Gao Wu: I became a saint through daily settlements

"That feels great!" Lin Yue whispered.

He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. His arm muscles were slightly sore from exerting force for a long time, but the surging power within him made him feel extremely refreshed.

"Since my life energy level was raised to 15.0, my appetite has increased significantly." Lin Yue felt an intense hunger in his stomach.

His previous training in intermediate-level sword techniques had consumed a great deal of his physical strength, and ordinary food was no longer sufficient to meet his needs.

Only the specially prepared nutritious meals from the Starry Sky Martial Hall can quickly replenish his depleted energy and nourish his tempered muscles and bones.

Lin Yue walked to the window and said to the familiar cafeteria lady:

"Auntie, six nutritious meals, please."

The aunt glanced at him, a knowing smile on her face, but her hands didn't stop moving at all.

He deftly placed six pre-packaged nutritional meals onto a tray, his tone slightly teasing:

"Young man, you've been training hard again? Your appetite is even bigger than last time."

Lin Yue smiled, took the tray and thanked him, found a seat by the window and sat down, and couldn't wait to start "wolfing down" his food.

The taste of the nutritious meals is not particularly delicious, and they are even somewhat monotonous, but the concentrated energy they contain is extremely pure.

With each swallow, he could feel a warm current sliding down his throat into his abdomen, quickly spreading to his limbs and nourishing his tired muscles and meridians.

After wolfing down the six nutritious meals, Lin Yue didn't linger at all. He immediately took out the Starry Sky Battle Network access device from his wrist and lightly tapped it with his fingertip.

A pale blue light flashed, and a virtual screen appeared before him, while a cold, mechanical voice sounded in his ears:

Welcome to StarCraft Online!

For him, combat is the fastest way to gain experience; it's difficult to make real progress just by practicing.

Breaking through in swordsmanship cannot rely solely on practice; it also requires more practical experience.

Martial arts training is never about working in isolation. Simply practicing sword techniques repeatedly will not allow you to truly grasp the essence of the art, nor will it enable you to cope with various complex real-world combat scenarios.

"I haven't played ranked matches on Battle.net for a long time since I jumped to Platinum last time." Lin Yue roughly estimated that it had been about 20 days since he last played any fighting games on StarCraft Battle.net.

"In the hidden realms of the South Seas, we only fight against star beasts."

The battles against star beasts are completely different from the battles against warriors.

Compared to martial artists, star beasts often have more obvious attack intentions and stronger attack power. Therefore, battles with star beasts cannot represent Lin Yue's current level of combat with martial artists.

However, the various selections for martial artists are based on battles between martial artists. Therefore, Lin Yue needs more combat experience with martial artists to improve his practical skills.

"Let's play a few matches to practice and get a feel for the game."

Lin Yue said softly, his fingertips quickly sliding across the light screen, opening the matchmaking function of Battle.net.

【match】

StarCraft's matchmaking system is extremely accurate, automatically matching users with opponents of similar strength based on their strength during their last login.

Unlike ranked matches, casual matches do not affect your rank points, and there is no penalty even if you lose, making them an excellent way to warm up.

However, the Starry Sky Battle Network records Lin Yue's strength from his last login, which was a life energy level of 13.2.

The opponent Lin Yue was matched with this time also had a life energy level of around 13.0.

The progress bar on the screen jumped rapidly, and in less than three seconds, a crisp notification sound rang in my ears:

Match successful

The once brightly lit cafeteria has disappeared, replaced by a spacious, square combat platform, surrounded by a pale purple energy barrier.

[Loading battle scene]

His opponent had appeared on the other side of the platform. He was a middle-aged man of medium build, dressed in black combat uniform, holding a large, jet-black gun with a gleaming tip.

"Whoosh—"

A whooshing sound rang out, and the spear, like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, carried a sharp gust of wind and aimed straight at Lin Yue's face.

The gun was incredibly fast, clearly fired by a seasoned veteran of the Battle.net.

Almost instinctively, Lin Yue's Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword) was already striking out.

A deafening clang of metal clashing rang out, sparks flying as the blades and spears met.

The middle-aged man felt a tremendous force coming from the gun, his arm went numb, and he was thrown several meters away by the force.

The middle-aged man stumbled and barely managed to regain his balance, an expression of disbelief on his face:

"So strong."

On the other side, Lin Yue slung the Mo Dao behind his back and whispered:

"Too weak."

In actual combat, the quality of the battle is also very important. Otherwise, if you keep crushing weaker opponents, you will only become weaker and weaker. Therefore, for this kind of battle that is not of high quality, Lin Yue just wants to finish it quickly.

"Watch the knife."

Lin Yue pressed his advantage, unleashing another slash so fast it was almost invisible.

Although I haven't fully grasped the second-tier sword technique, this strike already faintly has the flavor of a second-tier sword technique.

This blade was heavier, faster, and carried an indomitable and fierce momentum.

"Such a fast knife," the middle-aged man opposite him thought.

"Looking at such a young age, yet so strong."

Before the middle-aged man could react, Lin Yue's knife had already slashed towards his arm.

"Sizzle."

The middle-aged man felt a chill on his arm, followed by a sharp pain. Lin Yue had severed his entire arm with a single stroke.

Virtual blood gushed out, leaving a crimson stain on the cold alloy floor.

wow——

Lin Yue unleashed three more swift strikes.

After three strikes, the middle-aged man's body transformed into a beam of light and vanished completely from the platform.

[Winner: Lin Yue]

Without any hesitation, Lin Yue immediately started two more matchmaking games, and almost both of them resulted in one-hit kills.

"I'm a level above what I used to be."

After three consecutive wins in the matchmaking mode, Lin Yue considered his warm-up complete and entered ranked mode.

"Again!"

[You are being matched with an opponent of similar skill level]

In less than five seconds, Lin Yue entered the ranking match scene.

Match successful

This time, his opponent was the same rank as Lin Yue, Platinum III.

Platinum III is already a very good rank.

If a high school student reaches this level, they can almost certainly be ranked in the top 500 of the provincial high school student rankings.

Last time, Lin Yue's ranking was around 200th. This time, Lin Yue's goal is to break into the top 10 in Jiang Province and get 1000 Battle.net points.

This ranked match was just as easy as the previous ones.

In less than a minute, Lin Yue had killed his opponent with a few slashes. After the opponent's body turned into a pale blue light, a mechanical voice sounded:

"The winner is Lin Yue."

"We won."

Without hesitation, Lin Yue started the next ranked match.

This time, the notification sound on the screen changed:

[The system detected that the user's skill level far exceeds that of other players in the same rank, and is currently searching for a more suitable opponent for the user.]

A moment later, the match was successful. This time, the opponent was a Platinum II, and the energy fluctuations emanating from him were much stronger than those of a Platinum III.

However, even after undergoing bone tempering, he couldn't withstand more than 10 moves from Lin Yue before being completely defeated.

Your rank has been upgraded from Platinum III to Platinum I.

"Platinum I."

Lin Yue exited the ranked match waiting screen and checked his current ranking.

Your current ranking is 24th in Jiangxi Province.

"24th place. I can probably break into the top ten if I win one or two more games," Lin Yue thought to himself.

The score difference between 10th and 20th place is not much, about ten or twenty points.

It was another ranked match, but this time it wasn't as easy as the previous two.

This time, his opponent was a Platinum Level 1 expert, and Lin Yue fought him for nearly fifty moves before barely managing to win.

"Platinum I is indeed very strong," Lin Yue remarked.

"Sure enough, once you reach a high rank on Battle.net, the difficulty increases by a level for every 100 points gained."

In the next three ranked matches, Lin Yue lost all three and dropped to Platinum Tier 2.

"Again!"

Lin Yue refused to believe it and played more than ten ranked matches in a row.

After gradually adapting to the intensity of Platinum Tier 1, Lin Yue's record reached 10 wins and 7 losses.

Current rank: Platinum I (1143 points)

"Check the rankings," Lin Yue said in a low voice.

Your current ranking is 9th in Jiangxi Province.

There are eight high school students ahead of Lin Yue on the list.

"My current limit is probably Platinum Tier 1," Lin Yue thought to himself, then clicked to claim his points.

[Successfully claimed: 1000 StarCraft Battle.net Points]

Current points balance: 1200

"I've already got the points, so winning or losing doesn't matter anymore."

Afraid of losing? Then there's no way you can grow.

Failure is not terrible; what is terrible is not having the courage to face failure.

After collecting his points, Lin Yue played 50 ranked matches in a row.

These 50 ranked matches took Lin Yue about four hours. His record was 24 wins and 26 losses, with an overall win rate close to 50%.

The dozens of ranked matches brought Lin Yue a significant improvement, and he now has a new understanding of the Mo Dao sword technique.

Although it is far from reaching the level of breaking through to the second-tier sword technique, it has already made great progress compared to the first-tier sword technique.

This is the significance of real combat. Six hours of real combat on the Starry Sky Battle Network far surpasses sixty hours of training.

Using competitions as training is a common training method among martial artists, but most people do not have the perseverance and willpower of Lin Yue, who can play 70 consecutive matches.

"That's great!" Lin Yue laughed.

"Indeed, only constant fighting can give me that exhilarating feeling of practicing martial arts."

No matter how strong your martial arts skills are, wouldn't it be too frustrating if you had nowhere to use them?

After exiting the ranking match interface, Lin Yue arrived at the reservation interface for the intermediate-level Mo Dao sword technique.

[You have one opportunity for in-person instruction in swordsmanship at the Master level. Would you like to use it?]

"Aside from the national martial arts tournament next month, nothing will happen at school for the next few weeks, which is a great opportunity for me to improve my skills."

After a brief moment of thought, Lin Yue clicked the reservation button without hesitation.

Then, a prompt appeared in front of Lin Yue's eyes, requiring him to fill in necessary information such as location and time.

Lin Yue quickly filled in the relevant information.

Location: Starry Sky Martial Arts Hall, Jiangcheng City; Time: This Saturday at 2 PM

[Reservation Successful]

After making the appointment, Lin Yue's thoughts returned to reality.

Lin Yue let out a long sigh of relief and withdrew his consciousness from the Starry Sky Battle Network.

When I opened my eyes, the lights in the Starry Sky Martial Arts Hall training room were still dim.

He moved his somewhat stiff body, his joints making a slight cracking sound.

"Six hours...that's quite a long time."

Lin Yue stood up and found that his clothes were soaked with sweat.

High-intensity, continuous battles, even if it's just a mental battle within the battle network, still put a considerable strain on the body.

He walked to the water dispenser in the corner of the training room, filled two large glasses with water, and only then did he feel some relief from the dryness in his throat.

I glanced at the time; it was already past nine o'clock at night.

"The cafeteria should still be open at this hour, right?" Lin Yue rubbed his stomach; the energy from the six nutritious meals had long been used up in those seventy ranking matches.

After packing his things, Lin Yue left the training room and headed towards the cafeteria.

The Starry Sky Martial Hall's canteen is open 24 hours a day, which is very convenient for martial artists.

After all, when one cultivates to the point of selflessness, who remembers mealtimes?

"Six more nutritious meals, thank you," Lin Yue said to the aunt at the window.

The aunt glanced at him, seemingly already used to the young man's big appetite, and quickly packed six lunch boxes.

Lin Yue picked up his plate and sat down in a corner. This time, instead of wolfing down his food, he ate while reviewing the ranking match in his mind.

Twenty-four wins and twenty-six losses.

This record may seem unremarkable, but Lin Yue knows in his heart that from initially not being able to adapt to the intensity of Platinum I to later being able to steadily compete with opponents of this rank, his progress is visible to the naked eye.

Especially in those close losses, the difference often lay in the handling of a single detail.

Chop, hack, slash, stab, sweep...

"The swordsmanship is still too straightforward," Lin Yue thought to himself.

"The first-tier Mo Dao sword technique emphasizes great strength and momentum, but at the Platinum level, great strength alone is no longer enough."

He recalled some of his worst defeats, in which his opponents almost always figured out his offensive rhythm after the third move and then used changes in movement and weaponry to lure him into a trap step by step.

"We need more varied strategies."

Lin Yue mentally simulated several possible solutions before finally finishing the last nutritious meal with satisfaction. He then checked the information on his bracelet.

[Wang Teng]: Lin Yue, I recently discovered a really good food therapy restaurant. Do you want to go with me tomorrow?

"Dietary therapy is indeed a very important step in cultivation."

After thinking for a moment, Lin Yue replied:

"When exactly?"

As soon as the message was sent, Wang Teng immediately replied.

"Tomorrow afternoon, right after practice, I can have some nourishing food!"

"OK."

After replying to Wang Teng, Lin Yue exited the chat interface with Wang Teng and switched to the chat interface with Tang Jingyue.

"I wonder how the progress of the raw materials for the Martial Essence Pill is?" Lin Yue thought to himself, and then sent a message to inquire.

……