[Detected that the host has entered a gathering place where evil adventurers brawl among themselves!]
[Daily Missions Updated!]
[New Daily Mission 5: Whet Fangs and Suck Blood!]
[Although it has been repeatedly emphasized that the host should abandon the fantasy that he is human, he still seems unwilling to kill other adventurers. In that case, honing his killing skills in a virtual network can be considered a form of compensation.]
[Mission Requirement: Defeat at least 1 adventurer in virtual arena combat each day.]
[Mission Reward: EXP +50, Free Attribute Points +0.5.]
[This mission can be completed repeatedly. Maximum completions: 5.]
A fifth daily mission had been added by the system.
It had even taken the opportunity to mock Lin Ye while it was at it.
But no matter what, this daily mission happened to align perfectly with Lin Ye’s current goal.
He could complete it along the way.
He tapped Start Matchmaking, only for a series of prompt boxes to pop up before his eyes.
[No pre-entered weapon data detected. Please return to reality and select the corresponding module for entry. If entry is unavailable, please select the corresponding weapon, and the system will provide a standard-issue starter weapon.]
[Please select the degree of pain feedback.]
Weapon entry was naturally prepared for martial artists in reality who already had weapons they were accustomed to using. Lin Ye had none, so he could only choose a weapon provided by the system.
After selecting a staff as his weapon, Lin Ye directly pulled the pain feedback to the maximum.
[Warning: 100% pain feedback will perfectly simulate all injuries sustained in real combat and may place an immense burden on your mind. It is not recommended for first-time users!]
Lin Ye looked at the warning before him without the slightest hesitation.
Confirm.
[Settings saved.]
[Matching you for your first placement match...]
[Match successful!]
Buzz—
The next second, Lin Ye’s feet landed on solid ground.
It was a dilapidated city street. On both sides stood ruined buildings long since abandoned, while the ground was covered in cracks and scattered rubble.
Opposite him, a hundred meters away, a human figure also condensed into shape.
It was a tall, thin young man dressed in a flowing white martial arts uniform. He held a slender alloy sword in his hand, and his face carried a somewhat cynical smile.
“Yo, a newbie?”
The other party had clearly also seen the gray badge above Lin Ye’s head that represented “Unranked.”
“A staff? People still use such clumsy weapons nowadays?”
“Kid, you’re pretty lucky. Running into me in your first ranked match. I’ll give you three moves, so try not to lose too badly.”
Lin Ye did not answer.
He merely gripped the standard-issue long staff in one hand, the tip of the staff pointing obliquely toward the ground.
[Battle Start!]
The instant the system’s cold notification sounded,
the smile had yet to fade from the young man’s face.
Lin Ye’s figure had already moved.
He stomped down hard, and his entire body shot forward like a cannonball fired from its barrel, carrying a fierce, indomitable momentum as he charged straight at his opponent!
The frivolous expression on the young man’s face instantly froze, replaced by a trace of astonishment.
So fast!
Such ferocious momentum!
He had no time to think further and hurriedly raised his sword to block.
Lin Ye gripped the staff with both hands, twisting the strength of his entire body into one force. From high above to below, in the simplest and most brutal manner, he smashed it down viciously!
Heavy Staff Form!
Whoosh—!
The long staff tore through the air, bringing with it a deep, muffled howl!
It did not resemble a staff at all. It was more like a giant siege hammer!
The young man’s pupils shrank abruptly. He wanted to dodge, only to discover that the opponent’s staff momentum had already completely enveloped him. There was nowhere to evade!
He could only grit his teeth and pour all the power of his qi and blood into his long sword, holding the blade horizontally above his head!
Clang—!
A deafening clash of metal rang out explosively!
The next second, the swordsman who had claimed he would give Lin Ye three moves, along with his sword, was smashed from head to toe straight into the hard concrete ground by Lin Ye’s heaven-shaking strike!
Under the tremendous impact, his body instantly twisted and deformed, turning into specks of light that scattered into the air.
Instant kill!
Lin Ye slowly withdrew his staff and stood tall.
[Ding! Daily Mission: Whet Fangs and Suck Blood (1/5) completed!]
[Reward: EXP +50, Free Attribute Points +0.5.]
[Ding! You have killed one adventurer in virtual combat. Gained EXP +15!]
The system had mentioned before that fighting adventurers could also grant experience!
Although it was not much, small gains would accumulate!
Lin Ye did not pause in the slightest and directly tapped to match for the next battle.
In the second match, his opponent was an agile martial artist wielding twin blades. But under Lin Ye’s fierce barrage of heavy staff attacks, openings appeared everywhere. In less than ten seconds, Lin Ye finished him off with three strikes.
In the third match, his opponent was an expert in fist techniques, incomparably fierce and unyielding. After clashing head-on with Lin Ye once, his arm fractured on the spot, and he was carried away by the follow-up combo.
Lin Ye attacked all the way through, sweeping aside everything in his path.
He could clearly feel that starting from the third match, the opponents the system matched him with were improving in strength at a rapid pace.
When the prompt announcing the start of the fourth battle sounded, Lin Ye discovered that the opponent before him was different.
It was a burly man over two meters tall. His entire body was wrapped in a mechanical exoskeleton filled with a heavy-industrial style, with pale blue streams of air occasionally jetting out from its joints. In his hand, he carried an energy gun comparable to a cannon barrel.
More importantly, the level number above his head was no longer LV5, the same as Lin Ye.
It was LV6!
In the fourth match, Lin Ye still won in the end.
But it was an extremely difficult victory.
The opponent’s long-range firepower was fierce and savage, and with the mech’s enhancement, his own physical qualities were not inferior to Lin Ye’s in the slightest.
The instant the match began, Lin Ye was suppressed by dense energy beams to the point that he could not even raise his head.
He changed tactics, no longer choosing to charge head-on. Instead, he became like the most patient hunter, sneaking behind the cover on the map.
When he closed in again, the staff technique in his hands also changed from the wide, sweeping Heavy Staff to the dense, rain-like [Flower Staff].
Clang, clang, clang!
Countless sparks exploded in the narrow alley.
He used an airtight defense to neutralize the opponent’s final counterattack. Then, with a twist of his long staff, he disarmed the man. Immediately after, a clean and decisive thrust ended the battle.
But the energy gun in the opponent’s hand had also directly blasted away more than half of his arm.
A miserable victory!
However, when Lin Ye began the final placement match,
he shed his first blood on this platform.
He lost.
And he lost in a somewhat muddled fashion.
His opponent’s level had jumped to LV7. His ID was [Lone Wolf]. He did not exchange a single word with Lin Ye, and the weapon he used was also an utterly ordinary battle saber.
Judging purely by strength, the other party was about the same as him. Even if he was stronger, it was not by much.
But from the very first second of the battle, Lin Ye fell into absolute passivity.
The opponent’s saber technique was like an antelope hanging its horns—leaving no trace to be found. He could always find the gaps in Lin Ye’s defense and leave wounds on his body that were deep enough to reveal bone.
The momentum of attack and defense reversed in an instant.
This time, from beginning to end, he was the one being suppressed and beaten.
Until his virtual body was beheaded by the opponent’s saber, Lin Ye’s consciousness was still trapped in that feeling of frustration and powerlessness.
How had he lost?
After returning to the matchmaking space, Lin Ye did not immediately begin the next match. Instead, he opened the post-battle replay function at once.
He needed to figure out exactly where he had lost.
A light screen lit up, and the battle recording began to play.
Lin Ye directly adjusted the speed to 0.25x slow motion.
In the image, every swing of his staff was heavy and powerful, brimming with momentum, erupting with the strength of his entire body like a shotgun blast that covered a broad area.
However, under slow motion, he clearly saw that most of his qi and blood power had already dispersed uselessly into the air before it could be transmitted to the tip of the staff.
As for [Lone Wolf], every saber strike he made appeared so restrained and precise.
His qi and blood power was highly condensed, as if a layer of energy film almost imperceptible to the naked eye covered the edge of his blade.
Wherever the blade passed, power gathered into a single line, like a precise sniper bullet, easily tearing open Lin Ye’s seemingly impenetrable web of staff strikes.
“So that’s how it is...”
Lin Ye murmured to himself.
His use of qi and blood was too simple, too primitive!
The opponent, on the other hand, had clearly mastered a higher-level and more efficient method of energy utilization!
And aside from using qi and blood power, there was also another kind of power he did not understand.
That power was the key that had determined victory and defeat.
Lin Ye silently opened his battle records and sent Lone Wolf a friend request.
It was not that he wanted to provoke him or engage in some friendly post-match exchange.
He simply wanted revenge in the future.
Lone Wolf soon accepted Lin Ye’s friend request.
“?”
“Another match some other day?”
“Sure.”
Their exchange was incomparably brief.
But Lin Ye was perfectly satisfied. As long as he did not run.
Just then, the system’s final evaluation result appeared before his eyes.
[Placement Matches Completed!]
[Record: 4 Wins - 1 Loss - 0 Draws]
[Win Rate: 80%]
[Initial Rank: Black Iron II]
[Comprehensive Combat Power Index: 31]
Lin Ye had not closed the battle records, so he clearly saw that [Lone Wolf]’s comprehensive combat power index was 39.
Lin Ye closed the battle records, then opened the leaderboard.
Filter Range: Dongjiang City.
Group: Ranked Martial Artist Group.
The next moment, a glowing leaderboard appeared before him.
Lin Ye’s gaze fell directly on the ID sitting high at the top.
[NO.1: Blood Moon]
[Rank: Platinum I]
[Record: 414 Wins - 39 Losses - 6 Draws]
[Win Rate: 90.1%]
[Comprehensive Combat Power Index: 137]
The win rate was absurdly high!
The combat power index was more than three times his own!
And when Lin Ye subconsciously opened Blood Moon’s personal homepage,
he saw that beside this ID’s rank information, there was also a small tag.
[Official Martial Artist Group: Bronze III (27 Wins - 2 Losses)]
Someone his own age... had already begun slaughtering his way through the official martial artist division?
Judging by his win rate, this person should have only just started playing in the official martial artist group. Bronze III was far from his true rank.
Chen Meng’s words from that afternoon still echoed by his ears.
Lin Ye took a deep breath, and fighting spirit ignited in his heart.
He had not become a genius.
He had merely gone from a mediocre person to a normal one.
As for the geniuses on this leaderboard...
He would surpass them one by one!