<h4>Chapter 20: The Rewards of the Meteor Rank</h4>


    "Congrattions on your victory in the duel, Defender Yuan. Your ount has received 2000 Blue Star Coins, which can be transferred to..." Li Yuan had already received a reminder from the Star Combat Network.


    The bet between the two parties was agreed upon before the match, and Lin Lanyue had transferred the funds in advance. Therefore, as soon as he won, the money was immediately credited to Li Yuan''s ount.


    "Near-realbat without worrying about injury is indeed more satisfying than painstaking practice in reality." Li Yuan grinned, "It''s just a pity that it''s not 100% realistic, not that thrilling."


    In this era, why do martial arts masters emerge inrge numbers? The virtualwork has an irreceable role.


    For example, the Starry Sky Combat Network has many ws, such as the inability to fully simte real-life moves, and some data may be distorted. It also cannot scan each person''s real physical data; the data of the consciousness body and the real body differ and cannot bepletely consistent.


    However, through consciousness connection, participants can still engage in arge number of battles and moves that are difficult to continuously experiment with in reality. In realbat, one mistake can mean serious injury or death.


    In the past, how many realbats could a martial artist experience in a lifetime? Most of them practiced alone, and having a few sparring partners was already good. But in this era, every martial artist can experience thousands of virtual battles before fighting star beasts in realbat, which not only improves their training efficiency by ten or a hundred times but also hones their mentality, courage, and skills.


    In the battle between Li Yuan and Lin Lanyue, both were over 16 years old, so the blood and severed limbs simted during the fight were very realistic. However, due to their age, the pain sensation was only 10%. For adultpetitors, the minimum pain setting is 20%, and the highest can be adjusted to a staggering 80%, infinitely close to a life-and-death fight.


    "Starry Sky Combat Network is essentially a realbat training camp for martial artists," Li Yuan sighed.


    The entire human civilization now revolves around ''war.''


    Li Yuan and Lin Lanyue fought fiercely. The battle ended in less than a minute. After all, with each strike of their spear and sword weighing over a thousand kilograms, catching a single w meant certain death.


    Before Li Yuan''s explosive strike, many students still thought Lin Lanyue had the upper hand, except for teacher Xu Bo who had foreseen the oue.


    "Li Yuan kept retreating; prolonged defense will lead to failure! Can he defend like this?" a male student wondered.


    "What do you know!" Zhou Qi scoffed, "Yuan Ge is the strongest."


    Zhou Qi didn''t understand, but he knew that Li Yuan had the highest martial arts skill score.


    "Lin Lanyue''s attacks are fierce; as long as Yuan Ge makes the slightest mistake, he''ll lose," Wan Xiao, with sharper eyes, said, "But Yuan Ge''s defense is wless... I feel his spear technique is stronger than during thest test."


    "Who should I support to win?" Li Tianyou, conflicted, stared.


    Suddenly.


    "Yuan Ge is awesome!" Wearing leather pants, Zhou Qi jumped up, wildly waving his fists in excitement, "He won!"


    "What?"


    "An explosive strike? Lanyue lost?" Li Tianyou stared in disbelief.


    "Damn!"


    "So ruthless, how could he stab her chest?"


    "My sister actually lost?" Gu Qianghan held his breath, "This Li Yuan shows no mercy."


    "So fast, Li Yuan is so ruthless." Exmations filled the spectator stands as the students marveled.


    They thought that even if Li Yuan''s defensive counterattack was to win, it would take dozens more moves. They never expected a sudden reversal when Lin Lanyue''s offensive peaked.


    A direct strike erupted.


    Lin Lanyue was pierced through, even her armor, showing how dominant this strike was. Ruthless to the extreme.


    "Li Yuan won!"


    "So what if they''re from the elite ss? They still got beaten!"


    "Yuan Ge, the top in skills." The students of ss 2 were thrilled, sharing in the glory.


    So what if they are from the elite ss? So what if they awakened martial arts talents?


    Defeating the so-called favored ones is a deeply ingrained tradition in Chinese culture and the most beloved story.


    "Li Yuan, no pity for a beauty? That''s Lin Lanyue!" Some boys were resentful.


    "Are you joking?"


    "Idiot!"


    "Moron, in a life-and-death fight, should you go easy on the enemy? Can''t stop licking?"


    "Getting aroused now?"


    "Have the guts to fight Li Yuan yourself."


    "If you like someone, respect them." This led to more rebuttals from students, "When fighting star beasts, should you go easy if they''re pretty?"


    Most boys came to support Lin Lanyue. But they didn''t think Li Yuan was ruthless, just fierce and dominant. When Li Yuan won, they cheered too.


    In a fight, you should give it your all. Carelessness and underestimation are irresponsible to oneself.


    The purpose of fighting is victory!


    This is the first lesson every student learns in martial arts sses.


    "The greatest respect to the enemy is to kill them with all your might. Only those who win and survive can talk about spirit and honor." This is a famous quote from the world''s second-strongest ''Lante.''


    At this time.


    The system announcement echoed above the duel tform: "The moment of glory has arrived. Victory belongs to ''Defender Yuan,'' whose spear is an insurmountable barrier, sessfully defending his honor and emerging as the ultimate victor."


    ...


    "The duel space will close soon, 60, 59..." A countdown appeared on the screen above the tform.


    Many began to leave quickly.


    Just eliminated, Lin Lanyue reappeared on the tform, no longer wearing her armor. She had returned to her original attire. Li Yuan''s shoulder wound had healed, and his weapons and armor had disappeared.


    In nonbat status and space, no one can harm others.


    "Lin Lanyue, thanks for the match." Li Yuan smiled.


    Lin Lanyue frowned slightly, "Your spear technique is indeed powerful. I''m not as good as you."


    In the ten seconds after the fight, Lin Lanyue reviewed it and understood that Li Yuan''s skill level was indeed higher. Otherwise, she couldn''t have been easily blocked and finally defeated by a single counterattack.


    It only showed there was a gap between them.


    "But there''s something I hope you''ll exin to others." Lin Lanyue stared at Li Yuan.


    "Exin?" Li Yuan was puzzled, then instantly understood the initial hostility from her.


    "You mean those rumors?" Li Yuan shook his head and was about to exin, "It has nothing to do with me, it''s just them..."


    Boom!!


    A figure rushed onto the tform.


    "Yuan Ge, now that you''ve won, what should we do next?" Zhou Qi excitedly ran up.


    Li Yuan was speechless, "..."


    "It has nothing to do with you?" Lin Lanyue nced at Li Yuan, then at Zhou Qi, frowned slightly but said no more. She left the virtual space directly.


    "Uh? Lin Lanyue left?" Zhou Qi, realizingte, said, "Yuan Ge, did I ruin your moment? I was just too excited!"


    Li Yuan was silent for three seconds, then said slowly, "Zhou Qi, I want you to do something."


    "What is it? Just tell me, Yuan Ge." Zhou Qi promised.


    "Be my sparring partner."


    "Fight me ten rounds." Li Yuan''s face showed a slight smile, "Or I won''t feelfortable."


    "Sparring partner?" Zhou Qi turned to run.


    ...


    "He''s really handsome!"


    "Why didn''t I notice at school before?"


    "I kind of want Li Yuan to be my third boyfriend. I''ll ask him at school tomorrow."


    "Let me have him. I only have one." A few girls whispered, worried others might hear.


    The 60-second countdown ended, and the battle space closed.


    ...


    After sparring (abusing) with Zhou Qi and Wan Xiao for three rounds each, Li Yuan let them go.


    Returning to his personalbat space, everything quieted down.


    "Next, it''s time to rank up." Li Yuan thought, and a light screen appeared before him:


    Ranked Match: Gold Rank.


    Points: 112 (1000 points to enter promotion match)


    Ranked Win Rate: 52%


    Historical Win Rate: 57%


    "ording to the rules, underage yers receive a 50,000 Blue Star Coin reward for reaching 500 points in the Gold Rank," Li Yuan thought, "If I reach the Meteor Rank, I''ll be rewarded with 500,000 Blue Star Coins."


    "My birthday is in August. Achieving the Meteor Rank in the next year is too difficult."


    "But with my two killer moves, reaching 500 points in the Gold Rank is still hopeful." Li Yuan clicked to queue.


    "Winning a match earns 1-12 points, losing deducts 1-12 points," Li Yuan thought, "Winning against a higher-ranked opponent grants more points."


    "Losing to a lower-ranked opponent will deduct more points."


    "Hope to rank up in one go today." Li Yuan thought.


    Beep—match found.


    "Entering ranked match. Opponent: Gold Rank (322 points). Prepare for battle," the system reminded.


    "Entering battle space in 10, 9..."