By the time Lin Ye returned home, the sky had already darkened completely.
Li Wan carried a large basin of hot soup out from the kitchen, struggling greatly.
Lin Ye hurried forward and took the basin from her, placing it steadily on the table.
Ever since learning how much he could eat, the dining table at home had been directly rearranged into one large and one small table pushed together.
Li Wan prepared the rice and meat in portions enough for seven or eight people.
Ding!
A faint vibration transmitted.
From the watch on Lin Ye's right wrist, a screen of light projected out.
"Your Great Xia bank account ending in 3361 has received 100,000 Alliance credits. Current balance: 100,107.6. Transfer note: B-Class Talent Cultivation Incentive Fund [Great Xia Ministry of Education]."
Chen Meng's efficiency was faster than imaginable.
"Mom, Sis."
"Look at this."
Lin Ye walked to the dining table and turned the communicator's light screen toward his mother and sister.
Li Wan and Lin Wei curiously leaned in to take a look.
When they saw that string of numbers, the mother and daughter's breath simultaneously hitched.
"This... this is..."
Li Wan's voice trembled with disbelief.
"One hundred thousand?!"
Lin Wei directly cried out in alarm, her eyes widening as she repeatedly confirmed that number, terrified she had misread it.
"I took a placement exam today and got good results. After being recognized by the school leadership, I received the alliance's B-Class Incentive Scholarship."
"The school has already transferred the money."
After speaking, his fingers moved rapidly across the light screen without the slightest hesitation.
"Mom, I'm transferring you thirty thousand to help with household expenses."
"Sis, I'm transferring you ten thousand. Don't work part-time at that restaurant anymore."
However, his transfer request was rejected by both mother and daughter almost the instant it was sent.
"No way!"
Li Wan's attitude was incomparably firm. Her eyes were rimmed red, not from sadness, but from immense joy and pride.
Tears swirled in her eyes as she looked at her son's increasingly resolute and mature face, her voice choking.
"This is money you earned through your own ability. It's money you need for cultivation. How could Mom take it?"
"Little Ye has grown up. He really has grown up..."
Lin Wei's eyes also reddened, but a brilliant smile bloomed across her face. She leaned over and pinched Lin Ye's face hard.
"Little brother, not bad!"
"Our family is going to produce an official martial artist too from now on! Our whole family will depend on you for protection in the future!"
Lin Ye looked at the smiles on his mother and sister's faces—joy and pride that came from the heart, without any trace of impurity.
He knew that this one hundred thousand yuan brought them far more peace of mind than if he had simply handed it directly to them.
In the end, Lin Ye didn't force the issue.
He kept the one hundred thousand in his own card.
There would definitely be a time when it would come in useful later.
This dinner was exceptionally warm.
After dinner, Lin Ye returned to his room and closed the door.
From the bag he carried, he took out a box.
After unsealing it, Lin Ye took out a brand-new CR wristband.
The wristband was entirely silver-gray, filled with a technological feel, and cool to the touch.
Lin Ye removed the original smart band from his right hand and put on the new CR band.
The next second, an extremely faint stinging sensation came from his wrist, as if he had been bitten by a mosquito.
From the inside of the wristband, a circle of soft blue light lit up, rapidly scanning and collecting Lin Ye's biological information.
[Identity authentication complete...]
[Cloud data from other smart devices detected. Beginning migration...]
[Migration successful.]
[Neural connection port calibrating...]
[Calibration complete. Welcome to the CR Virtual Interconnection Device.]
This final prompt rang out directly in Lin Ye's mind.
Just like the system.
This proved the neural link had stabilized.
With a thought from Lin Ye, a virtual light screen was projected directly onto his retinas.
The interface of the light screen was clean and clear. In the most prominent position was an app store icon.
He opened the store.
A dazzling array of app icons instantly filled his entire field of vision.
But Lin Ye's gaze was immediately drawn to and firmly locked onto the application ranked first on the download charts, popularity charts, positive review charts... every single chart.
Its icon was a war sword thrusting straight into the clouds, with a shattered star river as the background.
[Martial Peak]!
This app's download numbers and various statistics, in an utterly dominating posture, left all other applications far behind.
Lin Ye didn't hesitate in the slightest and directly tapped download.
The progress bar loaded at flying speed. In just a dozen or so short seconds, installation was complete.
This virtual battle platform connecting martial artists across the globe.
This was the true greatest purpose behind Lin Ye's request to use virtual equipment this time!
He took a deep breath.
Martial Peak, launch!
Boom!
Lin Ye's consciousness was pulled by an invisible force, plunging into a bottomless darkness.
In the next instant, light exploded.
Deafening cheers swept in from all directions like a tsunami, ruthlessly assaulting his eardrums.
He found himself standing in the center of an incomparably magnificent circular arena.
Beneath his feet was a silver-white floor gleaming with a metallic cold light, seamless and smooth as a mirror.
Looking up, the ring-shaped spectator seats stacked layer upon layer, rising infinitely until they merged into a virtual firmament constructed from data streams.
Countless virtual figures sat in the seats. Their faces were blurred and indistinct, but the waves of sound converging together were so real they made one's scalp tingle.
[Welcome to Martial Peak!]
[Here, you can exchange pointers and communicate with martial artists from around the world, honing your combat skills.]
[You can challenge powerful exotic beasts replicated from the database, engaging in life-and-death battles.]
[You can enter simulated scenarios of various extreme environments, conducting limit trials...]
[Here, martial arts has no limits!]
The grand and pleasant system notification voice slowly reverberated through Lin Ye's mind.
Lin Ye looked around.
He saw that at the edge of the arena stood several teleportation gates emitting different colored lights, marked with words such as [Duel], [Simulated Battlefield], [Spectator Hall], and so on.
The entire space was filled with a scorching, pure thirst for battle.
Lin Ye chose the teleportation light gate marked [Duel].
In the next moment, several brand-new options popped up before his eyes.
[Matchmaking Duel]
[Competitive Duel]
[Peak Tournament]
[Custom Duel]
Matchmaking Duels had random modes with wins and losses unrecorded—it was purely entertainment and practice mode.
Competitive Duel was the core ranked mode. Every win or loss would directly affect one's rank and combat power index.
The Peak Tournament was a large-scale virtual event hosted by the officials or major powers, possessing generous rewards, but the threshold was extremely high. One couldn't register without meeting the standards or receiving an invitation.
As for Custom Duels, it was a place provided for martial artists to privately arrange battles or create rooms for online meetings or instruction.
Lin Ye chose [Competitive Duel].
[First time entering competitive mode. Please generate your virtual avatar and set your nickname.]
A gentle electronic voice rang out in his mind.
A standard human body model appeared before Lin Ye, with countless adjustable detail parameters beside it.
Just like most games Lin Ye had played.
This was a character customization system.
But Lin Ye wasn't in the mindset of playing a game.
Joking aside, wasn't the entire world itself just one massive leveling-up game for him?
He had no need to play a game within a game.
Lin Ye just casually dragged a few times, creating a completely ordinary, forgettable common face that would be impossible to find if thrown into a crowd.
And in the nickname field, he pondered for a moment.
His fingertips tapped lightly, entering five characters.
[Goblin Grunt].
Anyway, since the system currently considered him a Goblin Grunt, he might as well use that name directly on the Martial Peak platform.
Although Martial Peak required all users to verify their real identities and deeply bound it to personal identity information, it didn't restrict everyone from using pseudonyms.
The vast majority of martial artists would choose a codename to hide their true identities.
Lin Ye was naturally no exception.
[Virtual avatar generation complete. Nickname set successfully.]
[Based on your body scan data and age information, you have been automatically assigned to the Initiate Martial Artist group.]
[Detected that you have not yet completed placement matches. Please complete five competitive duels. The system will evaluate your initial rank and comprehensive combat power index based on your battle performance, post-match data, and foundational body data.]