THE STRONGEST THUNDER SWORD, VOLUME 6 - Season 9 Episode 89

After Shi Feng closed his eyes, the system’s mechanical notification sound rang by his ears.

Password confirmed. Mental link is stable. All systems operational. Do you wish to login?

Login.

Once Shi Feng silently agreed to the connection, darkness engulfed his surroundings, and he felt as if his body had fallen into a bottomless pit.

In the next moment, however, Shi Feng felt a weight on his body. The sound of galloping horses and carriages moving reached him. He also heard voices.

“This is… God’s Domain?” Shi Feng was surprised when he opened his eyes.

Western-style buildings rose up around him. Traffic covered the surrounding streets, and he could see many pedestrians wandering about wearing armor and carrying weapons. It felt as if he was in God’s Domain.

The only difference Shi Feng noticed was his current appearance. Rather than his usual armor, he wore commoner’s linen clothing. He did not possess a single weapon. Physically, he appeared exactly as he did in reality.

His system interface was also different. Although the method to call up the interface was the same, he only had options to log out, adjust the pain settings, and a clock that displayed real time. There was nothing else. Neither his HP bar nor name was displayed.

Moreover, he felt very weak. In terms of the Basic Attributes of God’s Domain, Shi Feng felt as if they were all set at roughly 100 points.

These were the only differences from God’s Domain that he noticed.

“Look, another newbie has arrived.”

“There sure are a lot of newbies these past few days.”

“I heard that our Secret Pavilion has been implementing some major plan and has recently been annexing other Guilds. The upper echelons must’ve promised training slots to those Guilds in return.”

“Hah… What a waste. We fight tooth and nail every day just for one slot. Aside from eating and sleeping, we spend all of our time training. These people, on the other hand, obtain a slot without any effort. They sure have it good.”

“I know, right? The training system isn’t easy to mingle in. These people are wasting their time and our resources by coming here.”

Several people sitting beneath a gazebo outside of a bar began chatted merrily as they watched Shi Feng. These people looked relatively young, only around 20 years old. However, they wore lavish clothing. Rather than linen, they donned exquisite silk clothing.

As if they wanted Shi Feng to hear their conversation, these people did not bother to control their voices as they considered. Their tones were contemptuous when they spoke of players from other Guilds such as Shi Feng.

I wonder where Fire Dance and the others are? I should find them before we start researching this simulation training system. Shi Feng paid no attention to these people’s belittling comments. However, he did feel a headache begin when he noticed that the training system lacked a communication function.

Although this place seemed like a city in God’s Domain, it was much smaller. This place was roughly the size of a town. Shi Feng also noticed a massive fortress looming in the city’s heart. He could probably see the very edges of the city from the top of that fortress.

Just as Shi Feng was about to head to the fortress to investigate, a deep, heavy voice came from behind him.

“You have just arrived today, right?”

Shi Feng turned at this question, noticing three people, similarly dressed in linen clothing, approaching. The two men and one woman looked to be around 20 as well. Meanwhile, the person that had called out to him was a tall, powerful looking man. The man smiled and gave off a friendly aura.

“That’s right. Do you have some business with me?” Shi Feng nodded.

“Hello; my name’s Kong Haoran, and these two are my friends, Huo Zhengyang and Du Xin,” the man named Kong Haoran introduced, smiling. “Like yourself, we belong to other Guilds and have recently arrived. We aren’t like the people from the Secret Pavilion, who have been in here for over a month. As a newcomer, if you aren’t careful, you might suffer.”

“Suffer?” Shi Feng grew curious. He then asked, “Isn’t this place meant to gain combat experience and nurture techniques?”

“In the beginning, we thought the same,” Kong Haoran said, shaking his head. “However, after being here for some time, you’ll learn that things aren’t as simple as the people from the Secret Pavilion made it out to be. You can’t just spar with top-tier experts as you wish.

“The training system mimics God’s Domain. The more powerful a simulation expert you choose to fight, the more energy the system consumes. The Secret Pavilion can only get its hands on a limited amount of High-level Energy. There is simply not enough to go around. Not to mention, the Secret Pavilion has expanded its influence recently and has increased the number of available training slots for its system, straining the system’s energy consumption. Hence, the Pavilion introduced a Battle Point system to cope. With these Battle Points, one can choose their opponent. Of course, the more powerful an opponent is, the more Battle Points you have to spend.

“A lot of newcomers don’t know about this yet, so the Secret Pavilion’s veterans scam them. If one loses the starting Battle Points they receive, it becomes harder to earn Battle Points in the future.”

Hearing Kong Haoran’s explanation, Shi Feng came to a realization.

It’s no wonder why Yuan Tiexin was so willing to hand over those ten slots. So, the Pavilion still had such a card to play. Shi Feng inwardly cursed the Secret Pavilion’s Guild Leader for being a sly, old fox.

However, after giving it some thought, Shi Feng realized that it was actually quite reasonable.

He had been a fool to think that he could fight monster-level experts stored in the system’s database without limit and gain a wealth of combat experience. Such a generous opportunity wouldn’t exist.

“Thank you for your warning,” Shi Feng said as he looked towards Kong Haoran. He then introduced himself, “My name is Shi Feng.”

“No need for thanks. Those of us from other Guilds need to look out for each other. Otherwise, the Pavilion’s people will just bully us all.” Kong Haoran waved his hand. “The Secret Pavilion’s bunch came here over a month before we arrived. Moreover, they enjoyed the Secret Pavilion’s nurturing before this. Their combat standards are much higher than ours.

“Newcomers are given 100 Battle Points initially. You can use these points to purchase a starter pack at the fortress. This starter pack lets you spar against ten different, extraordinary experts for three days. You can use them to familiarize yourself with the battles here. Otherwise, you can practice against the free opponents in the fortress. However, you probably won’t learn anything from the freebies.

“There are two methods to obtain Battle Points. The first is to participate in the ranking matches; you can also place bets with other players before a duel. Some of the veterans trick many of the clueless newcomers. As a result, they lose their 100 starting points, just like that.”

After Kong Haoran finished explaining the simulation training system, he led Shi Feng to the Battle Fortress.

However, as Shi Feng’s group was about to enter the fortress, they heard a loud commotion from the fortress’s main hall.

“Quick, come and take a look! Another newbie is challenging a veteran!”

“Damn! These guys sure are quick! Why can’t I ever find these newbies?!”