Chapter 90: The Second Oblatum (2/2)
Hu Huaying continued on without catching a breath. "Sister Le is a talent in both the technological and management fields. The company brought her over with a high price and I heard that her background is very complicated. It’s not that no one has tried to flirt with her before but eventually, they all return dejected and depressed.
Luo Nan could salvage some information regarding Yin Le from Hu Huaying’s loose lips and this information could be compared to what he already knew through the Wraith Sign. However, Hu Huaying changed the subject very quickly, eager to take Luo Nan to know the type that was ‘relatively easier to get’.
To this, Luo Nan responded by wearing his specialized ‘tactical helmet’ peripheral, effectively shutting out all outside noise and information.
The default selection of the ‘tactical helmet’ was enhanced reality mode. This was because the inner section of the VIP tournament room was designed with the popular starship layout. When this was combined with a little AR technology, it provided a relatively good experience in terms of immersion.
However, very quickly, Luo Nan had a bit of the immersion broken.
The ‘tactical helmet’ gradually affected his five senses, helping to further enhance the quality of his experience. However, this effect stimulated Luo Nan’s mental senses. As his five senses were tricked, his all-encompassing senses began to take over everything.
Illusory and reality intertwined but eventually, reality prevailed. Under the clairvoyance of his mental senses, the lighting effects were all revealed; they could no longer be described as a ‘reality’.
Luo Nan was a bit annoyed, he had not considered this problem in advance. If it continued on this way, then he would be totally cut off from ‘virtual reality’ in the future.
Hu Huaying and the two guides could not even begin to understand what Luo Nan was feeling. After routinely asking him a few questions regarding his feelings, they quietly left and did their own thing in order to not disrupt Luo Nan’s immersion experience.
They did not know that Luo Nan was watching them with his mental senses, that Luo Nan knew their intentions.
The long-haired guide left first. Meanwhile, the one with short hair flirted with Hu Huaying for a bit before leaving with a laugh. Hu Huaying was aroused but he couldn’t take it out on Luo Nan. He could only go to the resting area to find a place to sleep whilst laughing and cursing. However, he quickly received a call. It was most likely from one of his fair-weather friends urging him to ‘join them’. After rejecting them a few times and failing, he got up in annoyance and quietly left the room.
Like this, Luo Nan was the only person left in the entire VIP room to do his boring test. However, after a few failed attempts, he eventually lost all patience. He took off his tactical helmet and left the top grade enclosed maglev chamber in a daze.
This couldn’t be right. If it was just for regular people, then it would be fine. However, according to Bai Xinyan and Octopus Bro, the Society had clearly participated in the project.
There were plenty of mentally enhanced like him in the Society and if all of them had the same emersion experience, wouldn’t that turn the ‘Frost River Waterway’ into a joke?
Luo Nan realized that he might be doing something wrong if he were to follow this logic. He quickly looked down to his wristband to find the fine-print regarding his temporary privilege he had gotten from the Society. He dropped his hand.
As expected! The temporary privilege’s system startup had not been complete; there was also a notification that displayed his location as Frost River No. 3.
He should have known earlier. The privileges that Bai Xinyan had granted him were obviously incompatible with the Reality System; maybe they weren’t even from the same data link.
"I should have said something earlier. However, the Second Oblatum was there... Am I overthinking things?"
Luo Nan felt that he had done a lot of unnecessary things. Whether it be due to his lack of social experience or because he was too guarded, sometimes he would make things complicated.
He thought back to awhile ago and how he was being all mysterious. He had asked the two guides keep his secret. Now that he needed to ask them for help, he had to embarrass himself all over again.
Luo Nan couldn’t go back to the past so he could only shake his head as he made his way out— still wearing his tactical helmet. Just as he was about to step out, he remembered that the VIP room had a call service...
He rolled his eyes but right at this moment, his wristband’s system notification finally showed that the ‘Frost River No. 3’ that he had spent a long time looking for had finally appeared within the boundaries for signal connection.
"Would you like to activate?"
Luo Nan was silent for a moment, then selected ‘Yes’.
A soft sound rang out in front of Luo Nan and the door to a room automatically opened. The insides of the room was pitch black but the automatic lights turned on immediately.
Luo Nan walked towards the door and it closed automatically after he walked through, effectively separating the inside from the outside. He momentarily felt some regret. He had come in uprightly for a body test, since when did he begin to sneak around?
As the door closed, his wristband vibrated and the data connection and system boot had fully activated. A very conventional looking female virtual image appeared before his eyes as a projection... at least it was one that Luo Nan found familiar.
"Hello, Explorer Luo Nan. Welcome to a whole new adventure. I am your guide, Nina. As per the explorer manual, please enter the scanning area to be allocated with the appropriate equipment.”
Now the start guide commences?
Luo Nan was certain that either the room or the privilege that Bai Xinyan had given him had locked the game items. He was not given him the option of choosing. This was different from his experiences back in the VIP room.
It was alright though, Luo Nan followed the guide’s instructions and entered the scanning area... It would be the third time tonight!
The scanning this time was much more meticulous than the first two times and thus took longer. It had even required him to be compared with a demo video, so from time to time, he had to do a series of movements. Without a doubt, this was much more professional.
Luo Nan could feel that the ‘combat clothes’ he was wearing were undergoing minor amendments according to his movements, making him feel more comfortable. Could this mean he needed to wear the helmet that he had discarded to the side?
Just as he thought about this, the helmet emitted a red light.
The virtual guide, Nina, spoke out in a gentle voice, “Explorer Luo Nan, the system has confirmed that the tactical helmet that you have right now is incompatible with the requirements for adventuring and needs to be exchanged. Please follow the guide and undergo data binding for the new helmet...”
At the same time, an automatic robotic platform spun around, handing a new ‘tactical helmet’ to Luo Nan.
Luo Nan grabbed it and looked over it. On the surface, it did not seem too different from the one he wore before. He shook his head and put on the new helmet. However, the interface that followed caused him to be a bit surprised.
The interface was pitch black with only a single speck of white light directly in front of him. The system boot requested for him to concentrate and focus on the light and Luo Nan naturally complied.
After that, the speck of light divided, with one becoming two and then four. They spread out and quickly moved to places that were out of his line of sight. Nonetheless, the system boot still requested for him to lock on the ever-increasing specks of light.
A normal person would most likely have been confused. However, since Luo Nan had mastered an all-encompassing mental sense, this activity was simply a piece of cake.
Luo Nan naturally, slipped into the plane of mental awareness from basic visual perception.
Oh right, this was a guide that was made especially for ability users!
Luo Nan came to this sudden realization.
The speck of light had divided into a total of more than three hundred and sixty specks, distributed across all areas. Luo Nan had locked onto every single one of them. The lights then came together again directly above his head and began to cram itself into his brain.
Luo Nan’s mental senses automatically cut inside. Numerous light spots suddenly burst out in front of his eyes and intertwined with each other. Once it had settled down, Luo Nan realized that he had already ‘entered’ a starship and the gate that had just been opened stood before him. A corridor made from metal stretched out in front of him.
After hesitating for a while, Luo Nan stretched out his hand to open the touch-activated alloy door. He saw that he was wearing gloves and the hard feeback he felt through them was very realistic way.
The wall that separated fantasy and reality shattered in that instant.