Chapter 20: Mastering a Moderate Path - Inner Force
In the empty Main God Square, two individuals with no background reached a basic alliance agreement.
"You don't need to ask why I'm so familiar with this place... In short, returning here is like coming home for me."
Fang Ge was too lazy to play mind games with an NPC. He stated directly:
"Those who understand, understand this kind of thing. Those who don't, I can't explain. Too many things are involved; saying it might just cause ‘Light from Chaos to Come.’"
"Can't be said? I understand." Chu Xuan nodded slightly, accepting this premise with an understated calm.
—What exactly do you understand? Why don't I understand?
Muttering to himself, Fang Ge remained noncommittal, pointing to the Golden Stele beneath the light sphere, which was inscribed with documents related to team battles.
"You can take a closer look if you're interested. We'll discuss it in detail with the other teammates tomorrow."
"Anyway... roughly by the fourth stage of the Gene Lock, you can start micro-adjusting your genes to gain emotions, taste, and so on. As for temporary ways to borrow senses, they do exist... Have you seen ‘Pacific Rim’?"
"Are you referring to the ‘drift’ system used when operating the Jaegers?" Chu Xuan seemed to grasp the idea.
Fang Ge nodded and smiled:
"While that doesn't belong to you, and the expression isn't entirely accurate, occasionally eating two apples to taste them is no problem. Compared to direct purchase, manufacturing it yourself according to blueprints is more cost-effective."
"Thank you."
"Oh, we're buddies, no need to be so polite!"
Fang Ge raised an eyebrow and clapped Chu Xuan on the shoulder with a broad gesture.
"Seeing as I've given you such a constructive suggestion, the side quests and reward points for my return to the real world later will be on you."
Chu Xuan: "..."
"It's decided then! If you're obedient, once the next horror movie ends, I'll tell you how to use external force to unlock subsequent levels of the Gene Lock. These second, third, and fourth stages are as simple as eating and drinking for me."
Chu Xuan: "..."
Chu Xuan had studied micro-expressions and psychology, and he could generally conclude that Fang Ge was not lying.
This was far more outrageous than Fang Ge spouting nonsense!
"Alright, what I need to bring and not bring back to the real world, you prepare it all carefully. Don't make any mistakes. Don't waste extra reward points or side quests; I need to make my exchanges first."
As Fang Ge spoke, he closed his eyes, connecting with the Main God. Only poor Chu Xuan was being played like a fiddle.
The Nine Prison Gates contained only enhancements for ‘imprisonment’ under normal conditions.
They weren't necessarily weak, but they often had fatal flaws that made them unsuitable for the Main God Space environment.
For example, Orthodox Cultivation and the Reincarnation Army, these two resource-heavy options, if not backed by a Reincarnation World, would likely lead to death nine times over just from exchanges!
Therefore, to truly develop the Nine Prison Gates and make them the main force of the team, every Reincarnation World must become the Central Continent Team’s backyard!
The first Reincarnation World is the most important!
Completing the Resident Evil 2 and final chapter storylines, while not difficult, still requires a certain level of strength.
So the problem arises: 1B2C cannot afford the invincible Devil Hunter, and Fang Ge himself is unwilling to use such a brain-dead enhancement.
What if, later in the game, he forgets the original intention of the Nine Prison Gates? How would he explain it to his boss?
What about the other Nine Prison Gates enhancements?
Summon Ancient Yamata no Orochi and Orthodox Cultivation are too expensive; he can't even touch them for now.
The Reincarnation Army is a whole entity, requiring team members to explore the Reincarnation World and proceed gradually.
As for Sharingan, Fang Ge isn't crazy enough; there will be a crazy woman who can enhance it in the future.
As for Zanpakuto, under conditions where high-level spiritual pressure cannot be enhanced, short-term liberation is unrealistic.
As for Dual Circulation, besides the fated protagonist Zheng Zha, others easily ‘mutate’ when enhancing it. This ‘world-shocking exchange’ is Zheng Zha's unique wisdom and cannot be arbitrarily stripped away.
As for Spider-Man, the attribute boost from this bloodline is simply humorous. The Resident Evil 2 storyline immediately follows the first, and he doesn't have time to train and advance to a Second Order Extraordinary Physique.
With options eliminated one by one, Fang Ge ultimately had to rely on the invincible Inner Force!
—Main God, exchange for Sunflower Manual, Northern Darkness Divine Art manual, and Nine Yang Divine Skill manual!
Sunflower Manual, from the general wuxia genre, a martial arts manual primarily focused on internal energy with external techniques as a supplement. To practice this divine skill, one must castrate oneself. Requires 1500 reward points.
Northern Darkness Divine Art, from the general wuxia genre. After mastering Northern Darkness Divine Art, every acupoint in the body will generate a vortex-like suction, capable of absorbing others' inner force and transforming it into North Darkness True Energy. It possesses both yin and yang, with yang being as intense as a furnace and yin being several times colder than ice, and is compatible with all martial arts under heaven. It grants immunity to poisons, is overwhelmingly powerful, and even casual attacks possess immense power. True energy protects the body for greatly increased defense, reflecting attacks back at enemies. Enhancement requires 1 A-rank side quest and 10,000 reward points. Exchanging the manual requires 1 C-rank side quest and 1,000 reward points.
Nine Yang Divine Skill, from the general wuxia genre. After mastering Nine Yang Divine Skill, inner force generates spontaneously and is inexhaustible; ordinary punches and kicks can unleash immense offensive power; defense is unparalleled, with an automatic body-protecting function that reflects external attacks, forming an indestructible body; the practitioner's lightness skill surpasses all masters of lightness skill in the world; it is also a healing scripture, immune to all poisons, and specifically counters all cold and yin-poisonous inner force. Enhancement requires 1 A-rank side quest and 10,000 reward points. Exchanging the manual requires 1 C-rank side quest and 1,000 reward points.
With a thought, the side quests and reward points were deducted by the Main God.
Two paper manuals abruptly appeared in Fang Ge's hand, and at the same time, information related to the Sunflower Manual was injected into his mind by the Main God via ‘empowerment,’ as if he was born knowing this cultivation method.
Of course, according to past gaming experience, this knowledge was virtual and would be ‘forgotten’ after exiting the game, merely a false mastery brought about by electrical signal stimulation.
Players have higher authority at the Main God's place than ordinary NPCs.
They can also exchange for many more items.
It is said that in the new version, as long as a player specifies a ‘term,’ even if it’s not in the Main God's inventory, it will immediately ‘AI generate’ a localized version from the infinite world based on relevant documents, for the player to exchange.
As for how much strength it retains from the original source... well, you get what you pay for.
First, regarding the Sunflower Manual, it was originally a ‘shortcut exchange’ that Z-Da casually promised to transmigrators who accidentally entered the Main God Space.
In the Infinite World, NPCs cannot see it; only players can exchange for it. It's considered a ‘beginner's benefit.’
It only requires 1500 reward points and 30 days of cultivation time to develop physical qualities on par with Spider-Man and Sunflower Inner Force approaching B-rank ‘Advanced Inner Force’.
That bit of physical quality is inferior to the T-Virus enhancement and can be completely ignored; its main purpose is for ‘inner force quantity.’
Fang Ge exchanged for this cultivation method, of course, not because he wanted to become a eunuch.
Firstly, ‘self-castration’ is actually not necessary.
What the Sunflower Manual cultivates is extreme yang inner force. Precisely because of the excess yang energy, desires run rampant, making it difficult to control oneself and prone to qi deviation.
Practitioners are forced to castrate themselves to maintain sanity.
In an old version, a forum expert tested it with his own body and ultimately concluded:
As long as one maintains ‘sage mode’ all day long, enduring some hardship in creation, and doesn't store too much Sunflower Inner Force in the body, it can be cultivated.
Moreover, the Sunflower Manual is merely a transitional choice for Fang Ge. This cultivation method will ultimately be applied to the Reincarnation Army clones.
As long as the plan goes smoothly and the Central Continent Team successfully controls Umbrella Corporation, this cultivation method can exert its maximum effect.
So why use the Sunflower Manual for transition?
Firstly, the Sunflower Manual is the cheapest empowerment-type cultivation method enhancement. It can provide Fang Ge with sufficient ‘basic martial arts’ knowledge and a commendable set of movement techniques and martial skills.
This way, learning other cultivation methods and martial arts becomes infinitely easier through analogy than starting from scratch!
Secondly, the advantage of the Sunflower Manual is its speed! Especially its cultivation speed is extraordinarily fast, allowing for rapid accumulation of inner force to be devoured by the clones cultivating Northern Darkness Divine Art!
Fang Ge is not making wedding clothes for the clones.
Once the clones accumulate to a critical point, they will use Northern Darkness Divine Art to dissipate all the Sunflower Inner Force from Fang Ge's body.
Then, he will switch to cultivating the invincible Nine Yang Divine Skill!
Why take such a roundabout route instead of directly having the clones cultivate the Sunflower Manual and Fang Ge cultivate Northern Darkness Divine Art?
The reason is very simple.
Because Northern Darkness Divine Art belongs to ‘inner force infighting.’ When facing most enemies in the Reincarnation World, its combat power and functionality are far inferior to Nine Yang Divine Skill.
Furthermore, the inner force produced by both Nine Yang Divine Skill and Sunflower Manual is extreme yang inner force. The two have commonalities. From Sunflower to Nine Yang, not to mention cultivating to a profound level, quickly getting started and even reaching minor accomplishment is definitely not a problem.
Moreover, North Darkness True Energy possesses both yin and yang, and is said to be compatible with all martial arts under heaven!
As long as the dual cultivation method is utilized properly, allowing the clones to convert the previously accumulated North Darkness True Energy into pure energy to empower him, the cultivation of Nine Yang Divine Skill will surely yield twice the results with half the effort!
Once Umbrella Corporation is controlled and a hundred or so clones are manufactured, soaking in nutrient solution day and night, practicing the Sunflower Manual, accumulating Sunflower Inner Force.
The clones will then use Northern Darkness Divine Art to collect it uniformly and empower Fang Ge through dual cultivation...
One must know that A-rank inner force enhancement is initially only three to five times that of B-rank inner force!
With a large number of clones acting as power banks, even if a large amount of dross is consumed during purification and conversion, with just the remaining essence, wouldn't A-rank inner force be easily within reach?
Would anyone really honestly enhance level by level at the Main God's place?
Thus, ‘inner force self-circulation’ can be achieved, and the grand endeavor of the Nine Prison Gates will surely succeed!
The concept is certainly beautiful, but everything needs to be implemented step by step, grounded in reality.
Roughly flipping through these two paper manuals, Fang Ge regretfully found that with the basic martial arts knowledge provided by the Sunflower Manual, he could indeed read both manuals thoroughly.
However, trying to learn them on his own was still as difficult as ascending to heaven... At least before unlocking the ‘Third-Order Gene Lock,’ the pure self-study approach was definitely unfeasible.
He would have to rely on some... external force.
—Main God, exchange for enlightenment tea, NZT-50, six Scholar's Touch Scrolls, three Master's Touch Scrolls!, Medical Encyclopedia, Acupuncture Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia, and The Art of the Bedchamber!