Sword Among Us
Sword Among Us - Chapter 9: South China Martial Arts Ranking Board

Chapter 9: South China Martial Arts Ranking Board

“Happy.”

Right when he logged out of the game and before he could even climb out of his bed, Happy saw a dark face in front of him. There were black bags under the person’s eyes, making him look like Kayako from the Grudge. Chen Fan impatiently dragged a certain person who was still badly shaken by that sight in front of his computer.

“Hurry up. Enter this website and register your name. You’re the only one left.”

“For what?”

Happy yawned because he was not interested in becoming a member of anything at all. He rubbed his eyes. “I’m not interested in collecting those videos from Japan, and stop talking about Sora Aoi or Maria Ozawa—Ack!” Before he could finish speaking, he was hit hard in the head, and his mind became much clearer. His gaze landed on the bright screen.

“South China Martial Arts Ranking Board?”

Memories from his previous life rose in his mind, and Happy came to a realization. ‘Oh, it’s THIS one.’

After World of Martial Arts was launched, the University of South China followed the trend of playing the game, and after a month, the game became popular among the students. The Three Lonely Wolves were the most radical of the bunch, and once they realized the powerful effects of World of Martial Arts, they used a few nights to create a website for the students of the University of South China to talk about the game.

The homepage published the names and information of a few influential people, and it showed a few skills from World of Martial Arts. There were even walkthroughs for some quests, which made the website very useful and eye-catching!

‘They still did it, huh?’

Happy sat down in front of the computer and felt his thoughts become livelier.

He remembered that while South China Martial Arts Ranking Board was strictly for the students from the University of South China who played World of Martial Arts, it was further developed in the future so other universities could also join in, and later on, some powerful players showed up. The website had good advertising effects and economic returns. In fact, it even took the reins for announcing all quests and quest details from World of Martial Arts. Of course, this feature was only available for members who registered on the website.

“Not bad, right?”

When he saw that the fruits of his labor were taken seriously, Chen Fan felt his pride swell in a way that he could not describe. He went to the dress mirror at the corner of the dorm and combed his hair.

“This is the result of three days of work. It was officially launched yesterday night, and now, we have more than three hundred registered users. The numbers are still rising, and I was thinking, if I don’t bring you in, the others will say we aren’t united.”

Before he finished speaking, he heard the sound of someone typing beside him.

Happy registered as a member in a well-practiced motion, still using Happy as his username. His rank was… right at the bottom of South China Martial Arts Ranking Board. He was 341st.

“Put in your highest level martial art skill and qi cultivation technique. Based on the table of information from the official website, the website will automatically give you a rank. By the way, Happy, how many martial art skills have you learned?” Chen Fan asked curiously while turning to look at him.

Happy did not answer him. Instead, he swiftly entered his data in the table of information. [Shaolin’s Long Fist: Lvl 67.7. Complete Reality Qi Cultivation Technique: Lvl 44.5]

Surprised, Chen Fan nodded repeatedly while standing behind him.

“Wow, not bad. You actually managed to reach the seventh realm so soon… It’s a pity that it’s Shaolin’s Long Fist. This sort of martial art emphasizing on hard techniques is rather rigid. Oh well, no matter. I heard from White that once your martial art reaches the ninth realm, your qi will also start increasing. Try to work hard to make it reach that level over the next few days, and you should be able to rank in the top thirty in the ranking board.”

Only those whose martial art reached the ninth realm could enter the top thirty in South China Martial Arts Ranking Board. This was a rather shocking matter, because it meant that there were quite a few people who had already reached this realm.

But Happy was absolutely not puzzled by this.

He keyed in his information, and his ranking instantly rose from 341st to 279th.

The speed in which Shaolin’s Long Fist leveled up might be quick, but since Happy did not have any lightness skill, the level of Happy’s qi cultivation technique was far behind, and he had also wasted a week feeding pets, so he had squandered quite some time in the process. It was normal for him to rank far behind the others.

Also, in a university where the exchange of information was done frequently, many people spoke to others while they threw themselves into their training. Hence, they could gather information everywhere, and they were very well-informed. Besides, when young people decided to be serious, their passion and explosive energy could astonish everyone. They would not be any less good than professional gamers. Reaching the ninth realm in around a month’s time was not shocking.

But Chen Fan was mistaken about something.

There was no need for anyone to spend so much time to reach the ninth realm.

The Murong Clan did not give Happy any quests, so he had an entire day to train. If he used all his energy to increase his level, he should be able to enter the ninth realm by the end of the day.

However, this was nothing compared to his excitement when he saw a few familiar names.

A smile blossomed on his face that spoke of him foreseeing what would happen in the future. He scrolled down with his mouse in interest to check the names and levels of the people who ranked above.

Just as he expected, the list was the same as in his previous life. The gentle and quiet vice-class rep of Class 1, Brother Tea Words, was ranked first. He had Wudang Sect’s Pine Sword Technique, and the level of that technique was at Level 89.7 (peak of the ninth realm). With just one more step, he could reach the tenth realm. He was the first person to discover that there were more opportunities at night rather than during the day, and he was also the first person to enter Gate Realm!

Butt Shaker.

Puffy God.

NotaRascal.

Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes.

Young Lonely Seven.

Young Lonely White.

These people were at the top of South China Martial Arts Ranking Board, and they were also the pillars of the University of South China. All of them possessed martial arts that were at the ninth realm, and they had garnered quite a reputation for themselves in World of Martial Arts. It was especially so for Phoenix Dances in Beautiful Robes.

This person even created her own Beautiful Robes Faction, and in three years, there would be ten people who would enter the top one thousand from it in the international Sword Among Us tournament. And one of them… would be Happy!

However, as everyone graduated and went to different positions or joined different social circles, they would no longer have the passion from before. They would also be more rational and fickle when they handled certain matters.

At that moment, Happy would leave Beautiful Robes Faction because of one matter!

It was then that someone would attack him while he was weak. He would be ambushed and killed repeatedly at the foot of Shaoshi Mountain until his qi realm plummeted down the drain.

World of Martial Arts was a game where if a person died once, they would be considered to have been injured severely and only be able to bring out seventh-tenths of their original power while the remaining three-tenths of qi would be lost. They would not be able to recover within a short period of time unless they had valuable ingredients to create elixirs. Otherwise, they would have to go through a long period of time nourishing the body.

After Happy was severely injured multiple times, his realm fell from Life and Death Realm to Gate Realm. He also had to leave the Sword Among Us tournament in Mount Hua because of an inexplicable loss. His three years of hard work had gone away like the wind. Because of that, he had become disheartened and quit World of Martial Arts.

When he thought about it in retrospect, there were many mysteries surrounding the matter.

At that thought, his eyes flashed with resolution.

Since the heavens gave him a chance to begin anew, he would naturally not let the tragedy of his past life repeat itself!

He WOULD join the Sword Among Us tournament in Mount Hua!

“Alright, you continue reading, I’ll go back and train my skills. Making a website wastes too much time. By the way, Happy, if you don’t understand anything, just send a messenger pigeon to me. You know my name, right?”

Chen Fan made a phone call gesture before he went to his bed.

“Alright.”

Happy returned his gaze to the screen and browsed through the website in general before remembering the very important strategic goal that had made him log out of the game—breakfast.