Energy Detector

Mu Yang soon realized that his worry had been unnecessary. In fact, what he truly needed to worry about was something else.

As he held the lens-shaped object and examined it, a beep suddenly sounded. The moment it touched his skin, the lens-shaped item seemed to complete its charging automatically, and a string of symbols of unknown meaning appeared on its pale green surface.

Mu Yang jumped in fright. Looking at the detector that had already activated, his heart sank.

After all, many alien detectors came with communication functions. Now that this lens-shaped detector had activated, could it expose Earth's location?

Although Earth's location was no secret in the universe, and many interstellar powers did not even think much of a low-level planet like Earth, sending out a signal carelessly was never a good thing. It would be terrible if it really attracted aliens. With Earth's current military strength, it probably could not withstand an alien invasion.

Then again, not every detector had communication capabilities. Besides, this truly was alien high technology—it had not broken down even after all these years.

Mu Yang sighed inwardly, then took another look at the lens and found that the reading on it had not changed since it powered on.

Upon closer inspection, he found that there was only a short line of characters. There were only four symbols, and aside from the lens and its mounting frame, the entire detector was extremely compact. After fiddling with it for quite some time, he found no button for switching to voice communication, nor anything resembling an antenna.

After giving it some thought, Mu Yang stopped worrying about whether he could understand the symbols displayed on the lens. He placed it back into the metal box, then continued searching through the spacecraft. Once he was sure there was nothing else useful to be found, he picked up the box and left the crescent-shaped canyon.

He hurried back, avoiding the watchful gazes of countless wild beasts as he raced along at breakneck speed.

The moon hung like a silver disk, while stars glittered across the sky.

Mu Yang returned to his residence.

Under the dim candlelight, he opened the metal box again and picked up one of the lenses.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!" Detecting some of the heat from his skin, the lens began operating automatically again, and a string of data soon appeared.

Just like the reading from before, there was very little data—only a string of characters.

It did not matter that he could not understand it, because Mu Yang had roughly deduced that it was something like an Energy Detector. The displayed data was continuous; whether it used decimal or binary, that was at least a basic principle.

Mu Yang carefully observed the data on the lens, pointed it at himself, and continuously raised the energy within his body. Sure enough, the final symbol changed. As the data flickered, it displayed a certain pattern of alternating changes.

Mu Yang copied the symbols onto paper one by one and studied them carefully. He soon discovered that the characters were divided into four sections, each likely representing a digit.

So far, the first two digits had not changed at all.

Fortunately, Mu Yang had once been an electrician and had studied the principles of digital circuits. That at least gave him a clue as to how to crack it.

"No matter what base it uses, I can work it out from the way the data changes."

After repeated tests, Mu Yang confirmed that the final digit on the lens had sixteen possible variations. In other words, the data displayed on the lens was most likely hexadecimal.

Comparing the characters displayed on the lens to the hexadecimal system he knew, Mu Yang pointed it at himself and measured his maximum energy reading.

"Beep!"

A string of data appeared on the lens. Converting those characters into Earth's hexadecimal notation, it read "002F."

Converted into decimal—"47."

In other words, Mu Yang's current energy level, or Battle Power, was 47.

"This number isn't bad. At least it isn't low among Earthlings."

Mu Yang looked at the data and smacked his lips. When he had first transmigrated here a year ago, his Battle Power had probably not even reached 15. It had nearly tripled in a year, which was no easy feat.

"Now this is great. With concrete data for comparison, training will be much clearer. I just don't know whether this data matches the Battle Power calculations used throughout the universe. It should be close enough."

Compared to the Energy Detectors used by Frieza's forces in the original story, the detector in Mu Yang's hand lacked geographical positioning. Judging from its plain character display, it probably did not have communication capabilities either. Clearly, it was merely a simple Energy Detector. However, its detection range seemed correspondingly broader. With all four hexadecimal digits filled, its upper limit could probably detect a Battle Power of around sixty-five thousand.

Embarrassingly, Mu Yang could currently only make the detector's last two digits fluctuate slightly.

Then Mu Yang smiled faintly, his heart brimming with enthusiasm.

This was a quantifiable comparison. Before, he knew he was improving every day, but exactly how much he had improved was very vague. With this Energy Detector, it was like playing a game and watching his level rise continuously. Such a direct display made Mu Yang feel even more motivated.

Inside the martial arts building, Aisafu sat facing Mu Yang.

After the once-every-seven-days instruction session ended, Mu Yang was kept behind alone by Aisafu.

"Teacher." Mu Yang gave Aisafu a slight nod.

Previously, he had used the detector to test Aisafu and the other elders. In their ordinary state, their readings were all between sixty and seventy. Among them, his teacher Aisafu had the highest reading at 74. But knowing the characteristics of Earth's martial artists, Mu Yang would not believe that was their highest Battle Power.

If Aisafu truly erupted with all his strength, his Battle Power might exceed 80.

"Have you encountered any difficulties in your training recently?" Aisafu asked with a smile.

"This disciple has felt very good so far and has not encountered any bottlenecks," Mu Yang replied.

"Mm." Aisafu nodded, then turned solemn and said seriously, "Mu Yang, in about three years, a grand martial arts tournament will be held on Maple Leaf Island in the southern region. At that time, experts from all over the world will gather there."

"This is a rare opportunity to temper yourself. Your teacher hopes that you can represent Tianxin Style and participate."

"A martial arts tournament gathering experts from all over the world?" Mu Yang's heart jolted at those words. Wasn't that the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament?

"Teacher, please tell me the details of this tournament," Mu Yang quickly said.

Aisafu chuckled. "Even if you hadn't asked, I would have explained it to you in detail." He looked at Mu Yang with a faint smile and cleared his throat.

"Speaking of that tournament, its full name is the 'World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament.' It has actually been held for many editions. At first, it was merely a private exchange meeting between top schools, but as the scope of those exchanges expanded over the years, the tournament became increasingly grand. It is still mainly organized by those well-known schools, but its participants have expanded to include the entire martial arts world."

"The one held three years from now will be the 11th World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament."

"In previous years, Tianxin Style lacked the strength and had no face to send disciples to participate. You are the most outstanding among our new generation, so your teacher hopes you can represent Tianxin Style in the tournament. It does not matter whether you achieve good results; treat it as an opportunity to gain experience."

Aisafu explained patiently. In his estimation, if Mu Yang cultivated diligently over the next three years, it should not be difficult for him to achieve good results in the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament. But winning the championship would be far too difficult.

Aisafu did not ask for much. Reaching the top eight would be excellent enough. However, Aisafu did not know that he had actually underestimated Mu Yang.