Protagonist

By November 2049, the ten levels within the first factory were completely filled. Supported by ten supercomputers, this virtual city, spanning over 50,000 square kilometers and housing five million people, was finally completed.

From City 1 to Residential District 10, the arrival of these residents spanned a full six months. Those who arrived last possessed only one-sixth the energy points of the earliest arrivals; combined with the six-month experience gap, residents of District 1 would have had an overwhelming advantage over those in other areas.

In the real world, such seniority is hard to change, but in the virtual world, Lin Li could easily level the playing field simply by adding a discount buff.

Everyone's daily energy point intake was fixed, but the later one entered this massive virtual city, the cheaper items became. The final batch of arrivals could purchase the same items for one-sixth the price, a discount that gradually vanished as the gap in total energy consumption between districts narrowed.

In other words, while Lin Li did not set a maximum level, he provided all new players with an experience buff, ensuring that people from District 1 through District 10 possessed roughly the same strength and equipment.

As for the so-called experience gap, there was a lack of powerful organizations to control most people's lives. Most ordinary residents were from impoverished backgrounds and accustomed to hardship; now, they lived in this virtual city with the mindset of playing and enjoying themselves, so the "experience" of the early arrivals effectively became everyone's experience.

After six months, most residents had given up on competing for those unreachable rewards, choosing instead to stay home, watch the drama, enjoy fine food, and sleep until they woke up naturally—a life far more comfortable than bitterly hoarding points to buy weapons.

The remaining residents who enjoyed combat had all raised their Strength and Psychokinesis to level 10. This turned each of them into a superhuman with nearly a ton of physical force and a hundred-meter range of telekinetic ability; hovering in mid-air or using flying blades to injure others became effortless. In ancient legends, each would be considered a sword immortal capable of taking a head from a hundred paces away.

However, these were not the one or two reclusive masters roaming the mountains and rivers of stories, but tens of thousands of ordinary people with worldly desires. Without the worry of survival and lacking strong organizational control, their comfortable lives and immense power left them needing an outlet for their energy, and the giant monsters in the forest became the perfect targets.

In District 10, about a hundred kilometers deep into the primeval forest, over a thousand people formed an army. Their immense strength and psychokinesis allowed them to carry vast amounts of weaponry and equipment without being hindered by the terrain.

These were not light weapons like rifles or grenades; every resident had two one-meter-long handheld electromagnetic cannons slung over them, with a massive carbon-fiber crate floating behind their backs, filled to the brim with shells.

Conventional artillery and tanks were ineffective in the forest, and missiles—with their propulsion and laser-guidance systems—were quite expensive. Compared to the strength of the residents themselves, who could respawn infinitely, such consumables were highly cost-inefficient.

Over several months, the residents here had explored a highly effective combat system based on their physical stats and the prices of items in the shop: they stopped using expensive high-tech guided weapons, bought only cheap electromagnetic shells, and relied on sheer numbers to rush the monsters, throwing shells at point-blank range and burying them under tens of thousands of projectiles and human lives.

At the front of this thousand-strong group was a youth with short, white, ear-length hair. Unlike most residents who maintained a human appearance, his hands and feet were covered in scales, a nearly two-meter-long tail trailed behind him, and thick armor plates covered the area around his spine, making him look like a reptile with a human head.

This person was Achilles Best, twelve years old, born with albinism. His irises and pupils were a pale pink, and at age six, he had been abandoned by his biological parents in a slum.

Because of his photosensitivity, he could not perform manual labor and had to hide in the sewers of the slums, scavenging for scraps to survive. When he was discovered, he was on the verge of death, and a warlord faction serving the Infinite Game Company sent him here for experimentation.

In the virtual world, his frail body was no longer a burden. Possessing powerful combat intuition and a beast-like will to survive, Achilles quickly stood out from the comfort-seeking residents. Aside from keeping his white hair, he gradually transformed his body into a killing machine.

Most ordinary residents tended to raise both Strength and Psychokinesis simultaneously, often prioritizing the latter—a superpower that existed only in fictional worlds. The thrill of manipulating objects from a thousand meters away without using hands or feet left them addicted and unable to pull themselves away.

However, Achilles discovered the flaw in this ability: Psychokinesis was extremely dependent on the individual's observational skills. Beyond a hundred meters, fine control was nearly impossible; force would disperse over a range of several meters, becoming weak even if it matched the user's physical strength.

And when the range reached several kilometers, the so-called Psychokinesis became nothing more than an invisible bomb that could only smash a large area; the imagined scene of one person controlling thousands of weapons to fire simultaneously was simply impossible.

Achilles discovered the limitations of this world, or rather, the limitations of these humans with ordinary brains. Their brains could not perfectly control power a hundred or a thousand times greater than their own; this was not a standard online game where one could trigger skills automatically with the click of a button.

In fact, if Lin Li were to operate at level 100 Strength and Psychokinesis, he would not need any weapons to kill that Little White Mouse—which had power but no intelligence—in a one-on-one fight.

His brain was capable of condensing all his power into a single square centimeter from thousands of meters away, with Psychokinesis acting like a sharp, massive awl attacking continuously from different angles, leaving the Little White Mouse with no room to counterattack.

An ordinary person's brain simply lacked the ability to precisely control power from thousands of meters away, so even if their strength were ten times greater, they were still just empty shells, no different from the "babies" controlling powerful monsters.

Achilles broke free from this seemingly beautiful trap of superpowers. He needed to save every bit of food and every ounce of strength to survive; he maintained this habit even in this world devoid of hunger and disease.

Unable to use firearms and knowing only a few simple words, he chose to maintain his advantage by spending all his energy points on strengthening his physical body.

In the process, he was pleasantly surprised to find that even though he had no tail in reality, this fifth limb extending from his base could be controlled as well as his hands and feet, and it even helped balance his body while running.

This modification did not increase his raw power, but this non-human appearance allowed him to use his strength better—for instance, running on all fours was much faster than standing on two legs. The extra tail provided an additional means of attack, and the scales allowed him to block the claws of giant beasts without suffering lacerating wounds.

Achilles's Psychokinesis was still only level 1, but his strength was 50% higher than other powerhouses who had spent the same amount of energy points.

Currently, the strongest residents in each district had about 10 million energy points, with both stats at roughly 5,000—meaning a strength of about 500 tons and an operating range of about 50 kilometers.

Except for those dozen or so super-organisms that were over a thousand meters tall and weighed in the hundreds of thousands of tons, this level of power allowed them to strike down most giant creatures from a great distance. These top-tier players were now nearing the Sky-Piercing Tower in the core zone.

However, while these top players were formidable, they had paid a heavy price for their victory.

Powerful and uncontrollable strength brought inconvenience to daily life. Aside from their invincible starting safe houses and the two intelligent servants, conventional items could not withstand their power. The virtual world, originally intended for enjoyment, had become a life of asceticism.

If that were all, they might have barely endured it, comforting themselves that it was for the sake of massive benefits in the real world later.

Yet, Achilles—the last to arrive and the youngest—had surpassed everyone to become the strongest. His pure strength-focused build and beast-like instincts allowed him to rise rapidly in District 10, defeating all competitors and attracting a large number of residents who loved violence and combat to become his followers.

This was unacceptable to the top players of other regions. Ultimately, they decided to join forces within the Sky-Piercing Tower to target this strongest individual.

Achilles, who had been floating at the front of the team, suddenly raised his drooping tail. His pale pink pupils fixed on a giant creature in the center of a small hill in the distance.

It was a Komodo dragon, about 230 meters long and weighing nearly 100,000 tons. Its slender tongue flicked out to collect scent particles in the air, using the vomeronasal organ in the roof of its mouth to sense scents from kilometers away.

This lizard had dug a massive cave beneath the hill, with only its head swaying outside to identify the scent particles carried by the wind. Rather than a lizard, it was more like a dragon from mythology, one of the most powerful creatures in this primeval forest.

"Attack!"

At the command, the thousand people behind him floated in the air to form a human wall. Thousands of electromagnetic shells flew toward the giant creature at speeds exceeding Mach 4. The hill, dozens of meters high, was instantly engulfed in rising dust and smoke. A low hiss came from within the haze; it had been enraged.

The earth began to tremble as the hill was shattered by the creature's immense power. The thick scales on the giant lizard were enough to withstand the bombardment of conventional cruise missiles; most of these 100mm electromagnetic shells were deflected by the hard scales, and the rest lost their kinetic energy after only penetrating the surface.

After all, these shells were just cheap goods; against the scales of this Komodo dragon, the power of ordinary shells was still too low.

Achilles dropped from the sky, landing on all fours. His ferocious tail swayed behind him as his pale pink pupils watched the behemoth emerging from the dust. The people floating behind him kept firing electromagnetic shells, and its scales finally began to crack and fall off, with trickles of blood seeping from its skin.

"Finish you!"

Achilles jumped toward the dragon-like creature with all his might. He used his Psychokinesis to maintain the hardness of the soil beneath his feet. Under the force of 7,500 times his weight, the ground within a ten-meter radius shattered into powder, as if it were concrete struck by a steel sledgehammer.

A white sonic boom cloud appeared around him. Achilles's speed at this moment even surpassed that of the electromagnetic shells. The pale-haired youth, less than 1.5 meters tall, slammed head-on into the 100,000-ton behemoth. The collision produced a deafening roar, and a visible cloud-like shockwave surged outward, drowning out the sound of the thousands of electromagnetic shells.