A height difference of 51 centimeters and a weight difference of 33 kilograms—in any combat sport, that was the gap between an adult and a child. Even without taking cybernetic prosthetics into account, by the free-fighting standard of 2–3 kilograms per weight class, it amounted to a full eleven weight classes.
It could be said that this was a bout with no suspense whatsoever at a single glance. Even the wagers were mostly on how many seconds he could last, and the odds were all outrageously low.
Yet at this very moment, the spectators showed no dissatisfaction at all. If they wanted to watch thrilling combat, there were plenty of official events. They had come here to watch people die!
If the process was exciting, all the better. But if it was a one-sided crush, then as long as the death was brutal enough, it was still worth the ticket price.
Amid the bloodthirsty crowd’s frenzied shouting, the burly man who, at a glance, seemed half a body taller than Feng Xue had already stepped onto the arena.
He tore off the robe wrapped around his body, revealing a massive physique like a mountain. His arms were so thick they seemed disproportionate, making him look especially broad, like a city wall blocking Feng Xue’s path.
“Kid, blame yourself for not knowing your limits! You haven’t even grown all your hair yet and you already—”
The brawny man codenamed Corpse Shredder struck an intimidating, sadistic pose and spewed trash talk, as though he wanted to heighten the pleasure of tormenting his opponent by applying pressure.
Feng Xue, however, merely narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze back and forth over the high-value prosthetics on him.
“No good. They’re all blank slates.”
With a sigh in his heart, Feng Xue gave up on the idea of farming affixes. After browsing the prosthetics store, he now had a rough guess as to what kind of prosthetics could produce affixes—
Generally speaking, the higher the star rating, the greater the probability of having affixes.
But this was not because of cost or materials; it was because high-star prosthetics often possessed more special technology.
Yes, according to Feng Xue’s conjecture, the more special functions or rare technologies a prosthetic had, the higher the probability of producing affixes. There was also a certain degree of randomness. Before an affix was actually rolled, it was uncertain whether a type of prosthetic could produce one. For example, Feng Xue had seen a prosthetic in the lawless zone that could yield affixes, while the same model at the bootleg dealer’s could not—of course, it was also possible that the dealer’s was simply counterfeit (Note ①).
As for the big guy in front of him, though he did have four-star prosthetics, they were entirely overbuilt industrial trash. Aside from the materials, they had nothing going for them, so there was basically no chance of getting anything good.
However, his calm appearance had clearly caused his opponent to misunderstand something. The gorilla-like fellow spread his arms and roared with laughter:
“The poor little runt’s already scared stupid. Don’t worry, let your Uncle Corpse Shredder end your fear! Though… it might hurt a little! Hahaha…”
“A third-rate punk who licks his tongue in front of his prey.”
That grating voice was cut off by Feng Xue’s cold yet extremely penetrating tone—not because his voice was especially loud, but because the mouth that had been roaring with laughter was now twisted to one side!
“A beautiful assault! Contestant Kong Wu’s attack was extremely sudden—has he assimilated some kind of acceleration prosthetic?”
The commentator’s voice was high-pitched and sharp. By the standards of professional broadcasting, it was clearly unqualified, but in this clamorous arena, packed with roaring voices, it was far more suitable than those clear, steady announcer tones.
In the span of a single sentence, the spectators, who had yet to fully enter the mood, instantly switched into bloodthirst mode. Feng Xue had already thrown his second punch!
He had not used the Heavenly Martial Killing Way or the Sword of Hell—not out of carelessness, but because he intended to take the opportunity to test the performance of [Benevolent Chest, Talented Shoulders, Virtuous Back] and [Flesh Maitreya].
The training method of Virtuous Back was a technique that, during all sorts of movements, continuously optimized movement modules through specific muscular rhythms.
It could be understood as testing and fine-tuning structure through movement modules, thereby improving bodily performance. If one had to compare it to something, it was somewhat like what Feng Xue’s previous life called “breaking in speakers,” or “machines becoming smoother the more they’re used.”
Thus, whether it was natural muscle, bionic muscle, or electromagnetic muscle, this technique could take effect, and it perfectly adapted to one’s own movement habits. It could even raise the upper limit of optimization as one’s own skill improved.
The only problem was that although this skill came with theoretical data, the complexity of its movements was simply outrageous. Fortunately, Feng Xue had the movement-module training system that Old Jiang had written into the Phantom Dragon Soul chip. As long as he used this body of Kong Wu’s a few more times, he would naturally master it.
This technique’s improvement in the early stages was extremely obvious. With only his second punch, his force generation and movement had already changed noticeably.
The first punch, despite landing unexpectedly on the head, had only made Richard tilt his head slightly. But this second punch, even when Richard was already on guard, forced the big man of over two hundred jin back three steps!
No—this was not only the optimization of the Body-Tempering Art of Benevolent Chest, Talented Shoulders, Virtuous Back. The unassuming “greatly increases proficiency” effect of Talented Shoulders was also taking effect!
“You little bastard!” Fire blazed in Richard’s eyes as he let out an enraged roar. Though Feng Xue’s strength was still insufficient to cause him any substantial damage, getting hit in the face twice by a newcomer without having done anything undoubtedly caused his evaluation to plummet!
No longer bothering with trash talk, Richard extended an arm as thick as Feng Xue’s waist and grabbed at him with a speed utterly at odds with its crude, brutish appearance!
“There it is! Contestant Corpse Shredder’s Death Grab! Though Loken’s Gorilla series has always been criticized for having no distinctive features, in an arena where strength is king, it still possesses overwhelming dominance!”
The commentator, who must have installed some special vocal cords, delivered the explanation at an extremely high speed while keeping every word clear, yet revealed not the slightest inside detail about this named technique. Feng Xue had not expected to rely on the commentator to fight, either. With force from both legs, his entire body shifted more than a meter to the side.
But before he could continue moving, Richard’s legs suddenly let out a burst of explosive cracks, and his whole body launched forward like a projectile. Due to his weight, the ejection system that should originally have been able to send a person flying more than ten meters only propelled Richard less than three meters. But on this arena, which was not large to begin with, such a distance was already enough!
A pair of massive arms clamped Feng Xue firmly in place. The terrifying force nearly crushed his shoulder blades, but Richard did not follow up with a throw or a slam. Instead, in a bizarre posture, he pressed Feng Xue toward his own chest and abdomen!
“Clack, clack, clack!”
Six rows of sharp curved blades sprang out from the chest and abdomen that Feng Xue had originally thought were armored prosthetics, as though in the very next instant they would embrace him into shredded flesh!
The spectators had already erupted into deafening cheers, seemingly filled with intense anticipation for the imminent spray of blood and gore.
Only…
“Run awaaay!”
Along with a teasing voice, Feng Xue actually twisted in an incomprehensible posture and broke free from the Gorilla arms whose raw strength already ranked among the very top of four-star prosthetics. At the same time, Feng Xue, having been attacked, activated his [Abomination] trait!
At that moment, under the eyes of countless spectators, Kong Wu’s body seemed to swell by a full size in an instant. But when they tried to look more closely, they discovered that Kong Wu was now even leaner and more wiry than when he had first entered the stage.
Just as many spectators began calling up recordings from their cybernetic eyes for comparison, a thunderous shout spread outward together with a sensation so sharp it made one’s scalp go numb—
“Ya! Then fall before me!”
Note ①: In fact, it is not only uncertain whether an affix can appear; even the quality of the affix that appears is uncertain. Only after an affix has truly been produced can the same type of prosthetic stably produce that affix afterward. If you see that an affix can be produced, it only means that this particular prosthetic can do so; the next one of the same model still has to be rolled again. If three consecutive prosthetics of the same model fail the roll, or if there is one critical failure, then that type of prosthetic can no longer produce affixes.
As for what appears, that also depends on the dice lady. For example, the protagonist’s first orange affix, Perfect Companion, was rolled out. I originally thought getting something like Holy Grail or Moe-fication would already be impressive…
In short, it roughly works like this: when coming into contact with a prosthetic that may produce affixes, roll a die to determine whether an affix can appear. If it can, roll another die to determine its quality.
And the higher the prosthetic’s star rating, the greater the probability of producing an affix.
Of course, the above is a mechanism known only to the readers.
P.S.: Regarding clones, in theory, this really is not exclusive to the protagonist. But it is also not dual source energy—it is triple source energy. Consciousness transfer is soul source energy; granting flesh capable of carrying consciousness is flesh-and-blood source energy; remote multi-threaded control is mental source energy. Without flesh-and-blood, one can only control robots. Without mental, one can only maintain one body at a time. Without soul, one can only stiffly control things like a marionette, unable to move as flexibly as controlling one’s own body.
As mentioned before, humans are born with 20 attribute points, and only when a single attribute exceeds 8 can one possess innate source energy. Therefore, in theory, at most, one can be born with dual source energy. As for postnatal training, if one wants multiple source energies, one must control one’s progress and have several attributes break through simultaneously. Thus, triple source energy almost does not exist. The protagonist can only do it by relying on his golden finger as a server to relay signals.