"Congratulations on your duel victory, Guardian·Yuan, your account has received 2000 Blue Star Coins, transferable to…" Li Yuan had already received the notification from the Starry Skies Fighting Network.
The stakes for both sides were agreed upon before the match, and Lin Lanyue had transferred the funds in advance.
Therefore, as soon as he won, the money was credited to Li Yuan's account.
"The near-real combat, where I don't have to worry about injury, is indeed more satisfying than solitary practice in reality," Li Yuan grinned, "It's just a pity that it's not 100% realistic, so it's not as thrilling."
In this era, why do Martial Path strongmen emerge one after another?
The virtual network plays an irreplaceable role.
Take the Starry Skies Fighting Network, for instance; it has many flaws, such as not being able to fully simulate real moves, with some data becoming distorted.
Additionally, it can't scan everyone's real body data, so the data for the conscious body and the real body are different, and it can't achieve a perfect fit.
But!
Through consciousness connection, participants can still engage in a large number of fights and moves that are difficult to experiment with continuously in reality.
In real combat, one mistake can mean death or severe injury.
How many real battles could martial artists of the past experience in a lifetime? Most practice alone, and it was already good if they had a few sparring partners.
But in this era, every Martial Artist, before fighting with Star Realm Creatures in actual combat, can go through thousands, even tens of thousands of virtual battles, not only vastly improving their training efficiency.
It also hones their mindset, courage, and skills.
In the battle between Li Yuan and Lin Lanyue, both had reached the age of 16, hence the blood, severed limbs, and other effects were realistically simulated.
However, since they were underage, the pain was only set to 10%.
If it were adult competition, the pain would be at a minimum of 20%, with the highest setting being an astonishing 80%, closely resembling a life-and-death battle.
"Starry Skies Fighting Network."
"Essentially, it's a real combat training camp for Martial Artists," mused Li Yuan to himself.
Human civilization as a whole now revolves around 'war'.
...The battle between Li Yuan and Lin Lanyue was intense.
It ended in less than a minute.
After all, each random strike from their spear or sword exerted thousands of kilograms of force. Grasping just one small opening in the opponent's defense usually resulted in a deadly blow.
Before Li Yuan's spear exploded forward, aside from the teacher Xu Bo, who had noticed the signs early on, many students still felt that Lin Lanyue had the upper hand.
"Li Yuan has been retreating all along, a prolonged defense is bound to fail! Can such defense really hold up?" a boy questioned.
"You know nothing!" Zhou Qi scoffed, "Brother Yuan is the strongest."
Zhou Qi might not understand, but he knew that Li Yuan had the highest Martial Arts Skills scores.
"Lin Lanyue's attack is very aggressive. If Brother Yuan slips even the slightest, he will lose," Wan Xiao, with better observation, said, "But Brother Yuan's defense is flawless... I feel his Spear Technique has gotten stronger than during the last test."
"Who should I be rooting for?" Li Tianyou watched, his heart still torn.
Then, suddenly.
"Brother Yuan is awesome!" Zhou Qi, wearing leather pants, suddenly jumped up, punching the air wildly, overwhelmed with excitement, "He won!"
"What?"
"A sudden Spear Thrust? Lanyue lost?" Li Tianyou's eyes widened, watching the scene in disbelief.
"Damn!"
"That's ruthless, how could he stab her in the chest?"
"Sister actually lost?" Gu Qiang held his breath in shock, "This Li Yuan, he really didn't hold back at all."
"So fast, Li Yuan is so brutal." A buzz of astonishment circulated among the Spectator Platform, as these students were all amazed.
They had thought that even if Li Yuan were to win with a defensive counterattack, it would take dozens more moves at least.
Nobody expected a sudden reversal at the peak of Lin Lanyue's offensive.
The Straight Thrust burst forth.
Lin Lanyue's body got pierced, even her Combat Armor was penetrated, showing the dominion of the spear.
It was incredibly brutal.
"Li Yuan won!"
"So what if it's the Elite Class? They still got knocked to the ground!"
"Brother Yuan, number one in skill." The students of High School Year 3 Class 2 were quite excited and took pride in his victory.
So what if it was the Elite Class? So what if you awakened your Martial Spirit? Countering and bringing down the so-called favored children of heaven is the hot-blooded tradition engraved in the bones of the people of Xia Country.
It's also the most enjoyable story to witness.
"Li Yuan doesn't show any mercy, not even to women, that's Lin Lanyue for goodness' sake!" Some of the boys were somewhat indignant.
"Are you joking?"
"Idiot, huh!"
"Fool, in a life-and-death fight, you expect to be spared? Not enough of a lapdog yet?"
"Flirting at a time like this?"
"If you're so capable, go have a match with Li Yuan."
"To like someone is to respect her," which drew more retorts from students, "In a fight to the death with Star Realm Creatures, do you also spare the pretty ones?"
Most of the boys came to support Lin Lanyue.
But they wouldn't really consider Li Yuan's actions cruel, at most they saw him as fierce and domineering.
When Li Yuan was victorious, they cheered just the same.
In a fight, you have to give it your all. Carelessness and underestimating the opponent is irresponsible to oneself.
The purpose of the fight is victory!
This is the first lesson every student learns in Martial Path class.
"The greatest respect you can show your enemy is to go all out to kill them. Only the person who wins and survives is worthy of talking about spirit and honor." This is a quote from Lant, the world's second strongest fighter.
At this moment.
The system announced, already echoing above the challenge platform: "The moment of glory has arrived; victory belongs to 'Defender·Yuan.' His long spear was like an insurmountable barrier, successfully defending his honor and becoming the ultimate victor."
...
"The challenge space will close soon, 60, 59..." Text appeared on the screen above the platform.
Many people quickly began to leave.
Whoosh! Lin Lanyue, who had just been eliminated, reappeared on the platform, no longer wearing her combat armor.
She had reverted to her original attire.
The wound on Li Yuan's shoulder had also healed, and his weapons and armor had vanished.
In a non-combat state, in a non-combat space, it was impossible to harm others.
"Lin Lanyue, thank you for letting me win," Li Yuan said with a smile.
Lin Lanyue frowned slightly and said, "Your spear technique is indeed powerful; I am not your match."
A little over ten seconds after the battle had ended.
Lin Lanyue reviewed it right away and understood that Li Yuan's martial arts skills really were superior.
Otherwise, her relentless assault with dozens of strikes could not have been so effortlessly blocked by the opponent, who ultimately counter-struck with a single thrust to kill her.
This could only mean that there was indeed a gap between them.
"But there is one thing, I hope you will explain clearly to me and the other students," Lin Lanyue said, staring at Li Yuan.
"Explain?" Li Yuan was startled, immediately thinking of the hostility Lin Lanyue had shown at first.
"Are you referring to what the others were saying?" Li Yuan shook his head, about to explain, "It has nothing to do with me, it's them who..."
Bang!!
A figure rushed onto the platform.
"Brother Yuan, you won today. What's our next step?" Zhou Qi excitedly ran onto the platform.
Li Yuan was surprised: "..."
"It has nothing to do with you?" Lin Lanyue glanced at Li Yuan and then at Zhou Qi with a slight frown but did not say anything else.
She left the virtual space directly.
"Eh? Why did Lin Lanyue leave?" Zhou Qi realized belatedly, "Brother Yuan, did I ruin the mood between you two? I just got too excited, didn't I?"
Li Yuan was silent for three seconds before he slowly said, "Old Zhou, I want you to do something for me."
"What is it? Just say the word, Brother Yuan," Zhou Qi said confidently.
"Be my sparring partner."
"Fight me in ten matches," Li Yuan said with a hint of a smile; "Otherwise, I won't feel at ease."
"Sparring partner?" Zhou Qi turned and tried to slip away.
..."He's so cool!"
"How come I didn't notice this before in school?"
"I kind of want Li Yuan to be my third boyfriend. I'll ask him out at school tomorrow."
"Let me have him; I only have one." A few girls were still discussing in low voices, seemingly worried others might overhear.
The 60-second countdown ended, and the combat space closed.
...
After practicing (and dominating) in three matches with Zhou Qi and Wan Xiao, Li Yuan let them go.
He returned to his personal combat space.
All was quiet.
"Next, it's time to start ranking up," Li Yuan thought, and a light screen appeared in front of him:
Ranking Match: Gold Stage.
Points: 112 (1000 points needed for promotion match)
Win Rate in Stage: 52%
Overall Historical Win Rate: 57%
...
"According to the rules, underage players who reach 500 points in the Gold Stage get a reward of 50,000 Blue Star Coins," Li Yuan mused. "If I can reach the Fallen Star Stage, I'll get a reward of 500,000 Blue Star Coins."
"My birthday is in August, and it's going to be tough to reach the Fallen Star Stage in the coming year."
"However, with my two trump cards, there is still hope of reaching 500 points in the Gold Stage," Li Yuan said as he clicked to begin.
Ranking match matchmaking.
"Win a match, earn 1-12 points; lose a match, lose 1-12 points," Li Yuan recited in his mind. "The more points you get if your opponent's rank is higher than yours and you win."
"If your opponent's rank is lower and you lose, you'll lose a lot of points."
"I hope I can make it in one go today," Li Yuan thought to himself.
Beep—Match found.
"You are about to enter a ranking match, your opponent is in the Gold Stage (322 points), please prepare for combat," the system reminded.
"Entering combat space, countdown starting at 10, 9..."