Duel Space

The hall was as vast as a city, with a massive backdrop composed of blood droplets.

"This place is actually quite grand," Sett said as he looked at the enormous hall, though there weren't many people around.

"It's alright, but you'll find it's nothing special once you've seen it enough," Zhenlian King said. "Come to think of it, I haven't been to these places in a long time. Stepping back in now feels a bit strange."

"I've transferred one hundred million Ganwu Coin to you, so go have fun. I'm taking off now. If you need anything, just ask your smart assistant."

With that, Zhenlian King vanished, whether she had logged off or teleported elsewhere, he couldn't tell.

"Heh heh, let me start practicing in this Killing Field dueling arena," Sett chuckled lecherously, unable to hold back his urge to get started.

After paying the fee through his smart assistant—not that he cared about the cost, as he had plenty of money—he was ready.

"Let's see, as a planetary level nine, I can only challenge other planetary level nine fighters," Sett said, looking at the screen floating in front of him in the Killing Field hall.

The screen displayed the strength profiles of numerous opponents. To initiate a fight, one had to send a request and wait for the other party to accept before the battle could officially begin.

"Damn, you actually have the nerve to call yourself a heaven-defying expert? Zero wins and 321 losses. How the hell did you manage that?" Sett couldn't help but complain.

One could choose any name in the dueling space, so naturally, there were plenty of ridiculous ones.

Furthermore, the dueling space would assign ratings based on performance.

Like Sett, who had just arrived, he naturally didn't have a single star.

"You guys will do. Since I don't have any stars, the strong ones probably won't bother accepting my challenges, so I'll start with the one-star fighters." Sett found some one-star experts, sent out a few random duel requests, and began to wait.

While waiting, Sett gave himself a signature name—The Boss.

Heh heh, finally a place to use this name. Woohoo, let's take off! Sett thought with a grin.

"Your challenge has been accepted. Teleporting to the duel space," the Virtual Universe system prompted, appearing on Sett's screen.

"These one-star 'experts' are so stuck up, taking this long to accept. Just wait until I bash your heads in," Sett muttered, looking at his opponent, who went by the name Pitian Kandi.

Sett felt his vision go dark for a moment before he appeared on a vast plain featuring a metal arena that spanned ten kilometers in diameter.

A burly man wielding a blade stood on the stage and mocked Sett: "Which backwater planet did you crawl out of? You're a planetary level nine with no rating? Still, an expert like me loves to trample on newbies like you. Haha!"

Pitian Kandi: 5 wins, 13 losses.

"I bet you can't win against anyone else, so you only thought to bully a newbie like me, right?" Sett jumped onto the stage and gave the man the middle finger in contempt.

Although the man didn't know what the gesture meant, he assumed it wasn't anything good.

"Stop the chatter and start swinging!" The man hoisted his heavy blade and charged at Sett.

"Too slow!" Sett saw the man's blade as if it were moving in slow motion and dodged it leisurely.

"Is that all you've got?" Sett said after dodging the strike, then kicked the man in the rear, sending him face-planting into the dirt.

Sett walked over slowly, stepped on the man, and said, "Do you still think newbies are easy to bully?"

Sett had spent two years in intense training without interacting with anyone else, save for the occasional words exchanged with Zhenlian King, who had been busy beating him up for nearly two years.

"This is my first fight. Since you're acting so cocky, I'll have to teach you a lesson. Come again!" Sett kicked the man hundreds of meters away.

"How dare you humiliate me!" Pitian Kandi, having never suffered such an insult, performed a kip-up and charged at Sett once more.

Sett slapped him away. With his tenfold force output, even a casual slap carried terrifying power.

The poor man was swatted directly off the stage and vanished from sight.

The Boss wins!

The Virtual Universe sent a notification, signaling that The Boss had secured his first victory.

"Who's next?" Sett sent out another string of duel requests, waiting for his next target.

"A newbie with one win and zero losses? You're lucky you won that one. Soon, I'll teach you what a real one-star expert is!" said a man in black robes holding a dagger.

The black-robed man called himself Void Blade, with a record of 12 wins and 3 losses—not bad for a one-star level.

"You're acting so smug over one star? Wouldn't you be flying to the heavens if you were a two-star?" Sett couldn't help but give the black-robed man the middle finger. This kid is even more arrogant than me.

Seeing the gesture, the man flashed and vanished.

Sett threw a punch casually behind him, and the black-robed man was sent flying by the blow.

"You want to ambush me with that level of skill? Don't make me laugh," Sett said as he jumped over to the man.

"Again! This time, you're dead!" The black-robed man gritted his teeth and flashed forward to stab at Sett once more.

"Your strength is decent, but it's a pity you ran into me."

Sett's reaction was naturally lightning-fast; even though the black-robed man was quick, he could still track him clearly.

With a single punch, he sent the black-robed man flying off the stage.

The Boss's second battle, victory!

"Continue." Sett kept sending out challenge requests.

"You kid are really disrespectful, not even bringing a weapon. If I'd known, I wouldn't have accepted your challenge. There's no fun in winning like this." A burly man with a simple, honest face but a three-meter-tall frame stood on the stage and spoke to Sett.

The Killing Field dueling space naturally allowed for the selection of weapons and armor. The Virtual Universe could simulate over 99% of all weapons, and the Killing Field could do the same.

Yet, Sett hadn't brought any weapons, wearing only the clothes he had just purchased through his smart assistant.

"Heh, fists are the most powerful weapons," Sett said to the giant.

Standing three meters tall, as high as a full story, the giant before him was imposing enough to suppress many others just with his presence.

"Since you didn't bring a weapon, I'll give you a head start. You go first," the giant, whose nickname was Unrivaled, said.

Unrivaled had twelve victories and only two losses, so his strength was naturally quite good; a few more wins and he would be promoted to two stars.

"Fists don't have eyes, so watch out, Unrivaled," Sett said, throwing a punch with his right hand.

"I'll block it!" Unrivaled used his large club, and seeing the power behind Sett's fist, he moved to block it repeatedly.

Crack!

The club couldn't withstand the force of Sett's fist and was shattered instantly, while Unrivaled was sent flying by the immense impact.

"Such powerful strength, no wonder you don't need to carry a weapon," the giant said, half-crouching on the ground.

"You actually have some skill, but this is the Virtual Universe. You must be careful in the real universe; always hold the universe in awe!" Knowing he was no match, Unrivaled offered Sett a word of advice.

"Alright, sorry about this. Let's add each other as friends when we get out." Sett found the giant in front of him quite interesting and decided to add him, considering it a way to make a new friend.

"Hmm, then I concede. Let's meet again next time!"

The Boss's third battle, victory!

"One star, but this is only the beginning!" After sending a friend request to Unrivaled, Sett continued to start duels.

"Haha, you must be The Boss. Your fists have some substance. I'm Unrivaled, though you can call me by my name, Sanying," a three-meter-tall giant said.

"Hello, hello. I'm The Boss, and you can call me by my name, Sett." Sett felt quite favorably toward the giant before him.

"So, are you still going to keep issuing challenges?" Sanying asked.

"Yeah, I'm only at one star right now. I'm not meeting any strong opponents, so I need to push my star rating up first," Sett said with a smile.

"That's true. With your strength, I'd say reaching seven or eight stars, or even nine, isn't impossible," Sanying nodded.

"Heh, I'm heading in, I'll be right back," Sett said to Sanying as soon as he saw someone had accepted his challenge.

In less than half a minute, Sett reappeared beside Sanying.

"So fast?" Sanying knew Sett's strength, but he was still surprised.

"Well, my friend is still waiting here, and I couldn't keep a good friend waiting too long, could I? I just went in and sent him packing with one punch," Sett said with a laugh.

"That guy thought he was a two-star expert and started mocking me the moment I entered, thinking he could easily handle a one-star player. Heh, I just love people with big mouths," Sett continued.

"That's for sure. Some people aren't strong, but their trash-talking skills are top-tier. If there were a competition for that, they'd probably place easily," Sanying also laughed.

After all, Sett had a King-level expert as a sparring partner and the boost from Zhenying Fist; he didn't even need to use his Innate Secret Technique, so it was naturally easy.

"Haha, let's go, let's go grab a drink."

"Let's go, let's go."

The two of them stopped dueling and prepared to have a good drink to bond.

If you can't find the book title, try searching for the author; perhaps the name has just been changed!