, training from 8 a.m. to midnight, grinding mecha skills non-stop like a madman except when sleeping.
"Staying up late?" Li Ranxing asked with some skepticism. "What are you doing out there in the middle of the night instead of resting?"
"Squats and digging holes," Fang Zhen said awkwardly.
From 7:30 yesterday evening until 3 in the morning, he was finally able to obtain the Training Technique after watching the Descent of High Martial stream, and only after nearly an hour of exploration did he discover how to log out from the world of High Martial.
This method was thought up by Twilight of the Gods. Since dying disconnects players from the High Martial world, then sleeping, which is closest to dying, is likely the logout method.
The three of them tested it a few times and confirmed that sleeping and losing consciousness allow players to log out. However, the player’s body doesn’t disappear after logging out; it remains, so you have to find a safe place to log out. Otherwise, if the body dies, players are still considered dead.
The High Martial world is extremely dangerous. Even within the Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, there are many radiological contamination zones. To log out safely, you must spend Martial Arts Hall Points to rent a safe zone for rest.
"That damn Hall Master! Sleeping on a broken wooden board cost me 2 points!"
Recalling last night, Fang Zhen thought of how he not only died twice to earn 2 points, losing two packs worth 648 each, but also worked until after 7 in the morning. After washing up a bit, he dashed directly to the club for training—it was simply unbearable.
At this point, someone is bound to ask, wouldn’t it have been easier to just die and resurrect next time? However, if something comes up within 24 hours and you don’t resurrect, your account gets deleted, and then you can’t even play if you want to.
"Squats? Digging holes?" Li Ranxing felt as if he couldn’t process this and didn’t understand when this veteran player, Fang Zhen, developed such hobbies. He then reminded, "It’s a good thing to want to exercise at your age, but be mindful. The mock competition is next week, and if you don’t perform well, I won’t be able to speak for you with the coach."
"Thank you, Captain Li. I’ll be more careful next time," Fang Zhen expressed his gratitude.
In the training room, as veteran team member Fang Zhen left, a new member who had just joined Shadow of the Storm not long ago approached Li Ranxing, looking at him with curiosity.
"Captain Li, didn’t the coach say that next week’s mock competition is Brother Fang’s last match?"
"Some things are better left unknown. Regardless, it’s his last match; it’s better to leave with less burden than to become a joke."
"Oh, so Captain Li, will your duel with Chen Ya be affected this time?"
"You’ve been too idle without matches lately, haven’t you? Train with me till midnight today!"
In Fang Zhen’s live-stream room, the broadcast began punctually at 7:30.
"Are there really that many people?" Fang Zhen rubbed his eyes as he glanced at the backstage online count.
This online count is definitely the peak of Fang Zhen’s streaming career, breaking his usual records by more than tenfold, and immediatly catapulting him to the first place in the game rankings for popularity.
"Brother Zhen, you’re finally here. My great sword could hardly wait."
"Brother Zhen! Since watching your stream yesterday, I realized my interest is in watching people squat and dig holes."
"Wow! People have quite heavy tastes here. Am I the only one who came for the goddess?"
"OMG! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Wushang yesterday. She’s one of the top ten Sword Saints of Pilgrimage, the real Luo Wushang, with her ’sword that parts rivers’ technique. In person, she’s even more beautiful than in Pilgrimage. I washed my eyes before coming over today, you get it, streamer."
The audience watching Fang Zhen start his stream was utterly ecstatic.
"Is this the effect of fame?"
Looking at the audience’s discussions in the streaming room, Fang Zhen didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.
Pilgrimage’s standing in the virtual gaming world is unchallenged, surpassing Mecha Continent by an unfathomable distance. The title of Sword Saint is one of Pilgrimage’s highest honors, and ordinary players never meet such transcendent experts. Moreover, these top-tier experts wouldn’t stoop to streaming, as joining a top guild in Pilgrimage guarantees a lifestyle beyond any professional player’s dream.
Now, with Luo Wushang from Pilgrimage appearing in the streaming room, naturally, many players from Pilgrimage are here out of admiration.
"Alright, today I’ll fulfill everyone’s wishes."
Fang Zhen decided not to waste more time and directly clicked on Descent of High Martial to enter the game.
Chasing Light City, Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
"Hall Master, is something the matter?" Fang Zhen stood up, surprisingly looking towards the doorway where Lin Qi stood, holding a little notebook, eyes glinting like he’d spotted a fat sheep.
"Nothing, I just came to see if you’re all training," Lin Qi examined Fang Zhen closely, then checked his notebook, filled with doubt. "Did I remember wrong before?"
Player Fang Zhen, age 29, detected physical stats: Strength 77.4 kilograms, Speed 7.4 meters per second.
Though the increase was small, Fang Zhen’s strength had risen by 1.4 kilograms, and his speed had increased by 0.1 meters per second.
"Could inhaling toxic gas promote growth?"
Lin Qi analyzed what was different about Fang Zhen compared to the others from yesterday as he watched Fang Zhen getting back to digging holes.
Today, Twilight of the Gods and Wushang both logged in, but their physical data remained unchanged. Fang Zhen, however, showed different results compared to what Lin Qi had previously recorded in his notebook.
Although the increase in values was slight, if they continued to enhance at this pace, it would only take a few days for Fang Zhen to advance from kindergarten to elementary school.
If the outside world knew of this growth speed, they would probably capture Fang Zhen for research, and it would be the expensive type of research, as being able to progress from kindergarten to elementary school in just a few days is what countless parents in Chasing Light City desire.
Fang Zhen’s biggest difference from the other two was inhaling more toxic gas.
Yesterday, Twilight of the Gods and Wushang were only poisoned once each, but Fang Zhen was poisoned four times, inhaling vigorously, almost always in high-intensity activity without pause.
Just when Lin Qi was about to suggest that Fang Zhen inhale more, a system notification suddenly chimed in his ear.
System: Congratulations, the Martial Arts Transmission System reservation count has surpassed ten thousand. A Level 1 priority admission privilege is awarded.