Chapter 5: This Game Is Toxic
In a small warehouse lit by only a single lamp, the light flickered in the wind. In the dim underground pit, two men and one woman were hard at work excavating a cave.
Two of them took turns shoveling earth without stopping, while one quickly transported the dug-up soil to the surface. The three of them rotated almost every ten minutes, always maintaining maximum efficiency without any rest at all, like emotionless robots.
“This game is really amazing. With a 100% virtual degree, it truly lives up to its name. The soil we dig up is mixed with stones of all sizes, and even the hardness and softness of every shovel thrust is different. Every time is a new experience.”
“I really don’t know how the game developer managed to do this. To experience this kind of feeling for just 4,999 is absolutely worth it!”
Twilight of the Gods dug as he spoke, full of emotion, completely conquered by the technical power of High Martial Arts Descend.
“Yeah, although the start of this game is a bit hard, its freedom is something no other game can compare to,” Fang Zhen nodded in agreement. “I originally thought this was an RPG-type game. I didn’t expect we could dig holes. I wonder if we can just keep digging downward. If we can dig endlessly, then this game is truly incredible.”
“I don’t know. The data we have right now is still too little. We are not even very clear on the background of this world,” Twilight of the Gods shook his head slightly, but his eyes were full of anticipation. “But if this game really lets us keep expanding underground, then it would be godlike. As long as I have enough time, I am definitely going to build an underground city.”
“Do you two feel anything?” Wu Shang suddenly interrupted their conversation, her expression somewhat solemn. “When we first started digging, I didn’t feel much, but now for some reason, I have this faint stinging sensation all over my body.”
“A stinging sensation all over your body?” Twilight of the Gods looked in puzzlement at Wu Shang, who had just returned from transporting soil. “I don’t feel anything up to now. Could there be something wrong with this warehouse?”
“Do you feel anything?” When Fang Zhen heard this, he felt the words sounded familiar. He looked at Wu Shang with a trace of admiration in his gaze. He had to admit that the vice president of Heavenly Might was indeed far above ordinary players. Then he said, “I know what this is.”
“So there really is something wrong with this warehouse?” Twilight of the Gods stopped what he was doing, pushed up imaginary glasses, and asked Fang Zhen curiously, “Brother Zhen, what is going on?”
Seeing their sincere looks, Fang Zhen paused, then smiled and said, “It’s nothing too serious. It’s just that there is poison here, that’s all.”
“Poison?” Twilight of the Gods was speechless when he heard that.
Having poison around was not a serious problem? They were in the middle of a digging challenge task!
“No wonder I felt something was off when I tried to mobilize my body’s strength. So there is poison,” Wu Shang relaxed instantly after hearing this.
“Uh, you two, we are doing a challenge task. If we die, we have to restart,” Twilight of the Gods looked at the two who were still calm and suddenly felt like he was the only normal one.
“Don’t worry about that,” Fang Zhen explained. “This poison probably cannot kill us within the task time limit.”
“Yeah. This poison is strong, but killing me within two hours and twenty minutes is impossible,” Wu Shang nodded. “This game is very realistic. It can basically reproduce my control over my body. I may not be able to expel the toxin, but I can slow its spread. Lasting for half a day would be no problem.”
When Wu Shang finished speaking, Fang Zhen and Twilight of the Gods looked at her as if they were looking at a monster.
Slowing the spread of poison within one’s body, was that really something a human could do?
Their conversation traveled along the corridor and reached Lin Qi, who had come to supervise.
“So this is the gap between people?” Lin Qi took out his little notebook and turned directly to Wu Shang’s section.
Player Wu Shang, age 18（self-claimed）, tested physical fitness: strength 99 kilograms, speed 8 meters per second.
After players enter the High Martial Arts World, the Martial Arts Transmission System conducts some basic measurements, which can roughly determine physical data.
Wu Shang’s measured physical data was just a step away from quasi-apprentice level, already comparable to middle school students of this world. Her martial artist talent could only be called terrifying.
One had to know that people in the High Martial Arts World were different from those on Blue Star. They could be said to start exercising from childhood. Schools would also teach some very basic fitness methods. In addition, people with formal status in the city would more or less give their children food or potions that increased qi and blood. Their physical fitness was something people from Blue Star absolutely could not compare to.
Without the resources of the High Martial Arts World, Wu Shang could still be only a step away from quasi-apprentice level. One could well imagine how high her martial artist talent was. This was also why Lin Qi had taken out the Fitness Breathing Technique directly as a reward.
The High Martial Arts World was not peaceful, and neither was the City of Light Chasing. It was difficult to survive without strength, especially for someone like him who planned to open a martial arts hall.
With Wu Shang’s extremely strong sense of her body added in, evaluating her as a little monster was not excessive. She was definitely the current ace combat power of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, so of course she had to be cultivated, even if he currently had nothing. He still had to show some intention.
Two hours later, Fang Zhen and the other two ran into the Training Hall with excited faces.
“Master of the Pavilion, we have completed it.”
The three looked at Lin Qi, who was sitting at his desk writing something, and almost spoke in unison to report their task, fully prepared to exploit Lin Qi’s bug.
“Hmm.”
Lin Qi responded, still not stopping his pen. After quite a while, he replied calmly, “You have done very well. You have proven your potential. From this moment on, you are formal disciples of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Take these three copies of the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique. I hope they will be helpful for your future.”
With that, Lin Qi placed the three freshly copied booklets on the table in front of them, making the three stare in wild joy.
“We pulled it off!”
“This NPC really isn’t very smart.”
“Now we can finally start exercising.”
Fang Zhen, Twilight of the Gods, and Wu Shang almost immediately opened the three booklets, the ink not yet fully dry, wanting to see just how powerful this treasure of the hall really was.
Startling Spirit Breathing Technique（upper volume）, top-tier Martial Artist Apprentice level cultivation method. It is divided into three stages: upper, middle, and lower volumes. Through a special breathing rhythm, it stimulates all the cells in the body, allowing every cell to receive the most effective tempering, ultimately breaking the limit of the body and achieving the rank of martial artist.（Requires 1 Martial Arts Hall Point to redeem the upper volume, 10,000 points to redeem the middle volume, and 50,000 points to redeem the lower volume.）
“Upper volume?”
“1 point?”
After reading the basic introduction, Fang Zhen, Twilight of the Gods, and Wu Shang were all dumbfounded.
They had spent more than two hours, even exploited a bug, and got heavily poisoned, only to obtain a cultivation method that could be redeemed with 1 point?
How was this any different from something everyone could get?
“Since you are now formal disciples, you can accept the hall’s daily expansion tasks and daily planting tasks,” Lin Qi glanced at the three who had not yet recovered and said calmly, “The expansion task gives 1 point for every square meter of underground land developed where the energy is rich, and you have priority planting rights for that land.”
“The daily planting task costs 5 points to redeem one Blood Essence Rice seed. For every 10 grams of Blood Essence Rice you hand in, you are rewarded with 20 points. The rent for developed planting land is 1 point for each square meter per 10 days.”
In front of him, a game planner, they wanted to harvest him like he was their leek?
If he could not harvest these people bald, he would count it as his loss!
