Chapter 65 | Virtual Reality Network: First Battle!
Chapter 65: 65 | Virtual Reality Network: First Battle!
[JK: My doctor told me I was going deaf... ]
[The news was hard for me to hear!]
...
The students nodded, their expressions sobering at the reminder.
"Now, file in."
One after another, they entered their assigned pods.
Each student found their name displayed on a small screen beside a specific pod, indicating their assigned station.
The pods were arranged in a grid pattern, with aisles between the rows that allowed the instructors to move between them easily.
Andrew climbed inside his own. The interior was comfortable, padded with soft material that conformed to his body shape.
A small screen displayed his name and stats, confirming his identity and synchronizing his data with the simulation system.
The hatch slowly sealed shut with a soft hiss of pressurized air. Soft blue lights illuminated the interior, creating a calming atmosphere.
A mechanical voice echoed beside his ear.
[Synchronization Complete.]
[Connecting to Erwin Origin Network...]
[Creating Host Physical Data...]
[Avatar successfully completed]
[Loading Combat Environment...]
Andrew felt his consciousness gradually fade. It was a strange sensation, different from logging into Heaven’s Domain but similar enough to be familiar.
The sensation was strangely familiar. Almost identical to entering Heaven’s Domain, but with subtle differences in the quality of the transition.
A moment later, the feeling stopped and Andrew opened his eye once again.
He found himself standing inside a vast forest.
Towering trees stretched endlessly into the distance, their branches forming a dense canopy overhead.
The wind gently rustled through the leaves, creating a soft, constant whisper that filled the air.
Birds chirped somewhere overhead, their songs echoing through the trees.
Shafts of sunlight broke through the canopy in golden beams, illuminating patches of forest floor in warm, dappled light.
Everything looked astonishingly real. The bark on the trees had texture and depth. The leaves cast accurate shadows.
The ground beneath his feet was covered with realistic dirt, fallen leaves, and small plants.
If Andrew hadn’t known better, he would have thought he was actually standing in a forest.
Yet Andrew could immediately tell the difference.
It wasn’t Heaven’s Domain. It was real enough to fool the senses, but compared to Heaven’s Domain, this world felt artificial.
His Divine Sense immediately spread outward, and he was pleased to find that it worked in the virtual environment.
Within an instant, everything inside a three-kilometer radius entered his perception. The trees, the animals, the insects, the birds, the terrain, all of it rendered in his consciousness with the same clarity that he experienced in reality.
Five hundred meters ahead, another presence appeared. It was a human shape, standing in a clearing, its back turned toward Andrew.
"So... My opponent."
A flash of light appeared in the distance. It was a teleportation effect, the visual signature of a player entering the combat zone. When the figure became clear, Andrew raised an eyebrow.
"Xavier?"
It was the same tall young man who had sneered at him during the Elite Student assembly.
The one who had mocked him before Monica bombarded him with insults.
Xavier also noticed him almost immediately. For a brief moment, surprise flashed across his face.
He clearly hadn’t expected to be matched against Andrew, and the surprise was followed by excitement, and arrogance.
He quickly moved closer as his lips curled into a wide grin before he burst into loud laughter.
"Hahaha! Hahahaha! I can’t believe my luck! I actually got matched against you!"
Andrew looked at him indifferently. "So... You’re happy to see me?"
"Of course!" Xavier laughed arrogantly, spreading his arms wide as if welcoming an old friend. "I’ll finally get to expose you in front of everyone. You know why?"
He pointed directly at Andrew, his finger aimed like an accusation.
"In this Virtual Environment, bloodline abilities are restricted. We can only depend on ourselves. You can’t use that suicidal Bloodline Ignition of yours. You’ll only be able to fight using your natural physical strength and your Talent."
He leaned forward slightly, his grin widening.
"And everyone already knows your Talent is F- rank. But you were lucky during the Culling Game to upgrade it to E rank. But that’s not all, it isn’t even combat-oriented."
He spread his arms with a mocking smile. "So tell me... How exactly are you planning to escape me now?"
Andrew lips tugged into a small smile. "So... You’ve already decided I’ve lost?"
Xavier sneered. "I haven’t decided. I already know. I’ll make sure everyone watching understands one thing. Without that bloodline... You’re nothing. The only reason you managed to punch that elder yesterday... was pure luck."
Andrew simply nodded. "I agree."
Xavier frowned. "...What?"
"I agree. It was luck."
For some reason, Andrew’s answer made Xavier even more uncomfortable.
Just then, a giant timer appeared between them. The numbers were large and glowing, visible from any angle in the forest.
00:10
9...
8...
7...
The countdown echoed throughout the forest, each number accompanied by a soft chime that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Xavier bounced lightly on his feet, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, his body coiled like a spring ready to release as he grinned with arrogant cruelty in his eyes.
He would make sure to show everyone that Andrew is a fraud! [A/N: Just like Yuta...]
Three...
Two...
One...
Fight!
The instant the timer disappeared, Xavier vanished.
"Boom!"
The surrounding air distorted as the air itself actually warped, bending and twisting around the space where Xavier had been standing a fraction of a second before.
His A-Rank Talent activated.
Xavier’s Talent allows him to partially manipulate the flow of time in his immediate vicinity.
He could accelerate time around himself, making his movements faster, while simultaneously decelerating time around his opponents, making their movements slower. The effect was relative rather than absolute. He wasn’t actually moving faster than light or stopping time entirely, he was stealing time from his opponent!
"A-Rank Talent, Time Shift."
Time accelerated around Xavier. His body moved three times faster than normal, his reactions sharpened, his thoughts processing at incredible speed.
At the same time, the flow of time surrounding Andrew slowed dramatically. To Andrew, it felt as though the world itself had become sluggish as though he was inside an ocean!