Chapter 475 - 293: Virtual Combat? (Part 2)

Chapter 475: Chapter 293: Virtual Combat? (Part 2)

The Holographic Docking Pod before him looked rather crude. Parts of the casing hadn’t been installed, and exposed wires and tubes were everywhere.

Following Ren Feng’s instructions, Yu Fei put on various instruments and lay down. The most critical piece was a helmet-like device. After it was activated, Yu Fei instantly sensed some kind of interaction with his soul. He realized he could probably refuse this connection.

Suddenly, Yu Fei’s vision filled with light. He found himself before a swirling vortex of stars. This was the place where a virtual body was generated.

Following the instructions, he relaxed the restrictions on his soul. As multicolored lights intertwined, Yu Fei’s virtual body began to form.

Before long, a figure identical to Yu Fei in appearance materialized. With a thought, Yu Fei’s consciousness entered it.

[Character creation successful]

[Please choose a name!]

After a moment’s thought, Yu Fei mentally input the four words: Desolate Ancient Heavenly Sovereign. This became his codename.

[Honorable Desolate Ancient Heavenly Sovereign, would you like to proceed to the training grounds?]

[Yes/No]

Yu Fei chose yes. The vortex before him immediately began to spin faster. When he came to his senses, he was standing on a massive training field.

Yu Fei clenched and unclenched his fist. Everything before him was so real—the sunlight, the gentle breeze, the rich ambient energy. It was as if he had traveled to another world.

Only an instinct deep in his soul kept reminding him that this was a fake world. A Martial Artist had control over his own body, but this virtual character couldn’t even control the automatically generated underwear on its body.

Looking at the prompt that popped up, Yu Fei casually selected a set of black training clothes and a greatsword. As he gave it a few test swings, he suddenly discovered a loophole.

This virtual body seemed to bypass physical limitations. Yu Fei discovered that in here, he could utilize the full twenty-fold increase to his reaction speed from his Flash of a Fleeting Life technique.

With a bit of exertion, the sword immediately began to thrust and slash at a terrifying frequency. With a single thought, Yu Fei executed a full set of sword forms at a rapid, almost glitch-like speed.

"This..."

’This technology isn’t mature yet,’ he instinctively judged. Just then, the message icon in the bottom-left of his vision began to flash. Yu Fei opened it and saw a map link invitation from Ren Feng.

After clicking accept, Yu Fei’s vision went black. In the blink of an eye, he was on a massive ship. The sea breeze caressed his face, carrying a salty, fishy smell. In the distance, seabirds soared over the endless blue ocean.

Across from him, a man in flamboyant armor, holding an outrageously designed greatspear, was wiggling his eyebrows at him suggestively.

It was Ren Feng. His body shimmered with all sorts of lights—the epitome of cheesy special effects. Tang DanDan was dressed in a simple white celestial dress that flowed with a brilliant light.

The two of them complemented each other perfectly, the very picture of a flashy, nouveau-riche couple.

"So, what do you think? This tech is badass, right?"

Ren Feng flickered and appeared right in front of Yu Fei.

"Is that...?"

’This kid can teleport too?’ Yu Fei was a little surprised.

"Come on, let’s have a little spar!"

As he spoke, Ren Feng charged forward with his spear, with no intention of explaining. Of course, Ren Feng couldn’t actually teleport; he had used his administrator privileges to give himself a backdoor.

Ren Feng’s spear struck like a dragon, and then he vanished in a flash of light.

Three seconds later, Ren Feng reappeared on the other side of the deck, asking with unconcealed astonishment, "Bro, what the hell was that?"

He had used his administrator privileges to buff himself significantly, so how had Yu Fei killed him in a single instant?

Thinking back, Yu Fei’s ordinary-looking longsword had, at point-blank range, moved at a speed he couldn’t possibly react to and directly beheaded him.

Ren Feng touched his own neck. The cold sensation provided by the virtual engine still lingered in his mind.

"Again!"

Ren Feng pointed his greatspear and secretly used his administrator privileges to tamper with his data, increasing his strength fivefold.

The greatspear shot forward like a bolt of lightning. Yu Fei slightly adjusted his angle, placing the edge of his blade directly in its path.

A twenty-fold neural reaction speed gave him an absolutely overwhelming advantage in this virtual environment.

Although Ren Feng had modified his parameters, reaction speed was based on the essence of one’s soul. In reality, his reaction time hadn’t changed at all. And so, Ren Feng vanished in a flash of light even faster than before.

Ren Feng, resurrected once again, didn’t say a word. He raised his parameters a hundredfold and thrust his spear at Yu Fei.

"BOOM!" The steel ship was blown to smithereens, and massive waves surged across the sea. When it didn’t involve supernatural powers, this virtual reality simulation was extremely realistic. But as soon as martial arts powers were involved, it was full of flaws.

Suddenly, an invisible wave swept through, the sea returned to calm, and the ship respawned.

Ren Feng dropped his greatspear and squatted on the ground, all emo. Tang DanDan looked like she wanted to say something but held back, unsure how to comfort him.

Ever since Ren Feng had set up the test environment, he had never lost a virtual spar against anyone. But this time, he seemed to have been brutally crushed. Even with cheats, he couldn’t win.

Ren Feng carefully examined the back-end data. After activating a hundredfold power boost, he had exceeded the map’s tolerance limit.

According to his plan, his spear should have blasted through Yu Fei’s character and then shattered the map. But in reality, the instant before he attacked, Yu Fei had already arranged a fatal end for him. The trajectory analysis showed his own neck moving toward the sword’s edge. His character died, and only then did the uncontrolled power destroy the map.

"Yu Fei, are you cheating?! You have to be cheating, right?"

Yu Fei just smiled without a word. He could tell that Ren Feng’s power in that last attack was abnormal. However, this kind of rigid increase in strength and speed couldn’t fully bring out a Martial Artist’s true capabilities.

When one can’t control excessive speed and power, one becomes full of openings. Relying on his superhuman neural reaction speed, Yu Fei completely dominated him in this virtual battle.

In the real world, Yu Fei’s reaction speed was limited by his physical body and couldn’t be fully unleashed. But in this virtual world, however fast Yu Fei’s reactions were, that’s how fast his character model was. It was a nearly unpatchable bug.

Ren Feng’s enthusiasm waned. "Forget it, I’m done, I’m done! You’re definitely cheating!"

"Yu Fei, how did you do that?"

Ren Feng couldn’t figure it out for the life of him.

"In the virtual world, you just have to believe in yourself more. If you think you can do it, you’re invincible!"

Yu Fei said, trying to B.S. him.

"Huh?"

"Think about it. Our character data comes from our cognitive perception at the soul level. You’re as strong as you believe you are. Rigidly boosting your stats will only make them exceed your control and deepen your lack of confidence."

Ren Feng felt that Yu Fei’s theory was strange. It seemed to make some sense, but it was also completely unorthodox.

"Whatever. What do you think of this technology?"

Yu Fei thought for a moment before giving his honest feedback.

"Before the Inner Qi Realm, the Holographic Docking Pod can perfectly replicate a Martial Artist’s abilities. But after entering the Inner Qi Realm, the higher the realm, the more unrealistic it becomes."

"This system currently seems unable to simulate complex changes in the soul. The stronger a Martial Artist’s soul is, the more distorted the experience feels, which actually detracts from it."

Yu Fei said a lot. As a new technology, its pros and cons were both very clear.

"The physics engine, based on real-world simulations, is extremely helpful for training with super-powered weapons, including terrain drills and tactical simulations."

"But it’s not very effective for improving one’s martial arts prowess."

Ren Feng nodded in agreement. "Starting from the Five Realms Divine Intent, Martial Artists begin to access the abilities of Divine Intent. That kind of unreasonable conceptual power is impossible for a physics engine to simulate. If we could use calculations to simulate a true ’intent,’ that would mean we could mass-produce Martial Artists of the five realms.

That’s not realistic!"

Ren Feng was right. Yu Fei’s soul level was nearly on par with a Grandmaster’s. The only difference was that he hadn’t experienced the feedback from the world’s origin; while it lacked in quality, its quantity already surpassed that of a Grandmaster.

"That’s true. Even if they train in the same Cultivation Technique, the results will be different for every Martial Artist. No two ’intent’ abilities in the world are exactly the same. Individuals are inherently different."

Tang DanDan, however, offered some comfort. "We have to have faith in our mentor and senior brothers and sisters. This project has been running for almost a hundred years, and it’s always improving. I’m sure they’ll solve it one day!"

Ren Feng chimed in, "That’s true. We’re just helping our teacher collect some data. The most advanced equipment isn’t even here."

The more he learned, the more Yu Fei realized just how incredible the people at Tianwen were.