68: Chapter 68 Gravity Manipulation: From Beginner to Expert, Encountering Children Fighting
He reached out, picked up the empty mineral water bottle from the coffee table, and handed it to Teacher Su, saying, "This is my heart."
Teacher Su blinked, and before she could process the sentiment, she saw his fingers close. With a 'clack,' the plastic water bottle was instantly crushed into a crumpled ball.
"This is what it looks like after being hurt. Now, tell it you're sorry."
Teacher Su suppressed a laugh and played along, leaning close to the bottle and whispering softly, "I'm sorry."
"Did it change back?"
"Can this even change back?"
Yun Zhuo handed the bottle to her, looking mysterious. "Try blowing on it. Maybe it'll work."
Teacher Su took the bottle and froze for two seconds before laughing. "You brat, you were waiting for me here, weren't you? So, do I need to go buy some popping candy now too?"
Yun Zhuo immediately sat up excitedly. "Well, that would be great."
"Hmph~" Teacher Su glared at him, stood up, and headed toward the bedroom. "Wait for me to change my clothes, then I'll go downstairs and buy some for you."
"Remember to buy some jelly too."
"Okay, anything else?"
"That's all. Eating too much late at night isn't good."
"It's fine, I have a good appetite. Not like you, you stingy little miser."
...
The next day, Yun Zhuo discovered that both he and Teacher Su had leveled up again.
Don't overthink it; it was mainly because they had used the Energy Accumulation Serum, plus Teacher Su had absorbed ten thousand corrosion crystals overnight.
And this wasn't even Teacher Su's limit, nor was it his own.
Upon arriving at the Sunset Plain, the two of them used another serum, hoping to boost the leveling effect by fighting Mutated Beasts.
Although Yun Zhuo planned to level up using runes, since these serums were already bought, it would be a waste not to use them.
At the same time, fighting Mutated Beasts could increase his combat experience.
However, he found that the Rank 10 to 15 Mutated Beasts here were no longer a challenge for him to kill.
Gaining combat experience was out of the question.
To avoid wasting the serum, Yun Zhuo searched his wrist terminal for the farming spots used by Gold Farmers.
It was just like a fisherman's favorite spots; people wouldn't share the good ones at first, but over time, someone would eventually get lonely and come out to show off.
They would flaunt the places where the 'bite' was good.
Furthermore, there were now many streamers on the internet who had made gold farming their main profession, specifically looking for those high-yield locations to broadcast.
Yun Zhuo and Teacher Su only needed to follow these locations.
Where Gold Farmers farmed, there would undoubtedly be many Mutated Beasts; otherwise, what would they be farming?
The two of them searched through the coordinates one by one and finally stopped at a place called Danxia Valley.
The Mutated Beasts here were of high quality, all above Rank 20.
At the same time, they were numerous; while not as many as at the Temple of the God of Wealth, it was at least worth several Sunset Plains.
They were all in groups of three to five, and because of the terrain constraints, the two only had to kill their way from one end of the valley to the other, without having to search the whole world like they did in the Sunset Plain.
Rank 20 Mutated Beasts had large areas of their exoskeletons metallicized; they were faster, tougher, and their metallic claws and teeth had higher attack power.
Gold Farmers came here primarily to farm gold and make money, and incidentally to scavenge some metallic claws and teeth to sell back home.
Yun Zhuo came here to hone his talent skill, Gravity Manipulation.
By changing the direction of gravity, he could not only make himself fly but also repel Mutated Beasts pouncing at him, and even smash them into the ground the moment they were repelled.
This was equivalent to being able to deflect an opponent's attack and restrict their movement; the consumption of psionic energy was proportional to the attacker's strength.
The higher the proficiency, the lower the consumption.
Unfortunately, the skills given by the System could not be directly upgraded through top-ups like Martial Skills; he had to figure them out and refine them himself.
One had to realize that the System's account balance currently held over 27 billion; if money could solve it, what skill couldn't be maxed out?
But for now, he could only use it to synthesize runes.
As time passed, Yun Zhuo's control over the direction of gravity became more agile and precise.
He could use different magnitudes of gravity in various directions to accelerate himself.
This included not just movement and evasion, but also the speed of his spear thrusts and kicks.
By independently changing the weight of an object—for instance, making the long spear heavier and then giving it a gravitational pull to speed up the thrust—the same amount of force could produce much greater destructive power.
By the same logic, he could also make Teacher Su's high heels heavier; combined with her high defense and the sturdiness of the shoes, a single kick could deliver several times the destructive power.
She could even kick a Rank 23 Mutated Beast until it literally exploded.
Beyond that, Yun Zhuo discovered he could create a gravitational core to forcibly attract all surrounding objects over a wide area.
However, because the psionic energy consumption was too great, with his current psionic energy, he could only maintain it for thirty seconds at most. Furthermore, the suction wasn't very strong—it couldn't even pull in Mutated Beasts a hundred meters away—so for now, it seemed useless.
But if he had enough psionic energy, creating a black hole by hand wouldn't be a problem.
Although the applications Yun Zhuo had realized were useful, under full exertion, he could currently only use them continuously for three minutes before his psionic energy was completely exhausted.
Ultimately, it was still because his Rank was too low.
After clearing Danxia Valley back and forth twice, it was afternoon. The two, who hadn't expected to level up, had underestimated the potential of the Imperial Rank and overestimated the difficulty of leveling.
They had unknowingly reached Rank 16.
At the same time, Yun Zhuo successfully integrated Gravity Manipulation into his spear techniques, and he could apply it in tiered increments to save psionic energy.
This way, he wouldn't expose his true strength all at once.
Simply put, when others thought he could only stay in first gear, he could actually shift to sixth; if they tried to easily handle him with second gear, weren't they just asking for death?
"Teacher Su, where do you think those Mutated Beasts actually come from?"
Yun Zhuo leaned over Teacher Su's brand flying motorcycle, gently twisting the throttle as they sped toward the setting sun.
The aircraft skimmed over the wasteland, leaving a long trail of dust behind, like a shallow scratch on the golden Gobi desert.
The next second, Su Qingyuan's voice echoed in his consciousness, carrying a hint of casual bewilderment. "I don't know. Why the sudden question?"
"Don't you find it strange? Those Mutated Beasts are like monsters spawning on a timer in a game; it always makes me feel like this world isn't real."
"Hmm..."
Teacher Su's voice paused as if she were thinking seriously. A moment later, it came through again with a soft, steady certainty. "I don't care if this world is real or not. I just know that you are real.
You're by my side, you can talk to me, and you can go through all this trouble with me. That's enough for me."
Yun Zhuo felt a warmth in his heart and couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile. He suddenly twisted the aircraft's throttle.
The engine let out a sharp roar, the speed surged, the dust trail behind them stretched longer, and the headwind became even more fierce.
Danxia Valley was beyond the third sentry tower, quite a distance from the road back to the city. If they didn't hurry, they might not make it back to Dawn City before dark.
But just as the aircraft crossed the second sentry tower, a large cloud of dust suddenly kicked up ahead. A group of people was fighting there.
The clashing of weapons drifted over with the wind.
Yun Zhuo squinted to take a look and couldn't help but frown.
When it came to Martial Skills, there were set routines and Moves when practicing, but when it came to an actual fight, who would still follow those routines so rigidly?
But looking at the group ahead, they were fighting as if they were exchanging Moves in a martial arts movie.
To a layman, it looked exciting, but to a pro, it was just embarrassing.
Strangely, on either side of the fighting crowd stood six or seven people with their arms crossed, watching coldly. From time to time, they would even point and offer guidance, as if they were watching a show.
"Xiao Zhuo, should we go around them?"
"Ha, it's just a bunch of kids fighting. No need to detour." With that, he gently twisted the throttle again, and the aircraft flew steadily toward the crowd.
Just then, a fellow ran out from the crowd.
"Brother Zhuo, Brother Zhuo! Help me, Brother Zhuo..."