After finishing everything, Xu Xiaoyou was completely exhausted. She half-knelt on the ground, gasping for air. Every pore of her body screamed with weakness, and the intense soreness made it impossible for her to even maintain a basic standing posture.
Anya hurried forward to support her, her small face filled with concern.
"I'm fine," Xu Xiaoyou said with difficulty.
Danger lurked everywhere in this city. A succession of crises had left her mentally drained, especially encountering the kind of lunatics who disregarded their own lives and had unfathomable motives.
If not for the results of last night's Sword Arts Training, she likely would have met her end here.
"That was troublesome..."
She had used three bullets in the fight against the cat-girl; now only two handgun rounds remained in the magazine.
She had to be more cautious from here on out. She would avoid firing the gun whenever possible.
【Your comprehension of 'condense' has deepened.】
【Skill Scatter and Bolt! mastery 1/3.】
【Skill Back Alley Thrust mastery 1/3.】
【Skill Bleeding Frenzy mastery 1/3.】
【Skill Fireball Bombardment mastery 2/3.】
She looked at the string of prompts before her, lost in thought.
It was just as she had suspected: as long as she used the same skill card multiple times, she could fully master that skill.
Through the battle just now, she had confirmed that skill cards were not only obtainable by spending card maker points to condense them. Under certain circumstances, they could also be condensed through "comprehension."
Just as the previous Sword Arts Training had granted her knowledge regarding swordsmanship, she had even condensed a new skill card, Scatter and Bolt!, through comprehension during the heat of combat.
She had a vague premonition that she could derive even more skill cards by identifying the subtle connections between several basic ones—much like how she had derived part of the logic for Scatter and Bolt! from the concepts in Back Alley Thrust during the fight.
To other classes, these skill cards were like combat techniques.
Others had to go through extensive practical training and summarize their experiences to unleash their power. She was different; she could use a skill card to bypass the need for practice and forcibly activate it. While the skill card was active, she possessed absolute mastery over the technical details, though she would quickly forget them once the effect ended.
This was the unique specialty of her card maker class.
Combat techniques among common melee classes often shared similarities. For instance, a brute force warrior could activate an attack that shattered boulders—called Rock Crusher—through condensing strength and specific exertion techniques. A swordsman with enough strength could replicate the move as long as they understood the general principle.
Only the magic classes were different. The single point of elemental resonance acted like a thick barrier, cutting off any possibility of commonality.
If she mastered Fireball Bombardment, it meant she was capable of elemental resonance.
Did that mean she was no longer an insulator to the elements? Could she trigger other magical skills?
Or was she limited to only activating Fireball Bombardment?
Xu Xiaoyou shook her head, temporarily setting aside her chaotic thoughts.
There were more important things waiting for her to complete right now.
Looking at the mess around her, Xu Xiaoyou left the area before the people from the guard bureau could arrive.
..........
Sector 13.
Pink Lady Bar.
From the moment she stepped inside, explosive music bombarded her ears. In the dim environment, dazzling, colorful lights continuously stimulated the patrons' vision.
Separated by only a few walls, this place felt like a different world compared to the city outside.
The bar was a melting pot of all sorts. People were in a state of extreme excitement, completely forgetting their miserable lives as they wantonly twisted their limbs on the dance floor. At a glance, it looked like a pool of undulating white flesh.
In front of a massive cyber-screen on the stage, a man dressed in a bunny girl outfit danced with an enchanting gait, occasionally winking at the audience below. His clothes were so tight that from the side, his silhouette looked like a distorted, twisting curve. His spicy movements triggered loud cheers from the crowd every time, with fistfuls of cash being tossed onto the stage.
The scene was far too painful to look at. Xu Xiaoyou silently covered Anya's eyes, fearing the child’s psyche would be scarred.
In the corners of the bar, several pods emitted a faint blue glow. They looked like large coffins with glass lids. Several figures lay submerged in fluid within them, eyes closed, faces wearing expressions of pure bliss as if immersed in a beautiful dream.
"Neuromancers?"
These were early virtual consciousness transmission devices, products from the dawn of the Metaverse concept developed by the Into the Night Dreams company. By using consciousness transmission technology, users could immerse themselves in a virtual world. Initially, they were intended to house the bottom-dwellers of the hive city, allowing them to numb themselves in virtuality as an escape from reality.
After the Oasis project was proposed, the neuromancer underwent generations of improvement. Eventually, it became the officially designated consciousness transmission equipment, renamed the dream-wanderer, and its size evolved from a coffin-like pod into a portable headset.
The Into the Night Dreams company, which had proposed the plan, became one of the dominant powers behind Oasis.
Ironically, because the manufacturing cost of a wanderer device was exorbitant, it was destined that only a tiny fraction of people could obtain that high-priced ticket to Oasis. Not only did the lower class fail to find refuge in the virtual world, but the Metaverse instead allowed the wealthy to indulge in luxury in reality and then turn around to continue their extravagance in their dreams.
In reality, these machines were indeed glass coffins. Since they lacked the authority to log into Oasis, users could only play early Metaverse products. The technical imperfections often caused the users' brains to dissolve like scattered tofu inside the machines. This was allegedly related to the violent sleepwalking fish within the system. To suppress these scandals, Into the Night Dreams had invested countless funds to control the media and news.
The insignificant lives of a few poor wretches were destined to cause no ripples. Over time, even if someone occasionally remembered, they didn't care much.
In fact, for those hopeless losers, the act of escaping reality was reason enough to convince themselves. What did the risk of their brains melting matter? To them, entering the dream was more attractive than death. A painless death and a permanent escape from reality was practically like hitting the jackpot.
These devices had been out of production for many years, and it was rare to find even one on the black market. She hadn't expected to see so many lined up in this bar; Mr. Hao certainly had some connections.
Finally, she reached a relatively quiet spot in the bar and sat at the counter.
A tranquil violin piece set the mood. Golden luminescence glowed on the bar counter, reflecting the figure of the bartender mixing drinks.
A dancer with a hot figure, wearing black lace garter stockings, walked over and naturally sat on Xu Xiaoyou's lap. Her daringly open outfit revealed a vast expanse of snow-white skin and deep cleavage. Her eyes were bedroom-soft, and a pink mist swirled between her lips.
"Want to go for a round? I promise, I'll send you to heaven. Of course... for someone with a face that satisfies me as much as yours, I might consider doing it for free~"
As she spoke, the dancer’s thigh, encased in black silk, rubbed against Xu Xiaoyou's body. Her slender arm slid over Xu Xiaoyou's shoulder, her eyes full of affection. "A girl is fine, too."
"Get lost," Xu Xiaoyou said coldly.
"Fine, fine... so mean. You really don't know how to have fun."
The dancer, finding no interest, stood up and left.
Before she walked away, Xu Xiaoyou clearly heard her muttering.
"Tiny chest, but a massive temper."
Rate on N.U.
