Heaven Martial Battle Net

After Chen Mochuan and Li Biao wiped out the food on their trays, they finally leaned back against their chairs in satisfaction.

Such a massive appetite would be an unimaginable burden for an ordinary martial artist, but for the two of them, gifted as they were, it didn't cause much strain.

With their bellies full, Chen Mochuan felt he had recovered quite a bit. Unwilling to waste any time that could be spent training, he proposed, "Let's go, let's go train some more."

"Brother Chuan, are you a perpetual motion machine?" Li Biao immediately waved his hands frantically. "We already drained our bodies training all morning. We should get some proper rest; if we push too hard and end up causing some injury, it won't be worth the loss."

Chen Mochuan glanced at the [Moderate Fatigue] status prompt on his light screen panel, but he was secretly wondering: if he trained until he reached [High Fatigue] and then received a massage, would it still promote the growth of his qi and blood?

Seeing that Chen Mochuan seemed unmoved, Li Biao was practically on the verge of tears.

He had long felt that his best friend was an out-and-out cultivation fanatic whose body was built differently from normal people, as if he never knew the meaning of fatigue.

However, he himself had trained quite hard that morning and really wanted to rest for a while, so he begged for mercy:

"Brother, if we keep training, we'll be worked to death. We need some entertainment to balance things out... Come to think of it, I've known you for so many years, and I don't even know what your hobbies are..."

Chen Mochuan answered almost without hesitation: "Practicing martial arts is my hobby."

Li Biao was momentarily speechless, then sighed and said, "Only a martial arts obsessive like you could say something like that... I think if you didn't need to rest and sleep, you'd really be able to cultivate 24 hours a day without stopping."

In fact, as far as Chen Mochuan knew, once one advanced to the fourth realm of Martial Artist and reached the "Core Formation Realm" level, one could go without sleep or rest.

At that point, if one's will was firm enough, it might truly be possible to achieve near-constant, high-intensity cultivation.

But seeing Li Biao's current state, he didn't want to provoke him further, so he softened his tone: "Then you rest for a while, I'll just go practice standing meditation by myself."

Seeing him about to leave, Li Biao suddenly remembered something and hurriedly pulled him back. "Wait, I'll take you to see something. It can assist your cultivation without putting too much burden on your body. You'll definitely like it."

Chen Mochuan's curiosity was piqued, and he gladly agreed.

Thus, the two returned to the fourth floor. This entire level was the "Member Premium Zone" of the Mingxin Martial Arts Hall, which not only provided massage therapy but also offered a full range of auxiliary services related to martial arts cultivation.

Soon, they arrived in front of a room on the fourth floor, where a heavy solid wood door stood open.

Looking inside, it was an extremely spacious hall with a constant flow of people, appearing much livelier than the other functional areas on this floor.

When Chen Mochuan saw the rows of equipment neatly displayed in the room, he couldn't help but feel a bit confused.

Aren't these just Virtual Pods? There were plenty at school, and he had even used one when he had his duel with Lu Feng.

Although the Virtual Pods here looked more stylish and were likely higher-end models, there was nothing particularly strange about them.

However, a thought crossed his mind, and he immediately realized the key, turning to look at Li Biao: "These Virtual Pods... can they connect to the Virtual World?"

After receiving an affirmative answer from Li Biao, Chen Mochuan finally understood.

The martial arts hall he used to frequent only had four Virtual Pods, and like the ones at school, they only opened to the local area network, specifically for members to spar with each other.

Coupled with the high price of Virtual Pods—even the cheapest old models started at several hundred thousand—he had never come into contact with other configurations in reality, so he subconsciously assumed this equipment could only be used for local networks.

The Virtual World was a network space created based on virtual reality technology, and its carrier was precisely the Virtual Pod.

Socializing, gaming, competition... all the functions available on the regular internet could be experienced with greater immersion in the Virtual World.

On major social media platforms, there were many video works and streamer content originating from the Virtual World.

However, apart from the "Heaven Martial Battle Net" that he was most interested in, Chen Mochuan rarely paid attention to information about other parts of the Virtual World.

"Heaven Martial Battle Net" was launched by the Hua Nation authorities and provided all citizens of Hua Nation with a combat platform with a simulation fidelity of up to 99% within the Virtual World.

Thinking that he could finally be matched with complete strangers through "Heaven Martial Battle Net" and experience true simulated combat, Chen Mochuan couldn't help but get excited.

He said a word to Li Biao and couldn't wait to walk over to the nearest unoccupied Virtual Pod. Just as he reached out to open the hatch, his movements stalled.

Right next to the hatch button was a brightly posted price list: "Hiss... 300 yuan per hour!"

In all fairness, compared to the high price of the Virtual Pod itself, this fee wasn't actually high.

Although Chen Mochuan had never been to one, he had heard that the Virtual Internet Cafes outside that specialized in renting out Virtual Pods usually started their fees at 500 yuan per hour.

The Virtual Pods here at Mingxin were clearly high-end models, so the 300 yuan price was indeed a member's discount.

But for Chen Mochuan, this was still an expense that required careful consideration.

Fortunately, he immediately saw the eye-catching note below the price list stating "Free for Gold Members," which made him breathe a sigh of relief, and he immediately opened the hatch.

The Gold Membership Card that Li Biao had given him was proving to be even more valuable than he thought!

Choosing a comfortable position to lie down, Chen Mochuan closed his eyes and started the Virtual Pod.

Unlike his previous experiences connecting to a local network, his consciousness soon began to immerse.

After a faint, tingling sensation flowed through his body, he opened his eyes to see a brand-new world he had never stepped into before.

Translucent functional modules representing games, social networking, and travel floated before his eyes. Chen Mochuan didn't linger, quickly finding the "Heaven Martial Battle Net" module and choosing to enter.

The scenery before him changed again, and he found himself standing on a vast, desolate land under a sky filled with brilliant stars. A system prompt sounded in his ears:

"Hua Nation citizen Chen Mochuan, citizen identification number (98...21) has successfully logged into 'Heaven Martial Battle Net'."

"First-time login detected. Would you like to start the human-vs-AI combat tutorial?"

The school's Virtual Pods also had a human-vs-AI combat function, which he was already tired of playing, so he immediately chose to skip it.

Immediately, the other modules of the Battle Net appeared before him. Aside from functions like creating personal training rooms and custom rooms, the core feature was the ranked matchmaking system.

As this was his first time logging in, Chen Mochuan's rank was the lowest, Black Iron, and he possessed 500 initial points; once his points increased to 1000, he would be able to promote to the next rank.

He set his personal information to anonymous and limited the matchmaking range to Antu City before starting the first ranked match of his life.

Only a few seconds passed before he was matched with an opponent.

Anonymous [Rank: Black Iron (500 points), Matches: 0 (W0 L0 D0), Win Rate: 0%, Qi Gate Value: 3.20]

VS

Zhang Zhihao [Rank: Black Iron (502 points), Matches: 25 (W12 L13 D0), Win Rate: 48.0%, Qi Gate Value: 3.63]