Chapter 2868: Physical Body

Therefore, after one trial, most players were exhausted and even needed to soak in nutrient solution for several days before they could return to their optimal state.

Ordinary players either focused on cultivating their physique or their spirit, but the difference wasn’t huge. After all, the total attribute value was only around two to three hundred. At most, a gap of about 100 points was the limit. So for them, the backlash from cultivation wasn’t too severe.

Just like Wayne and Su Guantong.

But for the top-tier players, the stronger they were, the more terrifying their overall attributes became, possibly reaching four or five thousand points. The gap became huge in comparison.

Especially those freaks who maximized a single attribute.

Like Charlene.

Charlene focused entirely on cultivating her spirit. Her abilities in the spiritual system were terrifying. Even he admitted he was no match for her.

The first time Charlene entered the trial and cultivated for 60 minutes, he forcibly interrupted her at the 27th level. After leaving the game cabin, Charlene immediately fell into a coma and only gradually recovered after resting for a month.

This kid…

Everyone had been prepared to begin emergency treatment.

But he turned out to be completely fine!

In Benny’s opinion, there might have been only one reason.

His stamina level and psychic force level were about equal.

No.

Judging by the relaxed expression on his face, his stamina level definitely far exceeded his spiritual level!

His psychic force was already so terrifying–his stamina was even stronger?

Where the hell did this monster come from?

“Instructor.” Fang Heng looked around at the strange atmosphere and couldn’t help but break the silence, looking at Benny. “I feel great. There’s no need for a full-body check. We can continue.”

Several assistants shook their heads and smiled bitterly at Fang Heng’s words.

Don’t try it again. This time, all the black fog crystal cores that were brought were used up.

Benny was silent for a moment, then said, “There’s no rush, Fang Heng. Your body condition is rather special.”

“Special?”

“Simply put, the difficulty of unlocking is related to the player’s strength. After reaching a certain level, the stronger the player is, the harder it becomes to unlock.”

Benny explained, “Your strength is among the top of all players. The energy density you absorb is hundreds of times that of a normal person. So your consumption alone is equivalent to hundreds of people.”

Fang Heng frowned, looking a bit doubtful. What did he mean? Was he complaining that he consumed too much?

Old man, are you trying to raise the price on purpose?

Fang Heng tested the waters by asking, “Instructor, you mean… I need to pay additional contribution points?”

“That’s not the issue. We’re currently short on materials.”

“What materials?”

“Black Fog crystal cores.”

Fang Heng’s eyes lit up, and he pulled out the two Black Fog cores he had previously obtained by destroying the Pillar of the Game from his backpack. “Instructor, are these enough?”

“Oh?”

Benny saw the large and small cores in Fang Heng’s hands, and a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes, “I didn’t expect you to have high-grade Black Fog crystals. They can be used for a while. It can let you try again and increase your mission completion rate by 4%. But it’s still far from enough to complete the trial.”

“Alright.” Fang Heng said as he put away the Black Fog cores. “I understand. So what do you want me to do next?”

“Wait. Since I’ve promised to help you with the ‘lock’ cultivation, I won’t go back on my word. We’ll find a way to obtain more Black Fog crystals, but it will take some time.”

“In the meantime, if you’re interested, you can also help us find some Black Fog crystals to speed up the process.”

Benny paused and added, “Also, you should have realized this too–the stronger the player is in the game, the harder it becomes to unlock the lock. What you experienced was only the mid-stage of the trial.”

“With your current condition, as the completion rate of absorbing the Black Fog energy increases, your absorption speed will gradually slow down. If you want to progress more smoothly in the future, you’ll need to cultivate in fields like mental strength, psychic studies, occult, elemental science, and other related disciplines.”

Fang Heng thought for a while.

Alright.

Then start with grandmaster-level psychic studies.

Psychic ability greatly enhanced the spirit body, and the spawns already had available skill books. He just needed to collect enough contribution points to redeem them.

It was just that Captain Zoran had run into some trouble. Before the mainframe communication network was repaired, it was temporarily impossible to exchange ores for materials.

He considered changing locations.

The Federation probably had more than one mission point for mercenaries.

Also, the Black Fog crystal cores weren’t easy to get. Running all over the world to find the Pillars of Black Fog was troublesome just thinking about it. Better to let the Western District Federation figure something out.

“Fang Heng…”

Benny looked at Fang Heng, who was deep in thought, and said, “If you don’t mind, I have a proposal. Would you like to hear it?”

“Oh?” Fang Heng looked at Benny. “What is it?”

“There’s an advanced game battlefield. We really need people to join. Unfortunately, the strength level of ordinary mercenary players isn’t enough. And due to trust issues, we don’t want to let them in. But you’re different.”

Benny stared at Fang Heng. “You’re very strong. I can personally vouch for you to enter that game world. You can obtain contribution points faster there and exchange them for Black Fog cores. The only condition is–you must promise me that everything you see and hear in that game must stay secret forever.”

“You mean exchanging Black Fog cores directly from the game?”

Fang Heng narrowed his eyes, recalling the suspicions recently shared by Archbishop Wolff from the Holy Court.

Bishop Wolff believed that the one secretly spreading the Black Fog across the world was the Western District Federation military itself.

If the Federation could exchange Black Fog crystal cores directly from the game, did that mean they had already mastered the way to open the Pillars of Black Fog?

Benny didn’t answer–he simply looked at Fang Heng.

“Alright, I agree.”

“Good. I’ll personally help you fill out the application. It’ll be approved within two hours. In the meantime, I’ll have someone take you to rest. For safety reasons, we still need to do a simple body check.”

Benny waved to a soldier beside him, watching as Fang Heng was led out of the hall.

A trusted subordinate walked up beside Benny and said, “Instructor.”

“Have the background checks been completed?”

“We ran comparisons. There is no record of a person named Fang Heng in the data archive.”

The soldier stepped forward and said, “Based on facial recognition, height, fingerprint, iris scan, and blood sample, Fang Heng does not match the World Lord from the Eastern Federation at all.”

“But the lab has some feedback…”

“What is it?”

“I brought the person to report to you in person.”

As he spoke, the soldier gestured toward the door, and several others led the head of the research department from Star Map Control Headquarters into the hall.