“In the virtual world, our bodies won’t tire. For example, only professional experts can fire hundreds of arrows a day in reality when practicing archery. But in the virtual world, our bodies won’t tire even if we fire more than 10,000 arrows consecutively. Moreover, we can also virtualize bandits, wild beasts, and all kinds of live targets. We can even virtualize assassins attacking us and launch counter-attacks at close range. By relying on quantity, our archery skills will naturally improve rapidly.”
“By the same logic, spearmanship, swordsmanship… Any move can be tirelessly practiced more than 10,000 times a day. There are also all kinds of perfect training environments in the virtual world, so the speed of improvement will be very high. Our one-day growth in the virtual world will be dozens of times faster than in reality! A month is enough to match years of improvement in reality. If it were a genius… they would be able to reach the world’s apex!”
“The virtual world is an opportunity to change our fate!”
…
“There won’t be any injuries or illnesses in the virtual world; there won’t be fatigue! If you don’t work hard now, when are you going to?”
…
“Want to raise your income? Change your fate? Grab this rare opportunity in the virtual world! You have to be ruthless to yourself! Practice as hard as you can; it’s not like you’ll die!”
…
“Let’s do it at the usual time—come practice swordsmanship with me at 10 p.m. Let’s practice stabbing the sword 10,000 times!”
Many streamers who purported self-help slogans shouted on the spectator platform. Some streamers also live-streamed their entire training process.
Many people were on their training grounds, live-streaming from a small window as they practiced their swordsmanship.
“Director, we have guided the public into practicing martial arts from every angle. Geniuses have begun to appear among the common folk.” Director Zhou watched the livestreams as a secretary reported the situation.
“With a population of more than a billion, it’s normal for geniuses to emerge,” Director Zhou said. “You have to work harder. This is a key process in human civilization, so our China has to seize the opportunity. The USA, EU, Japan, and the other countries also won’t hold back on inculcating these things into their citizens.”
“Yes, sir,” the secretary replied respectfully. “Director, all the large corporations have entered the virtual world. They have established teams and are preparing to participate in the Firestarter Cup.”
“That’s good,” Director Zhou said. “We want the competition to become more intense.”
The secretary nodded and left.
Director Zhou looked out the window. It was pitch-black outside, and it was already late at night. There was no light at all, and he could only faintly hear the sound of waves.
Where will the fate of humans lead to? Director Zhou looked out the window into the night. The future is unclear, but the only thing in our control is the present!
******
Days passed, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed since the virtual world’s launch.
August 25, nighttime.
Xu Jingming sat on the sofa in the living room and watched Fairy Wang’s livestream on the projection screen.
“Hey guys, the virtual world has officially launched for a month as of 9 p.m. today.” Fairy Wang wore a cute bunny mask, and her voice sounded very cute. In reality, she had been a professional host before becoming a popular livestreamer. She remained a very popular livestreamer in the virtual world.
“I’ve already made the latest version of ‘China’s Experts Ranking.’ The latest version has a total of 100 Divine experts,” Fairy Wang said. “These 100 Divine experts are divided into four tiers.”
“The first tier consists of Liu Hai, Lei Yunfang, and Zhou Yi. The members of the first tier are definitely in the lead when it comes to overall strength! Any other expert in China… will only die in front of these three. Everyone is very familiar with the information on the three of them; the rankings also provide a lot of information.”
“The second tier consists of Zhang Qing, Xiong Tianshan, Tie Lianyun, Feng Baiyu, Zhuang Ziyu, Wang Qiao, Yang Yu, Yu Cheng, Wang Yi, Zheng Bailong, Huo Qingshan, and Chang Qingpeng. Members of the second tier have all mastered a perfect move that they can call their own. They can easily defeat the experts from the third and fourth tiers.”
“The third tier consists of Zhao Fan, Zhang Feng… Gao Chong, Xu Jingming… Dong Xu, Teng Ya… Liu Jianfeng, Gu Chong… Heng Fang, Sun Yuting… There are a total of 21 people! Although the experts of this third tier also have some ultimate moves, they are still imperfect and have many flaws.”
“The fourth tier consists of Wu Sai… Wang Cheng, Yang Qingshuo… Yu Fu, Dai Xiaoqing… Sun Li… There are a total of 64 people. The strength of these fourth-tier members is considered impressive, but they generally don’t have any ultimate moves. They are slightly inferior to the third-tier members, but among the 3,600-plus Divine experts these days, being in the top 100 is already very impressive.”
Fairy Wang gave a simple introduction of the rankings and then began giving a detailed evaluation.
Xu Jingming listened and gained an understanding of the situation regarding the Divine experts.
Ka!
Suddenly, the courtyard door was pushed open, and Li Miaomiao walked into the living room with some vegetables. “Jingming, these are some vegetables my parents planted. They were just harvested.”
As she spoke, Li Miaomiao saw the livestream on the projection screen. China’s Experts Ranking?
“This Fairy Wang constantly belittles you on the rankings. You have fallen to the third tier.” Li Miaomiao gently touched her watch and tapped it.
Pa!
She switched off the projection.
“Jingming, don’t listen to this Fairy Wang. She’s just bullsh*tting. Many people think that her ranking is getting more and more inaccurate,” Li Miaomiao said as she sat down. “The ranking description is also becoming more and more ambiguous. She has even come up with four tiers.”
“She spent a lot of effort on the rankings,” Xu Jingming said. “The four tiers are quite a suitable explanation.”
“Suitable?” Li Miaomiao was surprised.
“For example, some of the people in the second tier are martial arts masters, legendary boxing champions, and monsters in archery. They underwent changes in the virtual world for over a month and created their own combat system, possessing their own set of ultimate techniques,” Xu Jingming said. “I’m still inferior to them. Although my ‘Shadowless Thrust’ and ‘Mountain Shattering’ are getting closer to perfection, just two moves are insufficient to create a complete combat system. I’m really impressed with them. How did they figure out such powerful moves? Moreover, they form an entire system!”
“Actually, Gao Chong is also very impressive. He has also created three killer moves, and they are even more ferocious than my moves. It’s just that he’s too rash, making it easy for him to reveal openings,” Xu Jingming said. “That’s why he’s like me—stuck in the third tier.”
Xu Jingming smiled and sighed. I’m really ashamed when I think of it. I defeated Gao Chong and Wang Qiao when the virtual world first launched. I felt that I would improve more and have a greater advantage in the future, but the facts have proven that I’m still too young. Many people have accumulated more knowledge and are more talented than me; they have created ultimate techniques that form a system.
“Being in the third tier is my true strength. I agree with it actually,” Xu Jingming said. He found himself inferior from all the Divine battles he had participated in over the past month.
“At least I’m in China’s top 30. If I work hard, I still have a chance of catching up,” Xu Jingming said.
Li Miaomiao hugged her boyfriend’s arm and said, “Life is full of ups and downs. Only by enduring the torment at the bottom can one reap the joy of the peak!”
“Yeah.” Xu Jingming nodded. With his girlfriend’s constant support, he was filled with fighting spirit.
A call suddenly came in.
Xu Jingming reached out and tapped gently, and a man appeared in the projection in front of him—it was Sun Li.
“Old Xu,” Sun Li greeted with a smile.
“Why are you calling?” Xu Jingming smiled.
“It’s like this,” Sun Li explained. “Recently, more than one large corporation wants to contract me. Even the Golden Roc Group came to my hometown to visit me personally. I really couldn’t decline; moreover, I’m in need of cash. You know that I haven’t earned much over the years. Therefore, I’m sorry, Old Xu. I have to leave the team.”
“Oh.” Xu Jingming fell silent. “Have you talked to Heng Fang and the other two?”
“Help me pass the message. There’s nothing I can do about it; I need the cash,” Sun Li said before hanging up.
Xu Jingming sat there in silence.