Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
When the Ye family siblings got back home, they heated up the bento boxes Uncle Wang gifted them and filled their stomachs with a simple supper. After washing up, Ye Bai was ready to go to bed—
“Big brother, don’t stay up too late playing your game. Remember to have a proper rest.
“If you get hungry, there’s mixed congee in the fridge. Heat it up before you eat it. You can’t play games on an empty stomach.
“If you’re still hungry after that, you have to wake me up. I’ll get up and cook some proper food for you. Don’t make any instant noodles. Eating too much of that stuff is bad for you, and your health isn’t the best in the first place…
“Big brother, I’m going to bed first. If you need anything, just come into my room and wake me.”
After a round of affectionate nagging, Ye Bai finally shut the door to her room. In the next moment, the rustling sound of her undressing could be heard. It seemed like Ye Bai was ready to sleep. After all, she was a high school student, and she still had to go to school tomorrow.
“Little sister…”
Ye Kong looked at the door that was closed, but not locked, and a sense of guilt welled up in his heart.
In his past life, Ye Bai was excellent at her studies, and she could have passed the exam to get into Dongjiang University. However, because she tested positive for her illness, she resolved to abandon her studies, and took up two full-time jobs—All this so she could leave behind more money for Ye Kong.
If it hadn’t been for her older brother, Ye Bai wouldn’t have had to work so hard, and even give up on university life…
In the age of the Earth Federation, the education system was still divided into elementary school, junior high school, and university. However, elementary schools had returned to a five-year system, and junior high schools were now a four-year system. At the same time, the pressure on junior high school students had increased, as their high school entrance exams determined whether they got into a “high school for the workforce” or a “high school for further studies.” The former didn’t allow one to pursue further studies, while the latter did.
For this reason, high school students in the age of the Earth Federation didn’t face as much academic pressure as high school students in the past century. They attended two hours of classes in the morning, and three hours of classes in the afternoon. The remaining time was mainly for school club activities or part-time work. In this era, it was common for high school students to use time after class to do part-time work, and hasten their integration into the pace of society.
Thanks to this, Ye Bai had the time to work as a storekeeper at the Night Cat Convenience Store.
Shop owners were also more willing to hire high school students at part-time wages, as it was more economical than hiring an adult full-time. Of course, this only served to exacerbate the lack of open job positions.
“Demon Realm” was created to help solve this problem.
Ye Kong returned to his bedroom and shut his bedroom door, but he didn’t immediately put on the VR helmet. He glanced at the wall clock and saw that it was 0:36 am, past midnight, and it wasn’t yet time to log into the game.
Ye Kong had the impression that the start of the Luna Lake incident corresponded to around 3-6 a.m. in the real world. If he logged back in too early, he might be “forced to disconnect” at a critical moment, and that would be an irredeemable loss.
Hence, Ye Kong was in no hurry to dive back into virtual reality. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the floor, placed both hands on his knees, and closed his eyes, beginning some kind of strange breathing method—
Huuu… fuuuu… Huff…
Ye Kong’s chest rose and fell with the expansion of his lungs, and his breath came out hard and fast through his nostrils. He had become like a bear in hibernation, and the sound of his breathing was like a thunderous rumbling. The breathing exercise seemed to be taking a toll on his body.
Not long after, Ye Kong’s forehead was beaded with perspiration, and the sweat flowed down his face, dripping onto his shirt and pants. A white-hot air streamed out of his body, as though he were steaming.
He was using a method developed by the Ethereal Mirage Guild specifically for the game “Demon Realm.” The Breathing Technique – Ethereal Moon.
The main purpose of breathing techniques developed for Demon Realm was to strengthen the human body and energize one’s cells. Just in terms of their effects, the techniques were even more significant than the genetic enhancement programs of the previous century!
It was a constant topic of debate whether a soul resided in a human body.
However, two years after the public release of “Demon Realm,” there was strong support for one side of this argument. The Federal Government had developed a breathing technique! It was the most basic of breathing techniques!
This breathing technique, if used in combination with the “Consciousness Dive,” could improve one’s body!
The Federal Government didn’t provide any further explanation for why this worked, but players began to theorize that the phenomenon was similar to the trance-like state Taoist practitioners achieved, or Zen meditation practiced in Buddhism—The essence of the Consciousness Dive could be the same as these techniques!
Breathing techniques allowed the body to enter a “trance” after performing a “Consciousness Dive,” so as to improve the body physically and energize its cells.
In his past life, the Federal Government’s release of their basic breathing technique immediately made huge waves. Right away, the top-tier guilds of Demon Realm all started using the “basic breathing technique” as a blueprint to develop new and improved breathing techniques with their financial clout.
Aside from the Ethereal Moon Breathing Technique, other notable breathing techniques in his past life included the Condensed Soul Breathing Technique, Moon Shadow Breathing Technique, Starry Breathing Technique, and so on… Each had characteristics unique to the guild that had developed it, and there were hundreds of breathing technique variants in the world.
To be sure, the names they had chosen were very childish and over the top, as in reality, these techniques were just another way of training one’s body. Even if a player practiced the techniques to the extreme, they wouldn’t be able to do things like catch bullets bare-handed—When martial artists were faced with firearms, they were still basically helpless.
Still, breathing techniques were more effective than regular training methods, and at the moment, this was the best way for Ye Kong to improve his physique. Moreover, the basic breathing technique would be published by the Federal Government two years in the future.
Currently, Ye Kong was the only practitioner, and he was using the Ethereal Mirage Guild’s Ethereal Moon Breathing Technique, which was more than twice as effective as the basic breathing technique!
The breathing techniques that average small and medium-sized guilds used couldn’t compare to the Ethereal Mirage Guild’s technique!
As for whether the Federal Government was presently holding on to information about “breathing techniques,” or if they were even developing high-level breathing techniques, Ye Kong had no way of knowing.
In truth, Ye Kong had always believed that the Federal Government in his past life had developed even better breathing techniques, ones more effective than those developed by the top-tier guilds, except that they kept them a secret.
“Whew!”
Finally, Ye Kong opened his eyes and exhaled a large mouthful of unclean air. Looking down at his own body, he saw that he was covered in black filth and other dirty stains, as though he were unfortunate enough to have just climbed out of the sewers.
This was the reason Ye Kong chose to sit on the floor instead of on his bed.
“I am so filthy.”
Shaking his head, Ye Kong immediately got up and went to the washroom. After thoroughly washing himself up, he hurried over to the fridge and took out the mixed congee saved for him. After heating it up, he gulped it down hungrily.
“Whew!”
Ye Kong breathed out a long, contented breath, then went to clean up the floor of his room. Finally, when he had time to spare, he stood in front of the mirror and sized up his own body—
Due to his irregular sleeping schedule, Ye Kong’s skin was sickly pale, like a vampire’s in the movies. Still, in combination with his delicate and handsome facial features, he was a very attractive man.
No wonder Uncle Wang was “wary” about him…
To be frank, the Ye family siblings were both extremely attractive. Except that, because Ye Kong’s hair and eyes were a completely different color than Ye Bai’s, if they were standing together, any passerby who didn’t know them wouldn’t think they were siblings.
“The effects of the training are pretty good.”
Ye Kong studied his body in the mirror. It was still slightly ‘”frail,” but if he looked closely, his muscles seemed more defined than before.
Evidently, the effects of the breathing technique training were visibly shown on Ye Kong’s body. However, the first time would always show the biggest changes. After this, he just had to keep up the training over a long period.
“If only my virtual reality dive time was double what I have now.”
Ye Kong shook his head. He couldn’t help but feel like his hands were tied by his own circumstances.
The length of a player’s Consciousness Dive determined the effects of the breathing technique training. At the moment, no matter how one looked at it, Ye Kong needed a better virtual reality device.
“Next up, my hopes are resting on the Luna Lake incident…”
Ye Kong sat on his bed and was about to put on the VR helmet when suddenly the ceiling above him began to quake—
Bang, bang, bang!!!
“What is that girl doing again?”
Ye Kong knit his brows.
He clearly remembered that their upstairs neighbor was a girl who dropped out of school. For some time, she seemed to take out her anger on the floor, which resulted in Ye Kong and Ye Bai switching rooms.
Originally, this room was Ye Bai’s boudoir, but because she couldn’t take the disturbance from above any longer, she let the night owl Ye Kong live in it. Anyway, he was always awake at night, so he wasn’t troubled by the noise.
“What a downer…”
Ye Kong shook his head, then put on the VR helmet, no longer paying any attention to the tantrum going on above him.
Connecting player’s mind to the game system…
Connection complete.
“Welcome back, player, to the world of Demon Realm.”