Sword Art Online in the Simulation Pod (Testing the Waters-Please Show Your Support!)

"Buzzz—"

Amid the faint humming, Ye Zhiqiu suddenly felt the pressure on his body ease, as though he were falling.

The weightlessness lasted about two seconds before his feet touched the ground.

He blinked.

Sunlight filtered through the canopy, scattering mottled patches of light across the ground. The air smelled of earth and greenery, with birds calling in the distance and water flowing nearby.

He looked down at himself. His body was exactly the same as in reality—his clothes, his build, even the pen he liked to twirl was still in his pocket.

He crouched and reached down to touch the soil. Its dampness spread across his fingertips, so real it was almost absurd.

He stood and dusted off his hands, murmuring to himself, "Not bad, not bad. It feels just like Sword Art Online."

He looked around and found himself near a river valley. To his left ran a stream about three or four meters wide, its water clear enough to reveal the smooth pebbles on the bottom.

The stream flowed slowly, occasionally throwing up a tiny splash or two.

Dense forest lined both banks, mostly broadleaf trees with the occasional conifer mixed in. Layers of overlapping treetops concealed most of the sky.

Ye Zhiqiu took a deep breath. The earthy smell in the air had faded a little, replaced by a scent like a pine forest after rain.

"They really did a good job with this simulation pod. It's far more advanced than the VR from my previous life."

He flexed his wrists, confirming that the soul power within him flowed smoothly and that he could summon both Absolute Gravity and Absolute Blade normally.

The two soul spirits were also present in his Sea of Consciousness. The Gravity Star Core floated quietly on the left, while the First Blade quivered faintly on the right, as though it, too, were studying this virtual world.

"Next, then, I'll explore a bit and see if I can find that girl Dong Qianqiu."

He followed the stream. After about ten minutes, he heard fighting.

The sounds came from the woods ahead: the sharp crack of snapping branches, the low booms of colliding soul power, and a boy's frightened cries.

Ye Zhiqiu lightened his steps and approached.

He parted a clump of bushes and saw a clearing ahead. In its center, a wild wolf with blue-gray fur stood with its head lowered, facing off against two children.

The wolf was no small creature. Its shoulders reached roughly to his waist, making it a full size larger than an ordinary wolf in reality. A low growl rumbled from its mouth, and saliva dripped from its jaws.

He knew both children. They were his classmates: Zhou Hang, whose martial soul was a shortsword, and Wang Miao, whose martial soul was a shield.

The two had clearly been fighting for a while. Gray marks still stained Zhou Hang's shortsword, and several shallow claw marks scored the surface of Wang Miao's shield.

The Blue-Gray Wild Wolf also bore several wounds, but none were deep. Clearly, no vital spots had been hit.

One glance was enough for Ye Zhiqiu to judge that this was a hundred-year soul beast.

For children their age, defeating it alone was out of the question. Even two working together would struggle.

Zhou Hang's sword hand trembled slightly. He had no idea what level this wolf was, but during their earlier exchanges, he had struck it three times with his shortsword condensed from soul power. Each strike had merely cut through its fur and skin, nowhere near enough to kill it.

The wolf's defenses were far stronger than he had imagined.

He swallowed, his gaze fixed on the wolf's movements. Just as it lowered its forelegs to pounce again, he caught a figure behind the bushes out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't a wolf—it was standing upright.

His heart jolted. Then he took a closer look, and his mouth fell open.

"Ye Zhiqiu!"

Wang Miao heard him too and looked in the same direction. Delight and relief instantly spread across his face.

The Blue-Gray Wild Wolf seemed distracted by the sudden shout. It tilted its head, swiveled its ears, and glanced that way.

In that instant of distraction, a streak of white light shot out from behind the bushes.

It moved so fast its path was almost impossible to follow, like a stream of silver-white light. It swept past the wolf's side and sliced precisely across the line between the back of its neck and its shoulder blades.

There was no sound, no spark.

The wolf's body froze in an instant, as though someone had pressed pause.

Its mouth remained open, its four legs still slightly bent.

About two and a half seconds later, its huge body crashed to the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust. It twitched once more, then went completely still.

Zhou Hang and Wang Miao stared at the fallen Blue-Gray Wild Wolf, then looked up at Ye Zhiqiu as he emerged from behind the bushes. For a long while, neither could collect himself.

Ye Zhiqiu walked over to the wolf, crouched to examine it, then confirmed, "A hundred-year soul beast. Combat strength around level sixteen."

He stood, brushed the dust off his hands, and smiled at Zhou Hang and Wang Miao.

"You two were lucky. You ran into a Blue-Gray Wild Wolf, which isn't particularly intelligent. If you'd encountered soul beasts that lived in packs or had more intelligence, you would've been in trouble."

Only then did Zhou Hang recover, stammering his thanks. "Th-thank you."

"No problem. Hardly any effort." Ye Zhiqiu waved it off, surveyed their surroundings, and asked, "Which direction did you come from?"

"Over there." Wang Miao pointed northwest and added, "We walked from that direction for about ten minutes, then saw this wolf prowling around over there. It attacked us first."

"Okay. Keep going, and be careful. Don't get too close to the water. Lots of soul beasts come to the river to drink."

With that, he lingered no longer, turning to follow the stream downstream.

He had little interest in hunting soul beasts. After all, the assessment objective was to "survive in the simulated world," not to rack up kills.

The children in this cohort were lucky to have encountered only a hundred-year wolf soul beast. If they ran into a thousand-year soul beast, they would be in serious trouble.

Outside, several teachers watching the large screen fell silent at once.

Qian Zilai paused in surprise. "One slash?"

Watching beside him, Xu Rang was not particularly surprised. He had already witnessed the sharpness of Ye Zhiqiu's Absolute Blade during the initial combat assessment. Even Dong Qianqiu's ice spear could not block it, let alone a hundred-year Blue-Gray Wild Wolf.

The junior academy's dean, however, saw things differently. This was his first time witnessing Ye Zhiqiu in action. When that white blade swept across the Blue-Gray Wild Wolf's body, he had not even managed to make out the exact moment it touched the soul beast.

"That blade... what martial soul is it?"

"Absolute Blade, a mutated tool martial soul," Xu Rang answered.

The dean rubbed his chin and asked no further questions, but his gaze remained fixed on the small figure on the large screen.

In the simulated world, Ye Zhiqiu followed the stream for another quarter of an hour and encountered a Forest Deer. He had no desire to fight it and gave it a wide berth.

Then he passed a patch of low bushes concealing an Ironback Boar. It was fairly large, but hardly interesting either.

After some thought, Ye Zhiqiu decided to head for higher ground.

He found a sufficiently tall tree and climbed it in a few quick movements. From his perch, he surveyed the surroundings. The forest stretched to the edge of his vision, while the terrain to the southeast seemed to rise gradually. He could just make out a mountain of moderate height.

At its foot lay a relatively open area that looked like a forest clearing.

Just as he was about to climb down, a sharp blast rang out in the distance, followed by a dull tremor.

The sound was not particularly close, but it stood out with unusual clarity in the quiet forest.

Ye Zhiqiu narrowed his eyes and looked toward its source. It had come from the direction of that open area.

Without much hesitation, he climbed down and hurried toward it.

The cadence of that blast sounded far too much like an ice-type soul skill, like the sharp crack of an ice spear bursting apart.

And it felt extremely familiar.

Dong Qianqiu.

Ye Zhiqiu quickened his pace. Branches scraped past him, and fallen leaves and soft earth rustled beneath his feet.

The closer he drew to the open area, the clearer the sounds of colliding soul power became. Occasionally, a low beastly roar mingled with them, making even the leaves in the treetops tremble faintly.

Ye Zhiqiu stepped onto one last jutting rock and vaulted over a low, gentle rise. The view suddenly opened before him.