After Chen Mochuan and Li Biao polished off all the food on their plates, they finally leaned back in their chairs, thoroughly satisfied.
Such a massive appetite would have been an unimaginable burden for an ordinary Martial Warrior, but it put little pressure on the two exceptionally gifted men.
After eating and drinking their fill, Chen Mochuan felt that he had recovered quite a bit. Unwilling to waste a moment that could be spent training, he suggested, "Come on, let's go train some more."
"Brother Chuan, are you a perpetual-motion machine?" Li Biao immediately waved his hands frantically. "We trained so hard this morning that our bodies are already depleted. We should rest properly. If our bodies can't take it and something goes wrong, it'll be a terrible loss."
Chen Mochuan glanced at the [Moderate Fatigue] status on the holographic panel, but wondered to himself: If I train until I reach [High Fatigue] and then get a massage, will it still help increase my Blood-Qi Value?
When Chen Mochuan didn't seem moved, Li Biao was practically on the verge of tears.
He had long felt that his close friend was an out-and-out training maniac, with a body built differently from everyone else's, as if he never knew what it meant to be tired.
But he had trained hard that morning too, and right now he genuinely wanted to take a break. So he pleaded,
"Bro, if we keep training nonstop, we'll work ourselves to death. We need some entertainment to break things up now and then... Come to think of it, we've known each other for years, but I still don't know what you do for fun..."
"Practicing martial arts is what I enjoy," Chen Mochuan replied without a moment's hesitation.
Li Biao was at a loss for words. He sighed. "Only a martial arts fanatic like you could say something like that... If you didn't need to rest and sleep, I bet you really would train twenty-four hours a day."
As far as Chen Mochuan knew, once someone advanced to the Fourth Realm and reached the Core Formation Realm, they could go without sleep or rest.
By then, if their will was strong enough, perhaps they really could train at high intensity around the clock.
But seeing Li Biao's current state, he didn't want to provoke him any further, so he softened his tone. "Then you rest for a while. I'll go practice standing postures on my own."
Just as Chen Mochuan was about to leave, Li Biao suddenly remembered something and quickly grabbed him. "Wait, I'll show you something. It can help with training without putting too much strain on your body. You're sure to like it."
Curious, Chen Mochuan readily agreed.
The two returned to the fourth floor. The entire floor was the Mingxin Martial Arts Hall's "Premium Member Zone." It offered not only massages but also a full range of other services to support martial arts training.
Soon, they reached a room on the fourth floor. Its heavy solid-wood doors stood open.
Inside was a vast hall, bustling with people moving to and fro. It was livelier than the other areas on the floor.
When Chen Mochuan saw rows of neatly arranged equipment inside, he couldn't help feeling puzzled.
Weren't these Virtual Pods? There were plenty at school, and he'd even used one the last time he fought Lu Feng.
These Virtual Pods looked more stylish and were probably a higher-end model, but there was nothing particularly special about them.
Then it struck him. He turned to Li Biao. "These Virtual Pods... can they connect to the Virtual World?"
Li Biao confirmed that they could, and Chen Mochuan finally understood.
The martial arts halls he usually went to had only four Virtual Pods. Like the ones at school, they only connected to a local network and were used exclusively for matches between people in the hall.
Virtual Pods were also expensive. Even the cheapest old models cost hundreds of thousands of yuan, and he had never encountered any other configurations in real life. So he had assumed they could only be used on a local network.
The Virtual World was an online space built using virtual-reality technology, with Virtual Pods as its hardware.
Socializing, gaming, competition... All the functions of the ordinary internet were available in the Virtual World, but with a more immersive experience.
Many videos and livestreams on major social media platforms came from the Virtual World.
But aside from the "Heaven Martial Battle Net," which interested him most, Chen Mochuan rarely paid attention to anything else about the Virtual World.
The "Heaven Martial Battle Net" had been launched by the Hua Nation government. It provided all Hua Nation citizens with a combat platform in the Virtual World, boasting a realism level of 99%.
Thinking that he could finally be matched with complete strangers through the "Heaven Martial Battle Net" and experience genuine simulated combat, Chen Mochuan couldn't help getting excited.
He called out to Li Biao and hurried over to the nearest unoccupied Virtual Pod. But just as he reached to open the hatch, he froze.
A price list was conspicuously posted beside the hatch button. "Yikes... 300 yuan an hour!"
To be fair, given how expensive the Virtual Pods themselves were, that wasn't a high price.
Chen Mochuan had never been to one, but he'd heard that Virtual Internet Cafes specializing in Virtual Pod rentals usually charged at least 500 yuan an hour.
The Virtual Pods at Mingxin were obviously high-end models. At 300 yuan, the price really was a member perk.
But for Chen Mochuan, it was still an expense worth thinking over.
Fortunately, he spotted a prominent notice beneath the price list: "Free for Gold Members." He finally relaxed and immediately opened the hatch.
The Gold Membership Card Li Biao had given him was becoming more and more valuable!
After settling into a comfortable position, Chen Mochuan closed his eyes and activated the Virtual Pod.
Unlike his previous experience connecting to a local network, his consciousness quickly began to sink into the simulation.
A faint tingling sensation passed through his body. When he opened his eyes, an entirely new world, one he had never set foot in before, appeared before him.
Semi-transparent modules representing games, socializing, and travel floated before him. Chen Mochuan didn't linger. He quickly found the "Heaven Martial Battle Net" module and selected it.
The scenery shifted again. He found himself standing on a vast, desolate plain, with a brilliant starry sky overhead. A system notification sounded in his ear:
"Citizen of Hua Nation, Chen Mochuan, citizen ID number (98...21), has successfully logged in to the 'Heaven Martial Battle Net.'"
"This is your first login. Would you like to begin the human-versus-machine combat tutorial?"
The Virtual Pods at school had a human-versus-machine combat function too, and he was already sick of it. He immediately chose to skip the tutorial.
The Battle Net's other features then appeared before him. Alongside options to create a Personal Training Room and custom rooms, the most important feature was ranked matchmaking.
As this was Chen Mochuan's first time logging in, his rank was the lowest, Black Iron. He had 500 starting points, and once his score reached 1,000, he would advance to the next rank.
He set his personal information to anonymous, restricted the matchmaking range to Antu City, and began 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 (0 wins, 0 losses, 0 draws), Win Rate: 0%, Blood-Qi Value: 3.20] VS Zhang Zhihao [Rank: Black Iron (502 points), Matches: 25 (12 wins, 13 losses, 0 draws), Win Rate: 48.0%, Blood-Qi Value: 3.63]
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