Chapter 72: Martial Arts Training Simulation 2
[CREATING A SUITABLE ENVIRONMENT...]
[PLEASE WAIT A MOMENT...]
"Hello? Helloooo?!" Ian tried to start a conversation with the avatar standing in front of him, but it did not respond at all. It only stood there, completely motionless.
’So it doesn’t speak. What a letdown,’ Ian thought, watching it cautiously. ’The only thing I’m worried about now is what will happen outside while I’m in here. What if I get killed out there? Will I also die in here? This damn System won’t even answer that.’
[CREATION COMPLETE: QIHAL WORLD - OUTSIDE OF BING CITY]
[TRANSFERRING NOW...]
Suddenly, Ian’s body and the silent avatar started turning into small, glowing pixels, fading away into nothingness until they materialized in an entirely new location.
The moment he arrived, he was met by a freezing, heavy downpour. The rain fell in relentless sheets, and the thick mud beneath his boots showed that it had been raining here nonstop for days.
"Is this really a ’suitable environment’? If it’s going to keep raining nonstop, how am I going to fight in these conditions?" Ian grumbled, looking up at the gray sky.
He then threw glances around at his surroundings, but to his absolute surprise, he saw strangely familiar structures in the distance.
"Those are skyscrapers!!! Am I back in my original world?!" Ian gasped, staring at the tall, beautiful buildings illuminating the gloomy sky. "No... this can’t be my world. My world was modern, but it was not this advanced at all."
Ian pointed toward a massive, glowing sign floating in the middle of the air. "I wouldn’t even call that a billboard... it’s a hologram."
While Ian was distracted looking at the futuristic scenery, a system notification popped up directly in front of him.
[HOST IS ONLY LIMITED TO A SMALL, CERTAIN AREA. IF HOST INTENDS TO END THE TRAINING SIMULATION, THEY CAN JUST WALK OUTSIDE THE TRAINING FIELD AND WAIT FOR THE COUNTDOWN TO FINISH.]
"What about outside? How would I know if my real body is in danger?" Ian asked quickly.
[YOUR BODY IS PERFECTLY SAFE. AS ONLY YOUR SOUL IS HERE AND HAS ASSIMILATED WITH THE SYSTEM, WE ARE MOVING AT A VERY FAST SPEED TO THE POINT THAT OUTSIDE, IT MAY SEEM LIKE TIME HAS COMPLETELY STOPPED.]
"Wow, it actually answered," Ian said with a surprised look. "I thought it was gonna ghost me like it always does. But what it just said really puts my heart at ease, I—"
Before he could even finish what he wanted to say, a blur of motion appeared in front of him. A punch from the avatar was already upon him.
THUD!!! The punch to his face was so devastatingly strong that it instantly tore his head clean off his shoulders, leaving his headless body spurting thick blood from the neck.
’Did I... did I just die?’ Ian thought, his vision spinning wildly as his severed head flew through the rainy air.
The avatar just stood there, smiling crazily with its bloody fist still raised, not saying a single word.
[YOU HAVE DIED]
[RESPAWN IN 3... 2... 1...]
Suddenly, Ian’s body appeared again in the exact same spot he had originally started from. Ian gasped, frantically touching his neck and face all over to make sure it was still attached.
’That felt way too real! The pain... everything... even the death,’ Ian thought, completely shocked. He then glanced over at the spot where he had just died seconds ago.
"That’s... that’s me," he whispered, staring at his own severed head, which still had a shocked expression frozen in its dead eyes. Next to it lay his headless body, continuing to bleed into the mud, though the heavy rain quickly washed the blood away.
"Damn it, this is so messed up. If I can just respawn, why keep my previous dead body lying there?" Ian groaned, looking away from the gory sight. "And not only that, what about the pain?! Can’t I turn it off?!"
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. "But what’s troubling me even more is how I died so easily. Didn’t my body become incredibly strong by cultivating the Dragon Jaw Forging Technique?" Ian muttered in deep thought.
He started testing his fists, throwing quick jabs into the rainy air.
"I can feel it... my bones are strong, but not nearly as tough as when I was actively cultivating the Dragon Jaw Forging. Is this just the absolute baseline of the Early Stage of Bone Forging, completely stripped of the technique’s special effects?" Ian realized.
The teenager-like avatar in front of him suddenly started moving again. It walked forward with the same crazed, silent smile on its face.
"Alright, you won’t surprise me this time!" Ian shouted, charging forward to violently clash with it.
Just at the exact moment they were about to clash, Ian started slowing down slightly, instinctively afraid of taking another fatal hit. But the avatar didn’t hesitate at all. It actually increased its speed, smirking like a complete maniac.
’What the...’ Ian was startled.
As they made contact, the avatar suddenly slid perfectly to Ian’s side, using the slippery mud and rain to move incredibly fast. Without breaking its momentum, it violently grabbed Ian’s ankle and yanked upward, causing Ian to fall face-first into the thick mud.
"Aaahh... what was that move?!"
Before Ian could even try to roll away or defend himself, the avatar suddenly jumped on top of his back. It raised its fist and pounced against the back of his head with a blow so heavy that the very ground shook. Ian’s skull was instantly squashed into a bloody paste.
[YOU HAVE DIED]
[RESPAWN IN 3... 2... 1...]
Suddenly, Ian’s body appeared again in the exact same spot he had spawn before and infront of him was the gruesome death he had experienced.
"Is this how I’m supposed to learn the technique with dying all over the place. I don’t even know what type of technique I’m supposed to be learnin...." while saying that Ian suddenly remembered something.
"System" Ian called