Chapter 40: Simulated Battle

In the challenge room, the pure white surroundings had no visible light source or end, as if entering some strange space.

This is certainly not because Chén Chén mastered some high-level spatial ability, but rather imitating the virtual technology left by an alien civilization to create this training ground.

After the challenger enters the room, they synchronize to the mental world, using Chén Chén's Earth consciousness and the human relationship as a link, the two mutually offset to achieve the training ground's effect.

Unlike the alien civilization's virtual technology that lacks a virtual universe as reliance, Chén Chén's imitation training ground allows martial artists to unleash their full strength, and can also be adjusted to a balanced mode, letting martial artists fight using fixed physical values.

Although still far weaker than the functions in the virtual universe, and only usable by Earth life, as Chén Chén's strength grows, together with the Heartnet it also holds great development potential.

Challenge Room 43, challenger is Jiāng Jiāng, weapons and equipment ready.

This challenge is an entry-level examination; currently the challenger's tower floor is 0, difficulty is basic; please click the confirmation option in front of you once you are ready.

The electronic voice said, and a pale blue confirmation option appeared in midair before Jiāng Jiāng, while a white cancel option appeared on the other side.

Jiāng Jiāng took a deep breath, placed her hand on the blue confirmation option, and lightly touched it.

Preparation confirmed, the challenge will begin shortly; the random basic terrain is forest, the challenge mode is war mode, and the challenge will start in five seconds.

Jiāng Jiāng focused all attention on the surroundings; in the pure white space, trees, rocks, bushes, vines, muddy ground, and water gradually appeared.

While the scene changed, she silently counted down five numbers in her mind.

Five.

The surrounding trees varied in height; nearby there were four tall enough trees that could be used for escape or obstruction.

Four.

Bushes and ferns over a meter tall would affect visibility, but for many larger beasts they actually suited her as hiding spots.

Three.

Muddy ground would slow movement and could conceal dangers unseen in her peripheral vision; she should stay away as much as possible.

Two.

The best opportunity lay in a massive rock over ten meters tall located more than ten meters away; although its strength couldn't be confirmed, it also served as advantageous terrain for blocking and escaping.

One.

Even in a desperate situation, she could not reveal her strength as a mentalist.

Zero.

Roar——

Almost as Jiāng Jiāng silently counted to zero in her mind, a monster's howl arrived as expected.

She selectively filtered out each successive howl, because there were too many; they did not help her effectively judge the enemy's number, only disturbing her perception.

However, from the density of the sound, all the monsters must have appeared together; such miraculous virtual technology would only surprise her later, for the monsters' attacks had already come.

Jiāng Jiāng leapt up, and the two monsters charging from both sides collided head-on.

An initial war-beast level goat, with its massive horn impact, can easily pierce reinforced steel plates, can breach walls several meters thick; even wearing E-rank combat gear, a direct hit would have its sharp horn tip pierce the body.

If it struck her vital spot, she would die directly from that blow.

Fortunately, the goat's reliance on its massive horn attack is also advantageous, because launching an attack requires full-force sprinting and ramming; although it appears fast, it is actually quite 'clumsy'.

Each attack is hard to stop or change direction, so in such small-scale combat it poses little threat, mere appetizers.

Clang——

The two goats collided; Jiāng Jiāng's push slightly altered the angle of their horns, and the horns mutually pierced each other's shoulders.

Even before the Great Nirvana, these goats would die for this reason, and the initial war general's wisdom seems insufficient for them to overcome this flaw.

Without wasting time on a finishing blow, Jiāng Jiāng used the horn as a foothold, lightly leaping onto one of the large trees locked onto before battle.

In mid-leap, she happened to meet two initial war-general level black crows head-on; as their paths crossed, her short sword cleanly sliced from the necks to the hindquarters of both black crows.

Jiāng Jiāng planted her feet on the treetop trunk; behind her, the two black crows exploded in midair into red blood mist, two black shapes tumbling down from the crimson.

Standing slightly higher on the treetop, her view could more clearly see the surroundings; in the distance, an uncountable number of monsters kept surging forward, and at the edge of vision, monsters seemed still to be replenishing.

This should be similar to a points-based assessment in practical combat exams, where the score is determined by the number of kills.

However, the difference is that this time she must face hundreds or thousands of monsters alone, and each is at least initial war-general level.

Such an examination intensity truly lives up to being a test against geniuses from around the world.

Trying to score points in this situation would surely be risky, but to defeat the geniuses from around the world, taking no risk is impossible; she only needs to ensure she does not suffer serious injury.

Serious injury would still be too dangerous, after all having to entrust one's life to medical technology; the feeling of having one's life in another's hands merely thinking about it makes Jiāng Jiāng's heart race.

Getting back to the present battle.

Jiāng Jiāng is not lacking means to deal with group combat; perhaps it should be said that the Bloodstrike technique she cultivates is itself a method excelling in group combat among short weapons.

The so-called one-against-a-thousand is not simply a thousandfold difference; monsters cannot all attack her at once, and given the size difference between monsters and Jiāng Jiāng, the number of enemies she must face simultaneously will not exceed thirteen.

To face a group as one, she needs sufficient adaptability to neutralize attackers more than ten times her number, sufficient stamina to withstand relentless assaults, and finally strong killing power to confirm enemy attrition.

The Bloodstrike combat method, although using short weapons, is meant to be one against a hundred, one man holding the pass.

Using agility to dodge, using strong killing power to attack, and using enemy corpses as defense.

To drink the enemy's blood, to cut the enemy's life—this is Bloodstrike.

The weapon in Jiāng Jiāng's hand is not the dagger-sword sent by Chén Chén; perhaps Chén Chén's extraordinary encounter truly is remarkable, since using those two swords, any other weapon she tries feels like trash, even the two daggers theoretically worth hundreds of billions in her hands are the same.

But she just made do with using them.

(Chén Chén: I poured my heart into crafting it; my chest still hurts now—it can be said to be the best weapon in the village now, if it's not usable then blame me.)

When selecting the Bloodstrike secret manual, she was drawn to it being a complete offensive and defensive dagger-type manual; from the very start of choosing, Jiāng Jiāng had looked forward to such a situation.

But now it's an examination; wanting to pass the examination, wanting to steadily defeat the world's geniuses, is probably not that simple.

If she were to engage in a Bloodstrike death match on the spot, she could indeed achieve the highest kill efficiency, but that might not yield the highest points.

Her kill rate is high, but if used solely against initial war beasts, compared to Chén Chén's long weapons the efficiency would fall into a great disadvantage, making it hard for her to stand out in this examination.

This is also why her initial strategy was to avoid combat and retreat to that large tree.

The initial howl came from the seven o'clock direction; following that direction leads to the boss of this examination.

Bang—

The thought that had landed on the tree only lasted a moment before the great tree was crushed, roots and dry ground, into pieces.

In the tremendous noise and dust, Jiāng Jiāng had already distanced herself more than ten meters away; when the dust cleared a little, blood flowed everywhere, and lying on the ground were the corpses of two monsters.

The monsters behind had no time to react; Jiāng Jiāng, borrowing the force of the opposing charge, wielded what appeared to be a mere forty‑centimeter weapon and, with a simple graze, cleanly slew one beast commander after another.

Among the monster horde there were at least dozens of species, each with its own specific weakness, but Jiāng Jiāng had long memorized every weak point of these monsters, for in reality they had once been her own subordinates who died.

Only a few minutes passed, and the spraying blood, bursting blood mist, and flying corpses gradually traced a blood‑stained path on the ground, which pointed straight to the leader hidden among the monsters—a high‑rank beast commander, the Iron‑Clad Mad Rhinoceros King.

If this BOSS had been assigned to everyone, then I'd just be unlucky.

Because among all monster types, the iron‑clad rhinoceros kind is the one Jiāng Jiāng dislikes most; since ancient times, assassins have always feared tanks.

For this fool who doesn't boost speed or strengthen his attack but just piles on armor, Jiāng Jiāng has a hundred and three ways to toy with him; yet trying to take the head of a 'top beast' among the myriad monsters is doubly difficult.

But there is still a piece of good news.

At least it's only a high‑rank war commander; with a bit more effort it can be dealt with.

The Iron‑Clad Mad Rhinoceros King's size is several times that of the other monsters in the forest; though its armor is thick, its speed is a weakness, even slower than some extremely swift mid‑rank beast commanders.

While dodging the Iron‑Clad Mad Rhinoceros King's attacks and relying on its body and the incessant stream of monsters surging around, I may not end the fight quickly, but at least I can remain invincible.

Returning to the original question, I still can't confirm the duration of this exam, nor whether killing this mini‑boss will respawn other mini‑bosses; if it does, and if others quickly dispatch the mini‑boss and cause a second to spawn, then choosing to entangle myself in combat would likely make me lose a lot of points.

Since the initial hints didn't include this part, it shows that the choice of how to kill and the tactics are also part of the exam.

If it's merely an ordinary high‑rank beast commander, then let's just kill it quickly.

……

In Challenge Chamber 45, a huge body collapsed, nearly split in half from shoulder to flank; Luofeng stumbled to the ground, already beginning to pant heavily.

If he used the power of a Spiritual Nian Master, low‑rank beast commander Luofeng could almost instant‑kill it, and slaying this high‑rank beast commander wouldn't require such great effort.

The matter of the trillion‑dollar bounty has passed over two months, but Li Wei and his wife Weinina Bolenas, who bear a grudge against me, have not yet been caught.

The couple organized an assassination because of Li Wei's matter; as the HR Alliance lost influence domestically, they too were placed on a wanted list. Having caused such a commotion and done something so crazy, Luofeng cannot help but guard against them.

Better safe than sorry, so for this exam Luofeng has no intention of using the power of a Spiritual Nian Master.

I also don't know whether defeating this guy will be enough to pass the exam.

To deal with the leader of this high‑rank war commander, Luofeng has expended considerable effort; if it were one‑on‑one, with my current strength I could easily handle ten or eight high‑rank beast commanders.

But there are still so many low‑rank war beast commanders harassing the surroundings; if it weren't for spiritual power also providing some support in perception, taking care of just this one could put Luofeng in danger.

However, Luofeng hadn't even had time to rejoice when two more high‑rank beast commanders refreshed right beside him.

「Grass (a kind of plant). 」

High-level beast commander rank's fat-eyed monster, high-level war commander rank's hunter, encountering them alone isn't too bad, but having both together is quite a headache.

But that's fine; if I happen to encounter them nearby, defeating these two should be enough to pass the assessment, right?

Originally, Luofeng was doing fairly well in his small life in South of the River, and upon reaching the 003 good city he was still thriving, even having killed Li Wei and several intermediate and high-ranking war commanders along the way, and after adding a couple of months of improvement, Luofeng still had confidence in his strength.

But he couldn't tolerate having ghostly beings nearby.

The small South of the River City produced just the three of them: Chén Chén, Jiāng Jiāng, and himself. Over these two months of getting along, Luofeng, without using mental power, is completely no match for Chén Chén, and even against Jiāng Jiāng, who is a year younger than him, he may not be able to secure a sure victory.

With over a hundred billion people in this world, the result can be easily deduced by probability.

Especially after becoming familiar with Jiāng Jiāng, Luofeng discovered that although Jiāng Jiāng is somewhat young in age, many of her words are indeed thought-provoking.

Luofeng must not underestimate the talents from all over the world; a slight carelessness could also get him eliminated.

Besides using mental power, he must exert all his strength.

————

Room 46.

「Hmm, Jiāng Jiāng actually dared to perform like this today; not bad, not bad. 」

「Luofeng's strength is a bit stronger than imagined, but it's still within control. 」

「Before obtaining the Devouring Beast's body, Luofeng's physical improvement speed remained at the level of an ordinary Earth genius. Mainly because his mental power is too strong; the two mutually promote each other, carrying his Apprentice Stage physique upward all the way, making him far surpass others. 」

As for the others.

In Room 38, Mo Fan, who came up later, has also defeated a high-level beast commander; it's a moderate surprise, and should be considered a promising seedling.

In Room 7, after Chén Chén became the Earth's Spirit, aside from Jiāng Jiāng, he was the only child who made Chén Chén feel surprised and unexpected.

Ji Heng held a long spear; the spear-sword just lifted the head of a high-level beast commander, and this is already the fourth.

Perhaps I should pay a bit more attention to this child.

As for why Chén Chén has the leisure to watch others fight here, because as the Challenge Tower's "programmer" and "server", Chén Chén chose to skip the level directly.

It's not cheating; it's just that this trial is too easy for Chén Chén, but he spends time observing the martial arts growth of this batch of newcomers.

The way of observing people, to save oneself, will be better than bullying newcomers.

Let Chén Chén gain more.