Chapter Forty-Eight: The Virtual Training Chamber

Dozens of mutated creatures surrounded the Creature King. They could smell the scent in the air that triggered their bodies, but none attacked, for the eyeless creatures had not yet been overwhelmed by their instincts.

Blood flowed from bodies, fire blazed from eyes, and the blood-flames burned across their skin, crackling in the air. The creatures encircling the King seemed unable to resist, their throats emitting deep growls. Suddenly, a creature larger than even the hulking mutants beside it roared—a signal for attack. Instantly, all the creatures surged forward, intent on tearing the Creature King apart.

The largest creature towered over five meters tall, making the Creature King beside it seem as small as a newborn child.

“Hmph, today I’ll kill to my heart’s content,” the Creature King spat out fiercely, tears streaming from his eyes. A man’s tears rarely fall, unless he reaches the depths of sorrow. He clenched his fists, striking at the two creatures lunging toward him.

Scarlet flames gathered at his fists, transforming into blood lions that tore at the creatures’ heads. One was slender and agile, the other broad and powerful. Sensing danger, the agile one leapt away in time; the powerful one was decapitated by the blood lion, its massive body reduced to ashes by the blood-flames.

Creatures attacking from behind bit at the Creature King’s shoulders and head. The blood-flames scorched their teeth and flesh, reducing them to ashes. In pain, the creatures released their grip, and a massive arm sent the unguarded Creature King flying.

Now, mutated creatures relied on strength alone; their power was nearly equal to, if not greater than, the Creature King’s. He was hurled through the air, crashing into a nearby stone building. The impact left a gaping hole, and with its supports gone, the house soon collapsed, burying the King beneath the rubble.

The agile creature leapt to where the King had landed, stabbing its blade-like claws deep into the stones as if they were paper.

“Hiss—” the creature cried out in pain, struggling to withdraw its claws, but they wouldn’t budge. Suddenly, a jet of blood-flame shot upward along the claws, and in the blink of an eye, the creature vanished into thin air.

With a thunderous crash, the ruined stone house exploded into flying debris, and the Creature King rose from within. He spat a mouthful of blood, a deep wound at his neck gushing foul blood. With a cold snort, the blood-flames around him grew fiercer.

He took a few steps forward, and the giant creature retreated in fear. Yet the Creature King sensed something was wrong—the flames on his body diminished as if doused with water, and he nearly lost his balance.

The giant creature stamped the ground and charged, leaving deep footprints in its wake. With a sweep of its arm, it sent the Creature King flying once more.

A series of crashes echoed as walls were smashed, houses collapsing in succession.

Several kilometers away, a yellow figure flashed, appearing above the Creature City. Surveying the devastation below, the yellow-robed figure’s eyes remained unmoved, as if this scene was only natural.

“Tianhai King was right—this matter isn’t over yet. I wonder what’s become of the Creature King,” he mused.

In the center of the city, the giant creature was causing great commotion.

Earth elemental power surged in the yellow-robed man’s eyes, and in the next moment, he appeared before the giant creature.

“You abominations—forsaken by heaven, ungrateful for mercy. Let me end you,” declared the yellow-robed man, unmoving as the dry, cracked earth erupted beneath him.

Several earth dragons, thick as water barrels, burst from the ground, swiftly devouring the charging giant creature and the agile creature lurking for a chance to strike. In an instant, calm returned, the ground freshly overturned, with occasional chunks of flesh among the soil grains.

Behind the yellow figure, an earthen hand carried the struggling Creature King toward him.

“You’ve given me quite a problem. Tell me, how should I deal with these monsters lacking all humanity?”

“Tiansha King, give us one more chance. This time, I’ll lead them back to where they began, never to appear before humans again,” the Creature King pleaded, kneeling, head bowed, seeking a final chance for his kind. He knew that if this man grew angry, they would be reduced to ashes in an instant. In his voice was both desperation and unwillingness.

Tianmu King gazed down at the kneeling Creature King, his expression shifting several times before settling.

“Very well. You have three days to return to your origin. If any creatures remain after three days, none will be spared,” he decreed, then vanished.

In truth, Tianhai King had urged him to show no mercy, but faced with this scene, Tiansha King couldn’t bear it, granting this favor to the Creature King.

...

Zixing Academy, training grounds, virtual training chamber.

“Are you ready?” Ye Bai asked.

Yao Ling and Cao Xiaoseng nodded. “Yes.”

“Alright, Mu’er, activate the virtual battlefield,” Ye Bai commanded. The AI Mu’er flew from Ye Bai’s arm. After days of practice, Yao Ling and Cao Xiaoseng had ceded the team leader position to Ye Bai.

It was Yao Ling who insisted Ye Bai lead; as for Cao Xiaoseng, he had little to do besides sleep.

The three lay in their beds as scanning lights swept over them, confirming their identities. Glass covers emerged, enclosing each of them.

“Activate virtual training chamber?” the cool voice of the system, Arya, sounded in Ye Bai’s ear.

“Yes,” he confirmed.

Their vision blurred, then faded. They were used to this, having experienced it many times.

“Ruins—scene construction in progress…” Lines formed terrain, animals, and plants, as if an artist sketched the world in strokes.

“Completed,” Arya announced, coloring the scene until it was indistinguishable from reality.

Ye Bai, Yao Ling, and Cao Xiaoseng appeared in the ruins, flexing wrists and ankles to adjust to their new consciousness forms.

“Nine o’clock, one hundred kilometers ahead is the mission endpoint. Eliminate all enemies or reach the end to exit the ruins trial.” Arya’s message greeted them as soon as they arrived.

Ye Bai extended his wrist, and Mu’er transformed into a watch. Yao Ling and Cao Xiaoseng did the same.

These ruins were replicas of real or legendary sites from Earth. This time, they found themselves in the ruins of ancient Egypt.

The sand scorched their feet, though there was no real sun. Arya’s system simulated the Egyptian heat, stimulating their sensory systems so they felt the sweltering air.

Around Ye Bai, dozens of logs lay broken in the sand, beside abandoned brick piles as tall as a person. Following the direction of the log heap, a massive brick pyramid stood in the distance, one hundred kilometers away.

“Nine o’clock, six o’clock, five o’clock…” Suddenly, Mu’er’s voice sounded in Ye Bai’s mind, warning him of approaching enemies.

Yao Ling and Cao Xiaoseng grew solemn; they had surely received the same alerts from their own AIs.

The virtual training chamber wasted no time. No sooner had they acclimated to their bodies than the first wave of attacks arrived.

The three stood back to back in a triangular formation, each watching their sector. Yao Ling stayed slightly behind, while Cao Xiaoseng and Ye Bai shielded her, a gesture of protection.

Not far away, sandmen began crawling out of the desert—one, two, three… a squad, a row, until thirty or fifty had appeared.

From every direction, sandmen emerged. When their numbers reached the system threshold, a blue light swept across the sky, scanning them all. The eyeless sandmen’s sockets flashed red, and they charged toward Ye Bai and his team.

On Ye Bai’s wrist, the detector showed a dense cluster of red dots rapidly approaching, but none glanced at their miniature maps. Instead, they prepared for battle with practiced order.

They had faced such situations daily for nearly two weeks. At first, they couldn’t withstand even the initial assault and were quickly eliminated.

Though Yao Ling possessed healing wood powers, the sheer number of monsters overwhelmed them. Here, there were no heroic codes—only monsters, system-controlled, swarming by the dozens and hundreds.

Ye Bai remembered the first encounter: Fire General burned his arm to ashes. Yao Ling tried to heal him, but before she could regenerate his limb, Cao Xiaoseng’s lower body was blasted apart by a single punch.

Yao Ling could only treat Cao Xiaoseng, staunching his blood, while Ye Bai’s shoulder now bore an arm the size of a child’s. In a crisis, it was all they could do. Ye Bai drew Fire General’s attention, while Yao Ling healed Cao Xiaoseng.

However, barely had she stopped the bleeding when her stored wood power was exhausted. After all, she was only a beginner, with little elemental energy.

In a flash, two fighters lost combat strength. Ye Bai alone couldn’t withstand Fire General’s assault, and all three were eliminated before the first wave was over.