The Game Warrior

Is this a new add-on to Internal Power?

Elated, Dugu went onto the skills page and saw two big blinking words: “Inner Vision . ” Note: Passive skill, could be used to examine reserve power during meditation to prevent loss of sanity .

He opened the player’s journal; there was only one line: “Congratulations, Player Dugu Hong, you’ve received Inner Consciousness + 2, Inner Understanding + 1, Adventure Value + 10, and Reputation Value + 50 . ”

His excitement dimmed . The journal was clear in that Inner Vision was useless, and as for the four rewards . . .

It could be said the game was pretty stingy .

He sighed at how cheap the game was and then turned on Inner Vision .

Light—something he hadn’t seen for three years—appeared . There was a human-shaped blue blob with something white and glowing moving inside, leaving dots in its path . The dots seemed to be glowing brighter . . .

Obviously, this was a picture of internal power moving inside the body: the dots were the power channels, and the white light streams were internal power .

This was the so-called Inner Vision? Dugu almost laughed .

But then he realized that there was more to the image . He needed to zoom in .

In the upper right-hand corner was a number: 42480/159882 . The first number was his current Internal Power, but what did the second number mean?

Dugu also realized that for every glowing channel, no matter the color, there was also a small number . The numbers differed depending on their location; some were around 800, while the lowest was thirty or forty .

As the light streams cycled every ten minutes, at least one number changed—either the number on the power channel became bigger, or his Internal Power grew by one .

Every cycle meant at least one number grew bigger .

After half an hour, the number in the upper right-hand corner turned into 42481/159885 .

What did it mean?

Dugu Hong didn’t understand .

He went from the game to the gaming forum and back again, but remained puzzled .

There was nothing about “Inner Vision,” “Power Channel,” etc . . . It looked like no other player had reached this level yet .

Dugu had no choice but to figure it out himself . He tried playing with the cycles, and watching the numbers change on the dots and streams .

Dugu had no choice but to figure it out himself . He tried playing with the cycles, and watching the numbers change on the dots and streams .

Six in-game days passed quickly, and he finally figured out some rules of the game mechanics .

The Internal Power shown was not the Total Internal Power . It could be freely adjusted . The second number was the actual Total Internal Power .

Internal Power that couldn’t be adjusted was scattered throughout the various channels; their numbers added up equaled the difference between free Internal Power and Total Internal Power .

Dugu decided to call the number on each Power Channel the Pressure Point Number .

…………

However, these revelations didn’t seem to be very useful; his Internal Power still simply circulated in his body in a big or small cycle .

The skills merely gave him impractical hope, as if he was watching the stars with a telescope; though the stars seemed close enough to touch, he could not change them in any way .

As he was kicked out of the game, he thought that it was time to go to the library tomorrow to research Power Channels and Pressure Points .

****

When Dugu opened his eyes, his world woke up . The light came on in his room and the projector turned on to show the morning news, repeating those new yet old bits of information .

A buzz came on in the kitchen; it was the old-style microwave working . “Pfft,” the home robot sighed as it pushed open the door to pick up the day’s delivery of milk, paper, and mail .

A buzz came on in the kitchen; it was the old-style microwave working . “Pfft,” the home robot sighed as it pushed open the door to pick up the day’s delivery of milk, paper, and mail .

The whole subdivision was filling with sounds and noises .

Everyone was used to this kind of life now .

Every night was known as the “eight hours which extended your life . ” Others may not be playing games during those hours, but they definitely weren’t working . They could do anything they wanted—except of course, the workaholics .

No one complained about needing more downtime, since everyone rested six days a week and worked only one day .

“Your mail . ” The robot heated up the milk, and seeing Dugu had finished getting ready, handed him various white envelopes .

Dugu wasn’t surprised; it was the May 10th—time to pay his monthly bills .

There was something from the bank, and the bills for water, electricity, gas, oil, phone, internet, gaming, robot maintenance, property management . . .

The bills that reminded you of the many services you had enjoyed over the past month .

“You can pay them . ” Dugu didn’t want to torture himself, nor did he want to waste words .

“But, there’s not enough balance in the bank account, not enough for this month, and for next month . . . ”

“Use my college tuition savings . ” Dugu finished the bread in three bites .

“Use my college tuition savings . ” Dugu finished the bread in three bites .

“For that we need a higher-level permission . ”

“Mine isn’t enough?” Dugu stared at the robot and gulped down the milk .

“No, it is, but . . . ” The nanny-style robot liked to nag, so it didn’t stop talking . “If we used the funds now, what about your tuition? I did the calculations; we haven’t had income for more than six months . . . ”

“Once I go to college, I could sell this apartment, and you . That should be enough . ” Dugu picked up his backpack and started to walk out .

“Uh, yes, but . . . what if you don’t get into college?” The robot kept following him .

“Yeah, that may be an issue . ” Dugu sighed as he got on the school bus, and the doors closed behind him .

He was finally free of the robot’s nagging . He relaxed and walked toward his seat but suddenly froze .

Inside the roomy vehicle, three men and a woman stood in the aisle, blocking his way . All four of them had their gazes fixed on him .

What are they doing here? Dugu made a fist .