My setting is above yours!

Chapter 27 I'll take you all on one-on-one

"Hmph, not fast enough reaction time. Is this all the preparations you've made, Hagene?"

An Hui teased Ron, then jumped up from the tall building. Silvery currents surged around her, as if they had transformed into shimmering gauze.

She moved with the lightness of a bird spreading its wings, leaping down and landing in front of Ron.

"boom!"

But the ground beneath her feet cracked from the impact, proving that her leap was no easy feat...

It's brimming with power.

Well, still as fierce as ever.

Despite her petite and slender frame, An Hui is just a short high school student.

However, by manipulating magnetic fields and controlling bioelectric currents to stimulate her body, her physical strength has far surpassed that of ordinary people.

In comparison, it's probably far stronger than the physical strength gained from Sequence Eight [Corpse Man] when Ron loaded the [Potion Sequence]...

However, this is not because the [Corpse Keeper] is too weak—

If Ron were willing to load [Extraordinary Out of Control] back into the [Potion Sequence], the truly complete [Corpse Man] would be by no means inferior to An Hui's "Magnetic Field Rotation".

Unfortunately... when [Supernatural Out of Control] is actually loaded into the [Potion Sequence], Ron's level of out of control will increase rapidly whenever he uses the supernatural abilities brought by the potions.

He never understood why this was happening, but it seemed that until he solved the problem, he would have to continue using the stripped-down version of the [Potion Sequence].

An Hui dusted herself off and felt a little uncomfortable seeing Ron still staring at her.
"Alright, why pretend to be an expert without saying a word?"

As she spoke, she cautiously glanced around:
"This is not the place to talk... Come with me first."

Although they were theoretically enemies in the exam, Ron did not refuse at all and silently followed behind An Hui.

The two climbed over the collapsed high-rise building and hid in a corner between the concrete ruins, stealthily moving among the scattered shadows in the rubble.

An Hui moved slowly, carefully observing her surroundings with each step, and only moving forward slowly after confirming that no one was lying in ambush...

Ron followed behind her for a long time before finally asking in bewilderment:
"Do we... really need to be this cautious?"

He watched as Anhui carefully stepped over the broken stones and earth, inching forward stealthily, and after a moment of silence, he said:

"I always felt like we were two wriggling maggots."

"Shh!"

An Hui glared at him fiercely and made a silencing gesture:

"A newbie with 0 points playing in the placement matches is questioning me, a super expert ranked 1314?"
"Lie down, you unfilial son! Today I'll lead you to a complete map wipeout and a perfect escape!"

……All right.

As long as Huihui is happy.

Ron shrugged and started wriggling along with An Hui.

Before long, they arrived at an inconspicuous corner of the ruins. There were no more rustling sounds of other people moving between the bunkers, and no more eyes could be seen.

"Alright...we can relax a bit now that we've gotten this far."

An Hui led Ron to a tall building on the edge of the Flame Wall and leaned lazily against the wall.

She looked at the points and ranking above Ron's head, her tone tinged with emotion:
"I really didn't expect that you would be matched with this game in your first match with 0 points?"

It seems that, according to the AI's calculations, your actual strength is sufficient to support you in fair competition in this kind of game.

After all, it's only Lv.2 of [Vector Manipulation]...

Even Ron felt that the AI's judgment was wrong.

Can the first two thousand matches really allow Lv.2 [Vector Manipulation] to compete fairly?
Given Ron's familiarity with An Hui, he didn't think An Hui could put up a fair fight against him...

If they were truly mortal enemies, An Hui might be defeated in a single encounter, thanks to the destructive power of her [Vector Manipulation].

Ron shrugged: "It might not be fair... If all the other candidates in this round were like you, it might be a crushing defeat for me."

"Ha," An Hui sneered, "So confident?"

"If you were the only one entering this game, how would you want to become the final winner of this test?"

“Me?” Ron rubbed his chin, briefly comparing the strength of his abilities. “I feel like I could just crush him.”

"If we start by attacking someone, and it's always one-on-one, I feel like we can take down all the opponents very quickly..."

"Hmph," An Hui shook a finger, "It seems that if you, you unfilial son, are unlucky enough to avoid running into me, you're going to suffer a great loss."

As she spoke, she gestured towards the distance with her chin, indicating that Ron should look in that direction.

"Look at the situation over there... Do you really think a fair fight like you're imagining will happen?"

Following An Hui's gaze, Ron could vaguely see four or five examinees carefully protecting a lazy person, slowly clearing away any possible hiding spots in the ruins.

Before long, they caught one of the examinees hiding among them, who seemed to be trying to ambush others, and beat him half to death with all their might...

Then, the lazy boy who was being protected made his move and killed the attacker effortlessly, causing his score to rise rapidly.

What is this thing?!
Ron stared in astonishment as they scavenged through the ruins like bulldozers, crippling each enemy they found before handing them over to the lazy man…

"What is this? Is this score manipulation? Is this really not cheating?"

Ron couldn't help but ask, but saw a matter-of-fact expression on An Hui's face:
"Of course not... Once you enter the Void Battlefield, whether you want to cooperate or be hostile is entirely up to the examinee."

Most of these people are sons of wealthy business owners who take the college entrance exam simply to gain prestige, and the municipal government turns a blind eye to them.

As long as you don't use equipment that enhances your personal abilities or violates college entrance examination regulations, all methods that earn points are legal and compliant.

Seeing Ron's incredulous expression, An Hui asked:
"Although these protected players are all 'big bosses' who have paid credits in real life, they can only be seen occasionally in these top-ranked matches."

However, the practice of forming temporary teams exists in all types of matches...

"Do you think you could easily dominate the entire match if you encountered this group of people?"

...It can be done.

Although these people all have Lv.2 abilities, they are clearly far less powerful than [Vector Manipulation], and Ron will definitely be able to defeat them.

However... it will probably be much more difficult than previously imagined.

After all, the cost of facing one enemy at a time is completely different from that of facing multiple enemies at once.

If he encounters groups of students clustered together in every match, Ron feels that even his [Vector Manipulation] will eventually become overwhelmed by the sheer number of opponents halfway through the battle due to the constant barrage of attacks...

After all, there is one thing that cannot be ignored—

Within this "empty battlefield," there exists a "mystical influence"!
If he continues to use his abilities, they will eventually wear down and he will eventually be unable to use them...

At that point, we'll be like fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others.

Seeing Ron fall silent, An Hui patted his shoulder with a grin, tilted her head back, and gave herself a thumbs-up.

"But who told you to run into me..."

Come, let me teach you how to get the greatest benefit with the least cost in testing!

As she spoke, she gestured for Ron to lie down with her in the corner of the roof. "Lie here with me for a while, and while you're at it, restrain your abilities..."

In this place, abilities will be constantly affected, and recklessly using them will severely deplete physical strength.

Before long, you'll feel your computing power is overloaded, and you won't be able to use your abilities at all.

An Hui sighed as she spoke:
"At that point, I'll have to exit the simulated reality, return to reality to rest for a while, and maybe farm some resurrection coins before I can come back..."

So this is how "mystical influences" erode superpowers in the eyes of normal people...

Unlike Ron, whose abilities may be worn down to the point of being damaged and temporarily unusable, the strength of his abilities will not change when he is able to use them again.

Ron obediently followed An Hui's example and restrained his abilities, simply relinquishing his status as a "superpowered person".

There's no danger at all right now; we're just wasting time waiting...

But not long after he shed his superpowers, he was shocked to discover something he had never imagined—

The damage to the [Superpowered Person's] characteristics is being repaired at a steady pace, and it will soon be restored to its full value!
How could this be...? Is it because I'm still in the "superpower era"?

In this version, the [Superpowered Being] is supposed to repair itself automatically, but it only shows signs of damage due to the continuous "mystical influence"...

Thinking about this, Ron's mind began to wander.

Does that mean he doesn't have to return to reality and recover like the other test takers?
As long as he temporarily removes the settings after they are damaged, he can quickly recover to his peak condition and continue to compete for points!

Thankfully, I got the full immersion capsule, which comes standard with life support equipment...

If it weren't for the full immersion pod, even if Ron could use this advantage to fight continuously in the simulated reality, he would still need to leave to eat and drink.

It didn't take long.

A beam of green light suddenly shot into the sky from the ruins of the high-rise building where they were, enclosing a small open space.

The group of examinees who had been being watched by Ron and his companion had also finished their hunt and immediately headed towards the location where the green light had appeared...

Ron immediately realized what the green light represented.

"This is... an evacuation point?"

Ron couldn't help but look at An Hui beside him, "Did you bring me here to lie down just to...?"

“That’s right,” An Hui nodded knowingly, “It’s all for now!”

As she spoke, she watched as the group of people arrived at the evacuation point, one by one obediently sacrificing their lives to the boss for points, leaving only the boss with about a dozen exam admission tickets, ready to leave...

Suddenly, he unleashed his full power, and the iron sand hidden in the ruins was attracted by the magnetic force, turning into sharp spikes that shot out unexpectedly and instantly pierced the man's limbs!

"Quick, Ron, just kill him. You haven't scored a single point yet, let's get some points first..."

Ron didn't stand on ceremony with An Hui. He immediately reloaded into the [Superpowered Person] and casually tossed a pebble down, turning the unfortunate boss into a data bubble.

[Points earned: 35000]

He looked at his rising score, his expression becoming somewhat strange.

"Is this... what you meant by getting the greatest benefit with the least cost?"

"What else?" An Hui said matter-of-factly, hands on her hips. "This group is most relaxed at the evacuation point, so blocking the evacuation point is definitely the best option!"

Well, I have to say, An Hui does have a point.

In an environment where using superpowers would wear them down, hiding in the shadows and delivering a fatal blow is indeed the safest way to fight.

However, it seems that the test takers will stop at nothing to gain points...

Ron thought to himself that An Hui jumped off the building and picked up all the exam admission tickets that the person had dropped.

"Unfortunately, there are only seventeen; that's not enough for our evacuation..."

She pouted and jumped back onto the tall building:

"You hold onto this for now, we'll lie low for a bit longer, then we'll ambush a few more unlucky guys trying to escape—"

But before she could finish speaking, a fireball suddenly rose from not far away and hurtled towards them!

Ron instinctively grabbed An Hui's hand, used [Vector Manipulation] to distort gravity, and jumped directly to the rooftop next to them.

The fireball exploded where they had just been, tearing open the already precarious building and sending shards of concrete and stone raining down.

If they hadn't managed to dodge... they might have been severely injured and vanished as data bubbles.

A cold voice came from not far away:

"I didn't expect you could dodge it... Hmph, no wonder you're just a rat that only knows how to block evacuation points."

"So, it turns out they were a newbie with only 35000 points and a complete newbie with just over 1,000 points..."

Ron looked in the direction the sound came from and saw eight or nine candidates who had been temporarily formed to walk out of the ruins.

Their rankings were all within the top 1,000, and the one who released the fireball and mocked Ron and his companion had an extremely high ranking of 535!

They're all Level 2 ability users...

Ron seemed lost in thought, while An Hui beside him gritted her teeth and said in a somber tone:
"Damn it, we got caught... These guys have nothing to be proud of. They were obviously following that boss and planning to ambush him, but we beat them to it."

As she spoke, she shoved the exam admission ticket in her hand into Ron's hands:

"You hurry up and leave. You only need to stay within the light circle for ten seconds to escape. I'll hold them off for a bit; I'm sure I can get you out of there!"

The lead examinee, with sharp eyes, noticed An Hui's actions and couldn't help but be somewhat surprised:

"You're not planning to protect this newcomer and evacuate, are you? Can you at least take a look at how many of us there are?"

"Stop struggling, just stay here obediently and become our points!"

Damn it, why am I so unlucky...

An Hui gritted her teeth, and the silvery-white electricity on her forehead crackled. Just as she was about to make a desperate attempt, she saw Ron stuff the exam admission tickets back into her hands.

Ron took two steps forward and calmly began to speak:

"Who said I was leaving? Come on, let's fight one-on-one."

"A one-on-one duel?" The leading examinee was amused by Ron's words. "Please, do you think I'm an idiot?"

"If we can gang up on you, why would we need to talk about chivalry and fight you one by one?"

“No,” Ron shook his head, “that’s not what I meant.”

He stretched out his hand and pointed to everyone one by one:
"You, you, you... and you too."

Ron spoke calmly, as if it were a matter of course:

"What I mean is... I want to take on all of you by myself!"

"Take on all of us at once? That's laughable..."

The lead examinee chuckled, about to make a sarcastic remark to Ron, when he suddenly heard a strange "beep beep" sound coming from Ron's body—

The next moment, the ruins around him suddenly rose up...

Gravity reversed in an instant!
(End of this chapter)