Harvest

Just as Chen Mochuan was reviewing the battle that had just ended, a system notification from the Heaven Martial Battle Net suddenly popped up before his eyes.

[Li Biao has requested to add you as a friend]

[Message: Brother Chuan, add me!]

Chen Mochuan accepted the request immediately.

Almost at the same time, a voice call request from Li Biao popped up, and he answered it instantly.

"It's already past six; you can't keep soaking in the Virtual World, your mind will get exhausted." Li Biao's voice carried a hint of concern. "Come on, let's go get a massage to relax."

Immersed in the duels on the Heaven Martial Battle Net, Chen Mochuan only then realized how fast time had flown; the entire afternoon had slipped away without him noticing.

Stepping out of his state of highly focused martial arts training, he suddenly felt his temples throbbing and a dull ache in his head. He realized this was because the adrenaline and dopamine secreted by his body had masked his fatigue, preventing him from noticing it until now.

The continuous high-intensity ranked matches didn't consume much physical stamina, but the toll on his mental energy was significant.

He subconsciously summoned the golden light screen and found that the panel was still clearly visible even within the Virtual World.

On the panel, his status had changed from [Moderately Fatigued] at noon to [Highly Fatigued], and he hadn't even noticed the relevant warnings because he was so fully invested in the ranked matches.

He replied with a "Sure," and was just about to log out of the Virtual World when he heard Li Biao shouting on the other end of the call.

"No way... Brother Chuan! You played 40 ranked matches in one afternoon? Your points have already shot up over eight hundred! That's way too hardcore!"

Li Biao had clearly checked his personal information, as he hadn't set his match history to be hidden from friends.

"Yeah, I've been playing ranked matches all afternoon, didn't do anything else."

As he spoke, Chen Mochuan glanced at his match record: [Matches: 40 (27 Wins, 13 Losses, 0 Draws), Win Rate: 67.5%].

He then took the opportunity to check Li Biao's information: [Rank: Bronze (198 points), Matches: 214 (130 Wins, 98 Losses, 1 Draw), Win Rate: 56.8%, Blood Qi Value: 6.18].

In the Heaven Martial Battle Net, one could promote after accumulating 1000 points in a rank, which also automatically granted 50 points of rank-protection.

Li Biao's points were approaching 200, indicating he had firmly established himself in the Bronze rank.

Compared to the 6.15 measured in the morning, Li Biao's Blood Qi value had increased by another 0.03. The growth rate wasn't much lower than his own, showing that his "eating"-related Spirit Talent could also efficiently convert energy to strengthen his physical constitution.

"I feel tired after playing at most four ranked matches an hour. You're averaging at least eight matches an hour; don't you need to catch your breath? Doesn't playing so many ranked matches drain your mind?"

Li Biao knew his best friend had excellent stamina and seemed tireless during regular training, but he hadn't expected his mental endurance to be so far beyond the norm. One had to know that while injuries sustained in the Heaven Martial Battle Net didn't sync to one's real body, the realistic pain caused a significant load on the mind.

"The opponents I matched with at the start were relatively weak, so I won quite a few matches without much effort, which is why it wasn't as draining as you think." Chen Mochuan explained, "But I've definitely reached my limit now; my head is aching quite badly."

Hearing Chen Mochuan's explanation, Li Biao remained skeptical. "Is that so..."

"Alright, let's hurry up and go get that massage, then grab something to eat. It's past six already, aren't you hungry?" Chen Mochuan interrupted Li Biao's train of thought and urged him.

And so, the two logged out of the Virtual World and went to take advantage of another free massage.

However, this time, the massage didn't trigger any growth in his Blood Qi, and Chen Mochuan still felt extremely exhausted; the status on his panel stubbornly remained at [Highly Fatigued].

He understood that his training for the day had to end here; both his fist techniques and Stance Training had to be paused. His body was in urgent need of a full rest, otherwise, it would be very easy to get injured.

During dinner, Chen Mochuan noticed that Li Biao was in low spirits and asked with concern, "Why do you look so unhappy?"

With his grievances stirred up, Li Biao suddenly felt his food lose its flavor and gritted his teeth. "In the last ranked match today, I ran into a scumbag! After a few exchanges, he realized he wasn't my match, so he started running all over the arena to avoid fighting..."

"That guy was slippery as an eel; I couldn't catch him at all. He dragged it out for the full twenty minutes, and in the end, the Battle Net ruled it a draw!"

In the Heaven Martial Battle Net, the two lowest ranks, Black Iron and Bronze, had a match time limit of twenty minutes. If no winner was decided by then, it was ruled a draw, and neither side lost points.

The more Li Biao talked, the angrier he got. "I've played over five hundred ranked matches, and this is the first time I've encountered such a shameless scumbag—a pure point-grinder! If I match with him again, I'm going to break his legs and see how he runs then!"

Chen Mochuan asked, "Did he have anonymity on?"

"Yeah!" Li Biao nodded. "I limited my matching range, so he's also from Antu City. If it weren't for the anonymity, I'd definitely track him down in real life! This anonymity feature is disgusting!"

Chen Mochuan chuckled and teased, "The anonymity feature was set up specifically to guard against 'hot-blooded people' like you."

Li Biao curled his lip. "This guy has played over 200 matches, and he has nearly 30 draws! I'm probably not the only one who wants to track him down."

Chen Mochuan was stunned to hear this. A draw rate of over ten percent—he hadn't even seen such a weirdo online. "Then that guy really does deserve a lesson."

"But I feel like what you're actually most angry about is that you couldn't catch him... Why don't you practice some movement techniques? Otherwise, even if you meet him again, you might not be able to catch him."

Thinking of that person's speed, Li Biao sighed. "Eh, we'll see."

Returning home that night, Chen Mochuan lay on his bed to rest and took stock of the day's gains.

Although he had been immersed in the Virtual World all afternoon and hadn't directly increased his Blood Qi value, his Foundation Building Fist and Tiger Fiend Fist had been fully tempered through the continuous duels. He had digested quite a bit of martial arts insight in his mind, and their proficiency levels had increased by 4% and 9% respectively, reaching [Great Success (18%)] and [Entry (31%)].

Having experienced the Heaven Martial Battle Net firsthand, Chen Mochuan deeply realized the immense aid that virtual reality technology provided for martial arts cultivation.

Ever since this technology was invented and applied to simulated combat, the speed of martial arts development on Blue Star had far exceeded the past.

And the "Heaven Martial Battle Net" had pushed the realism of combat to an astonishing 99%, greatly promoting the progress of martial arts in the Hua Nation.

When sparring in reality, martial artists were often held back by the fear of injury and dared not go all out.

But in the Heaven Martial Battle Net, they could exert their full strength; even being "maimed" or "killed" would not affect their real bodies, at most resulting in mental exhaustion.

At the same time, the Heaven Martial Battle Net provided far more combat opportunities than reality, allowing martial artists to accumulate a vast amount of practical experience.

Although there was still a significant gap between virtual duels and real life-and-death struggles, it could still maximize the improvement of a martial artist's practical skills and had played a crucial accelerating role in the overall development of martial arts.

Due to the massive threat posed by Ferocious Beasts, humanity on Blue Star had formed a community of shared destiny. For the sake of the overall development of martial arts on Blue Star, the Hua Nation open-sourced the relevant technology for the Heaven Martial Battle Net.

Consequently, other countries followed the Hua Nation's lead and created their own virtual combat platforms.

From then on, global martial arts entered a new era of rapid advancement.

Thinking about the Heaven Martial Battle Net, the over-exhausted Chen Mochuan soon drifted into a deep sleep.