Chapter 181
First Max strapped his super phone to the VR set, adjusting the connection settings. Before diving in, he issued a command to his AI.
"Lock down my data. Make sure nothing gets stolen."
[Understood.]
With that settled, he lay back into the VR capsule and activated the system.
"Lucy keep watch for me, if anything happens wake me up immediately."
With those words The world around him went dark for a moment before light flared, and the login screen appeared.
The system was barren—only one game existed on the entire platform.
[Arena Online]
Max raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"
He selected the game, and immediately, his surroundings changed. It wasn't just a game—it was a fully immersive world, one that felt disturbingly real. The air, the gravity, even the faintest sensations on his skin—everything was meticulously crafted.
A character creation screen popped up. He set his avatar to have white bat wings and altered his appearance.
"AI, hide my real looks," he ordered.
[Affirmative. Your identity will remain concealed.]
His phone AI seamlessly integrated into the game, remaining invisible but able to communicate with him.
[Warning: Four separate parties attempted to download your data. All were misled by false information.]
Max froze. " I knew it! those bastards! But four?"
His mind worked quickly. Three made sense :
The Star Continent's government
The Mage Tower
The Elders' Association
They are the leaders of the three continents, But who was the fourth?
He frowned but decided to put it aside for now. There was no point speculating without more information.
"Whatever. Let's just get started."
Max turned his focus to finding a way to train, there was an NPC in front of him laying on the ground unconscious with a marker next to it, but Max simply ignored it.
Looking around he didn't know where to go, he was in the middle of nowhere.
" AI show me the way, I need some opponents."
[Recommendation: Only engage in PvP. The AI can protect your data in that setting. In PvE, security is significantly more difficult.]
Max wasn't entirely sure why, but he trusted the AI's judgment.
"Fine. PvP it is. But where Do I go."
[Please head north, inside the city you can enter Pvp mode.]
Max took to the sky without wasting time, his stats was exactly like his real body so his speed was no joke.
"I've heard about something of sort, that superhumans has the advantage of starting with their powers and going further, unlike normal people who starts from scratch.....hmm, but I smell another conspiracy....."
Max shook his head and focused on flying instead, to him it didn't matter who was plotting who, and who was the chess player and who was the chess piece, he'd just play outside of the chessboard.
Max hovered above the city, scanning its streets while his mind drifted elsewhere. The VR world was astonishingly realistic, but he still needed to adapt. Before anything else, he needed a weapon.
"AI, can you make me a hammer like the one I have in the real world?" said Max as he wrote the hammer stats and info, on a paper he stole from an NPC.
the NPC was actually smart enough to ignore the matter upon looking at Max's intimidating appearance, and even gave him a feather pen.
[Direct creation would expose anomalies in the system. Instead, I recommend an alternative method.]
Max narrowed his eyes. "What method?"
[Kill a monster. The system will generate a weapon as loot.]
Max sighed but didn't argue. He turned toward the nearest wilderness zone and dove straight in. It didn't take long before he spotted a lone rabbit hopping around in a grassy clearing.
"…This better work."
Without hesitation, he shot down like a missile and slammed his fist into the rabbit's head.
BOOM!
The ground cracked as the creature splattered into the dirt. A few seconds later, golden particles shimmered above the corpse, forming into a weapon—
A blood-red hammer.
Max picked it up, feeling its weight. It wasn't an exact replica of his real weapon, but close enough. He gave it a few test swings before nodding in satisfaction. "Alright. That's handled."
Back in the city, Max had the AI lower all his stats to D-rank. He wanted to test himself in a real close range fight without any advantages.
"AI, find me a close range opponent, can you do that?"
[ Positive.. But first enter the PVP building, at the center of the city. ]
Max went there immediately.
.....
[Matching in progress…]
[Opponent found: D-rank Martial Artist.]
"Perfect."
The insides of the normal medieval building suddenly changed as The arena materialized around him, a simple stone battlefield. His opponent was a bald, muscular man dressed in loose martial artist robes, his fists wrapped in white cloth.
Max smirked, tightening his grip on his hammer. "Let's see how I do in close combat." he had no intention of using any of his skills, and wanted to keep it a physical fight to practice.
The countdown began.
3… 2...
Before the countdown was over Max had the AI check the opponents stats, and they were quite similar to his, other than agility which Max had the slight advantage in.
… 1… Fight!
Max rushed in, expecting to leverage his slightly superior speed. But the moment he swung his hammer—
BAM!
A fist crashed into his ribs.
Max barely registered the pain before another blow followed—then another, then another. He couldn't even react. His hammer didn't matter when his opponent weaved through his attacks effortlessly.
The martial artist danced around Max who was fighting like a headless chicken.
A final palm strike smashed into his chest.
CRACK!
Max's body exploded into pixels.
......
Respawning back in the city, Max stood in stunned silence.
"…What the hell was that?"
He had been slightly faster than his opponent, but he still got destroyed.
At close range all he had been fighting until now was those beastholders, just brutal strength and aggression.
"Compare to this martial artist, those beastholders should be ashamed for claiming to be close range Fighters."
Max touched his body in discomfort looking for a any injury, the battle was very quick but brutal and Max felt every second of it.
"Lesson learned. It's better to avoid fighting in close range in the real world, at least until I can get some experience in my pocket."
Max scratched his chin. "AI make the next opponent at the A-rank."
This time, Max restored his stats to normal and entered the matchmaking system again.'
[Opponent found: A-rank powerhouse.]
A smirk tugged at his lips. "Alright, let's see how I stack up."
As the arena formed again, Max cracked his knuckles.
"Let's keep it at telekinesis only."
Max's stats didn't even qualify him to be a B-rank but telekinesis Advanced mastery can allow him to even fight A-ranks, and he needed to see where he stands at the A-rank before Kain-city's ordeal, just in case he had to fight one.