The Game Warrior

“Um . . . when do we start?”

“Now . ”

“We’re skipping class?” The girl with the glasses frowned, forgetting she was the one who ran out of class .

“For you maybe . ”

“What do you mean?”

“I was going to the principal’s office to drop out . You want to come with?”

“Drop out?” She nudged her glasses . “Dugu Hong, this is really not rational . ”

Instantly, Dugu fully experienced her verbal prowess as she lectured him on how hard competition was in modern society, to how essential was the mandatory twelve-year education system, to the complicated steps involved in dropping out, to the ills of bureaucracy, and the benefit of continuing education . . .

Dugu didn’t make it into the principal’s office .

Before they parted ways, he asked her one more question . “Wait, what’s your name?”

“ . . . Sinuo . ” Even Dugu didn’t remember her name from school; it was apparent how overlooked she was .

“Sinuo? That’s a good name . ”

****

When Dugu returned to the game, the glowing human figure looked a lot different to him .

The twelve main channels formed their own circulation system, with the qi coming from the internal organs to the extremities and then returning to the organs . Twelve such rotations made up one big cycle .

The so-called Shaolin Internal Cultivation Method used the hand-taiyang, hand-yangming, foot-shaoyang, foot-taiyang channels and other passageways to form an internal cycle .

After reviewing the rotation route over and over and memorizing each pressure point and branch by heart and their changes in-time, even with his eyes closed, Dugu decided to make some changes to his body .

Anyone could practice using the rotation map and it’d be impossible to keep an advantage like this; maybe for a limited time it could be done, but when others had a faster and more effective method, that advantage would disappear .

Dugu used the most normal method of all . He held onto his intention and tried to use his mind to guide the rotation of the qi .

All internal work demanded this, even if no one could prove whether the internal work was real .

All internal work demanded this, even if no one could prove whether the internal work was real .

He didn’t know if he would succeed, but he had no other way, and he had nothing else to do .

Here, his logical autism proved to be a plus . Once he decided to focus on something, nothing distracted him or his thoughts .

After two whole days inside the game without speaking or moving, with just his eyes focused on the qi map, the light started to move the way Dugu intended and into a side branch .

His body hurt as if he’d had a seizure, even beyond the game’s pain setting . Someone normal might have been kicked out of the game, but Dugu smiled .

He had succeeded!

He didn’t feel joy, just relief from victory, and gratification of not having wasted his efforts .

Once he had begun, everything would fall in place .

Based on his understanding of meridians and channels, Dugu finished a whole set of internal work connecting the six yang points .

The process wasn’t as smooth as he imagined .

The twelve main channels were all right, but the side channels and passageways hurt beyond an expected level when he first explored them .

But it enabled Dugu to learn how to control the flow and speed of qi inside these fragile passageways .

But it enabled Dugu to learn how to control the flow and speed of qi inside these fragile passageways .

After he finished thirty-six cycles, he knew this method was called the Luohan Internal Method, and was an intermediate level in the Shaolin school of internal training .

The growth rate was sixteen, with a small cycle every fifteen minutes, and at most seventy-two cycles per day to increase total internal power and pressure point level . Usable internal power was at 108, seventy-two, and thirty-six, the same as the small cycle, but obviously more free .

Its big cycle rotation was the same as the Shaolin Method, as both used the twelve main channels . After he strengthened his internal power and activated it, Dugu found out that the Luohan Method could increase his internal power by 160 per day .

. . . 144+16 . That was what the growth rate meant .

After he learned the Luohan Method, the Six Yin Method made sense, too .

All basic numbers were the same as the Luohan, but it was called the Wudang Rouyun Internal Method, and was at the same expertise level as the Luohan Method .

Very soon, Dugu finished the Hand Six Passageway Method as well as the Foot Six Passageway Method, with somewhat mixed results .

By using only his upper or lower body, the rotations were a lot shorter . Each small cycle was only eight minutes, but the effects were the same as the ten-minute Shaolin Method .

These new internal work methods were not replicated by any other schools yet, so the system gave Dugu an award for inventiveness, and a +1 for understanding . He got no other awards for the Foot Six Passageway Method, only a nominal reputation award .

In addition, there were also two warnings from the system . “This method severely violates typical martial arts cultivation methods . Such cultivation could lead to partial paralysis! Be careful!”

“ . . . . . . ”

In addition, there were also two warnings from the system . “This method severely violates typical martial arts cultivation methods . Such cultivation could lead to partial paralysis! Be careful!”

“ . . . . . . ”

After trying all of these methods, Dugu realized something else .

The pressure points used by circulating qi earned points in different ways . The closer they were to the extremities, the stronger the absorption, and the closer to the organs, the weaker the absorption .

The so-called death pressure points as recorded in medical archives had almost no absorption .

Dugu got a new idea . . .

Along this thinking, as long as qi-rotation avoided the extremities, one could largely increase their usable level of qi .

And if he made the qi move among the death pressure points, all internal power was controllable .

So Dugu locked in his rotation route along the extra channels of the Ren, the Du, the Chong, and the Dai .

These four channels were the closest to the human body’s central line and furthest away from the extremities . Along the route were almost exclusively death pressure points: Baihui, Yintang, Renzhong, Yamen, Renyin, Shanzhong, Shenjue, Zhongji, Guanyuan, Qihai, Zhangmen, Jiuwei, Jujue, Qugu, Dazhui, Mingmen, Changqiang, and Haidi . . .

While they were all pressure points along the middle part of the body, the process was not without obstacles .