Preliminary Exploration of My Cheat Ability

"That definitely wasn't a dream."

Li Ke felt the faint qi within his body and was utterly certain of it.

Although the qi inside him was extremely weak, only a tenth of what his dream self had possessed, he could be certain that the reason he had been able to strike the candle flame beyond his attack range was Arad's qi.

It was not something like magic power, but qi—a fusion of a warrior's spirit, will, and vital energy. It sounded like magic, yet it was different.

Magic power was a force possessed only by those with talent, whereas qi was a force anyone could cultivate. As long as your heart was still beating, as long as you could still breathe, as long as you were alive, you could learn qi through arduous training.

But magic power—if you did not have it, then you did not have it.

"But why Arad Continent? Is it because they're both games under Tencent? And if this isn't some simulator system, then why can I have dreams like this? Is it some kind of power I possess?"

Li Ke sat cross-legged on his bed, pondering just what was going on with his cheat ability.

If it were a system, there would be the risk of being baited by some big shot, but it would be simple, easy, and straightforward to use. His was clearly not a system, but one of his own abilities.

Then what was its mechanism? How did he activate it? And what were its drawbacks?

"...Elder Souma said the doctor diagnosed me with long-term overwork, and when I woke up, I clearly felt mentally drained. So the cost of activating this ability is probably my vitality and mental strength."

"But interestingly, when that life ended, I gained more vitality and became stronger. Yet my mental exhaustion was not restored. Instead, the sudden influx of memories made my mind even more sluggish. My head still hurts now, as if I hadn't slept for an entire day and night."

Li Ke clenched his fist. The strength in his hand told him that neither the dream nor the warm current had been an illusion. He really had become stronger because of a dream.

"Traveling to another world seems a lot like the simulators in novels. There's no real sense of presence in the dream; it feels more like watching a movie or reading a diary... But when it ends, the memories and abilities passed on to me are undeniably real."

Recalling the various techniques for controlling qi in his memories, Li Ke felt deeply regretful.

His teacher in the dream had not been particularly strong. He had merely taught Li Ke some sword-fighting techniques and methods of using qi to strengthen the body. As for flashy moves that sounded cool?

Sorry, there were none.

His teacher's motto had been, "A swordsman's life is all about chopping, then chopping again! Can't chop it to death? Then switch to a bigger sword, use qi to strengthen your body, and keep chopping!"

Thus, whenever Li Ke thought of the swordsmanship "school" he had learned in the dream, he could not help covering his face.

The philosophy of the swordsmanship school his dream self had studied was simple: faster speed, greater strength, and more enduring physical fitness.

Its guiding principle was that as long as he was faster than you, stronger than you, and could last longer than you, then he could win. It was exceptionally simple and brutal.

It seemed like a return to basics, but Li Ke knew very well why the swordsmanship school he had trained in was like this:

An empty pocket meant there was no time to practice special techniques, while limited talent meant there was no way to come up with genius-level ideas.

In common terms, he was a third-rate swordsman!

"Then how do I control it? And how does the life within affect things? If I want to live out a peaceful life, does that mean I'll become a commoner in there?"

His fingers tapped against his knee as Li Ke recalled every change in his previous dream. If there had been anything special at the time, it was that his mindset had been filled with unwillingness and longing.

He longed for a stronger body, greater talent, and more time to train.

He longed...

To become stronger.

"Then let's try again."

Sitting cross-legged, Li Ke placed his sword across his knees and entered a meditative state.

He continuously recalled his fear and anxiety, filling his heart with thoughts of living a peaceful life, making himself increasingly yearn for the tranquil life of modern times.

When his emotions reached a critical point, he finally sensed a different kind of impulse.

His vitality was being drawn away, and his mental strength was being absorbed by that "point" as well. An illusory void opened within Li Ke's mind, emanating an indescribable pull.

His mind became sluggish as his mental power was drained, and he nearly fainted. The loss of vitality also left him weak, but compared to the extent of his mental depletion, it was not too serious.

"Does it need my mental strength more than vitality?"

With that thought flashing through his mind, Li Ke suppressed his impulse to enter the void. He merely poured his mental strength into it, wanting to see what would happen.

Then something interesting occurred.

After absorbing a certain amount of mental strength and vitality, the void became saturated. Li Ke's consciousness suddenly flew out of his body and arrived in a strange, mystical world.

This world resembled a river. He was within one tiny tributary, rising and falling with the waves. Suddenly, he sensed something and saw a mass of light rushing into a distant branch of the river.

An inexplicable feeling told him that it was the aura and vitality that had split off from him.

And as that mass of light entered the river, an immense sense of rejection suddenly crashed into Li Ke's mind, knocking him out of that world.

The next moment, another warm current appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by a flood of memories that struck Li Ke's mind, once again making his entire body ache.

The memories that appeared so abruptly were completely different from before.

In this life, he had been born in a small country in a modern world, listening since childhood to stories of battles between Black List and Global Risk.

He had even personally witnessed several clashes between Black List and Global Risk.

But he had not joined either side. Instead, he became a surgeon, allowing himself to live a good life in the modern world.

Life had remained peaceful until one day, when he received a strange patient. During treatment, the patient suddenly died. Just as he stood there in confusion, the patient abruptly sprang up and bit him, and then...

Then he died.

Holding his head, Li Ke's mind was utterly listless from the mental exhaustion and extracted memories. This time, some vitality had also been transmitted to him, replenishing what he had spent and even leaving him with a little extra. But his mental exhaustion had not been restored. Instead, gaining those memories had consumed even more of it.

He desperately wanted to fall asleep and recover his mind through sleep.

But the story in those memories really made him want to complain.

"Global Risk, Black List, and a patient who suddenly revived after dying... So this time, I went to the world of CrossFire?"

Li Ke felt a headache coming on. His only impression of CrossFire was that it was the dream of three hundred million elementary school students. And this meant there was even more about his "simulator" that he needed to explore.

But there was good news as well.

Because his guess had been correct!

His thoughts before beginning a simulation could influence his choices within the simulation, as well as the world he simulated!