Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

In less than thirty minutes of entering the game, Ruo Manni had already earned three credit points in War Realm, which greatly boosted her spirits. This was the first amount of credit she had personally earned in this world, and although it was a small sum, it held significant meaning for her.

Ruo Manni’s current credit points were all left to her by the original owner’s mother. While she wasn’t overly sentimental, using someone else’s money while occupying their body felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Earning her own money was different; it felt fulfilling and grounded to use her own hard-earned resources.

Ruo Manni opened the upgrade gift pack stored in her inventory. Inside, she found a pair of mech knee pads and a jade slip. She wasn’t sure what the knee pads were for, and the system didn’t provide any explanations.

However, given the nature of a game like War Realm, she knew that the items provided must be useful. So, she placed them in her bag, planning to ask someone about them once she returned to Starfish City, or to check the player forums in the game where other players might have discussed it.

Having learned from her previous experience, Ruo Manni realized that the information in the jade slip was a skill. She pressed the slip to her forehead and was delighted to discover it was a technique for cultivating mental strength: Psychic Meditation.

Meditation implied a state of stillness. As a Psychic Master, players could sit or lie down in a safe environment to “meditate” using their mental power, enhancing their telekinetic strength.

Since Psychic Meditation was likely an auxiliary skill, there was no proficiency progress bar. However, Ruo Manni understood it was a method for cultivating mental strength, as the original owner had practiced similar meditation techniques since the age of thirteen in the real world.

So, Ruo Manni earnestly attempted to meditate for half an hour, feeling her mental strength increase noticeably. In comparison, she found this method of cultivating mental power far superior to the original owner’s basic meditation technique.

It was important to note that the meditation technique the original owner had practiced was a basic one that Teresa Du had acquired at great expense. This Psychic Meditation, however, seemed even better. Ruo Manni couldn’t help but wonder if what War Realm had given her was possibly a technique of a higher level than the basic human-level techniques.

In the novel, heavenly-level techniques were typically found only in prestigious families with a lineage, while newly rich and ordinary families mostly practiced human-level techniques. Yet War Realm casually provided players with heavenly-level techniques, and the rulers of the Gus Empire seemed so generous.

However, Ruo Manni felt something was off. According to the novel, the best skills players learned in War Realm were supposedly just human-level techniques, so how had she learned a heavenly-level skill?

If heavenly-level techniques were commonly given to players in War Realm and could genuinely be cultivated in reality… Ruo Manni felt she couldn’t fully grasp the implications of that.

Was there a plot in the novel about this that hadn’t been revealed? Yet, she remembered several instances where the protagonist, Mina-Olli, looked down on the human-level techniques provided in War Realm. Mina-Olli had even discovered that she could autonomously cultivate heavenly-level techniques within the game.

This made Ruo Manni suspect that the
War Realm in reality was somewhat different from the one depicted in the novel. She wondered if this was a variable, and if so, it would certainly be beneficial to players.

However, she wasn’t sure about these differences and set them aside for now, turning her attention to her upgraded stats.

After reaching Level 1, Ruo Manni’s player information showed notable changes, while her original attribute values remained unchanged.

– Player ID: Lin Kexin
– Player Level: Level 1
– Experience Bar: 100/1000
– Mana Points: 540/540
– Health Points: 2985/3000
– Learned Skill: Telekinesis
– Skill Level: Level 1
– Skill Proficiency: 11/100
– Casting Range: 7 meters
– Damage: Indeterminable

After killing ten Level 1 grass monsters, Ruo Manni had only consumed 20 mana points and 15 health points. When she attempted to cultivate “Psychic Meditation” earlier, her mana points had fully recovered, while her health points were almost completely restored. This indicated that practicing “Psychic Meditation” in War Realm consumed health points instead of mana.

However, Ruo Manni’s health points were extremely high, giving her plenty of time to level up again.

She decided to continue with her task and quickly reach Level 2. If she had enough time afterward, she planned to check out the Mech Manufacturing Association in Starfish City.

Ruo Manni’s Level 2 upgrade task was to kill 100 Level 1 grass monsters, which increased the difficulty tenfold.

Fortunately, her previous task wasn’t in vain. With her improved experience in accurately and effectively forming her telekinetic “hand,” and with her player level increased—along with a significant boost in health and mana points—she had an extra two meters of safety distance.

Determined, Ruo Manni decided to try a more aggressive approach. Instead of slowly pushing the grass monsters, she grabbed one with her “hand” and threw it off the cliff.

The difficulty of throwing ten grass monsters compared to one hundred wasn’t just multiplied tenfold. Ruo Manni didn’t know how others fared, but by the time she had thrown 89 grass monsters, she began to feel her telekinetic “hand” becoming somewhat strained.

Moreover, from that point on, mana consumption doubled, and her health points started to drop by 5 or 6 at a time. By the time she reached the 95th grass monster, mana consumption had risen to 3 points per throw, and her health was plummeting by tens at a time.

In War Realm, if a player dies in the game, everything in their account except for game currency is formatted, forcing them to start over. Additionally, if a player dies more than three times, they are kicked out of the game and can only log back in after six months. Therefore, leveling up makes death an unbearable pain for players.

For War Realm players, losing health points is much more frightening than losing mana points. If mana runs out, they simply become temporarily unable to fight; losing health points, however, means death.

Fortunately, Ruo Manni’s health points were three times the average. Otherwise, with the way her health was dropping, she would have been too anxious to continue.

Of course, with losses come gains. While her health points were plummeting, her experience points were increasing exponentially.

In War Realm, monster-killing tasks come with a time limit. Once a player starts a task, they must complete it within the specified time. If they fail, they have to start from scratch, and with each repetition, the task becomes slightly harder to complete.

Ruo Manni felt fatigued at that moment, but unless her health points were about to hit zero, she wouldn’t give up.

Although the game of killing grass monsters seemed simple, the process was honing her mental strength and the precision of her telekinesis. The greater the intensity, the more significant the progress. Ruo Manni was determined to advance quickly; unless her health points were critically low, she would never back down.