Chapter 113: Being Chased by Your Own Game Character...

Soon, a cooling sensation spread from Fang Qi's chest. Looking down, he discovered a metal pendant hanging from a fine silver chain around his neck, bearing a striking resemblance to a computer mouse.

One side appeared to be a miniature mouse, while the reverse was etched with intricate patterns. The system description read:

Game Cultivation Chamber Key

Function: Connects to the Game Cultivation Chamber

Instructions: Please use in a secluded place

"...So many restrictions," Fang Qi muttered under his breath, turning to head back upstairs and closing the door behind him.

He sat cross-legged upon his bed and opened the system interface.

He selected "Yes" on the prompt asking whether to use the Game Cultivation Chamber Key.

In that instant, the ambient light around Fang Qi suddenly dimmed.

The scene before him blurred into a haze, as though countless streams of data were rushing past his skin.

He felt his entire body begin to float, as if the very world he inhabited had ceased to exist, carried along by the endless data streams into a strange, foreign realm.

When his feet finally touched solid ground again, he found himself standing in a pitch-black void, completely devoid of any light source.

Just as doubt began to creep in, beams of brilliant light erupted before him, and through the radiance, several deeply familiar figures emerged.

They looked remarkably lifelike, yet stood motionless like statues.

The first was a valiant special forces soldier with short hair, a muscular frame, and a rocket launcher cradled in his arms—Chris.

The second wore heavy, formidable armor, holding a shield in his left hand and a scepter in his right—the Paladin.

The third wore a blue and white Daoist robe, a long sword strapped to his back, his eyes gleaming with a fierce, sword-like intensity—Li Xiaoyao.

"These are..." Fang Qi gasped in astonishment, staring intently at the figures. The ancient Wuchen Sword with its black scabbard and golden patterns on Li Xiaoyao's back was the exact weapon he had used against Baiyue, a memory permanently etched in his mind.

The scepter in the Paladin’s hand and the golden light shield used for the Ancient's Pledge were equally unmistakable.

As for Chris, Fang Qi remembered that after using the Tyrant to practice his rocket launcher, he had left the weapon in Chris's hands rather than putting it away in his inventory before exiting the game.

"Your game characters."

The voice of the system echoed in the void.

"Isn't this place a cultivation chamber?" Fang Qi asked quickly. "Why did you bring my game characters out here?"

At that moment, a new set of instructions materialized beneath the Game Cultivation Chamber section on the system panel:

Instructions: Activate your game character to begin cultivation. The higher the synchronization rate, the more skill experience you will gain.

All perceptions within the chamber, including pain, are set to 'Real' and cannot be adjusted.

Time flows 365 times faster inside the cultivation chamber than in the real world.

This chamber is primarily intended to enhance combat capabilities; other effects are minimal. Please use with discretion.

"365 times faster?" Fang Qi said, taken aback. "Cultivating for a year in here is only a single day outside?"

It sounded incredibly grand, but...

"Other people cultivate for decades or centuries at a time. What use is a single year to me?"

"Please reserve judgment until you have tried it." The system's voice resounded.

"Try it...?" Fang Qi looked at his three game characters with a hint of curiosity. Among them, Li Xiaoyao was naturally the most powerful. Noting that he could obtain skills and cultivation experience, his current heart's desire was naturally the various sword arts of the Shushan Sect. Thus, he chose to activate his character Li Xiaoyao first.

The moment Fang Qi selected activation, colors began to bleed out from beneath Li Xiaoyao's feet, rapidly swallowing the surrounding darkness. In the blink of an eye, the void transformed into the ancient, scenic landscape from The Legend of Sword and Fairy.

Li Xiaoyao was now the only game character remaining before him.

The warrior stood expressionless, his right fingers formed into a sword gesture pointing straight toward the sky.

The sky, the mountains, the lakes, the trees... all the spiritual energy of the surrounding environment seemed to answer his command, surging together to form a colossal, terrifying sword of spiritual energy right above his head.

The Heavenly Sword! And it was the version he had already mastered in the game.

With a swift sweep of the sword gesture,

The gigantic spiritual sword descended like an absolute mountain. Before the blade could even strike, the stray sword qi radiating from it began to slice at Fang Qi's body like razor-sharp knives. Within moments, countless lacerations tore across his flesh.

Having trained the Heavenly Sword from the basic level to mastery, Fang Qi knew its destructive power all too well. If he allowed this colossal sword to fall, even his T-virus enhanced body would be shredded into pieces by the terrifying sword qi long before the blade itself could touch him.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Fang Qi cried out hastily.

In truth, he didn't actually expect the sword to halt. Since this was a cultivation chamber, he assumed he would simply be resurrected after dying.

Yet, to his surprise, the massive sword froze mid-air at his shout. Simultaneously, the system panel began calculating the results.

Current Session: Li Xiaoyao, Heavenly Sword

Synchronization Rate (Heavenly Sword): 0%

Total Synchronization Rate: 0%

Skill Experience Gained for Character Cultivation: 0

Evaluation: You did not come here to cultivate at all.

Fang Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief, staring at the system panel in utter speechlessness. "Throwing the Heavenly Sword at me right from the start? How am I supposed to fight that? Couldn't we start with the basic Sword Controlling Technique or something?"

"The host may make his own selection."

"Make my own selection? How?" Fang Qi scanned the interface closely and discovered that there were indeed further options within the Game Cultivation Chamber.

Clicking through, he saw detailed sub-branches beneath each character. For instance, Chris's profile displayed:

Total Synchronization Rate: 62.11%

Firearms: 75.3%

Combat: 70.66%

Cold Weapons: 62.54%

Ammunition & Firearm Modification: ...

...

Possession of Character's Weapon: Infinite Rocket Launcher

Meets Conditions for Full Synchronization: Yes

"Full Synchronization?" Fang Qi asked aloud. "What does that mean?"

Promptly, an explanation appeared below.

Description: Upon achieving Full Synchronization, the host can temporarily obtain all the power of the character. The duration depends on the synchronization rate and the host's own strength.

Minimum requirements for Full Synchronization: Completion of the game or reaching the proficiency threshold, achieving a 20% synchronization rate with the character, and possessing the character's vital equipment.

"Meaning... not only can I raise my power much faster by cultivating here, but once I succeed, I can also temporarily wield the full might of the character?"

"However..." Fang Qi glanced at his total synchronization rate with Li Xiaoyao: 7%.

He mused doubtfully, "It sounds reliable enough, but where am I supposed to get vital equipment like Li Xiaoyao's Wuchen Sword?"

The system replied, "Please work hard to complete your tasks, host."

Fang Qi: "...Tricking me into working again."

It seemed that, for now, his only choice was to focus entirely on cultivation...

Fang Qi tapped open Li Xiaoyao's character data on the system panel and selected Sword Control Technique cultivation.

Soon enough, a plain, unadorned steel longsword materialized, floating beside Fang Qi and Li Xiaoyao's respective right hands.

The two stood facing each other; with an expressionless face, Li Xiaoyao flicked his fingers into a sword gesture, and his blade rent the void like a falling star, tearing toward Fang Qi's chest with a piercing, razor-sharp howl!

"Holy crap!" Fang Qi cursed inwardly, with no time for secondary thoughts, he scrambled into a desperate side-roll, only to immediately feel a searing, burning pain rip across his back!

Paying no heed to the wound on his back, he saw that under his opponent's mastery of the Sword Control Technique, the sword-light danced like a silver serpent, moving so swiftly it defied the naked eye!

It was glaringly obvious that this autonomously acting game character was vastly more powerful than when he was at the controls!

Fang Qi dodged frantically, manipulating his own longsword to parry the next impending strike!

It was nothing short of a brutal, inhumane persecution!

Fang Qi felt like spitting blood from sheer frustration; if he had known it would come to this, why on earth had he trained Li Xiaoyao to be so monstrously strong?!

.