Chapter 7: Level One Access
"The number of pre-registrations is increasing—does it have this effect too?"
Lin Qi stared at the system notification in the bottom left corner of his vision, curiosity piqued as he tapped on the "Level 1 Selective Admission Privilege."
The Level 1 Selective Admission Privilege is a hidden Tier 1 permission. The host possesses the following capabilities:
1. The host can proactively establish criteria for assessing players. Players who pass the assessment will be selectively introduced into the world.
2. The host can enable or disable the players' autonomous interface system, allowing players to view their own basic data at any time.
3. The host can extract experience and inheritance from a player once per day, up to a maximum of five times daily. Each player can only have their experience extracted once per day.
"Did this system take some kind of performance-enhancing drug?"
After reviewing the newly acquired system permissions, Lin Qi felt as though he were seeing the Martial Arts Inheritance System for the first time. It was absolutely insane! It was like an elderly man on the verge of death suddenly transforming into a vigorous, energetic young lad.
Previously, Lin Qi had been quite troubled by the prospect of introducing players, primarily because their physical fitness would, to a certain extent, reflect their original state from the Blue Star, not to mention the issue of age. This High Martial World was not a virtual simulation but a real world. Players did not enjoy the benefit of "leveling up" by killing monsters; to improve, they had to do exactly what the inhabitants of this world did. And when it came to becoming a martial artist, the younger, the better. If a seventy or eighty-year-old were introduced into this High Martial World, the slot would essentially be wasted. If he could establish an assessment before players entered, it would undoubtedly drastically reduce the waste of admission slots.
As for the players' autonomous interface, for Lin Qi, who was currently racking his brain over how to motivate them, it was like a shot of adrenaline. It’s a game, after all—without intuitive data showing improvement and progress, how could he expect players to risk their lives? Furthermore, having a player interface would make this world feel more like a game, which was crucial. After all, different perceptions lead to different attitudes toward actions.
"But what exactly does 'extracting experience and inheritance' mean? And why is it limited to five times a day?" Lin Qi glanced at the third new permission and, on a whim, selected Fang Zhen from the player list.
*Extract!*
Suddenly, Lin Qi felt his mind go blank, as if a gust of air had been injected deep into his brain.
"Empty?" Lin Qi looked toward Fang Zhen, who was heading down into the cave, feeling somewhat stunned. "Does he not have a brain?"
Extracting experience and inheritance, taken literally, should mean pulling some form of memory or experience from the player, yet he had extracted absolutely nothing from Fang Zhen.
In this situation, aside from the possibility that Fang Zhen was already dead, the only other explanation was that he had no brain; without a brain, there could be no talk of memory extraction.
"I suppose Fang Zhen just doesn't have any thoughts—he doesn't use his brain in daily life, so the system couldn't extract anything," Lin Qi pondered. He concluded that Fang Zhen's brain must be too empty, which was why nothing could be retrieved. He then clicked on *Gods of Twilight*.
*Extract!*
This shy-looking college student had a mind that was incredibly active. Even before digging the cave earlier that day, he had already planned a blueprint, intending to turn the underground area of the martial arts gym into an ecological park. This park was divided into three levels and twelve zones, all connected by passages, with vertical access between each layer—he was practically trying to turn the High Martial World into *Minecraft*.
As Lin Qi chose to extract, a puff of air was again injected deep into his mind.
"Is he also brainless?" Lin Qi was shocked. It was one thing for Fang Zhen to be empty-headed, but he hadn't expected the same from *Gods of Twilight*. Who exactly was he recruiting into this High Martial World?
"Whatever, I'll just treat it like a system gacha game."
Lin Qi stopped overthinking it and decided to use up the remaining extractions for the day. He chose *Wu Shang*. Since he only had five attempts a day and each person could only be tapped once, he might as well use them.
*Ding!*
"This is..."
Before Lin Qi could react, a massive surge of memories and sensations flooded into his brain. These memories quickly merged with his own, becoming indistinguishable. Immediately after, a system notification sounded in his ears.
*System: Congratulations to the host for reaching the Entry Level of the Divine Startling Breathing Technique.*
Lin Qi looked at the notification in his vision, completely bewildered.
*Divine Startling Breathing Technique?*
*System, are you being serious?*
He had just casually taken a half-finished elementary school textbook that had been sitting in the gym for a hundred years, renamed it, and split it into three volumes—upper, middle, and lower—for Wu Shang and the others to study. He hadn't even known if it was possible to learn it; after all, learning such breathing techniques usually required expert instruction. If practiced incorrectly, one could easily ruin their lungs and body.
And now, it was telling him that he had mastered the Divine Startling Breathing Technique? Of course, the one who had truly mastered it was Wu Shang; he had merely received the experience.
"Is the real name of that fitness breathing technique actually the Divine Startling Breathing Technique?" Lin Qi opened his data panel, momentarily doubting whether he had misread the elementary school textbook he had found.
Host: Lin Qi
Age: 25
Permission Level: Level 1 Selective Admission
Martial Arts Rank: Preliminary Quasi-Apprentice
Strength: 92.2 kg (Quasi-Apprentice Standard: 100 kg)
Speed: 8.9 m/s (Quasi-Apprentice Standard: 10 m/s)
Exercise Method: Divine Startling Breathing Technique (First Level Entry 3%)
Available Player Slots: 10 (Current online limit: 3; Current pre-registrations: 10,352)
"Just 3% of the first level, and my strength increased by 0.2 kg instantly. I'm not seeing things, am I?" Lin Qi couldn't help but pull out the half-torn fitness breathing book, only to find that no matter how many times he looked, it was still just a fitness breathing book. "Could it be that the fitness breathing techniques from a hundred years ago were actually this powerful?"
An increase of 0.2 kg seemed small, far less than the 1.4 kg boost Fang Zhen gained from inhaling toxic gas, but he had merely adjusted his breathing once. To gain 0.2 kg from a single attempt was far more efficient than what Fang Zhen had achieved after a whole day of inhaling poison. Moreover, practicing the Divine Startling Breathing Technique had no side effects. Compared to training methods that carried the risk of death, this was a massive boon for him. With this technique, Lin Qi felt he might actually have a chance to challenge the legendary realm of a true Martial Artist.
"That Wu Shang is truly a little monster. She managed to force her way into mastering even this half-finished breathing technique. If she were to learn top-tier training methods, she would absolutely take off," Lin Qi mused, looking at Wu Shang's name, which had now turned gray.
What is a genius? This is a genius! Such beings are not buried by the era; rather, they become even more dazzling because of it.
"It seems I'll need to carefully select a batch of geniuses in the future." Thinking of the extraction permission he possessed, Lin Qi felt more than ever how necessary it was to bring in real talent.
Lin Qi immediately activated the first and second permissions. At that moment, whether it was Fang Zhen, *Gods of Twilight*, or Wu Shang—who were all busy digging and training—or the players on Blue Star waiting in line to connect, almost everyone received the new notification at the exact same time.