Is this a new add-on to Internal Power?
Elated, Dugu went onto the skills page and saw two big blinking words: “Inner Vision . ” Note: Passive skill, could be used to examine reserve power during meditation to prevent loss of sanity .
He opened the player’s journal; there was only one line: “Congratulations, Player Dugu Hong, you’ve received Inner Consciousness + 2, Inner Understanding + 1, Adventure Value + 10, and Reputation Value + 50 . ”
His excitement dimmed . The journal was clear in that Inner Vision was useless, and as for the four rewards . . .
It could be said the game was pretty stingy .
He sighed at how cheap the game was and then turned on Inner Vision .
Light—something he hadn’t seen for three years—appeared . There was a human-shaped blue blob with something white and glowing moving inside, leaving dots in its path . The dots seemed to be glowing brighter . . .
Obviously, this was a picture of internal power moving inside the body: the dots were the power channels, and the white light streams were internal power .
This was the so-called Inner Vision? Dugu almost laughed .
But then he realized that there was more to the image . He needed to zoom in .
In the upper right-hand corner was a number: 42480/159882 . The first number was his current Internal Power, but what did the second number mean?
Dugu also realized that for every glowing channel, no matter the color, there was also a small number . The numbers differed depending on their location; some were around 800, while the lowest was thirty or forty .
As the light streams cycled every ten minutes, at least one number changed—either the number on the power channel became bigger, or his Internal Power grew by one .
Every cycle meant at least one number grew bigger .
After half an hour, the number in the upper right-hand corner turned into 42481/159885 .
What did it mean?
Dugu Hong didn’t understand .
He went from the game to the gaming forum and back again, but remained puzzled .
There was nothing about “Inner Vision,” “Power Channel,” etc . . . It looked like no other player had reached this level yet .
Dugu had no choice but to figure it out himself . He tried playing with the cycles, and watching the numbers change on the dots and streams .
Dugu had no choice but to figure it out himself . He tried playing with the cycles, and watching the numbers change on the dots and streams .
Six in-game days passed quickly, and he finally figured out some rules of the game mechanics .
The Internal Power shown was not the Total Internal Power . It could be freely adjusted . The second number was the actual Total Internal Power .
Internal Power that couldn’t be adjusted was scattered throughout the various channels; their numbers added up equaled the difference between free Internal Power and Total Internal Power .
Dugu decided to call the number on each Power Channel the Pressure Point Number .
…………
However, these revelations didn’t seem to be very useful; his Internal Power still simply circulated in his body in a big or small cycle .
The skills merely gave him impractical hope, as if he was watching the stars with a telescope; though the stars seemed close enough to touch, he could not change them in any way .
As he was kicked out of the game, he thought that it was time to go to the library tomorrow to research Power Channels and Pressure Points .
****
When Dugu opened his eyes, his world woke up . The light came on in his room and the projector turned on to show the morning news, repeating those new yet old bits of information .
A buzz came on in the kitchen; it was the old-style microwave working . “Pfft,” the home robot sighed as it pushed open the door to pick up the day’s delivery of milk, paper, and mail .
A buzz came on in the kitchen; it was the old-style microwave working . “Pfft,” the home robot sighed as it pushed open the door to pick up the day’s delivery of milk, paper, and mail .
The whole subdivision was filling with sounds and noises .
Everyone was used to this kind of life now .
Every night was known as the “eight hours which extended your life . ” Others may not be playing games during those hours, but they definitely weren’t working . They could do anything they wanted—except of course, the workaholics .
No one complained about needing more downtime, since everyone rested six days a week and worked only one day .
“Your mail . ” The robot heated up the milk, and seeing Dugu had finished getting ready, handed him various white envelopes .
Dugu wasn’t surprised; it was the May 10th—time to pay his monthly bills .
There was something from the bank, and the bills for water, electricity, gas, oil, phone, internet, gaming, robot maintenance, property management . . .
The bills that reminded you of the many services you had enjoyed over the past month .
“You can pay them . ” Dugu didn’t want to torture himself, nor did he want to waste words .
“But, there’s not enough balance in the bank account, not enough for this month, and for next month . . . ”
“Use my college tuition savings . ” Dugu finished the bread in three bites .
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