The flash of the blue screen symbolized Yulian’s victory over his opponent. Yulian’s virtual body instantly recovered to peak state. This caused phantom aches appear on his body that was near death’s door only a moment ago.

At this moment, Yulian decided to ignore the blue screens and the phantom aches, simply lying down in a half-asleep state. For the past 5 days, he had relentlessly slaughtered through the beasts of the [Area]. He first fought every single beast and worked out combat strategies to kill them quickly and efficiently. He used the [Map] Trait to its full ability to plan ambushes and avoid being surrounded. He comprehended the profundities of his Five Way Heaven Seal and Nine Stage Thunder Blade techniques. He even reached the ‘Perfect’ level in blade and footwork technique!

But all this came at a cost!

After denying himself the peace of quiet meditation, Yulian immersed himself into slaughter. Due to the beasts being virtual, he became even more bloodthirsty and savage. Due to being virtually immortal, Yulian fought in a style uncaring of death, all to increase his slaughter count. Using the star points that racked up, Yulian upgraded to better and better equipments, all to increase the slaughter he could wreck!

After finally getting out of the slaughter-ground, Yulian realized that entering this virtual game for more than 5 hours was a bad idea. He couldn’t allow himself to become such a bloodthirsty, savage person. This was a xianxia world, this sort of personality would send him to his death!

After resolving himself to meditate for a long time after getting out of the VR game, Yulian finally glanced at the blue screens that had appeared.

[You have gained 49,99,999 star points. Amount restricted due to cap placed on star points in (Area 2: Rainforest)]

[Crimson Wolf King dropped item, ‘Gold Circle Core’]

Once again, Yulian’s amount of star points reached the peak cap. Yulian did spend a lot to buy up the best armor set, leaving him with a small balance. That said, the large amount dropped by the final wolf horde was useless now. ‘I should start spending the money before the BOSS battle begins.’

As for the Gold Circle Core, it seemed to be a completely description-less item. That said, it might be some kind of secret item that might be useful later for some reason. A BOSS didn’t drop trash items after all.

[Due to your exceptional performance in this test, you have qualified for an R-Rank Mission.]

[An R-Rank mission is a mission of the topmost rank and qualifying for such a mission is near-impossible in early-game. Difficulty will be adjusted according to participant’s cultivation and perception.]

[Creating R-Rank Mission…]

[Attention: You have not used the ‘Blade Chopping Mountains and Seas, First Blade: Wooden Crushing Blade’ technique scroll yet. This is the last chance to use scroll. If you decide not to use the scroll, Perception quest will be declared as failed.]

[Use Scroll? Y/N]

Yulian was surprised at the notice. He had indeed forgotten about the ‘Wood Crushing Blade’ technique. He had primarily concentrated on creating his own Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique. He hurriedly pressed ‘Yes’… how could he willingly give up on the chance to train in such a powerful technique?

Suddenly, countless vague but profound memories were filled into his mind.

A black cloaked blademaster was practicing with a thick heavy blade alone on a grassy plain. The thick blade slashed through, producing heavy winds with the powerful force. After that, another swing actually caused the blade to slash through the air like a light blade.

The mysterious expert swung the blade upward, causing a hurricane to slash through the blue sky, turning the world. A swing caused clouds to form, another swing called down rain and yet another swing caused the boom of thunder! With an upward swing, the grass began to grow while a downward caused grass to wither.

The earth split apart by the growth of the grass and the heavens were torn by the booming lightning. One blade controlled heaven and earth!

The power of this blade technique was engraved into Yulian’s soul. The memory of the power of that expert was also marked into Yulian’s heart!

This expert was unlike his master Dragon Sovereign who was an expert who cultivated in solitude. This man was a person who did not hesitate to mark his will by smiting the earth and rebuking the heavens!

The memory disappeared and Yulian closed his eyes as well, embracing the memories that were sent to him and trying to reach a basic level of comprehension. After he was satisfied, he opened his eyes to look at the rest of the messages…

[R-Rank Mission: Battle HIDDEN BOSS: S-Rank technique holder, ‘Taiji Lotus Sword’]

[Time Limit: 15 days]

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

[Restriction: User is not allowed to use the Dragon Gate Trials for the time limit]

[Due to mission difficulty, you are allowed to view a battle-record of opponent.]

[Begin viewing? Y/N?]

“Dragon Gate Trials? So this is the name of this VR game… Is this game really created by the HR Alliance?” Yulian never asked Catalan where he got the VR game, but it didn’t seem that this level of realism could be rendered by human technology. However, Yulian didn’t have much experience with any other VR system, so he could be completely wrong as well…

After that, his thoughts once again returned to the message that flashed in front of him.

 It must be similar to the memories that I viewed when I opened the ‘Wood Blade Manual’. Thinking this, Yulian pressed the ‘Yes’ button again.

The memories changed once again.

The world changed to show a hilly valley. There was a river cutting through the valley. The large sturdy mountainous rocks were pierced through by the winding river, turned into mud, sand and stone. The river water slowly made its way down the valley.

Around the river, many multicolored small shrubs and bushes were growing. Some herbivores like fat amber-colored deer softly grazed on the shrubs. Just then, a pack of wolves came near the grass. The large gray furred alpha gave a hungry gaze of the herd of deer. However, the deer were not attacked by the wolves! They simply had their fill of the water and left.

Like this, countless beasts came to drink water. All of them only drank their fill of water before leaving, as if their grudges and grievances were prohibited in this sacred place. This was a place where the natural law did not come to pass!

However, Yulian could not understand a single bit of the profoundness of this scene! As more and more animals came to drink their fill of water, they only drank their fill before moving on! He thought there might be a great battle of beasts where the strongest would feast over the corpses of the weak! Maybe a great black bear, perhaps a mighty liger, even a murderously fast squirrel would do!

He didn’t want to watch animals harmoniously drink water from a river. He could watch this in a ‘Jungle Book’ video!

After a few more minutes of animals happily drinking water and not murdering each other, Yulian’s annoyance rose bit by bit. However, he suppressed this desire and concentrated on the scene. This was a ‘battle record’, and the HIDDEN BOSS would appear on this screen.

All the BOSSES were fairly easy opponents for him. The first ‘HIDDEN BOSS’ was solely used for stealing skills and techniques, while the second BOSS was killed extremely quickly. These beasts were certainly stronger than the other beasts that roamed this ‘Area’… even so, they were quite underwhelming.

However, since this HIDDEN BOSS had a battle record to display, it would be a mighty beast that would leave all other BOSSES in the dust! Yulian could only repeat this in his mind as he waited for this annoying video to end.

…

Finally, the video moved to show the length of the river. It flowed on until it hit a vertical drop, becoming a waterfall! The waterfall struck down on a beautiful woman clothed in white. The woman was standing still like a statue with eyes closed, allowing the waterfall to strike her and temper her body. The falling water turned the white clothes translucent, allowing her beautiful figure to be freely exposed!

Jadelike white skin, shapely curves, thin figure, large bust! This figure caused a lustful fire to erupt within Yulian! This was a feeling that Yulian had not felt for a long time, ever since he had been transmigrated!

The woman was wearing a sheath at her hip. The hilt of the sword was 7 inches long and looked like the hilt of a katana. Suddenly, the eyes that were closed opened! The green eyes seemed to intimidate the falling water, causing it to slow down. Her slender hand drew the sword strapped on her hip with a single motion!

One draw, one swing! The might of the swing struck the waterfall! It was a fast strike, and there seemed to be no swordlight. The sword was even returned to the sheath in an instant!

Yulian was so engrossed in watching the movement of the sword that he forgot about the waterfall! And when he looked at the waterfall again… it was completely dried up!

There were only small streams of water pattering down of the beauty’s figure and the great waterfall had disappeared! The video ended and the beauty also disappeared with it. Due to his moment of inattention, Yulian could not find out how and why the waterfall had disappeared.

“It was certainly destroyed by the woman’s blow, but how?! Was it evaporated by great heat, or scattered into drops by the strength of the sword blow? Or was it turned into vapor by the control over water?”

[Battle-record has ended. Automatic log-out beginning… User is prohibited for logging in for the planetary duration of 15 days or 315 sixty-minute hours.]

The message flashed in front of Yulian for a moment, before disappearing. Yulian woke up in his room with a splitting headache.

Thinking about the various things that needed doing, Yulian lifted the VR helmet from his head and kept it aside. He had to train his Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique, battle Catalan, train in the Wood Crushing Blade and even battle the woman who could destroy a waterfall in 15 days! A more immediate problem was his headache. If it turned into a migraine, it would be even worse…

Naturally, Yulian completely forgot about the mentioned time-limit until his battle with the HIDDEN BOSS. 315 hours would be 13 days and 3 hours. It was impossible for the time to be 15 days!

…

12:29 AM.

As expected, the consequences of spending 12 hours in the VR simulation could not be easily shrugged off. Yulian had stumbled his way into the training room where he cultivated his soul in meditation every night. The headache ended up developing into a migraine and Yulian found himself unable to find his way into the training room where he meditated every night.

The migraine increased the sensitivity of his five senses and made him able to see strange auras everywhere. It felt as if he had been transmigrated again into a strange monster. The mansion turned into a haunted house with ghosts everywhere. After half an hour of stumbling around, Yulian finally found his way to the training room he had been training in.

Yulian was hungry, thirsty and exhausted. His bodily senses were out of whack and he couldn’t even take a cat in his current state. He could have called Martha and got her to help him.

But his pride wouldn’t let him do that.

He had cultivated from an ordinary human to a Fighter with supernatural powers. In the beginning, it was just to keep his sorry life, however that calamity had ended. Why did he cultivate now?

He didn’t cultivate because he coveted immortality or because of a desire to be the strongest. No, the reason why he cultivated came from the teachings of his parents and society in his past life.

He cultivated to put his talent to good use and make it his career. He would train hard and use the fruits of training to slaughter beasts and earn money. He would make good connections, marry a good wife and build a good foundation for his children to grow on.

He would live the American Dream!!!

This dream was chased by the countless Americans through the ages. While many succeeded, many failed as well. And to fulfill this great dream, he too needed to go through countless tribulations. If he couldn’t even go through a simple migraine without calling for help, what kind of person would he be?

Yulian slowly walked towards the open window with light from the moon and stars streaming down. He laid down to rest under the light. The starlight automatically entered his soul and calmed it. The headache began to recede and his migraine began to heal as well.

After some time, his mind felt clearer and the auras disappeared. His senses stopped being hyperactive and he felt calm enough to meditate.

He did not. Yulian walked to the mini-fridge that held some food and water. Taking out some bottles of water and some frozen microwavable food packets, he unpacked the food and put it inside the small microwave on top of the fridge.

After turning on the microwave, he waited for 3 minutes for the food to cook. Taking a few gulps of water, he quenched his parched throat.

When the microwave began beeping, Yulian immediately took out the cooked meat. The unseasoned meat was like heavenly manna to his tongue.

After eating his fill, Yulian was finally sated.

He finally walked to the open window with the starlight streaming in. Sitting down to meditate, he sent his consciousness inwards. It was now time to check his mental conscious realm.