Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
“What is that?” Mu Fan obviously knew nothing about the PO Battle Network.
“PO Battle Network, the most hot-blooded and fun place! How could you not know? Are you from the countryside?” When Chubby Harry saw Mu Fan nod, he gave up and tried to explain patiently, “You know the PO Intergalactic Corporation, right? You don’t? Nevermind then. Anyways, it’s a virtual network. Aside from chatting, you can also battle within the network from character combat to mech combat; it’s a versatile battle network!”
“Network?” Mu Fan tilted his head when he heard this word and asked, “Does it have something to do with the optical computer?”
“Yes. You didn’t know? I thought you wanted an optical computer so that you could access the PO Battle Network. With an optical computer, you could access the PO Battle Network and perform basic functions and low-level combat. I don’t suggest you do high-level combat since it’s not the same as a virtual reality cabinet where you have your body and neurons connected. The optical computer access gives everyone the same character, and it is the lowest-leveled one. Your reaction speed and consciousness would be different from those with virtual reality cabinet access. You’ll get beaten badly by them in combat.” Harry became excited just from talking about the PO Battle Network, and he sat on the combat platform as he lectured Mu Fan, a pure rookie.
It is rare to have someone this humble and earnest seek knowledge from Brother Chubby! This feeling… is great!
“I need an optical computer, but I don’t know anything about this PO Battle Network that you’re talking about,” Mu Fan answered earnestly.
“It’s okay; I can bring you in and you’ll know then!”
“Sorry, I need to earn money, and I don’t have extra time to play.”
“Earn money?!” Chubby Harry was stunned for a bit as he never needed to worry about money; this phrase was distant from him. “Earn money! Yes, you can earn money! You can go and battle someone else. It doesn’t matter if it’s character combat or mech combat; there will always be many people watching. Even though we are connected to the UGF’s Subdivision Four Battle Network, which can’t be compared to the other three subdivisions, there are still more people there than you could ever imagine. If you have a nice fight, you could then sell your video, and you’ll be able to earn tens of thousands of star coins daily even if every spectator contributes only half a star coin! Besides, the combat videos of pros have even more people watching!!! Well… I’m also able to earn money this way if I just work a bit harder on improving.”
“Tens of thousands of star coins daily… Tens of thousands daily…” Mu Fan didn’t hear anything else other than how much he could earn per day from this. This phrase continued to echo in his mind.
“Hey, hey, hey, wake up! I’ll show you what it is first. There’s no virtual reality cabinet nor helmet optical computer here, but we can watch it on my skycom. These are all pros I tell you! Don’t blink!” Chubby Harry’s mind was completely focused on the PO Battle Network now as he dragged Mu Fan towards the door where his skycom was. He was itching for it, and he was in no mood to train.
…
The two sat on the floor with their backs against the change room closet, and their heads squeezed together in the same direction.
“Skycom?” It was Mu Fan’s first time seeing some high-level technology like this. The skycom was the size of someone’s palm, and there were a few shining buttons on top of its silver body. The middle part was a 3D projection device.
Chubby Harry turned on the skycom, and a 12” square screen projected out from the middle part. Then, he moved his finger and pointed smoothly within the air on the screen as he entered the PO Battle Network forum. The intergalactic delay wasn’t a big problem for players in the forum, so everyone could watch combat videos of pro-players in different divisions and zones.
Chubby Harry pressed open the Lotus Landing video in Fantasy Mode from before for Mu Fan to watch as he thought that the fancy and dashing technique that only existed in imaginations would definitely stun this bumpkin.
It was no surprise that when he turned his head, he saw Mu Fan staring straight at the mech in the video with the same hungry expression as that of a starving man who saw meat.
Every man had a dream of piloting these metallic monsters in space and fighting restlessly in the mechs on the battlefield. Mu Fan didn’t even blink as he watched the video, and the eye-dazzling movements made him admire the player from the bottom of his heart! No wonder these are pros; only they can control and use mechs in such an astonishing fashion! Poor Mu Fan didn’t know that Chubby Harry was only showing him the moves in Fantasy Mode, which couldn’t be replicated in reality.
“What do you think? Isn’t this cool?!” Chubby Harry bragged as if the red-white mech in the video was him. After having seen Mu Fan nod, he closed this video as he wanted to show Mu Fan another one.
Mu Fan narrowed his brows when Harry closed the video as he wanted to watch that Fantasy Mode technique once more.
“Check this out. That mech is a bit far away for you, and this is going to be more familiar. Let’s watch the match between the pros here.” Chubby Harry’s face was flushed with excitement. Even though he played in the Fantasy Mode, his favorite things to watch were still the fist-to-fist combat in Reality Mode as it was a field that he could only dream about.
Chubby Harry clicked open the Reality Mode combat section and said to Mu Fan without even turning his head, “Basically, the mech pros will have some level of combat skills. It would be impossible to control a mech without any combat skills. However, there are also those who have amazing combat skills but are horrible with their mech maneuvering skills; their movements are still great to learn from. Check out this one; a new video by this UGF pro called Dark Right Foot is out.”
“I heard that this Dark Right Foot is a skilled combat fighter in the military. He is at Diamond 5-star in the combat zone, and he doesn’t really go to the mech zone, so he’s probably in the Marine Corps. He’s known for his difficult but fancy movements, and this time, he’s facing a Diamond 3-star challenger!” Chubby Harry explained as he clicked open the video excitedly and murmured, “It costs 20 star coins. Alright, I will buy it and show you a new world.”
Mu Fan didn’t feel anything from Harry’s explanation, but he felt heartache when he heard that it would cost 20 star coins to watch this video.
The video was filmed in a closed-off Budokan from the third-person perspective with a Bird’s Eye view. The man on the left in a white budo suit and wearing a dark shadow mask was tagged by the system as Dark Right Foot. He had a fine figure and stood there without any excess movement like a cold human weapon. A complicated dark pattern was on his right leg from below the knee as if it was to match his name so that others would know who he was without looking at his name.
The man standing on the right had his two fists wrapped in cloth bandages as he stood firmly on the ground. Although his face was slightly blurred, it wasn’t hard to tell that he was staring at Dark Right Foot and didn’t dare to do anything extra.
As the countdown hit zero, the challenger moved first and threw his right fist towards Dark Right Foot’s throat. Although it seemed slow, it was a fast straight punch. Chubby Harry didn’t even get to scream at the beautiful afterimages when the Battle Network System showed the slow-motion of him suddenly turning the direction of his fist towards Dark Right Foot’s collarbone instead! The challenger was truly skilled at fist techniques, proving that he was a Diamond-level fighter as normal people couldn’t even see the sudden change in direction of his fist.
Mu Fan’s eyes narrowed as he watched Dark Right Foot shift his body, causing his challenger’s fist to brush against his left arm instead. All of a sudden, Dark Right Foot moved fiercely as he used his left leg as a pivoting point and crunched his right knee up against the challenger’s sneaky left fist. Then, as the challenger moved back in defense, Dark Right Foot quickly approached and lowered his body to retract his fist. Then, his left elbow pressed downward to block another fist from the challenger.
The two fighters had already exchanged attacks a dozen times within a few seconds, and the System determined that the HP bar for both fighters had decreased close to half. One would lose when their HP bar became completely empty.
After another fast exchange, Dark Right Foot leaped one step backward and stood still before lifting up his right leg.
“He’s going to cast the Ultimate!!! He’s gonna make a big move!!! Look, look, look! What is it going to be this time?” Chubby Harry’s eyes widened as he punched his fist against his palm.
Mu Fan was still expressionless as he squinted and stared at the video.
The challenger clearly noticed something unusual as he glanced at the right leg that was lifted, and the dark patterns at the bottom of the pants seemed like they were flowing. When the challenger turned his gaze back slightly, the lifted right leg moved at a speed that didn’t give the challenger any chance to react, kicking away the challenger’s left fist in mid-air. Then, the left leg locked onto the challenger’s right fist as he retracted his right leg and twisted his body. Chubby Harry felt as if he had heard his own muscles and joints cracking as he watched that move.
Like a bolt of black lightning in daylight, Dark Right Foot leaped into the air with his right leg as the driving force, and he retracted his left leg as his right leg swung, leaving a huge semi-circular black afterimage.
Bam! A loud thud sounded as the black lightning bolt stopped at the challenger’s head, and the challenger was still in his motion of retracting his fist when his HP bar instantly decreased to zero!
“Ah!!! That was thrilling!!! Was that even a human move!!! Did you see that!!! Semi-Lunar Residual-Wind!!! Semi-Lunar Residual-Wind!!!” Chubby Harry was screaming out of amazement, and his eyes were still staring at the skycom as he shook Mu Fan back and forth in excitement.
However, Harry quickly soon noticed something weird. Mu Fan didn’t scream or praise as Harry expected; he didn’t even make any sound.
Was he stunned? Chubby Harry thought as he turned his head towards Mu Fan.
Mu Fan was also staring back at Harry, and his facial expression was dull as when they first met. If felt like Mu Fan was asking him what was going on.
“Did you watch the video?” Chubby Harry felt slightly mad as he thought that Mu Fan didn’t watch the video.
“I did,” Mu Fan answered concisely.
“Then, how are you feeling? How come there’s no reaction?!” Chubby Harry’s brows narrowed tightly together.
With a trace of curiosity in his eyes, Mu Fan looked at Chubby Harry and then at the paused image at the end of the video.
His lips moved a little. “This move… I could probably do it too.”