After entering his hotel, he had performed some stretching exercises and meditation techniques for an hour in order to fully merge with Chen's body and gain full control. He did not have the time before to so he could only control Chen's body like a puppet.
After that, he left the hotel and made way towards the huge forests. He had to spend some of Chen's accumulated credits to purchase an insect repellent module and a pair of boots.
----------
Modules in simple terms are basically magic wands that can be installed into one's console. You could cause a mini tornado, electric attacks, fireworks, gravity storms, etc. depending on the type.
There are four types of modules each with their own levels which are civilian, military, status, and reward modules with the levels being low, medium, high, and peak.
Civilian modules are available to all the public, and they can all be purchased as long as you have the credits. Most of them are meant for non-lethal purposes except for some self-defense ones. For example, the flying module is civilian module the majority of all civilians use ranging from low-tier to peak-tier.
Military modules are obviously used mostly by the military, and can only be granted if you are in the military or police force. They are mostly for lethal, attack, and defensive purposes. The higher your rank and the higher your contributions in the military, the better tiers you get. You get to keep them after retirement, but you have to make a yearly report.
Status modules are modules from the government granted to those who have achieved sufficient status in civilian, business, military, research, and government aspects. They are given to the individual depending on where their status lies, so someone in the world of business can't get a lethal military module for example.
Lastly is the reward modules, which are personally handed out by the government. You can get a reward module if you achieve sufficient contribution, inventing something innovating, or discovering something that has never before seen. They are generally rare modules that will be hard to find anywhere else.
The status and reward modules are both government secrets and the military grade modules are military secrets which are all non-reproducible. Including civilian grade, they cannot be transferred to another person and requires work from the individual to get them.
---------
It was then that Hong left the town surrounding the giant pillar and into the forests. Going from the metal city largely devoid of nature to this naturalistic setting gave Hong a sense of peace and relaxation as he followed the developed path.
The variety of plant species, chirping birds, and loud insects made the atmosphere relaxing and calming as he traversed the forests devoid of human interference.
There was a lack of herbs near the city, since they were probably picked out. The farther he went, he more he saw which allowed him to finally approach and observe.
Unfortunately, he could only shake his head in disappointment.
"As I thought, these are all low-ranked mortal herbs. Maybe there's a slim chance of finding a medium-ranked mortal herb if I go deeper." He said aloud to himself as he pushed aside the brushes. He decided to step off the path and go in a random direction.
His insect-repellent module was a wise choice to get, as they all just bounced off an invisible barrier around him. If not, he'd have to deal with possible mosquitoes and alien mosquito from other worlds.
As he went deeper, he found the trees getting higher and thicker. The amount of bushes on the grounds began to increase and grow more dense. The forest was turning into something you'd see in a tropical rainforest. The herbs were abundant, but they were the same low rank.
It was getting slightly troublesome even for Hong who now owned Chen's body that was very muscular and had high endurance. He was beginning to regret that he didn't purchase a machete or some type of path-making module.
But thinking back to his available modules, his eyes slightly lit up as he activated a flight module. A light breeze seemingly lifted him up into the air. Hong stabilized himself using his mind, since it requires mental commands without using his spacesuit. An easy matter considering his mentality.
Looking at Chen's knowledge of modules, he couldn't help but sigh.
"These dang mortals are so advanced that technology is no different from spiritual energy and Qi spells. Didn't think all this would be possible without spiritual energy or Qi." He thought.
Hong accelerated and gently maneuvered between the trees while looked at the slowly growing number of herbs available. Unfortunately, they were still the same rank despite their liveliness.
"I am getting nowhere with this. Maybe I can use my divine sense."
Thinking of this, his eyes lit up as he rose above the trees. A vast landscape of rainforest came before him and seemingly stretched endlessly until it touched the skies. Looking behind, the giant pillar and town was in the distance.
Hong carefully released his divine sense and let it spread outwards in all directions. It even went underground several hundred meters before hitting a solid barrier, presumably warped space. His divine sense continued to spread for many, many miles as sweat ran down his face.
Veins began to bulge on his face and his neck before spreading down his body. Sweat ran down his body as his slightly tanned skin flushed a shade of red. A tearing pain all across his body gradually intensified as his divine sense spread.
*Beep! Beep!
[Warning! Warning! Dangerous levels of unknown stress being exerted on the owner's body! Metabolism and heart rate reaching dangerous levels! Organs at risk of damage and shut-down! Should I call for help? Yes/No] The console blinked a flashing red as it blared at him.
"Deny!" He yelled at the top of his burning lungs as he continued to spread his divine sense.
[Warning! Stress levels rising! Owner's body is at risk of total collapse! Warning! Metabolism levels and heart rate rising! Owner is at risk of exceeding 400 BPM! Warning! Metabolism levels are too high! Owner is at risk of severe hypoglycemia!]
He coughed up blood as blood vessels began to explode. Hong felt light-headed and dizzy as his energy was rapidly drained away. His body felt like it was about to collapse and turn into a pile of mech. The tearing pain was so bad that even his calm mentality couldn't help but be shaken.
Hong finally gave in, and rapidly retracted his divine sense back to his soul. The horrible feeling of about to die gradually vanished as he fell from the sky. The console activated and a soft force landed him on the ground. He was breathing so hard and his heart was pounding like a machine gun. Bloody sweat accompanied him as he felt tired.
*Beep! Beep!
[Warning! Owner's blood vessels and organs are moderately injured! Owner is suffering from internal bleeding! Owner's body is suffering from severe hypoglycemia! Console recommends activating emergency treatment protocols and request for immediate hospitalization. Do you wish to proceed? Yes/No]
"Just activate treatment protocols but no hospital!" He yelled internally while laying on the forest floor.
Amidst the pains throughout his body, he felt a slight prick in his wrist as unknown nanobots and medications entered his bloodstream. With his powerful soul, he is barely able to observe at the micro-level, which he was able to see.
To his shock, the tiny robots quickly spread across his body and quickly repaired the ruptured blood vessels. A cool sensation from some medication flowed through his body that eliminated all the pain in his body. The console injected sugar into his body to reduce the low blood sugar.
His internal bleeding quickly stopped as his sugar levels rose once more, allowing the body to recover faster. The tiny robots then repaired his organs for a few more minutes until they were fully repaired. The giant blobs of blood in his body gradually reduced in size before being reabsorbed by his body, reducing the stress levels.
The robots quickly repaired any remaining damage before returning to his wrist and entering the console. The inflow of medications and sugar continued until they were at moderate levels.
Hong tiredly sighed and got onto his knees, feeling a lack of pain as he pinched himself. The robots seemingly repaired his torn muscles as well.
"Without cultivation, it seems as though this body can withstand 32 kilometers of my divine sense before possible collapse. Divine sense and one's soul is originally dependent on a cultivators cultivation, so without that it becomes difficult to maintain divine sense without consuming energy!" He said aloud feeling mentally exhausted.
Just as he was thinking, a soul ripple passed through his body which he picked up, causing his face to change drastically!
A tearing pain immediately assaulted his dantian despite being on the painkiller medication. It was enough to seemingly overpower the medication, causing the console to blare again.