Public Beta: From "LAN" to "Ethernet"

The consequences of "system overload" were far more severe than Huo Yuhao had anticipated.

For the next two full days, both he and Wang Dong remained in a state of mental exhaustion. Wang Dong often felt dizzy, while Huo Yuhao felt as though his head had been filled with lead. His thoughts became sluggish, and whenever he tried to mobilize his Spiritual Power, a needle-like pain pierced his mind.

This painful failure was like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the flames of excitement they had only just ignited.

"Yuhao, did I... hold you back?" On the training ground, Wang Dong sat dejectedly on the ground, watching Huo Yuhao repeatedly attempt to construct the most basic Spiritual Net, only to fail time and again.

"No." Huo Yuhao shook his head. He sat beside Wang Dong, his eyes tired, yet a flame burned deep within them. "This failure was more valuable than the previous dozen successes. It told us one thing—our direction is completely correct."

Wang Dong looked at him in confusion.

"We aren't creating a soul skill. We're building a 'platform.'" Huo Yuhao's tone carried a strange fervor. "Think about it. If our 'net' can only carry the two of us, it will eventually reach its limit. But if it can connect Senior Disciple Brother, or even more people... then it won't be 'our net' anymore. It'll be the prototype of an entirely new 'domain,' an infinitely expandable 'Ethernet'!"

"Ethernet?" Wang Dong was hearing this term for the first time.

"An... invisible network that lets all 'terminals' connect and communicate with each other." Huo Yuhao explained, "Senior Disciple Brother Beibei's Spiritual Power is like a Broadband Data Stream carrying an enormous amount of information, while our current 'net' is just a telephone line. It was inevitable that it would be overwhelmed. So we aren't giving up—we need to upgrade our 'lines' and our 'server'!"

Huo Yuhao's words swept away the dejection in Wang Dong's eyes, replacing it with equal excitement.

"Then what should we do?"

"Change the architecture." Huo Yuhao's gaze sharpened. "Our previous 'net' used a Star Structure centered around me. All data had to pass through me for processing, so I was both the CPU and the bottleneck. Now, we need to turn it into a Bus Structure."

He picked up a branch and drew a new diagram on the ground.

"Look. We won't be in a 'master-slave relationship' anymore, but Peer Nodes. The 'net' itself will become an independent, neutral Data Bus. Each of us will merely be a 'port' connected to this bus. That way, the data won't all need to pass through me. It can be exchanged at high speed within the 'net,' greatly reducing my burden while exponentially increasing the carrying capacity of the entire 'net'!"

It was a revolutionary idea. It meant that Huo Yuhao would give up absolute control over the "net" in pursuit of a more stable, fairer "public platform."

They immediately got to work.

Over the following days, the two no longer attempted any soul skill combinations. Instead, they devoted themselves wholeheartedly to constructing this "Bus Structure."

It was a hundred times harder than before. What they needed to do was establish an invisible Data Exchange Protocol on the spiritual level, one with its own operating rules.

"No, the Energy Priority Protocol has conflicted!"

"The Data Packet was lost during transmission!"

"Wang Dong, your Port Firewall was overwhelmed by my test Data Stream!"

Failure after failure, demolition and reconstruction after demolition and reconstruction. Within their Seas of Consciousness, it was as though an invisible, silent programming war was underway. But this time, they no longer rushed for success. Instead, like true engineers, they patiently debugged every "module."

A week later, when the first rays of morning sunlight once again fell upon the training ground, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong exchanged smiles and saw confidence in each other's eyes.

"The Bus Structure is complete. Version 2.0, prepare for final testing," Huo Yuhao silently recited in his heart.

This time, they did not seek out Beibei. Instead, they turned their attention to Tang Ya, who was practicing hidden weapons nearby.

Tang Ya's martial soul was Blue Silver Grass. Her Spiritual Power was gentle in nature, and her Soul Power Fluctuation was far less violent than Beibei's. She was the perfect White Mouse.

Huo Yuhao stepped forward and respectfully bowed. "Senior Tang Ya, could we trouble you once more?"

Tang Ya looked at the two of them. Though they appeared to be in good spirits, their eyes were still bloodshot. She felt a little distressed for them, but nodded anyway. "What do you need me to do?"

"Just like last time, please relax your mind and don't resist."

The three of them sat down cross-legged once more.

This time, when Huo Yuhao extended his Spiritual Power, he did not directly link with Tang Ya. Instead, he first activated the brand-new Bus Structure.

In an instant, an invisible, neutral Data Channel quietly formed among the three of them.

"Wang Dong, port access."

"Senior Tang Ya, port access."

Huo Yuhao issued two equal Access Requests.

Wang Dong's port instantly merged into the "bus" without obstruction. When Huo Yuhao's request touched Tang Ya's Sea of Consciousness, Tang Ya only felt a gentle force approach. There was no discomfort at all, and she instinctively relaxed her resistance.

"Bzz..."

This time, there was no earth-shaking torrent of data, no suffocating pressure.

Tang Ya only felt as if her consciousness had been connected to a wondrous "space." Within this space, she could clearly "see" Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. They were like two gentle clusters of light. She could even "hear" the simplest Data Packet Huo Yuhao sent her—[Hello, Senior].

It felt as though... she had gained an entirely new sense.

"It worked!" Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong cheered simultaneously in their hearts!

The Bus Structure perfectly filtered out the complex personal emotions and memories within Tang Ya's Spiritual Power, retaining only the purest Consciousness Signals and achieving a stable connection!

"Senior, now please try releasing the simplest soul skill, 'Entanglement.'" Huo Yuhao sent a new instruction.

Tang Ya did as instructed. Her first soul ring lit up, and Blue Silver Grass burst from the ground.

Yet within the shared perception of the Spiritual Net, what Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong "saw" was a different scene: how Tang Ya's Soul Power surged out from within her body, how it resonated with her Blue Silver Grass martial soul, how the growth paths of the Blue Silver Grass were planned... The entire process was broken down into countless clear "steps."

"So that's how it is... Releasing a soul skill follows this kind of 'process'..." Wang Dong murmured.

An unprecedented light burst from Huo Yuhao's eyes.

He had finally done it.

What he had built was no longer a simple Spiritual Link, but a "platform" capable of "analyzing" and "learning" the soul skills of others!

"Senior, thank you! Your help is crucial to us!" Huo Yuhao said sincerely.

After the link ended, Tang Ya was still reluctant to let the experience go. "It's incredible... Yuhao, the thing you've created has limitless potential."

Huo Yuhao smiled, but his gaze turned toward Beibei.

"Senior, this is only the beginning."

He knew that their Ethernet Version 2.0 was ready to receive a true Broadband Data Stream. The next time, they would connect to Beibei's powerful Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.

And that would no longer be a simple test, but their first true Data Attack and Defense Battle.