Ranking

Dinner passed quickly. After eating, Xu Ziming prepared to return to his room to cultivate.

As he passed the television, he saw a news report playing:

Pengcheng Express: True Martial Sect Disciple Song Yongkang has recently fled into hiding within Pengcheng City. He possesses the strength of a Martial Artist. Citizens are advised not to go out alone at night and to remain mindful of their personal safety.

"True Martial Sect Disciple..." Xu Ziming murmured, staring deeply at the portrait on the television.

There was an extremely deep knife scar on the man's face, beneath his left eye. It made his originally somewhat delicate features look several degrees fiercer.

After committing that face to memory, Xu Ziming returned to his room.

Tonight, he still needed to cultivate the Basic Body Forging Method first. After three consecutive days of training, his current speed had reached forty repetitions.

As long as he trained for another five days, he would meet the conditions for permanently fixing the Basic Body Forging Method. By then, he might even unlock a new slot.

He should also look into what items could speed up cultivation in advance. After all, this ability could stack.

He bent his legs slightly and once again assumed the Basic Body Forging Method's Opening Stance. By now, Xu Ziming had long since reached a masterful level in cultivating this technique.

Every movement carried some of his own style, no longer confined to the few original motions of the technique.

Furthermore, his cultivation speed had increased considerably. It took only an hour and a half to complete six rounds of training.

It was precisely this rapid cultivation that had allowed his Life Energy Level to rise another 0.1 in just two days.

At this pace, as long as he had an uninterrupted supply of resources, he was even confident that he could reach Level 4.5 before the College Entrance Exam.

After completing his Basic Body Forging Method training, it was only around eight-thirty.

He glanced at the wristband in his hand, logged into "Battle Net," and lightly tapped it.

The next moment, his consciousness blurred, and the Battle Net login interface appeared before his eyes.

[Login]

[User "Little Ming Who Can't Use a Sword," welcome back to Battle Net.]

As the electronic voice sounded, Xu Ziming's consciousness completely entered Battle Net.

During the day, he had been too busy chatting with Teacher Ma to properly inspect his surroundings.

Now that he looked closely, it really did feel like the fully immersive game worlds in online gaming novels. The realism was incredible, as though he had transmigrated.

At the very center of the entire area, a massive bloodstained spear shot straight into the clouds, looking extraordinarily majestic.

Around that spear stood the various basic facilities available for use on Battle Net.

Among those facilities, the most eye-catching was a ranking board that recorded Martial Way rankings. Unfortunately, with his authority, he could only view the lowest-level High School Student Ranking.

Since the Martial Arts College Entrance Exam was organized independently within each province, this ranking only recorded the situation within Suzhe Province.

As for the national rankings, he would probably have to become a Martial Artist before he could see them.

On this ranking board, Xu Ziming spotted some familiar names.

Chen Jinghao from Pengcheng No. 1 Martial Arts High School, whom he had seen on television, was indeed among them, ranked fifth. Shen Xingyue from his own school was ranked quite highly as well.

Shen Xingyue was ranked twenty-third on the Suzhe Province Ranking.

It was worth mentioning that most of the top thirty used their real names. Past the thirtieth place, almost everyone used online usernames.

That was how Xu Ziming had been able to recognize their rankings.

However, although their rankings were high, their tiers were only Silver. There were none higher.

Realizing that he would not be able to find anyone he knew among a bunch of usernames, Xu Ziming closed the ranking board.

Rather than looking at other people's rankings here, he might as well play a match himself!

The place for matches was an arena, with the words "Number One Under Heaven" written above it. As long as one stepped inside, matchmaking would begin automatically.

Xu Ziming picked up the Type-1 Zero-Energy Sword and silently walked onto it.

[Checking user tier...]

[No previous ranked matches. Starting tier: Black Iron III. Matching user with an evenly matched opponent.]

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

The seconds ticked by. Just as Xu Ziming was beginning to grow impatient, his vision suddenly shifted.

With a boom, a voice rang in his ears: Match found.

Immediately afterward, deafening cheers filled his ears. It seemed as if he were standing in the center of a massive stadium, about to fight someone.

When his vision cleared, he discovered that he really had entered the center of a circular arena.

The ground beneath his feet was silver-white, seemingly made from an extremely durable alloy. Around it were spectator stands rising straight into the sky, like a Roman colosseum.

The stands were filled with faceless virtual figures. They looked fake, but their voices were incredibly loud.

It felt as though he had truly entered an arena himself.

[Weapon data previously recorded: Type 1 Psionic Sword. Replicating at a one-to-one ratio. To change weapons, place the weapon above the watch in reality to record it.]

[Please select pain feedback.]

As the electronic voice fell silent, several rows of numbers appeared in Xu Ziming's vision.

They ranged from 20% to 100%, with an option every 10%.

[User has selected 100% pain feedback. Warning: 100% pain feedback may place immense pressure on your mind. This option is not recommended. Please confirm again.]

Xu Ziming looked at the prompt before him without the slightest hesitation and tapped the confirmation button again.

[Selection successful. 100% pain feedback enabled.]

[Basic settings calibrated. Face your opponent.]

As soon as the voice ended, the arena began to change, transforming into a battlefield that looked as though it had just suffered an invasion by alien races.

Realistic corpses and skeletons littered the ground, while the stench of blood hung heavily in the air.

Fifty meters away, directly across from him, a human figure gradually condensed into existence.

It was a chubby figure dressed in black Martial Way attire, with a thick gold chain around his neck and a slightly unruly look on his face.

He held a long saber in his hand, and he actually looked rather adorable.

"Loading took so long. You're a newbie?"

The other party had clearly entered this space long ago. He had already been waiting for quite a while while Xu Ziming set his pain feedback.

"Kid, don't blame your big brother for bullying you. Consider running into me in your first match tuition fees."

Xu Ziming did not respond. He merely raised the longsword in his hand. Here, even his face had been customized, and the name was not his real one.

He could freely unleash the true power of Natural Sword Bone.

[Battle begins.]

The system announcement rang out, accompanied by the sword intent continuously erupting from Xu Ziming's body.

The smile had not yet faded from the fat man's face when Xu Ziming's figure vanished.

Like a cannonball launched at full force, he shot toward the saber-wielding fat man with astonishing momentum, carrying a fierce and savage aura.

"The hell kind of newbie are you?!"