Chapter 563

What's directly visible is the improvement of sword techniques, shield techniques, and the like.

What's invisible is the improvement of combat awareness and combat experience.

After all, there's no danger, so many combat ideas can be tried out here.

For example, if an ordinary person fights a tiger with a dagger, could they slide-tackle under the tiger's belly, slice the tiger's belly open with the dagger, and thereby defeat the tiger?

Even if they fail and get eaten by the tiger, it's virtual.

Although the fees here aren't cheap, life is even more expensive.

Spending some money to try out all kinds of real-world combat ideas is worth it.

Entering the venue.

In the middle is a great hall, and this hall alone is already about the same as the trading exchange.

He didn't know where the virtual combat would take place.

There were quite a few people in the hall now, all of them registering for combat.

It wasn't 12 o'clock yet, so they still had to wait a while.

Seeing Zhao Chi's curiosity, Zhao Huai pointed inside and said, "Is this your first time? Come on, I'll show you around."

Zhao Chi was of course willing: "Alright, thanks, Eleventh Brother."

Lu Hong was also looking around: "This is my first time here too, I'm coming with you to broaden my horizons."

Zhao Jiao said, "In the future you'll probably come here often, let's go, it's even bigger inside."

Passing through a corridor.

The view before them suddenly opened up.

Zhao Chi stared ahead in shock.

The path beneath their feet seemed to have become a tall city wall.

They were now standing on the city wall, able to look down on everything below.

Below was a massive battlefield, its area impossible to gauge.

Intuitively, this battlefield could absolutely be said to stretch beyond the horizon.

It contained all kinds of terrain.

Flatlands, forests, mountains, snowy fields, swamps, shallows, rivers, lakes… all of them.

And each one covered no small area.

Rationally speaking, this battlefield was extremely vast.

But strangely, wherever Zhao Chi wanted to see, he seemed to be able to see.

If he wanted to see behind a tree, his line of sight could see behind the tree.

If he wanted to see the bottom of the water, likewise, he could see the mud and sand and aquatic plants below.

And this was absolutely far, far larger than what he'd seen outside.

So this was the virtual battlefield?

Looking at Zhao Chi's expression, Zhao Huai laughed and said, "How about it, shocking, right? I was just like you the first time I came."

Lu Hong said in astonishment, "Brother Huai, is this the virtual battlefield?"

Zhao Huai nodded, "Of course, otherwise a place this big could cover the entire Hegu Town."

Zhao Chi asked in confusion, "When did we come in? I don't remember us being teleported."

Zhao Jiao pointed at the corridor behind them.

"This corridor is it. Passing through this corridor automatically teleports you."

Zhao Chi looked around.

There wasn't a single person here.

"Twelfth Sister, are all battlefields this big? Single-person battlefields should be smaller, right?"

Zhao Jiao nodded, "We haven't registered yet, so this counts as the show floor. You can only configure specifics after registering. Single-person battlefields are of course smaller—the fewer scenes and the smaller the area, the cheaper it is."

Everyone watched for a while.

Zhao Huai said, "Time's up, let's go, we'll head out and register."

Zhao Chi and Lu Hong both kept looking back every few steps.

Wanting to see when this virtual battlefield would disappear.

When they were halfway through the corridor, the battlefield behind them was already very blurry, and after a few more steps, they couldn't see it clearly at all.

The sound of bustling noise reached their ears.

Zhao Chi knew this meant they had left the virtual space.

They didn't go to the great hall they'd just been in, but walked to a separate hall beside it.

There were still a lot of people here, familiar faces were all here—they were all participants in the rookie competition.

Zhao Huai said, "Zhao Jiao and I will go up front to register. In a bit you'll receive a message, and then you can configure your combat team."

Zhao Chi: "Huh? What?"

Zhao Huai: "What 'what'?"

Zhao Chi: "Isn't it me and Lu Hong competing? Why are you the ones registering? And what does configuring a combat team mean?"

Zhao Huai and Zhao Jiao exchanged a glance.

Zhao Huai said, "Didn't you tell him?"

Zhao Jiao said, "Weren't you the one who was going to?"

Zhao Huai slapped his forehead: "Let me put it simply.

"Our competition is held to encourage the younger generation, the newcomers.

GLOSSARY:

【Zhao Chi, Zhao Huai, Zhao Jiao, Lu Hong, Zaidengyi Society, shield technique】

"Let the strong gain confidence, and they can also get rewards to help them.

"Let the weak broaden their horizons, learn how big the world is, and get a chance to compete against the strong.

"Since our competition is a contest among the five villages, it's an internal competition, and outsiders aren't allowed to participate.

"After all, it's a prize, and the prizes are all put up by our five villages themselves, so we can't let outsiders get them cheap.

"So every participant needs a guarantor.

"The guarantor must be a lord, and must be one of our five villages.

"That's why the two of us came over; otherwise wouldn't it be fine if you came by yourselves?"

I see.

Zhao Chi nodded: "Got it. Then what about the team configuration?"

Zhao Huai sighed: "Simply put, it's deciding who goes on the field. You'll be able to set it up once registration is done."

Zhao Chi asked again: "Set who goes on the field? Doesn't everyone in the territory go?"

Zhao Huai said: "No, there's a limit on the number of people who can go on the field. If the rules haven't been changed, it should be a maximum of troops equal to ten days' worth of refugees."

"There's even a limit like that?"

"Mm, yes. After all, the ones taking part in the war are soldiers; battles between soldiers are the exciting part. Villagers brawling with each other is long and boring, so it's been cut out."

"Exciting? Boring? Cut out? Are there other people watching too?"

"Of course. Our villages will all send people to watch, instructors from the academy will come, nobles from our villages will come too, and the military will also send people to watch."

"Huh??"

"What's so surprising? Besides you newcomers participating, this competition is also an important social occasion for the various families. Of course they'll come."

Why are there so many spectators?

Zhao Chi was not merely surprised—he was somewhat reluctant to participate.

Competing in front of so many people, wouldn't his privacy be completely exposed?

"Eleventh Brother, can I withdraw from the competition?"

"Huh? Why?"

"After all, with so many people watching, there's no privacy at all."

"Huh? Hahaha, what privacy do you have? Don't worry, no one's going to target you."

Zhao Chi shook his head: "No, I want to withdraw."

Zhao Jiao said: "A few days ago you might have been able to, but now I'm afraid it's too late. Zhao Quan specifically named you to watch his competition. After all, our family is a vassal of his, and right now you're the only one participating."

Damn!

Although the Lu Hong family is a vassal attached to the Zhao family and counts as part of the Zhao family, he doesn't have the qualifications to represent the Zhao family.

But Zhao Chi can.